#as well as the rest of gen 2 probably

[crowce]

Hello fans of these 3 specifically

[22ayla19]

Hello! I just recently saw your Jiyan x Pregnant! Reader and I loved it sm! I just want to request a part 2 of some sorts maybe? But with a twist like reader gives birth in the time where Jiyan, Rover, Yangyang, and Jianxi had to fight in order to stop the 2nd potential Therenodian War uprising. He and Rover was victorious. When he comes back he sees reader with their child already maybe reader just had given birth so it's a sweet moment? I have been brainrotting about it. >_< Take your time and I hope this request is alright and doesn't go against any rules of your requests. Thank you sm! ✨

Jiyan x Pregnant! Reader PART 2

PART 1

You were already in the last month of pregnancy, childbirth was just around the corner, but the situation in Jinzhou had deteriorated sharply. There were fierce battles on the border where your husband fought. Of course, you knew that your husband was strong and would always emerge victorious from a battle, but you couldn’t help but worry about him, which unfortunately did not have a favorable effect on you. As a result, labor began prematurely, which made my husband's parents worry.

For five hours you suffered in anticipation of full disclosure. Five hours of endless pain. Your mother-in-law did not leave you, because she knew what you were feeling now and support in the person of a loved one would be most welcome.

- Be patient a little longer, dear. Soon there will be a full disclosure, - your mother-in-law consoled you. You just nodded painfully, not wanting to shout to the entire department how much it hurts you.

Now the full disclosure has arrived, you are being wheeled into the delivery room where you will spend the next hours giving birth to your first child.

What you experienced could not be described in words. This is a terrifying pain, as if all your bones were broken. No longer able to hold back your scream, you started screaming throughout the entire delivery room, although you could probably hear it even in the corridor and neighboring rooms.

- Push, daughter! You can! Just a little more! - although your mother-in-law was not present at the birth, as a doctor and a person close to you, she was present at the birth, - Come on, honey! One more time! The baby's head is already visible!

To rid yourself of this terrible pain, you gathered all your last strength and began to push harder.

- Well done, daughter. You did it! - your mother-in-law told you, to which you only smiled tiredly.

- Congratulations, madam! You're have a girl! - the midwife congratulated you.

- Daughter... Jiyan, really wanted a daughter... - you didn’t have enough strength to speak, but seeing your girl, you found them and said, - JingYang... Jiyan really wanted his daughter to have it... calm and peaceful future...

- I will take care of my granddaughter, honey. You need strength, so rest. I will inform Jiyan that he has become a dad, so rest easy, - the new grandmother assured you.

- Can I... at least hold my daughter for a little while?..

- Of course, dear, - with these words the mother-in-law signaled for the midwife to come up and give you the baby.

- Hello, princess, - she began to coo over her daughter, - You made me pretty worried, but now you are already next to your mother.

- Inform General Jiyan that his wife gave birth to a girl, -the mother-in-law ordered to immediately convey the message to her son. While her daughter-in-law was giving birth, she realized that the situation on the border had begun to stabilize as some doctors reported that General Jiyan and Rover had won the battle in the border area.

Meanwhile, at the border zone, everyone congratulated the general and Rover on their victory.

- We have eliminated the main reason for the entire battle, but even so, there are enough Taced Discords that need to be eliminated for a calmer life for the citizens of Jinzhou, - Jiyan, although he was glad of the victory, knew that this was not all that he still had to do.

- General! General Jiyan! I have important news for you! - a soldier ran to Jiyan to tell him the news.

- What's happened?

- Your wife... Your wife gave birth to a girl, - the soldier didn’t have time to finish saying, when everyone around began to congratulate the general on becoming a dad. Jiyan himself did not fully believe that he had finally become a dad - JingYang. That's the name of the girl.

- JingYang... A peaceful and calm future, - Jiyan couldn’t help but smile. He really wanted a girl to be born, but he couldn’t think that you would remember his words that he wanted a peaceful and calm future for the baby, and in honor of this you named the girl symbolically with the words peace and quiet.

- Congratulations, General Jiyan! - Congratulations were heard from all sides, to which Jiyan responded with gratitude. He wanted to share such a joyful moment with everyone.

A week later, he was able to return to Jinzhou to finally meet his daughter and wife. When he first entered the house and headed towards the nursery, he couldn’t help but cry from the way you cooed over your daughter.

- Dear? - your voice brought him out of his trance. You, in turn, came up and wiped the tears from your husband’s eyes. Taking him by the hand, you led him towards the crib so that your daughter could meet her dad, - Look who came to us. This is your dad.

- Hello, princess, - the girl only began to coo joyfully in response at the sight of her father.

Jiyan felt like the happiest person in the world. In addition to the fact that he has a wonderful wife, he now also has a beautiful little girl, all like her mother.

- I love you, dear. I love you both and will protect you until my last breath.

[matchalovertrait]

Antonio met Yoltic at The Beehive when it had just opened for business two years ago. Like a normal person, he was there to get his clothes fitted and nothing more. However, Yoltic sensed Antonio's "vibes" and decided to be the extrovert to "adopt" this broody introvert. Antonio won't outright admit it, but Yoltic is a cool guy to hang out with. Once they started spending more time together, Yoltic casually mentioned how Dani had been struggling to find a job ever since they moved from Mexico to the United States. For mental health reasons, she did not want to be a teacher again, but no other places were open-minded enough to her. Antonio happened to be in need of a paralegal, so he took her under his wing and trained her. The rest is history!

Note: Dulce doesn't mind geeks, she just can't imagine Antonio being a D&D player! I've played it before too, by the way. Fun game! My character was a vampire named Madame Blade lol.

Start from the beginning (Gen 2)

Previous | Next

Transcript

DULCE: Well, I better go now.

DANIELA: Hey, guys!

DULCE: Oh my gosh!! Hey, Dani!!

ANTONIO: Hi, Daniela.

DANIELA: Looks like he took the news well...

DULCE: More or less.

DANIELA: Hey Tony, Yoltic wanted me to ask if you were still up for Dungeons and Dragons tonight.

DULCE: Hold the phone. YOU play Dungeons and Dragons?

ANTONIO: What about it?

DULCE: STOP!! No way!! Mr. “Dark and Mysterious” over here is a geek!!! [Cackles]

DULCE: What’s your character?! An orc? No, no, probably something lame like a human.

DANIELA: He’s actually the Dungeon Master. He writes the campaigns for us.

[Dulce’s laughter intensifies.]

DULCE: That’s even worse!! No, better!!!

DANIELA: You should join us sometime! You’re very imaginative.

DULCE: Me?

DANIELA: Don’t act like you didn’t read comic books as a kid.

DULCE: Fair point.

DULCE: Anyway, I gotta go!!! Bye guys!

DANIELA: Have a safe flight!

ANTONIO: Answer the emails.

ANTONIO: Why are you looking at me like that?

DANIELA: Oh, no reason.

ANTONIO: I’m not buying that.

DANIELA: She keeps you on your toes, huh?

ANTONIO: What she does is raise my blood pressure by an exorbitant amount. Remind me again why I took her case.

DANIELA: For the same reason you hired me? You have a good heart.

ANTONIO: [Scoffs]

DANIELA: And that’s why you would have never taken Caruso’s offer.

ANTONIO: Wouldn’t dream of it. Let’s get out of here. Tell Yoltic to get some chips for everyone.

[acealonsowrites]

Subaru Mini Fic Pt 2

Pairing: MC/Reader x Subaru Kagami

Tags: SFW. Slight-ish(?) angst, misunderstanding, Subaru's all-around oblivious. Sorta mean Frostheim gen students (eventually). Leo's an asshole (currently). Ends in fluff.

Summary: When Subaru receives a confession letter asking him to meet up in person, all signs point to it being from you. Unsure of his feelings, Haku and Zenji encourage him to go for it, but will you be the one to show up at the Ethereal Spring?

Subaru's mind was still afflicted by thoughts of you as he walked the corridors of Darkwick's main building heading for Sho's food truck to meet you and Lyca. Haku's words rang clear in his head, swimming around with the idea of having to reject you in a matter of hours. How was he even going to get through lunch with you? A part of him wished he hadn't done the only thing that could confirm your ownership over the letter.

"Reject?"

"Well," Haku started, "Zenji's right. If you don't feel the same about MC, you're gonna have to reject them. And I know you can be shy but don't even think about not showing up. I won't let you. Whatever you decide I'll support, but come what may, you'll be going to the Ethereal Spring tomorrow."

Subaru looked down at his hands on his lap, his eyebrows creasing. "What if it's not from MC, though?"

"Would you feel better if it wasn't?" The vice-captain asked, clearly trying to gauge the actor's thoughts.

"It would probably be easier if it wasn't. I can't really stomach the thought of rejecting MC and losing their friendship."

"Is that really what you want to do?" Haku questioned. For a moment the pair sat in silence. Zenji slinked about above them, anticipating Subaru's response which never came. Haku sighed before continuing, "Well, there's one surefire way you could find out if it's from them or not." He held the envelope up, still in his hands from when he Subaru had given it to him to read. He motioned for the captain to take off his gloves. Subaru hesitated for a second before complying.

When his hands met the smoothness of the paper, his vision began to blur into the memories of the letter's handling. It had been typed so he could not go further than the moment the paper was spat out by the printing goat in the library. Subaru barely had time to process that disturbing image before you came into view. Without a second glance at the words on the paper, you folded it neatly and placed it into the envelope he was now holding.

Subaru came to with a dazed look on his face. The use of his stigma had been too short-lived this time around to actually affect him beyond a subtle pain in his head.

"So? What did you see?" Haku peered at him over the rim of his teacup, having been mid-sip.

"MC..."

"Well, then you should probably sleep on what you're gonna say to them tomorrow. If you do decide that rejecting them is your...preferred course of action, just make sure you let them down gently. Zenji and I will be supporting you from the sidelines, whatever you choose."

"Oh, yes. It will be absolutely devastating but only you know what is best for you, dear friend!"

"And hey, don't feel too bad about it. I'll personally make sure they rebound properly," Haku said with a wink. The teasing tone in his voice did little to quell Subaru's nerves. If anything, his words made him more uneasy with the suggestive nature behind them. He felt a brief pang in his chest, choosing to ignore it as he finished the rest of his tea.

Subaru paused in his tracks when he saw you in the hallway, making idle conversation with the tall ghoul from Mortkranken. If his memory served him well, the student's name was Jiro. Though he still had no idea how he was supposed to interact with you now that he was sure of your feelings for him, he made his way towards the two of you. The first sound his ears caught as he approached you was that of a deep, melodic laugh, one that obviously came from the Mortkranken ghoul.

He swallowed a lump in his throat before speaking up, "MC! I'm glad I caught you here. I was about just on my way to Sho's truck right now." He watched you turn to look at him, a smile lighting your face as you greeted him with a bow.

"Oh, Subaru. Great timing, I was just about to head over, too. You know Jiro, right? Vice-captain of Mortkranken. Jiro, this is Subaru, the captain for Hotarubi."

"Patient #0671, Subaru Kagami. Yes, I'm aware of him.," Jiro replied stoically. He seemed to pay Subaru no mind as he bowed and introduced himself properly, his ruby eyes trained on your neck. Subaru watched the ghoul bring his hand up to your shoulder, slightly pulling down at your collar. The suddenness of this action made you flinch, turning your attention back to Jiro.

"I was looking at your mark," he said, unprompted.

You unconsciously brought your hand to your neck once his had retreated. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Not really. I just remembered Yuri said we'll have to take pictures during your health checks from here on out, to make sure it doesn't change shape, size, or pigmentation."

"Oh, I see." You let out a laugh, brushing away your obvious discomfort. Subaru could only watch, conflicted. Once again, he had felt the same pang he had yesterday at Haku's words. This time, though, it felt too important to ignore. He almost got lost in his thoughts of what this could mean when you faced him once more. "Did you want to walk together, Subaru?"

He gazed into your eyes, just now noticing how big and bright they got when you smiled at him. He wondered if you looked at anyone else like this. "Yes, I did."

As the two of you exited the main building, the campus around you was buzzing. General students were flocking to their preferred lunch spaces. Some familiar ghouls were loitering about as usual, most of them sending you greetings in passing.

"So, um, are you on a mission with Mortkranken now, then?" Subaru asked after a brief lull.

"No. Surprisingly I haven't been assigned again yet. Now that I've gone to every house I never know what to expect next. I'd rather have a break from Mortkranken, though."

"You don't like them? I can imagine the work must be more difficult there than usual."

"It's not that I don't like them. Actually, they're quite enjoyable to be around. Compared to most of the other houses, that is. Yuri can be a bit much at times but he works hard. You kind of have to give credit where credit is due, in that regard. And Jiro's just Jiro, I guess. He's very useful. I'd probably say he's one of the strongest and most talented in combat that I've seen of the ghouls."

Subaru listened to your ramblings, not missing how your appraisal of the two ghouls made his heart ache yet again. He was becoming increasingly aware of the sinking feeling in his chest. "I don't know Jiro all that well but I'd have to agree with you. I know I'm no match for him on either front."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like-"

"It's okay. I didn't take it any sort of way, I was merely making an observation. But I do hope you can rely, not just on Mortkranken, but on all of us ghouls to help you break your curse. As captain, I've made it one of our top priorities in Hotarubi."

"...Thank you, Subaru." He took a glance at your smiling profile, your eyes locked on the ground as you walked.

"I wanted to thank you for the letter," he said shyly after a moment.

"It was no problem. Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot your umbrella back at the cathedral. I can go get it real quick-"

"No! Um, I mean, it's fine, really! And we probably shouldn't keep Lyca waiting any longer. He gets quite agitated after a while."

Your steps faltered as you processed Subaru's uncharacteristically loud tone and rushed words. If you didn't know him to be such a graceful person, you would almost think he was flustered. "...You're right. I'll wait till after lunch. Anyways, did you find out who the note was from?"

"No, actually, but I think I have a good idea of who it's from."

"That's good. The girl made it seem like it was important." Subaru was somewhat surprised you were still going with your story of the general student. He wasn't sure what to do in this situation. Should he hint at his knowing the letter was yours? Or should he play along until you both met up later?

"I'm rather shocked someone would leave such a personal letter in a third party's possession," he said innocently, settling with a mix of both.

You stared at him quizzically, not really sure what he meant. "I'm not sure if you're trying to accuse me of something, Subaru, but promise I didn't read a word of that letter," you teased.

"I wasn't-," he started to say, pausing when he saw you hiding a chuckle behind your hand. "Well, then I guess I can tell you that it was a confession letter. I'm supposed to be meeting them in about two hours so I'll know for sure who it was from then."

Your heart thumped in your chest, your smile quickly fading as Sho's food truck finally came into view. Suddenly the trek to Highway to Home felt way too far away. "So I delivered a confession letter to you. Wait, you said you have a good idea of who it's from, right? So, then, how do you feel about that?"

"If it is who I'm thinking about...I'm not really sure anymore. Even yesterday when I was talking to Haku and Zenji about it-if I'm being completely honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to accept it or not. But now, I guess, I'm considering it. Accepting it, I mean."

"That's great, Subaru. I'm very happy for you." You tried to give him your best smile, your steps quickening ever-so-slightly. This wasn't exactly what you were expecting to hear.

You delivered a confession letter to Subaru. The idea was so ridiculous it was almost laughable. You were hyper-aware of your feelings for the actor. You weren't sure when they had developed, just that they did. And here you were giving him another girl's confession. It probably wasn't ethical but you were beginning to wish you had read the letter before sealing it, if only to flat-out refuse to deliver it. But, the more you thought about it, you couldn't say you weren't happy for Subaru. That much was true, at least. You certainly weren't planning on confessing to him, not until your curse was broken- if it got broken at all.

You let out a soft, inaudible sigh, feeling more conflicted than anything else. "We should hurry up."

When the two of you finally found Lyca in line for the food truck, you were grateful to not be alone with the Hotarubi captain any longer. You lingered by the pair as they conversed, not paying attention to what was being said. You greeted Sho when you were at the front of the line and thanked him when he gave you your food, fully comped as per usual. It wasn't until the three of you made it to the terrace, snagging a bench as soon as you got there, that the conversation caught up to you.

"MC, you're being too quiet. Stop it," Lyca said between bites of his chicken over rice.

"Sorry, I guess I'm a little tired today." You immediately tried to perk up a little bit, fixing your posture and putting a small smile on your face. "How's your chicken, Lyca?"

"Why are you asking? It's always good," he answered rhetorically. "You should come to the bar if you're tired. Rui's always saying he misses you. You can use the room you slept in last time."

"Thank you. I'll be sure to stop by sometime this week."

The three of you went on with your meals, making small talk when there was nothing left to say. You had finished your plate quicker than you had intended when you realized just how suffocating being next to Subaru felt at the moment. You were eager to get away, wracking your brain for any excuse imaginable. Subaru's umbrella would have to wait another day, there was no chance you'd want to see him again before his big meet-up with the Frostheim general student.

Just then, your phone buzzed where it sat on the bench between you and Subaru. Both you and the actor glanced down as a message from Jin lit up your screen. Not exactly someone you'd call a savior, but a welcome excuse, nonetheless.

"Sorry guys, the King doth beckons," you said in your best mocking tone. You excused yourself politely, the pair watching you leave as they continued eating their respective lunches.

"Lyca," Subaru said once they were alone, "I have a favor to ask of you. I just want to confirm something."

The werewolf hummed, sizing up his friend. "What is it?"

"Can you smell this for me and tell me what, or rather, who you smell?" The actor pulled the envelope out of his school bag. He held it in front of Lyca's nose, intending for him to sniff it, which he did.

"It smells like goat," he replied, groaning in displeasure.

"And...?"

The werewolf gave a deeper inhale, obviously confused about what was happening. "Hrm, it kinda smells like MC a little. Why?"

Subaru pulled his hand back, hesitant with his next words. "I'm not sure I should say."

"Then what was the point of me sniffing that?"

"Well, it's just that I wanted to know if anyone other than MC has touched this, is all."

"You're being weird, Suba. What's the deal with this paper, anyways? What is it?" Lyca wiped at his mouth, growing impatient at Subaru's evasion.

"It's a confession letter. From MC, I'm pretty sure." Subaru felt a weight lift off his shoulders as he finally said it, the full picture coming into view for him.

With your talk on your way to the food truck, he was beginning to doubt himself. Maybe his stigma didn't take him far enough in the memories of the paper. Would he have been able to see beyond the printing goat's mouth all the way to the computer it was typed on? It was unlikely but not impossible, he supposed. But with Lyca confirming that only you had touched him, the image solidified in his mind. He was fully prepared now, knowing that he would meet with you in just under two hours, and he was set on accepting your confession.

"Confession? I don't get it," Lyca said in his usual manner, his eyes filled with curiosity.

"I don't really know how to explain this but MC likes me," the actor blushed at his own words.

"So? I like you, too. And I like MC, too. Doesn't mean I'm gonna go write letters to you."

"Right. But this is a different kind of like. More special, more romantic..." He really couldn't handle explaining any further, now he was just hoping that by some miracle Lyca would understand.

The werewolf stared at him for a few seconds, eyebrows knotted in concentration until they finally shot up. "Oh, you're saying MC likes-likes you! Rui's talked about this before. Does that mean they want you to be their boyfriend?"

Subaru could feel his face burning as if he were engulfed in flames, struggling to look into his friend's eyes as he responded, "Yes, that is what that means."

"Hrm...then do you like-like them too?"

The actor pondered the question for a moment, forgetting to be shy or embarrassed as he mulled over the possibility. "Yes, I think I do."

Just then, he heard a sing-songy voice call from behind him. "Kagami~ fancy seeing you here."

The two looked up simultaneously, Subaru's gaze locking with a pair of mischievous golden eyes.

"Who are you?" Lyca asked beside him.

"Lyca, this is Leo, Vagastrom's vice-captain. He's friends with Sho," the actor explained.

"Ever the loyal customer, hm?" Leo jutted his chin to the container on Subaru's lap. "Cute. Anyways, I couldn't help but overhear a bit of your conversation."

"What's it to you?" Lyca's tone was defensive as he quickly gauged Leo's negative energy despite his sweet-sounding voice.

"Kagami, I didn't know you were friends with Obscuary's mutt. I guess someone has to feed it and take it on walks, hm?" At that, Lyca began to growl, Subaru failing to calm him down as Leo kept talking, "Well, whatever. I just wanted to say it's adorable that you think the NPC likes you, considering they already have me as their boyfriend."

Subaru felt himself choking on the words he was using to settle down his friend, his voice suddenly becoming raspy. "What?"

"MC would never date you," Lyca snapped back at Leo.

"Ugh, I know, I know. I'm way out of their league. But y'know I'm just super generous so I'm used to doing charity like this." Lyca's growling grew even more intense. Subaru had stopped trying to soothe him, almost wanting to let him drive Leo away. Maybe some biting wouldn't hurt? Subaru glowered at Leo, who was clearly enjoying this new range of negative emotions he had coerced out of the 'perfect actor.' Leo let out a soft chuckle. Of course, he didn't care at all about his fake relationship with the NPC. This was just an opportunity he simply couldn't pass up. As soon as he had heard Subaru saying he liked you, he knew exactly what to do. With Sho busy with the food truck, he had to find entertainment elsewhere, right? "I just wanted to let you know that you have no chance, Kagami. I mean, between you and I, I'm a hot, trending influencer and you're a washed-up, out-of-work actor. The choice is really not that hard."

And with that, he was off, giving the pair no opportunity to retort. They watched as his figure faded away into the small crowd of students scattered throughout the terrace. Lyca looked to Subaru, noticing a rare, sour look on his face. Even his smell was different than usual. What Leo said must have really gotten to him. "Don't listen to him. MC would never date him. He's too mean and his scent is the worst I've ever smelled."

Subaru snapped his head back to Lyca, sporting his most sincere smile. In this moment, he was very grateful to have a friend like Lyca. Not just him but Haku and Zenji. And you, too. He was starting to realize that people like you and his friends kept him grounded, something that Leo sadly was lacking. And just like that, he knew Lyca was right. It was impossible for you and Leo to be dating because you would have grounded him as you did for himself. He didn't want to think too much about it, though. He now understood that he wanted your humility, your grace, and your kindness all to himself. He let himself be vain for a second to think that you weren't on this earth for people like Leo. You were here for him. And he was here for you.

Subaru stood up, his mood much airier than it was ten seconds ago. He bowed at Lyca, thanking him for having lunch with him and assuring him they would do so again tomorrow, and started making his way to the Ethereal Spring to wait out the remaining hour-and-a-half before he'd see you again.

Yay I got some cameos into this one! This is super not proofread and I only write at like three in the morning so sorry for any mistakes. I didn't intend for this to be a three-parter but, because of these cool talents I have called oversharing and yapping (which translate into writing, trust me bro), here we are. So anyways yeah, like and reblog and lmk if a part 3 is wanted. Okay love you bye.

[mountmortar]

i've brought it up before but there is genuinely something to be said about the fact that blue calls the hgss protagonist to say that they remind him of red and then he ALSO calls them literally just to ramble about pokémon:

"I'm Blue. When I look at Pokémon, I get a strange feeling—you ever get that? There's round ones, flying ones, swimming ones, flaming ones, freezing ones, shiny ones, dark ones—there are so many different types, and yet, they're all Pokémon. I mean, like Pokémon, there's not just one type of person, either… But it's still kind of strange when you think about it."

which is probably because. again. they remind him of red. and he's sad and lonely and misses his best friend (made obvious by his depressing mini-speech about nature being capable of destroying everything if it so much as twitches when you First Meet Him in gsc/hgss, daisy alluding to the fact that he "needs company" when she gives you his number, him literally starting out EVERY PHONE CALL where the protagonist is the one to call him by saying "Hello…Whatever… Don't worry about me. I'm doing peachy over here!" which. speaks for itself. nobody would have thought there was anything to worry about if you hadn't gone and said something, blue). but there's also something to be said about his OTHER phone call to the protagonist:

"I'm Blue. Anyway, you're really something. Traveling all by yourself, visiting all these different Gyms you find and beating them all… Well, you're not really alone…You've got Pokémon with you!"

i think the emphasis he puts on the hgss protagonist traveling by themselves in the beginning like it's some sort of marvel before he covers it up by saying "you're not alone actually you've got your pokémon" is kind of funny because it's so obvious that he's miserable being alone. even when they were competing against each other he and red still did their journeys together. gen 2 is the only generation where they're separate. they're both at the world tournament when we see them next in black/white 2 and even when it's mentioned in xy that blue went to study in kalos for a while you could also very much argue that red went with him (probably just to hang out in the background) considering they BOTH mega evolve their pokémon in sumo/usum where they've literally moved to alola and lead a battle facility together. these two have literally never been separated in their lives because they grew up together and apparently three years of no contact between them was enough to be like "alright well that's never happening again. i'm spending the rest of my life with you. prepare to be perpetually stuck with me for the rest of your life." and they are both absolutely delighted by this outcome. no complaints. it's THE funniest fucking thing ever.

[aziraphales-library]

Lost Fic #216

1. Hi sorry to bother ,i am searching for a GO Fanfiction were crowley and aziraphael are in different rival Motorcycle clubs gangs. Thanks for your help - @totheworld234

2. Hello, dear people! I love the fine work you do. I'm searching for a fic I remember reading: it's a human AU kid fic in which Beelzbub's son is Crowley and he is having a terrible time at school because of the way the teachers and staff treat him and he runs away and goes home. Beelzebub enrolls him in a school run by Madame Tracy, he meets Aziraphale, and nice Beelzebub meets nice Gabriel! Either way, I'm so happy for the wonderful resource you provide. I have found so many great fics from you. - @octarinecatwoman

3. There are two fics I've read in which Aziraphale said "Be not afraid" to Crowley before giving him grace. I think they both had Crowley ask for Aziraphale to perform a grace on him, but I'm not certain. I know they both included sex or an orgasm or an equivalent physical sensation as a result of the grace. One of them is called "you're not a religious person (but)" by isozyme. I CAN'T FIND THE OTHER ONE. I think there were seven different phases, or steps, of grace in the one I can't find. I've searched AO3 with Good Omens as the fandom and "be not afraid" as "any text" with no luck. I'm so afraid it was deleted. Do you know the fic I'm looking for? - anon

4. Hi folks! I'm looking for a fic I read a while ago (although I'm not sure when it was actually written), set just after the world doesn't end. Aziraphale and Crowley go to the Ritz to celebrate, then as they're leaving, Crowley collapses. They go back to the bookshop so he can rest. He mentions he's fallen over five times recently, and while he's asleep Aziraphale tries to make a numbered list of the five times, but can't think of the last one so he just puts '5. ?' (It's when the bookshop burned down). I can't remember the rating, but it definitely wasn't E, and there was no smut or anything. I can't remember the exact length either, but it was definitely over 1000 words, probably over 2000. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks in advance! Also I would just like to say how much I love this blog - I've got several good recommendations from it and it's so well organised! - @crowleys-yucca-plant

5. Hi, first of all thank you for all your work! The whole team behind this blog is a godsend to the fandom. Now I've been searching everywhere a fic in which Crowley enters a Church with Aziraphale's dying in his arms and he pleads God to save him. I remember specifically the lines "I'll repent." He would sing harmonies until his vocal chords gave up if it meant Aziraphale lived. He gets no answer, gets angry and spat "You're not going to do anything? I thought you were on the side of-" He stops himself and then God asks him "on the side of what?" Crowley goes "You know what." "I want you to say it." "On the side of love." And then God saves Aziraphale. I believe it was a Gen one-shot but now I'm not so sure as I haven't been able to find it. Thank you in advance for your time. Have a great day! - anon

If you know any of these fics please include the number in your reply! Thank you :)

- Mod D

[honkshoomimimimimi]

just finished watching moana 2 at odeon.

and.

HOLYSHSIRJIDHAISVSUUAJZJZIZJZIJZJSBS SISMS GSOSJSNG FERLAKS SJNSOANKANZNZK

‼️WARNING‼️ – MOANA 2 SPOILERS AHEAD

(me lit js yapping abt the movie since i have nobody to talk to about it)

OH MY FIKCICNXG GOOODODJSIAUAHZIZJZ

OKAY FIRST OFF MAUI'S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND HIS CHARACTER IN GEN??!?!?!?!?!?!?! JSJSKKSJSKS

CUZ LIKE HE GOES FROM ALL "OH I DONT NEED MOANAS HELP" BLAH BLAH BLAH TO ACCEOTING HER HELP AND RISKING HIS LIFE?????FOR WHAT SHES DOING??????? DOJT GET ME STARTED ON HIM MOTIVATING HER W THIS FIRE ASS SINGING PART WHERE HES TALKING ABT HOW HES BEEN LOW BEGORE AND THEN SHE NEEDS TO START ACTING OUT WHAT SHE PREACHES

ITS SO AJSJISJAIZJZKSK OMG AND THEN WHEN AFTER WAKINH U0 AFTER BEING STRUCK BY LIGHTNIJG BY THE BITCH HE IMMEDIATELY REALISES MOANA ISNT THERE AND DIVES RIGHT INTO THE WATER?!?!?!?!TO GET HER????!?!?!?!?!?! AND TYEN WHEN SHE WONR WAKE UP AND HES ABOUTT OT CRY OH FKDU FIKC8CNG GOD

WHEN CHARACTERS WHO SEEM SO CONFIDENT AND INDEPENDENT AND EVERYTHING SHOW THEIR EMOTIONAL SIDE BC ITS GENUINELY SO HUMANISING BC THEYRE NOT INVINCIBLE BC THEYRE STILL A PWRSON???!?!?!??! GNAWING AT THE BARS OF MY ENCLOSURE.

AND NO MATTER WHAT HES LIT PRIORITISING HER OVER HIMSELF??? WHEN HES LIFYING THE ISLAND UP AND HE KNOWS THAT THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES TOWARDS HIM AND THAT THERES A CHANCE HE WONR MAKE IT OUT, HE SEES HER IJ THE SEA AND KNOWS THAT THE ISLAND WAS HER EJTIRE REASON OF CONTINU8JH ON SO HE DOESNT GIVE UP FOR HER AND PUSHES DESPITE KNOWING HES GONNA BE HIT W LIGHTNING.

bro and then iN THE BEGINNINH OF THE MOVIE WHERE HE WAS SHOUT8NG TO THE BAT LADY (whom i have just remembered as Matangi) "LEAVE MOANA OIT OF THIS" AND IK HE WAS PROBS SAYING THAT BC HE DIDNT WAJT HER HELP BUT STILL.BEVAUSE. SHIAJAISJSKNXKXNSKSK

ahem. I am normal about him.

BROOOO AND THE PPL MOANA PICKED OIT AS HER "CREW" ASW?!?!?!?! THE DEVELOPMENT. OMG. KELE (grumpy man) WAS LIT SO ME???? AND THEN THE JOURNEY W MOANA TAUGHT HIM THAT SOMETIMES LIFE CAN BE GOOD AND THAT BEING W PEOPLE CAN BE ENJOYABLE. MONI (zesty) WENT FRIM BEING SUCH A FANBOY TO SOMEONE WHO LEARNED THAT BEING IN THE STORY ISNT ALL SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS, AND HE WEJT FROM BEING AN OBSESSIVE FANBOU OF MAUI TO BEING BESTIES W HIM?!?!?! then loto. loto is chill asf!!! I don't rlly see the character development w her bUT SHES SO CHILL BRO🙏🙏

thEN MOANAS SISTER SIMEA IS LOWK CUTE!!!!

bro omg. the kakamora actually were so LSKSKAJSOJAIABZIJSJSJ. WHEN MOANA N HER CREW DISCOVERED THAT THEY EERE SEPERATED FORM THEIR ISLAND AND BOTH AGREED TO HELP EACHOTHER AND THEN WHEN THAT ONE KAKAMORA WHICH ENDED UP FALLING W THEM INTO THE CLAM AFTER DOING THEIER BATTLE THING TO THE LRADER.

THEY DONR EVEN SPEAK AND IM IN LOVE W TYEM.

ESPEXIALLY WHEN THEY BRING THAT KAKAMORA BACK TO THE ISLAND WHERE THE REST ARE AND IT IMMEDITAELY RUNS UP AND HUGS THE LEADER AWWWHHWHWHHHHSHAJSJKAK

IT WAS SO XUTE BRO😭😭😭😭

OMFG THE SINGING IJ THE MOVIE AS WELL?????? I NEVER RLLY LIKE SINGING IN MOVIES BUT. HOKY SHITAMOLT. WAS ACTUALLY STRUGGOUNG TO NOT START VIBRAT8NG UN MY CHAIR BC THE SONGS WERE SO??!?? HXJXJSOJAOSNSOJSISJSK

THE WAY IF I WAS WATXHING THE MOVIE QLONE IN MY ROOM I WOULDVE PROBABLY CRIED WHEN THE SCENE W MAUI HOLDING MOANAS LIMP BODH W HIM AND ALL OF THE SPIRITS SINGING CAME ON. NOR EVEN JK.

I LOVED EVERY BIT OF IT.

WHEN MATANGI'S SINGING CAME ON I WAS THINOINH "OH IT CANT GET BETTER THAN THIS" WRONG. CAN I GET A CHEEHOO CAME ON AND PAIRED W THE CINEMATOGRAPHY I WAS FLABBERGASTED.

CHAT IM NOT EVEN OVER EXAGGERATING I PULLED UP THINKING THE MOVIE WAS GONNA BE MID BUR ITS LOTEEALLY THE OPPPSUTE IM YONNA CRYRYYWHIAHAIAJAJNSNSSJS

I genuinely love this movie sm its unreasonable.

I walked into that room asking myself, "will I wish to watch this movie for the first time ever afterwards?"

yes. yes i would. ik it sounds like I'm glazing the movie hard asf but akzjzhzzjzghzgzhzgz

[the-way-astray]

WAIT PLZ ELABORATE ABT THE ALDEN IS BETTER THAN GRADY? IM SO CURIOUS /gen

alright, anon, and everyone else i’m tagging. originally, this was going to be a "this is why alden is a better father than grady" rant, since it was supposed to include an argument defending some of alden's most controversial parenting choices and also point out grady's worst parenting choices. but i dropped the grady portion, so now this is just an alden defense rant containing two sections ("the forbidden cities" and "keefe's flashback short story breakdown"). so that's this entire post. i'll probably do the grady thing some other time, and it won't be as in-depth as this. probably, it will just be a bullet point list of some weird shit he does, and that's it.

taglist: @absolutely-existing @multi-fandom-lunatic @thatrandomlemononyourcounter1 @worldsunlikemyown @icantrememberwhoiwaslastdecember @lucentstarss

section one: the forbidden cities

the main gripe most people have with alden is probably the sending fitz and alvar into the forbidden cities thing. let’s talk about why this was decidedly not a shitty thing for alden to do.

part one: were fitz and alvar in any danger in the forbidden cities?

a lot of people try to make the argument that fitz and alvar, especially fitz, could've run into danger while in the forbidden cities. while there was no way to make it truly risk-free, i do think that these arguments are blown out of proportion. here's a quote:

(keeper, chapter 2)

fitz explicitly says that he was actually only sent to check alden’s guesses. he was not sent to wander around the forbidden cities looking for random girls. he was sent to confirm or deny alden’s theories, which alden came up himself (we can extrapolate and assume the same of alvar). which brings up an interesting point: many people claim alden should’ve done the search himself, instead of sending his six-year-old out to do it. to which i say, he . . . did? the only part of the search fitz was involved with was the confirmation. the rest was done entirely by alden and quinlin:

(keeper, chapter 10)

this, i think, was a necessary evil. first of all, alden is a grown man. he’s been looking for sophie since basically birth, and i think we can all understand why that’s not a fantastic look. sending someone closer to her age makes fitz more approachable (in theory, of course. in reality, not so much, sophie still ran from fitz). also, fitz can light leap. if he was ever in danger, it would’ve only ever been the work of a moment for him to safely get away. and like i said, it really seems like fitz and alvar were only there for as long as they needed to be to confirm the girl was or was not an elf. alvar flat out admits to this:

(neverseen, chapter 65)

as for fitz, notice the second part there. he agrees with alvar. he says he almost didn’t look past sophie’s eye color. and if you read the very first chapter, you can see that he wasn’t there for long at all. it’s very likely that when sophie first sees him with the newspaper, he just leaped in a few minutes ago, and he was planning on leaving as soon as he finished talking to sophie:

(keeper, chapter 1)

so we can conclude that each excursion that fitz or alvar took was probably not longer than ten to fifteen minutes. they never spent significant chunks of time in the forbidden cities. fitz likely took maybe a couple extra seconds to grab a random thing and leave, but that’s about it. not long enough for either of them to have run into any significant danger.

part two: how did this affect fitz and alvar's school lives?

okay, you say, the forbidden cities thing might be all well and good, but what about this quote? fitz describes how alden’s search affected his school life:

(everblaze, chapter 21)

now, it is unfortunate that fitz missed a lot of school because of the search. but he doesn’t seem too torn up about it (this entire exchange with sophie here reads as very light-hearted), which i feel is relevant. this passage mostly talks about fitz's social life, and how people didn't want to hang out with him because he was disappearing all the time. though the fact remains that i genuinely don't think fitz cared all that much about this at all. he seems to be a bit of a loner at heart, not really having many friends besides keefe, biana, and biana's friend(s), like maruca. this continues even after he and keefe become "cool", so while the search clearly took a toll on his social life, it really doesn't seem to bother him that much. and i really think alden would’ve left the choice of whether or not to participate in the search up to his kids, not forcing them if they absolutely didn't want to participate. so in the case that fitz did decide he didn't want to skip so much school, i think alden would've been fine with booting him from the search. here’s a quote from alvar:

(neverseen, chapter 65)

he specifically states that the reasons he did the search were to keep his dad happy and to sneak away to the forbidden cities. also, the fact that sophie even asked this question and got a serious answer back already implies that fitz and alvar had "reasons" of their own for wanting to do the search, like the ones alvar states here. as in, their reason was not "my dad made me do it". (we're going to ignore the fact that alvar's reason likely had way more to do with helping the neverseen find sophie than anything.)

so okay, maybe alvar's just saying that, maybe he doesn't actually feel like that. to that i say, let’s look at this quote, a quote after alvar’s true colors have been revealed:

(flashback, chapter 49)

even though he is literally ranting about his parents here, nowhere, not even once, does he mention or even imply that alden forced, manipulated, or otherwise pressured him to do the search. if alvar truly held any ill will toward alden for sending him on the search, now would be the perfect time to express that. yet he doesn’t. we can extrapolate and assume the same of fitz: that alden didn’t in any way try to manipulate or trick fitz into going. i honestly believe that the second either of them had expressed that they didn’t want to do the search anymore, alden would’ve found another way. and i do think fitz would’ve expressed that if he wanted out. once again, when he tells sophie the story i quoted above (everblaze, chapter 21), it’s done very light-heartedly, with no malice toward alden that sophie can detect.

let’s talk about fitz’s academic life now. he missed a lot of school. obviously that takes a toll. but look at this quote:

(flashback, chapter 21)

fitz ranked, and probably continues to rank, number one in his entire level. he did just fine in school. alden’s search clearly didn’t impact his ability to perform well. back when i was an alden hater, i actually used this against alden, saying that if fitz ranked so high and did better than anyone else (including keefe who literally has a photographic memory), then he must’ve had to work incredibly hard on top of the work he already had to put into alden’s search, and we don’t know how that affected him behind the scenes. and i don’t agree with that take anymore. i think fitz would’ve told alden if it became too much for him, and even more than that, i think alden would’ve checked in with fitz proactively to make sure the combination of the search and school wasn't getting to him. there’s no evidence to confirm or deny, but i think it’s safe to assume. look no further than the reason alden even sent fitz out at six years old in the first place:

(neverseen, chapter 1)

he clearly prioritized his children's education, and when the situation called for it, he found another way. he understood that alvar wouldn't be able to sneak out of the towers anymore, and he was not willing to put alvar's education at risk. when it came to it, he always put his children before his search. he was never willing to truly sacrifice what truly mattered for his search.

also just throwing this in here, but alvar, just like fitz, did exceptionally well during his basic level years. we have no evidence that the search affected his academic life in any real way, but rather the opposite (that he did just fine):

(nightfall, chapter 16)

section two: keefe's flashback short story breakdown

(note: i will be using this transcription by @/kotlc-deleted-scenes for quotes. in case you weren't aware, there's a blog entirely dedicated to transcribing exclusive scenes, deleted quotes, and other not-widely-known extra kotlc material. check it out if you haven't read all the short stories. okay, advertising over.)

so i don't like ro. that's a subject for another time, but my hatred for her particularly manifests in this scene, because i think a lot of people see her interpretation of what alden is saying, and then take it as some gospel truth. but the only perspectives we're seeing here, actually, are keefe's (because it's his pov) and ro's (because she can't keep her mouth shut). we don't know what alden's thinking or what he means when he says what he's saying. all we get is keefe and ro's almost-certainly skewed views on this scene. so just keep that in mind as you read this entire short story.

i feel like there's a good chunk of people out there that genuinely think alden went there that day with the intention to tell keefe to stay away from sophie and let sophie be with fitz and stop trying to mess with sophie and fitz's relationship and back off, keefe. this is blatantly false. he came there with the intention to invite keefe to the tribunal, and because of ro he ended up needing to justify his decision to ask keefe and sophie to be there. which is fine! it's not like keefe didn't deserve an explanation. but then you can't get mad when he explains his reason, which is perfectly valid.

so let's talk about why ro's outburst is, in my opinion, not grounded in any sort of reality. first of all, alden says fitz doesn't exactly excel at controlling his temper (true). he then asks keefe (an empath, and also fitz's "best friend") to help calm fitz down. honestly, i shouldn't have to explain this, since alden says this all himself.

ro's comment seems to imply she thinks that alden's nefarious little plan here is to let fitz take his anger out on keefe for no reason. but that's clearly not what's going on? he invited sophie because he thinks fitz needs her, and invited keefe because he doesn't want fitz to take his anger out on sophie. he doesn't want fitz to take it out on keefe, either. he just thinks keefe is better able to stop fitz from doing something he'll regret than sophie is. he doesn't want to see either keefe or sophie be the target of fitz's temper, and just thinks keefe is better equipped to handle it than sophie is.

whether or not alden is correct with this line of reasoning, i think, is a different discussion entirely (the fact that he later implies sophie and fitz will inevitably end up together, while also not being confident they can handle their own problems without a third-party friend intervening is . . . contradictory, to say the least). but he was speaking his mind, and while he might have been wrong, he was not being manipulative, which seems to be the argument here.

so alden thinks fitz "needs" sophie. i'd once again argue that he's wrong, but i would not argue that he's being manipulative. he then, and this is important, seems nervous and tentative as his eyes shift to keefe, because he knows that keefe has a crush on sophie. now, before i tackle that whole thing, i’d like to once again emphasize that alden did not come to the shores of solace with the intention of telling keefe to let fitz have sophie or whatever. they shouldn’t even be having this conversation right now, honestly, but since ro is so fucking annoying, they are. alden’s intention with this visit was to request keefe go to the tribunal. that’s literally it. that’s all. this fitz-and-sophie tangent is a side quest.

okay, back to the main point. here’s what alden sees: two teenagers that have a crush on each other, and a third that has unreciprocated feelings for one of them. all three of the teenagers are friends. he is trying to preserve all three friendships, and i'd argue that he's especially trying to prevent keefe from heartbreak. again, is alden right about the whole sophie-fitz-keefe love triangle situation? no. but that doesn't make him manipulative. not only does he know that keefe has unreciprocated feelings for someone who has reciprocated feelings for someone else, but he's aware that keefe knows this, too. (side note: when i say keefe has unreciprocated feelings for sophie, who has reciprocated feelings for fitz, i mean that it was known she had a crush on fitz, and if you want to argue she had hidden feelings for keefe, you at least have to admit that she wasn't aware of them at this point in time. keefe's reaction to alden's words ("he was always trying hard not to think about it, because it made him want to punch things") only makes it clearer to me that keefe himself is also aware that sophie has known feelings for fitz.) once again, reading alden's body language clearly reveals how gently he's trying to communicate this, and i'd even argue that he doesn't want to even be saying any of this at all. but once again, we can blame ro for all our problems.

will ro keep her goddamned mouth shut. anyway. i'm not going to talk about how weird it is to imply that sophie doesn't know her own feelings, because that's not what this is about. but even if sophie doesn't know her own feelings, it's still incredibly insensitive to disregard the fact that she likes fitz here and now.

alden goes on to say that sophie doesn't know what she feels because fitz hasn't confessed his feelings yet, which may seem like he doesn't care about sophie (or keefe) as much as he does fitz, but again. he seems super convinced that sophie and fitz like each other (which they do, at this point). he wants them to be happy together. there's some cognitive dissonance about the true nature of their relationship, but his heart is in the right place. and once again, he is not telling this to keefe because he sees keefe as competition for fitz over sophie. he's telling this to keefe because he doesn't want him to do something that would endanger his relationship with either fitz or sophie.

and keefe knows this, too. he literally states in that last part that he's well aware sophie and fitz like each other, and that at one point he's going to have to deal with that even though he has a crush on sophie. so you can't even argue that alden's line of reasoning is illogical. it's wrong, but it's a logical conclusion to come to.

that top paragraph there once again reveals why alden is doing any of this at all. he just wants keefe to get out of this situation without any heartbreak because he knows keefe has an unreciprocated crush on sophie. keefe, being sixteen, vehemently denies this. and you can see that alden is not being particularly nosy here, actually. he corrects keefe when keefe lies, but he doesn't pressure keefe to talk about it, and doesn't ask any further questions. he's just letting keefe know that he is aware of the entire situation.

maybe if ro wasn't here to skew everyone's view of what's going on here, people wouldn't fall for the alden-is-evil-and-trying-to-manipulate-keefe propaganda so readily because every. single. word. of that sentiment in this story comes from ro. alden is not meddling. if anyone's meddling, it's ro. in fact, ro has gone and continues to go way past meddling in future books, but. that's besides the point.

and yes, this is the definition of caring. once again want to remind everyone that alden did not come here with the intention of telling keefe to let sophitz happen. the conversation took an unexpected twist and now they're here. and as i've already said, alden's body language suggests anything from trying his best to prod gently and let keefe down easy all the way to being uncomfortable that this conversation is even happening at all. but every piece of advice he's given keefe up until this point is valid.

and i know the alden antis knows this well because every time keefe starts monologuing (in an incredibly forced manner) about how he's not going to sabotage sophitz's relationship and how he's going to wait until sophie's ready and how he'd never listen to ro about shooting his shot and how he's ready to support sophitz even though he has a crush on sophie, everyone acts like he's some brave martyr that's willing to be in all this pain as long as sophie's happy and talks about how amazing and angelic and kind and perfect he is as a love interest for her. but when alden says virtually the same thing, the only difference being that he's a third party character, people immediately paint him as the devil incarnate. so keefe deciding that he's not going to wreck sophitz's relationship by staying out of it is selfless and sweet, but alden giving keefe advice to do that same exact thing is somehow cruel or manipulative?

and i have no idea why people have such a problem with alden pointing out that he sees keefe as a son. like. point out the part in that sentence where alden is manipulating keefe. i would like to see it. he's just stating a fact. sorry him stating a fact pissed you all off so bad. there's literally an actual-book flashback scene where alden is the first person in keefe's entire life to tell him that he's proud of him. have we missed the fact that keefe has seen alden as a father figure, too? the fact that this is not made-up, not just being stated out of the blue, but rather just an assurance of something both of them already know?

alright then . . . now let's talk about the part where this entire story is told from keefe's perspective (and ro's, because again, she cannot keep her mouth shut). he feels hurt, and i'm not saying he doesn't have the right to. being told your crush doesn't like you out loud probably hurts. so yes, he doesn't feel good. but that doesn't mean that alden is in the wrong here for what he told keefe. it just means keefe has a crush that seems to be unrequited right now, and that having an unrequited crush hurts.

we are going to ignore the fact that this is my favorite part . . . anyway. ahem. this is very important, so listen up, folks. alden sees himself in keefe. this entire scene, i guarantee you, what's running through his head is the fact that (he thinks) he was in keefe's exact position at one point. he understands keefe's position, and he wants keefe to know this. this is why he tells keefe this story. because he doesn't want keefe to misinterpret what he's saying as malicious or a personal attack on keefe (the way ro is). he's saying this because he's trying to spare keefe the heartbreak that he went through.

keefe then appears to be in denial. sixteen year old boy. i think the most important thing here is that alden bypasses lecturing keefe on how one day he'll find his true match. this implies two things to me: one, alden is just as uncomfortable with this conversation as keefe is and is trying to end it quickly and painlessly for them both, and two, alden can sense that keefe is uncomfortable and doesn't want to draw this out for him. both things show that alden understands keefe's position and also once again nails in the fact that alden never wanted or intended to have this conversation at all.

okay. now to what is probably the most controversial thing alden says: "let them be happy". alright . . . this is not an inherently bad thing to say. like please explain to me why this is a shitty thing for alden to say. remember: alden sees three friends, two with reciprocated feelings for one another and a third with unreciprocated feelings for one of the pair. and it's once again also something keefe himself thinks . . . so much of his pov in unlocked and unraveled is just him wallowing in the fact that he has a crush on sophie who likes fitz and how he'd never even think about shoving his way in between them or whatever. it gets hella tiring to read and is clearly just shannon attempting to make up for the possessive wreck she made keefe in neverseen through nightfall . . . anyway. back to the point. this is apparently all fine and dandy for keefe to think, but when alden tells a teenager not to interfere with an assumedly reciprocal relationship between two other teenagers (and out of concern that the first teenager's heart will be broken, no less), it makes him the scourge of the earth. seriously, what is so wrong with telling keefe to let sophie and fitz be happy together. once again, alden is wrong in assuming sophie and fitz are or would be happy together but that does not make him manipulative.

again, this story is told from the perspective of sixteen year old boy with unrequited feelings. he does not feel good upon hearing these words. that doesn't mean the person who said them is in the wrong or manipulating him somehow.

important part!!!! alden once again references something that gives us a peek into his thought process: he lost both of the friendships that he had because of his feelings. he doesn't want keefe to also lose his friendships with fitz and sophie over his feelings!!!! keefe is not in the same situation that alden was in, but alden doesn't know that. he's once again wrong, not manipulative. he is trying to preserve keefe's relationships with sophie and fitz . . . what part of this is manipulative.

as for "there's only one way this ends", that was decidedly untrue and pretty shitty. but notice how after ro's comment (her only valid comment about this entire situation), he realizes he was wrong and says as much out loud. he literally admits that "only time will tell", negating his earlier statement and acknowledging that ro is right (this one time). once again, his perspective on the situation is incredibly skewed. this is why he's so insistent that there will be only one way this will end. but then, after he realizes that what he said is wrong and that actually, things can change and he is in fact talking about a group of teenagers, he concedes ro's point.

i'm going to say that again: unlike ro, alden actually concedes this point!!!! he actually admits that he was wrong and immediately walks it back. he does not "ship sophitz". he does not prioritize his son over keefe. he actually wants what's best for three teenagers he sees as his own children!!!! this is why he concedes the point to ro, that sophie (and keefe and fitz) is a teenager and may not know what she actually wants in life yet. because he cares what sophie wants. this is something i'd argue ro doesn't care about, but again. this is an alden defense rant, not a ro hate rant.

and he's right that it doesn't change where they are today and the situation they're currently in, which is still that sophie and fitz have reciprocated feelings for one another and keefe does not. any good friend would step back and not interfere in this situation. alden is literally just telling keefe to be a good friend, and from personal experience, too. what exactly is so wrong with this. please do enlighten me.

alden then leaves, having said his part. he really does not want to stretch this out, either for keefe's benefit or his own discomfort with the conversation he was lowkey backed into by ro. it's also important to note that alden does leave the choice of whether or not keefe actually wants to come to the trial up to keefe himself. keefe is sad and emotional because his crush on sophie is the size of the sun. but that doesn't take away the validity of alden's statements (given his perspective). and he does it as gently as he can. it wasn't what keefe wanted to hear, and it made him uncomfortable, but in alden's defense he never intended to have this conversation in the first place. start yelling at ro instead of alden if you're annoyed by the fact that alden would want to have this conversation with a teenager. he actually did not.

. . . and the rest of this story is just ro trying to misinterpret everything alden said in the worst way possible. if i were to try to debunk everything she said, i'd just be repeating everything i already said over and over. i've already repeated myself a lot in this section. so we aren't going to do that. hopefully looking at the things alden actually said and breaking down why they are not shitty or manipulative, even unintentionally, will be enough. once again: alden is wrong about the reality of what's going on between sophie, keefe, and fitz, but given his perspective, it is not manipulative or invalid or even illogical for him to say any of the the things he said to keefe.

and the final thing i'll say is: ro is, to put it very bluntly, what you would get if you took a sokeefe pinterest fan and dropped them into the series, allowing them to interact with the characters themselves. one of the main things we know about her is that she is the sokeefe shipper. this is obviously going to tint how she sees anyone even suggesting sokeefe aren't perfect happy couple material. in this case, everything she says implies alden is the devil incarnate for telling keefe to not interfere with his friends' relationship, and out of personal experience, too. ro's otp is then (sort of, temporarily) ruined, and she deals with this by trying to manipulate keefe into thinking alden doesn't have his best interests in mind, because alden is getting in the way of her ship. thank you, ro. you've also managed to brainwash half this fandom into thinking the same, somehow. it's not true, but somehow that's the spin that's put on it.

i urge people to try to read this short story while blocking out everything ro says, and see if that changes your opinion on what alden is saying. because i genuinely feel that ro's presence in this story is a major contributing factor to why people are so eager to turn on alden. again, everything ro says is an opinion. everything alden says is just. what he says. so just try to listen to the words he actually says and leave ro the fuck out. it may actually improve your opinion of him.

[chaethewriter]

You're my type.

Jack Champion x reader

In which Jack talks about his celebrity crush, leaving you with your own thoughts.

HEAVILY IMPLIED SOUTHEAST ASIAN AND SOUTH ASIAN READER.

USAGE OF READER WITH DARK HAIR.

A/N: rushed this in between my work, enjoy this lowkey terribly written thing <3

"Probably Margot Robbie if she was younger and single you know. I would be like, hey you wanna go.." with Avatar 2 releasing in the cinemas, the interviews with the next gen cast were hitting the charts. Trending on all platforms as they were the face of the upcoming movies. This also meant that their fanbase would skyrocket. Especially Jack's. And you couldn't blame them. Your boyfriend of almost a year was young and handsome, of course he would get the attention. And well deserved. With the amount of focus on Jack, clips about him went viral. And you got across one of those clips.

Probably Margot Robbie if she was younger and single you know. I would be like, hey you wanna go..

You watched a tiktok on your for you page of your boyfriend going on about his crush on Margot Robbie. And she was pretty, beautiful even. But there were these thoughts at the back of your mind.

Was that his type?

Were you even his type?

Margot Robbie was every boy's dream: blonde long hair that sat on her shoulders and those blue eyes that lit up the room. You threw your phone next to you, screen facing downwards as you rested your back against the soft duvet. You gazed at the ceiling, eventually touching your forehead with both of your hands as this was such a stupid situation. You were supposed to meet up with him today, and you couldn't let this entire situation decide how today was about to go.

You had an hour to get ready, both mentally and physically, as you had to get your shit together. He loves you. He chose you. Hell, he made the first move. His celebrity crush shouldn't define who he dates.

But your celebrity crushes are usually the people who you're attracted to right?

Shut up.

You changed into your date outfit, which was harder than usual, because you wanted to look extra pretty for him. Clothes scattered around the room, covering your floor as you dug into your closet. Eventually, you found something pretty. An outfit you had always felt pretty in when you wore it. But once you looked in the mirror, all your confidence fell to your feet.

Was this how he loved you?

Dark hair flowing past your neck with dark eyes staring down someone's soul. Your skin the center of attention in your transparent room. In front of that same mirror, you had done your makeup. Something lightweight, concealer hiding the spots you were insecure about. Eyeliner at the outer corners of your eyes with kohl, as well as your waterline. Applying a brownish lipstick on your lips, because anything shade lighter than that you hated on your lips.

Downstairs, you sat on the couch. Your father at the dinner table with your mother in the kitchen. Your legs bounced as you tried to forget about his words.

Probably Margot Robbie if she was younger and single, you know..

Would he have dated someone who looked like her instead, if he were to meet her right now?

He wouldn't right?

What if he felt attracted to her, what then?

Too lost in your thoughts, the knocking on the front door remained unanswered. "Open the door, I think it's your white boyfriend." Your father had yelled from the dinner table, not looking up from his phone. The volume of his tone kicked you right out of your thoughts. You got up from your seat, your knees buckling as you walked towards the door. "Hii baby!" His smile reached his eyes as he immediately pulled you in a tight hug, his nose burying into your hair as he slightly bended over. This could almost make you forget about your worries. Almost.

You were short, to say the least. You just reached his chest as he was incredibly tall for his age. You were the average height for your people, but for Westerners, it would seem incredibly short.

"Hi, love." You stood on your tippy toes with your arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him down to you to press a kiss against his rosy lips. Butterflies tickled your stomach as his plump lips pressed against yours. He was the one to pull away first, gazing into your eyes with his nose scrunched up, "You look so pretty, baby. All that for me?" You could feel your cheek warm up and as a response you broke eye contact with him.

He smiled at you, your shy demeanor so cute to him. Behind you, a lot of movement occurred. It made Jack look up, coming face to face with your father.

"As-salamu alaykum, sir." His American accent obvious as he spoke. This time, it was his turn for a blush to creep onto his cheeks. You have been together for almost a year, but he still had yet to win over your father's heart.

"Wa-Alaikum-Salaam. She's home by 7pm without tears. Bring her home. Have fun." Your father was extremely stern, his words extremely to the point. Yet, he always made sure to end his speech on a good note.

"Of course, sir! I will get her home safe and sound!" While holding him in your arms, you felt him stiff in your hold. It made you giggle. Your 6'1 "foot boyfriend shaking in his shoes in the presence of your much shorter father.

You had greeted your father in a rush, pulling your boyfriend with you as the two of you headed towards his car. He had opened the door for you, "get in, milady." You chuckled at his little acts of service, thanking him as you sat down on the passenger's seat. Jack walked to the other side of his car and took a seat next to you, "Where to, pretty?" His hand was already resting against your thigh, awaiting your answer. Dates with Jack were always unexpected. It was always where the moment took the both of you.

"Mall?" You shuddered as his fingers ran against your skin, the thin material of your pants not offering much cover. "Sure thing, whatever my girl wants."

The ride was quiet, your fingers playing with his free hand as you gazed outside the window. He treated you so well. So why were you feeling like this?

"What's up, pretty?" He noticed your unusual behavior. Of course you did. How couldn't he? He was by your side from your highest to your lowest, he basically knew almost everything about you.

You bit your bottom lip as you pulled at his skin, "nothing."

A lie.

Once again, silence filled the car with the radio playing as a background noise. Should you just tell him? Now? Before it could ruin your date?

"Tell me?" He put his car in park once he found an empty place in the parking lot, pushing his seat back for enough space between him and the steering wheel. To pull you by the arms onto his lap. You were facing him now, completely stunned with this action.

"Tell me, pretty girl." He pressed a kiss against your nose, his hands on your waist to keep you secure, "what's wrong?"

Communication was important.

It was the key.

"Promise you won't get mad?" You played with his shirt as you spoke, your gaze locked on the necklace lying against his collarbone. The pendant wad a pretty pink rose quartz, shaped into a heart. You remembered gifting him it as a way to hint your feelings to him. The color didn't match the color palette of his outfit, but he still wore it around his neck, almost proudly.

"You're thinking too hard with that pretty little brain of yours. I'm sure I won't get angry with you, babe."

"Uhm, okay." You took a breath, your fingers now tracing the cord of the necklace, "am I your type?"

Silence.

It made you look up at him, your eyes wide as you awaited an answer from him. A smile made its way on his face, immediately leaning down to press a firm kiss against your lips, "of course you are, why are you asking?"

"The interview, you uhm," you tried to gather your words in a sentence that would make sense and Jack gave you all the time you needed. His hands rubbing your back reassuringly as he watched you intently.

"You said you would shoot your shot with Margot Robbie."

Jack had opened his mouth to speak, but you cut him off, "I don't look like her. So you know, I thought—" this time, he cut you off with a deep kiss. A tender one, one that held so much meaning. Passion. Love. One of his hands traveled towards your cheek, caressing it as he deepened the kiss. Your hands stayed at his chest, clutching onto his shirt.

He had pulled away from the kiss to gasp for air, "I love you." He breathed out against your lips, "I love all of you." He continued, pressing a kiss against the tip of your nose, "I love this."

A kiss against your eyelid.

"I love this."

A kiss against your cheek.

"I love this."

Your forehead.

"I love this."

Your lips.

"And I love this."

"I'm so different from her, look at me! I'm—"

"Beautiful." He finished your sentence with lovesick eyes. "You're beautiful."

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jackchampion me when she's the one having my last name @ justy/n

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-> jackchampion watch it happen, I will manifest it🌕

[sonknuxadow]

What do you think Knuckles Generations would look like

feels like a good time to bring back this image i made when sonic x shadow generations was first announced. we can make this real if we bother sega about it enough (joking)

i feel like a knuckles story set during generations might be hard to pull off considering knuckles was in sonics whitespace but then again so was rouge and she still played an important role in shadows story so i guess its not impossible . anyway i think the rest of this post got way too long so im gonna put it under a readmore actually

idk if this is a good idea at all but like. sonic and shadow each have their own sort of gimmick right . for sonic its the classic and modern thing and for shadow its the doom powers. and classic knuckles isnt in this game. so maybe his whole thing can be switching between more typical sonic gameplay and the treasure hunting gameplay from the adventure games..... idk ....

for stages. my personal picks would be angel island* for sonic 3&knuckles, red mountain for sonic adventure, aquatic mine or pumpkin hill for sonic adventure 2.. i dont really have a preference for which one but there should probably be a sonic heroes stage. and obviously ares island for sonic frontiers. and i feel like there should be a level from knuckles chaotix as well but idk what it should be because i dont really know anything about that game. sorry.

(*could be based specifically on angel island zone from sonic 3 or just be a general angel island based stage like how they did a space colony ark stage for shadow gens. also i tried to not repeat any stages from sxsg but i think re-using sky sanctuary could work here. like i dont have many story-related ideas for this but knuckles' story would have to start after sonic frees him so maybe it begins with him going into sky sanctuary which leads to him finding the knuckles specific whitespace)

as for other characters that would feature in the story . i know its not a strict rule that there cant be repeat characters but i also wouldnt want for there to be too many repeat characters anyway which kinda limits our options ……. i think tikal should be a white space character for sure. maybe pachacamac too i think he would be an interesting addition. sega would never do it but mighty would be a good choice too. actually maybe they wouldnt be too opposed to it in this context considering gens is a game where classic and modern characters interact. idk. im struggling to think of boss battles right now but i think rouge would be a fun rival battle since we already know she leaves her spot in sonics white space at some point. maybe she could try to see if the master emerald is still intact and if she can steal it while nobodys paying attention to it. i also would want a sonic rival battle soooo bad but idk how they'd work that in

[lost-in-lamentation]

It probably isn't the best pair, but could I suggest "I'll take over from here, you go rest" with Mammon?

(Or with Lucifer if it comes easier)

(Writer's block is a pain, I hope you can defeat that beast soon and I wish you a good day)

a/n: thank you for the well wishes anon (´ω｀) also praying that i can defeat it soon ..

prompt #2: mammon + “i’ll take over from here, you go rest.”

content: tired reader who needs some extra help getting errands done.

warnings: brief dizziness for the reader.

comfort. mammon x gen!reader (you/your).

you groaned internally when your d.d.d. pinged with a loud notification. during your study time, you always kept it on silent, with the exception of lucifer’s contact allowed to bypass the do not disturb settings. if your phone was going off, it meant lucifer had another task for you. with a sigh, you tapped your screen awake, groaning again when you saw that lucifer wanted you to run to multiple stores. you replied back with a quick “okay”, not wanting to stir lucifer’s mood. before heading out, you stopped by mammon’s room, poking your head through the doorway. a call of his name had the room responding in silence, and you realised a few seconds later that his car wasn’t in the room either. guess he’s out doing who knows what, you thought to yourself.

adjusting your bag on your shoulder, you set out for your first errand, which in hindsight, should have been your last. you weren’t sure what went through your head when you decided on the grocery store first. the amount of food for beel alone had you stopping for breaks as you carried the bags around. the second stop wasn’t much better; lucifer had definitely underestimated how many packages were at the postal office for pick up. the demon at the front desk had half a mind to ask if you needed assistance to take everything back, but with the cost of extra shipping, you end up grumbling “no thanks,” before putting on a strained smile and hauling your belongings out to the street.

you weighed your options once you got outside. beel would definitely be able to carry most of this, but he’d snack on the groceries before you even got halfway home. lucifer was not to be disturbed, of course. satan would most likely be holed up in his room reading, while levi would be playing games. mammon was nowhere to be found, and as for asmo and belphie; “out of the question,” you huffed. sighing despondently, you stuffed as much as you could into your backpack before sliding all the bag handles around your forearms. the weight made you dizzy and had you teetering dangerously from side to side. your teeth broke skin as you bit down on your lip, the effort of staying up and trying to hold everything going far past your abilities. finally, you took a shaky step forward, but a particularly heavy bag swung too far in front, sending you barreling towards the ground. you had given up, accepting your fate of crashing into a muddy puddle when a shriek from up ahead caught your attention.

you felt arms circle tightly around your torso, and your head landed on a shoulder you were very familiar with. “oh, mammon?” you practically slurred the question, your mind not all where it should be.

“that’s all ya have to say?!” mammon shouted at full volume, despite being right next to you. “seriously human, what are you even doin’ with all this?” he grunted with the effort to set you upright, tugging the bags off your arms and forcing you to get rid of the backpack that was dragging you down.

“lucifer asked me to run errands,” you said quietly, your hand clasping mammon’s shoulder to stabilise yourself. you failed to notice the red dusting mammon’s cheeks as you gripped even tighter.

the white haired demon hooked an arm around your waist in response, holding you up. “and you decided that you could carry all this?” mammon chided quietly when you shook your head, his gaze softening when he saw how quiet you were becoming. “okay, okay, come on. can you walk? my car’s over there.”

you blinked your vision back into focus, now seeing the way mammon had parked. you weren’t sure if you could say he parked at all, with the way it was practically on the sidewalk. “mammon, why’s your car-?”

“don’t ask, just get in there. i’ll take the stuff over,” he muttered, pushing you gently away before leaning down and grabbing a number of the grocery bags. by the time you had settled into the passenger seat, mammon was back with the second round of items, piling it into his trunk carefully. he headed back again for the remaining few, throwing what couldn’t fit in the trunk onto the backseat. “that would be a lot for even beel, ya know,” he exhaled, getting into the driver's seat next to you. “what else is on that list from my dear, older brother?”

“eh? weren’t you going out somewhere else?” you asked, not wanting to interrupt his day off.

“don’t be stupid,” mammon scoffed. “you nearly died just trying to hold everything.” you opened your mouth to protest, but mammon had his hand covering it before you could utter a word. “no. you look like you haven’t slept in ages so… i’ll take over from here. it’s just errands anyway. you need to get some rest.” mammon wasn’t gentle in his scolding, but the concern in his eyes told another story. “i’m taking you home.”

you pushed his hand away, giving him a hard stare. “i’m coming with you.”

the second born cursed his sin; of course he would let you stay. greed came in the way he never wanted you to leave. the tips of his ears turned pink, admitting defeat before he could. “fine. but you’re sleeping in the car until we get to the next store.”

“mammon, the next store is like, five minutes from here.”

“shut up. i’m taking the scenic route.”

a/n: and so, mammon drove around for an hour instead of taking you directly to the store

reblogs are really appreciated (´ω｀) ♡

prompt list here.

[kydrogendragon]

Call of the Night - Day 2 of Sandmanniversary

Words: 3k

Pairing: None (but implied future Dreamling)

Rating: Gen

Ao3 Link Here

When Hob signed up to help man the White Horse, he hadn't really cared about what it was they were doing. All he knew is it was a three month expedition, it paid decently, and they needed an engineer on board in case anything happened to the old girl. Honestly, he'd expected a fishing vessel or maybe some government contract type deal. Once he was aboard and introduced to the crew, however, it became apparent this was a little different.

Loads and loads of gear and boxes were set up in the hull. Constantine, their lead researcher and childhood friend, filled Hob in on the details of their mission. Apparently, they were a team of marine biologists (there were definitely more titles and fields, but they went over Hob's head, so marine biologists it was) studying some rare sightings out in the North Atlantic a good five hundred miles from port.

The journey so far was fine. He'd gotten to reconnect with Jo—who he hadn't thought he'd see again since she'd left for uni in the states. He'd also gotten to get to know the rest of the crew. And The White Horse was quite the beaut. She ran fine and ran smoothly. They probably didn't even need Hob around, which left him with more free time on his hands than he was used to. He's pretty sure he's just a few more "visits" away from Jo wringing his neck.

When he'd returned to his bunk later that week to a small stack of books and pad and paper, he just laughed. To Jo's credit, she at least found him some books that actually sounded like something he'd read.

It was a month into their journey when it happened. The sun had set long ago. Most of the crew was either having their "breakfast" for the late-night shift or fast asleep in their bunks. Hob strolled the deck, walking its length and enjoying the fresh sea air.

It was quiet save the roll of waves and splash of the ship against them. It was this, this peace and silence of the ocean at night that Hob had needed. He also probably needed something more to keep his hands busy as well, but at least Jo was trying with the drawing supplies, as shit as he was with them. The most exciting thing that's happened so far was one of the rigs kept catching when reeling up. He at least got to whip out the tools for a few hours.

He was about to head back when he heard...something. If they were closer inland, he'd guess it was a bird—still could be, he supposes. It was quiet, just barely heard over the crash of water against the steel of the ship. It droned on, long and drawn out. It was deep, pained almost. And each minute it sounded closer.

Then he saw it. There, way on the horizon, a pale red dot among the darkness. It looked like a buoy or beacon as it moved with the waves. Hob frowned, lifting his binoculars that hung around his neck up to his eyes. It was hard to pinpoint in the night, but when he finally landed on the light, he gasped.

It was still far out from their ship, the details hazy, but it wasn't a buoy and it definitely wasn't some sort of beacon or the like. It seemed to come from some sort of...creature? Fuck, it was hard to see at this distance.

The noise grew louder, sharper, as the light drew closer. Hob's heart raced in his chest as the eerie sound soon filled the air. Tales the crew had told flash through his mind, stories of leviathans, of creatures belonging to the deep. Of mermaids and sirens, of life unknown and undiscovered. Of the rare sighting they were here to locate in the first place.

Hob reaches down, pulling the walkie-talkie off his belt. He clicks the button and raises it to his lips.

"Alex, you're gonna want to see this. Starboard side, up closer to the bow. And hurry. Think we may just have your mystery monster."

Seconds pass before his walkie talkie crackles to life. "Hob? What?"

"I'd get up here quick, mate. Whatever it is, it's not man-made. And it's glowing."

"Glowing? Paul, can you—...Okay, okay! We're headed up. Keep your eyes on that thing."

Hob clips his device back onto his belt and keeps his eyes trained on the rapidly growing bright spot amongst the dark seas.

The thing looks only a mile from the ship at this point when the strange sound coming from it quiets. And then there are footsteps on the hull.

Paul and Alex race up with Jo and some of the less science-more muscle crew follow close behind. Paul steps up, putting a hand on Hob's shoulders to steady himself against the rocking of the boat.

“Where is it? What did you see?” he asks.

“Paul…look.”

Hob and Paul turn towards Alex who stands against the ledge. He points out into the water where the red glow is beginning to dim. Paul gasps, waving to the others.

“Go! Go, hurry! We need to get that thing, toss out the netting now!”

The ship comes to life. People race about, orders are shouted, lights flicked on. Ropes are tossed around as the rigs are set up and ready. Hob watches that fading dot all the while. Its hard to tell from here if the thing is sinking into the sea or if whatever part of it that glows is simply…fading. Fuck. Is the thing dying?

“Sending!” One of the riggers calls out as the net is lauched out into sea. The lines of rope are illuminated in the bright ship lighting until they fade from view as they fall over their target. Then, that noise from earlier sounds off. It howls, calling out into the darkness as—Hob guesses—the net falls over it.

“The hell is that noise?” Jo shouts over the sound of machinery and waves.

“Dunno!” Hob calls back. “The thing was making a different sound earlier.”

“What kind of sound?”

“More…pained. I guess.”

Jo looks grim as she turns back towards the ocean. The crew call out to one another and the rig groans as the net is recalled. The chains and gears slowly clank. Rope and netting is hauled aboard, swirled in piles to the side.

“What the hell are you putting the thing in when we get it on board?”

Jo pales. She races towards Alex, talking into his ear. Its too loud as the winds start to pick up and the waves grow stronger. Hob watches as the two dart below ground.

The click-click-clicking of the gears rolls on. Hob backs up, giving the open area of the boat wide berth for whatever it is they end up hauling in. Paul's leaning over, calling out to the other biologists and scientists when Hob catches the words “I see it!” leave the man's mouth. Alex reappears, sans Jo, and races over towards Paul, shaking the man in excitement as the last few dredges of netting are hauled up.

And then Hob sees it. He sees the mass of wriggling black and red and white. He sees a mess of fins and scales. And he hears the deep, almost growling call that comes from the things mouth. Its…its human mouth.

The creature, whatever it is, struggles against the thick ropes as its lowered onto the deck. Salt water splashes over the boards, clinging to Hob's skin. He hears the wet slap of flaining limps and fins as the last of the net grows slack.

And then he sees hands.

Or something close to hands. The fingers are longer, sharper. Like claws dipped black. As the creature reaches out, trying to get traction on the slippery surface, Hob can just barely make out webbing between the digits. Alex and Paul step closer along with some of the others. He steps forwards and then freezes. Eyes, as blue as the ocean herself, pin him in place. The red glow fills his vision and then all Hob sees is darkness. He drifts off to the sound of shouting and a final, deep melodic groan from the creature.

He wakes up in his bunk. Or a bunk at least. His is normally the upper one but Jo sits to his left so unless she gained the ability to float, he's on one of the lower ones. Probably Matt's.

“You're alive,” Jo greets, setting her notebook down on her lap. He can just barely make out what looks to be field notes as he turns towards her.

“I am. What…what happened exactly?”

She sighs, pushing her bangs out of her face. “Matt carried you down here all freaked out. Said you'd passed out on the deck as the damn freak storm rolled in. Hell of a time to play damsel in distress there, Gadling.”

He chuckles, stretching his limbs as he does so. His body is sore, but not in any way that's out of the ordinary. His head aches a bit but not too terribly. “Any ideas what happened to me?”

Jo shrugs. “Dunno. Weird pressure drop from the storm fucking with you in combination with who knows what else. Rach took a look over you though. Gave you a clean bill of health from what she can do with you being passed out as you were. Said you should probably go see her for another once over when you woke up though.”

He sits up, nodding as he does. “Sounds good.” Flashes of the night before run through his mind. He remembers the black and red and white. He remembers fins and scales and claws and hands. And then he remembers those eyes.

“The, uh. The creature. Did you—”

“Get it? Yeah. You missed out on all the fun of figuring out how the hell to get it in the observation tank. Could have used your strength though. Thing weighed a shit ton. Had to use a hell of a lot of tranquilizer to get it to even stay calm and not flair about. We'll have to run more tests and cross-reference the sighting reports but I think this just might be ghe creature people were talking about.”

“What is it?”

Jo huffs. “That's the thing Hobsie. It shouldn’t exist at all.” She turns with a mischievous smile on her lips. “Things a bloody mermaid.”

The creature—and Jo was right. Things a bloody mermaid. Well…merman, he supposes—glares at them from its tank that is definitely too small for a thing its size. The part of it that looks human is about the same size to a normal person, though it’s significantly skinnier and bonier than most men. If it had legs, it looks like it could have been a high-fashion runway model with that narrow waist and sharp cheekbones. But, it doesn’t have legs. Instead, its got a giant fucking tail with fins and scales and everything.

Hob is definitely processing this world perception altering finding completely fine.

If merpeople are real, are unicorns? Bigfoot? Nessie? Fucking dragons?

Hob needs to sit down.

He falls into the folding chair by the wall, hands in his lap, as he watches the group of scientists flitting between their equipment, the tank, and back to their equipment again. They’re checking the water for lord knows what and currently seem to be trying to find a way to get a blood sample without the creature—man—merman thing attacking them with either its claws or tail or teeth. Christ, it has sharp teeth. Nearly took off poor Paul’s fingers when he tried to grab a water sample. Looked more like a monster from the deep than anything from the Little Mermaid.

Its skin was pale and it stared them all down with eyes black as the night sky. It’s hair—was it even considered hair?—floats off its head in the tank like the smallest, most dainty strands of kelp you’ve ever seen. Well, if kelp was pitch black, anyway. Gills protruded from its neck near the leathery looking fins and fans on its face. Its hands faded from normal-ish looking skin to inky black nails that could pierce as well as a knife.

Then there was this thing’s tail. If the upper half of it was something that should be played by Bill Skarsgard, the lower half was a thing of beauty. A dream and a nightmare mixed. Most of the scales were black, but caught the light with an iridescent shine. It reminded him of the tail feathers of the roosters they’d kept when he was young. Mixed in were sections of deep ruby reds, painted on the merman in patterns similar to koi fish. There were large fins on either side and down towards the tip, not unlike a betta or goldfish, but were currently tucked close to its body. It was quite a sight to behold.

And then there were the eyes. The one Hob kept trying to make a conscious effort not to look at but keeps finding himself drawn to. They're dark. Black like the night sky. And yet, he remembers the brilliant blue of them on that first night….

“Hob?”

He startles, whipping his head up to see Johanna standing off to his side with an amused expression. He sighs, placing a hand over his heart.

“Christ, Jo. Make more noise before you sneak up on a man like that.”

She rolls her eyes before nodding her head towards the stairs. “Walk with me?”

Hob stands, following behind her as they make their way up and out of the room with the impossible but here creature. Jo pushes the door open and they step out onto the main deck. The salty sea air hits Hob’s lungs. He takes a deep, shuddering breath and he realizes just how shaky he’d been down there.

“So.”

Hob huffs. “So? This the part where you tell me I’ve seen too much and have me killed?”

Jo just turns her head slowly to him, looking at him with her classic ‘you’re an imbecile’ face. “Nope, wasn’t planning on any murder today. But I did have a favor to ask of you.”

“Oh?”

Jo sighs, pushing her bangs up out of her face. “Obviously, we’ve a bit of a major discovery on our boat here. And, of course, I’m thrilled about it and I’m certain the rest of our crew here is too, but I also know that this whole things gettin’ funded by the Burgess family and, no hate to Alex, but I trust his father about as far as I can throw him.

“So, if that thing we’ve got down there’s got a brain like ours, I want you to try and befriend it cause there’s no way in Hell I’m letting Roderick Burgess get his hands on something like this. And if you can befriend it, then maybe we can get it to trust us enough to release it without having to use all the equipment and having people figure out what we’re doing.”

Hob blinks. This was...not where he thought this conversation was going. “What do you think the old man’s going to do?”

“Keep it trapped like some exotic pet? Try and eat it? Fuck if I know what those rich bastards like to get up to in their free time, but I’ve never heard a good story come from them when it came to keeping rare creatures in their possession. How many horror stories have you heard about those rich old fucks keeping tigers or crocodiles or other shit in their house?”

Hob huffs a laugh. “Not many, honestly.”

“Right, forgot. You like to live like it’s medieval England and newspapers and Twitter haven’t been invented yet.”

“Hey! I do use the internet, you know!”

Jo elbows him lightly as she laughs. “So, will you help me?”

He sighs, leaning back against the wall by the door. Jo watches him, hands in her pockets. Hob can say, with certainty, he’s never been asked to befriend a literal sea creature before. And he’s pretty sure that keeping one in a tiny tank isn’t doing them any favors either. But it’s Jo that’s asking. And she doesn’t ask for much, not for serious stuff like this. And he owes her a lot already, like this job, for one.

“Fuck,” he groans. “Alright, yeah. I’ll see what I can do. I make zero promises I’ll be successful, but I’ll try my best.”

“Good. And if that doesn’t work, come two months, I’ll just need your brawn instead to help haul the thing back to the ocean instead.”

“That thing weighs like a hundred and fifty kilos! I’m not that strong!” Hob cries.

“Better work on your fish charm then, eh?” she says with a wink.

Hob shakes his head. The shit he does for this woman.

“Right. Well, I’ll let you lot do your poking and prodding. I’m going to stay up here for a bit and just...process my future months for a moment, yeah?”

Jo laughs as he heads back down the stairs, leaving Hob alone among the sound of waves and the spray of the sea. He walks over to the ledge of the ship wall. He folds his arms and rests them and his chin on them, sighing as he watches the boat rise and fall on the ocean waves. The stars shine above him, land long gone from view. It's just him, this boat, this crew, and the fucking fantastical creature in the tank just under his feet. What the hell has happened to his life?

He stays there until the chill seeps through his jacket and into his bones and only then does he retreat to the safe warmth of the interior. He pads his way down the stairs and hallways until he's crawling into his bunk. As Hob closes his eyes, he drifts off to the thoughts of pale skin and blue eyes and a lingering fear of what it all means.

[matchalovertrait]

Isabela Campos is another successful lawyer, but she plays a very different game. Antonio has only been in the courtroom with her once, but that was enough for her to become his enemy. So, he's not sure what exactly she'll do. He just knows it's not good.

Start from the beginning (Gen 2)

Previous | Next

Transcript

ANTONIO: We’ll wait for the rest of the team in the meeting room.

DANIELA: Yeah it was starting to feel crowded outside! It’s nice that Dulce has that many loved ones, though.

ANTONIO: It is sweet.

ANTONIO: Fuck...

DANIELA: What happened???

[Antonio and Daniela whisper.]

ANTONIO: What is she doing here?

DANIELA: Isabela? I thought we were up against another lawyer.

[Antonio and Daniela whisper.]

DANIELA: What do we do? She plays dirty. We didn’t expect her.

ANTONIO: Don’t engage with them. Act normal.

[Antonio and Daniela whisper.]

ANTONIO: Part of their plan must be to throw us off. They want us to panic and change our strategy.

ISABELA: Well, if it isn’t Antonio Romero and his poor excuse of a paralegal.

ANTONIO: We’re not interested in chit-chatting.

ISABELA: Don’t be like that. Rivalry is supposed to be playful fun, is it not?

[Isabela and Caruso forcefully make their way towards them.]

ISABELA: Why are you standing in front of her like that? We’re not going to do anything.

CARUSO: Say, how has Alegría been? Knowing her, she’s probably all over you, huh? She loves bad ideas like those.

ANTONIO: That would be highly unprofessional and a violation of the legal ethics. She is my client and nothing more. Please refrain from saying such nonsense.

ISABELA: I hope that’s true for your sake. It’d be a shame if your license got revoked for sleeping with a client. Don’t let anybody find out!

DANIELA: Where’s your paralegal anyway? Or did they quit because nobody can stand working with you?

ISABELA: Honey, I don’t need one. I can do it all on my own. Remember, I didn’t have one when I absolutely crushed Antonio in that one case.

ANTONIO: If you can “do it all alone”, go ahead and spare the poor soul who put the ring on your finger.

[Dulce walks in and overhears.]

ISABELA: [Chuckles] You can’t offend me. Come along, Caruso. I think we are done here.

CARUSO: We’ll see you inside.

DULCE: Why did he comment on the ring? Have they dated before?

ANTONIO: He found my arch nemesis. How does he keep discovering such information?

DANIELA: He probably uses a private investigator. The same one who he hired to find his mom.

[minweber]

I kinda find it interesting that up until now all Dragon Age protagonists, as well as most companions for whom being of a particular age (usually older that the rest) was not a part of their characterization, were essentially all the same age - that is, a part of the same generation.

It's been noted that Inquisition's cast is generally older that that of Origins and 2, but we do also meet them about ten years later, which squares quite nicely - the cast of the games set in 9:30 starts out in their varying 20s, while the cast of the game set in 9:40 is in their 30s and up.

But the Veilguard crew seems to be another matter - by 9:50 you are either squarely in your 40s and 50s (which most of the companions and, by extension, Rook, don't really seem to be) or were born significantly later than previously mentioned characters.

I think that when I started writing this down I was leading up to some kind of joke about millennials and gen z, but now I am just thinking how fascinating it is that the narrative of the franchise has gone on long enough for there to be characters who probably grew up among the consequences of the earlier games' events, the ones for whom the world-changing events of the Age of the Dragon are the norm, if not already history. How cool is that! I really hope the writers of Veilguard found it as compelling an idea as I do and it gets explored a bit in the game.

[tpher]

scary girl analysis !

something something the most clearly gimmicky gen 4 character we know. as your resident pahkitew island apologist, i dont care. it actually took me a bit to warm up to her and i figured id talk abt why that is

so her main thing is being creepy and sadistic for the sake of jokes. its not serious.. mostly. she does prove to actually be down to hurt others (such as when she got a hold of a jackhammer). but what about an instance where she wanted to hurt someone for actual reasons? when was that?

that was when priya went up to her to compliment her on doing a good job on the previous challenge. priya says that shes surprised by scary girl having done a good job.

scary girls response?

a very defensive "oh, it surprised you that i was good? cuz you thought id do bad?"

and thats the thesis of this post

scary girl is very insecure

backing up for a moment, in ep 2 when the teams were on ships and attacking each other, she was the one who came up with the idea of sinking the other teams ship as an idea on what to do when they were out of ammo (? iirc). but no one else heard that, just zee

then in ep 3, ripper makes her go last in the relay race thing bc he didnt want her to "blow things" for the team. she reacts by trying to bite his finger. not with a funny creepy smile, but with genuine anger to her literal bite. and then during that challenge, she infamously grabs a bear by the arm and starts beating it up while saying "thats what you get for growling at me!!!". once shes done, she goes "byeee" and goes on like nothing happened. proving that if someone wrongs her, she can easily let it go.. so long as she gets to do something back. remember this for later

and here we come back to her interaction with priya. so far, scary girl has proven herself to be a pretty alright player and she herself knows that. so the notion of someone being SURPRISED she did well?? does not sit well with her at all. but the way that she harps on the wording, even before zee steps in to make it worse, is what gets to me. it just really adds an extra layer to her character that, well. ironically surprised me! for someone who always seems to be in her own world, so unconventional, so ill-fitting with everyone else to also be insecure in some capacity?

anyway she tries to hurt priya with a spoon but gets interrupted. later on, priya is still thinking abt their encounter and feels bad so she tries to make it up to scary girl by flattering her. namely by saying that scary girls question was smart.. and priya being her awkward self, only dug herself in a hole by making it seem like that was a smart question by scary girls standards

scary girl is speechless. baffled. mad beyond words

it should be noted that scary girl looked offended when priya even started speaking. meaning that she also did not forget about their conversation that morning. she REALLY took it to heart. applying the bear logic here, had scary girl hurt her with the spoon earlier, would she be less mad? would she had considered each other even? and in that case, would this comment go over better or would it had simply restarted her need for revenge?

well. they dont interact for the rest of the episode up until the very end. after ripper used priya as a human shield, obviously injuring her

scary girl tells her that rippers a jerk and that priya didnt deserve that. so she'll be voting to get ripper out. and calls priya her "friend".

(her face and tone makes me a bit suspicious if this was genuine. but thats probably just her being her offputting self so i'll ignore it.) ok so by scary girl logic, priya deserved to have SOMETHING bad coming her way after what she said to her.

but not this.

scary girl, who came here to "make friends and watch them get really hurt", was not okay with what ripper did to priya. perhaps she thinks that only she could be allowed to hurt priya to balance things out? personally giving priya her karma, perhaps?

but now she considers priya a "friend". who likely wants to see her get hurt. but in the fun way that scary girl likely sees most other contestants as, possibly? idk.

anyway after all of that, we can see just how insecure scary girl can get over unintentionally awkward phrasing. just how deeply it hurts her feelings to be underestimated like that

season 2 spoilers ahead !!!

in season 2, we see even less of her. but there is SO much to work with

normal girl is so fascinating to me

by the time s2 starts, scary girl already has an all new look. shes trying to be "normal"

she admits in her confessional that some ppl thought she was too scary in the first season so thats why she changed her appearance and her everything. who were these ppl?

other than a dog as a joke, online forums, showing an interesting glimpse into the in-universe ""real world"" stepping into total drama. perhaps also a meta joke on the fandoms response to her but who knows. imagine unabashedly being yourself on tv and everyone is telling you to change. you are 16 and likely going through a weird phase. feeling a lot of heightened emotions already and ""knowing"" that this is who you are (at the moment). and if its not a phase? still 16 on international television getting lambasted by millions

and last but not least, her MOM??? her own mother. that just raises more questions abt how scary girl was before getting on td. was she NOT like this before? was she playing it up for the cameras? or did she just go unhinged without parental supervision? in any case the fact is that even her own mom wasnt okay with what makes her happy and how she presented herself.

so scary girls solution? to try her best to suppress anything that made her unique. to try to adhere to "societal norms", in her own words.

we dont see much of her in this ep other than her commenting on how shes normal and totally did not want to see someone get hurt. shes clearly struggling so bad. she knows that apparently what she likes isnt "right", therefore the opposite must be true, right?

she is simultaneously so immediately different that the others didnt even recognize her at first. yet still so "scary" that she cant fit in. she just doesnt know how no matter how hard she tries. if she were to stay longer, what can she do? this game is not only abt your skills in the challenges its also a social thing. how long until she snapped and went back to her old ways?

and then we get to the campfire ceremony. chef is about to call out whatever it was the she did wrong that day, but she interrupts him with a simple "no."

she cannot fathom being sent home, at least not this early. bc shes normal! she is sooo normal and she tried SO HARD to be normal! she read normal books and normal movies and studied normal people. she even taught herself to smile in a more acceptable way, which is so autistic coded to me. so she deserves to stay longer.

(getting flashbacks to my topher psychoanalysis and his entitlement being both a tragedy and his self-imposed downfall)

..but she studied "normal people" in her own not-normal way. while they werent looking. while they were sleeping. while they had no idea she was there.

so she got booted out for that. and she cannot believe it.

when she says that she "didnt even try to hurt anyone this time", she is mad. that was her ""fun"" and she managed to control it 100% only to get eliminated??? shes fed up!

but when she talks about how she taught herself how to smile in a "less-creepy" way?

she softens up and looks genuinely hurt.

she tried so hard. she saw all those horrible comments from people judging her based on like 5 episodes on a reality show. her own mother didnt accept her. her insecurity won and she aimed to change and repress everything that made her unique

and it still wasnt enough

[mythicalartisttm]

What’s your opinion on transgenders people? I ask as i have seen you reblog a few things and I am unsure on your stance. I mean this in no judgmental way i would just like to know your thoughts

anon this ask both excites me and fills me with caution, but! I will provide you with what you seek!

what do I think about transgender people? Here’s my answer to that, but be warned, it is lengthy!

1) they’re to be treated as people, not outcasts. Human is human, and we are supposed to treat fellow humans with love, care, and respect, even if we don’t agree with the people in question, or if it’s just plain hard.

2) I say this with gentleness: their perceptions of themselves are skewed*, and there are many reasons for this with the primary one being that we live in a broken world, which leads to everything else. But one of the absolute worst things we can do to trans people/ people who want to be trans, regardless of the reason, is to go along with the idea that they are or can be any other gender than the one they were born with. As you can probably tell, I believe in the God of the Bible, and that while human hands may have written the physical book, He speaks through the people that wrote it. So let’s let His Word do the talking.

You know the creation story, yeah? It’s ok if you don’t, let’s recap anyways:

Every day for 6 days, God made aspects of our universe, and when He declared everything finished – perfect! God’s work ain’t finished ‘till it’s perfect – He rested on the 7th day (Genesis 1 and 2). On the 6th day He made humans, male and female, and they were made in the image of God Himself (Gen. 2:26). They were also the only aspect of creation God formed with His own hands; Genesis 2:7 says God made the first man from the dust of the earth, and verses 21-22 says He took a piece of the man to make the first woman.

That might not seem huge to you, but it speaks volumes of the care God put into humanity specifically. Everything else – the sun, stars, sky, trees, dogs, almost everything you can think of – God simply spoke them into existence. But for humans; for you, anon? He got up, got His hands dirty, and shaped your head, your heart, your spirit, your body. He gave humanity a literal special touch that He gave to nothing else.

This is reinforced again by God speaking through king David’s Psalm 139, verses 13-16:

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body     and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!     Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,     as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born.     Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out     before a single day had passed.

God is omnipresent, meaning that He’s everywhere all the time any time, and nothing escapes His knowledge. This includes the creation of a new human being (again: male or female, no secret 3rd option for this one). And because God Himself – who makes no mistakes – oversees and ordains the creation of every new little boy or girl, wouldn’t it make sense that God would make them as He intended to make them: perfectly, without mistake? There is then no ground for the “born in the wrong body” argument to stand on, because God made your body with you in mind; your body was made specifically for you, and there were no errors on His end.

Now, what if you just straight up don’t like your body? I think everyone has disliked their body and/or felt uncomfortable in it at some point, that includes me. If someone’s going through puberty then they are almost guaranteed to be uncomfortable in their body because that kiddo and their body both are growing up. Sometimes you’re uncomfortable in your body simply because it’s changing, but this particular change is a good thing! Going through puberty is a sign that your body is working as it should, even if it feels weird. To try and block this transition from happening, or deliberately alter it, is to actively harm your body’s natural progression.

So yes, I do think that a trans person’s view of their body – that they were made for a different body and so they should change it – is not only wrong, but harmful to themselves in the long run. Why are we affirming this; giving people of all ages the means to scar themselves to feel good in the now?

Last bit before the TL;DR: if there’s anyone out there who thinks God won’t except them for any reason that you can think of, I’m gonna stop you right there. There is grace for you. Yes, even for that; please refer to my pinned post. And also this.

My explanation doesn’t cover all bases I’m sure, but the TL;DR is that the human body is a sacred thing designed by God, with care, made differently and specifically for every individual person, and it is medical malpractice (evil) to alter it within the context of transgenderism. If you have undergone the gender transition at any time – or have done anything else, ever – God still loves you with his whole heart, and He wants you to let Him help you with whatever may have dragged you down this time. Even if it was self-inflicted.

Lastly, some stuff I didn’t know how to cleanly fit into All That

*it is worth noting that basically everyone has a skewed perception of themselves about different things and to different degrees, but in this context I mean “a skewed perception of how a trans person relates to their body”

Creation was deemed “good” before people, but after people, God declared it “very good.” Again, in Genesis 1. I literally cannot stress enough how much God wants people to come to Him for whatever the reason

Chloe Cole's discussion with Dr. Peterson + the comment section and the testimonies in it

this post