#I did eventually tell her the truth - that I had tricked her - and she was. Displeased.

[codexnuminous]

The greatest trick I ever pulled on my sister, in Minecraft.

This was a few years ago. My sister, who is several years younger than me, was playing Minecraft - when she came across a witches hut. She went inside, then thought she saw a witch and got scared. She would have left immediately, but she was called away to do a job, and left the game. I quickly logged on to her account and spawned a whole coven of witches around the hut. When she returned, she - understandably - freaked out, and left quickly, returning to her house. She did some building for a while, then left - and I logged on again. I built a witch hut, and filled it with witches. You may be able to see where this is going.

For several weeks, everywhere she would go - any world, any location - I would fill it with witches. I got quite good at building witch huts! She was completely convinced that the witches were chasing her, and that this was some strange quirk of the game.

After a while of this, I shook things up, by introducing a new element - the Witchhunter. I built a hut, but then, instead of filling it with witches, I lit it on fire, and shot several tridents at it. I even mimicked witch drops, leaving several glass bottles and spiders eyes lying around. I then put a sign outside, saying something to the effect of

"You're welcome. The Witchhunter".

After that, I got really invested, placing hints and clues around, eventually leading her on a quest that took her all over, searching for the Witchhunter. Shockingly, she never found them, eventually finding, instead, a book that purported to contain a ritual to free herself of the curse. (She didn't perform the ritual, due to the fact it involved the death of a chicken. She really likes chickens.)

I did eventually tell her the truth - that I had tricked her - and she was. Displeased.

[fenharel-babe]

I’m sorry but the way Solas, in his letter, says he wanted to stay as Solas with Lavellan just hits me.

In DATV, in my opinion, we see Fen’Harel. We see a GENERAL, someone who knows war, someone who’s using Rook (Mythal literally says it outright, which made me laugh), who is a liar (sprinkling some truths here and there), and is literally using blood magic on Rook. He’s lying and tricking them. We see who he used to be, his skills he kept hidden because they didn’t belong to Solas.

They belonged to Fen’Harel. In my head, Solas is who he was in DAI, mostly. A fade loving nerd who loves to help people and LOVES to answer questions if you ask. I feel like even if someone asked about something other than the Fade, he would do his best to answer because he just loves to see people wanting to know more. It’s why I feel like he’d be such a good dad. Kids are so curious about the world around them, and I believe he would support them, keep them safe and love them while teaching them so much about the real world and the Fade. And I can imagine him, if he ever ran into kids at Skyhold or even helping children slaves or parents, he would be so comforting and good at dealing with them. He’s awkward, since he hasn’t felt love (whether it be companionship or romantic) in so long, but sweet because he knows they’re innocent, curious and he wants to protect that.

I see a nerd that has a little snort when he chuckles, a man that deals with teasing from everyone and pranks from Sera even if they piss him off, and I believe sometimes he would participate in pranking even it it was small. He gets into arguments with Vivienne, yet I believe he would still protect her in the end of things. In my mind anyways. He literally is just a man in DAI who wants someone to understand him, and he’s so awkward when he gets that. He doesn’t know how to react because he hasn’t felt love in so long, and maybe never has. He went through hell when he was dealing with the Evanuris, and his relationship with Mythal was terribly abusive, so I can imagine him not wanting to get close to anyone. Not just because he was lying in DAI, but ALSO BECAUSE OF FEAR. HE WAS AFRAID THEY WOULD TREAT HIM THE SAME AS SHE DID. They wouldn’t see him as a person or someone worthy of getting help. He’s a scared man who wants love, so when he finds it he holds onto it.

I see him as such a good lover as Solas because it’s who he is deep down. He’s caring and doesn’t care about other people’s opinions. In DAI, he cares about Lavellan’s opinion and he wants her to have freedom. Like when you drink from the Well, he’s all upset because now you DONT HAVE FREEDOM. Whether inquisitor or lover, he’s scared. He cares about freedom, people knowing all they can, I feel like he doesn’t like to lie.

I see that as Solas, and it just HITS me when he says in the letter that he wanted to stay as Solas with her. I feel like he would tell her the truth eventually, but mainly keep himself with her. I see DAI Solas as SOLAS. He wanted to stay with her like that. As a nerd who loves her deeply and cares for other people. He didn’t want to be Fen’Harel anymore. Didn’t want to keep lying, hiding himself from others, and ever be a general again.

He wanted to give wisdom, not orders.

He wanted to stay as Solas and love Lavellan with all of him, but his devotion was so deep that he couldn’t. It hits when he says that he wanted to stay like THAT with Lavellan. I KNOW IT’S NOT SUCH A BIG DEAL BUT IT IS TO ME. It just makes me think that he didn’t want to be Fen’Harel ever again. Didn’t want this shit deep down, but he felt like he had to. And I imagine him as leaving clues for Lavellan because he loves her and wants her to stop him deep down. Help him be SOLAS AGAIN. Her Fade nerd that loves people as well and loves to grab ass.

Anyways. I’m overthinking and I love Solas deeply. I can never escape this hole of Solavellan hell and Solavellan heaven.

[starogeorgina]

𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞

Pairing: Alys Rivers x reader x Aemond Targaryen

Warnings: Smut, hints of breeding & knife kink, slight dubcon (under the influence of magic), swearing

“Do you believe in what I tell you, princess?”

You were tense; the question felt like a trick, so you didn’t answer, and Alys continued to brush your hair, standing behind you at the vanity. Your stepfather, Prince Daemon, had warned you that there was more to Alys Rivers than meets the eye. She was a trickster, a witch. And nothing Alys said was to be believed. Especially when she just said you’d be married and have a child before the week was over, and your babe would end the brewing war between your family.

However, you did find her alluring, which was the only reason you kept her close.

The castle was dark and damp, but you found comfort in it. Daemon had left on Caraxes a few days prior to returning to Dragonstone, while you remained with your own dragon in case anyone’s loyalties started to sway when the green army eventually arrived.

“You don’t believe me now, princess, but in time you will.”

They said Harrenhal was cursed, and you had started to suspect the raven-haired beauty was one of the ghosts that haunted it.

—

You weren’t sure what happened. One moment you’re being informed your uncle has been spotted on Vhagar nearby, and the next Alys head is underneath the skirts of your thick black dress, buried between your thighs, making you temporarily forget about the looming threat. You throw your head back as you buck your hips upward, and Alys slides her tongue further inside you.

Climaxing, you lay back on the bed, feeling limp. You expect the other woman to stop, but soft moans start falling from your mouth again as quickly as they stopped when Alys starts licking your oversensitive clit.

“Oh, fuck. That feels so good.”

Everything starts to become a haze of euphoria…

“Oh, little niece, I’m guessing the rumor of your virtue being intact was indeed only a rumor.”

You snap your head up, and you meet your uncle Aemond’s eye. How did he find you right away? Has someone told him where to find you? Did hearing your moans lead him right to you? Your mind was too fuzzy to think straight. You detested him. Kinslayer. Yet, Aemond, seeing you in such a vulnerable position somehow thrills you. You had wanted to wait until marriage before being touched. The stain of bastardy wasn’t something you ever wanted for your future children to experience.

“I am a maiden.”

Aemond scoffs, not believing a word you say.

“She speaks the truth, my prince.” Alys brings her head out from beneath your skirt and teases a finger between your folds, then slides it inside you. The intrusion was slightly painful, but not completely unpleasant. “Look at her face; see how she reacts to my touch. The princess has never felt pain or pleasure like it before.”

Aemond sits behind you on the bed, and the smile on his face fills you with nothing but hatred and venom.

“Craven!”

“You little-”

“Uh, gods!” You squeeze your eyes shut when Alys adds a second finger. She pushes the fabric hiding her hand up to your waist so your uncle can observe what she is doing to you. “I—I—”

You weren’t even sure what you were trying to say. Aemond notices your nails digging into your palms as your fists clench together and takes pity on you. He links your fingers with yours and holds your hand above your head until you climax again.

—

The last twenty-four seem like a hazy memory; you weren’t sure if it was adrenaline or magic causing everything to feel so... strange. You and Aemond married in an impromptu Valyrian wedding ceremony. One that would surely anger both your mothers, but in time they would see the benefits.

“It’s for the good of the realm.”

The witch's words echo in your head as she rubs circles on your clit while she uses her skilled tongue on the prince. You and Aemond sit beside each other on the edge of a large bed naked as Alys ‘prepares’ both of you to consummate your marriage. You still hated and blamed Aemond for what happened to your brother, but Alys convinced you that this would be mutually beneficial. You have gained the power of Vhagar as a dragon for the blacks, and Aemond would one day possess the power he seeks by marrying the heir to the throne.

A flurry of jealousy shoots through you as Alys gags on your husband's cock, but you can’t let either of them know that, so you hold her silky dark hair out of her face. You were equally possessive and proud, a trait of the dragon.

After a few more moments, you say, “Perhaps we should get on with it, uncle.”

Alys pulls away from the both of you; she wipes the saliva off her chin, then begins to undress. Aemond chuckles as he moves off the bed and stands between your legs. “Indeed, we should, wife. Lean back on the bed.”

When you lay back, Aemond lines himself up and slowly pushes his cock in. As you whine, feeling yourself being stretched around Aemond’s cock, Alys climbs onto the bed beside you and palms at your breasts. “In four moons, these will start to fill with milk to feed the prince’s babe. A healthy boy.”

The thought of you having heavy, swollen teats leaking with milk because of him causes Aemond to thrust into you faster. “You are mine to breed, and you’ll take my cock every night like a good wife until your stomach has swollen.”

“Day and night,” Alys giggles.

Feeling bold, you take one of Aemond’s hands, which is gripping your hip tightly, and bring it to your clit. Knowing what you want, he begins rubbing at it quickly. You didn’t want him to take pride in knowing how good he’s making you feel, so you latch your lips around Alys hard nipple to muffle your moans.

He groans, feeling you clench down on him. It doesn’t take Aemond much longer to spill his seed inside you, and even after he cums, his cock is still hard.

You remove your mouth from Alys breast. “Move up the bed.”

She does as you say, and you roll around on your stomach. Noticing Aemond’s clothes that have been tossed onto the floor, you bend down and retrieve his blade.

Alys stares at you wide-eyed when you spread her thighs open and use the blade to cut her small cloth off, then toss it back onto the floor. You had considered teasing her with the blade, but seeing the wet patch on the flimsy fabric covering her cunny, you decided to please her instead. You swipe your thumb through her folds, gathering wetness, before putting pressure on her clit. Arching your back, you look over your shoulder, hoping Aemond would have gotten the hint, but he looks lost in a trance, watching as your finger slides into the other woman with ease.

“Aemond…”

He takes the cue and slides his cock back inside you. His thrusts are rougher this time. You turn your attention back to Alys and start licking her clit while adding a second finger. Her soft moans encourage you to keep going, even after Aemond spills his seed inside you for a second time and makes you cum again with his fingers. You don’t stop sucking and licking at Alys clit until her thighs stop trembling.

You lean forward and rest your head on Alys soft breasts. Aemond slumps onto the bed, exhausted. He wraps his arm around your waist, holding you close. With one hand, you gently stroke the back of his long silver hair, and with the other, you run your thumb over Alys bottom lip.

“I believe in what you tell me.”

[aurae-rori]

okay so hear me out i have a genius idea

yanqing in sumeru. (yes, the obvious option would be to put him in liyue, but i honestly don't feel like writing that right now).

yanqing and cyno interactions.

YANQING AND WANDERER INTERACTIONS.

now that i've caught your attention-

yanqing falls through a wormhole or something. ends up stranded in sumeru. like, right in sumeru city. he wakes up in an alleyway and is like genuinely, what the mcflipping fuck. so he wanders through sumeru, talks to a few people who have NEVER heard of the xianzhou luofu, and eventually, someone reports him to the corps of 30 because there is an unsupervised foreign child who keeps on talking about a xianzhou luofu, what the FUCK is a xianzhou luofu.

they take him in to the matra, he answers a couple of questions, EVERYONE involved is confused as shit, so they pull out cyno. yanqing talks to him and hes like. you remind me of my dad. hahaha. and cyno is like. okay this kid is telling the truth. so we're gonna have to keep him around until we figure out a way to send him back to the luofu.

(this gets really long)

he does not want to go into a fucking rainforest, so he ends up rooming with kaveh & alhaitham after spending a few nights with nahida and bonding with her (i believe they r friends,,,) and she reccomends that he go to stay with them. yanqing is very polite and doesn't make his prsence known a lot because he is genuinely kind of afraid of the two of them even tho they are really nice to him, and one day he goes out and he just wanders through the streets of sumeru and bumps into the wanderer. he introduces himself as 'hat guy' and a friend of nahida's, so yanqing is like, oh, cool. wait, what? your name is HAT GUY?

cue bullying wanderer. and wanderer is like, this kid doesn't know who he's fucking talking to wtf and maybe they end up sparring or something. i think they would bond over fighting and yanqing would pick up a few tips and tricks from wanderer, who probably is secretly like, 'this kid has talent what the fuck where did this child even come from'. eventually after they spar for a bit yanqing ends up telling him more about the xianzhou and from that interaction with wanderer, he starts to come out of his shell more. he eats dinner with kaveh and alhaitham, and gets used to their bickering. he goes to see cyno again and meets tighnari and collei, even faruzan who probably takes a liking to him. people take him to nilou's shows. when candace and dehya visit from the desert he gets to meet them too.

and slowly, over time, they start to get to know him more. he tells them stories of the high cloud quintet, from their rise to their fall. he tells them about the borisin, and hoolay, and feixiao. he tells them about jiaoqiu and his bravery, sushang and her determination, huohuo and tail. he tells them about yunli's bravery and brashness, about jing yuan's patience and slyness, of moze's shennanigans and loyalty.

he tells them broken bits and pieces of stories and then, he tells them about the xianzhou history. he tells them about mara. he tells them about how he's had to cut down soldiers so much older than him that he wouldn't even know when they were born.

he tells them about the disciples of abundance, in little, clipped stories.

and they listen.

he draws his friends, too. he's not too great at it, but he draws them, and tells cyno that he reminds him so much of his dad. he plays tcg with them, joins them for game night. drags wanderer into social interactions, explores sumeru, watches the sun set from the trees.

he makes them little mementos of himself. he commissions someone to make a little bird charm out of materials he gathers up. and then he gives them to his friends, and when jing yuan inevitably comes to see him home (he wants to go back, he loves it here but he loves his home more) they will be able to remember him.

yanqing learns that defeat is okay. he learns that he can be loved. and that people are really complex, and that love can be shown in different ways. yanqing learns that he can love, too. :)

wow this turned way longer than i thought it would so uh. hope u enjoy my nonsensical ramblings!

[specialagentlokitty]

Rick Grimes x reader - so perfect

Hello👋👋 Rick fluff where he comes home and just sees reader hanging out with the kids. And he just stops and watches them, thinking how lucky he is to have her. Please and thank you. Love your work btw❤❤❤. - @hoodiepandaninja16 💜

Holding Judith in your arms, you looked at Carl as he threw a tennis ball against the side of the house, catching it in his hand to throw it again.

“Carl?”

He looked over, stopping what he was doing.

“If you keep throwing that at all wall, you’re gonna break a hole in it eventually.”

He chuckled a little, looking at the tennis ball.

“Sorry, guess I got lost thinking.”

“Hey, not me you need to be sorry too, that poor house has been getting beat on for at least an hour.”

He laughed again, walking over to you, letting you place a hand on his head, and he rested his head on your shoulder.

“What’s going on?” You asked quietly.

He sighed a little bit, offering you nothing more than just a shrug.

“I don’t know, I guess I’m just thinking about a lot of stuff you know? Sometimes it’s hard not to when it’s all you can do.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nah.”

You nodded, letting him move away from you and over to the front of the house where he sat down, so you did the same.

Placing Judith on the porch next to you, and Carl handed her his tennis ball.

“That’s fine, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. But if you do you know I’ll listen.”

“Thanks (Y/N).”

You smiled at him, and you leant back on your hands, looking at the skies that were threatening to downpour at any moment.

It was still sunny, but the clouds were rolling in quickly, and given the thunder that was in the distance it would be here soon.

“Do you think dad will make it back before the storm hits?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure.”

“You really don’t lie don’t you? Could’ve at least tried to lie for me.” Carl mocked.

You laughed a little, grinning down at him.

“Nope, what’s the point. The truth will come out eventually, whether you want it to or not, by lying your just wasting your own time.”

“Do you think he’ll be alright?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Carl nodded his head, he believed you.

Judith rolled the ball and you caught it before it went down the steps, rolled it gently back over to you and she giggled.

She pushed it back, so you once again pushed it back.

“Can you go through my bag and find my deck of cards?” You asked.

“Yeah, why?” Carl asked back.

“We’re gonna be stuck inside soon, May as well find some way to pass the time.”

You did try to keep them outside for as long as possible, but when it started to rain you decided to bring them inside.

Carl was insistent that he wanted to wait by the gate, but you wouldn’t let him.

So, you all sat on the floor of the living room, music coming from the stereo that you had put on.

Judith sat in your lap, and you tried teaching Carl how to play poker.

“Seriously, how is this in any way helpful?”

“It’s not, it’s just fun as hell.”

He grinned a little at you.

“Dad’s gonna hate you trying to teach me this, you know that right?”

“I could teach you how to throw them.”

“Like throwing stars?”

You nodded and he immediately sat up.

“Hell yes.”

“Hey, language. I’m an adult you’re not, your dad will kick my ass if he finds out.”

“Our secret?” Carl grinned.

You hummed, thinking for a moment as you studied with narrowed eyes.

“I used to cheat at poker in Las Vegas and was was banned from returning.”

“What?”

“You tell your dad that I’ll tell him you swear when he’s not around.”

You held your hand out and Carl grinned, shaking your hand.

“Deal.”

You let go, and you picked up one of the play cards, looking at the apple you had set on the table not long before.

Aiming, you threw the card, it curved a little in the air but lodged itself into the apple.

“Holy shit…”

“Hey! Just because I said I wouldn’t tell doesn’t mean you can keep doing it!”

“Show me again.”

While Judith slept on the couch you taught Carl some of the tricks of the trade you had learnt over time.

Carl was pretty quick with picking some of them up, others not so much, but the card throwing was his new favourite.

You had ran out of apples to throw them at, so you went to throwing them into his hat instead.

“Where did you learn this?”

“I spent a lot of time in Vegas kid, you pick up a lot of things in a place like that.”

“Did you have a gambling problem or something?”

You rolled your eyes.

“No, I was a professional gambler. Well, fraudster I guess, we worked as a team, taking casinos for all they were worth, using all the tricks, same with street hustling.”

“So, just a petty criminal then.”

“Ouch, petty? I’ll have you know I was wanted in over half the states for this shit.”

“And… you’re with my dad, who’s a cop?”

“Yeah that crap doesn’t matter now, what’s he gonna do, arrest me?”

“Yeah you’ve got a point.”

You handed him a couple more cards, looking to Edith as she moved.

Getting up, you held your arms out to her and picked her up, holding her in one arm as you slapped the card Carl threw back at him.

“I’m going to feed her, you want anything?”

“Yeah, I’ll help.”

You guys made dinner, setting a plate aside for Rick, just in case he came back that night.

While Carl spent time with his sister you washed up and made your way back inside to see him dancing around the living room with her.

“You call that dancing?”

You laughed a little, and you swept Judith into your arms.

“First, it’s always gentlemanly to bow.”

You did a small bow, and he did the same thing, and then you held your palm out to him.

“Put your palm on mine.”

He did, and you began teaching him the steps to a simple dance you had learned a long time ago.

Because of the thunder, you didn’t hear the door opening, and Rick stood against doorway, crossing his arms as he watched the tree of you.

Judith was giggling each time you turned around.

“Where did you learn to dance like this?”

“Would you believe me if I told you that I actually did drama when I was your age? Specialised in Shakespeare.”

“So… like a million years ago?”

“Ouch, okay, you know what Carl Grimes, I thought we were friends, but we’re not.”

He laughed, and you heard a laugh from behind you.

Both of you turned over and he walked over to his dad.

You walked over, handing Rick his daughter back and you smiled at him, gesturing to the kitchen.

“Food ready for you, just need to heat it up.”

“Thanks, I’ll get her to bed then I will.”

“I’ll heat it, you do what you have to do.” You smiled.

Rick went upstairs with Carl, and you went into the kitchen to heat up his dinner for him.

While he was up there he grabbed a shower, changing into some fresh clothes while you were setting his plate on the table.

He came back downstairs, and you were cleaning the kitchen, humming a little to yourself.

He sat down, his chin resting on his hand as he just watched you.

This whole time since the prison you had been with him, you had helped him, supported him, never questioning any of the choices he made.

You had complete faith in him, and here you were, looking after his children for him even though you didn’t have too.

After everything he had done, Rick wasn’t sure how he still had somebody like you.

He had no clue what he did to even deserve somebody like you.

Yet here you were, standing right in front of him, as if the whole world was perfect, and in that moment he could have sworn it was.

“Teach me that dance.”

You turned around, looking at him, then the food he hadn’t touched.

“Eat, then asked again.”

He chuckled, quickly eating his dinner, washing up after himself and he walked into the living room where you were sat.

“Now will you teach me the dance?”

You smiled, getting up.

“First, the gentleman thing to do is bow.”

You bowed, snd he copied you.

You held up your hand, and he placed his palm over yours.

Whatever move you made he did the same thing, his eyes locked with yours as you both slowly danced.

This was it, this was perfect, his eyes focused on yours, everything else seeming nothing but background noise.

Rick slowly moved his hand, intertwining your fingers with his, and he smiled softly, warm eyes focused on yours.

He held a nervous breath as he watched you, and you smiled softly back, copying him

[grllmx]

"Ragatha in Wonderland"

🌻 Them side by side for height difference 🌻

Heya!! Y'all wouldn't mind some info dump, would ya?

But before I share my thoughts and ideas for this au, note that I am making this all for fun and that I am only merging two concepts at once because they sound fun in my head!

-- So without further ado, let's start shall we?

Ragatha in Wonderland is a fun silly lil' au I thought about in my spare time (Though I am aware that I'm not the only person who had similar ideas) buuut! Here's my take on how this concept goes ~

💜🟣🎀- - - - - RAGATHA IN WONDERLAND - - - - -🎀🟣💜

🌻 Wonderland is similar yet different from the Circus. Many possibilities await in this newly found land, but wait... How odd, suddenly everyone and everything is of new variation! Did things really stay the same? Are things different? It's a confusing world that warped and transformed the original digital land into something new. New places to explore, new outfits! New concepts... New people? It seems everything changed. Perhaps even... True death is possible now.

Ragatha - Plays the role as Alice. Confused and bewildered at first but Ragatha progressively adapts to the world and the surroundings around her. Acts like herself for the first portions of the story but as she dwells longer in this 'wonderland' she loses herself, her identity, as if the place was sucking out all of 'her'. She'll meet a lot of familiar faces. She feels comforted, knowing that she isn't alone in this newly found world but little does she know - they are not what she seemed.

Jax - The white rabbit leading Ragatha to wonderland. Jax was the one who dragged her in this, so Ragatha's first instincts was to follow him, hoping he knows where the exit is. Though he often plays tricks, teasing and playing with Ragatha's head whenever given the chance. Maybe he doesn't sound like a reliable shoulder to lean on, but he is Ragatha's key in terms of escaping wonderland.

Gangle - Starring as the mouse and the dormouse. The first person (other than Jax) Ragatha meets in wonderland. Gangle is skittish and has an extreme fear of cats. She does not like hearing or mentioning them, her mouse-like features says so otherwise. Though, in later unfortunate events, Ragatha scares her by mentioning, you guess it, cats. And then flees elsewhere.

Zooble - Following the (possibly tobacco) smoke trails, enters in the wise caterpillar. Meeting for the first time was not fun, in Ragatha's case mostly. Zooble asks Ragatha a lot of questions, typically centering around herself which gradually starts her descend into madness. Zooble's questions hit hard for Ragatha, making her realize a lot of things and learn more about the world. Though one question stuck the most, "who are YOU?"

Caine - The Hatter/Mad hatter. Need I say more? Hehe, anyways... Caine, alongside Bubble, is notably the most mad or insane person living in wonderland. Always yapping about random things (Riddles, jokes, factual statement... you name it) that can either be truth or made up, which Ragatha can't tell the difference of since they are always so surreal and deranged, or in other words, utter nonsense! He is another character that made Ragatha's mental state and mindset deteriorate. (Ragatha wishes to never meet him again)

Pomni - It's Pomni! Though, something is off... Pomni's role is the Cheshire cat. She's willing to help Ragatha escape, even suggesting ideas that felt to be possible, but are things really that easy? No, of course not! She is a red herring, a person filled with mischief that fools and plays with her victims until she deems them boring. Ragatha meets Pomni in the woods right after she ran away from Caine, and just like Jax, Pomni plays with Ragatha's head. But eventually helps her out and leads her to the kingdom's garden.

Kinger - Sometimes, a king is fit to be queen. Kinger is the Queen of Hearts, a short tempered, bossy but childish queen. After first meeting, Ragatha didn't deem Kinger as a threat at first, even playing a simple game of croquet with him. But as she starves and remembers that hunger was present in this land, she secretly ate the queen's well-known 'tarts'. This resulted into the seething rage of Kinger, declaring a court trial in which Ragatha was later proven to be 'guilty'. Hence, "OFF WITH HER HEAD!"

🌻 So, spoiler alert -- Just like in original tales and stories inspired by Alice in Wonderland, this was all in Ragatha's head, a dream! I'm debating to either turn this into a comic or not, because I think it helps further explain my ideas, but who knows? Maybe with the right motivation and energy, I might do it.

Thank you for reading! Have a nice day/night 🌻

[shantechni]

"2012 Mikey is Abused" and other constant complaints that, quite frankly, don't make sense

Since one Reddit user (who shall remain anonymous) inadvertently made me type out an essay I intended to write and post in a more coherent manner at a later date, I will be using their comment and my response.

Anyways, the comment itself starts off fairly normal and agreeable:

But then I see the next three points and my sleep-deprived mind just goes off the rails, so let's start with the second point:

Let me preface this by saying I absolutely do not condone the writing here because everyone under the sun will agree that we could've easily had the "Karai is our sister!?" plot twist without Leo and Karai briefly developing feelings for each other.

The problem is that this brief development of feelings is wildly blown out of proportion by the fandom, so much so that it makes it seem as though Leo and Karai actually had anything legitimate going on between them.

The "incest-eqsue garbage" between Leo and Karai is almost nonexistent outside of the writing room. They openly crush on each other for a whopping six episodes by way of verbally teasing each other and being at odds before Karai tells Leo that she's the Shredder's daughter. That's it. He is not pursuing her after that (hardly ever did, not even to the extent that Donnie pursues April) and Karai isn't remotely fond of him anymore after he broke their deal. Then, after we find out alongside Splinter that she's actually his daughter, he tells Leo towards the end of Follow the Leader. We don't get a reaction, actually nothing on Leo's side since the Foot Clan is mostly absent with April being the main point of conflict, even in Target: April O'Neil because April's forgiveness of the turtles is the main focus.

Leo eventually attempts to tell Karai the truth in Wormquake! and The Manhattan Project and she obviously doesn't believe the poor guy, she just wants to kill the turtles and Splinter at this point. Leo doesn't tell her because "he still likes her", but because, in his own words, it would change everything. She deserves to know the truth and Splinter shouldn't have his own daughter cursing him at every waking moment. When she tricks the gang into bringing her to the lair under the guise of her finally accepting the truth, Leo is ecstatic and his first thought is for her and Splinter to make amends. He's upset that Raph still can't fully trust her in the end when she fought alongside them (who can blame Raph though, he's cradling an unconscious brother after a plan gone awry), and that's the end of that.

They dedicate two episodes to the guys attempting to rescue her because Leo has enough brain cells to worry about what the Shredder could be doing with her, and Raph makes a jab at Leo on one instance when they find her (there is absolutely no romantic undertone, Raph just picks at his old crush on her and their tendency to tease each other at the worst times). Then, when she wants to get back at the Shredder for ripping her away from a life she never knew was her's, Leo attempts to aid her because he knows it isn't wise to face someone like that alone, especially with his henchmen there.

There's one last self-aware jab at their past feelings in S5, of which Karai awkwardly remembers and forgoes mentioning, and that's the last you see or hear of that.

As much as I dislike it, I'd take this narrative over the Donnie-April-Casey hurricane any day.

It seems that 2012 Mikey's mere existence is a sore spot for fans because Jesus Christ this gets brought up way too much.

Mikey is not written as a complete idiot, he's written as someone who doesn't see a reason to take everything so seriously, has odd habits, and doesn't always think things through, yet is shown to be highly capable and intelligent when the situation calls for it. Yes the writers left much to be desired at times, but to say they wrote him to be a "complete idiot" and left it at that is just offensive. I'll ignore all the miraculous things Mikey can do with Kraang stuff and Dimension X and focus on what other things he's shown to be capable of.

Mikey was a temporary learning model for Donnie in how to fight without thinking, or in better terms, how to fight instinctually without becoming bogged down by your own mind. Splinter's lesson is shown in a comedic manner, but that's ultimately what helped Donnie defeat Falco.

Another interesting thing is his ability to keep his composure when no one else around him can do so. I mentioned this briefly in another post, but it really stands out to me how he put Leo at the top of his priority list in Invasion Part 2. He's as worried for Splinter as Raph and Donnie are, but they have with them a crippled and unconcious Leo who needs medical attention asap, compared to martial arts master Splinter who's older and wiser than the three of them combined at times. Even when they eventually find Splinter and lose him, he keeps the gang in line by reminding them, as well as himself, that Splinter can take care of himself.

Along with that is when Splinter was kidnapped in The Manhattan Project. Mikey was quick to intervene when Raph was angry with Leo for allowing Tiger Claw to coax him into calling Splinter, and he reminded the two of the problem at hand: they have Splinter, let's go find him and take him back. There are so many other moments when he becomes the levelheaded one in response to the chaos or disorder surrounding him.

Mikey is a highly skilled fighter, he's emotionally intelligent, he remembers the weirdest things that eventually aid the team, he's street smart, he's a fast learner (ex: Bradford's secret kata, as well as the temporary use of the plasma katana in Target: April O'Neil), he's great at distracting enemies without needing to become bait, he gets insecure about things, he has photographic memory, he's the most outgoing of his brothers and therefore ends up with the most friends, he's quick to adapt to a situation and think of a plan, he can throw together seemingly random ingredients to create exactly what Donnie would struggle to create, he knew exactly what to do to find Casey after his run-in with Tiger Claw, the list goes on.

Heck, just to add to this, Mikey is the one who saves the day in three separate stories in S5. 1) His temporary electric powers save the world from Dregg and the Newtralizer, 2) he convinced Frankenstein's monster to join their side, retrieved the scepter from Savanti and Dracula (he accidentally broke the scepter while he was at it, but that helped) and cured Raph and Donnie of their vampirism, and 3) he was the one who repaired Kavaxas' seal and made him reopen the portal to the Netherworld so the dead could return.

The brothers don't always take him as seriously as they should or listen to him, and that's understandable at times, but when they do, they're reminded of the fact that Mikey, in his own way, is intelligent.

If I had a dime for every comment I've seen about this, I'd be rich enough to buy the TMNT series from Viacom and right every wrong they made with the 2012 series.

These abuse allegations are as bad as people putting Markiplier in the same tweet as problematic Youtubers and saying something wild like, "these content creators should've been cancelled a long time ago." I feel like people who say the brothers abuse Mikey are either an only child or genuinely have a warped sense for what actually counts as abuse, and I'm not even trying to be mean, those are just my thoughts. I shouldn't even have to comment on this, but the fact that people are still seriously believing that to this day is shocking.

Would you also like to say that Raph was abused in Turtle Temper when Splinter had the boys ceaselessly taunt him in that little exercise? Or that the boys abused Raph everytime they downplayed his anger? Or that Raph abused Donnie by threatening to hit him if he didn't find Snakeweed's hideout? Or that Leo abused Donnie everytime he stressed him out by rushing him for answers? Or that Donnie abused Mikey because Mikey flinched 2cm to the right when Donnie raised his hand to playfully knock at his noggin? Or that Leo was abused by the team because they took forever to view him as their leader? Or that Splinter abused the boys because he was "too rough" on them during training?? Or that April abused Donnie because she "constantly led him on"? Or that Xever and Bradford abused Baxter???

I'm losing my mind over here

Mikey is never physically or emotionally abused by his brothers, the show speaks for itself. But if you somehow aren't listening, go look up a textbook example of abuse, or better yet, look at Karai.

Abuse is the Shredder locking Karai in a dungeon when she tries to escape to her real family and going so far to become a peak manipulator by saying Karai was hurting him by making him lock her away. Worse than that, he starts brainwashing her with mind controlling worms so she has no choice but to obey him. Even before then, he's lowkey uncaring of her wellbeing: he treats her like any other soldier of his and doesn't listen to her when she tries to tell him something. He doesn't address her concerns about the Foot bots nearly finishing her off, instead telling her, "disobedience comes with a stiff penalty, especially for my daughter," when she objects to him telling her not to take action against the turtles while he's gone.

He only ever pays her any attention or gives her praise when it benefits him and his vendetta against Splinter.

Splinter and the turtles are the farthest thing from the image of a family filled with abusers. Raph openly apologizes to Mikey when Splinter tells him to stop picking at him in Shellacne, Raph comforts Donnie when the brainiac is somber after forcing Timothy into the equivalent of a cold sleep, Raph apologizes when his anger gets the better of him and he hits Leo harder than intended, Donnie apologizes when he realizes he shouldn't insult Raph when the guy is visibly upset, Leo regrets doubting Donnie about Metalhead, etc., etc.

Even beyond apologies, Raph is the quickest to entertain Mikey and vice versa during a mundane moment, Donnie never kicks Mikey out of the lab, Leo plays around with Mikey when the situation doesn't call for him to be their fearless leader, and Splinter is quick to advise Mikey during Karai's Vendetta and Shellacne. There are even times when the guys just go along with Mikey's antics because there's no harm in doing so, and often times Mikey needs a moment to be silly.

If you think play fighting, teasing, or getting a little physical with a sibling is the equivalent of abuse, particularly in the context of TMNT of all things, you need to do some re-evaluation.

[akiizayoi4869]

Detective Conan episode 129 is hands down my favorite episode in the show, primarily because of her:

Ai Haibara/Shiho Miyano. Her introduction was done extremely well. When she's first introduced as the new transfer student, she seems innocent enough, just a bit shy. You don't really get the sense that something is off about her until the Detective Boys get a case from one of their classmates asking them to help find his older brother, who went missing recently. As they search the boy's house, Haibara watches Conan as he investigates, almost as if he was an interesting test subject to look at. Their classmate notices that she's staring at something, and she nods her head in Conan's direction. He looks at Conan and then back at Haibara, only to find a rather creepy smirk on her face. Finding nothing at the house, they decide to look elsewhere. After a while, Conan ditches them to investigate on his own, only to be shocked when they eventually find him. When he asks them how did they know where he was, they tell him that Haibara figured out where he would be. At this point in the episode, you're thinking "either she's a really smart 7 year old kid, or she's the same as Conan and was given the same drug/poison that shrank him". Only to find out much later that it's the latter, but with a twist. They eventually find the boy's brother, who was kidnapped by people involved in a counterfeit money scheme, who wanted him to paint fake bills for them. When the leader intends to shoot at them, Haibara grabs the gun from her and shoots, just barely missing the woman (and it looked as if she missed on purpose).

"There is definitely more than meets the eye with this girl" is what I thought the first time I saw this episode. Until she starts crying because inspector Megure yelled at her for shooting the gun because it was dangerous.

As Conan walks her home, she's still crying, so it really DOES seem like she's a normal girl after all....until Conan begins to leave and she says this:

Turns out that she's not a normal little girl after all, but is actually a member of the black organization, as well as the person who created the drug that shrank Shinichi. She reveals that she also knows exactly who "Conan" really is: Shinichi Kudo. Ai tells him that she may or may not have killed Professor Agasa, and that Conan should check to see if she's telling the truth or not. He quickly runs to the professor's house, only to see that the old man in question is fine. Ai eventually walks in the door and Agasa greets her as if it's just another day and nothing is out of the ordinary. Ai tells them both her backstory: she rebelled against the organization after one of the members killed her sister, and her punishment was death. So she figured that if she was going to die anyway, it might as well be because of her own poison. What she wasn't expecting, however, was for the poison to shrink her. She managed to escape the room she was confined in by going into a garbage chute, and slowly made her way to Shinichi's house, thinking that he would be able to help her since he was in the same predicament that she was now in. Conan, beyond angry at this point because those guys that they caught earlier weren't from the organization like he thought they were, and the fact that he he's face to face with the creator of the poison that shrank him, who also led him to believe that she killed Agasa, someone he's known since he was a toddler, only to find out that she tricked him, lashes out at her. All of the anger and frustration that he felt about his situation finally burst out of him.

She then says that she had no choice in the matter of the development of that drug, and that she never intended for it to be a poison in the first place (which is a very interesting detail that Gosho has yet to explain. I wonder what she means by that?) which pissed Conan off even more, but Agasa managed to calm him down. He demands to go to the place where she created the drug out, this way they can retrieve the data of the drug so that he can be returned to normal, only for Ai to tell him that there's "no point" and show him and Agasa a newspaper that talks about a fire that burned down a pharmaceutical company, and says that even if they go there, nothing would be left. She then remembers that one time, her sister had sent her some floppy disks with pictures of a trip she went on. Ai claims to have looked at them a d sent them right back to her sister, only to discover sometime later that the floppy disk with the drug's data was nowhere to be found. Meaning that she had sent that particular floppy disk to her sister without realizing it. She says that the floppy disks actually belonged to her sister's university professor, Hirota Masami, who they then go to visit to get the floppy disk back. They go his house only to find that he had been murdered. Conan is able to solve the case, and the culprit, a former student of the professor, is arrested and charged with his murder. As they're getting ready to leave, Ai stops them by asking Conan why couldn't he save her sister. He doesn't know what she's talking at first, until she says that the name "Hirota Masami" was the fake name that her sister, Akemi Miyano, used during that bank heist that Conan found himself involved in.

This part was something that I never expected to see: Conan being confronted by a victim's family member on a case that he worked on, someone who knows his real identity. Ai tearfully says that with all of his deductive reasoning he should have been able to see right through her sister's case and realize what was actually going on. She drops to her knees and grabs Conan's shirt, tearfully asking "Why?" before she just completely breaks down in tears.

This scene, along with the soundtrack that was playing during it, is probably my second favorite part of the episode, no matter how sad and heartbreaking it is. Hearing her crying her heart out like that just got to me, as well as Conan saying this:

A few weeks go by and they managed to get the floppy disk containing the drugs data after the police confirmed that they didn't need it as evidence. Ai puts it into the computer at the professor's house, and begins looking through it as she says that it contains data on more than just the drug: it has information about the organization members as well. Conan is pleased because this means that he's one step closer to getting his real body back, as well as taking down the organization. To their utter shock, however, the data begins to delete itself. Ai then says that there was a virus installed in that floppy disk to delete all of the data in it if it was accessed in a computer that wasn't from the organization. Since all of the data is now lost, Ai says that she'll be there for a while since she now has to do everything from scratch. She says to Conan that she looks forward to working with him, who looks at her with mild anger. And thus the most unlikely partnership in the series was born.

[roseeycreates-blog]

I've been evading Lin for a while now. I am so complicated. I want to do content for her, but my mental health and emotions don't allow me to do it. Last night, I did some thinking, and yes, she still reminds me of some painful truths. HAHAHA. ANYWAY. That's how I came up with this idea.

Well, I've talked about villain Lin before, but what if it was the other way around? What if there's a timeline where Tenzin is the one who went rogue? Imagine a world where Tenzin chooses Lin despite the Air Nation being against it. They reject their union after learning about Lin’s decision not to have kids, but Tenzin respects her choice. The acolytes, however, take matters into their own hands.

On the day of the wedding, Lin went missing. Toph and Suyin search everywhere, but there’s no trace of her. Tenzin is left heartbroken. Years go by, and they all come to accept Lin’s passing. Then, Aang dies, and Tenzin eventually gets engaged to an air acolyte. But just before the wedding, she confesses a shocking truth—she witnessed Lin’s abduction. She couldn’t bear the guilt anymore and decided to come clean.

Enraged, Tenzin confronts the Air Nation. At first, they deny everything, but his fury is overwhelming. Kya, Bumi, and Katara try to reason with him, but emotions boil over when one of the abbots finally tells the truth. He admits to Lin’s abduction and the plan to keep her away until Tenzin marries the "right woman." But there’s more—Lin had been pregnant (the universe playing tricks on them). They kept her hidden in one of the Air Temples until the child was born, but during an escape attempt, she tragically fell off a cliff.

That was the final straw. In a moment of blind rage, Tenzin takes the abbot’s life. His family is left in shock at his actions. Without looking back, Tenzin flees, vowing revenge on everyone responsible for Lin’s and his child’s deaths.

Fast forward to Korra’s time, and the world is in a crisis—there’s no one left to teach her airbending. In desperation, they search for Tenzin, now known as "The Infamous Last Airbender."

But the man they find is nothing like the one they once knew.

[waldosakimbo]

OH MY GOD Heretic (2024) has me by the throat. I feel like this one is definitely worth rewatching, because it TELLS you so much, it advertises SO MUCH right away, and it's sinister how it plays out!

Does Sister Barnes have faith? Does Sister Paxton actually believe she's seen evidence of god from, hilariously, some amateur porn? You're given the idea Sister Paxton believes more but she has no converts and no baptisms. Sister Barnes is questioning, but she's more successful. Why is that? (Is it the big sad eyes?) When they spot the teenagers in the street and Sister Paxton earnestly says "I love them," they immediately betray her. She loves the world. Its cruel. She wants to save this man. He's cruel. Faith and cruelty. Iterations. The butterfly image. The dead moths coating the window. Belief and disbelief and god damn it's tasty. Quick aside, did anyone else think he drugged those drinks or not? I worried initially, but I think it was genuinely just another one of his tests for later. Also it's insidious how Reed tells them "truths." He tells them the walls and ceiling have metal but they don't know that would block cell phones. He tells them the front door locks by a mechanism timer that doesn't come undone until daylight, (but he can switch it off). He tells them the house is wired weird. He tells them he put the aromatic pie there, he tests them, and it's so. Good! So when he tells them about religion, his motivations, his study of theology, and the challenge from Sister Barnes (the faithless? Who choses Belief and stands up to him? Who has her throat slit as the sacrificial lamb? Beautiful, tragic) is the other side of that. The flipside of the coin. Hugh Grant is AMAZING in this, because he's Hugh Granting it up but instead of a comedy, it's a horror. Unsettling to the max. Why? Because it's just the power of humanity and faith. It's JUST. The power. Of humanity. And Faith. It's nothing supernatural. It's using knowledge, history, the arts, humanity and psychology. As a weapon. Longlegs fell short for me because it was eventually supernatural and I thought it clunky and mishandled in the second half. This one? It's just humans. It's just an evil man. And it's visceral. More grounded, which makes it Terrifying. Even when faced with a miracle, we learn it's false. It's a magic trick. Even when we could pray, we're told BY THE PERSON. WHO IS FAITHFUL, that it means nothing, but sometimes it's beautiful to still pray for someone. Which brings me to the point where Sister Paxton was stabbed and praying in level...three? of his twisted Dante's inferno house? Actually, quick aside to that, I love the back and forth of quoting Spider-Man or Voltaire. Quoting Virgil or the Swamp Thing. It's again putting them on opposite sides, another mirror. But also showing the house itself as a labyrinth, yes, but specifically I think that was Dante's Inferno poster in his office, making Paxton Virgil, travelling the levels of Hell to the frozen pit/horrifying chamber of cages where he keeps other pious women, going Through to get Out. "Sister P" Is praying even though she Just said it does nothing. Reed crawling towards her, his own throat slit. But there's this moment where he's draped over her, sobbing or choking, looking for the warmth of her prayer, I think trying to feel her belief because he's been searching for it for so long and he's left empty. Before he can find peace (or kill her, did he have his knife to her throat to kill her? I think he would, but I still think he had this moment where he wished he could believe to find peace with someone, especially after seeing that interview where Grant stated backstory of Reed that he was a lonely man who lost someone dearly to him and he searched through religions to find comfort and couldn't) he's killed. He's smashed in the head with the McGuffin from earlier. Victory. Did Barnes come back? I think she was saving her strength and had one final moment to help her friend. And then that fucking ending. Is she dead? Is she alive? Was the butterfly real? Did she believe? Is it only her belief, her butterfly, or is a final hallucination before she passes? Did she make it out of Hell? Anyways, I'm going to have to see this again soon. Delicious. Horrifying. Loved it.

[coraniaid]

Standard disclaimer that I understand themes and motifs and I'm aware that the reasons characters do things in fiction is because the writers have decided it will drive the plot, rather than because of those fictional characters (who do not in reality exist) being inherently "good" or "bad" people.

Additional disclaimer that I don't think there's any one single reason that Faith ends up spiralling after Finch's death and siding with the Mayor, that the necessary dominoes started falling years before Faith was even Called as a Slayer and that by the time Faith had lost her first Watcher and been living out of a motel room for months and been tricked and betrayed by Gwendolyn Post and accidentally killed a man there probably wasn't anything anyone could have done to stop her from doing all of that.

One more disclaimer: I do not, despite what the rest of this post (or any other posts I may have made or fanfiction I may have written) might suggest, think that Faith's story in Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be somehow improved if she hadn't had the character arc she has in canon. I do not think it would improve the story if Faith hadn't ended up making a series of terrible and short-sided and selfish decisions which ended up making not only her own life much worse but also many other peoples' lives worse [and a couple of other peoples' lives much shorter]. I do not think Faith's fall and eventual redemption is a problem that somehow needs to be fixed.

That being said though ...

Why on Earth, when Giles realizes Faith is lying to him about who really killed Allan Finch, does he decide the best course of action is (1) to pretend to believe her, and (2) make a big show of acting as though Buffy's in a lot of trouble before sending Faith back home to her motel room? In Consequences itself the only excuse he gives is that he "needed [Faith] to think he was on her side" but .. well,

First, newsflash, Rupert: you are meant to be on her side. That is the job you signed up for and are still insisting on doing despite nominally being fired!; and furthermore

This only explains why he pretends to believe Faith. Why does he make a show of throwing the book at Buffy, something that can only help to convince Faith she was right to lie? ("If this is what he's saying to Buffy, his first Slayer and obvious favorite, imagine what he'd be saying if he knew it was me?")

Why not pretend to believe Faith, reassure her she did the right thing by coming to tell him -- and that he's sure she only did it because she knew Buffy needed help -- and then give her the speech he later gives Buffy about how "this isn't the first time something like this has happened" and he "has no plans to involve [the Council]"?

Why not tell Faith that this isn't the first time Buffy herself has been accused of killing a man and questioned by the police? Why not tell her that he himself once accidentally killed a man, and that's something that he and 'Buffy' now have in common? If possible, he could even take Buffy aside and explain the truth to her, and ask her to play along with the charade for now?

Surely if Faith sees that Giles isn't prepared to throw Buffy under a bus, and that he acknowledges that "the Slayer is on the front side of a nightly war" and that "accidents happen", and he's more interested in making sure both of them get the help they need than meting out punishment, she's much more likely to actually admit the truth eventually?

Even if she doesn't want to do that, why not just ask Faith to "sit in" while he talks to Buffy about what "she" did and asks her to explain how she was feeling, so that Faith is in earshot for any advice or suggestions he makes about what to do next? Giles says out loud in this conversation with Buffy that he's worried about "scaring [Faith] off", so ... why is that exactly what he decides to do?

Again, note the disclaimers above: I know the real answer to my question is "that isn't the story the writers wanted to tell". It is necessary for the short-term twist that Faith seems to have convinced Giles to blame Buffy for Finch's death, and for the longer term plot that Giles be unable (or unwilling) to offer Faith any help. I understand that.

But -- in-universe, pretending Giles and Buffy and Faith are all real people -- is there an explanation for this that doesn't boil down to "Giles is a pretty lousy Watcher and should probably not be acting in a mentor role at all?". Why has he decided that the number one priority before anything else must be for Faith to admit it was her, and not the girl Giles can't help but see as a daughter, who killed Finch, when he accepts that -- whoever did it -- it was entirely accidental? If he's not telling the Council anyway and nobody is going to be sent away to be punished, what is the actual issue here?

"There is no help for her until she admits what happened." Okay, Giles, but why have you decided to unilaterally invent this rule, and why do you never use it for anyone else? We saw way back in Faith, Hope & Trick that Giles has no problem at all lying to people who aren't willing to admit the truth in order to help them. If, that is, by "people" we mean "Buffy Summers". Why can't you do the same thing for a girl you don't personally like?

[enigmaticexplorer]

Fake Mating Bonds: The Similarity Between Rowan/Lyria and Elain/Lucien

This post was inspired by @violetasteracademic who pointed out the similarity when discussing fake mating bonds between Azriel's ACOSF bonus chapter and Empire of Storms. You can read it here!

I've decided to take her breakdown a step further and 1) compare Rowan and Lucien, and how they regard Lyria and Elain, and 2) rely on these canon scenes to suggest that the mating bond between Elain and Lucien is fake. None of this is novel. It's been around for years, and most people who've engaged in the fandom probably know all of this. But I like having page numbers to reference, so I thought this would be helpful.

This post contains spoilers for TOG, ACOTAR, and HOFAS.

(KOA: Chapter 5 - pages 62-63)

She’d [Maeve] gone into his head to trick him into thinking Lyria was his mate, had fooled the very instincts that made him a Fae male…. Why Lyria had been so frightened of him for those initial months, why it had been so damn hard to court her, even with that mating bond, its truth unknown to Lyria as well. She was gentle, and quiet, and kind. A different sort of strength, yes, but not what he might have chosen for himself.

(ACOWAR: Chapter 24 - page 249)

Touch her, smell her, taste her— The instincts were a running river… But there she was. His mate. She was nothing like Jesminda. Jesminda had been all laughter and mischief, too wild and free to be contained by the country life that she’s been born into…. She had chosen him. Elain had been…thrown at him.

What Rowan and Lucien Think About Their "Mates'" Personalities

To start, let's look at how Rowan and Lucien think about Lyria and Elain, respectively.

Rowan describes Lyria as gentle, quiet, and kind—all three are attributes he respects. And yet he admits that they're not characteristics of a mate he would have chosen for himself. He knew that Lyria's personality wasn't his preference, and it's even implied (refer to the last line from the section above) that he questioned why Lyria was his mate.

Similarly, Lucien describes Jesminda as laughter, mischief, wild, and free. He claims that Jesminda had chosen him—regardless of station—but Elain had been thrown at him. Through this comparison between Jesminda and Elain, it's implied that 1) Elain does not have the personality traits Lucien admired in Jesminda—personality traits he would have liked his mate (his true love) to possess, and, therefore, 2) Lucien doesn't see Elain as a mate he would have chosen for himself.

Both Rowan and Lucien make it clear that their "mates" had/have unusual personality traits—traits that oppose their preferences. [Note: Lyria and Elain's traits/personalities (being quiet, kind, gentle) are not depicted as bad traits. They're simply not the traits these males prefer in a partner.]

Lyria and Elain's Reactions to Their "Mating" Bonds

Now that we've established similarities between Rowan and Lucien's thinking about Lyria and Elain, respectively, let's look at how both female characters react to the bond.

Rowan tells us that Lyria was afraid of him, initially. And while Rowan admits to eventually coming to love her (same chapter, bottom of page 62), Lyria's fear—due to the unnatural state of their bond—made their courtship difficult. The text implies that 1) she avoided Rowan and 2) only once he proved himself a decent male—and because of the tug of the bond—did she give into him.

Similarly, Elain remains disinterested with Lucien. I don't think it's implied that she's afraid of him, like Lyria was of Rowan, however, she is uncomfortable around Lucien. She avoids him, and she only interacts with him when her family forces her to. And her interactions are polite, nothing more. Their "courtship" is difficult and problematic with Elain not wanting to entertain Lucien's attention/forced affections, and Lucien being uninspired to truly pursue her. [An aside: I don’t think that Lucien deserves applause for giving Elain space. A male not forcing himself on a woman is not admirable—it’s the bare minimum of human existence (in this case Fae existence).]

It seems that both Lyria and Elain had/have an instinctive knowledge that something was/is wrong with their bond—both females avoided/avoid their "mates" unless forced to see him. An unusual characteristic considering that we're told a mating bond overpowers your base instincts and should have compelled them to at least show some interest in Rowan/Lucien.

Males Portraying Mate-Like Behaviors with Their Fake Mates

I've seen a few posts circling about how Lucien feels so strongly for Elain and because he portrays mate-like behaviors towards her, that means they're end game.

In the KOA passage, we learn that Rowan felt mate-like tendencies for Lyria. He claims the mating bond that Maeve constructed "had fooled the very instincts that made him a Fae male." The very instincts.

We also see these mate-like behaviors described earlier in the series.

(HOF: Chapter 35 - pages 303-304)

"When you lose a mate, you don't..." A shake of the head. "I lost all sense of self, of time and place..." "For ten years, I did nothing. I vanished. I went mad. Beyond mad. I felt nothing at all. I just...left. I wandered the world, in and out of my forms, hardly marking the seasons, eating only when my hawk told me it needed to feed or it would die. I would have let myself die--except I...couldn't bring myself..." "I had nothing. No one. At that point, I hoped serving her [Maeve] might get me killed, and then I could see Lyria again."

Even though Lyria wasn't his real mate, Rowan still felt that pull to her. He believed—thanks to his fae male instincts—that she was his mate, and when she died, he spent ten years mourning her. Ten years barely eating. Ten years spending most of his time in hawk form. And he took the blood oath to Maeve with the hope that he would die and reunite with Lyria.

Remember: Lyria wasn't Rowan's real mate. And yet he still displayed all of those mate feelings and behaviors. So much so he nearly died because of his grief.

Similarly, we see Lucien display the same feelings/thoughts for Elain—hence his internal monologue in ACOWAR to touch her, taste her, claim her. However, as we've learned from Rowan's experience, male's portraying mate-like behaviors and feelings is not confined to real mate bonds. These instincts can be—and have been—bastardized and abused to create fake bonds.

So, even though Lucien displays some mate-like feelings/behaviors for Elain, it doesn't mean that Elain and Lucien are real mates. Even then, his willingness to stay away from her and give her space (again, I will not applaud him for not forcing himself on Elain), is at odds with how a mated male acts around and towards his mate. Compare Lucien to Rowan—Rowan couldn't stay away from Lyria and he actively pursued her, even though she wasn't his real mate.

Based on these comparisons, we can safely theorize—and assume—that a fake mating bond exists between Elain and Lucien. Elain does not act like a mated female (I will not judge Elain for wanting to kiss Azriel, and I will always support female characters choosing their own love), and even though Lucien shows some mate-like tendencies, his willingness and ability to avoid Elain, and compare her to Jesminda, is unusual for a mated male.

The real question is: Who or What created the fake mating bond between Elain and Lucien?

I'm inclined to believe it was the Cauldron. From what we learned in HOFAS, the Cauldron was "warped" by the Asteri.

(HOFAS: Chapter 19 - pages 195-196)

...the Daglan captured it [the Cauldron] and used their powers to warp it. To turn it from what it had been into something deadlier. No longer just a tool of creation, but of destruction.

The Cauldron is not a benevolent or good Thing. It causes both creation but also destruction. And it's not farfetched to theorize that the Cauldron—like Maeve—created the bond between Elain and Lucien. However, there's not enough canonical evidence to truly suggest that it was the Cauldron that created their bond.

That being said, canon has made it clear that 1) a fake mating bond can exist, and 2) mate-like tendencies are not definitive of a real mating bond.

[everythingseasoning]

Misunderstandings. 

AU - You’re in love with your best friend Eren Jaeger, but he seems to be interested in somebody else.

Tags: Pining. Friends to lovers. Fem bodied reader. For any skin, POC friendly <3

Warnings: Eventual smut. Minors DNI with pt. 2

Length: pretty short. this is pt. 1

“She looks nothing like me. 

So why do you look so happy?

I know now, if I tried to change, 

Somehow, you’d end up with her anyway.”

\opposite, Sabrina Carpenter\

𓆩♡𓆪

𓆩♡𓆪

𓆩♡𓆪

A whole city. Endless festivities, adventures, movies, people bustling about on a Friday night. But you stared out the window alone. 

Tears slipped down your face as you buried your face into your sweater, the sleeves damp from all the tears you’d already cried. It still smelled like him. You felt like a mess. You felt ugly. You sniffed again, stretching your jaw to see just how puffy your face was. 

Your phone buzzed: You checked it, feeling your skin crawl when you saw his name on the bright white screen. 

Eren <3: Y/n, why aren’t you answering me?

A few hours ago:

It was Friday night and he’d bailed on you, on your plans. Eren said he was feeling ill. So imagine your surprise when you saw him at the mall with another girl that same night. She looked nothing like you, from her hair, to her skin, to her eyes. She was giggling as he held her waist.

And there you were, standing with two reusable bags hanging off your arms, filled with items for him, staring into a picture of a beautiful couple— a picture that you didn’t belong in. 

You were at the mall, buying him silly hair clips so you could pin them on his gorgeous brown hair, before helping him with his skincare. You’d planned to go over to Eren’s place that night. Eren always slacked on his skincare whenever he was sick. And you were about to hurry back to your car, which had fresh produce in the driver’s seat. You were worrying about the food spoiling before you could cook tonight, for him. …But then you saw them, and it wasn’t a trick, it was undeniable: Eren cupped her face and you felt your heart drop. Green jealousy exploded in your body, betrayal and shock coursing through your veins. You wanted to run away. You wanted to scream. You wanted to disappear. Eren pressed his lips to hers, his hands above her butt, pulling her flush against his body. You turned and walked away, tears already hitting the ground. 

… 

Your phone buzzed again. 

Eren <3: Y/n?

You: Why didn’t you just tell me the truth.

Eren <3: WHAT How did you end up at the same mall that I went to? There’s like a dozen in this city.

Eren: Hello?

Eren: are you mad?

Eren: I didn’t mean to lie, Y/n. It’s just that Isabella asked me out, and I knew you’d be mad if I canceled plans to hang out with somebody else… You know you’re my best friend.

You didn’t know what was worse. The fact that Eren had totally missed the apology mark, or that he’d thought you’d be like an understanding wingman for him. 

You muffled a scream, feeling totally helpless, totally jealous, totally hurt. 

You: I can’t be friends with you anymore, I’m sorry. I just need to be away from you. You haven’t realized how much you’ve hurt me, for months now. So this is goodbye.

Eren: …What??

You: Please just leave me alone. Don’t try to reach me, in any way. Congrats on your date. 

Eren: Y/n, what are you talking about?! 

Eren: I called you, answer the next time I call

Eren: Y/n… come on. I’m coming over.

You: Eren, don’t. 

Eren: Too bad. My best friend is upset. I’m gonna be there for her.

Your heart ripped even further. You didn’t think it was possible for it to hurt even more, but now you knew: Eren would only ever see you as a best friend. 

You: I said leave me alone. If you show up, I won’t answer. I’ll call security.

You finally clicked out of his contact, his name changed to its rightful title.

Dumbass: Are you being serious right now??

You: I’m leaving now. Leave me alone. Please.

You deleted his contact. You went around your house and grabbed all of Eren’s belongings: his spare toothbrush, his scrunchie, his stuffed teddy bear. You threw it all in a bag. 

It was time to get over the love of your life. 

— 3 months later —

“Jean. I think I’m in love with her.”

“So that’s why you haven’t fucked anybody in months,” Jean replied, swirling cream into his coffee. 

“These have been the hardest months of my life, without her.” Eren groaned. His hair was down, and he wore sweats in the campus cafe. He was a hot mess.

“Dude, she was your best friend, what happened?” 

“I… I don’t even know. She just said I was hurting her? For months? And that she couldn’t do it anymore… I fucked up, Jean. She’s beautiful, intelligent, and kind. I miss her so bad.”

— Pt. 1 End, cause I need to fucking sleep —

AN: yo this is rushed as fuck. 

It’s not thought out. It’s unlike my usual work, and tbh I don’t like it. 

But like. Hope you enjoyed?! 

Pt. 2 comes out if y’all want it. You can just comment if you want a pt. 2 :)

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

117 for 🌲:

---

It takes another minute or so of Buck holding Chris for him to calm down. For his breathing to regulate. Just like his father. Except the temperature doesn’t drop and leaves don’t appear from nowhere. Because this is just a normal panic attack. Brought on by a heap of extra trauma Christopher doesn’t deserve. And Eddie can’t be here right now to help him through it. So Buck will do everything he possibly can. He’ll do anything to help him. 

But he also has Eddie to think about. And while Eddie’s only priority would be Chris, Buck will always prioritize Eddie. He has to figure out how to help both of them. 

“You must be hungry,” Buck says when Chris finally calms down.

“Yeah,” Chris nods.

“Why don’t we find something to eat and drink?” Buck asks. “We can deal with everything else later.”

🌲

Eddie listens to everything his mother has to say. He doesn’t interrupt. He’s not looking for an argument here. He’s looking to buy time. Time and information.

He doesn’t drink the tea she makes. He gets himself a glass of water instead. Honestly, he’s surprised when clear, clean water comes out. He’d been half-expecting algae, with the state of this house. Luckily, the plumbing seems unimpacted. 

His mother tells a story longer than he’d particularly needed to hear. Eddie had wanted a concise summary of need-to-know information. But it works, because Sophia has enough time to clean and bandage the wound to their dad’s throat. 

Eddie doesn’t know what to think of the story. He doesn’t know what to trust. She’s proven herself a liar. Someone who manipulates the truth and omits information. But a lot of what she’s saying sounds like it could be true. The details about where she’s from, and how they connect to where Adriana was unknowingly dumping bodies. Her sister, disappearing and dying in a similar way to how Adriana disappeared and may have died. It all makes sense.

“You had a responsibility to tell us,” Sophia accuses at one point. 

“No,” Helena shakes her head. “I was protecting you.”

“I don’t feel very protected,” Adriana replies flatly. 

“Neither do I,” Eddie says. “At least not by you.”

“You wouldn’t have ever needed to know!” Helena protests. “If you’d all just listened to me! I did everything to try to get you to stay here and avoid this!” 

“Are you kidding?” Eddie asks. “You think going to Los Angeles is what did this to me? Not my child being taken from me?” 

“That’s not what happened,” she says. “He called us, Eddie. Did I trick you into traumatizing him, too?”

“You had him in that room writing nothing over and over. He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t think for himself. Why would I believe anything now?” Eddie practically spits. 

Sophia looks appalled. “Mom, why would you do that to him? He’s a kid.”

“He was being irrational!” She defends herself. “They both were. They both… I just needed them to stop. I needed them to listen. I could have kept him safe, Eddie. I could have. You didn’t.”

And that sort of makes Eddie snap. Lose his cool. Forget what they’re trying to do here.

“Well, I hope you’re fucking happy, because you’re never going to see him again!” Eddie seethes. 

“Eddie,” Adriana cautions. 

“You will never hurt him or me again for making choices you disagree with!” He continues, ignoring his sister. “That’s life, Mom. We get fucking free will.”

“And it gets you, what?” She shouts back. “Shot? Mixed up in miserable relationships? You don’t listen. Eventually, learning the hard way gets you killed!”

“Better than being stuck with you!” Eddie sort of explodes. 

Helena tenses and looks around the room. Like she’s about to do something. Make good on her threat to kill their dad. Sophia lurches back a little, from her chair, facing their father. His hand is shaking around the knife. She looks terrified. 

“Okay, everyone stop,” Adriana commands. “Mom, shut up. Eddie, calm down. I’ve had enough of this.”

Everybody looks at her. 

“Here’s what’s going to happen.”

🍂

“I didn’t want to go to Texas. Or maybe I did… I don’t actually really remember.”

Chris just sort of begins talking while they’re eating. They’re at one of those open-all-night diners. Kind of sketchy, but otherwise mostly empty. Buck told him to order whatever he wanted. And it turns out, Chris is hungry. Very hungry. He gets a big platter with eggs and breakfast sausages. Home fries and toast. A milkshake on the side. Buck doesn’t care. He’ll buy him the whole diner if he has to. 

[stygiansun-totaleclipse]

I’ll just ask the big lil ole question in here buuut what would the ROs do in a Orpheus and Eurydice situation. Who would look back and who would resist looking?

ooh interesting ask 🤔 I’m going to answer this assuming a relationship has already been recently established between mc and the ROs and that their mythology regarding death/afterlife is the same as the Greeks cuz otherwise their answers would differ in ways I can’t explain bc spoilers

Kieran: The urge to look—to be sure—would of course be eating them alive, but they would never forgive themself if, on the off chance mc really is there and Hades was telling the truth, they looked and lost mc again forever and it was all their fault, their own insecurity. So they'll put their faith not in Hades' word, but in mc, and trust that mc is following behind them. They would follow mc anywhere so they'll trust that mc will, too.

Aurynn: Honestly, he likely wouldn’t even be in this situation bc he’s already right there with mc—like not even a question of bringing mc back as he doesn’t think it’d be possible and would instead bargain for being allowed to join mc in whichever of the three afterlives they were sent to (probs elysium). If he were in an Orpheus/Eurydice situation tho, I think he would probably be driven mad by the silence—the doubt—and the increasing surety that he had been tricked as he has little faith in gods and he would end up looking. The guilt would be crushing, and when he finds he can’t get back into the underworld, he’ll get in the same way mc got in.

Samira: She has plan A all the way through Z planned out, so if petitioning Hades does not work she’s moving onto the next plan. Though the silence and gnawing doubt would be unbearable, she would resist looking if it means there is some small chance this succeeds—she's come this far and can't mess up now, especially not when mc has their faith placed in her. She won't let them down. Either way, she is getting mc back one way or another. Even if that means she needs to…break some rules.

Nihm: Is desperate and heartbroken, so they need to believe this is true. And because it has to be true, they cannot look no matter what—they wouldn't be able to live with themself with mc's blood on their hands, even if they weren't what really killed them. They would be squeezing their eyes shut the entire walk back and would not open them again until mc breaks the unbearable silence.

Lilith/Lucien: Wouldn’t trust that the gods would keep their word and might try to find a way around the rules (“Hey, I didn’t turn around. I used a mirror to double-check. That’s not allowed? Well, you should have specified. I followed the rules you gave me.”) or some way to get some leverage in this situation if the gods end up cheating them. If mc is not behind them when they return and they can’t get back into the underworld the same way they did the first time so they can kill god 🔫, they’re getting back in the same way everyone does eventually. It was bound to happen sooner rather than later, anyways.

[lenawritesfandom]

Silver Springs {Adam x f reader}

fandom: hazbin hotel shipping: adam x female reader warnings: swearing, suggestive scenes, cheating, minors dni summary: you're part of the band and adam breaks your heart word count: 596 a/n: this song and scenario has been stuck in my head forever now. i know this is short but i hope you enjoy nonetheless.

{You could be my silver spring Blue-green colors flashin' I would be your only dream Your shinin' autumn ocean crashin' Don't say that she's pretty And did you say that she loved you? Baby, I don't want to know} You were a back up singer in Adam's band. You've been told that you were only there because Adam wanted to fuck you and that was it. Which was why for the longest time you tried to ignore his advances but he was quite persuasive. The man was funny, he knew how to make you laugh, cry, and bring you out of your shell. At first you'd only spend time with him during band practice or the moments the band would just party and hang out. He eventually got you to agree to go out on a real date with him. Everything seemed to be going good and you finally started to become vulnerable with him.

{So I'll begin not to love you Turn around, see me runnin' I'll say I loved you years ago Tell myself you never loved me, no Don't say that she's pretty And did you say that she loved you? Baby, I don't want to know Oh no And can you tell me was it worth it? Baby, I don't want to know} You and Adam moved in with each other after 6 months of dating. You figured it could be fun, and a great way to grow your relationship stronger, right? Everything was perfect. His kisses against your lips or the crook of your neck. The way his hand slid down your body and the way he had a trick with his fingers and tongue that brought you to the sense of Euphoria as you cried out his name. {Time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me I know I could have loved you But you would not let me Time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me I know I could've loved you, but you would not let me I'll follow you down 'til the sound of my voice will haunt you Give me just a chance You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you}

One day you go out with one of your friends. A fellow winner just as you. You told him you'd be out all day and you were going to. You and your friend spent all morning walking around shops. You saw a cool leather jacket you thought Adam would have enjoyed wearing during a concert but you realized you forgot your wallet at home. "I will be back, I'm just going to run home and grab my wallet." Your friend offered to pay for it and you just pay her back but you told her you'd rather use your own money. So, you left and would later wonder if you'd rather have just paid her back. Stay in ignorance bliss with Adam. When you returned home you heard two voices moaning from down the hall. Your heart dropped. No, he wouldn't... You opened the door and saw your rose colored glasses shatter into a million pieces. You were just another one of Adam's playthings. He promised you that you weren't but here lies the truth. If he loved you, he wouldn't have cheated. {Was I such a fool? I'll follow you down til' the sound of my voice will haunt you Give me just a chance You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you Time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me I know I could've loved you, but you would not let me I'll follow you down 'til the sound of my voice} So you left him and the band. Your heart couldn't take being around him. All you pictured was the way he touched that woman the same way he used to touch you. Adam would send roses and try to corner you so you could listen to his pathetic excuses. Every single time it hurt turning him away. He stopped sending you roses, and reaching out. That made the pain of confrontation easier but caused another. The relationship was over. Whenever you both saw each other whether that be through mutual friends or in public you saw the discomfort on his face that you could tell that your presence haunted him because he really did love you. Good.... Because you loved him too...