#The Room Where That Happened [Dash Commentary]

[generationlossupdates]

GenLoss Episode 1: The Spirit of The Cabin Summary

I'm putting it ALL under the cut so that way it doesn't clog up people's dashes AND it's easier to avoid if you don't want to see it.

I give fair warning now that it is LONG, though I bolded the most important bits so it's easier to skim.

The show starts by playing character creator, where we get to make a some sort of creature (A Shark, Pickle, Lobster creature) . After this, the title card plays and Ranboo wakes up in an cabin on a couch with a mechanical mask strapped to his face. He steps outside into a green forest and when he hears a noise he rushes back inside.

A vase falls and breaks, and when Ranboo goes to touch it he flies back and goes 'this wasn't supposed to happen!' before seemingly resetting and saying he's got to find some keys. In the bottom of the screen the Showfall mascot (lovingly named Squiggle) gives random commentary. He explores the cabin, and finds 3 keys. Notably when he goes to the window sill to get a key there's a shadow of a horned creature, though it seems as if Ranboo doesn't notice it at all.

He goes through the door once again and when he goes through he winds up on a beach with a red sky. He pockets some sand and heads back into the cabin. When all keys are collected he moves to unlock a door to another room, but before he can a green goop covered Slimecicle (who is a ghost? or demon? goop monster?) bursts down the door. They talk for a moment, and Slimecicle tells him to leave. Ranboo goes through the front door yet again, and this time when he exits he's in hell. Like literal hell. He goes back into the house and they both move to the kitchen.

Slimecicle tells Ranboo that he can leave as soon as he does something for him: a cooking challenge? Ranboo attempts to cook using items provided by the fridge and chosen by chat. Eventually Ranboo finishes cooking and gives Slimecicle the dish. Slimecicle eats it and says it's the best thing he's ever eaten and tells Ranboo he's free to go.

He goes through the door yet again and this time it leads to the slime dimension. After he speaks to Ranboo he goes through the door and returns to the cabin. When he returns, Slimecicle is entirely gone, though some goop remains. The tv suddenly turns on and a hooded figure tells him that he's doing well and that 'they' (a different entity, not the hooded figure) are entertained. They tell Ranboo to not resist and that they'll be in touch soon. The program suddenly cuts out to a technical difficulties screen and when it turns back on, Ranboo is asleep on the couch again.

He walks through the main area and the kitchen and heads down to the new area: the basement. He explores and finds Sneeg: some guy locked in the basement. Ranboo looks around and finds a lock cutter. He frees Sneeg and after a moment, Slimecicle pops up from the boxes. He slimes Sneeg and turns him evil, starting a battle between Ranboo and 'Evil' Sneeg. Ranboo wins and wipes off the slime, causing Sneeg to return to normal. Slimecicle complains and leaves.

They leave the basement, and explore more. They attempt to go through the bolted door and are rendered unable before remembering the bolt cutters. Ranboo cuts through the chains and they go into a new room, being a bedroom. It seems to be Slimecicle's bedroom. They explore as a disembodied Slimecicle voice makes jabs at him. Ranboo finds a knife and pockets it. Chat decides to make Ranboo sleep and he goes to bed right on Slimecicles bed. Slimecicle pokes at the wall while Sneeg watches and Ranboo... sleeps. Slimecicle and his ghouls push at the wall next to the bed, most notably commenting on how squishy and cutable the wall is.

8 hours pass and when Ranboo wakes up Sneeg complains at him about how he managed to sleep through it all. They cut through the wall and when the wall is cut open the creature that was made at the start grabs Sneeg and presumably kills/eats him. The creature then chases Ranboo untill he tricks it into going into the locked area where Sneeg was. He then returns to the area where the creature came from and gets tossed into a Boss Battle with Slimecicle. He manages to beat Slimecicle by tossing a towel onto him.

After this, everything begins to glitch yet again. The hooded figure on the tv appears again and tells him that he's doing a good job and that he's made it onto episode 2. They say their name is H and that Ranboo needs to play along. The message ends and Ranboo goes through the front door one last time. When he exits the door he ends up in a warehouse where he is stabbed in the neck with a syringe by rat people and everything fades to black...

[waitmyturtles]

Last Twilight, episode 11: reflections

Okie-dokes. Just finished this now-infamous episode and my thoughts are rolling, especially with what I've seen posted throughout today. I think this is going to be more of a musing than a concrete Big Meta, because I am ultimately not going to be surprised if a lot of what was left on the table here will be addressed in episode 12.

One theme that I think an episode 12 will NOT be able to address, is the sudden change of Mhon from episode 10 to episode 11 in regards to her accepting Mhok. As we recall, episode 10 started off REALLY HEAVY. Mhon IS the reason why Mhok leaves as a caretaker in episode 10 and has to find a new job -- that's a fact.

Last night, I reblogged some important and interesting commentary on Mhon from prior to today's episode, especially in terms of examining her actions from an Asian/non-Western lens. I think this commentary was super important to understand her mindset as a work-first single mom up to today's episode. I think an Asian lens absolutely contextualizes her actions up to episode 10, 4/4. But I don't think today's episode helps to offer further context of her actions from a non-Western lens.

Mhon states in episode 11 that she doesn't want to be a "silly mom" who keeps her son from dating; when, unfortunately, she was depicted as doing exactly that in episode 10, to the point that Mhok was in fear between episodes that she'd break them up after seeing them at Christmas dinner.

This a bad plot hole -- and her words, her past, anything, could have been used to save that inconsistency.

I think her sudden acceptance of Mhok in today's episode came off as soapy. And her doubts about Mhok being able to take care of Day without the family's help were a touch condescending. I don't think this episode does enough to place Mhon's last monologue in a place of accurately relating to others. It was clunky and not good.

Aof Noppharnach, I feel, knows how to bridge Mhon's changes better. If episode 12 DOES address these changes -- please, let it be with context and grace. I don't want soapy tropes here, especially because we know that Noppharnach shows have done parenting so much better than this.

Here's one bit that I think the episode did well. While I see a lot of the internet protesting the break-up: in my opinion, I think Day made the right decision for himself at this moment in his life.

Day's life paradigm in 2/4 is repeating itself: as his past caretaker in his mom was the same, his current caretaker is a chef who works morning to night, and Day is alone in his room, eating by himself.

However, Day revels in being in a relationship, finally, where someone isn't taking pity on him, and he can be seen as a potentially self-determining person.

Day's recognizing that he has a path of self-advocacy and self-sufficiency to work on here, as he gets himself out of his hotel room with the use of the cane, and ends up playing with children. Yes, this is happening while Mhok is battling his fears about caring for Day while leaving him alone during work -- which, we learn, is something Mhok cannot ultimately bear if they're together.

A lot of the discontent I'm seeing about the episode on my dash is about Day's not empathizing with Mhok in the moment of the break-up. But Mhok doesn't previously reveal to Day his panic attacks -- the car accident, the search for Day before finding him on the hotel grounds. Mhok only explains to Day his panic reactions regarding Rung at the moment of the break-up. Bro. Communication is a dance for two in a relationship.

What motivates Mhok to be near Day now? Number one: the caretaking, which was a job. Number two: the current nearness, which should now be a relationship, but Mhok's motivation isn't quite the relationship alone, as we learn with his story about Rung. In my opinion, vis à vis Mhok, I think that's a touch disingenuous for Mhok to only be talking about this now to Day, on the cusp of a break-up. This is heavy!

Mhok's motivation is ALSO, now, his being consumed with his perceived economic need to support Day, along with the reality that while Mhok works, Day will be alone... which is something Mhok clearly will have difficulty handling anyway. I'm not sure what the difference is here, between Mhok working a hell of a job in Thailand vs. in Hawaii. Day will still have to learn to be self-sufficient in a relationship with Mhok. Day says this himself.

Day calls Mhok out on exactly this, and breaks up with him. I would argue here, for Day's perceived path to learn to be self-sufficient, that dumping Mhok was the right thing for him. Day is seeing a cycle repeat itself -- someone who is going to "sacrifice" their life for him, and keep Day in a stasis. Day only needs an equal partner to live a blossoming, broader, and independent life -- as we see happening between Aon and Pla. I did not appreciate Mhok's lying, and I agree with @bengiyo's Stray Thoughts on this very much (in which he says this FAR more succinctly than me, ha).

While I think Day made the right decision... I think the execution of all of this was just so clunky. We can do better than this, the tropes, the lying, everything. Imagine an episode of Mhon reflecting on her past, with her monologue reflecting on lessons she's learned by caring for her boys while figuring out the vagaries of an adult needing to be loved in the context of life's complications. Imagine Mhok telling Day about Hawaii right away -- as an equal partner who doesn't PITY his partner would do. Imagine Mhok telling Day about Mhok's panic attacks as they're happening -- and Day, as an equal partner, helping Mhok through that pain.

At least between Mhok and Day, those are growth patterns that can certainly be explained in the long-term course of a relationship. Not everything gets solved in love right away.

But. BUT. We did NOT see this side of Mhok in previous episodes. In previous episodes, Mhok WAS Day's strong and equal partner. In previous episodes, Mhon WAS struggling with her demons. What happened to all of that?

This episode 11 threw too much new and non-contextualized... stuff in the pot, to reach a climatic episode 12. This is heavy family and love stuff that I know past Noppharnach shows have handled deftly, and I'm just a little deflated by it....

...ESPECIALLY because Day's self-advocacy journey is a hell of a storyline that doesn't need scripted curveballs thrown at it by the need for a drama to be "dramatic."

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls, Season 2, Episode 15, Part 2 (Lost and Found, Aka The One Where Rory Loses Dean's Shitty Bracelet)

Part 1 and all previous commentary here. I should start renaming these things "Gilmore Girls 10 Minutes At A Time" because right now that's about all I can get through per day before Lorelai has me grinding my teeth into a fine powder. Luke and Jess are checking out some houses because Luke is totally going to move out to a new house in the middle of season 2. Luke and Jess have looked at about a half dozen apartments and they squabble over minor imperfections of each one, whether it be pink paint on the walls or an excess amount of windows. To both Jess and Luke: I would implore you both to be a little less stubborn and just take anything with two bedrooms. Your lives will drastically improve with any two bedroom apartment. Better yet, keep turning down every apartment in Stars Hollow until you've reached the next town. Continue this process until you're both living in another state completely. Jess eventually whatevers- I dont cares- you pick the place out of the situation because he's due at Lorelai's in 20 minutes to get treated like used gum on the bottom of her shoe and get paid in stale jelly beans. And we get a SadBaby™ quote.

Let's play another game of "What the hell is that: early 2000's gadget edition"

What the hell is that? VHS rewinder thingymabob.

Oh. It's just a clock. A clock that plays cds and makes barnyard noises. Would you look at that. Another one of my favorite mini games to play while watching gilmore girls is "Determining how an object is going to be integral to the plot of the episode". This is Gilmore GIrls so we are seeing this clock for a reason. This clock won't just show up and disappear with no further explanation. It always means something. Please say Lorelai hides her squealing State of the Art CD player pig clock when Jess arrives because she thinks he is going to steal it. PLEASE. I promise it's been long enough since I've seen the show that I don't know if that actually happens but I put nothing past her. Nothing. Let's take a break to Admire The Baby:

Although he may flake out on dates with Rory and skip school, our little Employee of the Month is always on time for work.

Narrator: He would not be getting his own room.

#AdmireTheBaby #Quick #BeforeLorelaiShowsUp

Narrator: Lorelai Gilmore did not find Jess Mariano's arrival to be all that terrific.

Nevermind moving down the street in Stars Hollow, he's hoping for that Male Gilmore Characters California Wormhole to suck him up and transport him to the opposite end of the country to get away from this hell. He still has to suffer for another season and a half before that'll happen. Jess is this emoji: 😐

Narrator: She was not trying. Rory gives Jess the ol Razzle Dazzle: "Why don't you talk more?" or more precisely "Why don't you talk around my mother"?

Why is Jess supposed to trust and adore and respect this random woman he doesn't know, who he sees pawing at his uncle he also doesn't know, a random strange woman who is very transparent in her feelings about him, who is transparently suspicious of him for no reason, someone so full of shit that he can see right through her when no one else can or will admit to it. WHAT I'M GETTING AT IT IS: Is he supposed to be happy to be in her presence or something? Why should he have anything to say? He's only doing this because of a rock solid work ethic, and I’d say because he hopes to earn some money. But I’d hate to dash poor Baby’s hopes about making any money and inform him that his uncle and his uncle’s weird friend agreed he could be paid subpar wages.

I think everyone in Stars Hollow is two faced anyway. They act like they like her but you know Patty and Babette talk shit nonstop about Lorelai when she's not around. Kinda like me.

Honey, you can just keep your pretty little mouth quiet around her and let me do all the shit talking.

Why? Even Rory is still more or less a stranger to him at this point, an acquaintance or loose friend at best (we know this because minutes earlier, Lorelai had Lorelai Thoughts about Rory saying Jess was a casual friend). Why does he have to please her mom? Rory says she went out on a limb to try to convince her mother that Jess was a good person. This is true. But why is she even wasting her breath trying to convince Lorelai when her mother clearly refuses to listen. It’s a hopeless endeavor. Jess does not even owe Lorelai the time of day so stop asking him to be nice to her.

#AdmireTheBaby Rory: It wouldn't hurt you to be nice to my mom. Jess: Why? Rory: Because she's my mom and a friend of Luke's. Jess: So? Just because she's your Mom or Luke's friend doesn't mean I automatically have to get along with her. Thank you for doing the work for me, babes. Mwah.

Fixed it with some flawless editing. Rory: If you care about me at all you'll be mildly polite to my mother.

GOT HER! :) #SharpAsATack

Mmm. Do go on.

I just skipped ahead to see what was happening at the 20 minute mark and it's Dean and I can't complain because yesterday I was literally begging for him to show up to divert the plot away from Lorelai even for a minute. Thank you Dean. Thank you. I am eagerly anticipating your whining and sulking at the book fair.

#AdmireTheBaby

We have been blessed with another Milo Ventimiglia Okuh. An okuh is like a soothing balm that makes everything better.

#AdmireTheBaby.

YAYYYY ITS DEAN! HOORAY FOR DEAN! DEAN DEAN DEAN DEAN.

Taylor's back on his bullshit I see. What are we raising money for, err should I say what cause is Taylor stealing money from? Please tell me it's the Bridge so I can divert my Lorelai Rage into Bridge Rage and Dean Rage. I'm a bit delirious right now. Amy Sherman Palladino: This character Dean likes to read books. No, sports. No, books again. No, he rides a motorcycle. Wait, books again. Softball? Dean hates to read. HOCKEY. Here is Dean early in season 1 contrasted with Dean halfway into season 2 (still wearing that smelly leather coat too):

I am particularly delighted whenever the 3 Dean Forrester fans in existence try to use Dean telling Rory "I watched you browse for books for two hours" as an example of his devotion to Rory. As you can see by this display of unbridled enthusiasm, he clearly wants to be here with her. When Rory disputes that it’s been that long and feels guilty for boring him, he shows her his watch to prove to her its been two hours. Dean Forrester is a stale chicken nugget that's been laying on the floor for 4 days. You know what would make everyone happy? Jess and Dean switching places. Dean could go over to Lorelai's and spend some time "cleaning her gutters" and Jess and Rory could enjoy the book fair. God, in what universe is it fucking fair that DEAN is the one who gets to accompany Rory to a book sale and he just acts like a miserable turd. While Jess is missing the book fair to work for Lorelai? UGH. I hear Rory's voice screaming "WHAT'S UP QUIPPY! WHY SO SILENT!" at Paris but my inner monologue is screaming "WHAT'S UP AMY! WHY COULDN'T JESS GO TO THE BOOK FAIR? HUH? WHY SO SILENT?! AMY!" Literally the only thing to ever happen in Stars Hollow that he would enjoy and voluntarily attend and instead he's slopping some bitch's gutters. I maxed out my 30 screen shots and I can't delete any of Baby so this three ring shit circus will spill into a part 3. See ya soon.

[emilykaldwen]

⭐star⭐ but a lil more specific-

Director's cut for a seed you planted in your first chapter and how it paid off/ grew in one of your more recent ones!

Director's Commentary Meme!

KISSING YOU ON THE MOUTH Thank you!

There are quite a few seeds planted in the first chapter that are slowly building up in the long game but we'll go with one that's not spoiler-y which is Aegon's character arc. Behind the cut to save your dash!

She felt Aegon’s eyes continue to pin on her. She looked back at him. Aegon searched her face for an answer to a question that she did not know. The only thing Abrogail could do was give him the gentle, reassuring smile she’d given him countless times before. It was what she did in this world: comfort her loved ones in any way possible, even as she needed to bury her own feelings on the matter. Feelings that, in this particular case, she couldn’t even begin untangling in the moment. “Well, that makes us luckier than most, doesn’t it?” Abby cleared her throat and turned the smile onto the others in the room. She reached up to grasp the Queen’s hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze before she burst into a million pieces. Whether it was her, or the Queen, that might burst, she could not say. “We are fortunate to know one another so well and to be of an age. I thank you Lord Hightower, your Grace.” She looked at Larys, who remained silent in his observations, as always – an owl in a tree, eyes taking in everything. “Thank you, brother, for looking out for me.” She felt Aegon’s eyes continue to pin on her. She looked back at him. The wild and anxious expression was still on his face, and instinct compelled her, as it often did, to reach out her hand to take his - but he surprised her by beating her to it. His skin felt like fire engulfing her frigid hand and his fingers tangled with hers with easy familiarity. Before she could register what was happening, Aegon’s chair was already scraping across the floor and he pulled her from her chair with the momentum of jumping from his own. There was no pause in his movement as he dragged her to the door. “How very fortunate we are.” A laugh bubbled from Aegon’s chest. It was a joyless sound when he laughed in the presence of his mother and grandsire. It was edged with the familiar mania; Aegon laughed when he was afraid, when he was anxious, when he was trying not to scream as his world was coming apart, or the laughter and joy on the back of Sunfyre. He tilted his head to stare up at the ceiling before throwing a look over his shoulder at the three across the room. “How very lucky we are.” Aegon’s hand was clammy around hers, his grip bordering on painful. He yanked the door open with a protesting whine of the latch. Abby heard the Queen calling after him, but Aegon’s strides were purposeful as they ate up the ground to get away. Only the grip of their hands kept her from being left behind in the claustrophobic room where their future was being decided for them.

So this is the seed of Aegon's entire character development in this story, and that is finding bravery for others when he cannot stand up for himself. Aegon doesn't know how to stand up for himself, especially in the face of his mother and grandfather. But for Abby? He can be brave for her. And we see this circle back in when it comes up in chapter 10:

“You will not touch him,” she gritted out and against all reason, Aegon saw his grandfather reach for her. Through the haze of his pulsing headache and the pain through his arm, he shot his hand out to grab his grandfather’s wrist before he could touch his mother. The man glared through his surprise at Aegon’s intervention and he shoved The Tower back, stepping between him and his mother with no care for himself. “She is your queen,” Aegon spat, all remnants of his manic laughter gone, and despite his lack of clothing, he squared his shoulders, princely disdain dripping from his voice. “You’ll fucking address her with the respect owed to her and that she deserves. To lay hands on your monarch is treason. You’d not commit treason, would you, Lord Hand.” The room was silent. Aegon could not breathe and he did not hear his mother breathe either. He could feel her trembling behind him as Otto loomed over them. He looked at his grandfather with disdain and disgust, doing his best to mimic the same expression the old man constantly leveled on him.

His mother is his abuser, but he also is her only protector. Aegon knows, even if he doesn't think about it, that her safety, her future, everything, lays at his feet. It is his responsibility. Part of making him king is to protect Alicent. And this bravery that Aegon can find in the face of standing up for the ones he cares for is the touchstone of my character portrayal of him. He is the Wettest Cat Boy, he is a mess but he loves deeply, he feels deeply (Aegon was known to forgive, his brother and Rhaenyra were not), and he does not do well when treated harshly. You could call him weak in this, the same way other can call Abby weak for her softness, but it isn't weak. Aegon will put up with a lot due to his shitty self-esteem and part of the growth we see on display in these recent chapters is because now he's developing security. So these positive aspects in his character can start coming further to the forefront.

[sweet-berrry]

…………if you want another episode……….58 maybe?

Episode 58: The Tides Between Us

This one is 4,211 words long, and 1.5k words longer than my other post. I had so much fun transcribing this and thanks for requesting it!!

Information: ● Scenes are roughly separated by bullet points - while sentences or smaller pieces of info are separated by dashes - this helps me type faster and still keep things somewhat organized - Pink text is my commentary/reaction

Warning: When I say "transcription", I am lying. This is a strange type of note taking where I try to write as much information down as fast as possible with minimal pauses. It serves as typing practice and fun (for me). I did not proofread this. Spelling and grammar mistakes are very likely.

EPISODE 58: The Tides Between Us

Intro - Everyone introduces themselves enthusiastically - including…. Chinsicle [I love visual bits in my podcasts] - Chinsicle got in through the vents and craves chins for “chin time” - They suggest playing dnd and Chinsicle screams in pain 

INTRO MUSIC 

RECAP - The trio woke up in the night to find Ollie had become a child again - Chip had made a deal with Niklaus to restore Ollies youth - Ollie is torn between being happy to be a kid and sad to leave the crew - The crew made it to Allport alongside Lizzie’s crew and ship - they docked and chip tried to reunite Dre and Lizzie - It did not end well - Lizzie asked Jay and Chip to meet Rufus, the lovely shopkeeper and ex-black rose pirate - Gillion and Caspian went to The Tank and Gill reunited with Eden Tidestrider [wahhhhhhh wahhhhh] - Chip and  Ollie are with Rufus (investigating what kind of bird Apple is) - Gill and Caspian are leaving The Tank - Jay is with Lizzie and they are headed toward The Porthole - END RECAP

Chip and Ollie are hanging with Rufus - Turns out that Apple is a magical bird! - Rufus isn’t sure what kind of magic it is - Chip pokes Apple to learn more [?] - “Yep, bird, bird” - Rufus tries a potion that supposed to dispel the magic - Chip worries that the magic might be keeping the bird alive - They hear the door opening, and Rufus’ wife walks in - She is named Amber and is a Kitsune [I hope I spelled that right?] who has very long hair and a blue silk kimono style robe. She also wears a lot of jewelry - She asks chip who he is and what they can do for him - he answers appropriately - She says that she noticed the sense of magic but thought it might have been something he was trying to pawn - Chip blows on Apple to try and reveal something, nothing happens 

Ollie is interested in a belt that gives you super strength, Chip is also interested - Amber suggests they focus on Apple - Rufus helps Chip with the belt - It costs twelve thousand gold pieces, actually 1200 pieces - Chip asks for a deal “for an old friend” - he rolls a 19 for persuasion - Chip promises to use it for good on their adventures - There is purple smoke coming from the Apple room - Rufus says he can give Chip a deal since Amber isn’t paying attention - And gives him fifty percent off [I wish real life worked like this] - Rufus checks him out - the belt is made of leather and metal and there is a swirling engraved design of two mountains - Rufus asks if they want anything else - chip says no - Ollie asks if he can wear the belt, chip says no - Ollie starts to cry and asks if he wears the belt, can he stay on the crew - Chip dodges the question and suggests they check up on Apple

Amber returns and says that making Apple “back to normal” will be difficult - She also confirms that Apple was not always a bird and that the transmutation magic used on her is very old [at this time Apple is referred to with she/her pronouns so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯] - A magic that you don’t learn from books - Chip says that Amber might be able to keep the bird [*sweating*] - Rufus hints at something - Amber mentions another sorcerer who is a recluse who might be able to help them  - Chip asks where he could find him - She says his name is Grimm and lives in the northern sea - but it’s very dangerous in the north sea - Chip kind of promises to bring Ollie there [smh] - Rufus brings up that Chip was wondering about teleportation magic to take Ollie home - Amber says that it might take a couple days to set everything up - Chip asks for more time - Rufus warns that they close at sundown - the time is waning, they have two or three hours till sunset - Amber warns that teloportation is very expensive and can be dangerous - Chip examines Ollies reaction - Ollie is resigned and straight faced. Obviously mildly upset, but is taking it like a champ - Rufus says he could give Chip a discount, but Amber objects - Chip leaves Apple with them overnight - They say their goodbyes and Chip and Ollie step out

They see an intricate shopping center surrounding a main road - behind it is a wooden platform that leads to the lowest level of the city - Directly in front of them is the main wooden street - Chip and Ollie are walking casually - Their are mostly humans and elves walking the streets - This middle level of the city seems to be very well planned - Chip is looking for the Porthole to meet up with Lizzie - He rolls a 14 for perception and recognizes that this level will not have a pub like that - They walk to the lower levels of the city

Chip attempts to conversate with Ollie about the possibility of teleporting Ollie back home - He tries to make light of it, but Ollie is obviously reluctant - Ollie asks if there is anyone on the crew who can teleport - Chip says he if they can and they haven’t told him he’d be pissed - Chip decides to be honest and tells Ollie that he wants him to go home, but doesn’t want him to feel like he’s getting rid of him - Ollie reassures Chip that he wants to go home, but he will miss this adventurous new home - Ollie was lonely at home, but he feels more brave when he’s with the crew; like he has a purpose - “I hate being a kid [crying sobbing on the floor] - Chip says that he understands Ollies frustrations, but that Ollie deserves to have a childhood - Chip reassures that he enjoys Ollie’s company, and that he is so grateful that he hasn’t tried to or threatened to kill him [ok chip chill, he’s twelve] - “Maybe if you knew how to stab me, you would” - Ollie says that being with the crew makes him feel better, and that he would be sad to miss out on any of the adventures they go on - Chip says that maybe Ollie can come on just a few more [Chip, you deserve every bit of that slap] - Chip then hands Ollie the belt - Ollie is very excited - Chip tells him that he needs to use the belt to stay safe, not to put himself in danger - The belt is a little big, so he looks a little silly - The belt doesn’t work immediately [you have to attune to it I think] - Chip then invites Ollie to geta tattoo with him - Chip is looking for a tattoo shop and finds out that he can get a tattoo at the Porthole - They walk there pretty easily

Gillion decides to wait for Eden to get off of work - He says he considered breaking the glass but changed his mind. Eden giggles at this and Caspian encourages him before realizing that he would be banned from drinking there. Gillion says since everyone is aquatic anyway… it’s just an idea - Caspian explains what a nine-to-five job is - Gillion is shocked and wonders if maybe he should break the glass - they continue to banter and plot until Eden’s shift ends - Eden does have dental benefits though, so Gillion is coaxed out of using a barstool to break the glass - Gill asks where Eden wants to go - Eden says she can’t stay for long, but she’d love to meet Gill’s friends - Gillion tells “Meh” (the gate keeper) he hopes they meet again - They all leave The Tank and as they step out, Eden throws her hands around Gills neck and starts crying - She wasn’t sure he was still alive and is overjoyed to see her brother again [I’m cryinggggg] - Gill apologizes, saying he didn’t mean for it to be so long before they met up again  

Eden pulls out a cloak for Gill to wear from her bag. It’s to hide their Titon features from prying eyes in Allport - Gillion doesn’t understand why he would need to hide - She smiles and jokes about his wanted poster, but she reasserts that he needs to protect his identity - Gill worries that Eden isn’t safe at Allport, but Eden reassures him that she’s been safe [really?? Really Eden?? Is that the truth????????] - They swim through the tunnels back up to the surface - Gill asks Eden how she got here - Eden says that she came to the surface after Gill disappeared. The elders stopped letting her see Gill, but didn’t tell her that he had been banished. She went searching for info about what happened to him. She got into some trouble and thought she might die, but she was saved by a random kind gentleman who she hasn’t seen again. It was Niklaus. [rrraahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh] But she denies making a deal with him - Gill warns her that he is not trustworthy and that if she sees him again she should swim in the other direction - She says that she will trust Gillion, but also the “Nicholas” left a very good, honest, and selfless impression on her. [ooohhhh, that’s why I saw ship art of them a couple days ago] - after being saved she came to Allport - They both talk about how smelly the oversea people are - Gillion specifically warns her about how stinky Chip is - OOC: Bizyl says, “She’s gonna love the musk” [what.] - As gill and co make their way to the Porthole, and Caspian magically dries them all off - Caspian calls Gillion “The Driplord” - and they continue toward the The Porthole

Jay and Lizzie are walking together, with Jay opting to stay silent and wait for Lizzie to start conversation - Lizzie is walking in front of Jay and gives a little bit of a tour of Allport - Lizzie leads her to The Golden Circle Market. It is gold and in the shape of a circle and a market - She leads Jay to the edge of the market and to a ladder - At the top of the ladder is another section of the city, entirely lit by lanterns - it is primarily a woodworking/construction sector - There is a ship embedded in the wall that has been repurposed into a multi-level tavern - Lizzie goes up the steps to the entrance door. The door has a minotaur bouncer - The minotaur demands a code. Lizzie asks Jay if she knows any of the pirate code. Jay says that Chip only told them that the first rule was not to piss your pants - Lizzie is shocked that they don’t know anything about being a pirate - Lizzie tells her another tenant is “If you don’t consent, you die” [I think maybe Grizzly meant “If there’s no consent, you die” cause that makes more sense] - The minotaur winks at Lizzie and wishes Jay and Lizzie a fun time [the shipping] - Jay asks how Chip and Gill are gonna get in - The inside is literally just a pirate ship that’s been converted to a tavern - It is warm because there are tons of people. Also it stinks. -  Lizzie leads them to the bar and asks the bartender for a few rounds. The bartender slides four tankards over and Lizzie gives Jay one.

“I wanna have a conversation, but I think I gotta be a bit drunk to do it” - Jay takes a sip, rolls a six on the con save and immediately gets a little drunk - Lizzie also fails the save but doesn’t start talking yet - Lizzie drinks her second tankard, but rolls a nat 20 on this save - Jay starts the convo, but it’s still very awkward - Jay is nervous about how quickly she is getting drunk, but Lizzie encourages her to drink - Jay reminisces about the last time she did a keg stand and Gill blew up the ship - Lizzie asks about it and Jay explains - Lizzie finds it a little funny and drinks another tankard, fails the save and is definitely drunk - She asks about Jay’s dad and past - Jay downs her drink in preparation and rolls a nat 1 (she is drunk beyond belief) - She just starts crying about her dad always breaking things. Like her doll when she was a child (he shot it) and Lizzie’s ship (he sawed it in half) - Lizzie agrees he sounds like a dick, Jay says he always loved her - Lizzie confesses she cares about Chip, and that she tried to convince Chip to leave her - Jay admits that when she first started sailing with them, she was a spy

Lizzie gets a little suspicious, but Jay says she never reported anything to them - Jay gets giggly when drunk [so cuteeeeee] - They talk about their mutual love for Chip, despite his sillyness - Lizzie admits there’s hope for some of the Black Rose pirates to be alive - When Jay starts to worry they’ve made the conversation to dark, Lizzie reminds her that that’s why you drink. To open up with people you wouldn’t usually be able to - They’re the women, the girlbosses - Jay says she wants to be the best pirate ever, but Lizzie warns her that’s there’s lots layers - Lizzie says she wants to prove everyone who ever called her weak wrong [by very extreme methods] - Jay says the Navy is a lil fucked up - Lizzie says they should redistribute the power so everyone is equally fucked up [I think Caspian is canonically a communist] - they both get another drink and fail, if they fail again they’ll pass out - they really like each other now - Lizzie slips and says Jay looks a lot like her sister, but backtracks saying she didn’t know Jay had a sister - Jay wants to beat the shit out of everyone in the Navy - Jay asks what Lizzie will do now that John is back - They will use John knowledge to find some shit out in the North Sea - Lizzie admits they have some double agents within in the navy, but she can’t say more or else Caspian would kill him

Chip walks in with Ollie - They’re talking about what tattoos they want - Chip promises that they will prank someone today - Then they make their way to the girls - Jay grabs his face, “You’re real” - Chip sets up to prank Jay by getting her to get a tattoo - Jay tells him that they were having a heart to heart - Lizzie says Chip should shut up if he doesn’t want to get killed - Lizzie has a pink wave tattoo sleeve - Lizzie challenges Chip to a fight in The Pit

Gillion walks up to the porthole with Eden and Caspian - When asked to give a piece of the Pirate Code, he recites the “don’t piss your pants” one - apparently it’s a rule because “fear piss” attracts the strongest sea monsters - and they walk into The Porthole and find the others very quickly - Gill introduces Eden, Jay calls her cute and Chip goes “wow” - After Caspian reminds her they’re safe among pirates, Eden lets her hood down - “Gill, why didn’t you tell me you had such a cute sister?” “Because I didn’t know if I would ever see her again :|” - Chip immediately starts acting a fool - Lizzie drags Chip to the pit before he can start flirting - Eden feels very awkward, but warms up to Jay fairly quickly

The Pit is a beam over a mud pit - Lizzie rolls up her sleeves and says winner gets the other persons ship - Chip denies those terms at first, but everyone tells him not to be a pussy - Eden knows Lizzie - Ollie cheers for Chip - Jay picks Ollie up so he can watch his uncle fight - Lizzie rolls a higher initiative and throws a punch that misses - Chip doesn’t really want to hit her, so he slides behind her and uses the bandana to mimic her - Lizzie boops him, and then her eye starts glowing purple - Moving to the side, Chip shoves her in the ribs - Lizzie just barely keeps her footing - Lizzie throws another punch, but misses again - Chip trips her, sending her into the mud pit - The crowd that has gathered cheers for him, before Chip cannonballs into the mud with Lizzie - Everyone is in good spirits and standing - Still covered in mud, Chip introduces himself to Eden. Poor, poor Eden starts gagging from the stench surrounding Chip. - Caspian helps Lizzie and Caspian clean off before they meet again towards the back of the Porthole

Chip still has a big head from the win - Caspian starts the conversation while Lizzie naps a little bit - Ollie and Chip tell Gill that Apple is a magical not bird - Gill tells Chip that he’s met people and he’s met birds and he’s 65 percent sure that Apple is a bird [I love himmmmmm] - Chip explains transfiguration - They ask Jay if she’s a bird and she tries to fly - Chip starts trying to impress Eden, introducing himself as the captain of the Riptide pirates and ignoring Gillion explaining the co captain thing - Gill gives the funny crew run down - Chip asks if she’s ever had anybody important like a crew in her life, obviously trying to find out if she has an S/O - Eden admits she doesn’t know much about pirates, but that it’s great to hear that they have such a wonderful family - Gill shows Pretzel to Eden, and Eden remarks on how big she’s grown - Eden is happy that Gill wasn’t completely alone all this time - Gill says they don’t have to talk about his childhood right now - In order to change the subject, Eden admits she doesn’t have anybody right now, and that she’s sorry she had to show up in her work clothes - Chip says she looks great - Jay comes back wondering why she thought she was a bird - Eden says that she has her parents back home, that her and Caspian are good friends, and that she’s met Lizzie twice now - Chip continues to be insufferably, remarking that oh yeah, he’s kind of like Lizzie’s older brother, no big dea, you know, he just tries to look out for her is all B) [I cannot with him.] 

Gill asks how the parents are [it was just a mistake to you. To me? Gill calls them THE parents because they were never really HIS parents. Not after they abandoned gave him to the elders] - Eden responds that she tries to visit them, but doesn’t think they know they are in the oversea - Gill worries that he was banished from his home and will never be able to return, but Eden comforts him that whatever the elders decided proves nothing about Gillion’s character. - “I thought I did everything right.” [I’m crying. He sounds so tearful. I am not normal about this man and listening to this podcast reminds of that] - Gill tells her the elders are well informed to make good decisions, but Eden tells him that no matter what they told him, a lot of things are going to change.

Chip asks why they didn’t grow up together - Gill explains that he didn’t have many friends or family visiting him while he grew up in the palace - Gill says the duties were not always nice. [understatement of the century] - Eden and Pretzel were some of the only reasons he made it through those times - When Eden found out that Gill had been sent away, she’s been looking into the elders and trying to find him - Gill tells Eden he’s sorry he didn’t find a way to contact her - “Gillion, it’s not your fault. Nothing that you have been through has been in your control, and none of it is your fault.” - Gill starts crying - “If you were suddenly dropped into the middle of the ocean, surrounded by strange creatures that didn’t share your ideas, understand what you were, why. And yet you held these things with such conviction. It’s easy to become a representation. It’s just a lot.” [catch me crying into my sour patch kids] - Chip says I didn’t know you had a sensitive side, and Gill responds “It’s because I don’t” [once again, he’s just like me fr]

Eden asks if they can help her with something - She’s been looking into the Undersea Elders and the RAFT Navy - She thinks the navy is gonna try to create an artificial leviathan, to oppose the undersea gods - She can’t say how she learned the information - She needs them to break into RAFT HQ stealthily - Allport is technically neutral, but the Navy is gaining power and targeting undersea dwellers - Eden requests they investigate a specific office that should have the location where they’re building the leviathan - “Besides stopping the underwater mech god, do you guys have anything else going on?” “I mean, kinda” - Eden urges Gill to keep a low profile, only getting the location, or else the citizens of Allport will bear the burden of pirates causing havoc [foreshadowing foreshadowing foreshadowing]

Chip tries to remind Gill of his grandfather, and asks Eden if she remembers anything about him - Eden admits that she doesn’t have many memories with him, but knows that he was a brilliant man who went to the oversea - Chip affirms that Finn is alive and Eden suggests that he might have a lot of the answers that Gill’s been searching for - Eden can’t be associated with any pirates publicly or anything so she really appreciates them being willing to help out - “I don’t mean to brag… but I don’t know if we’ll be able to get up there without being arrested” [Chip, you sad sad man]

Eden asks about Jay being a bird - So Gill and Chip start lying about her actually being a bird who magically appears human - Jay tries to fly again - Ollie tries to help Jay up, but because he’s so strong, he accidentally throws her up into the ceiling 

Chip helps her up and takes her to get a tattoo - he wants to get her a little jaybird feather - Grizz explains how magic tattoos work, but our pirates are broke ass bitches - For Ollie, Chip wants to give him a little riptide flag - And for himself, Chip wants full sleeves of tattoos of blue waves - Jay falls asleep during her session 

Gill asks Eden if she found anything of interest about the elders - Eden is sorry, but she can’t tell him the entire truth yet - Gill tries to see if it’s her choice to keep the secrets, but he can’t fully discern her complicated feelings, but she is not afraid - Gill says he trusts her - They once again celebrate meeting again - Gill voices his desire to destroy robot god, although Eden tells him that the goal is to destroy it before it’s built - Gill asks Caspian for help learning new sword fighting techniques, but he doesn’t have a sword - Caspian gives Gillion his own sword, saying he can lend it - Caspian argues it will give him time to practice hydromancy - In return, Gill gives Caspian the immovable rod - “And as the pirate code, all deals are sealed with a shake” “hmmmmmm��� yes. What are the other ones?” - Caspian says he should ask Lizzie some other day - And he picks up Lizzie ready to take her to the ship

Eden promises that they’ll meet again, but she can’t say when - “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow” [feeling ill about them] 

Chip also gets a coral crown and a bluejay tattoo on his back

They make their way back to the ship with Chip leading the way and Jay leaning on Gill - While passing an alleyway they hear coughing and see drop of blood - Immediately investigating they come upon Old Man Earl clutching his stomach and bleeding profusely 

END OF EPISODE

If you actually looked this far, just know that I appreciate you

[dalishious]

Running Commentary: The Masked Empire Ch 17 & Epilogue

TL;DR: Gaspard and Michel finally have their duel. Briala realizes Celene cannot be trusted, and takes control of the eluvians for herself, claiming them for the elves of Orlais.

—————

After the fight with the varterral, Michel and Gaspard prepare for their duel.

Briala asks Celene where she got her Lady Mantillon ring, the same one Gaspard possesses. Celene says it was given to her as a gift after her parents died, lying that the lady must have felt sorry for her. Briala pretends to believe this, and kisses Celene... when in actuality, she uses this kiss as a distraction to pick the magic ruby that unlocks the eluvians off of Celene's person. (But Celene isn't aware of this yet.)

Gaspard and Michel begin their duel, but Lienne and Mihris cheat using magic to hex Michel. Briala picks up on this, but when she tries to stop the fight, the two mages supporting Gaspard say that they can't hear her, #BecauseMagic. So Briala slits Lienne's throat, and then announces that she's figured out Mihris is possessed by Imshael. Imshael threatens to just kill everyone if he doesn't get what he wants, but is sated by Felassan's mental promises of something big to come.

“You know, you’ve got a good point,” Felassan said. “Fire and swords are dull. But what if something bigger was coming?” “I’m listening, Slow Arrow,” said the demon. “What could you possibly do that you and I have not seen a hundred times before while the sweaty mortals lusted and grappled and bled their lives away?” Felassan said nothing, just smiled, twisting the tattoos around his face. “Oh, my,” Imshael breathed. “Is that a promise?” “Well, I was going for more of a threat.” Imshael turned to Celene, who stared at him uncertainly. “Empress,” he said, “best of luck to you. I do believe you’re going to need it. Whatever happens, I believe that Orlais is going to be quite exciting for the next little while.” Then light flared around Mihris, and she fell to her knees, her staff flickering back to icy white. For a moment, a smoky shape flickered around Mihris, a haze that clung to her body, and then it was shooting across the room through one of the mirrors on the wall. The mirror flared brilliant red, then darkened back to the inert dullness of its dormant state, and the demon was gone.

(Felassan is, of course, thinking about Solas's world-ending plans.)

With that taken care of, Briala thinks about the last story Felassan told her of Fen'Harel. She interrupts the fight by calling out to Michel, saying she is enacting the debt he owes her, and orders him to yield. Michel does so, and also reveals to everyone else that his mother is an elf as he drops his sword.

Celene demands answers from Briala.

Celene spun at Briala, her daggers drawn. Briala stepped away, two steps carrying her out of range. She did not draw her own blades, but she was certainly looking at Celene now, and Celene cursed herself for a fool as she saw the anger in her lover’s eyes. “Why?” Celene gripped her blades so tightly that her fingers burned. “Tell me again how you will free my people.” “I gave you my word!” Celene stepped forward, a dagger raised. “I swore!” “And I think you even believed yourself.” Briala swallowed. “But when the nobles protested, when it threatened to weaken the empire, you would have let it go. You would have ignored your promises to me, knowing that I would always forgive. That I would always stand at your side.” Now her blades came out. “After all, I believed in you even after you killed my parents.”

Briala put together that Celene in actuality got her ring from Lady Mantillon after her first arrangement of death as part of the Game; namely, all the servants in her estate, including Briala's parents. And Briala herself, had she not successfully hidden from them, if you recall.

Celene jumps to attack Gaspard, and while everyone is focused on that, Briala dashes for the pedestal. Realizing this, Celene notices that she no longer as the keystone ruby, and that Briala took it from her in that last kiss. Celene tries to kill Briala, but is stopped by Mihris. Briala reaches the pedestal, and whispers a passphrase to secure her control of the eluvians. She announces, “I claim these eluvians for the elves of Orlais.”

Briala uses the eluvians to send Michel and Gaspard away. Celene tries one more time to say that she would have freed the elves, but Briala is done falling for that shit.

“I would have freed them, Bria.” Celene stood a few paces away. Mihris and Felassan leaned against the pedestals, not quite blocking Celene’s path to Briala. “So you say,” Briala said. “But freedom is not given. It is won.” “It is both.” Celene shook her head, wiping tears from her eyes. She seemed so much smaller now than she had in Val Royeaux. “Have you seen nothing in all the years you spent at my side? Change comes through careful planning, through compromise.” “You compromised my parents.”

Briala then sends Celene to Halamshiral.

Mihris asks if Briala will share the passphrase to the eluvians with her, which Briala laughs off, but does promise that she will work with Dalish only if they help all elves. Mihris departs, leaving just Briala and Felassan.

“Are you sincere? You will use the paths of the eluvians to help your people?” Briala thought for a moment. “Celene and Gaspard saw an army, but that would be fighting their fight. With the paths, I could get food to alienages where elves would otherwise starve. They would let me move ahead of an oncoming army and warn the target, or move behind them and attack their supply lines.” “Which army are you going to hamstring?” Briala looked over at Felassan, smiling, even as she started to shiver from the winter’s chill. “Whichever one seems to be winning. What was it? Anaris and Andruil?” Felassan smiled. “You prolong their fight, and in the chaos, your people work free from their bonds?” “It can work, I think.” Briala held her arms around her. “Halamshiral rioted because of a single nobleman. I can find elves who will help me with my work in every city in Orlais, and more who are too afraid to fight, but will serve as eyes and ears if I can help their children survive the winter.” “That is,” Felassan said, and after a pause, finished, “a unique use of the ancient relics of our people, da’len.” “I think Fen’Harel would have approved,” Briala said, and saw Felassan give a startled laugh. “He might have,” her teacher said, “though I very much doubt it.” “Oh, I almost forgot,” she said. “The passphrase to access the eluvians. In case we’re separated, it’s—” She broke off as his fingers brushed her lips, looking at him in surprise. Felassan smiled again, but his eyes were sad, and wiser than Briala could ever imagine. “Don’t.” She looked at him silently for a moment, and then put it together. “You’re leaving.” “I must.” “The Dalish?” He snorted. “Them? Please.” Then his face turned serious. “But the elves of Orlais are in good hands, it seems. Many other things are not, and I have more work to do elsewhere.” She nodded, though her eyes stung. Begging him to stay would accomplish nothing, she knew. The protestations in the back of her mind—that she had more to learn, that she could not do this without him—she silenced before they gained a voice. The wisest man she had ever known trusted her to winher people’s freedom. And to her surprise, she found that she didn’t doubt his judgment. “One last question, then, hahren. Was this…” She gestured at the tunnels; then at the woods where, somewhere a few days’ journey away, Clan Virnehn lay dead; then to the north, where Halamshiral tilted toward the war that might set her people free. “Was this always your plan?” He chuckled one last time. “No, da’len. You did this yourself.” He leaned in and kissed her gently on the forehead. His lips burned like a brand, and her head spun for a moment.

Felassan disappears, and Briala whispers the passphrase, “Fen’Harel enansal” (Dread Wolf's blessing) to seal off the tunnel.

Celene arrives in Halamshiral and begins preparations to engage in a civil war.

Gaspard and Michel are transported somewhere in the wilderness, and part ways, with Gaspard vowing to keep Michel's secret origins hidden.

Felassan contacts a mysterious person, who we know is Solas, in the Fade. He reports that he does not know the eluvian passphrase, and refuses to take it from Briala. So Solas kills him.

The Masked Empire is a wild read, because there's so much I can't stand about the story... and yet at the same time, it has some great characters in Briala and Felassan.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my commentary, and found it helpful if you've never had the opportunity to read the novel yourself.

[oflostinfound]

🐚 Summer Ball Schedule 🐚

|| 🔷 ||: ❝ This isn't a set schedule because the last ball I had to shift some of the games- but just to put out the general order of events...❞

[ THIS SCHEDULE IS IN EASTER STANDARD TIME (EST) ]

12pm (Noon) - Opening Words / Guest Arrival - If muns would like to write a short drabble of how their muses arrive at the ball I will reblog it here for visibility and tag it "summer ball guests" so that people can see who is present

1pm - The First Game: Ocean Fact Trivia! - I will post a link to the ocean facts quiz. It's a 10 question quiz and should be a relatively chill game and allow for more dash commentary / rps to happen. Each question answer correctly is a point towards a Summer Royalty Title!

2pm - The Second Game - The Scavenger Hunt! - I will post two screenshots with items hidden within them. To submit responses Please Send An Ask With The Circled Items. The first 7 to find everything will get points in a range of 8 for first place and 2 points for seventh place. Everyone after will get 1 point.

3pm - Open Floor Dancing - A break between games where muses can interact more, wander the venue, grab drinks and food, all an all it's down time to mingle, really.

4pm to 5pm - The Third Game - Test of Laughter! - Bring your best jokes, because this game is to make a Special Guest laugh as hard as he can. The guest will award points based on the quality of the jokes and the amount of hoots and hollers you can get out of him.

6pm to 7pm - The Final Game - Sand Symbols! - In which I will post a link to the Drawize room for, essentially, a game of pictonary!

8pm - Best Dressed Announcement - As it says, Eath will announce the winner of the Best Dressed competition!

9pm - Crowning of the Summer Royalty - The Seven Royals of Summer will be announced and called fourth for their crowns.

10pm to Midnight - Cooldown - A chill end to the night filled with more dancing, food, drink, and other chill activities

Times are subject to change based on party energy / Mun's Availability, but I will do my best to stick to the schedule.

[inkofamethyst]

January 13, 2024

LOVE when the girls (Batman and Superman) start to tussle. Like yes, the Bruce/Clark friends dynamic is cute and fun and they're totally a power couple, but the tension when they disagree is so good. Anyway some other commentary no one asked for: 1. Superman TAS should not have ended like that lol. We never even got to see Lois figure out who Clark was, never got to even see them together. The episodes were fine, but the show had at least another season in it. 2. The music in Justice League (animated) is so bland, I don't think it's live. I do appreciate when they play character themes though :) 3. JL S2 definitely improved over S1. The stories are more interesting, the writing is snappier, overall more fun. 4. In love w Shayera. Like actually. Like to the point where I would even get back into comics just to read her stuff fr.

The apology from Keyleth to Laudna in c3e81!!! "For... everything." I mean that's not particularly specific, but 1. it certainly sounded like it carried the weight of the Sun Tree and 2. if anyone out of VM was going to apologize for what happened to Laudna even if it technically wasn't quite their fault it was going to be Keyleth for sure. I don't know if she'd gotten a heartfelt apology from any of them before that. (Of course, this could just be me being hopeful. Keyleth/Matt totally could've not been insinuating that at all and I was just reading into things too deeply. I don't watch Talks Machina so I guess I'll never know for sure lol.)

Found a steampunk playlist on spotify and it's really just driving orchestral in peculiar time signatures, sometimes with the classic Hans Zimmer flair, but I do kind of adore it. Makes me feel very powerful. It's been several years since I was into the "epic"/"scorecore" genre and I'm enjoying it!

Really only a week left of break (how???). Still a few things I want to get done, but I've made decent progress on the goals.

Today I'm thankful that, on clear nights, I can see stars from my bedroom window. Not many of them (light pollution probably), but I can pick out Orion :) A bonus feature, along with the sunset views, I lucked into here which I've never had before.

Re:Dressing Up to Walk About -- sometimes it's more important to just get out and walk, and if putting a coat over some house clothes and a scarf around an unwashed face is the answer then so be it. Beats spending a full day inside a single room by a mile. [edit, next day: upvote, just got caught in a cute little snow flurry!]

Last thing: halfway through The Winter King. I still think the romance was rushed, but there's been a bit of sweetness added which did make me feel warm and fuzzy inside so, points for that. I think I prefer more of a.. tender loving care romance with dashes of angst rather than an angsty romance with dashes of TLC (but I also don't read much true romance at all, so (and I think that's the crux of it, this is a fantasy-romance, a romantasy if you will, and I think I'm learning that this is just not my genre? I don't mind romance (Geralt/Yennifer, Kaz/Inej, even Tress/whatshisface), but I think I prefer when it's kind of secondary to a more driving plotline (or maybe there are better romantasies out there idk))).

Lots of media talk today hehe

[wajjs]

i remember the year 2012, i was extremely active in (redacted) circles and logging onto tumblr using the family desktop computer because back then tumblr didn't have an app for android users (logging in using your phone's browser was as much of a pain as it is today).

anyway.

i remember hitting the daily post limit every single day. and when i would hit that limit, i would make do by sending asks (we didn't have direct messages) until i'd hit ask limit as well. there was fanmail, of course, but that was private, you couldn't post it and also you didn't keep a copy of the message you sent. so fanmail was only used when you were really, really desperate, since, to my knowledge, it didn't have a daily limit.

during one of the times i hit my daily post limit, it happened in, perhaps, the most humiliating way possible.

picture this: me sitting in the living room, logging onto tumblr using the family pc, not even bothering with incognito mode since my parents didn't (and still don't) know english.

so far, so good.

my parents, however, do have working eyes, and there are things that trascend language when it comes to moving pictures. or just pictures in general.

i never feared god, and i never had much shame in regards to my online activity to begin with, so it's not like i was being extra careful. perhaps i was too confident. perhaps i fell to my hubris, icarus flying too close to the sun and scorching himself with its flames just like i scorched myself with the situation i put myself in.

i have no one else to blame.

you see, i had been blogging as usual, seeing hardcore porn on the dash like they were wildflowers blooming just about everywhere, and doing my part in reblogging some of that hardcore porn when i felt like it fitted my blog's vibe.

(my blog didn't have a vibe.)

as i was doing that, i guess you could say that i hyper focused on just... sharing the porn i found nice to look at. there was something artistic about it, about the gifs and the portrayal of writhing bodies, of thrusts and squirts and crying faces, of hands around throats, of—you get the idea.

the thing is that i was in my zone. i was vibing.

i was reblogging and reblogging and reblogging, and back then you still had to open your reblog in a new tab if you didn't want to lose your place while scrolling down the dashboard. i was doing all of that. adding commentary in the tags, saying "this should happen to x character", or "omg fic inspo", or "pssss (blog) for your art". the type of tags you've seen before. the type of tags we've all seen before.

and then.

and then my hubris hit me.

the family desktop back then was this old thing, almost as old as i was. we had refurbished it a couple of times to keep it functional, but it never quite recovered after windows xp rolled around.

it all happened in this succession of events:

i reblogged an explicit yaoi picture with a catboy and a normal, non hybrid young man. i went to open the next tab, where i knew the gif of a man eating out a pussy with stubble is awaiting its turn. i tried to reblog it, and i got the notification that i had just hit daily post limit. i wasn't too bothered by it, and kept scrolling down past the miss a, mblaq, glee, hp, doctor who, etc, gifs that were intermingled with porn. and then—

my whole computer froze. for one long, very long, second, i sat there, watching with a frown and trying to scroll down, to move the cursor around, but nothing was happening.

there's the tail end of a doctor who gif on the top margin of the screen, but front and center you could see in all its glory a guy finger blasting another guy's hole.

this is when i started to sweat a little.

the only thing that was stopping my dad from seeing the content on the screen was my back, since he was sitting right behind me. i couldn't move a single inch. but if i didn't act like everything's normal, then he would be suspicious, and he would end up looking over my shoulder to inevitably see this guy with veins popping in his forearm just jamming three thick fingers in there. looking for gold. going all the way.

i told myself, okay. just breathe. give the computer a couple of seconds and it'll start working properly again.

but you guessed it: it never did.

by then i felt like an eternity had passed and the computer was still frozen. my dad's flipping through channels behind me. he's not even invested in whatever's being shown on tv. okay. i can still work with this, i thought.

but there was one thing i had forgotten about.

the player that i forgot all along in the dangerous game i liked to play:

my mother, waking up from her nap. she's stepping out of the room. to get to the kitchen, to get started on dinner, she needed to walk through the living room where me and my divine punishment sat. i turned my head to stare at her. our eyes met.

she clocked it.

she IMMEDIATELY knew something was up.

i could tell so by the way she stood straighter, and how she was now walking with a purpose right at me. i had just seconds, barely seconds, to do something and save myself from hellish intervention.

fight or flight hit.

while holding eye contact, i reached down under the monitor and YANKED on all the cables. she was almost upon me. for good measure, i pressed down on the pc's power button and don't let go.

with just one second to spare, my mother made it to my side. the screen was, blessedly, black.

i survived to live another day.

remember when there was porn and no ads. i miss it

[distressedgold]

“...” Kikimora’s just watching Darius and the strange human being sweet with each other. “....I give it a week.”

[dealtricks]

blue: existing.  gabriel: this is - this is friend ??? righ - 

[starpunches]

“Hey, don’t go roping me in with the others. Any of you geriatrics save an earth before you were 10 years old? Didn’t think so.”

[whxtcllsthcstxry]

"That's my wife!~"

[mayansmcsblog]

Her world or mine

I have no idea when i wrote this but i found it in my drafts half done so i finished it and- yh that's about it😅

This was meant to be based upon the song her world or mine but i got off track so its only loosely based upon it.

word count: 3640

Enjoy!

He hasn't used the truck for weeks, he had no reason to anymore, being in it only brought back memories of you. The long drives, the short drives too. The way you would hold his hand while he was driving or how you would remind him to pay attention to the road when he looked in your direction for too long. All the memories were fresh within his mind- almost as if it was yesterday. 

Even now, he was only sitting in it, he had to do the beer run and obviously that couldn't be done on a bike, he had to take the truck, but all he could think about was how you used to sit in the passenger seat beside him. He could see it in his mind so vividly, if he didn’t know you had moved on he would swear you were sitting with him. 

Looking at the dash his gaze caught the Polaroid photo that was still in its place next to the radio. Your face accompanied a smile whilst his had his usual ‘tough’ man expression, but if you looked close enough, you would be able to see a small smile placed upon his lips. You took it at one of the infamous Mayans parties, he remembered how it took you around 10 minutes to ‘convince’ him to take it, he wanted to take it from the moment you suggested it but he wondered how far you would go to get him to do it

-

“Please” you had been begging him for the last 5 minutes in attempt to get him to take a photo with you but to no avail

“No” you two were sitting on the bench outside the clubhouse, people surrounding the both of you, everyone was involved on their own conversations so neither of you paid any mind to them. Of course he was still aware of his surroundings but was more relaxed than usual

“But come on” you begged

“No y/n” he kept his face as straight as he could but you could slowly see a shadow of a smirk forming upon his lips

“Why?”

“No face no case” he shrugged with a slight smirk on his face, clearly that was a lie. Not even 20 minus prior you had taken a photo of all of the club members standing outside of the clubhouse per bishop’s request so he could frame it and hang it somewhere within the clubhouse to show off the members.

“Why are you so stubborn?”

“Why are you so adamant? “He questioned

“Because” 

“Because what?” standing up he motioned for you to do so as well,

“Just because”

“Come on follow me”

Standing up you took this hand as led you away from the party,

“Where are we going?”

“To take this god damn photo”

-

Recalling that night he felt a pain inevitably run across his chest, sure you two were only friends when it was taken but that night was the foundation for building the relationship you two once shared. 

Why had he been so stupid to let you go?

He knew he would have to drive past your place to get to the brewery, it was inevitable really. There was no other way unless he was going to drive an extra 30 minutes, which he didn't have time for.

when he reached the turn in to your street he slowed down a little, looking at your house from a distance he could see a car he didn’t recognize in the driveway. As he got closer he could see two people on the porch, he immediately recognized you accompanied by some guy. 

Of course you had someone else.

-----

Sitting on the couch you couldn't help but let your mind drift back to him, you missed his smile, you missed the way he would have a running commentary while watching anything on the TV, you missed how he would hold you after a long day, you missed everything about him.

“You’re thinking about him again, aren't you?” 

You did nothing but hum in response

Your brother had elected to stay with you for a few weeks while he was on a business trip for some type of expansion for the company he worked for. Originally it was a good idea, it kept you mind off Ez, but the more time your brother was here, the more he talked about his wife back home and how he couldn't wait to get back to her just made you think about how you don't have someone in your life to look forward to anymore, you no longer had someone you could tell everything to, someone who would stay by your side, someone you knew would be waiting for you when you were away from home. As much as you loved your brother, you were thankful he was leaving tomorrow

“Im gonna go get a drink” standing up you heard your brother mumble something in response but you elected ignored him and heading to the kitchen.

As you approached the fridge you spotted the picture of you and Ezekiel stuck on the door. You were pretty sure it was Coco who had taken when him, you, Ez and Angel went over the border for a day because none of you had anything to do and for some reason Mexico was the first thing that was suggested. You had been meaning to get rid of it but couldn't bring yourself to. Alot of memories were collected between the four of you, some of them you were just not ready to let go of yet.

By now he was probably already in another relationship so why were you still holding on?

Grabbing a bottle of water you headed outside and sat on the porch steps. You knew there was a party at the clubhouse tonight, Angel had invited you to come, but you knew Ez would be there. 

Did you really want to see a girl all over him while you're still here alone? Because that would definitely happen

Maybe he wouldn't be there? Or maybe he would be too busy doing stuff to even realize you were there 

You were too wrapped up in your own mind to even realize your brother had stepped outside till you heard a creak from the wood behind you 

“Y/n?”

“Yeah” 

“you okay?" He asked sitting beside you

 “yep"

You two sat in silence for a few moments before he started talking once again

“I love you ye? Don’t let that boy ruin you. He lost you by his own fault. You did nothing” he rambled on about how you should have been treated better and how Ez lost the best thing he could ever have. But you knew he was wrong.

Ezekiel always treated you like a queen, your brother met him one time and barely spoke to him for longer than five minutes. As far as you were concerned you brother didn't know anything about him

While he was rambling you were looking into the distance, mainly just looking at the sky but you could have sworn you saw his truck drive past, but maybe you were just seeing things right? His truck wasn't the only one, there were probably millions of them.

-

The party was in full swing, people were everywhere, the room full of patches from all over. mass amounts of people from charters were visiting in celebration of a new deal with the sons, leaving Ez to tend the bar along with some hang rounds.

Wiping down the bar he couldn't help but think about you for the billionth time today. He knew you two broke things off but it didn't mean you had to leave everyone from the club behind as well as him.

"Bro what the hell is wrong with you?" Angel questioned

"Nothing" shrugging his shoulders he dropped the bar rag and turned to get angel a beer from the fridge behind him

"Stop lyin man, what's going on in that head?" Angel knew his own brother better then to believe 'nothing' was going on with him, something was always going on up in Ez's brain, even if he didn't admit it

"I dunno man, I just think it's weird how y/n left us you know?" Ez shrugged again, handing angel a beer

"She didn't leave us. She’s distancing herself. Got a lot of family shit going on right now" he explained, you kept Angel in the loop with everything, after all he was your best friend even before Ez and you got together, if Ez wouldn't tell you something- Angel would.

"Just think it’s weird" Ez repeated, messing with the bar rag once again

"Ya well she’s coming tonight”

Before Ez could respond coco stood next to Angel 

"Who’s comin?"

The brothers looked at each other for a moment before angel came up with an idea 

"Just some random bird for our boy scout to bed"

"My man," Coco chuckled "finally gonna get your dick wet huh?"

----

You knew this was a bad idea, you knew he would be here. 

Was he going to be with another girl? Actually stupid question, of course he would be

Opening your phone you sent angel a text

‘I'm like five minutes out but i swear to God if you abandon me tonight i will hit you so hard that you can't remember anything for a week’

At least he would walk in with you so you weren’t alone right?

---

Angel stood up abruptly in the middle of a conversation he was having

"Where the fuck you going?" Coco questioned, lighting a cigarette from the chair he was sitting in

"Meet a friend"

"A friend huh?"

"Yeah...maybe you'll like her" Angel replied before grabbing his beer and retreating towards the door.

---

Walking through the gate you saw the front of the club littered with patches. Some of them were from different charters. Weird, angel never mentioned other charters visiting, by the look of the outside, you could only imagine the clubhouse itself is packed with people.

Scanning the crowd you spotted the person in question walking towards you

“Hey stupid face”

“good evening stupid head”

“that's basically the same thing i just said” 

"oh shut up i couldn't think of insult fast enough”

Pulling you into a hug you couldn't help but feel a little more relaxed. Angel was always like an older brother to you, an annoying one at that but still a brother.

It had been weeks since you saw him, being back in his company made you feel safe again, almost like a sense of home

He placed a kiss on your temple “We missed you here”

“Yeah, I know” letting him go you looked around, mainly to see if any of the other guys were in sight but also to see if coco was around, expecting to be attacked as per usual. 

Angel took notice of you scanning the crowd “He's inside”

“Hmm? Sorry I got no idea what you're on about”

Pulling you into his side he wrapped an arm around your shoulders “sure ya don't”

Walking inside you scanned the crowd once again, thankfully coco was nowhere to be seen for the moment and most of the guys were spread out around the room. Bishop and Taza were playing pool, Gilly and Creeper were sitting at the table in a conversation whilst hank sat opposite them looking at something on his phone, Ez was tending the bar like usual but this time he was accompanied by some hang rounds.

At least there isn't girls hanging off him yet 

“C'mon let’s get a drink huh” angel lightly shoved you towards the bar playfully.

“No”

“No?” his eyebrows raised playfully

“No and if you try to make me go over there with you i promise i will embarrass you” you laughed 

“Fine”

After he got the drinks you both sat at a table in the corner for a while talking, the majority of the topics were about what had been happening while you were distanced from everyone.

Eventually Coco spotted you two and joined in the conversation. you sat talking to the two of them while everyone else was up to their own things, you didn't mind, the both of them combined made for some very interesting storys, the conversation could never die. After around 10 minutes, Angel had left you two alone saying he “wasn't bout to listen to this shit ''- which was super ironic considering the topic of conversation was about modifications for a new bike coco had brought a few days ago

“How does your bike handle anyway? I heard they are bottom heavy and hard to manoeuvre sometimes” you questioned. overtime Ez had taught you some things about bikes, mainly when he was just rambling about random things not thinking you were really paying attention to what he was saying

“It’s alright i guess, sometimes it slips when I lean too far on corners, other times it tends to not wanna go the way I need to but other than that it handles pretty well, arms hurt like a bitch after long ride though” he explained

Nodding your head you understood where he was coming from, having your arms at that angle for hours must have taken its toll

“Ay '' he nodded his head towards someone behind you, Turning your head you saw it was Ez walking through the door with Angel, seemingly engrossed in some type of conversation they were having.

Despite spotting him earlier you only scanned over his appearance but now you actually took a good look at him, he looked different, not much but still different from before. His hair was in the same style but it little more grown out then usual, his facial hair had grown out a little too. His eyes had bangs underneath them and his face looked drained.

All in all he looked like shit.

“You know he’s not the same without you right?” bringing your attention back to coco you couldn't help but feel like you were to blame, maybe if you fought harder of him you two would have never split.

“You two spoke since?” he questioned

“Nope...I got a few drunk calls saying he was sorry but other than that. No” you shook your head. 

After you two first broke up he called you around a week later rambling about something but since he was slurring his words- you could barely understand anything he was saying. You got about 2 voicemails of him saying he was sorry and how he fucked up but- you never spoke to him, never texted him back when he would ask you if you were coming to one of the parties.

“The amount of times we've had to stop him from drunk calling you is unreal”

Playing with the label on the beer bottle in front of you, you thought about what coco said- clearly Ez had attempted to talk to you at some point, but why? The whole breakup was because he needed “space” to deal with some things so why was he trying to talk to you?

“He wanted space, I gave it to him” you shrugged, slowly peeling off the label

“Didn’t mean you had to leave us too” looking up from the bottle you saw coco was now avoiding your gaze

“Yeah...I know” maybe it was wrong of you to drop everyone, but being around them would have only brought back memories of you and Ez. At the time it seemed like a good idea to distance yourself from all of the guys, but now, despite only being here for a hour, you could tell how much you really missed being around them.

“You know he’s walking over here right?” Dropping your head onto the table you let out a sigh causing coco to laugh “I’ll leave you two alone huh?” lifting your head up you looked at him with a facial expression as if to say ‘don’t leave me’ but he did anyway

“Y/n” his voice was low, almost as if he didn’t believe he was saying your name again

“Ezekiel”

“Can we talk?”

“We are talking” sitting up straight you turned in your seat to look at him. He looked even worse up close- the bags under his eyes were alot darker then they seemed from a distance, they made it appear like he hadn’t slept for days, you couldn’t help but notice he had a bruise slowly forming on top of his right eyebrow.

“What happened there?”

He looked confused for a moment till you pointed to his eyebrow

“Oh I erm…got into a fight.....with a wall” his eyes were trained onto the floor, almost like he was ashamed.

You hummed in response not sure how to respond without laughing 

“So how have you been?” he questions

“Good i guess..how about you?”

“Alright I suppose”

What followed was nothing but silence between the both of you, neither of you knowing what to say. The sounds of other people talking and rock music became almost deafening as the two of you stayed silent

“Well this got really awkward fast” you spoke up causing Ez to laugh a little

“Yeah..yeah it did” he nodded

After a few more moments you stood from your chair “I'm just gonna-”

“Yeah go, i get it go ahead” he finished your sentence for you.

Nodding you quickly made your way outside, the yard was almost empty by now, people had either left for the night or had moved inside.

You spotted Angel sitting on the front steps fiddling with one of the rings on his hand while looking at something in the distance. You sat beside him in silence, neither of you even attempting to make conversation but simply just being trapped within your own minds.

When you and Ez broke up you knew things would change, you knew the two of you probably wouldn't be able to have the same conversations you would before, but you never expected them being so awkward.

Maybe it was just because the wound was still pretty fresh, after all it had only been just over a month

After a few minutes you heard the door behind you open as someone stepped out, seconds later a figure sat next to you, looking over you saw it was coco

“What we doin? havin a lil moment to yourselves” he asked lighting up a cigarette and offering the both of you one

“Yep” Angel responded, taking one and lighting it before looking somewhere in the distance once again. All three of you sat for a few minutes just looking at seemingly nothing in particular.

Maybe it won't be like this forever? At some point there has got to be a time where you can come to the club without feeling awkward because ez’s here.

You heard the clubhouse door open once more behind you and once again, you didn't turn around, but coco did

"Ay man sit" you heard him say as he snapped his fingers at space left beside him to whoever stepped out from the door. It didn't take long for whoever it was to sit down.

Much like he did with you and Angel, Coco offered the person a cigarette which they must of silently declined from the lack of verbal exchange.

There has to be a point when you and the club can all hang out together like before....there has to be a stage where you and Ez can talk like normal people without it being awkward….right?

Seemingly out of no were Coco spoke up, nodding his head towards two stacked benches on the opposite side of the yard "You think i could clear those in one attempt?"

Angel was the first to respond "Absolutely fucking not" he paused for a moment- looking where the benches were stacked "but I'd love to see you try"

"I bet $50 you fail and fall face first" someone spoke up, looking to your left you finally realized who stepped out earlier ..Ezekiel

"Bet, ill prove you wrong" coco stood, taking off his kutte and placing it on the stair rail "you two wanna place any bets?" Coco looked at you and Angel

"Nope, I'm good" you shook your head

"I bet $50 that you don't clear it" Angel responded

"You have no faith pretty boy" coco responded, shaking his head  as he started to walk over to the benches

"This is going to end in a hospital trip" you stated making both Angel and Ez laugh

All three of you watched as coco seemed to examine the height of the two benches, planning the distance he would have to run to gain enough speed to propel himself over them and how he would land the jump

"You think he's gonna snap his nose again?" Ezekiel questioned

"Definitely" both you and Angel replied

All three of you watched as coco began to run towards the benches, from your angle it looked as if he could clear it....you were wrong. 

Seconds later coco was laying face first in the dirt, one leg was on the floor while the other was stuck in a piece of wood on the bench that had broke underneath his weight

"I think i broke my nose" you heard coco exclaimed causing all three of you to laugh. The few people who were still outside drew their attention to the scene and started laughing too when they realized what happened.

"Ill go get some paper towels" you said, still laughing.

Maybe this was a sign nothing had changed between the four of you, that you could all still hang out and do stupid stuff like before

Maybe nothing has to change

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

An| hope you enjoyed this fic. Honestly have no idea why or when i started writing this but 🤷🏼‍♀️ . *sorry for any spelling or grammar errors or any parts that don't make sense. only scanned it before posting it*

ALSO- i swear part two to the prank war is coming! Its just talking awhile for me to find a way to describe to things going on as well as being busy with other stuff.

[sirisuorionblack]

James the mother hen

James Potter x Hufflepuff!Reader

Requested - dude hi!! could you maybe do james potter x hufflepuff reader where the reader plays quidditch and gets hurt during a gryffindor v hufflepuff game and he feels really guilty about it and is really overbearing because he wants to help her feel better? or maybe just a sick day fic where james is helping her lol i’m just a sucker for mom friend worried james. thank you!!

Warning - Minor injuries

Authors Note - This is my first time writing in second POV so, sorry if its not great. Hope you like @riddikulusweasleys! 

“Hey, prongs, look who is coming,” Sirius dragged his syllables at the last word, looking at his best mate with a wide smirk on his face. 

James looked up from his single piece of toast - healthy breakfast before quidditch, he said when the rest three of them gawked at him - to Sirius, who was wiggling his eyebrows then across the great hall to spot you in your mustard quidditch robes, grinning as you walked toward him. 

Remus chuckled at his best friend whose hand immediately flew to his hair, making them even messier and adjusting his glasses, “Your drooling, mate,” 

“Well, I have every right to drool seeing she is my girlfriend,” James said cheekily, his focus slightly faltering from you towards his best friends rolling their eyes. 

“Hello, Mr Potter,” you greeted him, smirking.

“Hello, Ms (L/N),” he said, chuckling. 

“You two are weird,” Sirius muttered, looking between the two of you in disgust although his eyes held a shine.

“You're just jealous, pads,” Peter mumbled. 

“Hey!” Sirius glared at him and soon engaged in a nasty conversation that may or may not have cost the pumpkin juice. 

“You ready for the match?” you asked James, raising your eyebrows and smirking slightly.

James’ stomach suddenly churned anxiously. Now the matter is - he loved quidditch, he loved it more than anything but it was particularly hard for him to play against Hufflepuff ever since you became the captain of the quidditch team a year ago. You had always been a part of the reason why James loved quidditch, your moves and flexes made him much more drawn to you -smitten as Sirius would say- and one of the multiple reasons he finally mustered the courage to ask you out the start of the term.

You knew it, you knew how James felt playing against you, it was rather tough to play against...loved ones? Never have either of you actually muttered those three words to the other.

“Yeah,” James said, his voice cracking in between. 

You smiled softly, and winked, “Your gonna rock it,”

 The two of you after the conversation in the great hall only met at the quidditch pitch. 

“Shake your hands,” Madam Hooch said, motioning you and James to do so.

 A smile on both of your faces as your handshake was more than friendly compared to any other handshakes on the field. 

 The Hufflepuff and the Gryffindor teams were high up in the air, clenching the broom handles, waiting for the quaffle to release because this, after all, would determine the quidditch cup for the year.

Madam Hooch’s whistle echoed through the air as the quaffle was thrown to the players. The whistles and hollers of the crowd were so much that it almost made the players anxious. 

 “The Gryffindor captain first caught the quaffle. You're doing great Jamie boy!” The commentary was given by, of course, Sirius. He was appointed as the temporary commentator after the previous one had a major injury after very strict instructions given by Professor McGonagall. 

“Mr Black,” McGonagall warned. 

“Alright, alright. Minnie is getting mad,” he quickly added, “Oh, look at that. (L/N) has the quaffle, she is flying to the goal. Now, come on, let your boyfriend win, will you?”

You flipped him off with one hand as you flew through the forthcoming Gryffindor team players, diving and serving. 

“Woah! Hufflepuff scores one goal!” Sirius glanced at the parchment before him, “1-0, Hufflepuff to Gryffindor, very bad performance lions, I expected more,” he shook his head as though in pity.

“Mr Black, you're demotivating the players!” McGonagall warned.

“Sorry, Minnie,” Sirius apologized, not so apologetically, “Now, the quaffle is back with the Gryffindor chaser! Yay!”

You dashed to the chaser, circling around them and with one calculated, gentle push the waffle was back to your hands.

“Alright, ladies and gentleman can we give a big round of applause to my best friend’s one day, to be wife,” Sirius asked looking at the crowd expectantly and for his satisfaction, the crowd roared. 

Both James and you came to a halt on your brooms, a dark pink blush on your faces as the crowd roared even louder. But someone in the Gryffindor team had realised it was the best time to knock the quaffle out of your hold.

It was a great idea, you must give that to the red flash that passed by you but the way execution was worst. As the player swished past you, there was a harsh gush of wind and the player missed and had hit you on your elbow evidently knocking you out of your broom. Holding on the broom with one hand you dangled off it, trying to climb back on. 

As though it all were perfectly timed, a loose bulger was aimed at you by Merlin-knows-who and you lost the only balance you had that held you in the air.

The air around you felt colder as the blank spots danced dangerously before your eyes. Your boyfriend’s terrified face was what you saw last before losing your consciousness. 

 “Mr Potter, please stop fretting,” Madam Pomfrey said to James who paced before your bed nervously in the hospital wing, “Nothing is wrong with her,”

“Except?” He insisted.

“Except her ankle is broken,” She said calmly. 

“Broken!?” 

“Her ankle, Mr Potter!”

“It's still broken!”  

“Potter, if this continues I might ask you to leave the room,”

“When will she wake up?” James asked, ignoring Madam Pomfrey's threat. 

“‘M wake,” You mumbled and coughed. James rushed to your bed with some water. Madam Pomfrey sighed and left James to take care of you. 

“You alright?” James asked, taking your face in his hands and scanning every inch of them for him to admire and memorize your beauty with the reason as “checking for injuries”. 

“Yes, James, calm down,” You chuckled. 

“You scared me, did you know that?” James asked, sighing, "I'm sorry,"

"Why are your sorry?" You asked, placing your hands above his.

"I should have caught you or done something instead of Dumbledore at the final moment doing the spell," he looked down, pulling his hands out of your grip and holding your hands.

"James, you couldn't have done anything and it's okay. I am alright now, look," you pointed to your ankle that was heavily wrapped in gauze. 

You heard through your half consciousness Madam Pomfrey say to James that although Dumbledore had performed the charm to stay you afloat but you had hit the ground and broke your ankle.

James winced, "I'm going to ban whoever did that from the team,"

"James," you warned, "This is a game and that happens,"

He sighed, "I feel guilty, you know." He leaned towards the bedside table, fetching the blue potion Madam Pompfrey instructed him to give. 

“Mhm, figured it out,” you smirked.

“Drink,” James said, seriously and rolled his eyes.

You scrunched your nose in disgust looking at the blue semi-liquid potion, “No, that's-”  

“I don't need to hear it, just drink,” James said, looking at you pointedly. 

“Later?” You knew it wouldn't work but it was worth a try nonetheless.

“No,” he narrowed his eyes, “Come on, love, just gulp it,” 

With your nose still scrunched, you glanced at the potion warily. James sighed, moving closer to you and pressed his lips to yours, “Please,” he mumbled against your lips.

You huffed but obliged. Downing the nasty drink and trying not to distract yourself from the bitter taste, you pulled James once again into a kiss. 

After pulling away, James chuckled and blurted, “I love you,”

Both of your eyes widened in shock. You were the first one to regain your composure and grinned at him, “I love you too,”

“Well, it's about time!” They heard a voice very much like Sirius yell, crashes, grunts and then three people running. 

You chuckled, pulling James closer to you, “You're not gonna walk for another month with that broken ankle of yours,”

And true to his words, James carried a blushing yourself to the classes almost every day, you werent complaining though.

[copias-thrall]

Hello there, your stories are great!! Can I ask this? A feverish Pappa III confess his love to his s/o ? Thank you

Thanks for this wholesome ask, nonny! 😊🥰

He’d sniffled his way through yesterday’s sermon.

He’d sneezed his way through dinner.

And while you’d thought the way he sounded all stuffed up was adorable, you hadn’t adored the way he’d coughed through half the night.

“Ai! I am fine!” he’d insisted right before bed. “Nothing a good rest won’t cure, hm?”

But when you’d woken up this morning, he was sweaty and moaning. HIs eyes were glazed, and he’d shivered despite the blankets.

“Papa?” you’d murmured as you’d brushed the damp locks from his hot forehead.

“I’m dying,” he’d groaned as he’d curled into a ball. “Tell The Rat he can’t have my quarters.”

You’d twisted your lips to prevent a smile.

“It’s a cold. Probably from pulling those all nighters last week. You’re not in your 20s anymore, you know…”

He’d cracked a gummy eyelid at you. “I am the picture of youth.”

“Yes, yes…you’re very sprightly. …Except for the whole ‘dying’ thing.”

He’d made a noise at you and had pulled the covers over his head.

“You are not nice to Papa. Go away.”

And then he’d kicked weakly at you as you’d tried not to laugh.

Though you’d wanted nothing more to stay and take care of him, you still had your duties to attend to. Just because you were having a fling with one of the Emeritus brothers didn't mean you were exempt from pulling your weight. (Sister Imperator had made that abundantly clear when she’d cornered you late one night in one of the corridors.)

You’d placed a kiss on the lump you were reasonably sure was his head.

“I’ll call the infirmary and have one of your Ghouls attend to your breakfast.”

The lump had merely nodded.

***

Though your relationship with Terzo wasn’t necessarily established, it wasn’t brand new, either. Of course anyone would have been flattered by his attentions—and you’d never been immune to the smolder in his eyes and his cheeky commentary at sermons—so when he’d propositioned you one morning after mass, you were quick to take him up on the offer.

And the sex had been…wow.

A little of what you had expected, some that you hadn’t, and a lot of “That should be illegal!”

But it was the time with him after that you had come to enjoy the most. That time had been fun. Comfortable. He’d laughed at your jokes, and you’d found him much deeper than his public persona. “Everybody loves a clown, eh?” he’d said as he’d winked at you. The two of you could just exist together quietly, but still have a rowdy good time when he started taking you out on actual dates. Obviously, you weren’t even close to being considered for Prime Mover, but you were no longer a casual liaison.

All of which meant: you still had to show up for your yardworking rotation as Primo micromanaged, but Terzo’s Ghouls gave you the courtesy of updating you on his status.

When you’d been updated midday that what Terzo has was definitely just a bad head-cold and not the flu, you’d still intended to check-in on your lunch break—but a snafu with the Venus Flytraps cut into it so severely that you’d barely had time to scarf down the sandwich and soda you’d selected.

Finally, with the sun hanging low in the sky, you’re cut for the day, and you can dash back to your room to shower off the sweat and dirt from the day.

Now, you can go care for your Papa.

***

The first stop is the kitchen for Terzo’s evening meal, which you find is a hearty steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and buttered spinach paired with a Chablis.

You eye the offering with disapproval; while delicious, this is not a meal for a sick man. When you direct the Kitchen Ghoul to instead make a simple chicken soup and buttered toast paired with coconut water, he chitters at you in annoyance, but in the end, follows your direction.

You’re Papa’s partner, after all.

Usually, Terzo will meet you at the door to his quarters in his ridiculous floral robe if the two of you are staying in, but today, you let yourself in. His living area is dark except for a small lamp giving off a warm glow. When you push open the door to his bed chambers with your hip, you find much the same, and one side of the bed has a humidifier going that exudes the scent of lavender and rosemary. He's still cocooned in his bed, but—despite the relaxing atmosphere of his room—he’s breathing heavily and twitching about.

Poor Papa.

You set the tray down so you can refresh the basin of cool water on his night table, then you kneel at his side so you can gently caress his face with the cool cloth.

He twitches, and then his eyes blink owlishly open.

“Is it time for the Ritual? Are the Ghouls here?” His glazed eyes try to focus on you. “Where’s the other PA?”

“No, Papa,” you murmur as you dip and wring the cloth for a pass down his neck. “You’re at the Abbey. You’re sick in bed, remember?”

“The Abbey?” He blinks rapidly. “Oh. Sí.”

You try to swipe the cloth across his chest, but he jerks away from the cool touch on his fevered skin; he whimpers and grabs his head, curling away from you.

“I know, Papa. It’s no fun being sick.” You run your fingers through his sweaty hair. “Do you think you can get some food down, mm? Then I can give you some ibuprofen.”

He moans, but he shifts up just enough that you can feed him.

Perching on the edge of the bed, you press the spoon to his lips, and he slurps loudly as his wide, fever-bright eyes stare at you.

“My dolce.” 

You smile as you dab his chin and offer him a bite of toast.

“Yes, I am your dolce, Papa. And you are mine.”

“Mine,” he whines as he tries to wrap around you.

You chuckle and carefully unfurl him. “Food first, Papa.”

When you bring the glass to his mouth to wash down the toast, his moist palm wraps around your wrist.

“My dolce here to care for their Papa.”

He kisses the inside of your wrist, and you almost spill the contents of the glass all over him, so you gently extract yourself from his hold.

“Trying anyway.”

You bring the glass up again, and he takes a drink even as his eyes droop despite their lock on yours.

“You’re so good to Papa.”

His head weaves, and you realize you’re fighting a losing battle. But you’ve managed to get him to consume a third of the soup, a triangle of toast, and half the water, which is good enough!

“Because I care about you,” you say absently as you search for the ibuprofen bottle.

When you turn back around, his eyes are closed, and he breathes heavily through his mouth. You make a mental note to find his Irene Forte Pistachio lip balm—Terzo would be horrified if his lips were ever unkissable. 

Fever reducers in hand, you waffle between letting him rest and waking him up. On one hand, his body needs sleep to fight off the infection; on the other, he’ll sleep easier if his fever goes down…but when he lets out a soft moan, you decide that waking him will be brief enough.

You lean forward and gently thumb his hot, flushed cheek.

“Papa? My dolce?”

He twitches, and his eyes unstick. When they focus on you, he lights up and wraps you in an embrace that’s strong despite the fever.

“My dolce...my amore. Ah—I love you. I love you so much.” 

You freeze—you know he cares for you…but he’s never said he’s loved you before. And you’re not sure if the declaration is pure delirium, or if the fever has cleared his inhibitions…

But he pulls you close so he can nuzzle into you.

“My amore…you are the shining and the light. My perfect love, perfect for Papa…stay here. The best that’s happened to me. Stay by my side. Please, amore…”

He applies sloppy kisses to your face, and you give a wet laugh as you carefully extricate yourself from his affections. His words make you feel light and giddy now that you’re sure they’re genuine.

You’ve loved him for a while now.

As you help him lie back, you lean close to murmur in his ear, “I love too, Papa. Very much so.” His expression manages to be bright despite the fact that he’s pie-eyed. “And because I love you, I only want the best for you. So open up and take these pills, ok?”

He gives an exaggerated nod up and down. “And then you will stay?” 

You give him a soft smile. “Of course…love.”

A lazy grin spills across his face. “Okie dokie.” And then he’s opening his mouth wide.

True to your word, once you’re finished ministering to him, you crawl on top of the sheets next to him. He conked out before you had put the glass back down on his bedside table, but as you drape an arm cautiously across his middle, you think you can detect the hint of a smile on your lips.