#a legacy trying to prove himself? well. i would like to see it

[maydayeddie]

i think if they’re gonna keep doing bobby flashbacks they should show what he was like as a young firefighter

[2-dsimp]

Any of the guys with a pregnancy kink?

On the father, the spirit, and the son, pregnant people are fine as fuck. I always be looking respectfully.

- 🤰

【The H.S.M Scenarios; Pregnancy kink edition】

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Cw: MDNI NSFW 🔞 Fem reader, pregnancy kink

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“Atta girl, taking in every single drop like a good mommy~ Just lay back on me wife. I wanna get that cute tummy of yours all plump n full of me again and again—Fuck!”

Nokka the husband, this guys a no brainer. He’s so confident in his seed that he doesn’t even need a pregnancy test to check if he had knocked you up with his baby. But Your husband will let you do so if only to prove that his elite sperm had done its job well. in making his wife’s belly swell up beautifully with his potential son. And hence the moment you started showing a baby bump, your meager time alone at home would diminish. As this man is constantly on you like white on rice. He’s rubbing your belly possessively with his big hand. Watching football while having you warm his cock. Of which he complained got so rock hard that it was borderline uncomfortable for him to even sit wearing his baggy sweats. All because of how his wife was lookin too damn irresistible in that pregnancy glow. (And just in general… this man’s a bonifide caveman simp for his wife)

“Awe my poor player 2~ is our little player 3 acting up too much? Don’t worry! I’ll tell em to take it easy on you mkay mamma? Just spread them legs wide for me so that lil bugger can get the message”

Soma the Zombie, always dreamed of having a team of professional gamers to carry on his legacy of being number one in the world. He often joked around saying that 3 kids wouldn’t be enough. Since he’d never get enough of seeing that radiant glow you’d possess when you’re heavy with his child. And ever since he got infected his obsession with keeping you full got even more demanding. The Zombie had his tentacles that sprouted from him squeezed and kneaded your breasts for any source of milk to suckle on. while his thick gelatinous tendril cock squirmed itself inside your well used cunt. His suckers messaged against your love cannal trying to cease the baby’s incessant kicking by giving them a taste of their own medicine.

“B-but sunshine won’t this u-upset our little starshine? N-no? Then I guess it’ll be f-fine. Just don’t p-push yourself too hard, I only w-want you to f-feel good my love”

Moros the Torturer, would be considering himself blessed to even be able to have such happiness in raising a child with you. He’d always make sure to cater to your every need during your pregnancy. You’ve got a craving for baked goods? He’ll bake enough for a whole football team. Need a deep tissue massage? The Torturer’s on the case, after consulting with Koji the medic what would be the best spots to soothe for his pregnant darling. You’d have to be the one to try and initiate any sort of intimacy to get his gears going. Since he’s a timid gentle giant who’d cry if under the impression that he somehow hurt you. By delving his thick uncircumcised cock so deep inside your wet snatch that its fat tip was kissing languidly against your cervix. With each gentle but jerky buck of his semi inexperienced hips. His scarred hands would always subconsciously find themselves on your stomach. As he’s just so grateful at how now he’s got two stunning guiding lights that’ll brighten up his day.

[persevereforahappyending]

A Legacies Secret |8|

Pairing: Tara Carpenter x Reader

Summary: You just wanted a happy life with your girlfriend but then Ghostface attacks, revealing long thought to be buried family secrets.

Warnings: None?

Word Count: 6.7k+

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15

Sam wiped away her tears as she left Tara’s hospital room. She jumped as the door slammed closed behind her. Tara didn’t need her, she had you now, maybe Tara never needed her. She left, she didn’t have a right to tell Tara what to do or judge the decisions she made. Sam left and her little sister grew up without her, she was an adult who had no need for her big sister anymore.

Sam once again jumped back when she turned away from the door and right into Richie. “Hey, hey, hey, it’s me,” Richie said softly, holding up his hands to show he wasn’t a threat. “It’s okay.”

“Were you listening at the door?” Sam asked, staring at Richie. It was kind of obvious he was listening at the door, just as you probably were, given how quickly you ran into the room. She needed to hear Richie confirm it himself though.

“No, no, of course not,” Richie tried to wave it off. “Okay, yeah, I was listening at the door,” he just as quickly caved, admitting he in fact was eavesdropping.

“It doesn’t freak you out, that my real father was a serial killer?”

Sam searched his face, wondering why he hadn’t run the second he learned the truth. Sam hated her birth father, she hated herself, she hated being related to him, as much as she loved her sister, she couldn’t blame Tara for hating her now as well, she fully expected the same from Richie. You already weren’t a fan of hers, learning this would probably make you officially hate her even more. Sam couldn’t see how anyone could like her, let alone love her, knowing who her father was and what he did. 

“I mean, yeah,” Richie nodded, giving her an awkward smile. “A great deal.” 

“Okay, go, I get it,” Sam shook her head, trying to keep control of her breathing and not breakdown. She had met an awesome guy, a nice guy, and now she had ruined that relationship, just like every other relationship in her life, all because of who her father was. “I just got to stay and figure it out.” Sam didn’t care if Tara hated her, she didn’t care if her sister never wanted to see her again, this was all her fault and she wasn’t leaving until she learned who attacked her sister, she wouldn’t rest until she knew her sister was safe. 

“I’m not leaving you here Sam.” He said it so simply, as if leaving her there alone never even crossed his mind. Sam couldn’t see how that was a possibility, if Richie were smart, he’d leave her, anyone else would have. 

“If you were smart, you’d get the fuck out.” 

“Well, then maybe I’m not smart,” Richie said softly, stepping forward and taking Sam’s hands in his own. “Because I’m staying.” Sam looked up at him in disbelief, she truly couldn’t believe the words she was hearing, she couldn’t fathom why any sane person would stay when all this was going on, why anyone would stay with her knowing how messed up she was. 

Richie looked down, opening a closing his mouth slightly as if he were nervous to say what he wanted to say before looking back up, looking Sam directly in the eye. “I love you,” he said, his voice shaking with each word. Sam’s eyes darted around, searching his face, she truly couldn’t believe he said that. It was the first time Richie had ever said those words to her, she wasn’t sure if him choosing this moment proved how much he loved her or proved how crazy he was for being willing to stay during this insanity. 

“You’re a dumbass,” Sam said. She wasn’t ready to say those words back yet, she wasn’t sure what was keeping her from it, she had known Richie for six months and they had gotten along right away, becoming friends long before they started dating. Sam just couldn’t bring herself to say ‘I love you’ back. 

“So, your sister won’t talk to you,” Richie caressed Sam’s face, then began running his hands through her hair. “The police aren’t going to help, what’s our next move?” 

Sam’s eyes widened slightly as she realized what Richie said was true. She knew Judy had an officer on Tara’s room and others in the hospital, but they still weren’t anywhere close to actually figuring out who Ghostface was, so they were truly on their own in trying to catch this psycho. “We go talk to an expert.” 

Sam approached the trailer of Dewey Riley, with Richie right behind her, one of the perks of living in a small town was it was pretty easy to find someone, it took her less than a minute to get Dewey’s address. She didn’t know what to do, the only thing that made sense was talking to someone who was there at the beginning, who had survived this kind of stuff before. Technically Sheriff Hicks also survived but she didn’t like Sam and she barely counted as being apart of the whole thing. Therefore, it left Dewey, he was also the only one still in town, everyone else was either dead or had some sense and got out of town. 

Dewey was still sheriff before she left town, he was sheriff during all the trouble she caused. She had remembered seeing Dewey around the station, but she had never interacted with him. It was always deputy Hicks she had the displeasure of interacting with. Sam was also never officially arrested, Judy usually brought her home, occasionally when she was feeling petty, she’d cuff Sam, throw her in the back of the cruiser, and bring her down to the station until her mom could pick her up. No, the only person Sam saw Dewey regularly interact with was you. 

“Go away!” a voice shouted from inside the trailer as soon as Sam knocked on the door. 

“Sorry to bother you Mr. Riley,” she yelled back. “We just want to ask you a few questions.” She really needed Dewey to open the door, if he didn’t talk to them, she wasn’t sure what she would do, she had no idea how to prepare for a psycho coming after her and her sister. 

“I don’t give interviews.” Dewey sounded more irritated. Sam couldn’t blame him, she couldn’t imagine what his life has been like, surviving all those attacks and being good friends with Sidney Prescott. Dewey’s life was probably filled with nonstop questions, people and reports asking him to describe what happened to himself and to his friends. It couldn’t have been easy being constantly asked to relive probably some of the worst days of your life. 

“We’re not looking for an interview.” 

Dewey’s face suddenly appeared in the little window of the door to his trailer. “Give me one good reason I should talk to you.” 

“I’m Billy Loomis’s daughter,” Sam said, staring Dewey right in the eyes. This was the first time she said she was Billy’s daughter and didn’t hesitate, she didn’t question the words leaving her mouth. 

The next thing she knew Dewey was opening the door. “That’s a terrible reason for me to talk to you.” Dewey was no longer yelling, Sam wasn’t sure if that was a plus though, he just seemed exhausted now. 

“My name is Samantha Carpenter,” Sam continued, Dewey at least opened the door, and she didn’t intend to back down now. “I was attacked last night at the hospital. The night before that my sister was stabbed seven times. I know you know what that’s like,” she said the last part softly. She might have wanted Dewey’s help, but she didn’t want to seem unsympathetic. “I’m just trying to protect my family,” Sam sighed. “Five minutes, that’s all I’m asking.” 

“I’ll give you two minutes,” Dewey agreed, though he sounded firm in only giving them two minutes. Sam wished it had been more, but she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity, this could be the only chance to get some advice from someone who survived not one attack but multiple. “I’m missing a show I like.” Dewey went back into his trailer, leaving the door open for Sam and Richie to enter. 

“Gale Weathers,” Richie said as he and Sam walked into the trailer. Dewey had her morning show on but quickly turned it off as the three of them sat down. “Weren’t you two…” Sam held in a sigh; she was starting to regret bringing Richie along with her. 

“Yeah,” Dewey said in a tone that made it clear he didn’t want to talk about it. Dewey took an aggressive sip of his coffee, flicking a glare at Richie before focusing his attention on Sam. “Who’s he?” he nodded to Richie. 

“This is Richie,” Sam said. “My boyfriend.” 

Richie smiled, readjusting in his seat as if he were about to offer his hand to Dewey and introduce himself. “How long have you known him?” Dewey never gave him a chance to introduce himself, he never even looked at him again, he just got right down to business. 

Sam was a little taken aback by the question. “Six months,” she answered anyway, though she was a little confused as to why Dewey was asking. 

“Did he know who your dad was when you met? Express any interest in Woodsboro or the Ghostface killings?” 

Sam gave an awkward smile, turning to look at Richie, she wasn’t sure if Dewey was actually serious. She came to him for advice not to be questioned about her relationship. 

“What the hell are you talking about?” Richie asked awkwardly. He kept glancing at Sam as if wanting her to confirm if Dewey was serious. 

“Your killer is obsessed with the Stab movies, right?” Dewey asked, leaning back in his chair. Sam nodded, hesitant but curious as to where he was going with this. “Well, there’s certain rules to surviving a Stab movie. Believe me, I know.” Dewey looked off to the side, looking out the window as if his mind went to another place for a second. “Rule number one, never trust the love interest,” he shook his head, looking right at Richie. “They seem sweet, caring, supportive, but then welcome to act three, where they’re trying to rip your head off.” 

“I was with Sam in Modesto when Tara was attacked,” Richie said, instantly defending himself. Sam was looking at Richie, nodding her head to confirm what he was saying. They were together that whole night, she didn’t even get the call about Tara until the next morning. 

“And let me guess,” Dewey continued, sounding more cynical as he went on. “You were just in the other room, conveniently unaccounted for when she was attacked at the hospital.” 

“Okay, do I have to take this from shitty Sam Elliot over here, or what?” 

“Rule number two.” Sam slowly looked from Richie back to Dewey. “The killer’s motive,” he was still glaring at Richie as he spoke. “Is always connected to something in the past.” 

“I’m related to Billy,” Sam said. She already knew Tara was most likely attacked because of her; she knew even before Ghostface said he knew her secret; she knew the moment Wes said Tara was attacked by someone in a Ghostface mask. Hearing Dewey practically confirm it though wasn’t easy, Tara was basically attacked all because Sam was the daughter of a serial killer. 

“Right,” Richie said, nodding along. “But then why kill that random Vince guy?” 

Sam nodded at that; Vince seemed like a random victim. Tara was the first victim, then she herself was attacked at the hospital but it didn’t seem like Ghostface actually wanted to kill her, more like just scare her. You and Tara’s friends were all at that bar, you worked at the bar, you had been outside seconds after Vince was attacked, meaning Ghostface wanted Vince for some reason, no one else. 

“That’s for you to figure out,” Dewey said. “And rule number three, and this is the most important rule.” Sam turned in her seat so she could give Dewey her full attention. “The first victim always has a friend group, that the killer is apart of.” Sam nodded along, she remembered that being a theme in all the movies from the one time she saw them, and hearing about the real-life stories. “Does your sister have a closeknit group of friends?” 

“Yeah,” Sam said, nodding, Tara had exactly that. “She does.” 

“Then look for the killer there.” 

She knew Dewey’s logic; she knew from his experience that this was always how it went down. Sam couldn’t imagine it though; she couldn’t picture any of Tara’s friends attacking her. Tara knew all of her friends since she was a little kid, Sam baby sat all of them, they literally grew up together, Sam watched them grow up. The only person who was new to the group, or she guessed more so, new to Tara’s life, was you. 

“If you can find out why they’re doing this,” Dewey continued. “You can figure out who’s next.” That made sense as well; despite never understanding why someone would dress up and kill all their friends, the killer always had some sort of twisted motive and that motive tended to explain who their victims were and would be. 

“So, help us,” Sam tried pleading. She knew it was a long shot. Dewey hadn’t even wanted to let them in his trailer to talk, the odds of him agreeing to get involved were zero to none. “Help us figure out who’s behind this.” 

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Dewey sighed, sounding more exhausted than he had since opening the door. “I’ve been stabbed nine times, I’ve got permanent nerve damage, and a fun little limp. You think I want to do that again?” he let out a humorless chuckle. 

“You just said it always goes back to the past.” Sam still intended to try her hardest to convince Dewey to help, she didn’t think she could figure this out on her own, she needed help. “Right?” Dewey reluctantly nodded, seeming to know where she was about to go with this. “So, if I’m in danger, that means you’re in danger.” Dewey seemed to take in her words as he was suddenly unable to meet her gaze. “Come on, let’s do this, together.” 

There was a split second that it almost seemed like Dewey was going to agree to help them. “Your time’s up,” he said instead. He quickly stood up, walking to his door and holding it open for them. 

Sam rolled her eyes as she pushed herself off the couch and stomped out of the trailer, Richie following close behind her. As soon as they were out the door Dewey slammed the door closed. Sam couldn’t blame him for not wanting to get involved, it was insane for someone to willingly get involved in this mess, she had just told Richie that before coming to see Dewey. That didn’t mean she wasn’t still annoyed that Dewey wouldn’t help them. She figured out of everyone else in the world the person most likely to help would be someone who had survived what they’re going through now, Dewey knew quite literally what they were going through, and he still refused to help. 

“Okay, what’s next?” Richie asked as they made their way back to the car. 

“The friends,” Sam said, easily catching the keys as Richie tossed them to her. She didn’t want to suspect Tara’s friends, but they were the only ones that made sense. 

Before starting the car, she shot a quick text to Wes, asking him to gather the others. Wes quickly texted back saying he’d do it. Sam sat there for a few minutes when another text from Wes came through. Wes had said the others all agreed to meet at Mindy and Chad’s, since they were the niece and nephew of one of the victims of the second killings it made sense to meet at their house. Sam started the car and quickly pulled out of the trailer park, not carrying if she was speeding on her way to Mindy and Chad’s. 

Sam pulled into Mindy and Chad’s driveway, seeing a few more cars there as well. As they were walking up to the door Sam heard another car door closing. She turned around and couldn’t help but smile when she saw Dewey walking up to them. 

“You came,” she said when he was close enough. She truly thought he wasn’t going to help them, that she was completely on her own in trying to figure this out. 

“Let’s get this over with,” Dewey sighed, leading the way to the door. 

Mindy opened the door, leading them to the family room and telling them the others were already there. Sam had only been in the Meeks-Martin household a handful of times when babysitting the twins, but it hadn’t seemed to change much over the years. 

Sam stood in front of the others, she had just opened her mouth, ready to tell them that she was the daughter of Billy Loomis, when there was a knock at the door. Martha Meeks quickly ran to the door, happily greeting whoever it was. Sam glanced back and had to do a double take when she saw you walking into the room. 

“What are you doing here?” she asked. She asked them to gather everyone, she didn’t realize that meant you as well. She was honestly surprised you left Tara’s side for something like this, considering you refused to go to work until Tara basically ordered you to. 

“Tara asked me to come,” you said. Sam let out a hum, now that made sense. She wondered how much convincing it took to get you to leave Tara’s side. “You all have exactly one hour,” you pulled out your phone, quickly typing off a text to someone. “So, let’s get this over with.” You pushed past Sam and took a seat on the far end of the couch, putting yourself as far away from everyone else as you could get. 

“Why are you here?” Dewey asked. He squinted his eyes, watching you carefully even though you hadn’t so much as glanced at him. 

“Tara’s my girlfriend,” you said. “Going to arrest me for that? Sheriff,” you made sure to say that last part with all the sarcasm. 

Dewey narrowed his eyes at you. “How long have you been together?” 

You rolled your eyes, clearly not enjoying yet another person questioning your relationship. Sam would bet money that it also didn’t help that the one questioning your relationship is the cop who used to always deal with you. 

“It will be two years in December,” you sighed, obviously getting more irritated. “Can we move this along, please,” you looked up, meeting Sam’s eyes. “I would like to get back to Tara.” 

Sam nodded, she didn’t want to shift the attention back to herself but you and Dewey arguing wouldn’t get them anywhere, especially if you ended up storming out before they even got started. “Alright,” Sam said nervously. She glanced back to see Richie giving her an encouraging smile. “I’m the daughter of Billy Loomis.” 

Everyone’s mouths fell open. Sam could practically see their brains trying to process the information. Sam quickly ran to take her seat on the couch, not wanting to be the center of attention anymore. She spared a glance at you, seeing you weren’t shocked, she figured you overheard her conversation with Tara or Tara told you herself. Your jaw was clenched as you stared off across the room, your hands balled into fists, and you refused to look at Sam. 

Mindy was the first to break out of her shock by instantly jumping to her feet and running to the closet they had filled with movies. Sam furrowed her brow as she watched Mindy shuffle around the movies, until finally finding what she was looking for and popping it into the DVD player. Sam suppressed a sigh when she saw it wasn’t Stab Mindy had put on but Stab: The True Story. It was basically a documentary of the true story, though no one who actually survived what happened was involved in the making of it or was interviewed. Sam was pretty sure Gale Weathers was involved in some way, but the documentary was mostly made up of pictures and found footage, with a ‘expert’ who had done their research and talked about what happened. 

“So, you’re saying that you’re the daughter of Billy Loomis,” Chad said, being the first to break the silence. “And that, what, one of us is the killer?” he gestured at himself and his friends. 

“The killer told me he knew my secret,” Sam said. It was clear Chad didn’t appreciate him and his friends being accused of being a killer but based on the history, it was always someone in the friend group. “He attacked Tara to lure me back here.” Sam caught you clenching your fists tighter as her words, she assumed you had already figured that part out as well. 

“But then why immediately go and murder some douche-nozzle that was stalking Liv?” 

“And why does it have to be one of us?” Wes asked. “What about deputy Dewey here? Maybe he’s the killer.” Wes shrugged. “No offense.” 

“None taken,” Dewey said. “But what’s my motive?” 

“You got stabbed a billion times, got dumped by your famous wife, and crawled into a bottle,” Wes listed off. “I think it’s safe to say you’re on the suspect list.” 

Sam let out a small sigh, she had gone to Dewey for help but what Wes said made sense. As hard for her as it was to admit it still seemed one of the friends was more likely involved than Dewey. Wes’s argument was good but Dewey suddenly snapping after all these years and going after some random kids didn’t make much sense. 

“Well, maybe you’re the killer,” Dewey said. “Cause that cut deep.” 

“That douche-nozzle is connected,” Amber said. “I googled him. His mom is Leslie Macher. Stu Macher’s sister.” 

“Who’s Stu Macher?” Liv asked. 

“He’s Billy Loomis’s accomplice,” Dewey answered, leaning forward in his seat again. 

“Okay, okay,” Sam said, nodding along, everything was finally starting to make sense. “So, the first three attacks are all on people related to the original killers.” 

“Oh my god,” Mindy said, shooting up from her seat. “He’s making a requel.” 

Everyone looked at Mindy like she had grown two head. “A what?” Sam decided to be the one to ask. 

“Like a sequel, fans are confused or torn on the terminology.” 

“God,” Chad sighed. “Please speak English.” Sam couldn’t help but agree, she understood what a sequel was, but she had no idea what the hell a requel was or what the hell Mindy was talking about. 

“Okay,” Mindy sighed, sitting up straight as she got serious about this topic. “Do you remember the Stab movie that came out last year?” 

“Oh, yeah, the one the Knives Out guy directed,” Liv said, seeming to know exactly what Mindy was talking about. Sam was still lost but decided to just wait and see where they were going with this. “You know, I actually really liked that one.” 

“Of course you did, you have terrible taste.” Sam rolled her eyes as Liv and Mindy had their little argument, even when she was a kid Mindy the habit of being a bit of a movie snob. “The point is the hardcore Stab fans hated it.” 

Sam sighed, beginning to tune Mindy out as she rambled on and on about why the fans hated the movie. She didn’t really care about a shitty sequel to a relatively basic franchise. She was hoping Mindy actually had a point to all this and her random movie knowledge about Stab would actually be useful. 

“What’s wrong with elevated horror?” Amber asked, joining in on the conversation. 

Mindy then went on to rant about how elevated horror was great, but it wasn’t Stab. The only reason Sam had some semblance of an idea as to what elevated horror was because even as a kid Tara loved that stuff. As Mindy said, Stab was a typical slasher whodunit type of movie, Stab wasn’t elevated horror. 

“Come on, it’s just a movie,” Sam sighed, rolling her eyes. She had to speak up, she couldn’t stand listening to them argue about movies and their deeper meaning, they were just movies, they were in the real world where her sister was really attacked. 

“No, it’s not,” Mindy said instantly. “To some people the original is their favorite thing in the world.” Sam couldn’t wrap her head around that, she got liking movies, but not loving one so much someone would begin to blur a movie with real life. “The movie that made them love horror. The movie that mom or dad showed them when they were ten and bonded them together.” Once again, Sam got that, she understood bonding with someone over a movie and both enjoying that. “And god help anyone who fucks with that special memory, who makes a movie that disrespects it.” 

Sam could sort of understand that as well. She truly understood loving a movie growing up and then a few years later someone deciding to cash in on that love by making a sequel or spin-off or something involving those characters and that world. It rarely worked out, it was usually made as a cash grab and not for the fans, then the new fans had a habit of hating it. Being pissed about a bunch of shitty sequel movies to your childhood favorite didn’t give someone the right to go around dressed up like the killer from the movies. That’s where Mindy was losing Sam. Sam didn’t get how someone could take a simple movie so far. 

“It sounds like,” Mindy continued, getting up from her seat before Sam could even think about interrupting her again. “Our killer is writing his own version of Stab Eight but doing it as a requel.” Mindy raised her hands, nodding to herself, clearly proud of her theory. 

Sam would admit, it was a good theory, that didn’t answer her original question though. “Which is?” Dewey asked. Sam was glad he still didn’t get it; she didn’t want to ask Mindy again. 

Mindy sighed, clapping her hands together as she tried to contain her clear irritation at them not getting it. “See, you can’t just reboot a franchise from scratch anymore, the fans won’t stand for it. Black Christmas, Childs Play, Flatliners,” she began gesturing around the room at her friends. “That shit doesn’t work! But you can’t just do a straight sequel either. You got to build something new but not too new or the internet goes bug fucking nuts,” she rolled her eyes. 

“It’s got to be a part of an ongoing storyline, even if the storyline shouldn’t have been ongoing in the first place. New main characters, yes,” she gestured around the room as if all of them were the new main characters. “But supported by and related to legacy characters,” she pointed at Dewey. “Not quite a reboot, not quite a sequel. Like, the new Halloween, Saw, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, fuck, even Star Wars! It always, always, goes back to the original,” she picked up the first Stab movie to help emphasize what she meant. 

Sam was beginning to fully understand what Mindy was trying to say. “Are you telling me,” Sam started. “That I’m caught in the middle of fan fucking fiction?” she couldn’t believe this, it was even more insane than she ever imagined. She figured someone was pissed because she was Billy’s daughter not because they were hurt that the sequel to their favorite movie was total garbage. 

“Not just in the middle Sam,” Mindy said, a lot calmer than she had been than when she was rambling about the movies. “You’re the star.” Sam could only stare at Mindy, her mouth slightly agape. She knew she was the reason Tara was attacked but she didn’t think she was the reason all this was happening. 

“So, not to put like to fine a point on it,” Liv said. “But according to requel rules, who’s next?” Sam looked at Liv, her eyes coasting across everyone else. She wanted to figure out who the killer was but knowing who the next victim might be was just as important. 

“Going by the pattern,” Mindy said slowly. “Whoever it is has to be connected to someone that came before.” 

They all slowly turned to look at Dewey, he was the only one connected to the original killings. “I’m starting to regret coming,” Dewey said. Sam knew she told Dewey he was probably a target as well, but she didn’t realize how true her words might have been. 

“Jesus, my mom is a character in one of them,” Wes said, sitting up a little straighter. 

“No one cares about the shitty inferior sequels Wes,” Minday said with an eyeroll. “You’re safe.” She turned her attention to her brother. “With Randy as our uncle though, you and I are probably screwed. 

“Wait, what?” Chad asked. Despite literally being Mindy’s twin, he didn’t share the same passion for horror and movies that she did. It seemed as though he didn’t realize that being the nephew of one of the only survivors of the original attacks put a target on his back. 

“Or you’re the killer,” Richie began, laughing Mindy’s theories off. “And this whole elaborate monologue is just to cover your tracks. 

“I think it’s pretty clear who the killer is at this point,” Mindy said, laughing off Richie’s accusation. 

“Who?” Sam asked.  She was staring at Mindy, she had no idea who the killer could be, she didn’t know how Mindy could figure it out so quickly. 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Amber said, interrupting whatever Mindy was about to say. Everyone looked at Amber, but her glare was solely focused on you. 

You let out a humorless chuckle, shaking your head. You didn’t seem happy that you were being accused but you certainly didn’t seem surprised. “Are you serious? What’s my motive?” you shrugged. 

Amber shrugged nonchalantly. “You’re dating Tara.” 

“Never trust the love interest,” Mindy mumbled. 

You snapped your gaze from Amber to Mindy, you actually seemed hurt that she was agreeing with Amber. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” you gestured, looking around the room. Sam did the same, seeing everyone staying silent, all of them either looking at the floor or at you like you were the prime suspect, the only one who looked the slightest bit guilty was Liv, she refused to look at you, opting to keep her eyes on the floor. 

“If I can’t have her, no one will,” Amber said. “Classic motive.” 

“The thing is,” you leaned forward, glaring back at Amber just as intently. “I already have her.” Despite Sam’s feelings on you she had to side with you there, you were already dating Tara, had been for a while now. There was no reason for you to attack Tara, there was no one for you to be jealous of and this wasn’t some twisted version of unrequited love. 

“Maybe you’re threatened.” 

“By who? You?” you scoffed, literally laughing at the idea of being threatened by Amber “Please! As if.” 

“Tara knows you’re not good enough.” Amber smirked, her eyes taking on a dangerous look. Sam had no idea what happened to warrant the animosity between you and Amber, but it was very clear where Amber stood regarding you. 

“That’s not true.” You shook your head, but Sam could swear she caught a glimmer of doubt in your eye. She didn’t think you necessarily believe Amber’s words but there was probably a part of you that truly didn’t think you were good enough for Tara, that she deserved better than anything you could offer her. 

“What could you possibly offer her?” 

“You’re trying to get me to doubt my relationship,” you kept your voice low as you pointed at Amber. “I don’t know why,” you shook your head. “It won’t work though. Tara’s love is the one thing I have never doubted.” Sam hated to admit it, but she admired your devotion to Tara and your commitment to each other. 

“Why are you still here?” Amber continued to poke. “You always talk about how much you hate this place, you literally despise this town.” Amber leaned forward, staring right into your eyes. So why are you still here?” 

“For Tara!” you shot to your feet. “I stayed for her,” your voice cracked. Everyone got silent, all of them dropping their eyes to the floor, except for Amber; Sam seemed to be the only other one willing to still look at you. 

“I was actually going to say Sam was the prime suspect,” Mindy was the first to speak up. Sam’s eyes widened; her mouth dropped open as she stared at Mindy. “Daughter of the original mastermind,” Mindy looked up, meeting Sam’s eyes. “It makes sense,” she shrugged.  

“But you,” she shifted her gaze to you. “You have nothing and no one, your parents abandoned you, you were a troubled teen, hated this small town, until magically you got your shit together, turning your life around, then began dating Tara, who just happens to be Sam’s sister. You knew Sam before, no?” you only acknowledged her with a glare. “The perfect suspect, one that’s seemingly unsuspecting.” 

You let out a humorless chuckle. Sam watched as you looked around the room, seeing how no one argued with Amber’s accusation or Mindy’s logic. “Fuck you,” you spit out before storming out of the house, making sure to slam the door behind you. 

“Yeah, because that doesn’t scream guilty,” Amber mumbled under her breath. “Well, this has been fun.” Amber stood up from her seat. 

“Where are you going?” Sam asked. 

Amber rolled her eyes. “Home. Unless you want to accuse anymore of us?” Amber gestured around before making her way out of the house without a goodbye. 

Wes was the next to go but unlike Amber he actually gave a short goodbye to everyone before quickly running out the door. Last was Liv, she gave Chas a quick kiss, saying something about having to go to work and then she left as well. 

Sam sighed, figuring it was time they left as well, she didn’t want to overstay her welcome after basically accusing the entire friend group of murder and after sort of being accused by Mindy. “Well, that went well,” Sam said, as she, Richie, and Dewey stepped outside. 

Dewey gave a small shrug. “Now, what’s your plan?” Dewey asked. 

“Hopefully food,” Richie mumbled. 

Sam ran a hand through her hair. Gathering everyone together had been simultaneously useful and not. They now had a theory on what the killer was doing, they knew his victims were those related to legacy characters, but they still weren’t any closer to knowing who the killer was. 

“I need to get back to the hospital,” Sam sighed. Even if Tara didn’t want to talk to her, she needed to try. She didn’t like the idea of leaving Tara alone in the hospital too long, especially overnight, even if that meant sleeping in a chair outside her room or in the waiting room. 

“I was hoping for something besides hospital food,” Richie groaned. 

Sam sighed, she really didn’t want to waste time going to get food. “I can give you a ride to the hospital,” Dewey offered. 

“Are you sure?” Sam asked. 

Dewey nodded. “Yeah, it’ll give me the chance to ask some questions anyway.” 

Sam tossed her keys to Richie. Richie didn’t waste time, giving Sam a quick kiss on the cheek before taking off towards the car. Richie had started and pulled away before Sam and Dewey had even started walking to Dewey’s truck. 

“A text!” someone yelled, stopping Dewey in his tracks as he started to walk towards his truck. Dewey turned around and Sam peered over his shoulder seeing a woman in a colorful business suit approaching him. “You let me know in a text!” she continued, walking right up to Dewey and slapping him. 

“You were on air,” Dewey weakly defended. That’s when Sam realized who this was, Gale Weathers. 

“How do you know that?” 

Dewey opened his mouth, then suddenly paused. It seemed like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to admit he still watched his ex-wife’s morning show. Sam couldn’t fault him for that it was either really sweet or really depressing, she was starting to think maybe a bit of both. 

“How did you find me?” Dewey settled on, crossing his arms. 

“I tracked your phone,” Gale said without shame. 

“You tracked my-are you insane?” 

Gale rolled her eyes. “I needed to find you and it was the quickest way,” she shrugged. “Who’s this?” Gale turned to Sam, seeming to finally notice her for the first time. 

“Sam Carpenter,” Sam introduced herself. “My sister was attacked. 

Gale tilted her head, her eyes instantly softening with sympathy. “I’m sorry. Do we know anything yet? What about the second victim?” 

“Vince Schnieder,” Dewey said. “He’s Stu Macher’s nephew.” 

“He attacked my sister because I’m Billy Loomis’s daughter,” Sam added. Gale’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head at hearing this information. Sam hated the fact that she was getting used to revealing that information. “Somehow the killer knows and now he’s going after those related to the original killings.” 

“What did you just say?” Gale whispered, her eyes taking on what Sam could only describe as a look of fear. 

Sam couldn’t blame her for being scared, Gale probably didn’t come back to town and expect to be even more in danger. “This psycho seems to be obsessed with the original movie and so disappointed in the ones that have followed, he’s decided to make his own,” Sam rolled her eyes. She still thought it was ridiculous someone was doing all this because of a movie. 

“She’s related to Billy,” Dewey said, pointing at Sam. “So, he went after her sister. Then Stu’s nephew,” he shook his head. “He’s going after anyone related to the legacy characters, anyone related to us.” 

Sam watched curiously as Gale pulled out her phone, furrowing her brow at whoever was calling her. Sam couldn’t make out who it was before Gale declined the call. Not a second later her phone buzzing again. Gale once again declined the call, rolling her eyes. 

Gale let out a frustrated sigh when her phone vibrated again, but this time it didn’t seem to be a phone call. Gale furrowed her brow as she tapped her phone. She furrowed her brow as she stared down at the screen, then her eyes quickly widened as if she realized something. “Oh, god,” Gale whispered. 

“What is it?” Dewey asked. 

“Oh god, oh god,” Gale continued to whisper under her breath. She quickly typed on her phone, dialing a number. Sam furrowed her brow; she had a feeling she didn’t want to know who had been trying to call Gale and what they sent her. “Dammit!” Gale screamed at her phone when whoever she was calling didn’t answer. 

“What? What’s going on?” 

“We need to go.” 

“What? Where?” 

Gale ignored Dewey’s questions as she dialed 911. Sam’s eyes widened; she didn’t know what was happening but clearly it wasn’t good. Gale began speaking quickly, rattling off an address Sam didn’t recognize it seemed as soon as someone answered. “Yes, it’s an emergency!” Gale yelled into the phone. “Tell the sheriff it’s about Ghostface! The next victim is Y/N Y/L/N.” 

Sam’s eyes widened at hearing your name. “We need to go,” Gale said. “Now!” Dewey seemed just as confused as Sam felt but he didn’t question it as he took off towards his truck, Gale right behind him. Sam followed their lead, running off after them. She jumped in the backseat, just barely getting the door closed before Dewey took off, his wheels squealing against the pavement. Sam gripped the sides of the front seat, staring out the windshield, silently hoping they’d get to you in time. 

[myocsfanfictions]

THE WRATH OF FIRE

House of the Dragon

MASTERLIST

Princess Ysilla Targaryen is the only daughter of Prince Daemon Targaryen and Lady Rhea Royce. The affection that she felt for her mother was strong, while her father had never been there, acting as if Ysilla was not even his. But she was. The dragon egg that had been put in her cradle hatched. An outcast of a dragon was born. A dragon with no legs. An outcast of a dragon for and an outcast of a dragon rider. Ysilla’s hair was dark but streaked with white. She was a Targaryen, and her wrath was not different from the one that burned inside the members of the House of the Dragon.

《 Previous - Next 》

CHAPTER 9

Ysilla was walking up the stairs of one of the many secret passages of the Red Keep. Ysilla had explored the castle with her cousins since they were all just babes, and they used them frequently to move around unnoticed.

Ysilla liked to do it. Those dark and lonely places led to different parts of the castle. Every time she walked through those corridors, she felt like an adventure. She knew it was childish, but she enjoyed it.

But those were even the fastest ways to move in the castle, with no people watching or asking where she was going. She liked life at court, but people could be very inquisitive and curious. And she didn't want to show people the anger she was feeling. Aegon really knew how to be cruel when he wanted to be, and Aemond seemed to be the target of his jests and the Velaryon brothers, even if they were younger. Aemond felt left out from all of them, he was different. He would always following them to the Dragonpit even if he lacked a dragon, wishing for his egg to finally hatch or for a new dragon to be found.

What is a Targaryen without a dragon? Ysilla was not stranger to that thought. She still remembered how she cradled Darysir’s egg when she was just a babe of five, knowing that a dragon was the true legacy of a Targaryen. That was their sigil and symbol of power. No one but them could bound such terrible beasts to their will, no one was as strong. And yet a Targaryen without a dragon was just a human. No different from anyone else. That was a frightening thought, a saddened one too, and she felt for Aemond since he had to indulge in such pain.

“Are you alright?” She had asked him following him, to make sure he didn’t felt alone. She knew how loneliness hurt to the heart and the spirit.

His posture was stiff. Ysilla could not see his face, but she didn’t miss how he quickly pass a hand over his dirty face, “Yes, cousin.”

The girl looked down at her hands, she was picking at her nails, sometimes she did that when she felt uncomfortable. Out of words. Those situations were the hardest to handle, since she felt like her every word could make no difference.

“I’m sure you’ll have a dragon one day, my prince,” she whispered, not daring to get any closer.

Aemond scoffed shaking his head, “Don’t lie to me,” He asked turning to her, the dirt on his cheeks were stained, giving away the tears he had shad, “My egg will never hatch and there’s no dragon for me to claim. Don’t be cruel, Ysilla.”

Ysilla observed the boy in front of her, he desperately wanted to prove himself to all of them, to himself and the hurt on his face was so visible as if Ysilla was feeling it herself. Her words must have felt like another jest, and of that she felt bad.

“Aemond,” she spoke softly taking a step towards her cousin, “I was not trying to to be cruel, I hope you know that,” she assured, “What I meant is that mayhaps here in King’s Landing there are no more dragons to claim, but on Dragonstone there are. Vermithor, Silverwing, or the three wild dragons as well.”

Aemond looked at her skeptical, “And I could bend one?”

“You are a Targaryen, my prince,” she said looking at him in the eyes, “There is nothing you cannot do.”

“Other Targaryens do not think so,” he answered with frustration, “They see me fit for a pig.”

Ysilla moved her hand so that she could lift Aemond face with her fingers, “Velaryon are not Targaryen. They seem rather strong to me, but they are not us.” Her words seemed to surprise him, and when he saw her lips turn up into a smile, he timidly did the same. “Don’t be bothered by those kids.” As for his brother however…

Aegon liked to jest, never thinking about consequences. He never thought about consequences. He never cared about consequences, not until he had fun with it. She wanted to speak to her cousin, they had grew up together and he was probably the one she knew best, the one she was the closest to, the one who made her angry the most.

But when she arrived behind the hidden door of the passage, Ysilla heard a voice.

"Aemond is your brother."

It was the Queen. She must have already talked with the King.

Ysilla wondered if the King would have done something about what had happened—at least scold his son and nephews. The Queen had been so angry after Aemond had left for his chambers to clean himself. Ysilla understood how the Queen felt, and she would have liked to have a chance to talk with Aegon before his mother wanted any explanation.

"Well, he's a twat," Ysilla shook her head, hearing Aegon's muffled voice.

Gods, Aegon, she thought in silence.

"We are family," the Queen spoke, "You may cuff him about as you wish at home, but in the open world, we must defend our own."

"It was funny," she heard Aegon answer simply.

Ysilla took a deep breath. Sometimes, even the family itself can be dangerous. But that was not the case with Aemond and Aegon. They were just boys. Ysilla wished that Aegon had paid a bit more attention to his own siblings. He should cherish his family.

"Do you think Rhaenyra's sons will be your playthings forever?" The Queen asked, not trying to hide her irritation. “As things stand, Rhaenyra will ascend the throne and Jacaerys Targaryen will be her heir.” Ysilla got closer to the wall to hear at her best.

“So?” Aegon seemed lost and that made her mother groan out loudly.

“You are nearly a man-grown. How is it that you can be so shortsighted?” The Queen’s tone was full of frustration, anger and disappointment. But Ysilla could understand Aegon’s confusion. He would never think about the consequences, and Ysilla herself had found herself lost when the Queen had spoken to her about the danger their family was running into.

Does every family plot on killing each other for power? Or is just our prerogative? Ysilla thought as her mind went back to the last time she had seen her mother ride away for hawking, coming back as a corpse; cold and still, as a little girl of five found out that her own father had been the cause of that tragedy. And for what? To be wed to Rhaenyra? Become prince consort? Was that his plot?

Daemon Targaryen had left her motherless for a whim, and as he gained nothing, Ysilla had lost everything. The wrath that she felt every time she thought about her father was something that light such a fire within her, a fire that she desperately wanted to free somehow. But she had learnt the art of dignity and the taste of patience. She knew that the King would have never done anything to his precious brother, and yet Ysilla still dreamt of a day where her father would face the consequences of his crimes.

“If Rhaenyra comes into power your very life could be forfeit. Aemond’s as well,” the Queen spoke again, “She could move to cut off any challenge to her succession.”

Would Rhaenyra commit such crime against her own brothers, to secure her position and the one of her bastards sons? She once was so close to Daemon Targaryen, wearing the shiny Valyrian neckless that he had gifted for her as if it hold some kind of a promise between them. Such a beautiful neckless, Ysilla thought bitterly. My neck still remains unadorned.

A bond like the one Rhaneyra and Daemon shared, could lead them to the same crimes? Ysilla did not wish to learn the answer, she would have not learnt the answer. She had already lost her family. She could not lose another. She refused to. Aegon and his siblings would not pay the price to let bastard ascend to the Iron Throne. She could see it. But Aegon…

“Then I won’t challenge…” Aegon was cut of but the Queen’s screams. A sound that made Ysilla shiver.

“You are the challenge!” She yelled, “You are the challenge, Aegon! Simply by living and breathing!” Ysilla felt her breath labour as she slid down against the wall. It could happen. It would happen. Politics could be cruel, it knew no mercy, it knew no family. If a succession war was to happen, the first to die would always be the male heir.

“You are the King’s firstborn son,” the Queen kept saying, “And what they know, what everyone in the realm knows in their blood and in their bones is that one day, you will be our King.” Ysilla closed her eyes with a heavy sign as she heard the Queen leave Aegon’s chambers. That future didn’t seem so far. The King did not possessed the best of health, having lost an arm and getting paler by the day. He still smiled though, and she wished that his body would keep living form many years more, because once the King would leave that world, not everyone would bent the knee to a woman, especially after giving birth to bastards, and at that point her cousins’ life could be at risk.

"Aegon," she spoke quietly, stepping into the room. She heard the boy take a shaky breath. He was about to cry, and that sound pained her heart.

"My mother had already scolded me, Ysilla," he said, pushing his head back as he stood up. Ysilla was quick to turn her back to him, noticing that he wasn't wearing any clothes. It had already happened before, so she was not surprised to see him like that, but she flushed anyway.

"I'm not here to scold you," she said, hearing him cross the room to get his clothes. In truth, she was, but after what she heard, Ysilla felt for him, and suddenly, she didn’t feel the need to argue with him anymore. You never think about the consequences, Aegon.

“So my brother had not come to cry to you as he did with Mother?” He asked with frustration, but Ysilla did not answered to that.

"I wished to ride on dragon back,” she said turning to look at Aegon, “Do you want to come with me?” His eyes widened in surprise as he observed her frame, but he nodded none the less.

They were strangely quiet as they made their way to the carriage that would bring them to the Dragonpit. Ysilla quite enjoyed that silence though. Quiet sounds, quiet times. Maybe they would all shout too much. She could feel Aegon’s eyes on her though, unsure of what to do or say. That behaviour made her smile.

“I was thinking about something,” she said suddenly, smiling when she saw her cousin take a relieved breath.

“Finally,” he said, “I wasn’t sure if you were angry with me.” Ysilla observed him.

“You get on my nerves quite easily,” she answered making him roll his eyes, but the smile never left her lips. “So, do you want to hear my thoughts?” She asked fixings her black riding clothes.

“As long as you don’t shout to me like Mother.” He mumbled looking outside the carriage.

“I was thinking about how lucky we are,” she said ignoring his scoff, “How lucky I am.” That made him frown as he turned to look at her, “After my mother I thought I would be alone for the rest of my life, but then you, all of you let me in this family,” she took a breath, “You are my family, Aegon.”

His eyes stayed on her, observing Ysilla with a confused stare, “I… I don’t understand…” Ysilla smiled, standing up as the carriage came to an halt.

“There’s no need,” she said, “I do.”

The door got opened by the guard that had escorted them. The man showed her his hand for her to take, so that she could safely get out. Ysilla knew she needed to no help, but the gallant gesture was much welcomed, so she accepted the hand. As she walked towards the Dragonpit, she could hear Aegon quick steps coming from behind her.

“You said you wanted to share a thought, but you said nothing I didn’t know,” he argued, still confused. Ysilla laughed.

“I’m glad it is no news to you,” she answered fixing the clothes of the gloves around her fingers. Suddenly he took her by the arm, making her turn.

“What did you understand that I didn’t?” Ysilla could see the confused frown upon his face, how his lips would pout when he got frustrated. That expression made her smile, as she swiftly caressed his cheeks.

“Many things, my prince,” she said freeing herself as her eyes went to Dārysyr. He was being brought to her by the Dragonkeepers. He would slither beautifully on the ground, his purple wings lapping in excitement as he saw her, like he had done since he was just an hatchling.

“Zȳhon belma qogror",” she said as Dārysyr would get close so that she could touch his snout. His scales were so hot against her gloved fingers. “Gaomagon ao jaelagon naejot sōvegon rūsīr issa?” At her question, Dārysyr growled, moving his dark wings. (My beautiful friend. Do you want to ride with me?)

Then another growl could be heard, but it was different from Dārysyr’s. Its pitch was higher and clearer. She knew who it belonged to.

“Sunfyre,” Aegon said with a genuine and happy smile on his face as his beautiful golden and pink dragon would get closer to his rider. Sunfyre was the most expressive among all the dragons and he absolutely adored Aegon. He playfully pushed Aegon as a greeting and Ysilla’s heart got full with fondness as she watch how Aegon caressed his dragon. Her hand would stroke Dārysyr’s neck as he’d protectively went around her as he always did.

“Is my prince ready to take flight?” She asked getting Aegon’s attention back to her.

“Are you ready, my lady?” He dared her as he moved to get on Sunfyre’s back.

“Don’t start something when you do not know how it will end,” she warned him playfully her securing the belt around her waist as she got comfortable on her saddle, but he just scoffed before giving Sunfyre the order so that the dragon could start moving towards the exit.

“Tolot zȳhos ābra, zȳhon ñuha.” She said patting Dārysyr’s neck, “Sīr zābūbys ābra, dārys. Targot dāeri, Dārysyr.” (He never thinks about the consequences, my friend. I’ll think about consequences, then. Fly now, Darysir.)

_____________________________________________________________

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[yrrtyrrtwhenihrrthrrt]

Been thinking about the Goldenheart/Nimona family dynamic, so here are some headcanons pertaining to the sillies as parents

While Nimona is functionally their adopted child in many ways, she also isn't. She's their sidekick, roommate, best friend, mentor, mentee, child, sibling, all rolled into one chaotic shape-shifting gremlin who lives in their house

I do think however that at some point, the family would adopt a child (besides Nimona) that they could actually raise

Based on what's seen in the show I imagine Ballister to be an orphan himself with a childhood very similar to that of Comic Ambrosius, this weird rambunctious little sad orphan kid who wants to prove himself more than anything. I think he would totally want to raise the family he never had and give it to a little orphan kid like him.

Ambrosius I think would want to raise a family as well, he radiates dad energy, but really wouldn't want anyone else to have to deal with the Legacy of Gloreth on their shoulders, so he'd want to adopt rather than try and father any biological children. Plus he sees his beloved husband in all those sweet little babies at the orphanage and by default that makes him love them so much.

We already know Nimona is good with kids. I feel like people don't bring that up because she's pretty alternative and in our society, liking kids is seen as somewhat trad (especially for a person with an even remotely feminine presentation) but it's obvious that she has a soft spot for them. She puts herself in danger just to comfort a little girl who was frightened, she is devastated by children's learned fear and hatred of her. Anyway what I'm saying is she would totally be like "ew, a child, keep it away" then proceed to be the absolute best uncle/aunt/sibling/godparent/mentor/friend imaginable. She would shapeshift into a little kid to play with them, or into animals like when she used to play with Gloreth. If they were adopted as an older child (not a baby) I think they'd glom to her first because she can make herself very physically non-threatening whereas two battle-scarred brick shithouses can't really do much to change how imposing they look besides trying to be as nice as possible.

I can imagine Ambrosius being a stay-at-home dad because while Ballister was actively extremely ambitious about his career, Ambrosius was just kind of shoved into it with no choice, and expected to be perfect. I can imagine him burning out and going like "Nope. Don't want that. Never wanted that, actually. I'm going to stay home and play Legos with my baby and the creature that lives in my house." Not to mention, while both the boys have dad energy, I think Ambrosius is more of an extrovert and would be less likely to get mentally burned out taking care of a little kid all day

One particular situation I like to imagine is them coming home from a date night after leaving Baby with Nimona and opening the door to see she's shapeshifted into one of them to calm the baby down. They are both screaming crying throwing up over how sweet it is before Nimona can try to explain themself away.

[bonefall]

While we’re talking changing who appears in places- can we change the cats helping out with Sunbeam’s rock trial? I was so confused why the cats selected to help were selected. Sure Cherryfall because she was going to be the one opposing Sunbeam, why not, anyone can do that though honestly and not who I take issue with being there. But Alderheart was there? The medicine cat? Don’t you think he has better things to be doing than pushing a rock around? Where’s Lionblaze aka “I may as well still have my god given super strength”? He could easily be the cat that gets pissy for Sunbeam “not listening to senior warriors” and maybe with age feels that she doesn’t respect him, head of patrols, enough to warrant her staying this sabotaging her in the third trial. I felt robbed that Plumstone who seemed to be established as another bg strong cat was absent. Sure sending Sunbeam with all the strongest cats would make it easy but it’d also be making it safe considering Ivypool didn’t want the rock to hurt anyone and it’s a pecking rock. Why not send your strongest cats to deal with it?

I feel very strongly about this trial, can you tell?

I'm a bit dissatisfied with certain trials in general. Most of the time I LOVE the new trials they made, I think they've been super creative so far, but some have been so lackluster that I need to shine them up.

Namely Berryheart's active attempts to get challengers killed. Someone has to get ACTUALLY hurt by one of those, instead of them just being generally unfair and no one raises an objection about it. I did not like the spring-powered adder that went BOING out of a log.

I will say that I would like to expand on Plumstone in this arc, plus her whole little family. They're in an interesting place, with Bumblestripe coming back from Ferncloud's Parting while leaving his father with the Tribe, Blossomfall still reeling with emotional abuse she suffered at the paws of the impostor, Stemleaf's death and Spotfur raising his kits, and Shellfur's mateship with Fernstripe.

Plumstone ALSO has some stuff going on. She's besties-maybe-dating Thriftear, Bristlefrost's sister, and yet she's one of the more outspoken cats about how she's getting tired of the ThunderClan nepotism. She's strong, reliable, and a competent warrior-- so HOW is it fair that Nightheart keeps getting all these undeserved "chances to prove himself" when SHE is here, SIGNIFICANTLY more orange, and wants her own chance to shine??

I still see her personality as being "a dear" lmao, she's not mean, but she's also not willing to bite her tongue either. She will say what's on her mind, and point out unfair treatment when she feels it.

Thriftear supports this. Yeah, she's a descendant of Firestar and a great warrior, but she EARNED the respect she gets. Bristlefrost did too. Nightheart doesn't even want his legacy, why is this clumsy humbug still getting special treatment?

Good-cat bad-cat pair type thing going on.

So I'm probably going to let them both act as a unit, since BB's Dewnose isn't in ThunderClan and that was a really random pair-up anyway.

("wait! Elder Bones! Where did Dewnose go?" Probably ShadowClan, here is the BB!ThunderClan family tree. There's been shuffles; the Cloudbright kits are now Whitewing, Foxleap, and Icecloud, 3 "singlet" litters, spaced out over years.)

Quickie thoughts on touching up the trials;

(DISCLAIMER: NOT SOLID. WE DON'T REWORK UNTIL ARCS ARE COMPLETE.)

Berryheart's are going to need serious overhauls. Nightheart's were really cute and I enjoyed them, but BB is supposed to be about how her group is escalating towards violence. I do not want them to stay so "cute" for the story I'm telling.

I also don't want to keep Nightheart failing his last one on purpose. I want his growth to be more based in self-realization than trying to let Sunbeam "save face."

I kinda want Fringewhisker to get injured during one of her own, and then Antfur dies as collateral damage in Nightheart's last. I'd like Nightheart leaving to be half him realizing that his BEHAVIOR is a problem, and half for his own safety.

In ThunderClan, I'd like the boulder one to be more about Sunbeam assembling a team, almost like she's a patrol head.

Since it's her second trial and she displayed some pretty fantastic leadership skills with her first one, I've got an inkling of an idea that Squilf actually talked with Ivy about wanting to legitimately assess her talent.

Like, "We both know that this whole trial-system was just to appease the other Clans. These are meant to be easy because idgaf. But wow, Sunbeam was actually impressive with those kits. What else can she do, if we give her the chance?"

I really like writing Squilf as she's described in Bramblestar's Storm, where her good leadership comes from being attentive of details and making everyone feel useful.

Man... maybe ill save Rosepetal for this arc and let her be deputy during this. Something feels very Rosepetaly about this. Maybe even have Rosepetal be clearly treating her as if she's a Secondary Apprentice, preparing her to take over her reputation of being a prolific mentor... Nightheart comes back from his trip only to find Sunbeam with twice as much respect as status as he ever had.

I can always axe Rose later to get Ivypool in... But I also REALLY love all the Ivypool Deputy Drama with how there's a conflict with ShadowClan... man. why are there so many interesting girls.

Maybe Rose doesn't have to be deputy, but Ivy assigns Rosepetal as the only "mandatory member" of the Boulder Patrol. Like a tutorial tip lmaooo

Sunbeam: "I think I will pick......................" STARES AT ROSEPETAL, "aaalderrr-" Rosepetal frowns "--pluuuuumstone??" Rosepetal nods, "Wise choice."

And lastly. The final Sunbeam trial. Ngl hated it. It felt really boring compared to the previous two, which were super interesting and excellent ways to give some spotlight to background characters.

Riddles don't even feel like a ThunderClan thing. Idk that was a very RiverClan (philosophy) or ShadowClan (trickery) kind of thing.

I think I'll hold off on thinking about it though; I think it would be SUPER cool if I totally overhauled that last trial to make it foreshadow the later books, somehow.

I DO want to keep that disney channel ass Cherryfall being a bitch part though. I love her so much. I'm so glad she's walking in her father's pawsteps and becoming the snot-nosed brat of ThunderClan.

I will definitely be changing how Sunbeam HANDLES it though. Hate the way that the books emphasize never telling anyone anything.

In fact, I kinda want to make Sunbeam approach Sparkpelt for advice, to show she finally has a figure she feels like she can trust.

Explicitly contrast the way that she NEVER felt like she could approach Berryheart, and that so much of her appeasing, avoidant behavior had been because she didn't feel safe or respected.

Here, in ThunderClan, she has family. She begins to realize that even if Nightheart came back and dumped her, Sparkpelt and Finchlight would NEVER kick her to the curb.

So she goes to Sparkpelt about how she is being bullied by Cherryfall, and they TALK ABOUT OPTIONS.

Like, you know,

Spark: "We could go to Squirrelstar or the deputy."

Sun: "I don't want to cause a fuss if I don't have to... besides, idk, I don't want to set the peat on fire, it would be nice if I could be on good terms with Cherryfall later."

Spark: "that's very wise of you, but just remember that Squilst is a very fair person. We can always go to her. Do you want any backup at all or do you want to do this on your own?"

Sun: "I think... I think I actually do need to do this on my own. If I was being confronted, I think I would just double down if I was being attacked in a group. That was right with Brambleclaw because you weren't trying to convince him, but... what do you think?"

Spark: "I think Cherryfall's just like her father and her ego is everything to her, so I think you're right on the mouse with all this. Honestly, I don't even know how much I'm helping here!"

Sun: "Oh but you are helping! You're helping a lot! StarClan... it feels so nice to just... have someone to listen. Thanks, Sparkpelt."

Basically, tweak the trials to bring them more in line with the themes and messages of BB, y'know? And also beef up the Clans themselves, by stressing the various personalities that are at play here. Especially since I quite like how Sunbeam in ThunderClan has some super neat traits she wasn't expressing in ShadowClan.

Like... it feels like it could be a really cool story to tell about how supportive environments can make you really shine. How you can suddenly seem like a brand new person, just by having people who have your back and encourage your autonomy.

[fuzzykidney]

Little thought process and personal belief on the ages of Iroh and Ozai.

Some people are under the impression that Ozai is like 15 years younger than Iroh. I don’t personally think that because:

-grey hair doesn’t mean much. In the flash back of the siege of ba sing se Iroh has black hair. But then Lu Ten dies and Iroh’s world falls apart. He loses himself and his respect and everything. That easily could have taken a big enough toll on his body to turn his hair grey early.

-flashback and portraits of him in the canon book “legacy of the fire nation “ show black hair. He only stopped being a general like what? Five years before the story we see?

-I wouldn’t doubt someone like Ozai would just ignore hair dye lol. He wants to look his best.

-the live action actors prove a point somewhat as well. The actors are only 4 years apart, and Ozai’s is actually the older one.

However I do think the timeline for avatar is whack in many instances. So this is just one thing I try to grasp.

Side note: Sozins age and kids are just whack. Tenzin’s age difference from Pema was unnecessary. And why couldn’t Iroh the second be younger???

ANYWAY. I JUST WANTED TO SHARE THNX.

Edit: I remembered this picture from the series. Lu Ten and Iroh with zuko. Best I can do is guess that zuko is maybe a year and Lu ten could be around 8. So 8 years is the max I can concede to lmao. But also makes sense. It’s still a sizeable gap.

[meanbossart]

its very funny to me that most of the bhaalists you meet are pretty grungy then we have the bhaalspawn. gaudy and decked out to the nines in the highest of Murder Royalty fashion. i also love how your Durge's use of accessories feels so ostentatious next to Orin's (which is saying something). nice bit of characterization!

also a bit of an aside since you talked about pre-tadpole DURGE's relationship with the other Chosen and i've thought they were interesting/unique interpretations so far; what did he think of Ketheric?

THANK YOU FOR NOTICING, that is very much intentional! DU drow spent several years being pretty much something of a feral child/teen, constantly urged (hah) on by Scleritas' promises of greatness and status if he could just survive long enough to make it to Baldur's Gate, to the temple, and hence prove himself worthy of his heritage. I figured that someone like that, once they acquired what they wanted, would absolutely lavish in it.

He basically role-played royalty and godhood to anyone he met. This of course contrasted terribly with his vile behavior, which he could only keep under wraps for so long during any interaction. This was not someone you wanted as a guest at your fancy royal ball.

Sorry, for your actual question now LOL

As much as I love Ketheric, their relationship was probably the least interesting of the three. While Gortash let pre-pole drow get under his skin, and Orin had years-long rapport with him for an interesting relationship to flourish, I don't think Ketheric would have ever given him the time of day. Certainly not for a lack of trying though; I can picture DU drow nagging him for his age, his history, his choices, his daughter. He's old and tired and far too familiar with the likes of him, however. More crestfallen than usual today, Thorm, I take your most recent date with Melodia didn't culminate in much. Have you tried warming her up first? That works for me whenever I visit your daughter - Oh, what is that look? My most wizened consort, has your manhood diminished beyond restoration? Is that it? My apologies, Insensitive of me to brag - Insensitive of me to even be here. My presence alone must have you reminiscing of far more virile years. You can look, if you want, if Shar minds not that you take pleasure on it - you do, don't you? You must miss it. You must miss it dearly. Don't despair, your body might not be what it once was, but if it serves as comfort, your legacy is damned to last much longer despite all your efforts to the contrary. And I, for one, am most impressed at your willingness to turn your pride into a putrid death-pit - Ketheric, Ketheric - has the cat gotten your tongue? Ketheric - well, alright, I will see you some other time. Lovely chattin' as always, Ketheric.

[logan-lieutenant]

goodbye to a world

reading between the lines of the various goodbyes and dismissals to logan sargeant

Pt. 2: Alex on socials

oh, alex albon. you beautiful soul.

it goes without saying that the social media presence of drivers is so important that it’s monitored and orchestrated by an entire group of people– but a team like williams? they’ve got that shit under lock and key. i’ve said this before and i’ll say it again: the shitstorm williams has been in puts an unbelievable amount of pressure on their drivers not just to perform well but to pick up the pieces. they’re at the forefront of the “let’s look forward! let’s keep pushing” optimism campaign that all backmarker teams have to put together for the sake of professionalism. logan basically doesn’t have a social media presence, and you see more of him on the official f1 grid photography dumps than williams’ own account. alex’s posts are more frequent, but the content itself might as well be autogenerated. in conferences, they’re both reserved, careful what they say, always swinging back inelegantly towards the same one-liner: “we’ll look at the data, reset, hope to come back stronger in [next race]”. and unlike teams like mclaren, mercedes, ferrari– the two teammates definitely don’t make posts to or about each other.

alex posts this three hours after the official august 27 announcement:

alex…

this is going to have to be a list again, isn’t it? one post, a few photos, and he’s already said and conveyed so much more than the williams “statements” ever even tried.

first of all, 12:20 exactly? that’s been queued. obviously. we also know that alex found out about logan being axed mere hours before the decision, and i for one think that was absolutely deliberate. they wanted to get logan out– like, physically out of their vicinity– as quickly and as discretely as possible. so are they going to give alex, who’s famously kind and compassionate and talks too much and pays more on-camera attention to logan than practically anyone else in that team… they’re going to give him a heads up? unlikely.

so is there a chance that this post was composed for him before they even told him? that’s actually almost a certainty, but the most important detail to mention is that caption. let’s go sentence-by-sentence.

“i know firsthand how brutal this sport can be…”

wow. okay. i said sentence-by-sentence but i can’t even get past this because… BRUTAL. what a word. this is clearly a reference to alex’s own replacement by red bull. 2019. not that long ago, but considering alex’s f1 presence has already been solidified as “adhd cat dad who can also outperform the SHIT out of a backmarker car” it’s not something that’s called back too often, that he had a shot in a front running team. it wasn’t really a fall from grace, was it? because even in a williams alex has continued to prove himself and put that car way further ahead than it deserves to be. so it was painful but not in a way that, like, max’s silverstone crash is still painful to some people. it’s pretty distant in the f1 public consciousness from what i can tell.

but alex is making a point to throw back to it. not in detail, not heavily, because he’s not making it about himself. the only allusion to the actual event is the word “firsthand”. high is the right way to go about it because saying anything about “back when i” would be going too far, reshifting the spotlight in the wrong direction. but he’s asking us all:

remember when i was a kid and i was trying to build myself up and they tossed me aside like i was nothing? remember when i got discarded by a team that’s burned through so many second drivers already, and left thinking my only f1 legacy would be “that disappointment”? remember how much that hurt?

brutal. what a word. because that’s what red bull is, that’s what they do. famously. but it’s definitely not the word you’d apply to a team that’s supposed to be The Underdogs and A Family and A Lovely Sense of Familiarity and Support what fucking ever.

so alex gets away with this by the way he’s planned out the last half of that phrase: “how brutal this sport can be…” because he says ‘this sport’, not ‘this team’ or ‘james vowles’. so he’s flipping a two-sided coin here:

side one, on the surface. what williams want to see from him and want to believe. the sport is brutal. it is what it is. life’s not fair. that’s just how it goes. no blame but the harsh reality of the sport itself.

side two, between the lines. not too far deep between the lines, too, all you have to do to see this side is not have a compulsive, ashamed, desperate desire to see anything else. this is brutal. what’s happening to logan is brutal. what’s happening is painful and humiliating and you’re leaving him in the dust like he was always disposable, like you never wanted him, like you can’t wait to forget about him and i know because that’s what happened to me.

he’s saying this right to their faces. he’s saying it to everyone.

“…it’s tough to see Logan leave the team mid-season.”

i have a feeling this is the part that was prewritten just because of the word tough. “this is, of course, incredibly tough on” et cetera, we know where that understatement came from. the emphasis is on the fact that the disruption, the replacement is happening literally during the season, which is Such A Mess For Everyone, not the fact that the disruption is logan losing his entire career in disgrace (because he’s already said that part). so this single sentence toes the line so gracefully it’s almost an art.

“You gave it your all brother and it’s been a pleasure being teammates with you.”

this is really interesting specifically for the fact that 1) shortly after james manages to say the same thing as a put-down and 2) he goes on to contradict himself. i’m going to pick up later on the “you gave it your all” part because we will definitely revisit that, but the second half is nice too. it’s not focusing on logan’s performance as a williams driver, or as an f1 driver. it’s about logan– and, to an extent, himself– in a light people don’t tend to see either of them in: as a teammate. when you’ve got a team like mclaren or ferrari where the teammates are so closely matched that their race craft, cooperation and competition is a direct talking point in their racing, we talk about that a lot more often. but alex and logan can spend a race more than half a grid apart from each other, and as a williams driver that’s been true for alex this whole time. so we don’t think of which of them is or isn’t a better teammate because they’re barely driving the same race, and they’re not being treated like they’re in the same team. but even bringing that up in a post is good to see, just another way to give logan an additional title. the williams’ failure, the underperformer, the disappointment, the backmarker, and– oh yeah, alex albon’s teammate. love to see it.

“I know whatever you do next, you’ll be awesome.”

WOAH. okay, talk about shifting the spotlight. what’s been the williams 2024 story so far? i mean, if you were going to use a sentence to describe “how we got here” and “where we’re going”? we would probably see something like: logan’s failure in 24 brought in carlos sainz for 25. the narrative from james vowles in particular is: whatever we do next with carlos sainz, we’ll be awesome. the williams narrative since jv took over has basically been “uhhh yeah we’re nowhere now but WE’RE GONNA BE!! UH! SOMEWHERE! EVENTUALLY!” all about the future.

logan, in contrast… his whole narrative since joining f1 and immediately tumbling has been “he had a chance for a future but it’s gone now.”

not. to. alex. albon. in the wake of this announcement everybody is fucking reeling, and in the context of williams people are buzzing all around colapinto and how he’s been rocketed into the limelight for the better or worse, and all the distraught logan fans are either throwing up or screaming to the heavens, “WHAT NOW??” logan is being pushed aside the same way you’d push some clutter off a desk. he’s evaporating into thin air, or at least that’s what williams are trying to make him do.

three hours in, and alex albon is there to remind us: logan’s story is not over. he’s acknowledging that logan’s future is wide open, empty, undecided and unprepared (“whatever you do next”) but he’s ACKNOWLEDGING THE FUTURE. and the change in tone from third-person “seeing Logan” to second-person “you’ll be awesome”… once again, it’s not about him. it’s not about alex being a nice guy and a nice teammate and showing the world how nice he is by taking pity on this other person who’s leaving. he’s personally telling logan and by extension us: you’ll be awesome. doesn’t matter where you go, what you do, you have the potential to be awesome and so you will be. it’s not even “have fun” “enjoy where you’re going” “i hope you do well” it’s <<you will>>.

“Just you fucking wait,” Alex is saying. “You wait and watch. He’ll show you.”

it’s not just a lovely goodbye, it’s a ferocious goodbye. it’s a statement. it’s a confident send off, maybe the only genuine vote of confidence he’s ever gotten from williams.

and we love to see it.

[troutfur]

With how you characterize Cloudtail, what’s he like? His relationship to Firestar and his cousins Squirrelflight and Leafpool? His mate and children?

A lot of what I think of Cloudtail's characterization in Haneossia stems from a frustration with his uncle. Fireheart assimilated... not easily, he definitely gets much pushback and bigotry. But perhaps it'd be more accurate to say fully. This is helped by the fact he was well-trained and turned out to be a strong and skilled fighter. Very much a true believer in the power of hard work and keeping your head down until you prove yourself.

As Cloudkit and later Cloudpaw grew into the Clan with that same aura of distrust around him and later came to understand where it all came from, he was outraged. But Fireheart definitely tried to steer him into proving himself the way that it'd worked for him. This led him to really try to connect with Princess and his kittypet heritage, leading directly into the incident where he was adopted out and had to escape later.

It's not that Fireheart denied him a connection to Princess. But he certainly expected him to meet her and move on fast. Not for him to deepen it and keep in close contact. It's something that he carved out for himself, always careful to not arouse suspicion and get caught. I think on some level Firestar may have later figured it out but rather than cutting it out he reluctantly let it continue. He thinks it was the right decision for him to cut contact but he lives his what if vicariously through Cloudtail.

It's this early experience with the flaws of the Clans and the contact he kept with his mother that set the stage for his atheism. Atheism is not exactly the right word but rather than get into the nitty gritty of the comparative religion hair-splitting the important thing is he doesn't believe in an afterlife nor that natural phenomena have agency and personhood. He just never got enough satisfactory answers to counteract his skeptic attitude.

He is not an intentionally obtuse idiot. He clearly knows that magic exists in his world but he doesn't think it is directed by a being any more than your average 21st century person believes that gravity or electromagnetism is directed by a being.

I feel this rebel streak and willingness to question things served him well with regards to Brightheart. He is able to ground her when Clan ideas of worthiness, honor, and legacy are being maladaptive to how she thinks. He brings her a reality check and although she doesn't agree with all of his rebel behavior she can tolerate it for that. Plus he is just genuinely smitten by her and he's a great hugger too.

Finally, with regards to Leaf and Squirrel, I think Firestar wouldn't want him to be too big an influence in their early lives. Not that he would have banned them from interacting completely but certainly didn't encourage either side to seek the other. Of the two I see Squirrel more likely to seek him out and most influenced by him. He amplified the Firestar's little nightmare factor for her and got a kick out of it.

All in all, in some ways I think Cloudtail is a more fitting vessel for the rebel archetype that Firestar is often given in fanworks. But at the same time I don't think he'd be a far-reaching reformer or a figure of legend whose influence reverberates. More of a guy that got a happy ending by forging a space for himself to keep what he likes of Clan life and disregarding the things that did not serve him. Truly someone who found a way to live with a paw in each world.

[waywardcrow]

Timeless.

Chapter III.

Summary: 1943. 1975. 2024. Three different decades, three different lives, three different times your life and Bucky's interwined; he lost you twice, will he do it again?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader.

TW: It can change each chapter but themes of Bucky as soldier and as the Winter Soldier in general, letters between Bucky and reader which are in italics like this, lots of feels, death of reader's sister mentioned, reader's boss being a cartoon villain, very bad headaches and fainting, hospitals, past reader is mentioned to be named Beth but that changes for 2024 version of her so I nicknamed her little bird for Bucky, Ace for everybody else, this will be a +18 story so minors dni.

Disclaimer: Please remember english is not my first language so if I make a mistake or forget something let me know.

Pictures from pinterest and graphic and dividers by the amazing @ firefly-graphics so all credits to the creators.

Previous chapter <<<

Bucky still had your letters, Steve had kept them safe for him when he fell off the train and sent them home before going to the ice, your mother –Beth’s mother- kept them safe after your death only a year later of his disappearance. Your brother’s grandkid gave them to him after he went looking for your family, it was a surprise he knew about him and even so that he didn’t feared him or hated him for his past.

Your letters and his, so well-kept, were his most treasured possession, it allowed him to fill the blanks the brainwashing left and remember when he had happiness at his reach.

Even if it was so hard for him to make you understand his feelings were true.

Sargent Barnes,

My brother’s unit is the 103th, I appreciate your promise and I know you will honor it.

And regarding the other matter, I know you are good man because Rebecca said so and I trust her judgment but I’m also aware of your refusals to meet me in the first place so you have to understand my skepticism is justified.

You don’t have to fight for anything else but the war you’re in so you can come home to your loved ones, what’s in your destiny will happen no matter what, I don’t need you to prove me wrong, just be my friend like you said you will be.

With my best wishes.

Bucky traced your name with his fingertips before putting your letter in its box and then in the safe, breathing to calm himself. He will see you that night and it had to be perfect, he will never try to make space for him in your life again but he could take care of you.

The suit Sam chose for him was navy blue like his old uniform in the Howling commandos which made him feel better about it, still he picked the gloves like a reflex. He would not be close to you but didn’t want that part of his past to be near your presence again.

Pepper was kind enough to invite him, their relationship was strictly professional after she regained some power in the Avengers, what happened with Wanda and Spider-man made her reclaim her husband’s legacy, it was better under her control anyways. She didn’t seem to hate him but didn’t trust him completely and Bucky understood that.

He will never made emends with Tony but will do his best to protect the world he and Natalia saved.

The charity gala was one more thing he will have to deal with to be useful to his team. 

You, on the other hand, were in the brink of collapse, giving in to every stupid tantrum from Mia wasn’t enough, she always wanted more.

Mia wasn’t happy when you finished her work for next month’s issue, she wasn’t happy with your lame simple black dress with long sleeves and white collar hided every curve of your body, wasn’t happy about her driver being on time because she was late and complained the whole ride to the Avengers tower about it.

You were considering jumping out of the car in movement when you finally arrived and you could have some space away from her. The main hall was as impressive as the tower; it was so good that Mrs. Potts could take it back from that idiot Fisk.

Someone guided you to the adjacent room where the party will be hosted and your headache intensified with the bright lights.

“You, come here” your checks burned hot in anger hearing her call you like that but you did as you were told after counting to ten, remembering why wasn’t a good idea to kill her with a silver tray in a building full of superheroes. “Where are the questions?” she hissed when you were in earshot.

“I gave them to you miss Alexander” maybe your calmest tone will work with the brat “you put them in your purse back in the car”.

“Well I don’t have them” she said with such arrogance that made you wonder for the million time how could she be sister to someone as lovely as Harper “so go and find them for me before I have to interview that boring woman” Mia spat with mockery “like I don’t have better things to do than being here”.

Something about her words threw more gasoline to the flames of your anger and the pain in your head.

“You chose to do this interview and this gala is for people who are still homeless after The Blip” there was no point in trying to be rational with her but your family lost everything in that five years, your house, your chances at a better life that you still fought to get back and someone like her will never understand it. Still wasn’t right the way she talked about that and about Pepper fucking Potts.

“And? Poor people are poor because they don’t work hard enough, they don’t have a home because they are lazy” at that, you snorted with disdain and her perfect face contorted with ire “fix your attitude, I have to talk to that woman and I don’t have time for you or for the next thirty minutes I will pretend I give a shit about her dead husband.”

That was enough; the pain in the left side of your head, the black spots in your eyesight, your anger running through your veins, all the awful comments she made about you the entire time you worked for her, about everyone without anyone to stop her… before you knew it your hand took her champagne flute away to splash it in her face.

“You are a fucking bitch, a miserable excuse of human” you yelled at her with the anger pulsing in your heartbeats, how could she said that? Just like Tony Stark there were a lot of people who lost their lives, not just avengers like Natasha Romanoff or Vision, there were simple humans like your sister who died fighting to save people, there were people still suffering.

The whole room went silent and you went back to the present.

Everyone was staring at you and a pair of men in black suits started to walk in your direction so you ran to the entrance still with the glass of champagne in your hand.

You were so fired and even more than that, you were ruined, Mia will make sure of it for humiliating her. Your heart dropped to your feet, what will you do? How will you pay for your folk’s home?

Hot tears ran down your face but before you reached the street a strong hand stopped you. It was when you realized the expensive glass in your hand.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to take this with me” you started but your plea for mercy died when you met the most amazing blue eyes you have ever seen in your life. The man before you looked so confused and some other things you couldn’t understand when the pain increased, your hands dropped everything to hold your head, barely aware of your knees touching the pavement while the agony made the world disappeared.

Bucky couldn’t lose you, not again, why this kept happening? It was like the universe wanted to tell him to stay away from you but what if this had nothing to do with him? What if you were sick and needed his help?

He insisted in going in the ambulance with you and Sam arrived minutes later.

“What happened man?” his neck tie was loose and the confusion in his eyes made Bucky lie to him.

“I don’t know, I went outside from some air and I saw this girl crying, thought I could help and then she had an attack, like- like if someone was hurting her” Bucky made an effort to don’t let his emotions show but the lump in his throat was impossible to avoid “then she fainted.”

Sam was trying to read him before speaking again.

“It’s a little weird that you were there and also you saved this same girl to get hit by a bike a couple days ago, don’t ya think?” his southern accent came to play like always he was trying to convince him of something.

Bucky looked at his gloved hands, he couldn’t tell Sam, he may believe him but Bucky didn’t believed himself most days so it was better to keep lying.

“It was a coincidence I guess” nobody else could know, it was for the best.

“Hmm” was the simple response of Captain America who knew something was happening but will wait for his friend to tell him.

“Excuse me Sergeant Barnes, the patient is awake” your doctor approached him “her emergency contact is coming but she asked for you.”

“Is she going to be fine? What happened to her?” Sam’s presence will not stop him from knowing.

“She is going to be fine, we suspect it had to do with a lot of stress and not taking care of herself properly” the eyes of the doctor went to his left arm when a noise of metal whirring interrupted. If it would be for him, Mia Alexander will have more than a ruined dress to pay but right now you were his priority.

“Can I see her?” the doctor gave him a nod and Bucky muttered a thank you, leaving Sam behind more confused than before.

His heart was racing in his chest, the last time he talked with you –with an old version of you- he was still him and you will never know how even in his darkest time you were his light.

You smiled shyly at the sight of him and it took every ounce of strength in his body to don’t run to your side and kiss you. Your make-up was slightly smeared and your carefully styled hair dishealved which brought some other memories he should not be having when you just woke up in a hospital.

“Hi” he heard your heart going as fast as his, making him feel like the flustered mess you made of him in the 40’s “the doctor told me you brought me here after the incident and I told her to call you so I could thank you.” His stare started to play with your nerves, he was more handsome in person and your self-consciousness didn’t help you “I also wanted to apologize for what I did back in the gala, it was so improper and selfish of me to do that.”

Guilt drowned you since you recover your senses, hoping the raising of money was not affected by you and it was enough for Bucky to move, his protective instinct winning over anything else.

“You have nothing to apologize for, little-“ his old pet name almost rolled out of his tongue so naturally that it hurt him physically to stop it “there’s little petty people like your old boss who deserve more than what you did.”

Nice save, Barnes he congratulated himself.

Your whole face turned in a mortified expression at his words, how did he know?

“You heard her?” it wasn’t bad enough being humiliated, you have to be humiliated with an audience.

Bucky had to use all of his restraint from the moment you arrived with that idiot, he was actually in his way to you when she said all that awful things and he made sure of letting Pepper know while waiting for you to wake up.

“I heard enough” he gave a few steps towards you, reading your conflict perfectly clear in your eyes. The reasons why you didn’t resign before, all the things he couldn’t fix for you without being noticed, finally having a chance to change them this time “you don’t have to worry about her anymore, Pepper will take care of it.”

“Oh my god, does she know what that bitch said? I’m so sorry”

Why were you apologizing?

“It’s not your fault” his brows furrowed and he didn’t think twice before taking your hand in his right one to give you a soft squeeze “like I told you, Pepper will take care of it and I’ll like to help too.”

Before you could answer the door opened again and Harper stormed in.

“What the hell, Ace? Don’t scare me like this!” the red haired woman didn’t notice him when she went to your side to hug you “are you okay? Did she hurt you? I swear to god this time I’m going to put peanuts in her food and-“

“Harper, what did I tell you about planning murder in front of other people?” you remind her, giggling, sending a greedy feeling through Bucky’s body, he missed that laugh.

“That we need plausible deniability” your friend answered like a scolded child before setting her eyes on Bucky “thank you for bringing Ace here.”

Her honest words made him feel weird, didn’t she knew who he was?

“Ace?” he asked instead.

“It's what Harper calls me” you responded feeling your cheeks heat.

“Because she’s so smart and quick and awesome” the love in her voice made him feel a little jealous, in all the time following you he didn’t sense something else going on between you two but how could someone be close to you and not fall in love?

“Well it was my pleasure, just like watching her splashing someone with five thousand dollars champagne” his eyes never left yours while speaking but Harper barely noticed it.

“Please tell me it was Mia” she begged and when you nodded, Harper let out a happy yell “I’m so proud of you, sweetie. It was about time, don’t you think Mr. Barnes?”

So she knew him, why wasn’t she hiding you from him?

“Totally and please, call me Bucky” again, his eyes were only on you. A hint of pain hit you when he said his name making close your eyes “everything ok?”

“Yeah”

“I should leave you sleep” he hated being away from you in times like this but you needed it “nice to meet you. Both” he added.

“Same” Harper’s smart eyes went from you to him; it was time for him to leave.

“Thank you again, Mr. Barnes” he opened his mouth to protest and you corrected yourself “Bucky, thanks.”

“Get well soon, Miss.” He looked at you one last time before walking out, how will he stay away from you after this?

Tag list: @cjand10 @bunnyforhim

Next chapter >>>

Hey! I liked this chapter, mostly because we will not see Mia again (maybe) and these two finally get to talk! But maybe I'm going to take this story slowly, feel free to tell me what you think!

Love, Lily.

[writingonesdreams]

Avatar 2 first impressions

Spoilers ahead

A visually stunning movie with three main parts. The longest middle part focused primarily on the world of the sea, the breathing (reminded me of Wimhoff breathing techniques that got so trendy during the pandemic), the environment and sea life. Enchanting water scenes, I loved it.

The tukun whale like hunt was chilling to the core. You get these majestic intelligent creatures being killed for fun, sport and an anti age serum and it was heartbreaking. Like Seaspiracy. Impressive way to remind you what's happening to our seas.

I was missing Jake and Neytiri a lot. I loved them in the first movie and I loved all their scenes, but the focus decidedly shifted from them to their kids, which was...intentional on Cameron's part I guess, but I didn't like it. I'm too old to resonate with teenage narratives and their whining of "it's so hard to be special!" and "they just seem me as an outcast cause of my fingers" was annoying as hell. Like Jake was a Sky person, a human in artificially made avatar body - that's hostility and change your ways difficulty on another level. And he still made it as a warrior, chief and a legend. I guess it's unfair that they were born with these prejudice by no fault of their own...but damn, you would think they would be more secure in their idenity and who their dad is and what he achieved. Torukmakto for hell's sake! (The scene with Neytiri roasting Ronal for speaking disrespectfully to her husband was badass. Go Neytiri. You chose a pretty cool guy.) Human legacy is a shameful thing here with all the terrible destructive stuff they do, but Jake did what he did as a human, he was chosen as a human and for me that sends the message that there is still something good in humans/humanity, with individuals like Grace and Norm and those who fight for Pandora and nature. Like, get over yourselves having 5 fingers or cool powers no one else has.

Spider being a human boy so deeply entangled with the Na'vi culture also seems to make a point about this. Yes, humans are the main antagonists in Avatar, and they do horrible things, but Spider shows it isn't being human that makes you bad - it's what you are taught and what you ultimately choose to do with it. Being a Na'vi didn't make Quaritch a better person after all, even when he was learning a bit more about them.

Idk all these teenage idenity angst was just incredibly childish. Maybe it's justifiable for them being teens and all but seriously, why are you complaining you are special? I will admit they did adapt pretty well to the new sea world. They do take after their dad ;).

Jake has a very interesting conflict going on as a father. On one hand he is the legendary warrior, prone to life threatening downright suicidal stunts to do the right thing or fight to save the day. And his sons are very eager to follow his footsteps and "live up" to him. And Jake is understandably...not okay with this. He is scared. He wants to keep them away from the main action as scouts. Reviewers have been complaining Jake is a bad parent, that he had too much of a military approach and was hard on them, but wasn't Jake making the best of the situation? Invaded and in a secret attacks war on humans, trying to keep them all alive?

His distance and conflict to L'oak especially is reflecting this. Jake is teaching Neteyam right now, having him on flights and leading scounting missions from time to time. He is not ready to let either of them fight on their own, he is making baby steps of teaching the oldest, when L'oak comes with his reckless missions to prove himself. Jake just wanted to protect them longer. They were going at a different pace.

The refugee storyline is interesting and parallels the first movie. Coming to a new place, having to learn new ways and rules, adapting.

Jake didn't bring the distaster on the Metkayina from what I can see. Their tukuns were already hunted for the anti-age serum. They were coming either way, that's why that showed that scene and explicitly said the whole current invasion was financed by it. Jake and his family brought Quaritch after them, but a confrontation would have come because of the tukuns regardless. I don't know why so many are blaming Jake for all of that, he was just trying to protect the Omaticaya tribe and his family, by hiding them away.

Quaritch had an interesting arc. It was cool seeing Spider and the Na'vi way and nature having an effect on him - like Quaritch not killing any of the villagers on the Islands, with his personality and temper? Because Spider asked him? That was wild. And them giving up Kiri as his only advantage over the Sullys in the final to save Spider's life? I wonder if there is any chance of Quaritch ending up helping Pandora or Jake in the future. He didn't mind killing any of the wildlife/tukuns though...

That scene with Quaritch finding his dead original's body was chilling. That final there was epic.

The ending battle was way smaller in scale and too focused on the kids and their inability to save each other. Big applaud for Jake and Neytiri managing to save them so many times though. When it came to facing humans and Quaritch, they both lived up to their legendary warriors reputations from the first movie. Loved to see Neytiri going feral over her kids.

The last one on one fight with Quaritch was awesome. Close quarters hateful intimacy. The way Quaritch was making promises to hunt his whole family down and Jake who was on the leave, saying, damn it let's go now then, was pure moment of awesome.

I love love love that the final final scene wasn't any epic fight or whale attack or a big explosion. It was a eerie sad scene of the family divided into pairs trapped under the ship (Titanic vibes), with the children saving their parents. Jake being calmed and taught how to hold his breath by L'oak, Kiri using her connection with Eywa/nature to find and guide Neytiri out...and Spider saving Quaritch.

Idk it felt right and wrong for him to do it. On one hand Quaritch is too great an enemy to pass up of for sequels. And I understand and sympathize with Spider becoming kinda attached to him too and saving him in naive compassionate human stupidity. On the other I was really hoping for him to die and Spider's move felt like a betrayal to the Sully family he belongs to.

Anyway the kids showing that they are not completely useless and actually saving their protective badass warrior parents was great. I love when the caretaker role gets switched around a little.

Jake kinda balancing between being true to his risk loving fun sarcastic nature and a diplomatic proper Na'vi parent was part of his distance to L'oak. L'oak didn't see Jake asking Neteyam, if the bullies were worse off than his kids and that playful proud smile of his. He just saw Jake scolding him and trying to make it good as an unproblematic refugee to the local leader their staying depended on.

I didn't really understand or emphasize with L'oak feeling like an outsider although that was obviously the parallel that connected him to Panayacan. So he has 5 fingers, cool strict dad leading rebellions and armies left and right who would like him to stay safe as long as possible in a very unsafe world. People say Jake focused on Neteyam too much to see L'oak, but I honestly believe Jake was having a hard time allowing Nateyam to tag along in the first place. He couldn't take L'oak at risk too.

Then again I was really expecting Neteyam to die by the final fight. There was no tragic death in sight to mirror the first movie's structure, the danger was prevalent enough, the kids were being reckless enough...and I don't think it was avoidable no matter how much Jake tried. In war conditions like these, there was no way for everyone of his family to survive. Maybe if he accepted that fact sooner, he wouldn't be so strict with his kids and they wouldn't want to rebel and prove themselves so much. But then again, hard to accept a fact like that. At least they can all meat again in Eywa.

I liked Kiri. Total Jesus/Anakin Eywa made miracle child. She had that special connection with nature, just a shame they didn't figure it out sooner or that she didn't use it more. I was so happy about her controlling the corals to protect her siblings. Go Kiri! Her solitary thoughtful little meditations and connection to nature were beautifully made. Also Jake talking to his daughters was so doting and cute.

Why did they take Tuk to every possible risky place they could find? Did they just want screen time for her? Seriously. "We are going on a forbidden mission to warn an outcast tunkun. Let's take the youngest, most vulnerable and most likely to get captured or killed sibling with us." Pfff.

To sum up, it's an interesting movie with surprising emotional weight for it's simple plot, with breathtaking aesthetics and water shots that made you wanna protect and respect nature so much. Too much focus on the kids/new generation for my tastes, would have likes to see more of Jake and Neytiri, but they had a good conflict going on with their children, the right time to fight and to run and with protectiveness vs cause. It's not as good as Avatar 1, but I have some favourite scenes to rewatch anyway.

[pumpkinsy0]

Do you think there are some Curly and Pony parallels…

YES I DO!!!! maybe this doesnt exactly count as a parallel but idk maybe it does

the main one is how they feel like they fit in w their siblings and how it looks to the rest of the ppl

i dont think pony rlly feels like he fits in w his brothers in the sense that hes not as well known as them/doesnt leave as much of a mark as they do on ppl. darrys essentially the golden boy and sodas the pretty boy and pony just generally isnt as well knows as they r??? at MOST ppl probably go “yea the name pony sounds familiar” and they always bring up darry and sodas accomplishments, but that doesnt mean he cant hold up on his own. hes smart hes really good at track, when ppl meet him, they see this light, like hes going somewhere. he builds off of their reputation and at the same time when ppl find out who he is as a person, he builds onto the curtis rep as a whole. i dont think pony not being as remembered as them rlly bothers him that much, hes not trying to prove himself as he doesnt have to

however when it comes to curly, both angela and tim r renowned for SOMETHING, for angela its her looks and how she can get anyone to do what she wants, for tim its the legacy he built for himself w the shepard gang and how smart he is, but for curly, yea hes KNOWN, but its more so for being a shepard than for something special to HIM. at worst hes known for being “that dumb shepard” and i think that would anger him more than anything. even amongst ppl who speak highly of the shepards, hes just essentially seen as a tarnish on their record or something, its like he adds nothing but more chaos for the sake of chaos. its even worse cause most people just over exaggerate how dumb he is and hes not really seen for him, hes just deeply overlooked and misunderstood. its kind of funny in a sad way bc the same ppl who overlook curlys intelligence, r the same ppl that claim him as dumb, what their looking for is right in front of em if they just got rid of that narrative they have of him. so then curly feels like he DOES have to prove himself. thats y i said earlier that hes not insecure about his intelligence, even if hes surrounded by smart ppl, hes annoyed that ppl arent seeing him for HIM and so he reacts by acting more “tough” and violent so ppl see him, so they cant ignore him. its a mix of ppl trying to fit him in to things he doesnt want to fit in w and overlooking him that mostly get him to act the way he does.

its probably worse bc i hc curly as the middle child lmao

i hope this all made sense im battling a stomach ache rn

tldr: theyre both over looked and compared to their siblings and while pony can “hold up his own” and is held in high regards so he can just b him and not have to show for anything, curly isnt and its like hes trying to prove HIMSELF

[abysskeeper]

What is that draws you to Ruby x Oscar? (I mean it on a 'pls infodump me' vibe.)

I enjoy committing to the bit of less popular ships in RWBY and suffering the consequences

@flytehwire Ok, seriously, to answer this properly I need to explain something about myself. When I am looking for character pairings, I am looking for, in order of importance: 1. Harmonious themes and rhetoric, 2. Character interactions, and 3. Other, extenuating factors. While other factors can sometimes determine how I view a pairing (romantic/platonic/friend/familial/etc) and character interactions can override the thematic element, I am primarily looking for those sweet, sweet story beats.

So, when you give me two kids carrying the weight of massive legacies they feel they have to fulfill, stepping into leadership roles neither were prepared for, and throw in a smattering of identity issues to boot? Yeah, I'm hooked 100%. These two are important to each other on a base narrative level, before even considering we see they're important to each other in their interactions throughout the show. Their arcs mirror each other, but are different enough that they compliment each other and are not going through the exact same thing.

By which I mean, both are struggling with the very same things listed above, but slightly to the left of each other to make them different enough that it makes them both unique and interesting in their own rights. For sake of time and ease of answering, I'm not going to fully cite my sources, but it became increasingly apparent (especially through v9) that Ruby's whole issue is attempting to follow the legacies of those from before her, starting with the general, Hunter/Huntress ideal and the heroes of stories in the early volumes, and then moving over to the SEWs and her mother in the later volumes. A lot of untangling in this personal arc for her revolves around reconciling the fairy tales she believed in and what is being asked of her in reality, and then determining who she is and what she stands for when it becomes apparent those ideals are more lofty dreams and reality is much more complicated. In essence, Ruby's arc is finding who she was when stripped of everything she believed as a child, and we saw that exactly throughout v9 ("What are you?" // "What is a Huntress?" ultimately boil down to "Who is Ruby Rose?")

Oscar, conversely, I would argue, already had some sense of who he was at the start. Sure, he may have wanted more and was unable to voice exactly what "more" was, but he's young...who honestly knew what they wanted to do with their life when they were 14? Regardless, his arc is less about asking who he is and is more about the fear of losing himself entirely now that he's part of the Ozcarnation line--and thus, it's also more about proving who he is to the world around him as everyone else assumes he's just another copy/paste of Oz. Oscar had to have a strong handle of his own identity at the start simply in order to beat the "he's just Ozpin" allegations, which he eventually did do (with some help from Oz's disappearing act).

And that isn't to say that there aren't echoes of each other's themes as well. Ruby very much does lose herself and must reassert who she is at her core (most evident in v9, but definitely starting in v7). Oscar very much does have to figure out who he is in the Ozcarnation line and how he specifically wants to handle situations (most prominent in the "Her name...is Jinn" decision in v6 and his actions through v7, but also metatextually hinted at when he talks to Ironwood at the end of v7 holding himself and acting like Ozpin, and then getting shot, and then in v8 when he tries to act like Ozma and Salem directly calls him out. It's almost like fate is punishing him because he's supposed to think and act like Oscar, and not try to be those who came before him...). And I think ultimately that's what makes them fun for me, they revolve around this overarching theme of identity in the face of legacies and destinies and leadership and each take a piece to compliment the other.

Of course, that doesn't mean they have to be romantic. And that's correct, they don't! Full transparency, I honestly wasn't fully onboard with Rosegarden until the end of v7/start of v8. Oscar's blush at getting rescued was the first time I felt fully vindicated over a ship, but the ending of v7 is really the beginning for the end of me I think. It was at that point where it became apparent their themes were merging and then splitting off again into the projected trajectories they're on now. And, in terms of interaction, throughout v7 and v8, Ruby and Oscar are shown repeatedly to be in sync with each other and trusting each other (even when they don't necessarily agree with each other!) All of those moments for me boiled down to one single, striking fact: because of what they're going through and how similar each struggle was, Ruby and Oscar to me are the only two characters in the show who could understand each other on a deeper level.

(And as an aside, the release of 'Until the End' and 'Fear' being the last two songs of that volume, and clearly being a Ruby song and an Oscar song respectively, completely altered my brain chemistry. That's a separate 3k essay, but the call and response between 'Fear's' "Who will you see there in the darkness? // When no one is watching who will you be? When you're afraid and everything changes will you see a stranger? // Feel proud or betrayed?" vs 'Until the End's' "I promise I’ll be here until...Our story has been told // 'Til our bodies break down every door // 'Til we find what we’ve been looking for // And stare with pride into the face of fear // In our finest hour, I’ll be standing here // And should we fall to darkness // This power, I will harness // I promise I’ll be here until the end" just does things to me on a personal level).

Others come close. Jaune and Weiss both have similar arcs about breaking legacies as well (Weiss with her family and Jaune with...presumably his family, if not his personal views on what he should be and on his promises to Pyrrha), but they're both on a far more personal and less world-shaping level than Ruby and Oscar. Blake as well, with reclaiming her identity, but that as well is a little more personal and also more about regaining what was "stolen" by Adam, so to speak, than finding herself altogether. And Penny is more about learning everything altogether and learning about who she can and cannot trust more than about who she is at her core. And, as an aside, I am a multi-shipper. I do like several of these pairings with Ruby, and Oscar and Penny is an utterly fascinating concept to me.

The reason why Ruby and Oscar come out on top for me is because at the end of the day, they're still the only two who can understand and empathize with each other on the deepest level. They're the two that appear to be entirely in sync with each other. And they're also the two currently slated to be running the show in the next generation. And if there's one thing I love more than seeing my power couple ships completely in love, it's seeing those two characters entirely and implicitly understanding and trusting each other.

This is of course glossing over a lot too. Their scenes together are often pretty striking: the dojo scene in v5 (Oscar admitting he's scared, Ruby for the first time really opening up about Penny and Pyrrha at The Fall of Beacon), the cane scene in v6 (Ruby being the only one to comfort Oscar and reaffirm that he isn't Oz), Oscar's panic during the fight with Cordo, like...every scene they had in v7, Oscar's blush in v8 and the almost hug that wasn't, and of course, THE scene in v9 (and another 3k essay could be written on why that had to be Oscar, though most of the starting points on my opinion for that are above). They also have some other dichotomies going on in their rhetoric, with the silver/gold symbolism and the sun/moon symbolism; and the extra info in the show with the "Warrior in the Woods" fairy tale and Oscar's allusion to the Little Prince. But several other people have written far better analyses on those than I could ever do currently, and this is getting long enough as is.

But yeah, tl;dr thematically and rhetorically complimentary kids just trying to do their best, figure themselves out, and save the world? Yeah, I wanna see them cuddle and comfort and rely on each other in the way they only can with the other.

[fallenclan]

hello, it is me, here with ANOTHER potential deputy list. essentially i'll list cats i think are viable options and give some reasoning behind my choices. i also tried to account for age when picking

YEWBERRY---the oldest contender on the list. yewberry used to have the insecure trait and currently is ambitious. combining these together, i'm not sure if he'd be a particularly good deputy and (as beetle has stated) he would probably feel stressed being in charge of other cats. HOWEVER, i believe he would want to be deputy. yewberry has a lot of narrative potential for wanting to be deputy, with him seeking to escape otterslip's legacy and "prove" himself. i believe brambletuft and ivybounce would both be with him a lot and offering her support to him, and to a lesser extent, poppyfeather.

POPPYFEATHER---my number one choice. she has the perfect combination of traits: charismatic, vengeful, and eloquent speaker. she would be a cat who'd be great at convincing cats to see her point of view and in general "inspiring" cats. i like to think she has a bit of a grudge against the other clans ever since henryclaw's mysterious death, with the shallowclan war only worsening this. poppyfeather would be a well-respected deputy but also a lot of cats would probably get an "off" vibe from her. her vindictive nature is lesser known to the clan, but she isn't someone you want to cross. going with the lore stating that the deputy picks a successor, i think crowflame would realistically either choose poppyfeather or antbite. poppyfeather is the more experienced of the two, and also would avoid claims of nepotism. anyway. she's the perfect choice imo. not that much older than cherrystar also.

MOOSEFALL---he, along with the previous two, was also on my last deputy contender list. my old points still remain. i think moosefall would be a kind-hearted and compassionate deputy but have trouble with being easily influenced by his family and friends. he could potentially be a bit gullible or swayed too quickly. still, his heart is in the right place and he would always try to do what's best for his clan.

ANTBITE---antbite would be a serious, no-nonsense deputy. he would get things done. lionsong's death has definitely made him even more reserved (if that's even possible) so i doubt he'd be the type of deputy that cats support for his charm/speaking skills, but rather for his orderliness and hardworking attitude. i believe antbite would have trouble thinking outside of the box and would probably get stuck in the same old routines pretty easily. in other words, a lot of younger cats especially would be complaining about him being a killjoy. but he gets the job done! 2nd place choice

SALMONSKIP---she might be chaotic and silly, but i believe that as she's gotten older she's also gotten more mature. she works hard while also knowing how to have fun. cats generally like her and she's good at making everyone feel right at home. she leads with her heart, not her head, which can lead to her making mistakes, but she's always willing to admit when she's wrong (although many consider her to be stubborn, she is actually quite capable of seeing when she has made a mistake---she will never back down on her opinions, though). whilst cherrystar is wise and a lot more careful, salmonskip is a risk-taker. she'd definitely push cherrystar out of her comfort zone (for the better!).

MOSSFROG---the child prodigy, now a mother. i love mossfrog. she's quiet and unassuming but shockingly clever. she's always coming up with ingenius ideas and no cat can dispute that she's brilliant. her social skills might be lacking, but i believe motherhood will soften her somewhat. she doesn't say much, but when she speaks it's always worth listening. she would make an excellent deputy however i do believe the role would cause her a lot of stress, at least at first. i think rustbee and salmonskip's support would help her a lot, though!

BOULDERSTEP---not much to say on this one. food for thought.

RUSSETFLARE---one of my favorite cats, actually. she's a bit of a goofball but i believe she'd make a good deputy. she's very good at influencing others however she always has their best interests at heart. she's open to new ideas and experiences and genuinely loves her clan. russetflare inspires a sense of comradery and warmth everywhere she goes. she might not be the most clever or most talented cat, but she's definitely got a lot of potential - and she has an entire friend group (juniperfoot, sandsnap, myrtleclaw, feathersight, ospreyswipe, cinderstone, ramstep) to back her up!

JUNIPERFOOT---she's cool, she's clever, she's funny. juniperfoot might often be overlooked compared to her siblings, but she also has a lot of potential. as a deputy she'd use her shrewdness to solve problems. i believe she'd be very organized (like antbite) but also open to new ideas and concepts. she'd often look to senior warriors for advice, valueing the unique perspectives of her clanmates. juniperfoot is my 3rd choice (personally she's my 2nd but due to her lack of relationship with crowflame i've bumped her down to 3rd).

there were of course many options, but these are my top picks

tldr; top deputy contenders imo are yewberry, poppyfeather, moosefall, antbite, salmonskip, mossfrog, boulderstep, russetflare, and juniperfoot

-🐉

OOOGH such a good list. big fan of your thoughts on Juniperfoot especially, I hadn't considered choosing her, but she's actually a fantastic choice. the only relationship Crowflame has with her though is a tiiiiny bit of Respect, so in lore I don't see it as very likely, but she's absolutely on my list now

[msfbgraves]

That writing felt on the wall since they had Ali be the mouthpiece to saying Daniel and Johnny were both the same, and laughing about Daniel's 5-on-1 beatdown. They try to make it like oh see, both these men are bad and immature and the same, but reward Johnny for a lack of growth while shining the light on how oooooh Daniel bad and stupid for not growing.

They wrote the whole series to prove that everything Daniel ever learnt and stood for is bad, but to do that, they have make stuff up that nothing in the films ever hinted at; and then they have to make up sympathetic stuff about the villains that nothing in the films ever hinted at, either. Ali, case in point. They made up that Daniel framed Ali for wrecking his car. Daniel is a terrible liar, as shown in films 1 and 3. But this he made up on the spot? Curious. Also, Ali broke up with Johnny before Daniel even arrived. Why should she have any interest in playing referee between them? Logically, the only thing Ali would have been concerned about at school is not who is right and that Daniel has bad sides too, but how to keep her violent ex away from herself and from her boyfriend. If my ex was ganging up on my boyfriend while not leaving me alone, he would not leave a very good impression on me and I certainly wouldn't waste time on getting Daniel to see that he's somehow partly to 'blame'. But they have to put Ali firmly in Johnny's camp for no reason - we've never seen Johnny do anything nice for her - while she spends all the time she's with Daniel badtalking him to his wife. I mean, what? Amanda took that strangely well!

They forgive every bad act within three seconds for their own characters, write in sympathetic acts for Kreese and make Mr. Miyagi into a criminal because they can't actually show their hero doing anything sympathetic. Johnny's one redeeming quality, his relationship with his pupils, particularly Miguel, does not negate that he is unapologetically shown to be stupid, irresponsible, childish, inconsiderate and ungrateful in every other part of his life in Cobra Kai. Well at least he's not a criminal! Mr Miyagi was! Because we say so! So we have something to criticise!

Honestly Daniel himself did criticise Miyagi for being too beholden to the concepts of honor and nonviolence to see what was right in front of him. Those are character flaws. You do not have to retroactively drag a character through the mud so that in comparison another's bad behaviour looks more palatable. There's nothing to suggest that Daniel is a liar, Mr. Miyagi a criminal, Kreese has a soft spot for women and Ali looks back on her time with Johnny fondly. It also doesn't automatically follow the films that Daniel should hero worship everything about Miyagi, because even during the films he had started to question Miyagi (if not as much as Ralph would like). It doesn't follow that if Johnny has arrested development about his sensei Daniel should have it worse because otherwise "it isn't fair!!!"

It's literally a toddler destroying a toy because it bothers them to see others having something nice. And what's worse: Miyagi means something. Daniel means something. Nobody wishes they had someone like Kreese in their life. But those writers want to be Kreese, if they have to piss on that legacy to make themselves feel better about that and they don't care who it hurts.

Honestly, grow up and leave Mr. Miyagi out of your tantrum!