#but at the same time her music while being beloved was not 'respected'... it was lowbrow

[britneyshakespeare]

one thing that i think sounds petty, but isn’t, concerning the reputation of britney spears post-conservatorship, is reevaluating the art she has produced and the talents she has always had. i don’t think people who never really appreciated her work before understand that britney spears’ legacy does not deserve to be “a beautiful woman abused and tortured by the media and culture of her time” as this flat, tragipornographic figure. we do that to enough women in history. britney spears is still alive. britney spears is still not even old! listen to her music. talk about her as an artist. stop reducing her to only her personal sufferings, which she never asked to be known for.

[cathrrrine]

just eat your food and say goodnight.

erik lehnsherr (magneto) x reader, platonic! peter maximoff (quicksilver) x reader • x-men (movies) • fluff, female reader

Summary: Peter Maximoff is a mischievous little shit. Y/N Lehnsherr and her husband Erik love him anyway. AO3

“Well, I’m calling it a night then.”

A content sigh escaped your lips as you stood up from your seat at the dining table and gingerly picked up your own dishes as well as the other empty ones left on the table. Those who noticed thanked you quickly before resuming their respective conversations — like Raven and Charles who were too busy bickering like children — while others made the effort to collect the ones on the other end of the table, namely Hank, Jean and Scott; the latter only doing so after being dragged by his girlfriend.

“Hey, you got an early class too, old man. Can’t risk waking up late with that back of yours.” You gestured to your husband, pointedly looking at him with a smirk on your face. He mirrored your expression, playfully cringing his nose to tease you but it only made you chuckle, a sound that was music to his ears.

“Good night then, everyone.” Erik stood up, following suit behind you, a melody of good night’s responding to him in different tones and variations of the phrase.

“The old man joke doesn’t age well with you, Y/N!”

Although muffled as he said it with a mouth full of food, it was clear enough for you to hear and snap your head towards him. Peter, the beloved speedster, snickered to himself at his own joke. He was too busy shoving chocolate pudding down his throat to notice that a couple of those around him had gone quiet, staring at him with disapproving eyes.

Raven reached over to flick the side of his head and Charles leaned back to give her the leeway, “Dumbass.”

“Ow!”

In your one thousand and thirty-five years of living, it was no surprise that all jokes about your age had grown stale. You hated them, having heard every single phrase on Earth…it was just plain boring to hear them make unoriginal jabs at your age at this point. If they got creative, you wouldn’t mind so much, but after hearing the same variations of the same jokes your whole life? Anyone would be understandably annoyed. Erik knew this, almost everyone at the table did as well. But, you figured it slipped Peter’s mind. It always did.

As he rubbed the side of his head, he stared angrily at the shapeshifter but was met by a pair of equally disappointed eyes that belonged to a certain Professor. A sheepish look fell on Peter’s face when he realised his mistake.

“You should know not to be too casual with your professors.” Charles raised an eyebrow.

Of course, you didn’t take it too seriously, he was a kid that meant no real harm so you didn’t really feel any real anger towards the young speedster, maybe even none at all. But he’s been bothering you too many times lately that it was starting to get on your nerves. So, you put on your Strict Professor Face and stared him down, determined to make him break a sweat at the very least. It probably wouldn’t put a cork in Peter’s attitude, but maybe you’d earn yourself a few weeks off from his incessant clowning.

Erik suppressed the grin that was starting to tug at his cheeks, he knew what you were doing, so he wordlessly took the stack of plates from your grip and continued your task for you. He caught Charles’ eye and they shared a knowing look for a brief moment.

Peter was in trroubleeeee.

“You do know how I feel about those jokes, Maximoff.”

“Funny, right?” He tried to play innocent, nervously smiling at you.

“I’ve told you so many times before that, no, I do not find them funny. We do not share the same sense of humour. Charles is right, you shouldn’t be so casual with me. We may be friends in your mind, but I’m still your professor, and I deserve at least a minimal amount of respect.”

Whew, that made even me sweat. Charles’ voice cackled in your mind.

Peter Maximoff was rarely left speechless, so it was an eighth wonder of the world to have him staring at you with his eyes widened and mouth shut. He gulped, shocked at being scolded by his favourite — although he’d never admit it to anyone — lecturer.

It hurt you too much to leave him that way, though. You were his favourite for a reason…that reason being how gracious you were to his faults that seemed to be never-ending. Relenting, you cracked a smile and used your powers to jolt him out of his daze and confusion. The sound of your chortling hit him with the reality behind the situation.

“Just messing with you, kid. I think you broke your own record for the longest time of being speechless.”

He rolled his eyes and groaned in effort to mask his relief, not wanting to admit she actually did get him back for once. “Unbelievable.”

“Serves you right for always making fun of me. I’m not kidding when I say it’s annoying!”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever makes you feel better, grandma.”

You stuck your tongue out at him, “At least I’m not the one with greying hair.”

Peter frowned and opened his mouth, about to fire back a retort but you stopped him by laughing and ruffling his grey strands, “C’mon kid, just eat your food and say goodnight. Careful though, don’t choke.”

Your feet carried you over to your original destination, the intent of loading the dishwasher now appearing at the forefront of tour mind, but it was halted immediately.

As if someone had pushed him forward, Peter sped over to the sink area before you could even turn around, mumbling something about doing the dishes. You glanced curiously at the smiling telepath who simply gave you a shrug in return.

You bid your farewells to everyone again, Peter’s quip of ‘g’night’ not escaping you either when you went to pat him on the back affectionately.

A patiently waiting Erik tugged at your hand, clasping it in his own as he led you out of the kitchen and up the stairs, swinging your hands in tandem with his.

“You think he’s gonna be okay?” You worriedly asked aloud, suddenly very concerned that Peter wasn’t aware you had been joking. The role you played in his life was somewhat maternal, and you didn’t want him to think you were actually being curt with him.

“Who? Peter?” Erik gave you a sideways glance, “That boy’s smarter than he seems, he knows what you were doing. Don’t worry so much, darling. With how fast he moves, I’m sure his mind has moved on to other things by now.”

You hummed in reply, pleased with his answer. “Sometimes I think you might be the resident telepath with how good you are at reading my mind.”

“That’s just called being married to each other, my dear.”

———

“Y/N!” The sound of his sing-song voice was not what alerted you to Peter’s presence, nor was it the sound of his shoes squeaking before he rushed over with his powers, instead, it was the lack of formality. He never called you Professor or anything of the sort.

You never chided him for it, in fact, you’d be lying if you said you preferred the title as a prefix to your name. While many of your students were comfortable addressing you as such, anyone who felt more at ease with calling you by just your name was welcome to do so.

You had a first-year call you Mrs. Lehnsherr back then, when you and your husband were just newlyweds, but Erik was quick to remind them that if they wished to call you by your last name, it was to be Professor Lehnsherr instead, because, in his words, your accomplishments were not to be diminished and should be rightfully addressed.

It led to a whole debacle of mix-ups with two Prof. Lehnsherr’s roaming the hallways, which was a minor problem compared to the confusion of the paperwork.

The days of “Professor Lehnsherr?” “Yes?” “Sorry, not you Professor Lehnsherr, I meant you…Professor Lehnsherr,” had to come to an end, so you settled for whatever it is your students decided to call you…as long as it wasn’t demeaning.

However, no one called you Y/N, just Y/N, but the one and only Peter Maximoff himself.

The young man sped towards you, his hair swaying behind him from the strong gush of wind even as he came to a still in front of you.

“Pete!” You mocked the way he called you, using the same tone.

He gave you a playfully disgruntled look before quickly reaching into his backpack — which looked more like a knapsack, actually — to retrieve a cylindrical object and hand it to you nonchalantly. As soon you wrapped your fingers around it, he sped away again, a quick and impish ‘byeeee’ being the last thing within your earshot before the gush of wind took over your senses again.

It wasn’t until your day ended that you finally had the time to completely relax, stretching your legs and unbuckling your high-waisted, straight-legged pants. You wiggled your toes, sore from being in heels all day, as you relaxed into putty on yours and Erik’s shared bed.

Speaking of the devil — Erik came in not long after, tossing his shoes off and setting his things down on the bench next to your door before throwing himself on the bed next to you, also instantly letting himself relax.

He leaned closer to your side, laying his head on your chest and draping an arm over your stomach. Muscle memory kicked in as your fingers immediately found their way to run through his hair, a familiar habit between the two of you. He closed his eyes as the sweet, heavenly endorphins that came with the satisfaction of your touch washed over his body.

“How was your day?” He mumbled, too lazy to form his words properly.

“Pretty interesting. Finally convinced Logan to come to one of my classes next week. Students have been begging like crazy to meet him.” It was a history project, of which you and the Wolverine were both well-acquainted with, given your ages. “I’m getting the feeling that they think he’s a cooler teacher than I am.”

That made your husband laugh, the sound reverberating as you continued to cradle his head on your chest. “All of the students think Logan is cooler than any of us.”

“It’s not fair, isn’t it?”

“He’s like a mystery, that’s why. Never around long enough to be the one who yells at them for almost burning the school down.” He was talking, but his lips were barely moving and his eyelids were fluttering shut. You smiled softly, trying your best to keep your movements minimal as you continued your ritual to help him sleep.

“Like a cool uncle, then.”

“Yes.” A beat passed, then he spoke again when he remembered what he meant to tell you earlier. “Peter was in my class today.”

“Yeah?” You were slowly falling asleep as well, eyes half lidded and muscles starting to feel limp.

“He spent the whole of it with his head down, though.”

The very image of that made your eyes shoot open, all hints of sleep gone. “Why? What happened?”

It was unlike Peter to be uneventful — he was always doing something , be it throwing spitballs or participating in a one-sided blinking contest with whoever’s teaching in front.

“Nothing.” Erik mumbled groggily. “He was just…working on…something.”

Your skin itched and your eyebrows strained, discomfort firing up every synapse as you went through all the possible reasons. Then, your last interaction dawned on you.

“Honey, I know you’re almost asleep, so can you please hand me my bag on the bench?”

Without saying a word, he raised the arm resting on your body and used his powers to float it towards you, the metal handles clanking together when he dropped it carefully in your grip.

You didn’t have to move your sleeping husband to grab the cylinder you were thinking about, but you did almost startle him when his snores made you lose your grip on the bag.

He didn’t notice, too busy dozing off to even pay attention to what you were currently doing. You quietly unwrapped the roll of paper, barely caring about the sound of it crinkling — you knew your husband could sleep through anything when he was in your arms — since Erik’s snores were louder anyway.

The contents were confusing at first, you had to read it twice to understand that it was a voucher of some sort. With your arm still around Erik’s head, you used what restricted movement you had with your one free arm and just your hand to flip the paper over.

“What is this, Peter?” You mumbled to yourself, reaching for your glasses on the nightstand. Your vision weakened even in your abnormal age, and being far sighted was something you dealt with long before the triple digits hit you.

As if on cue, the answer to your rhetorical question was answered by the scrawling on the back which you recognised as Peter’s boyish handwriting.

‘Sorry for calling you old all the time. You know I’m just kidding. Thank you for always being so cool with me. Hope you like the vouchers for free ice cream. One’s for Erik too. - P.M’

Next to his initials was a doodle of a face with sunglasses on, a two-toothed grin to go with it. It was hard to wipe the pleasant smile off your face, so you kept it on, succumbing to the bubbly feeling. Peter was like a little brother that you couldn’t hate no matter how much you wanted to — you’d even go so far to say he was the son you never had.

You flipped it again, only noticing the name of the store being dairy goods related as you read through it for the third time. It still left you confused, since there was no sign of anything being free printed on it.

That’s when your eyes landed on the italicised font at the very bottom, bold red asterisks between the phrase.

* SENIOR CITIZENS GET 1 FREE CONE . *

Quickly, you turned it around to look at what you thought was an innocent letter written by one seemingly apologetic speedster. You didn’t miss the joke this time, written in very, very emboldened ink, so roughly scratched on the surface you wondered how you missed it in the first place. The smile you had on dimpled into a disbelieving simper.

P.S. HOPE YOU ARE WEARING YOUR GRANDMA GLASSES :D

[acradelius]

Can I request some 049 x female Reader headcanons where the Reader is pregnant with 049’s child?

"We're Expecting! Don't Tell The O5 Council!"

Fandom: Secure. Contain. Protect. (SCP)

Pairing: SCP-049 ("Doctor") x Female! Researcher! Reader

Rating: Lime [🟢] - (Equivalent to PG-13)

Warnings/Mention Ofs: Human! Reader, Researcher! Reader, Human x SCP, Human x SCP Relationship, AFAB! Reader, Female Pronouns Used For Reader, Unexpected Pregnancy, Most Likely Post! Contaiment Breach, Slightly Overprotective Doctor, Very Involved Parental! Doctor, Internally "Paranoid"! Doctor, Limited "Normal" Pregnancy Customs.

Word Count: 873 Words

If you'd like to be tagged for all posts, certain fandom posts, or certain character posts then feel free to message me!

There wasn’t much doubt that amongst the scale of ‘Definitely Not Human-Like’ to ‘As Human As Could Possibly Be, But Still Not Actually Human’, Doctor was more so teetering towards the edge of being more human-like than majority of the other S.C.P. beings that were also residing within the containment site, even still after the initial breach. That didn’t stop the researcher, (Y/N), from initiating a relationship with the Doctor, and eventually it became as intimate as it possibly could have. Despite that intimacy, there wasn’t necessarily ever a thought that a pregnancy between Doctor and (Y/N) could possibly happen, at least until viewing the results of the pregnancy tests that (Y/N) had taken. While there was some initial anxiety when it came to telling Doctor, he was actually pretty excited about the news! 

While within the early stages of their relationship Doctor had respected (Y/N)’s boundaries for space and privacy, now that she’s carrying their child, there’s not really such a thing as space and privacy anymore. (Y/N) couldn’t even make the five steps from Doctor’s desk to the bathroom within his laboratory without him jumping up to assist her. “Are you doing well, Chère? Do you need any assistance? Is there anything concerning the baby?” With that being said, the security around the laboratory is increased as well. There’s also more reanimated subjects that are placed around the laboratory, and even the most common places that (Y/N) typically ventures to and from, for an extra form of protection. It had gotten to the point that Doctor had to venture through the site looking for something, but didn’t want to disturb (Y/N) from their nap, so he had one of the subjects lay in the bed with her for protection.

Doctor is absolutely involved with the baby, ever since the moment that (Y/N) had revealed to him that she was pregnant with his child. He would spend literal hours just reading out loud to her and the child, whether it be his own research papers, random magazine pages found strewn across hallway floors, or would even spend time reading the files based on his other S.C.P. companions. It’s the same thing when it comes to listening to music, even if it’s various languages that (Y/N)’s unfamiliar with or hasn’t even heard of before. Doctor swears that while he hasn’t had any children before, that he’s done his fair share of research when it comes to pregnancies and even early childhood education, though (Y/N) is a bit unsure since it’s been quite some time since Doctor has been within the general public, especially in today’s day and age. He claims that it’s critical, and a long term benefit, that a developing baby experiences these things.

This pregnancy is definitely something more than just a generic pregnancy for Doctor, but he’s not going to make that known to (Y/N) unless he absolutely has to. As stated above, he’s never had a child before, and hasn’t came across anyone else like himself, so he’s unaware of what to actually expect when it comes to someone like him having a child within someone such as her. He’s not just monitoring the basic and typical pregnancy symptoms and such when it comes to watching over his beloved and her pregnancy. Secretly, he’s also monitoring for any abnormalities, anything that could end up becoming alarming or dangerous for (Y/N) or the baby, and even both. He doesn’t want to lose either of them, and therefore he would rather be able to take the risk of doing this part of the monitoring in secret if that means making sure that (Y/N) and their baby is doing well. While he was alone for the majority of his life before she had come along, Doctor isn’t sure if he would be able to continue on if he was to lose her.

Whenever (Y/N)’s due date, or at least an estimate of when the due date would be, there’s only a certain few other S.C.P. beings that Doctor is comfortable with her being around, even if she’s interacted with them for quite some time before the initial breach. He doesn’t want to take any chances with something happening to (Y/N) or the baby, especially with how sporadic and violent some of them can be. He only wants those that he can absolutely trust to be around them, at least at first, those that he knows will also do their best to make sure that things are going smoothly and stress-free. (Y/N) mentioned how this was slightly unfair once and therefore (Y/N) was only allowed to interact with who he didn’t deem safe enough through the intercom to his laboratory, or writing to each other with erasable markers on the window. This even means creating a whole different room or section of the site that Doctor’s located within to treat his “patients”, as he wants to make sure that the environment is going to be safe and sterile, or as sterile as it can be, for a safe, healthy delivery of his beloved little baby to be.

[mushroominawaterbottle]

Pookies beloveds do you jnow that cats the musical is the best thing ever created and all the songs are so good and the entire point of the musical is that they are a community and despite it being really weird and having a cat orgy it also has amazing set design, even if it all just happens in the same place and in that one scene when Alonzo kicks a ball and it hits Mr Mistoffeles it was actually an accident and he was meant to catch it and in the 2015 brazilian adaptation in Rio de Janeiro, Rum Tum Tugger holds Mr Mistoffeles' jacket for him so he can dance and also the guy who plays him does a little voice crack while singing and sometimes i repeat it to stim and also do you know that the guy who plays Old Deuteronomy voices that one guy in the Nightmare before Christmas and i headcannon that Victoria is deaf because she is a white cat with blue eyes and its really common for them to be deaf and also i dressed up as Mr Mistoffeles to go to school when i was like 14 and also i think that the 2019 version was really bad not only because of the cgi but because they fundamentally misunderstood the enture story because it makes absolutely no sense that Victoria is the protagonist, the whole point of the thing is that there is no protagonist and that all of them have i am songs instead of i want songs and also the decision to remove Jemima and Demeter and Cassandra and Jellilorum and Etcetera and Electra and leaving only Bombalurina was a horrible idea and making her evil is just fucking up her character, she just think that Macavity is hot she doenst agree with him and also having him sing his own song was so fucking stupid and he was there all the time wich makes no sense because they say in the song that tahy can never find Macavity and he is a ginger cat so why the fuck is he brown, the only person who did a good job was the guy who played Skimbleshanks and thats because he is a trained dancer and not a random celebrity, also they made fun of Bustoffer Jones wich is stupid because in the musical all the cats respect him because he eats everyday and having all the cats singing their own songs was horrible, it took away all of the meaning of all of them being a group, also them making Mr Mistoffeles sing and be all shy was the worts thing ever, Rum Tum Tugger singing his song was to show that he cared about him and trusted him to bring Old Deuteronomy back safely and also he decends from the sky in a sparkling jacket and shoots lightning from his hands, that was a discervice to his characther and dont even talk aboyt beautiful ghosts because this song took away the entire meaning off memory, Grizabella wants to go back to the past so bad that she is willing to do anything for it wich is why she is the chosen for the Jellicle choice and gets to be reborn , the important thing wasnt that it was Victoria who held her hand, the important thing was that no one stopped her, meaning that she had been accepted back in, wich is why in the movie her charactherisation is shit because she would never back away from touch, touch is all she wants, touch means that she is loved and is part of the Jellicles. Also there is way too little dance in the movie. Cats is a ballet. You cant take this out of it. What the fuck do you mean the Mr Mistoffeles song is 1 minute long and he doenst even dance. Where are the piruettes you cunt. Also all the male cats having crushes on Victoria is incredibly out of characther. And they took away my girl Demeter. She had fucking PTSD and it made the viewer understand how evil Macavity trully was and also she sang beautifully and erasing her interactions with Munkustrap was a crime. They fucking had Gus sing his own song instead of Jellilorum wich is stupid because it showed that they cared about him even when he is too old to dance. And Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser didnt even had their dance routine.

[talesfromawannabejournalist]

History rewritten

"Once upon a time, there lived a glowing city protected by golden gates known as Heaven. It was a city that was inhabited by beings of pure light and goodness who maintained evil and worshipped all good. One of these angels was called Lucifer. He was a dreamer with fantastical ideas for all of creation, and beloved by many of his brothers and sisters, especially his father. However, he was seen as a troublemaker by the elders for they believed his ideas were dangerous to their order. So, he was forced to sit and watch as the elder angels began to expand the universe in their ways.

From the very dust that came from the planet called Earth, they created Adam and Lilith. From the moment they opened their eyes, they were told that they were made for each other. To be by each other side through thick and thin, through the good and bad times, until death do, they part. Unfortunately, the first two humans couldn't be more incompatible than they were. Lilith was headstrong and fiercely independent while Adam was incredibly loyal to Heaven and simply wanted to make them happy. However, they both had one thing in common, they both wanted respect and love.

They simply couldn't get that from either.

And it was like that until one day when everything changed. Lucifer had come into the gardens curious about the new humans. When he came across the first man, he couldn't believe what he was before his very eyes. A beautiful human crying his eyes out by a pond. Drawn in by the captivating creature Lucifer comforted him and the two spent their days in Eden falling deeply in love.

One day in the Garden Lucifer decided that on that day he wanted Adam to know what true free will was like. So, he offered the fruit of knowledge as a gift to him, which Adam gladly accepted. However, this gift came with a curse. For with this single act of disobedience, sin had entered the world with it a new era of evil came with it. And the order Heaven tried to maintain was shattered. As the angels came down to punish Lucifer but Adam stepped in and told them that if they were going to punish his love then he demanded that he be given the same punishment.

With heavy hearts, they did as Adam wanted and cast him and Lucifer into the dark pit that was created by the reckless act. Never allowing either of them to see the good that came from free will only the cruel and the wicked. That did not dismay the couple in fact it only brought them closer, while Lucifer lost his will to even have that dream, he had found a new one in his family. For soon after they established their home, they were blessed with a baby boy, Cain. and then soon after their son Able, and then finally a baby girl named Charlotte. Lucifer focused all his being into keeping them safe and happy.

As for Adam, he thrived as the Queen of their kingdom empowering any and all demons with his voice and his music, and as Hell's population grew so did its power. Adam's hope still remains to this day and hopes that his dream will one day be passed on to all of his children."

Adam closed the book he was reading to his daughter, saw her tired expression, and chuckled before getting off the bed, placing the book on the nightstand, and tucking her in. As he kissed Charlie goodnight his daughter asked him,

"Mama, what happened to Lilith?"

Adam paused and thought about what to say to his little one who was giving a sleepy questioning look with her adorable curious eyes. He sighed and said.

"I honestly don't know Hun, but from my understanding, Lilith eventually died and was placed in Heaven. Or at least that's my conclusion since we've never seen her down here."

Adam shakes his head before giving his daughter a comforting smile and continuing, "It's best not to think about it, now get to sleep, my little princess." Adam gives her one last kiss before turning off the lights and heading out of her room. Closing the door, he turns and sees his husband leaning against the wall with a contemplated look. As he stared at the other side of the walls. Adam cleared his throat and Lucifer looked at him before giving a shaky smile.

"Hey, honey I just came in to kiss Char-Char goodnight. Sorry I couldn't be there for story time, but paperwork can truly be a bitch to deal with ha-ha."

"Are you ok?" Adam asked while raising an eyebrow. Lucifer tried to reassure his queen but only sighed as he looked away, guilt eating at his insides like a parasite.

"I, I heard the story you told Charlie, I heard everything, and I... (sighs) You know that's not how it exactly went right?" "Yes, but I don't plan on ever telling them the truth, the full truth, because even though you were a selfish asshole then doesn't mean you're that same person now." Adam gives Lucifer a small smile before placing a hand on his cheek and turning his face gently towards him. "Now you are the gentle and kind father and husband who'd do anything for his family, including saying goodnight to our daughter quickly so he can give his queen a goodnight kiss as well" Adam winked before turning and walking away to their bedroom.

Lucifer smiles at the retreating form of the human-turned-demon and quietly makes his way into his daughter's room. he tiptoed toward Charlie who was fast asleep. Bending down he gave his little light a loving fatherly look while gently petting the top of her head. "I'm so thankful that you are my daughter more than anything Charlie. That goes the same for your brothers, and the same for your mother, I'm thankful for this family more than anything, and I'll do anything to protect this family through whatever means necessary." Lucifer said his voice barely above a whisper. Conjuring up one of Charlie's many stuffed animals he places it right in his daughter's arms causing her to subconsciously smile and hug the toy tightly. Lucifer stood up and with one last look teleported his way to his bedroom where his queen waited patiently for his arrival.

[joyfuladorable]

Any headcanons about peni and miles and Gwen.

A few!

I have a fondness for young characters who end up gaining a bunch of surrogate older siblings, so Peni now holds that honor as well!

I think the events that (further) traumatized Peni are the incident with Addy Brock and VE#m and the death of her Aunt May. The comic issue didn’t really have the time to dig into that, but I’d love if Spider-Verse changes it so that Addy and Peni get to be friends before the disaster with VE#m happens. And then after all that, it’d be like the end of that story where she’s talking with her Uncle Ben before Spider-Ham portals to her to invite her into the Society.

At some point she learns about Canon Events and is Devastated. Like, she really Couldn’t have saved her aunt and Addy even if she’d Tried? Her dad was Meant to Die?? She gets comfort from the older Spideys; but I think especially Gwen, who’s absolutely avoiding thinking about her own dad and what him being a Police Captain means. Once things have (hopefully) settled in Beyond, I like to imagine Miles also gaining the older sibling status.

Anyways, headcanons!!

- Peni Canonically Loves Music, even going so far as playing it while she fights crime, so her and Gwen and Miles (and obviously Hobie and Pavitr and Margo) enthusiastically share their musical tastes with each other

- In the same vein, I just want them to hangout as friends so they have like weekly game nights sharing different card and board games and Pavitr keeps trying to convince everyone to let him run a ttrpg he really likes

- Peni and Margo figure out how to make inter-dimensional Wi-Fi so the teens also play MMOs together even when they’re in their respective universes

- Peni watches Hobie and Gwen play a gig and is enamored by the drums so she asks Gwen to teach her and oh Wow what a great outlet she should’ve tried this Sooner (please imagine Spider hanging from a cymbal as Peni plays and doing that cartoon zaggy vibration whenever it’s hit)

- Lots of hopping between each other’s universes cuz I want them to spend even More time together and have like cultural exchanges and stuff

- When Peni eventually divulges how she got her powers and what happened to her dad and the whole Oscorp technically being her employer thing, the protective older siblings instincts come out and one day her Uncle Ben looks up from his work to see his niece flanked by several angry looking teens

- I know this is supposed to be a Peni Gwen Miles friendship dynamic ask but Peni would get along so well with the other teens like if you’ve seen Peni’s room in the comics she’s a big fan of punk rock and would absolutely be besties with Hobie. Then there’s Pavitr and their sunshine personalities would elevate each other! And, as I’ve mentioned before Peni and Margo are Tech Buddies!!!

- A sign of trust from Peni is if she lets you hold Spider. A high honor! Miles doesn’t get it when she just drops em on his shoulder one day when she goes to do something, so when Gwen tells him he tears up a little bit (a lotta bit)

- okay, and finally, if you’ve read the Spider-Verse Unlimited: Infinity story with Peni, you know she wants to be Normal very Badly and does the usual awkward kid thing of trying to fit in with the Popular Kids’ interests while keeping her secret identity safe during the inevitable calls to hero duty interrupting her time with friends. She doesn’t have to do that with her Spidey buds/siblings!! An alert of trouble while hanging with them means some epic team-up fights!!! Chosen family, My Beloved…

[nightcolorz]

HI CUTIE PIE ARMANDTOLOGIST THE LOVE OF MY LIFE I have a question and it’s really important

Does Armand like Dr Pepper yes or no

(But also actually thoughts on the way they changed up Armand’s backstory in the show? Cuz now he’s kinda like musical Armand and ik you love that guy real, I JUST WANT UR THOUGHTS)

HI BELOVED HUSBAND LOML SECOND IN COMMAND ARMANDOLOGIST 😍😍😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

thus is an amazing question….Armand loves doctor pepper and he has a crippling addiction to it (I know this bcus he told me). The fizzy texture makes him tweak out like cats do when they go crazy randomly and his eyes go huge and dilated and he rolls around wildly for like ten minutes straight 🥰

My thoughts on how they changed up Armand’s backstory in the show is that I LOVE IT!! 🙏🙏so so true so true I love musical Armand he is so funny and real, that is such a good comparison. What I love about musical armand is that in making armand a very visible explicit adult while keeping his backstory relatively the same they kind of lean into this alternate reality where by growing up Armand sort of experienced living “past his prime” and was turned in less of a preservation of his beauty and youth (🤢) and more of in a panicked, pathetic last ditch move, which rlly kind of hammers home the sad kicked dog vibe he has ❤️. Like, I love the thematic value of Armand being an eternal child so much. It’s just so so sad and effective, picturing him as this visible child who is yknow, torturing and killing ppl and leading cults, and even owning property and running businesses, but no matter what he is doing he is always displaying this very apparent physical reminder of his stunted growth and his trauma, that will always be anyone’s first impression of him, that causes him active inconveniences and insecurities. He’s a physical embodiment of the most vulnerable time in his life, trying despite it to gain respect and instill fear. He’s like a child ghost!! I love how his stunted growth manifests as a disability, I love how he is often perceived as a girl bcus of his appearance which adds a trans layer, i love how when Armand’s sad he appears for a moment like the child who was abused, I love love love it.

And that version of Armand will always be my favorite, but I still LOVE the way in the show (and musical before her) is doing it. Back on the topic of the musical, while I don’t think it can carry the same layer of tragedy and depth as the books, the musical frames Armand in a way that’s very upsetting in a different way. He’s like, very pathetic 😭. This grown ass man still stuck in time as a “beautiful youth”, longing for the man who sexually abused him when he was fifteen, stuck in the mindset of the child he was, looking for his past in everything he does and everyone he meets. It’s different, but still carry’s that tragic weight 😭. But the musical wasn’t interested (or maybe didn’t have the time) in exploring that tragedy in any depth, so Armand’s pathetic past his prime vibe is framed more as almost comedically embarrassing then sad. And on the note of the show!!!!! What I love so so much about show Armand’s backstory changes is that they take what the musical was putting down but didn’t have time for and explore it with all the weight it needs, and it’s SO GOOD!!!

Armand as not of a literal external youth but instead a metaphorical one, a technical adult who was kept as a slave and treated as a child for his entire adulthood until he was eventually thrust into vampirism and subsequently abandoned, so he carry’s this internal stunting, is AMAZING. He was raised in a way that instilled in him and prevented him from ever being a functioning, independent person, and then forced into roles of dire leadership and horrible loneliness. In one of my fics I compare him to a pampered lap dog who’s been abandoned on the streets. Amc Armand reminds me of the song memory from cats, which has always reminded me of Armand but hits harder in this version. He’s so 😭😭 abandoned elderly cat who is longing for his past (which for Armand was super shitty, but remains the only time he was loved) and just looking to experience that love and comfort again 😭. The “love and comfort” that was sexual and physical abuse and literal enslavement 😭. It’s so sad.

I love that amc iwtv doesn’t necessarily change Armand’s backstory of being sold into slavery, but rlly hammers home in the details that he was and continued to be a slave. The racial element is just, ugh, omg, so mf good. They take Armand’s trauma in the books of being deprived of his cultural background by being sold into slavery and bought by Marius, and basically cut off from his religious beliefs and made to feel alienated from religion bcus of his sexual trauma, and by making Armand a person of color rlly elevate that in a super sad super meaningful way. I also love how they add little horrific traumas to rlly instill that Armand was a slave to Marius, that he was his property. Rlly sad!!! 😭 I love it.

the only thing that I don’t like about the changes in Armand’s backstory (which r not a lot, and r mostly based in Assad zaman’s casting whom I love as Armand, they stay surprisingly faithful to the books) Is the thing where Armand’s parents (apparently) willingly sold him into slavery. Part of the huge tragedy with Armand being sold and loosing himself to that is that his parents were not perfect, and not especially good to him, but they loved him so so much, and he looses his memory and connection to two parents who love and miss him, and are devastated by loosing him. Which even tho it’s technically a better reality for Armand then, he had parents who betrayed him, it hits sm harder imo. But, I don’t resent the writers for that bcus I have a theory that I think it’s very likely that the reality of the books is true, and Armand believes that his parents sold him bcus that was a lie Marius fed him to ease his own guilt about keeping Armand from his family so that he can sexually abuse him. If my theory is wrong, and Armand’s parents rlly did sell him, I will be disappointed and wish they stayed more faithful to the books, but I won’t be super mad cuz I love everything else they r doing so much, and it doesn’t retract from that too much.

On the subject of amc and musical Armand comparisons, I hope the show adapts/ takes inspo from a change that the musical made that I love a lot and think could rlly rlly work in the show. In the musical, during the scene where Armand throws Lestat off the tower, Lestat pushes Armand into doing this by mockingly telling him that Marius is alive and has not only chosen to not reconnect with armand bcus he’s not as important to him as Armand perceives, but also he has told Lestat how Armand was a mistake and he should have never made him bcus Marius thinks he’s crazy and beyond hope. And musical armand screams at Lestat that he’s lying, shouts HE LOVED ME!!! And pushes lestat off the tower, bcus he refuses to accept the reality of his fucked up relationship with Marius. Which, dude, I literally love that change in the musical sm and almost wish it was in the books. I sometimes forget that in the books Armand finds out Marius is alive from Lestats book offscreen and we don’t see his immediate reaction at all, just his reaction to reuniting with Marius after already processing that he’s alive. I RLLY HOPE that amc iwtv takes this change the musical made and elevates it, bcus I am the only guy who talks about it and I need everyone else to care 😭. It would translate so perfectly in the show amc pls hire me.

THWNK U SM FOR THE ASK BBY I LOVE THESE QUESTIONS I LOVE YAPPING!!! ILY

[gareleia]

THE KNITTING SAGA BUT HERMES IS A DUMMY

update: my co-writer friend FINALLY got a tumblr account, so I can tag them now!!

previously: part 1 part 2 part 3

next: part 5

m'kay, so, we've talked about Athena & Telemachus' issues. now let's touch on Hermes, because a Diva™ like him deserves his own post. and also because this had been sitting in my notes for so long i've genuinely forgotten about it (i'd say that it's what translating a musical does to you, but honestly my attention span is just shit)

now, as much as I love Soft Boi!Hermes, I even more so love prankster Hermes who doesn't really recognize personal boundaries or the meaning of 'too far'. he's the guy who'll commit to the bit so far, he'll commit mass murder with a Tee-Hee and genuinely wonder what has got everyone so upset.

kid!Telemachus, holding a cup of poison: grandpa, are you sure it's a good idea? I'm scared… Hermes, laughing his ass off in the corner: of course I'm sure, champ! it'll be hilarious! good ol' game of Ithacean Roulette! now dump it into the wine, let's see who we'll get this time!

at the same time, he's not selfish. he's very keen on doing things for the people he likes, and he cares enough to know when someone is distressed. he, as a god, is just so removed from traditional human morality that casual acts of cruelty are perfectly acceptable to him, while, for example, breaking an oath is a horrible sin.

think blue and orange morality stuff.

telemachus, outraged: …murdered his own family, can you imagine? hermes, equally outraged: I know, right? he gave a blood oath and broke it! disgusting! telemachus: why is that your only concern?!

but don't worry, helping to raise Telemachus and hanging around the same people consistently makes a real boy outta him gives him enough time and insight into humanity to start understand mortals better, and, as consequence, adopt some of their values.

especially the concept of spousal loyalty. Hermes is a patron god of thieves, and at the time taking someone's wife was viewed as an act of theft (because women were property, yeeesh). which is why to him Penelope's situation was less of a tragedy and more of a "well, my dumbass great-grandson Odysseus should've seen it coming. snooze you lose! ¯_(ツ)_/¯"

that is, until he gets to know her better. and suddenly she's not a prize to be won or a challenge to conquer. she's a smart, capable person that commands respect from anyone who's got a shred of self-awareness. she's got gentle hands, and a radiant smile, and a spine of steel. Penelope looked Hermes dead in the eyes and told him serenely to keep being a good influence on her son, she does not deserve to be reduced to a token and given away to the highest bidder.

hermes, initially: well, penelope's a rich, gorgeous, basically single queen. I'd steal her too, if she was my type. hermes, 10 years later: she's the smartest, ballsiest human woman I've ever met and if she only wants her Ugly Ass Groom then she'll fucking stay single until he comes back.

unfortunately for everyone else, Hermes cannot step in to protect her, because Zeus and Poseidon are both pissed off at Odysseus already, and if either of them notices Hermes (and/or Athena) interfering with mortals on Ithaca, they might take it as an invitation to follow suit, and then it'll be Troy Story 2: Electric Boogaloo.

so he stays his hand, and hangs around Telemachus discreetly, mostly posing as a human. for a god of liars, he's surprisingly bad at blending in for long periods of time. Hermes thinks he's an awesome conspirator. meanwhile little Telemachus didn't even realise it was a secret.

the only people who don't know that [insert alias] is a god in disguise are the suitors, who are notoriously either too stupid, too overconfident or too busy drinking to connect the dots. the exception is Antinous who pretends to be oblivious and makes sure the gods don't see him as a threat to their beloved little pup (otherwise he'd have killed the prince long ago).

the suitors, however, unanimously agree that they hate this weird annoying stranger, and try to get rid of him in increasingly elaborate ways, from poison to stabbing to wild animals to dropping pots on his head.

spoiler alert: it doesn't work.

hermes, next day: *comes back every morning like nothing had happened, whistling cheerily* suitors: WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!

eventually Antinous convinces them to give up so they don't piss off Hermes.

years pass, Telemachus grows. Athena teaches him strategy and arts of war. Aeolus gradually comes out of the hiding and becomes the resident lovable comic relief side character. and Hermes? he teaches the kid all the good stuff.

and it's not just lying, okay? (though it's a significant part of it) music, diplomacy, geography, street smarts, some history. he's a worldly god, had observed and been a part of countless cultures. above all else, he knows people. he may not really understand them, but he knows how to get what he wants from them, how to find common ground and how to spin things to get along with practically anyone.

and girls. Hermes helps Telemachus with girls.

because he's the cool uncle figure that Telemachus admires, the kid trusts him enough to ask the god for advice when he starts growing older and gets his first crush in his early teens.

and, on one hand, Hermes is ecstatic. on the other one…

telemachus, blushing and stuttering: there's a girl I met, she's so pretty, and cool, and, and, and how do I talk to her, do I just come up and say hi, but what if sh- hermes: … hermes: *blue screen of death* hermes: MY BABY-

it's the first time he truly starts to grasp how short the kid's life will be. because in the blink of an eye he turned from a newborn to an adolescent, and soon enough he'll have his own family, and Odysseus was already a king himself at this age, and Hermes is not ready this can't be it he can't just grow old and die

so anyway, he pushes the thought aside and pretends it never came up at all (because that always works, and bottling shit up never blows up in anyone's face, right, Athena?)

he gives lots of advice, from useless macho stuff to golden nuggets like "be yourself" and "show her respect". and, of course, he cheers from the sidelines, hiding 'inconspicuously'.

and it goes surprisingly well. the girl appears to find Telemachus' awkward attempts at flirting sweet and charming, and the boy is on the cloud nine.

but Hermes isn't. because, unlike the prince, his judgment isn't clouded by a puppy crush and he can see that the girl is actually a lying bitch, who's playing Telemachus like a fiddle, hoping to become the next queen of Ithaca. and he won't stand for it.

except Telemachus, for some reason, doesn't seen thrilled when Hermes tells him to dump the girl?? he flat out refuses to believe that, because love is blind and so are sheltered insecure teenage boys.

so Hermes, in his infinite wisdom, decides to prove to his naive little charge once and for all that the girl is just using him and doesn't actually love him. now, what's the first example of true selfless love from a woman that comes to mind to the god who had spent the last few years hanging out with the royal family of Ithaca? right, Penelope. and the one thing that characterises Penelope is her unconditional loyalty, even into the face of countless threats and temptations.

hermes, to himself: so, if I show the kid that the bitch will leave him as soon as she finds a better prospect, he will definitely admit I was right all along! and dump her! it's a perfect, easy, foolproof plan! I am so smart! what could possibly go wrong!

another spoiler alert: everything goes wrong.

the girl does happily jump into his arms as soon as he hints that he's a god/demi-god/just a cooler prince or something. she does it right in front of Telemachus, in fact, so there's no way he'd be able to deny the obvious.

on the bright side, Hermes immediately outs her as a lying bitch and publicly shames her, embarrassing her family and ruining her prospects of marriage and causing her to suffer for the rest of her life ('disproportionate revenge'? what's that?).

on the down side, for some unfathomable reason, Telemachus doesn't seem very grateful??? what???????

hermes: and so, AS ALWAYS, I was right. telemachus: hermes: but please, hold your applause! telemachus: hermes: I did it all for you, out of the goodness of my heart! telemachus: hermes: and please, don't apologize! you were wrong, I get it! no need to- telemachus: *bitch slaps his smug face and runs away, hurt and betrayed* hermes: *shocked pikachu face*

thing is, Hermes doesn't understand what he did wrong. in his mind he did a rather good deed: showed the liar's true colors, and spared the kid a lot of heartache down the line. he doesn't understand the feelings of betrayal from having someone he trusts explicitly outing him as a naive fool in front of everyone he ever dreamed of earning respect from. doesn't get the pain of having been cast aside by someone he liked in favor of a god, with whom he could never compete. can't imagine living in the shadow of someone he had never even known and being constantly reminded of all the ways he's lacking.

telemachus: I'm not a stupid child, hermes. I could've handled it. hermes: but you didn't listen to me, maybe you'd have never seen it on your own- telemachus: and maybe I would've. maybe I would've had the opportunity to find out myself, and maybe I would've learned from it, but you never gave me that choice, did you?! did you think i'm that dumb?! hermes: oh, come on, kid, you're not dumb- telemachus: THEN WHY DO YOU TREAT ME LIKE I AM?! WHY DON'T YOU EVER TRUST ME?!

aaaaand there's the core issue. Telemachus had spent his whole life being babied at best and looked down upon at worst. constantly compared to Odysseus and his more vicious peers, always shielded from making tough decisions and proving himself. he feels like he will never amount to anything, because no one ever lets him really try. as soon as it looks like he's going to make a mistake, someone (usually Athena, Aeolus or Hermes) swoops in and 'fixes' everything for him, just like they used to do when he was an accident-prone toddler. which he isn't anymore.

and Hermes doesn't understand that. to him, ten years is basically nothing. the kid can't have changed that much in ten years. because if he did, then he'll change a lot in the next ten years, and the next, and very soon he won't change anymore, because ten years are nothing and so are human livespans.

ten years are nothing, because to admit otherwise would force Hermes to face the fact that Telemachus, no matter how precious, is just as mortal as any other human. which amounts to basically losing him already. and Hermes can't.

he held that boy as an infant. he fed him, helped to teach him walk and talk and make silly faces. he can't lose this child to time, the one thing even gods can't really protect humans from.

Penelope finds Hermes sitting on her balcony with the most human expression on his face she'd ever seem him wear. he's lost, and confused, and full of regrets, and kind of terrified. in that aspect, he reminds her painfully of her husband.

hermes, mumble: he's growing older penelope, sighing: I know hermes: he's not a baby anymore penelope: believe me, I know hermes: but... what do I do now??? penelope: you let it happen. not much else you can do.

she talks him through it.

hermes, rambling: but I will lose him. I'll lose him if he grows old and dies. this is why I don't get attached to mortals, you die too soon. he can't die now. penelope: he's not going to die now. he'll become the king first, he will find a good wife and have children and grandchildren. he will become great, greater that I and his father could ever dream of. and he'll be happy. don't you want to see that? hermes: I do, but- I don't want him to grow up! penelope: then you finally know the biggest joy and the deepest pain of parenthood.

it doesn't fix his fear. doesn't fix his pain, either. but it does help fix his attitude.

because she's right. Telemachus is growing old, and he can't shelter and protect the boy forever. soon he'll become a man, then an elder. and there's nothing Hermes can do about it, short of dragging the prince to Olympus and begging Zeus to grant him immortality, which will never work.

Hermes and Telemachus make up, of course. the latter knows, deep down, that the former is just trying to take care of him. they make up and forget the fight - at least, the boy does.

Hermes will always remember.

and he will count every day, every wrinkle, every grey hair.

the joy and pain of parenthood indeed.

[madrone33]

Listened to the Circe Saga last night! (I'm in the superior timezone, 15 hours before the americans lol /j) Absolutely incredible, did not disappoint!

Here's the notes I hastily typed out during and afterwards lol:

Puppeteer:

The plucked guitar in that melody, thinking of Polites fr fr

Eurylochus sounds less autotune than in the snippet. Musta been compression.

Fuck i can't believe i'm actually listnening to it!!!

The time skip is wind I think?

"Inside we heaard a voiiice!" SO GOOD! SO SMOOTH! I LOVE IT!

Those deep strings tho- oof so good!

"What." HAHA add it to the count XD

CIRCE! It's fucking Circe!!!! Her little riff on "Go ahead and rest where-ver you liiiike!"

The party music is really cool

Her voice at "This is the price" is angelic!

Huh. The party music comes back in the Eury and Ody second verse, but it's weirdly off beat.

Second vese is a bit different from the old snippet. Ody is less... soft sounding?

Ok time to write down the overlapping lyrics.

Yeah I still don't really understand Circe's lines rip

Also, Ody's final line is strangely not emphasised a lot? It's easy to miss behind Circe.

Wouldn't You Like:

Hermes giggles are so mischievous lmao

Ody is shocked and awed at seeing his Great-Grandfather while Hermes is just there for the lols

OOOF YES! The fucking amazing bass in the first chorus!!

The rising and descending harp!

"She can TURN you into an a-ni-mal!" I'm smiling so hard rn, it's HERMES

Here in the root of this flower! So smooooth

That high note on "bEING of your cre-A-tion!" Hell yes!

Not how I imagined that Holy Moly part ngl. Thought it'd pause for a beat to let the joke sink in with Ody's "Ah." being very dry, but whatever, it works, I'm sure I'll get used to it!

Also the beat transition to the end chorus reminds me of Micheal Jackson? Or- wait. Did I just get rick rolled??

The end chorus with all the harmonising vocals and the chorus and Ody' high riffs!! It's so damn GROOVEY

Ody sounds so happy and grateful awww

Pffft Hermes that's cold bro. So blase and teasing. Also yeah, lowkey King George vibes lol.

Done For:

The ELECTIC GUITAR!!

Ody is so sassy passive agressive lmao

The LFOs!!

The chimera roar snarl is very cool!

Ody is one cocky snarky mf

Circe is bitching and sassing and sounds so done with Hermes and Ody both lmao

The HARMONIES ON THE LAST CHORUS!!!

The LFOs and electric guitar mixing!

The sound effects of the BOSS BATTLE! The heavy thuds of footsteps and the snarls. Also that's one sharp sounding sword

There Are Other Ways:

The waltzy sounding strings are so pretty!

Que the key change! And more fantastic overlapping hamonising vocals!

The... hand- drum thing? Took me off guard, still not sure if I like it.

The abrupt "I CANT." YOU TELL HER ODY!! Bro I was so tense without know how he was gonna get out of that.

Not the Penelope stringssss!! *adoring sigh* The Penelope strings... It's so fucking cool how you can just immediately tell exactly who he's thinking about.

"She's my everything... My Penelope..." AHHHHH

Just now realising that Ody tells Circe "Back at home my wife awaits for me" and Circe respects that and helps him, while him telling Calypso that Penelope's his wife doesn't deter her in the slightest. Yeah.

"12 long years" Timeline lore? Write that down write that down!

God of Tides is such a cool epithet

The "Circe" and "mercy" rhyme took me off guard in the best of ways.

And then he hits me with the breathy high "let us puppets leeeave" like bro COME ON

Nylon strings my beloved!

CIRCE IS HELPING!!!

The deep piano drop at "Problem is, this prophet is DEAD" lmao

The return of the LFOs lesss goooo!!!!

Ody sounds so baffled and hopeful and excited like SAME BRO

"There are many ways of persuasion" as in, he managed to pursuade her in a way she didn't expect!!

"Maybe showing one act of kindness, leads to kinder souls down the road..." HOLY FUCK! HOLY FUCK! Circe's on the mercy end of the ruthlessness scale?? Also took it to mean if she shows him mercy, maybe he won't turn and become like those strangers that dealt a heavy loss to her nymphs.

"I have been in love once before" 👀 Circe lore??

"Maybe one day the world will need a puppeteer no more..." When I realised where this was going! The END FUCKING RIFF IT'S FROM THAT CLIP! THE HIGH NOTES I LOVE IT!!!!

Odysseus and Circe friendship is real!!

OMFG THE CIRCE SAGA'S OVER WHAT????

I love it! The Circe Saga is out, and it's amazing! Thank you Jorge and Talya and Troy and Armando, and everyone else who worked on this amazing project to show us this incredible music, thank you so so much! You should all be proud!

[kratioed]

GOD OF WAR | ELPIS LOKIDOTTIR HEADCANONS QUICK NOTE: in my take, "Hel" is Pandora's reincarnation known as Elpis, the Spirit of Hope from Greek Mythology! (with link provided in bold text for my self-validation 🤭).

ANIMAL: her animal is a bluebird! Not only does it aligns with Faye’s bird motif, it also matches the significance in both of her Norse and Greek equivalents for GOW (according to my research): “Bluebirds of happiness,” associated with the concepts of joy, happiness, and harmony. Symbol of hope, love, positivity, and renewal. Symbolize the essence of life and beauty. Some believe that bluebirds represent a connection between those who have passed away and the living.

FAMILY FEELS

Family outing! Elpis loves it when she and her parents rides on top of Fenrir while they visit Jörmungandr!

All wolves from Ironwood, Jörmungandr, and especially Fenrir are very protective of Elpis! Make her cry and you answer to their wrath.

Fenrir gets slightly jealous whenever Elpis pays attention to other wolves/animals besides himself...he's her best friend, of course he's gonna whine (her parents finds it absolutely adorable)!

Angrboða (and maybe Atreus) taught Elpis how to bake, especially blueberry bread!

Freya's top (and beloved) pupil! Elpis' a prodigy so she's a quick learner whenever Freya teaches her Seiðr magic (the reviving spell from 2018 is one of her favorites). They also bonded over flowers and their shared love for Chaurli!

Despite's Freya's (and Angrboða's) teachings, Elpis would have been more interested in dark magic, particularly necromancy. Her family forbids her…but she learned it in secret despite their disapproval (curious and mischievous just like her father. And definitely not planning to resurrect dead animals and keep them as pets don't worry Fenrir you're still her favorite).

Kratos’ very favorite grandbaby! The moment she's born, he refuses to let anyone hold her...not even his own daughter-in-law. Even Elpis prefers her grandfather (and grunkle Mimir) over her parents (sorry Atreboða fans). They occasionally drop her off at Kratos’ cabin because Elpis kept begging them to see her grandpa!

Loves Mimir and is fascinated by his ability to speak despite being a head. She adores listening to his stories and often pleads him (or Kratos) to tell her a bedtime story whenever she spent the night at her grandpa's!

Kratos carved her a flute made from Ironwood barks on her 11th birthday, which she absolutely loved! He also taught her how to play it, and together they become a musical duo with Kratos playing a lyre (just like when he’s with Calliope). Even animals are drawn by her melodies!

Elpis found it strange by the sense of familiarity she felt towards her grandfather...as if she had known him from a past life.

Because in rare occurrences, Elpis caught a glimpse of herself in some reflections; a fair woman with lighter hair and blue eyes (definitely not Pandora). she never told anyone about this, not even her own parents until she confides this to Mimir...

Some nights, she even dreamed about the same woman (DEFINITELY NOT PANDORA), sometimes from the woman's perspective with Kratos in a different time...

JÖTNAR HERITAGE

Has a keen interest in vulture culture (she got that weird girl energy from her mother)! Angrboða taught her to paint, so Elpis adorn her collection of animal skulls with vibrant patterns. She even wore one as a mask!

Due of her fascination with vulture culture, she started to take up ivory carving! Atreus taught her to carve, so Elpis can wore them as jewelry! She even gave one to her mother as a lucky charm on mother's day!

Has a habit of cleaning/redefining gravestones, especially to those that are unmarked since she always have a deep respect for the dead! If a grave lacks a tombstone, she'll just make one for them! Besides vulture culture and ivory carving, she would take up headstone carving! She gained this experience whenever her family buried one of their wolves or other pets on their own cemetery in Ironwood.

GODHOOD

Has a strong connection with fylgjur in Norse Mythology. She can perceive any spirit animals in every individual through their fylgjur they represent- even herself!

Since the fandom headcanon that Hel would excel in soul magic, even surpassing the most powerful Giants from her Jötnar heritage (and you know damn well she's going to help Sindri found the last fragment of Brok's soul to the afterlife as he deserved), Elpis can also communicate (emotionally and telepathically) with any souls from Gaints' marbles to plants (a "soul language" trait she inherited from her father, but in higher-level)! It's also how she was able to found Andvari whom Sindri had lost, much to Atreus' relief when Elpis asks if they can keep him; and now she keeps Andvari with her at all times whenever she travels alone!

And since the fandom also agreed that Hel can see and communicate with the dead, as well as summon Hel-Walkers, Elpis can also interact (and connect) with deceased animals (especially wolves) due to her parents’ affinity towards them.

Just overall soul/astral manipulation manifested from her godhood (and from what I've seen, everyone seems to agreed that Hel's god powers would likey have to do with death/decay character-wise in Norse Mythology, which I'm also inboard with it).

Because there are times where she caught a quick glimpses of a certain Greek Goddess just around the corner...

[writing-heiress]

Lilith

Name: Lilith

Titles: Avatar of Despair, Queen of Succubi

Aliases: Lily, Lils, The Catylst of the Celestial War, The Dark Lady

Gender: Female

Speies: Demon (Formerly Angel)

Birthday: March 11

Zodiac: Pisces

Status: Alive

PERSONALITY

Lilith is independent but still manages to have a brash and proud demeanor. She's also gentle, amicable, sweet, and affectionate. She does possess a motherly vibe to her, but that's mainly with children and Seraphina. She deeply cares for the people in her life and tends to be very protective over them, even of they are much more powerful than she is. That being said, Lilith can be deceptive and calculating when she chooses to be.

Her anger is no joke, with many of the boys saying that it could rival Satan's wrath at times. Once she's angry, it's almost impossible to calm her down.

As the youngest and only girl, Lilith was heavily spoiled by her brothers, more so than Belphie. She's a troublemaker and she knows she can almost always get away with it, but it worked a bit less with Lucifer since they arrived at the Devildom.

Like Belpegor, Lilith has very little respect towards authority figures, mainly the Demon King and Micheal. She cares for Diavolo, at least more than Belphegor does.

Lilith blames herself for everything that happened in the past. From being the cause of the Celestial War to her brothers and 1/3 of angels falling becoming demons to Lucifer's deal with Diavolo.

PREFERENCES

LIKES

Most humans, her family, demonic beasts (mainly Cerberus), her moths, the Succubitch Squad, children, Barbatos's tea blends, Little Devil Mango Slushy, pranking Lucifer, fried scorpion, children, hip hop & R&B music, witches, roses, dragons, her second/current lover

DISLIKES

The seraphim (excluding Simeon and Jophiel), anything in the horror genre, jumpscares, Solomon's cooking, Hell Coffee (always super bitter), Lucifer's lectures, social events, her sin, mornings, her first “lover”

BACKGROUND

Lilith was “born” after Beelzebub and Belphegor were on the same day, making them triplets. She was beloved by all of her brothers, but she was especially close with Beelzebub and Belphegor. She was known for causing some problems in the Celestial Realm, but those problems were just harmless pranks for everyone involved.

Thanks to Belphegor, Lilith also developed an interest in humans that she would even descend down to the human world. This soon led to her falling in love with a human man by the name of Adam, all while hiding her angelic background. It didn’t take long before Lucifer to learn about Lilith’s secret relationship, but he was initially fine with it as Adam appeared to be a virtuous young man.

However, it didn’t take long before Adam started to show his true colors, saying that he is the superior one in the relationship and demanded control of Lilith and her subservient to him. Lilith of course refused Adam’s horrid demands and ended the relationship on the spot.

It took a few centuries before Lilith could heal after Adam, but luckily she had met her second lover, who took a while for Lucifer to approve even what happened with Adam. Lilith’s lover had an illness that couldn’t be cured by human means. In order to save her lover, Lilith stole food from the Celestial Realm and fed it to him, curing his illness and making him immortal.

Due to this plus her recent defiance against their Father resulted in Lilith’s death sentence and the start of the Great Celestial War. During the battle, Lilith was severely wounded and fell to the Devildom before any of her brothers. However, she was saved by Eisheth who both nursed her back to health and taught her how to harness Lilith’s new demonic powers before her brothers, Diavolo, & Barbatos managed to find her.

TRIVIA

Lilith’s symbolic animals are moths and owls.

Her worst subject is philosophy; this is mainly because she finds the class boring.

She views Rosè as a younger sister and has made her a (unofficial) protege herself.

Like her older siblings, she shares many things in common with his demonological counterpart. For example, her story with her first lover is shared by the succubus Lilith.

Rosè belong to @starry-night-rose

Tags: @adrianasunderworld @the-weirdos-mind @liviavanrouge @ice-cweam-sod4 @abyssthing198 @tragedytells-tales @fair-night-starry-tears @achy-boo @yumeko2sevilla @yukii0nna

[slumberingrose-fandom]

More Obey Me! Pixies?!

These OCs are playing the role of important characters to help villagers, especially Pixies of Seven Sins and Talia.

Unlike some pixies, they weren't created with items. They born and raised in the Pixies Village from other realm before move to the Devildom.

They not only befriend the same species, but also demons, angels, and humans.

➽──────────────❥

Demetria

Pixie of Winter.

Hails at the North Mountain where she play the role of the Ice Queen's guardian pixie.

Demetria was beloved by northern people, but always blamed by outsiders for creating cold seasons that led to poor harvests.

Although being hated, she have friends who empathize to her, such as Fortuna.

Loves snow boarding, ice skating and snowman building.

Talented at doing ice sculpture, which's her activity on spare time.

Befriend with Barbatos, since she was idolized him for amazing ice skating at the competition.

➽──────────────❥

Qinglan

Pixie of Immortality.

Aggressive and pride of his aristocratic status, but keep in low-key.

Hate loud noises and bad behaviors.

Prefer to isolated from the outsiders and reading scrolls at the room, though his parents forced him to have socialize for the future.

Has ability to create an illusion to scare the opponent away.

Even so Qinglan has a pair of wings, he rarely use to fly. He is an avid walker.

Solomon is his first human friend, where met at the Royal Library of Devildom. Moreover, Qinglan, who hates bad attitudes, doesn't care Solomon's childish behavior.

➽──────────────❥

Coppelia

Pixie of Dancing.

Passionate about dancing and music, mostly ballroom and ballet.

Likes to choreography with music she take an inspiring.

Work as dance instructor at the School for Pixies. Aphrodite is her disciple.

Sometimes take a position of dancer at the performance.

The colors of her dress code are pink, red and white that she fondly of.

While having the butterflies appear within her range or travel across the surface of an area, she have capability of conjure butterflies either by dancing.

➽──────────────❥

Celestia

Pixie of the Skies.

Owns the status of Heaven General and hails to the Celestial Realm.

Strict on the surface, but actually hiding self-blame and even soft-heartedness.

Knowing many incidents at Celestial Realm, mostly Luke and Simeon. But she seal them in secret for not being fallen from forbid the rules.

Loves things touched like clouds, like cotton candy and pillows

Befriend Simeon and Lucifer, whom she sympathizes with, also the one helped them mend their relationship.

In addition, she also met her disciple Hera. However, she feeling something, either was Hera at first who has a feeling for her.

Has a sword that possesses magic that can be used to expel dark souls to Hellfire, as well as has capability of light magic that can expel dark curses.

➽──────────────❥

Terrestria

Celestia's twin sister, born later than her elder sister.

Quiet and rarely shows any other emotion besides annoyance or boredom, yet cares for family and friends deeply.

Like Celestia, Terrestria being the possessor of the Hell General and hails to the Devildom shortly after she was born.

Owns the powers of earth to manipulate the solid objects like rocks and minerals.

Love sewing and designing, but dislikes to show her works in front of people.

Befriend with Mephistopheles, when Terrestria bumped into at the mansion garden. She respects Mephisto's choices, although she had been bored and annoyed by his ridiculous ideas.

➽──────────────❥

Cornelius

Pixie of Healing.

The one help Talia to search the remedy for cure the sleeping curse.

Like Lyssa, Cornelius has ability to cure the water pollution from his unicorn magic.

He opens his own pharmacy to save more villagers' life.

Prefer to have a peace, even so everyone suggested him to join the army.

Has the power of duplication, that he can perfectly replicate himself. Therefore, other clones have their unique personality.

Aqua, as a clone with blue clothes, showing as emo person with stubborn side. Yet he is compassion, gentle and friendly one. Likes to isolate away from outsiders and reading books.

While, Pinkie, other clone with pink clothes, is different than Aqua. He is a guy with the immature attitude of over-optimistic. Still he is empathize with person he cares, and very generous of them.

He opens himself as bisexual, though mostly people he had date were female.

He was once have crushed on Qinglan. Later he gave up for confession and hatred him, when discovered Qinglan's arrogance.

[ashes-2-ashes57cba]

The Clone Wars: A Distant Echo

Part 2 of the Clone Wars Bad Batch arc with my OC: Specter! this has been edited *adla'vod: roughly translates to "twin", directly translates to "same brother/sister"

Specter felt surprised and almost betrayed when Crosshair let General Anakin Skywalker inspect his beloved rifle. Usually, he would get fussy if even she touched it. He wouldn’t even let her put her stuff next to his. 

The Bad Batch, Captain Rex, and the Jedi were on board the Batch’s ship—the Marauder—on their way to Skako Minor, following the live signal “Echo” supposedly sent out. Rex watched as Wrecker lifted a gonk droid with one hand and ate with the other. Crosshair observed as the General looked at his gun, and Hunter monitored any planetside activity at the console while Tech flew them to their destination. The female clone sat back, resting and mentally preparing herself for their next mission. 

“So, how many missions has your team been on, Sergeant?” Anakin asked Hunter.

“Honestly, sir, I’ve lost count. All the action sort of blurs together,” he admitted with a shrug.

“I know you work with Cody sometimes, but who exactly do you guys report to?” Rex asked. Hunter hummed in thought.

“Good question. Can’t say I’ve got an answer.”

“Yeah, I’d feel really bad for the one who would have to try and make sense of our reports,” Specter piped up. Wrecker laughed in agreement. “Oh, adla’vod?” The sniper turned to his twin as Anakin handed him his rifle back. “Your taste in music is weird and the songs you suggested are weird, and I love it. I’m adding them to the playlist.”

“I told you,” he said with a smirk. 

“So you’re the first female clone. How does that affect your… dynamic?” Skywalker asked, turning his attention to Specter. She raised an eyebrow.

“If you’re implying what I think you are, don’t worry about it. I’ve heard enough of the whispers. I’ve saved these boys more times than they’d like to admit, so I’m not just a pretty face.”

“What?” Anakin blushed, “N-no, like— gosh how do I say it without sounding crass?” Specter surprised him by laughing. 

“I’m teasing, General, I know what you mean. They’re my brothers and best friends. They respect me and know when to give me my space when I need it. In return, I don’t break their knees. Isn’t that right boys?” she asked aloud to her team.

“Yes, ma’am,” they replied; some enthusiastically, some with disdain. 

“However they don’t always pick up after themselves. Take Tech, for example,” she said loudly, hoping to get his attention.

“What now?” he sighed.

“Just because my bunk was empty and clean, does not mean you get to use it for storage for your projects.”

“You weren’t using it.”

“Because your stuff was on it!” Rex and Anakin snickered at their argument while Crosshair and Hunter rolled their eyes. A thud and the sound of alarms ended their argument.

“We are approaching Skako Minor,” Tech reported. “It looks to be a difficult landing.” The Marauder broke through the thunderous clouds, turbulence rocked the ship. Wrecker went to help Tech man the controls while the others strapped themselves in. 

Once they landed and everything settled, the rest of the team gathered in the cockpit.

“Rex, what do we know about this place?” Anakin asked his captain.

“On this part of Skako, there’s a race of locals, the Poletecs. All we know is that they’re very primitive.”

“‘Primitive’ is being kind. My intel says the Poletecs worship flying reptiles,” Tech chimed in. A thud and screech were heard outside the ship, almost in reply to the Batcher’s remark. A shadow of a creature scurried over the viewport.

“Oh! What the heck was that?” Wrecker exclaimed as the ship rocked and jolted.

“It’s one of those reptiles,” Tech simply answered.

“I want that thing off my ship,” Hunter growled, putting on his helmet. The Batchers followed his lead and prepared to go outside to investigate. 

“Hold on! Hold on! Don’t just run out there,” Rex warned. 

The Bad Batch ignored him, running out to the blowing winds. A creature was on top of the ship, its rider a mere silhouette against the dim golden light peeking through the dust and clouds.

“Hey! Get off of there!” Wrecker yelled, pointing his blaster at them. Anakin ignited his saber but held his arm out to the brute.

“Hey, calm down. We need to talk to them,” he said.

“Why?” Hunter gowled. The Bad Batch wasn’t used to handling confrontations with diplomacy.

“The General’s right,” Rex supported. Two more flying creatures screeched and approached fast, intently flying toward the group. 

“Heads up!” Specter yelled, crouching low. Anakin pushed Rex out of the way as one of them reached out with its claws to grab at the captain. The two flew by, but the one atop the ship jumped down and grabbed Anakin before flying away with the rest of its group. The Jedi’s lightsaber fell from his belt, Rex grabbed it before firing a few potshots at the reptile, hoping to have some sort of effect. Tech looked through his visor, tracking him.

“I have a thermal reading. Point-two-five east, elevation 175,” he reported. 

“Relax,” Crosshair said, readying his rifle and using Tech’s shoulder as a mount, “I’ll handle this.” He fired a grappling line, latching onto the leg of the reptile holding Anakin.

“What are you doing?” Rex asked as Crosshair handed Hunter the base of the line. 

“Going for a ride,” Hunter said, clipping the line to his belt before being yanked away. “Keep the boys out of trouble, Spec.” Specter crossed her arms, and yelled after him.

“Like they listen to me anyway, but sure thing.” 

The group watched as Hunter and the General disappeared into the thick clouds. Silence surrounded the group until Wrecker turned to Specter and asked-

“Should we follow them?”

“Not yet,” she replied. “We can’t be sure of any more of those reptiles hiding among the clouds. Best to trust Hunter to assess the situation before we rush in.” Her fist tightened with anxiety by her side; Hunter often trusted her judgment enough for her to lead the group when he couldn’t, but this time the life of a Jedi General was on the line.

“Tech, I’m with the General. Hone in on my signal,” Hunter’s voice eventually came through the comm. Specter relaxed her shoulders before turning to the others.

“Alright, now we can regroup. Everyone back to the Marauder,” she said, taking charge and gesturing back to the ship, following the others inside just as Tech launched the shuttle and flew to Hunter’s signal. 

They eventually touched down a ways back from the edge of a ridge leading down into the Poletec’s village. Hunter was kneeling down, out of sight, observing the scene. 

“That creature still has a hold of the General,” he reported to Rex, who went to take position beside him. Rex flipped down the antennae on his helmet, looking through the scope to assess Skywalker, Specter mirrored him, tracking each of the villagers.

“We’re going in,” he said, standing up, “but remember what the General said. ‘No casualties, disarm only’.” The reminder was emphasized towards the Batch with a few pointed glances. Wrecker shook his head and slumped in dejection. 

“We’re on it, Captain,” Hunter stood up before giving orders. “Wrecker, Crosshair, rockslide!” The two went to push the large boulder nearby down the ridge and into the village. As it rolled, Wrecker shadowed behind it, using it as cover, while Crosshair stayed behind to take a sniper position. The rest of the team followed suit, shooting to disarm the natives as they scrambled away. Crosshair shot an electric probe at the leg of the creature holding Anakin; it flew off from the shock, allowing the Jedi to roll out of the way of the boulder. Hunter pointed his pistol at the leader of the Poletecs; it spoke its language at him, waving his arms about. “Tech, translate what he said?” 

“He says he does not want our war on his planet. That is why he took our leader,” he relayed, reading the translation off his visor.

“We didn’t bring the war here,” Anakin said, “it was Wat Tambor and the Separatists.” Tech went to translate, doing his best to mimic the Poltec dialect. The chieftain looked between him and Skywalker.

“Tell him we apologize for what’s happened,” Rex stepped forward. “But tell him the enemy is holding one of our men prisoner in Purkoll. As soon as we rescue him, we’ll leave this planet, for good.” Tech nodded, turning to the chieftain and relaying the information. 

Specter couldn’t help but giggle; Rex noticed her shaking shoulders and nudged her side. 

“Hey, what’s so funny?”

“He just sounds so robotic. He’s not even attempting to follow through with the accent,” she explained. 

“Could you do any better?” Rex asked. She scoffed.

“Give me a day and I could even learn the local dialect, Captain. If it helps put things in perspective, I learned Galactic Sign Language in a week.” 

“Wow, Specter, is there anything you can’t do?” Rex wondered.

“Yeah. She can’t reach the high shelves,” Crosshair sneered. His twin stomped on his foot. 

The Poltec leader and Tech continued to speak back and forth in what looked like apologies and negotiations. 

“The chief says he’ll provide us with scouts and lead us to Tambor’s city. From there, we’re on our own,” he reported to Anakin. 

“Any help is better than no help.”

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

The two scouts led the team to a rocky outlook with a clear view of the city, or at least the spires hanging down from the clouds. One pointed towards the city and said something in his language; Tech thanked them before they went to return to their village. 

“Hope nobody’s scared of heights,” Anakin said with a smirk. Crosshair, Hunter, and Specter turned to look at Wrecker, who perked up at the attention.

“Well, I’m not scared of nothing!” he assured, unconvincingly. He glanced down the cliff rock, however, noting the height. “I just… when I’m up real high, I got a problem with gravity,” the brute admitted.

“Speaking of problems,” Tech spoke up, “I am no longer picking up Echo’s signal.”

“I don’t understand,” Rex said, surprised, “you said it was coming from this city.”

“I can only speculate, but it is possible there’s a latency issue with the frequency caused by all these atmospheric disturbances,” Tech said, holding up his datapad.

“Or… maybe they sent the signal to lure us into a trap,” Hunter speculated. “And maybe your friend’s actually dead. Well I can’t be the only one thinking of that.”

“But if a clone can come back from the dead, then nothing could stop me from being completely unhinged,” Specter fantasized.

“Look, every mission could be a trap. This one is no different,” Rex argued against Hunter. “I’m telling you that signal is being sent by Echo himself! He’s alive!”

“I think you’re letting your personal feelings get in the way because you left him for dead at the Citadel,” Crosshair sneered, turning his back on the captain. Specter tilted her head back in exasperation. 

“I had no choice. You hear me?” Rex said, his tone dark and on the verge of anger.

“Oh, I don’t blame you. I would’ve left him for dead too. Besides, he’s just another reg.” 

Specter didn’t blame Rex, nor did she try to stop him when he punched Crosshair to the ground. 

“Hey!” Wrecker grabbed the captain by the back of his armor. “Why don’t you pick on someone not your size?” The brute threw him off, but Rex turned right back around and marched up to him.

“You’ll be a whole lot smaller when I’m through with you,” he growled.

“That’s enough!” Anakin ordered, pushing the two men apart. “Sergeant, take your men and scout the area for a tower entrance. I want to talk to my Captain alone.” Hunter motioned for the Bad Batch to follow him, Specter helped Crosshair stand up before smacking the back of his helmet, scolding her twin for his insensitive comment.

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

The wind howled, blowing golden dust. Specter shifted her stance again, trying to ignore the itch of sand up in her armor. The Batch did their best to peer through the sand and guard the entrance of one of the towers leading up to the city while Tech worked on the door panel. Hunter sensed someone coming, holding up his gun in defense. But it was Skywalker and Rex running to meet them.

“We’re in business, General. Tech regained Echo’s signal,” Hunter reported, shouting over the wind and walking him towards the entrance. “It’s coming from this tower. How’s it going, Tech?” The clone had his datapad hooked up to a console, quietly working through algorithms and firewalls to get past the door. After pushing a few buttons, he was able to gain access.

“Sorry it took so long,” he replied with a shrug. 

“Hey, twins, check it out,” Hunter nodded inside. 

“Ah yes, the noble sacrifices,” Specter slumped before holding up her blaster and following Crosshair, sweeping the inner room for any traps or cameras. They found nothing and turned back to the door. 

“Yeah, it’s a lift,” Crosshair deadpanned.

“How magical,” Specter feigned wonder.

“Well, we already knew that,” Rex said, unamused, walking inside with the others. Wrecker nervously looked up at the tower, most of it disappeared behind heavy clouds. 

“Wait, wait, wait. A lift? How far up are we going?” he growled.

“Don’t worry, Wrecker. I’ll hold your hand,” Hunter teased. 

“Hey! Cut it out, Sarge,” Wrecker said, bumping past Hunter’s shoulder, “Just give me some droids to crush.”

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

“Remember, this is a stealth mission,” the General said as the lift neared the top, “no blasting, no blowing things up. Nobody knows we’re here.”

“Pff, don’t count on it,” Specter muttered, collapsing her blaster’s stalk and preparing her pistol. The door opened to a group of droids who abandoned their tasks, turned to the intruders, and readied their weapons. Wrecker dashed out, crashing into the ones closest, throwing one at another group near the back and swinging another at a few near the opening. They fell with robotic screams.

“I told you!” Specter said before running out to the fight with her squadmates. Anakin could only shake his head with a smirk. She fired alongside Tech, covering the corridor that led inside the facility. A pair of droids snuck up behind them, separating her and Tech. Specter let them corner her against some crates; once they were right where she wanted, she jumped up and pushed off against the crates—over the droids’ line of fire—knocking them down with a split kick. A shot flew past her shoulder, striking a lone droid attempting to charge at her; Specter looked up to find Crosshair fired the shot, she returned the favor by blasting a droid approaching behind him.

 Wrecker charged at the remaining droids, firing relentlessly and cheering from the adrenaline once they were victorious. Everyone simply looked at him.

“Uh… sorry. I just got excited.” Specter came around and patted his shoulder while Tech checked his scanner.

“I’ve still got a lock on Echo’s signal.” 

“All right, men.” Hunter readied his blaster and led the way to the corridor. “Let’s hunt some droids.”

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

Droids on patrol marched through the hall, though they didn’t detect the door opening and Hunter peeking out. He motioned Specter forward and nodded; they stepped out, he shot the droids entering the area while she destroyed the ones that passed, clearing the way for Skywalker to step into the hallway. 

“Where exactly is Echo’s signal coming from?” he asked Tech. The clone adjusted his goggles as he looked at his datapad.

“Strange. I just lost the signal.”

“What? How can that be?” Rex asked, removing his helmet. “There’s no ‘atmospheric disturbances’ up here.”

“Well, I have a new theory. I’m surprised I did not consider it earlier,” Tech shook his head. “The signal is only traceable during data transmissions. So until Echo dispenses more intel, I cannot pick up the signal.”

“Okay, we’re splitting up. Search every door,” the General began to order, “If someone finds Echo, contact the others. We go in together, just in case there’s trouble.” Specter and Crosshair split with the General while the others went down the other way. She found nothing in the doors she checked, only storage containers and maintenance supplies. 

Specter had a very hard time believing a clone like Echo could have survived the attack on the citadel, but she knew if it was one of her squadmates, she would be just as adamant to rescue them as Rex was. But like Tech, she was logical enough to know that the chances of Echo actually being alive were low. But not zero. 

A commotion caught her attention: muffled blaster fire and a lightsaber. The clone ran towards Anakin, configuring her blaster into a sniper rifle; she got there just in time, shooting down the droids before they could attack again. The Jedi stood up, calmly walking towards her.

“Thanks for the backup.”

“No problem, General,” she said, giving a two-fingered salute.

“Hey, where did you get that weapon? I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it,” he asked as they walked down the hall.

“I doubt you would’ve. Tech and Crosshair designed and built it after I saved them on a mission from Corellia… and took care of them when they caught Corellian fever,” she snickered.

“You didn’t have to mention that,” Crosshair hissed, coming up beside them.

“Too late, Cross,” she teased, patting the side of his helmet. He swatted her hand away. “But I was the one who helped engineer the reconfiguring mechanism.”

“Clever,” the Jedi complimented. 

“Don’t let it get to her head,” Crosshair warned.

“Hey, how about when you— did you guys hear something?” Specter stopped herself, suddenly perking up. The others heard it too; sounds of droids and blasters being fired. 

“Sounds like trouble. Let’s move,” the General ordered.

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

It seemed the three had arrived just in time to even the odds against the droids attacking the rest of the team. Anakin used the Force to push a group out of his way, swinging his lightsaber to cut them and deflect their shots. Hunter took the opportunity to go on the offensive, Wrecker, Tech, and Rex joined in. The Sergeant held up a droid by the neck, ready to punch its head off, but Crosshair came in and shot it off for him. A whistle sounded, Specter came running in, taking a position by Wrecker.

“Hey, swing me around,” she said.

“Like on Mon Cala?” he asked, shooting a few droids.

“What? No, like on Ryloth.” They hooked their arms around each other and he spun, swinging Specter around to shoot and kick at the rest of the droids near them. The Jedi stabbed the last one. “Mon Cala… you didn’t swing me, you threw me. Underwater,” Specter mumbled. More blaster fire filled the hallway, even more droids were coming. The team took defensive positions in the side of the room. 

“Tech, open that door for Rex!” Anakin ordered over the noise. 

“Yes, sir!” Tech nodded and ran to take care of the door.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for, Captain,” Hunter said, turning to acknowledge him. “Specter, you’re with them.” Rex and Specter ran to meet Tech who was able to get the door open and enter the room. It was filled with dimly lit panels and other controls. 

“I don’t like the look of this,” Specter heard Rex say— her back was turned, keeping an eye on the door and their other surroundings. 

“I’m definitely picking up a life-form in there,” Tech said, his scanner beeping in rapid succession. He investigated the controls, “It seems to be a stasis chamber. I think I can get it open.” Specter looked over her shoulder, Tech worked at the control panel and got the chamber open. 

The door hissed open and a form fell forward, only caught by the wires attached to—him. It was a body. Malnourished, disfigured, but a clone’s body nonetheless. Specter stifled a gasp at the sight. 

“Echo,” Rex breathed. “Tech, we’ve got to get him out of here. Figure out how to…  unplug him from… from this mess.” Rex frantically undid the line around his torso, laying the body down onto the floor, cables were still attached to Echo’s head. “What have they done to you?” Specter abandoned watching the door and turned to go help Rex, who had taken off his helmet.

“We… we have to get to the shuttle to escape the Citadel,” the soldier muttered. His eyes were open but unseeing, skin sickly and pale, body emaciated and drawn. Both his legs and his right arm were replaced by cybernetic parts.

“He’s stable, but blood sugar is low,” Specter reported, removing her helmet and taking out a small flashlight. She shined it in his eyes, they were dilated and unfocused. “He’s in there but barely. Hallucinating. Oxygen in his brain must be low too, his heartbeat is irregular.” She felt his pulse on his wrist and by his neck.

“No! I’ll go first,” Echo continued in his hallucination, reaching out. Rex gently shook him.

“Echo,” he pleaded. “Echo, it’s Rex. I’m here.” The pale clone calmed down, his eyes came into focus.

“Rex? You, you came back for me,” he breathed, reaching to touch Rex.

“Yes. Yes, I did,” Rex assured. 

“What? What happened? Where am I?” Echo looked around.

“Yeah, he’s coming around alright. It’s okay, soldier. You’re safe now,” she assured.

“Just sit tight, Echo,” Rex said, “You’re going home.”

[vey-myname]

[005] • audition day ! | take the stage!

prev | masterlist | next

word count: 3.4k

after posting, you immediately set your phone to silent, ignoring all the notifications. you didn’t want to get even shaken up more than you already are.

it sucks, not having anyone to rely on while you’re living in a land that isn’t your homeland. you can’t call kaveh to meet you up after your audition and vent all about it. you don’t have alhaitham to link your arm with his to help lessen your anxiety.

hell, you can’t even tell your mother about this when she’s the closest to home, to your beloved homeland sumeru, that you can rely on.

everything is so foreign. everything is so weird.

it makes you want to throw up, it makes you feel lightheaded.

it’s been a while since you felt this nerve wracked over your own sport.

you stood in front of the doors of your university’s gymnasium. you can hear the ballroom music ringing from the other side of the door. the moment you open these doors will be the time you’ll be facing the reality that you so badly want to run away from.

no, you shake your head lightly, heart pounding like crazy, you’re better than what you account yourself for.

with a huff, you gently pushed the door open, making your entrance in the gymnasium.

your eyes scanned the venue, making eye contact with one of the famous coaches of the fatui group— arlecchino.

like the performer that you are, you channeled all your virtues in your stature.

attitude, you noted mentally, never let them know you’re a wreck inside.

you gave her a small yet sweet smile, bowing your head to offer your greetings and respect. she smiled back although short and professional, walking towards your direction to assist you.

“good day, miss [name],” she greets you, slightly surprised that she knows who you are. that surprise must’ve been obvious as she chuckled a little at your expression.

“good day, coach,” you greeted back, smile slightly sheepish. it felt unreal being in the same room as THE arlecchino who was responsible for the back to back champion of snezhnaya for 4 seasons in the nationals, even more so that you’re interacting with her. “i must have been too obvious, didn't i?”

“nothing to worry about,” she lifts her clipboard, scanning its contents. “i’m surprised as well that you’re making a comeback. with the fatui’s tryouts too at that.”

you shyly pushed a clump of your hair behind your ear. “i’m just as surprised as you, coach. i thought, why not give it a try?”

“i’m glad you made that decision.” arlecchino returns her gaze to you. “follow me.”

the standard-latin coach starts walking away to which you followed. you feel your hands shaking lightly in nervousness as you do so. to keep yourself calm, you diverted your attention in scanning the venue.

you notice the other coaches that have also made a name in the field of ballroom and dancesport, making your chest tighten due to the pressure continuously building up. zandik, columbina, pantalone, rosalyn— they’re all present.

you avert your attention to your fellow auditionees who looked unfamiliar but perhaps that’s just how it is? after all, this is your first year in snezhnaya. but that did not help as well after you pieced the puzzle together that you’re being talked about by them. you could not help but think about what they were talking about— is it the usual nepotism claims? privilege?

you’d rather not know.

while your eyes scoured over the flock of auditionees, you accidentally made eye contact with a ginger head boasting blue eyes that resembled the sea. this resemblance oddly gave you a sense of peace as you loved the sea— the place where you noticed freedom embraced your whole identity. not as your mother’s daughter, just yourself as [name]. the place where you can truly be yourself.

the guy blinked at you in surprise as he seemed to notice that you two shared eye contact before it was all washed away by a soft smile of acknowledgment that he shared with you. you chuckled under your breath, returning his smile before you focused your attention back to the woman in front of you.

“you may take your seat here as we wait for the commencement. it will start in a few, your arrival was just on time.” she leads you to your seat, muttering a thank you for her service.

“i’m looking forward to your performance, miss [name].” arlecchino smiles at you once more before she leaves to gather the coaches altogether, rendering you unable to say anything else in reply.

you sat down, fiddling with your phone in your hand. you are firm about not accessing it throughout your audition process as you want to be grounded with the event going on.

you couldn’t help but look at the coaches again, noticing how coach zandik and coach columbina seemed to be performing the bronze syllabus of rumba. for some reason, watching them helped distract you from all the negative feelings overwhelming your body as you were in awe with how talented they were. the turnouts and triangles were present, the collects are also cleanly done.

suddenly, all the nausea caused by your anxiety were washed away with how much you missed your own sport. the nostalgia and the longing replaced all your worries, boosting your morale and confidence. a testimony of that is the grin that formed on your lips that you didn’t even notice.

“attention dear auditionees,” arlecchino’s voice, amplified by a microphone, cut you from your trance, placing your attention back to her. “gather yourselves at the center now.”

it has finally begun and there’s no turning back.

you stood up from your seat, making your way to the center of the gymnasium. you purposefully positioned yourself at the end of the crowd, avoiding to give yourself more attention with all that you already have at the moment.

“the fatui group is glad to have you all here. we would like to extend our gratitude for your interest in being a part of us.” everybody applauded at arlecchino’s appreciation.

“with that we’ll be discussing the flow of events for this year’s tryouts.”

after all the discussion, everyone was divided into groups for a quick getting-to-know each other. a classic way to start!

each group is assigned with a coach who will be asking one question where everyone in that group will answer before the whole group moves onto the next coach.

throughout that activity, you learned a lot about your co-auditionees and even the coaches. some of your co-auditionees started their journey in ballroom as young as you did, some starting either during their high school or college years, some doing it as a hobby. you even learned that one of the coaches, columbina, used to believe that she was a perfect fit for standard until her previous coach saw her potential to be an amazing latin dancer which is proven true by her two international trophies in grade a latin.

after all that, you were all dispersed, awaiting for the next activity to start.

“let’s do this swiftly,” arlecchino sets her clipboard down on the table. “find your places everyone. we’ll observe your basics before we head onto the partnering and the performance. we’ll follow the bronze syllabus for following ballroom dances: rumba, cha cha cha, and jive for latin while we’ll be having waltz, tango, and quickstep for standard.”

“we’ll assume everyone is ready.” pantalone comments with his signature unwavering smile. “find your walls. go.”

and so everyone did what the coaches said, scattering themselves all around the gymnasium including yourself. this time, you did not want to settle in placing yourself at the end of the dispersed crowd. you made your way a little bit to the center, ensuring you had enough space to move, with your back facing the gymnasium’s entrance.

you were all asked to do the postures for both latin and standard but what made the whole ordeal nerve wracking was the coaches were all observing you with clipboards in their hands, presumably writing down their remarks. at some instances, pantalone would push some of your co-auditionees to check their stability. some wobbled, some almost stumbled over, some unfazed. despite that, he will not say anything. he will just write them down and move onto the next person.

he eventually made his way to you, eyeing you from head to toe. pantalone did the same, pushing your arms lightly to see if they will break your stature to which you were unfazed. he noted down his observation, moving onto the next person.

you felt yourself relax slightly, sighing under your breath. you thought about how it felt weird yet nostalgic going through something like this again while a droplet of sweat rolled down at the side of your face.

you assured yourself that you did okay with the first test. after all, you didn’t get tapped when you were doing your closed ballroom hold position for both waltz and tango too.

“you may relax now everyone,” coach zandik chimes in, with him governing over the microphone this time around. “congratulations, alright, for finishing the first test. applaud yourselves and wipe your sweat. we’re only getting started!”

everyone clapped once more, some chuckling at the acknowledgment or perhaps the feeling of freedom from that tense atmosphere.

“now, i want everyone to find a partner. i’m sure your first activity is going to pay off here so grab a partner within 5 minutes.” he sets the microphone down on the table as everyone started walking around to invite their co-auditionees.

honestly, you wanted to perform solo but as it is required, you didn’t have a choice, do you?

“hey,” a guy with caramel blond hair, which you assumed to be named viktor if your memory serves you right, approached you. you gave him a smile in response.

“i just want this to get this over with. this is my third time trying out for the fatui’s audition and i need to get in. i’m getting tired of not passing. i know you’re a big shot so i’ll get in easily if you become my partner.”

oh, he’s frank.

“oh,” you felt your smile drop from your face at his straightforwardness. you felt awkward with a tinge of anger being put in this kind of situation.

“i don’t think it works that way though?” you almost combat his straightforwardness with your own.

“i’d have to agree with that brother,” until another unfamiliar voice chimes in. you turn your head towards the owner of the voice, recognizing him to be the guy you had eye contact with earlier.

the ginger stood next to you, giving you a wink and a confident smile.

“and who the hell are you?” viktor rolls his eyes, crossing his arms.

“call me childe,” the man named childe positioned his arms on his waist, transferring his weight on one leg. his smile never faltered. “your contender in asking this pretty lady to be their partner.”

you were in disbelief with the commotion unraveling in front of you. but if you had to choose, you’d definitely go for the man beside you rather than the guy using you for his own benefit.

“are you serious?” viktor sighed. “i asked her first so piss off.”

“oh but she didn’t accept your invitation, did she? hell, i don’t even think that was an invitation. if anything that’s something like…” childe placed a finger on his lips, tapping them like he was thinking which felt like a mockery.

“…something like coercion?”

“you little—“

“i don’t know! that’s just my observation.” childe laughs, which made you laugh a bit too.

“true,” you agree with childe. “like i said, it doesn’t work that way.”

for some reason, with childe beside you, you felt confident as well. a sudden surge of energy, and perhaps pettiness, empowered you in combatting viktor’s straightforwardness.

“didn’t you almost stumble over when coach pantalone pushed you?” you pouted mockingly at him. “partnering with me is not your key to success, darling. it’s your own skills and attitude that will give you a pass to the fatui.”

“she’s so right,” childe agrees, facing you. he offers his hand to you which took you aback but you gave him a small grin. “with that, can i ask you to be my partner, miss [name]?”

you gently placed your hand atop his, closing your grip on his hand.

“honored to be your partner, dear.”

viktor, with a very confused yet angry expression, walked away with no fight.

“aaand he pissed off instead.” you and childe watched him stomp away from the two of you.

“good riddance. i can’t believe i went through that again.” you sighed in agreement.

“you mean this kind of thing happens often?” childe curiously inquired. you only nodded in response.

“alright! let’s resume our session~!” zandik intercepts everyone, catching all the attention.

the resumption started with standard, particularly with waltz. it was surprising how the coaches required everyone to do a closed ballroom hold during the audition but you assumed that it’s to closely observe everyone’s capabilities.

“will it be treacherous if i tell you that i’ll rely on you on this so i can pass?” childe jokes where he was met with a (jokingly) displeased [name].

“happy to know you’re self-aware.” you joked back at him, earning you a laugh from your partner.

you and childe worked your way with your closed ballroom hold. you closed the space between the two of you, letting your upper body touch against his. you grabbed his left hand with your right, your thumbs touching while you ensure that childe is doing the right hold.

you rest your left hand on his upper arm, near his shoulder, while he rests his palm on your back. with everything all set, you perform cbm by leaning your left shoulder back.

“as expected from the pro,” childe compliments your posture, to which you scrunch your nose in embarrassment. “it’s just the basics, childe.”

“alright, alright. if you say so, pretty lady.”

with that, the trials for waltz, and the rest of the standard ballroom dances, are completed. suffice to say that you did well.

to be completely honest, you were surprised that you worked well with childe. with alhaitham being your partner for years, you thought you wouldn’t have that sort of compatibility with someone else, let alone with someone you just met and it all came so easily. childe himself is very skilled and you’re surprised you’ve never seen him as a contender nor have you heard of him as a ballroom dancer. he can easily bag multiple championships under his name if he competed.

“did you train under coach neuvilette?” you blurted out of curiosity.

“oh you know him?”

“yeah, my mom held workshops with him before. i thought your techniques felt familiar.”

“you’re right about that actually.” childe affirms. “it’s all thanks to him that i’m where i am right now with standard. i honestly don’t vibe well with this one, you know?”

you smirk a bit, recognizing that sentiment all too well. you break away from the hold after finishing the syllabus for quickstep.

“i get you.”

childe raises a brow at your reply but was cut off by the coach before he could even form his question for you.

“great job everyone! let’s wrap up our audition with latin!”

“finally,” childe claps his hands. “something i’m good at.”

“i’m your opposite,” your shoulders slump. “my skills in latin are pretty much so-so.”

“i doubt it,” childe shrugs at the information you shared with him.

with that, you do another closed ballroom hold, maintaining a space between the two of you unlike a while ago during your trials in standard.

“we’ll be starting with rumba, followed by cha cha cha, and then jive.”

“god, guide me with my timing for latin,” you plead under your breath, childe catching on to your words.

“i’ll count for us, yeah?” he offers, which you accepted, expressing a quick word of gratitude for his help.

and so the music rolls, childe counting where only the two of you can hear.

as the two of you performed, you envisioned yourself in some sort of a competition hence you give it your all. those facial expressions and styling are at work. childe is the same, facial expressions and hand styling at work.

he did not lie when he said he’s good at this, you thought as you move your hips, matching his cuban rock.

taking it up a notch, you made eye contact with him as you felt confident to match his skills. one thing to know about rumba is that the dance is very sensual, which is why you wanted to build that connection with him through initiating eye contact with the man in front of you.

childe returned the same energy, staring at you with a cunning smirk as he initiated another basic to lead you to your fan and then to alemana. let me note here that the way he gazed at you was relaxed, eyes slightly lidded. the two of you moved along to the music, not even realizing that the song slowly faded away already.

“i knew i was right in doubting you.” childe taps your shoulder. “with your skills, i just know it, [name].”

“you’re just flattering me.” you tap the back of his hand in response before facing the coaches again to listen to their announcements.

a little later on, you have finished the portion of latin as well. that marks the end of the audition!

can you believe it? you were able to power through the auditions of the fatui group! just earlier, you were feeling so anxious that you almost forgot who you are, a back to back champion just like the coaches of the group.

with a few more announcements from arlecchino, they concluded the audition and formally dismissed everyone.

you felt someone glaring daggers at you as you fix your things. it was bothersome, you didn’t have to search for the source for you to know who it was.

“are you free after this?” childe asks you, slinging one strap of his backpack in one arm.

“i think so. just a few texts to read for next week’s lecture but i’m halfway done with that anyway.” you inform him. “why?”

“wanna grab dinner together?” childe shoots you a gentle smile, making your heart flutter a little.

this guy… you thought.

you share with him a sweet smile, one you can muster best. “i’d love to.”

“great! let me bring you to my favorite restaurant!” childe excitedly tells you, like a child talking about his favorite toy. it was an adorable sight.

childe leads the way to the exit while he maintains a close distance with you, taking the space on your right as he also noticed viktor’s deathly glares at you. he didn’t want you to feel even more bothered, especially by a nobody who isn’t worth your time and energy.

you and childe head to the location, sharing a lot of conversations together. he knows you by name as he has watched your performances before. moreover, most of your topics revolved around your thoughts and feelings about the auditions that just took place.

you must say that you are indebted to him for helping you relax amidst all the ordeal. as a way of saying that, you treated childe for dinner to which he declined but he was left with no choice but to accept. one thing about you is that you are stubborn and your friends know that all too well.

it felt nice finally knowing someone in a place you don’t know. being in such a position, it’s hard to pick yourself up and lead the way without knowing anything.

childe accompanies you at the bus stop and waits for you to get home safely. it’s nighttime after all, he knows about the dangers at snezhnaya especially at night.

“will it be okay to keep contact with you, [name]?” childe asked almost shyly. you almost squealed, he’s been showing you a lot of his sides despite only meeting for the first time.

“of course,” you opened your phone, exchanging numbers and accounts. that’s where you saw your notifications, your eyes darting at alhaitham’s message.

god, it almost made you cry. alhaitham is not the kind of person to greet you with good luck but one thing about him is that he will never forget to celebrate together your wins and even your losses nevertheless. you just started missing sumeru even more.

but now that you’re at snezhnaya, you have to start anew. you look up at the man beside you who is busy looking at somewhere distant.

your story at snezhnaya is just beginning. it will be a long ride ahead, but you hope it will all be worth it.

୨♡୧ definition of terms: ✧ bronze syllabus - bronze syllabus, both in latin and standard, encapsulates the foundation of the dances from foot works to techniques to partnering skills. ✧ turnout - a basic yet important element in latin dance where the feet of the performer is turned out between 45 to 90 degrees. ✧ triangle - the formation of your free leg before sending creates a triangle. it is perceived to make the dance look neat and polished. ✧ collect - when you collect, it is when you allow your feet to be together. it is worth noting that your feet's inner edge is tilted inside with your ankles touching together. ✧ grade a latin - grade a latin consists of all the five dances. from what i've seen, it starts with samba, followed by rumba, then cha cha cha, then paso doble, and ends with the jive. ✧ wall - the wall is one of the eight alignments in ballroom. ✧ closed ballroom hold - closed ballroom hold is a basic position in ballroom. also known as closed position and closed hold. ✧ cuban rock - cuban rock is an amalgamation in latin dance, particularly seen in rumba. to achieve this, the performers must do three weight changes while the feet are in place and apart. ✧ alemana - another amalgamation in latin dance where the follower (also referred to as lady's part) performs turns (1/8, 1/2, 3/8 turns respectively). it looks like the follower works back and forth to their partner/leader. ✧ fan - the execution of this step uses the open facing position with the partners perpendicular to each other.

❀ author’s notes: HELPPPP IT TOOK ME 5 HOURS TO WRITE THIS but im proud of myself bc it has been a while (2 yrs actually...) since i wrote something like this </3 i got carried away guys </3 aueueueue i will recheck everything again later maybe idk </3 i hope you enjoy this chapter!

˚₊· taglist: open~ send an ask or comment to be added! *ੈ✩‧₊˚ @kyon-cherri @tendo-shairdye

[iibonniee]

Day 16 | Yoo Kihyun

Paring: Yoo Kihyun x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: none

Rating: G

Word Count: 967

Prompt: Office Holiday Party

Masterlist

Tags: @doveslittlekpoparchive @choicesthot @xosunny @heaviihamonii

The sound of soft music mixed with the light chatter with occasional laughter filled the room with a calming atmosphere. The time was roughly 6:36 P.M. when she had last checked. Though her eyes never remained on her phone, they would lift on their own, surveying the room until her eyes landed on one person.

Yoo Kihyun.

The man was resplendent as ever; a magnetic entity who effortlessly commanded attention, not just for his strikingly handsome appearance but also the dapper grace radiating off him. Dressed in an immaculate charcoal-gray suit, his poised and confident posture was like no other. His aura was an astounding blend of quiet strength and endearing charm. It was like he was walking poetry, a charismatic essence that was both overwhelming and inviting at the same time.

Time seemed to slow down as Kihyun turned his eyes towards her. His gaze was warm yet intense, a millisecond glance that immediately warmed her face. It was almost like a magnetic pull, an underlying current of unspoken words and built-up emotions. Guided by instinct, he began to weave his way through the crowd, attracting a few appreciative glances along his way.

Their relationship was like a beloved secret, a special bond shared between two souls. It was as if they lived in their own world, the world that only had room for two of them. Dating Kihyun was an enchanting journey, filled with cherished memories and cherished smiles, heartfelt conversations, and innocent teasing.

Standing together in her office party amidst her colleagues and chaos, there was an absolute serenity. Their hands brushed against each other’s as a familiar smile spread across their faces, their silent communication more potent than any spoken words. As the lights dimmed, replacing the loud chatter with soft tunes, they embraced the moment. The world around them ceased to exist. It was just them, and their love story, unfolding under a sky of dreams and stars.

“This place isn’t so bad.” Kihyun hummed, wrapping his arms around her to pull her closer. It was easy for him to lay his claim on her. While possessive, he was equally respectful and nurturing, creating a perfect balance. Kihyun understood her boundaries, yet never hesitated to shield her from any uncomfortable situations. This clearly demonstrated his protectiveness, a trait that was ironically juxtaposed with his gentleness.

“Only because you’re here,” she replied softly, leaning further into his warm and welcoming embrace. The way she fit perfectly into his side was almost instinctive as if they were two pieces of a complex jigsaw puzzle that had found their perfect match. Even in a crowded party, they exuded an undeniable intimacy that was solely theirs. “When you weren’t here last year, I almost skipped it. I hate how it’s almost mandatory to come to these things. I hardly feel the Christmas spirit.”

Suddenly, the music switched to a slower tune. The unsaid understanding passed between them, prompting Kihyun’s hand to extend towards her with an inviting smile. With her heart leaping at the silent request, she placed her hand in his, silently acknowledging his invitation for a dance. As they began to sway in rhythm, the onlookers could decipher a language of love being shared, encoded in their locked gazes and shared smiles. His expression softened as he pulled her in closer, creating a world of warmth and affection. Their connection was tangible, further solidifying their bond.

Their bodies swayed in harmonious rhythm, lending a graceful fluidity to their dance. Kihyun’s hand resided at the small of her back, maintaining a firm yet gentle grip while the other held her hand aloft. Their bodies moved intuitively to the rhythm of the music, a dance of love that transcended steps and reached their hearts. The ambient lighting lent an ethereal quality to the scene as their silhouettes twirled around the dance floor.

“You know, I still remember the first time we danced like this,” Y/N casually whispered into his ear, her voice soothing as it mixed with the slow tune, wrapping them up in their cocoon. She chuckled lightly against his shoulder, “You were terrified of stepping on my foot.”

“And you,” he responded, pulling back slightly to look into her eyes, his own twinkling with mirth, “You were terrified I would drop you.” Her laugh was soft, a soothing melody that added to their intimate dance. The ease of their conversation reflected their genuine connection, a love that flowed as smoothly as their gliding steps on the dance floor.

As the song came to an end, Kihyun pulled back, bringing their dance to halt. He took her hands in his, his gaze unwavering from her. “When we get home, I have a surprise lined up for you.” His voice was barely a whisper, teasing her curiosity with his smirk. “I promise you, this will definitely have the spirit of Christmas mixed with it.”

She raised an eyebrow playfully, her heart hammering against her chest in anticipation. Kihyun, forever the romantic, was never short of surprises. “A surprise?” she parroted reluctantly, “I can’t wait.”

Their dance of love not only magnified their bond but also was a testament to their journey, a journey filled with love, trust, and the promise of future surprises. The office party faded into a starlit background, and the moment was pure magic - a testament to their evolving love story under soft dim lights.

It was a perfect evening, with their sketched love story turning to become a picturesque painting of tender incoherence and yet absolute synchrony, under the luminescent office lights. Further into the night, their whispers of love and promises echoed, resonating through the quiet workplace. And it was, indeed, all because he was there; Kihyun, her lighthouse in the storm, painted her universe with love and endearment colors.

[avesomnia-inhoramortis]

[ooc] trina-as-white-king asker here… i really enjoyed the previous post expanding on your thoughts. this too is mostly just rambling, please feel free to discard this from your inbox, i’m just so mesmerized by miquellatrina relationship and want so much to talk deeply about them with someone haha, analysis on them like the ones you’ve written down is such a salvation.

trina in her capacity as a maiden in the tower, as it is, has been really fascinating to me, even more so for the fact that i think she is much less passive than most are to believe. since elden ring is so entrenched in arturian ideals i always loved her as the lady of the lake. trina is submerged in water, her roots growing deep, her connection to lilies a light link to 'the romance of the water lily' being one of the lady's earliest written records. the proverbial sword the lady gives being the intangible, desperate & translucent instillation of the all consuming desire to kill miquella, once being hers, now passed down to thiollier & most of all the player. an analysis in the same vein of the same way you could interpret her and miquella’s respective positions as hell and heaven, physically the highest point and the lowest point. miquella ascends to heaven by casting trina to hell, to rebirth and give new life violence is a necessary thing.

it all entwines so nicely with your alchemization view on them — before the dlc released i had wanted trina to be specifically more masculine as a contrast to miquella… trina as the white king is so deeply satisfying for me because of this. you speak of her like an equalizer, which i agree with: even in the domain of sleep, i don’t believe any of the demigods are unique to it. a balancing beam act that she holds in place with her own too hands, the saint balancing the scales. her and miquella both bear such weight for children!

& the trans readings for miquella.. so delicious. i favor transfem miquella so tenderly but i really like what you’ve put down here! the desire be freed from the confines of the princess and the tower. trina being the opposite to him is really sweet to me too.. but i can imagine her just forsaking all of it, the will and the answer beyond any system. the cherry on top for me — you mentioned in your other post miquellatrina being, romantic like an experimentation for curiosity around lust. i was thinking about this for so long too! i think there’s a love there too deep and entrenched to reduce to simple physicality but on some level i don’t think the game tells you that marika and radagon’s relationship bore fruit despite them being one-of-the-same-whole just for you to think that their child’s relationship with his own other self was entirely chaste. i really enjoy them being the measure of all of each other… a first time together and perhaps a last as well. they follow in the path of their parents but something is vitally missing. what does it mean to be a child, eternally, what can they not have, and what can they freely take? what is allowed to them, and what is given, and what can they take? they’re so very similar but too different that they would always have been doomed to separation, in some grotesque and beautiful way. anyways. in any case they’re so so beloved to me i’ll definitely be thinking about these ideas for a while.

[ooc]

Ohhh my god I love all of this. I love all of this so much. And I definitely agree with transfem Miquella, I've just been going the angst route of "for my goals and what I want I can't AFFORD to be a woman", shoving down who he's meant to be for practicality's sake. He'd sacrifice anything for his sister. Including himself, and his own wants. He's already dealing with the age dysphoria, more on top of that is nothing right?

I NEED to read more Arthuriana, I've just read a couple of obscure ones like Sir Gowther and that one about the lord cursed to be a werewolf, and then I listen to a lot of Arthuriana-themed music sometimes. Tarnished Silver by Heather Dale is one I actually put on my Trina playlist.

I also absolutely analyze and characterize them through the lens of DID. It's not entirely accurate, obviously, considering the strong fantasy elements of everything going on, but the relationship between headmates is something really hard to explain or define well and I love slipping stuff like that into my writing. Like... you grew up together, so that could make you siblings, but it doesn't. You technically have the same family, but really only one of you does. No one else can love you like someone who has seen every thought and reason firsthand. You live inside eachother and haven't spoken in months. You miss eachother even though you have the same heartbeat. You kiss a boy for the first time but the person that finishes the kiss isn't you. It's complicated.

They're so very very wonderful and I'm so glad people are enjoying my rambles, PLEASE come back and ramble anytime.