#(sorry about the wonky formatting; tumblr is weird)

[tathrin]

I'm working on some Background Timeline Nonsense for my Celebrimbor In The Fellowship AU fic and trying to put together stuff in a way that both makes sense and is fun (and reconciles some of the Unfinished Tales mess). I've already blathered at poor @babybat98 about this, but I figure I might as well subject the rest of you all to it share it here too, in case anyone has Thoughts or Suggestions:

A Timeline of the Lords of the Woodland Elves.

506 F.A. Doriath is sacked (about 30 years before the Third Kinslaying at Sirion).

By 511 F.A., refugees from Gondolin and a few Drúadain joined them there, and by 525 Earendil and Elwing were wed and ruling the Havens of Sirion.

539 F.A., the last of the Fëanorians show-up in Sirion and do their usual silmaril-slaughter, and Elwing jumps off the cliff. The Havens are left in ruins, and Morgoth has control of all Beleriand, blah blah blah.

545 F.A. the Host of the Valar land in Beleriad. The War of Wrath begins.

590 F.A. Morgoth defeated, War of Wrath ends, First Age ends. *Galadriel probably doesn't actually marry Celeborn until now, possibly because of the whole "don't marry during war" thing the Calaquendi tend to do? unclear, because everything involving them is unclear lmao

1 S.A. the Grey Havens are built in Lindon, the only place in Beleriand that really survived the War of Wrath.

By 20 S.A. Galadriel and Celeborn leave Lindon, where Gil-galad is now king (probably crowned because of Galadriel's influence somehow? Unclear, again!). Galadriel and Celeborn go to Eriador and dwell near Lake Nenuial, where they are accounted "the Lord and Lady of the Eldar in Eriador" according to one version of the Unfinished Tales. They have a lot of Noldor, Grey-elves, and Green-elves with them at this time. Now for the fun backstory stuff...what if we say that Celeborn, Oropher, and Amdír were all basically BFFs from their youth in Doriath, and will remain thus for many years before the eventual splintering around 750 S.A.?

So, as of S.A. 10-20 when Galadriel and Celeborn leave Lindon, what if we say that Amdír and Oropher are with them also at this point, and with them their sons? They can be part of the company of mingled Noldor and Iathrim who are mentioned there at Lake Nenuial, with Celeborn (relative of Thingol) and Galadriel (sister of Finrod) as the "highest ranking" of their little quartet, and also the ones (especially Galadriel) who care the most about rank/leadership, and thus fall naturally into that role both in behavior and in the eyes of everyone around them, while Amdír and Oropher are more advisors/etc (maybe they end up in charge of guarding everybody, as the Warriors of the group). Amroth could be as young as 110 right now if he was just a wee little lad when Doriath was destroyed, barely an adult, or at any rate easily less than 200 yet. Perhaps Amdir never made it to Sirion at all, and only rejoined his son after the War of Wrath? (Perhaps Amdir's mom died in the Kinslaying, like Nellglind?) Regardless, Galadriel and/or Celeborn could have been doing most of the looking-after of him during the War either way, and thus we get Amroth as sort of "their kid" like he was in that draft, while not actually being their son which wouldn't make sense. Maybe Celeborn looked after both Amroth and Thranduil while the other adults were involved more in the fighting, given that picturing either Amdir or Oropher NOT fighting if they were still in Beleriand at this point is difficult (albeit not impossible: they could always have gone "fuck this shit, this is a Calaquendi Problem, you deal with it") and Galadriel is The Mighty One while Celeborn is more chill (and because I like not having The Woman be the one doing the child-minding lol). Alternatively, they could have all fought to varying degrees, with young Thranduil the one charged with looking after younger Amroth? idk most of the War of Wrath is pretty hand-wavy even in Tolkien's stuff so this can stay vague lol

At any rate, we pick-up the thread with our next Known(ish) event:

300 S.A. is when Celebrían is probably born. At this point, her parents are presumably still in Eriador. So, we could have them all living together as a little found family unit of survivors at Lake Nenuial, with Amroth and Thranduil acting as sort of older brothers/cousins to Celebrian. Perhaps she has more of a brotherly relationship with Amroth, who is younger, and a little more distance between her and Thranduil, because he's so much older (and lived through the trauma of everything more directly)? He sees himself as the Sensible And Mature One who has to look out for the younger/more naive kids, perhaps? At some point, of course, there must be some kind of a falling-out of some sort between Oropher and Galadriel/Celeborn, because we need to have some reason as the driving factor (combined with the increasing numbers of Dwarves in Moria, which we know Oropher wasn't pleased by; hello Doriath Trauma Round One!) for him to do the whole "moved his people north three times" from the original location of Amon Lanc in order to avoid being near Galadriel and Celeborn in Lórien. Perhaps the falling-out can be traced back to Ost-in-Edhil somehow?

750 S.A. is approximately when Eregion is founded, and construction is begun on Ost-in-Edhil. 750 S.A. is also around when we're told that Oropher and Amdir took up lordship of their respective Silvan lands (although I'm already deviating from those details a bit because fuck colonialism lol; but that's easy enough to do and still claim canon-compliance due to the vagueness of all of this in "canon" anyway, so we'll still use that as the rough date of when the Sindar refugees came to Laurelindórenan/Greenwood, and just say the whole "king" thing in Greenwood happened later and the Noldorian historians never caught the nuances, shhh) So if we extrapolate from all that... What if the falling-out happens because of Eregion? What if Amdir and Oropher are not about to accept an open and friendly relationship with the local Dwarves, after what happened to Thingol and Doriath; and Galadriel, with her foresight and her stubbornness and her Noldorin love of craft (and the fact that her first main trauma was Alqualondë long before the Sindar were scarred by the Battle of a Thousand Caves), refuses to let her Goals™️ be held hostage to their grudges and trauma, and insists that the only way forward for this land is hand-in-hand with the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm. Celeborn reluctantly sides with his wife (even though he loathes dwarves as much as any of them) over his friends, and Amdir and Oropher go off in a huff with those others of the Elves of Eriador who aren't interested in More Noldorin Bullshit, crossing the mountains and joining with the Silvan Elves in the east. So:

750 S.A. Amdir and Oropher leave with a group of followers, while Galadriel and Celeborn found Ost-in-Edhil with Celebrimbor, the two of them being taken as Lord and Lady of Eregion while he's (presumably) just in charge of the smiths for now.

1000 S.A. Sauron, not wanting to start shit with the western elves or Numenorians right not because they're too strong (and presumably just not giving a shit about the little Wood-elves in their forests), beings building Barad-dûr.

1200 S.A. Sauron tries to beguile the Elves of Lindon, and Gil-galad tells him to fuck-off. He tries again in Eregion, and despite Galadriel going "big nope!" the Gwaith-i-Mírdain there welcome him.

1350 S.A. Sauron manages to get Galadriel ousted from Ost-in-Edhil, and Celebrimbor becomes lord of the place. Galadriel and Celebrían leave via Moria, and spend a while in Khazad-dûm with their dwarven friends before making their way eventually to their old friend Amdir and foster-son/brother Amroth in Lórien, where they are welcomed, and Galadriel and Amdir reconcile (possibly enthusiastically, possibly awkwardly) but Celeborn, refusing to step foot in a dwarven kingdom, stays in Eregion, where he is "disregarded" by Celebrimbor. So I like to picture him skulking about as That Grumpy Old Man muttering and scowling at everybody as they pat him on the head and go "there, there grandpa" and whisper apologies to whatever dwarf he's offended today.

1500 S.A. by this time, the Seven and the Nine are made, and Sauron leaves to go make the One Ring in secret in Mordor.

1600 S.A. Sauron makes the One Ring and proclaims himself as Sauron, and ready for war. Celebrimbor goes OH FUCKSHIT and runs through Moria to consult with Galadriel in Lórien. He gives her Nenya, and she convinces him to send the other two to Gil-galad in Lindon, and get them the fuck out of Ost-in-Edhil.

1605 S.A. Sauron's immediate attempt to start said war is potentially delayed by the first two of the Istari, the Blue Wizards, who in a much later draft of Tolkien's actually came to Middle-earth during the Second Age, long before the rest of them, rather than all coming over together. Instead, he had them come over with Glorfindel, and while Glorfindel hung around to help Gil-galad et al they made their way East, to try and save the tribes of Men who had fallen under Morgoth's worship, and to discover where Sauron was hiding, and work against him. I think I want to go with that version, simply because I like the idea of Glorfindel coming back with some of the Istari? But I ALSO like the idea of him having fought in the Last Alliance, which means I need him to come over before Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast do in the Third Age. So this splits the difference nicely! So, as of 1600: the valar have gone "oh fuck!" and thrown two maia and one reborn elf on a boat and thrown them back to Middle-earth to clean-up the leftovers of the mess left by the War of Wrath when they failed to drag Morgoth's most powerful lieutenant back to face judgement in Valinor OOPSIES, presumably because they figured out that Shit Was Hitting The Fan thanks to the whole One Ring Thing being big enough to be Noticed By The Powers lol Anyway, thanks to Morinehtar and Rómestámo being fucking badass, Sauron's plans for war are delayed several years, and Celebrimbor has time to hide the Three and presumably to warn the Dwarves about the Seven. Ooh, what if we say that he's been spending a lot of this time trying to devise some way of un-linking the Rings from the One Ring? He apparently has the Nine with him when Eregion falls, and Sauron just takes those, but the Seven and the Three aren't there; maybe he was working on the Nine, and knew the Seven were safe in Khazad-dûm where his dwarven smith-friends were doing the same there? And that's why he never tried to destroy them: he was still holding out hope they could be saved, be fixed. That he wouldn't have to destroy the greatest things he ever made, and all the hopes he put into them. He just needed a little more time...

1693 S.A. the War of the Elves and Sauron (finally) begins.

1695 S.A. Sauron slinks through the Gap of Rohan, thus avoiding the Elves in the Greenwood and Lórien, and invades Eriador. Thanks to the Númenóreans having cut down many of the Trees of Minhiriath and Enedwaith, the people in these lands welcomed Sauron's conquest and let him pass without trouble. (Well done, Númenor! Didn't anyone ever teach you deforestation is bad?) Celeborn leads the forces from Eregion (presumably having said "I told you so" to Celebrimbor a few times) and they manage to defeat the first wave of Sauron's army, but are then overwhelmed and forced back to Ost-in-Edhil. Gil-galad hears about this and sends Elrond leading a force from Lindon to help, and also sends messages to Númenor pleading for help. Nobody answers (men, pah!). Elrond's force is too small, and can't break-through to get to Eregion to help.

1697 S.A. Ost-in-Edhil falls. Celebrimbor is tortured into giving up the location of the Seven, but dies without revealing the Three. Sauron, not being an entire idiot, guesses that they're most likely with Galadriel and Gil-galad anyway, but is pissy about being resisted, and turns Celebrimbor into a banner that he carries into battle. Elrond's tiny army is about to be overrun when the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm attack Sauron from the rear, along with the force of elves that Amroth has led through Moria from Lórien, (because whatever Issues™️ his father might have with Dwarves, he's not about to let his foster-father die). This allows Elrond to gather the survivors of Ost-in-Edhil, including presumably Celeborn, and flee. The Dwarves are driven back as well, but they shut the Doors of Moria and Sauron can't get in. Haha, thwarted by Celebrimbor and his previous sweetheart, sucks to be you Sauron! The Doors of Durin are apparently not opened again until the Fellowship of the Ring comes to them (although that doesn't make sense, because Gandalf and Aragorn both passed through Moria at least once before LotR, so they must have been opened at some point; but perhaps the text only means they were not left open again after this point, and is not referring to when/if they were ever opened from inside by someone walking through and out?). The retreating elves found the stronghold of Rivendell, to which many of the survivors of Eregion flee. (Celeborn, presumably, says "I told you so" a lot at this point too, but not often enough for them to murder him.) The rest scatter, some fleeing Middle-earth altogether and some disappearing into the Wild with others fleeing through Khazad-dûm (before the Doors are shut, presumably) thanks to their dwarven friends, and make their way eventually to Lórien, where they join their fellows who left Ost-in-Edhil earlier and merge with the Silvans and Sindar there.

by 1700 S.A. Sauron has overrun all of Eriador except for Rivendell, which is besieged, and Lindon, where Gil-galad is also barely holding him off at the River Lhûn and Mithlond. Finally the Nûmenorian fleet arrives, and kicks Sauron's ass all the way back to Tharbad, although he burns the forests of Minhiriath and Enedwaith as he goes. He gets caught in a pincer between the main force and a smaller one that Ciryatur landed at Gwathló behind him, and barely escaped "with his bodyguard" to Dagorlad. It is unclear at this point if Sauron actually HAS any or all of the Seven, or just knows where they are; sources say that Durin at least was given his Ring by Celebrimbor himself, so perhaps Sauron never actually manages to collect all the Seven at this point? but still has his original influence over them. He does have the Nine, we know, because he gathered them up when he came to Ost-in-Edhil and defeated Celebrimbor on the steps of the House of the Mírdain.

1701 S.A. the first Council is held in Imladris, when Galadriel and Celebrían come looking for Celeborn and meet-up with all the other leaders of the various forces of Elves and Men. They decide to make Rivendell the new elvish stronghold in Eriador, as Eregion is in ruins and remains thus. Gil-galad at this point gives Vilya to Elrond (it's unclear when Cirdan gets Narya, because of course is it; he might already have it, or he might not get it until Gil-galad marches to War in Mordor, although wtf was he thinking leaving Narya behind when he went to war just when he would need its power most? Gil-galad wtf mate???) and declares him his vice-regent. This is also when Elrond and Celebrían meet for the first time. (Presumably at this point her foster-brother Amroth teases her mercilessly about her very obvious crush on Gil-galad's pet peredhel, and she probably smacks the crap out of him for being a jerk.) At some point after this, Galadriel and Celeborn (and Celebrían presumably) leave Rivendell to live near the sea, probably because Galadriel was apparently "striken with sea-longing" the moment she put Nenya on. They go to Belfalas, which will be later called Dol Amroth, and apparently visit Lórien at least twice more before the end of the Second Age, but we don't know anything else about them here.

At this point, there isn't much relevant canon information until the Last Alliance happens, since most of what's going on of import now is happening in Numenor, but let's hit the highlights in case we want to expand on any of this later.

2251 S.A. the Nazgûl appear.

3262 S.A. Sauron taken to Numenor as a prisoner.

3319 S.A. Numenor sunk, Sauron flees back to Middle-earth, and the world is reshaped.

3429 S.A. Sauron seizes Minas Ithil.

3430 S.A. formation of the Last Alliance.

3431 S.A. the Last Alliance marches to Rivendell.

3434 S.A. the march to Mordor, and the Battle of Daglorlad, where Oropher and Amdir both die. Siege of Barad-dûr begins.

3441 S.A. Sauron defeated (for now), war is over. Thranduil and Amdir go home with their scant surviving forces.

[beaker1636]

A Love Reunited - Ricky Smut/Fluff

A/N: I don’t know why my mind went towards a sappy fluffy cute smut but it did so hopefully you enjoy this anon! I didn’t edit this so they’re maybe some typos, also I upload via mobile so if the formatting is ever off I am sorry! Enjoy!

Edit: for some reason tumblr won’t let me add the imagine below the photo so it’s all wonky. Sorry!

Sighing you clock out at work and make your way out the door, extra glad it is finally the weekend after a long week, but also a little disappointed to be making your way home to your apartment alone. Your boyfriend Ricky is away on tour and unfortunately there is still about a week left before he can be home.

You decide to send him a quick message before you start the drive home, letting him know that you are thinking of him and miss him.

When you pull into your driveway you notice that you have a message so you take your phone out as you walk towards your front door.

“Good thing we got home early then,” you read.

You quickly unlock your front door when you got the message, looking up to immediately gasp. Wasting no time you make your way to where he sits on your couch, sit down on his lap facing him and bury your face in his neck. His arms snake around you, holding you to him tightly as you both sit there in the silence for a couple minutes to embrace and take comfort in being together again.

“Something came up and the tour ended a week early, so I decided to surprise you after work today,” he says softly in your ear, not wanting to let go of you as the two months you were apart has taken a toll on not just you but him as well.

“I missed you so much,” you mumble, trying not to embarrass yourself by happy crying.

The timer in the oven goes off, forcing you to separate from eachother.

“Go sit at the table, I will have dinner out for us in a minute,” he says kissing your forehead as he slips by you and into your kitchen.

You make your way to the dining room table ad smile when you see that there is a beautiful bouquet of flowers itting on it, and candles are lit around the room giving a romantic feel towards the meal, which melts your heart at the effort that he made to do something for you despite the fact you know he must be tired from the tour.

Rick comes out with your plates and then heads back into the kitchen to grab you both a couple of glasses of wine before he takes a seat next to you at the table.

“You didn’t have to do all of this for me, I know you must be exhausted after such a long tour,” you say as you start to eat the wonderful meal that he has cooked.

“I wanted to do something nice for you when I got back because this was the first tour we’ve been through together and I know it is a lot for you as well. I figured we have a nice at home date tonight and then we can spend the weekend being lazy and lying around together. After your week you probably need it too,” he responds back, reaching over to lightly squeeze your thigh under the table.

The two of you continue to eat, Rick telling you all about the fun and weird moments of the tour. Most of this he has already told you during your facetime chats but you still gladly listen to him as its been so long since you have heard him talk in person.

When you both finish eating you move closer to him so that you can give him a kiss, giggling when he pulls you out of your chair and onto his lap, not expecting the sudden playful moment.

“I’m so glad you are home, I missed you so much. I know you would never do anything but just knowing you meet so many fans makes me anxious, you never know what they could do or if you would meet someone better,” you admit shyly as you start to lightly play with his hair, loving the silky feel of it in your hands.

“Baby, listen to me. I don’t want anyone else. Noone comes close to you or how I feel about you,” he brushes your cheek with his thumb, which makes you look at him and making eye contact.

He leans down to gently kiss you again, but this time feels a lot different than any the two of you have ever shared with eachother. You can’t place why but you don’t question it, quickly giving in to the feeling and losing all sense of what is happening around you.

You can feel him smile in the kiss which makes you smile as well. Lightly Rick tugs on your lip with his teeth, your tongues lazily meeting. You can’t help but love how soft and gentle everything is right now. These slow sweet moments together are rare and you haven’t been able to have on in awhile.

His hands trail down your sides before landing on our ass and resting there for a moment before he pulls his lips away from yours just slightly.

“Why don’t we move this to our bed? You can show me how much you missed me,” he whispers, his breath ghosts across your lips making you shudder.

Rather than answering you get up off his lap and grab his hand, leading him out of the dining room and to your bedroom.

Both of you lay down on your sides facing eachother, lips quickly colliding with eachothers again only this time is more heated, both of you getting needy for contact that you have been missing.

One of his hands is resting on your hip as the other is in your hair, holding you closely to him. Slowly he pushs on you, letting you know that he wants you to lay down on your back which you happily do.

His hands teasingly rub the skin of your stomach which is now exposed from your shirt riding up slightly. Trailing his hands softly up your torso until they make their way back down towards the hem of your shirt, which he grabs and slides off of you, your bra quickly going with it while you blush.

The two of you have only been together like this a handful of times before he had to leave for the tour, so despite wanting it you still can’t help but feel shy when he looks at your body.

He gives you another quick soft kiss that is over before you can register that it had begun before they lightly start to ghost from your ear down to your throat. At the same time one of his hands moves to cup a breast, lightly kneading it before starting to roll your nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Even after all this time he still takes satisfaction in teasing you.

He know that he finds your sensitive spot on your throat when you gasp and tilt your head allowing him more access to continue leaving marks along the path, because you know that he has to be at that point.

Reaching inbetween the both of you you decide to unbutton his jeans, sliding them down slightly along with his boxers.

He adjusts so that he can kick his them off the rest of the way before his lips slowly start to trail down your chest, continuing to leave marks as you reach down to slowly stroke him, wanting to drive him crazy and tease him as much as he was doing to you. You know you succeeded when he lets out a barely audible groan which makes you giggle.

His lips wrap around one of your nipples, making you gasp and shift at the sensitive feeling, your jeans feeling a bit too constricting now.

He notices you shift and moves to unbutton them, pulling away from you slightly so that you can lift your hip, allowing him to remove them as well as your panties in one quick motion before sitting at your side. He reaches over you so that he can rub your clit but you grab his wrist and stop him.

“No, I-I just want to feel you tonight, please?” you beg, craving the closeness and the connection that you have been lacking out on with him.

His shifts so that he is leaning over the top of you again, his lips finding yours gently as he teases you slightly with the tip against your clit. When you give him an annoyed grunt he finally gives in and slips inside of you, both of you letting out a groan at the sudden feeling of pleasure that is coursing through you.

Hi thrusts get a little bit harder as he goes but he doesn’t get anywhere near as rough with you as he always has in the past. He wants to savor this moment with you and enjoy this feeling. He also feels the change between this act and the other times the two of you have been together.

Pulling away he locks his eyes with you as his hands find their way to your waist, flipping the two of you so that you are now on top.

“Ride me baby, fuck just like that,” he groans as you begin to rock your hips against his, you being inpatient and going a bit quicker than he was when he was on top and leading the two of you.

Knowing that he won’t last long himself after not getting any for a few month he reaches between the two of you, starting to toy with your clit which makes you look away from him, arching your back at the level it adds to everything.

He can feel you starting to clench around him, hear you letting out breathy moans that let him know that you are getting quick and when you do cum rather abruptly he is right behind you, spilling inside of you a couple seconds later.

When you come down you share a couple lazy kisses before you finally pull yourself off him and go to your bathroom to quickly clean yourself up.

When you return you quickly put your pajamas on, and notice that he has slipped into his boxers and is laying on your bed waiting for you to join him. You do so, laying your head on his chest and wrapping an arm around him while he begins to lightly run a hand along your back. Both of you sit there quietly, processing what has changed between the two of you but not wanting to be the one to break the silence.

A few moments later Rick decides to be the one to break it, “Being away from you like this for so long made me realize something… well that and one of Chris’ weird peptalks helped me figure it out too,” Rick says softly, still rubbing your back softly.

You move so that you are looking up at him,” Hmm?” you ask.

“This is probably not the best time to say it, and totally is not what I planned to do but I want to say it. I love you, more than that I’m in love with you. I’ve never mised someone so much while gone, or worried about a girlfriend like this,” he slowly stops talking when he realises he is rambling.

“Rick, I love you too. I just was too nervous to say it and freaked out thinking it would freak you out saying it only four months into our relations,” you admit and then before giving him a second kiss lightly.

Suddenly realization hits you and you pull away with a weird look on your face.

“Wait, you confided in this with my brother before you did me? No wonder he has been really weird lately when we’ve talked and asking how things are going with you,” you say giggling slightly.

You lay back down, curling up in his side again, content to just stay like that the rest of the night.

“He confronted me about it, I will explain later, lets just go to bed,” he says, sounding annoyed.

You decide to just let the subject go but totally plan to ask him about it in the morning curious on what that could have meant.

The two of you continue to catch up on everything you haven’t had a chance to with one another before you finally start to fall asleep, feeling loved and cared for, more content in your relationship than ever.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

episode of savanaclaw chapter 1: the importance of visuals in conveying character

ADDEDUM: Sorry if you experience weird formatting and/or see repeated paragraphs when viewing this post; for whatever reason, Tumblr gave me a really hard time editing, formatting, and saving this OTL It looks totally normal on my end, but I’ve heard from some people the post looks wonky to them 💦 I’m not sure how to fix it…

The turtlesoupscans team has the first chapter out! ^^ (This is also the scanlation from which I borrow the images used in this post!)

Something I noticed when taking a closer look at the Episode of Savanaclaw is that the new mangaka is really good at drawing eyelashes 👁 👄 👁 There were so many times when I actually made a full stop while reading to admire the eyes and the lashes on like. EVERYONE especially on L*ona. I really enjoy that aspect of the new artwork! (I don’t know if this is just me, but Leona’s tail and hair also seem much longer in the manga adaptation than in the game…?)

… OKAY I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS NOW

I mentioned before that the manga has the advantage of using visual storytelling to help convey character in a way that the game can’t. I previously explored this concept as it applies to Cater’s general character in the Episode of Heartslabyul. But but but— (and I cannot stress this enough 😳) just from the first chapter alone, I think that the manga’s visual storytelling is going a long way to enhance episode 2.

So like in the game (2-6), there is a dorm leaders meeting in which they discuss the upcoming Magical Shift/Spelldrive tournament. It is here where Crowley suggests inducting Malleus into the Hall of Fame in order to take him off the field and give the other dorms a chance to shine. Leona interrupts and gives a brief speech about how doing that is admitting defeat before the game has even begun. He uses the story of the King of Beasts to remind his fellow dorm leaders that it is cunning, not brute strength or magical ability, that allowed him to triumph. This inspires the other dorm leaders to disallow Malleus from entering the Hall of Fame, as they all want to do their best to try and outwit him.

Now, there's nothing wrong with this scene in the game. It serves its purpose just fine. However, because of the game being a visual novel style, the story is mainly told via dialogue and 2D character models. The manga is able to greatly expand on this scene because it is not constrained to just dialogue and a few animations. Case in point, this:

In the manga adaptation of this scene, Leona gives basically the same points, but the art is a lot more dynamic. For example, when he first hears Crowley’s proposal, we get these shots which show us Leona’s obvious displeasure. There’s the slight frown, the ominous shadow over his face, and even a close up of his fingers laced together (a pose which already implies he’s a schemer):

Compare this to the limitations of Leona’s in-game model; he looks so obviously and overtly angry, which doesn’t sell him as a calculating character as well. Meanwhile, in the manga, you can still tell just how much the idea Crowley suggested has pissed Leona off, but the feelings come across on his face in a much more subtle way.

Then when manga!Leona begins his appeal proper, he physically STANDS UP from his seat at the table. This draws the other pairs of eyes in the room to him; you can see in the next panel that everyone, including Crowley, is looking at Leona. He commands the attention in the room.

Another small detail here is that manga!Leona slams a hand down on the table; previously, they were folded together. Without saying a word, you understand what this conveys: that, in addition to his intelligence, he also has power and influence in this situation, and he knows exactly how and when to use those boons to his advantage.

Actually, manga!Leona does a lot of small yet noteworthy things with his hands. Take, for instance, these next panels.

When bringing up the importance of using one’s brain, manga!Leona actually taps his head. In the game, Leona is limited to his general sprite where he lays a hand against his temple. This is the closest approximation to what the game can do to simulate that tap tap of the head, but it doesn’t really carry the full weight of the motion, especially not when paired with Leona’s annoyed in-game expression.

But then look at manga!Leona, who looks so smug and self-assured as he does the gesture. It really speaks to his own confidence—and, more importantly, we’re getting a more accurate image of what the other dorm leaders and Crowley are seeing. They’re witnessing Leona at the height of his strength, someone who uses his words to persuade and to inspire the downtrodden masses into following his lead and to make better lives for themselves. Leona now curls his hand into a fist—so now we’ve gone from the cunning laced fingers to the powerful slam of a hand on a table to a clenched fist, which, in this context, is meant to be encouraging and victorious.

Note that this is all a parallel to Leona’s Disney counterpart, Scar, who made promised the shunned hyenas a place in society. Said parallel is made even more apparent in the following page; manga!Leona literally raises his fist up, and there, right in the background, is the statue of Scar himself, haloed by sunlight, and clouds parted for him. Scar—and, by extension, Leona—appear almost “God-like” because of this deliberate composition.

At this point, Leona speaks about the King of Beasts’ great accomplishment: obtaining the crown through perseverance and wit, in spite of the odds being stacked against him. Look at how this page is framed; it’s nothing BUT Leona. He’s dominating not only the page itself, but also the discussion surrounding Malleus’s induction to the Hall of Fame. He is winning his audience over.

Again, the same lines play out in the game, but the impact just isn’t there. We just have a lot of Leona crossing his arms while looking mad and Leona with his hands on his hips. At best, he looks neutral or slightly bored by what he’s saying. At worst, maybe too angry or even pouting about the situation. It definitely doesn’t feel nearly as inspirational as him standing and raising a fist as he extols the values of the King of Beasts.

(Side note: why is Leona built like a god damn DORITO 🤡 Why’s his waist so TINY???? What is the purpose of that………………….. ….. …. . .:: … . … . . … . . .. . . this is not me simping THIS IS NOT I swear it’s not)

This next page characterizes Malleus more than it does Leona; Malleus is small here, shown with his back turned away, turning to “glance over his shoulder” at the others. This comes off as isolating, putting distance between himself, who is on such a high level, and his peers. It matches Leona’s dialogue, implying that Malleus truly is a “monster” out of their league, and they must find a clever solution to take that “monster” down.

Leona’s profile now shows slight signs of irritation right as he’s delivering the conclusion to his speech and thesis. His eyebrows are arched, he’s frowning, and he’s slightly looking down at the people he’s addressing. The tension here is palpable; you can feel the force behind his words, how strong his final statement is. It is the responsibility of everyone present at this table to find a way to defeat Malleus, not kneel over and accept defeat.

And the crazy thing is???? You can SEE in the faces of every single dorm leader how Leona’s words have affected them. You don’t need anyone to say a single word to understand what’s going through their heads. They’ve all been charmed. Look at how wide-eyed Kalim is, how Vil has his eyes narrowed (like he has realized something), Riddle is staring DIRECTLY at Leona (implied by an earlier page), and fuck Idia; the tablet’s screen tells us nothing Azul smiles knowingly.

We automatically know what the outcome is, and we know which way they will vote. This is conveyed so well, so clearly, that the manga doesn’t even bother to give us dialogue from the other dorm leaders opposing Crowley’s suggestion. The manga just immediately cuts away to a mob student being injured. (This is different than in the game, which had to show Vil, Riddle, Kalim, Idia, and Azul verbally agreeing with Leona to get the same message across.)

Anyway??? I had to get all of that out of my system 🤡 I just. Can’t get over???? How good the visual storytelling is for the manga adaptation??????

Entire lines from the original script could be scrubbed out and we still understand what is being said without them. So much character oozes off the page in the dynamic camera and composition. Scenes that I paid zero mind to in the game are sooo much more interesting when told through the manga, my eyes are glued onto the pages.

There’s so much nuance in the gorgeous artwork and the story that it’s trying to tell, and I think that’s a real testament to how talented the mangaka and the team behind Twisted Wonderland (the manga adaptation) are!! I’m by no means a fan of episode 2 of the main story, but �� the manga has definitely done a great job making Leona’s introduction to the audience memorable, and he feels like a much more charismatic and threatening “villain” for this episode because of that.

[some-pers0n]

WUGEGEHEHAGHHGG,,, weueWUEGHHAUCHahhchACHK euwwewwghhg.. *sniffle* hweehhhh...

If you'll excuse me for that, eughheawwahhh.. God I'm just floored man. Literally makes my entire week- entire month when somebody says something like that.

@audtheodd (sorry for the weird formatting)(I think it's cause you sent it as a submission and not an ask that made it kinda wonky but eh it's cool it's cool) but thank you!!! Awahahghggh thank you!! God that is so incredibly kind and sweet of you. The bonus point of sending it to my Tumblr is that for some reason my brain is a lot more casual here than when responding to stuff over Ao3, which lets you see my fairly unfiltered brain.

Also! A-okay if they wanna chat over Discord lol. I'm chill with that. Yeah just feel free to DM me or anything. Also very cool sounding fic! I recognize the name, sounds pretty neat! Vita Carnis is a really fun and great series. Love the worldbuilding in that one. That sorta stuff blends pretty well into TF2 now that I think about it

[conchiferrous]

Helloo... Just gotta say I really love your artstyle and ur drawings are awesome :). Got any tips for drawings or something like that?, bc I wanna improve in drawing T_T

(idk how you draw or what ur skill level is or anything so if you know any of these already uhh sorry

in my experience using 3d shapes instead of flat construction shapes helps a lot if you want ur character art to have more depth and this is where i realize i have a picture for this actually

^^ on top of this if you draw digitally coloring in the sketch can make any imperfections with the shape n mass of what ur drawing more obvious and this can save you a lot of grief later if you go sketch->lineart->color and realize too late while coloring your foundation wasn't very good . also if you draw digitally try getting into the habit of flipping the canvas regularly that makes wonky shapes and skewed perspective more obvious too . ive seen the joke a lot of people being frustrated or embarrassed when they wait until the sketch is finished then flip the canvas and realize it looks really skewed which is very dumb to me because the sketch can just be a rough draft its fine . which on that note sketches are a thing you're probably going to have to iterate on over and over and over like it's not embarrassing if you don't get it right on the first try, best case scenario if its something i care about looking good at all it'll take me at least like 3-5 sketches. something something, sketches aren't the final so don't get caught up in the details right out the gate as a first step i see a lot of beginners get caught up in getting the head and face right first, THEN sketching the body after and maybe that works for some people just fine but in my experience personally if you loose sketch/figure sketch the whole body first no face no extreme detail at least you can work the pose out first before you waste your time getting caught up in details only to realize you don't have a great pose to go with it

also to you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior, the line of action?

actually lastly uhh if youre relatively new to drawing seriously dont get caught up in trying to have an iconic artstyle or even a consistent art style (<- like consistency really doesn't matter unless ur making like a comic or animation obviously) but you really really don't have to focus on having an art style worked out within the first few years or first decade even of drawing seriously. An art style will come to you naturally over time. This isn't to say you can't draw how you want to draw, but if you over fixate on having a cool recognizable unique not like other artists art style right out the gate but without much of any studying of anatomy or how your favorite art styles work, you're probably not going to get very far with that. and most important art tip of them all; don't draw to impress people, don't draw for likes and shares, draw for you and make the art you want to see. hope this was comprehensible or helpful and that tumblr doesnt format the images weird . just trying to rattle off some things that helped me a lot . if this post sucks idk ask me again later

[xcziel]

get to know me

tagged by @vishcount (thank you!!) and i'll follow her format bc making two posts seems a little much - i'm not that interesting!!

(hilariously, this post shows up as blocked for me bc of the tag 'joker' which? tumblr?????)

Part I

name: i'm an internet old, so i never use my real name online, mainly because it's spelled in a very unique way (thanks mom & dad) - i mean like, if you googled it you could find my home address in a few seconds kind of unique - but also, though i do enjoy the spelling, i actually don't like it very much when it's said out loud? (is it weird that my name written down is 'me', but my name aloud has never felt like 'me'?) always wanted a nickname but never acquired one :/

at any rate, i've had the username xcziel forever and i go by that 😊 (pronounced ex-SEE-zee-el, similar to etc. or ex-SET-er-ah! thanks @xia-xueyi for pointing out that it can be confusing to guess!)

rest behind a cut because it got long!

pronouns: she/her

star sign: i don't ... really *do* astrology? but technically saggitarius

height: 5'4" (162.5cm for the intl folks)

time: 5:43pm but these thing take me forever to type out so ... ???

birthday: playing the 'internet old' card again .. but it floats around american Thanksgiving depending on the year

nationality: american

fave bands/groups/solo artists: lumping these together because i just .. don't really do music much anymore. if you had asked me this back in my 20s i'm sure i would have had all kinds of opinions and things to share, but these days i actually mostly prefer to listen music from when i was a kid. part of it is also that as an old, i prefer to buy my music, even digitally, and i don't really use spotify - which does so much to enable diverse music exploration i admit! but i mostly have earplugs in all the time and music does not work for me as background noise, so...

so i guess my answer would be 70s disco and classic rock and 80s new wave artists? i've never liked any artist's entire discography and prefer greatest hits-type compilations, but i guess duran duran and def leppard and depeche mode would be considered formative? i love new order but specifically late 80s new order, NOT joy division. the only concert t-shirt i've ever worn was the cult? i loved sonic temple but i can't listen to most of it anymore though i still adore love removal machine. i think maybe if you get old enough, for some of us there's TOO MUCH good music and we can't pare it down anymore

song stuck in your head: jamiroquai's canned heat

last movie you watched: re: the above, i re-watched center stage, the 2000 one with zoe saldana and the mandy moore soundtrack, bc it's a happy comfort movie and i just got a digital version

last show you binged: i can't really "binge" very often bc after a couple of hours i need a break, so i guess i'd say the tgcf donghua on netflix since it was short enough to get through all in one go

when you created your blog: in 2012 i stopped lurking so i could post about the avengers movie

the last thing you googled: 5'4" in cm? lol before that it was chinese wrapped street food

other blogs: everything is here! i discovered i compartmentalize about as well as i tag reliably (😓) but i do have several automated ao3feed-tag style sideblogs. and i did, very briefly, have a *winces* hockey sideblog too

why i chose my url: ooh i know i've done this before, sorry if it's repetitive, basically it was the username i picked back when my family first got aol: short, unique combo of letters - 14-year-old me really thought about it! and then it wouldn't let me use anything other than my name. thirty-some-odd years later, trying to come up with a livejournal username that wasn't already taken and getting fed up, i plugged it in and went: good enough!

how many people are you following: like 760-something last i checked? although many, many, many of them are deactivated

how many followers do you have: idk i don't like looking at that stuff, but way fewer than i am following

average hours of sleep: it varies too much day by day, my sleep schedule is too wonky, i have no idea what the average would be

lucky numbers: 7? cliché i know, and again not really buying into it, but somewhere in my hindbrain i like it that my first, middle, and last names all have seven letters

instruments: none. i like singing

what i'm currently wearing: giant black t-shirt and baggy black drawstring shorts, standard sitting around the house gear

dream job: don't have one. if i did it would give me something to be working towards *sigh* this is how you end up in retail for decades, kids! but also, to quote a random post i saw in true tumblr fashion "i simply do not dream of labor"

dream trip: covered this one before but: back to the uk and some railway daytrips, or a really fancy northern cruise, atlantic/pacific either one

fave food: uhhh, don't really have a favorite but i'm almost always in the mood for pizza

top three fictional universe you'd like to live in: none really, if i had to still be me..maybe some kind of actually utopian future? but the pandemic has confirmed for me that i do NOT like living in interesting times, so most fictional story universes are RIGHT out. my favorites to read about like discworld or diana wynne jones' worlds would be way to chaotic for my comfort. possibly diane duane's young wizards universe would be safe enough to be okay?

Part II

last song: watching center stage made me think of my dance playlist so sunrise by simply red

last movielast stream: i don't watch streams or youtube often, so it was the same as you, vish! liu chang's birthday stream was SO enjoyable i screenrecorded the entire thing just so i could play it back (and maybe gif sometime if i ever get the drive to actually do it)

currently reading: well i just finished the translated quan qiu gao kao or global university entrance exam novel, which was sparked purely from catching a single rec post here on tumblr and basically just *falling* into this 166 chapter epic that is *amazing* and not coming up for air until i got to the end, which is typical novel-reading behavior for me (yes i was the kid who read through lunch period and got hassled by people who kept pestering me with "what're you reading" questions and yes i realize probably a lot of you on tumblr were too) plus, the new murderbot novel is out tomorrow!!!!! so that'll be where i end up next!

currently watching: the entire dmbj verse (that i can get my hands on) but ... sporadically and stopping at random different parts because the thing is ... this type of show is not really the kind i enjoy so much? so since it's more for "research" and learning character arcs (and let's be honest: shots of liu sang), etc. it's easy to get distracted by other stuff. i'm also watching the sleuth of the ming dynasty, mr queen, bromance, the expanse, re-watching farscape and stargate sg-1, just finished the falcon and the winter soldier, and then anytime something new and short gets introduced it jumps the queue. there are just. so. many. things. to. watch! (now i have to look into anti-fraud league too!? you all are cruel ...)

what is antipoetry to you: i ... don't really think much about poetry? i know what i prefer is usually the more basic rhymed kind like lewis carroll, emily dickinson, poe, coleridge, etc. so i suppose i don't have much use for classifying non-rhyming verse? i can appreciate stuff like rupi kaur which i guess would qualify? or that william carlos williams plums poem? but it doesn't really stick with me the way lyric-like verse does

currently craving: i never know what exactly this is meant to be in reference to ... hmmm, i would love a new high-concept, high production-quality movie like say, pacific rim, to be released, just for that massive, excited energy that comes with something new that hasn't already got tons of disappointing or conflicting history behind it - that would be so fun!!

other than that, right now, i mostly kinda want some fried fish? but that will have to wait until i go to get my second vaccine shot on wednesday since it's on the way there. i'd also like my internal body parts to settle down and fly right but it's been more than a month and they don't seem inclined :(((( maybe once i'm fully vaxxed i'll think about consulting somebody about it

tagging @foxofninetales @xia-xueyi @momosandlemonsoda @memorydragon @thewindsofsong @elvencantation @mylastbraincql @hesayshesgotboyfriend @aurawolfgirl2000 @smaragdine-galaxy and anyone who wants to! but never feel obligated and if you don't get around to it for like half a year that's totally fine, i am still interested!!!

[sweetsufferingss]

Romanticism Ch. 1 - Goddamn Keats!

sabrina spellman x fem!reader

a/n: this is the first fanfic i've written in years and i'm a little nervous. but i greatly welcome feedback and criticism! also, i want y'all to know that there will be heavy light academia and cottagecore undertones throughout this series so watch out 👀 also also, i'm on mobile so if the formatting is wonky i'll sue tumblr for 46 dollars 😤

--

More happy love! More happy, happy love! 

For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,

For ever panting, and for ever young;

You smiled to yourself as you looked down at your book of Keats poems.

John Keats. A man who was a love story in himself. A man whom you credit with starting your obsession with love. Or, at least the idea of it. His words oozed romanticism and completely annihilated your standards of love. The epic poets of the romantic period simply spoke to your soul and you couldn't help but spend every waking moment dreaming of your happy, happy love.

Living in an extraordinarily small town like Greendale, it was easy to get bored. And lonely. Making friends is always hard when you’re the new kid. Even more so when you're as shy as can be. You had only been there just two months and loneliness loomed over you like a dark cloud.

All hope was not lost, however. Because, on this particular Saturday morning, you decided to take an easy stroll through the lush, green forest and indulge in some light reading. The pleasant chirps of the birds and the gentle breeze gave you a feeling of wistfulness as you looked down at your book and drifted past the trees. 

Your splendid little haze was soon halted when you noticed a person past the tree line, standing in the center of a large grove of trees. Ever the curious cat, you tucked your book under your arm and closed in on the person, trying to see if you could recognize them. It was...a girl. A girl you knew. Her tell-tale red coat and white hair told you her name. Sabrina Spellman.

You had seen her around a few times and found her quite interesting. She was incredibly pretty and always smiled at you in the hallways. You couldn't stop your own smile as you realized who she was and were about to call out to her but something stopped you.

She looked...busy? Her eyes were closed and her head was tilted towards the sky. Was she meditating or something? Praying?

You decided it was best to just leave her to her own devices and head back home. You turned away and tried to make as little noise as possible, as not to disturb her. Keyword: tried. The cliche snap of a twig made you cringe and caused Sabrina to snap out of her intense...whatever she was doing and look in your direction.

“Hello?” She called out.

You were silent in shock and dread. What could you possibly say to her to help you not look like a creepy stalker??

“Show yourself!” She tried again.

Obviously the only logical thing to do was reveal yourself and hope that Sabrina wasn't weirded out by your accidental creeping. You emerged from the bushes, holding up your hands in a way to show that you meant no harm. 

“Hi…” You awkwardly greeted her as she stared at you in confusion.

‘Lord, spare me the emotional trauma I'll most definitely have after this encounter,’ you thought.

A painfully uncomfortable few seconds passed before she spoke. “Hi?”

“I’m,” you fumbled. “I’m really sorry, Sabrina. I-I didn't mean to disturb you.” Your face grew hot as you stuttered again.

Sabrina looked at you sympathetically. She knew you meant no harm and now felt bad for indirectly embarrassing you. She smiled a ruby lipped smile and chuckled softly. 

Gosh she was pretty.

“It's- it's fine. Really, you're fine,” she began. “You go to Baxter, don't you?” she inquired, stepping closer to you.

“Uh… Yes! I do. I’m (Y/N) (L/N).” you introduced yourself.

“My name is-” 

“Sabrina. Spellman. I know,” you interrupted her and cringed at how rude you sounded. “Sorry.”

She just smiled again. You smiled too. Her cheeriness was infectious. 

“It's okay,” she said, waving her hands reassuringly. A beat went by before she continued. “What are you reading?” She pointed at the book under your arm.

“Keats,” you blurted out. ‘Let’s try that again.’

“It's um- a collection of John Keats poems.” You finished with a small smile.

“You like poetry?” 

“I love poetry.”

“Is John Keats your favorite poet?”

“Oh, I couldn't possibly pick a favorite-”

“But if you had to pick one!” She interjected, a grin on her face.

“No!!” You argued playfully, your smile widening as you talked to Sabrina more and more.

You and Sabrina fell into easy conversation, chatting about school and getting to know each other. The two of you migrated to the enormous tree stump in the middle of the grove and sat down together.

“So…,” you started. 

“So…?” She copied you expectantly. 

“Um. What exactly were you doing out here all alone,” you asked. “If you don't mind me asking.”

“Oh, I don't mind,” she said steadily. “I just love being...out here. In nature.”

You stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

“The sweet, fresh air, the sound of tree branches rustling in the wind,” she closed her eyes and let out a breath. She was so dreamy. 

She opened her eyes and looked at you with her big, doe eyes. “I really love it here.” 

You smiled at her dumbly. Listening to her talk about nature. You really couldn't help but to admire Sabrina in this moment. Just being next to her filled you with an overwhelming sense of serendipity that warmed your cheeks and melted your heart. Is this how Keats felt upon meeting Fanny Brawne? Did his intense infatuation start when he first spoke to her? Your smile didn't move as you stared at her.

Staring.

You were staring at her. And her at you. You blinked in realization and sort of moved your body away from her. She sat up straight and cleared her throat nervously. You both made eye contact and nervously laughed at the awkwardness.

"Sorry.." Sabrina said in a small voice paired with an apologetic smile.

"No. I-I'm sorry," You assured her. It was really both of you who embarrassed yourselves. "That was…" you trailed off, looking at the woods around you. Anywhere that wasn't Sabrina's face really.

The forest was dark now and getting darker by the minute.

"Crap." You muttered. Your mother was gonna kill you.

You hopped off of the tree stump and tucked your book under your arm and turned to face Sabrina. "I'm really sorry, Sabrina but I have to go before it gets any later."

"Let me walk you home-"

"No that's okay, Sabrina. I really can't inconvenience you anymore," you reasoned.

"(Y/N), you have not inconvenienced me," she said firmly. "You actually really made my day," She smiled shyly. Were you making her nervous? "Let me walk you home?"

You looked at her decisively. What to do? You really didn't want to walk home at night by yourself. But you also wanted to hide from Sabrina Spellman and her disarming smile.

"If- If it's not too much trouble." You grinned at her. She beamed at you.

"Well then," she took you by surprise when she hooked her arm under yours and caused your face to heat up. "Lead the way."

Damn her smile and damn Keats.

[let-it-raines]

Rising from the Ashes (12/?)

When her husband died, Emma wasn’t sure that she could ever move on. He left her with a broken heart and a baby who was only three-months old. It’s enough to take most people down, to make them not want to keep going, but Emma Swan isn’t most people. She’s stronger than she has any right to be. And after years of heartache, she’s found ways to move on…one of those being in Neal’s best friend, Killian Jones.

As she’s always known, however, things are more complicated than they ever seem to be.

Rating: Mature

A/N: I’m sorry for the wonky formatting. I’m on vacation and can’t sleep and am doing this off of my phone. I thought it would be easier, but Tumblr can be dumb sometimes. I hope you enjoy regardless 💕

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

Tumblr: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

Tag list: @jamif @artistic-writer @cs-forlife @qualitycoffeethings @resident-of-storybrooke @captainsjedi @captswanis4vr @teamhook @ekr032-blog-blog @mayquita @bmbbcs4evr @wellhellotragic @kmomof4 @jennjenn615 @onceuponaprincessworld @shady-swan-jones @snowbellewells @snow-into-ash @andiirivera @mariakov81 @thejollyroger-writer @shireness-says @kristi555 @facesiousbutton82 @superchocovian @jonirobinson64 

-/-

-/-

“Killian, I’m really not sure if this is a good idea,” Emma whispers as they move forward in line, his fingers intertwined with hers as he tugs her forward to stand next to him so they don’t get lost in the crowd.

“Darling, I know you’re not big on the touristy activities, but we have to do it for Henry’s list.”

She tugs on his hand again, and he twists to the side to look down at her. He can’t see her eyes because of her sunglasses, the black frames covering the green, but he can see that her lips are pressed together in a firm line while her cheeks flush in a way that he knows has nothing to do with her blush.

“I mean the eye, babe. I don’t…I know it goes slowly, but I’m really worried that I’m going to throw up because of the movement.”

Oh.

He didn’t even think about that. He should have thought about it, but this is all still kind of new to him. It’s only been three days since they suspected Emma was pregnant, two since they’ve known officially, and they haven’t had much time to revel in it and celebrate with them constantly being around Liam, Belle, and Henry. It’s a bit ridiculous, really. Every time he gets Emma in a private corner simply to kiss her and tell her how goddamn happy he is that she’s in his life and is carrying their child, someone interrupts them.

Hiding Emma’s sickness is the most difficult thing, but trying to find some private time simply so they can talk is beginning to be even more difficult.

It’s likely a close tie.

He cannot believe he’s going to be a father.

Again.

He’s learning that it’s an odd disconnect, one that he’s struggling to understand, one that he really wants to talk to Emma about. Henry is his, undoubtedly. He loves that kid more than life itself. It hurts sometimes, physically aches, for him to think about his son and the light that he brings him after a life that has not necessarily been easy. He’s gotten to be a father to a little lad who he never thought would be such a major part in his life, and for someone whose greatest father figure was his brother and not his actual father, that’s not a responsibility he’s taken lightly.

He owes it to Emma and Henry, and even Liam and Neal, to be the man his father never was. Brennan was a fucked up man, but he helped shape Killian, whether he likes it or not.

But this is – this baby…she’s different. He’s got no clue if the baby is a boy or a girl, but he’s been calling her a girl in his head simply because it’s easier that way than dancing around pronouns and weird terms. She’s his little lady bug, and if she turns out to be a he, he’ll still be his bug. He doesn’t really have the words to describe how he’s feeling, and he likes to think of himself as a verbose man. It’s odd because he knows all of the science behind pregnancy and childbirth (Emma is a wonder woman), but he never could have imagined feeling how he feels. He didn’t always want children, his fear of being his father overwhelming him. It wasn’t something that he actively thought about, but then there was Milah and his love for her. They never got to that kind of future before things fell apart, but he realized that with the right partner, sometimes things shift and change.

And then he met Emma.

He met Emma, and even though they don’t have a traditional or straightforward relationship, she has changed absolutely everything in his life.

Now they’re having this child together, this child who he gets to be around from the beginning, and he doesn’t think he’s ever loved Emma more.

It’s not a second chance. No, that would be…wrong. It’s more like an old experience framed in a new light. There are similarities and differences, but everything is just as wonderful.

Except for Emma’s morning sickness, which seems to happen all day.

“If you don’t want to go, love, we can let Liam and Belle take Henry up there. They can tell him all about everything. They likely know it better than I do since it’s been so long since I’ve lived anywhere remotely near here.”

“Let’s,” she gulps, her cheeks puffing up for a moment, “ask Henry if he’d be okay for us to sit in the park while they go. I don’t think it’ll really mess with me since it’s not so much motion but…height. I’m not really sure. I just feel nauseous all the damn time.”

“It’s fine, Swan,” he tells her as he dips his head down and kisses her temple. “Liam,” he calls, reaching forward to grab his brother’s shoulder while Belle entertains Henry as he shows her the same toy ninja turtle that he’s been showing her for the entire trip.

“Yeah?”

“I think Emma and I are going to go sit down while you all ride, okay? She’s still not feeling well, and the height may make it worse.”

Liam’s brows furrow together, the lines on his face all concentrating in the center of his forehead, as his lips only slightly turn up into a sympathetic smile. “You okay, lass?”

“I’m fine,” Emma promises, even though he knows she’s lying. “You don’t mind taking Henry with you without us?”

“I don’t mind at all. I promise to point out everything that interests him. Henry,” Liam calls, and Henry stops talking to Belle as they both turn around to look at everyone, “your mum is still feeling a bit sick, so are you okay going on the ride with just me and Belle?”

Henry shrugs, holding up his ninja turtle doll. “Can I still take Leonardo?”

“Of course.”

“Then I’m good. Bye Momma.”

“Well don’t I feel special,” Emma laughs as she squats down to kiss Henry’s cheek. “Be good, okay?”

“Okay. Can we get something to eat when we come back down? Being in the air makes me hungry.”

Well that’s a new one.

“Yeah, kid, we can.”

He guides Emma over to the Jubilee Gardens. It’s crowded as any tourist attraction will be, but he manages to find them a place to sit in the shade under a canopy of trees, the August sun not shining nearly as brightly. They don’t have a sweater or blanket to spread out like most of the other people here, so he lays down on his back, hands crossed under his head, and let’s Emma rest her head on his stomach as she looks back over at the London Eye as if she can see Henry go up in the carriages.

“Still feeling sick?” he asks her as he moves his hands from behind his head so that he can mess with her hair, running his fingers through the strands of her hair while she closes her eyes, lashes landing against her freckle covered cheeks.

She’s so beautiful.

“Yeah, this kid of yours is going to be a killer. I can tell.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s great. Killian, this is a good thing. It’s what we wanted, and as much as I wish we could, we can’t change biology.”

“Aye,” he chuckles, working out a particularly nasty knot, “that’d be nice. I wish I could make it easier for you, especially since you’re having such a rough time right now. I mean, we can’t even tell anyone right now.”

“I’m kind of okay with that. It’s like our own little secret. It’s only us who know, and I don’t know – I like it. I like sharing something with you. I like not being bombarded with everything because you know the moment we tell everyone, they’ll never leave us alone. My mom, Marg David – ”

“Liam and Belle.”

“They’ll all go insane. Hell, even Ruby at work will be crazy.”

“Aye,” he laughs, beginning to twist her hair into a braid. “I imagine it’ll be quite the ordeal. Do you think Henry will take it well?”

“I don’t know. He’s been an only child for awhile, but he’s a good kid. I think he might be excited until he goes through the jealousy phase or whatever. We’ll have to make sure to look out for that.”

He hums in agreement and looks twists his head to the right to work out some of the kinks in his neck. There are people everywhere, conversations happening and laughter filling the air as much as the sounds of birds chirping, and he wonders how many of the people here are actually from London and how many are tourists. It doesn’t matter in the slightest, but it’s something he’s been noticing the past few days as his accent becomes heavier than it has been in years. He’s home, even if his home is both Brighton and Portland, and he finds a sense of comfort in all of this.

There’s a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye, and he looks to see two men arguing, their hands quickly moving around as they talk. They’re both in tailored suits similar to what he wears to work, but he can tell that one of the men is uncomfortable in it. There’s something oddly familiar about the man whose back is facing him, and when he turns to the side, Killian’s stomach drops at the similar profile. He looks just like Neal, but it’s not. It can’t be. Neal is dead, and this is simply another man who shares his profile. It’s not as if there aren’t a lot of dark-headed men out there.

“You okay, babe?” Emma asks, twisting her head on his stomach to look up at him. “You just went silent.”

“I’m fine,” he promises, flashing her a smile and shaking his head from the sense of deja vu that just happened. “I was simply thinking about you and our little bug. I can’t even express how unbelievably happy that I am.”

Emma’s lips tug up into a grin, her eyes radiating softness. “I can’t either. I – ” Her eyes go wide, and she has to cover her mouth. “Oh shit. I’ve got to vomit.”

-/-

-/-

“You really don’t have to take that long to wrap presents,” Liam laughs, sitting down on the window seat while Killian carefully folds the wrapping paper into small corners so that Emma’s new yoga pants are all wrapped up.

“I like things a certain way,” he protests, placing a piece of tape on the package. “Emma uses far too much tape when she wraps things, so unless the presents are for me, and sometimes not even then, I wrap our gifts.”

“It also makes it easy for you to know if Henry has unwrapped them, aye?”

He chuckles at that, twisting his head to look at his brother so that he can smile at him. He doesn’t have that many more presents to wrap today, but he does still need to put ribbons on them. “He usually shakes them, which is not a good thing when there’s something breakable.”

“He sounds like a kid.”

“That he is.” He reaches down and picks up a box from the floor, quickly opening it to see that it’s a few pairs of shoes for Ada that are far too big for her now. He rather likes the little sneakers with the lady bugs on them, but he doesn’t want to imagine her running around in them yet. She’s just about to start crawling. He can’t think about running. “Do you and Belle ever think about it anymore? I know it’s an awkward subject but – ”

“But we talk,” Liam finishes for him, getting up from the seat and walking toward the wrapped packages, stringing out the ribbon. “I’m fine with you asking me. It’s a bit of a sensitive subject for Belle because we tried for so long and nothing happened. It’s been…heartbreaking, but we’ve been looking into adopting, not as some kind of consolation. We just…we want to be parents.”

His heart breaks and soars all at once, the mixture of emotions like a tennis ball being hit back and forth over the clay covered courts of Roland Garros. He knows of all of the sorrow and emotions that Liam and Belle have been through in trying to have a kid. It was something his brother kept private until he confessed it one night when Killian was talking about the struggles he and Emma were having, and in a bit of a melancholy way, it’s bonded them more.

In truth, a hell of a lot of their bonding has occurred because of situations that he wouldn’t wish upon anyone.

“That’s bloody wonderful,” he sighs, a happy smile on his face as he watches Liam tie a ribbon around a package. “How is it going?”

“Well. We have a – there’s a young lad, Caleb. He’s about two, and Belle is absolutely besotted with him. I am too, but Belle is terrified to talk about it for fear of something falling through. We have a few more meetings about it in January.”

He stops wrapping the shoes and takes a step toward his brother, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and holding on as tightly as he possibly can. He only gets his brother here, in person, for two more days, and he wants to savor these moments. He wants to savor getting to have every person he loves in one place. He wants to savor celebrating and comforting his brother in the steps of life that he’s taking.

“I am so damn happy for you guys.”

“Thank you,” Liam murmurs, rubbing his hand up and down Killian’s back. “I am too. I want to be this boy’s father so badly. I want Belle to get to be the mum she deserves to be. I…want.”

He understands that completely. He understands every bit of it, every word. And when he pulls back, he can see all of the understanding in Liam’s eyes too, especially when he squeezes his shoulder.

“It’s not the same because of the age difference, but when it’s right for you guys, you could likely talk to Emma. She was adopted. She understands what it’s like to be the kid on the other side of it. Or you could talk to Ruth.”

“I could also talk to you.”

He quirks his brow and sits down on the bed, all of the presents shifting with him. “What do you mean?”

“You’re Henry’s father, but you haven’t always been. You took him on when he was about Caleb’s age. You know what it’s like.”

“Henry is different,” he sighs, shaking his head back and forth while he tries to figure out how to articulate his thoughts. “It’s…I had Emma. Emma knew all of the ropes, had given Henry a fantastic life, and I came in when it was easier. What you’re doing is different.”

“In a way, but I think we’re both men who are trying to be fathers to kids who had their fathers taken from them. It doesn’t make us more honorable or better, but it is a different challenge.”

“Aye,” he agrees, looking up at Liam. He looks startlingly like their father, but he never has those dark memories when he looks at them. “Though we have bloody wonderful women who do everything much better than us.”

“Well, at least Emma with you, but that’s not too hard.” “Shut up, you wanker,” he chuckles, getting up from the bed. “Here we are having a nice moment and you have to ruin it.”

“What else are older brothers for?”

“A hell of a lot more than that.”

“Daddy,” Henry whines from outside the door, his little voice muffled because of the wood, “are you finished wrapping presents yet?”

“No, my boy,” he chuckles, waggling his brows across his forehead at Liam who has an absolute smirk on his face, “I’m not. What are you doing outside the door?”

“Waiting for presents.”

“You get to open them tomorrow.” “That is too long,” he groans, and Killian has to contain the belly laugh that is threatening to escape him. Henry can be patient but not when it comes to Santa getting to come and opening presents. It’s all far too exciting for him to contain himself.

He glances at Liam once more before walking toward the bedroom door and unlocking it, quickly opening the door as that Henry falls back with it, his arms barely stopping his head from hitting the ground. It wasn’t the most mature thing to do, but Henry’s laugh is worth it.

“Where is your mum?” he asks, lifting Henry up from the ground and practically dragging him away from the door. “Isn’t she supposed to be keeping you entertained?”

“She’s changing Ada’s diaper, and it smelled like fish.”

“Oi,” he grunts, using the muscles in his arms to throw Henry over his shoulder. He’s almost too big for this now. “It did not. You only say this because you don’t like fish.”

“I like the ones like Nemo. The others smell.”

“Mackerel doesn’t smell when I cook it.”

“Yes it does.”

“Liam,” he calls, swinging Henry around as he moves to the staircase, his brother coming into view from the bedroom, “do you like eating mackerel?”

“Every morning for breakfast so I don’t get scurvy.”

“Ewww,” Henry groans, squirming even though Killian now knows that Henry is seriously considering eating fish since Liam does it. “That’s gross.”

“It’s yummy.”

Henry continues to protest, and even though his bony limbs are hitting Killian, he carries him down the stairs and turns right into the kitchen where Emma and Belle are chatting while the gentle hum of Christmas carols play in the background. There are a few discarded ingredients for the breakfast they’re serving for everyone in the morning, a grilled cheese on the stove instead, and he makes the assumption that Emma must have gotten hungry now. Or that they’re waiting for he and Liam to come help cook.

“Hello, beautiful ladies,” he greets as he walks in with Henry. Emma rolls her eyes. Belle blushes. It’s all as usual. “I have found someone trying to sneak his way into looking at presents before tomorrow.”

Emma whistles low under her breath, the smallest of smirks forming at her lips. “Oh no, babe. Do you know what happens when people try to find out what their presents are early?”

“I do not,” he sing-songs, plopping Henry down on the floor next to Ada’s playmat.

“They have to eat fish for dinner.”

Henry squeals at the same time that he and Liam bark out nearly identical laughs, the room suddenly a loud mess of him, and he watches as Emma winks before turning back to the stove and moving her grilled cheese off of the pan. The cunning lass obviously heard their talk. She’s always been the greatest at thinking on her feet when it comes to Henry, whether it be trying to explain something in a way that he understands or simply doing something funny to make him laugh. Once she managed to explain not wasting water by comparing it to Henry’s baseball games, and he’s still never quite figured out that one. Or at least, how she made the comparison. But Henry doesn’t waste water now.

Bloody miracle worker, the woman.

“I promise I won’t look. I promise.”

“It’s okay,” Belle laughs, reaching over the counter and taking Henry’s hand in hers. “Santa knows that you’re a good boy.”

“What’s all this screaming?” Neal questions as he walks in the room, his voice filled with laughter even though the jovial feeling in the air dies a little in his presence. It’s not his fault. He’s an outsider looking in no matter how comfortable they try to make him. It’ll get better for him when Liam and Belle go home, but he thinks that Neal’s been stepping back a bit to give them all some time this week. It’s nice, but he doesn’t have to step back. This is his family too.

“I have to eat fish if I look at my presents early.”

“I’d say don’t look at your presents early then,” Neal laughs, pulling out the barstool next to Henry and sitting down. “Ems, what time is your family coming over?”

“Tonight? At six.”

He watches as Emma cuts her grilled cheese into four slices, popping one in her mouth and sliding the plate to Henry, letting him eat the meal she very obviously was preparing for herself but is instead giving to Henry. While she’s chewing her food, she squats down and picks Ada up from her play mat, blowing a loud kiss into Ada’s cheek that causes Ada to scream out a giggle. He doesn’t know how he ever stepped back from her, from this. He remembers life before Emma, remembers how everything was, but he doesn’t really want to remember a world where he didn’t love her. Where she didn’t love him.

He doesn’t want to remember a world where she isn’t the center of his life.

Maybe it’s the joyous atmosphere in the room that’s making him think about all of this. Maybe it’s that Neal is now talking to Henry and making him laugh while Henry eats his good, Belle and Liam joining in on their conversation. Maybe it’s that everything finally feels right.

He’s not sure if he’s ever loved Emma more than he does right now. He’s thought it before, said it before, and he’s sure he’ll say it again.

Every time it is said, it’s meant.

He’s infinitely glad that they’re getting things right again, that they’re trying again. He doesn’t know what he would do without Emma.

“You look like you’re thinking,” Emma mumbles as she walks over to him, handing him Ada when she stretches her chubby hands toward him, her fingers already trying to mess with his ears.

“Always, love,” he winks, smiling down at her.

“About what, though?” Emma prods, her hand resting on the middle of his back while she makes faces at Ada, her cheeks puffing up as she inhales air.

“You.”

“Oh, your daddy is trying to be a charmer,” she whispers to their daughter, her eyes only glancing up to him for the briefest of moments.

“Who says I was thinking good things?”

Emma scoffs, like what he’s said is the most unbelievable thing in the world. It kind of is.

He adjusts Ada in his arms, wondering again how she can be this big now or if he’ll ever get used to her growing. He most likely won’t. “I’ll tell you later, love,” he promises, leaning down to kiss the apple of her cheek and whispers in her ear, “I’m afraid I’ll scar the lot of them if I tell you what I was thinking just now.”

Emma’s cheeks immediately flush red, and she shakes her head back and forth, gently slapping his back. He wasn’t thinking anything dirty, but she doesn’t have to know that. He’ll tell her everything later. maybe he’ll even throw in some dirty thoughts.

“Alright,” Emma starts, clapping her hands together, “who wants to make some cookies for Santa?”

-/-

“Now that we’re alone,” he mumbles before he drags his teeth across her collarbone, her skin tasting of the slightest bit of salt, and he hears the gentle thud of Emma’s head hitting their bedroom door. He’s not particularly interested in that when he can hear her whimpers as he bites down on her skin. Her hips arch into his, and she deliciously brushes against where he’s beginning to strain. The slight friction is pleasurable, but it’s not enough. So he steps closer, caging her in, their hips rolling against each other while Emma is fully pressed up into the door, his hands above her while hers explore his back under his shirt, likely leaving red lines on his back.

“Ah, fuck,” she moans when he licks a slow stripe up her neck, and he can feel just how much she loves it with the way her nails dig into his skin.

“Such dirty words from such a pretty mouth,” he mumbles, making sure that his lips cover every inch of her skin that he has access to.”

“I’ve always had a bit of a sailor’s mouth on me.”

“Technically, you do have a sailor’s mouth on you. Quite literally”

She laughs, something deep and throaty, but it’s cancelled out by her own moan again when he gets to the spot on her ear that she likes. Her hips keep moving against his, rolling and teasing, and he can feel the pleasure and the tension build inch by wonderful inch.

“You’re an evil woman,” he continues, moving his hands down from the door so that the slide down her arms, landing at her body so that he can move them up under her shirt, not at all caring for propriety or patience as he feels the heavy weight of her breasts in her hands. “We have had family with us all evening,” he pants, not sure how much longer he can hold back. “They’re here to celebrate Christmas with us, with our children, and you spend the entire night with your hand far too high on my thigh.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she sighs innocently, and he would pull back to look at her with a raised brow, but he’s particularly interested in working his way back down her neck, making sure to rub his scruff into her.

“You do,” he says simply, his voice strained even to his own ears. “You’re a minx and a tease, and don’t think I didn’t notice the way you made sure to stand with your ass just in front of my view as we put out the presents.”

“I was trying to speed up the progression of the song about Mommy kissing Santa Clause.”

It’s a bad joke, but he can’t help but laugh at it before hungrily slanting his lips over Emma’s, capturing her mouth in his as their teeth clank together and their tongues battle, a harshness that is not always there with them present tonight. She nips at his bottom lip, hard, before soothing it, and it’s that which has him moving his hands from her breasts and up under her ass, encouraging her to wrap her legs around his waist so that he can carry her. She does, their cores pressed together, and he doesn’t break the kiss if only so Emma won’t say anything about him hurting his back. He’s not going to, not tonight.

He wants to take things slow tonight, to let them savor things, to let Emma know of his thoughts earlier of just how much he loves her, but Emma’s in a mood that has them shredding their clothes and him taking her from behind, his pleasure far outweighing hers until he reaches between them and finds the slick flesh where they’re joined. Emma’s gasp comes from the back of her throat, is similar to what must be pure sin, and he wants to hear it over and over again.

They’re hurried the first time, the need for each other too much, but when Emma wakes him in the middle of the night, he deliberately paces them slowly, holding onto Emma’s hips as she moves above him, only the sound of skin against skin and the occasional odd sound outside filling the room. The pleasure builds slowly, steadily, and this time he tells her just how much he loves her and how much she means to him. This time he tells her that his entire world has revolved around her, that it wouldn’t work without her, and he has to grit his teeth to hold back his release all the while wiping his thumb underneath her eye to push away the stray tears.

And for the few hours that they do actually get to sleep the night, their bodies are so tightly pressed together that he’s barely sure which limbs belong to him.

They wake when there’s a knock on their door, the beats fast and lacking enough rhythm for him to know that it’s Henry. He laughs into Emma’s neck before kissing down her bare back, enjoying this last little moment before the chaos of the day begins. The sun hasn’t even risen yet, the moonlight still filtering through the curtains, but Christmas has officially begun.

“Happy Christmas, my love.”

“Merry Christmas,” she whispers back, twisting her head and kissing the corner of his lips. “We have about thirty seconds before he breaks that door down.”

“Mom,” Henry groans from outside, his knocks quieting, “you have to come outside so we can see what Santa brought me.”

“Just a minute, kid,” she laughs as the two of them quickly get up out of bed. He doesn’t know about Emma, but the headache forming in his right temple is going to kill him if he doesn’t get a nap today.

They make quick work of dressing in pajamas, Emma deftly pulling her hair into a braid so that it looks less like he spent the night fucking her, and even though they both definitely need to brush their teeth and wash their faces, they get to the door and open it to Henry standing outside practically vibrating out of his skin.

“Hey, Merry Christmas,” Emma greets, dipping down and pulling Henry into a tight hug.

“Merry Christmas,” Henry murmurs, pushing Emma back and practically running toward the staircase.

“Henry,” he calls out, and the kid comes to a complete stop, nearly slipping in his socks. “Have you noticed that anyone is missing?”

“Ada?” he shrugs, yanking at his shirt sleeve.

“What about your dad?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Why don’t you go wake him up?” Emma says calmly while tightening the string on her pants. “Gently. We don’t jump on his bed, okay?”

“I know. Don’t go downstairs without me.”

“Scout’s honor.” He reaches up to salute Henry as he runs off before turning to look at Emma who is still working on adjusting her pants, messing with the drawstring. For awhile he was worried about how slim she was getting with the stress of giving birth and Neal, and despite her still being a bit smaller than usual, she’s getting back to how she usually is. Her being less stressed is definitely helping. “Do you want to get the other kid or shall I?”

“Will you get her? I’ve got to pee.”

“Sure, love.”

Ada is already awake when he walks into the nursery, so he quickly picks her up, kissing her cheek before stepping over to the changing table and changing her diaper before snapping back her onesie. It makes her look like a reindeer, and he’ll never quite understand where Ruth finds these outfits. And he is sure that it’s Ruth that bought it. It practically has her name written all over it.

“It’s Christmas, my little love,” he coos to her, tapping his fingers on her cheek. She’s going to need to be fed soon, but he hopes that she makes it through opening a few presents so Emma doesn’t have to miss that with Henry. “I think Santa came to visit you and your brother.”

“Come on, Dad,” he hears Henry plead, and when he walks out into the hallway, he sees Henry tugging Neal down the hallway.

“What time is it, kid?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

The chuckle that passes through his lips can’t be stopped, and he flashes Neal a bit of a sympathetic smile. They warned him about this last night, but it doesn’t really hit until you’ve gotten no sleep and have to be enthusiastic for an eight-year-old.

“Morning,” Neal mumbles, flashing him a sleepy smile. “Do you think Santa left coffee under the tree?”

“God I hope so.”

Santa didn’t, but he did leave Henry several movies and toys, the house now full of a spike ball set and several scientific kits that he’s sure will make a mess. He doesn’t know why he bought those now that he thinks about it. They should have found things less messy. But it’s a riot watching Henry tear through the few gifts, especially when he gets to some of the art kits and storybooks that Neal bought him. He’s so excited about them that he practically smothers his father in a hug, jumping up on him and telling him all about the pictures he’s going to draw and stories he’s going to write with them. The smile on Neal’s face is one of a proud dad, and something settles in Killian’s heart then while he sits on the floor next to Emma with the two of them letting Ada rip at wrapping paper and chew on some of the little toys she’s collected herself.

His son has an extra person to love him, truly love him, and even though Neal is not his favorite person in the world anymore, he could be for how he loves Henry.

“What’s this?” Henry asks, holding up a small piece of paper. “Why does it say to go outside?”

“Maybe there’s a present out there that we can’t bring inside?”

“Like a car?”

“No,” Emma laughs, rising from the ground, holding out her hand for him as he brings Ada up with him, “not a car, but maybe something with wheels.”

Henry’s already squealing by the time they get outside, his new bike on proud display with a giant bow on it, and the lad is going on and on about having to shovel the snow so that he can ride it. it’s an ambitious plan, one that’s not going to work, but they’re not going to bring down his high this morning. He can have this.

Liam and Belle show up at the front door around nine, and all of the Nolans come in just behind them, Leo immediately running toward Henry so they can talk about their haul this morning. He and Emma make a conscious effort not to give Henry too much and to make sure that he understands everyone isn’t as fortunate as him, and while Killian thinks that Henry gets that, he does get excited to talk about his things with his cousin.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Ruth sighs, hugging him with her small frame.

“Hello, beautiful,” he whispers as he kisses her cheek. “Are you ready for your grandchildren to wreak chaos on you?”

“This is every grandmother’s dream, don’t you know that?”

“I thought every grandmother’s dream was to make me gain ten pounds so that I don’t fit in my suits anymore,” David laughs, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Just because I make the food doesn’t mean you have to eat it, David.” “Mom, you know that it does. Emma,” David calls, looking over to Emma who’s just handed Ada off to Mary Margaret, “if Mom cooks, can we simply not eat the food?”

“We have to eat the food. Mostly because it’s good but really because Mom passive aggressively tortures us if we don’t eat all of her collards.”

“I do not.”

“You do, Ruth,” Mary Margaret starts. “One time I didn’t finish a panini you made me, and I swear you glared at me for weeks.”

“This is why I always finished everything you cooked me,” Neal says as he sips on his coffee.

“I cooked for you one time.”

“Yeah, don’t be a suck up, Cassidy,” Emma teases, winking over at him. “And I distinctly remember you complaining about the carrots when you never complain about anything.”

“Just throw me under the bus, why don’t you?”

“I try.”

“Belle, darling,” Liam laughs as Killian moves to start setting up breakfast for everyone, laying a sausage casserole onto the island, “are you terrified of eating anything Ruth has made now?”

“I’m shaking in my actual boots.”

“All I do is love all of you kids, and this is what I get in return,” Ruth huffs, sitting down on a barstool.

“I love you,” he tells her, taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles, laying the charm on as thick as he can.

“Look who’s a suck up now,” Emma announces, opening the oven to check on the biscuits. It’s a pity he missed out on those for the first twelve years of his life. “It’s almost like you’re trying to impress her so that you can date her daughter.”

“Well, I hate to break it to the sweet Miss Nolan, but I did already knock her daughter up.”

“You’re pregnant,” Mary Margaret squeals, and his stomach does some kind of unnatural twist.

“Uh, n-no,” Emma stutters, holding her hands up while he can tell that she’s trying to find her words and regulate her breathing, her chest moving up and down the slightest bit. “I’m definitely not pregnant.”

“Oh, but Killian said – ”

“It was a poor choice of words, love,” he promises, not sure where to look. He doesn’t want to look at Liam and Belle, knowing this must be an awkward situation for them that can’t be pleasant and not wanting to look at Neal either since Killian is technically talking about sleeping with the man’s ex-wife. Emma’s not a great option either, especially since she’s going to murder him later, so he settles on Ruth who is looking at him with her lips pressed together as she shakes her head from side to side. “Emma is not pregnant. The only baby I was referring to is Ada.”

“So you can calm down, hon,” David says to Mary Margaret, squeezing her shoulder and kissing the top of her head.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine, Marg,” Emma assures her, flashing her a tight smile and bopping Ada on the nose.

“It would have been some way to announce it, though,” Belle laughs, her features relaxed, “since you have actual buns in the oven.”

“Mom,” Leo yells from the living room, and practically everyone turns to look at him, “when are we going to eat?”

“After you wash your hands.”

“I already did.”

“You haven’t left that room.”

Leo huffs, dropping the ball he was holding, before he turns to Henry and very loudly whispers, “we don’t actually have to wash our hands. If we turn the water on, they think we do.”

“So no one touch anything that Leo touches,” David announces, and even though it’s a bit funny, he makes a note to make sure to check that Henry is washing his hands.

Even though he tries to catalog the entire morning, it goes by much quicker than he could possibly imagine as everyone spreads throughout the living room to eat far more than necessary, the sounds of the Polar Express on in the background to keep Leo and Henry entertained since they can’t open the presents Ruth brought them quite yet. But they do eventually get to open them, and of course, once everything starts to calm down, the chatter not quite as insistent, Ada has a meltdown. Her little face turns as red as a tomato, and she wails and wails with nothing soothing her but having him walk her back and forth down the upstairs hallway away from everyone else.

By the time it’s two in the afternoon, all of the Nolans have left, and Neal has gone to take a nap, grumbling about not being used to this early thing on his days off. Killian gets it, which is exactly why after having gotten Ada to sleep in her crib, he wanders downstairs and stretches out on the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table while Emma leans into his side.

“I’m tired,” she laments, nuzzling her head a little further into his chest.

“Well, you are with child,” Liam jokes from his spot on the loveseat.

“I hate you.”

“You love me, birdie.”

“Possibly. I definitely love Belle, though.”

“Damn right,” Belle agrees, sitting up and crossing her legs underneath her.

“Darling,” he starts, resting his cheek against her temple while his fingers tap against the back of the couch, “don’t hurt Liam’s feelings. He doesn’t have many friends, so he really needs you.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Hey, language. Where’s Henry?”

“In his room, babe,” Emma laughs, patting his stomach, “so Belle and Liam can curse as much as they want to.”

“The walls are not that thick.”

“I would bloody hope that they are. Otherwise your children would be subjected to some noises that Killian makes that are not so pleasant.”

If he wasn’t too tired to move and didn’t have Emma resting on top of him, he’d…who is he kidding? He’s not going to get up and punch his brother or toss throw pillows at him for making a cheap joke about how Killian sounds during sex.

“You have the maturity of a fifteen-year-old.”

Liam shrugs. “It keeps me young.”

“If the wrinkles on your face are any indication, you need it.”

“Oh my gosh,” Emma laughs, slapping his stomach again. he grabs her hand and pulls it to his lips, kissing each knuckle before placing it on his chest with his hand resting over hers. “You two are ridiculous.”

“And yet the two of you chose to be with us.”

He watches Belle pat Liam on his cheek, a smirk painted on her face. “We married far below our level.”

[ask-the-dancing-demon]

Alright, time for an explanation

Or as best of an explanation I can give at this point.

So, yeah I’ve been pretty much absent from this blog for like what? 2 years? 2 and a half?? I’m not sure of the exact time frame, but needless to say, it’s been a hot minute.

So, where to start?

Well, I should probably say why I got so sluggish with this whole thing.

So, one reason is that I had started working as I had some tuition I needed to pay off and just to get some income in general. The hours , though supposed to be part-time, got weird. Like, work 8-10 hours one day and an hour and a half the next. This not only made my pay really fucked up, but also (and more importantly) had me just too dead to do anything else once I got home.

In fact, even my days off were just me resting and not really wanting to do any big art projects. Which brings me to my next reason:

If all of you who’ve been here remember where we left off, I was working my way up to revealing a very important character. And how I wanted to do it, was I wanted to have this entire comic laid out to introduce him the way I wanted to, drop some exposition, and set up future character arcs.

However, the little project balloon up a little too much. And by a little too much, I mean it took ages just for one strip of panels. Like a couple of weeks for like 5 panels-which there were 5 panels for each part, and there ended up being more 20 parts- I also had very little skill/experience with making anything in a comic structure (I still do, but I’m branching out and am better at it) so everything is in a top-down format and it added to how time-consuming it all was.

So, with everything moving at a snail’s pace, and the number of people coming aboard to see what this blog had to offer I started getting anxious about doing anything on here knowing that the more time I stalled, the more I was just disappointing everyone here. And then, the project ended up needing more panels than I was anticipating, therefore extending my workload tenfold. At some point, that anxiety spread to what I was working on and I could barely focus on what I was doing and kept worrying about how much I wasn’t getting done, how I wasn’t able to do anything else, all the details I was trying to put in that weren’t going well , etc., etc.

Eventually I just kinda sat around worrying about what I was gonna do about this whole thing while simultaneously getting absolutely nothing done.

And then that, combined with my shitty work situation making me practically depressed basically had me sitting on the whole project barely touching tumblr at all. for like two years. I mostly just kept to DeviantArt for a lot of my stuff.

Of course, during those two years, Bendy and the Ink Machine continued, ended, and is getting another game. And through all that time with the progression of the plot and such, I kept getting more and more headcanons and ideas that all tied into this blog’s AU

But I couldn’t show them, because they would be spoilers and would take place after what I was doing. Which meant I’d have to do that first. Which brought back the problems I mentioned before.

Now, even my DeviantArt content is starting to dry up, because of all the things I have to withhold until the stuff is finished.

Finally, I just go fed up with putting the ideas on hold and not getting shit done. And I finally came to the conclusion that I had been too inexperienced to try taking on a project that fricking big and honestly shame on me for that

So, here’s what I’ve decided.

I went ahead and decided to condense the project down to something that I could accomplish. I was originally going to have this character exit at the end, and only sometimes be available to for asks, but the amount of work that entail, if I wanted to get the points I wanted across, would basically put me back to square one. So, instead of doing that, everyone will get to ask him all the stuff they want in order to further this story.

Also, the way I’ll be doing answers will be slightly different; in that it’ll be a bit less of just answering questions with a bit of lore thrown in, and more of asks helping to guide the story. I’ll still give you guys a lot of fun input, though don’t worry! ;)

Next, the characters won’t be quite the same as we left of. You know, having a thousand and two ideas bouncing around your head for a while tends to lead to a few changes in how you do these characters. There’s been a good deal of character development, and a few dynamics have changed, so these characters may act a bit differently than expected.(how many times can i say characters in one paragraph???)

Next, fair warning about how the comic will look. I did have a few parts of it finished before trimming it down. Some parts had all the shading and dialogue and stuff finished, while some parts just had some lineart done (i did lineart for the fudkigng background why did i do that that was such a bad idea D:) Some panels will have the original lineart from 2 years ago-that i did not touch outside of cleaning- and others will be my recent style, so it might look kinda wonky with my old art and current skill right next to each other so just bear with me on it.

And finally, the last thing I need to say is that the amount I had condensed everything down to is almost finished- like, ready to go up within the next week finished. Hell, it could maybe even be finished within the next few days(but probably not because i nitpick like a mofo so it’ll probably be next week)

Sorry for the wait, all this time guys, I promise your patience will be rewarded

I might open the asks for anyone who has anymore questions for me, about this, or about the blog. What do you guys think?

[lesbian-bookworm]

So a bit of context: Chumel Torres is a youtuber that hosts “El Pulso de la Republica”. Similar to what Stephen Colbert and John Oliver do but with news about México. Hes kind of my celebrity crush too

im in college in my 7th semester so most of my classes are in the afternoon. On mondays my class starts at 4pm

So the story starts at 11am and im in pijamas doing some work and having breakfast when i see that at 5:30pm Chumel Torres will be in my campus doing a conference and i hurry to finish what i was doing cause i Have To Be There

I get to school and ask my teacher if i can leave early, he knows Chumel so he’s like “oh yeah, tell him i say hi lol” which obviously i couldn’t do. So im in line outside the auditorium and a girl behind me is giving wrong facts about what Chumel does and i have to resist the urge to correct her with every single fact i know about the show and Chumel cause i know i will sound like a creep

Eventually we all get inside and it takes a while to start cause he’s stuck in traffic and the school plays some videos so loud the audio distorted :/

He arrives at 6:30 with Victor and Ricky who do the show with him and the conference starts and it was so cool and he mentioned some stuff i already knew but other stuff was new and he said some inspiring things about how he and his team got to where they are. He was the same charming funny dude he is in the show. At this point i was cool and collected and alright.

When the conference ends and they say we can take pics with him i get up and take out my notebook and start getting nervous... i go with Ricky and ask him for an autograph and hes like “what?? Autograph??” And i feel silly but he signs my notebook. Then i go with Victor and he gets weirded out about the autograph but i change it for a photo and he says “oh thats better” and we take a selfie, im really nervous but i try to form a coherent sentence about how i like the show and which are my favourite sketches but they came out with an odd phrasing and an accent thats not my actual accent so that made me more nervous lol. I dont know if they got weirded out by me asking them (cause Chumel is the more public and famous one) or asking for an autograph like they’re band members or idk

After that i got in line for the picture with Chumel which lasted like 5 seconds and with 4 other dudes i dont know but before i get down i extended my hand and i tell him the show inspires me a lot and he says thank you and shakes my hand. Then i get down the stage and back to class where it took me like an hour and a half to stop smiling and shaking and looking at the pics i got during and after the conference.

(Sorry if the format is wonky, tumblr is terrible­™)

[fivemillioneyes]

this is to the anons: if your ask is formatted differently than how you sent it in, it’s because tumblr is being a little bitch and formatting your ask really weird (random spaces, line breaks, etc). so oftentimes i need to resend the ask to myself in a certain format so that it isn’t completely wonky, and sometimes i accidentally change the original formatting. sorry about that! but it definitely is still your ask, and i will definitely still respond :)

[maydei]

I was tagged by @history-rover and @the-katuki-niliforv for the AO3 tag game like A MILLION YEARS AGO!! kjsddhfkjshfks sorry i forgot, i love you guys!!! <3

partially below a cut because this shit got LONG!

What’s your total word count on AO3?

762,774. Closing in on a million!! tho i know i’ve written waaaaay more than that when you add in my forbidden ffnet and quizilla days

Do you have a routine for writing?

sit down, open google doc, open several tabs of research. get interrupted by cat. get chewed on for a while. DRINK. write a little. browse tumblr for an hour. DRINK. read someone else’s fanfic. pass out on the couch. once i actually finish the chapter and slack off for a while, i go back to edit and re-read what i wrote, nit-pick my sentences, rearrange some stuff, then format on ao3. 

it’s not hella deep lolol and most of the time i have NO memory of what i’ve written until a day or two later and i go back to read it, tbh. i almost always end up surprised with myself.

What are your favorite kinks/tropes/pairings?

for someone who is absolutely fucking sick of college and never wants to go back, my last two fics sure as hell were college student fics, tho admittedly i like, never want to write one again.punch me if i do, ok? 

kinks.... 👀  many. many, many. browse my bookmarks and you’ll get an idea. i’ve lived on the internet since like 2006, sooooo. i’ve seen it all, i think. i’ve passed from denial into acceptance.

PAIRINGS: love me some pairings. Hannigram and Victuuri are the OTPs, Spirk gets an eternal special mention. There’s honestly so many I can’t count them all.

Do you have a favorite fic that you’ve written?

Well, the fic that’s gotten the most attention in terms of hits remains my SPN fic The Boy King. (RIP my child. Maybe someday my heart will sing again and I’ll finish you).

but finishing Fated was a huge achievement for me tbh, and Fated is GUNNING for the top slot in my stats page. Fated was the first longfic I’d written and finished in.... years. years, years, years. it had a HUGE effect on my confidence, the reactions I got were amazing. the reader feedback was unparalleled, and I was so fucking lucky to inspire enough people with that story that the YOI Soulmate Zine came into play. So if we’re talking about sheer impact, I think Fated takes the cake. It’s gonna hold a special place in my life basically forever. I think once I hit the year mark of that fic being completed I’ll probably go back and re-read it tbh. I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and read it from start to finish, so I’ll have to make a date to make that happen.

but undeniably Making Headlines is, like. It’s something else. The outline for this fic is immense. It’s certainly the most complicated in terms of plot an emotionally convoluted nonsense. I have NO idea if it makes any sense at all, but I have Plans™ and I am SO excited to get into the thick of the plot and the drama of this fic. once Arc Three starts it’s all over for you readers. also me. 

Your fic with the most kudos?

Fated, at about 1400!

Anything you don’t like about your writing?

Honestly, there’s a lot of things. Pacing is the big one. I often feel as thought I get too bogged down on characters and not enough on the plot, even though the scenes I write later inform the plot. It’s a weird fine line that I’m not really sure how to reconcile. Also the way I write sentences gets wonky. Sometimes my mental voice does some fucky things and ends up with weird word arrangements. I have to catch myself when I go back and edit. 

Inconsistent style is another. My mental health is a bag of cats, and I find I write different ways on different days depending on my mood. It can lead to some really dynamic scenes, but some that feel too slow. It’s hard to know. I just know when I get on a roll, it feels GOOD and I just churn it out. The beach scene in Fated was like that, and so was the last section in this most recent chapter of Headlines. Sometimes it just ROLLS. Sometimes it’s like pulling teeth. I never know which it’ll be. 

Tag some others:

@highermagic @hanni-bunny-lecter @weconqueratdawn @fragile-teacup @jadegreenworks @sinkingorswimming @omgkatsudonplease @lucycamui @coloredink

What’s your total word count on AO3? 

Do you have a routine for writing? 

What are your favorite kinks/tropes/pairings? 

Do you have a favorite fic that you’ve written? 

Your fic with the most kudos? 

Anything you don’t like about your writing? 

Tag some friends!

[essentiallychaotic]

85 statements R U L E S : you must answer these eighty five statements and tag twenty people I was tagged by the always wonderful @acynicandanidealist​ ^-^ (also sorry if this has been tagged for a bit, my tumblr didn’t tell me so if I’m doing this weirdly late whoops :/ ) I would like to tag: @skittles-pixie​, @pacificjim​, @khanleesi​, @keepingkaya​, @astreana​, @elfiethewicked​, @bleustocking​, @cuemypulse​, @wingleader​, @lokidiabolus​, @scribbly-wibbly-stuff​, @stenchy-wench​, @universalhouseplant​, @shalanos​, @nancysinatras​, @dragonsdawn​, @hungry-angry-lyingdown​, @horaetio​, @inktaire​, @pntmrcys​, aanndd anyone else who wants to do it!

Also sorry if the formatting is wonky, I’m on mobile. Part 1: the last: drink: Water, I have this like quart mason jar with a drink lid, cause I’m one of those people I guess :P phone call: I talked to my Dad this afternoon text message: Uummm… I had to go check haha, it was Cece song you listened to: Probably something by David Bowie this morning (followed by me wandering around the house just singing his name, just repeated dramatic “Bowie!” My dogs loved it) Ooo unless movies count, then whatever is the credits song for the new Ghostbusters :D time you cried: I cried cutting up shallots tonight… other than that idk… I cried during Wonder Woman, seeing my childhood hero portrayed so perfectly was emotional Part 2: Ever: dated someone twice: Like gone on two dates? Yes. I think I’ve gone on two dates (technically three) with two different people. I don’t really date much tho, it takes so much time and college is a lot of work kissed someone and regretted it: Nah, I’ve learned something about how people are every time, hard to regret useful life lessons been cheated on: That involves a relationship so no lost someone special: No one that has passed away, but last fall I had to realise that a friendship had turned really toxic and was impacting my stress and health, which was really hard because she was very important to me, and losing that friendship has been a point of pain this year been depressed: Yes, I’ve just gotten to the point in the last two years where I am able to manage it and not let my depression or anxiety impact my life. I’m really lucky that I don’t have to take meds for it, mainly because I’m super forgetful and never remember to take any pills I’ve ever had gotten drunk and thrown up: Yes and I don’t recommend it. It’s very not fun Part 3: Favourite colours: Green, blue, brown, gold, and red Part 4: In the last year have you: made new friends: I have, and they are all wonderful people fallen out of love: Nope laughed until you cried: I think I have, but even if I haven’t actually cried I’ve gotten close, I’m blessed with wonderfully funny people and pets in my life ^-^ found out someone was talking about you: Yeah my professors, apparently it was nice things but it still freaks me out when they casually are just like “oh that reminds me, we were talking about you at the meeting the other day…” met someone who changed you: Maybe more of met people who affirmed my belief that people can be good and kind and caring, and that I should keep working to be present in the kind and caring parts of myself (cause boy did I used to be bitter and grumpy) found out who your friends are: I feel like this is that “when times get tough you’ll find who your REAL friends are” kinda thing… which I don’t really put a lot of stock in because I think awareness of who people are and where they are at is important in respecting them as individuals… I did lose a couple of friends in the whole big ending toxic friendship thing, but I kinda saw those coming and there’s no hard feelings kissed someone on your facebook list: Nope Part 5: General: how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: I have met them all in real life but one. He and his friends were drunk and at the same hostel as my friend when she was on the phone with me and he asked her if he could talk to her friend and it was hilarious and he added me on facebook do you have any pets: Two puppies do you want to change your name: Nah, my name means born of fire, and I kinda like that… plus it also is connected to my mom’s name in a weird, circuitous way and I like that too what did you do for your last birthday: I had class and work, and then planned on meeting up with friends for our usual pub-and-board-games night and they surprised me with cheesecake and those candles that relight themselves… it was a fun night :) what time did you wake up: 9am-ish what were you doing at midnight last night: Playing with my phone I think… reading something on Ao3 name something you can’t wait for: I start grad school in Belfast this fall, so I’m really excited and also crazy nervous about that when was the last time you saw your mom: A couple of hours ago when we were watching Ghostbusters (I love that movie, Melissa McCarthy is my hero) what are you listening to right now: Silence. Also my dog licking her paws. Everyone here is asleep. have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yeah, remember that one random friend on facebook? His name was Tom… there are probably other from college but I’m drawing a blank something that is getting on your nerves: Just… just so much of the social inequality and how badly our social system fails people who need support… and the fact that their voices aren’t respected and sought out when it comes to telling their stories, like what is that??? most visited website: Ummm… tumblr, gmail, facebook, and my grad school’s website are probs all really close rn hair colour: Natural is a mediumish darker brown colour… currently it’s a brownish/purple colour bc I dyed it months ago and just let it fade long or short hair: Shoulder length, so longish? It makes it easier to control my curls and make them feel fun do you have a crush on someone: Nope what do you like about yourself: Aahhh…. I like to think I’m fun to hang out with I guess… I’m that person whose like “let’s go on an adventure!” And then drags friends to walmart at midnight before walking around campus piercings: I have my ears pierced, and my nose. I used to have my septum pierced too but I took it out. blood type: B positive nickname: Mack or Kenzi relationship status: Happily single, dating takes work and always feels like I’m trying to present this nice and shiny version of myself…. anyone else feel that? zodiac: Aries pronouns: She/Her favourite tv show: Gilmore Girls gets my soul, but Stargate Atlantis is right there too tattoos: Tribalesque (i don’t know any other way to describe it) Celtic woman on one shoulder blade, Celtic tree of life on the other, I have the words “hope is a thing with feathers” (Emily Dickinson) on my left forearm, two black bands around my right forearm, three dots on my right hand ring finger, and this three dots, three lines celtic symbol on my left ring finger (those last two were done in my dorm room last year by friends). I’m also about to get a rose on my right forearm and my bro and I are going to get small sibling tattoos right or left handed: Right, but I can kinda write with my left bc in elementary school this kid in my class broke their dominant arm and it freaked me out bc if that happened to me I wouldn’t be able to do my schoolwork so I practised writing with my left hand. (I can also write so it’s perfectly backwards like a mirrored image bc I used to get bored in class sometimes) piercing: Yup. sport: I watch soccer and baseball, but I don’t play anything (Sleep break and also tired of fighting with mobile yaaayyy) vacation: Oooohhh anyplace with marvellous culture and history really. But I’d love to go to Paris or Rome. pair of trainers: Do converse count? Part 6: more general : eating: All food is wonderful but I love my dad’s bigos stew. drinking: Water with lemon in it. Or coffee and tea I’m about to: Finish watching Ladies in Lavender then go to bed. 

waiting for: Grad school to start this fall. (See: also slightly nervous about starting) want: To see the David Bowie exhibit in Seattle. get married: If I find the right person. I want something lowkey and fun tho, like a party that happens to have a wedding at it haha. career: I dunno, I’m looking at college professor/author right now. Or just switching gears and pursuing musical theatre haha. hugs or kisses: I like hugs more, but not when people just surprise me with them. lips or eyes: Always eyes. shorter or taller: I’m 5'9" so I guess taller…? older or younger: I am 24 sooo I feel older but really that’s quite young in the grand scheme of things. nice arms or nice stomach: I gotta be real I love nice biceps. hook up or relationship: Relationship. troublemaker or hesitant: Depends on my mood and the situation. kissed a stranger: Yup. drank hard liquor: Yeppers, quite a bit actually. lost glasses or contact lenses: I misplace my glasses around the house all of the time but not actually lost them yet thank goodness. turned someone down: Yes. sex on the first date: Not my scene. broken someone’s heart: I really hope I haven’t, but I feel like I might have. had your heart broken: Only platonically by friendships that went south been arrested: Nope, and I hope to keep it that way haha. cried when someone died: I’ve yet to have someone I know personally die, and I hope it’s a long way off still. fallen for a friend: I have friends that I was attracted to at the start of our friendship, but never really fallen for them no. Part 7: do you believe in: yourself: I do now, but it took several years. miracles: I do, but I also think they’re not quite what we describe for them in our cultural narratives . love at first sight: No, love involves seeing people clearly and unconditionally caring for them. I think we can have connection at first sight but not love really. Santa Claus: I believe that Santa Clause is the spirit of Christmas and a wonderful way to see good in the world. kiss on the first date: Depends. But normally no. I did have a first date that ended in a firm handshake. That was interesting. He was also the one who on our second date listened to me explain the beowulf text narrative arc for St Christopher and was genuinely interested so… angels: I am definitely open to the possibility. Part 8: Other: current best friend’s name: Cece is my bae. eye colour: Green. Favourite movie: Reality Bites or Pride and Prejudice