#REALLY. again. it was fine. had my moments but like we got two scenes done and got some b roll. and the shoot. once again was like 2 hours

[therosevest]

ok so let's be real i was probably not the best director today for all 2 hours of our shoot but well to give myself some grace on top of the Everything and just the fact that it was the first day and i didnt have long to settle into it. i have been functionally my own producer and AD as well and like i was mostly fine just a little bit crazy today it was fine. whyd i make a closet homophobia joke idk it's fine

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Deuce Spade - Platinum Jacket Vignette

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Deuce: This museum really has a ton of paintings. Not that I really know how to act in quiet places like this…

Deuce: Oh, but I can't use that as an excuse. I'll have to be a good supporter for the museum, just like any honor student would!

???: Is this dome… a teapot cover? Why would the Card Soldiers be carrying tea?

Deuce: Huh, you don't know, Sebek? Cool, then I'll tell you about it.

Deuce: This painting shows a scene of a trial from one of the Queen of Hearts' legends…

Deuce: And those Card Soldiers aren't actually carrying tea, but a witness for the case: a tiny mouse!

Sebek: Hmph, what's with that smug look? Well, fine, never thought there'd be a day that you'd have something to teach me, I suppose.

Deuce: Heheh. I'm a supporter for the museum, so it makes sense that I can explain something like that.

Deuce: Since I'm a student of Heartslabyul, I made sure to study extra hard all the tales related to the Queen of Hearts or her Card Soldiers.

Sebek: Is that so? Still, did it require two of them to transport a single small mouse?

Deuce: According to the story, it was a crucial witness, so they wanted to make sure it got to the Queen safely.

Deuce: Ah, that reminds me… We had something similar to this painting go down at Heartslabyul just the other day.

Deuce: Though, it wasn't a witness that was getting brought in…

Sebek: What, was there some lout breaking the Queen of Hearts' laws?

Deuce: Yeah. There was this one student who'd been breaking the rules over and over again, and he was finally being brought before Rosehearts-ryōchō for a stern reprimand…

Deuce: When the two guys tasked with hauling him in came to bring him to the Housewarden, that rule-breaker ran.

Sebek: Why do you even have people tasked with hauling others in…? You folk in Heartslabyul have far too many strange duties and rules!

Sebek: But that transgressor is also a coward, fearing reprimand and fleeing without taking responsibility for their actions.

Deuce: Right? He made his bed, he's gotta lie in it.

Sebek: Judging by your manner of speech there, am I right to assume that you helped to secure that transgressor?

Deuce: Yeah. I ran after the guy and caught him in a flash.

Deuce: Not like I've been training my legs or working on quick, explosive power in my sprints while in the Track and Field Club for nothing!

Sebek: Oho, so you captured them. And what were those two that were supposed to have brought him in doing?

Deuce: The guys on duty were apparently so shocked when the rule-breaker ran away that they couldn't move quick enough.

Deuce: But once I brought him back to them, they firmly took hold of him on both sides and brought him to the Housewarden, though.

Sebek: I see. So perhaps the reason why it isn't considered overkill to have two people on duty for such a thing is in case something unexpected occurs.

Deuce: Maybe…? I guess so.

Deuce: Ah, but listen to this. After he finished reprimanding the rule-breaker, Rosehearts-ryōchō praised me for a job well done.

Deuce: "Not only did you capture the transgressor without a moment's delay, but you showed good judgement in allowing the students on duty to do their job as assigned," he said!

Sebek: True, normally you'd do something brash like bringing that offending student directly to Riddle-senpai after capturing him.

Sebek: An unusually calm and mature judgement, coming from you.

Deuce: Hey, nothing "unusual" about it! It's not strange that I was able to think that through.

Deuce: Because, I'm on my way to becoming an honor student!

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Sebek: Oh, this painting… It looks as though it's based on the legend that speaking a wish into a well would make it come true.

Deuce: Yeah, so if you make a wish into a well, it sends your voice back out. I remember that well, 'cause I always thought that was odd.

Sebek: It's merely an echo. What is so odd about that?

Deuce: Huh, an echo?

Sebek: You didn't even know that? I'm speaking of the phenomenon in which sound bounces off of water or walls and is reflected back.

Deuce: Huh… Oh, so is that the same sort of thing as when sounds reverberate in a tunnel?

Sebek: That's right, as tunnels are also primed for echoes.

Deuce: Oh, okay… That actually brings back memories.

Deuce: Whenever I'd be riding through long tunnels, I'd put the pedal to the metal and rev it up so loud.

Sebek: You'd rev what? Are you talking about some kind of music?

Deuce: No, no. I'm talking about a blastcycle, not any instruments or whatever.

Deuce: The engine can make different sounds based on the body of the blastcycle, or even from the way it's ridden.

Deuce: It can make heavy thumping sounds, or low, rolling sounds…

Deuce: And it can be really fun to change up my driving style just to hear those different sounds.

Deuce: Whenever I ended up alongside another driver who knew how to make their own engine sing,

Deuce: It was easy to just end up competing to see who could make their engine rev louder.

Sebek: And what is so fun about that? It just seems to be a cacophony of noise, based on what you're saying.

Deuce: YOU DON'T GET IT AT ALL! It's great because I can feel it to my core.

Deuce: And, it feels sooooo amazing to feel the vibration of the engine echoing off the tunnel walls!

Deuce: AND PICKING UP SPEED IS THE BEST PART!

Deuce: The faster I go, the higher the pitch of the engine…the more that sound echoes in the tunnels…

Deuce: By the end of it all, the only sound I can hear is the blastcycle engine… I just can't get enough of that feeling!

Sebek: Shh, Deuce. You're being too loud, lower your voice. You're going to bother everyone else trying to enjoy the silence.

Deuce: Ah, sorry… Actually, kinda feels weird to get told by you of all people to lower my voice.

Sebek: Why is that? I don’t raise my voice like that unnecessarily.

Deuce: Eh… You seriously saying that right now?

Sebek: Obviously. At any rate, I don't really understand what you were saying about those blastcycles, but…

Sebek: You shouldn't cause a ruckus while riding, unlike what you did just now.

Deuce: Well, obviously I try to ride so I don't bother others on the road… At least, now I do…

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Deuce: Oh hey, it's the Lord of the Underworld. I like how brave he looks flying through the sky in this painting.

Deuce: And on top of it all… He's way too cool, rushing to the front lines like that to save his captured comrades!

Sebek: Right. The Lord of the Underworld must have been a truly capable fellow, able to take on even the most difficult missions by himself.

Sebek: One would require proper deliberation and competency to achieve positive results.

Deuce: Urgh… That hits a sore spot…

Sebek: A sore spot…? Ah, you are talking about what happened last week.

Sebek: I remember seeing you, Grim, [Yuu]… and Ace, if I recall. It was while I was heading back from flight class.

Sebek: All four of you were standing like idiots in the hallway, being scolded by Trein-sensei.

Deuce: URGH!!!! You saw that!?

Deuce: I-I didn't plan on it ending with us getting in trouble! It wasn't supposed to end like that…

Sebek: I'm sure it is a ridiculous story… But why not, I'll listen to whatever excuses you come up with.

Deuce: At the start of History of Magic class, Trein-sensei told [Yuu] to read out loud a passage from the textbook.

Deuce: But that page was completely ruined by drool, since Grim fell asleep on it the night before, so it was impossible to read.

Deuce: So, I raised my hand, offering to read it instead.

Sebek: So why did that end up with you all being sent out to the hallway?

Deuce: …I forg… …xtboo…

Sebek: I can't hear you, speak up.

Deuce: I… I'M SAYING I FORGOT THE NECESSARY TEXTBOOK!!!!

Sebek: So you tried to step up, even though you didn't have the textbook… You're a fool who has gone beyond help.

Deuce: Ace was saying something like that, too. Both him and Grim were laughing at me for that.

Deuce: Even though it was really Grim's fault in the first place!!

Deuce: [Yuu] even pointed that out to them, but they wouldn't stop, so…

Deuce: We ended up arguing… Which then got us sent out into the hallway before long to deal with the consequences of our actions.

Sebek: So that's why you were in the hallway. However, I don't understand. Why did you do such an unnecessary thing?

Sebek: Even if Grim or [Yuu] were to be reprimanded, that has nothing to do with you.

Deuce: Nothing to do with me? Come on, there's no way I can let my friends flounder like that.

Deuce: I mean, Grim aside… [Yuu]'s helped me out a ton before, so.

Sebek: Hmph. Then I guess at the very least, next time you should act after you've determined whether you have your textbook or not.

[Sebek walks off]

Deuce: YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME TWICE!

Deuce: Geez, and he walks off after one last parting shot, huh… Ugh. Guess I'll try to shake off this funk by checking out some of the other exhibits.

Deuce: Oh, this is a painting of a girl singing with flowers. She looks like she's having fun, but according to the story…

Deuce: If I remember correctly, she was described as vulgar, rude, and weedy...

Deuce: Doesn't matter where you are, or who you are, everyone has to follow the rules. Not a shocker to me that those who can't follow 'em end up in sticky situations.

Requested by @farfalla049.

[smnthchrstn]

see a list of prompts here. send a request here. see my previous work here, here, here & here. thank you! i don't currently take anons for my own safety and sanity, but if you have a private request feel free to message me and i can post it without using your url! notes: word count is 1,644. austin is your coworker, you're both working side by side on the bikeriders. he helps ground you after a ptsd episode. tw for mentions of sa/assault/past abuse. dedication: this one shot is dedicated to my gf @vintagecherri may we always be able to comfort each other in our darkest times. thank you for teaching and reminding me to always be gentle with myself, even when i feel i have failed the most. xoxo

safe here with me | austin butler x reader

"And cut!"

You sucked in a deep breath, your eyes fluttering closed and then open again as you tried to regain your composure. That scene had really gotten to you, and you'd nailed it on the first go. You almost had forgotten about the man sitting in the same room as you. His eyes grew from vacancy to attentive, searching your face for some sign that you were doing okay. Your breathing became a bit jagged as the director told everyone they'd done a fantastic job and that they'd be moving on for the day.

The man across from you was your co-star, Austin. And you two had been getting to know each other for quite some time, especially since arriving in Cincinnati to film a movie about a biker club from the 1960s. You played his wife, he played your husband - a wild, crazy, pained young man who got a thrill out of doing the most dangerous things and not caring what anyone thought about it. You'd learned, in time, that Austin was the complete opposite. Most of the time anyway. You'd developed a friendship, although sometimes it seemed like more. You knew he looked at everyone like that, like they were the world's greatest treasure in his eyes. He had a way of captivating people and making them feel as if they were the only other person on earth.

"Hey, Y/N," a low and gravel-y voice asked, and you'd realized he'd been saying it for a few moments at least. Your eyes had glazed over, your hands were shaking as you wrapped your arms around your frame. "Are you okay?" the blonde man before you asked, his eyes filled with worry as he saw the way you'd reacted since the day had been called. "I..yes," you finally mustered enough courage up to answer. "Yes. I'm fine." You took a very shaky breath, running both hands through your long hair. "Completely fine." Austin finally stood, holding his hand out to help you up, and you took the help. He led you back outside to his trailer, holding the door for you and you felt inclined to join him, to follow.

"Hey, you know," he tried to begin saying, a little unsure of his own words. "You know, I don't have to tell you that I wouldn't necessarily react the way my character would to anything said or done." And with that, he walked to his mini fridge and got you out a cold water before taking a seat. You nodded, still a little jumbled up with your words. "I know, it's acting," you responded knowingly. Austin nodded, reaching beside him to pull a cigarette from his pack, placing it between his lips and lighting it. He took a deep drag into his lungs, flicking the ashes away into one of his own homemade ashtrays. You still felt small. You always did when topics like that would come up.

"I know that scene was a little heavy," he said, the smoke billowing around him in a cloud. "Yeah, I mean, it's okay," you said easily enough, with a tiny shrug of your shoulders. "I'm more than capable of handling serious scenes." Sure, you hadn't had too much practice before this with acting, but you'd done well enough to nail the part and you'd been doing a fantastic job. "Oh no, no, Y/N. I wasn't trying to insinuate at all that you aren't meant to be here. You are, you are the best scene partner I could ask for. I've loved getting to know you and becoming your friend," Austin explained, pausing to take another puff of his cigarette. You weren't sure where he'd been trying to go with this conversation. "I couldn't help but notice the way you mentally checked out after that scene, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

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

"Don't you, get away from me!" You screamed at the top of your lungs. Your chest burned, your stomach throbbed, everything inside you felt torn apart and hurt, broken and unfixable. And even after you'd received medical attention it still hurt. For days, for weeks, months, even years. You had residual pain that wouldn't go away, you'd been to the hospital and you'd seen doctors, and you had the nightmares that would wake you up in tears some nights. The assault had made your life a living hell, one that you often hadn't wanted to wake up from. You'd thought of countless ways to end it, to stop the pain from continuing.

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

Big hands moved over your shaky ones, holding them in place. "Hey." His cigarette had been put out since you'd involuntarily closed your eyes. Your breathing became uneven, you were having trouble catching your breath. "Hey, hey, hey," he said, softening his voice, calming blue eyes filled with worry. "S-sorry," you managed to stutter. If you could think straight you would've been so embarrassed. Having such a massive panic attack in front of your new friend and co-star, not to mention a guy that you were absolutely smitten with was mortifying for you. It had been years, you thought you'd been "over" this. Austin placed a hand on your cheek, moving his thumb over your jaw and checking you over. He reached down and over, taking your wrist gently between two fingers and counting in his head. He did that for a moment or two before shaking his head. "Come sit next to me," he said, holding his arm out for you to come closer. "Please." You shakily moved to sit beside him and didn't protest when he pulled you in against his chest, your ear pressed against his heartbeat. "You're safe," he assured you in a low tone. He hadn't the slightest idea of what you'd gone through, but he knew what a panic attack looked like and what trauma looked like - and he knew you'd experienced something horrendous in your past. Austin worked to keep his breathing and heart rate steady, wanting to help to ground you as much as he could. You could hear the gentle lub-dubs in his chest, the soft beating that kept him alive. and it did soothe you unlike anything else had before. You felt his hand on your back, rubbing in gentle circles, breathing loudly as to remind you that it was okay to breathe and that filling your lungs with air would be a good thing, maybe the best thing for you right now.

After some time, he took your pulse again wanting to make sure that your heart rate had come down some. "There we go, slowly making its way down," he murmured, keeping you close to him, still pressed against his chest. The sound of his heartbeat grounded you and you thought maybe you’d be able to talk a little about what had happened during that scene. “Reminded me of something that happened a few years back,” you began. “With my ex-boyfriend. Hadn’t been dating that long or anything and,” she said, shaking her head a little. “He, he told me he’d stop,” you whispered, giving him a heartbreaking look. “He promised he would stop before he even started but he didn’t,” you whispered, beginning to cry again. “He broke my trust. He didn’t stop and it happened. And, and,” you said, your lungs aching from the gasps you were making. “I, and I,” you tried to say, but you could feel your heart pounding in your chest and your head spinning. You could feel yourself back there again as your breathing became more and more labored. “Someone took advantage of you,” you finally heard the deep voice say. “Yes. Yeah, my ex-boyfriend hurt me. And that scene reminded me of that. I’m sorry, I’m a professional. I, I’m so embarrassed,” you whispered.

It didn’t surprise you when you felt his fingers against your wrist again, searching for the magic number of beats per minute, wanting to help bring you back down to earth if he could. “Hey, take a few deep breaths, okay? I’m so sorry that happened. I’m sorry that he took advantage of you, and I want you to know I will never hurt you like that.” The two of you hadn’t even spoken about a romantic relationship, aside from the flirtations that happened after filming and sometimes on set. Austin leaned back some against the couch in his trailer, bringing you with him cautiously. “There you go,” he whispered, moving one hand to your back and making sure you were pressed up against his chest again. You allowed yourself to focus. You could feel his breathing against you, the rise and fall of his abdomen and the soft puttering of his heartbeat. “There you go,” he said, combing his fingers through your long hair, attempting to soothe you. “There we go,” he said again, dancing his fingers over your back. “Deep breaths, after me.” And with his help, you were able to catch your breath. “You’re safe here with me, okay?” He pressed a kiss to your head, wanting to comfort you and relieved that your body seemed to be relaxing. “I’m sorry that triggered these feelings and memories for you. And when you’re ready, you tell me all about that, as much as you’d like to, okay? I’ll be here. I’ll listen and I’ll hold your hand to help it keep from shaking.” You took a deep breath and opened your eyes, your ear still filled with the sound of the man’s heartbeat. “You mean that really?” You asked, almost shocked that someone would take that kind of time to comfort and learn you. “Yeah. I really do.” You took another gentle breath and allowed your eyes to close, snuggling in comfortably against Austin. You’d never felt such comfort in your life, and looked forward to being in his.

[lnsfawwi]

bucky is anti-peggy: their relationships with steve and why bucky will always overshadow peggy as love interest

hardly anything novel but I have to get it out of my system. interpretations are strictly in-universe just to be fair. also seb headcanons are canon, I won't hear otherwise!

the difference between stucky and steggy can be summed up by their respective reactions to beefed-up Steve. someone on tumblr points out that these two scenes also serve as analogies of their relationships. steggy would always be about peggy reaching out, their relationship would be under the spotlight, be the center of attention while stucky is the reverse. I just want to add to that.

Peggy was literally dazzled, she tried to touch his naked body, she was eager to see what this body could do (sexually, among other things). that's the first time she saw steve as sexually attractive, the first time she saw steve at all if we are honest, and what she saw was this jacked-up version of him, an icon-to-be, someone whom steve never really accepted as himself. In essence, the first time she really paid attention to steve as the love interest, was the moment steve became someone else.

Bucky, who was tortured for days, if not weeks, still delirious, was confused bc that was not his steve, he probably didn't even think Steve was real at first. Bucky was experimented on, he likely knew there were similar human experiments aimed to enhance, he knew science like that was possible, but whose science? so that's the first question, 'what happened?' Steve joined the army, okay, so this was not forced onto him, probably. then the next thing he asked was, 'did it hurt?' he didn't care how strong it made Steve, he only wanted assurance that Steve was fine. like, what if the process hurt? what could bucky possibly do? nothing. it's not about whether it hurt, it was just bucky simply giving a shit about steve's wellbeing. we don't even need to get into the 'little kid from brooklyn' line.

peggy witnessed a magical transformation and was amazed by the eventual product but bucky saw his best friend who must've gotten through something excruciating. peggy could never fall in love with skinny steve when that's all bucky saw, until the very end (sebastian said bucky probably never got used to big steve).

another contrast would be the final plane crash. sebastian was asked whether Bucky would've gotten on that plane with Steve or stayed behind like Peggy. seb's answer is that Bucky would've tried to get on that plane cuz he felt responsible for steve, and he'd fall again.

the thing is that, had Bucky been on that plane, Steve never would've crashed it. he would've done anything to save Bucky. he didn't have to crash that plane which was canon (pointed out by rhodey). steve could've got out but he didn't. Bucky being there would've given him the motivation to do so. any other person would tbh, but only Bucky would be willing to be on that plane bc Peggy canonly wasn't. in addition to bucky's willingness to follow steve literally into the jaws of death, in this hypothetical scenario, Bucky would be the reason for Steve to live in catfa.

that leads to yet another contrast.

'just go! get out of here!' 'no, not without you!'

steve, who had no idea what he was capable of, jumped through fire for bucky.

'don't do this, there's still time, let me find a way...' 'a lot of people are gonna die if I don't do this, peggy. this's my choice.'

despite peggy's pleading, steve crashed the plane.

the word choice appeared several times in catfa. the first time was when peggy told philip that it was steve's choice (to die trying to save bucky). the second time was when peggy told steve that bucky made a choice (to die fighting with him). and the third time was when steve told peggy it was his choice (to sacrifice himself). it's no coincidence that each and every time the choice was each other, steve echoing the word at the end made it clear that he was doing this for bucky.

a relationship goes both ways. steve and bucky are canonly willing to, and did, die and live for each other. peggy simply doesn't have that level of impact on steve. in fact, steve literally repeatedly chose bucky over her in catfa.

put it simply, bucky and steve care more about each other than themselves, peggy didn't even care about skinny steve in that sense. she also literally couldn't because she only met skinny steve twice. briefly.

plus as I said previously bucky is the only one standing in between a traditional cishet hypermasculine image of steve and the real steve, peggy is the one element that fulfils the false image.

everything bucky is, peggy is the opposite. the differences quite literally result in different interpretations of steve. and who can say honestly that endgame steve is better than cap trilogy steve？

[aidulusion]

GNOME ATTACK

pairing : george weasley x fem!reader

word count : 1k

summary : it's your first day at the burrow, and you need to clear out gnomes from the garden with your friends.

proofread? : yes.

creds to plutism for the divider!

You had befriended two mischief makers during your life at Hogwarts—Fred and George. The first time you met them was when they fed a first year some candy which resulted in the poor kid to start vomiting out the dinner he had.

You thought about that incident up till today, even while writing a letter to the better looking twin, that is, George. 

He had invited you to stay over at his house for the summer, and you were more than happy to spend some more time with your best friends. It took a lot of begging for your parents to finally allow you to do the same, but you succeeded in the end.

————

It was the day you were going to leave for the burrow, your father didn’t let you use floo powder and put the responsibility of dropping you upon himself.

You packed all your bags, finally got your owl to get in his cage, and went downstairs to chug two slices of bread down your throat because you were way too impatient to see your friends once again.

Your father was waiting outside, you said your goodbyes to your mother and exited your house, a bright smile on your face.

————

“If you need anything, just send me an owl.” your dad smiled. The both of you were standing in front of the burrow, all your luggage in your hands.

You nodded, and hugged him before knocking on the door, your dad had left by now.

As soon as the doors opened, you were greeted with the warmest hug ever, which was given by Fred and George’s mother—Molly.

“Hello dear! (Y/N), am I right? Fred and George talk about you all the time!” She exclaimed gleefully, you were completely heartwarmed by how nice their mother was to you.

She guided you inside, the burrow was small, yet it was all warm and cozy inside. You saw many familiar faces, and it turned out Harry and Hermione were there too. 

After settling down, you sat down on a couch, talking to Ginny. It didn’t take long for the both of you to start hearing a strange rustling sound, turns out it were just your two friends making their way downstairs.

“(Y/N)! Can’t believe you actually came!” One said loud enough for everyone in the house to hear.

“—We really missed you!” The other one added. 

You smiled as they embraced you in a  warm hug, you were just as happy to see them as they were to see you.

Ginny interrupted the moment, sighing softly.

“Sorry to interrupt the moment, but mom told you both to clear out the gnomes in the garden.”

She sighed again, looking at the twins. Both of them groaned in annoyance, George looked at you, before looking back at Ginny.

“Can’t we do it later? (Y/N) just came!” George pouted, hoping Ginny will make up some reason to cover up for him and his brother.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t like it if mom gave you chores the moment Harry came, eh?” Fred added, snickering to himself.

“Shut up, Fred!” Ginny shouted at him.

You just watched the whole scene unfold, looking at the twins then back at Ginny as they bickered endlessly.

“How about I help you both clear out the gnomes? It’d still be the same as spending time together.” You questioned them both, a soft smile plastered on your face.

“That’s a great idea!” Ginny smiled at me, before looking back at the two gingers. Their faces were brightening up as well, before they grabbed you and dragged you out of the house and to the garden.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done this, gnomes don’t usually find their way in my garden..” You mumbled, quite embarrassed by yourself.

“It’s fine, love! You just need to toss them far enough to not come back.” George explained, while Fred quickly got to work.

When you finally understood what to do, you went for your first gnome. You pulled it by the hand and threw it quite far away. Both of them watched in awe as the gnome flew to a nearby hill, looking back at you once a loud thud was heard from the same.

“What a fast learner!” Both of them sneered at the same time. Those words just boosted your ego even more, you grabbed another gnome and threw it as far as you could..

It was easier than you thought, there were only a few more gnomes left and you could go back and have fun with the rest of the Weasley family, not that you weren’t enjoying this.

Unfortunately, the last gnome which you grabbed was rather a feral one. It freed itself from your grasp and found itself on your face. 

The twins immediately started laughing as the gnome rapidly smacked your face. You were struggling to get it off, but the grip it had on your ears was intense. All you could do was punch the gnome back, as your two friends continued to laugh their brains out, you fell on your back while punching the gnome uncontrollably.

While Fred still continued to snicker, George finally helped you out. Removing the gnome carefully so it didn’t rip your ears out, he tried to control his laugh when he saw your reddened face from all the fighting.

“There there, sweetheart. The immense battle is over now.” He cooed, caressing your cheek which was slightly bruised from the gnome's sharp teeth. You slapped his hand away playfully as you stood up on your own. Groaning slightly as you touched your left cheek.

“Don’t call me sweetheart when all you do is laugh when I’m getting attacked, even if it's a gnome!” You hissed, but there was still a hint of playfulness in your tone. He just started laughing again, causing you to turn your head and go back to the burrow.

What a great way to start your summer, you have a forever fear of gnomes now and you won’t go near an infested garden ever again.

exams coming up. a very very good luck to me and everyone else who have exams next week 😭

[vidavalor]

Ok fine, I brought milk and chocolate chip cookies this time 🥛 🍪 and also some eggs from my lovely chickens! 🐓 🥚

I hope you accept this apology, and I’ll try my best to behave 😜

So, I wonder how you interpret 1.03 where, just before the flood, one of the unicorns makes a run for it and Crawley says ‘you still got one of them’? Some people seem to believe this means she didn’t understand the process of procreation (at the time). Do you have any thoughts on that?

Please don't behave. Why would you want to do that? Would make this all very boring lol. 😂 Thank you for the very fun ask. I love this question.💕

I think the scene you're talking about is more than a funny aside about whether or not Crowley had finished reading Demon's Guide to Reproduction of Beings on Earth yet... and that might not be the question the scene is really asking. I think it also has a ton to do with the Final Fifteen of 2.06, too, so *slices pie* let's get into the unicorns and the professional midwife/cobbler and what, imo, these two moments have to do with one another:

In S1, in the scene set just before the beginning of The Flood, we have two questions emerge from Crowley's dialogue, both of which are then picked up again in S2. One is what Crowley meant by "kids" when he said "you can't kill kids" after looking at a group containing both small goats and children. The second question is the one you're talking about, which is whether or not he understood at the time how human reproduction works. The question is born out of the fact that, on the surface, he might appear to not exactly be grasping the concept of Noah's Ark when he says that Shem's "still got one of them" after one of the pair of unicorns takes off and doesn't get on the boat. Both things show back up together again in S2 in the Job minisode and that sort of continuation of story, in a way, might suggest that there's going to be a third layer to this that emerges in S3 as well. I think, though, that we might have enough to look at some potential answers already.

While the "kids" bit is, essentially, answered and was always more of a language joke anyway-- Crowley wishes to kill no kids, be them goats or humans-- the fact that this question returned in S2 and was tied once again with a plot centered around sex and reproduction shows that the questions raised in The Flood scene in S1 are interrelated and pretty important overall. The entire Job plot ultimately comes down to who knows what about human reproduction. Saving the kids comes down to fooling Gabriel and fooling Gabriel can only be done because Gabriel, at least at the time, did not have the first clue how human reproduction normally works. He had only seen this one, initial, very atypical version of it that has basically never happened since and because he didn't spend time on Earth at that point in the story, he didn't know he had it all wrong. This whole story is built around what someone's understanding of reproduction of another species is and it isn't Crowley who doesn't know how it all works by 2500 B.C., it's Gabriel. But what does this have to do with The Flood and Crowley and the unicorns?

In the Job minisode, we are told that Gabriel was in The Garden at the start of it and witnessed Eve's birth from Adam's rib. We find this hilarious because we know that this isn't how sex works and this time, in this scene, Crowley is more than in on the joke with us. What makes the scene funny is actually Crowley's knowledge in it of how human sex and reproduction work. Unlike Gabriel, he wasn't there for Eve's super-weird birth and so he's visibly trying not to be like what the actual fuck? this is how Eve was made? at Aziraphale as Aziraphale's gestures lead Crowley to telling Sitis to pull out one of Job's ribs-- absolutely not a feature of any sex Crowley has ever had or seen. Aziraphale then is flirting with a Crowley who totally gets the joke when Sitis pulls the ox ribs "out" of Job. It's very evident between this scene and the prior night in the cellar that, circa 2500 B.C. at least, Crowley absolutely knew how human sex and reproduction worked.

The key bit here to understanding what Crowley was saying about the unicorns back during The Flood is actually in the reminder in the Job minisode about The Garden that the minisode gives us through making the plot equally about what Gabriel saw in The Garden-- Eve's weird conception and birth-- but also about what Gabriel didn't see-- Adam and Eve have more human-typical sex-- which is something that Crowley set into motion and then something that he and Aziraphale both witnessed.

By bringing up how Gabriel doesn't know what human sex and reproduction normally look like because of what he saw (and missed) in The Garden of Eden, the show is also reminding us that, after Gabriel left, Crowley was sent up into The Garden and tempted Eve into eating the apple. Eve then shared the apple with Adam. Adam and Eve figured out sex not long after that, during a period of time in which both Aziraphale and Crowley were also in The Garden and Eve's pregnancy was one of Aziraphale's motivations for giving them his flaming sword.

Mah point is that Crowley absolutely knew about sex and sexual reproduction during The Flood because Crowley and Aziraphale essentially watched the first humans have sex on Earth in The Garden of Eden.

The show also has about a half-dozen jokes about Anthony J. "Can I watchchch?" Crowley's voyeuristic tendencies and roots some of it to the fact that he's the Serpent of Eden and gets off on watching his temptation labors bear fruit. (It's been a long day. I have earned that joke😂). Ya know, such as:

This whole unicorn and sex thing is also part of the Job minisode by way of the ox ribs, further making it all kind of part of the same story. The inclusion of unicorns in ancient history in GO feels like a nod to the re'em, an animal mentioned a few times in The Bible (including in The Book of Job), which has been frequently translated as "unicorn" and is part of the origin for from where our idea of unicorns comes in the first place. The same word has been translated as meaning other animals-- among them? The wild ox.

Making things even more interesting is unicorn lore. The unicorn was said to be a wild, secretive creature who lived in the forest and who could only ever be captured and tamed by a virgin maiden. Aziraphale, in 2500 B.C., is shown to not eat or drink before the night in the cellar began so odds are also good on the food-and-alcohol = sex show that Aziraphale definitely qualified as a virgin maiden when he went to absolute town on those ox ribs. Anyway...

...what I'm saying here is that it feels extremely unlikely that, by the time of The Flood in 3,004 B.C., that Crowley didn't know how human sex and reproduction worked when he saw it play out in The Garden. Other than Eve's speedy stages of pregnancy meant to get the ball rolling on humanity, Adam and Eve's sex was typical of humans. So, Crowley knew about sex and sexual reproduction when he made the comment about the unicorns... but then how does that make sense, right?

In order to think that Crowley didn't know how reproduction works during The Flood scene we've seen, you would have to assume two things are true: 1) that unicorns reproduce via sexual reproduction and 2) that unicorns went extinct as a result of one of them making a run for it and not making it onto Noah's Ark, right?

The thing is... the show might be subtly trying to show that unicorns do still exist in GO. But before you say 'but, Vida, seriously?! We've never seen an unicorn after The Flood!', I'm going to argue that maybe we actually have one as a major supporting character and this S2 scene might be hinting in that direction:

The parallel to the "Oi, Shem!" scene is Nina-as-Crowley telling Aziraphale-as-Shem that that unicorn (The Bentley) is running of its own accord. Unicorns are magical beings. How magical beings present, as God pointed out in S1, is up to them. Human forms are just one option, right? I don't know exactly where this is going but this bit in S2 was a direct tie to The Flood's unicorn moment and it would explain a thing or two about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang if it were somehow tied to the unicorns. Can Crowley actually make them, the way Beez can make flies? Can Aziraphale? We really have no idea how the unicorn thing works in GO so we can't really use it as an example that Crowley didn't know about sex when it's more that we don't know about unicorns...

The unicorn that we saw during The Flood tracked with what we think of as the mythical being of an unicorn in our real world so we could make the assumption that some of the same aspects of them are/were true in GO. Unicorns are magical horse/donkey-like beings (which couldn't possibly be more Crowley and Aziraphale if it tried.) They are few and far between, are hard to spot and mostly keep to themselves. Human beings have no real actual proof that they ever existed in the first place and generally consider them mythical beings but Good Omens shows us that they at least did exist in GO ancient times-- and might still. In modern times, unicorns have become a LGBTQIA+ symbol and, for that reason and that reason alone, it seems unlikely that they actually went extinct in the world of *Good Omens*...

So, let's presume that Crowley said the existence of unicorns would continue even if Shem only had one of them on Noah's Ark because he knows that unicorns are not like other beings on Earth. Think about what else Crowley is then saying here with this line to Shem:

Noah's Ark, to us, is a story about continuing the existence of life for beings on Earth, right? It's about pairs, about mates, for the purpose of continuing species on earth via sexual reproduction. That's why we consider what Crowley's saying in this moment of this scene through the lens of it being entirely about sexual reproduction. When it comes to the unicorns, though, you could argue that Crowley is not actually talking about reproduction but about romance. We don't actually know how unicorns work-- but Crowley does.

What Crowley is actually telling us in this scene is that paired unicorns can survive the death of one of them because they're a part of each other. What Crowley is actually saying is that the pair of mated unicorns in the scene are two beings who share a single existence.

You couldn't permanently kill one of a pair of unicorns without killing both of them. So long as one of them still exists, they both do.

One unicorn could make a run for it for any reason and bolt away from his mate and die in the storm but Crowley knew the bolting unicorn was a part of the one that Shem got on the boat and so could be brought back.

In S2, we see something like this with other magical beings-- Ineffable Bureaucracy.

Oi, Shem, that purple-eyed unicorn's gonna make a run for it...

It's too late, too late...

Oh, well, you've still got one of them...

The Fly is Gabriel and Beez together; it's their shared existence. Without it, Gabriel would not have survived. The one of them still left-- Beez-- is the one who can put it together and bring Gabriel back into a full existence.

Ineffable Bureaucracy are unicorns who parallel our main two, though, and Oi, Shem...

...that bow-tied unicorn's gonna make a run for it...

Oh, well, you've still got one of them...

[milaisreading]

Hi author it's me again, hehehe, anyways can I request for a scenario where the manager agreed to a date with Oliver Aiku after he begged her and it was caught by the paparazzi but due to the incidents with itoshi sae the boys didn't react that much to it, until when they asked her about it on a video call and she accidentally said how she enjoyed the date Oliver took her to? thank you so much and I really love your writing

Author: Here it is! It's not really the best thing I came up with, but it was the only thing I could really think of😅 thanks for the request🩷

Warnings ⚠️: Reader uses she/her. Requests are open.

⚽️Blue Lock belongs to: Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

"Don't you look cute for our date today?" Oliver teased, putting a lot of emphasis on the word 'date', grinning as (Y/n) finally arrived at Shibuya's main station. The girl blushed as she looked down at her clothes, which she will admit were a little bit too much for how she usually dresses, but it was Isabella's fault! She didn't let her leave the house till she got dressed up properly. Thankfully none of the dresses Isabella wanted to dress her in were suitable for Tokyo's winter weather. The girl shook her head and looked back at Oliver, who had a smirk on his face and held his hand out for her.

"Shall we?"

"Fine...let's get this done with." (Y/n) sighed and took his hand. Oliver chuckled as he led her through the crowd.

"You act like it's a chore."

"Well, I am on this date because you wouldn't stop asking for a week."

The girl rolled her eyes as Oliver shook his head.

"Technicalities."

What (Y/n) said was true, Oliver was by the end of last week basically on the floor asking her to go to the Christmas market in Roppongi. The scene caused a lot of attention from the staff, so in order to not get more embarrassed she agreed. So this si why she found herself here, in the Shibuya station waiting for their designated ride.

'Why is he insistent on holding my hand? It's not like I will run away.' (Y/n) thought as the boy held her hand tightly, she then looked up at his face, surprised to see how red his cheeks were.

'Maybe he is just cold.' The girl rolled her eyes, remembering how Isabella kept on telling her how red cheeks are always a sign of some sort of affection being present.

'Yeah right... he will probably move on with the next girl he sees as soon as this date is over.' (Y/n) felt a wave of sadness hit her as she thought of that, but she knew she shouldn't feel like that. It's Oliver Aiku after all. Soon the subway arrived and the two walked inside. Oliver sent (Y/n) a few glances here and there, his face heating more up than it already did.

'She is so beautiful... the most beautiful girl I ever saw. I still can't believe she agreed on the date. This is such a great day!' Oliver smiled as (Y/n) looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Everything alright?"

"Perfect, actually."

'Oooh! So pretty! And it smells great too!' (Y/n) thought as she looked at the various food stands, souvenir shops, games, decorations and so much more. Oliver looked down at her and felt his heart stop for a moment, the genuine excitement in her eyes and the smile on her face really made it difficult for him to breath.

'Adorable! I think I fell in love!'

"S-should we go and look at the decorations? There are even designated spots where you can take pictures." Oliver said nervously, gripping tightly on her hand.

"Sure! But, you can let go of my hand."

"Huh? Why?" Oliver asked in panic as they walked through the market.

"You know... you don't have to try hard. I know that tomorrow you will forget about the date and move on. So don't try hard-"

"Wait? Yoh think I am not sincere with my intentions?" Oliver stopped in his tracks, causing (Y/n) to stop too and look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Oliver, let's be honest with this. With the type of history you have, you can't expect me to-"

"I know, but... but I am honest with my intentions here. It might sound as a cliché romcom movie, but you are the first girl I have genuine interest in and..." Oliver took a deep breath and pulled (Y/n) to the less bossier part of the road. The girl looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes, noticing some frustration and embarrassment on his face as he spoke next.

"I... I am willing to prove it to you. You don't have to believe me right this instant or even in a year if you don't feel like it, but when I said that I like you, that was sincere." (Y/n)'s eyes widened at the honesty in his words as she kept quiet. Oliver grew more nervous and flustered at the silence and felt like dying at the moment.

'Maybe I should have said something else, but around her I can't form anything more coherent!'

"I... alright." (Y/n) spoke up as Oliver looked up from his feet to face a equally flustered girl.

"What?"

"I... I will believe you this one. If you say you are honest with your feelings, then I will believe you and give you a chance to prove it. Just... please if you change your mind, tell me-"

"Thank you!" Oliver grinned, now holding both his hands gently in his.

"I swear I will make it all worth it." (Y/n) felt her face heat up even more at the look he was giving her and how he was holding her hands.

"So, should we see the decorations now? I know the perfect spot for you to take pictures!" Oliver suggested and (Y/n) nodded her head. They resumed walking with the football player still holding her hand.

'This feels nice.' Oliver thought and for a moment felt at peace, but then he felt her grip back onto his hand. Excitement took over his body and he held back a grin as he looked down at (Y/n), who was avoiding his gaze.

'Blissful!'

The day went on as normally as it could, with the duo enjoying the attractions the market had to offer. All the decorations, games, food and so much more tired them both out and they were now sitting in a nearby café, eating lunch and drinking some hot beverages. (Y/n), much to her surprise enjoyed the day, Oliver was being kind and acting like a real gentleman. She was kind of happy for agreeing on the date.

'This is so embarrassing.' (Y/n) gulped as she remembered a small item in her purse.

"Here." Oliver said as he put a bag filled with candy in front of her.

"Hm? What is this for?"

"You said your nephew likes Christmas candy a lot, so I got these."

"Y-you remembered me say that?" (Y/n) asked in shock, she only mentioned it once to Chigiri... and even that was 2 weeks ago.

'How did he remember it... I didn't even know he heard it with the distance back then.'

"You would be surprised how much I remember when it comes to you." Oliver winked, causing (Y/n) to get even more flustered.

'He is so...' She bit back the inside of her cheek as her heart started to beat faster.

The next day (Y/n) was still in a trance from the date. She had conflicting emotions as Isabella showed her the picture someone took of her and Oliver as they were on their way to the café. (Y/n) had to use up all her mental strength to stop her brother from chasing after Oliver. Thankfully her dad wasn't home that morning so she had one less person to deal with.

'This is unbearable... just like that time when people caught Sae-san and I in Spain... tho that was more embarrassing.' (Y/n) facepalmed as she walked back into her room, ignoring her brother's complains and Isabella's gushing over how Oliver and her look good.

"He is too old for her, Isabella!"

"He is 19!"

"...you sure?"

"Don't be mean!"

Sighing, (Y/n) picked up her phone as she heard it ring.

"Hello, Reo?" (Y/n) asked as her phone showed his and Nagi's faces.

"(Y/n), when is your break over?" Nagi asked as the purple-haired boy shushed him.

"Ha? Next week, actually. How is it going in the building? Are you all listening to the substitute manager?" She asked, raising her eyebrow as the two nodded their heads.

"Yeah, don't worry about the old man. We are under Ego-san's surveillance after all." Nagi said nonchalantly.

"We saw that picture someone took of you and Aiku, must suck to have been caught like that off guard." Reo commented, thinking it was a mistake or the situation was taken out of context.

"What were you even doing in Roppongi to meet him there?"

"Ah that? We were out on a date." (Y/n) shrugged her shoulders asbthe line grew quiet and (Y/n) saw their faces pale.

"You..you went willingly on a date..."

"With Oliver Aiku?!" Reo and Nagi asked and (Y/n) heard something crash on the other side.

"What?!" Bachira's voice was heard.

"Yeah, he kept on asking me out last week so I just agreed. Although, I don't really regret it."

"What?!" Nagi asked as Reo's jaw just kept on opening wider.

"Yeah... it was quite fun. I hope he asks again-"

"(Y/n)! We need to talk about you dating anyone! What's Oliver's address? I just want to talk to him." Her brother said from the other side and the girl blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry you two, see you in a week!" She said quickly and ended the call, ignoring all the protests from the duo.

"What now? (Y/n) can't be falling for Aiku of all people." Nagi cringed as Reo held Bachira back.

"We need to talk with the others. Bachira, can you calm down? Killing him isn't a solution!"

"You are right. It's not a solution, it's the only solution! Let me go!"

Nagi facepalmed, but was tempted to tell Reo to let Bachira go.

'It's just a murder charge, anyways.'

[iamleesi]

THE HUNTERS & THE SOLDIER

Pairing: Avenger! Bucky Barnes x OC! Avenger Reader

Summary: You, Bucky and the brothers are having troubles understanding literally anything. And a certain Super Soldier finally confesses why he is so harsh towards you.

Warnings: Really obsessed behavior, kidnapping, mention of stalking, unwanted kiss on the cheek and some disturbing behavior (none of it towards reader or any of the main characters), blood, feeling sick and I think that’s it? -> 18+!!

Other: English isn’t my first language.

-> Masterlist

-> Part eight ; Part ten

-> Garden of Eternal Love (09)

You had been walking through the almost empty streets of Lincoln for about half an hour, just minding your business as you walked past by the very few strangers on the streets. It was late at night, probably around four in the morning, but you figured that a city like this would have more people around at this hour. Perhaps it was due to the latest disappearances that more people decided to play it safe and get home early.

You almost didn’t recognize the sound of Bucky’s bike as he stopped a few feet away from you, removing his helmet. He looked quite pissed, and he wasn’t completely wrong to feel that way. After all, it could have jeopardized the mission if the police found him there at the cemetery, alone at night, nearby a an open casket when just a few days ago someone stole a cadaver.

But what was done was done.

“Emma.” He called out, making you stop in your tracks in front of him.

“Fancy seeing you here, I thought you’d be in jail by now.” You said, causing him to roll his eyes.

With a scowl, he tossed his helmet your way and you caught it with a frown. “Get your ass on this bike, we already wasted a lot of time.” He instructed after seeing your expression.

You signed, resigned to the situation. The walk you had managed to calm your nerves, but you mentally noted to finally have a proper talk with him once you got home. There were a few questions you had to ask him, and the fact that he resented you for something you couldn’t control made no sense coming from him, who had been Hydra’s puppet for way longer than you. Not to talk about the fact that he seemed somewhat of a different person tonight, although the snarky comments were still there.

“Fine.” You mumbled, slipping the helmet over your head before swinging a leg over the bike and settling in behind Bucky.

He glanced back at you, his expression unreadable beneath the dim streetlights. “Hold on thigh. I’m not sure I’ll stop if you fall over.” He said, his tone still harsh.

“Where do I hold on to?” You asked.

“Me.” He replied.

You took a moment before forcing yourself to wrap your arm around his waist, before you heard the engine roar. Soon enough, you two were speeding in the street straight to the address Dean texted you.

* * * *

Bucky slowed the bike down as you reached an imposing iron gate, locked securely with a massive chain. As soon as he turned off engine, the only source of light disappeared, leaving you both into complete darkness once again. You could see Dean’s Impala parked not far away from the bike, though, so Dean and Sam must have found an entrance nearby.

The only sound that broke the silence was the soft crunch of Bucky’s footsteps as he navigated in the darkness, his torch casting feeble beams of light to illuminate the path. You spotted a gap in the fence, just wide enough for someone to slip through.

“Hey.” You called out, drawing Bucky’s attention. “Over here. Watch your steps.” You murmured, stepping through the opening.

Bucky followed suit, illuminating the scene before you. Despite the land having an owner, the place looked abandoned. The trees twisted and contorted in an unnatural, almost, shape and the overgrown lawn was just a tangle of weeds and thorns.

“Not even Steve’s backyard sucks this much.” You heard Bucky say, as you two started trudged along the road leading to the house.

You didn’t respond, the sudden feeling of a splitting headache made you momentarily speechless. It felt as though someone was repeatedly hammering at your skull, the pain so sharp that you had to squeeze your eyes shut and clutch at your temples.

“Hey.” Bucky’s voice cut through the haze of agony, as he noticed your distress. His hand landed on your shoulder. “You alright?”

Struggling to open your eyes, you were met with a blurred vision you had never experienced before. Sure, a simple headache wasn’t uncommon for you, but this intensity was new. It felt as though your head was being crushed from within, and then, a warm liquid trickled down from your nose.

“What the-” You began, reaching up to wipe away the liquid. As your vision cleared slightly, you realized it was blood.

“You’re not dying, are you? Loki will turn me into a snail if you die.” Bucky’s attempt at humor fell flat, his concern evident beneath the dry chuckle he let out. Watching you struggle to maintain your balance, he swiftly looped an arm around your waist for support.

Your health had always been great, thanks to the fact that your blood was mixed with the Wendigo’s. You couldn’t even die if someone really tried, and many people tried over the years and yet there you were. That’s what made this sudden pain and disorientation so baffling, it was starting to feel more like something deep within you was struggling to break free. You knew it wasn’t normal, but you didn’t really try to think of what was happening when you felt like fainting.

You barely registered what Bucky was saying, the piercing sound in your ears shutting out everything else.

Bucky quickly maneuvered one of your arms around his shoulders, carrying you towards the house. The Super Soldier barely had time to watch his surroundings, but he saw a shed in the distance, not far from the house, and he did a metal check of going there later - he had a strange feeling about it.

By the time he reached the house, you were already unconscious and Bucky didn’t waste a second to pound on the door repeatedly until Sam swung it open.

“Hey, man- what’s wrong?” Sam asked worriedly, immediately helping Bucky in carrying you inside - although Bucky could have done it on his own.

“I don’t know.” The Soldier said tersely, as they laid you on the couch, and as if your pale skin wasn’t alarming enough, the nosebleed didn’t seem to stop.

With gentle but firm hands, Bucky positioned your head to prevent you chocking on your own blood, pressing a few napkins taken from the nearby coffee table against your nose to staunch the flow.

“Sam, the bathroom has this button that cleans your-” Dean began, entering in the room, but cutting himself off when he saw your figure laying on the couch. He ran to your side, looking between his brother and Bucky. “Is she dead?!” Dean’s voice rose in panic.

“No.” Bucky reassured him, checking your pulse because he wasn’t too sure himself. “She’s never been sick before. She was fine until we walked beyond the fence, it happened almost immediately. She never said anything about feeling even remotely ill today.”

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance that went unnoticed by Bucky since he was still focused on you. Sam approached the window, drawing back the curtains just enough to peer outside for confirmation.

“It’s the symbols on the trees.” Sam began, causing Bucky to turn his attention towards him, waiting for an explanation. “Most of them are anti- demonic symbols, made by Malcom himself probably to… ward off demoniac entities.” He looked at anything but Bucky’s eyes as he spoke.

Bucky’s frown deepened. “What does this have anything to do with her?”

“Wendigos are demonic entities.” Dean sighed. “And her blood is mixed up with theirs, which explains the sudden sickness. She was able to enter because she’s still half human; other creatures wouldn’t have that privilege.” He explained.

“She… Is she going to die? She’s losing a lot of blood.” Bucky’s concern was evident, his voice oddly soft as he kept his eyes on you.

Dean glanced down at you too, his expression wasn’t too different from his. “There are no symbols in here, she should be safe. Just give her some time.” He reassured, although his tone was worried.

“You could have said this before we came here, I would have dropped her home.” Bucky said, pissed.

“We didn’t know it would have an effect on her. She was born human, after all.” Sam let out a sight, slightly feeling guilty about your state.

Bucky clenched his jaw, tossing away the bloody napkins to get clean ones as he continued to attempt to staunch the flow of blood from your nose. “Where’s Malcom?” He asked, remember the whole reasons why he drove all the way here to the cemetery.

“Not here.” Dean sighed in frustration, sinking down onto the other side of the couch. “He vanished, just like Mrs Miller and the creature locked in her house. We’ve hit a dead end once again.”

“Why call us to come here, then? You could have given us this information back at the safe house.” Bucky muttered, shorting a glance in Dean’s direction.

Dean took a moment before answering, almost as if he was thinking of a proper answer to give.

“We don’t know if Malcom is dead or alive and we don’t know if he took a part in all this mess, so we wanted to leave things as we found them… which involves his laptop.” Sam explained immediately before Dean could respond, retrieving said laptop from the nearby table. He approached Bucky, offering him the device. “He left behind some videos, of himself, and I think you should take a look.”

Bucky turned his attention on the screen as Sam pressed play.

The footage opened immediately with a desolate yard, where Malcom’s figure moved silently. He approached a tree, where some probably homemade stairs were nailed on its trunk. Which each step he took up to what Bucky imagined was a house on the tree, the camera trembled and he could hear some noises in the background.

Finally, Malcom turned the camera towards himself, his smiling face finally on the screen. Bucky was able to see his house on the back so that must have been the backyard as he suspected.

“Hello!” Malcom greeted the camera cheerfully, waving. “Today it’s truly a wonderful day, I made a friend - Adam.” He chuckled. “He’s quite the popular guy around here, I met him at a bar downtown and everyone greeted him - that never happened to me.” Another chuckle followed. “But truth be told, I don’t really like him. He’s my future girlfriend’s boyfriend, Cassandra can’t seem to get rid of him… though I know she wants to.”

In the background, muffled screams could be heard after Malcom’s words, his smile faltering for a brief moment. “Sorry about that, that’s Rue.” He explained. “She isn’t much of a social butterfly, much like my Cassie, that’s why I brought her home.”

The camera turned to reveal a woman, her resemblance to Cassandra herself was unsettling. She was on the floor, bound and gagged, her eyes wide with terror as Malcom approached. “Say hi, Rue!” Malcom’s tone was sickeningly cheerful and Bucky decided then he was some sort of psychopath. “She’s the tenth.” Malcom continued. “Only a few more to go before I practice enough so I can take Cassie back home with me. I want our relationship to be perfect once I manage to get her to like me back, so let’s hope for the best!” He cheered. “Now I gotta go, gotta take my girl Rue on a date.”

The camera was turned off, but not before he left a kiss on Rue’s cheek.

Bucky sighed, lowering his head, processing what he just saw. “What- what did he mean?” He knew that already, but he wanted to have confirmation.

“We believe he kidnapped girls that looked like Cassandra to, as he put it , practice on how to be… a suitable partner, as stupid as it sounds, to eventually get her to like him.” Dean explained briefly. “He said she was the tenth, but there are eleven graves outside.”

“Graves?” Bucky frowned in confusion.

“Keep watching.” Sam instructed, sighing.

Bucky complied, and another video began. This time, Malcom appeared in his room, his face covered in dirt and he had his usual smile playing on his lips.

“It’s finally the day!” Malcom’s voice was laced with excitement, as he giggled. “I’m going to bring Cassie here today, everything went according to plan. She’s so, so happy, and so am I! Everyone’s just so happy today!” He moved towards the window, the camera following his gaze to the backyard where the tree with the treehouse stood. There was a sign that said ‘garden of eternal love’, even.

But it was the freshly dug pits in the ground that caught Bucky’s attention.

“Except for Rue.” Malcom giggled again, pointing to a particular pit. “I wanted to let her go but her father’s a cop, I couldn’t risk it.” His tone shifted to sadness, though Bucky sensed the insincerity. “I never laid a finger on any of those women, never harmed them. But they all seemed to hate me! And now they’re dead!” He exclaimed before taking a deep breath to calm him down after the sudden burst of anger.

“I didn’t kill them, though. I gave them a choice, and they made the wrong one.” Malcom said, the camera zooming on his face. “I am not a killer. My mommy raised me to be a good boy, and they’re closer to God this way anyways. So if anything, I did them a favor. Now, I’m gonna take Cassie home, she’s about to leave work… wish me good luck!” He bit his lower lip in excitement, waving one last time at the camera before the screen turned black.

“I’d choose the bear.” You mumbled suddenly, causing their heads to snap in your direction as you finally woke up.

“What?” Dean’s brows furrowed in confusion as he looked at you from his seat.

“Man or bear… I’d chose the bear. That’s a damn psychopath.” You muttered tiredly, forcing yourself into a sitting position. Your head was still pounding but it was slightly getting better. “I only saw the last part, tell me he didn’t record himself doing things to those women.”

“He didn’t, physical pleasure isn’t the reason he took them.” Dean reassured you. Thankfully.

“Glad to see you’re not dead.” Bucky said with what you swore was a hint of relief in his voice.

“Glad to see you didn’t leave me out there.” You said, sighing. “So what now? What do we do? We have absolutely no clue about anything and I feel like we’re making steps backward instead of forward. I even wonder why Fury sent us here; we’re spies, not FBI agents for fuck’s sake.” You exclaimed angrily, raising to your feet. You had to steady yourself against the wall to avoid falling, since your legs were weak. “And now, not only Cassandra is probably dead whether it’s because of this man or her father, but all those women are too, and we are here with empty hands - I’m this close to having a breakdown.”

Your words hung in the air, they knew you were right. Sam and and Dean fought a lot of monsters before and they solved a lot of cases on their own, but this was Hydra. And Hydra can’t be found if it doesn’t want to be found, so it made sense that they cleaned the scene - because at this point the only reasonable answer is that they were the ones to delete all the evidence. Perhaps they left Malcom’s laptop to make all the suspects fall on him.

“What now?” Sam’s tired voice cut through the tense silence. “Should we call the cops? Spread the word about those videos, Cassandra disappeared not too long ago… if the police put out an alert for a serial killer on the loose, we might scare him into making a mistake.” Sam suggested.

“No.” Dean objected immediately. “Involving the police would be drawing all the attention on Malcom, and what about Hydra?”

Sam took a deep breath nodding at his brother’s words and didn’t answer.

“Every time I think we’re getting somewhere, shit happens.” Bucky sighed, frustration evident in his tone. “Was it Michael Sawyer who kidnapped Cassandra or was it Malcom? It feels like all we have are speculations and nothing concrete. Are we even sure this is Hydra? First Tony mentioned traces of the super soldier serum in the victims, now we’re dealing with supernatural creatures? Fury doesn’t even have the decency to answer the fucking phone.”

“Midlife crisis is hitting hard.” You mumbled, earning a glare from Bucky. “Sorry, not the time… Listen, let’s do a recap with everything, alright? See if we missed something.” You suggested. “So, what do we know?”

“That Fury sent both me and Sam and you and Bucky here knowing what Hydra was doing. He paired us up because we know things about the Wendigo and you two have been in Hydra most of your lives. We know that Hydra want an army full of those creatures for their own twisted ideas, and Michael Sawyer is involved since he used to be the crazy scientist in the facility you were kept in. Also the Wendigo inside his house is not a hint we can ignore.” Dean summarized most of it.

“How did the Wendigo end up in his house? And how come it didn’t eat anyone? Are you sure you were the only one that could control it?” Sam asked, the last question was directly for you.

“Yes, when I was in there.” You nodded. “But it’s been ten years, so maybe… maybe they found someone else.”

“Or they found another way.” Bucky said.

“Or they found another way.” You repeated, agreeing with what he said. “After all, they’re capable of anything.”

“Do we still believe that the Wendigo in question is Cassandra?” Dean asked, looking at each of the people in the room.

“It’s the most logical reason. Imagine: you manage to create your own, boring life after Hydra falls and one day your daughter brings up your past. She’s a threat to you, and for the people you worked with, so you eliminate her and whoever might have a clue, which was Adam.” Sam explained his point of view, and you personally agreed with it.

“Why now? How did she even find out? And why didn’t the police investigate when she disappeared?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Hydra has tons of connections, it wouldn’t be wrong to think they intervened in the investigation. After all, corrupted cops are not unusual.” Bucky suggested. “And to answer the other questions, you mentioned that Cassandra vented about her biological mother’s other daughter to Adam, and the thought of it drove her insane. I’ve been thinking, what if the woman has connections with Hydra? He disappeared for the first time when Cassandra was left on the doorstep and he kept in contact with this woman for what now? More than twenty years? Was this other child older or younger?”

“Younger.” You replied. “She should be in her mid-twenties now. William has been texting me details he keeps remembering. But this girl in question isn’t Michael’s daughter, so technically they’re half sisters. Why would she be so mad about it?”

“Because Sawyer kept this part of her life private. I was angry at the world too when I found out that our father had another son with someone who wasn’t our mother, and he was more present in his life than ours. He left me and Sammy starving in motel rooms while he brought our half-brother to baseball games. I wanted to kill him; it was the very first time I genuinely wanted to hurt my father and the kid he chose over us.” Dean said, sharing a part of his and Sam’s life neither you or Bucky knew anything about.

His head low as he spoke. “Cassandra was left on Mrs Miller’s doorstep before she could even walk, and then years later she found out that her biological mother was asking about the other daughter and not her.“ Dean finished.

“It would make a lot of sense to think that she wanted to find out more about her biological mother, digging in her father’s past. Which eventually led her to find about Hydra and what her father did to people during the time he was away.” Sam said, sitting on the couch beside Dean.

“Another reason to think this woman has ties with Hydra too.” Bucky added, reaffirming his previous point.

“This makes sense, actually.” You acknowledged, registering the things they said. “And what about Malcom? Was Cassandra just too unlucky to be caught between a rock and a hard place? On one hand, a psychopath obsessed with her who kidnaps women, and on the other, another psychopath who’s a part of a terrorist organization that kidnaps people.”

“But then again…” Bucky let out a heavy sigh. “These are speculations. Whether it makes sense or not, concretely what do we have? Almost nothing.”

You bit your lower lip, then turned to Sam and Dean. “Did you two check the whole place? Maybe there’s something around here. At least to know if it was Malcom who took Cassandra or not.”

“Except for a few creepy things upstairs, the house is normal. No signs of fights, hidden doors or blood. Absolutely nothing. Everything’s just dirty, but I don’t think the guy’s first thought was cleaning the house.” Dean replied.

“What about the shed outside?” Bucky suggested. “I saw it when I was bringing her in after she gracefully passed out.” He pointed at you, and you rolled your eyes at the remark.

“Uh… is there a shed outside?” Dean raised a brow, clearly unaware of it.

Bucky pinched the bridge of his nose, his annoyance evident. Understandably. Malcom was nowhere to be found in his house and who said he wasn’t hiding there?

“We’ll go to check.” Sam said, hitting his brother lightly on the shoulder.

“I’ll come with you.” You proposed, though you weren’t feeling much better than before. The headache persisted, and you had a bloody taste in your mouth, but at least now it was manageable.

“No. You sit your ass back down.” Bucky sternly said.

“No.” You protested.

“It’s better if you stay here.” Sam backed Bucky up, rising from the couch ready to get out and see what both him and Dean had missed.

“What? Why?” You asked, frowning in confusion.

“We’ll explain later, Em, but I really don’t like the idea of you dying.” Dean explained cryptically, his words leaving you more confused that before. He wasn’t making any sense.

Bucky moved to join the brothers, but Dean halted him. “When Sam said ‘you’, he meant both of you. Have fun while we’re away, kids.” He remarked with a good smile, before leaving with Sam and closing the door behind them.

“I hate those two.” Bucky grunted, sinking further on the couch.

“They’re not so bad.” You shrugged. “They just don’t make sense sometimes. I heard them talk about stopping an apocalypse once. Weird, isn’t it?” You chuckled at the absurdity.

Bucky looked at you with a raised eyebrow. “You do realize a God, specifically your best buddy, tried to conquer Earth just to get back at his brother, right? What makes you think other Gods aren’t as bad? If we’re even talking about Gods here.”

“I’m not really an expert in Gods’ behavior, James, I only know two. One has murderous instincts after every minor inconvenience and the other one is frightened by lizards. Nothing really makes sense here.” You shrugged. “And Loki isn’t bad once you get to know him.”

“Didn’t he try to turn you into a lizard because he knew you’d run to Thor and Thor would embarrass himself in front of everyone?” He reminded you, emphasizing Loki’s nature. He wasn’t close to the God of Mischief, but he knew you were. For some reason.

“Everyone has issues.” You said, shrugging, trying to rationalize Loki’s actions. Not that he ever did anything against your consent, you did actually think that his idea was funny. “Besides, he was the only one decent enough to not treat me as some kind of outcast when I joined the team.”

“Nobody treated you as such, I was there.” Bucky countered.

“You did.” You reminded him. “I’m not saying they weren’t kind. But they never tried to- listen, it’s not the place to talk about it. Everything’s in the past, so let’s just wait for Sam and Dean to get back so we can go home.”

Bucky didn’t respond immediately, his gaze fixed on you as you settled down on the other side of the couch. “How are you feeling?” He asked with genuine concern in his voice.

You met his gaze before replying. “Better than before.” You shrugged. “Thank you for not leaving me out there by the way.”

“Why? Would you have done it?”

“No.” You answered honesty, shaking your head. “But I don’t have a burning hatred for you.”

Bucky looked away for a moment. “It’s not like the reason why I don’t like you is an excuse, Emma. And I already said I’m trying to be better. You- you didn’t even apologize to me, not once ever since we met again.” The last part was almost murmured, and you could sense some frustration.

“Met again? What does that even mean?” You scoffed. “And you keep acting as if I had a choice. You never held Wanda or Pietro accountable for actually joining Hydra willingly, so why me?” You demanded, desperate to have some answers. “What have I done to you? Why do I need to apologize?”

Bucky bit his lower lip, struggling to find the right words. “Wanda and Pietro never brought me back to Hydra when I finally managed to escape.” He confessed, meeting your eyes with an unreadable expression and your frown deepened. “You did.” He finally said.

… what?

[la-cinephile]

Review and thoughts about TROP 02x08

After watching episode 8 twice (and after crying a lot), here is my review of the last episode of the season 2 of The Rings of Power with a lot of spoilers.

A visual masterpiece

It's not the first episode to be really good on that point but there are definitely some epic scenes that make this season finale almost perfect visually. It begins with the first sequence at Khazad-Dûm with the Balrog. Huge shoutout to the VFX crew who creates this creature and for their work throughout the show because visual effects look great 99% of the time (the 1% left is for the warg in season 1).

King Durin facing the Balrog - Shadow and Flame (02x08)

Through the episode we also have a lot of stunning shots as the ones below :

Pelargir - Shadow and Flame (02x08)

Númenor - Shadow and Flame (02x08)

Rivendell - Shadow and Flame (02x08)

An emotional episode

Even though the series was good in season 1 and also in the beginning of season 2, I didn't feel so emotional than in the last two episodes and especially in episode 8.

Father and son (of father / daughter) relationships are always moving to me so the scene between Prince Durin IV and his father at the beginning and THAT scene with Adar and his children had a big impact on me.

The betrayal scene is the saddest and one of the most brutal thing that happened in the show. It's well done and echoes perfectly what happened in the 02x01 in the flashback but it was hard to watch. I mean, Adar trusted his children and them, they didn't understand that he was making sacrifices not really by choice but because it was necessary to assure peace for their kind. It was a heavy price for him, it was painful but he knew it was the only way to win but no, Glûg thought it was better to make an alliance with Evil.

As I said in a previous post, there is something very similar to the Assassination of Julius Caesar in this scene with the Lord-Father being betrayed by several of his children, especially Glûg who was one of his closest "child", not to mention that Adar calls him "son" (yeah I'm sobbing again writing this).

Adar being betrayed by Glûg - Shadow and Flame (02x08)

I hate Glûg for what he did but he clearly didn't deserve to die like that (poor Mrs Glûg and Glûg Jr) but it's the only way for the other orcs to realize that they made a mistake and be like : "oh no, daddy was right, we were so wrong not to trust him"

Of course as an Adar fan it's hard to watch this scene but his narrative arc makes sense and we all knew he would die sooner or later. He was there during two seasons and that's already a long for an OC and even if he had survived, what next? If his children had been taken by Sauron anyway, would he have lived with that ? With the fact that he lost his children? I don't think so.

Anyway, Adar is undoubtedly one of the best character in the whole series and I will really missed him in the next seasons.

Let me be delulu for a moment : in the beginning of season 3 we will see that the betrayal scene was just a vision of Adar when he put on the ring and by doing so he sees what will happen and so he will prevent it and everything will be fine

I also must talk about the scene between Celebrimbor and Sauron and once again, what a scene! Charles Edwards and Charlie Vickers' performances are so great. This duo is one of the higlights of this second season, and both characters have a very good evolution. I feel so bad for Celebrimbor and I hate Sauron so much for what he has done to him.

But the episode also have less serious moments and sometimes even got some "fun" like when Gil-galad reacts to the sound of the dwarves coming to help the elves by just saying "Dwarves" with a knowing glance to Elrond. This quote doesn't have to be so funny but it made me smile (and I needed it).

Talking about Gil-galad, seeing him on the battlefield make me like him more. I mean I didn't really like him before because he had this elvish attitude I really don't like and I clearly prefer him as a warrior king.

I will just add a few words on Galadriel : Morfydd Clark was once again so badass. Her quote "the door is shut" and the kick just after, I mean it's so good to have a strong woman in a fiction like this, no matter what haters think, there is girl power in TROP and I love that!

An amazing soundtrack

Bear McCreary has created so many masterpieces throughout the whole series and there are definitely great musical themes added in season 2 like the music for Rhûn or this awesome metal song (The Last Ballad of Damrod) in episode 7.

Soundtrack is an important part of a tv series or a movie and so in TROP, the scenes are not just great, they become epic and truly as powerful as some scenes in the LOTR trilogy. It really gave me chills through all episode 8, mostly at the end at the future Rivendell which is a so beautiful scene.

Near perfection

The episode wasn't perfect and not as good as episode 7 in my opinion and I think the main reason is the pacing.

There is something wrong with it, it happens also in other episodes but here it's obvious, I mean some time has passed since the end of episode 7 and even if it's only a matter of a couple hours, I think it would have been better if episode 8 have been longer and could explain how Arondir was healed for example.

Let me be clear : I'm glad he is alive because he is a good character but how the hell did he survives adar's attack?! He was stabbed with an arrow and with a sword and he appears in episode 8 as if nothing bad happened to him, just a scratch or something like that. He looks just fine and it would have been better to have an explanation. Yes, you will say it's Gil-galad who must have healed him but when? And why aren't they together when they are taking hostages by the orcs before the dwarfs are coming to rescue?

With more time, we could also have known why Adar took the crown in the middle of the forest or how Glûg convinced other orcs to betray Adar because the last time we saw him in episode 7, he seems to be the only one to stay at the camp and not following Adar to the city and I would have be more kind on his "conspiracy" if we had a shot where some Uruks gathered around Glûg (you'll say we saw that earlier in episode 7 during the dialogue between Glûg and Adar but I keep thinking that a shot with several orcs staying with Glûg while Adar is marching to the city would have be more significant.)

Okay, it's my way to say I want an extended cut, no matter how long it is but please Amazon give us the extended cut!

Also, I know there is no need to explain everything (even though it's one of my flaw either as a spectator and as a writer because I always want to know every details or make sure that everything is clear) but how did Galadriel survived a fall like that?

About the Gandalf's reveal well it's not a bad thing if you considered only the movies and if you haven't read the books but I hope it's not only for fan service. I'm not mad at it but with all the hints, it's not such a big reveal in the end.

Conclusion

It was a good episode and I prefer this second season to the first one. The end is perfect as it concludes some narrative arcs and opens on others like the creation of The One Ring, Númenóreans going on war or the establishment of Rivendell. Yes some characters will be missed in the next seasons but if the show really goes on for 5 seasons, it's already good for some characters to have been able to stay alive that long, moreover for Adar who was supposed to be killed off earlier according to the showrunners. I can't wait for the next season because great things are coming and it will probably be at least as good as this second season.

Thanks for reading this long review 😊

[theosb0rnway]

Just finished the Bad Batch finale and HOLY SHIT IT WAS SO FUCKING GOOD

SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

THEY ALL LIVED!!! HOLY SHIT THEY ALL LIVED I CAN'T BELIEVE IT--

So um.... yeah Tech's still not dead to me, CX-2 is alive, everything is fine, we'll see him soon, it's fine-

Crosshair GOT HIS HAND CUT OFFFF- Not the biggest Crosshair fan but I still feel so bad.... BYT AT LEAST HE MADE THE SHOT AND SAVED OMEGA AND HE GETS A HAPPY ENDING NOW

Speaking of happy endings, THEY ALL GET TO GROW OLD!!!! I'M SO FUCKING HAPPY FOR THAT, I'M SO GRATEFUL THEY GET TO LIVE THAT PEACEFUL LIFE THEY WANTED, EVEN IF WE DIDN’T GET TO SEE IT

GONKY'S ALIVE AND WELL, THANK THE FORCE

Emerie helped the kids escape I'm so glad they all made it too AND THE KIDS LOOKED SO CUTE ON PABU WITH MOX, DEKE, AND STAK

ECHO'S STILL ALIVE AND HELPING THE CLONES FIGHT, HELL YEAH

They rescued the clones!!!! I'm SO FUCKING HAPPY they did

HEMLOCK AND RAMPART ARE FUCKING DEAD, LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOO

Rampart was a double-crossing son of a bitch and he got what he deserved. Rest in peace, Nala Se. You may not have always been on the right side, but you died doing the right thing.

Did I mention that I don't think Tech is dead?

The CXs were SO COOL I wish we got to see more of them!!!

DID I MENTION THAT I DON'T THINK TECH IS DEAD?!? (I'm not losing hope guys, I'm not-)

The Zillo beast absolutely RIPPING UP TANTISS was fucking FANTASTIC and I love it and it was VERY VERY MUCH DESERVED

Baryn is me, I need loud destructive noises to fall asleep LOL (this is why I can only fall asleep to FNAF songs in my ears-)

Seeing grown up Omega made me cry, and I love that older Hunter looks like pretty much every older Hunter fanart ever drawn-

Wish we could have seen older Wrecker and Crosshair, and GIVE ME SCENES OF BOTH OF THEM HEALING, PLEASE- (Crosshair did not eat on screen the ENTIRE SEASON I don't like that at ALL.)

Overall, I thought the finale was a solid 9 1/2 out of 10, the only thing that could have made it better was a CX-2 is Tech reveal, but... I mean I got everything else, so I'm not entirely disappointed.

I'm still staying VERY MUCH a part of this fandom, sorry not sorry to my followers who came for the Ninja Turtles and got Star Wars copy-paste men instead-

As I mentioned, I do have a Bad Batch project coming out soon, and I guess I could call it a fix-it now... but yeah, I'm not done with Star Wars and at this point in my life, I really don't think I'm leaving this fandom any time soon. Yes, it has some issues, as all fandoms do, but it's where I fit best at the moment. I'll still be posting other stuff, but Star Wars and the Scream franchise are my main fandoms for now.

Thank you to the cast and crew of this WONDERFUL show, you did it again, Star Wars. (*puts TBB in my top 3 TV shows of all time*)

And thanks to all my friends here on Tumblr who helped me get into this show and traded theories and so much more! (Also special thanks to @atyourdinosaurs for all of your love, theories, and ideas [and for inspiring my new project], and to @casp1an-sea and @thecoffeelorian for being two amazing friends I made from this fandom!)

We had a great run, guys. It's a honor to love this show and to be here for its final moments. Here's to more Star Wars and to more Bad Batch content in the future.

-Oz

[callmeklair]

Cinderella

okay so this got really really long so I had to shift the behind the scenes part for another post at last moment. Also I'm really sorry for how long this might look, I did try to edit it in small font but it was just unreadable so yeah >.<

[no beta because me is sick]

prepare yourselves for a ride. also special mention to @its-irsaa-fyp because our random midnight talk brought this au to life

hope you guys enjoy it ^^

this story revolves around a kind-hearted and beautiful girl named Yui Komori who lives with her stepmother and stepsisters. Her own mother died a long time ago, and father just met with an accident recently while on his way to travel.

???: oh~ cinderella~! cinderella~~!— Yui! Yui!

???: where did she disappear!? me and teddy are starving! is she still asleep!!?

unfortunately for Yui, her stepmother and stepsisters were not that welcoming as from the start they referred to her as Cinderella.

"someone or something that is given little attention or care, especially less than they deserve"

to mock her.

Yui: *sigh* they are at it again.

Yui stretched her sleepy arms as the birds started singing to awaken her and her favorite three mice pulled away the blanket to snuggle on her lap to get some morning pats.

these animals were the only ones who took care of her in this cold and insufferable household.

one of the three mices suddenly spoke to get Yui's attention.

Azusa: why… don't you just… run away from here?

Ruki: Azusa, it's not that easy for humans to run away like us animals. they need backup and basic requirements before moving away to guarantee their safety and survival.

Yuma: sheesh, glad I'm a mouse. if only you had done some good deeds in your previous life, then you would have been a mouse like us, Yui.

Yui chuckled at Yuma's comment and shook her head which made him blush. was it out of embarrassment or shyness? nobody knows. well of course except his brothers Ruki and Azusa.

Ruki: you should leave, before they barge into your room and mess it up like last time.

Yui: right! you are right! I'll see you guys later, take care until then.

she kissed each mice' head and left.

Ayato: what took you so long!? yours truly is starving!

Yui: I'm sorry stepmother, this won't happen again.

Ayato: you said that last time too!

Laito: now now mother, please let it be. poor Cinderella needs her beauty sleep too. After all, I'm pretty sure you won't want an ugly little thing with dark circles lurking around the house like a ghost while doing her chores. it'll be unsightly.

Kanato: as much as I hate her for making me and teddy wait, I agree with laito. it'll be really unpleasant to watch her like that. her pretty average looks are the only thing that is keeping me sane as I watch her face everyday while walking around the house. she's already ugly, don't make it worse.

Ayato: tch, you two. fine, you are spared this time on my daughters' request. but now… you have already wasted our precious time, go make the breakfast and, I don't think I need to repeat about your daily chores.

Yui: understood.

she bowed her head to them like a daily routine and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

later during the meal, while she was serving their breakfast something in their conversation perked her up

Ayato: we have received an invitation from our monarch for the prestigious royal ball that is going to be held in five days. it is rumored that the prince is looking for a wife through this occasion and will make her his queen after taking over the throne.

Laito: ah that sounds so wonderful! but why throw a ball when he can marry a very influential family and also, in the future he is destined to marry a lot of women to stabilize his kingdom. ah~ I really wanted to become his one and only.

Kanato: try getting out of your genius fantasies and assumptions, he'll never marry someone like you even if he wants to keep only one wife. I'm more suitable. me and teddy. right teddy?

Ayato: that's the thing. the current prince only wants to have one wife on his side who'll help him run the kingdom through her ideas and opinions too and not just influence.

Laito: hmmm isn't the king, the current prince's older brother who is still single and healthy, still ruling the kingdom. why will they look for a wife for the prince and not the king?

Ayato: dunno, probably not interested in marriages. and about the prince, he doesn't look like he has any intention to take over the kingdom but who knows what goes around in politics. definitely why they are looking for a wife for him due to this.

Laito: awww man, I thought if not prince then I could get a chance with the king as a backup but looks like I'll have to rely on my natural beauty and talent to press my presence into the prince's heart.

Kanato: gross.

Yui: can I join the ball too? I promise I'll complete all the chores! I'll clean the house to it's finest, laundry your clothes, iron them, and make your favorite foods. Everything.

The three's eyes widened at her request.

Kanato: what made you think, a mere incompetent average mediocre women like you can attend with us—!

Ayato: Kanato. it's alright.

the stepmother stopped her youngest child's tantrum and turned to Yui with an evil smile.

Ayato: fine. I'll let you join us-

Kanato & Laito: mother!

Ayato: shush. I'm still speaking. so Yui, you can join us… only if you complete all the listed chores I give you everyday.

Yui: that's alright with me! thank you!

Ayato: don't thank me so soon. you even have not started working on the chores yet.

the evil smile just grew wider. but Yui chose to ignore it and left the dining area to start preparing for her chores.

Laito: mother?

Ayato: you guys are worrying too much, she doesn't even have proper clothes except those rags. and to think about going to the ball without a proper dress? fufu she'll either be kicked out or made a laughing stock. but I'm pretty sure she won't be even able to step out of this house, as that much of the task and chores will be given to her from me.

on the corner, the three mice were watching the whole ordeal and Yuma just grew angry at the insolent behavior of these people towards Yui and her pure wish & will to go to the ball.

Yuma: those damn bastards- that stepmother is definitely planning something evil. the wickedness is in the air, I can't breathe anymore ugh!

Azusa: Ruki… we need to protect her and help her prepare for the ball.

Ruki: that's right! let's have a talk with her first and see what she is planning for the ball.

the three mice left the scene and went to their Yui.

Yuma: Yui! Yui! what are your plans for the ball?

Yui: ..! you guys know?

Ruki: of course we do, we are mice. our ears are everywhere.

Yui: oh I see. Well I of course don't have a dress so I'm planning to make one, I still have one of my mother's dresses which I can try to remake using various accessories and jewels.

Ruki: is that the pink one you showed a long time ago?

Yui: yes that's the one.

Yuma: then we'll help you remake it! you know those smelly wicked people are definitely planning something unpleasant and difficult for you.

Yui: Shush Yuma, that's not how you talk about people, especially behind their backs. and I'll really appreciate your guys' help my sweet adorable mice.

She rubbed their heads and ruffled around their chin to gesture her gratitude.

the three of them purred.

Now Yui was busy doing all her listed difficult and nasty chores. her stepmother really didn't want her to come so badly that she stooped so low in giving chores.

While on the other hand, the mice called for the birds and explained to them about the situation. Upon hearing this, the birds whistled and called more of their friends from the forest behind the house and with this, all of them proceeded to make a dress for Yui, so beautiful that even the prince will not be able to get up after falling from looking at her. not from the floor, not from his affection.

Days passed and the time for the ball was here. But Yui didn't look very excited as in the past few days, her stepmother really gave her so many tasks that she didn't even get the time to touch her mother's dress. The moment she'll complete those tasks and go to her room in the attic, she'll fall on the bed and sleep due to all the tiredness.

Yui:....! huh! How is this-!

Yuma • Azusa • Ruki • animals: surprise!

Yui was in awe and in tears as she saw the most beautiful dress she has ever seen in her whole life. These animals really remade the old dress into something new with their tiny hands, paws and beaks. She repeatedly thanked them as she stepped forward and took the dress to try it out.

Yuma: You look gorgeous!

Azusa: pretty!

Ruki: As expected, my imagination was on point.

Yui: you guys are really really adorable! I love you so much.

*church bell rings from afar*

Yui: oh no! it's almost time for the ball, I'm leaving. love you guys.

Ruki: we'll escort you out.

Yui and her companions moved to the door just when the stepmother and the stepsisters were about to leave.

Yui: wait, I'm coming too!

The three of them turned around and looked enraged at her beautiful sight.

blinded by jealousy, the sisters tore Yui's dress saying the jewels on her dress resemble their belongings as the mother just watched.

Yui: … why?

she was on the brink of tears.

Ayato: just cause'.

with that they left.

finally the tears poured from her eyes, she didn't want to cry in front of them to fuel their enjoyment more, and ran away from the scene.

the mice followed her, angry yet they couldn't do anything. if only they were human. if only.. if only… if only…

*magical noises*

???: I hear desperate wishes.

mice: !!!

Yui, who was crying on the bench, suddenly looked up and saw a handsome black haired man with pale magenta eyes wearing glasses in a…. blue gown?

Yui: you are?

???: Reiji. Your fairy godmother.

Yui: …

Reiji: what?

Yui: I think I'm hallucinating due to crying too much.

Reiji: and what is that supposed to mean?

Yui: aren't fairy godmothers females?

Reiji: ….

Yui: ….

Reiji: are you…

Yui: ?

Reiji: Are you doubting my profession? Do you know how hard it is to work in this profession? The ethics and norms says nothing about specific gender in this field. What is this gender discrimination!? Can't believe in this time and era, there will be people who'll show such impudent and narrow minded thinking. I knew it, I was born in the wrong generation.

Yui never expected that her simple question would end up with her getting a whole lecture.

Reiji: good grief *sigh* you are helpless.

Yui: isn't that why you are here?

Reiji: now miss mam, I think you don't know how the fairy godmother system works. We-

Yui: another one. here we go (⁠╥▽╥⁠)

Yui: okay okay, I understand.

Reiji: you better.

Yui: So why are you here?

Reiji: to help you out of course. I heard your deepest desires and wishes from far away. and as a compassionate person* I'm here to fulfill your dreams.

*compassionate person X

because it is my profession. ✓

Yui: really? but how?

Reiji: We can start with that dress of yours.

Reiji took out a white wand from his sleeves as he performed the spell bibidi babidi boo and transformed Yui's dress into a beautiful sparkly silver gown with glass heels while also styling her hair with jewels and sparkles.

Yui: oh my gosh! you are amazing.

Reiji: keke, of course. I'm an expert in my profession, as expected of me. hmm but there's still something amiss.

Yui: how am I supposed to go to the ball? on heels?

Reiji: right! that was what it was missing.

Reiji danced his wand again as he turned a full grown pumpkin, from the corner, into a carriage.

Reiji: perfect. now we are ready.

Yui: who is going to drive it?

Reiji: those three mice glaring at me from the start.

Yui turned at the direction of Reiji's stare and saw her companions glaring daggers. But such thing was completely normal for Reiji as he danced his wand again and turned the mice into humans.

*poof*

Azusa: we are…

Ruki: humans now.

Reiji: for now. Listen to me and remember one thing very carefully, once the clock strikes midnight, my spell will be lifted and everything will be turned back to how it was i.e. your torn dress, pumpkin, mice, everything and everyone.

Yui: I understand, thank you so much.

Yuma: ugh this body is tall, why am I the only one like this!?

Yui: if only you would have done some good deeds.

Yui joked around repeating Yuma's comment from that day and the latter in turn grew more furious.

Reiji: bickering for later. the ball is starting soon. now if you don't want my precious energy and stamina I invested in you to go to waste. Please.

Yui: wait! what if my stepmother and stepsisters recognize me!? it'll be over for me.

Reiji: ah that's true, let me cast another enchanting spell on you which will act like an illusion.

he danced his wand again.

Reiji double checked and made sure everything is at point and now

he pointed at the carriage door's direction, impatient for them to leave. He had to go fill in his reports as early as possible to get some increment.

The three mice, now humans, discussed something among themselves and decided that Ruki & Azusa will be the escorts while Yuma will be the driver.

before Yuma could argue more, Yui looked at him with hopeful eyes and he wasn't able to say anything.

Without anymore further ado, they left for the ball.

———————x

Subaru: tch. I'm not dealing with this nonsense anymore! 

Inside the ballroom, Subaru was starting to get frustrated in the upper room, where royals watch the people from above. 

Just a few hours ago, Shu, his older brother, the current king, lazily barged into his room and dropped the bomb that the ball was actually being held to find a bride for him. Until now he was just kept in the dark and was only told that a royal ball will be held for political purposes and so he assumed that it must be something to do with his king position but now this… this was frustrating.

All he could see was disgusting coaxing of females and the nobles trying to get their daughter with the prince. It got worse when suddenly a maiden with reddish brown hair and green eyes winked at him and 'nfu'-ed at him. Right now Subaru was running away from that maiden and successfully managed to ditch him. 

Subaru sighed as took in the familiar scenario of the grand corridors of this spacious castle. 

Subaru: tch. well now that I'm here, might as well roam around and cool myself down until that brother of mine and his followers drag me into this whole set-up mess again. 

Subaru walked but tensed up when he saw a beautiful gown. 

Subaru: not another one

He looked around to find a hiding spot until..

Subaru: …..! 

Subaru: she is ethereal

no no no, that shouldn't change his decision as he has already seen some beautiful/pretty faces tonight trying to suck him up, be it by their own will or their family's will. 

he shouldn't stop himself just because of an ethereal looking woman. but it was too late, she already saw him.

???: uhm hello? uh, do you know the direction of the ballroom? I'm kind of lost here. 

It looks like she didn't recognise, good for him. But sooner she might if someone from palace suddenly shows up and reveals his identity because of the formalities. 

Subaru: You are? 

Yui: oh… uh I was supposed to attend the ball with my family but due to cho— circumstances I wasn't able to depart with them on time.

She really let herself be open around and introduce herself without any hesitation. such a vulnerable prey. 

Subaru: let me do the honor and take you.

Yui: you will? thank you! 

the little rabbit has fallen into the hands of a beast. 

Yui: oh right! what is your name? Need to know your name to express my gratitude later for your each and every help. 

Subaru: Subaru. 

Yui: I see…

Subaru didn't say his full name because he didn't want his cover to be lifted, at least not yet especially when he gets to see her such beautiful smile making her eyes shape into alluring crescents.

He silently took her to the ballroom, so that people wouldn't notice him and expose him. 

Yui came back to her senses from her daze of taking in the marvelous interior of the palace when she realized that Subaru had taken her to the dance floor and both of them were waltzing now. 

Yui: S-subaru-kun!?

Subaru: shh. 

Yui blushes as she finally takes in his appearance illuminated by the golden lights of the ball room and how dazzling he looked with that silver pink hair and his scarlet eyes. 

Subaru wanted to quietly enjoy his moment with this ethereal girl he just met. He wanted to know more about her. He wanted to make her his own. He was intrigued. her soft expressions, her soft voice, her smile, her vulnerability, everything. He wanted to know them deeply. 

As Subaru and Yui were enjoying their peaceful dance with love filled eyes looking into each other with the desire to get to know each other more, Yui's stepmother and stepsisters were seen from afar as Ayato looked carefully and started to doubt how much the girl dancing with the prince looked familiar.

Ayato: No it can't be her, she doesn't even have a dress and the one she has we destroyed it. must be some other girl looking like her. 

Meanwhile Shu watched the scene in front of him unfold and sighs following with a lazy but genuine smile, glad that his younger brother finally found someone for him. With Subaru's past and his mental health condition this past few weeks, Shu decided to look for someone who'll help his brother out. 

Time passed and Yui and Subaru were at the balcony at the end of the ballroom to get some fresh air and get to each other. the more they talked to each other, the more they found each other falling for the other person. At first it was a little awkward so they started with random small talks and in between Subaru finally revealed his true identity. Yui was shocked and tried to bow curtly as she started being formal but Subaru stopped her. 

He wanted to spend time with her as a normal person. 

Has it been an hour or two since they started talking? Subaru doesn't know and doesn't care, the only thing that matters to him is the girl in front of him. At first he just wanted to see what she was capable of when she so openly left herself in his care, a beast's care. but now, there's more to it. 

He stepped forward and circles his arm around her waist pulling her closer. Yui squeaked at his sudden movement. Shy, she asked him what he was doing but instead of a reply she was met with a closer image of his face and realized their lips were getting closer. He didn't wait or hesitate as he landed a kiss on her lips in his daze of watching her intensely. 

At first Yui didn't know what to do as her heart and mind were saying different things. In the end she kissed him back, entangling her hands in his soft hair.

it went on for a few minutes as each second Subaru would try pulling himself closer to her or pulling Yui closer to him to deepen the kiss. 

Yui slowly opened her eyes to try parting with him to catch a breath but her eyes flew open when her gaze fell on the watch behind Subaru.

Yui: shoot! it's going to be midnight in 10 minutes. 

Yui's slowly pushed Subaru away who looked surprised. 

Yui: I'm sorry, but I need to go, it's getting late.

Subaru: it's alright, I'll order my people to drop you at your home so it won't matter.

Yui: no! i mean it's alright, i won't want to trouble you, your high-

Subaru: I told you to drop the formalities. and, it's not troublesome.

what should she do? if she stays here any longer her illusionary dress and everything will be exposed and she is worried if the connection they have until now, will it disappear if Subaru sees her true form?

Yui apologizes again as she slowly gets out of Subaru's grip and runs for the main gate to leave. Subaru shouted for her to wait for him and followed after her. Yui was rushing and rushing when suddenly Subaru caught her hand stopping her in her tracks at the stairs of the main gate.

Yui looked at the watch, terrified she gently held his hand and got her hand out and rushed again.a pologizing to him while running away.

and also, dropping one of her glass shoes on the stairs on the way. she did stop in her tracks to go above and pick it up but decided not to as the watch ticked over and over again in her ears, like a warning.

Subaru: wait! you never told me your name!

subaru cried out, but it was already too late as Yui had already disappeared, only her forgotten glass show left behind. picking it up, Subaru decided to find the girl no matter what. his determination through the roof.

Next morning, Subaru's bestie, Kou visited him after hearing about the rumors of his dearest friend being seen with a girl and looking at her with love filled eyes.

Subaru was already frustrated at Kou's arrival but started gritting his teeth at the non-stop blabber and teasing of the latter man in front of him.

Kou: aww c'mon man, you can't keep your bestie in the dark!

Subaru: who are you calling your friend!? i don't ever remember having such a relationship with you!

Kou: Hey Subaru-kun! you hurt me. I have been your reading partner since we were ten.

Subaru ignored Kou's annoying chatter, as he gazed at the glass show in his hand. oh how so badly he wanted to find her and keep her to himself. He swore he wouldn't let her get out of his grip anymore.

…!?

was he becoming possesive? even Subaru was shocked at his thoughts.

Shu: stop looking at it like that. The girl won't magically appear out of nowhere if you keep glaring at it.

Shu has entered the room.

Shu: I'll help you find her.

He gestures his hand at three men behind him to take the shoes and leave for the town to find the girl whose foot fits in the shoe.

Subaru recognised the three men as Shu's loyal followers from the start and also his reading partners. Kino, Shin and Carla.

Thus, he let the shoe go because he trusted in their methods and resources.

Kino: just wait for us~

Kino winked at Subaru, and Shin sighed complaining about the enthusiasm.

Shin: how are you guys so sure that this shoe will only fit one lady? There can be many people.

Subaru: the size of the shoe.. is very small. Kou has the smallest shoe size among us all and this shoe is even smaller than that, making it a very rare case.

Kou: Subaru stop exposing me!

Subaru ignored his friend's glaring as Carla nodded, understanding something.

Carla: in other words, the one whose foot glides in this shoe swiftly is the true owner.

Subaru: yes.

and so began the search for the girl that has mesmerized the prince of the kingdom and it didn't take long for the rumors to reach every household. even where Yui lives.

Ayato was in Yui's room, suspicious. Totally suspicious. No matter how much he thinks about it, the girl he saw yesterday doesn't sit right with him as a stranger. he looked around her room, and finally found it. the glass shoe! under her bed.

Ayato: che, I knew it. that cunning fox.

at the same time, Yui entered the room to make sure her glass slipper was still there as the people from the palace were coming & this was her chance to finally meet Subaru again. but the moment she saw Ayato, she was on alert. but it was too late as Ayato smirked while dancing the glass shoe in his hand.

Yui tensed as she stepped forward to take it form Ayato's hand but the latter just extended his hand above and because of the height difference Yui was left helpless.

Ayato: very smart huh? trying to get the prince to you. How did you do it? the dress? how did you reach there when it was already too late to reach in time by walking?

Yui remained silent.

Ayato: no answer huh? fine, for such disrespect, you'll be locked in your room for the meantime.

Yui: no you can't do that!

Ayato: Oh I can, just watch me. those people from the palace will never be able to find you.

with that ayato rushed and locked the door, trapping Yui in.

Ayato: Laito! Kanato! prepare yourselves, the prince is coming! you guys must do whatever you can to get the shoe fit your foot.

Laito • Kanato: Yes, mother.

Meanwhile, trapped Yui cries on the edge of her bed as she remembers how on the way back, it was already midnight and on the way back everything turned back to how it was, just like Reiji said.

except that one glass slipper on her feet still remaining intact.

how? was it because they were seperated? at first Yui was scared that the moment midnight hits the shoe under Subaru's care will turn back to normal and he will start doubting her, making them never meet again. but that wasn't the case as the shoes still remain as how they were.

No matter how much Yui thought it over, nothing explained the logic behind the shoes remaining the same. but at the same time, this gave her hope to meet him again. to meet Subaru again.

the mice notices this and planned to free Yui from the room, but how?

suddenly Ruki perks up as he comes up with a plan to take the key from Ayato's pocket.

The time was here, the people from the palace were here. and… the Prince was also along with them?

Carla: are you three the only people here?

Ayato: yes.

Carla: alright then.

the shoe fitting trial was starting, after going house to house and no one fitting the shoe, this was the only last house left. Subaru was starting to get impatient but he was determined to find her even if she turns out to be from another kingdom.

Meanwhile the mice parted themselves as Azusa went to steal the glass shoes from Ayato's locker. All three of them were glad to be mice as they can use their origin skills to help Yui out.

While Ruki and Yuma slowly approached Ayato and through tricks managed to get the key.

before ayato could notice it was too late, Ruki and Yuma already left and so did Azusa successfully managed to get the glass slipper.

the commotion here was too noisy for him to notice sooner.

Kino: god we don't even need to try the fitting here, it's obvious it won't fit.

Kino cried out the moment he sees the difference in the the glass shoe and the feet of laito.

Ignoring him, Laito still tried it out but as Kino said, it was really really big, no matter how much he tried to fit it in.

Shin: you are going to break it!

Kanato: leave it you pervert! I'll try!

Kanato pushed Laito off the chair and sat himself down, ready to try out the shoe.

Shin: shortie stop! even though you are smaller than him, you are also really big for the glass shoe!

Kanato: who are you calling shortie! WHO ARE YOU—

Ayato: ahem.

Ayato hushed Kanato as the prince was in the room. they cannot take any risk.

On the other hand the three mice finally freed Yui and gave her shoe back.

Yui hurried out and reached downstairs just when the palace people were about to leave.

Yui: wait, I'm here!

they turned back at the newcomer.

Subaru: you said you guys were only three!?

Subaru looks at the girl and the moment he sees her, he senses her. it's her! he rushed to her who was still running down the stairs and caught her in his arms in the form of a hug.

He didn't need that stupid shoe fitting trial to know if the girl he spent last night talking with is her or not. It's her. He can feel it. the warmth, the expressions, the tone. It's her!

Yui hugs him back for few seconds before pushing his shoulder gently to present the glass slipper. he other pair.

Shin: that shoe!

Ayato: Your highness, please listen to this subject. She is nothing but just a mere maid. There's no way she can be involved in matters like prestigious balls. I have no idea how she got that pair of shoe.

Carla: It doesn't matter who she is. you defied the orders, and on top of that lied to his highness. This matter won't go unnoticed and will be reported to the King immediately. Shin.

Shin: on my way ~

Yui: wait! please don't.

Kino: huh? are you saying?

Yui: yes. even though they, well they didn't treat me rightfully, I still don't want to become the reason for their demise. No matter what, everybody deserves a second chance.

Shin: hehe, you guys will be grateful for your life.

Kino snatched the shoes from Kanato's hands and gave it to Subaru.

and after taking the pair of shoes from both Yui and kino, the silver haired man bent down on his one knee and swiftly lifted Yui's feet one by one to slide the shoes.

they fit!

Subaru couldn't be any happier. she was finally his.

Yui hugged Subaru and both of them merrily smiled & laughed to be with each other again.

the glass shoes suddenly starts glowing and turns into dust. that dust soon forms a figure of a beautiful man who introduces himself as karlheinz and says

Karlheinz: Adam and Eve have been found in this universe too, my job is done.

And then disappears again by forming into dust before anyone could say anything.

Shin: what the hell!? what was that just now!? I have heard about fairies, but that was one scary and creepy one, if he was even one.

Kino • Carla: Adam and Eve?

Yui: is that why the shoes remained intact till the end even when the fairy godmother Reiji's spell was lifted at midnight?

even though the mystery about the shoes is solved, the more Yui thinks about it, the creepier it gets, especially how she wore those shoes all the time during the ball and when she was with Subaru…

Yui: don't tell me he witnessed everything…

Subaru realized what Yui was talking about but he can't also fall in the mood. he lifted her up as he gave the most genuine bright smile.

Subaru: Yui will you marry me?

Yui was surprised at the sudden proposal and cried the tears of happiness as she repeatedly said yes to him.

————————x

The wedding bells rang as Subaru and Yui exited the chapel after completing their wedding vows. everyone in the town came to pay their respects and give blessings to the newly married couple. the prince and the princess. The mice were throwing petals from the basket as they watched their Yui finally being happy.

Subaru lifted Yui in the bridal style, causing her to become shy for the nth time and ofc it doesn't goes unnoticed by Subaru.

Subaru: hehe, you should get used to such stuff now because I'll be loving you seven days a week. monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, sunday. 24/7.

Yui blushes more as Subaru walks down the stairs and enters the carriage.

He sets Yui down and leaned in to kiss her as curtains fell.

[greenhikingboots]

Jon’s Pre-Canon Crush

Okay, Jonsa fam. I’ve seen a lot of great posts, especially in the last few months, about Jon’s reactions to Val. Among them, there’s one particular vein I like to assume everyone loves as much as I do. That is, when Jon thinks of Val’s hair as silver vs. when he thinks of it as the color of dark honey. You’ve seen those metas, right? They explain the likelihood of Jon’s future connection to Dany being negative — The air tastes cold. / My tongue is too numb to tell. All I taste is cold. — while his future connection to Sansa will be positive — It had been a long while since Jon Snow had seen a sight so lovely.

Well, in this post I want to expand on the angle of Val-is-sometimes-a-stand-in-for-Sansa. Only, I don’t want to speculate on what will happen between Jon and Sansa in the future, if we ever get GRRM’s last two books. Enough people have already done that, and they’ve done it so wonderfully that I have little to add. Instead, as the title of this post says, I want to focus on Jon’s pre-canon crush. More specifically: I want to focus on what Jon’s thoughts and feelings about Val say about his thoughts and feelings about Sansa.

But let me lay some groundwork first, okay? Until a few weeks ago, I went back and forth on pre-canon crush theories. I agreed they held a lot of potential and were a lot of fun to daydream about — a great premise for a one-shot, to be sure! Oh, and I’ve always loved it when people said things like, “Hey, Jon, your Targaryen is showing.” That’s classic stuff. But did I really think GRRM meant to hint at prior feelings rather than just laying a foundation for future feelings? Again, until a few weeks ago, I wasn’t totally convinced either way. But now I am fully committed to the Pre-Canon Crush Camp, assigned to cabin Jon-Had-Feelings-for-Sansa. [Did Sansa have feelings for Jon too? Ummm maybe? I think there’s some evidence to support that, but not as much. But, hey, that’s not the point of this post. Sorry. Moving on.] So what changed? Well, basically some ideas I’d previously had sunk in on a deeper level. It started with this post from @sherlokiness. It talks about GRRM commenting on a discrepancy in the books, two occasions where Jeyne Westerling’s physical descriptions do not match up. GRRM said the discrepancies were a mistake, a really unfortunate one because it distracts from the times when he intentionally included discrepancies of physical appearances. And basically us Jonsas loved it. Like, “Yep! Make sense! We assumed as much already, Mr. Martin.” And that’s because of the canon line mentioned earlier, right? You know the whole thing, don’t you? Oh, but you want me to quote it here anyway? Okay, fine, I’ll oblige.

They [Ghost and Val] look as though they belong together. Val was clad all in white [bleh, bleh, bleh] …but her eyes were blue, her long braid the color of dark honey, her cheeks flushed red from the cold. It had been a long while since Jon Snow had seen a sight so lovely.

Direwolf. Lots of white. Suspicious ellipses. Blue eyes. Long braid the color of dark honey. Right, okay, got it.  [BTW. Did you know there’s also a point, early on, where Val’s described as having high cheekbones? You know, a feature Sansa has as well!?!?] Anyway, when I saw sherlokiness’s post about GRRM’s comments and the Jonsas relating it to that canon scene with Ghost and Val, I reblogged it. Naturally. And in the tags I said something like, “I’ll have to double check but I’m pretty sure the willowy creature line comes after this line. As in, maybe Jon knew exactly who Val reminded him in that moment and he was trying to talk himself out of his pre-canon crush coming back to the surface.” I’m paraphrasing here. My tags were probably not as clear as that. Also, I was being a bit facetious. It was a thought I’d had before, but just a passing one. Again (AGAIN! Do I say that too much?), I’d been going back and forth about pre-canon crush theories for a long time. But @agentrouka-blog saw my tags and was like, “You might be onto something there.” And then @zimshan saw my tags too and did the double check for me. Thanks! And guess what? GUESS WHAT, JONSA FAM!? I was right about the order. First, Jon sees Ghost and Val, thinks her eyes are blue and her hair is like dark honey, and it is a lovely sight. Second, this line:

Val looked the part [of a princess] and rode as if she had been born on horseback. A warrior princess, he decided, not some willowy creature who sits up in a tower, brushing her hair and waiting for some knight to rescue her.

But guess what else? The order isn’t even the most striking thing. The most striking thing is how closely these two lines appear to one another — within just a few pages!!! That's what zimshan said. So I went back to read it myself. Not just the two lines to check the order, but a little before, and a little after, and everything in between. If you want, you can do the same. It’s ADWD Jon XI.

Want to know what stuck out to me most? The willowy creature line actually seems… so odd, and out of place, and unnecessary. I swear to you. Let me try to explain.

Basically, by that point in the chapter, Jon has already clearly established his take on Val. She’s beautiful, everyone knows it, but she’s more than that. She’s strong and capable. She found Tormund and brought him back to Castle Black when Jon’s Night’s Watch Rangers couldn’t manage it. Like, Jon’s thankful for Val, okay? 

Oh, and he also seems aware that he holds her in higher regard than the rest of the men who keep calling her a princess even though she’s not one. I think he feels smug about it, to be honest. Like, he wouldn’t use these words because it’s ASOIAF, but he knows he’s a budding feminist and he’s proud of himself for it. Like, “I’m so much better than these asshats who don’t respect women and think all Val has to offer is her pretty face.”

How great is that? I love book Jon so much.

Where was I, though? Oh! Oh, oh, oh! This next part is key. Up until the willowy creature line, Jon has not had a single disparaging thought about Val. Val being cruel about Shireen’s greyscale hasn’t happened yet. But for some reason — *Getting too executed. Brain malfunctioning!*

AH! I SWEAR JONSA FAM! If you read the willowy creature in fuller context, it comes across as if Jon’s correcting himself for having a disparaging thought about Val, like he’s reminding himself of who she truly is. She’s a warrior princess, not a willowy creature. But like, why? Why does Jon feel the need to do this? He hasn’t had a disparaging thought about Val, so why correct himself as if he has?

Just because she’s beautiful? Just because he’s tired of other men calling her a princess? I mean, I guess that could be the whole story. That’s certainly how we’re supposed to take it, if we’re taking it at face value. But I’m not convinced. Go read it again, and I think you’ll see that when the willowy creature line happens, it actually feels like a weird logic leap.

The dots aren’t connecting because one dot is missing!!!! Let me put a pin in that for a moment while I turn to other mini metas in our Jonsa fandom. Antis like to say, “Jon doesn’t like girls like Sansa. He doesn't like willowy creatures, he said so himself.” But we know that’s crap, right? The boy who liked Ygritte’s gentle side? The boy who helps Alys Karstark by marrying her to Sigorn? The boy who dreamed his mother was a highborn lady with kind eyes? The boy who wanted to show his hypothetical wife Winterfell’s glass gardens and bath with her in the hot pools?

Yeah, that boy is a budding feminist, like I said.

So again I ask (AGAIN!) why would Jon — who is not especially critical of women in general and has not been critical of Val at all up to this point — feel the need to correct himself by thinking this critical thing about willowy creatures? In other words, why does he lift up Val by putting down some vague idea of other women he’s never had a problem with before?

Well, obviously it turns out that I believe my facetious, tongue in cheek tags more than I realized when I wrote them. My position is that somewhere in the two pages between ...a long while since Jon had seen a sight so lovely… and ...not some willowy creature who sits up in a tower, brushing her hair… Jon realized Val reminded him of Sansa, he felt guilty and ashamed about it, and then felt the need to do damage control. And because guilt and shame are icky, confusing feelings, his damage control took the form of being critical of Sansa even though he isn’t normally critical of such women. 

Am I making sense? How do I explain myself further? Like, why am I so stuck on this idea Jon’s willowy creature line being two pages after the Ghost and Val looking lovely together line must mean Jon had a pre-canon crush?

I think the crux is what I said about the willowy creature line feeling like a weird logic leap — like the dots aren’t connecting because one is missing. The missing dot is Jon being aware that he’s mentally swapped Val with Sansa. He just doesn’t acknowledge this on the page.

Let me be extra clear. I’m now differing from several others who have written about pre-canon crush theories in that I think Jon was aware of his crush. I’ve seen many say it’s all subconscious. But this stuff with Val makes me think otherwise.

I mean, I know Jon has a pattern of dissociation. For him, thinking, and speaking, and acting from his subconsciousness is a common occurrence. So, yes, he could have subconsciously thought Val looked like Sansa and subconsciously felt guilty and ashamed and therefore subconsciously decided to do damage control by subconsciously reminding himself Val is a warrior princess and therefore not a willowy creature.

But I think GRRM was hinting at an exception to Jon’s pattern with these canon lines. Because if the first part is happening subconsciously — Jon thinking Val looks like Sansa and that it’s a lovely sight — then he wouldn’t feel the need to do damage control afterwards? If he wasn’t aware of thinking of Sansa in that moment, isn’t it more likely he’d just carry on with taking Val to meet Selyse, and the odd, out of place, unnecessary line about a willowy creature wouldn’t have been included? What else, what else?

I said earlier that I think Jon’s crush is an innocent, not sexual thing. Let me expand on that. And uuuuuhhhhh... let me clarify that I think that might be changing some over time.  My guess is when Jon was younger, his thoughts were more along these lines: “Sansa is pretty, and a proper lady, and everything men are taught to want. She’ll be a good wife for someone someday. Obviously not me. That’s sinful, I don’t want it, and I’m a bastard so I can’t marry a highborn lady anyway. But objectively, Sansa’s a good catch.” Which kinda matches how Jon thinks of Val at times, right? Like, she’s a catch but he doesn’t want her. He’s not taking Winterfell and a Wife because Winterfell belongs to Sansa and he’s a man of the Night’s Watch, dammit! But hang on a second. Sometimes Jon’s thoughts about Val are more elicit, aren’t they? He thinks about the size of her breasts and she’s the hypothetical wife he pictures romancing in Winterfell. Don’t worry, I’m not saying I’m secretly a Jon/Val shipper. What I’m getting at is this other thing we’ve talked about in the Jonsa fandom. Jone projects his general desires onto Val. He’s getting older. He’s unhappy at the Wall. Winterfell isn’t Robb’s like he thought it would be, and Bran and Rickon are thought to be dead. And Stannis is offering Winterfell and Val to him. Plus he’s now been intimate with a woman, Ygritte. So he knows that sex feels nice. All in all, Jon’s becoming more in tune with wanting Winterfell, and a wife, and a family, and wanting to fu—

You get the idea. ;)

Soooooo. If you buy into the premise that A) Jon considered Sansa a good catch when they were younger B) He’s thinking more and more about romance and sex C) Val is also a good catch and easy to project feelings onto and D) Woopsies, Val just reminded me of Sansa! Well, then where does all that leave Jon? Feeling like he needs to distance himself from positive thoughts about Sansa, right? But without ever thinking her name because of his pattern of dissociation and because GRRM is tricky like that.  Am I making my point clearer, or just talking in circles?  Like, I know plenty of people have already said Val is a switch-back-and-forth-stand-in-for-other-characters. The first two short paragraphs of this post mentions those metas.  But holy smokes! If Jon is aware of A-D mentioned above, that adds a fascinating layer of subtext to his scenes with and thoughts about Val.  Let’s talk about it forever!

Just kidding. I think I’m almost done here.  Basically, I think the willowy creature line is Jon knowingly saying to himself, “Yikes, the thoughts I had about Sansa in the past didn’t bother me much because they were 99% innocent. But they are less innocent now and that’s a problem! You can’t like Sansa! Don’t confuse Sansa with Val,  dummy! Val is a warrior princess! Sansa is a willowy creature and willowy creatures are bad!”

Okay, sure, Jon.  Let me wrap up with one more canon line.

Of Sansa brushing out Lady’s coat and singing to herself. You know nothing, Jon Snow.

We often link this line to Ygritte for obvious reasons, but I’m now in the habit of linking it more to Val and the canon lines mentioned previously. I think GRRM wrote a the three lines — a sight so lovely + willow creature + of Sansa brushing out Lady’s coat — as a subtle continuation of one another. Us Jonsas saw the potential for underlying romantic feelings in the last one, that’s nothing new. But I want to add that it’s a direct contrast to the willowy creature line. As Jon is bleeding out, he can no longer be bothered to put up a front and pretend he doesn’t have feelings for Sansa, feelings that have gotten more complicated as of late.

Oh so subtle. Really not that much different than what others have said before me. But different enough I wanted to mention it. Now someone put it in a fanfic!!

[kyriethesquishysquid]

Betrayal Never Felt So Good (König/Fem!Reader) Chapter 2

You can find Chapter 1 here, Chapter 3 here, Chapter 4 here, Chapter 5 here, and Chapter 6 here!

Word count: ~6.5k

Rating: Mature

A/N: Use of Y/N and Y/L/N. Appearance of a feral and jealous Possesive!König. We get plot but no smut in this one, with some angst, feelings, murder, and comfort on top! Reader really just needs a hug right now. Reader is also morally grey and morally questionable. Continued COD and military inaccuracies galore. Don’t shoot me for not writing out any combat scenes please - I’m a smut/fluff/angst author, action is outside of my wheelhouse lol. Once again written in less than 24 hours so please forgive any mistakes!

TW: Non-consensual drugging, emotional manipulation, body shaming, and attempted assault from asshole #2. Cold-blooded murder (but done for “good” reasons so it’s fine right?). Canon violence toward others by König, hints at stalking, hurt/comfort. Pet names (in English and German), bad German translations bc I’m still a lame monolingual American, and STILL no beta because we die like jackass Graves.

Crappy Translations:

Ungeziefer - Vermin

Maus - Mouse

Mein schatz - My darling

Meine leibling - My love

Scheiße - shit

It had been two whole months since your “rescue” from KorTac and not a day had gone by where you didn’t spend it thinking of König. That man plagued your mind worse than anyone ever had before. Which was stupid, considering you knew next to nothing about him, except that he treated you like a princess and fucked you like a whore. Oh and that he was the colonel of a “technically” enemy faction and your relationship would be seen as treason. And yet, he was the first man you’d had any sort of connection to in years. The only one who seemed to know everything you needed and wanted by intuition alone, and you craved the opportunity to explore that connection further. 

You tried to think of some way to reach out to him but there was never a plausible avenue. You didn’t know his real name so finding him online, if he even had an online presence, would be impossible. You couldn’t very well ask Graves if he had any information on him either, lest you get fired, or worse, murdered, seeing as the Commander did not have a reputation for being understanding.

 As the hamster wheel in your brain spun round and round, your thoughts grew more desperate and unhinged. It wasn’t too much longer before your contract with Shadow Company was up anyway. You were heavily considering seeing if KorTac would take you after, which you felt crazy about, but you weren’t sure what else to do. Logic just didn’t seem to play well with your thoughts about König and it was driving you insane to not be in control of yourself.

You could only turn off your constant barrage of emotion when you were knee-deep in patients or allowed out onto the field to provide care; though even that had been happening less. “Don’t want to chance triggering a PTSD episode”, Graves had said. And yet, despite thinking it couldn’t get worse, life had decided to throw you another curveball. It came when you were given your first mission in weeks, being called across countries with a small team of specialists to Russia to protect a diplomat and his family while they were in the country. That wasn’t the bad part though. Oh no. You could handle travel and a safe mission for once. The part that tied your stomach into knots was the fact you were going to be serving along with KorTac. It took everything in you not to show the emotions you felt in the moment Graves had told you that, while the last time you’d seen the KorTac colonel flashing through your thoughts like a movie. 

-

The shouting in the quiet bunker was your first sign something was wrong. At first, you tried to ignore it, snuggling closer into the big human-shaped heater against you but then there was a gunshot, and that got you both up. Instinctively, you knew what was happening before even stepping foot out of the room. 

“They’re here, aren’t they?” you whispered.

An overwhelming sense of panic filled your chest as you clasped his hands tight, unsure of what you were supposed to do.

“Stay here,” he instructed you as he quickly crossed the room to his dresser, gearing up in a hurry. 

“What? No! You can’t go out there! What if they hurt you?!” you snapped back. 

König shot you a bemused look as he tightened his vest. 

“They can try, mein schatz, but they will not succeed.”

While his cockiness was certainly attractive and you knew he could hold his own in fights, there was now a part of you that worried and ached at the thought of him getting hurt. Before he could leave, you caught his wrist and jerked him back to you, smashing your mouth against his. 

“Be safe.”

-

“Y/L/N!”

The pain of being ripped from such a powerful memory was enough to make you stumble, nearly falling into the last man you wanted to see at that moment; Daniel Carter, your “savior” from König and KorTac. It took all the power in your body not to frown at the brunette smugly grinning down at you. 

“Yes, sir?” you finally asked. 

“You gonna get in?” 

He gestured to the plane and you quickly stepped into the cabin, a hot blush coating your face as you walked down the aisle to find a seat near the exit but still far enough to not be at the very end. Your fear of flying wasn’t something you had to face often thankfully but, when you did, it was a tough beast to battle. Fortunately, your mind was easily swayed into other worries when you watched the rest of the teams climb onto the plane. One by one, they found a seat, until the last member boarded, his figure dominating the entire space with his six-foot-eight presence. You couldn’t help but watch as he walked by. Gods, he was even bigger than you remembered. The sway of his hips and spread of his gait as he walked left nothing to the imagination, and you found yourself staring unbearably hard at his thick ass and thighs until he sat down on the other end. 

Fuck, this was going to be harder than you thought. Your heart had felt afloat water in stormy seas ever since the moment you’d seen him waiting with his team this morning. At first, seeing him made you feel like you were finally able to breathe again, but the way he pointedly avoided your presence dragged you back down into the suffocating depths of turmoil. You’d hoped it was just a show for the others around you, but then it became clear that your hopes were for naught. Twice you’d tried to get him alone, practically begged him to talk to you, only to be treated as if you didn’t even exist.  

A tightness that had nothing to do with your fear of flying squeezed at your heart as your eyes dropped to your feet. Doubts began to pile up like a car crash. Maybe you were stupider than you realized. Maybe those nights had meant nothing to him. Maybe you were just another stupid conquest who had the gall to believe someone as high-ranked and enigmatic as König would actually want more than an easy lay. And, fuck, had you made it easy. Some nice words, a few sweet gestures, and a voice that made your brain melt, and you were putty in his hands.

Lips tilting down, you leaned back against the stiff seat and let out a long sigh. Maybe if you hit your head hard enough on the wall you’d break something, or at least get a concussion bad enough to be sent home.

“What’s up, toots?” Daniel asked, tapping his boot against yours.

You managed a half-assed smile and muttered, “Hate flying.” 

He grinned and leaned over just enough to nudge your shoulder with his. It was minimal contact but it was enough to make your stomach hurt. While Daniel seemed nice enough, you’d been privy to too many conversations he and his buddies had when they thought they were alone in the medbay or canteen. While some of the absolutely disgusting things he’d said were enough to make you wary, most of your ire came from him being the one to sneak you out of König’s room. 

“You’re a strong gal, you’ve got this. Just take some deep breaths,” he instructed slowly, “Here, gimme your hand.”

Before you could politely decline, he snagged your hand in his and wrapped your smaller fingers around his palm. 

“Lean back, close your eyes, take deep breaths, and squeeze if you need.”

Just the thought of being that vulnerable in his presence, or really any of the men around you,  made your skin crawl. But honestly, what else did you have to do at this point? It was about an hour flight and your mind wasn’t in a good place. 

Giving him a little nod, you did as instructed and let your head fall back once more. After the first few breaths, you had to admit some of the tension was dying down. 

“There you go. Atta girl.”

Fuck. Your heart lurched against your ribs as his words threw you into a very heated memory that you most certainly didn’t need right then - the way König praised you for taking his cock so well, how his lips brushed your ear as he said such sinfully beautiful words as his hands caressed your skin. Face warming, you tried to clear your head again, only to get disrupted by the sound of heavy feet stopping in front of you. 

“Can I help you with something, sir?” Daniel asked, something akin to fear in his tone. 

Who could he have been afraid of? Most everyone here was on good terms, or so you thought. 

“Is there something that we need to know before we land?” 

König. Jolting upright, you gaped up at him in disbelief as he stood there stiffly, arms crossed across his chest and eyes pinning Daniel down in earnest. God, that shouldn’t have been hot. You were supposed to be hurt, pissed at him, and yet the fire in his eyes as he stared down the other man was nothing more than primal.

“U-Uh, I’m not sure what you mean, sir,” Daniel stammered out.

You quickly jerked your hand from his and noticed that finally- FINALLY- those deep blues were focused on you for the first time all day. 

“We cannot afford to have any distractions out there. I will ask again, is there something that we need to prepare for? Will your attention be divided?” König bit out.

It wasn’t painfully obvious but you could hear a slight inflection, almost anger, filtering through his tone. 

“No, sir,” you retorted stiffly, “Private Carter was helping me with my fear of flying.”

“Correct, sir,” Daniel agreed quickly.

König let out a snide hmm before strolling back down the aisle to his seat. It wasn’t until he was fully sat that you relaxed in your seat. 

“What the fuck…This is awkward, right?” Daniel whispered, “I mean, it’s weird for me but I can’t imagine how weird it is for you.” 

Playing dumb, your eyes cut to him curiously and you asked, “What do you mean?” 

He gestured weakly toward König and the rest of his team, and then at you. 

“They quite literally kidnapped you a couple of months ago,” he muttered, “They killed a group of our men and were actively fighting against our mission, and now we’re expected to just get along with them?” 

The guy had a point. Sighing heavily, you shrugged and leaned back. 

“Yeah, it’s weird, but we do what we gotta do, right?” you murmured.

If only he knew the real reason for your discomfort. Eyes flicking up to the bare metal ceiling, you said a silent prayer that once you were on the ground, you wouldn’t have to be in König’s presence anymore. It wouldn’t do to be distracted, and lord knows you would be. 

“Try to rest,” Daniel said suddenly, “I’ll wake you when we land.” 

Any thoughts of arguing were wiped from your mind when the cabin shuddered through turbulence. With a shaky inhale, you closed your eyes and started counting back from one hundred. Even if you didn’t fall asleep, it would help with your endless anxiety.

…

“Alright, you’re good to go. Just try to stay off of it as much as possible until we leave tomorrow. Those painkillers will help the pain but the ligaments still need time to repair,” you sighed with a weak smile.

“Just glad it’s not broken,” he laughed nervously, “It’d suck for my first real injury to be caused by tripping in the dirt rather than by combat,” 

You snickered in agreement at that. That would be one sad story.

“Remember, ice, elevation, and painkillers!” you called as he exited the room with a wave. 

Turning back to your laptop, you started the final charting on the private’s file but it wasn’t long before you were distracted by someone entering the room. Dread filled the pit in your stomach when they didn’t instantly speak. So far you hadn’t seen König more than once or twice in passing this past week and you’d hate to break that streak right before you got to go home. 

“Hey, Y/N, why don’t you head out for the night? I’ve got things covered here!”

Relief practically oozed from your pores as you heard the familiar voice of one of KorTac’s medical staff. Spinning around in the wheely chair, you found the redhead already opening her own laptop at the other desk. 

“You sure?” you asked.

“Of course! You let me sleep in and took the first half of my shift, it’s only fair I let you out early,” she teased kindly. 

Leaving early meant the possibility of running into the silent colonel, but it also meant you could actually enjoy the last night in the city. While it was a smaller area, it apparently had a decent nightlife, or so Daniel said. He’d caught you before your shift and practically begged you to join him and some of the guys out for drinks at the local bar to celebrate a job well done. You’d thought he was going to cry when you told him you worked late and couldn’t join. 

“Girl, go! Shoo! I’ve got this.”

Flashing her a smile, you nodded and gathered up your things. 

“Okay, fine, you win,” you groaned in faux frustration, “I’ll leave you be.” 

She shot you a mock salute and turned dutifully to her laptop, fingers flying across the keyboard as she began to check charts. With one last nod, you grabbed your bag and hurried out into the hall. It was only eight thirty and the guys were going out around nine, so you had just enough time to change into something more sociable. 

The instant you were in your room, you wasted no time digging through your duffle bag until you found a semi-decent outfit. Most of your clothes were for work but you liked to keep a few nicer things on hand for occasions such as this. After pairing a cute black peekaboo sweater with a pair of fitted dark-wash jeans that framed your thick thighs and ass perfectly, you slipped on your only non-work shoes- a pair of black ankle booties. From there, you hastily fixed your hair and put on a quick bit of makeup before rushing out the door. 

It felt weird to admit you were kind of excited to hang out with Daniel and the others tonight. You’d never really been included much in things back home, being medical staff and not one of the “boys”, but ever since being here for the mission, Daniel had made it his primary objective to make sure to check in on you multiple times a day. A strange little friendship was budding and, somehow, you didn’t hate the idea. He’d been nothing less than kind, and now that you weren’t completely hung up on the colonel, you were losing your biggest reason for disliking him. 

“Y/N! Whoa!” 

Daniel’s yelp caught you off guard and you couldn’t stop the blush that formed when you saw the way multiple pairs of eyes raked up and down your form. 

“Damn, you clean up nice, Y/L/N,” another private, Chad you think it was, said from beside Daniel. 

“Uh, thanks,” you replied awkwardly, “So… bar?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Daniel said with a grin, “Hope you don’t mind but we’re walking because it’s only two blocks away!”

Nodding in understanding, you joined the group of five with a little smile, trying your hardest to keep your nerves at bay. It was chilly out. Nothing too horrible, but it made you glad you’d had the foresight to wear something warm since you had to walk in it. 

“Hey, you know, Chad was right,” Daniel said quietly when he dropped to the back of the group with you, “You look incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything other than work attire.”

Damn it. It was much easier to hate him when he was acting more creepy and you were under the illusion he’d ruined your love life. Now… Now it was almost too easy to like him.

“Thanks, I appreciate that,” you answered, “You look nice too! Never seen you dressed down either.” 

It wasn’t a lie. Daniel wasn’t a bad-looking guy, maybe a bit plain with short brown hair styled in the regulation cut, nice green eyes, and a big smile, but definitely not bad. It was just that your thoughts were always flittering around the almost seven-foot beast of a man in comparison and no one could compare to that. 

The pink that dusted his cheeks only served to make him cuter and you were nearly groaning in frustration at the thoughts filtering through your mind. No. There was no way you were going to give in to those thoughts. It was just the pain of König ignoring you and the human need for attention making you think that way, you were almost certain. 

“Ah, we’re here!” 

The music from the bar was audible from the outside and it only got worse once you stepped in. He hadn’t been lying when he said there was a thriving nightlife. The small bar was packed to the gills, with just enough room to move around and get to the bar, bathrooms, or dance floor. 

“Come on, I’ll buy you your first drink!” he shouted over the music. 

Aw shit. You knew where that was going to lead. Before you could decline his offer, he snagged your wrist and nearly dragged you to the bar. You were given no choice but to order your favorite drink when he demanded so and the bartender stared you down with a less-than-patient glare. True to his word, he paid for your drink, and then instantly dragged you through the crowd without a word. Daniel led you everywhere like you were some lost puppy who needed direction. From the bar to the table, and then to the dance floor, you weren’t given a single choice in the matter up to the point of him practically pouring your drink down your throat. 

Said action didn’t fly over well, the liquor bitter and stinging down your throat so quickly you had to reflexively cough to avoid aspirating. 

“Jesus, fuck, calm down,” you snapped at him once you caught your breath. 

“I just wanna make sure you can loosen up and have fun,” he replied with an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry. I.. I just don’t want you to fall behind or anything.”

You couldn’t contain your eye-roll as you gave into the puppy dog eyes and made a show of taking another drink. 

“There, happy?” you asked. 

“Definitely, come on, let’s dance!” 

The irritation over his actions was soon forgotten as you gave in to the beat of the music and joined in the writhing bodies on the floor. It didn’t take long to get drawn into the moment, the alcohol and music a powerful combination that brought out the serotonin you didn’t know you needed. Song after song passed and soon enough you found yourself in Daniel’s arms. It was almost nice, to let the stress of the past few months flow away and focus on only the here and now. 

“I didn’t know you could move like this,” Daniel said into your ear as his arms wrapped around your waist.

The graze of his lips across your skin sent shivers down your spine and you instinctively arched into his touch as his hands slid further down your sides. 

“I don’t get the chance to dance much,” you admitted meekly.

“That’s a shame. You’ll have to let me drag you out more often because it’s a damn sexy sight.”

A giggle escaped before you could stop it. Damn it. His flirting wasn’t funny! 

“Mmmhmm, sure,” you retorted cheekily, “You’re like the only one who thinks that.” 

He quickly spun you around, fast enough that the world went wonky and you had to grab onto him for balance, and it sent chills through your body. 

“Whoa, that- oh my,” you gasped. 

“Are you okay, Y/N?” 

There was a look of concern on his face as you felt your knees weaken. Panic sent your heart racing but you couldn’t focus enough to figure out why. Something just felt… wrong. 

“Maybe you’re dehydrated. Why don’t you finish the rest of your drink?” he urged. 

Shaking your head, you managed to mumble out, “Alcohol won’t fix dehydration. It’ll actually make it worse.”

“Well, it’s worth a try, come on.”

When he pushed the cup to your lips again, some semblance of your brain came back online and you pushed instinctively it away. The ugly curve of his downturned lips told a terrifying story. Was he- Was he trying to drug you?! Clenching your eyes shut tight, you tried to sort through your memories and recall the symptoms of being drugged to compare to your current ailments.

“Damn it, just take the fucking drink. I spent ten dollars on this fancy shit,” he grunted lowly. 

Eyes popping open, you caught his furious glare and instantly everything clicked. The reason he was so intent on you coming out tonight, how he handled the drink all the way to the floor, his insistence to drink the alcohol. 

“You- You prick,” you bit out. 

Thankfully, you hadn’t drunk more than those first two gulps. Whatever he’d laced the liquor with likely wasn’t at its full potential, and yet you were still feeling the effects. Just what the fuck had he given you?

“Y/N, what are you-”

With all your strength, you pushed him and luckily managed to catch him off guard, sending him flying back into the group behind him. You didn’t wait to see if he got back to his feet before you took the chance to escape. It was like a psychedelic maze, trying to escape the packed dance floor with your heart racing and your eyes swimming. Eventually, you made it out, and you instantly left the bar. 

The cold night air tore a gasp from your lungs when it hit your skin but it was more than welcomed. Your body felt like it was on fire, sweat rolling down your back and forehead as if you’d just been vigorously working out. The chill helped to clear your thoughts some. 

“Okay, I can do this, it’s just two blocks,” you murmured to yourself. 

For a minute, you considered calling for help from one of your squadmates, but your gut cautioned you otherwise. These soldiers were close, dangerously close. There was a good chance they’d just help him cover it up if you tried. A weak sigh left your lips as tears flooded your gaze. You wished you would have just stayed at work. You wished you hadn’t gone against your initial judgment of that asshole. You wish you were home, safe and sound in bed. Most of all, you wished you could call König to come save you. How ironic that you were looking to the man Daniel had “rescued” you from to come rescue you from him now. 

“Where do you think you’re going, bitch?!” 

A big hand snagged your wrist and pulled you to a stop so suddenly that your shoulder popped audibly, pain shooting through the joint as you collapsed back against him. 

“Daniel, please- I-”

“Uh-uh, nope. You’re not talking me out of this,” he hissed.

Despite using your entire weight to pull against him, he was able to drag you down a nearby dark alley with ease. Pain exploded through the back of your skull when he slammed you into the brick wall with a grunt and you nearly collapsed.

“Fuck!” you yelped, hand instinctively touching the throbbing spot to check for blood.

“You don’t fucking get it, do you? I was the one who located their base. I was the one who led the team in and took out as many of those dumb fucks as possible. I was the one to save your miserable ass, and what did I get for it? Nothing more than a fucking “thanks” and a shitty attitude. I waited for you to come around but you never fucking did,” he snarled, palm slapping the brick beside your face with a grunt, “When Graves suggested we bring medics along, I knew it would be my best chance of getting you alone. You’re such a stuck-up whore at home that you don’t ever go out with us. But here, I knew I could convince you. All it took was some kindness for your fat ass to fold. Can’t reckon you get much attention, so I’m not that surprised.” 

Disgust and shame reared its ugly head in your chest as you let your eyes drop from the angry vision of his face. Instead, you stared intently at the pocket of his white polo. 

“Now, you’re going to do what you should have done long ago, and you’re going to thank me for saving you. Get on your fucking knees and if you even think of using teeth I’ll put a round in your head so fast that-”

You stopped, mid-decent to the concrete when Daniel went flying. As he slammed into the ground, a hulking shadow followed him in earnest. It took your brain some time to figure out what was happening, but then you heard a familiar voice snarling in German. Slowly, the details of his form solidified in your gaze, and you sagged in relief. 

“Pray to your god while you’ve got the chance, ungeziefer!” König barked loudly.

A pained screech filled the air and made your stomach twist. 

“ König?!” Daniel groaned, “What the-? Why?!”

“You’re quite simple, aren’t you?” König snapped back with a humorless laugh, “Take one guess.”  

You watched the way Daniel’s head popped up, a look of disbelief clear in his eyes as he stared up at the giant before turning to you. Even through the lingering haze of the drugs, you could clearly make out the terror on his face and a sick part of you felt thrilled that he was experiencing even a modicum of the fear he’d pushed onto you. 

“I- I didn’t know,” he panted through frantic gasps, “I wouldn’t have-!” 

Daniel’s weak croak was silenced by a brutal kick to the face. The crunch of bone and cartilage sent chills down your spine and you couldn’t but absentmindedly think about how badly that would heal… if he even made it out of there. 

König rolled him over with a boot to the gut and crouched down above him, his voice just barely loud enough for you to hear. 

“Even if she wasn’t mine, you don’t get to touch her in that way. Unfortunately for you, she is mine. You’re just lucky I don’t have the time to drag this out. The things I would do to you…”

His words lit a fire in your stomach, misplaced lust and satisfaction filling your chest despite the gruesome scene before you. There was a rapid-fire battle going on in your mind, between the lawful good instinct to stop König and the chaotic righteousness to let him beat the hell out of Daniel. It wasn’t until the glint of a blade pierced through the dark, reflecting the weak fluorescent light behind them, that reality finally set in. This wasn’t going to be a fight. This was going to be a slaughter. König was going to kill someone over you!

“No, don’t! König, wait!” 

Your pleas fell on deaf ears. Before you could even blink, he was knelt on Daniel’s back, jerking the smaller man’s head up by the hair only to sink the knife into his ribs repeatedly, ending it with a vicious slash across his throat. It was awful and astonishing. A man of his size shouldn’t be that quick. While you’d seen him take out five of your team alone, that was with a gun. This was different. This was personal. 

Licking your dry lips, you watched with wide eyes as König got up from his position and turned your way. Something between fear and excitement quickened your breaths as he stalked your way, slowly, wiping the blood from his blade before shoving it back into his pocket

“You shouldn’t have done that,” you murmured. 

“And let him live after knowing what he was going to do to you? I think not,” he growled back lowly.

The instant you were within reach, a hand was around your throat, gentle but commanding as he pulled you into him. 

“He’s lucky I didn’t make him clean his guts up off the floor,” he hissed.

“Oh.”

Before you could react, he crouched and lifted you up onto his waist. Brick bit into your back through your sweater as he pinned you against it, making you gasp as his mouth devoured yours. 

“Mine,” he growled fervently. 

His hips ground roughly into the apex of your thighs and stole your breath as a wave of pleasure scorched through your belly. Holy fuck, he was already rock-hard. A pathetic whimper escaped your mouth into him when his teeth bit into your lip hard and you couldn’t resist scraping your nails along the nape of his neck. 

 “Nobody gets to touch you except me, got it?”

Your eyes rolled back at the rasp in his voice, the thinly veiled need peeking through in a taunt.

“Yeah, but… Hey! König, wait, please!”

A little growl emanated through his chest as you pushed on him, but he easily relented, drawing away to catch your flustered gaze with half-lidded eyes. 

“What is it, maus?” he asked.

“We can’t just- What- How the fuck are we gonna explain this?” you retorted, panic slowly filtering through your lust-hazed mind, “My god. You’re gonna get in trouble! I can’t- I can’t let you get hurt for protecting me! We have to do something! Maybe we can-”

Your rambling was quickly silenced with a hand over your mouth, the weight of his body leaning more into you, providing a sense of comfort almost like a weighted blanket. 

“Calm down, meine leibling,” he shushed warmly, “Take a deep breath and relax. Everything is going to be fine, I promise you.” 

Tears blurred your vision as you looked from him to Daniel and back to him, only to find his eyes hungrily tracing your form. Even in the current situation, you couldn’t deny the heat it caused. And then it was gone, the furrow of his brow conveying that anger once more when he released your mouth. 

“What did you think you were doing anyway, coming here with him?”

You couldn’t help but recoil, grimacing as your head hit the wall in the same tender spot, until he forced your face up by your chin. There was so much fury residing in his gaze that your heart squirmed in pain. It hurt worse than anything to see that judgment and anger directed at you. Was he really going to blame you?

“Maus, I said, what did you think you were-”

“Well, I sure as fuck didn’t think I was coming out to get raped!” you spat back finally, unbidden tears spilling down your cheeks, “I thought- I thought I was- was with friends. I-I didn’t think-”

When he pulled you into his chest, the damn broke fully. Sobs poured from your shaking form as you wrapped yourself around him and breathed him in. You cried over the betrayal from your teammate. You cried at how close you came to being assaulted by another horrible person, the fact that König had saved you twice now. You cried over how much you’d missed him, over how happy you were to hear he still had some kind of emotion for you; no matter how demented it might be. 

“I had a bad feeling about him,” he bit out after a moment, “When I saw you leave with them, I just knew. I’m sorry it took so long to get out here to you, schatz. If I had been quicker-”

You shook your head frantically and whimpered, “You were just in time.” 

He hummed quietly, hand cradling the nape of your neck as he murmured little soothing words against your hair. You don’t know how long you stood there like that but eventually, your limbs started to ache from the position. When you pulled away from him, he put you down gently but didn’t let you retreat fully, hands cupping your face tenderly while he wiped away your tears. 

“I don’t enjoy seeing you cry like this,” he sighed. 

Something about that triggered that subdued anger in the back of your mind, waking the beast from slumber. Anger was easier to handle than sadness. How dare he stand here and comfort you, hold you like this, when hours ago he couldn’t even look you in the eye! 

Nose wrinkling in frustration, you stepped back and wrapped your arms around yourself as the lack of his warmth hit hard. The hurt that passed through his eyes nearly made you collapse back into his arms but you knew you couldn’t- not yet, not until you had answers. 

“Why?” you finally asked.

“Why, wha-”

“Why did you act like I didn’t exist? I spent the last two months driving myself fucking crazy, pining over you and what could have been, only to get treated like I was nothing more than dirt on your boot the next time I saw you!”

He tried to talk but you cut him off swiftly. No way were you done with him. Shoving a finger into his oh-so-glorious pec, you stepped closer with all the rage you could muster in your glare. In another light, it probably would have been hilarious to see someone of your short stature intimidating the giant man.

“If I was just some fucking notch in your bedpost, you could have said that! You didn’t have to act like there was something more. You have to know how hot you are. I would have fucked you even without you tricking me like that. But no, you had to make me feel special, make it feel like there was more than just my body on the line, and then you have the nerve to get mad at me for seeking out platonic companionship in my teammates?! You dare claim that I’m yours?! No, no, you don’t get to do that!”

The instant your rant ended, one hand cupped the back of your head and the other shoved you back against the wall, the impact cushioned by his hand before he boxed you in on either side. And fuck, you shouldn’t have found that hot but god it was. The way he instinctively protected you, acted like he cared, towered over you in a way that just screamed dominance and power.

“Don’t you dare say those things. There hasn’t been one moment that I haven’t thought about you, that I wasn’t looking out for you from afar, mein schatz,” he said sternly.

“Then why-”

“Because I couldn’t risk anyone figuring out what had happened between us!” he snapped with a huff, “If anyone knew you had stayed with me willingly, your life would be in danger, and I knew if I spoke to you, I would break. How could I not? I’m only so strong, meine liebe. Did you really think it was easy for me to do that? That I didn’t want to scoop you up in my arms the moment you walked through that door? That it didn’t break my heart when I watched the hope leave your eyes?! I hated myself every- single- second.” 

Swallowing hard, you couldn’t force out any kind of answer. Distrust held your heart in a stronghold but his words were slowly chipping it away, the passion in his voice worming its way under your skin. 

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. You don’t even understand. Scheiße, I put so much time and effort into finally meeting you, and then somehow… somehow, I lucked out. I  got a taste of what I’d wanted for so long,” he paused, thumb gently stroking that sweet spot below your ear as his eyes searched your face, “And it was more than I could have ever hoped for, only to have you ripped away at the last moment.”

His words settled heavily around you and, as their significance soaked into your brain, you could only stare at him in confusion. He… had known of you before you met? You knew they’d gathered intel on your team before the attack, but… he'd seen enough to want to see you?

“What do you mean?” you asked softly. 

His silence was loud, louder than you could handle and the guilt in his eyes sent a shiver up your spine.

“König,” you urged, “What- What do you mean?” 

German spewed suddenly from his lips, angry and frantic as he began to pace in place, and it only served to make that anxiety nestle deeper in your belly.  

“Damn it! Talk to me!” you cried. 

When he spun around, you tripped over yourself in shock trying to back away from the fury in his glare. Fortunately, or possibly unfortunately, he caught you before you could actually fall, but he didn’t let you go even once you were balanced.

“There’s no way to make this sound good,” he breathed quietly. 

Eyebrows shooting up in disbelief, you retorted, “Yeah, well, it can’t be worse than leaving me guessing at all the horrible things you could mean!” 

“I need you to promise me you won’t run, that you’ll let me explain.” 

While you wanted to hear him out, you weren’t sure how well you would handle whatever it was. There was also the issue of your dead teammate less than five meters away. Everything in your heart and mind was torn into a million little pieces of focus and it was all too much. You had to pick one problem at a time to deal with.  

Looking over at Daniel’s still form, you pressed your lips into a thin line. 

“What the hell do we do about him?” you asked. 

You weren’t lying earlier when you said you were worried for König. He had a lot of power, but straight up murdering one of Graves’ men out of battle and, even worse while allied, was beyond reason. That was a death sentence. 

König froze up, almost as if he’d forgotten about the whole reason you were there, and let out a heavy sigh. 

“I’ll call it in and have Horangi take care of it,” he muttered, “For now, come back to my room with me. Everyone should be out right now.” 

Why did that sound so inviting, so perfect? Fantasies of being able to touch him again, cuddle with him once more, plagued your thoughts until the weight of his admission came crashing back down. You couldn’t help but stare at him as his words reverberated in your head. It was clearer than ever that you knew nothing about this man, and yet you couldn't stop the way your heart fluttered when he slipped his fingers between yours, nor the way you felt content in following him out of the alley. Despite it all, under the fear and the uncertainty, that fatal attraction to him was still burning strong. When he wrapped his arm around you and slipped you under his jacket to protect you against the blustering winds, it felt too much like home. 

Just what the fuck were you supposed to do now?

[ipatrichor]

dead boy detectives episode four thoughts

hey remember last post where i said last episode gave me everything I wanted. HOW ARE WE FEELING NOW BOYS. WE GOT THE BREAKDOWN!!! THAT MAN HAD AN EMOTIONAL OUTBURST AND COLLAPSED WE LOVE TO SEE IT!!!!!!

okay so i was wrong and charles' dad did not kill him. that's fine tbh I like this a lot, that he was essentially accidentally killed by his friends bc he stood up to them when they were bullying someone (? i think that's what the scene was implying. idk i was really excited about seeing him have a mental breakdown i might have missed something 😭). not to say that what they were doing was an accident, i just don't think they were trying to kill him i think they took the bullying too far and then maybe panicked when he died and covered it up, and that's why his death is unsolved? anyway very interesting! they truly do not miss with charles everything we've gotten from him is so great it makes me even more excited for edwin backstory haha

GOD CHARLES' BREAKDOWN.... that is everything i've ever wanted from a character repressing their emotions do u understand that. he got slammed into some of his worst memories, the most painful and traumatic moments of his life, and then with all those emotions back on the surface he went apeshit!!! i Love him getting aggressive to protect his friends (because that's really what he does, isn't it. he's the brains, i'm the brawn. god.) and then breaking down crying because he can't keep pretending like things are fine anymore, there's too much all at once for him to shrug it off. PHENOMENAL stellar acting stellar writing i love all of this i am eating it like soup!!!

and just. the things he was saying, about how he has to keep being positive he has to keep it together because if he doesn't who will? who else have they got to keep spirits up and stop the group from self-destructing? god it's. so good. i am not going to elaborate on some of that striking a nerve but. god. they gave me everything i wanted to see i love it so much!!! that is everything i hoped for from this story beat you understand!!!!

i wonder if maybe jenny is going to get an episode? or like a b-plot focused on her, something like that. the love letters seem like a plot thread that's going to be pulled on later, it just doesn't seem like this show to establish a mystery and then have it only be a background detail. we'll see tho ^^ i love jenny, i'd love to see more of her she's so fun. reminds me of a friend of mine tbh so i am biased, but also i deeply appreciate a woman with knives on a societal and also personal level 👍

okay can i just say. the night nurse (thank u noble for telling me her name <3) is kind of an asshole right. like i don't think she's evil she's doing a very necessary job, but it's actually delightful how ruthless she is about it. oh these two souls are refusing to move on? throw them into their worst traumas and the most painful moments of their lives to convince them there's nothing worth staying on earth for. sure, it's cruel, but who cares? it's efficient, and that's what matters. these are just children acting out to her, who don't understand the importance of what she does to keep everything in order. i love ruthless characters, and she's done so well she's so fun to watch

also. i do not think this is the last we've seen of her. like yeah she got fed to a sea monster but also she's literally from the afterlife and can travel back to earth wherever as long as she gets the permits. so. i think they bought some time, but that won't last long and they're still stuck in the town so i think she's far from done with them, and we'll see her again probably sooner rather than later (especially since she knows where they're staying)

crystal. my girl. beloved. PLEASE stop almost dying every episode it's bad for my blood pressure. you don't understand you're a living person which means they can kill you while still having you as a character on the show by making you become a ghost. you and niko don't have that safety net Please be more careful 😭

we got some really interesting lilith lore this episode, and it's got me thinking. a goddess of blood and wronged women... what about esther? she's been kidnapping and killing little girls, is that not wronging them? has it just not caught up to her yet because she's been making sacrifices, and if so what happens now that the squad has stopped her from kidnapping more kids? is she on some kind of time limit? this is So interesting I am deeply intrigued by the possibilities here...

the cat king was... there. okay i will admit the scene where he shapeshifted into monty and then charles was interesting. the implications are Fascinating, especially the order- he shifts into monty first and only briefly, but it doesn't seem to affect edwin until he shifts into charles. and then, edwin seems almost entranced until the yellow eyes show through which is. there are certainly implications! idk if it means anything besides instinctively trusting charles more bc they've known each other longer or something like that- especially considering this is netflix we're talking about, but then again the show got cancelled so maybe things did get gay! they've also set up edwin possibly having a crush on monty, or at least being unsure how he feels about him so. no idea but i am Keeping An Eye On That 👀

also. him saying he's never really been interested in/seen the appeal of kissing but now isn't sure whether it's something he wants... clutching grayro/demiro edwin to my chest. this is mine now he's one of us 👍

speaking of edwin, his moment there with niko at the end was really sweet. they're watching scooby doo together 😭 it's the perfect blend of their interests bc it's a detective cartoon.... their friendship is so cute holy shit. the simplicity and genuineness of their dynamic is so sweet, how edwin praises niko's detective work (telling her she's good at something very important to him!) and niko offers a listening ear without judgement as he works through what looks like it's shaping up to be a sexuality crisis. they mean so much to me... they're friends your honor!!!!

oh also charles and crystal kissed. idk man i don't have many thoughts on that. good for them 👍 I think the framing was sweet, in that the show sets up the kiss as the 'something real' crystal wants, but i will admit that part of me is disappointed because i wanted crystal and niko to get together. idk i thought they balanced each other out well, with crystal being subtle where niko is blunt and niko having hope where crystal is cynical, but. that's fine. i wasn't super invested. it's fine. no lesbians for me i guess... sad! oh well

all silliness aside, this episode was yet another Banger they simply do not miss!! the lighthouse ghost was such a fun character, and i love niko's kindness shining through again as she offers edwin red sea glass for courage and the walrus man green sea glass for emotional stability after telling him how she found the washerwoman. niko sasaki the woman that you are.... anyway i'm starting the next episode and then afterwards we'll see how i feel i might need to break for dinner lol

[demidemon09]

My opinion on MW3

Alright, so just a heads up, this is gonna have spoilers, so from this point onward if you don't want any, please stop reading! Will tag for #MW3Spoilers if you want to avoid them on my blog.

Also, this is incredibly long and I am so sorry for that, I just have a lot to get off my chest right now and may ramble. I am also on like 2-3 hours of sleep, who knows if I'll have more to say later.

@sofasoap You asked to be pinged, apologies once again if it's insanely long and kinda rambly.

That being said, I've seen a fair bit of this by now, not the full thing and cannot bring myself to play it. This game had amazing potential, with Makarov being back, to having a higher stakes game. It just felt incredibly rushed and Soaps death, made no sense to me.

I have been excited to play the reboot timeline since I heard about it back in 2019, it was the first time in years I even paid attention to CoD, mainly because Soap was back. I thought this time, since we started off so soon in his story, we'd get to see him grow into Captain MacTavish. I even waited to play the other two campaigns based off this one, hoping to not have history repeat itself. Yet, it sadly did in an even worse way.

It honestly seems at this point, we're going to get Captain Garrick instead, which is fine, I'm more than happy to see Gaz survive and become a memorable character, I'm even glad we get to see Ghost survive longer than he did in the previous timeline. However, Soap dying so suddenly, so out of the blue with no reaction or importance, it felt so empty. It felt like pure shock value, just to do it because they needed a death.

Did I think all of them were going to survive? No, I was just hoping to not repeat the OG timeline, or to wait till MW4. As much as I hate to say it, Price or even Gaz dying this time would have been a bit more shocking to me. Gaz has so much history for him, is Prices protege, and would give Price even far more reason to go down the dark path he is headed in. Soap may have been a start, but imagine someone as important to him as Gaz dying? Man would have been livid and may have hunted down Makarov immediately afterwards.

I was also kind of hoping to see Ghost step into the role of Captain or at least leading the TF141 himself. In both timelines he has just been a lieutenant, one timeline he was Soaps second in command, and in this one he is Prices and Soap was his protege. I absolutely loved the amount of work they put into Ghost, I actually care far more for this version of him than I did with the OG Ghost. They made Ghost a teacher, the bond that him and Soap formed was great to see, something we didn't really get much of in the original MW2.

Just like with Gaz, they both got a massive amount of work done towards them, they are now memorable characters for me. Ghost was in the OG games to me, but I actually forgot entirely about Gaz. Now? I'd remember both, be mourning their deaths just like with Soap. I am so happy they rebooted the timelines but they have executed MW3 so poorly, I don't see myself being as interested in further content.

I get deaths are inevitable, I get deaths are going to be a part of the CoD universe. I 100% accept and understand that they will and, sometimes need to, happen. But Soaps death? That should not have happened, not one bit. He aimed for the shoulder on Makarov instead of the neck or head, how in the hell did he get taken down so quickly? No moment for himself, no scene, just Makarov bursting into the area, shooting him in the shoulder/back/wherever (legit can never find the hole for the first shot). And all for Price, a man who has survived both timelines. I would have been more at peace with Prices death than anything else, I do not hate the character, I love all of them very much, but Prices death would have been the perfect catalyst for all of them to go after Makarov. Would have been a nice shove to seeing Gaz work hard to become the best soldier, would have pushed Soap even further after the Graves betrayal.

I know it's a reach at this point, a stupid hope to keep Soap around but I do hope that somehow, they pull something out of their asses to keep Soap alive. It was a stupid, poor, lazy decision to kill Soap off in MW3 like the OG one. I said this before, but I truly was excited to see him grow into the Captain I loved playing as/with in the OG timeline. Neil Ellice absolutely nailed his portrayal of Soap and they could have never found a better actor. I look forward to seeing what happens in Zombies, but that's all I'm looking forward to anymore. Not the campaign, not the multiplayer, none of it. Soap was literally the reason I picked up MW19 and began playing cuz I knew he'd probably be in the second one. Thinking back, Captain MacTavish may very well have been the second game character I got attached to, after Master Chief.

So, yeah, that's kind of my thoughts right now. I am upset, disappointed and hurt over the ending of MW3. He deserved so much better than what he got.

[redwidow616]

Okay here goes, I finally have time to write my eras tour essay:

Just a little psa this got a lot longer than I expected, especially the pre-show part, so just be aware of that and ofc you don't have to read it @prisongang

Pre-show:

As some of you might know the stupid ass european football cup was in germany this year, which meant I had to go to a different city for eras, that was kinda annoying because I had to spent even more money on train tickets and a hostel, but I made it and everything was fine so it's good, also props to the Deutsche Bahn for neither of my trains being delayed l. Okay so I arrived at the train station and there were soooooooo many swifties there, it was crazy, looking back I probably should have started trading bracelets then but I'm still kinda shy so I didn't. In Hamburg I arrived at my hostel, checked in, got ready and then immediately left to go to the stadium. In the station from where i took a train there, there were also so so so many swifties and I even got some compliments on my outfit 🤗. When we all got off the train we still had to walk for like half an hour until there was really anything there, but it was okay, I also saw a lot of parents there which I thought was also really cool. Now comes a kind of confession because I still feel weird about saying this, but I had a VIP ticket (pls do NOT ask me how much it was or I'll just disappear into the earth from shame) and the VIP entry started at 3 pm and for me that was when the line I was in started moving, admittedly pretty fast. I was there around 2:30 maybe a little later but the line was already really long, I couldn't even really see the stadium. As it started moving I could also see other people sitting and waiting in the regular line (it was by far not as crazy as in München, but they were still there probably hours before they could get in), there was also a merch stand somewhere but I didn't go there and I actually didn't get merch at all, the opportunity just didn't really arise but don't worry I'm bot sad about it. As the line was moving and we could finally see the stadium it started raining a little, but since the line was moving so fast it wasn't really that bad. Then I was finally in the stadium around 4 pm so I still had two hours to go till paramore and I used those for doing nothing and just sitting on the floor so I could jeep my spot. Even for being in the VIP section I think I was very close to the stage, I was like 4th or 5th row at first and later it shifted a bit so I was pretty much 3rd row by the end. In front of me were some girls who all seemed to have just net there and were talking a little and I even talked to one of them who was from my city and my age which was really nice. While we were waiting it rained multiple times, and after like one and a half hours I couldn't sit anymore and I stood up so the whole floor was wet and I just stood but it was fine cus paramore came on not long after. Also while we were waiting the screen played some of taylors music videos and behind the scenes clips to those videos.

Paramore:

I'm not really a fan of them, I know some of their more famous songs but it was still really fun screaming along to the songs I knew or even the choruses of songs i didn't really know, after they were done we still had to wait like half an hour for taylor and it started raining again and honestly at that point I was not that excited about it, even though I know that people say rain shows are the best but at that moment I didn't really feel that way, but that would change soon..

Lover:

So the clock appeared a few minutes before and of course everyone was screaming and stuff and when it was done the dancers with the seashells? (idk what to call them u know what I mean) came out and I was soooooo close to them it was crazy, I also took a video of that whole part until right after taylor came up on stage and then I was just gone, I screamed the lyrics and danced and just didn't care about the rain anymore, even though it got worse and worse but the people are right it is so much fun to dance in the rain with taylor, really as soon as the show actually started I forgot that I didn't want it to rain because it really is that amazing of an experience. I loved this ehole act so much, I was really close to the door where the dancers came out and where they go at the end and so I was also very close to the Lover house and really close to taylor dring the man and yntcd which was so amazing and so fun, during Lover she wasn't that close anymore but I still took a video of the lover bridge cus I love that song and that album in general so much, I did miss the archer a little bit but I wouldn't say it missing diminished the experience it just would have been nice to have

Fearless:

First of all the transition was crazy, because NO ONE FUCKING TOLD ME THERE WOULD BE REAL SPARKS COMING DOWN FROM TOP OF THE SCREEN THINGY??? I took a video of this too cus I was so surprised and it looked really pretty, during fearless the song i was so so lucky because taylor and the band were practically standing right in front of me, i was so close to here i still can't believe i got that lucky for one of the songs i love so much, and i also have a video of the intro and I had so much fun and danced and screamed my lungs out sm during love story and ybwm, and ofc I got the outfit i hoped for which i was really happy about but during this era the rain got really really bad and while it was still so much fun i was a little scared for my phone so i didn't take any more videos or photos than the ones in the beginning

Red:

During the beginning of this i was also so lucky because the dancer who did the thing with the chest was on the base of the stage so still really close to me and I could see her so clearly. This was probably one of the most fun parts because i didn't really have anything i wanted to take a video of except a short one during atw so i was really in the moment and had so much fun just dancing care free and singing. When taylor gave the hat to that girl it was so so cute because she was so excited and i could also see that really well on the big screen and she gave taylor a friendship bracelet, which she wore for the rest of the set and it wa just so adorable and relatable how she was freaking out, i don't think I've seen any other child be this emotional over getting the 22 hat. There was also confetti flying around during this set but everything was wet so you couldn't really pick it up

Speak Now:

The Intro to this was also so beautiful, i saw it the first night of the european leg on a life stream which was cutting out so i didn't see everything but I knew I had to take a video of it and I did. The dress taylor wore was also so beautiful and again like during fearless she walked right past me and was so so close I couldn't believe it, i have my best pictures of the evening probably from this era and at least one where it looks like she is looking directly at me if you zoom in, which I am so excited about and ofc Enchanted was so beautiful to experience life, i loved it so much, it was breath taking

Reputation:

Again taylor was so close to me at some points during this set and during lwymmd were the dancers are in glass boxes i had such a great view and during the transition from dbm to lwymmd I think Paul was standing pretty close to where I was and was throwing guitar picks into the crowd which was also so exciting even though i didn't catch any. And of course 123 lgb was a religious experience

FolkMore:

I did miss the seven poem intro, because i saw it once on a lifestream and thought it's inclusion in that way was so beautiful, but of course the snake transition makes a lot of sense. Like with the lover house, the folklore cabin was also really close to me but what was a bit of a fail was that when taylor layed down on the roof during cardigan i couldn't see her anymore from where i was standing but i could see her on the screen so it was okay. Betty was also really special to me, idek why but i was so happy seeing it live, btw the rain had already long stopped at this point so i could film and take photos again without worrying. Champagne problems was also so close to me even though taylor was kinda hidden behind her piano but being that close to her during such an emotional song was still amazing and afterwards we were so loud for so long. I am also so happy about having seen my tears ricochet live, cus it was one of the first taylor songs i loved, it means so much to me and i love it's performance on this tour. Marjorie was also very emotional for me, vecause it reminds me of my own grandma who died a little over to years ago when i was just starting to become a swiftie and all the lyrics really resonate with me, I also took a video of the bridge and i think i can hear myself choking up a little during it and i always cry when i rewatch this video. I did miss tolerate it too a bit, mainly because I also would have a had an amazing view of it from where i was, but also because i love the lyrics and i love evermore. Willow was really beautiful too, i love that performance so much especially the little instrumental part in between the verses

1989:

Like with red i probably had the most careless fun during this era, because i didn't take any fotos or videos and just danced and had fun and it was incredible, i loved it, it really was the most fun I've probably ever had, all the chants were a lot of fun too and there was also the surprise that THERE WAS FIRE ON STAGE AGAIN!! during bad blood fire comes up from the stage multiple times in columns and the first time i had my back to it so i could only feel the warmth but after that i saw it and it was sooo crazy, but also added a lot to the performance i think

TTPD:

This is probably the era I've seen most often, especially icdiwabh cus it's right before surprise songs, but it was still amazing, because it was also finally properly dark during this set, which made taking fotos a luttle harder cus everything was white, but i still have a very good one from fortnite. So high school was so much idc if people don't like it, i love it (sorry poppy, maybe it's cus i still was in high school until recently), but it's fine, like i said i had so much fun during it and during waolom, because that performance is also just crazy. During tsmwel taylor was really close to me again and that set in general is just amazing with all it's theatrical aspects

Surprise Songs:

Of course I have some favourites, which i would've been absolutely ecstatic about, but the songs I got are still better than anything I could've imagined. First ofc teardrops on my guitar and i am so happy i got a debut song, no matter which one, I love debut and since it has no set I'm so happy about getting a surprise songs from it. It being mashed up with the last time made me lose my mind, because i love that song so much and I still can't believe i heard it live, it was one of my first favourites from red, and I was singing along to it so loud, i am so happy about getting this. And we were happy x happiness. Idek what to say these are two songs she's never played live before, how lucky am i?? I got fearless vault, no matter which one i am so happy about this!! And mashed up with happiness that makes it even more unbelievable , i was staring at the huge screen the whole time, absolutely mesmerised (cus i couldn't see taylor because if the slope of the stage) i kinda wish i would've taken a video, but I'm also really happy i was just present and really watched and listened to it (in general i think my favourite videos from that evening are the shaky one cus when i watch them i know that i wasn't looking at my phone while taking them, i was looking at the real thing), so yeah that was crazy

Midnights:

Especially during anti hero i could see taylor so well again cus she was directly in front of the screen, practically walking along bext to me and i have some really amazing pictures of this. Also during lavender haze she was right in front of me sometimes. Midnight rain was also so incredible, i love this song so much, have done so forever, it's so relatable to me and I'm so happy to have a video of it. I loved all the outfits for this et too so much, and at the end of karma everything looked so amzing with the confetti and all the colourfull jackets and just everything (sadly the floor was still wet so i couldn't take any confetti :()

Afterwards:

After the show i finally got to trading bracelets, i gave the girl from my city, from the beginning two and traded more with other people, but we were ushered out of the stadium pretty quickly and sadly I lost that girl without knowing hef name or having her number, as we got out it was just a sea of swifties out there in the dark, but it was so chill considering how many people there were and the police was also taking care, cus there was a tunnel which could've probably been a risk (#loveparade) and they made sure there wouldn't be too many people in there so everyone was safe and i actually made it to my hostel in probably under two hours which was a lot better than i expected and at some point while we were waiting someone ofc played taylor music.

So it was probably the most incredible experience of my life, everyone ther was just amazing and still can't believe it really happened, cus it seems like a dream. I miss it so much and i just want to go again and again. I would love to just go one time to take videos and fotos of everything and one time to just enjoy it and jot worry about that stuff, but I am still so happy that i got to be there and got to experience it.

tagging the prison gang so u guys know i finally write my essay @anixknowsnothin @noproof-youjustknow @pardonmydelays @mymuses-acquiredlikebruises @measuredmotion