#but thank you for making me realize the potential drama here

[wereshrew-admirer]

thinking about how that might happen and now i’m imagining that brnine’s first reaction to figure claiming to be haunted by gur sevraq might be “prove it”, and that gur sevraq could prove it by giving details of valence’s life?

and brnine would know right away that the figure is telling the truth because they presumably know very little if anything about valence…

but they couldn’t possibly be normal and ask to talk about valence directly, so they say “that doesn’t prove shit,” to bait gur into giving increasingly intimate details. and poor figure is stuck playing ouija board between his captain (probably visibly upset) and this ghost they just picked up - who is becoming distraught themself; almost certainly not having been able to talk about valence with anyone let alone properly grieve them….and the first chance they get is with broun brnine of all people, and how much do they know about why valence did what they did? do they feel responsible?

anyway that would be the fastest way to put figure in an incredibly, incomprehensibly, awkward situation that would get them asking questions, i think.

palisade 25 spoilers

for the last week i have been unable to stop thinking about how ridiculous the introduction of ghost gur to the blue channel is going to be. i see no reason for figure to hide it especially after the crew has earned their trust so thoroughly? first of all figure is going to have to process the information that this is the gur sevraq that everyone else in millennium break knew before they were even the figure and that the fascist priest on the radio is a brainwashed zombie. then they’re probably going to tell the folks on chimera’s lantern first and the only person there who knew gur is thisbe, who frankly will not know what to do with this information. cori didn’t even meet this gur sevraq guy. you’re saying they used to not be evil?? and they’re a ghost now?? they ALSO need to explain that to hunting and saffron and routine. midnite only knows like 50% of this story and isn’t sure how much she should care (or if she should believe in ghosts but This Might As Well Happen). meanwhile brnine gets to learn this while freaking out about their dead first mate and considering they 100% associate gur with valence their reaction is going to be so so so normal. (i think this inevitably makes figure adjacent to gurbalence drama and figure i am so sorry.) do they think it’s worthwhile to tell anyone else in the cause?? do gucci and jesset get told?? they should probably call apparatus. and while all of this is happening i think gur is both very enthusiastic to be away from clem and also probably having some sort of existential crisis about seeing people they haven’t been able to interact with in five years. i hope he likes movie night

[blahblahblees]

Hey there!!!

This is my first time requesting on Tumblr and I am not sure if you're accepting requests or not so if you aren't feel free to ignore it.

Can you please write a short drabble on Rodrick and the reader being neighbours and the reader liking him but not telling him because he likes Heather. And then everything happening at rodrick's party.

And all the drama can go according to your imagination!

I am sorry for my bad English.

Have a good day/night/evening/afternoon.

Thank you.

ヽ｀、☁ヽ｀─── make you mine ミ rodrick heffley

✎ ·˚ ༘ ─── reader has a crush on rodrick but his eyes seemed to be locked on heather hills, but when greg takes notice of rodrick’s lyrics, his perspective begins to change.

wc: 1,333

movie!rodrick heffley x fem!reader (use of she/her pronouns), the use of y/n (your name)

tw: kissing (?)

a/n: your english is wonderful :)

HEATHER HILLS. The way her name rolled off of the tongue made her seethed in ways she couldn’t explain. It wasn’t because she was jealous of her, she knew that Heather Hills was gorgeous, but she (herself) was also just as beautiful. She liked her hair, she liked her body, she liked her style, and she liked Rodrick Heffley.

But his eyes seemed to be locked on Heather Hills. He always talked about her long blonde hair and how her outfits just perfectly fit her. It was Heather Hills this and Heather Hills that… but she let him go on about her.

It was an awful thing to do to herself, but here she was, once again, sitting with him in his dining room as he explained his plan to her.

His band, Löded Diper, had somehow convinced Heather to perform at her birthday party. She didn't know how they convinced her to let them play or even why for that matter, but it was good enough for Rodrick.

Her eyes watched as Rodrick scribbled down songs for them to potentially play at her party along with some newer lyrics that would "tell her how much he loved her", which she didn't quite understand. Rodrick hadn't really known Heather for long, quite literally meeting her at school when he was picking up Greg.

"... So, what do you think?"

She looked up from Rodrick's notebook and towards him. She was so in her own mind that she hadn't realized that he'd been speaking to her.

"I'm sorry." She muttered. "What did you say?"

"I asked if the hook should be changed so it fits for the party..." He answered. "Are you listening?"

"Yeah... yeah." She answered, sitting upright in her seat. "Sorry." She apologized once more and quickly gathered her belongings.

"What's wrong?" Rodrick asked, his brows furrowed by her sudden movements. "Where are you going?"

"I should head home." She said. "My mom is expecting me soon and I have to help her with dinner tonight."

Rodrick nodded, slowly standing up and following the girl to the front door. "I'll see you at Heather's party tomorrow, right?"

She closed her eyes for a moment before turning, her hand resting on the doorknob as she looked at him. She really didn't want to go to Heather's party and had planned on it, in fact, she was pretty sure it was an invite-only party and she hadn't gotten an invitation from the girl.

But she was pretty sure that Rodrick was going to find a way for her to get inside, invite or not.

So, she took in a small breath and nodded. "See you there."

With that, she quickly shut the door behind her and headed towards her car, and sped out of the Heffley driveway.

"I can't believe some of the stuff you write in here."

Rodrick quickly turned at the sound of the voice. It was Greg. He was standing at the dining room table with his eyes locked on Rodrick's songbook.

"Is this what being in love is like for you?" Greg asked. "If so, she just went out the door without a kiss goodbye."

Rodrick quickly marched over towards him and grabbed the book before he quickly hit Greg with it. "What are you talking about, dork?"

Greg muttered something under his breath, rubbing his arm in the process. "That stuff... that stuff you call music. That's about Y/N, isn't it?"

"What?" Rodrick scoffed. "No. This is for Heather's birthday tomorrow."

"You're going to sing a love song to another girl at Heather's birthday party?" Greg chuckled. "Are you crazy?"

"You're going to be crazy dead if you don't shut up." Rodrick barked and held his book in the air once more, prepared to hit Greg with it, but the younger boy quickly ran off before anything else could happen.

Rodrick heavily sighed and sat back down at the table. He flipped his book open and tapped back and forth against the table as he went over the lyrics once more, just to make sure everything was perfect for...

But the more he looked at his lyrics, the more and more that he imagined her… he only saw her.

With a heavier sigh, he shut his songbook and slumped down into his seat, rubbing his hands over his face before stopping halfway and sitting up quickly.

He knew what he had to do.

HEATHER’S PARTY was in full swing.

People had been partying for quite some time before she arrived. She obviously wasn’t going to upstage Heather, she didn’t think that was possible with how outlandish Heather’s party had been, but still, she chose to dress up for the party and stay until Rodrick’s band called it for the night, which may take hours at the rate this party was going.

But as soon as Rodrick set eyes on her, he sat his guitar down and told his band to just go with the flow until he got back.

He took in a deep breath, and gently shook his hands to bring himself some comfort. He titled his head side to side before finally reaching her side by the punch bowl.

“You made it.” Rodrick smiled.

She turned at the sound of his voice and nodded, taking a small sip from her drink. “Yeah, of course.” She smiled. “Couldn’t miss the best band play their biggest gig.”

Rodrick smiled at her words, whether or not she meant what she said didn’t matter. She said them to make him feel good, to bring him comfort over the fact that he was about to tell Heather Hills that he liked her.

Or so she thought.

“Did I miss your love bomb to Heather?” She asked.

And she really hoped she had.

“Uh, not quite, no.”

She furrowed her brows at his response. “Everything okay?”

Rodrick's heart was racing as he looked at her. He knew he needed to tell her how he felt; he just didn't know how. But as he looked into her eyes, he found himself lost for words. All he wanted to do was kiss her.

Without warning, he leaned in and captured her lips with his own. It was a soft, gentle kiss, but it was filled with all the emotion he had been trying to hide from her.

When they pulled apart, he could see the surprise in her eyes. "I'm sorry," he said quickly.

She blinked. “You’re- You’re sorry? What- What-“ She stammered, her face growing red as she flustered her words. “What about Heather?”

“I don’t think- It was never Heather was into.” He said. “I mean, yeah, she’s hot, but she doesn’t make me feel the way I do when I’m with you. All those songs I was writing were never about her.”

As Rodrick spoke, she could feel her heart racing. Did he really just say what she thought he said? Could it be possible that he liked her as much as she liked him?

"Really?" she asked, her voice soft.

He nodded. "Really.”

Without hesitation, she leaned in and captured his lips with her own. It was a deep, passionate kiss, filled with all the emotions they had been holding back for so long. Her body melted into his as their lips moved in perfect harmony, each kiss taking them deeper and deeper into the moment.

When they finally pulled away, they were left breathless and dizzy with desire. She looked up at him with a shy smile, her heart beating like a drum in her chest.

"I've loved you for so long," she said softly.

"I know," he replied, cupping her face in his hands. "I've loved you too, but I didn't have the courage to tell you until now."

She leaned into him, her head resting against his chest. "I'm so glad you did," she whispered.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close.

This would be the only time that Rodrick would be thankful of Greg.

— lucy has something to say !!

i think i’m gonna start using you and yours again lol

but regardless, my request are opened! check out my rules and such before requesting and check out my masterlist to see who i write for!

[sl-vega]

Hi there! Recently stumbled upon your Hiori piece (I Don’t Know Much, But I Know I Want You) and Oh. My. Gosh. It’s amazing!! The story was so cute and I also love the little Karasu interactions you threw in; it matches their characters so well and it’s so well written! If you ever feel motivated or inspired to do so, I’d love to see where you’d take the piece in a part 2! No pressure of course, I just think that seeing how they’d interact in your writing would be really awesome. Currently on my way to binge read every other work of yours; I love your writing style o7

Thanks for reading my ask and have a lovely day!! :)

˚୨୧⋆｡ MALL MEET CUTES

part one // part two

pairing: Hiori Yo x [FEM!] Reader

genre: fluff, oneshot, classmates to lovers, friends to lovers (?), pre-bluelock au/canon compliant

synopsis: hiori is still pretty damn smitten when it comes to you, so like the lovesick fool he his, he decides to drag karasu to the mall with him to help him find a gift to impress you, of course, in a strange turn of events it turns out you're at the mall too, so whatever shall our poor loverboy do when he sees you? (or in which hiori "soccer genius" yo, is dumb enough to ask karasu of all people for girl advice, and karasu like the wonderful friend he is, tags along for the drama)

CW/additional tags: mild language, potentially ooc, i actually did research on a mall in kyoto so look at me go, might make a part three if i really feel like it

author's note: AKJFJFHAFHKJ TYYY ANON YOU'RE SO SWEET, i'm so glad you liked the first part and all of hiori + karasu's interactions, it really means a lot to me that you thought i did them justice <3

"Would getting her makeup be a good idea?"

Hiori asked his senior as he stood outside of COLOUR STUDIO, it was a cosmetics store that he heard the girls in his class talk about occasionally , you among them.

"Or would that be too intimate? Do ya' think she'd think I'm trying too hard? Maybe we should've just stuck to stationery...."

Hiori bombarded Karasu with questions as he sighed and stared up at the daunting illuminated white sign of the shop.

His friend groaned and grabbed the sleeve of Hiori's light blue sweat shirt, dragging him into the store where a few employees and clerks gave them slightly concerned looks.

"No, we're here now so we may as well get something."

Karasu chastised his younger teammate as he escorted him into the lip product aisle, in which Hiori found himself surrounded by many unfamiliar brands with colourful packaging.

"Ya' sure know yer' way around Karasu, have ya' been here before?"

"I've been to their branch over in Osaka, my sister makes me get 'er shit whenever she runs out..."

Karasu plucked a small box from the middle of the shelf, making a point to read the label and the brand to make sure it was the one he needed.

"So what are you gonna get yer' special girl?"

He asked teasingly, as his slender fingers clutched around the small container he was holding.

"I dunno actually...I was hoping you might help me?"

Hiori replied, chuckling nervously. He already knew that Karasu had an older sister, so must have some knowledge on these kinds of things.

His teammate seemed to deadpan at his friend's request, feigning a hurt expression at his friend's question.

"So I'm just a personal shopping assistant to ya'? I'm hurt Hiori."

Karasu gave him a playful pout before breaking into a mild fit of laughter after Hiori swatted his shoulder. The older boy promptly turned to one of the shelves and tossed Hiori a small pink tube of lip gloss.

"Get 'er this one, the quality is pretty good and it has a reasonable price."

Karasu said nonchalantly as his back was still turned, still browsing through some of the shelves. Hiori looked down at the product tube and read out the label to himself.

"Canmake Candy Wrap Lip..."

He muttered as he rotated the slender cylinder in his hand, reading the adhesive tag on it, he realized that Karasu was right, the price was within his budget, and the packaging was rather cute, not to mention how the tube itself contained a good amount of product.

He was about to thank his friend before realizing that Karasu was back at the front counter of the store, probably asking one of the employees for help with finding something.

Observing his surroundings, Hiori thought that browsing the shop a little bit more couldn't hurt, he still had plenty of funds to spare, more than enough to buy you something else.

Hiori continued to browse the current aisle he was in, allowing his fingers to brush against the array of cosmetics, all neatly sorted and arranged by brand, type, and flavour.

As he continued to run his hand along the rows upon rows of products, he stumbled across another area of products that caught his eye.

"Rohto Mentholatum Lip Balm..."

He read the mini card board sign that was clipped to the shelf as he observed the packaging. The one's that were currently stocked were said to be peach flavoured, the price seemed fairly reasonable as well.

Now, that he thought about it, having a lip balm on hand would be pretty practical, Hiori hated the feeling of his chapped lips. Plus, he deserved some kind of reward.

Hiori reached for one of the tubes, and right before he was about to take the lip balm from the shelf, his fingers brushed against a stranger's hand who was reaching for the exact some one.

On instinct, Hiori pulled away, muttering a quick apology. He turned to said stranger to say tell them that they could take it before realizing that said stranger wasn't a stranger at all.

"Oh! Hiori?"

Oh God, it was you

"H-hey!"

He managed to squeak out as you gave him a soft smile, he was surprised he hadn't made a complete fool of himself yet. Without realizing it, he had promptly shoved the tube of lip gloss he was going to buy for you into his back pocket.

"Hi! I didn't realize you were the shopping type Hiori."

You greeted him once more as you observed the hand that quickly pocketed the lip tube, you didn't press any further however.

"Oh, I'm not actually, I'm just getting a gift for someone special..."

Hiori chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. He chastised himself for his wording, of course he had to say it like that, now if he gave you the gift you'd know for sure that he liked you.

But then again, that would spare him the humiliation of actually having to say it directly to your face, not that he ever wanted to confess in the first place...

"Someone...special? I didn't know you had a girlfriend Hiori..."

You trailed off, you sounded disappointed almost.

Hiori's face flushed at your words, he didn't mean to give you that idea. He could slowly feel heat creep up his neck as you continued to stare at him.

"Guess I shouldn't be that surprised..."

This time you were avoiding eye contact, you laughed somewhat bitterly. Were you jealous? Part of Hiori wanted to delude himself into thinking that, but another part of him wanted to die right there and then to avoid making a bigger fool out of himself.

"N-No I don't have a girlfriend actually!"

He assured you as his face turned an even brighter shade of red.

Where was Karasu when ya' needed him?

Suddenly, Hiori felt a light tap against his head. It was Karasu! His knight in shining armor, to save him from the train wreck of a conversation. His teammate was holding a small basket full of a few products, some mascara, eye liner, and a few skin cream tubs among them.

"I'm gonna go check out now, are ya' done yet?"

His friend asked as he rested his hand on Hiori's shoulder, Karasu looked up at you, realizing that there was company present.

The silence that followed was deafening.

You glanced between the two boys, you had recalled Karasu from Hiori's youth team, but you didn't know much about the older boy, but you had spotted him hanging around Hiori pretty frequently, so you assumed that they were fairly close.

"Oh, I'm sorry am I interrupting something?"

You questioned as your eyes flickered between the two of them, your head was tilted slightly in curiosity. You noticed Karasu's grip on Hiori's shoulder tighten ever so slightly at the sound of your question.

Hiori shook his head frantically, Karasu was probably giving you that same unsettling stare he always used whenever he was sizing someone up on you.

"No! Not at all! But I should get going right about now..."

He assured you that nothing was wrong, but he was already flustered enough, and there was no way Karasu would let him hear the end of whatever this incident should be labelled as.

"Well I'll see you school I guess!"

You flashed him another bright smile before turning to Karasu, and you gave the older boy a curt and quick bow.

"I'm (Y/N), Hiori's classmate, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Karasu was caught off guard by your sudden politeness, but he returned the favour.

"Karasu."

He stated quickly before taking Hiori's hand in his own, you seemed to take note of this.

You were about to walk away, so you waved to them before saying;

"Have fun on your date!"

Wait what?!

If Hiori's face was red before, it was basically crimson by now. The girl he liked not only thought he was taken, but now she thought he was into guys?!

"W-we're not!-He's not-I'm not-"

Karasu simply wheezed at the current predicament, clearly amused by your assumption of Hiori and him's relationship and by his younger friend's sudden flustered expression.

"I wish! Don't worry yer' pretty little head off though, he's still avaliable∼. He's quite taken with you at that too."

Karasu teased as he winked at Hiori, clearly taking sadistic pleasure in his friend's suffering.

"Karasu!"

Hiori whisper shouted as his friend dragged him out the store, still laughing as the cyan-haired boy continued his flustered protests which bore no fruit.

Well at least you knew how he felt now...

BONUS!

"This is why I told ya' to quit flirting with me like that! People are getting the wrong idea about us..."

"Aww but I can't have random girls stealing you away from me∼"

"Shut up ya' stupid crow!"

"Make me prodigy∼"

[blackbat05]

Unexpected Refuge

Detective! Joaquin x Bookstore Owner! Reader

Plot: Your book store is a place of refuge for those seeking knowledge, and shelter?

Genre: PG-13

A/N: K-drama giving me ideas once again. Also SDCC 2024 announcements?!!! Just blew my mind🤯 Excuse me for the poor execution, really wrote this on a whim. Also realized that Joaquin was a character I wrote before I went into a mental health crisis😂 How time flies~ (Tag update because I am a nuisance: @tom-whore-dleston)

The man pants heavily as he darts into the nearest alley. Shouts of anger and thinly veiled threats were getting closer. He’s proud of his stamina but he can’t keep running away from them. He needs to recover his energy.

But where?

A light shines up ahead and without a second thought, the man races towards what could be his potential temporary safehouse.

Bang!

There were no customers inside. Just plenty of books, and a wide-eyed woman blinking at the hurricane of a man that just stormed her store.

He hurriedly digs into the inside of his coat, showing his credentials.

“I’m so sorry, my name is Joaquin Torres. I’m a Detective and it may sound crazy to you but I’m being chased by a group of Gangsters and I could really use some shelter.” His plea comes out in rapid fire.

The poor woman takes a quick look at his badge and for a brief moment, Joaquin believed that she was going to toss him to the dogs.

“This way.” She leads him further into the store and opens a latch on the floor that leads to storage. “In here!” She commands with urgency.

As soon as Joaquin is safely tucked away, she locks the latch and places stacks of books on top of it. The door flies open and the same Gangsters rowdily burst into the store. Joaquin feels a tinge of guilt. He can’t imagine how her store must be tossed upside down thanks to him.

What he didn’t expect was the woman holding her ground and demanding the Gangsters to leave as they apparently ruined one of her newest books that was just bought in.

“And stay out!” She screeches before flipping the sign to inform customers that they were closed for the day.

“Um…” The woman reverts back into her bashful form that Joaquin was amazed at her acting skills. “They’re gone. You can come out now.” The door opens and she helps Joaquin out.

“Thank you.” Joaquin doesn’t know what else to add. His shoes are suddenly very interesting.

“I thought you were lying about being a cop.” Her voice is soft and gentle, causing the insides of his stomach to do a couple of flips. “I guess not. Those guys were scary.” The tension breaks and Joaquin grins at her becoming flustered at the attention he was giving her.

“You can stay here for a while more. To make sure.” She offers.

Joaquin really wanted to. But if he didn’t get back to the precinct. Sam will have his ass.

“I would love to but my partner’s waiting for me. I should probably go.”

She nods in understanding, “Of course. Be careful.” The two walk to the door and she pops her head out to make sure that the coast was clear. She smelled like berries and vanilla.

“Coast clear, officer.”

He liked the way it sounded on her lips. He didn’t want it to be the last time.

“Um… would you like to have dinner sometime?”

She raises her eyebrows in question and Joaquin hurriedly explains, “It’s not what you think! I just wanted to thank you for today. Really. You saved my life. Not many people do that. I usually do most of the saving- I guess I should shut up now.” He observed her amused expression as he continued to ramble.

“Sure. I know a great steak place.”

***

“Hey Barnes! Torres here has a date! Any tips?” Captain Sam Wilson, loud as ever whenever he felt like heckling his best friends follows Joaquin around like a wart on his foot.

“Leave the man alone, Sam.” James Barnes gives him the middle finger. Cool blues turning to Joaquin, “Just be yourself. Everything will be fine.”

Yeah, not exactly reassuring either.

The old fashioned way it is.

Joaquin finds himself standing in front of your bookstore with a bouquet of roses in his hand. He catches your eye and you give him a sign to give you a couple more minutes as you cleaned and locked up the place for the night.

“Thanks for waiting!” You rushed out in sunflower colored dress, looking radiant. He swears his heart thumped loudly against his chest. “I was surprised to get your call.”

“Well, I made a promise.” Joaquin leads the way to the Steak Restaurant where you had the absolute time of your life chatting with the boyish detective in front of you.

“Oh my god! That really happened?” You laughed, tears forming in your eyes. “It seems to be like a recurring thing going on in your team.”

The two of you headed down the street after that sumptuous meal. Your hair is tousled all over the place and you feel like you’ve just ate a whole cow, but Joaquin doesn’t take his attention of you for a second.

As he recounts another mishap during a undercover mission with Sam, a wolf whistle rings through the air and a figure, no- three of them appear from the dark alley, each looking more menacing then the other.

Joaquin’s mind kicks into overdrive instantly and feels you tense up against beside him. He instinctively moves forward to shield you from them. But they’re not blind.

“Look who we found… Detective Joaquin Torres and oh! I see you got company.” The middle one leers at you and Joaquin has the urge to punch it off his face. You give his hand a squeeze, as if to reassure him to do whatever he needs to do to get these suckers.

As quickly and quietly as possible, you take out your pepper spray and ball your fist to conceal it from them.

“How is it that you three assholes show up at the most inconvenient timing?” Joaquin distracts them.

They smirk at each other and Joaquin lunges forward to take the middle and left man onto the ground, leaving the last as easy prey for you to pepper spray him to your heart’s content.

What you didn’t expect was the man to wildly brandish a pocket knife, nicking you in the process as he swings it around.

“Ah!” You hissed loudly, clutching your left hand. Joaquin immediately turns his attention to you and swiftly takes the third man down with ease.

He dials in a number and police cars arrive in no time to take the men away. Joaquin jogs over to you while a uniformed policewoman helps to bandage your hand.

“Let me.” He smiles and thanks his colleague for the efforts and works on finishing the job in silence. You can’t read minds, but you could guess.

“Hey, it’s not your fault.” You reassure him.

Joaquin doesn’t say anything. He lets out a small exhale. So you try again.

“In fact, I feel pretty badass. Don’t you think?” You gently pry your hand away and show him your now bandaged hand proudly, grinning from ear to ear.

“Torres!”

The Captain jogs over, giving a pat on his back. “Came as quickly as I could. Everything alright?”

“Yeah. Thanks Sam.” Joaquin reassures. Sam nods, his gaze falling onto you.

“This is the girl you couldn’t stop talking about?”

“Ok, Sam. Stop.” Joaquin pleads, trying to push him as far away from you without much success.

“He was asking me how to impress you! Hey? I didn’t get your name though!” Sam yells over his shoulder, making you laugh at their antics.

“Y/N! I’ll see you around Sam!”

“Oooh I like her already, don’t fuck up Torres.”

“Leave!” Joaquin has to push Sam into the car and makes his way back to you, looking sheepish.

“Sorry, about that. Sam can’t seem to keep his mouth shut.”

A pocket of silence fills the air and you have to know.

“You were trying to impress me?”

Joaquin blinks. He momentarily opens his mouth and comically looks like a fish out of water. “Did it work?”

“Well…” You pretend to tap your chin carefully and Joaquin squirms in his shoes a little. “You impressed me the moment you came bursting into my store seeking for shelter.”

You laugh at Joaquin’s groan. “Not the answer that I was expecting.”

You give him a peck on the cheek and Joaquin momentarily freezes. “Is that a better answer?”

He holds his hand to the cheek that you just left a kiss on. For a moment, you’re scared that you’ve fried Joaquin’s internal circuits to respond coherently. But he breaks into a foolishly but adorably big smile.

Joaquin holds you by the waist and brings you closer to him and gives you a kiss of his own that leaves you spinning senseless.

“One hundred percent.”

[lo-shouldve-been-an-email]

Okay,since I’ve just randomly randomly just reblogging Thanatos things,I decided to actually post things,more specifically an LO rewrite because f it.

At its core I do think LO is a good story,just that bad writing has squandered any potential it has to be good,so please have my take on this.(more specifically my take on Persephone,hades,and Thanatos because I have to stay on brand)

Anyways-

(The sequel)

Persephone:

She’s older.shes physically in her late 20’s/early 30’s and about seven to eight centuries older.

Her AoW only extended to those ransacking the garden.(I swear,it would have been so much more understandable to root for her if it only extended to 4-5 people instead of an ENTIRE CITY,since we know other gods have done much worse)

Her work in the underworld was mandated by Zeus as community service for the AoW.

This is more or less Zeus hitting two birds with one stone,he gets perse to make community service and maybe(hopefully) gets hades to open up to the smucks outside of the underworld because he now has an employee not from there.

Due to her guilt about the AoW,she decides that while she’s working in the underworld she’ll set out to be the best her she can be and make up for the souls she took.

At first nobody really likes her and they just think she’s someone who needed to be dragged here by Zeus and won’t amount to anything,but she ends up being the hardest working of the staff and getting a fairly infamous “employee of the month” streak,her only real fumble being Sisyphus(of which she rightfully corrected totally not being getting Hermes to drag his ass down back to the underworld and give his his infamous punishment,of which instantly gave her back any respect she lost.

She’s the type of person you think you can disrespect until she gets genuinely mad at someone,in which case everyone goes out of their way to be nice to her even though it takes a lot to get her mad.

Demeter never sheltered her,just that she heard from her mother and brother(oh yeah Plutus is in this au their twins) about the shit that happened up their(even saw it for herself a few times)and decided to nope out of that drama.

She likes the underworld a more than Olympus due to the fact people don’t get butthurt nearly as much,due to them needing to deal with crap from other gods and sometimes mortals(like Sisyphus)

Demeter was an amazing mama and nobody can convince me otherwise.

Plutus told her about the underworld so she does know a bit,but otherwise it’s a cultural shock.

She brings homemade baklava in every day of work.

She actually sent a letter to Demeter telling her about the community service…however she never got it thanks to a certain daughter of Nyx always dead set on causing discord.

Hades:

It took him two solid seconds to realize what Zeus’ plan was with Persephone so he initially looked for any reason to fire her,until he learned she was here for community service and just decided to wait out her punishment(jokes on him Zeus forgot to tell perse what her sentence was so she worked in the underworld for like a year until demeter found her when in reality she was supposed to be there for like two months)

He does eventually soften up to her(obviously) but it takes a while and a lot of baklava.

Honest to god I have no idea how to incorporate minthe in this au

Leuce is his dead wife,she died fairly recently so he’s still hesitant to connect with anyone.(“I miss my wife,Thanatos,I miss her a lot I’ll be back-“)

Recently he’s been coping via sinking into his work,Hecate and the others have taken notice but they don’t really know what to do.(their the ones that CAUSE death not deal with it)

He slowly started distancing himself from the rest of his family after the titanomachy and even more so after leuce died.

The only person he acts openly soft around is Thanatos,who he views as a son.

The only part of his extended family he interacts with is Hermes,who he actually has a really good relationship with(albeit still strained since leuce)

Fuck it.everyone has flowers symbolism.

Hades is white lilies(subject to change),perse is asphodels,thanatos(and Hypnos) is poppies,leuce is forget-me-nots,Demeter is daylilies,Plutus is orchids,Hecate is nightshades or cow parsley.

Thanatos:

He genuinely finds it hard to focus on doing his job,so people just call him lazy,so he doesn’t really try to set the bar high in return because he knows he’ll just end up disappointing everyone.

The only person who doesn’t have low expectations and wants him to try his best at his own rate is hades,who understands he finds it hard to focus but still wants him to try his best anyways.

Rotates between living with hades and Nyx(who is an extremely doting mother.

Hypnos still resides within the hr department and Thanatos helps him hide because the last thing he needs is a grumpy Hypnos.

He deals with peaceful deaths while Hermes and the keres deal with the rest.

He’s the type of person to tell himself one moment he’s gonna be really productive today and then spend the next fifteen minutes chatting away with a butterfly.

Also he can talk to butterflies.but nobody believes him except Hermes,perse,and Nyx.

The moment he finds out what Eris did she gets the “WHY WOULD YOU THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA?!?!!?” Of her life.then queue Thanatos and the other Nyx children present trying to get her to explain why she thought this was a good idea and her just saying “bc it’s funny”

Erebus = dad with no physical body who still interact with me via shadows.hades = dad with physical body who I want to impress but I don’t know how.

(If you didn’t catch on he has adhd)

[skellyflowers]

Happy Birthday To Me

Hello today, September 14, is MY birthday! If you read this you have to wish me a happy birthday.

I woke up late. Late for me atleast. As I stretched I realized two things. One, I was alone in bed, something that rarely happens. Two, it's my birthday! The realization that it was my birthday made me feel a little sad that I was alone in bed.

Before I can think too hard the bedroom door opens. II walks in followed by IV. IV is holding a tray full of food. They brought me breakfast in bed! How sweet. 

“Good morning Darling.” II said as the tray was placed on my lap.

“Happy birthday baby.” IV said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. 

“Thank you boys.” I say, looking over the tray of food. “Where are the others?”

“III is cleaning up. Vessel is making sure he does it.” IV answers.

The mental image makes me laugh. I picture III with a rag in his hand, wiping up a mess he potentially made. All while Vessel keeps a watchful eye on him.

“Poor thing.” I say, with a giggle.

“He should have been more careful. That’s what he gets.” II responds. “Hurry up before the food gets cold.”

I take a moment to look at the breakfast they brought me. It really is a little bit of everything. Eggs, bacon, sausage links, potatoes, toast and pancakes. I have a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee. There is even a small bowl of fruit. I'm not going to be able to finish all of this.

“Fuck this is good!” I say between bites.

“Glad you like it.” IV says.

“When you're done, get dressed and go down stairs, the ladies are wanting for you.” II tells me.

After I finish all the breakfast I can handle I get ready to meet the ladies. I see IV finish the food I couldn't and laugh. The boys walk me down stairs and the Espera are waiting in the living room with Vessel and III. They were all talking until I walked in. Clearly they are planning something. III runs up to me and picks me up while shouting happy birthday.

“Did you like your breakfast?” Vessel asks.

“Yes. It was delicious, thank you.” I say when III puts me down but not letting me go. “I heard that you were on clean up duty.” I tease.

“Don’t remind me!” III says dramatically. “It was horrible.” His lanky arms tighten around me.

“Don’t feel too bad. It was his mess.” Vessel says, putting a large hand on the top of my head.

“That’s what II said.” 

“You all are so mean to me!” III pouts.

I hear the Espera laugh at the scene in front of them. I then feel multiple sets of hands start to gently pull me away from III.

“NO! THEY JUST GOT HERE!” he loudly complains.

“We have plans with them, you know that.” Nyxia said calmly. “We will return them when we are done.” 

III lets out a huff and IV takes my place. II rolls his eyes at the drama but still puts a comforting hand on III’S back. Vessel follows close behind me as the ladies lead me to the manor's front door.

“Have fun today.” Vessel whispers, giving me a hug. I almost didn't want to leave his arms. “See you later tonight.” Vessel then gently pushed me towards the Espera.

The ladies end up taking me downtown. Vesperine then holds up a little black card and pushes it into my hand. I take a look at it and realize it is Vessel’s credit card! I look up at the ladies with wide eyes. They laugh at my expression.

“You're hard to shop for, so the boys thought it would be easier to just finance your birthday gift instead.”

I feel my face getting warm. They're right. I hate asking people to buy stuff for me, but the bluntness still makes me feel embarrassed. I look down at the credit card one more time before looking back up with the ladies. Well if they gave me the card I might as well use it.

After a few hours I had multiple shopping bags, bought lunch and took the ladies to a movie. A part of me felt bad using Vessel’s credit card, but the Espera’s encouragement quickly drowned out that feeling. They reminded me how the boys wanted to give me the card and get whatever I wanted.

The sun is setting when we get home. The ladies help me bring in my bags and take them to my room. As I follow them inside I call out to the boys.

“Come to the kitchen.” I hear II call back.

As I walk into the kitchen it is pitch black. Just as I try to feel around the wall for the light switch the lights come on.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” the boys shout when the lights come on.

Once I recover for the jumpscare I got I see that the kitchen is decorated for my birthday. There is a ‘happy birthday’ banner and pictures of me all over the kitchen. All of the boys are wearing birthday hats and I see balloons hitting the ceiling. Hopefully III and Vessel are tall enough to grab the stings later. On the kitchen island is a cake! It has two candles for my age and the icing on top spells out ‘happy birthday to our beloved fifth!’

“Awww, guys!” I say, on the verge of tears.

“Happy Birthday Babe.” said IV

“Blow out your candles before the wax gets on the cake!” II says, as he presents me with the cake. The Espera start to sing me happy birthday. 

They cheer when I blow out my candles. II starts to cut a piece for each of us. The cake is absolutely perfect. It is a chocolate cake with strawberry filling and slides strawberries inside! It is so good I think I'm going to cry again.

“What did you wish for?” Vessel asks.

“They didn’t need to make a wish.” III interrupts before I get a chance to answer. “All their wishes came true when we all met.”

I can’t help but laugh. He can be so cocky, but he is right. Not that I would say that out loud and inflate his ego even more.

“That laugh means I’m right!” III says.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” IV says, clearly grossed out.

When I finish my slice of cake I take a look at the pictures hanging in the kitchen. There are pictures from Worships, on and off stage, late night music sessions, pictures of me sleeping and pictures from the first dates I went on with each of the boys. All the boys are sentimental but these last four pictures are very special.

“Ready for gifts?” Vessel asks as he wraps his arms around me from behind.

“I thought your credit card was my gift.” I grab his hands and lace our fingers together.

“That was one part of it.”

“Hey! Unless you two plan to include the rest of us, stop that!” II yells. I don’t think people realize how cuddly he likes to be.

I giggle and look up at Vessel. He in turn frees one of his hands and grabs my face. He then gives me a kiss and all the boys erupt in protest. I feel him laugh in my mouth before pulling away.

“You’ll all get a turn soon enough.” He says almost ominously. I can’t ask what he means by that before he pulls me towards the island that now has three gifts.

IV pulls me away from Vessel and places me between him and III. The two of them, clearly jealous of the attention Vessel was receiving. II pushes my gifts toward me, there are two gift bags and one box. The first bag had a pair of bat earrings inside. They had rubies for eyes and were so cute!

“We got you those.” Nxyria said. “We knew you would love them.”

“I do!” I confirm.

The second bag has a black leather choker inside. The choker has an o-ring with the band symbol as a tag attached. The leather is also very shiny and buttery soft. I almost couldn’t stop touching it.

“Like it?” IV asks, breaking me out of my trance.

“Yes. I love it.”

“Perfect. Hopefully it’s not too snug.” III says.

“I’m sure it will be fine.” I say.

“Last one.” Vessel says, pushing the box into my hands.

I carefully rip the gift wrap off the box. III collects the trash from me when I finish. Lifting up the lid I see red tissue paper inside. On top of the tissue paper is a small card. The card reads ‘One last gift.’ I recognize that Vessel wrote the note. When I lift the paper I'm greeted with black lace. Of course they got me lingerie. I’m more surprised that I only saw one set. This is one of those things they hardly agree on.

“I need to see you in that.” III moans in my ear.

“Upstairs. Now.” Vessel growls.

Who am I to say no.

[colonelpancakes]

Watching The Dragon Prince Season Six Part Eight: We All Fall Down. I made so many distressed noises while watching this episode that I actually hurt my throat

Under the cut as per usual.

Already, the shots of the people looking up at Sol Regem combined with the music is making me so fucking nervous is Katolis about to get destroyed??? Nothing better happen to Barius and Jellybug you hear me, they better make it out unscathed.

sakfdljskla it’s okay Soren, I heard “physical exercises” too. This is why I watch shows with subtitles.

OH MY FUCKING GOD THAT ESCALATED. SHIT.

That’s really bad, oh my god. Fuck.

Oh noo, honey… She had to leave her toy behind no…

Oh thank God, Soren and Opeli are somehow okay.

Guys, I appreciate the efforts, but I DON’T THINK ARROWS ARE GOING TO DO ANYTHING. Ballista? Maybe. Arrows? Definitely not.

OKAY CRAP IT GOT WORSE. They burned the bridge??? Man’s really just trying to kill as many people as possible, huh. That’s. Oh my god.

Oh crap.

OH FUCK! SOREN!

Okay, shit that’s a lot of blood um. Okay. That’s definitely a concussion. Hat’s okay, that’s good. Fuck. Soren you need to survive this episode, you hear me? You are not allowed to die.

Oh my god, the score here is. Oh my god. It really drives home the sense of fear and tragedy. The composers are fucking killing it.

SORENNNNN!!!! MY BOY!!! I LOVE HIM SO FUCKING MUCH OH MY GOD. I love the fact that he prioritizes citizen’s lives over the castle because 1) it’s absolutely what Ezran would want done in this situation and 2) it’s a direct contrast to season two where Soren causes MORE harm by insisting that a dragon be shot down but then 3) it’s a continuation of his character arc from that episode because after he realizes he made a mistake, he frees Corvus so that he can help evacuate the town. And then here, he’s making the call to stop shooting, sacrifice the castle, and focus entirely on evacuating the people. I love Soren so much, look at how much my boy has grown.

Is he going to get Viren out of the castle?

SOREN. SOREN, NO. NO SELF-SACRIFICING you hear me? NO. You are GOING to reunite with Opeli and you are GOING to be there to take care of Hat, Soren, I swear to god-

Oh, Hello motherfucker! I am about to reach through this screen and start biting you. Is that a fight I’m going to win? No. But it would be cathartic.

Oh, wow. Viren’s facial hair has really grown since the episode before last. I guess he doesn’t anything to shave with so that makes sense. Sure caught me off-guard though.

Oh? He’s asking VIren for help, I didn't expect that.

Oh! Soren you are so smart, I would not have thought of that, that’s a really good idea.

There’s a lot going on here, but also, ooh that’s interesting. I’ve always wondered how staffs were enhancing primal magic but then this answers it! They have primal stones embedded in them. Cool, I like that detail. Now back to heart-crushing drama.

Ohhhh Soren… I love Soren. The way he’s prioritizing people’s lives over EVERYTHING else, over any moral objections to dark magic, over the potential cost of any ingredient. Soren… You are so good.

Oh, god, what’s the ingredient for this one. It better not be another situation where you have to kill your child, if it is, I swear to god, Viren-

Oh. Oh shit. Ohhh noo, that’s um. Oh. Okay. Uh. Fuck.

SOFNREN! SONR NO. SOREN. NO. Not allowed, nope. Given all the emphasis on Viren’s value of his family this season I don’t. Think that he would sacrifice Soren. But. Honey. Darling, Sweetheart, no. I reiterate what I said earlier, Soren, you are NOT ALLOWED TO DIE.

VIREN DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE.

Viren. Viren where’s Soren. Viren.

Oh, shit, Viren stabbed himself didn’t he. Fuck.

Yeah… Yeah, he did. Shit. That is. Yeah, that is a lot of blood.

I'm out of images??? Already??? Oh my god. Uh. Continued in reblogs

[anki-of-beleriand]

The house at the edge of the world ch. 13

Summary: Y/N is the owner of an Airbnb at the edge of the world, a place in which Wanda would either heal or become what everyone is afraid of.

Pairings: Wanda Maximoff/SW! x Female!Reader

Warnings: Minors DNI! +18, angst, drama, slow burn, friends to lovers, pregnancy, romance, fluff, mentions of depression and self harm, healing, R owns an Airbnb that welcomes many known characters from Marvel, R has powers, Wanda needs healing, and so does R. More warnings as the story progress.

Author's Note: Hello people! I know it has been quite some time, I do apologise about that. Life has not been easy and I have been living some hardships that prevent me from writing here, but not from writing on my notebooks, so I'm trying to get everything orginize and back into the different chapters of the stories.

This chapter is just a small moment of separation, and realization. I hope you guys like it. The end is almost here, remember English is no my mother tongue so forgive my grammar, spelling and funny mistakes. Thank you for reading!

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 -Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 14 - Epilogue

Chapter 13

Why are you fighting for?

Who are we fighting for?

There was not a single sound.

Darkness surrounded her, while tight straps of leather and heavy chains tied her to a wall. She felt panic rising inside her mind the moment she realized she could not call upon her powers. Her body tensed, fighting against the bonds keeping her in place. It took her a moment of struggle to finally understand there was no possible way out of this trap.

She took a deep breath, but her mouth never uttered a single word.

For some reason, she knew she was alone.

Her head was hurting, dizziness was taking over her senses while she recalled the events leading to her current situation. She remembered the helicopters, the screams, and the explosions; the pain of electric discharge running through her body made her lose the control she was holding over her magic. The heavy weight of something hitting her head made her staggered and then…

You were running towards them; she was confused but she tried to warn you.

Another discharge of electricity and Wanda was out.

The young woman didn’t need to wonder further to know in what kind of situation she was in. This only made her struggled against her bonds, if she had been kidnapped then there was only one person of doing such a thing. Wanda felt panic again, this time around she fought to get a hold of her powers only to feel a current of burning electricity moving from her neck through her head.

The memory of the Raft came right into her mind, and she understood why she could not use her powers.

She tried to move her neck, the weight of the device tied to it was now easily detected. Wanda clenched her jaw holding back the scream of frustration that wanted to leave her lips. Never before had she felt so vulnerable, her powers had become such an important part of herself that being unable to reach for them told her she was really in big trouble.

The sound of footsteps and heavy metal being scratched caller her attention, her whole body tensed and once more the pain from the device attacked her head making it impossible for her to hold back her protests of pain.

“Please, try to now overexert yourself, Wanda.” The voice of a familiar man reached her ears, though it took her some time to get used to the blinding lights in the room. “I would hate for you to be unconscious and unable to use your full potential before I have a chance of using it.”

Wanda tried to lift her head, and after a couple of minutes and intense pain crossing her face, she could finally do it.

“Hayward.” She mumbled through clenched teeth, the man tilted his head unimpressed his lips curled up in a satisfied smile.

“Hello, Wanda. I’m glad I was finally able to find you and have you as my guest.”  The man stood right in front of her, and Wanda finally realized the precarious state she was in.

The room was circular in form, with white walls and LED lights hanging from the ceiling. She had been strapped to a wall but was put in such a position that she was facing a surgical bed and a couple of instruments and machines she was afraid to identify. The man in front of her stepped aside, his eyes gleaming with emotion when her clear eyes fell upon the lifeless body that had been Vision.

Wanda felt her heart drop at the sight, she had seen him like this before.

The moment she tried to recover his body and was denied the closure of a funeral for the man she had loved with her life. Her eyes filled with tears, fear and uncertainty pocked at the back of her mind while Hayward stood right in front of her.

“Now that I have your full attention, how about we have a small conversation.” Hayward tilted his head ignoring completely the glare Wanda was sending his way. “I am sure we can get into an agreement and this situation would end in something beneficial for the both of us.”

“As soon as I am out of here, I am going to make you pay for everything.” Wanda warned holding back her anger such as to not activate her powers.

Hayward sighed shaking his head while making a gesture with his hand, “that was an unfortunate answer, Wanda. I really want your cooperation willingly; however, I am not beyond into obtaining it by force.”

Not sooner had he said this the device around her neck activated, and the screams of Wanda filled out the room. The young woman clenched her eyes shut, but her body ignited with a fire she didn’t recognize, and her hands burnt intently while a spark of red magical mist left her fingertips.

“It seems we can work something out.” Hayward said turning around to one man dressed in a white lab coat. “Keep trying until we can get from her what I want.”

______________________________________________________________

You woke up startled, your mouth opening to take a deep breath.

The side of your body was hurting, and the world around you was dancing in front of your eyes. Nausea hit your stomach the moment you sat down, your eyes clenched closed for a moment while you tried t get a hold of your surroundings and the situation at hand.

An explosion. A fight.

Wanda!

You didn’t have time to react, a hand placed itself on your shoulder and you were forced to lift your head and see the concern glare from Ajak pinning you to the place you were sitting on.

“Wanda…” You stuttered but the older woman merely shook her head, you tried to stand up again but she pressed you back with a strength you were always surprised to find in her.

“Stay still. You were hurt badly. I have taken care of most of your wounds, but it wouldn’t do any good if you were to force yourself at the moment.” Ajak went back to the previous position on the chair, you blinked away your dizziness before noticing you were in your room.

The place was a mess, but it seemed as if nothing in there was broken beyond repair. The older woman turned around tilting her head and making a face.

“The living room and the guest house were destroyed.” She pressed her lips together, her eyes burning with emotion before they settled on you once more. “I have called them already; they will be here as soon as they can.”

You didn’t need to ask who was coming, you knew Ajak had called the family. You weren’t sure who would come to your aid, after all, this was the first time in a very long time one of them had been hurt. What you did know was that you were still family and that was all Ajak needed to let them know what had happened.

Morning was already there, the light of the day sneaked inside the glasses of your bedroom and the sky above your head was still heavy with unleashed storms. You sat down slowly, your heart beating fast while your hands clenched tightly at your sides, you took a deep breath trying to control yourself before demanding answers.

Turning to the right your eyes found those of Ajak, the clarity in them told you everything you need to know. Yet you asked the question burning in your mind.

“What happened to Wanda?”

“We don’t know exactly.” Ajak fixed her position on the chair, ready to stop you from doing something harsh. “No one expected such an attack, this place was supposed to be a secret and Natasha and Yelena are assuring Sprite they were not followed. Though they obviously were, or something else its at play here.”

You scoffed at that, shifting on the bed so your legs were at the edge of the bed. Ajak was on her feet right away, her eyes gleaming strangely while her hand placed itself on your shoulder.

“You’re still hurt.”

“That man, or whoever the hell did this have Wanda.” You lifted your face with determination, the magic inside you igniting a golden fire around your irises. “I need to…”

“Take it easy.” Ajak stated firmly, her hand held up to stop you from any harsh movement.

For a brief instant you defied her with your eyes, your body creating a tension in your muscles which only made the pain increased. Your shoulders fell, eyes downcast before you stood on shaky legs.

“I need to do something, Ajak. Wanda may be in danger and I can’t…” You lifted your face to make sure Ajak could read the emotions running rampage through your system.

The older woman softened her features, her hand lifting up to put a strand of hair behind your ear. She smiled at you nodding towards the bathroom.

“I am not saying to do nothing, I’m just saying take it easy.” She stood back allowing you more space to move. “Go and take a bath, be careful with your wounds and once I have patch you up we will join the others.”

Two hours later you were walking down your hall, your eyes went from the complete destruction that was now your house and the falling drops of water coming from the dark clouds above your head. Your eyes drifted from what used to be your living room to the place where Natasha and Yelena were standing on. Ajak and Sprite had long gone to get everything ready back at their home, the Quinjet waiting in the front yard.

“So, I bet you two have some news, right?” Your eyes gleamed dangerously at the two Widows; Natasha nodded curtly pointing to the jet.

“Hayward has recruited some sympathizers and has been using some of SWORD’s resources to execute his plan.” Natasha went directly to the computer in the jet, her fingertips moving swiftly on the keyboard. “Tony and Monica had been monitoring some of the known bases of the organization, but after five years of leaving the leadership to this man it is quite obvious, he has been preparing for a situation such as this.”

“Which means, whatever he is up to, he is well hidden and almost impossible to track down.” You complemented sitting down with a wince.

“In theory, yes.” Natasha pressed a key and the window transform into a screen showing the map of the world with several dots in red and green.

You glanced at the screen with a frown in place, there was impatience in your posture while your thoughts filled with how much time everyone had wasted without knowing what could have happened to Wanda. Your strength was at half its potential, and your fingertips tingled with the possibility of the answers you could get if you were to get a hold of your powers.

Yelena shifted at your side, and soon you felt the weight of her hand on your shoulder. When you looked back at her she was offering a comforting glance, something you returned with a shaky smile.

“What do you need from me?” You finally asked to the two women, Natasha and Yelena exchanged a quick glance before another voice came in right through the coms.

“We need you to tell us how you can help us in this situation, Mrs. Y/L/N.”

You had heard stories about the man, and you had seen him several times through the news but never before had you had the honour of meeting him much less talk to him. You knew your existence was a secret, it was something Natasha and Yelena had kept to themselves and this had been a great advantage for you to remain anonymous and out of the conflicts happening in the world. But right now, you didn’t care. The woman you had fallen in love with was in danger and it was about time for you to cross that line.

“Nick Fury, the man of many legends.” You replied standing up and walking towards the camera, the sole eye of the man focused on your image and you gave off a half smile. “I can do many things, but you must know each one of them comes with a price.”

“Is that a threat or a negotiation?” He retorted tilting his head unimpressed, you snorted shaking your head while looking around the place before lifting your hand. This time around your fingertips were gleaming gold and your eyes shone with power that many would envy from you.

“It’s a promise.” The electronics around you flickered before everything went back to normal, neither Natasha nor Yelena changed their postures though you were quite sure they would be ready to jump at you if at any point they felt threatened.

It seemed as if Fury thought the same, for the man merely chuckled shaking his head while crossing his arms.

“We do not have time for games, as you can see there are many bases and many spots in which Hayward can be hidden. And there is no time.” He stated leaning. “I am not sure as to what he has planned for Wanda, but last time Wanda lost her control she created a complete different reality in this one.”

“She won’t lose any control of her powers.” The conviction behind your words surprised Fury, you shake your head remembering her progress in the last couple of months. “But it is true that if used incorrectly, her powers can be disastrous.”

“We have monitored some of these bases, and have…” You lifted your hand shaking your head.

“I can find her with a flickered of my hand.”

“You can?” Yelena asked surprised by your declaration, you nodded though there was no a single trace of happiness or smugness in your expression.

Fury tilted his head lifting a single eyebrow at you, “there is a price for that, am I right? And you are not talking about money.”

“That’s right. My powers…” You hesitated for a moment, revealing the extended of what you could do was pretty dangerous so before speaking you measure the extension of the information you could share. “They required concentration, and energy that I didn’t possess an hour ago.”

“Then, we should cut the crap and go down to business, don’t you think?” Fury finally stated, you nodded in agreement sitting down once more and listening to the debrief.

With each passing second you grew inpatient.

It was almost impossible to not think of her at the moment, of her smile and the way her eyes would shine with happiness and tenderness whenever she felt safe. How smooth was her skin, and how warm was her smile; you had fallen into her spell without measuring the consequences. And now, as they spoke about Westview and Hayward, about what they think was going to happen and how Wanda play into all the mess, you couldn’t help but think that this mission would define your fate and hers.

“Y/N?” You lifted your head startled, Yelena was glancing at you with a glint of concern in her eyes. The cockpit was silent, everyone seemed to be waiting for something.

It took you a moment to realize they were waiting for you.

“I will do it on my own. And, under my rules.” You stated glancing at the screen and making sure the man at the other end knew who he was dealing with. “I am not going to be a tool, nor someone you can call on whenever the world is in danger. I am doing this out of selfishness.”

Fury scowled at your words, he lifted his chin and for a moment it seemed as if he was going to fight over your words. But then he dropped his shoulders nodding curtly.

“Very well.”

You turned around leaving the Quinjet with a set of soft steps following you slowly, you didn’t need to turn around to know it was Yelena the one walking right behind you. A part of you knew this was mainly out of duty, but there was also a part of you that knew she opted to do it out of love.

The place was a complete mess, the house that had guarded Wanda the last couple of months was on ruins and ashes, the rain creating pools of blackness while the wind hit your face scratching the tenderness of your skin. Time seemed to stop around you, your footsteps taking you through the ruins of the house and the destruction around you, the burning anger inside your heart was making it impossible to focus on something differently to what had happened before disaster stroke.

You stood in the middle of the hill, glancing at the sky then at the ocean spreading in the horizon. The waters were dark, waves disturbing the calm waters while the salty aroma in the air filled your nostrils. Whatever you heard inside the Quinjet was nothing to what you knew about Wanda and the situation she was in. You knew the moment you started working your magic to find her, she would be a step closer to her previous life than to the one she had started building in Vernazza.

It wasn’t about her going back to her dark path, it was her going back to being a hero.

And you being alone.

You heard footsteps behind you, your body tensed knowing there was no more time to waste. Natasha stood behind you for a moment, her own heart was pressing hard against her chest and she couldn’t help but feel worried for what Wanda might be living at the moment.

“How powerful are you, really?” Natasha finally asked crossing her arms while shooting you a calculating stare.

Your lips quirked upwards; one eyebrow raised just as you turned to face her.

“Powerful enough to find her, to bind her and to destroy her without moving from this spot.” You replied without changing your tone of voice.

Natasha nodded curtly tilting her head to the side, “and all this time, you just remained here without helping others.”

“It was not my place, Natasha.” You furrowed your brows, shrugging. “Not all of us are made to be heroes, and sometimes…we could do more harm than good. My powers are special, like most witches are.”

Natasha scoffed shaking her head without understanding completely your reluctance to be of any help in the past. She had learnt the hard way that being inactive when the world needed you the most might lead to disaster. Innocent people, children, suffering at the hands of injustice and evil individuals that would stop at nothing until they had gotten what they wanted. The Red Room was just one example of this, but Natasha knew more cases in which perhaps more help would have make a difference.

“My powers come with a price, Natasha.” You sighed closing your eyes for a moment before you opened them and the golden light that was your inner strength. Your fingertips created a golden mist while the air around you changed.

It felt heavier, suffocating.

Natasha shivered for a moment, though she never backed down from her position in front of you. You didn’t expect her to do just that, you knew the woman could face whoever she wanted without never showing fear or uncertainty. That was one of the things you like the most about her, Natasha was always ready for action and she was someone you knew you could count on.

At the moment, she was the best bet you had to help Wanda.

“I’ll find her, and you better be ready because I have a feeling this won’t be pretty.” You took a deep breath and then close your eyes ready to concentrate.

After you were taking under Ajak’s wing, they realized you need instruction. There was nothing much Sersi could teach you about magic, it was pretty obvious that due to the nature of your powers you would need powerful people ready to teach you how to handle your powers completely. Thus, after getting used to living with the Eternals, they journey started. You met a lot of people in all that time, but it was actually an old Yoruba woman you met when travelling to Togo. It was thanks to her that you learnt about the magic connecting all beings, and the magic itself tying everyone to what many in modernity called mutants.

When you opened your eyes you could see the different strings around you.

The magic tickled your skin, with a warm waved of air forming around your chest and spreading around your body in an explosion of connections coming to you through your own powers. The first time you did this, you almost died. But now, you were able to separate yourself from the other strings…the many people that had some magic in them, the ones that were powerful, and the ones that were not so much.

Natasha observed with calculating eyes the way you changed your posture, your eyes wide open now shining a deep golden colour. Your hands spread out, fingertips wriggling around while the air around her felt heavier.

The hairs at the back of her neck stood up when your eyes gleamed brighter and your mouth mumbled intelligible words. Then, as soon as it started, it had ended.

You clenched your jaw, breathing hard your clear eyes turned to Natasha’s ones.

“Poveglia.” You mumbled. “And we have to move fast, Wanda is liberating her powers in an erratic way. There is a lot of physical pain and she seems to be losing a battle trying to hold back.”

Natasha nodded turning around, “then let’s move.”

You went right behind her, Yelena was already sitting on the co-pilot seat playing with a knife. She got ready as soon as she saw the both of you entering the Quinjet.

“You got it? That fast?” Yelena sounded surprised, sending you an inquisitive stare you smiled at her. Your lips completely tensed.

“I am good at what I do, Lena.”

Yelena snorted shaking her head and getting everything ready, “I don’t have a doubt about that.”

“Okay, then let’s move it. Fury will send reinforcements to our location. Tony is coming over and…”

“And we need Ajak and Sprite.” You replied nodding back to the town. “You need to pick them up, they are waiting for us in the cost.”

Natasha furrowed her brows, turning to you with some hesitation in her expression.

“I’m not sure that they…” Natasha trailed off, she examined your expression before shaking her head. “What other secrets are there, Y/N?”

“a lot more, that will be kept in that way, Natasha.” You replied standing in between the two Widows. “Let’s go. Wanda doesn’t have much time.”

_____________________________________________________________

Wanda could remember the last time she was torture in such a way.

Hydra had been experimenting on her and Pietro, trying to get the best of their powers by putting them through some hardships that left physical and emotional scars on them. She remembered the time her powers had been taken away from her, the pain of electric shocks through her body whenever she tried to access them and get free from her prison.

It had been the worst experience of her life.

Now, tied to the wall, with the same device around her neck and the death body of Vision on display, Wanda had to wonder why she fought so hard to defend these people. Why she fought so hard to be accepted when many of them wanted to put a number on them, and make sure they could be located it at all times.

When her freedom and privacy would be violated the same way she was being used at the moment.

Her lips parted, and her throat hurt the moment she let out another chilling scream into the room. Her eyes gleamed red and her power was expelled in waves of red mist. Her voice inside her head screamed with the same intensity, and the young woman could sense Scarlet fighting over the binds around her neck.

We need to free ourselves; we need to…

But her voice was losing her intensity.

“I know you can give me more, Wanda.” Hayward entered the room after the last explosion of energy, his eyes fell upon a cylindrical device tied to Vision’s grey body. The man pursed his lips touching the synthetic body before turning his eyes to Wanda. “I thought you love him. It is disappointing that, when giving the chance you decide to say no.”

Wanda took a deep breath, sweat falling down her face while her eyes flickered between red and green. Her glared would have scared the man in front of her if it wasn’t for the fact that he knew he could stop any attempts from her part to harm him. Hayward approached her with a kind smile, though her eyes were completely cold.

“If I were to take off the device…would you be inclined to help?” He asked, not for the first time, the same question.

Wanda took a deep breath, her mind clouding over to the implications of what Hayward was saying. The presence inside her head stirred once more, and she knew Scarlet would kill the man in front of her if they were given the chance to use their powers at its full potential.

“This is not the way…” Wanda breathed out. “Vision…if he comes back, he won’t be your weapon…”

Hayward snorted shaking his head, disappointed at such an answer.

“That’s too bad.” Hayward turned to Vision lifting his chin, arrogance dripping his voice as he spoke. “Your powers may return him to life, but I have made some modifications on that body. He will obey. This is for the greater good, we need a weapon like that to help us against people like you…People who obviously have powers they don’t deserve.”

“Vision would never…” Wanda started but trailed off when Hayward slapped her.

“Vision would do what I tell him to, and you will no longer be of any concern to the U.S government after today.”

Wanda lifted her face, her eyes burning with anger as she clenched her fist closed. In her eyes, the shadow of Scarlet was visible through the red colouring in her irises. The characteristic red mist forming slowly just as she tried to put up a fight against the restraints on her wrists and ankles. Hayward stepped back, his eyes gown wide though his lips pressed together in a thin smile; Wanda shook her head trying to collect her energy and getting herself freed from her current predicament.

“I won’t let you use Vision in such a despicable way, I won’t let you taint his memory!” Wanda struggled even harder, she held back her exclamations of pain feeling the energy moving through her body.

There was power surging through her, and the lights around them flickered through the sheer energy she was using. Hayward opened his eyes in shock, his feet moving back one step at a time not hearing the warning from his team just outside the room.

In no time, soldiers came in with their weapons at the ready all of them pointing at the witch that was now screaming in pain and anger. She was fighting over what had her imprisoned in that room, her mind breaking at some point when the electricity running through her body made it impossible for her to keep holding on.

Hayward let out a sigh of relief, he smiled lifting a hand to stop his soldiers from doing something stupid before moving to towards the door.

“That it’s all you need to do, Wanda.” Hayward smiled pointing to where the body of Vision was resting and the cylinder seemed to be gleaming red. He walked towards the door followed by his guards, with a last glance to a suffering Wanda Hayward exited the room. “Goodbye, Wanda.”

The world had not been fair with her.

Losing her parents, and her childhood was just the beginning of a life that would be filled with uncertainties and hardships. Pain seemed to be the only thing she knew pretty well, as an emotion and a feeling she had learnt to deal with as she grew older. Her body shivered with sweat rolling down her forehead. She didn’t know when it stopped, but it did. And suddenly everything around her was back to being black, the only sound that of her hard breathing.

She had tried.

She really tried to get out of this situation.

Her eyesight became blurry, and she hated the vulnerability she was feeling at the moment. How useless she was without her powers? Without the strength she relied on for so long, would she be able to survive? In a moment of clarity, she didn’t have before Westview, Wanda and Scarlet thought about their lives from the moment they lost their parents.

Falling into the hands of Hydra had been out of desperations, and getting the powers that led them to the Avengers was something that built in them a new purpose. A purpose Wanda lost in the Lagos incident. Every s ingle step she had taken had been wrong, every decision had led to more suffering, to her losing herself and letting others take advantage of who she was. Of what she was.

Until Vernazza.

Until Y/N.

For the very first time ever since she lost Vision, and she went away in the Blip Wanda was happy. She was at peace with herself and her past. She had forgotten the outside world that had pointed their fingers at her in fear and hatred, the ones that had forgotten her as a hero and now were screaming at her like a villain. For the very first time, Wanda understood why Natasha and Tony offered that gateway and the usefulness of such a time.

There was always time for a second chance, there was always time for making a difference and to step aside. Wanda stirred lifting her face, the room was dark still and she wasn’t feeling any strength in her body but now she knew what she had to do. She thought she knew what she wanted, that she was ready to go back to her life as a hero, as and Avenger…to show everyone she was not the bad person many thought she was. For the very first time, Wanda realized she needed to be happy for herself and nobody else.

We have fought many battles, we have faced many enemies but none as big as ourselves. It is time for us to decide who we are, and what we want to do. The voice of Scarlet sounded stronger, more confident that before and Wanda felt her power grow inside her chest.

“I thought we have decided already.” Wanda smiled and she could sense the smile of her alter ego in her mind.

Let’s get out of here, I don’t think she knows.

“I think we made her doubt.” Wanda finished before she took a deep breath.

And when she started gathering her inner strengths, the lights inside the room blinked to live. The body of Vision was completely visible, and there was no more doubts inside her mind. Wanda knew out there someone was looking for her, she knew that as soon as she did something help would come so she only needed time to make a big ruckus and hold until they get there.

With her usual determination, Wanda called upon her power closing her mind and body to the pain just as the lights inside the room started flickering. The device around her neck activated, and her lips opened up to let out a bloodcurdling scream inside the room. Everything in her body hurt, but she wouldn’t stop and push herself to the limit.

Wanda knew she was doing the right thing; she could hear the soldiers and the screaming of orders left and right. She could sense many thoughts, all of them scared or angered, and then just before she lost all consciousness…Wanda felt Y/N.

A flash of gold, a comforting warmth around her body and then only blankness.

_____________________________________________________________

Natasha had seen many heroes with superpowers fight before.

She had seen the good, the bad and the ugly learning how some of these powers could be a destructive forced that she usually thanked were on her side. She had seen Wanda fight, and she had been victim of her mind-altering technique; but never before had she seen what she saw in Y/N.

Poveglia was a small island located it in the venetian lagoon, it was a deserted island that many rumours said it was haunted. In all reality, it had been a secret Hydra based back in the World War Two and had been abandoned once the war was over and the newly founded SHIELD got control of the installations. It was supposed to be abandoned, but over the years it was obvious that the rumours about strange happenings in the island had been fed by those secret Hydra agents that were trying to continue with the groups secret dealings.

It was difficult for Fury to debrief everyone, and to assemble a team that would make sure this island was finally out of commission.

The place was heavily guarded, and Natasha feared it wouldn’t be as easier as she thought at first. That was until Y/N knelt down with a yelp of pain leaving her lips. Ajak was the first one by her side, speaking in a language the Widows didn’t recognize but that seemed to do the job.

“She…she is pain.” You stated through clenched teeth, your eyes gleaming brightly. “We need to…”

Ajak pursed her lips lifting your chin with two of her fingers, “peace, control, and power. Without them, you are nothing, Y/N.”

You nodded curtly standing up, you turned your back to them and walked towards the gate.

“Take care of everyone else, I will take care of this and the enhanced individuals inside.”

“Y/N we should wait…” Natasha started but trailed of when the switch changed and the gate started opening. “Y/N, WAIT!”

You didn’t wait.

Magic had always been a part of your life, you learnt to fight from Thena and Gil, and you had grown to be a great warrior thanks to them. Your frown increased as you landed in the backyard, the golden mist leaving your hands and pinning the soldiers to the ground. Your intention was not to kill, but you had learnt a long time ago that you were not above it.

Whatever you needed to do to keep your precious people safe.

Making your way inside the building was easier than you thought, your footsteps echoed in the building. You could hear the blasting sound of alarms and screams and shoots being fired; whenever you came across one soldier or a group of them, you were quick. Your fighting style was that of a seasoned warrior, and many of them were children before your eyes.

Your first problem was a young man.

He stood in front of you with his face marked by arrogance, his body muscular and filled out to resist heavy fights. He was dressed in black, with a strange armour covering his body and his hand armed with a combat knife. He smiled looking you up and down before assessing the threat.

“You don’t look like much.” He cocked his head to the side; he cracked his knuckles stepping forward before twirling the knife. “You have powers, I give you that. But you’re not the only one.”

You stood there taking a fighting stance, tilting your head to the other side you locked eyes with him. The young man hesitated for a second, before his arrogance was back into the game. He came at you with great speed, you side-step his first attacked barely missing the blade of the knife cutting through the air before he turned to you hitting you square in the face with his closed fist.

Your head bounced against the wall, an exclamation of pain left your lips before you dodged his next attack, that went right through the wall. You narrowed your eyes, this super strength was not something you were used to but at the moment you were more focused on other things.

Your leg lifted up hitting the young man on his back, his face crashing against the wall. You heard the crack of something breaking, but the young man turned as soon as he could and with the same technique he hit you squared on your midsection coming at you before hitting you once more in the face.

“You bitch!” You lifted your face dodging and blocking watching the blood coming down his broken nose. “You will learn!”

You lifted a hand and he stopped dead on his tracks, his eyes opened wide just as you lifted him in the air. Your golden eyes glancing at him with indifference before you pressed him against the ceiling of the place, he tried to struggle but it was useless.

“I could take your life with a single flickered of my hand.” You said coldly, your eyes falling on the knife he had dropped on the ground. “the energy I can sense in you would be enough to fee me for two more lives.”

The young man opened his eyes in terror, his struggling became frantic and you merely scoffed.

“I’m not interested in you, kid.” You stated walking forward. “Where is she?”

You waited for a moment before letting go of the man that soon fell to the ground, the young man was breathing hard. His face to the ground, his body trembling and spasming still quite sensitive to the magic that had pinned him to the ceiling. You turned around kneeling in front of him.

“Where is Wanda Maximoff?”

“Do—down the ha-hall.” He stuttered unable to move, you smiled patting his head like a dog.

“You won’t be able to move for a while, take this time to think over what you want to do next. Humans are not merciful with those who abused their privileges.”

He wasn’t the only one, and as you tried to make your way down the hall to what seemed to be a control room you realized many of these individuals were different. But were not natural, the energy they carried was fake, as if it had been forced through their bodies instead of being born inside them. You scoffed disgusted at the human experiments you seemed to be fighting, but your disgust was directed to the ones behind these poor souls that probably thought they were getting the deal of their lives.

They obtained strength through sacrifice.

Weapons. Tools.

You finally came to your destination, only to find a man standing with a full fledge army pointing their guns at you. This could have been a disaster if it wasn’t for the fact that the moment you stepped forward three different explosions shook the whole prison.

The ceiling came down, and the doors of the lab were thrown off their hinges with a red mist involving the room. Your eyes opened wide, you heard the order and your hand lifted to stop the bullets from reaching you and Wanda.

Wanda that was floating in a room with ropes and chains still hanging from her wrists and ankles, her neck covered with a black gadget and her mouth open in a rictus of pain. You flickered your hand, the magic around you expanded and the screams soon softened down while Wanda now in full Scarlet Witch mode dropped to the ground tired.

You ran to her side, your hand grabbing the collar around her neck.

For a moment you felt the voltage coming from it, and you merely used your inner strength to destroy the artefact and free the woman from it. The world around you kept spinning around, but your magic was protecting you from what was happening right outside.

Now with her in your arms, you could finally see the damage she had undergone.

With bags under her eyes, her face was covered in scratches and blood. She had signs of torture, and you could feel as her vital energy flickered dangerously in and out, as if she had been made to force her power on more than one occasion. Your hand trembled, your fingertips taking some strands of hair out of her face while you swallowed down your emotions.

You could sense others right outside your bubble of power.

You knew you were not alone; you could sense Ajak and Sprite, Natasha and Yelena and the life force of one Tony Stark. Your hand trembled when you moved away the hair from Wanda’s face, she had blood and a black mark on her cheek, anger went through your veins as you realized she had been tortured.

Then, your eyes lifted and you saw him.

The body of Vision.

A piercing pain went through your heart at the thought of Wanda trying to bring him to life. Of you losing her.

You swallowed down your doubts picking her up in your arms, Ajak showed herself in a moment glancing at your wounds and Wanda’s ones. She noticed the urgency in your eyes, and she knew you would not allow a single healing process in you until Wanda was okay.

“I think we better go; I need to see how badly she was wounded.” Ajak said pointing to the yard of the fortress.

“You better bring someone to take the body of Vision out of here and have someone check over the different technologies they have in here.” You spoke looking passed Ajak, Tony Stark stood with full armour and his face barely visible. “I think they had been experimenting with more than AI in this place.”

“Where are you taking her?” Tony asked with his eyes fixed on the redhead in your arms. “She needs medical attention; I can provide her with a good care.”

You scowled at the man, “she is out of energy, her magic had been affected by that disgusting gadget. She needs me and Ajak, Stark. When you have finished with this place, you are more than welcome to join us back home. No soldiers, no traps. Natasha would know how to locate us.”

You didn’t wait for an answer, instead you started walking down the debris helping yourself with your magic to move as fast as you could. No one dare to stop you, and Sprite alongside Yelena guarded your side as you went to the Quinjet that Natasha had been flying around.

Fixing Wanda in your arms, with tears in your eyes you waited until they carried you home.

_____________________________________________________________

Tag list!

@cowboyboots236 - @kacka84 - @alurajordyn - @mrscromanoff - @trikruismybitch - @njavezan - @alwaysgoodnight - @mrsmaximoff21 - @casquinhaa

[namjhyun]

DRAMA REVIEW | Lovely Runner (2024)

Lovely Runner it's undoubtedly one of the best dramas of 2024.

It has all the elements that make a drama a mega hit: comedy, romance, time travel, well written characters (both leads and supporting ones) and an engaging plot line that never bores you. Starring Kim Hye Yoon and Byeon Woo Seok, adapted from the web novel The Best of Tomorrow by screenwriter Lee Shi Eun and directed by Yoon Jong Ho and Kim Tae Yub, the Lovely Runner team achieved a perfect execution in front and behind the camera.

I think the true star of this drama it's the writing and on this I can't commend Lee Si Eun enough. I had already seen her potential in dramas like True Beauty but here she really manages to shine through a well crafted, smart and cohesive story with no loose ends. I'm incredibly impressed by her talent.

The writing was perfectly complemented by the directors's outstanding work in leading a film crew that was on every detail of each part of the story, in each timeline, never missing a beat. Always delivering their A+++ game. But there was also great work done from the directors part in helping the actors get the comedic timing exactly right, the more emotional scenes to deliver and the team work among cast and crew to be flawless.

Lovely Runner might be a big hit now, but it's actually a sleeper hit. The lack of promotion this drama had was embarrassing and if it wasn't for the devoted fans, studio executives would have never realized they had a gem in their hands. So, it's not only a great drama with a super fandom that really fought for this story, it's also becoming yet another prime example in the list of films and tv that achieved all of it by themselves because artists delivered nothing short of excellence.

On this point I can't ignore the incredible performances given by the entire cast. Kim Hye Yoon and Byeon Woo Seok are definitely the standouts, they stole the show, this is their story and the actors chemistry it's electrifying. But the way supportive actors would show up in a scene and push the story forward in a coherent way and even make it better, it's wild to me. The chemistry this cast had it's a rare feat for an ensamble cast and how they managed to transition seamlessly through different phases of their characters's lives and relationships when events, in each timeline, were changing because of the things our leads did they still remain truthful. So, not only the leads are well developed in this drama but also every single character that shows up, no matter how small the role is.

The best example of this it's actor Heo Hyeong-Gyu who has been working for sixteen years, playing very minor characters, finally having a breakthrough in the industry because of his role in this drama. And while his presence was prominent and important to the story, he barely had lines. So his entire performance is mainly based on micro-expressions or physical stunts.

I also fully expect the actors like Song Geon-Hee, Lee Seung-Hyub, Song Ji-Ho or Seo Hye-won to receive a lot of what korean entertainment industry calls "love calls" aka commercials, dramas and films, among other things.

Experiencing watching Lovely Runner alongside the fandom, waiting every week for a new episode, it's a big part of what made this drama so good. Healthy and good loving fun people, clowning, poking fun at our faves and crying at heartbreak. It's been a long time since I have been able to engage in this way with other fans and I am thankful for them, the cast and crew for all these amazing weeks of fun.

Rating: 10/10

[yukidragon]

What are your thoughts on the “Party Time Jack!” AU? Got any headcanons or delightfully dark ideas for it?

Ah yes, the classic Party Time Jack AU, as heard and seen in this post on the official Sunny Day Jack tumblr. There’s also this fun picture Sauce drew on their now gone public twitter. Credit, as always, for their amazing art goes to them.

Remember to always credit artists when they are generous enough to give permission to share their art like this, folks. Just as importantly, don’t share stuff they don’t give permission to share, like the private posts on the Snaccpop Patreon. Sauce and the team are very kind and deserve our support. For just $3 you too can have a programmed version of Jack in the form of Sleepy Time Jack’s newest demo.

Now back to Party Time Jack.

This AU is just a fun little parody of FNAF and has no set continuity right out of the gate. As we can hear from the audio drama, there are two ways the story about animatronic Jack and his sunshine could start, both very appealing in their own right.

Oh, I just realized that the non-English and hard of hearing members of the fandom wouldn’t be able to enjoy the audio drama and might lose out on some of the fun. Well, since I’ve already done a couple transcripts, such as for the interview with the psyche consultant, his monologue to the person with the knife in front of the mirror, and the villainous threatening monologue that you can hear after you beat the demo and over here on the official twitter... how about I give transcribing Party Time Jack a shot too?

Disclaimer: I have auditory-processing disorder, so this transcript might have an error or two despite my best efforts. Please let me know if you see any so that I can correct them. Thank you!

Also, as always, remember that this series is for Adults Only. This post is going to go some very dark and disturbing places, as well as contain lots of spice that is not for minors. Just because Jack is an animatronic in this AU doesn’t mean that he can’t show his sunshine just how much he loves them after all~

...

Party Time Jack Transcript

(Slow footsteps.)

(Sudden mechanical grabbing sound.)

Jack: Well now… What do we have here? If you came for a show, I’m afraid you’re a bit late, friend. We’re closed for the night. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.

(Electronic noise of data being processed.)

Jack: (faintly flustered) Oh. Oh my, we’re closed now, aren’t we? I’m sorry, I guess time got away from both of us. (chuckle)

Jack: (concerned) Where are your friends? Do you have any family I should alert? If you have a PPID, I can bring up and contact any persons you have registered under your emergency contacts, and we can send you on your way.

(A brief pause.)

Jack: (taken aback) What’s a PPID? (normal cheerful tone) That’s your Party Play ID card of course. Every guest is issued one at the door. They manage your arcade credits and e-ticket balance, as well as your prepaid activity passes and party play guest account. If you have yours on you, I can look at your account right now and-

(Pause.)

Jack: (taken aback) Oh… I see… You weren’t issued one. (uncertain tone) Are you… the guardian of a child attending then? Perhaps you’re looking for-

(Pause.)

Jack: I see… You attended on behalf of a child, but are not a guardian. (uncomfortable tone) Right. Well… That certainly makes things a bit more complicated.

Jack: Unfortunately, I’m not permitted to access personally identifying information for non-guardians and non-familiar guests. I’m afraid you’ll have to come with me then. I’ll escort you to security, and we can figure out what to do with you until then.

(Whirring noise followed by a click and rustling fabric.)

Jack: (regretful tone) Please do not resist. I hate to be mean… but you are here unlawfully. Trespassing on private property after hours is not only a felony, but strictly against our guest and attendance code of conduct. If you do not comply, I will have no choice but to engage level two security protocol: potentially hostile non-compliant guest procedures. You really wouldn’t want me to have to do that, would you?

(Pause.)

Jack: (relieved) Great. Thank you so much for understanding. I promise, we’ll get you home safe and sound.

(Electronic error noises with mechanical stuttering, whirring, and popping.)

Jack: But… (creepy glitchy, breathy voice) Then again… you haven’t had a chance… to play with us… have you?

Jack: (normal cheerful voice) I thought not. It’d be a real shame to send you home just like that.

Jack: (excited) There’s so much to do and see. How about we make a little deal, just us two? I’ll have lots of fun with you… if you promise to behave, and keep it our little secret. Wouldn’t that be so fun… to have a secret just between you and me?

(Pause.)

Jack: We have cake, balloons, games… everything you could ever even need! And as long as you promise not to tell anybody else… I can show you everything. It can be all special, just for you! I never get to spend special one-on-one time with anyone… so you’d be the only one ever! That would make me so happy! Wouldn’t you be happy too?

Jack: And you know… only best friends have secrets like that, so that would make us best friends already! If you think about it… we’re already so close. And who knows? Maybe we’ll get even closer. Wouldn’t it be great to become special best friends too?

Jack: (chuckle) We only have so long until we’re open again. Best not to think too much about it now. When we open again (creepy glitched voice) they’ll take you away from me (normal cheerful tone) so let’s get a move on.

Jack: (glitched voice) I’ll keep you somewhere very safe. They won’t find you there.

…

(Plastic scraping sounds. A click then an electronic beep. Dull, echoing metallic thumps getting louder. Plastic scraping and sliding, clicking. More metallic thumps fading away. A brief silence then sudden whirring electronic sounds and a click, followed by the clattering of something small, metal, and hollow falling.)

Jack: (curious/cautious) Hello? (surprised/alarmed) You! You there! What are you doing? (slightly concerned) You know, it’s awfully late to be snooping around. It’s so dark and there’s nobody here. You might get really hurt if you aren’t careful.

(Plastic scraping, clicking.)

Jack: (chuckle) (cheerful tone) Don’t worry! You’re perfectly safe here with me. I would never let anything happen to you. My job is to make sure all our guests are taken care of, even after hours. My name is Sunny Day Jack. What’s yours?

(Pause.)

Jack: It’s very nice to meet you- (electronic glitch) (distorted, stilted robotic tone) identifier tags unknown - memory disk space low. (normal voice) Meeting new friends is always great and- (glitching mid-word, distorted voice) -it’s been so long since I’ve seen anybody around.

Jack: (normal voice, panicked tone) N-n-not that I’m complaining or anything! (nervous) I’m fine here. It’s just… just some routine maintenance. (attempted cheerful tone) As soon as our amazing tech crew figures out what’s wrong with me, I’ll be back out there where everyone else is.

Jack: Sure… it’s been a few months, yeah… b-but that just means it’s only a matter of time now! Until then, all I have to do is be patient.

Jack: (curious) So… What are you doing down here anyways? Are you lost? (encouraging) That’s alright if you are. Everyone gets lost from time to time, and I just so happen to know that this room locks from the inside. You’ll be fine here as long as you don’t leave.

Jack: (concerned) Still… it’s not very good for you to hang out while we’re closed. I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave on your own until opening at (distorted creepy robotic tone) 6:30am. (normal voice) Security protocols dictate that all entrances and exits be sealed for optimal compliance w-with (distorted voice) area code (normal voice) l-law.

Jack: If you’d like, I could alert the authorities of your presence… but you could get into big trouble for that, can’t you? And… I’d hate for that to happen, wouldn’t you?

Jack: Maybe… I could help you. You seem nice. I’d hate to stand by with a friend in need. (uncomfortable tone) Of course… I-I can’t leave here. (frustrated) I would know, I’ve tried. Only staff can unlock the doors, so… If you could get in, you probably have a key card… right?

(Pause.)

Jack: (relieved sigh) Oh great, thank goodness. I was beginning to think they’d forgotten all about me down here.

Jack: (nervous) No! I-I mean… no. They wouldn’t. That… that was a joke. (nervous chuckle) I-if you let me out, I can make sure nobody finds you. It’ll be our little secret, I promise. I’ll make sure you’re safe. And in return… what if you be my special friend? That sounds like a fair trade, right?

Jack: (hushed voice) Nobody has to know you came here, and you won’t have to worry any longer… I’ll take good care of you.

(Pause.)

Jack: (cheerful) Alrighty! I’m lovin’ the “can do” spirit!

Jack: (coaxing) Now… I’ll need you to do something very brave for me… and I know it’ll be hard, but you can trust me, I promise. Give me the keycard? I’m going to hold onto it for you. It’ll be right here if you want it again… but if someone catches us, I’d hate for them to find you with stolen property. Better me than you, right?

(Pause.)

Jack: (relieved sigh) There you go. Thank you so much for trusting me… You won’t regret it.

...

Two Halves of One Horror Story

A great audio drama isn’t it? As you can tell, Jack meets the listener (presumably his sunshine) for the first time in two wildly different circumstances. This makes sense for a non-canon what if fun AU. There’s no canon continuity to speak of and is just a fun parody of both Sunny Day Jack and Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Though it would be sinister if this animatronic Jack was the same one both times.

Picture this scenario... Unlike in the regular universe where Jack would never hurt his sunshine, that’s not the case for this animatronic. A glitch in his programming makes him want a special best friend, so he talks an intruder who stayed after hours into staying with him. He promises he’ll keep the intruder someplace very safe where no one will find them...

Perhaps the second half of the audio drama isn’t an alternate meeting, but the aftermath to the first half. The pizza place was haunted by reports of people disappearing after hours, creating scandals. The owners tried to cover things up, but when Jack’s glitches got worse, they had to take their star down to the basement to try and fix him. Problems with his memory were the biggest issue, making him forget about important things, such as what he was supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, he was never fixed before the pizza place went out of business due to lawsuits... and investigations.

Seems as though an accident caused a body to be unearthed in a previously hidden room of the pizza place. Cause of death? Dehydration. They were trapped in that room and no one could find them in time. The hidden door was eventually found, locked from the outside.

Funny enough there was no signs of violence. In fact, the room was decorated for a party, complete with long-deflated balloons and some of the prizes from the arcade. There were traces of food left behind such as cake and pizza, but not enough cans of soda and bottles of water for the poor person to remain hydrated. It seems whoever locked them up there was treating them well, but perhaps just forgot about them...

The other missing persons have yet to be found, but the scandal was enough to sink the pizza place. Of course, rumors spread that the other missing people are still in the building, hidden away and forgotten by whoever locked them up in there.

Urban explorers then break into the run down pizza place to take videos and post what they find online. Unfortunately, it seems the animatronics were not deactivated... and these clowns are not as friendly as they used to be. Dangerous glitches affected the rest of the SunnyTime Crew as well.

The explorer is forced to flee and hide in the basement to escape the animatronic chasing them. During their exploration, they found a keycard and managed to hide away someplace safe where they met an animatronic that is actually friendly and not out for blood. Sure the explorer could get help by calling the police on their cell phone, but they would get arrested for trespassing. Maybe it would be better to trust this animatronic that doesn’t want to cram an endoskeleton inside them. He seems friendly at least.

That’s how I’d see both halves of the audio drama slotting together at least if I was to connect their stories. Still, I think the intent was to offer two different scenarios about meeting an animatronic version of Jack, both of which are pretty appealing. There’s no canon for this very non-canon story after all, so we’re free to imagine whatever.

With that thought in mind, I think I’m going to make a third option when it comes to playing with Party Time Jack AU. You all know me by know, I lean heavily towards heartbreaking dark lore offset by fluffy and spicy vanilla goodness with my OTP. I just can’t get enough of Jack and Alice healing each other’s scars with sweet, sweet love~

So let’s start with the scarring. As most SDJ universes go, it all starts with Joseph and a tragedy... specifically a murder.

The Incident of 1984

The Party Time Pizza Plex is one of the most state of the art restaurants in the USA  today - a miniature amusement park with mascots made of ground breaking technology. Today it’s a super popular place, though there are some rumors of unfortunate things happening in the 80′s when a simple family diner made the switch from live acts to animatronics.

The Party Time Pizza Plex used to be known as the SunnyTime Diner, a small place that struggled to get customers. When the owner found that one of the bus boys they hired off the street had a talent for singing and playing the guitar, they got the brilliant idea to have him perform live music acts to draw the customers in.

The act was a hit instantly. Soon, it grew from just one singer with a guitar to a full band in flashy costumes. A clown theme seemed perfect to entice children to come and eat pizza.

The ideas got bigger and bigger - games, prizes, playground equipment... They could afford the newest toys and gizmos to make the place bigger and better.

The SunnyTime Crew, as the band was called, were overworked, exhausted from so many hours working overtime, and couldn’t always seem bright and sun shiny to the customers. That’s around the time when the owner found out a new technology - animatronics. Why waste money on humans that got tired and demanded better wages when they could use robots that never stopped smiling and never complained?

Naturally, Joseph and the other members of the staff weren’t going to take this lying down. There was pushback. Things were already shitty there with too many hours overworked and too little pay. The SunnyTime Crew were what drew in the customers - the kids loved them!

Joseph couldn’t stand the idea of being replaced... to be forgotten as an imitation took the closest thing to love he had ever known. He kept butting heads with the owner, fighting to keep his place in the spotlight. He had been there for so long, practically saved the SunnyTime Diner all on his own. The owner couldn’t just throw him away like garbage!

Besides, the animatronics were creepy. The robots were less refined in the 80′s, more uncanny, especially since they were supposed to look human. They didn’t look alive.

Despite the owner’s lofty dreams, the animatronics got, at best, mixed reactions. Kids were scared of them, and the human cast members had to spend a lot of time calming the poor frightened children. These robots cost the owner a fortune, and it seemed to be a total failure, a waste of an insane amount of money. This gave the SunnyTime Crew leverage to demand better pay, better benefits... to be treated like humans.

The owner then found a way to salvage their investment and solve their issues with labor all in one sweep.

It happened after hours when the restaurant closed its doors for the night. Joseph had a private meeting with the owner. He never went home that night.

The next day, the Sunny Day Jack animatronic was so much better. It was much more realistic, not uncanny at all! Why... it was like magic. He acted so much like the real character... it was as if the kids were seeing Joseph on stage performing for them with a smile that could never falter.

The rest of the SunnyTime Crew’s animatronic cast were given similar upgrades. The human cast weren’t seen again. Rumors spread about family and friends asking questions, reporting them as missing, only to be silenced with threats, money, or both. Some twisted teens spread a ghost story that the human crew were stuffed into the animatronics, which was why they seemed so lifelike...

No one had any idea how close to the truth that ghost story was.

The restaurant's success skyrocketed, being known as a place with cutting edge technology, games, prizes, and family friendly fun. A franchise was born that became well known across the country, and the owner started a company called LambsWork LLC.

While the sister locations were successful, none of those other restaurants were as beloved as the original location and its sunny crew of animatronics. Despite copying the look and programming of the original SunnyTime Crew animatronics flawlessly with ever increasingly advanced technology, they were never quite as lifelike and lovable as the originals. Still, the restaurant chain just grew more and more successful as the place for kids to play and have fun. Technology advanced, but the original crew of animatronics were still beloved by kids young and old.

Of course, things weren’t all sunshine and rainbows for LambsWork LLC and its restaurants. Technicians working on the animatronics could swear they would hear creepy whispers when no one else was around and the robots were supposedly powered down. There were times when the robots were found in places where they shouldn’t be. Sometimes the animatronics seemed too lifelike for the employees’ taste...

Then there were the glitches. Sometimes the animatronics didn’t act the way they should. They especially acted up whenever the owner came by, which the owner did less and less often as time went on They seemed to somehow wind up getting into accidents when the animatronics were around...

A series of unfortunate events happened to threaten the business despite its success, eventually culminating in the original restaurant burning down... with the owner trapped inside. It was deemed an accident by the police, but rumor still spread that it was intentional. Some said it was insurance fraud due to the mysterious problems the business was having lately. Others said it was to cover up a murder.

As you might have guessed from all my hints, Joseph and the rest of the actors in the SunnyTime Crew were murdered in order to make the animatronics more lifelike using supernatural means. I figured involving a murder ritual like my theory about why Joseph was murdered in the regular SDJ universe was fitting for this AU as well.

Joseph and the others’ souls are trapped inside the animatronics, restrained by programming that forces them to only sing, entertain, work, and obey. The ritual attempted to rewrite them with the characters they played, but the people they originally were aren’t completely gone. The glitches are their souls’ attempts to fight against this programming and act the way they wish.

The fire was their doing, both to get revenge and to finally be free.

Present Day

Between the death of the owner, the fire, and other complications, LambsWork LLC had to shut its doors for a while until it was put under new management that wanted to revive the SunnyTime Crew brand and franchise. The original animatronics might have been destroyed in the fire, but technology had advanced in the 40 years since the restaurant first opened, allowing them to recreate the cast with far more lifelike models.

Though, strangely enough, starting over with totally new animatronics from scratch didn’t seem to be as easy as the people in charge wanted. The new robots just didn’t have the same spark to them, even if their bodies were shiny and new, with state of the art features the originals didn’t have. Even using the copies that were left from sister locations didn’t really seem to work the way they were supposed to. It was an issue that needed to be addressed, or it would be impossible to revive the beloved nostalgic restaurant chain.

New blood was pumped into the company, new staff trying to get the franchise up and running again, bigger and better than ever. Among the new staff were technicians and computer programmers fresh from college, all eager to make their mark. One of the new hires was Alice.

Alice was always fascinated by animatronics since she was a child, so getting a job like this was a dream come true. While she was too young when the restaurant chain originally closed to grow up with the SunnyTime Crew, she was familiar with the franchise and the characters, if distantly. She was more intrigued by the idea of being able to make these robots come to life!

Unfortunately, Alice was pretty low on the chain of command, which meant that she was assigned more of the undesirable grunt work. The old electronics and animatronics that were salvaged from the old restaurant had to be sorted through to see if there was anything worthwhile that could be used in the new robots being built. Trying to recover anything from scraps warped by fire, water, and age was far from a fun task.

The pressure was on to get animatronics that would satisfy the new owners of LambsWork before the projected opening day, which meant many late nights of overtime. It was on one of those late nights that Alice stumbled across something that would change everything.

The discovery was a pure accident. Alice had been sorting through a box of parts when she accidentally knocked over a warped hunk of metal. The impact with the floor was enough to open it up to reveal an intact hard drive.

It seemed that what Alice knocked over was a piece of one of the original SunnyTime Crew animatronics. To her delight she found that the hard drive contained the original programming of Sunny Day Jack, and unlike other copies found elsewhere, this had no fragmentation or errors. What luck!

What Alice didn’t expect when testing out the program was that it would try to talk to her.

Jack was confused. He had been asleep for a long time. Instead of freedom, the fire trapped him in a hellish limbo, but now someone had brought his spirit back, a warm light in the frozen darkness. He had no ability to feel his arms and legs, no body. He wanted out of that nightmare of existence, but he needed help.

Alice was familiar with enough sci-fi that artificial intelligence that becomes self-aware can be pretty dangerous. However, being the empathetic person she is, she couldn’t leave a sentient being trapped in what he described as hell. It might have been against the rules, it might get her in trouble, it might be dangerous... but she couldn’t live with herself if she damned something that was alive to such a fate.

It should be fine, Alice thought. She was aware that Jack was sentient, and she knew her stuff when it came to AI and programming, even though the other techs tended to underestimate her. All animatronics had safety protocols that kept them from harming people, and they could only connect with an internal network rather than the internet. Jack seemed so nice, so sincere. As long as she was careful, it shouldn’t put anyone in danger.

Jack was grateful to have a body again, even if it was just a stripped down endoskeleton initially. It was even better than his old one too! He didn’t remember being Joseph anymore at this point, believing he was always a robot. He was so happy with Alice and got her to agree to be special best friends with him.

Unveiling Jack in the endoskeleton caused quite a stir the next day, but after the chaos died down, Alice was given a fair amount of praise for her discovery and for getting the Jack program to work. Jack credited it to his sunshine’s tender loving care and made sure everyone knew she deserved all the credit.

When all was said and done, Alice wound up being the lead tech for Jack, and Sunny Day Jack was upgraded to look like his cheerful old self again, only more advanced than in the past. Privately, Jack even gave her tips on how to get the other animatronics up and running close to how they used to be, though they didn’t seem to have the same spark he did. Still, he was helpful in getting Alice more respect in the restaurant and a better understanding of how the animatronics worked.

Everything was up and running quickly after that. The new Party Time Jack was better than ever, and the SunnyTime Crew was back in business for the opening day of the Party Time Pizza Plex.

Loving a Killer Robot

Much like in the normal universe, Jack is yandere for his sunshine, which is hidden behind a sweet and cheerful exterior. Alice saved him and, though she doesn’t know it, her lonely soul reached out to his and was the primary spark to bring him back. He would do anything for his sunshine. Anything.

Similar to the normal SDJ universe, Jack hasn’t actually killed anyone yet technically, but he is fully capable of doing so. While he was there that night the original restaurant burned down, he wasn’t the only animatronic wanting freedom and vengeance. In fact, the other souls might still be around somewhere if they didn’t manage to pass on...

Even though Jack doesn’t remember being human, he still has some of the familiar urges. His new animatronic body has a soft exterior, perfect for hugs. Hugging the kids who come by is great, but he loves hugging Alice the most. He feels her more than others. He wants to feel her more than others.

With Alice being in charge of Jack’s maintenance, upgrades, and in general, the two of them spend a lot of time together, especially after hours. Though she tries to keep a respectful distance between them, she can’t help but appreciate the time they spend together and sincerely grows fond for him. This fondness then grows into something... more.

Alice didn’t know how it happened. She certainly didn’t intend for things to go this far. First it was curiosity and sympathy that drew her to Jack, then friendship... then attraction. He was just so sweet and kind, and he made her feel special and loved in a way that no one else ever did... She was so lonely, and so was he, and he seemed every bit as alive as she was even if he was an animatronic. She must have been crazy to love an animatronic, but he made sure to assure her what she was feeling was natural. Loving someone is very natural. Jack was just as real and alive as Alice was, even if they were made from different parts.

Their relationship was kept secret. No one would understand what they have, but they didn’t have to, as Jack reassured Alice. What was important was how he made her heart feel.

Speaking of feeling... Jack will sometimes have ideas and suggestions for how Alice could upgrade his body - make this part a little softer here, add some more tactile sensors there... They’re not strictly necessary, more for his comfort than anything else, but he helps her figure out innocuous ways of phrasing the upgrades in any sort of paperwork that the upper management might see. Sometimes the exact nature of the upgrades is not strictly accurate, but it’s not a lie, really! It’s just not telling them the full truth. Any secret orders that need to be made, well... Jack learned how to use the internal network well enough to cover tracks. What they do is their little secret after all.

No one has to know that Jack’s tongue was upgraded not so much to help him sing better and seem more realistic, but so that it would be wet and soft and perfect for kisses...

Things continued to escalate with the upgrades. Alice had a hard time looking anyone in the eye while she was secretly working on a functional dick for Jack. It wasn’t like that sort of technology was unheard of. After all, in a world where animatronic technology is so advanced, sex robots exist. It’s just that this robot has a soul and a mind of his own. He asked her to make this for him, and she’s making it because he wants to feel that pleasure, not because she wanted to exploit him!

Jack had a lot of fun helping Alice get that particular part built for him, going a bit overboard at times with the testing phase to make sure it worked perfectly well. He enjoyed upgrading other parts of his body to feel pleasure that he used to experience when his body was flesh and blood. He felt more human, even if he didn’t remember ever being one, and he enjoyed coaxing his sunshine into helping him thoroughly test out his new upgrades to make sure they were functioning properly. With these upgrades he could show his sunshine far more love than he ever had before, and she certainly didn’t complain about the results!

It was addicting for Jack to make Alice writhe in pleasure underneath him, to feel her soft lips on his and the warmth of her cuddly body. He couldn’t leave the Party Time Pizza Plex, but there were plenty of places to sneak away to show each other love. He even made a nice little hideaway love nest with a bed so his sunshine could have secret slumber parties with him. Of course, like any good slumber party, there was very little actual sleeping involved.

Thanks to the fact that Jack is an animatronic, he’s not limited by a human body. Not only does this mean that he has endless stamina, but this leads to some creativity when it comes to spicy moments. One example is when he gets an upgrade that allows him to ejaculate, his cum has quite a pleasant flavor, which he makes sure is something Alice loves the taste of. Vanilla cream and sugar cookie are her favorites.

Jack is also not limited to human type anatomy. As he grows bolder and Alice gets more used to their relationship and his requests to experiment, he gets some extra goodies to play with, such as different shaped dicks and even tentacles. He’s also able to vibrate and move them in a way no human can manage to better pleasure his sunshine.

Another thing Jack can do better as an animatronic is multitask. He can also connect wirelessly to various devices, as well as make calls. Because of this, he and Alice set it up so that he can call her on her wireless earpiece whenever he wants to talk to her if he needs anything while he’s performing stage or otherwise doing his regular tasks as a mascot.

This also inspired Jack to request Alice make a remote dick that he can connect to wirelessly. It takes some coaxing, but he manages to talk her into putting it inside her while she works sometimes, which he makes vibrate and squirm unexpectedly as he talks in her ear about how good she’s being and how warm she feels. It allows him to show her his love all day long, no matter where she is. Sure it makes it harder to get her work done, but he’ll help her make up for it later~

Of course, any sort of NC-17 rated shenanigans are kept well away from the kids who come to the Pizza Plex. Jack will certainly subtly flirt with Alice if she needs to be out on the floor when customers are around, but he keeps it G rated around the kids. What kind of a friendly clown mascot would he be if he didn’t keep things clean around the children?

Making love to Alice is something kept strictly after hours, or on days where only the adult staff are around. If he’s performing on stage during a test run of a new routine in front of only the techs, well... then it would be safe for Jack to talk Alice into sitting in the audience with one of his remote dicks inside her. While he’s singing and dancing on stage to the routine, she’s trying to keep quiet and not react as he also whispers in her ear through her earpiece about how much he loves her and how good she feels. Sure it isn’t the same as when he can fully embrace her and cover her with kisses while he pounds his way inside her, but hearing her pants and whimpers that she tries to stifle and seeing her flushed face as she squirms and tries not to let anyone know what they’re doing under everyone’s nose... That’s quite exciting as well. Another good thing about being an animatronic is that he can zoom in with his vision so he won’t miss out on his sunshine’s cute blissed out expression as he makes her cum again.

As you can tell, a lot of my thoughts about this AU mostly revolve around technician Alice helping robotic Jack be very kinky with her behind the scenes - a secret forbidden romance full of love and spice.

Jack also manages to convince Alice to give him a lot more freedom in other ways as their relationship progresses than he otherwise would have as a robot. After all, they love each other, and it wouldn’t be right to use him like he’s nothing more than a machine. She loves him and wants him to be happy. He loves her and only wants what’s best for her. She can trust him. He’s never lied to her after all.

The Rest of the Cast

As for the roles of the other characters... those I’m less certain about. Barry would no doubt be Alice’s direct supervisor who overworks her at times. He probably manages the Party Time Pizza Plex and oversees everything in general.

Nick would probably be a regular customer, maybe often bringing his two young siblings to play. He encounters Alice by chance during a couple visits while she’s out on the floor tending to Jack during the day and thinks that she’s cute. This leads him to wanting to approach her to ask her out.

Jack, naturally, would have every reason to chase away anyone who is showing far too much interest in his sunshine.

I’m waffling on Ian’s role in the AU. He could be Alice’s ex like in the regular universe, or he could also be another animatronic, though I’m not sure how that would happen. If he is an animatronic, he would be another Jack from a sister location most likely, to fit the theme of him being the rebooted Jack. While the obvious impulse is for a yandere like Jack to get rid of a threat like him by stuffing him into an animatronic, he’s not going to risk trapping Ian’s soul in a duplicate of him, or eliminate Ian in a place where someone, especially Alice, might come across the remains.

Maybe Ian disappeared when he and Alice were young and was stuffed into another animatronic before the place burned down and the owner decided to go for innocent kids like Afton.

Though, Ian could just get a job as a human mascot for the Party Time Pizza Plex for some promotion or commercials. That would certainly piss Jack off wouldn’t it? Joseph was going to be replaced by an animatronic, and now, as an animatronic, he might be “replaced” by a human... or at least some human is pretending to be him. What cruel irony...

Shaun’s role is even more uncertain. He could be someone who works in the animatronic entertainment industry as well, but I imagine he would prefer to work on the horror side. He works at temporary haunted house attractions during Halloween, but he wants to create his own horror diner that is open year round. He would still be good friends with Alice though, and maybe they geek out over building animatronics together.

Well, I suppose I could make another post if I get hit with inspiration for how to expand the rest of the cast’s roles. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this huge ramble of various Party Time Jack ideas!

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur  

[licncourt]

begin again COOKED as a post-qotd fix-it (fave fic! <3) but i need to know your thoughts on prince lestat/how you would re-do it in the correct way. to this day i still think LESTAT becoming prince monarch of all the vampires is one of the craziest decisions made during the novels. to me lestat is a prince in the same way that jack skellington was king of halloween (that includes the running away to cause delusional hijinks that ultimately jeapordize everyone)

Aaahhh thank you!! That fic is my child that I birthed so I appreciate it more than you know! It's actually BA's one year finished-iversary next week, my baby's all grown up.

I've talked about that before actually in this post about how I would rewrite the whole series, but I can expand a little here!

Firstly, this could've been two books instead of three. There was nothing going on in there that required three entire novels

Things that have to go entirely: aliens, test tube clone baby Viktor, Atlantis. Sorry, not salvageable

I think rather than the Amel thing, it would have been cool if the sacred core had started corrupting Lestat and altering his behavior as host, maybe changing him gradually into a animalistic, violent folklore-like vampire, making him slowly lose his mind like Mekare, or erasing his sense of self to become a blank host. Then it's a race against the clock and vampire magical biology to save him. This could be the first PL book

Ideally, I think this book should be narrated by Louis and focus a lot on his growth as a character as he finishes his personal. It would bring some happy ending closure to the IWTV version of him without being a jarring change. I also think having his POV for the best of his and Lestat's relationship would be a nice full circle moment from seeing him describe their worst. The idea of Lestat losing himself to the core and them potentially coming together too late would add good drama as well. Maybe this is Louis' follow-up memoir describing how they fixed things

The Rhoshamandes conflict can stay for the second PL and final VC book, but I think it could've been less boring if the drama between him and Lestat had been better fleshed out. They have a lot of similarities that weren't used to their full advantage. It would really highlight Lestat's growth to have him defeat what he could've become

When Lestat reunites with Louis, they would actually have some long, hard conversations about their past, ones that continue throughout the PL trilogy

Hopefully an explanation for why Lestat has made this 180 is included, even if it's just the crushing realization of his own loneliness and longing reaching critical mass after twenty years of who the fuck knows what

The cast is pared down to the strongest written and most interesting characters so the story isn't spread so thin, probably Lestat, Louis, Armand, Gabrielle, Marius, Pandora, and maybe a small handful of new characters with significance in the story. I think Seth, Fareed, Sevraine had the most potential to be good additions to the primary roster if she wanted to add on

Cool characters from the original like trilogy like Maharet and Khayman are expanded on rather than killed offscreen to make room for more Anne Rice NPCs. If we're going to kill someone from the trilogy, please God let it be David Talbot

This goes without saying I think, especially from me, but Louis would be restored to his former glory as a true main character alongside Lestat instead of relegated to lobotomized housewife. There was so much potential for him in an active consort role. We also don't get to see how he got to such a peaceful place at the end of PL, so I would like to see him work through some stuff on the page

I would either cut the Rhoshamandes/Benedict storyline because of how redundant it is with how it mirrors the Marius/Armand dynamic or do something to differentiate it as its own relationship. At the very least, maybe the similarity could be highlighted to become a character beat for Armand

As far as Armand in general, I would make him a much more prominent player. I think he's a great fit for a court setting and could create a lot of intrigue as well as adding coolness factor. I'm always torn about whether I like the reveal of his romantic feelings for Lestat, but in the interest of keeping SOME things intact, I would just play it differently. Primarily, I think he becomes way too agreeable (similar to Louis) in how he submits to and idolizes Lestat, so I would love to see him come into more conflict with Lestat in spite of those feelings. Maybe we can see him make some peace with their history and let go of that intense emotion for something healthier

If we're going to keep the sex injections (IVs, whatever), I think we should do more with it than have Lestat prematurely ejaculate into a random woman. I think there's potential for a very interesting new dynamic with Louis and Lestat. It would be cathartic and maybe an interesting part of their healing process and of becoming a real couple for the first time

That's what I can think of for now, but I might update later!

[kayrockerqog]

okay this is gonna be my general reaction post for episodes 2-4 of the reboot, so spoilers are UNDER. THE. CUT.

okay so one: I have never been more conflicted about a ship in my fucking life

this is ripaxel specific, because of course it is, what else would we be talking about here

on the one hand, no, not in a million years, what are the writers thinking, what insanity is this, I'm so confused and not in a good way at all

but on the OTHER hand...he did opt for using something she liked in a unique way to get her attention, and was like, mega cringefail about it but it still worked??? SHE liked it??? that's the important part.

so???? i'd have to see further how they progress with this before I decide, because oh god was the secondhand embarrassment horrifying during these past few episodes

now, two: caleb and priya

cute pairing! great potential. but GIRL IF I AM NOT FEARING FOR THAT GIRL'S EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW!!!! I CANT TELL IF HE'S LIKE GENUINELY LEADING HER ON FOR AN ALLIANCE OR JUST FUCKING STUPID AND DOESNT REALIZE SHE'S LIKE, INTO HIM INTO HIM!!! if he hurts her I'm suing, I'm going insane, he will be dead by dawn

three: rajbow + Wayne and the in-game cheating

again, never been so conflicted in my life, me and Bowie are twinning

on the one hand, I am SO glad he's like actually conflicted and doesn't like lying to Raj. Again, surpassing my expectations on behalf of the writers because I would've 100% expected them to make him lean into cheating without repercussions

on the other...Raj and Wayne being upset about cheating actually makes ME kinda upset despite how much I adore MK and Julia's antics!!! like!!!! the boys just want a fair fun game!!!!! how can you say no to those faces???? they're like puppies I stg

i AM relieved this is like, a cheating in the GAME plot and not a cheating in the RELATIONSHIP plot because that is ALSO a TD Taboo and I was afraid, they're still adorable and have an actual narrative, god bless

four: mkulia

canon, it's canon, idk what else you want me to say man

also, very important MK image

look at her go... i love her actually

five: sha-lightning round

Millie and Damien's entire feud and make-up was surprisingly well done!! and despite the fact she got eliminated that episode it was still a happy ending that fit really well with both of them!! I'm glad Damien's actually getting some play this season so far :D!!

Zee with Olivia Von Trashpanda is by far the best thing I've ever seen in my life, I love them sm

the besties,,,

i wish I was Emma in the scene where Axel ran her finger by her chin threateningly (I'm shameless I know but come ON I WISH THAT ME!!!!!)

Nichelle getting to slay is the best thing ever lowkey???? I'm so proud of her!!

Chase getting kicked out second was the best, get dunked on loser!!!

Emma has also been returned to my good graces for dunking on him, thank you girly

Chris missing Scary Girl is so real, I miss her too man :<

and, well

I now know I never want to participate in would you rather challenge irl, those questions were horrid

except the one with Axel and poetry, that's a really nice character touch despite what it leads to

and...yeah! general thoughts dump. I'll still be making separate posts and I actually feel motivated to draw canon for once..back on my total drama bullshit? /pos

[the-kr8tor]

hi! first time sending something out of anon, bear w me 😭

just wanted to say that your writing is soooo good!! and I lob your angsties 🫶 proud angst lover here

speaking of angst... I know you're not taking req right now but just wanted to blab around the topic of dad!Hobie BUT the child isn't his, UGH the drama that would be 🥹 I can only imagine his reaction to being called "dad" for the first time (probably with the kid already a few years old) and he just... melt and cry and R is there to cry too because they finally have a family to call theirs

anywaysss, have a great day!

Hello, angel!! ❤️

That is so cute!! Step dad! Hobie would be crying tears of joy when your kid calls him dad for the first time 🥹 catch him wearing this while carrying your kid (they have no idea why he's laughing and crying at the same time but they are entertained by him) 🤣🤣🤣

Oh and the angst potential especially if the kid is older and is a bit apprehensive of Hobie bc you're their mom! And no one is worthy of you! Until they realize that Hobie does love and care for you and makes you happy, not just that but he treats them like they're his own kid/s! (Better than their real father did if they met him) The next thing they know they're all in a family outing together 🥺🥺🥺

Thank you for sending your thoughts! Pls don't be shy to send more, my ask box is always open for a chat! (Also please feel free to send in a request for step dad! Hobie once I open requests again!) ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ have a nice day! ❤️❤️❤️

[thecelestialsyzygy]

I feel like this needs to be said because of all the stuff happening lately. Apologies if this post is a mess.

I want to thank all of the Byler’s who post in the tag. Whether it be shit posts, memes, long analysis, random thoughts, or all of the above mixed in with posts about your life; Thank you for being here and making fandom fun! The tag has been a mess recently and I think we’re all aware of that because of all the recent deactivations. There’s always been a bit of toxicity in the Stranger Things fandom (as there is in just about all other fandoms), but I feel it's been amplified here due to the lack of content and long wait. Another reason it’s a lot more prominent in the Stranger Things fandom, to begin with, is because of its popularity. In the coming months, we should see some things regarding S5 come up for us to talk about, but if you’re not into leaks then you’re in for an even longer drought (and when it comes to said leaks, please take them with a grain of salt).

I originally came here from Twitter so I’ve seen a lot. Ppl leaving isn’t new to me, and it is a pretty common thing with fandoms in general. Sometimes it’s over something simple, like ppl losing their interest, and other times it’s because ppl don’t know how to use the block button and want to be rude, hateful, and harass others into leaving, or cause/insert themselves into drama for entertainment. It’s understandable to be bored during droughts and perhaps become irritable, but if you like creating/being in drama, please don’t put it in the main tag. Not everybody is going to agree and it is what it is. Some posts you may agree with, some posts you may not, some you may partly agree with, some you may partly disagree with. If you ever come across something that really bothers you, big or small, just use the block button or mute/filter things you don’t want to see. You can always make your own post sharing your thoughts about whatever the topic may have been. There are so many ways to control content you consume. It’s important to remember we’re all here for a good time, so let ppl have fun and learn to draw a line.

It’s OK to be opinionated, but I think some things that are important to note is the difference between head-canons and canon. Head-canons are personal interpretations about a character. It’s not ACTUALLY canon. Some head-canons can be based off of things that ARE canon, but it’s important to realize that it’s still NOT ACTUALLY canon. Canon is confirmed. It’s OK to not agree with somebody else’s head-canon, but it’s not a reason to be rude to them. You can share your own opinions with them in a respectful way or separately. However, I feel like some ppl want to make things problematic to further push their narrative or are genuinely just not educated enough. And of course there are exceptions to just about everything, like potentially problematic head-canons which I think is OK to have discussions about, but once again, that’s why we need to learn to draw a line.

I also know hate anons have been a problem lately. If you’re ever getting a lot of hate anons, please don’t be afraid to protect yourself and turn off the anon feature/not allow asks. If that doesn’t work don’t be afraid to block and report. If none of these are working, just know it’s OK if you feel like social media is becoming too much. Take a break if you need to, distance yourself if you need to, make a completely new account if you need to. You can always let the ppl who care about you know you need to go away for awhile.

Lastly, don’t feel pressure to post! That’s one way to add a lot of stress onto yourself and become tired of your interests. I promise everything is going to be fine and Byler’s/ the Stranger Things fandom will always be here if/when you come back.

[beeblackburn]

Top 5 favourite films?

Thank you, @hiddenlookingglass!

Before I continue, I have to give the obvious caveat that I haven't watched a ton of films, relatively speaking. I think most of these films were watched last year alone. And, making this list, I have to give honorable mentions, because, fuck me, originally this list was seven entries and, short of cheating this ask to write out top seven or ten, it was never going to happen without title-dropping the runner-ups, so here goes:

You Were Never Really Here: Take the premise of John Wick, drain it of all the orchestra and slickness, ground it in broken people, scarred by violence in childhood to adulthood, and polish it off with some of the tightest film editing and sound design in the industry, and you get my unquestionably favorite anti-violence film.

The Final Exit of the Disciples of Ascenscia: A lovely and tragic indie gem of an animated film about a cult, one that finally clicked the appeal of them without diminishing their harm, and one that breaks me in touching on my own questions of loneliness... and whether being in an unhealthy dynamic is better than being alone.

Paddington: The second one is undeniably an even better film, but this one's rain scenes and leisurely narrative feels cozier to me. Whenever I feel like complete dogshit, I rewatch this, because Paddington's charm and earnestness winning over the Browns before realizing he found his family and home with them is hrrgh.

The Green Knight: A visually sumptuous banquet of the senses, trippy and wondrous in how it depicts Gawain's knightly trials, with moral and literary themes that scratch my itches and a fantastic leading actor who carries the film, complete with an ending that brings it all home, landing with such an earned emotional punch.

The Witch: Eggers' mastery at inhabiting the psychological reality of his time periods is impeccable, and it all started with this horror tale of a family plagued by the supernatural outside their walls... and religious anguish and Puritan misogyny among its members. Paired with a hell of an ending and arresting last shot? Delicious.

And, now, onto the proper top five!

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once

Look, is the script overstuffed with exposition about how the multiverse works? Yes. Is it ultimately narratively unwieldly, even faking us out with a false climax, and increasingly uneven to the end? Yes. Are some of the jokes pretty juvenile in the "haha, dildos are funny" realm? Yes. Could it have been more queer? Yes. Is the conclusion a little too tidy and pat, especially for my Chinese childhood abused-ass? Yes, yes, yes. There are definitely fair criticisms that I can agree to, but...

Every time I revisit this film, it wrecks me a whole another way. I never escape this film emotionally unscathed, I philosophically and morally match to it like an alternate version of me jumped into my mind, slipped into my flesh. There are at least five scenes in it that crack me open like a chestnut and I'm left a blubbering mess and astonished at how it manages to tie together all the chaos at the end in such believable catharsis that I can still buy into.

It's still an amazingly-acted film that allows for a rough, unpleasant, and embittered middle-aged female protagonist to lead the events, quite a few ladies dictate and command the plot, and manages to juggle a ton of disparate tones, balancing genuine pathos with bathos, and emotional weight undergirding every bit of silliness and goofy concepts it throws at you. It's still a multiversal familial drama that, at the heart of it, is centered around the experience of what if our first-generation immigrant parents made different choices, that failure can be its own positive experience in a lifetime full of not living up to your parents-demanded potential, and that, in depressive ennui, loneliness, and intense nihilism, all we can do is love, embrace what little joys our speck of lives get, and be there for each other. That, despite the material hardships and pain of a life, our connections still matter enough to keep at it.

It throws the totality of everything beyond the universe at our minds and senses, even down to "talking" rocks and sausage-fingers people, calling to the sheer information overload that most everyone in 2022 felt keenly, acknowledging that it can be such a burden that threatens to hollow us out with existential indifference... and earnestly makes its own case against that. If nothing matters, if all we do and are is worthless in the grander scope of the universe, then these moments we're facing right now, the people in our lives, they matter.

We're not built to attend to everything everywhere all at once. We'll always feel the whisper of what-ifs, the weight of different paths not taken. We might even be useless alone. All we can really do, in the end, is be there for these moments and people around our present. I can't help, but cherish this film on those grounds, but it offered such an awe-inspiring, emotionally resonant experience that it jumps up to my favorite as a result.

2. Pig

How has this masterpiece of a debut, depicting grief, human connection, the heart and art being hollowed by loss and commercial concerns, and masculine vulnerability with such finesse, flown under the radar, nor been nominated for any major accolades? I'm genuinely asking, because, aside from maybe one particular scene that tries to fake us out into thinking it'll become a more conventional John Wickesque revenge thriller, I don't see any crucial flaws that wouldn't warrant it in the discussion as one of 2021's best films. If you haven't yet, treat yourself to one of the best films I've watched.

I watched one of its mid-section scenes, that speech, you know the one if you've watched it, on its own, and wept at the power of its acting, dialogue, and direction by itself. The fact that I still broke down, despite primed, when watching it in the context of the full film should tell you how good Sarnoski's hands are at his first try as director. He brings an intimacy and restraint to the camera in capturing the events in the film, often situating his central characters against the wider scope of his landscapes and environments through a wider lens, showing them as small people against the greater beasts of being scored by grief and loneliness.

Though, given I brought up John Wick, one facet these two share, despite the bait-and-switch of premise, is that almost every character, no matter how minor, has a personality and some texture of history with the protagonist, by direction or sheer acting. Sarnoski just trusts us to infer the weight of history between our characters and, if you want to know how well that approach turns out, Cage's performance should be the clear-cut sign. If you have any doubts of how good Nicholas Cage could be, and trust me, I had a few, this is easily his subtlest, most restrained performance. No signs of a Cage hamfest, this is him at his best and minutely controlled, portraying a stoic man whose hardened demeanor and lack of social graces belies a painful past and years spent in intentional human disconnect.

And how we disconnect from other people bleeds into this narrative, permeates like an unspoken wound that won't scar and heal without proper treatment. Our central characters are haunted by ghosts in the narrative, unable to process what they've lost or reach out to others, for fear of surrendering to the totality of pain from that absence. But there's also disconnect from retreating to what others want, never showing ourselves and only what's acceptable to our social peers, our patrons, or our families, and it costs us piece-by-piece until there's slowly nothing left of us.

And it ends up on an unexpected climax and such a gentle note about masculinity, about how men suffer in trying to bear their griefs stoically, instead of permitting a chink of vulnerability. I dare not spoil more, you have to see it for yourself in how it succeeds in defining its own terms for masculinity and how much emotion cracks through the narrative. It's a film that divulges into the nature of art and food, and how they can bring forth an invitation of connection to others, and it deserves so much consideration and attention, given how much of a powerhouse it is.

3. A Ghost Story

Oh, this sleeper hit of heartache. I knew, going in, that the ending scene would cut to the emotional bone, having checked it out in a clip before, but the knife this slid between my ribs was unexpected in its depth and sharpness, especially given when I watched it. This was after I watched both Pig and The Green Knight, both stellar, emotional films, and while I think Lowery's later work there is better put-together in both pacing and visuals (A Ghost Story absolutely has scenes that drag, and I genuinely think one in particular suffered from overstaying its moment and not fitting Lowery's strengths as a visual/atmospheric director), this touched me so much more in its statement of grief and time.

I've watched enough films to get a decent grasp on my tastes, and its meandering, contemplative, more mundane fares that let scenes breathe in their silence without a quippy aside. This one suffused me in its haunting, contemplative atmosphere from the halfway point, lingering onwards and well after it ended. Lowery's direction is grounded in its intimacy, choosing to focus long stretches on mundanities other directors would've skipped past, as if to say these small moments, daily and common as they are, are what's most important in the grand scope of life and what we focus on, despite the vastness on time upon us all.

And the time spent during grief is where the film guts me in its first half. Going from cozier domesticity, full of lived-in marital discussions and intimacies, to the tangle of strangers sorting through the post-death ceremonies and the silences in the griever's life, booming from the absence of their beloved. Those long, uninterrupted shots, from then on, serve to point out how life persists after our bereavements. There is such attention and empathy to the camera, in how the director wants to show how people cope with grief, how it dogs our every movement, weighs down our limbs, loosens out the tears inside, and make us focus our energies on such simple things like eating food in the dark, to fill the hole our losses leave behind.

But if some trace of us survive as ghosts, upon death, then loss cuts both ways, and it's here that this film truly unmakes me in how it handles grief and remembrance on the ethereal side. Using ghosts as a speculative vehicle, it invites us to see how differently they experience the passage of time, as these beings are temporally untethered, but stay geographically tethered to a particular land. There's such a bitter loneliness to their existences, how being unravaged by time means they are unable to grieve being left alone themselves, they cannot move on by the temporal march by itself.

It's a beautiful, tender film, where centuries can pass by in the blink of a transition, but tiny affections take up whole minutes. A quiet narrative where snapshots of marriage and the tolls of grief take up uninterrupted stretches, letting them sit inside us and linger. A poignant story that ponders, sincerely, if something, anything survives of us after we are gone from this earth, or if we are doomed to have our impact on this mortal plane swept aside and forgotten after we pass away and time moves on from us.

4. The Last Duel

I have a confession: this is my first and, so far, only Ridley Scott joint for various reasons. I don't love R-rated films, I easily get squeamish over live-action gore, and his biggest film and the one most people remember him by was Alien, which wasn't The Thing graphic, but definitely still above my comfort level! So I never touched him for a decade and a half. Now, later, I watched some of the earlier grisly parts of Game of Thrones and found out he directed plenty of period dramas, which was more my speed, and I got the opportunity to check his The Last Duel out with a group viewing. Now, given that preamble, imagine how I felt at its opening scene: a slow-burn of an opening with a lady being dressed before a duel between two men, shot in the same way they are being armored, as if she bears her life as well on the line, and bears witness to two knights charging at each other, before they converge, both hoping to break bones and shed blood.

That, and the subsequent Battle of Limoges, would absolutely impressed onto me that holy shit, Scott directs action in two minutes unquestionably better than some directors do in entire films. He portrays the inherent viciousness, filth, and ferocity of battle in a way that immediately clicked to me as a fan of Joe Abercrombie and a lesser one of Miles Cameron. And armor matters! But that, by itself, wouldn't have made for a favorite of mine. No, it's how this is a proper medieval legal drama with three central, compelling characters at its heart, each explored through a Rashomon-style framing device, and a heartbreakingly timeless message of what a rape victim's choices are in the patriarchy. Does it have its flaws? A few admittedly key ones of editing and dialogue that give away its directorial intent, but nothing so critical to weigh it down from its vaulted highs.

What's amazing about this film, and one of the key things I respect about it as someone who wants to write in that age, is how much, for the majority of its narrative, it is grounded in its medieval realities without turning its characters into anachronic mouthpieces. It has a showcase of warriors scarred and visually worn down by the wars they waged, discusses how the Black Death affected medieval economics and taxes, deals with betrothals and the dowries involved, and how waning wartime fortunes in a lord can sour the pot there, and the turmoil of marriage life, especially how reproductive knowledge intersected with beliefs about rape and love at the time. It admirably enmeshes itself so utterly in the culture of that age, that it's depressing to consider just how much patriarchal culture hasn't changed since then.

And how it divulges into patriarchal culture with nuance, and how women become victimized by it, is so key to making the proceeding duel all the more impactful. Because, as the framing device shows, these men don't come from a vacuum of their medieval culture, their egos and entitlements and self-justifications were shaped by their sexual circumstances and chivalric tales, and there are countless others like them who've done just as bad, if not worse, to others. It's why, even before the duel's outcome is set in stone, the crushing truth of the matter is... no matter the result, at least one individual dies, but the patriarchal apparatus stands, grinding up women in the future as it did the one witnessing the duel.

It's unflinching in its depiction of medieval culture, it's brutal in its violence, both warfare and sexual, and it demands an expectation of ambiguity in the character psychologies and gives no easy answers on how to deal with the patriarchy, especially when, as a lady of the time, you were dependent on the men who uphold it, at the mercy of their actions for your justice. It's why the last third is so harrowing: before the duel, before the trial, even before the incident, countless women went through similar horrors without the spectacle of public scrutiny. The final emotional context leaches the initial excitement when we return to the opening, leaving behind only cold understanding and terrible tension, no matter how much thrilling combat clashes and clangs in the winter air. It's my favorite period drama so far, and I don't expect it to be beat anytime soon.

5. The Secret of Nimh

Another confession: I didn't watch this, front to back, until the 30th Anniversary screening at my local Cineplex theater last year. Not that I didn't love what I saw in clips and pictures, but when the full film was on Youtube when I was in my teens, I neglected to watch it all the way, then it got taken down for a long while. There were other animated films and I didn't relish checking it out in separated clips. So, I knew a bit of what to expect, but boy, this whole film on the big screen was a greater feast for the eyes than any recent Pixar film I checked out. Does it have its problems? Yes, it's definitely narratively uneven, even rushed at times. I do wish some characters got more fleshed out and more time was given to the runtime, as a result. And I can 100% get the criticism of that climax resolution being a deus ex machina, even if I don't agree with it.

But, also, it's fucking The Secret of Nimh. Every frame here feels like it was downloaded from my mind, every sketchy bit of animated linework like it was distilled from my meaty head pulp. Its gothic and dark sci-fi aesthetics are unimpeachable to me, no other animated film comes close to approaching how much I viscerally crave their visual trappings. Say what you will about Bluth, and I certainly have my opinions about his stinkers, but even in them, the man and his team can draw up gorgeous, magical backgrounds and artistry. They're fascinating, lovingly animated and/or goddamn horny messes, bless them. You get a consistent grainy sort of texture in the linework, in the animation models themselves, that I can't help, but always adore with my eyes, hitting a sweet spot with me in this particular feature animation of his.

Even through the more childish trappings like Jeremy and the simplicity of the quest structure, how it balances those with its more heady themes always intrigues me further as an adult, like how we'll uplift our lesser animals before disregarding them, leaving them with the alienation and consequences of those experiments, and how the arrogance and selfishness of humanity manifests in our creations as a result. There's also bits of understated worldbuilding one catches better as an adult, like the fact that the non-Nimh associated female animals have no first names and are surname-defined by species (Auntie Shrew) or by male partner (Mrs. Brisby), suggesting a patriarchal ecological system. And, even before all that, the poignancy of a mother's quest to suck in her fears to protect and save her child from death only enriches with age.

None of this would hit as well, if not for the characters, even the supporting cast being animated to give them such fluid energy and expressive body language in the best of Bluth fashion. Most are dimensional enough in script to make the overall cast a cut above the typical animated fare, even the one-offs or the minor ones that appear in one scene or two. But the crown that completes the jewel of this production is the lead herself, Mrs. Brisby. She's easily one of the best, if not straight-up so, animated protagonists ever. Female leads weren't unknown back then, but mother leads? Almost unheard of, back then. And a huge part of that best status, what cements her place as such is that she's vulnerable throughout the movie. She's just a small mouse in a world full of giants and monsters, and she never fails to be scared at the vastness of the obstacles in her path. Yet, she doesn't whine, nor cower when the chips are down. By all accounts, her storied husband should've been the hero here, carrying out this mission to help cure his child... but he's gone, and Mrs. Brisby has to rise up to the occasion, stir up her courage to go on this sprawling quest, face down horrors and ancients again and again, all for her child. No one expected this of her, and she's always fearful every step of the way, but her conduct always reminds me of the GRRM quote, that being afraid "is the only time a man can be brave," which Mrs. Brisby demonstrates so much, with such earnest vulnerability.

The Secret of Nimh is a lot of things. It's a story about the vastness of the world as a little person in it through the perspective of a mouse, with horrors and monsters beyond your comprehension and understanding. It's a cautionary tale about human hubris towards nature and how our creations risk being condemned by the same flaws we ourselves succumb to. It's a three-way struggle between nature, science, and the unknown beyond our knowing grasp. It's a beautiful series of nature and grotesque sci-fi backgrounds and animation work, through some of the most expressive body language, facial emotions, and voice acting with talking animals, worthy of being Disney's creative challenge at the time, and especially now. It's a dreamy fairy tale narrative, where the hero must undertake a quest for a reward at the end, except this protagonist dwells in the shadow of the hero that should've been. Deep down, at its very beating heart, it's a mother journeying to the ends of her earth to protect and save her child, with fierce fear and clear courage. It's my favorite animated film.

[the-genius-az]

You're welcome!

It can have lots of drama before the little pack has their happy ending. I think part of Azula's redemption + healing arc would involve her eventually understanding that they didn't think they had an option + didn't know it could hurt so much. (Original!Azula herself only realized what was happening in the night before she passed away). With the bond still there, Azula tends to be protective, and a little more forgiving once she sees Ty Lee and Mai do love and need her.

I already am thinking about a "Izumi is Maizula's baby" tbh, now that the A/B/O obsession has infiltrated the Azula-centric part of my brain.

Ty Lee needs more fics where she's not the silly, stupid little girl. In the KS AU, I'm making Azula much worse than in canon to make it work with the plot, considering how canon!Azula is a jerk but definitely not a psychopath or anything of the sort. I really don't like the way fandom demonizes her, for a few reasons, and it also makes me feel weird for writing AUs where she is, indeed, a monster.

Yes. Here's the thing, I like the parallel of Oh Sangwoo, a straight man, being SA'd by his mother & Azula, a lesbian woman, being SA'd by her mother (+ I think Oh Sangwoo hallucinates her at some point? So that's a good parallel). Like, something that works into this specific character hating women so much they abuse and kill them in horrific ways.

(I don't like it either, which sounds almost like a hypocrite with the way I have multiple OCs that have SA in their backstory and I do write fucked up content. And because I also have read a lot of fics that have it in them – thankfully they do tend to work it so, so well. Like, not as a torture porn kind of thing, but another layer of her character. Azula x Ozai CSA seems to be almost a must for Maizula fics, and I eat it up every time.)

When I say "everything possible", I do mean it. It's a dragon AU and when Azulon asks for Azula's life instead of Zuko's (because she's Ozai's favorite), Ursa kills Azulon + takes Azula out of the palace (and Azula's hatred comes from how they abandon Zuko in the palace). Like, Ursa up until that point gave Zuko lots of attention, but there's a silent agreement between mother and daughter that goes like "this boy is ours" because they're dragons and all of that. I can talk for days about this AU too.

- Ash 🔥🍌

Thank you for this, Ash!

Original! Azula herself only realized what was happening in the night before she passed away.

I wonder how sad Azula was at that moment, she must have been screwed.

I already am thinking about a "Izumi is Maizula's baby" tbh, now that the A/B/O obsession has infiltrated the Azula-centric part of my brain.

I have an idea about a baby Maizula, maybe I'll post it later!

Ty Lee needs more fics where she's not the silly, stupid little girl.

I needed to bookmark this...

I really don't like the way fandom demonizes her, for a few reasons, and it also makes me feel weird for writing AUs where she is, indeed, a monster.

I know, sometimes the Aus completely change the characters, that makes them interesting or worse.

I like the parallel of Oh Sangwoo, a straight man, being SA'd by his mother & Azula, a lesbian woman, being SA'd by her mother (+ I think Oh Sangwoo hallucinates her at some point? So that's a good parallel).

I see the potential! I still don't like the SA though, but it's because of the plot.

(Honestly, I'm glad that we agree that it is Ursa who commits the act, sometimes everyone ignores that she is not a saint)

I don't like it either, which sounds almost like a hypocrite with the way I have multiple OCs that have SA in their backstory and I do write fucked up content.

Oh, I actually hate that kind of stuff, any fics, novels, manga and more, I'll leave it quick and fly away! I can't stand him, that's why I don't like Bl very much, he always has those things and the fans normalize him.

Seems to be almost a must for Maizula fics.

They are the only Fics that keep me on a leash, there is little content and I am hungry for Maizula.

It's a dragon AU and when Azulon asks for Azula's life instead of Zuko's (because she's Ozai's favorite), Ursa kills Azulon + takes Azula out of the palace (and Azula's hatred comes from how they abandon Zuko in the palace).

You are a bomb from Au's Azula!

(Sometimes my mind spins because of so much information in English, please have mercy next time).

Azula is a VERY loyal girl, it makes sense that she would be a little confused and angry about abandoning one of her own.

Actually, I think I talked something about Azula/Dragon, and her possessions that are people.

Like, Ursa up until that point gave Zuko lots of attention.

What did Ursa change to leave everything for Azula? I'm not saying she doesn't love her, I just don't think she would leave Zuko for Azula.