#I just wrote some of the top theories I could think of that I've seen around

[wundrousarts]

Something I’ve noticed for awhile is that I often get comments from people about how they are surprised how I always come up with theories and try to guess what might happen and they “could never do that” themselves. I want to say: yes you can! There’s honestly a shortage of Nevermoor theories and ideas and speculation and etc and I want to see MORE!!!

Want to talk about how Morrigan’s mom is actually secretly alive? How the Scholar Mistresses are a Wundrous Act? Do you think the Tempus Divinity looks like an owl, or do you think Weaving and Ruination would be met together? Or have you ever thought about how this one line, from Chapter 19 of Nevermoor, about Betram Crow actually means he was a Cursed Child? Whatever it is you want to talk about: GO FOR IT!!!

I personally find it very fun to go sort of “English class mode” and look at the text in front of me and think about what different things might mean and analyze it and even overthink it to an unnecessary (but fun!) amount. But that’s just me and how I like to approach things! You don’t need to make long posts and quote specific lines if that isn’t your style. The big thing to remember is that so much can happen in the next six books, so throw any idea out there! You never know what twists and turns will be thrown at us. I think it’s fun to share these ideas and discuss with other people— sure, maybe there’s just something you missed when reading, but perhaps some new ideas spawn might from it. Some speculation could even serve as inspiration for fics!

There are some theories and thoughts that I’ve posted that have been “debunked” when I reread a book, or when someone pointed out something, or even just when something had a real-world basis that I as an American didn’t catch. But it was still fun to think about it all, and there’s some bits and pieces that I see as notable and worth considering. I think most of the Silverborn Masterpost is going to be “wrong”, but if just 1% of it is “correct”, even indirectly, I will take that as a win. I know it feels like during the hiatus everyone’s talked about everything, but I hope that the incoming communal reread (fingers crossed) and obviously Silverborn brings some speculation back to the fandom because I want to discusssssss!

[rosyronkey]

hi! i wrote an essay about rosy ronkey and her clothes, and i hypothesized what time period i think shes from/inspired by ^^ below if you wanna read more :))

ive been fixated (or had a special interest or whatever you want to call it) on rosy ronkey for a YEAR today. i've always been pretty interested in her outfit from an aesthetically pleasing point of view, but recently i wanted to see if i could find any trends and time periods in the inspirations of her clothes, which is what this essay is about! it’s going to be an explanation of most of her clothes, top to bottom, from what i can assume with the research i've done. i say research, but i probably don’t have the best sources? they’ll be linked below, but it was really more cross-referencing than anything else lol

i reached out to annie montgomerie for comment/criticism, but she’s obviously very busy and i enjoyed my research from a subjective point of view :)

basic specs on rosy (no one else but me cares): looking at rosy, the only zoomorphic, or animal looking, aspect of hers is her head. judging by proportions and cross-referencing, she looks to have the body of an american girl doll. this is just what i’ve noticed, but annie’s most recent stuff is way less anthropomorphized compared to rosy and the group she was made with. looking at annie’s most recent exhibit, hand me downs, every single piece is completely animal, with hand-sculpted claws, paws, wings and hooves. some of these dolls legs still look like american girl doll legs, but most everything else is animalistic. this isn’t important, but i just thought id mention it because artists’ growth over time is cool!

starting with her coat, it looks like a double-breasted red childrens’ coat with two rows of two buttons each. these kinds of coats are still available today, but i could find the closest matches by looking at 1920s childrens’ coats, specifically rothschild coats. the rothschild family has a long and complicated history, but all that’s important to know is that they are new york based (which doesn’t totally fit my assumptions about her; in general i assume all of annie montgomerie’s dolls are british because of her nationality) and they’ve been in business for over 100 years. by cross-referencing the growing style of double-breasted coats in the 1920s, and the style of rothschild childrens’ coats in ads from the time, i feel like it’s easy to assume rosy's character has this coat, or at least was very heavily inspired by it.

a theory i’ve seen before is that the ticket on her coat is a luggage label. these were used during WWII to evacuate british children during the blitz. the history press site says luggage labels listed “name, school and evacuation authority,” and is also where i got most of my information. i want to tentatively deny this theory. i'm pretty sure the ticket is an annie montgomerie staple opposed to a part of rosys' character. she's shown with the tag in the yorkshire sculpture park video, and on gerard way’s website, but she’s missing it in all the photos posted by annie montgomerie herself on facebook and instagram. almost every single annie montgomerie piece on display or for sale has a tag as well. i love this theory, and it’s probably what got me interested in researching her outfit in the first place, but i don’t think i could prove it if i tried.

other than the ticket, she has white roses on the left side of her coat and some smaller twigs? sticks? pinned to her collar. white roses symbolize purity, youthfulness, innocence, and in some contexts, respect for the departed. i couldn’t find any historical photos of children with roses in their outfits, but across the board that was the result i got for their meaning. i can’t discern what she has on her right collar for the life of me, if someone else can figure this out, PLEASE tell me

her dress is pink, with a cinched embroidered waist and a peter pan collar. peter pan collars became popular in the 1920s, and have been a staple of childrens’ dresses since (sources for this one were a few blogs and wikipedia, but also some ads, so i feel pretty confident with it.) some ads for girls’ dresses in the 1920s had the same soft pleats and embroidered waist as seen on rosys’ dress. i don’t think there’s a meaning behind the color, except that it compliments the red coat and her fur.

her stockings are standard, I couldn’t find much special meaning behind them, british children have been wearing stockings forever, and for girls especially, stockings became more popular in the 1920s as dresses got shorter. usually they were sheer and nude, and rosys’ look like the gray kind kids wear today, but i think it’s still period appropriate to an extent. her shoes look like red mary janes for american girl dolls, just more scuffed and dirtied. mary jane shoes themselves have been around for a while (called “bar shoes” originally,) but they got their name in 1904. in one of the first drafts for this, i read the fairy tale “the red shoes” to see if it offered any insight. i thought it’d be fun to relate, but it’s just a popular danish fairy tale, and it was hard for me to entertain the idea for long.

TLDR: i think rosy ronkeys outfit is inspired by british 1920s fashion!

that’s all I have! i apologize if this was underwhelming or overwhelming or whatever, i had no model to base this off of and the only tumblr essays i read are from my friends <3 i hope you enjoyed! i love rosy ronkey!

link to my dumbfuck google doc with all the links and braindump on it :)

[madrone33]

I don't know what to say. Thank you. Thank you Jorge. Thank you everyone who sung, and drew, and edited, and worked on EPIC: The Musical because you have all given me something that I will always - ALWAYS - remember and cherish.

I've been on this journey for over a year now, since Halloween 2023 when WolfyTheWitch posted a random short of Poseidon with the coldest musical lyrics I've ever heard. Ruthlessness brought me to this project, to this fandom. I was in all the events my timezone could reach, posted and messaged and freaked out with fellow fans on discord and tumblr and youtube and tiktok and twitch. I scoured the whole internet to find every piece of music, read the interviews, watched every livestream - most notably of which were the Ocean Crowdcast stream, the Circe Stream Crash of 2024, the Policy Violation Stream, and the IRL Odyssey streams XD

I got my family into it and was able to gush and rant and ramble to them about it; I've made so many friends because of this, and entered so many other fandoms too: MHSG, Udad, PJO, Hadestown, JCS, Lucids, DEH, and so many, many more; I've made essays and graphs and spreadsheets and analysis, discussing and picking apart the themes, characters, music details, motifs, lyrics; My voice has grown leaps and bounds because of how much I sing out loud now, I learned the songs on the piano, I started drawing?? I've written almost 112k words of fanfic for Epic, it's insane (and also not written down so much more LMAO). I even went out of my comfort zone and posted some of my writing and my covers which is CRAZY and nerve wracking and really fun!

Each saga I was left completely stunned and awestruck. Each saga I thought "surely, nothing can top this" and yet EVERY TIME I was blown away again the next time. The writing, the singing, the voice acting, the visuals, the orchestration, the lyrics, everything is just- !!!

Jorge. Miguel. Rivera-Herrans. HOW?? It's so good! It's SO GOOD!! And everyone's voices?? Everyone, just everyone is just talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show stopping, spectacular, never the same- THIS MUSICAL IS PURE ART, A MASTERPIECE OF A LEVEL HITHERTO UNKNOWN, THE LIKES OF WHICH MAY NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN. The fact that I was born in this spot in time, able to experience and appreciate and bask in the light of this glorious concept musical?? I am unfathomably lucky, and I thank the musical gods that it is so.

This past year has been one hell of a journey. I laughed a lot, I wrote lmao while actually only internally laughing a lot, I was tired and comforted and excited and anxious, I cried which I'm almost never able to do with media; Every day I would wake up and immediately check my phone for an upload notification, which is how I caught the Livestream today instead of missing it, so phew; I felt burned out sometimes, but managed to catch it and diversify my activities a bit, sinking into something else for a while before coming back refreshed and even more excited; My entire music wrapped this year was Jorge, Epic cast members' independent music, and greek mythology musicals; I watched the fandom grow even more, all the art, the fanfic, the theories, the memes, the friends.

I still don't think it's fully sunk in yet, but the entire musical is out now. It's done. I'm watched from saga three to nine, from Ocean to Ithaca. I've been here, every day, for a year. This is something that I don't think I'll ever experience again. I am so so thankful.

Thank you, Jorge, for bringing this into the world. What would it be, five and a half years now that he's been creating EPIC? He should be so proud, because I'm sure as hell proud. Odysseus finally made it home. The story is over.

But still, as Jorge said - This not the end of the journey, this is just the end of a chapter; the journey goes on!!

And I'll be here, taking that journey with you.

[hero-next-door]

Defending Nathan Prescott

(From Every Accusation)

All fact proven & common sense theory

No bullshit.

I suck at grammar. Deal with it.

I've replayed the game far too many times to gather this. I read into everything and even read into and WATCHED people who have suffered the same mental illness and situations Nathan has been in.

What I'll be covering:

Illness, rib breaking, dead animals, bdsm, Chloes pic, Rachel, gun on campus, Kate, Pompidou, Jefferson, wealth and his father.

And dont even THINK about skipping ahead!

Everything here is tied into one another. Read from start to finish. You're on this post to understand, right? Or to argue? Im not here to argue so, bye.

Lets start from the top...

Nathans downfall was caused by society and all who failed him. He's driven by hatred of others who don't understand him, and the game purposly wrote him off that way. They want players to hate him from what sides of the stories we've experienced. They gave this character controversial hobbies and a cynical bully attitude to really keep you suspecting him and not guessing Jefferson. The game isn't about Nathan. It's about Max. We learn so much about Max and everyone close to her. The tears they shed, the pains they've endorsed. Same with Chloe and Rachel's story. My heart goes out to all of them. We don't get to see that with other characters. Therefore, we don't care for them...or that's the games' intentions. We don't know the ins and outs of Nathan. Only what the game shows us, which are all negative. So, of course, disliking Nathan is only reasonable.

Mental Illness

We start with mental illness. He has Psychosis. Lots of proof, but i'm assuming you've seen it all already. Like, do people know what Psychosis is? Do they REALLY know what it is? Because this ALONE changes everything. And not Psychopathy ..Psychosis. Two different things, pookie. Psychopathy is the one where part of the brain is missing or disturbed. THEY'RE the ones that don't have empathy. Psychosis is different. Anybody can get it. This illness can take your empathy and awareness away, then bring it all back after the harm is done, leaving you to process that. Schizo and Bipolar are also all quite a handful to deal with too. Loud Noises/downgrading voices in your head SO LOUD that people will do anything to calm them. (Dont be shy, youtube: "28- Psychotic Episode" by Collège d'Alma) The feeling of loosing your mind is something I notice a lot of haters dont empathize on especially if they killed or hurt sombody. The brain slips into a state so disconnected that interviews with recovering patients I've seen describe it as confusing and scary and dont recall saying the stories they told and actions they did others. Imagine not being able to remember the hurtful things you've said and done. Imagine being told you killed somebody... with your own hands? And you can hardly remember what happened. Like... how would you react? Think about it. Anybody can get psychosis with enough trauma or a kick in the noggin. Some people who were interviewed that had psychosis said that they found relief when getting high or drunk. Little did they know the symptoms could bounce back up to 5x during withdrawal. But they were so desperate to get rid of the voices that they abused the drugs. Like....wow the game really did their research to create such a complicated character. Anyway, moving on.

Edit: After further research, he certainly had bipolar disorder first. Then it went left untreated, therefore sunk him to worse mental state of many other illnesses. Drugs only made things much, much worse. Bipolar disorder can cause schizo and schizo to lead to psychosis. 🙄Jesus Nathan quit hogging all the illnesses.

Now, let's break down everything else...

Shooting Chloe

Just rewatch it. Aims gun, Chloe pushes him, it tightens grip, ACCIDENTLY shoots her, immediately drops gun and gets really scared of he's done, checking to see if she's alive! If you specifically rewatch the ending of Lis1 when Chloe gets shot, they extend his reaction. He goes back and forth, checking her body. If he wanted to kill her, you check pulse and then run. Not sticking around crying about it. There's your empathy you're all saying he doesn't have. Other times where he could have shown more empathy ties with his Psychosis. Some people with the illness said that the voices loudly in their head will convince them that everyone around you is your enemy. Everyone is after you. It can twist your brain to feel anger and fear towards others. Nathan is always hung up on how everyone is using him and trying to control him. Which people ..DO use him. So now he's convinced that everyone is. He's not choosing to feel this way. He just needs psychiatric help.

Breaking Ribs

In Before The Storm, his entire demeanor is completely different than the Lis 1. He's more cowardly and not loud and aggressive. We'll be mentioning his creepy "pervy" binder later. Nathan isn't violent until the end IF you let Nathan get bullied and push his life in a negative direction. Sure, it's not Chloe's responsibility, but this is the game's way of showing you his downfall. We need to remember the game hides scenes and expect you to make up what happened behind the scenes. He broke Samantha's ribs over ..what? She's always so desperate to defend Nathan and even gets upset with Chloe when she doesn't help. So, if you tell her the wrong option to pressure kindness into Nathan, it results in him breaking ribs. How, though? Haters immediately hop online to say cause he's a mean and abusive non-empathic nut head. Are you sure he didn't just push her away, and her clumsiness just fell over? This took place after the play...so he possibly...pushed her off... 😰 She did say she was clumsy. You don't think she would have tried to hug or touch him in any way. Ok ok...calm down... Let's take a step back.. You get this "breaking ribs," ending from letting Nathan get bullied and embarrass himself during the play that his father pressured him about! Adding a little "..fuck you.." to the audience. Showing his start to his villain career and the start of him hating everyone, and you tell Samantha to go hug him!? This is the start of his mental spiral if you let things play out this way. But hurting her with intention? No. Lets tie this in with the other endings to their relationship. You get the clumsy ending. She hurts herself differently, and Nathan is with her in the hospital. Saying how he feels bad that she got hurt. (empathy bell) And they continue yo talk about her photo or whatever. Tie this with the rib one, tie this with the Chloe getting shot incident, and tie this with his mental illness. Come on, do i gotta spell it out for you.. Hurting someone is not what he attends to do. Like he quotes in his voice mail. (Speaking of that voice mail, empathy bell.) He does get angry at Samantha and hurts her, and we as players dont know the full story. But what was playing in his head seconds before and the entirety of the game that led up to this IS the reason why he accidentally hurts her. His anger from the entire game was built up and, unfortunately, released on her. Whatever happened, breaking her ribs was not on his to-do list! And then we have.. The good ending. He sits beside her, smiling.

Oh, wait! He's a little psycho with no human emotion? Psychosis has all parts of the brain attached, pookie. For most cases, It can be cured and helped. I can get it. YOU can get it. He has human emotions when he is at his very rare peaceful moments like with this good ending, when with Victoria ig and other scenes we tend to forget. Because painting him as the villain was the games goal. Jefferson was the plot twist.

Daddy Issues, Smug Talk, and a Gun on campus

Simple guys. Simple. You represent this school. You represent our name. This is a legacy. You will not embarrass me. This isn't about you or your problems!

Sure, YOU wouldn't crumble under that pressure, but Nathan sure did. Sure, child abuse isn't an excuse to "kill" people. But is it the child's fault? Sean-beanbag prescott should be arrested for not taking his boy to the asylum. Instead, he argues with a doctor!? Goofy, bro. But so many people are fueled with anger towards Nathan instead. It's whatever. Prescott, literally being his name, was already a red flag to other characters and chose to hate and bully him over it. Drew hated for what his FATHER did. Nathan did ..what again? Notice how that "rich Malfoy talk" wasn't really present in Before The Storm. Sure he tried to burn Drew with a family financial situation insult but the "Im rich, my father owns everything, I got a lawyer, money this and that" wasn't in his character in the Before the Storm. I believe being a prescott wasn't really in his future goals, and he wasn't ever really passionate about it. It's all in the annoyance in his tone with his father before the play. Lis1 he uses it so often to show that he's the boss and in control. He is influenced by representation for his family/school, wealth, intimidation, and of course hatred and believing everyone hates him. In his mind, everyone is against him, after him, and wants to use him. Again, he doesn't choose to think this way. Let me explain my last sentence clearly, though. Imagine being surrounded by a ton of people. All their attention is on you. They hate who you are. They talk about you. You have a defensless stomach sinking feeling and scared because all these people surrounding you are looking at you and all your insecurities and laughing at you. Well, obviouslysome of that is not going on in reality. But to Nathan, that IS his reality, and he has no control over it. Anyways I shouldn't have to keep explaining mental illness and how it stresses the brain. The bottom line is that his status and waving a gun around is what he thinks keep others out of his head. He can barely throw a punch. He had to use his head on warren, and did you catch when Max hit him in that scene? The dude was literally holding onto his face like he'd been battered. Like she did NOT hit that hard lmao. He's weak. He's always been the same tiny Nathan from before the storm. Just now, he uses masks for intimidation to stop his bullies, and anyone he thinks is "after him." He never meant to use a gun on anybody, just a threat. During the second scene where warren reunited a head butt with Nathan.. If you pull off warren, he barely even aims the gun when he runs away towards his room. Cowardly. He feels that he has to, to protect himself. He also uses his father as a threat, but clearly, that never worked. Also, I noticed him crying when you let Warren get crazy on him? Dudes apologizing and sobing? Guess that's not his first rodeo, rip.

Dead Animals

There is no proof he hurt animals. That's not really like him. He does have a list of illnesses, but Psychopathy isn't one of them. Y'all can keep yappin, but it's not. Clearly NOT one of them. He could have hurt an animal during an unaware episode, but there will not be any awareness behind it. Anyways, there are plenty of artists that do the same thing. Nathan is very passionate about photography and protraying solitary but not in the same way Jefferson does. Jefferson certainly uses that manipulation, but we'll get to that later. There are artists that like to shine on death in a positive light and in sorrow. There's also beauty in anatomy. It's not my cup of tea, but someone close to me can name me all kinds of gross organs and would be down to disect any animal. Yuck. But to them.. its fascinating, and they are the greatest people in my life. In love and in empathy. (NOT comparing my pookie to Nathan, PAUSE.) In anatomy theres Education and surprise. Death is also a theme and style too. Skulls and gore, super "rad" fukin "knarly."

BDSM Skip to (●) next part if needed

Ok.. so he's a little frisky. Y'all need to remember this is a fictional game first, okay? Lol Anyway, I can't defend him much here, but I got something. Firstly, the game WANTS you to suspect Nathan. Can't keep his room pretty and pink. They have to make it freaky and spooky. They paint Nathan as the villian for you to only focus on him as a suspect. So that everyones jaws are dropped with Jefferson twirls in.

Anyway...defending BDSM? This can bring trauma to those who have experienced it negatively or view it negatively. So skip to the Frank defense or read more if you want.

Bdsm relationships are very controversial. Some people see it as unhealthy, abusive, and sick. But if you have talked to or listened to other people within these relationships, they state that its completely consensual, safe, harmless, a breach of deep trust with their partners, and simply a fetish or kink The goal is to have fun at your limit..not pass the limit. There are twisted people who have broken that barrier and made it not fun and abusive. That's where I can't argue. If you feel that way towards the topic, I completely empathize with you.

Nathan has shown in his other photos a black and white theme of solitary. And you can tell that he might have taken those bdsm photos himself. As the quality is almost like the Pompidou photo. Everyone blends him taking bdsm photos with his angry behavior and "non empathic" demeanor. But this is where I loop back to Before The Storm hugging-my-binder Nathan. It's shown that in one of his endings, he took photos of Samantha. Obviously, NOT bdsm photos. His binder was a school project. But Samantha obviously consented, and Nathan was passionate enough to show her. He sees them as art. Naked girls have been models for sculptures and paintings. Its beauty. That's IF she was naked in some way in those photos. Which I still doubt. School project. Im sure the photos were gentle and strange and misunderstood, and Drew was just in his bully era. His reaction would have been a lot more eye-opening if he had a face full of tits or straps. Nathan begged for his binder back and even nervously reacted, showing he had love for his work and 'took time with it' (as he quotes when Drew throws it). I bring this up here to show that the women in his photos were indeed given consent, and if hes passionate about depicting his art, hurting them wouldn't be on his agenda. As we all learned today that hurting people was never his intentions until drugs and illness met with pressure and intimidation clouds his brain.

I read up on other artists that painted things similar. In their paintings, they expressed dread, vulnerability, feeling traped, and ..feeling used. If Nathan did find the images he took arousing, then why would he hang them up like everything else in his room like art? I believe that they're depicted in an artful way and in its black and white shading brings a sad darkness. If it's anything like the painters I mentioned, maybe Nathan has a deep level of empathy we don't understand.

●Frank and Pompidou

I didn't even know he took a picture of Franks hurt dog in the road because you little freaks threw his treat in the street!? This will also tie in to chloes pic, but we'll get to that. Frank first, as it's pretty simple. Nathan runs some system with Frank. And it's pretty obvious it's the same thing Drew was doing in Before the Storm. Nathan clearly doesn't like it as he finds it controlling, but getting his hands on drugs is a great way to forget his flaws and calm his illness symptoms. Which only created a loop of his symptoms worsening, as talked about before. His illness is very active towards the end of Before the Storm. You can tell by his huge character difference that drugs only made it worse.

Pompidou is a good dog, but just remember he's not the one who hurt him. This ties in with what we explained in the dead animal phase. The Imagine is black and white. It's a strange art most people don't understand. Man, I don't even understand it. But these people aren't heartless, and they're simply expressing pain. Or.. he took it for the same reason he took Chloes pic. To feel that he's in control, thinking this will help his mental reality of thinking everyone can use him, as explained earlier. But i doubt it. One is in color, and Pompidou is not. One is misguided, and one is "art."

Jefferson, Rachel, Kate, Chloes pic

If i see one more person throw him in the same trash bin as Jefferson, im going to puke. Anyway, I've twisted my head around this story so many times, begging to see the bigger picture. No pun attended. Jefferson was pulling the strings all along ..you know that, right? If Nathan was never there, Jefferson would have still done his disgusting projects. He certainly brought Victoria over without Nathan's usage. He didn't need Nathan, Nathan just made it easier cause he can easily be manipulated. Making Nathan do it all so the consequences will fall on him. Jefferson is smart and knows the right words to say. Nathan is missing the kindness of a father figure. All he has to do is play with his feelings. Nathan falls too easily to kindness. He felt the kindness of Samantha during the good ending, and He felt the kindness from Victoria.. but Victoria toxic bully nature wasn't helping. The bottom line is Jefferson easily manipulates him and understands his mental reality and uses that against him. Adding thoughts into Nathans head. Jefferson learned to use Nathan's illness to his advantage. Nathan trusted Jefferson as did everyone in that school. Why on earth would Jefferson wrong him? He looked up to him, so when Jefferson slowly brought him into his plans of drugging girls, Nathan thought that it was all ..moral. In reality, you and I know obviously that's not okay, but to Nathan (and his severe illness), he trusted Jefferson was doing no wrong. We don't understand the mental strain he was under. Manipulation goes a long way. Heres how he did it. He probably said things like 'We are the same Nathan, this is art just like yours.' It starts small, Nathan gets him the drugs. Then he pulls him in, and Nathan starts drugging the girls for me. Start driving them here. Start helping me inside the dark room. Start helping me inject my victims. Jefferson had so much power over him. He was connected with his father. He can threaten his grade, his representation, and his future in art. He knew all the right things to say and do. He knew how his head worked. Clog him up with drugs, and keep him quiet. Heal his missing father needs and demand him for your needs. Does this not make Nathan a victim, too?

Then ...the Rachel incident happened. Nathan was NOT mentally aware of what he's done. The excited "Rachel!" When he saw Max at the diner clearly shows that he truly expected her to pull up. This mixes with the symptoms we've discussed. He only remembers bits and pieces as obviously it was beyond traumatizing. Sending him in an insane spiral and the infamous psychosis drawing. (Don't be afraid, google psychosis drawings. Damn. Just imagine you recovered from psychosis and laying eyes on that and not remembering you drew that..ugh...I'd cry.) Someone with Psychopathy wouldnt feel traumatized from such events, debunking the fact everyone thinks Nathan has Psychopathy. He doesn't have Psychopathy, he has psychosis. Moving on. Jefferson was certainly angry with him and drugged Nathan himself after the incident, which really helped Nathan to forget what he's done. But Jefferson's anger and not talking to him tore him apart. His emotional attachment clearly wasn't having it. The note he wrote Jefferson in desperate attempt to bring him back after ruining Jefferson plans goes to show just how much he wants that sense of being cared for. If only it was someone else that wasnt Jefferson ..or his dad can do is fucking job too.

Alcohol was certainly a great method of forgetting what he did. So then comes Chloes' interaction with him. We know the story. He did not SA her, I can say that right here and now. Nothing like that was behind this. You can tell by the way Chloe presented the story to Max. There wasn't an uncomfortable tone to her story. She didn't seem traumatized but more shocked, and "it was pretty crazy." She also wasn't drugged for that long. She woke up very soon, fully clothed. What obviously happened is that Nathan used this to feel in control like the mentioned way above. Drugs and Psychosis is no jokes. Who knows what hell is playing in his mind, but I unfortunately believe that this was to try to win back Jefferson. He had been angry at him and ignoring him, and even tho he hates drugging, his confusion and drunk state led him to this. He's cowardly, and his mind is slipping and tries to do what he thinks is right for him. He's misguided and leads down the wrong path.

Nathan did not SA Kate! Kate story breaks my heart into a million pieces, but if she was SA-ed, it wasn't Nathan. After everything I said above, you can tell that that isn't in his character. But here I want to bring up the voicemail. Nathan claims multiple times that he never wanted to hurt anybody, implying that he felt forced to do harm. Something he DID NOT want to do. Why on earth would anybody have felt forced to SA somebody!? I'm not saying Kate WASN'T SA-ed as I can only assume maybe the boys she was shown with in the video did something or Jefferson. Victoria was Kates bully!!! Nathan wanted to be liked by Victoria and was influenced by her nature. He's desperate for attention and kindness. Victoria did far more to hurt Kate and her reason as to why was shit. You go THAT FAR to one up your photography game. Girl, bye. She spread that video, and she still has empathy, too? Her regretting everything? Did she reallyy regret it? Or did she want to make herself look good for her representation? She showed regret via text message in Before The Storm, too? She doesn't have a mental illness, but the game gave her an act of forgiveness and used her as a victim so the audience would sympathize with her. Goes to show you the game controls what they want you to feel. If they were to do that with Nathan..would opinons be different? Taking us into his mind and how he sees the world around him. They could have..but didnt. Well.. We have the voicemail, but obviously, that didn't stop the haters. It's unfortunate. But the game gave me just enough little clues for me to shine light on in this post. They put so much into his character but never showed the audience the truth.

Conclusion

What we've learned today is that Nathan isn't the villain you think. He's been manipulated, used, and needs mental help, but im sure my old Nathan-defending friends have said this time and time again. Im here to add something....

It's been PROVEN that he's capable of all human emotions. You just refuse to believe it because you're mistaking his illness and claiming all of this was intentional. Psychosis can be temporary. It's like a hand that steals your common sense, feelings, empathy, and sympathy, and you're only left with acting on pure chaos and negative or fearful emotions. After long treatment, your sense of reality returns, your feelings, your empathy, your sympathy.. And all you have now is guilt and regret and self blame that you hurt somebody. If you let Nathan kill Chloe, he is arrested. He had doctors aware of his illness and would have been charged with illness in mind. Forcing the treatment he needed ages ago. By the time Lis 2 came out... I wonder how he's taking it all in? What he did to everyone, what he did to Rachel.

He was written off to die, be locked up, and blamed. Unfortunately, he was caught in the crossfires of the harm of our favorite characters. If he was born in a different family and away from Jeff, he would have never hurt anybody. Matter a fact, he would never have suffered with his listed mental illnesses.

This goes out to all real accidental murder cases. There will always be a great divide in opinions. I hate comparing fictional games with real life, but I find it crazy that we call others nonempathtic when they aren't empathic themselves. It's like the word "accidental" is worthless.

Its always a debate..

Do we feel bad for the lives lost and their families

or

Do we feel bad for the mental crumble of the one who never meant to kill and how their familes have to deal with that.

Are they worthy to walk this earth? Are they worthy to see the daylight again? Are they still human, too? Should they die, too? Is redemption possible?

Who knows. Peoples opinions won't change unless they themselves fall onto the opposing team. If they were to suffer the chaos of accidentally murdering someone or the grief of losing someone from an accidental murder.

Red Nathan, the first Nathan we all experienced from Lis1. Damaged and doomed. Used and mentally obstructed. It's unfortunate things ended this way.

Blue Nathan, Appears in Before the slStorm and Max's alternate timeline. He is clean and hasn't touched drugs. He had not been involved in crimes or violence yet. In this alternate timeline, he has been somehow saved and kept away from mental destruction and Jefferson. We will never really know what drove Nathan towards this peaceful path, but I assumed that it was the kindness of Max that led him in the right direction. (Max somehow changed Victoria, too. With her demeanor being so gentle. I really am curious about the whole back story of that timeline... I think about it alot)

[laurentidal]

Ice Core Report ❄️ August 2024

Decided to do a little editorial check in at the end of each month. Most of you probably don't know that, while Lauren is my real first name, that my blog is actually named for a massive ice sheet that once lay over the place where I live (the Laurentide Ice Sheet). Thus, this is a report from my ice core.

#1 Story: Suggestion Box

This one was a huge surprise for me. It took off immediately, and I had not seen that coming. I'd had this image saved in my "had potential" folder for probably three weeks before I decided on how to tell the story. It went through an iteration where this was an ice skating rink, then it was a sandwich shop. I think one draft had a "five dollar footlong" joke in it. But ultimately I liked "arcade" the best.

#2 Story: Enjoy Your Stay

This was based on fun joking conversation I had with @hypno-potion and as the scaffolding we were joking about kept getting more elaborate I was like "No there is definitely something here." I'm glad you all agreed.

#3 Story: Kitty Pet Saga

I saw this picture and immediately knew what the story was going to be. Sometimes I see an image and think "There's something here if I look hard enough" and sometimes I see an image and a fully formed idea just jumps right out of it.

#4 Story: Oh My

This is a story I actually wrote quite some time ago for an old defunct website that never really got any foot traffic. I'm glad I brought it over, because it's one of my personal favorites. The only fauxcest story in the top five this month. That's one of those kinks I think I'm just going to have to accept that you guys aren't as into as I am (and I have the data to validate that claim).

#5 Story: Daughters and Suns

The only true repost from my old blog and the only part of a series in the top five this month. This series is my favorite thing I'm writing right now (though this entry isn't my favorite in the series). There's a lot more coming so I hope you're enjoying as much as I am.

Sunda Systems

We're half way through Season 1 of my Sunda Systems investigative mind control conspiracy story. Our investigator has made several contacts and visited the campus first-hand. She also might be starting to feel some effects from her various encounters, and her keen eye for detail is missing a few clues that are staring her right in the face. But I'm sure the date she's got lined up will give her some much needed relaxation.

Please please please share this story and feel free to get interactive with it! I've put some real effort into it and I've never written such a slow burn before. I'm enjoying the ride, and I've got some GOOD (I think) twists and turns coming. I think this format could be fun to play around with as an audience. Post your theories! I love seeing that folks are engaging with more than just the like button.

Update of Magics & Mesmerism

Some of you are aware that I'm working on an erotic mind control TTRPG called Magics & Mesmerism. I'm still plugging away. As we speak, I'm writing skills for the Innovator character class. As a treat, I'd like to share with you an except from the page on Hypnotic Foci:

General Thoughts

Every story in the top five this month is a FEMALE SUB story. Noted. I tend to favor that in my writing, too, which is interesting because I think Female Over Male stories are hotter, probably because of the subversion of expectations. I'm a slut for subversion of expectations.

I think that's everything. Love you all and I'm very excited for you to see what's coming in September. One of my favorites that I wrote comes out tomorrow, and on the 13th you'll be introduced to your first Force of Nature.

Till then, keep reading, keep messaging, keep asking, and if you're feeling generous, keep donating.

[nikethestatue]

I finished ACOSF a few months ago and seeing this fandom has been so confusing to say the very least. Nesta is my favorite character and I loved the Valkyries but .... I just don't see this Gwynriel ship happening. I think they'd be cute together and I wouldn't be opposed to it obviously - but I just don't see it happening given where we left off in ACOSF. I also am confused about the personality difference in Gwyn & Elain and Azriel.

Gwyn didn't even kill anyone in the BR and was knocked out and carried to the top - so why are people acting like she is some great warrior and will destroy legions of armies and lead the Illyrians into war!? She saw a mini Pegasus at a sleepover and through it was cute and now all of a sudden people think she's going to ride one in the skies while she paints Prythian with the blood of her enemies? What enemies even?? She's not tied to any of the IC's plot?

Elain didn't really stand out to me in ACOSF, which makes sense because it was NESTA's story. I didn't really have an opinion on her and Azriel or her and Lucien. I get that Lucien makes her uncomfortable but SJM writes her pairings that way it seems so I could see them ending up together tbh. But then I read the BC and - wtf ?? I am firmly team Elriel now because what do you mean Azriel's out here dreaming about how elain TASTES . I see you freaky azriel 👀 goddamn I Definitely was not expecting that from him but now that I have seen it I can't go back. There's no way SJM wrote that and plans on making Elain then end up with Lucien. Like I thought it would be fine but after that BC - there's no going back.

Either way - it's weird that people have such a strong opinion on Azriel and Elain because I think combined, they've said maybe like 200 words total? I like the idea of them but we dont know much about them? Why are people forming such harsh steadfast opinions on what either of them want or need or desire when we don't know much of anything? They're both kind of mysterious.

Idk I feel like I just missed a book with how strongly everyone is arguing about these guys.

Elain - had some badass moments but barely mentioned on the page in ACOSF

Azriel - even more mysterious than Elain but the dry humor makes up for it.

Lucien - he's not been in the past 2 books?

Gwyn - is great but not the Aelin type of warrior people online are making her out to be

Where is all this coming from I am very confused??

Honestly, most of this is coming from TikTok, Headcanons and fan art on Insta.

You have NO IDEA how many asks i've received over the years with people saying the same thing 'i saw so many Gwynriel arts on Insta and I thought that there will be some amazing romance in ACOSF. THEN, I read the book. And I kept waiting for something to happen and nothing ever did."

I think the key word for a lot of GAs is 'then'--they first saw the art, watched the tiktoks, got themselves all jacked up on theories and headcanons, and then, THEN they read the book. So now, the problem is that they have a hard time separating reality/canon from all that stuff that brought them to the fandom in the first place.

They are digging their heels and arguing that it WILL HAPPEN!!! absolutely will. Gwyn will become a great warrior and will ride a Pegasus into battles. Azriel will fall madly in love with her. They'll have kinky sex and she'll 'heal' him.

ALL of it comes from fan art. Literally, look at 99% of Gwynriel fan art and it's all 'fake'--imagined scenes that never happened.

I think many of them either left the fandom or can't accept that they've been duped and are incorrect in their assumptions.

It will be interesting to see what the fallout will be once the book is released.

[doodlegirl1998]

I never liked the Traitor twist. If I were given a chance to rewrite it, here's how I would've done it.

Instead of a traitor, it would instead be a person with a quirk to travel as a shadow, that would explain how they would be able to get the information for the USJ and the Training Camp. and Izuku could even have a bit of a meetup with them who blackmails him into keeping quiet about who they are or else they'll reveal he's the reason All Might retired.

They're a spy for hire, charging a hefty price to spill/keep secrets to villains. As being in the shadows can help with learning various things about people, no matter how big or small.

And to top it all off... they were previously a student of Aizawa's class that was expelled for "not having enough potential" Thus they couldn't face their family and ran away from home, becoming a villain.

This would show the effects of Aizawa's expulsion and how it's not as clear cut as he thinks it is, that it actually has negative consequences and where his students might end up. This would make Aizawa think twice and realize that his expulsions did more harm than good and now it's come back to hit him with the cold reality.

Hi @theloganator101 👋,

That is an excellent rewrite of the Traitor twist because how Hori wrote it in canon it just doesn't make sense.

1) Yuuga should have been caught way before now. He doesn't have invisibility to conceivably sneak around the way that Toru does. And UA should have security cameras.

2) He is one of the bottom students of the class. An argument could be made that he was hiding some of his skill set but Hori doesn't set that up (unlike that moment in the sports festival when he did for Kaminari) beyond occaisional fourth wall breaks.

3) What even is Aoyama doing as traitor? I've seen @justatalkingface talk about how they would have utilised the traitor plot and it is so scary and narrative breaking how AFO could have used this effectively yet he just didn't... For some reason. (A DFO argument could be made here, yet even if this theory turns out being true, AFO has no reason not to go after All Might, the rest of the staff and students properly.)

4) How is he getting Info to AFO directly without the staff / students with hearing quirks finding out? This just is a plot hole. Perhaps Yuuga didn't call, perhaps he passed on coded messages to his parents, perhaps... Nothing. This is giving Hori too much credit. You can't tell me Nedzu didn't monitor communications of everyone when they were in the dorms via the schools wifi / network. Nedzu should think something is suss especially if a student is talking with their parents in code.

5) The parallels with Izu are perhaps the only positive thing about this. But even that is utilised poorly. Izuku isn't allowed to reflect on his own past once when this Aoyama situation should have opened a lot of old wounds for him. Izuku wasn't allowed to think of the grey area of this situation once he brushed off Mic's concerns that they were all victims here along with Toru and Ojiro's hurt to tell Aoyama "you can still be a hero." While this is nice for Yuuga (since he was a traitor by force) it brushes off everyone elses feelings on the matter. Izuku has become more and more black and white as a character (and in his views) and this starkly highlights it.

Furthermore, your version where a villainous ex-student of Aizawa's with a shadow quirk is the cause of the traitor suspicions is much more interesting and plausible.

It would make more sense for them to be able to sneak around undetected.

It confronts Aizawa with the devastating impact of his teaching without any narrative cushioning.

It encourage Aizawa to grow as a teacher or quit after getting 1A through their first year.

This would tie the class closer together rather than tearing them apart and pitting members against each other (which is why I dislike the Izuku vs 1A fight along with how this Traitor arc was handled.)

It makes Nedzu look like less of a moron in general for the disbelief of Mic suggesting there is a traitor because he wouldn't be able to see any evidence of one in the cameras or student communications.

[top-wing]

Could you ramble to us about topwing?

Actually, me in 2021-2022 maybe would've done a better job at this 😔👍 But I'll gladly do so anyway!

I haven't actually watched a full episode for a while now, so I probably have forgotten a lot. I'm not sure what to talk first, the characters? the plot? the concepts that make no sense if you think about too deeply, but otherwise compels me? Idk where to start !!

Characters. What really brought me into the show was how fun the characters interacted. The cadets all just have a really fun dynamic among each other, and I liked how the instructors acted mature enough as adults while still having that 'downplayed to focus on the kid characters' thing going on. For characters in a 'mid' average preschooler show, I think their characters are pretty fleshed out in their own right. Their personalities just bounce off each other well. I wrote something about the cadets' friendships some time ago on Wattpad, tho maybe I should try moving some those contents on this blog as well.

Lore (?). For the show's plot or I guess lore (?), there's a lot that could be fixed and changed (which some people in the Top Wing community agree and have taken matters into their own hands hehe), tho the show presents you with just enough interesting things, while keeping a lot of things unanswered and vague, so that it can keep being expanded on and explored. And I think that mostly what got me to stay interested in Top Wing even after years of ending abruptly with only 2 seasons. I'm slowly trying to get back to doing stuff based on canon, however I'm really just having fun creating something within the Top WIng universe as well lol.

Expanding the story and possibilities. And even if you don't add new things, there is actually a lot to work with the canon if you're eager to explore possibilities and willing to dig deeper into the shallow water that is the show lol. You've got the academy itself, which presents more interesting background to it in season 2. There's other academies, other cadets, Speedy and Bea's history of being cadets themselves, Inspector Eagle Eye and the whole concept of inspectors, Swift's grandpa who used to be an instructor & famous pilot in Big Swirl, etc. The antagonists characters and their whole deal, whom are quite full of their own charm but never really used to their full potential. Then there's Big Swirl Island, filled with mysteries of its own lore, mainly got to do with pirates and probably dodos. Example: the pirate ship wrecks, lost treasures, the whole thing about Kersplash Canyon and Dodos (tho honestly, this one is kinda "ehh" to me. if to complain about how this show handles some things, we'll be here all day), and the rest of the parts of Big Swirl Island that were not shown on-screen. There's so many headcanons and theories or AUs to play around with.

Well, that's all I have in my brain for now. There are more stuff I've written on Wattpad if you want to check them out, though it's understandable if you don't want to go there just for that LMAO. Most times I assume people here are also on Wattpad and have seen my stuff, but if there's enough interest to move content from there, I might consider it in the future!

Anyway, thanks for sending this in, anon!!!! Had fun writing this :] There's a lot of stuff going on for me to do more organized stuff with Top Wing, but I hope to continue just having fun with the series and the community for years to come 🩷❤️🧡💚

[theflyingfeeling]

Fourtheenth Day of Gift-Giving: Fun Adventures

Prompt: A group project in school brings some unusual friends together

Yes, it's a high school AU, somewhat inspired by / based off this fic idea I had a while ago! I've never written a high scool AU before so pls be nice, also I've taken some liberties with the prompt again, because there's no group project per se, they're simply in the same chemistry class 😌

Banner made by @kraeuterhexchen again, thanks for suffering for me a bit I love youuuu <3

~

Aleksi muffled his third yawn in a row on his palms. Every single week at this exact time he regretted his promise to his father that he’d take at least four optional courses this school year on top of all the compulsory ones in exchange for a language course in Amsterdam next June. The tragedy was that his schedule was already so full with the compulsory courses alone that he could barely find gaps to fill with anything else at more humane times than at eight o’clock on a Monday morning, which was when his additional chemistry class was held. It didn’t help that none of his friends or acquaintances were taking the same class; Aleksi envied them for their superior life choices.

Chemistry could be alright at best, but in general it wasn’t among his favourite subjects. Rather than reaction equations, Aleksi was much more fascinated by the only other guy in the group he knew by name, who, by the happy coincidence of the two of them both being late to class on the first day, ended up being his lab partner. He didn’t know Olli because they were buddies, quite the contrary, in fact; one of Olli’s friends was still bitter about Aleksi standing him up regarding a music project (which had been but a case of bad communication, of which Aleksi was deeply ashamed, even though in the eyes of his own friends it had been ‘such a big-dick move to put that cocky emo loser back in his place lol’), so Aleksi wasn’t exactly surprised that Olli never replied to his sleepy greeting on Monday mornings. Thinking back to it, Aleksi couldn’t recall the boy saying anything at all during the chemistry classes, so that by now he would’ve started suspecting Olli was mute, if it wasn’t for the times he had seen Olli laugh and joke about with his friends at recess. From the little Aleksi had heard when he had passed by the group in the school corridors, Olli had a soft, quiet voice, often blending under the much louder ones of his friends, which was why Aleksi had set making Olli speak to him as his main ambition for the course, rather than getting a high mark.

“Morning,” he said to Olli like he did every Monday, and like every Monday, Olli barely glanced his way. What made this Monday different from all the other Mondays was that Aleksi could’ve sworn he had seen Olli nod at him this time, sort of in a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of way, although it may as well have been just his tired brain making things up. Nevertheless, it gave Aleksi the spark of hope that had him sit up straight, ready to converse Olli’s ears off in case he finally happened to be in the mood, but before he could open his mouth to ask Olli about his weekend, the teacher started the lesson by shoving hand-outs on their tables.

That day, however, Aleksi was determined to succeed in his plan at long last, even if he had to get a little creative.

While Olli was concentrating on keeping his eyes open as the teacher explained the theory behind the day’s experiments, Aleksi picked up his pencil and wrote on the corner of Olli’s hand-out:

Hi! :)

The anticipation nearly had him tremble as he waited for Olli to react in any way; for the longest time, bordering Aleksi’s patience, Olli did nothing but stare at the letters Aleksi had scribbled. He still didn’t look at him, still didn’t say anything or – god forbid – smile; he just blinked at the single word that had appeared in the corner of his paper.

Then, after a million years in Aleksi’s experience, he grabbed his own pencil.

hi

Those two letters alone made Aleksi feel like a winner already.

How are you?

Still keeping his eyes firmly on the paper, Olli seemed to be pondering his answer for a while.

good

Aleksi wondered if Olli was as terse speaking up as he was in writing.

Great to hear! I’m doing good as well :) Do you have a long day on Mondays?

Exactly like a moment earlier, Olli did nothing but stare at their brief written conversation. Aleksi wanted to believe that Olli was just about to write his answer but was ruthlessly interrupted by the teacher ordering them to walk over and look closer as she’d perform an example experiment for them to later mimic.

They didn’t get a chance to continue their little chat later on in the lesson, and they never spoke during the practical experiments they were asked to do – or rather, Olli never spoke, despite Aleksi’s best efforts to at least have him answer some simple yes-or-no questions, such as ‘do you want to try first?’ or ‘can you pass the pipette?’ or ‘oh fuck, do you think we should tell the teacher?’ when their experiments sometimes failed unexpectedly. The best Aleksi had gotten out of Olli was a suppressed snort when the other day Aleksi had accidentally spilled some red colour additive on his brand-new Off-White t-shirt.

“Quit laughing, or I’ll tell everyone it’s your blood,” he had said in hopes of making Olli properly giggle, but it had seemed to have the opposite effect, for Olli hadn’t let out a single sound for the rest of class after that. Later, Aleksi had wondered if it had been because Olli was scared Aleksi actually might, and to prevent his friends from getting wind of them being lab partners – because clearly he was that opposed to the idea of being associated with Aleksi – he had firmly kept his lips sealed for the rest of the class and all the ones that followed it.

This day, someone must have put something in Olli’s breakfast porridge, however, because when the class was dismissed, Olli spoke in his low, quiet voice, not even directly at Aleksi, but more to his general direction, so that Aleksi knew the words were addressed to him.

“See ya.”

“Yeah, see ya!” Aleksi replied, perhaps a little too eagerly, rolling his eyes in frustration when Olli hurried out of the classroom.

It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

~*~

The next Monday, Aleksi decided to go past formalities and straight to the point to get Olli to interact with him.

Had a nice wknd? :) 

Aleksi was most definitely too optimistic for his own good, but he had a feeling Olli didn’t take half as long to answer this time, even though his reply remained brief.

yup

Literally on the edge of his seat, Aleksi waited for Olli to elaborate on his reportedly ‘nice weekend’ – in vain. He rolled his eyes and picked up his pencil again.

What did you get up to?

Olli flipped pencil in his fingers like one would do with a drumstic, clumsily, almost dropping it on his desk. Aleksi saw an attractive blush slowly spread on Olli’s cheeks and hoped it wouldn’t discourage Olli away from the budding conversation. 

At last, Aleksi’s patient waiting was rewarded.

went to see a gig

Aleksi clenched his pencil into his fist out of sheer excitement. If there was a topic Aleksi could’ve chatted about for hours on end, it was music, his first and (so far) only love. He knew Olli played in a band and was sure that if he only could somehow make Olli lower his walls for him, they might actually find a lot to whisper about to pass the time a bit more merrily on Monday mornings.

So cool! Who did you see?

Olli didn’t keep him waiting for long, which Aleksi decided to take as a sign of Olli also being keen on their current conversation topic.

If only Aleksi knew how to help Olli get out of his shell a little more.

a friend’s band

Aleksi nodded, careful not to appear too enthusiastic or intrusive to scare Olli off, now that he had gotten him to write more than one word at a time.

Any good?

The teacher was just about to have the class gathered around her table again, so instead of a thorough review of the music show, Olli only jotted down a wonky yup in response before hurrying to the front of the classroom. During the whole rest of the class, Aleksi was not given another chance to fish more out of Olli’s weekend.

Well, he sighed to himself, standing up to join his coursemates, another Monday, then. 

~*~

Later that day, sort of by coincidence (of having purposefully lingered around the music classroom on the pretext of asking the music teacher about an upcoming extra credit class), Aleksi learnt Olli’s band had a practice slot in the music classroom on Monday evenings. His plan was not to spy on Olli, but he figured he might as well use this newly-acquired information to squeeze a little more out of Olli in their next chemistry class.

Any plans after school?

Only when he noticed Olli freeze upon seeing the question on the margin of his notebook, Aleksi realised how it must sound like to him, so out of the blue.

Just curious btw :) 

Olli seemed to hesitate before answering.

band practice

Aleksi hid his smirk behind his palm.

Hook, line and sinker, he thought to himself, the pencil in his hand itching to write down all the follow-up questions he had prepared. By the end of the class, Aleksi congratulated himself, for his plan to have Olli blabber about their common interest had worked out splendidly: Aleksi had learnt, for example, that Olli had been playing the bass for seven years already and that their band was actually working on their first EP, which Aleksi was genuinely impressed by. What really had made Aleksi feel like he was on top of the world, however, was when he noticed the smallest hint of amusement on Olli’s face; he still hadn’t managed to lure Olli to look him in the eye, but he had made him smile, which was perhaps even better.

The rest of the week Aleksi spent barely paying attention to what his friends were talking or laughing about in between classes, too busy searching for his chemistry class conversation buddy with his eyes. He did so every day, even though he was convinced the principal granting him the rest of the semester off with no consequences was more likely than catching Olli looking at him.

That was, until he did.

It was only a fleeting moment in time as they passed each other in the canteen and over before Aleksi’s heart could settle back to its place from his throat where it had jumped up to. He couldn’t tell since when his lab partner looking his way had started rousing this kind of reaction in him; then again, Olli had never really glanced his way before, so how could he have known?

Maybe that was also why Aleksi hadn’t noticed the shade of Olli’s irises until now. They were dark grey, he could tell, serious but not cold by any means. He couldn’t wait to take a closer look at them the next time he was given the chance.

Perhaps it was time for Aleksi to change his tactics.

~*~

“Hi Olli,” Aleksi said as soon as Olli walked up to his desk the next Monday. As if surprised to hear his name spoken out loud, Olli looked up at him, and Aleksi was granted another glimpse of those mysterious eyes.

Olli didn’t let him rejoice for too long, though, before turning his gaze to his desk as he sat down.

“Hi.”

And that was it: their first spoken conversation (in which Olli had also participated), despite Olli avoiding his gaze for the rest of the class, as was his right. Aleksi supposed. Even Aleksi himself was too giddy about the interaction to think of anything else to say.

It was almost ridiculous, if he was honest with himself. Yet, for the first time during the whole autumn semester, Aleksi was looking forward to the early Monday morning chemistry class.

~*~

Within the next couple of weeks, their conversations evolved from exchanging casual greetings (‘Hi Olli!’ ‘Hi…Aleksi’) to deep discussions about the current events in their lives (‘How’s it going?’ ‘Good.’ ‘Awesome’), which was equal parts exciting and frustrating to Aleksi. His heart would do the silly bouncing-up-to-his-throat thing whenever Olli blessed him with a quick glance of his dark eyes (Aleksi could swear they were a different shade every time he looked), but the moments only ever lasted for a second or two at a time. On the bright side, Olli would no longer rush out of the classroom to get out of having to perform any more small talk, but instead took his time putting his books and pencils back in his bag carefully, even if Aleksi never managed to open his mouth in time before Olli would make his inevitable escape. Aleksi suspected that it was, indeed, the newfound thrill of being graced with the occasional, fleeting look from Olli that rendered him speechless and caused him to miss his chance of getting to talk with Olli at least until they’d reach the classroom doorway. From there onwards they’d go their separate ways anyway, to their different worlds: Aleksi to one in which Olli was a moody emo kid with no sense of humour (or so Aleksi had been told by Isac who went to the same biology class with Olli), and Olli to one in which Aleksi was probably portrayed as a self-satisfied snob who once did his friend dirty.

The Monday after that, Olli never walked in through the classroom door, no matter how intensely Aleksi stared at it. When the days passed and Aleksi hadn’t caught a glimpse of the boy by Friday, he became worried, to the extent he considered walking up to Olli’s friend group to ask about him. He was almost certain that the one with the short platinum-blond hair might have actually told him, or at least he looked the least intimidating out of them all. One of them was almost two heads taller than Aleksi, so he saw it best to stay out of his way, although his smile – in those rare occasions he did smile – was anything but frightening. The one with the baggy clothes Aleksi had once heard rapping at a house party was tiny in comparison, but something about the angle of his eyebrows gave Aleksi the chills. Joel was obviously out of the question; Aleksi would probably never dare speak to him after The Incident. Joonas, on the other hand (Aleksi knew his name because he and Joel often squabbled loudly, with Joel shouting his name in bewilderment, his obvious affection for the boy poorly masked as annoyance), seemed like the kind of guy who would whisper you the right answer just in time before the teacher’s drill of a stare would bore a hole through your skull.

Taking a deep breath to brace himself, he watched as Olli’s friends were stepping in the Swedish classroom. As if on cue, Joonas was the last one about to walk through the door, and seeing his chance had come, Aleksi zoomed over and grabbed him by his sleeve.

“Hey,” he said once he had pulled Joonas aside, hidden from the disapproving looks of Joel and company.

“Huh?”

“Do you happen to know where Olli is?” Going straight to the point seemed like the best strategy to get anything out of Joonas, in case Aleksi had completely misjudged him and he was about to be punched in the face.

“He’s caught the cold. Why?” Knitting his brows and eyeing Aleksi up and down, Joonas seemed sceptical about Aleksi’s intentions, to say the least.

(It had Aleksi wondering if any of his own friends would act as protectively about him, but that was a matter of concern for another day entirely.)

“Ummmm… I have his chemistry homework for him.”

Aleksi could almost hear the cogwheels turning inside Joonas’ head until his expression brightened.

“Aaah… Right! Yeah, I suppose you would.” (Whatever Joonas meant by that.) “I’m gonna go over later today to see how he’s doing, so I can forward the message for you.”

“Oh, great! Thanks!” Aleksi said, as if he had any clue what they had actually been given as homework four days ago.

Ironically, Aleksi was saved by Joel calling for Joonas from inside the classroom.

“I’ll catch up with you later, alright?” Joonas winked at him, and then he was gone. 

Joonas never did catch up with him, however, and so Aleksi was saved from the embarrassment of admitting he hadn’t been following their chemistry lesson after all, more or less due to the disappointment of not seeing Olli after having spent the entire weekend planning what he’d say to him. Not knowing if Olli would be attending the upcoming Monday’s class either, the weekend went by slower than ever, which normal-Aleksi would’ve embraced; this new, strange, maybe-crushing-on-his-quiet-lab-partner-Aleksi was on pins and needles.

~*~

There it was again, that awful skip of his heart, when Aleksi saw Olli enter the classroom on Monday. So relieved he was that he had no means to tone down the excitement in his greeting.

“You’re here!”

Olli looked up at him but said nothing, his silence a pang to Aleksi’s chest. His joy upon their reunion changed into defeat in less than a second, and Aleksi felt like a right idiot for having thought Olli, too, might have been waiting to see him again.

Suddenly fascinated by the cover of his chemistry course book, Aleksi put his head down to hide his disappointment. He was already settled for staring at the abstract drawing for the next 75 minutes to avoid more heartbreak, but then a slip of paper appeared in front of him.

can’t speak doctor’s orders

On his face, Olli was wearing a kind, small smile. In that instant, Aleksi forgot what he had even been so saddened about. He flashed Olli a smile in return and started searching with his eyes for a pencil; he would’ve felt too weird talking to Olli out loud without him being able to answer. Tragically, it seemed that in anticipation of possibly seeing Olli again after so long, Aleksi had forgotten to pack his pencil case. Noticing this, Olli offered him his own, the same, tiny smile still on his lips.

Shame! You’re usually so talkative

He knew he was taking a risk poking fun at Olli’s quietness, but to his great relief, Olli’s smile widened and his shoulders twitched in a voiceless chuckle. Encouraged by this, Aleksi continued with an equally risky revelation.

I missed you in class last week

Having written down the words, Aleksi could barely look at Olli as he felt his cheeks heaten up. He let Olli take back his pencil from his fingers, as well as the paper slip from his desk.

Olli spent almost a minute writing down his reply, erasing and rewriting, until he finally passed the paper back to Aleksi, immediately directing his face to the opposite side of the classroom.

missed you too

Aleksi had never seen three words so pretty in his life.

~*~

What followed next was an entire week of unexpected encounters between the two lab partners, as if the universe was purposefully making them cross each other’s way to make up for the past seven days of not seeing each other. On Tuesday, their shoulders brushed walking past each other in a crowded corridor. On Wednesday, they were returning their trays at lunch at the exact same time and exchanged brief smiles. On Thursday, they almost ran into each other at the restroom door, which is when Aleksi learnt Olli had regained his voice, mumbling a small ‘oops’ after having bumped into Aleksi.

On Friday, at the last recess of the day, Olli’s friend Joonas grabbed Aleksi by his wrist and pulled him into an empty classroom.

“Wait here,” he ordered, and utterly confused as he was, Aleksi had no choice but to obey.

A moment later Joonas returned, pushing a red-cheeked Olli into the room before promptly leaping back to the corridor, closing the door behind him.

For one long, anxious moment, neither of them said anything, Aleksi because he was still too baffled by the latest turn of events to open his mouth, and Olli because he was… Olli.

“Ummmm…” Olli finally said, his voice a little hoarse, so he cleared his throat and tried again. “I just… ummm… there’s this… band… tomorrow…”

Aleksi had to bite his lip, both at how adorable Olli was, fumbling with his fingers as words fell out of his mouth one by one, as well as to keep himself from blurting out ‘yes’ before Olli even got around to asking him anything.

“And I was just… thinking if… ‘cuz I have an extra ticket… so… I thought maybe you–”

“Yeah!” To Aleksi’s turmoil, his tongue could sometimes be quicker than his brain. “I mean… what?” 

Behind the classroom door, someone clicked their tongue.

“Yeah, ummmm.” Olli scratched the back of his neck. “So yeah. Would you… like to come? To the show? On Saturday? With me? Maybe? I mean, of course you already have plans–”

“I don’t!” Aleksi hurried to say. “I can come. But… will your friends be coming too though?”

Olli shook his head. Aleksi decided not to dwell on what the evident horror in Olli’s eyes was a sign of. It might have been because he, too, thought it was a little too soon for Aleksi and Joel to make amends – or maybe he was just that terrified of being seen with Aleksi in public.

“No, they won’t. I mean, Joonas was supposed to, but he, ummmmmm, he’s going… ummmm…” Olli’s gaze wandered towards the door, as if for help.

“To my great-uncle’s funeral!” the door whispered at him.

“To his great-uncle’s funeral,” Olli confirmed.

“A-ha,” Aleksi nodded. “Sorry for your loss,” he said to the door.

“...Thanks,” the door replied. Holding back his laughter, Aleksi turned back to Olli who, for the first time since Joonas had urged them on the stage of their current scene, was looking at Aleksi, his round eyes expectant and hopeful for Aleksi’s final answer. Aleksi thought of taking a step closer to him, perhaps even gently touching his hand, but decided against it before his brain would command his limbs to make such reckless movements.

“Guess I’ll see you on Saturday at…?”

“At six. At Sandro’s.”

If Aleksi didn’t get a wink of sleep the following night, it wasn’t only because of excitement; the moment he laid his head on his pillow and closed his eyes, his mind was filled with pictures of a boy with twinkling eyes and a bashful smile, keeping him awake until he fell asleep to them.

~*~

Aleksi couldn’t bring himself to care if he looked a little dumb, smiling to himself and leaning his chin on his palm at eight o’clock the next Monday. Even the teacher announcing a pop quiz could not have washed away the dopey grin that had been painted on his lips since Saturday evening.

He was smiling at the way Olli’s eyes had brightened when he had spotted Aleksi in the crowd. He was smiling at Olli’s shy offer to get him a Pepsi. He was smiling at how star-struck Olli had looked when the band had first got on stage and the way he had lost himself in the music, rocking his head and closing his eyes as if to let the bass lines and guitar riffs swallow him whole. The band had been excellent, Aleksi had to agree, but more than half the time, all Aleksi had seen or heard was Olli.

And for the last three minutes of the show, all Aleksi had felt was Olli; more specifically, he had felt Olli’s hand searching for his, fumbling and hesitating until it finally clasped Aleksi’s during the final song of the band’s setlist, a melancholy rock ballad that prompted lighters and cellphone flashlights to be lit. In Aleksi’s eyes, they were all dim in comparison to the glimmer in Olli’s eyes.

Lying in his bedroom later that evening and throughout the entire next day, Aleksi had still felt the warmth of Olli’s hand in his, even though they had let each other go as soon as the stage lights had been turned off.

“Hi.” Olli’s voice brought Aleksi from Saturday evening back to Monday morning. 

“Hi,” he simply answered. There were a million things he wanted to say to Olli, but his sleepy, happy brain was still working on finding the exact words.

The smile on Olli’s face told him he’d have time to figure it out, at his own pace.

In the meantime, Aleksi could always improvise, and so he picked up his pencil.

♡

They both stared at the tiny heart on the corner of Olli’s notebook, and just when Aleksi was about to convince himself he had made a terrible mistake, Olli took the pencil out of his hand.

♡ ♡

[thatgirl4815]

After watching ep 11 twice I have the theory that Sand and Boeing already hooked up after the first time Boeing went to the bar to meet Sand. Boeing said he will wait for Sand at the usual table and it's weird that we weren't shown their first long conversation after haven't seen each other for a long time. I assume Sand told Ray about Boeing at the record store is with the intention that if Boeing shows up again Ray would not be upset or surprised. After Ray turned away Sands gaze fell before he smiled again. For me it's the same sign that Sand is hiding something just like he was faltering at the conversation when Ray asks Sand why he is so pushy about rehab at the beginning of ep 10. I think that would also explain why Boeing really seemed surprised when at the second meeting Ray introduced himself as the boyfriend. I think Sand has many feelings left for Boeing and gave in after the first meeting but Sand knows it's a shitty move and so that's why Sand sent Ray directly home when Boeing came the second time so Sand could have a word with his "friend". Otherwise I don't understand Sands logic to dismiss Ray so bluntly in front of Boeing plus why Sand is so uncomfortable when Ray invited Boeing to his home which means more risk for exposure. All in all I think everyone in the show has flaws and Sand is also just a human who makes wrong decisions at certain times. I'm still sure SandRay will be endgame but the drama in ep 12 is about Ray finding out Sand cheated and comes to terms with it because Ray has so much "emotional debts" towards Sand, he was hurting him and he also was the selfish one who strings Sand along with while trying to build a relationship with Mew. What do you think about this crack theory?

I do remember finding it strange that Boeing mentioned meeting Sand at his table, but the scene ended there. I just wrote it off as an offer Boeing was making that Sand didn't take him up on, but this theory instills real fear in me, lol.

As I've mentioned before, I don't think Sand's behavior this episode has been the most in-character for him, even if it has been pre-established that he doesn't always speak up against those close to him. That being said, I think sleeping with Boeing would be so massively out of character for Sand. I think it's clear that Sand still harbors some feelings for Boeing, but he also doesn't trust him. On top of that, Sand is happy with Ray now, and I don't think hooking up with Boeing can be considered a mistake made in a moment of weakness. Quite frankly, I don't think anyone cheating on anyone can be excused as "a moment of weakness," because that implies that the cheater is so caught up in their feelings that they are not in control of their actions...which just isn't how things are.

Additionally, I think that Sand sleeping with Boeing and lying to Ray about it would undermine everything they worked through after last episode. The apartment fight was about Ray accusing Sand of only being with him for his dad's money, yeah, but what that argument boils down to is Ray not trusting that Sand cares for him. So for Sand to sleep with his ex in the next episode, when he and Ray are finally committed boyfriends? And for Sand to continue so casually, even knowing that he's crossed a line? Not to mention Sand has always been the morally righteous one in SandRay's relationship, but if he were to cheat that would conflict with everything he's said before.

Finally, Sand knows what it's like to be cheated on and left for someone else, so I don't think he'd wish that on anyone, least of all Ray. This is also the episode where Sand confesses that he can't live without Ray either, so I can't foresee him dropping a bomb on their relationship when things are finally working out between them.

[motheatenscarf]

For want of other things to think about besides the story, I've noticed the camera really fixates on Erenville's eyes/gaze the way it did with Emet-Selch. They did this a couple times in Endwalker too, and while I initially wrote it off as me seeing patterns because both had yellow eyes, I KEEP noticing it, and I've seen others mention noticing it as well, so now it's got me thinking.

I wonder if it's because Erenville's got some sort of aether or soul sight the way Emet did. The first time I noticed the camera really focusing on his gaze was the scene where he figured out the polymorphed frogs weren't really frogs but the WoL and the twins and then intentionally leaked top secret intel in front of them. He chalked it up to being VERY familiar with animal behavior because of his job, but I wonder if he could see something other's couldn't in a magical abilities kinda way as opposed to just... competency.

Idk. I'm probably wrong but that's my paranoid theory and I think it would be neat.

[mutsukiss]

This thing is that mutsuki is an accidental trans character. He was written like one, without the intention of being one. HEAVY spoilers under readmore just in case

I don't think the western fandom was influential enough to cause a backtrack or explanation and from what I've seen about the Japanese side of the fandom Mutsuki is not understood as a trans man at all, but at some point later in the story there is this whole thing about how, technically, originally, in theory, Mutsuki does not present as a man because he is a man, but because he is disgusted about being a woman. Which from our point of view (mine, at least, but a lot of people agree with it too) could still be seen as a personal way of viewing transness or gender dysphoria at least, but this is a very actualized and "local" way of interpreting it and not what supposedly occurs in canon.

In canon Mutsuki is getting away from feminity and the woman identity, but he is not doing it with the intention of becoming a man; this is simply the quickest and most logical way of not being perceived as female. So initially it could have been a fitting thing for him to consider or want top surgery, maybe? But as the story progresses and the deal with his identity becomes clear and evolves this becomes unneeded. Transitioning is not a necessity, because he doesn't want to transition, he just wants to stop and get rid of anything that might associate him with femaleness. This is all without mentioning the differences in culture surrounding LGBT+ topics which undoubtedly exist but I'm not knowledagle enough to talk about, so just commenting it as a small note.

And as I mentioned the Japanese fandom picked this up with no issue (again, from what I've seen of people talking about it. Which is not much and does not represent everyone but you know) but here in the western and SPECIALLY the people in contact with the LGBT+ community (because there is a lot of people that will shut off any comments about Mutsuki being anything over than a girl, as it was so clearly said in the manga itself), we are used to seeing trans characters being portrayed I one way but living the trans experience in another, and Mutsuki just happened to fit unexpectedly well the latter.

His identity is a source of drama through the story, but he speaks about his identity in a very relatable way for trans people. His inner circle is unconditionally supportive when made aware of it, which is also something very attractive. He's accidentally a very nice transgender representation, at least for what you could be used to in popular media. He is not made fun of for it, his identity is not a comic relief, he experiences discrimination but it's not the main focus of his character arc, he is respected and loved by the people that love him without going through an "acceptance" period or discussion or making him the issue, or an issue at all.

So while, yes, he is a GREAT transmac chatacter, he is an accidental one, and no effort is made on him to transition because that was never his goal in the first place. Does that make him less trans? Eh, depends on what you want. If you want to follow what Ishida wrote and intended and say no, Mutsuki is a woman who went through x stuff and coped in this way, and when it all unfolded he admitted to not being a man, despite CONTINUING presenting masculine after the story ends, then sure. To me he's a trans dude!!! Idc abt what the author says or thinks. His character makes sense as a trans person, including the parts about his relationship with his sex and his identity as a woman. You can do whatever you want forever.

Am I misremembering or did they do Tooru super dirty in not letting him at Least get breast reduction surgery before the Quinx one?

I mean ofc maybe he didn't want to, maybe he prefers binding, but that is what we see, isn't it? Tooru's chest bound with Torso? He's a Quinx at that point, so he should have okay healing, right? So the bandages are probably for binding?

[coveredinsweetpea]

You are so talented! Genuinely your writing is amazing! I loved the body shot one especially, do you think you could write something with Eddie x Reader where Eddie is quite shy and somewhat intimidated by the reader but can’t stop flirting with her shyly and the reader is somewhat direct and straightforward so she enjoys flirting with him and making him blush? I totally get if you don’t feel like writing this, thank you so much for your work and for reading this! Love ya💙

OMG babe ok!! I'm sorry it took me awhile to write this, but sskakjk I loved the idea!!! I know it's quite similar to the last fic I posted but this whole thing basically wrote itself in my head as I read your ask!! (I hope you like it!!!)

Warnings: mentioned alcohol consumption, and one single allusion to smut :) 1.7k

It was crowded, the lights were strobing along with the music and the alcohol was starting to get to you. Alone in the open kitchen, leaning against the sink, you scanned the surroundings. Most of your friends were dancing in the living room, and he was nowhere to be seen. Now was the moment.

Without wasting a second, you spun around, opened the top cabinet and climbed onto the counter. Your palms sweated as you moved against the clock, switching the fancy wine glasses from the top shelf, with the tall, sturdy ones from the bottom. As soon as you were satisfied with your work, you hopped off the counter and tested your theory. Your fingers wiggled just inches below the tall glasses - the ones you needed for your cocktail, and since a lady doesn't climb on furniture - at least not by herself, you slammed the cabinet shut, turned around, and resumed scanning the crowd. 

Eddie was still nowhere to be seen, but you did spot Steve, and took off in his direction. Even though he was headed to his own group of friends, he did take a detour and walked by the couch where Eddie was sitting, to give him a high five. 

Eddie was seated by himself, a little porcelain bowl in his hand, as he frowned into the distance. His head was bobbing along to the music, his legs, spread wide, also following the beat of the song, as he munched on something.

"Hey!" you giggled, plopping down beside him. "What do you have there?"

"Oh, Y/n" Eddie's eyes flew wide open as soon as you sat beside him. "You have to try these!"

You looked inside the little bowl that he now extended in front of you. "I don't know where they got them from, but they're delicious."

"Green olives?" you giggled, looking directly into his soul, smiling as you awaited his response.

It took approximately half a second for him to become flustered and look away, down into the bowl as his cheeks got red and a smile curled his lips. "Yeah, green... um, yeah, green olives, but see-" he picked one up in his hand. "They have chili pepper inside and some type of condiment, I guess, and they're so good!"

You couldn't care less about the olives. You just stared at his hand, at his fingers, the rings on his fingers, at the way he just flicked that goddamned olive inside his mouth and you couldn't help but sigh.

"That sounds- yeah, that sounds pretty good actually"

"You have to try them!"

You blinked. "I will" you nodded and felt your heart rate accelerate. "Do you have like a fork or something?"

Eddie frowned in confusion. "No... I don't"

"Then I'll try them a bit later, I'm too lazy to go wash my hands now and I've been touching all kinds of icky stuff all night"

"Yeah, no. Yeah, I totally get that!! Yeah, later."

He looked disappointed a bit, like he wanted to say something else, but he refrained from it and just nodded awkwardly.

Shit, you thought to yourself and looked into his eyes. "Or you could just like, you know, give me one?"

Eddie's eyebrows gathered into a frown. "But your hands are still dirty"

"No" you laughed and shook your head. "You could just put it in my mouth"

Adrenaline was cruising through your veins, every inch of your body feeling like it was on fire, but still, compared to Eddie, you were cool as ice. 

He nearly dropped the bowl he was holding, and had to do a double take. You couldn't help but smile at the way his whole face turned a very sweet shade of red but he pushed through. It made your core buzz, the way he so obviously melted under your stare but still managed to hold his ground. 

"I can do that-" he cleared his throat, "I can put it in your mouth for you"

"The olive" you mentioned, as if to make sure he didn't forget.

Eddie chuckled, in complete disbelief, and picked one up in his hand. "Open your mouth"

"Hm?" you innocently raised your eyebrows. "What?"

"Open your mouth, sweetheart"

This time, you did so. You did as told without delay, and eyed that goddamned olive, leaning closer to his hand. And you almost had it, almost grabbed it with your teeth when Eddie brought it to his own lips instead, leaving you hanging. 

Now you were impossibly close, your faces inches apart. "Really, Munson?" you giggled.

"Don't call me that" Eddie laughed along as he hurried to swallow the olive.

You leaned back into your seat, shaking your head. "What's a girl gotta do to have you feed her an olive?"

He still could barely believe his words. "Say please"

Your mouth fell open. "Oh really?" you mocked and threw one of your legs over his and straddled his lap. "Is that all I have to do?"

"Jesus Christ" Eddie sighed as your weight pushed down on his legs, your palms pressed to his sides for balance. He was cornered and he loved it. "That's all, yep"

You threw your hair back and cupped his cheeks into your hands. "Pretty please? Pretty please with a cherry on top? The prettiest please for the prettiest olive lover I know?"

"You're crazy" 

"I just want an olive" you pouted and slid off his lap, back onto the couch. 

"You want to drive me insane, that's what you want" 

"Maybe" you coyly said and looked into his eyes. "But it clearly isn't working, if it was working you'd have given me the olive"

"I'll give you one" he tried to backtrack, but you didn't let him. 

"Now I don't want it anymore"

You sighed, slipping off the couch and turned to Eddie, whose face was now darker - sadder, as he sat there, "I wanna make myself a drink. Come with me?"

He hesitated. He was flushed, he didn't know what was going on, didn't know if he should believe it or not; he loved it, he wanted to go with the flow, but he had a hard time convincing himself this was real, so he hesitated.

"Come on" you giggled and extended your hand for him to take. "You can relax, I'm done playing games, I won't try to seduce you"

After swallowing thickly, Eddie pushed himself up, took your hand and followed you. "Why not?"

It was so low, you barely heard it. But you did. It was clear. "What was that?" you spun around in an instant to face him. "What did you just say?"

He was grinning from ear to ear, his fingers in a solid hold around your hand. "Nothing, why? Did you hear something?"

You squinted. "Funny"

"You're funny" Eddie fired back.

"Funny-" you repeated as you tugged him towards the kitchen. "No one else told me that before"

"I don't believe that"

"Yeah, you're right" you laughed, "People told me that before, I just wanted to make you giddy"

"Jesus, I don't know if getting yourself a drink is such a good idea, I don't know if I can handle you with even more confidence"

"You can handle me, Eddie" you giggled and spun on your heels as you entered the kitchen.

You didn't wait for a response from him, instead you just waltzed back to the cabinet you had tampered with before, and leaned against the counter below. "Come here"

"Can I help?"

"Yeah, just-" you nodded, planting one hand on his shoulder for balance. 

As you propped one of your knees on the counter, Eddie's hands instantly flew up, on instinct, to help steady you. "Jesus, Y/n, easy!" he exclaimed as you hopped up, his hands still on your hips. "Be careful"

"Why? You can catch me"

"I'll definitely try, but how about you don't fall, hm?"

"I can work with that" you giggled and grabbed one of the tall glasses on the top shelf. "Do you want one?" 

"Yeah, sure"

He was ready to take them from you so you could climb off safely, but of course, you had another idea in mind. "Nah, it's fine, I got this"

"Like hell you do!" Eddie huffed and hurried to grab you before you could jump. This time, his arms wrapped around your middle as he gently lifted you off the counter and put you down in front of him. 

You turned to him and didn't back away, remaining right there, one glass in each hand and pressed against his chest. 

"Your eyes look so pretty in this light, I couldn't see them very well outside"

His breath hitched in his throat as he scoffed. "What are you doing, Y/n?"

You blinked a few times and took a deep breath. "I'm trying to get you to kiss me, but i'm starting to think I read you wrong all night"

"You're kidding"

"Really?" you rolled your eyes and pushed yourself back to put the glasses down. "I don't know if I can be any more straightforward than this. But it's ok, I can-"

He'd never find out what you were about to say. You forgot too, because when he pressed his lips against yours, you lost it. 

There was sweetness in his taste, along with some alcohol and tobacco, and what almost made you laugh and break the kiss was the hint of chili on his tongue. Awful combination, but you couldn't get enough of it. 

He kissed you hard, he was soft and rough at the same time, you could tell he knew what he was doing, but at the same time, he was overwhelmed, his emotions getting the best of him. Eddie kept advancing towards you even if you were already pressed up against one another, and with every step back you took, he took one forward. One of his arms was wrapped around your waist as he cupped your cheek into his free hand, keeping you in place, hoping you'd never, ever escape his hold. 

"Oh, god" you panted and hid your face in his shoulder as soon as you broke the kiss. 

"Don't tell me you're nervous now" Eddie laughed and kissed the top of your head.

"I'm not" you shrugged, "I just like it here"

"Good" he nodded and squeezed you closer. "Don't go anywhere"

-

shy, flustered Eddie will be the death of me

[well-its-not-human-anymore]

Hi Hi!!!! So I've been following your account for a little while now and I love every single comedy bomb you drop on what you write so I was wondering....

How would the boys react to their S/O who is usually reserved when at the lair, doing a full 180 when at April's? Like they could be April's roommate or something?....

Like crackhead energy, dishing out memes and vines and literally having a duel with Casey about leftovers in the fridge?... Yeah I know it's very specific 💀

I don't know.....the idea just popped into my head but I lack the creativity and comedy skills for that...so I was wondering if you could do something with this?.....

It's totally fine, if not 😁😁

This is... 100% me. I love this and I'm gonna pour my soul into it. Also I have started mentally referring to these as comedy bombs and I refuse to stop.

Also, I hope you don't mind that I wrote these in oneshot form instead of bullet points. It just made more sense for my brain.

TMNT Oneshots

The boys with a partner whose reserved at the lair but an absolute crack gremlin at home 🤣

Donatello

Donnie may have been a man of science, all logic and facts and numbers and things. But he absolutely believed that everyone had three separate faces, you were direct proof of that theory. While the purple terrapin had known you for nearly a year you’d only started dating a month ago and it shocked him that he was still uncovering new things about you. He loved it, sure, but it had a tendency to give him figurative whiplash.

He’d always known you to be calm and collected, maybe even a bit shy. He swore you’d explode if more than one person tried to talk to you at the same time. So it wasn’t an over exaggeration for him to say that your behavior at home nearly made him break his neck.

He was only there to help April fix a bug in her laptop and to confirm your next date, he was excited to see you since you’d had no contact in person for a week because of your schedules. Just lots of phone calls and exchanged text messages. You both missed each other like crazy and your roommate had neglected to inform you that your boyfriend was coming over.

Hers was already there and he was driving you up the wall, you’d never actually thought about committing a murder but Casey was pushing you very close to the edge of snapping. And he might as well have crane-kicked you off your cliff of patience and into the rushing river of “you little fucking shit I’m gonna piss on your grave” below. You hadn’t even heard Donnie come in through the window much less his conversation with April over her computer.

All you knew was that Casey had come parading into your room like a tyrant eating the leftovers in the fridge that you had specifically put your name on. That did it. Your eyes had skimmed over the top of your textbook to meet the asshole in front of you.

“Casey?”

He couldn’t speak through the mouthful he was trying to chew and grunted in pathetic response.

“Is that my cheeseburger?”

You’d never seen a living person imitate a pug’s facial structure so well, the man’s eyes bugged out of his head and he tossed the takeout box on your desk before turning and bolting out of your room. You followed about two steps behind with a bottle of shampoo in your hand. No, you weren’t entirely sure where you’d grabbed it from, all you knew was that it was your weapon. And it quickly became a very messy problem when it missed your target (Casey’s head) and slammed into the wall, exploding on impact.

You didn’t think you’d thrown it that hard.

“April April help help help helpppppppppppppp-'' The two on the couch had looked up during the chase throughout the apartment, Donnie was mostly curious at what Casey was screaming about. Not a lot usually made the guy make that noise. He was then distracted by April grabbing the laptop and passing it to him, she then clambered over his legs to sit behind him.

“YOU UGLY ASS CROISSANT! FUCKING PANINI HEAD- IT HAD MY NAME ON IT YOU DAFT AVACADO!”

Your boyfriend almost went vertical upon watching you tackle Casey to the floor and knee him in the groin. You shook the terrified man under you and slammed him a little harder into the rug.

“Touch my shit again and I’m gonna make the beaches of Normandy look like a goddamn family vacation.”

Then you climbed off of him and stood, brushing your disheveled t-shirt off with a huff. Donnie caught your attention and you raised your head to grin excitedly at him.

“Hi Dove! April didn’t tell me you were coming over,” you practically skipped over to the couch to peck him on the cheek, “I missed ya, are we still on for Saturday?”

He nodded in complete shock, his gaze flitting from you to Casey, who was still wheezing on the floor and clutching his dick.

“Uhhh yeah! Yeah, yep, Still good for Saturday. Uhm, completely unrelated question, where the hell did you learn to grapple like that?”

You shrugged absentmindedly, already walking to the hall closet to grab cleaning supplies for the puddle of shampoo in the walkway.

“Just kinda picked it up I guess? I’ve watched you guys train enough.”

Leonardo

See, Leo had always known that you were hiding something from him. Be it your true personality or some deep dark secret. He wasn’t really in a rush to find out, you’d tell him when you were ready. The leader enjoyed your quiet disposition anyways, you gave good advice and liked to meditate with him, what more could he ask for? What more could he want?

Well, maybe if you got along better with his family, although he supposed that wasn’t your fault, you always had been a bit shy. Even six months into your relationship with him, Leo only hoped that you’d warm up to his brothers eventually. You seemed to do alright with Splinter, that was a plus for the situation. It wasn’t that you were mean or impolite to the others, you were just… avoidant. Distant, quiet, whatever word you wanted to use. You just didn’t seem comfortable at the lair.

He was excited that April had asked to host a game night though, maybe you’d come out of your shell (haha, see what I did there?) and socialize, even for a little bit. They’d all shown up a few minutes early to make sure April didn’t need help with anything, she’d assured them that everything was handled and made sure to inform Leo that you would be back shortly with Casey from your snack run. Mikey had joked that you’d ditched the get together to avoid them but they all knew it ran the possibility of not being a joke.

You unlocked the door and held it open so Casey could get inside without tripping himself before entering yourself and kicking your shoes off. Leo looked up to meet your eyes and you sent him a wild grin, your entire face lit up with amusement.

“Hi babes! Are you ready to get your ass kicked at Monopoly?”

All the poor turtle could do was nod.

“Good. I did grab drinks by the way, April there should be a mixer in the cooler bag, Donnie there’s some of that lemon lime stuff that you said you wanted to try, Mikey, orange crush as usual, Raph I tried to go for Dr. Pepper but they were out so I figured that root beer was a safe second. And Leo they had a new boba flavor that you haven’t had yet so I grabbed one. If you don’t like it then you can have mine, I just have the peach royal.”

Beverages were tossed and they were lucky that their surprise didn’t throw off their catching skills. You and April shared a quick word in the kitchen as you took your coat off and ran a hand through your hair.

After some arguments team captains were decided and Donnie nearly had a heart attack when you picked him instead of Leo or either of your friends. He even went so far as to point at himself to make sure you weren’t joking. You declared that while you loved your boyfriend his morals were too strong to be competitive, Donnie’s were not, he said so himself.

They were all surprised that you’d remembered that conversation.

It wasn’t until halfway through the game that things started getting heated, you and Mikey were nearly jumping across the table at each other. And it visibly took all of your strength to not burst out laughing when he started yelling.

"YOU KNOW WHAT? THIS IS CHEATING! YOU'RE CHEATING! GET ON TOP OF THE FRIDGE!"

April and Casey were snorting into their arms as you got to your feet and walked towards the kitchen, making a poor attempt at climbing the appliance.

"THIS HOUSE IS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE!"

Raphael

Raph had always been under the impression that you were never really 100% yourself around him, he knew for a fact that you weren’t when you stayed over. He’d never seen someone so aggressively avoid someone, except himself of course. You were his partner of almost a year and it seemed like you were never going to let your true self shine. However you did seem to lighten up when you were alone with him, he supposed that was normal, but you may as well have been a pair of old earbuds that only work when you held them a certain way at the lair.

He honestly hadn’t expected that to change tonight, not given the text that Casey had sent him informing him of April’s recent breakup with whatever guy she’d been dating. So when he climbed in through the window and saw both you and Casey sitting on the floor in front of the bathroom he really didn’t think that the words out of your mouth would be-

“April you’ve got another twenty minutes of this then I’m ripping the door off the hinges!”

Casey shot you a look and you shrugged nonchalantly before getting to your feet and walking over to your confused boyfriend.

“Hey, sorry about this. Casey only texted you as a last resort if he needed someone to stop me from tearing the door off.”

Raph found that peculiar, “Uh, couldn’t he do it himself?”

The man in question looked up from his spot on the floor.

“Nah dude, they’re crazy. Last time I tried stopping them from doing something they nearly knocked my damn tooth out while screaming, and I quote, “If you put your hands on me I’m gonna fucking rip your face off” and quite frankly I don’t have the balls to test that.”

“No no dude, that’s valid. I wouldn’t either. Babe, why are you so-”

You raised an eyebrow at him over a glass of water, “Violent? I’m not Raph. These two just have little bitch feelings.”

He found it hard not to laugh at that and fifteen minutes later when you left his side to approach the door again it sent him reeling.

“This shit’s temporary April. You’ve got nice teeth and a fat ass, stuff your feelings down!”

Michelangelo

There would never be a time where Mikey wasn’t a prankster with you, it was just simply non-negotiable. You were cool with that and he was aware, he was also aware that no pranks were to be pulled at the lair. So he’d reign it in while you visited, just for a short while. But you’d never said anything about the apartment and Mikey was a creature of opportunity.

Unfortunately Leo talked him out of it and forced him not to pull anything while they visited. The leader was already on edge so when he walked in with the others following closely behind you were the first person to see him. Your eyes caught Mikey’s instantly and you might as well have been telepathic at that moment. But you took one look at Leo’s solid, angry face and seized your moment.

They weren’t at all ready for the scream.

“GET YOUR FUCKIN’ DOG BITCH!”

And they also weren’t ready for Mikey’s response of, “It don’t bite.”

And Leo was not ready for the pillow that got whipped at his face at incredibly high speed.

“YES IT DO-”

So when Leo finally realized that they were yelling at him his mood did not improve at all and in fact declined sharply into a pit of “oh fuck”. And that was how you ended up on Mikey’s shoulder getting dragged away from any sort of repercussion for your actions.

These got a little short near the end but I hope you like 'em and I hope I was able to capture what you had in mind! 😁

-Mars 🌠

[rstg123]

And here we are! Time for Kirby lore, just don't spoil things in the notes for me cause I haven't done post game yet

Just a warning: The more I wrote this the more it became rambling so its SUPER disorganized

Ok so I didn't trust Elfilin at first not gunna lie. And for good reason. It's a Kirby game, you know the drill there

The way they handled it in this game though was that Elfilin makes up part of one whole, which is revealed as you hear the speech during the elevator up Lab Discovera with the weirdly out of place voice acting

ID-F86 is explained to be some kind of creature that just showed up one day, wreaking havoc and taking out all the wildlife until it was captured by researchers. It had the ability to travel across dimensions and worlds, and is quite possibly the reason the "Ancients" Magalor refers too had they tech they had. In fact the rifts we see in Forgotten Land are very similar to the ones seen in Return to Dreamland, they just seem more pointy to me. Maybe they're more unstable than the ones we've seen before? I'll explain more on that later.

For now whats important: ID-F87 is a part of F86 that somehow split off, leaving F86 inactive and put in stasis, used to power planetary warp technology, though it was rendered useless after a certain point, which is what led F86 to capture the Waddle Dees, and possibly the Beast Pack in some way? I think we all know F87 is Elfilin by now though.

Leongar refers to F86 as the "Great One", and talks about how the Beast Pack was left behind by people leaving to a "land of dreams", presumably Popstar. Maybe these were the Ancients that Magalor talked about? I mean maybe it could explain why the rifts look different from how they did in Return to Dreamland. The more pointy and less structured look makes them seem like they're less stable, which would make sense considering F86 is being powered by a bunch of Waddle Dees during the events of the game.

Now of course, when F86 breaks out of stasis, we have what I like to call, When Crap Gets Real TM

Leongar is absorbed into some kind of mass of goo or some other substance, with the Beast Pack members who arrived shortly after F86 broke out following suit, leading to probably the most unsettling thing I've ever seen in a Kirby game: Fecto Forgo.

It chases Kirby down a hall, eventually capturing Elfilin, becoming whole again. Of course at first its just an orb. The mass of everything it absorbed becomes just a sphere, much more stable and all that. It flies up to the roof of the facility.

After reaching the top of the facility, we finally see the final boss

Fecto Elfilis is SUCH a great fight, like seriously its best to experience it for yourself. Especially that backing track, man. "Two Planets Approach The Roche Limit" works so well

Fun fact: The Roche Limit isn't a Kirby thing, the Roche Limit is basically when two planets are so close together their gravity tears each other apart, so I hear.

Now I wont repeat everything that happens during the fight, but whats important: The use of those star shaped portals

Theyre still using the more pointy look, though. Then again during the Magalor Soul fight, he uses more pointy portals instead of the rounded portals.

So. What does all this actually like... mean

Well "Fecto" and "Forgo" are good starting points. They're probably derived from the words "Infection" and "Forgotten" respectively, but I've heard Fecto might mean "Completed", because of a Latin translation of the word. However, Forgo doesen't translate to anything.

What I want to know is why did Fecto Elfilis do what it did when it first showed up? I mean there's a reason they captured it, the thing was going after the wildlife. Secondly how did Elfilin split off from Fecto Elfilis to begin with? All we know is it was an experiment. Maybe it'll tie into another plotline? How did Elfilin escape as well??

The most common theory is one I've already talked about and its about the Ancients being from this world initially. They fled leaving the Beast Pack- and Elfilis- behind, going to quote "A land of dreams". So Dreamland?

I have. So many questions that this post can't awnser dojfdsjgf9sjgrsdv

Hope you enjoyed my rambling though. There are a bunch of unanswered questions and when I'm done post game I might come back to this just to see if I can put anything else together.

[kelltheowlenby]

Luz IS a chosen one and here’s why

Omg I deleted this the first time and have to start over from a super rough draft cuz I spelled chosen wrong in the image and I’m not even gunna fix it now cuz I’m bitter.

OK ok so I feel like I've seen most of this information theorized about individually but with wing it like witches I feel like a connected some dots and my brain's going to explode. So in this essay I will be telling you why Luz is a chosen one, who chose her, and why.

This theory contains some spoilers for wing it like witches, and potentially the show going forward.

So lets start with the theory and then we can go back and review the evidence.

Luz is a chosen one, she was chosen by the writer of the Azura books. This person wrote the Azura books to influence her and created Clone Lus so she can stay on the boiling isles. Her goal is to take down the emperors coven. 

Now let me tell you why.

First, how do we know Luz has a clone?

Well we don't for sure, but the fact that when we are introduced to Gus's clone for the first time the show makes a point to show the clone misbehaving and having a personal identity outside of Gus makes me believe a clone developing it's own personality is something that will happen in the show. Now if Lus does have a clone that went to camp that means someone knew she was coming to the boiling isles. This was planned ahead of time. Owlbert is the one who leads Luz through the door, and it seems extremely intentional. This means it is someone who has a strong bond with Owlbert , which obviously leads to Eda, but I don't think it's her. Eda is genuinely surprised and confused by Luz, so that means it's someone who has a connection to Eda. Someone  Owlbert trusts and is willing to work for. Hmmm put a pin in that.

Now second, what evidence do we have that Luz is chosen and this was a long term scheme, not just a last minute decision?

The Azura books. With Wing it like witches I personally think it's impossible to ignore the blatant parallels between Luz, Amity, and the Azura books. I believe they were written and released in both dimensions to lead these girls in the right direction. They have had a ton of impact on both their lives and their relationship. Without these books they would not trust each other, and honestly would have missed out on a lot of character growth outside their relationship with each other. Luz wouldn't even have chosen to stay in the boiling isles if it wasn't for the cover art of an Azura book.

Not only that, but it’s pointed out MORE THAN ONCE that it’s strange that they have both read/watched Azura content. In the library Luz is surprised they are released on the boiling isles (letting us know this isn’t normal/expected) and amity is surprised in wlw that Luz has seen the same azura movie as her. I don’t believe this is a coincidence, the writers want us to be curious.

Third. Why Luz? What's so special about this human girl, and why would she be chosen for anything special?

Luz impacts everyone she meets, and the people she meets are important. She was intentionally matched with Eda, and not only has it softened Eda's heart but Luz gives her something to live for, to fight for. Twice in the first episode Eda seems willing to give in to capture only to change her mind when she realizes Luz is in danger. That's before she even knows Luz, what would she do for her now that she's her kid? Topple an entire oppressive government perhaps? Eda is a rebel but she’s not a revolutionary. She see’s the flaws with the system the way it is but she doesn’t have anything to push her to change it. Luz could be the key to that.

Now Amity, she freaking adores Luz, and that connection is only going to get stronger. The Azura books are pushing that connection hard. They WANT Amity to care about Luz. Why? Because Amity is connected to the emperors coven. She's a powerful witch well on her way to joining, and maybe eventually leading the emperors coven. Her mentor is the coven's leader and Amity likely has influence over her. Amity is intended to be the inside influence, or a spy, or something along those lines. Swaying her perspective can sway the power balance of the entire emperors coven if cards are played right.

And another reason Luz is chosen? She's powerful as HELL. Keep in mind she's only been learning magic for a FEW WEEKS, she only knows FIVE spells, and look what she's already accomplished. She has brought a house to life with her friends, and amplified Amity's magic enough to make a MASSIVE abomination. Theories are going around about that having to do with friendship or love or heart rates, but what if it's Luz? What if it's her connection to the island? Once she knows how to do a spell she doesn't struggle to cast it. If she has the glyph right she can cast it as big or small or as powerful as she likes regardless of the size of the glyph. She turns Grom into a massive tree with a glyph the size of a playing card. She is never tired after casting spells, she never runs out of magic, her form of magic combats creatures who can literally eat magic for dinner. Luz is no joke, she's a beast, and within weeks she's casting at levels on par with top students and graduated witches.

Now the final question. Who chose Luz?

The easy answer is Eda, because Owlbert is hers, but I don't think that's right. She seems too surprised by Luz and confused by her behaviors. She’s also too willing to let Luz leave. Emperor Belos is a decent guess too because we know he's trying to get to Eda, but why would he provide her with a powerful apprentice before he can even capture her? So I'm going to throw him out the window as well. Lilith? No, she was surprised Eda's apprentice was a human, and that she had an apprentice at all. Amity? lol no sorry. So who?

Someone we haven't met before. Mayhaps a character from season 2 that Dana is excited for??? Someone with access to powerful oracle magic to predict the future and identify Luz and what she needs to be guided down the right path, as well as illusion magic to create the Lus clone. Someone with close connections to Eda, that Owlbert would trust and work for. Someone who wants to take down Belos, and needs Eda's help to do it.

Maybe their relationship is strained, maybe Eda forgot her because of the curse, maybe there's a whole underground revolution and Eda's friend is just a part of it. I don't know, but I'm excited to find out if any of this theory is on par with what happens in canon.

hopefully I didn’t leave anything out. I’m so mad I deleted the post by mistake XD let me know what you think? Do you see any holes? Any additional evidence?