#I always come back to origins and 2 when something really whack happens

[yappacadaver]

You like the deep roads????

I am still so off my groove cause of the meds thing, so I’m going to stream DA2 again xD 

I’m picking up right where I left off last night, all Act 1 quests complete except the deep roads expedition which I will be starting immediately (after getting my equipment in order). Wanna see what happens to my sibling? Probably not this questline is so cursed u_u

I’ll be live in 20 mins (9:45 PM EST) streaming for probably 3-4 hours. Feel free to drop in, hang out, chat or not, maybe lurk if you’ve got other things to do! Any interaction is appreciated always :D

BIG OL TWITCH LINK 

[just-someone-online]

AU Where Mommy Becomes a Reluctant Ally

Okay so I literally just thought of this and it definitely needs some tweaking.

- Poppy’s speech from the end of the chapter? Yeah, now that happens at the pit where she originally got snatched. Maybe it’s a variation of the debug version? I feel like beginning of ch.2 Poppy would be more up front than end of ch.2 Poppy.

- You and Poppy make it to the Game Station with little trouble. But upon reaching it you realize that you can’t leave for a few reasons.

1) The train code isn’t where Poppy said it would be.

2) Your grabpack doesn’t have the right hand (Pun unintended) to open the door.

3) There’s a giant Betty Spaghetty tangled in the train’s axles.

- Mommy notices you two and immediately reaches for you both, but you grab Poppy and move back before she can be grabbed. You ask what happens and Mommy explains that she and another toy had a little...disagreement that ended with her being run over. Poppy asks which toy did it, but Mommy won’t elaborate.

- You offer to untangle her but Poppy warns you that Mommy will attack you if you do. When Mommy sees you backing away from her, she reluctantly promises not to hurt you. She's been trapped under this thing for ages and she wants out. She even says she’ll give you the train code.

- Poppy trusts Mommy about as far as she can throw her but reluctantly helps you untangle her. Once you’re finished you take note of the sorry state Mommy’s limbs are in. They’re tightly knotted in some places and cut up from being, y’know, run over, but Mommy explains that it’s an easy fix as long as she can get to Playcare, giving her more incentive to not kill you yet.

- You ask about the train code and Mommy explains what she planned to do to whatever employee that was dumb enough to come back. As Mommy wraps herself around you and leads you and Poppy through the Game Station, Poppy begins to question your self preservations skills.

- You’d think getting the code would be easy now that Mommy is working with you, right? Wrong. The toys that Bunzo, the Mini Huggys, and PJ have been waiting for a playmate for a while, and the three of you will do nicely.

- Musical Memory is a breeze for Poppy. It’s still rigged of course, but she explains that she loves puzzles.

- As the three of you leave though, you can’t help but feel like something’s watching you. Something other than Bunzo.

- Whack-a-Wuggy is even easier with you and Mommy working together. But partway through, Mommy says that the Mini Huggys are being more aggressive than usual. Once the game is over, they all try to attack, but Mommy swings you through the window to escape.

- While you’re making your way back to the main section of the Game Station, you can’t help but notice the patches of blue fur scattered around the building. Poppy notices too and says that it looks like Huggy’s fur.

- Mommy - who’s mostly been reminiscing about the old days up until this point - says that she heard Huggy a little while before you and Poppy showed up. She says he sounded angry.

- You wince and think back to earlier that night. “I...may have dropped a crate on him and watched him fall into the depths of the factory.”

- Poppy and Mommy have very different reactions to this.

Poppy: ...What the fuck, y/n?!

Mommy: *Fucking wheezing*

- You explain what happened when you first entered the factory and Poppy has to concede that you were only acting in self defense. Mommy meanwhile, is laughing at how you’ve royally screwed yourself over.

- At least until Poppy says that Huggy doesn’t like her either. And in the state she’s in, she can’t really put up much of a fight. After that, very little is said about Huggy. You just try to keep your eyes peeled.

- When you meet Kissy Missy, Mommy flips out and nearly strangles you before Poppy tells her to calm down. Poppy tries to ask Kissy if she’s seen Huggy, but the pink monster leaves after pulling the switch.

- “I’m not sure why you thought she’d help,” Mommy says. “You know she always kept to herself.”

- While you’re trying to open the gates for Barry, you ask Mommy why she reacted the way she did. Mommy tries to dodge the question, but Poppy bluntly states that Mommy’s scared of Huggy. Mommy denies it, but Poppy brings up the last time she and Huggy fought.

- Naturally, you ask what the fight was about, and Mommy says that Huggy was upset over nothing.

- “It was because you kept treating me like a toy,” Poppy scoffs. “You shut my mouth and forced me to play with you.”

- “You are a doll, dear. What did you expect?”

- “To treat my like an actual person! You never do it to any of the others!”

- You try to defend Poppy, but Mommy quietly threatens to strangle you if you butt in. The two go at it for a few minutes before Poppy gets fed up. She climbs into a vent and tells you to find her when you get the rest of the code.

- Not even a minute later, you hear her screaming. You and Mommy follow the vents and find Poppy struggling in the hand of Huggy Wuggy. His fur is disheveled and matted with blood. You take a cautious step forward, but Huggy screeches at you and leaves with Poppy.

- You tell Mommy that you have to go after them, but she scoffs and says that neither of you would have a chance against Huggy. She still needs to go to Playcare, and you don’t have any crates on hand.

- Honestly, you’re a little tempted to leave Mommy and look for Poppy on your own, but you’d rather not face Huggy on your own again.

- You get to Statues, and before the instructional video can even play, Mommy launches you both through a window.

You: What the hell?!

Mommy: The game was impossible to win. I caved in the end of the course so I could kill you at the end.

- You’re really not surprised. For the last hour or so, Mommy had been very clear about what she was going to do to you once she was fixed.

- With Statues abruptly out of the way, you turn your attention back to Huggy. You don’t care how long it might take. You’re not leaving without Poppy.

- Almost as soon as you finish making that declaration, Huggy slams down behind you.

- He sees you, who sent him hurtling to the bottom of the factory. He sees Mommy, who treated Poppy like nothing more than a plaything.

- As you can probably guess, a chase ensues. The entire time, Poppy is screaming for Huggy to stop.

- Eventually you get to the grinder. Huggy’s hand gets stuck, and he accidentally turns it on as he tries to free himself.

- The screams he made will haunt you for months to come.

- As Poppy is screaming and crying for you to help him, it’s Mommy who reaches over and turns of the grinder. You faintly hear the sound of metal scraping on the floor, but you focus on Huggy instead.

- A tense silence follows as you all take in what just happened. Huggy shoots Mommy a questioning look.

Mommy: I wasn’t going to let you become a part of him. I don’t like you, but nobody deserves that.

- Huggy nods, and it seems that another truce has formed. As the four of you make your way back to the Game Station, you ask who “He” is. Huggy is shaking from the question, and Poppy and Mommy don’t answer.

- Poppy asks Huggy if he wants to come to Playcare with the rest of you. Given the state he’s in, he couldn’t refuse even if he wanted to.

- You all crowd into the cab and make your way to Playcare, only for the engine to pick up too much speed and crash...

[thatgoblin]

In Which Emery Sees Discourse and Does a Deep Dive on Resident Evil 4 (SPOILERS)

So, the whole reason this is eating at my brain is because of the back and forth that I've seen over 'Is Resident Evil 4 Leon Misogynistic?'

It never really crossed my mind that it was to the point that I would change my mind about how much I liked it. In fact I never thought that about any of the main characters being particularly misogynistic. The concept sounded foreign to me because I had grown up with these games. I was 7 when the first game came out and was thrilled to see a badass like Jill as a playable character. (I had no business playing those games, but not the point.)

I was equally as thrilled to see Claire Redfield appear in RE 2 and to see Jill come back for RE 3. I never got the chance to play Code Veronica, but I did recently watch a play through of it and wish I had gotten to play it. The last RE game I was able to play was RE 4 on GameCube.

My older brother had owned the games and I wasn't able to really make saves so only when he was away could I get a chance to have a whack at the game. Which meant trying to play through it all in a weekend. RE 4 came out in 2005, I was 16 at the time and liked playing those games along with Mario and Spyro and Blood Rayne.

At that time, media was pretty weird with feminism. Since I grew up in the 90's there were always plenty of badass females for me to follow, even if they weren't as butch as I would have liked them to be. Girl Power was poked fun at a lot, not taken very seriously, but a lot of my childhood heroes always made a point to say girls are awesome and can do anything they want just like boys or even better than boys.

What does that have to do with RE 4 Leon being misogynistic though?

Well, let's take a look at the year that the game came out. It was released in January of 2005 exclusively for GameCube. It was at the end of the year that Capcom added Playstation 2 to it's playable consoles. That means it was years in the making by the time it was released, approximately 3 years of work. For simplification, it was started in January of 2002.

Any media at the time would have definitely been an influence on the creation of the story.

Still doesn't explain if Leon is a dirty misogynist or not.

I'm getting there.

The writer of the game itself was Shinji Mikami who also was the director of the original Resident Evil, helped produced Resident Evil 2, 3, and Code Veronica, was an advisor for Resident Evil Gaiden, directed the Remake of the original, was an executive producer for Resident Evil Zero, and wrote/directed Resident Evil 4.

Mikami wrote the script that would be later translated by Shinsaku Ohara into English. There of course would be changes because of cultural differences. While the Japanese version is written as a serious piece, the English version isn't. Something else that isn't in the Japanese script is the blatant anti-American-ese of basically everyone in the game not American.

For the English translation that's not surprising as The Twin Tower attacks in New York had happened very, VERY recently in time frame of this game being made, about 6 months give or take. It was a time where toxic patriotism was running rampant and all the bad guys had to be anti-American even if they were American themselves. The American media pushed this one ideal of a while, male hero hardcore. While there were still other shows/movies/books/etc. that featured POC leads and female leads, the hero was mostly a white guy.

But, does that make someone misogynistic?

Not necessarily.

Misogyny by definition is a dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.

There's also such a thing as passive misogyny, the 'here let me help you with that little girl' type. It's not aggressive or violent, but puts women down.

Which is in a lot of Japanese media. It's not being mean or harassing, but creating this set of rules that women/girls are fragile and need to be cared for by men. Even the most stubborn female leads need a man to help them. A lot of the shows that I enjoy have this in it.

Ouran High School Host Club is a good example of it. While Haruhi is supposed to be 'one of the guys' Tamaki constantly chastises her for not asking for help because she is a girl. The tone and the wording and the music make it out to be a sweet, caring gesture, but at the end of the day, Tamaki doesn't think Haruhi can take care of herself. He's always rushing in to rescue her even when she doesn't ask for it or even necessarily need it. The entire host club does this, but it's treated as romantic.

And guess what year it was created? 2002. Originally a manga, it was translated into English and then made into an Anime shortly after in 2006 while the manga was still being published.

That's nice and lovely information, but what about LEON?

I am finally there! I promise!

So, let's go over the events as a whole for RE 4 now that I've explained the era that it was made, the background, as well as who helped create it.

In short RE 4 is about STRATCOM agent Leon S. Kennedy, one of the few survivors of the Raccoon City outbreak, is sent on a mission to protect the president and his family. Before he starts, Ashley Graham, the president's daughter, is kidnapped. Leon sets off to find and rescue her with the help of fellow STRATCOM agent Ingrid Hunnigan as his eye in the sky and handler. His leads take him to Spain where he finds a cult called Los Iluminados who kidnapped Ashley to infect her with Lost Plagues. The plan was to send her back to the President to spread the cult leader's, Prophet Saddler, powers.

Leon runs into Ada Wong and Jack Krauser his ex-partner whom he thought was dead, but really had been infected by Wesker who wanted a sample of the parasite. Lots of running around, losing Ashley, getting Ashley back, sparring with Ada, 'flirting' with Ada, and fighting Krauser, all to end with Ada getting the parasite sample as the now healthy and parasite free duo of Leon and Ashley ride off into the sunset on a jet ski.

The lines are cheesy and fun, the game play is awesome, Leon's legs are a character of their own, an all around good game.

I actually went back to look at the lines of the characters to see what could possibly have set people off on whether or not Leon is a misogynist.

For the first hour or so of the game, it was just the story not the full game paly, I honestly didn't see a lot. There was one quip with Hunnigan about 'being lonely' because she was worried about Leon after he hadn't responded for six hours, but it was oddly placed and not even acknowledged. It also wasn't very targeted in my opinion. As in it was specifically meant to be a slight at a woman. You could have Hunnigan be a man and that line would still be awkward, but still just a sarcastic remark that's quickly dropped.

The other instance was after rescuing Ashley and she and Leon are running from the church, there's an area that has ladders that the player would climb up and down. If you knock down a ladder and put it back up as Ashley stands at the edge, she'll yell at Leon for being a perv as he puts the ladder back up. Apparently because he's looking up her skirt? Except he doesn't.

The next bit of the game, Leon is caring and concerned for Ashley. He's not making random one liners that would suggest he didn't like her or thought she was a burden or annoying. He reassures her that he'll get her home and he'll make sure she doesn't turn into one of them. After she's captured he has to find a way to get her free again, running into Ada Wong.

This is where I can see people getting an impression of Leon being less than thrilled with women. Except it's aimed at just one woman, Ada. Ada's character is very independent and very self serving. She doesn't care about people as a whole, but has a soft spot for Leon. He knows this, but it doesn't make them friends. It's written to have them be mirror images of each other. Ada on the 'bad side' and Leon on the 'good side.'

His line of 'Sorry, but follow a lady's lead just isn't my style,' isn't a jab at women. It's a jab at Ada. They didn't leave on good terms and he knows she's not there to be the hero. Leon understands Ada will always have another agenda, one that earns her money, and he doesn't think for a second that she cares more about him than that. She's someone who can't handle being in a regular relationship or have any type of constraints.

A lot of people get upset at the pairing of Ada and Leon because it's toxic, but that's the point. The end game with those two isn't happily ever after, it's the continual clashing of Leon sacrificing himself for the greater good and Ada looking out for Ada. I personally enjoy this because it's not done often, Batman/Catwoman comes to mind, but those two do eventually get together. It also makes things interesting and not in a 'will they or won't they' trope. They never will in cannon and that's okay.

In this scene in this moment, Leon isn't being prejudice or looking down on women, he's dealing with a specific woman who has hurt him and used him and left him with complicated feelings. If someone came out of the woodwork after doing something similar to you, you wouldn't exactly be pleased to see them. While he may make small jabs at her, Leon does care because that's who Leon is. He cares about people, even the ones who betray him.

Fast forward some more and Leon gets Ashley back. They have a small moment of hugging where Ashley actually starts to apologize for making this hard and running away, but Leon doesn't let her. He knows she has nothing to apologize for. She's a scared kid, 20, who was not prepared for something like this AT ALL. He's been through hell and hates that someone else has to go through it too and that someone isn't equipped to handle it in the least.

Ashley is captured again. (Pretty sure there was a damsel in distress kink happening here, but that's my opinion >.> )

More of Leon trying to save Ashley, we see Saddler order Krauser to get Ashley and deal with Leon, then Ada shows back up again with the speed boat to get to the island where Ashley is being held. As they get near it, in true Ada fashion, she takes off like Spiderman with a grappling hook while sending the boat, STILL GOING FULL SPEED WITH LEON IN IT, towards the cliffs.

Cue my gif at the top.

Leon manages to keep from dying and stops the boat in time with a sigh of relief and a tired 'Women.'

It's not really meant for his disdain of women in general, it's aimed at Ada. Ya know, cause she kinda almost killed him. It's not meant as a 'all women are the same and complicated,' type of response. In the late 90's to mid 2000's it was a pretty common thing to heave a heavy sigh and say 'men/women' after a particularly troublesome encounter with that gender. It's not meant as a generalization, but as a response to that particular person in the situation.

Ada also isn't helping too much and sending him towards jagged cliffs and break neck speeds would warrant a heavy sigh and grumble.

Once he has rescued Ashley, again, they run to escape down a garbage chute that Ashley refuses to go down.

She gives a very Valley Girl 'No way!' to which Leon gives his surfer dude 'Way.' before dragging her down the chute with him.

She screams as they go down and both land unharmed. She yells at him about being crazy because they could have gotten really hurt, he says 'I'd knew you'd be fine if you landed on your butt.'

She get's huffy at him and follows him out.

That's a pretty standard way of flirting in media at that point in time. Up class girl with down town boy trope where he makes a 'sexual joke' about her and she gets upset or pretends to. This one isn't really even that deep. Leon's making a joke and possibly doing a bit a flirting. He's gotten used to her being herself and is even trying to lighten the mood.

ONCE MORE WITH FEELING ASHLEY IS KIDNAPPED BY SADDLER!

Girl can't catch a break.

Then we go through Leon fighting Krauser the first time, Ada coming in to talk, Leon running off to fight Krauser for the 2nd time, Mike the helichoopy pilot making a brave effort before getting blown up. Saddler leaves with Ashley to another part of the island.

Ada shows up again and under the control of the parasite in him, Leon attacks her. He tries to strangle her before she stabs him in the leg and he's able to regain control of himself. He and Ada team up/split up to find Ashley to get rid of the parasites in them. Leon finds Ashley with Saddler, he goes to rescue her as Ada shows up to offer cover fire.

Leon takes Ashley to the machine they need to get rid of the parasite, they take turns in it and make a run for where they need to go to get off the island. They get to the FINAL BOSS stage where Saddler has Ada tied up. He does his big boss speech, Leon frees Ada, kills Saddler, and then just like in RE 2, Ada takes the parasite sample and leaves Leon.

She does toss him a teddy bear keychain with a jet ski key on it though as a means of escape. Leon grabs Ashley and runs for the jet ski where he tells her 'Hang on, Sweetheart!' before zipping out of the pip they're in and out into the ocean. Ashley falls off, but Leon quickly scoops her up and they're heading back home.

Ashley casually asks if Leon wants to go back to her place for some overtime and Leon chuckles and says sorry.

She asks who Ada is and he explains she's a part of himself that he can't let go and they leave it as that as they ride into the sunset.

There's an epilogue as well where Hunnigan is able to get back in touch with Leon. She's relieved that the line is jack free, he makes a comment about how she's not wearing glasses and confirms he rescued Ashley and is on his way home. She's glad to hear that then Leon says she looks cute without her glasses and asks if he can have her number when he gets back. Hunnigan gives him a sigh and reminds him he's on duty to which he replies 'story of my life.'

The epilogue was kind of odd, but also funny and cute. It's not really calling Leon a ladies man or making him look like one. Again, it's Leon trying to forget about the shit he just went through and if he could get a date or something a pretty girl why not?

Also, I'm pretty sure he said no to Ashley because 1. Presdent's daughter. 2. Her father ordered Raccoon City nuked. 3. He doesn't have that kind of chemistry with her.

So, to say if Leon is indeed a horrible misogynist is not true. He's not written like that at all. To argue so would mean you either didn't play the game, took things out of context, or didn't understand the media from that time period. Also, to argue that he's a perfect little bean isn't okay either. Leon has flaws and flawed characters make for good stories.

Going over the script, which I will link, and seeing what instances may cause that speculation or opinion, there really isn't anything to back it up. He's not even in passive misogynist territory really. He's kinda flirty, but he's never inappropriate or makes comments about women in general and each time it looks like he is, it's taken out of context. Put back into context, it makes a lot more sense and clears things up.

At the end of the day RE 4 Leon just reads like a tired guy that wants to keep people safe, do his job, and maybe get some dinner with a cutie.

I dub RE 4 Leon NOT misogynistic.

At the end of the day, things are not black and white. While Leon was not misogynistic, some characters were and were written that way on purpose, I.E. Luis, who would comment on Ashley's body a lot in the game. That extends to all media. There's shades of misogyny everywhere and while it's not the best, it's not the worst either. We've come a long way from where women weren't even allowed to be in theater to where queer female representation is starting to get more and more wider and in depth.

The Resident Evil games aren't perfect in representation, with only two or so POC characters that are a lead and the rest white as starters, it doesn't mean the whole thing is bad.

To say the whole thing is bad and unredeemable because of a few parts isn't healthy. Not everything is going to be the most inclusive, feministic, master piece, and that's okay. You don't have to make a stand and say 'I would never consume this media!' and also you don't have to force people to like it.

The whole discourse about whether or not Leon is misogynist is pretty new to me, considering the fact that the game came out in 2005. Media from the past isn't going to be the best and people need to understand that. I still watch shows where POC actors would never be featured or gay people were punch lines. I watch them because I like them and they make me nostalgic. Resident Evil makes me nostalgic as well because I grew up with it.

I'm always going to have a soft spot for this franchise and while people will make wide assumptions about it or take things out of context knowingly or unknowingly, I'm not going to let that ruin things for me. The same for if people disagree with me entirely on this. Discourse can be healthy because it makes people think, but when it gets out of hand and sides are taken in a black and white state then it gets toxic. You can agree or disagree on things, but you should also make informed decisions for yourself. Making it a big deal of picking who you agree with or don't to the point of being rude and hateful to one another doesn't make you sound like you have all the information let alone know what you're talking about.

Get the facts, look them over, take time to study them, then engage.

After all, at the end of the day, even though it is my special interest and I adore it, Resident Evil is just a game and there are much bigger things to worry about.

Take it from your local, 32 year old goblin, this isn't a hill to die on. Now go drink some water and have a snack and if it's that time for you, get some fucking sleep.

[sunrisefairy]

Chocolate

Pairing: George Weasley x reader

Word count: 1.8k 

Summary: Y/N drunkenly confesses her feelings for George thinking it is actually Fred she’s talking to.

Warning: mentions of alcohol

A/N: I’m having way too much fun writing again, any feedback is always welcomed and if you have any ideas for future one shots let me know :)

Taglist: @hufflepuff5972​ my first little tag list, my heart ❤️ if anyone else wants to be added, just message me

The Gryffindor common room floor feels like it’s about to take flight with the vibrations from the multiple speakers set up around the room. The Gryffindor quidditch team had won the first game of the year against Slytherin so of course celebrations were in order.

You found herself in the middle of the makeshift dance floor with Alicia and Angelina dancing and singing, no screaming to the music. You jump up on the nearby table taking a big swig of some fire whiskey. You start to swing your hips to the music and continue yelling the lyrics to your favourite song which just started playing. You hear a few people below whistling and cheering you on.

“Yeah! Go Y/N! Woo!” You think it was Angelina calling out, acting as your hype woman.

As the song comes to an end you jump off the table feeling like a rock star. As your feet make contact with the floor you stumble. Your legs seem to give way, maybe it was because of the way you landed but it was most likely because of the amount of alcohol running through your system, you fell to the floor.

“Woah Y/N are you okay?” Alicia was immediately by your side helping you up. You couldn’t control the giggles escaping from your mouth.

“M’ fine babe just need ‘nother drink” your words mixing into each other.

Alicia shakes her head at your drunken state, “I think you need to slow down love. C’mon, come sit down while I get you some water” Alicia guides you over to the couches on the corner of the common room, looking for a free one which isn’t occupied by a couple making out, she spots George sitting alone, perfect she thinks, a mischief glint in her eyes.

“Hey, do you mind watching this one for a minute?” Alicia practically pushes you onto the couch and you might as well be sitting on George’s lap with how close you are to him. The redhead just laughs and nods his head at Alicia who disappears back through the crowd.

The thing with being drunk is your vision tends to get blurry which is exactly what had happened to you, your surroundings becoming fuzzy. Fred and George can be tough to tell apart on a good day so add

some alcohol into the mix and some might find it near impossible. You always prided yourself on the ability to tell the 2 twins apart, noticing subtle differences in their appearance and the way they spoke which helped you realise which one was which. Although the butterflies George never failed to give you when he was in the same room as you, helped you in telling who was who. However right now in this moment you were absolutely certain the redhead sitting next to you was Fred, oh how wrong you were.

“Havin’ a good night then little one?” George says, placing an arm around your shoulder in an attempt to steady your swaying body, maybe using that as an excuse to be close to you.

“Oh loads” you yell over the thumping music, “my foot is kinda sore though, actually ya know what might fix that?” George is too entertained by your drunken rambling to answer. “I think some chocolate will help, don’t ya think chocolate just fixes everything, maybe chocolate has somethin’ magical in it. Don’t you think chocolate is just delicious?” you hiccup, George nods amused.

Your eyes widen as you’re reminded of something “Oh Freddie, I think I know why I love chocolate so much” George doesn’t think he heard you right, did you just call him Fred? He goes to correct you, but you keep talking.

“Chocolate tastes so warm and sweet, it reminds me of Georges eyes, his eyes are so warm and sweet to look at” you say almost dreamingly, George shuts his mouth pretty quickly. “George has the prettiest eyes. I mean he’s got the prettiest everything. His face is like, like it was crafted by angels. And he’s so funny, everything he says makes me smile, I like him so much Freddie.”

George thinks he must be dreaming, surely he hadn’t heard you correctly. You feel your eyes growing heavier by the second, resting your head on the redhead’s shoulder.

“Freddie, promise me you won’t tell George, I couldn’t take it if he doesn’t like me back.” You say curling into his side.

George doesn’t know what to say, part of him wants to tell you that he isn’t actually Fred, that he’s George and he does like you back but the other part of him kind of feels embarrassed he didn’t say anything sooner, so he opts for:

“I’m sure he likes you too.” He doesn’t think you heard it though, judging from the light snores coming from your mouth.

At that point Alicia is back in front of them, thanking George for watching you while she was gone, with a little struggle she is walking you back to your dorm.

~~~

The next morning George is sitting with Lee and Fred in the great hall, spilling everything Y/N said last night.

“I knew she liked you!” Lee exclaims, “like she’s always staring at you during class.”

Fred chuckles “maybe she thought she was staring at me.”

George shoves him in the chest, shaking his head. The tall boy is nervous to see you today. He isn’t sure what he is going to say, George knows he needs to tell you that he feels the same way but a part of him is worried you didn’t actually mean what you said. You were very drunk and drunk people tend to say some random stuff. He doesn’t have much time to dwell over it because he spots you and Angelina walking into the great hall. Your hair is a little crazy, obviously quickly been thrown in a bun and you clearly are sporting a killer hangover but he still thinks you look divine.

“Surprised to see you up so early Y/N, you were very intoxicated last night” Lee laughs as you and Angelina sit down.

You groan, rubbing your eyes “I’m surprised too, I feel like a zombie and my ankle hurts.”

Fred laughs loudly after sending a wink Angelina’s way, “that’s probably from when you jumped off the table after your little dance performance. You went tumbling down. It was hilarious” George whacks his twin over the head, eyeing you slightly as you put some toast on your plate.

“Merlin, I don’t remember that or anything from last night to be honest. It’s all so fuzzy” you mumble as you take a large bite of your toast.

George feels his heart drop a little, although last night you hadn’t realised it was actually him you were talking to, he thought it would be easier to confess his feelings if you actually remember last night, now he was too scared.

~~~

Later that day you and Angelina are back in your dorm room laying on your bed with Alicia talking about previous night.

“What even happened last night? The last thing I remember is dancing and that’s it” you laugh as you flick through a magazine.

“So you don’t remember chatting to George on the couch before passing out? You can thank me for that Y/N, I had the brilliant idea of having George look after you while I went to fetch you some water” Alicia grins.

Alicia and Angelina were the only ones who knew of your major crush on the tall sweet redhead. Many times, they have tried to convince you to just tell George how you feel and even try to meddle themselves.

You furrow your eyebrows, trying to remember if you said anything embarrassing to the boy.

“Huh, are you sure it was George? I swear I was chatting to Fred last night” you chuckle remembering some of your conversation.

Alicia shook her head, “nope it was definitely George, I know that for a fact because when I left to get your water, I passed Fred and Angelina making out” Alicia elbows Angelina’s side who is blushing profusely.

You shrug your shoulders, “well me and George then were having a pretty weird conversation about chocolate actually. I thought it would heal my sore ankle” the girls all giggle as you continue, “it was very random we were talking about chocolate and then…” your voice fades into silence as you remember how that conversation went.

Alicia and Angelina are confused as you leap of the bed and start running out the door, “wait what happened?” you hear Angelina yell as you run out of the room.

Your heart feels like it’s going to beat out of your chest, you need to find George. You are beyond embarrassed that you basically confessed your love to George, the whole conversation becoming clearer and clearer in your brain. But you are unsure if you had dreamt the reply Fred, no George had given you as you drifted off to sleep on that couch.

You enter the common room, scanning for a particular redhead who you find sitting on the couch with Fred and Lee. You run up to the group, out of breath.

“Did you mean what you said last night?” you blurt out, feeling very, very nervous.

George break eye contact from whatever he was originally looking at and meets your eyes which are desperately searching for a response “what?” he squeaks out.

Fred and Lee share a look at each other and move from the couch, figuring out that the pair need some privacy although they do continue listening to the conversation from the other end of the common room.

“Last night. On the couch. I told you that I liked you, well, I said I liked George because I thought I was talking to Fred. And then you said ‘I’m sure he likes you too’ so do you? Like me?” you feel like your heart is going to explode and you are well aware of the multiple pairs of eyes staring at yours and Georges exchange which is making you extra scared of the potential rejection.

George nods, not really confident enough to speak right now. What you do next surprises him. If he wasn’t already sitting down, he might have fallen over with the force of you leaping towards him. You wrap your arms around his neck and press your lips to his. George immediately grips your waist and kisses you back. You can hear some people cheering in the background which makes you smile into the kiss.

You pull away slightly breathless, “that’s good then,” George chuckles and you hear Fred from somewhere behind you say rather loudly to Lee.

“Imagine if she kissed the wrong twin.”

“Shut up Fred” You and George say simultaneously.  

[floralseokjin]

final sleigh drabble #2

❛ it’s Christmas day night...❜

original oneshot here // drabble index here

kim seokjin x reader smut  4,179 words 

It was Christmas Day night. You’d spent most of yesterday and today at Ana’s parents’ house. It was different to how your own family celebrated the occasion but lovely, nonetheless. Her family always made you feel welcome, no matter the instance, and you were really grateful that they’d let you spend Christmas with them, like you’d already said, because your parents were spending the holiday season abroad. 

Now, just gone eight, you and Ana were getting out of an Uber outside a familiar house. Seokjin and Yoongi’s. You hadn’t seen your co-worker, since the weekend. The weekend of nonstop sex. You’d only parted because he had a train to catch, promising his mom he’d visit for a few of days before Christmas Eve. The sex had been so good it had taken him a while to remember said plans actually, and when he had, he’d unbelievably tried getting out of them just so he could stay and fuck you even more. 

“You want to ditch your mom to continue getting your dick wet?” You asked him with severe judgment, both of you naked in your bed. It was Sunday morning. Yes, that was correct. He’d stayed over practically 48 hours nailing you over and over again. And then some. 

“Don’t say it like that,” he whined, feeling instantly guilty. “I just don’t want to leave you. I’m having too much fun.” 

“We can still have fun when you get back.” You murmured suggestively, running a hand down his chest. You were not ready to give this all up quite yet… 

With a raised eyebrow, he seemed intrigued. “Even more fun than right now?” 

“We can try.” 

You hadn’t known if it was possible, the weekend had been very fun to say the least, but who knew. You’d definitely give it your all... 

You’d spent the last few days messaging each other sporadically, but there hadn’t been too much conversation. You mean, you’d never talked a lot before the sex, so why would you start after it? But seeing his face right now, as he opened the door, you practically beamed. 

“Merry Christmas, ladies,” he grinned, outstretching his arm to gesture you both to step inside. 

Admittedly, you weren’t expecting him to invite you over tonight. He’d been back since Friday but you hadn’t made plans to meet again yet so when he’d text you this afternoon, asking if you and Ana would like to come hang out with Yoongi and him, you’d been surprised. Excited, yet surprised, but obviously you’d played it cool. 

Ana had been a little reluctant. She had slept with Yoongi a couple of weeks ago after all – and hadn’t seen him since. But, obviously Seokjin had run this idea by him? They’d both decided it together, right? So it was fine. Plus, she needed to support her best friend. If she wanted you to get boned again, she needed to come! You couldn’t turn up on your own. Not that she needed much convincing after the initial unwilling... Secretly you thought she was hoping for a round two with Seokjin’s best friend... Who knew, maybe he was too... 

Ana stepped in first and as you followed Seokjin pulled out a small piece of mistletoe from behind his back. He held it up between you both, taking you by surprise. A good surprise though. “Oh,” you uttered, wasting no time in reacquainting your mouths. 

“He’s been planning this all day.” It was Yoongi’s voice, coming from somewhere ahead of you, but you both ignored him, kissing just a little longer. 

Ana scoffed. “Surely no planning was needed. It’s holding up some mistletoe.” 

“Mmm. I missed you,” Seokjin hummed, breaking away to snake an arm around your middle. 

“I missed you too,” you grinned, aware Seokjin was dialling up the amount of yuck to piss your two friends off. 

“Jesus, you guys.” Yoongi sounded like he was about to be sick. “I preferred it when she hated you.” 

Seokjin turned to the other guy, sounding vaguely annoyed. “She never hated me. It was a misunderstanding.” 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, man,” Yoongi chuckled. “Ana, let’s leave them to it. I’ll get you a drink.” 

You watched as they walked off together, towards the kitchen. Seokjin was the first to turn back to you, an eyebrow raised. “How much do you wanna bet they end up hooking up again?”

You were both on the same wavelength. It was obvious something was going to happen. “She hogged the entire bathroom getting ready.” 

.

. 

“Have fun, you guys,” Seokjin sang as Yoongi and Ana made a less that inconspicuous exit from the living room. It was three hours later. They’d lasted well, but obviously the need to get in on again had won. 

Seokjin turned to you immediately, sat next to you on the sofa and gave you a wolfish grin. “Finally, we’re alone.” 

You were no sooner in his lap, mouth glued to his. Moving your ass a little as you broke apart for a much needed breath, you felt the familiar impression of his erection. “You’re hard already?” You raised a judgmental eyebrow. 

“Why do you sound so shocked?” He questioned indignantly. “My dick has missed you insanely.” 

“Just your dick?” 

It was a playful remark, you didn’t mean anything by it, but Seokjin lowered his gaze, giving you a small chuckle. Instead of answering he kissed you again, his tongue pushing its way inside your mouth as his hands gripped your ass and rubbed you against his groin. Instant pleasure zapped up your body and it wasn’t long before you were grinding on your own accord, fists clutching his white t-shirt, which you had to admit, outlined his chest perfectly – You’d been trying not to stare all night. 

“Do you want to go upstairs too?” He panted against your neck, teeth nipping the flesh sharply and you bit back a moan. He was already so tuned into what you liked. “I really need to fuck you.” Pulling back to get your answer he saw the look on your face. “What’s that face for?” 

“It’s turning into a sex party,” you moaned. You couldn’t all be having sex upstairs, it seemed... You couldn’t think of the word. 

“An orgy?” Seokjin wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. 

“Behave.” You needed more people to turn it into an orgy.

Seokjin’s mouth was back on your neck, kissing down your throat, to your collarbones and he sunk his teeth into the thin skin gently, causing your breath to hitch. “Well, do you wanna fuck down here?” 

His dick was so hard underneath you, you rubbed against it some more, despite your objections. “No! What if one of them catches us?” 

“Don’t be stupid. Yoongi is definitely balls deep by now.” 

You whacked his back and he yelped in surprise. “That’s my best friend you’re talking about.” 

“I didn’t say who or what he was balls deep in.”  His reply didn’t impress you and so he grumbled. “I wish I was balls deep in you right now... Don’t give me that look, it turns me on when you’re pissy.”

Unable to stop your grin, you leaned in. “You must be constantly turned on at work then.” Pressing your lips into his, you bit down on his bottom lip. His hiss soon turned into a moan – and then a whine. 

“Let’s take this upstairs. There’s a bathroom between our bedrooms. It won’t be like our headboards are hitting the wall in rhythm.” 

“Fine.” You couldn’t hold out much longer anyway, and you both made your way upstairs, yelping loudly when Seokjin slapped your ass. You glare didn’t do much to discourage him, laughing loudly as he wrapped his arms around your middle and directed you to the door to his bedroom. 

“At least they’re being considerate and playing music,” he said, the music loud enough to block any other noise going on inside Yoongi’s bedroom... Thank God. 

“I feel like I’m back at college,” you whined as you stepped inside Seokjin’s room. 

“Huh? Did you and Ana make a habit of hooking up at the same time? Hot.” 

You pushed his arm. “No.” Chuckling, he made his way to the bed, sitting on the end, but you were too preoccupied with checking out his room. It was a lot larger than you imagined, walls cream, some covered in artwork. His computer was the main attraction, multiple screens, an unnecessarily large gaming chair and some other things you weren’t familiar with, mainly character figurines. His bed cover was a grey check pattern, a throw draped over the end with a couple of cushions against the headboard. Very clean. 

“Your room’s cute,” you commented. 

“Cute?” 

“Yeah.” Turning to look at him you smiled playfully. “So, I guess this is where you jerk your dick to fantasies of me.” 

He scoffed. “I don’t need to fantasise anymore. I have memories stored away in the wank bank.” Tapping his temple with his index finger he looked more than impressed with himself. 

“Gross!” You cried. 

“Come here,” he groaned, fed up with stalling, and he leaned over and grabbed you, causing you to squeal. “Or are you just planning on being a cocktease the whole night?” The sound wasn’t like you – but Seokjin had become good at making you act in ways you weren’t used to so far... 

Which is why you found yourself on your knees for him, sucking his dick, his jeans and underwear around his ankles. “Your mouth is fucking magic,” he grunted, head falling back, his perfect, thick neck on show as you glanced up. You felt the urge to take him deeper, pushing him closer and closer to the back of your throat, ignoring any noises of reluctance it made. 

“Fuck.” Seokjin choked, his fingers running through your hair to collect it in his fists. “That’s it. Take it all.” He pushed his hips up, stuffing your mouth for a few gloriously unbearable seconds before easing up. You lifted off, half of his dick still in your mouth as you caught your breath. He looked down at you with half-lidded eyes that seemed to eat you up. “Do you like choking on my cock?” 

Nope. He was not doing this. It was infuriating what his words did to you, and you immediately swallowed him again, ignoring the way your underwear stuck to your damp skin. He was going to have a field day when he felt you... 

Gasping for air not soon after, you had no choice but to pull off him entirely, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand. You were drenched in spit, so was his cock. You watched him kick off his clothing, naked from the waist down and you made moves to follow, reaching for your shirt and pulling it over your head. 

“Let me see those tits. I’ve missed them.” He murmured, and you complied, unhooking your bra to reveal yourself to him. His eyes instantly glazed over.  Confidently, you cupped the soft flesh in your palms, massaging yourself, putting on a show, and as your thumbs brushed the hardened peaks that were your nipples he practically growled. “Oh, fuck. You want to end me.” 

Laughing, you stood up, pushing your skirt off your hips, leaving you in just your tights and panties. He followed with his t-shirt, now fully naked. You’d never get enough of his body. “Come up here,” he whined. “Let me taste them.” 

Sat in his lap, you let him grope you, his mouth making out with your chest like it could kiss back. The sensation was so intense you quickly became weak at the knees and you clung to his neck, grinding against his thighs like nobody’s business. Unable to take it any longer, his hands slipped behind you, into your underwear, and he felt the silky fabric with a groan. Soon enough he was wrestling with your pantyhose again. 

“These fucking things. What the fuck. You’re doing it on purpose now.” 

“Am not,” you insisted. (Maybe you were). “I need to keep my legs warm.” With a furious tug you heard a rip and looking down you saw his damage. “Seokjin! You laddered them!” 

“Ugh. Just get them fucking off already, I need to feel you.” 

Asshole, but wet and desperate you quickly pulled then off, giving Seokjin a great view of your ass in the process. The underwear you had on had a cut-out at the top of your ass, revealing a “cleavage” of sorts. He seemed to appreciate the sight very much, giving you a playful smack and now you were very confused. Was he an ass man like you’d originally thought, or a tits guy? He was probably both. Greedy. 

You slipped the panties off too, settling back down in Seokjin’s lap, who instantly started running his fingers over your heat. You pulsed against him, desperate for some stimulation. 

“I swear to God you get wet so easily.” 

Says the guy who’d grown hard from a kiss? Okay... “Are you complaining?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. It’s stroking my ego.” 

“Your massive ego.” 

“Behave, or I won’t fuck you with my massive dick.” Okay, now he was just bragging. His smirk was annoying you. He looked way too sexy. 

You were expecting him to finger you for a bit, make sure you were stretched out enough for him, but all he did was dip his fingertips into your entrance, content with what he’d felt and then he was shuffling out from under your body to grab a condom from his bedside drawer. 

“God. I want to fuck you so much,” he muttered a few moments later, sliding the latex over his length as you securely sat on top of him again. You kissed him sloppily, letting him angle the head of his cock against your entrance. Impatiently, you pushed down, surprising yourself – and him – when you took him whole. 

You sat there, both breathing heavily as you started to adjust to him, walls clamping down like no tomorrow, which must have been torture for Seokjin, if his expression was anything to go by. 

“Shit. You got tighter,” he panted, reaching for your mouth again, trying to calm himself with kisses. You attempted to do the same, beginning to slowly grind back and forth, getting used to the full feeling. It wasn’t painful, just a little uncomfortable, but you were no longer scared of his monster cock. You’d had a fair few goes last weekend and you were now a near enough pro, so without further ado, you started moving for real. Up, until he was almost out of you and then down, slamming into him. You just about knocked the air out of Seokjin’s lungs, but he soon steeled himself, grabbing the tops of your thighs to keep you safe as you started bouncing up and down, riding his dick like it was the easiest thing in the world. In this moment, it was. 

Seokjin started groaning pretty quickly, his jaw clenched as he watched your every movement, his chest and neck patched with red. You clung to his shoulders, anchoring yourself to him as you flung yourself back. 

“Shit. Y/N!” He panicked, hands coming out to hold your lower back, afraid you were going to fall backwards off the bed. You were still sat on the edge after all, but of course he was strong enough to hold you tight, letting you lean back as far as possible to fuck yourself along his cock, the squelchy, sticky noise music to his ears. 

“Mmm. I missed this cunt so much,” he moaned. 

You wanted to tell him he was being a big baby, it had only been a few days but his vulgar words were having the desired effect on you yet again. You were like putty in his hands, especially when he started thrusting into you, meeting your movements with a thud. “I want you to cum on my dick.” 

Fuck. You were so close, his words only helping, but by now you were getting tired; out of breath and sweaty. “Seokjin—!” You moaned, voice breaking at the second syllable, and you leaned forward, collapsing into his chest. 

“Take it easy,” he murmured, hands dragging up your sweaty back. “Want me to take over?”

You grinned drunkenly. “No way, I’m enjoying myself too much.” 

Seokjin chuckled, pressing his mouth into yours. “Make yourself cum.” He whispered against you, thrusting into you still as he grabbed your ass, digging his fingers into the flesh. “You can do it, Y/N. Grind on me like you mean it. Grind all over me.” 

You listened, rutting into each one of his thrusts, holding on for dear life as your sensitive clit rubbed against his groin. You were both so sweaty and hot, your fingers sliding down his back, unable to grip on until you dug your nails into the skin. He hissed, thrusting into you harder. It seemed like Seokjin liked a little pain, too... 

“Baby, go a little faster,” he panted, kissing your neck, and you sped up, grinding into him messily, chasing your high like something possessed. You were so turned on, so sensitive, it only took a couple more minutes, a strangled cry leaving you as you tensed in his arms, your orgasm rocketing up your body.  “Ngh, fuck. Fuck.” 

Seokjin stopped his thrusts, letting you gradually come down, and soon enough your body relaxed, almost turning into goo as the pleasure warmed its way all throughout you. You lifted your head up, staring Seokjin straight in the eyes, both of you panting like crazy, and without a word he lifted you, flipping you over, your back to his mattress before he crawled over you. He wasn’t done yet – and neither were you. 

As he pushed inside you again, his hand found its way around your throat and he looked down at you carefully. “Is this okay?” 

You nodded, voice hoarse as you replied. “Yeah.” 

It wasn’t the first time he’d asked or done this – last weekend had been a lot, you still weren’t over it, and right now you were still so horny and desperate for him. You also really liked the feeling of his grip around your neck as he fucked you. 

“Fuck,” you breathed, feeling him start to thrust harder, faster, his palm tightening around your neck a little. You folded your legs at the knees and widened them, wanting him as deep as possible. 

“God, you’re so fucking hot,” he grunted, kissing your mouth in a frenzy, all tongue and teeth. His whole body was pressed into yours, pushing you into the mattress, his pelvis beginning to rub against your mound. You were still a little sensitive from your first orgasm, but you could already feel yourself a little needy for another. If he kept this up he’d have you coming again, and he knew by the way you started to meet each one of his thrusts, moans starting to slip from your throat – louder and louder. You hoped Yoongi still had his music on... 

“S-seokjin,” you stammered, hands sprawled across his back as you felt that familiar sensation again. “I’m going to–ngh–”

He moaned in reply, pushing into your harder, using his pelvis to get you off, and you held your breath, willing your orgasm to come. Your walls clenched around him, making it harder and harder for him to drag his cock inside of you, but he fought it, continuing with gritted teeth until he heard you cry out, your body stiffening under his. 

It wasn’t as strong as your last orgasm, but seemed to knock you for six, heady dizzy as you felt Seokjin kiss down your chest, slipping out of you carefully. His tongue circled one of your nipples, his hand cupping the other breast as he groaned softly. His erection bobbed against your inner thigh. 

“Coming on my cock twice. You’re amazing.” He awed, lifting his head up to smile at you. He sounded drunk. You felt drunk. 

“Well, I do try.” You joked, voice soft. 

He chuckled, and then his voice grew serious, eyes large and black, still very much turned on. “Tell me what you want, Y/N.” 

It was pretty obvious, his dick burning a hole against your leg. “Your cum.” 

His eyes widened, obviously not expecting you to be so upfront, and you took great pleasure in that. 

“Where?” He whispered. He didn’t bother to wait for your reply. “Mouth? Can I come in your mouth,” he asked. 

Your stomach dipped with urgent need, and you nodded your head rapidly. “Yeah.” 

He sat up instantly, moving to kneel over your face. He tugged the condom off, jerking himself off a couple of times before his eyes met yours. “Tongue out.” You obeyed, keeping your eyes open as the weight of his cock pressed against your tongue. “Good girl.” 

Okay, that was new. He hadn’t called you that last week, and instantly you felt your gut squeeze. You sucked the tip of his cock, eager now for him to cum in your mouth. As you did so, he started jerking himself off, eyes fluttering closed as his head lolled back, Adam’s apple bobbing slowly. His movements grew quicker, matching his breathing and then he hissed, body tensing up. 

“Fuckkk.” A couple of drops of cum landed against your tongue and you swallowed them, ready for more. You sucked him for all he was worth, your gaze never leaving his face, and even once he was done, you kept on lapping him with your tongue, digging the tip across the slit. 

He shuddered, making a strained noise and he pulled back, his cock falling out of your mouth. “Shit. I’m sensitive,” he laughed, collapsing next to you. You were both out of breath and sweaty, but wholeheartedly satisfied. 

“That’s gotta be the best yet?” You asked, grinning from ear to ear. 

“I think you may be right.” He agreed, pushing his hair out of his eyes, exposing his forehead. You wanted to reach over and kiss him, but you stopped yourself. “You were riding dick like a pornstar.” 

“Shut up,” you whined, pushing his shoulder. How embarrassing. 

Laughing at your reaction, he sat up, propping himself up with his elbow. “If you want the bathroom I have one over there.” 

You followed his thumb to a door on the right of his room. “An en suite? Very fancy.” 

Seokjin shrugged. “Yoongi has the main bathroom, so.” You didn’t move, tired more than anything, peeing could probably wait. Seokjin’s brows furrowed together. “Are you okay though?” 

“Of course,” you laughed. “I feel fricking amazing. I’ll be sad once this ends.” 

As soon as you said the words you felt funny. Seokjin looked surprised, voice low with... what was it, concern? “Who says it has to end? Do you want it to?” 

“...No,” you answered after a pause. 

Truthfully you didn’t want it to end just yet, you were enjoying yourself, you were just unsure of what was happening between the two of you... You’d  both confessed something back at the office last week but you were still uncertain what exactly it was. What had you been expecting? To fuck once and then that would be it? You liked having sex with Seokjin, it was fun, and you liked his company (most of the time). You liked him. He liked you. Maybe you didn’t need to put an expiry date on this thing. It was fine to see where it went. You didn’t need to turn it into a big deal. You didn’t need an outright answer for everything. It was fine to just live in the moment. 

“I don’t either,” Seokjin smiled, looking mildly relieved by your answer. 

“I just... when work starts back we won’t have much time to meet up like this.” 

“I’ll make time, trust me.” He kissed you then, hovering over you, lips warm and soft, a far cry from earlier, and the thought made you giggle. 

“What?” He asked bemused. 

“You know, you turn pretty demanding when you get horny.” 

He raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“Like, bossy and all, I don’t know, domineering.” You shrugged, feeling a little awkward. “It’s hot.” 

He smiled, chuckling softly as he kissed you again, a hand cupping your face. “It’s not too much?” He murmured. 

He didn’t sound surprised by your revelation so something told you he was aware of how he acted. Which made it even hotter, to be honest. 

“I like it.” You told him, biting down on your bottom lip. 

Eyes darkening, he hummed, his gaze running down your body. “So how about I tell you to spread those gorgeous legs so I can eat dessert?” 

You repressed the urge to laugh out loud. Dessert?! He was such an idiot. “Right now?”

“Yes. Right now.” Then he paused, rubbing his nose against yours, his tone softening. “Yeah?”

With a massive grin, you spread your legs. “Be my guest.” 

A third orgasm? You weren’t going to turn that down. 

 Written 2020 - 2021.  Please refrain from posting my work elsewhere. No translations allowed. © floralseokjin 2021

[it-was-all-a-beautiful-dream]

Silva Lining (Saul Silva x Reader) Chapter 6 pt2

Here you have it peeps. Part 2 of chapter 6! I’m really enjoying writing this story and if anyone has watched the original Winx cartoon you’ll recognise some bits in this chapter. Also, wanted to let you know that if you've watched Fate: the winx saga, my fic is mostly based off that timeline, however, I won't be following it exactly if you’re wondering why certain events haven't happened already etc... 

Warnings: Swearing/bullying?

Word count: 2.3k

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Oh god. You didn’t want to turn toward the voice, scared of what you were about to encounter. Saul visibly stiffened and not in the good way. If he was a cat the hair would be standing up on the back of his neck and he’d be poised to attack. His eyes looked at you quickly, it was a pleading look, one that you weren’t sure you like the look of. 

“I thought It was your handsome face I saw from over there, fancy seeing you here.” The girl was still walking towards the booth and hadn’t seen you yet, you were on the side with your back facing her so were shielded still, until she got closer. You turned your head and instantly were hit with a wave of unexplained anxiety. It was like for a moment you had gone straight back to being that small, un wanted shell of a girl Saul had found months ago cowering on the forrest floor. 

She was tall, slim, blonde and gorgeous, a lot of things you weren’t, you were total opposites. Where she wore a tight fitting figure hugging dress that showed off all her assets, and you meant ALL, you wore more of a muted outfit, sticking to your traditional fashion sense of white and black. Granted it was a date, you had made an effort to look nicer, no ripped skinny jeans this time, just normal black ones with platform Vans and a white sequinned top you’d borrowed from Stella, your leather biker jacket slung over the booth next to you. You noticed she was a lot older than you too, if you had to guess she was probably around 28, a lot closer to the age of your man sitting across from you. Her lips were a bold red, pearly white teeth shinning as she grinned at Saul.. until she noticed you sitting across from him. 

“Oh you have company?” She said it more like a question rather than a statement, like she was surprised he was here with anyone. The woman crossed her arms rather matter of factly and didn’t hesitate in looking you up and down, subtly not her forte. The grin she was giving you made you a little nervous, gone was the one she wore for Silva, now this one was different, something crazy behind the woman’s eyes, almost predatory. 

“And you are?” She looked straight at you, cocking her head, who the hell did she think she was. Saul was still quiet, you think shocked was the better word for it. Then he seemed to snap right out of it when he heard how you were being talked to. 

“Glamour, this is my girlfriend Y/N.” Her whole face changed from a wicked smile to a look of disgust. 

“You can’t be serious.” God if she was trying to make you feel any smaller she was surly succeeding. Now this, is what you called a Queen B, grade A Biatch! She would even give Stella a run for her money. “This, is what you left me for?” She shook her head in disgust and then even had the audacity to laugh. Sauls fists tightened, you slipped your foot back to his leg and moved it slightly, a reassuring touch.

“You know, I thought it was just a temporary thing, it’s only been two and a bit months after all, I thought it was just you getting stressed about going back to Alfea, but obviously you had ulterior motives.” What, wait, did she just say two and a bit months.. that means.. he was still dating this bitch when you had moved into Alfea and he was training you. In that moment you felt like an idiot. God, how could you have been so stupid, of course he would be going out with someone like her, she was perfect, everything a man could want, then there was you, a broken outcast who had no where to call home. What if you were just his charity case? The negatives thoughts came creeping in but you tried to push them down, you hadn’t felt this insecure in a long time. The booth seemed to crackle with energy, then you realised thin black clouds of fog hovering around you. Your powers were out of whack, it tended to happen when you were so emotional you couldn’t contain them. The woman looked a little rattled and Saul looked even more pissed. 

“Glamour, that was in the past, we weren’t anything but a fling, you didn’t mean anything to me and I didn’t mean anything to you, whereas, Y/N, means everything to me. Now if you don’t mind, me and my girl are trying to enjoy our date. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” Obviously she wasn’t used to being talked to the way Saul had because she let out an almighty screech of annoyance and stormed off, her heels clacking away on the tiled floor. 

“When you get bored with your pet project and want a real woman you know where to find me.” Was her last comment before she made her dramatic exit. You let out the breath you’d been holding, unable to look Saul in the eyes, willing the tears of embarrassment to magically disappear from your face, that was one thing your magic wasn’t good for. 

“Darling look at me.” You clenched your jaw as Saul hooked a finger under your face, lifting your chin, your glossy eyes meeting his. “She was nothing to me, nothing I promise you.. As soon as I knew I had feelings for you I cut all ties baby please believe me, you’re the only one I want, the only one.” You wiped the stray tear from your face hurriedly, Sauls face falling into a frown, he stood and slid into the same booth as you wrapping you in his big arms. You felt yourself calm. You felt safe again and you could tell he was telling the truth. Insecurities was a thing you’d struggled with forever, so you weren’t that surprised that they had creeped in, if there was one thing you did know, it’s that you trusted Saul with every fibre of your being.

He was right, the coffee in Magix was a billion times better than the coffee on earth. Heck, it didn’t even compare, you left the little place feeling buzzed and full of yummy goodness. Saul grabbed your hand, incasing it in his, the softness of you skin contrasting with his calloused fingers. It felt right. 

“You ready to head home baby or do you want to check out a couple of shops first?” He had pulled you into his side, your head just meeting the top part of his chest, you snuggled into him, the warmth of his body radiating towards you. You should have been a little tired, it had been a fun filled morning, but the coffee was something you would need to adjust to, you were wide awake and felt like you could run a marathon. 

“I saw a book shop on the way to the ice rink that I wanted to check out, and a clothes store that looked like it was kind of my thing, do you think we could stay a bit longer?” You craned your neck to look up at him, his grey eyes peering back at you, his mouth turned up into a charming smile. 

“Sure sweetheart, do you remember how to get to the book store? While you’re there, there’s someone I need to talk to quickly about guard business..” He stroked his hand over your hair as you nodded your head, giving you a sweet peck on your forehead. “Just text me the name of the clothes shop you go to and i’ll meet you there okay? No wondering off..” He looked more serious at that part and you stood on your tiptoes to give him a reassuring kiss. 

“Sure thing Sir.” With a wink you turned around, Saul slapping your ass playfully before you were out of reach which earned a giggle from you, gosh, that man. 

It hadn’t taken long for you to retrace your steps to the wonderful looking bookshop you’d seen earlier that morning. The doors were heavy when you pushed them open and stepped into the most beautiful place you’d ever seen. You had always been a sucker for books, the nerd side of you squealed in delight. It was one of the things on earth that helped you escape reality, reading and imagining running away to different worlds, wether it was Wonderland, Forks or Hogwarts. What surprised you most about the shop was it was a lot bigger than you thought it would be, like stepping into a Tardis, reasonably sized on the outside, enormous on the inside. 

You stepped forward tentatively, taking in your surroundings and the book smell that seemed to linger in the air. A woman with half moon shaped glassed that were perched on the end of her nose was sitting at the front desk, to you it seemed more like a library, maybe it was a bit of both. She looked up when she heard your footsteps, greeting you with a kind, grandmotherly like smile.

“Hello dear, can I help you with anything today?” That’s when you proceeded to tell her it was your first time in Magix and she talked you through everything. In the end you were lead to a space in the middle of the books, a round circle shape carved out in the middle of the stalls with an alter in the middle. 

“This is the book alter, you ask the alter for the name of book you’re searching for, a subject or anything you can think of, and the shop will do the rest.” Of course it was magic too, you had to get used to the idea that everything would be now. A magic search browser, you could get used to that. The lady moved on, returning to her perch behind her desk. 

“Okay okay, lets try…” You were thinking about what to ask for when the dream you’d had that day in the hospital came back to you.

“Find me anything on the ‘Dragon Soul.” the mystical voice had mentioned in in your hazy state and you naturally wanted to know more about where you’d maybe come from and what your powers were. A couple of books floated forward, one was a fictional book that was about mystical creatures, not what you were looking for, the other was labeled, “A brief history of the realms.” That one didn’t have a price, it had a coloured sticker, which meant you could take it out for a certain amount of time, just like a library, the different colours represent the time you can take it for. You sighed thinking that was all the place had to offer, millions of books and only one worth your time? Then you heard it. The creaking and slamming of iron. The gates opposite you held the restricted area, only accessible for teachers and higher people of power. A few books were battering themselves against the bars, trying to make their way towards you. Just before a shocked voice rounded the corner, a couple of the smaller books managed to squeeze through the bars and fly into your awaiting arms. Books had started flying all about you, something wrong with the altar. You ducked behind it for cover, almost knocked out by a fairy dictionary thicker than a brick. 

“Stop!” You were relieved when the elderly librarian had arrived, making the books cease in mid air, the attack halted. “Sorry my dear, I don’t know what happened, the altar doesn’t normally behave like this.” She looked at you worriedly. Before she noticed you had the books under your top, you thanked her and made your way to the front doors, only checking out the book that had come to you first, while the other two remained hidden.  

Saul had done exactly what he said he’d do, you had text him as soon as you’d cleared the book store, luckily the ones you wanted to keep hidden managed to fit inside the small shoulder bag you’d brought along. It didn’t take long for your man to come walking around the corner, a spring in his step and smile on his face when his eyes set upon you standing at the boutique. 

“Did you find what you were looking for princess?” He pulled you into him, as if you’d been away for ages when it had only been 20 minutes. 

“Yup, the books went crazy in there and almost took me out but I got what I went for, I think.” With that you both walked into the boutique, you weren’t planning on buying anything really, just wanted to have a look about, it had been months since you’d had a look around stores, it was nice to have a bit of normalcy. While Saul sat in the designated boyfriend seat, it didn’t take long for something to catch your eye. A black lacy dress that would be perfect for your birthday next week. You’d also snuck over to the lingerie section, looking for something more on the risqué side, it was as much a treat for you as it would be for Saul, but he wasn’t to know that yet. You’d managed to try on and pay for your items before he’d realised anything. 

“That was quick what did you get?” He stood, stretching his arms above his head, his tight t-shirt rising slightly revealing the trail of hair from his belly button all the way down to…. your head shot up when you heard Saul clear his throat, he was smirking at you, one eyebrow raised. Cocky bastard. You playfully shoved him and rolled your eyes, making your way back into the street.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out Mr Silva.”

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As always I hope you liked this chapter, if you did please LIKE, COMMENT, REBLOG AND FOLLOWWWW <3

CHAPTER 7 ----- CLICK HERE 

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[the-gay-prometheus]

AU Segment - What’s In A Name (Parts 1 and 2 Combined!)

Oh hey, hi, hello. I finally finished this bit! I’m not sure how I entirely feel about it, but considering all of these segments are still just ‘test runs’ for this AU, that’s kinda to be expected. No warnings needed for these to my knowledge, just wholesome silly stuff and a bit of heartfelt moments thrown in. Just some notes before I share this full segment: 1. You’ll notice that unlike the last segment I posted, the creature is simply called Creature with a capital c rather than “the creature.” There is a reason for this! The narrator, although omniscient, has a bias toward Victor and his point of view about this character. The name of said character changes along with Victor’s view of him - from being a mess of all kinds of nasty things (’beast,’ ‘monster,’ ‘demon,’ etc.), to simply being ‘the creature, then to being more of a formal name ‘Creature,’ and finally to his actual name. In moments where Victor is particularly upset with this character, the title used by the narrator may change to reflect that. 2. This is veeeery very long considering it’s both parts 1 and 2. Knowing tumblr, formatting may get all screwed up, but I’m hoping for the best! 3. Both parts will also be posted to ao3 in their own works, so if you’d rather have links to them there so you’re not endlessly scrolling through a massive wall of text, feel free to ask! 4. I’m still practicing my ‘not-so-angsty’ writing, so some parts may be a little wonky because the wholesome silly stuff is not quite where my skills lie yet 😅 5. Special shout-out to @fergus-reid! The name ‘Percival’ suggested in part two that Victor rejects because it is a ‘name that he heavily considered’ was 100% influenced by his incredible podcast “The Marksbury Incident” - a beautifully written and acted modern/cross-over type AU where Victor is also a trans man (and canonically considered the name Percival for himself)! It’s a really neat story and I totally recommend checking it out! As always, likes, reblogs, and comments of any kind are appreciated! Without further ado, I present ‘What’s In A Name?’

PART 1: “How about… hm… Gabriel?” Victor and Creature trekked along the mountain trail, Victor taking the lead so Creature wouldn’t go too far ahead. “That’s a good name, don’t you think?” Creature shrugged his shoulders, pausing to inspect the nearly white bark of a silver fir, tracing along the jagged edges with curiosity. “Is that a no?” Victor asked, somewhat out of breath as he turned to check on his creation. “Yes, that is a no,” Creature mumbled as he looked upward toward the top of the tall conifer. “Oh! I know! How about Luca? It means light!” Creature turned toward him with a disappointed frown. “Perfect, because surely I am the light of your life,” he remarked with clear sarcasm. For a moment Victor was almost impressed; after all, this was the first he had heard him make any kind of obviously sarcastic… joke? Was it a joke? “Well, no, that would be Henry,” Victor replied, turning back toward the trail and motioning for Creature to follow. “But you were born of lightning, so it would at least have some sentimental meaning?” The creation shook his head. “I would rather not be consistently reminded of my origins.” The two continued along the trail, Victor staying quiet as he tried to think of another name that might work. As they walked, they came along a portion of the trail with a steep, rocky cliff that harbored the continuation of the trail on top. Victor, being the stubborn person he was, insisted that he could climb up himself, but each time he tried to scrabble up, he would lose his hold or lose his footing and fall back down. Though he continued to insist he could do it, Creature lifted him up and set him on the top of the stone. Victor shot him a nasty look, brushing off his clothing as if where he had touched him was somehow now dirty, but Creature ignored it and hoisted himself up to the top with ease. “Then how about Adam?” Victor suggested, turning and starting his way down the trail once again. Creature stood at the cliff edge, staring at his creator. “After all, you came up with that one yourself.” “I… I do not want a name that I came up with,” Creature began. “I would much rather it come from you.” Victor gave him an odd look. “What does it matter? A name is a name, right? I named myself and you don’t see me complaining about it,” he retorted, crossing his arms. He glanced off to the side, then frowned. “Well… I suppose Henry technically helped- but I’m the one who chose it.” Creature crossed his own arms and gave him the kind of look that said ‘well, there’s the answer to your own question.’ Victor stared at him, then dramatically waved his arms and spun around. “Fine! Fine. Alright. What if I said I was giving that name to you because I thought it fit you and not because you came up with it? I mean, it is rather fitting considering-” “Then you missed my entire point of what I had said when I brought that name up,” Creature cut him off. Victor looked back to him. “Then what were you saying?” “I said I ought to be your Adam but… that it was not who I actually was to you. It was…” He hesitated. “A painful moment for me, Victor. To come to the realization that everything I should have been was everything I never would have had the chance to be.” Victor sighed, hanging his head. “Well, what if it’s who you are to me now?” he asked, his voice sincere. Creature shook his head. “That makes no difference. Once again it would simply be a reminder of such dreadful memories. I would rather live my life without being constantly reminded of my past simply by someone calling me by my name.” Victor didn’t answer, opting instead to take a step and continue onward. Creature hesitated, but followed all the same. “Gilbert?” Victor called out as he walked. Creature couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well that was out of nowhere.” “But is it a no?” “Yes, it is a no.” Victor made a grunt of disappointment, then looked around, pointing to a tall conifer with beautiful vibrant orange needles. “What about Larch? Like the tree?” he asked. His creation paused, looking at the tree and others of its species around them. “It is certainly a beautiful tree,” he remarked simply. “Though I am not sure it is a good name.” “Come on, it’s a great name!” Victor exclaimed, turning back to the trail and clambering his way up a boulder that blocked the path. “I will… give it some thought,” Creature promised with a slight smile, hopping over the boulder as though it were only a mild inconvenience. “That doesn’t sound like a no to me,” Victor proposed, grinning. “It is not a no, but it is also not a yes,” Creature explained, reaching up and plucking a handful of the orange needles from one of the trees and inspecting them closer. “Then it’s basically a no and I should keep going,” Victor suggested. Far ahead, the trees cleared and open sky above distant ridgeline could be seen - signifying they were nearly home - and Victor let out an exasperated sigh. “I told you I’d have a name for you by the time we got home. You’re making this more difficult than it has to be.” “And I told you that these things take far more time than what one walk will procure,” Creature countered. “Not that you listen to me, of course.” He continued onward, passing Victor, who watched as he walked by. “I don’t listen to anyone,” Victor called to him as he watched him walk. “I thought that would’ve been fairly obvious by now.” “Oh, it is certainly obvious, but that does not make it - or you, for that matter - any less irritating, Victor,” his creation answered from ahead. Victor frowned. “Hey- Hey! Wait up!” He scrambled as he broke into a run, tripping over a stone and nearly falling but somehow miraculously not falling flat on his face. “What was that supposed to mean?” Creature kept walking, pausing to lift a bough that crossed in front of the path and ducking beneath it, holding it away from the trail so Victor could pass without walking into it. “I was simply stating a fact,” he mentioned, letting the branch go once Victor was through. “Hmph.” Victor strode past him, ducking his way through the last tangle of branches before emerging to the ledge where their little hut stood. “Could’ve kept it to yourself,” he grumbled as he straightened his vest and brushed off his coat. “I will keep that in mind,” Creature stated, emerging beside him with at least one twig sticking awkwardly out of his long black hair. Victor looked up at him, staring at the twig in his hair with narrowed eyes until Creature got the hint that there was something there, then started making his way back toward their home with his shoulders drooped and his eyes on the ground. Grumbling something about how ungrateful his creation was, he made his way to the door, reached for it, and then- whack! The door flew open, hitting Victor directly in the face and knocking him backward. He clutched at his nose with a yelp of pain. Creature couldn’t help but chuckle - this was at least the third time this had happened in the past week alone. It was Henry who had opened the door, and who had promptly let out a sharp gasp of surprise upon seeing his boyfriend dramatically writhing around on the ground with his hand over his face. “Good lord Victor!” he exclaimed, dropping to the ground to check if he was ok. Victor sucked in a breath and hissed it out through his teeth, slowly removing his hand from his nose and blinking his eyes back open. Upon seeing Henry, directly above him, he managed a half smile. “You’re lucky I love you,” he sneered, pushing himself up onto his hands. Henry grinned, planting a kiss on Victor’s lips, which Victor gladly reciprocated. As he pulled back, Henry stood, offering a hand to help his boyfriend up from the ground. “I know I am,” Henry answered Victor’s original statement with a smirk. “Not that he poses much of a threat regardless,” Creature quipped from behind them. Victor rolled his eyes and Henry snickered. “Well, threat or not,” he began, wrapping his arm around Victor, “How’d it go? Did you two finally figure out a name?” “No, we didn’t. That one is too stubborn,” Victor complained, pointing to his creation. “I simply did not relate to any of the names you suggested, Victor. That is not stubbornness, that is…” He paused, thinking of how to word it. “Well… I suppose it could be stubbornness.” Henry shook his head. “Not stubbornness at all. A name is an important and meaningful thing, so if you have yet to hear one that you feel fits you, then it just doesn’t fit and that’s all there is to it,” he explained with a kind smile. Victor gave him a side-eyed glance, then sighed. “Alright, sure. Not stubborn. Just irritating,” he retorted, giving Creature a sneer. Creature stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. “Well, you did create me, after all.” Henry tried to hold back a laugh, and couldn’t help but let it out as Victor pushed him away with a scoff. “I am not irritating!” he announced, earning even harder laughter from Henry. He spun on his heels to face him, crossing his arms. “It’s not funny! I’m not irritating!” “Pfff- Yes you are!” Henry exclaimed through his laughter. Victor wanted to be angry, but Henry’s laughter was contagious as always and he found himself starting to snicker along. “No I’m not!” he repeated, though much less seriously. “You most certainly are,” Creature mentioned, starting to chuckle a bit himself. “I- I am absolutely not,” Victor reiterated, trying to make himself sound very serious but only making himself - as well as Henry and Creature - laugh even harder. “Yes you are!” Henry teased, reaching out and flicking Victor’s nose. Victor flung his hand up and stumbled back. “Ow! Henry that’s still sore!” he exclaimed reaching out to flick him back. Henry jumped out of the way and took off toward the open land of the ridge just beyond their hut still laughing as he gave his boyfriend a look that seemed to say ‘just try to catch me.’ Victor smirked and ran off after him, shouting “You sly bastard- get back here!” Creature watched them chase one another, his laughter slowly subsiding to a smiling sigh. Name or no name, he felt like he was finally so much closer to the life he wanted - a loving family of sorts, though a strange family it may be. He watched as Henry switched directions and came up from behind Victor, tackling him to the ground. Though he couldn’t make out what they were saying, he could hear as their own laughter turned to quiet words, and then to quiet as Henry silenced Victor with another kiss. A content expression on his face, Creature lay back, sprawled out on the ground, and watched the clouds as they passed through the sky. PART 2: The afternoon was fair-weathered and peaceful, blue sky hardly obscured by a few fluffy clouds with the sun casting its brilliant light evenly over the mountains. Creature had spent just about the entirety of the last few hours still lying on the ground, the first half watching the clouds that passed by while considering each shape they took as they changed with the wind, and the second half so well at peace that he had fallen asleep. That was, of course, until the feeling of something being dropped on his chest caused his eyes to snap open. Above him stood Henry, who was looking down at him with his arms crossed and a smile on his face. Creature managed an awkward smile in return, and looked down at what had been dropped on him. He recognized the small leather bag and gently plucked it off his chest, reaching up to drop it back into Henry’s now waiting outstretched hand. “Fancy a game?” Henry asked with a grin, shaking the bag and causing the contents inside to clink and rattle. Creature chuckled and slowly lifted himself upright. “Of course, though you could have woken me in perhaps a less startling manner,” he replied. “Where’s the fun in that?” Henry joked, tossing the bag back and forth between his hands. “Will Victor be joining us?” Creature inquired as he rose to his feet and brushed the dust and dirt from his cloak and pants. “Begrudgingly, yes,” came a flat voice from behind him. He turned to find Victor standing there, looking almost entirely unamused - almost, though Creature could tell he was actually looking forward to it. Henry was the first to jog over to their typical outdoor playing spot, a fairly flat length of stone close to the edge of the ledge, and emptied the contents of the bag onto the ground. An array of clearly non-professionally made dominos, all somewhat unevenly cut with a yellow-stained tint (the clear sign of being made with real bone), clattered down and Henry quickly flipped any that fell right-side-up over so that only the blank sides were facing. Creature arrived and sat down carefully, knowing the drill by now and beginning to choose his five tiles. Victor flopped himself down beside Henry, faking an annoyed sigh as he started to pick his tiles. Henry caught the fake sigh and snatched one of the tiles Victor was about to pick before he could take it, resulting in the two in the two of them giving each other mock-mad looks before they both devolved into a small fit of giggles. As the two of them continued to pester each other while picking their tiles, Creature picked up his own tiles to see if he had managed to pick up a doubles tile. “All-threes as usual, correct?” he mentioned above their antics. Henry looked up at him with a nod. “Yes, unless you wanted to try something different today?” Creature thought for a moment. “No, I am content with the usual.” “Well that’s perfect,” Victor quipped as he looked at his tiles, his expression brightening. He set one of his tiles down, one with six pips on both ends. “Twelve points for me,” he mused, picking up a small splinter of stone and scratching twelve tally marks down beside him on a bare spot of the stone ground amongst a multitude of other scratched-over tallies from games past. “Perfect for me too,” Henry teased, placing a tile with six pips on one end and none on the other. “That’s twelve points for me also.” Victor shot him a clearly sarcastically scathing glance, which Henry countered with a smirk as he reached for the stone splinter Victor had been keeping tally with to tally his own points. “It seems we are starting this with a tie,” Creature examined, placing a fully blank tile beside the one Henry had placed down before picking up a much larger splinter of stone beside him and carving out twelve tallies for himself. Victor gave him a disappointed glance before checking his own tiles and finding one he could place, though it would earn him no more points. Henry placed his next tile and the turn was passed to Creature, who managed to score another twelve points. “Hey Victor, I think I figured out what name we should give him,” Henry mentioned with sarcasm as Creature scratched down his tallies. Creature glanced upward, listening carefully. Victor didn’t answer, but instead rolled his hand in a motion that meant ‘go on.’ Henry snickered as he placed down a tile of his own. “I think we should call him Victor the Second because at this rate you’re going to lose your winning streak.” “No, I think we should call him Henry,” Victor countered, voice dripping with sarcasm as he played his own next tile and scratched down six points for himself. “I am not taking either of your names,” Creature muttered with a slight smile as he placed his next tile down and etched twelve more points on his tally. “That would be far too strange.” “Fair enough,” Henry replied, checking his tiles and realizing he needed to draw from the free-pile in order to place one down. “How about… Ah! I’ve got it!” he exclaimed. “How about Hector?” Both Victor and Creature gave him an odd look. “Hector?” Victor repeated, raising one eyebrow as he also picked up a few tiles from the free pile in order to find one to place down - which he did, and scratched in three points for himself. “Henry, Victor,” Henry explained, raising one hand with each name. “Hector,” he finished, clapping his hands together. Victor couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter, and Creature chuckled softly as well. “Amusing and sweet, Henry, but I do not think that is the name for me,” he replied, placing his final tile down. Checking over the playing area again, he grinned. “And I do believe that is a win.” Victor shot his glance down. “What?!” He looked at what had been put down. “How? Are you already out of bones?” Creature nodded. “Indeed.” “Ha!! The unbeatable Victor finally tastes defeat!” Henry exclaimed, ruffling his fingers through Victor’s hair - Victor, who flicked his hand away to take a closer look at the spread as if somehow that would make it change. “No, no - not possible. Absolutely impossible.” He looked up at Creature and squinted. “You cheated somehow.” Creature gave him a confused look. “I… do not believe it is even possible to cheat at this game?” “Don’t mind him, he’s just being a sore loser,” Henry reassured him, bumping Victor in the shoulder with his elbow. Victor gave a huff and crossed his arms. “Rematch?” Creature nodded. “If you are both so inclined.” Victor glanced away, trying to hold back a smile. Truth was, he actually was very much enjoying himself. “... Fine,” he said at a length, beginning to flip and mix the tiles. They each plucked their dominos from the pile. “Anyone have a double six?” Henry asked as he looked at his tiles. Victor and Creature both looked at each other as if asking each other the same question, then both shook their heads. Creature looked back down at his tiles, then placed down a double five. “Good enough.” “How about Daniel?” Victor asked as Henry played a tile. “Do you have a reason for that name?” Creature responded as Victor played his next and scratched a new tally of three. “Not particularly. It’s just a nice name,” Victor replied, gesturing that it was his turn. “I see.” Creature placed a tile, and scratched a six for himself, which prompted a quiet ‘scheisse!’ from Victor. He couldn’t help but smile at the reaction. “I would have to say no.” “Does it have to be a name with meaning?” Victor asked as he watched Henry play his turn. “I would prefer it to, if possible.” Victor thought for a moment as he placed his next tile. “Percival is a good name,” Henry suggested with a smirk toward Victor. Victor gave a thoughtful look, then furrowed his brow and gave Henry a look of flat annoyance. “He can’t just have the name I didn’t take,” he muttered. “You had considered naming yourself Percival?” Creature inquired as he picked up a tile from the draw pile and placed it down, etching a twelve in his tallies. “Considered it, yes,” Victor grumbled in reply. “I… do like the sentiment of taking on your unused name,” Creature mentioned, thinking it through more as he watched Henry play his next turn. “Well- you can’t have it,” Victor responded, picking up two tiles and placing one down. “What about Prometheus? I fancied myself to be like him while I was making you, so there would be some meaning to it.” Creature took a moment to think, then shook his head. “I feel I really do not want something that relates in any way to my creation. Not… that I resent being created, mind you, but I have tried to put the past behind me as much as possible, as you know,” he explained as he set down his next tile. Victor sighed heavily, resting his elbow on his knee and his chin on his hand as Henry played his turn and scratched a twelve down for himself. They continued their turns in relative silence, until finally as the sun was beginning to set in the sky it was Victor who placed his final tile. Though he felt like he should be celebrating that, instead Victor felt… defeated. He got up, muttering, “Good game, both of you,” before sulking off back to the cabin. Henry watched him go with a concerned gaze. “Have I… said something wrong?” Creature asked quietly, suddenly beginning to worry that he had hurt his creator in some way. Henry sighed. “No, you’re fine,” he reassured him as he began collecting the tiles and placing them back into their holding pouch. “You coming inside?” Creature shook his head. “I… think I will stay out here for the time being.” Henry smiled at him and gave him an understanding nod before making his way to the cabin. As he stepped inside, he set the pouch down on the side table by the door and made his way into what they considered the ‘common space,’ where Victor sat by the fireplace which only softly glowed with a freshly started fire. “Are you alright, love?” Henry asked gently, sitting beside him and wrapping an arm around him. Victor heaved a shaky sigh and rested his head on Henry’s shoulder. “I just… I feel like I can’t do right by him,” he mumbled, pressing himself closer to his boyfriend. “Nothing I’ve ever done has been… right.” Henry listened carefully as he spoke, holding him tighter and resting his head against Victor’s. “Well, you’re trying, aren’t you?” he suggested softly. “I think he’s just happy that you’re trying.” “Trying isn’t enough,” Victor stated, sitting upright and staring into the small, flickering flames. “After all I’ve done and all I’ve said, trying isn’t enough.” “Then let’s change our approach,” Henry recommended with a smile, reaching out and gently turning Victor’s face toward him to give him a tender kiss. Victor exhaled softly and leaned into it, then slowly pulled back. “How so?” “We could start by doing what we did when we chose your name.” Victor’s eyes widened. “Oh!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Henry, you’re a genius!” “I’m flattered, but that honor belongs to you, love,” Henry quipped with a grin. “Come on - let’s start reading.” The two of them scoured the collection of books that Henry had brought up with him, picking out names and sounding them off to each other one by one. They went through book after book until the sun disappeared and the sky went dark, either one of them occasionally throwing a new log into the fire to ensure they had plenty of light and warmth. After a few hours, Victor stared down at a page, and uttered, “I think I’ve got it.” Henry looked up from his own book and set it down, swiftly moving over to him. Victor pointed a word out to him. “That one.” Henry gave him a quizzical look. “Are you sure? That’s hardly a name.” Victor looked up at him. “I know, but think about the meaning! It’s perfect!” Henry thought for a moment, then wrapped his arms around him with a smile. “With a bit of tweaking, I think you might be right,” he murmured, planting a kiss on his cheek. “You really do mean it, don’t you.” Victor glanced back at him. “Hm?” “You’ve really come to care for him, I mean,” Henry explained, releasing his grip. Victor hesitated, but then nodded. “I have - genuinely. I just… hope this will be enough to prove it.” “I’m sure it will be perfect.” Creature was sitting out near the edge of the ledge, resting his weight on his hands as he stared up at the stars as they glittered above. Victor took a deep breath as he stepped outside and breathed out slowly. You can do this. It’ll be fine, he thought to himself as he walked over as quietly as he could. He sat beside his creation, and tilted his head back to look upward as well. Creature turned his head slightly to look at him, then returned to his stargazing. “Agape,” Victor said suddenly. “...What?” Creature asked, once again looking over to him. Victor kept his eyes on the stars, but smiled slightly. “Do you know what it means?” Creature stared at him, thinking, then returned his gaze upward. “It is… Greek.” “That’s right.” He thought some more, racking his brain for memories of the word. “One of the… three Greek forms of love, correct?” Victor nodded. “Indeed.” He glanced away as he continued to think. “...If I recall correctly, it is considered the highest form of love. A deep, profound respect. Some define it as… the mutual love between God and man, and between man and God.” Victor’s smile grew - his creation’s intelligence still continued to amaze and fascinate him. “That is also correct. Though… I think I’d like to propose a more general definition.” Creature looked over at him. “What definition would that be?” Victor took a moment, then closed his eyes. “The mutual love between a creator at his creation, and between a creation and his creator.” Creature’s eyes widened, and for the sake of trying not to immediately shed a tear by thinking about that statement, he stared back up to the heavens. “That is… a definition I could approve of.” “How about a name?” “A… name?” “Is it a name you could approve of?” Victor reiterated, opening his eyes and looking over to see that Creature was now once again staring at him, though this time clearly not trying to hide the tears in his gleaming yellow eyes. His silence disturbed him, and he looked away. “...No, no nevermind - forget it. Forget it.” “Victor I,” Creature began, his voice soft and shaken. “That is so much more of a meaningful name than I could have ever imagined.” Victor glanced back at him. “Are you sure?” Creature nodded, smiling wide as tears streamed down his face. “I have scarcely been more sure.” Victor swallowed back tears of his own and smiled back to him. “Then consider it finalized, Agape.” He paused, then leaned forward and embraced him as tightly as he could. “Agape Frankenstein, my first and only…” he paused, thinking for a moment, then smiled contentedly, “son. My first and only son.” Agape didn’t know how to react at first - he was overwhelmed with so many emotions; relief, hope, joy. The most he could do was wrap his arms around his creator - his father - and finally take in what it really meant to be loved.

[starlit-dreaming]

[8] in the back of my mind

Fandom: WMMAP Rating: G Ship: Eventual Lucathy, Felily, Calena, and more Note: the Twin Sibling AU that i tried so hard not to write, but i DID, so naturally i have to call myself out for writing it. will be cross-posted on ao3 and wattpad under the same title

note: I’M FINALLY AT THE END OF ARC ONE AND WILL BE SMACKING INTO THE 2 YEAR TIME SKIP ARC NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!! I’M SO EXCITED I LOOK FORWARD TO EVENTUALLY DIVERGING FROM THE CANON STORYLINE

also, idk how many chapters will be in arc 2. due to firmly sticking to my 2-3k word limit per chapter, a lot of chapters in my outline have been shuffled for later down the line, since i was only expecting arc 1 to end at ch7 and for verena to be introduced in ch9, but if you read my note in the previous chapter, that aint gonna happen. im really happy with how this chapter turned out, actually

Arc 1: Beginning of the End 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | [8]

Arc 2: Of Princes and Villainesses 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Summary:

He was pretty sure he transmigrated into a fanfic of [The Lovely Princess] — after all, he would’ve remembered if Princess Athanasia had a younger twin who died.

// A retelling of WMMAP with a vital difference — Athanasia has a younger twin brother.

——————————

8. this is the morning after

——————————

‘How annoying,’ Athanase thought as he weaved flowers into a flower crown. He glances up at Athy, who picked two big pink roses and kept her gaze down. ‘They’re still looking at you, Athy,’ he tells her, noticing her eyebrow twitching at the statement.

‘I know, Athan!’ Athy had thought to him with a cry. ‘What do I do?’

‘Well, it’s not like we can just tell them we don’t want to see our mom. They’ll think that we’re lying and trying to suppress our feelings at such a young age,’ Athan huffed, picking up a white daisy and adding it to his flower crown. ‘Well, we could always ask Claude, but in Toska, this was what caused him to stop calling for us as often as he does. I don’t think he hates her, but there’s definitely some baggage going on there, and that was the reason why he hated the twins in Toska.’

‘Then he can’t find out we want to see Diana,’ Athy thought with the utmost determination, picking up another pink rose.

‘Wouldn’t it be better to get ignored by him, though? I thought you wanted minimal contact with him,’ Athan frowned.

‘I know, but… there’s a lot of pros to this plan as long as we act like Jennette,’ Athy pouted.

‘If you say so…’

——————————

‘I’ve had enough of trying to leave like I don’t have a clue,’ Athy inwardly groaned. ‘This is so uncomfortable.’

‘I think you’ve been handling it pretty well,’ Athan hummed, flicking through his book on Siodonna, looking at photography of various sceneries. ‘Especially since Diana would’ve been the best mom if she survived during childbirth.’

‘Ugh, don’t be like that,’ Athy shot him a flat look. ‘She’s not even our real mom, anyway.’

‘I vastly prefer her more than my previous life’s mom, that’s for sure,’ he snorts. Pausing when he hears quiet footsteps leaving the room. ‘Ah. They left.’

‘I’m going to follow them,’ Athy hummed, getting off the sofa and trotting over to the door. ‘Wanna come with?’

‘No,’ he flatly thinks back. ‘Something bad always happens after you ask me that, and I want no part in it.’

‘Not true.’

‘Meeting Claude and ruining the original plan of getting ignored.’

‘That… was kind of inevitable, wasn’t it?’

‘December of last year. You wanted to sneak into the kitchen for chocolate, but since we were too short to reach the doors, you dragged me along to help. But then, since you got so scared because there was a rat that hadn’t been caught yet, you ended up screaming and accidentally whacked the table and got flour spilled all over me and further freaked out because I looked like a ghost and—’

‘You are so fucking mean to me. I’m telling Lily that you’re absolutely evil.’

‘Good luck with that. She thinks I’m an angel.’

‘Ugh, I hate you.’

‘Love you, too.’

.

.

.

.

.

‘Athan, I fucked up!’ Athy had soon cried, throwing herself onto the sofa and onto Athan’s lap. ‘What do I do? I made everything worse!’ she mentally screeched, hugging his midsection.

‘I’m so glad I didn’t tag along,’ Athan thought to himself, patting his sister’s head. ‘There, there. Tell me everything that happened.’

.

.

.

Well, something bad happened, but thankfully, it’s not Athanase’s problem.

——————————

The day following after Athy’s spectacular outburst against Felix regarding their birth mother, Athan was the only one able to sleep peacefully. Everyone had pale faces, a hint of exhaustion being the only indication of how they felt overall.

Well, for starters, Athanase remembers the way Lily had gently declared that Diana was always at their side. It was possible that she stayed there until the sun began to rise, and Athanasia herself did confirm in her mind that she couldn’t sleep.

Thus, it stood to reason that Felix also didn’t sleep much at all last night.

‘You all look like shit,’ Athan commented, rubbing his eyes as he yawned as always. He still wasn’t a morning (and he didn’t care what Athy said — 11 AM is still in the morning) person, but at least he got enough sleep.

‘And you’re looking like a gremlin as always, I see,’ Athy dryly thought back.

“We should be heading out now,” Felix stated, hesitating as he glanced at Athanasia.

‘Was I being a bit too much yesterday…?’ Athy thought.

‘Probably. They both think that you’re suppressing your feelings regarding the whole “I wanna see Diana” thing,’ he huffed as Athy tugged on Felix’s cloak, asking him to pick her up. ‘Thankfully, since we’re still little kids, they won’t think too much about it if you act like you never had a fight.’

‘I guess that’s just one of the few perks of being a small kid,’ Athy hummed as Felix picked her up in a piggyback ride. ‘Look at them, acting like newly-weds. They don’t have feelings for each other, do they?’

‘Then what does that make you who’s between them, their child?’ Athan raised a brow as he walked beside Felix with his grip on the knight’s cloak.

‘You can’t have Lily!’ Athy adamantly thought with puffed up cheeks as she stared at the back of Felix’s head.

There she was — ignoring him.

.

(Again.)

——————————

‘As always, Claude has crappy manners,’ Athy huffed.

‘He’s still a good Emperor,’ Athan hummed, observing the imperial family’s emblem on the banners. ‘Terrifying or not, he actually gets the work done, enough that he’s able to make time for us in his busy schedule.’

‘If he’s going to make us wait, the least he could do is let us wait in a room or something,’ Athy pouted at him.

‘True, but you don’t have room to complain,’ he raised a brow at her. ‘Considering that you’re using Felix instead of standing.’

‘That sounds like a you problem.’

‘Did you just… did you just meme at me?’

‘What’s a meme?’

‘Oh my god, my sister’s an uncultured swine.’

‘Shut up, I was broke in my previous life. I didn’t get to grow up with almost all of your internet terminology — not that it’d matter since you grew up in America and I lived in Korea,’ she glared at him. ‘And I was talking about the fact that you could have Felix pick you up, too, but you always insist on walking.’

‘I’m building up strength for when I eventually start my sword training,’ Athan rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t remember why I know this, but if I start any physically strenuous exercise now, I could possibly stunt my growth and cause my body more harm. Plus, I was only 5'2" in my last life, and Athanasios is taller than 5'4"! Every inch counts.’

‘Seriously?’ He didn’t need to look at his older sister’s face to see her incredulous expression.

‘Well… I just know he’s taller than Athanasia when the twins are 16 years old.’

Before Athy could have a chance to respond back, the doors to the throne room opened. A man with white hair and golden eyes emerged — clearly a noble, judging from the expensive materials his suit was made with. Wasn’t this Ijekiel’s father?

‘The same ducal family that raised Jennette until she was 14 years old?!’ Athy stares with wide eyes.

‘If I transmigrated as a 30-year-old dude, I’d definitely tap that,’ Athan thought, peering up at the older man.

‘Gross.’

‘Nobody asked for your opinion, Athy.’

‘Then keep a better hold on your thoughts, Athan.’

That was laughable — compared to Athy, Athan was much better at keeping his thoughts to himself, with only an occasional slip up here and there.

‘He’s your love interest’s dad, for goodness’ sake!’

‘Same goes to you!’ he shot her a look. ‘Athanasia also fell in love with him in Toska, along with Jennette, Athanasios, and even Verena, that minor villainess, fell in love with this dude!!’

“My, pardon my manners, I didn’t notice,” Duke Alpheus said upon noticing Athanasia peeking over from Felix’s back. His gaze falls, finally taking notice of Athanase at Felix’s side as well. “Roger Alpheus, at your service. Prosperity be upon the Obelian Empire.”

‘Ah… I guess he’s comparing you with Jennette,’ Athan thinks as he notices the Duke’s gaze lingering on his sister. ‘I take back what I thought. His staring’s getting kinda creepy.’

‘Me, a 5-year-old?’ Athy thought angrily as she smiled cheerfully.

Athanase looked at her.

“Hello, Mister White!” Athy brightly greeted. ‘Sup, how’s Jennette?’

‘And you always tell me off for playing jokes like this,’ Athan thought as he simply looked away.

‘It’s his fault for comparing little kids,’ Athy hummed.

——————————

Athanase gave the Duke a little wave as they walked past him and enters the throne room at Felix’s side. After Athy’s little joke on Duke Alpheus, it seemed to more or less give the Duke some rather mixed feelings. He could understand that — the twins had never been openly acknowledged until recently, and the only thing known about them is that they were the only survivors of the Ruby Palace Massacre.

Claude didn’t really come across as a doting father, and Athy’s interaction with Duke Alpheus didn’t really confirm or deny much of anything regarding the twin’s relationship with the man who sired them. After all, if Emperor Claude was a surprisingly doting father, then surely that would mean Jennette would be left in Claude’s care without too much of a worry.

‘Then again, that’s all speculation,’ Athan thought, smiling at Claude. ‘The only reason why Claude becomes fond of Jennette is because of how persistent and kind-hearted she was. Kind of like a clingy puppy.’

“You’re here?” Claude had asked in a bored tone of voice, and Athanase could tell that the question somewhat irritated Athy in the fact of how inconsiderate their father was in summoning them.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Felix answered. “We bumped into Sir Roger outside.”

“Mister White!” Athy cheerfully piped up.

“White?”

“He looks like a white doggy!”

Claude had slowly looked away, his mouth twitching as his hand seemed to shift just to cover enough of his mouth.

‘Huh? He smiled!’ Athy thought.

‘Do you think he’s trying not to laugh?’ Athan wondered, staring at their father with interest.

‘No way — that cold-hearted emperor?’ she responded, and he could practically imagine her frown deep down inside. He could imagine she was thinking back to the original Athanasia begging for her father’s love, the way his stare was described had given him shivers.

What a waste of a good novel — beautiful writing with gorgeous descriptions and writing that just spoke personality — only to end up being absolute shit. There was next to no world building, the characters felt flat, and while clichés were nice, it just didn’t make sense. Alright, prince charming Ijekiel Alpheus was a kind young man with dashing good looks, and he was caring towards Jennette and always gentle with her in their interactions, but what about Ijekiel as a character? He’s literally used as a prop to make Jennette look better.

Duke Alpheus seemed to be a bit of a scheming annoyance, but in Toska, it didn’t seem like that would be an issue for the twins. Rather, the Duke only focused on trying to make Jennette look better and didn’t even bother sparing the twins a second thought.

“A fitting nickname for a constant barker.”

‘My, my, that’s no way to talk about a future in-law.’

‘Ijekiel’s the son-in-law, though, so the Duke wouldn’t be the one with actual ties to the imperial family, although the nobles will probably see it that way,’ Athan hummed. ‘Then again, maybe it’s different in this world and Duke Alpheus would end up being considered as a brother-in-law, even though that wouldn’t have made sense in our previous lives.’

‘Ugh, that’s going to be a headache trying to figure out all the differences.’

“You’ve become quite the babysitter,” Claude comments with a… smile? as Athy gets off of Felix’s back.

Athy takes a hold of his hand, about to rush off to their father on the throne.

‘You’re still holding your candy,’ Athanase notes, causing her to blink and glance down at her other hand holding the lollipop.

“Ah,” his sister nods before handing the lollipop to Felix before dragging him over to their father.

“That reminds me,” Felix spoke as Athy noticed the throne crafted in gold. “I’ve heard that Sir Roger has a son the same age as the prince and princess. Wouldn’t he be a good friend for them?”

Athan wrinkled his nose, distinctly remembering Athy’s tease over the original Athanasios’ crush on the boy in question. Her teasing would become absolutely unbearable.

But… it would be a good idea for them to become friends. The sooner, the better, perhaps?

“Athy will have a friend?” his sister cheerfully asks.

Claude stared at his sister before finally stating, “It’s already unpleasant to have two kids running around the palace,” he comments, more so to Felix than to either Athanase and his sister. “Just thinking of three children running around the palace is a headache. I hate noise. And to think of a boy who looks like Roger Alpheus,” he seemed to scowl.

‘Too bad,’ Athy thoughtfully noted. ‘I was a bit curious about Ijekiel. He was two or three years older than Jennette…’

‘It would probably be fine to ask if we could play at his house, then,’ he raised a brow.

‘I value my life, thank you very much — huh?’

“You really are heavy,” Claude commented, picking up both of the twins. Athanase blinked as he found himself staring at the ground. He could feel his sister panicking at the strange and sudden behaviour coming from their father — after all, normally he would never even come near the twins for no more than a table’s distance.

All of his thoughts immediately halt the moment he’s placed down into a small alcove of a resting spot hidden behind the throne.

It was beautiful.

The mattress was comfortable — it was the equivalent of a thousand dollar memory foam mattress that his best friend owned in his previous life — covered with a bedsheet made of the finest and softest fabric Athanase had ever had the pleasure of sitting on. It seemed like the kind of material that he would gladly rest his cheek on and sleep, even if it’ll leave an imprint later, he would certainly have no regrets, none whatsoever!

Athan picks up a pillow with a pale green pillowcase, looking down at it with wide and starry eyes as he hugs it — the material was the same as Mr Mittens. He wasn’t allowed to bring Mr Mittens with him when they came to see their father, but he’ll gladly accept this pillow as a substitute.

‘This pillow is mine, now,’ Athanase solemnly thought to himself as he giddily flopped onto his side, hugging the pillow as he rests his head against the other pillows.

“Hearing so much barking this early in the day has made me tired,” Claude said, moving to lay down.

This man truly was his father — how could Athanase dare think otherwise, when the evidence had now been so blatantly clear? Athanase wholeheartedly agreed with his father; mornings shouldn’t be so troublesome, and if Athan had his way, he would never have to wake up at all in the mornings and could always wake in the afternoon. 

Whatever budding camaraderie Athanase felt towards Claude was abruptly crushed when he requested for Athy to sing “The Lullaby Song”.

Did his sister even have a decent enough singing voice? He only remembers how useful it was when it got him and Athy out of a potentially life-threatening situation when they woke their father up. Athanase was confident in his capabilities of being a heavy sleeper, but he wasn’t sure if the same applied for when he was on the verge of falling asleep…

Well, fuck it! It’s a challenge he’ll just have to take for the sake of a nap.

‘Help me, Athan!’ Athy had screeched at him.

‘Athan whomst? I only know sleep.’

‘You asshole!’

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

In the end, he couldn’t fall asleep. He was in that awkward place of being sleepy-tired and wanting to sleep, but incapable of resting. His eyes were burning from exhaustion, and he shifts from where he laid, seeing Athanasia tugging on their father’s hair.

“Is His Majesty asleep?” Felix had asked, and Athan’s gaze sleepily shifts to the entrance of the alcove where the voice had come from.

He doesn’t really register the conversation, much, when Felix starts apologizing to Athanasia. It’s a personal conversation for the two of them.

But then…

“Do you have a wish, Princess Athanasia?”

“A wish?”

So, Athanase closes his eyes, realizing for the first time, a fact that’s always been there nestled in the back of his mind: Athanasia wanted to live past eighteen, she wanted to be close with Claude so much that he wouldn’t want to kill her after Jennette enters their lives.

But Athanase… he didn’t share the same ambitions and goals as she did. He’s not afraid of death, rather, he loathes the idea of painfully dying. And so, he wants to do as he pleased, to pursue his interests without financial worries.

They were very different — he already knew they were, given their personalities.

So Felix asks, and Athanasia says she isn’t lonely.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

(But nobody ever asked Athanasios how he felt, did they?)

——————————

End of Arc 1: Beginning of the End

[harrysbbby]

Don’t Forget Where You Belong -  JJ Maybank x Reader - Part Three

A/N: new part!!! feedback is always appreciated and please let me know if you’d like to be tagged

Part 1

Part 2

“Okay. So, um... we didn't see anything,” Pope said clearly stressed. “We need to have total and complete amnesia.”

“Actually, Pope's right for once,” JJ piped up. You shot him a confused look. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘and what about it, “See, I agree with you sometimes. Deny, deny, deny,” JJ continued to yabber on.

“Guys, we can't keep that money,” Kie said.

“Okay. Not all of us can afford unlimited data plans, Kiara,” JJ shot back at her.

“We really should give it to Lana Grubbs. Technically it was her husbands.” You spoke, raising your hands defensively as JJ shot a glare at you.

“See,” Kie said gesturing towards you, “Otherwise, it's bad karma.”

“Bad karma to be implicated in a felony, too,” Pope spoke directly and with conviction. He kept his head down.

“Pope…” you started but he cut you off.

“We gotta go dark.” He said, lifting his gaze to look around at all of you.

“If that means we get to keep the money, then I agree,” JJ settled. You went to open your mouth to say something, but John B’s voice cut you off.

“I don’t agree,” he said to JJ. He moved to the centre of the porch and began explaining as if he was giving a Ted Talk,

“Just think about it. This is Scooter Grubbs we're talking about. Same dude that's buying individual cigarettes at the Porthole. Shit, one time I saw this dude begging for change in the Save-A-Lot parking lot because he needed gas. We're talking about a dirtbag marina rat who's never had more than 40 bucks in his pocket, and all of a sudden, he's got a Grady-White? Just sayin'.”

“It is a little odd,” you said in agreeance, leaning back on your chair and nodding up at John B. He nodded back as if to say, ‘thank you’ and then turned to the rest of the group who still didn’t look quite as convinced.

“I don’t know…” Pope trailed off. Looking around at you all. He stood and grabbed a fishing rod from the side of the doorway and made his way out to the pontoon. JJ grabbed the other and followed. The five of you made your way out to the water, perching yourselves along the wooden structure. The boys launched their baits into the water as John B started up again.

“All right, so think about it, Pope: How does a marina rat get a Grady-White?” he asked. Pope didn’t even look up from his line as he deadpanned,

“Prostitution”

John B shook his head in disbelief, “Square groupers, bro. Okay, flying under the radar, no aerial surveillance. They don't do that stuff during a hurricane. What does that mean?” He looked around at the rest of you. You and Kie just shrugged as John B sighed, “JJ?”

“They were straight smugglin'.” He answered

“Smuggling, really?” you asked.

“Yup,” John B asserted, “And I guarantee there's a serious amount of contraband.”  

“Hell, yeah,” JJ hooted. His line gave a sharp tug and he struggled to keep control as he reeled in it. “Fish on!”

The group decided that it would be a good idea to throw a kegger in order to “lay low”. Somehow this always seemed to happen, but regardless you helped Kie carry the red solo cups onto the beach and placed them next to the keg. You felt an arm rest again your shoulder and when you turned your head your eyes met JJ’s

“Hey hey,” you said to him, moving your arm to wrap it around his waist, “who will be your claim tonight? Pogue or touron?”

JJ was notorious for accumulating at least one hook-up from each of the Boneyard parties. You were able to hold your own every now and then managing to find a cute boy to occupy you for the night, but it wasn’t quite your thing as it was JJ’s.

“I don’t know, think I’m getting kinda over it,” he said shrugging avoiding your gaze. You head did a double take as you whacked his chest.

“JJ Maybank, over hook-ups at keggers? I think the world is ending!” You spoke melodramatically, placing the back of your hand against your forehead and pretending to faint onto him. He let out a small laugh as he grabbed your body that had fallen across his. You stood up again smiling back at him.

“Yeah, think I just want something… I don’t know, different?” in said in a questioning tone. You furrowed your brows at him. You could see the look on his face was stone-cold serious and it confused you. In all the years you had known JJ he had never spoken about relationships like this. You ruffled his hair as you joked with him to lighten the mood again,

“My little boy’s growing up!” you giggled as he picked you up off your feet and tossed you over his shoulder, a joking ‘piss off’ escaping his lips.

He placed you on your feet again before running off to give John B and Pope the drinks he’d originally come to the keg for. As watched him swagger away juggling the three drinks, you couldn’t help but let your mind wander to the thought of JJ wanting that relationship with you. Although you met John B first, he was more like a brother, you had always seen JJ differently. Like when he’d run a hand through his hair to put his cap on backwards your breath would catch in your throat. Or when you could feel your skin spark when he would grab your waist as he picked you up to toss you in the water. Or when you could feel your stomach drop and heart sink every time, he would get close to another girl.

You had always had a thing for JJ, but you knew the rule: no Pogue-on-Pogue macking. But it was killing you. You huffed as you took post next to Kie on the log, taking a huge gulp of your beer.

“You good?” she asked at the sight of your clearly distressed demeanour. “Let me guess, JJ?”

“Shh,” you shushed her placing your hand vigorously over her mouth. “Be quiet, I told you that in confidence.”

You and Kie, being the only two girls, would go to each other for anything that even entered the realm of emotional. The other boys just didn’t understand the need to articulate one’s feelings. You had told Kie about your crush on JJ a few months prior, and she had listened like a best friend should. But she agreed with you when you expressed your concerns about ruining your friendship. As much as you liked him, your friendship with him and the other Pogues was something you had to consider if you decided to risk it on a potential relationship.

“But yes, it is JJ. He said something super weird about not wanting to hook-up with anyone cause he wants something “different”.” You said, emphasising the different and looking at her with a bewildered expression. She hummed as she sipped her drink, clearly mulling over the information.

“That’s good though, right?” she asked, “he might like you too then?”

You shook your head at her,

“No, he said “different”, Kie. I’m normal, someone he sees every day. We’re routine.”

“I guess,” she shrugged. As you remembered what had been playing on the back of your mind, you perked up.

“Although,” you dragged out looking at her with pure excitement. She raised her eyebrows at your tone, “what we really need to talk about is you and John B,” you said nudging her with your elbow.

She looked down shyly, “what’s there to know?” she said playing dumb.

“Oh, come on Kie! You kissed him!”

“I did not,” she said sternly, “I only kissed him on the cheek,” she said flipping her over her shoulder.

You kept your eyes trained her as you narrowed them. She looked at you expectantly before she rolled her eyes.

“No! Y/N, god no! I don’t like him, okay? Not like that.” She said giving you a shove which made your coy smile slip slowly from your face. “I’m just worried about him.”

She looked over to where John B was chatting to a girl with long blonde hair. You nodded, accepting her answer as you felt a body sit beside you. You turned to see the usual mop of blonde hair that was usually in your face. Kie smiled as she slid her sunglasses off her face and onto your nose. You laughed as she did, saying she was going to go chat to John B.

You slyly turned around to JJ, the red, love heart sunnies on your eyes. As you did you slid them down your nose and popped your elbow on your hip, giving him a pout.

“What do you think?” you asked him cheekily.

“I mean you’ve looked worse,” he joked.

“Oh, shut up JJ!”

***

You heard the sound of fist hitting skin, followed the commotion of yelling. You looked up from your conversation with Pope to see Topper tackling JJ. You and Pope ran to the front of group that was forming. By the time you were there JJ was out of the equation and John B was shoving Topper.

“We’re supposed to be incognito remember?” Pope yelled. Sarah was trying to break up the fight, but Topper landed a punch on John B face. JJ went to go forward, but you put your hands against his chest.

“Nuh, uh.” You said holding him back. You looked down at your face with an aggressive expression but relaxed once he met your eyes. He lightly shoved your hands off his chest, huffing as the two of you turned to watch the scene unfold.

“Hey, John B, don't make me drown you like your old man, all right?” you heard Topper growl. JJ held your shoulders as he saw your body go to move forwards, as rage heated your insides.

“Fight, fight, fight!” the crowd kept chanting as John stayed crouched in the water. John B grunted as he tackled Topper into the water.

“Stop you guys!” you heard Kie yell as the boys continued to wrestle. John B nabbed a punch straight into Topper’s face.

“That's what I'm talking' about” JJ jeered.

“Come on!” “You wanna go?” “Come onnnn!”

The boys were yelling viscously at one another as they sized each other up. Topper landed a sharp blow to John B’s nose making him stumble back into the water.

“Stop!” the scream ripped from your throat. It hurt you to see someone doing this to John B.

“Come on, Topper! Let’s go!” John B yelled at him, fire in his eyes as he pounded his chest.

Topper flipped John B into the water and pinned his face down. John B’s arms flailed as he struggled.

“He’s drowning him!” Pope said, distressed.

“I know,” Kie replied with an equally amount of anxiety laced in her voice.

“We need to do something!” you looked around helplessly.

You saw JJ move from beside you and lift his hand up to Topper’s hand brandishing something black and sleek and metal. You heard it click. Oh no.

“Yeah, you know what that is,” JJ spoke menacingly, pushing the barrel further to Topper’s head, “Your move, broski.”

“Chill dude!” Pope called.

“JJ,” you said warningly, stepping towards him both arms outstretched.

“Put the gun down,” Sarah said calmly. JJ didn’t even move to face her as he fired back,

“Did you say somethin', princess?”

“We're good. We're good.” Topper said, his arms raised in surrender. “All right? Come on, man!”

“Y/N can you check your psycho friend, please?” Sarah yelled gesturing to JJ. You moved towards him as he pushed Topper to the ground. You placed your arms on his shoulders “JJ, please” but he pushed you aside as he charged forward.

“Okay, everyone, listen up!” his voice billowed across the boneyard, “Get the hell off our side of the island!”

He fired the gun into the air twice.  

“Are you crazy?” “You idiot!” “It’s not worth it!”

Pope and Kiara were screaming at JJ. “I was saving his life okay?”

Topper and Sarah had bolted once the gun had fired. You turned to see John B struggle to rise up from the water, only to slump and fall back in, water gushing over him again.

“Guy!” you called to them, but they were still yelling – “You're gonna jeopardize everything” – and you knew you couldn’t move John B alone. You grasped his head to keep his head above water so he could breath as you shouted again, “HEY!” there was gravel in your voice as you used all your might to get their attention. The three of them instantly pivoted towards you, taken aback from your uncharacteristic show of aggression towards your friends, “help me.”

You all managed to get John B back to the Chateau. Between the four of you, you managed to carry him inside and lay him on his bed. You had been silent the whole time, all of you, not daring to be the first to speak.

Pope, the often peace maker piped up first, “I think I’m gonna head home.”

Usually after a kegger you would all pass out, still mildly drunk on any surface at John B’s, but after tonight’s events, none of you wanted to stick around much.

“Me too. I’ll drop you,” Kie said. She gave you a small smile and wave as she and Pope exited the room. You were standing in the doorway of John B’s bedroom, observing at his passed-out body. He was breathing fine, just exhausted. So, you came to the conclusion that he would be fine, just needed a decent sleep. You could see the bruise forming on his face, so you made a mental note to check on it and make sure he iced it when you inevitably saw him the next morning.

JJ was sitting on the end of the pull-out couch. He watched the back of your body as you leant against the door frame. He did not dare to say a word to you before you spoke to him. By the glare you had given him as you gathered everyone’s things as he and Pope lugged John B’s body home, he knew you were furious.

He looked like a wounded puppy when turned around to face him.

“Want a ride?” you asked. All he could do to answer was nod.

You drove in silence all the way to JJ’s house. Usually you would just have him stay at your house. Your stepdad was usually oblivious to your actions and your mum didn’t really care what you did as long as you were safe, so JJ was always welcomed. But not by you tonight, not after what he did. No matter how much you wanted him to stay and not have to be in a house with his dad. You needed time to cool off.

You switched the engine of your car off as you pulled into the grassed drive of his house. You sighed as you ran a hand through your hair.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” you said keeping your eyes trained forward.

“Y/N…” JJ started but you cut him off.

“No,” you said holding your hand up in front of him. His brows were furrowed together, and his eyes were glassy, and it made you feel terrible. But he needed to hear what you had to say, “what you did tonight was so fucking stupid, JJ. I hate Topper as much as you do but you could have killed him.”

JJ went to open his mouth, but you raised your hand before he could speak.

“I know he was drowning John B, but you didn’t have to pull a gun on him. Word of this is gonna spread, and there’s gonna be consequences to that. I don’t want to see you get hurt,” you looked him directly in the eyes. You could see an emotion flash over them, was it guilt? It was something you definitely hadn’t seen before. You felt some tears well up in your eyes. “You’re just so reckless sometimes JJ. You’re gonna get yourself killed! So please, just think a little more next time okay?” you begged him as a single tear slipped from your eye. You hastily wiped it as he nodded.

“I’m sorry,” he said pulling you in for a hug. You wrapped your arms as far around his torso as you could from across the center console.

“S’okay, I just worry about you.”

“I know,” he said pulling back. He kept one hand outstretched on your arm, rubbing small circles with his fingers. “Please don’t cry.”

You laughed as you sniffled and wiped your nose with the back of your hand.

“You know I get emotional, especially when I’m drunk,” you laughed. He joined with you, but it wasn’t quite genuine as it usually was. He sheepishly looked forward, avoiding your gaze, “but thanks for the most awkward hug of my life.”

This grabbled a candid cackle from the back of throat as you smiled.

“Yeah remind me to not try and have a moment over the gear stick of a car again,” he said locking his eyes with yours.

“Ahaha, yeah…” you said, holding his stare.

“Yeah,” he responded still looking deeply into your eyes.

You don’t know how long you stayed like that. Time moved differently with JJ. Eventually, he cleared his throat and opened his door, triggering the inside light. You cringe at the brightness after having stared at JJ eyes in the dim for so long.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked standing in the door, crouching down to make eye contact.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” you affirmed. JJ shut the door with a solid thunk and wandered inside his shack.

You took a deep breath as you pressed the start engine button. You rested your head against the steering wheel as you groaned: what was this boy doing to you?

Tag list:

@downbytheouterbanks​ @thesailbells​ @sexualparkour​ @bestfriendmagic​ @mileven-reddie​ @nikki082489​ @treestarrrrrrrr​ @mynamessusan​ @kristinaxilliano​ @love-bean​ @lauraxwndrlnd​

[queen-scribbles]

The Long Burning Torch ch 2

Oh, look, there more! :D Second chapter for my Ryn/Red 20s AU brought you by @shepherds-of-haven ‘s summer event 

------

True to his word, Red called just a couple days later--with supremely perfect timing, too; Xaeryn had just returned from following a lead. She was in the process of unpinning her hat when the telephone rang and she ll but dove across the room, hatpin in hand, to answer it.

“Shrike Investigations,” she said with that borderline-cheerful professionalism people expected from anyone running a business.

“Xaeryn?” He sounded curious verging on concerned. “Everything alright?”

“Oh, hittin’ on all eight,” she assured him with a breathless laugh. “I just got back from chasing down a lead.” She left off how literal that was this time as she glared at the mud on her shoes. “He was... more help than he meant to be, I think. I’m just grateful it didn’t turn into another dead-end.”

Red laughed. “Glad to hear it.” The line crackled a bit in the moment’s silence before he continued, “I had a chance to do some research, turned up a few interesting things.”

Generally interesting, or Red-interesting? Xaeryn wondered with a fond smile, remembering his fascination with even the minutiae of everything he read. “Like what?” 

“At least some of what happened to the pendent after the Solimer lost it, and it’s a bit of a mess.” He laughed again, sheepishly this time, and Xaeryn pictured him running a hand through his hair. “It’s better explained in person. Should I come to you--”

“I’ll come there,” Xaeryn offered. “You’re doing me a favor, it’s the least I can do. And besides” --she grinned, even knowing he couldn’t see her-- “it’s a long drive and I wouldn’t want you to forget any of your notes.”

There was a long-suffering sigh, punctuated by a chuckle that made the line pop. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“No more than you let me live down the apple tree,” she retorted sweetly. “Does it work for me to come today? The guild’s getting antsy with the exhibit date drawing closer, but if you’re busy...”

“I have a lecture in... just under an hour.” Red paused, likely doing the same travel time vs lecture time calculations she was. “If you left soon, you’d probably get here just as I’m finishing, we could talk after?”

“Sounds good to me,” Xaeryn said scraping mud off her shoe against the chair leg. “I’ll see you in a couple hours, then.”

“Mm, see you then.”

She took a moment examining her shoes after they hung up and decided it would be best to change them before she left. Wouldn’t want to be tracking mud through Solhadur’s halls.

---

She couldn’t entirely bite back a laugh when she arrived and found Red behind his desk, the pencil woven between his fingers tapping against one of the three books open across the desk’s surface. “Well, I just lost a five lyss wager.”

“Huh?” His hair fell in his eyes when he looked up. “Over what?”

Xaeryn smiled as she leaned against the edge of the desk. “I was certain you would get carried away with jawing about whatever your lecture was on and I would be here first. Fortunately it was a wager with myself” --she leaned over to peek at what he was reading--”so there’s no real loss.”

Red laughed and nudged one of the books toward her. “Normally you would have won. I thought of something I wanted to double-check before you got here, so I made sure to end on time. The students thank you for that, by the way.”

She snickered and skimmed through the presented history text. “They’re most welcome. What did you learn?”

Red pushed out of his chair and circled the desk to give them the same angle on the book she held. “There’s a decade or so immediately after its loss that’s unaccounted for, but there are records from travelers who mention encountering a warlord deep in Jalis territory with a pendent that sounds an awful lot like Solimer’s torch. Here.” He leaned over to flip a few pages back from where she was and pointed at a sketched illustration.

While rudimentary in nature, it did bear a striking resemblance to the photographs Mr. Syndran had given her. Xaeryn hummed a quiet agreement, noting the sketched pendent seemed to be on an armband rather than loose as it was now, as she started reading the relevant text around the illustration. 

“Lean on details,” she frowned, tracing a finger over the words as she read.

“That one is,” Red agreed. “They were more concerned with other things, barely mention the pendent in their description of the warlord. It’s just the only one with an illustration.” He tugged the book away from her, swapped it for one of the others. “Going off the description, I think this is the same piece. But you can draw your own conclusions.” He sat in one of the chairs and Xaeryn stayed perched on the edge of the desk, one foot swinging idly a few inches off the ground as she read.

From the sound of it--bronze coiled around a jet black stone, said to be its owner’s lucky talisman--she was inclined to agree with Red.  The territory of this warlord, however, was rather far from the usual routes ascribed to the Solimer’s desert travels. How did it get there? she mused. Likely during the decade it had vanished, but she couldn’t even begin to guess the method. She’ was just finishing with the account when she caught Red smiling out of the corner of her eye.

She let the book dip to look at him instead. “What?”

Red’s eyes twinkled as he nodded at the hem of her mid-calf skirt. “That lead you mentioned chasing earlier wouldn’t have involved mud puddles, would it?”

Xaeryn followed his gaze and groaned at the mud staining the dusky rose fabric. “I wasn’t expecting him to run,” she muttered, flicking at the mud with one hand as she moved to the other chair.

“Your suspects usually just wait around, obligingly, for you to interrogate them, then?” 

She rolled  her eyes at his teasing tone and briefly debated whacking him with the book. “He wasn’t a suspect, he was a witness,” she retorted primly, setting the book back on his desk. “Potentially. Though with how cagey he was being, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was guilty of something.”

“A mystery for another day,” Red said with a grin.

“Precisely. As for today’s mystery, have you found anything more recent than this?” She tapped the book. “It’s still several hundred years ago.”

“Not much, and some of it’s contradictory; that’s part of why I said in person was better.” He ran one hand through his hair. “That territory is so deep in the Jalis desert, not many go there and come out again. Those who don’t live there frequently die visiting.”

“Charming place,” Xaeryn said dryly.

“Mmhm. It makes getting records difficult, to say the least. There’s a mention of this warlord’s territory being conquered by another, but no mention of what was taken as potential spoils, and the next thing I’ve found resembling Solimer’s torch is is when it was discovered in the grave of a different chieftain, name unknown--though there are theories--a hundred years ago and almost two hundred miles from where the nearest previous records indicated it being.”

“How’s a chieftain’s name unknown?” she frowned. 

“He was buried with the honors afforded warlords and chieftains, but any record of his identity had worn off in the desert wind, if it was there in the first place,” Red explained.

“And these theories about who he was?” 

“Numerous and with various levels of support,” he said wryly. “But if you want the longer version...?”

Xaeryn chuckled. “Always.” 

They spent the next hour or so discussing the myriad guesses people had made as to this mystery chieftain’s name, as well as the other details Red had unearthed about the pendent, and various sources’ credibility. They only got caught up in one or two rabbit trails of good-natured debate over peer review and scholarly reputation or historical patterns of desert travel. (Which was pretty good for them.)

“There are a lot of gaps,” Red acknowledged, thumbing the pages of one book. “But I have a lot more I can read to help with filling them in.” He twirled one hand to gesture at the shelves that lined the room.

“You don’t have to-”

“Xaeryn, have you ever known me to be unhappy reading a book?” he asked with a warm smile.

“Well, no,” Xaeryn laughed. “But you’re so busy now, Headmaster.”

Red arched a brow but didn’t further protest her use of the title. “I always have time for you,” he said with a shrug, then cleared his throat and pushed to his feet even as her heart pounded and she sternly informed herself he hadn’t meant it like that. (She was grateful his circling the desk meant he missed the moment of broken composure that surely flashed across her face.) “And research is even more fun when it’s for a purpose. Bottom line for you so far...” He picked up his dropped pencil and started shuffling through everything on his desk in search of paper.

She grinned and held out her notepad. “Here.”

He flashed a sheepish smile as he took it. “Thank you.” He flipped to the first blank page and started writing as he talked. “Descendants of either that unknown chieftain or the one whose wife originally found the torch would have the strongest claims of ownership.”

“If I can find them,” Xaeryn said dryly. “And if one of them’s not already the owner on record who lent the pendent to the exhibit.” She bit her lower lip. “I think I need to talk to Mr. Syndran again.”

And depending on what he told her, her own research into genealogy might be called for.

“Probably your best next step.” Red finished writing and handed back her notepad, several pages scrawled with bullet-points summation of what he’d found.  “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Xaeryn smiled when she saw the notes were in their shorthand.  “Nice touch.”

He smiled and raised one shoulder in a shrug. “It takes less space, and you did say this is a secret...”

“Very true.” She flipped the pad closed and tucked it back in her handbag. “I really do appreciate your help, this wasn’t a a small request, and you got me some answers in very short order.”

“I’m not done reading, Xaeryn,” Red said, voice rife with amusement. He waved at the surrounding shelves again. “Like I said, there’s a lot more to check.”

I always have time for you.

“As long as you don’t mind, I would love to hear anything else you learn,” Xaeryn said with a smile. Far be it from her to stand between Liefred Antiqua and a research project he was excited about. She’d sooner snatch an ice cream away from a child. 

“I’ll call if I find anything else useful,” Red promised, already shifting toward one bookshelf.

She nodded, biting back a laugh and hoping he had a very loose definition of the word ‘useful’. “I’ll look forward to that, then.” Her neck and ears warmed and she hastily added, “more information is always helpful.” She stood, flicking at the stubborn mud on her skirt again. Next time she went interview-hunting, she was wearing trousers. “Though you have me off to an excellent start.” She headed for the door, paused with her hand on the knob. “Thank you for that, Liefred.”

“Anytime.” He leaned against the corner of his desk. “You can still call me Red, y’know, Xaeryn. Everyone does, so it’s hardly going to seem too familiar.”

True as that might be here at Solhadur, Haven was a different story. And she wouldn’t want to slip up. “I’ll keep that in mind,” Xaeryn said softly. “Until next time?”

“Mm-hm.” Something flickered in his eyes as he rubbed the back of his neck, then flashed her an easy smile. “I’ll look forward to it, then. I’m glad we reconnected.”

She smiled back as she twisted the knob. “Me, too.”

She didn’t have many friends, it was good to get one of the best ones back.

---

It was edging toward evening when Xaeryn made it back to her office. Which made it a bit of a surprise --fortuitous as it was-- to find Mr. Syndran waiting for her.

“Did we have a meeting I forgot about?” she asked apologetically as she unlocked the door. (They hadn’t, she was positive, but it was a diplomatic way of probing for why he was here.)

“We did not,” Mr. Syndran replied, arching a brow in a knowing look. “I had some other business in the area and decided to stop by in person to see how you are coming along, Miss Shrike.”

Xaeryn laughed and gestured toward the same chair he’d sat in on his first visit. “Then you have very good timing, instincts, or both, Mr. Syndran. I had some things I wanted to ask you; background information.”

His brow creased ever so slightly. “Should you not be far beyond mere background information? Have you not made progress?”

She sighed and sat in her chair behind the desk, pulling her notepad from her handbag and turning to a blank page. “Not of the ‘I’ve narrowed it down to two blocks, I just don’t know which house’ variety, no.” She tapped her pen against the desk. “But I have leads on suspects.”

Syndran gave a grunt that may have been displeasure. “And your questions for me?”

“Like I said; clarifying background information. When the Couriers were contracted to handle transport, how much were you told about the pieces?”

“Only the relevant details.” He brushed invisible lint off his sleeve. “Each one’s value, recorded owner, any special care instructions.”

Xaeryn nodded, pen poised over her pad. “I don’t suppose you recall the owner listed for the pendent?”

He paused to think a moment. “I’d have to have my secretary check to be completely certain, but I believe it was a Ms. Aescar. The name didn’t ring any bells for me.”

“And would I need to speak with the Hall of History and Culture if I wanted to find out how to contact her, or do you know?”

Syndran shook his head. “Whitestone Couriers were merely transporting the relics, Miss Shrike. Any communication with the owners was the concern of the museum curators. Why would you need to talk to her?”

“I might not,” Xaeryn said, scribbling the information down. “I just like to have all my chickens in the coop ahead of time, so there’s no scrambling if something winds up time-sensitive down the road.”

“Smart.” Syndran gave a nod of approval. “So long as you don’t spend so much time preparing for unlikely eventualities that you lose more promising leads.”

She back back a tart ‘I know how to do my job’ and nodded. “Of course.”

He paused a moment, lips pursed in thought. “I did have a wonder, Miss Shrike.”

Xaeryn cocked her head. “Oh?”

“Given the... likelihood this theft occurred somewhere between city customs and the museum and the utter lack of details my drivers have been able to provide about that stretch of the journey” --his expression soured-- “would it be possible for you to... revisit the scene with your abilities?” His brows arched meaningfully.  “You are Argentis, are you not? The benefit of hindsight might allow you to pick up on something relevant that didn’t register in the moment for my people.”

She tapped her pen against her notepad. “I can give it a go, Mr. Syndran, but I’m more a Scryer than a Sage; my strongest talent is finding things in the present, not viewing the past. Though this is the recent past,” she mused. “Perhaps recent enough that with a focus from the caravan I’d have decent luck.”

“I’ll see what I can find for you.” Mr. Syndran pushed to his feet. “Anything in particular that will work best?”

“For viewing the past like this... something from the event is necessary, and the closer to central it is, the clearer a picture I’ll be able to get.” She leaned back in her chair. “Frankly, if you don’t mind my doing so, coming to the Couriers’ garage and using one of the trucks as my touchstone would work best.”

“Oh, that’s very doable,” he said with a nod. “As it’s getting late, what say we do it tomorrow?”

“Nine AM?” Xaeryn suggested.

“Acceptable.” He headed for the door. “I shall see you then, Miss Shrike.”

“See you then, Mr. Syndran.” Xaeryn waited until the door closed behind him to let out a slow breath. Scrying was easy enough, even if she didn’t always succeed, but peering into the past was usually a draining exercise for her. Mr. Syndran was correct, though; it was very likely the best way to glean new leads. Even if it meant she’d need a nap after.

She pushed to her feet and locked the door. One more glance over her notes before she called it a night. So it was fresh in her mind and she could mull it over.

She tried not to get too distracted by the difference between her small, crowded shorthand and Red’s larger, loose scrawl--he had a dreamer’s handwriting, which she’d teased him about when they were younger(he’d rolled his eyes but hadn’t denied it). The memory had her smiling all through dinner.

---

The weather was nice enough the next day Xaeryn opted to walk to the Whitestone Couriers’ garage, though she did take an umbrella in case the rain that hadn’t threatened the last few days decided to make an appearance. Mr. Syndran was waiting for her, looking all the more proper in these rough-shod surroundings. 

“Right on time, Miss Shrike,” he said with a tight smile. “This way.” He led her at a brisk pace to a gleaming black truck, the canvas cover a near-immaculate tan. “This is the one that was carrying the crate with the pendent, among other things.”

“Right.” Xaeryn circled to the passenger side, letting her fingers trail over the cool metal until they rested on the door. “I can’t make any promises, but let’s see if we can find anything useful.”

She pressed her hand flat against the side of the truck and murmured the correct ritual, felt her magic rise to do as she bade.

The scene around her--Mr. Syndran, the garage, everything but the truck--faded into shadow. Her view shifted, as if she were riding shotgun in the truck or hanging out the window as it crept through Haven’s streets. Tings were flickery and dim, the colors bled out and faded as she looked around. I don’t know how long I can hold this. Xaeryn peered intently at  what she could see of the surroundings, the other vehicles, the people, buildings, noting everything she could, no matter how mundane. A woman with a red hat, brim hiding most of her face. A young boy and his dog watching the caravan with interest. A man with vivid green eye and a small smile lounging against a wall, following the trucks’ progress from under his slouched cap. The cat that almost darted in front of the preceding truck before it spooked. The flapper with an armful of bracelets, glancing surreptitiously across the street-

The scene flickered sharply, her grasp on the ritual fading, the images slipping away--

And Xaeryn was back in the garage, leaning against the truck as her knees went to jelly. The few prior occasions she’d played the sage had left her feeling like she stood up too fast when they ended, and this was no exception.

“Are you alright, Miss Shrike?” Mr. Syndran gestured to a nearby worker who’d stopped to gawp and the man scuttled off.

“Just fine,” she said with a nod, turning to sit on the truck’s running board as she tugged out her notepad and rapidly scrawled out everything she’d seen. “Sage work can be taxing if it’s not your main talent, that’s all.”

He watched in silence as she scribbled down the vision’s contents, only speaking again when she finished. “Did you see anything of note?”

“Nothing too blatant, or it would have stood out even to the drivers,” Xaeryn said, leaning her head back against the truck. “But there were some passers-by that caught my attention...”

Mr. Syndran listened to her descriptions with utmost focus, but interrupted when she reached the green-eyes lounger. “Do you remember any other details about him?” he demanded, his hands twitching to a fractionally tighter grip on the head of his walking stick.

“Tall,” Xaeryn said slowly. The worker Syndran had sent away returned with a tumbler of water, which she accepted with a nod of thanks as she dug through the memory. “I think brown hair, but he was wearing a hat. Bright red vest, blue and green scarf ‘round his neck-”

“Thieves guild,” Syndran muttered. Despite the distaste on the words, a panther-like grin curved his lips. “I should have known.” The distaste shifted to satisfaction. “That would be your next lead, Miss Shrike.”

Xaeryn arched a brow. “Do tell.”

“Thieves guild has been a thorn in our side for years,” Syndran explained, “They aren’t even a true guild; more a loose association of ruffians and cutpurses who only call themselves such in another jape at legitimate businesses.” He sniffed. “They make their base in the warrened streets of Ashtown, but I believe I have worked out where their true headquarters are concealed. I can give you some direction, if you’re recovered enough to follow me to my office?”

She nodded, pushed to her feet. “Lead the way.”

It was good to have something tangible to pursue. Hopefully the weather would hold so she could follow it up now. Ashtown was no fun in the rain.

[themonkeycabal]

WandaVision Ep 8 Spoilers

(THERE IS A MID-CREDITS SCENE, BTW)

Previously on WandaVision: It was Agatha all along.

This show has really come along well. I was worried after the first couple episodes, which were extremely slow, but it's tightened up and been entertaining as heck, in addition to being kind of a surprising meditation on grief and dealing or not dealing. You go along with wacky sitcom hijinks and then get whacked with the reminder so many things that have happened here are driven by terrible loss.

Anyway …. Acting Director Dick is Up To Something regarding Vision, and I fear we're all going to have to endure lots of his jackassery this episode. He's the not very fun part of this show, tbh. But we're getting down to it, so hopefully he gets his comeuppance sooner rather than later. And then on to deal with Agatha. Who is fabulously rotten. I love her, I have to say.

I guess this all leads into Doctor Strange 2, which I didn't know until Feige said it at the TCAs this week. So, that's something to look out for, too. Maybe everybody already knew that, but that was new to me, I think.

In happy news, nobody is power washing the sidewalks this morning. Hooray.

Creepy woods, a figure holding a flaming torch, Salem, Mass. 1693. Ah, Agatha's origin story. Burning at the stake. Or, maybe not. So far it's just being tied to one in the middle of a dark, creepy night.

"Agatha Harkness, are you a witch?" "Yes. I am a witch." "Yet, you have betrayed your coven." *gasp* Agatha!

She's been captured by her coven, because she stole knowledge, practiced dark magic, and other sundry evilities. But she says she's innocent, innocent, do you hear her! Oh, I guess not, "I did not break your rules, they simply bent to my power."

The lead witch is her mother, apparently. Since Agatha seems unrepentant, all the witches zap her with witchy magic or something. She screams a lot. But then her dark powers start drawing from the witches, sucking them dry. This is all very dramatic. Mom casts the final bolt, but Agatha is too powerful and she breaks free. All the other witches, except mom, have been grotesquely mummified.

Agatha swears she can be good, mom doubts. Mom zaps her again. Oh, whoops, Agatha drains mom next. She takes the broach from mom's desiccated corpse then zooms off into the sky in a burst of swirly purple magicy mist. The coven really didn't think that plan through all the way.

Present day, we're right where we left off, in Agatha's basement cavern of dark witches and nosy neighbors. Agatha is talking to her rabbit, Mr. Scratchy, and smirking at Wanda. "I know. She does look shocked to meet the real us, doesn't she?"

Wanda's eyes go glowy and Agatha laughs. "Oh, that's adorable. My thoughts are not available to you, toots."

Wanda wants to know where her children are, and Agatha mocks her about her reappearing/disappearing accent. Wanda tries to whammy her. "Huh, your magic's no good here." But Agatha's is. Agatha's no dummy, and now she's got Wanda magically trussed up in the center of the room.

"Didn't you notice? Basic protection spell? One on each wall? No? Nothing?" Hmm. Agatha, tbh, Wanda has like no idea what she's doing. So … "How do you not know the fundamentals?"

Wanda asks "Who are you?" and Agatha asks the same "Who are *you*? All those costumes and hairstyles. I was so patient, waiting for you to reveal your true self. I got close with fake Pietro — Fietro, if you will". Lol. I love her. She goes on about the magicy stuff she did to make Fietro "But you're so crippled by your own self doubt that you believed it. Oh Wanda."

"When I sensed this place, the afterglow of so many spells cast all at once, I couldn't make heads or tails of it." She shows off a mind control spell with some sort of big gross bug. Great. And has it fly at Wanda's face. Super awesome, Agatha. Oh, I see, she's going through the spells she thinks Wanda has cast, all the details, all the control of a whole town and all its storylines. Agatha's impressed and envious, "What's your secret, sister?"

Wanda says she didn't do anything and Agatha doesn't like that answer and tosses Wanda around. Now, see, Agatha, much as your coven underestimated you, I think your runic protection is only going to go so far before Wanda decides it doesn't.

"I tried to be gentle, to nudge you awake from this ridiculous fantasy. But, you'd rather fall apart than face your truth." Well, I mean. She's really been through a lot the last few weeks, Agatha. Like A LOT. Oh, and we're going to relive it. She's casting some sort of memory spell on Wanda, taking them back to the vast emptiness, endless nothing Wanda described to Fietro a couple weeks ago. You're not being very nice, Agatha.

"It's time to look at some real reruns." Wanda doesn't want to play along, but Agatha reminds her that she's got her children.

So, through the magic memory door they step, and into a tiny Sokovian apartment, with Wanda's parents. Her father apparently smuggled DVDs of "I Love Lucy" and "Bewitched". Didn't the people of Sokovia suffer enough? Well, he's got "The Addams Family", too. That's okay, I guess.

Little Pietro runs in reminding Mama and Papa that the only rule of TV night is you have to speak English. They call for Wanda and Agatha nudges her to step into the role of little Wanda. Papa says Wanda can pick what they're going to watch, but outside, there's gunfire. Except, I guess it's no big deal, Mama turns away from the window and the street battle below their apartment, while little Wanda says she wants to watch "The Dick Van Dyke Show", season 2, episode 21. Poor kid. Pietro agrees and moans, "Always sitcom, sitcom, sitcom!"

I'm waiting for the Stark Bomb to fall.

Little Wanda is far too enamored of "The Dick Van Dyke Show". Oh! There's the bomb. Pietro grabs her and they hide under the bed and they stare at the Stark Bomb. She and Pietro discuss what to do, while in the background, behind the bomb, the tv continues to play.

Little Wanda reaches out with her magic hand and then big Wanda is yanked out of the memory by Agatha, who demands to know if she stopped the bomb going off. "You used a probability hex?" Wanda says she didn't do anything, the bomb just never went off.

"So, what I see here is a baby witch, obsessed with sitcoms, and years of therapy ahead of her." lol, but harsh. "Where'd you get the big guns, Wanda?" A good question, Agatha. We never did get that answer before, really, did we? Just a sort of vague suggestion of "hydra did stuff to her and pietro maybe?".

"I don't want to go back there." "I know you don't. But it's good medicine, angel. The only way forward, is back."

Through another magic door we go.

Ha, I just paused and saw the title of the ep is "Previously On".

And into the Hydra lab. "Don't be scared, you already lived it once."

Oh, it's Loki's scepter. And the … whichever stone that is. I can't remember, totally lost track of them. Mind stone?

Wanda is in the containment unit with the scepter. The Hydra scientist wants her to do something with the scepter, and jr scientist says that no subject has survived this and lead scientist is like shut up and 'go ahead Wanda, it'll be totally fine'. 

Wanda approaches the scepter and it starts to shake and the stone breaks free and flies at her, but then pauses and they stare at each other. She reaches out for it. Then the blue outer bit of the stone explodes off and underneath is the the yellow stone. Ok, yeah it is the Mind stone.

Lots of dramatic power stuff with Wanda and the stone. She sees a flying silhouetted figure in the light of the stone and then passes out. She survives! I mean, obviously. The Hydra scientists have her sent to isolation where they torture her by making her watch "The Brady Bunch". Well, no, I guess she likes it. Keep this under your hat, but if you ever want to break me, making me watch "The Brady Bunch" could probably do it.

The Hydra scientists meanwhile are trying to figure out what happened, watching the recordings over and over — they don't see the whole stone flying towards Wanda and the subsequent mind meld. She's just standing there, and then falls down.

Agatha sums this up for us "So, little Orphan Wanda got up close and personal with an Infinity Stone that amplified what otherwise would have died on vine. The broken pieces of you are adding up, buttercup. I have a theory, but I need more."

Door number three reveals her digs at the Avengers compound. She is, of course, watching TV. "Malcolm in the Middle." Well, it's better than "The Brady Bunch." The only thing I hate more than "The Brady Bunch" is "The Partridge Family."

"Where are we now?" "The Avengers compound. It was the first home Vision and I ever shared. Pietro was dead, and I was in a new country. I was all alone."

Vision enters through the wall, back when he didn't remember doors existed, and Wanda invites him to sit next to her and watch TV. "It's funny because of the grievous injury the man just suffered?" Vision doesn't get sitcoms either.

Vision sweetly tells her that if she wants to talk about what she's feeling, he'd like to know. "Should you wish to tell me. Should that be of some comfort to you." "What makes you think talking about it would bring me comfort?" "Well, I read a thing—" that's the Tony Stark part of Vision. "The only thing that would bring me comfort is seeing him again." Poor Wanda.

Vision has a little "I don't know how to respond to that" face journey that is subtle but made me laugh.

She apologizes to him. "It's just like this wave washing over me again and again." She says the wave will drown her, but Vision says it won't. 

"It can't all be sorrow, can it?" IS2G if you two make me tear up this morning, I will … not do anything but be kind of annoyed. I have had the worst allergies the last couple of days, don't make me more snotty!

"I've always been alone, so I don't feel the lack. It's all I've ever known. I've never experienced loss, because I've never had a loved one to lose. What is grief, if not love persevering?" Damn you, Vision. At least I have a new box of tissues.

He sees something funny on the telly and laughs then apologizes. She laughs with him, though. "No, it was funny." They smile at each other, cutely awkward.

Even Agatha wipes at the corner of one eye. Though it could be annoyance. Hard to tell.

"So to recap: parents dead, brother dead, Vision dead." You're still a very mean person, Agatha. "What happened when he wasn't there to pull you back from the darkness, Wanda?"

Wanda doesn't want to play this game anymore. Agatha insists. "Tell me how you did it? Vision was gone, but you wanted him back."

Wanda sort of wakes up, "I wanted him back." Door number four takes us to SWORD's ridiculous and massive lobby. Really, what is with the stupidly enormous monitors hovering over the whole absurd place? So stupid. Nobody wants to watch the news that badly or bigly.

Wanda is walking through the lobby — SWORD's security sucks — but contrary to Acting Director Dick's version of the story, Wanda is politely asking the security guy where Vision is. And not throwing red woo-woos or anything. "Please, please. When I came back, he was gone. His body. And I know he's here. He deserves a funeral, at least. I deserve it."

Speaking of AD Dick. He seems to be watching this on the security feed, he calls the security desk and talks to the guard. Wanda spots the camera. But, security guy waves her through, gives her directions to wherever.

Security guy gets up to buzz Wanda in, but she says she's got it, and she opens the door herself. The footage AD Dick used to make her look like a terrorist. I mean, we knew he was a dick, so this is no surprise, but still. Jimmy! Arrest that asshole for aggravated assholery and general shadiness!

Anyway, Wanda's striding down hallways and as she comes even to the Director's door, the security light goes green and beeps so she goes into his office.

There’s polite introductions and whatever. 

"I understand you're here to see the Vision. To recover his body." "Well, I'm his next of kin." "I understand." You're a lying sleazy snake who's been doing shady things with Vision's body. "I'd like to show you something?" "And then you'll give him to me?" No, because he's a scumbag.

He shows her a lab, she's confused, he says it's what she asked to see. And down in the lab are technicians taking Vision's body apart. Obviously, this is horrifying to her. What did Hayward expect to get from showing Wanda that? Like she'd be all "oh, hmm, how fascinating. Look, he's made of wires and such. By all means, cut my boyfriend's robot head off. For science"?

"What are you doing to him?" "We're dismantling the most sophisticated sentient weapon ever made." I think you're a liar pants, Dick. "It's our legal and ethical obligation."

"I just want to bury him. It's all I want." "Are you sure?" "Excuse me?" "Not everyone has the kind of power that could bring their soulmate back online — forgive me — back to life." You are such a sleaze, Dick. They can't get Vision to work again, so why not emotionally manipulate the grieving woman to do it for you. Gross. DIAF Dick.

"No, I can't do that. That's not why I'm here." "Okay, I can't allow you to take three billion dollars worth of vibranium just to put it in the ground." He's the worst. "The best I can do is let you say goodbye to him here."

"He's all I have." "Well, that's just it, Wanda; he isn't yours." Somebody needs to squash this guy like a bug. I don't care who. Wanda, obviously, deserves the honor most, but let her get on with her life, I say. Monica's probably the next best for sure. SOMEBODY THOUGH! Hand Darcy a wrench, she'll take care of it.

Where were we … Oh, Wanda's doing the head tilt of impending magical ass-kickery. She busts through the glass, drops down to the floor of the lab, and a security team runs out to point their guns at her. AD Dick tells them to fall back. Why, his plan's working just perfectly, no need to interfere with the woman he’s making suffer extra.

Wanda walks around Vision's body to his head. And she puts her hand over the giant hole where Thanos ripped out the mind stone. "I can't feel you." Every bit of this, for me, takes AD Dick from a generic loathsome character, to somebody actually disgusting. Do not like.

Wanda can't feel Vision at all, and she walks away, out of the room, out of the SWORD building, leaving the body behind. THIS IS VERY SAD, MARVEL.

She gets into her car, and in the passenger seat is an open envelope, like for a greeting card or something. And off she goes to Westview, New Jersey. A down-on-its-luck small town, full of sad looking people and dirty streets. 

She pulls into the driveway of a property that's overgrown, with just a foundation, no house.

Damn you show. It wasn't an envelope, it was a real estate deed with a plan of the property with a red heart drawn on it, and the words "to grow old in. v." inside. What did Wanda do to deserve this? I mean, fine, she was in Hydra for like a minute, but she wasn't a true believer or anything, and she redeemed herself. Come on. Stupid Marvel, making all the things hurt.

She's crying, you're crying, I'm crying, everybody's crying, as she walks into the foundation of the home that never was. And then it all just comes pouring out of her in a great burst of red light and grief and power. Creating the sitcom world around her and swallowing Westview. Poor Wanda. 

There. There's your answer, Agatha. Are you happy, you big meanie? Go turn AD Dick into a toad, or something, would you?

Hm, from her power, the yellow light of the mind stone starts to separate out, from back when she and it sort of had their moment in the Hydra lab, and out of that Vision is recreated or reborn or reconstituted or … whatever. Then they're in the black and white world of the first ep, and everything is perfect. Damn you, Marvel.

Real world Wanda looks up from where she's standing behind B&W Wanda and Vision and sees it's all just a TV show set. Agatha is in the audience, clapping. She vanishes and Wanda can hear Billy and Tommy screaming for her. She runs off set and into her front yard.

Out on the street, Agatha has the boys on magic leashes.

Agatha says she knows what Wanda is and that "You have no idea how dangerous you are." Well, keep holding her boys with magic ropes around their necks and we'll all find out. Agatha's gone full witchy here, she looks great.

"You're supposed to be a myth. A being capable of spontaneous creation. Here you are, using it to make breakfast for dinner." lol. Hey! I was actually thinking last night that I hadn't made waffles in a while. Breakfast for dinner is its own kind of magic, Agatha. (note to self: check we have syrup)

Wanda is pretty done with Agatha. She wants the boys released.

"Oh yes, your children. Vision. This whole little life you've made; this is chaos magic, Wanda. And that makes you … The Scarlet Witch!" DUN DUN DUN! CREDITS! !!!!

Well that was all very dramatic and sad. A really good episode, really good. Damn you, Marvel. Kathryn Hahn is great, absolutely love her.

Yes, there's a mid-credits scene, btw. F'in AD Dick, for what it's worth, finally putting his Genius Master Plan into action. What a dick. The biggest sack of tiny dicks you ever saw. No really, I hate this guy. I hope Wanda tears him a hundred new ones. Then sets what's left on fire. With her mind. 

Also, he’s dumb. He can’t possibly think he can contain Wanda when she gets a look at his Genius Master Plan, can he? Is he that dumb? Probably, but couldn’t one of his little minions go “um, sir, she did almost defeat Thanos. I suspect this may end catastrophically for us.” 

Do you suppose Darcy’s still stuck in traffic? 

OH NO! There’s only one more episode left. I’m sad about that. This has turned out really quite good. Well done, show. Well done. 

[teenwolffanclub-me]

Season 1, Episode 2: Second Chance at First Line (Part Two)

Hey there beautiful reader! If you’re new here, this is a series I’m writing where each chapter is an episode from the first season of Teen Wolf. If you’ve been here before, hey! I missed you! Previous and future chapters are linked at the end of each part if you want to catch up.

Pairing: Stiles x Psychic! Reader (eventually)

P.S. Stiles and Scott are really bad at keeping secrets and Jackson is a suspicious asshole.

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

I stared down at my algebra homework, the numbers blurring together until I couldn’t read them anymore. I blinked a few times in an effort to clear my vision. My head was killing me. I groaned and slammed my pencil down onto the desk in front of me. I’d been working on this for almost an hour now, but I couldn’t quiet my mind. It was already dark outside and I wasn’t even close to being done.

Every time I closed my eyes, gruesome images flashed behind them. Scott and Stiles walking through the forest with shovels, half a body buried in the earth, mangled animals.

I rubbed at my temples and let my head fall down onto the textbook in front of me. As I rested for a moment, I felt myself becoming faint. My eyes fluttered open and black dots floated around my bedroom. I cursed myself for fighting it this long. I knew that always made it worse.

All I could do was whimper as my limbs grew weaker. My eyes rolled back involuntarily and my phone clattered onto the hardwood floor. After that, everything went dark.

I woke to the sound of voices. I was laying on my side, one arm outstretched above my head while the other lay against my stomach. I pried my heavy eyelids open and the whole world tilted. My stomach churned painfully as a wave of nausea crashed over me. It felt like I’d just been hit by a semi-truck. My muscles protested as I forced myself up off the cold ground.

Wait. Cold...ground...

Shit. I was back in the forest. Why did it always have to be the forest? I couldn’t sleepwalk to one of my friends houses or something? My head was no longer pounding, so I knew I was in the place it wanted me to be. Why, though, I had no idea.

“What if he comes back?” It was Scott’s voice that drifted toward me with the wind.

Judging by the volume, he couldn’t be far.

“I have a plan for that.” Stiles responded, sounding slightly out of breath.

I wiggled my fingers as I waited for my body to regain it’s strength. It always took a minute or so after an episode.

“Which is?” Scott was gasping gently too.

Once I felt confident that I wouldn’t face plant, I used a nearby tree to help me get to my feet. I took a few slow steps forward to test myself. Satisfied that I was mostly back to normal, I headed in their direction. Goosebumps erupted on my skin as a soft breeze brushed against me. Once again, I was only wearing a t-shirt and it was freezing out here.

“You run one way, I run the other. Whoever he catches first...too bad.”

I climbed up a small hill and saw Scott and Stiles kneeling before a large hole in the ground. Two shovels lay discarded on the dirt beside them. I swallowed thickly. So, that part of my vision had already happened.

“I hate that plan!”

I didn’t want to waste anymore time. They might think I’m a psycho for sneaking up on them, but I had to find out why they were so hellbent on solving a murder case. I knew my mind wouldn’t let me rest until I figured it out. And I wanted to get home, so I needed to act fast. Within seconds I was standing on the other side of the hole they’d obviously just dug.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” I crossed my arms to maintain some of my body heat as I started shivering.

“Gah!” Stiles jumped aggressively at my voice and fell face first into the hole.

I winced and peered inside to make sure he didn’t hurt himself.

“Y/N? How-how did you find us?” Scott bolted to his feet and looked at me with wide, nervous eyes.

I was honestly surprised he knew my name. I’d been around him plenty of times with Allison, but never really talked to him directly until now.

“That’s...” I hesitated. It wasn’t like I could tell them what actually happened. “Not important. What are you doing?”

“Why are you everywhere?” Stiles popped back up like a whack-o-mole and braced his hands on the dirt edge of the hole.

“What?” I asked dumbly, my own eyes widening.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed you spying on us all week.” He wagged a finger at me like a disgruntled father.

My cheeks grew hot under the accusation. I really didn’t want them to think I was some weirdo stalker. I tried to keep the rising defensiveness out of my voice. “It’s not my fault you two talk about halved bodies and animal bites in public.”

“You heard that?” Stiles dropped his hand, his eyes twitching slightly.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “It was kind of hard not to. You really think Derek killed that girl?”

Scott took a step toward me with a hand outstretched. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to intimidate me or reassure me with that gesture. Either way, he looked close to a panic attack.

“Y/N, you can’t be here. You need to go home.” His brown eyes were boring into mine, practically begging me to listen.

I frowned. I did not take orders from anyone but my mother, occasionally. I closed the distance between us with a few long strides.

“Not until I get some answers. I’d like to know if I accepted a ride from a murderer. Why are you two so interested, anyway? And talking about scents and bite marks?”

“Oh, God.” Scott instantly started spiraling. He backed away from me and shoved his hands through his hair. He was muttering something to himself that I couldn’t make out.

“Uh...guys.” Stiles’ shaky voice fluttered up from the hole he was still standing in. I moved my attention from Scott’s freak out to see what he wanted.

I looked inside and let out a loud shriek at the sight before me. One lifeless eye stared up toward the sky, attached to the upper body of a wolf. A very much dead wolf. That was cut in half. Bile rose up my throat and I gagged, staggering away from it.

Stiles pulled himself out of the hole and Scott ran to my other side.

“What the hell is that?” He yelled, still freaking out but probably because of the corpse in front of us now.

“It’s a wolf.” I deadpanned, still staring at it. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the gruesome sight.

“Yeah, we can see that.” Stiles sent a glare my way and leaned over me to look at Scott. “I thought you said you smelled blood. Like human blood.”

Did he just say...?

Scott took a deep breath to calm himself down. “I told you something was different.”

I looked back and forth between them, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

“It doesn’t make sense.” Stiles threw a hand up in frustration.

“We gotta get out of here.” Scott just shook his head and picked up one of the shovels from the ground.

“Yeah. Okay. Help me cover it up.” Stiles grabbed the other shovel and was about to stick it into the loose dirt when something caught his eye.

My heart started pounding with uncertainty. What if it was Derek coming back? If he saw us on his property and he actually was a murderer, I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate to add three more bodies to this grave.

“What’s wrong?” I breathed, unable to wait any longer for him to tell us what he was seeing.

“You see that flower?” He pointed somewhere in front of us.

True to his word, there was a single flower sticking up from the ground a few feet away. There were a few small green leaves at its base, and light purple pedals that formed an almost perfect cylinder at the top.

“What about it?” Scott sounded annoyed that he was stalling the clean up process.

“I think it’s wolfsbane.” Stiles was still staring at the flower with wide eyes.

Wolfsbane? Like the plant from werewolf mythology? There was no way that could be a real thing.

“What’s that?” I let out a sigh of relief when Scott asked the question, glad I wasn’t the only one confused right now.

Stiles’ brows rose and his lips parted in scrutiny as he gave Scott a long look. “Haven’t you ever seen The Wolfman? Lon Chaney Jr? Claude Rains?”

He shook his head. Stiles’ eyes snapped to mine. “The original classic werewolf movie?”

“Of course I’ve seen it.” I admitted. I’d always loved old films, and I actually had to watch that one for a class at one of my old schools.

Stiles sighed and closed his eyes for a brief moment before turning his attention back to Scott. “You’re so unprepared for this.”

My mind was racing with questions. The way they were talking...it was as if something else was going on with all of this. Something other than human. I’d already heard Scott talking about smelling and hearing things he shouldn’t be able to...

Was he...?

Stiles plucked the flower from the ground, a big clump of dirt coming with it. That’s not all that emerged from the ground, though. A piece of rope was seemingly attached to the roots. He looked back at us in question and both Scott and I shrugged.

He pulled on the rope and followed along the path it was creating in the dirt. It became clear almost instantly that it had been buried all the way around the grave, in a huge spiral. Stiles continued walking until the entire length of rope was wrapped around his hands. I heard a soft gasp from beside me and watched as Scott stood to his feet slowly.

“Stiles.” He muttered, staring right into the grave with a horrified glint in his eyes.

I looked down and yelped, nearly shitting myself at the transformation that had happened. The severed upper body of a woman was now lying where the wolf had just been. Stiles joined us quickly.

“Oh, whoa.” He stumbled back at the sight.

The three of us stared down into the hole in stunned silence for a few long moments. I took a step backward to put some distance between myself and the body. This was all too much. What I just witnessed is not possible. It shouldn’t be possible. But it had happened right before my eyes. Wolves don’t just turn into people.

I wrapped my arms around myself tighter, feeling my entire body start to tremble. I didn’t know whether it was from the cold or the events of the last few minutes.

“Y/N?” Stiles suddenly called out as he noticed that I was retreating.

At this point, I wasn’t sure if either of the boys in front of me were entirely human. There had to be some kind of supernatural shit going on here, and I wanted no part of it. I just moved. I couldn’t let us be forced out of another town already.

“I—I’m gonna...I have to...” My teeth were chattering now and my words kept getting all jumbled up. 

“We can explain.” Scott went back to having a major freak out. “All of it.” 

I didn’t really want him to, to be honest. I’d seen enough to know that I didn’t want to be involved anymore. I just hoped my mind would be satisfied at this point and not force my hand again. I couldn’t help it if I just kept showing up places, but at least while conscious, I would be keeping my distance from now on. 

My shoulders tensed as I felt something heavy wrap around me. I’d been so lost in thought that I hadn’t even noticed Stiles walking toward me and offering his jacket. My muscles instantly relaxed under the comforting warmth and I sighed tiredly. Even if I wanted to get away from them, I wasn’t about to turn away a coat right now. 

And, God, it smelled good. 

I sent him a small, grateful smile and his eyes flickered around my face quickly as if checking for signs of insanity. 

“I’ll drive you home.” I sighed in relief that he’d somehow read my mind and nodded. My shaky hands pulled his jacket tighter around my torso as I followed the two of them toward a trailhead. 

I chewed on my lip nervously as I sat in the back of Stiles’ blue Jeep. He and Scott had been throwing ideas around about wolfsbane and it’s uses since we pulled out of Beacon Hills Preserve, but I hadn’t said a word. I was still trying to process everything I just saw while coming up with a plan to avoid these two for the rest of my life. 

“Maybe it’s a special skill, like something you have to learn.” My attention snapped back to the front of the car with Stiles’ words and I realized I had no idea what they were talking about. 

“I’ll put it on my to-do list. I already need to figure out how the hell I’m playing this game tonight.” Scott barked back, seeming a little breathless. I leaned forward a bit and watched as he squeezed his eyes shut tightly. 

“Maybe it’s different for girl werewol...” Stiles let his last word trail off. His head jutted forward and he rolled his lips inward as he visibly cringed. 

A heavy silence filled the car. His eyes fluttered and snapped to mine in the rear view mirror. My jaw was slack as I stared right back. Did he just...was he going to...

“Stiles, finish that thought.” My voice was barely above a whisper. I tried to ignore the fluttering in my stomach as I said his name aloud for the first time. 

He hesitated, chewing on his lips in thought. He looked between Scott and I. Back and forth. I saw Scott shake his head minutely and clenched my jaw shut. If they didn’t tell me what the hell was going on soon, I couldn’t be held accountable for my irresponsible actions. Like jumping out of a moving vehicle. 

“I...I was going to say...” I started taking off his jacket as he tried to think of a believable lie. 

Yeah, I was done. The second we slowed down enough I would be removing myself from this situation and never speaking to them again. 

“Stop that!” Scott suddenly yelled and gripped his hair, so I froze with one arm free. 

“Stop what?” Stiles’ fingers tensed on the steering wheel as his head snapped to the right. 

“Talking!” He was breathing heavily now and clutching his hands into fists. I pressed my back into the seat behind me, wanting to be as far away from him as possible. 

“Are you okay?” Dumb question, Stiles. He was clearly very much not okay. 

He began hyperventilating and pulling at his seatbelt. “No! No, I’m not okay! I am so far from being okay!”

Good God. I’m going to die. 

“You know, you’re going to have to accept this, Scott. Sooner or later.” Stiles’ spoke with that parental tone again and all I could think was that this was so not the time for a lecture. 

“I can’t!” Scott’s voice was thicker now, more guttural. I pushed myself against the door to my left and gripped the handle. 

“Well you’re gonna have to!” Stiles was yelling now too, only making the situation worse. 

“No, I can’t breathe.” Scott slammed one of his hands into the roof of the Jeep with a loud groan and I yelped in surprise. I covered my mouth and froze in fear. My heart was racing in my chest. He was really freaking out, to the point of potential violence. A small car was not the place to be with someone like that.

Suddenly, jumping out seemed like a really good idea. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Stiles swerved to the left and I lost my hold on the door handle. My shoulder slammed into the plush cushion beside me and the seatbelt dug painfully into my hips. 

“Pull over.” Scott demanded, breathing heavily. He hunched over and groaned again. 

“Why? What’s happening?” Stiles was watching him carefully instead of focusing on the road. 

“Oh my God, Stiles! Just do it!” I shrieked, wanting nothing more than to get away from them both. 

Just then, Scott peered into the duffle bag resting on the center console between them and...growled? 

“You kept it?!” His voice was deeper than I had ever heard it and raw with emotion. Anger, mostly. But there were traces of anxiety and fear too. 

“What was I supposed to do with it?” Stiles’ voice cracked with panic as he continued to race on down the road. 

Scott moaned loudly. It sounded like he was in agony. He lowered his head to his chest before snapping it back up quickly. I gasped in shock and scrambled as far backward as I could at the sight of his face. Here eyes were no longer their normal brown, but now looked more like fireflies as they glowed a bright yellow. His canines elongated into pointy spikes. 

“Stop the car!” The metal cage around us shook with his intense scream. 

All I could do was stare at him with wide eyes as Stiles’ skidded to a violent stop in the middle of the road. Thankfully, no one was coming at the moment. He immediately jumped out of the driver’s seat, taking the duffle bag with him. He chucked it over a nearby hill as hard as he could, and it disappeared instantly between the trees. 

“Okay, we’re good.” He called before walking back to the car. 

I hesitantly let my eyes trail back to the passenger seat. I had no idea what I would see sitting there. Would it be Scott? Or some kind of monster?

“Oh, no...” Stiles muttered, noticing at the same time as me that he was gone. 

I tried to catch my breath as I unbuckled myself and fell out of the Jeep. At once, I was both relieved that he was gone and worried about him. The chilly night air helped shock me back into reality. That really just happened. 

“Werewolf.” I whispered, breathless. My eyes met Stiles’, which were practically bulging out of his head at my declaration. “You were going to say werewolf.” 

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

I watched a cloud of condensed air gather in front of my lips as I exhaled and shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat. It was way colder than I’d expected. Part of me wished I’d taken Allison’s advice and worn a scarf. 

“What do you think she’s saying to him?” She asked from beside me, watching Lydia invade Scott’s personal space on the field. 

I had no idea, and I didn't really care. I had so many other things to worry about. Like the fact that he’s a fucking werewolf and we just discovered half of a dead body on Derek Hale’s property a couple hours ago. 

I just shook my head. “I don’t know, probably bribing him to pass to Jackson.”

After losing Scott, Stiles drove me the rest of the way home. He’d practically threatened me when informing me that I couldn’t tell a single soul what happened tonight. I caught him looking up at me from the bench and swallowed nervously. I really wanted to tell Allison. She was practically dating him, for God’s sake. She deserved to know.

I still had no idea where Scott had gone. Either way, he was here at the lacrosse team’s first game. Something in my gut told me that he shouldn’t be here. That it was a terrible idea and bad things were going to happen. 

Lydia joined us in the stands, looking smug. Allison asked her what she’d been talking to Scott about, and she played coy. I kept my eyes trained forward. I just had such a bad feeling. 

The game started out slow for Beacon Hills. We were currently behind a few points, and time was almost up. I noticed that Scott and Jackson kept ramming into each other and intentionally keeping the ball out of the other’s hands. It probably had something to do with the way Jackson had threatened Scott about his alleged drug use in the hallway.

Suddenly, Scott got good. Really good. He was catching the ball left and right, and making every goal. The stands were erupting in cheers at each successful goal he made, but I was watching him closely. He seemed agitated. He was breathing heavily and hunching over every few seconds. I glanced down at Stiles and saw that he was chewing on one of his gloves nervously. 

“That’s it, Jackson! Get fired up!” The coach yelled excitedly from the sidelines. 

“Here, help me with this.” Lydia pulled a sign out of seemingly nowhere and grabbed mine and Allison’s hands.

I stood up and peered around to see what it said. In big bubble letters it read, “We Luv U Jackson!”

As if sensing it, Scott’s head snapped in our direction. Stiles whipped around and cringed before turning back to the field. I watched Scott’s shoulders heave as he took long, labored breaths. He was about to shift, I could feel it. Any minute now, the entire school would know that he’s a werewolf.

He caught a pass and practically jumped over another players shoulders. My lips parted in surprise. That was actually kind of badass. He weaved past every player that tried getting in his way and somehow scared them enough to start passing directly to him. 

Then, he threw a ball so hard that it broke through our opponents goalie net. 

The crowd exploded with pride, but I was frozen. That is not good. There was no way a normal person would be able to do something like that. He was going to get himself caught. 

Time was running out. There were only six seconds left on the clock. Scott managed to score the winning goal and everyone, including Stiles, cheered happily. I watched as Scott threw one of his gloves off and gasped at the sight of brown claws at the tips of his fingers. The people around me started ambushing to field to celebrate. I quickly lost sight of Allison and Lydia. 

I managed to see Scott bolting toward the locker rooms through the dense crowd. Stiles seemed to notice too and went chasing after him. I wanted to help, but I knew I couldn’t just run into the boy’s locker room. I would have to trust that they could handle it. 

I turned to walk down to the field, but stopped when I caught sight of Jackson holding Scott’s discarded glove. My eyes widened as I watched him inspect it. He was paying close attention to the ends of each finger, where claws had poked through. He looked around, probably trying to find Scott. 

This is so, so not good.

Episode 2, Part One      Episode 3

[omegangrins]

A Rant on the End of Tremors 7: Shrieker Island

As the main man said,

Throwing caution to the wind because this blew up elsewhere.

If you can do it with Justice League, fuck it, let's do it for every shitty movie we've got.

While we're at it, can we change the ending of the 7th Tremors movie so *MAJOR FUCKING SPOILERS* Burt Gummer doesn't die or at least bring Jamie Kennedy back, or Marvel style recast Jon Heder, so he dies saving his son instead of a random-ass person who could have easily saved themselves. Or cut the forced montage of Burt clips at the end so his death is at least ambiguous. Seriously beyond pissed about that one. THAT is no way for him to go.

I would also like to point out that the next Tremors *HAS* to be titled Tremors 8: Ouroboros and bring everyone back for Burt's funeral . Otherwise, what's the fucking point?

I have feelings about it, people. *FEELINGS!!!*

One of my favourite childhood memories is picking out Tremors 2 from the local gas station's movie rentals and forcing my parents to watch it. I was probably 5-6 at the time.

Let's say that it's been a lifelong love affair ever since. It took me another 10 years before I even watched the 1st. Probably why I hold good sequels in such high regard.

I didn't even know about the 1st until it played as a trailer in front of 2 and never thought to watch until years later. That's a testament to its filmmaking if I ever knew one.

So seriously, that's how they chose to kill off one of the most well known and prolific characters in a movie/TV series known around the globe? With an unnecessaryily needed death and a montage of clips from all the other movies that are obviously better than this one.

And I'm saying that as someone who defends Chibnall/13th Doctor...

...and I'm fucking fuming because THIS is how you *actually* destroy something people love and hold dear to their hearts. It's like the ending of Game of Thrones. His shitty ass death has made it a loooooot harder to rewatch. And they are one of my favourite series!!! Not flawless but fun. But I will defend every other movie and all the episodes except this. Honestly I'll still defend 7/8ths of this one as well.

Like I said, it's easily fixed too. Fucking vice versa swap out Jon Heder for Jamie Kennedy, who the movies have been building up for the last two, and have Burt save his son in front of his old flame. Boom, you won't even need the montage of clips cause you can just have Travis and his mom reminisce about Burt instead. Show not tell. I don't even care he died by Graboid (although in all honesty, I've allways wanted El Blanco to take him down or Burt kills himself from the PTSD. It would have AT LEAST MADE SENSE. Hell, the best would be a heart attack to callback Val's "Yeah, Burt, the way you worry, you're gonna have a heart attack before you get a chance to survive World War Three.". But none of us ever get the best death.). And it's not even about Burt sacrificing himself to save a nobody. Cause that could work too. BUT YOU NEED TO BUILD THAT SHIT UP. Not just fucking drop it like it's hot.

Like I said too, the first 7/8ths ain't bad but it's an entirely different story than a swansong for a hero.

It's all about some billionaire scientist/cowboy hunter dude who likes to get his jollies off hunting the biggest and the baddest who ends up inviting people to this island so they can hunt down Super-Graboids he designed for shits and giggles. But then some Shrieker-fy....

And the pretentious douches come and die one by beautiful one while Burt tries to save them anyway and it's all spectacularly dumb fun until it comes crashing down in the final 10 minutes. Fuck, they should just cut the last 10 minutes. Then it's a perfect little Tremors ditty.

#RELEASETHE7THTREMORSWITH10MINUTESFROMTHEENDCUT

This isn't even about Jon Heder either. He's just doing his job. Hell, do what /u/VoiceofRonHoward pointed out.

"It is clear that Jon's character was just pasted in over Jamie's, the artifacts of the father-son relationship are all over it. They should have gone full Marvel and just replaced Jamie with Jon and acted like nothing happened."

CAUSE FUCK YES!! The only time a story sucks is when they don't commit. Commitment makes all the difference. Now, I'm pissed double-pissed they didn't do that instead since Heder and Kennedy are similar in terms of white-boy-ness.

Even Michael Gross agrees:

"Yes, yes. Now I can't presume to speak for Jamie [Kennedy]. My understanding was they asked him and he said no. And so that's why they went with somebody else. So I had nothing to do with that decision. I just heard the stories. I missed him for that reason. You begin a relationship with the character, and you want to continue it....

...As you build a relationship with this son, we had two, it would've been nice to have three, but that was the hand I was dealt."

One of my favourite bits of Tremors lore comes from the 5th too so it's not like I hate sequel changes out of hand:

"This is a warrior dance. Our ancestors hunting the lnkanyamba and the Impundulu.

"What's that?

"Impundulu. It's what you call the Ass Blaster.

"Ass Blaster.

"Yes.

"Yes.

"Hey, you know, you make Ass Blaster sound good.

Primitive cultures fighting Graboids, Shriekers and Assblasters. I just love that thought.

Hilariously, my meta opening to the 8th movie would be a flashback to 10,000 years ago and a Neanderthal-like Burt Gummer teaching others how to drive Graboids off cliffs like they did with mammoths.

Thank you for giving me the space to rant. Cause fuuuuuuhhhhhhhhuuccck!!!

Here's Michael Gross' own words from his AMA that prove the people making Shrieker Island didn't know their shit.

"The Tremors series is one very close to my heart and I want you to know how appreciated your continued effort is for your core fan base.

My only question would be were there ever any studio decisions made for Burt that you refused to comply with? Or was everybody pretty much always on the same page on what to do with the character?

Thanks again for your dedication.

- Josh"

"Thanks for the kind words, Josh. As regards the first four films, with Wilson and Maddock as the writers, we were very much on the same page. 5,6, and 7 were a bit different, because there was a 13-year hiatus between 4 and 5, and we had to refresh our memories while "reinventing" the franchise for a new audience. I will give you one example: in an early draft of Shrieker Island, a new writer wrote a draft where Burt threatened to shoot one of the bad dudes, and I had to tell him—this is true—"Burt never intentionally points his gun at another human being."

And his own thoughts on Burt's "death" and how to bring it all back together again.

Universal and the director [came] to me with this idea, and they said, 'This could be emotionally very powerful, if we have to say goodbye to this man after 30 years. And I hemmed and hawed, and I thought about it a little bit. And I said, 'You're absolutely right about the emotional gut punch this can be.' And I said, 'You're going to hurt a lot of people's feelings.' And I said, 'But I thought this franchise was over after four. So I could certainly live with it being over after seven.'

"What we negotiated -- well, it wasn't really a negotiation, we all agreed on this -- is that we kind of left the door open. >!Because although Burt is gone, we never see a corpse. We never see his remains. Everybody assumes he's gone. Is he buried somewhere? Is he unconscious somewhere? We never see Burt dead. We see Burt gone. We see Burt not returning. What does that mean? Has he been knocked out? Does he have amnesia somewhere? Does he wander off? Is he in a kind of coma? So yes, the way it ends is pretty profound."

"As regards to the end of Tremors 7, let me just say that while people ASSUME Burt is gone, we never see his remains, do we? Just sayin.'

"The only reason he has become the main character is that everyone else in the original cast moved on to other things. I NEVER thought of him as the central figure, but it just worked out that Michael Gross, like Burt Gummer, was a "survivor." :0) "

"No one would like to see it more than I!!! One of my greatest regrets is that so many other cast members fell away over time. Reba was on to other things, Kevin said no to a second, Fred said no to a third. I would LOVE one last go with all of them, but it is not up to me. :0( "

"There are no guarantees, but for those who wonder aloud if this is the final film, I will say what I have said before: SALES drive sequels, Show biz is 5% show and 95% business, so if this latest addition to the Tremors franchise, sells well, [Universal] will follow the money, and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment may will be back for more."

/u/ActorMichaelGross, the bell has been rung and the song sung. Get the producers on this ASAP!!

I was also the first person to discover the symbolic foreshadowing of Stumpy's end with Earl's sleeping bag in the original movie.

Let's just say, I really *really* love these movies. So if anyone knows anyone, hook me up to the producers of this series and I'll Justin Lin in the Fast and Furious out of this shit.

Since I don't think it's good to critique without proposing either, I say we can make up for this fuck up with the next movie. We'll call it Tremors 8: Ouroboros. After the snake which eats its own tail.

We find out Burt faked his death to get the Proudfoot Corporation to let down their guard and when everyone from the previous series comes back for Burt's fake funeral they give him ever loving shit for being such a paranoid whack-job that he would fake his death to fool a government agency. Why would he do this? He found an old photo of Hiram Gummer with a Graboid warning on the back and asks himself why this valley, why these things, why allways me? And we find out, it's not Burt. It's that lifestyles of extremes will end up in places of extremes. Burt and the Graboids are survivors of different species. Sure the Proudfoot Corporation IS using Mixmaster to combine Graboids, Shriekers, and Ass-Blasters into one super creature for the military but it pales in comparison to Burt looking at his life and wondering in shame how many ancient giants like himself he has killed. And with that, he actually dies, and we keep the ball rolling with the rest of the characters trying to stop what they allways thought was just another one of Burt's crazy conspiracies.

That's why it's Ouroboros. Everything comes back around. We could end/start the movie with Grady, Earl, and Jodi opening a Monster World in Perfection Valley a la Desert Jack's Graboid Adventure. I don't know. I'm fucking trying harder than the people they paid to do this already.

It ain't perfect but I'm building on sand here so changes are gonna get made.

Like if the makers of Tremors notice this,

Then DM me because fucking A you guys need some help.

[novantinuum]

Crack the Paragon, Chapter 11

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: Teen Audiences (I have upped the rating in consideration of sensitive topics I aim to depict later on.)

Words: 3000~

Summary: In another world, he doesn’t have his mother’s sword or shield to hide behind when Bismuth lands her strike. The bubble pops.

Steven falls apart.

Chapter summary: In which Lapis is a flight risk, and Steven begins to doubt himself.

You can find the AO3 link in the reblogs! (I have to omit them from the original post these days to ensure this will show up in the tags.) If you enjoyed this, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3 as well.

-

Chapter 10: Beta, Part 2

When your life has become a continually evolving string of heart pounding adventures linked together by the odd few days off, you quickly learn to fixate on the fine details no matter what the circumstance, as you never know when one of those details could be used to save everyone’s butts. Sure, it’s not like this outlook did him any favors back in the forge, but his point still stands: a Steven who isn’t constantly paying close attention to his surroundings is a Steven who can’t properly help his friends. If he’s not innately aware of everything around him, he can’t raise his shield in time. He won’t be able to pull the right tool out of his cheeseburger backpack. He can’t give a perfectly worded response to a soul in need. This is a non-negotiable fact, and the reality of what happened with Bismuth merely cements it ever more solid. Which is why— deep beyond the wandering disorientation of his current surface thoughts— he can’t help but wonder why he’s unable to pay attention to the details that actually matter right now. The individual threads of all his friends’ panic, confusion, and attempted explanation overlap and intertwine, weaving an audible tapestry of emotions. Their precise words, however, may as well have died in the wind. Mentally, he is not here. Instead, the fragmented remains of his focus choose to zero in on the wood grain pattern spread across every beam and board of the barn’s rustic infrastructure. Wholly enamored, his eyes trace a path between the dark ridges as if traversing a maze. Tree rings are super pretty, huh. He absolutely doesn’t give them the love and admiration they deserve. But as is evident from the slight musty smell and the dainty mushrooms beginning to sprout by the floor in one of the corners, some of the boards are beginning to rot. His mouth falls slightly ajar, and he stares at these fruiting bodies with such stubborn commitment that for a moment he forgets anything else was ever a priority. Have Peridot and Lapis noticed? Do they even know what wood rot is? Upon that thought, he frowns pensively, balling his fist at his chin. Hmm. Given their relative inexperience with Earth stuff, the most likely answer to that is no. He’ll have to call Dad about fixing the boards before this grows into an even bigger problem. It’d be awful if their home became unsafe to live in because he didn’t do his part to help. But then again... “What do you mean, none of you know why she did it? That just makes it worse!” “Lapis! Lapis, wait! They said she’s—“ “Let go of me!” she says, struggling in Peridot’s grasp, her water wings flaring outwards at the ready. “Don’t you get it? I can’t live here on Earth anymore, it’s not safe! None of us are safe!” Is he already too late?

Lapis’s impassioned cries continue to echo at the edge of his awareness— something paranoid about shapeshifted disguises, about the Diamonds— but his feet are still anchored to the boards below, his body all but stagnant in shock of the current maelstrom of emotions. And yet, it’s strange... while a sum of him dimly recognizes he’s still attached to reality, it’s almost as if he’s watching all of this from above himself, stuck as a passive observer to his failure. Helpless. ( C-cracked, I’m- I’m cracked, I’m split I, I can’t... feel... need... I-I need to —) Slimy tendrils of guilt slither around his heart. He wasn’t paying close enough attention to the mood. He wasn’t careful. He wasn’t convincing. He was scared that everyone would devolve into petty argument, and look what happened! He ran his mouth when he should’ve stayed silent. He caused his own nightmare. His family’s splintering apart once more, and it’s all his fault. “But it’s not like that,” Ruby hastily interjects, “I’m sure it’s not like that!” “Really? You’re seriously jumping to defend Rose, after all the lies she fed us?” Amethyst spits back. “N- no! I’m just saying, why would—“ The constant chirping chorus emanating from the birds of the nearby woods steals his fragmented focus next, and he can’t help the sense of relief that bubbles up from within as he willfully sinks into the distraction. The birds, their songs are beautiful. He wonders what they’re saying to each other... if they’re arguing about territory, warning friends about predators, or simply having a friendly conversation. Maybe his dad might be able to distinguish the difference. When he was still living in the van, they used to lay on that ratty old mattress side-by-side late at night, listening to the crashing tides and the distant squalls of birds picking at trashed food on the boardwalk. Because one of his relatives was big into birding when they were kids, Dad was always able to stake a reasonable guess on the species class based on call alone. And honestly, that’s a pretty amazing power to have. As he related earlier, it’s important to fixate on the fine details. Attention to detail can save lives. It can soften hearts. It can make or break friendships. But as he’s grown to fear, it can’t fix everything. He can’t fix everything. The blue Gem’s features twist with simmering fury. “Peridot, I told you to let me go!” she hollers, and in a single jerk rips herself away from the shorter Gem’s desperate embrace. Her wings swing like a whip behind her as her body follows the motion through. It’s enough of a shock to the system that his sense of awareness comes rushing back. He ducks, the water swishing right over his head. Something behind him snaps and clatters to the ground. Ruby presses a bejeweled hand to her face, muttering something he can’t distinguish. “‘Kay, I’m out,” Amethyst cuts in through the chaos, throwing her hands up. “Y’all are whack, this whole convo is whack, and I can’t deal with any of this right now.” Not wasting a single second, she tucks herself into a ball and super-speeds it out of the barn. Mouth caught in a tiny, helpless ‘o,’ Steven whisks around, only barely catching a glimpse of her retreat before he spots the damage. It’s one of Lapis’s morps, that wooden hanger displaying all the baseball paraphernalia. Now it lies rejected on the floorboards, one of the strings broken and the bat rolling towards Peridot’s feet. He watches, feeling lambasted with regret for his role in sparking this argument, as the green Gem’s face cripples much like the structural integrity of that meep-morp. She blinks away the threat of tears and quickly averts her gaze from the group, bending to pick up the bat before clutching it to her chest in a protective manner. The water Gem huffs and storms out of the barn as well, fists unyielding at her side. Heart pounding amidst all the uncertainty of this fraught situation, Steven scuttles after her. Come on, think! he snaps at himself, chewing pensively at his lip. There has to be a way he can still save this, a way he can stop his family from splintering apart yet again... “Lapis,” Ruby begins, delicately edging towards her. “No, stop,” she holds up a hand. Her expression— as nebulous and hard to ascertain as always— is caught at some weird nexus between blinding anger, terror, and... is that guilt he spies? “Stop talking! I’m not asking any of you to change my mind. I’m leaving, and all of you should be too!” Turning on her heels, she squares her stance and flares her wings to their full width in preparation for her flight. Just before those watery wings can beat downwards, propelling her lithe form away from his world forever, he leaps forward. Dares to grab her wrist. She sharply inhales, briefly tugging against him before she notices who the hand belongs to and falls slack in his hold. Static assails his mind as he assesses every angle of this jerk-moment decision. What on earth is he doing? (He can practically feel Ruby and Peridot’s anxious, curious gaze drilling into him from behind, and they’re not even in his line of sight. No matter what happens, this is all on him. No one else.) “I-I, um,” he stammers at first, desperately scouring his brain for the right words to say. “Please, I’m... You don’t have to be scared like this. I may have her gem, but I’m not her!” Lapis gives a shaky sigh. Her wings droop right along with her shoulders, the persistent burden of thousands of years of captivity evident within her posture. Waiting in the shadow of her silence, his focus falls on the gemstone adoring her back, that smooth, glossy teardrop. Golly, somehow it doesn’t feel that long ago at all that her gem was cracked, and— scared, angered, and confused— she lashed out in much a similar way. “I’ve always known you’re not your mom, Steven,” she says lowly, still not meeting his gaze. “This- this isn’t about that!” “Then... what is it about?” She growls in frustration, clenching her fists as she yanks her wrist away from his grip. “Have none of you been listening to me?” “Have you been listening to us?” Peridot mutters flatly from behind him.

Lapis shoots her a sour look, but continues, pacing across the grass as she speaks. “If one diamond was able to fool an entire empire into thinking she was a quartz for thousands of years,” she says, gesticulating to emphasize her words, “then- then how do we know the other Diamonds aren’t already here doing the same, already watching from a distance, just waiting to shatter us for everything we’ve done??” The sharpened words echo across the fields, familiar bird calls cut short as even nature falls silent in their sway. Steven stands motionless, her paranoia-tinted prophecy sinking in through his flesh despite all efforts otherwise, sowing roots in the darkest corners of his mind that he dare not peep into. When no one responds, the blue Gem exhales, lowering her face to the ground. “I’ve let my guard down too much here, I’ve let myself grow soft. I’m sorry, but I have to go.” He swears he hears a note of disappointment laced between the layers of her uneven breath, or perhaps it’s heartbreak. He can’t tell. Despite his usual aptitude at interpreting others’ feelings, Lapis is consistently hard to read. And it’s this very thought, this subtle dissonance from the expected in her intentions, that encourages him to reach out one last time. Her wings flare out again. Blood and hard light thrum at an almost dizzying pace through his parallel veins. It’s now or never.

“Lapis, wait!” he calls, palm open wide. “Please, please don’t leave! Not now, not like this.” Their world crystallizes into ice as he vies to meet her fears head on. There’s no sunlight, no bird calls, no wind, no Ruby and Peridot behind him. No more untimely distractions. Only Lapis, desperate and hurting amid the heart of the storm she created. She holds her wings taut, ready for flight, hovering at the edge of her metaphoric tower. Breath trembling, she glances behind. The sheer complexity of emotion Steven discovers in those sea blue irises almost makes his eyes water. Cautiously, he steps forward.

“Maybe you’re right,” he begins, fidgeting with his shirt’s bottom hemline. His fingers briefly brush against the edge of his gem as he does so, and he jerks them away in blind rebellion of this reminder. “Maybe this planet never will be completely safe. Maybe nothing ever goes to plan. But the Crystal Gems have survived this long because they stood together instead of breaking apart. A-and... I know you don’t think of yourself as a Crystal Gem,” he cuts in quickly with a placating gesture, noticing the question forming on her lips, “but please-! With everything else that’s happening, I really, really still want you in my life.”

Tightly, she wrings her fingers around her opposite arm, face dipping dolefully towards the soft soil squishing up between her bare toes. “Steven, I...” “I can’t promise you’ll be safe on Earth, but I can promise you won’t have to be alone,” he says, voice thick. “Please.” Stay, he mouths, his body nearly shaking in fear of how she’ll respond, of all the inner thoughts flooding through her mind he’ll never wholly decipher. Their gaze locks, souls laid bare to each other as they engage in a rapid-fire dialogue no other creature of this world will ever be privy to.

If you can't stay for yourself, he cries silently, can’t you stay for me?

The seconds are punctuated only by the reverberant tremor of his heartbeat, as he stands upon a precipice in wait of her pivotal, defining answer.

Eventually, her expression softens. She folds her wings, standing down.

“Fine,” she spits. “I’ll wait and see what happens... for now. But if I ever find out any of the Diamonds are inbound, or worse? I’m out of here.”

A stiff gust of wind rushes past, threading through her hair and causing her dress to undulate like mid-ocean waves. Shadow obscures her face.

“I’m not getting pulled into another war.” Giving no further explanation, she turns tail and storms past the tent, past the rickety fence bordering her and Peridot’s barn, and into the overgrown wildflower field beyond. Once she’s reached a far enough distance, she extends her wings and begins to fly, hastily disappearing beyond the tree-line. Everyone stares at the thick swath of forest she escaped to with dumbfounded shock at first, no one quite sure how to proceed after that bomb of a conversation stopper. Ruby mutters something under her breath, clear frustration coloring her voice. Behind him, he hears Peridot reverently set the bat down on the barn’s floor.

“I’m... gonna go find her, and help her calm down,” she says. Clutching her hands close to her chest, she passes him and Ruby and begins her long, flightless trek into the Beach City woods. Steven himself migrates towards the grassy patch beyond the pool, and falls to his knees amongst the dandelions growing there. Most of them are still flowering, their lithe golden yellow petals fanning out from the head. A few on a separate plant are white and puffy, though, ready to disperse seeds. He’s drawn to one in particular, a seedhead that’s already missing half of its progeny. Biologically, he knows it’s a good thing that those seeds have flown away and might get a chance to germinate elsewhere, but regardless the sight of this lonely, barren dandelion strikes a dour note. Was he wrong, asking Lapis to stay? Could she eventually heal and become happier, leaving the burden of this place? He swallows hard, gripping the balding seedhead between two fingers and decisively plucking it off the stem. A few more seeds blow off with the disturbance, their feathery parachutes falling into the arms of the wind.

Lapis...

What if his selfishness is only holding her back?

And then there’s Amethyst to worry about. There’s no point overextending the sad dandelion metaphor to fit her situation, because hers is something entirely unique. She’s still in his life, just emotionally closed-off. Bitter. Avoidant. Unfairly antagonistic to others. By inviting her out here he hoped she might take the opportunity to kick back and blow off some steam, but now, after watching her abruptly leave the group a few minutes ago, he’s worried this trip only succeeded in further stressing her out.

A gem adorned hand falls upon his shoulder then, pulling him to the present. With a startled yelp, he tosses the dandelion into the grass as he flinches away. His heart drums uncontrollably, so much so that his cheeks burn with embarrassment when it dawns on him who this hand belongs to. He sucks in a shaky breath to calm himself down before allowing himself to sink into her comfort, glancing behind to meet Ruby’s tired, kind eyes. “Hey. Are you okay?” she asks. His tongue suddenly feeling as limp and dry as all the fallen leaves beginning to sprinkle the ground, he nods his head yes. In an overt betrayal of his response, his big, stupid, puffy eyes begin to water. Hurriedly, he wipes the burgeoning tears away with the butt of his palm. Frustration bubbles at his core. Since when was he such a crybaby? He’s cried far too much lately, and he’s sick of it. He rubs harder as the tears begin to fall anyways, his bottom lip quivering as he vies with every last ounce of control he still has to not look entirely pathetic. The skin around his eyes, sensitive and raw, begins to sting from the friction. Wordlessly, Ruby wraps her hands around his wrists and leads them away from his face. His chest tightens. He fails to choke back a sob as she pulls him into her embrace, his own arms trapped between them. She buries her face into the crook of his neck, and it’s then that he realizes with a shock of surprise that she’s crying too. Her quiet tears dampen his collar; her fingers clutch at the back of his shirt. “You don’t have to pretend to be strong for us all the time,” she says softly. “I wanna be here for you too, okay? It’s just like you said... no matter what, we stand together.” “But I- I have to go find her,” he chokes out, the words sticking in his throat in the most pathetic manner. “Who, Lapis? Peridot‘s prolly fine handling her on her own.” “No, I mean Amethyst. I saw her run off, an, and she’s been so upset today, and...” “Steven,” she says, leaning away and gently lifting his chin so he can’t avoid her compassionate gaze. “You’ve been under a lot of stress lately, and honestly? A lot of it’s been our fault. You should take a moment to rest, okay?” Grinning, she ruffles his hair. “Enjoy the breeze! Climb a tree! Kick back for once. I’ll check on Amethyst this time.”

He hoarsely whispers an ‘okay’ as he sits back on his heels in the sun and watches her run off, allowing the wind to whip through his curls. Sighing, he splays his fingers just above the grass, allowing their tips to gently tickle his palm as they brush back and forth, and futilely tries to convince himself he’s cultivated enough good into the world today to deserve this break.

[discoveringenterprise]

“RYAN WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GO?!” and other shit you might wonder

First off: I am so sorry for disappearing off of the face of the earth oh my god

Second off: I’m going on an indefinite hiatus as of Sundayish. Yes, you read that right, an indefinite hiatus. All the content on the blog will stay for our enjoyment, and I fully authorize use of my gifs anywhere and everywehre

Third off: if you’re struggling rn, shit gets better, PLEASE trust me on this.

TLDR of this post; I got better, so can you, and I’m heading out.

ENT GC: let me know if you want admin. Do what you want with the blog, and if you wanna make a new group chat, please do so since I won’t be around to add people.

How can I contact you/get your contact info before you go? Dallyn and Daphne have my contact info so if you ever need to reach me and I’m gone... yeah. Like I said, I’ll be heading out Sundayish, so I’ll periodically log in here if you wanna talk to me/get my info before I go.

What’s your actual name? That... that’s a long story, too. LMAO. Especially if you know me. DM me for the story if you know me.

Why are you leaving? So, as you guys know, I started college, which is completely and utterly whack. Everything is changed, everything is different and I have friends now? Like, WTF. I’ve been so wrapped up in work it took me forever to get on here after Dallyn texted me “your account got hacked” so... oops. I let everyone into the ent gc (oh my GOD i look back at that and have a love/hate relationship with it!) and let me know if you figure out a way to make admins on it??? I’m confused AF.

I’m going to be focusing off college and staying off Tumblr for a while. It was 2 am technically today and I was reading all my old posts like “jfc I was so depressed???” and now I’m just... not. I made friends, real friends, over the summer. People who understand and get it (and yes some of them are ent stans.)

Why did you disappear in May and why are you leaving again? Shortly put, and I don’t mean to sound mean, I made real friends. Real as in I will physically interact with them in real life (aka college friends). I kind of weaned off Tumblr slowly, and only kept going back for the ent gc (I LOVE YOU GUYS THOUGH!!!). And it kinda became a drag.

When I came back to Tumblr, it was like late January and early February. I’d just got out of the Instagram rping world and was so tempted to start one here, but I was scared and intimidated, and I’m glad I didn’t. Breaking off rp was the best thing I’d ever done for myself, and the best thing that this toxic girl ever did for me. My shitty mental health had been kinda dependent on this rp, it’s hard to explain, but I was being a jerk and kinda had been since freshman year with projecting my feelings onto my character’s and blurring the lines far too much between me and her. She was (and is!) still hella overpowered, hella perfect, and something that would absolutely never happen in canon.

Honestly, this whole situation was basically the lyrics to the song Clarity ft. Foxes by Zedd. I love that song, go give it a listen.

Point being, I got myself off of that once I realized. The problem had started in January 2017, ran through October 2017, and then took a hiatus until junior year but only started to really manifest itself in February 2019. And honestly, mainly when school started back, in September/October 2019 and lasted until January 4 when she and I had our last fight. (She messaged me again, later- here- and since making that post, we’ve ended things on neutral terms.)

So I came here. Tumblr. I’d been here in 2017 right after the OTHER rp ended, and I think Tumblr became my new outlet then, too. I was a baby in the middle of my freshman year then. And then there I was, coming full circle. As a senior in high school. I read all of my old posts about how I’d never make it, and there I was. I’d made it. The end of HS was in sight.

I straight up vibed through all of May. Now, I was slowly making friends in college already, but it only really took off in April and May, which is when I left. I focused more on those, building those connections. I loved you guys on Tumblr, I still do, but I was definitely going to meet these college friends. And as I pulled my head out of Tumblr, I got a job, an actual paying job , in June- and I was already gone.

As I looked back on my posts last night/this morning I was thinking “oh my GOD what the fuck” because jfc, Tumblr had turned into the place where I vented. And then as I got through the months, I became happier. The pandemic was around, duh, and I didn’t have as much school stressing me out, there wasn’t as much craziness around. I was free, I didn’t have people from high school to deal with, and I got better on my own.

YEAH, I was talking to a college guy. And yeah, that was nice, but it was more of a side thing. He was my friend, and he played me, but I learned to be myself. Learned to love Enterprise wildly and give absolutely no fucks.

And it is oh so nice to give zero fucks. It’s an amazing feeling. I hope everyone gets there someday. And yeah, I’ve had moments where people don’t like me, and moments where I’ve felt down, depressed. That’s not saying life is always perfect 100% of the time.

But what I’m trying to say is: it gets better. And to me, Tumblr was like a crutch. Sometimes you need it to help you stand, but when you think you always need it, and can stand on your own, that’s where the problem is. In May, I became confident enough to let the crutch go. And I’m thankful that I did that.

I still love you guys, everyone reading this post, the people that know me and are going to miss me. It’s not that I hate this website or anything- I just stopped using it as a crutch, you know?

Where can I read this crazy fanfic? DM me, haha. It’s the classic “self-insert but NOT a self-insert” fanfiction originating form a fifth grade idea, reformatted by my depressed fourteen-year-old self. And I wouldn’t change it for the world. Yes, it’s Star Trek.

I also have one for the girl’s relative, too, which IMO is much better. She’s less overpowered, more of a real human being.

So why mention the fanfic and RP? It’s weird; I’ve come full circle. I wanted to be this perfect girl, and then I planned how she’d finish her story (and I’m finishing it. I am, I promise, because she’s a part of me that I wouldn’t trade for anything). As I’ve taken a break from the E/AP-verse (my public nickname for it haha, someone found out here) I’ve realized again, I came full circle.

All I wanted back then was to be happy and I thought a guy would do it. Popularity, a bunch of friends, a “hot body” (btw FUCK BODY SHAMING and you’re all perfect) and all that BS that the media tells you. What really gives you happiness (or at least me)? Confidence. The fact that I know I have friends I can count on here. Yeah, a relationship is nice, but complete yourself before you get into one.

And when I planned my OC’s ending back in February, that’s what she got. She’s married in my head now, to her (and my!) perfect guy, but the important part is that she’s happy, and she’s herself before she got married. Before she got in her relationship.

So, yeah. I think that covers it. In all honesty, if you have more questions, send them to the ask box and I’ll tag them and all this as “ry’s goodbye” and update my nav page. It’s 12:39 AM so please excuse any typos!

Bye, guys. For now, at least.

I love you.

[nyerus]

MDZS  vs.  The Untamed

Differences between “Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation” (Mó Dào Zǔ Shī - 魔道祖师) and its live drama adaptation “The Untamed” (Chén Qíng Lìng - 陈情令)

(If you want to skip right to the differences, please see below the cut!)

I’ve recently fallen into the MXTX fandom by crying through TGCF and I’ve been delighted to see that I’m not the only one who’s been newly inducted. I've been seeing so much of the live action adaptation of MDZS, i.e. CQL, on my dash, and I'm so happy about it. After watching it, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to make a post cataloging the differences between CQL and MDZS for those interested.  (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ The goal of this post is for two reasons: First, to help people who are totally new to MDZS and are starting out with CQL as their entry, and then reading the novel (or going to the donghua/manhua). This will hopefully help them get their bearings in regards to the fandom, so that they won't be confused when coming across certain content that isn't in the live drama. Second, this is to help folks who have already read the novel/etc to understand what's different in the live action, so when/if they choose to watch CQL, they aren't caught off-guard by any changes. (I won't get into the manhua/donghua in this post because it's already too long as it is.) Hopefully, this will also help bridge the gap between fans, so that we can have a fun and shared experienced over this incredible world brought to us by MXTX! This post is split into two distinct sections: one without any major spoilers, and one with spoilers. If you want to be as unspoiled as possible and just want to know the big differences between the novel and drama, please read only the first portion. The second //spoiler-filled// portion is divided into other major and minor differences, and is mainly intended for people who have experienced at least one version already. Additionally, if you are completely new to MDZS, there are things which may seem like spoilers to you, but happen in like the first page of the novel/in the summary itself (or in the first 10mins of the first episode), and will not be treated as such. I will do what I can to keep actual spoilers out of the first section….

Before jumping right into it though, I think it’s time to say that many of the differences in CQL are in large part due to the strict censorship laws that China has. Unfortunately, we just have to live with this fact. Thankfully for us, the creators of CQL have earnestly tried their best in keeping the major points and themes of MDZS in tact, and have really stuck to the spirit of the series. Kudos to them and the actors for their hard work!

SPOILER-FREE DIFFERENCES

There is no explicit romance between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji in CQL. They are literally called soulmates right in the CQL summary, and there are very obvious romantic undertones to their relationship in the drama—but there is nothing explicit on-screen. Naturally, due to censorship. While the novel has the two in an intimate (and very explicit) relationship where they end up literally married, the show tones this down to something more subtle. It’s still pretty obvious that they’re in love though. (Especially in the 20-episode wangxian special edition.) Also, they always seem to be sharing a room with one bed….

The plot is modified for CQL. In the novel, the plot revolves around Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji following an aggrieved spirit as they uncover the truth of what’s going on. In CQL, this was changed from the dismembered arm of said spirit to a sword, but it serves virtually the same purpose as it does in the novel. The other real major difference with the plot is that something known as “Yin Iron” is what drives a majority of the past’s plot. It has its origins tied to demonic cultivation, which I will explain more below. It doesn’t drastically change the actual plot itself, but does change some motivations, etc. This is not present in the novel.

Wei Wuxian is not the founder of demonic cultivation in the drama. Yes I know this seems whack. After all, the original novel is literally called Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation/Founder of Diabolism. But due to censorship laws, they had to change this. Wei Wuxian still uses demonic cultivation, and still invents many things (the compass, the spirit flags, the amulet, etc). He’s still shown as a prodigy—but demonic cultivation is a thing that’s been around long before the story takes place; it’s just that no one uses it except Wei Wuxian. The reason is the existence of the Yin Iron. It was something that was found and revered long ago, and is a source of dark power. Hence, why demonic cultivation already exists, but also why no one follows that path. The necromancy angle is also downplayed in CQL.

Wei Wuxian’s morality is somewhat different. Again, due to censorship restrictions. In the novel, Wei Wuxian is far more of a gray character who does some questionable things. He makes mistakes, there are things which are definitely his fault, and he has many things which he regrets. However in CQL, he is shown more as a victim of circumstance. He’s portrayed as a much more innocent character, who happens to be doing what’s right, and is just continually fucked over. He still does plenty of questionable things, but it’s less so than in the novel. In both versions, he is still Chaotic Good, just the novel emphasizes chaotic, and the drama emphasizes good. Also, CQL doesn’t really portray Wei Wuxian’s breakdown or deteriorating mental health before his death too deeply.

Wei Wuxian’s death in the beginning of the story is different. The novel is much more vague in this regard, and it is more drawn-out. I will return to this point later as well, in regards to spoilers. The live drama has a more… “peaceful” and quick type of death for Wei Wuxian, and given how it’s the very first scene that you see in the show, it may catch novel fans off guard. Still absolutely heart-wrenching though, especially when you see it play out in full later on.

The structure of the live drama’s narrative is different. While MDZS intersperses its main story in the present timeline with flashbacks (as do the donghua and manhua), CQL goes about it differently. After episode 2, CQL takes the viewer all the way to the past and goes through the entire timeline of events which happen leading up to Wei Wuxian’s death as seen in the first few scenes. From episode 3 to episode 33, you are firmly in the past only. Novel readers may find that this causes many things to be revealed quite early on. The change in structure is probably the biggest difference. From episode 33 and onwards, you are back to the present.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s relationship in the present timeline is different to start out with. The novel has Wei Wuxian first operating under the assumption that Lan Wangji doesn’t like him. This eventually turns around, and deepens into a romantic relationship between the two. CQL on the other hand, has present-timeline!Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji having a much more tender relationship from the moment they meet again.

Wei Wuxian’s appearance remains the same after he is resurrected in the drama. While in the novel and other adaptations, Wei Wuxian takes on the appearance of Mo Xuanyu (who happens to look similar to a younger him, luckily enough), this does not happen in the drama. Probably done for convenience’s sake. It is never properly explained other than the fact that along with the soul-summoning spell, Mo Xuanyu did some other things to ensure that Wei Wuxian returned to what looked like his old body. (Some body parts snatching might’ve been involved.) Thus, Wei Wuxian hides his identity by wearing a mask.

Everyone looks the same as they did when they were teenagers. Again, probably just for convenience’s sake. They spend a lot of time in the flashbacks so getting viewers used to one set of faces, and then changing everything would be jarring—and also expensive to swap out actors. So despite a 16 year gap, everyone looks the same with no aging. #cultivatingimmortality

The time gap between Wei Wuxian’s death and resurrection is slightly longer in the drama. It’s 16 years versus 13 years in the novel. Unsure of why the change, as it doesn’t change much apart from serving to make some of the kids older. Some kids’ ages are also slightly altered. It’s not a huge difference and it plays virtually no difference in plot. Also, I can’t confirm it, but everyone seems to start out older as well.

Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan, and Xue Yang are encountered much earlier in the drama. Before Wei Wuxian’s death, the three of them are encountered in Yueyang before the start of the Sunshot Campaign. The rest of their story plays out after Wei Wuxian’s resurrection.

Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning attend the classes at Cloud Recesses. This gives them a lot more screen time. Elaborated in spoilers below.

Wen Qing’s relationship with Wen Ruohan is more antagonistic from the start. Just like how Wei Wuxian is shown more as a victim of circumstance, so is Wen Qing (and by extension Wen Ning). Elaborated below.

The next section is spoiler-filled. It’s divided into two parts: major and minor differences. Turn back now if you don’t want serious spoilers for either CQL or MDZS!!!

SPOILER-FILLED MAJOR DIFFERENCES

After the dancing statue/Dafan Mountain incident — Wei Wuxian passed out, and wakes up in Cloud Recesses in Lan Wangji’s room. Both of them know™ already. Thus, Wei Wuxian doesn’t even try to pretend that he’s Mo Xuanyu in front of Lan Wangji, but he keeps up the appearance for other people until he’s figured out. This allows the two of them to have a very private relationship with each other.

Also lending to this, Wei Wuxian dies in a much different way in the drama, and dies knowing that Lan Wangji cares deeply about him. Thus why their relationship on his resurrection is so soft. He knew that Lan Wangji protected him and tried to save him until the very end, and is far more affectionate as a result.

Speaking of his death…. In CQL, Wei Wuxian chooses to basically swan dive off a cliff after seeing the horrors in front of him. It has a very lucid finality to it, and feels as though he has decided that only his death can bring peace, and so he falls back off a cliff—only to be caught momentarily by Lan Wangji. He eventually wrests himself from Lan Wangji’s grasp and falls to his death as Lan Wangji (and Jiang Cheng) watches in horror. The novel is far more vague and hints that he met a more gruesome end.

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian essentially make up at the end of the drama—or at least end on decent terms by agreeing to put their past behind them and move on. Wei Wuxian wipes away a stray tear as Jiang Cheng cries in front of him in the temple. After everything is said and done, Jiang Cheng privately and quietly wishes Wei Wuxian well as he leaves with Lan Wangji.

Lan Xichen does not go into seclusion at the end of the drama. Despite his trauma, he’s relatively okay as compared to the novel. The drama doesn’t really comment on this aspect, to be honest.

In CQL, Jiang Yanli attends the classes at Cloud Recesses with her brothers. She is given extra interaction with Jin Zixuan during this. Yanli is in general given way more screen time in CQL. She is present during the destruction of Lotus Pier (she appears with Jiang Fengmian), and escapes with Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng to Yiling.

Similarly, Wen Ning and Wen Qing are also present for the classes at Cloud Recesses. This is where they first meet Wei Wuxian (and Jiang Cheng), instead of Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian meeting in Qishan later. This gives all of them a pre-existing relationship before the events at Lotus Pier. Jiang Cheng also harbors a tiny crush on Wen Qing for a little bit. #same

Wen Qing is handled with much more suspicion by Wen Ruohan and Wen Chao, and during the Sunshot Campaign, she is even locked up. She’s saved by Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng, but goes her separate way until Wei Wuxian encounters her again after becoming the Yiling Patriarch proper.

Mianmian is shown to be a part of the Jin sect in CQL, and is close to Jin Zixuan. She renounces her ties to Lanling Jin after everyone starts hating on Wei Wuxian.

Mianmian is also encountered in episode 1. She and her family replace the random farmer family they meet once they leave Gusu (for the second time) on their way to the Burial Mounds. The timing of this may also be different. This is because there is no real “epilogue” that takes 3 months later, like the final chapter of MDZS.

Mo Xuanyu was not ostracized for the same reasons as in the novel. In the novel, he’s also thought to be insane, but was thrown out because he supposedly “harassed” Meng Yao (i.e. had romantic feelings for him which were found out and he was driven out of Lanling). In CQL, he was thrown out for “harassing” Qin Su, but in actuality was only trying to reveal the truth about her husband, and was thrown out as an excuse to get rid of him before he became troublesome.

During the hunt in Phoenix Mountain, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian have a heart-to-heart, and establish that they do, in fact, care for one another. (I’m pretty sure they use the word soulmate here, but the subs are like “lifelong confidante” lol.)

The origins of the bunnies is different in CQL, and is tied to Lan Yi—an ancestor of the Lan clan (the one who invented Cord Assassination). Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji find a cave in Gusu during their classmate days, which holds the spirit of Lan Yi. There, she reveals information about the Yin Iron and that she is guarding one piece of it. After all this, Wei Wuxian looks after the bunnies after taking them out of the cave, and as he leaves Cloud Recesses, he leaves them in the care of Lan Wangji.

The Gusu Lan sect is less rekt in CQL, as many of them are able to hide away in the aforementioned cave during the destruction of Cloud Recesses. Su She, then a disciple of Gusu Lan, betrays them by telling Wen Chao that the others are hiding in the cave. He’s summarily kicked out. In the novel, he’s the one that tries to rat out Mianmian when they’re facing the Tortoise of Slaughter. (He is still the one who casts the hundred holes spell on Jin Zixun.)

SPOILER-FILLED MINOR DIFFERENCES

In CQL, after his 33 lashes, Lan Wangji goes into forced seclusion for 3 years first. And then his 13 years of playing Inquiry start. Extra depressing, but it doesn’t change anything else.

The ghost baby that Wang LingJiao sees is replaced with a dismembered eye. Still gory. Don’t really know which one is worse…….. Her death is definitely less gory in CQL, though.

The Stygian Tiger Amulet was made of the strange weapon found in the Tortoise of Slaughter in both the novel and drama, but in CQL, said weapon was actually a fragment of the Yin Iron.

CQL shows a few scenes of Wei Wuxian when he first gets tossed into the Burial Mounds.

Lan Qiren is the head of the Gusu Lan sect, all the way through the story in CQL, including the end. Lan Xichen is never referred to as the sect leader.

Gusu Lan's rules are a little less strict in CQL. And co-ed classmates and cultivators seem to be the norm.

This post is certainly not 100% complete, as it’s just what I managed to pick up as I watched/read and remembered to note down. But if you have questions or comments, please reach out to me and I’ll do my best to answer! I hope this is as accurate as possible, but since I’m flying off memory...  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Take care, all! Feel free to drop into my DMs and scream with me!  ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ✩‧₊˚