#It would be neat if you could reunite with her quite quickly

[gaylactic-fire]

WAIT you guys

Nintendo has just confirmed that we are going to be starting on the sky islands and we have to collect all the arm powers before we're able to return to the surface, a-la Great Plateau.

In the last trailer when Zelda says "You must find me." She's on the ground.... and I know it's probably going to be more complicated than that... but what if we get to see Zelda again right after the tutorial? 👀

[dontfearrr]

thank you to the angel who requested this<3 you can find it here

Request

Feast of Starlight

also this is like BARELY proofread so kindly disregard any horrible spelling mistakes🔥

Pairing: Thranduil x Elf!reader

Summary: Readers childhood best friend had now become of higher status, due to that she hadn’t spoken to him in over two thousand years. However a simple invitation may change that.

Warnings: none

Category: fluff/hurt/comfort

Word count: 3.0k

“you may absolutely not Thranduil!”

She giggled as the young boy just crossed his arms in a whine. “but i will be so very careful, come on!” he insisted in a pitiful beg. She looked at the boy and sighed heavily, he always got his way with her no matter what, he was her best friend. “curse you” she grumbled and picked up the bright red apple, placing it on the top of her head and balancing it until it stayed put. She backed up and stood as still as possible. “you mess this up and i will kill you” she pointed a stern finger at the excited boy as he quickly nocked an arrow, pointing it in her direction. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he focused on the apple and the apple only… he opened his eyes and fired immediately. The arrow pierced the apple perfectly in the middle and it landed behind her on the grass. “i told you to just trust me!” Thranduil laughed and placed his hands on his hips proudly.

That was six thousand years ago.

She was woken up from her memory by another elf, she was passed out at her station due to the lack of sleep she had gotten the other night. She lifted her head up with a slight groan and took in her surroundings, finding she was in the seamstress quarters of the east side of Mirkwood, how stupid of her, falling asleep on the job! christ she thought..

Thranduil had been on her mind as of late, why? She didn’t know, It was as if he was haunting her every living thought, which is why she hadn’t got much sleep last night. She’d spent half of the night thinking about him, wishing she could turn back time a couple thousand years and be reunited with the sweet boy she once knew.

However she couldn’t dwell on it, not right now. Elrond was expecting the garment by sundown for The Feast of Starlight tomorrow. She’s been acquainted with the King of Imladris for quite a while due to her very skilled talents with making clothing for elves. He was going to be in Mirkwood by the morning and she was nearly finished with it.

She could’ve been finished with it a while ago if it wasn’t for her stupid..nap.

Nearly two hours later and she was finished with Elronds garment. It was beautifully elegant and she was positive he would be more than pleased. She gathered everything and placed it in the cart to be taken to the royal chambers and cleaned her area up, getting ready to retire to her own chambers.

Before she could exit, she was stopped by a royal guard right outside of the exit. He handed her an envelope without saying a single word and took his leave with a bow of his head. She was heavily confused but held onto the envelope until she reached her chambers to open it.

She placed her bag on the table near her bed and sat down, taking the envelope from under her arm and inspected it. The front had a wax seal with..a royal stamp? How intriguing. She flipped it over and the back read in very neat handwriting:

“A night of starlight”

She raised and eyebrow and shrugged before opening it and pulling out the piece of paper within it, unfolding it to see it was an invitation, to the Feast of Starlight?! That couldn’t be right..until she looked in the bottom right corner, where it read her name, underlined, as if it was being emphasized. She hadn’t been to one of those in..decades. The last one she was invited to was first age, when she was nearly a child. She could only help to wonder why she had been invited considering Thranduil was the only one who issued invitations, no one entered without his knowledge.

She set the invitation down and stared at the floor, wondering what on earth would he be inviting her for. She hadn’t spoke to him since he was crowned King. Maybe this is why he had been on her mind so recently. Her head was filled with many thoughts and possibilities but she chose not to worry her mind, she was invited, and that was it. All she had to do was show up, have a drink, and leave..right?

Thranduil poured himself a hefty glass of wine as he stared out at his private garden, pinching the bridge of his nose in perplexity.

“Ada, you cannot seriously be stressed out by this?” Legolas spoke as he entered the room, feeling his father’s agony from all the way down the hall. He rid himself of his weapons, placing all of them at the table and approached Thranduil, standing by his side. “she will come.” Legolas spoke once more, watching his father’s lip twitch, unsure of what to say.

“Hina, i do not wish to hear your words of wisdom at this time” Thranduil sighed in annoyance while taking a drink of wine, a large one. Legolas raised his eyebrow at his father and shook his head. For a king, he was the most stubborn elf Legolas had ever met in his life. “Very well. Let me know when you are done..dreading.” Legolas wanted to laugh, but he’d only get a piece of his father’s mind. So he held his hands up in playful defense as Thranduil eyed him as if he was some idiot and just sighed again, facing the window as Legolas took his leave.

The next morning she woke up to the sun rudely laying across her eyes watered slightly and she sat up, walking out to the balcony to open the doors and let some fresh air inside to wake herself up. But when she did so, she looked down and saw a dark green box sitting right in front of her feet. It was wrapped with a lighter green bow and the box had beautiful details of gold and red. She picked it up curiously and went back inside to open it. She places the cloth box on her bed and opened it slowly, finding what looked to be a..dress?

She tilted her head and picked up the garment from the box and held it up by the shoulders, watching it fall to the ground from its length. She audibly gasped at the beautiful dress, it was clearly made from the finest fabrics in all of Mirkwood, finer than even the guards. She had only ever used this kind of fabric for royals..

The dress was green and embellished with beautiful designs and elven patterns in gold thread and silver linings. The Neckline was a low v neck, something she wasn’t quite used to but who was she to decline such a garment! The back of the dress mirrored the v neck shape as well and the sleeves were fanned out at the wrist, the elegantly draped down, matching the sharpness of the rest of the dress. She laid it out on her bed and admired it before taking a deep breath to process what was actually happening.

First, he invites her to The Feast of Starlight, then he sends you an outrageously gorgeous dress..She was now as nervous as ever to go to this dinner.

It was now nightfall and she was sitting in front of her mirror, running a comb through her long golden brown hair. She pulled her two pieces out in front of her ears and braided some of it back, then littered a few more throughout due to her very thick hair. She wasn’t sure why she had thicker hair than normal elves but she loved it more than anything. She stood up and stared at the dress she had laid out on her bed and sighed deeply before changing into the elegant garment.

It fit her like a glove, hugging all of her curves and falling down her body like a waterfall. She felt like a princess, maybe even a queen..She wasn’t sure why she deserved this but surely there had to have been a reason. A good one. She hoped anyways. She then picked up her circlet she’d only worn once, feeling it was quite fitting for the event. It was littered in bright diamonds that hung down into her hair beautifully and a golden band that twisted around it. It was quite simple but beautiful nonetheless. Once she had felt she was ready, she looked outside to see the moon nearly cresting and decided it was time to head for the Palace.

“I told you, red doesn’t go with green. I want GOLD. Not red.” Thranduil told the dresser that was helping him with his outfit for the night. He was getting annoyed with them for they didn’t listen what so ever. Finally the dresser came back with a green and gold garment. Not too much gold..perfect. “By Valar..now go make yourself useful somewhere else.” he dismissed the elf and he began to dress himself.

He had purposely matched his own outfit to hers, wanting to be as close as possible to her. It was also something they would do in their childhood years nearly every day. Matching their clothes was something they did for the fun of it, any day they could to show everyone they were best friends. Only this time he doesn’t intend it in a best friend manner.

Thranduil never subjected himself to such childish antics due to his old age and had grown quite cold over the years, however he felt it was necessary, even Legolas suggested it. He hated when his son was right, but if he wanted to speak to her he had to make some kind of impression for just disappearing from her life when he was crowned.

She approached the large arched doors and looked over to one of the guards, who let her in immediately, knowing who she was. She bowed her head in thanks and entered the large Palace and could hear many conversations in the distance, so she followed that.

She walked down a long hall which had her turn right and she ended up in the right area, very clearly. It was a beautiful scene, filled with many beautiful elves and willow trees hung low above the area making the place look breathtaking. The only light came from the extra bright moonlight, the full orb casting white rays upon the feast.

She walked among the elves, some of them even greeting her very kindly. A raven haired elf approached with a tray filled with golden chalices filled with wine, she took one and thanked the elf, taking a small sip. She was delighted to be welcomed so quickly, she even had a couple conversations with some. But she stuck to her mission and sought out Lord Elrond, wanting to greet him especially since you hadn’t seen him in quite a while.

She looked among a bunch of elven heads for that very specific head of dark brown hair. Her eyes scanned the room but instead, was met with a pair of piercing blue eyes she remembered all too well..Her breath hitched in her throat at the sight of the tall elf. His eyes bored into her like she was his prey. She had suddenly felt out of place, she didn’t belong here! She didn’t even belong in this dress..what on earth was she even doing. She sighed and broke her gaze with the King and turned around to leave the dinner, it’s not like anyone would even notice her absence anyways, she was just the seamstress.

She placed her drink down onto a side table and turned around and began to leave, until she felt a hand on her shoulder, a very large hand. She got a whiff of a woodsy, manly scent and turned around, only to be met with the man she couldn’t erase from her mind.

She was bewildered to be stopped by him, it was the last thing she had expected. After an awkward moment of staring at each other, he went to speak.

“Mellon Nin, you look ravishing tonight.”

Thranduil spoke up first, staring down at her with his head tilted down due to her shorter height.

“Thank you, My Lord”

she couldn’t help the blush that covered her pale face and chest. She hadn’t heard Thranduil speak in nearly two thousand years, it was difficult for her to contain herself.

“Please, call me Thranduil. You are no stranger” He said gently, his voice laced with honesty and sympathy. She gave him a slight smile and nodded, letting him know she had acknowledged his request. She took this time to admire him, taking all of him in. He hadn’t really aged much since the last time she saw him but he was definitely older, sharper, and undeniably attractive. But what caught her eye was the overcoat he wore, it precisely matched her dress, the colors, the designs…was it on purpose?

“it’s been quite some time, Thranduil.” She spoke simply, a bit of hurt laced in her words, he may be the King but not in her eyes.

“it has.” he took a large breath through his nose then exhaled before speaking again, “I am pleased that you showed up. I had my doubts you weren’t going to.” He told you truthfully and reached down to take ahold of her hand, his hand dwarfing hers and placing his other hand over it, his thumb gently rubbing over her knuckles. She allowed him to and just looked up into his eyes. Trying to find some sort of emotion behind them, either he was good at hiding it, or he was truly just as cold as you thought.

“I do not know why you invite me, after two thousand years i’d think you have forgotten me.” she gently retracted her hand from his grasp after a moment and clasped them behind her back, her bottom lip quivering slightly. Thranduil faltered at this, his eyes relaxing and looking upon her as if she was a normal elleth. For the first time she actually saw emotion from him, and she was pleased to see this.

“My wrong doings have been heavy on my mind as of late. I am aware it’s been quite some time and i have no right to be putting you in such a position.“ He closed his eyes for a second before fixing his gaze back upon her and exhaling. “I cannot sleep at night knowing what i have done. The thought of you alone keeps me up, and i cannot bare it any longer.”

This made her heart ache for the man in front of her and she went to speak but couldn’t find any words. She let his words simmer first, playing them back in her head as she stared down at her feet. Finally she lifted her head and found Thranduil waiting patiently for a reply, the look of agony painted his face. He was truly in pain for what he had done to you.

“Oh Thranduil..” was all she could muster up and she placed a hand on his forearm, gently rubbing it. “I cannot blame you for doing such. I can only imagine the kind of things that were passed along to you when you were crowned. There is no need for apologies” she told him, giving his arm a small but noticeable reassuring squeeze. “you were never my king..” she then moved her hand to his cheek, gently caressing his porcelain skin, he sighed this time but in relief and endearment, leaning into her soft touch as if he had been yearning for it.

“and you were never just a seamstress..” he returned, making her smile slightly. He brings his hand up to place over hers that occupied his cheek. He took hers in his and placed a feather light kiss to her palm before placing it back to his cheek, closing his eyes to bask in her presence. “It’s always been you Thranduil. From the day i met you all the way until now. No matter what happened, you kept me going.” Her hand slid from his cheek to his chest, resting in the center of his broad chest.

“you are far too fair to be a simple seamstress, i curse myself every day i breathe this air for doing such a thing to you. You should be next to me on the throne, meleth nin..” This made her nearly tear up but she stayed strong, taking a large breath and stepping closer to him.

“Throne or not. I belong by your side, that’s how it always should’ve been.” She told him with sweet, gentle eyes. Making him drop the king act and wrap his arms around her completely and hold her close to him, his chin resting on the top of her head.

It was nearly a cursed sight to see the King doing such a thing, but he did not care because anyone who would like to voice a concern would be seeing the inside of a cell for the rest of their existence.

She buried herself into his chest, squeezing her eyes shut allowing a tear to fall. His hand pet down her hair, the delicate elleth in his arms once again. He felt like he’d just received the greatest gem of all middle earth. “It appears i have broken the King” she chuckled a bit, her words muffled by his chest and she could feel the vibration of his laugh as he did so.

She pulled from him and looked up at him with glossy eyes. He wiped her tears from her cheek with his thumb and gently fixed her stray hairs he’d messed up and bend a finger under her chin.

“I’ll never leave you again, you have my word.” He told her as his thumb ran over her bottom lip tenderly. Her lips curled up into a soft smile, earning a smile from him as well, which was a rare sight to see.

This would be the day known as the first woman to make The King smile.

[embrassemoi]

Imagine Being Loved by Me || The Darkling

“Say it,” his voice was low, nothing more than a whisper but it came out as an underlying threat that sent shivers up her spine. “Tell me you love me.”

Pairings: The Darkling x F!Reader

Word Count: 2k

Content: Smut, hint of religious imagery, power imbalance, hint of angst, unprotected P in V, dom/sub dynamics, mentions of blood and death, love confessions

A/N: I listened to Hozier's song 'Talk' while writing this. For full affect, listen along while reading!

【 Masterlist || Navigation || ao3 】

Disclaimer: Do not use these stories as an educational reference and always practice safe sex!

The first time they slept together, neither uttered a word. She had been pacing around in the war room, thinking about the next upcoming strategies needed to protect Ravka. They were in a vulnerable situation compared to its bordering nations and both she and the Darkling were bickering over how they should proceed. She wasn’t quite sure how exactly it happened, but the Darkling came closer, and her body leaned into his. Her eyes closed for a second, mind on overdrive as it concentrated on his heartbeat.

His face was close, licking his lips in the darkness as if he was getting ready to speak before she pressed her lips onto him, effectively rendering him silent. And then suddenly, she was hoisted on the table, his mouth grazing every inch of skin with newfound urgency.

She can still remember touching her lips afterwards, tingling with the ghost of his memory. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel it.

She remembered her heart beating quickly, threatening to burst at the seams.

She couldn’t quite recall the other times where they were tangled with each other, but it was a cycle that neither could break and nobody wanted to acknowledge; never addressing it head-on.

She couldn’t quite recall the other times where they were tangled with each other, but it was a cycle that neither could break and nobody wanted to acknowledge; never addressing it head-on.

And now, separated for weeks on end, once they had finally reunited, they both ignored each other. But it was useless. They were both so attuned with each other; every thought, every movement — every fibre of their being were keenly intertwined. If they were to ever push, the other would pull back. They didn’t even have to make a sound, almost like an ancient drive forced them to be bonded together. However, not a word was ushered between them again, aside from forced proximity due to meetings or their performance for the Winter Fete.

He had returned to her once more in the late hours of the night. She was hyper aware of him as she pried her eyes open, her mind snapping out of her dreams. She sat up, pushing the covers off and peered up.

He was fixated on her, eyes staring directly into her’s in nothing but the pale moonlight. The few buttons at the top of his kefta were undone, hair tousled, unlike his normal neat image.

There was a look in his eyes that she’d seen many times before — desire, power, need — but it was never as intense as his. It was like looking into the blackness of a bottomless well, so far down that it could reflect a sky full of stars.

There it was again, the tantalizing and dangerous allure of the Darkling.

She sighed, the sense of disquietude flaring as the uncertainty of what to do grew. All the silent words, lingering stares, the sleepless nights filled with soft moans and unspoken promises, what did they mean?

What did he want them to mean? Because she knew what she wanted. Her every thought was of him. She wanted more than just secret nights between silk sheets.

“What is it?” She finally asked. The cold from the winter slowly seeped into her bones, but maybe that was his doing.

After all, his shadows loved to watch her greedily.

His face was twisted in longing, an expression she wasn’t used to seeing. She wanted to reach out for him but forced herself to remain seated.

Her eyes close in slight annoyance when he makes no move to speak. Instead, she concentrated on his striding footsteps. With each step, her chest rose and fell rapidly, getting a sense of his intention. The bed dipped and his hand cupped her chin to tilt her head up to stare at him directly.

Countless deaths and blood laid on his hands — kefta scrubbed clean, free of blood. She watched him kill multiple men with a single flick of his wrist and watched the splatter of blood hit his face.

But with his murderous hands, stained with lives haunting him and burdened by perpetual lifetimes, he worshipped her tenderly like she was precious jewels.

“Darkling —”

“My name,” he said, stilted. “Please, my name is Aleksander.” His speech was slightly broken as if he had never told anyone before. And maybe he hadn’t.

Her breath hitched.

“Aleksander…” She tried, testing his name on her tongue. “I wouldn’t have assumed you had such an ordinary name.”

He breathed out, mimicking a half-hearted chuckle. “I’m sorry to disappoint.” His hand moved, knuckles brushing against her cheek before cupping the side of her face.

Everything about him, his touch, his earthy scent, his lips — was insurrectionary, making her want to surrender to temptation.

“Speak my name,” he commanded. There was a pleading tone that bleed into his voice. She couldn’t deny him.

“Aleksander.”

He leaned in closer. “Again.”

“Aleksander.” Finally, it earned her a soft peck to her lips. “Aleksander.” Another peck. And another. “Aleksander…” And then it prolongs, turning into heated kisses as she finds herself melting into his touch. Everything about him was cold, freezing, but his lips were warm and inviting; sultry.

To Aleksander, her voice was hypnotizing, laced in spun gold and made an ache break loose in his chest, basking in her warmth. He felt his heart patch over with the inexplicable glow of sunlight, replacing the loneliness that had drilled so deeply within him for centuries.

Whenever it was her, he felt consumed with uncontrollable longing and need.

They take their time and Aleksander lets her lead. One of his hands snakes around her waist, pulling her flush against him while the other supports the back of her neck. Her fingers ran up his chest, before threading through his hair.

“Moya lapushka,” he moans into the kiss. “Tell me what you want.”

“Please —”

“Please what?” He pulls back from her lips reluctantly.

“Please, I need you. Now —”

“Milaya,” he coos, ignoring her requisition entirely. “Repeat that?”

Bastard. She clicks her tongue.

Aleksander chuckles at her reaction. His lips brush against the column of her neck, fingers gliding over the fine silk of her black nightgown before looping beneath her ribbon straps, pushing them off her shoulder. Her breasts were exposed, nipples hardening from the cool air. Aleksander’s hand shoots to knead her breast, and she has to hold back a gasp as his fingers, littered in silver rings, brushes over her nipple. After a particularly hard swipe, her body twitches as his thumb rubs incessant circles over the sensitive nub, similar to how he would play with her clit.

“I love it when you beg.” He mused.

The fact that she wore black made him tick further. He never wanted to see anyone in his colour until her. A wrapped, perfect present just for him.

His kisses until that point were gentle, but he pressed a particularly hard one, laced in possession before laying her flat on her back. He positioned himself on top of her, hands pinning her wrist to the bed.

“I missed you.” A kiss and he’s suddenly vulnerable again. “I thought about you every day.”

And her heart ached. “Missed you too.”

He dips his head, burying his face in her chest meanwhile his tongue continues to lap at her nipple, swirling it around with his tongue, then sucking. His free hand finds itself between her legs as he rubs her clothed clit, spreading her legs wide.

She buckles in his hold from the feather-like touch, but he’s so strong that she hardly budges out from him.

She’s already dripping and she can feel him smile against her skin.

“So pretty, aren’t you? Always desperate for my touch.”

Impatient, Aleksander, slides down her panties. He rubs slow circles on her clit and he’s more than pleased to hear the little sighs and moans that leave her, each louder than the next.

He moves to hover back over her face, letting her hands free as he’s too busy devouring her lips. He pressed a leg between her legs and her hips to move involuntarily, grinding on the fabric of his trousers.

Aleksander finally relents, pulling back as he descends across her body, nestling himself between her thighs. Her glistening folds sparkle in the starlight.

It’s like he’s examining her and embarrassment flares until he blows cool air to her entrance, placing a tentative kitten lick. He finally wrapped his lips around her clit, fingers gliding through her slit.

He groans, sending vibrations through her pussy. One hand flew to grip his hair, the other cupping her breast.

“Aleksander,” she moans sweetly. It causes a chain reaction, setting something deep within him to crack.

He held her in place, unable to move while his finger slid through her fluttering hole as he pushed in. He sucks harshly against her, fingers pumping quickly.

He slipped in another finger and she felt her skin heat. Having him still clad in his formal attire gives Aleksander an edge, leaving her completely exposed or his eyes to feast on her.

Aleksander groans loudly while he feels her cum on his tongue, listening to her suddery whines. It flooded his senses, and all he could do was watch, wanting to imprint the memory into his mind forever. Her moans, resounded by pleasure, sound like music to him. He only pulls away when she’s left trembling.

He rids himself of his kefta, “Do you want my cock?” He taunts slightly but frowns when she doesn’t respond, still too dazed from her high.

“What, now you can’t speak?” He undid his trousers, reaching to take his cock in hand, stroking himself languidly.

“Want you.” She sounded sweet, smooth like honey and he can’t help but indulge in her more.

She lets out a whimper of pain at the stretch as he enters her. His lips claim hers, drinking in every sound, feeling him sink in inch by inch.

“So good for me. Taking me so well,” he praises. She moans as he hits a spot so deep inside her that it feels delicious. His movements are so controlled and precise, and it’s clear he’s going to take his time; milking every second.

She drags her hands down his back, nails digging in, leaving red scratches in their wake. She’s never felt so full before.

One hard thrust had her slapping a hand over her mouth, making her choke on a moan. But Aleksander frowns, ripping her hand away.

“I need to hear you, milaya devushka. How else will I know you’re feeling good?”

Unlike the other times, something was different. She exploded him thoroughly before. She’s taken him in her mouth, on her knees; fingers clawing his hand, trashing either on top or beneath him…

This time, it felt intimate, full of yearning from Aleksander’s end and it caused an electric sensation to fill her body.

His hands grip her jaw, turning her head to look at him. “Say it,” his voice was low, nothing more than a whisper but it came out as an underlying threat that sent shivers up her spine. “Tell me you love me.”

“I love you.” She says for the first time, and she means it wholeheartedly.

“Yeah?” Aleksander could feel his treacherous heart exploding into blazing white light and eyes softened by her words. He slows his pace significantly, fingers rubbing circles on her clit that has her crying. Adjusting his position slightly, he pressed his chest against her, his cock unremitting.

“Mmhm!” His heart clenches together from her eagerness. “Of course! I love you. Love you, love you!”

He leant forward, teeth grazing her bottom lip, nibbling until pressing a searing kiss against her. His pace picked back up.

He bites and kisses her neck, furiously rubbing her clit. The way she clenches around him has his head thrown back, panting and looking down at her with a gaze so warm, idolatry, that it could set the sun ablaze.

“I love you too, moya sol koroleva.”

And he means it. She was almost a prayer, a mirage he thought he could never touch, never quite grasp. But here they were, colliding with one another.

She’s his.

© gotkindabored 2021. Do not repost, translate or modify

[marvelmusing]

Siren’s Call

Wanda Maximoff x Reader

My Masterlist

You and Wanda have always had a strong bond. You’d been a part of the Avengers before the raid in Sokovia, which was where you first met Wanda. Your powers were similar to hers: your telekinesis wasn’t as strong, and you couldn’t fully read minds. But you could read people’s fears, and manipulate them into seeing their fears. It was a power you were wary of. You knew that if you pushed too far, you could cause serious damage.

You sensed something on the day you met Wanda. You knew Tony had seen something, a vision of his worst fear, which confused you. So you searched the HYDRA base, looking for the source. That’s when you found her. She appeared beside you so quickly, her hand bearing your temple. You’d grasped her wrist, her eyes shining as she attempted to reach your mind. Your own eyes had darkened, a sign that you were using your powers to push her back slightly. You had both locked eyes, sharing a small smile, at finding someone so like yourself. Then she had pulled away from you, stepping into a doorway, and the door slammed shut. Leaving you with far too many thoughts about the pretty girl with the glowing red eyes.

You’d been by her side when Sokovia fell, through Pietro’s death, and her moving to America. You’d held her whilst she cried at night, trained with her before missions. You’d help her practice with her powers. There were times where she took your breath away. The occasion Stark party, where she’d be dressed in a stunning red dress. Or you’d take her bowling and you’d be so awful at it that she’d laugh until tears streamed down her face. Each one of these moments made you fall more and more in love with her.

You’d stayed by her side during the Sokovia Accords. With your abilities being so similar, the government believed both of you were a threat to the public. You’d both gone on the run with Steve, Natasha, and Sam. Vision remained in contact with your group, specifically Wanda. He organised a number of meet ups with Wanda. You had often objected to the meet ups, claiming that it was too dangerous for her. Though you suspected you were merely jealous, believing that Wanda and Vision were together.

After Tony’s funeral, you’d felt her grief. You didn’t realise how strange it was, until she’d left. That you had actually felt her emotions. But you’d pushed it aside. In the next week, you’d busied yourself with trying to find a home, to settle down somewhere. Then you felt it. The desperate pull at your heart. The ache to find Wanda. Where was she? Why hadn’t you tried to find her? Was she okay? Everything you do is filled with thoughts of Wanda.

Then you get a call. A SWORD agent, Jimmy Woo, asking you to take a look at something in Westview, New Jersey. At first you want to say no, you need to find Wanda. But something tells you the opposite. That Wanda would want you to do this. So you get in your car and drive to New Jersey. With every mile, the pull gets stronger. You’re surprised you don’t crash your car with how distracted you feel.

Once you arrive at Westview, Jimmy greets you before explaining what you’re dealing with. From what you gather there’s some kind of shield protecting the town. But you can’t focus on Jimmy’s words for long. You walk towards the town, hesitating as you come close to the shield surrounding the town. You hold your hand out brushing against the shield. As you summon some magic to your palm, you feel the familiar pull of Wanda’s power, guiding your hand towards the shield. You stumble forward slightly. The pull of your heart gets stronger, your conscience practically screaming to be reunited with Wanda.

As you walk through the neat and tidy suburbs, you don’t notice how everything is black and white. Or that your clothing has changed. Or that you don’t actually know where you’re going. Because of course you know where you’re going. You’re going home. You head towards a particular house, opening the front door. You look around the lounge, and before your confusion can set in, your eyes fall on Wanda. She grins as you take an uncertain step forward, not quite believing your eyes.

“Welcome home, darling.” And for the first time in a long time, you smile back at her.

You and Wanda have always had a strong bond. A bond which will always bring you home.

General Tagslist: @greeneyedblondie44 @morganwilliams

[torterrachampion]

Chloé d'Apchier, Revenge, and Love

Yep, I'm giving you an essay(?) about this woman and why I think she's neat. Not sure this will be particularly interesting or informative but I wanted to reward myself for studying hard by letting myself gush about Chloé. I'm going to do my very best to pretend I have a point here but tldr Chloé is cool and I like her

Chloé is at the centre of the Gévaudan arc of vnc and I'd make the claim that she is the heart of this arc, and is the most important character throughout. In the present day 19th century Gévaudan she takes on the antagonist role, her actions interfering with Vanitas and Noé and causing the largest problems during the arc. (Yes, Astolfo and Naenia/Faustina also have this role in the present but they aren't nearly as important imo). However, throughout the flashbacks to the past she acts as the main point of view for us readers and serves as the protagonist during those chapters. This grants Chloé an interesting duality which makes her journey incredibly compelling.

When she is first introduced Mochizuki paints Chloé as at best incredibly suspicious and at worst outright malicious. It's heavily implied that she is the Beast (though this turns out to be untrue) and she appears to be working with Naenia, the main villain of the series thus far. Additionally, she drank Noé's blood without consent and confesses to having given Naenia her true name willingly. This immediately throws her into opposition with Vanitas and Noé to a far greater degree than any other curse-bearers encountered prior, who had all been rampaging without control.

However, Mochizuki doesn't take long to start peeling back the layers behind Chloé and her motivations. Directly after learning that she wants revenge, from the cliffhanger at the end of memoire 30, we jump into the past in order to learn more about her. And even before this there are brief glimpses of her past relationship with Jeanne during the early chapters of the arc. Although these moments don't make her any less threatening it does help foster a connection between us and Chloé. Even if she appears villainous her association with Jeanne and unique position as a willing curse-bearer creates a lot of intrigue that makes it easy to quickly become invested in her.

As we see her backstory it becomes increasingly clear that Chloé has lived a very long and oft unpleasant life. Chloé never quite fits in with anyone and it's obvious she's very lonely. Whether it's humans or vampires Chloé isn't able to connect to them entirely.

Chloé is distant from the d'Apchiers and even more so from vampires. She has to remain hidden from public, so she lives separately to her family while they research how to change her into a human. The d'Apchiers do eventually abandon the goal of making Chloé human again while continuing to benefit from the world formula research, but the original intention is still important. Chloé also has to watch as her family dies around her while she remains the same because of her immortality, further isolating her. And Chloé has almost no connections to vampires. Her isolation makes her completely ignorant to the outside world and she is presented no opportunities to meet anyone like herself until very late in life when Ruthven approaches her.

When Chloé asks Ruthven whether he sides with humans or vampires it's unclear which side she places herself on. Unlike Ruthven who, when he asks Noé the same question in memoire 19, explicitly states he in on the vampires' side. It's possible that Chloé doesn't even consider herself part of either group.

It's interesting then that her first friend, Ruthven, could make a place for himself with either group at the time, stating outright that he views them as equal. Chloé's isolated from both while August has somewhat integrated with both.

And Chloé is at her happiest when she's friends with Ruthven. She gets introduced to Jeanne, who gives her the confidence to disobey orders her father gave her decades earlier. Chloé gains confidence in herself through her vampire friends and is even able to connect with her family because of it. Her 'granddaughters' want to play with her because she's started showing interest in going outside. This point in her life is a bright spot where she has managed to find acceptance for just a moment from both her family and from vampires.

However, this doesn't last long. Chloé soon learns that Ruthven is hurt and Jeanne a bourreau after being separated for a while but is unable to accept Machina's offer to come and live with vampires. She's still loyal to the d'Apchiers, thinking of them when she turns him down.

And after this she is reunited with Ruthven in the worst way possible. He betrays her. He tries to take her alteration device by force and when he fails he disappears. And Chloé, having been abandoned by him, throws herself into her work on the alteration device. Because she doesn't need it for revenge at this point the reason she's so desperate to complete it is so she can become human again. Ruthven was Chloé's connection to the vampire world and after his betrayal she attempts to discard it entirely, clinging to her identity as a d'Apchier. She'd evidently always wanted to regain her humanity to some degree but never so fervently as after Ruthven's betrayal.

It doesn't take long for her to be rejected by the d'Apchiers as well. Her family dies at the hands of the church and Chloé blames herself. She told the Marquis d'Apchier about the churchmen killing people in the hopes of stopping them but only succeeded in putting a target on the d'Apchiers back. One of her last surviving family members calls her a monster and she spends multiple days curled up in bed crying, Jean-Jacques acting as her last ally while she’s been spurned by everyone else she cares about.

It's no wonder that when Jeanne shows up to take her head she welcomes it, asking Jeanne to finish her. Chloé was abandoned by everyone when all she ever wanted was to be accepted so of course she’s tired. But Jeanne can't kill her. So Chloé tries to save them both the and pain dives off a cliff to finish things. Naturally, Naenia interferes, goading Chloé into taking revenge instead in exchange for her true name.

Right up until the last moment Mochizuki tries to convince us that Chloé wants revenge on Gévaudan for all the pain everything there has caused her. But of course that’s not what Chloé wants. She doesn’t hate the d'Apchiers or Ruthven or Jeanne. Chloé hates those who hurt the people she loves. That would be Naenia and herself.

Chloé’s reason for living is Jean-Jacques at this point. The last thing she wants to do before she dies is get revenge for someone she loves. She doesn’t see the worth in her own life or the fact that she’s loved in return. So it’s kind of beautiful that what starts to snap her out of her curse-bearer state is Jean-Jacques affirming her and expressing how much he cared about her. And what fully breaks her free is Jeanne and Jean-Jacques reaching out to her. Chloé’s entire character is about a desire to be accepted and after centuries she finally gets it at the end of Gévaudan. The day was saved by the power of love this arc. Is that cheesy as hell? Yes. Did it nearly make me cry? Yes. 

That’s it. I didn’t really have a point here, I just wanted to talk about Chloé. It’s not even very polished, I wrote this pretty stream of consciousness. But thanks if you make it this far. Here’s a couple of Chloé panels I was really sad I didn’t get to include:

[polite-pandemonium]

Digimon fic I will never finish

Writing has absolutely taken a back burner to the endless strategies, recommendations, reports, and presentations I’ve had to put together for work since October. I miss writing and feeling creative.

Since I still don’t have time to write (I’m currently procrastinating on putting together a deck for a talk I’m doing Wednesday morning by compiling this), in a bid to feel slightly creative, here’s some unedited scenes from various Digimon fics I will probably never finish. I have written thousands of words for this fandom that will never see the light of day, so may as well give them their time in the sun. Usual ships you’d expect from me - Sora/Yamato, Taichi/Mimi, and Takeru/Hikari, but I have labelled which scenes feature which ships below, cause this got long. 

(also, for some reason, almost ALL of these are sad? am I okay???) 

I am easy to find - taichi/mimi we’ve got something (kind of funny) - yamato/sora (taichi is there, too)  somewhere in her smile, she knows - takeru/hikari  to be so lonely - yamato/sora/jyou  combustible - yamato/sora  everyone’s gotta lean (sometime) - taichi/meiko, yamato/sora  you already know - takeru/hikari

I am easy to find taichi/mimi

in which Taichi and Mimi reunite for the first time in years at a party in New York.

“Are you?” Mimi broached the topic slowly. Something about the way he said her name made Mimi feel like she should proceed with caution. “Still with Meiko, I mean?”

Taichi was quiet for a moment, peeling at the label on his beer bottle. “Uh, no,” he responded, his tone tight. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “We haven’t been together in a while.” He peered up at Mimi then, curiously. “Didn’t you know that? You guys were close, weren’t you?”

Mimi felt her stomach twist. “We were,” she looked down, “but life happens. We fell out of touch. I try to keep up with Facebook and Instagram, but even that can be difficult, especially with my job. With the exception of Jyou and Sora — and I guess Yamato, by extension — I don’t really talk to anyone these days.”

“Yeah,” Taichi said quietly. “We noticed.”

Stomach twisting even further, Mimi kept her gaze fixed to the ground. “I’m sorry. It’s hard. With the time difference and stuff; it got harder as we got older. And I speak mostly English here, so my Japanese has gotten kind of rusty, so I am sometimes nervous about picking up the phone. You must be able to tell; I sound like I’m out of practice.”

Shrugging, Taichi propped himself straighter up against the wall. “Yeah, a little, maybe,” he conceded. “Still. A long time ago, it would have been strange to think of a universe where you’re weren’t close with Meiko. You guys were tight as hell in high school...and yet here we are. I can’t believe you don’t talk enough for her to tell you something like this.” His tone sounded equal parts confused and judgemental, and Mimi felt herself bristle.

“I could say the same thing for you,” she raised her beer and took a long swig, the taste bitter on her tongue, pointing her finger at him accusingly. “I mean, you were dating her. Why didn’t she tell you that we fell out of touch? What, did she not talk to you enough for her to tell you that we weren’t close?”

Taichi chuckled softly. “Yeah, actually,” he lifted his gaze to hers and Mimi paused at the look of hurt in them. She hadn’t seen that look in more years than she could count. “That was kind of the problem. She didn’t talk to me about anything.”

Averting her eyes from his, Mimi took another drink of beer. How awkward. “Oh,” she mustered up. “I um...I’m sorry to hear that.”

Shrugging, he pushed himself off the wall. “Whatever,” he said, “Like you said, life happens. Sometimes you can only go so far with a person. Sometimes there’s places within them that you can’t reach. It...it happens.” 

“I guess so,” Mimi frowned. She couldn’t say she could exactly relate, could understand how he was feeling. Something about that made her feel unsettled in a way she couldn’t quite place her finger on. “How long ago did you break up?”

Raising his eyebrows, Taichi laughed. “Wow, cool, thanks Mimi,” he ran a hand through his hair, “haven’t seen you in six years, but sure, let’s rehash the details of my failed love life and arguably one of the most painful relationships in my existence to date. After we’re done with me, shall we run through your recent dating adventures?” 

“Sorry,” Mimi said quickly, flushing. She hadn’t thought of it that way at all; that it was too much, too soon. She was just trying to fill in the gaps. “There’s just…a lot I missed. A lot to catch up on.”

Taichi was silent for a moment; so quiet, she swore she could hear his breathing. “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that. It has been a while.” He paused. “I can’t believe it’s been eight years.”

Sensing a moment to break the tension, Mimi grinned cheekily. “Did you miss me, Taichi-san? Did you miss me this whole time we weren’t together? Are you stunned by how attractive and put together I have become?”

Rolling his eyes, Taichi polished off his beer. “Wow. Glad to see you haven’t changed.”

“What?!” Mimi exclaimed, “Of course I have! My hair isn’t even pink anymore; it’s rose gold!” 

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

we’ve got something (kind of funny)  sora/yamato, taichi/mimi

in which Taichi unexpectedly runs into Sora. 

Taichi arrived at Yamato’s apartment just as Sora was leaving. 

“Oh, Taichi,” she said awkwardly in the doorway. “Hi.”

A grin spread across Taichi’s face. “Hi, Sora,” he said, looking her up and down. Her usually neat hair was pulled back in a messy braid and she was wearing an oversized red plaid shirt that he was 95% sure was not hers. “Whatcha doin’ here?” 

Sora smiled back stiffly. “I was just stopping by,” she hitched her bag on her shoulder. “And now I’m just leaving.”

“Just stopping by, huh?” Taichi’s grin grew wider. “Pretty early in the morning to be just stopping by.”

“Says the person who is also just stopping by at 9 in the morning,” Sora said pointedly, stepping past Taichi to enter the hallway. “You and Yamato have something you want to tell me?” 

Taichi’s face fell. “Goodbye, Sora!”

“Goodbye, Taichi!” she called over her shoulder. “Have a good day!”

Glancing back at Yamato’s open door, Taichi saw the blonde leaning against the wall, arms folded, an annoyed expression on his face. He was still in his pyjamas. 

“This is why people don’t just drop by anymore,” he scowled, “you should have texted first.”

“Sorry,” Taichi said, not sounding sorry at all. He stepped into Yamato’s apartment, closing the door behind him as he bent down to take off his shoes in the genkan. “I was hopped up after my flight last night and couldn’t really sleep.”

Pushing himself off the wall, Yamato shrugged. “Whatever. You want coffee?”

“Sure,” Taichi flopped down on Yamato’s living room couch, stretching out. “So, you and Sora, huh?”

Yamato set a mug down on his counter, loudly, before responding. “What about me and Sora?”

Watching as his best friend picked up a French press, Taichi grinned mischievously. “You guys back together?”

Yamato’s eyes flicked up to him, his head still bent over their coffee. “I’m not answering that.”

“Okay,” Taichi conceded, “you guys sleeping together again then?”

“I’m not answering that either.”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

somewhere in her smile, she knows  takeru/hikari

in which Hikari pesters Takeru about who he is taking to her brother’s wedding.

“I know,” she agrees, “it’s way too much. But it’s what Mimi wants and if it’s what Mimi wants, then it’s what Taichi wants,” she sighs. “Have you really not given the wedding date thing any real thought, though?”

He turns to her to answer and stops, feeling himself get distracted at the sight of a bead of sweat making its way down her neck. Just a little bit further and it would slip underneath her shirt, down to skin he could not see and could not touch. 

Despite the temperature, he finds himself feeling chilly.

“Takeru!” Hikari snaps, her features looking slightly annoyed. “Are you listening to me at all?”

“No,” he admits, biting into his ice cream. The wafer had gone soggy by now, the whole thing basically mush. “Not really.”

Whacking him on the arm, Hikari rolls her eyes. “Typical. Why do I even bother?”

Takeru grins. She’s so easy to rile up, even after all these years. “What’s wrong? You want my undivided attention, Hikari-chan?” he slips the honorific onto the end of her name, long abandoned since their early 20s, whenever he’s trying to be cute. Whenever he’s really trying to rile her up.

“No,” she says stiffly. “I just am trying to have a normal conversation with you and you’re barely even listening.”

Sighing, Takeru crumbles up the wrapper his ice cream had been in and leans down to grab his bag from its place on the ground. “It’s not that I’m not listening, but I just haven’t thought about this, so I don’t really have an answer. I’ll probably just ask Mizuki or Himawari from work, one of the girls I can have fun with without too much commitment.”

Hikari scrunches her nose. “Mizuki or Himawari? Those aren’t dates, those are just your drinking buddies.”

“Exactly,” Takeru says, pocketing the wrapper in his bag and setting it back down. “If I take a girl I have been on a few dates with or something, then she’ll think that this means more than it is and I do not want that.”

“Of course not,” Hikari rolls her eyes, folding her arms. “God forbid a woman think you’re actually interested in her.”

“Yes,” Takeru agrees. “God forbid.” 

Hikari shakes her head, sets down her ice cream cup. She hadn’t finished it, it’s soupy consistency now looking far less than appealing. “You know what I think you should do?”

“What, Hikari?” He leans forward, resting his hand on the railing between them. “What does my lovely, grumbly best friend think I should do?”

“I think,” she begins matter of factly, “that for the wedding, you should bring someone you like.”

He nods slowly. “Got it. Okay. I’ll bring Patamon then.”

“Idiot!” Hikari whacks him in the arm again. “No, I think you should bring someone you like. Someone you really, really like.”

The words stumble out of Takeru’s mouth before he can stop them. He’s not even sure he thinks about it before speaking. “Well, I really like you. So why don’t we go together?”

A beat passes between them.

––––––���–––––––––––––––––––––––––

to be so lonely  yamato/sora/jyou

in which Jyou has a realization.

“You know, I never even felt a reason to be jealous,” Jyou says quietly, fingers pressed to his lips. “I never felt even the slightest need to. Yamato was a part of your past and I was a part of your present and that was enough for me. I trusted you so much, that just knowing I was yours was enough for me. But clearly I was foolish. Clearly, I was foolish enough to think that what we had really mattered.”

“No, Jyou,” Sora raises a hand, tears running down her cheeks. “It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like, Sora?” Jyou snaps. “Because I’m having a really hard time trying to compute what any of this is, never mind what’s it not.”

“It’s just...it’s Yamato,” Sora chokes out. 

Jyou lets out a laugh. “Yeah,” he swallows. “That’s what I thought.”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

combustible yamato/sora

in which Yamato and Sora break up in Paris, during Fashion Week.

They stare up at the Notre Dame, or what’s left of it rather, covered up in scaffolding and tarps. It makes Sora sad to see the sight of it. The last time they were here, the cathedral had been strong, beautiful, and whole. After the fire had ripped through it, even with repairs, she could feel that it was never going to be the same. 

Much like them.

“Yamato,” she turns to speak to him. “This isn’t working.”

He’s quiet for a moment before replying. “What isn’t?”

Sora swallows. “You know, Yamato.”

He doesn’t look at her and that’s how she knows she’s right. His eyes drop to the ground instead.

“Yeah,” he agrees, “it’s not.”

Sora feels something well up in her. “It’s not that I don’t want it to work. It’s just not anymore and it breaks my heart.”

He nods. “I feel the same. But we can’t keep denying it anymore. It’s been years since it’s been working.”

This stings Sora, the implication from him that things have been bad for far longer than either of them acknowledged. While she can admit it to herself, to hear him say it hurts. 

“It hasn’t been that bad,” she folds her arms, feeling cold.

Yamato glances at her then and she feels a shiver run down her spine, for reasons she can’t quite explain. “No,” he looks back up at Notre Dame, “but it hasn’t been good either.”

A silence settles over them, both unsure of how to fill the space that has appeared between them.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

everyone’s gotta learn (sometime)  taichi/meiko, yamato/sora

in which Taichi turns to Yamato and Sora following his break up with Meiko.

Meiko left him on a Tuesday and he had seen it coming a mile away. Things between them had been crumbling for months — probably even years — so it wasn’t a surprise to him when he stepped inside their (his?) apartment in Kichijoji after a long shift at work to find every trace of her completely gone. 

Well, that was partially a lie. He had expected Meiko to leave — but he hadn’t expected her to be so dramatic about it, just up and go in the middle of the day. 

He runs a hand through his hair, letting out an exasperated sigh, before pulling out his cell phone. 

Yamato answers on the second ring.

“Hi,” he says slowly, and Taichi already knows he knows exactly what happened; Meiko must have gotten to Sora first. “What’s up?”

“Meiko left,” Taichi leans again his counter, pinching the bridge of his nose. He can feel a headache coming on, strong. “I just got home and there’s nothing of hers here.”

Yamato inhales sharply on the other side, a little bit too convincingly. He definitely knew. “Fuck,” he swears, “Taichi, I—”

“If Sora already told you, don’t sweat it,” Taichi lets out another sigh. “I would say it sucks that everyone knew before me, but it’s not like I didn’t know this was coming.”

Yamato exhales. “Fuck, shit, Taichi, I am so sorry,” he says, and he sounds it, “Sora just found out maybe ten, fifteen minutes ago? And the two of us have been sick waiting for this call. I’m so sorry, I feel like an ass.”

“Don’t,” Taichi interjects, chuckling darkly. “It’s not on you that she thought it would be nice to tell my friends before she even told me.”

A beat passes between them. That wasn’t fair of him; Yamato and Sora were as much Meiko’s friends as they were his. Taichi cringes, wondering how awkward he made it for Yamato.

If he’s phased, Yamato doesn’t show it in his voice. “Do you want to come over? I’ll cook and Sora will go get beer.”

“Yes,” Taichi says without a heartbeat, picking up his keys off the counter. “Yes, I do.”

He shuts the door to his practically empty apartment. He’ll deal with it later. 

x x x

He goes to Yamato and Sora’s and tries to ignore the signs of their domesticity that he normally wouldn’t notice. The same signs that were all over his own apartment until meer hours ago. 

He never feels like a third wheel with Yamato and Sora. He never feels like three’s company. But something about that night, with them trying as hard as they could to make him feel even a little better, he feels it, intensely.

He drinks to make the feeling go away. 

He gets drunk, horribly drunk, and calls his sister, who doesn’t answer. Koushiro and Mimi are in Seoul. The chances of Jyou answering are slim to none, and if Hikari didn’t answer, Takeru wouldn’t either. He doesn’t want to talk to any of the others. 

He passes out on the couch and an hour later, finds himself leaning over the toilet, throwing up while Sora rubs his back. Yamato brings him water. 

He’s not sure if it’s how well they work as a unit or the unconditional kindness they show him time and time again, but something about it all breaks him, and he starts to weep on their bathroom floor. 

The tile is cold against his skin.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

you already know  takeru/hikari

in which Takeru and Hikari reach a breaking point.

“Sometimes I look at you,” he says softly, watching the tears fall down her face, “and the years between us stack up. They stack up and up and it’s like, none of it matters. Sometimes I look at you and all I feel is the weight of things unsaid and all of the places I can’t reach. Sometimes I look at you and I feel like I don’t know you at all.”

Hikari winces, clearly stung. Something dark passes over her face. “Can you ever speak like a normal person?”

Takeru narrows his eyes. “What?”

“Speak like a normal person,” Hikari says slowly, punctuating each word. “Just say things the way a person normally word instead of making everything sound like a declaration in a novel. I get it, Takeru, you’re a writer. We all get it.”

Chuckling, Takeru shakes his head. “Wow. After all that, after everything I just said, that’s what you cling to? My verbiage?”

“Do you know why, Takeru?” Hikari snaps, her voice raising, “because you talk like that and it makes me feel like you think we’re characters in one of your books. Like you’re just projecting all of these things on to me, all these ideas of me and you and what we’re supposed to be. You tell me that you look and me and all you can feel is the weight of things unsaid? Who talks like that, Takeru? Who talks like that when you’re apparently sharing the deepest of your feelings?”

“Characters in a novel?” Takeru gapes, “are you serious right now? I am a writer, Hikari, it does make my feelings more verbose, but it doesn’t mean that I am projecting things onto you.”

“Oh yeah?” Hikari begins to pace, “cause you talk like that in moments like this and you call my lingerie exquisite and you tell me time stops when you’re with me and all I can think is you think we’re part of this grand, sweeping story when the reality is we’re just two fucked up people who had to go through some fucked up stuff when we were kids. We’re not anything special, you and I, Takeru. Not really. And it’s hard to take anything seriously when you act like we are cause it makes me feel like you’re right, you don’t really know me at all.”

Takeru is quiet. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that maybe you just like the idea of me,” she says quiet, her voice still brimming with anger, “that you like the idea of being in love with your childhood sweetheart. That you think this codepency we’ve bred together is romantic and incomparable. That you refuse to take me as I am — a flawed human being who — and instead take me as your other half because of some ridiculous personality traits forced onto us when we were eight. Nothing you have ever said to me during all of this has ever felt like you were really saying it to me.”

Takeru feels like she shot him. “That’s because I can’t talk to you, Hikari,” he steps closer to her, “because everytime I do, you clam up and go somewhere I can’t reach. I’ve tried talking to you about this Hikari. I’ve tried practically our whole lives. And every time I get close, I stop, because I know it would hurt you and you’d go even further away from me. I’ve wanted to tell you what this feels like for years.”

“Yeah?” Hikari raises her chin, definitely. “What does it feel like?”

“It feels like I am being ripped in half,” Takeru shouts. “Every time we’re together, every time we sleep together, I feel like I am cracking open. I feel like I am cracking open in a bid to get you to finally see me, finally get closer and you just ignore it! There’s no way you haven’t known how I felt, Hikari, no way at all. And yet you still have been fucking me for years now. Years. And it is killing me and I know you knew that and you still went along with it anyway.”

Hikari is silent. 

“And I can’t figure out why,” his voice sounds desperate even to him, “I can’t figure out why you would do that. In the beginning, it was fine, but we were younger and I didn’t think it was going to go on forever without something changing. But nothing’s changed, Hikari. And it’s getting too hard. It hurts way too much. I can’t figure out how we got here and I can’t…” he swallows, “I can’t figure out why you’re okay with it. Why you want things to go on this way.”

“I think you should go,” Hikari says.

Takeru nods too, throat tight. “I think I should, too.”

[jeanmoreaux]

I hope you don’t mind, I have an unpopular opinion. As much as I love the SoC duology (mainly sentimental reasons), in hindsight I see so many plot holes or thins that didn’t make sense to me (in a practical sense or in terms of consistency with a character’s personality) and I wanted to both share and ask what you might think! (Pls don’t shoot me)

—- Leigh loves having everyone paired up nicely, but I was just thinking realistically how

strange that Inej becomes captain of a ship (as implied by the end of the 2nd book); she had just reunited with her family as well. It’s not wildly OOC to be a slave-hunter at all, but it’s hard for me to grasp Inej being in the position of a leader (whose ship will surely be recognized and soon enough avoided by said slavers); the whole time we see she excels at shadow work, she is deadliest when quiet/least expected—I suppose the whole commandeering a ship in contrast is something very loud. Almost flashy and so it still bugs me to this day 😫

How neat Wylan and Jesper are together, all wrapped in a bow. They are from incredibly different backgrounds, and this is more of an issue with the writing and pacing than the actual pair—but it wrapped up so quickly and too nicely for me. The very common ‘getting past subtle glances and little flirtatious gestures to finally making a move’ trope (??) // (this is more of a YA complaint because this is honestly a standard formula™️, but I just wanted to include this anyway as an example).

Leigh always has these wonderful concepts, but far too many POVs are included in the novels so it retains a surface-level approach, despite some characters having genuinely interesting psyches and stories that could’ve been explored further (personally for me: the characters of Kaz and Genya most of all)

And that…is just a some of the trivial little nuggets that bonk around my head when I remember SoC 🤣 I’m sorry this endedt up being so long!

hahaha yeah i guess that's quite an unpopular opinion! it's really interesting to read your takes on it (so pls don't apologise for the lengthy message!) i really appreciate your ask! i am happy you feel like you can share these opinions with me. they are pretty understandable issues to have with the series. i think your point on inej is definitely something i have asked myself too since she doesn't seem to have much experience when it comes to sailing and leading a crew, but i kind of always imagined her to curate a small team on an agile boat that stealthily takes out the slave-traders? idk that's what my mind came up with. i mean financially she's definitely in a position where she can do whatever she wants for however long she wants. i don't think she'd jump into it right away but rather spend some time with her family first. (but ofc that’s all just speculation.) i can definitely see why you'd criticise the pacing of wylan and jesper's relationship. it could have been executed better especially in soc. when it comes to their background i think that after everything they both experienced across their lives they're actually not that different? i mean wylan lived in the barrel for quite some time and while he grew up privileged i think he's well aware of how life looks like for people beyond his wealthy bubble. jesper was educated and grew up pretty sheltered on a farm that i imagine didn't do too bad since he had the funds to attend university in ketterdam (a university that even royalty attends—i think it is mentioned somewhere that nikolai was supposed to study there too). he is definitely not as privileged as wylan but the discrepancy is probably not as extreme as if jesper had grown up in the barrel. like, i agree their backgrounds are different, but the difference isn't so extreme that it would make a lasting relationship almost impossible. i kind of agree with your point on the POVs, but at the same time i also kind of don't??? i get why you'd want too get a deeper look into individual psyches, but i don't think that's something these books ever set out to do—while there is some strong character work ,the grishaverse books are foremost plot-driven stories. they don't aim for that in-depth exploration of characters' psyches. these novels never had the ambition to be intricate character studies. so it's not really fair to criticise them for not doing something they never intended to do (even though i completely get it, i would love dig a little deeper with kaz and genya too!!!) i never felt like the POVs in soc are too many bc i found them to be overall really effective in telling the story. they made it easier to tell the story in the way it was set up to be told. the different perspectives make it possible to cover the plot-relevant parts of the narrative in an engaging and exciting way bc you get different angles of different characters with different amounts of information. all the POVs revolve around the same ONE plot line that binds them together like a glue. ((that's why the POVs in the nikolai duology are TOO MANY... you have so many POV characters with their own plots and it doesn't really come together until the very end so you're just jumping around too much which consequently takes you out of the story. it's all so disjointed and quite messy which makes it hard to get invested in any of the narrative arcs.))

i think i'll have to stop here bc this is already SOO LONG, but i just wanna add that this series is YA, it just has to wrap up everything nicely. it kind of comes with the genre. (even tho i think the soc duology does leave some things a little open and ambiguous, it's not as neatly wrapped up as many other YA books, and i appreciate that.) in general i think i am just not so harsh on YA, but yeah it does require more suspension of disbelief in some cases.

[a-secret-bolton-vampire]

Brief Thought on Theon in TWOW

Theon has been a huge mystery for me and a lot of people, because his story could go just about anywhere. He's currently held prisoner by Stannis, who plans on executing him (after interrogating him, of course). Although he is to be executed by fire, Asha comes in to tell Stannis to instead execute Theon himself with Lightbringer at the weirwood islet, all the while the caged ravens scream "Theon" and "tree"... hello Bran, hello Bloodraven.

Now, the fact the ravens are screaming about the tree and Asha mentions executing Theon at the tree to me is a clear indication that it is going to be an important location. Now, I don't quite think Theon is gonna die here (see below), but rather Bran is going to find a way to keep him around. He already called to Theon when Theon went to beg absolution in the Winterfell godswood. Summon some ravens to interrupt the execution, maybe even appear in the tree like he did to Theon at Winterfell.

Such a display from the old gods might make the northmen think it is a sign that Theon has paid for his sins. Stannis might not really care, although... if you get a sign like that, I'm not entirely sure what Stannis would think. Regardless, I think Theon is going to survive, and Bran wants him to. Why? Well, I don't actually think Bran is manipulating Theon here. It's been months at this point since we've had a Bran POV, and who knows what he's been doing this whole time. However, if he has been focused on Winterfell, he probably has seen Theon being tormented by Ramsay.

Theon betrayed the Starks. He took Winterfell. He killed two boys and passed them off as Bran and Rickon. He is a traitor and a turncloak and a murderer. But seeing Theon in this light might change Bran's perspective on him. He's suffered so much. He may have deserved execution for his crimes, but the torture he endured from Ramsay was not justice.

At the end of ADWD/beginning of TWOW, Theon is pretty resigned to dying. He wants to die, and he feels immense guilt for what he did. Bran is tapping into the power of the old gods and communicates to a broken Theon at Winterfell. Even though Theon has prayed to the old gods (really praying to Bran) and gotten some sort of reply, he doesn't know what it means. If Bran stays Theon's execution, that's a huge change for Theon. He believes he deserves to die for what he did.

If the old gods show some sort of presence that stops Theon from being killed, that changes everything for him. If the gods don't want him to die, what is his purpose now? What reason is there for him to be around? Does he truly deserve to be killed? Can he redeem himself? Part of the reason why I don't believe Theon is going to be executed here is because I think there is much more rich narrative and thematic depth to explore than him simply resigning to his fate and getting it.

As for what he will do in TWOW, apart from the theories that he simply just dies, some people also believe he might stay Stannis's prisoner, or be used by Asha to undo the kingsmoot on the Iron Islands. The latter theory is based on the mention of Torgon the Latecomer, by Rodrik Harlaw and later Tristifer Botely.

"When you put your name before the captains you submitted yourself to their judgment. You cannot go against that judgment now. Only once has the choice of a kingsmoot been overthrown. Read Haereg."

Archmaester Haereg wrote History of the Ironborn. And what was this one time the kingsmoot was overthrown? Well, Tris explains it the very chapter Asha has this memory of Rodrik.

"Torgon Greyiron was the king's eldest son. But the king was old and Torgon restless, so it happened that when his father died he was raiding along the Mander from his stronghold on Greyshield. His brothers sent no word to him but instead quickly called a kingsmoot, thinking that one of them would be chosen to wear the driftwood crown. But the captains and the kings chose Urragon Goodbrother to rule instead. The first thing the new king did was command that all the sons of the old king be put to death, and so they were. After that men called him Badbrother, though in truth they'd been no kin of his. He ruled for almost two years." Asha remembered now. "Torgon came home …" "… and said the kingsmoot was unlawful since he had not been there to make his claim. Badbrother had proved to be as mean as he was cruel and had few friends left upon the isles. The priests denounced him, the lords rose against him, and his own captains hacked him into pieces. Torgon the Latecomer became the king and ruled for forty years."

This is often used as evidence that Asha will use Theon in a similar manner; since he was presumed dead but is actually still alive, he did not put his claim forth, and thus the kingsmoot is invalid, as is Euron's ascension to the Seastone Chair. Theon the Latecomer will be Euron's undoing. While Theon is in no fit enough state to even be considered king, perhaps his presence will be enough to assuage Euron's control on the Iron Isles.

I think that the fact this is mentioned is important, and something like this might happen. Personally, I think that when the battle of ice turned against Stannis's favour, Theon escaped with the help of Asha and her supporters, and they grouped together at Torrhen's Square, which is held currently by Dagmer Cleftjaw, master-at-arms at Pyke, whom Theon had a close relationship with. And the idea will be to use Theon as a tool to invalidate the kingsmoot and Euron's role. Also, it would be very neat to see Theon reunite with Dagmer after all he's been through, since Dagmer was an important figure in his childhood.

The problem is that I don't think Theon Latecomer is going to change anything. For one, although he doesn't need to be king, just be used as a way to invalidate the kingsmoot because he never pressed his claim, what is that going to change? Is Theon really going to press his claim? And if he did, he would be laughed out. He has no interest in kingship, and he is not in any state to rule as one. So he's definitely not going to be elected. Who does that leave?

Well, Victarion is away in Meereen. Asha might have supporters but her gender works against her. Perhaps old Erik Ironmaker might try his hand again, but I doubt that will work any better. Aeron is supposedly in hiding (although really he's being tortured by Euron). Gylbert Farwynd wanted to sail beyond the Sunset Sea and see what lands lie west of Westeros.

Meanwhile, Euron is bringing the Old Way back to the ironborn in a way Balon never accomplished. He took the Shields and gave lordships to the raiders there. He has been sending ships up and down the Mander, in the Whispering Sound, even sacking the Arbor. He is giving the ironborn a great deal of wealth. What's even more, it appears that some of the things he wouldn't have dared before are a lot safer to do now. For instance, at the kingsmoot, he put on his facade as doing everything for the Drowned God. Now look at how his captains talk about the Drowned God in The Forsaken:

"Your curses have no power here, priest,” said Left-Hand Lucas Codd. “The Crow’s Eye has fed your Drowned God well, and he has grown fast with sacrifice. Words are wind, but blood is power. We have given thousands to the sea, and he has given us victories!”

It's not "the Drowned God" but "your Drowned God". They don't care anymore. They don't care if it's different or against their traditions. Euron has been giving them victories and riches and glory, and that's all that matters. This is something that is easy to see in the real world too (just look at what Donald Trump did in office and how the GOP reacted to his actions). Euron has taken the bulk of the Iron Islands military strength with him, and is living up to what he's promised so far. Why would they want to go back?

However, the most important part, for me anyways, is that ultimately, Euron doesn't care. He doesn't care about the Iron Isles. His goal is Westeros and the Iron Throne. The islands mean nothing to him. He loses some people there, so what? What's there for him to use? He's gonna try to become a god-king anyways so the Iron Islands aren't important.

In the end, even if Asha wanted to use Theon for these purposes, it won't do anything. The ironborn are in southern Westeros having the time of their lives, why would they return here? Now, if this is doomed to do anything against Euron, then why mention Torgon? Why have Theon go through that? I think it's all part of his internal journey of identity and allegiance.

He's always been stuck between Greyjoy and Stark. He didn't feel like he belonged with the Starks, but he wanted to. When Balon rebelled against Robb and insulted him, Theon wanted to prove himself to his father, so he betrayed the Starks. He was outsmarted and captured by Ramsay, however, and now regrets doing what he did. But he still hasn't chosen, Greyjoy or Stark. He wants to simply die.

I think that this journey for him is him recovering from Ramsay and finally finding his true self again. Theon has been a puppet of Ramsay's, and is poised to become a puppet for Asha and her followers. It's time he start to make his own decisions. I think this journey as Theon Latecomer (whether he literally returns to the isles or not) is him dealing with his own internal struggle, before finally resolving it. My theory is that he will decide to choose the Starks, because they are his true family, and there is nothing for him that he wants or can do with the Greyjoys.

[stillbandofbrothersthirsty]

Girl Crush

Chuck Grant x OC (not exactly a happy ending, Floyd Talbert & Luz fluff tho)

She was absolutely beautiful. She drew the attention of everyone in the room, and rightfully so. She was radiant with confidence and charm. Her long, blonde hair quite literally looked like a halo and those perfect cupid bow lips were painted a sumptuous red. She was even wearing real, silky stockings. Where in the hell did she get those, Virginia thought. And of out of all the guys in the room why was she sitting with Chuck?

Sure, Chuck was handsome in that sturdy all-American way. But Virginia had a realistic view of her best friend; he wasn’t the most charming, nor the most outgoing or flirtatious. He was quiet, polite, and thoughtful. Those were some of the many wonderful things about him and reasons why Virginia knew she was falling in love with him. However, they weren’t traits that she thought a bombshell like Adrienne would have picked out of a crowd of dashing young soldiers.

Adrienne was the type of girl that George Luz or Skinny Sisk drooled over, the type of girl Floyd Talbert would sneak away to a corner of the bar.

Of course any guy would have love to have her on his arm, she was perfect. But Chuck was not the obvious choice.

Adrienne was like all the girls Virginia and Chuck had grown up around; California beauties that had never seemed to tempt Chuck before. Chuck wasn’t one to ogle girls on the beach or take them out in his car every weekend. Whenever he had had free time between school or work, he just hung out with Virginia and their other friends.

Their friend Mary got engaged the same month Chuck and the other guys enlisted. There was nothing in California for Virginia once all her friends left so she decided to join the Women’s Army Corp. as a switchboard operator.

Chuck had been so proud of her when she finally qualified. She had walked over to his house only days before he was due to ship out to show him her letter of certification. Right there in his yard, he had picked her up and spun her around.

“I’m so proud of you, Ginny! And now you’ll be able to come with me!”

Butterflies fluttered around her stomach, he wanted her to be with him. “We don’t know where I’ll be stationed or where you’ll be!”

“They have to put us together, I just know they will. I have a feeling.”

He had been wrong, then he had been right. Virginia worked her way up the eastern seaboard while Chuck trained in Georgia. Their letters were constant exchanges between good friends sharing the stresses and challenges of their burgeoning military careers.

Where do you think they’ll send you next?

North Carolina.

I’ve been in New York for a while now.

Big city girl.

Definitely not California.

Where will you go after the war?

California.

Me too.

What will you do after the war?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a house by the beach?

Very.

We could get houses by each other.

Maybe.

I’ll get a good job, a nice wife, and you’ll find a nice guy.

I’ve already met lots of nice guys.

Not a husband though.

Virginia and Chuck had always been especially close, but Virginia had fallen in love with him through those letters. He was her home and her adventure all in one.

Eventually, he had been right. They were reunited on a troopship destined for England. They had been on the ship for a week before they realized.

I’m on a boat destined for England.

So am I!

The moment she received the letter with his shipment details she had run into the soldiers bunk room to whoops and hollers and shouts of “nurse!”.

“Charles Grant? Officer Grant?” she asked as she forced her way past men throwing baseballs and stretching. They all pointed her in the same direction until she reached his bunk.

“Ginny?” he dropped his cards in shock as she threw herself on his bunk.

“I can’t believe we’re on the same ship!” she squealed. He wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug.

A voice cleared above where they lay unceremoniously embracing, “who’s your friend there Grant?”

A handsome young man with dark brown eyes propped his arm against the steel pole of the bunk.

Virginia quickly got up from Chuck’s cot, smoothing her skirt. Chuck swung his legs around so he sat to face the new arrival.

“Floyd Talbert, meet Virginia Wilson.”

Floyd offered his hand, “nice to meet you.”

Floyd Talbert was a flirt and everyone knew it. But Virginia liked him a lot, they clicked from the very start, which made sense since he was a good friend of Chuck’s. Just like Chuck, Floyd was very polite, and always made a point of introducing his girlfriends to Virginia - at least the girls he would see more than once.

He would sneak down to the switchboard room to say hi or to the officers building where they would rendezvous for a cup of coffee. So would Chuck, and Virginia always looked forward to those surprise chats. Occasionally, Chuck and Virginia would find themselves on breaks at the same time and would go for walks around the base. The rolling English hills made them both homesick and it was nice to have each other to reminisce with.

Adrienne worked as an officers secretary and they would pass her every time they left the officers building. It didn’t occur to Virginia until later that every time Chuck came to see her, he would have passed Adrienne too.

On one autumn evening out, Chuck invited Virginia out to get drinks with him and some of his friends. She knew it wasn’t a date but she let herself get more excited than she should have. She gave herself extra time to bathe, to pin up her hair, and even took the time to apply red lipstick and to draw thin brown lines down the back of her legs. She had the army regulation stockings but the dark line down the back of her calves gave them a more alluring look.

“So who you dressing up for?” Floyd asked over his beer. He and Virginia were the only ones remaining at their table after Chuck got pulled into a game of darts.

Virginia flushed, “who say’s I’m dressing up for anyone?”

Floyd just looked at her, waiting for her to cave.

“I just wanted to look nice, I haven’t been out in a while.”

Floyd just nodded, his eyes searching hers before she broke eye contact.

“Ya know,” Floyd cleared his throat, “he’s been seeing Adrienne.”

The blood ran cold in Virginia’s veins. She knew exactly who he was talking about, but technically he hadn’t said who so maybe it wasn’t Chuck. She did her best to sound nonchalant, “who’s seeing Adrienne?”

“Your boy,” Floyd nodded his head at Chuck, “Chuckie.”

Virginia swallowed hard to keep the lump from growing in her throat, “that’s exciting!” and she did her best to sound excited.

Floyd shrugged, “sure.” He paused, “exciting for him I guess,” Floyd sighed.

If Virginia said anything else she would’ve broke, so she stayed silent. She took a sip of her beer to keep her eyes from welling up with tears.

Suddenly, Adrienne was thrust into her life. Adrienne was sweet and said hi to her every time they passed at work. She was out with them every time that Virginia joined the soldiers for drinks. All the guys loved her because there was nothing not to love! Adrienne was like their own personal movie star; a kind and busty blonde always dressed in a neat suit working for the officers.

At the bars it took all of Virginia’s power not to stare at Adrienne. Her fingers were long and thin, like a porcelain dolls. Somehow, her finger nails were always perfectly manicured with cherry red paint. Was that even regulation? Maybe the secretaries didn’t have to follow WAC standards. Virginia hadn’t painted her nails any color since she left California. The red looked so beautiful curled around the olive drab of Chuck’s arm. Every now and then Virginia would catch Chuck and Adrienne leaving the bar alone together. It was a punch to the stomach just imaging what they might be doing or where they might be going alone like that.

“I don’t know how I got so lucky,” Chuck confessed to her once on one of their walks. He wasn’t one to talk about his feelings too much, he was always so mellow. Virginia knew that this confession was the rawest, most surface level expression of what he may actually be feeling.

“How long have you known her though, Chuck?” she asked gently.

“I know, not very long, I’m not rushing into anything,” he smiled his little half smile at her, “trust me.”

For the first time ever she didn’t trust him, not regarding Adrienne.

“Hey, drink,” Floyd placed a full beer in front of Virginia, breaking her out of her trance. He took a long drink of his own beer, surveying the room. He had yet to date any of the women in the bar at the moment, which was huge for him. This was his night to find someone new without breaking any hearts.

“Where’s Lucy?” Floyd asked.

“She’s up at the bar.” Virginia gestured to where her friend and co-worker was chatting with Buck Compton.

“Will you be good on your own here? If I socialize?” Floyd asked right as George Luz sat down. 

“All good with George here!” Virginia reassured him.

“Good, ol’ dependable George,” George slurred slightly. However, things were not all good with George Luz, depending on who you asked, because the night quickly took another turn. While the company was divided between the dart board and flocking around Adrienne, George Luz bought Virginia shots of gin.

“Fuckin’ disgusting,” George shuddered as he threw down his third shot.

“I don’t know how they drink it,” Virginia added, recovering from her second.

“Okay, something to wash it down,” George gestured to the bartender.

They drank their beers at the bar and Virginia felt the warm, creeping feeling of the liquor start to take hold on her body.

George finished his beer, leaving only the froth at the bottom, “another?” he asked, his eyes only slightly crossed. Virginia nodded solemnly.

“No more of that gin shit. Two whiskeys neat barkeep!” The bartender raised a suspicious eyebrow at Luz but served them anyways.

“Much better,” Luz smacked his lips. Virginia’s head was spinning now.

“How we feelin’?” Luz asked her. Virginia allowed a wide grin to spread across her face. 

“Feelin’ good, George.” 


She linked arms with George and they traipsed around the bar sloppily greeting friends. They interrupted a game of darts before slumping into a corner booth with Joe Liebgott, Popeye, and Lucy. But George and Virginia were in their own world. They sat cozied up chatting, dumb to the jovial world around them. That’s when Virginia found herself revealing everything to a very sympathetic George.

“I gotta girl like that too,” George sighed.

“Like what? Like Adrienne?”

“I wish,” George slumped in the booth, resting his cheek on Virginia’s shoulder, “nah I gotta girl who doesn’t notice me.”

“Chuck notices me,” Virginia pouted.

“Does he know you like him? Like love him like him?” George slurred.

Virginia considered this, “I don’t think I told him.” 
“Ever?”
 Virginia shook her head. That was a mistake, the world began to spin slightly. She sat up abruptly, trying to steady herself, and consequentially knocked George off her shoulder. Joe and Lucy eyed them cautiously.

The world settled again and Virginia leaned back into the worn leather of the booth. George shifted so that his legs were up on her lap and his head knocked against the corner of the booth.

“I think you should tell him.”

“I don’t know…”

“Just in case,” George encouraged her.

Virginia glanced over to where Adrienne sat next to Chuck, her hand on his thigh. The alcohol had made her weak. Virginia felt the tears begin to prick at her eyes.

“No, no no,” George caught her face in his hands, “no crying! Don’t cry, not unless you’re alone with the guy!”

Virginia sniffed and blinked her eyes rapidly, “okay, yeah, maybe I will say something to him.”

“Okay, yeah, I’ll come with you.” George swung his legs off of her lap and they scooted out of the booth.

“Where are you guys goin’?” Joe called after them. George just waived his hand dismissively as he followed Virginia into the crowd towards Chuck.

Virginia reached Chuck with her heart thumping in her ears, this was it. She was going to tell him. But maybe she should do it in private? Would he come with her if she asked him for a private word? Or would he leave her standing there? Panic rose up in her just as Chuck noticed her presence.

“Hey, Ginny,” he smiled sweetly up at her. Virginia tried to focus on him but she was distracted by the redness of Adrienne’s full lips. The woman’s face swam in perfect lines of red and black and blonde in Virginia’s intoxicated vision.

“Chuck - I, could I -“ she stammered. She lost all focus at the sight of Adrienne.

“Are you drunk, Ginny?” Chuck chuckled good naturedly.

“No, kinda, maybe- but actually I wanted-“

“Hey Virginia, I need ya over here.” Virginia hadn’t even noticed Floyd arrive at her side until suddenly he had an arm wrapped around her waist. “Sorry Chuck, just gonna steal her real quick.” Floyd whisked her away, and Chuck didn’t even seem to notice that anything was off. He turned right back to talking to Adrienne.

“Hey sweetheart,” Floyd murmured, “come over here with me.” Floyd sat her down at the back of the bar next to a disgruntled looking young woman. He reappeared in seconds with a large glass of water which he made Virginia drink.

“Let’s get you home,” Floyd said. He helped Virginia into her coat and led her outdoors. The cool air and water helped to sober her up.

“Shouldn’t have left ya alone with Luz should I?” Floyd teased half-heartedly.

Virginia smiled, but the tears were coming again, “I’m sorry for ruining your night, Floyd.”

“Hey, don’t apologize,” he put a comforting arm around her shoulders, “you don’t need to be sorry.”

“I just- with Chuck -“

“I know.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

Floyd was quiet, the sound of gravel crunching beneath their feet filled their silence.

“I think you’re going to have to get over him, Virginia.”

Virginia let one tear drop down her cheek. It ran all the way down her face to the edge of her jaw, where it hung for a moment, before she wiped it away with a gloved hand. She nodded.

“You’re right.”

“I know it won’t be easy, but you’re tough. And you’ve got friends, including Chuck. He’ll always be your friend, and so will I. You’ve got me here until, and when, things are normal between you and Chuck again.”

Virginia smiled and the tears flowed hot down her cheeks. The tears were no longer sad, they were bittersweet. She slung her arm around Floyd’s waist and they continued down the quiet, dark English road back to base.

[i-dream-of-twilight-sparkle]

Chapter 30: A Pear-fect Reunion

After the deeply bittersweet, but ultimately happy reunion between Starlight and her mother, as well as Sunburst’s father returning to Sire’s Hollow for good. The Elements of Harmony and the Cutie Mark Crusaders go back to Sweet Apple Acres to see how Big Mac, Sugar Belle, and Granny Smith are doing with with Pear Butter & Bright Mac. Twilight actually gives Celestia her own pack of gum so perhaps she can get back to Saddle Arabia herself as she still plans on attending the wedding. Trixie went back to her wagon to rest for a while.

Some of the group heading back to the farm is still reeling from the emotional scenes of the family reunion in Sire’s Hollow.

Rarity: *sniff* That reunion Starlight and Sunburst had was so beautiful, yet so sad, but also satisfying, and yet also so heartbreaking…

Twilight: That was certainly a mix of emotions wasn’t it? But I think ultimately we can be very happy for Starlight to have gotten to see her mother again.

Applejack: Yeah, Starlight’s past regarding her mother is more tragic than fo’ mah own parents. But now at least we both get t’ see them every now and then thanks t’ Spike’s Dragon Tear. This thing is certainly going t’ be ah life changer fo’ ah lot o’ ponies

Apple Bloom: Sure is! But let’s go see how Granny’s doin’!

Once they all get to the house they actually see Sugar Belle, Big Mac, Granny Smith are outside with Pear Butter and Bright Mac’s spirit while the Cake family seems to have probably returned home since then. Sugar Belle is the first to notice the return of the Elements and the CMC.

Sugar Belle: Welcome back! How did things turn out with Starlight and her mother?

Twilight: It’d be a looooooong story trying to explain everything that went on… we can get to that soon. But how have all of you been?

Granny Smith: Oooooooh! One o’ the best days o’ mah long life fo’ certain! Why didn’t ya’ll wake me up t’ see Pear Butter and Bright Mac come down in the first place?

Twilight: I guess it slipped my mind, sorry Granny Smith.

Granny: Heh, it’s ok. Admittedly, when ah was first woken up the first thing ah saw was Pear Butter and Bright Mac’s ghosts. Ah initially freaked, cause ah thought ah had kicked the bucket myself in mah sleep! Ah’m at that age after all!

Big Mac: Heh heh, it did take ah little while fo’ us t’ convince Granny that she wasn’t dead nor was this ah dream!

Granny: But once ah calmed down, it was sooooo good t’ see mah big son and his lovely wife again!

Sugar Belle: Me and Pear Butter talked a good while being the non-Apples that married into the family.

Pear Butter: Being a pear farmer as opposed to a pastry-baker is a bit different. But we nonetheless both fell in love with two large apple farming stallions. That alone is enough to make a nice bond with my new daughter-in-law. But she’s also as sweet personality-wise as the sugar in the pastries she must make. It’s just too bad we spirits can’t eat, mostly because we don’t need to any more. But at least we’re in a state where we always feel contently full, otherwise it’d be kind of unbearable.

Pinkie: Spirits no longer get to eat?! That sounds awful!

Pear Butter: It is odd at first to no longer need food, and indeed kinda a trade-off that we’ll never get to taste food again. But it takes some time to get used to, on the bright side though… We no longer need emergency bathroom breaks, ahahaha.

Granny: So… Ah heard all o’ ya went t’ help Starlight find her mother?

Applejack: Yeah, hope ya’ll not too upset ah chose t’ go see her instead o’ being there, when ya’ll was reunited with Ma and Pa.

Granny: Nah, ah gotcha. Sugar Belle told me ya mentioned having felt an obligation t’ help her out after ah conversation ya’ll had with her at the ball. Helping Starlight find ah mother she never got t’ know sounds pretty noble o’ ya’ll

Apple Bloom: It certainly was, Granny! We did kind o’ find Starlight’s mother!

Granny: Well, ain’t that nice! Where was she?

Apple Bloom: Well… maybe us finding her isn’t the exact word… ya see… just like our parents… Starlight’s mother was dead. So we got Spike t’ summon her t’ us.

Granny: Oh mah… that must o’ been one bittersweet reunion. A mother she didn’t know... that’s been dead the whole time…

Applejack: Believe it or not, Granny… that ain’t even the saddest part o’ Starlight’s story...

Applejack and the others take some time to recap everything that happened and/or they learned about Starlight’s Mother. Granny Smith going through just about the same mix of emotions they went through hearing everything. Big Mac and Sugar Belle with some shocked reactions themselves too.

Granny: Dang… what ah mare Sunset must o’ been… Ah do feel like ah heard the name Sunset Shimmer around 30 or so years ago, but she was likely still mainly in Canterlot. So wasn’t often mentioned too often in our humble little town. There’s no way ah could o’ known she’d be Starlight’s mother. Still, it’s ah good feeling Starlight got to meet her and Sunburst has his father back home too now!

Pear Butter: I think I’ve seen Sunset before up in the soul shield, though I never talked to her. It definitely makes me want to meet her now though!

Twilight: Well, you can… if you’re willing to go to a wedding between two of my friends in Saddle Arabia in just two days. We actually asked Sunset if she’d like to be summoned back down for it. And she agreed, you won’t know who the couple are. But it’d certainly be a good opportunity for you to either reunite with some more ponies or meet for the first time!

Bright Mac: That sounds like a good time!

Applejack: Say Twi, what if we got both mah mother and Sunset t’ meet that club o’ mothers we saw at the ball!

Twilight: Oh yeah, that would be kind of neat.

Pear Butter: What’s this about a club of mothers?

Twilight: You see Pear Butter, each of the mothers of the Elements of Harmony formed a club together. They also brought in Sunburst’s mother as well as Mrs. Cake AKA your friend Chiffon Swirl. I also kind of joined myself since Spike’s my adopted son!

Pear Butter: That sounds lovely! I’d love to meet all the other moms. I guess I’m the only one of the Element of Harmony’s mothers that have been missing from that club for... obvious reasons...

Granny: Ah can’t wait until the next annual Apple Family Reunion! Ought to be the best one yet when we can get Bright Mac and Pear Butter back!

Applejack: True t’ that! Heck, why stop there? There’s plenty of other deceased Apple family members we can see again. Like your own parents for example, Granny!

Granny: That’s true too! Haha! Though one o’ these days soon, ah myself am going t’ need t’ be summoned!

Apple Bloom: Awwww Granny, don’t just say that so casually…

Granny: Ah wouldn’t usually, buuuut this spirit summoning thing kinda makes death only an inconvenience fo’ us old folk now. Not any less sad, but it’s just naturally not as upsetting when ah know ah’ll still be able t’ nag at ya’ll even from beyond the grave! Ehehehehe! Of course that could also just somewhat be an opinion on this as somepony who’s lived long enough. I understand it’s probably still tragic for Bright Mac and his wife since they died way too early...

Bright Mac: Yeah… We had so much we wanted t’ do still when we passed, some o’ which we still can’t do as Spirits. But, we’d gladly trade in some o’ those just fo’ the chance t’ see our family every now and then. So fo’ us, this thing is still ultimately a plus.

Pear Butter: One downside to being a spirit is I won’t be able to use my guitar anymore. I can only somewhat touch the ground as well as family members and/or close friends.

Sweetie Belle: But you can still sing! Applejack’s always told me you had a beautiful singing voice

Applejack: Oh yeah! Ya’ll can sing fo’ us again sometime! And don’t worry about ya guitar, ah can play the instrumentals!

Pear Butter: Ok, then yeah. That can work certainly!

Applejack: Oh and ah didn’t meet her until sometime after ya passed. But ya’ll have t’ see ah friend o’ mine in Manehattan. She’s known as Coloratura, but ah call her Rara. She’s ah famous musician. Ya’ll would make fo’ an excellent duet, ah’d be willing t’ bet!

Pear Butter: It’d be great to meet all the friends you’ve met since I passed, AJ.

Scootaloo: Heh, you know what’s funny about spirit summoning? We could potentially have famous singers who have passed away brought back to make new records!

Apple Bloom: If their fans won’t mind the slight echo that spirits have in their voice

Sweetie Belle: Eh, if autotune spells can be relatively popular. I doubt a spirit’s echo would ruin it for most too bad. Heck, you know how I’m into metal? There’s plenty of songs in that genre that include an echo that gives you the best chills of the song!

The family and friends keep on talking for a little more while when suddenly a knock is heard from the other side of the house.

Applejack: Oh looks like we have ah visitor! Ah’ll go see who it is!

((Story continues after the break))

Applejack heads back inside the house and opens the door for the visitor. It just so happens to be Grand Pear.

Grand Pear: Hey there, AJ

Applejack: Oh mah stars! Grand Pear, so nice t’ see ya’ll!

Grand Pear: Nice to see you, too. I’ve been hearing quite a ruckus even from my house, I think my hearing’s weakening, but I almost swear there’s been quite some noise coming from the Apple farm today. Was kinda curious what exactly is happening, and if everypony’s ok.

Applejack: Oh we’re more then ok, Grand Pear. In fact, ya’ll should absolutely join us. Trust me, ya’ll don’t want t’ miss it.

Grand Pear: Do tell…

Applejack: Just follow me, ya’ll quickly see it soon enough.

As Grand Pear and Applejack head back out the other side, Apple Bloom is the first to greet them at the back door

Apple Bloom: Grand Pear! Ya’ll must come out here quick t’ see who’s here! Ya’ll gonna love it!

Grand Pear: Your sister said something similar, though I have no idea what you could possibly mean.

Grand Pear is now back outside as he looks around the group noticing all the Elements of Harmony and Apple Bloom’s friends.

Grand Pear: Don’t you see these ponies all the time? I don’t know why they’d be so great for me to see them, It’s not like you got Pear Bu-

Grand Pear finally notices two ponies with a white glow and somewhat transparent look. Grand Pear just stands there mouth agape but silent before he just becomes a stuttering mess.

Grand Pear:  P-p-p-p-pe-pe-pe-pea-Pear… b-b-b-b-bu-bu-bu-bu-butter?

Grand Pear wipes his eyes in case this was some sudden hallucination he was having. But even given a through wiping, Pear Butter and Bright Mac’s glowing spirits are still there. He walks just a bit closer, but quite slowly. Making sure it wasn’t a cruel mirage either. Pear Butter and Bright Mac themselves look towards Grand Pear. 

At first they look at eachother, though both don’t exactly have happy faces seeing him. Bright Mac giving him a rather mean stare, whilst Pear Butter angles her eyes similarly, but also makes an extra step at turning her back to her father. This distraughts Apple Bloom a bit who doesn’t understand why this isn’t an instant happy reunion.

Apple Bloom: Wh-wh-what’s goin’ on? Why aren’t our parents happy t’ see Grand Pear?

It’s Big Mac who answers his littlest sister

Big Mac: Grand Pear never apologized t’ either Ma or Pa before they passed. All o’ his apologies came t’ their graves, where it looks like the spirits don’t hear us. He was still in Vanhoover at the time.

Apple Bloom frowns

Apple Bloom: Oh no...

The whole group remains quiet as the tension between the spirits and Grand Pear who never managed to get a real contact for reconcilation for how Grand Pear treated them before their wedding.

Grand Pear: I… don’t know how you two are here… but… looks like all my apologies I said to your graves never reached you… did they.

Pear Butter’s ears perk up and she turns back around to look at her father, though she still looks at him with a displeased face. Although it disappoints Grand Pear that everything he’s ever said at Pear Butter’s grave was never heard. It at least assures him that this is actually them, and not some kind of dream.

Grand Pear: Well then… *sigh* I guess this is a good time to finally get to apologize to both of you for real… Pear Butter… Bright Mac… I am so so so so sorry for leaving you the way I did, before I went to Vanhoover… The feud I had with the apple family was the stupidest thing ever and I cringe whenever I’m reminded of those days…

I should have never let a petty competition between me and Granny Smith get so out of hoof that I’d refuse to let my daughter to see somepony she loved just because they happen to be in the apple family.... I’ve… met all your children. They’re all great ponies. Big Macintosh is such a gentle giant, Applejack knows how to keep things honest and is one heck of a hard worker, and lil’ Apple Bloom is just a bundle of joy and youthful optimism that I can’t help but cherish. 

Apple Bloom in particular reminds me a lot of what you were like when you were a filly, Pear Butter…

Grand Pear starts tearing up heavily. Voice occasionally cracking into a weepy tone.

Grand Pear: You were my little girl, I loved you very much. I’ll never forgive myself for prioritizing the pear business over my daughter’s happiness. I never should’ve left! *sniff*

The day I learned of your passing just a little over a decade ago… it was the most heartbreaking day of my life. You died way too soon… and even at the time, I was considering returning to apologize to you… 

But… I was just too late… and that’s what made that day worse… just when I was close to taking a chance at reconnecting with you and finally show I have accepted your love for Bright Mac… and reconciling with the apple family as a whole… fate was cruel… and I had thought I’d never get… *sniff* the opportunity to say sorry for all I’ve done while you were dating Bright Mac…

It hurt me so much it delayed me further from returning to Ponyville, I didn’t even attend your funeral in Ponyville because I thought that was only going to get me cursed out by the entire Apple Family if I attended… but I held my own sigil back in Vanhoover for you… and then I think I cried that whole night… my pillow and the top of my bed was soaked with my tears the next morning… *sniff*

Both Pear Butter and Bright Mac’s expressions have changed. They’re still staring him down, but instead of angry ones, their eyes are tilted in the opposite directions with sad looks on their faces as Grand Pear continues his apology.

Grand Pear: I frankly have no idea how you’re here right now, but I can tell that you are actually here… but the how doesn’t matter as long as I get this chance to apologize to you. You don’t have to accept my apology, I’m sure me being far away when you died probably only made yourself more bitter towards me wherever you spirits go… and I understand that I didn’t treat your love for Bright Mac with the respect that it deserved.

I was a bad father and terrible pony all those years ago, I’ll admit that. But I’m a repentant, changed old pony now… I’ll understand if you still want nothing to do with me after what I did. But I still at least want you to know… that I love you Pear Butter… and as for Bright Mac… I would be more then happy to accept you as a son-in-law now. Pear Butter loved you, and that’s what should of mattered more then anything else… I will forever be sorry… we’re all ponies… we’re all farmers… Pears and Apples are both fruit, and quite frankly both delicious… and your love was valid… but my stupid younger self chose to ignore all of those for some foolish sense of pride…

That’s most of all I’ve wanted to say… I can start heading back home... if I’m still not quite welcome…

Everyone there just stands quiet for a long while as the weight of Grand Pear’s apology falls on the emotions. Pear Butter lowering her head, turning away from her father, for a little bit. Grand Pear frowning, seeing that as a sign that she’s still not ready to accept apologies yet. Just lowers his head as he starts walking back to the Pear farm. He gets about to the other side of the house before… Pear Butter starts calling for him.

Pear Butter: Father… wait…

Grand Pear: Huh?

Pear Butter slowly walks up to her old father and starts to speak to him for the first time since he had rudely made her choose between remaining a Pear, or being an Apple family member at her privately held marriage.

Pear Butter: You were still a stubborn father when we last talked… and my resentment only got deeper when you refused to even so much as reply to our letters when I was raising a family with Bright Mac. The years of raising Big Mac and Applejack when they were little were some of the best years of my life, but if there was one thing that disappointed me was the lack of support I had from you... It’s going to take more then one conversation to fully forgive you for the years of giving me and my husband the cold shoulder…

But… I can still get a sense of the sincerity in your apology. And while I’m not sure I’m quite ready to say that I accept your apology…

Pear Butter sits down and outstretches her hooves.

Pear Butter: Come here, father. I’d be at least willing to hug you for the first time in a while.

Grand Pear gasps, though at first he questions if he even can

Grand Pear: But… aren’t you a…

Pear Butter: Do you want a hug from me or not?!

Grand Pear stands silent for a short moment, nothing would make him happier than getting to hug his daughter again. And if she’s offering, then somehow it must mean it’s possible despite her being a ghost of some sort. He approaches closer, and then Pear Butter wraps her forehooves behind her father’s back. Grand Pear wrapping his own hooves around his daughter as well. He’s surprised at just how warm Pear Butter felt, if he was blind he would of thought Pear Butter had actually never been dead at all.

Grand Pear: This… this is amazing… I thought I’d only just go through you… Don’t suppose I should also give your husband a hug?

Pear Butter: Sorry Father, you likely won’t be able to. We can only touch those who are alive if they’re blood related, or had been friends with us spirits while we were alive.

Grand Pear: Oh… ok then… I guess I have a lot of newfound lore to catch up on then, but that’s good to know… though still a darn shame.

After they release each other from the embrace. They rejoin the group, as Twilight and Applejack recap everything they’ve learned to Grand Pear about spirit summoning, where Pear Butter and Bright Mac went when they died, and what exactly they do up there.

Grand Pear: So… Dragons if they have some special sort of gemstone they can cry out can summon down spirits of the deceased? I guess I have to thank this little feller for allowing me to see my daughter again. I don’t think I’ve actually met you for very long, what’s your name?

Spike: My name is Spike, I’m Princess Twilight’s adopted dragon son.

Grand Pear: Princess Twilight’s son, ay? Well ain’t that adorable. Thank you so much for summoning Pear Butter and Bright Mac down so I could say my apologies. This… isn’t a one time thing, is it?

Spike: No, as long as somepony related to and/or were friends with either Bright Mac and/or Pear Butter goes to see me... I can summon them back down anywhere at any time after they’ve returned to the soul shield.

Grand Pear eyes shine as he hears that

Grand Pear: Why… that’s the best thing ever… so many ponies could see dead friends and family they miss so much again…. It’s incredible. And even when I eventually pass, the Apple siblings can bring me back down on occasion.

But on another note, so my daughter has been circling the planet as one of among trillions of protectors huh. I guess that’s a pretty comforting thought. Most who have ever died in all of history has been keeping us safe the whole time from all the unknowns of space. Makes death all the more less scary too, if we’re greeted by many of our closest relatives and friends before ultimately joining in the noble mission to protect the planet. I just hope I can in time get my apology fully accepted before I’m up there with Pear Butter.

Granny Smith: Until then, you can join in on some bingo with me and the other ol’ gals!

Grand Pear: Ahehheh, perhaps I should.

Apple Bloom approaches her mother

Apple Bloom: So uh.. how ‘bout singing ah song now?

Pear Butter: Oh! Yeah, certainly. I think AJ just needs to get out the guitar and then I can sing.

Applejack: Ah’ll be right back with that, Ma!

Applejack heads back inside the house and brings out her mother’s guitar from it’s case. Heading back outside to sit next to her mother as she gets ready to sing.

Grand Pear: Now this will be good, what song are you going to sing?

Pear Butter: Well… it’s a song that you wouldn’t have approved of in the old days. But I guess thankfully you’ll appreciate it now. It’s a little… love song I had for Bright Mac while we were still dating. It’s called “You’re In My Head Like A Catchy Song”

Grand Pear just smiles

Grand Pear: Let’s hear it.

Meanwhile, Sugar Belle and Big Mac whisper to eachother a little before Pear Butter starts singing. Applejack strums the opening notes

((You’re In My Head LIke A Catchy Song))

Pear Butter: We’re far apart in every way

But you’re the best part, of my day

And sure as I, breathe the air

I know we are the perfect pair!

(Bright Mac starts singing along with his wife)

Pear Butter & Bright Mac: On a prickly path, that goooees on for miiiiiiiillleeeeeeeees

But it’s worth it juuuuussst to see you smiiiiiiiiiiilllleeeeeeee

And I cannot, be pulled apart

From the hold you have, on my heart

And even if, the world tells us it’s wrong

You’re in my head like a catchy song!

(Sugar Belle and Big Macintosh join in to sing for the rest of the song)

Pear Butter, Bright Mac, Sugar Belle, Big Mac: The seasons change, and leaves may fall

But I’lll be with you, through them all

And rain or shine, you’ll always be miiiiiiiinnnneeeeeee

On a prickly path, that goooees on for miiiiiiiillleeeeeeeees

You’re the only one, who makes it all worth whillllllleeeeeeeeeee

And you should not, blame me too

If I can’t help, fallin’ in love with you…

Once the song ends. Both Pear Butter & Bright Mac, as well as Sugar Belle & Big Mac give a good long kiss. The rest of the group at the farm clap, cheer, and/or wipe joyful tears at the beautiful sight of two generations of Apple family couples singing together.

Sweetie: You were right Apple Bloom… your mother has a beautiful singing voice!

Pear Butter: I see that my oldest recalls my lyrics? I guess I did share it to you and AJ back in the day.

Big Mac: Eyyyyyuuuppppp

Sugar Belle: It’s a beautiful song. Big Mac shared the song when we were dating and we practiced singing it ourselves. We thought it’d be nice to sing along.

Pear Butter: I appreciate that, quite a bit.

Grand Pear: Absolutely heartwarming song, Pear Butter. I admit I probably would of tried to rip apart the lyric sheet had I found it was for Bright Mac long ago. But that’s not me anymore. It’s wonderful to get to hear you sing again.

Pear Butter: Thank you, Father.

Twilight: Wonderful singing from both couples! Though if I may, I thought it’d be important to mention something we took an educated guess about with Sunset. We don’t have to send you back ourselves, when Pear Butter and/or Bright Mac fall asleep thy will return to a comet-like form themselves and go back to the soul shield. So they’re free to stay the rest of the day, and then maybe we’ll summon them back down in time for the wedding in two days.

For now, we can hang out some more time here at the farm. But once it gets late at night, we’ll have to get back to sleep whether we’re sleeping back at home or going back to our rooms in Saddle Arabia. Once again, I’ll have the castle protected just like last night.

Bright Mac: Yeah, I think we’ll stay for the night and go back up ourselves once everypony’s asleep.

Pear Butter nods her agreement. As for much of the rest of the day, Pear Butter & Bright Mac spend quality time with family & friends until nighttime. Where most of the Elements and CMC use the portal gum to head back to their rooms in the Saddle Arabian palace. While Twilight and Spike once again put up their protective measures from last night over at the castle.

Meanwhile, in Sire’s Hollow it is also nighttime. Sunburst, Stellar Flare, and for the first time in a long while Sunspot are all in their beds in their own home. Starlight is sleeping in her old room, and Sunset’s spirit is laying (Though perhaps, more like just floating on the bed) next to Firelight. He tries to get some blankets over Sunset but they only go through. Though the try at it certainly makes Sunset giggle.

Firelight: Oops… I guess with the fact I’ve been able to hug and kiss you again briefly made me forget that you weren’t... alive… heh…

Sunset: *giggle* Yeah, you get the blankets all to yourself now. Don’t worry about me, we spirits feel like we’re at normal room temperature at all times. We’ll never be too hot, or too cold.

Firelight: Are you sure? Because with your fiery colors, you’ve always been plenty hot~

Sunset: Hehe, I’m glad you still haven’t outgrown your cheesy flirtations. Always found it rather charming. I guess maybe your much cooler colors may also have brought us to a comfortable level~

The reunited couple hug each other in bed before also kissing.

Firelight: Look.. I know you’ll be gone by the morning, but if you can… hold on tight to me, it’d be nice… to have some more body… or rather spirit warmth as I go to sleep.

Sunset: No problem, Fi-Fi. One perk of being a spirit is I can’t exactly get tired. As long as I don’t close my eyes for too long and/or start drifting off and/or focus.on heading back up. I’ll be here with you. I’ll wait till’ you’re sound asleep and I’ll have my hooves around you the whole time before I leave. I still remember your distinctive snoring, so I’ll know when you’re deep asleep.

Firelight just smiles, and kisses Sunset again.

Firelight: It’s good to have you back, even if repeat visits aren’t going to be quite easy without an easy ride to Ponyville or Canterlot within a year.

Sunset: I’m glad I’ll be able to come back occasionally too, best day of my li- or I guess I should say… afterlife… to see you again, and see the kind of pony my daughter has become. I’m glad I’ll still be able to watch her future unfold from time-to-time.

Firelight: I guess I’ll see you at the wedding in Saddle Arabia next, huh?

Sunset: Yep, should be fun.

Firelight: Goodnight, Shimmy

Sunset: Good night, my darling Fi-Fi.

Sunset and Firelight proceed to hold onto each other for the night. Hours later when Firelight has been snoring for a good while. Sunset closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, before focusing on heading back up. Her comet form leaving the house, back up to the soul shield. Until the next time she gets summoned again.

UP NEXT: Chapter 31: The Sands Of Time & Family

[theharellan]

101 DRAGON AGE QUESTIONS | not accepting

for the sake of reducing the number of ooc posts i’m answering these all in one and just @ing the people who asked the questions! thank you for them all!

if you sent me one of these btw and rbed this meme yourself and i didn’t send you something, please let me know! i want to send you things back and must have missed you reblogging the meme. this includes non-mutuals.

1. How did you get into Dragon Age? | asked by @kaaras-adaar & @dreamerlavellan​

Sort of by accident, actually. It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in university (2011) and summertime is generally a time of inactivity and depression because I cannot tolerate the weather here. My dad happened to own Origins and I picked it up because??? Fantasy? RPG?

Starting the game I saw you could play as a dwarf, who have been my favourites in fantasy since a child as The Hobbit is among my favourite books. Then after that I fell in love with the worldbuilding for dwarves and Gorim, my first actual Dragon Age love. I was more or less hooked after that. DA was actually not my first Bioware game, I was obsessed with Jade Empire as a kid so like Origins appealed to me immediately despite being far less fun to play than literally any other Bioware game I’ve ever played. The characters and world more than made up for it.

I beat it relatively quickly and my dad bought Dragon Age II which had come out earlier that day, actually against my suggestion because I’d heard it wasn’t good. And in this instance my dad forgetting something I said turned out for the best because I ended up enjoying DAII more in some respects. While it took me a while to join the fandom as a content producer I was a consumer and certified DA trash from then on.

2. Have you finished all three games? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

Kskjdfs yes. I’ve beaten each at least 4 times, but probably more like 8. The only thing I haven’t played are some of the Origins DLC because as much as I enjoy my replays I am so ready to be out by the end of the game (and I have the worst luck with Awakening bugs) and I also don’t have Sebastians DLC b/c his never goes on sale individually and I refuse to spend more than like $4 on him.

3. How long did it take you to finish the series? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

I honestly don’t know. I think it took me like a week to beat Inquisition without 100%ing it, I’d say my first playthroughs all probably took about that long. I tend not to do everything in my first playthrough. Like shard collecting didn’t happen until round two, etc.

7. Favorite DA:O backstory? | asked by @dreamerlavellan & @fatefaulted

I’ve played through all of them and I enjoy them all except Cousland, but my favourite is Aeducan. I enjoy the politics, the culture, the aesthetic of Orzammar. I love Gorim Saelac and the surprising amount of depth to this character who is designed to be thrown away after the prologue. I love how it ties you to the Darkspawn threat in a bigger way than any of the origins accomplish. I love how it ties you to the Orzammar plot later in the game, and playing Aeducan first is probably one reason why I adore that branch of the game. It’s a good origin that establishes its world really well and has great characters to boot.

11. Share a pic of your favorite OC from any DA game. | asked by @dreamerlavellan

I just want to share pics of my girl and Solas’ future husband.

Ian Lavellan, non-Inquisitor written by @theshirallen

Thora Cadash, dwarven Inquisitor and default Inquisitor for this blog written by... me lmao.

22. Favorite DA2 party combo? | asked by @fatefaulted

My main Hawke is a mage Hawke, so this party is horrendously imbalanced, but: Varric, Merrill, Isabela. They all just like each other and I think that’s neat. Although in act one my favourite is probably Carver, Merrill, Isabela / Varric. Unfortunately the game doesn’t want me to have a warrior in my party.

24. Favorite main-story quest from DA:I? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

It’s hard to pick between In Hushed Whispers and In Your Heart Shall Burn. I love seeing the red lyrium’d companions and the dark future of Thedas, and speculating on what happened in the intervening year. I love reflecting on what it must do for the Inquisitor to see that and have it be undone. I think it sets up the rest of the game really well, and in ways Champions of the Just doesn’t do quite as well.

In Your Heart Shall burn is a simpler quest but I think the power and emotions in the quest are so raw. Playing this the first time was riveting and I was on the edge of my seat. The triumph of closing the Breach, the strangeness of your first encounter with Cole (whose appearance at the gates is another reason I prefer IHW tbh, I think it’s more tension building than Dorian’s), Corypheus, crawling through the snow. Capping it off with The Dawn Will Come and the journey to Skyhold idk, it’s just such an emotional high point in the series that every time I replay I get goosebumps.

25. Favorite DA:I place? | asked by @fatefaulted

It’s a tie between the Frostback Basin and the Emerald Graves. I love the lore in both, as elf trash I prefer the lore in the graves especially if I can include the Din’an Hanin into that category. But the Avvar lore and Ameridan is also Very Good, and while I adore the giant trees of the graves the Frostback Basin clearly was able to have more resources poured into its design, and as a result the different sections of the map have so much more character.

A close runner-up is the Hinterlands, as I think the quests there are fun and it feels like home. I enjoy returning to it. Which is good, b/c I’ve played through it... a lot... I think loving it might be a coping mechanism, but also I love the vibe of the early game that’s best captured in the Hinterlands.

32. Favorite DLC mission overall? | asked by @fatefaulted

Trespasser is up there with Shivering Isles as my favourite DLC ever produced. Its hits every emotional beat I think it needed to hit, set up the next game with greater detail and intrigue than the initial epilogue, and I’m honestly dying to get to replay it again on Thora despite what it does to my nerves. The first time I played it I could feel my heart beating faster like wtf me.

37. Blood magic: yes or no? | asked by @hopewrought​

Would I use it myself? No. Morally I think it can be reprehensible but also neutral, much like any other magic in the game. In certain characters I think even if used for good it may encourage unhealthy habits, but I think it can be learned to be engaged with in better ways.

59. Who was written really poorly? | asked by @theshirallen you can’t hide behind anon I know it was you

Oghren fucking Kondrat. When I think about the reasons Origins is my least favourite game he is among them. With Oghren there was a really good chance to portray an alcoholic abuse victim, suffering from severe mental health issues, and still mourning his wife, with the respect it deserves. Instead he just... is a gross sexist dwarf and his alcoholism is mostly played for jokes. And then he comes back in Awakening and... continues to be a gross sexist dwarf whose alcoholism is mostly played for jokes.

There could have been some really interesting stuff with Oghren, the Warrior caste of dwarves I think would suffer from issues similar to qunari warriors, where when they can no longer fill the purpose society has dictated they must serve, what then? They can’t do anything but fight. There could be comradery with Sten, or perhaps Zevran or Alistair, or any of the companions who have had the path their lives took dictated to them by societal forces they had no say in (even if they are happy with that direction). There are snippets of good stuff in here, the line “let us show them our hearts, Warden, and then show them theirs” is one of the best of the good-byes the game offers us imo. It’s a shame about what came before.

Like there are other characters, such as Sera, who I think were done dirty by their writers, but Sera at least got some growth in the DLC and there were attempts to address criticism of her character. Oghren in Awakening was just kind of a take two of an already poorly-done arc.

60. Who do you wish had been given more story? | asked by @hopewrought​

I wish Briala had more, like that she had some impact on the story in universes where Gaspard isn’t crowned with her as his puppetmaster. She and the elves reappears in that but not if you reunite her with Celene or exile her, and I think it would’ve been neat. I also wish she’d had a chance to interact with Solas in some small way given how many parallels were drawn by one of his own agents during Masked Empire.

I also wish we had more about dwarves in general in 2 and Inquisition. We get some great lore in Inquisition that was set up in 2, but with our only dwarf companion being Varric, who honestly has a relationship with his race that at times is comparable to Sera’s, it pulls a few of its punches. I really think they have dwarves set up to be important players in the next game, with their architecture featuring heavily in the dev diary, buuut no dwarves to be seen. So who knows. Just give me dwarves in the next game who aren’t Varric Bioware pls. Let me kiss one maybe.

61. Favorite NPC? | asked by @kaaras-adaar​

I’m not going to count advisors even though they kinda are NPCs and I’m going to answer one for each game so uhh...

Origins - Anora

DA2 - Feynriel

DA:I - Krem

Bonus - Lord Woolsley, the only unproblematic DA character

63. Best story moment? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

It’s a tie between the journey to Skyhold and the talk with Solas at the end of Trespasser and the resulting disbanding of the Inquisition (if you so choose). I really can’t separate them because I think the reason Trespasser works so well is how it calls back to the very beginning of Inquisition and that moment with Solas in the snow. It’s triumphant and sad, something’s ending, the fellowship is breaking, but you know all of you will continue to work towards a better world apart.

In DA:O I think it’d be saying good-bye before the final battle and in DA2 I think the moment where you can tell the Arishok he was right to take in the elves who killed that guardmen is good. Probably one of the reasons why I think Hawke-Arishok work so well as a protagonist-antagonist combination.

81. Favorite fanfic? | asked by @ghilannainguideme​

I don’t read a lot of fanfic, actually. Save what I read on here, which I do count, but idk if other people do.

My favourite writers to read are @theshirallen​, obviously. Joly wants to tweakIan’s personal quest but I think the version they have written now is still very good and you can find it here. I love reading Peace’s stuff and find their smut especially spicy in the best possible way, you can find a Merrill/f!Mahariel piece here! Gaia doesn’t write on Tumblr much these days, but she wrote a wonderful Tug/Sketch (the companions from Leliana’s Song) that you can find here.

I follow so many talented writers and I can’t list them all but here are a few I can fire off real fast: @theshirallen / @ghilannainguideme / @seahaloed / @sabraelin / @valorcorrupt / @mercysought / @hopewrought / @ofrevas / @skyheld have all moved me with their words at some point, be it in fic or rp.

82. Favorite fanart/fanartist? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

Again I just can’t choose jsdfks.

The easiest way is to just link my Solas fanart tag. Obviously this favours Solas artists, however, so also here’s a link to thedaswlw where there’s a boatload of amazing fanart all of wlw.

Of people I’m mutuals with I know @abracafockyou, @kaaras-adaar, @dalathin (currently inactive but I gotta link them), and @syntharts​ are all very talented artists.  I’m also a big fan of destinyapostacy, nipuni, elbenherzart, starscollected (on twitter), and many more.

97. What’s your favorite DA mod? | asked by @ghilannainguideme​ & @hopewrought​

I’ll chose one as many as I want to apparently from each game again, b/c why not?

DA:O - I have to admit I find this game hard to mod because nothing can really salvage the gameplay or look of the game. I need Better Dwarf Model so I don’t have to look at the odd dwarf proportions in the game (the women have arms for days). Mostly I have armour mods. I like Grey Wardens of Ferelden so I can match Alistair in the final batte and have everyone in uniforms in Awakening. I do like Kirkwall Exports because I can put Zevran in the robes of the notorious pirate tho. I haven’t used this mod yet but I also love this mod I retweeted this morning.

DA2 - Again, I don’t mod 2 very much. You could probably make some kind of chart for correlating my enjoyment of a game versus my urge to mod it, with the more I love a game means I want to mod it more. With 2 I enjoy the combat and overall design of the characters more so I mostly use a couple of tweaks, my favourite is Ishs Scarf for Merrill which just adds a cute blue scarf to Merrill and hides the fact that elves in this game have weirdly long necks. Oh and a mod to fix the weird hand dirt.

DA:I - Equal Opportunity Solas mod, I bought the game again on PC just to use it. Being able to play Solas/Ian for screencaps was everything tbh. Other mods I enjoy are More Banter, which while I have better luck with banter it is nice to be able to count on it. I installed it this latest pt and I have heard location comments that have never triggered before. Black Hair for Everyone has changed my life because finally Thora doesn’t have grey hair. No Dirt Buildup is also amazing, as the dirt can cause some really weird blotting on PCs that’s especially noticeable on dark-skinned Inquisitors.

99. Where would you live (Ferelden, Orlais, Free Marches etc?) | asked by @heysales​​

Probably Ferelden. It is fantasy England and hey if I make it past Inquisition maybe nothing will ever happen there again. Somewhere in the Free Marches might also be chill. Not Kirkwall. Maybe Starkhaven? Honestly tho I just want to live in the Frostback Basin. Have a spirit friend. Shake hands with nugs.

101. If you could meet your Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor, what would you say? | asked by @dreamerlavellan​

If I met Thora I’d tell her I’m proud of her. She’d be confused, but that’s ok.

[sveasauvageon]

HSWW ROUND I STORY

I never gave it a neat title, oops.  Svea Year I + Pre-Seventh Year Midsummer Celebrations {HSWW}

─═Featured HSWW/Polyvore Era not-mein oc’s═─

Eloise Avery | @.themadmonarchist

(also mentioned Lord and Lady Avery, but they don't appear)

Syn Lothbrok | @.ghostpastey

Hvitty Lothbrok | @.ghostpastey

Entire Lothbrok Family (too many to name individually)

Damien Greaves | @.natasha-maree13

Tyler Lee | @.maybones (lol, I originally typed @minahbones)

Minah Kwon Delacroix | @.maybones

Tara Lee (I couldn't leave out Little T from this nutty dance) | @.maybones

Theo Nott | @.themadmonarchist

Moses Park Jr | @.koby

Lyra Greaves | @.natasha-maree13

Oberon Greaves | @.natasha-maree13

Henry Clark | @.lady-stoneheart

Xander Carlyle (I think I've been listing him as clark all this time, whoops) | @.lady-stoneheart

Sungjae Lee | @.chrissykinz

Loralei Expura | @.thespian-at-large

Lyrae Mino | @.skyfalll

──════𝑺𝑻𝑶𝑹𝒀════──

Up in the northwest quarters of the Sauvageon Estate, Svea was braiding her young sister's hair with little bells and complex knots. Khalessi style? Yes, obviously. The show is garbage, but is visually stunning. Also the music. Back to point, as the elder heir wove in the little bells, Lili enthusiastically recounted her first year at Koldovstoretz; her classes, teachers, friends, and her first Russian Quidditch game where they play on entire uprooted trees instead of brooms (A/N: true fact, look it up on the wikia).

Her ardor and excitement made Svea nostalgic of her own first year. Her letter had arrived at the Prince Manor in Cornwall, where she had been staying for a year. The darkest year in her life she may add. The arrival of the letter was nothing special or shocking, there certainly wasn't any doubt about her having magic after she had set the manor on fire. Though, she did note a mild expression of relief on her grandfather's face, presumably he was pleased she'd be out of his house soon. And she was pleased about that too, the Prince Manor was dark, dreary, and drab, and they refused to allow Aunt Brigitta to remodel it after the fire. Svea never understood why they insisted it be restored as it was, the poor interiors were what she called "discount gothic", it was nothing like the true majesty of actual gothic architecture.

Anyway, decidedly pleased her time with the Prince's was nearing its end, Svea was positively beaming when she went to King's Cross Station on September the first. She was accompanied by her aunt and step-mother, the later of whom had apparated to London the day before, much to the displeasure of Svea's mother, who also accompanied them to King's Cross. Svea questioned her mother's instructions of walking into a wall, part of her believing that it may just be some kind of trick to humiliate the "foreigners", as she so often called Svea and her paternal family. However, the Prince simply huffed in annoyance, glaring at the odd silvery-gold colour Iliana had died the little girl's hair, before briskly walking through the wall first herself, with Svea, Iliana, and Brigitta quickly following thereafter. 

Svea had barely a moment to admire the victorian vibe of the station before her mother pulled her aside. "Richelle, ensure that you're sorted into Slytherin, and try not to do anything to disgrace the Prince name." she commanded, disappearing with a loud crack before Svea could retort. Sighing to herself, she made a mental note to send a howler reminding her mother that her name is Svea Sauvageon, not Richelle Prince, before reuniting with her aunt and step-mother, who were overseeing the loading of her luggage.

She spotted Eloise Avery looking out a window on the train, but she was looking in another direction and didn't notice Svea, not that she wanted to catch her attention when her grandparents were around. If they were around that is, one short playdate and tales of admiration from her own grandfather was enough to cement a cold and unloving image in Svea's head. She shuddered at the memory, she was grateful beyond word that her grandparents were nothing like that. Well, her Sauvageon grandparents. It's a safe bet that all Grandfather Marcius aspires to be is a slightly less rich and more grumbling version of the "great and powerful" Lady Avery.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, Svea hugged Iliana and Aunt Brigitta goodbye, promising to write and look after herself, before quickly boarding the train to find an empty compartment to save for herself, Syn, and Hvitty. The Lothbroks were amongst their closest wizarding friends in Scandinavia and practically family to Svea, she was pleased beyond measure to have her best friend at this far away school too. She'd always been fairly independent, but having familiar faces at Hogwarts would be a great comfort too, and endless fun. No one knows how to enjoy things like a Lothbrok. Okay, like Syn. No one knows how to party like Syn. Even at 11, she was more fun and energetic than anyone you could think of.

She waited by the window until she spotted them getting on, before rushing to the corridor to call them over. The subsequent assault (as she would put it, they might just call it a hug) nearly took Svea's head off. Grinning at being reunited, they chatted throughout the train ride, and purchased ridiculous amounts of British Wizarding Treats when the Trolley lady stopped by. They also met some other first years as well, some of whom, Svea noted, were less than pleased to be in such a rowdy compartment.

Once they neared the school (or as Svea's alarms warned her they were), she changed into her school robes, dragging along Syn to do the same who complained that they were "nowhere near there yet". However, exactly as her alarm warned her, they were at Hogsmeade station within 30 minutes. ("hah! Told you so Tamsyn", she screamed internally and definitely not with every fibre of her being). Seperating from the others, Svea, Syn, and Hvitty disembarked from the train together, where they and the other first years were greeted by a staff member from Hogwarts who led them to a number of boats. Grabbing a boat upfront, they were joined by Henry Clark, whom they had met on the train and whom Syn had immediately given the nickname "Hank", which he seemed to vehemently dislike. Once they had all boarded, the boat seemed to propel themselves as they all sailed across the vast lake. The Black Lake, she recalled it was called. Her cousin Viggo often talked about visiting it one day.

"Vig told me that there's a colony of merpeople living in the lake." Svea excitedly mentioned to Syn and Hvitty as they crossed, gazing down into the murky water to try to spot one.

"Fishman would know." replied Syn, joining Svea to look over the edge of the boat.

"He's not a Fishman."

"As always, you're right." said Syn, nodding solemnly before adding, "He's a half-fishman."

"Well, you're not wrong there," Svea conceded.

Syn grinned triumphantly as Svea dipped her fingers into the water. It was cold, just as Vig told her it would be, but it wasn't as cold as the water in Lake Mälaren.

Despite having been raised in marble coated mansions, even Svea was awestruck when they neared Hogwarts Castle. Whilst Sauvageon Slott was certainly brighter, the large stone structure was absolutely stunning, and far more inviting than her father and family's descriptions of Durmstrang. As much as she loathed her mother's family, she was glad just this once at their persistence of doing things the "English" way. The little boats they were in soon passed through an ivy curtain and carried them along a dark tunnel, which seemed to run beneath the castle itself, and eventually docked by some rocks at what seemed to be an underground harbour of sorts. 

Once all the students were out of the boats they were led to a small room (the Chamber of Reception, she later learned it was called), where they were greeted by a tall, red haired woman. She introduced herself as Professor Hester Weasley, Deputy Headmistress. She ushered them into the Great Hall and began reading their names out one by one in alphabetical order. Once called, they were to sit on a stool facing the other students and had a dingy old hat placed on their head which would announce what house they're to join after thinking about it for a bit. It might be a magic, talking, singing hat, but the whole process seemed unnecessarily drawn out and somewhat silly to Svea. She was fairly certain it was thought up by someone forest crazy (Swedish phrase, equivalent to "raging mad").

Svea's was amongst the last few names to be called. Hvitty went off to Gryffindor, and Syn to Hufflepuff. Eloise went to Slytherin, whilst Hank (*wink-wink* @.ghostpastey) went to Gryffindor. She noted that the hat had barely gotten within a foot of Damien Greaves' head before it screamed Slytherin. When the Headmistress finally said her name, Svea tottered up to the little stool, starving by that point and eager to get on with dinner and classes in the morning.

"Impatient, aren't we?" said a voice in her head once the hat was on, 'causing Svea to nearly jump out of her skin. She didn't realize it was talking during those minutes in-between the hat being worn and shouting the student's house.

"I'm hungry," she replied, well, thought, once she had brought her spikes down (Swedish phrase effectively meaning to "chill" -shrug emoji- Sweden is weird, also, awesome). "Any recommendations on what's good?"

The hat chucked in her ear, mind's ear. "Try the steak and yorkshire pudding," her mouth began watering at steak, she needed it now. "I'll try to be quick then. Swedish I see, muggle friends, oh dear, the ministry won't be happy about that breach of secrecy," the hat muttered as it rummaged through her mind.

Svea shrugged. "Not my ministry. Can you hurry it up, I don't really care, but I would prefer not Slytherin."

"Not Slytherin, eh? And why is that?"

"To infuriate my mother."

"But I see you also have the desire to be in Slytherin to outshine her and your grandfather, quite petty, no?"

"Yes, but I am only 10."

"Then would you prefer to be petty? I see great things for you in Ravenclaw, where those of wit and learning find their own kind. You have a great thirst for knowledge."

Svea shrugged again. "Whatever magic hat, isn't it your job to figure that out?"

The sorting hat sighed. "SLYTHERIN!" it shouted aloud, applause erupting on the table to her far right. The hat was barely off her head before she practically bounded over. She was so hungry and there were only a handful of students left to be sorted before she could finally eat. She ended up next to a third year and the speedily sorted boy from earlier. 

"Svea," she said, introducing herself with a smile as another students sorting began. 

"Damien," he gruffly replied.

"You shouldn't look so murderous, you're 11." She chided, impatiently tapping her foot whilst the last children were finally being sorted.

Damien rolled his eyes. "What if I am one?"

"Then you shouldn't be broadcasting that desire to everyone. Isn’t a killer best served if their intentions are secretive?" before he could retort, however, Svea's attention turned elsewhere. Specifically, their table. "OH YES! FINALLY FOOD! Hey, can you grab me some steak please!" she asked of the boy in front of them. "I'm Svea, by the way. You want one too Damien?"

"I can get it myself, thanks," muttered the British boy, looking quite irritated.

"Seyong Lee, but you can call me Tyler." answered the other one, placing a steak on Svea's plate as well as Damien's.

Once the feast was over (the hat was right about that Steak and Yorkshire Pudding), the Headmistress said a few words, mostly about forbidden places, Svea could feel none of those warnings making it into Syn's ears, and led the school in a rendition of the school song. She noticed some seven years really giving the song their all, and nearly toppled over with laughter. After the song finally ended, Svea and the other first year Slytherins were instructed to follow one of their House Prefects. Svea couldn't remember their name, but recalled them being one of those English Scared 28 people. They followed the prefect back out to the Entrance Hall, and through a door on the right, were led down to the dungeons. When they reached a bare stretch of stonewall, the prefect uttered a phrase and it revealed a passageway which led to the Slytherin common room. The password that month, if she recalled correctly, was "cantankerus".

Svea was less in love with the common room than most of her fellow first years, it was nice enough, but rather dark and dreary, much like the Prince Manor she noted. It had similar colourings of dark shades of green and serpentine décor everywhere (if it were up to her, she'd decorate it with dragons). She did, however, adore the large glass windows, and the water behind it, rushing up to it in excitement when a large squid went swishing by. The prefect explained that they were under the Black Lake and sometimes they saw creatures more interesting than the Giant Squid swim by the windows. 

The first night would've ended without incident, but her future bestie just had to be dramatic and get into a physical fight with a seventh year.

"Well, that was dramatic," she commented once the seventh year fell to the floor. "Anyway, where's our stuff and where do we sleep?" Looking back, it was probably impressive that an 11 year old could easily defeat a 17 year old, but meh. She was tired, and she really needed her phone. How can you expect someone to sleep without the honey smooth voices of Eurovision performers?

The year went by quite quickly. Her hair only remained valyrian silver for about a month, before reverting back to her natural gold, and as expected, she ended all her classes with top marks. She enjoyed History of Magic and Potions the most in her first year. Whilst mostly a positive year, she did make some pureblood fervent enemies, but she is not going allow such idioticy to stand in her house. Slytherins are intelligent and cunning, not backwards morons. She recalled Syn dropping out of the sky at point to defend her from a pureblood's oh so hurtful words. But as they say, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words from an idiot do nothing. It was also the first year she celebrated her birthday without her biological family (not including either of the Princes'), she did, however, still have Syn and Hvitty, and a whole new bunch of friends.

Speaking of said friends, time to pull out of memory lane and jump back into the present. With Lili's hair done, and hers' also, once again, done up in Khalessi style (also dyed silver again, she would've dyed Lili's hair too, but the little Swede-Ruski said no), anyway, with their hair finally done, the two siblings went down into the courtyard. The entire Sauvageon estate was decorated in greenery as they were celebrating Midsummer, and before the traditional Sauvageon ball in the evening, they had invited a bunch of friends (mainly Svea's and some of Lili's new friends) to participate in the traditional maypole dance. The Lothbroks, of course, always came along, Norway celebrated Midsummer too, though with a bonfire instead of dancing around a maypole, so weird (that's sarcastic, Sweden is obvs the weirdo here). Minah, and Eloise, and Damien, of course, came along, well, the latter two of whom had to be somewhat dragged along, Eloise on the excuse of "observing" the activities of "lesser" beings. And where went M and E, always came T and T, aka Tyler and Theo or as Svea called the three of them, very much without their permission, zaldrīzes raqiror (translation: dragon friends). Moses and Lyrae had also come, and so had Henry, of course, what kind of awful girlfriend would forget to invite her "paramour" (as Svea preferred labelling him). Numerous adorable siblings had come along as well, Xander Carlyle (who would like to clarify he's Henry's cousin, not brother), Tara Lee, forever shipping Minah with the wrong person; it’s Minah and Tyler forever, not Minah and Sungjae (sorry buddy), whom, by the way, was also invited and showed up. Even Lyra and Oberon Greaves had come along, though they were decidedly less comfortable around Svea and Damien. Also somewhat uncomfortable was Loralei Expura, but as Svea explained, in Sweden, you just eat good food, hold hands, and dance in a circle around a weird pole for some reason. 

---Post-credit scene with the zaldrīzes raqiror---

Theo: *leaning up against a tree* I'm not doing that.

Tyler: come on, it looks fun.

Theo: I don't remember asking for your opinion.

Tyler: you're lucky to have been graced with it.

Svea: *suddenly apparates to where they are* Just shut up and hold hands already, you're killing the vibe!

[amplesalty]

TV Binging: The Umbrella Academy - Season 1 (2019)

Not ‘The Umbrella Chronicles’ as I keep calling it in my head for some reason...

With the recent announcement of Season 2’s arrival in July, what better time to finally dip into the Netflix original that has been lingering in my watch list since its debut on the service last year. I knew this had something of a superhero vibe going into it but I was surprised at how relatively mundane it is, at least to begin with.

The start of the show covers the reuniting of a former group of heroes brought back together by the passing of their Father and tutor. Think of it as the X-Men except Professor Xavier is a really pushy Hollywood parent, though I don’t think even Joe Jackson went as far as to lock one of his kids in a mausoleum for days on end. The outpouring of emotion is more skewed towards bitterness over their mistreatment growing up, pushed to extremes in the name of enhancing their powers and bereft of any emotional support from him. I dig the idea, with the explosion of comic book movies over the past 20+ years they’re normally more focused on big action set pieces so it’s neat to have this more dramatic look at how these characters have been shaped by their upbringing.

To some extent I think it’s something Luther as the de-facto leader of the group comes to experience as the show moves along, having to make choices that are hard for everyone to accept but I guess that’s something you have to do as a leader sometimes, not everyone is going to like it but you have to do these things for the good of the unit even if they can’t see it in that moment.

That’s not to say the series doesn’t quickly evolve into a bigger overarching story of an impending apocalypse which the group are destined to band together to fight. It’s actually a lot like Heroes in that respect; visions of an apocalyptic future, that apocalypse brought on unwittingly by a developing power, a shadowy agency manipulating events in the background, deceitful relationships...

Though, even if that one particular relationship was built on a foundation of lies, it would still be one of the more relatively normal ones playing out on this show. I mean, you have Five and his mannequin dummy, Hazel and the old lady who runs the doughnut shop and, of course, Luther and Allison.

Luther and Allison are two of the titular Academy who were amongst a group of some 40+ kids all mysteriously born at the same time across the world to mothers who weren’t pregnant at the time. The way they present that at the start is rather amusing, with these two rather coy teenagers sneaking a kiss under the nose of a strict swimming teacher, only for the girl to suddenly start giving birth in the pool. It’s like the fruition of every overly strict mother’s warnings; “You see, I told you kissing could get you pregnant!”. To that end, they’re not blood relatives or anything so I guess it’s not technically a problem but it’s still really, really weird and even moreso because everyone just seems to know about it and not really bothered by it. At first I thought it was just me reading too much into things, like there’s a flashback to them as kids around the dinner table and they share this smile which, yes on the service is probably not much to go on but even across a near 10 hour long series, these individual moments are there for a reason so it must be leading to something, right? And sure enough, they do eventually kiss in this very cinematic moment where she’s leaving and he makes this last minute plea for her to stay, triumphant music kicks in and they kiss under the moonlight. It reminded me of Clueless where they built up this romance between Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd’s characters even though they’re step-siblings. And this is without even mentioning the fact that Luther is some degree of man/ape hybrid after he was injected with some mysterious serum in order to save his life following a botched mission. Massive hairy upper body going on that he’s naturally a bit wary to show off. If you at least shaved I think you’d pass as halfway normal, if people can get past the whole hench body/tidy head combo you’ve got going on. Dude looks like a Goomba from the Mario movie.

Even though there are six of these main characters around (well, seven including Ben but only Klaus can see him), they do tend to stick within these little groups or pairs so you see a lot of the same recurring interactions like Luther and Allison or Klaus and Diego. Makes things interesting when you get these odd combinations interacting for a change. Klaus tends to get around a bit though, which is good, I really like him. Definitely very quirky with his personality and dress sense but I’d say he’s up there as one of the characters that undergoes the most growth throughout the series. It’s cool to get an understanding as to why he is the way that he is early on but also see him develop  and realise some of the potential that he never even knew he had. On the surface the ability to talk to the dead is perhaps not the most practical of abilities, he’d probably be at the back of the line if Superman or Captain America were picking out heroes for their teams, but he puts it to practical use during his kidnapping and even taps into his hidden potential in the finale.

I am curious as to where things are going in Season 2 as the finale here felt more like pressing the reset button than anything. I would assume they’re not going to spend a massive amount of time re-treading old ground though and some greater threat will emerge as the protagonist. Like, the Handler was kind of a peripheral figure so maybe she’ll be a bigger part or someone else from the Commission. Hazel and Cha-Cha had their moments but always felt like they were walking the line of serious threats and incompetence. I suppose that’s not massively out of place for the show though, it does waver between tones often, perhaps most jarringly between the end of episode 8 and the start of 9. Especially with how prevalent the act of binge watching has between, to go from the dramatic conclusion of 8 to seeing Marry Poppins stand ins flung through oversized Lego blocks at the start of 9 is certainly quite a shift.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Episodic Patterns for Episodes 8, 9, & 10

Good morning, Everyone! How was your Thanksgiving. Mine was great! Lots of family, craziness, WAY too much pie. Good times! ;D 

Okay, so I’m first going to talk about the video released on the official YouTube channel that shows clips of Beth’s, Carl’s, and Deanna’s deaths after the 10x08 trailer. Because that’s what got me thinking about this. I said originally that showing Carl’s death along with Beth’s made perfect sense to me, but Deanna’s mystified me a bit.

Well, after hashing things out with my fellow theorists, I have much more to say. Actually, @wdway​ came up with these initial observations all by herself, so kudos to her for that. What she observed is 100% accurate and insightful, and led to me realize these other episodic patterns. So let’s go through these quickly.

There are some subtle parallels between Beth’s, Deanna’s, and Carl’s deaths. Mostly, it has to do with the way they’re set up in the MSF. In each case, the death is “announced” if you will in the MSF, and we’re kind of led to believe that they’ll die in that episode. Except that they don’t. They’re given another episode to kind of wrap things up.

So with Beth, this is obvious. At least to us TDers. We’re led to believe she died in the MSF, and we don’t think she did. But even setting the death fake out aside for a moment, even 5x09 is kind of a continuation of her death. We really shouldn’t have seen her at all after 5x08, but we did. 

Seeing her, even as part of Tyreese’s death hallucination, was a surprise. And we have other clues (like the group running to their cars) of other things that may have happened in the interim that we aren’t privy to. So the idea is that things might not have gone down in exactly the way we were led to believe based on the MSF.

Deanna’s is less dramatic. We knew she’d die one way or the other because she was bitten. She was given a gun to end her own life rather than be eaten. And we had clues that it wouldn’t go down that way (she opened the door, screamed at the walkers, and fired at them) but we didn’t’ know because we didn’t actually SEE her death. (Perhaps another Beth parallel.) 

Then, in 6x10, we do learn that things didn’t go according to plan. Because Deanna, as a reanimated walker, is stumbling around outside of Alexandria. So, she couldn’t have shot herself in the head. But she also wasn’t eaten by walkers. 

Something happened that helped her avoid being a meal, but also led to her reanimated self getting not only out of the room but outside the walls. What was it? We don’t know. And it’s probably not even very important because Deanna wasn’t a super main-stream character. 

But the point is, things didn’t go down the way the MSF finale led us to believe they would. And we have parallels to Beth’s death both in the mystery surrounding what happened with Deanna, and the fact that Spencer looked for her as a walker, which we also believe Daryl did with Beth.

Carl’s death is similar. We found out about his bite in the MSF and many people might have pegged that as his death episode. Yet, they gave him another episode with a much bigger send off to tie up all the loose ends. So things didn’t go down quite as people thought they would, based on the setup in the MSF.

There are other subtle parallels as well. I have to point out the gunshot-to-the-head theme that runs through these. The theme is present in all three, but what actually happens is different each time. Beth is shot in the head, but we believe it didn’t kill her. Deanna is supposed to shoot herself in the head, but doesn’t, and reanimates as a walker as a result. Carl actually does shoot himself in the head, and it kills him, and we see his burial/funeral.

There are other rabbit holes we could go down as well when it comes to the symbolic ties between these deaths. I’ll just mention a few things without actually going down them.

Carl is the one who sees walker-Deanna and leads her to Spencer so Spencer can put her down. He tells Michonne such things should be done by family or someone who loves the deceased person. That he would do it for her. You could see that as a foreshadow of Carl’s death. The way it’s presented, it almost seems like a foreshadow of Michonne’s death (“I’d do it for you,”) but it wasn’t. Carl said it and it was about him. A foreshadow that when he was bitten (like Deanna) Michonne would be there to make sure he got put down and didn’t reanimate as a walker.

But the thing is, this conversation takes place right after Carl says the thing to Baby Judith about using the North Star to find your way HOME. Saying that and then talking to Michonne about his death (not literally, of course) also entangles Carl’s death with Beth’s return.

See what I mean about the rabbit holes?

I also think it’s interesting that Michonne was involved in a big way in both Carl’s and Deanna’s deaths. Makes you wonder what her role in the missing 17 days after Coda was, doesn’t it? And what her role in Beth’s return will be.

But let’s switch gears just a bit, here. Thinking about all of this helped make a pattern clear in my mind about the structure of episode 8, 9, and 10 in each season. And I think you’ll all like this because it’s another, concrete way to point at episode 10 as possibly being when Beth returns.  

We all tend to think and say—me especially—that each season is divided into 16 episodes with two major arcs: the front half and back half. And while that’s true, it’s not quite that neat and tidy is it? The two arcs don’t consist of 1-8 and 9-16. Rather, the first arc tends to be 1-7. 8-9 is a shit-hits-the-fan mini-arc, 

and then the new arc for the back half starts in episode 10. Hence all those damn sunrises we see, yeah? ;D

I think my biggest takeaway here is that they never FINISH in episode 8 what they started in episode 8. They usually short it up in episode 9. We already talked about this with character deaths, but it’s true in a more general sense as well. Ep 10 starts the new arc, and, more often that not, it includes them finding a new group or community.

So I had to think through all the seasons. Or at least, all the ones since S4. Arguments can be made for 1-3, but I’ll stick to the ones after Gimple took over.

S4: So right off the bat, S4 was a little different. I think that’s mostly because they split into so many little groups and they had to show them all. But of course the big event in ep 8 was the prison going down, 

but ep 9 and 10 were continuations of that. Hence all the running. Again, I think this took 2 episodes because 9 was just about Rick/Michonne/Carl and then 10 covered Bethyl, Maggie/Sasha/Bob, and Glenn/Abraham/and co. They didn’t actually find a new community, but all of them started moving toward Terminus in one way or another.

S5: Obviously the shitstorm in ep 8 was Beth/Grady. And while it’s still a little unclear how ep 9 continues this, the biggest clue is that Beth was actually in episode 9, albeit as a hallucination. And it’s hard to pin down because it was so metaphorical and abstract, but the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. Ep 9 was about taking Noah home. That was to honor Beth’s wishes, and Noah came to the group courtesy of Beth/Grady anyway. So that episode really was an outgrowth or extension of the Grady arc. 

And it ends with a burial. Of course it was Ty’s, rather than Beth’s, but now, after all this time, I can see that it was meant to symbolize Beth’s as well. Not because she actually died or got a burial, but rather because, for all intents and purposes—both to the characters and to the audience—she was dead, and that was the end of that arc.

The new arc starts, of course, with Aaron showing up to bring them to a new community: Alexandria.

S6: This is a big one for me. I always said 6x09 would have made a WAY better MSF than 6x08. The big event was the church falling on the fence and letting walkers into Alexandria. (Yeah, I know it technically happened at the end of ep 7, but that was just for the cliffhanger effect. Ep 8 was them dealing with the horde.) 

And ep 8 left off right smack in the middle of the action. Daryl/Sasha/Abe were still facing Saviors on the road, Eugene was still calling for help on the radio, Rick and co held hands and moved into the horde, but things were far from solved. Maggie was still trapped on the scaffold. Glenn and Enid were still outside the walls. Then ep 9 comes along and all the great stuff happens. Daryl plays with a rocket, everyone returns to the Alexandria, Glenn and Maggie reunite after 8 episodes apart (end of death fakeout, by the way), Daryl stars the lake on fire, Carl shot, Jessie & sons eaten, and epic battle against walkers for Alexandria.

So my point is, they didn’t wrap things up until episode 9. New arc begins in ep 10 when they meet Jesus and go to Hilltop (new community).

S7: Much less drama in the middle of S7, but ep 8 ends on a confrontation with Negan and Rick deciding it’s time to fight back. It continues in ep 9 as they try to figure out exactly HOW to do that and where they’ll get the resources. 

New arc begins in ep 10 when they meet a new community (Scavengers) and the arc for the rest of the season focuses on building things up toward the war.

S8: We already talked about Carl’s death, which is definitely part of this pattern. In terms of plot, the big event was the bombing of Alexandria. 

But when it ended, it REALLY didn’t end. Carl didn’t die, everyone was still hiding in the sewer, and plenty of people were still running around in the woods in the dark, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. It didn’t wrap up until ep 9, including Carl’s death and burial. I think the “new community” aspect in this season was Enid and Aaron going to ask Oceanside for help. So, not a new community, but they weren’t a part of the war yet, and there were TONS of Beth symbols around this arc, which is important.

S9: So I really wasn’t sure at first if they’d stuck to this pattern in S9, especially given that we know Andy left later than originally planned. I couldn’t even remember off the top of my head which episodes were which, and had to go look at them. Yeah, they totally kept to pattern. The big event was graveyard/Whisperers/Jesus’ death, 

which came from going to rescue Eugene. But you can tell they didn’t wrap it up until ep 9 because we didn’t see Jesus’ burial/funeral until ep 9. In terms of episode 10 and finding a new group, guess what episode 10 was? Omega, where Alpha shows up at the gates. So yeah, they totally pulled it off.

So what’s the point of all of this? Well, they’re following pattern this season. They started something in episode 8 (Daryl and co going to find the horde and look for Lydia) but it definitely didn’t finish. It ended in the middle of the action, much as it always does. So I’m fully expecting that they’ll solve that particular problem in ep 9, and if there are any character deaths, they will no doubt happen then. (No idea if any of the reports about Connie or someone falling off a cliff will prove true, but IF they do, it will be in episode 9 anyway, not 9).

As for them meeting a new community, which should happen in episode 10, we don’t REALLY know what it will be…except that they’ve been filming at Grady so we do. Whether it’s actually Grady or some other hospital, chances are it will be introduced in episode 10.

And the fact of the 10:10 clock on Beth’s wall, which episode will probably coincide with them finding this new community? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I think it’s safe to say that Gimple planned for this a LONG time ago.

 So yeah. Just wanted to point that out and hopefully it carries everyone through the hiatus and gets you excited for 10b. Thoughts?

[ofnolaxmagic]

➺ NIC MIKAELSON who looks exactly like ALFIE ENOCH has been spotted in the heart of new orleans. I heard the HETEROSEXUAL, TWENTY-SEVEN/ TWENTY SEVEN-year-old, WITCH who is known to be +GENTLEMANLY but also –TOO SOFTHEARTED, is one of the SURIVORS that has found their way to new orleans. Rumor has it they are FREYA AND KEELIN’S FIRSTBORN ( ALSO VINCENT’S BIO SON ) and you will find them working at the LE BAYOU RESTAURANT & OYSTER BAR as a CHEF.

How long has your character been in new orleans? Do they like new orleans? What brought them here? Are they planning to stay?

Nic’s been living in NOLA for 19 years now. There was 7 years when he was away due to  studying in a world-class culinary school in France and then staying and working in Hangzhou, China for his first career job, before finally returning to his home city when he was 24. Upon his return, he very quickly managed to find a job as a sous chef in Le Bayau Restaurant and Oyster Bar due to his very prolific resume high natural talents and a variety of amazing skillsets in his field despite his young age.  Nic will always love this city. It’s his home, no matter how far, or long he roams to other places, New Orleans will always be the place he eventually returns to in the end. 

Are they one of the returned dead, if so how long have they been alive for? Or are they one of the unfrozen, if so how are they handling that the world has moved on without them? Or are they one of the survivors, if so how did they handle the dead returning and now the unfreezing?

He is one of the survivors. Nic is very glad about the unfreezing as he will then get to finally meet his cousin Hope properly as well as his aunt Davina and it warms his heart to know that other families who were badly torn apart due to that spell, could now be reunited with each other. He was very ecstatic when the dead started coming back to life, as then gradually got to know his other family members who had died long before he was even born. 

Is your character connected with any of the groups in new orleans? The witch coven, the werewolf pack or the mikaelson academy?

He is part of the New Orleans coven and much to his uneasiness, a bit of a coveted member due to his powerful parentage. He is a very powerful witch due to being the child of Freya and Vincent as well as being well tutored to the max by both of them throughout his whole childhood, but he really tries to not show his potential that much, outside of his family members, in order to try to keep a low profile within the witch community as often as possible. He was formerly part of the Mikaelson Academy as he was enrolled there as well but he has long ago graduated. However, he still plays an active part sometimes in that place by stopping by there sometimes to check up on his relatives and offer his help at any kind of work if it was needed. 

Anything we should know about your character, the way you play them? Headcanons? Any connections or plots you want for your character that you would like others to take up within the group? What canons would you like to see taken for your character?

Nic’s a very friendly, gentle, helpful, very sincere, very neat and quite earnest in almost everything he does. He also is a rather pure gentlemanly guy as his mothers brought up him up very well and he was also an obedient son. He’s also loyal to a fault to his friends and family. Nic loves his family with his entire being and would do everything he can to make sure that they were safe, well-taken care-of  and happy. He tries his hardest to live a life of good principles and strong morality, but with his large extended family, he has eventually come to accept that some things had to be grey. Nic’s also a humble and stable person.  His greatest passion in life besides his family is FOOD and COOKING. The culinary world and everything to do with it are his greatest joys in life eversince he was a little boy. He’s very happily living his passion currently, working to the best of his abilities in a 5-star restaurant in his home city. Ever since his teenage years till now, this culinary prodigy has been highly-praised in the culinary world, due to his large talent, dedication and achievements and it’s up to anybody’s guess on how high Nic would soar in his career.  Nic has a little experience in the romance arena, due to always shelving and post-poning his romantic relationships, as there was always something far more important that he was busy with throughout his life growing up. If it wasn’t taking care of his family, it was school and if it wasn’t school, it was his extra witchcraft lessons with his parents, and if it wasn’t that, then it was all about exploring his passion in culinary. He had a couple of crushes and a brief romantic relationship, but that was it so far, for this Mikaelson.  Nic’s other hobbies are knitting and making little wooden handicraft decos.  Connections/plots: Bring me everything for him! Besties, Childhood best friends, Crushes, Old high- school rivals, many friends, neighbors, fellow coven witch members whom he is close with, friendly rival at work, colleagues, his ex-gf from his one brief relationship, people he met while in France, China and even while on a long holiday in Spain, etc.. Canons I want to see that have yet been taken up in this group: Freya, Keelin, Vincent, Marcel, his younger siblings ( tho these are OCs technically XD )

Your characters bio: For canons, any details about their life after the show finished and since they returned. Or for ocs, we would like as much detail as possible about your characters history)

I’m going to write this out in bullet points since I don’t have Nic’s immediate family members here yet, so I don’t want to get to much into their history without plotting with the prospective muns. 

Was born on February 14th, 2028 ( may subject to change later on)

Firstborn of Freya & Keelin ( bio son of Vincent )

Developed a strong love for food and his curiosity in cooking mounted higher and higher very rapidly at the age of 4. 

Throughout his growing up years, his hobby of cooking then became his passion and he entered numerous competitions, local contests, helped out in as many food fair, charity events and bake sale as he could, thus earning him a lot of awards and accolades especially in big-scale competitions. Did a lot of hard-working and adventurous research and eventually made a lot of his own delicious recipes with several unique tricks and difficult techniques. 

Won a full scholarship to The Cordon Bleu Institute in France when he was 17, and that was when he left NOLA to further realize his dreams. 

Graduated pretty fast with many glittering accolades due to his extraordinary talent and extreme dedication to his craft. And then was immediately offered a job in a very prestigious restaurant in China. He did fully utilize his stay in China by travelling around a lot during his free time to learn as much as possible about the various types of Chinese cooking and soak up the tips from different ethnic groups there. 

He keeps  several food journals from when he was young till now.

Finally returned to his home city when he was 24, and eventually landed a job as a sous chef in a 5-star restaurant in the Bayou District. 

Due to many years of practice under the tutelage of Freya, Vincent and his other magic teachers in school, he currently has full control his magic and has a pretty good idea of how much potential he has. 

He’s currently fast friends and roommates with Josie Saltzman. He met her when she showed up in his family home, immediately after she got unfrozen, seeking help from Freya and bumped into him instead. After finding out who she was and her backstory, the ever-hospitable and warmly helpful Nic, offered her a place to stay in his apartment. Due to their personalities meshing very well with each other, the two have very quickly grown into good friends and Nic is trying his best to help her with her magic and her emotions. 

[clean-bands-dirty-stories]

Heated ~ Stan Uris

A/n: First story of our special 48 hours birthday celebration!! Thanks @campcampie it meant so much to get a response so fast!!

Request: “hey!! can i get a stan uris x reader where like they get in a fight and stan goes to apologize and they make up(OuT) lmao but like angsty then like fluffy with a dash of smut? if not that’s ok! if so, thank you!!” You’re welcome! Haha. Hope you enjoy!!

warnings: some smut, some angst, some fluff. All Stan *finger guns* Aged up Stan (bc it’s smut so obviously), Jesse Eisenberg as per usual!

Word Count: 3784

MASTERLIST

College was fucking hard, okay?

The people were far more pleasant than school before this had been, with them all wanting to be here since they had paid and had goals and all that. The hours were easier too, spaced out so that there was plenty of breathing room and time to get everything done and turned in. The problem was that there was a lot more work, and it was a lot harder. It was exhausting, as well, to add on top of that load having a job so you could, like, you know, support yourself. It wasn’t until they GOT into college that “broke college student” stopped being funny. It was fun and the people were fantastic, which was actually a HUGE stress reliever, but seriously the work load!

With everything else going on, there wasn’t even a slim hope to try and fit actual time for Stan and Y/n to keep their relationship GOIKG his they had before. They had known of each other since they were children - no one went unnoticed in such a small town as Derry. They didn’t start talking until Senior year though after they picked each other for a project because everyone else in their class was either stuck up or seemingly brainless. Or Bill Denbrough, who had come over to try and partner up with Stan. At the time, the Losers had kind of fallen out and Stan wasn’t in the mood for the forced, awkward pleasantness as Bill tried to repaired there friendship three years after everyone kind of moved on. He had been rushed and had leaned over to Y/n, who was one of the few people immediately around him that he imagined he could at all tolerate.

It had taken until the end of the year to be really close, comfortable friends. They threw their lot in with luck and applied to some of the same colleges. When they had gotten into the same ones, they figured they might as well go together. That summer, their crushes on each other were exposed when Y/n determined Stan was a lost cause and went on another date with someone else. It had taken Y/n more than a few minutes to figure out why Stan wouldn’t talk to her the next day, immediately reassuring him that nothing had happened since she had it bad for someone else. They’d gone on a few dates and by mid-summer they were full on dating.

Then Summer had ended and they had started college, officially a month into their relationship. Right in time for them to develop a real, full kind of love, they suddenly had no time for each other. They had been so exhausted every spare moment they didn’t have between school, homework, or work that when they did get together to even watch a movie they ended up falling asleep on the couch, tangled up in each other. They treasured those moments because it was as close they could get to really BEING together. But it wasn’t enough. Y/n wanted to see his face and hear his voice and hear about what had been happening in his life. Stan wanted to hold Y/n’s hand and kiss her- things you could only do in person. He wanted to hear her commentary that made every movie a hundred times funnier and shit talk about professors or students that pissed him off.

To say the least, the distance was taking a toll.

One day, Stan had the day off. He had crammed the night before to get all of his homework done, asking one of his co-workers to take his shift because his professor had canceled today’s class for the first time ever and he wanted to have a romantic night with his girlfriend. His co-workers, who had heard about Stan’s struggles with having time together with his girl and shipped them hardcore were only too eager to let him have the day off - especially since he was the one they always picked up theirs shifts when they needed him to.

So, he woke up early to make Y/n breakfast, waking her with a kiss as he scooped her up and pulled her out of bed aggressively, laughing as she groaned in protest. She cheered up instantly when he sat her at the table so they could have breakfast together for the first time in a while. When she left for her classes, he cleaned house to pass the time. It had been a while before either of them had had the energy to do a deep, proper clean. She came back for lunch in her free time to see Stan dancing around to music. She laughed and he turned, grinning when he saw her.

She was groggy and a little frazzled. “Let me make lunch,” he insisted.

“You made breakfast,” she argued.

He leaned down, kissing her passionately. He leaned away, humming as a smile tugged on both of their lips. “You’re exhausted and I’m not- let me take care of you.

She smiled, melting down into her chair. “If you insist,” she gunned softly. He made food quickly, knowing that she had to go back to class soon and they sat together, him reminding her every so often so she knew class was soon.

That’s when it began. Him hurrying to make her food, trying to keep her in the chair, hurrying her out of the house. He was just trying to take care of her but maybe because she was so tired and stressed, it didn’t sit right with her. She felt paranoia picking at her but she pushed it aside, running a hand through her hair and taking a deep breath. She would not ruin this with stupid anxieties that Stan would eat mad at her for even thinking for a second. Rightfully so too.

He let her go so she’d be on time, taking her dishes for her. They shared another kiss and this time her pulled him closer by the back of his neck, keeping him close. She deepened the kiss and he returned her passion fully. It started to get heated before he pulled away, blinking hard. “Lover Mine,” he breathed. “You have class.”

She sighed. “Okay okay, later.”

He grinned. “Later.”

Y/n went to the rest of her classes and then headed straight to work. After her long hours she was worn thin by exhaustion and as she headed home, she smiled I herself at the thought of being reunited with Stan. He had been so attentive today. She had noticed his cleaning and felt a little bad because most of it was her fault, really. Stan was quite neat. She bit her lip, knowing she’d probably go home to a made bed and ruining it the second she got in, needing to be tangled in the sheets to ever get comfortable- probably pulling off the sheets in the process.

One of the first things that had put a block in their relationship was that Y/n was kind of messy. Just a little above average, where she had to tidy up a bit every week to keep the chaos confined. And even then, her backpack and car and desk was cluttered and crammed in an organized chaos that made Stan sick. Stan, who was a neat freak, and Y/n, who was a little messy. It had created tension.

She thought about how she’d go home to his clean house, sitting in his clean clothes with a serene, calm smile. She looked around her car. Her dirty clothes from school had a visible food stain on it from some snack she’d stolen from one of her super close school friends as a joke- thrown in a crumpled pile in the back seat. She looked at her shoes, crushed with dirt and grime. She looked at the cracked leather of the seats and the filthy windows she’d never found the time or energy to get cleaned at a car wash. She looked at all the food wrappers and food containers and scattered, crumpled up calls of old tests and homework she wanted to forever forget. Crumbs and pencils and highlight tees and pen and her work schedule. Speaking of work...

She currently sat with her hair pinned up under her dirty work hat, her shirt stained with sweat and her pants chafing horribly against her skin.

Like a truck going full speed down the highway hitting her full on, Y/n realized with horror how GROSS she was. She couldn’t move, thinking about taking herself unfit their clean apartment Stan had worked on and enjoyed all day. She’d probably throw her clothes on the floor, making Stan scrunch his nose in disgust. He hated riding in the car with her. They had gotten separate cars because they had such different schedules leading them to such different places... or maybe he just hated how disgustingly unorganized and gross her car was. The smell of fast food and sweat and stale air hit her and she snapped.

Her hands flew to her face as everything hit her at once and she started crying. Sobbing. Loudly in a really UGLY kind of way. She sat there shaking and hysterically losing her mind. All she wanted to do was go inside and take a shower and cuddle with Stan or just be with him in any way - every way - he would let her. She wanted to get into her car tomorrow and have it be as clean as she imagined his was. Fresh and shampooed and not a sign of chaos or mess. She wanted to be with him and feel good enough for him, after all he’s done on his day off.

Stan could have slept in. He could have slept and been lazy the day before and done his homework today and then gone to work instead of taking risks with the money, even though Stan had it figured out to make sure there was nothing to worry about because he was Stan and he didn’t want anything to go wrong or have any negative taint on today. Today that was supposed to be as perfect as their college life would allow. Perfect Stan, with his kind eyes and gorgeous smile and pristine cleanliness.

Her phone rang. She jumped and looked over, recoiling when she saw Stan’s name across the Caller ID bar. She covered her face again, her breaths coming shorter and faster as her chest compressed and her stomach twisted. She was disgusted with herself and he would be too. He would take one look at her and use her into the shower, just like he’s rushed her out of the house and kept her in one place. He didn’t want her to mess up his clean perfection.

The phone went off again. And again. And again. Stan called a fifth time before he went to texts, where he left five more before he gave up altogether. He began to worry, pacing back and forth upstairs with worry as the dinner he had meticulously set up to be as romantic as possible so that they could eat and talk before he’d take her to the shower since he knew that after busy days like today she hated how dirty she felt and would want to be clean before doing anything else. And, if he was honest, he was in a clean mood and didn’t want to be with her when she smelled like fast food if there was a better option. He would cuddle with her in her work clothes but he would prefer not to.

He moved to the table, looking at the beautiful candles and delicious food and the low light room that set a very distinct mood before huffing with anxiety, moving to the window to fiddle with the curtains. Maybe she had gotten in a wreck, or gotten run over? Maybe she was cheating on him? Maybe she was exhausted and had fallen asleep at a desk or in her car? Maybe she-

Maybe she was sitting in the parking lot, completely awake as she leisurely sat at the wheel of her car, just... sitting, from what he could see. His brain filled in the missing information and he swore he saw her on her phone, scrolling. Stalling.

Was spending time with him SO bad? After all he’s done today, she was just going to sit in the car and waste time? They both had to be asleep soon for school tomorrow and then their night together would be wasted. Wasn’t he more important than whatever the hell she was doing right now?!

Eventually Y/n pulled herself together, wiping her face and closing her eyes, running a hand through her hair as she opened the door to her car, trying to calm herself down from the things she KNEW weren’t true. She would shower and they would be together and it would all be better- she could worry about her messy lifestyle another time. Stan was waiting and despite how much she hated it, they were on a clock. When Stan saw her get out of the far he withdrew from the window, storming over to the table to blow out the candles, leaving he food on the table. It was probably cold, he realized. Cold and gross. Wasted.

When Y/n made her way into the apartment, she smiled, smelling the food and knowing Stan was waiting for her. She noticed the dim lighting and saw the candles on the table and all her anxiety and stress melted away as she nearly cried again just out of how much she absolutely adored Stan.

And then Stan appeared.

“Hey,” she greeted softly, smiling as she approached him.

He pulled away, still upset she hadn’t been as excited as he was. He would have RUN up here. But no, she wasted time in the car and now their food was gross and his mood was ruined and he didn’t want to be touched while he was mad. “Hi,” he returned shortly, crossing his arms over his chest.

She looked hurt, the thoughts of him being disgusted with her gross state hitting her hard again. He was just as repulsed as she knew he’d be. She’d been RIGHT. He just thought she was upset because he’d pulled away and he took a deep breath to try and calm down. They could talk after she’d had a second to wind down from her long day. Maybe she had a reason. I mean he knew she loved him, so he was probably just being needy since he wanted her so much. It was fine. “Why don’t you go shower?” He sighed, turning a soft smile towards her as he relaxed his body. “I know you’ve had a long day, it’ll make you feel better.”

Take a shower.

Take a shower?

He was rubbing salt in a wound she had inflicted on herself, on accident, and now she was upset. Not sad or self loathing or regretful like in the car. MAD. Mad that he had been as stupid and had drawn such a dumb line between them. Why couldn’t he just hug her? Kiss her? Was being dirt SO FUCKING TERRIBLE?

“God Stan you’re such a dick,” she spat as she turned toward the shower, coming to the conclusion but not explaining how she had gotten there.

Stan completely lost it. “I’M a dick?” He hissed, causing her to turn around because she didn’t want an angry anyone somewhere she couldn’t see and defend herself if things got too bad.

Squaring her shoulders, she looked up at him. He was a little taller than her and she stared him down without breaking. They were both exuding anger now in waves, both able to feel it and feeding off of each other. “Yeah,” She seethed back towards him. “You’re so- god! I walk in the door and you won’t even greet me?!”

“Jesus Christ, Y/n, you’re such a ducking hypocrite!” He yelled, his arms calling to his side as he stepped closer to her. “You sit in the car, wasting time for us to be together after so long of everything getting in the way and I’m not allowed to be mad-“ he began, fuming.

Y/n scoffed viciously, almost snarling. “You’re not even-“ she stumbled, angry that he had seen her and not come to check on her. Angry that he was poking at an open wound. Angry angry ANGRY!

Stan cut her off. “I worked my ass off all day to make this day perfect and you wasted precious time SITTING IN YOUR CAR, and now I’M a sick because I suggested you take a shower?!”

“Oh GEEZ,” Y/n screamed back, stepping back in disbelief. “I get it you cleaned the house, Stan. Let me excuse myself and just clean myself so you don’t have to deal with my unbearable filth!”

Shocked by her words, Stan just stood there as she retreated to their room and the attached bathroom. “F-“ he cut off, hating to not have the last word in an argument but also trying to process a phrase so similar to things she’d brought up in last arguments before. “FINE!” He yelled instead, storming over to slam their bedroom door close when she went through. He stroked over to the couch, kicking it before he bang lacing to try and think and calm down. He finally settled for going on a short walk to really tire himself out after being inside all day, even if just while she took a shower.

When he came back, the house was dark and quiet. Y/n badly cleaned the table off and he checked the fridge, a soft smile resting on his face as he saw them all neatly piled and tucked into the fridge in separate Tupperware containers like he had had to train her to do.

Walking had cleared his head and he’d realized that she was having anxiety about her messiness again. She’d had breakdowns about it a few times after Stan had shown a tendency to be such a neat freak, sometimes making comments about her dirtiness before he got over himself a little and learned to live with it and keep calm and compromise. He realized she must have been crying in the cara Nd after her long day, he felt terrible for making it worse.

He moved into the bedroom, looking for her. When he saw her form in the bed, he leaned against the doorway, sighing softly. She didn’t respond. ���Y/n?” He called gently. “Hey I’m sorry about yelling at you. I just wanted to see you SO badly it was killing me. I’ve been counting down the hours until I got to be with you tonight. Just you and me. I’ve missed you so much and I didn’t realize... why you were upset.” Still no response. “Look, I don’t care about you being dirty. I just wanted you to know that’s not why I was mad or distancing myself. That would never come in between me kissing you. Greeting you.” Still no response. “I love you Y/n.” Nothing. Stan sighed. “I know you’re awake Y/n. You take long showers, and on top of that you took time to clean up dinner so you can’t have been in bed for more than a minute.” Nada. He shook his head. “Fine. I’ll take the couch. Goodnight, I love you.” And then he left.

Y/n rolled out of bed, unable to be away from him any longer and feeling a lot better now that’s she’d showered. She threw open the door. “Stan wait.”

He turned and she immediately collided into him, her hands wrapping around the back of his neck to pull him down to her. Their lips met heatedly, the air coming alive with pops and cracks thy couldn’t see or hear but felt no less. One of his hands wrapped around her wrist, the other dipping down to grip her waist. He stepped her backwards, pressing her against her wall. She wanted to apologize. Wanted to tell him she loved him too. But too soon they were lost in each other and it just stopped mattering. Stan knew, without her having to speak, and they had both pushed it aside with a silent promise not to waste any more time.

The hand of his on her waist rose, sliding up her side to rest against her ribs, slipping under her shirt. Her teeth caught his bottom lip and pulled and he groaned softly, pressing his body into hers more to get some pressure where he needed her. All the time apart and boiling emotions had lead them to one place and now all of either of them could think about was being with each other in one way only.

Y/n’s fingers tugged at his collar and they separated so he could tug off his shirt, her biting her lip as she watched. He then smiled, reaching to take her shirt off as well.

“Beautiful,” he whispered dreamily, lips rushing to meet the skin on her neck. His hands now found hold under her thighs, pulling her up his body as her legs wrapped around his waist. Her hands went into his hair, head head tilting back against the wall, eyes closing as he kissed and sucked at her hot skin, sending waves of warm pleasure through her body as she shivered under the fire his attention ignited. She rolled her hips into his and he gasped, moving away from the wall to carry her to their room, their shirts discarded and forgotten on the floor.

Stan lay her carefully on the bed, crawl in over her. “So beautiful,” he fawned, ginger tracing the slowly forming, new bruises on her neck that he had just created. He leaned close, kissing her hard.

As he began kissing her skin again, her hands returning to their favorite place in his curly, soft hair, she smiled, humming softly as he made a pathway down her throat and chest toward her stomach. “Thank you for today, Stan. It was honestly perfect. I love you too.”

He looked up at her with a grin. Their argument seemed so silly now. Their doubts and anxieties and angers. It seemed so stupid that they had prolonged this much awkward moment. “Anything for you, Lover Mine,” he purred in that voice he knew drove her crazy. Then his hands found the waistband of her pants, pulling, and the real highlight of the night began.