#and the Judge made a short cameo here lol

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Here. Have a DPxDC prompt or something. (#1)

Danny, Tucker, and Sam were walking down the streets of Gotham, chatting as they cut their way through the decrepit alleyways and backstreets to get to their favorite comic shop in the city. Tucker and Danny were deep in a debate over the latest storyline in the Road Rage series and so didn't notice the man walking towards them in the dark alley until Sam nudged them both.

"Guys!" She said it in a pointed whisper to catch their attention, but hopefully not that of the stranger's.

Sure enough, heading towards them was a muscular tower of a man. He was wearing what was clearly an expensive suit, tailor fitted for him, and a golden mask over the left side of his face.

"No way...! I-Is that Two-Face!??" Tucker was shivering, suddenly struck by fear now that he was in the presence of one of Gotham's most famous criminal masterminds. "What does he want from us!?"

"Didn't they say that he had reformed...?" Sam asked, less afraid and more curious.

"Maybe if we keep walking, he won't notice us..." Danny mumbled as he continued to shuffle forwards.

A collective breath escaped the trio as they passed the man, but just as they thought they were in the clear, there was a clatter.

Slowly, the three turned around to see the man holding something in front of him.

"Excuse me, young man, but I think you-" but before he could finish, Tucker was yelling.

"PLEASE DON'T HURT US, MR. TWO-FACE, SIR! WE'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT."

"...What are you-"

"Tucker, I don't think-" but before Sam could talk some sense into their friend, Danny interrupted.

"Don't worry guys, I'll take care of this!" And with that, Danny went intangible and entered the body of Two-Face to overshadow him.

Danny could feel the man inhabiting the body go unconscious as he took control. "See, guys! It's no big... Deal... I'll just..." Suddenly, Danny got the very real feeling that he was not alone inside of this body. There was something else in here. Other... People... And they were fully aware that Danny was in here with them. Inside of this man's mind, Danny knew that all eyes were on him. They did not want him here. And whatever was holding them back before was no longer there, now asleep at Danny's feet.

"What are you doing in here, child?" A faceless voice asked into Danny's neck, forcing a chill to run down his spine.

A flash and suddenly Danny was confronted by a mass of anger and scars. "Who are you? You're not one of us! Get out. Get out! GET OUT!!!" He was screaming.

Danny was screaming. The body of the man he had just possessed was screaming for him to get out.

Summary/TLDR: Danny, Sam, and Tucker pass Harvey Dent on the street. Harvey is minding his own business when he notices one of the kids drop something/something falls out of one of their bags. Harvey tries giving it back to them, but Tucker starts freaking out. Thinking that it would solve everything, Danny overshadows/possesses Harvey Dent. However, while he rendered Harvey unconscious, the other members of Harvey's system are still very much awake and do NOT want Danny in here!

Note: Plural system stuff going on here! Danny basically made Harvey (who is mostly harmless and was fronting at the time) disassociate into unconsciousness. When Danny leaves the body, Harvey will probably wake back up, but there is no guarantee that he will be able to get back to his senses quick enough to stop Two-Face from taking the reins to attack whatever/whoever made Harvey black out.

(Feel free to use. Credit is appreciated but not fully necessary. Have fun!)

[takawbelle]

Now that you've exposed your multishipping side, I request to know all of your kny pairs. Including the ones you only sorta kinda ship, still counts!

"Exposed." Hehe.

Here ya go (with explanations you didn't ask for but will still get hahaha)...

InoAoi - Tarzan and Jane vibes. Competent, no nonsense girl taming an uncouth boy having only the barest iota of social niceties. The concept is cute though it felt like an asspull when they ended up together. (I'm salty Gotogue made them canon but not Giyushino.)

Shinobu/Rengoku - I like the sun and moon parallels but while both of them are extroverted, Rengoku is more candid. Shinobu has more layers. Still, to me they won't have as much delicious friction and spice as Giyushino.

The ones I "sorta kinda ship" are mostly rarepairs and there is a dearth of fics for them (or maybe I just haven't been looking hard enough because I'm currently focusing on writing and not reading):

Sanekana - Not a rarepair. Though I find Sanemi to be an irritating and unreasonable asshole, I "sorta kinda ship" this only because of how Kanae has unfolded so far in "The 'One' in 'One-Night Stand.'" Generally I like ships that have opposites, friction, and the rough, angry boy falling for the kind girl trope is dear to my black heart. I'm challenging myself to write Sanemi into a character I can sympathize with but who's not too OOC.

Muzan/Tamayo - Only because of the Hashira Training arc finale (which I only saw screencaps of). Judging from a single screencap of a sweaty Tamayo smirking and baring her fangs right next to a shirtless Muzan, the hate sex must be off the charts.

Senjuro/Nezuko - There's something so fluffy about them. Plus Senjuro wouldn't screech and be over the top.

Shinjuro/Ruka - How badly must Shinjuro love his wife to ruin his life and his relationship with his sons after her passing? I'd like to read about the early stages of their relationship, see the cotton candy fluff turn to angst.

Doma/Nakime - Again with the opposites attract trope. Lol. Extraverted, annoying marketing management major + reclusive emo bassist chick. I can probably read one well-done modern AU of this and my itch will be scratched.

Crackpairs - but I suppose it's inaccurate to call them that. They're more of characters which I wish will interact, short of anything overtly romantic.

Shinobu/Kaigaku and Shinobu/Gyutaro. - i was surprised that the Shinobu/Kaigaku mention in "The 'One'" garnered a few reactions, haha. I'm thinking of inserting a Kaigaku cameo in "That Thing With Kocho Shinobu" but nothing's set in stone yet.

Thanks for this ask. Apart from Giyushino, I was not fully aware of my KNY ships until you asked me.

[thewomaninlilywhite]

My thoughts on Wicked Part One

Disclaimer: unfortunately, the 3 scenes I judge a production of Wicked on (WWotE, Cat Fight, ALAYM) are all in part two... so, as much as I enjoyed this first part, I am hesitant to get my hopes up.

That being said, the production itself was incredible--set, costumes*, lighting: chef's kiss--the orchestrations gave me chills, the end of defying gravity was even better than I had expected; overall 10/10

*I would have liked them to keep the black and white costumes for Ozdust because that's my FAVOURITE scene (visually) from the musical; and I love the bit of Glinda and Nessa being the only ones in pink (albeit Nessa in a lighter shade; re: her paling in comparison to Galinda in Boq's eyes)

I loved the opening so much

Glad (as a sex repulsed ace) Melena's affair wasn't overly sexualised (I hope this holds true to ALAYM since that's one of my fave songs)

Little Elphie and little Nessa!! (Idk about young Nessa but I love how they actually cast a disabled actress as grown-up Nessa)

Also using Dulcibear as a means of how Elphie takes to the plight of Animals, aside the obvious fact that she's used to being "othered"

(Obvs this character is based on Nanny, but is there a similar character/character with this name in the WWOO books? I've never actually read them)

I like the addition of the Headmistress character; I think it helps abate Madame Morrible's power to make her working with the wizard more of a twist

Genuinely love how dorky/quirky Cynthia made Elphie; Wizard and I might have been the highlight song/scene for me

I liked Nessa but her voice seemed kinda weak so I'm curious how she's gonna be in act two (I had the same opinion of the woman who played the role last time I saw the show on Broadway, and her WWotE became one of my faves so there is hope!!)

I really liked Fiyero riding a Horse, and treating him like a fellow sentient being. It was a little detail that I think gives more depth to his choice to help Elphaba with the cub/her trusting him with the cub

WiTF and Popular were somehow gayer than the stage version which was *chefs kiss*

Also short Elphie my beloved. As someone who is only 5' tall and always identified more with Elphie, I always hc'd her as tiny, even though she's supposed to be tall lol

The subtle accessibility alterations in Dr Dillamond's hut that don't really exist in his classroom (there's a statement here if you wanna write it -- I don't I'm still sick and very tired)

As for the Cameo in OSD -- exactly who I figured it was referring to when I saw people being like "don't spoil the cameo", but way more featured than I'd expected. I wish the story was more based on Oz lore though -- maybe making them Lurline and Ozma instead of just "the wise ones" -- it made the whole thing sound kinda forced

Things from the book I was hoping made the film, since I heard people saying they were incorporating elements from it???:

Boq and Elphie knowing each other as kids

Dr Dillamond dying ???

Dr Nikidik being NAMED

Fiyero versus the Antlers

Brrr being named -- and the whole "how can you define an animal v Animal before it learns to speak" lecture

Cribbett 

ShenShen and Pfannee being explicitly named -- like, they're credited that way ????

"Hold out my sweet" -- even if they didn't kiss !????

Gelphie road to the emerald city (the definition of the Only One Bed trope smh)

Fiyero being dark-skinned having tattoos

[honeytae]

Weddings, birthdays, whatever. There’s still cake involved, right?

this is just a little birthday fluff for our most adorable leader. the end is kind of abrupt but uh..a cameo from taekook is never a bad thing lol. happy belated birthday, joonie!! 

tags: @ahgasearmyfan, @hoseokayy

genre: fluff

word count: 1.4k

You sighed in exasperation as you lightly bumped your elbow onto the door, trying to keep your hands steady as they balanced the gigantic cake you’d picked up on the way home from work.

You looked up expectantly when you heard shuffling behind the door, the wood soon being pulled back to reveal a hoodie-clad Min Yoongi.

“Oh my god, that looks amazing.” He gawked at the cake in your hands, eyes glued to the frosted flowers lining the top of it and the petals colored with icing. 

“Hello to you, too, Yoon.” You chuckled at the man in front of you, smiling back at you as he stepped back to allow you into the dorm.

“Hi, sorry. I got distracted from the sugar factory in your hands.” He gestured to the cake, holding the door open as you walked in.

“He’s been waiting for you. He’s awful pouty without you, you know.” He rolled his eyes jokingly as you laughed, but he couldn’t help the smile on his face from his friend’s softened demeanor. 

You thanked him as he took the heavy dessert from you, following Yoongi as he carefully walked into the kitchen and set it down on the counter. 

“I’ll tell him you’re here.” He said as he began to exit the kitchen, pausing in the doorway as you called his name.

“You’re all more than welcome to have some, too.” You assured him, gesturing to the cake with a nod.

“Oh, we will, don’t worry about that.” He chuckled, making you smile as well because you just knew that in a dorm full of seven boys, this cake would be gone by midnight.

“Thank you.” He added, turning to walk down the hall once again to retrieve your boyfriend. 

Sadly, you’d had to work all day instead of celebrating Namjoon’s birthday with him. As your luck would have it, there happened to be a mandatory meeting this afternoon, and not attending would definitely send the wrong message to your boss.

Namjoon had been understanding about it, of course, but Yoongi’s words made you feel a bit guilty as he had let you know how your boyfriend had truly been acting all day. 

You shook the thoughts out of your head as best you could. You were here now, and you had picked up a delicious looking cake on the way. You could only hope that was enough to give him a good memory for his birthday. 

Namjoon’s yell of your name suddenly broke through the living room of the apartment, making you giggle as you turned around to see the man smiling in the doorway. 

He quickly made his way across the kitchen, wrapping his arms around your torso and lifting you up off the ground as he pulled you into a tight hug. You squealed at the unexpected action but hugged him back nonetheless, exhaling a relieved sigh at the familiar warmth of his chest.

He set you down with a grin, his hands trailing down your arms to catch your hands, easily sliding his palms against your own and locking his fingers around your smaller ones.

“Happy birthday, Joonie.” You leaned up to kiss both of his cheeks, planting one directly on his lips as he pursed his pink lips out in an adorable pout.

“Thank you, baby.” He lightly squeezed your hands, nuzzling the tip of his nose against yours before tipping his head to the side to give you another short kiss.

“Whoa, what’s that?” His eyes widened as he pulled back, his eyes focused on the cake sitting on the counter behind you making you giggle at his adorable and borderline childlike action. 

“What does it look like, birthday boy?” You quirked an eyebrow, admiring how his eyes lit up at the momentary nickname rolling off your tongue.

“Thank you so much, angel, you didn’t have to do this.” He said in surprise, leaning down to kiss your forehead before leading you over to the kitchen counter with your connected hands so he could further inspect the dessert.

“I wanted to. And this was very tempting in the display case.” You shrugged in response, both of you admiring the three layered buttercream cake as Namjoon reached out to lift the lid of the bakery’s box.

“This looks so fucking good.” Namjoon swore, making you nod with a small chuckle as you stepped toward the drawer under the microwave to retrieve a knife and two forks to eat with. 

Namjoon quickly moved to assist you as he reached up into the cabinet for a small dish to put a piece of cake on, pulling out the stools in front of the kitchen island so that you could sit with him.

He watched as you cut into the cake, mouth practically watering as you put the plated frosted dessert in front of him. 

You lowered yourself onto the stool, stabbing the fork into the soft vanilla cake and making sure there was a hefty amount of frosting on it before lifting it to Joon’s mouth.

“Wait, we have to put it on each other’s faces.” He lifted his hand to hold yours over the fork, halting your movement as you cocked your head in confusion. 

“What?”

“You know, like when a couple cuts a cake and they put the frosting on each other’s noses or something.” Namjoon explained with a mischievous glint in his eye, lips curved up in a shy close mouthed smile as you breathily laughed at the adorable man sitting beside you. 

“Joon, that’s for weddings, not birthdays.” You pointed out, Namjoon shrugging as he ran his finger along the side of the cake, gathering white frosting on the tip of his index finger.

“Weddings, birthdays, whatever. There’s still cake involved, right?”

He smirked as you allowed him to boop his frosting covered finger on the tip of your nose, sneakily moving his finger across your cheek to spread it there as well. 

“Are you having fun? Is this what you wanted?” You asked, Namjoon smiling giddily as he nodded in response to your questions.

Your shoulders shook in small giggles, Namjoon’s dark brown eyes focused on his finger’s movements as he lightly laughed along with you. 

You raised your eyebrows in amusement as he got all the frosting from his finger spread onto your face, leaning back to observe his work with a satisfied nod. His serious expression faded into a fond smile as he leaned forward and kissed your nose, licking the frosting from his lips with a satisfied hum. 

“That’s really good.” He affirmed, leaning forward to leave a messy kiss on your frosting covered cheek as well. 

He puckered frosted lips out in a silent ask for a kiss from you, making you happily wrap your arms around his neck and lean into his sugar coated lips. 

You hummed at the sweet taste acquired by your tongue swiping against his bottom lip, pulling back as you licked your own. 

“That is really good.” You agreed, eyes widened in surprise as you swallowed the bit of frosting. 

You chuckled as Namjoon began pressing sweet kisses to your cheek again, gripping his forearms for support as his affections quite literally made your head spin.

“Namjoon!” You yelled as he suddenly stuck his tongue out against your cheek, collecting the frosting with his tongue as you shook your head in mock disappointment.

Namjoon chuckled as he picked up a napkin from the counter, cupping your chin in one hand while the other worked at wiping the remaining stickiness of the frosting off of your skin. 

Down the hall, Taehyung and Jungkook were pulled from their intense gaming session when they heard you scream, eyes furrowed in slight worry as they both stood up from their seats and poked their heads out of Jungkook’s bedroom.

Upon hearing silence, they crept through the hallway, pausing at the doorway of the kitchen as they heard Namjoon giggle in response to you.

“This is the first time I’ve seen him smile all day.” Jungkook whispered, not wanting to disturb you as you were still clueless to the younger boys’ presence behind you.

Taehyung hummed in response, both of the men watching as Namjoon fed you a forkful of cake with what could only be an adoring expression on his face, judging from the view they had of his side profile.

“God, what’s gotten into him?” Jungkook asked, chuckling as he pinched his eyebrows together in disbelief at his hyungs behavior.

“They’re in love.” Taehyung shrugged in response, smiling as he watched his older friend open his mouth for you to feed him too.

“Gross.” Jungkook winced, sighing as he turned back to his room, remote still in hand as Taehyung followed after him, leaving the two lovebirds in the kitchen behind them.

[thedinanshiral]

My personal DA4 wishlist + thoughts

I’ve been teasing this post for a couple of weeks over at Twitter, i’m the worst! But anyway, since game journalism has decided to confirm, once again, that the next Dragon Age game will be set in Tevinter like that’s breaking news, now’s as good a time as ever to write all this down.

Locations: Tevinter, clearly. It’s been pretty much a given since the end of Trespasser in 2015, with that scene where the Inquisitor stabs a map on a table directly on Tevinter as they promise to go after Solas to stop him. But also concept art and several stories from Tevinter Nights heavily imply Antiva, Nevarra, the Anderfells, and maybe Rivain. For those of you who don’t know your Thedosian Geography 101, that’s basically Northern Thedas. And it makes sense, since so far for three games straight we’ve been first stuck in Ferelden, then the coast of the Free Marches, and later the rest of Southern Thedas. We’ve never been North, only heard of it. So in DA4 i’m sure we will finally be able to visit.

Characters: If we’re going to Tevinter, we must meet Dorian again, maybe meet Maevaris Tilani as well (previously only seen in comics), judging from the latest comics series, i’m hoping for Fenris too. And going by the latest teaser trailer, we might see Varric again. As for characters that so far we have no news of, i’d like to see Cole, the Iron Bull, and if by any chance BioWare feels like blessing us with a Hawke/Fenris reunion i might just die happy.  I’d also very much like to see the Inquisitor, but more on that later.

Companions: considering concept art and the latest teaser trailer, plus Tevinter Nights stories and new characters, we have an interesting repertoire of new potential companions. A Tevinter mage, an ancient elf (like a temple guardian) or a dalish elf (like Strife), a Nevarran mortalitasi or spirit, Antivan Crows, Lords of Fortune (new faction, kind of like treasure hunters), Qunari lady, maybe an alchemist or shapeshifter, Grey Wardens (possibly a dwarf), a liberated or escaped slave, a Siccari (Tevinter spies/assassins)..even past agents of the Inquisition could return. 

Plot: We know Solas wants to take down the Veil. We know there’s two archdemons left, and Grey Wardens are regaining some spotlight in concept art lately. We might have to fight on multiple fronts simultaneously and be strategic about it. Solas might even unleash a double Blight just to keep us distracted while he focus on his own goal, who knows. But many other things are happenig in the margins and all over the place. The Qunari Antaam is having a crisis with some of its members supposedly going rogue, the order they’re so proud of is breaking up, and the whole of Northern Thedas is facing an imminent threat of invasion. Tevinter is still dealing with remnants of the Venatori and might soon be dealing with a slaves rebellion and/or a political and social reform (Magisters Dorian and Maeveris have been working wirh the Lucerni, a group aiming to restore and redeem Tevinter). The Antivan Crows -the de facto rulers of Antiva - may be dealing with a succession crisis, as their First Talon, a powerful feared and respected but old lady, might not be around for much longer and seems her chosen heir has died before his time. Meanwhile in the Anderfells nobody’s heard anything from the Grey Wardens’ HQ at Weisshaupt since the end of Inquisition, and as told in the novel Last Flight, the sudden reappearance of griffons may have had something to do with that radio silence. So you see, get ready for another +100 hours long game because BW has plenty of stuff to keep us busy with. But in short, DA4 seems will be about primarily searching, finding, and dealing with Solas. Regardless of what you decided at the Exalted Council in Trespasser, the Inquisition or what’s left of it is most likely the group orchestrating that mission. As it was so clearly stated then, they need new people Solas doesn’t know so he can’t foresee their actions, so it’s possible the DA4 protagonist is a new agent or a third party hired to do what the Inner circle can’t due to their familiarity with Solas in the past. But at the same time -and this is assuming we get to find Solas in this game - i definitely think the Inquisitor could easily show up again. No, losing an arm doens’t mean they’ve retired forever, prosthetics do exist in Thedas, a world where you can combine dwarven craftmanship with enchantments, seriously, i don’t ever want to hear “but they lost an arm” ever again as an excuse to write them out. And no, marrying Cullen or joining the Red Jennys is no impediment to join the “Stop Solas” Squad; the end of Trespasser means something, mainly that this is personal. Be it they loved them as lovers, as friends or ended up hating his guts for using and betraying them, the Inquisitor’s relationship with Solas makes this very personal, and so having any other character do that face off would cheapen all of it, all that bittersweet angsty development and expectations of either revenge or closure. That moment should happen between those two. It adds a ton of motivation due to their past historyas well, something a new protagonist would lack entirely.  My personal best hope is for a sort of dual protagonist thing, say we play new protagonist for most of the game but a selected missions or scenes where we play as the Inquisitor once again and take over for key and heart-wrenching dialogue options. My second best hope is for the Inquisitor to show up as playable for the moment we catch up with Solas. My third and final best hope is for the inquisitor to be a sort of advisor but more like new protagonist’s boss/employer to whom they report back to and get new missions from. The Inquisitor can be stuck in meetings for the most part of it, i just want to know they’re there, behind a door, super busy but there. A cameo like Hawke’s in Inquisition is the bare miminum i can take, anyhting less than that like a mention in a sidequest description or a footnote in a codex entry would be a total  injustice. 

Romances: I’m open for pretty much anything, as any good BW fan would be. But i’d like romances to feel more alive in the sense that they don’t abruptly get stuck once you exhaust all related quests and dialogue options. As much as my Adaar liked that spank from the Iron Bull, that it was the only thing they could share after their romance was locked was a bit..meh. I liked Dorian’s tho, because his gave one the option to talk a bit, go for a walk, gossip, and sure, it all happened off-screen, and there were limited possibilities, but it was nice and made their relationship feel a bit more real, like they had more to it than kissing and stuff. It happens in most games, once you secure a romanceable companion suddenly you run out of things to do and share with them, and you get stuck with the same 3 lines of dialogue over and over again. There should be a way of solving that.

Side quests: i’m ok with fetch quests initially as it is a good way of forcing the player to go out and explore huge maps, but i’d also like the fetching to have some meaning other than checking things off a list. I want to explore many ruins, and -can’t believe i’m actually saying this- i want a Fade quest. Wait! I know what you’re thinking but don’t kill me just yet, here’s my idea: what if we could visit the Fade at certain locations to witness memories or meet with spirits and recollect information on Solas, his past, his present? Both to understand him better (keep in mind we’ll most likely get a new protagonist who isn’t familiar with him like we are as players) and try to locate him or predict his next move. It would be i think i great way of having visions of Arlathan in its golden age, maybe seeing some of the other Evanuris, how they interacted with each other and with the elves in their service, what really happened ...i just want that sweet, sweet lore, i need it.

Technical stuff: ok, graphics will be amazing for sure, but i also would really really like: better, more varied and longer hairstyles, PLEASE. Body sliders, it’s damn time we get them. Mounts that actually make a difference! Let staves blades make damage in combat, I’M BEGGING HERE. Combined classes, MAGICAL ROGUES! A homebase we can fix up/build on/redecorate as fully as possible (Skyhold was great and i love it to pieces but why were those walls NEVER repaired????) . More casual outfit options, idk i love to dress up my characters, maybe some transmog? A day/night cycle and please i would love to see Thedas’ second moon, also weather variations depending on the region. Yes, i’m ambitious.

Gameplay: i’d like more AI options for companions, but not quite like in DAO, that was too much and i rarely used it. I’m curious how they’ll do combat this time but i know for sure i don’t want the kind of combat that has me going almost frame by frame pausing at every second, it’s annoying for me. I want large areas like in DAI but with a bit more stuff to see and do although one of my favourite maps is the Hissing Wastes so i won’t complain if we get a literal desert but i’d also like it to have secrets hidden around, make me work to find and solve them, i love exploring, i jump and click on EVERYTHING like i’m still a kid playing Monkey Island. A companion in concept art seems to be holding what looks like some form of rifle, so i’m curious how they’d incorporate that in the game. I know Tevinter has the magics and dwarves have the skill, a firearm is totally within the possibilities in-game without breaking any lore; also super curious what sort of skill trees Crows or Lords of Fortune could have, are they rogues, or warriors, or both??

So far, that’s what i got in my head.Well, most of it anyways, i may have missed something but this post has to end somewhere lol

What’s in your head? Feel free to share! Have you been thinking on how you’ll create your next protagonist? All i can think of is magical rogues and that  glowing bow was all the hype i needed.

[mimi-cee-hq]

About Me

So I'm adding an about me post just because. lol. Maybe sharing about myself will help open some doors in getting to know some of you. :)

Some interesting things about me:

I write cute and funny getting together Haikyuu fanfics. Readers of my blog know that already.

I started this blog because I needed a tsukiyachi outlet while I was writing my first Haikyuu fanfic. Now I'm writing reader-insert short stories/ one-shots/ headcanons from match-up requests.

I played libero in high school. During a couple years in high school, my coaches didn't actually use me during games which made me sad. I think they wanted all rounded players and a libero might have been a relatively new position around here. I like to think I'm pretty good at it, but I'll let you be the judge if you ever see me play. (Which probably won't happen :'( )

Haikyuu is the fandom I can comfortably write for because of my volleyball knowledge. I have no idea about blocking though. I'm short, weak, and almost zero vertical.

I studied engineering. I liked it, but my work ethic wasn't very good. I should have put more effort into studying. I was studying to just get a passing grade. (Like how Tsukki was with volleyball. lol)

I did web design (the organizing part, not the artistic part) which is why I like organizing my blog and making it easy to use. And links everywhere so that it's easy to find stuff.

I'm a Christian. I don't mind chatting about spiritual things as long as the person knows how to keep things civil. I admire people who lovingly share about how we’re all sinners and that we all need Jesus to be forgiven. They still go out and share the gospel on the streets even though they'll sometimes encounter people who will harass them.

I'm naturally a people-pleaser, but "Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy." Proverbs 27:5‭-‬6. I'm still learning to do this because I freak out (like Yachi) whenever I feel like I need to correct someone. I just avoid confrontation. But it's not very loving to not warn others of the consequences of their actions just because I'm scared of what they'll think of me. >.< Because of this and other reasons, I think I need to improve on loving others, even though I'm a people pleaser. Being a people pleaser is rooted in pride and self-preservation, not love.

I guess it's my dream to write a Christian story. This is why I want to practise writing a variety of characters and plots through my match-up one-shots (now headcanons). If I do write one, I might post it here, but I'm not sure if anyone would like it since this is a Haikyuu blog. I also don't think I'm wise enough to write one. I would want it to be real and not idealistic. I actually do have one short story idea, but we'll see.

I actually have a cameo of myself in one of my fanfics. I'd be surprised if you find it. You can guess, but I'll probably keep it a secret. :3

That's it for now. :) I'll add a link in my description when I get the chance.

[wintersoldeer]

ok here's some totally incoherent thoughts about endgame that i just have to write down or i might explode spoilers: i loved it also actual spoilers spoilers very spoilery spoilers

1. Steve and the goddddamn mjölnir!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!! when thor, iron man and cap were like 'aw yeahhh we're gonna fight thanos' i was like what the heckie is steve even doing there, supersoldier or not he's just a human. then thor drops his hammer and i’m like oh my gods please literally crossing my fingers. then thor’s fight is not going so well and oh no he definitely needs someone to save him! i’m like ohhhhhmygooddss. and THEN IT FINALLY HAPPENS I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR YEARS HELL YEAHHHHH

2. steve & peggy dance. yes. just yes. fucking finally. i love it. it was perfect i cried

3. clint should’ve died. (finally haha) he was my fave since before the avengers and i was so sure he was going to die back then, but then he didn’t and look what’s became of him since.......... i had a violent flashback to watching age of ultron for the first time and for the first time just hoping that my fave character (that would be clint) would just die, bc they’re screwing his character over so badly........ and most definitely it. should.  not. have. been. natasha. who. died.  that was such a bullshit i mean WHAT THE FUCK????  i mean maybe clint and natasha were the only remaining avengers that actually loved each other (?¿¿????¿¿¿?¿ tho that’s just flimsy, i’m just trying to....idek) and that’s why it had to be them on that stupid fuckin death cliff, but why did natasha have to die?? just because clint had a family (still with no actual characterization, not that i even care, or maybe i would if the movies had given me any reason to...) to return to and she didn’t??that fucking sucks and what sucks even more is that not only was natasha the only character that died (i’m not even counting tony, bc that was very Different) but she’s the only original female avenger AND it’s the same stupd fucking rock that the only original female gotg gamora died in such a bullshit way just last movie??? goddddd i hated that so much like maybe if she hadn’t been the first one to die and all the original avengers would’ve died as was i kinda hoping (tho i love happy endings so i didn’t actually hope that it would happen..), maybe then i would be okay with her being dead. now i am very much not okay, and that means very much not okay in a angry way, not in a sad way

4. speaking of death: to me tony’s was perfect. i might not be the biggest fan of how he always got the most screentime and a bigger role than other characters, but i can’t deny that he definitely is the heart of the whole mcu and it had to be him who saves the day in the end and what else could it have been that a very tony-like self-sacrifice..... god i cried. i loved that he got a funeral (even tho natasha didn’t...) and i loved his funeral with all the people and fricking harley and then the kid saying how much she likes cheeseburgers and the frickin ‘proof that tony stark has a heart’ and sfghkklkghhhh

5. i gasped audibly when i noticed that natasha was wearing the arrow necklace

6. i kinda forgot that vision ever even existed..... in the end i first thought that wanda was talking about pietro and then i was like ok well maybe not maybe she’s talking about tony or something WHICH MAKES NO SENSE LOL i don’t even remember what she actually said, but as was pointed out to me, she was probably talking about vision. who was a thing that existed... whoops

7. ugh i hate brucenat, i really thought we were over that shit already. i also very much disliked that they actually decided to go with professor hulk, but idk w/e i don’t care that much. but natasha’s death sucked tho and the one thing i do not want to see is bruce’s pain or whatever when the movie didn’t even give me the time or reason to actually grieve for her goddd that whole thing was such a bullshit

8. i did not like that thor was treated as a joke most of his screentime........

9. that stevepeggy dance tho. love it. it’ll probably take me at least another seven years to get over it

10. i fricking adored the whole going back in time thing, especially the 2012. the callbacks and the humor really worked for me, the elevator scene straight from cap2 but reversed and hail hydra and steve fighting steve and loki’s expressions when things go wrong and goddhhh i loved it all aaaaaaa, that was the moment when i was like ok i need to see this movie again immediately.... also the fact that their time travel rules were that they were just creating new paths or w/e i guess, and not actually changing what happened to them specifically... good. so many aus

11. that final battle was so perfectly epic

12. tho shouldn’t valkyrie’s (who really just doesn’t have a real name, now does she..) horse have died after being shot haha

13. i loved that clint had the gauntlet for so long, like he’s definitely the Least Qualified Person to keep it safe, why would that be his job, it was amazing

14. i hated natasha’s death with burning passion, but i loved how she and clint fought each other over who gets to throw themselves off that cliff. tho i really hoped that their ‘yeahh we know what we have to do’ would’ve rather meant that they decided to just throw red skull down bc who even knows if it even actually needs love sacrifice or w/e, a soul is a soul is a soul

15. i loved the human jarvis whatever-his-first-name-was cameo and i really need to finally watch/rewatch agent carter

16. i really liked the tony howard scene even if i thought it felt a bit iffy, bc i feel like there’s so much more to unpack w/ those daddy issues.... but maybe that scene means that there is that one universe where howard was actually a good dad. i want to believe that. yeah. (maybe not but let me dream)

17. i like how they totally forgot that sharon carter ever even existed

18. damn that moment when black panther comes through that portal

19. damn that moment when gi ant-man is giant

20. damn that final battle was so epic

21. damn that steve with mjölnir

22. this movie was SO GOOD when it was good and so mehhh when it was bad, and i’m really glad that it was just good enough that i can forgive overlook all of its flaws. (tho i will not forgive what they did to natasha, even if i can mostly ignore it when thinking about how good most of the rest of the movie was) but idk if it would’ve been perfect, maybe i wouldn’t have survived like there’s this One Huge Thing (natasha) that really brings down the movie that otherwise would’ve been just Amazing

23. i don’t know if my heart has ever beaten as fast as when steve finally picks up the hammer. never while watching a movie, at least

24. i love that carol has her short haircut, bc it bothered me so much in cpn marvel that she should not have been able to see anything when her hair was just constantly on her face haha

25. i feel nothing but seething resentment towards clint’s stupid family and that stupid family man role he is stuck with

26. why was natasha’s hair so weird and ugly. why can’t it just be red??

27. clint’s hair was weird and ugly too and i think i have finally kinda given up on mcu!clint (tho he has those small Very Good moments and i cry for what could’ve been.....we could’ve have it aaaaaalllll.... i think i’m going to watch swat (2003) again and still pretend it’s the clint backstory movie i deserve haha, it’s been ages since i’ve seen it idk if it would still work for me, i’m gonna try)

28. i love nebula tho

29. i loved the trip down memory lane! frigga!!!! the way the continuation of the avengers capturing loki just felt so natural and like it probably happened just like that! nebula and rhodey judging quill’s singing and dancing haha yes! everything! just as i was hoping it would be!

30. doesn’t really have anything to do with this movie but: i still firmly believe that coulson never died. i still firmly believe that pietro never died. 

31. falcon cap helll yeah!!

32. i guess i’ll never get my strike team delta movie with clintasha best friends soulmates and with buckynat and the red room.........  goddd there really should’ve been a black widow movie after cap2. like that was The Perfect Spot for a black widow movie, it’s really a crime that there isn’t one, and even if they make a black widow movie now, it’ll definitely be too little too late.

33. like..... a for effort..... for that female heroes girl power.... ughhhh.... scene, i guess, but that. does. not. cut. it. when you have just killed natasha

34. things i really wished they would say in some perfect moments: “hail hydra” “avengers assemble!” “i am iron man”. things they did say in those moments: “hail hydra” “avengers assemble” “i am iron man”, gogssgddd that was perfect (ok i also really did wish steve would’ve said the “i could do this all day” in the fight but couldn’t say bc the movie had just made fun of that.. i’m kinda sad but haha it’s not that big of a deal, maybe if he hadnt said it in civil war which i dont like but well...)

35. haha people are already complaining about the steve going back thing and how it’s definitely not moving on and erasing character development or whatever and HA. i finally got my stevepeggy dance i don’t care about anything else i am so happy!!!!!

36. i am so glad i managed to avoid any spoilers bc i hear that there was some pretty massive ones going around??¿?¿?

37. also: ok from here on out i am not here for any of you negative nancys complaining (probably very reasonable complaints idec) about the movie, god i really wish it was 2012 again

38. in final thoughts: i absolutely loved it and i love that it turns out that i’m apparently still very much marvel trash........ if natasha hadn’t died, especially in such a bullshit way, i would’ve been able to overlook everything else that was kinda meh about the movie and just purely and blindly loved it. i still did love it, a lot, but now there’s that bitter aftertaste.....

ok now, maybe that’s enough rambling and repeating myself....... i’m going to need to see it again asap

//EDIT

39. I FORGOT TO MENTION IT BC I FORGOT ABOUT IT but goooooooooodddd i loved nebula and tony playing that game in the beginning and tony letting nebula win ääääää

[flightlessangelwings]

Lost Souls, Kindred Spirits Chapter 3

Bucky/Reader

Chapter 3

Chapter summary: You and Bucky meet up the next day and learn hidden truths about each other.

Bucky paced around the park nervously. Why was he meeting her again? Sure, he wanted to, but he should know better. He should know better than to get someone involved in his life. He should be on the run, keeping to himself, staying under the radar. He should have moved on from the city by now. But he just couldn’t bring himself to stay away from you.

So many times, he actually picked himself up and started to walk away, only to feel guilty at the thought of you waiting all day for him. So, he came back and sat down by a large rock and waited for you, ignoring every instinct in him screaming for him to leave.

He looked over at a big clock near a food stand. Still a half hour until you would show up. His eyes drifted over to the food stand and he found himself wondering what type of foods were your favorite. Did you prefer sweet? Spicy? Salty? Bucky took in all the smells coming from the stand, hot dogs, cotton candy, pretzels. He decided to use the rest of his time waiting to go pick out something for you.

A half hour came and went, and Bucky saw no sign of you. He scanned the crowd over and over looking for your face. Another ten minutes went by and he started to get worried. Was he found out so fast? Did something happen? So many questions raced through Bucky’s mind as he continued to search the crowd.

And then he saw you.

You had your usual bag over your shoulder and you appeared to be holding another bag in your hand. Even from a distance, Bucky could see you looked tired. You looked up and made eye contact with him and smiled brightly. The sun was high in the sky, but still did not shine more radiantly than your face. You waved at him as you made you way over.

“Hey, sorry I’m a little late, busy night at work and I overslept a bit,” you sounded out of breath as you ran over to the park as fast as you could as soon as you finally shut your alarm off. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting long.”

“No, it’s fine,” Bucky gave you a slight smile as the two of you sat down next to each other.

“That’s good,” you pulled you bag off your shoulder and reached for the smaller one in your hand, “I got us pretzels. I wasn’t sure what you liked so I went with something safe. Pretty much everyone likes pretzels” you pulled them out of the bag.

Bucky looked wide eyed at the pretzels and then reached in his bag, “I was thinking the same thing,” he pulled out two pretzels.

Both of you let out a hearty laugh. Bucky couldn’t remember the last time he laughed. He didn’t remember the last time he had a reason to. It felt good for him, and in his mind he thanked you for it.

“I guess great minds think alike,” you said.

Bucky only smiled at you in response.

“Hey, that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh,” and what a smile, you thought to yourself, “it suites you.”

“You too,” Bucky replied as he took in your features in the sunlight.

“Well thank you, Bucky,” your tone was playful as you blushed slightly.

You two fell into a comfortable silence as you ate your pretzels and watched the crowd: children running with balloons, couples walking by holding hands, someone painting the sky, a few people with laptops writing. Between the people watching, you both stole quick glances at the other than you weren’t looking.

Once you finished your pretzels, you reached for the bag you had over your shoulder. “I brought my laptop today to try and help you find out about yourself.”

Bucky watched you in silence as you opened and turned on your computer.

“So, Bucky… there a last name to go with that?”

He paused for a moment, “Barnes.”

“Ok, now I can try to find something on you. You have a Facebook or Twitter or something?”

“What?”

“You know? Facebook?” you opened your browser and brought up your page to show him. Your profile had some selfies you took, nature photos, food photos, and your profile picture was you holding a big black cat, “That’s my coworker’s cat. He a big baby, I love him so much,” you chucked.

Bucky’s face went blank. He had no idea about any of this. Technology, he knew, but nothing like this. But he couldn’t let you know that.

“So, no Facebook?”

He shook his head.

“Twitter?”

He shook his head again.

“Instagram?”

Bucky shrugged.

“Do you even know what any of those are?” you finally asked.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips, “No,” Bucky confessed.

“Wow, totally off the grid I see. That may make it harder to find you, but there’s always Google.”

Bucky said nothing and watched you type on your computer. You typed in his full name and to your surprise, the first thing that came up as a link to the Captain America exhibit. Confused but intrigued, you clicked the link and skimmed through a short article on Steve Rogers’ story about how he became the first superhero and how he fought in the war along with his group called “the howling commandos.” One name on that list stuck out to you: James “Bucky” Barnes.

“Bucky…?” you turned to him and showed him the image on your screen: an old photo of him from World War 2, “Is… Is this you?”

He furrowed his brows. No, she can’t get involved anymore. She can’t know. He said nothing as he stood and started to walk away. I’m sorry. It’s for the best, he thought to himself as he tried to leave.

But you weren’t going to let him go that easily. “Hey!!” You shouted as you grabbed your bag and laptop and quickly went after him. He may be fast, but you got good at weaving through crowds after living in a big city for so long. You were able to catch up with him in no time.

You stood in front of him and held your hand to his chest, “Don’t run away from me,” you were a little out of breath from moving so quickly, “That is you in that picture isn’t it?”

Bucky sighed at he dropped his gaze to the ground. There was no use denying you, even only knowing you for a short time, he could tell you were stubborn and wouldn’t be satisfied until he answered you, “Yeah.”

Your eyes widened. How? How was that possible?

“Listen, forget you knew me, ok?” Bucky tried to back away from you, but you grabbed his right hand to stop him.

“Why?” you were scared and unsure, but you couldn’t even image how Bucky must be feeling. To be all alone in a world that he knows nothing about must be terrifying.

“Just,” he tensed up at your touch, and was grateful you didn’t grab his other hand or else there would be more questions that he did not want asked, “Trust me, it’s better that way.”

“Isn’t it hard to be all alone?” your voice was a plea.

Bucky let out a deep breath as he looked up from the ground into your eyes. He found a sadness there that he did not expect. It made his heart skip a beat to think that you cared for him even a little.

“Just listen to me ok? Our circumstances may be different, but I know what it’s like to be alone. I’ve lost both my parents and I spent all my time working to I don’t really have anyone I’m close with. Even in this huge city surrounded by people, I always feel alone. So, let me help you not be alone. Because I know how much it sucks,” you squeezed his hand, “So don’t run away from me.”

He relaxed his posture. You were right, it does suck to be alone, but he does it for the good of everyone around him.

Your voice cut him out of his thoughts, “How about I tell you a secret of mine?”

Bucky looked confused.

“To even us out. You tell me something, I tell you something, remember?”

“Ok,” he finally let himself relax a bit more.

“You know what I do for work, Bucky? I’m a stripper,” now it was your turn to be nervous, “It’s not what I imagined I’d be doing with my life, but I’m not ashamed of it. I make better money that way. I just don’t like to tell people because either they immediately want something from me, like ex-boyfriends have, or they judge me, like ex-girlfriends have. And it’s just easier to keep to myself that way,” you fidgeted with your hands as you spoke. Clearly you had made this confession before and it did not go so well.

That was a confession Bucky did not see coming, but to him it was all trivial. You were you and that was all that mattered to him. He looked into your eyes and saw the sincerity and vulnerability there. “I would never judge you like that,” his voice was soft. Maybe being around you wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. At the very least, he felt like you both understood each other.

You smiled up at him, “Thank you Bucky.”

He smiled back at you, but then his face dropped, “How come you’re so ok with this? I mean so ok with me?”

In your head, your answer was that you felt something there with him, like a connection or something. But you weren’t ready to say that out loud yet. “Well when you live through things like aliens invading, a guy who wears iron armor battle suits, a guy who flies around the city like a spider, you kinda just start to roll with things,” you shrugged.

You looked up at Bucky and laughed, causing him to laugh too.

“Come on, there’s lots of new foods I’ve got to introduce you to!”

~

Notes: Thank you so much for reading so far! The story is going to pick up from here after these few intro chapters! And I was a little self indulgent and gave my cat a cameo lol.

[pkmnjesus]

Appmon quick FINAL thoughts

Wow! What a 7 months that was...I know I could have finished this series waayy sooner (especially if my blog wouldn’t have taken a break in July-August), but I had a life and future to worry about outside this tumblr bubble and in the end I’m glad I was able to find time to watch this series whenever I wanted to relax. Overall I really thought Appmon was good! I never really found a problem wit the episode pacing for important plot points, and I didn’t really find the beginning to be that boring really. At least it was better than Xros Wars’s first arc in my opinion. I can understand why maybe some people didn’t get into this because of maybe the humor it presented, or how much “filler” plot it had in certain episodes. I didn’t really see any episode to be filler (well maybe except the clip show in episode 26) because each episode at least addressed the main plot and how they could get one step closer to Leviathan. The series definitely wasn’t perfect, and I wished they would have used more of Appmon they gained throughout the series. At least with Xros Wars, you saw multiple appearances from many of Taiki’s Digimon that he had in his Xros Loader. At the same time, it really took me a while to understand how evolution worked and why the super grade needed to have a link most of the time. I just went with the flow and enjoyed what was shown to me on the screen lol.

I also have a few picky questions that really isn’t that significant but left me wondering...was Dantemon ever freed from being stone? Poor fella. Did L-Corp really just dissolve like that? No repercussions from its employees like Yuujin’s “mom”. And speaking of Yuujin...was that final scene confirm him to be alive again? If so, then I don’t get it lol...but I think it seemed to be like a dream or a fantasy from Haru? And Knight Unryuji man...I was a bit disappointed they didn’t bring him back for the final arc besides that short cameo in the end. His character had so much potential from what I was saw in him

Anyway with my minor complaints being out of the way, I pretty much love everything what Appmon was about. The theme of artificial intelligence taking over our world is interesting itself, and by using modern smartphone applications to this story presents a good example of how we today really so much on our phone and the internet to do everyday tasks and even in relaxing outside school or work. Honestly you don’t even have to be a Digimon fan to get into this series, because Appmon can stand alone on its own for being that unique. Sure it has some Digimon references (like the buddy partnership), but if you compare this to previous installments from the franchise it really gives off a different vibe from the characters and humor alone. Any sci-fi enthusiast would love a concept like this, and could easily get into this series.

I pretty much loved everyone from the main cast! Unlike other Digimon series where it actually took me a while to get in to the characters, I was intrigued with each one from the start (excluding Yuujin since I thought he was a side character in the first half of the series). From Haru’s adorkableness to help others (probably the most kind-hearted goggle protag out there), Eri’s badassery with a spice of elderly respect, and Astra’s eccentric attitude filming himself doing funny things while trying to follow in his family’s footsteps. BUT REI OH MY GAWD, he’s probably my favorite character! Episode 42 has to be my favorite episode from the series hands down. From being this punk hacker kid that drinks jelly juice we get to see a caring brother who wants nothing but to be cook good food for him...that drinks jelly juice too lol. And of course the best character of them all in everyone’s book the NOOOOOOOOOOOO guy. Probably one of the funniest gags I’ve seen in a series in quite a while. Pokémon typically does this stuff, but I’m happy to see Toei trying to format that with this goofy character. Too bad we never knew his name :(

For the Appmon, everyone was great! At times I did find Dokamon a bit annoying, but in a funny way xD He always made me laugh trying to get Eri’s attention. Offmon has to be my hands down favorite...I mean who doesn’t like Offmon?! JUST LOOK AT IT :3 Too damn adorable for this show.

I also really do wanna try and play the 3DS game too...then I realized it was only realized in Japan and I would probably need a 3DS emulator to get like an English translation -_- Oh well...maybe one day. But by looking at the cover art from the game, all I recognize is Haru, Gatchmon, and Offmon and I’m like WHO ARE YOU ALL YOU PEOPLE???? Probably the game’s AU xD

Anyway I don’t want to ramble too much about this and make this post long as it already is, but man what series that was...a highlight of 2018 for sure! And even though I am done with this series, that doesn’t mean that I can’t bring it up on my blog from time to time 👀I CAN FINALLY REBLOG STUFF FROM THE TAG NOW YESSSS (and I already saw similar posts of mine that were already GIFed and I wasn’t aware of it lol...was expected). To my new followers that I gained from this series (or old ones that liked Appmon too), please feel free to ask me questions or send me messages if you’d like to chat about it since I won’t be talking about it that much anymore moving forward after today. I don’t want to mention names, but I’m sure some of you are aware of a certain user that isn’t too fond of Appmon based on the reblogs on some of my posts. To each their own opinions, but please if you want to be critical and do nothing but hate, bash, and pull up ignorant arguments, don’t even bother getting a serious conversation with me lol....just putting it out there :^) I don’t hate anyone here, but I will ignore the ignorance, and hey you should too!

I know that a few Digimon Elitists and certain other folks feel a bit indifferent with Appmon (and some just judging a book by its cover), but you shouldn’t let that get to what you enjoy! This same goes for the Pokémon fandom as well, so I know the feeling. I personally will be an ambassador for Appmon to help spread to others (especially Digimon fans who don’t even know of this yet) when I get the chance to talk about it. I think I’ll start with my friend from college who watched Adventure to Frontier only...let’s see how he likes it xD

Again, I want to thank the Appmon fandom for all their kind words especially to @latiwings who always chats with me after each episode. It’s amazing how you can make friends by watching something! There are countless others too I want to mention, but it could be a long list lol...YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE <3 I am also grateful to have some of my posts being reblogged by @digi-egg who (if some of you didn’t know) is probably the biggest Digimon blog on the tumblr fandom. Basically the equivalent to @shelgon in the Pokémon tumblr side of things. Finally I want to thank Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters, for teaching me how to be a protagonist in my own life. I needed something like this because of the struggles I had to overcome this year. Haru and Gatchmon, thank you for my spiritual buddies! We all need a Yuujin in our lives.

[koganphrancis]

Ian Used To Do Better Stuff With Vans OR There’s Another Hour Of My Life I Won’t Get Back

This episode was dumb dumb dumb as fuck-and even more pointless than that.  The ONLY redeeming quality in it was that it was completely Terror-free.  Read on, if you dare.  My recap of Season H8 Episode Dear God Why Isn’t It Over Yet-or 11, if you want to keep it short.

As usual, I’ll get the others out of the way as quickly as I possibly can. 

Carl’s still illegally under-aged married, and this week he tells Kasammi, “I don’t think there’s any skin left on my dick.”  Yeah, they made that point last year when they had to keep taking it off after his misguided circumcision.  Not that the show is referring to THAT, of course.  They refuse to acknowledge any plot point that has gone before.  He and Kas take a wild tour through his before the show started past and I have no idea what the point is-is it to show us she’s truly insane because none of the horrors of life on the mean streets scare her?  Or to show us that Generation Z doesn’t experience reality because their whole lives have been instantly posted on screens of electronic devices?  I don’t know and I don’t care-quit trying to be fake deep, Shameless, if you even are.  I can’t tell.  The only (maybe) pertinent point of Carl’s story this week is he tells Kasammi after her hundredth shit fit on the subject that he won’t go back to military school and in the previews for next week it looks like the family (or at least Frank) will try to help him sneak away to do just that.  Yawn.

Debbie loses three toes-Frank chops them off for her.  Before that, Debbie is shown signing her 16 year old self out of the hospital-WHAT?  She’d need a parent or guardian for that.  Anyway, apparently Debbie’s not on any kind of welfare or insurance.  And doesn’t know that Ian could’ve gotten the money for her expensive surgery to attempt to save the toes by going down on the old couple just twice.  What is it with this show and cutting off toes?  They’ve done this before with the body they got to stand in for Aunt Ginger.  I’m so sick of the recycled plot points!

Speaking of which-Snore’s old man is out of prison so Lip gets him to fight him to violate his parole and send him back-did this new writer guy not see Yevgeny’s christening episode or is he just really into plagiarism?  It was such a fizzle to a going nowhere story to begin with.  I think the guy playing Snore’s version of Terry even had some of the same lines but I’m too lazy to rewatch and try to catch them.  If we were supposed to hate this guy like we hate Terry, it didn’t work.  And Lip was no Mickey showing up to defend people that mean something to him either-it was all a weak as fuck imitation.  And it was odd that Lip chose to call the guy out for “beating women” when he lets himself get beaten when he has sex with Eddy.  Who the fuck is he to judge?  Maybe ten year old Snore didn’t get that her parents were having consensual rough sex that got too violent and ended in death-but the show’s not that deep.

Snore’s telling of her mother’s death once again played like someone complaining about not getting the last bottle of nail polish in their favorite shade at Walgreens or something.  If she’s been so traumatized that she can’t put any emotion into the horrific memories that’s fine, but then I would argue that she wouldn’t be terrified of her dad coming after her either.  Snore just can’t emote OR imagine what it would be like to be in that setting, I’m sorry.  

And here’s what had me super pissed-Snore tells Lip she was 10 when her mom was killed in front of witnesses (Snore and her brother-she specifically says they both testified against him) and her dad’s already out on parole?  We don’t know how old Snore is now, but surely no older than 25 (and probably not even that old, but whatever), so the show is saying her dad got out in 15 years max, which is the time Mickey was sentenced to for NOT killing Sammi?  Fuck off.  

Also, why would the cops not even consider the father’s side of the story that Lip instigated the fight?  Lip has Eddy’s niece record the fight on his phone, and after it’s over he goes over to her and asks her how it looks or whatever, and she says Snore’s father threw the first punch.  Wouldn’t the cops question why a little girl was filming two men on a porch BEFORE a fight started?  Snore’s father must have Mickey’s public defender for a lawyer.  Fucking show should’ve shocked us all by having Lip get locked up for premeditated assault.  

Fiona meets with a lawyer (Janice from Friends, but she’s not as funny in this, sadly) and as soon as she said Fiona could lose both the apartment building and the Gallagher house I knew that storyline had jumped the shark and somehow next week all will be miraculously fixed-no way will the Gallaghers ever lose the house, that’s another plot point that’s been done to death.  At first I was thinking they’ll either come up with some fortuitous traffic camera footage showing that the guy jumped off the roof intentionally, or that Hugh Laurie would show up in a cameo as Dr. House and say that if a man “fell” off a roof that high, he’d have a hell of a lot more damage than one broken ankle, but no, the show isn’t going to even get that clever-they’re just gonna have the family cave and be willing to settle with Fiona if they get custody of her dog that suddenly she’s so worried about in this week’s episode.  She’s never shown that level of concern for any of her siblings.  

Frank has a tedious, boring couple of scenes about his “retirement plan”-he has a baggie of 3 stolen Social Security cards and anyone can see a mile off that the cards would’ve just been replaced by their original owners-they’re not like a set of fingerprints and you only get one for life and if you lose it someone else has your entire identity.  THEN they set up next week’s recycled/stolen plot to have Liam and Frank rip off Liam’s rich friend’s family just like Carl and Frank ripped off Liam and Carl’s gay foster dads-it didn’t work then, it won’t work now (and why didn’t Frank do hard time for that grand theft?).  

Svetlana and Vee and Kevin have a scene at a fancy (but not as fancy as the show was trying to tell us it was) bar that was a pathetic echo of both Ian and Mickey’s hotel bar scam AND of how funny the show used to be able to be.  Later Svet goes to humble herself to the other hand whore to find out how she snagged a rich fiance and discovers that the dude she’s about to marry is senile as fuck and Svet is going to step in to replace her, which is what I predicted the first time the hand whore showed up.  I will give Shameless credit for making me laugh unintentionally-since I’ve been picturing the “old rich dude” Svet was going to wind up with as John Wells’ fantasy version of himself, seeing the old dude in an adult diaper and thinking he’s Wells was very satisfying.  

Do I finally get to Ian now?  Do I have to talk about his bullshit?  There’s a scene of him in bed alone while the newlyweds are having sex in the same room, signalling that he’d rather be there than at Terror’s house, LOL.  Then it’s the next morning and he goes down to breakfast with his Bible in hand, but no pills.  Is that supposed to be significant?  We may never know...

He gets to the “Church Of Gay Jesus” and there’s so many “fans” there it’s like Beatles or One Direction footage.  The minister guy gets through the crowd to him with a big young guy and tells Ian the rando is “Bic” and he wants to help (I didn’t know the guy’s name till I saw it in the closing credits, I really thought his name was “Dick” and they were making a “big dick” joke, but no, I guess they were making a “Bic lighter” joke instead).  Ian and Bic instantly have more chemistry than Ian and Terror but it’s unintentional I’m sure-the actor playing Bic probably has taken acting classes and knows to look an acting partner in the eye, instantly making him more engaged than Terror’s ever been in a scene.  

The minister guy tells Ian, “Your life is no longer your own.”  Which first of all, I’m just not buying that all these youths have just been waiting for a messiah to show up and they’ll follow him anywhere, and secondly why was being with Mickey not Ian anymore, but he’ll give away his entire life for strangers?  Fuck you, Shameless.  (and speaking of his entire life, does he never have to go to work anymore?  Also, Fiona turned him down when he asked for a ride to the church-for once she had a good reason, that she had to pick up Debbie-but why is the show acting like Fi does things for him all of the sudden?  She DID give him a ride last week, and that was very OOC of her.)

There’s a kid trying to get Ian’s attention-he needs help getting away from his parents who have hired men to get him back.  At some point in the proceedings some guys jump out of a van and drag the kid into it.  Ian runs to the front of the van before it can pull away and goes all Chris Pratt in Jurassic Park, holding up his arms and not letting it advance.  The unintentional humor here amused me no end.  Then Ian lays down in front of the van and I actually said aloud to my TV, “Just run him over.”  I’m that done with this storyline and this show-just kill Ian off at this point, it’d be a mercy.  

Ian’s there on the ground with his arms thrown up over his head (not that the driver could even see him down there, right in front of the van) and we see that this time Shameless didn’t bother covering up Cam’s real life Sailor Moon tattoo.  SO LAZY.  All the other kids lay down around the van too so it can’t go anywhere  The 3 dudes in the van give up and let the kid get out.

The kid is 14 and the minister guy tries to talk sense into Ian, saying the parents have a legal right to their kid and they, more specifically Ian, can’t keep the kid.  Ian agrees to talk to the kid’s dad who tells him the parents aren’t bigots, they don’t care that their son’s not heterosexual, but he’s been living on the streets, doing drugs, and prostituting himself.  Then the father says, “We believe he may be mentally ill,” and Cameron (and yes, I mean Cameron, not Ian) makes a reaction face to that, but what it means, again, nobody knows.

Ian goes to talk to the kid where they have him hidden away in the Mickey Wedding Venue basement.  Ian tells him what the father told him, and the kid says they keep bringing him to a church (is that Ian’s trigger?  Churches? and if so, why?), plus they have him see shrinks who have put him on meds that knock him on his ass and he can’t get an erection.  He adds, “That’s what they really want-so I can’t have sex with another boy, you know?  Ever.”  Ian says, “Well you can’t stay here.  You have to find someplace where you can be safe, where you can be yourself.”  WHAT?  I don’t understand.  For one thing, isn’t that LITERALLY TERROR’S JOB?  To take runaways and provide them with a safe place to stay and a plan to get their lives back on terms that they can live with?  I don’t ever want to have to side with Terror, but this episode is basically saying that Terror’s way is right and Ian’s way is oh so wrong and misguided.  What the fuck?  Secondly, isn’t that what Ian THINKS he’s doing?  Why is he telling the kid HE has to find someplace safe?  Ian has literally been in this kid’s shoes-he knows there’s no safe places for someone even younger than he was when he got back from the army, living on the streets.  Anyway, after Ian’s lines the kid says, “Will you help me?” but Ian doesn’t answer one way or the other.  

I totally didn’t get this scene-why the writer had Ian say nothing.  I could see if it was to show Ian was getting more and more manic and now is on the downside of that and is becoming too depressed to speak to people-but then where’s his energy for doing anything coming from, plus the story isn’t SAYING he’s manic or depressed, and Cam and John Wells said Ian’s storyline is bold, audacious, great, etc and I don’t think either of them would’ve said those things if the payoff is just going to be that Ian needed his meds adjusted.  And why does Ian maybe believe what the kid is saying and not the dad?  Again, this IS Ian’s story!  Mentally ill, unable to help himself, and unwilling to take his pills!  I wondered why Ian didn’t at least give him a version of the Monica “you don’t have to change for them” speech, or his own “you don’t have to fix me because I’m not broken” speech or why in the name of all that’s holy didn’t he tell the kid, “I’ve been exactly where you are-on meds that were supposed to help but made me feel like crap plus I couldn’t get it up-but that’s because they take time-you need to take them to get stable and then you’ll find what works for you and have no problems having sex again (since apparently Ian’s never had an issue since beating Mickey up at the dugouts).”  AND the kid’s only 14-does Ian maybe want to advise him that feeling like he needs to be having sex that young to the point where he’s willing to run away and do it with anyone might be part of his symptoms?  

Ian COULD be so helpful here, but no.  At this point he is literally putting at risk kids at even greater risk.  

Later Rando Bic shows Ian that the van’s back behind the church.  Ian says, “Get the kid,” like he’s The Penguin and Bic’s his trusty lieutenant.  It was so dumb.  The kid is used as bait, and when the 3 guys jump out of the van Ian pops up behind the group and starts yelling.  “My god’s a faggot!  My god’s a dyke!  My god is trans, a junkie, a whore!’  Then the van blows up.  “We will not be victims!”  

What the hell is he on about?  That’s a serious question.  None of this is making sense.  God isn’t human, so Ian giving the Christian god human attributes makes no sense.  “We won’t be victims” of WHAT?  Gay conversion?  This kid’s dad said he isn’t trying to convert his gay son.  What is all the yelling and the explosion about?  And to get back to the explosion for a moment: That had to be Ian’s brilliant plan, and it just makes me miss Mickey talking him down from stupid shit like that all the more.  Bic is the one that actually lights the fire (get it?  BIC?) but how did they even know that all 3 guys would get out of the van this time?  Based on the first failed attempt to drive off with the kid, wouldn’t it make more sense that one of the guys would stay at the wheel and keep the van running and they’d take off the minute they shoved the kid inside before all of Ian’s disciples could block it again?   Before I rewatched the scene this morning I actually wondered if the story is going to be Ian is guilty of killing one of the guys, but then I saw it again and all 3 did get out-but I still don’t think Bic could’ve seen them from where he snuck around to light it up.  And I bet we don’t see Bic again-he was randomly thrown in because of course Terror wouldn’t have helped Ian carry out any plan that wasn’t his own.  But it’s funny that they couldn’t have him in the episode because everyone, even the shitty writers, know there’s no way Terror could talk Ian out of it like Mickey would be able to.   

In the scenes for next week, Terror shows up and asks, “Is Ian around?” and Debbie answers, “He’s not here.”  Terror says, “There’s a warrant out for his arrest.”  Wouldn’t the cops have gone to Ian’s house FIRST?  Where would they have even found Terror to be asking about Ian since Ian doesn’t officially work for the Youth Center or the Church of Gay Jesus.  More lazy writing, can’t wait for the whimpering end to this crapfest of a season.  

[kitashiwrites]

Seven - A High Lady Reveal Fic

Series: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas Characters: Feyre, Tamlin, Rhysand (with cameos by Lucien and Cassian) POV: Feyre Rating: T Word Count: 3076 Ao3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10531557

Summary: Feyre has been in the Spring Court, and now it’s finally time to leave. And she plans to reveal herself to its High Lord in the most dramatic way possible.

Comments: First off, I know this isn’t the fourth and final chapter of my Tarquin fic, & for that, I am very sorry. It’s almost done though, I promise!

This one came to me suddenly on my way to work on Friday, and I just couldn’t get it out of my head. This fic is inspired by @blogtealdeal‘s amazing art of Feyre on the Spring Court throne (see here). Seriously Nicole, your art is a blessing to this fandom.

Thank you to @illyriantremors, my most favorite favorite, for always indulging me and reading over these fics and keeping me going, and to @gekigami98, my beloved real life sister who helped me fix my issues with this when canon got in the way of my plans lol I’m blessed to have both of you in my life.

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy!

—–

Tomorrow.

The letter with that single word had lain in the middle of my bed, rolled up with my star sapphire ring used as its seal. If the note, written in my mate’s handwriting, hadn’t spoken for itself, the ring screamed it. I hadn’t seen it since the night before we went to Hybern. The night before I became so many things to my true home, to my Court, and to my mate.

My mate.

I had missed Rhys more than I could say. The occasional notes back and forth in the middle of the night were balm for my soul during these many weeks, usually while I watched from my window seat as Tamlin lay on my bed living out a daemati woven fantasy that involved us. It was almost amusing to see him writhing on the bed by himself, but the fact that he truly believed that I was his after everything that had happened—after everything and everyone he had sacrificed to Hybern without a thought to get me back—

I shook my head, trying to think of something else, anything else. I looked at the ring in my hands and ran my finger over the sparkling sapphire and pearls lovingly. I wanted to put it on right now. I wanted to march down the stairs, and show Tamlin before I spun on my heel and left. Before I went home.

But these sort of games were best played with more… finesse.

A grin spread across my face as my plan began to form.

~~~

I walked down the stairs to lunch the next afternoon in the high collared—but somehow still low cut and revealing—pink dress that Alis had said that Tamlin requested. It wasn’t the least bit comfortable, and my hair was pulled back with a matching ribbon band before letting it fall in curls at my shoulders. Another of Tamlin’s requests. I felt the weight of my ring on my left hand, glamoured to look like the gaudy emerald and gold engagement ring that Tamlin had bestowed upon me within days of my return—almost an exact copy of the first one I’d destroyed in my panic at being trapped in the manor. I was nervous. Rhys hadn’t given me any indication of when he was coming or what exactly he was going to do to get me out of here, but the prospect of seeing my mate again was making it difficult to act natural. I had planted the idea in Alis’s head with ease to make an impromptu overnight visit to the village hours ago. Lucien and Tamlin sat in their usual places at the table, and Tamlin gave me a loving smile as I approached, holding his hand out to me. I pasted a somehow believable smile on my face and willed myself to blush as he kissed my hand.

“You look lovely today, Feyre.”

“She looks like a cake,” Lucien muttered before shoving a forkful of food in his mouth. I felt the corner of my mouth twitch as I fought back a smile at the look Tamlin gave him as I sat down.

“Aren’t you going to eat anything, Feyre?” Lucien asked, noting my empty plate. I clenched my fist underneath the table and shook my head.

“No, I’m not really—”

A piece of paper suddenly appeared in the middle of my plate. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lucien frozen, his fork halfway to his mouth, and Tamlin with his brow furrowed in confusion. Again, only one word was on the paper.

Now.

A guard burst into the dining hall, panicked.

“Lord Tamlin,” he panted. “Intruders! The Night Court—” Tamlin was on his feet before the guard finished his sentence and looked at Lucien with a wordless command that Lucien bowed his head to and quickly left the room. Tamlin looked at me.

“Feyre, hide somewhere safe. I will come and get you once it’s clear.” He turned to the guard. “Protect her,” he ordered.

I creased my brow into the best act of worry I could muster. “But Tam—”

“Go!” he roared. Before I could argue, he was gone. I turned to the guard, who looked extremely nervous and very determined to please his High Lord. A minor inconvenience at worst.

“You can leave,” I said to him after a moment of staring at him. “I can take care of myself.”

He shook his head. “Lady, Lord Tamlin said—”

His mental shields were like wet paper. “You will leave,” I said to him authoritatively. “You got me somewhere safe. You followed your High Lord’s orders.” His face relaxed and he smiled as the new order settled into his mind. I almost felt sorry for him as I strode past him into the foyer.

A battle waged between Illyrian warriors and Spring Court sentinels in front of me that extended outside to the front drive. To my relief, the Illyrians seemed to be winning. I wove quickly through the chaos, with no one so much as sparing me a glance. But no one would stop me. The Spring Court soldiers wouldn’t dare risk hurting their High Lord’s chosen bride, and the Illyrians or anyone from the Night Court hurting me was utterly laughable. As I rounded the corner to the hall outside of where I had planned, I noticed a familiar hulking frame out of the corner of my eye and stopped. Cassian was battling a sentinel, but judging from his stance, he almost seemed to be toying with him. His wings looked to be patched all over with something that made the membrane shine silvery through the red-gold I’d come to expect, but I was relieved to see that they seemed to be fine. Without missing a beat as he knocked out the man in front of him, he turned towards me. His hazel eyes lit up and he gave me a roguish grin as he looked me over.

“Your taste in clothes needs some improvement, Feyre,” he called as he threw another brazen soldier back with a Siphon shield without even looking, knocking him out cold against the wall. I flashed a rude gesture at him that only made his grin grow wider.

“Say that again once we’re home, Cassian, and we’ll talk about my wardrobe and yours.” He laughed and gave me a respectful nod before heading back into the fray. I kept moving, avoiding the soldiers where I could, and threw open a set of gilded doors. For my plan to go the way I wanted, I needed to go to the one place that Tamlin would try to protect if the battle got too intense—here.

The throne before me was much like its master—golden, flowery, with many hidden thorns. The roses that adorned the top seemed so innocent. Perfect for the image I wanted to portray. I moved across the room, climbed the raised dais, and settled onto the throne, which was uncomfortable to say the least. Even the one in the Court of Nightmares was more comfortable. I ignored the inner voice in my head that suggested that it had less to do with the throne, and more with who I’d been sitting on.

I waited. Hours passed, and my back began to hurt from the throne arm digging into it. I had forgone sitting properly a while ago, and had pulled the what seemed to be never ending piles of restrictive pink fabric, revealing the short white petticoats underneath, up over my crossed legs that now dangled over the other side of the throne. In my boredom, I had created a water wolf to sit next to me, to add to the image I wanted to portray, but even it seemed bored waiting for Tamlin, now lying at the foot of the dias, occasionally letting out a distinctly canine yawn as it dozed. I began wondering if Tamlin had fled his court. It seemed like something he would do.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps in the hallway outside. I mentally felt for the person’s mind and, to my delight, came into contact with a wall of thorns and roses. As he came closer, I made myself more comfortable on the throne, though I didn’t bother to sit properly.

In here, I whispered into Tamlin’s mind as I slipped past his shields with ease.

He walked into the throne room almost hesitantly, a sword in his hand. He straightened.

“Feyre, you need to get somewhere safe,” he hissed. “That monster thinks he is going to take you again, but I won’t let him.”

I almost felt a twinge of pity for him. He truly believed that he was doing what was right. Suddenly, he seemed to register where I was. “Feyre, why are you sitting on my throne?”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “I figured there is no place safer than the heart of the Spring Court.”

Tamlin took a step towards me, but was stopped by a growling sound at my feet. I looked down to see my water wolf in a low, defensive position, hackles up as he looked straight at Tamlin.

“Feyre, what the hell is that?” His eyes were locked on the watery beast before him.

I smirked. “I believe it’s a wolf, Tamlin.”

He scowled. “I can see that. But what’s it made of?”

“I thought it was pretty obvious, but when I died—” I saw him flinch at the word choice. Perfect. “I gained a little more than was probably intended. So I guess he would best be described as a gift from the Summer Court.”

Tamlin eyed the wolf warily, though I could tell from his stance he was just looking for a weak spot—a way to get past it to me. “Feyre, call him off. You are in no danger with me. You know that.”

“No, Tamlin, I don’t know that.” The wolf’s growl got louder as Tamlin took another step towards it and me. He angled his sword, and almost too fast, swung.

Before he could complete the arc and actually hit something, Tamlin dropped his sword with a yelp of pain and a loud clatter, the handle now glowing red on the floor a few feet from him—closer to the wolf now. He held his hand with a wince and I could see now that the burn had been worse than I intended—not so bad that fae healing wouldn’t fix it, but I could tell it hurt.

“Ouch, that looks bad,” I simpered. “Too bad you don’t have someone from the Dawn Court to heal it. Of course, there is also me, but I don’t really feel like giving you my blood.” Tamlin moved towards me again, and this time, the wolf launched at him, knocking him to the ground. With a wave of my hand, the wolf lost its form, drenching Tamlin in water. As he crawled onto his knees, coughing from the sudden splash, I froze his hands and feet to the floor in thick shackles of ice. He pulled at them futilely, and looked at me in shock.

“Gifts from Autumn and Winter.” I rolled a ball of fire from the top of one hand to the other, juggling it with practiced ease and grinned at him as he looked at me with genuine fear. “Are you having fun yet, Tamlin?” I asked, splitting the fireball into three and rotating them in my hand. “Because I certainly am.” I let the fire disappear.

“Someone will notice I’m gone,” he said defiantly.

“No one is coming, Tamlin.” I swept my hand towards the doors. “At least, not for awhile. They have enough to worry about outside.”

“What is that on your finger,” he asked suddenly. “Where is your ring?” So he’d noticed. I smiled and held the star sapphire up to the light, admiring the way the it sparkled.

“Do you like it? I got it from the Weaver of the Wood.” I heard him inhale sharply. “She had been keeping it safe at a brave and innocent woman’s request. Only someone who could retrieve it and live would survive being married to her son.” I could tell my references were lost on Tamlin. Not that it mattered.

“You are marrying me,” he argued. He was still watching me warily.

“No, I’m not.” He looked stunned, as though he’d been slapped across the face. I smiled.

“But you know, this ring is not the only thing I got while I was away.” I let a large pair of Illyrian wings manifest behind me, the tip of one scraping the floor, and finally removed the glamour from the tattoo on my right hand. “Do you like them?”

“What did he do to you?” Tamlin asked in horror. I narrowed my eyes.

“My mate has a name, Tamlin. Rhys saved me. But these—” I gestured to the membranous wings over my shoulder. “These are from you actually. Shifting is such a useful ability. And this—” I held up my arm, twisting it so he could see the marks clearer. “Well, I think High Lady of the Night Court has a nice ring to it, don’t you?”

“There are no such thing as High Ladies.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Must you insist on being so backwards?”

“He isn’t your mate, Feyre,” Tamlin pleaded, as though he thought he would make some sort of breakthrough with me. “He only made you believe he was. The King took care of—”

“The King of Hybern is an arrogant fool who can’t tell the difference between a bargain and a mate bond,” I snapped. “And you—I’m not even sure I have words to describe what I think of you.”

“Feyre, this—”

“This is who I am, Tamlin.” I let the comfort of Rhys’s darkness—my darkness—that I had kept locked away wash over me, and watched his eyes widen as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. Suddenly, his expression hardened.

“If you’re going to kill me, you had better do it quickly,” he said stiffly. I rolled my eyes.

“I’m not going to kill you, Tamlin.”

“Then why are you doing this?” he asked. I shrugged.

“I was torn from my human life because of a curse, for trying to keep my family alive. I was killed for freeing you and your court. I almost died again because I suffered from what being Under the Mountain did to me. And you ignored it.” I closed my eyes and let out a shuddering breath. “You ignored it, and were willing to let me waste away, if it meant I was safe.”

“I was trying to protect you,” he insisted. “I love—”

“Too much love can be a poison, Tamlin. In an effort to protect me, you smothered any light that was left in me. And I should probably thank you.” I let a tendril of shadow snake its way across the floor towards Tamlin, who tugged on his restraints trying to get away from it. “By doing what you did, you helped me to find that my strength comes from the comfort found in the solace of Night.”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment. Finally, he asked, “What is number seven?” I raised an eyebrow, not following him.

“That’s six courts you’ve shown gifts for.” He narrowed his eyes. “What did you get from the Day Court?”

Clearly his curiosity had gotten the better of him. I stared at him coolly. “Something that you will never see, because I no longer feel anything for you.” I felt a tug on the bond—oh how I had missed that feeling—inquiring where I was. I sent back a loving caress. “And there’s my cue. But before I go…” I wiped his mind of all the powers he’d seen, but left the feelings attached with his reactions to them. “After all, I can’t have you telling Hybern what to expect when I finally meet him on the battlefield. And I will.” I wiggled my tattooed fingers in a mocking goodbye and strode for the gilded doors once more.

“You’re not just going to leave me here, are you?”

I stopped next to him, looking into his green eyes. There was a time that I would have willingly drowned myself in that gaze. I shook my head and patted his cheek condescendingly.

“I’m sure someone will come eventually. After all, you said yourself that someone is bound to notice you are missing. Otherwise, the ice should melt after a while.” I walked past him without another glance. “Goodbye, Tamlin.” I winnowed away.

I squinted as I was on the rolling hills outside the manor, the orange-gold of the sunset too sudden of a change, too bright after being inside. I looked around. I was near the cave from Calanmai.

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you,” a midnight voice said from behind me. My heart skipped a beat, and I turned around to see my mate only feet away from me, taking me in—a thrill of questioning excitement crossing the bond as he beheld the wings I still had out. I smirked at him.

“Hello, Rhysand darling,” I said in my best imitation of him. His violet eyes lit up, dancing.

“Only my enemies call me Rhysand,” he answered teasingly.

“Prick,” I said, tears suddenly choking my voice and blurring my vision. I desperately tried to blink them away. His expression softened and he crossed the distance between us in mere steps, gathering me up in his arms and enveloping me in citrus, jasmine, and the sea.

“That’s more like it,” Rhys murmured softly, stroking my hair as I clung to his shirt with one hand, feeling the steady, grounding beat in his chest that told me I wasn’t imagining things. He really was here. I wasn’t alone anymore. My heart was full to bursting at the thought. I felt a chuckle rumble in his chest beneath my ear.

“As much as this boosts my ego, darling, you’re going to give us away.” I looked up at him, to see his face glowing in the growing darkness around us.

Glowing.

I looked down at my hands, and realized they were glowing, just like the rest of me.

“Seven,” I whispered almost to myself. He tilted his head.

“What was that?”

I shook my head and smiled radiantly at him. “Nothing. Let’s go home.”