#also i am not wrong the war would have ended in like 2 months

[stardustloki]

The war would be over very quickly in a republic commando/Coruscant guard crossover because the second he heard about the corries being mistreated by Palpatine, Ordo would have just straight up killed the chancellor with Jusik as his getaway driver. The next thing a very confused Fox knows is that he and his men have all been adopted by a very angry mando called Skirata. He doesn't know what happened but his evil boss is dead and he can now get more than 3 hours sleep a night so he's cool with it.

[scourgeofmyownbrain]

This took way too fucking long- Everyone, gaze upon the Megatron/Galvatron height chart I made. If someone could get me a cold drink, I would love one, I have been working on this for the better part of a month. 26 separate designs, for one character, across 40 years of history. And I had to exclude a couple, the grand total is like 30 different ones. I left those four out because they were just pallet swaps of a design I already had; It felt redundant to include them.

This guy just can not decide if he's named Megatron or Galvatron sometimes, he just switches between the two names at random. I think in Unicron Trilogy, he switches to Galvatron multiple times, and yes, he does switch back to Megatron before every one.

My brain is kinda broken after finishing this. I worked on this one and the Optimus one at the same time (the optimus one is so much bigger holy shit-) and I've lost the ability to feel pain at this point.

Quick Disclaimer, if any of the images look weird, it's because I had to stitch a few separate images together to create a full body shot of the character.

Links to my Bumblebee Chart and my Optimus Chart. !!NEW!! -> Shockwave & Soundwave. For future reference, all these charts will be filed under my "Transformers Height Charts" tag and my "aka the adventures of a..." tag. Hopefully, my bumblebee post is acting up and idk if the same issue will happen here.

Explanations below the cut, I have to justify myself for a few of these.

G1 Beast Wars V1 - ~9 Feet (PMeg. TFWiki, he's so small. Dinosaur Man is so small)

G1 Beast Wars V2 - ~10 Feet (PMeg. TFWiki, This fucker has roller blades. I'm not fucking with you, they gave the T-Rex Roller Blades and he uses them)

G1 Beast Machines V1 - ~12 Feet (PMEG. The Wiki doesn't have any numbers for Beast machines, sadly, but I found an old forum post comparing the heights to the Beast Wars designs, so I win)

G1 Beast Wars V3/Machines V2 - ~13 Feet (PMEG. The TFWiki says this bitch is like 11.5 meters tall, but no, I've done the math, he is not. If he was, Rattrap, a character who is consistently stated to be 1.8 meters tall across multiple sources in multiple languages is actually not that tall. So no, he's about 2 and a bit Rattraps tall, and that translates to about 13 feet. And I'm pretty sure he reverts into this at some point in Beast machines, though correct me if I'm wrong)

G1 Beast Machines V3 - ~16 Feet (PMeg. This design is identical to the Optimal Optimus design so I'm gonna be lazy and use that number. Not like I have many other options.)

Beast Wars 2 - ~16 Feet (Galv. Idk, the wiki had the number and his name is Galvatron, was I supposed to ignore this? Never gonna watch it, but here it is)

Earth Spark - ~16 Feet 2 Inches (Mega. There are no actual numbers for Earth Spark (yet), but I was able to find Bumblebee's height, which I then compared to Optimus's height, and now I can compare Optimus and Megatron.

Yay!- he's so short it's so fucking funny tiny short man universe)

One V1 - ~17 Feet (Mega. I am aware, of the supposed "Canon Heights" listed on the wiki. 32.462 feet, allegedly. But, have you considered A: These numbers are sourced from the Walmart Promotional AR Experience that came out before the movie. B: There are three decimal points, and that number does not convert into a whole number in meters (which is originally what I thought was weird about it). C: The director has said that this movie is both canon to the LA movies and its own separate canon. AND ALSO Meg is taller than Optimus the entire movie but his height is listed as shorter than him on the wiki. They are the same height by the end of the movie, I call BULLSHIT Walmart; these are not actual numbers I will ignore them POST HASTE! Sadly, Megatron has yet to appear in the KCV live-action movies as I make this, but we know Meg and OP are the same height by the end of TFOne, so knock a couple of feet off this one, and we get pre-cog height)

Netflix Cybertron Trilogy - ~18 Feet (PMeg. Slightly confusing, but there are two Megatrons in this universe, but they are two completely separate characters. This is Predacon Megatron, design-wise identical to his V1 Beast Wars counterpart, but he is much taller in this universe. So I did some admittedly deranged comparisons to other characters and I got this height. It's a similar ratio to Prime & Primal's height difference so I'm running with it)

Gen 1 V2 - ~ 18 Feet 6 inches (Galv. So the Wiki failed me on this one, but- and maybe this is backwards thinking, the WFCT Galvatron is this height, at least comparing him to WFCT Megatron, who I've decided is the same height as Gen 1 Megatron, who we actually have a number for- I am aware it's convoluted but it's all I got)

Netflix Cybertron Trilogy - ~18 Feet 6 inches (Galv. Okay so, Galvatron and Megatron are entirely separate beings in this universe, which is a large departure from Gen 1 where they're effectively the same guy, which means I could compare their heights, and this is about the height Galvatron is. And I have decided that the WFCT Megatron is the same height as Gen 1 Megatron because they're nearly identical otherwise, making the assumption that the Galvatrons are the same easy. The amount of hoops I have to jump through sometimes...)

Gen 1 V1 - ~19 Feet (Mega. TFWiki. Hey look, it's the guy that's the foundation of like 5 other character's calculations)

Prime Wars - ~19 Feet (Mega. As I've said before, I have decided that this design is the same height as the Gen 1 design, because they're identical, yes one is 2d, and the other is 3d but I don't care)

Netflix Cybertron Trilogy - ~19 Feet (Mega. You already know what I'm going to say; it's identical to Gen 1. Just try and stop me)

Unicron Trilogy V2&3/ENG&CYB - ~19 Feet (Mega/Galv. He flip-flops so much in this universe, I think Megatron becomes Galvatron 3 separate times. For the uneducated, the Unicron Trilogy has given each of its 3 seasons separate names and 3 separate art styles. These are the designs used in Energon (S2) and Cybertron (S3). The Wiki had Cybertron's numbers but not Energon's, so for my own sanity, I decided the two were the same height. I could have done something in between Cybertron's and Armada's (S1) numbers, but there was a lot of float between the two)

One V2 - 19 Feet 10 Inches (Mega. As I have stated in the previous One entry: I don't trust Walmart, Meg and OP are the same height by the end of the movie, and the KCV LA and One are kinda one universe. Optimus is this height by the end of the movie, therefore so is Megatron. How many times do I have to explain this)

Cyberverse - 21 Feet (Oh sweet, sweet "I don't have to justify or explain my numbers, I have a source". This comes from a screen-shot of this video which has the Cyberverse height chart everyone uses, though the quality of the screen shot is iffy. If anyone has a better one, I would love to see it)

RID 2001 - ~22 Feet (Mega/Galv. TFWiki. Why are there so many Megatrons who become Galvtron at random and look functionally identical to each other why does this keep happening. Also this guy transforms into a hand)

Unicron Trilogy V1 - ~23 Feet (Mega/Galv. TFWiki. I am very tired, we have another functionally identical Megatron Galvatron conversion and I am in pain)

Bayverse V2 - 30 Feet (Mega/Galv. TFWiki, Movies 4 & 5. This time, they're actually identical, and Mr. Bay has once again blessed me with numbers from all of his movies)

Aligned Cont. WF/FOC - ~30 Feet (Mega. TFWiki. Look man, I don't know how he grows nearly five feet between the games and the shows, it's just what the video game info screen said)

Animated - ~31 Feet (Mega. Animated has no actual numbers, but the lovely @phoenix-inanis has provided a frankly astounding resource with their own calculations for the heights of all the TFA characters. Go look at it, it's wonderful -> https://phoenix-inanis.notion.site/TFA-Height-Chart-f6ad2960ca8c4c5b859ee4958723aaa4?pvs=4)

Aligned Cont. TFP V1 - 34 Feet 5 Inches (Mega. Yes, this is from Fandom. But, and I will continue to say this until my lungs give out, this entire universe is just fucking enormous. Look, I believe Bayverse is the most consistent tf universe when it comes to the transformers' models and designs, and if we do some comparisons between characters with similar listed heights (I did it at the end of this post), it's way too close for me not to believe it)

Bayverse V1 - 35 Feet (Mega. TFWiki, Movies 1-3. Look at this bitch, getting his secrets exposed by Mr. Bay. Look at him, he's going to shrink down in the forth movie, gonna get dumped down to 6th place on the podium. Get Shrunk, Idiot)

Aligned Cont. TFP PR V2 - 42 Feet 7 Inches (Mega. Look at this enormous bitch, look at the freak standing there, fuckin enormous n' shit. Wack ass Unicron- Did you know that this is probably the TALLEST base form transformer ever? Excluding any super modes or upgrades or a transforming Cybertronian Base/Spaceship, just default general body size, I'm pretty sure this Megatron is the tallest Regular transformer ever)

Not Pictured: RID 2001 Galvatron Pallet - ~22 Feet (the only thing that was different between the two designs was the colours, if felt redundant to include it), Unicron Trilogy Galvatron Pallet(s) - Armada: ~23 Feet, Energon/Cybertron: ~19 Feet (Again, just the colours changed, otherwise everything else was the same)

I have done it. I have conquered my Everest. I have finished the big two charts. If anyone has any suggestions for which transformer I should aggressively analyze next please tell me I don't know which ones to do next

Here are the different layers separated out into their own pictures, I know it's kinda hard to tell everyone apart when they're all on top of each other.

[maretinelli]

I CAME TO APOLOGIZE²

Sirius Black X fem!reader

Summary: After years without him and all the problems, someone knocks on Y/n's door, making her surprised. And after a lot of talking, she needs to introduce someone to him.

Words: 2.8K+

Warnings: Mention of death, Post Azkaban, babies, food, anguish and happy ending.

Author: Look, here I am with part 2, you asked for it and I brought it. It's not one of the best, but I hope you like it. And yes, it has a happy ending!! English is not my first language, I apologize for any writing and spelling errors.

Part 1

MASTERLIST

Y/n only lasted 1 year in Switzerland when everything started to go wrong for the Order of the Phoenix in Scotland.

Voldemort's Death Eaters began to grow stronger and launch rebellion after rebellion. It started with Dorcas' murder, Marlene's murder, Peter betraying the Potter's, Lily and James' death, Sirius going to prison, Remus moving to Europe to who knows what country and little Harry being left without a family.

Knowing this, Y/n gathered everything she had in Switzerland and returned to her old home. To which, he fought to have custody of Harry, so that he could still have some kind of contact from those who loved him.

••••••••••••••••••••••••

Twelve years had passed and every day Y/n struggled to keep everything in order and give everything the best to the two children.

Of course, she had found a great job as a Magizoologist that paid her well and was enough to support the three of them and also go on trips that would certainly remain in the memory of the two children.

And he also sold his books. As she progressed better in the field of Magizoology, she wrote everything in a book, until two years ago she decided to publish it and which brought in extra money. To which, she divided the amount and deposited it into the account of the almost teenagers.

The beginning was not easy, indeed. But as she got used to the idea, the grief passed and the future arrived, Y/n stayed strong to work and give everything they needed.

At the time, the woman was in the kitchen of the new house putting a lemon pie to bake, while 13-year-old Harry and Marie played like children in the snow.

She smiles as she approaches the window and calls out to the two of them.

"Hey, Marie and Harry. Come in!! It's getting colder and colder!!"

The two look at Y/n and smile in sync.

"We're coming, Aunt Y/n!!" Harry shouts back excitedly and throws one last snowball at Marie.

"Hey, Hazz!!!" She tries to get angry, but starts running after the boy as they both laugh and enter the house.

With that, Y/n hears the two running into the house and making a mess in the living room.

"Hey you two, be careful not to fall. That snow on you could melt and slip in the wet." She leaves the kitchen and stops at the doorframe, which gave access to the living room of the house they recently bought.

Marie stops running after Harry and looks at the woman, who had a dish towel on her shoulders and some flour on her face.

The girl smiles and walks, stopping in front of Y/n.

"Mommy, Mommy!! What were you doing in the kitchen?!" She says naughty, while cleaning her mother's face and placing a kiss on the eldest's cheek.

Y/n laughs at her daughter's act and quickly squeezes her cheeks.

"I just put a lemon pie in the oven for us to eat in a bit" she says and then Marie runs up to Harry and they start jumping.

"Lemon pie!! Lemon pie!!..." they sang together, and hugged each other running around the room.

"You look like two children" Y/n laughs, rolling her eyes and smiling.

Harry and Marie behaved like brothers. Well, you see, they were both the same age. Yes, Harry might be a few months older, but they were still in the same class at Hogwarts and were the same age.

After Y/n returned from Switzerland, those who survived the first war were shocked to see her with a baby in her arms. They even asked if she had gotten married, but Y/n denied it and ended up telling the whole truth. Which left everyone's jaw dropped.

And when she told Remus in a letter, the other week he was knocking on the door of her old house to see if it was real. But in the end, he was happy for her, and knew about the entire journey that Y/n and the baby's father went through at Hogwarts. Everyone saw how in love they were.

After she gained custody of Harry, she raised him and Marie as if they were siblings and it was working. One couldn't live without the other and at Hogwarts they were always in trouble.

Just like their parents - Words from Minerva.

"Only first!" She raises her finger. "You guys should go upstairs and take a shower to get all that snow off."

Harry's shoulders slump, but then he looks at his aunt.

"But can Marie and I watch some TV?" He asks and Y/n smiles in agreement.

"Only after they have spent an hour reading. Remember our agreements"

Harry and Marie nod their heads in agreement and each go up to their room.

Y/n smiles and then goes back to the kitchen to wash the dishes she had left dirty.

They were wizards, they could very well put a spell on the objects to wash themselves, but Y/n always liked having Muggle actions and objects. Like the very TV Harry had just talked about.

While she is washing the dishes and the two are upstairs getting ready for the night, she hears a desperate knock on the back door of the house.

She frowns and then holds her wand in her hand as she walks towards it.

It could very well be Moony, he had this habit of scaring her when he visited his nephews. But the knock on the door didn't seem to be from the werewolf, but from someone in despair.

The door slams again and then she screams.

"Hey hey, I'm coming. Whoever it is!!" She says angrily and then opens the door, coming face to face with a man with long, dark hair and beard.

The woman's body froze. Could it be him, the person she hasn't seen in over 13 years?

He couldn't, he didn't know where she lived, she had recently moved.

He couldn't, he was in Askhaban. Although she knew that he hadn't betrayed the Potters years ago and reinforced this to Marie and Harry, every time he told some stories from the past.

"Y-Y/n?!" The man whispers.

A solitary tear fell from the woman's eye.

"Sirius?" She says and he nods.

She smiles a little and runs into the man's embrace. Not even caring about the condition he was in.

"Come in, you're going to freeze here" she helped Sirius enter the kitchen and then sat him down on a chair, while she pulled out another and sat down in front of him.

"Sorry, I didn't know where to go. But then I saw Harry out in the yard just now and I thought it could be you or someone from Hogwarts." He says quickly and Y/n shakes her head.

"Alright, alright," she begins, already with a thousand and one thoughts running through her. "You're shaking, hold on" Y/n gets up and runs to the living room to get a blanket that she always kept there. "Here, this will warm you up a little" the woman puts the blanket on Sirius' back and he smiles a little. "What's up?! What's happening to you? Weren't you in Azkaban?"

With that, Sirius explained everything and with each sentence he said, Y/n's tears began to splash in her eyes, about to start crying.

"Siri, I'm so sorry!!" Y/n then cries and puts her hands on her face. "I'm so sorry for everything you went through, the Potters, the betrayal and...Oh my God. Marlene...the baby..." she cries more, remembering everything.

Sirius tries to reach for her hand, but she steps back and then stands up. While still crying.

"Look, if you want to hand me over to the aurors, I'll understand. But I really wanted revenge, Peter is still alive despite everything that happened. He's the traitor." He says weakly and Y/n looks at him as he stops walking around the large kitchen.

"I know..."

"What?"

"I know about Peter"

"What do you mean, Y/n"

"I've always had a hard time with him, and the day before I left for Switzerland, Lily came to my apartment to help me with the last things and told me that you had a last-minute exchange about the secret. I know it was Peter You betrayed them, you were wrongly condemned." She says this and then she can see Sirius' shoulders ease and he lowers his head. "I always wanted revenge, but I thought he was dead. But now that you told me he's alive, I feel enormous anger" Y/n says stronger, but with tears still falling.

Sirius still had his head down, while shaking his legs and cracking his fingers.

A habit that Y/n knew he had since meeting the boy in his first years at Hogwarts. He always did this when he didn't know what to do during a problem he had. At the time, it was usually with his parents, but now he was scared and didn't know what to make of his prison break.

The woman approaches and kneels in front of him, while holding his hands tightly.

"Hey, I'm here. It's going to be okay!! I'll help you" She says seriously and Pads lifts his head to look at the woman.

He had tears in his eyes, which made Y/n want to cry again.

"Ok..."

"But there's one thing!!"

He looks at her suspiciously.

"We should give you a treat. Azkaban probably isn't one of the best places with personal care" Y/n scoffs and smiles.

For the first time in years, she could hear Sirius laugh again.

"It seems your acidic humor still resides"

"Ah, you know. It's my way of dealing with difficult problems" She smiles and then analyzes the man.

He was older since the last time, but he still had traces of that boy she loved so much and who had to leave him behind to finally be happy with their journeys.

But it doesn't seem to have worked for either of them.

"Come, I have some clothes that Moony left here from his last visit, I think they'll fit you." She holds out her hand and Sirius stands up, following her to the first floor bathroom.

"Do you see Remus yet??" He asks.

"Well, yes!! Not much because he's always traveling for work, but he always comes to see Harry and Ma-- Oh damn!!" She trips over a pile of books and chocolate packets. "Sorry about the mess, we didn't know a visitor would arrive" Y/n turns and looks with a crooked smile on her face.

He just laughs and then follows the instructions Y/n gives him and enters the bathroom.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Minutes had passed, Harry and Marie were still upstairs - which made Y/n a little more relieved, as she didn't know how to tell Sirius that they had a daughter.

She was in the kitchen when she heard movement behind her. Turning around, she sees Sirius and smiles.

"A new man?"

"Definitely a new man" he smiles and then slowly walks around the kitchen, while looking at the picture frames scattered around the room.

He looks at one that contained Harry and Marie in the snow last winter. Marie was building a snowman, and Harry was smiling behind her, throwing snow. They laughed like children.

The other photo he sees is one where Marie was a baby and was lying on Y/n's lap. She probably had a few hours left to live, as Y/n's face looked tired, but her smile was still wide open.

"I didn't know you were married" he says, with a tightness in his chest.

"What?" She turns around and then sees Sirius looking at the photos. "Oh, no. I'm not," she smiles slightly, as she cuts potatoes for dinner.

He just nods and looks at another photo. Another where Y/n had Marie on her lap, but now she was two years old. Marie was lying in his arms laughing, while Harry was like a little monkey on the young woman's back. The three laughed happily for the camera.

"You have a daughter?" He asks and Y/n quickly turns around.

Sirius directs his gaze at the woman, making her nervous.

"Yes it is..." She says and then turns completely towards him. "I need to tell you something."

With that, they hear footsteps coming down the stairs and approaching them.

"Hey Tia, can Marie and I..." Harry stops talking and looks at the man. “Oh, hi” he smiles shyly.

Sirius smiles, trying to hold back the tears.

"Harry dear, remember Sirius? That your aunt always told you and Marie?!" He nods.

"Yes, my father's best friend" he says happily.

"That's it," she smiles. "Well, it's him!!"

Sirius looks at Y/n with fear and she walks next to him and whispers.

"It's okay, I told them the whole story until today. He knows it wasn't you" Y/n reassures, letting the man sigh deeply.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you" Harry takes his hand to shake and Sirius does the same. "And also, I'm sorry"

"For what exactly?"

"Ah, you know right. My parents and all that" Harry puts his hands back and looks at the floor.

When Sirius was about to say something, a girl with wavy brown hair arrived in the room. She had clear eyes and a smile that all naughty people would recognize.

She was wearing denim overalls and had worn a red Gryffindor sweatshirt over it, due to the cold.

"Mom, is the pie ready? I finished my book and I'm starving--- Oops..." She stops where she is, when she sees Sirius.

The face looked familiar with the photos she saw every day of her mother with her friends when she was at Hogwarts. Which made Marie's heart race.

"Hi, mom didn't say we were having visitors." Marie smiles friendly and extends her hand to shake.

"This is Sirius, daughter" Y/n finally says, thus drawing her daughter's conclusions.

Marie stops the action and remains statue, while looking at the man in front of her.

Now with Marie and Sirius facing each other, Y/n was sure that she was Sirius in the female and younger version.

"Yeah...Sirius, well..." Y/n stutters. "That's what I wanted to tell you about...she's Marie, our--"

"Daughter" Y/n and Sirius say together, which scares them both.

"Yes, our daughter" Y/n crosses her arms over her chest and lowers her head.

Y/n never hid Sirius from Marie and Harry's life. She had told them that the man was the boy's godfather and the girl's father, told them everything they had to hear and they were fine with it.

"At the time I didn't know, and I couldn't tell you either. I was in Switzerland and you were... we had... I couldn't..." Y/n tries to say something, but the tears started to come. fall down the face violently.

Sirius walks up to her and places his hands on the woman's cheeks, while smiling from ear to ear.

“Y/n, look at me” she does. "We have a daughter together. That's amazing!!" He says and Y/n sighs smiling.

"Yeah, I think so"

"I know everything we went through and had to do, but if it were at the time I would never deny her. And today, well today, destiny gave me another chance to be with you. You don't know the joy of hearing this news" He smiles and Y/n looks at him. "Know that I never stopped loving you, regardless of everything."

"I love you too, with all my heart" they lean their foreheads against each other.

Until they hear someone fake coughing.

"Hey, we're here!! Could you mommy introduce me to my dad?" Marie asks smiling and Y/n rolls her eyes.

"I see that the personality is yours" Sirius distances himself from the woman and turns to his daughter.

Marie smiles at her father and wraps him in a warm hug.

"But appearance is totally yours" Y/n says and then smiles seeing Marie hug and interact with her father, who was now at home.

Finally.

Harry looks at his aunt and smiles. Y/n calls him and the boy walks up to her and hugs her in the corner.

Now they were complete.

Sirius was home and everything would be more than fine.

The rest of the night was Harry and Marie happily telling Pads about their lives, while he made sure to listen to everything in detail.

Whatever is meant to be yours will always come back, regardless of how long it takes.

Author: and they lived alive and happily ever after, with Harry, Marie and another baby😚🙏🏽

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

i don't know how to sum this up. i haven't slept in four days.

...this is gonna be a long one and im sorry. also literally every fucking one in this whole thing minus V is autistic, i don't know how, but them's the facts.

background info: around... some 8 years ago maybe, my truly BELOVED friend M (today 31F) started hanging out with a new friend group her then-friend S (31F now) had introduced her to.

(i (31 genderqueer) didn't know M then. i do know she was very lonely.)

so. S has introduced M to her friend group, and M hangs out with them for about... two years?, but, as far as i understand, S is the go-between here. M asks S what plans they have on weekends, S calls M when there's plans on weekends, that sort of thing.

what happens is: at one point S's girlfriend, V, starts flirting with M. heavily. in front of S. S VERY MATURELY decides that the solution to this is obviously to start telling M there's never plans on weekends while telling the friend group M is never free on weekends. shitty move, i think we can all agree.

and M ends up alone. she's never heard from a single one of any of those other people ever again. ever.

now. M, OBVIOUSLY and i think with good enough reason, HATES S.

but.

1) it's not S's fault M is no longer friends with the whole group, like M thinks it is. it's just not. if they had wanted to keep hanging out with her, very simply, they would have. S didn't even explicitly ask or tell them not to hang out with M, nor did she talk shit about M to get them to leave her out. and want to know why we know all this? it's because after (AFTER!) S and V broke up, M and V dated for like, three months, and V told M. what S did was shit and immature, but not like. extreme.

2) we don't know if S even knew how lonely M was/was gonna be. in my understanding of what's right or wrong, this is KIND OF REALLY important. the intention, the meanness, the ability to knowingly isolate someone to that degree. jealousy is one thing, being genuinely mean is another.

3) all of this happened 10 years ago. TEN. YEARS. they were like, 20. fetuses. we're all queer, they were all navigating the first romantic experiences, shit happens. S was shit but S also could have become a better person in these TEN YEARS. we just don't know.

OTHER background info: ive known S for like, 10 years, and she's someone VERY interesting who i've always liked (not romantically), but she's not my friend.

ok, and now. fast forward to last week. M & i & F1 (27F, my bestie, M's friend) go to a pub. S is there, says hi to me, hi to M (which. like at least apologize or something. but ok) (at this point i have no idea they even knew each other btw), S & i talk a bit like we always do, M goes home (i suspect nothing), S & F1 & i hang out, next thing u know F1 and S start to date and S and i become better friends.

(where i absolutely am the A: apparently, at some point M told me what S did to her. before we met S at the pub? after? i have NO memory of any of this.)

M wants nothing to do with S, as is her right. but at this point F1 is dating her and im making plans to like, watch clone wars with her. M tells me & F1 the whole story (tells again, in my case), tells us she has no problems with us hanging out with S but again, please can we not force them together, which, ofc, i tell her about our star wars plans and like, she's chill, she says yeah sure go for it, she jokes around about how S knows lots of people and we gotta use her to get another friend a girlfriend, shit like that.

forward again. one sunday morning, M asks me to hang out. that sunday just so happens to be clone wars day with S & F1. i tell her. she goes BALLISTIC. like, tachycardia, tunnel vision, palpitations, she's fully ready to never talk to me again because "i can't ask [me] to not hang out with S because that would be toxic, but i just CAN'T be around S, so here we go again, she's gonna steal my friend [me] (...i don't think M cares too much about losing F1, they're not that close), im losing control of the situation, the only way for me to stay in control is to choose to cut off [me] right here and now, so that's what ill do, goodbye forever". and she spends the WHOLE DAY in this frenzy (completely unbeknownst to me!), with multiple people trying to calm her down and like, get her to talk to me. (which OF COURSE the next day she ends up doing, because she loves me, she's just. very autistic.) anyway, at this point (sunday evening) ive been made aware of the situation with M, so i had F2 (F31, she's a mutual close friend who was acting as a kinda peacemaker) tell M i was there for her & ready to talk whenever, and we meet up on monday evening, i get apologized to (M had like, blocked me on all social media 😂) for the whole... overreaction, especially after id been told it was ok to see S, and M officially asks me to stop hanging out with S. i try to tell her "can i ask S about, idk, what was going on in her brain back then". she starts to hedgehog up on me so i shut tf up.

here i am the A again: i know M very well. i should have known it would not actually be okay to see S. i just should have. i do know her.

here i... can't tell how much of an A i might be: i don't want to tell S to fuck off. i WANT to talk to S, figure out how much of an actual irredeemable asshole she is, and only in that case tell her to fuck off. the 3 points i made at the start of this papyrus are still valid. also i think it's kind of fair to give her the right to like, defend herself? explain herself? before i go full ghost on her

... its like this. it's not like i care about S. not to be mean but she's no one to me. i just would like her to BE someone to me, cause she seems cool.

i have few friends. i would like one more friend.

i also made friends with a friend of S, T (can't remember age NB). they're the only other genderqueer person i know irl. id like to get to know them. (also they're kind of cute but that's genuinely not that important lol, i just like to make this post Even Longer). i wouldn't get to know T if i did what M wants (needs?) me to.

and let's not forget S is currently dating my close friend F1. just to put icing on the cake.

then again, i adore M. my loyalty to her SHOULD be more important than two people who are, again, no one to me. i should just tell F1, sorry, i won't hang out with ur gf, like ill be civil to her but i won't pursue a friendship with her. because i don't NEED to. i don't NEED these friendships. i would just LIKE them.

if S turns out to BE an asshole who hurt M on purpose, it's great, it's golden. problem solved. ill tell her she's shit and, i mean, F1 will probably break up with her too. no one gained or lost anything from a whole shebang were i haven't slept in like 4 days and got a stress herpes or whatever it's called, it's cool, it happens, go us.

but if S is... justifiable? understandable? NOT a dick? i don't feel i have an actual reason to delete her number. would i, for M? probably, yeah, but i don't WANT to.

F1 says im a doormat. F2 says im basically a monster and how could i do this to M when there's plant of other friendly fish in the sea.

AITA?

and while we're at it, if someone feels like giving advice... what do i do?

What are these acronyms?

[mistyresolve]

| His Foresight - Simon “Ghost” Riley X Medic!Reader (Part 3)

Word Count - 3.7k

Summary - It’s been a couple months since you last had contact with Lt. Simon Ghost Riley. While you are repairing your tarnished reputation, Simon is on the other side working from the shadows and doing everything he can to take back his words. It isn’t until the three-month marker that you finally face him again, this time you’re willing to hear him out. If only because you guys are going to be team members.               

Tags/Warnings - Blood and Injury, Depictions of war and violence, Explicit Language, Character Death, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Maybe a little bit of angst, Mentions of childhood trauma

A/N - as we near the end of this storyline I would like to thank everyone for their love and support and I appreciate every one of you guys 🤍🤍🤍  I am also going to post a brief POV from Ghost later, and one more part, two at tops.   

Part 1 ❤︎ Part 2   

Masterlist  ❤︎  Tag List Form   

It had been a month since you last spoke with Ghost and since then you learned three things. The first was that he truly was a ghost. He haunted hallways and existed only in rumors and whispers. He made himself seen only when he wanted to be. For the rest of his assignment, he kept his distance. You figured since you have yet to see him it was because he was better at spotting you first and turning in the other direction. Soap would still drop by and fill you in on the latest 141 gossip. It didn’t go over your head that Soap never had any gossip about Ghost. Never once did Soap mention him. Whether Soap figured out that something had gone down on his own or forced it out of Ghost himself was a mystery. You didn’t have the energy or care to ask. 

The second is that whatever he had been previously telling the higher up was either rescinded or someone had put in a good word about you. If it was Ghost or not, you also didn’t know. Nor did it matter if it was him, the damage was done. You put your hand up for every opportunity, followed every rule, and every patient that came to you left you with positive feedback. You were an HR dream.     

The third was that you missed his company. Even a month after you were still fuming, still ready to rip his tongue out should you see him again. Still heartbroken and yet some part of you still missed Ghost. You kept a very tight leash on that part of you and squashed it beneath your boot. How was it fair that his fuck up, and his selfishness resulted in you losing a friend. It wasn’t, and that’s what you were most bitter about. 

After two months, you have decided to let go of the anger and hurt. It wasn’t going to help you now. You kept yourself preoccupied with work and more work. You were still based in the new camp, now dubbed Fort Cardinal, which has since become one of the biggest bases.     

You were just leaving the mess hall after breakfast when you were intercepted in the hallway. 

“L/n?” the private asked.

“Yes?” your brows furrowed. 

“Crawford wants to speak to you. He’s in his office.”

Crawford was the commanding officer, and when he summoned someone to his office it could mean only a few things. Most of them were bad. You pivoted and headed towards HQ. You might have taken the scenic route too. Pausing at the entrance to Crawfords office.  “Sir,” you stood by the doorway waiting for your CO to acknowledge you, “you requested I come to see you.” 

He looked up from the files splayed out on his desk, “Take a seat.”

You pulled out a chair opposite him, your palms began to sweat and you wiped them on your pants. Racking your brain to try and remember if you had done something wrong, or inappropriate, but came up blank. 

“How many years have you been with us?” he questioned, folding his hands over the papers.

“Four, Sir,” you straightened your back and squared your shoulders.    

He stared at you for a second, his face hard, before nodding and looking back to the papers. They were your files. A collection of reports and logs and records, “It’s of my understanding that you’ve voiced your desire for a transfer.” 

“Yes, Sir.” 

“Since your enlistment, your peers and superiors have had nothing but good things to say about you. Your records show that you excelled in both the field and the classroom. Never missed a work day, never late,” he began listing things off from the note in front of him. You couldn’t tell if he was impressed or irritated, and it was psyching you out. He paused as he flipped through, “Have you fully recovered from your injury?” 

“Healed like a dream,” you offered him a tight-lipped smile. It did, after the first couple of weeks you were back at work in full force. 

“Good to hear,” he flipped a page back so it was facing you, “Any idea what this might have been for?” It would have looked the same as any other report aside from the fact that it was entirely redacted. Whatever was written beneath had been obscured by a thick black line. 

You leaned forward, your smile fading into a frown. You shook your head, “I have no idea. No.” This was the first time you saw your files all laid out like this, so you were just as lost as him. Whoever redacted it must have been of higher status than him if even he didn’t know. Then again, you weren’t sure about what happened behind closed doors. You met his eyes, trying to read what he was thinking and when you couldn’t you wanted to melt into your seat. 

“There’s been an opening,” he leaned back in his chair, “Aerospace medicine has requested a combat medic. It’ll be a one year contract. Should you take this position you will be sent out for a three week training program and your first assignment will be right after that. ”

If it weren’t for those four years of service and learning that people like your CO didn’t like a show of emotions you would have hopped around his office. So, you remained silent, waiting for him to continue. 

“The captain of Special Task Forces 141 has requested you himself for their next mission.”

Your heart dropped.  

“Captain Price?” you echoed. Maybe it was a different 141. 

“Correct,” he waved a hand, his patience shortening, “Yes or no?” 

“Yes,” you answered before you could think it over, and he excused you before you could process your answer. This was what you had been asking for, what you were working towards, and now that it had been offered to you you were left uneasy. Working with the 141 was an honour and a nod to your capabilities. It also meant working with Lt. Simon Riley. You couldn’t unscramble your feelings about the implications. 

You determined that professionalism would yield the best outcome.  

You were packed and heading out for your training by lunch.    

When you entered the briefing room, it was as relaxed as you expected from the 141. Which was not at all. The air was thick and sober. You were half an hour early and still the last to arrive.

“Morning,” Price stepped around the table everyone was surrounding. 

“Good morning,”  you replied, making your way to the table. Laswell met up with you during your training to give you a rundown on what to expect. You were going to be their combat medic, yes, but you could fight and shoot just as well as any other soldier. You even had the grounds to brag about your close combat skills. Laswell was visibly pleased when you told her your dad forced you into mixed martial arts when you were ten years old, and could take down a full-grown man like he was a bag of flour. 

You scanned the table and the map splayed out was a replica of the one Laswell had provided. You tried to hide the smile and pointed to the empty medicine vial on the map, “Is that supposed to be me?” 

“Aye,” Soap puffed his chest out, “that was my doing.” 

When you looked up at Soap, you purposefully ignored the large burly man dressed in all black beside him, “Creative,” you noted how Ghost seemed to shrink back into the shadows at your indifference towards him. 

Soap had actually picked everyone's avatar, a sniper bullet, a lighter, a toy skeleton, and an angel wing that looked like it used to be a necklace, and a battery. You couldn’t decide whether to laugh at the figurines or the fact that everyone accepted them. 

Price ran through the plan, the target, and his expectations of everyone. He revealed that the target was going to be “Cameron Rowe” , a former sergeant turned rogue. His headshot was stabbed into the table with a knife. You recognized it as Ghosts, the blade usually fixed to his thigh. 

“Since we have no real idea as to where Rowe will be we’ll be splitting off into teams.”         You had to suck your lips into your mouth to keep from making an argument when Price moved your vial next to the skeleton on the map.  “Soap and Laswell with nest at the top of these two buildings,” he pointed to the two highrises in front and behind Rowe’s apartment building. “Doc and Ghost will take watch at the port,” he dragged his finger to the loading docs, which was usually Rowe’s meeting place. “Gaz and I will be tailing his informers and hopefully, catch them in the act.” 

You had a sneaking suspicion they stuck you with Ghost was to balance out the teams. Ghost was a one man army, you were basically going to keep him company. Or so they thought. You didn’t plan on sharing a single conversation with him, and you knew you could easily hold your own. The 141 had plans of not only taking down Rowe but finding out whoever he was working with. So, they couldn’t just pick him off in his apartment building. 

After the briefing and everyone knew their role people started to filter back out. You stayed behind to speak with Price, having a few questions of your own.

“Captain,” you started and he turned back around, “Why ask for me?” This assignment was only temporary, you weren’t a part of the 141, but Price could have picked anyone in the world to help with this job. 

“I read your file,” he closed the door behind him, coming to meet you by the table again, “You have an impressive background, and it makes me wonder why you chose the medical field.”

You were at the top of your class for both basics and medical school, so it was a genuine curiosity. He also probably had access to your life before enlistment, “It’s what I wanted,” was the only answer you could give him, and it’s the only one you had.

He hummed, his eyes turning to slits, “Then why agree?” 

“I’ve been waiting for something like this since day one. How was I supposed to say no?” You’ve been waiting for an opportunity to show your versatility. This mission might have been overkill but it was what you wanted. Beggars can’t be choosers. 

“You’re a strange one,” Price crossed his arms over his chest, “You’ll fit in great,” he looked like he had something else to say but changed his mind. He tilted his head towards the door, “Better go and get some rest, we leave at 0400 tomorrow.”   

You nodded, parting off with a “Thank you,” before heading to the door.

“Can we talk?” Ghost was waiting outside the door when you left the room. 

You shot him a blank look, “About?” you kept walking down the hall not waiting to hear his answer. 

He followed after you, “I want to apologize.” 

You exited the building and met with a blast of the hot sticky air of summer, the sun was getting low in the sky, “Go ahead, Judas” you turned to him, making eye contact with his chest. You gritted your teeth when you had to look up at him, “I’ll keep it civil for the sake of the mission but I don’t want to be your friend.”

His shoulders loosened as if he had just received the best news, “I understand,” he shifted back on his feet, his tired eyes scanning the area, before returning to you, “I was out of line. I was mixing private affairs with work, I see that now. And I’m sorry. I was being selfish and I wasn’t taking your needs and wants into consideration. So, if you’ll give me some grace and let me show you how good I can be.”  

“Keep your fingers out of my business and I’ll think about it,” you quipped. 

He lifted his hands before him, splaying his fingers out before curling them into a fist, “They’re put away,” he might have broken your trust and crossed you but he was still the friend you lost and missed. He was going to have to work for it either way. This was a start.    

“We can talk more later,” where there were fewer listening ears and watchful eyes. “I’ll come to you when I’m good and ready. For now, just stay away from me,” you’d think after 3 months you’d have figured out what you’d say to him, but you didn’t. And tomorrow you were going to be trapped in a room with him, so you were going to have to cross your t's and dot your i’s tonight to present them to him for tomorrow. 

He physically flinched at the dismissal, but he took a step back, providing you with space, “Of course.”  

Your chest twisted at the sight, you didn’t like treating him like a disease, but you refused to let it blind you of the truth. Still. You sighed, cursing yourself for what you were about to say, “Thank you, for apologizing.” 

His eyes crinkled in the corners and you could have sworn they gave way to a smile. The awe-worthy occurrence was sadly hidden underneath his mask. You rolled your eyes at him before pivoting and walking towards the barracks.      

You sat with Laswell on a stray crate on the tarmac while you waited for the rest of the team to arrive. The two of you just people watched, with her occasionally pointing someone out and telling you a little about them. This guy was grounded a couple of weeks ago because he arrived at work still drunk from the night before. That guy had a crazy, entitled wife. 

The chopper started its engine and was ready for lift-off at exactly 0359.   

“Doc, about our talk yesterday. I also figured you want to take part and get some revenge for yourself,” Price bellowed over the sound of the chopper, and he ducked below the propellers. Realization sprung to life in your chest. Price had asked for you to be on this mission because you had something to gain from it. This Rowe guy, this squealer had been the one to rat out the convoy to the enemy. He was the reason you were injured, and the reason Butters was dead. This wasn’t the sleight of hand of Ghost but Price. It put your nerves at ease and allowed you to be a little less angry with the former.      

“I appreciate it, Sir,” you nodded at Price.  He clapped a hand over your shoulder and hopped into the helicopter after you. Being squished between Price and Soap made you feel a little safer with the fact that there were no doors on the heli. Ghost took his spot on the side of the heli, letting his legs hang out the side, his gun at the ready. Gaz sat opposite him and Laswell adjacent to you. Her pack and gun took up an entire seat. She reached into her front pouch as the heli lifted off the ground, pulling out a chocolate bar. Your mouth watered. Chocolate was hard to come back at base, people traded whole MREs for one bar. Soap handed you a headset for the chopper just as she noticed your drooling expression. 

“If you promise you can get an appointment with the chiro, I’ll give you some,” she waggled the bar in front of her, a trade.

“I know both the chiropractor and the masseuse,” you countered. She made a look of delight, before reaching into her pack and tossing you your own bar. 

Oh, you liked her.    

You stuffed the back into the small day pack at your feet, saving it for later. Acutely aware that if you opened it here at least two people on this aircraft would put their hand out for a piece. You eyed Gaz and Soap. 

The helicopter had been an hour's flight, and they had landed on a field. Without permission, you might add so you had to be quick on the exit. A line of blacked-out SUVs and trucks was waiting for a quick escape. Price ordered everyone to join up with their duo, and head to their discussed position. 

Ghost strode for one of the SUVs, opening the back to place his pack and guns. He stepped to the side to allow you to do the same and closed it after you. He was spinning the keys around his finger when he turned to you, “Who’s driving?” 

You didn’t respond, instead, you opened the passenger door and slid in. From the side mirror, you could see him look up at the sky, take a couple of deep breaths, then clasp his hands together before moving to enter the car. He was silent the rest of the way, his attention on the road. Even through the mask, you could see his jaw tighten and flex. 

He parked the SUVs at the back of the building, between the wall and another vehicle. He lead you into the building, a warehouse or collection center of some sort into the offices on the second floor. He pointed out exit routes and potential areas to hold our position. The gravity of his pointing stuff out like that said a lot about how he thought this mission was going to pan out. The thought should have frightened you but knowing that the Ghost was fighting on the same side as you had the opposite effect. The office he brought you into was already vacant, with nothing but an empty desk and a chair on each side. He locked the door and placed his gun on the desk, and informed Price over the radio that we were in place. You made your way to the window, pulling one of the vanes down to peek outside. The window gave a good view of the entrance of the port and a decent view of the sea cans.       

“How long will he have to camp out here?” you asked, letting go of the blinds. 

“The day. Maybe into tomorrow,” he shrugged, as he started pulling things from his pack, “Depends on Rowe, really. Price and Gaz have the biggest probability of catching him. Laswell is going to be our eyes in the sky, and Soap already has access to the cameras in Rowe’s apartment, and a couple in this harbour.” 

You took a seat in one of the swivel chairs, “And you?” 

He paused, his eyes refusing to meet yours, “I’m more for after we catch him,” he cleared his throat. The question made him awkward, he didn’t want you to know what exactly it was that he did. You had your ideas and presumptions already but his hesitation had you second guessing.   

“You the one who’s going to get the information out of him?” he picked up one of the blades he had laid out on the desk, turning it over in your hand. He watched you, following your movements with predatory grace. 

“Is that why I’m here?” you continued, “To make sure he stays alive long enough to give you that information?” He was the butcher and you were the surgeon. A strange dichotomy. 

He stilled, “I don’t want you to see it.”      

“It”, being what he was going to do. What he was trained to do. What he was good at. You placed the knife back on the table, pushing away with the wheels on the chair. You prepared yourself for the upcoming confession. Playing this out in your head last night was way easier than actually doing it.  

“You know, I think you and I have very similar pasts,” you looked down at your hands, at the lines and curves etched into them.

“Don’t say that,” he shook his head, and his shoulders rolled forward. 

“I also think we took very different paths, though,” you saw it in his eyes the moment you met, the wounds that were too deep to see on the surface. It was why you understood him, and why you were going to forgive him, “You don’t have to hide it from me, Riley. I’ve seen the worst in humanity, and I know that you are nothing like them”  

You didn’t think he was breathing, didn’t think he was in his body. When you met his stare, his eyes were wide, and his pupils were pinpricks. You stood up from the chair and walked to his side of the table, “Can I touch you?” 

It was barely noticeable but he nodded. You wrapped your arms underneath his arm and pressed your cheek to his shoulder. He immediately returned the gesture, his arms encircling your shoulders, his one hand reaching up to cradle your head to him. He released a shuddering breath, and if you closed your eyes and focused hard enough you could hear his heart hammering against his chest. 

“There isn’t anything you can do that will make me think you're a monster,” you whispered into his shoulder, “Aside from maybe sabotaging my career,” it was almost a joke. 

“Noted,” you could hear the smile in between his words. Feel the relief thawing his muscles. You pulled back just as Soap and Laswell confirmed their position. Ghost took a step back himself, “We should get set up.”  

He pushed the desk so it was against the same wall as the window, propping his gun onto and looked down the scope to the entrance of the port. 

You settled down and at the end of the desk, it was going to be a long, boring wait. You set to counting the bullets in the magazine Ghost pulled from his pack if only to find something to distract yourself. You were elated when he pulled a deck of cards from his pack and the two of you played a couple of rounds of poker, then switched to go fish. There was also the occasional chatter about what each other did in the three months you were separated. The both of you had become incredibly busy. 

It was nearing dusk by the time anything of importance aired over the radio. 

Price’s eager voice came through, “Ghost, Doc, we’re following the informants to the port. Be at the ready.”    

Part 3.5, Part 4

Masterlist  ❤︎  Tag List Form   

A/N - the sniper bullet is Soap, the lighter is Price, the toy skeleton is Ghost, the angel wing is Gaz, and the battery is Laswell. Also, also, Price is definitely playing Cupid.

Tag List - @thychuvaluswife ❤︎ @shuttlelauncher81 ❤︎ @marytvirgin​ ❤︎ @stickygumchewer​ ❤︎ @lauraliisa​ ❤︎ @jungcoccc ❤︎ @lovelyladymayyyy​ ❤︎ @lululandd​ ❤︎ @chrissyfishywissy​ ❤︎ @naxxsstuff​ ❤︎@sididakra-jo,   @yukisawer​ ❤︎ @q8852p ❤︎ @lostinsideourminds ❤︎ @kat-nee

[arson-09]

Acowar Review✨✨ sjm needs to pay for my therapy✨✨

Its not as infuriating as acomaf but its still… bad.

Point 1: the court of ignorance and dumbassery

Lets cut to the chase. why the FUCK didnt feyre read Tamlin and Luciens minds at ANYPOINT while she was doin her hot girl shit of taking the spring court down??? huh sjm??? why is your fmc only powerful when convenient. So much could have been cut down. Acowar was way too long.

The whole destroying of the spring court didnt even make that much sense. Im all for a girlie getting back at the people who wronged her but feyre ended up hurting a lot of innocent people in the process. Feyre even tries to ignore the consequences of her actions. She had to invade peoples minds and manipulate people to get them to turn against tamlin and all this could have been avoided if she read his damn mind and learned he was a double agent. Lucien even hinted towards it

Part One: Princess of Carrion »

Chapter Six

None. It was either go to war with the Night Court and Hybern, or ally with Hybern, let them try to stir up trouble, and then use that alliance to our own advantage further down the road." "What do you mean," I breathed. But Lucien realized what he'd said, and hedged, "We have enemies in every court. Having Hybern's alliance will make them think twice." Liar. Trained, clever liar.

If feyre is supposed to be so smart, and she did pick up on this, why didnt she do anything? This is so frustrating.

Then once she leaves the spring court i found myself frankly not caring. Acomaf hadnt given me enough to care about the inner circle so i didnt and sjm cant make me like rhysand. which i have so many gripes but for word counts sake let me name my main ones

Point 2: Sarah Janet Maas and her shitty love interests

the ignoring rhysand sexual assault of feyre and EXCUSING it and his little habit of not telling his court things

Part Two: Cursebreaker »

Chapter Twelve

Was it going on before you even left?" I whipped my head to him, even if I could barely make out his features in the dark. "I never touched Rhysand like that until months later." "You kissed Under the Mountain." "I had as little choice in that as I did in the dancing." "And yet this is the male you now love." He didn't know-he had no inkling of the personal history, the secrets, that had opened my heart to the High Lord of the Night Court. They were not my stories to tell

here we have sjm acknowledging that yeah, rhysand Sexually Assaulted Feyre UtM in Acotar. Without her consent he dressed her inappropriately (which she was uncomfortable with) had her dance provocatively in his lap, kissed her, and made her drink alcohol so she wouldn't remember the details all without her consent. Yet Sjm is going “its fine” now and feyre herself going “you just dont get it…” ⁉️⁉️⁉️

Now see if sjm actually planned for rhysand to become the love interest why didnt she just avoid all this by having Amarantha make rhysand do this to feyre? Because that would have solved some issues but no. Because Rhysand did all this of his own free will in acotar. He actively chose to do this to feyre. To humiliate her and anger Tamlin because rhysand is obsessed with Tamlin.

Rhysand also loves to not tell his own court things. I was and still am very angry over him not telling Mor, Azriel, Cassien and at the very least his Wife about his plan with the court of nightmares. Just why.

Mors anger towards Nesta also makes no sense. sjm stop writing girl on girl hate challenge impossible

Point three: That one toy story scene “I dont wanna play with you anymore!”

Now tamlin. Tamlin tamlin tamlin im so sorry love for what sjm has done to you. If i start ill never stop. What Tamlin said to feyre and rhysand at the high lords meeting was out of pocket but he also wasnt wrong about some things. Also from established character these actions make no sense and his actions havent made sense since acomaf because sjm threw him and his character away to play with shadow daddy and bad morals. But she also cant commit to making a character of hers actually evil so tamlin saves the whole day by bringing the autumn court to fight and saving rhysand life. Tamlin has redeemed himself by sjm standards but she then wrote the holiday novel which i have read and detested.

Overall the plot was fine. i guess. it probably looked better when compared to the characters.

Sjm learn to redeem characters outside of “ooh they were abused and have trauma so everything they do is okay” for guys and “she fell in love/had sex with the most PERFECT MALE TO EVER MASCULINE.” its boring and flat. Also i know what happens in Acosf (i will not be reading that ty) so wtf happened to Nesta bro. she got the tamlin treatment. boooo 👎

to end off heres some of my favorite highlights from acowar 50%+ thru the book.

[mrsjoeythehurler]

When I Met You

(OC FMC x Liam Mairi)

All characters except for Aurora Sallow who is my OC and the FMC of this fic belong to Rebecca Yarros. The plot of Fourth Wing also belongs to Rebecca Yarros.

Content warnings: most of the warnings that are for Fourth Wing are also going to be in When I Met You. That includes: Blood, death, injury, violence and war. The only content warning I am adding is panic attacks (2)

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟAurora Sallow ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ

After Commandant Panchek's speech, we are given the rundown of what will happen for the next few months leading up to Threshing and what will happen after it. Then, we are all placed into our respective sections with our respective leaders.

Of course, Violet, Rhi, and I were all placed in Dain's section as he requested. We're now members of Second Squad, Flame Section. And even though I may not like Dain that much, Violet trusts him, and that's good enough for me.

As we're waiting for the rest of the wings to be called, I can't help but think back to the boy from earlier. He was so handsome I couldn't get my mind off of him. I fight the urge to look for him in the crowd, but it's hard. I want our eyes to meet again. I want to get lost in them. It was only one look, but I felt it like a charge throughout my entire body. I couldn't get him off my mind.

The roll-keeper begins speaking again, breaking me out of my thoughts. Closing my eyes and shaking my head, I turn my attention to the dais.

Earlier, we found out that 100 of us cadets survived the Parapet, while sixty-seven did not. It was hard to hear, especially when you realize that none of the fallen cadets would get a proper burial.

When people die, instead of being laid to rest, their names are called once upon those who are there to listen, and then all their belongings must be burned, not even sent back to their families for keepsakes.

They will never get to see their families again, and their families will never be able to give them the proper goodbye they deserve. It breaks my heart, so I provide the roll-keeper with all my attention whenever a name is called. I want to hold their names in memory so that I can remember them and pay my respects.

Just then, Rhiannon leans in towards Violet and I. "What do you think they're talking about?"

I look to the left of the dais and see Xaden and the other Wingleaders talking amongst themselves.

"I have no idea," I tell her.

"Quiet." Dain hisses, not even sparing us a glance.

I fight the urge to roll my eyes. I don't think they'll hear us from all the way over here, but I don't tell Dain that. Something tells me he hates being wrong. Or he takes his job very seriously. Maybe a little too seriously.

Suddenly, the roll-keeper looks towards our group. "Dain Aetos, you and your squad will switch with Aura Beinhaven's." She commands.

Wait, what? Are we switching squads?

Dain nods and tells us to follow him, so we do.

Right to Fourth Wing.

Why did we switch wings? I look at Rhi who gives me a confused look, mirroring my own. I then look over towards Violet, but she seems frozen…and a little pissed off.

"You're all cadets now," Xaden says, his voice carrying out over the courtyard. "Take a look at your squad. These are the only people guaranteed by Codex not to kill you."

Well, that's reassuring.

"But just because they can't end your life doesn't mean others won't." He goes on. "You want a dragon? Earn one."

Almost everyone starts cheering. I think Violet and I are the only ones who don't.

Xaden says, "And I bet you feel pretty badass right now, don't you, first years?"

More cheers erupt around us, but again, I stay silent. I don't think there was one moment in my life when I felt badass. I don't even think I understand the meaning of the word. Not even after completing the Parapet. I just felt relieved I got Sawyer and me to safety.

Xaden suddenly stops talking, and the sound of wings can be heard over the wind.

"Oh gods, they're beautiful," Rhi whispers from beside me as a riot of dragons appears.

I'm speechless.

I've seen dragons before, but only in the sky far away. Never up close.

Sometimes at night, when it was late, and I couldn't sleep because my anxiety would keep me up, I would sit beside my open window looking out into the night sky, gazing at the stars, and breathing in and out to the clouds passing in front of the moon. Occasionally, one or two dragons would fly in front of the light, creating the perfect silhouette. It would never frighten me, only make me feel comfort at a time when I needed it most. Like I wasn't really alone in my anxiety. Like the dragons were telling me they see me.

But these aren't far away like those I would catch glimpses of from my window. These dragons were headed straight towards us.

They all land on the outer semicircular wall: one red, two green, one brown, one orange, and one navy. All of them are huge and magnificent, but the navy one is massive—tremendously larger than the rest. Their large talons grip the edge of the wall, their scales shimmering with the sun's light gleaming off them, and their semi-translucent wings are gorgeous.

A few cadets around me scream, but I know better.

When I was a Scribe, I would read a lot about dragons. I wanted to know about the creatures that visited me each night beyond my window. I know what to do and what not to do when in the presence of one. You should stay calm and still and not make any noise. You also shouldn't show any fear, as they can sense it. Dragons are not dumb. You shouldn't make loud noises or try to run in the opposite direction, as this makes the dragon see you as prey. If you do that, you could die.

When I see a cadet from Third Wing make a run for it, I hold my breath. I know what will happen next, and there's nothing anyone can do about it unless they want to meet the same fate.

To my left, I see the red dragon open its mouth, revealing large, razor-sharp teeth and shooting flames toward the fleeing cadet.

He's ash on the ground in less than a second.

There are two more gusts of heat, one to the left of me and one to the right.

Two more cadets are gone.

"Anyone else feel like changing their mind?" Xaden shouts as he scans the rows of cadets, most with faces of horror after what just occurred. "No? Excellent. Roughly half of you will be dead by this time next summer." He goes on, "A third of you again the year after that, and the same your last year. No one cares who your mommy or daddy is here. Even King Tauri's second son died during his Threshing. So tell me again: do you feel invincible now that you've made it into the Riders Quadrant? Untouchable? Elite?"

Silence.

"Because you're not untouchable or special to them." Xaden continues as he points towards the enormous Navy dragon, but his eyes seem to be on Violet as he says, "To them, you're just the prey."

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎

The next day, all of us are getting ready to go to our first Battle Brief.

We met in the courtyard earlier, where Captain Fitzgibbon read the death toll of the fallen cadets. We were then instructed by Dain and Sawyer to go back to our dorms to get what we needed for Battle Brief.

Actually, I believe Sawyer's exact words were "get your shit and don't be late."

Violet, Rhi, and I are in the hallway, walking towards our dorm, which we all share, when Rhi suddenly says, "That has to be hard."

I give her a confused look.

"Sawyer." She says. "Being set back and having to do this all over again."

"Better than being dead," Ridoc says, walking past us.

I roll my eyes at Ridoc. "Yeah." I agree as we continue walking. "But Sawyer's alright. He's handling it well. He seems to be doing okay."

"Oh yeah," Rhi says, giving me a smug look. "You two are close, aren't you? Do you like him? Is there something going on?"

I laugh as we all turn a corner. "No. I don't like him like that. But he is a great friend, and if either of you ever have a thing for him, I'll be happy to put in a good word."

Rhi gives me a big smile. "I may have to take you up on that."

I haven't told either of them about the boy from yesterday who I can't stop thinking about. It's not like anything is going to happen there. Besides, who even knows if he was looking at me the way I was looking at him. Maybe I had something on my face.

We're almost to our dorms when I hear someone whistle. All of us stop in our tracks. We turn to see Dain, and his eyes are set on Violet.

"I'll be—"Violet starts.

But Rhi cuts her off. "We'll grab your stuff and meet you there. It's under your bunk, right?"

"You don't mind?" Violet asks.

"Of course not," I say. "It's no problem at all. Go."

"Thank you." Violet smiles at us before heading off in the direction of Dain.

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎

After Battle Brief, I return to my dorm to prepare for sparring.

Battle Brief is a class taught by Professor Devera, a woman with short purple hair and a purple Flame Section patch on her shoulder. It will be held every day.

It's an essential class in case any of us are called into service early. It's held in the circular tiered room that curves at the end of the academic hall. It is one of the only rooms that fits all cadets, filling every seat.

Because Battle Brief is a class that relies on the most current information, we are required to answer to Professor Markham, a scribe whom Violet and I know very well.

Violet and I were supposed to be mentored by Professor Markham this year at the Scribe Quadrant before he retires. Unfortunately, both of us were sent to the Riders Quadrant, so that won't be happening. Violet, especially, was going to be his star pupil.

During Battle Brief, we learned some new information about the upcoming war, which shocked every cadet in the room.

Professor Devera told us that last night, a drift of Braevi gryphons attacked the eastern wing near the village of Chakir because the wards faltered. Professor Devera said it took an hour for a squad to get there to protect the wards. Thirty-seven civilians were killed in the attack.

When we all heard this information, we were shocked. I swear you could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium.

When a first-year in front of me asked if this was the first time the wards had faltered, Professor Devera answered with a "no." All of us were even more shocked and confused.

Thanks to Rhi, well, it was actually Violet who told Rhi to ask the question, who asked what the altitude of the village was at; we found out it was a little less than ten thousand feet, which is way too high for Gryphon's to fly.

Gryphons aren't as strong as dragons and can't fly as high as they can. It made no sense for them to fly that high unless they knew the wards were about to fail. As Violet pointed out during class.

There's also no way those riders got there within the hour of the attack. It would have taken at least half that long to signal for help. Which means they were already on their way to the faltering wards.

Which also means they already knew the wards were breaking.

It turns out that Violet and I's suspicions were correct. Professor Devera told us that one of the dragons in the wing sensed the faltering ward and the wing flew to protect it. If they had not got there in time, there would have been more casualties, and the destruction of the village would have been worse than it is.

Xaden also made a comment during class that made me pause because it made sense. The gryphon riders were definitely looking for something, as the state of the village showed. Apparently, the buildings they'd already gone through were burned, and the others were being looted when the wing arrived.

The only question now is, what were they looking for?

That's something to think about later. Right now, I must focus on sparring and how I will get through this.

Considering my entire life has been focused on becoming a scribe and spending most of my time in the Scribe Quadrant, I have never done any sort of physical training. I have never fought another person in my life, and I wasn't planning on it. It's not like I had any time to practice before I got here. My parents didn't really give me a heads-up before they sent me here and away from my dream future like it was nothing.

After I finish putting my hair into a ponytail, I head towards my door and walk out into the hallway.

I turn the corner and bump into a wall.

Nope, not a wall. A person.

"I'm so sorry," I say, looking up and freezing.

It's him. The gorgeous boy from yesterday.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it." He says as he looks into my eyes.

He gives me a small smile that shows off a dimple, and I can't function properly.

Realizing he has his hands on my shoulders to steady me, I take a small step back.

Clearing my throat, I give him a small smile of my own. "I'm Aurora."

"Liam." He says, still looking deep into my eyes.

His eyes are so beautiful. He is so beautiful.

"Okay, well," I say, shaking myself out of my stupor, "thank you for not being a wall."

I hate myself.

Liam laughs, and I want to bottle it up and listen to it forever. "No problem, " he says, putting his hands in his pockets. "You're going to spar?"

"Yes," I say. "I'm assuming you're headed there too?"

"I am." Liam nods. "Can I walk you there?"

I look up at him with wide eyes. "You want to walk me there?"

He scratches the back of his head, and a blush creeps up his cheeks. "Yeah," Liam clears his throat, "if you'll let me."

"Um… yeah, okay, sure." I give him a small smile.

We walk in silence for a couple minutes before the anxiety gets the better of me.

"So you're in Fourth Wing," I blurt.

I'm realizing now that I am absolutely not good at small talk.

He still gives me that smile. "I am. I'm in Second Squad, Tail Section. "

"Cool. I'm in Second Squad, Flame Section."

We're silent for a minute before Liam continues. "So, how are you managing the Riders Quadrant so far?"

"I think okay. I'm not as prepared as the rest of the cadets here are, but I'm learning."

Liam looks at me for a long moment. "Did you not want to become a rider?"

"No," I say, clearing my throat. "I used to be in the Scribe Quadrant. That was my goal, becoming a scribe."

"What made you change your mind?" Liam says, looking down at me with those mesmerizing eyes.

"My parents. They told me two days before conscription day that I needed to become a rider."

Liam furrows his brows. "They didn't give you an option? They just told you that you needed to become a rider, and that was that?"

I look down, suddenly feeling stupid. "Yes," I murmur.

I don't tell him that I've never said no to my parents in my life. I don't like disappointing people or feeling like a burden, so when my parents told me that I was going to the Riders Quadrant, I went along with it—even if that meant destroying my hope for the future.

"I'm sorry." He says.

I shrug. "It's okay. My friend Violet is here too. We were in the Scribe Quadrant together."

"It's good that you have someone you know here, " he says, looking over at me. "I'm glad you have someone you know here."

Looking up at him, I give him a small smile. "Yeah, me too."

We continue down the hall in a comfortable silence until we reach the sparring gym.

[apples-and-heartbreak]

I feel like when I’m reading or watching something, for me to like a hero, they have to

1) have ambition about anything

2) not be annoying

3) not excuse their shitty behaviour with their shitty childhood

4) not be so self-righteous they don’t see their own flaws

For these reasons I hate with a burning passion Jace Herondale, Clary Fairchild, Eli Ever, Tiberius “Cal” Calore VIII, Dean Winchester, and Legend/Dante Santos

Jace is constantly doing something shitty in every book and people don’t care and they just put up with it for some reason. In CoG he belittles Clary because he wants to push her away but keeps coming back to her. He also keeps coming onto Clary when he thought she was his sister and said that cursed sentence in CoG that I need to bleach from my brain. I know if he said that shit to me I would’ve punched him in his stupid face cuz who does he think he is? He mocks the werewolves after they lost a child in their pack, he’s just awful to Alec at times, he doesn’t seem to understand there are consequences to his actions and just does shit because he wants to. He had the emotional maturity of a dried up pinecone.

Clary also does so much shit and people don’t call her out because she’s the protagonist and she just lets Jace do whatever to her because he’s hot. Girl please get a grip. She slut shames Izzy because apparently women aren’t allowed to have a sex life or wear revealing clothing 😒 girl you kissed someone you thought was YOUR BROTHER!! She dated Simon to get over Jace and then kissed Jace in the Seelie Court, and repeatedly thought about Jace in a romantic sense WHILE she thought they were SIBLINGS! I can’t.

Eli is so self-righteous, annoying and hypocritical. He uses God and religion as an excuse to kill innocent people which is just disgusting. Like I get that he thinks being an EO changed a person because Victor became different but he is an EO himself and he just takes it on himself to murder innocent people for simply existing.

Cal has no desire to do anything, at least up to the beginning of King’s Cage he doesn’t (where I currently am). He knows how poorly the Reds are being treated and he doesn’t want to change anything because (and I’m paraphrasing) there would be outrage among the Silvers and a war would break out. Bitch you are already at war! He’s the reason why so many innocent young Reds have lost their lives fighting in a war they have no say in. He sees the Scarlet Guard killing Silvers and he doesn’t try to stop them. He sulks and whines but doesn’t take any real action, which he could if he actually wanted to. He stalks around the camp like Mare’s dog and thinks he’s better than everyone.

Dean Winchester is an abusive asshole. He locked Sam in the cellar when he was addicted to demon blood when he knew the withdrawal could kill him. He shit on Sam for being manipulated. He’s made horrible perverted jokes about women, might I remind y’all of the high school episode (he was at least 26 at the time). He guilted Sam for leaving him in Hell and Purgatory when he did THE EXACT SAME THING when Same went to the cage. He threatened Kaia, a teenager at gun point for his own selfish purposes. He abused Jack til the very end, yelling that he wasn’t family when Jack had sacrificed his soul and life for the Winchesters, and made Jack hate himself for being born. He was shitty to Cas in so many seasons and didn’t care that Cas just went through seeing his son die and wasn’t able to save him. He violated Sam’s body by tricking him into letting Gadreel in which led to the death of Kevin and had the audacity to think he was wronged.

Dante is shit. Julian, his brother, lived with him for centuries, followed him wherever he went and loved him unconditionally. All Julian asked was for Dante to love him back, which he never did. When Julian finally found someone who loved him, Dante made fun of him. And then in the next book he gives up his immortality for Tella, a girl he has known for literal months at most. He didn’t love his brother, who has been with him since the beginning, enough to give up his immortality but he loved this random girl he has known for a couple months at most to give it all up?? Tella should’ve left him in the dust just like she did Jacks and went off on adventures by herself and met someone that wasn’t a twat.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello! I love your blog! I watched the show when it came out last year and am getting prepared for season 2 by coming here and watching all the promos and such. I read the books years ago, so I am no expert. I have a tons of questions, but please forgive me if you have answered them before. At the end of the first season, when Armand was revealed, I assumed the love of my life line was for Daniel. To get a reaction out of Daniel, Louis did not seem Ok. But all the promo information seems to imply they have been happy for the most part all these years. Or if not happy, then content.  I get that there has been tinkering, I get they are putting on a performance for Daniel, but they seem to have elevated their relationship from the book. It has been years since I read the book, but I always thought in Paris, Armand was mind controlling Louis to some degree. They barely knew each other; it was only a couple of months I think before Claudia was killed. It wasn’t some grand romance. Just manipulation to get at Lestat. I know Armand fell in love with Louis, but I felt that Louis did not fall in love with Armand. He was infatuated. Then they travel around for 100 years, but just because Louis can’t be alone and there was no one left. They are not happy or even pretending to be.  Louis didn’t even notice when Armand left him. Did I interpret this wrong? I have seen that some are spectating that Dubai is Trinity Gate. But again, maybe I am wrong, but Trinity Gate never felt super romantic to me. Just two people waiting around for the people they really wanted to be with to get their crap together and come back. I know that they are polyamorous in the books, but their main romantic relationships are with other people. When Lestat and Daniel show up, they just get back with them, no drama or anything. It just feels like the show is trying to elevate Armand and Louis’s relationship to create some kind of love triangle, which just feels cheap to me. Very Twilight and Hunger Games. There are people have shipping wars over these relationships. I am also confused how people have such strong feelings about Louis and Armand when we haven’t even seen them on screen yet. Anyways, I guess I am feeling turned off by this season. Hardly any Louis and Lestat or Daniel and Armand and some love triangle with a ghost.  Part of the reason season 1 was so great was the chemistry between Louis and Lestat. I think an entire season with little interaction between them and a new Claudia just will feel like a whole new show.  Do you think the show is just completely diverting from the book with all of the stuff in Duabi? It seems obvious from comments made by the actors that Devils Minion happened in the past. But did it happen with Louis there? I can’t see that making any of these shippers happy on either side. Louis would very much be thrown aside for Daniel. Daniel and Armand were so intense about each other in the books and can’t see Louis not being ignored regularly if they were in a throple. I just don’t see it working because Louis in the show does not seem numb. He would care if his partner was deeply in love with someone else even if just for the principle of it. The show has already shown how well Louis handles cheating.  So I am assuming the broke up but then why did Louis say they had been together for 77 years? Also, Louis keeps giving side eye to Daniel and Armand when they are having moments. Does he not know about them? It seems like he does from his poking, but I am very confused by the whole thing. Why do you think they are trying so hard to manipulate Daniel? Taking journal pages out and such. What is the point of all of this. I just cannot see a way for any of this to make sense that at all keep in line with the books. Also do you think the show will do polyamory? They went so hard on the cheating aspect in season 1, which makes me think they can’t go there on the show. You can’t make it such a deal breaker for Louis for me to ever believe that he would ok with it later.  

Hey!

Glad you like!

So, first off, the last line, the "Love of my life", was revealed to be inspired by "The Graduate", and was played as such, which... changes the meaning quite a lot, imho. Here is a good post on that.

I think the Loumand we see is very much presenting a united front (something the reviews have been pointing at as well). That said, the extended look the other day made clear that the pages were not removed for Daniel - Armand removed them (at least the straight cut out ones imho), and Louis does not have access to them either. And whatever they reveal will be a catalyst for sure (I'm thinking Merrick reveal, as that book is where the diary entries are from after all).

Louis definitely knows about Armand and Daniel, in fact I believe he is trying to bring them back together.

I think that parts of the Devil's Minion happened with Louis there, or Louis at least aware. I also think Louis tried to break up with Armand in Paris (as he does in the book) and probably drifted away from him later on too (also as in the book) but maybe... that is the part where things get very muddy re memory. And tinkering.

I do not think we'll have love triangles in the sense of the word.

This is not about cheating, whether that be Loustat, Loumand or Devil's Minion, it never was.

It was presented to be, for reasons.

But these relationships just don't work that way, and one of the very hard to stomach realizations will be that Louis stayed with Armand (and especially if there were no full break-ups!) despite what Armand does to Claudia. And him.

For me it all makes a lot of sense, tbh.

It's a tale. A version of the story presented for a reason, from a specific POV. In season 2 we will get more POVs. And we already know they will revisit things. Likely in the last episodes, if the reviews are any indication.

And then... the tale will shift.

[savethegrishaverse]

Here is the Transcript to the Questions Answered by Eric Heisserer!

Recently, we were very fortunate that Shadow and Bone showrunner Eric Heisserer agreed to answer some fan questions! Below is the transcript of the screenshots that have been previously shared—not an entirely new interview. The transcript in this format should be much more accessible and convenient, particularly for anyone using a screen reader.

To make it easier to read through Eric’s responses, we’ve nested his answers below coordinating questions.

Okay, taking these one at a time -- because some of these will have very long answers, and I may have to return at later intervals to answer them: (note: questions will be in bold)

"I'd like to know if there's a way to liberate the pre-written scripts if Netflix doesn't plan on using them" - Asked by Christian Thalmann, the creator of the Fjerdan language.

"There is a way to liberate the Crows scripts from Netflix, yes, and in fact that would be part of the buyout for another streamer when acquiring the rights to Leigh's novels. It would be a package deal."

"In my view, "The Crows" have the potential to revitalize the Grishaverse. Unlike "Shadow And Bone," this new show could rely less on elaborate visual effects and offer a fresh narrative angle. Heist-themed shows are currently in high demand, adding to its appeal. Am I mistaken in thinking that our focus should primarily be on "The Crows"? The likelihood of "Shadow And Bone" returning seems slim, but l've always believed that "The Crows" had a greater chance of success." - asked by fellow fan Joleen

The focus on the Crows is helpful in two ways -- first, those scripts are written, which lets us get a running start at production, and second, just from casual analysis of book sales, it's far more popular worldwide than other Grishaverse titles. So it will be a bigger draw for viewers.

The trap though is the cost. It's more grounded than S&B, sure, but the Ice Court is a unique location that either requires a really costly set build, or set extensions and VFX work to make it look authentic, which means nearly every shot of the heist once our crew gets there could be a VFX shot.

My guess is the budget would be on par with S2 of S&B.

"If/when the spinoff is back (finger crossed) was there anything he had planned that would completely surprised, for good reasons obviously, the audience. And we should hold our breath for that twist/turn?" - asked by fellow fan Rti

​​Yes, there is a surprise or two in the Crows spinoff season, but overall it's as close to the novel as we could make it. And Leigh's novel is such an amazing story with natural cliffhangers that work as episode "out" moments, etc. I think the biggest move we made was to feature every single Crow's backstory to go with their episode. So that was fun/sad/exciting.

"What was the difficulties you mentioned about filming Season 2 in that Reddit comment? Don't want to sound negative but what went wrong?!" - asked by fellow fan Mitra

S2 kept throwing challenges at us, and it started long before we got to production. Like months earlier, when we learned the location we used for the Little Palace in S1 was closed to us due to the pandemic. So right there we lost out on a ton of S&S scenes, because it wouldn't be a match. But we also had written a compelling side arc for Ivan and Fedyor in S2, these two Grisha trapped on either side of the civil war. Each of them played a big role in the story, but Simon (Ivan) had a feature film that overlapped with our schedule and couldn't move, which meant we lost him. So Daegan worked to revise the season keeping Fedyor and leaving Ivan as most likely dead from the end of S1. He was Kirigan's right-hand man for the season. But poor Julian caught COVID just when we were to shoot out most of his scenes, and after trying to make the schedule work, we had to come to the brutal truth that there wasn't a way to keep Fedyor in the story. Our only option was to bring him in at like episode 8, which would've been too little, too late.

COVID continued to be a monster all through production, requiring us to juggle schedules and miss out on days, and it was madness for the cast, who had to pivot with almost no notice whenever someone was ill and quarantined. This isn't unique to our show of course -- it happened with everyone. It's just a challenge.

Beyond that, we had been given the go to write a special standalone story, The Demon in the Wood. This would have been released on its own around Christmas, like a BBC special but for Netflix, and would help bridge seasons 1 and 2 by showing a little of what Kirigan was doing before we see him in 52, and also provide more character context, etc. Christina Strain wrote that and did great work adapting Leigh's short story. But it never went the distance.

There was a lot more to 52 as well, scenes and side stories and little interactions that were lost due to budget or time restrictions. Again, not unique to our show, but agonizing all the same, since what you get is not what we had written, or in some cases even shot.

I'm incredibly proud of the cast and the team, and Daegan did the heaviest lifting while I was off finishing the Crows writing room. But we had a lot more thrown at us.

"How long was the sizzle reel ready to go but he had to keep it secret?" - Asked by members of the Discord Team

That sizzle reel was put together about four months before the second season dropped.

"I would love to know his perspective on the impact of streaming on storytelling. Would we have had to launch a campaign like this 10-15 years ago for a show like this? What are the main pain points when it comes to streaming models & telling unique, diverse stories?" - asked by fellow fan Acorn_Bri

Streaming is a challenge to serialized storytelling in that it looks at 'content often with a different agenda and uses metrics that can take a creative issue and exacerbate it. Like in broadcast, if viewership and thus ad revenue has slightly declined, the show will need to find a way to make their 22 or 13 episodes on a proportionally smaller budget. What is not done is reduce episode order. But if a streaming series underperforms or doesn't meet expectations, and the streamer doesn't cancel it outright, the go-to budget reduction idea is to reduce episode order for the next season.

When you just have 8 episodes and continue to deal with notes to compress, pace up, or omit for what you'd scripted for a longer season, reducing further to six or four episodes is exhausting.

This happens due to a slide in autonomy from what the showrunner position had been. What the chatter on the picket lines revealed to us is that most showrunners today don't get to see their own show's budget, and thus don't get the freedom to make budgetary decisions that could better protect the story they're telling. More and more, showrunners not at a legacy network aren't the final say or at times even involved in hiring key roles. I don't have any ideas that aren't already in a contract language, I just see how the job on this side has gotten harder and there isn't much of a way for us to make it easier for each other like we could with having writers on set or in post production, because the streaming model has made that impossible.

—

Once again, we would like to give a big thank you to everyone who asked their questions, and an even BIGGER thank you to Eric Heisserer for answering them!

[wierdpersonononelikes]

Don't leave me (Brienne of Tarth x fem reader)

“Ugh i hate having night duty” night duty was the worst i always hated it there is only a few times where I like being outside, i love when Brienne is out here with me she is the one that makes me like being out here she is so pretty but she is in love with someone else even though some people still hate him i guess she loves him how I wish to be that man ughh, but as soon as I keep walking near the gate I heard two people two very familiar voices getting closer I saw Brienne and Jaime but jaime was on a horse like if he was leaving but before riding off, Jaime tells Brienne "You think I'm a good man? I pushed a boy out a tower window and crippled him for life, for Cersei. I strangled my cousin with my own hands justice in to get back to Cersei. I would've murdered every man, woman, and child in Riverrun for Cersei. She's hateful. And so am I.” I stayed looking at them. Yes, my heart broke because from what it looked like, Brienne and him had spent most of the night together, but that did matter. I just felt bad for her, but that is when I heard her say, "You're not like your sister - you're better than her. You're a good man. You don't need to die with her. He mounts his horse and rides away, leaving Brienne in tears behind him. (from what I remember that is how it happened if it happened like that imagine that part but How it actually happened) I froze I wanted to hug her I felt bad but I also wanted to scream how foolish I was I thinking I would have a chance with her tears start to fall from my face I just couldn’t stop them but when I realized she was moving I tried to pretend like nothing happened wiping my tears she looks at me I look at her she looks devastated knowing what just happened how is she not “ser Brienne are you okay” I asked knowing that she wouldn’t answer we weren’t that close we did talk but she would never let me get that close and hurted knowing that I would never be able to with her “nothing happened just taking a walk and thinking about some of the things that have happened” I stare I felt tears coming but I was able to stop them I wouldn’t want her to know what I know “should go to your room it getting colder and we don’t want one of our best fighters to get sick” I tighten the blanket the she had and squeezed her shoulds giving her a simile “I will” she said staring at my eyes “have a great rest of your night Ser Brienne” as soon she turn to the corner I started to breath again I didn’t realize I stoped breathing I stare at the stars and waited. (time skip because I need to work but I’m doing this instead) It was finally morning I wasn’t tired so I went to eat breakfast and saw Brrienne so I went to sit with her, put my breakfast on the table and sat in front of her she looked up and saw “good morning Ser Brienne” “good morning“ she mumbled I sat down and started to eat “wait aren’t you supposed to be sleeping” I stared at her for a bit “yeah but that was my last night duty so i'm not tired” she stared at me she tighten the grip of her fork and slammed it “well I hope you don’t fall asleep during training” I smiled at her as I put a piece of food in my mouth and said “you don’t have to worry about me” and smiled it is hard try to make her feel better after what happened yesterday night, but she just rolled her eyes I hope I can make her feel better (time skip because I am supposed to be doing work) it was good to be close to her during raining I can have an eye on her and how she is doing i hope she can get better soon from her herat being broken… where is she… fuck I was just looking at her right now.

End of POV

Brienne’s POV

After hard training and holding my feelings I can let them out. I hate this. Why am I falling in love with someone that we are going to war in the next couple of days, months. I hate him but I love him at the same time.(Day 2) There is something wrong with Y/n I feel like she is trying to cheer me up but it feels like she knows ugh i hate this, i start to hear footsteps getting near gives me sometime to wipe my tears and sit down looking at the lake “uh Brienne is that you” Y/n what is she doing here “yeah it’s me don’t worry” what the heck I is she following me ever since when she saw me last night I feel like she is following me “Brienne I need to tell you something” “what is it” please tell me that you didn’t saw or heard anything from last night please “so last night-” I knew it shit what I’m going to do how do I tell why her “I heard and saw something I think You know what it is”I felt tears start running down my tears…

End of POV

Y/n’s POV

“I heard and saw something I think You know what it is” I looked at her face and I see tears “I’m sorry I didn’t me-” “it’s fine can you just leave me alone for while please” I get up start to walk and just see Brienne’s back and I tell her “if you need someone to talk to you can talk to me” I started walking to the camp again I was tired I feel sick but I need to go eat some lunch and go train the wars is starting soon again (time skip day 2 working on this really good progress) night time, I spend all day training because tomorrow morning we take our way to king's landing I really don’t want to go ugh is going to take to long to get to king's landing (let’s make it long even though in the last season it was like in a few minutes they were already there) (Day 3) while looking somewhere to sit I see Brienne sitting alone again so I decide to sit in front of her ‘should I sit next to her… yeah’ I walk up to the table and she looks up and I just simile and she looked down to her plate “so how you are doing” “none of your business” “aww come on Brienne don’t be like that”I said pouting and I laughed she looked at me like mad and I just cleared my throat “Brienne“ “yes” “listen I understand what you are goint through that is why I’m trying to cheer you up” “what you mean that you went through the same thing I am I don’t think you fell for a traitor and when he was being good he left you beause he thinks he is like he sister but he is not” I looked at her tears started to form in my eye I was already broken from what I heard that night because no matter what he did she still would defend him and love “well you think I didn’t went through something like that well let me tell you I try to show that person how much I cared for them, I even tried to show my feelings for them but ignored it and they decided to be with someone I knew that they where youst going to break their heart and I was right but you know what I did I tried to spend my days as normal as posible but still hurts to think about it hurts and you don’t know how that feels at least he spend some time with you." She looked at me and there were tears in my face. I wiped them before getting up “you really don’t know what it feels like when you love someone and they chose someone else” and I left for my room. I took my armor and went to the fire and sat there crying.

End of POV

B.O.T POV

‘Shit what do I do now she left and couldn’t even apologize for what I Said I wish I would haven’t said anything she was just trying to cheer me up but I guess she went through something too’  I ran outside and looked for her and as much as I tried I couldn’t find her I decided to look for her in her room but when I reached her door I heard sobs I wanted to knock the door but I feel like she might not want to talk to me I leave and go to my own just a few rooms pass it  I take my armor and sit by the fireplace ‘I regret everything I said to her I feel like an idiot ugh, I decide to read a book (time skip again this time is because I’m lazy) it was already late I think there shouldn’t be anyone in the baths (I forgot what they are called) I go down looking for the baths place (I that is what I’m calling those things now) when I got there I enter and saw Y/n and she was there sitting there I was going to clear my throat but I saw her moving but when (Day4)  I saw again she was already up I, decided to hide but I don’t know Why I did that but in my tempt to hide I accidentaly knocked something but lucklky I was able to hide

  End Of POV

Y/n POV

While crying in my room I fell asleep when I woke up I decide to go to the bath place when I enter the place was empty which it was good I took my clothes off and went in the water was hot just the way I like it I spend like a few minutes in and I started to think ‘how much I love Brienne but I guess she only has eyes for jaime, which is sad because everything we went through but I guess is my heart’s fault’ I felt tears on my face. I pulled my legs to my chest and sat there, I decide to go in fully to wet my head, I got up and when I was about to down I heard something fall I turn around and I see no one there so I turn to continue my bath (time skip) when I was done I dry myself and left for my room and I saw Brienne standing outside of my room “yes” “uh, I was wondering you where ok” “why do you care, stop bothering me and fuck off” I went inside my room and slammed my door (day 4 actually 6 but im working on it so it counts as 4) layed in my bed tears running down my face ‘what have I done to deserve this’ cried for a long time wich means I cried myself to sleep  (sorry im tired I don’t know what to write) (time skip yeah) it’s and morning we are getting ready to leave I putted my armor on and went to eat breakfast there isn’t to many people awake which I was glad I saw an empty table and went to sit down my back facing the door few moments later I see someone put a plate on the table when I look up I saw Brienne her golden hair that it shines with the sunlight and her blue eyes that when you look at them you can feel the breeze of the ocean but shoke those feelings and just looked at her while sat and started to eat she looks at me and says “what” “well what are you doing here” “eating don’t you see” “yeah I know” “so what you asking” “you know what I’m leaving to get ready” I as I got up she gtrabed my hand and she said “sit down” I saw her face sort of mad angry I don’t know is that face that she mades to scare everyone so I sitted back down “what do you want” “I wanted to apologize for saying what I said I know you only wanted to cheer me up and thanks for that” there it is it again after she said those words that light turned on again those feelings that where leaving after everything happened well that I was making leave came back but stronger but I couldn’t I had to fake it I cant let her know not until we go to war. She looked at me I could see she wasn’t lying Brienne had this look on her face that said that she wasn’t lying “ok fine” “thank god” said Brienne ”so are you still gonna  cheer me up everyday” “I don’t know you tell Ser Brienne do you want to cheer up everyday” “hmm let me think, it sounds like a great idea so maybe” we both just laughed until it was time to leave we were in the same group so we are going to be together all the time perfect to make things better.

End of POV

A New POV

As time passes Brienne and y/n spend more time together they laugh and they like to talk about Y/n feelings for Brienne grew and Brienne she was falling for… well she fell for Y/n she still like jaime but not as much as she likes Y/n but they were getting close to king's landing that is what she doesn’t like she is afraid something happens to her or Y/n.

End of this POV

Y/N POV

“Brienne can we talk for a while” “yeah wassup bean” (hey it just came to mind for some reason so yeah) I told her to follow me we were next to a river and I wanted to cry “Brienne there is something I have to tell you” “okay go ahead” Brienne for sometime I had feelings for you and after this couple of months they have becoming stronger so this is my way of telling you I love you” “Y/n… I… I Love you to this past couple of months I was able to forget about jaime and focus on you the way you are and everything makes me love you” “so that means you want to be my partner”  “yeah you little shit” (hehehe) “but Brienne can we get together after the war” “why” just so we can leave happily without having to worry someone is going to attack us” I looked at Brienne she thinks about for a minute “yeah I guess that makes sense” (time skip where everything is getting melted and they are fighting at the end of everything) “Brienne we won we can finally be toge—”. I don’t understand why we won. I look at Brienne and she screams I feel fuzzy.

End of POV

Brienne POV

I look for Y/n when I heard her say “Brienne we won I look ate her and I was going to start to walk up to her when I see someone behind her “we can finally be toge–” I ran and stab my sword on the gerd stomach and cut his throat  i bend down and pick y/n up and started to run I need to get her to a nurse lucky the camp was near but far away to run, I was able to find a horse “y/n look at me” “y/n please look at me” as I try to ride the horse and keep pressing on the wound I see y/n looking at me “darling please don’t leave me” “Brienne If I die I would be leaving happy I was able to tell you how I feel so please don’t be sad I would always love you” I get to the camp I look around were the nurses are and I lay Y/n in the bed “ser Brienne we need you to get out” I look at y/n and give her a kiss she grabs my face and says” everything would be fine” her hand slips and I leave I saty outside and wait and I see a nurse “ser Brienne about Y/n…”

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Surprise 😮, this was supposed to come our yesterday but I couldn't. Anyway, i tried my best writing it. I do hope I did well. I accidentally added some random words right now because I was editing some things 😅

[yelenabelovasbxtch]

Crush On An Archer PT. 2

A/N: Can you believe I actually managed to get out another part in a timely matter without making you wait 5 months in between? I think we're getting to the good part soon so stay tuned.

Kate Bishop X f!reader

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: Not proofread

The next few days went by fast, you had a couple more practices but didn’t see Kate again and you flew home without even getting to say goodbye. 

As soon as your plane landed and you turned off airplane mode, your text notifications binged with Kate’s name on your screen. 

“Hey Y/L/N, want to grab a drink tonight?” *Sent 2 hours ago*

“Hey Kate, sorry I didn’t respond sooner, my plane just landed and I’m back in Mississippi now :( I would have loved to though.”

“Damn, didn’t even say goodbye?”

Did she want you to say goodbye? Were you at that level of friendship? 

“Yeah, sorry, I had an early flight out this morning.”

“Damn, oh well…all my friends left too so I’m going back to being bored as fuck again. This summer honestly blows.”

“Yeah, I hear that. Trust me, I would much rather be there, than here.”

“How come you didn’t want to stick around a little longer? The semester does start in like only two weeks.”

“I’m not technically “paying” my rent over the summer so I can’t really stay there or else I’d have to put out the money to my landlord and also pay all the other bills that come with it.”

“Ah yeah that makes sense. Too bad you couldn't have stuck around though.”

“Yeah I agree, I am very bored here.” 

The two of you continued to talk every day, your friendship grew over text and Snapchat, pretty much the only way it could at this point. You are pretty notorious for sleeping in and every morning you wake up to see Kate’s text message and Snapchat notification pop up on your phone. You get your daily dose of Kate and get to see her beautiful face everyday whenever she’d respond to your snaps or post her BeReals when they went off. They always made you smile, sometimes they made you feel a little more than just a smile… but every morning without fail it was usually a Snap of her in bed and fuck did she look hot. Like who wakes up just naturally looking that good? You could swear it looked like she was “trying or posing” a little in the pics she sent to you but also you wouldn’t put it past her for just looking that good anytime her photo was taken. Honestly, there were some times where she would text you for an hour straight and the two of you would have the most amazing conversations but then other times where she would be MIA for most of the day and you feel like maybe you said the wrong thing. You noticed that she would always come back though. You learned to realize that it was just your anxiety speaking loudly when she didn’t respond and she couldn’t hate you, she barely even knew you. She just was busy and didn’t respond for that moment. Or maybe she was having a hard day but she always ended up coming back and talking to you about it. 

You were excited but also really terrified about moving back to school. You and Kate had learned what each other's interests were and talked a lot about certain things you wanted to do together when you moved back. You discussed everything, going to the movies, cooking together, practicing together and you managed to convince her to try building LEGO with you. 

I mean, who doesn’t like LEGO?

The text messages between the two of you were often pretty friendly but from time to time she teased you, loved to call you a nerd for all your interests like Star Wars and Harry Potter but you knew she secretly liked them too. 

Although she seemed like she was flirting, there were times where she’d talk about guys who were hitting on her and her ex-boyfriends and it just made you feel like there was no chance in hell she would ever be into you. Based on her track record alone, you weren’t exactly her type. Mainly just because everyone she has ever mentioned is a man. Obviously, you can’t read a person off of just that information because you never know. But, it didn’t exactly feel like it was going your way. Anytime she would do or say something that maybe led you to believe she had feelings for you it was almost immediately squashed by another comment or story about a guy.

“So what are you up to today?”

“Not much, probably going to go practice my shot a bit.”

“I feel like all you ever do is practice”

“Well yeah, best archer in the world title has to be honored ;)” 

“Haha. I am almost 100% certain the only person who calls you that, is you.”

“Not trueee”

“Your mom doesn’t count…” “Or your dog.”

“Well. I am sure someone else has said it. Besides, practice isn’t allll I do. I’m going to the gym after. Probably hitting arms and a bit of chest today.”

“Okay Bishop, I see you, I didn’t know you took lifting seriously and stuff.”

“Well obviously, gotta make sure I’m in better shape than all the other archers. Especially when you are on the senior team next year.”

“Worried you’re going to be beat out for world's best archer or something?”

“Haha. Very funny. I don’t think I have anything to worry about ;)”

Your conversations were often short like that one but something else always ended up coming up later on. About an hour and a half later your phone bings with a text message from Kate. 

*Attachment: 1 Image*

Fuck you mumble under your breath. 

She doesn’t do it often, but sometimes she’ll send you a picture of herself over imessage where there isn’t a 10 second expiry like on Snap and every time she does it makes you smile. It feels like this one was taken specifically for you. She wanted you to see this now and she wanted you to remember what this photo looked like. Kate always works out in sports bras, making you think about how you’d kill to get in the gym with her just to see what would happen between the two of you in the locker room afterwards. You have been staring at this picture for way too long, it’s time to respond. How do you even answer a text like that? A compliment? No, she might think you’re into her and take it the wrong way. Flirty banter? As long as it’s dialed back I'm sure it’ll be fine. 

“I think I can see a little bit of muscle there on your arms.”

“Oh shut up, you love it and we both know it.”

W-What? Fuck. 

“Yeah you wish Bishop.” Good response. Friendly banter right? 

She didn’t respond to that last text, you just assumed she went on with her workout. About an hour later you get a snap notification across your screen from her. You may have waited a couple minutes to open it just to not make it seem obvious that you were practically waiting for her name to pop up. 

You opened the snap and your jaw practically had to be picked up off the floor. 

Sweaty Kate, hovering over her phone for the pic, in a sports bra, sex eyes, thin silver chain dangling. 

Fuck. You wanted this picture seared into your brain. The one you received over text was hot but this one was even hotter. It was sexy, it was all you wanted and more and fuck did you want to tell her that. 

One thing you noticed while staring at this photo is how long you got to look at how hot she was. She changed her settings for the picture to be set to infinity from 10 seconds. She wanted you to know how hot she looked and she wanted you to take your time admiring her. The only acceptable response back had to be a picture of you acting nonchalant about what you just saw. The last thing you wanted to do was make her think you were ogling over her. 

Later that night you were laying in bed scrolling TikTok when her contact popped up at the top of your screen. 

“Men are so fucking shit sometimes.”

“What happened?” 

Yeah…you will always be an outlet for her even if it’s the worst friend zone of friend zones you’ve ever been stuck in. 

“Nothing. Just stupid boys making shit comments.”

“Do I need to knock some heads?”

“Haha I wish. But no, I just can’t deal with my ex and his friends. They’re all privileged assholes anyways.”

“Yuck hate a privileged asshole.”

“Yeah, I met him through this stupid rich people dinner event my mom made me go to awhile ago and I should have known that he wasn’t any different and just as snobby as the rest of them.”

Doesn’t really sound like the ex is much competition if that’s the case. 

“Yeah I can imagine that wouldn’t make the best partner. It’s good he at least isn’t a part of your life anymore right?”

“Yes going forward he won’t be. I told him there will be no contact between us again. It just really fucking sucks you know? He was this amazing really sweet guy who I grew to care for and love deeply and then out of nowhere it was like a switch flipped. And the toughest part is that sometimes I feel like I still care for him but then I remember what he’s actually like.”

If she still has feelings this is not good.

“I get it, breakups of course are tough and you just need to take your time to really get back to being you and no longer thinking about this guy.”

“Well said Y/L/N. Enough about me and my issues though. What about you? You got your eye on anyone or with anyone?”

Ah. Fuck it. It’s late, let’s have a little fun. 

“Uhh yeah I guess there’s one person but it’ll prob never work out so I gotta move on.”

“Ouuuu omg okay who are they, do they go to our school?”

“Yes and I will not be disclosing that information because I really do not need it getting out haha”

“Boooo, c'mon you can trust me.”

“Oh my god is it because it’s someone I know?”

“Maybe.”

“How well do I know them?”

“Hmmmm I’d say pretty well but I’m not going to tell you who it is so I wouldn’t bother guessing.”

“Boring. I’ll get it out of you when we move back to school.”

“Haha sure you will.”

“Speaking of, there’s this bar down the street from where my place is, my friends told me the team and a few others are going out on the Friday before the new semester starts. Are you going to be back by then?”

“Yeah, I should be. If not, I can always try to change my flight to come in a little earlier.”

“Yeah I think you should. It sounds like fun.”

“I just checked and my flight lands at JFK later in the day on Thursday so once I find a ride to campus I’ll be there probably late Thursday night.”

“Oh you’re flying in and out of JFK? I can give you a ride if you want. I’ve been staying at my apartment in the city for the summer so I can pick you up on my way to campus and save you a few bucks on transportation.” “That’s really nice but you don’t have to do that.”

“Y/n, I insist, it’s no big deal.”

“Okay well thank you, let me at least pay you some money for gas.”

“Don’t sweat it. If you really want to repay me you can help eye my shot next week. I’ve been having some issues with my arrows going a little left and can’t figure out why.”

“Wow, is the best archer in the world asking me for archery advice?”

“Ha. ha.”

“Hehe sorry you know I couldn’t resist.

The next week or so went by unbelievably slowly. The contact between you and Kate was still there but not as much and the fact that she was picking you up from the airport had your mind spinning in circles. You were so unbelievably nervous to see her and be with her, just the two of you again…sober this time. The tension that was created the last time you two were alone felt like it was tearing through you. Everyone knows that things are a little more awkward when you’re sober though. You don’t feel as invincible as when you’re drunk. Whenever you drink, you feel like you have the guts to say whatever you want to. Who knows, maybe the Friday night plans will grow into something more, maybe they won’t. 

The morning of your flight you wake up to a message from Kate,

“Hey y/n! Text me when you land and tell me which terminal to pull up to today. Have a safe flight <3, I’m looking forward to seeing you”

The second half of that message gave you butterflies in your stomach. You wanted to be there now, in her arms. Oh god, are you guys at the point in your friendship where you hug when you see each other?

I guess we’ll see. 

– End of PT. 2 –

Taglist: @yelenaslyubov @youreatotalposer @jeyramarie @flosbelova @bridgecitybrad @justthis-stuff @chloe7076 @ailenepuff @ravenclawbitch426 @mellowladyangel @amcg0605-blog @kassies-take @yelenaswife1996 @wandanatchick @lilroachsworld @inluvwithfictionalwomen @x666hours @natashaswife4125 @onetruwhore @karmasgxrl @hopelesslyfallenninlove @setsuna1415 @swiftdazer @imobsessedwithmilfss @madamevirgo @louisprettybab @splatalia-jumpanova @jediluka @t00manyfand0ms @oohlala666 @kates-abs-slay @scmg11

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 2/13/2024

writing cover letters like "Market Research Firm 953989464860, will YOU be my Valentine?"

also, a fallout 4 femslash fic for femslash feb

listening

Fresh Blood by the Eels off their 2009 album Hombre Loco. i would say this is another "i think a vampire probably wrote this low, grooving track" but there are several howls featured. wikipedia says it is about a werewolf. this song sounds like it has a simple bassline and simple drums but it knows what it's about. it's probably secretly really complicated but i specced in knowing about fabric, not about music.

it makes me want to ice skate really fast and also sounds like watching broken highway lane dividers go by late at night. fascinating that the back half of the four-plus minute song is fully instrumental. definitely a song for when you are traveling, or perhaps proceeding. spotify

Sun down on the sorry day By nightlights the children pray I know you're probably gettin' ready for bed Beautiful woman get out of my head I'm so tired of the same old crud Sweet baby I need fresh blood

i've been mainlining The Black Keys' album Brothers so it makes sense this popped up on my Discover Weekly spotify playlist

-

reading

in 2015, the year i dropped out of college, the closest comic/weird nerd shit store was a forty minute drive from my house. i bought the first issue of the serialized anthology comics magazine The Island bc i liked the Moebius-esque cover by Brandon Graham, before i knew who either of those artists were or that i liked them. i think it was ten bucks, and having to show my drivers' license really sticks in my brain for some reason. the point i am slowly approaching is that the magazine only ran for fifteen issues, and i didn't buy any other copies bc ten bucks a month was too dear for me, but it was a tremendous incubator for artists i would end up loving. about half the time i stumble across a lovely self-contained book that knocks my socks off i find out it started life in The Island.

All his life, Hank Cho wanted to join the ranks of the Habsec—the rulers of the orbital habitat his people call home. But when he finds a powerful, forbidden weapon from the deep past, a single moment of violence sets his life—and the brutal society of the habitat—into upheaval. Hunted by the cannibalistic Habsec and sheltered by former enemies, Cho finds himself caught within a civil war that threatens to destroy his world. A new barbarian sci-fi adventure by SIMON ROY (PROPHET, JAN'S ATOMIC HEART, Tiger Lung), originally serialized in ISLAND MAGAZINE.

Simon Roy's Habitat asks: do you want to hear a story about a generation ship gone wrong? this is a guy who really knows how to draw mechs and all their fiddly bits and loves doing it, which is a really transferrable skill to lovingly detailing the crumbling brutalist neo-mesoamerican architecture. the Habsec cannibals and their bits and pieces of scavenged armor blend in so well, it's genuinely shocking when we see someone in full, kept up, incredibly colorful armor. gorgeous, gorgeous book. love a fucked up generation ship.

found while perusing the stacks of the library that was closest to a bunch of other admin errands i was running, bc i finally have a tx drivers license and can start collecting tx library cards

-

watching

im also asking myself why the hell i'm watching yellowstone with my bestie and her husband. it has every trigger warning and a lot of them would make me decline the experience had i looked them up beforehand. however, the inevitablilty of each little tragedy feeding into the circular threshing maw that is the Dutton family is really clicking for me. like well! that mom sure did die in the most traumatizing way possible! and wow that really does go a long way toward explaining why the daughter is self-medicating to an alarming degree AND why no one else is doing anything about it bc they're all still mad at her for being very tangential to her mom's death!

the amount of Stuff that happens per episode is truly astonishing. one of my favorite parts of the ttrpg Beamsaber is the downtime between missions, bc you get to have some really bonkers interactions with people who don't usually interact. despite its huge cast, Yellowstone doesn't yet feel incoherent or like it's jumped the shark in its first season bc it's really successful at getting its huge cast to have unexpected interactions with each other. this sounds a little bit like praising it for knowing how to be good television, but this is a neowestern about a land grab that's also a familial dynasty drama that's really leaning into the familial dynasty part of it. it would be very easy for this to become incoherent or bad at switching between storylines, but so far it's really good at it. it's not beamsaber or black sails bc nothing will ever be beamsaber or black sails but it's really scratching that itch of many small rapidly shifting factions and rapidly shifting political goals bc each child is their own horrible little faction and they have a lot of time where they're trapped in cars or helicopters together getting around their ranch, which is simply too large.

we're trying to watch the yellowstone franchise in release order, and the yellowstone prequel with tim mcgraw came out between the first and second seasons. we will not be continuing this. this is a bog standard wagon train western. cripplingly boring after the brazen insanity of the first season. also i think it is in poor taste at best and irresponsible at worst to show a suicide on screen.

i said i don't know why i'm watching this but i do know why i'm watching yellowstone, and that's bc my bestie keeps seeing tiktoks about it. sometimes im influenced in real life

-

playing

changed my sheets this week and didn't chortle at the TOP OR BOTTOM tag which is how i know im having. a brain time. another way you can tell im having a brain time are these screenshots of the Breath of the Wild map. as you may or may not remember from last week, last week i had very little of the map filled out.

now is this EXPLORED? good heavens no. i have under 40 shrines DISCOVERED. i have simply beelined to each tower and went VERY fast. or was very sneaky. the three towers i have not bothered to climb yet are the ones i would have to actually fight some guys about. fuck the akkala tower for real.

i love to accidentally get way too close to dragons and die. some fun things about this run: incredibly, exceptionally rainy. except for the stint in the literal desert and the five minutes in the snowfield it has been raining about 70% of the time, which has made climbing very annoying. another fun thing about this run: exceptionally low ancient shaft drop rate, which makes getting ancient arrows to safely kill guardians from afar very difficult. bc as discussed above i have optimized this little blond boy to be very fast and very sneaky to get up the towers very quickly in the two minute spans of time it is not raining.

another fun thing about this run: not very good at successfully spitting out riders next to horses. you can only see the tip of spinch's hat bc he is underground.

i have unlocked the elephant and the falcon, i haven't gotten much farther than finding painkillers for the goron boss and stalled out at the yiga clan stealth mission. bc despite liking being a sneaky fast sniper out in the world, i fucking hate an enforced stealth mission. i don't think i ever got past this part in my other run either.

not jacked enough to unlock the master sword, i think you need twelve hearts? i would rather have more stamina so i can get faster horses + the princess's horse.

after i unlocked a bunch of towers i spent a goofy amount of time in the Lake Floria system herself hunting for treasure chests (there are easily fifty chests in the water. wild) to get the 10k rupees to unlock the last great fairy. i also spent several real-life hours video game mining video game ore. this was deeply annoying bc i sold off all my gems to get 10k rupees and then had nothing to get those sweet sweet high level upgrades with. this was the point on sunday night where i realized i was getting irrationally annoyed with a game that is supposed to be fun, and is NOT meant to support the kind of grinding i was doing. that was enough video game for one day thank you.

did you know there's a korok in the shrine of resurrection? me either.

also did you know magnesis ACTIVATES on the windmills in Hebra but i can't figure out how to get close enough to any of them to do anything about it. annoying.

this has got to be so funny from ganons point of view. i unlocked the elephant and the falcon in under a week of in-game time and then spent several in-game months mining and collecting clothes. would that make ganon more or less anxious d'you think

making

cross stitch update. this confetti in the rover square. i am dying. here’s what it will look like finished, and a link to buy the pattern

i had such high hopes for pin stitches as a thread finishing method but i had to rip out a mistake near a pin stitch and accidentally ripped out the entire pin and single confetti cross stitch. so what the fuck. i am an insane woman who likes to fully submerge and lightly hand wash projects before they get framed to remove all the oils (yes i wash my hands before stitching, i do get paranoid) and i am not confident pin stitches will hold up to that. oh well. the loop method is pretty great in halving the number of ends i have to weave in, even though i feel like it is extremely wasteful and leaves me with lots of short useless lengths my cats would love to eat. so the gains from halving thread management are really not offset by the meticulous cat management i must embark upon every time i do my fun relaxing hobby.

and the back, which is a horror. and will only become more of a horror. but once this is framed no one will actually see it so it's FINE. i am FINE with this. i started this knowing there was going to be lots of confetti. that's the point of this masochistic pattern

i wrote the first chapter of this fic last summer and outlined the emotional beats (but not much else) while procrastinating moving and have finally lightly polished the first chapter and threw it on the archive. im trying to let things molder less and just fucking post them in the hopes this activates the writing part of my brain again but who could say what's going on up there. this is still something that hasn't quite returned to me post-covid round 2

this will eventually be an E-rated 5+1 fic fixing all the fucking bullshit around Cait Fallout4's companion quest. she will NOT go in the magic chair that tortures her into not being a junkie and being the perfect waifu. she is going to stumble backwards and accidentally into some harm reduction and get railed by a mean top. the mean top and the harm reduction won't fix her but they certainly won't hurt.

[thanx-files]

Gethsemane Review and Season 4 Wrap-Up

Listen. Listen. These get longer every season, but I can’t help myself. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to put my thoughts into comprehensible language after Gethsemane. So please, indulge me, agree with me, start a fight with me in the replies, but whatever you do, just join me in being unwell about season 4 of The X-Files. Spoilers, of course.

Gethsemane

I, a child of the 21st century, am watching this show on a streaming platform. It has long since wrapped, and I know for damn sure that David Duchovny will return as Fox Mulder for many of the seasons to follow. Even so, I am choking on this ending. What the exact and entire fuck do you mean HE DIED?

I cannot imagine watching this, then waiting MONTHS to know what happened. I know those message boards were buzzing. Not only that, but the viewers would not have had the benefit of the Dean Winchester trope thanks to which every time a main character dies you think, “it’s fine honestly don’t even worry about it, they’ll be back in two weeks.” (Even if you’re wrong.)

UGH okay now that I’ve talked about that, it’s time to be a broken record: I love to see Mulder and Scully at odds. The scene as they’re leaving the Smithsonian is ART to me. They’re no longer fighting the same war; they’re on the same battlefield, arguing about who the fuck is shooting at them in the first place.

He doesn’t see that she needs him because of how desperately she doesn’t want to need him. She says she’s out of the game while sliding all her chips into the center of the table. They’re impossible. I’m obsessed with them.

Also we got more Catholic Scully in this ep, and we know I love that, too. I love that no one can touch whatever God is to her — not a priest and not Mulder either. I love that she is unthreatened by the truth, whatever it happens to be.

Also, the dialogue this ep goes hard in general, but Mulder hearing the phrase, “They invented you” is so fucked up. He’s a cog in the very machine he hopes to dismantle. Or is he? Or was he?

This ep had me, who jumped onboard with MSR the second Mulder turned on that slide projector in the pilot, wondering if I had been wrong the whole time. Then they pulled that ending. The last seven seconds of the ep had me so fucked up. Scully getting choked up — the FBI official she’s been explaining it all to trying to keep her from saying the thing out loud. It’s overwhelming.

This has all been a lot of summary and not a lot of reviewing, but what else is new? TL;DR: This ep fucks. Favorite season finale so far, followed by Anasazi.

Season 4

One of the strengths of season 4 is how connected it all feels. With a few notable exceptions, we start up on this rollercoaster hill of autonomy, mortality, power, and the self. I know those are major themes of the whole series, but when you look at them through the lens of the cancer arc, they look kinda different. Suddenly we have foreshadowing. We have the specter of death looking in on us for more than just an episode, a moment. We start to feel like maybe something bad could actually happen to Mulder and Scully —something permanent and paradigm-shifting.

The weakness, for me, of season 4 is that it has no sense of humor. No Clyde Bruckman. No Coprophages. No Jose Chung. The episodes are good, of course, but none of them are fun! I don’t need another sitcom ep, but I do need a breath, for the love of God.

5 favorite eps:

Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man: Yes! I am as surprised as you are, seeing as I made a comment last season about how little patience I have for the CSM and his musings, specifically. But I find I did actually want to know who this guy is. And the fact that he’s watching the Gunmen the whole time — that’s the power thing I was talking about before. He says it himself: He could kill them anytime. But not today.

Tunguska & Terma: The first time a 2-part mytharc sequence has made it to my favorites list! I fucking love it when Alex Krycek shows his face around Mulder and Scully because he WILL stab them in the back and it WILL be dramatic as fuck. (I wrote down the phrase “just kiss already” something like 7 times in my notes during these eps, basically any time Mulder and Krycek were on screen.)

Demons: I know we all love to see a pathetic shell of a man abandoning all reason. We also love to see Scully as the deranged, protective one, stopping at nothing to save her partner. Even if said partner made some truly terrible decisions.

Gethsemane: See above.

5 least favorite eps:

The Field Where I Died: Not only was this slow and boring, but by the end, I was ready to crawl into the TV and slap Fox Mulder my own self. This case could’ve been solved and no one had to die. But he wasted their time. (Please feel free to correct me in the replies; I would actually love to be wrong.) Also, the southern accent for the big field monologue made my Carolina girl heart wither.

El Mundo Gira: That’s not even remotely what a chupacabra is. I feel like this was supposed to be our Jose Chung this season. It let me down.

Tempus Fugit & Max: Back to our regularly scheduled programming where I get lost in these two-parters because who is that? Where are they going? Who is chasing them? What? Huh?

Zero Sum: I am confused and I miss Scully. Skinner and Mulder will just do circles around each other and growl at people without her. I know this is a glimpse of the stakes of the cancer arc, but it’s not very good TV, is it?

[thesullengrrrl]

We'll Meet Again - Epilogue 2

Months after the Nuremberg trials, Rosie still has one final person to face.

A/N: Hello! Thought you've seen the last of this little old fic haha. Here's another epilogue because I wanted to explore another ending with these two idiots (affectionate). You can read it here in AO3 :) Thank you for being here and I hope you enjoy this. Now on to the chapter! 👀💜

Chapter 8 - 'til there was you

December 1946

Brooklyn, New York

“You can’t keep staying here on weekends, Bob.”

Mrs. Rosenthal is tired of seeing her son being in her house on Saturday mornings—reading the newspapers, bringing his cases or helping her with plumbing or other chores. 

Don’t get her wrong, she’s glad to have a man in the house after her husband’s death, and Bob was reliable. But when her son got back from the war and the trials, she knew that he had to settle down. He can’t live by himself in his bachelor apartment at this age forever.

“Are you seeing someone, ma?” Rosie snickered, flipping a page from his copy of Frankenstein. “That’s why you want the apartment all by yourself?”

“You know there is no one who could replace your father,” Mrs. Rosenthal answered loudly, as if Rosie’s blunder offended every ancestor they had. “But you are almost thirty. I am running out of nice girls to pair with you!” 

“Well…I think I haven’t found her yet.” 

“Your sister is engaged, Robert!” she huffed. 

His mother and her endless matchmaking. A week after he got back from Nuremberg, she slowly executed her plan. He was his mother’s plus one at every party, dinner, and gathering. And at each event, a woman of his age would ‘bump’ into him, or an older woman who would claim to be his mother’s friend would introduce their daughter to him.

Rosie was a gentleman to every girl introduced to him. He talked to them, listened to them, and yes, asked them out on dates. However, it all stops at the second or third date—the girl speaks too loudly, or can’t banter well, those who take it too seriously, bad breath…some of these may seem petty which, sometimes he feels bad about. They’re all interesting women, but something isn’t clicking with him. 

He once contemplated moving to another state then maybe he could find someone. His mother freaked when he told him. 

“Bob, haven’t you met anyone in that wretched club of Minty’s?” Mrs. Rosenthal questioned, sitting beside him. “There has to be someone attractive in there!” 

There was once someone attractive to him there, all right. He could still remember her in that red dress in his mind as if it was yesterday. Her telling him how she eavesdropped on his ex-girlfriend crying over him, her face as she yelled expletives to someone who tried to touch her, and how she extended her hand to ask him to dance. 

Sometimes, he would ask Minty if she visited. The old man could only shake his head and tell him that he’s expecting the woman as well. 

“Minty told me you met someone before the war,” Mrs. Rosenthal told him. 

“I think you’re spending an awful time with Minty and his wife,” Rosie deflected, now too distracted to read his book and laid it on the nearest table.

“I saw the picture, Bob,” she revealed. “Sandra showed me.”

Rosie gave her mother a nervous look.

“She’s pretty, but is she even American? She doesn’t look like one to me.” 

“Yes, as far as I know. Although she may have an English father?” Rosie told her in an unsure voice. “But she’s from New York. Also a Catholic, if that helps.”

Mrs. Rosenthal dreamed for his son to marry a nice Jewish girl from their neighborhood. However, at this point, she’ll humor her son to whoever he fancies. Until probably when she meets this mystery woman. 

“Is she nice?” 

Rosie frowned. “Why do you ask?”

“Can’t a mother be curious about a woman who caught her son’s attention?” Mrs. Rosenthal countered. 

“Well, she’s…different. She is pretty, of course, but there’s something I can’t pinpoint. She swears a little, she can be casual about things that it made me a little worried when we were in England—” 

“Aha!” Mrs. Rosenthal exclaimed. “You saw her again during the war?” 

They did more than that. 

Rosie just walked into his mother’s trap. “Yes, ma. Then she told me it would never work between us, so it ended there.” 

“Then what did you do?” 

“I let her be and told her maybe I’ll see her in New York,” Rosie answered. “And she said that maybe she’ll see me.”

“And…you didn’t seek her out?” she asked. 

“No…” Rosie trailed off. 

“The war’s over, Robert,” Mrs. Rosenthal reminded him. “Did you not even, I don’t know, try?” 

“I don’t even know where to seek her out,” he complained, placing a hand in his temple. “All I got is her name.” 

“Sometimes, a name is all you need,” Mrs. Rosenthal commented, finally standing up, and letting her son connect the dots.

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

And seek, he did. He asked his friends around if they knew someone named Elaine Byrne. When reading the newspaper, he would scour the engagements, weddings, and obituary sections. Nothing. No Elaine Byrne. 

It was a fool’s errand. A person who doesn’t want to be found will never appear. He stopped asking around. But he continued to read the newspapers, with a little prayer that her name would pop out. 

One time while he was on his way home, he stopped by the deli to get dinner to take home. While lining up, she saw a woman with the same build and coat as her, choosing what bread to buy. Rosie could’ve sworn that her eyes widened at the sight of him before she went back on the bread items.

The cashier’s voice tore his attention away from the woman, and he rushed to dig into his pockets to pay. When he turned to see if she was still there, the ring of the door’s chimes filled the air. She was gone. 

For a moment, he let himself believe it was her. He entertained the tiniest possibility that she may be on his side of the city, bidding for her time to appear.   

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

Minty rang Rosie about a new band that would be performing in his club. Without any date or engagement to go to that night,  agreed and found himself in Minton’s one Saturday night. 

It was a win-win for both men—Minty knows that the man knows his jazz, what sounded good, while he gets to enjoy new music. Rosie sat there almost like a newspaper critic, his back leaned to the chair, his fingers tapping at the table rhythmically. 

“What do you think, Rosie?” Minty asked. 

“They’re pretty good,” he simply replied. “Maybe it’s because they’re starting out, but I’m looking for something, maybe a bit more stronger sound? I don’t know, maybe I’m just being nitpicky.” 

The older man snorted at his last sentence. “You’re being nitpicky, all right. I asked around and they think this band’s got it.” 

Rosie only nodded. 

“Did your mother set you up on a date again?” the older man asked, knowing the laments of his mother whenever they invite her to afternoon tea.

Rosie shook his head. “I think she gave up.”

“For now,” Minty shrugged, earning a laugh from the younger man. 

“She’s worried that your sister Hannah will get married before you,” he said. “She is engaged right?” 

“Yes, to David Bergman. An accountant in some insurance firm,” he informed him. “He’s nice, a gentleman. Ma likes him.” 

“Haven’t you really found anyone, boy? How about that girl, Elaine?” 

Oh, Elaine. For some reason, he held on to the flimsy promise of ‘maybe’ she told him that day they said goodbye at the train station. Every mission, he told himself that if he comes back alive, she’ll be in New York waiting for him. It was silly and untrue and yet, effective. He did come home alive.

“She’s long gone, Minty,” Rosie whispered, swirling his glass. “You know that.” 

“You’ll never know who’s going to walk here next,” Minty told him. “Speaking of, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” 

The younger man gave him a grim look. “Come on. Not you too, Minty.” 

“What? Have you seen anyone you like?” he asked, his hand pointing to the crowd. “Just say the word, and I’ll have a waiter send a drink for them.”

“Minty, when you say it like that, it sounds like I’m a brothel.” 

He laughed at him. “Now, boy. I’m not sure if that girl has arrived, but—” 

“Mint, I’m tired of seeing anyone, all right?” Rosie cut him off. “I know Ma’s getting tired of it too. How many Jewish girls could there be that Ma hasn’t set me up with?” 

Minty ignored him and suddenly stood from his seat. 

“Ah, there she is! Over here, doll!” He yelled, waving at someone behind him. Rosie did not bother to turn at whoever that is, knowing that he would only be disappointed at the end of the night. Why is everyone up to his business when it comes to dating? 

He drank from his glass and continued watching the band who’s now performing a slow love song. 

“Minty, I’m sorry I’m late,” the voice said. “I fell asleep, can you believe that!”

His eyebrows furrowed, wondering where he heard that voice before. 

“I was about to ask Sandra to knock on your door. Never mind, you’re here. Sit, sit,” Minty assured the woman. 

When he heard the scrape of the chair, he turned and saw her. The neatly styled brown hair with curls, the red lips, the hazel green eyes, and the thin scar below her hairline…the smile he knew so well, that it felt like he was back in 1941.

It couldn’t be. How could it be? 

“Is this seat taken?” 

Minty smirked at Rosie’s dumbfounded reaction. “Don’t gawk at her! She’s asking you a question!” 

“Um,” Rosie cleared his throat. “No, it’s all yours.” 

Elaine nodded and sat beside him. Minty told the two that he’ll be back with the drinks that he promised Rosie. 

“Hello, Rosie,” she greeted. “It’s been a while.” 

“Yes…it’s been a while,” he agreed, still couldn’t believe that she was here—in flesh and blood. 

A waiter came and served them two glasses of martini. Elaine thanked him and went back to Rosie, who was still looking at her. “I’m not gonna disappear until like midnight, you know.” 

Rosie blushed. “I’m sorry, it’s just…you’re here. I can’t believe it.” 

“Well, you better believe it.” 

Jaunty music from the band filled the atmosphere. Couples started gathering on the dance floor. Elaine smirked at him. 

“Don’t tell me I’m gonna have to ask you on this one?” 

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

At a distance, in a corner table a few meters away from them, were Sandra, Mrs. Rosenthal, Hannah Rosenthal and David Bergman. Minty made his way over to them after instructing the barkeep to give drinks to the two. He sat beside his wife. 

“How’s the spying so far?” Minty asked as he kissed his wife’s cheek.

“That’s her?” Mrs. Rosenthal asked, careening her head to take another look at the woman who’s now chuckling with her son. 

“Oh, ma! Judging her this early?” Hannah quipped. “Looks like they’re having fun already.”

“She's a little bit eccentric, with all those records she has been playing at weekends, but a nice girl,” Sandra informed them. “One time, she made us lasagna as a thank you. It was good, Rose!” 

“It looks like they’re about to dance,” David added, sipping a drink. 

They watched the two make their way to the dance floor and gradually move with the beat of what the band was playing. Hannah always thought that her brother didn’t really know how to dance—she always thought he was a bit too heavy for it, but with her, he moved smoothly. It’s like he knows to do it with her, for her. She snickered when the woman twirled him, then they laughed. 

Oh, brother.

“Have they known each other for long?” David asked Hannah. 

“I think they know each other long enough to be that comfortable with each other.” 

Rose watched her son laugh and dance comfortably with the woman, and that may be the first time she saw him that way with anyone. 

She once asked herself if her matchmaking had gotten rusty with her son. With this scene before her, now she knows why it never worked for him. 

Robert was waiting for someone.

“She looks good with your brother,” Rose finally commented. “I hope she truly is.”

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

The band now played a slow tune. Rosie rested his arms where it should be, and Elaine followed suit. They slowly swayed to the music, now only looking at each other. 

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Rosie breathed.

“I am,” Elaine confirmed, chuckling softly. “And we’re in Minton’s again.” 

“We are.” 

“Minty said you just came from Germany, how was it?” she asked, genuinely curious. 

“It was…riveting, scenic…a bit intense,” he replied. “I can’t believe I got in and interrogated Hermann Göring and his cohorts.”

“Bombing and prosecuting Nazis? Your mother must be kvelling.” 

“Learning Yiddish now?” he wondered.

“Don’t get all flattered,” Elaine warned him playfully. “It’s the only word I know.” 

“How have you been?” Rosie asked. 

“I moved above the club three weeks ago,” she told him. “Sandra and Minty are great landlords. Well, I’m their only renter.” 

His eyes widened at this information. “You’ve been here for three weeks now? So it must be you in the deli—” 

“Picking bread?” she completed his question.“That was me. I just wasn’t ready to say hi to you at the time.” 

“Why?” 

“I don’t know. I did hurt your feelings, remember?” 

Rosie nodded, now understanding. “Well, if it helps…I’ve forgiven you. You weren’t certain, a war was going on…I get it now. Don’t worry.” 

“All right, then,” she smiled. 

He pulled her closer to him, and she rested her cheek on his shoulder. Rosie missed her, especially when he finally got to the base. Their pictures were tucked in the same copy of Of Mice and Men. When the war ended, he cut off his favorite strip and placed it on his wallet. He told himself that he would remove it the moment he marries someone else. 

“So I guess I don’t have to walk you home every time,” Rosie mused, smiling at her. 

“Every time?” Elaine wondered. “I don’t understand.” 

“I, uh…I know it’s quite early for tonight to say this but can I see you after tonight? Tomorrow?” 

Rosie swallowed a lump of his throat. He was nervous about asking it, since what if she already had a boyfriend? But then, Minty wouldn’t make them meet if she’s attached, surely? What if she says no? 

Elaine removed her hand from his hold and placed a finger in between his eyebrows. “You’re thinking this too much.” 

“Well, yes, I mean…I had to ask.” 

She nodded. “Right. But before I answer that, can I talk to you about something? This is really important before we make any steps after tonight.” 

He felt a bead of sweat form on his temple. His stomach warmed up. What is it this time? Would she break things off again? Did he get her pregnant in England? And do they now have a 3-year-old sleeping alone above the club? 

“Don’t worry,” Elaine said, rubbing his arm. “We can talk in the alley, it’s pretty private there.”

He exhaled and agreed to be led out by Elaine through the kitchen. Some of the staff said hello to her and she greeted them back. Luckily for them, there was no one in the alley. It was only her, him, and the empty trash cans. 

“I need you to not ask questions until I finish my story, okay?” Elaine instructed him with her hands on her waist. “Just listen to me. And I’ll answer your questions later, all right?” She stared at him with such a serious face, probably the most serious he could remember.

Despite feeling a bit scared with this Elaine in front of him, he nodded and motioned for her to continue. 

She exhaled and started. “I’m…I’m a time traveler, Rosie. I’m from 2029. The night we met, I wasn’t supposed to be there. I got there by accident. Then two years later, your letter came and I wanted to see you, so I went. Then we said goodbye. And now, I’m here.”

He waited for her to laugh, to tell him that it was just a joke and ask him to get back with her inside. Instead, he was met by her uncertain gaze—whether it’s fear or anxiety, he can’t be sure.

But the laughter never came. 

Rosie could only hear his heart pounding on his ear. All the questions he had in his head came back and it dawned on him—her casual attitude, her swearing, her actions that seem a bit out of place…all because she wasn’t from here. 

“Did you go back for me?” he asked, his voice a little shaky from what he just heard from her.

Elaine nodded in confirmation. “Yes.”

“Are you going to leave again this time?” he pressed.

“If you’ll have me, then I won’t,” she answered, trying to keep her voice steady.

Silence fell between the two. 

Elaine kept a straight face, but Rosie could see in her eyes the anticipation of what he was about to say. Fear? Rejection? 

“Then that’s all I needed to hear from you, Elaine Byrne,” Rosie declared, striding towards her and enveloping her in his arms. She returned the embrace, her face at the crook of his neck. 

“I missed you, you know,” Rosie whispered. “For a moment there, I thought you were going to tell me I got you pregnant.” 

Elaine chuckled against the crook of his neck. “No, we’re safe in that area, don’t worry.” 

She started to wipe her tears but Rosie took her hand and wiped it with his handkerchief. She smiled at him and led him back. They were greeted by sly looks from the staff. Rosie was embarrassed, while Elaine just brushed them off and pulled him until they reached the main hall. A pair of glasses with fresh cocktails were waiting for them. 

“You do know that we’re being spied on?” Elaine revealed. “One o’clock, behind you.” 

Rosie looked and there were the spies—Mr. and Mrs. Minton, his mother, his sister Hannah and David. He rubbed a hand on his face. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Rosie groaned. “I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay,” she assured him, rubbing his shoulder. “I think we should go over there. Say hi.” 

He agreed and she led him to the older adults’ table. Mrs. Rosenthal smiled at Elaine, studying her like a hawk as she interacted with the others. Sandra asked a waiter to add more chairs for the couple, while Minty called for more drinks. 

Within a few minutes, everyone was having fun. Hannah seemingly found an older sister with Elaine, and they ended up dancing together on the dance floor along with David. The trio looked silly, but they were the ones having the most fun. 

Rosie moved his gaze to his mother, who caught him in time. She smiled reassuringly at him. 

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

Days following that night in Minton’s, at exactly 5 o’clock, Rosie would rush out of the firm to make his way to fetch Elaine at the Times’ office. A smile would form in his face when she appeared at the lobby. Then, they would walk arm in arm and tell each other stories of their days. 

Usually, they would wind up in St. Nicholas Park, where they have a usual bench and simply talk or share a sandwich. Sometimes, when it’s their payday, they would visit a nice restaurant they’ve read about. Rosie learned her interest in stand up comedy, while Elaine suggested visiting hole in the wall jazz bars that her workmates recommended to her. 

This has become their routine for the next few weeks.

One night, when he walked her home to Minton’s, Elaine said something that surprised both of them. 

“So, we’re here,” Rosie said, pulling her closer to him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, all right?” 

He gently pressed his lips against hers. When they parted, she smiled at him and patted his cheek. “See you tomorrow. I love you.” 

Both of their eyes widened at what she just said. Rosie then slowly smiled at her, both delighted and amused with Elaine’s sudden consciousness about it. 

“You love me, Elaine?” he smirked.

“Yes, I love you,” she confirmed. “I know it’s probably too early—” 

“I love you, too.” 

**********

Rosie popped the question two weeks after Valentine’s. It was snowing and the two of them were rather too comfortable on the couch to move or venture out. They were reading on the opposite side of the couch with a blanket over them. 

She was reading his copy of Persuasion, while he was reviewing a case that he took home. Seeing as she was too busy reading and writing at the book, he stood under the guise of getting some water.

When he sat back, he was nervously twiddling at the small box inside his cardigan pocket. If it comes to worst, if she rejects him, it would only be the two of them. 

Rosie watched her flip the pages, her eyes concentrated on the book. Pushing the possible scenarios from his head, he cleared his throat. “Elaine. Will you look at me for a second?” 

“Yeah, sure.”

She put the book aside and when she turned to him, a small black velvet box greeted her. Her eyes widened, her mouth fell open at this sight of him. He opened the box and it revealed a thin gold band with a round opal stone. The ring contrasted the black velvet box and showed faint different colors.

“Will you marry me, Elaine Byrne?” Rosie asked, his voice was calm yet with a hint of nervousness to it.

“Are you sure about this?”

“I am sure,” he nodded. “All I know is I love you and I want to spend the rest of my days with you.”

“You know I’m not going to be a housewife,” Elaine countered. “I’ll stay at my job.”

“I know,” he smiled. “You like being a copy editor. I’m not going to make you stop working unless you want to.”

“We'll have different opinions on things. We’re gonna be arguing on small things, big decisions, all that jazz.”

“As every couple does every once in a while. I mean, we just argued on which brand of laundry soap to use,” Rosie reminded her, smiling at the memory earlier today.

“What if I want to visit my parents? Or Bunny?” Elaine asked, her voice slightly shaking. 

“Then I’ll wait for you here,” Rosie assured her. “Or follow you, if that’s allowed.”

Elaine seemed to be moved by his words and held his free hand. “You really thought about this, huh?” 

“I didn’t get to say anything last time, remember?” Rosie said, kissing her hand. “So…will you, Elaine? Marry me?” 

This time, Elaine finally nodded. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Robert Rosenthal.”

Rosie slipped the ring in her finger and Elaine wrapped her arms around his neck and captured his lips with hers. She never thought that one night of accidentally time traveling would lead her to him—the man she would want to spend her life with. 

He pulled back from their kiss, both breathless and excited. “We gotta stop before we have a baby before the wedding.” 

Elaine laughed, and motioned him to rest on her chest. He did and she ran his fingers through his hair, a favorite thing she liked to do whenever they cuddled. 

“Where do you want to get married?” Rosie wondered. “I mean, we have to save up if you want a church wedding.” 

“I don’t think your mother will want us to get married in a Catholic church,” Elaine said. “You’re her eldest son, I’m sure she’d want you to get married in a traditional Jewish ceremony.” 

“Well, you’re the bride-to-be,” he replied, taking her hand. “‘Happy wife, happy life’, as I heard those old lawyers in the firm say.”

A bulb lit in Elaine’s head. “I got an idea.”

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

New York Post

March 12, 1947

Mrs. Rose Rosenthal of Flatbush, New York is pleased to announce the marriage of her son Mr. Robert Rosenthal to Miss Elaine Byrne, the daughter of Mr. Harry ‘Hal’ Byrne of Kensington, England and Mrs. Alice Halford of West End, Connecticut. The two were wed in the New York County Courthouse on March 11, 1947. 

After reading the announcement, Elaine folded the newspaper and laid it on the table. She saw Rosie watching her, and raised an eyebrow. 

“You like what you see, Mr. Rosenthal?” she asked. 

Rosie carefully laid his cup of coffee and leaned his back on the chair. His eyes trailed on her, pleased that she’s wearing his pajama flannel top over her body. Her hair was tied in a messy ponytail, with some strands falling on her face, framing it. 

“Is this what you always look like in the morning, Mrs. Rosenthal?” he countered, his eyes with a hint of wonder and teasing.

“Yes, regretting things now?” 

“No,” he shook his head, smiling. “I think you’re spectacular.”

[zahri-melitor]

Newish Comics:

The Bat-Man: First Knight #2: I'm not entirely sure what the exact planned market for this title is (period literature-style rewrite of Golden Age comic) but the interplay with more realism to the 1930s but also still a vigilante is interesting (Not TOO realistic. Deliberately pointing to more fringe and radical behaviour, toning down other aspects. It's very much a modern view of 1939). It's also very funny whenever I am reading what is aspects of three-ish Golden Ages stories of about 10-12 pages each getting merged into a prestige 150 page run.

Batman and Robin #8: ahahaha this was very much a 'what could go wrong? (Everything!)' issue set up for next month.

Also one day my Kirk Langstrom will come back from the war, but it won't be this comic run alas.

Speed Force #6: And in summary at the end – this remained cute all the way through, and used a good variety of characters from around DC, but I dunno. It didn’t end up living up to the promise of the premise and opening issue, to me. It’s also terminally afflicted with what feels like a Bob Haney approach to teen slang. And honestly, the more I sit with it, it feels very much a descendant of Haney's 1960s Teen Titans stories in terms of its use of pop culture, which is an unexpected inspiration to reach for. I do think it will work for other people however, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was running alongside Adam's Flash run and riffing off that.

Outsiders #6: This, on the other hand, has definitely been growing on me. It's very aware of what it's doing, metatextually, and while some of what it is doing is pissing me off, I'm interested in seeing where it goes. This is very much a Level 3, we expect you to come in with a decent chunk of comics knowledge and will not be hand holding sort of comic while the art has constant easter eggs. Also I am AMAZED and IMPRESSED how well this was drafted in anticipation of getting cancelled as at issue 6 in case sales failed, yet is still getting a continuation. The preparation!

The Warlord #47: Today in Skartaris we have absolute nonsense science about celestial mechanics and as always I am frankly delighted.

Sure. The moon visible inside the hollow earth can work like that.

Mikola Rostov, who was a fencing master in Vladivostock. Looking for Mariah Romanova. Well Mariah is currently trapped in the past with Machiste, I don't think you'll find her, Mikola.

It's all very straightforward, Mikola.

Also to literally nobody's surprise, 'Mikola Rostov' is a werewolf. Why else have a moon appear, after all.