#but alec was being kind of a jerk idk

[illicitcab]

this scene had no business being that funny i'm crying

[angelofthequeers]

City of Ashes thoughts

Got bored, devoured an entire book in a few hours like back in the good old days of a happy little autistic kid with hopes and dreams and no burnout 🙃 Tagging @repulsolife again for the lolz.

Prologues normally make me wary but this one worked. It set up the main mystery in the story in a way that wasn’t immediately obvious and made me want to read more to see why Valentine needed Elias’ blood and why he needed to summon a demon in the first place.

I can’t tell whether it’s me being aro as hell, knowing that Clary and Jace have to be endgame and can’t be if they’re siblings, or just not being invested in the Clary/Jace relationship. Maybe a mix of all three. I just found myself not really caring about the whole incest/forbidden love thing while also questioning the appeal of it. But I did appreciate that it was Legitimate Relationship Drama instead of the tired old cliched misunderstandings or “we can’t be together for arbitrary plot reason” (which is why I don’t read romances in the first place), so point to Cassandra Clare there. Miraculous Ladybug also has legitimate reasons for the love square not being together, which is why I’m so invested in them.

Still like Clary. She’s annoying at times in the way that teenage girls can be annoying and self-centred while trying to figure themselves out, and she’s explicitly called out in the story by Jace and Simon and the people she hurts, so she’s nowhere near the perfect goddess that people who accuse her of being a Mary Sue call her. I did feel for her trying to lie to herself and tearing her hair out trying to figure out who exactly she was, because her stable identity as Clary Fray was ripped away not too long ago and she hasn’t had the time to really sit down and think about who the heck she is. She’s just a pretty typical teenage girl trying to figure out her place in the world, when the world happens to be full of deadly threats that are out for her and her friends and family.

I also liked that her affinity with runes was expanded on and further hinted at. There’s an actual reason for her having a special gift, and she’s not the only one, and I want to know more.

Still don’t like Jace. I feel for him. I get the inner torment he went through. I get that trauma makes you act in fucked-up ways. But if he’s able to look at a kid and laugh and say that the kid basically got what he deserved, it’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than a troubled past and an identity crisis after being rejected by his adoptive mother to make me like him. He’s an arse.

And especially because no one calls him out for that. They rag on him for being reckless enough to pick a fight with werewolves, but literally no one apart from the wolves themselves calls out Jace for pretty much laughing at the death of a child. Even Luke is just like “kk guys he’s our ally so like chill” and covers Jace’s rear, when he could have also at least tried to scold Jace for mocking the death of a kid.

I hate Jace right now, if you couldn’t tell.

I hope that changes, because otherwise I’m really not gonna care about the Clary/Jace drama that seems to be driving these books.

I both like Simon more in this book and also dislike him more. I like him because Clary was giving him mixed signals and I don’t blame him for interpreting them the way he wanted, because he’s only human. Or, well, he was. I dislike him because he’s basically acting like he’s entitled to Clary as his girlfriend, carrying on about how long he’s loved her and acting as though being her oldest friend is enough to stake a claim on her.

Clary was kind of just along for the ride when it came to the relationship part of this book; and I get she was trying to figure herself out, and that it’s a normal human thing to try and “settle” for what they think they want and to have things both ways, but she didn’t really do anything. It was Simon and Jace calling the shots by breaking up with her or storming off in a fit of rage or whatever.

But I did like Simon outside of the relationship drama. And even though I think (????) I’ve read this book like literally years ago and knew he became a vampire, it was still a shock when it happened, and the scene where Valentine ‘killed’ him made me stop reading for a few minutes to process, even though I knew Clare wouldn’t kill off one of the main characters. Especially after he already had a ‘death’ scene earlier.

I also liked the nods to him being Jewish. I know Clare is Jewish herself, so it was a delight to read about these little things, especially how Jewish vampires might work.

Isabelle was same as always. Her banter with Meliorn was amusing, and I loved how furious she got in defence of Jace, but she was kind of just...there.

Max was cute. I like Max. He’s totally going to die later on.

Alec got some real growth this book and I actually like him a lot now. He’s still himself but he’s not a raging prick to everyone.

Loved Maia. I hope she’s a more major character later on, because I’d really like to see more of her.

Imogen was meh. I knew as soon as Stephen was mentioned that she was going to have a change of heart and die defending Jace somehow, and I was right. She was a solid antagonist and her motives were understandable and she was a good foil to Valentine; I just didn’t really care much about her.

Valentine is very suitably creepy. He’s excellent at emotional manipulation, especially when he left Jace alone in the Bone City after killing the Silent Brothers, and I actually know about the plot twist regarding Valentine and Jace because I’ve seen Jace’s real name floating around since this series came out like a decade ago. So that makes this even more chilling, because Valentine knows that Jace and Clary aren’t siblings and he still perpetuates that lie to mess around with both their heads and still continue to claim that he’s Jace’s real father to try and persuade him to the dark side.

He really reminds me of Gabriel Agreste from ML, and I would hurl Gabriel into the sun, so Clare’s done a good job with him. And just like Gabriel, he’s a pretty standard villain who’s willing to do anything to achieve his goals, even if that means being a hypocrite and sacrificing his morals and beliefs. I’m not so much invested in the Evil Plan part of him as I am in the Horrifically Manipulative Jerk part of him, and I did enjoy reading more about how he charmed the Circle to his side in the first place.

The worldbuilding is still as alluring as always. I was so invested in every little bit I learned about Clare’s world, and I liked how the Clave was established as theoretically on the side of good but in practice kind of...lacking. It really enhances the idea in these books that good and evil are both clear, solid positions but are also hazy and can’t be that easily defined.

I enjoyed City of Ashes more than City of Bones. It had a good deal more action and the murder mystery was intriguing, and the world was also fleshed out a good deal more. Now I just have to hold off on City of Glass until I get City of Fallen Angels (😭), which is where I think I stopped reading the series back when I was like 13 if I did read it? I don’t recognise the last two titles in the series like I do the first four. Idk, it’s been a decade so I don’t remember anything.

[kinkymagnus]

Canon Magnus should be wrecked by both Alecs simultaneously

hehe... y es 

like i guess twi magnus is in the same limbo canon magnus was in last time (is he watching? taking a shower? who knows! also--he got the aftercare of his LIFE so he’s all relaxed now lol) so let’s get to ,,, , canon magnus being fucked senseless 

ok once again this is not gonna be all kink no soft but also canon magnus loves being a brat and then being humiliated (in a fun way) and fucked senseless sO

he’s louder than twi magnus is off the bat, but still like. he can get noisier, you know

and not to mention he does more than just little teases or the occasional unexpected coy comment to make his boyfriend’s eyebrows raise, he straight up is being a little brat and teasing and purposefully pushing their buttons to get them to snap 

(this was all talked about but it’s still kind of striking for twi alec--in a good way. not like in a “this is better” way obviously but you know, he’s going to have fun “breaking” this version of his bf and making him scream wink wink)

god i just love the idea of them playing with like, magnus being a pretty toy they’re sharing, or like, canon alec “teaching” twi alec how his pretty slut likes to be fucked and used? like again, all previously discussed, but just. 

they discuss who will fuck his mouth and who will use his pussy first, or what they might want to do next--maybe their little toy can warm twi alec’s cock and canon alec can tease him or like, and don’t ask me how the fuck this angle would work, but fuck him slowly from behind and magnus is just trying not to gasp and whine or give in to the urge to suck twi alec’s cock properly and really enjoy being full on both ends, or finger him while he just tries not to move--or perhaps he’s not using his mouth, but his pussy, and canon alec is just pressing kisses to his face and teasing his nipples... aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAA

and like, canon alec showing twi alec how magnus likes to be fucked (tied up, teasing his clit but not letting him come, teasing him with like rough hard thrusts and then slow deep ones, changing up the pace and making him squirm and beg, things like that) or just... these casual humiliating little things he says, you know, like “aw, my beautiful little toy loves it when you pull his hair when you’re using his pussy, especially if you’re fucking him nice and hard and rough,” and “oh, he loves it when you come inside his sloppy little cunt,” or whatever, and magnus is all flushed and moaning around the cock in his mouth (or the gag 👀) and it’s great 

also there’s just something specifically nice about the idea of them “taking turns” with him, like. i know part of the appeal of multiple alecs is them both ravishing him at the same time, but also there’s this hot objectifying humiliation to them taking turns using his pussy you know?? 

and like again canon magnus having vague “dom” vibes, all powerful and teasing and bratty, but god once they really just like. fucking go to town on him he is such a beautiful slutty little mess so eager to suck their cocks and be filled up and fucked hard and it’s great?? 

and canon magnus trying so hard to tease them and he knows how to get “his” alec to snap him and fuck him hard but he likes teasing twi alec to see what happens and i can’t decide if twi alec is like surprised but resilient or he “snaps” harder and is like oh boy am i going to fuck you so hard you are going to beg for my cock >:) and magnus is like (shuddering with pleasure/anticipation) i cant wait

and like you know he’s being all dom-y and cool as a cucumber or whatever and then canon alec slams him down on the bed and makes out with him and hes moaning into it and twi alec is like..... should i leave and canon alec is like no dont worry (handcuffs him) im just getting him ready ;)

actually i feel like tying him up is better but the idea is he made out with him, distracted him, and “”tricked”” him so like the aesthetic of the handcuffs clicking is just good and fun. but idk anyway 

magnus is left panting and wanting more kissing but he’s all tied up and helpless ;) and now it’s time for the alecs to discuss what they’re going to do to him ;) he still throws out teasing little comments about how they’re being slow and should he try and satisfy himself over here? and twi alec shoots back without even looking at him that if he really wants to grind his little clit down on the bed until he gets off like a little whore than he’s welcome to, but his hands aren’t exactly free and wouldn’t he much rather be good so he can get filled up and fucked nice and hard? 

but like even with all this where both alecs fuck his cunt and come inside him before letting him come, having him suck their dicks, finger him--twi alec DEF eats him out and loves how he trembles and moans--and so on, until like he’s just so desperate to get fucked and be allowed to come,  he’s begging and his voice is all broken and whiny and needy and he sounds so gorgeous and wrecked and canon alec smugly comments on his sloppy little cunt leaking cum and how he probably wants more, doesn’t he, he’s such a little slut,

and twi alec is agreeing and this sort of... smug objectifying like patting his ass and being like he’s such a good little toy isn’t he :) nice and tight even though we’ve fucked him so much, and he loves it so much, doesn’t he 

and i know i’ve kind of gone this route of twi alec being lowkey surprised that canon magnus is so confident and then gets so “broken down” to little whore, but like also..... vulnerability? again this magnus seems so confident and classy and sexy (not that twi magnus has none of those things but you know) so like. it’s not that he was consciously thinking he was invulnerable, but he did kind of seem more,,, confident and invulnerable (which is of course, as we’ve discussed, on purpose) so seeing him with like... the softer things?? melting into canon alec’s gentle hands and stroking his hair, begging for kisses, sighing happily and tilting his head to the side to let twi alec kiss his neck more, just clearly openly adoring affection when he’s all fucked out like this, and after during the aftercare it’s so fucking clear he’s just as vulnerable as twi alec’s used to with “his” magnus, and he loves affection and again it’s not like he really thought canon magnus was invulnerable and didn’t need affection or reassurance, it’s just like a weird sort of feeling where you’re like, “oh, i hadn’t even realized i’d kind of sorta assumed that subconsciously, but i was clearly fuckin wrong” just bc.  you know. his facade works really damn well, he’s great as presenting himself like that, but he’s letting twi alec in because, well. he’s alec.

anyway back to the alecs fucking railing magnus. one im a slut for them both fucking him at the same time, so like, that should happen. and also like, i have this image of one of them fucking his ass and the other eating him out and he’s losing his mind and clenching around alec’s cock while alec licks his cunt and teases his clit and there are strong arms around his waist keeping him pinned and big hands on his thighs keeping them spread and he feels stuffed full and pinned and helpless and the pleasure from the heat and pressure on his cunt and his clit being sucked and licked and he’s losing his mind

and after they make him squirt like that and perhaps one comes inside him and the other might like jerk off and come all over his tits and he looks beautiful (bc look im a fucking whore for creampies apparently,) you know then they give him a little break and kiss him all over before eventually getting back around to using his cunt (and while he loved that so much and obviously he loves sex that doesn’t involve a cock in his pussy, but like, also..... he’s a size queen and they specifically made a point to tease him about how he wasn’t getting what he wanted and his poor wet little pussy was so empty, wasn’t he craving that full feeling--?) and it’s just great

and not to use the same trope but once more im a huge fucking slut for the ‘before/after comparison look how SLUTTY HE IS NOW’ thing so like. again he started off all teasing and perfectly put together and confident and now he’s a dazed wrecked little mess, moaning softly with ever touch, melting under gentle hands, and also just generally being an absolute slut with cum leaking from his holes and his tits all ravished (like kinda sensitive and swollen nipples and H I CK E Y S ) and just sort of lying there panting and relaxed and loving it, letting either alec slide back in to “use” him more (murmuring to him how good he is, how perfect he is, kissing him gently like both just his neck/shoulders/collarbone/all over his face and like, just pressing kisses to his slack lips, to the corner of his mouth, he’s too fucked out to kiss back properly but he smiles a little bc he loves it and it feels good 

also canon alec just fingering him and more cum drips out and magnus shivers and alec uses his thumb to rub his clit and just coaxes another small orgasm out of him and he’s got pleasured tears in his eyes and he just slowly blinks them away and bonus he’s not even tied up anymore he’s just sort of... letting them do what they want and loving every second?? 

and also i love the idea of after both of them fuck one magnus the one who like “belongs with” that magnus gets the last thing like canon alec just fucking him one last time, deep and slow and gentle and kissing him sweetly while twi alec fucks off to gently make out with his magnus  

i just love magnus being banged by multiple alecs tbh 

like in any context like this you know bc it’s like, while any time with multiple people it’s great this is a whole new level of him feeling so deeply safe and happy? and like it’s alec’s Big Gentle Hands all over his body, alec’s nice thick cock (size queen magnus size queen magnus SIZE QUEEN MAGNUS), and like just.... alec. who he trusts, who treats him so lovingly and respectfully, you know? not that he doesn’t with his other partners there’s just something that hits different about the love of your life fucking you particularly TWO OF HIM RAVISHING YOU UNTIL YOURE CRYING AND BEGGING AND INCOHERENT WITH PLEASURE :’) 

[ralfstrashcan]

Fire Messages

A (long long long, let's not talk about it) while ago the dear @toughpaperround​ asked me about my thoughts on fire messages... and here they finally are.

Like most things in Shadowhunters fire messages come in two styles (other examples are portals, swords and runes) because at some point they experienced a random visual makeover. Both designs raise different questions and I'll get to those in a moment. First though it's interesting to note that the appearance of a fire message doesn't seem to depend on whether it's created by a shadowhunter or a warlock. On that note, are other downworlders able to create fire messages as well? Since shadowhunters operate them with their steles and warlocks with magic? I guess seelies should be able to as well since they also have magic (though they seem to prefere their nature-birds-leaves-whispering-on-the-wind way of communication). But what about vampires and werewolves? I don't recall either of thoses species ever sending a fire message on-screen, though it might have been mentioned at some point that one of them did, and I forgot. In any case I find it intriguing/ridiculous that fire messages look the same regardless of who creates them. Angelic energy and demonic magic don't really operate in similar ways so why would their fire messages look alike? Distinctive appearances like with the portals would make more sense.

Moving on to the first style! As far as I remember this style can only be spied once in the series, namely at the end of 1x06 when Izzy breaks things off with Meliorn

Which, now that I'm thinking about it, isn't that the shadow world equivalent of breaking up via text? Rude, Izzy. Anyway! The rune she draws at the bottom of the paper

is, as the trained eye immediately sees

Next, the paper goes up in flames

and Izzy lets go of it so she doesn't burn her fingers. Not a trace of the paper is left afterwards.

I think it's pretty safe to assume that the fire message burns into existence in midair wherever Meliorn is at this moment in time. Which... is probably the seelie realm? So can fire messages just travel between realms no big deal? Imagine the possibilities! Asmodeus could be bothering Magnus all day! Lilith could be terrorizing all Clave members via fire message harassment! This is hilarious XD

I have questions though! 1) How does the fire message know a) who the recipient is and b) where the recipient is? Canon never addresses or indicates either of those things so there's literally nothing to go off of. Re a): To me it seems most reasonable that the sender focuses on the person they want the message to receive while sending the message off via rune or magic. It's unlikely that writing the name on the paper alone determines the recipient because i) there exist people who share names and ii) you couldn't mention anyone in your fire message without accidentally cc-ing them, which, impractical and awkward. So intent seems the most plausible thing. Which in turn begs the question if you can mass-message people if you think of more than one person while sending? Probably not. In canon Magnus messages each warlock individually about that ritual he wants to try in 3x09. Might have been for courtesy's sake, so he can address every warlock individually with name but seems unlikely since he was under time pressure. Aside from that this would imply miraculous paper replication and physics says no. Re b): No way. This makes no sense whatsoever except when fire message magic is the ultimate omniscient might that can track anyone anytime anywhere. And if that power really existed in the world then how come no one has used it to currupt everything? Surely if you can access this pool of knowledge to send innocent little breakup messages you could find a way to use it for grand evil as well? I find it hard to believe that no one's tried and succeeded so far. Just look at how much effort shadowhunters put into tracking people all the time! They'd be stupid to waste their resources like that if there was a way to instantly-know the whereabouts of someone. Anyway, this is utter bs and just like the hp owls all over again and I simply refuse.

2) Who can you send fire messages to? My knee-jerk answer would be to anyone you know, both personally and more generally in the sense that you are aware of their existence. You focus on them while sending the message, bam, they get it. But. Spam. Spam is a thing. Do you have any idea how much hate mail and general pranks higher-ups would get if they could be (anonymously!) addressed by anyone? Magnus probably had a whole phase where he did nothing but trashtalk shadowhunters who pissed him off XD I read in this post (which is the one toughpaperround sent my way and which I'm kinda answering with this) the possibility that you can only fire message people you've either met in real life before or who you've established some kind of fire-messaging-you-is-okay-connection – kinda like exchanging phone numbers. Everyone has a phone but you can only call someone whose number you have. You can even hand-wave your way through issue b) and claim that the fire message tracks the recipient through that connection and that's how it can find them no matter where they are. I've thought about it for a while and while I think this is the most logical explanation I don't think it makes sense in-universe for how fire messages are used, or for what the purpose of a fire messages really is. Phones are inarguably more practical because you don't need an extra pen and paper to send off a message. So, why would someone use a fire message instead of a phone? Well, either the person you want to reach doesn't have a phone (*cough* Meliorn *cough*) or the message is so important and time-sensitive that you need the other person to know right now and while you can ignore a text or a call, you can lose your phone or it can die, it's kinda difficult to miss a burning piece of paper flying in your face. Fire messages are like extreme emergency phone calls. And for those it would be high-key impractical if you could only send them to someone you have already met previously. (Of course this is just speculation and doesn't even make sense historically since fire messages were around long before phones and likely were the only means of communication then and not just reserved for emergencies (or maybe they were since paper and ink was precious back then?!). And of course determining the nature of a thing by going 'It would be most practical if it was like this' is highly unscientific. Anyway.) Honestly, my personal take on this is still that you can send a fire message to anyone and the show simply ignoring everything that this implies (aka Alec getting at least 10 lewd fire messages per day from secret admirers) because it wasn't relevant to the plot.

Leaving behind questions that apply to fire messages generally this last one is design-specific. 3) To what exactly is the teleportation, that clearly happens here, limited? The paper, the ink. Uh-huh. What if you glue something to the paper? For example, idk, a GPS tracker? Would that allow you to learn the location of the person you messaged? Probably not, or they would have been very stupid not to do that with Valentine. Even if you could only message someone you have met in person and/or established a special fire message connection with there are still enough Circle members around in S1 who surely had his fire message phone number. (Or did he destroy the connection? Can you fire-message-block someone you no longer want any attachments to?) What happens if you fire message someone who's dead? Does the fire message hover over their grave for the rest of eternity? We'll never know. I'll allow that there is special fire message paper and special fire message ink that can teleport. Anything else tacked on would be left behind. Paper and ink could even be extra-charmed so they can pass through dimensions or whatever. Still sounds fake – because i) how would you spell paper so it can pass any ward (Magnus at some point messages Jem who's probably chilling in the Silent City or something) and ii) if there's a way to charm paper and ink so it can be teleported, why limit yourself to those? Why not put that same magic on your GPS tracker and you're ready to go? – but I tried okay. Whatever, special fire message paper and ink grow on special trees in Idris and their special teleportation magic can't be replicated. There, mystery solved.

The second style fire messages acquire is both more and less logically pleasing. It's more logically pleasing because it eliminates the whole teleportation issue since apparently the fire message just flies from sender to recipient but sadly this creates its own set of issues, first of all how tf does the fire message fly from sender to recipient? Does it have eyes? How does it navigate the streets by itself? What about the secrecy the shadow world allegedly tries to uphold? It also doesn't solve the GPS tracker problem (if anything it makes it worse) because who's stopping you from sending a nice little message to Valentine and then just, following the flying message to his secret hideout?

The journey itself isn't unproblematic either. How quick are those things flying? In 3x06 exactly 54 seconds pass between Magnus sending off his message to Jem and receiving an answer. So in less than a minute the message flew to Jem, he read it, he composed an answer, and it made the way back. No wonder these messages are burning at the edges if they're so quick. (Yes, that was sarcastic.) They also don't seem to slow down when approaching their intended target. Magnus even pushes Clary out of the way because of it.

This is so confusing. So the fire message can navigate through Magnus's apartment no problem but it would have chopped Clary's head off because she was in the way? Was Magnus just being dramatic? I mean I'd totally buy that on any given day, but the situation was a bit too serious for that especially because it isn't treated as a joke to lighten the mood but just like Magnus casually pulling Clary out of danger because that's what he always does. It makes no sense whatsoever. This also begs another question, since fire messages seem to seek out their target quite vehemently. If you're locked in an air-tight room, could you send a fire message to someone, and the fire message on its pursuit to fulfill its duty could help you create a crack in the walls? Could you actually break out via fire message? What if you grab the paper real tight? Could you fly out of a canyon on a fire message? Now, on to the last part of the fire message's journey: the landing. How. How do you catch something that moves so quickly instead of just swatting it away? In the post I mentioned before someone wrote that catching stuff like that works on auto pilot if you have the practice and I'll just take your word for it... but what if you don't have the practice? Personally I'm shit at catching shit. I'd get smacked in the face by 95% of the fire messages sent my way. And considering the speed and the sharp edges of the fire messages that can't be healthy. My poor face. Why do I say the fire message would slap my face and not docilely settle into my palm? Because that's what I honestly believe. I think if you fail to catch a fire message it just flops in your face and sticks there (that should also wake you up if you're asleep, lol) because I mean, look at those trajectories.

Mind that the fire message stays on its initial course even after Magnus / Alec / Izzy moves their hand to a position to catch it. That’s because it wasn't aiming for the hand. It was aiming for the face.

It only gets weirder from here on out.

Remember 3x07? Imogen gets stabbed by Possessed!Jace and uses her last moments to notify Alec of Jace's whereabouts (instead of, y'know, activating her healing rune which takes two seconds, sending the message after and keep on living. SIGH). Fair enough, but the thing is this

Where's the paper? Where's the ink?

What is happening? What is she doing there?!

And then-- and then--

Yeah Alec, I'm as shocked as you are. Where tf did that paper (and presumably ink for writing) come from?! Can shadowhunters suddenly create matter from nothing?? Physics is crying in the corner!! I have so many questions!!

[thegeminisage]

i dont normally make these posts but i need to process here's my review of the finale:

the good:

not that i like bad things happening to magnus but i love that he gets this depth??? he had a bad childhood! he wasn't raised by monks! i mean you could definitely make an argument for him being an abuse survivor there and i think that's rad. his voice even broke once during the ep, idr when, but i loved that, i loved it

i also really REALLY like asmodeus. he’s charming, amiable, and can turn terrifying on a dime. he’s eccentric enough to make me believe he’s magnus’s dad and i fully yelled when he flashed the cat eyes. you get a lot of sense about who he is just from a very short time spent with him and his actor really delivered his lines well. he’s very..................charismatic. (i’d like to take this opportunity to tell cathy to shut up in advance) anyway it’s Good

magnus BEAT. LORENZO’S. ASS. i was so sure he’d stop at one attack once he realized how bad he fucked up but he got pissed and he went all in and i couldn’t be more proud. normally i think he’s a little Too perfect - that the writers never allow him to make dumbass mistakes. so this was a great refresher.

magnus being mortal also presents some veeeery interesting plot possibilities but it depends on how much of a bitch alec is about it. his trope is a trope i love, and i don’t have any real worry that it’ll stick, but i also think giving up something big like that For Alec (for jace, but it was for alec, yk) is also a dumbass mistake when i don’t think alec is always the best and most supportive boyfriend he can be back to magnus. it’s hard to remember they’ve only known each other for like two months

speaking of alec, i liked him more in this episode than i have in half a season. their goodbye before edom was very sweet and so were all his interactions with jace. i wish he could be like that all the time - more like he was in season 1 - instead of like...how he is now. not necessarily more repressed just in season 1 you got the feeling he was a jerk because he was miserable and now you get the feeling he's a jerk for no good reason

becky coming the fuck through for simon??? A+++? idk about everyone else but that felt SO fucking real to me. siblings, especially if they're close in age, especially if they had a single parent...there's no one in the world who will understand you as much as someone who grew up with you. there's no one else you can be on the level with like that. it felt so organic the way she went from confusion to fear to acceptance. that's her little brother, you know??

speaking of simon good on him for yelling at jordan i want everyone to yell at jordan forever hes done some stuff thats like...like him offering his jacket to mia seemed like a weel-meaning but awkward gesture where most people, if they made a fuss about it, it would be like "wow what's ur deal hes just trying to be nice" & same with his little love confession or w/e...but maia AND simon BOTH told him he was full of shit and they SEE what bullshit he's playing at and i am SO HERE for it

i mentioned this once already but the jace and alec stuff was SO good like alec, previously resigned to killing jace, now resigned to dying himself, using his last few seconds to try and say the things he knows jace will need to hear, and in comes mganus with the dramatic rescue, oh man. the fight was brutal the dialogue delivery was on point, every beat was perfect. full n*t

AND THE BEST FOR LAST...CAN WE TALK ABOUT CLARY THOUGH...she's in HANDCUFFS and she's dominating the field. things dont go according to jia's will or the angels will they go according to HER WILL. SHE decides when valentine lives and dies. she busts her own goddamn self out of death row. you know who that reminds me of? valentine locked up in the instute's basement and still running the show. a-maz-ing. she comes up with the plan to trick lilith into killing herself. she leaves breadcrumbs for the people looking for her. she was in charge of her own fate the entire time. she was a major goddamn player. she was the only player. i am SO proud of her. y'all remember 1.04? when she had to be told where to stand on the pentagram? holy shit she has come so far

the bad:

where the fuck is maia

what's with those pilgrim outfits

i really would have loved for valentine to stick around long enough to lay eyes on jace that would have been amazing

y'all not gonna give maryse a blade? seriously? SERIOUSLY? i would die to see her fight

not a big fan of luke having to choose between his job and clary, his pack and clary, over and over again. it just feels a little tired at this point because this same guy has been making these same arguments practically since he became an alpha

i don't like heidi but i feel pretty bad for her and lilith's FEMINISM thing fell kinda flat with me

simon telling his mom he's DEAD is not doing either of them a kindness, and in fact, it is literally probably the cruelest possible thing he could do. there were so many ways around that. he could say he was moving to iceland or that she never had a son or WHATEVER but this presents a bunch of logistics problems on top of being horrible. like i did well up but im not a fan

izzy's "we'll get through this together" felt a little out of nowhere to me like that was just worded kinda weird. i get that they're endgame and im trying to keep an open mind so i dont totally hate it and be miserable when it happens but like.......he's with maia rn like Please

i wasn't really SUPER invested in will tudor like everyone else but im VERY offended about the recast on your behalf

two episodes at once is too many i need time to Process

[kawuli]

*cuddles up to you and whispers* talk to me about victor!sara

Oh gosh okay here goes. (cut for long)

So, the thing about Sara is that she is the most BURN IT ALL DOWN Gryffindor human disaster zone like, ever. This makes everyone’s life really interesting.

So background, we assume that Sara’s parents (who in canon-adjacent universes work doing logistics for the Peacekeepers) get transferred to D2 when Sara’s about 7, and her parents are very proud of this and want to fit in and so of COURSE they put their kids in the Program and…

Sara is hooked because she can FIX THINGS when people pick on her for being ~not really Two~ or when older kids pick on little kids or whatever, the trainers definitely know how to channel Righteous Fury into something they can use. And she just….doesn’t really think about the world outside the Program, because she’s not on the trains here, she’s in her little bubble and that’s how the Centre keeps it.

So she goes in as Devon’s kid, and she pretty much casually flirts with everyone and doesn’t play the Pack power games. But then as the pack starts breaking up, instead of being sneaky like Devon she kinda goes, "OK, so we’re doing this.” And idk throws knives into like 4 people before disappearing and then tracking them down one by one

...so she’s sort of a cross between Devon himself and Selene as a Victor (if you’ve read those AUs).

And that’s all fine, and she doesn’t have a lot of Arena guilt, she’s just like “OK they threw us into a death match wtf was I supposed to do?” Everyone in the Arena is by default dead, if she didn’t kill them they’d die some other way.

This gets a little too close to “don’t blame me, blame the Games,” especially once she goes on her Victory Tour and sees how angry people are and a little bit of what Panem is like outside of Two.

….and then there are 2 versions of what happens next. So, Sara wins the 70th, then in one version Creed wins the 71st and Selene wins in 72 and Selene and Sara conspire to hook up Alec and Jake and it’s beautiful and hilarious and nothing bad ever happens.

In the other version, Rokia wins the 71st (or sub in random D6F it doesn’t really matter). And Sara starts to think about things.

And that is a problem, because she starts picking at “man, it was tough for me right after I won, the Victory Tour sucked, I’m glad I had Devon to spar with/sprawl on/etc, this kid has NONE of that, and she didn’t ask to be there, and it’s not fair. It’s wrong.”

And then she turns up at Claudius’ place at 3AM and tells him this and he’s like “oh fuck this is way above my pay grade” and calls Lyme and Lyme’s basically like “yeah, you’re right, but we can’t do anything about it. YET. Please save your explosions until they have a hope in hell of actually changing anything.” (see below for the long version)

I haven’t played that one out any farther, but basically Sara becomes this catalyst that pushes a whole BUNCH of the Two Victors into Traitor Lake, so when the 75th comes around, it’s like…. Lyme and Claudius and Devon and Misha and Selene (because she wins the 72nd in this one) and Emory and Enobaria and Nero and possibly Brutus (who is extremely conflicted and stuck between his very loyal Mentor and his traitor kids).

Which would make things…very interesting. Somehow. I just don’t know how yet.

And here have two random ficlet thingys from that verse (Claudius in 67, Sara in 70, Selene in 72) because they exist:

-----

1. literally titled “traitor party” in my Scrivener file, happens after the 71st:

It’s literally never a good thing to get woken up at three o’clock in the fucking morning.

It’s an even worse thing to get woken up by the Village’s youngest Victor standing in your bedroom doorway.

“Fuck,” Claudius says, jerking upright and staring. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I need to talk to you,” Sara says. She’s scowling the way she does when she’s confused about something, and her voice is the kind of sincere she only gets when she’s had too much to drink.

And it’s late summer, the Games ended weeks ago, she had her “oh shit I’ve been out a year” freakout already, and why is she here instead of at Devon’s place like she should be?

And now his brain’s pinged all the warning signals it needs to jar him all the way awake fast enough to give him whiplash.

“Okay,” he says. “Let’s go downstairs.”

She nods, but stays right where she is while he climbs out of bed and pulls on a T-shirt and pants.

She steps back to let him get through the doorway. “C’mon,” he says, and she follows, and he really doesn’t like how quiet she is.

Or the fact that instead of sprawling on his couch she sits, feet on the ground, bent forward, elbows in. He sits next to her, but he leaves some space.

“You said you needed to talk,” he says, when she doesn’t start, and he’s trying real hard to be mature and comforting but she woke him up at 3 AM, this is not the time to suddenly clam up.

She takes a deep breath, licks her lips, stares through the wall in front of her. “They didn’t ask for this,” she says, in a low voice. “The others, the outliers, they didn’t want this, they got thrown in, they have to live with it. We get training and mentors and it still fucking sucks and they get nothing, and it’s wrong.” Her voice rises as she says it, her face shifting from fear to anger. She sits up, looks him in the eye. “It’s fucked up, Claudius, we have to stop it.”

Oh, shit. This… this is so much worse than he thought.

“You know I’m right,” she says, looking away. “You saw that kid up on the stage, she’s tiny, D, she was shaking, there’s—they’re awful to outlier girls, and all of them on Tour it’s—they break people. You know they say the lucky ones die.”

She glances over again when he stays quiet. What the fuck is he supposed to do with this shit?

Well. He knows what he’s supposed to do. He should send her to her mentor, he should’ve called first thing when she showed up like this.

She huffs a short breath, gets up, goes to the kitchen and comes back with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. She doesn’t need any more to drink, everything about her—her voice, the careful way she’s walking—says “really drunk and trying to hide it.” On the other hand, letting her get shitfaced so she forgets any of this ever happened does not seem like the worst idea. In any case he hesitates long enough she’s poured, handed one glass to him and picked up one for herself, sips at it.

He ignores his. The last thing he needs is for it to be harder to think clearly. Instead he scrubs his hands over his face, through his hair. “You’re not wrong,” he says, “but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

That gets him a poisonous glare. “So we’re supposed to sit here and pretend everything’s fine?” She takes a long pull at her glass. “I’m supposed to keep smiling at these people and pretending I don’t think they’re evil scum? Mentor the kids who want to go in so they can kill the ones who got fucked over?”

Okay, fuck this, he can’t deal with this. She’s agitated and furious and terrified and spitting treason in his house and he’s in so far over his head he can’t even see the surface.

“I’m calling Lyme,” he says. He takes the bottle with him when he goes. Sara glowers but doesn’t fight him for it at least, just pulls her glass closer. He leaves his full glass and the bottle on the counter and grabs his phone.

Lyme picks up on the second ring.

“D, what is it?” Just hearing her voice, steady, over the phone lets him breathe a little easier.

“I—it’s not me, it’s Sara, she’s here and—I need you to come over.”

“You want me to call Devon?” Lyme asks, concerned.”

“No.” It comes out suspiciously fast.

Lyme just says, “Okay, be right there,” and hangs up.

Claudius takes a minute, counting it out, timing his breaths, leaning on the counter with his eyes closed, then goes back out.

“She’s coming over,” he says. Sara’s hunched forward again, elbows on her knees. When she looks up at him she looks relieved.

“You didn’t tell Devon?” she asks.

“Not yet,” Claudius answers, sitting back down. She sits up, leans back against the couch and stares up at the ceiling.

“I didn’t think,” she says, “I just—I wanted to win, and—” She swallows, goes silent.

And then the door opens, and Lyme walks in. She kicks off her shoes and comes over, raises an eyebrow at Claudius, who shifts over so she can sit next to Sara. She puts an arm around his shoulders even as she’s watching Sara, and Claudius can’t help the relieved sigh he lets out at that.

“What’s going on?” Lyme asks. In the full-on Mentor Voice she almost never has to use on him anymore.

Sara’s mouth pinches tight and she looks down, curls back over with her arms crossed across her knees. Claudius goes to explain, but he barely gets his mouth open before Lyme squeezes his shoulder and he stops. Okay. Better it come from Sara.

Finally she says, in a low voice. “How do you do it?” Lyme just raises an eyebrow. “The Games, the Capitol, everything…it’s fucked, they’re all…fuck them, we’re fine, we chose, but the others…fuck, I don’t know.”

She reaches for her glass, drains the last drops and glares at it, like she’s mad at the glass for being empty. Slides it onto the table, hard enough it slides all the way across and breaks on the floor. “Shit,” she mumbles, “Sorry, D, I’ll—“

“Sit,” Lyme says, before Sara manages to get up. Sara stops. “Do you think you, or me, or anybody can stop the Games?” Lyme asks, her voice steady. “Really?”

Sara shakes her head, still glaring through the floor. Then she bursts out, “But we should, we should at least try, there has to be something.” She looks up, like she’s begging Lyme to give her something to do.

Lyme shakes her head. “Not yet,” she says, and she’s never been this direct with Claudius, but then again she’s never needed to. “Meanwhile we save the ones we can.”

Sara looks away. “Mentoring.” Her hands twitch against her knees. “Isn’t that just making sure other kids die?”

Lyme shrugs one shoulder. “Not just,” she says. “We keep our kids safe, don’t we?”

Sara looks up, looks away, nods. “I already told Devon I wanna start mentor training,” she grumbles. “He says wait till after the Tour.”

“Okay,” Lyme says.

“But that’s— I don’t want to— Shit.” Sara shoves the heels of her hands against her eyes. “Doesn’t that mean I’m as bad as they are? Just playing their same stupid fucking Game?”

Lyme sighs. “No. You’re trying to help the only kids you can help.”

“Ours,” Sara says. Lyme nods. “Meanwhile everyone else keeps getting fucked over because nobody makes them stop.”

Lyme’s hand on Claudius’ shoulder squeezes again, and he realizes he’s wound up tight, takes a breath, drops his shoulders.

“We wait,” Lyme says. “You know what you do when you’re up against someone you can’t beat.”

“You watch for weaknesses,” Sara says, immediate, because some things you don’t forget. “You pick your position.”

She looks back at Lyme, and her eyes flash, wild and dangerous, but that’s way closer to normal than any-fucking-thing else she’s done tonight.

Lyme nods, and they smile at each other, wolf grins that make Claudius very glad they’re both on his side.

Whatever the fuck side that is.

Sara sits up, still grinning, still twitchy and wound up and everything else, but this time Lyme’s smile softens and she shakes her head. “Go clean up that glass, and then if you think you can spar without puking, I’m sure D would be happy to kick your drunk ass. And then go the fuck to sleep, and I’ll call Devon and tell him you came over here to pass out.”

Well that’s—okay, fine, it’d be better to spar with Lyme, but maybe a couple rounds with Sara will calm them both down enough to sleep. Sara stands up too fast, weaves a little before heading to the kitchen for a broom and dustpan.

Lyme looks at Claudius, raises an eyebrow. “You okay?”

He nods. “Am now,” he says, and she pulls him close, musses his hair. “Thanks, I was kinda freaking out, earlier.”

Lyme sighs. “Yeah,” she says, “She’s a firecracker, that one.”

“Hey,” Sara says, coming back and dropping the dustpan with a loud thwack. “I came here instead of setting things on fire, give me some credit.”

Lyme stretches out on the couch while they spar, feet on the coffee table. Sara’s wild and reckless—more even than usual—and sloppy and slow to react, and when he pins her she just laughs and makes him haul her back up. A couple rounds and she’s stumbling, goes down and lies flat, arms out. Lyme snorts, gets up. Claudius stretches out a hand and Sara takes it, makes him take most of her weight on the way up, overbalances and stumbles into him.

“Okay, kiddo, couch is yours,” Lyme says. “Get some sleep.”

Sara drops onto it, stretches out. “Yeah,” she says, eyes half-closed already. Claudius pulls the blanket off the back and tosses it to her. She kicks it ineffectually over herself, curls up and closes her eyes.

Claudius walks Lyme to the doorway. “What’re you gonna tell Devon?” he asks, while she’s pulling on her shoes.

She sighs, shakes her head. “I’ll tell him she showed up here drunk and you put her to bed,” she says. “Rest of it’s gotta be up to her.”

“But Devon’s…” He trails off. Brutus’ Victor, not dipping his toes into treason lake the way he and Lyme have for years. But he can’t say all that, so he just shrugs.

“Yeah,” Lyme says, like she got the gist anyway. “But she’s his kid, I’m not getting in the middle of that more than I have to.” She gives him a rueful half-smile, hugs him quick. “You okay?” she asks, stepping back and watching him.

Claudius thinks about it. “Yeah, guess so,” he says.

She ruffles his hair again. “Come by tomorrow and I’ll feed you ice cream and knock your head in shape,” she says. “Meanwhile, sleep.”

“Okay boss,” he says. As usual, she’s taking over, so he can stop worrying—mostly.

He closes the door behind her, turns around to lean against it for the length of three deep breaths, then heads back up to bed.

------

2. Right after Selene wins the 72nd, to end on a fun note:

The next afternoon Sara goes to find Claudius. She hears him first, practicing something on the piano, so she parks herself on his porch to wait. He gets cranky if she interrupts.

But he takes his time, and Sara gets impatient. The pine tree in the yard is good knife throwing practice for a while, and then she mixes it up by throwing from the tree into the wooden porch railing, until Claudius walks out and she can aim past his ear into the doorjam.

“Hi Sara,” he says, without even flinching.

“Hi,” she says, swinging down and dropping. “Devon says I can go out and celebrate tonight, but only if you come along.” She grins at him.

“So you thought you’d poke holes in my house so I’d remember how much I like you?” he asks, deadpan.

“No, I thought I’d come ask you, but then I got bored.”

He shakes his head, but he also cracks a smile, so she wins. “I’ll even buy you dinner,” she says, magnanimous. “I’ll come by around six?”

“Sure,” Claudius says, shoving his hair back with one hand. “Now I’m gonna go ask Devon what the rest of the rules are, because I’m pretty sure there’ll be some, and I’d rather not end up dead before I get to meet our new Victor.”

Sara sighs, collects her knives and catches up with Claudius. “They’re not rules, really,” she tries, “more like suggestions.”

“Yeahhhh,” Claudius says. “I’ll believe that when you go more than a month without getting grounded for something or other.”

But Devon’s mostly reasonable today. “No fighting—no, seriously, not today. And you come back with Claudius—tonight, not in the morning, and no that does not mean you can disappear for two hours and show up at 4AM, that means you don’t disappear at all.” He pauses. “And when he decides you’re done, you’re done, okay? I don’t want my phone to ring because you’re fighting him about it. Okay?”

Sara nods. It’s reasonable, and anyway she hasn’t been out really since the Games started so anything will feel like an escape. She doesn’t need to push it today.

Claudius doesn’t look thrilled, but he doesn’t look upset, either. “Sounds fine,” he says. He looks over at Sara. “Stop by when you’re ready,” he says.

“Yep,” Sara says, and he shoves his hands in his pockets and heads home.

[eversall]

jimon + jace taking a simon 101 class??? idk what this is

i know what it is its an adorable prompt

to: parabrotai, izzybelle, clearlyfray, supermaia

[jace] i can’t believe i’m stooping to this, but how can i win simon over? 

.

i. [izzybelle]: simon likes those lame pick up lines, and puns, and bad jokes.

“Simon.” Jace calls out as he slips out of the Hunter’s Moon. “Wait up.” 

“Well this is a surprise.” Simon says cheerfully, his hands in his pocket. “What brings you to my side of the docks?”

Jace snorts. 

“Alcohol.” He jerks his head at the bar. “What, you heading back to the boathouse?” 

“I have a 9 AM class tomorrow, yeah.” Simon says. Right. Simon’s going to NYU now, trying to get a normal life back. Jace isn’t sure how he manages to go to class in the morning and then sneak into their missions at night. How is he sleeping?

“I’ll walk you back.” Jace says, shoving his hands in his pockets. 

“I’m not a damsel in distress.” Simon scowls at him. 

“But what if I am?” Jace asks, smiling winningly and strolling alongside Simon. This is easy for him. Flirting is a game he knows. Too bad it never works on Simon. 

Case in point - 

“I get it, you’re the big bad Shadowhunter and I need to stop interrupting your missions.” Simon’s frown deepens. “I said I was sorry.” Jace blinks at him and sighs. 

“That’s not what I meant at all. It was a joke.” He supplies, helpfully. 

“That’s not a joke. Here’s a joke.” Simon says, snapping his fingers, his eyes brightening. “What’s the ocean stressed out about?” 

“Global warming.” Jace says immediately. “Melting ice caps. The polar bears - “

“Current events.” Simon snickers, and Jace tries hard not to let that get to him, but he can’t help the tiny snort and his lips twitching upwards. “See!” Simon crows, pushing excitedly at Jace’s shoulders. “You do think I’m funny.”

“I think,” Jace says, arching an eyebrow, “that you’re not taking global warming seriously enough, Simon.”

“Not taking - you’re a real piece of work, Jace.” Simon says, sighing, but he’s smiling too. Jace grins again and waggles his eyebrows. 

“A piece that everyone wants.” He tries again, and this time Simon blushes and shoves him. He misjudges his own strength and sends Jace careening into the lamp post. “Jace - shit!” He’s immediately in front of Jace, fussing over him for injuries. Which - ridiculous. Jace is a Shadowhunter. He fights off demons, and Simon’s still afraid of his own strength in comparison. 

“Hey, chill, I’m fine.” Jace says, straightening up and laughing. “It’s just so easy to fall for you, Simon.” He winks, for added effect.

Simon storms off. 

Well. Back to the drawing board, then. 

.

ii. [supermaia]: you should wine and dine him, he’s into cheesy shit like that. like a proper, romantic date - if you even know what romance means, herondale. 

“Hey!” Simon skids to a stop in front of Jace, breathless. “Sorry I’m late! You said to dress nice, and, well, I’ve got a lot more options since Raphael forced me to update my wardrobe.” 

“Forced?” Jace asks skeptically, trying his hardest not to ogle at Simon. It’s a difficult task when Simon’s in a tailored blue button-up, the sleeves rolled to just below his elbows, his dark jeans ending in smart looking oxfords. 

“Raphael doesn’t hold with even exiled members of his clan looking like a fashion travesty.” Simon grins at him. “So what’s this undercover mission? Are one of the waiters demons?” 

“Oh. Hm. Yeah.” Jace clears his throat and folds his arms. “Our source reported that the demon’s moved on, but Alec wants us to check the place out just in case.” 

“Argh, really? So this is like a throwaway mission?” Simon asks, scuffing his shoe on the ground. The valet’s starting to look at them funny, and Jace realizes with a jolt that he still has his glamour rune on. He hurriedly tugs Simon into the shadows and lets his eyes flash, activating the rune again as he slides his hand down to grip Simon’s. The valet stares hard at the spot where Simon must have just disappeared. 

“You sound really disappointed.” Jace remarks, his grip on Simon’s hand tight. “It’s a free fancy meal.” 

“I want to help.” Simon scowls at Jace. He hasn’t let go of Jace’s hand either. Jace’s heart starts to pound faster, and he’s sure Simon can hear it. He doesn’t care, he wants Simon to hear it, wants Simon to understand how much Jace wants this. 

“You always help, why not take a day for yourself and put it on my card?” Jace asks, cajoling him. Simon squints. 

“You -” He says incredulously, and then he stops. And starts again. “You have a credit card?” 

Jace gives him a look. “How did you think I lived in New York? Do you think I just fight demons and then power off for the day or something?” 

“Or something.” Simon says wonderingly. “So like, what, you go grocery shopping and stuff? You go to the library? Do you - “

“I told you I go to book club.” Jace says, feeling peeved. “I’m just a normal guy, Simon.” 

“That”, Simon says, pointing at Jace triumphantly, “is the most humble thing I’ve ever heard you say. Well done. Congratulations.” His cheeks dimple as he grins impishly at Jace, and Jace can’t help but shake his head, the corners of his mouth twitching. 

“Careful,” Jace teases, “that was almost a compliment.” He lets go of Simon’s hand and steps away, trying not to feel disappointed as he smooths the lapels of his jacket. It was a long shot anyway, he thinks to himself. 

Simon’s staring at him, his brow furrowed and his expression thoughtful. “You wanna go get burgers then?” 

Jace sighs and shakes his head fondly. He can go home and sulk about not getting a date with Simon, or he can get burgers with his friend. The choice is pretty easy. 

“Yeah, let’s go get burgers. You can watch me eat and be sad.” 

.

iii. [parabrotai]: i’m no expert but i’ve been told you should try to talk about your feelings?? like be open. don’t hide stuff. i think simons into that kind of communication thing

“I play the piano.” Jace says as he drops into the seat next to Simon in the Institute’s kitchen. He means to say it conversationally, like an opening to better topics, but instead he blurts it out into the silence. Simon raises an eyebrow and takes out one earphone. 

“Huh.” He says, tilting his head. “This may come as a surprise to you, but you lose this competition. I play the piano too.” 

“You play the keyboard.” Jace scoffs back automatically, before he backtracks. “No, no, I meant - you know. Now you know. I play the piano.” 

“Okay.” Simon agrees bemusedly, sipping at his cup of blood. “Now I know? What, are you trying to tell me I play the piano badly? I thought you liked my songs - “

“I do.” Jace shakes his head as he crosses his arms and leans against the counter, grinning. “Angel help me, I’m not sure why, but I do.” 

“Hey.” Simon throws his wadded up napkin at Jace, who ducks, laughing. “I’m a hot Downworlder commodity.” Jace raises an eyebrow, and waits - 

Simon flushes an attractive pink. “I mean - like I’m popular - like not hot hot - you know what, I think I am, honestly, what - “

“Don’t worry your pretty face.” Jace says sincerely, patting Simon’s cheek as he pushes off the counter and goes in search of a mug to make himself tea. Simon splutters behind him. 

“Are you making fun of me? You’re making fun of me.” Simon declares. Jace hides his smile as he roots through the cabinets. 

“I’m not.” 

“I don’t even know whether to believe you or not. You’re messing with my mind, man.” Simon moans, a thunk sounding. Jace turns to see that Simon’s let his head fall forward on the counter, desolately draped over it like some sort of tragic hero. 

“Write a song about it, why don’t you.” Jace says, grinning. Simon bolts upright at that, a strange gleam in his eyes.

So he never actually gets to have a conversation with Simon about feelings, but they do spend the next hour creating increasingly awful lyrics for a song. It’s something. 

But he’s getting tired of being rejected unwittingly at every turn. It feels like maybe friendship is all he’s ever gonna get from Simon, and that’s fine. It’s fine. Whatever puts that stupidly gorgeous smile on Simon’s face is enough for him. 

iv. [clearlyfray]: don’t be an idiot. just be you. he likes YOU

Jace goes into a state of shock when he reads Clary’s text. She looks over at him, through the crowd at Hunter’s Moon for Simon’s gig, and winks. He splutters into his beer and looks back at Simon, who’s really getting into it now, his eyes lowered as he croons into the mic. Strobe lights flash around them, and the crowd is loud and wild; Simon’s a popular act. 

He waits through the set, his heart in his throat as he obsessively smooths his thumb over his phone screen. When Simon finally finishes, Jace forcefully pushes through the crowd until he can clamp a hand around Simon’s shoulder. 

“You,” He hisses, and Simon looks at him, alarmed, “Come on, we have to talk.” 

“Izzy if he kills me you’re my witness!” Simon screeches as Jace drags him out through the back door. Jace snorts. 

“Shut up.” He commands, unable to stop himself from smiling at Simon, a fond feeling bubbling in his chest. “I’m not - Simon. You idiot.” 

“You know, I just - yeah, I’m lost at this point.” Simon says, bemused. “You alright, buddy?” Jace ignores him. 

“I’ve been flirting with you for weeks.” He murmurs softly, stepping closer and noting the way Simon’s eyes widen and his lips part ins surprise. “I even asked Maia for help, and - now Clary tells me I didn’t have to try so hard.” 

“You - flirting?” Simon asks helplessly. “I thought you were just - being you.” 

“Yeah.” Jace presses closer, and Simon swallows, holding his ground, looking up at Jace through his lashes. He’s almost Jace’s height, but his eyes are absurdly large and beautiful, and it’s embarrassing how weak Jace is for everything about Simon Lewis. “Apparently you like that, even though I made a fool of myself.” 

“I do.” Simon agrees nervously, biting his lip. “God help me, I do. I never thought I could have this, though.” 

“Neither did I.” Jace admits, honestly, and it’s his heart on his sleeve as he stares at Simon. 

“Fuck, Jace,” Simon says, and then he launches forward and crashes their lips together, hard and demanding. The kiss is fierce, unyielding, taking Jace apart and stitching him back together as Simon’s tongue parts his lips like it’s the easiest thing in the world. Jace is breathless with desire, an overwhelming want clouding his mind as he knots his fingers in Simon’s hair and pulls him closer, pulls him in to take everything that Simon’s willing to give. 

They kiss for hours, or minutes, or seconds; all Jace knows is that he has to rip himself away at the end to suck in deep, ragged breaths, shaking as he leans against Simon. Simon, the rat bastard, just laughs, content with not needing to breathe. 

“That was awesome.” Simon enthuses, his arms encircling Jace’s waist. His smile crinkles the corners of his eyes, and he traces a thumb over Jace’s cheek. It’s soft in a way that Jace is still getting used to, and he hums and leans into the touch. 

“Just shut up,” He says, laughing breathlessly, “and kiss me.” 

And Simon does. 

[kinkymagnus]

57 + 81 (master slave pls) + 85 + 30 (specifically alec calling magnus “slut”? owo)

for that last prompt: can you like, have magnus specifically call alec master? i love that shit OwO

(numbers are: humiliation kink + power imbalance (master/slave) +riding + dirty talk)

find on ao3.

Prince Magnus Bane and his personal manservant, Alec, have some fun in the throne room.

It was quite a sight.

The throne room was closed: it was a large, grand room, and thankfully soundproof.

They were alone, but Magnus felt exposed and watched: it was spacious and there were many shadows to hide in.

It felt like anyone could be watching.

Alec, his personal servant, sat sprawled lazily on the prince’s throne.

Magnus sat on his cock.

Magnus panted, lifting himself up. His thighs were burning a little, shaking with effort.

He’d been pleasuring Alec for a while now, working his ass around the large cock and making Alec groan with pleasure. He’d already emptied his load into Magnus once, but thanks to a stamina potion of sorts he’d bought specifically for the occasion, he was still going strong.

Alec’s thick cock stretched Magnus’s ass perfectly, and the loss of it felt like an ache in his chest, but he lifted himself up anyway until only the blunt tip was past his soaked rim.

His gaze was trained down at where Alec’s cock met his hole, not daring to meet his eyes yet.

He was stark naked, sweaty and trembling as he slowly fucked himself on Alec’s cock.

Alec was almost full dressed, cock pulled out and trousers pulled down slightly, his strong arms locked around Magnus’s waist, keeping him from getting up.

He was the one in control.

“You look so beautiful like this,” he murmured, voice low and full of dark promise. “Look at you… you’re the prince of this realm. One of the most powerful men in the kingdom. And here you are, riding my cock.”

Magnus whimpered as he began to lower himself again, feeling Alec’s cock beginning to slide deep into him again.

One of Alec’s hands slid down to cup his ass, squeezing gently, then both slid down and pulled his cheeks apart. Alec thrust up, the angle making his cock pound deep into Magnus’s ass and slam against his prostate. Magnus squealed, hips rocking in an attempt to get more.

“Do you want me to keep fucking you like the little whore you are?” Alec asked, voice soft and gentle, contrasting sharply with his filthy words. His hips kept moving, not as hard as the first thrust but enough to tease. Magnus’s hips thrust in tandem, so that he was left bouncing on Alec’s cock. “You like it when I make you take it?”

“Y-yes,” Magnus moaned. “F-fuck me….”

“Fuck me…. who?”

“Sir,” Magnus gasped, “fuck me, sir, please, fuck me…”

“Hmm, sir is nice…” Alec said, hands going to his hips. “But I think I like…” he gripped Magnus’s hips tighter and slammed him down on his cock with a grunt, making Magnus squeal again, “master better. Remember, sweetheart? You called me that yesterday, when I tied you to your bed and fucked you? You moaned like a little slut and begged for my cock… you called me master.”

He held Magnus in position, his cock pressed against his prostate and making the prince tremble on his cock.

“Master,” Magnus moaned. “please, fuck me, come inside me…”

“Good boy,” Alec praised, and he loosened his grip, beginning to thrust his hips up.

Magnus threw his head back, cheeks flushed as he whined and moaned with pleasure.

He felt a sharp slap to his ass, and jerked with surprise and pleasure. He clenched down around Alec involuntarily, making him moan slightly.

“Move,” Alec ordered. “I’m not going to do all the work here, slut. If you want my cock, work for it.”

Magnus nodded weakly, lifting himself up again, feeling Alec’s thick cock drag against his sensitive walls.

“You look so beautiful,” Alec said in his ear. “You look so hot, sitting on my cock like this… taking everything I give you…”

Magnus knew he was probably blushing hotly. He felt like he was in public, like everyone could see him, the great prince of the realm, being fucked and used like a whore.

See the prince enjoy every second of being his own servant’s cockslut.

See the prince sitting on a cock with cum running down his legs.

See the prince hard as a rock as he was teased and called a slut.

He picked up the pace, fucking himself on Alec’s cock as hard as he could even as his tired muscles complained.

Alec pounded into him from below, showing off his own muscles as he fucked Magnus hard.

“The powerful, dangerous prince… reduced to a helpless little cockslut begging for your servant’s cock?”

Magnus didn’t say anything, feeling the embarrassment and pleasure tingle through him. It felt amazing, like electricity dancing in his veins.

“A whore, panting and moaning for me…”

“Please,” Magnus begged, not sure what he was asking for.He fucked himself down harder, needing Alec to get deeper and rougher.

Magnus wasn’t sure what exactly changed. The angle, or the strength behind it, but it happened in one wonderful moment:

Magnus dropped down at the same time Alec thrust up and they met perfectly in the middle, Alec’s cock slamming against Magnus’s poor, abused prostate.

Magnus gave a shocked cry and came, eyes squeezing shut as he screamed with pleasure.

Cum spurted onto their chests and Magnus’s hips stopped moving as he panted.

But Alec didn’t stop thrusting.

Magnus practically went limp, whimpering and moaning as Alec kept fucking him through his high.

“So gorgeous when you cum on my cock,” Alec grunted, not slowing his pace. “So needy and beautiful… how do you think people would react if they could see you like this?”

Magnus moaned helplessly as Alec’s cock brushed his overstimulated prostate.

After a few more thrusts, Alec finally groaned, hips stuttering. A few stilted half-thrusts later and Magnus felt a rush of warm cum pumping deep into his ass, soaking his sensitive walls and splashing against his prostate.

He whimpered softly as Alec gently pulled him off his dick, getting up carefully and spinning them so he could lay Magnus on the throne.

Magnus leaned forward without prompting, licking Alec’s cock.

Alec moaned but didn’t pull away, allowing Magnus to lick him clean before finally gently pulling him away so he could pull his pants up.

Magnus slumped back against the throne’s back, breathing still a little heavy. There was a little cum smeared on his lips, and his thighs were still soaked in it.

“You done, sweetheart?” Alec asked softly. The dark dominance from earlier was gone, only gentle concern in it’s place.

Despite all his love for fucking Magnus senseless and saying the filthiest things in bed (or… well, in the throne room) Alec was never anything but sweet afterwards, and he always took good care of his lover.

“We can keep going,” he said. “If you want. Or I can get you dressed and back to your quarters.”

Magnus swallowed, throat feeling dry. “I don’t know if I can,” he said, throwing Alec a tired smile. “That was…” he felt a slight shudder run through his body at the thought of it all. “it was amazing.”

“Want some water?” Alec asked, bringing up a glass of water he’d left next to throne, out of range of kicking feet.

Magnus gratefully accepted, drinking the cool water slowly so as not to choke.

After a few moments, he passed it back. Alec set it down carefully.

Magnus leaned back again, thinking of what Alec could do to him. Imagining spreading his legs, draping them over each arm of the throne, leaving his leaking ass exposed so that Alec could pound into him properly.

Imagining legs folded up, practically bending in half so that Alec could slide deep into his ass.

Imagining Alec restraining his arms, tying them above his head, fucking him in the throne until he begged.

He wished he could, but he was already trembling with overstimulation.

Alec came closer, climbing on top of him: it was his turn to straddle Magnus’s lap, his warm weight pinning Magnus down to the chair.

He drew Magnus into a kiss, pressing him against the back of the chair.

Magnus kissed back, enjoying Alec’s lips on his after so long.

“We should go back to the bedroom,” Magnus said softly when they pulled apart. “Can we… we should do this again.. just like this.”

“Me, fucking you on the throne and calling you a slut?” Alec asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Exactly,” Magnus said, kissing him one last time. “I like it when you fuck me like that.”

Alec climbed off him, grinning down at him. “I like it, too. Now let’s get you cleaned up, your highness. You look beautiful, but probably not very presentable.”

Magnus laughed.

disclaimer: obviously magnus is not helpless/tiny and could have stopped this whenever he wanted, obviously he’s not “just a slut” or anything like that, it’s called KINKY SEX/ROLEPLAY, don’t even start with me on this, okay??

also sorry for the shit ending but look i have like 50 prompts so getting enough inspiration to write this whole thing was a miracle in of itself

i realize making magnus the prince might be a weird choice when it’s sub magnus and part of the prompt was like, power imbalance kink, but i think it’s kind of hot to have like, powerful prince magnus getting fucked like this? idk why, but i think it works, so oh well. (shrug)