#and i'm not gonna say she officially ships these two

[bixels]

your tags about mercy being one of the most complex characters- YES!!! theres a log in one of ana's gun inspection modes where it mentions how mercy DESPISED her healing magic/science being used for evil on the battlefield, and there's an ingame line of her saying "power boost working as envisioned!" and it just reminds me how she was lied to, forced unto the battlefield when in reality she just wanted to help people with her inventions and thats the only way they said she could do it. AGH. Hippocratic oath!!

Which is why I never seriously bought into Moicy (I get the hatefucking though) as a serious ship because realistically, Mercy would absolutely abhor Moira with every fiber of her being.

This is gonna be a really hot take for gay Overwatch-knowers, but. I preferred when Moira didn't exist as a character in the story and her whole selfish philosophy of 'progress at any cost' existed as Mercy's darker side. I was really interested in Mercy's 'holier than thou' demeanor (her battle uniform is an angel costume, for god's sake). I found it so interesting that Mercy was the one who turned Gabriel into Reaper (it was assumed canon until retconned by Moira). Or that Mercy "saved" Genji by installing ninja stars into his knuckles and turning his body into a killing machine (which is why, imo, I don't think Mercy would ever be in love with Genji. He'd be a constant reminder of the power she holds yet tries to ignore, the ways she's unbelievably fucked her patients up in the past. A reminder that she's not as good a person as others believe her to be). I'm personally really into the idea that Mercy has two sides in her: the side who truly cares about healing people and the side who's so full of hate and anger for the perceived enemy that she unconsciously fuels her rage into the people who rely on her. Turning people into living weapons to "fix" them and fight her battles. Reminder that she watched her parents walk out on her as a child to volunteer medical work for the Omnic Crisis, only for them to die and leave her orphaned and alone. Is she doing this to take care of people, or is she doing this to avenge her parents (the official site says it's only the former, but I think that's boring as fuck)? I think it can be both at the same time, but sometimes she prioritizes one motive over the other. I think the "angelic, cheery healer" is a persona she instinctively uses to veil her selfish motivations, to everyone and to herself. Reminder that she was also lauded as a savant, a prodigy, a teenage genius who literally revolutionized medical science before she could legally vote. You cannot expect me to believe that she's truly altruistic, that everything she does is for the betterment of humanity and out of the goodness of her heart.

I don't think she's a malicious person at all, just someone who doesn't want to admit she has ulterior motives.

Anyways, she's not actually this interesting in the game or the story.

[bamsywrites]

And Comes Dawn part vi

Ships: sauron/halbrand x reader, Galadriel x Halbrand, galadriel and reader DO NOT LIKE EACH OTHER AT ALL (yet), reader x ?????

Summary: some unwanted feelings bubble to the surface.

Tags: angst ish, reader gets mad, insecurities, the love triangles are officially starting, saurons pov next part is gonna be intense after some of this stuff.

Notes: this one might be meh, I wasn't able to edit much and my mind is kinda mush. The secret third ship is revealed. I'm also adding too, extending, and overall changing some of the numenor stuff. Again it's my fanfiction, I can do what I want

It wasn't long before bright light filled the room, you and your companions heading to the deck of the ship. You squinted as your eyes adjusted to the bright light of the sun and the blue of the sky. You saw the ship captain and spoke before anyone else, “Thank you, sir.

He nodded simply in a silent acceptance of your words, his attention turning to Galadriel. The two exchanged words, and you were resisting the urge to roll your eyes. You didn't like the elf. She seemed to think herself better and more worthy of sorrow. You could tell she looked down on you, fueling anger inside your stomach. Anger and annoyance were both feelings that you avoided at all costs. Your father's anger had been great and tragic. You didn't want to tempt the fates by letting your own go unchecked. This elf made it hard to feel anything but those feelings.

“Nearly where?” Halbrand asked, his voice was what brought you from your thoughts, he was trying to get an answer as to where they were going.

“Home,” the ship captain answered.

“Well that tells me fuck all,” he said softly so only your ears could hear.

“Halbrand.” You gave him a look.

“Sweet one,” he teased, returning the look.

Before you could reply, the words dried on your lips as you saw great stone faces carved into rock in stunning detail. You moved closer to the edge to get a better look. The hard work and detail on the face of the mountain was incredible. You were even more stunned by the giant carving above the city, almost as though it was watching over and protecting the city beneath.

“I've never seen anything like this,” you whispered softly.

“What is this place?” Halbrand asked Galadriel.

“There's only one place it could be, the island kingdom of Númenor.”

-

You looked at the buildings, the architecture, the people. It was all fascinating, as if there was no poverty or hunger. The buildings were gorgeous, breathtaking in the ways they were built, and you'd never imagined anything like this in your wildest dreams. A small part of you began to hope that you could stay here and not return home.

“I never imagined a man like me could build a kingdom like this.”

“Because these aren't men like you, your ancestors sided with Morgoth. Theirs sided with the elves, and the Valar blessed them for it. Though elves have not been welcomed on these shores for many years.”

“I wonder why someone would choose to deny you entry into their city,” the words dripped with sarcasm as they slipped past your lips before you could stop them.

A bark-like laugh filled the air before Halbrand stopped himself, clearing his throat and wiping at his mouth to hide his smile.

“Perhaps you wonder, but I know why you'd be denied entry,” Galadriel had stopped to look at you, as if daring you to say something more.

“My reasons are but one, and it is for someone else's sins. Yours would be for being an arrogant, insufferable..-”

“Let's keep going, shall we,” Halbrand placed a hand on your shoulder, and Galadriel opened her mouth to say more when the ship captain hurried them along.

When she was a few steps ahead of you. Halbrand started laughing again, softer this time. “Perhaps, sweet one doesn't suit you well after all.”

You huffed a sigh, “I should not have said that, I know.”

“I will forever sit and ponder how you were going to end that sentence,” he teased with a twinkle to his eye.

Butterflies stirred in your stomach as you looked back up into his eyes, a hint of a smile pulling at your lips.

“You must promise me, sweet one, not to provoke the angry elf. Can you do that?”

You nodded, but he cocked an eyebrow. “Use your words,” his voice was soft and a little husky as if he might have been enjoying this exchange more than he let on, “I want to hear you say it.”

“Halbrand, I promise not to provoke the angry elf,” you said in all but a whisper.

“Good girl,” he pressed a kiss to the top of your head before continuing the journey.

~

“If blood is the price to pay to leave this place, I will pay it.”

You noticed the guards moving closer, your eyes darting to the queen for her response to this threat. Galadriel was going to get you killed at this rate. Without thinking, your hand found Halbrands, lacing your fingers with his, and he squeezed your hand as if to reassure you before he spoke.

He was very well spoken, very convincing. He could command the attention of all in the room with his words. It was impressive, and in the end, they granted you 3 weeks. You hated the sense of satisfaction you had felt when they mocked Galadriel. You were sure there was a reason she was the way she was, but thinking she's better than the mortal races or more entitled to grief would never cease to fill you with anger.

“You were rather good at that,” you turned to Halbrand with a relieved smile on your face.

“Just be glad I'm not your enemy,” he responded with a wink, squeezing your hand that was still tangled with his before he followed the elf.

You found the ship captain once more, “I would like to offer my most sincere thanks. I will forever be in your debt.”

He smiled softly at you, looking at you as only a father could. “I did what was right. I am glad you will find some respite in our great city. If you are to need anything, I have a daughter about your age and I'm sure she has dress and other niceties to spare. Take these, though,” he placed some coins in your hands, “to aid you in whatever ways you may need.”

“I appreciate that very much.” He was a good man, you could tell it. Of good heart and strong character. He had dismissed himself politely, and you looked for your companions.

Your eyes landed on them atop the stairs. You didn't know what they were talking about but they were close. He seemed to be earnestly defending something, you knew not what, and she seemed to be arguing against it. Just as the conversation seemed to be closing, you saw as he pulled her closer to him with that smirk and sparkle in his eyes and suddenly it all came crashing down on you.

What if you weren't special? What if you read too much into it? What if he was like this with everyone?

Or perhaps you were special, but she was just more than anything you could be. She was a beautiful elf, a commander of armies, and what were you?

The daughter of a disgraced mass murder who had yet to do anything of significance.

Your lip started trembling. Perhaps you were too sensitive, but it felt as if your heart was breaking. Did you really have such strong feelings after a week? Perhaps you had been more interested in him. Perhaps you'd allowed your feelings to become too intense when his had not. And perhaps you only thought he'd been looking that way at you.

You found your feet carrying you outside of the palace. You weren't the one that was confined to the grounds, and there was no reason for you to stay. You thought you heard a voice calling after you, but you did not care. You wanted away and to be on your own to think. To figure out what you want for the future. To figure out your feelings to figure out your plans for the next 3 weeks.

~

You sat on a bench in some courtyard, eyes watching as the sun dipped below the waves. It was nice to watch, a beautiful sight, especially now that night didn't bring worries of being cold or being attacked. For the first time in what seemed forever, you would have a place to sleep that wasn't rocking back and forth. Your stomach was growling. It was starting to gnaw at your stomach, but you didn't want to get the stares from the locals. You knew you weren't entirely welcome. So, instead, you sat and watched the sunset until it made its way beneath the waves, and the only light was that of the fires and torches. Your eyes wondered, examining the amazing architecture. It's what you had been doing all day as a way to avoid the insecurities in your head and heart.

A group of boys about your age had drawn your attention,their laughter was boisterous and almost contagious. You were reminded of what little pleasures you'd lost due to the orc attacks; laughing with friends was one of them. You were grateful to see it amongst others and know that it still exists. You must have caught one of their attention somehow because he excused himself, telling his friends to go on without him before coming to sit with you.

“I…sorry I didn't mean to pull you away from your group. I'm just…”

“You're one of the newcomers. One of 3 that arrived today, yes?” He asked curiously, and you nodded.

“You match the description that was given. You seem a little lost," He smiled warmly at you. It was genuine, you could tell. He wanted to help you if you were to need it.

“I am, I admit, but I've enjoyed getting lost here. Your home is gorgeous. We don't have architecture anywhere near this in my homeland, the Southlands. It's remarkable.”

He chuckled softly, looking around him, “This isn't even the best the city has to offer.”

“That is impossible.”

He laughed again, shaking his head. “It is entirely possible, I assure you.”

You couldn't help but smile. He was full of energy, but at the same time, it was calming. It was easy to talk to him because he felt relaxed and relatable.

“There must be art and architecture where you're from. There has to be.”

You shook your head, “not like it is here. It would be like comparing a master swordsman to children whacking each other with sticks. We have wood carvings and some words engraved in stone but nothing like a whole, giant person carved in stone. Our cities are just wood or brick. It's not carved out like this. This is all incredible.”

“There has to be beauty, though,” he pressed his tongue into his cheek as if he wanted to say something else. “I have a lot of questions about your home. I've never left this island."

“There is beauty, yes. In the trees, in the green of the grass. In autumn, the trees turn red and orange, and they look beautiful at dusk.”

“So, there's beauty in the trees, in the leaves, in the women…” he watched you for a moment. You couldn't help but giggle at the comment.

“That was horrible, wasn't it?” He asked, looking down at his hands but laughing softly as he did.

“A little bit, but the compliment is very appreciated,” You stopped giggling and placed a hand on his knee.

“It sounded so much more clever in my head,” he chuckled with a shake of his head.

“My name’s Isildur. My father was the ship captain who saved you. I would like to buy you dinner as a way to say sorry for that horrendous comment I just made. "

You gave him your name with a large grin that made your cheeks hurt, “And I would love that, as long as you promise to tell me more about your kingdom.”

“It's a deal.”

[lukolabrainrot]

Calm theory anon here 🩷

I wanted to come on here to just remind people of a couple things. First of all, none of us are delusional. There has been plenty of people that have worked beside L and N who have made comments about them being in love. The other shippers want to make it like we are crazy. I have a couple truths though to remind them. How do we know when a celebrity is dating someone? The their team will make an official announcement normally done through a well-known magazine. Or more recently, you will see a post on social media that declares some with type of love between the two people. We never got any type of confirmation of any type of relationship between any of the "supposed" couples. Luke and Nic are allowed to hang out with the same group of people. They're allowed to hold hands with the opposite gender in big crowds. I've said this before and I'm gonna say it 1000 more times if I have to. These fan accounts that are giving people in Luke or Nic life a title before nic or Luke have given them one they are in the wrong. In your personal life, there are all types of people. Some people that you were extremely close to that are like family. Some people that you are acquaintances of. But if I'm looking at a complete strangers life. I don't know who that person represents in their life. It's one thing to theorize and make assumptions but to give titles that isn't our job. Now in the end of the day, Nic is going to hang out with JD. That is her friend unless she says otherwise. That doesn't mean that she's dating him. It's also OK that she hangs out with or tags him in pictures. We all know that each ship is going to justify being on their ship. So you're going to see comments that make you think that maybe JD is more than a friend. But Nicola is a grown woman. She can speak for herself. if she's dating anyone, she'll say it when she's ready. Personally I think the time article speaks volumes. The two people that she spoke on in that article are her dad that she clearly holds in a very high regard and Luke. So don't let the noise of the other ship affect your gut instincts.

Exactly!

Y'all I'm frustrated too... I want answers just as much as everyone, but we don't know these people. I'm not exactly a big fan of these SM games either, but we just have to be patient and see what happens...

But again, that Time article came out YESTERDAY. And it spoke VOLUMES.

[dunmeshistash]

Do we know what the relationship between milsiril and helki is? Those panels of her manhandling him for kabru are really funny, they seem close? Saw someone say helki was kabrus foster dad and was wondering if there was a source for that

As far as I know there's nothing about a romantic relationship officially between them (I ship tho) this isnt gonna be very straight foward cause I'm honestly still trying to figure out whats their current relationship.

He was Milsiril prisoner partner from when she was part of the canaries, from their interactions it seems they got along (at least better than she got with any other elf, they're always together and it's shown she pretty much shuts off everyone else, other nobles don't seem to be that close with the prisoners they're responsible for)

Just to explain better in the canaries there's Noble children and Prisoners, each noble is responsible to "keep an eye" on two prisoners and Milsiril was the noble responsible for Helki (unclear if she had another prisoner under her).

After Utaya she requested for him to be freed tho, so he's no longer a prisoner after she retirers. From the comics tho (especially Rin's extra) it seems he stayed with the canaries at least for a little longer than Milsiril, perhaps something similar to Erique? (I think Enrique was released for merit(功労) tho while that's not implied for Helki(報労) so I dont think he would have served as a guard?)

The same page now points him as an current ex canary tho

But I think this translation isn't very accurate? The original says

"ウタヤの報労として 赦免、引き受け"

First line is "as a reward for Utaya" then bellow "pardon, acceptance/undertaking" something like that? The translations seems to imply he was pardoned and given to her as a reward? But trying to search on google I think 引き受け seems to have a closer meaning to "taken responsability for"? Something like that is repeated by Fleki here.

So from my not very clear understanding they were Canary Partners and she vouched for him to be released after Utaya and now he either works for her or they're just friends (which i think its more accurate by how he was laughing at Kabru and how he was joining the canaries on the Rin thing without Milsiril, but I'm very biased about my perception of their relationship tbf)

If anyone else cares this much about this background guy that has very few lines please share what you think, I'm sucking up all the crumbs

[saiscribbles]

Lily seeing the painting in The SU Movie: What’s this Oedipal, Freudian, Jungian, Narcissistic painting?!?! (Despite the panting being a normal cherub painting and misusing a psychology term… again)

Lily seeing the Marcille and Fallon bathe together: This is just fan service! They’re naked and therefore it’s there to appeal to weebs!!! (Despite that bathing/ being in a hot spring with friends is a common thing in Japan and other countries as well)

Lily with “A place farther than the universe”: Oh yeah the high school age girls shake their boobs in front of older men but you can easily skip that part the rest of the anime is so wholesome!

Yes and Lily conveniently didn't mention the two scenes of teenage girls bathing together in her Antarctica anime.

Cause after all if Falin and Marcille bathing together in Dungeon Meshi is a "fanservice bath scene" then these must be too right?

Lily also censored the scene of Hinata bouncing her boobs at Kimari while the girls are all encouraging each other to seduce grown men to get on the Antarctica expedition because "we're high school girls, after all". Which just makes it look even worse.

Have I mentioned this show was entirely written by a then 50 year old man Jukki Hanada? Who was also a writer on Re:Zero? Which Lily makes fun of at the beginning of the video?

Who writes a ton of these moé Cute Girls Doing Cute Things shows which are generally aimed at grown men with the appeal being how simple-minded, bubbly, uncomplicated, pure and cute the girls are. Generally paired with highly niche male autist interests, you know such as big ice breaking ships.

Non-sexual objectification is still objectification. Yes sorry I'm gonna be one of those feminists ruining your anime.

By the way these screenshots are from a cut I put together of things Lily would normally complain about in any other show:

I watched it in Japanese subtitled because that's the only thing available on Crunchyroll. The dub is only available on the Blu-rays which I doubt Lily actually bought. Which means I have officially supported this show more than she has lol.

Needless to say I'm not doing a react to her video on it and this mini react is enough. The show is a boring paint by numbers affair about teenage girls and grown women all wanting to go to Antarctica for no real reason other than the plot demands it because that's the premise. Like Shirase's missing mother wasn't even a scientist or an engineer or anything she and her two friends also just spontaneously decided to go to Antarctica, one of the most dangerous places on Earth, cause it sounded fun.

The writing is lazy and contrived at every angle because it's just in service of watching moé anime girls be around highly detailed machinery. Also there's no lesbians Lily is lying to you.

[storytellering]

Do you think DMC has a incestuous subtext? I am kind of new to the franchise (and also the fandom... Which isn't really respectful that I can see) and I want to know if I am not the only one who thinks that it's pretty obvious why the ships between DVN have many believers.

First of all, welcome to DMC, anon! And OH BOY, you'll definitely find that that's the majority opinion, at least within the Spardacest circles - honestly, most "normie" circles too. Every grass-touching, non-internet poisoned dudebro I've ever met and talked dmc with has made one or two incest jokes at me about it, definitely noting how the rivalry between the twins is very charged - the only people I've found who flat out deny it are the antis. To go more in depth about the actual subtext there - well, one should start with the roots of dmc in dmc1, right? DMC1 is definitely a gothic game - it's everywhere in the aesthetics, the inspirations, the imagery and the environment, and what is gothic horror without the incest? The initial incest in Kamiya's dmc, before Itsuno stepped in, was definitely obvious in Dante and Trish (who I'm pretty sure according to kamiya at least were supposed to be endgame) - and like, c'mon. You can say all you want that she only looks like his mom, she isn't actually Eva, she doesn't even have her personality... but from a moral perspective, that's still weird as fuck if we're going by real life standards, right? You wouldn't fuck a clone of your mom without it being at least a little bit incestuous.

Then Itsuno stepped in from 3 on, and the incestuous undertones became more focused on the immediate Sparda family - the twins, and eventually, Nero.

...Do I need to even explain it? Sure, in 3 the twins bicker and banter like real brothers, but there's definitely a suggestive edge to it - so many quips between them that really cannot be explained by "oh haha brotherly banter" without it getting at least a little bit weird. Not to mention all the "impalement as penetration" comparisons that can be drawn, and I'll leave a nice little video that goes deeper into a lot of that (as well as the gothic inspirations in the dmc franchise) so you can hear it from the mouth of someone far more eloquent than me.

And then in 4... I mean, if the amount of people who almost ubiquitously shipped Dante and Nero as soon as 4 dropped and continued doing so until 5 officially confirmed their relation (which, to be fair, Nero being Dante's nephew had actually been hinted at all along, but exactly because of so many people shipping them and not wanting it to be incestuous/the dudebros not liking Nero very much when 4 was new, pretty much everyone in the english speaking side of the fandom had been in denial about it until 5 spelled it out in big, bold letters) is kind of the test, no? That the tension and chemistry is so obvious the moment the incest element is hidden or unclear, everyone is suddenly in agreement about it. I could go on and on and on about Nero's obvious puppy crush/hero worship on Dante, Dante's immediate fondness of Nero, how if you read the 4 novels it's even more blatant and in your face... but all I'm gonna say is that that initial fight scene was softcore porn and no one can convince me otherwise, lmao. Listen, I'm just saying that if the intention wasn't to be suggestive, having Nero wrap his legs around Dante to pull him closer, bite his gun, and then straddle him like that was a very poor choice. Honorable mention for the reboot, whose devs were VERY aware of the tension between the Spardas in the og franchise, called it out by saying their game wasn't gonna do "all that gay shit" (obviously in the early 2010s the issue wasn't the incest, but it being GAY incest 🙄) and then accidentally made their version of the twins SO very....... whatever the hell is going on with the reboot twins. Not not-incestuous and definitely not straight, I'll tell you that.

And then 5, again. Do I need to explain it? Nero and V are, once again, a perfect textbook example of "couple that had so much natural chemistry everyone was flocking to it before it was revealed to be incest", plus the way everything about Dante's story, at the end, now that he's a weathered old man, is made to revolve around Vergil... yes, Dante is a depressed old alcoholic because he pushed everyone away, because of the laundry list of issues he ended up with because of everything that happened in his life, BUT Vergil was always front and center within it, even when he wasn't there. That Dante's story quite literally begins and ends with Vergil... well. I dunno about you, that just doesn't feel like your regular siblings dynamic. Also another honorable mention: "I'll make you submit" is a totally normal thing to say to your estranged father. Not weird at all with absolutely zero implications. OH, not to mention, even if we stay purely within canon and don't even look deeper at any implications or subtext... the literal only canon couple is incestuous, too. Let's not forget Kyrie and Nero are adopted siblings, Nero was raised as her brother, and the game itself calls it out in the character descritption (in 4's character bios it says Kyrie is at once Nero's "lover and family") + it's quite literally spelled out in the novels (having Nero think that "well, while it's true that he's been raised with Kyrie as siblings, he would've liked her even if they weren't family"). There's SO much more I could still go into, I have quite literally spent the past 3 years replaying the games over and over and overthinking/hyperanalizing every single frame, rereading the novels and the mangas to the point I could cite them by memory, and it's just... I dunno. I saw someone else say this somewhere, but if you're into DMC and grossed out by incest... this might not be the franchise for you.

[knightyoomyoui]

KNIGHT'S ALL-TIME FAVORITE TWICE FANFIC STORIES OF GREATNESS: PART 1

Heyo, Knight here! I mentioned from my previous post days ago that I decided to share some of my favorite TWICE fics that I finished reading since I reactivated my Wattpad account back in 2020. I just feel like my fellow TWICE AU authors who made these deserves much appreciation and recognition, so I made this. If you haven’t checked them out, oh you better do so. There will be more for me to share, so for now, take a look at these five stories that will be included here.

1.) "Adore You" | Mina x Nayeon by Nabongsbunny (Fluff, Smut, Angst) (2020)

I remember when this was my very first TWICE AU that I'd read after months of getting introduced to TWICE back in 2020. A friend of mine requested that I read this one after I asked her about fanfiction that features K-Pop idols, which I learned that other people were also doing it too. And my God, when I gave it a try... Although I was shocked at first at the unexpected lesbian smut that greeted me (and through the rest of the story, which my friend shyly apologizes to me for not making me aware of, lol, but I didn't mind it that much since I'm just in for the story), but all I can say is that the narration is so beautifully written, and all of the characters, especially Nayeon and Mina's, chemistry was carefully built through their backstories, moments, and decisions in life that actually can be put into real-life situations in which, despite being disappointing, you can't help but not blame them for it because... well, it's love. Also, this story was the reason that got me into listening and loving the song "Adore You" by Harry Styles. This one serves as like the official soundtrack if this would be an entire film, but you won't be surprised why the author perfectly chose this song to fit for Minayeon's story. A little glimpse to give about the story, if I remember correctly (it has been more than a year since I read it, but I'm planning to give it a reread because of how perfect it is), Nayeon is the bratty CEO of her company when she met Mina as the team leader who was appointed by her parents to take care of her as they send her to LA to enter a boarding school. There, she realized that this isn't actually their first time meeting each other when Nayeon finds Mina familiar, which brought her to recall where it all began, and the rest is one hell of a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Give it a read for yourself if you are fine with reading TWICE AU that features a ship or pair and doesn't mind a girl-to-girl relationship. I'm probably sure it would end up as one of the best TWICE AU stories you'll ever read. No wonder it became an iconic fanfic in the community. Try to ask a Minayeon fanfic to others; I bet this would be the first or one of them to be mentioned.

2.) "Move On" | Nayeon x Female Reader by @vorrentis (heavy Angst) (2018)

Is it a bit ironic that I'm not really into reading female reader x member if I'm a guy who's gonna read it yet I also read stories that features a ship in TWICE, which members are both female? Well that would be my case of not attempting to give this one a read from Vorrentis' goated TWICE one-shot book on Wattpad. Quick fun fact: Vorrentis is one of my favorite Twice AU authors and my inspiration for starting to write fanfics on my own. Okay, now back to what I was saying, thank goodness my curiosity finally had me check it out by myself a few weeks ago. The summary of this story would be Nayeon and YN, two ex-couples who broke up after Nayeon mysteriously disappeared, and YN didn't know where she went until she found out that she'd be marrying Jeongyeon, whom they both know as a friend of theirs. If you give it a read, you will see how YN would almost curse Nayeon's life to the depths of hell for breaking her heart after what she did. Beware, this story contains LOTS of strong languages because, like I said, it's heavy angst filled with confrontations and arguments. What I love about this is how the author did a great job on making the dialogues felt so real, as if when you were reading it, you can feel the intensity because it's like you're sharing the same room as them as a nosy spectator or let's say you are their child (lol). And oh, since I mentioned about how Nayeon's sinful act devastated YN's vulnerable heart brutally, here comes the mindblowing double twist that would be thrown to you as it reaches the climax. Had me gaping my mouth in shock at the back and forth of revelations.

3.) "Stuck In Fairytales" | TWICE x Male Reader by ZAKY14 (Fluff, Angst) (2020)

I found this one pretty interesting because it reminded me of "Knock Knock"'s storyline in the MV, minus the theorized creepy twist that ONCEs put in there, and when I read it, I was so entertained throughout the chapters. The author, Zaky, is known on Wattpad for writing a bunch of Twice fics, some of which feature other idols too. The story of this one is centered on "Lao Bang,"  the name of the reader here, who accidentally discovered an ancient storybook. He opened it and got sucked in there to be part of every story it contains inside, explaining why this book has arcs that feature some of the popular Disney fairytale characters that TWICE would be portraying as. This one has a sequel by the way, and it will continue to tell Lao Bang's story after he successfully escaped the book.

4.) "The Life I Never Had" | TWICE x Male Reader by Mashimuno (2020)

If you love superheroes and some action/comedy genres like me, this one is definitely for you. “The Life I Never Had” tells the story of YN, a guy who got teleported off Earth since he was 5 years old and grew up to be trained as a bounty hunter in the planet he got thrown at. One day, during a mission he got beaten up badly with his sidekick and forced to retreat onto a nearby habitable planet , and there he ends up at the Earth where he was born which is also where TWICE would be living also in this story (they're still portrayed here as idols, just like in real life, btw). It also has a multiverse concept that we usually see in Marvel and DC films. Read it if you want to see how YN would meet the girls and how his connection with them gets stronger, and it will teach him how to live an unparalleled life that he never experienced in the universe he used to live for his entire life as they get to know themselves more throughout the chapters while facing YN's adversaries from the other planet.

5.) "Sociopath" | Nayeon x Male Reader by @nichuuu (Fluff, Angst, Smut) (2023)

Back in February, I tried to search for some TWICE one-shots on Tumblr because not gonna lie I get tired of seeing bunches of smuts and nothing new in my feed. Then I found this one. Me loves tsundere because of how often I see them in animes, and the way the author made it possible by writing Nayeon's character like that in this story where she is the CEO of her company, famous for being a... well, let's say she is an evil boss who is a huge antisocial until she meets YN, who applied as her 25th secretary (insane, right?). The story is basically about how a devil meets an angel who will slowly change her perception of the reality of life, and through the people around her who will result in her change of heart. The more she also begins to fall in love with our male lead here, they also face some challenges that are related mainly to Nayeon's tragic past that brought her hostile side to emerge and live with it. The prologue was effectively hilarious when I first read it, and I knew right then that I would be reading such an awesome story. I even finished the whole chapter in just a day! It's truly one of the best rom-com TWICE fics I've read, and I highly recommend it.

[noangeleither]

"fixing" the panic attack scene to be more platonic ™

im extremely active on twt and have been noticing a sydcarmy tweet go viral multiple times a week (like w thousands of interactions its crazy), and its really great to see how much people love and see it for this ship. recently carmys panic attack scene went viral again, and naturally, some ppl gave their piece about how we are all dumb for interpreting it as romantic. that sydney represents his love for his job or his duty to the restaurant (*sigh*).

this scene imo, is the most concrete proof of this ship. i can excuse (not really) interpreting every interaction between them thus far as platonic but this scene....i just refuse. this is gonna be a long post, not analyzing the scene per se because i can't possibly say anything that hasn't already been said but more "fixing" the scene to fit the narrative of antis, and i hope in doing so really shows there's no other way to interpret this scene as other than romantic. again its gonna be a long post bc im just ranting and i think i will lose my mind if i dont type this out.

lets go.

so first off i like to think of this scene as an equation/experiment. simply a problem that needs to be solved.

problem/reason of panic = ...we will discuss this...

solution # 1 = claire -> failed

solution # 2 = sydney -> worked.

Problem/Reason

s02e09 opens up with carmy and claire finally consummating their relationship, with an interesting song choice might i add and carmy dissociating, looking sad, or broken (???) after. because many have said carmy pulling memories of sydney from his psyche to calm down have to do with work i always remember that, it really doesnt make any sense?

carmy is clearly having a panic attack due to him not being "fixed" as soon as he made it official with claire. he felt pressure from his family both currently and in the past to date claire because she is amazing and perfect. add mikey also being a part of that crowd, and carmy so desperately trying to connect with him when he cannot, is why i think he looks so despondent after that scene. i truly think he thought he would be a changed person after everything with claire and when that didn't happen he flipped...

we know this is the reason bc his panic attack starts with their sex scene and the lyric "I dont know" from strange currencies by REM.

this isn't to say that he isn't nervous or stressed about the soft open but its clear that he's not having a panic attack about work nor have we ever seen him have a work-related panic attack (correct me if I'm wrong). in s1 he has one or two due to him greiving his brother.

platonic fix: To make it about work I would have added scenes like when Carmy started that stove fire in braciole, his meltdown in review, some scenes of his horrible time at EMP, and him grieving his brother. i think these would represent his fear of failure, falling back into old toxic habits pertaining his career, the fear of fostering a toxic work environment like the ny chef and also the idea of "failing" mikey

but theres a reason why none of this occurs bc its not about his job or the opening of the bear. this is explicitly about his personal and romantic love life.

Solution # 1 : Claire

carmy proceeds to try and calm down by thinking of claire through literal rose-coloured glasses...

the music is distorted, he's thinking of his abusive family, he remembers every one pushing him to date claire bc shes a #goodthing.

again...this is not about his job and wouldnt make sense to think of sydneys place in his work life as a soultion to his clear personal problem....

platonic fix: in the story of carmys love life claire and sydney act as narrative foils. they have been compared and contrasted for all of s2. my platonic fix for this would be making the NY chef this first "solution" of a work-related panic attack. he represents a horrible time in his life but also represents a time when carmy was at the height of his career. when carmy gets locked in the walk in and has his monologue, its alluded to that he will revert back to that mind set in order to not let everyone down.

NY chef abused him for so long, it makes sense that carmys psyche would readily go back to his insults and the time he himself was an isolated 'psycho' bc it yielded results.

nothing is black and white and i DO think sydney represents a healthier approach to the toxic mess that is the culinary world and does represent that for carmy. if the show was invested in that, sydney and the NY chef could be overtly contrasted like sydney and claire have been.

BUT again this isnt about his job and dedication as a chef...thus why he tries to think of claire to solve his personal problem, and it fails.

Solution # 2: Sydney

LMFAOOO.

carmy then in a crazy plot twist starts thinking of his platonic work bestie sydney adamu....the love song dedicated by the show to his relationship with his girlfriend is then made clear highlighting some pretty damning lyrics about desire and love.....all platonic btw. yes you are dumb if you think otherwise (*wink*)

I actually have two platonic fixes for this...

platonic fix # 1: if we only wanted to focus on sydney as a person who calms carmy down because shes his work bestie who represents his responsibilty to the bear and the postive change they are trying effect in the culinary world, i would add scenes where they are...you know actually cooking???

i think its pretty crazy how the memories carmys immediately jump to are ones that have little to do with their jobs. when they first meet (would also like to note that when carmy first laid eyes on Sydney, he forgot she was there for a job, so this is his raw reaction to seeing a pretty girl lol) and when she comes back after she quit and their break up fight.

i would add their scenes in carmys kitchen (even tho this is extremely damning bc they were flirting DOWN - they don't make this easy at all). this represents their collaboration skills and the way they WORK and bounce ideas off of each other seamlessly. specifically the scene about him wanting to give her a star, representing his duty to her and the restaurant.

*and no shade to carmy but if his responsibility to the bear/syd as a co-worker was bothering him this much and calmed him down wouldn't he have just immediately called the fridge guy.....anyways*

platonic fix # 2 (the best one): if i was chris storer and joanna calo and i REALLY wanted to sell it that carmy isnt in love with sydney then i would put every single member of the OG beef crew + Nat to calm him down not just Sydney.

im talking to them laughing at family, carmy giving tina his chefs knife, richie in his new suit, carmys one on one w Marcus/trying his donut, nat telling carmy shes pregnant (signifing rebirth/wanting to rid all the toxic abuse from his family), carmy trying sydney risotto, and her face when he said it was tremendous etc etc...you get the gist

and honestly?

even as i type this out im tearing up a little bit bc that would have been really beautiful. carmy is changing. he can and is getting rid of old toxic habits from his family and the mess that is the culinary industry. things are changing for the better....that would be beautiful....IF his panic attack was about any of these things lol.

and to even look at this scene without this need for symmetry and we entertain the idea of carmy thinking about his job as a solution for his personal problem...carmy has said himself (s02e01) that this isnt fun for him. i dont think that means he hates cooking i kinda disagree with the ppl who think he isnt passionate about it. i just think currently its something that doesnt bring him joy but i do think its something hes starting to or at least could have started to enjoy if he just committed to working with syd...

conclusion

theres a lot of....delusion? denial? straight up bias? yes all of that, going on.

idk what is happening bc this show is really great at being subtle. but i dont know whats more in your face, dumbed down, even a toddler could understand, than this scene. if you dont come out of this understanding that carmy is falling in love/currently in love with Sydney...and i hate using this term..but you just arent media literate.

bonus: bc it makes me laugh and connects the purpose and solutions.

i think we need a Snyder Sydcarmy Cut™ of bolognese and omelette.

the start of the episode is when sydney and carmy fight over claires inclusion in the menu, and also when sydney randomly asks him to define his relationship with Claire. the episode would continue until we get to the table scene.

i think its WILD how as soon as Sydney asks him to define their relationship, carmy starts calling claire his girlfriend. then the show proceeds to insert sydney in their romantic montage, shows her tattoo about heartbreak and someone getting in the way of your relationship...THEN proceeds to have carmy compare these two women in his mind and only calms down after seeing Sydney.

i could talk about this scene for AGES. wheres the straitjacket....

[genericpuff]

The Kiss Bet Episode 172 - Hot Pot and Venting About How I Want My 70 Cents Back

Okay, look, this isn't a post I was expecting to make today but it's something that just happened and I have to fucking talk about, so let me preface this with some context.

I had to buy coins recently and because I switched to using my iPad for reading comics on, I got a "new reader" type deal from Webtoons for a coin bundle that got me like 100 coins for $5; because technically it was a 'new account' as Webtoons operates their in-game currency model on apps, not on actual emails (meaning if you use the app on an Android phone and then switch to an Apple iOS device, they're technically two separate accounts which you sync the reading data between via the account info linked via the email, therefore they have two separate coin wallets).

So with more coins than I knew what to do with, I decided to start FastPassing The Kiss Bet again, which I had recently stopped FP'ing around the S3 mark, as it's recently devolved back into the "will they won't they" trope, but instead of between Sara-Lin and Joe, it's between Sara-Lin and Joe's younger brother (the "true endgame") Oliver.

Now I don't mind the ship in essence. Joe was definitely not gonna be endgame, it was always gonna be Oliver, anyone who's read any amount of romance before - especially high school romances - knows how this shit tends to go, and The Kiss Bet isn't exactly trying to be groundbreaking or subversive in any way, it knows exactly what it's about and what it's trying to accomplish.

But it's almost become a little too good at this. Because in playing the "will they won't they" game for so long with a character that we know is endgame, it's basically been weeks and weeks and weeks of-

That said, after I caught up on the recent FP episodes, it seemed like stuff was finally moving a little bit. We were finally meeting Oliver's mom and his stepdad who he has a fractured relationship with, Joe was finally getting with his true endgame girl, Vicky (who's totally not an exact genderbent version of Joe lmao) and Sara-Lin was finally realizing she had feelings for Oliver.

And then the newest episode came out, Episode 172 - Hot Pot and Venting.

CAUTION: FASTPASS SPOILERS FOR THE KISS BET OFFICIALLY BEGIN HERE!

Already I was a little petty over the title like "lmao ok clunky title but whatever". I swept it off as not a genuine criticism, just me being a nitpicking asshole over what's essentially Fluff: The Comic.

The episode cost 7 coins, which is about roughly 70 cents, albeit closer to a dollar for Canadian readers (here's something they don't tell you about Canada - our Monopoly game currency is just as fucked as it looks) and that's where I'm gonna get into my second disclaimer that I need to be perfectly clear about (and it'll be what we get more into later on in this post).

I understand the principle of paying for art. I understand fully that many of these webtoons are being produced on tight deadlines by creators who often can only afford 1-2 assistants, if any at all. I understand and fully agree that creators deserve to be paid for their skills, time, and efforts, not just as creators working on the hellsite that is Webtoons, but as artists in general who deserve to make a living the same as anyone else. Anyone who follows my stuff here knows I'm an artist myself so I would never debate the ethical necessity of paying artists for their work.

However.

I can say that, and also agree with the people who have stated in discussion circles such as on /r/webtoons that a lot of the comics that have started charging 7 coins have been suspiciously delivering less comic since. And it's not even so much in the literal panel count, the liquid volume of these comics have remained the same, but the calorie count has dropped significantly. Food metaphors aside, what I mean is that despite many of these comics maintaining their 40-60 minimum panel count requirement, they have in fact reduced the actual amount of content that happens in them, and The Kiss Bet's newest episode is a stark example of what I mean.

I am going to start by posting only post three panels - three panels that literally sum up the entirety of Episode 172 and what it chooses to spend its time on.

That is it. That is literally all that's established in this episode. I'd tell you to go read it yourself, but honestly, this is genuinely one of those rare times I can honestly say that a 40+ panel episode is not worth 70 cents and you'd be better off, and that's saying a LOT when these episodes are only priced at the cost of a gumball. At least Lore Olympus has entertainment in how bad it is most of the time, Episode 172 of The Kiss Bet is just nothing. You will literally get more substance and flavor from an actual gumball.

Literally every other panel in this episode is either repeating the same dialogue (Sara-Lin saying the same thing multiple different times to express how Oliver is holding her hand or how his stepdad is a dick) and then Sara-Lin and Oliver staring at each other. Over. And over. Again.

I am not joking. I did not cut anything out in that sequence. That is where the episode ends. Complete nothingburger, seemingly cut off right as it was just getting started like Cait Corrain's career.

Out of the entire episode, there were 45 panels. So I can safely assume Ingrid's minimum panel requirement is at least 40 per episode, that's me assuming the best that she didn't exactly meet her panel minimum at 45 panels on the dot.

Out of those 45 panels, there were:

Two actual unique backgrounds that weren't gradients or just a single piece of furniture

4 separate panels of Sara-Lin freaking out over Oliver holding her hand and wondering if he even noticed

10 panels of Sara-Lin staring at Oliver either dumbfounded or asking him to repeat himself (or apologizing over nothing)

5 panels of the characters saying nothing

11 panels of Sara-Lin repeating information in different ways that could have been accomplished in half that time

Two separate occasions of Oliver getting Sara's attention from off-panel, literally formatted the exact same way both times (and both followed by reaction panels of Sara-Lin staring at him dumbfounded)

Way too many panels of Sara-Lin blushing in response to Oliver being an asshole tbh like literally this guy's a douchebag, Joe may have been the "out of her league" love interest but at least he was nice and didn't treat Sara-Lin like someone who just bought a Husky as a "starter pet" ???

Again, I don't usually like being a dick about the coin costs, and I definitely don't like being a hypocrite in telling people they should pay artists for their work while simultaneously posting their paywalled content like this, but I think there does come a point where it feels more irresponsible for people to not be aware of what they're about to pay for and how little they're going to be getting. This episode is literally one of the best - and worst - examples of how far the romance genre has fallen on the platform - when it's not being overtaken and oversaturated by problematic series that romanticize abuse and sexual assault, it's being dragged to death with the most boring executions of tropes that everyone has seen before and is only exciting for anyone who's never read a book or watched a romance movie, period.

And here's the thing where I do approach a bit more "hot take" territory, but every time I see this argument come up about episodes not being worth the coin cost, I see others who rightfully argue that 70 cents isn't that much to pay for what you're getting - weekly episodes of work that are usually always delivered on time, with more panels than you would ever typically see in a free to read comic.

But here's where I take issue with that argument, as much as the principle of it is sound, it misses the overall point: readers are paying for entertainment first and foremost, so can anyone who's actually paying for regular refills on their app currency step away from this and truly call it "entertainment"? Nothing was gained. The comic had 45 panels to say something, anything, and managed to not even squeak out so much of a word. Even the silent moments have no substance, they just reiterate information that we already know.

Do we really need another panel of Sara-Lin blushing at Oliver? We've known for weeks now that she has a crush on him. Do we really need another panel of Oliver getting Sara-Lin's attention? What is this actually showing of their chemistry? What is being shown here that hasn't been shown numerous times - with and without dialogue - for weeks now? What does the comic have to show for itself after four seasons?

Another point of the "it's just 70 cents, don't be an asshole" argument that people seem to miss is it's not 70 cents. It's $1. Because if you want to buy a single episode of the Kiss Bet, you can't just pay for the individual episode in isolation, you have to pay for the coins first, and $1 is the absolute bare minimum you have to pay to get 10 coins, which will only pay for one episode of a 7 coin series - of which there are many now, basically any series that's 40 panels or more will cost 7 coins and, shocker, those are the series that WT will tend to promote most, you'll rarely see the 5 coins series in the banner ads, and that's not even getting into how there are more and more series cropping up that have 5+ episodes behind FP rather than the traditional three.

So if you're someone who's (almost definitely) keeping up with more than one series? You can't just pay the $1, you have to pay at least $5 for 50 coins, and that will NOT go far anymore or cut as evenly as it used to when just about every series is now 7 coins. Webtoons knows fully well what kind of game they're playing by making the new coin cost an uneven number while still offering increments of 5/10 in their coin bundles. They undoubtedly want you to be left with an uneven number so that you'll be easily lured into buying more coins so you don't 'waste' the uneven amount you have left that isn't enough to buy the episodes for the series you want to read. Obviously this is more speculation and not fact, but it's a common business model and with the series that have adopted the 7 coin count model (rather than starting off with 7 coins outright) such as The Kiss Bet and Lore Olympus, it's becoming abundantly clear that either the creators or the platform itself is encouraging these series to meet their panel minimums with as little content as possible in order to get more money out of readers who are barely even being drip fed actual entertainment and narrative progression, let alone spoon fed.

And then there's the waiting. The goddamn waiting. So many of these series guilty of siphoning their content off through a hose that they're deliberately standing on are designed intentionally with the most egregious cliffhangers in mind to keep their audience hooked so they'll undoubtedly FP next week. Do you know what that amount of waiting does to a comic? To its readers? First off, it artificially extends the actual pacing of the comic to make it feel longer than it is, when in reality, many of these plotlines are happening in a vacuum of very short bursts of time. Case in point, Lore Olympus is commonly confused for having a plotline that takes place over the course of months, when actually when laid end to end in order of cause and effect, many of its subplots - including the romance of Hades and Persephone - takes place over the course of days. This over-inflates the plotline's actual depth and, even worse so, it makes it harder for readers to keep up with information that's being delivered, as it often takes weeks for that information to actually go anywhere - so by the time it does, many readers have straight up forgotten about it.

It's absolutely not okay that so many of these kinds of series are normalizing literal slow burning for an audience who's paying to be entertained. It's not a "slow burn". It's just slow, and deliberately so. It's absolutely NOT FUN to follow a comic that does not go anywhere week after week. It's frustrating. And before long, it starts to feel like gambler's fallacy, where readers have to essentially gaslight themselves into paying into it more and more convinced that it has to pay off eventually, based on a promise that was never actually made, only assumed in good faith. And readers should not have to fill in the bulk of the content that isn't happening with their own imaginations, which is something that happens a LOT in these series that spend so much time on the characters just staring at each other and saying nothing. It's not 'plot' to just draw characters blushing and have your audience fill in the rest of it entirely on their own. This is certainly a technique in writing, but in the case of The Kiss Bet and other comics like it, it's much less of a valid technique and more just flat out manipulating your audience into falling so hard into the sunk cost fallacy trap that they don't notice they're being robbed blind by the plot that hasn't actually happened - and they've been paying for that financial and emotional robbery out of their own pockets and brains every step of the way.

Again, I do not care about the coin cost in and of itself, seventy cents IS still an incredibly cheap price for weekly updates of a series that has to put out so many panels each week. But as a reader and a customer, I should not be leaving these updates with less information than what I started with. And I'm someone who's incredibly old school by webcomic standards, there are comics that I follow that have updated 1-2 pages a week for over a decade that manage to do more with their limited pages than Lore Olympus and The Kiss Bet manage to do after entire hiatuses filled with pre-production time.

Why does this page of Alfie manage to move both the intrinsic plot of the titular character as well as the external plot that's going on around her in one page made up of 5 panels better than what The Kiss Bet can do in 45?

Why does this page of Tamberlane manage to convey more information about the world's lore and the people in it in a way that's emotionally driven and clearly affecting the characters without outright info-dumping than what Lore Olympus has managed to spit out onto its plate since S3 started over a year ago?

How does Tales from Alderwood manage to be more entertaining and convey more meaningful storytelling through its characters in a single page consisting of zero dialogue than what The Kiss Bet can convey in its silent panels of staring, blushing, and repetitive stuttering?

Why are the creators who are relying entirely on their own efforts, resources, and ability to generate income through community interaction and support putting out better work with less panels and on slower schedules for FREE than what we're seeing from professional creators on a professional publishing platform who are being paid to do this as their job?

There's this saying in the tattooing industry: good work isn't cheap and cheap work isn't good.

At this point, 70 cents is not a 'bargain' as many people like to argue in defense of the creators. And while I do want to have good faith in the creators who don't pull this shit, the creators who clearly go above and beyond to do what they do in the pursuit of storytelling and polishing their craft to be the best piece of work that it can be - the comics that are worth paying 70 cents and beyond for - are not the comics that Webtoons is promoting to people. The creators of the works that genuinely deserve more than 70 cents per update are being left to fend for themselves without support from the platform, while those that aren't worth the price of even a flavorless gumball are consistently winning the Wonka Golden Ticket lottery.

The cost of 70 cents is relative. For some works it's a genuine bargain. For others like the The Kiss Bet and Lore Olympus, 70 cents is not a "bargain", it's not a "good deal", it's exactly the value of what you're paying for - cheap work that isn't good.

[victoriansnakearts]

So here's something that I realized after Ghostfuckers and it honestly sort of...soured my view on Moxxie and Millie as a couple.

Don't get me wrong, I do like Moxxie and Millie as a couple, they are cute. But that episode just highlighted something for me and that is....why exactly are they together?

Look at past Merc Millie and present day Millie. They are so far opposites in personality, I feel they are completely different characters....the different appearance just does that moreso.

But this just makes me scratch my head as to why Millie and Moxxie are a couple. I mean sure we can speculate and go off and say that Moxxie charmed her, or showed her the things he's into or it's some kinda opposites attract sort of thing. (Though this is just headcanon)

At the same time though....I just don't even see it? With S1 Millie before the flashback sequences in S2, I could see that Millie and Moxxie could become a couple, the ol' rough n tumble farm gal getting with that city boy.

But the Ghostfuckers flashback sequence with Millie? I have a harder time seeing that this version of Millie would find Moxxie interesting(which even Blitz says that she'll hate Moxxie, of course obviously some humor thrown in for a laugh, but still). It seemed more like she would find more appeal with Blitz, which honestly within those sequences...she does!

Which by the way, as per S1...Blitz has been wanting to screw both Moxxie and Millie....right ok. So here's the issue as well with Mox n Millie as a couple...

You're going to tell me, that Blitz WASN'T wanting to have sex with Millie throughout the WHOLE time that they were killing in Hell? That he didn't put on that charm of his, flirt with her, hang out and shoot his shot to bone her?

Gonna tell me that...he waited for them to get married and then...that's when he decided he wanted to screw them?.....What?

That's another thing I'm not getting, because I can see Blitz and Millie as per their Mercenary iterations totally fucking......there's no way Blitz wouldn't want to get into Millie's pants before she got married and honestly I could see Millie wanting to get into his with their interactions.

Which it seems I'm not the only one, because apparently I've seen some people actually ship Militz(the official ship name it seems), just due to the flashback sequences of them together and showing the bond that Blitz n Millie have.

But dialing back a little bit, while I like Moxxie n Millie as a couple...it's cute, but the same time that's....kinda all it is? It's just...cute. Which is fine don't get me wrong, but this episode just.....I dunno....it's confusing to me now. Of course maybe it's again S2 just not meshing well with S1, or maybe it's because this couple is just 'there' to be the 'cute married couple' it's just now left me wondering now WHY?

Sure I get that the episode was a Blitz n Millie focused one, so maybe expecting some sort of Moxxie n Millie stuff was out of the question...but it's just odd, considering that they are married and we don't really get any insight to it.

Yeah overall almost all canon ships in the hellverse have this problem, there just isn’t any chemistry between them. Like for m&m I originally saw the appeal I was actually a fan of them in the pilot more so than the show. (Moxxie was far more grumpy and the straight man which paired well with Millie’s sweet and caring personality)

In season one it was just the honeymoon phase which was fine but by season two it never really expanded beyond that. Then unhappy campers came into the picture and kinda ruined any amount of interest I had in the ship.

For one Millie was destined to be a nothing character and any “development” would just be to put up any male character

As for moxxie I can’t help but feel he’s codependent on Millie in an unhealthy way like he needs her to constantly build his self worth. (At least that’s what it feels like with the same repeat storyline they do with him) like that’s all Millie was made for to boost moxxie.

And now with Millie’s past I cant see why she got with him in the first place. My best guess is that he was a sweet guy and she kinda pitied him but that’s not what I see as an amazing romance lol

Merc Millie x blitz does definitely have more chemistry. In an alternate show I feel like both of them are capable of standing on their own (if Millie had more time to shine) and both of them could build each other up. like blitz sees her strength and knows she deserves more and can achieve goals despite being an imp. Millie can see blitz for what he truly is and knows he’s a good person. I don’t know if I’m making sense but I feel like they could be a good power couple in alt timeline.

I kinda hate how they doubled down on the two being platonic and how Millie is his “first friend he doesn’t want to fuck” (I know fizz was a crush but isn’t he more of a friend to blitz???)

Anyways I’m rambling but now you’ve got me wanting to do au art for this ship lol

I’d also say that Millie x striker and blitz x fizz have way more potential that what we currently have too (why is it always the non canon stuff that’s way better 😔)

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Why are you and twinanimatronics spreading misinformation that Solar just calls himself cousin as a joke? I don't care what y'all ship, just at least don't spread misinformation like that. Proven in today's LAES episode, Lunar was quick to consider Solar as sibling despite Earth clarifying that he's a cousin. Point is, Solar wasn't joking about that.

Earth literally said that Solar isn't a cousin and gave him a title cause she likes giving a title for things.

They have clarified this at least a total of two times in their reaction episodes. And I really think it's the VA's way of saying "Ship what you like."

I say "joke" because Solar did call himself a cousin as a joke in the Christmas Episode. "Who's gonna give a gift to good ol' cousin Solar -he laughs- "

It's the only time he's referred to himself as such.

Every other time he's felt awkward about it every time Earth tends to bring it up.

I did not view Solar as a cousin LONG before Earth made a cute little title for him. She even acts like it's a non-official thing. And I still don't. I do not view Solar a sibling either.

I ship them as AU and not related.

I do not view Solar as related. I do not view him as a sibling. I do not view him as a distant relative either.

People who don't support SolarMoon Ship SunEclipse all the time.

Eclipse and Solar are literally the same person from a different dimention.

So Sun can be shipped with an Eclipse?

But Solar Can't?

What kinda weird logic is that?

By that Logic, Every single Sun and Moon themed animatronic is related.

Is Solar and Ruin shipped together incest?

Is Ruin and Eclipse shipped together incest?

Is shipping Gemini with Lunar Pedophila because one is a star being and the other is a robot????

What if Eclipse has a redemption arc and then Told Sun and Moon he wanted to be THEIR BROTHER... WHAT THEN?!?!?! WHAT THEN?! I'm curious actually. As an Eclipse x Sun shipper, what would you do then?!?!?

Earth and Lunar even joked that their family tree is basically nonexistant.

I think we need to normalize people Just saying "This ship isn't for me" and stop trying to pull a "GOTCHA" and trying to find an excuse things are morally reprehensible or throw people under the bus because they just liked the idea or possibilities of seeing two animatronic robots kiss.

[yesbutmakeitgay]

A Little Taste Of Heaven

Carol Danvers x Reader

We’ve Loved A Thousand Lives

Same beginning, different story every time.

Part 13

Fluff, Bittersweet.

Beta'd by @cordeliasdarling <3

Word count: 2.1k

Masterlist | This collection | AO3

Carol walks back to her ship after another successful mission wanting for nothing more than to relax and rest while reaching her next destination. As soon as she enters the vessel, she hears shuffling and mumbling in the darkness, making alarm set into her.

She quickly makes her way to the source of the sound and finds a stranger’s silhouette, "Carol, thank god you're here," you exclaim as soon as you see her.

Carol frowns in confusion, pointing her lit up fist at you, "Who are you?" she asks mostly in confusion.

You look her in the eye intently, "Carol?" you wait for a response, "Danvers?" you insist, "Angel?" it comes out almost like a plea, "You really don't know me?" she looks at you dumbfounded, "Oh, crap." Your brain starts slowly connecting the dots.

She examines you from head to toe, you look mostly human and are wearing a vaguely familiar uniform, but she's certain she would remember meeting such a cute face before, "How did you get in here?" Her tone is firm, contrasting her doubtful features.

"I’m not sure," you hesitate, hoping she'll believe you, you gesture toward her fist, "Can you put that down?"

"Maybe if you tell me who you are."

You consider it for a second, "I really don't think that will help my case," she respects the honesty, "wait, I’m with S.H.I.E.L.D.," you suddenly remember, reaching into your pocket and pulling out your ID to show her.

Carol takes it and studies it, it looks official, except it doesn't resemble the real S.H.I.E.L.D. IDs, but she can sense your despair, "If you say so…" She really wants to trust you, but you're not making it easy for her.

Having her powers so close to you puts you on edge, "Please get that thing out of my face, you have no reason to be afraid of me."

"I'm not afraid, I am concerned," she clarifies, "I leave for two hours and when I come back there's a stranger in my kitchen."

"I am literally incapable of physically hurting you," you eyes travel to the ground in defeat, "and you're making me nervous," you add as if waving a white flag.

"Fine." She puts her arm down and stops glowing, finding your pleas sweet.

After some time, you speak again, "I think I know what happened," she lifts an eyebrow in curiosity, "but I’m gonna need you to have an open mind," she nods, gesturing for you to continue, "I was at the compound, training with America."

"Chavez?" she interrupts.

"The one and only, we were sparring in the gym and next thing I know, I fell on my back and then I was here."

Carol isn’t totally convinced, "Last time I checked, America was with Wong."

"That’s the tricky part," you worry your bottom lip between your teeth, "I didn't just change location, I jumped universes."

"Oh my god," she murmurs as all the blood drains from her face, you give her a moment to process the information as you also try to work it all out yourself, "what do we do now?"

You aren’t sure if there is anything you can do, but you have to try, lest things get even worse than they already are, "If I could just stay here until I find a way to reestablish communication with my team?"

"Of course, whatever you need." She starts to take her uniform off as you sit down to type away on your phone. She goes to her room and comes back out with her crocs on, "So, you've met me before," she deduces.

"Quite a few times, actually."

"Do I like you?" she pries.

"I mean, I sure hope so."

She gives you an amused smile, "Alright," she points to the cockpit apologetically, "I have to keep moving,"

"Oh, yeah, that's no problem, do your thing, you won’t even notice I’m here." She goes to pilot the ship, and you remain by the kitchen.

A few minutes later, you yell across the ship, "Is there any chance I could borrow a set of comms from you?"

"Sure." She walks over to you to hand you the device.

"Is it okay if I render them useless?"

She frowns, "What?"

"I need to rig them so I can talk to people in my universe," you explain.

"You can do that?" Her face lights up in amazement.

"I don't know yet, but I promise to replace it." Your eyes glimmer so sweet that she can’t resist them.

She gives in, maybe just to see if you can pull it off, "Sure, why not?"

"Thanks, Carol." you say absentmindedly, already taking the gadget apart.

She stops in her tracks, "Can you please not call me that?" she requests softly, "I get that you know me, but I don't know you and it feels kinda weird."

"Right, what should I call you?"

She quickly runs through all the options in her head and suggests, "Captain?"

"We tried that once, didn't do anything for me," you mumble under your breath.

"Huh?"

"Never mind, Captain it is."

After a while, you decide to make dinner for the both of you. You know your way around the ship a little too well, the Captain thinks, hearing you move around so much.

You go to the cockpit and gently rest your hand on her shoulder to get her attention, she jumps at the contact, though she isn't so mad about the goosebumps that appeared all over her body, you keep having to remind yourself that you’re not where you think you are, "Sorry, do you have any cumin?"

She looks to the side, "What’s that?"

You forgot she was totally uncultured before you met her, "Don’t worry, I’ll find it." You go back to the kitchen to double check every corner and continue cooking.

You're more careful about approaching her the second time, you stand by her side in her line of vision before asking, "Are you hungry, Captain?"

"I am famished, actually," she gets up and starts walking to the kitchen "let me reheat some leftovers—" she interrupts herself when she sees the already plated meal on the table, "did you make that?"

"Mhmm," you smile proudly, "my specialty, sans cumin." You both sit at the table, and she wastes no time before digging in.

"This is delicious!" she almost screams with her mouth full in surprise.

You're glad to know the Captain also likes your cooking, it might be considered cheating that you made your Carol's favorite, but you weren't gonna take any chances here.

"So, training with America, is that something you do often?" She asks as a way to fill the silence.

"Yeah, I work with all the new recruits."

About time they hired someone to do that, it’s not wise to consume all the Avengers’ time training the new kids, she thinks, "Do you know Kamala?"

An involuntary smile forms on your face as you think of your favorite trainee, "Yes, I do, she's very nice, safe for the fact that she's obsessed with Romanoff," you joke.

"Really?" She's so taken aback, disappointed even.

"Really," you confirm, "what's yours like?" The Captain only shakes her head in dismissal.

After you’re done with dinner, she clears the table and does the dishes, as she’s putting them away, the cupboard door gets jammed, "Let me," you offer, but she refuses.

"No, I got it." You can tell by her muscles that she’s using way too much force.

"Relax," you chuckle at her stubbornness, "this happens all the time in my Carol's ship, I’m the only one who knows how to fix it."

Her heart skips a beat, "Your Carol?" she repeats tentatively.

"I—you know what I mean." As you reach for the hinges your shirt rides up, and the Captain gets a peek at your midriff, the sight makes her mouth water more than your food did, and in one swift motion, you open the cabinet.

You settle on the couch for the night, and the Captain goes to her room. She goes to bed feeling all giddy inside, she hadn't felt this way in a long time. A part of her hopes it takes you a while to get back home so she can be around you longer, but before she can even form a solid thought, her eyes are already closing.

As soon as you know she's sleeping, you get back up and continue working. You knew Carol would refuse to rest if you told her you were still gonna be up, but you could tell how exhausted she was, so you had to play pretend for her sake. This is a very time sensitive matter, every second you spend in this universe you risk entangling the fabric of both your realities.

You've been working on the device long enough that your eyes are beginning to sting, it is almost dawn, when you manage to get a signal, "Danvers, do you copy?"

"Hey, hi, yes, I hear you!" your Carol answers triumphantly from the other end of the line.

"Finally," you scream whisper.

"Where are you?" The signal is choppy, but good enough for an improvised gadget.

"It's complicated, I’m sending you my exact location right now."

A ping indicates she's received your message, "Are you for real? That's so far away."

"It is? I have no idea."

"Are you okay? What's going on?"

"I’m fine, mostly safe, but I really, truly should not be here," you stress your words to get her to understand the severity of the situation.

"Right, I’m gonna go get Monica, and we're gonna get you back as soon as possible, okay?"

"Alright, thank you."

The twenty minutes it takes for your team to reach out to you again pass agonizingly slow, your leg is bouncing at a million beats per minute and you've chewed all your fingernails off to the bone.

A port opens up right where you landed in the kitchen, and your Carol comes through it, you feel relief take over your body, "Oh, thank God, it worked!"

"There you are." She pulls you into a tight hug.

The Captain is awakened by the noise and comes out of her room a little disoriented, "Could you please keep it down—" She freezes in place at the scene unfolding before her.

Your Carol lets go of the hug, keeping her arm around your waist and looking at her other self, "I’m assuming she's already explained enough so you won’t freak out." The Captain nods slowly with her lips parted, urging her brain to catch up.

"You’re looking good, Captain," your Carol smirks.

"Thanks, you too."

"Are you done flirting with yourself?" you ask, breaking their trance.

"Don’t tell me you've never thought about it," your Carol teases you.

"You know I have, that's the whole reason I married you." You lean further into her.

The Captain finally breaks the knot in her throat, "You two are married!

Your Carol looks at you with a frown, "I may have omitted a detail or two," you admit cheekily.

"Unbelievable," they both respond in unison.

Your Carol tosses the Captain a new comm device, and she catches it out of pure reflex, "This is for you."

"I’m gonna keep the old one and a souvenir." You wink.

"Now you're flirting with her!" your Carol accuses.

"It doesn't count as cheating if she's also you."

She rolls her eyes, "Whatever you say, Princess."

"Let’s get out of here, this ship is too cold," you tell your wife, "thank you for all your help," you tell the Captain genuinely.

"Thanks, Captain." Your Carol salutes her other self before sending a message to Monica to get you back home.

The Captain tries and fails to get the words out a few times, "Wait, is there another you in this universe?" she stutters.

Your wife and you share a look, "There should be," you guess.

Your Carol thinks about it briefly and agrees, "Yeah, good luck," she smiles, as you both disappear into a new portal.

Once the opening disappears, the Captain feels her heart drop to her stomach, she was so close and yet so far.

A moment later, Fury calls, and she reluctantly picks up, "Good news, Danvers, remember I've been telling you we're understaffed at S.H.I.E.L.D.?" she hums in response, too distracted by your absence, "We just hired a new member in the team, she's gonna help us train all new recruits."

"Really?" her face lights up immediately, "Any chance I can meet her soon?"

"Come down here, and I'll introduce you."

"Be right there," she beams.

[scullysexual]

We'll Meet Beyond The Shore.

Somewhere beyond the sea, she’s there watching for me, and if I could fly like a bird on high, then straight into her arms I’d go sailing.

Tags and Warnings: Major character death, enemies to friends (to lovers), doomed lovers.

n/a: People seemed interested in this so I thought I would make this official and give it a go writing it. I have four chapters written already so hopefully I'll stay on top and keep writing more. Please read the warnings and tags carefully; you'll probably hate me for this (and this fic) so I'm very sorry in advance but I'm evil and this is literally my playground. Anyway I hope you read and enjoy :)

Chapter One: The Reaping.

Fox Mulder awakens from his nightmare in the dank, dark basement he has called home for the last year. Skin clammy, heart hammering against his rib cage, he swings his legs off the bed and breaths in and out slowly, counting to 10 each time, willing his heart to slow down.

It was just a nightmare, he repeats to himself.

But it wasn’t just a nightmare.

A memory. Old but still as fresh in his mind as it was two years ago. District Seven’s town square, the smell of wood and sweat as the sun beamed down on him, a bowl full of names- girl names- and one called out.

Samantha Mulder.

In his dream he teleported, in the way one does in a dream, and he was right there, helpless, watching as his 12 year old sister was bludgeoned to death. She didn’t even make it past day one’s bloodbath.

He watched as his mother sunk away, a shell of herself, his father leave not 3 weeks later.

Mulder left himself, eventually, vowed to kill the Capital as they had killed his sister but he was just one boy, grief-stricken and angry, and his cries for an uprising went unheard. Mostly. The Peacekeeper’s had come down on him hard, punished him severely for it, but not executed, not as Mulder wished to be, his father’s influence was far too strong.

So Mulder left completely, snuck away in the dead of night with a band of merrymen. They had a boat and a dream to get far away from Panem as they could.

Their boat and their dream capsized on day 5, a strong wave knocking their tiny boat to pieces. Only Mulder survived, clinging on to a plank of wood, drifting unconscious for 3 days, into the territory of District Four.

A ship found him.

At first Mulder thought they were Peacekeepers but upon closer inspection he found they were dressed as simple fishermen. He was pulled aboard, introduced to the captain, the father of the boy who helped him up, who introduced himself as William Scully and his son, Bill.

Captain Scully took him to a pub, fed and watered him, and didn’t ask where Mulder had come from.

The pub became his job, the basement his bedroom. A week later he registered as a resident of District Four and his name was entered five times.

He hadn’t escaped. The hadn’t destroyed the Capitol. He never would.

Mulder shakes the dream, and memories of another life, from his brain. He puts on the clothes he wore yesterday and climbs the staircase leading to the pub.

He finds Wade at the bar, pouring drinks for the old sailors who have nowhere better to be. Mulder nods once at Wade who nods once back, a mutual good luck said between them. Wade is 18- the same age as Mulder- but his name sits waiting in that bowl 35 times to Mulder’s meagre 5.

Mulder bypasses the bar and heads towards the kitchen. He almost smacks into Kehlani, hands and arms full carrying three plates food. She knows exactly what he is here for.

“You’ll have to get in line, Mel’s backed up and it’s only half 7,” she tells him before she’s rushing towards her table. Mulder looks around the near-empty pub before he pushes on the kitchen door.

Melvin is frying fish in a pan. It stinks and Mulder resists the urge to cover his nose.

He really, really hates fish.

“Get lost 7,” Melvin shouts over his shoulder. “I’m backed up in here, you’re gonna have to wait.”

“Yeah, Kehlani said,” says Mulder. He throws the fish in the pan a distasteful look. “You got anything other than fish on the menu?”

Melvin smiles at him and Mulder counts one less tooth from yesterday. “This your first time in Fish District?” He cocks his head towards the door. “Saw a tree on my way in, maybe you can eat some bark?”

“Ha-ha maybe you should’ve been a comedian, Frohike,” Mulder says, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He nabs the bowl of fruit sitting on the counter and leans against it.

Frohike and Kehlani were the only ones who knew where Mulder came from. Sat in the basement, the expensive bottle of whiskey between the three of them, Mulder finally told them he had been born in District Seven after their constant prodding. More questions and he told them what it’d been like living there. They stared at him in awe, soaking in every bit of information. They’d asked him which he preferred, Mulder hadn’t answered, keeping that one to himself.

“Hey,” Melvin calls, a sudden seriousness looming over them. “How’re you feeling today?”

Today.

“I’m good. One more year, right?”

Melvin nods. “One more year.” Then. “I found Kehlani crying this morning. I didn’t know what to say to her.”

“What did you say to her?”

“Nothing. What do I say to her? This shit’s fucked.”

Mulder looks towards the door, conscious of who could hear them, then quietly whispers. “Yeah…”

Kehlani bursts in then and looks at the two of them.

“Slacking off, Mel?” she admonishes , hands of her hips, the perfect imitation of Laguna the landlady.

“No!” yells Frohike turning bright red. “Just waiting for the fish to fry.”

Kehlani turns her attention onto Mulder and her eyes narrow, staring at the bowl of fruit.

“That was my fruit Mulder,” she tells him with a pout, dropping the imitation.

“Shit, sorry Lani.” Mulder holds the fruit bowl out to her. As her hands touch it to take it, Mulder says, “Good luck today, yeah?”

Kehlani looks to Frohike who quickly casts his eyes away. She turns back to Mulder and gives him a small smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “Yeah, you too.” Mulder lets go of the bowl and she steps back. “I’m gonna go eat this,” she says to Melvin. “Mulder can be a waitress for a bit.” Then with a smile backed by a memory. “Don’t drop the plates this time, yeah?”

“I’d forgotten about that,” says Frohike with a laugh.

Mulder tosses him a glare and watches Kehlani leave wondering if this could be the last time he ever sees her.

.:.:.:.:.:.

The gulls caw, flying overhead. Dana watches them, committing them to memory. Her bare foot grazes the water, committing that to memory also, along with the breeze and the smell of seawater and sand. A ritual each year because what if it’s the last?

“Dana!”

Dana sighs and turns her head down the pier. Melissa approaches slightly out of breath.

“Mom’s looking for you. She wants us to eat before we go.”

Dana turns away to look back out into the ocean. “I’m not hungry,” she says.

Missy sits down opposite her. They used to do this all the time, sit out here together. Dana found her one time, when Missy had just turned 12 two days before the reaping, her eyes red from crying. It became tradition, each year 11 and 13, 12 and 14, 15 and 16…all the way up to last year when they were 17 and 19, when Melissa was free but Dana was still stuck with her name in the bowl 14 times, double the amount it should be.

“You have to eat,” says Melissa with concern.

“I’ll eat after the reaping.”

“Dana—”

“I’ll eat after the reaping,” Dana repeats louder and harsher. If she eats now she’ll throw up and that’ll be a waste, not when Melissa, Charlie, their mother can have more servings.

Melissa sighs, resigning herself. She looks out towards the ocean.

“I hate it,” she says.

“What?” asks Dana.

She points to beyond them. “That. The ocean. I’ve hated it for 3 years.”

“I love it.”

Melissa looks at her. “Only because Dad loved it.”

Dana shrugs. “You should come out with me and Billy on a ship some day.”

Missy shakes her head. “I’d just get in the way.”

That was true, Melissa wasn’t made for ships. But still…Dana smiles at her.

“What are you smiling at?” Melissa asks her, weary.

“If I’m not reaped, you have to join us on the ship.”

Melissa looks at her, aghast. She frowns, conflicted, and then relents.

“Fine…” And Dana smiles some more. “But only because I really don’t want to wish you were reaped.”

They both look out towards the ocean again, their smiles fading.

“I’ll see it again, won’t I?” Dana asks quietly.

“Yeah,” says Melissa with so much confidence Dana actually believes her. “And who knows, maybe Isla will finally be reaped.” Missy’s smile is cruel.

“You’re really going to hold that grudge forever, aren’t you?” Dana asks, shaking her head.

Melissa nods. “Yep, never letting it go.”

They smile at each other once more before movement on the other side catches their attention, hoards of people making their way towards the town square.

Dana’s stomach twists. It is time.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

People flood in like waves. Mulder navigates his way to where the cluster of 18 year olds stand. He finds himself next to Wade who’s eyes are down and he is white as a conch shell. His eyes meet Kehlani’s across the way standing with the other 15 year old girl’s. He smiles, she smiles back. He pulls his eyes away and looks down.

One more year.

.:.:.:.:.:.

She holds onto Charlie’s hand for as long as she can, until the Peacekeeper blocks their path and pulls them apart. She watches as Charlie walks towards the other boys before she is gently shoved towards the direction of the girl’s. Dana glances at them only briefly before she is staring straight ahead, eyes on the bowl, a bowl that holds 14 pieces of Dana Scullys.

One more year.

.:.:.:.:.:.

The Mayor, Walter Skinner, Monica Reyes.

The Mayor, Walter Skinner, Monica Reyes.

The Mayor, Water Skinner, Mon—

“The boys!” Monica Reyes calls out, as she does every year. She always starts with the boys. Mulder clenches his fists, tries to tamper down his nerves. Wade is shaking beside him, Mulder can feel it rolling over him in waves. Reyes places her hand into the bowl, searches around. Mulder glances at Wade, the other boy is…crying? Reyes pulls her hand out, unfolds the piece of paper. It’s Wade, Mulder thinks. That piece of paper has Wade’s name written on it.

“Fox Mulder!”

It’s Wade Firth—Wait. Mulder freezes. All eyes on are him.

Did she just say Fox Mulder?

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.

It’s not Charlie. Thank god it isn’t Charlie.

Dana releases her breath, one of two she holds.

It isn’t Charlie.

Instead it is Fox Mulder.

Dana had heard of him, a strange boy. It was rumoured he was the boy her father had found out at sea the year before, the boy from another place. His surname was familiar. 6 years ago a girl with the same last name had been pulled from the bowl, 12 years old, she had died almost immediately, everyone around her was just thankful it wasn’t their own.

Fox Mulder was the boy tribute but who would the girl be?

Monica Reyes places her hand in the right-hand bowl. Dana holds her breath, watching. She wants to close her eyes, hold her hands over her ears and be anywhere but here; sat on the pier watching the waves in the water, sailing on the ship pulling up nets of a hundred fishes, anywhere but where she was standing right now.

Monica pulls her hand out, unfolds the piece of paper. The name is said crisp and clear, there was no mistaking it. Somebody familiar cries out just as it all sinks in.

Dana Scully is the girl tribute.

.:.:.:.:.:.:.

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully stand on the stage. Mulder looks towards Dana, she can feel his eyes on her, she stares ahead. Scully, is all Mulder can think as he stands there, like William Scully? He wants to know but Dana gives him nothing, she can’t.

Reyes tries to get the crowd to clap but there is nothing but dead faces staring back at them. This isn’t District 1 or 2 where celebrations are held. District Four might not be the worst of the Districts but one will still find no jumps for joy here. All are still scared. All are still angry.

The doors close and they are all submerged in darkness.

[yunmeng-jiang]

ok it's time for my Official Jiang Cheng Ship Opinions Post. buckle in this is gonna take a bit

Xicheng: I like it in 1 extremely specific circumstance (bonding over very similar experiences post-canon) but I've only seen that done well like. twice. NEEDS to have good characterization (also rare unfortunately) and take into account what they can and can't do as their own sect leaders with regards to courtship/marriage.

Chengqing: perfect in every way. that's it that's all I need to say.

Sangcheng: ehhhhh? Cute in Cloud Recesses summer camp era, not feasible post-canon due to irreconcilable differences in worldview and how much danger it's acceptable to put Jin Ling in.

Zhancheng: honestly I prefer this to be platonic. Hatefucking is not my jam and LWJ is Wei-Ying-sexual in canon anyway. Give Jiang Cheng a friend who is as weirdly obsessed with Wei Wuxian as he is but in a slightly different way. I want to see them coming to terms with that.

Ningcheng: again, someone just as weirdly obsessed with Wei Wuxian, but a little to the left. I don't think either one of them is ever going to look at the other and not see "the guy WWX likes better than me." Maybe someday they'll form a relationship that isn't based entirely around Wei Wuxian, but it seems kind of unlikely.

Chengyao: I'm actually coming around to this a bit recently? Again, it really needs to keep good characterization at the forefront and consider their positions as individual sect leaders, and remember that their "divorced couple energy" is part of the Guanyin Temple shitshow and not the way they would usually behave, especially for Jin Ling's sake. I want to see more fics where Meng Yao grows up with the Jiang sect so that Jiang Cheng is attached to him from the very beginning.

Mingcheng: meh. I don't really think about this ship that much because it honestly doesn't compel me at all. sorry to the mingcheng enjoyers it there I simply do not get it

Chengxuan: same as above, I don't really get this one. Their dynamic is just not that interesting to me.

Chengyi: that is a child. hard no on this one.

Miancheng: kinda cute? I like it when Jiang Cheng recruits her into the Jiang after she gives up on the Jin, it's a fun idea, but I think I like them better as friends.

Ruocheng: no. just no.

Zhucheng (chengliu? Wen Zhuliu and JC): also no.

Chengsu: I could get behind the idea of JGY desperately contacting Jiang Cheng and being like "help I just found out my fiancee is my sister can you please pretend you've been in love with her all this time and get married to her instead??? I'll negotiate to get you more Jin Ling rights if you do." she fits JC's list of desirable qualities in a wife. unfortunately she gets like 6 seconds of screen time and then dies so we really don't know very much about her, which makes it a bit hard to form a strong opinion on the ship

Other Chengsu? Sucheng/Mincheng/Chengshan/whatever this is: I actually think it's interesting that Su She and Jiang Cheng share the trait of "treat them nicely within this narrow window of time in their life in order to get them to become loyal to you forever, otherwise fuck you." It's possible that if Su She had grown up with the Jiang the two of them would have found some common ground and maybe become friends. I'm more interested in non-romantic interactions here

Cheng...yang? what do you call the Xue Yang/Jiang Cheng ship? Xuecheng? idk. again, not really my jam.

Chengjiao. Lingcheng? Jiang Cheng/Wang Lingjiao. Do people even ship this? I could see it as character development for her I guess. At this point I'm just fishing for possible pairings.

and finally, saved for last...

Xiancheng: this isn't romantic or sexual or platonic, it's all three and also a secret fourth thing that's more intense than all of them put together. As a ship, I don't prefer it, because it's too easy to flatten it out into either a boring cutesy fluffy cliche or a boring jealous/possessive boyfriend type thing. I need to see them being weird about each other in a way that no one can possibly identify, especially themselves. They'll die for each other. They'll live for each other. They'll destroy themselves and be happy about it as long as they believe that the other is going to be okay. You really can't make it as simple as "yeah these two want to fuck."

[adhdtsukasa]

because nene's full yoru ni kakeru alt releases in LESS THAN A WEEK!!!! and i'm sooo so sane about this cover (a lie!), i just can't go on with my life without RAMBLING!!! and i'm rather surprised that it hasn't been done before (or maybe i just can't search properly. also very possible. anyways), so here it is — an analysis? of how yoru ni kakeru's lyrics correspond to ruinene's relationship so much that it HURTS (and why nene got this cover instead of rui, even though it's about suicide).

quick disclaimer: i will be using the lyrics from vocaloid lyrics wiki, because i'm uh. not a fan of the official english ver. and because it had to be somewhat changed so the english translation could fit the rhythm, it's also just not the same as original. hope you understand.

also this is not neccesarily a ship post. feel free to view it as such, but i'm interpreting everything here as fully platonic and how it is in canon.

starting with basically one of the first lines, it immediately connects with rui and nene losing contact during middle school — even moreso, to their unfamous scramble crossing conversation, where rui tells nene that he's now doing shows alone. they talked just like normal (did they, though?) and rui was still polite and kind towards nene, yet his goodbye was carrying something else with it: they're not best friends anymore. hell, it's not even clear if they're still friends, or did they simply become complete strangers to each other.

a throwback to their first meeting, so i'll also say it now: i see the whole song as kind of a messy retrospection, actually. the lyrics basically escalate in a present (as of main story) -> middle school -> childhood -> middle school -> present (still as of in main story) way, but i think it's rather easy to spot on? so i'm not gonna talk about it too much.

whatever, let's get back to the topic: it's important to remember that nene was rui's first friend, the first person (outside of his parents, obviously) that accepted him for who he is. obviously rui had a lonely gaze when they first met — because he was lonely. he was alone.

the first two verses can be referencing how rui's peers treated him: they were scared of him, they called him a weirdo. for a child like him, these words surely were enough to make him cry, as he only wanted to have friends — that's why nene is here for the rescue! they're together, so he doesn't have to be scared anymore. as long as they're together, everything will be just fine.

the happiness they want to find is ordinary, but that's because rui wants to be treated as an ordinary human being, too.

nene wanted to be rui's friend, sincerely. he was and still is such an important person to her, her very best friend. she wishes for him to finally be happy, to finally have friends, to finally give her the sincerest of all of his smiles. and she wants to be a part of his happiness.

as long as they have each other, the sun will surely rise for them. but...

...as the years pass by, everything starts to fall apart. rui is getting more and more stigmatized and him being in middle school now is definitely not helping him in any way. in this moment, we're back to their conversation mentioned at the very beginning: rui tells nene everything, and nene tries to believe it. she really does! if rui didn't beg for her to get closer to him again, then he surely must be fine being alone, surely.

but there is doubt in her heart, and it's sickening. it cannot be true. this is in no way what rui wanted.

she still hopes that they can go back to what they used to be. one day, rui will surely trust her again. and maybe one day, she'll finally understand his struggles. she wishes for that out of the kindness of her heart — but rui's middle school self is just unable to fulfill this wish.

but the days are still passing by, and nothing is going for the better — everything is actually deteriorating. everytime nene tries to approach rui, his answer is always the same. he doesn't want her close. and soon, rui isolating himself from her is not her only problem (or you can even say, her only trauma). her stage incident happens and she's left with nothing, as well as with no one to turn to. rui is already tired of everything, and nene is slowly becoming tired too. the days are getting duller and more gray for both of them.

their hands are just like parallel lines. somehow, they also can never meet.

so now, nene is just like rui. traumatized. alone. scared. she's just like that until she starts her first year of high school, because then she suddenly sees rui again. oh, god, she sees rui again. he offers her to join wxs, and he's actually smiling. his smile is just like a cure for all of her problems. it's a smile she has always wanted to see... a smile that he has offered her when he finally reached out to her.

so, nene joins wxs. and it's not the end of their problems, but also surely a new beginning for their relationship. the damage has been already done and they both suffered because of it, so they're still racing into the night, but at least they're together—

there's one thing that differs them from the yoru ni kakeru story, though (and i'm talking about the lyrics exclusively here. and, well, the end of the mv. but nothing else, none of the references that the song used) — yoru ni kakeru is about suicide, after all. the mv ends with the main character committing, that's a dead end. but it's nothing like that for rui and nene; ever since they joined wxs, their lives slowly started to get better. they managed to achieve their happy ending, despite the circumstances.

they're friends again.

so, why is not rui covering this song? after all, his middle school self just screams depression, suicidal thoughts, stuff like that, he'd be such an obvious pick. but... from the perspective of the lyrics, there's something more to the song than just the theme of suicide. the lyrics are going in the direction of being unable to help the person you love, of being forced to only look at how they're becoming worse and worse each day, of finally getting overwhelmed by it as well. that's precisely what middle school nene was. suicide is not enough to give it to rui. he wouldn't fit the lyrics at all, since his relationship with nene didn't look like that from his side.

was nene actually suicidal during middle school as well? i believe that's a question that should be left to one's own interpretation. but i think it's worth considering, especially since proseka's line distribution usually implies some things.

oh, obviously, they could've just picked her because she was the most accurate vocal to sing this song. but you cannot say that it doesn't fit her. it does. a lot.

middle school rui kamishiro and nene kusanagi, i hope you explode.

[moonyasnow]

Malleus x Irina

A little doodle I made of the two of them

(for anyone who can't use spotify, the song names will be at the bottom of this post)

I love them together so much

It is no longer possible for me to imagine either of them being with anyone else but the other. And for me that's really saying something— I ship my OCs with a lot of characters. And I'm a multishipper too— like, I can definitely find someone's, for example, OC x Leona ship really cute while still shipping my own OC Tomoe with Leona. But it's impossible for me to seriously imagine Irina with anyone but Malleus anymore, and vise versa

Edit 2: I answered an ask I got about them~

If this post gets even like 3 likes that's gonna be enough interest gauged for me and I AM gonna start infodumping about them and just going off the rails about why I think they're perfect and made for each other under the tag: #mallina 🐉x🐰

EDIT: IT NOW OFFICIALLY HAS 3 LIKES YOU ARE NOT SAFE THIS IS NOT A THREAT IT IS A STATEMENT OF INTENT I WILL INFODUMOP--

BUT! I'm gonna include what I wrote for them in Irina's Showcase Post, under the cut + some new stuff for Book 7

Book 2

One night she'd just been laying in bed unable to sleep, hearing the distant whispers of her parents fighting at the edges of her mind like usual, and deciding to go outside just to escape the confined room and get some kind of distraction from hearing them. She was incredibly startled hearing someone suddenly call out to her, having been too stuck in her own thoughts to notice him approaching like she usually could. She was honestly scared at first, though mostly as a result of being caught with her guard down, which she usually never was.

But as soon as she properly looked into his eyes, all that fear suddenly seemed to fade away in an instant. She didn't know why, but she suddenly started to feel relaxed in his presence, more so than she usually ever did. And she felt almost sad when he disappeared. But she told herself off for it; that was the first time she'd ever met him after all, and she didn't even know his name. But since he'd said she could call him whatever she wanted...

She'd call him Peridot, after the color of his eyes. 'Peri' for short.

Tomoe's (my 'Yuu') first reaction to the name 'Peri' was to laugh, explaining that it made her think of Perry the Platypus. And once she'd also had the thought, Irina couldn't help but laugh too, 'Peri' being exchanged for 'Perry' in her mind after that point.

Book 3

She ended up being asked by some Student or other if she'd thought about joining a club yet. She hadn't, not even really knowing which clubs actually existed. And so she decided to take a look to see if anything seemed interesting; she had a lot more free time after being fired from her job anyway. When she saw that there was a 'Gargoyle Appreciation Club' and that it had only one member, she knew instantly who that must be, and decided to join it.

Book 4

When Lilia showed up to give her the postcard, she knew who it must have been from. And so she asked Lilia to wait for a second, rushing into her room to get a box, with a letter attached, which she asked him to give to the sender of the postcard. It was a birthday gift for her friend Peridot; a clay tea pot, its spout designed to look like a little dragon, the handle on the opposite end sculpted into the shape of a scaly tail. The letter contained not only wishes for him to have a happy birthday, but also an explanation of the spout. She wanted to give him a Gargoyle as a gift, but she also wanted to make sure it was an actual Gargoyle, with a clear purpose, rather than just a decorative Grotesque. So she settled on a tea pot! Since it serves as the spout, the 'needs water spout' element of a Gargoyle was cleared, as well.

She wasn't there to see it, but when he got her gift and read the letter, he was so beside himself with joy that for the first time in at least a century, there was sunshine in Briar Valley. Not only was it a birthday gift from his best friend, hand-crafted no less, it was also incredibly thoughtful, proof to him that she'd been listening and paying attention to every single word of all his rambles about his beloved Gargoyles. The next time they met again, before any words could be spoken he quite literally picked her up off the ground and spun her around as a way to say 'thank you'. That was the moment she admitted to herself that she'd fallen in love with him.

He ended up insisting on them drinking at least one cup of tea for all their club meetings after this point, so he got a chance to use it. And he also insisted on the same for every single Housewarden meeting he went to, which he'd started to actually know the times and places of thanks to Irina knowing through Tomoe and telling him. If he'd had any less decorum he would have literally shoved the pot in the face of random people in the halls; he was that happy about it.

Book 5

She's also the one who gives Malleus the tickets to the SDC. For their booth at the cultural festival Irina made a bunch of small clay figurines of Grotesques and then wrote above them the differences between them and Gargoyles, to educate people.

When Tomoe meets Malleus for the first time, she lightly teases Irina, asking "So this is the famous 'Perry the Platypus."' Irina got very embarrassed, and Malleus, eyes wide with surprise, asked if that was meant to refer to him. Irina, face burning with embarrassment, then explains the name and its connection to a certain animated Platypus spy, but also says her nickname for him was actually supposed to be short for Peridot. It ended with Malleus bursting out laughing right then and there, Irina, still embarrassed, saying: "W-was it really that funny?" It then becomes a recurring inside joke of him calling himself 'her platypus friend'.

When Malleus began to fix the stage, not being used to magic and thus a bit scared at first, Irina moved close to his side out of reflex, feeling safer there. It made him really happy to think that for once, not only was there someone who wasn't afraid of him, but she even felt safe around him. Though she became very flustered when she realized she'd been gripping onto his jacket arm.

Book 6

She stays behind at NRC, in an unoccupied room at Diasomnia.

You can guess who invited her.

Book 7

I have not yet read Book 7, but! This time it's Irina's time to shine instead of Tomoe! Irina understands why Malleus does what he does, she also hates losing people; that's why she's not going to lose him to his Overblot

New Book 7 thing:

She runs to him, who's sitting on the ground, and throws herself around his neck. She's crying. “I-I-I was— w-was so— sca-red…!” Her voice is shaking and wavering so much from the tears that she can barely speak. “I…apologize, my dear Child of Man… I know now that my actions were wrong, but it was never my intention to frighten—“ “Th-that's not why!” Uncharacteristically, she cuts him off. “I was so, so, s-so worried! I thought you could die! I-if I didn't defeat you in time. I-I thought you were going to die! I thought I'd lo-lose you!!!” Then she just can't hold it in anymore— she starts wailing, just at the mere thought. She holds him tighter. When she's calmed down enough that there are no longer tears cascading down her face, she pulls back…and she cups his cheeks and pulls him closer so their foreheads touch. “I love you. I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you! I—“

If you've read this far I'm gonna guess you're interested, and I'm humbly asking (begging) for asks about this ship I love them so so so so so so so so so muchhhhhhhh and I wanna YAP but I usually don't know where to start

Songs:

A thousand Years - Christina Perri

Once upon a dream [COVER] - Invadable Harmony

上弦の月/Jougen no tsuki/Crescent Moon - KurousaP ft. Kaito (MALLEUS' VA HAS SUNG THIS!)

After the War - Reinaeiry

Something Good - Sound of Music

And I'm Home - Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Terrified - Jazmin Bean

Camelot: If ever I would Leave You

しわ/shiwa/wrinkle [COVER] - Kashitarou Itou

Kimi Ga Irukara - Fairy Tail ending song

No One But You - Erutan

Captivated - IV of Spades

蛍/hotaru/firefly - Maiko Fujita

Love Like You [COVER] - Lizz Robinett

馬と鹿/uma to shika/horse and deer - Kenshi Yonezu

I am not Alone - When Marnie was there

Will o' The Wisp - Erutan

Necro no Hanayome/Bride of Necro - KANON69

Build a Little World With Me - Laura Shigihara

Will I Find My Home (acoustic version) - Juniper Vale

LADY - Kenshi Yonezu

Sway - Michael Bublé

Everything's Alright [COVER] - Lizz Robinett

Also way at the very bottom but here, original: