#(“”“he only did it because he was lashing out and acting out of spite for thor”“”)

[uniiiquehecrt]

Do y'all remember that time that Loki decided to actively commit genocide of his own race out of literally nothing but spite and hatred for himself during an intense mental breakdown because I sure do.

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

Cranky, Foul, Very Bad Day

A Ransom x Kitten Drabble

Summary- 1.2k Ransom Drysdale x Kitten. Walt has yet again fucked over Ransom's day.

Written for @yenzys-lucky-charm Cranky, Grumpy Stabby! Oh My!, Challenge Prompt used- 🗡️ A: Smoothing out the crease in Cranky’s frown while straddling their lap B: Cranky character melts, pulling them in for a kiss

Warnings- Ransom swearing and being in a foul mood. Some fooling around and suggestive acts. This is an 18+ Only Blog. Also the title deserves warning because I am terrible at titles.

A/N- Happy Birthday Carly! Thank you for the random chats about everyday life and accepting that sometimes I am off in my own little world.

Precarious Agreements Masterlist

Ransom peeled out of the lot, the tires squealing as he left Walt screaming from the middle of the employee parking after he told him how he was a fucking waste of space in the company. 

“Fuck that fucking jack off.” He muttered, his hands white-knuckling the steering wheel. “He seriously thought he was going to just do whatever the fuck he wants.” 

It didn't matter that Walt did do just that, bypassing the last of the editing process to get the latest Thrombey thriller to be published. “FUCK.” He cussed again, his hand once more slamming on the wheel of his BMW, making the car jerk a bit while he continued ignoring all the speed limit signs. 

There was no way to stop it, Walt already guaranteed the book's release date all over the place and to backtrack on that date would plummet the success of the book. This would upset Harlan as he was a writer, he lived for his readers' approval even if he claimed he didn't. 

Walt just fucked that all up epically. Cause Ransom was one of the editors fine-tuning the book and it had some rewrites that needed to happen. Ransom was sure most of them had already been taken care of but who knew, he hadn’t had a chance to go through it himself. 

Pulling into his driveway, he slammed his car door shut with a slight bit of satisfaction at the sound. 

It matched the cursing in his mind, the feelings of anger bubbling under his skin and making his jaw clench, teeth grind together. It was rare he felt like this anymore, not since he had been going to therapy with you to help grow a healthy relationship. Part of his therapy consisted of dealing with anger without lashing out and doing something purely out of anger and spite. 

It had been a long road and Walt, mother fucking Walt always could bring it out in him. Already he was ready to go to the publishing house and sabotage the whole fucking thing. A cold calculated grin gave him a moment of satisfaction thinking about Walt’s temper tantrum if that happened. 

But there would also be Harlan’s disappointment and disgust to deal with. And Ransom did care about his grandfather, so that couldn’t happen. Barging into the house, your massive Doberman gave a booming bark, his perked ears lifting from his bed where he lay when you weren't home. “Can it Dobby, I’m not in the mood for your bullshit today.” Your dog huffed at him while he went to his office to pour a drink before settling at his desk, brewing in aggravation. 

He should start promoting now, get the book out there, and set up some kind of meet and greets for Harlan to attend, the old man loved getting to meet fans who doted on him. 

Ransom’s mood soured the more he thought of this recent situation that Walt put them in. 

From out of the room came the sound of the front door shutting, much softer than when he did, as well as your greeting when Dobby must have rushed to meet you, the dog barks differently than when he came in. 

Of course, the mutt liked you better, he could hear you greeting him and could picture you rubbing at his ears and slipping a treat to him. Damn dog. 

He sighed, the crease in his brow deepening, it wasn’t Dobby’s fault he was pissed, it was Walt. Ransom wasn't about to add Dobby to his issues today. Dobby would piss him off at a later date. 

“Where’s Ran hiding Dobby?” You asked as your footsteps padded down the hall to where his door was cracked open, followed closely by the click of Dobby’s nails. Both heads peeked in at you which had him glaring over his glass at the two of you. 

You smiled regardless of his pissed-off look, slipping in while Dobby settled in the open doorway, letting you approach Ransom on your own. 

What a risk you were taking, as his icy blue eyes watched you closely. You could see him simmering in his chair, knew his moods better then your own at this point he was sure. Ransom tried to soften a bit. 

So a smirk fluttered on his face, tilting his head while changing to suggestively checking you out. “I got a cock needing sitting on if you want a seat.” Pushing back his chair a bit while widening his legs. 

You grasped one of his shoulders as you moved to straddle his lap, your skirt hiking up thighs that he was planning on losing himself in tonight. The most perfect ass he has ever seen settled right into him like you belonged there. Your weight settled into him as you studied him silently for a moment. 

He felt his heart quicken, the way you studied him wasn’t your usual playfulness, no rolling of the eyes or some teasing remark about only staying for his dick and mouth. You always saw him, past the bullshit he used to protect himself from others. 

You gave a lil smile while easing your hand to rub at the deep crease between his eyes, smoothing it out and making him relax his face little by little, he hadn't even realized that he had carried so much tension. 

But of course, you did, you always saw him. Just him. And damn how you tore down all those walls of his. 

Reeling you in closer, he tilted you into him till your mouth met his and then all was right in his world. You sunk into him like he was where you belonged and matched him, gripping of his shirt and arching into him will your hips moved and ass rocked in against his lap. 

Blood rushed to his cock, making him grunt at the sensation. When you pulled back, there was a knowing grin, you pressed back once more against his lap. 

“You want a hand with that?” You whispered while tilting to place kisses along his neck, making his brain scatter while blood rushed to his cock, now throbbing in his pants. Everything that pissed him off earlier today, no longer fucking mattered. 

“More like your mouth Kitten, letting me fuck your face till your makeup is ruined.” He rumbled while lifting the hem of your shirt, giving an appreciative whistle to find that you were braless, jerking you forward for a moment to suck on your tits before you got down on your knees for him. 

You gave a little squeal and giggle when he bit on your nipple till you fisted your hand in his hair, making his head tilt back, his pretty pink lips parted and usually icy blue eyes full of heated lust. "You gonna tell me after this why you're so cranky? It's Walt isn't it?"

He scowled up at you while you smirked having the right answer. "I sure as fuck don't want limp dick, so can we not talk about that fucking prick?"

You rolled your hips, grinding yourself against his hard on. "I don't think that's a problem Ran. Tell you what, fuck me stupid and then we will plan on how to fuck him over."

This made a cold calculated smirk pass on his face, you matching his grin just as wickedly back. "Kitten, this is why you're perfect."

[rosy-crow]

You know it's actually really fucked that Sephiroth was basically in such a state of shock after killing Rosen that the only thing he had the energy to do was to try to retrieve his necklace. And then he just sits there frozen while Glenn chucks his most prized possession right into the fissure. Like hot damn it's no wonder he's so cold in Ep 2. That was like two traumatic events in a row, not even including Glenn leaving him behind

EXACTLY! I think the chibis made it hard for that scene to deliver the level of impact it was going for, but it’s a series of repeated blows to Miniroth’s psyche, yeah??

The choice he has to make with Rosen alone is WAY too big of a responsibility to have thrusted on a kid, but Seph rushed in because he wanted to save his team and hopefully Rosen too.

He was just trying to get them out of there alive and the whole island was sinking right then and there 😭

But then to have to CHOOSE between letting your friends die or killing the last survivor of the race of people you helped destroy? A would-be peer? Another kid your age? A defenseless one that’s asking to die at that? That alone would leave a grown ass adult scarred for life. I think Rosen was Seph’s first kill that wasn’t in self-defense. A complete loss of the remnants of his innocence.

I mean….man. To take that kill….a mercy kill that you didn’t want to initiate…but you did to save your friends…the trolley problem….your mind numb with shock….and then the people, the PERSON, you wanted to save sees the worst and rejects you??

That scene is like watching a kicked puppy get kicked again.

Oh, but wait, the one piece of comfort and hope returned by the planet itself arrives! The IMAGE OF YOUR MOTHER, the link to her existence, your most precious item….it’s there suddenly and you want to crawl to it….

Aaaand it’s gone. Thrown away from you forever. Tossed into the stormy sea like trash by the person you were trying to help in the first place.

You’re left behind by the friends you thought you could stay with. On top of everything else, in spite of every step you took to save them, they left you behind in resentment. They lived yeah, but the cost was severe.

Honestly, I think Seph is being tame compared to how he could act at his age after experiencing that level of mental trauma, especially if you include the preexisting horror of his background. He’s not even lashing out in violence. If anything, he was holding back his fighting in chapter 1…probably because he doesn’t see anything left to fight for.

Buuuut looks like Alissa is changing that ����

[twopoppies]

I know this is late but I just wanted to say how much I loved and agree with your reply about H & L’s relationship.I like to think they took a few breathers not complete brakes, maybe the pressure (even Louis sings about giving into it) maybe it was hormones (they were so young) maybe it was for their own mental health because I do think with all they went through their ages their life experiences etc they could only help each other so much and it’s not their fault but being around someone who can lash out act out or go to a darker space within themselves—you end up soaking it up like a sponge also I think they could be mean and petty to each too, take each other for granted and end up in a bad space out of spite.

I don’t think they have an open relationship and I think Louis realized what he had, Harry too but a lot of Harry’s songs seem to me to be the one who is longing “let me adore you” “I can’t touch what I see” “I know I’m not your only” and Louis’ are more “I made a mistake” I also think their communication skills weren’t the best and I think they could be mean or petty too back in the day, but maturity and knowing what they want and what they have is special they’ve worked on it too.

Have they been with others inbetween it’s certainly a possibility and I would say yes, maybe they’re not proud of what they did during a breathers or who they did it with but maybe they see it as a life experience that has helped them grow. what I wonder is if it’s made them look at it each other differently, as in when they look at each other they sometimes think “he smiled at someone like he’s smiling at me, someone else has made him feel like I do, someone else has done with him what we do” I also wonder if that makes them feel like what they had that love that adoration is isn’t the same and in a way they feel bad about that. I know it sounds ridiculous because I think they’re together and they shouldn’t feel that way and they’re past jealousy and love changes it grows, ages, deepens, but I wonder if they do feel it took something away from it, but like a wise man sang “you know it’s not the same as it was”

With age comes wisdom and I also think they know they have someone who is so supportive and encouraging with no strings attached they’ve loved each other since they were teens before they were Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson but just Harry and Louis, they have a deep deep bond and has it been easy, no but what they have is worth it

Sorry it’s so long, but I really liked seeing someone basically expressing exactly how I feel about their relationship.

Hi, darling. Yes, this is basically how I think about it, as well. Before I get angry louies in my inbox (like I always do), I will say that I'm sure they both made mistakes, and they both hurt each other.

As for how they think about things after maybe having dated other people, I don't know. As I've said, I think they've always known they were it for each other. So even if they dated/hooked up with others, getting back with your soulmate must feel like everything falling into place. Maybe they wanted to know about what happened in between, maybe they didn't. I think that would completely depend on what they needed in order to move forward.

I don't know which post of mine you're referring to, but here are my tags:

CURRENT THOUGHTS ON LARRY

THEY'RE STILL TOGETHER

[cotton-could]

Sweet damn, that movie is 20 years old already??

This movie means a lot to me, the message not only aged well but it's still meaningful to plenty of people. Society pushes the idea that an adult needs to be mature, even in your interests and will look at you wrong if you show interest in stuff that are intended to be for kids or for babies. But I love how Spongebob doesn't fit that criteria! Yes, he's an adult who's stupidly childish and likes stuff for babies and he's a functional man who continues to be himself despite the mockery. He doesn't care if he's being weird or not, he knows his interests aren't something bad. Spongebob manages to be immature but act like an adult when needed which makes him an interesting foil to Squidward and the Bikini Bottomies; they're less childish than Spongebob but they're definitely more bitter and less successful. In the show it was implied that they have given up on their dreams and desires for whatever reason and they lashed out at Spongebob for having a dream 💀 but this is quite realistic since IRL, there's plenty of people who are bitter because they didn't fulfilled their dreams or were done dirty by life and they take it out on people who did nothing to deserve it. And interestingly enough, in spite of coming off as more "mature" they mostly show it when it's not needed such as being a bunch of condescending assholes to Spongebob or making fun of him having a loving relationship with his grandma, but ironically, it makes them even more immature than Spongebob. They don't act like adults when it's really needed, they just behave like bratty and immature bullies who can't stand seeing a person being everything they can never be; a happy person.

And this movie highlights it even more. Growing up sucks and there's nothing we can do about it because we're all next, but... not everything is bad. Growing up also means discovering and enjoying new things, doing stuff you couldn't do before but now can, new opportunities and even better; making your inner child happy. Spongebob spent the whole movie proving that he can still have fun while being a responsable adult and the song "Just a Kid" by wilco gave an inspiring lyric that helps me push forwards; "Everybody, everyone, somebody, anyone has to grow up. Let's have some fun!" It makes me realize that sulking about how growing up is lame won't lead me to anywhere so at this point, it's better to accept it and go on with my life.

Anyways, happy 20th birthday to this goated movie.

[harmony867]

As I said in my previous post JKR isn’t good at writing romance.

To preface I’m not a Romione hater, I see the vision but if i was writing the books there are things i would if write differently. The idea is good but the execution is not there.

Out of all the characters Ron reduces Hermione to tears the most. Of course she’d care about what one of her closest (or even only friend) says about her. They hit each other’s buttons; on one hand, that’s a sign of a personal connection. On the other hand, it’s not a good connection- it’s a sign of hurting. If I was JKR i would atleast write about plotline where they bicker because they enjoy it or add flirty banter because in canon their arguments always end up in tears or anger.

See, for the “bickering to love” trope to work, it has to show evolution. Bickering can become flirting, but there has to be a teasing stage. They have to know when the teasing is just sarcasm and banter and not personal attacks. Hermione and Ron don’t banter: they fight. And it’s constant. They make each other absolutely furious.

Remember when Ron got mad at her for saying that assuming that Harry put Felix felicis in his drink and accused her of thinking that he’s a bad player then started dating lavender as revenge. (Which he also had every right to do, not the part where he got mad at her for believed Harry slipped him the luck potion because Ron believed it too but suddenly it’s wrong that Hermione) this is also cruel to Lavender.

Or in GoF, when Ron got jealous and ruined her night at the Yule ball, even though she never was his first choice.

ALSO in HBP, remember when Ron found out that Hermione kissed Krum TWO YEARS AGO from ginny and starts ignoring her and dating lavender basically out of spite. (He had every right to date Lavender as he was single but so did Hermione when she kissed Krum ages ago, it made no sense to punish for a non-existing betrayal that happened two years ago. These are just the ones at the top of my head

Jealousy isn’t the only form that love takes and if I were to write HP I’d write that out, there was no need to include Krum again in HBP. We already had Ron be jealous and lash out at Hermione in GoF, I don’t understand why we had to rehash it again in HBP.

To be clear, that doesn’t mean that Ron didn’t like her, or that didn’t care for her as a person and a friend. Obviously he did, and he stuck up for her plenty of times when others were being cruel to her but most of their ‘romance’ was them fighting and being jealous. Also we can’t ignore the author’s intention, there was point where where Hermione’s character becomes stagnant and JKR refused to show Hermione is a wrong light even when does a mistake (such as sending birds to peck at him) The times when Hermione hurts him are background noise because of the author’s bias (and her tendency to make Hermione her self insert)

Jealousy is a common theme when she writes romance as when she was rushing to write hinny, she made Harry jealous (don’t get me started on ‘chest monster’ ugh) even though he never showed signs of liking her in OOTP and wasn’t jealous when she was dating Micheal corner. If I was writing hinny, I’d add more scenes with them in the third book as they were the only two people in the chamber which is a shared experience that they could bond over and since they spent that time in third year and id show hints of her more cool side as in the third book she was still acting like a fan girl. In the fourth book they could be closer friends and even help him in the tri-wizard tournament.

I like the scene where she tells Harry that she was also possessed too in OOTP. But even that scene is somehow ruined by the fact that he completely forgot that she was possessed. As I said that could have been a bonding moment, Harry could have supported her but he never thought about it???

But alas I’m not the author so now that you know my reasoning can you blame me for liking non-canon ships more.

[reds-writings]

hii!! can i request

10. lashing out even though they know they will regret it from the angst prompts for rust

here's some sunny and rust angst! felt like it was fitting for when she first starts helping rust!

The pointed silence bleeding from you was more unnerving than Rust thought it could be. He had lashed out, shamefully so he’d regretfully admit. Marty had pissed him off a great deal earlier today and the fact that he always had to be hovered over one way or another was igniting a frenzy of feeling particularly fucking agitated. He loathed feeling so helpless. Whether it was a fragile sense of masculinity that had been subconsciously engrained within him or he was just being a dick because he could would be a question for the ages. 

The clinking sounds of dishes that the flow of sink water couldn’t drown out made him feel guiltier by the minute. It was the lack of routinely nonsensical humming during any simple task that made an impact. Your spark had been put out for the afternoon. 

And he was the rotten asshole who did it. 

Over what? All because you had to help him eat due to muscles of his own still on the mend from being stuck in a shitty hospital bed for weeks on end? There was certainly no need to harshly shove you away along with the plate of carefully crafted lunch you prepared to the floor in a heaping mess with spiteful curses. His resentful act had you frozen in place. Rust wasn’t the first patient to be so callous when you were just trying to do your job but it hurt all the same. He was a tough nut to crack so far in the two weeks you’ve been with him but today it was made clear your efforts might not ever be valued. 

The minute wobble of your lower lip was nearly imperceptible but the glaze that took form over your eyes sure wasn’t. Hating to be seen so emotionally exposed, you wordlessly stood up to grab a few paper towels to hopelessly clean up Marty’s rug. There’d be a big stain but you were sure Rust was due for more of a verbal lashing than you would be once you relayed the day’s events. 

God, this job didn’t pay nearly enough as it should with some of the crap you had to put up with. 

Rust kept his uneasy gaze on the TV in front of him. Old football highlights sounded foreign to his ears as he had trouble fighting away wanting to grovel for his mistreatment towards you. The most undeserving of receiving anything in the shape of cruelty. Marty would have him by the fucking ear, that much was true, but that bothered him less than his current predicament of trying to formulate a formal apology. One that wasn’t tinged with predictable apathy or a mashup of bumbling words. 

The sound of water suddenly shut off and the soft padding of your feet drew close again. His eyes darted towards your choice of socks for the day. Adorned with cartoonish succulents, a joke scrawled out near your calves: ‘What’s up succas?’ They were awful, but you had been excited to present them as soon as you stepped through the door this morning. It just made him feel more shitty. 

“Would you like for me to leave early today? I can have someone else come in for your night doses and bandage dressing.” You’d never sounded so prim. It was jarring. 

He fumbled for a strong answer, “...N-no.”

“Would you like me to sit away and give you space for the remainder of the day?” 

Your posture was set in a stiff cast. Unease infiltrated the room, growing thicker by the second as his brain wracked through all its confusion and veining remorse. You were like a different person. Forced into the protocol of taking residence as an even-keeled, unfeeling nurse. You wouldn’t allow him the image of being thrown off-kilter by his meanness. You could only let people walk all over you for so long in these instances even if shoving away instinctual kindness and immediate forgiveness hurt. 

“No.” He tried and failed at sounding more resolute. What was wrong with him? 

You didn’t say anything, visibly deflating as you pressed a thumb to the space between your brows. It was clear he had you at a loss of what to do but he couldn’t hold you as an awkward hostage any longer. 

“I’m sorry.” It felt as if he had to force it out of his windpipe. Uncomfortable and unsure.

“Okay…”

“It was rude of me to-...behave as I did.” His eyes were everywhere but yours. If you weren’t so drained you’d giggle at the absurdity of Rust looking so timid. You straightened up to do your best at upholding your firm resolve. 

“There’s no excuse for it. It won’t happen again.” He pushed out and you just nodded. A teeny smile teasing the edge of your lips. You were getting a kick out of this. 

“You’re not bad to…” He hesitated and you waited.

That spark was coming back. 

“...have around.” It might’ve been impossible for him to look more embarrassed than he did from his spot on the couch. You put a hand to your mouth to suppress your growing grin, turning to the side in mock thought over his apology. It wasn’t the most graceful but you figured it was something coming from him. Turning back to him you yielded,

“I will humbly accept this apology. But we have to watch whatever I wanna watch before I leave tonight. The girliest of picks to make me feel better.”

He mulled it over but knew there was no winning right away, “Sure.”

You wiggled in a mini burst of victory before plopping down on the couch, still conscious of his need for space, and smiled as you got comfortable. 

“I’m thinking along the lines of Pretty in Pink. Oh! Maybe Roman Holiday-...” You rambled on about the movies you planned on torturing him with that he’d positively pretend to sleep through.

He was going to need help from whatever higher power was willing for him to navigate the colorful force that was you. 

[raisedbythetv89]

Searching the depths of hell of tumblr for specific scenes and unfortunately straying so far from home meant I happened across a bangel that was mad because they saw a spuffy call Angel and Buffy’s kiss in the finale fan service and instead of giving ANY actual explanation or justification for how it wasn’t they instead chose to go with “they called the kiss fan service like all of spuffy wasn’t fan service”

GIRL WHAT 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

First of all: sounds like you know it was fan service too and have no counter argument so you’re just lashing out instead….

Second: “any elements, be it visual nods, referencing older or forgotten media related to material, plot detours or otherwise, that are not needed by the actual plot or character development, but are included as nods to, or pandering to the long-term fans of the material”

IM CRYING IM LAUGHING SO HARD😹😹😹😹😹😹

BEING A HATER IS MAKING YOU DUMB AND I FIND THAT INCREDIBLY FUNNY

Calling a relationship that developed over SIX SEASONS and into the comics that radically impacts the story as well as both Buffy and Spike fan service I’m literally on the FLOOR 😹😹😹

I mean yeah sure I’ll give you Spike’s popularity in part kept him alive which is obviously the only way for their relationship to have happened but the term “fan service” specifically speaks to adding things in for NO OTHER REASON but to make certain fans happy. Also what joss put spike and buffy through individually as well as collectively????? FAN PUNISHMENT ACTUALLY LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE OF FAN SERVICE. He literally was like fine you can keep spike but I’m putting EVERYONE through hell 🙃 (which also he did with Bangel - he was forced to make Angel a vampire and so he went FINE he’s gonna be creepy as FUCK and still low key evil even when he’s supposed to be good! Because he’s a spiteful, petty, vindictive piece of shit - WE WERE BOTH HURT BY THE SAME MAN WHY DO YOU KEEP ATTACKING US)

They are SO MAD because bangel is so clearly not end game (they wouldn’t be acting this way if they felt “they had won”) and because spike did all the things angel never did. And instead of being mad AT JOSS they’re mad at spuffy’s like we were in the writers room or something 💀

[atefingersdagger]

clato handholding + 47!

A Pull of the Hand

(Thank you for requesting my final fanfic of 2024!!!)

*

“Don’t.”

Cato feels the resistance at his wrist, a pulling that makes him stumble for a second. The palm is small, thin and slender fingers that can’t wrap fully around the expanse of the bone. Clove is barely half his size and there should be no reason for her to have the strength to make him move with just one tug.

His skin turns white and red when she squeezes in the same way he had done to her breasts once, firm in her stance while she strangles the flesh and flattens the epidermis with indents of her pressing. Almost, the act feels spiteful, as though she’s trying to pop his blood vessels until they are broken lines of blue. He attempts to tip his hand away, but her grip is like a metal cuff.

“Don’t what?” Cato asks her with agitation deep in his tone.

“Run off like an idiot.” Clove answers, nails digging into his hand like they had during the Reaping.

“Why, so you can kill me in my sleep?”

She looks at him like he’s stupid, as she usually does. Her usual disbelief at any comment he makes always resulting in some form of disgust that twists her pretty features into a scrunched up nose and a twitch of the side of the left side of her mouth. Clove never did seem to like him much, other than her quick smirks and chuffs.

In addition, what he said was more of an insult than a show of idiocy. A tribute from District 2 does not kill in such dishonorable ways if they have the means to do better. Especially their own partner. It’s deemed a lazy and rude action that can even be declared as a lack of loyalty and care for their home. Basically, robbing one’s opponent of a fight is a no-no.

“No, because we still have too many enemies for us to split up.”

“Scared of being on your own?”

Clove grimaces, nails digging deeper, about to break the skin. “I’m trying to be smart. It will be easier to take out 11 and 12 if we stick together.”

His blonde lashes obscure his view as he narrows his eyes. They are squinting at each other under the sunlight that leaks through the leaves and branches above them. It feels like a standoff, one waiting for the other to shoot or relent. And if he pulls away first, his skin will be scraped by her claws.

“I can take out 11 and 12 on my own.” Cato says.

“She took that bow and you know it. You know I’m better at dodging than you are. How good can you maneuver around arrows, big guy?”

“You want me to trust you?” He asks, trying to move, but she jerks him in the way he doesn’t want her to. “When you’ve done nothing but talk about how much you want to kill me?”

“I might want to kill you, but now isn’t the time. Once our enemies are dead, I’ll gut you to our hearts content.”

He finds it funny that she said “our,” like his demise is what they both desire. No, he came to win. Certainly to not lose by the hands of his district partner (Although that would be the only honorable death he could achieve in these Games).

“I think you’re scared, Princess.” He leans down to get more into her face.

Their alliance was already fragile as it is and it always will be in a fight to the death. Only one victor. Either him or her, at the least, will have to make the final blow; a twist of a blade or the neck to snap the spine. This won’t end in a friendship, so he doesn’t care that her cheeks are reddening.

“I’m not.”

“Why are you holding on to me so hard then?”

Clove scratches him a slight, but it does little damage. “To make sure you don’t run away. I think you might be scared of me, considering you’re so worried that I’ll slit that thick neck of yours while you sleep.”

He doesn’t know why – maybe he’s a masochist – but the mischievous tone Clove has as she mentions cutting him turns him on a bit. Despite them being in one of the most unsexy of situations one can comprehend and the dirt on their faces, he thinks about her thighs around his so-called ‘thick neck.’ The thought is brief, and it’s enough to make him pause.

“Or is it that I’m too much for you to handle?” Clove questions him with that same lilt in her voice. “Am I?”

“Never.”

“Oh, really?”

There’s a cold press against his neck. Immediately, he knows it’s a knife, the cool smoothness of the flat part of its steel. Cato swallows a slight, but gives no other indication of discomfort at her threat.

“I know exactly what to do if I caught you.” He chuckles.

“Do tell.”

Before he does, her fingers trail slowly from his wrist and trail their way to his palm. Clove, of all people, doesn’t seem like the type to hold hands with anyone, but she holds his then. All while her dominant hand holds that dainty knife to his throat.

“You want me to ruin the surprise? I don’t think the audience would appreciate that much, Princess.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’ll ruin the finale.”

Clove playfully gasps, her breath less than pleasant from lack of available dental hygiene. He doesn’t care though, it’s hot regardless and that’s slight frustrating. Why does she have this kind of hold on him?

“Does that mean you’ll stick around? Like blood stains to fabric?”

There’s a squeeze at his hand, and he gives back to her smaller one with as good as he got. By the lowering of her knife after a slow glide against his jugular, he can tell it’s intentions were successful. Cato doesn’t let go, instead, he intertwines their fingers until they are locked in the way barbed wire is wound together.

He chuckles again. “Of course.”

[findafight]

tbh i think ppl that genuinely think steve dragged her there kind of take nancy's behavior at the party in the best light/take nancy at her word bc,,,, we see nancy excited for the party to the point of spending time making a costume and encouraging jonathan to come only for her to start lashing out at steve right after they get there. like i always felt so bad for him when tommy and billy start harassing him and nancy literally rolls her eyes and just stalks off only to start heavily drinking specifically to spite steve given what she says about how she's just acting normal like he wanted (also that smug look she sends him right after continuing to drink). idk the way nancy starts acting out (this makes her sound like a 5 y/o throwing a tantrum but,,,, if the shoe fits) could make it seem as if she's been forced to do something against her will when taken out of context but in context she's literally just acting like a huge asshole to her boyfriend bc she's upset about something she hasn't even told him about. i get upset when i think about it too much bc ppl focus way more on the bullshit scene (for obvious reasons) but nancy really was treating steve like shit that whole night.

yeah like. Owens talks about "the anniversary effect", and I think that's hitting Nancy hard, and so she's lashing out! She's a teenager and she doesn't know how to handle her grief and her desire for justice. That's fine and she deserves to yell and cry about it. But she also isn't communicating what she actually needs from Steve because I don't think she really realized it until she saw the redhead in the library. And dropping that on him and kind of freaking out about it at school wasn't really the most appropriate place to have a deep discussion on what to do. (idk why people view this as steve just flat out refusing to talk about it ever, it's clear to me he's nervous about it because they're at school and he doesn't want to be overheard and doesn't want to risk the government hurting them/their families)

We see Steve do his best to support Nancy by going to the dinners with the Hollands, and also encouraging her to go to the party, after we have been shown Nancy talking about it and inviting Jonathan and excited for it. He is engaging her with something she was looking forward to. idk why people view this as steve just flat out refusing to talk about it ever, it's clear to me he's nervous about it because they're at school and he doesn't want to be overheard and doesn't want to risk the government hurting them/their families. Yeah maybe if she had asked him to come with her on the plan to entrap Owens he would have said no, but at least he would have known where she was at and what she was thinking, instead of the sudden one-off talk they had in the library.

I guess if people only watched tina's party and not anything that came before they could see nancy as completely correct and that steve was pretending while she didn't want to (instead of mostly pretending with Steve and having had one freak out about it in a place that people could overhear) and that he dragged her there. But it's astounding that people can watch Nancy smile and give the flyer to Jon and still say Steve was a bad boyfriend for taking her.

She is definitely drinking vindictively in the scene, even though for all Steve knows Nancy genuinely wanted to go and have fun at the party. He's trying to get her to slow down and idk I've seen some takes as this showing Steve is controlling but legitimately what the fuck else are you going to do when you see someone you care about (friend/partner/whatever) ignoring you and being kind of an ass and drinking way too much while obviously upset about something. Of course he would encourage her to slow down!

He doesn't know what's wrong because Nancy actually has a habit of not talking or communicating to her boyfriend what is upsetting her. Nancy is so over pretending but she has only barely broached that with Steve. He did try to shut it down, but I don't remember him saying he was unwilling to talk about it, just that it was a bad idea, and that Nancy was coming with this "tear the lab down" thing from nowhere.

Part of the problem is that Nancy had feelings for Jonathan and didn't know what to do about that, and so decided that actually, everything was Steve's fault, because he wanted to be normal, he wanted to go to the party and have fun, he wanted to date and be in love, when, to drunk Nancy's mind, she wanted none of that. (even though we are shown that that isn't true) So she's going to drink and she's going to have fun and she's not even in love. (idk it depends on the day for me if nancy was faking the whole time or did, at some point, fall in love with him and then out of love.) The whole party scene is a mess for Stancy and poor Steve has no idea why his girlfriend is drinking too much and suddenly acting like they're fighting when there's no reason to. and then he gets yelled at and told she's pretending to love him.

[bonefall]

so, does blossomfall have 2 dishonor names? shredbloom & clearface?

Yup.

That second one definitely hits her ESPECIALLY hard because of the first. Shredbloom was Bramblestar-given.

Spiderleg and Mousewhisker, they needed to see some kind of punishment for their crimes. For Mousewhisker, 'Stupidhead' was an ATTEMPT to try and make him think about how he hadn't thought through his actions and ended up supporting the Dark Forest, in spite of having no malice (it was too funny that it backfired ofc). For Spiderleg, 'Spiderbite' did its job at making Spiderleg wear his mistake and pay for his crimes, considering he didn't kill anyone.

But for Blossomfall, her problem was feeling disconnected from the Clan. From her parents, siblings, clanmates. She wasn't a nice person and loneliness has a way of making people act worse. But she couldn't kill anyone, she talked a big game but couldn't bring herself to hurt her sister. She wasn't evil-- she was a delinquent lashing out and the DF took advantage of that.

Squilf realized this (possibly even because Ivypool herself recognized it, she was dating Blossom before they broke up pretty badly in ThunderClan's Tempest) and argued for Bramblestar to give Blossom a different punishment from the other two. Something that would help her get more integrated into the Clan, like... cat community service. Kitchen patrols and such.

But he couldn't be convinced, it was only fair to give all three the same punishment.

But the title 'Shredbloom' did NOT have the desired effect. It just made her worse because it was amplifying the underlying problem.

(Btw I'm still figuring out the way she joins the Kin, and more importantly, how she comes back. I'm thinking a large part of it is Briar and Bumble both declaring they will 'sponsor' her as well as the fact she has three children... and ThunderClan just learned a whole lesson about what separating children from their families does to a person)

"Clearface" was impostor-given. It was shockingly good for what ThunderClan expects from Bramble "bad namer" Star. She mouthed off at him, and without any patience, Bramblefake stormed up to his ledge and announced, "Blossomfall has forgotten her place once again, and believes that her words have value when her whole life is a patched-pelt of her malicious, selfish mistakes. The clan would be better off if she was invisible, out of sight and out of mind, and to prove this, she may live as Clearface for half a moon."

It was seen as BRUTAL... but not completely undeserved. And it did its job perfectly and destroyed her in one hit. She falls in line after that, knowing she's already gone waaay past her last chance here in ThunderClan.

[gojuo]

https://www.tumblr.com/gojuo/717780379148386305?source=share

What about Aemond? Isn't he male and one of Rhaenyra's enemies why he is receiving a SPA treatment of his character, a treatment that not even the male characters of team black have lmao

Aemond may be on the Green side which means being an antagonist to Rhaenyra, but he is not her narrative foil. Aegon is Rhaenyra's foil and Aemond is Daemon's. And Daeron is the narrative foil to Aemond.

The Targtower siblings come in a package. It's Aegon and Helaena on one side being contrasted to each other: Aegon is a party animal vs. Helaena is a gentle and chaste lady; when B&C happens, Aegon turns his anger outwards towards the world and uses that anger to lash out vs. Helaena breaks into pieces, loses her mind and all of the trauma turns her into a hollow shell of her former joyful and outgoing self; Helaena commits suicide vs. Aegon lives on in spite of it all, etc.

For the other two, you aren't going to understand why Daeron is juxtaposed to Aemond if you don't know their book characters. Anyone who knows anything about F&B knows that Daeron was the single most likeable character in the entire Dance. And Aemond was a psychopath.

If I were to list book!Aemond's personality traits, I would say that he was a loud, brash, arrogant, cruel, impulsive, angry, contemptuous and scornful person. He's also ruthless, psychotic, blood-thirsty and more than a little unhinged. The Greens nearly break through Rhaenyra's forces and win the war but Aemond's recklessness and impatience fucks it all up. He murders every single member of House Strong because he had an issue with only one of them as well as doing it just because he felt like doing it. He takes Alys to bed as a spoil of war and he genocides the people of the Riverlands for funsies. He was a badass and unapologetically himself who was unafraid to speak his mind, no matter how harsh, but Aemond was no brooding, quiet and reserved type who held himself back like in the show. That's Daeron.

I call Daeron Aemond's narrative foil because he was the counterbalance to Aemond's intense personality. It is Daeron who is the quiet, reserved, pensive, and reputable man who is selflessly and completely devoted to the family. He commits/allows for heinous acts of war in Bitterbridge as retribution for what the people did to his nephew (which he regrets immensely), he fights to the bitter end to reunite with his mother and sister in King's Landing, he throws wine in Hugh's face when the man insinuates Aegon is dead, he is the favorite and most loved child of the four, etc.

In F&B, Aemond isn't particularly characterized as caring for his family much. He metaphorically rubs salt in Aegon’s wounds with his comment about how the Conqueror's Crown fits him better than it ever did Aegon, and his refusal to stick to Criston's orders and choose Alys over him and his family is what leads to the Fall of King's Landing and then snowballs into Butcher's Ball, Tumbleton, Bitterbridge, etc. If anything, book!Aemond seems to care about no one but himself — sans Alys when the time comes.

Daeron is courteous, honorable and the valiant and heroic knight of the story. He was The King Who Should Have Been (over Rhaenyra and Aegon). Near the end of the Dance, when Rhaenyra turns full psycho, it is Daeron who is still fighting the honorable fight and becomes the clear cut good guy protagonist of the narrative, trying to put an end to Queen Maegor With Teats who has turned full-on villain at this point in time.

And what happened in the show is that Daeron — the clear cut good guy of the story — has been merged together with the character of Aemond — the clear cut bad guy on the Greens' side.

The truth is that the hack known as Miguel Sapochnik was not going to include Daeron in the show. This is all but confirmed by his Season 2 outlines that were leaked a while back in which there was not a single mention of Daeron + Viserys saying "All of my family here," during the dinner scene in which there was no Daeron + Daemon saying "[The Greens'] three dragons," meaning no Daeron and Tessarion.

The fact that Sapochnik walked away (read: threw a hissy fit and basically got fired for his shitty S02 outlines) and then the second after that happened GRRM went on his blog to assure us fans that Daeron was in the show, they just didn't have the time to mention his existence at all in this entire season with not even 1 fucking line (bullshit) is the cherry on top. GRRM posted that blog entry on October 11th, and episode 9 — which is the very first episode which showed us Alicent's bloodline split and her four children and three grandchildren with a hastily thrown-in VFX at the obvious last minute — aired on October 16th. I suppose October was when Sapochnik got the boot lol.

So what happened was that Daeron's character was combined with Aemond's. What happens when two characters who are each other’s foils are being merged into one? Especially when one of them is a cartoon villain with little to no depth and the other is the classical hero archetype? You get the belief that the Aemond of the show has been whitewashed.

(Off topic, but personally, I don’t like calling what happened to show!Aemond “whitewashing”, because that insinuates there was a deliberate attempt to cover up Aemond’s more than unpleasant book personality by sugarcoating his canon actions — like how the show did with Rhaenyra — but that’s not what the show did. Showrunners and writers just gave Aemond Daeron’s book personality, and there is nothing sugarcoated or whitewashed about Daeron. He just is, objectively, the good guy.)

Now back to the topic: what happens when two narrative foils get merged into one? The character needs to become a foil to someone else. And this new Frankenstein-ish Aemond/Daeron mishmash became the foil to Aegon. Of course, Aemond will always be, no matter what changes about the show, the narrative foil to Daemon: they are second sons, they die to each other in an epic dragon battle, they are both the villains of their respective sides, their names are anagrams of each other, etc. However, in Season 1, it is not quite Daemon Aemond is being juxtaposed to. Not yet anyways, no. In Season 1, Aemond is being juxtaposed to Aegon.

That is why we got the cringe scene of “‘Tis I who studies the sword, ‘tis I who studies history, ‘tis I who studies philosophy,” or whatever the fuck he said. That is why we had Aemond join Criston in searching for Aegon when in F&B that didn’t happen (and stole Kingmaker Cole’s role in convincing Aegon of the crown but that’s a topic for another day). That’s why we got Aegon begging Aemond to just let him go and sail away, insinuating that Aemond was the better option to take the crown (when in F&B that was 1. literally not what happened during that scene at all and 2. one of Aegon’s biggest and most important character defining moments. And they ruined it all in favor of Aemond AAGGRGRHHHHHGG). Remember how I said Daeron was The King Who Should Have Been over both Rhaenyra and Aegon? They gave this trait to Aemond in order to contrast him to Aegon who never wanted to be king at all.

This Daeron-ification of Aemond now makes him “the better man” between him and his brother in the show, and that was done all to the detriment of Aegon's character. It’s also what led to the application of the Aegon IV/Naerys/Aemon-love triangle to the Aegon II/Helaena/Aemond-show dynamic. In the book, this never would've passed because Aemond is the worst of all four siblings, and Daeron was simply too young.

There is not a single character on House of the Dragon who has gone through the same amount of character assassination as Aegon has.

Now, all this doesn't mean that Aemond = Daeron in the show, it means that most of Daeron's characterization has been merged together with the character of Aemond. Because it was abundantly clear that Sapochnik was not going to include Daeron in the show. This is what might lead you to believe that Aemond has been whitewashed, when in fact the character is just a Frankenstein fusion of Daeron the Daring and Aemond One-Eye. Just like the Young Griff-Jon Snow/Daenerys/Cersei fiasco of GOT.

[arcielee]

Interview With a Writer

Time for another installment of my series Interview With a Writer with the talented, the wonderful @inthedayswhenlandswerefew. Thank you as always for your time and allowing this self-indulgent series to continue!

Dividers by @saradika 💜

Name: inthedayswhenlandswerefew

Story: Comet Donati

Paring: modern Aemond Targaryen x female!reader

Warnings: 18+ mature themes. Sex, drugs, boy bands. Be mindful of chapter warnings.

What inspired the plot for Comet Donati?

I think it will surprise absolutely no one when I say that Comet was born out of my love for One Direction. While I’m at work (I’m a high school teacher), I’ll often put on a Spotify playlist for me and the students to listen to. I like to change it up…for a few days we’ll listen to 80s rock, and then Beyoncé Radio, and then classical music, it’s always something different. At the very end of last school year in June, I got in the mood to revisit my love of One Direction. As I was listening to and falling in love with those songs all over again—History, No Control, Heart Attack, etc.—the idea of the HOTD characters being a boy band occurred to me, first as something ludicrous but then as a weird but potentially viable fic plot.

My long-time readers know that the first specific scene I envision is always one of the last scenes of a story, and while I was listening to that One Direction playlist one afternoon I saw the very end of Comet Donati: a girl on a farm looking out a kitchen window and watching Aemond return to her after a very fraught, magical, horrible, amazing summer touring with the band together. The very first sentence I wrote in my Word Doc was the last sentence of Chapter 10.

And thus, Comet arrived on Earth! :)

So the scene that inspired the rest of Comet Donati…

It was Aemond on that damn Gold Star motorcycle, which is another astronomy reference!

Are you always aware of how your stories will end? Or have you ever balked and changed something?

I always know the ending from the very start, and I’ve never changed one. Because I start writing with the end so clearly in mind, changing it would undermine a lot of the foreshadowing, themes, and character arcs that were present throughout the story, and would honestly feel totally disorienting to me. With that said, there are occasions when unexpected details pop up (ex. in Comet, Aemond clicking so well with Stargirl’s parents wasn’t something that I foresaw or really thought about before writing Chapter 9), but generally I have it all set it stone before the first chapter is ever posted.

Can you give us some insight on your interpretation of Aemond and Aegon?

Aegon and Aemond both have a lot of trauma (clearly), but they have adapted to survive it in completely different ways. Aemond is a brooding, perfectionist, desperately insecure person who lashes out like a wounded animal when he feels wronged. Aegon is the opposite. He directs his anxiety and self-loathing inwards harming only himself, and rarely shares it with anyone else (Stargirl of course is a massive exception).

While Aemond wants to be taken seriously, Aegon dives headfirst into his lackadaisical nature and exacerbates it, largely out of spite for Viserys and to a lesser extent Alicent and Otto. He is lazy, bombastic, rootless, chaotic, an unrepentant addict…and, in perhaps his greatest act of rebellion, someone who is genuinely affectionate and nonjudgmental. Aemond is fangs and claws and storms and wreckage; Aegon has this warm, contagious glow that distracts from his profound inner darkness.

Aemond is someone who always felt uncool, unloved, and unremarkable. At home he was mostly ignored by Viserys (despite Aemond’s attempts to bond with him). Alicent, while well-intentioned, was often distracted by her own marital unhappiness, and furthermore was emotionally closer to Helaena and Daeron than Aemond. At school, he didn’t make friends or get girls in the same effortless way that Aegon or Daeron did.

Like Aegon said in Chapter 3: “I had friends. He had grudges.” But when Aemond masterminded Comet and became an international popstar, he finally got the camaraderie and recognition he always craved, and for the first time in his life felt worthy of love. Losing all of that after the accident at the Budokan was psychologically devastating for him.

When he meets Stargirl, Aemond wants her in a way that is immediate, overpowering, and completely unlike anything he’s ever experienced before…but his fear of losing her—and his lifelong, intense phobia of rejection—sabotages their relationship over and over again.

Was there anything in specific that inspired Stargirl?

Stargirl is, and I say this with nothing but love, the most Hot Mess Express reader insert that I’ve written so far. She is very smart and intuitive, a natural therapist, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t routinely make questionable decisions while touring with the band.

She’s able to help others but struggles when it comes to protecting herself. I think that’s extremely relatable. I also love psychology as a discipline. I’m definitely not a professional; I’ve taken college-level psychology courses and taught it as a high school class, but I would never consider myself to be an expert. However, my interest in psychology (and in redeeming Sigmund Freud!) certainly bled into this fic.

As far as Stargirl’s backstory… I think that unfortunately, most women have had experiences when we were made to feel ashamed, unworthy, unlovable, immoral, etc. because of something related to our sexuality. It’s incredibly frustrating to see this repeat generation after generation. Stargirl has put a lot of time and effort into reprogramming herself from her fundamentalist Christian upbringing/community, and shedding that heartbreak and cynicism as much as possible. I think she’s an inspirational character, and a manifestation of my hope for our society’s future.

How does Stargirl complement Aemond? How does this compare to her relationship with Aegon?

Therapists have to be natural optimists, I believe. They have to be able to look at someone who is struggling and see the best in them, to envision a better path forward. When Stargirl meets Aemond in Rome, she genuinely—from the very first moment—cannot fathom thinking that he is unattractive or pitiful. She thinks he is fascinating, intelligent, talented, charming, and of course fine af (and we all agree!).

Her very first act is to put him at ease by addressing his scar/blindness immediately and in a way that is lighthearted and teasing without being cruel. Aemond is used to people either ignoring the accident entirely (awkward) or outright pitying him (even worse). Stargirl does neither.

Aemond is a source of strength for Stargirl; he is protective of her in a way that can override his own paranoia and resentment (ex. when he notices that she is crying on the jet in Chapter 5 or when he banishes Shelby in Chapter 8).

They share an organic chemistry and respect for each other that—over and over again—they have to fight their way back to. Both Stargirl and Aemond want to make the world a better place, albeit in entirely different ways, and I definitely see them turning into a bit of a power couple in that respect.

Stargirl’s relationship with Aegon is easier (as his demons present differently than Aemond’s), but also isn’t something that could ever become a stable, marriage-like partnership. Stargirl doesn’t desire Aegon in that way, nor is he equipped to be in a committed relationship with anybody (not even Selena Gomez!).

Yet fundamentally—no matter how many years or miles are between them—Aegon and Stargirl feel safe with each other. Aegon knows that Stargirl can see that he’s wounded and yet loves him unconditionally anyway. Stargirl knows that Aegon would never think less of her because of her sexuality or any other choices she might make in life. I think of them as platonic soulmates, which is a little bit inaccurate because they aren’t literally platonic. But they love each other in a way that is entirely separate from if/when/how they have sex and without ownership or expectations.

In the past, you created OCs that might prickle underneath our skin but we ended up loving them. Except for fucking Shelby. What inspired her?

I’ve had a few experiences recently that got me thinking about influencer culture and social media obsession. I think we all know people who put a ton of effort into crafting an online narrative that is radically different from their real life. Shelby is someone who rode the early influencer wave to stardom and now is kind of stuck. She doesn’t know how to create authentic experiences because she’s trained herself to manufacture them for years; similarly, she doesn’t know how to nurture genuine relationships. But Shelby also doesn’t know what comes next in her life. Aemond’s accident gives her a valuable rebranding opportunity: she can shift from “early-twenties hottie” to “self-sacrificing caretaker,” eventually evolving into wife and mommy blogging content. She clings to that so fiercely because she honestly, horrifyingly does not know who she is without a label her millions of subscribers/followers agree upon. And Shelby is willing to do some pretty deplorable things to try to keep Aemond away from Stargirl.

I think my own understanding of Shelby is actually a lot more compassionate than Comet readers might suspect. I don’t feel that she has any desire to harm Aemond, and on the contrary does care for him in the way that she knows how to. She’s definitely wrong for him, and she unintentionally massacres his mental health on a daily basis. But she really, truly thinks that she’s helping him by hiding his “humiliating” disability. She is so engrained in the shallow, deceptive, trope-conforming influencer lifestyle that whoever she was before has been entirely forgotten.

Were there any other characters in your story that you enjoyed writing?

Obviously, I adore the dynamics of the whole band. It was a nice change to write Team Black characters as good guys for the first time: Luke admiring and supporting Aemond in that worshipful sort of way, Rhaena being gentle and intuitive but also increasingly brave, Baela figuring out how to harness her natural assertiveness into advocating for her own ambitions.

Cregan’s dysfunctional childhood hits home for me in a lot of ways, and I absolutely loved him coming into his own as a good father both literally and as a father figure for Comet (especially with Aemond as he prepares for his own fatherhood journey!). Poor Criston definitely needs Cregan’s help parenting this boy band of feral raccoons. Criston is TIRED! Let the man rest!

Finally, I would like to shock everyone by announcing that Jace was one of my favorite parts of writing this fic. He’s a tool, but he also has lines that he won’t cross; way down deep somewhere, he has a fundamental and irrevocable love for Comet. Jace will taunt someone until they hit him, but he rarely hits back. Jace will poke fun at Aemond, but he is also sincerely disturbed by Shelby making Aemond so miserable. Jace body shames Aegon constantly, and yet he’s the one outside the hotel room in Chapter 8 frantically asking if Aegon is okay. Additionally, Jace is really into Stargirl in a way that is completely shameless, sometimes creepy, but also randomly insightful.

There are a lot of little moments of him being concerned about Aemond/Aegon/Stargirl throughout the fic if you look for them. Like, he breaks the awkward silence for Stargirl at the Vegas buffet. Jace is only 90% evil 🥰

I’ve also never gotten to write Jace like this before and I might never get to again, but I really enjoyed it.

As a writer, I think it is safe to say we constantly daydream. How do you know what stories need to be told?

I’ll use Comet as an example. So when I first started kicking around the HOTD boy band idea while listening to One Direction songs, I fully intended to save the potential fic for when Season 2 airs next summer. There was an essence of a story, a general vibe…touring, comets, drinks, smoke…yet it wasn’t urgent or tangible. But as soon as that last scene hit me out of nowhere—Aemond returning to the farm as a better man, riding his motorcycle with displaced snow billowing out behind him—Comet Donati as a story became vivid and real and all-consuming.

As soon as I see a scene like that, I know I have to write the story, and I usually begin immediately planning out chapters that same day. Ideas and vibes flit in and out of my mind all the time, but scenes demand to be written.

Would you ever want to revisit a story for an epilogue?

I won’t say I’ll never write an epilogue, because I suppose inspiration could strike unexpectedly. However, for me, where a story ends is truly the ending. I might have vague ideas about what happens next for certain characters, but I don’t usually see scenes or hear dialogue beyond the last chapter, so trying to write an epilogue would feel forced to me. If anything, I’m usually already in the mental headspace of a new story by the time I’m finishing up the current one! With that said, it’s super heartwarming when readers ask about epilogues, because I know that means they’ve grown to love these characters and aren’t ready to say goodbye yet.

If a reader has a question about what comes next for a character, they’re always welcome to send it my way, and I’ll answer to the best of my ability. 🥰

What is next for the wonderful Miss Maggie?

So, as usual, too many things to possibly keep up with! I have a few original novel projects floating around. But… most relevant to Tumblr… I also have two (yes, TWO!!!) new House Of The Dragon fic ideas that I’m really excited about.

Just last week, one of these ideas turned into a must-write-immediately type of story when I saw the final scene while driving home from work and listening to Fall Out Boy’s second album, From Under The Cork Tree. I’ve had that album on repeat ever since!

It’s always daunting to start a new series; the time commitment is stressful, and there’s a fear of rejection as well. I remember being absolutely terrified to post the first chapter of Comet Donati because I felt like it was so different in tone from NICIY, and I worried that my readers wouldn’t connect with it. But Comet ended up working out in the long run, so I’m trying to use that lesson to talk myself out of any self-doubt.

This new series is going to be very different from Comet in both setting and tone. It’s going to be long, around 15 chapters.

And for more details, you’ll have to check back on Sunday, September 10th! :)

[necrocaiowe]

Your tags ohh i would like to hear more please

Thank you I'm always thinking about Arthur and Owen as mirrors of each other and specifically Owen viewing Arthur as the child he could have been if he was saved. He hates Oz because he's a threat, no question about that, but I interpret at least a repressed part of that hatred as spite for not choosing him when he needed help but picking Arthur up so easily... Besides Arthur has Owen's picture book hero as his knight and an entire country wrapped around his little finger. He looks at Arthur and sees everything he could have had. What did they all see in Arthur and not him. Surely the two of them looked identical as babies. Where was the compassion when Owen needed it?

As for little Owen and future Owen, Kizu is the spiteful one instead. If they faced each other he would lash out and assault future Owen with the same old questions, why do you get everything why do you deserve to be saved why did I wait like a good boy only to get nothing. For a boy who did what he thought was right and deserving of salvation, seeing his evil version get all the love from Mister Knight for acting selfishly, breaking rules, being offensive and disturbing would destroy him. If playing nice won't get you what you want then WHAT will? Is it really at random? Is it out of his control no matter how hard he tries? It's all a desperate cry of why couldn't he be the one to have it. He was right, in the end, to learn to take what he wants without asking. The way the world decides what you deserve isn't fair.

Now if any if this is wrong.... My bad but I'm a slow reader and it's the interpretation I've had for years. My reading process is thorough and time consuming and as such I don't do it as often anymore. The most I've been doing to engage with wizard text is translate login stories and voice lines on my own

[sevinagreatergood]

Sirius Black. The asshole that almost killed Snape. The asshole that didn't see Remus as a friend at all. The asshole that calls Severus, Snivellus even though they are adults. In general. Asshole that befriended an asshole. But even with this asshole, I have a vibe with him. As I explained in my Severus post. I don't have an actor. None of them look like how I imagine him. I'm very bad at facial recognition or remembering it. And my list of famous people that I know is horribly low. Also, to the snater that love Sirius. I'm glad he died. Hope it helps. Glad he got scolded by Harry too.

1. Sirius has cruel, almost eerily empty grey eyes. The girls that are attracted to him could describe it in many ways. Mostly romantic ways. Snape however would know how wrong those descriptions are. Maybe Peter and Remus could vouch in on that when Sirius often snaps. Sirius might treat the girls slightly better, but not that extremely different. Because being focused on how to act with ladies, means spending less time and energy on James. He'd be caught dead before doing that. My headcanon is that James is a heterosexual and thus focuses on girls. Which then Sirius did so too. Problem was that he only does that whenever James did. Second problem would be that Sirius was much more handsome than James, indirectly earning him more attention than James and giving him much more access to break hearts than James. But again. He only gives girls the attention, when James does and he goes along with him.

2. Slide two is an ominous kind of oppressive figure sitting on a chair with his face completely swallowed by the shadow. That's how I imagine that Sirius would be later. He's this rebellious teen but as he grew older, he'd become staler and grow much more into the mold his family once placed for him there, more than a decade ago. He'd tell himself that he is nothing like his parents, yet he would find comfort in asking his parents their advice every now and then. Out of spite and betrayal to himself, he'd cover their paintings. He'd probably have a personality issue. A split personality of some kind. While it may look like Sirius, I think to myself that it also symbolizes that there will always be an oppressor in his own home. Sirius would be convinced there is none in his house because they are dead. Sometimes he'd just catch himself saying the things his mother once did and have an inkling of doubt that HE could be an oppressor. Hating that idea, he'd lash out. Only to sound more and more like his mom.

3. That's the Sirius I imagine to be in his rebellious and reckless tween years. A motorcycle loving bad boy vibe. Picking up muggle girls, sweeping them of their feet maybe. I don't have much to say. I would find it extremely hilarious that he would be like his parents and feel like this part was a shameful part of him and hide this part. It either is shameful or painful, depending on if James croaked or not like the insufferable frog he is. Sirius his kids would find it and be dumbfounded to find out that their hateful old man was this kind of teen. His kids would probably use that against him too.

4. "Too many people getting older, but not growing up" Uhm, this is basically Sirius. He refuses to grow older and what not. It's a lethal blow. Because being rebellious might look hot and nice, but when you're 50 and still acting like you're that young kid, calling folks by a bully name or living without consequences, people will call you names. I feel like he would call Severus still Snivellus, without Azkaban. Awful part about this is that he wasn't a nice kid during his younger years which means, that if acts like that in his older years, he'd be a shitty adult. Basically a fucked up version of -Hotter Than My Daughter- and a family that falls apart.

5. "You got a taste for blood when you were licking you own wounds" it is implied that Sirius had an abusive life too. Perhaps not as abusive as Severus. Definitely verbally. Sirius is raised with a brother that thinks like his parents, that maybe he felt failure as an older brother that he couldn't protect his younger sibling from parents like those . Three of them corner him at every given chance. Giving him almost no room to breathe. Like a dog that was raised by violence, he became violent too. Only thing is, that Sirius completely enjoyed being the abusor. He enjoyed using Remus as a tool. He enjoyed harming Severus. No regrets.

6. How I imagine Sirius his state of mind after James his dead OR as he grows up. It's on fire and everything that was once good is now either painted bad (obviously the bullying of Snape) or a painful reminder that those times were with James and he wouldn't get to experience those years again. His mind is on fire so to speak. Because he doesn't become quiet or more closed off. No, Sirius Black is violent and unpredictable. Like fire basically. Being involved with him could easily and just as quickly become a brawl by perhaps a simple strange look one could've given him.

7. This is his house he grew up in. I know he has an official house but I don't like that one. To me he'd have somewhat of a goth like castle. Growing darker over the years because nobody really looks after it. Maybe Sirius would look after it when he first moved back in the house, but after a while he'd forget it too. Maybe by avoiding that house or simply drowning himself in alcohol.

8. HE is the casanova. A heartbreaker without even the intention of doing so. He'd blame the girl for getting too involved with him, telling her that she obviously can't always have him. I also believe he'd have magazine of muggles women like playboys and such, but he wouldn't read about any feminist literature. Objectifying a woman's body and treating them like such (not like a pimp). Sleeping with whatever hottest woman threw herself at him and by the next day, leave. To avoid clinginess. Strangely, he would make sure to wear a condom with intercourse. Always, always. To avoid being a useless parent like his parents. He definitely is pro- one-night-stands.

9. The man is sadistic. He enjoys hurting. Wouldn't surprise me if Peter had awful memories of Sirius too, just like Remus had (Shack memory). He'd hurt feelings all over and over again to see the fury reflected in people their eyes. Because those people react to him and he loves a reaction. Wouldn't surprise me that he did something so terrifying as a child, his parents favored Regulus above him regarding that incident which led Regulus on a path to Voldemort. His sole loyalty is James, who is just as much of an unhinged fuck as he is. Maybe Walburga gave him 1 time too much of a harsh punishment, that made the kid snap and alter his view on reality permanently. Which Walburga wasn't appeased by and tried to beat it out of him. Which either was too late or it made Sirius worse. Giving us a sadistic Casanova that enjoys trampling on all and is befriend with a like minded guy.

10. Infamous for his mommy issues.so I gave this. Walburga would be distant. I believe she wouldn't praise him when he did good, but she'd definitely punish him when he did bad. Which causes Sirius to only be introduced to angry facial expression and punishments. Copying that behavior against this will. Because he simply doesn't know any better. Perhaps, Sirius wouldn't even want kids and postpone it as much as possible. Sirius his ironic downfall would be, ending up like the parents he hated, treating his kids the same way his mother (perhaps dad) treated him.

This is my take on Sirius Black. I don't change his personality much through out my fanfics. These are his core traits. Sometimes I mix up an extra trait, like he was friends with blood purists before Hogwarts, he knows how to fix a motorcycle, and so on. But these 10 are for me core traits/emotions that I see in him.

[savagebisand]

I'm gonna say this and make my peace with it but I am frequently reminded as someone watching from week to week when it comes to Only Friends, that it is so easy in a series like this to find yourself accidentally having bias toward some characters, pairings etc. It's very important that we always remain open to alternate perspective and that we remain able to pick out nuances in our favourites. Critique them when they cause trouble or make a bad choice and cheer for them when they find moments of happiness. For today, I am going to speak primarily about Sand because I've already seen a lot of a sentiment on YouTube mostly that he is justified in his scheming to reveal BostonTop and drag Ray into it and yet Ray is vilified for lashing out and pushing Sand off him in the same episode.

We have really got to stop woobifying characters like Nick and Sand and even Ray or Mew because we see them as the most traumatised or the ones with the uncaring lovers. None of them were meant to be the "innocent" character amongst the darkness. JoJo has always said all these characters are flawed and live in shades of grey.

I'm getting real tired of seeing Sand constantly elevated above Ray because one has to be worse than the other for some reason? Or seeing TopMew and SandRay pitted against each other when both have tormented romances. We can note the difference in how the relationships are developing without attacking one or the other. Sand can be the kindest and most sensible character in this series and he can still be morally reprehensible and wrong in other ways. Mew can be caring and hesitant and only want what's best for his friends and still get it wrong sometimes not out of spite but simply because he just doesn't know better.

We do not have to pretend that Sand is in the right when he isn't because we don't want to lose the Sand as a good person label. He IS a good person..he's also wrong for the mess he indirectly caused this ep. Y'all I'm a Sand stan, this blog is sandified all over. The man is me coded. He's a mirror to my soul for me. And I will still sit here and hold him accountable just as much as I would do for Ray when Ray fucks up. He made some Choices this episode and they were Bad. He prioritised his vengeance against Top over Rays emotions regarding Mew and that is Unkind.

Ray was Unkind to lash out at him and push him as well but to act like Ray was unjustified and deserves to be vilified for it is just... it don't sit right with me. He stooped as low as Sand did, he hit right where he knew it would hurt. It was tit for tat. The second Ray went into that meet up where Sand showed him the audio, you could sense Ray knew he was being used as a middle man. That shit hurts. This is the person he's been vulnerable with finally and he just got treated once again, by him, as someone easily influenced and gullible.

Sand used clever words to make it sound like he was doing this for Ray but it was heat of the moment. He was thinking purely of making Top taste his own medicine and eat his words. He wanted Top to lose Mew to prove the point that Top doesn't always get what he wants. Bonus if it meant Sand got Ray and could prove Top even more wrong because "who have you got?" Well now he has him. But honestly Ray was just a prize at the end of a long game Sand wanted to play there for a second.

It can be equally true that when he saw Ray was going to rain hell upon the group, he became more concerned as in his moment of Seeing Red he thought only Top would get hurt. He under estimated the fall out a truth like this would cause for everyone in that clique. Tell one harsh truth and a million more come pouring out. Ray got hurt because of this little ploy and he got a nasty awakening that oh yeah Ray is more important than some contest with Top, it can be equally true that he cares about Ray when Top isn't clouding his judgement and actions. That he didn't want Ray to endanger himself. That he would follow Ray and get him to a hospital safe after Ray angrily tries to take himself home under the influence because he feels betrayed, a black sheep to his friends.

But like it or not some of Sands actions this episode were still laced with calculation and manipulation and involved using others like chess pieces such as Ray and Nick, two people he normally cares about more than anyone. That moment when he smashed up his phone intentionally to get his hands on Nick's? Batshit insane behaviour. He was high tempered and irrational and he made a very big mistake because as I've said before these characters are portrayed as human young adults and it's what we do. No one is perfect 100% of the time. We all have a capacity for bad inside of us that most of the time we tamper. Sand was not able to in this instance. He caused mass destruction in a butterfly effect of one choice he made way before Ray caused more fallout with the truths he spilled.

Sands actions. Sands choices. Not just Rays or Mews. And don't get me wrong Ray was wrong too, he shouldn't have brought April and Cheum into it just to further a point. He should have just let Mew handle Top alone at home. But to be fair he'd spent all day and night being ignored by his friends for not being as blind in love as them, biting his tongue when Ton played along to insinuations over Nick and still got treated kindly after outright saying he had an ice cold heart when Ray knew just how true that was. Dealing with Ton making his emotions for Mew the butt of a joke again, belittling him. Sand using him to get back at Top and lying to Rays face or stonewalling him after they'd spent a week connecting more.

So it's no surprise he went since we're being honest tonight anyway maybe you all need to see you aren't perfect either. Sand set the spark that started this fire this time around. It's alright. All of them went too far and crossed lines. None are worse than the others. This show is not a competition between which partner in this couple is worse or more fucked up than the other. It is showing its audience what it looks like when two fucked up, flawed, morally grey, young adult and queer people fall into relationships and friendships. All of the couples are equally as wrong as each other for behaviours they exhibit when together.

It's subjective of course, everyone's personal level of what's wrong and what's acceptable is different and that's what makes this interesting. Something a character does may not be going too far for one viewer whilst for another it's absolutely appalling. The beauty of media. But let's not get so caught in picking teams that we lose our critical lens when we consume media. You can be rooting for Nick or Boston or Top or Sand or Ray or Mew! A combination! Have favourites! By all means pick people you'd love to see overcome these messy dramas and challenges they face. Just don't throw rocks at glass houses.