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supremeuppityone · 4 years ago

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This was created for the Klaroline Fall Bingo Event @klarolinefallbingo.

Prompt: “You are the treat, sweetheart.”

Please review here.

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It wasn’t the worst heartbreak story Caroline had heard. But it definitely was the worst this season. The angry murder swans were an interesting plot twist though. She wiped down the bar, eyeing the clock before she announced, “Last call, everybody!”

She turned to the adorable drunk resting his head on the wet rings the bottles and glasses had left behind. Klaus had spent the evening raking his fingers through his dirty blonde curls, double-fisting shots and Ward Eights when he wasn’t berating his ex-fiancé. “So, your ex, this...um...something that sounded like ‘tater tot’, walked down the aisle, stood at the altar with you in front of a church stuffed full of your friends and family, and announced that she’s been banging your brother for months and wants to marry him instead.”

He squinted up at her, as though slowing piecing together her words. Letting out an unexpectedly boisterous guffaw, he said, “It was Tatia, actually. But tater tot is considerably more appropriate — often greasy, grows disappointingly cold, and an unpleasant aftertaste.” Fishing around in one pocket, he flashed her a devilish smirk that she would’ve found charming if it wasn’t for the bit of drool as he slurred his words, “Elijah’s welcome to her, but he’ll have to make it official without our grandmother’s ring.” He triumphantly slammed a beautiful antique ring on her bar, the neon lights making the diamonds and pearls twinkle.

Caroline let out a small gasp as she studied the delicate floral pattern the gemstones made. For some reason, she felt ridiculously pleased that Tatia didn’t get her grubby cheater’s hands on such a lovely piece of jewelry. “I know I shouldn’t ask, but morbid curiosity is winning right now. Did your other brother release the angry murder swans as a distraction just so you could steal back the ring?”

“A happy accident, love. Kol thrives on chaos and he nipped out to the reception area to let them out of the paddock just to see what would happen. I took advantage of the riot that ensued once the swans started attacking the outlandish lace train of Tatia’s dress and swiped the ring.” His smile was more of a grimace, but at least he chuckled as he said, “I escaped before I saw the worst of it, but I’ve been told that by the time the swans were under control, Tatia was wearing shredded bits of overpriced lace and feathers, and both she and Elijah were smeared in droppings.”

Giggling, Caroline squeezed another half-lemon into the shaker, adding the grenadine and topping it off with orange juice before pouring it over what was left of the rye whisky in Klaus’ glass. She tossed in a few cherries and winked as she told him, “My treat.”

He threw her what should’ve been a smoldering look, but instead his gray eyes seemed to cross slightly as he slurred, “You are the treat, sweetheart.”

She rolled her eyes, not bothering to respond to his clumsy flirting. Despite the ridiculousness of the situation, she couldn’t help the way her pulse quickened. If he had this kind of effect on her now, what was he like sober? Nope, she sternly reminded herself; he’s on the gut-wrenching rebound to end all rebounds and you stopped doing one-night stands after Mr. Hair Gel seemed waaaay more into his brother and you snuck out the bathroom window once it got too squicky.

She kept busy closing out a few more tabs, feeling the need to steamroll past the awkward silence as she cheerfully said, “So, you just hopped on a plane and decided to go on your honeymoon anyway. That’s a level of petty I can support. Mystic Shores is a tiny resort town, but you should find plenty to keep yourself busy. There’s the lighthouse, natural rock bridges, seabird sanctuary...” she trailed off when she saw how his eyes had glazed over. “Plus, lots of white sand beaches you can day drink on while watching the dolphins.”

“I knew I picked this place for a reason.” Klaus gulped down the rest of his drink, grimacing as he told her, “Remind me to teach you how to make a proper Ward Eight, love. It’s positively criminal the rubbish rye you’re peddling.”

She grabbed his empty glass, putting it in the tub under the bar. Snorting, she replied, “Yeah, yeah, just add it to the rest of your complaints about my drinks. Not that it stopped you from slamming them back as fast as I poured them.”

Klaus smirked, rising unsteadily to his feet. “A bartender should understand proper citrus techniques. Zesting citrus in advance may save time, but it dries out the fragrance and flavor you’d otherwise infuse into your drinks.”

Normally, having her bartending skills drunkenly criticized would have Caroline covertly charging an ‘asshat tax’ when she closed out the tab, but there was something about Klaus that made her more amused than angry. She’d stealthily admired his cheekbones most of the evening, and when he occasionally stretched, the muscle definition was undeniable. He wore his classic good looks with casual indifference, but a curious melancholy hung over him despite his snarky wit. There was more than just heartbreak below his surface, and she was curious to know more. Nope. Don’t get involved. It’s not your job to fix broken people.

As he continued to hopelessly fumble with his wallet, she gently pressed her palm to his forearm and said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s on the house.”

It was the first genuine smile he’d given all night, and he lurched forward, placing a sweet kiss to her knuckles. “You radiate light and beauty. I should’ve known you were are an angel, Caroline.” He stumbled out of the bar before she could speak, cheeks flushed at the way his accented voice lovingly caressed her name.

Caroline busied herself closing up the bar, barely resisting the urge to glance out the front to see if Klaus had managed to operate his ride app correctly. Not your problem. She waved off a few of the locals who invited her to the dunes to watch the sea turtle nests. They’d be hatching soon, but a bubble bath and some bad reality TV sounded much more appealing at the moment.

Lost in her thoughts, she nearly stumbled over Klaus as she took the trash to the dumpster. With a gasp, she knelt beside him, realizing he was snoring loudly and his pockets were turned inside out.

Damn it, Enzo.

“Come on, Klaus, wake up,” she hissed, lightly smacking his cheek.

With a groan of protest, Klaus managed to sit up against the dirty brick wall, mumbling, “Bloody wanker came at me, but I gave him a right show with this,” he cursed, triumphantly waving around a fist.

She helped him up, muttering under her breath, “Nice work. Although it looks like he still snagged your wallet and ring.” At his crestfallen expression, she hurriedly reassured him, “But don’t worry! I’ll give Enzo a call and we’ll fix it, I promise.”

________________________________________

When she heard the loud thump followed by an impressive string of cursing, Caroline knew Klaus finally was awake. It was the first time she’d let a drunk stay on her couch who wasn’t a local, but he was far too out of it to be a threat last night. Plus, her bartending over the years had given her an almost infallible bullshit meter. Klaus wasn’t dangerous. Just dangerously sexy. She rolled her eyes at that thought.

She’d given Enzo an earful last night for not keeping a closer watch on his crew. When he dropped off Klaus’ stuff, he gave Caroline a saucy little wink and teased, “My apologies, gorgeous. I didn’t know my mates rolled your tourist fluff.”

“Seriously?! It’s not like that — he’s just going through a rough time with his fiancé leaving him at the altar for his brother, and he doesn’t deserve getting his stuff stolen.”

Enzo whistled, a rare look of sympathy flashing in his dark eyes. “Bollocks. No wonder he went after Jeremy like a man possessed. Gave him one hell of a shiner too — it’s my new wallpaper on my phone.”

Klaus stumbled into her kitchen, looking just as adorably rumpled as he did last night. Curse her weakness for complete disasters. He squinted at the sunlight pouring in from her open windows, and winced at the cheerful whirring and hissing of her espresso machine. “Caroline?”

She blushed to the roots of her hair, ridiculously pleased that he remembered her name. “Good morning, Klaus.” She slid the cup and saucer toward him. “It’s a double shot — I figured you could use it.”

He blinked, taking a sip as he said gratefully, “Thank you, sweetheart.”

“You’re welcome. Um, so you probably don’t remember much from last night, but after I found you passed out in the alley, you kept muttering you were staying at a bed and breakfast. Which isn’t helpful when there’s one on almost every corner in this town. So, I let you crash here instead.”

Klaus gave her a small smile, rubbing his forehead as he muttered, “It’s a sad commentary on my life that I’ve been in the presence of friends and family this past week and the most kindness I’ve been shown has been from a stranger.”

“We’re not strangers,” Caroline protested with a gentle smile. “We’re just friends who haven’t finished bonding.” As she refilled his cup, she winked, “And when it’s my turn, I’m counting on you to have a very generous pour when I get left at the altar.”

He suddenly froze, rapidly patting at his pockets, and she quickly said, “Hey, no, it’s okay! I got your stuff back.” She reached into the drawer between them, pulling out his wallet and carefully setting his grandmother’s ring on top of it. “See? I told you I’d fix it.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, he pocketed his belongings, telling her, “You’re amazing, love. An angel, just as I suspected.” His gaze suddenly turned shrewd as he studied her, “You know the thief.”

“Yes. I have a friend who runs a crew that robs tourists that look like they can afford it.” At his frown, Caroline felt the absurd need to make Klaus understand. “Work here is seasonal at best for a lot of us, and Enzo kind of redistributes wealth when he can.” She held her breath, waiting for his judgement. He had swans at his almost-wedding, for fuck’s sake. His type was definitely Enzo’s favorite target.

Klaus let out an unexpected chuckle, telling her, “We should hope your friend never meets Kol. When we were in school, he set up an underground sports betting pool with the faculty and most of the staff.” Shaking his curly head in bemusement, he added, “Kol had teachers giving him passing grades just to pay off their gambling debts.”

She burst out laughing, wiping away tears as she imagined the crazy shenanigans Enzo and Kol would get into. That’s not going to happen. Klaus is on vacation, remember? His ruined honeymoon. Her smile was overly bright as she started pulling containers from the refrigerator, explaining, “My friend Matt runs the cafe down the road. I wasn’t sure what your go-to hangover food was, so I got you mine — butter biscuits and spicy sausage gravy, vanilla custard French toast, and orange juice.”

“You’ve spoiled me, sweetheart. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to repay all the kindness you’ve shown me.”

She did her best not to blush at the intensity of his gaze as he helped her set the table. They ate in companionable silence, listening to the small town slowly come to life on the street below. She waited until Old Man Gilbert’s noisy pontoon boat left the docks for the morning dolphin tour, and once the street was back to a manageable hum, she tentatively said, “Listen, I don’t know what you’re planning to do when you get back home, or if you’ve even allowed yourself to think that far ahead, but I wanted to offer you some advice.”

When he raised an intrigued eyebrow, but didn’t comment, she blurted out, “Go crazy. This is one of those moments where you can change whatever boring, expected path you’d planned out. Invite a little chaos into your life — do something wild and unexpected.”

The sudden press of Klaus’ lips to hers was just as thrilling as she’d imagined. He had her up against the cabinets with a resounding thud that seemed to fuel their frenzied kisses. The feel of his stubble against her neck was spicy-sweet pain that made her groan. Emboldened by her reaction, he dipped his head lower, running his tongue along her collarbone as he palmed her breast.

Caroline reached between them, rubbing the outline of his erection with a satisfied hum. It had been far too long since someone made her skin sing. He wanted her. And yesterday he wanted someone else. That thought alone jerked her out of their pleasurable haze. Placing a palm on his chest, she gently pushed him back, her words a bit jumbled as she panted, “That was...I mean...but we shouldn’t...”

Klaus’ cheeks were flushed as he smirked, “You advised me to do something wild and unexpected, sweetheart.”

She snorted, “Seriously? That was totally expected.” Her tone grew serious as she told him, “Klaus, you’re going through something huge right now and I’m not looking to be someone’s detour on the way back to their life.”

“You aren’t a detour — you’re a destination,” he replied. “But you’re probably right — I’ve had a bloody awful time of it. I need to get myself sorted.”

The determination on his face gave her hope; Klaus would be ok.

________________________________________

Four months later, Caroline was loading up the pushcart with kegs for that evening’s tasting room event when Enzo strolled into the supply room, wearing his serious brows. She hadn’t seen those since she’d dropped Klaus off at the airport and then sulked on Enzo’s couch for days. He’d argued that she was being stubborn and should go track Klaus down. But she didn’t want to get in the middle of his left-at-the-altar-for-his-brother drama. She refused to be someone’s second choice.

“For fuck’s sake, what is it,” she asked in exasperation, wiping the sweat at her temples with the bottom of her old t-shirt.

Frowning, he jerked his head toward the street, telling her, “Looks like some competition has moved in, gorgeous.” At her skeptical expression, he pulled her outside, pointing to a sign that proclaimed ‘A Little Chaos’ was opening soon. It looked like a bar. Right across the street from her bar. Frowning, she quickly made her way over, blinking in disbelief as she came face-to-face with a familiar devilish smirk.

“Caroline! I was just on my way to see you,” Klaus greeted her, that knowing smile making her blush despite her anger.

“You’re opening a bar. Across from my bar,” she said flatly, eyeing the exquisite, hand-lettered gold leaf sign that probably cost more than her rent. “A hipster bar,” she added, wrinkling her nose.

He chuckled as he lightly corrected her, “A speakeasy. I’ll be able to show this town how to make a proper Ward Eight.” With an impish wink, he reminded her, “Someone told me to invite a little chaos into my life. I decided to take her advice.”

#klaroline fall bingo #uppity bitch fanfic #klaroline fanfic #klaroline #klaroline aesthetic #aesthetic #klaroline does left at the altar plus meet cute #and amusing pickpockets #plus murder swans

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pinoyrella · 4 years ago

Text

Part 2 🌸

Chapter 5, Part 2

FT: Tsukishima Kei, Yamaguchi Tadashi, Hinata Shoyo, Kageyama Tobio, Yachi Hitoka, Tsukishima Akiteru, Tanaka Saeko, Karasuno Volleyball Team, Karasuno High School + Shiratorizawa.

TW: Mild Language

Genre: Fluff, Comedy, Angst, Coming of Age + Slow Burn

-This part contains comedy, and fluff if you squint.

WORD COUNT: 3,200+

“A LOVE SO BEAUTIFUL” Masterlist 🌸

A/N: Here’s part 2!!! of the 3! Hope you enjoy again, hehehe! 💞💕💓

Greetings.

The sound of an alarm rings throughout the small room.

Tsukishima lets out a low groan, turning to his side to snooze the alarm, before sitting up and grabbing his glasses placed beside it, reading ‘08:00’ on his alarm.

Checking his phone, he immediately notices a notification, swiping his phone and he is taken back to the Karasuno Volleyball Club’s groupchat.

[KAWWWW-rasuno VB Bois 😎🏐]

Yesterday

17:16 p.m

Sawamura D. : “Tanaka did you lock up the gym?”

17:16 p.m

Tanaka R. : “OH SHIT M BAD”

17:18 p.m

Nishinoya Y. : “BWAHAAHAH RYUU”

17:19 p.m

Ennoshita C. : “You’re joking, tell me you’re joking”

17:19 p.m

Tanaka R. : “IM GOING- IM GOING BACK”

17:35 p.m

Tanaka R. : “I forgot the keys, going back again”

17: 53 p.m

Tanaka R. : “It’s locked already?”

17:56 p.m

Kiyoko S. : “Oh, Tanaka I’m sorry I just saw the messages. Hinata and Kageyama locked up the other night.”

17:58 p.m

Nishinoya Y. : “Kiyoko-san 👉🏼👈🏼🥺”

Read ✓✓✓

8 NEW MESSAGES

Today

07:42 a.m

Sawamura D. : “Good morning team, don’t forget to meet up in front of the school by 8:45”

07:43 a.m

Nuisance 1 : “DAICHI-SAN IM SO EXCITED!!! I’LL BE THERE 8:30!!!”

07:45 a.m

Nishinoya Y. : “OI HINATA THAT’S THE SPIRIT”

07:46 a.m

Nuisance 1: “NOYA-SAN!!!!!”

07:50 a.m

Sawamura D. : “ENOUGH. OTHERS ARE STILL TRYING TO SLEEP”

7:52 a.m

Azumane A. : “it’s a little too late for that…”

07:58 a.m

Sugawara K. : “listen to the captain!! n e wayz see u all in a jiffy!”

07:59 a.m

King Nuisance 2: “jiffy?”

Tsukishima rolls his eyes, exiting the group chat before heading to check his other messages.

1 NEW MESSAGE

Today

08:00 a.m

Yams: “Tsukki! Don’t forget to bring your sports glasses! See u soon!”

Tsukishima takes a mental note of what his friend sent him, replying with a ‘thx’ before exiting, and checking the last notification. It’s from you.

5 NEW MESSAGES

Today

02:23 a.m

Y/n: “KEI!!! I know ur probably asleep right now but, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to wake up the same time as u guys.. So I hope you’ll see this message when u wake up!”

02:25 a.m

Y/n: “I hope you sleep well tonight and get a bunch of rest, you’re going to do incredible! There’s no other person who I know that can block as great as you!!!”

02:26 a.m

Y/n: “You can do it, you will do it! You’re gonna BWOOSH BAM WAPOW that big guy Ushi-something’s spikes!! I’ll be cheering you on tomorrow, don’t forget! Okay goodnight now love u!!!!”

02:27 a.m

Y/n: “ 🥺💓💖💕💘💗💞💓💘💕💓💕💓💘💖💕💓💘💗💞💕💘💓💘💖💗💞🗿💖💘💓💕💗💞“

02:28 a.m

Y/n: “AHHH I didn’t mean to send the Moai emoji please pretend it’s a heart ToT”

Tsukishima can’t help but allow a smile to creep past him, fortunately for him he was alone, in the comfort of his room.

07:07 a.m

Tsukki💞: “Thanks, see u later nerd.”

Tsukishima writes before hopping out of bed, heading straight to the bathroom.

“Oh? Tsukki!” Yamaguchi calls, the heads of the Karasuno volleyball team members turning as Tsukishima makes his way past the school gates, exhausted.

“TSUKISHIMA!!!!” Calls, waving his arms to his fellow middle blocker. “SHUT UP HINATA” Kageyama yells. Daichi immediately breaks up the duo, giving a deathly glare as the second years chuckle. “Sorry…” The two mumble before Yamaguchi and Yachi approach the tall blonde.

“Please place your bags in the compartment below Tsukishima-kun.” Yachi instructs, receiving a tired nod from the boy.

“Good morning kids” The group turn their heads to see as their Coach and Advisor make their way out of the school building, with a folder of documents in hand, along with a first aid kit.

“Alright, I know we’re all tired, so rest up as much as you can on the drive.” He starts before looking at the captain. Daichi nods before giving Tanaka, Noya, Hinata and Kageyama a side glare. The four immediately gulp as the team begins to board the bus.

The bus makes a stop as the boys inside begin to dissemble. Kiyoko and Yachi help clear the bottom cart of the bus, unloading the baggage.

“The drive didn’t seem too bad” Asahi yawns before hopping off the bus. The sound of a crow crying waking him up.

“All right, let’s go everyone!” Sugawara pushes. “Yeah” The team lets out as they begin to walk towards the entrance of the building.

Daichi stays behind as he exchanges a conversation with three of his fellow female classmates from the girl’s volleyball team.

“Thanks again for giving me a ride to the game Aki-nii! I didn’t know you’d be back in town so soon, did you come just to watch Tsukki’s game?” You jump out of his car as you turn to meet him on the other side.

“Shhh Y/n-chan! He doesn’t know I’m here… Well, let alone he didn’t want me to come” He adjusts his hat and sunglasses. “And it’s no problem!” He gives a thumbs up before you let out a soft laugh. “You go ahead, I’m going to wait before going in, just in case he arrived the same time as we did” You nod before waving and running off.

“Wow” Tanaka lets out “So this is the finals… There’re so many people.” Nishinoya turns to his brethren before reassuring him. “Ryuu, this is no time to be scared!”

The man turns immediately to him “I’m not scared!”

Nishinoya closes his eyes before looking down, placing a firm hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Listen, Ryuu. Picture this.” His gaze rises “The finals… Our opponents are Shiratorizawa. What do you think is going to happen when we play to a crowd this big?

Tanaka eyes him, confused “What’s going to happen?” Just as he questions, the sounds of girls chattering passes the two, he immediately jumps up.

Nishinoya dives, chest facing down as he extends his arms to save the ball from dropping to the floor. HUP

Tanaka jumps, higher above the net before spiking, not giving the opposite team a chance to react. BAM

The crowd of Shiratorizawa girls go wild, “AH NISHINOYA-KUN! TANAKA-KUN! YOU’RE AMAZING” They cheer excitedly.

The two let out a sexy and husky chuckle.

”Nishinoya-kun, Tanaka-kun” An angelic voice calls out, making the two turn their heads to meet miss Kiyoko Shimizu.

”D-do your best out there…” She quietly wishes before covering her face with her hands.

The two boys join hands, giving each other a look of great determination.

“Noya-san, I’m gonna do this! I’m gonna become a hero after this match!” Tanaka promises his friend, giving a snarky smile. “I’m not gonna lose, Ryuu!” Nishinoya replies, reciprocating the same snarky smile. “RWWWAAAAAAAAUURRRGHHHHH” The two growl, causing the attention of people around to judge.

Ennoshita watches besides Narita and Kinoshita unamused before his friend speaks “They seem more hyped up than usual…”

“Guts! Guts! Guts! Guts!” They scream before Ennoshita cuts them off. “Hey, you’re embarrassing us, stop screaming!” He scolds.

“I’m glad those guys never change…” Narita lets out a small laugh as the two continue their screaming.

“Guts! Guts! Guts! Guts!” The team turns their head to watch as their mates continue to scream before Daichi comes back, obviously unamused. Just before Hinata was going to join in, “SHUT UP, YOU TWO!” The captain yells. Yamaguchi lets out a chuckle as Tsukishima lets out a sigh. “As expected…”

“Come on, let’s go!” “YEAH!”

As the team makes their way into the gym, Hinata is stopped by his two old middle school friend’s, exchanging a quick conversation before splitting and catching up to his team, before getting into yet another quarrel with Kageyama.

“Why, you!” The sound of Kageyama growling causes Tsukishima to turn and give a look of annoyance between the two.

“Hey! Stop it, you two!” Daichi scolds. “You’re wasting energy before the finals? Are you guys completely stupid?” Tsukishima butts in bluntly, watching as Kageyama continually tries to strangle Hinata.

Yamaguchi lets out a look of embarrassment as he turns to notice the gaze from others in the hallway. “Well, we might immediately lose anyways…” Tsukishima scoffs before reaching into his bag.

“Yams!!” Yamaguchi turns to notice you running your way up to him, noticing him immediately. “Y/n!” Yamaguchi greets happily. Tsukishima looks up to see your running figure as he zips his bag shut.

Yachi’s attention turns to you before greeting you, along with the rest of the team. “Y/n! You made it!” “Yachi I told you I’d come!” You whine before taking her hands. The sound of a strap snapping causes your gaze to turn to Tsukishima, who is adjusting his sport’s glasses.

“Good grief. Come on, let’s go” The captain lets out, finally stopping the two from their escapades.

You walk in between Kiyoko and Yachi along with the team.

“All right. As soon as we put our stuff away, we’re going to warm up!” Daichi states as his team lets out a “YEP!” in sync.

“Y/n, this is where we’re going to split up for a little bit, I’ll join you up by the bleachers once official starts!” Yachi informs you and you give a small smile. “It’s no worries!” You turn to notice Tsukishima’s eyes on you, immediately looking away before making eye contact.

You turn to face the team, wishing them a good luck before making your way to Tsukishima.

“Tsukki! Remember, I’ll be cheering for you!” You give a bright smile before heading off.

The boy stands there flustered, obviously trying so hard to hide his reaction before his senior calls. “Tsukki~” Sugawara teases, ruffling the top of his head. Nishinoya and Tanaka join in on the teasing as Yamaguchi lets out a snicker.

“Alright let's go!” Daichi orders. “Let’s go!”

You make your way up the bleachers, finding a seat as you watch the boys practice. Getting up to watch, you rest on the railing before Kageyama looks to find you, giving you a wave. You smile giving him a wave back before finding Tsukishima in the audience.

Just as you were to call out to him, you feel a heavy weight shove you. You let out a yelp as you shut your eyes from the impact. The feeling of liquid trickling down your clothes before squeaking out an apology.

Kageyama watches the spilled “accident” before immediately making his way off court.

“Oi! Kageyama where are you going?!” Daichi calls, Kageyama ignoring him as he leaves through the doors.

Tsukishima turns his head to watch as the setter runs out, then looking up to find you and Manami in the audience, this doesn’t look good. His eyes widened slightly in shock, as he was about to run out to assist you- his senior calls for him. He looks between you and his senior before assisting his senior instead.

“I-I’m so sorry!” You yelp, feeling liquid triple down your now wet attire. You open your eyes to meet the harsh glare of Manami. “Oops, my bad.” She replies antagonistically before walking off with Watabe.

You stand there bewildered, looking down and letting out a sigh. You make your way from the bleachers to the bathroom, hoping you can dry and spare this day from being completely ruined with your soaked blouse.

Standing in front of the mirror, you let out a sigh of frustration and you aggressively press the layer of napkins to your blouse, trying to dry it, but it doesn’t seem to be working as much as you hoped it would.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, you toss the napkin away before making your way out, only to bump into Kageyama.

Kageyama stands in front of you, “Are you okay?” He asks quietly before you let out a small “yeah”. He takes his hand, bringing it closer to you. Looking, you watch as he is offering you his spare jersey to wear. “Oh! Kageyama it’s okay, really I-” “Please take it, you could get sick.” He states before you nod, taking it from his hands and thanking him.

Realization hits before you run behind him, beginning to push him. “Go back! You’re missing valuable time to practice, don’t worry about me!” He turns to face you, giving your head a pat before smiling slyly. He waves to you before running off, leaving you.

You quickly change from your blouse, tucking the useless piece of clothing into your little bag. You look up into the mirror and realize just how big it looks on you, draping nearly past your thighs. Zipping your bag up, you immediately make your way out of the bathroom to the bleachers.

“KAGEYAMA!” Hinata yells as the setter makes his way back into the court. “Kageyama-kun, are you alright?” Kiyoko asks before he nods. Explaining to her how he had watched as someone spilled their drink on you, only leaving to help you briefly. From this Yamaguchi and Tsukishima hear, they look back up to the bleachers to still find you gone.

The two share a brief moment of silence looking at each other. Tsukishima is about to run out, before the coach calls for him.

“Tsukishima-kun! Don’t think about leaving. Everyone get ready to line-up” He calls before Tsukishima nods, following his orders.

He looks back up to the bleachers, worried and wanting to give you his spare jersey to change into, thinking of how sitting through an entire game in wet clothes is bound to get you sick.

Yachi bids her team a ‘good luck’ before making her way off court.

You make your way back to the railing, just in time to meet the booming voice of your school’s Vice Principal.

“Listen up, everyone!” He yells, you stop and turn your attention to him. “We need to cheer as loud as we can so our cheers’ becomes the players’ strength!” You let out a “right!” along with the other students, surprised by his behavior. “The vice-principal sure seems worked up about this.” You hear your classmate say to his friend besides you. “Was he always like that?” His friend replies as you let out a low chuckle.

“Go, go, Karasuno! Push it, push it, Karasuno!” The Vice Principal cheers, clapping the two cones in his hands together. The school repeats the cheer, but incredibly off sync. Causing the Vice Principal to let out another scold. “We just practiced this yesterday!” You watch as you homeroom teacher makes her way to calm him down.

“A-are they gonna be okay?” You hear the voice of another man besides you, turning to find a tall man besides another who you deemed familiar. ‘Yamaguchi’s mentor!’ You remember before turning your attention to hear a familiar voice whispering.

“I’m not anyone suspicious!” You watch as Akiteru is being pulled by gorgeous blonde baddie, making her way to the three of you by the railing. “I saw this suspicious guy wandering around!” You turn to look at the ‘suspicious man’, remembering the hat, sunglasses and face mask he was preparing when you two hopped out of his car. “He ran when he saw me, so I caught him!” ‘That is very suspicious’ you admit to yourself as she meets up to the three of you. “He could be a Shiratorizawa spy!”

And at that, you can’t help but laugh. “What?!” Shimada questions and you watch Akiteru trying to explain himself. “W-wait! I’m a relative!” He removes his sunglasses and mask, continuing his alibi. “I’m Tsukishima Kei’s older brother!” He proudly says.

“Tsukishima-kun’s older brother?!” The two men reply in shock.

“SHHHH! SHHHH! He told me not to come to the match.” You look down and notice Tsukishima glaring up to the stands, obviously aware of his older brother’s presence. You watch as Akiteru ducks under the railing, before looking down and giving him a wave. He waves back slowly before turning his focus back on his coach.

“Those two are nothing alike, especially their personalities.” The tall blonde man says to the shorter blonde woman.

Your snickering causes the attention of the four adults to turn to you. “Huh?” You watch as the woman approaches you. “You’re so cute!” She lets out before looking down to notice your jersey. The other three adults following her gaze.

Their eyes widen in shock, especially Akiteru’s. “Are you here for Tobio-kun?!” She asks, obviously loving the cute idea of wearing your significant other’s jersey to his game.

Akiteru watches you, awaiting your answer. Wondering if it’s true, confused on how the last time he had visited it felt so obvious you felt something for his younger brother.

“N-no that’s not it! He’s one of my friends, he offered me his spare jersey not too long ago because of an accident.” You reply, not noticing the sigh of relief Akiteru lets out.

“Awh, that would have been so cute” She replies disappointedly, resting her arm on the railing.

“I’m Saeko, Tanaka’s older sister, you can call me Saeko-nee” She winks and you are left flustered, exchanging a greeting back. “These two over there are Shimada and Takinoue” She points to the other two men, you share a greeting with them as well.

“And this one over here” She points to Akiteru. “Suspicious man” She laughs and you notice Akiteru fume again. “I told you I’m not suspicious, tell her Y/n-chan!” “Y/n-chan?” The women turns back to you. “Oh? Do you know him? Blink twice if you don’t” She jokes.

“Y-yes I do, don't worry! We actually came together. We’re neighbors!” You assure her and she lets out an ‘ah’ before you hear the familiar sound of your friend.

“Y/n-chan!” “Yachi!” She meets beside you, greeting the other four adults before her gaze falls onto your clothing.

“I-is that Kageyama’s?!” She asks flustered and you nod, explaining the same thing you have told the other four adults, not wanting her to think you had anything romantic going on with one of your friends.

The sound of a whistle blown causes everyone’s attention to turn to the court, you watch as the game begins, the team’s lining up on both ends as the reporter announces the teams. “We will now begin the Japanese National High School Volleyball Tournament, Miyagi’s Prefecture Qualifiers, Boy’s Finals.”

You watch in anticipation, feeling your heart race with excitement.

“Miyagi’s Karasuno High School. Miyagi’s Shiratorizawa Academy.”

You yell out a cheer with the crowd, watching both captains exchange a hand shake.

“Wow there's a bunch of TV crews” Saeko lets out.

“We will now introduce Karasuno High School’s starting line-up.” The speakers announce, turning everyone’s attention back to Karasuno’s side of the court. “Number 1, Sawamura Daichi. Number 3, Azumane Asahi. Number 5, Tanaka Ryuunosuke.” “RYUU!!!” Saeko cheers besides you. “Number 9, Kageyama Tobio. Number 10, Hinata Shoyo.” You let out a cheer for your two friends, before the last player is announced. “Number 11, Tsukishima Kei” With his name said, you let out an even louder cheer, with Akiteru, watching as he jogs across the court to meet his team.

Afterwards, the reporter announces Shiratorizawa’s line-up. You shake with Yachi in intimidation, watching the very tall boys jog across the court one by one.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please cheer on both teams and wish them the best.”

You let out a sigh before turning to the five people besides you. “Oh geez, I’m starting to feel nervous.”

Let the games begin.

Part 1

Part 3

Chapter 5

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vaguely-concerned · 5 years ago

Text

The Untamed Liveblog

Yes hello I watched the whole thing and wrote down some of my thoughts and feelings along the way so I wouldn’t fuckign EXPLODE! Only look under the cut if you’re prepared for a truly outrageous amount of rambling (...no really)

- I am elated to find that so far every adaptation I’ve seen has faithfully preserved the absolutely bizarre structure of the original book, I am appreciating the dedication haha

- the actor lends this version of lan wangji such an edge of youth and vulnerability right from the beginning, it breaks my heart. I don’t care how good he is with a sword, you can’t expose this pure sweet boy to the horrors of war!!!

- I am so glad I already know who all these characters are and wtf is going on, I can’t imagine watching this first time without that knowledge lol

- I love how they’ve made nie huaisang look so small and soft next to all the other cultivator, he looks like a floofy and eternally confused baby birb ;______;

- nhs citing the goldfinch as the reason he doesn’t want to die (presumably because no one will know to take care of it) TOT ur meant to be comic relief in this part of the story buddy you can’t make me cry like this yet!!!

(also the actor for wwx effortlessly sliding into being protective and reassuring and Good in a crisis. wonderful!)

- the actor for xue yang has chosen to go with the sexy baby school of evil acting normally associated with female villains and for that I can only applaud him

also setting up characters who are going to be important later on is something this show is doing better than the original haha, both the extra wen quing & ning and song lan & xiao xingcheng content is appreciated. (especially the latter suffered from ‘oh yeah those two -- actually wait who the fuck are these two again’ syndrome for me when I read the book. additional note: I am very sorry but clearly they are gay there’s no other explanation here)

- poor jiang cheng, they really haven’t given him much help in this huh. I would sort of have preferred it if they let him be ever so slightly less abrasive in the beginning, like in the book and the animated version; I’m not feeling quite as devastated over this relationship as I did in either of those.

- lan xichen’s soft knowing smile is a blessing every time. just a nice man. did not deserve this. protect.

- kudos to the actor for jin guangyao for the instinctive creeping unease I feel whenever he talks, even at this stage. he’s a wrong ‘un sir he’s a wrong ‘un

- y’know both the fact that nhs spent three days catching a bird and kept it with him undetected and that he’s the friend you go to for the good porn and managed to not only smuggle it into the cloud recesses but did so without getting caught... some wonderful subtle foreshadowing here (to make up for the very blatant visual foreshadowing that’s already been given out I assume lol)

- anyway lan ancestor lady and baoshan-sanren? gay. sad and gay. (I love how thoroughly wwx is getting to meet the in-laws btw lol how often do you have to meet your future spouse’s family from like three generations ago and take care of her rabbits for her after she’s gone, all before you even get to second base)

- fkadshfkasjdlhfsdjkfh the sheer consistency of nhs wistfully commenting on all the beautiful men surrounding him fsadfkjsdhfksd I think they might oh so subtly be hinting at some stuff here. HILARIOUS that this version, which has to maintain at least the veneer of some plausible homoerotic deniability, is a lot more overt about it than the book, which is free to be balls to the wall as gay as you please

- oh no nie mingjue just showed up my entire heart is on fire. BIG BROTHER!! so stern yet fair, so righteous, so worried y______y also can we talk about how his ‘hmmm I think imma stab it?’ approach to evil in general and xue yang in particular would have saved everyone a lot of grief later on? and he tells wwx the whole necromancy thing is probably not a good idea? (I really like how he does it too, he has so much Older Brother Energy it spills over when he talks to other kids around huaisang’s age lol. it’s good that they show his temper isn’t indiscriminate at all, he’s not angry at wwx even though his idea is provably incredibly dangerous) sole ornery voice of reason nie mingjue, also did not deserve what’s about to happen, I cry and my tears are blood

- ‘yeah okay I get that you’re mad but have you maybe considered... I didn’t do it?’ is an unusually weak opening move from jgy considering nmj literally did just see him absolutely 100% do it

- there should be a WARNING at the beginning of episodes where nmj cries so one could be PREPARED for the emotional devastation!!!!! tollest & stronkest man of the cast also stupidly pretty and heartbreaking while crying, it’s not fair

- I love how every cultivation sect’s home (except for the wens b/c they’re cartoon villains) is refined and beautiful and luxurious, even when it’s in a restrained way like the lans’... and then there’s the nie place which is like ‘please understand that this is a fuckn fortress’

- aww this doomed jiang cheng/wen quing thing is cute! too bad about... everything that’s about to happen happening huh

- oh wen ning. very hilarious that he’s known as the ~*ghost general*~ forevermore when actually... he is baby... cinnamon roll baby... too good for this world, too pure...

- how is this cgi turtle somehow less egregious than the one in the animated version lol. I quite like this bad little friend! long neck.

- oh NO lan wangji finally letting himself show that he’s in pain when they’re in private... i’m uwu

this beautiful boy is so long and lanky tho, I must admit he triggers my parental instinct more than the hot boy alert at this stage (but that’s fine I’m not the one who’s going to smooch him that’s wwx’s job lol)

the look of absolute disbelief and despair lwj gives when wwx thinks he’s in love with mianmian... this show is a cinematic masterpiece and I will hear no other opinion

- lwj looking at the love of his life completely missing the point: are you a joke to you (the answer is yeah)

- okay we’ve officially hit the point where everything’s about to go to hell for real, pray for me I’m not sure I can handle this again

- jiang fengmian acknowledge your other son who desperately wants your attention and affection challenge (unfinished)

- watching this scene knowing exactly what this promise means to jiang cheng and that wwx is going to break it... this is fINE

why the fuck did I do this to myself I know what’s about to happen when will I learn to quit while I’m ahead lol

- the change in subtext from the novel that EVERYONE sees wangxian coming from day one is so painful from jiang cheng’s side. this poor boy really has abandonment issues pelting him from every direction huh. tfw your idiot genius brother doesn’t even fucking realize he’s basically announcing he’s leaving your clan and your side to get married one day ;______;

- man mxtx is just so GOOD at peppering in the small private tragedies that somehow sting even worse than huge atrocities going on. the fact that madam yu and papa jiang never manage to reconcile and communicate except possibly in death... oof my friends. oooof.

- WAIT WHAT NO DON’T SHOW ME THE CHILDREN WHO’RE ABOUT TO DIE WHAT THE FUCK YOU MONSTERS

- like we’re right at the worst part now and she is an asshole... but damn madam yu’s last stand is epic tho. like a champ to the end

- wen zhuliu’s actor being able to uphold a look of tremendous boredom at all times regardless of what’s going on around him is Poetic Cinema Bitches

- jiang cheng and wei ying are holding hands on the boat... stab me in the heart... end my suffering

- you know what in this version we get to see that madam yu knew her husband came back for her and they died holding hands and not everything’s on fire yet, so far this isn’t quite as harrowing as the animated version. the dead children are fucking me up but the tone of the animated version is like a nightmare, this is less disturbing to me

also can we talk about how madam yu fought them off the whole day and night and her husband gets his ass owned within five minutes 😔 oh papa jiang

- oh okay turns out jiang cheng’s ‘I want my mom and dad’ gets to me in every adaptation good to know

they’re so young they’re bbs I don’t want to be here anymore haha

- wen ning. a sweet angel. just the goodest of boys. his sister raised him so well ;______:

- wen quing is so ethereally beautiful and also looks like she could stop a train with the force of one glance. like she’s my height but her presence is immense

- oh I see we’ve arrived at the tiny adorable flashback bbs part of this journey, let me just... just lie down somewhere huh

- outside of the central romance this is a tale about people who love their brothers very very much and it’s real sad for everyone involved

- me watching nie mingjue kicking down the doors to reclaim his own dang fortress: YEEEEAAAAH GO OFF DAGE!!! i um love him and his very handsome face

- jiang cheng dreaming about his family is EMOTIONAL WARFARE!!! how fucking dare!!!

- y’know what this isn’t a bad way of adapting the burial grounds thing! also pretty cost effective I imagine, gotta think about the budget when so much of it goes into fabulous wigs and robes

- credit where it’s due, the actor for wen chao makes his face do some shit I didn’t know human faces could do and he’s enjoyable to watch in the capacity as your friendly neighbourhood hate sink

- lwj consistently using wwx’s personal name even when talking to total strangers now... mhm this is also fine

- I can’t beliEVE this show is somehow less subtle about the gay stuff than the book, jin zixuan basically just asked lwj if he and wwx were... y’know... I guess cultivation partners would be the way to go here lol. between that and nhs more or less asking them if they were off fucking after the whole cold cave debacle... what a time to be alive even if they’re not going to kiss on-screen

- huaisang I hate to have to be the one to tell you this but your brother is an entire snacc. and yet I respect him way too much to ever proposition him, I know he is busy winning a war and being Righteous and slowly being driven mad by the ghost in his sword on top of raising his little brother, I’m not here to complicate things for him any further

I love this version of nmj so much though. this sense that he also sees the stuff that is genuinely good in jgy and has a real moment of grief that the dude just can’t seem to get away from his basic insecurity that causes him to do horrific things, even when handed other opportunities... the fact that he seems regretful and worried when asking jin zixuan how jgy is doing with the jin....... everything to do with his little brother...................... oh no he’s Soft in his private life this is awful

- poor lwj’s ‘I have a bad feeling about this’ face in this scene haha, he’s staring at this talisman like ‘I only know one person smart and dumb enough to pull this off’

- can’t wen quing just get one nice thing. one nice thing just for her. hasn’t she been through enough. give her her brother back and a nice quiet place to practice medicine and maybe some soft romance with jiang cheng eventually this show is kind of selling me on this.

- unexpectedly my favourite part of the revenge scene is just the camera switching back to lwj and jc watching in horrified silence like ‘...O___o dude this is fucked up tho right?? it’s not just me that’s messed up??’

- one is forced to wonder about wen zhuliu tho. this version reads as pretty explicitly depressed/suicidal to me, he’s kind of an interesting villain since his main traits are unquestioning loyalty mixed with unending indifference and also seemingly not too pressing a will to live

- oh nhs desperately trying to keep it together and pretend nothing’s different ;_____; this version is really driving it home that wwx is a lot of people’s only friend -- jiang cheng is mentioned to not have anyone but his sister to play with before he arrived, lwj was raised primarily on books and rules and his brother is ELATED that he has one (1) friend now, from the sheer depth of the attachment I’m willing to bet nhs hasn’t had many real friends in his life either. wwx gives and gives of himself and doesn’t know how to take help in return.

- foreknowledge is a beautiful thing; if you look at nhs when it’s revealed wwx didn’t bring his sword you can visibly see his brain kicking into overdrive haha. smart boy.

- big sister ;_______; I am an older sibling so I haven’t really had the feeling of having an older sister to look to, I see why it might be comforting now

- oh this is some real uruk-hai shit!! honestly the special effects in this aren’t half as bad as I’d been lead to fear, some of you guys just weren’t forged in the crucible of shitty sci-fi channel cgi at an early age and it shows

(honestly the weird fight stuff threw me much worse in nirvana in fire, because that series has such intricate, credible and realistic political world building and then people are flying all over the place through wire fu and it is so disorienting haha)

- oh nhs looking up at his brother like a puppy during the war council T______T baby bird boy

(between this point in the main story and fatal journey it’s very interesting how clearly nhs needs the emotional stability and safety of his brother -- who also seems to be his parental figure -- to function properly, even in his late teens. it looks like he needed more time to grow up than the rest of them even before they were all thrown into this awful bullshit. well he does have a lot of murderkitten brain to grow I guess that’s fair enough lol. wwx has some of the same thing with his sister too)

- whenever lxc and nmj look at each other it feels like the only two adults in the room meeting each other’s eyes like ‘...oh dear’

- aww lwj getting some advice from his brother. this poor kid really hasn’t been raised to handle the moral complexity of the real world huh, good thing lxc is here to lend some nuance to lan qiren’s unforgiving dogma

- oh lan zhan

- nmj’s plan to just idk somehow go in alone and fight the wen overlord mano a mano to avoid any more casualties... a spine made of steel, a heart made of gold, a head made of wood :’) truly a perfect man, good thing his brother got the brains in that family and he has some more sensible people around him

- in the face of inevitability I plead... jiang yanli... please don’t marry this asshole your son is going to be predictably insufferable

wwx has suffered through so much the last four months or so and yet his real breaking point is seeing his sister cry and can I just say -- relatable content

- NO! NO STOP HURTING HIM HE’S JUST GOOD AND HANDSOME AND DOESN’T DESERVE THIS

(could be applied to like 98% of these characters but in this case it’s nmj b/c I love him)

I do find it very funny and oddly comforting that nmj is literally so fuckn mad that it takes three times as many attacks for the evil sorcery stuff to take him down than we’ve seen used on anyone else fsdkfhasdkj too angry to die

wHY has my brain chosen for me to attach so deeply to perhaps The single most inevitably doomed person in this entire cast, at this point I’m just being cruel to myself lol

- I can’t describe how much I love the fanficiness of this story, in the best ways. the emotional fallout from the destruction of the lotus pier gets more screentime and attention than the entire sunshot campaign, and that’s exactly how I want it to be.

- they’ve been doing some great work to establish that the jin are also jeeeeeerks for such a long time, how’s that for foreshadowing

- equal opportunity traitor jgy gets his stab in lol one must respect the grift, though, he’s set himself up pretty darn good

*lxc stops nmj from killing jgy, hello darkness my old friend starts playing in the background*

fatal journey builds nicely on this fundamental thing that the nie boys take their responsibility to their people extremely seriously, it seems to be the fact that jgy so blithely talks about them as necessary casualties that really sets him off

- adlfsdfhsdkjh lxc and nmj meekly being like ‘...we could maybe... not commit war crimes? if that’s at all possible? no?’

*slaps ‘I don’t think you even tried at all’ stars on both of them* (I mean I actually do kind of see where they’re coming from a bit, they just came out of a pretty costly war and I wouldn’t feel too comfortable getting right back into it with arguably the wealthiest faction, who’s also been keeping back a bit and thus kept a lot more reserves. well played jin bastards well played)

- I could stop here. if I stopped here everything would basically be as okay as they could be and the world full of hope still. I suppose the question here is... do I love myself enough to quit while the going is good. and the answer is no I already started the next episode

- I think one incredibly endearing aspect of this version of nmj is that he has a look of faint but permanent worry about him. he walked onto the screen with a vibe of ‘...oh boy I don’t like where this is going’ and he’s just kept going ever since

in the book he’s kind of a flat character (whose one trait is Mad), I love that they’ve given him some depth and nuance here! probably partly down to the actor doing a great job, but this version has a real sort of warmth to him and also seems downright uncertain at times -- he thrives when there’s a clear goal and black and white sides, and is probably not t h r i l l e d with the weird tentative political situation after they take down the wens lol. thank god he has his little brother to make ‘bitch please’ faces over his shoulder when the jin get weird about things

anyway I’m always on the ‘nhs you are SO valid’ train, but in this version nhs is quadruple valid, in fact only mianmian is more valid in this entire world

- one of my favourite parts of this show is when wwx enters a situation and the camera takes some time to zoom in on the faces of his family and friends to convey their sense of ‘oh god what the fuck is he about to say now’ dread

- jiang yanli asking her little brother if he doesn’t want to stay with them anymore while crying is emotional kryptonite, help

this poor woman, she had to put all her points into emotional intelligence b/c god knows no one else in this family did

- hell YEAH lan zhan go break some rules!! treat yourself my guy

- hey sis if, theoretically, one hypothetically found oneself in -- for the sake of argument -- love with, as the case may or may not be, someone... how would one tell?? asking for a friend

- the whole summary of this fucking show is just ‘weaponized sibling feels’ everything hurts with foreknowledge why did I keep going

- aw no blindfolded kiss scene but here’s a scene with real earnest emotional intimacy stuff going on instead... I will joyfully take it your honor

- I do value and respect the translators giving us these subtitles so much... but they did also force me to read the words ‘bosom friend’ with my own two eyes right there and that was not very cool of them

- why oh WHY must jiang yanli, best person in the world, have been cursed with the horrible fate of being in love with the dumbest man on the planet

*jiang yanli juggling all the idiot men in her life* oh god my little brother is causing an international diplomatic incident again time to bUCKLE UP

oh ho ho you know shit is getting real when big sister gets mad I LOVE HER. suddenly you see she definitely her mother’s daughter after all lol

wwx crying because his sister just fiercely defended him in public... im uwu

- I hate jgy with all my heart but I do feel bad for him too. his barely faltering :) look while all his asshole relatives gang up on him sdfhskahf

- again the jin are dicks but when it comes to aesthetics they do go off, that’s such a beautiful shade of blue

- dsflhsdakjlfhsdakjfl sd this shot of lwj and nmj right before lxc drinks is the funniest framing imaginable b/c lwj is wearing a look of complete stonefaced

-___________-

and meanwhile nmj, who presumably has seen lxc drunk before since they’re longstanding bros, looks worried as fUCK

- awwwww I do love nhs capitalizing all of jc’s attention so the others won’t start shit with him/so he won’t get to say something publicly he’ll regret later because he’s (understandably honestly) mad at his brother for making his life even more difficult than it has to be (I have every sympathy with wwx but buddy... buddy must you make everything more complicated for your bro every darn time this is a real delicate political situation and he’s not suited for that even without your antics)

it’s a very nhs move because he comes across as slightly boorish and rude and thus leaves jc blameless and thus protected, you can get so far if you have no self respect lol

- showing us exactly how wen ning died is honestly a little too mean this is not fun

- good god this poor grandma has been through the wringer hasn’t she

- oh. oh wen ning, who never meant hurt anyone in his entire life :(

- listen okay the end is in sight just a couple more horrific tragedies to get through and then it’s the weird romantic comedy buddy cop antics of the current day timeline to ride to the end

- it cannot be overemphasized how much this lan zhan is Baby, I so desperately want to help and protect him

- I’m going to stop shouting out individual actors on this show they’re all goddamn brilliant haha (but am I tho)

- most valid person in the cultivation world mianmian

also enjoying the exemplification of nmj’s character that is ‘not sure how I feel about this dumb kid with the big mouth digging his own grave ever deeper but that girl’s got guts and I respect that’

- wen quing is getting a taste of the dangers and pitfalls of having wwx as a little brother dfhskdalfhsdaklj she and jyl should compare notes (he’s so good tho T-----T)

- how does wwx’s actor have such natural dad energy at such a young age, too powerful

- people give so little thought to how fucked up jc’s situation really is here, like he’s just being an asshole for the sake of it. spend three fucking seconds looking at it with some realpolitik in mind and realize that the clans around him have just shown that they can and will wipe out an enemy clan together if need be, and that his own sect hasn’t even gotten back on its feet after the war that almost wiped it out. like wwx is unquestionably morally right but has gone about it in such a way that it’s real fucking hard to support him without going down with him and how do you calculate that risk when you’re responsible for so many more lives than your own

also so sad about jc being so afraid this entire time that wwx would leave him like everyone else... and now he has :( jc doesn’t handle it well but then who would at this stage

- there is something so pure about a quietly horrified lan zhan getting Dad Advice from these guys (well he’s going to be needing it soon enough so)

oh the utter softness of his face looking at wwx and ah yuan ;_______; thank god, some fluff to bolster my heart before we set off into the last harrowing ordeal here

LAN ZHAN’S ENTIRE FACE LIGHTING UP AT WEI YING ASKING HIM OUT thank fuck there’s still some joy left in the universe

this poor love struck man, someone help him

lan zhan conscientiously grabbing ah yuan’s toys is fskhdfksjdlfhskjdhf

- lan zhan looking around the demon subduing cave: babe I love you more than life itself but this is tacky as hell

- crying because wen niiiiiing

- crying because sibliiiiiings

okay this is the last time the three of them will be together and nominally happy, need to appreciate it through my tears

- actually I take it back please just let the bad thing happen now so I don’t have to live in suspense anymore lol (...this probably says a lot more about me as a person than I’m strictly comfortable with)

- the fact that none of wwx’s little adopted wen family are AT ALL intimidated by him anymore is just... it’s too much to bear

again tho this book/show is so willing to let you dwell in the emotional stages of things in a very fanfic sort of way, I think it’s what makes the sad parts so much worse (and makes you feel so incredibly attached to these characters)

- I gUESS it’s a testament to jin zixuan’s character that he has any decency at all, considering who his dad is and where he was raised

I’m cracking up at their dad being the one who still doesn’t trust jgy tho lol snake recognizes snake

- jgy’s faint look of ‘are you fucking kIdDiNg me rn’ whenever all these jin douchebags talk is very entertaining. if he didn’t go on to do all that murder and incest and (probably) infanticide I’d sort of cheer for him no matter what kind of sociopath he is

- not to be a downer or anything but isn’t one month a little premature to be celebrating the survival of a baby in fantasy old timey china tho

sometimes I feel like looking back at history is just seeing a whole lot of dead children (and this is why I think that even if god did exist it would be morally inconceivable to worship him! sorry just a quick detour into my personal grudge against the inherent cruelty of the world there, let’s move on)

- it’s uncomfortable to watch even the outlines of the jin sect’s slow insidious stranglehold on power. even these random shopgoing nobodies know that nmj is Not Happy about these watchtowers and that it’s probably going to happen anyway. the jin are snakes but at least they’re clever about it and I do kind of respect that

- oh everything’s about to go so wrong I hate it

NOOOOO don’t make the zombie baby fight, nothing good will come of this

- man this is hitting me worse than lotus pier actually I’m just... crying haha

it’s almost cathartic tho... there’s something about wen quing’s dignity and certainty that really helps? I just really wish they hadn’t brought the whole little group, god I want them to be okay so badly and ah yuan will be all that’s left and. and just throw me into the ocean and let me sink tbh

- I know this is all so much black cgi smoke (pls let us see the red version again at some point btw that was cool as shit) but the emotional metaphor of wwx that you can’t take on more and more of other people’s suffering and trauma and not care for yourself because you will lose control of that at some point is just. very nicely done. (he’s a bit of an odd serial codependent for a lot of the story, isn’t he. thank god lan zhan is not a quitter)

- jin zixuan’s mom is breaking my heart a little here. this lady has been married to THAT GUY all this time and now this as well. sorry lady, I guess jgy probably Took Care Of You at some stage after this

- a) this is just real good acting for wwx. this is the perfect level of unhinged for this, even though I’m always like ‘just. just shut your mouth for one time in your life and stop digging this grave any deeper six feet should be enough for anyone huh’ at this stage of the story and b) I am cackling inappropriately at the shot-reverse-shots between wwx, jiang cheng and jgy. jiang cheng looks like everything he ever loved is falling apart around him and jgy is like ‘oh wow I didn’t even have to provide him any rope he’s doing an excellent job at hanging himself without me’

I love wwx so much but it did take him an unconscionable length of time to realize that when you set big enough things into motion you will not be able to control who it crushes along the way or who might steer it in the wrong direction. other people exist and have agency and a lot of those people are bad honey :(

- ah yes lwj being stopped by a barrier made of the physical manifestation of wwx’s trauma when he tries to reach him :’) this is okay and cool and fine

- it’s admirably obtuse of everyone to look at wwx at this stage and still think he’s in control of uh anything lol

- oh okay that went better than expected I don’t know if I’m just inured to sadness at this point

jiang cheng looking like a little boy clutching his big sister’s body is tugging at my heartstrings a bit tho

- ooooh this battle hardened intense lwj!!! I guess I can sort of see it now

- oh lan zhan 2, electric boogaloo

- finally! time for some comfort up in this hurt

- my man nmj still so fucking angry in the afterlife that anything even remotely connected to him is shaking with rage in sympathy in the real world. a mood

- fdsahfsjdklfhsdajk wwx being like ‘I can take everyone saying I was evil but how DARE you not mention I was also a snacc’

- when do you think nie huaisang really realized that his brother wouldn’t have children and that he was up for the sect leader seat next? nie mingjue seems to have known pretty far in advance himself and tried to prepare his brother accordingly, but that kid really didn’t want the job so I imagine he’d try to live in denial as long as possible

vaguely related: no other family is ever mentioned by either brother or anyone else, and nie huaisang straight out says that he is the only main disciple (I seem to remember and with the caveat that I might have misunderstood the translation) when there’s the talk of them being sent to the wen as hostages -- I suppose you sort of have to be very selective when your ancestral cultivation method is sketchy enough that you should keep that shit on the down low and you know people die young from it. so I think it’s possible if not probable that huaisang is the last of his family. isn’t that a fun little thing to think about? haha. ha. help me

- this random street vendor is an unexpected strong comedy performance, every face he makes is pure gold

- fkshafkjsdhfasd best introduction of adult nhs

- the quiet luminous love on lwj’s face whenever he looks at wwx in the present... give this man all the awards. it’s nice that wwx gets to be scared and childish and vulnerable with someone who loves him no matter what too, he’s been through some shit

- oh okay I see so the reason they chose to make fatal journey the way they did was because they already had the set built

- *nhs dropping one set of robes like that one gif from anastasia to reveal another even more luxuriously dandy-ish set under it* oh wow what a surprise to see you two down here, coincidences amirite (anyway here’s the testament to all the sins of my ancestors & a trail of breadcrumbs to lead you to the murderer of my brother)

no wait that’s slightly later isn’t it. well the point still stands

- dead!nmj is truly a mood -- “I don’t know where I am, who I am or what the fuck just happened but I do know that I am PISSED OFF”

(actually in the book I found that almost comforting -- at least the dude got to spend his afterlife doing what he loved (i.e. being angry), but this more nuanced and sympathetic version being trapped like that just. makes me very very sad)

nice of him to stick around to play a few rounds of hot or cold with his little bro’s friends tho lol. I mean from what I understand of this take on canon it’s actually the spirit of his sword and not him in person? but close enough, let me keep him as long as I can okay

- jin ling getting his dumb ass cask of amontillado’d within ten minutes of entering the tomb smh

look at your ROBES young man what is your (other) uncle going to say??

- hAH what did I say. pedagogic mastermind jiang cheng at it again

enjoying the fact that they chose the floofiest most benign-looking of dogs to play this ~*terrifying hound*~ so much

I have a lot of sympathy for jiang cheng, and the actor is doing a good job at aging him up here (not as good as lwj’s but then you can’t beat perfection). the way he’s calcified into bitterness and anger b/c he can’t express his emotions in a healthy nuanced way feels very... real I guess, people get like that sometimes

- I am somehow really endeared to this version of jin ling. a dumb baby, but a baby

- poor lan zhan lol “I LEFT YOU ON YOUR OWN FOR TWO HOURS AND YOU ALREADY MANAGED TO TAKE ON SOMEONE ELSE’S CURSE??? BABE!!!!!!!”

he consistently uses jiang cheng’s personal name too huh. well it is his brother in law I guess ETA: actually I’m an idiot ignore/forgive me, that’s jiang cheng’s courtesy name isn’t it. lan wangji is being salty/maybe-deliberately-maybe-not-(but-definitely-tho) distant/polite with him I think

- y’know... as I watch lwj carry the love of his life around on his back with all the tenderness in the world and I see people in the comments yell about why do you always need everything to be gay they’re just good friends you’re all crazy... I realize all over again that there really is no level of queerness they’ll ever find legitimate or acceptable. which like. feels bad, but there’s also the freedom in remembering they are always going to be assholes no matter what I do, there’s literally no need to listen to them at any time.

- I am CRACKING UP; watching this episode right after seeing fatal journey sure is a treat hahaha. nhs really must enjoy the acting on a deep level because he is hamming it up and I am living for it

“It’s nothing at all like unorthodox demonic cultivation methods!” he protests with his big innocent doe eyes, having yelled the exact same accusation at his brother within ten seconds of finding out about it dsfdskjha

- awww that’s such a sweet way of telling nhs who he is while both of them still get plausible deniability :’)

this show is making it a LOT easier to figure out nhs’ deal earlier just through visual storytelling and his reactions when lwj and wwx aren’t looking, but I guess you sort of have to do that without the benefits of selective POVs that you can do in written stories

- lan zhan’s little smirks are such a blessing

- can we talk about how INCREDIBLY rude lwj and wwx are being barging into other people’s ancestral tombs like they own the place. I know I said break some rules lan zhan but there’s such a thing as common decency too at least wipe your feet at the entrance or something

stop being big bullies!!! (nhs actually sounds a little salty at how debonair they are being lol he’s like yeah you’re doing what I want you to but you don’t have to be such dicks about it)

- nooooooo nmj don’t die ur so sexy ahaha (I jest so I do not cry godddddd my heart big brother come baaaaaaack)

I’m honestly finding it very hard to live with knowing that the last thing nmj saw in life was jgy having his little brother in his clutches D:D:D: looking at it like that... of course he came back mad as fuck, I’d probably do the same thing

- boys boys I love and support you but could you maybe not stand around talking about how this was totally a horrific murder like the murderee’s little brother isn’t standing right there?? i mean it’s useful for him but it’s kind of mean of you, I know neither of you were raised in a barn

okay there’s wwx irrepressible protective instinct that’s better. I just... nhs standing there looking small and sad and soft and lonely isn’t the whole truth but it is part of the whole truth, it’s nice to see wwx being like this even after all those years. (the physical closeness in their friendship in their youth in this version is so gooood. outside of wwx the only two people we see nhs consistently allow close or seek out closeness from is his brother and MENG YAO, who can frankly burn in hell even more than usual for the flute thing in fatal journey.)

- lan zhan contemplating the inherent impermanence of everything good in the world and then immediately getting blackout drunk -- MOOD. also I have never seen a scene where someone so obviously was about to press a soft kiss to someone’s forehead or cheek, don’t worry wwx I see you through the censorship lol

(it’s incredible how well they’ve adapted the love story considering the fact that they technically uh can’t)

- wen ning: shambles, zombie-like and disheveled with horror movie monster eyes, into frame

all of us: omg a BABY ToT

- live action drunk lan zhan is living up to the hype I am d y i n g

this poor repressed man

fjskdfsdkjhf he could do sword fighting in his damn sleep probably

I will say that leaving ‘wei wuxian was also here’ is going to scare the crap out of these poor people whose only crime was keeping well fed chickens

- they r so in love someone hold me

- this nmj!kid I am LOSING IT, this is so cute I want to lie face down on the floor and cry

- the yi city arc is my least favourite part of this story, so I’m fortifying myself to get through a couple of hours of sexy baby xue yang here

- Dad/troll teacher!wwx is in fact everything

- oooh wwx has the same weird crooked fingers as me when they’re extended! just some small Facts About Your Friendly Neighbourhood Blogger there

- this is not at all a bad take on ah quing! she qte

- ‘what’s your husband look like?’ song lan, crying: beautiful

- xxc you didn’t think it was a little weird the dude wouldn’t tell you his name -- even a name -- all this time. honestly

I know you’re in a bad place and this is sort of a rebound thing from your actual true love but stop letting him gaslight you like this buddy :(

- time for some MASSIVELY FORESHADOWING PARALLELS my friends

- I don’t know if I’m just a heartless monster but I honestly don’t care that much about anyone but ah quing in this little sideplot lol (probably my complete disinterest in xue yang tainting everything else)

- xue yang and jgy: the ‘sad backstory dude still inexplicably extra mass murder’ club

- godddd I’m so bored I’ve listened to this guy cackle ~*madly and evilly*~ for three episodes now when will it fucking end

- lan jingjy you are VALID

- fhsdkfhsdkj can’t get over baxia being like ‘OI you two stop gazing soulfully into each other’s eyes for five seconds and get on with avenging me’

must be annoying spending your afterlife in a pouch third wheeling the two most obnoxiously in love people in the world, I think this spirit sword is being admirably restrained and patient all things considered

- big brother I am so sorry you had to hang out under there all this time while this boring bullshit plot happened above you ;________________________;

I’m actually not clear on what the nie sect does with the bodies of the dead -- the saber tomb seems to be exclusively for the weapons/we see that some of the cultivators will go down there while they’re still alive to sacrifice themselves... maybe they go in the walls? I guess nhs is breaking tradition in a lot of ways tho so who knows!

- ‘from what I’ve seen he’s not so bad’ wei ying he smilingly asked you to use POWs for target practice I’ll allow lxc to be this dumb but you really have no excuse

- this duckling in red is a gentleman and a bro, one to watch

- wwx seductively arranging himself in the open window to cover his panic fsdkjfhsda

- lot’s wife WISHES she had the level of salt jiang cheng does

- ‘if they ask me any weird questions I don’t know the answers to I’ll have to pretend to be a total psycho’

lan zhan, dragging his husband with one deadpan face: I’m sure that is going to be a huge feat of acting for you babe

- NIE HUAISANG FALLING INTO FRAME AND LAUNCHING HIMSELF FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER LIKE A GORMLESS WET RAG, I STAN ONE (1) BOY

‘but new problems appeared’ how is he such a mood

again tho you can give your unknowing accomplices so much space to investigate if you just don’t bother with self respect or dignity at any stage of the journey lol

- fjshdfkjlsahd that beat of lan zhan clearly taking a moment to contemplate the idea of wei ying confessing his love naked in public there

- uncle and nephew bonding time T________________T

- fsakfhsadkjlfhsad I can’t deal with this mission impossible ass music in the background as a little paper gingerbread man scoots around the palace

whoever animated this was clearly having a lot of fun, I love the little details like his dangling legs and him rubbing his lil paper bum after landing

- poor qin su, one of the most screwed over people in this whole show. at least in the book he didn’t mean to

- ah su, you’re being very unreasonable about this, what is a little incest between friends

- straight culture is this being chill to keep in the adaptation but god forbid anyone got a loving queer kiss at any point (not blaming the showrunners at all, they’re clearly stretching the limits as far as they will go and maybe a bit more at a few points)

- YES SISTER CALL HIM THE FUCK OUT I always felt like she’s known something was a little off for a long time but never could put her finger on what exactly

- ‘can you still not let me go’ hey jgy you piece of shit who’s keeping whose head in a weird serial killer cabinet here

- THANK YOU FOR BRINGING HIS HANDSOME ALIVE FACE BACK TO MY SCREEN IF ONLY TO MAKE ME SAD

- he’s so beautiful and righteous and strong 😭😭😭😭 dage come back to us

(makes even more sense that he’s so pissed off about what jgy did if he’s already shown clearly that he’ll shut down the people fucking with him if it’s brought to his attention. he gave you every opportunity you little oh-it’s-never-really-my-fault worm of a man)

- another nmj about to cry warning needed here help me

dON’T FUCKING TOUCH HIM YOU SLIMY FSKJLDHFKSJDHFSKDJLHF

the nie traits are undying loyalty, rage, and the intergenerational trauma of watching your parental figures succumb to death and madness through the same cultivation path you practice

- my cause of death: nmj’s eyes shining with unshed tears

this version has that edge of vulnerability to him, you suddenly do realize he was once just a kid watching his dad die a horrifying death and then having to take on all that responsibility and raising his brother

nie boys unfailingly devoted to the people under their protection I’m gonna go bury myself under a tree or something

- I’ve had to turn the volume down so I can barely hear anything b/c my emotions are too big to for my dumb body to contain already I can’t listen to this

- extremely sad but also a little funny that part of the reason nmj died was that he had no interest whatsoever in the arts. ‘music is music right?’ says local jock

- I’ve just been whimpering the last twenty minutes this is awful

- huaisang’s voice breaking on ‘big brother, it’s me’... sdlakhgsdjklfhsadjkghsdkjlfhdskljhgsdalkhgsdklgjhsdjklhgkdjslhgjskd I’m going to the bottom of the mariana trench and I’m staying there goodbye

- I can’t wait to watch nie huaisang end this putrid trash man’s whole career in the most devastating way possible tbh

- I’m just so SAD T______________________________T I hate jgy so much my heart burns with it I’m so glad he’s about to get some dramatic irony shoved up his -- but I digress

- haha poor jin ling standing there watching all this messed up shit like ‘O.O thanks i’m nine’

- I wish I was as good at passing the fuck out on command as nhs, I feel like it would solve a lot of my problems

- just some low key soulmate shit no biggie

- wwx is basically fantasy old timey naked again here the SCANDAL except no scandal they’re clearly married

- wwx is being so much more patient with lxc than I would have found it in my heart to be at this stage. he’s like ‘lxc you are my brother in law and I truly appreciate you and everything you’ve done for me but it’s sadly up to me to gently confront you with all the ways you’ve been a dumb ho just b/c you think jgy has pretty dimples 😔’

- “You’re not qualified to talk to me” oh lwj I love you so much. I thought committing murder was forbidden by the lan sect rules but there you go

- it honestly baffles me that some people think nmj would be the strictest parental figure in this universe when a) everything about huaisang suggests otherwise and b) lan qiren is right there

madam yu has that ‘super unforgiving to her son’s face but will also tear anyone criticizing him a new one’ mixed energy too

- lqr: I raised a perfect obedient righteous cultivator

me & wei ying: you’ve ruined a perfectly good boy is what you did look at him he’s too repressed to breathe

- well their dad clearly paid enough attention to worldly matters that two kids resulted from it, I’m not quite sure where we’re going with this lxc

one’s an accident two’s a pattern etc.

- wow I was so confused about ‘confidante’ being used here b/c it makes absolutely no sense in context, and the comments helpfully informed me that it’s more accurately translated to ‘soulmate’ or something like that; that does make a whole lot more sense yeah

- bb!lan zhan kneeling in the snow is more than anyone’s supposed to have to live with tbh

- lxc being like ‘so yeah my brother will keep loving people long after they’re gone and unable to give him love back! just a fun fact there, something to think about anyway here’s wonderwall’

- soft, ever-so-slightly messy haired at home lan zhan deserves the world

- oh wwx’s shift away from thinking the truth doesn’t matter at all to realizing the truth of you being held fully and with love by one person in your life is enough as lwj plays their song ;______________________________; this is almost more romantic than a kiss scene would be honestly jesus christ

- little apple is the best of us tbh

- apologies but they have 100% started to fuck off-screen at this stage, the looks wei ying is giving him dsafasdfhsjkd

- I take it back mianmian and little apple are the best of us

- imagine just finding the light bearing lord, second peerless jade of lan in his immaculate white clothes, peeking out from between your hay bales one day

- the exponential increase in lan zhan’s blessed little smiles lately: my oh-they-fawking thesis is validated yet again

- wei ying lying through his teeth: of course I remembered your face at once who do you take me for

(lan zhan: smirks in quiet satisfaction)

- walejhgskdjhgsjdaklfhsadjkflafhsjakdsf wen ning is so cute I don’t know what to do with myself

- wei ying this is where you first asked him out of course he remembers

- lan zhan is like ‘oh shit I forgot to tell him about our son and at this point I’m kind of embarrassed to bring it up’

- I am NOT thinking about the lotus pond they made for him here, you can’t make me

- ‘the worst time in their lives’ yeah, but there was such love there too. it h u r t s

- the actor for wen ning is so good at making his expressions look deeply earnest but also a little uncanny, like moving his face doesn’t come naturally to him anymore but his Good Boyness shines through

- DRAGGED in public by his own son. rip wwx he had a good run of it before his untimely murder

- wow thank goodness sect leader yao survived all this time, his death would as we all know have been a huge loss to society as a whole

- “I’m just here to round up the numbers” I love him more than I can convey to you in words

I’m a simple person, I hear nhs’ chronically befuddled voice and a burst of pure joy is released in my heart

sdfhjksadhfsad his soft little 😕 face peeking out from behind people’s shoulders fkjsdhfsdjal

- will I ever get enough of nhs masterfully manipulating a situation through his own apparent cowardliness and uselessness? no is the answer to that it’s always entrancing to watch

nhs as a teacher, nodding sagely as his disciples exchange glances: it’s never too late to go home instead of going big. saying ‘fuck this i’m outta here’ is always an option

- also nhs seemingly doesn’t use a saber at all anymore, where he at least used to have one back in fatal journey times. I’m very happy he’s trying some new things, time to break that very sad traumatic chain of dying young and furious

also him getting someone else to do the work of fixing the ward or whatever fskdfhaskdlf

teacher nhs, waving his pupils away b/c he’s busy painting or something: class dismissed. and remember, if at all possible, get someone else to do your homework for you. as long as you don’t get caught that’s an automatic A

- wwx is literally the cat surrounded by knives meme here lol

- lol lol lol wwx just removed his outer tunic thing to reveal lan zhan’s undershirt still under there and you can see lan qiren silently seethe with ‘that little hussy has seduced my nephew away from the righteous path’

(do I personally believe in slut shaming of any kind? nah it’s dumb as fuck. do I think lqr does? yeah)

- hahaha I can’t tell if nhs’ slightly glazed look here is b/c wwx did something he didn’t plan for him to do or if it’s because he’s for all intents and purposes half naked in front of them. (tbh I think there’s a case to be made in this version that he has a sort of wistful would-never-act-on-it-for-a-million-different-reasons-lan-zhan’s-furious-jealous-stare-being-foremost-of-them crush on both wwx and lwj from back when they were teens)

- WOW all these dicks inviting themselves to lotus pier!!! r u d e

- lan zhan flexing on lan qiren by raising a happy well adjusted child even while he’s mourning the love of his life: what like it’s hard

- wen ning kept that toy for sixteen goddamn years don’t touch me

- I’m crying about jin ling give me a moment. he is baby okay he’s even younger than ah yuan by at least four years

the image of him hugging the only thing he’s got left of his dad... fsdalkfhasdjlkfhsjdakhfsjdk

- lan sizhui has a crowd of good uncles/dads and poor jin ling has a crowd of utter disaster uncles and it’s very unfortunate (yes wwx is on both of those lists)

it is very sweet that it’s jiang cheng who consistently actually looks out for him, even in his feelings-wtf-are-feelings sort of way. the least disaster uncle, but only by comparison lol

- I think this ouyang kid might be duckling in red from before? LOVING the interspersed nhs reaction shots to him, anyway fsakdfh (I’m going to make it sad: how many conversations like this do you think he had with his brother as a kid? that’s fine we can both cry now I don’t want to be alone in this)

- ‘mr ning’ im Y___________________________________Y

- extremely Here for yet another full costume change from nhs hahaha (he’s changed at the boat already, god knows how he pulled that off but I’d expect no less from him)

- nhs must have been a sect leader for at least a decade at this point, and he still manages to exude such a powerful ‘kid at the adult’s table’ aura. incredible. mindblowing, inspirational

- ...oh they went with the same version of the previous jin leader’s death huh (but GOD FORBID that anyone should be openly gay amirite lol) O___O again though WHY is jin ling here, jiang cheng??????? he’s like sixteen, he’s never going to dare to even kiss anyone after this

- nhs has the look of a man who’s had to sit on this disgusting knowledge alone for years and finally gets to share that icky burden around, merry christmas everyone if I have to know about this so do you

- I don’t know if this is just me imagining things or reading more into it than what’s there, but I think nhs is actually sitting in the same pose his brother used to a lot in this part of the scene (the upright posture with palms resting at the top of the thighs/hips, fingers turned inwards/towards each other; it looks sort of... solid and self-contained, I guess)

- I would call jgy knowingly committing the incest character assassination if he’d had enough character to assassinate even in the book, I would never have put it past him

- y’know... god knows nmj had flaws (I think my immense depth of love for him in this version comes precisely from how hard he tries even while being deeply flawed. him dumb but him always trying :’) well actually he’s not dumb at all, he’s shown to be pretty darn politically savvy, I’m just having a hard time finding the right word here. ‘inflexible’ is maybe closer ), but the big defining difference between him and jin guangyao (and consequently xue yang) is that both of the latter are completely open about the fact that they see themselves as more important than anyone else -- xue yang considers one of his fingers worth more than fifty people’s lives, jgy kills twenty sex workers as a mere afterthought to his own revenge on his father. meanwhile nmj gets Messed Up by people dying under his protection to the degree that he came up with one of the dumbest plans I’ve ever heard just so he’d be the only one at risk, just so no one else would get hurt anymore. hmnghsjhfs.

- wen ning, proudly: my sister was the best doctor in the world

me, openly crying: she sure was buddy

- wwx: hey lan zhan are there any sweet patient lan ladies with an open mind around

lwj: ...why

wwx: I just think our zombie son should start thinking about getting friends, maybe even a real home

lwj, subtly relieved: oh

- JIN LING BABY BOY NOOOO D:D:D:

- nhs I need you to come in and end this man I cannot look at his awful face anymore

- ugh this garrotte sound effect is really unpleasant actually well done

- THERE HE IS!!! conveniently swooning his way into the scene again, my guy ;_______; smol and soft-looking and about to utterly obliterate a man on every conceivable level

I love every moment of the camera dwelling meaningfully on his innocent vulnerable face, this is going to be so great

it’s too bad he’s a behind the curtain sort of dude, I would kill for a poirot-style ‘I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here in the library’ moment here lol

- tbh jiang cheng’s got a point about that whole ‘making huge sweeping decisions about someone else’s life and never telling them about it’ thing

wwx has sort of structured himself as a person so that you’ll never be allowed to really reciprocate his dedication and sacrifices (unless you’re lz lol), and while that is a very sympathetic trauma reaction essentially it is sort of a dick move interpersonally.

- the weight and wisdom that comes along with the scars of older wwx... you love to see it

- nhs, with effortless grace, rousing from his disney princess slumber just as the real drama’s about to begin... your honor he is simply the best

- T__________________________________________________________T big brother

- the tinge of coldness in nhs’ eyes while he watches jgy through this whole scene even as he keeps up the ‘im baby don’t worry about me’ act.............. fashdfjlksdahfslkadj, not to say askfksjhafkjsldhfkjsalhfksjaldhfkls

- to say that jgy has perhaps ‘gone overboard with this’ might be the biggest understatement of any century lxc

- watching him kneel by his brother’s coffin here I’d like to propose that Nie Huaisang has exactly the same capacity for all-consuming rage as the rest of his family, except he can’t just vent it by hitting something real hard with a haunted murder saber so he has to get creative and that was real unfortunate for Jin Guangyao

- one thing that’s always tickled me is that nhs did give jgy the choice. the people around him -- the people he claims to love -- could have been left out of it, no dishonor being brought to either his name or any of theirs... if he’d been willing to sacrifice himself. (probably a gambit where he knew that was never going to happen, but still!)

- nhs standing there in the background like ‘yeah yeah we all have horrifying family legacies buddy, we just don’t knowingly marry our sisters or arrange for mass murders over it’

- arguably killing the previous jin leader could actually count as a good deed if not for the horrifying way he did it lol. jgy all over, he could have done something helpful, *john mulaney voice* and then he didn’t he just killed nineteen innocent women while he was on a roll instead

- while it’s sort of bullshit that some responsibility is taken away from wwx in jin zixuan’s death here it’s also making a bit more sense to me like this -- seems like an uncharacteristic gamble from jgy to just idk hope wwx would lose control at exactly the right/wrong moment. wwx is still at fault for how casually he treated wen ning as a weapon when he didn’t know what the consequences could be, I’m okay with this

- jin ling and the terrible horrible no good very bad week :( protect him

wow lan xicheng let’s stand around some more letting this awful excuse for a person tell this sixteen year old boy that his parents deserved to be murdered basically, I’m sure there’s a lot more fruitful discussion still left to be had here

- talk shit about nie mingjue’s brother get hit su she hell YEAHHHHHH

big brother still looking out for him I’m fsdklfhajsdlhf 😭😭😭

- I’M SO FULL OF FEELINGS ;________________________________; at least in this version the implication feels more like he’s finally at peace? (hilariously wwx managed to purge/cleanse the saber spirit, which is the entire conflict of fatal journey haha, nhs really did get his best friend to do his homework for him yet again, INSPIRATIONAL)

- HELL YEAH FINALLY GET REKT YOU PIECE OF SHIT! PRESS F TO PAY RESPECT EXCEPT JOKE’S ON YOU I’VE GOT NO RESPECT TO PAY

They did do away with any and all ambiguity around nhs here and I’m totally cool with it, that was awesome

- I’m playing the world’s tiniest little violin right now, wow much sad fuck you and your dumb hat

- may I just say that the fact that jgy uses his last moments on earth to make lxc, a person he proclaims to love, feel as bad as possible about his now inevitable death even though it clearly wasn’t really his fault... is just proof that he has never actually loved anyone at all except possibly himself

contrast with wwx, who tells jc that he’s sorry, dries his tears in the here and now and says to let the past go because there’s nothing either of them can do about it now and there’s no point in hurting themselves over it again and again anymore. jgy has the opportunity to give a similar kindness here and instead twists and twists the knife, so lxc will be in as much pain as possible when he’s gone. he’d rather be kept alive in lxc’s suffering than let him, someone he ‘loves’, ever heal and be happy. anyway I hope hell is real shitty for you jgy

- jgy you absolute piece of shit you couldn’t let my man have TEN FUCKING MINUTES to nap in peace? after sixteen years of your fuckery? urgh bye

- nhs looking at lxc sadly when lxc can’t see him... one last ‘I don’t know’ finally closing out his arc... I love all of this so much, there’s such a nuance of... he is genuinely a bit sad about causing lxc pain but he also doesn’t regret what he did At All. (I guess most of what he’s done must be pretty easy to rationalize/justify to himself, since the vast majority of his work went into finding the horrible shit jgy has done and showing them the way home to roost, rather than creating fresh suffering from scratch. and then there’s also the whole mo family but uh well eggs omelettes amirite lol)

- lan qiren telling people not to run or talk loudly b/c they’re at a temple, even under these circumstances fhakjsldfhkjsdafhkjsaldhf

- god the casting people for this show have a perfect track record of finding heartwrenchingly cute kids my GOD

- jfdsafhaskdjfh I love how they’ve done the moment with the hat -- the way the flashback sort of indicates that nhs does recognize on a deep level that the dude he just killed was someone’s son, was after all once an innocent child, like anyone... and again, it doesn’t make him regret it. he looks tired and sort of empty, but not like he’d take any of it back. he’s seen jgy for all that he was, good and bad, and made his decision. his reaction to seeing his hands ever so slightly stained with blood is mostly ‘...eh sure’ (and he knows none of this will ever bring his brother back and I am HURTING) . just. I love him so much what an interesting character

- lan zhan raised a child who can talk about his feelings, unprecedented & wondrous

who’s chopping onions in here

- never getting over ah yuan being the best person in the world at roasting his dad

- okay okay okay I’m going to have some incoherent feelings here -- the expression on nhs’ face right after wwx asks him if he intends to be chief cultivator is just... hm. how do I describe this. it looks almost like he’s thinking ‘oh yeah I forgot you don’t actually know me anymore (yeah okay that’s my bad)’? the previous scene is about lwj and wwx, The symbolic representation of true love in this world, naming each other/knowing each other for exactly who and what they are. that’s the thematic victory in this story; to be truly known, accepted and loved for the entirety of who you are, if only by one person in your whole life. (notably all sorts of love, parental, familial, platonic etc., not just romantic/sexual) and to get his victory, nhs has had to completely forsake that because his whole plan hinged on it; he hasn’t been emotionally honest with anyone for well over a decade at this point. no one really knows or understands him, and if someone ever did he’s long dead now and never coming back. and in this one moment both wwx and nhs seem to come to the quiet understanding that neither of them are who they used to be as kids and it’ll never be like it used to be again, and reach a sort of live-and-let-live truce about it. d u d e this goddamn story

(after all part of the reason jgy is so incredibly terrified of nmj is that he’s the first person to see straight through his bullshit to who he is behind it, and that it’s u g l y back there. jgy + nmj = being known without being accepted or loved (b/c honestly he doesn’t deserve to be loved or accepted yeah there we go I said it), jgy + lxc = being accepted and loved without being known, which turns into disaster all around.)

- man this was actually a really solid adaptation, it was excellently done! they did rush a bit towards the end there (it was never explained why jgy didn’t kill sissi along with all the other sex workers in this version, for example, leaving a rather substantial plot hole, and they never reveal why exactly lan zhan had to take over as sect leader which breaks off lxc’s arc at the end), but all in all that was wonderful and even added some stuff I liked better than in the book! now please god never let mtxt write a sequel, just let them be in this happily ever after, all of them have been through enough ;________;

- also the music was truly epic! I don’t even begrudge them using some parts more often and blatantly than what’s probably necessary, I want to wallow in this love theme as much as the next person lol

- what am I going to do with hours upon hours of my life now? I don’t know either, I suppose I will just have to find some way to hobble on

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #nie brothers #(b/c predictably that's what most of my feelings boil down to lol)#meta #I think I might have outdone myself with this; this is a new height of aimless unproductive nonsense even for me lol #I did this instead of working on the edit of the fic I've got nearly finished because... I don't know either guys I just don't know

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urperfect2me · 5 years ago

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ok so since i'm a desperate little thing that needs love and validation, here's the story of how my S/I became part of @doctordiscord123 Ego Manor family:

- so as i previously stated, my S/I is literally me from the Supernatural universe that is "possesed" by an angel, Lehahiah, who's Heaven's Patron of the arts so we've gotta watch over the different parallel universes of earth's different stories and yes, that includes fanfiction as well

- so after i've got obsessed with the series i decided that "hey, i can visit the boys, why not do so in a more... personal way?"

- the thing plays as such: it's a rainy day at the Manor and everyone is inside doing their thing and then there's my S/I running under the Manor's porch to repair myself from the rain. at this point, since i casually forgot both my jacket and my umbrella that kind soul that is Silver Shepherd first asks me what i'm doing and after i say that i followed the wrong directions and didn't expect to rain so suddenly, he sees me shivers so he welcomes me inside to take something go get myself warm.

- everyone is pretty confused at him bc "hey, excuse me, who's she?" "what is a stranger doing in our home?", Silver tells them my story and they all go "lol k" and go back to their businesses, except for Wilford, who's a good landlord and offers me to get myself some tea and shelter until the rain goes away. while we do that, i tell him my "story" (not at all true, it's all an act), aka that i'm a secretary that that day had an interview but, since the directions weren't so clear and the city wasn't so easy to navigate, i lost myself and had no idea where to go, until i casually found their home. the rain then eventually passes and we bid each other farewell, but not after i left my business card to them, telling them that i'd be glad to give them a hand if they wanted to

- Wilford actually gets impressed by my story and talks with Dark about me, telling him that yes, maybe a helping hand wouldn't be so bad, since most of the Dark overworks himself to the point of having chronic pains, so after a week? a few weeks? who knows tbh, they call me back and they ask to come back to have a full on job interview in the dining room with all the Egos presents. i present to them my skills and, after consulting themselves, they officially make me their secretary, yaaaay!

- from there on it's a freaking roller-coaster. timeline wise, this happens a few months before Eric, Derek and Reynolds are introduced bc

1. i wanna punch Derek in the face myself

2. after reading the "The Streets" fic i SO WANTED TO PROTECT THEM FROM THAT ASSHOLE

- i've had multiple daydreams about snippets of my daily life with them and how my presence could change the fic's storyline, like me cooking italian food for them, doing Just Dance tournaments, etc. and then the love of my life, Yancy that is, come and that. changes. everything.

- i daydreamed so much about me and him, like how did we get together, how much the other Egos teases us and what would they do to get the two of us to confess. i even had two separate scenarios where there's an occasion when I get kidnapped and the Egos literally go mayhem because of that, because they actually care about me and so they save me, and then there's this other scenario where Yancy gets kidnapped and ohohoh, you're in for a treat because not only i am pissed and angry and fucking livid, the angel that posseses my body, Lehahiah, is so mad too because they care about Yancy too now and yeah, my heart goes all "woosh" thinking of this

- plus like, i wanna know so bad how would the Egos treat me: would they treat me as a colleague or a friend? would some of them hate me, or at least don't like me (i tots imagine the Host sensing that there's something wrong with me but never actually catching what), or would they all love me like their little sister? who knows, who knows...

- and yeah, the thing is still going but the part where they corner me and force me to spill the tea and confess that i'm secretly an angel by showing them my wings is still one of my favourites bits

ANYWAY, can you tell to what degree i love this fic? because trust me, it breaks every scale possible.

and you know, since i dragged my boyfriend @shetanibonaparte in this rabbit hole too, one day we will probably write a four-hands fanfic about our Egos meeting your Egos: i still don't know when, but one day...

OKAY I LOVE YOU BYE

#excuse me while i AAAAAAAAAA #sORRY IF THIS MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM BUT I NEEDED TO GET IT OUT OF MY CHEST #doctor dicord's fic #The Ego Manor

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ericfruits · 8 years ago

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The president’s executive orders won’t do much for coalminers

“YOU’RE going back to work,” Donald Trump told miners on March 28th. Gathered in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), they saw him sign an executive order to review and revise Barack Obama’s flagship energy policy, the Clean Power Plan. Among other measures, the order also requests the reversal of a moratorium on coal-leasing on federal lands and dispenses with rules to curb methane emissions from oil and gas sites. It rolls back internal rules for government agencies on how to tot up the social costs of environmental damage, too.

The Clean Power Plan was unveiled in August 2015. It directed states to work out how to cut emissions from power plants to avoid pollution equivalent to the exhausts from 80m cars by 2030. The policy was meant to get America almost halfway to meeting its pledge to cut emissions by 26-28% by 2025, as measured against 2005 levels, for the Paris agreement (which seeks to limit global warming to “well below” 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures). But legal challenges from 27 states and several companies saw the Clean Power Plan put on hold by the Supreme Court a little over a year ago.

Because it has never been implemented, the plan’s demise hurts less than environmental campaigners suggest. Around 30 states already require power companies and utilities to increase their use of renewable energy over the next decade. And states with economic heft, such as California and New York, are formidable climate champions. The Golden State has planned for its emissions to fall by 40%, against 1990 levels, by 2030. Even in Republican strongholds such as Texas and Oklahoma, congressional subsidies have helped wind projects to thrive.

As America’s energy mix changes, new coal-leasing on federal lands is unlikely to bring back jobs as Mr Trump claims. In 2006, coal generated 49% of America’s electricity; by 2015 it provided 30%. Six coal-fired plants have closed since the presidential election. And as for jobs, efficiency, rather than regulation, lies behind most of the losses. America produces almost 50% more coal than it did in 1940, but employs just 13% or so of the miners, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics.

Of the other measures, killing rules to limit methane emissions from oil and gas sites is particularly worrying. Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for more than 500 years; methane for only 12. But methane is many times more potent during that time. And perhaps as much as 2.5% of the stuff flowing through American supply chains escapes. If current plans are approved in Congress, the EPA will have far less cash with which to detect big spurts in the greenhouse gas, like the one which occurred last year in Los Angeles.

Squashing the EPA pleases those conservatives who believe the agency has overreached. But Mr Trump stopped short of authorising two other policies: instructing the EPA to reconsider its “endangerment finding” of 2009—which lets it regulate carbon-dioxide emissions in line with an earlier Supreme Court ruling—and withdrawing from the Paris agreement.

Under that deal, countries need to decide on how to measure the impact of their plans to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 2018, and then set themselves new targets by 2020. Both processes will be less open and less exacting if the world’s second-largest polluter neither helps lead them nor bothers to meet its commitments. Nevertheless, the falling cost of renewables and the severity of urban air pollution are among reasons why countries such as India and China will continue down a greener path anyway. That may provide a little comfort to the scientists and officials whose own efforts have been undone with a stroke of Mr Trump’s pen.

http://ift.tt/2ocQi1k

#IFTTT #Feedly

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ineffablegoodhusbandsomens · 5 years ago

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And a baby makes 3 Chapter 3, 4 & 5

So, in the time since I posted chapter 2, I’ve pumped out another 3 chapters, and forgot to post them on here. So, what I’m gonna do, is give you guys all 3 chapters at once! This is either going to go well, or horribly. So, let’s find out together! I hope you enjoy! (Sorry if this is annoying in any way. I just like sharing my writing, and I think some people on here who aren’t on AO3 might like it)

Chapter 3

Unfortunately, there weren’t any baby shops in the town they lived near. Fortunately, there were a couple in Brighton, which was just about a 20 minute drive from where they lived. And because they had to take Eve with them, Crowley drove at speed limit, and followed all traffic laws. Aziraphale was very proud of him being so responsible for his daughter, who was strapped into a portable baby carrier, which was fastened to the seat with seat belts Crowley miracled. It was the slowest he’d ever seen Crowley drive.

When they finally pulled into the parking lot of the chain baby store, Crowley unbuckled Eve, and pulled her out of the carrier.

“My dear, you’re supposed to carry her in the carrier” Aziraphale said, disapprovingly. Crowley just shrugged.

“Angel, that thing looks impossible to strap in. And besides, I want to hold her. Don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop holding her” the demon replied, and Aziraphale found he couldn’t keep up his stern act. Crowley just looked so happy with Eve in his arms. Aziraphale couldn’t help smiling.

“Alright my dear. She does so love to be picked up by you” the angel said, and Crowley smiled back at him. They walked into the shop, and Aziraphale grabbed a cart. They decided against buying a new crib, seeing as they already had one. They would just move it from their room to her nursery.

“Oh, Crowley look! There’s a seat you could strap her in, if your arms get tired” Aziraphale says, looking excitedly at the cart. Crowley smiled.

“I could” Crowley said, in a tone of voice that said he wasn’t going to. Aziraphale rolled his eyes.

“Hello! Welcome to Tots and Toys! My name is Marie, just let me, or any other store employees know if you need any help” a greeter said, as they entered the store a little more. Aziraphale smiled at her.

“Thank you, my dear. Could you point us in the direction of the baby clothes?” he asked, and she smiled back at him.

“Baby clothes are to the right of the store, just past the toy section” she answered kindly, pointing in the general direction of the clothes.

“Thank you kindly. Let’s go, my dear” Aziraphale said to Crowley, and they walked over to clothes. As they walked, Crowley noticed a few people staring at them, not in a negative way, just curiously. They were a bit of an odd looking family, after all. Crowley lifted Eve a little higher onto his hip, and used his free hand to grab Aziraphale’s. This was his way of showing that, yeah, this was his family, and his family was awesome. When they made it to the clothes section, Crowley had 2 revelations. Firstly, that they didn’t know how big, or how old she was. And secondly, that there were tartan clothes.

“Angel, I swear, if you put her in anything tartan, I’m walking out of this store with her” Crowley said, in what he hoped was a threatening tone. It wasn’t.

“Oh please. I happen to know, on good authority, that my tartan scarf has been claimed by you” Aziraphale said, smirking at Crowley, who rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses.

“You can’t prove anything” the demon said, pouting. Aziraphale gave Crowley his patented Bastard smile.

“Whatever you say, darling” the angel said.

“Anyway, there’s only one issue with buying her clothes. We don’t know what size she is, or how old she is in terms of human aging” Crowley said, changing the subject, before Aziraphale called him out in the middle of the store. Aziraphale thought about this.

“Hmm, that is true. How old do you think she is?” he asked, and Crowley shrugged.

“Maybe 5-6 months?” the demon answered, looking at his daughter. She smiled at him, and he booped her nose, which earned him a giggle that melted his heart yet again.

“Perhaps we should ask an employee. That nice young lady at the front did say to” Aziraphae said, and Crowley couldn’t think of a better idea. He looked around, and found another young woman who looked like she worked here.

“Scuse me, miss?” Crowley asked, walking over to her. She turned and smiled at him.

“How can I help you, sir?” she asked.

“We were wondering about sizes of clothing” Crowley said simply, leading her back to where Aziraphale was standing. She followed him over.

“New parents?” she asked simply, and Aziraphale nodded his head.

“Yes. We’re unfortunately a little inexperienced in these matters” he said, kindly. She smiled at him.

“That’s alright. It’s always difficult with your first child. Is this her?” she asked, looking at Eve. Crowley smiled proudly.

“Yup” he said simply, and she smiled at the baby, who smiled back.

“She’s beautiful. What’s her name?” the helper asked.

“Thank you. Her name is Eve” Aziraphale said, also looking proud, Crowley noted.

“Lovely name. It suits her” the helper said, and Crowley felt a swell of pride. Damn right.

“If you don’t mind my asking, was the adoption process difficult for you? My brother and his husband were looking to adopt, but were unsure about the process” the helper, Crowley noticed her name tag said Sarah, asked.

“Well, we wouldn’t know. She was my cousin’s baby, but she realized she wasn’t ready to be a mother, so she gifted her to us. But, good luck to your brother and his husband” Crowley said, having memorized their cover story by now. Sarah smiled.

“Well, I’m sorry to hear about your cousin, but I’m glad Eve has a family to take care of her. Are you two married?” she asked, and Crowley blushed. Marriage hadn’t come up between them yet. Up till then, they had just been happy to finally be together, and not needing to hide from any superiors. He had thought about it, but wasn’t sure what Aziraphale would think, so he never brought it up.

“Not yet, unfortunately. Our relationship is still relatively new, in terms of thinking about engagement” Aziraphale said, and Crowley noticed the slight red in his cheeks too.

“How long have you been together?” Sarah asked, sounding as if she didn’t want to intrude.

“Officially, just about 2 years. But, we grew up together, you could say. Known each other for decades” Crowey said, which wasn’t a lie. They had known each other for a lot of decades. He just didn’t feel like doing the math. (Mostly because he didn’t need to. He already knew it had been over 600 decades)

“Well, congratulations on baby Eve. Best of luck to you” Sarah said, and Crowley and Aziraphale smiled at each other.

“Thank you, my dear” Aziraphale said.

“Anyway, you said you needed some help with sizes” Sarah said, remembering there had been a reason Crowley called her over. He seemed to remember it too.

“Oh, right! We weren’t sure what size she would be for clothes” the demon said, and Sarah smiled again. She seemed to do that a lot.

“Well, all of our clothes up until toddler stage are sized by age. How old is she?” she asked, and Crowley panicked a little inside.

“Uh, how old do you think she is?” he asked, innocently, and she thought about it.

“I’d say about 5-6 months” she replied, and Crowley let out a sigh of relief. That’s what he’d thought too.

“You’re good” Crowley said, and she smiled again.

“Thanks. You pick up a few things, working in a shop like this. Alright, the 5-6 month clothes are over this way” she said, and she showed them to the right section.

“Thank you ever so much, my dear” Aziraphale said, smiling at her. She smiled back.

“Of course. Let me know if there’s anything else you need help with. And good luck finding everything you need for Eve” Sarah said, and she walked away to help another couple not far from them.

“Alright, now we just find what will probably fit her, and look cool. And no tartan” Crowley said, and Aziraphale rolled his eyes.

“No promises, love” he said, and Crowley shook his head adoringly.

“Fine. But remember, there are other patterns than just tartan in the world” he said, and together, he and Aziraphale started looking through clothes. Crowley found a few he really liked, as did Aziraphale, who thankfully, didn’t choose just tartan.

“Crowley, you can’t give her a onesie that says, ‘Daddy’s little demon’. She’s an angel” Aziraphale said, looking through Crowley’s choices.

“That’s the joke, Angel” the demon said, exasperatedly. Aziraphale rolled his eyes again.

“Alright, well, you can’t buy her 3 different tartan designs, Angel” Crowley said, and Aziraphale pouted.

“But they’re all different” the angel said, and Crowley fought to keep the smile off his face.

“Okay, how about a compromise? You choose one tartan outfit, and I’ll let you miracle her a baby blanket in the Heaven’s Dress tartan pattern. That sound good, Angel?” Crowley said, smirking at Aziraphale.

“Are you trying to tempt me, you wily old serpent?” Aziraphale said, smirking back. Crowley shrugged.

“Maybe” he said, before leaning in, and kissing Aziraphale once.

“Fine. I can do that. But why Heaven’s Dress, specifically?” Aziraphale asked, smiling at Crowley. The demon blushed.

“Well, you know what tartan means for the Scottish. It means you’re part of their clan, their family. That’s why I keep stealing your scarf. To show everyone that I’m yours. So, we’ll get her a blanket in that design, to show everyone that she’s ours” he said, looking down at his smiling daughter. Aziraphale’s heart swelled. Crowley can sometimes be too clever for his own good.

“Oh Crowley. You can be so kind when you want to be” the angel said, and Crowley blushed redder.

“Shut up” he said, no hate behind his words. Eve, maybe noticing Crowley’s face being redder than normal, reached out, and pressed her hands against his cheeks. Crowley smiled wide, and he turned his face, to kiss her tiny palms.

“Are you having fun, little star?” he asked, and she laughed at him. Crowley and Aziraphale finished picking out clothes, and decided, since they were next to the toy section, they might as well buy her some toys and stuffed animals. Nothing too small. It wouldn’t do to have their daughter discorporate back to Heaven, where neither would want to go, but they would, to get her back.

“Angel, I found the most perfect toy!” Crowley said, and Aziraphale walked over to where he and Eve were standing. Crowley had a huge smile on his face, and Aziraphale saw Eve was tightly hugging a snake stuffed animal.

“It’s a little on the nose, don’t you think, my dear?” Azirpahale asked, smiling back at him.

“Maybe. But, she was the one to pick it out, not me” Crowley said, shrugging his shoulders. Aziraphale raised an eyebrow.

“She did?” he asked. Crowley nodded.

“Yup. I was walking past some toys, and she reached out to this snake. As soon as I handed it to her, she hugged it” he said, looking down at his happy daughter.

“And she doesn’t even know her father is a snake” Aziraphale said, smiling widely. Maybe she could see his true form? She was like them.

“It’s perfect” Crowley said, and Aziraphale couldn’t help but agree. They picked out a few more stuffed animals, some simple baby toys, and continued to cribs. They didn’t need a new one, but there were some things they could use for the crib. A mobile would be cute. And Crowley knew exactly what kind he wanted.

“Excellent! They do have one!” he said happily, walking over, and grabbing a star mobile for her crib. Aziraphale smiled fondly.

“Now that, I can not say no to. It’s far too perfect for her nursery” Aziraphale said, pushing the cart up to where Crowley stood. They continued on, picking up things here and there. They didn’t need a baby monitor, she would be in the room connected to theirs. She didn’t need diapers, or a changing station, but they did buy her food. As an angel, she wouldn’t need it, but after spending 6 millenia amongst the humans, Crowley and Aziraphale picked up a few habits. And, since she was going to have to appear as a human child, they might as well teach her how to eat. Crowley remembered bathing materials, and picked up soaps, tub toys, bubble bath, and a bunch of other fun things for the bath. The last thing the decided to buy was a circular, dark blue rug for the floor of her nursery. It matched the color of her walls.

“Well, good thing money is no problem for us, my dear” Aziraphale said, as they made their way to the checkout lines.

“You’ve got that right, Angel” Crowley said, smirking. As they stood in the checkout line, Crowley reluctantly handed Aziraphale Eve, so he could help the woman at checkout bag items. Aziraphale smiled at him.

“Don’t get used to this, Angel” Crowley said.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, darling” the angel said, and felt Eve’s tiny fingers thread into his blonde curls. He smiled, and kissed her cheek, and she giggled at him.

“Ever the curious one, aren’t you my dear” he said to her, and he looked back at Crowley, who quickly put his phone down, like he wasn’t just taking pictures.

“What? I just wanted to get some pictures of my 2 favorite angels” the demon said, and Aziraphale flushed. Crowley quickly helped the cashier bag their items, and paid.

“Do you want to carry her out my dear?” Aziraphale asked, and Crowley shook his head, smiling softly.

“Nah. I carried her this entire time we were here. You have a turn to carry her” Crowley said, and Aziraphale smiled at him. Together, they walked out with new supplies for parenthood, smiling widely, ready to take their daughter back home.

Chapter 4 (This one is a bit shorter than the other two)

Just about a month after finally getting Eve settled into her nursery, and becoming used to parenthood, Eve gave Crowley and Aziraphale a huge surprise.

It was early one morning, meaning it was after 9:30. Aziraphale had been up for hours, letting Crowley sleep in, as the demon often did. He also did not disturb Eve, as she had also been sleeping. When Crowley finally did wake up, the first thing he did every morning was check on Eve. He hadn’t admitted it to Aziraphale yet, but he did that to make sure she was still there in the morning. He knew it was unlikely for any angels to come and collect her, but he couldn’t help being nervous.

As he got out of bed, he stretched, and walked into Eve’s nursery. As soon as he walked through the semi doorway, he was greeted by bright golden eyes, and an even brighter smile, from the baby sitting upright in her crib. Crowley smiled back at her.

“Well good morning, little star. Have you been awake long?” he asked her, walking to her crib and gently picking her up. Aziraphale had been right, she did love being held by Crowley.

“Let’s go see what the big angel is up to, shall we?” he asked her, and started walking out of the nursery, Eve gently resting on his hip, when all of a sudden, it happened.

“Papa” came a tiny voice, and Crowley’s heart stopped. Did she just…?

“Did you just say something?” Crowley asked her, still in shock. She giggled at him, and tried to play with his hair. He’d been growing it out for a couple of months now, and it almost reached his shoulders.

“Papa” she said again, and giggled once more. Crowley felt tears welling up in his eyes, and he quickly took her downstairs.

“Angel, you’re going to want to see this!” he said, and Aziraphale stepped out of the kitchen, drying his hands on a cloth towel. He looked confused and concerned.

“What’s wrong, darling?” the angel asked, and Crowley smiled at him.

“Nothing’s wrong. It’s a really awesome thing” Crowley said, and looked down at Eve, who smiled back at him.

“Go on. Do it again, little star” he said encouragingly, and she giggled at him a third time.

“Papa” she said, and Crowley heard Aziraphale gasp. He turned, and saw his angel with the same look on his face Crowley knew he’d had moments before.

“Is that…” Aziraphale began, and his voice broke just a little. Crowley nodded his head happily.

“Her first word!” the demon said, excitedly, and Aziraphale rushed over, placing a kiss on Eve’s forehead. She looked at him, and smiled.

“Daddy” she said, clapping her tiny hands, and Crowley couldn’t handle it. He felt like he was going to faint, it was too adorable. Aziraphale didn’t look much better. He’d started crying.

“Well, we know who is who now” Crowley said, and Aziraphale gave a wet laugh, before wrapping his demon up in a hug. Eve seemed even more happy, now that Aziraphale was closer to her.

“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” she said, still clapping her hands, and Aziraphale smiled at her. He gently took her from Crowley’s hold, the demon letting him. She was just as much Aziraphale’s daughter as his.

“Yes! Hello dove” Aziraphale said, happily, and kissed Eve on the tip of her nose. She giggled, and Crowley had to sit down on the nearby armchair. He didn’t rarey let things this cute affect him like this, but this was his daughter, being held by the love of his life, she had just spoken her first 2 words, and Aziraphale kissed her nose. This was too much.

“Dove?” Crowley asked, smirking at Aziraphale. The angel blushed.

“Just something I’m trying. You can’t be the only one who has an endearing nickname for her, you know” Aziraphale said, no bite behind his words. Crowley’s smirk softened into a kind smile. He hadn’t put his glasses on yet, and he rarely left them off while in the house anyway, so Aziraphale could see that his smile reached his eyes. It was so rare he ever saw Crowley this genuinely happy. Thousands of years in Hell does that to a person. He was so glad Eve was helping Crowley come out of his shell.

“It’s perfect, Angel” Crowley said, standing back up, and hugging Aziraphale from behind. The angel leaned into the warmth, and Crowley pressed a kiss to his temple. Looked like it was time to teach Eve more words. But that was for later. For now, a demon and 2 angels enjoyed each other's company.

Chapter 5

Time passed by faster than both Crowley and Aziraphale could ever have guessed, and now, Eve was around 4. They had to ball park her age just a bit, because they didn’t actually know how old she was, but it worked out fine. She’d grown faster than they thought she would. Well, physically, she aged a tiny bit faster than human children, but nothing noticeable, if you weren’t an occult (or ethereal) being. Mentally however, she was well beyond the development of an average human child. Mentally, she developed like what the humans would call a “gifted child”. At age 4, she was already able to form more complex sentences than most children her age, and she understood more about the world. Of course, that was to be expected. Angels were meant to have a further understanding of the world, therefore, they needed to be able to learn at an accelerated rate. It only made sense for Eve to be the same way. But, the difference between Eve and all the other angels in creation, was that she had been created as a baby, meant to grow, develop, learn. Angels that were created fully formed merely needed to learn what being an angel meant. Of course, Crowley and Aziraphale were far happier helping her learn and develop over time, as opposed to it all happening in an instant. It made their time with her even more special than it already had been.

“Papa, why don’t we ever go visit Heaven?” Eve asked one day, and Crowley almost flinched at her question. He had been sitting in her room with her. They’d done some redecorating, for obvious reasons. Can’t have a 4 year old sleeping in a crib, and wearing clothes made to fit a 6 month old. They had let her choose the bed, and to Crowley’s delight, she picked one that fit his star theme for her room. She had gotten rid of most of her baby toys as well. They donated the clothes, toys and crib to the young couple that lived near them. They had just had their first child, and Crowley and Azirapahale felt better gifting the supplies to the young family, to help them save money. Although, Eve had kept her snake stuffed animal, which always made Crowley smile.

“Well, Heaven is too bright for my eyes, even when I wear my sunglasses, and your daddy decided he wanted to stay on Earth to be with us” Crowley said, not sure how to broach the subject. She was still way too young to know why Crowley and Aziraphale stayed on Earth. He hadn’t technically lied to her either. Heaven really was far too bright for his eyes, in a harsh, sterile kind of way. And Aziraphale did technically choose to stay on Earth, amongst the humans, and to be with Crowley. He just hadn’t told her the whole truth. She would learn one day, when she was older. For now, she just wanted stories.

“Daddy says Heaven used to be the most beautiful place in the universe. Well, except for where the Archangel Raphael made the stars. Is that true?” she asked Crowley, her eyes bright with curiosity. He loved that about her. She was just as curious as he had been, and still was.

“It’s true” he said, and she gaped at him. They’d never told her Crowley used to be Raphael. Not for any particular reason, it just never came up.

“You were there?” she asked, and he smiled at her.

“Yes I was, little star. In fact, if you wanted, I could point out every star I made, right here in your bedroom” he said, pointing to her ceiling, and she smiled.

“Wow. Wait, you made? You were…” she began, but cut herself off. Crowley smiled at her again.

“I was. I made almost all the stars in the night sky. Every single star I painted onto the walls and ceiling of your room, was a star that I made. That’s why I call you little star” he said, and she laid down on her bed, looking up at her ceiling in awe. Crowley’s heart still melted at his adorable daughter.

“Could you tell me about Heaven, Papa?” she asked him, and he reached out, and stroked her hair. She always wanted to know things. Sometimes Crowley saw too much of Raphael in her, sometimes he saw too much of himself in her, and sometimes, she was just both, all at once.

“Of course, little star. Angel was right. Heaven used to be the most beautiful place in the universe. Each different kind of angel was separated into choirs, with other angels like them. I was grouped with the Archangels, but I usually spent all my time making stars” he said, and she listened to his every word.

“Who was daddy with?” she asked, and Crowley smiled sadly.

“He was a Cherubim, one of the highest ranks an angel could have. He was one of the few angels in Heaven to actually speak face to face with Her” Crowley said, knowing Eve would understand.

“Did you two ever meet in Heaven?” she asked, and Crowley’s smile brightened. This was always an interesting story.

“We did meet once or twice. Never for very long, but every time I saw him, I wished we could have longer meetings. He came to watch me make stars once. Tried to watch me in secret, but, Aziraphale was never good at hiding, even back then. He stuck around for a little while, then he said goodbye and left. I only saw him a few times after that” he said, remembering how embarrassed Aziraphale had been, when he realized he’d been discovered.

“Did you know you loved him back then?” Eve asked, and Crowley looked at her, a little in shock. He honestly hadn’t even considered she’d ask that question.

“Honestly, yes and no. I knew there was something special about him. He didn’t seem like other angels. And, everytime I did get a chance to see him, I always felt a funny feeling in my stomach. But, I didn’t know what those feelings meant until much much later” he said, smiling softly at his daughter. He never wanted her to stop asking questions.

“What did you two look like, back then?” she asked, and he chuckled.

“Well, I looked pretty much like I do now, except my wings looked like your walls. Dark blue, with stars in them. I had stars on my face and body, but they turned into freckles. And, my eyes looked just like yours” he said, and she gaped at him again.

“I have your eyes from when you were an Archangel?” she asked, sounding awed, and he laughed.

“You do. And as for Aziraphale, well, he didn’t often have a human form, but when he did, he looked exactly the same as he does now. Well, maybe with less of a tummy” Crowley said.

“I heard that!” Aziraphale shouted from downstairs. Clever angel, of course he did. Eve giggled, and Crowley smiled.

“But, his true form was something magnificent! He had 2 sets of wings, one where his wings are now, and the other a little lower down his back. And, he had 4 heads, each one a great protective animal. Cherubims are made to protect, and everyone knew they would do their jobs, right off the bat” Crowley finished and Eve looked thoughtful, as if she wanted to ask another question, but wasn’t sure if it was a touchy subject. Crowley never wanted her to think that any question she had was a bad one.

“What is it, little star?” he asked her, and she looked nervous.

“I’m just wondering. I’ve seen daddy’s true form, underneath his body, but I’ve never seen 2 extra wings and 3 other heads. What happened to them?” she asked, and Crowley’s smile fell. This might be too dark a subject for her, but she deserved to know. It might help give her some insight as to why they never went to Heaven.

“Crowley, it’s alright. You can tell her” Aziraphale shouted at them again, and Crowley nodded.

“Well, that reason isn’t exactly a happy one. You see, after I’d fallen, there was a big war in Heaven, and Aziraphale did such a good job fighting for Heaven, that they awarded him a special position. He was to guard the Easter Gates of the Garden of Eden. And, he did his job well. Until my first time in the Garden. I gave Eve a choice, to have free will, and she chose it. But, She hadn’t meant for humans to have the kind of free will I offered them, so she kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden. At that point, Eve was pregnant with their first child, and Aziraphale couldn’t just let them go unprotected. So, he gave them his flaming sword, the one She had given him to protect the Garden. But, Heaven wasn’t happy with him about it. He’d failed his duty as a guardian. A demon had entered the Garden, and tempted the first 2 humans, under his very nose. As a punishment, Heaven demoted him to Principality, and they cut off his lower wings, and all but one of his heads” Crowley explained, and she silently listened to the story. When he finished, she looked sad.

“But that’s not fair. He only did what he thought was right. He was trying to make sure Adam and Eve were protected, in the only way he could” she said, suddenly sounding very angry at Heaven. Crowley felt bad for her. She was so young, and already, she was beginning to see Heaven's deep-seated problems.

“Well, I agree. It wasn’t fair. And I felt horrible for what I’d done to Aziraphale” Crowley said, still feeling incredibly guilty for causing Aziraphale’s demotion.

“Oh, Crowley, my dear, it was never your fault” Aziraphale said, and Crowley turned, and saw the angel in the doorway. They still hadn’t put a door in yet, maybe in a few years.

“Angel, if I hadn’t tempted Adam and Eve, they never would have been thrown out of the Garden, you wouldn’t have had to give them your flaming sword, and you never would have been demoted” Crowley said, feeling tears well up in the corners of his eyes. Aziraphale rushed over to him, and pulled Crowley into a tight embrace.

“Darling, you know as well as I, that giving my sword away was a choice I made. Even if a different demon had tempted Adam and Eve, I still would have given them my sword. It was never your fault” Aziraphale said, pressing a kiss into Crowley’s long red hair. He was still growing it, just giving it a trim every now and then, so it didn’t become too long. Crowley felt his tears stop, but then he heard a tiny sniffle from behind him. Both he and Aziraphale turned, and saw Eve, tears falling from her eyes.

“I’m sorry I asked. I didn’t mean to make you cry, Papa” she said, and Crowley’s heart broke. She shouldn’t have to deal with the things he and Aziraphale did. He held out his arms wide, and she crawled across her bed, and into his arms. He hugged her tightly, as she tucked her face into his shoulder.

“Never apologize for things out of your control, little star. You shouldn’t ever feel sorry for asking questions. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions. But, sometimes, the answers to certain questions are not happy ones. But, my crying isn’t your fault. I’ve lived a long time, and I’ve done things I regret” Crowley said softly, gently rubbing her back.

“But, I don’t truly regret tempting Adam and Eve, because it let me meet Aziraphale. If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t be here with you, and life would be so miserable. So, no more tears, alright?” he said softly, getting her to un-hide her face, before wiping her tears away, and smiling gently at her. She sniffed, wiped her nose with her sleeve, and smiled back at him.

“No more tears” she said, and Aziraphale kissed her forehead.

“And remember, dove. Questions are never a bad thing. Don’t ever stop asking them” the angel said, and she smiled at him too.

“Okay” She said, and Crowley kissed the tip of her nose. She still giggled when he did that. He hoped she never stopped.

“Well, I think now is as good a time as any to tell you both, that I made cookies! I was going to leave them until after dinner, but I think we could all use a cookie” Aziraphale said, beaming, as he stood up. Eve beamed just as brightly, and jumped off her bed, and ran out of her room. Crowley smiled at her as she left. She was growing up faster than he cared to observe. It hardly felt like 4 years ago, she’d been small enough to be held by him with no difficulty.

“Thank you, Angel” Crowley said, threading his fingers through Aziraphale’s, as they followed her out of her room.

“No, my dear. Thank you” Aziraphale said, and Crowley looked at him confused.

“For what?” he asked, and Aziraphale smiled.

“For coming up here and causing some trouble. For giving us all of this” the angel said, and Crowley blushed.

“You are an unbelievable sap, you know that, right?” Crowley asked, no bite behind his words. Aziraphale simply nodded.

“Why thank you, darling” the angel replied, and he leaned in, and gave Crowley a quick kiss.

“Now, let’s hurry into the kitchen, before the very demonic angel eats all the cookies” Crowley said, and Aziraphale laughed, as they walked down the stairs of their happy home.

#good omens fic #good omens fluff #slight angst #Ineffable Husbands

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