#2 more episodes till reunion !!!!

[saragrekey]

I’m making my dad watch Amphibia with me (we just finished rewatching Gravity Falls lol) and I just can’t wait until Reunion ahahah and Marcy at the Gates hehehe

[psychofilmer]

I finished c2 and all I want to do is just restart it. I have it so bad for the disaster group known as the mighty nein. Send help.

[helpallthenamesaretaken]

EPISODE 8 😭😭 THE FEELS

the first line being 'look, you didn't ask to be a half blood' 😭😭 this is the shows equivalent to the good kid reprise

The wooden sword 😂

they have my respect for showing a luke and percy practicing sword fight scene SERIOUSLY the rest of the riordanverse percy still hears advice from luke while swordfighting and that is a plot point that is so special to me okay

the transition from luke to percy as he asks for single combat it's SO CINEMATIC I LOVE IT

The threatening aura of ares after being grumpy and comedic is chefs kiss about dayum time

I wish they kept the scene where percy says something along the lines of "we didn't mention any dreams" when ares yells that gods don't dream but ofc tv!percy knows all

cue one of the most epic sword fight scenes of the century

IM THE SON OF POSEIDON NOW FACE THE TIDE INSIDE OF MEEEEEEEE

NO SERIOUSLY SOMEBODY MAKE AN EDIT

THE SIZE OF PERCY COMPARED TO THE WAVE, THE WAVE ENVELOPING BOTH OF THEM

The camera shots are too good I swear

Ok that was short

I kinda missed the police cars and the sirens in the background and the reporters and all that chaos

sallys in the breeze she's in the trees

Alecto redemption arc wasnt on my bingo card but I actually like it guys

THE NECKLACE

percy staring at annabeth as she makes it harder each day to believe no one cares about him will never get old ❤️

“Wheres the glory in that” lazy ppl dont need glory

Rip lance reddick❤️

the next time hes going to roast zeus’s family percy is going to be older and more intimidating ZEUS IS GOING TO LISTEN and thats something so amazing

the way that percy fell to the ground with his arms on his head by instinct as zeus raised his lightning bolt

POSEIDON YASSSSS

”perseus” wait a sec is this the first reveal of percys real name?

THEIR ACTING AS ALWAYS 10/10

”can i ask you a question?’ DID YOU EVER HAVE SOMEONE KISS YOU IN A CROWDED ROOM AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS WAS MAKING FUN OF YOU

Dude was like no hon i aint gon tell bout what i dream about your mother kaboom peace out

huggggg (btw guys im in this show im the camper in the background clapping for the hug) i love that laugh from percy like ‘yep this is how we roll now not bad’

I love that theyre using that position to just ominously talk about clarisse not even letting go, just hugging it out talking about the traitor

Luke and annabeth in the same frame!!! We got a hand on annabeths shoulder AND NOTHING ELSE

THE CINEMATOGRAPHY OF THE NEXT SCENE IS UNPARALLELED

THE WAY THE FIREWORKS GET DARKER AND DARKER AS LUKE IS CAUGHT

Backbiter glowed up fr now he can make interdimensional portals

also percy knows everything as usual.

the girls are fightinggggg

”im sorry” *luke taking advantage to slash percy in the arm* you will always live in my heart

The heartbreak in lukes eyes

the hearbreak in annabeths eyes

also that shot of leah against the bright lights of the fireworks makes her look so pretty

ok we’re just going to gloss over the sadness of the betrayal

Can i just say i love chirons casting SO MUCH im so excited to see him party next season

“I am percy jackson” slay

ANNABETHS PIGTAILS ARE SO CUTE

OFC SHES GOING TO DISNEY WORLD

the way shes just worrying about what it might do to kill her 🥺

annabeth: *Exists*

percy: ❤️🥺😁🥰

THE LIL FLOWER

HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

bro literally gave us the percy and sally reunion of our dreams

”your survival is the key to my rise” get lost grim reaper

petition to call kronos grandpa every dream

ILL BE BACK NEXT SUMMER YOULL SEE ME AGAIN ILL BE BACK NEXT SUMMER ILL SURVIVE TILL THEN

Percy arming himself with the umbrella

I BETTER GET SEASON 2

Woooooooooooo gabe dieeeeee

[idkyourleastfavoriteartist]

SEASON 6 SPOILERS OF THE DRAGON PRINCE!!!!! Also I'm just gonna say this post is LONG (overall thoughts,rewrite?) I'm not a actual writer so take evey thing with a grain of salt. It's fine if you disagree or even dislike my opinions and (kinda) rewrites just be nice about it please and thank you!! (Also this has really bad grammar it's not that deep if it's not perfect)

I overall felt that this season was really good and it's one of the shows strongest!!!! I don't want it too sound like I'm complaining because that's not the case because I really enjoyed this season so don't take like that please. Let start with the positives I really liked the scene where Soren shouted at Viren in the jail (as he should loved that reunion). Rayllum finally got back together loved that for us. I feel like the darker atmosphere the show really works and I couldn't be happier about it. Corvus is so lovely him and him having too babysit Soren is so fun too watch. Learning about Callum's dad and Claudia's/Soren's mum was really interesting and was nice too get info on them. I'm really happy about how better the animation is getting better each season with it being a overall higher quality. Literally like 90% of this season I liked.

The only questions/slight problems I have is that I personally don't understand how Aaravous wanted Viren too kill sir sparklepuff (he calls them THIER child) so him being a grieving father doesn't make sense too me especially with the fact that Viren at first didn't care about sir sparklepuff, it was only when Aaravous said it was their child, like sir do you want Viren too live?????? Like what was the reason too humaninse sir sparklepuff if Aaravous didn't see them as a actual being with feelings and if goes against his plans that he made to control Viren to get him out of his prison??????? (I actually like his back story because of how it relates to the themes of love in tdp but in a way which is so similar but so different to our main cast).We all knew that Viren was gonna be redeemed well I felt it coming. But it should of been handled better because due to Aaravous for no reason making Viren feel bad for sir sparklepuff just so Viren could have a situation too get on the dark magic bad high horse didn't really rub well on me. I would of made Viren care about sir sparklepuff without Araavous input so it will make more sense that he wouldn't want too kill him and his redemption feel more earned despite Araavous who only made the being too finalise the spell to keep Viren alive(idk if it makes sense but too me it does) then have the "I'm over with dark magic and you" speech. With Araavous backstory I would of liked more that Araavous did have rebellious feeling about the power structers with elfs and humans (he felt it was unfair that elves get all the power and how rude elves where to humans despite them just wanting too learn too use magic) and he teaches a little bit too much leola but she tooked his teachings to other humans when she should of kept quite then being punished death after that he would go villain mode. I like the idea that Aaravous is evil but tried too keep quite until leola because he felt like he owed her the truth which led too her death and years of terror expanding on dark magic with humans till he went to prison. (that's my rewrite I don't really do stuff like this so if it's bad just understand where I'm coming from and give me positive input please☺️)

I also kinda felt that cladiua leaving Terry just for her to come back too him in the same episode is felt abit rushed but it's only 9 episodes so I understand why they did all in the same episode. (I would let that stretch for another episode so it's more impact full).

ALSO WAS I THE ONLY ONE WHO REALLY WANTED TOO SEE A VIREN AND AARAVOUS REUNION 😭😭😭😭😭 Maybe it's just me because they were one of my favourite dynamics in the show (mostly through season 3 and abit in season 2) so not seeing the communicate sucked abit. I like the ideas that are in this show but only wish they would be expanded more and fleshed out abit more.

[besiegedhunter]

Projekt Red: Desire for connection and her relationship with Kal'tsit and Grandma.

So originally this was going to just be about Red's relationship with Kal'tsit but thinking about it, I decided I wanted to discuss many other facets of Red when it comes to her connections with other people.

But without further ado:

Setting the scene.

Firstly I want to discuss the possible themes of family and accompanying themes for Siracusa and particularly Lupos.

Nothing illustrates it better than the founding story of Siracusa: the story of the She-Wolf, which takes inspiration from Rome's founding story of Romulus and Remus. A story that ends with Romulus killing his brother Remus, which I say for a reason.

From Rewinding Breeze's Stories from the Sky, it goes as such:

I want to specifically point out the final line of this cropped version: "From then on, Lupos stopped separating themselves into tribes, and called each other family instead."

The story of the She-Wolf and founding of Siracusa is specifically connected to family and Lupos and I think that the state of the She-Wolf's family is echoed in other Lupo's families. Maybe not purposefully but the inversion of wolves, known for their packs is what I imagine they're going for.

But to call attention to Lupos with strained families or connected to lonliness:

Texas's Father killed her Grandfather, leading to the destruction of the Texas family which she herself just watched, tired of it all and before meeting Emperor was alone thereafter.

Lappland hates her Father more than anything else but Siracusa, with her cutting ties with him entirely after Il Siracusano and him vowing to kill her if they meet again. Also due to her exile she's described as a Lone Wolf.

The Bellone family falls apart in Il Siracusano, with several betrayals and rifts caused throughout the event.

Capone and Gambino, once sworn brothers, become enemies in Code of Brawl.

Gertrude suffered abuse from her father and killed her brother, living and dying alone thereafter.

Pozyomka's whole family was murdered right in front of her, leading to her distrusting the surface and fleeing alone till finding a home with the Durin, though with undeniable differences between them.

Horn is implied to dislike her Father's action but her story following Episode 9, wherein she loses her whole squad but Bagpipe, became Dublinn's prisoner and survived alone in Londinium's sewers with only Metal Crabs as company hones in more on the loneliness.

Crownslayer's parents dying in the Chernobog sarcophagus purge. Reunion falling and then Red killing her mentor, leaving her with no one.

But there's one I left out in this for the sake of focusing on it.

Kinship.

This is Red's Trust 1 and 2 voicelines, Both portray her loneliness and call to two different things. I'll get onto her Trust 2 in a bit but for Red's Trust 1, it shows that whereas where other Lupos or Siracusans have turmoil with their families, either having them be strained, broken or dead, Red doesn't have a family.

Now, it is mentioned in Red's file 4 the existence of someone called Grandma who is responsible for why Red is the way she is, having been the one to raise her, uh, "raise her" before Kal'tsit.

Il Siracusano reveals the existence of beings known as the Signore dei Lupi who are Lupine Beast Lords like Emperor or Gawain and revealing that Grandma is one of them as well as what she expects from Red. Basically, the Signore dei Lupi each have a Fang that they train to kill the other Signore dei Lupi's Fangs. Red is Grandma's Fang.

The Signore dei Lupi claim territory in the wastes of Siracusa. Red's module confirms that this is where Red was trained in the least but as Il Siracusano introduces Lunacub, another Fang who only knows the wilderness and has no family like Red, it can be inferred that Red too was raised away from society, in the wilderness only knowing Grandma.

But even with Lunacub sharing almost the same upbringing that Red did there's a profound difference in how they were raised by their respective Signore dei Lupi. One that results in Lunacub being more capable and sociable than Red.

As said, Red has many problems. She's stated to have both educational as well as social problems. She cuts anything that gets close to her. I believe that her speech is broken (more evident in CN text if I'm right). And has limited empathy.

And as illustrated by her Trust 2:

She has a yearning to bond with other Lupos specifically it appears from this and her module which includes a ball made of fur specifically mentioned to be for when there's no Lupo tails to touch. Which, her wanting to bond with others would make sense.

There's a theme with Red's Trust lines where each line she doesn't take a hard stance on, moreso questioning or confused by something whether it's the importance of family, why she's being avoided or what her life could've been if she wasn't a Wolf Hunter i.e. met Grandma.

The final line of her Trust 3 is the Doctor asking Red to answer the question herself, which I think calls back to her module that really hammers in that Red struggles thinking for herself:

Something that Kal'tsit recognizes and points out herself:

So I see Red's Trust lines as her not being able to understand what she's feeling, the best she can do is to question things that she has feelings about deep down or have deeper meaning to her that she's not aware of.

Being that if she wasn't a Wolf Hunter she could have lived a happier life. She maybe would've had a family of her own. Could approach and befriend other Lupos. Have a bond with others, something that she can't at the moment.

I feel that Red's targeting of Lupos in her Trust 2 is for sure because of Siracusa's emphasis on Lupos and between the She-Wolf & her children and the Signore dei Lupi there is an emphasis on Wolves sticking together.

There's also something specifically with Red, cause the Signore dei Lupi as far as we've seen only have Lupos as their Fangs which on top of the emphasis on Lupos and wolf packs actually goes a level deeper due to two points:

I made a whole post about this but basically: Zaaro demonstrates the same or near identical ability as Red scaring Lupos and Vigil describes it as "kinship" and in the second and third images through Ho'olheyak we learn that Kukulkans and likely all Ancients were originally actual creatures.

So Lupos likely were originally actual Wolves, with the Signore dei Lupi or rather Lupine Beast Lords were kin with in some way or another and able to exert power over them through kinship, like Zaaro demonstrates in that image.

But also likely what Red is doing to scare Lupos, which is tragic. She wants kinship with her fellow Lupos but if I'm correct with this, then unbeknownst to her she has stronger kinship with them than any other Lupo and it's exactly why they're terrified of her.

Also a side note, I do wonder if in IS-ST-4 Red sees Crownslayer as someone she's somewhat fine with and if it's a result of Crownslayer being a Lupo by her account.

Cause there's "Is she your Kal'tsit?" which I'll delve into, but her expression is a happy one as opposed to her resting one for the rest of the conversation and in general she feels too casual.

But that's just a thought. Now, onto the next part:

Grandma and Kal'tsit.

"I do as Grandma/Kal'tsit says"

It's the exact same thing for both of them and by all means it should be. Grandma and Kal'tsit are the people who raised Red, albeit one better than the other.

With the minimal knowledge that Kal'tsit has about Grandma she suspects her to be responsible for the problems Red has that Rhodes has laid out in her files:

As I showed before, Grandma only taught Red what Grandma deemed Red would need to know to accomplish what Grandma wanted before throwing her into a traumatic experience and then doing it again:

And as the end of that paragraph, the way that Grandma raised Red, what she threw her into again and again would have killed her in some way if it wasn't for Kal'tsit.

Now, this is where our information about Grandma dries up as she's not mentioned in Il Siracusano outside of that one screenshot and we don't yet know how Kal'tsit met Red but what we do know is what Kal'tsit did upon meeting her:

Kal'tsit saw the problems that Red has and like Rosmontis, probably recognized how severe they were and decided to provide her with shelter in exchange for Red aiding Rhodes Island through her combat skills.

We also know that Rhodes Island put Red through several tests, likely headed by Kal'tsit herself who we also know tried coming up with several contingencies before scrapping them, destroying test data and classifying a lot of information regarding Red because of the severity and delicate nature of her situation.

But while there's nothing that she can do and by extension Rhodes, she still tries to help Red, whether by teaching her outright like the homework she gets her to do or by teaching her moral lessons which I believe she does in 6-11 after Crownslayer leaves.

Kal'tsit puts in a lot of effort to help Red which really contrasts Grandma's lack of care or affection or help. If Grandma had done much of anything then Red wouldn't have the problems she does, she like Lunacub could've known care and affection and end up better because of it.

But Red, the awful experiences she's gone through, how even now she struggles and doesn't know how to do a lot of things and yearns for affection from other Lupos, is because of how Grandma raised her.

And now Kal'tsit is doing her best to help Red, despite likely knowing that Red will one day leave and that Kal'tsit can't do much to help her and that it's up to Red to help herself at the end of the day. She put in a lot of effort for her.

How Red feels about Kal'tsit on the other hand I feel is quite complicated.

A lot of the time when Red talks or thinks about Kal'tsit it's what Kal'tsit has done for her or their agreement. There's not anything so much resembling the worry Kal'tsit puts in for her. Which I think isn't for lack of care for Kal'tsit.

Going back to how Red says she does what Grandma says and Kal'tsit says in the same way, right?

Red struggles to think for herself. It's what her Trust lines are about. It's what Kal'tsit sees that Red needs to do in her File 4. It's what her module is about. But Red can't and it's the basis of her relationship with Grandma, which is the only one that she knew for ages.

Grandma would teach her something, expecting her to accomplish it and then Red would be thrown out to do it. Likely this repeated and Red came to rely on Grandma to know what to do and not yet having learnt to be autonomous, Red now leans on Kal'tsit in a similar way.

Red doesn't know what it's like to have a parent or a friend, she only knows a master and while I'm sure Kal'tsit tries to not have their relationship be that, Red is the one who sees it as such.

But I think like the Trust lines being Red's attempt of touching upon deeper feelings, I think Red holds that care for Kal'tsit but she knows no different than how she acted with Grandma but it comes through. In it's own way.

And here is where I leave this off because sadly the state Red is in right now isn't the most happy state but I hope you enjoyed reading. Red's got a lot of developing to do for her eventual event and I cannot wait to see what happens between her and Grandma and hopefully Kal'tsit.

I just deem their relationship as really really important and while I'm sure Red will get closer to others in her event, Kal'tsit is so important I hope it's shone some light on in the event itself or an oprec or module.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello! How are you doing?

I just wanted to ask a few questions on top of my head rn, feel free to ignore this if you don’t feel like answering lol.

1. Do you have a prediction for when they’ll announce casting/post a new trailer/release the series, and how long will the production last? It was said to start on November 30.

2. How many episodes do you think we’ll have? And do you think they’ll fit TVL in 1 season or 2?

3. Where do you think Loustat are placed in sense of relationship? Are they friends with benefits, are they low contact, are they one call away but not really? Ugh I can’t stop thinking about it.

4. What do you think the present storyline will be for the characters?

Hey!

I'm fine, thank you :)

Casting announcements are hard to predict, they STILL have not officially announced Joseph Potter aka Nicki?! I mean, he was in s2??? So.... *shrugs* Your guess is as good as mine, lol. As per the trailers, if filming does happen end of November, and everything goes well without problems I expect a lot of little teasers and trailers from... May? Latest? April, maybe. I expect production to run till February or March. And then, like last time, they might give us snippets, sneak peeks, trailers... etc. And maybe SDCC 2025 😈

I... think TVL and QoTD will build on each other (as the books do as well) and I think they might aim for another 8 episodes per season - I am not sure though if TVL will be split, like IWTV - given TVL has a lot more content that might make sense.

Re Loustat - that depends on "when" we are at the end of s2 - and at the beginning of s3, if the rockstar Lestat trailer actually means something within canon. IF we can take it as part of canon then it means Loustat are not yet reunited... which does not necessarily mean they don't meet up nor that they don't have sex. But it could also mean just as well that the reunion prior to the concert will happen, which then would mean they do not interact... yet.

Since they returned to the book structure at the end of season 2 that is what I expect for the modern times, actually. Louis in hiding, the "other" vampires pissed at him for publishing the book, Lestat doing his rockstar thing to find Louis and also shield him. I think DM-wise we will get an inverted chase to the one that likely happened in the 70s. Depending on whether Daniel in the "documentary" is already a vampire... or not. I mean, that book could have been on Louis' table for a while... ^^ In any case I do expect a cliffhanger at the end of the season, if they do TVL in a single season it will be Akasha taking Lestat, I would bet real money on it^^.

So yeah, my two cents :)

[buffyfan145]

Such a great finale last night of "The Way Home"!!! 😀 I was not expecting that many cliffhangers but even more excited for season 3 next year!!! Spoilers behind the cut.

Looking back I should've expected it but still shocked by the ending revealing that Colton was also a time traveler!!! 😲 So seems all the Landrys have this ability genetically. Can't tell what time period he was originally from but it looks like the past so he would be the first we know of that traveled to the future and stayed. I figured that twist was coming but thought it'd be Thomas and/or Younger Nick that did. Still think it's possible that could happen (and I have a fic I'm working on LOL) since we saw that a Landry can take someone back into the past as Alice and present Elliot did it. There's still some things I wonder about with Thomas and Younger Nick's past that seem to hint at it so we'll see what happens. The writers also said they planned this the whole time about Colton and there's hints of it when you re-watch episodes but the cast didn't find out till they were filming season 2.

Then also seeing that Jacob did travel back to the present and he and Kat were finally going to see Del. Looking forward to that reunion next season and hopefully Del finding out the whole truth. Also glad everything with Kat and Del got resolved.

Also with Casey I too have been wondering about her and who she really is. Seems like she's another time traveler too but is she a Landry or someone else that can? She's got Kat's old engagement ring that Alice currently has, so is she Kat's child and Alice's sister? Another descendant from the future? An ancestor from the past? Also who's her dad she keeps mentioning? She does look a bit like Kat but has blue eyes and at one point I thought she might be Jacob's daughter. So I'm curious how that will turn out.

Then so happy too that Thomas is alive and they made it look like he died!!! 😀 Knew he and Kat's story wasn't done and loved that kiss. So we're getting the Thomas/Kat/Elliot love triangle next season. I still won't rule out Younger Nick/Alice/Noah for next season too, unless Alice is getting another love interest as it seemed whatever happened between her and Noah might be done after their scene last night. So I'm curious about Alice's love interest in season 3, as we know she'll have at least one besides Nick, so maybe her season 1 love interest will be back or someone new.

Again so excited for season 3 next year!!!

[autumnsorbet]

Epilogue and theory v9/10

So today a few hours ago for me the epilogue came out I'm very excited about it since this is the most Ruby content related to the main show we've gotten and about a year it's better than us waiting and confusion like we did wondering what was going on with volume 9 where it was a to what felt like to 4 year wait 😅

I also like to hear a rise then there's possibly been a time skip of longer than we think and vacuole even though the epilogue shows the characters and the same outfits they've been wearing since volumes 6 and 7 I do like to think that when we do see these parts of the epilogue and volume 10 like we've been told by Eddie and kerry

💖

We'll see new updated looks maybe some of the characters will look older or a bit taller I really hope this happens and I can't wait to see what their character designs look like especially Oscars and winter

So let's get started with what I liked from the epilogue and some theories all throwing you here and there

🧡💚Oscar

wondering if the others were alive and actually trying to do research into it even though remnant has limited resources and information even ozpin didn't know what happened to Ruby and the others

♥️

So I'm excited to see their reaction and volume 10 I'm guessing we'll get the reunion with everyone and episode 2 whenever we get volume 10 and these explanation of the ever after will come up an episode 3 because I believe in episode 2 if they do end up getting to vacuo and reuniting with the

💖

others then that's going to be the main focus and then maybe a fight will happen and after that and episode 3 they'll take a break for episode they'll explain everything that's been happening with them Ruby and the others will explain what happened to them and the ever after, team Rwby will see how Oscar's merge is affecting him I wonder if jaune using his Aura amplification would help Oscar I'm not sure it might make it worse we'll have to see

💖

but like I said in other post on here and Twitter I Believe by the end of volume 10 Oscar's merge will be complete and will be left on a cliffhanger as to who it is or will actually get to see who it is at the end and we'll have to go from there sadly cuz either way we're either losing ozpin or Oscar

💙Nora

I'm so happy that this epilogue started out with Nora cuz she was one of the characters even more than Oscar that I wanted to know what was going to happen with since from the beginning they'd always set her up it's kind of like a pair with Rin and now we're getting to see Nora Branch out and do

💖

her own thing away from rent even though he can tell that now after telling himself and Nora that he loves her, he still gives Nora her space I'm glad that Nora got to stand up to people who were being hostile towards orphans since Nora's been an orphan for longer than we've probably known

💖

We get to see Nora actually interact with other characters for once outside of her team it's just amazing and I wish they had done this sooner

I can't wait till when we actually give volume 10 because I hope we'll see so much more of Nora and maybe if we're lucky maybe she'll somehow become a maiden

❤️💚Ren

I like what they're doing with Ren Ren sees that John isn't there anymore so now he's trying to be supportive and uplift the team the same way his leader would and I'm happy they're doing this he learned a lot from him and Atlas he saw how

💖

confident John became after losing so much and struggling since the beginning of beacon and now he's not there to uplift or support them like he used to so wren's trying to support and uplift everyone

💖

even though they're separated I also look forward to seeing what happens with him and volume 10 especially with his relationship with Nora he's still trying to give her space even though you can see he does want to be with her at the moment so I wonder what they'll do with him from what it seems maybe they'll have some moments with him along with maybe other characters like male characters

💖

kind of like we seen in Ruby Chibi where he'll be with some of the male characters and they'll be looking into Tyrion and Mercury working with the group called The crown from the before the dawn and after the fall light novels which are Cannon to the main story of rwby

💙Winter

I actually got to see more of winter than I thought I would with the rest of the epilogue I'm happy that we see how much control she seems to have over the maiden power so far her flying her combat and skills she truly is a good candidate for the powers

I'm hoping at some point we'll get to see winter interact with the other maiden I'm hoping that this maiden is very young somewhere around winter's age but has a bit more control over her powers than winter and maybe she can learn from someone instead of trying to teach maybe form a friendship or a bond and that will help them in their upcoming battle with Salem and speaking of Salem

❤️🖤Salem in vale

For the longest time now I theorize that Salem probably went to Vail I think she used up her grim pools on the dark Continent and needs to go to a place where a larger amount of her grandma are still active and that would be veil she's there looking for the crown possibly with cinder since she has Tyrion and mercury and vacuo teaming up with the crown

Salem can sit back and make more grim using the staff I honestly do have some doubts here and there when it comes to the writing in the show but so far over the past several volumes is actually gotten so much better and I love it it was especially amazing and volume 9

I'm not sure what they'll have Salem do with the staff maybe if we're lucky Salem will somehow separate Oscar and Oz before they merge I doubt that will happen with that could maybe happen so she can actually confront the person she wants to instead of a 15-16 year old

[luonnon-varainen]

It's about 20 days to toh final. I'm rewatching whole serie to catch all hints what may happened in last episode. During "Witches before wizards" I noticed how many foreshadows were in this episode, but it didn't really drawn my attention. There is enough content that explain what mean what, nothing to add. Thing that really makes me "woooo bro hold on" was 2-3 second clip of the blue shooting star.

It is probably just another foreshadow, but I think it might be something way more interesting - that might mean that elder collectors are way closer to the Boiling Isles planet than we thought and they check what is going down there.

Just by looking at the star, it is visible how similar colours are used in this one and those made by the Collector. Shape, type of movement and lenght of comet tail. Whole motive gives this little "ojoj" vibe. It couldn't be just a coincidence~

(Colour comparison. Ignore Luz, she end up here because same colours and shape of "celestial staff's" magic, which is also concerning)

But it leads to one simple question: Why?

Clearly there is no point in checking up this planet and being so close to it. Everything is probably already collected, clearing the planet has happened and new start has been put in motion. Elder collectors won the war, they don't need to check if titans are trying to rise again against them, they already all dead and obedient(one titan won't stop the extinction of entire species, sorry King). There is no threat to watch over and control in case of a rebellion. King is all alone, by himself, without any perspective to stop the extinction, so there is no need to still look for him. Also all this happened at least 500 years earlier. This activity seems to be just wasting energy, unless the reason for checking up on the planet is different.

Elders may not look for a titan, but for their missing kid.

For some weird reason there is nothing, absolutely nothing about whether elders looked for the Collector or not. I think they did or rather are looking for the kid. Yeah, they are nightmare fuel for every organic/living being, but I really don't think they are such a bad parents, who don't care about own offspring. It wouldn't make sense judging by collectors huggy/touchy personality(in context they really often touches King, hugs him, hold his hands ect. somebody probably had very contactual family) and painting where is clearly visible that they really enjoy the kid's company and are delighted by the fact they joined them.

After the Collector's disappearance, elders would start searching for the kid. Probably a lot as any other parents, whose kid get lost in shopping centre. Considering their op tracking and hunting abilities, collectors should quickly find the mirror, but they didn't. It sounds a bit inconsistent, unless the fact that collectors opponents were titans. It's been shown that titans knows the hiding "glyph". In " Echoes of the past" and "King's tide" this symnols are exposed. It means that they are capable of creating spells that can camouflage objects and living beings from collectors sharpen senses. That may mean that the mirror has the same quality to be undetectable by them.

Elders didn't free the Collector, because they do not care. They didn't do that, because there is no way for them to sens and find this tiny prison. No matter how hard they tried to find the child, they physically couldn't. Collectors keep checking up on the Boiling Isles till modern time hoping that sealing spell faded away (probably all spells have their expiry date and for star-long-lifetime beings it not so long to wait for) and make reunion with the missing child.

The reunion probably wouldn't be the nicest one. Full of arguing, cring, explaining, persuading and other emotional forms of "discussing", yet very important for both sides.

[she-karev]

Last Night Stand (Andrew DeLuca x Alex Karev's Sister Imagine)

Previous Part Here

Age Rating: 12+

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

Chapter: Two of Two

Canon Episode: Season 14 Episode 2

Ship: Andrew DeLuca x Amber Karev (Alex Karev's Sister)

Summary: Amber and Andrew’s night is cut short when he walks in on his sister and Arizona Robbins. 

AN: Here is part 2, it takes place immediately after part 1, enjoy! Edit: So I decided to edit this chapter with a little more detail around the night Amber and DeLuca slept together hopefully it satisfies your naughty needs. 

Words: 2513

I stand in the middle of the foyer seeing with a wide-eyed expression at the guy I was supposed to have sex with arguing with his roommate’s shirtless date in Italian. They barely notice me and the roommate who is on the couch with only a bra on looking as confused as I am. I want to speak up but I’m convinced they wouldn’t hear me through their loud voices. His roommate decides to step in though.

“Excuse me.” They don’t hear her of course causing her to yell, “Scusi!” They both stop, “Sorry. That's the only word I know in Italian. Um, why are we speaking Italian?”

I chime in, “As entertaining as this is I have the same question.” Andrew looks at me as if he suddenly remembers I was there.

Carina explains, “He's my stupid little brother.” My eyes go wide as I understand now what’s going on, it’s a family reunion. They continue to argue in Italian causing me to speak up.

“Um you know what?” They stop and Andrew looks at me, “You and your sister have some catching up to do so I’m gonna head back to the hotel, it was nice meeting you both.”

“You too.” His roommate says awkwardly.

“Amber wait.” I hear Andrew call out as I head for the door but don’t turn around. I stop at the sidewalk and pull out my phone signaling an Uber praying it gets here at lightning speed. A few moments later Andrew runs next to me with remorse in his eyes.

“Look I’m sorry about that my sister caught me by surprise I didn’t know she was in town let alone about to sleep with my friend.”

I chuckle, “Clearly, you looked twice as shocked as me when we walked in.” I look and see that he’s still standing there, “You don’t have to be here with me I’m fine going back to the hotel alone while you have your…strange family reunion.”

“Would you believe me if I told you, it wasn’t the first time we had a reunion this strange? Or I walked in on her sleeping with my friends?” I raise an eyebrow at him, “Thankfully this time she had clothes on.” He mutters in Italian clearly complaining about his sister causing me to smile and laugh, he stops and looks at me confused, “What?”

I grin, “She’s the oldest, isn’t she?”

Andrew furrows his eyebrows, “How did you know?”

“Because you sound like me when I complain about my older siblings.” I chuckle at the memories I have of being at odds with Alex and Aaron, “An annoyance at their abhorrent behavior combined with a slight inferiority complex that comes from being the baby in the family. Even in Italian I recognize it, bitching about my siblings is my second language.”

“I didn’t realize I was.” He looks at me intrigued, “Looks like we found something else in common tonight.”

I nod, “Yeah, history of violence towards us and complex relationships with our older siblings, we should get hitched.”

Andrew chuckles before asking, “Older sister?”

“Older brothers, two of them, it’s Alex, then Aaron and me and let me tell you we had our tiffs like you do with your sister. Although I haven’t walked in on them sexing up my friend.” I look down the road and notice a car about a mile ahead.

“Count yourself extremely lucky.” Andrew sighs, “Look um I’m sorry if I ruined our night and…I totally get it if seeing me arguing with my sister is giving you second thoughts. I’ll wait here till your car arrives and go to the hospital so I don’t hear my sister and roommate for the night.”

I look at him for several seconds before I speak, “You arguing with your sister after a surprise visit did kind of turn me off from the endorphin high you induced.” Andrew bitterly nods, “But oddly enough hearing you speak Italian then turned me back on.” I grin at Andrew who looks at me with wide eyes at my confession.

I shrug innocently, “What can I say? I’ve always been a sucker for hot foreign guys and you just fit the bill.” My Uber stops in front of me and I seductively walk towards the car as Andrew stares. I hold the door open hoping he takes the hint as I grin at him. He smiles at me and goes inside the car; I follow suit after him.

Later

Once my keycard opens the door we hurry inside, I turn on the lights and slam the door shut. He pins me against a wall so he can kiss me and I take his jacket off. Before I get to the clothes, I curl my fingers around his hair marveling at the soft texture as his lips continue to softly explore mine. He reaches for my sweatshirt, and we pause so he can take it off me exposing me in a black push up bra.

I practically rip open his shirt and push it off his shoulders I stop kissing him so I can look in awe at his abs, biceps and pecs that would put an amateur bodybuilder to shame. I exhale in lust, “I am so glad I let you buy me that meal.”

Andrew chuckles and smiles at me, “Me too.” He kisses me again and I guide him to my queen bed where I continue kissing him. We sit on the side of the bed and I explore his rock-hard physique with my hands trying to comprehend if he’s real or not. He does the same as I feel his masculine hands explore my torso brushing my skin in that way that made it prickle. I lean forward and he understands my intention as he sinks down on the bed and I continue kissing him as I straddle him.

I move on from his lips and kiss his neck causing him to moan in pleasure. His hand lightly squeezes my ass through my jeans, and I thank boxing for giving me this perfect posterior. My hands finally go to his pants, and I quickly undo the belt just as he unhooks my bra and takes it off me. Suddenly he sits up and shifts positions so that he’s on top instead. His lips kiss every inch of my upper body making my nerves explode from the estrogen and causing me to moan. He bends down to reach my jeans making me close my eyes and enjoy this short time we have together.

Next Morning

I slowly flutter my eyes open and mentally groan as my headache comes. I feel the sheets against my naked body covering me except for my shoulders and arms. Despite the hangover headache that woke me up, my focus becomes clear as I remember where I am and what happened last night. I hear light breathing behind me and I quietly turn around and see Andrew is still here laying on his back with the blanket up to his lower torso.

I stare at him for a few seconds because this part of my one-night stands is one that doesn’t come easy to me. I never know what to say to them the morning after or how to end a temporary dalliance on good grounds. I either wake up to an empty bed or I quietly put my clothes on and leave. I check my watch and realize I need to do the latter if I want to make my flight on time. I very quietly sit on the side of the bed praying Andrew doesn’t wake up.

I see my undergarments are on the floor so I put those on first then my jeans and I see my sweatshirt from last night by the door. I tiptoe across the room and put my shirt on before grabbing my suitcase by the tv.

“Hey.” I jump at the sound of a groggy male voice and turn around to see Andrew sitting up on the bed wide awake, “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” I press my lips together at the awkwardness seeing Andrew rub his eyes and yawning.

He sees me grabbing my suitcase and gives me a knowing look, “Okay I get it I’ll just go back to sleep; you can pretend I’m not even here.” He lays back in the bed and closes his eyes causing me to feel guilty.

“No, no I wasn’t trying to sneak out.” I try to excuse myself but he doesn’t buy it because he opens his eyes raising an eyebrow at me, “Okay I was but uh…” I put my suitcase down and lie down next to him to rectify my mistake, “I can stay, my flight doesn’t leave in a few hours so…”

I lie next to him stiffly in bed for a few moments before he speaks up, “I didn’t mean you had to-”

I sigh in relief, “Okay good.” I stand up again and he sits up again.

“Hey uh I don’t go to work for a couple hours do you want to get some breakfast before we both leave?” I look at him flattered and decide to take his offer.

“Yeah, breakfast sounds nice.”

Later                                                       

After putting my hair in a messy bun and waiting for Andrew to get dressed we go to the cafeteria downstairs for the free continental breakfast. We sit in a table across from each other, I eat waffles and eggs with a coffee and Andrew eats hashbrowns with bacon and coffee. I continue eating my eggs and exhale in content as my hangover finally passes, Andrew grins at me as he drinks his coffee.

“Better?” Andrew asks.

“Much.”

“I had a great time last night.” Andrew admits, “I mean even with the whole surprise visit from my sister I had a lot of fun.” I smile at his confession, even though I expected the night to go badly when I ran into him it turned out to be the opposite. My last night in town was unexpected and surprising but along the way I had a great time with him.

“Yeah, me too.” I admit with a grin.

“So, uh do you want to exchange numbers? Maybe we could hang out again when you come back?” My grin falls as reality comes back to bite me in the ass, Andrew notices of course, “What is it? Do you…not want to do this again?”

I take a sip from my coffee before speaking, “I do but uh…there’s a caveat though.”

Andrew nods like he’s been through this before, “Ah there always is.”

“No it’s not an excuse it’s just…Grey Sloan isn’t the only program I applied to.” I answer truthfully, “I’m going back to New York to finish up my last year in med and after I’m interviewing for internships at UCLA, Mount Sinai and St. Luke’s.”

Andrew looks at me impressed by my hospital choices, “Oh those are great programs all of them but uh then again so is Grey Sloan so…” I could see he was subtly trying to get me to lean toward Grey Sloan, it would normally seem clingy to me but from him it’s actually endearing.

“Yeah, and then there’s match day and…I’ll find out then if I’m gonna get the job here.” Which I probably won’t if Alex has anything to say about it. After last night he would most likely pull strings and call favors so I don’t get the job. After all, why would he want the sister who hates him to work for him.

“Okay.” Andrews voice stops my thoughts, “Well can I still get your number, maybe we can talk and you can let me know then if your coming back by then. Does that sound okay?”

I grin at his attempts to see me again, “I…I don’t want to disappoint you over a text and I don’t think a…long distance relationship is what we both need right now.” He bitterly nods in understanding.

I want to walk out of here like last night never happened…but a big part of me can’t. I always had a solid plan when I decided to get into medicine; college, medical school, residency, and then worry about my love life. I went on dates and had boyfriends and girlfriends but there’s never been anyone really serious. I don’t know if it’s because I give off a cold bitch vibe that drives them away eventually or I just drop them off when I’m done with them but no one has been around for the long run. This guy however he pushed to spend time with me even when I was vicious to him and I don’t feel the need to run from him in fact…I feel the opposite.

I purse my lips together and lean forward thinking on my actions next before saying, “But uh…maybe in a few months I could surprise you with news I’m an intern at Grey Sloan by running into you at the hospital in my scrubs.” Andrew looks up at me hopeful, “And uh…maybe you could…welcome me to town with a dinner that could be um…officially our uh…” I was tongue tied here causing Andrew to smile at me amused before finishing my sentence for me.

“First date?”

I chuckle, “Yeah that’s the word I wanted to say, sorry I’m really not good at this. I’m referring ‘this’ to asking someone out because people usually ask me out. I mean you technically asked me out last night so you get it.”

Andrew chuckles at my ramblings before responding to my proposal, “I did ask you out last night, it was so I can get you to stop being awful to me but still.” I grin at him, “As for your request…if you do happen to surprise me at what will hopefully be our workspace, I would love to take you out to dinner and show you around.”

I smile at him and realize I need to get to the airport; I stand up and grab my luggage, “I should get going my flight leaves in a couple of hours and security is a nightmare so.”

Andrew stands up as well, “Yeah sure do you want me to drive you? I have work in an hour but it’s no problem.”

“That’s really sweet but I don’t want you to get into trouble after I took advantage of you last night.” We both laugh, “I’ll be fine taking a cab you should get going too.” I take my suitcase and walk towards the porte cochere, Andrew walks with me.

“So, I’m guessing that’s a no on your number then?”

I give a sly grin to his question, I want to give an air of mystery so I can leave him wanting more when I leave, “It’s…a maybe.”

Andrew looks at me confused, “Maybe?”

“We’ll just have to wait and see wont we?” I purse my lips together seductively and wink at him just as my cab arrives. I put my luggage in the trunk and go inside the backseat. I wait till we’re away from the hotel when I smile to myself and chuckle at my unexpected good fortune.

[fairydares]

Chasing Tails Chapter Three: Trees and...

AO3 Link; fanfiction.net link ; Chapter 1 on here (you can find the “back of the book”-type summary here or at one of the other links)

Chapter Summary: Natsu finds a tree. Nashi finds Natsu. (Happy voice) And then...!

Author’s Notes:

First and foremost: Chapter 3 took forever for me to publish. Oops.

I genuinely expected zero people to read this, so when it actually got some hits, and I even got kudos, comments, reviews, reblogs, likes, and favorites (Thanks so much! You have no idea how much you guys helped!) I had an, “oh, shit” moment where I realized I actually care about making this story halfway decent. A lot of the work I did went to outlining and research (even though most of the research will be blatantly ignored lol). I hope it will pay off and allow me to publish chapters more frequently, but I have also been busy.

NOW. onto notes that are actually important to the story:

Initially, Layla’s earthbound last name was “Turner.” It was supposed to be her last foster family’s surname. However, I edited and changed it to O’Neil because I realized that made more sense. Sorry for any confusion. I went back and edited a couple other details, too, but nothing too big.

For anyone waiting for smut/lemons, I’m going to try to label chapters with lemons (at least on AO3). We’ll see how that goes. Nothing this chapter.

*Content Warnings:

Almost everything to do with Nashi’s upbringing on Our Earth is a very inaccurate portrayal of CPS, foster care, and the police. I didn’t bother doing deep research on those things because it’s only vaguely relevant to most of the story. Please criticize cops and the failings of the foster care system, just not on the basis of this fic.

Also: Drug & Alcohol abuse mentions; swearing; graphic violence; nausea & puke mentions; ignorant ableism (mostly by Nashi/Layla, whose top personality trait ATM is “just wrong” but still); bullying mentions; death mentions (not any OC’s); discussions of sex.

tbh, most of that’s gonna be standard fare for this fic.

*Tumblr-Specific Tip: I recommend scrolling to the bottom and reading the footnotes first. That way, you won’t need to scroll all over the place. I listed them all with context for this specific purpose.*

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“This tree is talkin’ to me!” […] “Yes, Great Tree!” - Natsu’s line, Episode 76, English dub [~2:45]

----------------------

“Oi, Mad Cow! If you don’t quit whining and drive faster, I’ll break your damn neck! You hear me?!”

The thick throat bobbed under Natsu’s forearm in response to the growled threat. “Y-yes,” came the hoarse choke. “But…it’s Mad Bull, not—“

“Like I care!” Natsu snarled, managing to hide his vehicular distress behind a scowl he fixed on the little mirror the big bastard’s eyes kept darting to. Sweat crawled down his temples.

It had taken mere minutes for his despair to burn into rage after Nashi left—and it didn’t even happen because of how badly their reunion had gone. The guy Nashi had just finished thrashing had been holding a weird-looking Mini-Comm to his ear as exited the same door she had, too distracted by his conversation to notice the pink-haired man curled wallowing on the ground amidst a scattering of untouched bills.

Natsu would barely have noticed him, either—if he hadn’t caught part of the asshole’s side of the conversation:

“—think I tried that?! The little freak was gone by the time I could sneak into the—yes, I’m fucking sure! How the hell could I miss her pink hair?!”

Natsu had stilled on the ground.

“—sure that’s the little bitch’s apartment building?…Well, whatever…don’t need an exact address, I’ll kick down every door in the damn place till she comes out if I have to, and make sure that whore regrets the day she ever—ARGGHH!”

The hulking man had bellowed in pain as he staggered from the Dragon Slayer’s sucker punch. His weird Min-Comm skidded across the ground, going totally silent as it audibly cracked against the ground.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT, ASSHOLE!” the big man shouted, lunging.

Despite the brand new wave of near-paralyzing vertigo, it had been easy for Natsu to take him down. First, because the loser really was a huge waste of size and strength. Second, because of the rage which had driven him to his feet.

The world had both seared red and spun around him. In the back of his mind, he noted that the dizziness was almost definitely at least partly due to the fact that his fire was trying and failing to rise to the surface. Every attempt at using his Magic in this world, so far, had resulted in shattering dizziness. He didn’t worry about it too much. He wouldn’t have been able to control his Magic, anyway—not when he was this pissed.

After easily slamming the man to the ground, Natsu yanked the bastard’s arm across his back until it trembled on the verge of breaking or (even more likely) dislocating.

“I know I didn’t just hear you call my daughter a whore, you bastard!” he’d hissed, pulling the massive arm an inch further back, barely refraining from ripping it off.

“D-daughter!? You’re—?”

“SHUT UP!”

Natsu had garroted the freak’s throat with his free arm and chuckled darkly when he spluttered and gagged. He’d thought quickly, fighting his ongoing dizziness for clarity.

“Right. You’re going to take me to Nashi’s apartment. Now! Then you’ll get lost and stay lost, you got it?!”

“N-Nashi? Who the fuck—?”

“THE GIRL YOU WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT, MORON!”

He’d been forced to accept a car ride—very reluctantly, giving in only when Mad Cow had spluttered that it would take them hours to walk to Nashi’s building.

Now, sitting in a moving car yet retaining the wherewithal to keep the guy’s throat locked under his arm from the back seat, he remained as creeped out as he’d been at the beginning of the journey. He’d always thought it would be awesome if he could ride in a vehicle without getting sick, that Wendy was basically a miracle-worker whenever she used Troia to help him out.

Now, under these circumstances, with his heightened senses stolen from him—Natsu found himself disturbed as hell by his ability to keep his wits in a dreaded moving Magical Vehicle.

It made an awful kind of sense, though. Whatever this world did to Magic sucked so much out of you, Dragon Slayers even had their motion sickness reduced. Maybe to the point they didn’t have it at all, eventually, if Nashi’s ability to ride a Magicycle was anything to go by.

In any case, Natsu’s nausea was still pretty bad—but not so bad he had to let go of Mad Cow, which was good because the asshole had already tried to attack him once, when Natsu was reluctantly oozing into the car. The bastard paid for it with a head slam that created a small crack in his Magical Vehicle’s window. As satisfying as his scream of pain and frustration had been, it had tested Natsu’s already overtaxed temper. He couldn’t hurt the guy badly enough that he couldn’t take Natsu where he needed to go, but boy did he want to.  

Sweat slithered down his face, stomach rocking persistently, but he managed to hide his strain until the car finally swished and jerked to a halt across the road from a medium-tall, crummy building. With a trembling, meaty hand, Mad Cow pushed the stick he’d been holding forward between the two front seats then quickly lifted his hands like a robber.

“W-we’re here…” he sniveled.

Natsu glanced around, eyes narrowing as they briefly latched onto the Magicycle gleaming under a street lamp before returning to meet Mad Cow’s beady gaze in the little mirror. “Right.” He pulled his arm tighter against the thick throat, relishing the distressed-sounding gargles he got in response and the way a Vulcan-ish hand started clawing uselessly at his arm. “If you even think of laying a hand on my daughter again, I’ll flay you alive! You got that?!”

Natsu had to let up on Mad Cow’s throat just enough to hear the wheezed affirmative, wishing badly that he had his fire so he could brand this freak with the threat. There was something in the way those dark eyes gleamed and darted around that he didn’t trust.

But he didn’t have the option, and his stomach was rocking violently. The lump on Mad Cow’s head and the crack in his Magical Vehicle’s window would have to suffice. If he got any ideas about trying something, Natsu would be nearby to protect her, anyway.

“Good!” For the first time in living memory, Natsu was able to stagger right out of a Magical Vehicle and stay standing, albeit by the skin of his damn teeth. He scowled after the car as threateningly as he could as it roared away. Only after it had screeched around a corner did the Dragon Slayer double over to groan in agony.

After recovering, he stared up at the apartment building for a minute, somber and contemplative. So. This was where his daughter lived. Angry shouting emanated from broken windows, slurry arguments, violent threats, and the sounds of loud sex layered over each other. A man puked on the cracked bricks of the building’s side. From the dark alley of the other side, a pair of shiny eyes stared at him unblinkingly.

Lucy would have blown her top if she found out their daughter had been living in a place like this. Natsu couldn’t say the looks of the place was doing his blood pressure any favors, either.

Noting the location of the building, he’d hobbled off in search of food. As reluctant as he was to lose walk away from where Nashi was, passing out from hunger wasn’t going to help either of them. Fortunately, he’d thought to grab the money Nashi threw on the ground and shove it in his pocket just before ordering Mad Cow to make sure his Magic Vehicle didn’t shake too much. An order which had made the bastard splutter excuses about how “that was impossible!” and which he had not obeyed.

Natsu panicked slightly when he realized everything Nashi had given him only a couple hundred jewel-things. But when he found an open food stand (with wheels?! What sick bastard combined something so beloved with something so terrible?!) he sighed in relief upon reading the low prices. Jewel-whatevers went further here, obviously.

He proceeded to cheerfully order all the spiciest things on the menu until he was out of money. He wished it was Lucy or Mira’s cooking—and that it came with his usual side of fire, but the food was tasty enough. Nothing could could clear his head or perk him up like good grub. He felt much better as he hobbled away from the wheeled food stand, waving back at the beaming (and oddly weeping?) family talking excitedly in a language he didn’t understand.

Still, being clearheaded wasn’t as much fun as usual, at the moment. He brooded as he ambled back to the dumpy building, the truth sinking in like a rock in a pond.

Nashi didn’t believe him. Not just about the fact he was her dad, but about…anything. Hell, she didn’t even go by the name “Nashi.” Natsu could sort of start to understand how she’d come to be called “Layla”, seeing as it was her middle name. He worried about the specifics of the name change, though. Fairy Tail’s Strongest Team had had to use fake names on a few missions, mainly to infiltrate dangerous groups and take them down from inside.

Another guildmate who’d used fake identities in the past was Jellal (now the official Master of Fairy Tail’s Branch Guild, Crime Sorcière). Aside from playing Mystogan back when he’d been a fugitive, he’d done it mainly to prevent enemies from retaliating against Fairy Tail or his family. Then there was Mest, who Natsu was pretty sure still did spy things for the guild, but thankfully didn’t manipulate his own memories any more. None of the reasons he could think of for why Nashi might be hiding behind an alias made him feel too good, especially after his encounter with Mad Cow.

Even more concerning was the fact that Magic didn’t exist here. That you were considered insane if you mentioned it at all. Even Nashi, one of only two born Dragon Slayers in history, thought so. What the hell was he even supposed to do with that?! He couldn’t even protect her from whatever had forced her to take the name “Layla.”

He stopped in front of her apartment building and scowled up at it for the second time, struggling to think straight enough to come up with a plan with how physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted he was.

It was supposed to be simple: find Nashi and everyone else who vanished into those portals, then bring them home. Since the day they all vanished, that had been his main goal. Hell, it was the self-appointed mission of pretty much all the Mages left in Fiore—most of whom had also lost at least one person close to them to the mysterious portals which erupted across the country. Natsu had achieved the first part of the mission only for Nashi herself to become a new obstacle. In every possible way, he was lost.

His head felt like it was going to split. The pain made it even harder to think clearly. But standing there, Natsu did manage to draw one important yet unfortunate conclusion: kicking down the door to his daughter’s apartment building and yelling her name till he found her was almost certainly a bad idea.

He sulked at the realization. That was exactly what he wanted to do. Patience had never been his strong suit, and he was barely clinging to it at all after finding his daughter only to immediately learn she was in danger and living in a shit-hole. It was only what wisdom he’d gained as a grown man, a husband, and a father that allowed him to accept all he was likely to get from chasing her down again tonight was another kick—not to mention a lower chance of ultimately convincing her he was her dad. Something he had no chance of figuring out how to do when he was this tired and frayed.

Eventually, reluctantly, he headed to the park across the street from her house.

Or, uh, maybe a park? he wondered, eyeing all the dirty, bedraggled people curled up on benches or over the grass. Maybe travelers of some kind, seeing as some of them were in tents not too unlike the one he and Lucy had started bringing on missions after they’d started getting frisky. So long ago, now, but he could remember like it was yesterday.

He chuckled to himself at the thought and suffered the wave of ensuing (decidedly less-than-pure) homesickness. The breeze cooled Natsu’s skin pleasantly as he scanned for a good spot to rest for the night, quickly spotting a tree with wide branches.

He didn’t particularly like dozing in trees, preferring to spread out and/or cuddle Lucy as much as possible. But being able to was a skill that came in handy as a Mage—especially for S-Class missions that required initial reconnaissance.

Besides. In terms of this “mission”, the tree’s largest branch also happened to overlook Nashi’s apartment building. Even from here, Natsu could see her Magicycle gleaming beneath its street lamp, well in-sight of the tree branch he had his eye on. From there, he could watch over her.

“Oi, watch it!” someone snapped when he tripped over them on his way over to the tree.

“Oops, sorry! My bad, man!”

The tree bark was merciless against his palms. He grimaced at the trouble his knee gave him going up and grunted as he pulled himself onto the wide branch.

“This sucks,” he grumbled, shaking out his arms and glaring at his bloody, dirty knuckles. An entire lifetime of training dedicated to both his Magic and his body. Now he couldn’t even punch a couple people without exposing bone, could barely climb to the lowest branch of a damn tree. He wondered idly if this is how Loke felt when he’d remained on Earthland for such a long time.

He wondered how Nashi must have felt, when she landed here. How hard it must have been for her. At least she hadn’t been all alone. Even if Harley couldn’t fly, now, Nashi had confirmed they’d been together. The thought provided a sliver of comfort.

He settled his back against the trunk and peered out over his left shoulder, pleased he’d been right: from the perch he’d found, he had a clear view of Nashi’s Magicycle and apartment building perfectly. The nearly empty road between them sat like a dark and eerily still, silent river far below. Which apartment was hers? Could she look back at him, if she stood at a window?

“I’m keeping my promise,” he vowed softly, staring at the apartment building. “No matter what, I’m taking you home, Nashi.” He sniffled a bit, swiping the tears from his cheeks before they could wet his smiling lips.

Natsu crossed his arms behind his head and fell into a rather easy sleep, considering the bruises and aches on his weakened body.

----------------------

Thud!

 She fell back to the ground with a cry of surprise and pain. A small one—the squeaky cry of a child no older than five. Frustrated tears gathered in her eyes. She groaned, propping her elbows beneath her and squeezing warm dirt between her fingers.

 A huff met her ears, and she lifted her eyes to focus on the person strutting towards her. It wasn’t until he stopped right in front of her, blocking the sun with his head, that she could make him out. A scowling boy. Bigger than her, older, with hair the color of midnight.

 It was when she noticed the edges of his form shimmering under the sun that Layla realized she was dreaming.

 It had been a while since she’d had this dream…

 The bright scent of fire and the smell of coming rain hung strong in her nostrils, so sharp they were breathtaking. So sharp they kept her in the dream despite her awareness of it. The combination of scents was inexplicably comforting. Familiar.

 The boy crossed his arms over his bare chest, grunting irritably. “Would you quit?! Jeez! How many times have I told you to quit following me around, ya damn pest!?”

 “Too bad!” she growled, still trying to get up. Her arms and legs weighed about a thousand pounds, and she wound up flumping backwards with a groan. “I-I’m gonna beat you, I swear!”

He rolled his eyes. “You mean like you said you were gonna yesterday? And the day before yesterday? And the day before that? And then also the—“

 “Shut up!” Her cheeks burned. “Today’s gonna be different!

 “You get that I’m, like, way older than you, right?”

 “So what?!”

 “So I’m bigger and stronger, that’s what!”

 She groaned, pushed again. Once more, she fell. This time her head thumped against the dirt.

 Concern peeked through the boy’s scowl, his arms dropping back to his sides. “Oi! Take it easy for once, would you?”

She ignored him. “Get up!” she growled, fighting back tears of frustration. “I always get back up!”  Moving her legs was like swimming through sand. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get them under herself. Finally, her frustration boiled over, and she stabbed a finger at the boy. “GET UP!”

 “YOU’RE THE ONE THAT’S ON THE GROUND!” [*1]

 He took a couple deep breaths. However, it became clear his efforts to calm himself didn’t work when he exploded, “Why do you wanna beat me so bad anyway, huh?! I mean, the hell’d I ever do to you?!”

“It’s not that!” she groaned, still pushing. “It’s not like you did anything! I wanna beat you because…because you’re so strong! If I wanna be the best, I can’t waste time fighting a bunch of babies! If I wanna be the best, I gotta be able to beat the best!”

 She could feel his gaze on her as she finally managed to push herself to her hands and knees, breathing heavily.

 He huffed again, and this time, the sound was less annoyed. “That’ll never happen,” he chuckled, then sighed. “Damn…you really are a pest, you know that, Nashi?”

 Just as she gritted her teeth, preparing to stand, a hand appeared in front of her face. She looked up in surprise to find the boy smiling down at her. The irritation in those strange, clear blue eyes—fringed in long, dark lashes—had softened into an exasperated sort of fondness. His outline was clearer, now. Less shimmery. “Well? Thought you said you were gonna beat me. Can’t do that from down there, can you?”

----------------------

It was when she took the sparkly Edward Cullen child’s hand that she woke up. Always then.

Awareness of the pain in her battered body slammed into her like the morning’s white light against her eyelids. Groaning, she flung an arm over her eyes only to hiss when the movement tugged at muscles stiffer than cold taffy. Harley stirred at Layla’s abrupt movement, a purr emanating into her side. Her joints throbbed as did the underside of her right jaw.

She could tell from the din of traffic floating through her closed window that it was past time to get up. She’d had an absolute shit of a time falling and staying asleep the previous night, but she couldn’t afford laziness now, when the Championship fight was less than a week out [*2].

Unlike most fighters of Layla’s caliber, she didn’t have top-notch sparring partners, a doctor, or a nutritionist at her beck and call. She didn’t have money to throw around so she could pay other people to make her the best; she didn’t even get paid anywhere near as much as the assholes she fought, whenever they won a fight. Hell, she didn’t even have one coach any more. She was the best because she woke up earlier, trained harder, gave more, and aimed higher. It was up to her. Her alone. It’d always been that way.

And yet…that morning, for a few longing minutes, she tried to let sleep keep her. She clung to the details of the years-forgotten dream, heart pinching inexplicably as they faded despite her best efforts, like smoke slipping through her fumbling fingers. The smell of fire and coming rain were swamped by the pungent odor of sweaty clothes and kitty litter. The echo of the boy’s voice slipped away beneath the sounds of traffic and the couple next door’s shouting.

Unfortunately, the one part of the dream she wanted to forget—the detail she’d stewed over all night—stuck to the front of her brain like it’d been superglued:

 “Damn…you really are a pest, you know that, Nashi?”

 …Nashi…

That damn name.

Rage Layla had been too tired to fully realize the previous night boiled up in her chest as “NASHI” screen-savered through her head, the memory of that homeless, pink-haired wingnut popping up between the floating words like a bad jump scare. She gripped her bedsheets with swollen, lilac knuckles and clenched her teeth so hard, they creaked like they were going to break.

Why? she fumed silently, struggling to swallow the hot, frustrated scream clawing its way up her throat—only because she didn’t want to scare Harley. Fucking WHY?

It was bad enough that she’d stewed over the bizarre encounter until the not-so-wee hours of morning, unable to sleep thanks to her shithead roommate and her “friends” making a bunch of sounds she’d never wanted to hear in her goddamn life! (Not to mention the conversation she overheard between two of Gracie’s creep-ass “guests” right outside her bedroom door, two guys egging each other to “get the pink-haired girl involved in the fun” until Gracie lured them back to the living room—lucky for them.) But when she’d finally started to drift off, she’d sworn not to think of the incident until after her fight four days from now.

That’s right...she thought grimly. Four days.

The Championship.

Her shot at redemption.

Her stomach churned. The frustrated scream climbed higher in her throat.

It was humiliating and infuriating enough that Pinky Wingnut had caught her off-guard so bad. For most of the night she’d raged at herself for engaging with some freak who was so clearly insane, let alone almost believing him, let alone asking him about…that name, a name she didn’t even give a shit about anymore. A name gathering dust in the bottom of the tattered, locked trunk across her room, right along with the police file it was tucked away in.

It felt like she’d had an embarrassing childhood toy she didn’t remember burying shoved into her arms without warning. And instead of throwing it back in the jerk’s face and telling him to fuck off, what had her stupid ass done? Asked him where he dug it up. Oh, and paid him for his trouble.

But no, she brooded, dropping her arm from her face and letting the light sear her eyes so that she could glare at the ceiling. Worse than the fact that she’d let him wobble her mentally and emotionally, worse than the fact she’d given him $250 she couldn’t really afford to hand out…worse than any of that was the bastard’s timing.  

The moments following her win had already been a shitshow, even if no one but her knew it. It’d been that way the whole past year, but last night—the semi-final fight—had definitely been the worst. The second Lee had thrown her away from Mad Fuck or whatever and she’d managed to pull herself out of “fight mode” to convince herself that yes, she’d actually won, her mind had eagerly jumped to her corner—only to remember it was empty, now. There was no one there. No strong, smirking older blonde boy or a tiny, old one-eyed man offering up one of his rare, proud smiles through his mustache.

Just a little bit of hope had kept her heart from sinking too far as she remembered that her friend from the system, Rose [*3], had promised to come out to watch her tonight.

The triumphant smile and pose had been a facade, one which she struggled more and more to keep up this past year. The effort had felt monumental while she strutted around the perimeter of the cage, heart warming a bit at the sight of some regular fans cheering from the front row, decked out in what must have been homemade merch with her name all over it, even as she remained desperate in her search for skin pink and slightly warped with an old burn; messy brown waves of hair; and large, dreamy hazel eyes in the crowd.

She never found them.

As her eyes’ search had faltered, realizing her friend wasn’t there like she’d promised she would be, they’d begun to sting, much to her horror. Bitterness nipped at her crumpling heart.

 I…have nothing—

It was with the thought she barely managed to stifle, this time, that she’d been completely unable to maintain the facade, all of her effort needed to smother the pit trying to yawn wide inside her. The throbbing, gloved fist she had lifted in triumph had begun to drop, the smile had fled, her vision had blurred…

And then Pinky Wingnut had appeared like a bolt from the damn blue, bellowing the name she’d been so close to finally forgetting. In front of a shit-ton of people, no less. He hadn’t even looked embarrassed for himself. Had thrown himself into the arena like he had any—no, every damn right to be there, obviously not caring who he had to punch, elbow, or throw to get there. Had shamelessly barked and pitted himself against the ref, Lee, whose very presence demanded respect.

No, he was too crazy for shame, something which had finally been driven home during their second “reunion” when he’d started yelling about Harley—a name he definitely shouldn’t have known. Not even if he somehow had a copy of the same police file she did. Her police file. In the notes they took during the interview with her five-year-old self, the cops had consistently misspelled Harley’s name as “Charlie,” one of the many ways those dolts had fumbled and fucked up while trying to figure out who and where her parents were.

At least “Charlie” makes more sense than “Nashi Layla Dragon O’Neil”…she thought, eye twitching at the thought of the ridiculous name the pigs claimed her five-year-old self told them. Granted, Little Layla had been pretty obsessed with dragons. Even more than she had been throughout most of her childhood in the system. Even more than Pinky Wingnut. Maybe even enough to make up such a ridiculous name, one which literally contained the word “Dragon.”

If she remembered the interview correctly, she’d even whined that she was hungry and begged the cops for some fire to eat—that was, when she wasn’t too busy crying because Harley wouldn’t talk to her or making up wild shit about how her parents were warlocks or whatever, how she belonged in a fairy tale. She hadn’t even bothered to specify which one.

Throwing her blanket off herself and the cat in question, who beeped hoarsely in protest, Layla swung her legs out of bed. Her bruised bare feet slapped against the cold, cheap, off-white tile as she fumbled for her trusty bottle of pain pills on the nightstand, popped a couple, then brought her water bottle to her lips to wash it down.

She stood and stretched her arms above her head with a groan, scratching at her tan, toned stomach and wincing slightly as she tottered over to her bedroom window, tripping over piles of manga volumes on the way [*4]. She’d gotten lucky with her view of the park across the street, especially with the big, half-dead old tree which dominated the middle of the panes.

Now, Layla was so busy raging at herself, she barely registered the sight. Didn’t see the sunny day, the homeless people rolling up their tents and clearing out before someone driving by called the cops. She glared at the cars moving below, seething with her own thoughts so hard she could almost feel steam pouring out of her ears and nose into the room.  

No more goddamn distractions, she swore viciously to herself. No more crying during her victory lap like a pathetic weakling. No more getting sidetracked by delusional Pinky Wingnuts. No more thinking about…that name and all the mortifying bullshit that came with it. Four days out was Championship night. Until then, no more fucking distractions.

She sat there, staring unseeingly at the old tree and tried to amp herself up, frustration detonating slowly in her brain as her heart barely stirred at her own lecture. No matter how hard she worked, how much she tried, or how many times she yelled her catchphrase at the end of her fights…for the past year, something just wasn’t there.

“I’ve got a fire inside me you’ll just never put out!” came closer and closer to getting completely stuck at the back of her throat—and staying there. It felt more like a lie every time it left her lips.

Frustration finally hitting boiling point like a fucking teakettle screaming, she stomped back over to her nightstand, less tripping over her manga than kicking the pile, this time. She unplugged her phone from its charger, scowling as she scrolled through the notifications to see that not only had Rose not bothered to show up, she hadn’t even fucking texted to explain why. The last text she’d ever sent came two days ago, just the words, I’ll try n be there punctuated with a shitty smiley face.

“You fucking liar,” Layla seethed under her breath, croaky voice shaking.

Distantly, she registered Harley (who’d apparently decided to quit being a lazy little lump) twirling around her ankles, mewling for breakfast.

She told herself it was anger making her heart wince, not pain. She knew Rose struggled. She did. She knew that. Her life hadn’t been any easier than Layla’s—in ways, much harder after the fire which left them both scarred in different ways. After Layla and a reluctant Gracie had managed to convince her to get help a couple years ago, she’d been so much better for a while. But now…

Now whatever, Layla thought viciously, black flames licking furiously at her insides. One thing, she’d asked for. It wasn’t like she wanted anything crazy, just for one person who mattered to show up for two of the biggest fights of her life (so far). She’d long given up on Gracie, but Rose used to show up—even if it was only occasionally. Sometimes even when she was going through a bad period. Layla had been there for Rose as much as she could after juvie, had picked her up after benders, beat the shit out of anyone who made fun of her burns. And her “friend” apparently couldn’t pay her back by just freaking showing up once or twice.

So much for “Foster kids don’t ditch each other,” she thought bitterly.

Fuck you too, Rose, she typed aggressively. Seriously.

Layla hit Send. Then, after pausing for a second, she typed out:

 If you’re not there Friday night, I’ll fucking kill you!

Layla hit Send again. Clicking out of their conversation, she scowled as another text from an unsaved number made itself known through bolded font:

Yo, congrats on the win! Looks like we’re up again! A fist emoji. Good luck...you’ll need it... 

That text was punctuated by a winky face. Another text followed it up:

I heard some crazy shit went down at the end of your fight, tho…u good?

Layla’s eye twitched. Ever since that motherfucker Helio thwarted her attempt to take the championship title from him a year previously, he’d decided to fuck with her mind by sending annoying texts at least a few times a week. If that naive, gullible dumbass Rose wasn’t the one who kept giving him Layla’s number, insisting he “wasn’t such a bad guy” Layla would have killed her.

She gritted her teeth hard enough to give herself a headache, almost mangling her phone. No matter how much she tried to tell herself she was too experienced a fighter to let that stupid douchebag psych her out, the rage burning in her chest and the fact that she still hadn’t been able to make herself rewatch last year’s championship fight—the only one she’d lost in the semi-unders—said otherwise.

The most she’d ever sent him was a poop emoji. Their “conversation” was basically just littered with them. But now, her temper was so close to snapping that she just deleted the conversation entirely with hard taps, refusing to give herself a chance to reply something stupid.

For all the fucking good it did. This time, the frustrated scream did leave her throat, making her sound like a fucking demon smoker.

She threw her phone on her bed with more force than necessary, breathing heavily while she watched it bounce.

“Whatever,” she breathed to herself like a fucking bull. “Forget it, whatever!” At least she didn’t get any texts from that other, much worse bastard anymore…obviously, changing her number a bunch of times had done the trick.

Harley, wholly unperturbed by her outburst, decided to up the breakfast-begging ante. She went from weaving around her ankles to clawing viciously at her bare leg, meowing louder.

“Ow!” Layla snapped, swatting at the little gremlin to shoo her off. “You fish-addicted, fucked up cat!”

Harley yowled petulantly. The little shit was Layla’s best friend, and she loved her to death, but she could really be a monster when it came to her damn “fishies.” Or scratching the shit out of her furniture and walls. Or if anyone other than Layla came near her (though Layla didn’t really blame her for that one).  

The little cat leapt atop one of the few still-intact pile of comics and manga near the window, white tail swishing agitatedly. Those odd, blank-but-not, round, charcoal eyes of hers an unblinking, salmon-filled demand. Layla was geared up to ignore her and get ready for the day—maybe even eat her own damn breakfast first, for once, if Harley was going to be such a little brat!—but her anger cooled when the morning light streaming in from the window illuminated the sheen of pink skin peeking through her white fur. Barely visible, but still there. A burn gained in the same fire as Rose’s, before Layla managed to get her out.

Layla didn’t feel bad for calling Harley “fucked up.” She didn’t. She was a cat, for crying out loud. She couldn’t even understand a word she said anymore than she could fly like Pinky Wingnut the Stalker, seemed to think.

The fighter sighed. “Tch…well, who wants a fishies, then?” she half-cooed, half-grumbled her usual morning phrase—which she’d never, ever say in front of anyone else—then snorted and made to get dressed when Harley practically sang a meow at hearing her favorite words.

----------------------

“Fuck off, Gracie!”

Her shithead roommate was the absolute last person Layla wanted to see while she and Harley were trying to enjoy their breakfast that morning. Especially when the jerk was practically naked—clad only in a thong and one of her loser “friends’” shirts (Layla assumed); especially when the apartment had gained a new beer can and burnt tin foil rug overnight; and especially when she was trying to steal Layla’s food.

She slammed a bruised fist onto Gracie’s lanky hand as it snaked to towards her bacon. The table, silverware, and Harley’s bowlful of raw salmon rattled as she pinned it to the wood hard enough to leave a bruise.

“Ouch!” Gracie squeaked, wriggling her hand out from Layla’s fist, Layla only letting her up after giving her a good long glare.

Harley, perched on the table right next to Layla’s morning feast, was barely fazed by the jolt to the table or loud sounds. However, she was clearly not happy with Gracie’s nearness. If Layla hadn’t been there between them, there would have been a real concern for the safety of Gracie’s hands. She lifted her head from the bowl of raw salmon she’d previously been loudly scarfing to stare down their lanky, pale roommate. Though her tail briefly bristled like a soda bottle, she quickly returned to devouring her fish to no one’s damn surprise, although she ate more quietly now.

Meanwhile, Gracie pouted, rubbing her hand and eyeing Harley with a distaste that was far too familiar. Then she finally returned her angled, glinting dark eyes to her angrily flushed roommate. Her pout grew bigger as she threw her skinny, naked ass into the chair on the opposite side of the table from Harley.

“Seriously? You have that ginormous breakfast and can’t even give your own bestie one tiny slice of bacon?”

“Bestie” was a major stretch, especially at the moment. But admittedly, it was a big breakfast:

One huge veggie omelet and a sizable hunk of meat (bacon, today) both marinated in enough spices to turn most peoples’ tongues to leather. Whole wheat toast with almond butter. A big protein smoothie to top it all off. It was a ton of calories, but every one would be needed for today’s training.

Makar, Layla’s old coach, would have skinned her alive if he’d been around to know she wasn’t taking the day after a fight to rest [*5]. She’d always thought it was a stupid rule, but she’d grudgingly followed it out of respect for her coach.

But now, Mak was buried in the graveyard a couple blocks over, and so was the “Rest Day Rule” as far as Layla was concerned. She hadn’t rested a single day the past year, not even when sick. Rest was for spoiled douchebags like Helio who had an entire team dedicated to shaping him into an amazing fighter like a ball of fucking golden clay. Hell, he even had a fight manager now that most of his fights were in the “real” octagon rather than the semi-underground.

She should know, since she’d been watching all his fights since forever.

(Just not theirs.)

Layla bared her teeth at Gracie. “No, I can’t! I need the energy for training! And even if I could, I wouldn’t! Get your own damn food!”

“Ugh.” Gracie rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her braless chest. “Don’t tell me you’re butthurt about last night. God, it’s not even that big a deal. You are such a slut-shamer.”

“Don’t fucking call me a slut-shamer!” she snapped back, throwing her chopsticks down on her plate just to taunt Gracie with the fact that she wasn’t even eating the breakfast she refused to share. “As if that has anything to do with shit! Last night was the semi-final—“

“I forgot,” Gracie sniffed, turning away while closing her eyes.

“Like hell you did, liar!” Layla snarled. “I reminded you like a thousand times!” She scooped her chopsticks back up, squeezing them so hard they threatened to break. “I don’t care who you bone, but I’ve got four days to the Championship fight, and I’m not getting there like a zombie because I had to keep listening to your shitty crooning! Next time, I’ll throw their asses out!”

She pointed her chopsticks at the girl whose aura was now definitely souring, ignoring the sounds of Harley now loudly licking her chops from the other side of the table.

“And while we’re on the subject, how does that scenario even happen!? ‘Oh, hey, Rando, do you happen to be a huge asshole?’” She pretended to pause as if listening, then to brighten with a mocking amount of pageantry. “ ‘Oh, you are? Fantastic! You pass the audition! Come on over around 8 for a gang-wang!’”

“It’s ‘gangbang’,” Gracie sneered, her laughter making Layla’s ears heat with embarrassment. “Seriously, how do you get to ‘gang-wang’?” Layla hunched her shoulders in an attempt to hide the effect, hoping Gracie would just move on. But since when had she ever gotten what she wanted?

“And also, I just meet guys at parties, get their numbers, and text them. Really not rocket science. But then, you wouldn’t know that, would you? Since you’re such an oblivious prude. Not to mention an imbecile.” She stood, turning away to stretch and giving Layla an unfortunate full view of her bony white horse butt. “But then again…” She turned smirking over her similarly bony shoulder. “That’s only to be expected from a gorilla.”

Layla stiffened as the cruel nickname was thrown at her for the second time in as many days.

Let it go, she tried to tell herself. She’s just pissed because you called her out. Foster kids don’t ditch each other. They stick by each other.

But this time, the placations didn’t work; her rage leapt to her tongue faster than she could bite it.

“Go fuck yourself, Third-Base Grace!”

Her roommate froze, turning to stare at her with wide eyes full of horror and disbelief as Layla glowered up at her, cheeks tinged in anger. She’d never resorted to calling Gracie that. Ever. Hell, she used to beat people up when they called Gracie that, after they both left juvie and wound up in the same high school.

The worst part was that she couldn’t even make herself feel bad for pulling out the mean high school nickname. Not when she was having such a shit morning. Not when the resentment had been festering within her for this long. 

Not when Gracie had done the exact same thing to her—several times, now.

When their glare-off lasted for several seconds, Gracie’s devastation transformed just as surely and quickly as Layla’s had. Layla could see it in her eyes. For a second, she thought Gracie was going to say something really nasty, and she geared up, ready to fucking throw down if it came to it. Throwing her naked ass out was looking more appealing by the minute, let alone by the day, if she was being honest.

But then, as soon as Gracie’s eyes narrowed and the fire flared within them, her anger was muted. Not exactly gone, but looking like a veil had been cast over it, darkening it.

“Whatever,” she scoffed, snatching her phone off the couch she’d been crashing on for months and stalking towards the bathroom. “Get that hideous thing you call a cat off the table.”

Harley, obviously unable to understand the girl, paid the words no mind, flicking her bristled tail while she watched her walk away.

Layla, on the other hand, felt her temper spike. “Her name is Harley! And fucking make me!” she snapped back. “And all this shit better be cleaned up by the time I get back, or so help me—“

The slam of the bathroom door cut her off, leaving Layla cursing under her breath.

Suddenly, she wasn’t hungry any more, but she forced herself to shovel down the rest of her breakfast as quickly as possible. She told herself it was the spicy food making her eyes burn.

----------------------

A good, hard run served as Layla’s daily warm-up for training. Always had, as far as she remembered. As per usual during the flaming can of garbage that was the past year, she felt like she was flagging the entire time. According to the timer on her phone, her times were better than ever. Yet she’d never felt slower.

Sometimes, it felt like her phone and even her Wikipedia page—which documented her unbroken record over the past year—were lying to her, playing tricks on her. Like a light scale, something she’d had to deal with occasionally back when she competed at other types of martial arts for Mak as a kid [*6].

It also didn’t matter that she refused to look at the graveyard when she passed it on her route; she could always hear Mak’s voice , like the loudest bastard of a ghost ever from the moment she dashed her first step.

 “GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR! DON’T EVEN FUCKING THINK OF LETTING THOSE BOYS BEAT YOU!”

Nevermind the fact that she didn’t run alongside any boys to beat, anymore.

“Foul-mouthed…old…man,” she wheezed to herself, leaning against the big, dying old tree where she always finished her run, the one she could see from her window. She ignored the passersby who gave her strange looks.

Jeez, she thought after a while. It’s really taking me a long time to catch my breath. She felt way better, but she could still hear herself. In fact, it almost sounded like…

Her eyes widened. Hold up! That’s not someone catching their breath, and it sure as shit ain’t me.

Instead, it sounded like…snoring? Pretty loud snoring, too. Layla straightened. Warily, she glared down several of the passersby, wondering if one of them was fucking with her or something. To her fury, several of them eyed her suspiciously, like she was the one standing there in broad daylight snoring out loud like a fucking freak.

“What the hell are you looking at, huh?!” she snapped at one old man with a weird green had and a particularly disdainful glare. He huffed something about “rude brats” while shuffling along.

She frowned as he vanished, glancing around to see that most people in the immediate vicinity had cleared off. Yet the snoring raged on, sounding like a bear except when it would stop entirely, turning into these obnoxious little snorts. With a huff of confusion, she walked around the tree, frown deepening as she looked to see if someone was sleeping on the other side.

“Alright, seriously?!” she exclaimed throwing her arms up before flinging them across her chest, pouting in thought. She was stumped. If the snoring wasn’t coming from her, then what, was it coming from the freaking tree?!

She paused, actually considering the possibility. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. “Huh…” she muttered, eyes widening in fascination as she crouched down, putting a hand against the bark and wiping at her sweaty forehead with the other. “Well, I mean, plants gotta breathe, too, don’t they?” At least, she thought she remembered learning something like that in school.

Suddenly, the snoring ceased, turning into a groan. Layla yanked her hand away from the tree like it burned her, eyes bugging. “W-what the hell?!” she whispered, now officially getting creeped out.

Then the tree fucking gasped.

And then, Layla finally figured out it wasn’t the tree when the gasp was followed up with an unfortunately familiar voice crying a hoarse, “Nashi!”

She looked up.

She screamed.

----------------------

Footnotes:

*1. On Layla telling the “Edward Cullen” boy to get up when she’s the one on the ground:  You might recognize this interaction from the original story. Natsu said it to Gray when they were fighting as children in one scene. I couldn’t resist borrowing the moment as both a hint and for nostalgic reasons.

*2. On having two fights within the same week: In the UFC, fighters have ~5 fights a year at most. The idea of someone doing a sport as violent, intense, and damaging to the body as UFC-level MMA even multiple times in one month is ludicrous. Doesn’t really matter since this is a Fairy Tail fic, and I won’t correct everything that’s inaccurate, but if I don’t roast myself just a little all my research was for NOTHING!!

*3. On mentions of characters from “Our Earth” such as Rose and Helio: Little characters and details like this are genuinely important to the fic and will ultimately be relevant even to Fairy Tail’s OC’s, I promise. This is NOT going to be one of those fics that’s ostensibly a Fairy Tail fic but in execution could really be totally unrelated to the original story, I promise.

*4. On Layla/Nashi’s manga volumes: Nashi’s love for manga (including eventual mentions of stories some of you may recognize) is as close to a crossover fic as this story will ever get.

*5. On Layla not taking rest days after fights: no

*6. Meaning of “light scale”: a scale that gives out readings less than one’s actual weight, an infamously common problem with the scales provided by US Olympics in sports such as Judo, where fighters have to cut (lose) or make (gain/maintain) weight to compete in certain weight classes

---------------------- 

Author’s Notes:

Hmm…could “Makar” be an Edolas-like parallel, I wonder?

Again, sorry this took so long! Tried to cut back on the “Our Earth” exposition, but kind of think it might still be too much? I’m also nervous about Layla/Nashi’s second debut. She’s definitely been something of a handful to write. But this is just how the story developed in my head, so oh well.

Like I said, I’m going to try to get chapters out faster, from here on out. I’d like to aim for at least one every week and a half, but I won’t give you guys a real, hard number until I figure out what works for me.

Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed!

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Tuesday, September 5

Giles: I was twenty-one, studying history at Oxford. And, of course, the occult by night. I hated it. The tedious grind of study, the... overwhelming pressure of my destiny. I dropped out, I went to London... I fell in with the worst crowd that would have me. We practiced magicks. Small stuff for pleasure or gain. And Ethan and I discovered something... bigger. Buffy: Eyghon. Giles: Yes. One of us would, um... go into a deep sleep, and the others would, uh, summon him. It was an extraordinary high! God, we were fools. Buffy: You couldn't control it. Giles: One of us, Randall, he lost control. Eyghon took him whole. We tried to exorcise the demon from Randall, but it killed him. No. We killed him. We thought we were free of the demon after that. But now he's back. And one by one, he will kill us all.

~~Buffy Episode #20: "The Dark Age"~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Family (Buffy/Spike, T) by veronyxk84

LandLeech (OC, E) by teddyscott

[Chaptered Fiction]

Welcoming Faith Ch. 1/? (Xander/multiple characters, E) by red_jacobson

hit rewind Ch. 4 (Buffy/Spike, M) by untiljanuary

The First Apocalypse (Book Three of the Reunion Trilogy) Ch. 1-29/29 (COMPLETE) (Ensemble, M) by MCorey1317

Divide & Conquer Ch. 52/? (Buffy/Giles, E) by Removes_and_Cleans_Glasses_00

What It Felt Like Ch. 3/4 (Dawn, Spike/Drusilla, M) by shotgunSinner

Blind Date Ch. 4 (Xander/Joyce, M) by Spooksdarkhero

The Aurelian Prophecy CH. 4 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Willow-98

the broken gates of kingdom come , Chapter 6-7 (Buffy/Spike, M) by disco-tea

The Neighbor's Point of View, Chapter 40 (Buffy/Spike, T) by the_big_bad

Anything But Winning, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, T) by PRationality

The Nips!, Chapter 13 (Buffy/Spike, T) by Desicat

Encased in Sunshine , Chapter 24 (Buffy/Spike, ) by Acb6293

Twice Broken, Thrice Burnt, Chapter 14 (Buffy/Spike, E) by ClowniestLivEver

Beneath The Moon And Across The Sun Ch. 3 (Buffy, T, Harry Potter xover) by BlueZeroZeroOne

Healing After Heaven Ch. 9 (Buffy, T, Highlander xover) by Kate

What do you mean I'm Magical Nobility? Ch. 18 (Xander, M, Harry Potter xover) by KnightofTempest

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork:Buffy & Spike () by isevery0nehereverystoned

[Reviews & Recaps]

The Buffy Re-watch: Ted S2E11 (part 2) by jvstheworld

[Fandom Discussions]

if the writers were really and truly trying to set Spike up as a legitimate - if ill advised - love interest for Buffy by buffy-targaryen

Few things I find interesting: by a-heart-of-kyber

SoS: The Pack: Xander's Dark Moment? by thetopher

Buffy and Angel Book Discussion: Monster Island Prologue- chapter 4 (p.1-90) by Taake

Cordelia and Buffy: Missed opportunity by Stellz04

Darla by sarabeara12345678910

Buffy's first murder? by TEZofAllTrades

Sarah Michelle Gellar's singing in "Once More With Feeling" appreciation thread by jdpm1991

Fanfiction search by Esoteric_Bitch

How would you explain the situation to Dawn? by Almost_Sweet_Music

Why doesn't the council help Buffy with money? by odvarkad

What would you do if… by chemeli888

https://buffy-reddit-feed.dreamwidth.org/10024367.html by DaithiG

Question(Spoiler till S1E02) by seekerofhighground

What did you think of Season 6? by MaryBeHoppin

This is Hell by georgelansing12

Anya was just as much at fault for Hell's Bells as Xander. by rfresa

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

PUBLICATION: Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Anya Deserved Better - Here's Why by CBR

PUBLICATION: Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Is The Controversial Movie Canon? by Slash Film

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[airborndesigns]

Top 5 TV series to keep you entertained through this heatwave:

1. The After Party (Apple TV) A modern millennial whodunnit comedy set over the course of one night at a high school reunion and, you guessed it, the after party! The assemble cast is great. I don't typically love a Franco, but you're supposed to think he sucks, so it works. Ilana Glaser is adorable as always and I love this role for her. Ben Schwartz gets a musical episode and overall really shines as more than a John Ralphio 2D type character, even though I also adore when he does that as well! Tiffany Haddish has some incredible lines as the detective and without giving too much away, each character gets a backstory episode and I really love how they do this! Sam Richardson and Zoe Chao are popping up everywhere together (eh hem Senior Year on Netflix!) and I loved seeing their faces together again in this. They are super adorable in this will they, won't they dynamic. Go put it on and you'll definitely want to binge till the end to solve the mystery!

#theafterparty #ilanaglazer #benschwartz #tiffanyhaddish #samrichardson #zoechao

2. High Desert (Apple TV) Patricia Arquette plays Peggy, a Pioneertown actress turn private eye who after the death of her mother played by Bernadette Peters, is making her way in the world in gorgeous vintage westernwear and 70's sunglasses with a wonderful dead-pan sense of humor. I could pretty much watch Patricia Arquette do anything, and this series allows just that! You won't expect where it's going and to me this series is the perfect tone. The other casting is fantastic as well. Matt Dillon plays her ex and Christine Taylor plays her sister! It's wonderfully written, hilarious, and between the desert back drop and vintage prints I was so satisfied with how good and visually appealing this show is! Sad story that is didn't get renewed, but maybe we can start a petition to bring it back because I really want to see how this story evolves. If that doesn't work, I will happily rewatch this season since I found it to be really outstanding!

#highdesert #patriciaarquette #bernadettepeters #mattdillon #christinetaylor

3. Poker Face (Peacock) I know, I know, another mystery show and this time a role Jessica Fletcher would be jealous of? Natasha Lyonne's Poker Face is downright brilliant! She is so fun to watch as she interacts with tons of characters (including Judith Light) on her road trip or escape from which mountain? Not to give any spoilers, we'll just say she's driving a vintage car and each episode is kinda a different storyline. There is some continuity between the episodes but they all kinda stand on their own as well. I really liked this about it. It harkens back to the days of Murder She Wrote, Columbo, and maybe even 21 Jumpstreet! Her character, Charlie Cale's vintage looks are all so sweet and I really appreciated her wardrobe as it pertains to each new storyline. The acting is a real treat and you'll definitely want to pack snacks for this little roadside adventure.

#pokerface #natashalyonne #judithlight #murdershewrote

4. The Horror of Dolores Roach (Amazon Prime) This series has the tiniest bit of a slow start, but the promise of a Cyndi Lauper cameo plus an original song on the soundtrack made me stick with it and I'm so glad I did! This show is super original with has a wonderfully dark sense of humor. Dolores, played by Justina Machado is recently out of prison and uses her "magic hands" as a masseuse to land on her feet. The character Luis, comes us with creative ways to solve their problems and should be creepy from the start but comes across endearing as a real testament to the likability of the actor Alejandro Hernandez. I really loved seeing how this story evolved throughout the season.

#thehorrorofdoloresroach #doloresroach #justinamachado #alejandrohernandez #cyndilauper

5. Survival of the Thickest (Netflix) Michelle Buteau is a mood and her world is where I want to live all summer long! This show is a wonderful watch in every way! Michelle is so funny and the story is poignant while remaining silly and very rewatchable. I'm already starting it for the second time. My favorite episode is the last one, due to the beautiful story arc, so I'm just gonna have to watch them all again to get there! I'm so glad this series came out this summer. It is such a lovely tribute to friendship, working hard, having integrity, and above all fun! We need all the queer joy we can get right now! Thank you Michelle Buteau!

#survivalofthethickest #michellebuteau #queerjoy

[tinycurlyfry]

Early morning One Piece binge because I wanna see Yamato dammit! Rambling liveblog thoughts contained in ‘Read More’ like last time

Episode 990 -

THERE HE IS! GO DOGBOY GO! 

GJKLSDFJ Luffy just standing there as Ulti yells at him like “.....Huh?” even though he’s not T-posing he has such confused t-posing energy

Luffy, regardless of situation, regardless of who asks, will always answer “Who (the hell) are you?” with “I’m Luffy. I’m going to be pirate king” Love that about him. Yes you are babe, you tell ‘em!!!

Him seeing Ulti come at him with a headbutt and he’s just like “BET.” and meets her headbutt with his own haki-d forehead. Reasonable person would’ve moved, or knock her away but of course not Luffy.

“THAT HURT!!!” Yeah I bet it fucking did, stupid! Luffy what happened to not making risky moves to save your energy for Kaido lmaoo

I love Yamato already oh my god what an entrance. What a first impression to make on Luffy. Striking Ulti with the same attack his father used and then immediately turning around going from intimidating AF to fanboying over Luffy in 2 seconds. “YOU’RE MUGIWARA NO LUFFY, AREN’T YOU?” Luffy extremely confused that his instinctive response of “Yes, it is.” kicks in as he just stares, trying to process- OHP!! HE’S BEEN SNATCHED! JUST GRABS LUFFY AND RUNS! Yamato Ily oh my god

Luffy just letting himself be carried as he continues to try to piece together what the fuck is happening lmaooo 

Episode 991-

“It’s like an all you can assassinate buffet!” Robin oh my god. YESSS! KILL!!!

Jinbe with a big smile on his face “You scare me.” JGSKLDFJGG YEAH ME TOO DUDE.

Luffy I get it but oh my god stop wasting energy and just listen to what he has to say! 

Yamato recognizing Red Hawk is made to resemble Ace’s powers ;;;n;;; 

Episode 992 - 

gjklfdg them arguing over how long Yamato has to speak before Luffy runs off to fight Kaido. Children.

Bless Robin and Jinbe being the only ones with restraint and actually keeping up the façade in face of the beast pirates, even while they’re getting ready to execute Momo.

HEART PIRATES SCREEN TIME AGAIN!!! Law is such a good captain. The way his confidence is reflected by his crew. His steadying hand on Hakugan  helming the ship, leaning in close as he guides him. Am I going to gush about every gesture, every action he makes with his crew? Absolutely. Yes. 

The blue eye effect as he activates room? STUNNING. I will never tire of Law using his abilities. It’s so fucking cool.

YESSSSS MARCO GANG ARRIVES!!! REUNION TIME ;;;;v;;;;; Oh my god this scene is beautiful I’m going to sob. The SNOW, Oda!? Bless. Thank you for giving the siblings the fucking best setting for their reunion scene. The Red Scabbards deserve the world. Also Marco is so good. I love one phoenix who hasn’t loss his smile after all that he’s been through. He’s such a sweetheart.

gjskdfg thank you for allowing Yamato 5 minutes instead of 1 minute. Truly you are the pinnacle of patience, Luffy.

Episode 993 -

Luffy looking down so his hat covers his face when Yamato says Ace spoke of him a lot - I’M GONNA SOB! HIS EXPRESSION TIGHTENING AS HE TRIES NOT TO CRY NOOOOOOO OKAY I AM SOBBING NOW. 

Oh?! Law’s not going to join the samurai to take down Kaido? Huh! Okay! I wonder if he’s just going to give them their chance to take him down first since this is for their revenge. Law knows about revenge. He is not one against getting vengeance in the least bit. I could believe he wants to let them have the first chance at killing him. This is important to them. He’s there for support if they need it and to keep the plan going.... as smooth as it can gjkslfgf

Oof, Izou didn’t know till now that Kanjuro betrayed them ;;; Him still complimenting Kanjuro even in the face of betrayal, saying how skilled his drawings are. But he knows that while he was ‘on their side’ his drawings were awful. He’s got to be realizing Kanjuro’s creation could have been LEAGUES better than what he was giving them. That he was faking his poor ability to draw in using his powers. The subtlety in Izou’s “What a great actor” comment/compliment. He is angry but still can’t completely shrug off that bond they had. That he thought they had. My god I love the red scabbards so much.

God I’m so proud of Momo ;;; He really is trying to fight back. Kanjuro fucking snapping when Momo draws blood in striking at him with the knife. A member of the Kozuki family drawing his blood that sends Kanjuro into a brief craze. God this is so good.

Awww nooooo Kiku tearing up and wanting Kanjuro to say it to her face that all that time together, the bond they built as a family, that it really was all a lie before she attacks him. God Kanjuro’s betrayal has hurt them so deeply. They loved Kanjuro. They all mean so much to each other. Kiku darling, sweetheart, I’m so sorry. But also Kanjuro saying he IS full of emotions again. God, I wonder if he really does feel that love for them. He feels that bond. But he’s so detached from his emotions that to him it is just that person is his role. That person is a performance. But that person is also real. Kanjuro says he sees their tears as compliments of his acting, but I wonder if deep down, beyond his own awareness, he wants them to mourn him.

OH SHIT! Kiku those were some of the coolest fucking lines ever oh my god. GO OFF, BABE! 

My god, MORE EXPLODING CUFFS?! If I had a dollar for every father that put exploding handcuffs on his son to keep him prisoner and keep him in line I’d have two dollars which isn’t much but weird that it’s happened twice. I want Sanji and Yamato to interact now. I want them to bond over having the absolute worst fathers alive. 

Yamato: “Because what kind of parent would blow up their own son?” Luffy like ‘This again? Oh HELL no. Okay hand them over, I’m taking these off right now immediately.’

[hangonimevolving]

Summer 2024: Three Trips

Our Summer 2024 was pretty much marked by three big trips we took, and all other activities and goings-on were organized around them. Two days after school let out, our family boarded a transatlantic flight for the SECOND time in a year - destination: London! I’d been dreaming of a London vacay for a few years at this point, since our homeschooling days - and we finally made it happen this year.

We hit all the major historical sites and tourist attractions: Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, various museums, Windsor Castle, and more. But more than the sites - we really enjoyed big-city life, taking the tube everywhere, walking (notably, we logged 11 miles one day!), and EATING AMAZING FOOD from all kinds of international cuisines. We did NOT want to come home.

Once we were home from our week across the pond, we had a ten-day period of true summer vacation, where the kids had no structured activities, and we got to veg out at home, run random errands, and be in a less-hurried mode than usual. In and around this time, some miscellaneous things happened. We got into a family routine of watching nightly episodes of the anime show, “Naruto.” Vev got braces on his teeth. We took Ajima and Thatha out for an anniversary lunch at their favorite South Indian restaurant. And I did a quick getaway to the North Georgia mountains with three girlfriends for a winery/spa weekend, which was relaxing. There were other random things too.

Soon enough, it was the week of July 4th, and time for trip #2: Washington DC, to see my sister Rithers and her family. This time, Ajima and Thatha joined us in our travels. Family reunion! Cousin time!

Luna the Dog is always a big part of our visits to Rithers’ house. She’s a big personality, and we accept her for who she is. And who she is, is very barky 😂 but we love her for it.

Anyway! Upon return from this five-day jaunt, the kids immediately started up with four weeks of summer camp. This year, they both did Art Camp, and then Dey tried Robotics again, while Vev returned to Video Production. They had a good time.

Camp ended, and it was time for our last hurrah: trip #3, a few days in Destin, FL with a group of our college friends and their children. We rented a giant Airbnb house right on the beach with a pool, hot tub, game room, and space for everyone to sleep in a bed. It was a noisy, laughter-filled, sunny blast.

We returned from Destin and had a turnaround of about three days, till school started! I honestly believe that more than ever before, we squeezed every last drop out of our summer break this year.

[ohnopeh]

i love this post cause yes, absolutely 1000%. i’ve been watching shameless since the end of season 2 which means i had to go through 3x06 and the ending of s3 as it aired, waiting for s4, reading about cameron having other projects and wondering what that meant for ian’s character. s4 was a blast and when mickey came out i couldn’t believe it! then s5 happened and i think it was the worst time of my life as i spent my sunday night awake till 6am (bc fuck timezone) so i could watch the episode live, aware that i’d have to wake up two hours later to go to school— but there was literally not even a episode in that season that made you think ‘it’s gonna be okay’ which made it impossible to chill out after the episode ended! so would could even go to bed or function properly when all i wanted to do was being on tumblr and read people’s thoughts? there were some accounts that had access to episodes earlier and would make posts with emojis or answer questions very cryptically which only increased my anxiety cause it was never good news lol. when mickey said i love you on the phone i couldn’t believe it and kept hoping they would talk about it eventually ( which never happened ).

then interviews and tweets about noel not coming back and having other projects started to float around. i spent my days, weeks and months trying to analyse everything hoping that they were simply pulling our legs to make their make up worth it. then cam tweeted about noel’s journey on shameless ending and i wanted to cry my eyes out!!! when 6x01 happened i felt like shit and stopped watching shameless all together. i love(d) the show and watched it for every character but i was so damn pissed at the whole thing, the frustration and emotions i felt really didn’t do well for me and i started hating anything related to the show and its characters— i randomly found out noel was coming back for s7 and again i had my hopes up and got punched in the face with that ending. i zoned out of the fandom/show once again only to randomly find out about their reunion in prison + them coming back for the last two seasons and i couldn’t believe it!!!

my experience with shameless was like going to war, i feel traumatised by all the emotions it made me feel, the anxiety they would mess the characters/couple, not knowing if they would be a thing, mickey’s character being treated like shit etc. i used to love reading their fics back in the day and i had to force everything away from me cause it really pissed me off and the fact that it made me feel that way pissed me off even more cause ian and mickey were and are comfort characters to me and have it ruined by a greedy fucker who wouldn’t pay actors properly made me go nuts. now that everything is over, they’re happy, can’t be touched and potentially ruined anymore, i feel content and i could go back to the show that had been a comfort to me all those years ago— to a new, older, more mature and depressed me that can appreciate the show more than ever! although i still struggle to watch s6-9 without feeling rage in my little hateful heart, i know they made it to the end and it’s all worth it. i don’t care if the show became less serious than what it was, i welcomed it even as i really needed the boys to be okay and happy and in love with their shared i love yous.

so yes, back then everything about them, their scenes post break up etc. could only make me rage and feel empty, now that it’s over and i know they’re happy, some of those scenes have found a new meaning to fit with later seasons and i can find comfort in them knowing it’s not the end!

bless those who didn’t give up and made them come back, i smooch you all

(fun act, mickey’s full name was thanks to fanfic writers that just made it up one day and kept using it over and over, seeing it as canon. so when 7x09 happened, one writer that interacted lots with fans decided to use it and make it canon in the show too! she tweeted about it back then, i tried to find the tweet but found out she deleted her account cause,, well. she got lots of hate)

I love this revisit of season 7 Gallavich, because I love those episodes. They are absolutely the comfort episodes I'm most likely to put on if I just want to watch some Gallavich (and then bonus Monica chaos, with Lip falling apart in the corner.) But when I see this sort of literal celebration of the season and those precious two episodes, I always think of the people who watched that shit LIVE. And they were not celebrating.

Context is everything. When you know how the story ends, and you know that isn't the ending, and you know you can just fully skip season 8 on your rewatch, 7x10 and 7x11 are really lovely, bittersweet, emotionally cathartic episodes.

I try to keep this in mind in fandom -- though to make it silly, maybe I can also keep this in mind in life -- that sometimes all you need is a little time and a different perspective, and it's not that bad. It might even be pretty good.