#And Look. she does have a Couple interesting lines here and there that allude to something...but they go Nowhere. they dont get adress at

[woodlandscab1n]

Guys... guys lets go back in time. Guys guys guys please.e..

I can't wait 'till I can get all the other RE games that I haven't played, get hyperfixiated on the whole franchise and literally never stop talking about dumb small details that I saw in a game and talk about that small detail a lot also go on a rampage of finding all the info I can of certain character.

[raitonsfw]

𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚘𝚛𝚒 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚜 | 𝚝𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚘𝚔𝚊 𝚐𝚒𝚢𝚞𝚞

synopsis: You thanked the deities above you that you had noticed the rope that hung from Tomioka’s sleeves, eyeing you with compulsion. You knew it was only for missions, like if he had to tie someone up if they weren’t cooperating, but your mind went elsewhere and who could blame you? That’s why he’s laid out like this now, the shibari technique threaded down his chest, against his thighs... he was the perfect art form waiting to be painted with watercolors.

warnings: 18+ mdni, fem!reader, hashira!reader, shibari (or bondage), grinding (against one of the rope knots), teasing, dirty talk, slight dom!reader, slight sub!giyuu, begging, rope markings, gagging with rope, a quick mention about edging, p in v intercourse, riding, creampie, giyuu and reader are a couple, naive giyuu who just doesnt know how to socialize, shinobu outs the reader’s crush, alludes to giyuu being able to tear rope likes its fucking paper, (no idea how to put this as a warning but cbt?? reader presses her knee to giyuu’s cock a little too hard, but he’s a slut for it), pet names (princess, baby), use of honorifics in the beginning part.

a/n: so you guys can thank the inosuke scene and a random person on reddit for this. Like you know what, why does giyuu carry rope on him, idk but here’s food for thought. wc: 1.3k. m.list

divider credit: @benkeibear

It wrapped around him with intricate lines and tight knots adorning the middle of his chest. You were proud of your art, of your boy, laying against the sheets with nothing but the best shibari work entwined against him. You made sure you secured the knots, even double checking them, there was no way he would be able to get out of the soft embrace of the ropes. 

Days prior, you found out he carried rope with him on his missions and you were more than intrigued, for all the wrong (right) reasons of course. You knew he was quiet and well kept, nothing out of the ordinary ever really piqued your interest to bother him on dangerous missions until you saw the rope hanging from one of his haori sleeves. You swore at first you saw a thread loose, but upon further inspection you realized. 

“Tomioka-kun, you carry rope on you?” You asked, an innocence veiling your voice. 

“And you don’t?” He didn’t snap at you, it was more of a question answering yours as he kept his hand still on the hilt of his katana.

You stepped over a rock, humming to yourself whilst following him down the forest path. “I don’t believe I would ever have to tie someone up.” 

“You’d be surprised.” He muttered as he stuffed the rope back into his haori sleeve, the rest of it flowing with him as he sensed danger at the edge of the trees. “Stay close to me, princess.” 

You genuinely loved Tomioka, though you knew he didn’t pick up on it during the first few months he knew you. He seemed oblivious to a lot of social norms and tended to isolate him away from the Hashira group when everyone trained together. But you tried to stay as close as possible, offering him traditional gifts and food every chance you got. He took it with an aloof thanks, still so seemingly confused about why you cared so much about him. 

Until Kocho told him flat out at one of the meetings in front of everyone. You covered your face within your haori as the other Hashira muttered little sayings amongst each other. And there was Tomioka, blushing like an idiot and trying to apologize for being so naive. He stumbled over every word and chased after you as you ran towards the bridge that cascaded the water. 

“Y/N-san!” He caught up to you, his breath wavering as he slipped his fingers around your wrist. “I apologize for Kocho, she’s quite crude, isn’t she?” 

“I’m used to it.” You wiped the tears from your eyes as you looked over to him and you swore you saw his heart break in two. 

“So am I.” 

And here you were a few months later, learning shibari techniques as Giyuu laid out his entire body to you. He was naked from the waist up, the rope denting his skin and his boxers bunched against them except for the sleek waistband that crowded against his waist.

“I can tear these easily, baby.” Giyuu said, looking at you with a straight face. You frowned at your partner, smacking him on his bare thigh and he jerked it away with a silent chuckle. His hair came to lay against his back, out of the ponytail he normally wore and you tangled your fingers in it for a moment, reveling in the way he gasped as you suddenly pulled it.

“Well, don’t. I tried really hard to make you look pretty underneath me.” You pouted, leaning over his face. He yearned for your kiss, but he knew he wasn’t going to get your soft lips on his anytime soon. Not when your hands held extra rope that was pushed into the crook of his mouth, his teeth baring down onto it. He groaned around it and you tutted at him sharply.

“Stay still or I won’t ride you.” You said plainly, kissing at the flesh of his thigh as you looped a part of the rope around it. Your fingers then ghosted over the swell of his cock and he breathed out a light sigh, relief about flooding through him; but they moved past to pull another knot against his thigh. 

“Please, it’s enough...” He said slowly, trying to enunciate properly but failing as a tiny groan escaped him from you pinching his inner thigh. “I want you on top of me.” 

“What��d you say, couldn’t hear you properly?” You finished the knot and sat against it, grinding onto the knot on his thigh with a purposeful smirk. You let out a moan as the knot knocked directly against your clit as you rolled your hips onto it. “C’mon baby, use your words.”

Giyuu watched you with wide eyes and he threw his head back against the pillows as your knee pushed up against his cock, pleasure shooting up his spine. He panted out around the rope as you continued, pressing your shin into him harshly. His eyes squeezed shut and he trembled, wishing to so desperately touch you and get you to sit on him already but his hands had been bound by his back. 

“Oh you’re really enjoying yourself, aren't you?” You cooed, trailing your finger down the knots on his chest; some had been adorned within a heart while others were a typical knot. You smiled at the redness that laid beneath it, digging into his skin and you knew they’d leave marks only you could see afterwards. He practically writhed against you know, so fucking desperate, you knew once you sank down on his cock he wasn’t going to last very long. You’ve been edging him for hours prior whilst you tied the knots after all. 

You pulled down his boxers, letting his cock spring out onto the flat of his tummy and you noticed how much precum had leaked out of him during your teasing and rope knots. You kinda felt bad for him and you crawled over him, pulling your lace aside to take him into your entrance. “Fuck, I’m sorry Giyuu.” 

“Please, please, fuck me already.” He pleaded around the rope, saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth and you sank down in earnest. A long moan was drawn out from him and he thrusted up into your tight heat, nearly knocking you off of him. You steadied yourself on his chest, looking at him as he twitched inside you. His blue eyes were half-lidded, lust clouding them over and you rolled against him slowly so as to not overwhelm him too much. 

He bucked up in time with your hips and you clenched around him each time, hurtling towards your own orgasm as you picked up the pace. Whimpers and pleads slurred from his mouth the best he could and you were so grateful that the boy underneath you had been kind to your advances, once Kocho told him. 

You were absolutely in love with him. 

You felt his hips falter underneath you and you watched as Giyuu arched into his orgasm with a loud whine, his mouth open and the rope falling from it. You followed right after, bouncing on his cock at a fast pace as he whimpered at the oversensitivity. A few moments later, you moved off of him and his cum dripped out of you, down your leg and you cursed quietly. 

“I’m sorry, baby.” He apologized, his hair disheveled and there was a shine to his skin, as if he had been sweating. “I couldn’t help it.”

“It’s okay.” You smiled at him, moving to start untying the ropes that littered his body. “I think we’re done for tonight, okay?”

You kissed him gently and Giyuu nodded into it, love intertwining your tongue with his. Yeah, thank God for Kocho Shinobu. And thank God for the rope that fell from his haori, threaded with dirty thoughts.

a/n: wanna get tagged in future writing posts? join my taglist!

[hoarah-babylon]

2nd DLC session round-up yupppp

Started to explore a settlement called Belurat, v beautiful, I love all the draped cloth over the buildings and the beautiful trees. I found a key and unlocked a door that opened a storeroom, with an old woman and a horned lion head inside. She wasn't too happy to see me

damn they really hate Marika lmao. I find it so interesting that these 'hornsent' people are identifying me as something aligned with Marika/Messmer, and cursing me for it. We go through the whole game being shunned for being Tarnished because we are people stripped of grace, now we're being shunned for (I'm assuming) being a creation of Marika. It's super interesting. no one fucks with me fr

I continued on through the settlement and climbed the tower, and eventually got to the first major boss!! It's the Lion-Dancer we saw in the DLC trailers, and it's a really beautiful boss fight. It takes place on a stage, and the theatrics of it all are really so awe-inspiring. It wields different elemental damage in different parts of the fight - lightning, wind/storm, and frost. There's also lion sculptures with horned heads dotted around the stage and settlement. You can summon Freyja to help fight it :) not an easy fight at all, but eventually he went down and I got the reward of its remembrance, along with the lion head itself as a helm.

I absolutely love that this culture took their skills in theatrical performance and repurposed these skills for battle, that's just. I love it it's so cool. Another helm that makes you weaker to sleep, like the golden mask I found previously. The prayer it's talking about is heard at the beginning of the fight in the opening cutscene, and it is said by the old woman I found earlier. The map identifies her as 'Hornsent Grandam'.

I did something I'm not super proud of. But I read messages that alluded to it and mama I'm trying to research. I put the lion head on and went to talk to her again to see if anything would change. Her reaction made me feel really bad... she was so relieved to see a 'sculpted keeper' and was overcome with emotion. She mentioned something about wanting her son to fight alongside me (the keeper) against Messmer, and take revenge. And then she promised to sing for me and gave me an incantation.

Now the description of the incantation just about blew my head off. It referred to this woman as the 'Empyrean Grandam'. Empyrean??? I was not expecting to see that. I looked up grandam and apparently it's an old word for grandmother. Empyrean grandmother... does this mean she is/was an Empyrean, or she's the grandmother of an Empyrean? I'm surprised that Empyreans exist in this realm, considering how hidden everything and everyone is in this place. Can the Greater Will still reach this place? She does mention her son, does he have children? Empyrean children? So intriguing. I assume it's not her son because it seems like TGW/two fingers choose non-men as Empyreans (Miquella has ambiguous gender and a feminine alter-ego St. Trina).

Went back to the second Miquellan cross and met Sir Moore. I love him. I love him I would die for him if anything happens to him I'm going to scream from the rooftops

!!! I explored the river running through Gravesite Plain and found a couple of sleep/night adjacent items. The deep purple lily got me super excited because TRINAAA I could use some tbh I haven't been sleeping well. can you tell

Found a ghost down there too, these lines are making me Think about the connection between sleep and death. What if Miquella is really dead in some way, and this gives way to St. Trina being alive in his place... or something. I don't know but I'm Thinking

Even the turtles have horns here!! Found a new more powerful stamina talisman that depicts a two-headed turtle. There's a lot of depictions in this realm of two converging intertwining objects like trees, turtles, Miquella's sigil/needle is intertwining too.

Went back to Roundtable hold to see what the Remembrance rewards are. I wasn't sure in my last session but after watching some old lore videos to refresh my memory - divine in the context of ER seems to refer to the Crucible or aspects of it. What does it mean that they are messengers of the heavens though? The only other thing in game that I could relate to that are Two Fingers considering they commune with TGW. I have no idea

Was exploring and MET ANOTHER TRAILER GUY. He was sitting by another Cross of Miquella. Identifies himself as a Tarnished named Thiollier. Has 0 self confidence, says he's unintelligent and bad at fighting. Kinda weird for a Tarnished? Makes me wonder how he got there too, he's literally like just behind an encampment of Messmer soldiers. His special interest is poison, and sells you poison things. His armour is super interesting, the cloth/white hair is braided a lot like Miquella/Radagon's, and there's a gold figure in the middle of his chest. The mask is the most striking to me though, and looks like its lined with silver thorns. I just had a thought - who else do we know that wears masks like this and is all about poison? House Marais! Idk what the link could be but, something to keep in mind I guess

Got jumpscared by this guy yelling in pain. He yelled about someone he called 'vile Bayle' so I assume they're the person that maimed this guy. "Exquisite pain" though... reminds me of Mohg/Varré. Then I got invaded by an 'Ancient Dragon-Man'. I followed that path down and found a draconic cave, where I fought the real Dragon Man at the end. He was kicking my ass I can't lie. But I got him eventually and the reward was hmm-inducing

Anti-dragon spray. Wait what, what is the Dreaded One???? And what do you mean it's devoured by people?? What does any of this mean bruh. It sounds like an outer god but if people eat it (?) it can't be. Uhhhhhhhh ok I don't understand and I'm tired. I opened the door at the back of the boss room and...

Hell yeah. It led me out to a precipice overlooking the jagged peak I could see in the distance from where I entered the DLC. There's dragons sleeping below. I took some baller pics of my Tarnished.

I have so much to figure out I still can't really believe all this, it's so jarring running around not knowing anything. it's awesome i love this game

[also small PSA it's fine if anyone reading this wants to reply with their thoughts, but please don't spoil anything, this is my blind playthrough and i want it to stay that way :)]

[eriksyoudumby]

finally the tart lore (Creatures? Mission Control? idk the title honestly)

@yuraslefttoe

The 'story' starts with Privateer, where Europa sings about someone getting picked for a space mission-- I originally assumed they were the one picked but NO!! It's Andrei!! Who I believe is their lover, and their relationship had a huge falling out because Europa saw him living orbit as a suicide mission.

Draw 5 is when the story picks up, where Andrei discovers alien life on the spaceship and tries to communicate with it, but can't because it exists on another wavelength. He chases it down until he realizes its been killing off other members of the crew, and then panics looking for an escape pod to get away from the deathtrap.

The next song would be Theory of I, where Andrei does successfully make it into the pod, but has no guarantied way to get back to Earth. "The last word out of my mouth seems to be Sorry" is a direct connection to Privateer, which is what clued me into the two being the couple that breaks up at the start. "Spinning out of your orbit as I fall into the surface" makes me think that Andrei knows that even if he did make it back to Earth, he would surely die in a crash landing. "(I know) The reason why it always fails at the worst of times" seems to imply space farers dying spontaneously is a recurring thing, and likely why Europa knew this would lead to his death. The most interesting line though:

Hey Ground, can you believe this? That there's nothing here but Demons?

The thing that attacked the ship is paranormal in nature, and knowing that he is going to die regardless, Andrei makes a pact with it-- shown by the glitched out hand. His goal in this is to carry his voice back to Earth, both to communicate the danger but also to attempt to reconnect with Europa since his guilt over what happens makes it impossible to let go. Literally becoming "Ghostly Static", his body is dead but his mind is carried through waves.

Oh and that Demon? It's Misha. Misha is not a human.

Kerosene is his perspective on the murder spree happening on either Andrei's ship, or just any of the ones that have come in contact with him over the years. While I've figured that part out, the lyrics themselves allude me... who is he singing to? When has he ever saved anyone? Is it in reference to Andrei becoming static? Overall I would say Misha is very much an Enigma...

SPEAKING OF!!! The song Enigma seems to be about Misha being stuck in a time loop, specifically that the song itself is a time loop because every time it replays everything starts all over again. He doesn't mind this though, he relishes in being able to exist for three minutes and then do it all over again because otherwise he would be dead. In fact, I think Enigma is more about establishing each song as its own time loop. Which is part of why when Kerosene happens doesn't really matter, just that its about Misha enacting violence against spacemen-- heck, each time you listen it could be another ship, another repeat of the same war crimes, where time and place doesn't matter.

And umm, honestly, I don't really know if Maya plays any big roles in all of this. She's just around, somewhere, having a good time killing people.

[venyasum]

Recently I remembered the romantic of Ukrainian literature, Vasyl Symonenko, and his letters to his wife. For some reason, it seemed to me that the dynamics of their relationship are similar to those of Alice and Peter White, so I want to share these letters.

Note: the names will not be changed, just so you know, Lucia Symonenko is Alice, Vasyl Symonenko is Peter White. Further notes will be near the translation of the text.

((If you see a mistake in the text or a word that does not fit the context, please let me know.))

«Yesterday, I spent the whole day running around Kyiv. I was very sleepy, but I vowed to calm down only after 11 pm. There are a lot of nice girls here, but unfortunately, I haven't seen anyone like you.»

«Lyusia! I've already missed you a lot. For some reason, all the girls in dark blue coats look very much like you from a distance, but not up close. It's a pity. I love you - I love you wildly. No one has ever messed with my head like that. On paper, kissing is not very tasty, but I kiss my little Lyusia a million times. My lips won't hurt, don't worry.

Write a couple of lines <...>. I'm waiting.

I love you. Miss you. Kisses. Your Vasya.»

«Hello, Lyucia! I thought I had finally found the girl I had been looking for for so long. But your silence speaks volumes. Obviously, my letters were unnecessary and superfluous to you, just as I was unnecessary to you. Well, in that case, I'm sorry for bothering you with clumsy tenderness. I'm not going to throw a tantrum, because that's not my role, and, after all, I don't really know what the matter is.

It's just a shame that I can't forget you. I fell in like a boy. But this has nothing to do with the letter. Until I get some news from you, I won't write.

I'll leave you to it.

Vasily.»

«...The main thing is that I love Malyusia* and miss her very much. And, besides, I hope she misses me too. Don't you?

Love. Kisses. Yours, Vasily.»

((*It's a play on words. Symonenko's wife's name is Lyusia. In a diminutive form, he calls her Malyusia, which in Ukrainian is comparable to "my Lyusia" or "Little Lyusia."))

«I think about you so much that it makes me angry. I love you and miss you and hug you and kiss you and... and.... and....

Wait for news.

Give my best regards. Your husband Vassily.»

«I missed you, as always, more than you missed me, even though you're silly.

But I'm not going to talk about it, so that you don't turn up your nose. You already have it up*.»

((*Simonenko playfully alludes to Lucy's upturned nose. After all, in Ukrainian the phrase "to turn up one's nose to the sky (to be conceited)" and "to have a snub nose" are similar. And here it's a play on words.))

«And that's a goodbye*.

My little spindly girl, I love you, my one and only little, sweet girl.

Kisses.

Your Vasya.»

((*It may be interesting to someone, but Symonenko used anglicism here. That is, he wrote the English word 'goodbye' in Ukrainian letters - "ґудбай"))

«Lucy! You see how I am trying to please my beloved, and I am writing such a long letter that if it were not for you, I would probably never have done it. I love my little sinner. I miss her so much. I will be there soon. Wait a little longer and I will come home early.

I kiss your little hands with which you cleaned the fish <...>.

Bye, Lucia.

Say hello to family.

Your Simon.»

«I kiss my naughty Malyusia.

I've been writing the fourth letter, and I haven't heard from you. Are you lazy or do you not want to write? Or maybe the gray-haired boy who appeared on the postcards has appeared? I've never believed in superstition, but now I'm starting to be afraid. I missed you terribly. God knows what a bad girl you are, but I can't forget you for an hour. At first, all the girls from afar somehow looked like you. I even suspected that something was wrong with my head.»

«Dear Malyusia, you probably never think about me, because I don't seem to be hiccupping. If this sign is true, then you must consider me your worst enemy. You should be hiccupping from morning to evening, from evening to morning. Because you are always with me, because "blue-blue eyes shine into my soul like the first violets in spring."

I studied your only letter like a diplomatic note. But you probably won't be a statesman. Even though you have everything you need for that. You can speak in riddles, but a statesman must also be able to make promises. And you, my little minister, promise nothing.»

((Everything that follows will be without an attached photo, as unfortunately Tumblr does not allow more than 10 photos per post.))

«I can imagine how happy you are that your cranky husband can spend an extra day in Kyiv. The little tiger, if he could, would not have written you this unnecessary letter today, but would have appeared in person. To be honest, when I left you, I was afraid that I would still be throwing lascivious glances at girls, but I was afraid in vain. Now you are the only one who exists for me. That's right. Do you understand, stripy? If you don't like it, then complain to the police.»

«I bow to my little mistress! I kiss you from the first line, because I can't wait to the last one. I am staying temporarily at Yurka's for two days; tomorrow I will go to the dormitory.»

«Lucia!

I'm writing because if I talk, I'm bound to get confused and say something stupid. And then you don't like my habit of showing off my gnarly teeth.

I want to tell you this: I would be the last person to think of deceiving you. I drowned in your blue eyes. If another girl had dared to think of me the way you did, I assure you that at best I would never have spoken to her even about the weather. But I wasn't even really offended by you, because no one else has ever bothered me like that, because there is not a minute that goes by when I don't think about you, and there is not a night that I don't dream about you. You may not believe it, but I may die on this word if I write a lie.»

[silverdreamscapes]

If people are hung up on the “he wouldn’t call Gw*n a friend” line, it’s because it’s a pretty accurate description of their relationship before and after Solstice, and why it makes so little sense that two characters who aren’t close are supposedly the couple of the next book.

Based on what we know, Azriel didn’t train Gwyn. Cassian did. Azriel trained the new priestesses where it’s stated several times he was on the other side of the training ring. On his first day there he’s described as quiet and aloof to put them at ease, and three days after solstice he’s more “aloof and stonefaced than usual”. So all this time that he’s been there training, he isn’t talking much to anyone, even Gw*n. The first line of dialogue these two ever share with each other is 82% into the book, and their last interaction is at 84%. A line about a ribbon said by another character, which is more than likely referring to Gw*n’s competitive nature and not a romantic attraction, is not enough to build a relationship on.

So they don’t train together, he doesn’t spend time with her, and he isn’t talking to anyone when he is there training the priestesses. The one time we get a reference to them spending any sort of time together it’s a comment about a single 1 hour dagger lesson that’s never talked about or referenced again. And it couldn’t have been that important, because this comes before solstice, and afterwards Azriel still wouldn’t consider her a friend.

And if the “image of her smile” sparking in his chest is supposed to be so important, and signify a shift in Azriel’s romantic love interest, it’s certainly never alluded to in the actual book. The dynamics of their relationship are still pretty much unchanged, it’s still primarily focused on training. There’s no mention of a smile, a glance, a touch, a blush. No mention of them spending any time together, or getting closer. Hell maybe even a mention of them spending more 1 on 1 time together for training lessons.

Months go by from Solstice to the end of the book, and there is no indication that they are any closer than they were before when Azriel said he wouldn’t classify their relationship as a friendship, much less an actual romantic attraction. And it’s not like SJM couldn’t have hinted at something. She felt the need to include Gw*n blushing at Rhys, and the 2 priestesses sighing when Azriel walked by but nothing for Gw*nriel? And it’s not like SJM doesn’t know how to leave hints. She does it frequently with characters noticing something, or being puzzled by something. Case in point:

Like you two,” she said, nodding to Cassian, and then, a bit more shyly, to Azriel. Azriel offered her a small smile that Elain quickly looked away from. Cassian tucked away his puzzlement. Lucien was certainly not here to snarl at any male who looked at her for too long.

And it’s not as if she couldn’t have included a scene of Gw*n and Azriel actually spending alone time together in the months after Solstice where it’s indicated there’s a shift in their relationship. In ACOFAS, she specifically wrote Elain and Azriel staying up till 3 am talking about garden plans and then they’re left alone. Amren, Varian, and Nesta leave at 2 AM, Cassian, Mor, Rhys and Feyre go upstairs at 3 AM. And Elain and Azriel “remained” in the sitting room alone, where who knows what happened. But based on the fact that we got all of those hints in ACOSF that Azriel’s romantic feelings deepened and it was after this night when he started staring at her gift every night on his nightstand, it’s obvious something happened that caused a shift in their relationship.

And yet we get nothing like this for Gw*nriel. They aren’t friends before, there’s no indication of a friendship or intimacy or closeness or an attraction between them after solstice. There’s no mention of them spending any time together after solstice, or that they even talk to one another, even though months have passed. So what is there to indicate that these two characters who aren’t all that close, are suddenly going to be a couple when Azriel spent most of the whole book romantically attracted to and pining for another woman?

[bluefirewrites]

'A Floral Fixation’- Juke Florist AU Part 2

Continuation of my last post about Flower Delivery Girl!Julie where she works at her family's flower shop, The Petal Pushers, and ends up making regular deliveries to Luke. 

Note the title is silly. Does not allude to anything else :)

Julie has no clue how one favor for a friend could lead to all of this. 

Ever since her brief stint as a singing telegram as well delivery girl, she’s now playing this... game? Yeah, game is the appropriate word for it. This ‘game’ with Luke Patterson. 

And it would go like this:

There would be a delivery for Luke Patterson, Julie would drop it off, wondering why yet another flower arrangement is being delivered to a 17 year old boy on what seems to be on a regular basis, he offers her a flower, she declines, then leaves.  

Julie's only the messenger, she doesn't see who keeps ordering them for Luke or if Luke's ordering these for someone. She doesn't check the card.

Or she would if there is one. There would usually be a card with each order. Tía nowadays just hands over the flowers with a telling arch of her brows and Julie instantly knows she's pedaling those to Sunset Curve's garage.

But she’s convinced that it really is Luke calling in and making the orders because every delivery she makes to him is always different and every time she would give it to him, he would always ask if they were her favorites. 

Julie found the whole thing amusing, toying with him. But she had made numerous attempts in the past to get him to stop. She couldn’t imagine what kind of strain this would have on his wallet (flowers ain’t cheap), and she didn’t plan to string him on like that. It wasn’t fair. 

But Luke Patterson is determined. 

Why? No clue. By her deeming it a ‘game’ implies that there is a winner. Some sort of prize when they reach the end. 

Whenever that is. 

Maybe she doesn’t want it to end so soon. Not when these deliveries may be an excuse to go see him after school. She doesn’t stick around though. She is on the clock after all. 

In the meantime, she’s good to play. And when Luke Patterson manages to guess her favorite flower (there’s no chance), she will accept it when offered to her. 

So far, it’s been sunflowers, hydrangeas, chrysanthemums, and many other kinds of flowers.  

This time, as she pedals up to the garage, it's zinnias in her basket.

And this time, the rest of the band is there.

Julie knocks on the door again and Luke's the first one to reach her. He leans against the entryway, taking the bouquet from her, picking one flower, and tilting it in her direction- the usual dance.

"Zinnias. Tell me that I'm right,"

"Hmm..." she makes the move to take it and Luke brightens...

Only for her hand to land on his forearm instead, where she gives him a couple of pitying pats.

"Nice try," she smirks, swiftly turning on her heel and walking back to her bike.

She could hear Alex and Reggie jeer at Luke's dumbfounded expression, 'ooooh'-ing at her trick.

Luke, after shooting his friends a glare and tossing the bouquet at them, he catches up to her as she mounts her bike.

"I'm getting close, aren't I?"

"What makes you think that?" She ensures the rest of her deliveries are secure in the back and front, pretending not to know what he's talking about.

"You're not a dainty flower girl. I know that for sure. That's not who you are."

Julie squints at him, "We haven't started talking until now. How can you say that 'know' me?"

"I heard you sing," Luke says. That makes her bristle slightly. "Trust me. I know everything I need to know about you from that. And with that powerhouse of a voice? No way you'd be a daisy or a daffodil."

Julie tries not to smile, not wanting to give any indication that he was heading in the right direction. The compliment, however delivered in his own Luke way, nearly makes her grin. Yet, it’s the singing part that reminds her way she’s been keeping the boy at arm’s reach and not outright telling him her favorite. 

She and music have a complicated relationship at the moment. Her singing the first time she was here had been a one off. If Luke’s expecting her to belt out songs constantly and be as passionate about music as he is, then he’ll be sorely disappointed. 

And Julie’s done disappointing people. She’d rather do something new. Even though a really cute guy is humoring her with these antics. 

“You know there’s over 300,000 species of flowers?”

“352,000″

Julie raises an eyebrow. 

“I research,” he proclaims proudly, rocking on his heels. 

Wow, he’s really pushing this. 

“What are you getting out of this, Luke?”

“Maybe I’m just very interested in... flowers?” 

“Uh-huh,” Julie purses her lips, reading between the lines, “Flowers. Right.”

“And I’m gonna continue to feed that interest... as long as it takes,” 

“Or as long as your allowance can take it. Do you even have a job?” 

“I work at the diner. But,” he sidles up to her, “If you’re so concerned about my funds, then maybe give me a hint? This can all be over quicker if you’re so eager to get rid of me.” 

The shit-eating grin on his face makes her roll her eyes. This boy... 

"I guess..." Julie debates internally, "I guess you can cross small flowers off," she ends up admitting.

"Ha!" he jumps, "I was right!”

“Still not the right flower though,” she reminds him.

“Nah that's a victory for today and I'll take it,"

She shakes her head at him, "You’re ridiculous,"

“See you next week then?” 

"Oh my god, Julie goes ahead and embarks on her bike, “More business for us, then. Be seeing you, Patterson.” 

She rides down the street is about to turn the corner when she hears faint yelling from behind her. 

"Your voice does sell more flowers!"

Stopping by the neighbors yard and looks back, "What?” 

It’s Luke, standing in the driveway still. He cups his hands and shouts, “I was right!” 

“What?” she answers back. 

Now that does it. And she breaks out into a laugh, throwing her head back as she does. Luke Patterson- what a clown. 

Julie promptly bikes away, and when she returns to the store, Tía clocks her smile immediately and asks about their favorite customer.

“An idiot, as always,” Julie reports back. 

A cute idiot. 

Tía hums something Julie couldn’t comprehend. Then she returns to pruning the flowers. Julie helps her. 

“Well... whoever that young man is. He must have a really special girl in his life. To be ordering this many flowers.” 

“Yeah... I guess,” Julie agrees, absentmindedly, focusing more on the task at hand. 

“And I hope that girl knows just how special she is too,” 

“Yeah- wait. Huh?”

Julie doesn’t get anymore out of her aunt that day, just knowing glances as if she’s meant to be in on this inside joke, but she isn’t. 

Oh well. 

And when she spots Luke the next day at school, he breezes past her, smiling, hints of floral scents radiating from his person. Much like how the shop would smell. 

“Mornin’, Flower Girl,” he greets, tipping an imaginary hat her way.

“Morning, Diner Boy,” she shoots back, taking satisfaction from how thrown off Luke looks by her response.

He recovers and shoots her a wink, “Touchè”

Hey! If he knew what her job was, then she should too. And use it to her advantage. Maybe go to his work and tease him there, pester him about his favorite order, maybe and not be a passive player in this game they have.  

Now wouldn’t that be a fun idea...

Tagging: @blush-and-books @lydias--stiles  @thedeathdeelers @ruzek-halstead @pink-flame, @ourstarscollided, @nottheleastbrave, @echocharm17618 @smolfangirl @garc-i-a @simp-for-julie-molina @teenagepeanutbird @ifitsallyoudo @fandomscraziness22 @writerownstory​ @heademptynothoughts​ @writeineveryemptyspace​

[funkymbtifiction]

I wanted to share a thought on Enneagrammer and the likelihood of them being correctly typed. I wonder - if so many of them are 4s or with a 4 fix, how come they don't say more about their connection to 2? After all, 2 is in their growth and stress lines, so they should be talking in quite a familiar way about 2 behaviour - the way we do about the numbers we go to in stress and growth. But it seems to be a recurring pattern on the group that they view 2s as - unfamiliar, creepy aliens of some sort? I don't know quite how to express it, but the way they allude to 2s is the way one would refer to types one cannot relate to at all, or types one sees as very unlike oneself. People have even called them out on portraying a very simplified understanding of 2s; the founder of the "Type 2 Uncensored" group even left the Enneagrammer group after a prolonged argument, saying the admins didn't really understand the type. I guess, regardless of who is right or wrong, I'm now curious about why admins who are supposedly 4s don't spontaneously refer to their line to 2 in conversations, podcasts and comments, and why they don't express a sense of familiarity with 2 behaviours. What are your thoughts? :) 

If you REALLY want an inside look at 2s, listen to Suzanne Stabile’s podcast, or read one of her books (especially as regards how 2s filter everything through a relationship focused / emotional lens). She is a 2 and is extremely familiar with how 2s think and react and it will be insightful for you. I have learned more about our lines, coping mechanisms, and depth within the numbers from doing those two things the last couple of weeks than trying to listen to BHE’s information on 2s. It is indeed biased and has no real understanding of 2.

This is the problem with focusing on tritype rather than finding your lines of connection. They’ve been attributing things to their fixes rather than seeing how it connects to their core. Emeka for example identifies as an 8w7 / 854. Well, both 7 and 8 have a line to 5 -- 8s move there in stress (which it seems he does) and 7s in growth. No heart fix necessary. He could be either an 8w7 or a 7w8 since both connect to 5. But instead of talking about moving to 5 as part of being an 8, he just attributes 5-ness to his fix.

Joseph Simone identifies as a 4w3 / 416. 4s move to 1 in growth, so his core type is probably right, since he’s seeing the 1 so prominently. But again, he’s calling that a fix rather than a growth line.

Nancy has self-typed right -- she’s a 369, which really just means she’s a 3 -- 9 is her stress line, 6 is her growth line. But she calls them her fixes.

David says he is a 9w1 (I think?) / 947 but IDK. None of those connect to each other, line-wise, he never talks about disintegrating into 6 that I’m aware of, or about his 1 wing. So he’s a big question mark for me.

Here’s a hot, controversial take -- John identifying as 485 (?). 4 has no line to 8, but 2 does. Is it possible he’s a sx/sp 2 (not the usual brand of “helpful” 2) who doesn’t understand 2, who over-identifies with his 4 growth line and moves to 8 when he’s angry? ;) Either way, he has a lot of 2-ness in how he patiently helps people work through things through breath work, counseling, etc.

I’d like to see them do a podcast about their lines and talking about how they use them in stress and in maturing their core type. They build their brand around bringing your blind spot into play, but Stabile says you reach greater growth by dealing with your lines, maturing yourself through your lines, and bringing your least-used center into being. I want to hear a disintigration podcast -- it would be interesting to see if they CAN justify their core type through their “lines” or if they come up with zero evidence to support it. For example, I want the “4-cores” to talk about disintegrating into 2 and what that looks like. It should be an Anna Karenina style meltdown into neediness and grasping; if they are 4s they won’t mind talking about the sloppy, messy, humiliating negativity of it. ;)

[darthwheezely]

grande - g.w.

Summary: George meets a mighty adorable barista in the new cafe on Diagon Alley and the man just can’t help himself... based off the song Coffee Girl by Johnny Socko! Sorry this took me absolute ages (9 days oops) to get out, guys :/

Warnings: DIABETIC FLUFF STUPID AMOUNTS OF CARDIAC ARREST INDUCING FLUFF UWU,mentions of sexism, Fred being Fred, cussing probably, alludes to sex, PG/PG-13

taglist or people that might like this but idk: @theweasleyslut @kitwalker02 @loony-loopy-lupinn @wand3ringr0s3 @gcdric @thehufflepuffwife @monoscandal @lupinsclassroom @whiz-bangs78 @vogueweasley @rogueweasleys @band--psycho @lumosandnoxwriting @oh-for-merlins-sake @amxrtentias @virgohufflepuff @vivianweasley

George Weasley didn’t sleep. This had long been the habit of his ever since he and his parents had discovered that his elder twin Fred had been an avid sleepwalker by age 4, then became a (minor) party animal in his Hogwarts days, and finally when he became the co-owner of one of the Wizard World’s most successful entrepreneurs and business owners.

The man hadn’t slept in about 18 years give or take. And days like this reminded him of it constantly.

It was a Saturday, the first of the month, and to boot, it was about to be Christmas in a little over a week. Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes was packed with everyone from couples window shopping, children in desperate need of fun now that school was out, parents trying to keep them in line, and even some old lady named Ethel (who swore she was part Veela, and therefore Fred couldn’t “escape her girlish charm.”)

“Ethel, you have an absolutely ravishing day, and don’t even worry about that moisturizer it’d be a waste of product on a natural beauty like you” Fred winked and kissed the old lady’s hand, George watching from the top of the steps rolling his eyes.

“Oh, Freddie, you know how to keep a lady young, don’t you? Oh - goodbye, Georgie! Have a good rest of your day boys!” She waved majestically to the younger twin on the stairs and he bowed royally in response.

“Bye, Ethel!” They both called as she exited the building, the bells flurrying in her wake.

“Georgie, mate, hate to say it but you are being uncharacteristically quiet and it’s making me uncharacteristically uncomfortable.” Fred said bounding up the stairs to meet him, chuckling briefly.

“Freddie, mate, hate to say it but I’ve had absolutely no sleep as of late and it’s getting to me. But I’ll be back up to my usual antics in no time.” He padded down the stairs, winking at a couple young ladies ogling him, sending them into a fit of giggles. Fred sat down on the middle step eyeing his brother carefully. It didn’t take a genius to see George wasn’t holding on much longer, the dark circles littering his eyes and the way he mussed up his already purposely messy hair just...didn’t comfort his older twin at all.

“George.” Fred sighed, George looking back at him, confused. He took his hands away from the merchandise Wonder Witch he’d been rearranging and gave him full attention.

“Take your lunch break early. And longer if possible.”

“Pffft, why would I do that when I have women to woo and boxes to juggle?”

“George.”

“Fred.”

“Stop, I mean it. You look half dead as it is, just go take a nap or get an espresso from the cafe down the aisle or something that reinforces the idea that yes, you are a human being and no, not a zombie.” Fred crossed his arms feeling suddenly a lot like Molly and dropped the cross. George pretended to ponder this tapping his chin, rather finding the mature brother role reversal funny as hell.

“Oh, alright, but can I still be a zombie when I get back?”

Fred hit him with a folder and sent him on his way.

-•-•-

You had just finished the lunch rush, finally being able to calm down and not have to worry about making one more goddamn Butterbeer Latte for at least another 20 or so minutes...until there’d be another rush. You grabbed a lemon scone, took off your apron and sat against the back counter. You inhaled the citrus scent, it was always something that you loved to savor, and took a bite.

The holidays for the Merlin’s Mochas, the cafe, had been absolutely atrocious so far. All you had for customers were angry businessmen, bratty kids and their upper class parents who let them run around the already small place being rude to everyone, your boss Lionel who had an affinity for calling every woman who worked there a “bitch” (...ok lionel) and to top it all off: you’d been pulling 9 hour days every day except sundays. Needless to say: you kind of super hated your job.

You had just finished your scone when you heard the door chime signal a customer, immediately wiping your hands on your jeans and restrapping your apron.

“Hi how can I-“ oh Jesus this is the hottest man I have ever seen. He was easily no older than 23, fiery red hair, a perfectly tailored striped terracotta suit, green tie, and the most gorgeous doe brown eyes you’d ever seen.

“How can you...?”

“Help you, ohmygod, I am so sorry I’m super-“

“Tired? Yeah me too...interesting how similar we are this early in the game hmm?” He winked at you and your knees felt too weak. No he was just a stupid hot customer that also was really hot and also? Was super hot. No worries, Y/N, just don’t die by 22 okay thanks.

“Very funny...wait are you-“ your finger led from him to the statue outside Wizard Wheezes, realizing a simple oh shit

“Yeah, that would be me. Or my twin Fred but we never really decided, that’s why he kind of looks like both of us mixed. Although we’re twins so we basically look the same anyway. I mean because were identical. Twins, yeah.” George, what the fuck is wrong with you, why are you sweating? She’s just a simply beautiful girl in a simply maddeningly purple coffee shop can you please breathe and not make yourself look stupid-

“Oh, wow! I’ve never met a twin before - not like twins are anomalies or anything it’s just so crazy. Science. Science is crazy” You closed your eyes and took a breath

“We should probably start over shouldn’t we?” You wrinkled your nose.

“That sounds much more redeeming than anything we both were about to say” George breathed out laughing softly, rubbing his hand through his hair.

“I’m George. Weasley. Like I said, I work at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, the shop over there, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen this place before...or you for that matter, I never forget a beautiful young woman.” He said smoothly, his heart steadily subsiding - something about you had the power to not only make him scared out of his mind, but also totally at ease.

You returned the smile, warmly, the blood rushing to your cheeks at his compliment and sticking your tongue to your teeth. “Well, George Weasley, of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes I’m Y/N Y/L/N. And yeah, we’re new around here,” you leaned further onto the counter, realizing, albeit a moment too late that your eye level was directly with his abs now, and although he was wearing a suit...you could definitely tell they were there.

“We erm, just opened three months ago. It’s honestly a bit of a time to work here.”

“Oh and why is that?”

“Well, nothing like a blatant sexist to run an entirely female employed establishment and weird stuffy rich people.” Your eyes widened suddenly, and you felt like you had said far too much far too soon. But he gasp-laughed - laugh that ended as soon as it began and burst into a smile...like you had shared a secret with him.

“What the hell is he doing here then? Got a boy’s club to run in a purple coffee shop?”

“I mean you never really know these days, George, imposters are among us at every moment” you purred and pushed off the counter, meaning it as a joke but George’s heart screamed when he heard your name. As you moved to the other edge of the counter, he followed you.

“What a resourceful and cruel young woman, I am starting to like you, Miss Y/L/N.” He clucked. “And do you think of me like you think of Mr. I-Hate-Women-That’s-Why-I-Hire-Them?” He got inches from your face, smelling the coffee beans and vanilla extract that riddled your skin.

“Hmm...Mr. Weasley, I’m not so sure.” You coyly stepped away from him and took long strides to the far end of the coffee bar by the wall. George immediately felt a pit of flirtatious butterflies and (arousal?) something more in his stomach, jaw dropped, he followed you again. He pressed his hands to the counter in front of you.

“Well, how can I convince you?” He asked rather quickly.

“Hmm...” you leaned forward like he did before and his breath hitched in his throat “...let’s get you a cuppa first.”

-•-

“Wait, okay let me get this straight-“

“Yes?”

“You have 6 other siblings.”

“Yes.”

“...because your mom wanted a girl?”

“That-that would in fact be true, yes.”

You thought for a moment.

“So you’re telling me after she made it through you two-“

“-she still wanted to have more of us, believe me, it races through my mind daily.” He nodded vehemently laughing with you. You two had taken to the empty cafe at a table nestled in the corner, him sitting in a chair across from you on a bench. You had both been cracking each other up with stories from your childhoods, like how you both had managed to never know of the other’s existence until now.

He’d discovered that you had transferred from Hogwarts to Beauxbatons early on in your fourth year. You, a Hufflepuff, loved the quiet and soft landscape of the French school. You both had absolutely no idea the other existed. How? The world may never know.

He was brash. You were careful.

He was already flying when you were just feeling comfortable learning how to walk.

But you sat there with him for the better amount of an hour and a half, laughing and interrupting each other with memories of the school years you had, some weird and strange, and especially during fourth year, hard for George to talk about.

Ginny, his baby sister, had almost died. And as he said to you in a candid and highly vulnerable state: he blamed himself for almost letting her go to this day.

“I...I really do believe it was my fault.”

“George, it couldn’t have been your fault. Hogwarts is a big freaking death trap - you and I both know that,” you had said with an exasperated laugh, eager to make him feel better in any facet.

“Yeah, but...I’m her big brother. Yes, she has five other older brothers but...we were supposed to protect her.” He swallowed and blinked back tears. “It was her first year, for Christ’s sake, and I paid about as much attention to her as a doorknob would.” He had rolled his jaw and taken a gulp of his gingerbread latte (you had said it was your favorite, and he was loathe to try anything else) and you had softly draped your hand on top of his.

“If she’s as kind and loving and funny as you, I’d love to meet her.” You quipped, a small smile growing on your face in effort to soothe. He had smiled back at you, turning your hand over in his and drawing his digits lazily over your palm.

“Funny, because I was thinking the same thing.”

-•-

He had told you to close your eyes, that much had been true.

See, his coffee had started to get cold. So, like if you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll have to have some milk-

If you give a George a latte he will have to not only have another one, but also feel the strenuous need to show off for you and take you to his place of work. Naturally. And it was so lucky that by the time he’d proposed you leave, he even helped you clean and lock up afterwards.

Truthfully, it almost scared you how much he had seemed to care.

“Alright, Y/N, darling, I’m going to release my hands on the count of three, yeah?”

“Perfect, Georgie” you giggled. You’d legitimately only knew him for so long, but you just...you trusted him. He grinned widely, his strong hands only applying a slight amount of pressure as not to hurt you.

“Alright, then. 1. 2-“ he took his hands off your eyes and watched you adjust not only to light, but to your surroundings as well.

“3.” He breathed out taking in the way you smiled like a teenager, face alight with pure inundating wonder. You squealed and started to run around the store.

“Look at these! Pygmy Puffs - ugh they’re so adorable look at this one! Oh, oh - ‘Fizzing Whizbees’ - these look absolutely wicked! And Per- ‘Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder’?” You picked up the glittery stone in your hand, and heard a smooth voice perk up behind you.

“A real money spinner, that one.” You turned around and there was a man that looked absolutely identical to George, although entirely different in the same way.

“Handy if you need to make a quick getaway,” you heard George on the other side of you. He smiled warmly down at you, nodding his head up to look at the twin across from him.

“Y/N, this is my-“

“-older, much more attractive and fiscally responsible brother.” He winked and you blushed almost immediately. “Fred. Weasley.”

“Y/N Y/L/N. Georgie has told me a lot about you and the shop - absolutely marvelous this place is, I cant believe you two created so much in such a short span of time. Brilliant it all is, really!” George had started to flush, rubbing his jaw to seemingly take the red away from his striking face. Fred, upon hearing the genuine warmth from your voice and the unmistakable use of “Georgie” had a small, but highly distinct aha moment:

“Well, we couldn’t have done it all on our own, one of our best friends helped us out a good lot. But thank you, really...it means so much when other people see how much we do and-” he looked directly at George.

“-acknowledge the things we love, right George?”

“Absolutely, Frederick.” Fred had given him the look that seemed to imply: “please, God, make a damn move.”

“Well, Y/N, I’m going to be off and woo some ladies, have a biscuit and do some paperwork” he smiled wide when you giggled, already enjoying your company.

“But I hope to see you again, very soon, yeah? Please stop by whenever you can, we’re alwYs just down the street.”

“Freddie, for your company, I’m not so sure, I’m still deciding.” You quipped. Fred laughed heartily at that and looked at George.

“Georgie, I like this one.” George looked at you and winked.

“Me, too Freddie, me too.” You leaned back on your heels as Fred padded back up the stairs to the flat, now completely alone with George. You threw your arms behind you back and forth and took a long stride to George.

“So...what are you those?” You nodded up to the array of pink bubbles in a clam shape in the corner. He hummed and reached to grab your hand.

“Love potions - c-can I show you?” He raised an eyebrow slightly, but he felt his whole body turn to mush when you accepted his hand and nodded slowly. As he walked with you, you memorized the feeling of his callouses and veins, the way your hand curled deliberately in his.

You wanted to make sure if it was the last time you felt something like that, you had that memory with you for a while.

“Essentially, if you give these to a person they will temporarily have feelings of love and attraction for you. Depending of course on the dosage you use and the weight of the person in question.” He explained. You watched the way his suit jacket pulled taut against his back muscles and instinctively wanted to honestly just take the whole thing off-

“Hmm...I don’t know about these, Georgie.” You hummed mischievously. Your heart was pounding in your chest.

He scoffed placing a dramatic hand over his heart. “Am i being questioned in my own establishment, Miss Y/L/N?”

You rolled your eyes and hit his arm, bowing slightly at him. “Well, do forgive my feminine insolence, Mr. Weasley, it’s not often I meet such bewitching mad scientists like you.” You watched his face grow blank for a moment at your compliment and immediately wanted to throw up.

“George, I’m really sorry, I know we just became friends-“

“Do you mean it?” He took a step towards you. You swallowed finding again his perfect milk chocolate eyes. You nodded.

“Hell yeah I did, you’re smart...and wicked hot” you both laughed at that. He took another step, the distance being unbearably harder to live in as his digits found a piece of hair and wound it behind your ear.

“Well, darling, the feeling is quite mutual.” He said quietly, taking in the whole of your face. He wanted to crash his lips onto every possible nook and crevice of your face, collide with you entirely.

“We’re going to have to do something about that, then, aren’t we?” You gently nudged his nose with yours and wrapped your arms around his neck, his strong and powerful arms pulling you to him gently. He wanted you to feel him not to break under his embrace. He leaned down and brushed his lips up to yours, feeling you whine and let out a minuscule sound.

“Got you making noises for me already and haven’t even kissed you yet, hmm?”

Your eyes fluttered close and one of your legs made it’s way in between his, snapping any chance at loose air between you two out of the way.

“Please, Weasley, pants a bit small for you?”

“Keep talking like that and they might, yeah.” You two laughed softly and with a final look to your lips he closed the last gap.

His mouth was perfect. His lips ghosted over yours one last time before wrapping every part of himself onto your frame, your lips entangled in each other like you’d never be able to taste him again.

But it was loving and slow and sweet. He tasted like gingerbread lattes and pastries and cinnamon and licking into his mouth you could feel the spice. He moaned lightly into your mouth, sending your knees buckling. He dipped you slightly, a hand traveling to your lower back to keep you steady, and his other hand coming up to nestle under the nape of your hair. Your hands caressed his face, his chest, needless to say? You wanted them everywhere. You wanted him everywhere.

The kiss broke and you and George were left breathless in each other’s hold, your foreheads pressed together as he kept you slightly dipped.

“Y/N, I’m feeling a bit tired” he quipped hoarsely, pressing a brief kiss to your lips and onto your neck. You hummed satisfactorily.

“Georgie, you’re gonna need another latte aren’t you?” You set multiple chaste kisses to his lips and cheeks, feeling him rumble with a small giggle. He caught your mouth with his and you moaned slightly.

“I’m gonna need a whole pot, to drink you in, love.”

[zenonaa]

'The conglomerate taught him a dozen languages and how to play as many instruments. They trained him to operate multiple types of aircrafts, earn billions of dollars and not bat an eyelid as a rival company begged for mercy... However, when it came to developing feelings, that was treated in the same way as stabbing a fork into a plug socket, or offering to wash the dishes instead of letting the servants attend to them. It was common sense not to do those things.'

Fandom: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fukawa Touko/Togami Byakuya Characters: Fukawa Touko, Togami Byakuya, Naegi Makoto Additional Tags: Togafuka Week Summary: Togami tries to prepare himself for his reunion with Fukawa.

Comments: Day 3 for TogaFuka Week! Fantasy/Kiss.

💗 Please like, share and comment if you enjoyed it! 💗

***

As the helicopter soars above the city, Byakuya visualises skyscrapers reaching toward the sky as if wanting to claim the blue expanse for itself, like that’s its God-given right. The buildings wouldn’t look out of place in a boss battle in a light gun video game. Makoto once compared them to the final level in an old zombie shooter that he played a few times at his local arcade.

Byakuya imagines the futuristic city, teeming with electricity and life, but the image lingers only for a couple of seconds before rusting, wilting, collapsing. In reality, Towa City is an industrial wasteland. Its railroad halo dips and splinters throughout, as if made from thorns, and the ghost of a bullet train explodes into dust that rains down on the city. Buildings have been amputated, leaving only stumps if nothing at all. Squinting, he discerns a car park that is now a graveyard, with graves instead of cars.

They land the helicopter in the concrete clearing behind a rundown hotel, the loud wailing of the rotorcraft’s blades slowing into pops before falling silent. No red carpet awaits them. A staircase unfolds from the helicopter’s doorway to the scarred ground. The sky is a red lipstick stain that fades into purple like a bruise.

And a short distance away from Byakuya stands Touko Fukawa.

Touko bounds toward him. “Byakuya-sama!”

Yes, he thinks, she would still call him that. Her wild mane of aubergine hair writhes with every step. Meanwhile, he glides over. His feet make no sound.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she says, stopping in front of him. She breathes in, filling her lungs with air. He brings a finger to her lips.

“Let me speak first.” Byakuya can feel her lips vibrate as words bubble in her mouth. After he lifts his finger off, her mouth hangs ajar but she stays quiet. Now it’s his turn to inhale deeply. “We have been on quite a journey. Before we met, I held the weight of the conglomerate and all the pressures involved, while you...”

The light against her lenses flashes warningly as her brow dips into a furrow.

“... had, and still have, your own,” he finishes. His teeth scrape against his lips. “When I entrusted you with Towa City, do you remember what I said?”

“No matter the distance, I will not feel a thing,” she recites.

“That’s right. You must understand that my creation was a business investment.” He swishes a hand through the air, maintaining eye contact. “Romance goes against my existence. At that time, though I had started opening up to the idea of relying on others, and letting others rely on me... I was not interested in... in romance.”

Her silence provides a clear sky that his voice fills with grey clouds. He coughs into his knuckles.

“Part of me rejected the idea of romance... And yet, to my surprise, during our time apart, where we could only speak in video calls, my heart grew fonder for you.”

Touko’s puzzled squint blooms into a wide-eyed stare. Its intensity burns his cheeks. Still, she doesn’t say a word. What if after she had drawn close enough, without the gleam on the computer screen on his face, she realised he is as cold as a monitor? Is that what is happening now? Aoi sometimes remarked that Touko was too good for him, and when Aoi became annoyed enough with something he did or said, she would add that Touko deserved better.

He used to never doubt himself, but for the first time in his life, he wonders if he is good enough.

It feels like he has taken his first step somewhere damp and mouldy, where the floorboards could give way at any moment. Without moving, his stomach drops as if he’s already falling. Byakuya’s tongue squirms in his mouth, as if trying to reverse the words that it already unleashed, but he can’t take them back.

Instead of trying to articulate his feelings, he decides to demonstrate them to her. He grabs her waist. Her head jolts back in surprise and a moment later, their lips bump together. For several long seconds, they stand stiffly, Byakuya’s hands on her body, Touko’s hands cupping air, until he needs to peel himself away to breathe.

She gazes at him, brow wrinkled, not smiling. Then she opens her mouth and asks, “Are you okay, Togami-kun?”

The voice does not belong to her. Byakuya blinks, fracturing the concrete, the sky, her body, revealing his true surroundings. Opposite him sits Makoto, the two of them seated in a helicopter.

“You zoned out there for a good few minutes,” says Makoto.

Byakuya responds with a grimace.

To bat away the encroaching silence, Makoto chirps, “I can’t believe in an hour, we’ll finally be reunited with Komaru and Fukawa-san.”

In response, Byakuya gives a solitary hum. Makoto’s smile wanes.

“Are you motion sick?” he asks Byakuya.

“No,” Byakuya says more harshly than intended, the syllable cracking the still air like a whip and making Makoto tense. He flattens his tone and adds, “I’m in thought. That’s all.”

“About the reunion?”

Byakuya nods.

“It’ll be fine,” Makoto assures him with conviction that puts Byakuya on the defensive.

“What am I supposed to say to her?”

‘Her’ being Touko, of course. The conglomerate taught him a dozen languages and how to play as many instruments. They trained him to operate multiple types of aircrafts, earn billions of dollars and not bat an eyelid as a rival company begged for mercy. With the matter of future heirs, they instructed him on what to look out for on female applicants’ forms while choosing potential mothers. However, when it came to developing feelings, that was treated in the same way as stabbing a fork into a plug socket, or offering to wash the dishes instead of letting the servants attend to them. It was common sense not to do those things.

And yet here Byakuya was, spending the journey to Towa City mentally rehearsing how he was going to confess to a woman who had gained the power to make his heart swell too big for his chest. The conglomerate could not have prepared him for such a woman. Such an intelligent woman. Such an empathetic woman. Such a loyal woman.

Most of all, a woman who drew strength from what the conglomerate called weakness. Love.

“I mean... you can say hello?” suggests Makoto.

Byakuya’s steely gaze clenches Makoto. “Then what?”

“Like... ‘How are you?’”

“I can’t treat this like a regular meeting, as if we had only last seen each other at the end of work the previous day,” says Byakuya.

“Why not?”

“This one is different.”

As Makoto’s eyes flicker, he drinks in the tension in Byakuya’s shoulders, the tightness in his fists, and says, ���Ah. I see.”

Though Makoto must have known for some time now. He and the others had started alluding to Byakuya’s feelings for Touko before Byakuya was even in denial about them, back when Byakuya didn’t know what he was experiencing, or what was making his stomach flutter.

Evening has dyed the sky orange, darkness creeping in at the edges. Byakuya stares at it through the window. His unsmiling reflection leaves a faint imprint on the glass. Silence swirls around them, hanging over their heads like the rotating blades of the helicopter.

“Are you going to tell her?” asks Makoto, and he doesn’t need to elaborate.

“I should,” Byakuya replies.

“You can try a pick-up line.” Without having to look at him, Byakuya can hear the grin seeping into Makoto’s tone. “For example... Do you like raisins? How would you feel about a date?”

Byakuya’s reflection glares as Makoto carries on.

“If I could rearrange the alphabet, I’d put ‘U’ and ‘I’ together. Or - ”

“That’s enough,” Byakuya says with a shudder, raising a hand. “I aim for my demeanour to be calm and composed. I do not intend to act like a fool, throwing out hackneyed lines.”

“Sorry, sorry. But if you don’t mind me saying, you’re overthinking it, Togami-kun.”

This earns Makoto a look from Byakuya. The curve of Makoto’s lips is slimmer now, but still holding on.

“In these sorts of situations, it’s best not to use your brain...” Makoto taps himself on the head. “... but to follow your heart.” His hand shifts to his heart and pats there next.

Byakuya tightens his lips and returns his gaze to the window.

“Easy for you to say,” he mutters.

The helicopter lands by the hotel that Touko and Komaru have been living in. If not for the lit windows and neon sign, the dark column would have blended in with the night. Steel bars cage the building, mostly unbent. Byakuya’s attention fixes longest on the sign that flashes ‘TOWA HOTEL’, ‘TOWA HOTEL’, pulsing like his heartbeat, reminding him over and over where he is.

He balls his sweaty hands into fists. He can do this. ‘Follow your heart,’ Makoto had said, and his heart has been caged for so long. It’s time that he freed it.

As in his imagined scenarios, Touko runs over, her arms spread as if about to take. Byakuya tenses, for a moment thinking that he has to catch her before she flies away again.

Fortunately, she stops in front of him, her feet rooted to the ground. “Byakuya-sama!”

Byakuya swears he feels the spray of her spit, but it might just be his sweat. Makoto digs him gently in the ribs, quirks his lips, then walks toward Komaru. At no point does Touko’s eyes stray from Byakuya, who lifts his chin and adjusts his tie. Low laughter simmers in Touko’s mouth.

“I can finally smell you...” She hugs herself. “It has been so long.”

In the past, he would have told her to shut up after saying something like that, but that doesn’t seem appropriate now. Such a comment used to come across as vulgar, and maybe it still does, slightly, but he has grown accustomed to the vines that her existence has curled around him. His tongue feels thick in his mouth as he tries to think of a response.

“Well, I can smell you,” he says.

This prompts Touko to shrink back and worry her lip with her teeth. “D-Do I...? I showered earlier today. Argh, did Komaru swap my shampoo for dog p-?”

Touko cuts herself off with a groan and shakes her head. Byakuya reaches a hand toward her.

“I mean you smell good.” He immediately cringes. Good. He said, ‘good.’ Her brow creases, whether it be from confusion or from hearing such a lame adjective, and he adds quickly, “You smell like...”

Byakuya breathes in but finds himself unable to smell her, so he leans toward her so he can. She gasps. He straightens sharply.

Time ticks as Byakuya mentally flips through the scripts he had rehearsed on the helicopter.

“Romance goes against my existence,” he says.

No, wait. He hadn’t meant to say it like that.

“Went against,” he clarifies. “Remember when I said ‘No matter the distance, I will not feel a thing’?”

Touko nods slowly, frowning. His head fills with steam, rendering it practically useless, which leaves him one other organ to depend on. His heart.

“Do you like raisins?” he says. “I’d put ‘U’ and ‘I’ together.”

Her troubled expression gives way to concern. “Byakuya-sama...?”

Byakuya lets out a frustrated groan and slaps himself on the forehead. “What I want to say is...”

She springs onto tiptoe and pecks his lips.

In that moment of contact, time stops. No more than a second could have passed, but by the time she returns her heels to the ground, he feels like he has been flung up into the sky before crashing back down again, his head spinning.

While he stands frozen, she wraps her arms around him.

“I understand,” she says muffled into his chest.

He hesitates, then hugs her back, and presses his lips against the top of her head. She smells like strawberries.

[strawberry1212]

“IU - Celebrity” Analysis

THE QUEEN HAS RETURNED!!!

I know it’s unhealthy to simp for celebrities...but IU is an exception. I have been rewatching her new comeback an unhealthy amount of times so I thought I’d share some things/details/background info :))

1) Background

So IU wrote about the lyric writing process this time and OMG I have to copy and paste her whole statement bc it’s so beautiful:

"I have a friend who has often been treated as an eccentric person due to her eye-catching outfit, her unique taste, dynamic talents, defensive mechanisms stemming from shyness, and a personality that clearly knows her preferences. I loved her even more because of these unique characteristics of hers, but for the same reasons, she has been living under more scrutiny and hateful eyes. These are the words I wanted to tell my 'unusual friend' that turned into the lyrics to this song but as I worked on the song, I realized that this is also my story as well. After completing the song, I thought that anyone can be the main character to this song. I'm sure everyone has felt left out at least once in their lives because they dont' meet the standards others have made. I want to tell everyone, including my friend, who were born rough around the edges but special. You are not a person from the star (common saying in Korea to mean someone weird/different) but are like a star."

OK THIS IS SO CUTE!! Because like first of all it’s so poetic...the play on words with you are not from the star, but a star yourself. And the fact that we are getting yet another song from IU that is not another romantic song. One of my long standing frustrations with the music industry (American, Korean, and Japanese), is songs tend to always center around romance, and IU tends to break those stereotypes (Bbibbi, Palette, 23, I-Land, 8, just to name her title tracks), and not only that but the fact that this is about her friend is just so beautiful T_T. Also did anyone else think of Sulli when they read this? Sulli was known for her eccentricity, different style, and being misunderstood, but the translation writes “I have a friend” in the present tense...so idk. 

And just her wanting her fans/listeners to feel like the main character (ಥ﹏ಥ) (I’m not crying you are). This is especially such an important message for Korean and Asian fans in general. I only have my experience in Japan to speak to, but Asian collectivist cultures really punish those who stray from the norm, which not only ends up discouraging those from being unique and themselves, but also impedes social progress (feminism, environmentalism, social justice, animal rights, etc.). 

And I also think it’s key where she wrote “as I worked on the song, I realized that this is also my story as well,”--more on that theme later when I break down the music video.

2) Music Video Analysis

The star motif

So she sort of does a play on words by putting a lot of star stuff in, star being another word for celebrity. And as the lyrics “You're a star painted with a left hand,” she’s talking about how this person isn’t the perfect/usual star, but perhaps a crooked/left-handed one...like the one shown to dot the “i” in the first image of the music video:

The star motif also features later around 1:09 in her dance, she draws a star with her finger.

The music video story

So basically it seems IU is playing two people--one is herself, a celebrity type figure dressed in glam clothes, and the other is the unique, “star” character (a stand in for her friend that she wrote the lyrics about). IU sings about the “star,” “A troubled outsider The walk, the style Through the earphones The music is all minor You have no idea Above your lowered head What the bright lights are Shining towards.”

The music video shows IU in glamorous clothes:

While this “star” character is in her unique/non-glam clothing, walking through the crowd.

We can also sense IU’s isolation, she’s dressed like a princess in this glamorous pastel pink room, but she is alone, and the lights flash almost ominously outside, like the constant threat of paparazzi/people always surrounding her wanting to look in on her life:

Or how the clothing racks gradually disappear, revealing her standing alone worriedly:

The next we see IU standing off to to the side (I believe it’s IU bc she’s in an undercover outfit, but it’s clearly very glamorous), as she hides from fans chasing her:

When the crowd passes, she looks around and catches sight of “star” IU, and is seemingly very taken by her unique beauty:

IU chases the “star,” but loses sight of her, and is once again alone:

The irony here is that a) despite being adored and chased by many, the celebrity IU feels alone, and that b) despite being this glamorous celebrity, celebrity IU adores this unique “star,” that is just living her life, and not universally adored like celebrity IU. Celebrity IU almost seems envious of her freedom and unique style. But as the lyrics say, she also is upset at the way society treats the unique “star:”

“Your weary face looks like/ Someone powered you off/ The heartbeat went too quiet/ The glow you have/ The imagination, identity/ Are on a diet” “

These lyrics I had the most trouble with...I think it means the “star”’s imagination and unique identity are being starved/mistreated by society, like they are being forced to put on a diet. 

Next we have:

“You have no idea/ Still not fully bloomed/ Written for you/ A bygone love poem” as celebrity IU works, it seems, on a love poem for the “star.”

Here the star motif features pretty literally, as she is surrounded by her poem writing as the stars fall across the sky. The “written for you, a bygone love poem” could also be a reference to IU’s other song, Love Poem? Also going back to how this could reference Sulli, I could help but be reminded of how IU wrote the song “Peach” about Sulli’s beauty and how much she adored her friend. 

Next we see IU in front of this huge tapestry of celebrity IU, but this time she is wearing a dress studded with stars, and looking further up. She passes through the tapestry, and this could be like a sign of her growth? Like moving past her huge blown up celebrity image of herself to find her true self in a star studded dress?

She then enters into a dark vacuum where she is surrounded by people dancing with lights (another continuation of the star motif):

I think this is the turning point to the music video. Because now it is celebrity IU surrounded by stars. The next scene shows the people (all the people that once chased her) simply walking past her on the steps, perhaps alluding to how fame is ephemeral. She looks unsure and insecure here.

The next scene is most steeped in symbolism; she is in the same room that she was in alone before looking out at the city, but now the curtains are drawn (symbolizing privacy?) and IU reaches out towards an identical version of herself. Now the line between celebrity IU and “star” IU becomes blurred:

It seems that the left is “star” IU, and the right is celebrity IU, who continues to pine and look up to an almost indifferent “star” IU. “Star” IU gets up to leave, and morphs back into her “star” outfit from the beginning of the video, re-affirming that this is in fact “star” IU.

When celebrity IU notices she’s gone, she rushes up to find her (again paralleling her chase at the beginning of the music video), but when she goes to where “star” IU disappears, she is simply confronted with a mirror: she was the unique star all along!

In a sense, the message here could be that our own unique beauty may seem obvious to everyone else (the viewer knew that “star” IU was the same person (IU) as celebrity IU all along, but it took celebrity IU the whole music video to figure it out.

Almost as if this whole sequence has been inside celebrity IU’s head, she seems to come to this realization on a red carpet surrounded by flashing cameras:

Here she breaks the fourth wall, looking directly at the camera, as if to now realize: “I have been my own unique “star” all along.” She looks at the camera as the music sings, “you are my celebrity,” perhaps to mean that the viewer is her celebrity, or that she herself is her own celebrity, and runs off, away from the cameras (as if running away from her fame for a moment), in her beautiful red dress, free and confident at last. In the past she has always been running to chase “star” IU, but now she seems to be running simply for herself:

Messages/themes:

I think there are a couple of final messages here, and it is truly to IU’s credit that she was able to pack so many themes/messages into one music video. I think the dynamic I’m most interested in is how it runs the age old theme of the harms of celebrity fame, but it puts a very unique twist on it. While it shows the isolating aspects of fame, it also has a positive spin, that the love and affection bestowed upon celebrities isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but rather that we should redistribute that love and affection towards those closest to us, and see each other the way IU saw her friend. It also shows that fame and adoration don’t matter when you are insecure in yourself, given the irony of celebrity IU chasing after “star” IU.

This message that what matters most is cherishing and being cherished by those closest to you is interesting, because it can apply to both celebrities and non-celebrities. Celebrities may be adored, but it can be superficial, so they need the genuine love of close friends. Conversely, non-celebrities may feel super connected to their celebrities, but ultimately they need real life close friends. I think the message serves to both humanize celebrities in this way, while also saying that non-celebrities, and even weird/eccentric people, are deserving of the love and adoration we usually only reserve for picture-perfect celebrities.

I think perhaps the most poignant part, is the message of self-love: how at the end she realized that perhaps despite being pigeon-holed in certain ways as a public figure, she can reclaim her unique, beautiful parts. How we can be envious of others who seem set on their unique path and unafraid, but that we are unique and different too.

Also can we talk about how she served LOOKS!!! All of those outfits were GOLD. Anyways, I hope her music and its message reverberate with people who feel undeserving as “outsiders” and being eccentric. Being different is amazing. And as IU suggests, even though we may not be pop stars, we are all “celebrities” to someone. As the saying goes, “to the world you may just be one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

[eyeofthedrgn]

A Heavy Battle Symphony Chapter 12

Trigger Warning: language, mental abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, violence, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, self harm, self-esteem issues, sexual abuse (only alluded to briefly in future chapters), drinking (comes up late in the story) just a lot of trauma, angst, smut

Word Count: 2265

Notes: More smut! Enjoy! :)

Chapter 12 - Somewhere I Belong

I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm close to something real

I wanna find something I've wanted all along

Somewhere I belong

The holidays came and went, Rowan was back at University. His Solstice gift from Rowan was on his nightstand. It was a photo Elide had taken of them last September before leaving for Uni. They were hugging in the front yard, Lorcan's face buried in silver hair. He stared at it every night before he fell asleep.

After two weeks of having Rowan home and being more physical with each other, it had been a hard transition when he left again. He had grown accustomed to Rowan’s bed and Rowan’s arm draped over him every night after finding sweet release with each other. Lorcan had taken to using his hand and thinking of the man he loved. It was never as good, but at least it helped him sleep.

There were fewer nightmares too. Which meant he was less exhausted and he was starting to get restless.

After throwing on some sweats and a fleece lined hoodie, he went downstairs to ask Barb if there was something he could do. He couldn't find her. It was Saturday, baking day, so he was expecting her to be in the kitchen. Luckily for him, there were some fresh goodies made, he snatched a freshly made pastry from the counter, popped it in his mouth, then promptly grabbed two more. They were delectable.

He looked out the window over the kitchen sink at the backyard and saw a fresh coat of snow on the ground as well as a fresh set of footprints. Time to investigate. He slipped on his boots and followed the trail as he finished the pastries. It ended at what he thought was just a boring old tool shed, but he was only partially correct. It was old and had tools, but it wasn't boring or a shed. It was a shop.

As soon as he saw the tools lining the walls and the gorgeous work table in the center, he was in awe. His jaw slackened and his eyes darted everywhere. Looking around, he felt his fingers twitch like they needed to use the tools around him, like he belonged here.

Barb was sitting on a stool at the work table, crying. She looked up.

Lorcan gave her an apologetic look, he hadn't meant to intrude. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just.. I'll go." He started to turn when Barb stopped him.

"Don't go. I just come out here sometimes when I miss Ellys. This was his shop.” She wiped the tears off her cheeks. "He did woodworking in his spare time." She looked around fondly and ran her hand over the well loved work table. Lorcan didn’t really know anything about Rowan’s dad, he never talked about him. He wasn’t even sure how long he had been dead.

"I keep thinking I should sell it all, but I can't, so it just sits here and collects dust."

Unsure of what to say, Lorcan looked around at all of the hand tools around the shop again. He walked over to the wall and touched one of the tools.

"Those are wood planes." Lorcan turned to look at her with a question in his eye. "You are more than welcome to come out here and learn to use these tools. Gods know Rowan won't," she chuckled. The corner of his mouth turned up. They both knew Rowan didn't like to get his hands dirty.

He was definitely intrigued by this new discovery.

"I can tell you're interested. There are countless videos online to help you learn and there are a few books inside that could help as well."

"You wouldn't mind if I tried?" Curiosity was getting the better of him. "If I used your husband's tools?" He was surprised that she would let him touch such precious items.

"Oh, honey. I would love it if they were used again." She gave his shoulder a squeeze and went back into the house.

Lorcan slowly worked his way around the shop, looking at everything. There were so many different tools. Mostly hand tools, only a couple power tools. There was a half finished project on one of the benches. It looked like it was going to be a decorative box. He ran his hand over the wood, a layer of dust coming up on his hand. It still needed sanding, but it looked like all the parts had been cut and ready to be assembled. Mr. Whitethorn just never got the chance to finish it.

Looking at the direction of the house where Barb now was, he had an idea. He would finish that box for her after he deemed himself good enough. She deserved to have this piece of her husband and she did so much for Lorcan, it seemed like the least he could do.

It felt nice to have a goal. That evening after dinner, he pulled the woodworking books from the shelf and read, curled up on the couch next to Barb while she watched her shows and knitted.

++++

Rowan was sitting on the couch in the apartment with Aelin and Elide. They were sprawled all over each other, they hadn't really been able to catch up since classes started up again.

Elide brought up Lorcan. Rowan hadn't talked about him much. Not because he didn't want to, but everything they were and everything they did was new. To both of them. Rowan almost felt like he wanted to keep it all for himself. Sure Rowan had had a couple boyfriend's before that he never shut up about, but they never meant anything and it felt fine gossiping about their sloppy kissing or weird habits. But Lorcan was completely different, it felt like they were made for each other and he almost wanted it to just be a secret.

"So how's Lorcan doing? We didn't get to see him over Solstice break."

He chewed on his bottom lip, deciding how much he wanted to divulge. "He's doing a lot better. I really think therapy is helping him." Rowan leaned his head back on the cushions.

"Any progress in the touching department?" They knew he had issues with being physical because of his past, being abused does that to a person.

"Oooh, we need all the details!" Aelin chimed in. Even if she did have mixed feelings about Lorcan, she always wanted juicy details.

Rowan rolled his eyes and tried to hold his smile back, "Things are improving. Faster than I thought they would." Trying to be vague, assuming Lorcan would not appreciate this conversation. No, he definitely wouldn’t.

Both girls' eyebrows shot up. "Do tell."

Rowan fiddled with the edge of the blanket as he spoke, "We've made out now. A lot." He really didn't want to get into more with them, those details were precious to him. He thought back to how it felt having Lorcan under him, the sexy as fuck look of ecstacy on his face every time he came.

"That's not all, is there?" Aelin wriggled her eyebrows. His thoughts snapping back to the conversation at hand.

"No, but I don't feel like telling you." He untangled himself from the girls and sat on the edge of the couch.

"Oh, come on! Please!" Aelin fell off the couch just to get on her knees in front of him to beg.

"We won't tell or make fun of him, you know that,” Elide reminded him.

Rowan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Giving in he sighed, "Fine, but be nice." He leveled a glare at them. Not entirely sure he should be telling them.

"Of course."

"We had.. fun." they both squealed. "It was basically just a lot of dry humping. Really fun dry humping," he quietly said matter-of-factly, trying not to make a big thing out of it, even though it was definitely a big thing.

"You say that like this isn't a big deal. I think this is great! The fact that Lorcan has come so far and that he feels comfortable enough with you to feel so vulnerable is wonderful." Elide had turned to face Rowan and was trying not to cry. She had always had this odd connection with his boyfriend, even though they didn’t really talk, that he would probably never understand.

Rowan put his hands over his face, he shouldn't say this, but he couldn't help himself now that he had started divulging his new found sex life. His voice was muffled, "He almost passed out the first time."

Aelin yowled and collapsed on the floor, giggling. "Oh my gods, if he were anyone else, I would pick on him so hard!" Rowan glared at her. A short pause after she picked apart his words, "First time!? It happened more than once!?" Both girls squealed.

"Don't even-"

"I won't! Don't think so little of me!"

Ding

Rowan pulled out his phone. "Speaking of Lorcan."

They girls oohed.

Lor: I miss you.

He smiled at his phone as he replied.

Rowan: I miss you, too, love.

Rowan set his phone down.

Aelin and Elide had started talking about Lysandra and Manon. They could never be silent.

Ding

Lor: I wish you were here in bed with me. Your bed is so much more comfortable than mine.

Rowan: That sounds so much better than listening to Aelin and Elide gossip. Also, I love that you're in my bed. I wish I were there.

Lor: I wish you were on top of me.

Rowan: Oh, love. I would love to make you writhe under me. But maybe you could touch yourself and think of me?

Lor: I am.

Oh, Gods. Lorcan was touching himself in Rowan’s bed. He sucked in a breath, eyes wide as he read and reread the last couple of texts. The girls looked at him, eyebrows raised. Suddenly his loose pajama pants weren’t feeling so loose anymore.

"What?" Aelin asked with a cocky grin.

"I, uh, I-" Rowan got up and stumbled past the couch.

"Have fun with the sexting!" Aelin hollered.

Rowan closed his door and laid on his bed.

Rowan: You are? Gods I wish I could watch.

A minute passed. Shit. Was that too forward?

The typing bubble appeared.

Lor: Over spring break, I want you to touch me.

Rowan: Oh fuck babe. I would love to. I'm getting hard just thinking of it.

Lor: Touch yourself with me.

Rowan groaned as he slid hand into his sweats and gripped his already hardening, velvety cock and pulled hard. Gods, he was so turned on right now. His lover was in his bed at home, touching himself. Fuck, why did he have to be four hours away?

Rowan: Your wish is my command, my love.

Lor: I love you. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you.

Rowan: Me either. Fuck, I want you.

Rowan had never sexted before and he would be damned if it wasn’t sexy as fuck, even if typing was a bit more difficult with one hand. He hoped Lorcan was butt ass naked in his sheets. The buzz of his phone pulled him from his thoughts.

Lor: I'm close, love. I can't stop thinking about you riding my leg.

Fuck.

Rowan: That's all I want to do right now. I want to press my hard cock against you. Feel you against my leg. I want to hear you say my name.

His phone buzzed and Lorcan's photo popped up on the screen. He answered. Was this really happening? Damn, he was fucking turned on.

"Rowan." Lorcan's voice was breathy.

Rowan cursed. "Oh gods, Lor. I want to touch you so bad." Lorcan moaned. "I want to hear you come, baby." He had learned over Solstice that pet names really seemed to do it for his boyfriend.

"Rowan." He groaned. Oh how he loved how his name rolled off his lover's tongue.

"Come for me, sweetheart."

He heard Lorcan's breathing catch and whimpers leave his lips. "Ro."

"You're so sexy, love." He added a slight twist to his ministrations. "Oh, fuck."

"Your turn. I want to hear you." Lorcan was breathing hard.

Fucking gods above.

"Lor, fuck." Rowan started stroking himself harder and faster. He moaned.

"Come for me, Rowan. Come for me."

Rowan grunted and groaned, "Lorcan, oh fuck. I'm coming, Lor and it's all for you." He milked his release as he moaned.

His breath caught as he heard Lorcan say, "I love you."

After catching his breath, he returned the sentiment, "I love you, Lorcan. More than anything."

A soft hum sounded in his ear, followed by a comfortable silence.

Then, he heard over the phone, "You're so sexy."

Rowan chuckled, "You're the one who called so I could hear you orgasm."

Lorcan laughed. Rowan's heart ached to hear more of that sound. "Gods, I love you, Lor."

"I love you, too." Rowan could hear the smile in his voice. "I'm gonna go to sleep now."

"I'll join you. Sleep well, my love."

"You too."

"Goodnight."

"Night. I love you."

"I love you." That was always the last thing they said. They never said bye. His phone lit up when the call ended. He stared at the picture on his lock screen until he fell asleep which didn't take long.

The picture was of Lorcan sleeping, curled up in his arms. He snuck the photo one morning during Solstice break and immediately made it his lock screen.

____

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you'd like to be tagged.

@thenerdandfandoms @starlightorstarfire @tanvee1231

[sepublic]

Wing it like Witches!

           Let me tell you- I was WORRIED this episode would make me sad and angsty, but instead it just made me happy and all warm inside! I know that sounds super-corny but like…

           I LOVED this episode! I was worried from the promo pic that Boscha’s bullying would really get to Luz, Gus, and Willow, but… It didn’t! I mean, it still got to WILLOW hence the entire episode, but otherwise Luz and Gus were less “Wow I’m really being reminded of my insecurities from bullying” and more “I can’t believe she ACTUALLY did that. She wasted her entire school day doing that. This girl is NUTS, is she okay back home?”

           (The more I see of Boscha, the more I have to wonder if she IS okay back home… Obviously not crippled with self-loathing to the extent that Amity is, but never mind.)

           What’s really surprise to see though; LILITH IS A RED-HEAD!?!? I remember seeing that first pic of young Eda with two other classmates, one of whom was obscured and the other had glasses; And I thought, is THAT girl Lilith, could it be? Is the girl with the obscured face the one who stole Lilith’s lunch money, potentially that favorite character from Season 2 that Dana alluded to? My mind is racing, but either way young Eda and Lilith are utterly adorable! I do have to wonder if what Lilith had to say about Eda’s bad memory was just a jab, or something more… Given that the show has alluded to Eda possibly having amnesia with MORE than just her curse…!

           Speaking of which; LILITH AND EDA GETTING ALONG! Well, sort of- I mean they’re technically adversarial by the end of this episode, but only technically. Lilith knows where the Owl House is, finally; And we get to see in this episode just how capable Hooty really IS as a security system, surprisingly enough! He even manages to capture LILITH; Though to be fair, she may not have been super-invested in the mission given this was her sister we’re talking about, but still! Coupled with Hooty mercilessly tearing apart those toys in Adventures in the Elements, and I have to wonder if he’s ever, like… KILLED people before, y’know?

           …Maybe I don’t want that answer. Regardless, I love Luz’s little cheeky interference with Eda’s game, but Eda still manages to win by her last trick; Just pure, genuine skill and talent! That was a twist, I was expecting Eda to have another cheat or to be caught by Lilith, but as I said before… Eda isn’t humble, and for a GOOD reason! Lilith ain’t no slouch either, and I love that King willingly donned a cheerleader outfit just to offer support! I mean, maybe Eda MADE him, but otherwise he didn’t seem to have much of an issue so long as it was just at home!

           And… I LOVE the little small moments between Eda and Lilith, where… Lilith KNOWS she has to turn her sister in, she’s getting desperate, but it’s also low-key breaking her heart to do this! And when she loses the match and just… FALLS on her knees in despair, questioning herself, and Eda picking her up? Giving her that signature ring, just to make Lilith look better? I… I LOVE these sisters, why can’t they make up?! Lilith isn’t even aiming to imprison Eda, she just wants her to join the Emperor’s Coven and continue doing stuff alongside her, like old times!

           And Eda… Eda still needs her autonomy, but she knows that Lilith isn’t some cruel person. She knows that Lilith loves her sister and wants the best, that she’s in a terrible position; Eda knows how stifling the Coven System is, and while being beneath Belos provides a lot of power… It also provides a lot of PRESSURE as well! Sure, Lilith chose this… But Eda still believes that Lilith is deserving of kindness and compassion!

           (Let me tell you, considering I don’t think we’ve seen any Eda clips past this episode, I was LEGIT afraid she’d get captured by the end… thank goodness!)

           What’s also fascinating to note is that Emperor Belos was in charge since fiftyyears ago; Given the speculation that Eda isn’t as old as she looks, this indicates Belos is PRETTY old himself, by a large margin; Especially when one considers how long-lived Bump is! It’s a small moment telling us how he established the Coven Heads five decades ago, but I really appreciated it; And in general, this episode seems to be our final, light-hearted breather before we get into the REALLY heavy stuff… Keep in mind, our last two episodes were originally planned to air side-by-side, like a two-part season finale! On a lesser note, we see the Heximal System teacher giving a History lesson, confirming what I suspected earlier; That some subjects include students from all tracks, simply because the subject-matter applies across any and all covens, and History is one of them! Love the small world-building here!

           Given how we don’t see anything else of Willow and Gus past that scene in Belos’ treasury, I have to wonder… What if those two get captured, and only Luz can escape? Amidst King –and possibly Eda- being taken as well, Luz might be looking at a one-man operation here! Which just makes her all the more impressive… Like looking at her now, even if she DOES lose against Lilith; She’d still have been going toe-to-toe with the Head of the Emperor’s Coven, even if only briefly! Luz has come a far way away from where she started as just a powerless human, and has amassed FOUR glyphs; Light, Ice, Plant, and Fire!

           And BOY HOWDY is she good at them! Seriously, I bet she could’ve easily beaten Boscha in a Witch’s Duel if she wanted; Though it’s worth noting that according to Willow, Grudgby is apparently the only language she speaks… Given that shot of her room at the beginning, I have to wonder if that’s where her MAIN self-worth lies in! In the beginning Boscha acknowledges to herself that she’s hated, ‘so long as she is feared’; And her monologue low-key gives me, “Doesn’t know how to make friends so copes by putting herself above everybody else and overinflating her own self-importance under the impression that people are just secretly jealous!” vibes. (In some ways she’s like Grace from Infinity Train…)

That aside, I just get a sensation of pride from seeing how adept and adaptable Luz is, and the way she learned Fire from Boscha of all people –Which I called!- is both hilarious but goes to show what kind of a learner she is… I feel like Eda, like we’ve watched our kid grow and get stronger and I can’t WAIT to see what she pulls off next! Amidst her learning Magic and then defying the Coven System… you go Luz, YOU GO!

           And, it seems I’m not the only person who shares this sentiment! Even after Boscha’s bullying, we don’t see anybody beyond her gang make fun of Luz and co.! When Willow gets trashed poured on her, some students are watching, but… They seem kind of disturbed by it all? They’re not outright vouching on her behalf like Luz, possibly because Boscha is watching; But still! It is SO cathartic to see Willow being beloved by the entire school like that, even if she’s keeping her friend-circle to a select few; People LIKE her, and it’s what she deserves! Like Luz, I’m SO proud…!

           I’m still disappointed we didn’t get the names of Boscha’s other friends, but I really like their inclusion here! I liked how they all seemed rather uncomfortable with seeing Luz forfeit, only to be made Boscha’s target practice; And how Luz is so bright, bubbly, and infectiously-cheerful, spreading her good will to others! Like, this girl is TOO kind, and so loving… She has no bounds and I love how those other girls are even affected by Luz, genuinely enjoying her and wanting to be friends, alongside having Willow as a teammate! I have to wonder if they’ll ditch Boscha after this… Or at the very least, try to talk her down as friends of Boscha that she actually cares about and vice-versa (compared to Amity, who has always been cold towards Boscha, hence why her talking wouldn’t have made a difference)!

           Speaking of Amity… C’mon, girl. Your CRUSH is showing, the way you’re getting flustered, imagining seeing Luz in a ‘cute’ uniform and everything… Gus being utterly confused, but you can tell that the gears in Willow’s head are turning and honestly; She’s all for it, likely! I think this is the first time Amity has had an ACTUAL crush on someone she can talk to, instead of some distant figure or a fictional character! It’s so heartwarming seeing her navigate it, getting to actually deal with feelings like a kid is supposed to be allowed to do! And Luz being clueless… That, or she thinks Amity is into WILLOW, which makes a lot of sense too!

           (After all, Luz knows that her parents wouldn’t approve of her being Amity’s girlfriend… But Luz, you have NO idea how much she cares, she literally loves you more than she fears them! And Amity, knowing that her parents wouldn’t approve and struggling with this no doubt, but her love for Luz is really shining through over all of that!)

           To put it simply; Luz is FRIEND-shaped, she’s lovable, there’s no escaping liking her! Maybe Boscha will always be a bully, and I know one might call it ‘cliché’… But honestly I’d love to see Boscha eventually warm up to Luz and HER infectious positivity as well! Also, I saw that twist with the Rusty Smidge coming from a mile away, and I love how Luz low-key gets into a genuine rant over it! Although the loss doesn’t matter, as Luz’s team was clearly more adept and Boscha’s friends don’t seem interested in forcing Luz and her friends to do all of that other stuff…

           Anyhow, I love seeing Amity stand up for her friends, and when she says that her social life has improved because she’s with Luz, in spite of Boscha’s claims… I really CAN see her standing up to her parents, sometime later! I speculated a while back that depending on how her and Luz’s relationship in Enchanting Grom Fright goes, it’d really impact what Amity does later down the line, and I was right! But it IS worth noting that Amity may not yet know that Luz has to leave… King and Eda know, and the former mentioned this in front of Willow and Gus! It’s possible that Luz has laid out her plans to return every summer (and during winter break and whatnot), which would definitely lessen Amity’s angst by an infinite amount! And seeing as how she has instantaneous access to the Demon Realm, who’s to say she can’t pop in every day, after school! Sure she might not be actively living in the Owl House anymore, but otherwise…!

           On another note with Amity, I love her and Luz getting to geek out over The Good Witch Azura, and it’s funny to see the show confirm what I wondered about earlier; About Amity secretly making Azura references in public, under the knowledge that nobody would recognize them and realize she’s a nerd… But LUZ does now, and the two can bond! Also, Amity getting to have fun with Luz and co. at the end, being CARRIED by Luz, fully accepted into the home… I know you also have the library as a safe space Amity, but you’ve also got the Owl House as well! And it seems Hooty bears no grudges, either!

           Also, someone speculated recently that Amity has her goth-sense from Lilith… and given the implication that Lilith dyed her hair, I can REALLY SEE IT! I’m disappointed we didn’t get any interactions between the two… But the way it was set up, I feel like if Eda and Lilith were there they’d be too busy cheering on their kids respectively! Or not, we’ve seen them prioritize their feud in Covention… But back then Luz and Amity weren’t on the same team!

           Back to Amity, it’s interesting that she used to be on the Grudgby team, and was good at it, even being CAPTAIN when Boscha wasn’t; But then explicitly quit when she accidentally hurt some of her ‘friends’ merely once. Even if she never cared for them in the past, even if this was before she met Luz and learned to be kind and open again… She was ALWAYS someone who was self-conscious of her actions! And sure, the issue is that Amity is a LITTLE too self-conscious, constantly berating herself, holding herself accountable for every mistake… But regardless, it says a lot how guilty she feels to have hurt her teammates, even if it was an accident and a one-time incident that resulted in victory!

           I’ll probably do ANOTHER post about it later, but it says a lot; How Amity feels like she should step up as a Blight, and she DOES outshine the others… But because of that inherent guilt but also compassion, she actually quits Grudgby out of guilt! Which leads me to the idea that even if she tolerated Boscha and co., she wouldn’t have wanted to hurt them; Again, because she’s critical of herself, but also because Amity isn’t cruel and it may have reminded her of how she treated Willow! I have to respect and fear for Amity on quitting Grudgby after that…

           Again, I think she has the issue of being too overtly-critical of herself, and that it’s honestly THE issue that defines her problems; But on the other hand, I feel like Amity’s parents would’ve been displeased to see their star child quit the team, just for hurting some ‘lesser’ witches? I’m scared for what may have happened to Amity, but it also says a lot that she made a potentially defiant move simply because she didn’t want to hurt yet another friend…

           (That, or her parents wanted Amity to focus on Abominations and other studies, and coupled with Amity’s guilt, it was the perfect opportunity to get her off the team. Which would be sad, but not surprising.)

           Anyhow, I just think it’s interesting that Boscha and co. don’t ever seem to have any resentment towards Amity until recently. It’s possible Boscha DID dislike Amity up until she stepped down… But it makes me wonder if Boscha, like, looked up to Amity and wanted her approval and attention? Given how she’s always framed as following Amity… Perhaps Amity stepping down led to Boscha taking the spotlight, and so Boscha feels indebted towards Amity for her fame (and potential source of self-worth)?

           Last but DEFINITELY not least; Somebody else (I’m sorry I keep forgetting) alluded to how in Understanding Willow, there was the issue set up of Luz meaning the best for friends… But also sometimes invading their privacy, or overriding what they want, so she can live out her fantasies at the same time! And, like- A big part of her IS doing this for her friends, that much is clear… But Luz does have an issue sometimes with clearing fantasy from reality! It’s a more advanced lesson from the one she learned in Episode 2, continuing off of that, and I LOVE it!

           Like, I really do LOVE how Luz recognizes in this episode that even if a part of her is motivated in helping Willow, she’s also using this as a chance to live out her underdog Azura fantasies, and how Willow points this out to her… and Luz realizes that she’s right! She actively MAKES a change to her behavior, and makes up for it by fixing Willow’s hairclip and even forfeiting on Willow’s behalf and taking all the punishment… All because she doesn’t want her friend to be uncomfortable! Man, Luz is SO ridiculously kind, I keep saying she’s my favorite but she REALLY IS! What a lovable dork, no wonder Boscha and her friends are falling for her!

           (Also RIP Skara, you were the fourth one in a team of three. Although given how she helped carry Luz and Amity in the previous episode, amidst already having more screen time… I can see this as a way for the writers to give more of a spotlight to Boscha’s other friends, while subtly acknowledging that Skara likely has gotten over her bias towards Luz and the others. I wonder if Boscha also noticed and that’s why she was left out; That, or she’s the least-skilled? I dunno, but it was neat to see and I’ll overanalyze the moment regardless!)

           On a lesser note; Willow’s last name is Park, which is a Korean surname! Coupled with her VA’s ethnicity and Willow/Tati Gabrielle being listed amongst other Asian rep characters and VAs, and I think it’s safe to say that she’s the Boiling Isles equivalent to Asian; Which let me tell you, is VERY nice to see!

           Overall, this was an AMAZING episode! It was a heartwarming, feel-good episode that reaffirmed character relationships and love while still expanding on them, adding in more friends to the group… It was pretty much nothing but happy moments and revelations! Obviously things are setting up in the next two episodes to go REALLY crazy, especially with Luz potentially getting banned from Hexside for defying Lilith and Belos… But it’s clear to say that she’s left QUITE the good impression on the administration and students! And I can see some even vibing with Luz’s ideas even after she gets kicked out… Perhaps Luz will unknowingly start a rebellion of sorts?

[cutekitten6]

My thoughts on The Letter For The King (netflix)

this will be structured in three parts: what i liked, what i disliked, what could be improved. Warning: CONTAINS SPOILERS

What I liked

Our main character, Tiuri, is the best protagonist. He has had a difficult background and has a little bit of an identity struggle, but through his journey he becomes more and more clear in how he defines himself. He is so sweet and kind and only wants to do the right thing.

That magic is established as a purely Eviellen thing (aka a part of the black culturof the show). It’s not alluded to, it’s merely a fact.

Diversity. I love Iona, our asian girl, Tiuri, our black boy, and Jussoldo, our resident gay couple. None of it felt forced nor was it villainsed. They simply were.

Queen Alianor being queen without any question. She inherited the throne from her father and it is hers. She was inquisitive and charming, and quite daring romantically.

The chase scene in that very clearly Lord of the Rings-type field. It was not only beautiful but thrilling.

Magic horse. Or, not really magic but a damn smart horse

Arman giving Tiuri his peptalk about how Tiuri is a good person and it doesn’t matter if he’s not the Chosen One, what matters is that he is a good person and actively does good deeds.

Jussipo and Foldo’s campfire talk and kiss, and the implication that they did not sleep at all but talked all throughout the night. Their faces with Piak woke up were hilarious.

Iona and Jaro’s relationship from “I fucking hate you” to “I still fucking hate you but fuck if anything happens to you I will feel guilty.” Very fun. It’s like if the Hound and Arya liked each other from the beginning.

What I disliked

Lavinia pt 1. She was interesting at first, but when they were establishing that her town is full of selfish people and people who will weasel their way for money, it just ruined her. She was so selfish, so money oriented, and just so opposite to Tiuri that it really irked me. Tbf she does improve the more she cares for Tiuri, but still.

Lavinia pt 2. I did not like that she was actually the Chosen One. It makes absolutely no sense for her to be the magical savior of prophecy; not when magic was established as purely Eviellen. There was no explanation as to how or why she has powers, unlike for Tiuri.

Bury your gays. This has been shouted from the roof tops in this fandom already, but wow was it truly an unnecessary death. Not only did a gay boy die, but Lavinia (who, in literally the episode before, used HEALING MAGIC to save Tiuri) did absolutely nothing to try and save him. She only watched as he died. -10/10.

The climactic face off between hero(es) and villain was SO FUCKING LAME. They are just staring at each other, using their “powers” but like???? LAMELY. It seemed like they were trying to mimic Aang vs Ozai’s final fight with the darkness and the light fighting, but my god was so so lame. The music, unfortunately, was not as strong in that moment either.

What could be improved

I think 6 episodes were not enough. There were too many things that were unexplained or needed time to develop. 8 episodes could have been ideal.

First, Iona’s betrayal. It felt like it came out of nowhere, or at least out of very petty spite. She decides to call up the authorities because, what? Arman forgot she was an orphan? Nah nah nah, I need more seeds to be sown to believe it. Sure there was what Jaro said to her after the avalanche, but even then she has the same level of “i hate all of you” as before their quest started. Instead we should have seen her get more and more fed up with the group, or feeling more like an outsider.

Second, what the hell did Viridian do to Alianor??? He turns her eyes black and we see absolutely nothing. The next we see her she’s completely fine? Um, no. Either 1. show us what conversation went down between him and her, or 2. give us a small clip of her alone where her eyes turn black again, to make it clear she’s still under his influence.

Third, Piak should have died instead of Jussipo. Tumblr user @thylovelylionheart wrote about this and I agree 100%. You can find it here. Not only does it make sense, but it also brings a clear flashback to when Jussipo/Piak said that their parents would kill Jussipo if Piak was hurt. Parallel that, not Jussipo’s lyric about their[Jussoldo’s] love being carried to the grave smh.

Tiuri should still have magic. Not only is he a shaman’s son, but his mother knew that he was destined for something large. In the last scene we see her in, standing up on the stands as Tiuri is knighted, she looks unhappy. Why? Also the bird flock??? it needs a bit more explaining.

Having more episodes would then invest us with Tiuri’s mother. Alianor said she would still protect her even after she went to the summit. But then we never see Tiuri’s mother in danger?? It would have brought more stakes to the journey, at least for the audience, to know that Tiuri’s last life line could be hurt, even if he didn’t know.

Heck, we could spend an episode with everyone separated again. Lavinia goes off to find her road. It would give us more time to settle for the idea of Lavinia being the Chosen One, since the reveal would still be ep 5. We could have her be alone and meet someone who, idk, shows her the light (haha). Think Toph and Iroh. She’s still selfish but cares for Tuiri, but is not wired to be a savior. So she gets help from, let’s say the Father Monk from the mountains, who helps her prioritise that even if she doesn’t want to save the world, saving one person [Tiuri] would be enough. And she turns up at the palace FOR Tiuri, not because she suddenly gained morals. it makes more sense in terms of how her character development played out.

The final episode should have been a final battle. That’s it.

Overall: The Letter For The King is a meh show. It’s gorgeous and the first 4 episodes are thrilling and exciting. But the show drops the ball in eps 5 and 6 in a way that really ruins the fun you’ve had. Should you watch it? Maybe.

[karnakian]

anyway,  speaking  of  maria  ...  you  know  the  drill,  annual  maria  rant  (  under  the  cut  this  time  because  it’s  long  and  i’m  sure  some  people  might  get  tired  of  me  talking  about  her  lol  )

i  think  if  i  ever  did  actually  bring  her  in  as  a  guest  muse  (  which  ...  idk,  maybe  ?  i’ve  always  wanted  to  at  least  lol  )  i  might  rethink  the  way  that  i’ve  been  envisioning  her  for  the  past  few  years.  keep  in  mind  that  the  only  time  maria  is  brought  up  in  -  game  is  during  leon’s  proposal  event,  although  she  is  subtly  alluded  to  in  his  date  event  as  well,  though  this  is  only  realized  upon  retrospection.

the  event  makes  it  clear  of  course  that  maria  was  leon’s  closest  (  human  lol  )  childhood  friend  and  that  they  did  everything  and  went  everywhere  together  from  a  young  age.  while  he  viewed  him  as  a  younger  sister,  she  had  romantic  feelings  for  him  since  they  were  children.  he  also  described  her  as  being  a  crybaby  when  she  was  young,  too,  which  eventually  led  to  their  infamous  promise  -  leon,  desperate  to  stop  maria  from  crying  when  she  was  inconsolable  one  day,  questioned  if  there  was  anything  that  he  could  do  to  get  her  to  stop,  and  she  asked  if  she  could  marry  him  one  day.  he  agreed,  and  they  later  marked  their  names  on  the  temple  (  leon  karnak  )  in  the  old  tongue  as  a  symbol  of  this  vow.  since  that  day,  even  though  leon  later  forgot  all  about  the  promise  after  having  dismissed  it  as  just  another  silly  childhood  game  or  otherwise  a  phase  she  would  eventually  grow  out  of,  she  never  cried  again  :

even  on  the  day  when  leon  left  to  become  a  guardian,  maria  stood  at  a  distance  behind  everyone  else,  looking  as  though  she  might  cry  at  any  minute  but  not  allowing  herself  to  even  once  :

this,  of  course,  is  what  led  him  to  remembering  their  childhood  promise,  and  became  the  crux  of  his  guilt  that  wound  up  as  his  basis  for  distancing  himself  from  the  rest  of  the  townsfolk  once  he  woke  up  in  the  modern  age  and  vowing  to  never  marry  anyone  so  as  not  to  trample  on  her  feelings  more  than  he  already  had.  her  letters  that  she  wrote  to  him  also  reveal  that  she  waited  for  him  for  decades,  still  not  crying  even  once,  eager  to  keep  their  promise  even  after  he  was  gone.  even  though  it  is  later  revealed  through  a  ~  wacky  turn  of  events  ~  that  maria  did  eventually  find  someone  and  get  married  (  and,  ultimately,  became  happy  ),  this  becomes  the  main  conflict  in  lftp  --  should  leon  allow  himself  to  find  his  own  happiness  after  believing  he  had  taken  away  hers  ?  on  top  of  that,  maria  also  revealed  that  her  neighbors,  not  knowing  about  their  promise,  found  her  harsh  and  unfeeling  after  she  never  appeared  to  grieve,  even  after  her  parents  died  and  her  other  friends  slowly  left  her,  leaving  her  alone.  why  should  leon  get  to  have  friends  and  start  his  own  family  when,  he  thought,  he  took  away  her  chance  of  having  her  own  by  stealing  her  tears  ?

the  story  of  course  does  have  a  happy  ending,  revealing  that  maria  did  end  up  having  a  happy  life  as  stated  above  and  that  she  wrote  a  book  detailing  her  married  life,  written  in  the  ancient  tongue  that  she  and  leon  had  learned  together  as  children,  that  she  hoped  that  leon  would  one  day  be  able  to  read  when  he  woke  up  again  so  that  he  would  know  not  to  feel  guilty.  she  even  made  a  wish  for  him  using  a  blessing  from  their  childhood  that  he  would  find  his  own  happiness  as  well.

this  is  all  information  that  has  been  integral  to  my  portrayal  of  leon  since  ...  i  started  this  blog,  actually  LMAO.  his  guilt  towards  maria  and  believing  that  he  irrevocably  ruined  the  life  and  stole  the  happiness  of  one  of  the  people  most  dear  to  him,  alongside  his  inability  to  relate  to  the  modern  age  and  some  good  old  -  fashioned  survivor’s  guilt  to  boot,  are  the  main  reasons,  in  my  opinion,  that  he  works  so  hard  to  ensure  that  the  people  of  selphia  only  know  him  on  a  superficial,  surface  level  --  haha  he’s  the  guy  that  jokes  around  and  teases  people  !  you  don’t  want  to  become  his  next  target,  do  you  ?  it’s  not  that   deep,  don’t  look  at  him  too  closely,  haha  !  that  being  said,  i  did  notice  on  my  most  recent  playthrough  there  a  couple  of  thing  that  over  the  past  few  years  i  had  kind  of  ...  forgotten  about.

i  mentioned  earlier  that  i  had  always  kind  of  hoped  to  add  maria  as  a  guest  muse  here,  so  i’ve  always  been  pretty  interested  in  what  kind  of  person  maria  was.  of  course  maria  is  someone  who  leon  cherishes  highly,  referring  to  her  as  a  ‘  sweet  girl  ’  that  he  regarded  as  a  little  sister,  someone  who  used  to  cry  all  the  time  and  was  later  thought  of  as  cold  and  mean  after  leon  left.  given  that  this  event  is  the  only  time  in  game  we  hear  about  her,  there  is  so  little  information  that  we  actually  know  about  her,  and  all  of  it  is  from  leon’s  word  of  mouth  or  from  maria’s  direct  perspective.  i’ve  always  taken  what  little  info  we  do  know  and  have  seen  her  as  someone  who  was  ...  kind  of  quiet,  but  kind.  timid,  perhaps,  and  maybe  didn’t  have  many  friends  due  to  her  shyness.  a  lot  of  this,  i  do  still  absolutely  stand  by  !!  however,  there  are  a  couple  of  things  that  i  noticed  during  my  most  recent  playthrough  that  i  think  are  really  vital  in  understanding  the  kind  of  person  maria  was.

the  first  thing  i  noticed  that  stood  out  to  me  was  the  emphasis  on  leon  being  really  maria’s  only  friend,  and  perhaps  even  him  being  the  only  person  that  really  actually  cared  for  her.  when  he  talks  about  viewing  maria  as  a  little  sister,  he  does  explicitly  say  that  perhaps  he  was  the  only  one  who  thought  of  her  in  that  light.

it’s  hard  to  know  exactly  what  he  means  by  this  because  there  is  just  sooo  little  information  regarding  their  childhood,  but  to  me  this  reads  that  she  was  someone  who  didn’t  really  have  anyone  but  leon,  maybe  even  possibly  someone  who  was  shunned  or  disliked  by  her  peers.  

another  thing  that  struck  me  when  playing  through  it  again  was,  of  course,  leon’s  breakdown  upon  finding  maria’s  “  final  “  letter.  at  the  beginning  of  his  rant,  there  have  always  been  a  handful  of  lines  that  have  stayed  with  me  through  the  years  :

these  are  the  first  lines  that  leon  says  right  at  the  beginning  of  his  speech,  right  when  he’s  transitioning  from  shock  to  spilling  over  in  grief.  keep  in  mind  that  his  partner  with  him  has  never  said  a  single  word  throughout  this  (  except  for  maybe  his  name  ?  i  can’t  quite  remember  lol  )  and  that  this  is  his  instinctual  first  response  to  finding  and  reading  this  letter  --  to  protect  maria.  it  could  just  be  in  response  to  what  maria  said  in  the  letter  about  people  finding  her  distant  and  mean,  but  keeping  the  information  above  about  him  being  the  only  person  that  thought  of  her  kindly  (  or,  at  least,  in  a  sisterly  way  )  i  find  that  the  fact  that  leon’s  very  first  response  is  to  guard  her  from  accusations  of  being  ‘  cold  ’  to  be  really  interesting.  to  me,  it  seems  like  it’s  almost  second  nature  to  him,  like  it’s  something  that  he’s  done  in  the  past.

i’m  not  entirely  sure  exactly  where  i  stand  on  the  topic  of  maria’s  personality,  but  it’s  clear  that  she’s  a  lot  more  interesting  and  complex  than  i  think  i  previous  gave  her  credit  for.

[gaylorlyrics]

Folklore Songs - what are they about??

This is a developing thread, but I’ve been listening all day so I’m taking a stab at it.

1."The 1"  

Common consensus is that this is about Dianna Agron and what they could have been. Telling lyrics are the general idea that the relationship wasn’t truly given a chance (”it would've been sweet, If it could've been me”) and “Roaring Twenties”, referring to the below circus themed party pics with Diana dressed like a flapper

tbh im not totally sold on this - most because it seems more recent with lyrics like, “In my defense, I have none for never leaving well enough alone” sounds like a reference to ME! and “Roaring twenties” sounds like a reference to something that happened this year (2020). Also “throwing pennies in the pool” could be a reference to throwing Penni (Karlie’s agent) in the pool. Finally, Route 1 is the road along California’s coast, where Tay & Karlie drove on their legendary road trip...this makes my lil Kaylor heart worry. 

2. Cardigan

This is the first installment in the Teenage Trio, which also includes August and Betty, and is told from the perspective of Betty. It’s about feeling so loved by someone but then being betrayed by them (”Chase two girls [Betty + August’s narrator] lose one”). The line ”And you'd be standin' in my front porch light” foreshadows to James professing love in “Betty”. Potentially Taylor is Betty - but I’m still thinking about that theory.

3."The Last Great American Dynasty"  

We <3 a Rhode Island throwback. Here Taylor tells the story of her house in Rhode Island that Rebekah “Betty” (??!?!??!! more on that later) Harkness used to live in. Rebekah married an heir to Standard Oil which made her one of the wealthiest women in the USA at the time. She was also known for making a scene (”She had a marvelous time ruining everything”). Additionally, she founded the Harkness Ballet (”And blew through the money on the boys and the ballet”). After Rebekah’s death Taylor purchased the house and it is now best known as the place of many epic 4th of July parties.

4. Exile

Such a sad song! This is a duet between Taylor and Bon Iver, telling the story of a failed relationship that they have tried to mend many many times. Interestingly, this is also about a love triangle (like the teenage trio) -  "I can see you starin' honey/Like he's just your understudy." This line specifically feels like it could be about bearding, and seeing someone else with the person you love, but feeling like - or knowing - it’s fake. “You were my town Now I'm in exile seein' you out” references and end to the relationship Taylor discussed in False God “Staring out the window like I'm not your favorite town I'm New York City”. To me this indicates that it is about Karlie and them breaking up or going through a rough patch - continually trying to fix things - and eventually being unsure that it could ever be repaired.

5."My Tears Ricochet"

This is pretty clearly about Scott & Scooter - “And if I'm dead to you, why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed” and “You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same” seem to be a reference to them trying to exploit her work and how her leaving Big Machine really ruined the business - plus there’s some LWYMMD imagery. “You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me” also seems to be a clear reference for trying to use Taylor’s own work against her, taking the profits, and pushing her out of the deal. As if we needed more evidence “You hear my stolen lullabies” clearly references her stolen masters.

6."Mirrorball"  

Big 80s prom vibes from this song. Mirrorball is about being famous and all of her work - her most personal thoughts and dreams - just becoming different ways for other people to see themselves once she releases her music into the world. Part of being an artist is knowing that your work will reflect more of who the viewer is than who you are yourself. Here she uses the metaphor of a disco ball to explore that idea, and worries that she is losing her own identity through it “I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me”. She also alludes to her fears that she will age out of relevancy “I know they said the end is near”, something she discussed in her documentary Miss Americana. Obviously this is internalized misogyny because we love Taylor and will listen to her music always and do not subscribe to the belief that women need to be young to be relevant because if they were a man then they'd be the man, and tay’s the man <3 

7. “Seven”

Personally, this is one of my favorite songs on the album. It’s so sweet and pure and lovely. This is about young love, with imagery of summer, toys, and child’s dreams to runaway together. Many people have speculated that it is about the same girl that the two unreleased Taylor songs “Sweet Tea and Gods Graces” and “Me & Britney” are about. 

[Side note: initially I wondered if Me & Britney was about Britany Maack, Taylor’s long time friend who recently got married, but the names are spelled differently. Also the line in Seven “I can’t recall your face” indicates that this is about someone who Taylor is not currently in touch with.] 

Both M&B and STAAG seem to be about the Seven relationship because there are general parallels with outdoor scenery, childlike wonder, and ( in the case of STAGG) sweet tea. Also all three songs indicate a gay relationship: STAGG - “And you can love like a sinner and lose like a winner”, M&B - “That boy she went ran off with, well, I thought he was crazy. Maybe I was just jealous that he'd come between me and Britney”, and Seven - “You won't have to cry or hide in the closet And just like a folk song our love will be passed on”.

8. “August”

This is the second installment in the Teenage Trio, told from the perspective of the “other woman” who James meets while on summer vacation. The other woman (she doesn’t seem to have a name...unless it is August...which it could be? idk) is in love, but realizes that James isn’t in love with her - “Will you call when you're back at school? I remember thinkin' I had you”. The line “Remember when I pulled up and said "Get in the car" references the same incident which is retold in Betty, but this time with James telling Betty it was just a summer fling that didn’t mean anything.

9. This Is Me Trying

Here we have a break up song, about Taylor trying to win her lover back and feeling completely lost without them, unable to concentrate or be around people, and turning to self sabotage. It’s about the general loneliness that one feels when they’ve lost someone they truly love, and the miscommunication that can happen in a relationship when you’re not understanding each other or receiving love in the same way (hence the song’s title). I think this could be about Karlie, it seems clear that their relationship has not been smooth and that they have had many on-and-off times. It could also be serving a purpose of building the Joe break up narrative, but only time will tell for that.

10. “Illicit Affairs”

Taylor loves her secret love - this song reads like a sad version of “I Know Places”. It seems clear that this is about Karlie Kloss. “Tell your friends you're out for a run” is one of my favorite lines because Karlie started Klossy run club, where you commit to running a certain distance in a month - and she posts about it on instagram CONSTANTLY. But overall, the song details a relationship of a woman being with someone she doesn’t love (kushnerd) and sneaking around to meet up with the person she does love (tay!). The line “Tell yourself you can always stop” is so sad to me, the idea that Karlie got into this and keeps telling herself that it will only be a little longer and she can leave when she wants, but staying in her fake marriage anyway.

11. Invisible String

This is pretty much the only pure love song on the album - about feeling connected to someone throughout your whole life, knowing that that somebody is out there, and then finally finding them. Taylor talks about being in Centennial Park in Nashville as a teen, and then eventually showing her lover around. The song is really self referential, with lots of easter eggs for her past work, including Bad Blood and Delicate. She also references Joe Jonas with the line “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind For the boys who broke my heart Now I send their babies presents”.

Some people have pointed out that there is a similar idea presented in Jane Eyre - when the protagonist says to her love interest “I have a strange feeling with regard to you. As if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly knotted to a similar string in you."

12."Mad Woman"  

Another Scooter one - “It's obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together”. “The master of spin” is word play referencing the masters records scandal. “Watching you climb over people like me” points out that agents and labels are making money off the performers they find and pushing them around. There’s also a reference to Scooter’s wife Yael and how he cheats all the time, but she doesn’t do anything likely because of her own internalized misogyny - “has a couple side flings. Good wives always know. She should be mad, should be scathing like me”.

13. “Epiphany”

The first verse of this touching ballad is about Taylor’s grandfather in WW2, storming the beaches at Normandy - “Crawling up the beaches now "Sir, I think he's bleeding out"”. The second verse is about a nurse helping patients with Covid-19 - “Holds your hand through plastic now "Doc, I think she's crashing out"”. The bridge here talks about wishing there was some great epiphany, some magical solution for the suffering in the world. The chorus refers to experiencing trauma with others and staying loyal even in the hardest times, even if it means literally dying. Although this seems like a departure from the themes of rest of the album, the whole album examines loyalty and considering what you would do for the people you love - so I really don’t think it’s a departure at all.

14. “Betty”

Obviously this is the gayest song on the album and an early fan favorite. It is the final song in the teenage trio, told from the point of view of James, going to win Betty back after betraying her and sleeping with someone else (August!?) over the summer. The line "Will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends?”, a line that is very clearly about wanting to kiss a woman, is especially striking (& gay!) when sung by Taylor. The clearest version of this plot is someone begging for forgiveness after betraying the person they love.

There is also a bit of a nod to a line in “Picture to Burn”, a break up song off Taylor’s first album. In PTB Taylor says “So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy that's fine, I’ll tell mine you’re gay”. This lyric has since been changed in versions available online, but on the original album that's what it was. This is interesting because she’s calling attention to knowing that someone is gay and hasn’t told their friends...which you would definitely know if you had dated them.

The names “James” and “Inez” are both mentioned in the song, which are the names of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynold’s daughters. James was already featured on a Taylor Swift album, as the lil baby voice at the beginning of “Gorgeous”. Worth noting that “James” is traditional a male name, but that this character is named after a female.

ALSO I have this theory I’m working on that Taylor is Betty and this whole album is in the same world with the same people, but WILL POST MORE ON THIS LATER.

15."Peace"  

Ok - this is Archer 2.0 for me, about how she is worried about how no one will ever love her or stay with her because its too much work - “the rain is always gonna come if you're standin' with me” and “No, I could never give you peace” are pretty telling lines about her concerns that people will think it is not worth it to be friends with or in a relationship with her due to all of the baggage that comes with it. 

The opening lines - “Our coming-of-age has come and gone Suddenly this summer, it's clear” feed into my emerging theory that all of these songs exist in the same universe and are about the same three characters...but I’m still figuring that one out. The line “And you know that I'd swing with you for the fences Sit with you in the trenches” reference Seven and Epiphany, respectively - further supporting that all of these songs are in the same world.

16. “Hoax”

Out of all of the songs that make my little Kaylor heart ache - this is the most heartbreaking. Specifically the line “My eclipsed sun” refers to Karlie, who Taylor has called “sunshine” on multiple occasions, and her light being covered up by her contract with Kushnerd and Scooter. The line “Don't want no other shade of blue But you” makes it clear that this song is in reference to the muse for the album “Lover” - aka Karlie. 

However, this is a song about betrayal and completely trusting someone, only to find that they stabbed you in the back, as is clear by the line ”Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in”.

Additionally, the line“You knew it still hurts underneath my scars” seems to again feed into the idea that all of the songs on the album involve the same characters. This one is a bit more clear, it seems that - if this theory is correct - Betty is the narrator of this song, as she referenced her scars before “Drew stars around my scars” in Cardigan.

OK- I'm going to go deep into song by song later, but I just wanted to get something out there!!! Also def interested in hearing what everyone else thinks!

EDIT: I just found some lyrics from The Lakes in an article from Billboard. I wanted to add them in even though we don’t have the full song because I felt like we really ended on a sad note with hoax and then when I saw these I was like there is hope!!

SO the lyric Billboard included in their review was “A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground / With no one around to tweet it” which is a continuation from the line from “Hoax” - “ This has frozen my ground”. What I’m taking from this is that in the final song Taylor finds hope <3