#and that's fine! that's normal! these characters are so so young and their world should not calcify at age 15!

[writingbylee]

is this atrociously late? yes. am i still hyped as fuck? also yes.

for real though i’m so sorry that i’ve been so radio silent/inactive lately. i’d say that i’m going to be better from now on, but truly i have no idea because… well the state of the world, ya know?

NEVERTHELESS I PERSIST and i am HERE TO SCREAM ABOUT ELAYNA

The space between them stretches for miles. Cerelle stands only yards away yet Elayna imagines an ocean's worth of distance in the empty space.

OW. Cerelle might piss me off but also the space between her and Elayna after what Johanna said makes my heart ache. just let the sapphics be happy!!!! (not @ you Perse, i know you also want the sapphics to be happy)

Two thoughts cross Elayna’s mind: either the smile on Alia's face is fake, or the other girl just finished making babies cry for fun.

GODDAMN ELAYNA!!! fuck Alia Oakheart amiright? (jk but actually i’m obsessed with this introduction of her and i would LOVE to know more about her!!)

“Marriages cannot be even exchanges. Tyshara won't marry a Reyne.”

well that’s a cold fucking sentence, Cerelle damn. thanks for the reminder that you view Elayna’s house as lesser than yours both in standing and in respectability.

She doesn't deserve to touch Cerelle. Elayna's hands flex and curl into fists, but she closes her eyes and breathes in slowly. It keeps her from swinging on Alia. She forces a smile.

i LOVE this as both a reminder of how much Elayna is able to control her emotions when it serves her, while also being a reminder of just how deeply and fiercely Elayna loves. like she breaks just a smidge because she curls her hands into fists but she manages to calm herself and force a smile because she knows that her love isn’t welcome in the space. it’s so sad but SO powerful.

“I must speak with him alone.” Cerelle pauses. “I really shan't be but a moment.”

hmmmmmmmmm what is she up to?? what does she need to tell Tymon in secret?? I WANNA KNOW

However, given Alia is in the wrong, she has nothing to be sorry for. Alia never knows what she is talking about.

ELAYNA. lowkey i love this representation of Elayna’s hubris, as well earned as it may be. like yes obviously Elayna is a strategic mastermind, but she’s also still young and can still be driven to rash behavior by an annoying peer. you build characters with such nuance and it’s SO GOOD PERSE.

this whole exchange with Alia is SO GOOD. like the way Elayna can tell that she should view Alia’s grin as a warning but pushes past that thought in her head to continue acting in a brash way because that’s what she wants to do in that moment, consequences be damned. their dynamic is so interesting, and i almost hope we see more of it even though from a non-analytical perspective i think Alia is a bitch.

Elayna sits across from her father, an embroidery hoop in her hand.

incredibly off topic from what i was just talking about but this is such a good lowkey way to show how good Elayna is at embroidery?? like to do it in a moving vehicle??? that shit is impressive as fuck— i tried to embroider in a car once and i stabbed the fuck out of myself with the needle like every other stitch and then i just gave up.

She clings to the explanation.

ow OW OW OW. this hurts. i’m literally about to tear up and Alon has literally only said one sentence.

He has never once fractured her trust; it stands as steady as the rocks beneath their feet. He has never once let her down. He will never do so.

i’m fine i’m fine i’m so totally normal and fine😭😭😭

“You may. You won't get them, but you may ask.”

this is such a dad sentence oh my GOD

“Really? I hadn't noticed. You should tell me these things.”

SO IS THIS ONE OH MY GOD

… she can see sorrow in his eyes. He sighs.

ELAYNA. ALON. OW. THEM. THIS RELATIONSHIP. I SIMPLY CANNOT.

Elayna and Alon talking shit is my new favorite thing. get them a gossip podcast right now— i would be SAT

PERSEPHONE!!!!!!!!!!! this chapter is so good. the introduction of Alia and Alon. the tension between Elayna and Cerelle. The ease of Elayna and Alon’s relationship and banter. it’s all so masterfully woven together. i’m so excited to jump into this story again and think about these characters— you’ve threaded them into this world so skillfully that they just belong. it’s such a difficult thing to do with OCs, and you’ve done it again and again in this story and this chapter. it’s just… really really good. thank you for sharing this story with us💕💕💕

Wheel of Fortune: Magician (Reversed)

Story summary: Elayna Reyne often imagines herself being someone and making a name for herself but only in the way young girls do. Unfortunately, when Elayna makes her way to King's Landing as one of Cerelle Lannister's ladies-in-waiting, Elayna finds dreams come with a price.

Chapter summary: Almost at King's Landing, Elayna finds her circumstances changing. Anxiety and pride mix, causing her to make deals she may regret.

Masterlist

Prologue

Elayna pauses when she steps out of her tent.

The air here tastes different; she isn't sure if she likes it or not. At first, the smell of fresh river water delights her sense. It makes her think of home. Now, as they approach King's Landing and the coast, the water seems less like home.

They still have several more days to King's Landing. Their camp sits on the edge of Blackwater Rush. Gold Road crosses it twice on their way towards the Red Keep, and although it strays from the water, it never strays too far. Elayna wishes it would. She doesn't like the smell or feel of this river. No. She much prefers mountain water to this.

Elayna lifts her upper lip in disgust when the wind blows her way. Out of the corner of her eye, she watches Cerelle emerge from her own tent. Cerelle makes a face not too dissimilar from her own.

Their eyes meet.

The space between them stretches for miles. Cerelle stands only yards away yet Elayna imagines an ocean's worth of distance in the empty space. Elayna swallows. Cerelle purses her lips. She looks away first towards the campfires. Even though Elayna can't truly see how she looks, melancholy rolls off Cerelle in waves.

Elayna's feet move without her permission. She makes her way towards Cerelle, consequences be damned. She may speak to Cerelle if she wishes.

Besides, she has been meaning to ask Cerelle if she might ride with her father today. Alon specifically asked last night for her to check.

“Lady Cerelle. May I ask something?”

Cerelle turns to face Elayna fully. Dark circles highlight her lack of restful sleep. While her hair is intricately braided and done, wisps of blonde hair appear everywhere. Her pale skin almost seems to emphasize her condition, making her look almost sickly. She stares at Elayna for a second before slowly nodding.

“Of course.”

“Would it... would it be alright if I rode with my father today? I would like to spend some time with him.”

“I don't see a problem with this.” Cerelle nods her acquiescence. Elayna smiles at her.

“Thank you.” Elayna doesn't move yet. She wants to say something, to address the awkwardness between them. She takes a single step forward. “I- I have something else I want to speak with you about.”

“Don't.” The sudden sternness in Cerelle's tone makes Elayna flinch. Cerelle clears her throat before looking away from her. One of her hands finds the hem of her sleeve. She toys with it for a second before speaking. “I have spoken with mother. She's informed me of the decisions that have been made.”

Cerelle lifts her head and looks at Elayna over her shoulder. One perfectly curled strand of blonde hair falls over it and down her back. Cerelle's rueful expression snaps Elayna immediately back to the present.

“I was told to pursue other, more fruitful, ventures.”

Ah.

Despite the sadness in Cerelle's tone, a quiet weight lifts off Elayna’s chest. It helps, oddly enough. The thought of no longer being miserable alone but Cerelle sharing in her misery helps her. Elayna hates Cerelle feels that way, but at least she knows now she didn't sit in misery and silence by herself.

Elayna shifts from foot to foot. She tries to think of what to say, to tell Cerelle. She wants to tell the truth, but she would risk incriminate herself in the process.

“Would it help if I-”

“Cerelle! Elayna!”

Both Elayna and Cerelle turn to face the newcomer. Elayna bites down on the inside of her cheek to keep from scowling. Alia Oakheart makes her way over to the two of them, a pleasant smile on her face. Two thoughts cross Elayna’s mind: either the smile on Alia's face is fake, or the other girl just finished making babies cry for fun. The third thought that makes its way into the forefront of Elayna’s mind, and the one most likely the truth, is Alia has been charged with making sure she and Cerelle don't spend anytime alone.

Elayna hates her all the more for it.

Elayna never quite understood why Cerelle never did anything to have Alia sent back home. Sure, it would most likely cause issues, but those would be worth it to not have Alia hovering around them. She can't put a finger on the point she started to dislike Alia; all she knows is everything Alia does grates her nerves. Even Alia sneezing sets Elayna’s teeth on edge.

Maybe it's because Alia thinks she's as smart, if not smarter, than Elayna. Maybe it's because she always feels an air of judgment from Alia, as if Alia knows about her and Cerelle and is waiting to expose them. Maybe it's because Alia is just a bitch. Whatever quality Alia possesses that Elayna hates, Alia has in a massive quantity.

Alia stops when she reaches the two of them. She smiles at them.

“What are the two of you doing down here? We're about to break camp.”

“Elayna was asking if she might ride with her father today.” Cerelle stands up slowly. She shifts into her usual self, but her heart clearly isn't in it. Elayna nods.

“I was. Cerelle has been gracious enough to allow me to do so.” Elayna knows her smile doesn't quite reach her eyes.

Despite the surface level pleasantness of the interaction, the undercurrent of awkward tension is thick enough to cut with a knife. Alia doesn't prod or push, but she clearly seems to think something more is going on, based on the slightly suspicious look on her face. Cerelle, for her part, isn't helping. She looks anywhere but Elayna, her gaze eventually settling on a tent in the distance.

A squeal of absolutely delighted laughter makes both Cerelle and Elayna turn. The sound comes from down closer to the river.

“Ryman! Stooop, ‘tis not funny.” Despite Tyshara's words, she grins. She blushes, her cheeks a light shade of pink. Ryman sits beside her. The situation doesn't look indecent; Tyshara's two closest confidants and Ryman's two friends all sit clustered together so the pair aren't alone. Still, Ryman leans in a little closer than socially appropriate. He whispers to Tyshara. His words cause her entire face to go pink.

Elayna looks to Cerelle out of instinct. Much to her surprise, Cerelle glances back at her. One of her eyebrows raises. Elayna snorts.

“Elayna, I think your brother might have designs on Tyshara.” Alia Oakheart's voice comes out almost sing-song. Her eyes glitter with genuine delight. Elayna shakes her head with a small smile.

“I doubt that. He plays too much.”

“This looks like some very serious playing.” Alia nudges Elayna with her shoulder. Elayna instinctively pushes back against her.

“It shan't happen.” Both Elayna and Alia turn to look at Cerelle. Cerelle stares forward. She watches the meandering river. “Marriages cannot be even exchanges. Tyshara won't marry a Reyne.”

An awkwardness pervades the air for a second. Alia breaks it.

“No one said anything of marriage. Designs don't guarantee outcomes.” She almost titters. Cerelle tears her gaze away from the river to look at the pair. She catches Elayna’s eye. Elayna cocks her head ever so slightly to the side and shrugs, lifting her eyebrows as she does so. Elayna keeps her gaze trained on Cerelle to make sure she catches her quick eye roll.

For a second, Alia's expression falls. Her eyes flick between Elayna and Cerelle of them. She truly looks crestfallen. A twinge of guilt makes itself known. Elayna averts her gaze. She clears her throat.

“Shall we go break our fast?” Elayna offers. Normally, Cerelle smoothes over any minor slights when it comes to the three of them. She manages their small group. Elayna knows how, but Alia makes it difficult. She never seems to believe Elayna, no matter how earnest she actually is.

“That sounds perfect!” Alia beams. “Cerelle, don't tell us you're not hungry.”

Cerelle stares at Alia. The dark circles around her eyes makes her expression seem sunken. After a moment, she nods.

“Yes. That... that sounds good.”

“Excellent!” Alia smiles. She moves forward and grabs Cerelle's wrist. Elayna swallows down a sudden wave of rage. Alia shouldn't touch Cerelle. She doesn't deserve to touch Cerelle. Elayna's hands flex and curl into fists, but she closes her eyes and breathes in slowly. It keeps her from swinging on Alia. She forces a smile.

The three of them make their way down to where everyone else is. Elayna notes her father and Johanna sitting at the head of the group, clearly deep in discussion. Johanna’s eyes briefly leave Alon. Even from this distance, the intensity of Johanna’s gaze nearly makes Elayna stop. She regards Elayna coolly. After a moment, she turns her attention back to Alon.

Elayna purses her lips. A sense of unease creeps over her. She turns her attention back to Cerelle and Alia in an attempt to ignore her discomfort. Still, it nags at her, prickling in the back of her mind. Elayna follows the other two women to the fires. The smell of food causes Elayna's stomach to rumble. She blushes, embarrassment coursing through her. For a second, she swears she hears Alia giggle. Her suspicions are confirmed when Alia nudges Cerelle with her elbow.

Her heart soars when Cerelle gives Alia a dirty look. Elayna doesn't even bother to hide her smirk.

Their meal consists of bread and some cheese. Their journey demands they eat, especially since setting up in the middle of the day just to eat makes no sense. They can close the distance within two or three nights. Extra breaks mean a longer journey, and everyone wants to reach their destination. Even Elayna finds herself irritated with people; she has no place to hide when she tires of everyone else.

The group sits by the river. Elayna nibbles on her bread. Cerelle barely touches her. Alia seems to be the only one enjoying her food. After several long minutes of silence, Cerelle stands. She moves to her feet rather quickly. Both Alia and Elayna look at her.

“I wish to speak my brother. I shan't be but a moment.”

This time, Alia and Elayna exchange confused expressions. Cerelle and Tymon have grown closer on the trip, so her words aren't unexpected. It's more the delivery and suddenness with which she stands.

“Are you su-” Alia begins, but Cerelle quickly interrupts.

“I must speak with him alone.” Cerelle pauses. “I really shan't be but a moment.”

Elayna nods. While she is just as curious as Alia, Cerelle's tone and expression make Elayna think better of asking what is going on. Besides, if it is important, Cerelle will tell her in time. She thinks. Despite her best efforts, Elayna's faith in Cerelle isn't as strong as it once was. Elayna tries to dismiss it, but it bothers her more than she wants to admit.

“If you need us, we'll be here.” Alia practically chirps. Cerelle nods before making her way towards Tymon and his friend. Elayna watches her march determinedly across the grass towards them.

“So.” Alia clears her throat and looks at Elayna. Her eyes sparkle with barely contained mischief and a deviousness that worries Elayna. “You may be betrothed to Tymon?”

“Mayhaps.”

Alia grins. “And what is your plan to get out if it?”

It takes every ounce of Elayna’s self-control to not recoil. Her upper lip twitches.

“Pardon me?”

“You always have to have a plan. I want to know what it is.” Alia leans in close to Elayna. “So tell me. What is it?”

“You make it sound as if I'm constantly scheming.”

Alia raises an eyebrow. “Are you not?”

“I don't scheme! Planning for the future is not scheming.”

“No, that isn't. What you do is.” Alia laughs at Elayna’s expression. It's almost vicious, and Elayna nearly bares her teeth at her. “Don't tell me that you don't realize that's what you do.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” Elayna bites her bread a little more viciously than needed.

“Ohohoho, I finally know something the great Elayna Reyne doesn't.” Alia almost sneers.

“Considering I know what a plan is versus a scheme...”

“Planning means you have a general plan. However, since all of your plans end up with you not only surviving, but you coming out on top? You don't plan. You scheme.”

Elayna huffs. Irritation courses through her and takes over her mouth before she can stop it.

“You shouldn't speak of things you have no knowledge of. It makes you look even more ignorant.”

A brief flash of hurt crosses Alia's face. Were Elayna not so upset, she might apologize. However, given Alia is in the wrong, she has nothing to be sorry for. Alia never knows what she is talking about. Alia presses her lips together.

“I bet you can't do it.”

“Can't do what?” Elayna raises an eyebrow.

“I bet you can't get out of this betrothal.”

“Again. You shouldn't speak on things you know nothing about.”

“Do it then.” Alia tilts her head. “You won't. You can't.”

Elayna sets her piece of bread down in her lap. She stares Alia down.

“Not only will I prove you wrong, but I'll do one even better. I shall get out of this betrothal by getting into a better one.” Elayna lifts her head. Her nostrils flare. She keeps her eyes trained on Alia's, jutting out her chin. She dares Alia to challenge her.

Alia doesn't back down. Instead, she grins. It's a sly grin, one Elayna should heed as a warning. Elayna's lip twitches.

“Prove me wrong then." Alia actually smirks at her. Elayna's fingers twitch. She glares venom at Alia, visions of strangling her or bashing her head into the table dancing through her head.

“Oh, I shall.”

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

The carriage creaks as it goes down the road. Elayna sits across from her father, an embroidery hoop in her hand. Focusing on her stitchwork not only helps the time pass but also eases her anxiety. It gives her fingers and hands an alternative to picking at stray fibers or her nails.

“I spoke with Lady Johanna.”

Elayna blinks and looks at her father. Alon keeps his hands on the handle of his cane. At first, seeing her father with a cane nearly sent her into a spiral. He could not be so old and feeble as to need a cane to keep himself upright. She wouldn't allow it. Her fears ease as she sees him use it infrequently. She only really sees him use it after a particularly brutal day of travel.

It concerns her he uses it more and more often. The use of carriage instead of horseback also bothers her; she tries to attribute it to his age. Surely it must get uncomfortable riding when one reaches his age. She clings to the explanation.

“Did you?” Elayna tries to keep her tone neutral. Hope creeps in despite itself. Maybe her father talked some sense into Lady Johanna. If anyone could, it would be him. She knows this, is certain of this fact. When all else fails, Elayna can count on her father to not only have her back but find a graceful way out of the situation.

Some might call what faith she has in him blind faith, but it's not. Blind faith implies he could let her down yet she takes the risk in trusting him. No. This isn't blind faith. Elayna knows he has her. He has never once fractured her trust; it stands as steady as the rocks beneath their feet. He has never once let her down. He will never do so.

“It was a productive conversation.”

Patience has never been one of Elayna’s strong suits. Having a potential answer to her problems but not knowing the specific details drives her more than a little mad. She cannot solve her issue if a piece is being purposefully withheld from her. Elayna looks at her father expectantly.

“How so?”

Alon leans back some. He presses his lips together slightly, clearly considering his words carefully. Elayna fights to keep still.

“We may have reached a compromise.” Alon states. His tone carries an odd sense of finality to it, one that sets Elayna on edge.

“May I ask for details?”

“You may. You won't get them, but you may ask.”

Elayna's expression must betray her because Alon shakes his head. A soft hiccup of a laugh betrays the fondness in the gesture. Elayna huffs and leans back. She crosses her arms over her chest and looks out the window. This time, Alon's laughter is unmistakable. Elayna glowers at the trees lining the road. She knows how ridiculous she must look, pouting because she isn't given the information she wants, and Alon's laughter only further makes her feel silly. She gets why he's laughing; it doesn't mean she appreciates it.

“I'm not keeping information from you on purpose.” Alon breaks the silence first. His tone shifts from amused to soothing. He shifts in his seat, the sound carrying a little in the carriage. “Things are not solidified as of yet. When I know more, I shall tell you.”

Elayna nods. Despite herself, her shoulders drop away from her ears and ease down her back. She closes her eyes and inhales slowly. She needs to trust, trust her father and his plans.

“I know.” Elayna winces at how her voice comes out a petulant whine. She huffs a quick breath to try and pull herself together. “I know you will. I just... I do not do well with uncertainty.”

“Really? I hadn't noticed. You should tell me these things.”

His words earn him the nastiest glare Elayna can muster. Alon isn't bothered by it; he merely leans back in his seat and looks out the window. Both hands sit on the pommel of his cane, one resting on the other. The grin on his face is infuriating. Elayna isn't the only one who thinks so. Everyone knows Alon's sword skills were only as good as they were because they had to match his wit.

They sit in silence for a long moment. Elayna listens to the carriage roll along, turning her attention back out the window. She frowns at the passing trees. Despite her best efforts, her teeth dig into and pick at the inside of her cheek and lip. She fidgets. Elayna glances down to her hands and then out the carriage window. She shifts her weight from one hip to the other and then back. She sighs. One of her hands comes up to play with some of the stray curls not captured in her braids. She sighs again. Eventually, Elayna clears her throat and turns to face her father.

“I truly don't like knowing.” Elayna confesses. “I know you shall do right by me. I...” she sighs, “I don't want to marry Tymon. I understand the advantages and what it would do for us, but I cannot. I could never love him. And I know that isn't required for marriage but I have to be able to at least stand my husband, but I could never ever stand him.”

Tears begin to form in her eyes unbidden. She swallows hard. The outpouring of emotion startles even her. She stares at Alon, lip wobbling.

“I don't want to.” She knows she sounds like a child, but it sums up how she feels perfectly.

Alon watches her. The look on his face isn't cold or impassive, far from it. While his face is perfectly schooled, she can see sorrow in his eyes. He sighs.

“The current plan is to find you a better match.” Alon speaks carefully, each word specifically chosen. His reluctance to tell her sits heavy in the air yet Elayna's heart swells. She knows the signs of victory when she sees them. “I won't tell you who. But that is the plan.”

Elayna nods and swallows. Gratefulness and relief creep into her in equal measure. She smiles at Alon, and she watches some of the sadness in his eyes leave.

“Thank you.” She murmurs. Elayna can't find any other words. Alon leans back once more and settles himself in his seat. Curiosity burns through her. It tries to pry her mouth open, but Elayna keeps it shut. Alon clearly sees the conversation as finished; he closes his eyes. Elayna swallows hard. A million and one worries dance through her head. She breathes in slowly.

“Elayna. I would not do anything to bring you harm.” Alon keeps his eyes closed. Elayna nods and turns her head.

“I know.” She presses meaning into the simple phrase. Having been at Casterly Rock for so long, trust seems as unfamiliar as a friend who she long lost contact with due to being oceans apart. The danger present in such emotion makes her skin itch. Still, Elayna places her trust in him.

“You shall be fine. I promise you this.”

Elayna picks up her needlework once more. She moves slowly and far less viciously.

“Did I tell you.” Alon interrupts the silence. He still keeps his eyes closed, but his tone makes Elayna look up from her work. “I heard the most interesting rumor about James Crakehall the other day.”

“Oh?” Elayna tilts her head to the side. She finds Lord Crakehall repulsive for many different reasons, a fact she expresses to Alon whenever his name comes up. She distinctly remembers the old man leering at her when she was but two and ten. Neither her nor Alon will ever forgive the offense. “And what did he do now?”

“To my knowledge, there are two new Hills. Unofficially of Crakehall. Of course.”

“And? We know there to be at least 5 Hills a year born there.” Elayna scoffs. “More if rumors are to be believed.”

“None who's mother is newly six and ten.” Alon raises an eye. Elayna drops her needlework in her lap.

“Tell me you jest. Where did you even find out this information?”

“We aren't the only ones who dislike him.” Alon shrugs. “While I have never heard of him officially trying anything untoward, Dustin Plumm seems to have the same gripes as us.”

“Six and ten?”

“Aye. Six and ten.”

“And to think my opinion of the man could have been no lower.” Elayna scoffs. “If it were any lower, it would be in the Seven Hells themselves.”

Alon laughs. The laughter turns into a cough, one seemingly rattling Alon's very bones. Elayna sits up with alarm, needlework clattering to the floor of the carriage. Alon grunts. He waves her away.

“I'm fine.”

Despite him forcing each word through his breathlessness, Alon's tone is sharp, sharper than normal. Elayna hesitates, but Alon opens one eye to level her with a look. She holds up her hands in surrendered before sitting back down. After a moment, she bend forward and picks up her work.

“And how do you know Lord Plumm has the same complaints as us?”

“I have my sources.”

Elayna resists the urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she looks back out the window. The distance between her and her fate closes with each turn of the carriage wheels. She purses her lips together. Gossiping about other people's misfortune would keep her mind off of her own impending doom.

“And what of Lord Crakehall? What does he say to the accusations?”

[reflectionsofacreator]

[takes a long drink from my Arizona iced tea] so like one of the central themes for FFXV is like, growing up, sure. You know that, I know that, whatever. Coming of age, coming into your own, taking the mantle of king, whatever you wanna call it. Cool, awesome, we love a good coming of age story!

But I find the sub theme of that one to be probably the most fascinating? By and large, all the chocobros have to deal with the fallout of being lied to by the adult figures in their lives, and it's the most prevalent with Noctis and Gladio. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of it in Ignis and Prompto too, but the particularly insidious way that Noctis and especially Gladio were lied to sometimes gets me.

See I don't even really think it was actually all that intentional. Not really a conscious act by Regis and Clarus, or the society around them? More like... I dunno, the lies that you get told by your parents as a little kid and you grow up to realize that the world is a lot different than you thought.

That being said, Noctis was absolutely lied to by his father; both about the nature of the King of Light and the idea that he'd succeed Regis as reigning monarch. Regis did it out of love, knowing that Noctis would die young, and reasoned that Noctis should get to have a relatively normal life, but it was still a lie. Gladio, likewise, was lied to by his father and Regis, told that he would be the next monarch's Shield, that he would fulfill a role that's got a pretty set expectation in their society.

See, Gladio expects Noctis to act a certain way, to act as King, and he gets increasingly frustrated when Noctis doesn't, or can't live up to that. He's not precisely wrong to expect it either, given their roles and their statues, and knowing that they're taking the throne during a full blown war. The problem is that Noctis was never taught how to be the thing that Gladio was told Noctis was going to be? And that's what causes friction with them all the time. It's fascinating, watching it play out and realizing the underlying issues with their relationships actually have very little to do with them as people and instead because of what they were told to expect from each other.

Gladio is also his own kettle of fish that I don't think the narrative is quite self aware enough to articulate properly, or even get into. Gladio falls into the trap of toxic masculinity very often -- struggling to articulate his feelings, expressing most of his feelings as anger, picking fights rather than talking about what's going on, using his strength as both a character aspect and bonus, etc. The list goes on. There's also the fact that he's sort of portrayed as a bit of a womanizer and the masculine ideal; tall, rugged, strong, etc which plays into all of that. XV plays him very straight (and straight) with these concepts, and just sort of ... expects it to be fine? Which is at odds with how the other three bros interact and are more emotionally available towards each other, leaving Gladio as one of the weaker bros in canon.

It kind of sucks too, because like, there's so much to unpack with him? His DLC is about wanting to have the strength to protect Noctis on the surface, but really when you look at it... you could also argue that the DLC is about Gladio's fears that he'll end up as dead as his dad did (ha, try that for alliteration) and the crushing weight of failure. Gladio has every right to fear his mortality, fear the fact that he is, nominally, the first in line on the battlefield and the the last defense for Noctis. If Noctis is to die, they will go through him first, and that's! Scary! But the game doesn't really get into that, hardly at all, and it makes picking up the pieces for Gladio kind of frustrating. Out of all the bros, he's the one I have to dig the most to find any kind of depth despite being prime real estate for it.

Anyways Gladio and Noctis' dynamic is fascinating if you actually start to unpack it, especially because it's built on the lies that their fathers fed them as children (that they themselves also bought into). I'd go so far to argue that between the two pairs, Noct/Gladio is in much more of a dire need to sit down and actually hash out what they are to each other, outside of their king/shield dynamic. Noct/Iggy certainly has shades of that, but Ignis has decided that they are friends and that he will defy fate if he must, let the world burn if he must, to save Noct's life. That has some depth beyond king/retainer that they're presented as. Noct/Gladio are sort of just... falling into the king/shield dynamic because they're expected to, and it sort of hampers their relationship and their communication.

I'm gonna scramble them both like eggs, probably into an omelette. They make me Think you know

[phosph-ate]

Tether

Chapter Two | Death

Dr. Phosphorus x GN!Reader

[Chapter One]

Everyone was sure you were dead. Once they get out of the cabin, they realize how wrong they were.

CW: language, death, violence, murder, no use of y/n, creature/monster reader, no beta, canon divergence (i'm ignoring canon at this point and playing with these characters like dolls)

WC: 2k

A/N: I really enjoy where this is going!! like too much lmao. The parts in italics are flash backs, the rest is the present! this chapter/part is mainly about reader and their tether. the next chapter will have more task force m and more Phosphorus >:) I'm doing a taglist for the time being, but if it gets overwhelming i may stop. divider by cafekitsune

A scream echoed through what you assumed was the abandoned factory. You had made your home there; you could not hurt anyone there. Your eyes, pitch black, widened as the want to eliminate the noise became too strong to ignore.

You did not register the scream belonging to some young girl. You just needed the noise to stop.

You peeked out of the shadows and noticed men, three of them, coming in with weapons.

“Not many places to hide, bitch!” A man yelled.

It was grating, really, his voice. You pushed yourself back into the shadows, thankfully there were many around the dark building. You shifted through them, down to the main floor. You sensed more than just those three men. The one that was screaming was hiding. You quickly poked around the building and spotted her.

She was hiding, curled into the fetal position; bloody and beaten. You thought about dealing with her after handling the men.

“Please,” Her voice was soft and shaking. You froze. “Whoever is listening, please help me…”

You shifted once more, removing yourself from the shadows. Your foot hit the ground, and you looked at the girl. No older than sixteen. You could make her suffering end. You had to. You approached her, dark shadows growing from your fingertips to your forearms. You cocked your head at her, wondering if you should say anything before doing the job.

But then she looked up. Her eyes locked with yours. Her face immediately softened. You stopped dead in your tracks.

“You-” She was not afraid. She was not scared of you. Some creature shrouded in shadows and yet she was welcoming you. “It’s you…”

Your breath hitched slightly. Your world, everything you ever knew was shifting. Your hand twitched and you blinked at her. Your eyes were suddenly normal.

You, ever since you could remember, had wanted to kill. Destroy and decimate. You had no humanity to hold on to. You had holed yourself up in some rusty old factory in hopes to not hurt so much.

People would come and never leave. You made sure of that. It was ‘haunted’. There was never a trace left of you. Nobody knew what was happening.

“They’re coming.” She whispered.

Your jaw clenched. Something in you snapped into place. After all this time floating, you were suddenly grounded.

“Who the fuck are you?”

A gun hit your back. A smile spread across your face. You did not budge.

“Olympia-” One of the other men approached, a pipe in his hand. “Wait, when did this one get here?” He was talking about you.

Your head cracked towards him and your smile became wicked. “You know-” You started, still stuck in your place. “Chasing some girl into a haunted factory is no good…”

“Haunted my ass!” They both howled. The one with the gun in your back started in on you, “This has nothing to do with you, I’ll let you go. Don’t try to be the hero.”

Your eyes returned to their black color. “Sadly, I am no hero.” You turned to the man with the gun. He was quick to shoot. The bullet entered your chest. The girl, Olympia, screamed. She screamed for you to not die. Once again, you did not budge. You stood there in front of the men. Completely fine. You cocked your head and placed your hand on the gun.

“Is she dead?” The third man ran up.

Olympia laid on the ground, visibly shaken. You paid her no mind in that moment, instead you focused on the men trying to kill her.

“Did you fire a blank?” The man with the pipe shouted.

The gun went off again. Directly into your chest. You fell back slightly but stood back up, gun to your chest again. Shadows crept back up your elbows.

“Forget that fucking seer!” The third man screamed and took off towards the doors of the factory.

Your hand moved up, and immediately shadows covered the door, making it unreachable. You pouted at the men, feigning sadness. “Sorry fellas, you come in and you don’t go out.” They were all pale and terrified. It made you giddy. “Sweetie,” You turned towards Olympia, “I’ll be back, do not move.”

She nodded, terrified herself. Your fingers twitched and shadows covered the men, and suddenly they were gone. Olympia whimpered when in an instant, you were gone too.

Oli screamed over your body. “Please!” Tears streamed down her face. “Someone has to do something!”

Bride was the first to speak, “We have to take care of the people outside!”

“Please!” Oli looked up at Rick and Dr. Phosphorus. “They aren’t supposed to bleed. They- They can’t bleed…” Her voice tapered off.

You laid in a pool of blood. Your blood. Your eyes were shut, ever so slightly. Oli was covered in your blood sitting beside you. She could not move. Weasel whimpered, looking at her. He understood somehow.

“They’re all I have!” She shrieked. She was begging for something to be done. Anything.

Task Force M stood on alert. Ready to fight. And Oli sat there, sobbing.

You trekked through the woods, Olympia right by your side.

“It’s winter.” She hopped over the stream while you stomped through it. “You should be wearing a jacket.”

“Oli-” You sighed, “How many times do I have to say I don’t feel the cold?” You continued forward.

“As many times as I need you to tell me, I guess.” She seemed embarrassed that she forgot about that fact.

You watched as she stopped and looked down at some paper in her hands. She held up to the sky, moving it around different ways. You narrowed your eyes and let her do her thing. She nodded and clicked her tongue. She turned towards you and brought you the paper.

“What’s wrong?” You questioned her.

“I can’t read a map.”

You immediately pinched the bridge of your nose. “Do you know where we are, Oli?” You looked around at the surrounding trees.

She gave you a wide smile, “Nope!”

You groaned and looked at the map. It was horribly drawn. “What is this? Olympia, what the fuck?”

“Hey!” She snapped. “My Mamaw made that! I know where the cabin is. I promise! I just, I don’t know where we are…”

You blew out air and shook your head. “Okay, give me a minute.” You handed her the map back; in case it was sentimental to her. You closed your eyes and inhaled slowly. You planted your feet on the ground and sighed. You used the shadows to feel out the area.

You opened your eyes, and Oli was in your face, eyes wide and curious. You stared at her, not jumping or backing down. She smiled innocently at you. “What way?” You pointed to the right and you kept your mouth shut. “You're so cool!” She nudged you on the shoulder. “How do you do that?”

“It’s just- I just- I think really hard-” You paused. “I don’t fucking know! I just do it!” You took the lead and once the cabin was in sight you sighed. “Is that it?” You pointed at it.

“Yes!” Oli smiled. “That’s my family's cabin!” She froze in her spot. Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked at the ground. “Was my family’s cabin…”

You made a face, unsure of how to help her. You grimaced and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Olympia crumbled. She fell into you sobbing. She was mumbling about her mom and dad and how she didn’t see it coming. Why didn’t she see it coming?

“Hey,” Your voice was low, “that was not your fault in any capacity.” You reassured her.

“What if they find us!?” She sobbed into your shirt. “I can’t lose you too!”

“I won’t let them hurt you. I can’t let them hurt you.” You tensed. “I can’t die, I don’t know if you noticed that or not… You’re safe with me.” You hugged her tightly. “It’s just me and you, but we’ll be okay.”

“Have you ever lost anyone?” She asked, face buried into your chest.

You paused. “I’m going to be honest with you, Oli,” Your brain was running fast trying to think of something to say. Ultimately you chose honesty, “I don’t remember if I have… I only have you now.”

She pulled back from you and wiped her nose with her sleeve. “That’s sad.” She pouted at you. “You don’t remember at all?” Once you shook your head she gave you a big hug. “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for really,” You shrugged. “Now, let’s get you inside. You’re freezing.”

Oli watched as the sun started to come through the trees. Her eyes widened. “Shit.” She whispered. A was laser pointed right at Rick’s head, but no one shot.

“They’re going to find us.” Rick motioned at his task force towards Oli.

Weasel ran towards Oli and tried to pull her from your body. They needed to get her out of there. She let out a scream and swung at Weasel. She was no fighter. It did nothing to him. He was able to successfully bite her shirt and pull her from your body.

“You have to grab them too!” She pleaded, “We can’t leave them!”

They did not listen. They all exited the cabin, and their van was visible from the door.

“What the fuck? Did we not just walk five miles to get here?” Dr. Phosphorus was in shock.

“Doesn’t matter right now, we need to leave!” Bride looked around. Within seconds they were surrounded by men. They wore tactical gear and gas masks. Their guns were pointed right at the team.

“Please,” Oli whispered, her eyes shut tight. “You have to be okay… You have to help us.”

The sound of crows returned. They were screaming in the trees. They were saying something… All different things. ‘Death’ seemed to be the only audible one. Oli tensed. The task force looked down at her. Oli’s eyes snapped open, just in time to see the darkness returning.

The team looked ahead to where the van was, and noticed it gone. “Okay, what the fuck?” Nina tensed, moving towards Bride. The men surrounding them did in fact not disappear. They closed in.

“Doctor,” Bride looked towards him, “mind handling this?”

“Wait!” Oli struggled, getting away from Weasel. She looked back at the cabin, “Do not destroy this property, they will not be happy. It’s theirs now! Anyway-” She pointed towards the cabin, “Look!”

A loud, angered scream came from inside the cabin. Your scream.

Your eyes snapped open, and you sucked in air. You let out a scream, unbridled rage filling you, head to toe. You stood up, feeling the area. You shook yourself off and got a count on the men.

Thirty.

You smiled. You tore out of the cabin, a bat out of fucking hell.

“Olympia!” You spotted her. “Stay right fucking there.” You pointed at her. She nodded. You looked around, a low growl coming from your chest. The men surrounding you were all pointing their guns at you now. They had no desire to mess with anyone but you. For the time being. “Sweetie, I’ll be back.”

She nodded, smiling. Shadows crept in around the cabin and the men surrounding it. You were gone. Screams filled the woods as the men were dragged back into the shadows.

“What the fuck is going on!?” Bride turned a circle, looking into the shadows. Only the cabin was visible. Some trees poked through, but shadows had taken over. Bride looked at Oli. “What is happening?”

Oli put up five fingers. Bride cocked her head. Oli lowered a finger. And then another. She said nothing and once all of her fingers were down the shadows began to retreat slightly. And walking out of the woods… was you.

Oli took off towards you. Her feet pounding against the dirt. She grabbed you tight and even though you were covered in blood, she buried her head in your chest.

“I thought I lost you too…”

You patted her on the back. “I know…” You looked towards the task force and narrowed your eyes. “I guess after that, you guys won’t be leaving us alone… At least let me make supper so we can talk over food.”

Rick groaned. The others seemed to think that was a good idea though. Weasel even perked up.

“That’s a good idea,” Dr. Phosphorus chimed in. “I think we should do that. Especially because I still don’t see the fucking van.”

taglist: @beyondblissxoxo

[starseungs]

take a shot. ksm. (teaser)

kim seungmin x fem!reader — it really shouldn't take a genius to figure out that you and your co-star didn't get along. you knew kim seungmin. you knew how life functioned despite the cameras. and you knew that it was harder to keep a good shot hidden than it was to delete a bad one.

genre/s — drama, angst, fluff, a sprinkle of comedy, actors au, rivals to lovers • teaser: 1.2k words (actual fic: around 10k or more)

warning/s — profanity, main characters aren't on the best terms, implied death taken lightly, more warnings will be added on actual release if necessary.

note — enjoy the product of me and @starlostseungmin's active imagination over chanel seungmin.... how does one look THAT good? 😖💘 : the full fic is out !!

2024 ⓒ starseungs on tumblr. do not steal, repost, or edit.

“I’m sorry, what?”

The car remained silent despite your words of confusion. You felt as though your world had come to an extreme halt, giving you a whiplash as the buzz of the road outside continued to pierce through your ears. There was nothing else to keep your mind away from the absolute bomb of news that was just given to you; your manager had turned it down before uttering the horrid sentence that brought your untimely demise.

The car may have kept on with its task of moving forward—but you were stuck frozen in place.

“You’re joking.”

Your world fell on seemingly deaf ears. The man up front, steering the wheel, rendered himself mute to your growing distress, finding the busy traffic of city life interesting enough to keep his eyes glued. But the urban chaos didn’t distract you one bit from brewing a storm of gunpowder inside your throat.

And just like that, a ghost of a click was heard.

“No—please tell me you’re joking,” you voiced out, tone betraying your attempts at keeping things respectful. It soon came to your attention that the effort was of no use, as your manager still chose to keep his peace. “Changbin!”

The car swiveled a bit off-lane for a second before returning to its correct course. Normally, such an abrupt action by a vehicle would concern you, as you would argue that you were still much too young to suffer at the hands of a road accident, but no such thoughts even made their way into your brain. Just like how time had stopped for you, there was no time for debating over survival either. One life or death situation was already enough for you.

You wanted answers, and you were going to get them.

Changbin exhaled audibly from the scare he just put both of you through. His hands shook with a slight tremor, and that was all it took for him to decide that pulling over to the nearest parking area was for the best.

“Don’t yell in the car like that!” You scoffed at his scolding, finding the whole situation ironic.

“Oh, so you can do it all the time, but I can’t?” You shot back. Changbin sighed tiredly, finally registering the extent of your agitation. "Plus, I have a perfectly good reason why I’m yelling!”

“Listen, Y/N, it’s really not that bad—”

“Yes, it is that bad!” The words spill out of your mouth in utter disbelief at his attempts at assurance. “I’m working with Kim Seungmin, of all people!”

“And that’s why it’d be fine!” Changbin argued, running a hand through his already tousled hair. You blinked at his reply, baffled by the sheer implication.

��—How?”

Changbin clicked his tongue at the question, finding it hard to digest just why you were so against working with the mentioned actor. With the mere sound of that actor’s name spat out of your mouth, one would think that he had somehow managed to offend your entire bloodline. But that kind of bitterness could only be achieved through a sour history, so you really couldn’t empathize with your manager’s mindset either.

Even you knew that this movie would be enormously successful from the director alone. Director Han Jisung’s influence and presence in the industry were not a laughing matter—in fact, you should already be trembling in anxiety just knowing that you snagged probably the biggest role you’d ever get in your whole career. He was only around the same age as you, but the winding list of his achievements was already one for the records. And yet, here you were rethinking your contract with him even before the project started.

Just because of who you were going to be acting alongside with.

“Seungmin is a nice person,” Changbin explained gently, like he was coaxing a child, intentionally ignoring the way your face scrunched up at what he said. “I did my research, ok? Everyone only has high praises for him, both on and off set. Isn’t that enough to be trusted?”

You bit your tongue to stop yourself from digging a deeper hole to lie in. The answer was no—it wasn’t enough to be trusted. Now, at this point, someone would’ve had half the mind to ask why you were so sure about your vendetta against the man. If a person was so well loved in a world where cameras were pointed at them in every waking minute, then shouldn’t all the dirt be found by now, if there was any?

To that, your answer would be yet another no.

Because you knew Kim Seungmin. You knew how life functioned despite the cameras. And you knew that it was harder to keep a good shot hidden than it was to delete a bad one.

“Turn the car around.”

Changbin’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets at your demand. Surely, he had heard you now. You crossed your arms and leaned back to rest comfortably on the carseat, turning your head to face the window and glare at the world outside, continuing on with their lives like a well-followed routine.

“Y/N, this is a big opportunity—”

“I said, turn the car around. I’m not attending this cursed table reading,” you pinched the bridge of your nose to keep the incoming migraine at bay.

“You really think I’ll willingly step into a room with the devil’s incarnate? I’d rather get shot—”

“—sensing a great shot!”

Director Han Jisung nodded positively at your performance, satisfied with your initial portrayal of the female lead.

“If we keep going like this, then I’m expecting this project to be a big hit. The casting team really did their pay’s worth on this one,” the young director hummed. “Especially you, Actor Kim Seungmin. I don’t know how they managed to get through your company's walls, but I’m glad they did. You’re perfect for the role!”

You felt your eye twitch as the figure bearing the name appeared within your vision. His mouth curled up into an arrogant smirk, hastily covered up by a bashful smile. You cringed at his actions that only you seemed to see. Why was this prick acting all humble?

“Ah, I always wanted to act in one of your films, Director Han. This is more of an amazing opportunity for me than you, honestly.”

That smoothed honey voice wrapped itself around the room’s premise, charming everyone around like it was coming from an alluring siren. All except you.

Your mouth filled with a coating of spite as his next sentence echoed through your ears. His eyes locked you in as a target, a wordless challenge shooting straight at your own.

“Plus, seeing who my co-star is, I’m quite thrilled to see the end product,” Seungmin grinned with a manic glint.

Fuck. You should’ve turned that damned car around yourself.

mastertag 🔖— send in an ask if you want to be added ! 🫶

@fairyki @hysgf @euncsace @comet-falls @starlostseungmin @ameliesaysshoo @hyunverse @djeniryuu @lixxpix

[ofbreathandflame-archive]

Not to come off as nitpicking but why can’t Feyre be a high lady? It’s not as if tamlim or Beron are any better and theyre centuries older than feyre. I get everything but I love feyre

Hi anon!!

You don’t come off nitpicky at all! Thanks for the comment!****

[long post - more under the cut - disclaimer at the bottom]

First — I agree with you. There’s no moral reason I can think of that rules out why Feyre can’t be High Lady; so, I agree with it. I’m going to go a step further and say it’s fine that Rhysand makes Feyre High Lady of the Night Court. Obviously, Feyre will learn and ease herself into the role.

Do I think Feyre should be a High Lady? No — but I think that’s because, as I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve always felt that Feyre chafes in structured, heavily-ruled settings and has been characterized heavily as a character whose strength comes from an admonishment of rules and expectations (In my opinion, based in the text ofc).

I also think that the story doesn’t lead with reasons why Feyre specifically should be High Lady. If we go with the logic that Feyre is an inexperienced young-girl who needs to learn how to lead then we acknowledge two things: (1) that Feyre has to learn and (2) Rhysand made Feyre High Lady. That way, the expectation is that Feyre does not know anything but will learn. Traditionally, women have consolidated power by marrying into it; its quite normal for women to be “the queen” because they married into power. If anything – I think it simply makes no sense that there hasn’t been a High Lady in almost 15,000 years; it seems like an obvious choice. There’s also genuinely no difference between Lady of the Court and being High Lady.

The problem with the story is that it does not want to acknowledge -- or at least fully acknowledge many things. The first is that Feyre wants to be made High Lady (or - to push back against that - the story wants her to be High Lady). If Feyre wants power, she's acknowledging she has some skills to be president. But like...she simply doesn't. She has many skills - none that really align, though. I also feel comfortable saying that Feyre doesn’t even really want to be a leader, and her narration often opposes the idea that she wants to be in positions of power; I think we can argue that Feyre wants power over her own life – but that is not the same as wanting power over an entire group of people. I often feel insane because I think its actually kind of weird that the story never spends time developing Feyre as a person with skills that translate to leadership – or even ambition. Let’s think about similar characters like Jude or Dany, the story goes out of its way to establish why they want power, and the skills they have.

Dany is a strategic genius at literally fourteen years; she has to grapple with her kindness and how it can be to her detriment. She has to establish boundaries between the members of her Queensguard. She uses her wits, sensuality (though – I have words for Grrm), strategy to cement her claim to the throne; she is advised to practice her rule in Essos. It’s not just the fact that Dany has a claim to the Iron Throne – she’s proven she’s got the skills to be both kind and harsh; political and strategic, wrathful and powerful. Dany is not a fighter – she is a queen. She’s calling the shots and she’s still kind. Jude is shown the horrors of Faerie very early on in the story – and that anecdote at the beginning of the story essentially informs the story.

And like Dany, Jude has to learn to balance kindness with politics; she learns early on that her kindness, while altruistic, can operate as (1) selfishness and (2) can ultimately amount to nothing. It’s not saying that these characters aren’t kind, or evil, but that they learn, to some extent, how to navigate these worlds by themselves. The story is not arguing that these girls are good and kind and therefore “worthy” to be made the leader; these stories are also not concerned with needing to moralize why the female leads are more deserving – we can just see that they have qualities that will translate well into leadership. So (at least in Dany’s case), when they make a mistake, we can actually think and discuss the validity of what makes it a good / bad action. We’re not just running with the fact that “well Dany is a girl and abused!” but rather “what can Dany do to improve and not make these mistakes again” – Dany herself literally always weighs her past experiences with new ones to avoid mistakes that can detrimental to her campaign. We know Dany has the skills.

Every time we question the validity of Feyre’s actions were often met with that initial argument, which is, that Feyre is essentially “just a girl” and “under duress” and “traumatized.” But they also don’t want to admit that Feyre doesn’t have a lot of the skills necessary to be leading the court, which is true (and not even a criticism, but literally a fact). It’s a fact that Rhysand made Feyre High Lady because she was his mate – which isn’t a negative and literally how nobility has kind of traditionally operated under in the past. Even Feyre going UTM says nothing about her skills as a leader. It's always bothered me that people use the fact that Feyre goes UTM to prove that she deserves be High Lady. It's just...she didn't go down there to save Prythian; as a matter a fact, Feyre only goes UTM because she realizes she royally fucked Clare Beddor - she goes there out of guilt. Once she gets down there, she has no choice but to complete those tasks because of the bargain. That matters. It really does. I also think this logic – someone like Nesta would also be qualified to lead the NC. It's why I think people get testy with the whole 'who would be a better high lady' or whatever. Because the way the book sets it up, everyone, including Feyre sisters are all equally if not more qualified for the role. I'd argue, Nesta has even stronger claim to a leadership. To be clear I am not arguing that Nesta should be HL or would make a good; only that the story provides more concrete examples of why she could be HL than it does its own main character, and by the end of Nesta's book she's clearly the stronger character (*cough* which is why I argue SJM obsession with Rhys comes at the detriment of feyre's character!) - and there are more concrete, intentional moments where Nesta shows skills that are actually relevant.

Again it proves that Feyre can be brave, but naught else. I really thought MAF was going to actually delve into the idea that Feyre feels like a fraud because of she really only went down there for Tamlin and to try to rectify her mistakes – and she ends up in this position of power that she seems super uncomfortable with. Similar to Katniss’s ordeal in The Hunger Games. Like – we don’t even kno the names of the two Fae she killed. The story decides that not deal with it. Feyre literally says something along the lines of “its not so bad I killed those not bad because at least everyone else was freed” – but the whole point should have been that she realizes that she’s not just sacrificing her own body for Tamlin, she’s taking someone’s life for the chance to be with Tamlin. Because she loves him. That should have challenged Feyre’s morals, earnestly. There should be a deep dive to what that means. We know that Prythian becomes free – but y’all that was the afterthought. Feyre deadass only asked for Tamlin’s curse to be lifted. She didn’t even consider the people when she made the bargain and if SJM (or Amarantha) were smart enough she would’ve picked up on it all.

The story essentially bastardizes why Feyre decides to go UTM. Feyre doesn’t learn anything; she doesn’t learn how to read because she realizes It almost kills her, she doesn’t stop making weird, impulsive bargains, she doesn’t learn how to navigate politics, or listen for hints of information when Tamlin says no to her – nothing informs her actions, she doesn’t learn new skills in her arsenal – things just always go well for her. Feyre isn’t diplomatic – at the High Lord meeting she literally attacks another High Lord, she doesn’t show any prowess with Keir, doesn’t do things her own way and decides to defer to “the way its always been”

I’m not talking about how moral it is for Feyre to be able to do something.  I’m saying that Feyre never has to learn skills to handle adversity; when she doesn’t get her way the story throws temper tantrum for her. Beron said something mean so Feyre had to attack him – what does that prove? She essentially insults all of the High Lords, doesn’t make amends with Summer or Spring – and the story just expects them to follow her because….shes just a girl. And they do – for no other reason then the fact that Feyre is Feyre. And because there’s no emphasis on her actual skills, when we ask “what makes Feyre deserve to be High Lady’ – we get a frustrated response that says “well – she’s new at the job! She’ll learn!” but like…she never does. And again, what qualified her to be there in the first place If she supposedly still doesn’t have the skills. What moment informs this idea?

So, to stop my rambling, I agree that Feyre should be HL, but I also believe the story should develop her character's actual skillset instead always relying on bastardized generalizations of plot points that the story uses to basically argue that Feyre "deserves" the title without ever giving any skills to actually fall back on. the difference between , then Tamlin and Beron (maybe - we don't know) is that they inherited power, Feyre wants to lead. She wants to be High Lady. She isn't burdened with the responsibility she wants in (or story wants in). That means she should have skills to reflect that want.

***[two things I should note: (1) I was already writing a post that touches on some of the things I've discussed - so there's a lot of universal 'y'all/they/them thrown around - but I am not talking about you nonny; its toward the middle and end (2) this is a longer post bc I combined some of things I already wrote a couple months back! I really appreciate your comment and kindness]

[remember-digimon]

Prodigious!

Izzy is the reason all these kids are still alive btw just wanted to make sure we all know that

So Izzy is smart. He brings a laptop and cellphone to summer camp and uses big words. But thankfully he does not fall into the trap of 'smart kids' of western media; overly nerdy, completely socially inept, you get the idea. No, Izzy is more than that. His intelligence has a basis in something besides a trope; namely, computer science and engineering.

(Don't even get me started on Matt being the one to go into engineering when IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IZZY)

From the moment the kids land in the Digital World, Izzy is curious about it. His crest is knowledge but I really think it should've been curiosity. He gets Tentomon to evolve by hacking his code. He comes up with some aliens conspiracy to explain why they're there and why there's things like phone booths on the beach.

Izzy is the problem solver of the group. In fact, without him, the other kids are just... Kinda lost. Izzy has the answers, and if he doesn't he'll at least know how to find them.

Even though he's younger than the others, being 10 when they're 11, they treat him as an equal. This is opposed to the other kid that's 10, Mimi, who is kind of coddled, and the two youngest, TK and Kari, who are literally the hope and light of the group.

Izzy is basically Tai's second-in-command, deferring to Tai's leadership while Tai takes his input very seriously. However, Izzy isn't much of a leader on his own.

He gets distracted by details. When Mimi finds him in the temple, he's so busy on his laptop that she gets upset and runs off into a maze. I would attribute this to him being younger, and as he gets older he does get better at applying his intelligence to a leadership role.

Most of the kids have an interesting family dynamic and Izzy is no different. It's revealed that he's adopted, that his birth parents died shortly after he was born and his adoptive parents were friends that took him in.

What I like about this reveal is that, of course, Izzy found this out on his own due to his curiosity. He overheard his parents discussing whether or not they should tell him, deciding not to because he's too young.

During the Odaiba raid, when the kids have a moment, Izzy gets to finally have the conversation. They admit that he's adopted and tell him what happened, and he says he already knows. He didn't want to bring it up himself because he thought he could just pretend like things were normal, like before he knew. But obviously it couldn't. This shows the price he pays for his curiosity, that sometimes knowing things isn't all fun times and computer jargon. It isn't helpful for Izzy to pretend to not know, to ignore what he knows. Instead it's better for him to apply what he knows to react appropriately, instead of hiding behind the easier mode of willful ignorance.

This also comes into play, though in a different way, during Izzy's confrontation with Vademon. Izzy gives away his curiosity (under extreme duress but still) and is basically empty of all character after that. He does a weird alphabet yoga meditation and willingly gives up his crest and tag, when earlier in the episode his curiosity was at a boiling point over it.

This causes Tentomon to de-digivolve to the baby stage; the only other partner Digimon to go back to this stage is Patamon. With the loss of his curiosity, Izzy has lost the core of his being and is no longer able to maintain Tentomon's existence.

Of course, he gets it back and everything is fine afterwords. This episode is very interesting when looking at how things work for the kids and their Digimon, why the crests are important, etc. But that's a post for another time.

Izzy is incredibly important to the team. Without him, I highly doubt they would've made it very far at all. He's able to look up Digimon on his laptop, kind of like a Digimon version of a Pokedex, when none of the currently present Digimon can give an explanation about who they're up against. But aside from his usefulness as the Smart Kid, it's noteworthy that he uses his intelligence to be helpful instead of lording it over everyone. And he is still a kid, albeit with an impressive vocabulary, so sometimes his curiosity gets him into trouble.

[feathered-mushrooms]

Scott Summers ahead Cannons

he is my favorite loser boy

Due to growing up on it, Scott tends to throw himself into the danger room whenever he feels an emotion more than fine. He does not know a limit, which his led to “Scott patrol”. Oh Scott hasn’t left the danger room for five hours? Rouge it’s your turn, I pulled him out last time. 

Scott can’t handle to much down time, or being bored. He constantly feels like there is something he should be doing, and therefore will constantly find something to do. 

Charles has done a number on him. He is the reason Scott is so high strung, why failure isn’t just a lesson to learn from but an entire judgement of his character, why he can’t just breathe. He needs to be the leader and the man everyone can count on, he needs to be everything Charles wants him to be. 

This is not a healthy way of thinking. 

Scott has a special interest in planes. It started when he was young and then had a pause after the plane crash that killed his parents. However he picked it up again and now can tell you the difference between a commercial flight and a jet. He also knows how to pilot seven different types of aircraft and even got official license for each.

He is Bi.

It took him frighteningly long to figure this out. 

Scott has issues with social skills(projecting). He can speak sarcasm just fine and makes many jokes in that medium. However he has a hard time figuring out people are being sarcastic, especially if the joke is around him. 

He would wear a dress. Not in public, but if Jean offered he would try one of her dresses on in the safety of a bed room. He would like it. 

Game nights were originally hidden from Scott who(due to the professors absurdly high expectations) does not handle losing well. He loves to point out the rules and technicality’s, and will not play Uno with any variations. He’s not a sore loser par say, it just gets depressing for everyone watching. 

When he was young he kept only one pair of ruby glasses and one visor. As he has aged(and been influenced by Emma) he know has a collection of ruby glasses in all types and styles. 

Star Wars is his comfort show/movie/universe

Pretty equal on cats and dogs but leans towards dogs. 

His chances of being a toddler dad had been pretty ruined but he thinks it would be nice to raise a kid alongside a dog. Maybe a golden retriever. 

He does not mind cats though. 

He often feels weird in his place as a parent. Nathan is his kid but some much time has been lost that Scott can’t help but yearn for the mile stones that were missed and lost to time. He misses everything he was promised as a father. The same is true for Rachel although it is a little weirder. Yes she is his, but from a future that will never happen. He often feels guilty because in the end he has two great kids, but he wishes he could raise a kid in a normal sense. 

He just wants to be a father. 

When he was their step father, Scott showed the Cuckoos Star Wars. He keeps checking in on them, even after he and Emma are no longer together. 

Scott’s type is a person who will be mean to him, and could probably kill him, but have a soft spot.

Even if that soft spot is very hidden. 

He can make a really good grilled cheese. There was a week in his teens were there was low x-men activities and not a lot to do in the mansion so he dedicated his days to perfecting the grilled cheese. He makes it anytime he thinks someone needs some comfort. 

He’s eyes are brown under the visor. 

Never played DnD but very interested in it. Researched it a whole lot and has watched a lot of play throughs. Has even mentioned it to the rest of the squad and most were down to try. However it was forgotten due to the next world ending event. Scott still thinks about it and the character he made. 

He is doing his best but often over exerts himself which leads to sick days. On these days he is forced to cuddle up in a blanket and watches either the Star Wars orignal movies or one of the shows. Most times someone will be designated to sit with him so he doesn’t try and get up and do work. 

On these days Logan often takes the job. 

That all for now!

[iceclew]

SO IN CASE ANYBODY WONDERED..

here is my take on Jesper and Keith without mask/helmet.

AND SOME DOODLES

shit I fell HARD for them...

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters, neither is this by any means canon, it's just my take on what I feel I would like them to look like. Characters belong to Skyrim Tales, entirely.

*phew* it was only when I chatted with fellow simp/mutual that I realized, it would have made MUCH more sense for them to have long hair... it would fit way better in the skyrim law .........But, BEFORE I thought about that, those faces came to my mind.. Keith should have ..more northern-like traits, but ended up...weirdly roman? I have not lived down men with goatees just yet....

And Jesper is said to be not North, so i kinda played around a bit and ... yeah, whatever it is that came up to me, at this point, why am I trying to justify this, I felt locks and freckles and let's be real here I bottomed him hard in this.. like.. is there anything I forgot that would scream even more "Bottom" to you?

*silence*

...

OK so because this post IS NOT LONG ENOUGH YET DOWN BELOW ARE SOME OF MY HEADCANONS:

(Sorry for horrible spelling and grammar)

Jesper is actually a quite anxious person and copes with not taking off his helmet. Even when off-duty, or singing. Almost no one in Whiterun saw his face so far.

He is so used to wear the guard's uniform ever since childhood, everything else let's him feel right out exposed to the world. Like all of his flaws and weaknesses are presented on the plate to be played with and take advantage of by everybody around him. His face is totally fine btw, nothing unuasual but a few freckles spread across it (cause i love freckles).

The uniform and helmet is a huge confidence boost for him, and he himself is feeling much more authorical with it. Not like - gettin' into macho mansplaining mode, but rather like feeling like a normal decent human. And by now he kinda takes it to an extreme, meaning, if he was ever about to take it off in front of others, he'd just be super nervous about it, and can't keep eye contact, so he heavily tries to avoid those situations.

He believes exposing his face in conversation would make him extra vulnerable, since he is a rather touchy soul, constantly wearing his emotions on his face and he's aware of that..(can you describe it like that? idk) He got bullied a lot from young age, and with helmet on, people cannot respond to his expression and will not confront him about it as much. He is still kinda expressive and easy to read even WITH helmet on - voice and postur giving away a lot - but still mot that obvious. He still gets bullied by his collegues, but feels like it could be worse).

He loves singing, but it's like - the prime example of his problem - so he's not daring to quit being a guard, take of his helmet and become a professional singer. There are some bard festivals around, he would love to visit, but never dared to, because he would only get sad from not being able to join the singers for good.

Keith is not fond of showing his face around either. But this solemly because of his profession. But he has a rather distinctive birthmark, where people would recognize him immediatelly if seen, so mask it is.

I feel Keith would be around 5 years older or smth? And since he is kind of a night owl by profession, plus up at daytime as well, he must have the most horrible eye bags of doom, one can imagine.

yeah, that's all I got for now... I know.. I'm a lot here already....

I have so many ideas, I hope I find more time and inspiration for stuff here, I'd love to draw them together, plus the whole crew as well, I really loved today's 3am vid. <3

[phantomonabudget]

We need to talk, Pham. Stop shaming Christine Daaé.

I have seen this behavior consistently for the 30+ years I have been a Phan. What's worse is that I see A LOT of it from grown women. I see posts calling her foolish for leaving Erik. Slut shaming her or calling her a gold digger. Calling her stupid, weak, or unworthy because a "real woman" (presumably the women posting these absurd notions 🙄) would have loved him better and been worthy of his awesome talent and capacity for love. 😳🤮

It's disturbing, disheartening, and disgusting. And it needs to stop.

First off, none of these characters are real, so perhaps let's take things a little less seriously in general. It's a fictional story. I get it: we all love it, and probably love the Phantom's character. That's fine....I've made a 20+ year career dressing as the dude, for crying out loud. 🤣 Maybe we all identify with Erik/The Phantom to some degree. Regardless of the version of the story, if the actors or authors do their job well, we *should* feel pity and compassion for him. But feeling compassion and completely ignoring the character's dangerous and abusive behavior are two very different things. It has the potential for some severe consequences in the real world.

By shaming Christine for leaving Erik at the end, you are potentially telling young people that staying in abusive relationships is the right thing. You make them think that if their significant other is talented, misunderstood, been abused themselves etc, then they should stay and love them into a healthy relationship. That if they just love their abusive SO harder, sacrifice themselves a little more or for a little longer, or keep putting that person's needs above their own, that the relationship will suddenly become this wonderful, euphoric experience. It won't. As a survivor of longtime abusive myself, I can tell you from experience: it doesn't happen that way.

Celebrate healthy relationships and enforcing healthy boundaries. Stop shaming Christine for fighting for and winning her life and saving the man she loves.

And please stop calling this a romance. It's the antithesis of romance.

I am sick of members of this Phandom completely ignoring Erik/The Phantom's behavior to justify their blind adoration. Erik is an abusive and dangerous character, and extremely toxic. He lies to and manipulates Christine using her trauma from her deceased father. He kidnaps her, multiple times. Threatens her and her colleagues. He extorts hundreds of thousands from the business managers. He endangers dozens of people with the chandelier crash, and effectively holds hundreds hostage for months or years at a time with his reign of terror at the Opera.

Then there are the murders. Several of them. Probably been at that for awhile so we can assume it's far more than the two we see in the show. We don't know his actual body count, but we do know he's adept and comfortable taking human life.

And yet, I see some mature phans out here completely ignoring all those things and still shaming Christine for leaving him. Why? Because he's "sexy" (author's note: PLEASE go re-read Leroux. Please). And he's talented. And has so much love to give. And is misunderstood. And society was terrible to him...so it's all fine. 😳🤮 She should have just stayed and loved him like he deserves to be loved. 🙄

Recently I saw a post shaming Christine and the justification was that Raoul was so much worse. He isn't. Is he a perfect character? No, not at all. Does he make mistakes and try to use Christine? In some versions, yes. Does he run around extorting, manipulating, threatening, and killing others? Also no.

Pleasw don't ever use LND!Raoul's character assassination as some kind of justification, because he's still the most sane, normal human being in that show, and Erik is still 1,000 times worse than Raoul in LND. Also, using LND as justification for anything makes for a very weak and uninformed argument.

"Hurt people hurt people." Ever heard that phrase? Abused people sometimes abuse others, especially if they haven't done the work to heal themselves. Their previous abuse does NOT entitle them to abuse others. That is always a deliberate choice and those choices have consequences. The dangerous, disgusting rhetoric I see in the Phantom community basically excuses toxic behavior because Erik was previously abused and nothing is his fault. That is simply not true. Those that abused me were previously abused. Didn't make my abuse hurt any less. And I made the choice to do the work so that the abuse stopped with me. Previous trauma is a reason for the behavior, but it is NEVER, ever an excuse.

And don't let the fact the dude can sing or that he's a snappy dresser blind you to his toxicity.

We can all enjoy the Phantom character's complexity and love him, while still acknowledging his flaws and holding him accountable for his deeply inappropriate choices.

We talk a lot more these days about trauma, toxicity, and self care. And yet, as a community, we still shame the character of Christine Daaé for doing the healthy, correct thing. The ONLY thing. And in doing so, we set a disturbing precedent for our young or vulnerable Phans who now might think that staying in toxic relationships in the real world is okay.

Please do better, Phandom.

[dccomicsbracket]

Batgirl (2000)

Perhaps my single favourite piece of writing in the comic book medium. This was my introduction to Cassandra Cain, and is the perfect place to get into her. Everyone should read Batgirl #19, and bask in the way it lays out the core of Cass' character with surgical precision. Puckett's Cass is fascinating: a fine balance of absolute confidence in her ability, crushing guilt about her past, a desperation for redemption and to see others redeem themselves, and a fundamental belief in the preservation of life. 1st batgirl on going, very good overall run, do it for Cass everyone its quite literally required reading for cass, babs, and steph. the way kelley puckett is able to explore cass’s character through her relationships with the other bats and the parallels between her and bruce is actually insane. theres so many little details in the visual story telling as well that just make the experience that much better. the fluidity and expressiveness of the art also adds on to the overall experience. it is literally DCs magnum opus Life changing series.

Young Justice (1998)

It's 6-8 fifteen year olds living in a cave, and their only adult supervision is a robot wind machine one of them graffiti-ed all over within the first five minutes of meeting him. The only two with anything even RESEMBLING normal childhoods are the demigod and the son of two billionaires (literally just some guy). They have an alien motorbike and at one point they save the world from aliens by playing baseball. Everyone in it is just so stupid all the time and I love that for them (god bless 🙏) Never has a comic quite that batshit and quite that sincere graced my presence I just love it and I enjoyed reading it

Blue Beetle (2006)

Just a good introduction to a character with a satisfying conclusion. I love you, Jaime, a guy who's just trying to do his best for his loved ones and his local community. I love you Khaji Da, scrungly lil dude speaking in glyphs. I love you, Brenda, and your complicated relationship with your aunt who adores you, but is also a crime lord. I love you Paco, a genuinely good friend. I love Jaime's family and the way they all adjust to Jaime being a superhero. I love the effort made to portray Jaime as a person with community and connections. i looove jaime sososo much he's such a fun protagonist and the developement of his character + his relationship w khaji da is sooo interesting and well written. i love seeing him bond with his little alien bug parasite !! all of the side characters are also so great like brenda and paco are so fun and la dama is suuuch an interesting character. jaime's family is also so lovely they clearly care abt jaime so much and its nice to see a kid superhero with parents who respect and also deeply care abt their kid. the art is also very fun overall its just a really stellar run Quite honestly one of the best written comic runs I've ever read, DC or otherwise. It flips so many standard comic book tropes on their heads and does it well. The main character is the epitome of just some guy and he is my favorite of all time. AMAZING characters. Fresh perspectives on comics tropes that are so overused it's hard to imagine comics without them. Everyone is worthy of respect and treated with dignity, even the villains. Khaji Da's character arc is amazing. And the adults make me laugh so much. Guy and Peacemaker as mentors who IMMEDIATELY recognize this kid is FAR more emotionally mature then they are, so they're not going to bother with that side of mentoring!

[jinisnuggets]

ੈ✩‧₊˚ 𝐀 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬

ᴾᵃⁱʳⁱⁿᵍˢ: ˢⁱʳᵉⁿ!ᴶᵘⁿᵍʷᵒⁿ ˣ ᴺᵒᵇˡᵉ!ᴿᵉᵃᵈᵉʳ

ᴳᵉⁿʳᵉ: ᴬᵘ, ᴬⁿᵍˢᵗ

ᵂᵒʳᵈ ᶜᵒᵘⁿᵗ: ⁵.³ᵏ

ᵂᵃʳⁿⁱⁿᵍˢ: ᴹʸᵗʰⁱᶜᵃˡ ᶜʳᵉᵃᵗᵘʳᵉ ᵗᵃˡᵏ, ᵃⁿᵗⁱ-ᵇᵉˡⁱᵉᵛᵉʳ (ᵒᶠ ᵐʸᵗʰⁱᶜᵃˡ ᶜʳᵉᵃᵗᵘʳᵉ), ˢʷᵉᵃʳ ʷᵒʳᵈˢ, ᵗʰᵉᶠᵗ, ᵖᵃˢᵗ ˡⁱᶠᵉ ᵈⁱˢᶜᵘˢˢⁱᵒⁿ, ᴬˡˡᵘʳⁱⁿᵍ ᵃⁿᵈ ˢᵉᵈᵘᶜᵗⁱᵛᵉ ᵈᵉᵖⁱᶜᵗⁱᵒⁿ ᵒᶠ ˢⁱʳᵉⁿˢ, ᵐᵃⁿⁱᵖᵘˡᵃᵗⁱⁿᵍ?, ᵐᵉⁿᵗⁱᵒⁿ ᵒᶠ ᵉˣᵉᶜᵘᵗⁱᵒⁿ

ᴺᵉᵗʷᵒʳᵏ: @starlit-network

ᴬ/ⁿ: ᵀᴴᴵˢ ᵀᴼᴼᴷ ᴹᵉ ˢᴼ ᴸᴼᴺᴳ ᵀᴼ ᶠᴵᴺᴵˢᴴ!! ᴮᵘᵗ ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ᶜʰᵉᶜᵏ ᵐʸ ᶠⁱᶜ ᶜʳᵉᵈⁱᵗˢ ᵗᵒ ˢᵉᵉ ᵃˡˡ ᵗʰᵉ ʷᵒⁿᵈᵉʳᶠᵘˡ ᵖᵉᵒᵖˡᵉ ʷʰᵒ ʰᵉˡᵖᵉᵈ ᵐᵉ ᶜʰᵉᶜᵏ ᵒᵛᵉʳ ᵗʰⁱˢ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵖᵉʳᶠᵉᶜᵗ ⁱᵗ

The ocean was full of mysteries and secrets that no one has, nor should ever be discovered… the big body of water that was so beautiful yet so terrifying.

You, a regular Victorian girl who enjoyed reading novels under the big tree which sat next to a normal river, finding joy in being able to put yourself into the characters that you read in the book. Feeling as if you were the main character, growing a connection with those around you.

“Y/n, you tend to isolate yourself too much dear… wouldn't you like to spend more time with us? Your family?” Your mother found herself asking, looking directly at you as if she expected you to answer enthusiastically.

Truthfully, no. You were fine being alone and it was when you felt at your best. Being alone in the comfort of your books and imagination.

“If I'm being honest, mother, I do not think that being alone is a burden, as I quite enjoy the silence of going into the forest alone.”

Your mother and sister stared at you, unknowing of what to respond with. You hated the look of pity that they showed towards you, as if enjoying the company of one's self was something that should be looked down upon. The opinion of those older could never be the same as someone younger. The mind was simply at different levels of development, causing disagreements between the two quite regularly.

Looking around at the family who sat around the table, picking yourself up from the chair and grabbing your book from your lap to prevent it from falling.

“I believe I have some important manners to take care of…” you completed, beginning to make your way out of the dining room.

“Y/n, before you go you must be aware of something.” Your dad spoke, catching your attention and causing you to turn around to face him.

“What's wrong?” You responded, somewhat intrigued.

“Because me and your mother have been speaking about a better career opportunity for our company. I wanted to make you aware that next month we'll be moving over to a different town. Not far at most.”

You despised moving… however this time, it would be near an ocean. Meaning you would be capable of observing the same water that your current book, ‘A Hidden Atlantis’ was referencing. The same town and ocean that had been where the novel had taken place.

A Hidden Atlantis was a one of a kind book, you'd truthfully never read anything like it before. The topic of humanoid creatures whose legs resembled that of a fish was always interesting to you.

Something like that could never exist in the real world… could it?

It would only ever be real in paintings, books and imagination. It's place was not the real ocean that was full of mysterious creatures.

However… in the low chance possibility that something like a half human half fish existed. It'd be so beautiful yet terrifying. The same way its habitat was.

Your obsession with these types of mythical chapter books started when you found a ring on the floor of your new (now old) house. You were young, so the red ruby that sat brightly inside the ring wasn't something that appeared valuable to you, it was only ever stunning.

You kept it, never sold it for money… even though it would probably be worth a fortune. You always felt some sort of odd connection to it, causing you to never be capable of selling it. It was too special for you, despite the mystery that could've been a curse that attracted you to it and it's red gem

___

They told you to stay inside, but you found a way out nevertheless. They were silly if they didn't know you well enough to see it coming.

This was the very ocean right outside of your new home. The very ocean that the book described, it was right in front of you along with the same town and streets that the book’s main character walked on before in the history of the novel.

Sirens didn't exist, but maybe you could catch a glimpse of something that slightly resembled that of the mythical creature throughout your stay. It would make sense wouldn't it? Possibly if you were a believer.. but unfortunately you weren't.

Even so, you still enthusiastically made your way to the sandy beach located right under the cliff which your house sat over, finding a comfortable rock to sit on as you opened your book and lit up a candle

The young girl, Sharon left everything behind. From her friends and belongings to her town, all due to financial struggles between her parents. However the kind girl looked at things in another light, becoming understanding of her parents' situation and avoiding internal conflicts between herself and her family.

She took out the box which carried the old jewel inside. Seeing the gem glow bright red, reflecting off the same color as that of her eyes. Staring into the piece made her confident in the color of red, it was a beautiful color that many people associated with the wrong things. It was a treasure, and it made her feel the same connection and reassurance that she had felt since the start… since the first ever day she laid eyes on the ring.

She slipped the ring onto her hand, feeling the jewel slide off of her small fingers. However, she kept it on as she made her way to the dark waters that almost felt as if they awaited her.

She walked the path down the forest, catching a glimpse of the bright moon illuminating the cold ocean. It looked beautiful, almost magical as she walked near. Sitting on a rock and brushing her feet against the water, feeling as if it had been bringing her skin smoothness and youth.

“Beautiful night,” The young girl found herself whispering, as she looked far up into the distance to see the figure of a sunken ship, located right behind a chapped rock.

It’s boards and wood sinking down and dissolving into the water as it overflowed.

The news of the sinking ship was everywhere:

“Ship sank under unidentified circumstances.”

“Ship mysteriously begins sinking in the middle of the sea.”

“An unidentified ship reappears on the shores of...”

It was all over the newspapers, disaster would always be destined to happen.

The light of the fire which illuminated the candle flicker off, the strong winds didn't allow it to keep the fire. It was time to head back home and continue reading inside your room, where the wind couldn't get to you despite your delicate windows. It seemed as if a storm was approaching.

You smiled looking up and at the direct spot that the book described, not spotting a single sunken ship. Even if it was there at one point in history, the likelihood that it was actually the fault of a group of sirens and their enchanting voices and illusions was little to none.

As much as you wanted to believe, you knew something like that could only stay in your imagination. The same way dragons and vampires did. They could never exist in the real world, it would just be too dangerous.

Picking yourself up from the rock, you carefully climbed your way down and allowed the light from your barely lit candle to lead you back.

This ocean was close enough to your house that you were able to see the lights turned on in specific rooms. Best get going now if you hoped to not get caught sneaking out like you were strictly told not to.

Walking on the light sand before feeling your shoe step on something hard…

A rock maybe?

You tilted your head to look below you, bending your knees to get a better look at the object.

It was a ring… a blue diamond ring, washed away on the shore of the ocean. It must've been left behind by some tourist or someone who happened to be traveling the water’s. And really you didn't care to find out, as it was left behind and far too valuable to ignore.

You'd simply treasure it. The same way you did with the red ruby ring that you found in your old house when moving in.

“Y/n!” A young boy called out, running over to hug you tightly, almost as if you hadn't seen each other in a long time.

Turning around, you came face to face with a pretty young boy, beautiful cat shaped eyes that glowed as brightly as the day.

“Jungwon? What are you doing here..!?”

He smiled brightly and picked out a bright yellow dandelion from the grass, gently shoving your hair behind your ear and placing it right in between.

“I came to say hello to a friend,” He responded enthusiastically.

You shook your head and looked up, happier than ever.

“I understand but shouldn't you be with a doctor!?” You questioned to which he responded with a giggle and smirked at you.

“They told me that I should be outside a lot and have fun! So I'm following their instructions!”

Face palming yourself, you looked back up softly and picked up a bright yellow dandelion, mimicking his acts and placing it on his hair right above his ear.

He kept his gaze fixed on you, that was until you picked yourself up from the ground and began running around in the small garden right in front of a noble looking home.

Being a kid himself, he followed and chased you across the garden.

You looked happy… excited… like children…

Finally, your brain snapped back to reality.

“What the hell was that…?” You muttered to yourself, being unable to comprehend the vision that gave you more than just deja vu.

You looked into the dark and gloomy ocean, spotting a figure of a young man looking in your direction. His bright brown eyes which seemed to illuminate more than the moon pierced straight through your soul in an almost terrifying manner.

Shaking your head and rubbing your eyes… you convinced yourself to be seeing things.

You looked back in a panic and there was nothing… no figure… no eyes… simply nothing..

“Of course… I must be lacking sleep…” you managed to stutter, snapping back up to your senses and running back home. After all, not getting caught was your main priority right now.

***

And so the kind girl Sharon ran back home, stumbling upon an object which appeared to be a gem, closely resembling that of her own. The young girl picked up the ring and placed it in her pocket, she couldn't just leave it behind. She'd collect it.

Upon looking into the distance, she found herself staring directly into the eyes of a creature in the ocean.

Her kind heart forced her to yell, “Are you alright dear sailor, do you need assistance?”

However, she received no response…

Chills ran down her spine as he stared at her intensely, not even blinking once throughout the entire process… Sharon, upon feeling uneasy decided to run and make someone aware along the way of a possible sailor that could've been in danger.

Little did she know that she had stared into the eyes of that of the most dangerous…

All because she touched what was his… and you should never touch anything that belongs to a siren…

____

“Jungwon. For dear god’s sake, why are we doing this?”

Jungwon turned around once again and sighed, “For the 100th thousand millionth time, it's because that young lady took my ring. So I'm returning for it.”

“Indeed but this is a bother. Someone's going to find out one way or another and we'll be dead… Why can't we return to the shore and find you another identical ring? There's plenty in the ocean-”

He froze mid sentence upon seeing the eyes of his little brother staring at him. Despite being older, Jungwon intimidated him and he couldn't deny it. Jungwon’s strong point was his eyes and he fully took advantage of that.

“Jake- if you would like to return you can always do so… I didn't need you to come either way-” Jungwon managed to mutter softly.

Jake frowned, “I'll stay with you. I don't want you out here in the human world alone with absolutely no one supervising you.”

Jungwon smiled and nodded, “Alright then, let's make this fast.”

Jake followed his little brother. He had always doubted the connection that Jungwon claimed to have with his ring up until now; more like up until a year ago. Whereas Jungwon dropped his ring while traveling in the oceans at night and was somehow able to find it immediately after he noticed. Retracing his steps and locating the small object in the depths of the massive ocean. Jake was sure that he had a tracker on that thing because that would've been otherwise impossible.

And right now was no exception, in fact it was only convincing Jake furthermore that there must've been a hidden tracker somewhere within the tiny corners of that small ring.

Jake’s frown only turned into an annoyed stare as he watched Jungwon get ahead of himself, leading them to who the heck knew where. “Do you even know what she looked like?”

Jungwon shook his head, still keeping his gaze forward, “Absolutely not.”

Jake sighed, “Why did I expect that… with that keen eyesight of yours I really would've expected you to at least see her hair color.”

“It was dark hyung-” Jungwon completed, noticing Jake nod in agreement.

“I know but for some reason you can spot everything about a person at night except for the thief of your ring… and what if she sold it already?”

Jungwon sighed and shook his head, “I’d rather not think about it but in that case scenario then we'd have to purchase it again-”

Jake stared at Jungwon, “You can't be serious.”

Jungwon turned around, “Should I rephrase that? I'd rather say- I'd have to purchase it again.”

“There's dozens of trade shops on land- how are you gonna locate the exact one!?” Jake asked, almost yelling to which Jungwon backed away nervously and blinked a couple of times before answering.

“I'll find it, don't worry.”

Jake was upset but he wanted to support his brother. That ring was special to Jungwon ever since infancy and he didn't want to say anything rude or careless, let alone both.

“By the way, lower your voice because other people are going to hear you and will suspect us. You're going to throw us both under the bus with your yelling-”

Jake bowed to his little brother and apologized repeatedly, “I'm sorry, it's a little complicated to contain my emotions to a certain volume.”

Jungwon shook his head in denial. “It’d be quite alright if you hadn’t told me earlier that being on land was far too risky. I know just as much as you do so you have to keep in mind that one wrong move could land in us having our heads chopped off,” he expressed, to which Jake simply put his palm up to his forehead.

“Don’t even mention it.”

Suddenly, Jake crashed into a woman who had been walking the same streets they had been, maybe around her early 20’s. Despite the cloak that had been covering her face she looked quite beautiful. Long hair neatly put up in a ponytail and perfectly arranged across her shoulder.

“Oh, I beg your pardon as I was distracted-” Jake stuttered out nervously, noticing her turn around and bow in apology.

Jungwon’s gaze swiftly shifted onto her eyes, his alert up high.

“I apologize- I was a little careless myself.” You chuckled. Jake froze in silence, ultimately overcome by the beauty that he never knew could belong to a human.

Jungwon smiled, “I excuse my older brother- nevertheless what is such a beautiful young woman doing around here alone? Not to mention you yourself look quite of noble status. Is there a reason behind this?”

Suddenly becoming nervous, you began fidgeting with your fingers. “Haha- was it obvious that i’m a noble?” you muttered, to which Jungwon nodded.

“Your clothes and form of speech give it away.”

You laughed ever so slightly and nodded. “You see, I’m actually new to this area and happened to grow curious about exploring the town as the views are spectacular.”

Jungwon looked over to where you turned; the ocean that he himself had belonged to. The cold ocean that had belonged to him and many others who were just like him.

“I see that you are drawn by the landscape?” Jungwon turned over to you, seeing you nod in approval.

“Correct. I don’t come from a very green place like this one, so this feels almost like a wonderland… like those types of forest or villages that you read in fairytales.”

Bingo.

That was all he needed to know… this was her… the girl who had visited the ocean the other day late at night… the thief of his ring that was so very beloved to him.

“I happen to notice that you have a specific love for reading?” Jungwon questioned, noticing your eyes light up as you looked back up at him.

“You seem to be very good at guessing- yes, I very much do love reading books and novels.” you blinked, a little taken aback by how well this stranger seemed to know you.

“I’m glad. I happen to enjoy reading myself.”

You felt some type of odd aura about him.. You were unsure if it was just you overthinking or if this was actually something that you should’ve been concerned about. From the moment he spoke you felt nothing but comfort, you felt safe. Which wasn’t something an ordinary human could’ve made you feel,

~~~

Walking up to a fruit stand, the lady in front smiled at you.

“I’ve never seen you around before, are you new around here?” she asked, making you nod in agreement.

“You’d be correct, I’m not from here, I hope that is alright,” you responded, seeing her nod repeatedly in reassurance to your doubts.

You looked back at the ocean that you felt attracted to for some odd reason. It wasn’t clear to you whether you only felt that way because of your book or because there was actually something magical about it… not to mention the eyes… those eyes that glowed brighter than the moonlight..

“I happen to notice that you really like our water’s?” She smiled, to which you flinched as you didn’t notice her staring.

“I do… may I ask why no families are down there constantly?” you questioned, noticing her give you a confused glance making you panic in case you asked the wrong question. “I’m a little confused because normally there would be a couple of swimmers, no?” you added, your nerves making you unable to say the sentence correctly.

Luckily, she understood you and waved her hand in dismissal.

“Oh dear, it’s prohibited to swim in any waters around here.”

You stayed silent, confused yet amused. “May I ask why…?”

She turned back to look at you, “Oh dear, haven’t you heard? It became banned around the late 1850’s due to the amount of siren spotting there had been. Not to mention the amount of ships that went missing in such a short period of time around this area recently. I feel so poorly for all the families of those navigators..”

Thoughts began circulating in your mind. That wasn’t possible… After all siren’s weren’t real.. They have never been real. They were mythical creatures.

“By the way dear, be very careful with who you trust on this land. Siren’s are very alluring creatures who roam around this town just as freely as regular citizens. Don’t get confident just because we're not in the sea.”

“Wait- siren’s can shapeshift and blend into humanity too?” You exclaimed, almost yelling in surprise before you caught yourself and covered your mouth, lowering your voice to a lower volume.

The woman chuckled, “Why, of course they can.”

“How can I spot a siren…? Among all these humans…?”

She looked around and signaled you to come closer, you followed her orders and leaned in.

“Siren’s will always have attractive and manipulating eyes… never forget that as it may save your life one day.”

~~~

His eyes were gorgeous… almost hypnotizing to look at, you've never seen eyes so gorgeous like his, they seemed almost unreal.

Face to face with a pretty young man, beautiful cat shaped eyes that glowed as brightly as the day.

Face perfect and screaming off the sense of innocence. Almost making you think that this was in fact the reincarnation of the word itself. Which in itself was odd enough,

But you couldn't judge a book by it's cover. After all you weren't even a believer- just a little frightened by something a woman had said earlier. You needed proof of sirens before you actually believed in them, even though there was no way of explaining what you had happened to see down in the shore the other night.

However, his eyes were that of something supernatural and you felt it.

___

You found yourself walking late at night alone in the streets of the town; surrounded by people and their terrified whispers.

“What time did you say sirens come out again?”

“I think I may have just run into a siren- it's eyes look surreal-”

Sirens, surreal looking eyes. Put together it made sense.

Something not human could never fully shapeshift or become a human. There will always be something that gives it away.

However, this was going too far.

“Hey, we meet again.” A voice from behind you called, snatching the magazine from your grip and rolling it up in between his hands.

“Oh- good afternoon..?”

“It would be good night as of right now.” He smiled. You'd be lying if you said you didn't get flustered the moment he did so, seeing him smile with such a handsome face. There was no way you couldn't react.

Smiling back, a bit of pink flushing over your cheeks. “Yes, I apologize. I happened to be making my way back home right now; I hope you can excuse me.”

His face became a small smirk, almost teasing as he looked back at you. “From what I can see, you don't happen to be accompanied by anyone?” He asked, despite your guard going up high, there was no use in lying, you had run into this same man earlier and you had been alone, so you simply nodded.

“Would you like me to come with? Better not get tricked by any sirens.”

You felt your cheeks warm up again, flustered by this man and his alluring personality.

“What did you say your name was again?” You asked, realizing you had never gotten his name in the first place. Unconsciously beginning to walk, making your way back home.

This almost felt familiar….

Sharon walked her way back home with the claimed stranger which she had seen earlier that day.

Questions arose from the young girl's mouth, not anything wrong, at least not to the ears of something so magical and mythical like a siren.

“What was your name again?” Sharon asked in a low pitched muffle.

“I couldn't catch that.” His eyes glew in the dark as his mouth spoke. Something about this man was so alluring and she couldn't catch a grip of what it might've been.

Maybe his attractiveness? His eyes? Seductive and teasing nature perhaps? Everything about him seemed surreal, the way his words were able to manipulate her to make decisions that she wouldn't have made otherwise. It almost seemed effortless.

Sharon smiled nervously, “Your name. I didn't manage to catch it.”

He grinned, “Edward.”

One of the rules about a siren, they only ever said their first names in an introduction, never their last. They didn't have a last name to give, at least not now.

Sharon looked back at the man who walked behind her, his eyes locking on hers as she kept the eye contact for a hot moment. It wasn't willingly, because something about his eyes felt as if there was some type of rope connecting and bonding their souls, as she was unable to look away.

“You have beautiful eyes Edward.” She smiled, noticing him nod knowingly.

“I've been told before, young Sharon.”

It felt odd, they were both young, around each other's age perhaps. It was likely a form of speech however it was still off putting. Sharon could never get used to being called young by someone who looked so young themselves.

“Alright then; Edward, how old are you.”

It was a forbidden question and she knew it. Sirens didn't have an age, at least not that they were aware of. Normally becoming unable to answer the question properly, ending up in them executing their plans earlier than expected, causing a scene that would be far too messy to clean up afterwards.

“Not sure. I was abandoned at a young age and have no idea of when something so basic like my birthday is.” He responded, voice lowering as he turned to his side.

Good answer, Sharon thought. Looking back at the young man and smiling.

“You look fairly young. Edward.”

He was taken aback, he normally disliked the mention of just his first name because of how disrespectful it sounded, and this… this had been the third time she directed him by his first name solely.

He looked at her sharply, “If you could, I'd really appreciate a title in the beginning like Mr before my name.”

The young girl turned around enthusiastically, still skipping towards the direction of her house rapidly as she laughed softly. Her face giving off nothing but innocence.

“But why? Edward is a pretty name. A last name like … would suit you impeccably!” She exclaimed.

“Jungwon.” He answered.

Walking up the pathway which sat on the hill that led up to your house, grass awaiting you at the top.

“Well then, Jungwon do you believe in sirens?” You asked, almost testing him for an unknown reason that not even you knew.

It seemed like he had caught onto this, as he half sighed, half chuckled. “You really can't believe nor not believe in something you haven't seen before. There will always be those who claim to have seen other worldly creatures, you can't believe them, but you can't proclaim them as liars either.” He smiled.

Good answer, you thought.

“Say, Jungwon, how old are you?” You grinned, noticing him do the same.

It's a test, he thought to himself, unable to think of the correct answer if there even was one. As a siren one of their biggest pet pieves was lying. He couldn't even make up something to protect himself unless if he wanted to be looked down on.

“Not sure, I don't even know something so simple like my birthday.” He frowned. You looked back, sincere nostalgia hitting you the moment those words came out from his mouth, however you were unable to pinpoint why or where it was coming from.

“I see,” you added, turning around and looking at him directly.

Unable to hold back, you looked back at him and sighed.

“Do you believe sirens are as evil as humans depict them to be?” You found yourself asking, continuing to walk forward even if the answer he'd give held you anxious.

He grinned and kept his gaze on you, despite not looking at him you could feel his eyes pierced through your skin.

“I think it's similar to humans. There's bad people out there and there's good. I don't see why something so similar should be any different. Sirens are technically human, that's why they don't have too much trouble blending into humanity, they can pull it off rather easily in a matter of fact.”

Your shoulders fell in relief, not even noticing the way they had been so tense.

“I'm glad to hear that,” You smiled, “It’s better to not take guesses about creatures we have never seen or met before.”

He nodded.

“She's different.”

“Well, Jungwon, it looks like we've arrived.”

He nodded and peaked his attention to the house he found himself at.

He had forgotten completely, he was here for a reason and he was going to leave with that one reason fulfilled. He didn't need any doubts.

“It has been an honor my lady.” He leaned down, asking for your hand.

You gave it to him, and he landed a singular kiss on the tip. It was a regular gentleman act at the time, however your cheeks could help but rose and warm up, it was a little shameful to have fallen head over heels for a stranger.

“Yang Jungwon?”

Snapping, he immediately looked up at you.

Yang Jungwon, Yang Jungwon, Yang Jungwon

That name rang in his ear like a bell, repeatedly. What was this? Why did it sound so familiar to him?

“I'll hope to see you another day.” You smiled.

He simply smiled back and waved, nodding in response regarding your statement that had been said a little unexpectedly.

Tears rolled down your cheeks, as you looked at the bed with the pale kid who was at once a healthy boy... your friend.

“I would like to give you this.” He handed the hand which had been clenched shut, holding onto the piece tightly. “I unfortunately don't have much time left, however I would like to give you this. That way if we ever reincarnate again, I'll find you.”

You couldn't contain your emotions, the tears streamed down your face and a wave of emotions hit you.

You entered your home, closing the door behind you while holding your fingers and making your way upstairs to your room. You wanted to take a cold shower before heading off to bed.

Slipping off the coat and relocating it onto a chair that sat in front of your desk. Looking down at your fingers and noticing the bright blue ring missing. Only being left with your original red ruby ring.

You looked everywhere in a panic. Had you dropped it on your way back? It would've been possible as it slipped off of your tiny fingers constantly. It was far too oversized for you.

Suddenly the memory overcame you. He kissed your wrist, in contact with your hand and fingers directly.

Looking out the window, seeing the moon glowing bright blue with a tint of red on a few corners of it. The water in the ocean splashed as if something or someone had just went back in. Enough time has passed, the ring was his priority

Yang Jungwon, who are you?

It was about time, Sharon thought.

There was always going to be different habitats for every living organism. Humans would locate on land, you'd find them there if you ever found yourself searching. Maraine animals would be found in the water, and wild animals would be in the depths of the trees.

Just like marine animals don't belong on land, humans don't belong in the water. The same was wild animals wouldn't belong in the ocean, they wouldn't survive.

It was the same way that the world worked, it was cycle.

Sharon wrote furiously onto the sheets of paper, many stacked up on the side and many scattered on the floor, it was unavoidable to anyone who experienced the same that she had.

The main message the young girl left for anyone and everyone who dared to pick up and look at the contents of this novel which started out as a diary.

History repeats itself. Never doubt it.

[that-one-personartist]

My version of the TF2 ship tier list!!

I really don’t care what you ship just for love of God don’t ship scout and spy!! they are legit father and son! Blood related! They are connected by branches in a tree of a family!!

I don’t care if there’s an AU where “red scout is the related to the blue spy so he’s probably fine to date the other red spy”

How would you feel if you figure out your kid was dating someone that looks just like you and sounds just like you he even acts like you as well!!

👏🏻you 👏🏻would 👏🏻feel 👏🏻weird 👏🏻and would 👏🏻 feel 👏🏻gross!

How about you figure out your dad is dating someone that looks just like you has seen. Looks at you same attitude as you same voice as you!!

👏🏻You 👏🏻would 👏🏻feel 👏🏻 creeped 👏🏻out👏🏻 and 👏🏻disgusted!!👏🏻

Unless you’re into that kind of shit and if you are-please go to therapy, this is not normal for the love of God —

I don’t care what you ship and Andy fandom unless the ship is where they’re both related to each other in someway somehow or the age difference is really creepy like a 16-year-old dating a 30 year-old or something like that! If it was someone that was 25-27 dating someone that was 40- 30 that’s completely fine.

You know why?

👏🏻They 👏🏻are 👏🏻both 👏🏻adults👏🏻

I also don’t care if you give these characters like a weird kink you have, unless it’s something that involves age play or rape play or something even worse, those are not good. Those are bad please understand that.!!

Please stop sexualizing underage people and something that’s so horrible that happens so many people around the world

 Do better

Stop being gross

Go to therapy

Someone had to say this and I believe more people should say this!

No matter what phantom you’re in, please do not sexualize underage people do not ship people that are related in any sort of way (and I don’t care if they’re adopted into the family as in someone’s brother sister or some sort of sibling-it’s still is wrong)

I don’t know why so many people have to be so gross with scout and spy, but I’m sick of it!,

I’m also sick of seeing people making one of the characters being related to the other character just to have some sort of incest, creepy, shit, and stories or an art!

As in making one of the characters really young and making another character, their uncle and making that uncle being attracted to them-I know some people have gone through some sort of trauma that’s probably related to stuff like this and they take it out on other characters or they find their way having some sort of sick fantasy of something like this happening to them!!

There is a better way to take out your trauma, there is better ways to get better at not being this way, if you can, please for love of God(or whatever God or thing that you worship or believing), find some sort of therapist that will help you or find someone that you trust to help you get over this.

[fictionkinfessions]

I've seen enough asks on here about the topic, so I just want to say:

If you identify as a system, GO GET THERAPY. Being a system is not a "normal" human thing and it definitely means you need fucking therapy. You can't just call yourself a system and call it a day. You cant just say you're KINNING, either, because the kin community goes back decades and it is bigger than some teenager on tumblr picking up kins from your mutual's posts. My honest, genuine opinion is that anyone with 100+ kinds or alters IS NOT ACTUALLY A SYSTEM. You are just young and impressionable and the world is in shambles right now and theres a sense of comfort in being someone else. Everyone wants to know who they really are and you will NOT figure it out until you're in your 40s. If it brings you comfort, fine. But go get therapy so they can tell you how to ACTUALLY cope with the real world instead of using "escapism." Escapism is not the answer to your problems and you still have to deal with them.

I say this as a person who felt inhuman since before I was 10yo. I even told my dad about it back then. And I've been watching the way the "community" has changed over time. You are not a polyfragmented system if you have 100+ kins, you are just trying to find an identity that fits you. Kinning nowadays is a good FIRST STEP. But I cannot stress enough that CPTSD, autism, and ADHD mix together to cause dissociative episodes. Maybe you should all look into it and find peace with yourselves before adding a new kintype to your list

All of this being said, yeah I do think having a bunch of kintypes is fine. It's okay for one alter to kin a handful of different people and shift between them. But you do not need individual listings for each separate one. You do not need to make a new proxy with pluralkit. I see people confessing to only seeing a character ONCE and kinning them. It doesn't work like that. Take some time to think about it. Its IMPORTANT to figure out if these similar kins are actually just the one person instead of assuming they're someone new. If you actually had 100+ kins (that you treat like individual alters) you would not be functional

...

[ninadove]

Hello, all respectfully, may I ask, why do you want emilie to be dead? I mean adrien deserves to have his mom back, don’t you think? You can answer it thru private chat if it makes you more comfortable.

No that’s perfectly fine! I love getting a chance to overanalyse and write down my own thoughts! 📝

So, I have a complicated relationship with Emilie as a character, but I don’t hate her by any means. I do believe she is a lot less pure and innocent than we were first led to believe, but that makes her much more compelling, so as far as I’m concerned it’s a great writing choice.

The reason I think she should be dead, or more accurately, stay dead (the nuance is crucial), is simply storytelling.

As fun as the show is, it is also pretty serious when it wants to be, and these 5 seasons were written with a couple of core messages in mind:

Part of the experience of being human is to accept that there is no magical solution to our problems. Sometimes things don’t work out, sometimes we lose the people we care about; and actions bring consequences, always. This is why using the Peacock carries such a heavy toll, even after it is fixed, and why the Lucky Charm primarily relies on Marinette’s intelligence and creativity (characteristically human qualities) rather than being an automatic problem solver.

Whenever these losses occur — you have to move on. Staying stuck in the past means depriving yourself of a chance to enjoy the present and plan for the future. All of the events of these 5 seasons were triggered by Gabriel’s inability to accept the concept of death, and by his attempts to drag all of Paris down the pits of grief (symbolised by the akuma attacks) with him — starting with his own son.

Of course, Adrien deserves to be happy and loved! And Emilie herself explains how it can happen:

By letting her go.

Adrien is an extremely strong and loving kid who, unlike his father, is able to shoulder the pain while still opening himself up to the world. Gabriel trying to bring Emilie back did nothing to fix the sorrow his son had to deal with; in fact, it cost him his other parent and a normal childhood in the process.

But the thing is — Adrien does not need Emilie anymore.

He has a girlfriend who loves him so much she gave his dad one last chance to make the right choice, despite all the pain he caused (and will likely continue to cause from the grave). He has a cousin who loves him so much he was willing to burn the world down, then help fix it to protect him. He has amazing friends who supported him through this entire ordeal (special shout-out to Nino, who has been on Gabriel’s case since S1 E9), even when he did not feel comfortable enough to share the full extent of the abuse he was going through. He has Amelie and Nathalie, who will provide him with the motherly love he needs in his life, and Tom and Sabine, who are already packing him his breakfast every morning because they’ve carved him a place in their family and hearts. Also, he has a cheese-eating demon who lives in his pocket.

No one is entitled to raising the dead, and Adrien would never even consider it. But he does deserve love and care and happiness, things his father deprived him of in his senseless quest to defy the laws of nature — things he was able to build for himself because he chose to be kind and vulnerable despite his grief.

Season 6 will be terrible on him, but he will come back stronger on the other side. And in doing so, he will send an important message to the core audience of the show: young children who will sooner or later have to mourn a loved one themselves, but will know they can be OK thanks to his example.

And you know, sometimes us adults need a little reminder too. 💚

[midnightyy1]

Oshi no Ko my version✩ (rewriting series)

Remaking Oshi no Ko cuz wtf that ending??? And the whole plot feels too off side for me

.・。.・゜✭・『••✎••』・✫・゜・。.

Do I even have to explain why I make this??

Not only Ruby's character felt chopped but the whole reincarnation thing felt pointless. I'm sorry if it sounds degrading the creator but the concept itself is great but the plot that was supposed to discover Ai's murderer motive/dark secrets often off side to a pointless arc and even seems like focused on the romance which I don't think was necessary especially for Aqua who supposedly is Gorou's reincarnation.

Let's get to the point, for now I want to focus on the entire Aqua's (Gorou) character. Just because he's reincarnated as a child to a teenager all over again, I don't think it justify his actions (he acts like a teenager but it's just a bit weird since he supposed to be an adult in his previous life). Well there's two thing, if the creator wants Aqua to be Gorou's reincarnation, the creator should've make him act like an adult or make him forgot his past life but somehow will discover it.

✫Hoshino Aquamarine (1) : The beginning of Gorou's new life

However, I wanted Aqua to still inverted Gorou's mindset and character, making him act like an adult and a doctor he is than just a manipulative person. Since he is a doctor, he might be confused at first and maybe having an identity crisis, at first. I like to think he's all silent when he's born to the world all over again, still processing what just happened to him. He might think that his past life as Gorou is just a dream. He's a bit distracted with the fact that Ai is his mother in his new life, he's more focused on who is he. But after like a few weeks he might be conscious of how Ai is his mother now.

In my version, I would like to make Gorou has a wife where his wife is a fans of Ai instead of him. His wife likes watching an idol perform, especially young idol because she likes to think they were her child (she can't have children because of a medical reason). After Sarina's death and him being a doctor that was planned to delivered Ai's child, her wife was murdered when he came back home just as the day he have to delivered Ai's child, knowing that there's stalker that been following him, he run to the mountain trail but then was murdered anyway.

And after he reincarnated as a baby, of course he wasn't able to talk yet. All he does was observing and accepted his fate to be Hoshino Aquamarine with a twin sister, Hoshino Ruby, and Hoshino Ai as his mother. It was weird of course, imagine reincarnated as child of someone who's barely your age, younger even. As he grows up, Ai knowledge him to have a liking with books, which makes her think her son is a genius. Ruby often annoys him like a child she is since she thinks he's too serious and adult-like for a child. Aqua tries his best to act like a child but still trying to discover on what's the stalker (his murderer) motive to kill him and his wife. Not only that, because he wasn't the best at entertainment industry, he thinks it was concerning that someone as young as Ai was pregnant despite her popularity. As he remembers from his wife, idols in entertainment industry usually have their own problems that was considered as dark secrets in the entertainment industry. Feeling like Ai's secrets might reveal his murderer motive, Aqua then started to learn about Ai from maybe stories she told, her performance, books in her house, etc. For now Aqua considered that his murderer motive was connected to Ai's life somehow, perhaps a fan of her? His bond with Ruby was fine as he usually felt bad if he didn't play with his twin sister, however their bond to Aqua is more like a brother to his younger sister than a twin. Aqua thinks Ruby is too extra energetic and more weird than a normal child should behaved, she still act childish nonetheless so he wasn't thinking that far. His bond with Ai is like a normal mother and child relationship, he himself thinks his relationship with his supposedly mother was more distant if compared with Ruby which sometimes makes Ai a bit worried. He tries to be as closed with his family despite the weird feelings he felt for being reincarnated as his wife's favorite idol so suddenly. As his curiosity still going, he heard a gossip about how there's a creepy person going on in the neighborhood. Aqua, who was going out with his mother and twin sister, then was interested at the conversation between those people. He already suspect that the person they talk about might be his murderer since he was sure that the year distance between his death and Ai giving birth of course wasn't that far, very close if said. He was getting wary about Ai and even his twin sister safety.

He started to became more and more observant about his caretaker (Saitou Miyako) daily routine, for who knows maybe she might met his murderer and at some point will kill her to track down Ai. Saitou Ichigo was not any different in Aqua's eyes, he has to observe the president of Ichigo Production Inc who is also his mother's surrogate father. The more he dig, the more he knows how Ai was in fact an idol with ambition but her flawless facade was just an act to hide something deeper, perhaps traumatic event? That's what he diagnosed to her though. Not only that, who's the father of Ai's child? Is his murderer reason to kill him was to regained information that will lead to Ai? Or some kind of anger of the fact Ai is having child? His wary became more worse as he several times has to beg Ai to stay at home until a certain day he thinks will be safe for her. Realizing his twin sister admiration for their mother lead her to impersonate her was just makes things worse for him. He often tried to style her sister more differently than Ai to prevent anyone to point out the similarities. All of that work until he forgot he was in a literal child's body. One day, he fell into a high fever, 2 days before the dome concert. When the D-day was come, Aqua is not fully recover yet he doesn't want to burden Ai for her important concert. He tells her that he was fine and just feeling a little cold, Ai then about to give him a medicine before going to her concert with both of her child. Suddenly she hears a knock from the door, thinking it was the president and co, she walks right away to the front door. Aqua wasn't fully focused as he also thinks it was the president and the co, forgetting about the risk if it was someone unknown, someone that maybe is Ai's stalker.

The accident happened too quickly, hearing someone yelling makes Aqua gets out from the bedroom as he told Ruby to stay in. Staring at Ai getting stabbed at the exact same person that murders him. His body was getting weak but he quickly catch Ai that's about to fall, hearing the person rumbles about how he can't accept Ai having a child and was a liar in public. He can't say a single words as Ai mutters out her true feelings to the person, and Aqua's theory was right about that but his focus was more to a memories back when his wife was killed instead caring about is his theory was right or not. After the person ran away, he quickly tried to find anything to prevent Ai's blood from coming out much more but before that, Ai pulls him to her embrace, saying all the things she always wanted to say. Whatever Aqua wanting is, no matter how different his goal from hers and his twin sister is, she hopes Aqua turns to be a morally good person and was able to pursue his dreams. That was in fact another failure for Aqua, for Gorou that he couldn't save another person. Sarina was first, then his wife, now it's Ai. All of the innocent person has to die because he was late again. No matter how fake Ai is, for him, she is still a teen who tries to find the meaning of life, someone who tries to pursue her career and find a point of relationship. Ai is his mother yet his child, reminds him of Sarina's innocence and his wife's ambitions. Ruby and Ai are his family now after he lost his wife. He never had someone as heartwarming as they are after his wife, even if it's platonic, he never felt a platonic love this heartwarming. His wife was right, Ai is amazing. It was upsetting because he never thought that a fan could be so cruel to their idol just because they're an ordinary human who have their own life.

Just a few days after Ai's death, the stalker commits su1cide. It was make sense for him if the stalker will kill himself after that but what was he questioning is how the stalker knew their house? The stalker might be smart as Aqua can't just underestimate a fan's capability but he was sure that the house location was protected as Ai was a very popular idol. And for now, no one seems to know that Ai has a child, then how that man knows? The only people that knows about this are the president and his wife (his and his sister's caretaker). But if they are the one who spoil Ai's location, it'll be an absurd reason since Ai popularity was also the one who makes them regains money. B-komachi members? It doesn't seems like that, but it can be, maybe jealousy for the reason. Then who's the other suspect? Thinking it again, Aqua started to wonder back on whose makes Ai pregnant? Since he never heard about the mentioning of his and his twin sister's father, it makes him wonder if this person is dead or he simply just absent. Or is there some kind of misunderstanding that makes them seperate and leads his father to get a revenge to her? If his father is still alive, that means they engaged in a relationship 9 months or more before she gets pregnant. Since the only one knows about Ai's pregnancy are the president and his wife and they were there when she's about to delivered, right? And the other person knows about Ai's pregnancy nonetheless was his father, he might gave the information to Ai's stalker for some reason because, who else then?

His first suspect from B-komachi members changed to his father, who is he and what his motive to ruin Ai's life? Most importantly, where is he and is he still alive? Aqua used all the information to even dig more to the entertainment industry which he's not familiar with.

This was just a start for the story, would you like to know how Aqua (Gorou) adapted with the entertainment industry despite being a doctor in his past life? Would he still be an actor in my version? Or do you wanted to know about Ruby (Sarina) perspective first? Let's just wait and tell me if you're interested for more!

Next :

✫Hoshino Aquamarine (2) : The genius doctor in entertainment industry

✬Hoshino Ruby (1) : The beginning of Sarina's true life

✬Hoshino Ruby (2) : The new ambitious star in entertainment industry

✵Hoshino Ai : The truth about the perfect idol

✮Arima Kana

✭Kurokawa Akane

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

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[moltensmusings]

I follow some people who talk about baldurs gate 3, and the way the fandom almost largely goes out of its way to babygirl everything astarion does while refusing to give the same leniency to the far less evil characters is baffling.

I feel like Gale, Wyll, and Lae'zel are the ones who often make this the most clear. Under the cut.

Whether it's because of the glitch pre console release or just a general refusal to engage with his story, people like to paint this picture of Gale being some Narcissistic abuser who is only ever power hungry. I've seen people try and justify mystra's actions. Now even if Gale was a young adult when Mystra came to him, Mystra is his goddess. She's in charge of the weave. She had so much more power over him, student/teacher and boss/underling relationships are so looked down upon because of that inherent power imbalance. And I think there's also an implication that this is relatively normal for all versions of mystra to do to younger men.

Elminster isn't free of criticism because he actively brought a young Gale to be groomed into becoming a pawn for Mystra. Gale gets discarded by mystra for his seeming ambition and wants to move on, but is also still desperate to please her in anyway he can, and she tells him to kill himself. I don't understand how people go through his plotline and see him believing the only way he's useful is dead and then just assume he's just power hungry. Is he a bit full if himself? Yes. He's a wizard. They're like that. But he's not the worst person in the world, and he's definitely not the one people should claim as the abuser in his relationship with Mystra.

People call Wyll boring, some paint this idea of him being holier than thou/looking down on everyone around him. Since he was 17 Wyll has given his whole life to protecting people and trying to be a hero. He's self sacrificial, thrown out by his father for making a pact he only made to save the city he adores. Wyll talks so much about baldurs gate. He wants to return.

Wyll has his body altered unwillingly for doing the right thing and yet he never once regrets it. He's made into a devil, the creatures so many of the npcs and companions loathe, for his kindness. He's constantly tricked and mocked by Mizora who we know from the game was sent by Zariel to corrupt a good hearted person. Even still, Wyll is a kind and honest man. He's charming and a bit cheesy but that's fine. Wyll can be incredibly self sacrificial and stubborn in his morals, but if you're running around doing mean things to impress Astarion, you can't blame Wyll for not liking your character and judging you. He's a hero of the people, of course he'd stand with them. We also need to remember he got so heavily redone that he has barely 6 hours of in-game content now. Which is abysmal compared to everyone else.

Lae'zel was raised by a cult, a cult that spans all her people where they're taught to bow and serve a lich queen who promises them glory if they're good enough. She can be harsh and unfriendly, but we need to remember she's the one most aware of what the tadpole can do and with that in mind we know she's very desperate to get things done and cure herself. Next to astarion she's the most evil aligned origins companion, and even still so much of that is due to being brainwashed into a certain belief.

Lae'zel in canon is the youngest companion, very early 20s and it often shows. She's a skilled warrior who doesn't see the need for statements that are already obvious. She's been beaten into shape and filled with ideas that unless she's perfect as the creche commands then she is worthless. She's scared and alone in act 1 with people who most likely don't care about it the same way she does. Lae'zel is imperfect like all the other companions, but if you're willing to accept that astarion is soft under all his bluster, why can't you do the same for Lae'zel?

I don't hate Astarion, I liked him a lot my first playthrough, he was my main romance. But the way the fandom ignores that he's definitely evil in act 1 and 2 because "I just don't see him that way", how people act like he's the only character in the cast who was abused when abuse and the cycles of it are the main theme of the game, how people willfully misunderstand his ascension ending and paint it as his good one when the writers state repeatedly it's not, the way the fandom will insult and demean other characters for jabbing at astarion's trauma but applaud him when he does the same exact thing, when they ignored his racism towards gnomes and gur (which is anti Romani racism repackaged). There's also a chance that in his time, Astarion was a corrupt politician, something making his death more complicated but also adding interest to it that a lot of his fans want to ignore to make him pure.

Astarion isn't perfect, none of the companions are. And they're not supposed to be. But his special treatment by fans is becoming so incredibly tiresome to see.