#and they keep hinting at it.... augh my heart

[toastsnaffler]

iwtv is rly getting to me 😭 I feel sooo bad for claudia no one tell me anything bc idk the book lore + I dont want spoilers but istg she's gonna kill herself in that theatre fire...

[ehh-is-the-name]

ii 15's live now... How we feeling?

Really how we feeling guys? I'm feeling-

(I'm feeling a lot of things, there's a lot under the cut, also hope your internet's alright 'cause there's a lot of beefy gifs)

I'm feeling inanimate insane- II 15 AM I RIGHT??

As per usual, I'm doing a post about everything and anything that comes to my mind regarding the new ii episode.

Starting off strong before I devolve into meeple nonsense (gotta show people I care about other characters from the show too) AHHHHH HGHH MY HEART!!! I KNOW- IKNOW I know it wasn't good for her to stay in the game, but a piece of me clings to her like a mite.

From when this happened and Paintbrush showed up, I knew it was jover. The Bright Lights are lighting up the hotel now, and you know what, I'm ok with that (no I'm not I love them </3)

-

I also love this part. In my heart of hearts, Bright Light ploycule is real and canon.

- - -

Ok it's mephone time 'cause I keep rewatching the ep and that's all I can FUCKING think about

My first reaction to Meeple being mentioned was literally the embodiment of this image

Going back to being serious:

This song is very inanimate insanity coded, and by that I mean MePhone specifically. (Of course, it's a song about Taco and I'm Making it about MePhone, that's what I do.)

Healing is a process, Mepad knows that well, and seeing everything that's happened is probably why MePad quit. Besides the terrible work conditions he's put through, MePad just can't stand everyone being dragged through the mud. Taco was so right, the game's getting really serious and it's taking a toll on everyone (including MePhone, which MePad definitely got front-row seats too). I wonder if he feels a part of the problem and is now trying to rectify it. I mean, it'd make sense why he's helping out Taco now.

I feel even more justified in saying it after looking at the resignation scene again. MePad is thoroughly done with MePhone's shit, and for good reason. Tempting to not REVIVE someone just to make sure the show goes smoothly is fucked up! MePad's had enough and AUGH FUCK YEAH AND AAUGHHH FUCK NO MEPHONE'S REACTION TO HIM RESIGNING-

Ok ok- lemme start from the top.

. . .

So…. what the fuck was s3?

He hints at it actually happening with the "'First without' you have no idea", being connected to him not having an assistant for more than half of s3, and the "for half a day the world actually felt peaceful" referring to the s3 finale. Or at least that's all I'm assuming. But to them, it's only been a couple hours..?

I'mm soooo fuckin' lost, but my theory is that he either alt-reality'd that season or time travelled, or something. That's just not makin' sense, especially with this happening tho

I just can't think of any other way that this would make sense and be canonical other than MePhone himself went into an alternate timeline to do s3. That does give me fic ideas though...

Anyways... Connecting it back to MePad and everything though, I find it both funny and saddening to see that he's gone back to s2 persona (when thinking about it in terms of my theory). It's so obvious that it's a front, from the turn of his heel to change topics away from his "vacation" with the pained "BUUUTTT ANYWAY", to the short pause before going "WELL!" after MePad's resignation, to the "And if you're ready to talk" thing being shot with his cover-up is another-

You don't need me to tell you it's a front, everyone and their mama knows, but I'll continue to do so 'cause I physically have to, or else I'll explode. You can tell it really tears him up from how MePhone reacted when he first saw MePad.

LOOK AT THE SHOCK ON HIS PIXELY FACE!! He probably thought MePad fully abandoned him or something before his "vacation" and this was whiplash that it wasn't THEN MePad ACTUALLY left?!? Of course it's gotta hurt, but s2 means he's got the host role to fill, and that means being a snarky sack of shit (I say that with love, of course).

That also paired with the look of guilt… shame in this scene…. AGH

She's so right here by the way, the years he spent on iii for "something new" shows that he's not trying to move away. Sure it got him to come back to s2 in the first place, but now that he's here, what did he actually learn? Actions speak louder than words, and so far, he's been just the same s2 asshole host we remember. Though you know what could change all that..?

Had to put the vid and not the gif of this scene because the abrupt phone call actually scared the shit outta me.

First things first, I love Knife's little gestures. They're all so sick of his shit, as they should be <3

Secondly, the whole way he's talking about them in the clip is giving his s2 persona hardcore

Lastly, and most importantly, COBS???? UM UH COBS???

I wanna give props where props are due, the sound design, the pacing- everything leading up to this scene was absolutely perfect would cry again 10/10

BUT ALSO COBS??? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING CALLING HIM DIRECTLY???

No seriously. We had him build generations of phones, specifically to take him out, send "insiders" like Toilet and Walkie Talkie (I assume at least) to also take him out in some way or another, and whatever the hell else was going on, all to indirectly take down MePhone, and now he just calls. Calls in the middle of the recording! I assume he knows about s3 and if so just what in the fuck could he want??? WHAT IS HIS PLAN??? I NEED TO KNOW WHAT THAT COB OF CORN IS TRYING TO DO- IT IS GOING TO DRIVE ME INSANE.

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE in that scene is just as confused and concerned as I am. (I am just saying things, but you know what I mean.)

I'm so serious though, Knife is like "WTF?!", and Suitcase is like "WTF??" AND GOD DAMN IT LOOK AT HIM HE IS CONFUSED AND SCARED GUYS. If this doesn't shake that s2 persona outta him, I don't fuckin' know what will (besides the show just being over, but I digress).

Cobs is def gonna make an appearance next ep (I'm manifesting, let me cook), and it's not gonna be pretty, but MePhone's gonna get to turn him into a corn tortilla and everyone's gonna cheer and he's not gonna have daddy issues anymore and then everything will be ok. That's my prediction for ii 16.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk, I will give more random outbursts of tears for the next one.

[aprillikesthings]

OKAY last one tonight

and it's a doozy

s5 ep5 Save the Cat

I always wonder if people get the joke in the episode title? There's a famous book about writing scripts called Save the Cat. I kind of assume at least one person in the writer's room for She-Ra has actually read it.

Also Daci got me Strawberry Oatly (vegan ice cream) hell yes

LET'S DO THIS

eek

she tells them she's alone??? hm

oh the others were clinging to the outside of the ship in space suits lol

roll intro

okay Entrapta and Bow are gonna fuck with the computers and Glimmer is gonna find Catra

god it must be weird for Glimmer to be on the ship again???

WHOOPS

okay so Adora tells Horde Prime: hey you're gonna let me leave with Catra okay?

"The Heart of Etheria. And if you don't do what I say, then I'll use it...and destroy you and your empire for good."

"You would never risk the safety of your Catra."

(Ever noticed he always says this? Your Adora. Your Catra.)

Adora: "You don't know me. And you don't know what I'm capable of." Horde Prime: "Oh...but I do." Horde Prime: "I am old, far older than you can imagine. My brothers lend me their life force, and when one vessel fails me, I simply elect another."

(Like a Time Lord but WAY creepier)

"There is something so...familiar about you, Adora."

"Not since I faced your ancestors, and crushed their once-mighty empire beneath my heel. You call them the First Ones. And you are one of them, are you not, Adora?"

AUGH

Meanwhile Entrapta thinks she's spotted her boyfriend

She's got the little chip she gave him ;_;

(maybe?)

not good!!!

ARROWED

BAHAHAH oh right that's how this guy starts. Anyway this poor clone is panicking because the jolt removed him from the hive mind

he starts SOBBING. "how will Horde Prime see my thoughts?? how will he know I am faithful???"

but then:

Entrapta: "Can you open this door?" He does Entrapta makes a happy little squeaky noise

Entrapta: "But we broke him! We're responsible for him now. Pluuuus, he can open doors!"

He says he'll take them to the server room, and Bow gives him his nickname of "Wrong Hordak" lolol

Glimmer went back to her old cell, and Catra's not there

And that's when Glimmer realizes their little earbud comms aren't working

Horde Prime: "I thought the First Ones were all gone, but clearly...some faction remains. That race of tyrants...abandoned you on a forgotten planet in a shadow dimension. They made you their weapon, their...She-Ra."

I mean, it sounds bad when you say it that way (because it is, actually)

Adora: "I don't fight for the First Ones. I fight for my home, for myself, and for my friends. Now for the last time, where is Catra?"

oh, god

augh

he's not...wrong

Horde Prime: "As she would've said, 'You are so very predictable.'"

eeughghg

AAAAAAAAAUGH

I knew this was coming, I knew it was this episode, and it still makes me want to crawl out of my own skin

SAME ADORA, SAME

NOOOOO

Horde Prime: "I have made her anew. I saw her mind...so ensnared in grief and rage and pain...and I brought her to the light."

(okay but if he saw into her mind did he see all the times Catra thought about kissing and/or having sex lol)

Adora's absolute horror here is so relatable

Adora: "Catra, you have to fight it!" Catra: "My place is with Horde Prime, Adora. I don't want to leave." Horde Prime: "Tell her what I've done for you." Catra: "Prime has given me peace. Something you could never do."

"But he has made it whole again."

"I'm happy here. You could be happy, too."

(It's genuinely hard to rewind this to get decent screenshots because hearing/seeing Catra act all weird with the chip is just SO UNCOMFORTABLE)

And there we see it--the first hint that Catra is actually being actively tortured and forced to say/do this shit like some kind of sentient puppet, having to experience her own body doing/saying these things without her permission. Her eyes even keep twitching.

Horde Prime: "I will give her to you, if...you want her... But first, you must do something for me. You...will give me She-Ra." Adora: "Never." Horde Prime: "Very well."

He snaps his fingers and everyones in-ear comms shriek with static and electricity

(okay I gotta stop just copy/pasting the script)

He squeezes poor Catra's neck and for a second her eyes go back to normal, she looks at Adora, and then they start glowing again. Adora notices!!

aaagh look at poor Catra

but yeah Adora can't bring out She-Ra on command right now (and he knew that)

UGGGH

OH SHIT THAT'S RIGHT oh god oh fuck

okay so Glimmer's in the trophy room thing and she kicks the ass of a couple of clones, that's cool

but also

"I know you're still in there. I'm not leaving without you."

Catra gets a good slice into Adora's leg

Adora: "I don't want to hurt you!"

AND I'VE HIT THE IMAGE LIMIT okay hold on

[quinloki]

Omg Quin none of my friends will appreciate this so I hope you don’t mind but I made it through all 11 pages of Marco/Reader on ao3 and ugh he’s definitely wormed his way into my heart to stay which I’m not complaining I just wasn’t expecting it.

Just read magic trick again since I refreshed to see what was new and it was on the first page on ao3 and ugh it’s so good he’s so good love that bird

Anyways hope your writing for next month is going well!! Really looking forward to whatever you have the birthday requests you did already hooked me on a few characters I never expected so I’m excited to see who else surprises me xD

\o/ My list of characters I enjoy is LONG so I'm always happy to spread the proverbial love.

And I have a few, like, I try to keep it to 6, that I mainly tend to focus on, but there's just so many good characters out there. And there's some solid fanon that makes sense, and there's some not-exactly canon but not not canon from the extra publications and such and Augh!

I just LOVE SO MANY CHARACTERS.

I even "love" Akainu and Teach - but not like in the same way I love most of the others. I just appreciate a good bad character with no need of or reason for redemption. Or a second chance. Second chance for Crocodile that isn't strictly redemption? Yes. For Doffy even, sure! These are complex and interesting guys with the capacity for some possibility of a hint of "goodness" such as One Piece does goodness, and I love that.

I love that it's shades of grey. I love that it's self-preservation and survival. I love that friendship is a power, but not *the* power.

lol you're going to have ME rambling here, but yeah, I love these characters. Top's are easily Marco, Eustass, Crocodile, Doflamingo, Killer and Law. (they shuffle around a little, but don't change much).

Close to that is Katakuri, Zoro, Sanji, Penguin, Shachi, Shanks, Buggy, Ace, Sabo, Heat, Wire, Full on crews like the Straw Hats, Heart Pirates, Kid Pirates, Sasaki, Izou, Beckman, Yamato.

I went like ten years without really writing anything, and then I get hooked on One Piece, and this October will mark a year of my return to writing.

It's consumed me.

In a good way - or at least in a way I've managed to wrangle into "not consumed me in a bad way" XD but it's just overflowing with potential and inspiration and I'm glad I decided

april 2022

to watch One Piece because "I'm not going to like it anyway, this way I can just give it a 'shot' and strike it from the list."

And here we are. ^^;

[spearxwind]

(hey im the evnautilus anon from a while ago, dropping by to gush about dredge)

played the dredge expansion a few days ago and it's sooooo fucking good. the abberations were top tier. they nailed the colouring for the ice and water, it's so pretty. the new guy was interesting, personally i wish he posed more of a threat but it felt very good to have fish become a resource to keep it away (i passed 365 ingame days while going through it and did not need more money lol, so having motive to fish outside of completion was really nice!).

Agreed wish we got more of the big guy. Wish there was just one more main story quest too, they had so many interesting pieces in the initial story setup, would've loved to have something that made the experience feel more complete (getting to see some imagery in the journals or one of the stone clusters hinting towards why the little guy is there maybe). But still easily a worthwhile experience.

The music was baller too actually, and the sound effects near the middle of the area made my heart sink in the best way. Augh.

YESSSS the atmosphere and colors literally slapped so hard, I loved seeing the reach pull into view while sailing... like something ominous in the distance....

and yeah i liked the new guy as well but very easily avoidable (though good spooks if you needed to fish for anything in the area)

some more spoiler thoughts under the cut:

Man I wish they could have done like... a two choices kind of thing for this area as well. Like with the main story you can either wake up The Guy or be good (and get got by the Other Guy)

I would have loved if you could help complete the ice ritual thing (like the way they set it up with the three chosen ones, if you just broke the captain shard the prophecy would complete)

But yeah still the whole experience was super sick I really loved the vibes of it and I cant wait for the next dlc too thats gonna be baller as fuck as well

and youre right the music and sound effects really slap (all the music in thsi game in general slaps sm)

[headingalaxys-spicy]

Yandere bully country America scenario with a shy darling who‘s nice to everyone but only reserved to him, bcuz he‘s a big fat bully to her >:(… and also, darling gets asked out to a date by non-Yandere England and Mr Murica snaps >:) muahahaha

Alright here is your official warning it is a little violent and has a lot of cussing.

“Augh!” Y/N began to rub the temples The American asshole had brought a slingshot with him to the world meeting.

‘Fucking Monster. Why in the hell does he like to torment me? My nation has little to no contact yet he decides to be a dick to me. I which he would just go away.’ Y/N scribbled angrily in her diary in an attempt to stay calm and be the bigger person. There were also tears threatening to spill from her (e/c) eyes.

The malevolent blue eyes were still staring at her ready to fire another rock at her. This was all going on while another nation droned on about their rising GDP and how they needed just some help from the larger and more powerful nations. Not that America was really listening in the first place. No one commented on his rather uncouth behavior but that's because he was a superpower and could do as he pleased. No one got in his way while he was being an asshole unless they wanted a demon that would torment them relentlessly in every way imaginable. He watched you write in your journal vigorously. He always did malicious things to you: blocking your ability to join a cohort with your fellow medium-sized nations, giving you horrible trade deals, making you in debt to him, trying to ensnare your people to becoming American. All kinds of things would make any nation become unrecognizable. This would be for the most part permissible behavior overall for any major power in the world if he didn’t have tendencies to openly assault her during meetings. (Other times he’s tripped you, shoulder check you, and even has spilt hot coffee on your on a multitude of occasions.) America is basically outright abusive.

“AUGH!” another rock had collided with Y/N’s face. This time square in her forehead causing some blood to come leaking out. That last yelp caught the attention of some people sitting nearby you and they looked at you with either pity or annoyance. Seychelles knowing that America was being a dick rose her voice a little louder to try to assert dominance and try to keep Y/N out of America’s mind if even for a few minutes.

Y/N eyes were filling to the brim with fresh salt water tears, your heart began to race, palms became clammy with sweat as did your forearms and back. You felt nauseous all of a sudden and you knew you were not going to survive this meeting. You mind begins to drown out every sound in the room and you place your hands on the table to steady yourself. Japan decided to shoot her a text.

Japan: You okay y/n do you need water?

Y/N looked to the right to see the man who held no emotion in his eyes and had a gleam of concern within them and maybe even a hint of distress. Even he was becoming concerned with how aggressive towards you. You nod, but pack your bag and leave. You didn’t want to breathe the same air as the man who got off to tormenting you.

A few tears slid down your face but that was okay. You were escaping anyways.

As you left an awkward silence took over the room and no one dared to make eye contact with America. No one wanted to be his new punching bag. Except for a pair of emerald eyes that dare to challenge his icy blues. England simply removes himself from the room to find and comfort Y/N. Everyone watched England leave in a huff and once he was gone the uncomfortable silence caused a few people to laugh uncomfortably or cough. Seychelles continued on with her presentation in the cheeriest manner that she could carry.

Rushing out of the double doors and down the halls England summoned his familiar Flying Mint Bunny to help him get to Y/N quicker.

“She’s in the northing wing in the third room on the left.”

“Right O!” He picks up his pace. This was his chance to be a gentleman. Your Gentleman. Once he got to the room that you had hidden in he mentally tried to prepare himself. He rested his hand on the ivory door softly so as not to alarm you and tapped on it gently.

“Y/N? Y/N? Are you alright love?” He turned the handle and opened the door slowly. The room's lights were off and he could see that Y/N had settled herself on the back table buried in her arms. She was bawling her eyes out.

‘She’s in really bad shape.’ He walks over and presses a reassuring hand on her back. Y/N kept her head down. She flinched at first from his touch but allowed him to keep his hand on her.

“Why are you here England?” She said in her quivering voice.

“Because I’m worried about you love. I know America has been incredibly nasty to you. And I don’t want to allow that to continue. He’s a complete Jackass for hurting a lovely lady such as yourself. But it’s also because I love you….” then he paused at his words and tried to take it back.

“Because I care for you! Yes! Care for you that's it. That right eh?” He was clearly becoming flustered and tripping over his words becoming tongue-tied. “I will be your gentleman your knight in shining armor.” Your mind and heart needed a few moments to process his words. The way he spoke was so funny because it was rare when you saw the softer side of England. You began to giggle and the luger began to grow like sunshine breaking through dawn. The more that England listened to your heavenly voice the more his heart swelled with love. His pale cheeks were dusted by sugary pink fairy dust.

‘I really am in love, aren’t I? Blast and no one else through history has ever made me feel this way before. I really want to give my all to keep Y/N safe.’

“Hello? Earth to Mr.British Rose Tea.. are you….” You looked to your wrist cuffs to help ease the tension in your heart and to steady your voice and concentrate. “Sincere about loving me?”

England bit his bottom lip and was doing his best to remain composed despite being flustered.

“Yes….It is y/n?” He wrapped his arms around your shoulders and rested his head close to your faces and whispered into your ear:

“I love you y/n so sign an agreement with me and I can and I promise I will treat you like a Queen and protect you.” Your skin pricked with excitement at the prospect of life being by England’s side. It also meant that America couldn’t hurt you as easily.

“We can be together.” His voice trailed of as he wrapped his arms around your waist and brought you into a steamy kiss. All of the words and actions were being viewed by a blue eyed monster who was not happy that you were cozying up to the British bastard. He closed his labtop and pulls all but one earbud out. He rises from his seat and leave the meeting as well.

‘That look in the Americans eyes. I hope eyebrows and y/n know how to hide well because those two will be goners if they don’t stay out of sight.” France worried for the safety of his friends.

Francis: Mon Ame eyebrows I hope you and y/n are far away from here America is coming.

By the time Englands phone received the message it was already too late.

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER.” It sounded like thunder was cracking against your eardrums. America walked closer each step brought cracks against the marble floor. He flung you aside while he gripped England’s windpipe tightly, America snapped the British Gentlemens neck with one flick of his wrists and he wouldn’t recover for a few weeks.

“Arthur!” America snapped his head back to y/n’s shaky from that was trying to scurry backwards. America now wore a sweet yet mnetioning smile. He lunged at you and pinned you to the ground.

“You’ll never see the light of day again.” He pulled out a syringe and injected it into your neck. Your body began to feel light and you felt the liquid rush through your veins making you drift into the darkness, something you’ll have to become accustomed to.

[aseioh]

Of Cakes and Late Celebrations

Author’s Notes: This was supposed to be posted on Mother's day. But just like this fic, I got derailed and ended up being late. (picture taken from the internet)

It was Mother's day.

Or to be precise it will be Mother's day in 15 hours 25 minutes. It shouldn't be a problem for Alcina, she usually just buys something from the Duke to give to Mother Miranda.

Unfortunately, such a thing is not possible right now. The Duke was delayed with his routine arrival at the castle opening, something about a spooked horse and lycans trying to get a nibble.

Honestly she lost interest after the word delayed was spoken through the phone. How is she going to remedy this. The gift itself was one of the finest silk she was able to obtain, she was sure Mother would appreciate a new ritual robe.

This is bad. To show up without a gift on this special day. She was sure she would be made a mockery during the gathering. Whats worst was that fool Heisenberg would be the first to lead with his pathetic insults.

Just the thought made Alcina's blood boil.

”I should send Bela to switch that man's shampoo with dog shampoo. Although the man still smells like wet dog. No. I'll think of something more devious.“

But back to the matter at hand. It's almost Mother's day and she doesn’t have a gift. Taking a deep drag off her cigarette, she considers her dwindling options.

At western part of the village

Donna is also facing a similar problems.

"What do you mean you're not coming?! Where am I supposed to find a present at this hour?!" Angie's raspy voice filtered through the phone "do you know how hard it is to find a 1st edition book on occult and rituals."

"Apologies Miss Angie, but the horse spooked and the carriage suffered a broken wheel. Even if the servants manage to haul themselves your house to the Duke's location and back it would still be too late." The main servant said trying to sound as apologetic as he can come across.

"This would not do" Donna said finally in her normal voice.

Somewhere inside the Stronghold.

Karl Heisenberg was having a meltdown.

"YOU STUPID LYCANS! I GAVE YOU ONE JOB AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN DO IT RIGHT!!" Heisenberg paces around the small assembly hall. Ten Lycans looked very apologetic, although it was very hard to tell from their looks. One even lets out a soft whimper.

“I told you to stall The Duke for a while. I didn’t said to derail him completely. The man has a package for me, now how am I supposed to get it!?” Heisenberg seethes.

His plan was a simply one really. Stall The Duke so that he would arrive at Castle Dimitrescu late, that way Alcina would not get her package and present it to Mother Miranda. That would show her, a little payback for calling him a child.

What he didn’t count on was the utter incapability of the Lycans to follow simple directions. Now even he doesn’t have a gift. Oh Miranda’s gonna blow a gasket.

“Augh... I hate the consequences of my actions” He lamented

 At Moreau’s Reservoir

“NOOOOOOO!! That’s not fair, that’s not fair!!!” Moreau starts throwing his stuff on the floor. He had finally saved up his money to buy Mother Miranda that nice jewelry that would go perfectly with her black wings.

“Someone’s gonna pay” He vows to take revenge on the Lycans responsible for his problem.

 After all his pet fish has been hungry for some Lycan meat.

 Castle Dimitrescu (13 hours until Mother’s day)

“I have gathered you here today for a very important meeting” Alcina starts looking at the sad (Donna) and tearful (Moreau) faces of her so called ‘siblings’. Heisenberg is surprisingly calm which puts Alcina on high alert, but lets it slide in favour of the more pressing matter

“We have a big problem. The Duke will not arrive on time for Mother’s Day. That means all the presents we bought for Mother will not arrive”

“We need a solution, any ideas?”  

“We kill the Lycans responsible and feed them to my fish”

“Yes Moreau, but that’s after we solve this problem” Donna said and tries to placate a Moreau by patting him at the back.

“Whoa, that’s a bit dark but I like it. And Moreau is right, we’re gonna make fish food out of those Lycans” “Better off those basdards, after all I don’t want to implicate myself” Heisenberg thinks

“People, you’re missing the point here” Alcina says pinching her nose to ward off an incoming headache. “Listen, we don’t have time. You know Mother Miranda, She’ll say she wasn’t really expecting something and then low-key punishes us for missing the day. We don’t want a repeat of the 1967 incident do we?”

Moreau whimpers from the trauma.

Donna goes into a slight trance and starts to shake.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough” Heisenberg stands. “Why don’t we just bake something and say it’s from all of us”

 *beat*

“Do you know how to bake?”

“I work at the Factory, I make steel molds for a living how hard could it be?”

“That doesn’t answer my question Heisenberg”

“We could make a small doll” Donna pipes up

“Sorry Donna that would still take time. And I don’t think we have the right materials on such short notice.” Alcina says

“For someone who’s looking for a solution you sure are shooting down all of them”

“Because it’s not feasible Heisenberg.” Alcina huffs “Can you gather all the materials in less than 10 hours? No? Of course not”

“And I keep telling you just BAKE A CAKE!”

“I don’t know how to bake, child! I’m a BLOODY COUNTESS not hired help” Alcina bellows at Heisenberg

“I know how to bake”

Everyone turns to Donna.

“Really?”

“Of course, I used to watch my Mother bake cakes before the accident. I just need help decorating. I never got a hang of that part” Donna beams with pride as she explains the basics of baking

“And we can gather the ingredients no problem. You have a pantry here somewhere right Alcina?” Moreau asked

“Of course. We always have a full pantry for the servants.” At that Heisenberg looks at Alcina with a hint of disbelief

“What? We need them healthy to serve us. I’m not a complete monster.” Alcina defends

“In any case we should start early. It takes time to cool and decorating is hard”

 Castle Kitchen (12 hours 30 minutes before Mother’s Day)

It was truly a sight to see. In a way it was enough for the Castle’s servants to wet themselves in fear when they saw the 4 Lords gathered at the kitchen in various forms of concentration. Needless to say, everyone was warned to steer clear of the kitchen for now.

Moreau was together with Donna supporting her with mixing the wet ingredients. Meanwhile, at the other side of the cooking station Alcina and Heisenberg are charge of measuring out the dry ingredients.

“You need to be precise, don’t put too much. Remember what Donna said and look at the damn recipe”

“I know what I’m doing you damn woman. I’m all about precision. Why don’t you move away and get that mixing bowl at the top shelf.” Heisenberg grouched

“I’m not your servant. And I certainly will not start fetching stuff for you” Alcina shot back

“Alcina, we need to work together. We don’t have time and you’re the tallest of us all. Please cooperate with Karl just this once. Please?” Donna implored

“Once. I’m helping him for this one time only. When I get my hands on the Lycan responsible for this problem, I’m gutting him and throwing him at Moreau’s reservoir.” At Donna’s admonishment of Alcina, Heisenberg gives a shit eating grin, showing some rather very pointy canines.

“And Heisenberg, stop provoking Alcina.” Donna adds

“Fine, you’re no fun Donna”

Suffice to say, the baking went well. Who knew that the 4 Lords working together would be a great success? If only Mother Miranda saw her children working together peacefully she might have had a heart attack and thought that she suffered one as well.

Or she might have been dreaming.

 Castle Kitchen (6 hours before Mother’s Day)

“Alright, the cake has cooled down completely, So what color will be the icing?” Donna asked

“Yellow” “Cream” “Light Blue” the other three said simultaneously.

 *beat*

“Light blue? Really? Not everything needs to be manly Heisenberg”

“And not everything needs to be boring like your color, Alcina”

“It should be yellow, like Mother’s sunny smile” Moreau explains

“And in which ever universe has Mother ever smiled like the sun?” Heisenberg counters Moreau

“Hey now. No need for that tone!”

“Tsk, sorry Moreau” Heisenberg apologizes to a quiet Moreau

“Fine, let’s do pastel yellow it’s easier for the eyes anyway” Donna supplies, getting ready to start coating the cake with the yellow cream

 Inside the Sanctuary

“Happy Mother’s day”

“We hope you like the cake Mother”

“Yes, we poured out our love in baking it. I hope you appreciate it” Heisenberg said

“Why thank you loves. This is a wonderful surprise. And Moreau said that you all worked together in baking it. How wonderful!” Mother Miranda said grateful for once that her children worked together without collateral damage (that she knew of).

“Although Heisenberg, I heard something interesting from Urias” Mother Miranda looks pointedly at Heisenberg, who for some reason starts to sweat and turn pale.

‘oh shit’ “Really Mother? Good news I hope” Heisenberg tries to bluff his way out.

“Why it was quite peculiar really. He said that you got 10 of his Lycans for a special project. I wasn’t aware that you have some side projects”

 The 3 Lords turn to Heisenberg

“Wait what?”

“I KNEW IT!!” Alcina unsheathes her claws

“You’re responsible for this mess in the first place!!”

“Really guy relax, if anything I just proved that we need more than one traveling merchant in the village for a successful and on time delivery” Heisenberg starts to carefully ease his way to the nearest exit.

 “GET HIM”

In the end, Alcina was more than ready to feed Heisenberg to Moreau’s pet fish. Only Donna stopped her, citing Moreau would probably be inconsolable if his pet got indigestion from all the metal.

And that is how Heisenberg saw himself in doggy jail for a week along with his Lycan cohorts. Mother Miranda did get her Mother’s day gifts from her children although a bit later than expected.

 And the cake?

 The cake was surprisingly delicious.

[spockandawe]

I cannot for love or money let go of the idea that like... I don’t think Lan Wangji canonically was sleeping with Jiang Cheng while Wei Wuxian was dead. But I’m enthralled how easy it would be to slot that into place in the story. And my favorite part of Jiang Cheng is how messily he’s emotionally imploding in the story present, and the big reason I would argue why lan wangji/jiang cheng didn’t actually happen is because I think the present would have been so much messier, but... that’s also exactly why I’m so delighted by the idea of just. Slipping it in there and seeing just how much hotter this dumpster fire can get.

Like, Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji are both MESSES in their own ways in this story. Jiang Cheng’s turmoil is loud and obvious, while Lan Wangji’s is a lot more self-contained (I was hit harder than I expected by lan xichen’s callout where he was like ‘IT WAS SO OBVIOUS HOW HE FELT’ and wei wuxian just completely blacked out that couple of days, and he’s been fake-flirting with lan wangji while lan wangji thinks he knows exactly how he feels and is so gentle despite how from his pov wei wuxian has been pretty darn cruel and AUGH). But also, I just got my heart broken by the way the main story ended on the note of Jiang Cheng failing to tell Wei Wuxian that he didn’t go back to Lotus Pier to get his parents’ bodies, he went back because he drew the attention of the Wen soldiers to protect Wei Wuxian, and I’m gonna CRY.

Jiang Cheng is a fragile, brittle mess on the whole, and while I wouldn’t say that he’s hungry for love in general, he’s desperate for approval from His People (and since his parents have both failed him hard on that count and his sect was effectively exterminated, that adds up to wwx and jyl). And when Wei Wuxian dies, he’s left horribly wounded over losing everyone he’s ever loved, blaming Wei Wuxian for it, blaming Wei Wuxian to break his promise to stay by his side, and, very importantly, blaming himself for not being enough to protect and/or keep the people he loves. I don’t want to rehash his whole arc, but these are critical character notes.

And if a horrible, grief-stricken, ill-considered affair between Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng, possibly even a long-running (if irregular) affair, I think... I think they would hurt each other too much for it to be healthy, or for it to be a relationship-relationship. But they’re both overflowing with emotional wounds, and Lan Wangji is observant, and even if he gives Jiang Cheng less to work with, Jiang Cheng is real good at spamming attacks until he finds something that hurts. Knowing each other’s weak spots so that you can hurt each other isn’t a healthy kind of intimacy, but it’s still a kind of intimacy. And in general, I also feel like Jiang Cheng would be pretty awful at keeping as much internal emotional distance as he intends in their not-relationship. I’m not going to write this essay right now, but I’ve got thoughts about this.

But, where I’m headed. Is the present day. Where Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng are still desperately, hopelessly hunting for any hint of Wei Wuxian, and understanding each other and spending more time near each other than they want(?) because of that shared goal.

And then Wei Wuxian comes back. And Wei Wuxian chooses Lan Wangji.

The POTENTIAL of this implosion!!! I don’t want to undervalue what we get in canon, because canon DELIGHTS me. But just imagine the doubled blow, when Jiang Cheng is abruptly ditched by the two people who understand him the best, who each had.... in theory some kind of connection with him. He melts down terribly just over Wei Wuxian still being alive, and i don’t think it’s even possible to untangle how much anger is thanks to how he wants to hate Wei Wuxian vs how much is being upset over Wei Wuxian choosing someone else, again. But what if we add, simultaneously, more of a meltdown because his not-boyfriend has ditched their not-relationship without a backwards glance, and he stole Wei Wuxian when he knows how much this means to Jiang Cheng, and that reluctant/resentful intimacy between them taking an abrupt turn into a mutual jealous mistrust, and they could be such a tag-team if they trusted each other enough to share, or were forced to share early. But Lan Wangji got the first opening and he took it, and neither of them is certain enough of Wei Wuxian’s love to even consider sharing after that imbalance is in place.

Part of what fascinates me is because Jiang Cheng is already doing Not Great for a lot of canon, and I just. I want to add more fuel to the fire. As far as canon goes, he got hit with that Complete Abandonment truck way back in the past, and has had time to cope and push some of those issues down. So...... what if we hit him with the truck again, and he’s taken super off-guard, because it wasn’t supposed to be possible again, but, you know, your brother rises from the dead and two seconds later your not-boyfriend elopes with him, it’s a little hard to predict things like that. I want more reasons for him to be upset with Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, and himself. I want extra concern from Jin Ling as he watches Jiang Cheng refuse to admit that anything is wrong. I’m assuming that Lan Wangji would be prepared to keep this secret until he died, but that Jiang Cheng would 1000% spill the beans in his meltdown at Lotus Pier (oh my god, the ways that would flavor the first wangxian sex scene, holy shit), and that Jiang Cheng would be an extra messy wreck when he shows up at the guanyin temple

And also, I very much want a scene where Lan Wangji tries to reassure Wei Wuxian that yes, okay, he slept with Jiang Wanyin, but don’t worry, it didn’t mean anything, and Wei Wuxian is upset because ‘hold on, you slept with him and it didn’t mean anything? Lan Zhan, how could you? he’s very sensitive!! :(’

[sadlysober]

like to watch you suffer

Dream Team roomates x gn!reader Summary: Youre playing a scary game and your roommates come in to laugh at you support you. Warnings: swearing, shitty description of bloody/creepy things. lmk when you find any! A/N: just watched Tommy’s fnaf stream and i died. If you have any tips, requests or ideas, feel free to send them in :)

Starting up Twitch with hesitation as you check your subscriber count one last time to be sure. You reached your subgoal on your last stream and promised the chat to play a spooky game. Playing mostly family friendly games and usually with a group of friends, you weren’t exactly excited to be playing 2017′s Resident Evil 7. Clips from Jack and Felix only made you dread this moment even more. Appearantly your chat loves seeing you scared shitless.

You start your stream as you normally would: greating the chat, answering some dono’s. “I actually hate you guys for making me do this. But we’re gonna try it anyways. I have a slight idea what’s coming and am mentally not prepared, so let’s see how long I will last before crapping my pants.” You force a smile at your camera and start the game.

The first hour was doable, a couple of jumpscares and some bloody stuff. A few of the jumpscares made you squeal, while the disgusting cutscenes made you want to throw up. Losing your focus on the game as you read some of the dono’s. A lot of them were about the game and people wishing you a good stream. A couple of questions about the Dream Team popped up. “What is George up to? I think he might be streaming as well I’m not -” The loud noise in your headphones, accompanied by a bloody faces canabal with a chainsaw made you shriek, followed by a ton of swear words and you taking of your headphones, rolling your chair away from your desk.

As you sit a couple of feet away from your desk you hear a door closing and footsteps in the hallway. You open your door and call out. “Gogy?” Your chat can’t hear the boy answering you. “You busy? No? Want to join my suffering? Yeah ofcourse you do, bring a chair!” The dark haired boy walks into your room rolling his chair in, a tad too excited. Your chat went insane, seeing him come through the door.

“You already died? Damn, N/N.” He teased, sitting down next to you. His legs propped up on his chair, face popping in and out of the frame.

“Would you like to try, Gogy?” You mimicked his accent, causing George to lean back into his chair. “Alright, goodluck not dying.” He said in the saltiest voice he could. You put your headphones back on, plugging in a second pair for George and handing him the headphones. You continue playing the game, almost getting used to the disgustingness of the house.

“N/N, I have to agree with chat, seeing you being a scaredy cat is hilarious.” In the meantime you’re turning into Y/N “I am going to shit myself” Y/L/N. George just laughs at you while hanging out with the chat. Yet he too flinches at the jumpscares. “Guys, the reason you can’t see George right now is because he is a big pussy.” You laugh, recieving a soft punch to your arm in return.

Another half hour of you and George sitting on the edges of your chairs until Nick decides to have some fun. After hearing you yell a couple of times he’d tune into your stream. He waited for the right moment; you had just finished a cut scene and was wandering though the dark house that felt like a maze. The squeaky sound of the door opening made you lean back in your chair a bit more, as if something or someone would jump out of the room behind it.

The door behind you flew open with a loud bang, causing you and George to yielp. Followed by another jumpscare in the game. “Fuck you Sapnap, you little shit cunt fuck you-” You utter under your breath as you try your best not to die in game.

“Sapnap!” George whined. “What? I heard there was a party.” The boy stood in your doorframe, a cheeky grin covering his face. “Can I join?” He somewhat asked, already pulling out a chair to sit down besides you.

“Fine, but no more messing around or I’ll end the fucking stream guys.” Your chat excitedly greated him. Spamming you there will be a savepoint in a bit. “Alright guys I’m just gonna go for one more savepoint, if i don’t die from adrenaline overdose by then.”

The boys on your sides bickered while you were trying to find the way out. “Go left.” Nick hinted. “Don’t listen to him, N/N.” George told you. They were like some twisted kind of devil/angel pair on your shoulders. “Have you played this before Gogy?” Nick spat, looking over to the boy on the other side of you. “No, but they came from-” He tried to defend himself, before getting cut off. “That’s what I thought, leave it to the pro then.” 

Trusting Nick’s gut you followed his instruction and went left. The sound of your footsteps are accompanied by heavy breathing, you look around with the little light you have. When you don’t immediatly die and thank Nick for the advice. A loud noice makes you turn around as you watch some creepy dolls fall down. “The sounds are honestly the creepiest thing about this game.” You say, continuing to walk around the room, looking for clues. Nick watches you, unbothered by the scary sounds as he doesn’t have any headphones on. “Chat why do you keep spamming ‘DEATH’? I’m not dying, I am clearly a pro.” You say proudly, not being as scared and jumpy as you had been. Yet the grin appearing on Nick’s face is telling you you should be. Moments later it became clear why. A loud screech, followed by one of the residents running towards you holding an axe and piercing the weapon through your chest.

The boy next to you dies of laughter, panting as he tries to catch his breath. “Your face- oh my god you face.” You shake your head at the boy. “Why did I even trust you in the first place. I thought you knew where the exit was.” You say, a tiny bit dissapointed in yourself for falling for it, but also laughing as George almost falls out of his chair from laughter. “Oh, but I do know where the exit is.” Nick teases. You look the boy dead in the eye and start debating whether or not to continue the game.

“100 subs and they’ll continue.” George tells your chat. “Guys, no-” It only took a couple of seconds until the counter was halfway there.

dreamwastaken has gifted 50 subs: go until the next savepoint

"Let’s go, N/N, you heard the big man.” You look straight into your camera and sigh. Alt-tabbing to swearword at Clay on Discord before going back to the game. “I hate every single one of those 50 subs and Dream. One more savepoint and that’s it!” 

George nudges your arm, asking if Clay can join your little scary party. “Do I really need more critisism? What do we think chat? Spam 1 if you want Dream here, 2 if you don’t.” The chats start pouring in. “No, you’re supposed to spam 2 guys! Why aren’t you on my side. Argh, fine.” You shut your camera off and wait for Clay to come in. “No face reveal today guys.” George comments on your chat going crazy.

“You can sit on my lap Dream.” Nick said jokingly, tapping his lap. “I’d rather sit on George’s.” “No way.” The boys bicker back and forth. 

“Dream, get out of the frame I’m turning my camera back on.” The tall guy settles on your bed, being able to see your monitor and the two guys next to you.

“Why do you keep dying, N/N?” He teases as you respawn in game.

“Think you can do better?” You ask, taking a right this time.

“I know I can.” You hear him mutter from the bed behind you.

You press pause, taking your hand of the controller. “Alright guys, you're all talk, why don’t you give it a try huh.”

“Cause we like watching you suffer.” Clay answers. You look over to your roommates, each and every one of them grinning at you.

With a loud sigh you continue playing the game, causing a lot of giggles and teasing as you almost have a heart attack. Nick and Clay keep their commentary coming as George mainly focusses on your chat. You get to the savepoint and finally end the stream.

Turning around in your chair so you face Clay. “I really hate you guys, that was the scariest shit I’ve ever played.”

George rests his arm on your shoulder. “No you don’t.”

“You love us.” Nick adds.

[lady-of-the-lotus]

The Undershirt

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty - Suitang - 2k - G - first kiss fluff - AO3!

..............

“Hand it over,” orders Sui Zhou.

Tang Fan pouts, a pout somewhere in between his “I’m hungry, feed me” face and “Dinner was an hour late, I almost died” face.

“I ran out of clean ones,” he says when Sui Zhou holds out his hand, “and I had to pack in a hurry—”

“I had only three rules. Rule one: Don’t mess up my house again—”

“Alright, alright,” Tang Fan says before Sui Zhou can lecture him. Leave it to Sui Zhou to take an inventory of his clothes as soon as he got home, all because Tang Fan had left his things just the tiniest bit mussed! “Take your stupid undershirt back; it’s too big on me anyway.”

Sui Zhou turns back to his cooking as Tang Fan slips halfway out of his robe, making a face as he removes the undershirt. Missing Sui Zhou, Tang Fan had pilfered the distinctive draped-neck garment from his things after he’d left on his ill-fated “business trip.” “Happy now, Sui-baihu?”

Sui Zhou glances up briefly from the soup, eyes flickering over Tang Fan. Sui Zhou’s handsome features are soft in the warm yellow candlelight and the orange glow of the stove. “Better.”

Tang Fan stands there with his robes draped around his waist, chest exposed, shyly holding the undershirt in front of him, watching Sui Zhou’s strong, sure hands as they slice vegetables and meat and then, once dinner is cooking, assemble the dessert, grinding the sesame seeds and working the delicate mixture.

A swell of fondness fills Tang Fan’s chest as Sui Zhou puts the finishing touches on the little sesame cakes, decorating each with a pink circle of honeyed flower petals.

"Aren't you going to put the undershirt back on?” Tang Fan asks as Sui Zhou puts the last petal in place. Most of the shyness has worn off as Sui Zhou tells him about how he developed the recipe, his deep voice low and soothing as it fills the cozy little kitchen.

"Later." Sui Zhou glances up, eyes flickering once again over Tang Fan's bare chest before returning to his work. Perhaps it's the warm glow of the candle, but Tang Fan imagines there's a hint of color in Sui Zhou's cheeks.

Too late it occurs to him that he should have at least put his robes back up over his arms and chest. Jiejie had driven it through his head that to wear robes without an undershirt was uncouth and a sure way to get the robes dirty, but…

"Do you still have your prison clothes? That was a good look." The question escapes Tang Fan before he can censor himself. "I mean—your uniform is good too—I mean, your normal undershirt is better than that prison one.” He dangles the undershirt from his fingertips, as if this question was just an extension of him returning Sui Zhou's undershirt. “I mean...”

Sui Zhou cranes his neck away slightly, as if trying to avoid looking at Tang Fan but probably only checking to make sure Dong'er isn't nearby to see Tang Fan in this state of undress. "Be careful with that. You're going to set the kitchen on fire again."

Grinning, and more at ease now that the conversation is back in familiar teasing territory, Tang Fan sidles closer to Sui Zhou, waving his shirt near where the mutton soup is bubbling on the fire. "Oh, that was on purpose. You know, to get you to free Dong'er—"

Sui Zhou gives him that look of his, the one that appears completely expressionless but in fact contains a half dozen emotions from all corners of the spectrum. "You set fire to my house on purpose?"

"Well—"

"What about the time you fell asleep with the candle beside your bed, and the time you tripped and fell holding the lamp—"

"Fine, it wasn't on purpose. But the bad food was! I can cook, if I wanted to—”

"You can't cook."

Tang Fan inches closer. He's not quite sure why. "You could teach me."

Sui Zhou frowns slightly. "You step foot in my kitchen without me here, and you sleep outside with the sheep."

Tang Fan wrinkles his nose. "The sheep has a name ."

"Li Qing?"

Tang Fan almost drops the undershirt on the stove. "How did you—”

Sui Zhou turns away again as if to hide a grin. Li Qing is the main character of Tang Fan's magnum opus, My Sexy Lady .

"You didn't read it!" Tang Fan leans forward in consternation. He's not sure why he's so thrown. It's a brilliantly-written work, like all of his books, but somehow to have Sui Zhou privy to—to all that — "Wang Zhi told you or something—wait till I get my hands on him!"

Sui Zhou is definitely holding back a grin. "I liked the part where the ‘sexy lady’ sets fire to Shi Yang's house after she thinks he stole her necklace."

"That never happened! She never did anything half so crazy!”

Sui Zhou is no longer holding back his smile. "Maybe in the sequel, My Sexy Wife."

Tang Fan laughs out loud. People who don't know Sui Zhou think he's stiff and cold and completely humorless, but Tang Fan knows better. It's subtle, but Sui Zhou's sense of humor and appreciation of the outlandish is definitely there. If it weren't, Tang Fan doesn't think he would get along with him as well as he does.

Which, when he stops to think of it, is rather odd. His getting along with him so well, not the sense of humor. Despite having lived in the capital for years, and having many acquaintances, Tang Fan has few close friends. As he knows he’s a delight to be around, never complaining and generously standing people meals, he can only assume it’s a failing in other people.

A failing that Sui Zhou evidently doesn’t have, to appreciate Tang Fan’s virtues, both hidden and overt.

It’s not that Tang Fan annoys people. That can’t possibly be it, no matter what Jiejie says. But he can’t deny that not everyone appreciates him, and that hurts, sometimes.

A sudden thought, and Tang Fan abruptly stops laughing. Why did Sui Zhou pick that example? Surely it was just a joke after what they'd been talking about—he knows it is—but of all characters to pick—

Tang Fan had based a lot of Li Qing on himself. Like him, she's a beautiful genius often put-upon by those who fail to appreciate her properly, driven to do the right thing at whatever costs, someone who appreciates fine food and faces the world with a smile no matter how she's feeling.

No. Sui Zhou is just teasing him, as usual. That's it. He probably hadn't even finished the book...

He wants to ask Sui Zhou if he liked the book, but despite it being his best-selling work, he’s hesitant to ask. Sui Zhou is nothing if not honest, and what if he didn’t truly like it?

Tang Fan resolves to start work on a sequel that night. Perhaps Shi Yang could enter the imperial guards and, together with Li Qing, solve a series of increasingly exciting mysteries that pit them against the world. Back to back, they’ll chase justice and stand strong against the winds of—

“Here.” Sui Zhou slides the plate of sesame cakes towards him. “For coming to get me.”

Tang Fan grins. “You mean rescuing you.”

Sui Zhou turns back to the soup. "Just eat them."

Tang Fan inches even closer, more to annoy Sui Zhou than anything else, he thinks. "Go on, say it. I rescued you."

"Keep this up, and you're getting kicked out of my kitchen."

" Your kitchen? Why is it—oh, right. It's your house." Tang Fan looks down at the sesame cakes. It's almost a shame to eat them, they’re so beautifully decorated. "Am I allowed to eat them before dinner, or are you going to get all sulky?"

Sui Zhou gives Tang Fan a look as if to say, I'm not the childish one here, and reaches for a sesame cake just as Tang Fan does. Their fingers brush, and tingling current runs up Tang Fan's arm. Startled, he jerks away, dropping Sui Zhou's undershirt on the stove.

Spattered in mutton grease, it erupts in a column of flame.

"Augh!" Panicking, Tang Fan drops the shirt in the soup. “Put it out! Put it out!”

Sui Zhou snatches the shirt out of the soup and drops it in a pot of water. "What did I just tell you about setting my house on fire?"

Smiling weakly, Tang Fan begins sidling in the opposite direction as Sui Zhou comes closer. "You startled me! You grabbed at me just as I was trying to eat, I haven't eaten all day, I was hungry, you forced me to take a cake—"

He bumps up against the wall. Sui Zou leans over him, one arm framing him, his face a mix of exasperation and—and fondness, Tang Fan wants to believe, though it’s hard to when there's a charred, soup-soaked undershirt not five feet away.

"It wasn't my fault I burned your shirt!" Tang Fan continues bravely. Whining has always worked on Old Pei and Jiejie, though he still hasn’t quite learned the exact point Jiejie’s indulgence tips over into slapping-him-across-the-face territory, hence all the slapping. "Tired after weeks of traveling, traveling across half the empire to rescue you, if you recall, weeks of seasickness and danger and unpadded saddles and not being able to finish my rice noodles in the one good restaurant between here and I thought you were dead at one point, and that was almost as bad as the noo—"

Sui Zhou bends forward and kisses him.

Tang Fan goes rigid.

Did—did Sui Zhou just—

Sui Zhou kisses him again, as if to clear up any doubts.

"Well, that's one way to stop you from talking," he says.

Tang Fan's heart is beating like a war drum, but strangely enough it's not from nerves. There's a smile on Sui Zhou's lips (rather full lips, he notices. Until now he's been too distracted by his arms and shoulders and—well—all the rest of him, most likely), and there's definite fondness in his eyes.

"I once talked through an acupuncture session for a sore tooth," Tang Fan says boastingly, more to calm his nerves than anything else.

He’s never been kissed before. Or rather, being a man, perhaps it was more appropriate to say he’d never kissed anyone before.

He’d always changed the subject when Old Pei brought it up. The local girls had never interested him, and he’d never though there were other— options—

"You can ask him at dinner,” he blusters on, pulse fluttering. “I was probably able to give him some good tips and pointers, I once read a book on acupuncture that—"

Sui Zhou shuts him up again, cupping his face in his hand. It smells of honey and spice, the callused palm somehow soft against Tang Fan's cheek, his long fingers curling around the back of his neck as he kisses him.

Tang Fan is suddenly very aware that he's half-naked, but it's somehow nice being around Sui Zhou like that, not uncomfortable as he's sometimes felt in the past around others. Natural, despite his first-time nerves.

He suddenly realizes that Sui Zhou is looking down at him as if waiting for him to say or do something.

"Am I allowed to speak again?" Tang Fan asks.

Sui Zhou half-smiles. "Nothing could stop you from talking for very long."

"I want another one of your undershirts, but a black one this time. I saw one tucked away in the chest, but Dong'er said it wouldn’t match my robes, though what does she know? I want the black undershirt, and—"

"Black to hide any future char?"

"This was an accident! You startled me!"

"The one you were wearing today is mostly black now, after you set it on fi—"

Tang Fan kisses him.

"You're right," he says, grinning at Sui Zhou, who seems to have forgotten how to speak. "That does work."

*

AO3

[fakeloveaskblog]

Yay lasertag!!! Janus you should totally go visit Remus on the weekend and hang out! Also, maybe invite Remy too, if they wanna come. Then (specially if they don't show) you can plan with them both to maybe go on another hangout with Remus but to somewhere you like and let Remy tag along for the ride if they wanna while u're at it.

(Words: 3153 words)

Janus: "Ah yes! I will let you know that after hanging out with Remus I managed to use my incredible totally very good texting skills to ask the Rems if they wanted to go to an art museum and they both for some reaosn, maybe they are being blackmailed, said yes! I hope it will go g-"

He cut himself off as he saw the two Rems come towards him. He had been waiting outside the museum. (Honestly half the reason he had choosen it was because he knew Remus liked art)

Remus waved at him while grinning. He had on sweatpants, a way too large t-shirt and a necklace made out of animal bones. Remy had their arm swung around him. Even though they had sunglasses on their eyebags were still visible.

“Aight gamers! Are we ready to do an epic art heist!! I got my sunglasses ready!” Remus exclaimed. He didn’t, he was planning on stealing Remy’s sunglasses.

“Partner you’re forgetting that we must first observe the security measures of the museum before we can even start to plan the heist” Janus replied.

“Oh!!! That’s what we’re doing today isn’t it??”

“Correct partner!”

“Babes I dunno why you gotta steal art when I’m standing right here” Remy added while posing.

“Good point. Good point” 

Janus had on a yellow bowtie he’d gotten from Logan, a loose purple shirt and black dress pants. People had to look fancy when they went to museums right? Remy had a skirt short enough to fool god and their boyfriend’s hoodie on (it looked oversized on them but with how skinny they were Everything looked oversized on them).

As soon as they got in Remus started to bounce up and down as he looked at the posters showing all the different exhibitions. There was a modern art one, classical and one smaller exhibition for specifically mosaic works.

“So whatcha you wanna look at Snakey?” Remus asked.

Janus was caught of guard “Why are you asking me?”

“Well you chose how we would hang out. C’mon you deserve to choose this too”

He looked over to Remy who shrugged “Uhm okay. Well. The classical paintings would proably give us the most money on the black market so lets look at those”

“Yay!” 

Remus quickly took on his noise canceling headphones and a chew necklace before doing thumbs up. He firmly took Janus’ hand in his. He sent him a soft smile which made Jan’s heart spin before dashing of with him into the exhibition.

A few big paintings from the renaissance hung on the wall. Remy came a little later since with the cane they walked pretty slow. Remus eyed the paintings from a distance before squinting at them up close. He flapped the hand he was hoding Janus with around.

"Oh!!! This is so cool!!!! This is from the renaissance but it's not using the chiaro oscuro technique like everyone did 'cause Da Vinci would eat their newborn if they didnt!”

"Is that why it's looking flatter than me?" Remy asked.

“YEah!! Augh I love the renaissance!!! Mostly because they were dissecting bodies so much!! sometimes for the sole purpose of drawing anatomy better!! I wanna do that! Or watch someone do that! Getting to see one of those old classrooms where they dissected corpses would be so awesome!”

“Huh good way to get rid of bodies. Great time for serial killers” Janus commented.

He let out a dreamy sigh “It truly was. They’re doing serial killers dirty nowadays”

They went through some more rooms of renaissance paintings. Janus made sure to hold Remus back a bit so Remy could keep up with them. The duke kept rambling about different shading techniques.

They stepped into another room and the style changed. Remus continued to flap his hand nonetheless. Janus was definitely going to have pain in his wrist tomorrow. It was worth it if he could hold his hand though.

Remy leaned their elbow on top of Janus’ head “This is like the baroque time right?”

“YEah!” Remus’ eyes went huge “Bean you didn’t tell me you were into art history??! Do you know about Ruben too?? I like how he paints butts!”

“What? Nah. I just- I can like see it on the clothes in the paintings. Can’t you?”

“Do I look like a time traveling fashiong guru” Janus replied sarcastically “That is honestly impressive”

Remy sunk in on themself and a hint of red appeared on their cheeks “No. Nah. I’m like a total airhead! Completel idiot! hehe I’m like tots sure everyone knows this stuff. Y’all are just bad at fashion. I uh anyway Rem you were gonna rant?”

“I was?”

“Yeah!”

“Oh....Okay!!” He looked around the room before getting caught on a small painting in the corner. He dashed over to it “HANds!”

The painting depicted 2 bloody hands over a table. They were holding onto each other. the red stuck out against the dark background. It was hard to see if they were supposed to belong to two people who were fighting or in love.

Remus looked down at Janus’ hand while playing with his fingers “I think my favorite body part are hands” He mumbled “I mean they’re horseshit to draw but they can do so much”

Janus looked away from the painting as well. He let his crush do whatever he wanted with his hand as long as he kept holding it. the way he held him so lightly but kept rubbing his thumb up and down his skin made him melt.

“Yeah they can do a lot of fucked up shit” Remy butted in. Jan nearly jumped. He’d completely lost himself in adoring his crush.

“Well hands can also be used to give snakes small berries! And to make coffee!”

“Girl I wasn’t starting an argument. But you sure did won it!”

Remus was staring down into the floor as he said “When I become a cannibal I would wanna try eating human fingers first. I’m sure they would be tasty”

“Why was there a when in there?” Jan asked in a small amount of terror.

“Oh yeah babe totally. I will like actually eat a dick” Remy agreed.

“Why is there a will in there? What kind of time tenses are you people on?? Does english grammar mean nothing to you heathens!?”

Remy got a smug look on their face. They poked their finger right into Janus’ chest “C’mon say what you will eat when you become a cannibal”

“Yeah Snakey” Remus squished his cheeks “Say it! Say it! Say it!”

The two of them kept going on while Janus looked like a sour lemon until he finally caved in.

“Fine. I would either eat the stomach or....the buttocks since they would have the most fat and sustain me the longest”

The Rems looked at each other before bursting out into laughter. “He said butT!” Remus cackled out. The other Rem nodded along and pretended to wipe away a tear from laughter.

“Aight babe let’s put the guy out of his misery” 

They motioned for Remus to go ahead. He happily skipped into the next room and grabbed Jan’s hand to take him with him. The snake couldn’t help but notice how Remy stayed behind for a monent.

“Oh cool!! We’re onto impressionism! The first real art style!” He sighed “From impressionism to cartoon furries. How magical the journey of art is” 

(Jan who had a scaley phase in high school chose to not reply)

“I love the music as well. Crazy lads. My favorite lad?” Remus snickered “De bussy!!”

“That’s my porn name” Remy instantly replied, coming up behind them. “Hey that paint lady kinda like looks like Terra” They pointed at a painting.

“....Hey YEaH! I guess my art is timeless!”

Janus looked between them “who’s Terra?”

“Well girl” Remy playfully ruffled Remus’ hair “She’s just Rem’s tots cool like cartoon character. She’s like all over his sketchbook. Makes it look kinda straight if you ask me but she does have like a very cool design so I get it!”

“Oh......Yes...Sounds very....cool”

The group kept going around looking at art. While it felt like lead was filling Janus’ chest. He’d never heard about Terra. He’d never seen his sketchbook. Meaning they had spent time with each other without him.

He pierced his nails into his palms to stop the thoughts. He refused to be some jealous person who didn’t allow his friends to hang out without him.....Still he wish he could have seen the drawings as well....seen them smile together...heard their shared laughter....

Oh. Oh what if they thought he was annoying. What if they preferred being without him. What if he’d forced them to come here today. What if-

“Hey snakey wanna look at the modern art as well?” Remus interrupted.

“What?” 

Without realizing they’d gone through all of the classic art. Now they were in the last room with not much more than a giant painting the size of one of the walls and a bench.

“That sounds horrid!”

“Yay!”

Remus quickly continued of into the next exhibition. Janus still had the taste of lead filling his throat as he went to follow. Until he realized Remy wasn’t there. He turned around and saw them sitting on the bench in front of the painting. They were leaning their arms on their cane.

“It would probably give us a lot on the black market” Jan said while sitting down beside them.

“Mhm. It’s pretty. I just like wanted to look at it some more” They lied.

“Understandable” 

The painting was pretty much a big flower field with a summer sky shining down on it. Janus noticed how Remy forced deep breathes through their gritted teeth. Their brows were furrowed and their hands kept shaking.

“Are you alright?”

“Of course!” 

“I have some painkillers with me. Would that help agains the pain you’re totally not in?”

They glanced over to him “Girl what you doing walking around with painkillers?”

He looked at them with the most deadpan expression “Remy I’m overweight. You can not phantom how often I get knee pain" He took out a pill and held it out to them "Here"

"There's really like no need! I can like handle it"

Even more deadpan "You shouldn’t have to ‘handle it’. It's 1 painkiller dear. I'm not exactly becoming a saint because of this"

They hesitantly took it "Thanks"

He did fingerguns "No problemo"

They stayed sitting for a bit so the pill could kick in. Jan shuly glanced over to admire them every now and then. Remy kept looking down into the floor while picking at their skin.

“I’m sorry” They said it in a much quieter voice than their usual high pitched one “I tried to do everything right so I wouldn’t ruin everything. I even went to bed early so I wouldn’t get tired....I...I really looked forward to getting to be with you two”

Janus heart beat faster. He pulled himself together to comfort them “You haven’t ruined a thing”

They hid their face in their hands “I’ve been tired and out of it all day. I keep like slowing you down. Don’t think I haven’t like noticed how much you have to hold Rem back from going faster! I’ve just been making this all much worse than it should have been”

“Well you’re here aren’t you? I for one appreciate you simply being here. You don’t have to do anything to make me appreciate you, don’t even have to talk. I hope you know that”

“....really?”

“Oh no darling I totally expect you to win the nobel prize while in a kind of pain I can’t even imagine being in on a daily basis”

Remy chuckled “Thanks”

“There’s really no need for that. I am at any and all times doing the absolute minimum to be counted as a decent human being”

“Sure snakey-babey” They had a soft smile on their face.

They moved to hug him. Their arms wrapped around his back and they muffled their head right between his man titties. Janus sat still for a few seconds, too flustered to think before moving his arms around them as well. A hand on the back of their head, another on their lower back. Their skin felt so cold against his.

Remy closed their eyes and let themself calm down. They could feel Janus’ breathing against their hair.

“I think my fav like human part is the chest” They mumbled out “‘Cause I can hear the heart beat. It reminds me I’m- we’re still like alive”

“Like a bloody biological seashell”

“Exactly” They pressed themself closer. “I like being with you” It was nothing more than a whisper, like it was a secret “When you’re here I feel a bit less like a rotting corpse”

Janus held onto them harder “Well I-I try my best”

“I know babe”

His heart was beating out of his chest. The people around them must think they were a couple. He closed his eyes and focused on Remy’s touch, on Picani’s words from their last session. He managed to push enough of the shame away and focus on the happy butterflies in his stomach instead.

Remy moved away. The moment broke.

“We should probs go find Rem before he starts like eating the art”

“haha yeah” Janus did thumbs up but kept sitting. He’d gone full idiot.

It wasn’t until he saw Remy straining to stand up even with the cane his brain kicked back in.

“Is there some way I could help?”

They didn’t answer. But they did lean their arm around his shoulder to let him carry some of their weight. They slowly but surely made their way to the modern art exhibition.

Remus was sitting crosslegged in front of a weird statue, he was doodling in his sketchbook but shone up into a smile when he saw them.

“There you are! I was starting to think that either the zombie apocalypse had started or you were making out somehwere”

“Oh yeah babe. Full tounge” Remy joked back. Jan let out an inhumane noise.

He closed his sketchbook “I think we’re done here. You’re looking tired beanie. We can come back some other day”

Remy held back the urge to lie that they were fine. Instead they weakly nodded.

The gang left the museum. Right beside it was an ice cream shop. Remus got 3 scoops of a worryingly weird mix of flavors. Janus got 1 scoop of lemon. Remy didn’t feel like eating.

They sat down on a couple of benches right outside. Remy laid down with their head leaned onto Remus’ thigh. He chewed his ice cream while calmly moving his hand up and down their back.

Soon enough they were deep asleep. Janus quickly laid his jacket over their legs. He didn’t want to accidentally see anything under their skirt without their consent.

Remus stared at him like a blood sucking eagle while smiling “Soooo now when beanie is in dream land.......Do” He stopped to giggle “Janny. Janny. Do. Do you like someooooonnneee??”

Janus just blinked at him for half a minute. This was too much. This whole day was too much. He was a wreck. His crush was asking him THis?! While his other crush was laying in his crush’s lap?!?

“Why- Why- What- Who are you working for?! The fucking FBI??? Are they after me?” He desperately tried to joke it away.

“No. No. But seriously JanJan!” He wiggled his shoulders around in a stimmy way “Do you happen to like anyone with a name that starts on R????”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Janus kept glancing between his two crushes while his blushing could be seen out into space. He wanted to lie but his mouth wouldn’t move.

Remus leaned closer and whispered “You’re into Remy right?”

He nodded. A breathe of relief went through him. At least Remus didn’t know he liked him.

“OH I KNEW IT!” Remus yelled out in excitement while flapping his hands.

“Shh! Shh!” Janus scrambled to cover his mouth as Remy stirred for a moment. “Shhhh!” They cuddled closer to their friend and fell back asleep.

“I knew it!” He giggled “Or I mean Remy knew. They told me they thought you were into them”

“WHAT?!” 

Now it was Remus that covered his mouth. He was full on cackling “Yeah! They said it was really obvious! But good for you snakey! I’m sure if you murder their boyfriend you can get them in no time! Or you can become a fab homewrecker!! I can help you buy a nice sexy dress and all!!”

Janus paled in terror “How- In- What- In what way did they say it was obvious?”

“Oh y’know-”

The notif on his phone went off. He checked and his eyes went wide. He carefully moved Remy’s head onto the bench before standing up.

“Sorry snakey! Ro needs super duper emergency help! Gotta go!! See you later! Don’t die!”

Remus left him just like that.  Right after dropping THAT bomb on him. Janus sat unmoving. His mouth was slightly agape in shock. His thoughts were runnig around screaming nonstop.

He sat like that for over 20 minutes until Remy let out a yawn and slowly woke up. They took off their sunglasses to rub their eyes. Just seeing their vibrantly green eyes made Janus panic even more.

“Did Rem disintegrate?” Their voice was hoarse from sleepyness. Janus pinched himself to hold back the uhm feelings.

“He- he uh he went he went he sure did went yeah”

“....Cool!”

They stretched their joints, they all cracked. They looked to Janus and moved closer. He couldn’t breathe. They knew. They knew. They knew.

“Girl are you feeling okay?” They pressed their palm to his forehead “You’re like super hot. In both ways! Maybe you should like go home and rest. I gotta get home before my boyf gets home anyway”

“Y-yeah” Was all Janus could get out.

“Cool. OH! By the way! Girl!!! We haven’t like hung out just the two of us right?? We should tots do that! Just like tell me whatever you wanna do and we can do it!”

“Yeah”

“Awesome! Well I’ll see you on that hang out then”

They hugged him for just a few seconds but for those seconds Janus felt like he was in heaven.

They got up and left. Janus slumped over on the bench. His heart was going crazy. They knew. They knew and now they wanted to hang out alone with him. He turned to you. His eyes were wide and panicked.

Janus: “W-what am I supposed to do? I don’t know any good hang out plans! Do you know any??? I’m- this is all- how did they even know I like them! Oh I’m sounding like an overdramatic 13 year old.....This totally isn’t really overwhelming. I would hate getting Logan cuddles right now!”

[ceilingfan5]

taakitz fake dating+bodyguard+proposal :))))

“I don’t want a bodyguard! I want to go places on my own! I want to have some fucking freedom again! What’s the point of being rich if I can’t be in charge of myself??” Taako’s horrible mood seems to radiate off of him, threatening to kill the houseplants. 

“You know that just isn’t possible,” Lucretia sighs. “I’ve been your manager and done your PR for a long time now, Taako, and we both know-”

“Augh!” Taako pops a piece of gum in his mouth and chews angrily, loudly snapping it like he’s imagining sinking his teeth into any stray fingers that might dare approach him. “Don’t tell me that ‘we both know’ speech again! I’ve heard it! I get it! I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid.”

“Taako, you aren’t-”

Taako very nearly growls at her. Kravitz clears his throat. 

“Ah, yes,” Lucretia says, almost another sigh. “You know Kravitz. He’s got an excellent resume, he’s been your bodyguard before. How about today, you two go solo? Rather than a whole team?”

It’s a compromise. Taako hates compromises. But he wants out of the fucking house, so he complies. 

“Sure. Fine. Whatever. But you have to keep up with me.” He glares at Kravitz, in his nice black suit, with his rippling muscles and nonplussed expression and high cheekbones and gold in his hair, which is just gorgeous. He’d be sexy even if he couldn’t bench press three Taakos. Taako pops his gum again, thinking. “And I’ve got a plan.”

“Oh dear,” Lucretia says. 

“Whatever it takes,” Kravitz says, looking and sounding very professional. Taako’s going to fix that. If he can’t have some alone time, he’s going to cause mischief until they wish he was alone. He spits his gum into the nearest plant. 

“Let’s go. I’m driving.”

“You are not-” Lucretia’s voice gets a little more tense. “You don’t have a valid license!”

“I’ll drive you,” Kravitz says, still cool as a cucumber popsicle. Taako rolls his eyes. 

At least Kravitz drives fast. 

“So here’s my plan,” Taako says, gesturing dramatically. 

“I’m listening.” Kravitz passes another car that seems like it’s standing still. Excellent. 

“You’re not my bodyguard today. You’re gonna be my boyfriend.”

“I’m sorry?” 

“Keep up, big guy. You’re going to be my boyfriend. We’re dating. Hot new goss. Delicious and fresh. Everybody will want to know the tasty celebrity deets.” He smacks his fist into his palm, getting excited. And then the paparazzi will swarm, and Taako will be able to slip out of the crowd and run off. It’s perfect. 

“I take it you’re going to insist on this.”

“I sure am.”

“Then, I suppose we’re boyfriends,” Kravitz intones, deadpan. “Yay.”

Taako snickers. 

It’s harder to lose Kravitz than he thought. The dating made for a lot of attention, but it also gave Kravitz an excuse to literally hold him by the arm when the cameras got close. So what if Taako’s heart beat faster when Kravitz slipped them out of the hot zone, running three blocks half-carrying him in the process? So what if they share a hot dog and an indirect kiss? The suit is a little conspicuous, so Taako makes Kravitz wear a shiny purple shawl he finds in a second hand shop. Taako shouldn’t even be going into second hand shops. That makes it great. The look on Kravitz’s face? Greater. 

He tries to slip away again after lunch, but the mustard incident barely phases Kravitz, and neither does the old bathroom trick. Kravitz is stuck to him like glue. 

“Taako! Who’s your new boyfriend??” People with expensive cameras call. And, okay, maybe it’s fun to bask in it. It’s been a while since he had someone on his arm, and that last someone wasn’t half as fine as Kravitz. It’s almost...nice. He thinks less about slipping away and more about wiping that blank look off Kravitz’s face. And he knows just what will do the trick, too. 

Sorry, Lucy. Here comes a PR disaster. 

They slip into a jewelry shop, and Taako buys several things, quite sneaky like, while Kravitz, bored, admires the security cameras. Taako suggests they go for ice cream as they step out into the sunshine, and within minutes, they’re swarmed by paps again. Perfect. 

“Hey Krav,” Taako says, sweet as butter. 

“Hm?” Kravitz looks at him. Taako splits into a dangerous grin, and then he gets down on one knee. 

Kravitz blinks. 

“What are you doing?”

“Tying my shoe,” Taako quips, sliding around in his designer flip-flops. “What does it look like?”

Kravitz squints at him.

“Everybody, gather round!” 

“Taako, no.” 

“Kravitz,” Taako grins so hard his teeth are going to fall out, and he’s going to step on one, and it’s going to hurt, but God, will it be worth it. “I love you so much.”

Kravitz’s jaw drops. His eyes are full of confusion, embarrassment, intrigue. They almost sparkle. 

“You make every day of my life so happy.” Taako pulls out the little ring box. Kravitz covers his mouth. “Will you make my day, and every day after that? Be with me forever.” 

“I,” Kravitz stumbles. He looks around at the paparazzi, who are very much swarming. “Don’t know what to say.” His voice is a weird kind of tense, and Taako pushes it as far as it will go.

“Say yes, baby. Be mine.” And he tilts his head and gives Kravitz the smoulder that got him into a dozen blockbuster films. Several passsersby swoon. 

Kravitz is making a funny noise. Taako frowns a little, thinking he’s choking at first, but Krav’s hand can’t cover it-- he’s laughing. And he’s laughing hard. The more he tries to stop, the worse it gets, and he doubles over, coughing, spluttering, giggling, wheezing. It’s a beautiful show, but Taako’s embarrassed. 

“Well?” he demands. He’s invested now, even if it is fake. Kravitz gets the hint and tries to stop laughing, but his smile is warbly and barely keeping the snickers in. He bends down and pulls Taako up and kisses him, for real, on the mouth and everything, and Taako forgets the ruse for a minute and really kisses back, swooning just like the gawking commonfolk. 

“Of course I will,” Kravitz says nice and loud, and then he leans in and whispers in Taako’s ear, “How are you going to slip out of this one, hm?”

Taako flushes brightly. So maybe Kravitz was a more challenging opponent than he thought. Two can play at this tango. 

“He said yes!” Taako declares, and the crowd cheers. In an instant, Taako’s phone is buzzing so hard he could fry an egg on it. 

“She found out,” he says out of the side of his mouth. 

“She always does.” Kravitz smiles-- really, despite the rest of it, he’s so glad he got to see that gorgeous smile--and he kisses Taako again, once for the tabloids and once more to let him know he’s really fucked it up this time. 

[aprillikesthings]

s3 ep5 remember

I've read the synopsis of this one and I will once again attempt NOT to just describe the whole plot lol

I somehow fit all of this one into one post, huh

oof

*cries* I know this isn't real

:(

Anyway shit is already weird--she's having flashes of her Real Past, a door appears and disappears

(Also, the affectionate play-fighting they do here is part of why I tend to headcanon that Adora likes things a little rougher in bed and just has NO idea that's not the norm lol. But also, like. Catra has claws. They're not entirely retractable. And I mentioned in another post that I think her tongue is somewhere between a human's and a cat's.)

this is both so sweet and so sad

augh

is there something you're forgetting

D:

"yay I'll be in charge of a horrible polluted disaster site full of orphans trained to fight to the death!"

Scorpia knows SOMEthing is off

(Adora starts having more flashes of the real past, sees Madame Razz for a split second, has a freakout, and takes off)

Catra has a hint of what's going on and does not like it at ALL. And slaps her.

lol

stop saying that!

It's my own design It's my own remorse Help me to decide Help me make the Most of freedom and of pleasure Nothing ever lasts forever 🎵Everybody wants to rule the woooorld🎶

(On a related note, I've gotten to the point with these two where my brain tries to twist literally every song into being about them. As the old joke goes, any song can be about your OTP if you AU hard enough.)

Me, a person who has seen this entire show before: oh god

She had a whole week disappear on her

She goes to Scorpia and rants at her and man you can hear the panic in her voice, but of course to everyone else she just sounds COMPLETELY UNHINGED. But she mentions Catra and then Scorpia starts having the same flashes of memory/jumping around in time

awwww

Aaaand Scorpia disappeared

I hate it when that happens

At least this time her confusion about the timeline makes sense under the circumstances

I feel like Catra knows and is just denying it to herself

lol yeah

OH SHIT I forgot that Adora zaps Catra with one of those cattle prod things and just fucking bridal carries her out of the Fright Zone

Reality is collapsing in on itself and people keep disappearing and who does Adora insist on taking with her ;_;

she crash-landed a skiff in the Whispering Woods

:(

man how many times does poor Catra ask this added up over the whole show :(((

BUT IT'S NOT REAL

aaaaug they did a flashback to that scene of them as BABIES where Adora says "you look out for me, and I look out for you. Nothing really bad can happen as long as we have each other," and Catra replies "you promise?" and then Adora says it again in the current time and begs her "Help me fix this!" but it's just too late aaugh

aaaand now we know Catra knows exactly what's going on

Adora: "you're going to destroy everything!" Catra: "I don't care! I won't let you win!"

Catra falls into the void, Adora runs off

Anyway she runs into Madame Razz and I won't go into her little speech about how it's not too late and it's all happened before, and how Mara saved the world "and so will you!", she just needs to "go back to the beginning" and find the sword

SO SPEAKING OF SHIT THAT MAKES MY HEART RATE GO UP

AW YEAHHHH god I love how fucked-up she looks

(and episode over! I only had to delete one image to get it all in the same post.)

[starlightshore]

red souls aren’t determination souls

so we know the colors and souls traits are linked because of the ball game

but note, red doesn’t get listed as determination.

GOLD is what actually is the color for determination.

(ignore how things are orange tinted, i have flux on and its 2am) determination is listed in yellow text.

it flat out says you’re filled with determination every time you use it.

note there are no red flowers, but a very distinct golden flower instead.

and golden flowers are frequently connected with determination. flowey is one injected with dt, chara is buried under the patch of flowers, they’re here underground purely because of chara’s dying wish and desire to use their will past death. one could say it represents that will to live despite everything else, even death itself. which. again, is what determination is.  The will to keep living. The resolve to change fate.

more evidence DT is yellow:

selected text is yellow, not red

as is the SAVE point. hell, even frisk is yellow. the golden heart lockets are yellow. (though, how canon that is up to debate, as we only see it in the collector’s edition as a merchandise, not ingame. but alas.)

yellow/golden is frequently and constantly used to refer for determination. and again, there isn’t a red flower, but rather the golden flower taking it’s place.

now granted, chara does use red text in no mercy and has a red soul judging by their empty casket. but that just means chara had a red soul, not that they were a determined soul! remember, the other humans souls have determination.

“I've extracted it from the human SOULs.”

if you go back without using a true reset, toriel will comment this upon your butterscotch/cinnamon choice. that she feels deja vu with humans, as if shes met them before

RED souls can’t be determination, determination is a trait shared between different soul color humans. to further this, the red soul we control in deltarune is the one we use yes, but we don’t USE determination to save. we use the “power of” something else, like fluffy boys and mean girls. it’s distinctly not a yellow light, its distinctly not listed as the feeling of determination. now, if the red soul was determination, than shouldn’t the power/save be the same?

now, what is the trait or red souls? i speculate below because this post is already fricking so long. i don’t have a concrete answer, but at least i have something?

so again, we know chara and frisk have red souls. chara has red text in no mercy, (though, not solely red text through the whole run) other uses of red are with sans mentioning LV as Level of Violence and EXP as Execution points. (which matches how chara says they are the stats and numbers of the game, including GOLD and LV and such)

another mention is asgore, when toriel brings him up as the one who killed the other humans. (there are more uses of red text as listed on this awesome link, however, these seem to be the biggest standouts. not discounting them, but i don’t really feel the need to add the snail race end into this theory)

now that said i AIN’T saying chara is inherently evil or that red souls being linked to violence/warnings means evil either. afterall, we use a red soul in detarune too, and nothing about the player or kris (tho, kris isn’t likely to be the original owner of the soul) are inherently violent. (and honestly i’m not as well versed with dr as ut, idk if/when red text is ever shown to compare it to.) LV isn’t the ONLY thing chara says they are. 

"HP. ATK. DEF. GOLD. EXP. LV. Every time a number increases, that feeling...That's me."

so maybe less so LV and more so the game mechanics and gui??? they are the flavor text after all? that doesn’t seem right either.

so, no i don’t think red = wrath is fully accurate or necessarily bad. the game itself is about choice, defying the status quo and fate itself to get what you want. maybe the use of determination over coming your wrath/violence is the point? i mean, their wrath is what was their character flaw that got them into this in the first place. them overcoming their mistake and growing from that despite their wrath is their character arc!

and to be clear, chara’s anger is honestly valid because humanity has done inexcusable and horrible things to both them and monsterkind. i mean, no, murder wasn’t the solution obviously, but frankly they’re a kid and the mages designed the barrier with death-ultimatums. Also like, Undyne is TOTALLY framed as heroic and in the right for fighting the player in no mercy. you CAN do true pacifist and punch every monster you meet. violence isn’t inherently bad, and can be used for good. self defense is fine, fighting people who wish harm innocents is fine. ideally don’t kill or be killed.

anyway, back to the red soul thing equally danger/violence and such. the link i posted earlier mentions its also with undyne’s speech and theres the red “!” in battle to warn players of upcoming attacks. asgore is frequently used in red and his trident is also red. the color theming is clearly pointing to something here. even if its not necessarily LV, i think its within the ball park. again, it doesn’t fully match because as far as i’m aware DR doesn’t hint towards any of this and doesn’t fully explain everything. AND i think its dumb for chara and frisk’s soul trait to be violence. esp when every other trait got a virtue-like feeling to it. it doesn’t hold up.

perhaps... red could mean heroism?

granted, more of a stretch here, but heros are talked about A LOT in undertale. not so much in words, but thematically. papyrus is based off an obscure super hero, undyne has Battle Against a True Hero in her no mercy battle, mtt uses heroism in his dramas/acting. ect.

now, this one feels too vague and nonsuported but it feels REALLY meta and on point at the same time. i mean. the red soul being the hero, the protagonist? oh my god. thats frickin amazing. on-top of that, heros are brought up ALL the time with deltarune. the heroes of light, ralsei insisting they need to be heroic, augh. it fits!

and heroes are so known for their violence too! heroic violence, sure, but its such a more positive note of it when you think of heroes . and chara’s wrath is in part for a heroic reason! perhaps wrath is the sin of the heroic virtue!

i’m really curious to what other people think!

[toothpastecanyon]

Noie’s Friends, Chapter 1

A collection of oneshots about Noie's years at college.

See most updated version on Archive of Our Own.

______________________________________________________________

Finding out your brother’s a demon was both more and less surprising than Noie expected. She didn’t anticipate how quickly everything would settle back into a routine; before she knew it, she was finding herself going to the tea shop with her friends, and hanging out with Dipper in her dorm whenever Val wasn’t home - or outside if she was. It felt just like before, only with Dipper right there with her instead of chatting through a screen.

Just like before. Just like before.

She never saw his eyes flicker. She never saw his wings. Sometimes he’d excuse himself to the bathroom for an hour, or disappear when Val burst through the door, but any hint that he was something more than Dipper Argenta was always tucked away behind a door, behind a nervous laugh and a change of the subject, out of sight, out of mind. It was surprising, how much he still hid from her.

Noie… didn’t know how to tell him it was okay. Part of her was a little relieved he was still keeping it under wraps; with remembering came old memories, old nightmares of a shadowy figure bursting from her brother and lunging for her, reaching in and ripping out… she’d never tell Dipper how many times she woke up sweating from those.

And then, to have that same shadow in her room, putting his wing around her, being her brother?

Look. Noie so badly wanted to say she’d be okay with it. She wanted more than anything in the world to tell Dipper he didn’t have to pretend to go to the bathroom to answer a summons. And maybe if Dipper hadn’t started pretending again, she’d have gotten used to it by now and it wouldn’t be a problem.

But she didn’t want to be wrong. She didn’t want to say it was okay and then see Alcor and not be okay and… hurt him. She didn’t want to hurt him, okay?

So maybe it was better, like this.

No surprises.

______________________________________________________________

“Boo. Hey, Silver.”

Things were winding down. Gus and Mina had already left the tea shop a while back, Jess had gone to the bathroom, and Mako was on his phone in the corner. The fading sun outside lent a warm, sleepy air to the whole scene; until Bea bumped her shoulder, Noie was feeling about ready to nod off.

“Silver.”

“Yeah?” She rubbed her eyes. “What’s, uh, up?”

“Just got a text from my roommate. AC’s busted.”

“What? Oh…” She looked outside. “Well, at least the sun’s gone down.”

“Nah, he just got home, he says it’s a million degrees in there.” With an enterprising grin, Bea slung an arm around her shoulder. “Lucky I got a friend to take me in for the night, eh?”

“Huh? Me?”

“That would be correct!”

“Wait, I just have one bed-”

“I’ll sleep on the floor. Trust me, I spent my childhood sleeping on elven barkrests, I’ll be fine.”

“Barkrests?”

“Have I never told you about those things?” She chuckled. “That’s a story for tonight. When I’m sleeping at your place. It’s happening, right?”

“Uh… I’ve never had someone stay overnight before.” Noie made a face. “I guess it’d be fine? Yeah… yeah, it’d be fun!”

“That’s the spirit! Now c’mon, let’s get it on!”

They walked out of the tea shop together. Noie nervously pointed the way, and flashed a smile at Bea as she followed along. Bea raised an eyebrow.

“What’s up with you, Silver?”

“Wh-what?”

“You look like I’ve put a gun to your head.” She slowed. “You know I can find somewhere else to stay, ri-”

“No! No, it’s okay! It’s good!”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah, no, I’m excited!” Noie barked a laugh. “I just - I don’t know how this works.”

“What’s ‘this’? Walking? Breathing? Existing?” Bea gave a crooked smile. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”

She laughed again at that… and then trailed off. They walked in silence for a little bit, and at some point the streetlamps turned on. Noie wondered if she wanted to say something more, wanted to mention that this was the first time she’d ever had a sleepover - ever had a friend who’d want to sleep over, actually, and wow, that was kind of sad. That’d bring down the mood.

She thought of that, and then cleared her throat. Opened her mouth.

“Jeez, there’s so many crickets out,” Noie said. “I’ve never actually seen a cricket. I’ve only heard them. They’re like ghosts, heh.”

“Man, you’re not missing out. They’re ugly fuckers - one jumped on my face once.”

“Haha, what?”

“Yeah. Let me tell you, everyone thinks it’s so awesome to be an elf and to be all ‘living with nature’ and shit, but this is what they don’t think about: all animals wanna be around you. All animals.”

“Oh. That sucks.”

“You don’t know the half of it, Silver.”

They walked on for a while, chatting as the sun strayed down. Only a dull glow remained as they made their way to the front door; Noie swiped her keycard, and motioned her inside.

“Thank-ye kindly.” Bea glanced around at the stairs branching off from the entrance hall. “Where do we go now? Up, down?”

“Down this one.”

“Ah, they shoved you in the basement.”

Noie snorted. “It’s not too bad. There’s still a little window. My roommate says- Oh shit, Val!”

“Strange thing she says.”

“I should- I hope she’s okay with this, I should’ve asked her, or…”

“Ah, don’t worry too much about it.” Bea slung an arm around her, kept her walking down the halls. “Best lesson you’ll ever learn, Silver: don’t ask permission, ask forgiveness.”

“That’s not- I don’t like that. I don’t think that’s a great lesson, actually.”

“Well sure, you gotta know to use it in the right context. Isn’t your roomie the one who doesn’t clean up her shit and makes you do it?”

Noie was fumbling for her keys. “Yeah, that’s her.”

“Then she’s been asking for a looot of forgivenesses. Let’s say she owes you this one.”

They were approaching Noie’s room. She fished her key out of her bag, and shot Bea a look as she unlocked it.

“Okay… I’m still gonna text her, though.”

“Good, I wasn’t sayin’ you shouldn’t.” Bea strode through the open door as Noie got out her phone. “Aww, look at this place! I didn’t know they made apartments smaller than mine - oh, hey Val. It’s Val, right?”

Val? Noie glanced up from her phone. She was never home this early - was she here? She hurried into the room after Bea, and came across…

Oh.

Oh.

Dipper was sitting at her computer, an expression of pure shock on his face at the sight of someone other than her. He was going to be a little harder to explain.

“Or, uh, some other name?” Bea asked, and chuckled awkwardly at the ensuing silence. “Any other name?”

“This is Dipper,” Noie cut in. “He’s my brother.”

“Oh, he’s visiting again? Sweet, it’s great to meet you, man. She’s told me a lot about you.”

Bea gave Dipper an easy smile, but Noie noticed how he didn’t return it at all. It wasn’t shock anymore; a different expression had shadowed his features, one that sent a shiver down her spine.

After just a split second too long, he smiled widely, too widely, and rose from his chair. Stuck out his hand.

“Hello,” he said, and narrowed his eyes when she took his hand. “Went right in for the handshake, huh?”

“Yeah? You offered it to me-”

“Beatrice, right?” He kept shaking. “Beatrice Delion. Nice name you’ve got this time round.”

“Do you know me from somewhere?”

“You could say that.”

“I could say that, I could say anything.” Bea bared her smile. “I asked you a question, though.”

“A question you already knew the answer to.”

“A question you could’ve really just answered like a normal fucking pers- augh!”

“Dipper!” Noie yanked Bea’s hand out of his grip. “What was that for?”

He didn’t respond. He didn’t look at her; he stared past her, to Bea cradling her fingers, with a strange gleam in his eyes Noie could only describe as… predatory. Her heart caught in her throat, and she tried to shove him towards the bathroom.

“Hey, why don’t you, uh, take a breather, bro?” She nudged, then elbowed, then pushed, but he wouldn’t move. “Seems like you two got off on the wrong foot.”

“He got off on the wrong foot, you mean.” Bea chuckled; there was an edge to it. “And here I was thinking you’d be a cool guy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Means that you’re acting like an asshole, man! Take notes, that’s how you answer a question!”

“How-”

“Dipper.” Noie grabbed his arm, and finally he looked at her. “Go to the bathroom.”

“Fine. Come with me, I have to-”

“No. You go to the bathroom, okay?”

“Naomi-”

“Go.”

Dipper glared at her, and for one terrifying moment, Noie thought he wasn’t going to leave. Finally, he turned around, and with a low but rumbling growl, he stalked out of the room.

A growl. The sound turned her blood to ice, and she stood there frozen until Bea put a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, not to push an issue or anything, but he’s not staying here tonight, right?”

“What? Oh…” Noie hesitated. “No, he, uh… he has a hotel room.”

“Sweet, ‘cause I wasn’t gonna stay a night with him. Prick.”

She cringed. “Bea, I, I’m so sorry. That wasn’t okay of him at all, I-I don’t even know what-”

“Don’t even stress it, Silver. Trust me, I don’t care. I know how to handle his type.”

Noie felt something at that. It came down on her like a dark cloud, a watchful eye… a presence. Bea gave her a squeeze, and grinned.

“Now, let’s do something fun together, eh? What does the great Silver like to do on her time off?”

“O-on my time off?”

“I assume you don’t stand there waiting for the sun to rise, but that’s not for me to judge.”

“Oh, heh, no…” Noie glanced behind her, and then cleared her throat. “I mean, I don’t do too much, I’m usually on my computer… I dunno, I read, I guess. What about you?”

“Whaddya read?” Bea sifted through the titles on her shelf. “Heh, ‘Rainbow Adventures of Mr McStabberson’? Where’ve I heard that one before?”

“You’ve probably seen the TV show. Did you know it actually started from a book?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I actually only read the source material pretty recently.” She sat down in her chair. “It’s interesting, actually. I think they’re both kinda good in different ways? Like there’s definitely more about some of the side characters in the book, like Alexy and-” She blinked. “Oh, sorry, I’m rambling. Have you seen the show?”

“Nope.” Bea leaned against the wall, grinning. “I wanna hear about it, though.”

“Really?”

“Hell yeah. Keep going, Silver.”

Noie smiled at that, and launched back into her explanation. For a little while as she talked, the thought of Dipper’s odd behaviour and the presence had entirely slipped her mind.

“-so it was really cool how they expanded on her character in the book. Obviously books aren’t really strapped for time like TV shows are so I get why they dropped some of the smaller character moments, but I think it’s cool to watch the show again with those in mind.” Noie laughed a little. “If you ever wanted to watch it.”

“Hey, seems like some cool new human shit. Wanna watch it right now?”

“Wh- really? I don’t think I can stream it anymore-”

“It’ll be pirated somewhere.” Bea sat down at her computer. “Seriously, I can’t believe you guys’d pay to watch it when there’s a free version floating out there.”

“I dunno, viruses?” She raised an eyebrow at Bea. “You know where to go, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Cool. Well, I guess, if I really wanted something, I’d ask…”

Dipper. Noie made a face at that; it must have been pretty obvious, because Bea looked over at her and gave a wry smile.

“Your brother’s the tech savvy one, eh?”

“Tech savvy? Uh, sure… you could say that.”

“I see you’re a fan of that phrase too.”

“Wha- oh! Oh, sorry-”

“Ah, don’t you worry about it. I’m teasing you! I’m teasing.” Bea sat back in her chair, chuckling a little as her smile faded. Her eyes, fixed on the computer screen, suddenly flitted up to meet hers. “You said he’s got classes up at SASU, right.”

“Dipper?”

“No, a squirrel. Of course I meant Dipper.”

“Oh, heh, sorry.” Noie fiddled with the front of her shirt; this was getting into some dicey territory. “Yeah, he, uh, takes online courses, mostly?”

“I see, I see.”

“Yeah… so he can come up and visit a lot. That’s why. That’s why he can do that, I mean.”

Bea was nodding. “I see. So he’s here a lot of the time with you, huh.”

There was a strange tension to the air, building the more she spoke. Noie found herself shivering a little, though she wasn’t cold.

“Yeah! Yeah, he is.” She leaned forwards with her widest smile. “So, how are we-”

“Does he act like that a lot?”

A sudden spike. The walls felt closer, and the lights felt starker. Bea’s carefully blank expression suddenly had an air of menace, of danger to it, and Noie leaned back.

“L-like what?”

“You know what.” Bea said, and sighed. “Look, I’m not trying to corner you in anything. I’m just wondering how happy you are with a brother who comes around and acts like that around your friends, y’know?”

Noie felt a pit in her stomach. “Wh- oh, oh no, Bea… you have the wrong idea, okay?”

“Okay.”

“He’s not usually like that, I swear. Like, genuinely, he’s not, I’m gonna talk to him about that later, I…”

“Okay. Seriously, it’s okay. You know your brother better than me.” Bea stretched, slowly, deliberately. “Just wanted to say, you better talk to him about this weird eavesdropping enchantment he’s got going on, too.”

Eavesdropping enchantment. It was like the air froze in place, and Bea gave a wry smile at her wince.

“That’s the one. Bet you barkskin he’ll come through that door any moment-”

The door burst open like an explosion; it made her flinch. She hardly recognised the figure who stormed into the room, pointing fingers, yelling, “I am ņot̶ eavesdropping!”

(and was that the hint of an echo to his voice?)

“I mean, I’d love to agree, but you’re really just proving yourself wrong by barging in-”

“I did not!” He planted himself between Bea and Noie, and stabbed a finger in her face. “I’m here to protect my sister. What are you doing here? What are your intentions?”

Bea raised her eyebrows. “My intentions? Getting somewhere to sleep. Sorry if you were expecting me to say murder, I guess I’m not in the mood.”

“You watch what you’re saying. You have no idea what you’re up against.”

“Oh-hoh, is that a threat?” She chuckled. “Look, human, I get you were top of your magic class in highschool or whatever, but you and your - eh, half -decent - eavesdropping charm aren’t gonna do squat against me.”

Noie could practically see the fury emanating off of her brother. She tried to tug at his sleeve, but it was like he’d stopped paying attention. He was wound up tight, and stone cold to the touch.

“Just walk away, man. Your sister doesn’t want your stupid fucking ‘protection’ bullshit.”

Noie shook her head at her. “Bea-”

“Why don’t you try listening to what she wants?” Bea leaned back in her chair. “You know, if you care about her or whatever.”

That was the wrong thing to say. Noie felt it like a physical pain; she recoiled as Dipper stepped forwards.

“I car͜e ab̛o̵u͝t my̢ si̡şt̷er.”

“Oh, yeah? Then why don’t you prove i-”

And in the blink of an eye, Alcor the Dreambender had her by the throat. Noie watched in horror as his shadowy form snarled and slammed her against the wall so hard it cracked; in a millisecond Bea’s face went from shock to anger to eyes-bugged-out terror.

“M̞͈I̛͕̤̟̹̞Z͎̠A̳̭̪͙͖Ŗ̸̩̮̤͈̭͈ ҉҉̼̺͙̰I̞͔͍͚͕͕͢S̸̞̤͙̜̖͝ ̺̗̘M̥̥͈̬͓͟I͏̤̮N̪͈̺̥̗̘͘͟ͅͅE. M̶̸̦̹͖̜̣̳̤͘ͅI̧̛̼̟͉̞N̴̜͢E. ” He pressed harder, and she struggled for air. “Ḭ̸̺̺̫̟̦̲͇͉ ̥͇̯̣͕S͝͏͓̼E̻̺̲̼E̢̻ ҉̨͚̞̖W̖̘͝Ḩ̢̭̙̰̼̺̮̜A̩͚͓͉͔̤ͅͅT͖͖̩ ̞̗̭̰͓̫̰͍͠Y̳̙͝O̧̨͕͙͕͇͝ͅU̮̺̰͟ͅ'̥̪̣͙R̘̙͇̼ͅE̛͇ ̲͖D͇̖Ǫ͇̮̳̭̫̖͔̼̕I̦͙̫̭̭̯N̶̥̳̖̤̬̱͈͝G̳̳̩̝͠, ̴͇͉͇͖̼͍̰̠̕B̸I̢L̺̰͟Ļ͇͔̺͔̘̝ͅ Ç̬̗̤͕̜I̶̛͖̗̝͙P̸̛̭͔̖͓͎͍͎̦̤͡H̛͚̦̻͉̦͇͝E̲̤̹͓͠R̤̺̬̳̭. I҉̶̲̼ͅ ̝̖͠Ṣ̴̩̩̲͜͞ͅE͏͏̸͓̥͙̲̟̮̤̙͓E̝͠ ҉͈̱Y̧̫̳͖͙͔O̵̩̤̲U͉̬̣̺'̜̼̹͘͟R̘̠̻͡͠E̵̖͇̣̠̦̩̹̹̻̠̫̥͝ͅͅ T͕R͖̩͓̘̪̙͞͞ͅY̡͉̳͖̙͔̺̬̫͟I̴̘̞̮͜͠N̶͓G͙͉̼͎̰͕͘͟ ͞͝͏̖T̷̛͕̞̰̟̥̥͖͍O͚̙̰̞̟̙͡ ̙̫͍̜͓ T̛̻̲̭U̧͇̣̻̭̠ͅR̟̖͠ͅN̞͚̠̝͙͚̠̼ ̵̛̫̗̗͕͜H̴̷̛̱̖̥̤̼̲̤E̩̰͉̪̠͟ͅŖ̻̗̻͔͡ͅ ̱̖A̵̫̻̘̭͕̘̩͢G̤A҉̳͈I̧̤͍̹̰̖̩̩͙͠N̼S̨̘̩̪̜͎̖̭T͙͚ ̷͠͏̩̱̖̳M̸̡̞̻̥͎͓͙E̶̫͕̘!̘̹̘͢”

  Noie could barely comprehend what she was seeing. Bea shot her a terrified look and she tried to speak up… but nothing came out. She tried again.

“Di… Dipper…”

Bea was going red in the face. Noie picked up something from the desk - her phone.

“Dipper, stop. Dipper.” She clenched it with a shaking fist, “Dipper, STOP!”

And threw it as hard as she could at the back of his head. It shattered off of his shoulder, and he looked to her with the glowing eyes she saw in her nightmares - oh, stars, oh stars, oh stars…

“Y-you’re killing her, Dipper. You’re killing her!” Noie struggled to look him in the eye. “She didn’t do anything wrong, I-I don’t know why you’re acting this way! Just let her go!”

“Mi̶̛͜za̴r-”

“Please! Please, j-just let her go.”

Alcor the Dreambender stood there for one moment longer, one awful moment longer with the sound of Bea kicking against the wall as she struggled for air. Then he blinked, and stepped back. He let her crumple to the ground, and Noie could feel his eyes on her as she dove to her friend’s side.

“Bea, I-I’m so sorry, are you okay!?”

She tried to rasp out some answer, but it was lost in a coughing fit.

“Oh, my stars. Oh my stars.” Noie felt for her phone. “I’m gonna- I’m gonna call for someone-”

“No…” Bea put her hand out. “I…” she managed, and coughed as she sat up. “I’ll be…”

“No, lie down-”

“Like hell I’m ly-y-ing here.” She pushed Noie aside and staggered to her feet. “Not with…”

She pointed at Alcor as she made for the door. Noie could hardly look at him; he stood still as she followed Bea out of the room.

“Hey, wait! Bea!”

Bea glanced over at her. “You tryin’ to wake up the whole wing, or what?”

“Wh- I…”

“Look, Si- Silv-” She coughed and rubbed her neck. “I don’t know what kinda shit you’re mixed up in, but… we’ll talk later, okay? I gotta find somewhere else to stay tonight.”

“I-”

“I’m not gonna tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not dumb enough to piss off Alcor the Dreambender… more than I already have, apparently. Fuuck.”

“That’s not what I was…” She stepped forwards. “I’m sorry, Bea, I-I didn’t… I… I can explain-”

“We’ll talk later. Just-” Bea held her hands out. “We’ll talk later, okay? Bye.”

And then she turned a corner and was gone, her footsteps thudding in Noie’s mind like the beat of her heart. She stood there for a moment, eyes staring, mind buzzing, every fiber of her being wishing for this to have all been a dream, for this to have turned out any other way.

Her first night over, with her first real friend, and this happened.

She clenched her fists.

Dipper.

His presence was still there, still watching. She wanted to scream right then and there; it took all her effort to take a deep breath, walk back down the hall, and enter her dorm room.

It was empty. And dark - darker than plain darkness. She jabbed the light switch.

“Dipper.” Noie walked forwards. “We have to talk. Now.”

Nothing, for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something else, but-

“I-I’m here,” Dipper came in through the front door. He looked entirely human again - human, and nervous. “So, uh-”

“What the fuck was that.”

“Yeah… That wasn’t, um, great of me-.”

“‘Wasn’t great of you’, that’s all you’re gonna say for that? Jeez, I don’t wanna hear what a bad day is for you if that is just ‘not great.’” She laughed angrily. “I mean, what the fuck, Dipper! You strangled her!”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to hear about how you know, I wanna know what on earth possessed you to do that! Is that just a thing you do? Are you gonna kill all my friends, or is Bea just lucky?”

“It’s- I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” Dipper avoided his eyes. “I just… got surprised.”

“Got sup-?!”

“No! No, that’s- that’s a bad way of explaining it! Sorry. Sorry, it’s just…” His voice lowered. “a demon thing, I’m sorry, I know you don’t want to, want to hear about, uh, that kinda stuff…”

Noie felt a cold pit in her stomach as he trailed off. A demon thing… her mind flashed back to all the other times that part of her brother had come into play, had hurt people… had killed . Maybe it wasn’t like she was thinking.

“Just tell me why, Dipper.”

“It… it is your friend. You’re right, she’s special, kinda.” He gave a tense chuckle. “Look, um, it’s hard to explain, but her soul, she came in the door and I recognised it.” His fists clenched. “It… belonged to a bad person, a long time ago.”

She frowned. “Dipper, Bea’s been nothing but nice to me since we met. She’s not a bad person-”

“You’re right, she’s probably not! I overreacted, I just- I wasn’t expecting to come across that soul! Usually I can… prepare, to meet that one.” He stared into the middle distance. “An elf, this time around. Strong control of magic, clearly trained in shielding… no wonder I didn’t notice her.” A grimace. “I really hope she’s a good person this time around, that’s… formidable. Have to keep my eye on her.”

Noie made a face. “Dipper…”

“Sorry. I’m sorry, I’m doing it again.” He sighed. “Look, I really am sorry for what I… what I did to your friend. I swear, though, that was a very, very unexpected event. You’re not gonna see me like that again.”

That was a little reassuring… but a sentence jumped out at Noie. She raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean, see you like that?”

“Well… you know.” He mimed something coming out of his back. ‘Like that, you know. My, uh, business attire.”

“Your demon form?” She watched him cringe at that. “You think that’s what bothered me about what happened?”

“Well, not the main thing, but I know… I know it does.”

Noie blinked. “It doesn’t.”

“It’s okay if it does-”

“It doesn’t!” She snapped. “We’ve been over this, I get you’re a demon! What kind of sister would I be if I decided that made me uncomfortable?”

He just looked at her.

“Dipper, it doesn’t! It…” Noie swallowed. “I don’t want you to be scared of sharing stuff like this with me! I don’t want you to hide it, I… I think it makes it scarier. When I don’t know things about you.”

He just looked at her, with that ancient expression. A million alarm bells went off at the being who stood before her; she tried to talk past them, tried to talk to Dipper.

“Because there’s so much I don’t know about you. There’s so much you don’t tell me about you, and I get that it’s probably hard, that you think I don’t want to hear it, but then…” She gestured. “Stuff like this happens, and I don’t know how to react! I don’t know why you’re doing it, I don’t know how to help you… I-I don’t know you, all of a sudden! You’re just a demon, doing demon stuff, a-and that’s scary!”

Noie’s shoulders hurt; she forced them down, forced herself to close her eyes, and take a deep breath. She looked at the floor.

“I don’t… I don’t want to be scared of you, Dipper. I’m sorry that I still… kinda am.” She hugged herself. “I just… I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Dipper didn’t say anything, for a long moment. She stood there, staring down, down at the carpet.

“Noie.”

She didn’t meet his eyes, could hardly bring herself to look higher than his shoes.

Dress shoes, she noticed. Black ones, and black pants. She drew in a breath.

“Noie,” Alcor said. “Do you want a hug?”

She hesitated, and then nodded. The shoes moved, and a second later, a pair of arms wrapped around her. They were longer than Dipper’s usually were, attached to a body taller than Dipper usually was… but they were just as gentle, squeezed just as hard.

She pressed her face into his suit, and mumbled, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I mean it.” She gave him a squeeze. “I wanna be better about this demon stuff. I don’t want you to feel like you gotta hide stuff from me, I wanna know my bro. Even if it gets weird at times.”

“I’m not so sure you want to know everything, Noie.”

“Well… I wanna know important stuff. I wanna know if you have any more souls you randomly hate, for one.” She tried for a chuckle. “I guess… I wanna know what you’d tell any other Mizar. I don’t wanna get the kid gloves, you know?”

Dipper didn’t answer that. For a moment, Noie thought he wasn’t going to, but then she felt a pair of something that wasn’t hands wrap around her midsection. It felt like two weirdly warm blankets, it was… wings?

Oh, yeah. His wings. The feeling of them still made her a little jittery, but she gave a little laugh.

“Yeah,” she said. “Stuff like that.”

“Heh, alright.”

“Are you laughing at me?”

Dipper chuckled. “No.”

“You big jerk!” She snorted and smacked his arm. “You did that to make me jump, didn’t you!”

“Maybe a little.”

“Ohhh, my stars.” Noie grinned up at his toothy smile, his twinkling gold-on-black eyes. It was different, but it was Dipper. “I’ll get you back for this. I’m gonna dump glitter on your wings.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll catch you when we’re studying, or - no, I’m not gonna tell you when I do it. You just wait.”

“Hah, I will. I’d like to see you try.” Dipper said, and then: “Hmm, not sure if I can even start having my wings out while we study. I mean, you still have your roommate coming in at random, and-”

“Yo No-ster, I’m home!” Val burst through the door with a pizza box. “Do you know math? I have this stupid thing due at 11:59 and-”

She noticed the demon standing in the centre of the room, and stopped dead. Noie tried for a wave.

“Oh, hi, Val! You’re back, uh, early… have you met Dipper? He’s a, uh, cosplayer. Twin Souls.”

“No, I am not. Noie-”

“Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything else- Uh, haha, anyway, he’s…” She kept grinning at Val’s horrified expression. “It’s, uh… so, what pizza did you get? Pepperoni? Mmm, smells great!”

______________________________________________________________

“So they just let you move in, huh?”

Dipper was hanging suits in what used to be Val’s side of the closet. “Yeah, basically. It was even easier than usual, since Dipper Argenta already exists - only had to forge a few things.”

“Only a few things, huh.” Noie snorted at him from atop her bed. “As you do.”

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing.” She grinned at him. “Good to share a room with you again, bro. I missed it… or maybe I just missed not living with Val, hah!”

Dipper chuckled at that, and turned back to folding his clothes. His wings swayed a little as he worked, and she found herself staring at them. They were strange things; every time she saw them, they were a little different, and today they were wide and sloping things that framed his head when they were folded up against his back. There was always a tinge of unreality to them - a voidlike, blacker-than-black colour to them that made it impossible to pick out any detail, made looking at them… a little mesmerising.

“Need something?”

Noie blinked. “Uh, no,” she said, and tore her gaze away. “No, you’re good.”

“Alright, then.” Dipper snuck her a grin. “This is kinda, kinda fun, hanging up clothes! I should do this more often!”

Her phone buzzed. She looked down.

“Well, you can do my closet, uh, any time, bro…” She unlocked it. “Oh.”

“What?”

“Bea got back to me!”

“Oh, cool! She’s outside, then?”

“Yeah!” Noie looked at the text. “It says… ‘I’m here, can’t wait to hear how the fuck you got a demon for a brother. PS…”

“P.S. what?”

“She’s saying not to tell you this joke.”

Dipper frowned. “What does it say?”

“Uh… ‘P.S. - make sure your brother clips his nails before he gets down here, would feel much nicer on the neck. P.P.S - That was a joke, please don’t actually tell him that, I don’t want to die.’”

She looked up after that, and sniggered when her brother rolled his eyes.

“I’m not gonna kill her over a bad joke.”

“It’s not a bad joke, she just got you.”

“She did not! She-” He huffed and fluttered his wings. “Whatever, let’s go.”

“Yeah, she got you, bro! Look, you’re blushing!”

“I’m not!”

“iiiiii’m nooooot!”

“I’m not!” He shook his head at her. “Are you ready? She’s waiting outside.”

“I just gotta get my shoes on.” Noie hopped off the bed and… tried to poke his wing; she ended up just gesturing at it. “I dunno why you’re, uh, getting on my case, you’re way less ready.”

“It takes five seconds to put on a human suit. Look,” There was a snap as Noie put on her shoes. “Noie, look. Noie.”

“I’m looking, I’m looking.” She shoved her feet into sneakers and looked over. “You missed a spot.”

“Where?”

“Riiiight abouuuut…” She jabbed his side. “Here!”

“Aaah! St-stop tickling me, hah! Noie!”

“Alright, alright…” She stopped, and took a moment to straighten his suit. He was looking at her with those familiar brown eyes she was seeing less of these days; after a moment, she remembered to smile back. “Alright. You ready to do a lot of explaining?”

“Readier than I usually am with stuff like this.” He snorted to himself. “You, uh, want me to tesser you down there? I can do that, it’ll be faster than taking the stairs.”

Noie hesitated at that. He noticed; quickly, he added:

“We don’t have to. Just, uh, offering.”

“No, that’s good, that’s… my phone’s buzzing.” Noie pulled it out. “Bea says, um, ‘I’m summoning your brother myself if you make me wait. Maybe I’ll die, but I wanna hear the storyyyyy-’, and a lot of y’s.” She looked back at Dipper, and gave a smile. “Maybe we should go the fast way.”

“Alright.” He offered a hand, and she took it, watched as his eyes flickered to that gold-on-black. “Hold on tight.”

And she did. She closed her eyes, squeezed her brother’s hand, and let him work his magic.

[highfunctioningflailgirl]

My Lethal White episode 1 recap

After having had a lot of fun recapping episode 2, I went back and did episode 1 as well. It got a bit out of hand and is a loooong post...

Under the cut, because, evidently, there will be ALL THE SPOILERS! 🚨

*SQUEEEEE!!!* THEY’RE BACK!!! 🤗💃🏻🙌🏼  (Yes, I’m still squeeing, although this is a rewatch)

Let’s look at the title sequence, shall we? They’ve added a few new details: There’s the wooden cross from the dell, the White Horse of Uffington and Robin’s Houses of Parliament guest pass. The child from Billy’s memories and the pink blanket. Someone’s already mentioned the ‘whore’ swirling in the coffee cup, and then later we have a fencing icon in the pint. Cool hints. 😎

Cut to tired, head-achy Cormoran at the wedding. Strike has a slightly different haircut, and I wonder: they dye Tom’s hair darker for the role, but he has a glint of natural first grey at the temples that I’ve seen on Tom pre-Strike. How did they keep that? (Sorry about the hair kink digression…☺️)

Pet peeve of mine they carried over from Career of Evil: in the book, Donald Laing slashes Strike’s palm, but it didn’t happen in the series. There was no blood on his hand when he called Robin, and his glove was intact. And yet, Strike has his hand bandaged. I know it’s a silly pet peeve of mine, but stuff like that pulls me out of the moment. And Strike wouldn’t slap on a bandage just for a little bruising. *steps off soap box*

“You look beautiful.” - “And you look terrible.” - “It’s this jacket, needs taking in.” 😂

“I want you back.” - “What?” Augh, the double meaning of it all, Strike’s softness and Robin’s initial uncertainty of what he means. 🥺

When she realizes that Matt deleted Strike’s messages, there’s a tear spilling from her eye, and she quickly wipes it away. 😢 Such good acting. Such a brave girl.

A few of us have already addressed this in the chat: did Matt BLOCK Strike, or delete his calls and messages? Or both? They’re frustratingly unclear about this detail, and it makes a difference in terms of Strike being able to reach her or not. (I’m a continuity nerd, sorry)

Sarah standing next to Matthew. *gags*

Robin looks so beautiful! And so very sad. (Holliday is acting her heart out of this season, can’t say it enough). This is award material, hands-down. 🏆

Her look across the room at Cormoran while they’re eating! And he’s… just been staring at her all through the meal? Good god. These two.

If Cormoran falls asleep before dessert he’s got to be really, REALLY tired.☺️ Poor baby.

We’ve got to work on your fine dining skills, Cormoran darling! It’s very cowboy and rugged, handling cutlery like that, but you would SINK during an aristocracy under-cover op. Maybe the Comte de la Fère is available for a lesson?

The first chords of The Calling’s “Wherever you will go”. Ack. They really went for the original, and as someone who’s always been ridiculously in love with that cheesy song, I AM HERE FOR IT.

Cormoran walking slow-mo past the bridesmaids, looking at Robin dancing with Matt The Twat. My heart…💔

When I’m gone you’ll need love to light the shadows on your face… *sniff*

Cormoran’s FACE during the dance. I can’t. He looks like a puppy about to get shot. 🥺

(and what a juxtaposition to the little lady with the funny hat bobbing happily next to him, to everyone looking awww and being completely ignorant of the drama that’s playing out. Ugh. I’m dead.)

Matthew moves like someone who’s (painstakingly) learned exactly one (1) dance, and for their wedding only, and why is he even smiling so proudly? They must’ve just had the biggest row in history? Is he really so full of himself?

Even Robin is smiling, although staring longingly at Strike. I bet they did that so Strike would be a little mad at her and want to walk away.

AND HE DOES! 😟 You can just see the “Fuck this” from the book crossing his face as he turns around and leaves. Ack. I’m dead again.

If I could then I would, I’ll go wherever you will go

(Perfectly placed, kudos) 👏🏼

And she runs after him, looking like a fairy-tale princess. Did you see how frigging COLD it must’ve been, judging by her breath?! Poor Holliday must have been freezing to death during the shoot. And then to pull off such a heartbreaking scene…

(Also, the lawn in the park? A shitload of rolled sods. No grass looks this lusciously green in winter, and you can see the edges everywhere. Some landscaper had a field day there!)

“Are you sure?” - “Yeah. I am.” About WHAT, you idiots?! *wrings hands* To her coming back to work, of course, but there’s so much more to their statements. And I’m sure that non-book-readers thought they were about to kiss and elope, but - alas! - we know that’s not going to happen.😔

But at least we get The Hug™️, and it’s everything we hoped for: Robin crying, digging her fingers into his jacket; Cormoran closing his eyes… God help us, we are all DOOMED sailing this ship! 🙈💔

I was a little miffed upon first watching that they faded out of that hug so quickly. That was it? No, it wasn’t, as we now know, and I love, love, love that we’re getting all these extended flashbacks that reveal more and more of what happened to us!

ONE BLOODY YEAR LATER (I still can’t get over that time jump)

Lol at the subcontractor crashing his moped into the cab! It was only briefly mentioned in the book, and turning it into an actual dialogue was a fun idea.😂

And there’s Denise (that IS her, right?), completely uninterested in doing her job. Good grief - Strike and Robin are BAD a picking employees! 🙈

Robin looking not-jealous-at-all at Strike walking off with Lorelei. Ouch.

I like Lorelei, btw. They chose the actress well, and she’s nice and mature. Which doesn’t mean that I’m not secretly flinching every time she kisses Cormoran. It’s just not right.

Billy. Joseph Quinn does an incredible job playing him. 👏🏼 As dangerous as he appears at first, his despair and his efforts at holding himself together are heartbreaking. That battle he wages against his mental illness is on full display, and his scared big eyes are killing me. 🥺

Cormoran is admirably unfazed by Billy’s appearance - is that his Army training kicking in? Robin, though, is shaking but braving it out, recording with her phone although her hands are trembling. Good acting by Holliday.

Good riddance, Denise.

The good ole’ pencil trick. “I didn’t know people still did this.” 😌

I was surprised that Cormoran chose to simply break into the house on Charlemont road. It’s breaking and entering for no good reason. Could’ve been anybody’s home.

He’s not going to- EWW! He’s sitting down on that filthy couch. And plucking hairs from it. EWW!🤢

Robin: “...and some porn.” 😂 Says it as if it’s what they always find. The usual. Men… 🙄

Who’s the guy taking pictures of Cormoran? I seriously don’t remember this from the b- Oh, WAIT! Reporter guy. Patterson. Yeah. Him.

The CORE members are as cliché in their looks as are Chiswell’s upper class folks. It’s all a bit on the nose for my taste, but then clichés are clichés for a reason.

Cormoran needs to work on his disguises. Not fitting in at all with the CORE crowd, age-wise or in his look. No wonder they don’t trust him. He does it better in the books.

Oh Robin. I actually think you need a lot more therapy to work through your shit.

Ah, here we go. Seaborn bacteria. But first, Matt’s got to be a prick again. 🙄

Chiswell with his arrogance and his rudeness and his finger-snapping. *shakes head* I think if Cormoran hadn’t known he could make some serious money with this case, he may have walked out on him.

Btw, the “large” jacket is making Strike look slimmer instead of bigger. 😄 They’re so desperately mentioning Strike’s largeness, as if beating it over our heads could actually make us not see barely-6-foot and slender Tom Burke.

“Couple more potatoes wouldn’t hurt.” And his FACE! 🥰

Glenister is a really good actor. I always listen to the Strike audiobooks that he narrates, and I was worried hearing his voice in the show would be confusing, but it’s not because he sounds so different. Can’t wait for him reading “Troubled Blood” to me! 🎧

Is it a coincidence that Drummond’s art gallery has a painting of a horse in its front window? I think not.

I love that soft blue shirt they put Cormoran in. Makes him look very huggable. *blushes*

“Not sure I would make a convincing goddaughter either.”😂

So in England you can just walk up to a minister’s house and ring the doorbell without any security people stopping you? Interesting.

Chiswell just shutting the door in Cormoran’s face. RUDE.😠

The brown contact lenses. 👀 Okay, they make her look different, but not THAT different. It’s her sudden posh accent that’s the real stunner.

The panic attacks. Holliday plays them so well, I almost feel like I can’t breathe myself. 😧

I was expecting the Houses of Parliament to look a little less like a stuffy basement full of old junk. *ducks*

Barclay! Definitely looking more attractive than his description in the book. And I thought I’d gotten food at understanding Scottish. I haven’t. *turns subtitles on*

Izzy is the only Chiswell offspring who doesn’t make me want to immediately vomit.

“Venetia. Like the blinds.” Oh God. 🙈

Winn is such a creep. 🤮 Poor Robin. GET AWAY FROM HER YOU LEECH!

Of course Matt doesn’t want Robin to wear the Green Dress. Twat.🙄

The house warming party. I always wonder why Robin doesn’t have friends of her own. I have a feeling Matt has something to do with that.

The earrings. So we will see Robin finding out Matt’s cheating on her! I can’t wait for her to rip him a new one! 😈

Robin calls Cormoran - and it’s not Coco but Lorelei who picks up. That’s a smart change from the book. And it makes her the rebound girl. Which she doesn’t deserve, but it is what it is.

“And she bakes.” 🥴 Is it just me wondering how Lorelei got that cake into the tin without ruining the icing?!

Flashback to The Hug™️. God, their faces are so close. Cormoran is so soft. Nnnnhhhggggg.

Enter the plaid shirt. Lumber!Cormoran is a good look on him! 😍

The Armchair of Sadness™️. Of course that’s where the devastating phone call to Robin’s house happens! The disbelief and disappointment on Cormoran’s face is heart rending. 😢💔

@lulacat3 and I have already established the continuity error with Cormoran’s facial injuries suddenly missing when he’s reached the pub. (And they should still be there; he’s still wearing the plaid shirt from that same evening.) If I were the makeup person I would have been deeply regretful of having missed dabbing fake injuries on Tom’s face again.

The Uffington Horse. Robin’s in appropriate Wellingtons, weather jacket and a beanie for their outing. Cormoran is wearing what he always wears, and Tom clearly wishes he had a beanie. At least he gets to wear a t-shirt under his eternally blue shirts this season. REVOLUTION! 😄

Sure. Let’s just go and dig for a corpse with a shovel so conveniently available! Just the two of them - one delicate Robin and one invalid. And then Robin finds the bones after ten seconds of digging. No further comment. 🙄

But I like the change with Cormoran’s leg. As stupidly heroic as he acted in the book, I like it better in the show where he has to acknowledge his handicap and Robin takes charge.

The bones. Dun-dun-DUN!

(Good first episode, although all in all the pacing wasn’t quite right yet, and compared to the book it all felt a bit rushed. I liked episode two better.)