#[ooc] reunited and it feels so good!!! i hope this is okay!! but definitely let me know if i should change anything!!

[moonshadowed]

She really ought to learn how to pay more attention to things-- or more to the point, pay less attention to everything that’s going on all around her, though really, she couldn’t help it, it’s all still so beautiful-- and she finds herself practically knocking over a poor, unsuspecting woman and whatever she’s carrying.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologizes profusely, gathering up the contents of the other’s bag, “I’m such a silly old--”

She stops herself as her hand closes around something cool and metal, inscribed with runes she hadn’t seen for almost as long as she can remember. As she reads them, she takes in a shaky breath, eyes widening.

“...Aunt... Aunt Saeya?...” she manages, eyes fixed on @theresastargirl​​ . “Is it really you?...”

[cafeacademia]

Promises

Draco Malfoy x Reader (smut)

Summary: Draco reunites with his best friend after the war, but when they see each other again, unsaid feelings come to the surface.

Warnings: Some angst/sadness, talk of war, lots of fluff, oral (fem rec), sex.

Word count: Approx 3600

Masterlist

A/N: Hi loves! I really loved writing this one and I hope it came out well. Please let me know if Draco is too OOC, but I love playing with his softer side, especially post war. Enjoy! 💖 NOTE: Paragraphs in italics are memories

Taglist is open!

Draco lay awake, only one thing seemed to play on his mind as he allowed it to wander. It was a painful memory, one that lingered and nearly every time he closed his eyes, he saw you looking back at him with tears in your eyes. That was the last memory of you he had. And it hurt him deeply to know he’d done that to you. Of all of the things he had done in his life, hurting you was the thing he deeply regretted.

Please don’t forget me and all of the things we did.

His fingers traced over the written words, scribbled onto the back of a photograph he had given you, though now it was in his hands.

Draco sighed as he read the words over again, gently turning the photo over in his hands to see the image of you both together. He could almost feel the joy shared between you in that moment, had it not been for the pain it reminded him of. The loss that he faced.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Draco tried hard to hold his emotions in, but slowly, he was unravelling. The smart suit, the well styled hair, not a piece out of place, but it was all a front and it quickly came crashing down when the tears fell, his hands running through his hair, clinging harshly to the ashen locks, his tie feeling almost suffocating and Draco pulled at it until it was loose enough.

How could he have thrown it all away to appease someone that didn’t care for him? At least not cared for in the way he wanted to be. The way you cared for him.

It had always been secret. It had been rainy free periods you spent secretly up in a small tower room, nestled away atop a winding staircase that was tucked behind the portrait of a lady gilded in gold at Draco’s side. It had been hours spent in class, secretly trying to cast glances at one another, hoping you’d get paired together in practical studies. It was those moments in class that you had spent your time standing close to Draco, acting as if you barely knew each other beyond being classmates.

It had been those moments that you had harboured a secret of your own. A secret of your feelings towards the ashen haired Slytherin boy. It was the little touches, his fingers brushing against your hand under the table in class, it was lingering looks shared between you and uncontrollable smiles that you just couldn’t seem to calm until you looked away from him.

It was the way your heart fluttered when Draco said your name, the way he called you love and put his arm around you in that teasing manner. And you had wished it was real. That when he did those things that it was genuine, but you knew you’d never have that with Draco, so you cherished the secret friendship you had with him instead.

“We can’t see each other again, it’s the only way to keep you safe, love.” Draco told you as he held your hands in his. His stomach lurched, chest tightening with guilt for what he was doing, but he knew if he didn’t push you away, you might be pulled into the side of the war he was trying so hard to keep you away from. “Please, just come with me Draco.” You plead, tears rolling down your cheeks as you urged him to stay with you. “Please?” “You know I can’t, sweetheart.” He shook his head, trying his best not to cry, because he knew if he let his tears out, he would give in and go with you and then you really could be in danger.

“Promise you’ll find me when this is over.” You whispered, looking up at him, your eyes meeting his and he struggled to hold your gaze, seeing the hurt you held in your eyes. “I promise, love.” Draco reassured you. Before he could turn away to leave, you threw yourself into his arms, your head resting against him as you cried, your fingers slipping something into his jacket pocket. “Goodbye sweetheart.” Were the last words he spoke to you, holding you tightly before he let go, his eyes catching yours before he turned away, his heart sinking ever deeper as he left you behind.

And it was later when he pulled out the photo of the two of you together, laughing and standing close together, that Draco realised you had probably known that moment would come, else you wouldn’t have had the photo prepared to give to him with the note scrawled onto the back.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Draco internally scolded himself for having not kept his promise. The war had ended a year ago and he had yet to come and find you. And what made it all the more difficult was that he knew exactly where you were.

Would you run into his arms when you saw him? Would you reject him? Tell him you didn’t want to be around him? Truth be told, Draco had tried to uphold his promise as soon as the war had ended, but when he found you, exactly where you had told him you would be when all of this was over, Draco couldn’t quite bring himself to step back into your life.

What if you were happy without him? Granted, all you had ever been was friends, but Draco certainly couldn’t deny that maybe there was something else there too and he knew he’d never really know until he came back to you.

Sighing, Draco placed the little photo down on his nightstand and propped it up against a candle holder as his thoughts of you lingered in his mind.

Closing up shop for the day, you stepped out of the front door of your store giving Fred and George a little wave as they saw off the last of their customers. You counted yourself lucky to be able to even open your shop in Diagon Alley and even luckier to be receiving good custom and be opposite two friendly faces.

Having a rummage in your bag, you pulled out the keys, locked up your shop and took a few steps along the side of the building until you reached the entrance to the staircase that led up to your apartment above the shop. Walking up the steps, you turned and let yourself into the apartment. It wasn’t long before you had gotten yourself settled and comfortable with a warm drink and a good hearty fire started in your little wood burner.

You were lost in your evening routine when a knock at the door caught your attention and you frowned, setting your mug down on the coffee table as you got up. You hadn’t been expecting company, but you assumed that perhaps one of the Weasley twins needed something, the three of you often dropping by to borrow something or for a quick chat and a cup of tea.

But when you pulled the front door open to see your ashen haired boy, Draco Malfoy on your doorstep, you thought for a moment that you might be dreaming, because in truth, you had dreamed of this happening, of him arriving one day out of the blue and you almost didn’t believe it was real.

“Draco?” You whispered his name and he looked sheepishly at you, afraid of your reaction. You looked him over, a little stunned for a moment as he stood in your doorway. With his hands shoved in his trouser pockets, a wool jumper thrown over his button up shirt and a long black woollen coat over the top, he looked a bit more casual than when you had last seen him with slightly messy hair from the wind out in the street, cheeks a little flushed and you had to admit, it definitely suited him well.

“Hi love, is it okay that I’m here? I can go if-.” “Please don’t leave.” It came out barely above a whisper, your voice failing you as you stood under his gaze. It was a feeling you hadn’t realised you had missed, the way you felt under his eyes and despite his often brash, harsh demeanor, there was something so tender and gentle about him.

Swallowing harshly, you finally mustered up the courage to step aside and let him in, Draco slowly taking a step over the threshold and for the first time in over a year, you stood close to him again. You could feel his warmth, the edge of his coat brushing gently against you as he looked you over, soft blue eyes taking you in and he seemed to relax slightly in your presence.

There was a lingering silence and while his company was welcome and warm, the weight of all of the unspoken things you had longed to tell him almost had you bursting at the seams. You had no idea where to start, what to even say first and for a moment, Draco watched you as thoughts and emotions came to you, your eyes glistening as the swell of tears rose, your lower lip wobbling slightly as you struggled to find the words to say to him.

“Sweetheart,” He paused, about to tell you he wouldn’t stay long if his visit was causing you hurt, but before he could continue, hot, heavy tears escaped you, rolling down your cheeks and he didn’t spare a moment before tugging you into his embrace, bringing you the comfort he knew you had been reaching for, but hadn’t had the courage to take.

“I’m here, I’ve got you.” Draco’s voice was softer than you remembered, the years of pain and stress he had endured, forced to play as Voldemort’s pawn and the pressure from his family had obviously played into the boy you remembered at school, though with you he had always been gentler and kinder and while back then it had seemed uncharacteristic, now it felt natural to see him that way, Draco slowly allowing himself to be comfortable with his true nature.

“I knew you’d find me.” You sobbed against his coat, Draco’s tears falling as he almost curled over you, holding you so close, so tightly, afraid to let go of you. “I promised I would, love.” He reminded you, speaking softly against your hair as his hand gently soothed up your back to cradle your head against him. You breathed in deeply, tears slowing as his scent filled your senses, calming you a little, the gentle beat of his heart lulling you into a state of calm.

“I missed you so much.” His voice shook as he spoke, finally being able to let out everything he had held in for months of being away from you. As you whispered the words back to him, you clung to Draco, afraid to let go of him as he stood in the middle of your living room and that strange, hazy feeling of disbelief washed over you, making you feel like you might be dreaming, but every time Draco tightened his embrace or moved a little bit, it reminded you that it was very much real.

You stayed that way for a while, neither of you making moves to let go and by the time you finally parted from him, just enough to look up at the Slytherin, you had no idea how long you had been there for, holding each other, but you knew from a quick glance at the window that it had been a while as now it was dark and rain began to patter gently against the old, single paned wobbly glass windows.

Reaching up, your touch tentative as you slowly soothed your fingers over his cheek, Draco’s eyes softening as he allowed you, almost leaning into you as you took a moment to really take him in. He looked tired, but there was a vibrancy in his eyes, one you hadn’t seen in a long time and if you were to ask him, you were sure he’d tell you what he used to say when you were both at Hogwarts. “It’s because you’re here.” He’d say in a teasing manner. But maybe it really was the reason.

His jaw was lined with short, day old stubble, though it was still quite soft under your touch. Your fingers reached up, gently brushing at the hair above his ear, the pale whitened hair having grown out a little bit and to be honest, the softer, casual look suited him. Draco hummed quietly, almost involuntarily as his eyes closed at the feeling of you running your fingers through his hair, tucking some of it behind his ear.

And when he opened his eyes again, gazing down at you with a look in his eyes that brought back memories, times that felt so long ago, when they had only been a couple of years ago.

“Come here,” He laughed, reaching forwards and winding his arms around your waist, pulling you towards him before he gently took your hand in his. “May I have this dance?” He asked, bowing to you, his grin widening as you giggled in delight. “You may.” You replied, giving him a playful little curtsy before he lifted your arm so you could do a little twirl.

Draco looked at you with such a loving look in his eyes and your heart paced quickly in your chest, butterflies fluttering through you as you twirled for him. You turned to face him, your hands coming up to his chest to stop yourself in your movements, but you quickly pulled away. Draco couldn’t take his eyes off you, all night he had wanted to dance with you at the ball, all night he had wanted to see you twirl in your beautiful dress and watch the way you looked up at him with that lovely gleam in your eye. He just hoped no one noticed you were both missing from the hall, having snuck you off up to your secret little tower room so he could give you the dance he wished he had been able to give you down in the hall.

The way he looked at you, the way he tugged you close and held you as if you were something truly precious made you think that Draco might kiss you, and it was at that moment that you began to realise that you were falling in love with your best friend.

Draco wished things had remained that way.

“I’m so sorry, love.” He broke the silence, the way he almost sobbed the words out broke your heart. “I’m so sorry for everything. I’m sorry I left you, I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner.” Draco teared up, the lump in his throat tightening as he reached up to brush his fingers against the back of your hand that rested on his cheek, gently holding it in both of his hands.

“It’s alright, it’s over and you’re here now, that’s all that matters Draco.” You whispered softly to him, letting him hold your hands in his and the Slytherin smiled softly at you, his shoulders relaxing a little as he took your words in. You wanted to reach up, lean into him and kiss him. You wanted to kiss Draco and show him how much he meant to you, how much you had missed him, how much you loved him, but you were scared. He’d only just come back, what if all he was looking for was his best friend and nothing more? What if he’d already moved on in the year after the war?

And while you were too shy to do it, too shy to finally admit how you felt after all of those years, Draco noticed. He noticed you deep in thought, love swirling deep in your eyes whenever you caught his gaze, the way his smile seemed to make you act all flustered and how his touch, intimate and gentle was making you lean into him.

And just like that evening of the Yule Ball, Draco pulled you close. He pulled you against his chest, your hands coming up to rest against him and before your shyness could take over and have you pull away, Draco leaned in, his lips brushing gently against yours, his eyes sliding shut as he listened to your surprised, little gasp, though you made no moves to stop him, only leaning closer into him.

Draco kissed you, his lips soft against yours as he embraced you gently, his hands resting at your lower back. Your kiss was timid at first, but as you relaxed into him, the reality of what was happening sinking in, you slowly deepened the kiss. He hummed when he felt your touch trail over his shoulders and comb through his hair until your hands met at the back of his neck, pulling yourself flush against his chest.

It was warm, Draco was warm and your stomach fluttered with butterflies, accompanied with something you could only describe as a gentle warmth that blossomed in your heart. Draco felt himself relax further, kissing you with a passionate intensity, but still so gentle and tender. Draco knew now as he kissed you, that you always had been the love of his life. He’d never find another person that knew and loved him as deeply as you did.

As you parted, Draco resting his forehead against yours, he relished in the feeling of warmth and love he shared with you. The soft crackle of the little wood burner was the only sound between the two of you, aside from your soft breaths and the sound of Draco slowly sliding his coat off his shoulders, draping it carefully over your armchair. You opened your eyes to meet his, the soft, warm glow of the fire was the only thing lighting the room as the evening drew in, but all of your focus was on Draco and all of his on you.

“Can we stay like this? Just me and you?” You asked softly, not wanting to disturb the peace the two of you had created. “I’d love nothing more.” Draco replied, embracing you against him as he leaned in to kiss you, his lips gentle against yours.

You leaned into him, whimpering softly as Draco pressed you up against the wall, his hands wandering as he kissed you breathless. “Make me yours, Draco.” You whispered against his lips, Draco’s grip on your waist tightened at your words.

His kisses trailed down from your lips, fluttering over your neck and you gasped softly as he gently worked you up. Pulling you into his arms, Draco picked you up, laying you down on the sofa before slowly teasing you, his hands tugging at your top. He was gentle, just as gentle as you imagined as he undressed you, pulling your shirt away and carefully removing your bra, Draco looking down at you in awe as he took you in. You looked beautiful beneath him, exposed with that sweet, flustered look on your features, eyes full of adoration as you looked up at the man above you as he undressed himself.

It was hazy and warm and so loving as he took you, his gentle movements bringing you so much pleasure. His hot breath against your tender skin elicited a soft moan from you, fingers working you in soft motions as he played with you. The way he looked up at you as he pleasured you, drawing circles around your sensitive bud, his eyes meeting yours with a gentle passion melted you, your eyes rolling back as he pulled moans and soft gasps from you over and over again, his name falling from your lips as he worked you.

Sliding his hardened length into you, Draco grunted softly, his eyes closing for a moment as he pulled out and thrust back into you, pulling a sweet, airy moan from you. Draco watched you through half lidded eyes, the way you arched into him as he made love to you, your eyes meeting his with nothing but love and passion for him. His touch trailed over your body, thumb circling over your sensitive bud as he watched you. Your moans were almost hypnotic, the way you whined out his name in pleasure as he hit the spot that made you gasp.

“I’ve got you, darling, let go.” He encouraged, and you did, your release rolling through you in a warm and loving intensity. Draco thrust into you, making love to you until his high came too, the soft grunts and moans, paired with the soft muttering of your name on his lips pulled a little whimper from you.

“I’ll take care of you, love.” He whispered, noticing the sleepy look on your features. And Draco gently cleaned you both up, his kisses soft and his eyes casting a gentle gaze over you.

“I love you.” It came out as a soft whisper from his lips, warm and sweet with an air of sincerity to his words as he gently stroked your hair away from your face. “Draco,” You paused with a sweet smile on your lips as you relaxed into his touch. “I’ve always loved you.” You told him, pulling him close. “I know, sweetheart.” He smiled, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead. Draco had always known.

“Will you stay with me?” You asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace as Draco pulled you onto him so that your head was resting on his chest, your arm thrown over his middle as he drew in a breath, a smile forming on his lips. “Of course I will, darling. I’ll stay as long as you want me to.” He reassured you. “I promise.”

Taglist (OPEN):

@kitkatd7​​ @paintballkid711​ @thesewaywardskies​ @coldlilheart​ @victorialynn​ @pandaxnienke​ @megantje123​ @loving-life-my-way​ @chaotic-fae-queen​

[handonhaven]

Thoughts on latest episode? I’m watching through you.

Ohh ok, I guess that means I’m okay to spoil it for you? The episode was honestly better than I thought it was gonna be. But I had VERY low expectations going in, like I was not expecting anything good, so that helped me not be so disappointed. There were definitely still a lot of inconsistencies and ooc moments though. With Hope making the whole decision to become the tribrid last episode, which was very rushed because she felt she had to kill Malivore as soon as possible to save the people he was hurting, but then she’s in limbo and suddenly thinking she should just go find peace? Like? (Also, don’t get me started on what they’re doing with “peace” and messing with what was established on TVD/TO...) I get her hesitation, but they had her hesitating more after she was already dead and had made the decision, so I found that strange. That, plus her starting to fight Malivore after she completed her transition even though she’d said he was in “the one person on the planet I can’t bring myself to fight”? That pissed me off, as well as the fact that she was about to kill Malivore knowing Landon was still in there, up until Malivore let Landon have control. That was just so ooc, and went against so much of what she said last season. And I’m always gonna be pissed that Hope didn’t do more to try and save Landon after all she’d said throughout season 3, also totally ooc. Especially when Josie suddenly came up with a way to save Landon and Cleo? Like why did they not do that earlier? So I’m mad about that, and that they didn’t actually fight fate when I thought that was the whole point. And I still think it was totally unnecessary for Landon to die. Those are my main complaints, but I’m gonna try my best to ignore all that because it’s just bad writing and obviously done for plot reasons.

But thankfully there was other stuff to help make up for it. Like I’m really glad that when Hope was in limbo, she said she wouldn’t be able to handle the grief if she killed Landon. I’m glad they actually acknowledged that and totally went through with that with Hope turning off her humanity! And also that once Hope and Landon reunited, they had Hope feeling like she couldn’t kill him and wasn’t gonna do it until Landon convinced her. That’s how I thought it should be because I can’t imagine Hope ever just doing it without having to be pushed and convinced to do it. So I’m glad she was at least resisting. And then the fact that she flipped her switch right when she killed him was just so fitting and made perfect sense. And that’s something I wanted to happen too, if Landon was gonna die again. Because with Handon’s pause, I had been so worried what the reason would be, and had thought Hope believing Landon was dead and flipping her switch was the only way it would make sense. So the fact that it happened? I’m so glad tbh because this is the only thing that justifies a separation imo. And fits overall with how Hope would realistically react. I would’ve been so mad if they’d just had Hope carrying on after losing Landon again. So I was quite relieved they did that actually.

I do wish we’d gotten more of a reunion though and that it had lasted longer, but I’m also just so glad we got one at all! I mean, I always hope it’s gonna be a bit more emotional, I’d always love to see tears. But I feel like focusing more on emotions is not the writers’ forte. And it did feel a bit rushed, of course, because I’m always gonna want more, especially when we waited a whole season for this. But at least we got what we did, definitely better than nothing! There were some really beautiful moments! Although parts of it killed me, of course! 😭

So yeah, lots of issues with the episode, but also good bits that did thankfully feel true to the characters. It’s just a shame they can’t maintain that kind of writing. But thank goodness we got some good moments! And I’m very anxious to see what happens to Landon and how he’ll come back. Annoyed that he’s stuck with Ted (better than the Necromancer, but still). And I’ll be even more annoyed if they continue to ignore all that he’s been through, but I’m also expecting it. Especially considering they didn’t even explain any of the many questions left over from season 3. Also disappointed Malilandon lasted for such a short time, and still feel like we never really even learned as much about him as we should have, that was a waste. But I’m also excited to see Hope away from the school, and am loving that she doesn’t want her friends to follow her, it’s about time. So I’m feeling a lot better about what’s to come. I just hope they don’t screw it up.

[machinatings]

The tiny vader anon here, I loved you answer and I hope you'll write some more of it bc I really like your ideas!!! Also, what does the council do with the info that there is a second Sith apprentice? And where does Tiny Anakin live now that he's not hanging out with Maul? (And also how does Maul surving work in this au?)

(Concept, part 1, part 2) Thank u anon that’s so nice, I appreciate you sending these asks :) and these all very good questions.... that I don’t really know the answer to because again my memory is bad! But uh:

The council! Ok so this will probably be a bit confusing but before I answer this I have to explain the two ideas I had going into this: 1) was that anakin continues to work with palpatine and periodically runs into obi-wan over the years, they fight but maybe develop a bit of a friendly rivalry rather then full on hate each other (although neither of them would admit it). Vader would be slightly more chill then his canon counterpart- more fun evil then sad evil I think. Not sure if that’d be too ooc but I always love fun villains so whatever

The council’s reaction to this would probably be roughly similar to their feelings about maul or ventress- just a threat to the galaxy they’d be keen on taking down. I do think they’d be worried about obi-wan though- at the start because he’s poured everything into trying to track vader down instead of processing his feelings about qui gon dying, and later because and later because of the bond he’s started to have with anakin. THAT BEING SAID I think they’d be pretty concerned about anakins power levels, but I think he’d be a fairly mysterious figure that (maybe until the clone wars) hasn’t done a whole lot- at least not that can be tracked back to him. They’re being cautious but also aside from qui gons dying words maybe they wouldn’t even be sure he exists (obi-wan strongly objects to this notion) (more under the cut)

OK SECOND OPTION (I just have a lot of ideas ok!): the reason I came up with this au in the first place I’m pretty sure was because I had the idea of a jedi obi-wan trying to train a tiny sith anakin and help him with yknow. Emotional control and shit. SO the other idea I had was obi-wan manages to find anakin pretty quickly and goes “oh shit. This is a child. Wtf” and then decides since he can’t fight him in good conscience he has no choice to but to try to train him. Anakin obviously has some objections to this because yknow.. he killed maul but ANYWAY! None of this is the point let’s just obi-wan eventually manages to convince this sassy lost child to go with him! How do the council react?

I mean. Not amazingly. They hardly wanted anakin to be trained as a jedi in general let alone already fallen and trained in the dark side

But that being said... there’s a difference between being trained and being trained in the dark side HEAR ME OUT!!!

I think that they could allow obi-wan to train him if only to help him deal with the dark side and hell maybe even return him to the light (has such a thing even happened in canon up to this point??) especially since their only other options would be imprisoning or killing him and well look at that face! You can’t say you’re gonna imprison him to that face!! (And also obi-wan emotionally equipped to do this? Probably not! He’s still gonna try though!)

Either that or maybe obi-wan leaves the jedi temple with anakin? Man idk my brain is too dead to figure out what’s would work with the characters or not. It’s my au and I get to choose possibly ooc decisions

Ok second question- where does he live? I mean even with maul I don’t think they stayed in one place very often- usually doing their vigilante shit around the outer rim. ALTHOUGH I had to google it darth maul had a ship (fake fan, ik) and it’s called the Sith Infiltrator and the idea maul going around in that along with his ten year old apprentice made of sunshine is so funny. Anakin definitely defaced the paint job with stickers and drawings and what have you. I’m getting sidetracked

Point is: anakin goes from being trapped on a desert planet do going in a cool spaceship and travelling the galaxy so I don’t think he’d be a fan of staying in one place. Even if he does end up with obi-wan training him... well let’s just say obi-wan has to hand out missing flyers. A lot.

Ok now MAUL. Maul. Okay so the thing is I’m don’t know what he’s doing this whole time. Problem is I don’t know maul as well as I know other characters so I’m ESPECIALLY worried about making decisions for him that don’t make sense but...

I think the parallels between Sidious taking maul as a child and anakins current situation and i think this is why he doesn’t go full Dark Sith Lord Training on anakin and why they have more fun- maybe he sees part of what he could have been in anakin? Little bit? And I think this is also the reason he kind of just ignored the glaringly obvious “there’s only supposed to be 2 sith” rule up till now

I mention this because there is YET ANOTHER crossroads here. 1) this one is probably the most Star Wars-y... like in canon maul, fueled by hate maul survives and gets to lotho. Because of this hate, whatever affection he might’ve had for anakin turns to jealousy and anger, because of his (relative) innocence, power and palpatines obvious plans to replace maul with anakin. I think maul perhaps goes to sidious to become his apprentice again (around tcw era) but I’m not sure. Maybe by this point dooku has been killed (by anakin?) or maul kills him to take his place? Or mauls singleminded hate for anakin outweighs his hate for palpatine and they form an alliance just to take him down.

The important thing his is that: maul has convinced himself he hates anakin meanwhile anakin is on the other side of the galaxy mourning... this could lead a pretty fun interaction huh.. wink wink nudge nudge

The other option which I honestly don’t know any details for is just that maul survives through the ✨power of friendship✨ and him and anakin reunite and maul and obi-wan and maul bicker and everyone is vibing and palpatine is dead <3

Ok that’s all for now this has become less of my talking about my au and more just rambling about different ideas but whatever here you go!

[coredrill]

alright here are my rwby8 thoughts now that i’ve had a few days to sit on ‘em!! spoilers for the entire volume under the cut

so if anyone happens to open this and is like “wow this is more words than i’ve seen you use ever” lol yup! it’s probably the most words i’ve written since high school lmao. feel free to read through if ya really want but this is mostly just my own way of organizing my thoughts for this kind of stuff rather than making a million different posts on random parts of it. this way if i want to look back in the future and say “haha wow can’t believe i thought THAT” it’s all in one easy location! i don’t expect anyone else to be reading all this shite lol

thoughts on the volume as a whole:

honestly i loved it!! there’s very little that i would’ve changed and most of that is nit-picking stuff. i’m very impressed that this volume was made in quarantine lmao. the animation in and of itself was STUNNING (shout out to the finale’s water animation...the aura break particle effects...the cinnamon topography of the amity scenes...all of the facial & body expressions...the whale disintegrating...)

i’d honestly say that it’s probably my second favorite volume?? volume 4 is still my beloved but v8 was so good. i’ll probably need to watch it through a few more times but god. i LOVED IT.

honorable mention cause idk where else to put it: some of the scores were breathtaking!!! i tend not to notice background music on my first watch unless it really sticks out to me and there were quite a few scenes where that happened in a good way this volume. the ones where cinder breaks into the atlas control room and the one at the end when atlas is flooding are probably my favs!!! also there was this one part where it was just screeching over ironwood and it worked really really well.

okay so now for individual characters. let’s start with ruby:

i would like to fund her therapy

very surprised that she didn’t “break” this volume! i was sort of expecting it to happen--between ironwood, the amity plan only kind of working, the hound, the virus, and the fact that she was separated from her usual support system (qrow, yang, and jaune), i was definitely expecting her to. i’m glad she didn’t though cause it’s gonna be so much harder when she actually does (probably when she finds out that cinder has the relics and penny’s dead...)

massive shout out to lindsay jones for managing to make squeaky-voiced ruby still sound like ruby even while going through a whole host of emotions we’ve never seen ruby go through before!

god. that scene where crescent rose fell into the drink and ruby scrambled after it. my heart dropped lmao.

also. this is likely because i’ve got an engineering degree (which came with a free stick up my butt when it comes to technology in media) but the line where they say “mass no longer matters” wrt her semblance??? WHAT??? bro splitting mass up into smaller chunks doesn’t change the actual mass of the material itself what is going on here 😭😭😭 (this isn’t a real criticism of any kind i just yelled WHAT after they said that line lmao)

weiss:

i have one single weiss criticism and its that, in the scene where she’s leaving whitley to go fight the hound, she says “we still need to work on your attitude” and for whatever reason, the voice track doesn’t sound like it was quite mixed right? like it sounds like she’s just standing there rolling her eyes but my girl is BOOKING it out of the room lmao

other than that: weiss you are PERFECT. she really spent this entire volume saving and taking care of the people she loves!!! and i loved every second of it!!!

i would’ve liked to see more of her and klein/whitley/willow. i think there’s a lot of great stuff in that dynamic (not me crying when klein showed up at the manor...) and especially between weiss and her mother. i hope we get one big schneeuinon in vacuo once they + winter are all in the same location (but that’s gonna be a while i think lmao)

it’s been said a million times before but weiss?? shaking and crying but using gambol shroud anyway?? even though she thinks her teammates are all dead?? giving ruby the staff and pushing her out of the line of fire and pulling blake back to safety??? fighting cinder, a fucking wholeass maiden, with no aura because she needs to protect penny?? only unable to get up and keep fighting after she watches gambol shroud (the last physical piece she has of her teammates) go over the edge??? bro. BRO. i’m legit tearing up just TYPING THAT. god she’s gonna find her team at that island resort and never let them go. gonna be like v4 jaune all over again huh??

blake/yang:

not as much here since they didn’t get a whole lot of focus this volume, but i enjoyed all their scenes! yang just fuckin going at salem was 1000/10.

i will say...i think blake’s gonna kiss yang when they meet up in tropical paradise. and good for her!! (especially if this volume’s been planned since the beginning, it makes sense that this would be the writers’ idea for where they wanted their first kiss to be)

jaune:

going from ren saying “he has no fear. he believes that we can do this” about jaune to, five chapters later, forcing jaune to deliver a killing blow to penny was just CRUEL

the fucking dissonance of jaune haha!-awkward-renora-moment-exit vomit-boy-through-the-portals hit-in-the-head-with-a-rock arc being the one that penny asks..............bro. don’t hmu.

it’s going to be such a long time until we see him smile again.

also. the moment when crocea mors snaps in half...again, my stomach dropped.

but it’s okay! he’ll be fine without a weapon! he’s the ~strategist~! *breaks the fuck down*

it hurts so much too to think about, like oscar mentioned.....even if/when he does reunite with ren and nora, he’s not gonna be the same person he was when they last saw him. he’s not gonna be their goofy, wholesome, soft, snarky, healer team leader anymore. he just got his shit sorted out, he just stopped being actively suicidal, and tbh i think this might affect him worse than what happened with pyrrha. especially since they were compounding in his brain--what he did gave penny more of a choice than pyrrha ever got, but GEEZ.

pain. just. pain.

nora:

NORA MY BELOVED

okay. OKAY. so like she was passed out for half the volume but what we did get of her was fucking amazing

nora’s mom i am going to find you and have some words. i’ve mentioned this before but this woman has the same energy as the mom from grave of the fireflies who was like “i know we’re actively being bombed right now but i’m going to abandon my children and get myself to safety.” SQUARE UP BITCH. i hope we never see nora’s mom in the show because i will become filled with rage

but nora herself??? flawless. perfection.

i really did love her journey this volume. realizing that she wants to become her own person apart from ren, and then telling him that when he says that he loves her?? nora sweetie that was heartbreaking but i am SO SO PROUD OF YOU.

nora putting herself first for once and being told that people love her WE FREAKING LOVE TO SEE IT

except NOW that’s all gonna go haywire 😭😭😭

like...the moment in the finale where you can see she’s hesitant to leave jaune to to go vacuo but she goes anyway because he’s her leader and he doesn’t like splitting up either and she loves him and she trusts him only for her to get STUCK ON THE OTHER SIDE BANGING ON THE PORTAL. that scene fucking BROKE me. you just KNOW she’s gonna be hating herself for going through and leaving jaune (even though nobody knew it was one way!!!) and when the portal dissolves and he doesn’t come through........

she really thinks that she’s lost TWO teammates now. that’s TWO teammates that she wasn’t able to save. she saved ren from the nuckelavee but pyrrha’s dead and as far as she knows jaune’s dead too

and jaune’s her fucking family!!!!!!!

and like. when we see her on the vacuo side of the portal, we see that she’s got the happy huntresses behind her. she did her job and she gathered them but now she can’t get back through and AHHHHHH. FUCK. when she drops to her knees because she realizes.........that fucking killed me. i’m tearing up now just typing this sdmndbm

and like. the worst part is that she just realized that she wants some time away from ren. but everyone else is gone and just like when they were kids he’s all she’s got and they are gonna lean on each other harder than ever because this time they both lost EVERYTHING. not just jaune, but ruby, who was their teammate for a while too. weiss, who took such great care of nora while she was injured. penny, who nora helped with blake’s advice. yang, who ren had time to bond with this volume. FUCK

it’s gonna hurt so bad to watch but i cannot WAIT to see what nora does next and how she moves forward. god. this is gonna kill her. it’s killing ME and i’m just a viewer lmao

ren:

remember that one week where neath went on twitter and was like “i love renora and i’m gonna make that everyone else’s problem”??? yeah. that was a good week lmao

speaking of neath. MASSIVE PROPS TO HIM FOR HIS WORK. he managed to give ren every single emotion in the book this volume and none of it sounded ooc despite ren being such a repressed character before. he did incredible!!!!

I LOVED REN SO MUCH THIS VOLUME GOD. i mean i love him in every volume BUT HE HAD SO MANY GOOD MOMENTS AND SUCH A GOOD ARC

i’ve already talked about it at length but the scene where his semblance evolves is one of my favorites in the whole show. he’s so fucking full of love that it’s literally tearing him apart and when he finally accepts that fact his ENTIRE SOUL levels up!!! he looks at himself and there are pink petals falling off of him because he can’t contain the love in his body anymore!!! it’s there in a literal, physical manifestation and it’s so. fucking. GOOD. FUCK.

and also my obligatory remark about how he was thinking about oscar and pyrrha and his parents in that moment. people he loved platonically and familially. rwby goes so fucking hard for platonic love and i can’t ever thank them enough. to see ren have this realization because he was thinking about oscar.....god i’m gonna cry again LMAO

and then after that the way that he just. looks at jaune in every scene with the biggest fucking heart eyes. i’m gonna fucking combust he loves his  leader SO MUCH. (which. as i mentioned in the nora section. pain now)

and the nora stuff........JUST AS GOOD

another thing i’ve talked about a lot but to see him apologize, be emotionally open, listen to what nora’s saying and what nora needs, TELL HER THAT HE LOVES HER FIRST, not holding a single thing against her, agreeing to wait for her to be ready.........literal perfection holy shit

romance is normally not one of my favorite aspects of any media but i will make an exception for whatever the fuck ren and nora got going on

basically as a ren stan / jnpr stan i was thriving this volume and then that finale hit me and i know i will be in pain until they reunite again

i have a handful of jnr gifs that i was planning to make during the hiatus but now they’re all PAIN aksjhdasjdh

oscar:

deeply worried about the quickly approaching merge. i’m really hoping that oscar and oz stay separate but i also love seeing all the animation/voice acting nuances that indicate that they’re getting closer to the merge.......AH

this volume really hammered home just how strong this kid is. he stands up to SALEM and does the right thing even despite the torture cause he’s so BRAVE and STRONG and when he trusted hazel with the password DESPITE IT ALL. ugh. so good.

i love oscar so much and i’ve loved seeing him grow!!!

penny:

serious stuff coming in the next bullet point but. GOD. her model’s head is so big and i don’t know WHY but this stuck out to me every time she was standing next to someone else. it might be because of the volume of her hair (but yang’s hair also has a lot of volume, and her head is normal sized)??? idk it just threw me off a lot. every time she was like, talking to ruby or something, all i could think about was how her head was bigger than ruby’s ENTIRE TORSO lmao. (also why didn’t they give her human body shoes skdjhaksjh)

that said.........oh, penny 😭😭😭😭😭

i’m surprised that she died but only because i thought her plot armor was pretty thick LMAO. narratively it makes a lot of sense and i’m glad her story ended the way it did.

i’ve seen a lot of people interpreting her actions in the finale as “choosing to die,” but i don’t think that’s the case?? penny’s friends all saved her every single time that she presented her own death as an option. that’s what makes this so tragic, is that they successfully saved her every time she offered that, and that in the end, she still died. she was gonna die anyway. she was impaled by cinder--jaune didn’t have enough time to heal her before cinder defeated weiss (who had no aura!!) and turned on them again. penny made her own choices when 1. she asked to die at the hands of a friend, rather than by cinder’s soul-sucking grimm arm and whatever horrible fate that includes and 2. to choose her successor. and i don’t blame her for making either of those choices! she wanted to die with as much dignity as peace as she could and to choose whose life she would be intertwined with. and while it’s very sad, i’m glad that penny finally got some sense of control over herself and her legacy.

and like...she was so happy when she met up with winter!! she was so happy to have full autonomy for once!!! that scene was both heartwarming and heartbreaking!!!

i also think that penny’s death reinforces the idea that remnant is gonna be very different by the time rwbyjnorqe is done with it. now not one but two kindhearted girls have gotten killed because they got tangled up in the maiden powers—which were originally meant to be a gift!! and i’m very interested to see what the resolution is gonna be!! (i know it’s gonna be in like. volume 52 or something alsjfndnx but still!!)

also, if nothing else, i am very glad that whole “pietro sacrifices the last of his aura to revive her” theory is gone. i hate that theory lmao

i will say, while i enjoyed penny’s role this volume, i do think that maybe some of her screentime could’ve gone elsewhere. i get that there needed to be a lot of focus on her, so that we would be attached when she died, but i think it would’ve been beneficial to spread that screentime elsewhere just a bit, especially since she wasn’t really developing at all. hitting the same point with her like seven times did start to feel a bit repetitive lol. my vote would be for extra time with the schnees, or the jn(o)r reunion at schnee manor, or maybe a scene checking in with pietro and maria!!

emerald:

EMERALD MY BELOVED

YOU DEFECTED!!!! GOOD FOR YOU GIRL!!!!

i hope we get a LOT more time with her in the future. she’s still gotta work out the cinder thing of course but i also think it’s gonna be super interesting to see how she acts now that she (alongside oscar, ren, nora, the hh, and winter) is one of the closest things their group has to a “leader”

also like........good for her for being one of the LEAST traumatized people this volume despite being THREATENED BY SALEM

somebody give emerald a nice long hug

i love her

that is all

winter:

WINTER OH MY GOD

seeing her struggle with her emotions all volume.....only to finally accept them and save marrow’s life.....and because of that choice she realizes how long overdue it was and goes all in on helping the heroes.....and is eventually chosen to become the next winter maiden by the girl who challenged her to accept her emotions in the first place......😭😭😭 chef’s kiss

“you chose nothing. this was a gift.” *demolishes ironwood but doesn’t stick around cause he’s not worth it* *fights cinder* POETIC CINEMA!!!!!

also i cannot wait to see her schneeunion with willow, whitley, and klein.......even if she does have to be the one to tell them what happened to weiss 😭

cinder:

CINDER I HATE YOU BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU’RE SUCH A GOOD VILLAIN

her backstory was pretty self explanatory but i think this was a good time to spell it out especially while we were in atlas. the culmination of that, her consistent failures to achieve her goals after v3, and watts dragging her really all just came together to make her so much more intimidating and efficient and i loved watching it.

like i know there’s people who don’t like her as a character but she’s always so fun to watch and her va does AMAZING and she’s just. so INTERESTING

also. i cannot wait for her to find out that ruby and neo are both alive (and especially when salem finds out they’re both alive LMAO)

also also her line to ruby about never being born feels.......awfully specific??? i wonder if it’s a hint at some other part of salem/cinder/ruby/summer lore (like her “and i refuse to starve” line from last volume)

also also also CINDER.......lying to salem is gonna backfire on you at one point or another.......HM

salem:

gosh i love salem. she’s such a good villain and i loved all her scenes (especially the fight scene...SO COOL).

very interested in whatever she does next!! since the only remaining lackey she has is cinder (who is now starting to try to manipulate her) and tyrian and mercury, who are in vacuo, i’m curious about her next steps. is she gonna keep recruiting, now that people know who she is?? is she gonna come to vacuo herself?? she could definitely do a WHOLE LOT OF DAMAGE with the refugee situation there, so i’m super excited to see how her next moves play out!!

hazel/tyrian/watts/merc/neo:

rip hazel. glad we were able to get an INSANE fight scene out of him before his death BUT ALSO WHAT’S WITH YOU BEATING THE SNOT OUT OF A 14 YEAR OLD HUH

listen. listen. i know merc-rescues-oscar was never a possibility BUT i still love that idea. it lives in my mind rent free!!!

i feel like mercury’s gonna be so insane after the worst road trip ever in a confined space with tyrian that he’s gonna be immediately redeemed by team sssnn and the power of himbofication upon landing in vacuo LMAO

real talk though, i am VERY interested in what happens when mercury sees emerald again and learns she defected. like, this is his friend, who he’s tried to keep safe the only way he knows how (by keeping his head down and not angering their abuser) and she got out but he didn’t. GOD. AND in the first fight she was in after defecting, she used the move that she learned by watching him!!!! that’s gonna be SO GOOD and i can’t wait to see it!!!

neo is a wildcard and i love watching her fight and i think it’s SO INTERESTING that she went over the side with rwby and jaune and i CAN’T WAIT to see what she does next.

WATTS MY DUDE. what a GOOD volume for him. like the stuff where he yells at cinder was SO COOL to see and it was so funny that he thought that wasn’t gonna come back to bite him LMAO. i think this was super fitting for him and while i like him as a villain, i think this was a good place for his story to end. i had a lot of fun watching his scenes this volume.

qrow/robyn:

I LOVE THEIR SIBLING ENERGY. robyn talking qrow down and them bonding over their semblances together was so great.

i also loved qrow’s semblance...evolving?? changing?? idk what exactly happened yet, but i know that if i too hung out with robyn hill for 48 hours straight my outlook on life would improve dramatically.

i do hope robyn makes it to vacuo soon because she will be invaluable at handling the refugee crisis there.

on the other hand, if qrow gets to vacuo and finds out that ruby and yang (and three more of his adopted kids) never made it........PAIN. oh my god it’s gonna be like summer all over again 😭😭

aceops:

did not expect to get teary-eyed when vine died. and yet i did. that “themes of death” cw on the finale was CERTAINLY SOMETHING HUH

hell yeah marrow!!! what a good boi!!! i loved his defection ofc and him going off on ironwood...chefs kiss

i hope marrow sticks with the main cast. he’s my favorite and he deserves to see his friends again!!!

as for elm and harriet, i’m not sure?? i think harriet still has a lot of work to do before she’s redeemed in my eyes. maybe they can be dropped off at beacon to help glynda fight the grimm/rebuild so that they can be back for the show’s ending but the cast is somewhat trimmed for vacuo lmao

also. i know they’re not aceops. but WHERE ARE FLYNT AND NEON ARE THE MEME KIDS OKAY

happy huntresses:

may marigold is literally perfect in every way

loved them! would’ve loved to see more of them lmao. maybe even just cutting back to them in the crater reacting to some of the stuff going on.

i very much hope we get to see them in the future! i know the vacuans aren’t gonna be happy with the atlas/mantle people showing up unannounced but i feel like if there’s anyone who’s gonna be able to earn their respect, it’s the organized-and-saved-the-lives-of-those-downtrodden-by-atlas-happy-huntresses.

maria & pietro:

okay. SO. my thoughts are either that they made it to vacuo (penny did see where amity would touch down, so it’s possible that a portal was placed in that location and they made it through) or qrow picks them up.

either way, i hope we get to see them again. I LOVE THESE TWO GEEZERS!!!

oh, pietro......... *cries*

ironwood:

not much to say here except that i loved it. i loved how he got more and more paranoid, i loved that he vaporized jacques schnee, i loved that he only went cartoon-villain at the last moment, i loved that he died unceremoniously surrounded by the thing he thought would save them all. i love that cinder got in one final chess reference beforehand. 10/10

the hound:

it feels like a lifetime ago that this guy died but holy shit. holy SHIT.

i want whitley to summon the hound!! it was an enemy that pushed him to grow, i think it would be neat!!

ambrosius:

LOVED THIS DUDE. i LOVE how his powers work!!! like, even though it’s magic, it’s so realistic because that’s how creation works!!! you gotta design the EXACT thing you want or else its gonna be fucked up!!!

like. okay. so (back on my engineering bs again lmao) for example. let’s say i’m writing a program where the user enters a number from 1-10 and it’s displayed on the computer screen. so i write whatever code i need that says “take user input and put on screen.” that’s what ambrosius did when he created the portals and the pathways between them!

and then let’s say i also put a warning to the user that says “only enter numbers from 1-10.” that would be ambrosius saying “do not fall.”

but...the user can still enter whatever they want. what happens if they put in the number 100? what happens if they type a letter? this program only puts numbers from 1-10 on screen, so who knows what’s gonna happen. and that’s what happens when people fall off the railings!!!

“oh, but you told them what numbers to enter” yeah but humans are unpredictable and ya gotta account for the human element when doing stuff like this!! team rwby didn’t account for people falling off--because why would people fall off if they were told not to? but the human element messed that up anyway!!!

anyways i’m a fucking nerd apparently but it was super cool to see that reflected in ambrosius!!! i’m a big fan!!!

like whenever people call him tricky or sneaky...no!!! he was just doing exactly what he was told to do!!!! so good!!!

also i wanna see him hang out with his sister jinn lmao

alright and here’s my thoughts/predictions for v9:

first off i just wanna say that this entire section (this entire post really, but especically this section) is just me spitballing lmao. we literally have ZERO clue what’s happening next or where they are, i’m just throwing out some stuff that’s crossed my mind! whatever crwby gives us is gonna be infinitely better than whatever i come up with lmao

that said, i have two ideas for what could be happening in madagascar.

option one is the one i’ve seen other people toss around, which is the whole wonderland-land-of-the-dead thing. i’m kinda torn on this because i think it could be good for penny’s storyline, but not really anyone else’s?? sure, yang and ruby could see summer, but weiss would see...jacques?? and blake would see...adam?? i’m not sure what weiss and blake would have to say to them/learn from them the same way ruby and yang would.

on that same idea, jaune could definitely see pyrrha, but again, i’m wondering what purpose that would serve? obviously jaune’s actions in the finale were guided by pyrrha (or specifically her mom, and realizing that pyrrha never had a choice either), but it’s clear that that’s the case for all of team jnpr, and it will be probably forever. their scene together at pyrrha’s memorial felt like they were closing the door--specifically--on their grief. on the other hand, those actions are super relevant right now and i will never turn down the chance to see pyrrha!!! it’s just free waterworks babey!!!

neo also has roman, but i can’t really see roman admitting to anyone that he got swallowed by a grimm 😭😭 just seems too embarrassing for him LMAO

for penny, i think this could work nicely. all she ever wanted was to not have her life controlled by others--kind of like alice in wonderland (the disney movie version because i am fairy tale illiterate lmao). if penny gets to exist after death in a land where she gets to choose everything for herself i think she would be very happy!

again, if this ends up being the case, crwby could 100% make it work! (and i am 0% opposed to maya model pyrrha.) i just personally am not as sold on this being the case as some others are.

option two imo is vacuo but in the past. which i know seems kind of weird BUT i have reasons!

so we know a few things about vacuo. one, it used to be an oasis and was considered a paradise until atlas and mistral destroyed it for the dust. two, it has giant motherfucking crabs that people like to eat. yes this is all i have to go off of BUT both of those things are in the end credits scene we got!

also, them landing in past-vacuo makes sense on ambrosius’ level. their “one way ticket” probably didn’t include all four dimensions of coordinates--so i could see them landing in the same x, y, and z as the official doorway, but at a different time. the creation would still do exactly what it was asked to do--drop them in vacuo.

there’s also a couple other things. “vacuo” means “in a vacuum” which i’ve heard v9 is supposed to be. also in before the dawn, sun saw some bigass magic tree that awakened his semblance which this one definitely could qualify as

(okay. side note. when i first saw the tree i thought of the glowy tree from james cameron blue people avatar. IDK WHY, i haven’t seen that movie in years??? i also had to google it to make sure i wasn’t making it up and apparently it’s called the “tree of souls.” which would also make sense if it helped sun awakened his semblance. i don’t think rwby based something off of blue people avatar, it’s probably more likely that blue people avatar is based off of some fairytale/mythology that i don’t know anything about LMAO)

i don’t actually think option two is gonna happen, but it was fun to think about!!

also either option opens the opportunity to time not passing 1:1 in current vacuo & rwby’s island getaway which???????? AHHHHH

alright so now to the actual characters lmao. i mentioned wby earlier. i honestly have no clue what neo’s gonna be up to, she’s such a wild card and i LOVE IT.

ruby and jaune is gonna be...........PAIN. NO MATTER WHAT. i have no idea how ruby is gonna react--she might just be so overwhelmed by everything that she snaps/yells at jaune which. PAIN. but she also might not?? which. ALSO PAIN. i feel like no matter what ruby does, jaune’s gonna blame himself anyway. god. i love their friendship SO MUCH and this is gonna HURTTTT

and on that, he doesn’t have ren and nora this time to pull him back from the ledge. this dude’s guilt complex is gonna go crazy especially since he doesn’t have his team and double especially if ruby/rwby blames him for what happened. god it’s gonna HURT TO WATCH.

on a wildly different note, i hope we do get to see vacuo/qrow throughout volume 9. if i go a whole volume without ren and nora i WILL cry lmao.

also it’s gonna be super interesting to see how their group fares!!! vacuo’s fuckin nuts and i’d love to see winter just destroying the grimm there (3 headed giraffe my beloved) and see how the atlas/mantle refugees handle the climate--and how the vacuans react to all of them LMAO

ALSO!!!! THE SULFER FISH WERE THERE!!! very glad to see that they’re in vacuo too because from the concept art it seems like they have super unique abilities and i’m excited that we may get to properly see them, instead of just cameos!!!

team cfvy pspspspspspsps theodore and rumpole pspspspspsps team sssnn pspspspspsps

and, of course, i gotta mention that any possible jnr reunion WILL tear my heart out and i will probably cry for days. i gotta start emotionally preparing now LMAO

alright and that wraps it up!! if anyone makes it down to the bottom props to you!! i don’t expect anyone to actually read this mess lmao. tldr: INCREDIBLE volume and i’m so hype for v9 already!!!

[cactusandfir]

✨✨✨

thank you sasha! I chose if the fates allow because 1) jacob/annica/elias are very cute and I think more people should write for them 2) I had the realization last night that three of my four works on ao3 are some sort of poly configuration and I didn’t necessarily plan that but I can’t say it’s ooc for me as a person and 3) I feel like the two of us are the handshake meme about religious themes haha

I was having a time about Christmas and wanted to write something soft and good so this is mostly self-indulgent projection, but I like to think it’s not too off the mark for them, or at least the character details I made up after watching like, two interviews each.

The snow falls softly that evening, obscuring the stained-glass windows of the church, turning them into indistinct splashes of vibrant color. Jacob hasn’t been to a Christmas Eve service since he lived in Gavle full-time, and if pressed he wouldn’t say he missed it. But here in this unfamiliar city, with an old friend who speaks his mother tongue, the windows are a welcome beacon of his new home.

Yeah okay this is mostly projecting BUT there is an interview detail that I can no longer find where Jacob says he prefers to speak Swedish at home.

Staying with Lindy and Annica has been just the respite he needed. It’s not like he was unhappy in Vancouver, but choices like these are inevitable when chasing the cup. And to end up in Calgary, where both the team and the boys really wanted him? Who was he to question that? It felt like the right time for a fresh start. There is also an interview from 2019 I think? I really need to be better about bookmarking my sources, but he admits to being open to a trade if he feels he can’t win a cup in Vancouver because he’s getting older and he wants to win :(

The service is nice if kind of boring in English. The real joy is watching Annica’s eyes light up at the massive floral display, her hair shining in the low lamplight, the way Elias wraps his arm around her shoulder during the processional. Jacob meets his eye over her shoulder and can see his own contentment reflected back at him.

A comfortable hush descends between them as they walk to the car, not that they’re particularly outspoken on a normal night. It only breaks when Annica asks about their plans in the morning, “So which one of you is going to make me breakfast tomorrow?”  Based on the collective ninety seconds we’ve seen the three of them interacting, I read Annica as being, not dominant, that’s not the right word, but like, the organizer in the relationship. Like, she knows what she wants and how to get it, and the boys are 100% okay with letting her take the lead.

Lindy laughs, “Marky can do it, he’s the freeloader.”

“If I’m just a freeloader, see if I help you with dinner now!”

They all know he’s going to be the one to make breakfast, he’s always the first one up anyway. Lindy just takes every chance he can get to chirp Jacob about living with them, and Annica starts it a lot of the time, but it’s all in jest. Since they opened their home to him during his transition to Calgary it’s gone better than they could have hoped.

The ride back is quiet too. Jacob drives, it’s the least he can do, and Annica bops her head gently to the jazzy Christmas music they’ve been playing non-stop for the last few weeks. There’s cookies and tea waiting for them back at the house, and even though tomorrow will be a full day of talking to their various families and friends across the world, they’ll make time for the ritual. They make time for each other…but also apparently in Sweden Christmas is celebrated on the Eve as it is in my own easter European background, so I thought about them reserving the most important day of the holiday just for themselves, then bringing their families in for the more Americanized day.

It’s after midnight when they get home and shed their layers to sit by the fire with their late-night snack.

Annica breaks the silence once again, “I don’t know who made these delicious cookies, but whoever they were I would like to have them around to bake for me all the time.”

“I think that can be arranged.” Jacob replies.

“Yes, you deserve baking every day if you want it.” Elias confirms.

“I’m a lucky woman, to have two men who will cook with me. We did good this year.”

Elias pulls Annica into his lap and kisses her softly on the neck. She is a lucky woman, but that makes Jacob a lucky man as well, to be allowed to share in these intimate parts of their relationship. It wasn’t all seamless at first, with Jacob not sure what was open to him and what wasn’t, it’s not like they talked about it in so many words, but after weeks of dancing around each other they opened their hold and brought him in to move with them. More organic! poly! triads! I know many people draw a boundary for reading or writing about gf’s or family members and that’s totally understandable, I grappled with it for a bit writing this, which is one of the reasons its g-rated, but hockey rpf is so good for all sorts of non-traditional relationship structures! Everyone is moving around and living with different people and I think it’s fun.

“Yes, we did,” Jacob says as he comes to join them on the couch, “Thank you for keeping me around, even if it’s just for my help in the kitchen.”

“You know we love having you here, and you’re welcome to stay as long as you like.” Annica says, turning so she can rest her legs over Jacob’s lap, sitting across both of them.

Jacob had been making noise about finding his own place, but if he’s being honest with himself, he would stay as long as they’d have him.

He smiles and places his own kiss atop where he thinks he saw Elias’ earlier. It’s close enough to make the point. That he’s in this as much as they are, this was definitely meant to be more about devotion than possessiveness. When he brushes Annica’s hair aside it makes her sigh.

“Let’s go to bed, we have a lot to do tomorrow.” Annica keeping them organized again.

Before they can get up Elias hugs them both to him until Annica lets out a little squeak, “Yes ma’am!” But it’s balanced out by Elias and Jacob appreciating it, it’s not work that goes unnoticed, and if I ever write for them again, or really and m/m/f situation I want to explore a bit more of the balance of work in the relationship but that was too much to tackle for 800 words of fluff!

They all wander off to their own nightly routines before reuniting in Annica and Elias’ bedroom, where you can find them most nights. Since he still uses the bathroom connected to his room on the other side of the house, Jacob turns the lights off on his way. He pauses in the living room and looks at the lit tree before he turns those lights off too. He still can’t quite believe how peaceful it is here. Maybe it’s just the season, but he thinks it’s more than that this year. All goalies deserve a peaceful house and this is also a slight reference to how chaotic the last season had been.

He turns down the bed while he listens to the low hum of Elias and Annica talking in the bathroom still; they’ll join him when they’re ready.

He’s most of the way asleep when Annica slides into bed beside him and scoots back into the curve of his body, pulling his arm over her waist so they’re spooning. Elias lies down on her other side facing them both and pulls the blanket up so they’re cocooned together, cozy and warm. Jacob burrows his face into her neck, but addresses the room at large, “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Jacob.”

And scene! Just a cozy little story about home and belonging.

[helihi]

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty: Spop season 5

I’ve stopped screaming, and I took the time to rewatch season 5 with my little brother. So, here are my thoughts:

The Good

Horde Prime - The cult™ : I really dig the aesthetics, that combo of religious fanatics + fascism hit good. The crew did a good job at portraying Horde Prime as the ultimate villain of the show. He was engaging to watch and his ideology was pretty clear. The way they played with the hive mind concept was really fun, and it was Horde Prime’s biggest strength. He was also a very good manipulator, successfully playing with Glimmer and Adora. He was unsuccessful with Catra because she had already hit her lowest point.

Entrapta: honestly, she was the most hilarious character this season. Not only was she engaging to watch and listen to, I felt really connected to her this season. The fight with Mermista hit really good and it hurt, but you could see her trying her best. I love how open she is and how accepting of everyone and everything. I’m glad we got to see so much of her this season.

Scorpia: baby, she only deserves good things in life. When she got mind control, you could see how fucking powerful she is, but luckily for us, we got to see her shine independently before that. Her interactions with Swift Wind, Perfuma, and Double Trouble made her shine. She’s smart, talented, and without an evil bone in her body. I’m happy she can move on from Catra and find love and friendship. (I hope she reconnects with Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle in the future too)

Mermista: babe, you were always mood. She has been consistently funny, her get ups and plans are so entertaining to watch, but also: her relationship with Sea Hawk is great! They are definitely made for each other. I’m sad she was mine controlled for the other half of the season, but I’m happy we got to see a lot of her before. (Also she burned someone’s ship OMG GANGSTER SUIT)

Sea Hawk: happy to see him back. He was funny as always, and I’m happy he got his moment with Mermista at the end. 

Perfuma: “ADORA, WHAT DO YOU HAVE THERE?” “A TANK” “NO!” Her relationship with Scorpia is so good! I wish we could’ve seen more.

Netossa: I was one of those who was sad to know the 2 canon lesbians of the show were just background characters. I am so incredibly happy to see her shine this season! SHE SAID MY WIFE. She is the queen of the roasts and I stan.

Spinnerella: Dude, I didn’t know you were this powerful what the fuck. Also, your wife is super cute and she draws like Noelle.

Emotional Support Cat: Bro, I love Melog’s design. I think it was a really clever way to have Catra express her feelings and process them out loud for the audience by giving Catra a supernatural cat.

New She-ra design: I see the subtle reference to Bow, Glimmer and Catra in the design. Honestly, Adora looks 100% more badass.

Not Hordak: I really wish he had picked a name from himself. Aside from Entrapta, this might be the other hilarious character of the season. He goes through his individualization process in a healthier way than Hordak and showcases that the clones can be different from Horde Prime and rehabilitated. I wonder how he will feel about Hordak? But we got no epilogue so idk I guess.

Darla: I can’t believe they named the ship, but I love it.

The Best Friends Squad: I swear to god, when Bow, then Glimmer and then Catra interrupted Adora’s train of thought, I knew we were going to have a great dynamic. The way their characters play of each other is hilarious. Bow, who usually has the only braincell, is cautious and a total dad; Adora is the dumb jock with the heart of gold that gets herself into trouble; Glimmer is the chaotic enchantress with no patience; and finally Catra who’s got all her walls up, but gets shit done. I want a show of them together going on misions and almost dying in the process, thank you.

Catra Redemption: You wanted it, and here you have it! I was cheering for Catra this whole season while proclaiming I’d die for her (which I had only reserved for Scopia previously). Though things may be a little rushed, Catra takes her time to process things, and goes back and forth a couple of times. She deflects, lies, and runs away, but in the end she opens up and rushes back.

In general, the season was packed with content. I was never bored through any episodes and I honestly laughed outloud while watching it alone and later with my brother. There were moments when we paused the episode to discuss what had just happened or to process new information. This makes me feel even more weird about the bland season 2/3 division.

The Bad

Okay so, let me make this clear: I will never attack a ship or anyone who supports it. In this blog we multiship like adults and respect other people’s OTPs.

That being said, while this season was long and packed with content, it also felt rushed when it came to the relationships of the main cast

Glimmer - Catra: The prison episodes had barely any interactions between both of them. I wish they’ve had had more time to talk and to connect. There were Glitra moments that make me feel happy, and my brother was for a moment convinced that they could be canon. They are foils of each other after season 4. The conversation they had, where they realize they had a lot of things in common could’ve been a catalyst for both of them to grow and heal. However, Catra has her change of heart really soon and saves Glimmer, which prevents any deep interactions between them in the future. Aside from the jokes, Catra must be with Adora, and Glimmer must be with Bow, so everything else gets dropped.

Glimmer - Adora: The conflict between them after Angela’s “death” was one of the main plot points of last season. When they reunite again, their issues are solved in a couple of minutes and then brushed off. They really don’t have big interactions after that, which feels completely OOC and empty.

Glimmer - Bow: I wasn’t the only one who felt the sharp turn of their relationship. In previous seasons, it was really platonic, but as soon as they see each other again you know they are going to end up together. The camera zoomed on them, Bow was always holding her protectively, the way they looked at each other change. Since Glimmer is not allowed to have intimate moments with anyone else, it kinda dulls everything up. Don’t get me wrong, I love some best friends to lovers, but in this case it felt rushed for me. If I pinpoint the moment things turned romantic for them, it’s the first time they interact in person this season. It didn’t feel organic (contrast with a ship like Korrasami, where you can point at the moment Asami realized she had feelings for Korra, and then later when Korra’s attitude towards Asami changes after the time skip).

Adora - Catra: Honey, we all knew this was going to be end game, and I love the fact that Catra is dealing with her feelings and Adora acknowledges that. However, after the end of season 3, I’d have expected things to progress a little slower. Catra did put some resistance with the chip scene, but even afterwards, what would’ve been better paced with more episodes, was condensed in a few. Don’t get me wrong. I love that Catra redemption, but I’d have loved a better pacing.

BTW for anyone interested: I ship Glitradora, so any of the 3 ships ending up canon were good for me, and I liked Bow/Glimmer, just preferred them as bffs.

There’s a list of characters that barely show up that could’ve had more screentime:

Huntara: barely appears at all. She’s seen fighting, but there are no references to her or a storyline with her.

Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle: briefly shown. The gay couple of the century have adopted the baby demon and are now the best dads in the desert. Lonnie is their braincell.

Double Trouble: at least they had a scene and lines, but I feel like they could’ve been more involved after they were discovered by Scopria, especially since they escaped with Sea Hawk and Perfuma.

The Star Siblings: idk man, they were part of a whole episode and then faded into the background. It was a glorified cameo for an episode where Glimmer and Bow fight.

Glimmer’s Aunt: sorry but I was asking “where the hell is she?” until she finally showed up late. She barely had any purpose.

The Dirty

Hey, guys, girls, and nonbinary pals, can we sit down and talk about redemptions?

IDK about you, but just because a show is aimed at kids you shouldn’t “redeem” all the villains. This trend bothers me specially when it touches on abuse or totalitarian leaders.

Shadow Weaver was an abuser until the end. She shouldn’t have had a heroic sacrifice, and her “I’m proud of you” line was bitter for me. I’ve said before I was raised in an abusive household and I don’t think it’s healthy to tell children that you can change your abuser or that you can expect them to change without therapy. I’m glad Shadow Weaver died, but I wish her death wasn’t in any way shape or form considered a “redemption”. A heroic act of sacrifice doesn’t erase all the pain she cause and the years of trauma Catra and Adora have had to endure.

Hordak. HEY HEY ETRAPDAK SHIPPERS DON’T COME FOR ME! I was weirded up by the ship until I realized Etrapta is in her late 20s. I’m happy they found each other but I think it’d be better if Hordak had to redeem himself through a life of service to Etheria. He can't erase the horrible things he has done, but with the help of Entrapta and others, he could give back to the community he ruined. Since we don’t have an epilogue, we just see him reuniting with Entrapta at the end and that’s it.

ALSO SOMEONE GIVE MICAH A HAIR TIE. My man, you are not in a hostile island anymore, go rock a dad bun or a dad ponytail!

--

How do you guys feel about it?

I’m here looking at cute GIFs of Catra and that kiss scene on repeat. I want a Rogelio poster, he was my boy.

[trifoliate-undergrowth]

Episode 4.2: Steve: The Intergalactic Kevin

DM: By popular demand, one night only, a largely improv emergency meeting. If you drive me to alcoholism I’m billing you for therapy.

T: M, if you get sued for therapy bills, it’s coming out of the wedding budget. (T and M got engaged over Christmas break)

Everyone: OOOOOOO

DM: Corellia is one of the major core worlds, in a system with 4 others, but it’s the largest and closest to the main star; part of the Republic but maintains its own navy. Its main specialty is shipping and transportation.

Grif: OK, here’s the thing. I’ve been thinking about what you said, Rralwarr; the ship is a death trap, what if we turn it on them? Like, booby-trap it with bombs, set it to fly off somewhere on autopilot, and when they board the ship it’ll blow up with them in it hopefully. Now, there’s a couple more things you guys will hate.

Taveau: Oh I’m liking it so far.

Grif: You won’t. We’ll need to leave some things behind to make it look like we died. Your armor for one. 

Taveau: Ex-CUSE me

Grif: ...and three bodies off the black market. Also a wookiee pelt. 

Rralwarr: HOLD UP NOW. If I see someone with a wookiee pelt, I’m going to rip their arms off. 

Taveau: Grif? You... seem to be taking this well. Uh, more or less. So, uh. I’ve got some stuff to mention. 

Grif: Go ahead. 

Taveau:  Here’s what I noticed... First, we assist in killing a member of Death Watch; they’re killed with a blast to the throat. A short amount of time passes, and in that time, two things happen: we get a message from Death Watch, showing that they know who we are. And someone kills your mother with a blast to the throat, which is exactly the way that we killed the Death Watch guy down on Hypori. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me. It seems like they’re trying to send you a message. And if I’m right, that means there’s already someone on Alderaan, and they know where to find your family.  I still think we should change ships, because if there’s anyone following us, it might throw them off, and we’ll have fewer of these guys waiting for us when we get to Alderaan. But we should do it fast.

Rralwarr: Right. Here’s my concern, Grif; I think these guys are smarter than you think. I don’t think your dad is safe, and I think he said what he did at gunpoint. Your dad isn’t that stupid. There’s something else going on here. 

H, OOC: Rralwarr feels torn that he cannot uphold all of his duties at once. He legit thinks Grif’s idea is mildly OK, aside from the wookiee pelt, but no matter what they do they’re going to end up fighting the Mandalorians.

Grif: Right. So, any way we can get back at them now is a good start. We need to lose the ship that they’re tracking, and we need to get back there as quickly as possible. This idea seems the best for doing that without getting anyone else in danger. If we just leave the ship on Corellia, we could be implicating the people who end up with it. 

Rralwarr still doesn’t like the idea of wookiee pelts. He leaves the cockpit. 

Taveau spins around in his pilot chair. “So. Uh, he’s upset. How much family do you have on... Alderaan, is it?” 

Grif: Yes. My dad and uh.. a bunch of siblings. 

Taveau: Oh, that’s not good. If it was just your dad they’d be more likely to keep him alive to use against you. If you’ve got multiple family members they could start killing them off at any time. 

No one questions Taveau’s knowledge of Death Watch, to my surprise; apparently they just assume it’s cultural knowledge and accept it. Taveau is very relieved about this. 

We land on Corellia, and Grif’s current plan involves selling the ship to someone, because “we need the credits”, but setting the autopilot so it flies away before they can claim it, and hopefully getting off the planet before we’re arrested for this little scam. Taveau doesn’t like it but doesn’t have a better idea. Rralwarr really, really doesn’t like it but is in a similar position. 

Taveau leaves his helmet in the cockpit, so he can have an excuse to run back into the ship after it’s officially been sold and grab it (and also set the autopilot at the same time). Additionally, with his poncho covering most of his armor, he can walk around town looking like your average shady individual, and not a distinctly Mandalorian brand of shady. Upon us asking what the chances of being attacked around here are: 

DM: There is pretty heavy police presence here, CorSec does not take kindly to disruptions. ...(repeats, pointing at M/Grif): CorSec does not take kindly to disruptions...

M: That’s why we need to get out of here fast after we set the autopilot :) 

DM: ...It’s not likely that Death Watch would prefer to start a firefight here. You’re heading into the Corellian Engineering Corp. headquarters, yes? You are immediately accosted by at least 3 dealers, complimenting your hair, your robes, and waving information pamphlets at you. 

Grif: Thank you! Lovely! I’ll consider it. One moment. (OOC: can I roll perception to see who has the best deal?) 

DM: yeah go ahead. (he rolls high) You notice this one guy standing back a bit, close to the wall-- 

M: I GO OVER TO HIM 

DM: What do you say? 

Grif: Ah! Interesting tactic, not rushing me~ 

DM: ...Roll charisma. (fail) Yeah he just kinda... gives you a slightly offended look, says “I’m busy” and walks away. 

M: Oh. 

Meanwhile, Rralwarr is hanging out in the courtyard near our ship, trying to keep an eye on our surroundings. He rolls a 9 on perception. 

DM: ...Yeah, you don’t see anything unusual. You do notice a very fascinating fountain. You stare at that for a while. 

Grif, meanwhile, heads for the table marked “sales and trade-ins” and identifies his ship type to the droid attendant. He’s sent out with a scanner team to check the condition of the ship. 

Taveau, who’d started off to check out one of the other dealers, hears that Grif has it handled and, relieved that he doesn’t have to talk to anyone, rejoins Rralwarr. Taveau also manages to roll a 9 on perception (2, originally, with modifiers). He, too, becomes enamored with the fountain. He stands by Rralwarr and contemplates his place in the universe. While Grif accomplishes things, the two of them gaze at the fountain together. 

Grif chats up the scanner team foreman while the rest of the dudes set up the scanner. Eventually they call him inside to look at something and Grif waits outside, tucking his hands inside his sleeves and gripping the tiny concealed blaster he keeps up one of his sleeves (which I only heard about very recently, and this makes me wonder if Taveau has noticed it. Possibly, as it seems like something he’d notice. But possibly not, because as we all know, he’s kind of clueless.) 

M: Grif feels edgy. 

DM: Do you mean he feels On Edge or is he just... intentionally acting as edgy as possible 

H: Oh it’s definitely that

M: Edgy, probably. I mean it’s not like he’s actually going to shoot anyone, he’s just gripping his gun and feeling edgy for the sake of edginess. 

There’s muffled conversation from inside. oh, really?...huh...well, that’s... interesting...

The foreman reappears, carrying a small device in his hand, and tells Grif that the ship seems to be in pretty good reselling condition, but the scan found a hyperspace tracker on the bottom of the engine. He’s guessing that they bought it from a secondhand dealer, as some of the less-scrupulous of those will often attach a tracker to a ship so they can track it down if payments aren’t met. He also volunteers that it only transmits when in hyperspace, and gives it to Grif when he asks. 

(Lore-wise this tracker bugs me a bit because hyperspace technology was considered brand new in The Last Jedi, which is considerably later than the time period we’re playing in. I then consider the fact that we’re playing a game for fun and not accuracy and that it’s a cool concept and I tell myself to take a chill pill.)

Foreman: Also, you have excellent taste in rum. 

Grif: Oh, yes! Why don’t we get it down, actually, to celebrate the sale? 

Foreman: That’s not a bad idea. I’ll send the boys back early. 

The Rest of the Party: * C O N C E R N * 

M: guys I’m gonna be fine don’t worry. 

And in fact Grif did not die. Grif didn’t even drink (rum). He had water, and he gave the rest of the bottle to the foreman as a gift, considering he couldn’t let Rralwarr see it with him anyway. The foreman, for his part, left in an excellent mood and promised to give his ship a really good report. 

I think this may have been the first time Grif succeeded with charisma. M comments that, thanks to the character change, he’s more focused than usual. 

We reunite and discuss an alternate plan, now that we have the tracker: take it with us on the new ship, hyperspace-jump to the middle of absolutely nowhere, fling the tracker off the ship and then hightail it to Alderaan. Taveau grabs his helmet and, taking the tracker along, we trade in our old ship for a shiny new one. 

DM asks if we’d like to name the ship. H/Rralwarr don’t have ideas. M goes “yeah I don’t think Grif really cares right now.” So it’s up to me. 

“...Steve?” (laughter. The DM is going to accept it) “No wait. The.... The Intergalactic Kevin.” (H really likes that one but I feel like I should come up with a name that isn’t a joke) “Wait, I’ve got it: Blindsider.” 

A good name, as Taveau sincerely hopes that they’ll be able to reach Alderaan undetected in this ship. Everyone likes the name, the DM okays it, and we have a newly-christened ship (with two sonic showers). 

Someone suggests that we get a party pet, some kind of space dog, and name it Steve: The Intergalactic Kevin. 

Rralwarr, a little calmed down now that we’ve found a plan that doesn’t involve massive amounts of deception, swindling, and disrespecting the remains of the dead, goes to talk to Grif as Taveau is starting it up. 

Grif: I’m gonna be fine, it’s just.. this entire day all I’ve been able to think about has been Alderaan. I wanna go home, but also I wanna stay away as much as possible. And when I think of Alderaan I think of mom, but she won’t be there...it’ll just be a house, it won’t be the same. And I still kinda wanna get back at those Mandalorians. But I know we don’t have the power to do that, and it just frustrates me.

The two share a moment. The moment is interrupted: 

Taveau: HEY GUYS ARE WE TAKING OFF? 

Grif: ..YeS

Rralwarr: Grif, I know you’re under a lot of stress, and I don’t blame you for your suggestions, and while your suggestion regarding the wookie pelts deeply offends me, I know you were more concerned with getting us off here safely than with how you did it, and I understand. Don’t do that again, though. You know very well how wookies treat their dead. 

Grif: I know, trust me, humans are the same way. I’m sorry, I know that was out of place, and... I wish I could say that I wouldn’t have done it.

Rr: We’re at war, things happen... I didn’t have a better idea at the time.

Grif: also I’m still not certain that people won’t get hurt because of our ship. 

Rr: there’s no perfect way to handle this. Let’s think of it this way: we’re going back to protect the rest of your family, they’re all targets; we’re all in danger now, we need to make sure they’re safe.

We take off, make the jump, and stop to dispose of the tracker. Taveau rolls really well on piloting and I decide that this ship has really easy controls. Here’s where Mistakes Happen. 

Me: Can I do the honors of yeeting the tracker into space? 

DM: Absolutely. There’s, like, a waste disposal hatch, and you-- 

H: You should roll dex for that!

Me: What? For shoving something down a garbage chute? 

H: Yes. Because it’d be really funny if you failed. 

Me:...ok

DM: Excellent! Roll! 

Me: 

Me: a 1 

H: HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Me: WHAT. WHAT HAPPENS TO ME. 

DM: ....which hand are you using? 

Me, recognizing that this is an opportunity for mercy and deciding not to take it: I mean realistically probably my dominant hand, which is my right. 

DM: It’s stuck. 

Rralwarr: I grab your arm and pull you out!

DM: And now your wrist is broken. 

Me: GREAT. THAT WAS MY SHOOTING HAND. 

Rralwarr treats me with his medic skills and fixes me up with a wrist brace. I’m told that I’ll be alright in a few days (presumably Rralwarr inflicted some sort of rapid-heal treatment upon me?), but I should, in the meantime, avoid stressing my hand. Specifically, I shouldn’t fire any weapons with recoil. 

Yeah, good luck with that. 

As we end the session, I ask H if Rralwarr has any painkillers. H says gleefully that he does indeed, and that he’s looking forward to seeing a high Taveau. 

masterpost

[stilesssolo]

Ok, here’s a question: what did you think of tlj, honestly?

Sorry this took so long to answer, I had to go DIGGING through my twitter DMs with Allison to find what I sent her right after I saw the movie, because I lowkey haven’t watched it since it was in theaters, and I didn’t want to forget anything. 

I honestly thought TLJ was very... meh. Like. I didn’t hate it. I CERTAINLY didn’t love it. There were certain parts I really liked, and certain parts I really hated. It was probably my least favorite Star Wars movie (other than Phantom Menace, which is truly a very useless film, tbh) and that just... it aggravates me so much? I wanted to love it SO bad. But I came out of the theater just feeling... really indifferent towards it. 

Like I said, there were certain parts that I loved. I loved Luke and Leia’s interactions at the end. I loved the fight between Luke and Kyle Ron, especially when it cut back to Luke on Ahch-To. As much as I sobbed, I thought Luke’s death scene was beautifully done, with the Force Theme playing and the binary sunsets in front of him. I actually for the most part enjoyed all of the stuff that took place on Crait, and everyone reuniting on the Falcon afterwards. I really liked the ending scene with the little kids on Canto Bight, and that idea that the Force is for EVERYONE, not just the legacies of the Skywalker family. I also loved the female representation in the movie-- I LOVED Rose to pieces, Holdo was pretty cool, LEIA MY QUEEN like I don’t think I need to say more about her, just in general how there are female pilots and soldiers and background people like there never are in the OT. 

That being said, there were definite things I did not enjoy and did not agree with. While I loved Rose, her adventure with Finn seemed... almost pointless? I really love those two characters, and I loved them together, but their mission to find this one singular code breaker just seemed so poorly done and poorly thought out? (I mean writing wise, not like, the characters’ plan.) The movie was two hours and forty five minutes, and it FELT like it. (Unlike Infinity Wars, which had about the same run time and FLEW by.) I feel like the middle section really dragged, and that the whole thing felt about an hour too long. I just really wish that the other story lines apart from Rey’s had been... more well-considered, I think. They just felt kind of thrown together and unclear. Like, why DIDN’T Holdo just tell them all the plan, instead of leading Poe to try and stage a coup? It just didn’t feel super believable to me. And I know it’s Star Wars, but even in past movies, characters’ motivations always felt pretty genuine to me. 

The thing I hated the MOST was Rey’s story line. Oh, my poor daughter. I never want Rian anywhere near you again. I’m gonna preface this by saying I LOVE Rey, okay. I was SO disappointed with what they did with her arc. Instead of letting her grow as her own character, they basically reduced her to a plot device meant to further Kylo’s arc and feed his “tragic” backstory. And I don’t care about how innocent and naive she is, okay-- she has NO reason to want to redeem Kylo. He tortured her and killed her father figure in front of her and almost killed Finn, her only friend, as well. I thought the fact that she was suddenly so gung-ho for redeeming him was really ooc and a huge step back for her character, which was so disappointing, because I love Rey. I didn’t necessarily mind that her parents were nobodies-- and I think that REALLY could have tied into the theme at the end of the Force is for everyone, with those little kids, IF her arc had INSTEAD been about her figuring out she comes from nothing and ACCEPTING that. Accepting that she doesn’t NEED this family she’s been waiting around for, because she’s starting to build a new one. 

And I think that kind of touches on what really bugged me so much about this movie-- it would have been SO easy to make it really fantastic while keeping most of the major plot points. You want Luke to be cynical and hate the Jedi, as tough as that is for us to see? Fine, do that, but give him better reasoning. Have him feel like he failed because he couldn’t help save his nephew from the pull of the Dark side, and he couldn’t help save the other students Kylo slaughtered. I think it was RIDICULOUS that Luke “I believe there’s still good in Darth Vader, one of the most evil men in the galaxy” Skywalker sees how dark Ben’s mind is and tries to KILL him instead of HELP him. Like. What? That is NOT the Luke I know and love. 

Another thing-- and this is such a weird complaint-- but I didn’t like how funny it was? Like, sure, you need your few well-placed jokes (That’s not how the Force works) but all the little quips and one liners were just... too much, I though. I felt like I was watching a Joss Whedon movie, not a Star Wars movie. I think it would have felt more Star Wars-y with just a few good jokes. I know that you don’t want this to be just a complete remake of one of the earlier movies, and you want it to be different, but the overall tone just felt way too off with all those jokes, and I didn’t feel like I was watching Star Wars. 

So, yeah. Definitely not my favorite Star Wars movie. There were parts I liked, and parts I hated. I’m really hoping that after seeing all three movies in the trilogy I’ll like it a little better, but right now, it’s remaining very “meh” for me. 

(As a last note, I thought the r/eylo baiting was disgusting. Get that ship away from me, it’s abusive and gross and we don’t need that. JJ, you better not make me deal with that in episode IX.)

[klanceficatalogue]

What's your opinion on season 4?

Anon: i was wondering if any of you has seen the new season? and if so what did you think? (if you dont want to answer thats okay, i was just curious)

ok a couple of things before you read:

1. this obviously contains s4 spoilers!!

2. everything we say is our personal opinion

3. this is the second time ive had to type this all out bc my phone did something weird and deleted it all the first time.. im still salty 

- Karri

ok lets gO (sorry this took so long to post afgh)

Karri: Ok the first thing to get out of the way is the fact there was no klance at all which sucked ass especially since there was so much interesting development last season which they could have built on. The next thing is to mention is how weird half the characters were, Keith was totally contradicting himself, Shiro was not the smooth leader that he was in the first 2 seasons and as IF Coran would buy some drugs off some rando, hes a cautious quirky dude he would n e v e r. So onto plot and such, I actually quite enjoyed how the story is panning out this season unfortunately it seems they prioritized this over the characters development which sucks but I guess you can’t have everything. Ok something that I was SUPER happy about was episode 2!!!! The scene with Matt’s grave had me in tears and when she and Matt finally reunited it was just the best seeing them so happy. Matt is such an utter sweetheart and I’m lowkey bitter that they aren’t making Lance and him bff’s because that would’ve been amazing (imagine all the puns and first bumps). I’m also really happy about Hunk this season!!! He hit it off really well with Matt and Pidge and I like that even though there’s another genius on board Hunk still fits in really well (if not, better). However, I am VERY VERY upset about Lance this season, he got basically no screentime and the time he did get was mostly for comedy which is great sometimes but just not what we needed right now. On the subject of things that were completely missing,,, wheres that lgbtq+ rep you said we’d be happy about huh Jeremy??? Though it is possible he could have been referring to the transgirl Pidge that was quite heavily implied in episode 2 its still not the solid representation that we wanted. Also I’m all for allur@nce friendship but I really reallY hope it doesn’t go beyond that, another ship I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable with now is Sh@tt because even though they’re (probably) the same age Matt acts like a teenager and idk it just seems a bit weird to me. To finish off I’d just like to say that Keith looked so fucking good this season and that is something to be thankful for. That is all from me I’m so sorry for talking so much asfgsdfgh

Maggie: Alright so I agree with Karri on most if not all of her above opinions so my thoughts are going to be a lot shorter, also im going to use bullet points bc it’s easier on my brain

tbh the only really good episode in my opinion was episode 2 bc i would die for the holt siblings

where tf is my boy lance??

why the FUCK would you think that removing keith from voltron is a good idea????????????

they showed hunk being smart and all which is good but the still were making food jokes so,,,,,,

this heteronormativity needs to Stop

this whole season was super ooc except for maybe hunk and pidge

i can’t believe lotor is pulling A Zuko

i am angery about the shitty (aka nonexistent) character development

stop trying to make lance be all creepy about allura

fight scenes were pretty cool

is it bad that I thought BoM was more interesting than the actual voltron squad this season? it might just be bc im highkey in love with keith tho lmao

overall the season was pretty mediocre and half-assed

Vallie: I can’t remember anything. Apparently I wrote down some thoughts somewhere after and the rest is just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I loved the Holt sibling interactions. Pidge running around the castle with Matt and Matt just being like :o made me so happy. And Pidge wears Matt’s glasses?? Dude do you even need glasses? That’s not how glasses work? right? (or maybe I missed it idk). Another detail in their relationship, that gave me shivers, was “Pidge” as a nickname. At first she didn’t even want Matt to call her that, but made it her identity after he disappeared.

I’m kinda wondering about their dad though. The trailers showed Matt was alive, so during the graveyard scene I was just like “hoo boy hoo boy hoo boy mmmmkay so who’s is it??” and convinced myself their dad was buried there, but it wasn’t him? I know it’s a minor detail, but I wanna know what happened to him.

Overall, I had some trouble seeing the overal plot that connected the eps. Disclaimer: I watched this at 4am *cough* karri *cough* (

Maybe the season split could also explain why there was less lance or keith screen time. There was so much in the first part/ s3 that they maybe tried to pull the other characters even in the second part of the season/ s4.

While watching, I thought the writers send keith away so shiro could pilot the black lion, bc as coran put it “he’s the favourite character”. Afterwards I saw some theories, and I agree that Keith leaving voltron would make perfect sense with his vlog (poor bb). I do think it would have been wicked to see what kind of training Keith did at BoM, but maybe we’ll get that next season :)

[mechaspirit]

Light Up the Sky

Author’s note: This is for Choices Creates Round 30, hosted by @holly-park  and  @captainsugarcakes. Of course, it takes place after the gang survives the chaos Rourke had created for them and in my headcannon, regardless of whether or not MC is The Endless, I have a feeling that she might have to sacrifice herself or erase her existence as we speak so that she can reverse the dystopia the world is in and revived all her friends. Sorry if the characters are OOC in this drabble. I don’t know why, but for some reason, it was hard for me to write Aleister in this one. Hope you guys enjoy it, though.

Pairings: MCxJake, DiegoxVaryyn (Variego💗), & GracexAleister.

Summary: The gangs have reunited and decided to head back to La Huerta. Only this time, it’s to celebrate with the Vaanti villagers the time they survived the unfaithful events and the peace that has finally brought forward to the mysterious island.

“I can’t believe that it’s already been two years. Two years after all the craziness we had on this island.”

“I know,” Yurika agreed as she sidles up with her best friend, watching their other friends and the Vaanti doing the last minute touch on the festivities at the beach. Furball, who had become a full grown snow fox, stood beside them, nuzzling at Yurika’s legs, “At least you didn’t spend the last two years rolling in your grave and then trying to catch up with college works to finally graduate and get a degree. Speaking of that, I’m sorry that we didn’t get to graduate on the same year like we promised, Diego.”

“Hey, it’s alright. It’s not like you choose not to,” the Latino man reassured her, “Besides, I’m so glad you’re here and alive now, Yurika. To me, it’s never the same without you. Sure, I have Sean, Craig, Raj, and all the other people to lean on in my senior year. But…but with you gone, I feel like I’m missing someone really important in my life. You’re definitely like an older sister to me.”

“And you’re definitely like a younger brother to me. The one I never had,” the blonde woman replied with a smile, “I really miss you and the others, Diego. I feel like all of you guys are my family now. Being in La Huerta made me realized that.”

To be honest, the festival that is being built up right now is actually a reunion with the Vaanti villagers and the Catalysts, celebrating the day where they managed to restore the chaos Rourke had created and Yurika’s revival. Apparently two years ago, Yurika had chosen to sacrifice herself so that she can revive all her friends and restore the whole world, including their homes near Hartfeld University, from destruction which is basically restoring their times from the Hadean Eon. Her sacrifice had actually brought a lot of heartaches to the other eleven catalysts because they knew that Yurika is actually a glue that brought them all together. Or rather a chain that provides the bond that can almost never be broken.

While the Catalysts are going through a year of adjusting their lives back in the states and trying getting over the loss of their friends, two Vaantis, elyyshar Varyyn and the wise shaman Uqzhaal have come up with a plan by performing a ritual that can revive the Andromeda Catalyst. Reason for that was because the Vaanti owe Yurika their lives of restoring their homes. Especially Varyyn, since he knew how important she is to Diego and that the former wouldn’t be here taking care of his village if it weren’t for her. However, it was a big risk and neither he or Uqzhaal were a hundred percent sure if the ritual would work. Plus, they have to wait for a year for that ritual to be in full process, and Varyyn didn’t want to place false hope onto Diego.

Of course, the ritual appears to be successful seeing that Yurika are finally back at the mysterious island with her friends and celebrating their times with the Vaanti. Everyone is thrilled to finally have the chain back in their lives and made sure that Yurika gets back onto her feet. Zahra and Grace decided to help the blonde woman catch up with her studies. Quinn and Michelle offered Yurika to go shopping with them or visit at their favorite brunch spots. Raj often make frequent visits to her apartment, make sure Yurika is in good health, and teach her how to cook. Sean and Craig invited her to go to their games and the former offered her a drive to a nearby psychologist since Yurika was still having nightmares of the tragic events. Estela is somewhere in another country with her uncle, trying to find out what to do with her life since she already got revenge for her mother, but she still kept in touch with the blonde woman just to make sure that she’s in good health. And of course, Diego stay beside Yurika like any good friends would do, catching up with late night movies and or making sure the latter is in good health like what Raj and Estela is doing. There were still adjustments that are still needed to be done, but Yurika’s revival definitely brought back joy to everyone who survived hardships from the island.

Yurika had to make sure to thank Varyyn and Uqzhaal for bringing her back and reuniting with her friends. As she thought of that, she noticed the former helping Seraxa and the other Vaanti with the preparations. Varyyn managed to sense Yurika in his mind and turned to her direction, nodding at her presence. The latter smiled back in a thankful manner and turned back to her friend.

“So is your family okay with you starting your life here, or rather “traveling over the seas” as we speak?” Yurika asked Diego, motioning him towards the elyyshar. The latter sighed.

“It wasn’t an easy decision, but whenever I’m with Varyyn at Elyys’tel, I feel like I belong here,” he answered before staring at his friend sadly, “I know it’s sudden, but-“

“Hey, don’t worry. I understand,” Yurika reassured him, “This is your choice, and no one can change that. As long as you and Varyyn are happy, I’m happy. It’s just…I’m really going to miss you, Diego.”

“Same here. But no matter what, I promise to keep in touch with you guys,” Diego replied. Then, a smirk slowly appeared on his face as he glanced down on two particular accessories his close friend is wearing now. The dog tags around her neck. And a rusted diamond ring on her finger, “Now that you mentioned my love life, Rika, are you going to say something about yours since your Top Gun is finally a free man now?”

The blonde woman blushed as red as a tomato and then pushed her best friend into water, causing the blue fox to barked (laughed) at him, “Diego!”

The dark hair man got up from the shore and spat some salty water out, “Pfffft! What? I’m serious! His name is finally cleared, you guys are finally back together again and get to start a new chapter back in the U.S.”

“Yeah but…C’mon Diego, you know it’s not like Jake and I are gonna get married anytime soon!” The girl retorted.

Actually, that’s only partially true. Ever since Jake is finally off the criminal record in which his former commander, Rex Lundgren, is responsible for, Yurika managed to reform her relationship with her favorite pilot. They did talk about what they want to do now that they got back together and marriage has happened to be one of those topics. That thought brought smile to Yurika’s face as she gently touched the engagement ring, the same one she and Jake found at the temple, on her finger. However, the engagement ring happened to be more of a promise ring than anything else, along with the chained dog tags with Jake’s name engraved on it. And although she knows in her heart that she want to be with him for the rest of her life, she also knew that neither of them are ready for that kind of thing, yet.

For one thing, Yurika needed to readjust her life back in the States. She might’ve finally finished college, reconnect with her relatives, and found a job that’s close to the universities. However, she still dealing with her traumatic experiences from this island and her psychologist implied the possibility that she could be suffering PTSD that might take some time to heal. Hell, she almost decided not to go back to La Huerta for a reunion if it weren’t for Diego reminding her that Jake is still waiting for her. It might not be as worse as it was before, but Yurika knew it’s not going away that easily. Another thing is that once they go back to the U.S. Jake still has to reconnect with his family and have to face Mike’s parents, explain to them how their son died and that he, along with Jake, is not a traitor to their country. The ex-military pilot was more afraid of how would they react once he explained to them the truth. Not to mention, Jake has to live with the guilt that he thought he joined the army to help people, only to find out he and Mike ended up in the wrong group…the one that made many people in different countries suffered.

So basically, both of them still have unfinished businesses to take of. However, the couple agreed that no matter what happens, they will always stick with each other and love each other until the end.

Before the conversation could go any further, Yurika saw a sudden frown on Diego’s face. Before she can ask what’s wrong, she heard a voice with a British accent behind her.

“Grace, let go! I can’t do this!”

“Yes you can, Aleister. I know it’s scary, but you have to make amends with Yurika right now!”

Yurika turned around and, much to her shock, found Grace dragging Aleister by an arm towards to where Yurika and Diego are standing right now. Out of all the people who survived the chaos, Aleister was the only one who the blonde tried to avoid the most.

“There’s no way that woman wants to speak to me after all that-“

“This is not up for the debate!” Grace scolded the white hair man. As he remained silent, the bespectacled woman sighed, “Look Aleister, you and Yurika been avoiding each other for two years now. And it’s definitely not just because you’re just trying to get your father’s company on a right track. You’re just afraid to face her yourself after what happened here. I’m not going to lie and say that Yurika will forgive after talking to her because I’m not sure if that’s going to happen. But I know for sure if you don’t at least try, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. So…at least try to make amends with her. Not just for me. Not just for her, either. But also, for yourself.”

After a few moments of silence, Aleister finally nodded in agreement. As Grace left her fiancee alone, Diego turned to his friend with a worried look on his face.

“So…you sure you’re going to be okay with this?” The blonde woman silently nodded, “Alright, I’ll just go ahead and leave you two alone. I’ll be with Varyyn if you need anything.”

As soon as Diego left with Furball running after him, Yurika found herself face-to-face with the son of the horrific man whom she wished to forget in uncomfortable silence. It was seconds later that she found her voice again.

“Umm…Aleister?”

“Yurika.” The white hair man replied in an uncharacteristic nervousness, acknowledging the blonde’s appearances.

“It’s…been a while.”

“Certainly has.”

“…”

“…”

…Silence continued to ensue.

I’ve forgotten how awkward it is trying to make a small talk with him! Yurika thought.

“Listen,” Aleister finally broke the silence, “There’s something I need to tell in regards to two years ago.” He paused for a moment, looking for right words to say, “I…I’ve done some things I regret.”

“Yes. Yes, you did,” the woman replied in an impulse.

“Let me finish,” The white hair man put his hand up, signaling the blonde woman that he needs to continue, “I…I know that I shouldn’t end up choosing to side with my father instead of you all. Especially with the kind of person he is and what he had done, making other human beings suffered,” Yurika could hear venom in Aleister’s voice mentioning his dad, “I really don’t know what really overcame me to do this during that time. Perhaps…perhaps, I wasn’t even ready to cut ties with my father at all. Even after all the times he treated me in the past. Maybe even perhaps I was afraid of a mere thought of being left alone again or not being accepted. Either way, I thought I was doing the group the favor by seeing the light of my father’s plan. But in the end, all of you, especially you and Grace, suffered because of the decisions I made. Because I put my faith and trust in the wrong person.

Aleister sighed, forming a look of remorse on his face. “You have every right to hate me, Yurika. I certainly won’t blame you if you did. I just…want to get my apologies straight towards you. Knowing that what you did for everyone…was noble, selfless, and brave. Of all those qualities that my father lack. My regret is that I never really see that sooner.”

Yurika bit her lips in silence before looking at Aleister straight in the eyes. “I never really hate you.”

The white man seemed to be taken back by her response, but let her continued, “It’s just…Of course I was mad and disappointed for what you did, Aleister. But no, I can never hate you…no matter how hard I tried. It’s clear to both of us of what you’ve been through. And all the pains you have to go through from you father. It’s not the kind of pain that can be taken away easily. You know that better than anyone else here.

She took a deep breath, “In end, Rourke was the one at fault for all the sufferings. We all knew that. I shouldn’t have taken my anger on you. “

“What happened happens, Yurika. We can’t really ignored what we did the past. At least you have a reason for doing that,” Aleister assured her.

“Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t in the wrong as well. It took me two years to realize that,” Yurika replied, “It…it wasn’t easy. And it might still take some more time. But I forgive you, Aleister. I really do. I…I just wish you had put more faith in me. Faith in all of us.”

“Affirmative,” Aleister agreed at the last part before scrunching his eyebrows at her, “Just to be clear, you’re not tricking me into thinking that you forgiven me and then you defiled my face with your saliva, are you?”

Yurika tried to hide her laugh at the last part, “Nope. It’s a hundred percent forgiveness.”

The white hair man sighed in annoyance, but then let out a nod of approval.

“Guys! Guys! Grab your floating lanterns! We have about ten minutes ’til we light up the sky!” They heard Raj called out.

“Care to join us, Aleister? Unless you want to keep Grace waiting alone?” Yurika teased.

“As much as I despise these kinds of festivities, I wouldn’t dream of it,” Aleister retorted at the last part before heading to where his fiancee is standing at. Yurika went to grab her green glowing lanterns decorated in blue and purple radiant flowers and head towards the spot her boyfriend saved for her.

“Was that Malfoy I saw talking to you?” Jake asked, warily.

“Pretty much, Top Gun,” Yurika replied, “You’re not gonna throw Aleister from your plane and straight into the sea, are you?”

“…Nah. Not after all the hell hole he has already been through with Phony Stark. Can’t say the same for Katniss, though,” the pilot answered as he and Yurika looked on towards to where their friends and the Vaanti villagers prepared to set their lanterns to the sky, “Never thought that after all these years, this island hell has turned into an island paradise. And here I am again with you kids, celebrating this peaceful day on this same island with Blue’s Clues and his fella villagers.”

“Not only that, this island changes us,” Yurika added, “We may have gone through a lot of hell in this place, but it really reminds us that each of us play important roles in our part to get through this mess as well as forming our bonds with each other. I still honestly don’t know if all of this is fate or not, but one thing for sure is that this is the kind of adventure I’ll never forget. The one where I now know how important you guys are to me…and where it lead me to meet you.”

Jake smirked at the last statement, “Even after you gone down in blaze of glory.”

“Yeah. Even that.”

This caused the pilot to leaned down and kissed Yurika passionately on the lips, and the latter responded eagerly before they both have to let go for air. “Don’t ever perished on us again, Princess. Believe me, when you were gone, I really thought that becoming a free man again would be really pointless if I don’t have you by my side.”

Yurika smiled and quickly give him another kiss, “I’m definitely not going anywhere, Jake. Not this time ever again.”

By the time someone had released a signal, Yurika let her glowing lantern float straight up to the sky, joining the other lanterns and danced along with the stars shining in the sky. Seeing how everything lights up in the sky reminded everyone the wonderful memories they have in this island, how they come together, and how they can now start their new beginnings in their future. This is something that they’ll never forget.

[kitten1618x]

I loved your analysis of Jonsa's Battlements convo! It definitely helped reassure me after watching the first episode. My question is, how do you distinguish between shots/actions being intentionally done for romance rather than having friendship or familial undertones? People interpret things differently and someone who sees it being romantic is just as right as someone seeing it platonically. There's been times where I viewed things platonically until a meta changes my mind and vice versa.

Hi Nonny! Sorry I’m slow on the reply, it’s been a busy day, and I wanted to sit down and be able to give you a good reply vs. a quick one. 😉

For starters, thank you so much! I’m really glad that my Battlements meta was able to ease your mind a bit (as well as so many others). Honestly, I kinda think I suck at writing meta (I’m more of a fanfic writer), and was actually surprised it was such a hit among the fandom -but hey, whatever helps the Jonsa fam! ❤️

WARNING: This is going to get long and also contain *possible* spoilers!(I’d put a cut, but I’m on mobile -sorry guys).

Okay, so let’s get down to the nitty gritty …. you’re completely right -there are a lot of facets of the show that they purposely leave ambiguous to be left for the viewer to interpret on their own. Perception is in the eye of the beholder, and as I mentioned before in a previous ask, it’s not uncommon for shippers to twist the narrative to support their ship (we all do it). There is of course, very obvious ways to show a romance is in the works -like kissing, sex, etc., and then there’s the more subtle way (my favorite) -which can also be referred to as the “slow burn”.

Let’s address the elephant in the room -Jon and Sansa believe themselves to be siblings. We the audience know differently, but they do not. I think sometimes when we get all wrapped up in our ship, we forget that. They aren’t going to fall into each others arms because despite what they may be feeling, they know it’s wrong. So they’ll stuff it down, try to keep each other at arms length, maybe act belligerent (in a very OOC way) to disguise/mask their feelings (does that sound familiar?).

When their guard falls away or they just aren’t being very guarded at all, seemingly normal interactions will be laced with undertones of sexual tension -which can manifest themselves in longing looks (Kit has mastered this) or commonly referred to here as “heart eyes”, lingering touches (the forehead kiss is a great example of this), standing much closer to one another than necessary, awkwardness that can possibly be perceived as flirting (the dress compliment/cloak scene) -you get the point. Basically anything to skew our perception enough to say “hey wait a minute …what’s with that look they just gave each other when Sansa grabbed Jon’s hand at the dinner table?” and what’s with the camera focusing in on it -it’s almost like they want to make sure we saw that and know that little detail is probably important to the narrative going forward. 😉

Then there’s the romance tropes aspect -which I probably pick up on a bit easier because I write romance and use quite a few of them. They have been troping (not sure that’s an actual word, but I’m going with it) the shit out of Jon and Sansa since they’ve reunited in s6 -some way more blatant than others. I’d link you to some good trope sites so you can read up on it, but I’m on mobile, so maybe someone else who sees this can add a good link if they have one? Or a simple google search should pull some up for you if it’s something you’d like to read up on.

The slow burn setup works perfect for Jonsa because of the underlying fact that they currently think they’re siblings. Prepare for angst-galore (also my favorite) if you’re sailing this ship, my friend. However, it’s also perfect timing for a slow burn romance as we are approaching the end of the show. “Will they or won’t they” is a pretty popular romance trope, and fans tend to lose interest once the “will they” actually happens -so IMO it makes perfect sense to do this now, as it won’t become a boring romance plot that will drag on for years.

With Dany now in Westeros, and the leaks and speculation pointing to a sexual tryst between her and Jon, this also brings forth the possibility of the dreaded love triangle trope -which could also delve into the “Betty and Veronica” trope -wherein we have the sweet and loving girl next door type (Sansa) vs. the exotic and usually cold and more material girl type (Dany), in which the hero usually chooses to go with the sweet girl that he can make a family with (which is what book Jon always secretly wanted -to be the Lord of Winterfell and have sons he’d name after his brothers). *ironically, book Sansa has always wanted this too*

And while we’re on the subject of the books -I feel like it’s important to mention that GRRM had plotted a Jon/Arya romance endgame in his original outline. Well, actually a triangle- Jon/Arya/Tyrion. Beings that they’ve taken both Arya and Sansa’s show arcs in a slightly different direction than the books, it’s not a far stretch to think they might be giving this arc to the older Stark girl. Which from a personal perspective, makes much more sense -because Jon and Sansa weren’t very close as siblings and Sansa is no longer the spoiled and naive girl who used to turn her nose up at her bastard half brother -whereas Jon and Arya WERE close siblings -so it’s much less of a squick factor for the general audience once Jon’s true parentage is revealed to all involved.

Whew! This is getting long! I could probably go on forever and feel like I’m leaving something out, but I hope this answered your question, Nonny. If not, feel free to drop another ask! 😘