#but that's three books AT MOST because most of the extras aren't a full book

[benevolenterrancy]

*glances at svsss' vol 4 worth of extras, aka 'the whump and smut pile'* you haven't seen anything yet

You guys are seriously taking an axe to my self-control;;; I'm trying to make this series last longer than a single month!! I'm trying to savour things!!! I'm trying to read something else and give the series a bit of breathing room before I pick up the last book but I want the "whump and smut pile" I want that so much I feel like a dog that's getting a treat waved in front of its face .·´¯`(；´д｀)´¯`·.

[kaivenom]

Cookies with an extra ingredient

Summary: you were cooking some recipe from an old spells book. You went out of the kitchen to get something and when you get in, Sam was eating your creation.

Pairing: Sam Winchester x Witch!reader

Warnings: smut, some sort of sex pollen!AU, protected sex (p in v), masturbation (male to female), Sam being needy

Masterlist

Recently, you obtained a new book of magical recipes, you always liked this book. Currently you were preparing a potion that reveals people's true and most brutal desires, you don't know were you could use it but maybe in some case, it could help. The thing is a potion jar it's easy to identify so you decided to make some changes and make some cookies but there is something missing... chocolate chips.

You went to the pantry to take the missing ingredient and when you get in, you went back to the kitchen only to find Sam... eating the cookies.

"Sam, spit the cookie."

"Why?" he says with a cute smile enjoing the food, if it wasn't for the situation you would kiss him.

"Because they have an especial ingredient...magic." he inmediatly spitted the cookie, but still looked desperate at you.

"I have already eaten three of these! Oh my god, what they do?! I'm starting to feel really hot, maybe i got fever, ufffff..."

He started to walk, going around the kitchen, not letting you answer and suddently he stoped. He was next to you but with his back turned on you and his hand pressed on the counter, his breath was heavy. You started to worry about his health, maybe he had an allergic reaction, the other option his that the cookies made effect and he was starting to have the urge to satisfy his desires... but what he desires?

"Y/N, maybe you need to get out." his breath is heavy, more like a groan.

"No, these are my magical cookies so i am going to help you. This cookies made you reveal your desires, tell me what you want and i will get you that, then the effect will pass."

"That won't happen." he slowly turned around, his eyes shinning with a strange look, more dark than usual. "because i can't have the thing i like."

"Oh, came on, if you want it and you can have it the cookies then will work." he started to get close, his eyes going up and down your body, you started to realize what he wanted.

"I can't because even if i burn in desire, this isn't the right way."

"Sam, this is not going to stop until you get it."

"I want you, for months i wanted you," he couldn't continue talking, he sounds more like an animal in heat than a person.

You can't say that you aren't a little turn on but you can also see the struggle he is passing thru. You look at his lips and put your hand on his cheek while he makes a grunt.

"Just tell me, you want me just physically or emotionally." his eyes lighted up, surprised, looking at your lips.

"Both, since we met, i want to date you and fuck you..." the last word came desperate thru his lips.

At this time you were really wet about the situation, your eyes tricked you and made you look down at his crotch. Seeing that, he covered it shyly. You looked up again and slowly move your lips to his. It lasted only a second and separated yourself.

"If you don't do it then it won't go away, with magic cookies or without them... and you said you wanted to date me so i take your word and i let you do it with that promise, if you are lying i will rip your guts."

You grabbed his chin in a threatening way but he took the chance to put his hand behind your neck and push you together into a sloppy kiss. A full moan exited his lips when he met yours again while his other hand went to squezze your butt.

His strenght forced you to walk back and end up pressed against the wall, Sam's lips attaching now to your neck and making you let out broken moans. Both of his hands now on your butt and his clearly hard on pressing right on your wetness thru the clothes.

"You didn't know how much i wanted to do this, how much i dreamed about this... sorry if i am being to fast but i can't wait more to feel that pussy throbing on my cock while i pound you... i really want you to scream my name."

Your arousal grows really fast thanks to his filthy words, you licked his neck and bite his earlobe in response. You didn't know Sam could be so hot, you dreamed about it but it was nothing compared to reality and he even touched you yet.

His hands traveled to your thights and pushed you up, now having him carrying you to somewhere more private. His lips didn't separate from yours in all the way to his dorm, his pulsing erection against your cunt.

The clothes didn't last long when you entered the bedroom. Rapidly, you were fully naked, just like him. His cook looked like he was about to explode, dripping with precum. Now that your body is fully on his disposal, he attacked your breasts. One on his hand and the other one on his mouth, playing with your nipple. You grabbed his hair automatically from the pleasure.

"Oh god, your tits are perfect, i want to bury my face in them and don't get out ever."

"If after this you still want to be with me, you can do it anytime."

"Fuck, i need to be inside you."

"I don't think i can fit your thing inside without preparation." it's not like he is massive big but he is more than the ussual and preparation is always good.

"Then i will have the pleasure to taste your pussy."

You were a blushing mess, with all the nasty things that Sam is saying to you and the touches, you feel your body on fire and Sam's body being on fire too doesn't help either.

You were pushed roughly onto the bed, your legs pushed apart before he inmediatly pushes his face in between your thights. He started with slow and long kitten licks that sent shivers down your spine. Small circles around your clit made you closer to cimax really fast. You both were really needy, for so long, wanting each other bodies and attention, it feels like every touch could get you two to an orgasm. One finger entering you pussy made you almost jump of the bed with a broken moan. Pumping slowly, getting your juices out and preparing you to the thing coming. Another finger pushed your body to your limit, the knot on your stomach making you almost cum.

"I can't wait any longer, i hope you are prepared and i hope i don't hurt but fuck, i want to make you mine," his body is now on top of you.

"I am already yours."

"Now, i am fucking you because i need it desperetly because of the cookie, but tomorrow i will fuck you becuase i want to hear your moans."

He took out a condom from a drawer and put it on his cock. He started to enter your cunt slowly, all the heat from his member invaded your insides. He let out a broken moan and almost fell with all his weight on your body, his strenght falied from the pleasure as you let out heavy breaths.

"i need a second, too much," he couldn't almost speak.

"I need it too, fuck."

"Oh, don't do that or i am going to cum right now." apparentiy your sounds turn him much and thanks to the cookie, he is having trouble keeping all together.

His cock is pulsing inside you as he starts to move, pressure building inside you and hot electricity travelling thru your spine. The bead was cracking under your bodies with every thrust he made, but the sound of his pelvis claping with yours and Sam's moans are louder. Problably, if Dean cames back from the hunt he will surely hear you two, but you don't care. The only thing you care right now is that Sam is on top of you, pounding your brains out of your body, him moaning on your hear with every thrust.

"It's even better than i imagined, your cunt it's perfect, you are perfect."

His lips attacked yours again, brutally and desperatly, his hands squeezing your breasts and ass. You almost coudln't breath from everything that's happening. Suddently, you felt the urge to take control of the situation and breath. In normal occasions, you wouldn't be able to compete with Sam's strenght but now he is vulnerable. You separated him for a moment putting your arms on his chest, he looks at you like he did something wrong. You balanced yourself to change positions and now you are on top with a grin on your face adn a gutural groan from his part.

"Maybe i can help you from here."

You didn't have an answer from his part, just some cursing and low noises. His chest raised and lowed very fast, this new position is driving him crazy. You start to balance yourself and move slowly due to the new sensations that this pose is giving you. Sam's hands travelled to your ass to help you move, every second faster and rougher. You kissed him and wrapped his hair again, trying to get closer to him, if thats somehow possible. The heat it's unbearable now, trying to get out of your body.

"I'm close..." you managed to say.

"I am too, don't stop."

A couple more thrusts and you couldn't move from the pleasure of your orgasm. You pressed Sam against you while his arms were wrapped around you letting you feel his hot cum filling your cunt, trying to recover your breath. You tried to get up but he didn't let you.

"A little more like this, please."

"I can't deny nothing to you."

A couple of minutes passed and you really needed to go pee or shower but Sam's arms were still around you. That's when you heard a small snoring coming from him, he felt asleep. You took the chance to slowly slide yourself out of his grip and go to the bathroom.

When you came back to the room, you considered getting out but you notice Sam moving on the bed.

"Don't go, sleep with me, tomorrow i will make breakfast and we can talk."

That made you smile and get to the bed again, when you were about to touch his cheek and answer him, he was already asleep again. Note taken, you will not make magic cookies again but needy sex with Sam is the best.

[sxnshinebag]

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕘𝕟𝕤

| 𝘍, 𝘈 | 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘊𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘖𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥, 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘈𝘜, 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘜

| 𝖲𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 |

↳   𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 - 𝘑𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘬𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘹 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘛𝘢𝘦𝘩𝘺𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘹 𝘖𝘊, (𝘰𝘯𝘦-𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥) ??? 𝘹 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳  

↳ 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺 - 𝖠𝗌 𝗆𝗎𝖼𝗁 𝖺𝗌 𝖨 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗌𝖾𝖾𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝗈𝗒𝗌 𝖻𝖾𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗎𝗉𝖾𝗋𝗁𝖾𝗋𝗈, 𝖨 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗄 𝗂𝗍’𝗌 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝗂𝗍 𝗎𝗉 𝖺 𝖻𝗂𝗍. 𝖣𝗈𝗇’𝗍 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖺𝗀𝗋𝖾𝖾? 

 𝖸/𝖭 𝖫/𝖭 𝗂𝗌 𝖺 18 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗋 𝗈𝗅𝖽 𝗀𝗂𝗋𝗅 𝗍𝗋𝗒𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝗀𝖾�� 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗀𝖾𝗍 𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗀𝗂𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗀𝗈𝗈𝗀𝗅𝗒 𝖾𝗒𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗌 𝗅𝗈𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝗋𝗎𝗌𝗁, 𝖩𝗎𝗇𝗀𝗄𝗈𝗈𝗄. 𝖶𝖾𝗅𝗅, 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝗀𝖾𝗍 𝖼𝖺𝗎𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝖻𝗒 𝖺𝗇𝗒𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝖾𝗅𝗌𝖾 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖻𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽 𝘔𝘪𝘯 𝘋𝘢𝘻𝘦 𝗐𝗁𝗈 𝗌𝗁𝖾 𝗁𝖺𝗌 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗌.   

𝖲𝗁𝖾 𝗁𝖺𝗌 𝗀𝗈𝗍𝗍𝖾𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖿𝗂𝗋𝗌𝗍 𝗌𝖾𝗆𝖾𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝖾𝖺𝗌𝗂𝗅𝗒, 𝗎𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗅 𝗌𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝗈𝗇 𝖺 𝖿𝗂𝖾𝗅𝖽 𝗍𝗋𝗂𝗉.   

↳ 𝘈/𝘕 - 𝘚𝘰, 𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦, 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘴! 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘎 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘋𝘢𝘻𝘦? 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳-𝘔𝘢𝘯. 𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 — 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩-616

𝖱𝖾𝗊𝗎𝖾𝗌𝗍 - 𝖮𝗉𝖾𝗇 (𝖯𝗅𝖾𝖺𝗌𝖾 𝖺𝗌𝗄 - 𝖨 𝖺𝗂𝗇'𝗍 𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾)

𝘛𝘢𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 - 𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘯

𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 - 7.4𝘬

𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 | 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

With Daze's family and knowing who they are, it is a privilege to be her friend—but being Daze's only childhood best friend? Only Y/N knew that feeling. She always wanted to brag about it, that she had found her true friend, but she knew better than that. Okay, maybe she had done it once or twice. Or three times. It was only because others would try to call themselves Daze's best friend. 

Y/N and Daze aren't only best friends—sisters at this point—but Y/N is also a part of the Min family. Their mothers were also childhood friends, and Daze's parents did not waste a second on taking Y/N in when that dreadful night of both her parents' deaths was announced to the family. They didn't legally adopt her, but they had taken custody as guardians when Y/N had no family members to be with.

When Y/N turned eighteen, she inherited the house her family had left her in the will. It's a lovely family home that has been taken care of by Daze's family through the years. So once they graduated, Y/N moved back into the home. Fortunately, it was within a radius of the college, so she did not have to do dorms. She offered to move in with Daze since they'd be going to the same school.

Her parents succeeded in getting a really nice home. It was a one-story house with three bedrooms and a finished basement that had three extra rooms—technically two since one of them was the laundry room—so it was spacious. The con of this place was that there was no garage, but in Y/N's opinion, her car could suffer. It was an amazing home; she could live without a garage. There was also an attic for storage, so there was no need for it.

The master bedroom went to Y/N, though it felt weird in the beginning that she was sleeping in her parents' old room. The second biggest room went to Daze. The third bedroom became Y/N's "lab" and a small library, where one wall had a bookshelf full of books. Most of them were science, but she had some books of other genres. 

One of the rooms in the basement was the gaming room, which had art mixed into it, and the other was Daze's sewing room. It was set up where she had a lot of supplies and, at the same time, contained machines. 

They probably hung out in the lab and sewing room more than the other rooms. If Y/N were testing out experiments in her makeshift, Daze would sit in there drawing. And if Daze were in her sewing room making a piece of clothing or drawing, Y/N would sit in a corner that was set up for her and do who knows what on her laptop that she'd bring in to pass the time.

However, Daze had been keeping Y/N away from the room and asked her not to enter until she was done with her new project. Y/N really wanted to not listen, but she reluctantly respected Daze's request. It had been a week since they found out about their new abilities. Since then, it had calmed down, and they were getting more in control of it. 

It felt so good when they were able to control what they stuck to or not. Another thing that felt nice was the control of their super strength, able to hold things the way they used to and not worry that the lightest touch would destroy whatever it was in their hands. In school, they were able to go back to normal, and no one seemed suspicious of them skipping classes those two days as they always were in class. 

At least, they hoped no one was suspicious of them. No one had batted an eye in their direction, and a couple of friends they shared classes with asked if they were okay and what had happened that made them stay home when they entered their third class of the day. "So, when will you let me hang out in your sewing lab?" Y/N asked, leaning onto the table and raising a fist to tilt her head. 

"When you stop asking if you can go back in," Daze retorted, grabbing her sketchbook out of her bag and tossing it on their shared long desk so she could fish out her drawing pencils. But she kept digging through, noticing how it wasn't in the inside pocket she always put them. "The hell? Where are my pencils?" She didn't want to make a mess, but she brought her bag onto her lap and continued to dig through.

"Did you leave them at home?" Y/N questioned, moving to grab her bag and look through it. There were times when Daze accidentally put them in Y/N's bag instead, but it looks like it wasn't today. 

"No, I had them in math and art history, and now they're gone," Daze grumbled, giving up easily when Y/N put her bag down, indicating that it was not in there either. She crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair, and tried to think about it. "Maybe I left it at that cafe we went to for lunch."

"We can go back to that cafe after class to look for them," Y/N offered, feeling a little bad for Daze. Still, a part of her was amused because she could easily get a new set of drawing pencils (they were really cheap ones anyway, anyone can get them with ease, and her nice ones always stay at home), yet here she was with a huge pout on her lips. 

Daze shook her head. "No, someone else probably took them at this point," she said honestly. And she was most likely correct; it was a finders keepers kind of game in Queens. "I'm more upset that I gotta actually listen to Mrs. Ryder." The mentioned teacher did look up from the pile of papers on her desk that she was most definitely grading at the last minute. "And I have two classes after this."

Y/N snickered and then rolled her eyes. "You're acting as if this is the first time you've ever forgotten your drawing pencils," She said, scooting her chair closer to Daze to wrap her arm around Daze's shoulders. "And you and I both know that you're a liar when saying that you're going to pay attention to class." She pointed at the board that had the new unit written. Electromagnetic waves. "That does not scream interesting to you."

"Aw shit, a new unit," Daze cursed under her breath, looking at Y/N to see her hidden excitement at the board as she put down her pointed finger. "It screams excitement for you, though." She then held up a hand, motioning her fingers a few times. "Give me your number two pencil; I'll suffer drawing with it."

"Will you let me go into your sewing room?"

"I will suffer more and use my mechanical pencil," The two had a staring contest as Y/N brought up her pencil, which was resting on the desk at first. Daze didn't look at it, but she did break and let out a sigh in defeat. She really did not want to use her mechanical pencil. "Fine, it's done anyway." She snatched the pencil with ease and pushed it across the table, and Y/N easily grasped it.

"It's been a pleasure doing business with you," Y/N hummed in delight, shaking the mechanical pencil and squeezing the cushion to get a comforting hold, as it was bigger than the thin ones. Thank god for Paper Mate's mechanical pencils."And class starts in a minute, so let's get it going."

"Oh, in a minute?" Daze hummed and then raised three fingers—the pencil moved to be held by her pinky and thumb as the other hand grabbed her sketchbook—bringing them down one by one as each second passed. "Three. Two. One." And then she fully grasped the pencil to point at the door. As if it was timed, the door opened, and two males entered the room.

One of them must've said a joke as the slightly shorter male let out a loud laugh, not caring if a few got eyes on him, including Y/N. She had a small smile as she heard his genuine laughter, something that she seemed to hear almost every day with the two classes they shared this semester. And every time she heard them, it was very beautiful.

She wished she had as much confidence in herself to confess as she did in her playful flirtations and bickering with Daze. That lack of confidence was proven when Taehyung, the slightly taller one, saw Y/N look and then whispered something for Jungkook to turn his head. Y/N quickly looked down at her science book to open it and flipped to the page that introduced the new unit.

Y/N took a bit of a chance and looked up with her eyes to see Jungkook looking at Taehyung again with a shrug. She took that as a cue to keep watching them as they sat down, right as Mrs. Ryder stood up from her desk to start class. The lights were turned off so the board would be brighter and everyone could view it better, yet Y/N was still looking at the back of Jungkook's head. 

Daze still had a good, clear sight of her sketchbook, but she raised her head to see what had happened. Her face scrunched up as Mrs. Ryder started to talk about the plan of how the whole unit would be and when the ending test would happen. She looked over at Y/N and knew just from that angle she was staring at Jungkook. A little frown formed, and she put down the pencil to grasp Y/N's chin and had her face the board.

Y/N let out a quiet giggle of embarrassment, realizing what was happening. "Sorry," she apologized after clearing her throat and, pulling the open science book closer to her, finally focused on what Mrs. Ryder was saying. 

Daze said nothing in response. She gave a thin smile and continued to draw whatever came to her head. 

The evening showed as the sun was going down and close to sunset. Y/N and Daze had gotten home from their evening class and were done for the day. Daze immediately told Y/N to order their usual from Shake Shack as she wanted to check on her surprise for last-minute preparations. As much as Y/N really wanted to see what was hiding in the sewing room, she couldn't say no to a night of Shake Shack food.

Y/N was sitting on the couch, playing on her phone, trying to pass the time, as it had been about thirty minutes since she called and placed a delivery order. The worker said they'd have it delivered in twenty-five minutes, and Y/N became more impatient as the minutes passed. It seemed her suffering of waiting was over when another five minutes passed, and there were a few knocks on the front. 

She got up and ran into the kitchen to pick up the cash Daze had thrown onto it. She jogged to the front door when another set of knocks were heard. Y/N had a fake smile, already annoyed by how late this delivery person was and more annoyed by the constant knocking. The doorknob was grasped and then twisted before getting pulled for the door to open. 

Yet, when the door opened, Y/N froze, and the fake smile fell. Her eyes widened slightly as she wondered if the universe was either on her side or against her when the delivery person was Jeon Jungkook. And he looked a bit surprised himself for a split second before he smiled at Y/N. "Hey," he greeted first and held out the delivery. "Sorry about the late delivery; there was major traffic."

She didn't know what to say, and her face was getting redder by the second. Jungkook tilted his head slightly, his smile still there, and he shook the bag a little, snapping Y/N out of it. "Oh, right, right, right," she repeated under her breath, looking at the cash in her hands while Jungkook quickly spoke out the price of tonight's meal. 

Y/N nodded at the price and pulled out the amount that the price would be rounded up to, along with an additional ten dollars. "Thank you," Jungkook smiled, trading the bag and cup holder for the money. He quickly flicked through, and his brows scrunched when he found the additional ten-dollar bill. "Oh, you gave me way too much." 

He held out the dollar bill, and Y/N shook her head. "Um, no, it's a tip," she said awkwardly, doing her best to keep her eyes on Jungkook and not let her gaze fall to the ground. "Daze wouldn't mind, I think." 

Jungkook let out a laugh, causing Y/N to have a small smile when hearing it. "Ah, right, Min Daze. Even if she did, it's not even going to put a dent in her bank account," he joked, and Y/N had to bring her hand up to her mouth, bag moving somewhat viciously with how fast she moved her hand, not wanting to laugh at that. "Sorry, but it's just a fact that we all wish we were as rich as she is. I wouldn't have to work Tuesdays and Fridays if I was."

The female shrugged, moving her hand back down. "Well, she doesn't make it her personality," Y/N said, the thought of her best friend already making her smile warmly. It didn't come across her mind that she was speaking to Jungkook without a stutter or a blush across her cheeks. "She's a good person despite all the money."

And from that, Jungkook felt a rise of panic. "Oh, no, I didn't mean to say it as anything rude," he said at a fast pace before Y/N could fully take his words in the wrong direction. "Reserved, maybe, but Taehyung—" he cut himself immediately after saying the name of his friend, distracting himself as he brought out his phone to have it turn on, and the light hit his face. "You know what, I gotta get back to work."

He quickly said goodbye and thanked Y/N for the tip, then turned and made long strides to the vehicle parked on the curb and the logo lighting at the top. Y/N still had the warm smile stretched across her lips, and they stretched a little more as she moved to close the door, letting out a squeal when the door made a click. She had a somewhat conversation with Jungkook! Yeah, maybe she stuttered and most likely had a red face that could be mistaken for a tomato, but she talked to him!

Even though that was a huge achievement on her end, she was able to catch the slip-up. Shy around Jungkook? Not going to answer that. Tomato DNA, according to her blush? Probably. Mega smart? Definitely. 

"Hey, Daze!" Y/N called out when she locked the front door after putting the bag on her wrist to have access to her full hand and made her way downstairs. "Next time we order delivery, I'm answering the door." She knocked the closed door a little and then pushed down on the handle to push through. "And I think I learned that—Woah." 

She walked into the room a little more, eyes stuck on two things. 

Daze turned her head to see Y/N coming into her sewing room and removing the pin that was used in the final touch of the surprise from her mouth. "Hey, do you like it?" she asked casually, stepping away from the two mannequins to look at them fully and tossing the pin on the table. This was definitely not what Y/N was expecting. 

The mannequin on the left was wearing a red and blue suit that looked to be made out of spandex. The legs and sides of the suit that extended to the arms were blue, and the remaining parts—the gloves, boots, and mid-section—were red with a web pattern all over. The suit also has a black spider in the center of the chest, and when Y/N got closer to the suit to look at the back, she saw how the majority of the back was the extended blue that had a bigger spider in red.

She took a step back and looked at the other suit to see how similar it was in design, but she could tell its difference.

Instead of the blue on the first suit, it was a way darker blue that could be mistaken for black. The dark extended fully down the legs with the outer sides the same red and black web pattern. For the arms, the sides still extended into the arms, but it went down to her hands, and the blue covered the middle and ring fingers. The black spider in the center of the chest was bigger, and the legs reached to touch the blue while the upper legs went over the shoulders to attach with the same design spider on the back.

"This is—wow," Y/N said, still speechless at what she was seeing as she took steps to stand next to Daze to view the two together, putting the food and drinks on the table behind them. "They are beautiful." She reached forward, grasped the suit on the left, and felt the texture. Yeah, it was spandex. Y/N turned to look at Daze with slight confusion. "But why did you make them? It's not like you to make costumes."

"Well, I made them for us to use our new powers," Daze said, bringing her forearms behind her for her hands to grasp and raising her shoulders to flop down. "I doubt the authorities will let us do what we want, and I don't want more eyes on me than there already are." she blew out a raspberry, feeling as if she was about to tell a secret. "And I read your nerdy hero comics to get inspiration."

Y/N let out an aw and layered her hands on her chest, feeling something tangle inside as she had a big smile grow. "You read my comics?!" This was never something she thought Daze would hear, feeling complete that Daze went out of her way to do something she wasn't into for Y/N. "That's so sweet of you!" The comic inside of her as she was growing, clapping her hands. "Oh! Oh! Did you make masks?"

"Like I said, I don't want eyes on me, so I did," Daze answered, grabbing two pieces of fabric behind the two suits and showing them off. They were both red with cat-like eyes, one with a black outline around it, and they both had different web designs to match the suits. "There's two different versions, though I did that more for me." 

She put the masks on the respected mannequin necks that matched the suits. "Wait, so why did you make two different types of masks?" Y/N asked, watching Daze go behind the mannequins and grabbing similar masks, though it looked like they would just cover the face and ears.

"Because I'm not about to stuff all my hair into a mask," Daze scoffed, messing with her dyed hair. She had a point; her hair was super long, and it would be kind of funny to see her struggle to put all her hair under the mask and risk getting strands in front of her eyes. "And if you want to as well, it's up to her. But I made both versions for both suits because I want you to choose which suit you want."

"Really?" Y/N asked, all giddy that she had a choice in choosing which suit she wanted. "Are they a specific size?" 

"I made them your size," Daze answered, smoothing out some wrinkles on the second suit. "They'll be a little big on me, but I can easily adjust them to my size or make a whole new one for me with ease." There was a lot of extra fabric and patterns, so she could easily make another if she wanted to. "So, which one do you want?"

This felt like a serious decision, with the way Daze asked, even though she didn't mean it to be that way. Y/N looked at both suits, trying to envision herself with how she looked in both of them. For some reason, the one on the left seemed to be calling her name. And she felt like she could imagine herself in it more than the one on the right. But was she sure? 

She thinks she is sure. 

So she took a deep breath and pointed to the left suit. "That one. It screams to me," Y/N answers, still pointing at it. 

"What does it say?" Daze asked, tossing the mask to Y/N.

Y/N caught it with ease and adjusted it so she could see the whole thing. "A new chance." Daze moved her eyes onto Y/N from the suit, thinking about her words thoroughly. A new chance, eh? She guessed it could be more than just for fun and to protect their identities when using their powers in public. "But, is it okay for us to keep it in here? Should we hide them?"

"I'd like to see someone try to break into the house and steal from an heiress," Daze snorted, throwing her title as if it was the most normal thing for her to do. "But if someone did break in and see this, they'll most likely think that this is cosplay." She began to pull the mask off the left mannequin and start to undress it. "Also, I'm glad you chose this one. Red and blue are not my colors."

"But you literally made the other one bright red and dark blue,"

"Let me correct myself; highlighters are not my color," Daze retorted, not looking away from the mannequin as she removed the gloves first. "But seeing how your nerdy comics had people in these kinds of costumes, I decided to bite and make one suit a highlighter. And I had to adjust the second one to be slightly different so that we wouldn't be identical."

"Uh-huh, so you definitely did not make it for yourself?" Y/N's lips edged up into a smirk, and her hands rested against her waist.

"No, I did not,"

"It's also in your size, isn't it?"

The two had a staring contest, and Daze rolled her eyes. She was too tired for this, as if she wasn't always tired, getting the remainder of the costume off the mannequin and tossing it at Y/N's face. "Shut up and try it on," she responds, not admitting or denying Y/N's question. "And just so you know, I made two of each in our sizes, as well as the masks; I just didn't want you to give me the look you're giving me now."

"Wait, it's only been a week since we got bit by that magical spider," The cogwheels in Y/N's mind were turning, putting the pieces together when her brows furrowed in thought. "How the hell did you do all of this in a week of making four suits and masks? Did you sleep at all?"

"Sleeping is lame," Daze didn't bat an eye, pointing at the suit in Y/N's hand. "Now, try it on while I get my suit off." She did just that after moving the nude mannequin out of her way and removing the mask off of the neck on the second one. "Anyway, you know that I barely sleep, so doing this and stealing those comics without you noticing helped pass the time."

Y/N nodded along as she stripped out of her clothes. But then she paused and put on her bottoms, looking at Daze accusingly. "Wait, you stole my comics?! " she questioned with a yell, making Daze wince at the loudness but not pausing to remove the costume. 

"And you now realize this after the few times I've said that I read your comics," Daze couldn't help but slightly laugh. Not once in the past week did Daze ask Y/N for her comics, which meant that Y/N did not once notice any of her comics being gone.

"I can't believe I never noticed," Y/N grumbled as they stepped out of the pant legs, fell to the ground, and started to get into the costume. "It's only the two of us here. I thought they would be forever safe!"

"Think again," Daze hummed. She put the costume on the table so she could also take off her clothes to try it on. The silence between them was comforting, with slight grunts from Y/N as she struggled to get her arms through the spandex and adjust it in the back to make sure it was all flattened against her skin. Daze unzipped her jacket and looked over at Y/N, coming to a stop at the view of Y/N putting on the gloves.

Y/N pulled on the glove and easily caught Daze looking, having to double take on looking at Daze when realizing she was staring. "What?"

"Nothing," Daze murmured under her breath, letting her jacket fall with ease once putting her arms down and removing her turtleneck. "You look really good in that, is all." She still did not look at Y/N while pulling her arms out of the sleeves. "It really did call out to you."

"You know what would be nice with these?" Y/N did not hear the compliments, only in her own world of ideas. Daze didn't say anything as she unbuckled her pants and let them fall. It wasn't as if she needed to respond since Y/N continued talking. "Tecnology. We could try to get those in-ear monitors like those spy movies to keep in contact with each other if we decide to go on our own."

"Well, these suits are just for us to cover our identities and nothing else," Daze shrugged, finally grabbing the costume lying on the table for her to try on for the first time as a finished product. She let out a loud breath, thinking about something. "Ah, Stark Technology would go nice with this, actually. For communication and safety, that would be amazing."

Y/N chuckled, knowing she felt the same way about the possibilities they'd have if they had a little bit of Stark Technology. "We can work something out, maybe," she assured, putting on the other glove and going to put on the boots. 

"Yeah, you're not dumpster diving for technology pieces again," Daze said, rejecting the unspoken idea that Y/N was thinking about. "I think I took five showers that night."

Y/N seemed to always be an explorer if she really wanted to, and there was a point in high school where she really was an explorer and went dumpster diving to see if there were nice things that she could to try and make anything that came to mind. The last time Y/N did that, Daze had caught her, and Y/N thought it was funny to drag Daze into the dumpster when she climbed up to help Y/N out, not knowing the true intentions. 

"I regret nothing," Y/N joked, chuckling and grabbing the mask that she had put down to put on her costume first. "Someone threw away an expensive piano, and I still have it."

"Was washing it ten times worth it?"

"Yeah, like I said, I have no regrets,"

"Even though you can't play a piano?"

"I can play the piano now!" Y/N pouted, stomping her feet slightly, not liking how Daze was easily attacking her. "Now, stop talking and get your costume on! I want to test these costumes out."

"I didn't think we'd eat our food in these costumes on a roof," Y/N chuckled with a fry between her teeth. After the two had changed, they went out of the house and snuck through the alleys until they found a building with a flat roof where they could climb up carefully with the bag of food and drinks. "But I'm not opposed to it."

Daze grabbed her milkshake and brought the straw up to her lips. "It's nice," she agreed, the loud traffic still buzzing. There was never a quiet night, though, in the city. 

"It is. It still feels weird that this happened," Y/N admits, grabbing the remainder of the fries to take a bite. All of this probably didn't hit her fully in the head of what was happening. It's been a week, and she's probably still shocked about the whole thing, yet these costumes they were wearing were seemingly telling that this is all real. 

"What is? Out here in our costumes, or because you find out that Jungkook works at Shake Shack two days a week?" Daze asked, moving the trash between them into the bag. They both had just their drinks and shakes left. 

"The first one," Y/N lightly pushed Daze with a small smile. "I can't believe you never told me that he works for that place, but I'm more surprised that I never noticed him whenever we decided to go in person."

"He's a delivery boy. I doubt we'd ever see him when we go in," Daze retorted with a shrug, not knowing how else to tell Y/N. "Plus, every time we do delivery, you ask me to get it because you're too lazy to get up."

"But now I know, and I can try and charm him every time we order delivery," Y/N was already dreaming of the possibilities she could do to show her charm when she would open the door and see Jungkook in the cute uniform and hold out their food and drinks. She thought that what happened earlier was somewhat okay, but she still felt awkward about it.

She was able to talk to him, even if it was for less than a minute, and catch his slip-up.

"Charming a crush while they're working at a fast food and delivering greasy food while smelling like grease," Daze spoke out the sentence, not sure if she wanted to imagine it or not. "Yeah, I don't think I'd want someone charming me while I'm working and smelling like fast food after many hours of being around it. I don't think I'd want to charm someone while working with fast food for hours."

"Well, what else can I do?" Y/N huffed, thinking of all the times she had been staring at Jungkook and never talking to him.

"Woman up and walk up and talk to him," Daze answered before drinking her diet soda. 

Y/N let out a whine. "Too much work," she swung her legs slightly and left it hanging over the edge, leaning against Daze and drinking her shake. "Walking up to him and attempting to talk to him means that I'd be going up to his friends as well." And mentioning that, Y/N remembered what she wanted to tell Daze in the first place before seeing the costumes. "Oh, Jungkook mentioned Taehyung while we spoke."

"Did he?" Daze didn't seem interested, so she put her empty cup in the bag that was between them and took a moment to open it since Y/N was leaning on it. "That's weird."

"I don't think it was," Y/N shook her head, still leaning on Daze. "There's a possibility that Taehyung may have something for you."

"Gross," Daze commented before drinking as much of the diet soda as she could in one sip and then another to empty it and put it in the bag. "I don't want to talk about feelings when we're supposed to be testing out these costumes." 

"You never want to talk about feelings," Y/N complained but leaned off of Daze to sit up. She scooted backward a bit to safely stand up and not be on the very edge, and Daze followed along to standing up. "We will talk about it, though; you can't run away from it."

"Yes, I can," Daze argued, picking up the bag and putting Y/N's empty cups inside. She walked to another end of the roof. She held it out in front of her at arm's length before using her other hand to send the glowing web on it and toss it into the alleyway, letting the web extend and dissolve once she was able to successfully get the bag in one of the many open metal trashcans. 

"Well, that's one way to use your power," Y/N said playfully, watching Daze walk toward her. Her playful smile faltered, coming to the thought of the inability to shoot out webs. "I know we want to test out these suits, but I still cannot figure out how to shoot a web. Can you tell me how you do it?"

With their powers and learning to control them, Y/N has been trying ways to send out webs. But every day in the past week, nothing has happened. She knew she could make webs with ease; she already had a formula and designs to make them, but something inside her was telling her that she was able to produce webs, but it felt like she hadn't tapped into the ability yet.

It really did feel like she was in one of her favorite hero comics.

"If we're talking about the first time, it was kind of like a spur of the moment," Daze answered honestly, crossing her arms and leaning on her right foot while in thought. "And then it became like an instinct." She let out a slight hum, trying to think why Y/N couldn't produce as much web as she could. Her eyes were out on the night sky, and the stars were shining, with a few clouds covering some of them.

"Maybe it's mental," Daze snapped her clothed fingers after thinking about the possibilities of what could help. "Mine was a spur of a moment into an instinct. Yours could be mental into an instinct." She looked over at Y/N, placing her hands on her shoulders. "Close your eyes." Y/N was unsure, though the look she gave Daze must've been judgemental with what was said next. "Don't give me that look—stop judging me and just close them."

"Okay, okay," Y/N closed her eyes, raising her hands for a moment and letting them drop.

Daze placed one hand on Y/N's chest; fingers spread out flatly. "Now, imagine your body," Daze instructed. She sounded a little doubtful, but she had to know if this was mental rather than spur-of-the-moment. Anything for Y/N. "Here, at your heart, imagine like veins, lines of webs produced from your heart and running through your arms and to your wrists." Y/N's eyes moved a bit, trying to focus on imagining her silhouette.

Following Daze's words, she imagined the full body of her silhouette first. White lines appeared from the middle of her chest, where the heart is, and extended through her arms and wrists. Daze gave her a few seconds before moving the hand from Y/N's chest to her left arm. She raised Y/N's arm, pointing it at the building across from them.

"Form your hand like mine, and shoot a web when you feel it," 

Y/N's eyes were still fluttering, trying to feel what she imagined. A small feeling of something sourcing through her body. When that tiny feeling hit her wrists, her middle and ring fingers curled into her palm and lightly pressed. A slight gasp from Daze was heard, making Y/N open her eyes. And they also widened to see the white web sent over at the building across and attacking.

The two looked at Y/N's wrist to see that it wasn't transparent like Daze's. "I did it," she whispered, looking at Daze. "I did it!" 

"It's real web, too," Daze said, poking at the web, somehow not sticking to her skin when she tapped the line a few times. 

Y/N smiled widely, even if it wasn't seen. "Either way, I was able to do it. Thank you, magical scientist," she said, releasing her fingers for the web to detach from her wrist and fall. Y/N looked down at her wrist and only noticed the pattern of a web on her wrist like Daze had, but it never showed any glowing. "I do think we can conclude that the two bites were magical and a last defense mechanism."

"It does make sense that your way to do it mental rather than mine a spur of a moment," Daze raised a hand to pinch her chin in thought. "The first venom must've been magic venom, so I don't produce it since it's more like opening a new part of me that'd magic." she pointed at Y/N as if she figured it all out. "Where for the second venom was the spider's organic venom, so you actually produce the web in your body."

Y/N made a face of disgust, looked down at her wrist, and realized there was a hole where the web was shot out. "Oh, it must be a strong web, too. Look," she held out her hand for Daze to look at.

"Must be," Daze agreed, surprised at how it looked like a perfect circle. "I can adjust it back home."

Daze grasped Y/N's wrist and brought it closer to her view to inspect it. Y/N didn't mind it, using the time to look around at the familiar scene that she had grown up in. It was still so beautiful, like before when they skipped class and went crazy about what happened to them. She still had yet to view this scenery under the sunset. The two had never thought of climbing up on a building like this after that morning. 

It felt nice, looking over the city without a care in the world. It was peaceful. And in her costume, she felt like a hero watching over their city. A hero. For some reason, the more she thought about the heroes in her comics and even looked at this costume and wearing it, the more she felt like those heroes. Well, she never felt like a hero until now. 

Y/N never wanted to admit it, but a part of her always wanted to be a hero when she was a kid and growing up. That's why she had gotten collections of superhero comics, imagining herself the protagonist. Protecting the people, saving damsels in distress, and getting the girl. Y/N wouldn't admit this, but she always imagined Jungkook as "The boy" that she would get after saving him if he somehow got into trouble. 

She always felt like it was silly until the Avengers came together with people who were myths or what the world didn't expect. Y/N wanted to make a difference and help people like them, and she felt like she could fulfill that dream now. Use their powers to help rather than let it go to waste. And these suits were the finishing touch. This is what her costume was screaming.

"Daze, let's be heroes," Y/N offered the idea aloud, turning her sight onto her childhood friend. 

Daze looked into Y/N's eyes, dropping Y/N's arm. "Heroes?" She repeated the word, unsure about it. "You think we are hero material?"

"No," Y/N said in honesty, but raised her other hand to eye view and looked at the top of her hand. "But I don't think anyone is hero material." She dropped her hand and looked at the two masks that were sitting in a pile the whole time. Y/N walked to the masks and picked them up, holding Daze's out to her. "What I do know is that we have potential, and this is a chance we were given to help protect the people."

"We will be going by that stupid major rule that is in every comic; I hope you know that." Daze was only able to start the response with that, trying to think hard about it as she spoke. "That whole secret identity type deal. I thought it was dumb at first, but when thinking about how it is with Tony Stark and revealing that he's Iron Man, I understand it more."

Y/N nodded in agreement, knowing that rule with ease. It was so obvious in almost all hero comics that it's expected for the hero to decide upon himself that no one must know who he is to protect the ones he loves. But with Daze, Y/N felt like it would be better that they were in this together as partners. They can fall onto each other to keep each other in check.

Suddenly, her determined look turned into doubt. They know it's best not to tell anybody, but what if they find someone? Whether she is with Jungkook or just anyone in the future, would she not be able to tell that person either? In the comics, the hero doesn't tell their lover until the very end, yet after that, it seems everything is okay when the lover knows the truth.

"You're thinking ahead, aren't you?" Daze gave a soft smile, noticing the hand with her mask faltering to Y/N's side. "What is it?"

"Just thinking about if we were to find someone, should we tell them?" Y/N pondered the thought to Daze. "Not right away, but if they are the one, wouldn't it be best to let them know?"

The question was fair and understandable, having Daze fall in thought with Y/N. "I don't know," she answered, unable to find an answer. "But I don't want to tell you never to find somebody because they might be right in front of you." She felt saliva forming in her mouth and swallowed it down. "We can figure that out together when it comes to it. But I will be by your side with anything."

She reached for Y/N's hand and raised it to grab her mask and start putting it on, letting it be around her neck so she could pull her hair through. Daze got her hair through the mask and gave Y/N an encouraging smile. "Right, we're going into this as partners. So let's do this," Y/N smiled wildly, realizing that Daze's answer was a yes to becoming heroes, and she moved to put on her mask. "The beginning of Spider-Woman."

"And her partner, Kumo," Daze added after, the two having their masks fully on, able to see clearly through the sheer plastic in the eyes. 

Y/N held out her hand, and Daze joined her in doing their handshake at the start of a new chapter.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Artemis Fowl and That One Time Opal Koboi Went Full Disney Villain

Ah yes, the book that explores the aftermath of trying to mind-wipe Artemis Fowl and the consequences of assuming that just because your archnemesis is in a coma, they're not plotting their revenge. It's no secret that we stan Opal Koboi in this house, but uhhh...not gonna lie, she makes that REALLY DIFFICULT in the early chapters of this book. Let's talk Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception.

*As per usual with sequels and books that aren't the first in the series, spoilers abound below the break.*

Opal Koboi being hated by her entire engineering class in college--Foaly included--is most easily and canonically chalked up to systemic fairy sexism. I'm not here to dispute that charge, because there was absolutely airy sexism involved, but I submit to you, dear reader, that the fact that Opal had matered cleansing comas by age 14 and could literally study in her sleep might have also had something to do with it. Although if it had, Foaly might not have been so lackadaisical about letting Opal rot in the J. Argon clinic.

Let's just take a minute to appreciate that cloning herself and plotting a breakout from a stupid secure mental health facility with ADDED LEP SECURITY is the BACKUP plan. Because hot damn honey, replacing yourself with a clone requires a level of planning that is like, fourth-level chess master with a flair for the dramatic--and we'll get back to that flair for the dramatic in a second, because it is fully on display for every single one of Opal's three main plots in this book.

Her first main plan is to get revenge on Holly and Root for disrupting her plan to become Empress of Haven by framing Holly for Root's murder by tricking Holly into taking a practically impossible shot to disarm an explosive device that was strapped to the Commander's chest and broadcasting video but not audio of the whole event to the LEP. Like, Opal. My girl. That is simultaneously brutal and dramatic of you.

And the thing about the entire scene is that it's really, really damn well written. I got this book on release day, and bawled all the way through this and I think the next couple of chapters. The extra cruel thing that Opal did here was choose a murder weapon that there was precisely ZERO hope of coming back from. Holly may have managed a four-minute healing for Butler in the last book, but as (I'm pretty sure) Foaly says, "magic doesn't work on melted slop." The bomb Opal strapped to Root's chest doesn't just kill him, it collapses the chute tunnel behind Holly as she makes a desperate bid to escape in time to rescue Artemis from another bomb. There was no way to bring Root back from this, and because Opal is a high-drama nemesis, Root is of course suffering the whole way down. The bomb is strapped to his chest using octo-bonds, and Opal spends the entire scene remotely tightening them, slowly crushing Root's chest while Holly stands six feet away to stop the proximity sensor from blowing them both to kingdom come. Root's death is brutal, painful, and Holly spends the entire rest of the book mourning him. It is HEARTBREAKING for a middle grade death scene, and really hella extra for a middle grade villain.

Opal's plan for revenge on Artemis is a bit less moustache-twirling, but not by much. She has clocked that Artemis is really into art theft since his mind wipe, so she gets to The Fairy Thief before he does and plants a bio-bomb tracker in the painting tube that will activate once the tube is opened. So her plan was for Artemis to die in a moment of ironic triumph while Holly looked on. Because oh yeah, Holly bails on the explosion in the Haven chute just barely in time on the hope and prayer of saving Artemis. Unfortunately, Holly gets to the hotel just in time to see the bomb go off. Artemis is fine because Butler is just that damn good, but Holly is having arguably the worst day if her life.

As she collapses to the roof of the hotel trying to process the fact that three of the most important people in her life have just been murdered in front of her--and the niggling worry that the sweet spot might not have been real and she might have just flat-out killed Root herself--who shows up to gloat? Opal goddamn Koboi. In tow Opal has a second bio-bomb for Holly that she barely escapes by containing it with her helmet. As a bonus side effect, Ark Sool and everyone in the lower elements thinks Holly is dead now, because all her vitals flattened simultaneously as the bomb fried her helmet. So now Foaly is also having a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

And in a brief sidebar: Opal might be a dramatical cats villain, but we love her. We DO NOT love Ark Sool, because his ass made Foaly go over the footage of Root's death with a fine tooth comb to try to prove Holly's guilt, and even Foaly almost breaks because he literally has to slow-mo through the footage of Root being blown to hell multiple times. Like, Foaly just has PTSD now. That's just a thing that Ark Sool casually did to the centaur who is almost single-hoofedly standing between humans and the People. NICE GOING, ASSHOLE. We hate Ark Sool.

Now, Opal's track record for successful plans in this book seems to have begun and ended with cloning herself and having the Brill twins break her out of the Argon Clinic, because her revenge plan is 1 for 3, and her backup revenge plan just gets WILD. On discovering that Holly and Artemis suvived, Opal captures them and drops them in a defunct theme park that was human wonders of the world themed and is currently overrun by trolls. And the really wild thing is that Opal had to have either done this before or else has the best freaking team in the world, because the exits are newly blocked and there are little screens with gloats on them scattered throughout the whole park. Holly and Artemis do escape, but it would have definitely easier if the LEP hadn't mind-wiped Artemis, because he was definitely not working with a full deck and kept trying to just *wait out the delusion* instead of actively running from trolls with a taste for human flesh. None of that is ideal, but thanks once again to Butler and Mulch, Artemis and Holly live to foil Opal's big main plan.

The TLDR on this plan is to throw humans and fairies into a massive war by exposing the fairies when they try to sneakily scupper a human attempt to mine the mantle for power. This involves a lot of warheads and phsyics and attempts to direct a metric ton of molten metal eating through the earth's crust. For being the objectively highest stakes plot, the book doesn't spend a whole lot of time on this, and I can't blame them. Opal going full vengeful dramatic villain is WAY more interesting. Unfortunately, Holly and Artemis do manage to thwart Opal, who has the meltdown of all meltdowns right before she spends a week as a human child on a farm--for complicated reason that I cannot be bothered to explain here, because Opal Koboi is objectively too fantastic and dramatic to deserve that...except for how she kind does deserve that for what she did to Commander Root.

Ark Sool probably also deserves it, because he doesn't let Holly attend Root's funeral, and proceeds to bury her in internal affairs investigations. We really, REALLY hate Ark Sool.

So overall, this book really marks a turning point/new beginning for Artemis and Pals, and this book is where Opal Koboi arguably shines brightest because our girl is UNHINGED and we love to watch it happen. Even if we do start watching it through tears.

[ainsellshadewalker]

Minor update to the X-Men Evolution Wings of Fire-fied AU: I am scrapping (for now) making it the Dark AU version. I have ideas, but I really want to fledge out with a different story first, then maybe work my way back around to a WoF version of the Dark AU.

So, um, is it okay if I info dump a few ideas + minor story plots + scenes I really really want in my fic/au at some point? I shall assume yes, but don't worry, you don't need to understand the book plots at all! You can look up a picture of the dragon tribes, but seeing as the mutants are hybrids, well, they'll be a bit different. Let's dive in-

Plot and AU Ideas:

#1 • There is the One of Us AU, or regular gradual platonic yandere X-Men Evolution au, centered around the background tension and dread, but with no extra add-ons, just a pretty standard au or plot, I guess, with Reader (Bee) being a new mutant, but who appears as a HiveWing and seems to initially have no powers at all...

#2 • There is the Propehcy AU, where the teen are part of some vision and prophecy that can either save the world or end it, but it woukd be hard to fit everyone in, but I do like small prophecies...

#3 • A Secret Animus AU, where Reader (Bee) has not an animus-like ability, but full animus magic, the most rare mutation of all... in this Reader is more nervous, fidgety, and avoidant, but it is a bit more stressful and tense than the other options...

#4 • A Neglect au, where Reader (Bee), due to appearing seemingly normal and average, is shunned by the mutants, or at best forgotten about, and Reader eventually ends up hurt or captured, and possibly almost dies... but is saved at the last minute, and now the others have to try and take care of them and make up for lost time, while Reader wants to act like nothing happened and go back to the regular status quo...

Story Plots:

• possibly stopping or freeing Dragon! Apocalypse or using his animus scroll (magic scroll of limitless potential spells)

• Reader finding out they're related to someone

• Reader possibly having a darker past than everyone thinks (such as Reader used to work for a villain/evil dragon; or Reader was rejected by their family for being a mutant, despite not appearing like one; Reader almost dying when they were really young; or maybe all three, who knows)

• Reader trying to find perfect gifts or make perfect gifts for everyone, and the teens and adults do the same thing (a seasonal story, possibly as an extra or it's own stand-alone oneshot) (this one woukd be very sweet, with a bit of silliness)

• Prinicpal/Headmaster Kelly (he's going to be a SeaWing named Kelp), slowly realizing that he's wrong to hate mutants, and that groups like the Weapon X Program (called Wing X Program) and the MRD aren't good for everyone, and kinda has a talk and understanding with Xavier (because I know he's a squishy jerk, but I want to use 97's character growth on this version of him, so at least one normal dragons doesn't stay a jerk)

• Dragonets! Jean and Scott gradually getting together, and it's sappy and sweet and has a touch of hurt/comfort (they deserve better, let these two be happy)

Small Scenes (I just want these to be canon!):

• Reader hunting like a heron, then teaching Todd or Lance how to do it, too (they use their wings to create shadows, then stab the fish when they swim below it)

• The teens (dragonets) trying to cook, but most of then have never used fire, let alone a pan or pot or seasoning

• Reader finding one of the teens sleeping with them because of a nightmare, so they just let them stay, putting a blanket over them, then going back to sleep

• A beach day (the kids and adults just play in the sand and lazily swim around and catch some crabs and seagulls and laugh together) (they need to be found family)

• Reader crying, and someone comforting them

Well. This is all i have so far. I need more sleep. I hope you are doing well, ainsell! Please get some rest, drink some water, and have a snack.

Those are all wonderful ideas! Something you can do to tie in multiple points, Apocalypse sending visions to Bee to release him. They're not demanding though and he seems to actually care and acts very fatherly and protective over them. Something bee doesn't have from the others because they're just not as special as their pack. Except, the reason for apocalypse to be so doting is the fact that Bee is his child who's mutation is reincarnation. He doesn't know why they don't remember as much as when they used to reincarnate he sees that there are some memories but blames the xmen and brotherhood for causing so much distress in Bee that they've forgotten they were ever loved. And maybe when Bee finally gives in they've grown cold and uncaring to the world, so instead of immediately causing the end of humankind, his main goal because he knows no other way to save mutantkind, Apocalypse bonds with Bee and teaches them that there is still something to love in the world. Seeing that the person who's supposed to know only destruction and violence according to myth treat his young so carefully truly wanting them to heal and be as they are causes the xmen and brotherhood to rethink their behavior. Which leads to them somehow separating Bee from Apocalypse to talk but Bee doesn't want to talk and tries to leave. Cue Stryker seeing an opportunity taking Bee and setting up for an end where you decide who gets custody!

I rambled a bit sorry but you have so many good ideas to bounce off that something always grows

[thesarahshay]

A Dorothy Sayers Primer

I initially wrote this for any Shipwrecked fans who loved Honeymoon Homicide and are now curious about Dorothy L. Sayers (the author Sinead named Tracey's fictional detective after) or Busman's Honeymoon (the Sayers novel that the script was inspired by), but it works for anyone who's curious about the Lord Peter Wimsey series! Here's some info to get you started.

For Shipwrecked fans: Busman's Honeymoon is the final book Sayers wrote in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, so unfortunately you can't start there (trust me, it'd be like watching the musical episode of Buffy first). Lucky for you, the whole series is delightful!

The elevator pitch: Lord Peter Wimsey, a wealthy and amusing English aristocrat, solves murders in 1920s and '30s London with his friend Chief Inspector Parker of Scotland Yard and his faithful valet Bunter. Why you should read it: Highlights of the series include Lord Peter's nonstop literary references (guy was basically an old-timey meme factory) and the fact that, more often than not, the books are about some bigger concept in addition to having a nice tricky mystery to solve. Topics Sayers tackled include everything from the place of women in society to the way countries fail their veterans.

There are three possible ways to read them, depending on your preference.

Read the series in chronological order. The best way, IMO! The first book is Whose Body and it's delightful, but I have heard some people say they found the earlier books harder to get into until after they had read the Harriet books, hence method #2. Admittedly, she develops Peter's character a lot over the course of the series, so the Peter we initially meet has a lot of growing to do.

Read the Harriet Vane books first. About a third of the way through the series, Lord Peter meets a mystery novelist named Harriet Vane, and their relationship is covered over four of the seven books that follow: Strong Poison (book 5), Have His Carcase (book 7), Gaudy Night (book 10), and Busman's Honeymoon (book 11). It is entirely possible to read just these four and feel you've gotten a complete arc.

Read the first book, and if you're not entirely sold, skip ahead to Strong Poison. I was talked into method #2 so I can't knock it, but I usually recommend #3 for people who aren't totally sold on the premise. At least give Whose Body a try, but if you're not feeling it and/or just want to get to the relationship stuff, read the Harriet books and then go back and fill in the gaps as you like.

There you go, more information than you possibly could have wanted! Now you can choose your method and get over to your local library to get started (btw, If you plan to go the audiobook route, I recommend seeking out the versions read by Ian Carmichael). EXTRA INFORMATION (aka I'm sorry I'm like this)

Content warning: It's the 1920s, so there's gonna be some racism, classism, fatphobia, and sexism. But if you've read Agatha Christie, this is mild by comparison. There are a few slurs and references to stereotypes, but when Sayers writes an actual minority character they're complex, sympathetic human beings. For my fellow Jews, be warned that the victim in Whose Body is Jewish, but it's not a hate crime and the Jewish characters are all cool.

Other works by Sayers: This primer is focused on the Wimsey books because they were her main writing output, and everything else she did kind of requires a caveat or is in a very different vein: she wrote some plays and nonfiction, primarily about Christianity, and a translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy which I understand is very well regarded. Her only other novels were all co-written with other authors, and in my opinion don't feel particularly Sayersesque. If you read all the Wimsey books and collections and want more, The Documents in the Case is decent. I haven't read most of the rest: I am a fan, not an expert!

A full list of the novels and short story collections in order (because I'm a completist, sorry not sorry):

Whose Body (1923) Clouds of Witness (1926) Unnatural Death (1927) * Lord Peter Views the Body (1928) [collection] The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928) Strong Poison (1930) Five Red Herrings (1931) Have His Carcase (1932) Murder Must Advertise (1933) * Hangman's Holiday (1933) [collection] The Nine Tailors (1934) Gaudy Night (1935) Busman's Honeymoon (1937) * In the Teeth of the Evidence (1939) [collection] Posthumous: Lord Peter (1972) [collection of all* Lord Peter short stories] Striding Folly (1973) [collection of three stories, including one never before published (later editions of Lord Peter included this 'new' story)] Thrones, Dominations (1998) [novel by Jill Paton-Walsh**, using an incomplete manuscript Sayers started for a twelfth Lord Peter book; questionably canon, but worth reading] The Complete Stories (2002) [collection of all Sayers' short stories]

*The collections are listed in publication order, but the stories therein happen at different periods of Peter's life and can be read any time.

**Paton-Walsh wrote three more Wimsey novels after completing Thrones, Dominations, but they should be viewed purely as fanfic (I personally do not care for them).

[threebooksoneplot]

Three Books One Plot and ✨You✨

Now that our first season has drawn to a close we wanted to share some fun stats with you guys! This is information that was actually cut from our finale for time but, since we're so excited about it, we still wanted to share it with you all. It's been a hell of a year and, like we mentioned in our finale, we never expected for anyone besides us and a small group of friends/acquaintances to care so much about this silly project. But a lot of you cared. More than we thought would.

In fact, we had listeners from 50 countries over the course of the past year. This is what our top ten looks like, at a glance:

Shout out to anyone listening from any of these countries, and extra shout out to anyone listening from any other place in the world, too. (All 40 other countries.) As far as the US goes we weren't too shocked by our top five (California, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas are also the top five most populated states) but we were excited to see listeners in forty-five states plus DC. So, to our friends in Alabama, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming... we'll get you guys next season. 😉

(more information and fun statistics under the cut!)

What was doubly shocking to us was the idea that not only would we have such a broad reach but that we would chart anywhere. Over the last year we have charted on the book charts of eleven different countries, including the United States. Which is fucking bonkers.

Beyond that, we had some more funky statistics we wanted to share! We truly did give you non-Spotify listeners the short end of the stick sometimes but hey, don't blame us. Blame the apps you listen to and like, maybe bully them on Twitter into providing polls and questions like Spotify does. If that doesn't work, you can always join in on our polls here on Tumblr during the interim between episodes. Next season we'll also be encouraging you guys to answer our episode questions in our ask box here, too. Anything to get more hilarious gems from you since you guys are like, really fucking funny.

But as far as platforms go, here's our breakdown:

If you listen on a different app like Pocket Casts or any other podcast platform, please let us know! We'd love to know how you guys are tuning in.

Not to direct our full attention back toward Spotify for a moment (like we love to do) but here were some fun Spotify-centric stats that are worth mentioning. Mainly because the age statistics make us laugh.

Shoutout to any young-young Gen X-ers that listen and aren't in the 45-59 age range. You guys are the true champions and we adore the fact that your peers just do not fuck with us. Also, in the unlikely chance that any of the less than one percent of Boomers (affectionate) that listen to us also happen to follow us on here, please message us so we can give you the key to a city or something. Because we love you. Sorry that supercentenarian Edward kept being weird and rude about your generation. He sucks for that.

To conclude this fun and informative little wrap-up post I wanted to give the biggest, loudest, and most inappropriate shout out to all our sexy listeners who gave Three Books One Plot a rating or a review!

On Apple Podcasts, we received 8 reviews and 17 ratings, giving us an average of 4.6 stars!

On Spotify, we received 63 ratings, giving us a 4.9 star average!

This fall will bring a new season with a new book, new characters, and new guests. But don't worry, there'll be just as many jokes, bits, ill-advised drinking game rules, and sex tape titles that make G rejoice and Shannon sigh in half-reluctant compliance as before.

We wanted to give a super-special thanks to all of you who have tuned in, and we're so excited to see you guys again for Season Two in September!

[duamuteffe]

Stream of consciousness getting everything out below the cut.

This past week has been the damndest yoyo. I finally got all my books in storage (aka my folks' basement)

There's 83 boxes of them, plus the four I'm taking with. We wanted to leave by the end of April but that's coming faster and faster and there's still so much to pack. I can't get Fi's strangles vaccination until the 27th unless I want to pay an extra hundred dollars for the farm call. My mother and uncle are selling the land I spent half my life on and love more than any other place on earth because none of us have the money for the property taxes. I was gutted. I've bellowed and sobbed. I've read Pema Chodron endlessly until I stopped thinking about jumping off roofs. (Mine still needs a coat of tar before we can sell. We need three days without rain to do it. How are we ever going to get out of here by the end of April if we can't get it ready to sell?)

"Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.”

I'm finding comfort in the oddest places. The Allegheny Mountains are older than the rings of Saturn. They were the height of the Himalayas before the evolution of bones. Losing access to 92 (beloved precious) acres on the top of one mountain won't alter the power of a chain of hills 480 million years old. It's everywhere down there. I can follow the river and feel it everywhere (maybe someday we'll have the money for a little camp past Nebraska Bridge so I can smell the trees and earth and not have to be close enough to the Farm that my heart threatens to break again) Every inch of the place is inscribed in my memory in full 3d and surround sound

I will carry the place for the rest of my existence. And then my mother says there was a rifle stashed away for me - eight years since my grandfather's collection went to auction because my grandmother's sanity broke down in the wake of his sudden death and all of us kids were left without the (antique, carefully selected) rememberances I knew he'd wanted us to have. For eight years I had thought them all gone, just the memories of shooting skeet with my grandmother's 20 gauge (should have gone to Suz, they loved her as their grandchild as soon as I brought her home, and man was she good at tagging clay pigeons with it, there's photos of her at my wedding in her pretty dress showing how it's done) and plinking at soda bottles full of water with lever action Winchesters that were carried on saddles in the Old West (the boys should have gotten one each, the heaviest for Pat, the middle for the Doc, and the lightest for my amiable ex) They were all gone, I was told, but someone stashed one away for me. She's had my step-cousin-in-law bring it up so I could have it. The oldest one, and the most beautiful; 1760's or thereabouts, stock made of solid tiger maple from back when the trees were four feet across. Barrel forged by a patient smith. Carried to hunt for food when this country was still a colony. Too fragile by far to fire but one of Pappap's favorites; I remember how tickled he was when I told him the one I saw in the Royal Armouries wasn't nearly as nice.

I asked if the same step-cousin-in-law could be asked to bring Pappap's canoe up to my folks, and if my mother could grab a few small items from the house and she said yes, so I don't have to go there to the house where Bummy and Pappap aren't and haven't been for a few years now, and walk around in the places they're not, and have to deliberately choose a last time to stand in the field and then leave forever. The last time I was there it was a good day. It was sunny and spring and the leaves were just out, and a good friend and I were clipping small new branches from the apple trees for her to try and root (those 150 year old apple trees, will the new owners keep them? The one tree still gives the best pie apples ever grown and the russet tree gives crisp tart apples that are best after a hard frost. They could live another hundred years if tended.) I can live a lot easier with that having been inadvertently my last visit. I don't think I can go there ever again now, knowing it's the last time.

We're going to another farm to try and keep it going, I remind myself. If I can't keep my own best place I can do my damndest to help friend-family keep theirs. It's so beautiful there. There's so much to do. I'll have meaningful work again. No more retail hell. A garden. A couple of goats. Some bees. Two dozen horses to help care for. My mare, with all the turnout her little feral heart desires. Maybe she'll recover enough from the fractured hip by Fall for me to ride her again. I saw Mrs. Edwards in a dream and asked her and she smiled at me. I'm taking it as a good sign. There is so much awaiting us once we get unstuck from here. The Doc can hunt in the Fall. We can fish all summer in spare moments (Pappap said he was going to teach me to use the old spincasting rods he had from his father; they run differently from modern ones, and we didn't end up having time but I can learn online.) Unless my brother contests we're getting Pappap's canoe, and we'll haul it up with us and put it on the lake. It's sturdy enough to go fishing from. There's so much yet to do.

"When you see the Southern Cross for the first time/You understand now why you came this way/'Cause the truth you might be runnin' from is so small/But it's as big as the promise, the promise of a comin' day"

We're going to be okay. I repeat it a lot. We're going to be okay. "Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.”

It's falling apart. It's coming together. There's so many moving parts, so many ducks not in a row. But we're going to be okay.

(Knock on wood)

[liminalweirdo]

I agree with you (mostly), especially about the importance of treating subtitles and descriptive audio as part of production.

As a captioner, we, like editors, are often limited by the in-house guides gives to us by our clients and/or our employers, and so I would say that most of the time the reason that captions aren't verbatim is because, in my experience with various guidelines given to me (which, if I don't follow, I'll lose my job), you're not allowed to have three lines of text on the screen which limits perfect verbatim captions.

This is because subtitles generally can't cross a scene change, or because a subtitle can only be displayed for seven seconds (or so), and it can only have a certain amount of characters in it, including grammatical characters. Obviously they also have to remain onscreen long enough to be read which is generally one second, or half a second in special circumstances and if the sentence is short enough.

Depending on the speed of the character or person speaking, it's not always possible to include everything they say, especially when it's impacted by other factors like shot changes etc.

There are also other visual cues given to the viewer besides text. There's burn-ins, body language, locations, all kinds of little and big visual moments that aren't dialogue that are important for the viewer to be able to see (or hear in video description) to understand the plot. If you're spending all your time reading what they're saying, verbatim, you're missing a big part of the film. Our main goal as captioners is to give all viewers -- Deaf, HoH, people with auditory processing disorder, autism (like me), and anyone else who needs or uses subs) an experience as close to the intended experience as possible. You're not here to read a book, you're here to watch a film, so we want the film to be watchable, we want you to have time to catch what's happening onscreen, while also being able to read subtitles.

As for condensing, I hate it, but sometimes it's necessary. Sometimes subtitles are condensed based on the character limit that the client or your company gives you. This exists because your auditory system can generally process information at a faster rate than your eyes can process it. So captioners have to condense the text because what the person onscreen is saying is able to be understood by a hearing person faster than someone who is relying solely on subtitles could process it.

I've always said that there should be subtitles/captions, and then there should be a verbatim transcript also available as an extra. A document with timestamps that can be read on its own, without the film playing in the background. In my experience, I almost always reads screenplays when they are available, but even screenplays are rarely (if ever) verbatim for the film, and they do not include any improv, or any additions made by the actors or directors, but I'm also a person who has to re-watch films frame by frame so I can process everyone's facial expressions and what's happening visually, because of my autism. Until I can do this, I feel like I don't get the full experience of a film, but it's something I have to do after on my own time. I'm not saying this is right, or even fair. Personally, I enjoy my frame-by-frame film time. I'm just offering this as a solution or a suggestion. How can people who rely on subtitles get the full experience? What if they could have captions and a verbatim transcript? Why isn't the transcript of every freely-available video also freely available?

Captioners who have to condense usually don't like doing it, but they work hard to make sure that the meaning is as close to the hearing person's experience as possible. When condensing happens, it's often because it cannot be avoided.

Also, sometimes the client will not provide us a script for whatever reason. Maybe they forget, maybe they don't give a shit about disabled folks (without realizing disabled folks are making their captions lol), or maybe they forgot, maybe they also didn't have access to it. Either way, even if a script exists, the captioner may not necessarily have access to it.

Things like this, captions etc. are even more affected if they are translations.

I hear you, though. Like, I hear you. I hate nothing more than watching something to see that the captions are wrong (or worse, there's no captions at all). I was watching something just last night where the captioner wrote "(incoherent screaming)" when the words the character was screaming were clearly audible and easily transcribable. That was sloppy, it's unfair to the viewer, it makes me fucking outraged. Sometimes it happens, but most of us captioning our ass to make sure it doesn't.

But please also remember that while some captioners are paid well for their time, others (like me) are not. I do it because it's important to me that people who need subtitles have access to subtitles. It's fucking important to me.

Accessibility is important to me even though I don't rely on subtitles. Everyone should be able to watch videos or films and have the full experience.

I get paid less than minimum wage to do the work that I do, but even the people who are getting paid fairly are also facing massive layoffs at their companies as a result of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. I fully support these strikes, but I'm aware that both myself and my partner may lose our jobs because of them. That's just the way it is, because of a handful of greedy people who don't want to pay their workers. What I'm trying to say here is that currently captioners are under a lot of stress, our homes and jobs are at stake, too. Many are not getting paid fairly. Many captioners are also freelancers who are not paid for their very extensive training before they're thrown into the thick of it, and expected to keep their heads above water. But that's not an excuse for shoddy work.

That said, outside of these strikes, captioners often work on difficult or near-impossible deadlines.

But basically, yes, I agree with you, there's no excuse for bad subtitles, but a lot of the time subtitles are made by people like me who are underpaid, work long hours, and get absolutely no acknowledgement for their work in any credits, but do it because it's important to them. Sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes we mishear, sometimes we're bound by rules we don't like so that we can keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, but I know in my case, and in the case of the people I know who do this work, we really are trying our best, and it really fucking matters to us.

I, a hearing person who likes subtitles just as a preference, shouldn't have to read a subtitle that's obvious nonsense, go back a couple seconds, and listen again in order to figure out what's going on. An accessibility feature should not be the most half-assed part of a professionally made production. Scripted media has absolutely no excuse for not having subtitles or having subtitles that aren't perfectly verbatim. Professional captioning services should be ashamed of the shoddy work that they put out. Captions should be treated as a part of the production, just like filming, editing, audio balancing, etc - and anything that releases with missing or bad captions should be seen as unfinished

[booktravelergal]

First Time Manga Read Review: "In the Name of the Mermaid Princess" | Book 1-3 | SPOILERS!

I first came across the book when searching through CrunchyRoll store front, but bought them on sale through Books-a-Million. At the time only three of the books were available to purchase with the next issue being a pre-order, so afraid of waiting I just got the first three to see how much I ended up liking the series.

| Story Basics and Comments |

Reading the small blurb online for it I thought the story was going to be something much different than expected. I can't really describe what was going through my head, but best put something akin the usual fairy-tales I've enjoyed as a child, with a sprinkle more adventure. The setting is the theme of [insert race] vs humans sort of trope, the whole 'we don't like your kind because of reason here' with added magic. Only the non-human races have magic and the humans called them cursed, which sets up the Princess who was born a mermaid kept secret and being forced to take experimental drugs to make her human. Plot is as follows, an outsider comes into her life which convinces her to make rebelling choices against her father; this leading to her needing to flee and travel to her betrothed in belief he accepts her. Some action and all that good romance, not just with the Prince.

Over all, following the story the Princess can get pretty repetitive in her inner/outer dialog and to me it seems very fast pace. Think almost level of Deku from My Hero Academia, when he keeps repeating his reasoning for being a hero even though as an audience we know, after the fifteenth time he's stated it. Having more dialog-less moments wouldn't be bad, especially already know her reasoning we can read into the moment, at least for most moments. The story is moving and there is no time for the character to soak up where she is traveling through, nor really make full relationships with those she meets. Which on one hand is why the dialog for the Princess is like that and the story itself seems shallow, because we don't get to take at least extra time with minimal fluff-fill-moments to learn more of each place she visits. The other downside with this is that the story never really builds onto that complexity this trope would need to feel rounded, so far as of book three at least. The trope for this plot is not a black-n-white one, it's a complex multi layered that requires some world building. Luckily in book two we do see a non-human being as cruel as a human, willing to help capture another non-human for money even almost kill her companion due to being wanted dead-or-alive. The Princess does acknowledge it, but it isn't really touched up on afterwards only then focusing on humans again. Otherwise, the reason behind why humans call non-humans cursed and fear them isn't really explained. It's safe to assume due to being born humanoid beast or the magic, but for it to be this extreme something big had to have happened. So far, nothing has really been hinted towards that kind of historic moment.

| Artwork and Panels |

The artwork is very cute and lovely, anatomy is well handled with effects not over used too much. Panels are also creatively and dynamically used, making a satisfying read as well a great skim through for artist. They are also very easy to -read- panel art wise, following the character's actions and focus without being too confused; including the uses of blacks to whites which balance each page for that readability. There is no fan-service within this manga, serving a good break from many other manga with it inside the artwork. Dialog bubbles aren't covering the art and isn't over bearing, kept short with just enough words needing to be read. The designs aren't super detailed, but there is enough to keep things from looking too plain and boring. There isn't really a use of the 'goofy faces' or 'goofy chibis' exaggerating the expressions, the portrayal of character emotions is solely kept within the design for them and style; so if you've ever felt annoyed of a 'goofy face or chibi' ruining a moment, it won't happen in this manga.

| Ending Words |

For what it is, I do enjoy it so far. I'm a huge fan of these fantasy worlds with unique lore to its story, as well a good romance with some drama and adventure, so its writing being passable I am fine to collect and continue reading. However, I do hope over time it can slow down with the now main group compiled together and do some more world building to grow characters. I do enjoy this sort of trope plot, one such being Frieren and how the demons are written into the story, but do hope for this one it isn't one sided with no reason behind it.

These are just my thoughts and review, I don't mind hearing from others and chatting about the Manga. I just wanted to share my opinion.

Note: Original I tried to post this within the sub-reddit, but I found trying to follow the rules seemed too complicated since it was so specific yet also too vague to follow. So I made a tumblr to post my reviews. Hope you enjoy.

[000life-is-meaningless000]

! Devil & God !

God Has, Heaven a A Few Angel's & Made The Earth, is Omniscient & Omnipresent & is Said to Be Omnipotent ?

But, The Devil Has :

99% of all of the Angel's, Becuz Most Rebelled !

All of Space & Time

The Faery World aka Insectoid. ( Hive World )

All Alien's

All Realm's

All Dimension's

The Entire Multiverse

Air, Earth, Water & Fire <- All Nature Power's

All Divine Power's

All Wealth

Basically, Omniscient

Forgiving <- is Said in Theory ?

is Said to Be Loving ?

is Said to Be Compassionate

is Full of Passion

Has All Soul's Witch is over 100 Trillion Googolplexian Soul's !

Has ALL Demon's on Command & On His Side

Has, The Entire Spirit World

Is All Other Deity's

is The Primordials Deity's aka The Ultra Deity's or Super Deity's

is, The Titan's

is Both Male & Female

and is the enemy of God

Satan Has, EVERYTHING

Yet, God Created Everything ? But it was the Devil ?

You are to Love God But Hate His Creation

? ? ?

God is All Powerful yet Satan is all Powerful

God is Love yet Satan is Love

God Will Forgive YET Satan will Forgive ? ? ?

God Want's you in Heaven, Yet his Omniscient Ass Didn't Know A Perfect Angel Was Going to TURN ON HIM AND START A RIOT & A REBELLION

🤨/😡

The abrahamic faith is fucking Nuts.

. . .

By no way am I saying that spirituality is bullshit I'm just saying the abrahamic faith is absolutely fucking nuts, I'm not saying they are not elements to the store that aren't true but I'm saying that abrahams are are a good example of what Insanity truly looks like.

. . . . . . .

Edit :

I've listened to an amazing amount of Christians Catholic evangelicals Saint avenues actual Jewish people I've actually been through a lot of Muslims I listen to a lot of people my life I listen to an amazing amount of people of the Abraham and faith and I've even read all three other goddamn books and multiple copies and versions of books I've read I've gone to the entirety of the fucking religion and I got to say

This fucking religious God damn nut's.

. . .

It only makes things fucking worse on these people get violent with their religion they don't even give you the chance of the choice to pick something else these motherfuckers hardcore will murder anybody that does not follow their ideology I don't even think that's a fucking religion of that God damn point I just think that's fucking Mass terrorism.

Is one thing to have a spirituality that you're that you're trying to desperate get others to understand and follow and I understand the violence comes out of desperation but when your religion is complete and absolute bullshit and you go around murdering people cuz they don't want to follow your literal bullshit at that point you're a Schizophrenic Terrorist.

Schizophrenic <- I hate this ugly evil disgusting fucking word, I tried to go through a whole bunch of other goddamn words that fight but I couldn't find a single one crazy wouldn't work insane wouldn't have worked I had to find a more pinpoint accurate way to describe something even though the diagnosis schizophren schizo is extremely inaccurate many times and it's been debunked multiple goddamn ways I still have to find a way or language a way to explain things and I didn't want to use it I know how much I was going to fucking hurt, I wasn't trying to hurt, anybody.

Spirituality is a Science and Scientism and won't let you practice that

Extra Edit :

The devil is described to be the primal instinct of a person or anything out there is it to be animalistic entirely, the devil is defined as the ego and God is defined as the spirit.

This makes absolutely no fucking sense, because animals are spirits just extremely under evolved Spirits things develop over time things change over time that's fucking Evolution religion needs a Goddamn embrace fucking evolution.

On top of the fact the devil is ascribed as a trickster in a liar but then going to heat and then going to all the Christians have spoken to and the Catholic and the Muslims and all the intense amount of Jews I spoken to in the extreme differences of each and every different part of the abrahamic faith

By the way I want to let you know and I've been with these people the Jews believe Christians Catholics and Muslims are all fucking demons

Christian's Catholics Saint August and Evangelical Christians believe each other or demons and the Jews are demons and the Muslims are demons

And the Muslims believe the Jews are demons the Christians are demons the Catholics are demons the evangelicals are demons the same amethyst or demons and basically everybody else is a fucking demon

🤨

On top of the fact the devil is described the fucking have every goddamn thing in existence cuz every single time I get talked to a Christian they tell me about the Bible they teach me about their fucking religion I don't want to criticize them I don't want to raise an eyebrows to them I don't want to show them any kind of suspicion as well I just want to act like I give a fuck when I really don't but I want to hear why this is insanity is continuing on.

I'm not a wolf in sheep clothing I'm Seriously & Really tired of this bullshit and and the Extreme Unfairness and not being allowed, to break away !

. . .

And yes I have read through the entire Bible it was a very disgusting book that was trying to be as unbiased and unemotional as possible and refrain to let my emotions persuade me too much and actually just read it as what it is and then judge it I've read the entire Bible I've read the Jew Bible I've read the Muslim bible I've read the Mason Bible I've read all kinds of fucking Bibles in my life and I hate every single fucking one of them

I haven't seen the inside of churches I see the inside of synagogues that's in the inside of seeing Christianity and and the Muslims and the Jews I've seen their entire abrahamic religion inside and out and I fucking hate every fraction of it

And I seen all of Satanism and I think that's unbelievably stupid as well

🤨 - I really wonder what day on the earth will the abrahamic faith completely go extinct like the fucking dinosaurs I really wonder when the fuck the Abraham and faith will truly get erased like snow as we go into winter to summer, just suddenly disappear as an exist nowhere

😡 - and, Then, I wonder what other Shitty goofy fucking full of shit religions going to pop up next ?

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

Warrior Cats: Sinners all

To get the full context to this mini-essay, please watch these videos

Moonkitti's Frecklewish video 1

Moonkitti's Frecklewish video 2

Are Warrior Cats a Cult?

This essay does discuss some very twisted theology (religion), so if you are not in a place to do so, please avoid this. This essay is also not here to dispute the villain status of some of these characters. Simply to ask questions about it.

This recent change of Frecklewish's status in canon started a discussion, one that I feel has been a long time coming.

Who deserves to go to the Dark Forest and who does not is something the books flip flop about, especially since StarClan is far from omnipotent or wise.

I call this the Darkstripe and Hawkfrost problem, where these two cats are tied to a worse bad guy and so are doomed to cat hell. Both cats are not saints, but their actions are not unique among the clans.

To start with, one of the Warrior Code tenets is that a warrior should not kill another cat unless there is an absolute need to do so. Yet, even at the end of the first arc, this rule is ignored.

Why did Firestar kill Scourge and not just wound him and chase him off? Or why did Graystripe kill Darkstripe and not just wounded him? In both cases, the answer is Doylist rather than Watsonian; Scourge and Darkstripe are bad guys. They need to be dealt with and often the easiest way is to kill.

Yet, the Warrior Code is clear; you shouldn't kill if you can help it. Those who kill aren't following the Code in spirit, only in letter.

This behaviour does set up a few precedents for the future arcs and canon. For example, Badgerpaw was a kit and yet he was slain in combat. Not by a rogue, but another warrior from a different clan. Death in battle is seemingly a very common thing in Warriors, despite the Code once more forbidding overusing it.

So why is Hawkfrost killing Firestar worthy of the Dark Forest? Killing the leader of another clan is not forbidden any more than killing in general. In fact, given the leaders have their extra lives, killing them is not technically -actually- killing them.

All of this is pretty lawyerish reasoning, I admit. But it serves to point out that the warriors turn a blind eye to certain StarClan given rules if it is convenient for them. Yet, who gets punished by the narrative has little to do with what rules were broken.

Ashfur might as well be the definition of this unfairness, as he was willing to aid in the murder of his clan leader just because that clan leader was the father of his ex-mate. While Hawkfrost's actions could be considered a method to weaken a rival clan, the only thing Ashfur got from this deal was simply making a clanmate suffer.

He also sets up to murder the Chosen Three, once again out of spite for his ex-mate and no other reason.

Twice now, Ashfur has shown grievous disregard to the code and unlike most who broke the 'no kill' rule, his motives weren't even to make his clan stronger.

Yet, Ashfur gets to join StarClan despite his actions. While Hawkfrost and Darkstripe, both whose motives were at least vaguely in loyalty to their clan/leader, went to the Dark Forest. It isn't even that Hawkfrost and Darkstripe were thrown into cat hell for the heresy of being Tigerstar allies because Ashfur both rejected the StarClan chosen leader AND was willing to murder the Chosen Ones.

That Ashfur eventually became a villain and got his just desserts does not erase that he was accepted into cat heaven without being punished for his actions.

All of this leads to Frecklewish and her fate in the Dark Forest. As we have already established, breaking the Code is not an automatic cat hell. Not only that, but the death of those outside the clan is acceptable. In fact, Appledusk kills two Thunderclan cats at the start of Mapleshade's Vengeance and HE is in Starclan.

Moonkitti does a great job at explaining why Frecklewish could not help the kits nor would she even have been aware that they were in distress. But even if we were to assume she was consciously letting them die, it still is not worthy of the Dark Forest. The kits no longer belong to Thunderclan and so their deaths can be chalked up to the deaths of a rival clan.

Frecklewish is punished not by StarClan, but by the authors. Not only that but she is being punished for far less than Appledusk if she even willingly let the kits die at all.

All of this portrays a faith that not only punishes by petty reasons over actual deeds but punishes inconsistently at best. Blatant heretics and murderers get to stay in heaven, while those who threw their lot with the wrong person or were unpleasant get to rot in hell. See also, the cult video's great breakdown of Squirrelflight's and Leafpool's trial, where things the higher power ordered are in turn used to damn the very cats tasked by the higher power.

Warrior Cats' biggest theological issue is that it tried to have one in the first place. Before we knew about the Dark Forest, the only afterlife we knew was StarClan. It was a neutral place, rather than a heavenly reward. Once the Dark Forest was introduced, however, Warrior Cats' once animistic afterlife instead became nothing more than a poorly executed version of the Christian hell and heaven. This is why most fan rewrites often omit the Dark Forest and instead use the cessation of the soul as a punishment.

In short; the very faith of the Clan Cats is inconsistent and the judgement of the dead is more based on Doylist reasoning than Watsonian ones. This makes for an extremely disturbing faith.

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't part 8: nonhumans

this is easily the geekiest part of the series. and it's a Very geeky series. because sapkowski's worldbuilding is waaay more extensive than i have the time, ability, or desire to convey, i'm sticking with races both sentient and important

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

series masterpost

dopplers

dopplers, also known as vexlings, shifters, mimics, doubles, imitators, or pavrats, are a nonhuman race that can take on the appearance of nearly anyone they encounter

before mass migrations of humans, dopplers primarily inhabited the forests and plateaus around the city of novigrad, where they would transform into wolves and pack animals to hunt

their abilities are pretty impressive, dopplers can not only mimic appearance but also voice, personality, skills, behaviours, and knowledge. dopplers can even turn parts of their bodies into pieces of clothing or other objects

however, there are some limitations

dopplers can't transform into someone/thing with dramatically more mass than they have, are burned by silver, and can't drop anything they created (if they did it would kind of turn into a fleshy goop)

we've already met a doppler in twn, this sexy sexy man

BUT

it is important to note that this doppler is a huge deviation from sapkowski's lore. dopplers are pretty much always exceptionally kind and gentle. a lot of times they use their abilities to appear threatening (big teeth, sharp claws etc) because they really don't want to hurt anyone.

when dopplers aren't mimicking another form, they aren't exactly pretty. they're bald, short, have beady yellow eyes, and kinda look like they're made from soft clay

here's the hexer doppler

the most notable doppler is dudu biberveldt, who i mentioned as the halfling dainty biberveldt's fake cousin. dudu's actual name is tellico lunngrevink letorte, but dainty decided to help dudu live in novigrad by adopting him as his fake cousin.

dragons

dragons are fucking awesome. you know it, i know it, and zerrikanians know it. witcher dragons are especially awesome

they are the only being, other than cats, that can naturally harness and absorb the force of chaos

there are multiple subtypes, but most dragons fall into one of four: black dragons, green dragons, red dragons, and white dragons.

black dragons are the largest, and primarily live in swamps and wetlands where they bathe in mud. they have extremely hard scales and don't breathe fire, but an acid that causes burns similar to those from mustard gas.

green dragons (right there) are the most prominent yet smallest species of dragon, mainly living in forested areas and breathe highly flammable chlorine gas.

red dragons mainly live in hills and mountain caves and can breathe fire hot enough to melt metal

white dragons are one of the rarest species and live in the far north, and can breathe frost

however, if you watched the witcher netflix as i assume you did, you may remember golden dragons. these dragons are so rare and exceptional that they are not usually included with other species. they breathe steam and fire and can shapeshift into any living being

all dragons communicate through telepathy, although golden dragons can speak when they are in the form of a species that can speak

humans are pretty divided on the topic of dragons, with zerrikanians worshiping them and nordlings hating them.

because they are incredibly intelligent and emotional, witchers (generally) refuse to hunt them

borkh three jackdaws, also known as villentrenmerth, is the only golden dragon we know. there he is right there.

ASSASSINS OF KINGS SPOILERS NEXT TWO BULLET POINTS

the other dragon from twn was a green dragon named myrgtabrakke, borkh's mate. their daughter is named saesenthessis, also known as saskia the dragonslayer (an alias she took to explain her extensive knowledge of dragons) and the virgin of aedirn

because saskia is part golden dragon, she can shapeshift, although is much more limited than her father. she can basically only be a human looking woman with blonde hair or a huge dragon.

cut because this part is getting REALLY long

godlings

ah godlings. i love them so much. they're adorable and precious. they usually look somewhat like a human child, but with blue skin and large amber or green eyes. they don't wear much clothes, their focus is in accessories like jewelry, flowers, or tattoos

that's johnny, a holding in wild hunt.

godlings are incredibly rare, and are easily confused with young goblins. they primarily live in swamps near drowners, but aren't afraid of them.

they're quite mischievous but kind hearted, many have happy go lucky personalities and love just having fun. i adore godlings. i've said it once and i'll say it again.

higher vampires

definitely the most important group on this list, higher vampires are incredibly powerful and intelligent. they can shapeshift within certain limits, generally either looking like a human or a large terrifying bat. they also have some telepathic abilities - they can basically make you fall asleep and forget stuff

scary wooo

higher vampires do not need to drink blood to survive. some don't drink blood at all. when they do, it's like a human drinking alcohol. on full moons, groups of higher vampires go out partying and get white girl wasted

although all higher vampires have the same basic abilities, each individual has one skill they are exceptional in.

most find humans harmless but annoying, like mosquitos. they don't really like interacting with humans, which works out pretty well as higher vampires can blend in very well, even a witcher's medallion can't detect one

higher vampires also have three distinct cultures, the tdet in the far east, the ammurun across the great sea, and the gharasham in the northern realms

they are really really hard (or impossible, depending on canon) to kill. based on the books, you basically need to disintegrate them. based on the games, only higher vampires can kill other higher vampires, but humans can get close

we only meet one in the books, emiel regis rohellec terzieff-godefroy. he goes by regis for short. regis was an "alcoholic" in his youth, and has since abstained from blood or any other substance. he's incredibly old, by the end of twn season 1 he'd be 425 years old. as for regis' "special ability", he's just kind. he's an incredibly gentle and loving person. that's it. i love him.

merpeople

probably one you're already familiar with! merpeople are intelligent humanoids that inhabit the great sea. mermaids are notably gorgeous, having green hair and tails, and their scales are prized alchemy ingredients

sapkowski's mermaids can breathe above water, but the sun burns their skin so they don't stay at the surface for very long.

merpeople are incredibly powerful, they can summon krakens and the sea-dragon like race of vodyanoy respect their authority

they use their own language that's quite similar to hen llinge, but more lyrical sounding.

nymphs

nymphs are a humanoid race primarily based around nature. they have 5 subspecies, dryads (including hamadryads), leimoniad, naiad, nereid, and oread.

dryads, called eerie wives by humans and aen woedbeanna by elves, are the most prevalent, primarily living in the brokilon forest. some have human skin with olive undertones, but others are green. they usually have dark brown or green hair which is usually worn in dreadlocks (breaking my promise of not being overtly and annoyingly political in this series yet again - the dryads, especially in the netflix adaptation, are classic magical n*gress stereotypes. but more on that later.)

this is a lore-accurate one that i LOVE

dryads have incredibly strong connections with nature and magic, although it is really rare for a dryad to be a source. dryads are able to draw energy from trees, but rarely do because they don't want to hurt the trees. support dryads and take the bus.

all dryads are women. all of them. they make babies by basically luring men into the forest and doing the adult hokey pokey. also why dryads aren't really a fan of witchers, who don't make the baby butter (i am so sorry)

however, dryads can also turn a girl of another race into one of their own through the use of magic. the water of brokilon has some mutating quality that makes young girls forget their human past and physically turn into dryads, although it is less effective as the girls are older. the dryads tried to do this to ciri, but given that she's a source, nothing happened. generally, this process is done to girls who wander into brokilon, but some dryads will abduct peasants from outside the forest if they need more dryads.

here's twn dryads... yikes

this is where i think the whole racism thing becomes a bit too obvious. "uncivilized" women who live in the forest and have dreadlocks and abduct young girls from "civilized" areas?? in twn they leaned even further into this, having one of the two black women they cast be a dryad and replacing the usual bows and arrows with spears, a less sophisticated weapon. again, this series is about the lore, not the political implications of it, but it is important to keep in mind

dryads are excellent at archery, shooting anyone who comes within 80 metres of the forest. through their connection with nature, they have highly advanced medicine and use glowing fungi as a source of light.

hamadryads are a specific type of dryad that is incredibly connected with her tree. because of this connection they have exceptionally strong magical and healing capabilities, but will also go insane and die if their tree dies.

like merpeople, dryads use a more melodic dialect of hen llinge

leimoniads are a type of nymph that lived exclusively in meadows, but are practically extinct due to wars with humans

naiads, also called rusalki, are nymphs that live in lakes and rivers, although a few live with the dryads in brokilon. naiads are very similar to dryads, although they tend to have very light skin with very dark hair, webbed hands, and can dry out on land

naiads rarely speak common, live in small groups, and have highly developed telepathic abilities

nereids are nymphs that inhabit the great sea, often living closely with merpeople. they usually have blueish skin with either blue or white hair and have some telepathic abilities, though not to the extent of naiads.

oreads are nymphs of the mountains, which, like leimoniads, are nearly extinct due to human conquests.

succubi/incubi

succubi (female) and incubi (male) are creatures which look like incredibly attractive humans but with horns and goat legs. they seduce humans, first in dreams and then physically, using their prey's energy to sustain themselves, often to the point of the human's exhaustion or death

our man eskel has a soft spot for them...

sylvans

sylvans, another race we already met, are exceptionally rare. like, practically extinct. they live mainly in the woodlands of the northern realms and have goat-like faces with yellow eyes, horns, cloven hooves, and tails

my man torque is quite possibly one of the last sylvans on the continent

they are distantly related to elves, and the two races tend to coexist quite well

generally quite mischievous and merry, highly enjoying pranks and parties. they can use simple spells and are mainly herbivores

sylvans live around 100 years and are highly sought after by dryads for their... ahem... reproductive capabilities

unicorns

yep, we got unicorns! i fucking love unicorns and still kinda think they're real. camels are real and those lumpy fuckers are way weirder than a horse with a spike on its head.

anyways

unicorns are highly advanced beings, they can travel between worlds and use telepathy. they don't really like the "less advanced" races, mostly staying around to observe them. they have distinct societies led by a council of elders and tend to avoid evil

these unicorns are badasses

unicorns strongly despise the use of the force but encourage the power of destiny. in the context of pavetta's betrothal feast, a unicorn would not be happy with pavetta's little source hurricane thing, but would encourage geralt to follow the law of surprise

in of the witcher, unicorns are very important because of their world-hopping capabilities. the aen elle, unfortunately, realized this and began enslaving unicorns to help them plunder other worlds. this turned into a massive conflict between the unicorns and elves.

[jaedreaminn]

Queen of Hearts

Summary

In a world where all you were capable of doing was stealing hearts and breaking them, causing chaos and shattering any form of love, giving someone your heart seemed impossible.

You needed hearts to survive so you could only steal and sit on all the love in the world because giving love was your biggest weekness.

But maybe you didn't mind being weak for him. And maybe you let go for just this once. And maybe you forgot that there was always a higher power...

Pairings: Jungwoo x fem!reader

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Manipulation, Supernatural, mythical, sad ending.

Warnings: Death

Word Count: 2.7k

You sat on your throne as you looked out at the chaos you created, Hearts broken and left to burn in the pits of hell you called your existence. Sucking the love out of anything is what you did best and this is what gave you a tiny semblance of joy.

The cool wind swept through your hair as you sat at your balcony looking out at the mess you made, a smile graced your lips.

To anyone else everything was normal but only you knew what you did to turn this neighbourhood of pure happy hearts to something so tainted.

The convince store below your apartment seemed peaceful but only you knew that the owner was having second thoughts about what he thought was a happy 20 year-long marriage. About how he suddenly desired anything but his wife. Of course, after having a taste of you and the possibility that he could have you why would he want to go back to his wife?

You smirked looking at the topmost apartment on the four-story building in front of your apartment, where a girl sat staring at nothing in particular longingly, waiting for her lover to return from the military but you knew he wouldn't return to her, instead he would run away with another man. But the false hope you gave her would lead to the perfect heartbreak once she gets the news.

Your gaze wandered to the ground floor which was mostly empty except for the dead man that lay in that flat for four days now. Killed by his own son who ran away to the military.

On the second floor lived that dead man's ex-wife who was diligently preparing a meal to take up to the fourth floor, cluelessly in love with someone who will never be hers. You were disappointed though, she didn't know her feelings towards the girl, and so she still seemed happy and content treating the girl like her own ‘daughter’

You hated that she was happy but guessed you couldn't have everything.

The third floor was your favourite. The most sinful house among all, with dim lights and loud moans.

He was a young man who had everything but that wasn't enough for him so he tortured his finance until she left him and then found a new target. A much older target.

'The wife of the convince store owner and the psychopath- a disaster in the making' the thought amused you.

You smirked knowing that without your help everything would be normal and not as exciting as it is now. You knew that if not for you introducing people and giving them a little nudge nothing would have happened.

Three knocks at your door put an end to your little session of basking in the glory of your creation. You sighed as you made your way towards your front door.

It was either your next victim who you met at the bar yesterday, the amazon delivery guy with the clothes you ordered or the baine of your existence.

Your door swung open and you came face to face with the cutest,, cheekiest smile ever. Turns out it was the baine of your existence, your neighbour.

"What are you doing here" you scowled.

"Don't pretend to be mad" he spoke letting himself into your apartment, making his way towards your couch. "You absolutely love my presence"

The one person that had so much love to give that even if you steal his heart a thousand times he's never run out of it. And it was impossible to break his heart because it just was so well guarded.

"You’re intruding my own personal time Jungwoo" you frowned.

"All you do is sit on that chair in your balcony and stare outside like an absolute creep," he says rolling his eyes. "Mrs. LaBlanc is quite creeped out by you"

The only reason that old hag was creeped out by you was because she knew that you knew more about her crush on the 4th-floor girl than she did.

"You're quite chummy with Mrs. LaBlanc aren't you?" You said smirking trying your best shot at starting something.

"The only person I get chummy with is the food from McDonalds," Jungwoo said mirroring your smirk and you frowned.

"I'm being serious love if you like her you should take your chances with her," you said seriously, an encouraging smile gracing your face that all your past victims believed as if it was their Holy book.

"What makes you say that “Jungwoo said spacing out slightly, thinking.

Ha! Jackpot. He was seriously thinking about your question now.

"Third person’s point of view hun," you said looking at his brown orbs that didn't seem to notice your stare. "I see what you don't see"

"Your right," he said turning to you, expression serious. "You do see what I don't"

You finally had him. But that was too easy...

"You don't see what I do so you obviously won't know how much I'm NOT attracted to her," he said flashing you his signature smile.

You smiled back. You were used to this now, it was impossible to crack him and you just knew it wasn't going to be easy.

"You pay an awful lot of attention to me," Jungwoo said a sly smirk playing on his face.

"It's because you're my favourite" you winked at him.

"But for someone who’s your favourite you're always trying to set me up with people other than you," he said pointedly. The statement catching you off guard.

Yes, they fell in love with you often, but to them, you were only forbidden fruit. But pretending to date them was harsh and it gave you the most joy but it was the cruellest, you just didn't expect Jungwoo to be one of the victims whose heart you would break yourself.

You smirked "If you wanted a date with me all you had to do was ask" you said, sitting on the arm of the couch as you trailed your fingers up his arm.

"So is that a yes?" He asked hopeful puppy eyes shining.

"Of course" you smiled at him.

This was it, this was the start.

When he said date you honestly expected to be taken to McDonald's.

So you were rather surprised when he took you for a movie with the best seats, followed by a fancy diner.

But his company was fun and he radiates the perfect feeling of love for you to suck up. It would be so fun breaking him.

He was so sweet and innocent and pure.

He 'walked you home' even though you were neighbours and even hesitated before kissing you and sending you home.

It was a lovely feeling and you knew you were going to have the time of your life with this one.

For the victims directly involved with you, you usually had a process that you follow.

It was a three-stage full proof plan.

The first stage- The 'I'm on top of the world with your touch' stage.

It was where you couldn't get enough of each other.

The dates continued and suddenly Jungwoo was always where you were.

And you were always where Jungwoo was.

You two couldn't keep your hands off each other. And as you saw it, you had him right where you wanted him.

"You're warm," you said nuzzling your head against Jungwoo chest. It was a Sunday, the day where the world seemingly slows down and the two of you were on your couch, in each other's arms.

"You're cold" he chuckled. You looked up at him and raised your eyebrow.

"What?! He whined laughing, “That makes you perfect," he said grinning widely, placing a soft kiss on your forehead.

You knew you were cold, it was just people would usually never point that out.

"My body heat being that of a dead corpse makes me perfect" you said sarcastically giving him a forced smile with zero malice "Nice to know"

Jungwoo chuckled, brushing his hands through your soft hair "Yes that way I can cuddle you without it getting too hot for me and you're cold self gets all warmed up by me" he stopped to look at you and smiled "It's perfect"

You smiled at him and leaned forward, capture his lips in yours.

He was smitten by you and that meant stage one was going perfectly.

Things progressed as you wanted it to and you reached stage two- The 'You're dating me right?' stage.

You flirted with guys in front of Jungwoo face and called it being friendly. And slowly one by one made him distance himself from all his female friends.

You were possessive of him but lived your life as if you were single.

He always had to come to get you drunk over your ass, at bars with random guys hands all over you. You were always touchy with everyone and made sure Jungwoo saw you. You openly complimented other guys. But the moment he strays for even a second you pulled on his leash and held onto him.

You didn't let him even talk to girls. Made sure to get extra touchy with him the moment a girl started flirting with him. If he smiled at anyone you'd demand his full attention to be back on you and he gave you the attention you wanted without batting his eyes. Without complaining and with zero resistance, you didn't have to force it out of him, unlike your other victims he just gave it to you.

But that was also a downside, he still stuck with you even though you flirted with other men and we're getting handsy with other men right in front of him and it didn't seem to bother him at all.

And you tried everything in your power to make him jealous, making him feel ugly feelings. To make him want to be demanding but he never blinked once when it came to you trying to rile him up, it almost seemed as if he didn't care but at the same time he did everything he could to show you he cared for you and loved you. And you thrived on the love and affection and heart eyes he gives you and only you.

And he became your obsession.

Stage three was the stage you give him your everything and then just pull away, taking everything away with you.

(Less creative name, you know, but it works)

It was an important stage and you let him believe you loved him.

You took care of him when he was sick, cooked for him, held him close to you. Kept his heart in your tiny cold hands.

You would visit him after work and take him out, help him whenever you could and was just there for him.

This was the stage where you got past the difference in opinion in your relationship but that wasn't hard for you since the only difference in opinion between you two were whether you should eat burgers with tomato sauce or barbecue sauce.

This was the more domestic stage. Where things seemed to be settling down and where it was very easy to fool someone into thinking that this is what love should look like.

You watched him carefully as he sat on the desk in your apartment typing away in his laptop, brows scrunched in concentration and tongue poking out.

"I can't concentrate with you staring at me," he said eyes still glued to his laptop and you felt heat rush to your cheeks.

"I like to stare at what's mine" you replied back immediately and he only smiled.

"I know I can see the heart eyes," he said turning to face you and smiling.

Heart eyes? He was clearly reading more into what you feel for him. Or maybe you've just gotten better at acting.

You looked at the smiling boy and maybe you didn't mind if you held onto him for a long time because while every other victim of yours always wavered in giving you their affection his was constant.

You constantly stole pieces of his heart and it still never decreased in size. It was as if his heart was eternal and you liked that. After all, you were the queen of hearts and what was better than having a forever giving heart?

Maybe you'd keep him after he admits to loving you.

"Heart eyes? Only people who love each other can see those" you joked and he stilled looking at you expectantly.

"You love me?" He asked carefully and you smiled.

Here it was. Here is where you trap him with you forever.

"Don't you love me?" you asked, smiling at him cheekily.

"I asked you first" he pouted. "That means you don't love me so forget it" he sighed going back to whatever work he was doing.

"Ok fine!" you exclaimed loudly to get his attention back onto you "fine," you said more calmly and carefully this time.

If you had to say it first so that he says it back and you can trap his heart with you forever then so be it. It's not like you minded anyway you did love what he was offering you.

"I love you," you said with the sincerest tone, too sincere but it didn't matter as you looked into Jungwoos warm and bright eyes.

And he smiled the biggest smile that you have seen him smile yet and it was directed to you and you felt as if you were floating as he looked back at you with that look on his face.

"Great," he said and your bubble burst and you frowned at the odd response.

He closed his laptop and quickly picked up his belongings.

"What are you doing?" you asked standing up from your seat in confusion, you felt weak at the sudden drain of hearts from your being.

"I'm breaking up with you," he said still smiling but it had a sinister undertone to it.

"What why?" You cried out still confused and feeling weaker by the passing second.

"Cus I don't love you," he said casually "Never have" he shrugged.

"W-what how," you asked making your way towards him "But you're supposed to love me"

"But I don't," he said eyes cold and no more as welcoming and comforting as before. You reached out to hold his hand and your eyes widened and a gasp left your mouth, Jungwoo smirked at your reaction. His hands were cold, ice cold.

He wasn't warm anymore and you retracted your hand away immediately. You felt yourself growing weaker as the seconds passed.

"How can you n-not love me?" You felt yourself shiver.

He just laughed at your question "What you think I'd ever love you?" He pointed at you accusingly "Just because you are the queen of hearts doesn't mean you're invincible" he said smirking and your eyes widened in fear and you fell to the ground, the coldness spreading through you quickly.

He stole every heart you had ever stolen from you. Leaving you empty.

"H-how d-did you k-know?" You managed to get out through chattering teeth, your body slowly growing colder "A-are you the King" white puffs of air surrounded you as you spoke. He couldn't be.

"King?" He laughed the smirk never leaving his lips. He bent down to your level "Don't you think you would have realised if I was the King of hearts?" He said grabbing onto your chin and staring into your dying eyes. Your eyes widened as you struggled to speak and to move away from the man.

How could you have been so stupid? You should have seen the signs- you were always where Jungwoo was more than he was where you were, you were obsessing over him when it should have been the other way round and you admitted to loving him before he admitted to loving you. He tricked you, he made you feel loved only to remind you that you were never going to get a love that lasts because you didn't have a heart and there was no love strong enough in this world that would never fade away, it was meant to always be that way. But you couldn’t help but slip this one time, letting yourself fall in love. He was draining you off all the hearts you had, leaving you lifeless. And the worst part was you let him. You let this happen but yet you couldn't hate yourself for loving him. Even as it slowly killed you.

He let out a soft chuckle. "Not that powerful in front of the Ace of hearts now are you?" he said throwing his coat over his shoulder walking out the front door with all the hearts that once belonged to you as well as the life that once belonged to you as you slowly faded into nothingness.

A/n: So I showed this to my friend and she hated the fact that this has a sad ending so I do have a alternate happy ending for this fic but I'm not sure if I should post it or not?

[sly-merlin]

a little longer | k.dy

Genre :  fluff, doyoung being sappy

@parkjmini requested: sunflower + doyoung ( i can't believe i saved the request for two months 🤍)

Sunflower : longevity, lasting happiness

words : 1k

Summary : after several failed tries of finding a perfect birthday gift for you, doyoung decides to pour his feelings into the paper, sealing his love in a not so conventional way.

a/n : happy birthday my Joyce. I love you so much!❤️you are so sweet and precious🥺i got late due to sudden commitments! but you love me soooo(~￣³￣)~excuse this time.

I apologise to those who are seeing this post for nth time. Tumblr deleted it thrice!

Dear y/n,

Do you remember our first meeting? Hmm you might not. It wasn’t, after all, very pleasant. I was sitting or rather hiding in a secluded corner of the cafe where I couldn't be seen but I knew I was not that well hidden the moment you had found and approached me. Well not me but your coffee cup and sandwich. Your glare had shook me to the core and I must say you had overreacted. Who creates an eye-contact riot at something trivial like an order of coffee? Certainly no one that I knew did! Who knew people were so over-protective over their drinks! After your fuming form had retreated leaving me baffled at your reaction and I had shifted my focus back to the book in hand. I couldn't have wasted the few hours I had to myself on something so insignificant. Only if i knew!

That night, my dreams were painted with the colour of your eyes. Quite amusingly, the sleep that i loved so much had been filled with all the other possible scenarios that could have unfolded, only if my face was naked. Were you a fan? Did you recognise me? Truth be told, I had forgotten your face the next minute you had left the door but why were your eyes so captivating that it urged me to search for you. Of course with the compensatory purpose because initially, it was me who had picked up the wrong order or maybe, I just wanted to see those eyes again.

I went back, again and again for about 2 weeks, at same time, hoping I'd see you there, hoping I'd catch your name being called. Several y/n's had ordered coffee for those two weeks but none was you and then suddenly after those long weeks, right when i was busy drowning my latte with sugar, the bells had chimed and you had entered.

That day, I had tried to register your face in my muddled mind.

That night, I had slept forcing myself to dream of those eyes again. The regret of failing to talk to you had settled down somewhere in the back of my mind and your smile had replaced the jitters of nervousness.

Though three years have passed but the extra receipt of your dear order, stored in the second drawer, never fails to throw me back to the time when the mere thought of your existence was enough to put me to sleep. I hope, if you remember, you also cherish those times just the way I do.

Do you remember the first time we talked? You ought to! That was the most valiant doyoung anybody could have ever witnessed! Good luck had rained upon me that day for I had caught you alone in the same corner of the cafe. You had politely accepted my silent request to keep my presence unknown and that day, I had mutely entered your life. I might be your fan but you aren't more important than my sandwich! The humour haha!

One unexpected meeting had morphed into a spiral of multiple. That one accidental exchange of sugar sweet drink had led to fortuitous trade of contacts and became the highlight of my plain life.  

6 september. Do you remember this date? Maybe you do. That day, for the first time, i had poured all of my unexpressed feelings into three overrated words- i love you. Those words were in no way meaningless for me but I still had failed to recognise the reason for your  overwhelming state and the never ending tears. Until I had heard them from you. It felt odd. Certainly different from how taeyong or others say it. Why did those feel so strange and surprisingly intimate but I was happy, over the moon if you could say!

That day, I had slept peacefully, without a care in the world for mine was already secured in my arms.

You must be wondering why am i repeating everything again like i don't expect you to remember anything at all. For me, those several firsts, those new beginnings were the reason we have travelled so far. And as the clock ticks, my inner voice gets louder with several questions clogging my head and not all of them have responses to ease my worries.

Have I been taking you for granted? I would never dare to answer that by myself.  My job and time had never been kind to us and i can't say if this would ever come to an end but do know that i appreciate you in my life. You are always there at the end of the day and I always find you sitting right where I left. But time scares me y/n. What if one day you pack your frustrations in a suitcase full of your belongings and leave me alone with nothing but memories.

I always have so much to say but I never utter anything. I fear that the range of my voice would end up disrespecting your love for me. The way you express, I could never. Even when I try the hardest, it always falls short of something that I'm not aware of.

I can never love you the way you do and I'm afraid my love would end up being passed as mere infatuation if ever compared to yours.

I know I'm already getting far more than what I deserve and shouldn't be asking for anything but I'll allow myself to be greedy for once. Promise me that you'd never give up on me. Promise me that you'd always be there for me because I can't explain how much I love coming back to you. Let my pace always match yours so I would be able to slip my hand through yours, just the way you love and in return, I promise to make your stay in my life a bit easier.

I love you. Thank you for always staying at the other end of the door. I promise you won’t have to wait too long for me. Thank you for accepting my odd and silent way of loving you.

Thank you for being you. Let me just love you for a little longer.

Today, you are getting a year older. For me, you’d always remain the same y/n i met three years ago. I hope your perception of me won’t change anytime soon.

I’ll be adding this letter in the list of our firsts! I was being lazy so i forgot to buy you a gift this time(or maybe i needed an excuse to write my first love letter). By the time you read this, it’d be afternoon already. I’d be home by 8.

Always loving you.

Your bunny,

doyoung

(p.s do me a favour and please don’t embarrass me by mentioning this letter in the evening)

did i say love you? i love you!

*****************

should i write a reply from y/n?

[talkfantasytome]

Part of my attempt to re-post answers I've given, without the context of specific links to posts based on this feedback and advice.

Anon Asks: I found something that says the map in ACOSF is foreshadowing for E\ain because the compass looks like the Cauldron, there are roses and vines around the map where it could have been something like flames if it was meant to be about Nesta, there are flower petals among the stars (proving Nesta belongs in the Night Court), and Koschei's castle and lake are added to the map.

So, I'm actually going to start off by complimenting the person that came up with that theory. While I disagree with it, it's definitely very interesting and may not be entirely wrong. It's also not a theory that proves E\ain's book would be next, just that E\ain was heavily considered in making the map, which is likely the foundation of the map they'll use for all three of these books.

However, that is A LOT of focus on E\ain. And, I'm sorry, but I can't imagine they would make the map to be all about E\ain when she'll be one main character of six in this set of three novels. Yes, they redid the map, as they redid a number of things for ACOSF. But that map is not solely about E\ain.

I'll explain why I disagree, based on the summary of points:

- The compass: remember the lore Rhys said? That some great goddess created Prythian/their world with the Cauldron. And in Tamlin's house there was, like, a stained glass window or something with a design that looked like the Cauldron was pouring out Prythian...like, the liquid being poured from it created Prythian. The Cauldron is an incredibly important object in their world, and you absolutely should not forget about it, of course. But, like, also, of course there would be a reference to it on the map. It's not solely a direct reference to Nesta and E\ain becoming Fae. It's a reference to the object that supposedly created their world. And, sorry, that takes the cake to two Fae, even two powerful ones like them.

- Roses and Vines: this series is called 'A Court of THORNS and ROSES', which you can find on vines. The maps always had vines on them. What they did when they redid the map was make it a lot more artistic. Let's remember the old map:

This is pretty plan, especially in comparison to the new one. The new one they decided to make more artistic. In the new map, the roses are a reference to the actual name of the series, the book that started it all. And then, you have representations of each court in the map. In the four corners, a symbol for the seasonal courts - interesting that, for Spring, they picked a ROSE specifically...don't tell me that the roses mean E\ain, and then just skip the fact that the Spring Court symbol was a rose when it could have been any flower. And then, in the center of the map, to represent the Solar Courts, you see a moon, a sun, and then at the bottom a sun covered with cloud, that could easily represent Dawn.

To help, here's a large image of the new map. Open it in a new tab, and you should be able to see the full size version:

- Flower petals at the top: those aren't flower petals. 👀 Do what I suggested, open the full image, and zoom it in. You'll see that they aren't flower petals at all. They're faeries. That concept of little, winged creatures that look almost like butterflies. I'm sure you can guess why they'd put faeries there. 🙂 They're not floating down, but flying around the sky.

- Koschei's castle: Cassian and Az literally go to where Koschei is. Of course it gets added to the map. So you know where exactly they were in that scene.

They don't redo maps or make additions to tell us what's to come. In fact, maps typically like to avoid giving us information that we don't get in that book. The old map I shared is the ACOMAF map. The ACOTAR map didn't include the extra detail about Velaris, the Night Court mountains, Court of Nightmares, or the Prison. It also added in the Weaver's Cottage and Adriana. All places Feyre goes to in ACOMAF. And the ACOWAR map added in the Forest House in the Autumn Court - a location Feyre passes through - and the Dawn Court Palace. I'd also note that the Faerie Realms on the continent also become expanded in each map. There's nothing in ACOTAR, ACOMAF adds Vallahan, and ACOWAR adds Montaserre. Because those get mentioned in those books. But, they're not that important.

In conclusion, no, the map is not attempting to foreshadow anything with the additional locations. Those added locations solely tell us the locations that will be prevalent or come into play in this book. The symbolism is clearly very symbolic of Prythian, possibly to remind us that that's the main land, still, since the map is expanding. And this map is not going to be created to focus solely on one character like that. That's making one character, a character that has yet to be an MC or even get solid development, the center of attention.

Again, this a very interesting theory! And I'm not going to say that it's definitely wrong. I'm also very certain E\ain's book will be about Koschei. That's why I'm positive she'll get book 6, because Koschei is going to be the final plot. Sarah wouldn't build him up in book 4 as an overarching thread, then have that plot come to a head in book 5, and then have book 6 be something else. So, yes, that will happen. And maybe the map is trying to tie things together to let us know about that, but it doesn't change which book would be E\ain's.

However, I don't believe the map is foretelling that. I think it's all coincidence that it seems tied to E\ain, which is most likely just because she will have her own book and a very large plot that is also the overarching plot. But, I'm guessing that the map is doing what it always does, telling us what has happened.

The anon also included two other links with posts that are unrelated, but essentially saying or assuming that book 5 will be E\ain's. I'm not going to post those answers again, as I feel like I already have answered them and shared my thoughts and beliefs on that and how E\ain's journey will be a lot more on-page than it has been, which is why I can't imagine she's book 5. 🙂