#and i also kind of feel as if Nick is going to die during the book

[captainlexaprosaveme]

Not Like This

2.3k words Warnings: side characters named Renee and Bailey sorry if your name is that, use of y/n, bad writing, no thoughts, no beta we die like men, making out, embarrassment? Drinking, and sad thoughts? Maybe a little angst idk man im really bad at this Pairing: Quinn Hughes x reader Summary: Nick and Jess’s first kiss in new girl but if it was you and Quinn and there was no homewrecking involved! This is my first time writing a fic ever so im sorry it will probably not happen ever again! also i am so confused by the formatting idk how to fix it im so sorry

It had started off innocent. Jack and Luke were in town, and Bailey, your best friend since college, was visiting, obviously you had to celebrate. Quinn decided to host since your apartment had been deemed too small, “Not everyone is a pro NHL player, Quinny” you had teased, not putting up a fight because let’s be honest. His place is much better than yours, you already spend most of your time there.

You were all having a great time, everyone several drinks in, when Bailey brought up the game you two had made up in college. The rules were insane and never made sense, you gave up trying to explain them halfway through, deciding to just throw the boys into the game and hope they figured it out. It was going great; everyone had stripped a layer or two off during the game and you were feeling a warm buzz from the alcohol. Bailey was down to just a tank top and her tights, Luke had lost his shorts and now was just in his boxers, Quinn was shirtless and only had one sock on. Jack somehow was winning and had just declared you had violated the Truce Act, meaning you had to remove your top, leaving you in just your bra and skirt, your cheeks burned as you tried to ignore Quinn’s lingering gaze and took a large gulp of your mystery drink to distract yourself.

❦❦❦

Bailey and Jack were in some kind of an argument, one claiming that the other had violated some rule and had to take a penalty but no one had witnessed this rule violation. Your eyes lit up as you saw an opportunity to bring your two friends together.

“There’s only one way to solve this!” You announced with a glint in your eye. “Two of us have to go behind the iron curtain- which is the guest bedroom by the way- and kiss. There has to be a clear and present threat of tongue- those are the rules!” Bailey groaned, knowing this rule was only ever used as a ruse before sighing and agreeing.

“How would that solve this? These rules don’t even make sense” Quinn argued as you calmed the group. “Last minute amendment to the rule- brothers cannot go behind the iron curtain together that is actually not allowed” You quickly amended as you realized over half this group was in fact related, your tipsy mind somehow able to connect those dots but not seeing the very real possibility that you would end up behind the iron curtain with someone.

“Let’s do the count, one, two, three or four? Everyone- ok… on three” Bailey started the count down and you tried your hardest to psychically make Jack and Bailey pull the same numbers. “One, Two, Three- Numbers on heads!” You threw three fingers up on your forehead and glanced around. Luke had one finger on his forehead, Bailey had four, and Jack had two… leaving only Quinn, sitting next to you with three fingers on his forehead.

Luke gasped and made a faux shocked face as he glanced between you and Quinn, Jack muffling his laughter with his hand as Bailey stood up and dragged you up with her, kicking Jack on the way up and gesturing towards Quinn. With a lot of arguing and pushing, they finally managed to shove you and Quinn into the guest room, barricading the door and chanting “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” You avoided looking at Quinn’s face, eyes instead landing on his toned chest before quickly flicking away as blush painted your cheeks.

Quinn opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by your finger on his lips, shushing him. You waited several seconds before calling out to the others “Okay, we did it! We kissed, let us out now!” which was met with laughter as Bailey called out “Picture proof Y/N! You know the rules!”

You sighed as you let your back hit the wall and slid down to sit on the floor, Quinn watching you carefully before sitting next to you, thighs touching. A minute or two went by as your friends continued chanting from the other side of the door, you and Quinn staying in silence before he finally broke it “We don’t have to do this, you know. I think we can just wait them out.” You huffed out a laugh as you rolled your eyes at him, “Do you really believe that? They will be out there for hours.” You grabbed your phone and opened the camera app before swiftly turning to face him, quickly kissing him on the cheek before he could say anything else as you snapped a picture and sent it off to the group chat. “There we did it, now let us out!” You shouted out as Quinn cleared his throat, a light dusting of pink covering his cheeks.

“That ain’t no kiss man!” Bailey yelled, Jack and Luke agreeing with her. “Just give Y/N a tender, sensual kiss and we will let you out!” Jack’s loud voice shouted through the door. Quinn rolled his eyes and scoffed at his brother’s words “Shut the fuck up, Jack!”

❦❦❦

Several minutes later, Quinn was working on trying to open the door that had been barricaded shut as you laid on the guest bed. You sighed as he struggled in vain, starting to feel embarrassed by how Quinn obviously did not want to kiss you. He was literally about to dislocate something trying to escape the room just to avoid kissing you, and honestly you were starting to feel a little bitter as you realized your little crush was very much not reciprocated. “What’s the big deal? Let’s just suck it up and French a little.” You tried to joke with him, willing to do whatever it takes to get out of this room with him so you could sulk alone and drink a whole lot more.

He choked out a laugh as he looked at you incredulously, unsure whether you were joking. “Ok fine but don’t say ‘let’s suck it up and French a little’” He shuffled over to the bed you were laying on and sat next to you as you sat up “Okay, fine. Let’s do this.”

“Okay, Y/N, this is not a big deal. Let’s just do this” His lips quirked up into a subtle smirk and he rested his hands on your arms.

“Yeah, let’s just do this- why are you licking your lips”

“Should I not? Do you want dry lips?”

“Well, no…”

“Then I’m just licking them so they’re… not dry?”

“Okay, fine whatever just do it.”

“I’m gonna do it”

“Okay, we’re doing this”

“Yup we’re definitely doing this. Are you ready?” His hands grasped your face as he looked into your eyes, you nodded as your heart threatened to beat out of your chest.

“Okay, three, two- actually I’m not gonna do a count. That’s weird.” He stopped moving closer to you as you huffed out a laugh at his awkwardness.

“Let’s just do this, Quinn” You leaned into him, looking into his eyes as he got closer, breathe ghosting over your lips, but just as he closed his eyes you panicked and shoved him away. “I’m sorry- You can’t do that!”

“Do what?”

“Your face!”

“My face?”

“Yeah, you can’t do that with your face”

“Okay fine- I’ll do something different with my face.” He was trying to hold back his laughter at your demands, then his hands were on your face again and he was leaning in, this time with a wide, and creepy, smile. You shoved him again, trying not to laugh “What is that? Are you trying to kiss with your teeth?”

He sighed as he stood up, moving back to the door to try and open it “Okay, I can’t do this”

“Well, you can’t try to kiss me like the Joker and expect me to just go along with it!”

❦❦❦

Several more minutes passed, the sounds on the other side of the door dwindling as Jack and Bailey made their way back to the living room, leaving just Luke to guard the door.

“Lukey! C’mon man just let us out.” Quinn tried to reason with his younger brother, but he was just met with his laughter. You saw light from someone’s headlights shining from the driveway as he failed to convince Luke, gasping as you stood and looked out the window.

“Back up has arrived!”

“Who’s that?” Quinn questioned as he joined you at the window.

“I texted Renee to come help, she just got off work.” You quickly explained to him as you watched her walk through the front door and heard the chaos of the rest of your group greeting her. You and Quinn stumbled back to the door, shouting frantically for her as she walked further into the house, questioning what was going on.

❦❦❦

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Renee had decided to join the fun in tormenting you after being told the game, she had had enough of you and Quinn being oblivious to your shared feelings and was hoping this would be the beginning of something.

You sighed as you once again faced Quinn, “Just kiss me.”

“I’m not going to kiss you!”

“God! Just kiss me already!”

“No, Y/N. I’m not going to kiss you!”

“Just kiss me already, Hughes!”

“No, not like this!” His eyes widened as he realized what he said, your eyebrows shooting up into your hairline.

“What… what do you mean”

“No, I didn’t- I didn’t mean- not like that, I just meant- well we can’t” He struggled to find some way to explain what he said, as your friends continued chanting on the other side of the door and you continued to look at him with confusion in your eyes.

He sighed as he gently moved you out of his way and walked towards the window. “Now if you’ll just excuse me, I have to go… do something.” He opened the window as you stared at him in shock, unable to move until he started shoving the screen out of the window. “Quinn! Stop, what are you doing?” But it was too late, he was already halfway out the window, one foot in the guest bedroom, the other on the roof. You turned around and started frantically banging on the door, yelling at your friends as he made his way further down the roof, getting close to his own bedroom window. “Bailey! Jack! He’s on the roof! He climbed out the window, help!”

Everyone went silent for a second before they heard Quinn banging on the window to his own room, Jack and Luke running over to let him back in before he slips and falls off the roof as Bailey and Renee moved the barricade and let you out of the guest room finally.

❦❦❦

Quinn was back inside and after a brief lecture from Jack and Luke, mainly Luke, everyone was sitting in the living room again. Bailey found the whole situation hilarious and would not let it go. “I mean, Y/N. The guy would rather risk falling off his roof and dying than kiss you!” You simply rolled your eyes and laughed with her, you knew she was drunk and not trying to be mean, but it stung all the same.

The night carried on and eventually everyone had left. Jack and Luke had just left in their uber, Renee drove Bailey back to her hotel, and after several hours of ignoring Quinn as best as you could, you were now alone with him. Before everything happened, you had planned on staying the night to help clean in the morning and after everything there was nothing you wanted to do less. You didn’t want to uber back to your apartment and have to deal with getting your car in the morning, so you just decided to say a quick goodnight to Quinn before shutting yourself in the guest room.

As you got ready for bed you tried your hardest to ignore the ache in your chest, you went to grab your pajamas from your bag and huffed as you remembered you were going to borrow something from Quinn as you forgot to bring them. As you debated whether you should just sleep in your clothes from the party or suck it up and talk to him, a faint knocking sounded from the door. You opened it to find Quinn standing there with a soft smile and sweats in his hands for you.

“Hey, I remembered you mentioned you needed something to sleep in so…”

You thanked him as you took the sweats from him and tossed them onto the bed, reaching to close the door but being stopped by his hand on the door.

“Wait I- I wanted to talk to you.” He let out and awkward chuckle as you nodded for him to continue. He struggled to find the words to say before sighing and grabbing your face between his hands, pressing his lips to yours.

He began kissing you slowly, his plush lips soft and warm against yours. Your hands were frozen against his chest as your brain struggled to catch up, and when it did your hands flattened against his chest as you kissed him back just as tenderly. He tilted your head up, giving himself easier access to you as he traced his tongue on your bottom lip, begging for access. Your lips part for him as you sighed into his mouth, his tongue caressing yours as his hands migrated, one to the back of your head and the other landing on your waist. Your hand made its way up to his hair, tangling your fingers in his soft strands which only encouraged him as he started assaulting your mouth with his tongue.

His hand gripped your waist as you finally pulled away to catch you breath, resting your forehead against his. “That is how it was supposed to happen.” He says with a lazy smirk as you let out a breathy laugh, thinking maybe you could get used to this.

[choices-and-voices]

Okay, but like. The symbolism of Nick being the one who gives shelter to Kieran & MC. The man whom Eisa loved in secret but was too frightened to love in the public, now giving refuge to the child whom Eisa only bore by leaving him & the mortal whom that child openly adores. The fact that Nick has somehow stepped up for both of Eisa’s children, even when they’re fighting each other. The fact that Eisa leaving Nick is both what allowed Kieran to have MC & what orchestrated the current threat between them, and throughout it all Nick has stood steadfast, not on the side of the mortals, or the side of the Fae, but on the side of love. And the fact that he doesn’t even know he is doing it. The fact that Nick looks at Kieran and sees Eisa metaphorically, and he doesn’t even know that he is also seeing her literally. The fact that Kieran is there in Nick’s tavern and they represent everything that Nick fought for long ago, threatened by the person that Nick has been fighting for ever since. The fact that the last of Kieran’s bloodline is trying to kill everything they love, but also the last of Nick’s bloodline is trying to kill everything he could have loved, once, and Nick has stood in the way of that without even knowing what’s going on. The fact that Nick seems almost fated to be a guardian in this story. The fact that Eisa gave him an amulet to keep him alive to protect Jack, and she didn’t even realise she was also keeping him alive to protect Kieran. The fact that Nick has lived the kind of lifespan that Jack & MC both dream of, but Nick has lived it through losing his love, and MC wants it in order to remain with their love, and Jack wants it in order to fight for people like Nick without knowing that Eisa is the reason he’s lived so long in the first place. And the fact that Nick was never meant to live so long, his mind is falling apart, he is fated to protect these people but that also means that he is fated to his doom, and the fact that I don’t know what that means for MC and Jack and Kieran and I just. I just. I just.

I just have feels okay.

[nickssidewitch]

✨❤️ How the Sturniolo Triplets Flirt With a Crush 😻✨ (a Tarot Reading)

Chris 🧡

Very invested, will make sure to keep up with his crush almost every single day 😭

But he also overthinks A LOT during this stage, so he’ll ease back if he thinks he’s doing too much.

He’ll post little things on his socials so the person he’s flirting with can see them. It’ll be little subliminal messages and things of that nature.

But he’ll also overthink that as well, and will probably even make little clarifications to try not to make it seem like it’s directed at someone (even though it most definitely was).

My Gosh, this man worries so much when he flirts because he hopes the girl can pick up on it and if he’s not being super cringy or he’s not making her turned off.

If he can see that the girl is enjoying his flirting, he won’t worry as much, but she has to be super direct about it, otherwise he will literally die of overthinking 😭😭

He flirts the most via social media posts, but he also texts and does FaceTime calls a lot with the person he’s into. He’ll wanna text/call them late at night just so they can both catch up on each other’s days and just vent.

He will literally stay up for hours, laying on his stomach, feet dangling in the air like a giddy schoolgirl, staring down at his phone just to see if his girl will ever call him or text him. I’m exaggerating… but also I’m not.

He’s a great listener, so he doesn’t mind a rant or a trauma dump or two 😭

He will buy his girl things that remind him of her. Little trinkets like charms and stuffed animals. He’ll buy clothes and jewelry if he sees something he knows the girl will like.

He will pay for everything.

He definitely puts on a certain voice that he doesn’t even realize. (I can hear it in my head and it’s sexy as fuck. A bit raspy and low, a bit of a whisper). He even has a look on his face and will stare at you with that look 😭 He has no clue he does it though.

Lots of music. Lotsss.

If he feels that the flirting is not working though, he will be devastated.

Nick 💜

He actually prefers being flirted with. He likes being the center of someone’s affection. *debby ryan meme*

He will do obvious things to flirt with someone. And if the guy don’t pick up on it, that’s on him ✌🏾

He’s a gift giver and acts of service kind of guy when flirting. If the man doesn’t appreciate what he’s doing by actually acknowledging it, then he’ll be devastated and won’t give you the time of day anymore.

I think he knows what he wants, who he wants, when he wants it, and sometimes why. 😭

That can be a bit intimidating for some guys because they have this expectation of him being someone who will change themselves just to get their attention. But in reality, Nick is very confident in who he is and would never change himself for a man’s attention (unless it’s literally just him working out or drinking more water, etc.)

He’s asking his brothers about what guys do in certain situations (because usually it’s a bi or more masc guy he’s into). He’ll literally go to Chris or Matt with his phone, show a text and be like “oh my gosh what does this mean??”

He’ll definitely be touchy-feely with you, and that’s a big deal because he hates touching people and people touching him. So if he’s got his arm around you, then you’re the one for him!

Matt 💙

Super invested like his brothers.

People keep saying he’ll be dry which is very untrue. That man will always find a way to keep the person he’s flirting with entertained.

He wants them to laugh and actually find him funny, otherwise it won’t work and he knows it.

Humor is a way for him to figure out whether you’re actually listening to him and understand him and the way he thinks. So if you can’t pick up on his humor or don’t laugh at certain jokes he makes, you’re out.

He likes flowers and chocolates, but doesn’t mind jewelry and expensive things to bring his girl as well. And if she’s like “Oh, Matt, you shouldn’t have”, he’ll be like “Um, yes, I definitely should have, and I did!”

He’ll send risky texts or say risky things just to see the girl’s reaction to them. Nothing too crazy or frisky. Just something that can spark a reaction that can be a telltale sign of whether she’s into it or not.

These are the basics of it! Lmk if you guys liked this post!! 🥰

[meraki-yao]

The taylor zakhar perez hashtag just full of praise for Nicholas acting and twitter full of anonymous messages asking for his recast because he's not as good as Nick. That shit hurts and I can't even enjoy the new content I'm tired of the hate that man has been getting for a year and a half (it's not about Nicholas I love him so much)

First and foremost this is awful and Taylor doesn't deserve any of this unfair critism that are frankly insults, it's fucking sick

I will say this about the acting (and I'm typing this while listening to the podcast where Matthew talks about how well suited the boys are for the roles)

Both of them nailed their roles. But because of how the roles are written, certain things show easily than others.

Henry is more emotional sensitive and "broken", and because that's kind of an unhealthy mentality which isn't the normal state of human being, it's easier to pick up, which is why even with a surface glance audience can pick up on Nick's intensity and level of performing. For example, Henry spiraling on the lake. It's a crescendo of negative emotions, and you can see it go from opposite of the previous emotion (happy and content) to increasing panic and heartache.

Alex is the healthier one, in the movie he doesn't have much baggage as Henry does, but he does have baggage. At first Alex might seem like a sunshine puppy or something but if you paid attention to the details which Taylor does, you can read so much more. His fingers fidgeting whenever he's nervous like when Henry's taking off his clothes or Zahra barging in looking out. Like him clenching his jaw and watching every second of Henry's face when he goes in. Like how you can feel the aggressiveness in him die down as Henry shouts his thoughts during the Kensington confrontation. Like how fucking in love he looks all conveyed in his eyes.

So TL DR and this is my understanding of the performance: the tricky part for Nick is not to go overboard so that it's too dramatic to the point of being unrealistic, while the tricky part for Taylor is too not under perform it that Alex becomes one dimensional. AND BOTH BOYS NAIL IT PERFECTLY.

But for people who watch it passively, or watch it with negative assessment already in mind, it's easier to miss Taylor's details than Nick's details.

I WANNA MAKE IT PERFECTLY CLEAR THAT I DON'T AGREE WITH THE SHIT TAYLOR'S GETTING I DON'T AGREE WITH ANY OF THIS AND TAYLOR JUST IS ALEX TO ME

But this is a speculation from the acting perspective as to part of the reason why Taylor's getting so much shit

Also Twitter people are just another fucking type of crowd who mostly should use their life to do something better (I'm not on Twitter and never will be) and I'm convinced that there's still racism involved in these commentary even if it's internalized or latent

Anyone who says Taylor should be recast or is not as good as Nick either didn't actually pay attention to the movie or don't understand Alex. Taylor read the book 8 times. Matthew and Nick, the two most important people in regards to his performance, have nothing but praise for him.

Taylor is Alex, just as Nick is Henry.

Hopefully after a while these stupid "opinions" die down and only intelligent/genuine/constructive comments will be left and things will get better. And I truly hope Taylor can see more support than insults. He doesn't deserve any of this.

I'm sorry that this has affect you, and I understand it. Honestly this is why I don't directly look at tags, especially the actors' tag, block whoever I don't wanna see or deal with, and don't go on Twitter.

Just from my experience on dealing with shit like this, I would say give yourself some distance from RWRB and social media for a bit, even if it's a day or two, and come back when it hurts less. Take a bit of a break. And avoid places you know you will see shit like this as much as you can.

Both of the boys did amazing, and imo perfectly in the movie and in these roles, and they deserve all the love and support. Both of them.

[slocumjoe]

Nsfw headcanons but, like, not horny. Potentially "gross"

Cait; So much pubic hair. It mats and needs to be shaved off, has broken razors and shavers. Has gotten dangerously close to clipping her labia. Prone to acne down there, and prone to UTIs. Nothing wrong with that, we don't body-shame here. See a doctor though, that can't be comfortable. Gets way too hung up on topping and being a top. A lot of kinks are a hard no for her, no matter what side of it she's on.

Curie; Doesn't get...horny? But still likes sex, if she ever has it. It's the same kind of enjoyment you'd get from, say, roller skating or something. Probably has said "This is fun!" in bed conversationally, with no ~heat~. It's very clinical, but Curie likes clinical stuff. If you refer to parts incorrectly, will correct you. Hope you weren't into dirty talk. Knows more about sex than you and God help you if you take a patronizing tone with her.

Danse; Erectile dysfunction, and struggles to get it up even if he's DTF. Nothing wrong with that, we don't body-shame here. He doesn't really notice anyway. Very worried about consent and what you want (good!) that he ends up not doing anything without being explicitly told to (can get tiresome). Please just make him be a dead fish bottom. Needs intense aftercare/cuddling every single time. Angry/hate sex would legit traumatize him, not trying to be funny. It would fuck him up in a bad way.

Deacon; Also has a bit of ED, but is more embarrassed about it. He knows how easy and fun sex is when you're able. Likes role play but it always goes off the rails. Sex with Deac has plot twists and third-act breakdowns. Its fun, but don't go into it requiring an orgasm. He's now invested in the story he's crafting. Skin is...pretty unpleasant to touch. Very leathery. His genitals have undergone lots of different operations even when he wasn't changing his sex. On one hand, will change it to suit what you like. On the other, feels really weird.

Hancock; Also feels really weird. His body fluids are irradiated and unsafe to...be around, really. Don't swallow. A condom is needed for safe sex, in a major way with Hancock. That and some rad-x and rad-away. His dirty talk is always too much for whatever you've got going on. Likes his sex spontaneous but also really worried about consent. Ping-pongs between 'lets surprise them' and 'if I so much as move their limb weird I deserve to die.'

MacCready; Smaller side. Nothing wrong with that, we don't body-shame here. He just gets...kinda hung up on it...he can also be pretty immature when it comes to sex. Like, cartoonishly so. Most likely to use hand gestures and charades to refer to genitals. Giggly in the bedroom. Ultimate sexual fantasy is being kidnapped by the Mistress of Mystery and Silver Shroud and...'interrogated.' JO'd to assaultatrons once. The post-nut clarity on that one, oh boy...

Nick; has to wear an oven mitt on the one metal hand and a plastic glove on the 'flesh' hand. The flesh hand attracts dirt and filth like nobody's business and doesn't wash easily. He is not sticking that thing in you. Basically needs a condom for his hand. Will quote poetry at you and its 50/50 if its weird or lands. Lacks genitals, so you've only got voyeurism or wireplay to satisfy him. I do believe DiMa has a dick though; why else would he wear pants?

Piper; her periods are nightmarish. Needs so many pads. Always ends up bleeding through. And it's never just one little spot. It fully looks like she crushed someone's head between her thighs. Has gone with that story before. Needs a lot of lube for penetrative sex, and God help you if you try to use your hands with dirty nails, or your mouth without brushing + flossing. Really insecure about how she smells and tastes. Girl. That was bullshit before the nukes.

Preston; takes so long to finish, often doesn't. He's chill with it. Doesn't make noises during sex and its honestly kind if off-putting, even if his expressions line up. Has a lot of skin tags and moles around his thighs, and a scar from where a molerat almost ruined his bedroom habits, so to speak. Wears, like, three cups. Very low libido, once a blue moon is in the mood. Has a thing for prominent veins.

X6-88; Asexual. It's not a courser thing, a surprising amount of them have sex. Was really weirded out when he figured this out about himself, despite always lacking interest in sex. Except for porn. Porn is fucking hilarious to him. Gets really into analyzing what literary elements he can, psychoanalyzing the characters in the 'plot.' Would totally be into Fifty Shades of Grey and other hot-mess porn media. If anyone found out about this interest, he would commit a murder-suicide.

[the-irrelevant-trumpeter]

my headcanons for if cornley put on a production of tgwdlm, for @marvelmaniac715 and any other cornley/hatchetfield folks <3

under a readmore because i have a lot to say sorry

chris plays paul because we know he loves that leading role. paul is supposed to show his love for his friends more and more as the show progresses, but because of everything going wrong, paul ends up becoming more and more angry at everything.

emma is initially played by vanessa (because as i have said before, my favourite goes wrongisms come from people playing characters they are ill suited for, and vanessa playing characters with much more attitude than she has is always funny to me). however, at the end of act 1 somewhere (probably somehow during join us and die), she gets bonked over the head and is knocked unconscious, leaving her unavailable for the second act.

this means that they have to understudy, and who’s the only understudy they have? trevor of course (a la nick lang understudying for lauren lopez). unlike nick lang, trevor doesn’t have a single clue what he’s supposed to be doing, and delivers a monotonous performance.

during the bit near the end where paul and emma almost kiss, trevor forgets to take the blood capsule that he is supposed to spit out. (idk how they do it in the real thing but just go with me on this please). this leaves no reason for paul and emma NOT to kiss. and therefore, they very awkwardly end up actually kissing. for the christrev fans out there <3

just before inevitable starts, vanessa gains consciousness. trevor doesn’t realise. this leaves everyone in confusion as they try to deal with TWO emma’s onstage as they sing.

max plays ted, because once again, cornley playing characters that do not suit them is my favourite thing. ted does not come across as a sleezeball at all, and during the ‘kick my head’ bit, it does not feel like ted is making fun of bill in any way.

however, ted’s enjoyment of show stoppin’ number is not an act at ALL. max is genuinely just having a good time. trevor is very put off by it all. life imitates art and vice versa.

by the time ted finally dies, chris is about ready to strangle max.

bill is played by jonathan, because jonathan canonically has a daughter and i feel like the not my seed angst would feel a bit more real. because as well as making fake cornley productions go wrong, i have to make them a little bit angsty as well. for the soul.

it also means that jonathan/bill is a bit late to all of his scenes (he got stuck behind a door). i feel like there’s many scenes where bill is the first to speak, meaning that the rest of the cast is awkwardly standing there while they wait for jonathan to get in.

sandra does the alice/zoey/greenpeace girl track, as she thinks it will be a good opportunity to show off her abilities in character work. no one comments on the fact that zoey isn’t really a character for her, just kind of how she is in real life.

there’s also a certain awkwardness about jonathan and sandra playing father and daughter that i think is fun.

robert plays hidgens. obviously. the most grandiose part for the most grandiose man. he goes full-out on show stoppin’ number, but then refuses to let hidgens die, wanting to continue his musical number. this causes problems.

annie plays charlotte. the main reason for this is because i want to hear nancy zamit belt join us and die <3 but apart from that i also think it has comedic potential.

the last track left to fill is mr davidson/sam/mcnamara. the only actor left is dennis. i will let you fill in the blanks.

KIDDING i will say more because i cannot shut up about anything. anyway there is a lot of responsibility on dennis because jeff blim has a LOT of singing and a LOT of parts. why dennis was cast in this role is a mystery (in-universe. in real life it’s because i think it would cause so many problems).

he does not come in on time during the title track, which messes the whole thing up for everyone.

he gets confused during what do you want paul, and starts singing it as ‘what do you want chris?’ instead. this brings a lot of confusion to the scene.

sam does not come across as sleazy in his first scene, and instead gets mixed up about which character he is. this makes sandra as zoey’s life very difficult.

during show me your hands, he accidentally starts pointing the gun at sandra and robert as the other cops instead. he also forgets to pretend to be unconscious once he gets knocked over the head, and adds unwanted commentary about the situation (“i think they should go to the hospital, because my brain shouldn’t be blue. even if it’s not my real brain. do you think my real brain is blue too?”)

he forgets what he’s doing in you tied up my heart, meaning annie has to instruct him on what to do throughout. this creates a rather unusual dynamic between charlotte and sam, where charlotte is highly frustrated as she falls for sam’s manipulation, which isn’t very convincing.

chris has to feed him lines during the mcnamara scene. dennis gets confused and throws the watch offstage instead of the phone.

as you may have guessed, america is great again is also a disaster. (“why is america great again? we live in england!”)

also at the very end the entire set falls down. because it’s cornley and they have to end with a bang!!!

anyway if anyone else has any headcanons, feel free to add on. hope you enjoyed <3

[mysticstarlightduck]

Food Questionnaire Tag!

I was tagged by @thelovelymachinery (here) and I believe that I was also tagged by @the-golden-comet a while back but I'm so swamped with tags that I cannot find it 🥲

Rules: Answer the food-related questions provided using the voices of your OCs. The yummier the descriptions, the better!

I'll go with Dylan Millihan, Liam Steele, and Christine Nespor from What Lurks In The Hollow for this one <3

what is one comfort meal that'll change your whole mood for the day?

Dylan: Eh. It takes a lot to change my mood for the better after a bad day if I can be brutally honest. I guess some pizza is always nice - might not change my whole mood for the better but it's my favorite food so, whatever. I'd take it over anything else.

Liam: Why do you ask? (he grumbles, eyes narrowed, before begrudgingly answering) Okay, fine. I like shepherd's pie, with as much cheese as possible. Uncle Nick is a pretty good cook, all things considered, and he makes some pretty good pies. I also love the cookies, especially the chocolate chip ones me and Savvy buy in the arcade, they're crunchy.

Christine: Oh! Oh, that's a good one! I love Mac & Cheese, but not the icky takeout ones that are always chewy like gum, or the store-bought ones that taste like plastic. I'm talkin' about the homemade ones! With that sweet, melty cheese goodness with some bacon sprinkled on top. That's the one. I also love me a good coffee - can't start the day without one, but don't come to me with that iced coffee BS, I like mine pipin' hot. Like so hot it feels like it was sourced straight from the earth's core or the depths of hell's fiery abyss. Yeah. Am I weird? (laughs)

what is an experience (good or bad) that has turned you off or on to a food completely?

Dylan: Y'know, I used to love those honeycomb toffee candies, the crispy ones and all. But then during a festival, Mrs. Draycott came up to me and was like (imitates the annoying 50-year-old 'female cougar' voice) "Oh my. Sweetheart, you're looking as SCRUMPTIOUS as a honeycomb fresh from the oven, aren't you?"

And I. wanted. to. die. Like not really but (mock gags in disgust) c'mon! What kind of fucked up, 'Karen' pick-up line is that? And, better yet, who even has the time to come up with shit like that? (sighs, wearily pinching the bridge of his nose) I might need a restraining order at this point, it's giving horror movie vibes. I can't have honeycombs anymore, thanks, Mrs. Draycott. Yay.

Liam: Okay, so when I was like 7 or something, my Uncle was having this garden party with his friends, I think, and they were having sushi. Thing is, 7-year-old me didn't know what sushi was, and me being a dumb little shit thought, wholeheartedly, it was candy. Like bonbons. For some odd reason! Cue me, who had been running around the yard all day, swooping into the patio table, picking one of the sushis, running off, and eating it whole before anyone could explain otherwise. I was expecting coconut candy covered in chocolate, or something sweet. What I got... was raw fish and rice. Long story short I ended up throwing up in the garden and I could never have sushi again after that. I tried once! I swear I tried! And it's okay that people like it. But even now the texture just feels...too slimy and it gives me the ick. Nuh-uh.

Christine: I think the time I ate a hot dog at an admittedly very shady establishment - looking back with hindsight - on the side of the road one time while traveling and got salmonella. Yeah, that hotdog was not a good idea on my part (chuckles). Spent the following week almost getting my soul exorcised from my body in the bathroom, in a metaphoric sense, if ya know what I mean. Now I can't even think about eating a hot dog again. It's a nah for me, bro.

if you could eliminate one piece of produce, meat, dairy or sweets off the earth what would it be?

(I'm not sure about this one but I think all three of them would answer onions, garlic, or stinky foods because those are disgusting and should be banned from the menu lmao)

and dessert is normally saved for last, but if you could what would you order for your entree at a restaurant?

Dylan: I guess, uh. I don't know, vanilla ice cream? I know you're gonna call me 'basic' for that, but I don't care. Vanilla is the best ice cream flavor out there and this is the hill I'll die on.

Liam: Hm. The chocolate chip cookies from the arcade. Gosh, those are just amazing. I could eat a whole packet! Or two, even!

Christine: Churros! The cinnamon and sugar ones with coffee sweet cream filling. That's heaven right there for me, yeah.

what are some food fusions that should never be mixed?

Dylan: Don't you ever mix savory, fried, spicy potato chips with marshmallows or melted ice cream or... god forbid, chocolate! That should be a sin or at least some sort of infraction because holy fuck.

Liam: If I see anyone else putting freaking pineapple or worse, watermelon on pizza I swear I will have a nervous breakdown and turn into a slasher movie villain. Not quite really, but keep FRUITS AWAY FROM MY PIZZA!

Christine: I'm probably gonna get hated on for this one. But avocados on a salty toast with eggs and pepper are a hate crime against humanity and I can't stand people who think that's a reasonable breakfast.

what food spot are you gatekeeping and why?

Dylan: My dude. I'm broke. I barely go out to eat in restaurants. I mostly eat at home or order cheap takeout pizza or something. And even if I wasn't broke, I just don't like eating around people whom I don't know in general, and I don't feel much at ease at restaurants unless I am in a really good mood.

Liam: I like 'Nana's Witchy Speakeasy'. The name might be odd or off-putting but it's just a nice little diner owned by this kooky old lady named Betty, who's one of the funniest people I know to be honest. Me and my friends love going there for a snack at the end of the day, the place's great.

Christine: Not sure, but there's this one milkshake place that sells the most wonderful chocolate frappes on earth. It's a bit far from my place but gosh it's so worth it.

cooking is a life skill, why haven't you started learning yet!?

Dylan:...Why haven't I learned it? I already have. I know how to cook. And quite well at that, though not perfectly - I'm my sister's legal guardian, do you think I would be able to manage having a moody teenager in my house all the time if I didn't know how to cook? No. I just don't usually have the time and patience for it, so I end up ordering takeout, but I always make us homemade breakfast.

Liam: 'Cause the last time I tried it I almost ended up setting the kitchen on fire, carbonized one of our best skillets, and was banned from the kitchen for a year (laughs). And cause I don't have the patience to learn, and already have other people in my life who cook really well.

Christine: Hey!!!! I know how to cook. Really, really well at that. I hate industrialized food and don't really crave fast food, but I love myself some good homemade food. I cook for myself every day, it's almost like a meditation for me - it makes me happy and calm, and at the end I get to eat something delicious. It's great!

Is there a smell that reminds you of something you never want to remember?

Dylan: Not really, I'm not easily shaken by smells unless it's something really, really freaking strong or pungent, or if its those perfumes that give me a headache cause I'm allergic.

Liam: My friends and I were exploring the woods to try and find out why the place's cursed and what happened to the ghosts trapped inside, but then we stumbled across some...remains? I guess it was the remains of someone who was killed and eaten by the Mayor's ghouls, and the smell of rotten flesh felt like it was stuck to my nostrils for a week. I hated that. I so hated that.

Christine: I'm not sure. I guess not emotionally, but I do hate the smell of salads and especially vinegar-based salad dressings. It makes me wanna puke - and the thing is it's not for any particular reason. It's not a trauma or anything. I just hate the smell, it's foul.

Tagging (gently): @sleepy-night-child, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin, @wyked-ao3, @topazadine @littleladymab,

@winterandwords, @eccaiia, @sarahlizziewrites, @illarian-rambling

@agirlandherquill, @anoelleart, @ray-writes-n-shit

@writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @forthesanityofstorytellers

@i-can-even-burn-salad, @thecomfywriter

@thepeculiarbird, @clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, @starlit-hopes-and-dreams @amaiguri

@cherrychiplip @thecomfywriter

@differentnighttale, @leahnardo-da-veggie

[cloudycaffeinatedcryptid]

Let’s have Nick bullying hours! (Or just talk about him without bullying, but how could we possibly??) How do you think he ended up in this job, cooking at a camp in New York, all the way from Australia? What’s the weirdest shit he did over the summer? If we switched someone else out for him as the wolf bait, who should it be and what would he do in their place?

gods please, i love bullying this weirdo

so i do think a lot about how he got here & i have a minor hc that his parents have a pretty demanding job with cushy salaries & he moved in maybe middle school/early high school (bc he has NO clue how to talk to Humans, or maybe he was homeschooled). if Jacob misses the qte to catch his phone, Nick is immediately like "i'll pay for that, im so sorry". obviously he SHOULD, he broke it, why does he do this, but idk it just sticks with me. i would never risk someone else's property, ESP bc i could never afford to replace it if i fucked up. idk. Nick is fucking weird. anyway so i think his parents moved to New York for their job & he's breaking out of his shell, going to camp with other young adults his age

over camp, he's a fucking nightmare. at least ten kids are in on a bet that he's an alien. two others are convinced he's possessed. sometimes he just stands over whatever he's preparing for dinner, completely still, staring at the food without blinking. it doesn't even look like he's breathing. five minutes later, he's totally fine. he sings different words to the camp song every time & it's never the right ones. sometimes he eats raw onion when he's chopping it up. he's never tasted sweet potato. he also stores jars of marinara in the freezer. one counselors swears to god they saw him snap a twig in half between his teeth during a nature walk & another one says he ate a whole acorn

if we could wolf-swap someone, i do think it would be interesting to actually see infected!Abi. the conflict between her, Nick & Emma would've meant a lil more maybe if instead of getting pissy, whiny, aggressive Nick, we could get choices & steadily see Abi get more forceful about if he rlly likes her, asking Kaitlyn why she made that dare when she KNEW what would happen, starting to speak up for herself before it gets too far & she turns (& decapitates nick <3). maybe that's basic but both of those characters felt kind of wasted so :( swapies :) also i feel like Abi should've gotten an opportunity to grow more than just "nervous & unsure & hiding" beyond choosing to either shoot or die

in her place, Nick for sure wouldn't shoot, he's a bitch. (just kidding. kinda.) but honestly i don't even know what he would do. Abi doesn't get to do much but hiding the storm shelter doesn't seem like his thing either. if Emma's in the van, all four of them prolly go to the scrapyard together, which kind of changes the whole thing

[lycaonthropy]

this is kind of a wishlist but also just me throwing out ideas & dynamics i wanna explore so i can point back to this for plotting with people in future

if anyone w muses mentioned here ever wants to write something like this with me i will die for you promptly

this is very generalised but one of the things i’m most interested in digging into with nick & dylan is their trauma & the lingering effects of the game’s events — it follows them into college & their futures & impacts them heavily, both physically & mentally. i’m super interested in writing with other quarry muses in general in the sense of being able to discuss & bond over what they all went through, but even with non - quarry characters it’s something people would notice about them eventually or with any level of closeness, so it’s entirely likely it would come up with others too ( even if they can’t tell them exactly what happened )

nick / dylan — aka …. writing with a nick as dylan or vice versa. i ( obviously ) love both of them a lot & one of the things i’m sad we didn’t get to see more is their friendship and banter from the beginning of the game, i really wanna focus on that some more & explore their interactions during camp season or being close post - game. i think often about evan evagora being asked who nick’s best friend at camp is & answering that he looks up to jacob but is most himself with dylan

ryan — i’m always interested in exploring his dynamic with dylan & where that has the potential to go after everything, especially since i feel like the game dropped the ball with them once the radio shack sequence was over. with nick i’m also curious about their dynamic during camp, considering they’re both fairly quiet in comparison to other counsellors & how quick ryan is to haul ass to help nick

kaitlyn — i love kaitlyn & dylan’s friendship. everyone loves them ! they play off of each other so well & i 100% see them staying in touch after the game no matter what & regardless of whether anyone else does. give me dylan - kaitlyn healing from trauma via movie hangouts & takeout dinners & late night facetimes

emma — god i have so many thoughts about emma. with dylan they’re such mirrors of each other, both of them dialling up their personalities to project a more confident, impressive version of themselves, both living by faking it is just being yourself but louder. we were robbed of seeing them talk properly & i genuinely feel like they have so many surprising similarities deep down that threads could capitalise on. as for nick i really want to explore how they would act with one another & respond to everything afterwards — the kiss & guilt over what it caused , the fact that nick’s love interest is emma’s best friend & emma’s is ( occasionally ) nick’s & how they’d feel about how their friend was treated by the other, the fact that they were isolated from the other counsellors & Going Through It alone for most of the night, there’s so much potential for conversation there

obligatory block break for tumblr character limit

jacob — i wanna write out nick & jacob’s friendship so bad. it’s so interesting & nick has such complicated feelings about him : admiration, jealousy, competitiveness, annoyance, amusement, genuine fondness, respect, derision, very repressed attraction ? . jacob is ( part of ) why he thinks & acts the way he does, what he ( thinks he ) aspires to be, who he wants to impress, why he hides certain things about himself & who he’s always comparing himself to. the potential is SO TASTY i am chewing on it there are so many ways it could go !! i have way less in - depth thoughts about dylan & jacob but y’know what the jock & secret nerd dynamic is always fun to play around with they could be a surprising vibe

abi — nick has intense guilt post - game no matter what but a huge part of it comes down to abi. i feel like there’s a lot to dive into there with the difficult conversations they probably need to have, trying to make up for what he did & regain her trust while also reconciling that it wasn’t him ( but it was his face & his hands & his voice ), his gratitude for her saving him & where their relationship goes after everything, whether they can mend what was there or settle into a real friendship or if it’s all just too tainted

[grimmmviewing]

S1E17: “Love Sick”—C-/D (Watched 6/2/24)

“My butt is on its way.”

Like “Island of Dreams,” this is another crossroads episode: It brings together Nick’s heritage/Aunt Marie, Renard’s plotting and own mysterious influential background, Adalind’s seduction of Hank, Wu’s pica-like eating, and even Rosalee’s deceased brother, who gets a mention as Adalind’s love potion shopping list is dug up. This time, however, there really is no case of the week. The murder du jour relates directly to the criss-crossy other stuff, so there’s absolutely no unrelated or tangentially related material. It all matters, and that sounds like a good thing on paper. In execution, it results in an episode that ultimately feels like it lacks a lot of the usual creativity, if not also whimsy, of the Dark Fairytale Procedural concept.

There is some good Wu eating weird stuff action here, including his ultimate act of consumption—grazing on a particularly sumptuous-looking rug on his hands and knees (before Nick breaks down his door). There’s a certain cuteness in Nick trying to threaten and verbally spar with Adalind in the presence of others that don’t know about their secret natures. There’s also some unintended goofiness, that I personally enjoyed, that comes from the hardcore dramatic scenes. I felt it most keenly when Renard meets with his cousin and his cousin’s associate/servant in some nondescript concrete location and when Nick has his climactic confrontation with Adalind in the woods. There’s just something kind of funny about these situations in convoluted fantasy series like this, particularly with the wide shots where you can see the whole scene. Maybe it’s the costuming or script or some other element of cheapness or cringe in the production. Both of the aforementioned scenes also have fights, and the one with Renard, which is much briefer, looks a lot more visually credible, whereas Nick and Adalind’s brawl is pretty silly.

We also skip right past the Hank-Adalind sex—which is probably appropriate given the nature of the whole relationship (Hank being essentially drugged this whole time) and given the tone of the episode, but I couldn’t help thinking the CW would have indulged if this had been one of their, similar, shows. Nick forcefully kissing Adalind (also problematic!) during their fight to the death in the woods certainly felt like something they would have done as well.

That whole final sequence, from when the gang (Nick, Monroe, and Rosalee) find Hank unresponsive in Adalind’s bed through her defeat in the woods, just feels overly complicated and muddled to me. There’s this last-minute revelation that Adalind has altered the love potion/spell, so the antidote that worked on Wu won’t have any effect. Instead, Adalind needs to die for Hank to wake up, but then that apparently won’t work because they need the blood of a Grimm, but then Rosalee says to Monroe in a later scene that if Hank wakes up that means Adalind is dead, and then her being “dead” is just figurative anyway and just means she loses her powers. The Wikipedia summary acts like it was always clear “that the blood of a Grimm will kill the Hexenbiest spirit in Adalind and cure Hank,” but I don’t think it comes across like that in the episode. I’m not going to claim that it doesn’t make sense (Rosalee does say Nick can’t shoot Adalind)—just that I had a hard time following it initially and that it feels convoluted and like a major ass-pull that almost sounds like it’s being written as the episode is playing: “And then they, uh, had to kill her… but not really… because she was actually just dead… weight… without her powers…”

None of the above is actually why I came so close to giving this episode a D, however. There are two much larger, major problem areas, as I see it.

Major Problem #1: “THE KEY”

This one is simpler and easier to cover: The (to the best of my recollection) sudden fixation that the episode has on the key Aunt Marie left Nick earlier in the season feels like it comes out of nowhere. This is suddenly the whole point of all Renard’s scheming and Adalind’s seduction of Hank. It’s referred to with such emphasis and reverence to the point that it would probably be comical even if it didn’t also seem so weirdly sudden. It’s not “the key”; it’s “The Key.” You can positively hear the capital letters.

I think I could have bought into this anyway, though, if not for the opening scene of Nick going over every inch of the trailer to try to find what the key unlocks. It just feels like too much to only be doing now. I could have gotten on board with it if they had chosen to maybe convey that he’s been trying the key here and there “off-screen” over time (maybe even retracing his steps by revisiting every lock in the trailer), but the fact that it instead feels like the first time, in all this time, that he’s trying to find what the key unlocks just makes the whole fixation on it feel that much more random and silly overall.

Major Problem #2: Mother Dearer

“You’re useless now. Just another pretty girl.”

Adalind’s mother is easily the worst thing about this episode and that undermines so much of the intended drama for me. Just to be clear, though, the casting and costuming and performance for the mother (played by Jessica Tuck) are all great. She looks and feels like an older Adalind in a very positive way. The problems are with just how completely and utterly she steals Adalind’s thunder in an episode that also ends with her (Adalind) losing her powers.

There’s trouble right from the opening quote, which I was immediately side-eying pretty hard for what it seems to suggest about Adalind’s role and actions by explicitly putting the blame on a mother. In part, it says, “[M]y mother drove me to it; it was done against my will.” So far, the show has treated Adalind as a major threat and a valuable asset to Renard, a key part of his plan (whatever it was). Now he’s plotting with her mother instead, behind Adalind’s back, or even over her head, in a sense. And the mother is stepping in to essentially coach or prepare Adalind in certain scenes, making her feel less competent in her own right. She is, we’re ultimately shown through this episode, not all that big of a threat in the grand scheme of things—or ultimately that important to either her mother or Renard. It's kind of remarkable just how much younger the disheveled Adalind looks after her fight with Nick, and that feels very intentional. She goes from classic sexy lawyer woman to what looks like maybe ten years younger. She’s lost all of her poise and any sense of control, which could be a good development in the right (read: different) context.

As it is, there’s definitely a certain irony to the episode description on Amazon, which is one of the shorter ones for the season: “Nick comes face to face with his worst enemy.” Presumably this means Adalind, but it’s kind of ironic that she’s so obviously upstaged and pushed aside here. This sort of escalation is to be expected for a show like this one, but I think not saving the showdown with Adalind/the introduction of an even bigger, badder version of her for the end of the season (or else a holiday break) feels like the wrong call. My backseat writer-ing is that Adalind should have failed on her own terms, and only then should the mother have been brought in by Renard as a replacement. Having her enter the story before the episode is even over just feels premature and hurts the intended drama.

Also: I’m from the internet, so of course I love a strong and evil woman, and seeing Adalind so thoroughly disgraced and defanged here (even before Nick takes her powers) is pretty personally… annoying?

I do appreciate the way Mom takes the distraught, defeated Adalind into her arms near the end of the episode. Like, she reaches out and hugs Adalind, who’s clearly looking for a hug, but you can immediately tell from her posture and her tone that this isn’t a warm gesture, and she recoils in more obvious disgust when she realizes Adalind has been depowered. Again, I think the performance is excellent, but my issues with the mother character go beyond the aforementioned upstaging and further include her characterization as a kind of tropey mother and woman both.

I’m having a hard time figuring out a more succinct, effective way to phrase this, so I’m just going to let it unfurl for a bit: Something about the look and bearing of the mother (which is glamorous but severe, still quite beautiful but also visibly mature) and the things that she says and does for Adalind just strike me as uncomfortable, and it probably has to do with how it comes off as so cold and calculating and how it intersects with matters of romance (or at least sex).

At one point, while discussing the seduction of Hank, Mom says, “You still love him, don’t you?” (I assume “him” is Renard given the full context of the conversation.) To which Adalind replies, “What difference does that make?” “I taught you well,” says Mom. Later, when Hank calls, she instructs Adalind to “Put on a smile. They can hear it in your voice.”

The use of “they” in that last example really jumps out at me because it’s a general statement about men, and about how to manipulate them. There’s a certain type of misogynist that feels all women are gold-digging schemers only interested in the highest-value Alpha catch, that makeup is a lie, and so on. Adalind’s mother feels like that particular man’s view of women made manifest, up to and including her physical appearance, from her haircut to the angle of her jaw (just replace makeup with leeches). She’s like another sort of (less problematic) Geier-type of portrayal, to me. Some kind of retrograde stereotype, though, as established, I’m struggling to think of the right label.

That’s already probably a reach, so here’s another (Why not?): I also don’t like this exchange between Nick and Monroe where they realize Hank has probably been magicked in some way. Nick says, “Could she have done something to him?” And Monroe says, “Hell yeah. That’s what they do.” In context, this is about Hexenbiests, but even lightly removed from context, that “they” feels weighty to me, like Mother Schade’s “they” from before. That Monroe is being a bit of a Bro here, with the late-night woman talk and the “Hell yeah” with a beer in hand, just makes this… weird, to me.

I’m not nearly giving “Love Sick” a D because of misogyny that I’m digging for between the lines—I just think it’s not a particularly competent execution of such an obviously important story (Nick’s decisive victory over an enemy he’s had since episode one and her subsequent replacement, raising the stakes) for at least a few other reasons, and then there’s the possible misogynistic vibes on top of that.

[im-a-matt-girl]

@mattslovergirl here is "Triplets," based on your first and second requests:

Now that I've tested positive on my home pregnancy test, I need to go into my doctor's office to confirm it with a blood test and an ultrasound. I'm a little nervous about it, since this is my first pregnancy; but, being the loving and supportive husband you are, you resolve to come with me.

The nurse looks at me and says, "The blood test came back positive for pregnancy. We'll get you into the ultrasound room as soon as possible."

You hold my hand during the ultrasound. You seem excited and happy. You smile at me, and I smile back at you.

"Here we can see the heartbeat," the technician points out on the screen.

I can hear the pulsating on the speaker from the ultrasound. I feel giddy and light-headed.

A look of realization settles on your face. "This is really happening, we're having a baby…"

"Hold on," the technician continues. "I think I hear something… unusual."

I feel the blood drain from my face. I hold my breath and brace myself. I squeeze your hand.

"There's another heartbeat," the technician tells us.

"No way!" you say, your jaw dropping open.

I put my hand over my mouth and cry happy tears. I can see two bean-like shapes on the monitor.

"Wait," the technician says in a serious tone.

You and I look at each other, not knowing what to expect.

"There's a third one," the technician announces, barely in belief herself.

I gasp.

"You mean… just like…?" your voice trails off.

"Like you and your brothers!" I sob.

"Do triplets run in your family?" she asks us.

"I'm a triplet," you tell her, still in shock.

"Well, congratulations," she says to us. "First triplets I've seen in a long time, probably a few years."

We're having triplets!

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

When the triplets are born, everyone fawns over them. Thankfully, they are all healthy. We get a lot of help raising them from both sides of our families, and with yours being more acquainted with triplets, they can't stop gushing over them. "Three blessings," your mom beams.

When the triplets are three years old, they have their first sleepover with their uncle Chris. They drive him crazy, but now he's excited to have kids with his own wife, who is now pregnant also. "It's good practice," he says.

When the triplets are five years old, they have their first sleepover with their uncle Nick. We make sure it's on a Friday night, so that he doesn't have to get them ready for kindergarten the next day. "Single and kid-less till I die," he tells us when we go to pick them up. "And don't you dare make any more."

The triplets are brilliant, creative, and bonded for life - kind of like another batch of triplets I know. I love watching them grow with you. One is musical, one is into visual arts, and one is a writer. And they're all sweet and polite and lovely. I am indescribably proud of them. I'm so fortunate to have made a wonderful family with you.

[noemitenshi]

Hey! I was wondering you had any thoughts on why Troy was like.. so upfront with Madison in 3.15 about being the one to lead the horde and how he doesn't feel bad and he'd do it all over again (or something like that, I forget his actual words) bc I'm like is he dumb 😭 did he think Madison would somehow not care? (I guess so, bc he does start saying how Madison gets it or something like that)

I've always (always as in for the last three months bc that's when I first watched the show..) been like why would he not at least pretend to feel bad and regret it? I guess he's just really that deep in whatever bs his dad fed him to make be Like That idk

I feel like I mildly get it but also I can't wrap my head around it at the same time, at least not well enough to put into words so I thought you might have something to say about it :)

Ok. So. Listen. Listen That scene, omg, that scene. I knew something bad was coming since I have been warned by a kind fan beforehand. I knew it had to do with Madison and once he started his confession I was all "NOOOO" but also "ok this is it, he's done for". But also, I… had difficulty finding an in-world motivation/explanation for his behavior in that scene for some time. I mean, it kinda seemed to me more like the writers deciding "Troy's gotta go" than it being a natural conclusion from… what has been going on in the show. Especially how… unreceptive to Madison's clear discomfort he was during his confession. How he did not read the room. He appears pretty perceptive normally, so I didn't quite get that. It was like he was shouting "KILL ME ALREADY" (which, I mean, I still think he low-key had a deathwish through all of s3, so…it kinda fits?). Itt was, as you said, dumb of him. Very dumb and it made me a bit angry (ask me sometime about Troy's very fluctuating uh abilities. Like when they (writers) need him to, he's like the most clever person and than other times he's so dumb. What's that about… (I mean, I kinda explain this away by uh seeing ftwd as from the POV of the Clarks. We don't really get into Troy's head, but we kinda do know what the Clarks are thinking… so maybe that's just their view of him, and yes that could explain it. Sorry went off on a tangent there…) Also, about pretending to feel bad - I don't think he would have. He.. doesn't seem like the type to put effort into hiding his emotions or making them palatable for others. But, you know, he could've just not said anything. That would've saved him (for the moment, no one's to say he wouldn't have fucked up later on 😂 It's Troy, he's just learning to be a human). Anyway, for a long time I just chalked Troy being dump up to 'he needed to die so that's what the writers came up with, whatever'. And didn't spend too much time on that. But then I wanted to use this moment in one of my fanfics and well… I had to make sense of what he was doing not by explaining it away with the writers but with Troy's own motivation. Get into his head in this moment after all... And I hope it's ok if I just quote the relevant part here.

Troy felt relieved when he heard Madison asked, “Why would Daniel want to kill Troy?” This was it, he was sure of it. This was the missing piece to get back into step with Madison. Because even though she’d just told him “we’re good” he knew they weren’t. He had sensed her trepidation in her ingenious smile, in the hesitation in her voice. And now he was sure it was because he was still keeping a secret from her. A secret that only become one because of Nick, because he had followed Nick’s lead on this. And he hadn’t minded, understood that Nick rather not tell his sister Jake died partly because of him… But now he couldn’t keep quiet anymore. Not if it talking could mean that it would bring Madison and him close together again. Not if it meant it could again be as it was, before, between Madison and him. And yes, their conversation got heated once he admitted what he’d done. He should’ve expected that but he was too caught up in it. In trying to explain himself, in trying to rush to go where they’d been before. He should’ve given her more time to process… he knew she would’ve, eventually. She understood him. They were the same – and that was what he was trying to tell her, remind her of, however clumsily. “I’d do it all again,” he implored her, trying to make her see, “All of it, Madison.”

~ I'd do it all again, Chapter 1

So, as you can see, I don't think he thought Madison wouldn't care - it was worse than that. He thought she would… well almost like thank him for it. Not for what he did but for saying it. And I do think he really thought she'd get it. He thought this would show her their similarities, remind her of it again (and maybe it did, and maybe *that's* why she killed him (or not killed as we now know)). He thought it would bring them closer together. He thought he'd found his people with Madison and Nick, those who could understand him, tolerate him (maybe even be thankful for his existence). But he badly misjudged and he realized too late. And you know, now that I'm writing this out… I remember back to the ask about Troy's expression in his moments of imminent death and how it looked to me, among other things, like there was acceptance there. If it was, maybe he realized that Madison killing him is kinda proof of what he said to her, the "And you would, too, I know you would." Because she kinda did, didn't she. So on this depressing note, I'll end my explanation. Hope it was what you were looking for and thank you so much for the ask 🧡🧡🧡

[sacred-stanning]

Chapter 3! We take on the Bazba gang!

These nefarious villains have plundered local villages during the unrest caused by the invasion. Eirika will not allow them to live!

On the way there, we bump into Neimi. She is a sweet treasure, and everyone should always be nice to her.

I also discovered that Colm's name is more like "Kohma" in Japanese.

But before we head into the den of thieves, let's see what kind of crew we're rolling in with here:

Gilliam is a GBA armor knight, which means that he is slow and doesn't double, so it's easy for him to fall behind if you don't make an effort to get him kills. I'll use him for now, but there are other high defense units who will come along later.

(Actually, there's already another unit with higher defense than Gilliam, more speed, and more movement, Seth. Sucks to be Gilliam.)

Vanessa is a pegasus knight, and I love pegasus knights. Also, I love Lute, and Lute loves Vanessa, so Vanessa is extra cool in my book.

Moulder is a pretty bulky early-game healer. I usually like using him more than Natasha since she joins later, and I don't feel like she offers anything Moulder doesn't also have.

Ross, our amateur warrior. I think last time I played Sacred Stones, I used his dad, so maybe this time I'll use Ross. Or maybe I'll use both???

Garcia has a cool beard, and is a pretty good early-game axe unit I think. If he gets decent level ups, I might keep him around. He had a moustache until recently, but he was put to shame by the high quality of Moulder's moustache, so he shaved it off and just kept the beard.

Here she is! Everyone cheer for Neimi! She's trying so hard.

Sometimes I hear people call Fire Emblem lords "loss conditions" since getting your lord killed is a game over. Seth, on the other hand, should be nick-named "win condition".

I like Eirika a lot, and I usually choose her route when I play this game. Her attitude towards war, and the choices she makes in the latter parts of the game resonate with me a lot. Even, no, especially, that choice, which if you've played the game before, you know what I'm talking about. I honestly think I probably would have made the same choice if I had been in her place.

Franz can become pretty good. I'm going to keep investing in him for now and see how he does.

Oh, and here's Colm. I forgot to get a picture of his stat screen, but he's an early game thief, so no one cares about his stats. The only status that matters for him is the status, "Has lockpick in inventory".

I kind of skipped turn one, but here we are on turn 2. I broke the two cracked walls where the bandits are standing now, and I left sword-equipped units in the way to take the enemy phase attacks.

This game isn't as silly unbalanced about hit rates as Binding Blade, but sword vs. axe is still pretty safe.

Also, here's the top of the map. Neimi can recruit Colm, and then Colm can get the chests up there.

Colm also gets a chance at combat. He won't see very much combat probably, so he might as well take it.

Colm and Neimi have really fast support growth I guess, because it only takes one or two turns with them next to each other to get C.

Garcia had an awful hit rate on the archer, like 50% or something, so I opened the door above with Gilliam, who has no items in his inventory, just his lance.

Why does that matter? Well, you see that thief at the bottom. I've learned the hard way that that guy will prioritize stealing your junk over anything else, so I put in a questionable amount of effort to avoid letting him do that.

Step 1: Move Neimi next to Franz and take all of his non-weapons.

Step 2: After breaking the wall next to Garcia, move Vanessa over to Garcia's right, give away her worldly possessions, and then attack the archer from 1-range.

Step 3: Send empty-pocketed Franz down to finish off the archer. He could miss twice here potentially, and then I suppose Vanessa would likely die, but I have faith in our boy!

The end result is that no one in range of the thief has any items, so the thief just attacks Vanessa for 1 damage.

Yes, this was all necessary. If I didn't trade all of these items around, the thief *dramatic pause* might have stolen my pure water!

My pure water!

My!

Pure!

Water!

And you know I'm having none of that.

Vanessa kills the thief and gets a very pegasus knight level up.

Don't worry, I'm sure she'll get strength at some point. Right?

Right?

So here we are about to take out the last couple of fools and rush the throne room. (Why is there a throne in a bandit base? For that matter, what's up with all the barrels? Are they making moonshine on top of all of their other illegal activities?)

We'll continue this in the next post since I think Tumblr has a limit of 30 images per post.

[meraki-yao]

RWRB Musical Ramble Part 3: Jukebox Musical

yes I'm back on this MWAHAHAHAHAHA

I’m also wondering if RWRB would work as a Jukebox musical (a musical using pop songs instead of original songs, our darling Nicholas has already starred in a, with all due respect, not that good one: Cinderella 2021)

That way we can keep some of the amazing song choices in the movie: If I Loved You, Get Low, Can’t Help Falling in Love With You. Plus with RWRB being a modern fairy tale and stuff maybe straight-up using pop songs would work better with the entire tone of the show/movie

But like, certain scenes/moments/songs from & Juliet and Moulin Rouge (ok these are the only two jukebox musicals I’ve listen to so far) could work for RWRB (yes I’m realizing this is more me finding musical songs that work for RWRB than anything but sue me)

“I Kissed a Girl/Boy” from & Juliet/ Katy Perry would work well for the entire Red Room -> Hook Up -> Polo Scene, granted RWRB would be more intense than what’s in & Juliet since our boys are doing… a little more than kissing :)

“Whataya want from me” also from & Juliet/ Adam Lambert, even from the same ship, can work for the Kensington Confrontation

This is less direct, but parts of “Elephant Love Medley” from Mouline Rouge, more distinctly in the Broadway show version, Santine sings about how love is not something she believes in while Christian sings about how he wants love with her. The idea of a love medley can work with Firstprince too, maybe during the Paris date or the lake scene: Henry not believing he can have love while Alex wanting to tell Henry that he’s in love with him. Plus Your Song (and Can't Help Falling in Love, briefly, in the broadway show version) makes an appearance :D (Even though personally I think Can't Help Falling in Love fits Firstprince more)

A lot of us talk about how Taylor Swift-coded Firstprince is, and it’s true (and I personally love it), but in a jukebox musical, the TS songs can be directly used: personally think Labyrinth would be fitting for where If I Love you is in the film, but having Henry sing it, especially since the first verse fits the imagery of Henry holding his aching heart under the water so well (sorry I can't find the freaking gif) :

It only hurts this much right now

Was what I was thinking the whole time

Breathe in, breathe through

Breathe deep, breathe out

I'll be getting over you my whole life

You know how scared I am of elevators

Never trust it if it rises fast

It can't last

Uh oh, I'm falling in love

Oh no, I'm falling in love again

Oh, I'm falling in love

I thought the plane was going down

How'd you turn it right around

And my other otp Malec kind of owns this song, but Ruelle’s War of Hearts at the very least lyrically suits Firstprince as well:

I can't help but love you

Even though I try not to

I can't help but want you

I know that I'd die without you

And Nick’s song Comfort (which I have been listening to on loop, its amazing please go check it out) actually suits Henry’s mentality really well:

Wanna stay, wanna run, wanna disappear

I keep biting my tongue just to keep you here

Made you wait for someone I could never be

And it's killing me

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t actually listen to that much pop music, so please please please feel free to add more, but so far this is what I got in terms of jukebox musical and narrative pop songs

Part 1 / Part 2

[instantpansies]

okay finished! final thoughts

first of all, it's not a bad looking movie. it's not my personal preference for animation, but it's a pretty standard 3d style and it's not bad by any means. and the backgrounds, especially architecture and a couple particular landscapes, are really beautiful. the lighting on some of the backgrounds is quite nice. character designs are a bit caricaturish and very cartoony, hyper-shape-language-y, and a bit too smooth and oblong for my taste, but there were some really solid designs. the scarecrow is passable, the tin woodman is decent, the lion i'm not a fan of but he's fine enough as a lion. favorite design was probably the wooden soldier general, his wheat hat and warm color scheme were really fun. the bear rug was creative, keeping the belly as quilt/fabric was a good idea. i'm personally not a fan of the puppet thing, but it's an acceptable design "objectively" speaking. (this is all based on character design not personality or characterization)

if appearance is pretty good, though, sound is another matter. i don't want to be too harsh, since this is obviously a fairly cheap dub for a movie that wasn't expected to do well anyways. the music feels off, poorly timed, and awkwardly transitioned to/between. sound effects are fine but a little sparse. voice acting varies wildly. i didn't like urfin's va much, the filler words and extra noises were really clunky and forced and he didn't come across as a villain at all. the puppet did come across as a devil-on-the-shoulder-type trickster villain thanks to the va, i thought they were annoying but they did fulfill that archetypical role. the scarecrow's va was just sorta flat (which was too bad, his lines were generally a bit better-written than some of the others') but not bad - i just don't think the voice fits the character bc i associate ray bolger or the oz no mahoutsukai anime voice w him, not the higher-pitched, younger-sounding voice he was given here. the tin woodman's voice acting was unremarkable in that i can't remember any particular things that stood out, i think he was pretty good overall. lion mostly same, but i felt his voice was a bit off as well? still fine tho. dorothy did a good job! i actually liked her quite a bit, she wasn't super fleshed out but she has some nice moments of kindness, determination, and braveness, which are all pretty important dorothy characteristics. she's enjoyable to watch and i like her design (again, nothing to write home about, but the hair is cute and overall she's quite differentiated from the world around her so the simplicity actually works in her favor)

shoutout to the va of the crow messenger!!!!! they did so well omg best actor in this movie. they put their whole pussy into it and even with the okayish cheaply-translated script it was so fun to watch and listen to their character. the true hero of this movie fr and my favorite.

TOTO. toto. what is going on with toto. he's???? making pop culture references????? they were in a cave and he said "#lovingthiscave" like pronouncing the hashtag??? he calls dorothy "girlfriend" at one point???? it feels so weird and ridiculous. oh yeah he can talk and his voice is okay for a dog who is on tiktok. it's kinda jarring but honestly i think i'd rather it be that way

queer section bc we all knew it was coming. yeah tincrow is definitely present here, they hang out constantly during the plot, they compliment each other, scarecrow sacrifices everything to save nick (im calling him that bc it's shorter than 'tin woodman' but he is not called nick in this movie), they escape together and have a nice b-plot important support mission. presented similarly to many other animated oz adaptations, they're both quite smart and kind but each is slightly 'more' of their respective trait. and they would die for each other a thousand times. we know how it is.

also. the thing with the tigers i am 100% serious it's so weird. they almost fulfill a role like those 'two idiots' characters (the two sailors in pirates of the caribbean who are always onscreen together, for example, or the pair of hapless skeletons from the adventures of clutch powers) - but not quite. they're just kinda there. they're on their own team. are they being paid by the lion to guard the entrance to the forest and welcome dorothy??? i don't know. they hang out, scare off an ogre, then one asks the other "what do you want to do now" and he says "go home" and the first one follows the second one out into the dark night and their voices are so like. sultry and it's so surreal i think they fucked i am so serious right now. i'm past the time i read homoeroticism into normal situations honestly and this was so blatant and weird and i think it was their delivery??? but like the timing and the way it was done was just so something. the next scene where we see them they're lounging in a field just casually in the morning and one asks the other "now what" and he says "let's get lunch" and it's all so charged and something is going on. i can't believe im saying this i don't care if the saber tooth modern tigers in a cheap oz spinoff are gay this was just deeply - not uncomfortable, but extremely substantial and just surreal to me.

also there's a more stereotypically coded ogre who is a chef and speaks with the "gay accent" with lisp and all, it's not really anything to speak of he just is fulfilling that sort of trope of the bad guy chef who is just in it for the divine flavors darling. you know the type. i don't reallly care idk

end of the queer section. there was no ozma :(

okay, in terms of plot. it's pretty decent. nothing so groundbreaking. the friends of dorothy are presented in a pretty traditional fashion, in keeping with the standards set by various oz adaptations. they didn't really do anything unique with those characters. i can't speak on the adaptation of urfin from book to screen, as i unfortunately haven't read urfin jus and his wooden soldiers yet - i have it saved, just haven't gotten around to it :( so i don't have an opinion on that. however, i can say that he wasn't presented as a villain i can love to hate. more of an annoying guy who staged a one-man coup and then lost all his resources and everyone forgot about him. he doesn't feel dangerous or threatening - i think perhaps because we didnt see a truly dangerous application of the powder of life until long after he's taken over the emerald city. other than the wooden soldiers, of course, but they are so easily defeated by dorothy and toto in their first two minutes in oz that they don't feel like a threat. this is mainly a pacing issue, if they'd let the threat of the soldiers grow for a while before they were shown to be stoppable it would've felt more high-stakes when fighting them off.

the focus on the lion was kind of nice! he's often put aside for the scarecrow or sometimes nick, so seeing him as dorothy's guide here was quite enjoyable and made him seem very important as a character - this can be difficult to pull off, as he's (imo) often more forgettable in adaptations, so i appreciate this aspect of the movie.

also!!! a big bonus!!! as i mentioned earlier, this movie had the chance to do a Big Reveal that Someone Loves Urfin After All, so it's time for a redemption arc. but they didn't do it!! he rejects the idea that he secretly wants to be loved, and instead seeks to crush his enemies. and he rejects malayna's (sorry if spelling wrong) token of love outright in acknowledgment of his growth (/negative) as a character! he doesn't care about people accepting or loving him anymore - he just wants the power and fear factor. this is the one thing i think urfin's portrayal did quite well. also yayyy no romance saves the day plot! i'm down for it sometimes, but it doesn't need to be the only way for a story to end so this was nice. seeing actual defeat of a villain, not just "gasp someone loved me after all, i now regret all my actions and become a perfect person immediately". wahoo

i would've liked to see: a better performance from urfin's voice actor. actually showing that dorothy has returned home and is not just indefinitely hurtling over the deadly desert (the movie ends with her disappearing lmao). better designs for the horrendous silver slippers. perhaps a more creative take on specifically the tincrow dynamic. a more interesting lion design. more screen time for that crow and the wooden general they were so cool!! but these are fairly mild criticisms.

overall, i'd give this movie like... 6.5 or 7 stars. nothing groundbreaking, nothing really astoundingly compelling, but i did enjoy watching it. if you're an oz fan looking for a nice adaptation with some really good moments and nothing horrible in it, i'd definitely recommend. for the average viewer, this will probably just be a standard boring cheap kids' movie, but still a fun time. i will probably not be watching again for a while, but i hear there's a sequel and i absolutely want to watch it (it looks worse) and it's a good movie to just have on the back burner. a pretty good experience :)

ok i'm watching fantastic journey to oz (2017). english dub bc i don't speak russian

expectations: low i think this'll be an interesting movie, but not for the reasons it wants to be... i've never actually read urfin jus and his wooden soldiers (of which this is an adaptation), i'm sorry to everyone who loves that book i'm sure this is not a good introduction lol off the bat (from the trailer) not loving the designs, except dorothy who is ngl kinda slaying, if in a boring way. the silver slippers are atrocious. what is up with toto. the scarecrow's voice is so wrong. tin woodman looks fine if basic. i'm liking the book-accurate munchkins tho, and the emerald city design is pretty decent! we'll see how everything is, more to follow

[goldengoddess]

hi! I don't know if your requests are open, but if they are, can i please request some Matthias fluff based on the injury trope?

stay alive for me - matthias helvar

pairing: matthias helvar x gender neutral reader

a/n: i was gonna make this short but it was low key kind of cute!!!!!! also i know in the books matthias has like a military buzz cut and i reject that so he actually has very fluffy curls :’)

warnings: angst at the start and then fluff, violence and bullet wound

out of all of the stupid things you’d done in your life, this was probably the most stupid.

everything the job had gone to shit very quickly. jesper had given his signal at the wrong time. wylan had detonated the bomb too early. they'd underestimated the number of stadwatch that would be on duty and nina had ran into some trouble.

and you and matthias, alone, had needed to run away from at least seven men raining bullets at the two of you.

so after everything was said and done and you’d all met at the meeting point, gloomy, defeated, and penniless, you really didn’t want to mention the bullet that had skimmed your side during the chase.

but about ten minutes into the walk back to the slat, it was apparent that the wound might have been a little more than just a nick.

your vision was black at the edges and the whole world felt like it was spinning. the group walked ahead of you, keeping with the quick pace that jesper alway set. matthias lagged behind, every now and then glancing in your direction.

you held your side as inconspicuously as possible and reassured a slightly worried matthias with a fake grin.  when he looked forward and everyone else was occupied in conversation, you slowly pulled your hand away from your side. the sight of the deep red blood on your hand made you lose your step. suddenly you were on your knees holding your side once again.

you must have let out a whine or cry of pain because matthias turned his body in your direction. you locked eyes with him, though you could barley see his horrified face through your tears and fading vision. you collapsed onto the floor as you heard the rest of the team running back to your direction.

you fought to keep your eyes open. but then matthias’ face hovered over yours. and even though you were bleeding out on the street of this filthy city, you couldn’t help but admire how beautiful he looked.

you winced as matthias pressed his hands to your side to apply pressure to the wound. you took your bloody free hand and placed it on his head of curls. after the ice court, you’d managed to convince him to grow it out enough that you could run your fingers through it. he leaned into your touch and let out a wet sob.

“you didn’t say anything” he angrily said to you.

you did your best to give him a reassuring smile, “didn’t want to worry your drüskelle. you’re high strung as it is.”

he shook his head in exasperation, “if you don’t die i’ll kill you for your stubbornness myself.”you registered matthias’ arms underneath your body, lifting you up. you could hear the rest of the crows shouting instructions, kaz sending inej off to find a healer, nina crying to jesper out of guilt that she couldn’t do anything anymore to save you.

but all that really mattered to you was the steady and soldier like walk of the boy holding you. you pressed your face into his chest, “my blood is going to ruin your clothes.”

he let out what sounded like a small laugh, “don’t worry about my clothes my love. just stay awake will you?”

you nodded your head but you could already feel the energy draining from your body. “ ’m sorry i didn’t tell you i was hurt” you mumbled softly.

“i should have noticed” he answered gruffly, speeding up his pace at the groggy sound of your voice.

“you always blame yourself for everything matthias. don’t blame yourself for this, not my death” you said. the words coming of your mouth were delusional, you didn’t have much control or awareness.

but matthias’ response came clear as day, like a tether to reality and life.

“you are not dying today.”

the rest of the night went by in a blur. the last thing you remember was nina’s shouting commands, the sound of a door being kicked open, and the fleeting thought that it wouldn’t be so bad to die in matthias’ arms.

and then, sunlight.

the kind of light that was golden and pink at the same time. the filled an entire room. it was your favorite time of day, and in ketterdam it was rarely as beautiful as today.

you looked around the room and found you were laying in your bed at the slat. bloody towels were laid out across the floor. when you tried to move, your side felt sore. but it was obviously healed as well as it possibly could be.

at your movement, you heard a soft groan of protest from next to you. you gasped when you turned your head and found a sleeping body next to you. only then did you realize you were laying on the chest of said body and their arm was placed protectively around you.

you relaxed when you saw the familiar profile of your favorite person in the world. you snuggled back into this chest and placed a soft kiss on it.

this stirred him awake and you felt him shift underneath you. “love?” he asked in the softest voice you’d ever heard him use.

you nodded your head against his chest, “yes, i’m awake.”

the sigh of absolute relief that left his mouth broke your heart in two. his grip on you tightened and he pulled you even closer, if that was possible. he didn’t say anything, just placed a gently kiss to your head.

you pushed away from him slightly so you could sit up and look at him. his blue eyes sent shock waves through your body, the way they always did. but you didn’t fail to notice how they were less vibrant than usual, how his bags were much darker than the last time you’d really looked at him.

“i am so sorry i made you worry, i’m sorry i didn’t tell you” you told him shakily, a lump forming in your throat.

he quickly grabbed your face with both of his hands and leaned his forehead against yours. “hey hey, my love. it is okay. you are okay. that is all that matters to me now.”

you closed your eyes and placed your hands on your shoulders for support.

“but next time,” he started, “maybe you could tell me when you’re bleeding out?”

you giggled and disconnected your head from him, you nodded and bur your lip in embarrassment. “trust me, i will not be making this mistake again.”

he smiled a little bit and traced your cheekbone with his thumb. “you’re not allowed to die on my just yet.”

“just yet?” you teased playfully, leaning into his touch the way he had leaned into yours only a few hours before.

he shook his head and grinned fondly, “no not yet. you still owe me a lot of close calls, i’ve saved your life a couple of times i think you have to live to pay that back.”

you let out a scoff but mirrored his silly grin, “oh shut it. you know i’ve saved your life just as many times drüskelle.”

he smiled but his face turned more serious. “you owe me a life time of happiness, my love. you do not get to die and leave me alone when we are supposed to grow old together. be buried in the snow together.”

you placed your hand on top of his and squeezed to let him know you were here. that you were listening, breathing.

he smiled, “so if you could stop making stupid mistakes and let me help you, i’d really appreciate it.”

you laughed and placed a quick kiss on his lips, “anything for you my life. anything for you.”

taglist;

@vintagebitc @obiwansjedi @thegirlwiththeimpala @hybrid-in-progress @mrs-brekker15 @mrsbrekkers @simplyluvzuko @ode-to-joy @gallysonegoodlung @sixofshadowandbone @castielcouldbeasecretdentist @meiitanoia @caaarstairs @itisroe @the-jess-life @xsamsharons

low key forgot i had a taglist for a second sorry friends!