#and this is all great and compelling and makes sense except for the fact that the show just forgets about this on the next two episodes

[cherrymoonvol6]

the worst part about flapjack's death is that luz and hunter's friendship died right along with it lmao

[lovelykhaleesiii]

could you write something about aegon having raw seggs with reader before he sets off for rook’s rest? putting a baby in her just in case … bonus if he’s chubby 🤍

For Good Measure...

PAIRING: Daddy!King!Aegon ii Targaryen x fem!Daughter!Reader

WORDS: 1,432.

WARNINGS: for the sake of the story, B&C has already occurred prior to Rook's Rest, incest, implied age gap [reader is of consensual age], Daddy kink, breeding kink, mentions of implied pregnancy, p in v sexual intercourse, unprotected sex, possessive!Aegon, swearing, slight praise kink, chubby!Aegon.

*READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION*

A/N - boy oh boy, it feels good to be back… I hope this is a sensational comeback fic for you all. thank you to everyone for the warm welcome. and I hope we’re all preparing for what’s to come… cause I certainly will need you guys to keep me standing tf up!!!!

credit to owners of the images.

“Princess come, come. Your father summons your immediate presence.”

Ser Arryk, a dignified and loyal knight of the Kingsguard, and a familiar, trustworthy face. Your father, the King, Aegon the Second, entrusts him to bring you forth at his beckon call, wherever he may be.

Entering the empty council room, you find yourself engulfed in the menacing silence, scorched by your father's eager, hungry eyes. As the large, oak doors shut close behind, sending an instant shudder across your body, you feel rigid in the unnerving, mighty presence of your father. You knew better: for he would dare not to harm you. In fact, Aegon held quite the opposite attitude towards you. He loved you dearly, romantically. You were the complete apple of his eye, holding you with great infatuation and awe, he was mesmerised by you since you had matured enough into a woman. As the young male lords and knights of realm bestowed their likeness towards you, streaks of jealousy arose feverishly within him, boiling his blood, he refused countless of marriage offers, and ultimately claimed you as his own. Word had spread like wildfire across the realm regardless, of such a blasphemous unity between a man and woman, a father and his daughter: and yet your ancient tradition said otherwise.

Aegon wanted you: a stubborn man, and King nonetheless, his word held the highest authority, making it final. And in the midst of a war, your unity was neither a priority nor the main topic of interest.

"Come to me, my sweet girl. Your Daddy is tired and sapped. Your presence is all I crave for."

Not a breath uttered, except for a subtle exchange of a sympathetic smile as you closely embarked the weary disposition of your father: sprawled against the larger of the sturdy chairs, his figure stout and brawny, he was an impressive sight to see. You felt vulnerable and meek against him, and yet knew the protection he granted, no one else could provide. His grand stature met his considerable authority hand in hand.

"And what does Daddy need me to do for him exactly? Need I sate him, or the needs of the King?"

Your hands softly grip at his shoulders, pushing his chair back, creating enough space between his rotund stomach and the table's edge, mounting his wide, meaty lap.

"Hmm- By serving your Daddy, you serve your King, princess. Do your Septa's not teach you of royal etiquette? What your role to me is? Need me to fuck some sense into you, princess?"

"It would be more compelling than those tedious lessons you force me to attend... I think Daddy just wants me all to himself. This war has stolen you from me, and I-I miss you," The taunting words disappear as your voice grows quiet and shaky, struggling to sustain eye contact with your father, you feel your body fall deeper against his lap, as your fingers toy with the chains of his tunic. His calloused, pale hand reaches up towards you, gently stroking your flushed cheek, as he strokes a shedding tear away.

"I know, baby, I know... I would want nothing more than to just be with you. Have you in my arms and my cock deep inside you all day and night. I can't stand being this far apart from you, even if you remain down the hall from me. Daddy hates disappointing you, princess. I do... But I must ask more from you-"

Sniffling you enquire what precisely, and Aegon's lilac eyes grow tempestuously dark.

"Your Uncle and I are to head to Rook's Rest, for battle-"

A panic breath hitches in your throat, your saddened eyes widen in alarm, your grip on Aegon's broad shoulders tighten: you refuse to let him go if need be.

"I want you to bear a child, our child, my beloved. I want you to carry my heir, it is our duty. I want you to honour me with a babe. I promise I will return in one piece, for you and the babe."

One attention you had grasped in your day to day Septa lessons, was that your father, as King, and whomever his betrothed wife may be, her duty to her Grace, was to provide as many heirs as possible, blessed by the Mother. You knew as a fellow heir in line to your father, the Council and the realm would be expectant. The idea wholesome, the motive morbid, yet a part of you wanted to honour your Grace. You wanted Aegon to claim you as his completely, to taint you with his seed and showcase it to the greater good of the realm.

"I-I would want nothing more. So long as you uphold your promise, and return to me, if the Gods bless me, father, I want you to take me now."

Without a second to spare, Aegon's rough, pudgy hands find their way eagerly hiking up your tender thighs, your gown raking upwards in motion. His plump lips latch onto your reddened, soft ones, biting and pulling at your lower lip in tease. With such a vigorous strength he lifts you effortlessly, planting you onto the table's edge, as he shoves his heavier mass between your legs, spreading you wider open much for his ease. You aid him in undoing his pantaloons and belt, his lips sucking and trailing down your neck, feeling your sensitive skin moist and numb from his eager take.

"My precious girl, so adamant to fulfil her Daddy's wishes. How did I ever deserve the likes of you, my angel. Gonna make me the proudest fucking King."

Moaning helplessly, you feel even more weaker against his efforts, more susceptible to his seduction, as you feel it has been a lifetime since you had been spoiled by your father's heed.

"Y-Yes Daddy- M-Make me all yours, I-I want them a-all to know."

The blush tip of his girthy cock, struck with palpable veins, had been teasing your slick entrance, slowly etching in and out of your folds: plunging himself in suddenly, your tight walls stretching with agony to adjust to his mass: screaming his name in painful pleasure as a lightning shock courses through your feeble body.

"Baby must've forgot how to take her Daddy, huh? Show me how well you can take me, princess. I know this cunt was made just for me, prove it."

His thrusts had always been sloppy and formidable, although the table was sturdy enough to take, you gathered every fibre of strength to hold dearly onto Aegon. Your nails digging viciously into his clothed adipose flesh, for extra support.

"Gonna make you such a pretty, little Mumma. You're going to look so fucking beautiful with my child swelling inside of you, and these tits will grow ripe with milk. Just tell me how bad you want it, princess-"

"Mhmm- S-So fucking bad, Daddy. Over fill me with your seed, and watch me take. It will be my duty, m-my honour. E-Everyone will know, you d-did this to me. W-What will they think of m-me then."

His round hands tugged and pulled at your lush, free fallen strands, one holding you steady by your neck. In sync, your fingers found themselves entangled with his short, platinum strands, burying his face deeper between the crook of your neck, as he remained lapping at your skin in between his words.

"They will know exactly who you belong to, who owns you. No man will dare to question my authority. My decision to make you mine. I'll fucking have you swollen all war long if necessary."

His pace had quickened, his messy thrusts sharper, as his bulging, stiff tip plummeted against your clit. The pain worth the pleasure. Reaching a climax, the sudden outburst of his warm seed overfilled inside of you, spilling out in between the edges as he shifted himself over you, caving in. His heavy mass falling onto you in relief, your sudden outcry of his name disguised as an audible moan, you cradle his solid body in your arms, unable to embrace him completely, you still manage to hold as he regained his composure.

A quick, incomplete clean, he props you up softly against him once more in his lap, stroking your hair, as your dense breaths become one.

"So proud of you, my precious. For all that you have done and put up with... Our children will be blessed with a graceful mother. Our realm delighted with you as their Queen, my Queen. I will return to you with our babe kicking inside of you, I promise."

general taglist [bold means I could NOT tag you] - @succnfuccubus @fan-goddess @malfoytargaryen @bibli0thecary @m1ndbrand @connorsui @elegantsplendour @sylasthegrim @arcielee @s-we-e-t-t-ea @sahvlren @aemondtargaryensrider @watercolorskyy @hypnos-daughter-certified @urmomsgirlfriend1 @backyardfolklore @snowprincesa1

Aegon ii taglist [bold means I could NOT tag you] - @who-told-you-this-was-butter @f4ll-for-you @jawline-of-steel @daughter-of-the-stars11 @bucknastysbabe

credit for divider - @/itbmojojoejo

[roosterforme]

Adult Education Part 8 | Hangman x OC

Summary: Plans for the fraternity alumni fundraiser that Jessica is in charge of are starting to take shape. And things with Jake are starting to heat up. But even after she tries her best to take care of her students in her own way, she feels like she will never be successful at this college.

Warnings: Fluff, angst, swearing, smutty thigh riding, 18+

Length: 5200 words

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Female OC

This story is part of the Beer Boy and Sugar universe but can be read on its own! Adult Education masterlist

Seriously, who let Jake on my masterlist!? Banner by @mak-32

Jessica settled down in the spare seat in her friend's office with her slightly stale peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a notebook. "Wait, say that again. Beer pong with micro brewed beer? Come on, Advanced Calculus. Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of the frat boy vibe?" she asked with her pencil poised over the paper. 

The other woman laughed as she ate the turkey and avocado roll ups that her husband packed for her gorgeous looking lunch. Jessica would have had some of Jake's chili to bring except that she finished all of it on Sunday and Monday while she texted him about how good it was. 

"It would be an elevated frat boy vibe. I spent the weekend asking my husband what he would want out of an alumni event with his fraternity, and he came up with some pretty compelling ideas."

Jessica bit into her sandwich with a frown and chewed. "But depending on the turnout, a few kegs of fancy beer could be very expensive."

She shook her head and offered Jessica some mixed berries and a honey dipping sauce which she immediately accepted. "No, because Bradley knows a guy who owns a brewery in Solana Beach. He said he'd ask for a favor if you wanted him to."

Jessica perked up immediately. She had a friend. A friend who had a nice husband who was offering to help her out. As much as she wanted to dream big and believe she could get tenure if this thing was successful, she was afraid to hope too hard. 

But she couldn't help herself. "Solana Beach isn't that far away. You think this guy would really cut me some sort of deal? My budget from the school is pretty tiny."

She shrugged. "He was in Bradley's fraternity at UVA. He's actually a really nice guy, so I wouldn't be too surprised."

Jessica only had to think about it for another second. "Okay yes. I am very interested in this idea." Then she ate a few more berries and jotted down some other ideas they came up with. hors d'oeuvres from the culinary school

frat boys in tuxedos

sparkling wine

silent auction

As she was finishing the last item, the other woman asked, "How was your weekend with Jake?"

When Jessica met her eyes, she could tell she was blushing. But she laughed softly and said, "I think he's my boyfriend?"

"Really?" she asked, nearly dropping her turkey roll up on her lap. "I'm sorry, but are you serious? You and Jake are exclusive?"

"Yes," Jessica whispered. Right? Hadn't he made it clear he wasn't seeing anyone else and didn't want to? Oh shit. It had been so long since she'd done this, maybe she wasn't even doing it correctly. "Is that okay?"

"Oh my god! He just... I don't think... I don't ever remember mention of him having a girlfriend. Usually he just-" She cut herself off with a wince.

"Picks girls up for the night?" Jessica supplied. She sensed that about him and the way he'd told her some things about himself. But he also bought a new truck so he could make sure he was on time to see her. There was a lot to unpack here.

"Well. Yeah. But I'm not saying I'm surprised that he's into you! You're great! I'm just surprised in general."

"Same." She just hoped she wasn't about to make a fool of herself when Jake stopped by later during her office hours. When she uncrossed and recrossed her legs, she could feel the pull of the green lace against her skin underneath her cute pleated skirt, and her sheer stockings felt like silk. 

"Aside from the fact that he once called me Dr. Tits when he was belligerently drunk at my house, Jake is, and I say this a bit begrudgingly, actually really sweet. And kind. He dropped off two tickets for a Grateful Dead cover band last night since Bradley drove him around a few times after his truck broke down."

"I'm sorry.... did you say he called you Dr. Tits? Please, I'm going to need you to elaborate on that."

-----------------------------

Jake spent Monday night making the most perfect lasagna of his life and waiting until it cooled down to pack some individual containers for Jessica. Then when he left for work on Tuesday, he left them all lined up in his refrigerator so he could grab them on his way to her office hours. 

There was a guest speaker today, and Jake grabbed the empty seat next to Bradley who was trying to discreetly text his wife under the table before the lecture started. 

"What's Dr. Tits up to?" he drawled, earning an eye roll. 

"Text her yourself if you want to know," came the raspy response. "I'm going right to campus after work today to keep her company while she's on a phone conference," he added with a smirk. "Might stop by and talk to your girlfriend about her fundraiser while I'm there."

"That fraternity thing she has to do?" 

"Yeah," Bradley replied, finally putting his phone away. "Sugar asked me to be nice to her, so I'm going to try to save her some money on beer from Beta Brewing."

"Isn't that the place that ages the beer in bourbon barrels and sells it for an outrageous price?"

"Yeah," Bradley said with a laugh. "A guy who was in my fraternity owns it. I haven't seen him in a bit, but I was kind enough to text him on behalf of Jessica. Now will you please stop calling my wife Dr. Tits?"

"No," Jake replied smoothly as Maverick called everyone to attention. 

Bradley just grunted in response.

When they were released from the lecture, Jessica's office hours had already begun. Jake hadn't texted her much since he knew Tuesdays were busy for her. He just needed to get there before 7:00, because somehow if he arrived during her office hours, it made him feel like her student. And that made everything feel a little dirty. And he really fucking liked that. Plus she told him she was going to wear something sexy, and he'd been dying to find out what that meant.

He swung by his place and picked up the containers of lasagna and packed them in a cooler, and then he was off in his new truck. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd visited this part of the city before he met Jessica, but now he was constantly searching the side streets along campus for a parking spot. Tonight he found one on the same block as a familiar, blue Bronco.

Of course he got some looks from the college girls as he strolled toward the math and science building in his khaki uniform, but he was met with a glare from a man a little older than him with salt and pepper hair when he walked inside. 

"Evening," Jake drawled as the other man silently examined his uniform. He could feel eyes on him as he walked toward the elevators. It wasn't like he was forbidden to be here, so he just ignored him. This ride up to her floor and the walk down the hallway had become familiar to Jake. But when he raised his hand to knock, he heard the doorknob turn from the inside along with Jessica's muffled voice. So he leaned back against the opposite wall as the door cracked open. 

"Luca, there's no way I'm going to try out your skateboard."

"Come on, Dr. Reed. Just for a minute? It'll be really fun. But you probably shouldn't wear high heels."

She sighed and pulled her door open further, but she didn't notice Jake yet. "Fine. I'll try your skateboard on Thursday only after you show up on time and give me a full hour of your best effort."

"Sweet!" Luca said, giving her a high five. But now she was distracted by Jake as he smiled at her. 

"Not in the hallway!" Jessica shouted after Luca who set his board down and promptly picked it back up again. 

"My bad, Dr. Reed!"

Jessica was already wrapped up in Jake's arm, her lips ghosting over his. "Hey, Reedy," he whispered, and then he was being jerked away from the wall as she led him inside and closed the door, leaning back against it.

"Hi," she whispered back. Jake let his eyes drift down over her petite form and back up again, every inch of clothing and everything that was bare to him was making him salivate. She had on a rather short pleated skirt with sheer stockings and black heels. Plus he could see the telltale green strap peeking out from the white camisole as her cardigan slipped down her bare shoulder.

He swallowed hard. "You look nice, Baby. You having a good day?"

"Yes!" she gushed, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him harder this time. "My faculty meeting was blessedly canceled this morning, and I ate lunch with Advanced Calculus." 

Jake set the cooler down on her desk in the tiny office so he could have better access to her body. "That's great. You call her Advanced Calculus? That's actually so cute," he said as his hands came to rest on her hips. 

Jessica laughed, and he felt warm all over. "Yes, and she calls me Advanced Physics. And she's helping me plan that fraternity fundraiser along with her husband. Bradley actually stopped by a little while ago, before Luca was here. He's just the best. Advanced Calculus is so lucky."

"He's the best?" Jake asked, one eyebrow raised as he leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder making her shiver. "She's so lucky?"

When he ran his nose along that pretty green bra strap, she gasped. "Not as lucky as me."

Jake chuckled and murmured, "That's my smart girl." He brushed her hair aside and kissed his way from her shoulder up her neck to her ear while she clung to him. 

She cleared her throat and asked, "How was your day?" as she tried to pull away from him. But Jake kept her right where she was. 

"Better now," he promised. "Had to sit through a talk about the updates coming to my jet this summer. A new mechanical override and an updated comms system among other things."

"Ohhh," she sighed. "Did they give you a new spec sheet?" Her eyes were curious behind her glasses, and Jake was grinning.

"Sure did. You wanna see it?"

"Yes!"

"Well, that's classified, Baby."

She pouted and said, "Come on, Jake. I won't tell anyone. Can't you sneak one home with you or something?"

He ran his big hands up and down her back. "You want to work out some of the calculations, don't you?"

"Of course I do," she replied softly, and Jake was getting a little hot just thinking about her sitting in his kitchen with a pencil and a calculator. He trailed his hand down to her ass, and she was kissing him again as she touched his pins.

"If you really want to see them," he said between kisses, "I'll sneak them out." She giggled as she kissed his neck, and then his nose was buried in her hair. "God, you look so sexy, and you smell so sweet."

Her glasses bumped his cheek when she kissed his ear and raked her fingers through his hair. Every inch of the front of her body was pressed to his, and Jake just knew there was no coming back from this right now. Jessica had dressed like this with him in mind, and while her outfit was totally work appropriate, it was also a thing of fantasies. Skirts and heels and green lingerie and stockings. 

"I can't seem to stop thinking about you," she said in the sweetest voice before she sucked on his lip. He wondered if her stockings were the kind that ended at her thighs or the ones that went all the way up to her waist. He needed to know. She didn't make him wait for an answer. Jessica guided him to the chair behind her desk, and he sat down a little hard. She was standing right in front of him with her gaze fixed on his pants, and when Jake glanced down, he could see the outline of his cock as he stood at attention for her. 

"I'm sorry," he grunted, "but you turn me on so much."

"Don't apologize," she breathed, and he was treated to the sight of her sliding that cardigan down her arms. When she turned slightly and dropped it onto her desk, her skirt rode up her leg. Jake could see the lace trimmed top of her stocking hugging her thigh, and he groaned so loudly, her gaze snapped back to his. 

"Jessica." His voice was a needy whine, and for some reason this was so much worse than when he almost fucked her on his couch. Because she was his girl now, and he wanted every inch of her well acquainted with every inch of him. "Come here." When he patted his right thigh, she obeyed him immediately, coming to stand with his knee between her legs. 

Then she hesitated, and Jake didn't want to push anything. When he was just about to tell her that nothing sexual needed to happen here, he watched her reach up underneath her skirt and bend a little at the waist. His gaze shifted so rapidly from her pretty eyes to the lacy tops of her sheer stockings, he thought he might pass out. And then she started to slide that green thong down her hips to her thighs, and Jake caught the briefest glimpse of her pussy before her underwear was down her legs and her skirt fell into place once more.

"Fuck. Jessica." He was a panting mess as she stepped out of her thong and handed it to him. It was wet, and when he pressed it to his nose, it smelled incredible. And she was once again positioning herself with her legs straddling his right one before she came to rest with her pussy on his khaki covered thigh.

"Is this okay?" she whispered as her right knee nudged his cock, and his head tipped back slightly. She bit her lip and ran one gentle finger along his name tag, spelling out SERESIN while she looked him in the eye. 

"Yeah," he groaned. "God. It's more than okay." She kissed him with her palm planted on his chest, and Jake was living for the way her hips rocked forward. 

Her glasses and hair were tickling his face as she brought her other hand up to his neck, and then Jessica rocked her hips back and forward once again along his thigh. There was a smile on her lips as she kissed him and whispered, "You can set that down, you know." 

Jake was still gripping her thong in his hand, and he pressed it to his mouth and lips one more time before stuffing it in his breast pocket. The fact that she was rubbing her bare ass and pussy on his uniform had him painfully hard, but he didn't want her to stop. This was a thousand times better than any lap dance he'd ever had before. 

"You excited to see me today, Baby?" he asked, squeezing both of her knees with his hands and then guiding them up to her skirt. "This is a very warm welcome."

Her cheeks were flushed as Jake pushed her skirt up a few inches to play with the lace stockings. When he ran his thumbs along the soft, bare skin of her inner thighs, she whined his name. "Jake!" 

"Fuck," he grunted, squeezing her with both hands as she rode his thigh, now gripping both of his shoulders. She was kind of jerking her hips along as her glasses slid down her nose. Jake leaned in to kiss her neck and chest as he whispered, "You gonna get off like this?" She squeaked as his fingers toyed with her stockings before he brushed her wet slit with his thumb. 

"I never did before," she said, eyes a little wild now. Every time she rolled her hips back so she was sitting on her ass, she grunted a soft little sound that almost sent him through the roof. 

"Baby, you can't tell me things like that and make those perfect little sounds okay?" he whispered. "Because now I need to get you off." He guided one hand around to palm her bare ass and tipped her chin up with the other. "Okay?" he asked, running his thumb along her lips. She nodded and kissed his thumbprint before he reached down and lifted up her skirt. "Holy hell," he moaned. Her pussy looked exquisite, and there was a wet spot the size of her palm on his service khakis from her slick.

While he was absolutely aching to get his cock inside her, he knew there would be time for that later. This weekend, perhaps. But right now, he thought she was close to coming on his fucking uniform. In her goddamn office. On the college campus. And he needed to make it a reality, because he could feel her wetness on his leg as she ground down against him. 

So he kept his left hand on her ass, guiding her movements just a little slower as he took one more look at her pink pussy spread open for him, and he stroked her clit with his right thumb. And then Jessica was shaking almost instantly as she kissed his lips and muttered something incoherent. 

"Come on baby. You're so close," he whispered between kisses. "This is so hot." Every time her knee bumped his cock, he thought he might cum in his pants, but he kept her going. 

"Oh. My. God!" she whined suddenly before sucking in a deep breath and arching her back. Jake rubbed his face across her tits, nipples peaked through the fabric of her bra and camisole. And then she was coming and keening, and he eased up the pressure of his thumb and enjoyed every sound she made for him.

Jessica collapsed against his chest, lips pressed to his ear and cheek as she combed her fingers through his hair and rode out the little aftershocks. He ran his hand along her ass, stroking her until she stopped rocking gently against him. As she kissed her way to his lips, her fingers found his insignia pins just like always. Their kisses were soft and leisurely like she'd really worn herself out, and when she shifted, he grunted as her knee nudged his cock again.

She looked at him with wide eyes as she brought her hand down to his pants. "I'm so sorry," she gasped with a soft laugh. "I'm in such a daze, I wasn't even thinking. Let me take care of you."

Jake was shaking his head and immediately reaching for her hand. "Absolutely not." He would cum in an instant if she touched his bare dick with any part of her pretty body, and that was not something he was interested in at the moment. 

"Why not?" she asked, looking thoroughly upset now as she pulled away from him to stand. Jake had to bite his knuckle at the sight of the mess she left on his khakis, and his cock jumped painfully in his pants. 

"Baby, look what you did," he crooned, gesturing at his thigh. "It's gorgeous." But when he met her eyes, she was blushing and reaching for her cardigan. "Jessica, I can't have you taking care of this for me right now. I'm too worked up, and I'd rather have blue balls than cum as soon as you look at me, okay?"

She laughed as she pulled her sweater on, and she let Jake kiss her. "Okay," she replied softly as she looked down at his wet pants. "I can't believe I did that."

"Listen," he whispered, boxing her in between his body and her desk. "I think you should come spend the weekend at my place. Pack an overnight back and some more journals... the real sexy ones on the top shelf over there." He jerked his chin toward her bookshelf. "And I'll steal you a top secret spec sheet that could cost me some of my pins that you like touching so much."

"I could do that," she replied with a smile. "I need to go up to Beta Brewing with Bradley on Saturday morning, but after that, I'm free."

Jake kissed her as he pulled her green thong out of his pocket. "Sounds perfect. And I'm going to need you to wear this again on Saturday, okay? I didn't even get to see the bra yet."

She balled it up in her hand like she was suddenly embarrassed by it. "Alright." But he tipped her chin up again so she was looking at him.

"I can't get enough of you."

Then the sweet kisses returned before she took him by the hand and selected a small stack of journals for him to take him. "Here's a spicy one from the top shelf," she told him with a smile that made him feel weak. Then he said he would walk her and the cooler of food to her car. And she tried to hide her face against his pins when that same guy was walking through the lobby again, because Jake still had a wet spot on his pants from her pussy. 

"You think I care?" he whispered to her before he nodded at the guy with salt and pepper hair. "I got my girl with me, and she got off on me."

"Jake," she gasped with a laugh, pulling him outside quickly. "He's the head of the chemistry department. And he already hates me."

"Who in their right mind could hate you?" His mind drifted for a moment to all the supposed rumors about her that were floating around. "Wait, is he the guy who got permanently banned from Chippy's?" He dug his feet in and there was no way she could pull him anywhere. "Why doesn't he like you?"

Jake was turning back to look into the building, ready to give this asshole a piece of his mind, but Jessica was still pulling on him. "Don't worry about it. Walk me to my car so we can make out." But he was going to worry about it. And yeah, he made out with her next to her car until he was starting to get hard again, which was honestly very painful now. And he was still thinking about it when he watched her pull away. He headed home to jerk off and start to consider what he could cook this weekend, but it still really irritated him that someone found something to dislike about the first woman he ever thought he could be serious with. Because in his mind, she was perfect. 

-----------------------------

"Luca, focus on the math, or I'm not going to embarrass myself on your skateboard."

"Sorry, Dr. Reed."

Jessica had to keep drawing her failing student's attention back to the problem sheet in front of him, but that threat really seemed to do the trick. For some reason, this kid really wanted to see her eat asphalt. And now he was solving all of the problems correctly. "Yes! Keep going." She watched him write out the long equation for the last question, and she murmured, "One just like that will be on the exam next week."

"Sweet," he replied with a smile. "I'll study this weekend. Weather is supposed to be shitty for surfing."

She rolled her eyes but collected his paper when he was finished. "This is all correct," she said as she stood up on the other side of the desk in her sneakers and pantsuit. "You just always rush instead of taking your time. I know you can pass my classes. You need them to graduate on time."

"I know," he whined and sat back in the other chair. "I'll keep coming to your office hours."

"Just keep trying and keep studying. I know it's not as hard as you think it is."

Then he stood and picked up his skateboard, and Jessica groaned. "Okay, but only for a minute."

"You say that now, but I think you're going to love it," Luca said as she followed him out of her office and down the hallway. "You're at least fifty years younger than everyone else who works here. You might think skateboarding is fun."

Jessica had to stifle a snort as they walked past Dr. Leeland's open door where he was napping in his chair. "That's not polite, Luca," she managed to say.

"Yeah, but it's still true."

On the ride down the elevator, she listened to him explain how to keep yourself balanced while riding. "Don't make any sudden movements. And don't lean backwards. Actually, don't lean forward either."

Jessica sighed. At least she could spend about a half second on this skateboard and then excuse herself back up to her office to pack up. Then she could call Jake on her way home and hear his sexy voice and talk about the weekend.

Once they were outside on the deserted sidewalk which was lit up by the dying sunset and campus security lights, Luca set the skateboard down with a huge grin on his face. "You're the coolest, Professor Reed. Now step up with your right foot."

She tried it and shook her head before planting both feet back on the ground. "Nope. It's already rolling away!"

"Here. I'll stand on the front so it won't move so much while you get on it."

With a deep sigh, she tried it again, but she started wobbling from side to side this time. "Luca!" she gasped, reaching for his outstretched hand. "This is not fun!"

He was laughing as he said, "It takes practice. Just hold my hand for a second and push off with your left foot." When he removed his foot from the board, she pushed off and went gliding forward as she screeched and held onto his hand with a death grip. "Yeah! That's it!" 

She jumped off, looked at him, and said, "Can I do it again?" 

Five minutes later, she was laughing as she tried pushing off with her right foot. "I can recommend a great skate shop for you!" Luca said as she slowly skated away from him and down the sidewalk. Damn, this was kind of addicting. She jumped down and skated back toward him as she cackled.

"You better move. I'm coming in hot!" she said, rolling so slowly it was laughable. Then she looked up into the icy blue eyes of Brian Conley who was scowling at her. She jumped awkwardly off of the skateboard, and it continued to roll to Luca who picked it up.

"What the hell are you doing, Dr. Reed?" Brian practically yelled even though she was right in front of him. She hated that she immediately felt tears stinging behind her eyes. "Can't you be professional for even just ten minutes?"

"I was just-" she started, but then Luca cut in when she really wished he wouldn't.

"It was my idea, Dr. Conley. Dr. Reed just finished tutoring me, and I thought it would be fun."

Brian just shook his head and sighed. "That's enough fun for one day I think."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Reed," Luca muttered as he hoisted his backpack on and started skating away. And then Jessica really wished she could vanish, because Jake was heading up the sidewalk at a blistering pace, a scowl on his handsome features while Brian went off.

"It's not your job to be messing around with your students. It is your job to be teaching them. I know for a fact that you have several students failing your classes, and I don't think skateboarding with them is quite the correct answer here, do you? If you think you're even close to being qualified for tenure, you are out of your mind!"

All she could picture was Leeland asleep during his office hours. All she wanted to do was relate to Luca a little bit to keep him interested in things. She was just upholding her end of the bargain since he did so great with the practice problems.

"You're such an asshole," she whispered as her vision blurred with unshed tears. 

When Brian took a step closer so that he was almost touching her, Jessica heard Jake's voice call out in a loud bark. "Hey! Why is she crying?"

"I'm okay," she said softly which just made her want to cry even more. She pushed Brian away from herself and walked the rest of the way toward Jake who had his hands in fists and fire in his eyes. "I'm okay." She had to plant both palms on his chest to get him to look at her instead of Brian. 

"Why are you crying?" he asked, gentler this time as Brian stormed back inside the building. "Should I be going after him?"

"No," she said as she hiccuped, and Jake pulled her against his chest so her glasses got smashed at a weird angle. But she immediately felt better. "What are you doing here?"

He rubbed her back and said, "I missed you and thought maybe you'd want to go to Chippy's after your office hours. I know you were supposed to help that kid Luca, but I figured you might feel like getting a Sam Adams with me. Didn't know I'd potentially have to kick that guy's ass."

Jessica felt like she was going to say something she had no business telling him yet. So she tamped down the words and instead said, "You don't need to kick Brian Conley's ass. He's not even worth it. And I would absolutely love to go to Chippy's with you."

She kissed Jake long and hard on the lips before leading him inside and back up to her office to pack up her things and lock the door. Then they walked across the street, hand in hand. Jake held the door for her, and he finally looked a little calmer now as he walked into Chippy's right behind her. 

"I'm just waiting for him to glare at me," Jake said as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "I really need to take you to the Hard Deck one night, because honestly, Penny could give him a run for his money."

"I'd love to see that," she said with her first smile since she was on the skateboard. She laced her fingers with Jake's and led him to an empty table.

"Reedy," Chippy called out, and sure enough, there was a special glare reserved for Jake. Jessica was beaming by the time he pulled out a stool for her and kissed her. 

"I'll be right back. Hopefully," Jake said with a look of extreme fear as he headed to the bar. This was her peaceful space away from Brian. And she felt safe with Jake and Chippy. And Jake was completely right; a beer and some peanuts were exactly what she needed right now. 

-----------------------------

Can't wait to check in with Beer Boy's former frat brother. And can't wait for Reedy to spend some more time at Jake's place. Thanks @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls

PART 9

@blahehblah

@sotalife

@desert-fern

@furiouspiespytaco

@rosiahills22

@daggerspare-standingby

@je-suis-prest-rachel

@callsign-joyride

@theharddeck

@withakindheartx

@roosterscockpit

@whatislovevavy

@hangmanbrainrot

@neferpatra

@sehnsuchts-trunken

@averyhotchner

@thedroneranger

@cherrycola27

@mygyn

@hoyaharper

@tallyovie

@gennyanydots

@callsign-magnolia

@whisperofsong

@seriouslyseresin

@double-j

@bradshawsbitch

@sugarcoated-lame

@katiebby04

@anotherr-fine-mess

@supernaturaldawning

@chassy21

@tylerjones98

@captainjaspenor

@gigisimsonmars

@fanboyswhore9

@angel-w0nderland

@abaker74

@idontcare-11

@isaebellaa

@bringnattolife

@xoxabs88xox

@djs8891

@hufflepufftruffle

@cottagecori

[confirmeddead]

Thank you so much for replying to my super long ask! Really liked hearing your take on it all! And I look forward to your planned post about JA’s comments!

First, just to clarify I’m not against an enemies-to-lovers plot for Daniel and Armand, I just fear it would be the old rom-com trope of “hate each other but have sexual chemistry resulting in hooking up and then just eventually liking each other”. Cause that is a pretty shallow relationship dynamic, and I just want there to be something more to it. I agree there’s potential for something really interesting! Especially given San Francisco, Armand turning Daniel, them literally being ’bonded’ and the kinda enforced intimacy between them (sent an ask about that a long time ago, if you recall?^^).

I fear that the show is not halfway as interested in the relationship as we fans are. Like the above trope between them just doesn’t make any sense, but what if that is where the show is going? Especially given AZ’s comment about the line being thin between hate and love. Or in light of the fact that one of the show’s trademarks being foreshadowing and playing the long game - but there not being any real foreshadowing about DM? I know they’ve promised to do DM, but the lack of any personal moments/scenes between Armand and Daniel (the exception being ’rest’) just makes me worry it will be shallow and come out of nowhere. Like my nightmare is that Armand and Daniel will just be like “Guess we’re even/I freaking still hate your (both to each other)” -> cue make-out as a consequence of the sexual tension fueled by hatred-mixed attraction”. Obviously it would be done with better and more subtle dialogue, but the scenario itself isn’t… great. Because I agree with you that SF and Armand’s (and Daniel’s) respective past should add dimensions to their dynamic!

Could you clarify for me what you meant with Daniel not dropping the subject? I’m very curious and I don’t think I really understood what you meant? I assume you don’t mean the subject being why Armand turned him, if it was out of spite like Louis said (and AZ and Rolin stated)? Because if it’s due to spite/hatred there isn’t really anything more to nail down for Daniel, I think? I do like you theory that Armand still to some extent stalked Daniel, even if pastDM wasn’t a thing - it does make sense - and that in turn could be be part of why Daniel would now chase Armand - to nail down what Armand’s been doing around his life, if that’s what you mean? Possibly figuring out how to be fascinating and ending up curious about Daniel?

Or do you mean Daniel will pursue Armand as the subject because Armand is the (fascinating) subject to nail down? Cause I can see that being pretty compelling, and a good start of something between them. However, I don’t know if Daniel chasing Armand and demanding his story/time/guidance with vampirism would be something this Daniel would do - because of San Francisco/the Dubai turning (if it was out of spite). Daniel seemingly hates Armand after s2e5, because of what he put him through, understandably so (confirmed in interviews by EB). So I don’t see him expanding any great effort or in any way compromising his pride to ask/persuade Armand to share his tale or guidance. Daniel’s chasing after Armand to get him to tell his tale/or for guidance just feels out of synch with where Daniel is emotionally with Armand at the end of the season in that case? Maybe Daniel is emotionally over it after Dubai and due to exposing/breaking up Armand’s relationship with Louis as revenge, but I don’t know…? I have a hard time seeing Daniel asking anything of Armand at this moment, because of their past and bad blood (haha - see what I did there? :P). I could possibly see Armand starting to stalk/chase Daniel, falling into his old pattern of attaching himself to who broke apart his previous status quo though maybe?

I could easily see Daniel being fascinated with Armand and wanting his story (and I like that as a plot) and it could believably fuel a chase, but we never actually see this Daniel being fascinated by Armand in the show. This lack of foreshadowing is honestly what trips me up, because no matter the limited time the writers had there was definitely time for a single scene or even a just a moment hinting at it. Daniel was curious about Armand-as-Rashid, but after the season one finale he became mostly only suspicious and determined to expose him - which makes sense in context and doesn’t rule out any further curiosity, but we never got to see even a tiny hint of any? Not even in s2e3? Maybe I’m missing something though? We do see them make eyes at each other - so sexual chemistry, but no single line of dialogue revealing any hint of fascination or curiosity. Possibly Armand’s line about the proposal does reveal that he stalked Daniel, so that could be something but I’m not sure if that is the case. Daniel wants to write more books and know more of the vampiric world - he evidently decides to do a documentary of Lestat. So I guess I could maybe see Daniel demanding Armand share his tale as a kind of “least you can do since you attacked/turned me/tortured me back in the 70’s” - but I don’t know if that emotionally makes sense to Daniel at the end of s2 or why would Armand would acquiesce.

Rolin’s comments have irked me as well, especially him talking about Armand turning Daniel like it’s “the” DM thing. Of course it’s important that Armand is the one to turn Daniel, but that fact is a pretty small part of that makes the DM relationship what it is. The turning itself is arguably a bigger thing, but that apparently isn’t important enough to do on screen? Rolin also saying that any interaction between Daniel and Armand is DM annoyed me, because I can wait but please don’t put the bar of what DM is on the floor. I assume he said so because he’s surprised about the interest in the pairing and because we won’t see anything substantial still about DM in s3, so a way to manage expectations.

Very grateful for your previous reply, sorry for long ask (again) - I really like reading your ideas and speculation, and obviously feel free to disagree with any of my takes - I’m very curious to hear your view! Thank you!

Hi!

I actually don’t agree that there hasn’t been foreshadowing for them getting together. I think every moment between Armand and Daniel is important. I don’t mean “all moments are DM”, but every snarky comment, smirk, moment alone is just building viewers up to gasp at the Armand turned Daniel reveal. He interacts with Daniel SO MUCH in the show, even when he was playing Rashid. That shouldn’t be overlooked.

So funny story, I know people in my life (and others I’ve seen online) who have no clue about Devil’s Minion and aren’t on socials for the show. They’ve specifically pointed out the “weird vibes” between Daniel and Armand aka the flirty vibes. It’s funny that they don’t even realize this is a thing in the books.

And the moments between them in Dubai are always so… odd. The prayer scene and 2x3 one-on-one interview? I’m not saying they were flirting, but these were the moments people were seeing and going “huh” about. A lot goes on with just the eyes. Remember Eric’s comment about the eye acting going on in S2?

“We do a lot of looking at each other," he said of Daniel and Armand. "I do a lot of listening to Jacob, but we do a lot of looking, checking out each other as this relationship continues to go through quite a lot of changes in all the episodes."

I think this does say a lot. Armand’s eyes say so much. The small laughs during their moments together. SF Daniel could never make Armand smile like that. They’re asking us to use context clues- Armand can’t help but be drawn to Daniel.

And opening himself up to Daniel in 2x03, however embellished it may have been. He didn’t exactly portray himself in the best light. In 2x04 he tells his story in the museum. This is the same guy who asked Louis not to do the interview, tortured Daniel over the first one in SF, hid from Daniel in S1. And now he’s telling him about his abuse. It wasn’t necessary to the story, but he let Daniel know KNOWING Daniel’s history using someone’s past against them. There’s something there, something important.

The writing is never that black and grey, to me. I trust that it’s not going to be brushed off because, frankly, Eric is Rolin’s favorite. Like, his DREAM casting. He’s gonna put his whole foot into the writing (as the show has already done!). Eric’s enthusiasm for his character and future with Armand should be exciting for them. They can’t outright say things because a lot has changed in their dynamic and less is known to us about our Daniel’s future. Talking about plot lines for his future relationship seems like an irrelevant question from the press to the writers. It’s like asking where Claudia is in the present when season 2 hadn’t even aired- we’d get there eventually!

So with Daniel not dropping the subject, I’m talking about him being a journalist.

“'... Interviewed a fallen Catholic archbishop, four Enron vice presidents and if they've got something to hide they always start with some kind of disguise.'”

He’s good at his job- maybe not the wives and kids business, but his job? He nails it. He did that with and for Louis with the S2 finale reveal. Daniel doesn’t give off the vibe that he’d just sit back and shrug that his maker walked out on him. It’s not even about the hatred and spite, but about the why. We don’t know why, I don’t think he does, either. I definitely don’t think Louis does! No one knows what’s running through that thick skull of Armand’s. And with Armand’s backstory with Marius coming to the forefront at some point in the season, he’s getting puzzle pieces to the person Armand is. What does he do with them? He finishes the puzzle.

Again, I don’t think Daniel needs the guidance anymore. Daniel hasn’t needed guidance in years- he figures it out. Armand’s a fascinating subject but it’s gonna become more personal than that. It’s gonna be personal for him. This is his life now, that’s his maker. He can’t separate himself from his subject now. It’s going to come to a head when Marius is revealed to be alive, that’s my working theory. Oh, another lie from Armand? No… not a lie. Not at all. Armand’s been lied to and doesn’t even realize it. I’d love to see Daniel approach Armand with a white flag waved. Maybe he hates his maker, but Marius? He lied to his fledgling for damn near 500 years. Maybe he can almost forgive the crazy for a second to TELL HIM.

I genuinely think the “all interactions are DM” comment is bullshit. Like that man was SO tired of Devil’s Minion comments while beginning press for the TVL season. He’s had to hear it for years now. I don’t think they’re surprised at all that DM is popular, but Rolin takes me as the person to wear his feelings on his sleeve. Any comments he’s made are very “STOP ASKING ME. Here, have this or whatever.” I think when the DM questions become relevant, he’d happily answer.

Sorry if my comments are all over the place but thanks again for your ask!

[kyouka-supremacy]

Atsushi for the ask game.

ATSUSHI HERE WE GO THANK YOU FOR HEARING MY PRAYERS

Favorite thing about them: HIS SELFISHNESS. It's so so delicious to explore. Can you imagine a protagonist that saves others not out of simple good will, but because of egoistic self-preservation motives? It just feels counterintuitive for me lmao, and I found it quite messed up when I first watched the anime, but now it's so compelling to explore. His whole “everything I do is in order to gain the right to live” is crazy fashinating. Because lol, that's entirely nonsensical to me! There's no such thing as “gaining the right to live”; all humans, every person in the world is inherently deserving of life. All. No exception. So there's no level of “weak” or “worthless” that would make you lose that right. The fact that's it's a vision so distant and absurd from mine, idk, it just makes it very compelling to explore? “What if there was a little fucked up guy who believed the right to live had to be earned” just sounds like a very interesting premise.

Least favorite thing about them: When I first watched the anime, I think I found him low-key annoying? I just... Don't do very well with self-deprecating people and people who complain a lot in general, I usually suffer in silence and tend to (wrongly) assume others should do the same (this probably makes me sound pretty mean, I swear I try to be understanding irl). However, it doesn't bother me as much anymore, I simply think it's more of a distinctive trait of the character that makes him multilayered and unique. As of now, I can't think of anything I don't like about him if not the fact that I wish he'd rely on Dazai and others in general a little less. I know that has to do with his lack of self-worth, so maybe it makes sense,, but as of now he feels kind of stuck. I just wish we'd see him grow more on that front.

Favorite line:

There may be better ones, but I really like the delivery of this one.

brOTP: KYOUKA AND ATSUSHI they make me go insane. Already talked about this in the Kyouka post but just to reiterate: in my headcanon Kyouka really is the only person Atsushi feels genuine, selfless affection towards. It's very sweet. They're siblings. Kyouka's happiness is really important for Atsushi. They really do have that feeling of people who got out of an abusive environment learning what normality is supposed to be like together. I also really like how they compensate for what the other lacks, be it decisiveness and coolhead for Atsushi and empathy and positivity for Kyouka. Although plenty shipping them romantically, I really like platonic sskk and atsulucy as well.

OTP: I really like sskk eheh. I think they're neat. There's a thousand and one reasons why I find them pretty great. They're objectively the only reason why I got invested in bsd as well as the only thing that has me keep up with the franchise to this day. Right now, I feel like the one thing I really appreciate about them is how you can be the worst person in the universe and still somehow be loveable to someone. I think it's sweet. I also find it very fun and enterataining to explore their various soulmatism antics. They're both very complex and multilayered characters with something deeply wrong with how their minds work that makes them very fun to analyze both by their own and in the complexity of their relationship. Their collective story arc and canon relationship progression is extremely engaging and nice to follow, too. I love dazatsu and atsulucy as well!! Both were ships I wasn't particularly invested when I read the manga for the first time, but really grew in me in the last six months or so. I really dig akuatsulucy as well!!

nOTP: Nothing?

Random headcanon: He really likes reading. There's some real meta-analysis to be made here I actually had written this is probably not the right place to talk about, but in a work that's all about literature, he's the character who reads.

Unpopular opinion: He's the hardest character to write / characterize. That's why people should probably go easier on other fans when they mischaracterize him. He's just very multifaceted and genuinely hard to get. I keep seeing people being like “Stop babyfying Atsushi he's an independent adult!!” then turn around to say “he can't be shipped with Dazai because there's too much unbalance of power :// [somewhat implying Atsushi can't make free decisions for himself]”, or “Stop making of Atsushi a soft baby who never did wrong in his life!!!” then turn around to say “Atsushi is the happy puppy of the agency who gets treats and pats from everyone ^^ ” like. At least to me, a lot of people's arguments sound self-contradictory all the time; but that doesn't mean people should stop having fun and characterize the characters as they like! Just, let's stop being mean to each other and try to be a little more accepting towards others' takes, shall we? And yes that also includes letting people find Atsushi annoying if they find him annoying (although like, I've NEVER found anyone call Atsushi annoying ever, so really, what remote fandom spaces is everyone visiting? Why are you looking for clothes (good takes) at the soup store (Tik/tok I assume?) ).

Song i associate with them: Common World Domination by Pinocchio-P, HIBANA by DECO*27, Ghost Rule by DECO*27, so on and so forth.

Favorite picture of them:

Favourite panel from the manga:

Favourite illustration: Look, there's too many beautiful illustrations, I can't chose. Here's a very good one though.

Favourite illustration in the anime art style:

But also:

Favourite Mayoi card:

Send me a character?

[thegreatmelodrama]

I talk a lot about the many features of the CW’s Nancy Drew that make it so good, and this post is no different…so let’s talk about filler episodes and Nancy Drew.

I began watching the show in 2021 right after the promo for season 3 dropped and people on tumblr were losing their shit (which having watched season 3 is so real, which is an important point that will make sense later. The mystery immediately drew me in (combined with it being reminiscent of Buffy and Veronica Mars), however, there was also something about the show that felt nostalgic and yet oddly refreshing. Looking back at it now, that something is the fact that the show, especially the early seasons, had the structure of shows prior to streaming—20-ish 30-40 minute episodes. This is largely due to the fact that, due to some miracle that I will forever be grateful for show ran prior to and post COVID.

This structure lends itself to having a season long story arc as well as minor arcs and “filler” episodes. I put filler episodes in quotations because to me filler episodes don’t just “take up spaces” but actually serve to strengthen the show’s interpersonal relationships one hand while also allowing an exploration of each individual character on the other. Such happens by the very fact that the episode takes place away from (and sometimes adjacent to) the central storyline. All of this is to say that filler episodes play (in my opinion at least) an important role in making a show (its story and characters) that much more compelling in which it actually resonates with its viewers (well that and also a weekly release schedule which is a whole other post).

Most shows today follow the same 8-10 episode format (with some episodes being nearly an hour long), in which writers have to fit in an entire story-line (or at least part of it) while also trying to introduce and develop their characters individually and as a group. This structure gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “it’s the small things in life” because in the context of these shows, audiences have to rely to a large extent on these small interactions or moments between characters. This format works for some shows, but for others, many would benefit from at the very least an extra episode or two. Nancy Drew doesn’t just tell us that these people became friends family, it shows us. Even in season four when the writers were hard pressed to wrap up this story and the characters, we were still treated to Drew crew bonding with the Reaping of Oak Hollow (aka the board game from hell episode). Shows these days don’t have the time to shows the steady development of group dynamics, frankly because they don’t have the time, especially since another season isn’t guaranteed (in fact these days renewal seems like a rarity). There are some great exceptions, but such is no longer the norm.

[batbabydamian]

Re: the poll, option C all the way. Like first of all it looks great and second of all Damian looking like Dick when he's older is something that can be sooooooo personal. The fact that no one has played with nightwing!Damian except injustice (ew) and briefly in nightwing (2016) #16-20 is a travesty to me. PLEASE IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE FOR HIS ARC DC LISTEN TO ME;

i am so weak to Dick and Damian dynamic so you make a VERY compelling case HAHA

YOU ALSO MADE ME REMEMBER WHEN ALFRED SAID DAMIAN LOOKED LIKE DICK IN INJUSTICE 😭

[cabe0512]

I'm not exactly good with drawing digital art but...

These are my versions of Shaft and Tera for my Nocturne rewrite, now retitled "The Rondo of Blood". While I am discarding much of Nocturne's entire storyline, there are a few spades from that which remain in the rewrite. Among these is that Tera (now Teranova Renard) and Shaft (formerly Enoch Laforeze) are the parents of Maria Renard.

Although I would lament that Tera will have a much smaller role compared to her Nocturne counterpart (as she appears only in flashbacks), much of her character traits (and that of Edouard, who also doesn't appear much in the rewrite) are transferred to Annette de Winter (who is more in line with her game counterpart with a few major liberties; she's now a French alchemist who is a confidant of Richter Belmont as well as the older cousin of Maria Renard).

Unlike Nocturne however, the main antagonist through and through is Shaft (as it should've been, as he's the second main villain of the original game). Not Erzebeth nor Drolta, as they should've been reserved for an adaptation of Bloodlines (which is highly unlikely considering the directors' favorite character Alucard isn't in the game). With Dracula out of the picture (for now), I used the opportunity to flesh out Shaft as a major character and it... clicked.

The extensive backstory I wrote for him (while tragic) aligns perfectly with the Revolutionary France setting, as a humble priest with a dark past who fell astronomically from grace and morality after witnessing his own home crumble before him in chaos and disorder. This makes him a lot more compelling and, quite controversially, a more interesting villain than Erzebeth. In fact, with his background as a cult leader, it makes far more sense for him to be called the "Messiah".

Shaft, in this version, is an adept Forgemaster (and a descendant of Hector, as The Curse of Darkness is canon in this alternate timeline) who leads a nationwide cult with a dream to conquer Europe beginning with France. It would be a nice change in formula to have a main antagonist who's not a powerful ancient vampire but a human who is just as dangerous as one. As a result, his zealous ambitions are challenged by the great vampire lords of Europe, who fear that he himself will topple their dominion over the wider continent. This is a stark comparison to Emmanuel from Nocturne, who is a pretty pathetic priest (in my opinion) who makes alliances with the vampires to bring down the revolutionaries (by itself is a blasphemy to imagine), and merely uses a machine for making night creatures (that don't function properly).

The circumstance of him being Maria's father is much more significant than Nocturne as, following the tragedy that set Shaft on a darker path, he had purged every ounce of humanity left within him to keep himself going. Unlike Dracula, he was hellbent on watching the world burn and build a "paradise" out of it that he wouldn't let such "petty emotions" tear him away from his path. Nothing except Maria, his only connection to the peaceful life he once had and the kind man he once was. For all these reasons, his obsessive desire to find her is what kick-starts the events of the main storyline.

I'd add more about Annette in this version, as well as Richter and Maria, but that's a different set of blog posts altogether.

[betterbemeta]

re @mousebrass

[context]

Sorry for the delay, I just needed some time to simmer my answer. (for frame of reference, I'm mostly referring to fallout 3 and fallout 4. not new vegas, and I don't know enough about FO76.)

When I said 'Bethesda's fallout will never say no to you', I meant in sort of a structural sense. The gameplay and the storytelling combine in Bethesda's fallout games to do nothing but affirm the player's forward motion.

They do this so well the storytelling is ONLY a function of the gameplay loop: a relay race that progresses with total blindness to what the player actually does so long as they hit the checkpoints that advance things along.

Forward motion is good, we need stories to progress and to get from one event to another, we don't want to run around in circles in a game achieving nothing. And we don't want to encounter a true dead end, or a frustrating 'sorry mario the princess is in another castle!' situation where we feel our prior actions were pointless.

BUT. Hear me out. Negativity, 'being told no', friction along the way, is important to an 'adventure' being more than just an endless gopher loop.

Lucy MacLean IS given objectives in her journey. But the narrative is not her personal facilitator; instead she can't proceed UNLESS she does these increasingly heinous uncomfortable things, okey dokey! She COULD choose not to do them, but she'd 'fail' or thinks she would. Her struggle 'drives the story' rather than styling her actions as intuitively synonymous with 'progress.'

In Bethesda Fallout games. It really doesn't matter what dialog options you choose, progress is inevitable. And blind. If you choose peaceful or guns-blazing approaches. Want to join the fascists? You won't encounter too much content that places pressure on you for doing that. Want to side with the scrappy underdogs? Done, it won't be that much of a strain on your resources. Take the evil option? Except for maybe a few NPCs that could desert you, you won't be constrained by that commitment very much.

It's 'the customer's always right', when that idiom exists basically to facilitate transactions and nothing else.

In fact, the one time in a Bethesda fallout game where meaningful pressure or negative consequences impacted you, in fallout 3, the ending was so unpopular it was retconned in a DLC. But it doesn't have to be this way; there are many times in New Vegas where you might feel conflict or constraints on your actions, a 'no' that makes what you actually choose to do feel more interesting. Like, enough times that I think anyone who's played it, could think of one (their favorite one?) right now. I don't even have to list examples, because the variety is great enough that different people can choose which one feels compelling to them.

Remember when I said we wanted to avoid scenarios where we feel futile, running around in circles, pointless, or obstructed? Well, after a while a lot of Bethesda games become that anyway even if they always take the player's side. People just... give up playing a save usually by level 30. Boundless affirmation towards forward motion, where all paths are THE path and you're the main character of reality, it sucks. it's why Lucy MacLean's wasteland experience will leave you wanting to play fallout and then sighing when you boot up the game that just got a 'remaster' and it's still mostly drudgery. When SHE hits 'quest objectives,' her world doesn't say 'yes! now go do...'

It says "oh, hell no. but you gotta... unless maybe..."

[erisenyo]

Reading "These Things Written" right now and every detail you include is so well thought out!!!!!! I love your fics where Sokka and Zuko are older, but I've never gone back and fully read their origins. A mistake on my part, God it's so good. Everything makes so much sense for the characters? Like in chapter 28, where Zuko mentions the fact that Ozai would eventually kill Azula for being a threat? Like yeah!!!! He fucking would??? You're a genius. That's so in character for his shit ass, she's useful now but she's almost too good?!?!? God. How did I not think about that when watching the show or reading other fics? Your brain!!!!!!! I love this version of Zuko too btw, I know I've sent in a couple asks before about your characterization and the heat bending but like!!!!!!! I just think he's so fucking cool! He's such an awkward badass, it kills me. And Sokka is just!!!! 💕💕💕💕 I love his defiant attitude towards wanting things he knows he "shouldn't". Fuck the war babe, get you a boyfriend. Anyways, this is incoherent as usual but I really love your writing and this chapter compelled me to let you know. Have a great day!!!!!!!!!

Anon, you have no idea how happy this ask has made me (^recreation above)

Especially coming chronologically backward into things, I am THRILLED that you're enjoying the Burning Bright origin story so much, and that it's such a rich reading experience! And there's a lot of worldbuilding and characterization going on, and trying to lean on the canon framework but change the tone and feel and motivation. So that it's making so much sense for the characters is wonderful to hear :)

(Ozai fucking would. Short-term thinking to the max, in it for Ozai and no one else...) (And huge credit to all the wonderful meta I was drinking down at the time too that got me really thinking about the characters and their motivations, and as always to the lovely amazing transcendent Epistles)

I am so happy that you are loving this canon version of Zuko, too! Especially knowing that adult, more confident in himself and chill version I tend to write, I love that you're enjoying him in his 'figuring it out' phase so much! Awkward badass is a great descriptor of it haha

And Sokka!! My self-sacrificing guy seizing one single thing for himself in his whole life and then holding on with everything he's got. Fuck the war is right, except not really, but hey, you can also fuck your boyf-

Anyways! This was lovely and amazing and I'm so touched and happy that you are enjoying my writing and the story so much, thank youuuuu!!!

[mooseonahunt]

Cat’s Out of the Bag

Minecraft Streamer AU

Okay so I’ve had this thought brewing for a bit, but it’s about irl Serennedy vs their SMP characters. It’s about their relationship in and out of the Minecraft roleplay. It’s a lot so I’ll put it under the cut.

If they’re following the plot of the RE4 remake (with plenty of changes to make it fit Minecraft), then they’re clearly not together as a couple. But, for all the same reasons that we ship them, they’ve got those little moments interspersed in the roleplay and their fans pick up on them, too. It’s subtle enough not to out them, but it’s also subtle enough for it to be dismissed as being close friends (which they are; they’re dating but they’re also each other’s best friends).

So that kind of brought me to their shipping boundaries that I’ve posted elsewhere. Luis is chill with being shipped with other characters as long as the CC is also fine with it, but there’s kind of an exception with Leon. Luis is the captain of the Serennedy fanbase even though Leon has never outright stated his shipping boundaries. He never addresses it. Naturally there’s a divide in the fandom over whether or not it’s okay to ship Serennedy because, on the one hand, Luis is incredibly supportive of it, but on the other hand, Leon hasn’t ever said anything about it. It’s unclear what his thoughts are about it, but Luis is his best friend and encourages it, so it’s probably fine, right? There’s a lot of discourse over this.

It’s not like Luis and Leon are hiding their relationship on purpose though. It’s just nobody’s business. If they come out, they come out, but it’s not a huge deal. Besides, focusing on them as strangers developing a sort of friendship is ideal for the story they’re trying to tell. They reason it would make for a more compelling narrative if they’re not sure where they stand with each other because of their pasts instead of having them be together from the start. It makes for great storytelling getting to establish this sense of unease and distrust that develops into total trust after they open up to each other.

Then there’s also the fact that nobody knows they’re living together. They were roommates before they were together, so they each have their own rooms. They stream in their own spaces and don’t interrupt each other when they’re doing their own things, so nobody knows that they’re living together– which brings me to what I’ve been thinking about for a couple days now.

The news that Serennedy is, in fact, canon between the two actual streamers and that they live together doesn’t come out until well into the RE SMP’s story. It doesn’t happen until Luis’s character is killed off.

Luis is upset about his character dying, even if he did propose the idea himself. He wrote his way out of the SMP because he’s in grad school and his workload has started to pick up tremendously. He loved his time on the RE SMP, but he knew he couldn’t devote as much time as he wanted into it with his classwork piling up, so he made the decision to kill off his character. He didn’t realise how bummed out he would be about it until the day of. He finishes his stream, but he’s so sad over the end of his character, so he goes into Leon’s room while he’s still streaming. The chat goes wild. They realise Luis and Leon live together.

Luis walks over to him and asks to be comforted, so he sits on his lap and hugs him while Leon finishes up his stream. Again, the chat is going crazy. Serennedy is trending on Twitter. But that’s just a hug! It’s still totally friendly! Totally platonic! Leon pecks Luis on the lips because he knows he’s sad. That’s the end of the shipping discourse. People who thought they were queerbaiting are losing their shit. It’s like Nov 5th, 2020 for the Hellers except it’s actually clearly reciprocated. Leon ends stream like nothing’s happening. Ashley calls him to ask if everything’s okay because outing themselves like that was an insane move, but she’s happy for them and feels relieved that she doesn’t have to worry about slipping up and accidentally outing them herself.

The craze goes on for like a week and then everyone accepts it as the new normal. For a while nobody can get the Serennedy shippers to shut up about being right about them. Of course there are haters that drop the RE SMP, but they’re a minority and it’s not really noticeable when they leave.

This is subject to change as I continue to develop the AU, but I like this as the reveal. Sorry for rambling. I’m just really into this AU rn

[dandelionsandderivatives]

Oooh, tell me about Mer Lin and/or The Magician’s Guinea Pig! (your choice)

Someone else asked for The Magician's Guinea Pig, so you get to hear about both!

Mer Lin is the working title for a Tam Lin/Merlin (BBC) crossover. Merlin was a huge guilty pleasure for me and my siblings back when it had just been released, and it's a very weird show because it combines some genuinely cool ideas with some genuinely baffling creative choices (my poor Morgana and her arc). As far as I can tell, the vast majority of fic authors also feel a great love for the characters and a great frustration for the writing, and so there are a ton of very interesting AUs and fix-its and such.

Anyway, about two years ago I was listening to every interpretation of Tam Lin I could get my hands on, and somehow I came up with the idea of doing Tam Lin but in the Merlin universe – and the pun, of course, made the whole project worthwhile. (Sometimes I'm not sure if it's kind of me to subject my readers to my sense of humor, but it's not like they're compelled to keep reading if they don't like it.)

This is, like a lot of Merlin fics, set in an alternate universe where Everything Turned Out Okay, and Merlin and Morgana ended up together. Except everything's not okay; Arthur is on the throne, but everything is slightly off in Camelot. Gwen sews on the same project every day but never seems to finish it; Arthur's knights joust and play chess and never do anything else. And only Morgana seems to remember that they used to have a court sorceror, and that she was married to him. So yes, this is essentially Tam Lin + a sort of time loop (which, now I think about it, is very similar to the one from the first season of Once Upon a Time). The backstory was supposed to be a slow reveal wherein we find out that Camelot has been at war with a magical army for some time. Merlin managed to avert at least some of the danger, but as a consequence he's now magically enslaved to the queen of said army, and he's also lost his memory. Given that he's possibly the most powerful sorceror ever, this is bad news for the world at large. Morgana's the protagonist and is trying to rescue Merlin so that they can break the time loop – which will, of course, happen through faithfulness, as in Tam Lin proper.

I like many things about this idea – for one, I think that fantasy novels based on Tam Lin are almost always great. But I'm actually not sure how well it interacts with the source material. The fun of fanfic, imo, comes from making the source material work with different storylines, characters, themes, etc., and I'm not sure that the canon material adds much to this plotline. It might be better with original characters, but then it might feel uncomfortably similar to Fire and Hemlock.

I do still think the idea has its interesting points – I think the situation is the sort of thing that would have made a good episode of the show, and it fits pretty well into the formula, which goes something like this:

Magical crisis envelopes Camelot

Our protagonists (usually Merlin) have to scramble to figure out how to stop magical crisis

Arthur is oblivious

The crisis is averted by throwing more magic at it

End with Merlin, somehow, having to do some unpleasant menial labour

You'll notice I've innovated by cutting out Step 5 and having Morgana do the investigating in Step 2.

All joking aside, though, I think the real heart of this fic would be the tension and romance between Merlin and Morgana, and the idea that, as in canon, they're the only two together against the world that doesn't acknowledge or understand them. (I think this is maybe where the idea came from originally.) I think one of the issues I'm having with writing it is that a good amount of their tension in canon comes from the fact that their arcs are inverses of each other, and in this AU they would obviously have a different relationship. I'm pretty good at writing yearning, but I don't know if I can write it convincingly enough to make this story feel worthwhile. Maybe it would help if I flipped the roles? But then I think that part of the fun of this is having Merlin, who's generally rescuing everyone else in canon, be the rescue-ee. (It's a fairly popular plot in fanfics, so I'm not the only one who likes it.)

Anyway, this is one story idea that has a very cool vibe in my head, but I'm not sure it's enough to build a story on. I do like the fact that I haven't seen quite this plot in Merlin fic before, and I think it would be possible to set up some cool echoes of canon (in that Morgana would essentially be doing the same thing Merlin did in the earlier seasons). But I think it needs more justification to be set in this universe.

I still think the name "Mer Lin" is hilarious, though.

[kiss-my-freckle]

Full Episode Commentary

2x7: Masquerade

Because Isobel got the Gilbert device by going through Elena, it makes sense for Katherine to get the moonstone by going through Elena… so she has Lucy bind them. Why the brothers didn't think of this already is beyond me, but whatever. Matt, Jeremy, and Elena help Jenna into the house. She's recooperating from her compelled self-inflicted stab wound. Jeremy asks Elena what they're gonna do about Katherine. Elena is ready to let it go in her belief that Katherine won't try anything else. Jeremy tells her she's being naive, and it's true. She's naive more often than not because it's typical of these characters to have a dual purpose for their actions. While Elena believes this was all about Stefan, it's just as much about her. She has no idea that Katherine plans to hand her over to Klaus in eachange for her freedom.

Lucy meets with Katherine at the bed and breakfast she's been staying. Everyone is at the boarding house, pulling their plan together to kill Katherine. This is what a family does... it plans to kill Katherine. And if I'm to be completely honest, this family exists because of Damon and Elena. If it were up to Stefan, he'd still be lying to Elena... hiding the fact that he's a vampire. They've got Damon, Stefan, Alaric, Jeremy, Caroline, and now Bonnie in on this plan. Katherine already has all she needs to stop them from killing her, but it was a great plan.

"You wanted me to show you how to kill a vampire." This is similar to what Elena uses on Stefan in season 3. Katherine is keeping secrets even from Lucy. She doesn't want her to know her intention with the moonstone. According to Katherine, Elena has poor taste. Lucy is fantastic in her response. "Except in men."

Bonnie: I know you love Elena and you want to be with her, but it's risky. Too many people could get hurt. Stefan: Look, I want Elena back, yes but it's more than that. What Katherine did to Jenna it crossed the line. She has to be stopped before it happens again.

Bonnie knows exactly what this is about. Stefan tells her Katherine has to be stopped before this thing with Jenna happens again, but it only happened because he was with Elena. He's now manipulating Bonnie. Because Bonnie can isolate Katherine like Emily did with the tomb vampires, the risk to other people is gone, so... Stefan gets his way. Despite getting what he wants, he's completely ignoring the obvious. Elena's aunt nearly died because they were seeing each other and they thought they could get one over on Katherine.

"Just something, I can't talk about it, but I've got to go." It's beyond me why Elena didn't suspect Matt of being compelled, but she states the obvious. There's so much about her and Stefan that'll never work. Like the fact that he's a vampire. It certainly doesn't help that Stefan is extremely dishonest. "No, I need you to stay with Elena. I don't want her to know about this." Stefan continues to keep secrets while Elena prefers being in the thick of it. I like how prepared they are to kill Katherine, having no idea she's tied to Elena. They're gonna be so disappointed.

"This whole masquerade theme was his idea. I don't know what it has to do with helping the homeless but once he made up his mind, he could really be a dick…a jerk. But I loved him and I know you did too. It's natural to feel abandoned. I just don't want you to feel alone."

I love this scene of Tyler and his mother. Katherine walks into the party with Lucy and runs into Matt. She double-checks his compulsion to make sure he's ready to get Tyler to kill him for the sake of triggering his werewolf gene. They skip on over to the Salvatores and double-check to make sure they're ready to kill Katherine. Trust me when I tell you that Damon is more ready to kill Katherine than Stefan is. It's because he's been living his truth that Damon is ready, and because Stefan has been living a lie that he's not. Once Damon is ready to kill someone, he doesn't hesitate. He so much as gives this advice to Jeremy when he has to kill Kol and Liv when she tries to kill Elena.

Matt is getting Tyler drunk just as Katherine compelled him to. They're partying in his father's office with Aimee and Sarah. Jeremy and Bonnie head upstairs to do the spell that will confine Katherine away from the party. Bonnie explains to Jeremy that she's using the spell Emily used to seal the vampires into the tomb. Sigh… I hate the fact that Damon seals Katherine in the tomb. He should've just killed her. That'll be his mistake.

Elena is at home, offering Jenna some pizza while she rests on the couch. She's bothered that Jeremy went to the masquerade ball., and knows well enough to question Alaric about it. "Just let this one go." I love their alternate meanings. They're so good with them. This is the big deal in 3x22. She's gonna let Stefan go, but Klaus gets staked and messes up everything. "I just got a weird vibe." I love how Bonnie can feel Lucy's presence. She walks up to Lucy and asks if she knows her. Lucy lies to her, and I feel this is because she owes Katherine. Stefan catches sight of Katherine, and I love this Head Over Heels soundtrack.

Katherine: Dance with me. Stefan: No. Katherine: Fine, then tell me who I should kill. Him? Hmm, she looks delicious.

This is what becomes of Stefan's compulsion in 3x5. All summer spent carrying on a charade with Klaus.

Katherine demands Stefan bring her the moonstone. "My way or you don't get it." Stefan really thinks he's something. Katherine kills Aimee in the middle of the party because the woman doesn't care.

Elena can't handle being out of the loop. Stefan is gonna get too boring for her. I can already sense it. Stefan tries to call it off, but Damon is more than ready to kill Katherine.

Trust me when I say this has nothing to do with Katherine killing Aimee. Stefan has no problem killing for the sake of protecting Elena. This is about Katherine. He's not ready, so Damon has to ready him. lol… Jeremy tells Bonnie he'd learn how to do a sex spell, then asks her to dance. He's definitely falling for the witch. I could sense it when she did the spell to seal Katherine in the room. Lucy is pissed. She confronts Katherine about Bonnie being a witch. Katherine is such a bitch, but isn't that the point? Elena isn't Katherine, but she can very much act like Katherine. Jeremy walks up to Katherine and talks to her as Elena. When Lucy leaves, he starts talking to her as Katherine.

Katherine: And why are you their little messenger? Jeremy: Because they know I'm not afraid of you.

Jeremy's anger is driving his courage. He's pissed off that Katherine nearly killed Jenna. She asks him if they've sewn John's fingers back on. Elena comes out from behind the bushes to grab Jeremy and asks him what's going on.

Pretty Caroline. She sets her eyes on Matt, who is now flirting with Sarah. They have no idea that Aimee is dead. Caroline is jealous, but she leaves them be. Tyler takes them back to his office. He has no idea that Matt was compelled to trigger his werewolf gene.

Devil and darkness… the red and black is so gorgeous. Katherine falls for the misdirect. Jeremy leads her to believe the brothers are luring her out to the lake. Caroline steps in for the sake of luring her into a room that Bonnie spelled. "Okay, stop with the we, are you guys crazy? You're gonna get yourselves killed." Elena likes being in the middle of it even if she could get herself killed. She needs to accept that her brother and her best friend will continue to be a part of this so long as she does. She's such a damn hypocrite. But Elena has... taken on this motherly role with everyone and I can't stand it. She needs to be the friend, the sister, and the niece. "And how am I supposed to feel if one of you guys gets hurt because of me?"Just as frustrating that she never considers the opposite. How are they to feel if she gets hurt. That's why I'm glad Jeremy pipes in. It's not just her anymore. That's what happens when you invite vampires into your life. But there'd be no show without it, so I suppose. At any rate, Elena is the type of person that would force her friends the pain of losing her rather than face the pain of losing her friends. It's a double-edged sword... someone is gonna hurt one way or the other. It's because of this that I disagree with her plan for the ritual. I'll explain why when I get there.

lol… Caroline got one over on their 500 year old vampire. I love it. That's gotta be a nice ego boost, yeah? "Goodbye, Katherine" becomes "Goodbye, Caroline" when Elena visits her at the tomb. These scenes are so spectacular. Damon got his scene with Katherine in 2x1. Stefan got his scenes with Katherine in 2x4. Now it's both brothers with Katherine. They're getting off on hurting her, having no idea they're also hurting Elena.

They purposefully put Damon in this position… just like Caroline at the carnival. He wants to kill Katherine badly, but this is how much power Elena has over him. "It's times like these I really miss Elena. If she were here, Damon wouldn't be doing any of this." The difference between Elena at the carnival and Elena at the masquerade ball… that's how the necklace helps Damon in the 8th season. She doesn't have to be there to be there. "You think you two are the only ones with a witch on your side? Wrong. And something tells me that my witch is better than your witch." I love it when Katherine speaks too soon. Lucy is gonna drop her ass. Katherine opened her mouth and told them she has a witch, so Jeremy runs back to Bonnie to tell her about it… now Bonnie knows what that weird vibe was. She's going after Lucy like it's nobody's business. I love Bonnie lol.

"The brother who loved me too much and the one that didn't love me enough." This will become the issue for Elena. That's why both Shane and Alaric speak to Elena loving Damon too much. She repeats some of Damon's history because she loves him as he loved Katherine. "And the evil slut vampire who only loved herself." Damon doesn't have a problem with Katherine's sex, he has a problem with sex being her manipulation tactic. He hates the knowing that Katherine used it to manipulate him.

This is their series finale scene. "I wanted that Damon to live…" That's when Damon basically takes off his 145 yo mask. Stefan sees that side of him that he hasn't seen since 1864. "Oh, that Damon died a long time ago." Damon admits this truth several times throughout the show. "Oh, why don't you two stop antagonizing each other?" Damon isn't antagonizing, he's being honest. Stefan simply isn't ready to accept this truth, but he'll have no choice when he's face to face with his brother. "Does Elena enjoy having both of you worship at her alter?" Sounds like jealousy to me. She created two vampires for the sake of having them for an eternity, now they want nothing to do with her.

Katherine: Does Elena enjoy having both of you worship at her alter Stefan: That was really desperate, Katherine. Don't you think that we can see right through you? Katherine: So it doesn't bother you that Damon's in love with your girlfriend? Stefan: Oh, stop it.

Katherine hits Stefan's jealousy. So hilarious.

"Or what? You'll hurt me? Come on, Stefan. Everything that I feel, Elena feels, so go ahead. Or better yet, kiss me, Damon. She'll feel that, too." Pleasure over pain. They're making an insanely huge deal about Damon's kiss, and for good reason. As I said before, Elena falls in love with Damon as Damon fell in love with Katherine. So yes, 1864 Damon is everything that Elena wants. The confidence and years of experience that vampirism allowed Damon. That's why Katherine is hung up on their porch kiss. I guarantee you that Damon never kissed Katherine the way he kissed Katherine while believing she was Elena.

"God, you're hot. When did you get so hot?" I chalk this scene up to the same thing. The confidence and years of experience that vampirism allowed Damon.

"I'll have to remember that for next time. He's not the only wolf in town." The Salvatores should've gotten Caroline to take care of Tyler… like immediately. The beauty about Tyler still being human is that he can be compelled by Caroline. They should've been on it, seriously. They cut to Matt starting a fight. Had Caroline gotten there in time, she could've stopped the whole thing. Then yeah… Klaus would've been screwed for his ritual.

I feel so bad for Tyler. Poor Matt has no idea. And it's insane what Mason gets to watch from the other side. Because Katherine spent the day telling Stefan about her deal with George Lockwood, Damon is out of the loop on the moonstone. This is the side of the story he needed. Just in the knowing that it unlocks something, Damon should've tossed that moonstone back into the well. It's best to view that moonstone like you would Emily's taliman, and look at how Damon kept it safe for 145 years.

"In 1987, you were in Chicago at a concert of all places with that wench, Lexi. Come on, Stefan, don't look so surprised. Of course I checked in on you over the years. You were standing in the front row, dancing all night. You were watching Bon Jovi, and I was watching you."

Damon is having a hard time listening to Katherine talk about how she checked in on Stefan. The more he hears, the more he sees just how foolish he was. Katherine wouldn't send Isobel. She checked on Stefan herself.

Lucy: Look, I don't want to hurt you. Bonnie: I don't want to hurt you.

I love Bonnie. Girl isn't playing. This is a channeling scene, that's why the lights flicker. They're gonna take Lucy out and put Luka in.

"Right away, Miss Katherine." I love Damon's sarcasm. He's so pissed that he's not thinking clearly. He knows that staking Katherine could kill Elena. Stefan does the same thing in season 3. He knows staking Klaus could kill him and Damon, but he gets so pissed lol. Vampires are fun when they're angry. I love Lucy. She disconnects Elena before giving Katherine the moonstone that drops her on her ass, then apologizes to the brothers for her involvement. She's literally giving them the open to kill Katherine because she involved a Bennett witch. Caroline tells Tyler she knows he's a werewolf. This makes him suspect she's a werewolf too.

Bonnie: Please, don't leave! I have so many questions. I don't want to be in the middle either. I hate it. How do I stay out of it? Lucy: Unlike me, you're one of the good ones, Bonnie. The middle of it is exactly where you need to be. You take care, cuz. Don't worry, you'll see me again.

I wish they would've brought Lucy back into the show. Instead, we're stuck with Luka and his father. They never did a birthday for Jeremy. I'm not sure if he started the show at 16, but he's 16 because he offers Bonnie a ride home. This "Brave" soundtrack is perfect for Delena. It coincides with Elena's "Brave New World" with Damon.

"I know you love Elena and you want to be with her, but it's risky." Like I said, Bonnie knew what this was about. That's why he was pissed that Damon made an enemy of Mason. He wanted Damon solely focused on helping him see Elena out in the open rather than in secret.

"But first, I need to wake up and know that the people that I love are safe. I need to feel safe." This becomes Elena's issue in season 3. More to the fact that it wasn't her choice to lie to Klaus. She literally wakes up to train with Alaric because she doesn't feel safe. "Katherine being gone doesn't change anything for you, does it?" That's where this line matters. Katherine being gone doesn't change anything for Elena, but Klaus getting staked does. She's Damon's girlfriend. Elena basically blames her relationship with Stefan for all that's happening right now… which is the difference between seasons. She can actually blame their relationship for what happens to her in season 3. She can't in season 2.

Katherine: Where am I? Damon: Where you should have been all along.

This is Damon's season 5 mistake. It's what allows Katherine to take over Elena's body. Not the first mistake Damon makes, but that's the way life goes.

"I thought you'd have learned your lesson by now, messing with a Bennett witch." lol... yes, Damon loves his witches. "You should have killed me." I say the same thing over and over again. He should've killed her. Who cares if death would've been too kind. She's gonna be the reason Stefan dies in the end, so yes, I consider this another mistake.

"Then I'll protect her while you rot in hell." The series finale is already taking shape. This is the church where the vampires were supposed to burn. Damon doesn't take Katherine's threat seirously because she's screaming to get out of the tomb, who's to say she wouldn't lie to get out of it.

But this is what closure looks like for Damon.

Trevor has someone abduct Elena on her way to the car because Damon didn't take Katherine's threat seriously. Rose is one of my favorite things about season 2. Words can't even begin to describe how much I love her. She's always honest, and once she loses Trevor... she's without agenda. I'm saying that everything out of her mouth is without gain. She's making the Salvatores her new family.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

chiaki, thoughts on concord?

Okay, now this is a real tragedy, because Concord is symbolic of just how difficult it is to be a gamer in this day and age.

2024 has been a year full of disappointments. Most recently, the $15 million budgeted Borderlands movie made only $18.5 million at the box office. Considering that doesn't even pay for the marketing expenses, it's a catastrophe.

Undoubtedly, it's a bad film, but in the realm of video games, we currently have a failure named "Concord." And it's surprising to me that people even remember this game, despite it's recency.

Now, for the record, what I'm about to say is something that makes me genuinely sad. Like...ACTUALLY really sad. So...bear with me.

For those who are unaware, Concord was a generic hero shooter that was released less than 30 days ago, similar to Overwatch or Valorant. Except it had a five-times slower pace, it combined all the worst aspects of earlier hero shooters. The game's movement was really slow; it felt like you're playing on a treadmill. The gameplay was excruciatingly slow and annoying; it seemed as though you're trapped in a slow-motion Zack Snyder movie.

The game was really generic, but it was neither terrible nor unplayable. But at the same time it wasn't really unique, and if someone enjoys this genre of game, there are at least fifty more that are superior. The fact that Concord costed $40 rather than being free to play, like the majority of other multiplayer shooters, is what made it especially foolish. It was destined to fail from the beginning, and today it only managed to launch with a little over 650 users on Steam.

To put that in context, more people played some of the worst failures in gaming history when they first launched. Redfall and even Babylon's Fall, which was such a failure that it was removed from Steam, had more players than Concord had. Compared to Lord of the Rings: Gollum, another huge failure that forced its studio to close, Concord had only a little bit more players.

Now, you must have noticed by now that I've been talking about this game in the past tense, and there's a reason for that. Concord was such a massive failure, that the servers were shut down two weeks after its launch, with all sold copies being refunded. That is a HUGE FAIL.

Concord was a big-budget game that must have cost millions to produce, but nobody wanted to play it. Although I don't personally have strong feelings on the matter, I do find it puzzling how these games are approved in the first place. Everyone sighed in agreement when they saw the first trailer, which made it obvious that this was another hero shooter in an already crowded industry. It's difficult to determine who this game is intended for, especially considering that even fans of hero shooters won't rush into a $40 game when there are more enjoyable free options, like Fortnite, or Overwatch 2.

It's unbelievable that this disaster was released considering how predictable it was. Even then, it didn't make sense to invest in a game that is sure to fail, even if it appeared to be a desperate attempt to recover part of the production costs. It's unfortunate since I have no doubt that brilliant developers worked on this out of necessity rather than choice. Seemingly, they attempted to make another hero shooter, believing it would be a simple victory, but they didn't realize that no one wants to see more of them, especially not for forty bucks.

I HATE being negative. I hate being negative more than I hate anything else in the world. But this is a flop that's hard not to laugh at, which is why I wanted to talk about it. I don't see why anyone would pay such a high price for this when there are better free options available, despite the fact that it has largely great reviews.

Considering how poorly Concord performed, especially for a high-budget game, is astounding. The majority of games, including the most popular ones, never start with fewer than a thousand players. I felt compelled to address this as it's uncommon for a game to fail so miserably.

[haggishlyhagging]

Emancipation should make it possible for woman to be human in the truest sense. Everything within her that craves assertion and activity should reach its fullest expression; all artificial barriers should be broken, and the road towards greater freedom cleared of every trace of centuries of submission and slavery.

This was the original aim of the movement for woman's emancipation. But the results so far achieved have isolated woman and have robbed her of the fountain springs of that happiness which is so essential to her. Merely external emancipation has made of the modern woman an artificial being, who reminds one of the products of French arboriculture with its arabesque trees and shrubs, pyramids, wheels, and wreaths; anything, except the forms which would be reached by the expression of her own inner qualities. Such artificially grown plants of the female sex are to be found in large numbers, especially in the so-called intellectual sphere of our life.

Liberty and equality for woman! What hopes and aspirations these words awakened when they were first uttered by some of the noblest and bravest souls of those days. The sun in all his light and glory was to rise upon a new world; in this world woman was to be free to direct her own destiny—an aim certainly worthy of the great enthusiasm, courage, perseverance, and ceaseless effort of the tremendous host of pioneer men and women, who staked everything against a world of prejudice and ignorance.

My hopes also move towards that goal, but I hold that the emancipation of woman, as interpreted and practically applied today, has failed to reach that great end. Now, woman is confronted with the necessity of emancipating herself from emancipation, if she really desires to be free. This may sound paradoxical, but is, nevertheless, only too true.

What has she achieved through her emancipation? Equal suffrage in a few States. Has that purified our political life, as many well-meaning advocates predicted? Certainly not. Incidentally, it is really time that persons with plain, sound judgment should cease to talk about corruption in politics in a boarding-school tone. Corruption of politics has nothing to do with the morals, or the laxity of morals, of various political personalities. Its cause is altogether a material one. Politics is the reflex of the business and industrial world, the mottos of which are: "To take is more blessed than to give"; "buy cheap and sell dear", "one soiled hand washes the other." There is no hope even that woman, with her right to vote, will ever purify politics.

Emancipation has brought woman economic equality with man; that is, she can choose her own profession and trade; but as her past and present physical training has not equipped her with the necessary strength to compete with man, she is often compelled to exhaust all her energy, use up her vitality, and strain every nerve in order to reach the market value. Very few ever succeed, for it is a fact that women teachers, doctors, lawyers, architects, and engineers are neither met with the same confidence as their male colleagues, nor receive equal remuneration. And those that do reach that enticing equality generally do so at the expense of their physical and psychical well-being. As to the great mass of working girls and women, how much independence is gained if the narrowness and lack of freedom of the home is exchanged for the narrowness and lack of freedom of the factory, sweat-shop, department store, or office? In addition is the burden which is laid on many women of looking after a "home, sweet home"—cold, dreary, disorderly, uninviting after a day's hard work. Glorious independence! No wonder that hundreds of girls are so willing to accept the first offer of marriage, sick and tired of their "independence" behind the counter, at the sewing or typewriting machine. They are just as ready to marry as girls of the middle class, who long to throw off the yoke of parental supremacy. A so-called independence which leads only to earning the merest subsistence is not so enticing, not so ideal, that one could expect woman to sacrifice everything for it. Our highly praised independence is, after all, but a slow process of dulling and stifling woman's nature, her love instinct, and her mother instinct.

-Emma Goldman, ‘The Tragedy of Woman’s Emancipation’ in Alice S. Rossi, The Feminist Papers: From Adams to de Beauvoir

[thecactifindahome]

Tbh, I kind of can imagine that? Maybe bevause I watched the show first and shortly after finishing it I went to the books... But I get what you're saying and I'm ready for him to fight back and even snap if he wants to. Have you reas New Tales of the Vampires and Mayfair Witches too? Do you like them? I've decided to read all of them at least once, just to understand more of this universe as a whole and then re-read the ones that are relevant to the show and/or I enjoyed the most. I finished Pandora yesterday and now I'm around 80 pages into Blood and Gold. I loved the former, B&G is too early to tell, but I admit Marius is not my favorite, so who knows... But I'm excited to see Pandora and Bianca again, including any appearance of Armand, even if it's brief. I struggled with Memnoch, but the chapter he was in was 100% chef's kiss 0 notes from me. 😍 Anyway, why do you feel that way about Rolin? Has he said anything frustrating? I haven't seen many interviews yet, and the few I have, it's mostly with the actors. I see people's interpretations of his interviews on the tag all the time, but I've seen so much distortion and stuff taken out of context on other fandoms before that I want to fact-check first. And I will eventually, it's just that right now I'm prioritizing the books because I'm sick of seeing different opinions all the time and not being able to join book discourse. 😅 But I believe it would be creative suicide to waste the potential of such compelling characters, specially someone as rich in terms of baggage and development as Armand. His arc is so eventful and touching that he could have his own show with 10 seasons and 200 episodes tbh. And don't worry about Tumblr being weird and the late reply, I just enjoy chatting, whenever that happens. I can take long to reply too, so I get it. For me getting a proper answer is better than a fast one. It's all good. 💗

I'm going to be wailing and tearing my hair if we don't see him having fun while committing some terrible harm next season 🥺 Getting ready to hunt Malik isn't enough, I need him to tear somebody's scalp off for no real reason except that he likes their hair.

I've read Pandora and Vittorio, although I have to admit Vittorio left no impression on me whatsoever and I couldn't tell you anything about it except that there were no returning characters in it, lol. But Pandora is great! It's kind of revelatory to see who she was before the catatonic despair, she's so fiery and alive, and funny and rude. The only downside is that it makes seeing her so dead inside later on sad ): I read The Witching Hour a thousand years ago, too, but it didn't really grab me. I didn't dislike it as such, I just didn't click with it. It might have just been bias due to hating the witch/vampire crossovers so much, though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Blood and Gold is compelling to me, even if there are some things that make me grind my teeth pretty hard (Bianca got such a raw fucking deal, and oh my god the theater era, I'll basically accept not trying to get him out of the cult due to fear/shame/Akasha but there’s no reason not to send him a letter like 'Hey Amadeo, I'm alive, glad you made it out'). But he's got a lot of depth to his character, and he makes it pretty clear that he knows why he keeps ending up alone. And as a Roman history enjoyer*, Marius' idealization of Rome is exactly what you'd expect from an Augustan era wannabe-patrician (his half-Gaulish ass was definitionally a plebeian). Is it distasteful to the modern reader? Absolutely! But that was a highly typical perspective then.

Rolin Jones, well, I'll say two things: his fixation on everything having to serve loustat is starting to warp the basic sense and structure of the show, and reading the s2e8 script made me realize that he does too much cocaine. I don't think he has a clear vision of the show beyond romance and badass moments, I think the other writers are the ones trying to do something more. And like...how many times does he have to say that Daniel’s turning was spiteful and will never be shown before people believe him? Why would he keep downplaying and trying to manage expectations for D/M, a highly popular and acclaimed aspect of the books, if he actually intends to spend much time on it? Why would he try to unhype his own show? I'm at work so it's hard to dredge up citations, but his choices themselves are indicative imo.

Oh, I know what you mean, some people are incredibly dishonest, or maybe just delusional, about the book content. Or maybe I'm being ungenerous and they make these grand declarations because they sincerely don't understand what they just read, who knows? But people will tell you nonsense like that Lestat never loved Armand, which is simply a stupid thing to say, because they're pathologically insecure about their otp and try to establish themself as such an authority that nobody feels the need to see for themselves. Mad respect to you for going to the books 😊

*Not that kind of Roman history enjoyer, of course, it was a dumpster fire that is a far better cautionary tale than anything to admire and only a lunatic would try to emulate ancient Rome. But god damn, it's fascinating.