#So according with the last point I feel like she DOES know. But has reasons not to consider it.

[theguywhodoesntlikemusicals]

Some Hatchetverse headcanons

I've been thinking about implications.....

I've been saving these up for a while so I can do a megapost so here we are. I've pulled in points of evidence where I can but I don't think there are any outright spoilers (the cut is just mostly for length) but so be aware that there are at least some context spoilers.

This ended up being long enough as it is but maybe I will make a part 2 especially once i've rewatched NPMD

TGWDLM

It's probably obvious in how I play him but I'm of course an Autistic Paul believer. I see how he acts in myself and some of the things he does in my friends and also this and this video add years to my life

Since Bill is like 13 years older than Paul according to the wiki at the time of TGWDLM, I like to imagine that Bill maybe either interviewed him or mentored him after he joined CCRP. I mention this in the tags of this post but to further on it, I can totally imagine Paul immediately latching onto Bill as someone who is very kind and supportive especially to younger team members (see Melissa), especially since he didn't have a particularly supportive upbringing (see being taken to musicals and made to feel like shit).

I'm assuming that Paul joined CCRP upon leaving university (since he seems like a one-job kind of guy, and I'm basing this off my friend who has a similar seeming-job), which would put him at around age 21-22. Alice is 13 years younger than him according to the wiki, which means he may have been babysitting her from when she was around age 9. Which I think is adorable, no wonder she thinks he's cool. He probably brought over his gameboy and let her use it to play Animal Crossing.

Speaking of videogames, we know from Forever and Always that he plays videogames to relax. Or at least one. Which do we think this is? I'm taking suggestions but tbh, the only game that truly takes up 100% of my concentration and distracts me from my thoughts and anxiety (which I also absolutely displace onto Paul) are rhythm games. For me it's Project Diva but I can actually see him getting really into Rhythm Heaven. I don't think he's a big rpg person or games where you play as a character (e.g. mario or final fantasy)

This kind of leads into the biggest question and I think the biggest source of Paul HC contention........ does he actually dislike musicals? Do I think he dislikes music? No. I think he likes some specific music and may even, in rare cases, be caught humming. Do I think he likes musicals? No. I'm a Paul vs Musicals believer. I think this comes from a) when being dragged to a school that (presumably had a theatre programme whereas his didn't so) had better resources and more funding, where kids were being applauded and praised while he was made to feel small. This comes from this video where it's explained way better and I would definitely recommend watching it, but it is representative of his own lack of self-value and how he puts his needs last. But ALSO b) I do also think it's an autistic/ overstimulation thing from the setting. It can be both! I definitely think he gets overstimulated easily. (This comes from just after Not Your Seed where he blocks his ears and curls up to stop himself from hearing the girls sing/scream at him, despite the fact he KNOWS at this point that the infection is spread by being killed and re-animated. So sitting still there was the worst thing for him to do in practicality.) TLDR: Musicals: NO. Music: Some is ok. Get this man some Loops Earbuds and he MIGHT be able to go to a concert with you.

In that same video as above actually they suggest that the Infected retain some degree of their own personality, and the infection has the side effect of removing a lot of inhibitions and removing the reason to hide what's inside them. It's not technically my headcanon it's from that vid WHICH YOU SHOULD WATCH, but it basically explains why in Join us and Die, the change in Charlotte's personality is so jarring. My HC is that she's been penting up so much anger and upset for so long regarding Sam and her situation, and feeling powerless. No wonder when she loses her reason not to be sweet and polite all the time she goes all guts out rambo on everyone (ESPECIALLY TED who has been essentially using her from her perspective).

Speaking of Charlotte, I think it is less of a HC and more just how she comes across, but I think she is a very big romantic. She dreams of being a disney princess and being swept off her feet. See: just before Tied Up My Heart where she runs like a little girly and kneels down like she's fucking Snow White. I love and support her. All she gets is Sam and Ted and she deserves better.

Emma was on her way home from work when the meteor struck... Did Infected!Nora call her BACK into work in the middle of the night to practice Cup of Roasted Coffee? I'm surprised she didn't quit right there holy shit. Knowing that she probably did the whole of TGWDLM on 0 hours sleep, and also was probably already exhausted from having a job AND putting herself through college makes me respect her so much. That would explain why in Perky's Buds and Forever and Always she's so much more chill, she's actually slept!

I think Paul is actually very physically affectionate once it comes to it. I love that Jon Matteson basically has him grabbing onto Emma (in Cup of Poison Coffee & Join Us and Die), Charlotte (in Show Me Your Hands), and Bill (in Not Your Seed) to protect them at every opportunity. He even goes to catch Sam when he falls at the end of Show Me Your Hands despite the fact that he's been threatening them with police violence for the last 3 minutes (I know this is probably a staging thing to keep Jeff safe but still). If someone is in danger his immediate reflex is to grab and put himself in the way. It's Fight, Flight, or Fling your arms around your friends.

Why is Paul the best dressed person in the office? Bill and Ted both just wear shirts of different colours and a colourful tie but Paul is the only one in a full suit jacket and black tie. Is this because he's hard working or professional? No, further down I mention how I think he's actually quite lazy. Is it because he's boring? No I don't think so, he has things he likes! Even if his contentment with them considered 'dull' or 'mundane' by the rest of the world. No, here's what I think: he wears a suit jacket while everyone else is just in shirts because this man's circulation is NONEXISTANT. His hands are CHILLY and he needs some mittens. Melissa, please turn off the AC in floor 3. This man is Too Cold.

Ted thinks Paul is his best friend and thinks Bill is lame. Bill thinks Paul is his best friend and thinks Ted is a weirdo. Paul thinks hmm i want some coffee. Both of them have a kind of unspoken tension about it meanwhile Paul is just No Thoughts head Empty. JK i do think he thinks Bill is his best friend but he doesn't see it as much of a massive deal as Bill does

Black Friday

I like the idea that 'But they are intimate' becomes a local Hatchetfield meme along the lines of 'Oh god they were roommates'. Tim starts saying it at school and the kids who've never processed that word before all start saying it because it's hilarious, then it gets on tiktok and you know how it goes. Emma is cringing the whole time, until Paul realises and cringes as well, and then she uses it to laugh at/with him.

I know it's not technically a headcanon... but after watching a review of Black Friday, I have an alternate version in my head that addresses some of the pacing in the second act. (don't get me wrong I love BF but i do get where the guy is coming from!) where Ethan gets to live to the end of the musical. I'm an Ethan fan personally esp how he becomes such a father figure to Hannah and is so supportive of Lex. He wants to marry her in Yellow Jacket ffs!! Let them be close! I have this image built up in my head of him wanting to defend them from all their problems with his tough exterior but being frustrated and helpless that he can't actually do anything to address their real, systemic socio-economic problems. He gets patched up by Becky, and sticks with her and Tom to prevent them from finding Hannah, watching and juxtaposing their descent into Wiggly madness. During Do You Want to Play, he fights with Tom and Becky to protect Hannah but is knocked out and ends up getting taken to Linda along with Becky where they get tied up. Before Lex arrives with Tom, he manages to free himself with his switch blade. He gives it to Becky so she can free herself but runs to help Hannah. Without the doll to summon Wiggly, they try to sacrifice him in order to bring Wiggly through the portal/give him a vessel like Nibbly. He comes face to face with Wiggly himself as he and Wiley try to convince Ethan to come over to Wiggly's side, preying on his eagerness to throw money at Lex and Hannah's problems to save them (as he does in Yellow Jacket). In the end his knowledge that just the nice moments he is there for Hannah and supports her through her visions are what matters saves him. He gets his own song (maybe with echoing stings from Made in America or Black Friday) but just before Lex arrives, knowing they failed, Linda stabs him. Lex gets to save him this time and they have a tearful reunion, and get to sing together in the final number. TLDR Thank you Dragons that's my pitch I'm accepting investments to let Ethan live

Also not really a headcanon, but I ADORE that in the series so far, the two characters that John Macnamara has trusted to save the world are Lex and Paul, two people who are just trying to live their lives and get through the day but care about their friends and will do whatever it takes when the chips are down. Except the president he doesn't count because he shit the bed and that was the whole point

We know that Wiley/Wilbur Cross was John Macnamara's mentor. I imagine mourning losing him to the Black and White must have been awful for him. In TGWDLM he says 'The experiences I've acrued... have given me a deeper understanding of the cosmos and of our place in it. I follow a higher law than any institution could decree, and that's the universal truth of love and the strength of the human heart.' I went into this about to write that the experience might have been losing his mentor, but wouldn't that have taught him the opposite? Wilbur's heart was weak and his mind was lost... But what if Wilbur went into the black and white to save John? It was an act of love and strength all along.

I love lex more than any one and she deserves better.

NPMD

I'm a trans ftm Richie believer and this is definitely not just me displacing my feelings onto him... This is mainly because I think it would make that scene where he gets accepted by the football bros even stronger and I need to see it happen...

I also think he probably draws and is writing a manga sue me

I think that he likes magic the gathering...... I've just gotten into it and I swear that that's not just the only reason why! I think Paul got him some (Paul likes boardgames which we know from TGWDLM and a card game like this seems like the next logical step into nerddom before dnd) to bond with him and it spiraled from there.

I explain my reasons why I like the idea of Paul and Richie being close below, but I think Paul comes to Richie's games sometimes to support him, especially when he started out being a mascot. He needs Loops and to sleep for 17 hours afterward to recover but he is there for Richie GDI!

Also not a HC but Grace Chastity is my favourite character and she deserves better. I love THIS video on her and basically support every suggestion about her, but I wanted to highlight that there's an alternate universe where she works through her issues in a healthy relationship with Jason/someone else and becomes the kinkiest guidance councilor in the US. I want her to have a supportive partner who lets her explore!

Nightmare time:

We know from Hey Melissa, that Paul puts in headphones when he doesn't want to engage with people at work. What does he listen to? He could very well be a podcast person, but I'm willing to bet that he actually does like some music. His hate for musicals seems specific to the setting and the social awkwardness stemming from childhood events, so here's my pitch: I think he listens most to movie soundtracks. I think in one of Jon Matteson's livestreams he mentions that CCRP was initially created to be a buzzfeed style movie review company, we know he watched Moana and has opinions on it, and we know from when he asks Emma about film that this is something he at least engages with. I can imagine him fucking vibing to the opening of the Hobbit or something when trying to concentrate.

Not really a headcannon since it's essentially confirmed in Hey Melissa (Mr Davidson: Don't work too hard! | Paul: I don't!) and also the fact that he 'spends his days surfing the web' rather than working, but I think Paul is actually quite lazy and a huge procrastinator.

We know from Forever and Always that Emma's line to try to kiss Paul for the first time was 'want to smoke some pot and make out'. Do we think they got high and had their first make out session like that? I like to think so. Follow up question, what is Paul like high? I've never smoked anything before so definitely open to suggestions. But since Emma enjoys it so much I do think Paul partakes with her occasionally to share in something she likes, and if anyone else he knows found out they would be shocked to think of him as a stoner. It has helped with his anxiety.

My favourite characters from Nightmare Time are Duke and Miss Holloway... I love them sm they even inspired a story I'm currently writing. HOWEVER... I do have a bone to pick with Holloway over that fucking note. 'Could I have BEEN any clearer?' YES IT COULD QUEEN. If you know someone is going to be faced with a body they can't let be taken to the morgue, then INDICATE that and don't make him feel bad for then you having to change your identity if it's that important! This is unlicensed Duke himbofication and, while he may indeed be a himbo, forcing that on him is unethical!

General:

I'm not too familiar with the All-Jon-Matteson-Characters-Are-Related family tree, but I do like the idea that i've seen floating around that Richie and Daniel (DANIEL!! MY BABY!!) are brothers and are Gary Goldstein's kids from various affair partners, with Paul being his half-brother (hence the different surnames) and so uncle to his kids. From Paul going to Sycamore, it seems as though his parents weren't the most wealthy, so I can definitely see Gary, becoming a ruthless lawyer to wealthy clients, favouring getting a high income and financial security, rather than relationships with his kids and partner(s). We know from Forever and Always that Paul is also savvy in terms of financial security, insurance, etc... but didn't go off the deep end that much, so I think he is very supportive of his Nephews. I think maybe I saw the family tree thing on @boy-jerrys-blog so kudos fam.

Also was anyone going to tell me that Beige Jacket Reporter from Hatchet Town was Boy Jerry or did I just have to figure that out for myself????? Who let this man join the workforce??

If Paul had like 1 ounce more conviction and consideration for his own desires I think he would get himself a dog now that he's an adult and has financial safety (definitely a rescue) and that thing would have the best most love-filled life ever I cry thinking about it. Someone take this man to a shelter and he will have a field day and maybe cry.

Actually he might not do it because he has trauma from seeing spot die but GOD JUST LET HIM BE HAPPY AND GIVE IT A GO IT'LL BE GOOD FOR YOU PAUL JUSt maybe buy a sturdy leash

[jonnestt]

The best part of the apothecary diaries is that seemingly everyone knows Jinshi is trying to get with Maomao. I say seemingly because she plays the role of the dense one so well she might as well be tungsten.

She's so goofy about it as well. Dude bought out her contract from the brothel she grew up in (which I understand to be equivalent to a marriage proposal) and she agrees to go with him because he offered her a rare ingredient.

Like yea, she isn't interested in romance right now but in the anime, she never even considers that he might be. 

Dude's not dropping hints, but clickbait thumbnails and the only acknowledgement not just him, but we as viewers, get is Mrs. "knows her role and plays it well" acting a little bit more brazen with him.

[raining-anonymously]

something about mouthwashing that has always bothered me is the cake-baking scene. where the game’s dialogue is usually very realistic, this scene feels… weird. the dialogue is unnatural and too video-gamey. anya, swansea, and jimmy are telling curly things he should already know for the player’s benefit, such as the backstory for the communal birthday parties and how to bake the cake. it’s strange. but i think i’ve finally figured it out!

We start with Daisuke. “Look at your face!” suggests that Curly’s reaction to being surprise-birthday’d was an expression of shock. This is supported by Jimmy later apologizing to Curly for jumping him like that.

Back to the present. Curly, who tends to use fewer filler words comparatively, uses the word “uh” twice in two lines. “Uh. Wow,” followed by:

I wanna talk about this question for a minute. Let’s look at the scene. Curly can see the birthday party decorations from his position. Curly knows the approximate date off the top of his head, according to the dead pixel scene, so he should know it’s around his birthday. Curly has also undoubtedly experienced many Pony Express birthday parties before. All this to say, why the hell is he asking what the occasion is? It should be pretty obvious, no?

The answer is dissociation.

We know from Curly’s POV introduction that he spaces out in conversation, and that Anya is aware of this. This lasts to the point where he’s staring off at nothing until Anya asks if he’s listening.

He also appears to dissociate during his conversation with Jimmy before the crash: he stops talking completely until prompted by Jimmy to respond and doesn’t seem to understand what’s happening (Jimmy tells him everyone on the ship should die and Curly seemingly agrees, only to very clearly be upset and in shock when Jimmy goes and makes this happen).

Now, Jimmy, Anya, and Swansea have known Curly for years. Seems pretty reasonable that they would be able to recognize signs of his dissociation, yeah? And they do.

Again, these are things that Curly should absolutely know. I believe Anya and Jimmy saw the facial expression that Daisuke referred to and noticed Curly’s inexplicable confusion and realized he was dissociating. They then informed him of the details of the situation while posing it as a question, likely in an attempt to ground him. Anya ends her information with “right?” while Jimmy ends his with “remember?” This allows them to give Curly the information he isn’t grasping in a gentle way that doesn’t call attention to the fact that this is something he should already know.

Anya then gives him more direct instruction by telling him where the cake recipe is (again, a thing he should absolutely know considering he eats in that kitchen every day) and lightly tells him to go make it. She’s guiding him to a task that he would ordinarily be able to complete on his own because she can tell that he’s unsure and out of it.

Swansea—who, while not as close to Curly as Jimmy and not as attentive to the crew’s mental wellbeing as Anya, has known the captain for years— does the same thing, more directly. He asks Curly about the cake recipe and tells him where to find the ingredients and recipe. Again, Curly should absolutely know this already, but for some reason he isn’t doing it on his own.

From the crew’s perspective, if you as Curly choose to engage in this optional dialogue, Anya and Jimmy told Curly to go make the cake, and instead of doing that Curly wandered quietly around the lounge. Brought on, probably, by this dissociative episode. So Swansea reminds Curly what he’s supposed to be doing and where to go to do it.

(While Jimmy and Anya are consistently shown to be in tune to Curly’s emotions (Jimmy moreso pre-crash), Swansea typically is not; however, he’s standing near Anya during this segment, meaning she had the opportunity to tell him what she’d noticed.)

Now, an interesting thing about Curly’s optional conversations with the rest of the crew here: He doesn’t say anything during them. This is a little odd, considering Curly is a fairly social character. He does have other optional interactions where he doesn’t respond, but those are typically after he’s just had a back-and-forth with the other person or where you’re able to respond nonverbally (such as closing/opening the door to Utility when Jimmy jokes about it). But for the most part, Curly does respond to what others say.

Not here, though. He can drift between Daisuke, Anya and Swansea, and Jimmy, but he doesn’t say a word apart from when Jimmy notices his silence and prompts him to speak.

Even then, he just agrees with Jimmy without any indication that he processed what Jimmy said. If you go for Jimmy’s second optional dialogue, Curly once again has no response.

All this to say—

This post was not made to demonstrate any overarching story element. Honestly, I kinda thought I was stringing conclusions together. But now that it’s all down? It… kinda makes sense. This is consistent with Curly’s character, with Anya’s and Jimmy’s dynamics with Curly, and with the typically excellent, human, non-meta dialogue Mouthwashing utilizes in all other scenes.

It works down to the little details, such as Daisuke being the only one who doesn’t have weird dialogue here; he’s only known Curly a few months and is probably less in tune to the captain’s mannerisms. (Plus the crew tends not to tell him about anything serious.) Furthermore, dissociation can be caused by stress, and Curly is VERY stressed in this scene, preoccupied as he is with needing to tell the crew about the termination. His flavor text during this scene demonstrates that pretty well; his flavor text is much more cynical than his norm and often leads to him thinking about the termination rather than what he’s supposed to be doing.

Is there a possibility that I’m completely wrong? Of course. But I finally have a plausible explanation for something that has been bugging me for months, so I’m satisfied.

hope you enjoyed today’s episode of MOUTHWASHING THEORY TO FILL A PLOT HOLE THAT NO ONE EXCEPT MY PEDANTIC ASS THINKS ABOUT <3

If I said anything wrong re: dissociation or if you have another Watsonian explanation for why this scene is written so oddly, please do feel free to share!

[kys02]

Jax is not a jerk.

Please, hear me out.

TW: mention of domestic abuse.

I’m not here to excuse his actions. If someone does something bad, they should be held accountable. But there’s always a reason behind behavior. No character is “bad just for the sake of being bad.”

I know Jax has done a lot of messed-up things, but give me a chance to explain his actions—maybe you’ll see him in a different light.

Jax has boundaries.

A true villain doesn’t hold back. They’ll do whatever they want without hesitation. But according to the Gooseworx, Jax does have boundaries—there are lines he won’t cross.

I know what you’re thinking about. “But he threw Pomni out of the truck in Episode 2! He left Ragatha ( and Pomni ) behind with a glitching Kaufmo in the pilot! He constantly bullies others!”

But let’s look deeper.

First, remember that his teasing and pranks are a coping mechanism. It’s his way of keeping himself sane.

Second, he never takes things too far. Yes, his actions can be cruel, but when he realizes something genuinely harms someone, he backs off.

Take the pilot, for example. He left Ragatha when Kaufmo glitched out, but why? Because he was scared. Later, we see that Ragatha got “infected” with the glitch.

Now, think about the moment she said, “I am in so much pain!”

Here’s where it gets interesting—recently, in a Japanese billboard ad, there was a small scene where Kaufmo glitches behind Pomni while she’s arguing with Jax. And what does Jax do? He immediately gets nervous and says, “Wanna continue this somewhere else?”

He knows when to stop. He realized that if Pomni also glitched, it would hurt her. That means he does have empathy. He may act cold, but he’s not heartless.

Why does he act this way?

Now let’s re-examine some of his actions.

Remember when he threw Pomni out of the truck?

Or when he cut off her conversation with Ragatha?

(Both moments from Ep 2.)

Every time he sees others forming connections, it bothers him. Because deep down, he wants that too—but he doesn’t know how to handle it.

Instead of confronting his own feelings, he shuts those moments down. He disrupts conversations, pushes people away, and keeps his distance.

And here’s the key point:

If a parent abuses their child, it’s often because they were abused themselves. (I know this is a terrible example, but it gets the point across.)

If Jax constantly picks on those who are soft, emotional, or vulnerable, it’s because he sees himself in them.

He hates in others what he hates in himself.

And behavior like this doesn’t come out of nowhere.

Someone, at some point, showed him that “messing with people is fine!” Maybe it happened before he ended up in the circus. Maybe it started after. But the fact remains: he does it because someone did it to him.

His teasing and cruelty aren’t “just for fun.”

They’re a defense mechanism, a way to stay sane, and a reflection of his own self-hatred projected onto others.

So, what’s the takeaway?

No, this doesn’t make him a good person. He still does awful things, and nobody has to forgive him for that.

But understanding his actions doesn’t mean excusing them.

All I’m saying is: if we ask “why” instead of just labeling him as “the mean one,” we get a more complex character.

Thanks for reading!

(And by the way, I saw so much engagement on my last post—thank you all so much! 💜)

[0nlythrowharrybeaux]

Twelve Days: Part 5 **^

Here's the next part! Sorry it took so long 😭 But A LOT happens in this part and it might make y'all a little angry but I think the ending makes up for it!

Full Series Masterlist

WC: 10.5K

Warnings: Infidelity, mentions of slight germaphobia, mentions of unkept/untidy home life, fear of abandonment, sex (unprotected, penetrative), mentions of divorce.

It didn’t take as long as you had been expecting to hear back from Harry. Just another few days, you had just gotten into your car after a dinner service at a client’s home when his call came in. You were excited but feeling a bit nervous regarding the purpose of the call, it could be very casual but given the precarious situation you all found yourselves in, it could also be a call about things getting even more complicated. Regardless of what it was, you wanted to hear his voice.

“Hello?” You answered as you started to take off.

“Hi, how was your day?” He asked and you smiled.

“It was alright. And yours?” You asked.

“Busy. I had two lectures today, I’m just getting my things together before going home.” He shared.

“Okay. I am just heading home myself.” You shared.

“Good, I’m glad we get to accompany each other on our drives.” He said and you smiled.

“So how was it when you got back home?” You asked.

“We had a fight…she AirTag-ged my car.” He disclosed and your features twisted in concern.

“What?!”

“Right? Said she needed to confirm that I would go see you. I told her that I would’ve been honest about my plans if she asked.” Harry explained.

“It’s not like we did anything bad.”

“That’s what I told her. She seemed surprised for some reason.”

“Maybe because I’ve always been the more…liberated of the two.” You explained and he chuckled a bit and you smiled. “This would also disprove her theory that you’ve been spending time with me to make her jealous. I feel like that pisses her off more than anything.” You explained. “She’s always been first choice…” you said, “I get it though. She just puts herself out there more and whatnot, she’s easier to notice. I don’t mind that. I’m definitely more of a background girl, it’s where I thrive and feel comfortable so I’ve never competed her for it and I think she might…sense this…us as me trying to compete with her.” You explained.

“Well that’s shitty for me.”

“It is. And I promise you, I’m not trying to compete for you.” You assured him.

“I know, love. It just sucks thatshe is…” he said solemnly.

“I’m sorry.” You whispered.

“Don’t feel bad for me, love.” He hummed.

“I do because you don’t deserve it. No one does! I just hopes she…gets some clarity soon. This is getting so insane.” You sighed.

“I don’t want to…create a bigger divide but she’s being pretty harsh towards you. She thinks it’s stupid of me to invest all this time in you because according to her, you’re a flake.” He said and you pouted.

“A flake?” You asked for clarification, you were shocked.

“Yep…she’s just saying things at this point.”

“Yeah.” You hummed.

“Well, I’ve given her a month, in my head. To just get her ducks in a row, meet with the lawyer, figure out what she’s going to do…if she doesn’t, I’m going to talk to your parents and ask them to please…reason with her.” He shared and you hummed, “Do you think they would?” He asked you.

“I think so…they love you so much. My mom has always said you’re the son she never got to have.” You shared and he chuckled.

“Did she?”

“She did! Has actually said it on multiple occasions.” You reassured him.

“Well that does make me feel better.” He hummed.

“Good.” You grinned.

After getting that over with, it was just some light conversation about the good and bad parts of your days until he had arrived home. You were going to do some grocery shopping before getting back to your apartment but assured him you’d let him know when you’d made it home. 

Thankfully, Ash hadn’t shown up again. You half expected another visit and had been feeling on edge arriving at your apartment the last few days, but with each passing day you  tried to let the anxiety diminish. You were loving your quiet life alone so far. You also liked your apartment and were sad that you might have to move if he ever showed up again, but you just needed to not see him again. It was disrespectful really, his inability to honor your wishes after he had left you the way he had. You were feeling even more upset by Bea telling him where you had moved to. You let her know that what she had done was completely unacceptable and just blocked her on everything. You’d observed the way she always got a little more flirty when Ash was around but didn’t think it’d get to the point where she’d share your private information just to get on his good side. Especially when she knew you wanted nothing more to do with him. Hopefully, you’d seen the last of him so that you could actually focus on the dilemma at hand. Your sister. 

You were genuinely feeling really worried over what Julie’s next steps would be. You wanted to talk to her but she wasn’t answering your calls or responding to any of your texts just yet. Of course she had the right to be angry with you, but to think you were just using Harry for attention or to make her jealous? That wasn’t in your nature at all. To call you a flake? You were steadfast as can be, she knew this. You were raised the same. You were definitely hurt by her remarks, but you founds some solace in the knowledge that she was projecting her own insecurities about Joe onto you. This was the man who she had personally told you had some commitment issues! The man who undoubtedly made his way back into her life when he saw the seemingly perfect life she was leading with Harry via her social media, through the outlet she had used to allow him back into her life. 

You wanted to correct this narrative Julie had made up of you so badly because she ought to know you better than what she was choosing to believe of you. You had never had the type of sister relationship that made you best friends, like you’d mentioned to Harry, there’d always been an air of competition. Being just three years older than you, you’d coincided academically on a few occasions and you really didn’t start to “fight back” until high school. Naturally, you were a bit more likable because you were more laid back . You were great in your classes without imparting as much effort, which surprised your teachers. You soon learned that they expected you to be a little more of a wooer as she had been but when they learned you weren’t they eased up on you, the other students did too. Comparison was a killer and after one awful fight she told you that you had ruined her senior year. She had been cold towards you after that until she was off at college. And well, you decided not to go that route, you went to culinary school instead. And that gave her enough of the sense of superiority that she needed to have over you to placate her.

It had been a week after your conversation with Harry that you had your appointment with your therapist and had gotten to speak to her about what your sister had been saying and how you were feeling about it all. She had been supportive of you trying to go speak with her and so you had done just that. It was the end of her workday and though you felt like a stalker for being parked next to her car waiting for her…this was the only way you’d get anything from her. When you saw her approaching the car you hopped out of yours. As soon as she caught your gaze she noticeably became deflated. 

“What are you doing here?” She asked you and you offered a slightly nervous smile.

“Hi.” You greeted Julie. “I was just hoping we could go for dinner and talk?” You asked hopefully.

“About?” She asked cooly.

“What you saw.” You said and you saw her lips purse a bit as she gnawed the inside of her cheek pensively.

“I don’t know…I mean…I know what I saw, I don’t think we need to rehash it.” She stated as she crossed her arms.

“Well you’re still not talking to me so…”

“Because you kissed my husband!” She scowled.

“I know and I’m sorry-”

“No you’re not.” She cut you off.

“I’m not sorry for kissing him. I’m sorry that my actions upset you and angered you.” You clarified.

“So you’re sorry you got caught?” She asked.

“Not necessarily…I mean, I know that you actually don’t care that I kissed him. You don’t love him, so I know that it didn’t hurt you.” You said and she glanced away, “So I’m here to figure out what exactly you’re still so offended with me over.” You said and her gaze found yours again.

“You couldn’t have gone for anyone else?” She asked.

“I didn’t go for him, Julie! We were literally just talking about the things that we were dealing with. I mean, we’ve always had a good relationship as friends, you know that! But through these experiences we’ve been through we bonded on a new level. The attraction was just…there. It wasn’t on purpose. It wasn’t a plan of any sort! And the fact that you believe I would do something like that…” you said sadly, “I’m not calculating like that. You know that. And to be quite honest with you, I feel like…your anger actually has nothing to do with me. It’s just being directed at me and that makes me upset.” You said and her jaw clenched a bit. “Well…that’s all I wanted to say so…” you trailed off and she just nodded but said nothing else. 

After standing there in silence for a few seconds you just got into your car and left. You had done your part and now, the ball was in Julie’s court. You hoped that she would give what you’d said some honest thought and consideration. You had only been on the road for a few minutes when a call came in from Harry.

“Hey.” You greeted him.

“That was enthusiastic.” He chuckled sardonically and you couldn’t help but smile.

“Sorry. I’m just heading home from ambushing my sister.” You informed.

“Ah…I take it didn’t go too well?” 

“Not really…” you confirmed. “She didn’t say much apart from the usual accusations of me interfering in your marriage.” You sighed. “I also presented to her the idea that maybe the things she’s been saying of me are actually her displacing her anger with her situation with Joe onto me. That one did upset her, I saw it in her eyes.” You elaborated.

“Yeah, she doesn’t love to be in the wrong…” Harry chuckled. 

“Yeah. And have you made any headway with her?”

“I don’t know…we’ll see tomorrow. She has an appointment with the lawyer. I’ve already asked mine what I can do if she refuses to sign.” 

“And what did the lawyer say?”

“I can petition through the court for them to serve her the divorce papers. If she does’t sign within a certain timeline then the judge can make a default ruling to dissolve the marriage. So there is a way to proceed if she doesn’t abide by my timeline. I just…I don’t want to put her through that humiliation because the only place I know where to find her apart from our house would be her job.”

“Yeah, that’s low…” you agreed. “I mean, you can AirTag her…” you chuckled and he laughed.

“I could…that low has been reached.” He hummed in amusement. “We also have to get a court date if I go that route and who knows how long that would take.”

“Yeah…let’s just hope she does the right thing and comes around.”

“Yeah.” Harry agreed. “I’d like to see you again soon.” He said after a beat of silence.

“I’d like to see you too.” You hummed.

“Been seeing those videos of the couples painting each other…” Harry shared and you giggled.

“Is that what you want to do?”

“Yeah! I think it’d be fun, don’t you?” He asked and you giggled some more.

“Yeah, I think so too!”

“And I can cook for you this time.”

“Love that.” You hummed.

“And we can ask each other all the questions we have for each other over dinner and the painting.” He added to his suggestion.

“Yeah! That sounds like such a fun evening!” You agreed excitedly.

“Good! So let me know when you’ll have at least two days in a row off so that we can also have a little extra time the day after.”

“Okay, I’ll check my work calendar when I get home.”

“Perfect.” Harry smiled. “How are you holding up? Did Ash show up again?”

“I’m alright, still feeling a little…annoyed, I guess. But no, he didn’t come back.” You shared.

“Would you want him to come back? I mean, just so you can clear the air?”

“The more I give it some thought, not really. He’s said what he wanted to say…that he made a mistake, that he loves me and wants me back…” you said with a sarcastic, sing-song-y cadence. 

“Do you want to say anything to him?”

“Just how much he hurt me but if anything, that gives him more power over me and I’d hate that.” You confessed.

“I’d hate that for you too. But if you need that for your closure then it might be worth thinking over before completely disregarding it.” Harry advised, as much as he really did hate the thought of you giving Ash another morsel of your time and attention. He wasn’t jealous, more protective than anything. You were still a shell of yourself and he hated that Ash had done that to you. 

“Maybe you’re right…but I mean, just saying it out loud is enough for now.” You said, “Thank you for…making me feel comfortable and safe enough to be able to say it.” You thanked him.

“Of course, love.” Harry replied. 

Harry was happy that he could make you feel safe and looked after. But he also wanted that same reassurance from you. He understood why you weren’t leaning into that 

and into your feelings for him just yet though. You had every right to feel wary about what you two had going, especially with the stance Julie had taken. But that also meant that right now he had no one to really talk about his heavier and darker feelings. He knew for a fact that if he communicated that to you, you’d be there for him but he also didn’t want to overburden you while you yourself were struggling.

“And what about you? I know that maybe your feelings for Julie are not what they used to be but…it also can’t be easy for you.” You said and he bit his lip as he gave some thought to what he wanted to say.

“You’re right about that…It hasn’t been easy. I mean, because of my family and all, it’s created this…fear of being left behind.” He explained. “That weekend that I went to see you?”

“Mhmm?”

“She didn’t come home until Monday afternoon and when I got in she’d left her suitcase by the garage door and I was just filled with dread that she was leaving without saying anything to me.” He explained. “It felt…confusing…because, while I know that the love isn’t there anymore I still…invested a lot in her. In our home…”

“Yeah, I get that.” You assured him.

“And again, it was just that fear of not having a family again. That after everything I did to build a happy home life for myself, I’d still end up…alone.” He disclosed. After a few seconds of quiet he cleared his throat. “Sorry, that was a lot.”

“Don’t be. I was just…processing, empathizing…” you said and he hummed, “If anything, I’d like you to say all of this to me as it comes. You’re always here for me. I want to be here for you too.”

“I want to tell you more but I don’t want to put more on your plate.” He explained.

“I appreciate that but I am feeling better…mentally.”

“Yeah? Since when?”

“Since…you.” You said and Harry smiled.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Honest. It’s nice to have a friend and someone to care for with reciprocity.” 

“It is. And for the record, I know that you’ll always be in my life. But a part of me is also scared that we won’t be able to have more down the line. Like, what if that gets ruined?”

“So my same fear?” You asked and he hummed.

“Guess so.” He confirmed.

“Well, there’ll always be space for you in my life. I mean that. I feel good when I’m with you and I can only imagine that it’ll only get better if we…are more.” You said timidly.

“I think so too.” Harry hummed and you smiled. “I understand that we both have things to heal from though and that it might take some time to get anywhere near where we might want to get eventually…” he trailed off and chuckled, “I don’t know if maybe I’m getting ahead of myself but I really like you and I like that I can fully be myself around you.” He explained.

You could feel your heart pounding so hard at what he was saying. You could feeling a warmth growing inside of you and spreading all throughout your body. This crush you had on him had you so affected. To hear him saying this was more of a relief than a cause for anxiety. You hadn’t allowed yourself to think that far out of fear that maybe it was intense for now but would fizzle out at some point down the line. But to hear him say that he wanted to give you two an honest shot when things got better, it made you feel a little less delusional. You loved his vulnerability with you. You could also be yourself around him in a way that was so pure. You knew he wouldn’t judge or make you feel bad for it. There was a baseline safety with him that helped your closeness grow quickly. 

“Ummm…sorry. D-did I lose you?” He asked nervously and you shook your head quickly. 

“Oh my god, no sorry! I was just…so happy to hear you say that.” You giggled.

“Thank god…” he chuckled in relief.

“So sorry.” You laughed through an apology again and he joined you as well. 

“Ummm…a-are you far from Santa Barbara?” He asked and you bit your lip.

“Like…almost 30 minutes?”

“Hmmm…do you work tomorrow?” 

“I actually don’t…” you shared.

“Can I come see you?” He asked.

“Now?”

“Yeah!” He chuckled, “If you don’t mind the company, it’s gonna be a long weekend. I won’t have class until next Wednesday.”

“You want to spend a whole ass week with me?”

“Yeah. If you’ll have me.” He hummed.

“What about Julie? I don’t want to instigate any bigger issues.”

“She hasn’t really been staying at the house since she returned from her weekend getaway.” Harry shared, “So…I think she’ll be fine.”

“Well then, I’d love to have you over.” You confirmed happily.

“Great! I’m just getting home so I’m gonna get showered, pack, and head over to you.”

“Perfect! See you soon!” You chirped, not even bothering to minimize your excitement. 

“Alright, I’ll be seeing you soon.” Harry chuckled.

 ***********

It was nearing 8pm when Harry was calling to tell you he was outside of your building. You hurried down with your visitor’s badge to ensure his car was safe while parked there and soon enough you were heading back up to the warmth of your apartment.

“Have you eaten?” You asked him as he followed you in.

“Not yet. Do you want to order in?” 

“We can but I’m not too hungry to be honest.” You explained.

“Has that been constant lately?” He asked as he set his luggage against your couch and his tote down on the couch.

“No, it’s actually been better. But I’m just…coming off my anxious wave after I ambushed Julie. I feel like it was alright but maybe I’ve made things worse.” You explained your concern as he came up to you and grabbed your hands.

“I get the anxiety but I must say that I’m proud of you for making an effort. And well, you know your sister, and whatever she does with what you said is out of your hands now, love. So try not to be too worried about it.” He advised you and you exhaled and nodded. “I know it’s a lot easier said than done, but you’ve said what you needed to and done your part, yeah?” He asked you and you nodded. “That’s all there is to it.” He said with an encouraging smile.

“I know…” you sighed and glanced down as his hands ran up your arms and rubbed over your shoulders soothingly a few times.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?” You asked as you turned your gaze back to him.

“I’m really proud of you for doing that. I know it wasn’t easy for you.”

“Thank you.” You whispered happily.

“Can I kiss you?” He asked next and you smirked a bit.

“Of course.” You hummed as one of his hands grabbed your chin gently and angled you up, “Kiss me whenever you want.” You said softly and he smiled.

“I don’t think you know what you’re unleashing…” he responded and you giggled.

“Show me then.” You smirked and he leaned in the rest of the way until your lips were meeting.

You loved to kiss Harry and thought of it often when you’d get lost in your day dreams. The shape of his lips fit so nicely against yours. The pressure of them pressing to your own, the eagerness and need that you could feel flooding the atmosphere between the two of you was addicting. If only he knew how much you were affected by this. Your mouth parted easily to let him in as his tongue swiped against your bottom lip. He moaned in relief in perfect unison with you when his tongue smoothed against yours. He had been longing for your taste as much as you had been longing for his. You grabbed his hands and guided them around your waist and he was quick to hug around you, pulling you even closer to his body as your kiss deepened. It was so easy to get lost in the moment with Harry. You were not sitting on your counter with him standing between your legs as you made out. His hands were up your shirt and yours were feeling over his biceps. You hadn’t ever been with someone as muscular as he was. He didn’t even have to flex for you to feel how strong and built he was. 

You were suddenly startled apart by your phone ringing loudly across the counter indicating that it was time for you to begin your “no screen” time. It was easy to find yourself doom scrolling, especially when you struggled to sleep, so you’d made the resolution to cut down your screen time starting at 8pm each night.

“Can you grab it for me?” You asked Harry, your lips smearing into his as you asked your question and he nodded.

“Sure.” He responded and slid his hands from beneath your shirt and walked around the counter to grab your phone before bringing it back to you.

“Sorry, I’m trying to stop using my phone by 8pm each night.” You explained as you stopped the alarm and proceeded to turn on “Do Not Disturb” mode for the night.

“Smart!” He said as his hands landed on your thighs.

“It’s hard but research says cutting off screen time before bed helps.”

“Well, that’s true.” He assured you and you smiled. “And it’s 8 already? I should order something in.” He said before stuffing his hand down his back pocket and pulling out his phone. “Are you hungry now?” He asked you with a smirk.

“Yeah, more now.” You chuckled.

“Hungry for anything in particular?”

“Tacos?” You suggested.

“Ooh, perfect! What’s good in your area?” He asked and soon you had selected a little mom and pop, hole in the way a couple miles away that had never failed you before. 

After placing the order you suggested Harry get into something more comfortable and then get settled in.

“Sorry, I don’t have any space for your toiletries.” You mumbled, “But you’re more than welcome to put your clothes in a drawer! The one of the top right should be empty.” 

“It’s fine. As long as you don’t mind the bag staying up here. If not I’ll just keep it in my soot case.” He said with the Baron Trump meme accent. You looked to him and burst into laughter at this.

“I’m dead! I love that video!” You cackled.

“It’s funny!” He laughed along, “One of my students showed it to me…s’been stuck in my head ever since.” He explained with a smile.

“It is a gem…well, I don’t mind you having your things out for easier access!” You assured him.

“I’m tidy. I promise.” He chuckled and you rolled your eyes playfully. “Tell me what your pet peeves are in a shared space, so that I can avoid them.” Harry requested.

“Ummm…just don’t be gross. Ash used to do this ridiculous thing where he’d leave his dirty laundry beside the hamper…” You recalled and Harry chuckled, “That pissed me off. Like it’s right there!” You expressed.

“Yeah, that’s stupid.” He chuckled.

“Or leave his towel on the ground, like he was in a fucking hotel.”

“Oh god…” Harry grimaced, “The smell…”

“Yeah! Mildewy and ugh…thinking of it is giving me the ick.” You frowned. “One time he did not unpack it from the gym and-”

“I know where it’s going, you don’t need to tell me.” He said and you giggled.

“I discovered it, so I have to tell you.”

“Fine. Go on.”

“It grew mold. The whole bag! And who discovered it in the garage?”

“Not Ash!”

“Exactly! And it was so humid that week…God, that was horrifying. Then he had the gall to be pissed at me for throwing away his Alo gym bag…ridiculous.” You huffed.

“If he cared so much about it why did he leave it in that state? What a prick.” He said and you nodded in agreement.

“Exactly what I said…he probably left it in his trunk, encountered the smell and just left it in the garage for me to find and wash.” you rolled your eyes. “And like, he wasn’t like nasty apart from those things. Like, you could tell his mom would do those things for him and his brothers.” You explained and he nodded. “What about you?” You asked.

“Ummm… well growing up my house was very neat until my mom met that prick of a man and then it was pretty unkept. I did a lot of the cleaning up so uh…I guess just clutter and dishes in the sink. That invites ants and cockroaches, which I detest. And well, one time I was going to treat myself to some biscuits and was met with a mouse in the packet so uh… yeah, I’m a little bit of a clean freak.” He explained. You could see that when he talked about these things he got a distant look in his eyes. Like he had to remind himself that, that wasn’t his life anymore. “Also, no eating in bed.” He added, “Because that is literally inviting bugs.” He explained and you nodded.

“Noted. Though I must admit, I have eaten in bed…specially when I’ve gotten sick and no one’s around to look after me.”

“Well you’ve got me now so…no need for that.” He said and you smiled.

“Yeah.” You hummed. “But being in the valley, there are just critters around so it is important to keep things extra clean. I haven’t had any encounters, thankfully! I’m very averse to them.” You explained.

“Yeah, they’re gross.” He agreed.

“Anything else?” You asked.

“Oh! Getting on the bed in outside clothes.”

“Okay, yes!” You agreed, “There are “safe” spaces for me though, I don’t know about you? But like if I visit my parents or friends that don’t have pets, I wouldn’t mind a quick sit on my bed, not gonna roll around in it either…” you said and he chuckled, “But that’s not as gross as if I had gone out to a restaurant or the movies, for example.”

“Well, wouldn’t your car seats have all the germs from everywhere else? So when you sit in the car that gets on your clothes, even if you were in a safe space…” you pouted after he explained.

“Oh god…we could be laying in filth right now…” you said with feigned concern.

“When did you last wash your comforter?” He asked, you knew he was trying to come off pretend-horrified but his eyes said otherwise.

“I’m messing with you! Literally over the weekend. I promise!” You laughed as he looked at you skeptically.

“Pinky promise?”

“Yeah!” You said as you extended your pinky out to him and he wrapped his around yours.

“If I get pink eye, we know what happened here.” He joked and you rolled your eyes at his dramatics as he sniggered. He then interlaced his fingers with yours and just held your hand in his. You could see that there was a lot going on in his mind and you wanted to help however you could.

“Is there anything you want to talk about?” You asked him tentatively.

“Tons! But ummm…time and place.” He said as he glanced down at your hands. You squeezed his hand and he glanced up at you.

“Tell me.” You insisted and he sighed.

“Just that…when your sister leaves, for good, I was thinking about how long I’d have to be alone in that house. Like…I saved up a lot for that with the hopes of having a life and a family there, you know?” You nodded in understanding. “I don’t know if I could be there as comfortably if I were alone. I’d hate to sell it but…what would be the point in keeping it?” He asked and you hummed. “And you really don’t have to say anything about it, I just…am a little nervous to be all alone again. And like, I know that I wouldn’t be totally alone, but in a way I haven’t been in a decade you know?”

“Yeah, I get that.” You assured him.

“Like things would be missing that have been there since we moved in together…half of the things would be gone…and well, I couldn’t very well ask or expect you to be able to visit as often as I’d probably like…” he added. 

“I get it. It’s scary.” You said and he nodded.

“How’d you do it?” He asked and you smiled.

“Well, I’m in the middle of that and well, I am depressed!” You chuckled and he smiled, “So…still learning how to cope, I guess. This, with us? It’s helped. I don’t feel so alone anymore.” You explained.

“Good.” He hummed. 

“Yeah, so if you… need me to go out there and hang out you can ask. Whatever the reason in your brain is that’s holding you back from asking me for reciprocity? It’s wrong. If being there and enjoying the home you worked so hard for is important to you, then it’s important to me too.” You assured him with a sincerity that he hadn’t seen from anyone in years and you saw his lips turn up a bit.

Harry just felt this sudden rush of warmth overcome him. He definitely wanted you over more, he just felt a little bad about it right now while things were still up in the air. He wanted to live there forever, he hadn’t committed to buying a home thinking that he would one day grow sick of it. It was heaven on earth to him. He could step out onto his balcony and see the ocean from it! Of course he had made compromises along the way to accommodate Julie like in decor, in paints, upgrades…but he still loved the house. And to know that you’d be willing to make the drive out and spend time with him there simply because he loved it and was comfortable there, well, that was almost more than he could ever ask for. So he was really glad that you had offered it.

“I’d actually really like that.” He finally said and you smiled.

“Okay. Then we’ll make it happen.” You assured him and he smiled and let go of your hand but only because he was pressing himself up to kiss you again. And as your new normal seemed to be, you got lost in it until the delivery person’s call was interrupting you.

You had initially been concerned that maybe you’d pushed him too far or said too much but by the way he was acting now, it seems you had said the correct thing. Harry was a protector, he always had been that way. He was very concerned for your sister, for you, your family… it was never in a way that made you feel incapable, but he just liked to show you all that he would take care of you all if shit hit the fan. You knew that it had been hard for him not to be able to do that for you in the last year, even when he was going through his own stuff. So now, you wanted to allow him to make up for lost time and as you had said, you wanted to reciprocate the way he made you feel and were glad that he felt like you were.

“M’afraid you’re not gonna get a turn, love…” Harry practically slurred with his cheek smushed up against your stomach. You were currently laid on the couch, longways of course, and had put on “Miss Congeniality”. But you had agreed to give each other massages. However, Harry had elected for you to massage his head and it was putting him to sleep.

You giggled, but kept on going. “S’alright.” You responded softly. You could feel him growing heavier against you. “Maybe we should move to the bed though. Don’t want you to have a rough night.” You explained.

“In a minute.” He mumbled.

“Okay.” You agreed. 

Soon enough you’d made it to your bed and as soon as you got under the covers he was reaching for you and pulling you against him. You smiled as you snuggled in against him. You felt him kiss your shoulder before he exhaled and you knew it would be so easy to fall asleep tonight.

*************

When you woke up the next morning it wasn’t because of your alarm, it was just a force of habit. But you were shivering from the cold and were pleased that it was apparently raining. You could heard the soft patter against your bedroom window. And then, you heard Harry humming along to John Mayer just a few feet away in the kitchen. Despite wanting to stay tucked away in the warmth of your bed, you got up and hurried into the bathroom to relieve yourself and freshen up a little bit. When you emerged, Harry was back in bed, topless and smiling at you.

“Morning.”

“Good morning.” You smiled.

“You were snoring.”

“I was not…” you mumbled bashfully as you headed back over to the bed.

“You were! But not like, loud or scary, it was just soft.” He described with a grin. “It was cute! Like a cartoon.” He assured you and you rolled your eyes as you got back in bed. “I just put on some coffee.”

“Thanks.” You hummed as you turned on your side to face him.

“Course.”

“Now, c’mere, please. It’s cold.” You requested and he smiled and hurried over into your side. 

“What do you wanna do today?” He asked.

“Be lazy.” You said and he chuckled. “I do have a client to cook for tomorrow, s’just dinner prep, so I should be back around 6-6:30 the latest.” 

“Would you be up to doing something after?” He asked.

“Yeah!” You hummed.

“Something lowkey, yeah?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” You confirmed.

“Perfect. Now, I’m gonna kiss you.” He mumbled.

He moved closer and leaned in until your lips were meeting slowly but still eager and saturated with passion. Your hand landed on his chest and slid over his shoulder, tugging him into you, inviting him to settle over you. Your legs tangled momentarily as he started to straddle you. He was holding your jaw as your kiss deepened even further. His hands were sliding up your body, dragging your top up as he went. You sat up to help him pull it off and as soon as he was able, he was back on you, his lips littering your chest in kisses and delicate but playful nicks to your breasts. Your fingers combed through his hair, relishing in the sensations he was giving you. You were absolutely desperate for him and your skin was tingling, you were desperate to feel the warmth of his hands over your arms. You wanted to kiss him again and so you tried to tug him up and he quickly got the hint and kissed up your chest, neck, and jaw before kissing you sloppily. You ground up against him to feel the bulge in his thin pajama pants against you. He grinned and ground down against you with more intent. 

“Is that what you want?” He asked and you blinked up at him.

“More.” You whispered and his gaze softened.

“You sure?” He asked you and you nodded.

“Yes. Please.” You beseeched and Harry smiled before kissing you once more. In moments, he was helping you undress. You were both moving impatiently and albeit a little clumsily, but you were absolutely desperate for each other. And as his naked body hovered over yours you finally felt a little bit better. Relieved. “Please get inside me.”

“Okay.” He hummed and kissed your lips once more, “Didn’t think to bring condoms. D-do you have some?” He asked and you huffed.

“No.” You muttered in slight irritation. You hadn’t planned to ask him to have sex with you, if you had, you would have stocked up, just in case.

“Would you care if we didn’t use one?” He asked and you bit your lip pensively. “Obviously, we don’t have to if you’re not comfortable with it. And well, I can go buy some really quick and give you some time t-to really think about if you really want to do this. You know, in case you maybe have s-some doubt?” He asked.

“I don’t have any doubts.” You assured him with a smile, “D-do you?” You asked and he shook his head, his little smirk mirroring your own. 

“No. I can go get the condoms.” He said again and you bit your lip for a second.

“Ummm…that’s alright.” You assured him and as happy as he was to hear you say that, he gave it a few seconds to let you change your mind.

“Sure?” He asked again and you nodded.

“I’m so fucking sure.” You whispered through a nervous chuckle and he smiled and kissed you again.

“I’ll be mindful to pull out, okay?” He mumbled into your lips.

“Yeah.” You agreed as you raised your leg over his hips to give him space to get inside of you. You could feel the heat and weight of his cock pressed up against you. “I want you so bad.” You whispered.

“I do too, baby.” He hummed as he ground down, letting his cock settle between the sticky and swollen folds of your pussy. You shivered when his tip kissed at your clit with his soft thrusts. “Right there?” He asked and you nodded frantically.

“Yeah, that feels good.” You confirmed breathily and he smiled as his eyes bore into yours.

“Go on then, get what you need.” He hummed lowly and you wasted no time in grinding along with him at your desired pace. You whined lowly as you started to feel the pleasure escalating from the friction. Just when you were getting close you stopped yourself.

“Want to stop?” He asked you, looking into your eyes to ensure everything was okay.

“No, but I don’t want to come like that.” You explained a bit bashfully. 

“Oh…I see.” He hummed with a smirk on his face that made you blush. “Get me inside then.” You smiled and reached down between your bodies. You grabbed a hold of his cock, he was so fucking hard. You raised your hips a bit as you guided him down to your entrance and when you felt that slight dip you rubbed him over your slit a few times. Your eyes flickered up to his only to see his brows furrowed together at the feeling of being just on the edge of slipping inside of you.

“Do it.” You whispered and he let his weight drop down to his hips and just like that he was being swallowed up by your hot and wet muscle. The two of you moaned in unison when he sunk in all the way and collided with your back wall. He held inside for a few second before groaning as he drew back and sunk in again. You exhaled shakily and grabbed his face to kiss him deeply. “Harder.” You said and he nodded before fucking into you with more force and that was absolutely what you were after. You moaned in relief and he kissed you deeply again.

“Good?” He asked.

“Yeah, it feels so good!” You whined and he hummed in satisfaction.

You were already so close, but you wanted to be closer, as close as was physically possible. You wanted to feel overwhelmed by him in the best way possible. And when he delivered his next thrust harder than before you couldn’t help the moan that fell from your mouth. Harry groaned and went again and again, relishing in the satisfied, little grunts you were making. You were absolutely drenching his cock but you couldn’t help it because he was thrusting up against the most sensational spot inside of you. It was almost too deep for you but you welcomed the feeling, you wanted to feel the ache after he was gone in a few days. And it’s almost like he could read your mind as he thrust in and held himself inside of you, grinding into you, watching as your eyes squeezed shut and you shuddered at the sensation of him fucking you that deep.

“Fuck y’feel so good!” You whimpered as you squeezed your legs around his hips and he grinned as he watched your brows pinching together.

“Not as good as you feel, baby.” He hummed lowly, “So fucking wet and hot…” he grumbled, “Shit…gonna need you so fucking badly. All the time. Gonna be dreaming of how nice it feels.” He muttered against the column of your throat. 

You were completely covered in goosebumps, you were trying to stop your legs from trembling but you wouldn’t be able to hold that off for much longer. It just felt too fucking good…he was hitting a part inside of you that even had your clit tingling, if you rubbed on it, it would truly be too much. As badly as you wanted and needed to come, you wanted him to keep fucking you. For him to be your first fuck after all this time, it was well worth it. You could hear the wet squelches of your arousal slicking up his cock and helping him fit inside of you. His girth and length were to die for and absolutely addictive.

“Fuck, you’re gonna make me come!” you warned him and he grinned down at you, very pleased with himself for how fucked out he had you already.

“Already?” He gloated slightly and you smiled and nodded. Your vision was even blurry at this point as tears of ecstasy and joy welled up in your eyes. “You’re already so fucking gone f’me, S’gonna wipe you out.” He said smugly and you hummed with a slight smile.

He was right, this orgasm would absolutely ruin you and melt your brain. He was literally fucking you better, quite literally forcing your brain to flood your body with that deliciously and slightly terrifying cocktail of oxytocin and dopamine. You swore your skin was tingling, every single cell in your body was going to contribute to this orgasm. But the longer you held off the more intense everything felt. Your walls were throbbing uncontrollably and you were trying so hard to just hold off for a second to make it last longer but it made it worse, as you squeezed the deep plunges of his cock became even more pleasurable and your legs started to tremble and your breathing to shallow.

“Come on, baby. Give it t’me.” He encouraged you and you nodded before pulling him down to kiss you and as your lips met urgently in a messy kiss you started to come. You emitted these pathetic whines and whimpers you’d never ever made before as the ecstasy took over every single part of your body. You were trying not too make too much noise but you were on fire and it had never felt like that before, it was almost too much! Harry’s lips parted from yours so that you could breathe and properly release your sounds as your hips ground up into his to keep the pleasure going. One of your hands pressed down on his butt, holding him close to you and the other was tangled in the curls at the back of his head. He groaned as you squeezed hard around his cock. Your tight, hot muscles were suffocating and contracting around his girth, he nearly fucking drooled from how delicious it felt to be buried in you like this. “M’gonna come.” He panted.

“Come inside of me.” You slurred and he moaned at the mere idea of getting to flood your hot, little pussy with his sperm. He got goosebumps as he thought about how good it would feel to have you take it all. To pull out and see it dripping from your swollen and wrecked little hole only for him to push his cock back into you and get his load back into you. “Please, come in my pussy.” 

“Fuck, baby…” he chuckled as he pressed his forehead to yours, “I’m gonna come so hard.” He panted, “Gonna drown your little pussy.” He mumbled as his abs started to clench and his toes to curl. And moments later he was grunting through three hard and pointed thrusts before stilling. He pressed right up against you and moaned deeply in satisfaction as he came undone. He felt his muscles spasming, struggling to hold his weight as he started to gush inside of you. You could feel the dramatic twitches of his cock lodged up deep inside of you as he filled you up, just as he promised and it was so good, his hips were moving by his own accord at this point and he was enslaved to the feeling of being inside of you, no matter how sensitive it was starting to feel for him. “Fuck…” he panted lowly. 

You could feel his arms trembling and just hugged him tight, encouraging him to drop his weight over you and he did easily. Your fingers danced and tickled over the heated and slightly damp skin of his back as he came down from it. You were finding comfort in his deep inhales as he continued trying to catch his breath. After a few more moments of this he was still completely silent. You knew there was nothing wrong because he was practically melted against your body, and you smiled and kissed the top of his head as he started to sponged a few sloppy kisses along your jaw. With the little strength he had built up again, he pulled you both onto your sides. He slipped from you with the change in position but you draped your leg over his hip and his hand immediately ran up your leg soothingly while he rested his head over his other arm. You were smiling as you just watched him, he still had his eyes closed as he regulated his breathing.

“You alright there?” You inquired, your voice was a whisper but he could hear the slight hint of smugness in it.

“Just a little light headed.” He chuckled his confession and you giggled and reached for his face. You caressed the side of his face lovingly with the backs of your fingers.

“Want me t’get you some water?” You asked.

“No, stay here with me.” He responded and you smiled.

“‘Kay.” You whispered. You just watched him for a few seconds until he slowly blinked his eyes open. You smiled as he squinted a bit.

“Jesus, I’m seeing spots.” He laughed lowly through his admission and you started to giggle along with him. “Don’t laugh at me.” He griped and you leaned forward and smooched over his pouted lips.

“M’not. I’m laughing with you.” You mumbled against his mouth and he quickly kissed your lips back.

“Sure…” he hummed and finally opened his eyes and met your adoring gaze.

“We’re going again later, right?” You asked and he laughed for a moment before kissing you again and nodding.

“Oh absolutely. I might not be able to walk but it’ll be worth it.” He mumbled into your kiss-swollen lips.

“God…but good.” You giggled, completely satisfied with his response.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.” He whispered and you glanced away bashfully and instead focused on the swallow tattooed over his left pectoral.

“Neither do I.” You admitted and he smiled as you leaned closer and buried your face into the crook of his neck and took a deep inhale before placing a kiss at the base of his throat. 

There was only one thought at the forefront of his mind right now and it was that there was absolutely no world in which this didn’t end with him falling absolutely and hopelessly in love with you. He loved everything about you and what he’d seen of your life so far, he couldn’t wait to experience it for the rest of the days he’d be here with you.

Several Days Later…

You didn’t want to verbalize just how perfect the last several days had been with Harry in case you were to jinx it, but you were certainly thinking about it with each passing minute. You had clients that day so you had to leave Harry at your place for but it was  so lovely to return to a clean home and a meal. As soon as you walked in you could smell the lingering fresh scent of cleaning products but were mostly overpowered by what you were kind of hoping was a bolognese sauce. Thankfully, you were able to make off from your last client with a little extra dessert, so you had something to contribute for tonight.

“Smell’s amazing!” You announced your arrival as you slipped out of your shoes. 

Harry didn’t respond so you figured he was in the shower or something. And as you walked further in you saw that the table was set and two long stick candles were lit, giving the setting a more intimate feel. You bit your lip to hold back your excitement. It was your last night together, so you weren’t surprised that Harry was pulling out all the stops until the next time you got to be together. You headed towards your bedroom to change into a fresh and more comfortable outfit and when you stepped inside you saw Harry just standing at the window and glancing out towards the busy street below.

“Harry?” You called in question and he sniffled and turned around. 

“Sorry, I was trying to collect myself-”

“What happened? What’s wrong?” You asked quickly as you let your purse drop to the floor and rushed over to him.

“Your mom called,” he said and you immediately though the worst, your heart dropped, “Julie told them that she’s pregnant.” He said and you stopped right before you reached him. Not as terrifying as you thought but still incredibly fucking awful. Your features furrowed in disappointment and your stomach turned as the information processed. Harry hurried over to you, “Baby, it’s not me. It couldn’t be, we haven’t slept together since like August!” He explained and you nodded and let him take your hands. “But they don’t know that.”

“Ask for a paternity test.” You said right away.

“I will.” He assured you. “I guess she said she wasn’t feeling well so your mom drove her to the urgent care and they found out. Your mom called me all excited about it… I just don’t want to humiliate her.” He explained.

“And that’s very noble and considerate of you, Harry. But you do realize that she’s trying to put you in an impossible position.” You said and he frowned. “You deserve to do this. To have a family on your own terms. With someone who loves you. This isn’t on you, Harry. You know why she asked mom to go with her.” You said and he nodded.

“I-I don’t even know what to do about this.” He stammered, still in shock.

“This is going to sound awful but…tell your lawyer.” You said and he sighed. “She’s willing to force you into this situation when you had nothing to do with it. If she has to prove paternity she will have to be honest. She loves Joey and she did this with him, they need to figure this out together.”

“You’re right.” He conceded. “Ummm… I’m not feeling too hungry any more. I’m sorry.” He said and glanced down at the floor.

“That’s alright. I understand.” You assured him. “I also understand if you…need some space.” You said and he glanced into your eyes again.

“Yeah… I ummm…I should go.” He said and you nodded, “They’re expecting me to look after her since she isn’t feeling well. And the drive’ll help, I think.” He muttered, but he was quite absent.

“Okay.” You said softly and he just walked around you and into your closet to grab his suitcase. You just watched silently as he robotically and haphazardly just dumped his things into the luggage before shutting it and wheeling it out. You followed after him as he headed to the entrance and slipped into his sneakers. 

“Harry.” You said and he glanced up at you. You could see his eyes welled up with tears. “Please be safe.” You said and he nodded before rushing out. As soon as the door shut your own tears started to trickle down your face. 

You were relieved when he texted you that he’d gotten home and assured him that if he needed to talk at all that you’d be there for him. But you felt so angry at your sister for this one. How could she do this to him? It was awful and selfish behavior. You wanted to call her but this wasn’t your battle to fight.

Harry’s POV:

Harry felt completely blindsided by Isabel’s phone call about Julie. He felt sick to his stomach as he parked in the garage because Isabel was still at their house, her car was up front and he had no idea how he would swallow down all that devastation and dread he was feeling. He didn’t want to ruin Isabel’s excitement but pretending that he was happy about this…having to hold and kiss Julie, congratulate her for something he had nothing to do with, it made him sick to his stomach. He texted you to let you know that he’d made it safely and you immediately loved his message and with that he made it inside. 

“Oh good! You’re home!” Isabel greeted him excitedly as soon as Harry made it inside from the garage. He put on a smile and nodded, approaching her to greet her. 

“Yeah, sorry it took me a while. I was out in LA.” He explained.

“No problem, as long as you made it safe!” She said as she opened her arms and he ducked down a bit to hug her and kiss her cheek. “Congrats, mijo.” She hummed happily as she gave him a firm squeeze.

“Thank you.” He responded as they pulled away slowly.

“I’m just making her some ginger tea, she’s been very nauseous.” Isabel explained.

“Thank you, I’m gonna go see her now.”

“Yes, please!” She insisted, beaming from ear to ear and he smiled and made his way out of the kitchen. 

Every step he took up towards the bedroom made him even more sick to his stomach. He hoped there was extra of that ginger tea because this was getting to be too much. When he made it to the top landing he saw the bedroom door open and he made his way over to see Julie scrolling through her phone. 

“Hey.” She greeted him solemnly.

“Hi.” He said quite cooly.

“Look-”

“What the fuck is the matter with you?” He cut her off and she frowned.

“Not while my mom is here, Harry.” She sighed.

“No. We’re doing this right now.” He insisted as he pushed the door back leaving it slightly ajar.

“Then close it all the way.” She said.

“Then we won’t hear her coming. I won’t raise my voice if you don’t.” He said and she sighed. “There is no way you didn’t know.” He insisted, “When did you find out?” 

“On Monday.” She said, “I missed my period last week and I took two tests on Monday. One positive and the other inconclusive. Sometimes it can be stress or other things that impact so I figured I should go and find out.”

“And you had to take your mom to do that?”

“I was scared!” She defended herself.

“Then you should’ve asked Joe.” He retorted.

“I didn’t want him to freak out!”

“But you’re okay with your mom thinking that I got you pregnant?!” He asked angrily and her eyes started welling up. “You have to tell your parents now, Julie.” He said.

“Harry, please-”

“No! I’m not going to take responsibility for this!”

“And what if he leaves me?” She asked and Harry’s eyes softened for a moment.

“I-I don’t know but you have been cheating on me for months! We haven’t slept together since last year! This has nothing to do with me, Julie!” He was trying not to raise his voice but he was so hurt and angry at her. “You don’t love me and I know for a fact you don’t want this with me.” Harry finished and she started to sniffle as her tears fell. “You have to tell your family the truth!” He urged.

“Do you know how humiliating that will be!?”

“If you had agreed to the divorce when I brought it up not as much as it might be now! If you don’t come clean to your parents about this I will involve my lawyer and demand a paternity test! And we both know what the result will be.”

“I need more time.” She said softly.

“You have until the end of the month.”

“Harry-”

“You tell them or I do.” He said sternly.

Isabel’s POV:

She hadn’t meant to eaves drop, she just wanted to come ask Julie if she would want some toast with her tea to settle her stomach when she heard the hushed argument.

“Harry, please-”

“No! I’m not going to take responsibility for this!” She heard Harry respond. She almost intervened when she heard this, feeling so much anger rising up in her at the sound of her son-in-law being so disinterested and cold after finding out he would be a father!

“And what if he leaves me?” Julie asked and she stopped from reaching for the door. She was momentarily frozen in shock as she processed Julie’s concern.

“I-I don’t know but you have been cheating on me for months! We haven’t slept together since last year! This has nothing to do with me, Julie!”

Isabel could hear it in his voice that he felt bad but if this was not his child, he truly had no obligation to her. Especially if she had been having an affair for who knows how long.

“You don’t love me and I know for a fact you don’t want this with me.” Harry added. “You have to tell your family the truth!” 

“Do you know how humiliating that will be!?” Julie cried quietly and Isabel frowned and started to back away, hearing faintly about previous discussions of a divorce. This was very private and she had heard more than she probably should have. 

She was completely taken by surprise and immediately felt so bad for Harry and the situation that she had unintentionally put him in. She could only imagine how devastated he felt knowing that his wife was pregnant with another man’s child. A man that might not even stick around to help her or support her with this. Obviously she would always love her daughter, but it didn’t mean that she would always support her choices and this choice…to have an extramarital affair. To not grant Harry the divorce he had seemingly asked for before when she didn’t even love him anymore. The gall to ask him to stick around if the other man didn’t… it did not sit well with her and made her feel so frustrated at her. She hoped that Julie would say something soon because there was no way she could keep quiet for too long. Harry had been so good to all of them and he did not deserve that.

FINAL PART...

---- TAG LIST ----

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[vaspider]

So, something happened last night that has been sitting heavily on my heart ever since. I'm not naming names for a reason, so don't ask. This is a clear example of something that's happened with increasing regularity.

When the Amsterdam attacks started happening last night, the first thing I thought of was a pair of my friends who had within the last 48h - I thought - been in Amsterdam to get married. (I got the place they traveled to wrong, bc it was late and I was tired, but that's not the point.) These friends are a Black frum Czech lesbian & her new wife, an in-progress convert who's seriously ill. I shared the CNN link on it & spoke with friends on a very small Discord server about how terrified I was that my friends had (again, I thought) narrowly missed being in the city while Jews were being advised to stay inside and, if they had to go out, to remove any visible symbols of their Jewishness.

Here's where I reach up and underline the word frum in that previous paragraph. Got it? Asking that friend to remove her visible signs of being Jewish is like asking her to go outside naked.

And here's the thing that's gonna stick with me for a long time: someone that I used to consider a longtime friend, who rarely, if ever, spoke on that server, popped up almost 4 hours after I was talking about how much this scared me about the relative safety of my friends to share a tweet containing the phrase Judeo-Nazis in order to contradict the CNN article and bring up what she apparently thought was the important part of the story:

"The Israelis started it," according to her & her "Judeo-Nazis" source.

That was what she thought was important to that story. Not that random fucking Jews are getting attacked on the streets of Amsterdam, not that I was relieved that my friends weren't in danger while still dealing with the fear and the shock of feeling they had been so close to it, but that I had to know, right away, that contrary to what CNN (and every other major news outlet talking about it) was reporting, this random person on Twitter referring to Israelis at a fucking soccer game and random visibly Jewish people of any nationality on the street in Amsterdam as Judeo-Nazis said that the Israelis fucking started it.

And like, no, they fucking didn't, but in context, the context in which I was speaking in a small group about my fear for two friends who weren't at the fucking soccer match but who I thought might be close to the danger, does that fucking matter? What does that have to do with "fuck, I think my friends were just there"?

Nothing. And yet - for some reason - that's the first thing that needed to be addressed in this person's mind.

A lot of Jews find our circles shrinking these days. Antisemitism is on the rise, and if we're not experiencing the direct slap in the face of people we thought were friends prioritizing "you know, the Jews started it" over anything else, we're watching people we thought better of make excuses for it, or tell us that we should gladly accept "our share" of the blame for the actions of a foreign government. (Yes, that has been said to me directly, recently.)

If I weren't so fucking stubborn, I would fold into myself & just keep company with the few and the trusted, a circle that gets smaller and smaller every day. But... I'm stubborn as hell. Maybe that'll fuck me over someday worse than it already has, I dunno.

I don't have a pithy closing for this. I'm just sad. It hurts to watch people that I used to trust vomit up shit like that tweet. It hurts that it's getting worse.

[strawberrysugar71]

TADC Episode 6 Predictions! + Why I Think Bunnydoll COULD Become Canon (Some Episode 4 Spoilers)

1

Release Date

According to my calculations, we can expect Episode 6 to release on one of the following dates:

21st February 2025

28th February 2025

7th March 2025

14th March 2025

21st March 2025

28th March 2025

4th April 2025

11th April 2025

18th April 2025

25th April 2025

2nd May 2025

I think most likely it would be on May 2nd. But first let me explain how I go these dates.

Episode 2 of TADC released 5 weeks after Episode 7 of Murder Drones. And Episode 3 of TADC released 6 weeks after the Murder Drones finale. However, Episode 4 released 10 weeks after Episode 3. So, what I did was - for Episode 5 - count 5-10 weeks after Episode 4, and then I repeated the same for Episode 6.

Let's say, for example, an Episode released every 5 weeks, we would expect the trailer for Episode 5 to be released on January 3rd 2025. (I'm just gonna point out that the Netflix leak is false. I highly doubt we'd get an Episode 3 weeks after the last one, but if it were true, then the trailer for Episode 5 would release on Friday. The actual episode wouldn't come out on the 1st, anyway, because that's a Wednesday. Not a Friday.) Anyways, enough of me yapping about release dates.

2

The Adventure

We know that Episode 5's adventure is baseball, and set in a baseball stadium, because it was foreshadowed at the beginning of Episode 4 and in the full season announcement for TADC.

It is possible that the baseball adventure could be in Episode 6, because it was Ragatha AND Jax playing baseball (before Gangle joined in), but I highly doubt it because...

I think Episode 6 is another in-house adventure.

3

Why Do I Think This? + What Do I Think Will Actually Happen In the Episode?

I think this because of two reasons:

• I believe that Jax is going to be the cause of Ragatha's abstraction in Episode 6.

• Jax's key collection.

Killing off one of the main three and the motherly one of the group is a pretty good way to fuck everybody up.

"Probably not NPCs" so one of the humans, then.

I think the entire fandom can agree that the worst thing Jax will do he's probably gonna do it in his episode.

Coincidence? I think not.

My take on this entire thing is that Jax is going to cause Ragatha to abstract, and feel really bad about it. Like, I mean, come on.

Kinger won't abstract. He would've most likely already abstracted if he was going to.

Gangle, potentially, BUT she arrived after Jax, and she's most likely the one who has been in the circus for the least amount of time (aside from Pomni).

Pomni arrived, canonically, 4 days ago. I don't think it's possible to abstract that fast.

Zooble I really don't think will ever abstract. They're just too much of a chill guy for that (iykyk) /hi

Jax finds pleasure in bullying the others, even if he does care about them.

It's his way of coping with being trapped in the circus. And I think, even though he's an asshole, having to live with the fact that he abstracted the only person who seemed to genuinely care about him is torture in itself.

• In-house adventure

• Jax says "I want you DEAD!!!" to Ragatha.

• Ragatha disappears to her room.

• Jax goes into her room later on.

• Ragatha's abstracted.

The last 2 bullet points could even happen at the beginning of Episode 7. But I think it would make more sense for it all to be in Episode 6 because the 6th Episode in the last season of shows that have 9 Episode long seasons is the cursed Episode of that show. (Again, iykyk)

4

Why Do I Think Bunnydoll Could Become Canon?

"But Gooseworx confirmed that there's no canon romanc-"

Did you watch Episode 3? She lied.

"Yeah, but Queenie's abstracted-"

Gooseworx also said that Queenie being a chess piece was just a design choice and that she wasn't Kinger's wife. Pretty funny that, huh?

I think this is overlooked. Romance IS canon, it's just not really shown. But I do genuinely believe that if any other ship had to become canon, it would be Bunnydoll. I think this because:

• They're always shown next to each other, or close to each other.

• Their bedrooms are right next to each other's. Just like Kinger and Queenie's (as well as Zooble and Gangle's if your an Abstraggedy fan). AND There's a Mannequin on either side of them.

E.g.

Mannequin, Jax, Ragatha, Mannequin.

• The nicknames he calls her, like hello?!

• Not to mention, whenever Ragatha expresses concern for Pomni, Jax either rolls his eyes or dismisses it.

• The whole premise of Episode 3 was about Husband and Wives. And I think it's pretty obvious that Queenie abstracted because her and Kinger got into an argument of some kind. So, Kinger abstracted Queenie, basically. Abstraction is also the circus' version of death. That would explain why Kinger looked so emotional when Baron Theodore was talking about killing Martha. Then, Martha said "You know how men are, always having the silliest priorities" and then Ragatha said "Don't I know it." whilst looking over at Jax Martha was talking about men, sure, but she was only really meaning her husband. A good writer such as Gooseworx doesn't include that for no reason. It's so goddamn obvious.

• They obviously have/have had something going on. From Jax saying "Why do you always make me out to be the bad guy?" during their fight at the beginning of Episode 4 . They've obviously had arguments like that before. They HEAVILY give exes that still have feelings for each other if they are exes.

All of that combined is - if it does happen - going to make Episode 6 a whole lot sadder. If they are exes, then one of 'em is probably gonna say that they still love them before Ragatha goes. And if they're just crushes, then they're probably gonna confess their love. Maybe even a hug...or a kiss. (Please, Gooseworx 🙏)

Anyways, I hope this makes sense. Thank you for reading!

[dokidokidraft]

MHA boys HC pt. 2

Includes: Denki Kaminari, Eijiro Kirishima, Hitoshi Shinso

(More next time)

Warning: tinyyyyy but of pervy behaviour from denki! If that makes you uncomfortable please skip his part 🫶

~Denki Kaminari~

-He’s always trying to make you smile and laugh! Lots of inside jokes

-Mario kart tournaments with this guy. He’s the king at any video game, so sorry for your loss. He’s beating you no matter what you try, but if he wants you to smile or feels bad he’ll let you win

-has scars from his quirk. They look like lightning strikes and line up his arms and some on his torso (this isn’t canon I just think it’s good for the character)

-a bit of a perv. Ex: caught staring at you multiple times. LOTS of suggestive comments. “Jokingly” has tried to look up your skirt. Buys you revealing clothes. Encourages you to wear said revealing clothes. Still your number 1 cheerleader tho and we love him •_•

-only he is allowed to be a perv around you. As soon as mineta makes a comment/acts he’ll glare at him. “She’s mine. Go bug Momo”

-When he overuses his quirk/short circuits, he relies completely on instinct. Somehow his instincts always lead him to you. It’s kinda cute

-gets bullied for his quirk. You will literally beat up anyone who does that tho

-such a bubbly personality. He’s such a sweetheart though

-*finger guns*

-has a pikachu plushie and/or onesie

-will charge your phone for you. It hurts him if he does it too much, but on the occasions when he’s fully charged himself, he’s doing it for you

-keep an portable charger with you! This guy forgets his all the time

-super friendly to everyone. Definition of extrovert. He’s always trying to take you out to do things. Once you went to the aquarium with him and he tried to stick his hand in the octopus tank

-sends you memes at 4 am titled “this is literally us”

~Eijiro Kirishima~

-MANLY

-you aren’t allowed to carry anything remotely heavy around him. “Don’t worry sweetheart, I got that for you”

-pays for everything. You simply cannot offer to pay without him faking offence

-toxic masculinity? Who’s that?

-husky morning voice 🙏

-lets you watch him workout. If you what to join he’ll gladly help you use the equipment if you’re new to the gym, or simply be your spotter. If you don’t want to join him, he’s definitely showing off with the weights.

-classic romantic dates. Restaurants, and picnics are his specialty (definitely some gym dates mixed in there)

-always shirtless. He just wants to show off. It’s not like you’re complaining though….

-he’s really insecure about his quirk, and doesn’t think he’s good enough. Just remind him that you love him. Give him loads of attention and affection when he has his panic episodes.

-lets you dye/style his hair. His favourite positions is you sitting in the counter redoing his roots, while he’s in a chair in front of you. He doesn’t even need entertainment, he’s just enjoying the feeling of your gloved hands in his hair.

-loves when you wear his shirts. Especially his Red Riot merch ($-$)

-manly hands 🫡

-He personally doesn’t care much about PDA, he’ll do anything as long as you’re comfortable

-cannot cook for the life of him. Last time he was in the kitchen he caught his toast on fire

~Hitoshi Shinso~

-He is SO sleep deprived. You can tell by the bags under his eyes. Definitely has insomnia or something

-cat cafe dates with him. (I’m seriously thinking of writing a whole damn fanfic of this, just need motivation) he just loves cats sm, and he loves you, so this is the perfect plan according to him.

-needs his coffee in the morning. Can’t function without it. Also has his coffe without any cream or milk (like a psycho)

-Texts you really late at night for no reason. Even if he knows you’re asleep he’ll still do it cuz he’s bored

-messy hair 24/7

-late night walks with him. You guys don’t even have to talk, he’ll just walk with you beside him (he’ll hold your hand if he’s in the mood) and you’ll walk under the moonlight. Also loves to point out constellations to you

-once he grabbed something that you couldn’t reach for you, and you called him “your hero”. He’s never stopped thinking about it since

-usually does his training outside, late at night

-not a headcanon, but I’d just like to say, him in his mask 🛐

-has tired/dead eyes all the time. And looks hot in them too

-wears Jean jackets, hoodies, sweats, those weird fancy cotton shorts. And lets you steal all of them <3

-the type of boyfriend that gets jealous easily. Someone could look at you the wrong way and all of the sudden you guys “forgot to vacuum” and you’re getting swept off your feet and carried to his dorm for some cuddles

-asks for help studying. He does fine academically, he jus wants to spend time with you

Hope you guys enjoyed!!!

@kimyoudraft thought of you while writing for kiri 🫶

[anxresi]

Check out Chloe's 'new design'...

... According to a post on X by Thomas 'born liar' Asruc.

His idea of a joke, I guess... are all French people this funny?

Personally, I think it looks more like Zoe...

The same way Soquerline was the spitting image of Marinette.

Do these character designers have ANY imagination? AT ALL?

Seriously. I want to know. This is not a rhetorical question.

And allegedly, she has prosphetic legs! So of course, she's a track star. Normally, I'd applaud the oft-neglected representation...

But this is Miraculous Ladybug we're talking about here.

I guarantee it'll be badly-written, self-congratulatory pandering to those undemanding types for whom just SEEING a character with them is enough.

I have a simple statement to throw to these tragically easily-impressed individuals...

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET SOME STANDARDS!!

Remember when they made Zoe and Miss Bustier gay out of nowhere? (for no reason than to make these unpopular character likeable to certain communities) .

Remember when they made an entire episode about 'racism'? (where no-one faced any consequences at the end, and no-one could even say the word).

Remember when they finished the last season with an unbelievably clunky message about recycling? (like they recycle the worst parts from other formulaic superhero shows, I guess).

It's all about the optics, nothing else... and you don't have to be a born cynic to see it that way.

They could care less about the underlying issues, they just want to tick as many 'fashionable cause' boxes as they can in lieu of making a good show.

Don't believe me? Here's a few predictions for you.

Feel free to come back after it's aired to tell me how correct I was.

*After this girl's introduction, we will NEVER see her again.

*Her ENTIRE persona will be based around her 'disability', and her personality and popularity will put Zoe's to shame to 'compensate' for it.

*She'll get akumatised, and it'll stem from a lack of confidence due to you-know-what. Afterwards, she'll learn to accept herself more, and...

Look, does anyone else feel somewhat insulted, looking at the patronising tripe the writers look like they're going to be serving us up with in the future?

S5 was bad enough, but the next one looks like they're REALLY doubling down on giving us superficial 'life lessons' instead of a half decent story.

Believe it or not (and you wouldn't by watching this shallow load of condescending trash) there IS a way to squeeze a satisfying plot and well-drawn characters around a healthy message that DOESN'T bash you over the head with it's self-worthiness repeatedly in every painful scene.

In case you hadn't noticed, Miraculous Ladybug isn't that show (CHLOE BAD, anyone?).

And, if you think I'm a heartless bigot for pointing out the highly obvious agenda of the shameless charlatans behind Miraculous Ladybug, then you're an idiot.

And you really need to reread my post again, more carefully this time.

Here, I'll even start you off from the right spot. 'Check Out Chloe's New...'

[thevibraniumveterans]

For some reason, I rewatched Black Widow (2021) last night, and earlier today, I saw some gifs of the moment in CACW where Steve and Sam question a captive Bucky.

I feel like I’m a bit slow on realizing this, but it should already have been clear, but I found an interesting connection between both, and it’s not the whole Sokovia Accords thing, it’s not.

So in Black Widow, several allusions are made to the fact that the Widows — lethal young women, all of them — can change the world on command. Alexei addresses his adoptive daughters on their way “home”:

“And Natasha, not just a spy, not just toppling regimes, destroying empires from within, but an Avenger.”

Later on, Natasha faces Dreykov, the brutal leader of the Red Room where she grew up. He tells her:

“These world leaders, these great men, they answer to me and my widows. Look at them. These girls were trash. They are thrown out into the street. I recycle the trash. And I give them purpose. I give them a life. It’s my network of widows that help me control the scales of power. One command, the oil and stock markets crumble. One command, and a quarter of the planet will starve. My widows can start and end wars. They can make and break kings.”

The idea here is that the Red Room’s collection of widows are able to, at a moment’s notice, reshape the world to Dreykov’s liking.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

We rewind back a few years, both chronologically speaking and in release date order, to Captain America: Civil War (2016). Bucky has his metal arm in a vice, and Sam and Steve want answers from him:

“What did I do?”

“Enough.”

“Oh, God, I knew this would happen. Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words.”

“Who was he?”

“I don't know.”

“People are dead. The bombing, the setup... the doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than "I don't know."”

“He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where.”

“Why would he need to know that?”

“Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier.”

“Who were they?”

“Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history. And that was before the serum.”

“They all turn out like you?”

“Worse.”

“The doctor, could he control them?”

“Enough.”

“Said he wanted to see an empire fall.”

“They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight... infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night, you'd never see them coming.”

The descriptions of what the Widows and the Soldiers do seem to match up, they do more or less the same thing, with more or less the same objectives.

In Black Widow, Melina makes reference to HYDRA’s pet project:

“We infiltrated the North Institute in Ohio. It was a front for S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists. Actually, it was Hydra scientists at that time. In conjunction with the Winter Soldier project, they had dissected and deconstructed the human brain to create the first and only cellular blueprint of the basal ganglia.”

This tells us that the Red Room and HYDRA worked closely with one another, and there’s also a hint of this in CACW when Sharon and Natasha ambush a brainwashed Bucky at an eatery. Not even a minute into the altercation, Natasha tries to bring Bucky down using her signature move but his size prevents her from doing that. He slams her down backwards onto a table, his metal hand around her throat. Natasha grabs hold of his wrist and forces the following words out:

“You could at least recognize me.”

Which indicates at some point in the past, Natasha and Bucky — as a Widow and a Soldier, respectively — may have either worked together or even gone up against each other. Nat clearly remembers him, but in his single-minded drive to accomplish his mission, he does not indicate any frame of reference for this supposed past encounter. (Edit: Nat and Bucky (as the Winter Soldier) did fight in CATWS. But that’s not the point.)

It seems that the Widows and the Soldiers were indeed highly trained in espionage, infiltration, spying, assassination. They were able to — on command — change the world at the drop of a hat.

If they truly had collaborated, the effects of their joint efforts would have been devastating, had both the Red Room’s Black Widow program and HYDRA’s Winter Soldier program not been snuffed out for good.

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Season 2 marked the ending of “Haladriel” and the beginning of “Saurondriel” 

This season was pretty much the aftermath of “Halbrand is Sauron”, with Galadriel having to come to terms with that fact, and realizing that the mortal man with whom she shared a connection and some strong feelings, is actually the archenemy she has been chasing, according to herself, “since the first sunrise blooded the sky”.  

Galadriel spent the majority of the season heartbroken about Halbrand, and believing the connection they shared was nothing more than a lie and a deception on Sauron’s part. Several characters (Gil-galad, Elrond and Adar) rubbed in her face that “Halbrand is Sauron”. She went as far as to reveal to Celebrimbor that she did wanted to be Halbrand’s queen, and accept his offer in 1x08.

Those who follow me know I hated this scene at the finale, and that will never change: it was bad-executed, and a total mess that didn’t manage to bring the point across to the audience. But, in that scene, we see that Galadriel is still deeply “affected” by her feelings for Halbrand: she’s chasing after Sauron so fiercely but the moment she sees Halbrand, she stops. And it’s clear it is painful for her, because she knows that Halbrand is not real. And she believes that Sauron is just taunting with her (and the audience believes it, too).

“Fighting at your side, I felt, if I could just hold onto that feeling.” 

“They could no longer distinguish me from the evil I was fighting.” 

“Aren’t these the seeds you planted?” 

Sauron tells Galadriel all of these things through illusions, and evidently, she accuses him of deceiving her and all of it being nothing more than a trick on his part. There’s a real romantic subtext here.

Galadriel looked taken back by these words, but the fighting resumes short after. 

And you see, I’ve talked about this on my speculation posts about “Last Temptation”: if the “love confession” we were promised by Director Charlotte Brändström was only Sauron “saying stuff”, it would always sound as if he was being manipulative and deceitful, and that’s what happened in this scene. The fandom is puzzled as to if he’s being sincere or not.

For the sake of the argument, let’s assume he is. What’s his point here? Just getting the Nine? Because he could easily do that without all of this talking. My take is, and looking at the overall theme of the season (Sauron = Halbrand), is that Sauron is trying to prove that he and Halbrand are the same, and that the connection Halbrand shared with Galadriel was real. And he knows that Galadriel “felt it, too”. And that explains why Sauron didn’t stay in his Halbrand form, when it was the easiest way to manipulate her. He’s attempting to prove that the connection Galadriel felt was, in fact, with him, Sauron himself.

Still, Galadriel refuses to accept it, and continues to fight Sauron. He’s somewhat amused until she manages to cut his face, and say “the door is shut”. In this moment, Sauron realizes she’s not going to surrender herself to him, and stabs her with Morgoth’s crown to perform Dark magic, like I’ve explained before.

At first glance, it appears Sauron does it to kill her because of her rejection, and that he, in fact, hates her. In truth: he was using dark sorcery and his plan was to turned her into a wraith to join him in the Unseen World. And that's the reason why he uses the "past tense" when saying he would have made her the queen of Middle-earth; she's about to go into another realm.

In one of my posts I already analyzed Sauron’s capability of love. Sauron is capable of love, but he’s also corrupted by Morgoth, meaning his love is also corrupted. He’s possessive, obsessive, and jealous, and since Galadriel refuses to give in freely, he forces them to bind together, with the aid of the Dark arts. This was his way of saying "you are mine, now and forever".

And you all believe it was really Elrond on that tent. 

And that’s why Sauron makes that “evil happy” face when he thrusts the crown into her chest. The crown is infused with his blood (since Adar used it to destroy his previous physical form), meaning their bloods just bound. This is what he truly wanted.  

The only thing that’s preventing Galadriel from reaching the Unseen world, is Nenya, and that’s why Sauron wants the ring, otherwise it will stop the process. We all know what happens next. 

Where do we go from here? 

It’s impossible for the show to ignore or gloss over the wound Galadriel suffered from Morgoth’s crown, so that needs to be addressed, and will probably be a central piece on her Season 3 arc.

Galadriel gets healed, but this will be like Frodo’s Morgul wound in “Lord of the Rings”: it will never fully heal, and leave a last effect on Galadriel (Dark!Galadriel), and kick out her “Lady of the Light” arc;

Galadriel and Sauron are, now, bound together (and Melkor officiated the ceremony from the Void), and this explains their “cosmical connection” and how Galadriel is so attuned to Sauron for centuries to come;

Sometimes to find the light, we must first touch the darkness: this quote has been present in Galadriel’s arc in both Season 1 and Season 2, and as, yet, to come into play, which might indicate Galadriel might find herself struggling even harder with it on Season 3. 

I’m not sure if Galadriel believed Sauron and came to realized that the connection they shared (when she believed him to be "just Halbrand") was real, or not. But since the producers said Galadriel and Sauron’s connection will remain a central part of all seasons, they will have to sort of interaction in Season 3 (probably mind palace, dreams, etc.).

[kingdoms-and-empires]

After Dark Review (Zombies!)

I recently had to go travel and read a few works that I never got around to reading but was interested in.

PLEASE REMEMBER THIS REVIEW IS DONE BY ME AS A READER AND IS MY OWN OPINION.

This means I will review in accordance to my own tastes, how the game caters to me, and what I feel. Do not take my word as gospel, what I may not be interested in or dislike, may be what YOU are interested and love!!!

@dalekowrites

Synopsis:

A few years from now, in Little Peak, Michigan, a teenager is ready to go to sleep.

While the heavy industry is more active than ever, the effects of global warming are evident, with higher temperatures, dying bees, and animals acting weird.

It has simply been another normal Wednesday, but little do people know that it’s the last day of normality Mother Nature has granted them.

After Dark is a scientifically accurate apocalyptic horror. You’re tired of zombies rising from the ground for no reason? You don’t believe in ghosts? Glittering vampires aren’t for you? Then you have to try one of the three different stories that unfold in After Dark.

When a global pandemic starts to transform people into dangerous monsters, which path will you choose? Will you fight for humanity? Will you stay for your family? Or will you run away in search of a better future?

Review:

The Good: Why does every IF Zombie game have the authors kill themselves in the coding department? This is in the good section, so it isnt a bad thing, though sometimes I worry for the sanity of the author lol. Anyways, After Dark is ambitious! Here are some of the things the author implemented:

Three different routes with three completely different stories. (1 is being worked on right now, the other two have not yet been implemented yet as far as I know)

A phone with a social network, gallery for the ROs, a newsletter, and a weather forecast app... of which you need to charge without it being annoying thankfully!

Characters remember what you talk about and will bring it up in future conversations, so you cant be two faced lol

A romance autonomy system that you can switch on that allows ROs to flirt with you!

Random encounters to encourage re-playability.

An inventory system.

A weather system, that can be prepped for using the weather app on your phone.

Hourly progression system, there are only a set amount of hours in a day that you can use to do things without affecting you.

Discoverable side stories.

A private journal that keeps track of stuff for you. Kinda Elder Scrolls coded and i jive with it haha

And crazy enough, there's more. The above sounds complicated and overwhelming, but it isnt for the reader somehow. The author was able to integrate all the above without it feeling intrusive or annoying.

As for the story itself, remember this is currently one route. The writing is well done, it isnt overly flowery or super descriptive to the point of walls of text. Instead it gets to the point effectively and without losing points.

It made me want to read more, and that is exactly what we readers look for as we scour the IF space for more stories.

ABBY

I really like Abby. She's the preggo lady you can find, and I love the humanity she brings to the story. She does some things thatll make you go:

All of the characters feel grounded and not tropey if that makes any sense. And the dynamics of the group can change with the MC's input, or lack of it.

And then food. Holy shit, the need for food actually felt immersive lmao, whenever id find a snack or something id snatch that mfer up

The Bad:

I would like more zombies. The characters, the narrative, and the plot works well. But I'm worried of being presented with more human on human conflict/drama instead of the undead, and to that I recommend the author to introduce more scenes where we can see the horror, eeriness, and sadness that such an apocalypses would induce. Make a scene where the player is being chased by the undead because of a fuck up, it can be MC's or one of the characters to create tension or drama and it can even make an RO moment occur. Or a scene where you can enter a school, or one of the FEMA camps and see the aftermath of an incident where the zombies break in or someone infected got in. Of course, the author is steadily updating, and what I just said may very will be in the cards of a future update! But I do think something involving the zombies should occur sooner than later, as the beginning scene with the parent and the chaos, horror, and tension of the scene still stayed with me, and i was hoping to reach those emotional heights again while playing!

The Ugly:

Other than a few gender variable errors of the ROs and the regular grammar mistakes found in any IF, the biggest issue i had was with presentation. I'd recommend the author to clean up the spacing between paragraphs in the future when they have time alongside the new update.

The Aftermath:

Zombie IFs just don't seem to miss. Almost all are able to land within the "good" category whenever one releases, and this has the potential to land right in the "Chef's Kiss" tier. I'd recommend this game to anyone craving a zombie IF, and im excited to see this develop more in the future! The characters are grounded, flawed but not annoyingly, and capable. The story is plausible, and the narrative makes sense. Honestly? I want more and I want it now!

[swordandscytheandpen]

Finished Guide. I have thoughts.

Mostly positive ones. I have nitpicks, sure, but it's damn near impossible to write a fully satisfying resolution to a three million word story. EE did an insanely good job considering.

Akua was one of the highlights, of course. Her arc was indeed probably the single best redemption story I've ever seen. The pivot in Praes, in particular, was amazingly compelling ("why was she not hearing the song?" hit me HARD). @kvothbloodless once responded to my tags while I was in the middle of Book 2, assuaging my skepticism that a character as remarkably hateable as Akua could have a well-executed redemption arc, and I gotta say her confidence was well-placed. It's a testament to EE's character writing skills that a character who is not only morally monstrous but immensely personally unlikeable could be turned around like this. I'll make fun of Guide's length, of course, but I don't think an arc like this could be handled so well in a work of reasonable length. It's a strength both of the writer and the medium, I suppose.

Her final fate, like most of the cast's, was a pretty solid conclusion to her character arc as well. Really followed through on the narrative's refusal to entertain redemption through death, while still being a surprise, unlike the whole Dead-King's-jailor thing. The dynamics of that particular fate on her character had already been explored through her and Cat's thoughts several times, so it's nice to see something different, instead of just watching the original plan play out with rings instead of a crown.

Same goes for a lot of the other characters. Viv and Indrani had excellent conclusions. Masego and Hakram I'm not dissatisfied with, though I do have minor points of umbrage. Hakram's arc might just have gone past me a little bit; I feel that if he has to be tied so tightly to the Clans as a whole he really needed more foreshadowing connecting him to his home. Instead, it felt a little bit like a family-conquers-all story shoved in with only justification in the moment, which ain't really my cup of tea. More specifically, it felt like the narrative required him to have deeply-held goals that he could go be independent about, but forgot to actually touch on those goals until he'd already left Catherine. Still, just a mild disappointment.

Then we've got Masego, and my take on him is similar in that it's broadly satisfying but I just feel like it doesn't fit in certain ways. In his case, it's mostly the apotheosis: the edges of that particular puzzle piece seem rough, as if EE had something else in mind but swapped it out relatively late in the process. There was some hinting that his dream of godhead would result in conflict with Cat, and then they just... didn't do that. Then in the epilogues, it really seems like his apotheosis hadn't made much impact on who he is or what he does. His part of the epilogue would have been just as suitable, to my eyes, if he hadn't achieved that. So it fell flat a little bit, which took some of the wind out of his ending. Everything else about him was great though.

Catherine's ending took the longest for me to think through. At first I was a bit ambivalent about it, 'cause it felt like nothing was really subverted. Minus a few hiccups, she got everything she wanted. Cardinal. The Liesse Accords. Even all the Woe surviving. The only thing she didn't get was Akua, and she already knew that wasn't on the table. I really just did not expect a straightforward Catherine Wins ending to the Guide. I thought she'd probably die at least; in fact, I thought the most likely outcome was Cat's death and her goals being posthumously realized! This story sure felt like a tragic ending was coming down the pipes!

And then once again, I remembered that this is a story about stories. What Cat has isn't just a happy ending, it's one last victory over the narrative. It's a middle finger to the idea that villains don't get to sail off into the sunset. And you know, it really takes some strength to put a fresh coat of paint on the very idea of a happy ending. So yeah, Cat's ending is great. Just perfect.

But of course, there's no way to wrap up three million words while satisfying every single plot point. So, keeping in mind that APGTE is probably among my top 5 written works in the English language now, I do have a point or two of order.

First off, towards the end, Named were dying like flies. Felt like every chapter had a list of casualties all its own. And I can see the drive to do that; there were a lot of Named involved by that point and there had to be casualties. It keeps the stakes high and the villains scary. But I can't help but feel discouraged from reading once six characters I'm somewhat engaged with die in the span of two chapters. Mostly offscreen.

The biggest offender here was the Painted Knife's band. I really loved the bonus chapter about their backstories, as well as the concept of them as the first band containing both heroes and villains, and I'd wish we'd seen nore of how that relationship developed. And I thought it was a weighty enough label that they'd shot up again later. So when it was mentioned offhand that the Royal Conjurer was killed, I was blindsided a little bit. And then the rest died, one by one, offscreen (except the Knife). Poor Poisoner. She was my favorite. Felt like wasted potential, like a story that wasn't followed through to the end. The Blade of Mercy was in a similar boat. He was important in the Arsenal arc! Let him die onscreen at least!

There was Roland too, who wasn't as bad. His death wasn't really satisfying, another surprise Hawk casualty, but at least it was shown and meaningful. Still, I feel like he deserved a proper character arc outside his backstory. Poor guy.

A couple other deaths, too: Rafaella and Alexis in the fight against the Dead King. Rafaella was ambiguous enough that I really wasn't sure whether she was dead for a while, and even after... I dunno. The hero who killed Captain needed a stronger resolution than "sacrificed herself to get rid of the Dead King's last line of revenants." Then Alexis's death just wasn't meaningful; it wasn't for anything. And I know, I know, that's not how death works, but it is in stories! Didn't feel right. It was too fast.

But the Keter deaths were really my biggest gripe, and if that's the biggest problem I have with a conclusion to a story that long? I can only offer applause.

You know what death I didn't have a problem with? Hanno, in the epilogue. How the hell do you kill a character that major in just a few sentences and make it feel satisfying? The epilogues were just all-around great. The character deaths and resolutions felt natural, plot points that were touched on in the main story were shown to ultimately be left to the next generation, and the continued history and development of the world made it feel so alive. It's a common sin for characters to create a new static world that's supposed to feel like it'll last forever. And sure, the framework of the Accords are kinda like that, but the rest of the world? There are still wars, still conflicts, still upheavals. (The Republic of Orense was a nice touch in that regard.) The epilogues are nearly flawless and I will stand by that.

Last thing - of course I gotta talk about Anaxares. When Yara dropped him into the Serenity, I was pretty hyped about it. But then... I dunno. It turned out a bit flat. Felt less like the culmination of Anaxares's character and more like a plot device to cross the Serenity out of the equation. At the end of the day, with Anaxares sitting in the Serenity through the final battle and then appearing in the epilogues just to pop up years in the future, cause problems, and run off again, he felt weirdly like a sequel hook? And forgive me, but I'd eat my hat if there's a sequel. I guess it's imagination bait, which is certainly preferable to a poorly-executed conclusion. He's still my favorite non-Cat character. If there's any decent fic about him, please give it.

Speaking of, that's all I've got. Looking back up, this was mostly petty complaints, but I wanna be clear: once the first few books were past and EE broke their worst writing habits, this became one of my favorite writing pieces ever. The length and the proliferation of typos and other errors mean that I'd hesitate to fullthroatedly recommend it to anyone, but it's one of those works that has permanently altered my brain. Good fucking book.

Okay, Pale Lights time. Hopefully I'll catch up before Book 3 comes to an end, but I'm not gonna rush. Rapidly chewing through ridiculously long works is not, I have learned, conducive to getting the most enjoyment out of them.

[queenxfirefly]

Spoilers/Theories on Annabel Lee

Some thoughts on what I think Annabel and Lenore's undoing could be.

This is a lot of crazy insane speculation so humor me.

First, I would like to point out how much they emphasize Annabel having Panic Attacks apparently, according to her father, she used to have these attacks often, before Lenore. Her father thinking she has outgrown them.

My thoughts on that is, maybe she does have a heart condition but it was brushed aside due to her being 'Hysterical' as they would say.

This was a time where Hysteria was the most well-known and frequently recorded mental illness of women during the Victorian period. Latin hystericus, or “of the womb,”

The reason I think this is hugely due to the amount of time we see Annabel have her attacks.

It appears that she is unable to breath very well either. Could be the panic attack but it could due to a condition she wasn't diagnosed for.

Her ears are ringing here. Which seems to be bothering her. I am no doctor but it seems like she may be suffering from something.

What more intrigues me due to this theory of mine is that her specter has no heart, or a hole where her heart should be.

Could be some form of foreshadowing that her heart was the problem. Maybe she had a weak heart. I mean, where is Annabel's mother, we haven't heard of her. It could be that she died due to the same condition and Annabel might already know she has this same defect in her heart.

The reason why I think Annabel may already know she has this condition is one I may have overanalyzed. Maybe. After going through the phobia arc again I tried to put the phobia with each of the characters. To my finding, Annabel's phobia is chronophobia.

Maybe she feared wasting time is because she thought she didn't have lot of time left. She may have gotten deathly sick before the wedding. So, in the Edgar Allen Poe poem titled "For Annie" she dies young of an illness. While Lenore is based on... well, "Lenore" and "The Raven" I feel she strongly follows a lot of Annabel's as well. We know in both "Lenore" and "The Raven" the narrator suffers from a mental breakdown due to their lost love. I feel Lenore may have tried her best to keep Annabel alive but in the end, may have murdered her out of mercy and Annabel wanting to stay alive to be with Lenore (resulting in the 'betrayal' & 'murder'). Maybe the below image can be taken bother ways in Lenore's guilt.

Lenore could have taken her own life as well from the grief. I hope not, as that is very dark and depressing. Then again, a lot of Edgar Allen Poe's work is. Hopefully not though. I don't mind being wrong.

Even the below image in the beginning shows the heartbeat then a Flat-Line like from a electrocardiogram.

I am not the sure on this last part as it is speculation. It could have been anything else but the rest of it seems somewhat worth looking into right... right?

Please leave your thoughts, ideas, comments,

[sairenharia]

Origins of the Samadhi Fire and Timeline Bleed

So episode five is a bit of an odd duck. We have Pigsy having a crisis as MK's father, which fits because it helps him grow, shows more of MK's past and its importance, and makes things more of a gut punch later.

Mei's crisis of confidence does fit. She's been having these issues on and off, and like ninety percent its about the Shadowpeach parallels and she's living that Warrior life.

Then there's this guy.

In a season where they just cut out the dragon and tiger's trial, the fact this guy was around to be an Obstacle is rather weird. Unless, of course, the Red Son lore was more involved with the season than it first appears.

So as I spoke about in MK's First Dad, the world of LMK is going through its timeloops and NHD has been altering time. With the alterations happening, I believe timelline bleed is happening. Now what does this have to do with Red Grandson?

The reason why he was created. Red Son has a lot of odd things he says in combination. He says he's the creator of the Samadhi Fire. This we know. But then he goes and says he's looking into the origins of the Samadhi Fire. When, you know, he's supposed to be the origins. So for some reason, Red Son both acknowledges he's the creator, but somehow he is not the originator.

And then it became a rabbit hole because there are a few moments that are...odd in season three.

And what if the reason there is a whole Samadhi Fire doggy is to bring forth the fact there IS timeline bleed and stuff will come about because of that.

One of the things I always wondered in Season 3 was why did Mei and Red Son have their visions. In a way, the visions make sense. Red Son is the creator of the fire and Mei has a ring. It makes sense there's a reaction when they have contact...except Red Son and Mei had so much contact in Revenge of the Spider Queen. Why was it only when it was CLOSER to the Samadhi Fire being released was Red Son getting visions in contact with her.

In fact, why did Ao Guang? Mei touching the scroll would track to it making something go off, but why did touching her provoke something in him?

And then there is Tang. He spoke of using the scroll under Macaque's order as a thing of destiny. Why is this his destiny? Why is he so certain, especially when the only person who HAS had strong destiny feelings have been villains...and MK. Destiny has been shown to not be a thing to trust, and yet Tang does strongly and keenly in this moment.

Because he's done it before.

Mei has done it before.

Even Ao Guang has done it before.

And Red Son has done it before.

In the timeline without MK, the Lady Bone Demon is always released around this time. Whether by the Demon Bull Family, the Mayor, or Macaque, SOMEONE releases her. And Wukong can't ignore her threat. Wukong always goes for the Samadhi Fire. Which means collecting the rings.

Which means eventually collecting Mei. But his path until then is one he's doing alone. Macaque may or may not be a factor (I'm betting he's not always revived), but since he doesn't have to go save MK, he's able to get more distance before Macaque could potentially show up. He gets the other three rings, and he goes for Mei.

Which is when he meets Ao Guang, because this man has STRONG Samadhi Fire feelings, he likely knew something of what happened with Ao Lie and knew Wukong was coming. Likely there was a confrontation until they come to some kind of accord or Wukong just beats him.

Red Son likely gets involved because it is the Fire and he can't just ignore it.

And Tang gets involved because he was needed to activate the scroll.

Ao Guang remembers when he last saw his nth-great granddaughter. Tang remembers when he read the scroll before. Mei and Red Son have visions THIS time because now they're at the point in the timeline that it was happening and they were starting to remember.

But why? Why is this bleed so strong compared to everything else?

What does this have to do with origins?

Because the Demon Bull Family and Red Son especially are proof to the dramatics of NHD's alterations to the timeline and for one very good reason.

Red Boy is a goddamn PROBLEM for him.

Its no secret LMK has dramatically altered the DBF.

LMK DBK and PIF are couple goals. In the Journey, DBK leaves PIF to marry some pretty thing and breaks her heart.

LMK Red Son is still with his family and very proudly a villain. In the Journey, Red Boy was taken drafted by Guanyin as a new disciple after she bound him in a collar and manacles close to Wukong's circlet.

Now this gets interesting because LMK specifically REFERENCES the incident in season 2. The vase that absorbs the soup dumpling is used to contain an ocean to dump on Red Boy's head because it took a literal actual ocean to get the boy to stop setting everything on fire.

Which also brings up the interesting fact that Wukong has only gotten a definite victory over Red Son in season three when he sucker punches him into the building.

In the Journey, Wukong is brought to a stalemate with Red Boy. Red Boy can't fully drive Wukong away or kill him, but Wukong also can't get through the flames to retrieve Tripitaka after Red Boy kidnapped him. Wukong is running out of time before Tripitaka gets eaten, and all his clever plans aren't working, so he goes to Guanyin for help. And rat out that Red Boy pretended to be her to stop one of those clever plans, Red Son was always an arrogant little brat.

Guanyin was affronted enough and cared about Tripitaka enough to come herself. She dumps an ocean on Red Boy, and then tricks him to sit on a bunch of swords until he begs for mercy and when he still chooses to be a little shit after the pain stops, he's bound in the manacles and a collar.

From there, Red Boy lives with Guanyin in heaven, and becomes her disciple. He's still kind of a little shit, but he does take the teachings and such seriously. Red Boy REDEEMS himself.

But Red Son doesn't. The ocean incident happens. Red Son has his confrontation with Guanyin. But instead of being stuck in heaven, he's allowed to go home.

How? Why? What changed?

NHD did. But why does NHD care?

Because if Red Boy was a problem as a child, imagine how much of a problem he is if he grows up, WITH the fire, and is a dedicated agent of the Heavenly Host?

When NHD was changing timelines early, he wasn't as subtle. He tries to stop the Harbinger. He gets Wukong to help. He's disruptive. He's OBVIOUS.

And Heaven doesn't approve.

And Red Boy is sent to keep destiny on its path.

The Harbinger is difficult enough for Wukong to try and wrangle for when NHD chooses an aggressive approach. NHD hasn't had enough time to perfect his chaos powers either. If Red Boy gets involved, the Harbinger is in the pillar, things start again. (And maybe MK deciding Red Son is friendshaped is a lingering fondness.)

Plus there is also the possibility for what Red Boy can DO and likely why Red Son is experiencing the dimensional bleed.

The Samadhi Fire is the ultimate wild fire. It destroys, BUT when properly harnessed, it can also forge. The Lady Bone Demon believed this, and the lady is pretty smart. There is a very good chance that Red Boy was able to use the Fire at times to help weld the pillar together.

He isn't strong enough to FIX it, but he can give it a patch job.

Making NHD's plan harder by either way things shake out.

He tries to find a work around! And something odd he notices over time.

Every time loops, Red Son is forging the Fire earlier and earlier. He needs less training. He needs less time. The fire just comes faster and faster, and he struggles to control it.

So NHD decides to use that. He devises a ritual to remove the Fire and when Red Boy has a few too many outbursts, its decided to remove the fire.

....except then Red Boy just reforges the fire LATER when he has more control. Especially when he is recruited to train Mei in controlling the Fire after its reforged in her. An eon later, he's still a problem.

NHD realizes then, Red Boy cannot remain an agent of heaven. He must be removed however he can.

But at this point, NHD is still trying to be a hero so he can't just murder the kid.

However, Red Boy's control of the fire is slipping more and more each cycle. Easier and easier to create an outburst.

Part of DBK and PIF having a falling out is the loss of their son. It created a distance because PIF is not good at comfort, and DBK is not good at admitting weakness, and Jade Face Princess swoops in like a hussy.

NHD just has to ensure Jade Face Princess can't get to DBK and alters the ritual just a bit. Further define requirements to get both DBK there...and Nezha. Nezha with all his daddy issues.

Provoke enough outbursts from Red Boy before the distance can expand between DBK and PIF to get the ritual done quickly. The Fire is removed. DBK has his child. And Nezha, in a feeling of sympathy, allows for DBK to take Red Boy home instead of returning him to Guanyin.

And now Red Boy is Red Son, free to grow up with his parents until his father is sealed, and grows up with his mother, and becomes a lot more bitter about the world and distrusting of gods as a general rule, outside of the one who showed his family kindness.

And out of NHD's way.

It does bring up the interesting change of DBK always being freed, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't anything for NHD to worry about, and would become an important tool later.

BUT WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ORIGINS, YOU ASK.

Why was Red Son slowly losing control of the Fire?

Because of what the Fire IS.

The Samadhi Fire is a reality destroying weapon. Its a destroyer...and forger of reality.

Red Son doesn't know the origins of the Fire despite knowing he's the creator.

Because Red Son knows there was something WRONG in how he created the fire. It came too easy. Too naturally. Like it was always there, despite the fact its a power created.

That's because it was always there.

Red Son IS the origin of the Samadhi Fire.

He was just the origin a countless number of time loops ago.

The Samadhi Fire, once created, cannot go out. It can be smothered down to an ember, but the spark will forever remain. There is no way to be rid of it, only move it. Make it difficult to build the fire into anything dangerous by dividing that ember.

Red Son was losing control because he wasn't creating the fire through training, but by reigniting what was already in his soul.

Because the Fire IS part of his soul.

Samadhi is the final stage before enlightenment. Its the step in the path where one is able to conceptualize All Is One. This is probably why the fire is so dangerous and why it can't go out. It burns everything, not because its burning everything, but because its MAKING everything into ITSELF. And as such, it also cannot go out, because whatever the Fire is apart of, IS the Fire, and since there is no way to isolate the Fire into the literal void, there is always something for it to be the same AS.

And another note of Samadhi is, if achieved improperly, the person just goes insane. A necessary step before understanding All Is One is needed to understand that All Is Different. (Enlightenment is just like this, okay.)

Red Son's soul had achieved Samadhi properly to create the Fire, but his mind in each successive time loop hadn't. He didn't go full blown mad, but it was getting harder and harder for him to keep it at bay. Especially because he was young. His sense of self is ill defined and barely developed, which is terrible for seeing yourself as different from the fire that was telling you you're the same as it.

Luckily, for all of Mei's self doubts, she has an extremely strong sense of self, or else she really might have more problems with the Fire.

But to remove the Fire from Red Son, it means removing the part of his soul that hold the ember for the Fire.

A part he gets back again when the world resets.

Along with the Fire.

And he makes it easier and easier without knowing why.

So why does Red Grandson exist?

One is to potentially explain the dimensional bleed.

Or another, something is coming to fuck up reality and the heroes are going to need the tools to reforge reality to keep things from totally falling apart.

Because the Samadhi Fire can burn reality. Because it can never go out. Because it understands all is one and individualism is an illusion. The Samadhi Fire will destroy anything that attempts to be rid of it.

Or make it something new.

[bestworstcase]

actually. on reflection, i’m questioning my presupposition that tyrian and mercury will be hiding their affiliation with salem from the crown. i don’t think that holds up necessarily.

firstly, the main narrative motivation for tyrian and mercury to be undercover (from the writers standpoint, i’m not talking character motivation) is to give mercury a way out in the form of betraying tyrian to jax and gill – but this can still happen if tyrian and mercury are upfront about acting on salem’s behalf if 1. they represent salem as an ally to the crown’s cause (her war is against the huntsman academies, as is the crown’s, enemy of my enemy is my friend – that this doesn’t contradict ruby’s characterization of salem in the broadcast helps) and 2. mercury comes to believe that tyrian is right that salem seeks only annihilation.

so that all checks out still.

and. ok

if gillian is indeed the summer maiden:

when did she become so?

does the inner circle know?

well. sidelong glance. i may or may not be right about jaune/gillian but even in the event that i’m not, it does feel worth noting here that gillian is in many ways anti-pyrrha.

pyrrha is a world-renowned athlete and prodigy who “always felt it was her destiny to become a huntress, to protect the world” – who believed in that so strongly she chose to die for it. her teachers and headmaster implicitly believe that she carries her team (& qrow voices this perception). she’s chosen by ozpin to become the fall maiden’s new vessel by means of transferring amber’s aura, her soul, into pyrrha. she had a powerful semblance that gave her such an edge that she seemed untouchable – the invincible girl.

gillian, too, was “top of her class,” “ambitious,” “would have been a fantastic huntress” according to her former teacher and headmaster at shade, if only her brother hadn’t “held her back.” gill, too, is guided by belief in destiny and, mirroring pyrrha’s unflagging and wholehearted support of jaune, gillian is devoted to her brother, happily splitting her aura with him and following his lead without a trace of resentment. and her semblance makes her quite literally untouchable both in the sense that bullets just bounce off her and in the sense that if she gets her hands on you she can steal your aura; her semblance isn’t permanent and seems to not do lasting harm but in every other respect gill is a walking aura transfer machine.

even aesthetically: pyrrha’s red-and-bronze vs gillian’s blue-and-silver. complimentary colors. pyrrha’s circlet, gill’s diadem. pyrrha’s bronze armband, the silver armband worn by members of the crown. there’s a noticeable repetition of design elements here, and while it’s touch to compare a visual design to prose descriptions, taken in combination with the character parallelism…

the point being. if gillian is the summer maiden, then i think – irrespective of whatever degree of involvement jaune has narratively – this pattern will likely hold.

now. with that in mind, four things:

#1. jax was expelled from shade academy for unknown reasons, and gillian dropped out to leave with him because he asked her to. the circumstances of his expulsion are never stated; rumpole remembers him as “arrogant” but not particularly motivated, and theodore as a “weak, scared little boy” who “never stepped up,” so – importantly – it doesn’t seem like he was kicked out for misconduct. there’s no mention of cheating or bullying, only this perception that he was sort of worthless and holding gillian back.

#2. carmine escalados and bertilak celadon were academic partners at shade academy during the same time jax and gillian attended the school, and while they weren’t on the same team, carmine and gillian were evidently close friends (bertilak remarks that carmine affectionately called gill ‘queenie’ during their school days).

#3. in ‘after the fall,’ bertilak says… this.

Fox and Bertilak circled each other. “You’re a disgraceful excuse for a Huntsman,” Fox said. “It’s easy for you to say, with all those lofty ideas Ozpin and Theodore drilled into your heads. ‘Being a Huntsman is a calling and a privilege, not to be taken lightly.’ ” Fox had heard his professors at Beacon and Shade give exactly that speech. Bertilak spat. It was so hot, Fox heard the liquid sizzle and evaporate as it hit the sand. “They’re just words. You think your headmasters and professors are model Huntsmen? They’re worse than all the rest of us. You want to know why I barely graduated? I was tired of being used as a tool.”

which is, as i’ve said before, a bit… um. hm. why does this guy – this random huntsman who attended shade and barely made it to graduation – have a chip on his shoulder about ozpin? why – like, bertilak does not have anything like raven’s rhetorical flair, but adjusting for stylistic differences this is verbatim what raven says of oz in v5.

“they’re worse than all the rest of us.” vs “old man oz has a great and terrible secret, one that could spread fear across the world…”

”the truth is that truth is hard to come by.… by now, i’m sure your uncle has told ruby and her friends plenty of stories.” vs “they’re just words,” spat on the ground.

why does bertilak celadon sound like he actually has a clue what’s going on?

#4. jax began to plan and prepare for his coup as soon as he and gillian left shade academy, and while he tries to convince himself that the group responsible for the attacks on beacon and haven might disregard vacuo as unimportant, he does clearly anticipate that this adversary will come for vacuo, and he’s thinking ahead to withstanding that assault.

now, that’s not necessarily unreasonable even if jax knows nothing – the aborted attack on haven was publicly linked to cinder and her associates. but his specific phrasing is: “whomever had been targeting the other kingdoms.”

cinder and her associates aren’t anonymous. the mistrali newscaster in 6.2 reports their full names, with photographs of each of them. jax doesn’t own a scroll and almost certainly didn’t watch the vytal tournament, but he’s clearly quite well-informed of the international news and the crown’s inner circle do use scrolls. he has every reason to know cinder by name, know that she orchestrated both the attacks on beacon and haven, and yet he apparently takes it as a given that there is someone else acting behind the scenes, someone unknown.

why?

well.

i’ve speculated before that ozpin had pyrrha in mind as a maiden candidate from the start and deliberately placed her in an otherwise forgettable team led by a nakedly unqualified loser with the intention of separating her from that team for special instruction later – clearly they’re just holding her back from achieving her full potential, right? – as a pretext for secretly training her as a maiden.

if gillian is narratively a sort of inverse-pyrrha, then – well, firstly, gill’s ideological commitments are all wrong for a maiden as far as ozpin’s circle is concerned. she and jax were open about their interest in the “family legacy” at shade, there is no way gillian would have been chosen to receive the summer maiden’s power. but of course it’s quite easy for a maiden to slip the leash; all it would take is for the maiden to be distracted or killed too swiftly to fix her thoughts on the ‘correct’ candidate or pass away in her sleep or any number of other possibilities, and whoops!

whether gillian became the summer maiden before or during her time at shade, she wouldn’t have been the intended candidate – but the inner circle can’t, like, murder a child to anoint their intended maiden, they have to work with what they’ve got. at least she was a student, you know?

her brother is more fanatical than she is. her brother’s holding her back. her brother is a bad influence on her. he’s got to go.

she’s the summer maiden. she has to be brought into the fold, to keep the power out of salem’s hands. it is imperative to get her to cooperate. right? so she gets the same kind of introduction to the conspiracy that pyrrha did – the slow drop of partial information, the “we can tell you more once we know you’re with us,” the vague but deeply ominous talk of the world being in grave danger, of a terrible, secret threat – a shadowy adversary – appeals to her earnest desire to do right by the people of vacuo.

but theodore – and ozpin – misjudge her. they ask her to keep all this secret from her twin. her brother, with whom she quite literally voluntarily shares her soul because he’s sick and she loves him. of course she’s not going to keep secrets from her brother. and if theodore uses the boy’s failure to “step up” as a pretext to expel him, counting on gillian’s ambition and academic excellence to keep her in school, well.

jax went to her and told her he was being expelled, and he remembers her looking as horrified then as she does when he tells her he means to see it through or die trying. and then he asked her to come with him and she did. but when he asks her to die with him for their destiny, she refuses, and betrays him to save them both. because gillian – unlike pyrrha – is not somebody who can set aside her heart for the sake of her supposed destiny.

you see where i’m going with this? if gillian got treated to the same coercive pressure and mysterious secrets routine pyrrha did because theodore clocked her as the summer maiden, and jax was expelled in a ploy to remove him as an influence on gillian which backfired because she refused to abandon her brother, then… why the hell wouldn’t they tell their friends what happened? and that’s why bertilak celadon, Random Nobody, seems to know more than he should. his school partner was gillian’s best friend.

which brings me back around to tyrian and mercury and what they’re going to tell the twins. because.

the thing is.

if jax and gillian have had pyrrha-level knowledge of ozpin’s conspiracy this whole time, they know there’s a mysterious adversary whom the huntsman academies were established to defend against. the headmaster of shade tried to recruit gillian for that cause, and she refused. just a few years later this adversary kicked beacon and beacon crumpled like a house of cards. haven didn’t go down quite so hard, but its faculty is dead and the school is closed now.

mistral is fine, though.

their coup fails. ruby’s broadcast fills in some details: the mysterious adversary is named salem, and everything she is doing, ruby says, is to “tear down the huntsman academies.”

funny, that’s exactly what jax and gillian want to do!! anyway less than twenty-four hours after that, the entire kingdom of atlas is wiped off the map and thousands of refugees flood into vacuo.

consider this from the twins point of view. they hate the huntsman academies. salem also, apparently, hates the huntsman academies. they had been under the impression that this mysterious adversary sought to bring down the kingdoms, but now this huntress who clearly knows what she’s talking about is informing the whole world that salem… just wants to get rid of the academies. and hey, after haven academy shut down, salem very much did not go on a rampage razing mistral to the ground.

so. like.

compared to theodore – who’s bending over backward to accommodate thousands of refugees at the expense of vacuo’s own people, all for the sake of fighting an adversary that the huntsmen academies are obviously, laughably unprepared to actually withstand considering that it’s been maybe a year since beacon fell and 3/4 of those schools are no longer operational with two having been completely destroyed – from the twins point of view salem really does not sound so bad.

she wants to tear down shade academy. well, so do they, and so do a lot of very, very angry vacuans who support them.

say tyrian and mercury break the twins out of jail and the twins ask, are you looking to join up with the crown, and tyrian and mercury go, actually no, we’re here as salem’s emissaries. that relic locked up under shade academy is rightfully hers, that’s all she wants… and you hold the key to the vault. if salem helps you take shade academy, and you hand over the relic, she’ll not only leave vacuo in peace but also support your claim to rule.

which really is not a bad deal for them and they have no reason to doubt the truth of salem’s stated motivations because salem’s enemies said she’s doing all this to tear the academies down!! academies jax and gillian also want to tear down!!

the point being that there isn’t actually much incentive for tyrian to misrepresent himself as not an agent of salem’s, as long as he keeps his mouth shut about what (he believes) her true motivations are. and while jax and gillian are xenophobic reactionaries, they’re also demonstrably willing to work with “outsiders” who agree with their cause.

carmine is from atlas, for example.

and if the crown is knowingly allying itself with salem, a) the stakes of the civil war are higher and it will be that much harder to resolve, and b) the narrative can break new ground after multiple arcs of antagonistic factions being unwittingly manipulated. so there’s some compelling reasons from a writing perspective go that route. and it adds up from a character standpoint as far as the key players are all concerned.