#but the writer didn't want to be bothered by the rules so made up their own

[tetrapaec]

Reading a vampire fic where the vampire can go out in the sun, can eat human food, sleeps in a bed, drinks donated blood from blood pouches or animal blood and is immortal... WHAT IS THE POINT???? WHERE IS THE FORBIDDEN??? WHERE IS THE DANGER????

[inconspicious-random-thoughts]

Heaven Return

I realized a plot point today that may never happen in canon. But maybe it will give some fanfictions writers a prompt if it hasnt been done. It probably has been but there's way too much fanfic to bother searching.

So, last few moments of the season, Heaven now are forced with the fact that sinners can be redeemed proven by Sir Pentious. Emily heavily emphasized that to Sera that they need to re-review the issue and overrule Sera last ruling in meeting/ 'trial' and make new negotiations about ending the extermination.

Pretty standard obvious legal stuff going on. But here's the plot twist I came up that has nothing to do with anything I previously just mention but is prompted by it.

What if during their negotiations with Charlie and Vaggie in tow, Sera offered Vaggie to return to their folds. Exterminations has been proven to be...barabic and completely wrong. So Vaggie standing against it isn't traitorous as it once was. Sera dismissed them and the meeting with " You don't have to answer now and take some time to think about it." after witnessing Vaggie hesitation.

Vaggie never meant to belong in Hell, Vaggie made right choices in her life and had already earned that place in Heaven. Something Charlie understand and as much it pained Charlie to lose Vaggie, Charlie masked her pain by joyously non stop yapping about how great this is for Vaggie and selflessly try to nudge her to go. "Our hotel works! and you got your redemption too! Isn't that fantastic!" Heaven! Wow!" Charlie was laying it on completely thick to cover her pain. Saying how great this is for Vaggie, the Hotel, and how it will help spread the word."

Vaggie, who didn't want return because it meant, never seeing Charlie again. But Charlie kept interrupting or talking over Vaggie how great this is for Vaggie. Vaggie started to feel like she didn't mean as much as she thought she did with Charlie, and/or she felt pressure to go because it will help further Charlie dream.

Eventually, these two finally have an emotional breakdown (probably by song!) with each other and talk. Charlie: Heaven where you always meant to be! You only down here because you stood up and did the right thing! Now, Heaven sees that and offering your place back. I can't be selfish and ask you to stay...for me. You belong in Heaven."

Vaggie: "Charlie, You don't have to ask. I want to stay...I belong-my heart belongs with you. Heaven to me, is to be by your side working on your dream together."

cue crying and loving embrace and kiss.

That concluded my thought that could been an episode depending if the production team have time. I hope some found it interesting and or intriguing.

[rhaenin-time]

oh no another break from my break because yes i did end up watching the episode.

It's SO bad you guys. To the point that I can see into the writers' room. They didn't even bother to close the drapes!

BUT! must... finish... chapter... and... establish... habit... of continuing to write despite HotD's bad practices because I've come too far...

I swear it's not a sunk cost fallacy. Okay it's a sunk cost but also I DO want to finish because I'm clearly still not ready to settle into original work, I don't want to start a new fic in a different fandom, and also... I do want to finish what will be a ridiculously long fic because I want to. Why is it so hard? Because everytime I put time aside and sit down to it, I start breaking down HotD's writing problems instead because thinking about F&B canon and thinking about where HotD went wrong... is kind of one and the same. Pretty much everything wrong with it can be traced back to deviating from the book.

Ugh, it's just annoying because before I started, I did read up a lot about specifically what kind of fic writing is actually beneficial for practicing original novel writing skills. And one of the big rules is that you need to resist the urge for wish-fulfillment or indulging in head canons with little basis in canon (nothing wrong with those fics they're just not considered a good way to build skills that transfer over to novel writing) and aside from your intentional and well thought out deviations, you're supposed to remain as consistent with the source material's themes, worldbuilding, and characterizations as you can.

Problem is that HotD already broke those rules in their expensive fanfic people keep claiming is canon. Problem is... I too included it as canon. Because I already accounted for the changes season 1 made to Fire & Blood and part of the challenge that actually started off as fun was reconciling those changes and trying to merge them with the source material.

But they've gone too far! And I know it sounds kind of weird and pretentious and self-aggrandizing (I am all those things don't get me wrong) but I'm annoyed that now it might look like it's MY fic that decided to do whatever it wants with canon, especially characterization. Because especially when there's so much bigotry and politics involved, I actually find it kind of distasteful when fic writers intentionally disregard established themes, characterization and worldbuilding in order to indulge in bigoted mindsets and interpretations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing for censorship or anything I just find it distasteful, and bad practice when the writer is unwilling to admit what they're doing and those interpretations find their way into the actual fandom and you get people arguing for them regarding the actual source material. Again, especially when bigotry and bad politics are involved.

Which is also annoying because so many of HotD's unjustified deviations are rooted in the bigoty and bad politics that, again, Fire & Blood actually condemns. And (that part of) this fandom is so annoying as it is. And as weird as it sounds I actually was trying really hard to "lead by example" and be as fair as I could to the greens, because, again, I'm trying to develop good writing practices.

Anyways, I guess this is a Fire & Blood merged with season 1 fic now, and everything will now err on the side of Fire & Blood. Anything established after season 1 is just Corlys's ep 8 - ep 10 fever dream and he wakes up in real canon which errs toward book canon aside from the changes season 1 made that I already accounted for. HotD has not earned the right to call itself its own narrative, so it's part of the greater metanarrative that Fire & Blood is a part of. Maester Condal's volume is simply... a conflicting account that has strong evidence for part 1 that sometimes even overrides Gyldayn's accounts, but he ran out of material and started making shit up and the challenge is in figuring out WHERE. Somewhere in between, the real story lurks...

Feel free to swipe that for your own sanity.

Is it unhinged that I'm claiming that my sometimes crackfic where the key players include Rhaenyra's boobs, Laenor's lube mummy, and Rhaenys's mop dummy is more respectful to Fire & Blood than HBO is? Yes. But is it also true? Also yes. And that's the damning part.

This has been an unedited rant.

Edit:

Wait. Do I take this in a meta direction for my author's notes? Since Aemond is Condal's blatant and uncomfortably telling self-insert... Hmm... You know Aemond’s pretentious study group I made up because I think it's weird that HotD doesn't realize that it's downright impossible for royals to be as isolated as they try to claim? Well, one of the members is named Ryam Condal. And he went on to write a *totally true account. Unfortunately, he was too young and naive to see Aemond for the dweeb he actually is, and also Aemond gave him weird ideas about dragons and Targaryens that he never unlearned.

edit edit

Wait. Should I truly invent a Condal insert named Condal who's slightly younger than Aemond and has a dumb admiration for him and wants to know why he doesn't come to their study group anymore now that Rhaenyra's around to properly educate him?

[theprismyyy]

Honestly, I read on several different platforms, both here on Tumblr, and on Wattpad, ao3 and others... and so, in general, they are all great apps with great stories to read, but there is one thing that bothers me about all of them, mainly and especially on Ao3, and the amount of disgusting content involving serious subjects like incest, rape and others that I won't bother mentioning here; What irritates me most about this is the lack of filter in the app.I'm only saying all this because the following happened, I was simply reading some stories about Gwen Stacy on the said app (ao3) when I came across atrocities like a fanfic whose plot was literally an incestuous relationship between Gwen and her father....man , I just wanted to read some fluffy fluff and not come across unnecessary and unsolicited material, I didn't bother opening this (obviously) and I didn't even want to, I was honestly disgusted... Also, I came across another whose plot idea was even more horrible... I don't know, it all just made me think that maybe these apps need more serious and firm rules and punishments in the face of these things; such serious and criminal topics being written in a sick manner to normalize and entertain more disgusting and sick people is still dark, it's even darker how little we talk about it and how little the developers seem to care, I imagine dealing with demands so big ones must be extremely difficult but we don't even see a movement to deal with these things...IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT'S JUST A CHARACTER, IT DOESN'T MATTER HE OR SHE DOESN'T EXIST, FUCK YOU AND YOUR SICK SHIT THAT USES THIS AS AN "ARGUMENT" TO WRITE CRIMINAL THINGS AND FEED YOUR FANTASIES DISGUSTING!!!! WHAT WE WRITE AND CONSUME SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE TYPE OF PEOPLE WE ARE AND IF YOU CONSUME IT AND DON'T SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS TYPE OF CONTENT THEN PLEASE FUCK YOU

Anyway, this was just me venting because honestly I was extremely uncomfortable, I just wanted to read some nonsense and I had to come across something so sickening.

Edit: Apparently this is necessary as I may not have been as specific on some points and some people don't seem to understand (or don't want to understand)

It wasn't a personal "attack" on the Ao3 platform, I just used it as an example because that's usually where this type of work ends up appearing more.

2. Yes, I know and use the filtering system, Still, I think they are very often very flawed... besides, many of the people who write this type of content use tags that have nothing to do with the plot of the story to achieve greater visibility.

3. Yes... teenagers have sex 😱 wow what an incredible discovery!!! I know a lot of movies, shows, etc. portray this openly, I personally don't feel comfortable writing smut in general and everyone has their own opinion about it, but I understand there are a lot of writers who do this normalization and trivialization of a CRIME!

4. I know that many people use writing as a coping mechanism, but I think it is very unlikely that a person who has been through a situation, such as rape, for example, You'll write about it like it's something sexy or the best experience you've ever had in your life, like a lot of these types of writers do.

5. Yes, one of the joys of writing is that we can explore the deepest, most complex aspects of humanity without directly hurting anyone, and I love that, but we need to take responsibility for that.

6. There was a guy here who literally said that it's because of people like me that you can't have porn on Tumblr anymore...but why would there need to be porn here? Why just not open on an adult site like pornhub or xvideos?

7. I was indirectly called a facist through a Hashtag.... not supporting the normalization of rape, incest, etc. apparently makes me a facist😍

(I really am completely willing to hear opinions and comments, but I will not tolerate disrespect in the comments. That's it and thank you)

[yagirlwrites]

(Not) My Baby (4)

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x Reader

Synopsis: Y/N makes a decision with the help of her friends but Rafe isn't going to like it.

A/N: Not me posting this at 1am on a Thursday lmao! Y'all it's finally here! Part 4! I have been in such a massive slump and had huge writers block for many months. Honestly don't know how I wrote this tbh🤣 That being said I'm not super happy about my writing here but I'm posting it because y'all deserve to get it immediately, you've waited long enough! Hope you enjoy this part! Love you all❤️

Series Masterlist

My work is my own; it's not to be copied, transferred or translated. Reblogs, comments, feedback are always welcome and appreciated❤️

Happy reading! 🥰

(Not) My Baby (Part 4)

"So what are you gonna do?" Y/N sighed at her friend's question. She knew it was wishful thinking that they might finish breakfast before Stella brought up the issue. To be fair to her, she hadn't mentioned it all night and Y/N managed to actually get some sleep because of it.

But now it was time to face the music and deal with her problem. Fuck.

"What are we talking about?" Lena's voice came from the doorway, the girl looking like she had been through the wringer. The girls at the table almost giggled at her messy appearance, given her usual insistance on being put together at all times.

"Well, hello to you too. Couldn't be bothered sending a text that you'd be home late? Again?" Lena blushed at Stella's words, knowing she was right and she had messed up. Yet again.

Since her and Kelce started dating she had become more and more forgetful of their rule - always let each other know where you're staying the night. They had a few rules in their roomate agreement, this one being the most important one. Hell, she invented the rule herself. And yet, here she was, constantly breaking it.

She knew Stella wasn't really mad, but it still made her feel embarrased. How she let a guy distract her like that so often, she didn't understand.

"Yeah... Sorry." She let out a sheepish smile and Stella rolled her eyes, motioning her to join them at the table.

"While you were getting busy with your man, we have been in a crisis!" Lena's eyes widened, slightly concerned, slightly suspicious.

"Expand." Y/N's head met the table and let out a muffled groan. Lena looked at the girl in confusion.

"What happened??" Stella folded her hands, getting ready for a dramatic retelling. Y/N remained face planted on the table while Stella caught Lena up to the latest drama.

Many 'he did whats' and 'oh my god's' later, interrupted by both Stella's and Lena's laughter at the sandwich incident, Lena was finally in the know about the Rafe situation. And boy was she loving it.

"I fucking knew he was into you! I knew it-"

"Can you please not?" Y/N had gotten up from the table and planted herself on the couch mid-story, not wanting to deal with any of it so early in the morning. Or ever. Preferably she would deal with it never. She just wanted to go back to bed and sleep for several weeks. She was exhausted.

Lena and Stella gave eachother knowing looks but said nothing further about it. Instead they plopped down on the couch either side of her and Y/N knew the ordeal was far from over. They wouldn't let her keep ignoring it. Sometimes she hated having friends who knew her too well.

"So what are you gonna do?" This time it was Lena posing the dreaded question.

"I don't know." It was an honest answer. The only one she had. But she knew her friend would not be satisfied with it.

"Well what do you think?" Y/N closed her eyes, trying to mentally prepare for everything that was about to unfold.

"I don't know...." She sounded tired. And Stella felt a pang of hurt on her friend's behalf.

Lena, however was not going to accept that as an aswer. She was a doer, she always thought three moves ahead and prepared for everything. 'I don't know' was not in her vocabulary. Usually that was someting Y/N loved about her, but at this moment she resented it.

"Well lets figure it out." Lena started. "It is a good opportunity."

"I know that." Y/N begrudgingly admited.

"So what's holding you back?" Y/N looked at Lena as if she was stupid for posing the question. Lena was not bothered.

"Don't say it's cause you don't like him because I know that's not really the reason. You're pragmatic, you know this is a good chance to network. So I'll ask again. What's holding you back?"

While Lena was right about her being pragmatic, she just didn't understand how big of a factor her dislike for Rafe was in her dillema. Whereas Lena couldn't fathom why she'd let something silly like that get in the way of a good opportunity to make connections, she felt sick to her stomach at the thought. The mere idea of being on his arm while he flaunted her was making her flushed with anger. She knew she couldn't explain it to her friends though, so she didn't even try.

"I don't know. I just hate the idea of giving him what he wants and seeing his smug face-"

"You're getting something out of it too." Lena, annoyingly pointed out.

"Not as much as him." At Y/N's words, Lena finally grinned.

"There it is." Lena's words made Y/N look at her in confusion.

"What?"

"What's holding you back. You think its an unfair deal. He's getting more out of it than you are." Lena explained.

Y/N's brow furrowed in thought. Stella was quiet the entire time, knowing not to interrupt the two girls when they're debating something. She learned long ago it was a bad idea. It was best to let them figure it out and not get involved.

Y/N realized Lena was right. She was feeling resentment because she felt like she would be giving him a lot more than she'd be getting in return and it made her real mad.

"Yeah... I guess so." Lena nodded.

"Good."

"Good?" Y/N asked, exasperated.

"Yes, good. Now we know the problem. Now we can solve it." Lena said as if it was the simples thing in the world.

"Oh it's that simple?" Y/N's sarcasm was felt but ignored as Lena continued.

"So what do you want?" Y/N looked at her confused, again.

"What do I want?" She repeated.

"So what do you want that he can give you?" Lena asked again. Y/N frowned.

"Yes. He's getting the better end of the deal. So even the odds." She was explaining it as if it was obvious. Y/N didn't think so.

"I don't want anything from him."

"Don't be stubborn." Lena interrupted. "There's always something you can get from someone. It's just a matter of figuring out what you want."

"I don't want anything from him!" Y/N repeated, a bite in her voice.

"Now you're just being childish."

"Let's not get nasty." Stella finally piped up, seeing that this was not going in the right direction.

"How am I being childish?" Y/N bit out.

"You're letting your feelings cloud your judgement. Stop letting your dislike of him lead the converstation." Lena spoke evenly, making sure not to push Y/N further than she had. They could both be stubborn and they knew it. Lena didn't want to fight. She was just trying to help her friend. The problem was she wasn't always the best at showing it.

"Okay, lets take a step back." Stella interjected. Hands up in what she hoped was a calming gesture.

"I think what Lena is trying to say is that you might be holding yourself back from something that could benefit you because you're letting your feelings for Rafe get in the way of seeing the bigger picture."

"I don't have feelings for Rafe." She quipped back.

"You know what I meant, Peach." Stella's use of her nickname softened Y/N's features some. She was realizing Rafe was now causing her to fight with her friends. The thought infuriated her. No way.

Y/N sighed and closed her eyes, trying to clear her head. They were right. When it came to Rafe, he always managed to unhinge her and anger would lead her actions. But she was smarter than that. She wouldn't let him get in the way of her friendships. And she wasn't going to let him being a dick be the reason why she misses on a good opportunity. One that could do her a lot of good in the future.

That's when it hit her.

When she opened her eyes her friends were looking at her with bathed breaths, anxious for her next move.

"There is something." Lena smiled.

"But he'll never go for it." Y/N was doubting herself. It was crazy.

"Babe, he's in a position where he can't refuse you. He's got a lot to gain from this but he also has a hell of a lot more to lose if you say no." Lena reasoned.

"She's right. I'm pretty sure you could get a kindey out of him if you wanted to." Stella joked and the girls laughed.

"That's a bit much, Pumpkin." Stella beamed at her friends words.

"All we're saying is, he won't be able to refuse you. He's desperate. He needs you." Lena explained.

"Okay." The girls grinned, Stella jumping up in excitement.

"So what is it?!" Y/N smirked. Oh it was a good one and he was going to hate it so much. The thought made her giddy.

--------

It had been days since the sandwich shop. Since he poured all his shame out to her and asked her to help him. Since he embarrased himself thoroughly and put his fate in her hands.

It has been days of radio silence. He was getting antsier every second, feeling like he might crawl out of his skin in suspence. Truth was, he had no idea what was going to happen. She really didn't like him and she could refuse to help him so easily, leaving him the deep deep hole he dug for himself. She didn't owe him anything. He wasn't great to her in the past and he regreted it. Had regreted it for a long time. He tried making things up with her for months but she was so unreceptive to his efforts, and then she pushed his buttons and he'd lose himself all over again.

And now he was at her mercy. She could embarrass him by telling the whole world about what he had done. Or she could just ignore him, letting him stew in his misery. Leaving him stranded and giving his father the perfect opportuinity to cut him off for good. Disown him even. He was losing his mind.

It has been days and everyone around him could feel his sour mood. He was twitchy, easily irritable, incapable of focusing on anything and constantly fiddling with his phone. Constantly writing and deleting texts, to what they assumed was the same mystery person.

None of his friends knew what the hell was going on with him but none dared ask, knowing it would most likely end with him shutting them out further. He was moodier than usual, which they didn't think possible.

Kelce and Topper knew the only person who could ever affect him like that was his father. Or Y/N. Both in very different ways, of course, but in simmilar intensity.

His friends never knew what it was that him and Y/N had going on, never understood the odd relationship. They knew they'd get punched if they brought it up though, they learned it the hard way.

His father was a whole other story. They both knew, for the most part, how Ward Cameron treated his son. Having grown up with Rafe, they'd seen enough of their fraught dynamic to understand there were serious issues there. Their friend never confided in them fully though, preferring not to talk about his father at all. But every once in a while he'd get that glazed over look in his eyes, the dark cloud around him palpable. They knew then that something had happened involving his father.

This time was different though. He wasn't depressed, he wasn't angry from an argument with his dad. He also wasn't buzzing with nerves and excitement from a row with Y/N. It was unusal and unnerving and the entire appartment was enveloped in the odd energy.

So when Kelce had insisted he needed a night out Topper agreed. Kelce had demanded he needed to unwind and that after football practice he expected his two best friends to take him out for drinks and help him get his head straight. They agreed, Topper knowing Klece's plans had nothing to do with his own well being - and Rafe because Kelce rarely ever expressed that he was having issues, usually the most chill out of the group. It made him feel too guilty to reject him. Even though he'd rather do anything but go out tonight.

But there he was, waiting for Kelce to finish up his practice so they can go to the bar where he fully intended to excuse himself after an hour. The sun was just beginning to set as he fiddled with his phone in his hands, willing it to do something, snap him out of his misery. The orange and pinkish hues enveloped the sky as he heard someone approach him in the parking lot. He was leaning on his car as he looked behind him and nearly dropped his phone in shock.

There she was. She was standing right in front of him, the last rays of sun casting a halo around her. She took his breath away.

For a moment he stood there gaping at her, not quite able to process that she was actually here after days of no contact, after days of him wishing she'd call or text or even email him, give him anyhing to go by.

She cleared her throat, breaking the awkward silence. He snapped out of his daze and took an unconscious step forward. She eyed him warily. He looked rough. As if he hadn't slept.

A sliver of guilt crossed through her but she quickly crushed that down. This whole situation is his fault and she had every right to take even more time, than just a few days, to get back to him. She reminded herself to keep her head in the game, to not get distracted.

"Hey." She spoke first.

"Hey." He sounded breathy, unsure.

"Can we talk?" He nodded, nervous to what she was there to say. He wasn't sure how she found him but guessed she probably talked to Lena. Lena would know he was waiting for Kelce.

"I've thought about your proposition." He gulped, bracing himself for the worst.

"Yeah?" He wished she would just rip off the band-aid and reject him instead of dragging it out.

"I've realized you'd be getting a lot more out of it than me -"

"What do you want?" He interrupted her, cringing inwardly at the sharp glare he was met with. But he couldn't wait another second.

"For future notice, I want you to not interrupt me again." He almost rolled his eyes, almost.

"Noted. What do you want?" He sounded nervous and she almost smiled. Almost.

She looked to he right, taking her time to apreciate his vehicle, letting him stew for a few more agonizing moments while he waited for her answer.

He looked at her, impatient, ready to jump out of his skin, shake her, fall to his knees, beg her to just say it.

Her eyes met his again and she smiled. It was a beautiful sight, but he quickly realized the smile was one of mischief. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. She glanced back at his car. Then back to him. Then back to the car. Then back to him. She gave him a pointed look, raising her eyebrows.

He looked on in confusion and she rolled her eyes at his ignorance.

"The car." She finally spoke. His heart was hammering in his chest from the suspense.

"Huh?"

She looked back at the car and he followed her eyes finally realizing what it was she was saying.

"No way." He spoke before he could even process his words. She nodded her head.

"Okay." She shrugged, swiflty turned around and started walking away. No look back, no explanation, no chance to barter. Panic rose in his chest.

"Wait!" She stopped in her tracks but didn't bother turning around. His mind was running a thousand miles an hour. This couldn't be what she was asking of him? Surely she wasn't that crazy? Surely she didn't expect him to give her his car.

His car. A black, 1967 Ford Mustang, complete with white stripes. A picture of sleek elegance and power, with the classic leather interior and and an upgraded motor, the rev of which caused goosebumps to rise on his skin every time he turned on the key. His pride and joy. The first thing he ever bought for himself. His father protested, of course he did. He would have preferred a more modern vehicle, something that showed status. Not an old muscle car. But Rafe was adamant and as soon as he turned eighteen and got access to his trust fund, he found Clarence and never looked back.

She was his most trusted companion, which is why it was hitting hard that Y/N wanted to take her from him. Couldn't she have picked anything else?

"You seriously want me to just give you my car?" His voice was incredulous. She turned around and calmly walked back to him, as if she had all the time in the world.

"Of course not. I'm not that cruel. Or crazy." She smirked while he looked at her in confusion. What was she getting at?

"I don't expect you to give it to me. Not forever anyway." He blinked at her, still confused.

"I want free use of your car for... In the name of fairness, let's say I'd get to keep it for as long as this charade lasts." His heart was slowing down some, glad she wasn't insisting on actually taking his car from him.

"So... when was it you told your family we were dating, again?" He gulped, redness on his neck and cheeks visible.

"Three months ago" he almost whispered. Her eye twitched but she forced herself to stay calm. The prick.

"And how long did you tell them we've been together?" He gupled again. This was more and more emabrrassing with every minute.

"Three months." She swallowed down her anger that was rising again at his bullshit.

"So let's say six months backlog... and however long this continues. That's how long I get to keep the car. That sound fair to you?"

He wanted to say no. To argue. To call her crazy and beg her to pick something, anything else. But by the look in her eyes he knew it would be pointless and only serve to further his embarrassement. She was determined. This is what she wants. And he has no choice but to give it to her. He has no fucking choice and she knows it.

"Fine. But-" she interrupts him before he can finish his sentence.

"Gas included." He nearly choked on his saliva at her words. She was pushing him to his limits. She wanted him to pay for her gas too, while she drove his car around flaunting it in his face. The redness on his face was now also from anger. She was enjoying this.

"Fine. Fine!" She smiled.

"But that's it!" He continued. "I agree to this and we have a deal? You'll do it? No second guessing, no going back on it. You'll do it?"

He was looking at her with such desparation it tugged at her heart. This really was important to him.

"Yeah. Yeah I'll do it." She nodded along with her words.

He felt like crying. It was as if a ton of weight was lifted off his shoulders. He was still upset about Clarence. Obviously he was. But mostly he was relieved and happy that he wouldn't have to be embarrassed in front of his family. That she was going to do it. She was going to help him. He wanted to hug her in thanks or yell at her for manipulating him. He wanted to pass out from all the stress - of the situation, of the past few days, of suspence.

"So when's this wedding?" She dreaded asking because if there's anything this situation had taught her is that Rafe always can and will piss her off more than she thought possible. Every single time.

He was nervous again. He sighed and Y/N knew she wasn't going to like the words that came out of his mouth.

"Two weeks." He finally said.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

----

Taglist: if anyone wants to be tagged in future work let me know; @r0und3bitch @lovelornanonymity @mentallynot-here @wishing-i-was-rafes-princess @goldenjo @emeloyy @kanib45 @clinelyn @magnificantmermaid @hey-sunrisee @mannstarkey @harringtonstudios @totallynotkaibiased @popcrone818 @bookaholics-stuff @zzzina7 @fangirlwithlou @namelesssav @rafesxgold @cmac-writes @malfoytargaryen @alinaharlow @mveggieburger @theyluvmesblog @withbeautyandrage @sierrahhh @harrys-humble-housewife @piceous21 @vifuckingp @ditzyballerina @xoxo3m1ly @jessmaybank @whore-4-drewstarkey @palmwinemami @mew227 @dustbunniess @sublimepenguinpeach-blog @starkowswife

[hotd-brainrot]

I think I figured out what personally bothered me sm in this season of HOTD. And it wasn't (only) the fact that it didn't align with F&B.

I feel like the writers forgot, if not completely disregarded almost everything they established in the second part of seasons 1?

I expected Aemond's entire arc of becoming a villian, but not against his own faction? And the thing is, if they truly wanted to go for it, it was doable, but they went way too fast with it and in ways that made no sense? In season 1, yes, we see Aegon bullying Aemond when they were kids, but then during the dinner scene we clearly see they bonded since then and have each others' back. If anyone from the green kids is isolated in that scene, it's Helaena.

In the beginning of s2, they seem to go along with that, have Aegon implicitly trust Aemond, inviting him to his council, not believe Larys when he says it's Aemond plotting with Alicent to rule in his stead. Then there is a brothel scene which is on all accounts awful, but fine. Let's say for a moment Aegon is grieveing and reverts back to his old habits of humiliating Aemond as a way to cope.

Why don't we see more of Aemond's reaction when he is alone? He humiliates him at the council, which makes sense to make them even. Shows he is more in control.

But trying to kill him? And doing so in a way that's clearly pre-planned since he tells Vhagar to wait? It feels like such a jump with no build-up, especially since we have his express regret over killing Lucerys! He shows, Lucerys, who cut out his eye more grace then he does his own brother who we see him support on multiple occasions? What?

And again! If they really wanted to go with this route, why not show Aegon taunting him and embarrassing him on more occasions? Show Aegon distrusts him or undermining him? It would have been so easy.

Also. If they truly wanted to go for "oh, Aemond burned his bully and abuser" then why tf did they have Helaena suddenly defend Aegon? She says he ignores her except for when he is drunk. We get exactly one scene of them together (I am not counting them passing each other on the stairs bc that was...something) where they disagree on if Jaehaerys should go to a small council or not. Despite the fact they lose a child, we don't see them interact at all, and I am supposed to think Helaena is meant to care for him enough to wish death upon Aemond because he burned him? From what they have showed us, I didn't get the feeling Helaena particularly cared for either of her brothers.

Perhaps she does, but we are never shown this??? Like, at all?? Insanity.

But so we don't say I only talk about the Greens, I think the Blacks have a similar issue? Rhaenyra is the only one we see(kind of) care for her family. What about Daemon? Baela? Rhaena?

Listen, I am not saying Daemon, similarly to Aemond is a great person, but I genuinely despise how they made his whole character about Rhaenyra? Did they forget he has two daughters from his marriage to Laena and two sons with Rhaenyra? The only interaction he has with Baela is in episode two and he ignores her!

Rhaenyra sends Rhaena away without a word from Daemon. Rhaena doesn't even bring him up! It's not even "What did my father say to this idea?" Type of situation. Hello??

Even if they wanted to go with "Daemon is a bad father" we see him face pretty much no consequences for it? He hallucinates Laena asking him if he took care of their girls before it's swept up under a rug again. Baela says she sometimes thinks she hates him, but then it turns into another conversation about Jace's parentage.

I also have no idea how we are meant to care for Aegon iii and Viserys later on bc they are A) aged down and B) so irrelevant and unnmentioned I almost forgot they were there at all while making this post.

I could write another essay on Alicent and Rhaenyra but I feel like there have been much better posts on them already but just...what is going on??

Did the writers forget the core of the story was meant to be Targaryen family? Fucked up family, yes, absolutely, but the point was that the war of ravens started because they all wished for power, but the war of fire and blood started because they started killing each other. If they don't care for one another, if they are not family, what IS the point? Why do they keep fighting? For power and revenge? No, no, for feminism and peace!

Give me a break. Genuinely. It's not even about it being inaccurate to the book anymore, it's about the characters losing their central motivations and only letting the plot happen to them, instead of being actuve participants. That's why everyone loved side characters more than main ones! At least they are making active choices!

[sophiaforevs]

Between the early cancellation of Discovery, Seven/Raffi and Mariner/Jenn being erased in their respective shows, and SNW having queer coded characters but not confirming anything on screen, I'm really afraid that we're entering another "No Gays in Trek" era.

For those who don't know, 90s era star trek featured so few queer characters b/c Rick Berman largely held a policy of not wanting any homosexuality in his shows. And yes, we all remember the handful of episodes that slipped through that addressed it but the fact remains that there were no canonically queer main cast members before Into Darkness in 2016 gave us a five second shot that could be cut when whoever was showing the movie found the idea of two men in a loving relationship disgusting.

Then we got Discovery with multiple queer characters that allowed people to feel seen. And people never stopped bitching about them. The amount of times that I've had to listen to people complain that Adira's only character trait is that they're non-binary despite that literally being a single thirty second scene and never brought up again makes me understand that they very likely don't want to like the queer characters in that show. And it's not that there aren't criticisms to be made about the queer representation in Disco: Discovery Buries it's Gays before the end of the first season. Making your trans characters aliens who already have a history of gender fuckery is problematic b/c it somewhat plays into the idea that queerness is unnatural for human beings. But I never hear those complaints. Only the pronouns. Only the "We get it you're gay but don't shove it down our throats." But I don't want to get too off topic.

Now Discovery is being canceled early. And by early I mean, the writers weren't given proper notice that their show was ending. They were halfway through production and allowed to adjust the end episodes of the season to try to give a satisfying ending.

In Picard and Lower Decks, we got two sapphic relationships ("sapphic" meaning a romantic or sexual relationship between two women who aren't necessarily strictly lesbians) and they were pretty good. People had been asking for Seven to be queer and Jeri Ryan had been playing her as such since her introduction (see again: Rick Berman) and to see her finally get to express that was really healing. Mariner got off to rocky feet when the creators tried to pull a "Dumbledore is gay" where they said she was bi but didn't commit to it, but they she actually got a fairly satisfying relationship in season 3.

But in their most recent seasons, both were completely written out. Seven/Raffi gave us no explanation beyond that they "broke up." They went out of their way to keep them from being on screen together for most of the season. Mattis said in a Reddit AMA that he wanted Seven to be captain and Raffi to be first officer at the end of the season and that Starfleet would have regulations against relationships between the two despite the biggest reason Seven was promoted to captain was that she was a rule breaker. We didn't even get that much for Mariner/Jennifer. Jenn just wasn't in this season except for two background appearances.

And in Strange New Worlds there's just… nothing. SNW is the most recent new show and there's no queer representation. They code Ortegas as gay but don't actually confirm it on screen. There's just… nothing.

And this is how you loose the culture war. The bigots make enough noise that the show that is supposed to be a beacon of diversity doesn't necessarily side with them but they just kinda bow out of the conversation. They decide that it's easier to not bother than to take a stand. And so I and many many queer star trek fans are left wondering:

Does the franchise even want us any more?

[brw]

ororo for the ask game!

one aspect about them i love: I always have appreciated how much writers do to make sure you know that even without her powers, she's dangerous and a force to be reckoned with. That issue in the Greg Pak run when she's depowered and uses her physical prowess and smarts to escape and save the day.... peak.

one aspect i wish more people understood about them: Too many people want Storm to be their mouthpiece I think? Part of it I think is the culture of "Storm is perfect and can do no wrong", so when Storm says or does something that they don't personally agree with, they act like it's a failing of the writers that they didn't adequately make her feel the way they feel, and not a point of characterisation? I might be thinking this because of the backlash I've seen to the issues of Storm that have come out already, but Storm is allowed to be depicted as having opinions and politics that are not yours, and that doesn't necessarily mean that their the writers either? Or the editors? I dunno, people hold her and her series to such crazy standards rn. It bothers me......

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character: I see punk!Storm being a stone. I think being physically disconnected from the elements in that way and the trauma from it made it difficult recieving physical affection and intimacy that way in that point in time....... but these days when she loses access to her powers she has learned to deal with that separation more and can reach out to her loved ones for support more easily.

one character i love seeing them interact with: Sue Storm for sure, they were very fun in the Dwayne McDuffie run... I miss that vibe. I also love the complicated exes vibe she has with T'Challa and Forge... because if I lost Storm I would not be fucking normal about it either. Are those relationships healthy? Not really, but I love drama.

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more: That one issue of Black Panther where Monica uses her powers to juice up Storm.... that issue ruled. There's also an issue from the Infinity Crusade where she and Wonder Man team up and they did that for me specifically I think.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character: I think she has modelled for Janet upon occasion... fuck House of M but those panels of Janet helping her pick out a dress do live in my mind. Now that she's on the Avengers she needs a different catty fabuolous fashionista in her life and Janet is ready to fill that role..........

[sweetshelluvaau]

World/Lore Building - Overlords

The first half of my of my Part 2 of the Seven Rings (p2 focusing on Pride) is basically about finish but before I clean and finish it up, I want to focus on the Overlords being my Pride post talks about them for a bit so I wanted to make a deeper dive on how they work in my rewrite/AU.

Putting under the cut being this will be a bit long.

Okay to reblog, feedback and criticism is welcomed.

Part One: How they work in Canon (or the exploration of why worldbuilding is a big deal and something you need to consider and not just throw shit at the wall and hoping it sticks)

Sorry I have to be a bit of a snarky shit.

So, I do have questions on how Overlords as a whole work in Hellaverse because it isn't really fully explained what they are outside of being 'sinners with power'. I'm assuming they are the ones that are the real leadership over Pride considering how Lucifer and Charlie don't really do anything in regard to running the ring? idk?

Why are Overlords as powerful as they are? Why do they have powers, let alone power in general? How did they gain those powers? Granted, a lot of this also has to do my feelings in regard how Sinners are so high up the caste ladder to begin with to even out ranking Hellborns but but I do think these questions like these matter regardless how big or small they are.

I think we take worldbuilding for granted sometimes being this blog really made me rethink how important it is for your story's universe is to have rules on how things work and why they work the way they do. I'm not asking for the story to stop every second and give us a long exposition lore dump before moving on, visual storytelling is a great way of exploring the world the characters are in and just small details can leave just as much of a big impact of portraying what a story is trying to say about it's surroundings. Hazbin is the kind of show that really needs to take time to breath and not speed run everything suppose to letting us the audience take it all in. Honestly, Hellaverse in general really could have benefit from having a story/lore bible before production ever began suppose to just throwing things at the wall because everything is a mess.

Sorry, I went on a tangent here, but these things do bother me not just as a writer but as a viewer as well but I digress.

Anyways, enough of me ranting, lets dive into my rewrite:

Part Two: So, Overlords huh?

I didn't know what to name this section lol

I kinda talked about this here that I decided that Overlords are both Sinners and Hellborns in my AU and are more close to gang leaders/business owners that gained influence though backstabbing/manipulation/killing their competition and raising though the ranks but they also gain power due to various activities in trust and talent as well. Basically: Anyone can become an Overlord if they have the influence and resources to do so! Even an Imp or Hellhound, even though rare.

Sinners also can't use magic (Alastor being an outlier) in a way most Hellborn could, and not all Hellborn can cast it either (They mostly use it though artifacts such as a Transversal Crystal or Stolas' grimoire just for examples). This makes it a bit more tricky for Sinners to rise up the ladder in power putting aside them already being the lowest caste in hell. They'd have to work up a lot of connections and good will from their Hellborn counterparts which can be hard due to not all Hellborn Overlords look kindly on Sinners. And that's on top of the whole gaining influence in general thing.

Overlords are in almost every ring of Hell but Sinner Overlords are often exclusive to Pride, but there are some cases where a Sinner could make it big in another ring such as Greed or Sloth. There's also the case of the Lust Ring where Overlords kinda play an ambassador role representing Sinners taking matters to Lust's leadership but that's a topic for another day.

Overlords are often more seen in the Rings that more 'lax' in rules/leadership, Pride obviously due to it's title of 'The Wild West of Hell' but they are also big in Greed, Sloth and Wrath. There's a few in Gluttony and Envy as well with Lust being a bit of an outlier in regard to handling Overlords being for the most part they're 'regulated' to the point they're completely a different thing despite still carrying the name (see above).

Part Three: Blood Pacts

This may be a me thing, but I'm not a fan of the fact that Overlords in the show can own souls and the 'contract' thing. Granted this has to do with the sinner issue I already addressed with Hellaverse along with the worldbuilding deal I also mentioned. I'm not gonna repeat myself being I said my piece in part one.

In my AU, Overlords cannot create/form Soul Contacts. Only The Sins and a few powerful demons can own someone's soul physically however Overlords do have an equivalent to them. Enter Blood Pacts!

How they work: Basically, they collect a drop of blood from the person giving up their 'soul' to them and put it into a glass vial lanced with magic that bounds the soul to the owner. Overlords often do this in both a power sense and a way for the soul to pay their 'debts'. Ordinally Blood Pacts were pitched as a way for (un)fortunate souls who in some shape or form got into whatever fucked up thing they landed themselves into that they may need help getting out of or they ended up wronging an Overlord in some way that they choose to make it up to them by working under them for as long as is required (this could be for a good few decades to basically a long time where you might as well say that they own them forever unless one of them kicks the bucket) of them before being set free. Some more 'honest' Overlords do obliged to this once their debts are fulfilled and even fewer don't engage in practice, but most of the time they never let go of there power over there victim and some make it mandatory if you choose to just work under them just because you needed a job so you can never leave (popular tactic used by the Vees).

Because these glass vials are fragile and could easily be broken if one isn't careful or if there victim gets any ideas of choosing to free themselves, these vials are kept in a safe place that only Overlords are given access too. Basically, it's a huge vault, a 'blood' bank if you will where these are sorted and carefully handled so no one can tamper with them and their 'ownership' of their souls are safe. These vaults are secretive, even to Overlords who aren't so high up in the food chain.

Part Four: Notable Overlords

I'm only going to do an overview of some of the overlords here that will or may play a role in my AU/Rewrite being I don't want to go into full descriptions right now. Whenever I get to redesign these characters or just want to talk more about them is when I'll go in more deeper details.

Zestial:

Zestial One of the oldest, if NOT the oldest Hellborn Overlords still alive in this day and age and rumored he's been around before Lucifer's Fall and what Hell is today. Zestial controls The Old Town Historic District (you'll learn about it in my Pride Ring post) and is the creator of the the 'Blood Pacts'. He's basically the same in the show personality wise but Hellborn suppose to a sinner.

The Vees:

The Vee's (all sinners) are the Overlords that run The Red Light district, along with various business and ventures regardless if you have a say in it or not. They're basically the same in the show expect Val is taken more seriously and Velvet has nothing to do with fashion in my AU. She works closely with Vox with fueling the Social Media side of Voxtec and feeding the propaganda machine though the media via mind control thing that Vox has going with him, but Velvet is a popular online influencer in her own right. She's also the youngest Overlord, dying in the 2010's.

Carmilla Carmine:

Carmilla Carmine (sinner) is basically the same character in the show personality wise. She doesn't own a district but is a big player in smuggling, producing and experimenting with angelic weapons. Her engineering and weapon production quality is second to none which alone has gartered her infamously and influence.

Crimson:

A small time Hellborn Overlord from the Greed Ring, as well as Moxxie's father figure (not biological father. I plan on going though Moxxie's backstory once I get his re-redesgin done) who 'inherited' and owns a successful sinner smuggling operation along with plenty of other completely legit businesses you guys in Greed and some influence in Pride as well. I'll talk more about my take on Crismon in my AU another day.

Alastor:

Ah yes, the tumblr sexy man edgelord Radio Demon we all know and love (???). I'm still working on the direction I want to take with his character but he's one of the few Sinner Overlords that has powers (not Voodeo. They're more Lovecraftian in nature and the symbols he uses are radio ones) that he may or may have not made a deal with a demon when still alive that came with him into the after life for some reason. Alastor hosts his radio show at his station in Uptown (where the Happy Hotel also is) every morning (along with the screams of the lives and souls he's taken ya know for shits and giggles). For most, he's an enigma and no one knows what his true goals and where his alliances lie. Even Charlie doesn't understand why he's so invested in helping the hotel if he's not the slightest bit of interested in redeeming himself despite accepting his help. But regardless who you are, what walk of life you're from, hellborn or sinner; he's feared by all.

Anyways, I'm gonna wrap up this post here. Next one will be my Pride Ring post which the first part is basically about done just need to do some last second editing! Likely will post it up Friday...

[megamindsecretlair]

Be My Little Darling - Chapter 3

Chapter 2 Chapter 4

Pairing: Loki x Black!Fem!reader / Plus Size reader

Warnings: 18+. Minors DNI. You are in charge of your own reading experience. There's cursing. Toxic Loki. Established relationship.

Summary: Loki is the exclusive owner of the hottest club in New Asgard. Dubbed the Nine Realms, each of the nine rooms represent a different realm. You are his second in command, working the floors and ensuring everyone is having fun. You get an important call while Loki realizes some harsh truths.

Word Count: 1,968k

Masterlist

A/N: I didn't realize it had been so long since I last updated and I apologize. I had to step back and see where I wanted to go with this. Decided to make Loki toxic. Whew. But I have roughly 23 chapters in total plotted out. Not every chapter will include Loki's POV. Likes are always awesome. Please consider commenting and reblogging to help support writers!

Taglist: @theeblackmedusa @braverthanthenewworld @cantstayawaycani @crochetandloki @monaeesstuff @xorpsbane @headcannonxgalore

“Fix him, princesa!” Honey stormed into the employee break room where you were trying to enjoy your coffee. The steaming mug had a rich, inviting aroma and you blew on it as you looked up.

Honey was assigned to the Nidavellir room, known for the tall, sexy, and strong women. Honey was no exception, with rich sandy brown skin and long black hair. Her muscled arms could crush a watermelon in under a minute.

There were other waitresses and actors in the break room and they smirked in your direction. 

You held up your coffee cup. “You know the rule, Honey,” you said. You took a sip. Under no circumstances was someone allowed to bother you while you had your coffee. No one. You didn’t care if the place burned down around you. This was your time.

Honey scoffed and approached you and crossed her arms. “You’d think that mother-...man would care that I almost fell through the stage. He shooed me away. Shooed. Do you know I could crush him under my stiletto and not think twice?” 

You smirked. You’d pay good money to see that particular fight. Loki wouldn’t stand a chance against Honey. 

“Wait, what’s this about a stage?” You asked.

Honey huffed and straightened her large belt. “I was doing my routine when my foot went through the stage, like it was made of butter or some shit. I get free and step down again, and nothing. Like the shit solidified again. So I’m thinkin’ that I’m just trippin’, you know? But it keeps happening. Only it won’t happen for anyone else who tries. I’m not going crazy,” Honey explains.

“No one’s saying you are. You’re sure your foot went through the stage? Like you didn’t just hit the maintenance door?” You asked.

Honey’s face dropped into a scowl. “I know the difference between the stage and the fuckin’ maintenance door!” 

You widened your eyes at Honey as you sipped your coffee. The sweet burn coated your tongue and you nearly felt like a brand new person.

Honey closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I know the difference between the stage and the maintenance door. My foot went through the actual stage. It was not a rough patch, not a hole, not anything.” 

You nodded and sighed. Crap. Something else on your to do list. You needed an assistant or something. Loki continued to pile more shit on. It was like he was transferring all of his duties to you. And it pissed you off every time he did it.

“I’ll talk to him, Honey,” you said.

“He has been in such a foul mood lately. More than usual,” Honey said and walked over to a table with two other actresses. They nodded their heads and echoed her words. “Must be that time of the month,” one of them said.

Everyone laughed and you bit back yours. “If Darling would take one for the team…” Honey said. She hi-fived one of the actresses.

“Alright, you nasties. It’s not like that,” you said.

“Sheeeit,” Sweetie said and laughed. Most people in the room laughed and stared at you. 

“Oh fuck off, all of you,” you said and shook your head. 

“You could start a fire by the way that man looks at you,” Sweetie said and grabbed a napkin from the counter.

“Like a dog with his favorite bone,” Honey chimed in. 

“Shut up!” You threw a balled up napkin at Honey for getting everyone riled up.

“We just callin’ it like we see it, princesa. For all of our sake, fix him!” 

You shook your head. As you walked out, you held up your middle finger. The people in the room catcalled you, whistled, and made kissy noises.

“She gonna talk to him alright,” Sweetie said and got the room laughing again. 

You wanted to discourage them, but that’d only make them worse. As long as they were getting along, you didn’t care that it was at your expense. You had enough issues with some of the waitstaff getting into it.

It was like managing a hormonal, horny zoo where people couldn’t keep their hands off of each other at work. It was always some HR nightmare because a girl was sleeping with two other girls and now they were all pissed at each other. Or some guy was fuckin’ a waitress who bragged to the others only to discover that he was running through all of them.

You sipped your coffee as you thought of ways to cut that shit out. They were all adults and there was a whole country of new people to fuck. Why, why was it always where you worked? 

Yes, you realized the irony. You only wished you could find the same relief. You drank more of your coffee as you headed to Loki’s office intending to discuss your rising responsibilities and the stage collapsing. Your phone buzzed. You looked at your watch and noticed that it was your neighbor, Jodie. 

You didn’t want to answer, but you relied on her investigative skills for information about your family. You stopped in a quiet part of the hallway. The further back into the club you went, the more you hit the supply rooms and offices. There were less customers and more employees and they all scattered about attending to their duties.

“Hey Jodie,” you answered your phone.

“Hey babe. Your siblings are okay. Your brother left about an hour ago with that little friend of his.”

You rolled your eyes. Your brother's friends were wannabe gangsters that thought they were so bad for stealing gum from the corner store and taking over a basketball hoop at the park. 

“That boy, I swear…”

“I know. Anyway, I was at the library this morning looking through newspapers from other parts of the country. There’s an article on lost refugees from Asgard at a hospital a few miles from here. They’ve been unclaimed so far, having lost their memory from…you know.” 

Yeah, getting pulverized by a giant purple grape was traumatic enough to scar anyone. Cautiously, hope bubbled in your stomach. You knew it was probably nothing, but you needed to find your family. 

“Send me the address, I’ll go right now.” You turned tail and headed back to the break room to dump your coffee. The remaining employees in the room gave you questioning looks but you ignored them all. As Jodie rattled off more information, you grabbed your keys and headed out of the club.

Loki stretched his neck as numbers swam in front of his vision. He wasn’t built for sitting behind a desk doing things like this. But his accountant had a few things for Loki to sign and he wasn’t going to do it without understanding it first.

Still, his mind wandered to you. To what you were doing, what you were saying. He wondered if you had that adorable scrunch on your face yet. Or that sexy scowl. His dick twitched. He hadn’t heard from you yet today and you were past overdue. 

Maybe sending Honey to you hadn’t riled you up yet. He checked his phone. Even after nearly five years, he hadn’t gotten used to having one. Humans were a funny lot, but at least they were masters of distraction.

Honey was a hot head. Surely, she would have found you by now. Loki scowled. Fine, he’d go looking himself. 

He stood up and rolled his neck as he casted an illusion of a random woman over himself. He tucked his dark hair behind his ear and headed out of the door. 

He’d done this plenty of times. He’d don an illusion, step into someone else’s skin for a while and go about his club to see it with fresh eyes. To make sure his customers were comfortable. They’d tell a complete stranger what they really thought of the place before they told the man that owned it.

He stalked through the halls, looking at his employees laughing and gossiping instead of working. It was the afternoon so the place was quiet. Still. Loki made a mental note to tell you about it later. 

He walked from room to room, scanning the area for any sign of you. He searched for the way you tilted your head. To the way that your smirk was both standoffish and seductive. He craned his neck for any sound of your laughter.

By the time he reached the 8th room, Loki felt his temper flare. Where the hell were you? And why weren’t you running his club? 

Loki stood in the entrance to the Nidavellir room. Statuesque men and women and those in between worked the room. Soft metal floated through the room as it appeared another set just finished. Loki’s eyes found Honey. She was near the stage, demonstrating crushing a lemon in her palm.

Loki dropped the illusion and approached Honey, his temper in full effect. His nostrils flared. 

“Where is Darling?” Loki demanded.

Honey pursed her lips and looked Honey up and down. “Hello to you too, rude mo-”

Loki laughed. “Care to finish?” 

Honey rolled her eyes. “Last time I saw Darling, she was on her way to talk to you. Did she? Are you gonna take a look at the stage now?” 

Loki scowled. He turned and walked off with Honey’s voice calling after him. 

Loki rubbed the palm of his hands. He was furious. Where were you? You wouldn’t just leave without saying something. Were you kidnapped? 

His scowl deepened. It would be just like you to get kidnapped in broad daylight and not say anything. To not call for help or alert anyone. You were so damned stubborn, it was annoying. 

What if something happened to you? Once he found you and he ruined whoever dared to lay a finger on you, he was going to teach you some manners. And self-preservation. This wouldn’t stand. Not in the slightest bit.

He approached the employee break room to the sound of laughter. You better be here.

Loki entered and scanned the room. It fell into silence as the waiters and actors stopped what they were doing and looked at Loki as if waiting for him to do something. To yell or scream or throw a fit.

But calm rage stayed his hand and softened his voice. “Where is Darling?” He asked. 

At first no one spoke, before a mousy, waif-thin girl raised her hand. “I…saw her dump her coffee and leave in a hurry?” 

Loki stared her down. You would never throw out a cup of coffee. The bean water practically replaced your blood at this point. The more Loki stared, the more the girl shrunk in on herself. 

“What do you mean left in a hurry?” And why the hell didn’t you come see him? He was denied the chance to needle you and it was getting under his skin more than he cared to admit.

The girl looked at Loki. A waitress next to her elbowed her and the mousy girl squeaked. “She didn’t say anything. She just sped-walked out of here,” she said.

Loki clenched his jaw. You were in big trouble when he found you. Leaving without permission? And you left under your own steam so you weren’t kidnapped. Meeting a lover?

He realized with a start that he didn’t know anything about your home life. He never cared. But now it was biting him in the ass. If some other man had his filthy paws on you, Loki wouldn’t stop until the man’s entire family was eviscerated. 

Loki left the break room with a disgusted huff. Maybe your file had more clues about where you went. He pulled out his phone and called you. You didn’t answer. The phone rang and rang and rang.

Masterlist | Chapter 2 | Chapter 4

[thecheshireninja]

um, so what is up with the temple of silence?

After just finishing Cyno's second story quest, I have mixed feelings. And because he's my favorite and I'd been waiting for that story quest for ages, I might as well rant a bit... (Warning: disorganized thoughts to follow.)

The whole "reawakening Hermanubis" thing did not quite sit right with me. I understand their motives for doing so, but the story at no point tries to justify how they did it. They themselves called it an experiment. On human children. *scratches head* I dunno, it all just seems lowkey unethical to me. Especially since they admitted adults could not withstand the power, which means... people might have died? (They didn't find it necessary to clarify.)

Even though they did succeed, the ends definitely don't justify the means because Cyrus then ran off, ruining everything. Which, can I just say, GOOD ON YOU, Cyrus, taking a child away from a human experiment where he could grow up with at least a semblance of normal life. But why did the man feel so guilty about it?? The emotional betrayal I understand, but he--and everyone else in this quest--made it sound as if he was fully in the moral wrong.

Perhaps we can give the Temple the benefit of the doubt and say the adults who could not withstand the Ba fragments willingly gave themselves up to the experiment. But Sethos and Cyno were children. I don't think they had much choice. I especially don't think Cyno had much choice given that he was sold by his own parents for this purpose.

Yet upon learning this no one so much as batted an eye. Cyno, the General Mahamatra, who goes on long and heavy about the principles of justice he dedicates his life to upholding... Genshin, what are these inconsistencies?? Drawn all the sharper when you think about the next major story quest they released after this one--Arlecchino's, which also features the subject of human experimentation on children? Now obviously Dottore is on another level because the mental and physical trauma his research inflicted are undeniable where Cyno and Sethos turned out all right, but you know. I'm just seeing some uncomfortable parallels here, is all.

In the end, I think it's because the writers chose not to address any possible consequences for Bamoun's work. Maybe something like "he didn't end up harming anyone in the long run anyway so he can get a pass, unlike Dottore." Cyno survived the discomforts he endured after absorbing the fragment, after all, and now he's doing just fine. Sethos finally gets the freedom to find meaning for his life outside the burden that was pushed upon him as a child (and yes. Yes, I know this is meant to be an allegory, or at least can be construed as such, but I dearly wish they had used a different method to convey it). And let's assume the people who couldn't withstand the Ba fragments either survived or, if they did die, sacrificed themselves willingly. Either Bamoun was making a lot of optimistic predictions that paid off in the end, as was alluded to in the story, or the writers just couldn't be bothered to dive into the potential side-effects of these major revelations.

Cyno is written as a strong-willed, confident, and mature character. It's fair that the writers wouldn't want to give him an existential crisis at his age (he's clearly older than the type who usually do--barring the immortal not-quite-humans who never age out of existential crises). It's not that we don't get to talk about trauma that I mind, so much as we don't get to see him express his moral opinion on things. Almost every time we've come close, he only talks about the rules of the Akademiya. It would have been nice if he could say more in this quest, but oh well. Honestly, I was happy enough to see more dimension to Cyno's character and of COURSE, his relationships. I'm SURE people have discussed all this before and I'm just late to the party. And I could have missed something, but I figure if it was small enough to be missed it probably wouldn't have changed my opinion.

I suppose a Cyno story quest part three would be too much to wish for, anyway...

[celeste-i]

Um. *black person who is currently obsessed with Miranda and flint voice* I don't like that. am I the only person that didn't know this.

you know I didn't want to think too hard about what all those black people helping them out in season 1 were about I really didn't. I assumed the ones milling about were either workers or slaves to the neighbors. this then created the assumption that there were houses very close to Miranda's. there are not

so I think by s2 the writers realized that this perhaps was not an in character decision for either one of them. flint: a man who is seeking freedom from Nassau, initially through self-governance under British rule and then later through complete freedom from British rule all together. Miranda: a woman married to a man who is good and idealistic and wants happiness and freedom for everyone, then the mistress to flint. why would either own slaves? let alone a dozen of them?

do you know how much that would cost? and a dozen in an estate as small as hers would mean that she has really no reason to lift her finger at all. why was she ever cooking anything? why did she ever garden? retrieve her own water from the well? why didn't she have a slave driving her to town? were they guards for her? flint clearly trusted them if he had one of them armed and guarding Richard Guthrie. I can't think of many slave owners that would put a gun in the hand of what they think of as a wild, barbarous nigger and leave him alone with his woman and an injured man. do you know how uncommon it would be for a lone woman to own a dozen male slaves? the perceived danger that that has to every white person?

it doesn't hold up to any scrutiny. if Miranda was any other type of white British aristocrat woman then yes, it would make sense for her to own two or three slaves, one of them being female to tend to her. but a dozen ?!? and then all being healthy, working men?!? she would have a fortune on her property and when flint is gone that would be a target for her.

and now there's a paradox. if they're workers then how is she affording to pay them? if the writers retconned the slaves, then how is she able to do all that labour herself? because she can handle some of it but not all. not all the animals and crops that are there. if the writers did intend her to have slaves, where did they come from? did flint take them from slave ships he raided and brought them home to her as a gift to make her life easier? do you realize how this makes every single thing he has ever done worthless?

what kills me about this is that the rest of the show is staunchly anti slavery. literally the entire point of the maroons is to show the brutality of the empire, how evil slavery is, how africans deserve to live a free life and the only way to do so is by toppling the empire. and flint believes that. he does. they are allies, the maroons and the pirates. flint has never shown anything but respect to the black people of his crew and of his allies. but all of that rings hollow when there are black people in the background at his house, sweeping his floors in bare feet.

it bothers me that the writers made that decision. it bothers me that it was never brought up again. slavery becomes such a core part of the show and flint never brings it up. my best guess is that it's a result of the writers not knowing the exact tone they wanted in s1, then realising this didn't make sense and retconning it.

I don't know the details cus I'm only watching this show 7 years after it ended. if anybody knows anything more about this I'd appreciate if you shared it with me bc I'm really not happy with this

[mdhwrites]

Why Willow's Plotline in For the Future Is Actually Awful

So this isn't actually going to be an analysis of her character. I will not be arguing about it being too late to cover this sort of topic or how well the rest of the series builds it up. I am simply going to talk about it, from the perspective of just this episode, telling what is actually a pretty bog standard trope. After all, "Reliable Willow" is only a nickname we get now and is exactly the sort of line that signals to an audience that a writer is doing a plotline about the responsible one being overly taxed and needing her cares needed to be tended to.

The fact that the show is doing this trope is not a bad thing. It's nothing new and the message is good as it reminds people that even the strongest amongst them needs to be checked on every now and then. That's usually why the episode is usually comedically overcharged about EVERY issue characters have had recently being pushed onto the one character until at the end they snap and force everyone to deal with their own shit because they can't.

So, how long does it take for a character to NOT put their problems onto Willow after she is put on screen for the first time in the episode?

Well, if you want to go with the first sign of passive aggressive discomfort a character feels, it's literally 25 seconds later when Hunter speaks for the first time, obviously annoyed and upset. I'm not going to use it here but I need to bring it up for a later point. Instead, it's with Luz's talk with her mom... Two minutes and thirty seconds into the episode. They break the format of this trope THAT quickly.

Well that's okay! After all, not literally every character can bother Willow. That sort of repetition can get annoying with episodes like these. How about how many times people come to Willow with help for their problems?

Once. In the entire episode. Only Camila does it. You might think it follows the rule of threes because of her helping Gus when he looks discouraged and her later helping Hunter... But we'll get back to those.

So that's two strikes on telling this trope coherently and building on the pressure and expectations that others are putting upon her, that she doesn't want. At bare minimum, they didn't fuck up the ending, right? No one asks her how she's doing before the end, signifying that they care about her and see her as more than the group therapist, right?

YEAH, that's five minutes and forty five seconds after Willow gets on screen and while the episode has FORTY MINUTES left of screentime.

This is a level of misusing your trope that I expect only from fanworks. Moringmark has an amazing example of fucking up a basic trope in the Viney/Skara fight in A Hint of Blue Part 1 where Skara throws a bunch of shit, misses, says her witty one liner and then throws a spool of cloth to hook onto Skara's harp, after Skara has entirely settled and already recovered from the previous attack, and yank it away. Instead being a bad ass move, it doesn't any misdirection element like that trope ALWAYS has so instead of looking like clever strategy (for the non-strategist of the two), it just makes Skara look like she zoned out for ten seconds and that Viney was indeed just throwing shit at her. A GOOD use of it would have been to have had the spool amongst the rest and letting us see it grab the harp as a small detail during Skara's dodge, then the one liner while Viney holds up the gauze and then the pull.

My point in going into that is that fucking up a trope like this has unintended consequences. In that one, it made Skara look like an idiot who wasn't paying attention. In this... It makes Willow look like a self-martyr who FORCES other people's problems onto herself and then gets upset when they don't immediately appreciate the effort and who is forcing herself to a level of perfection FAR beyond anything literally anyone is asking her of. And again, that is JUST analyzing this episode. This isn't going into how many times Willow hasn't hidden her emotions or how all she's normally after is just competence or recognition and NEVER perfection. Just by the logic of this episode, Willow is completely the instrument of her own demise, even while it frames it as being strong because others need her to be strong.

The most damning element is of course the lack of people coming to her. When she cheers Gus up and literally says "My work here is done" right at the beginning, it's just because Gus pouts a little because Hunter is stressed out. Honestly, it comes across less as helping with his emotions and problems and more as making him just ignore them which is not good since she doesn't actually ask what his issue is. She just assumes a nice rallying speech is all he needs and he'll be a-okay.

Then we get Hunter's scene which is SO MUCH WORSE. Without any prodding, despite the fact that Hunter should absolutely be grieving right now and is handling it his own way and should be given time to do so, she grabs a picture of him and Flapjack happy together, something he doesn't need right now when he is rightfully strung out about needing to catch Belos, and shows it to him. Her emotional intuition is correctly WILDLY off the mark and she suddenly forces this other boy to HAVE to acknowledge the fact that he's in agony without any plan for what to do after. I'm for guys feeling their emotions but you still need to let people process them and to open up as they need to. Instead, good intentions or not, Willow decides that just because Hunter isn't opening up to her but obviously in pain (WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU FOR LUZ THE PAST THREE MONTHS!?), she forces herself onto his pain and barely actually thinks about what to do with it. Only a few nice words because that will make her reliable Willow and get her another gold star for empathy!

And when it doesn't, when he needs MORE support than just that... She fucks off and leaves him to his mental breakdown. Good job, RELIABLE Willow!

(Side note, the moment when Hunter's act drops and he has to confront the death of his best friend is my favorite Hunter moment PERIOD. It plays into the idea that we probably almost never get to actually see the real Hunter due to many layers he puts between himself and others and how being a soldier also comforted him which is why it's what he goes to when he's so beyond a pain he can even comprehend. And then it immediately swaps to Willow's pain because fuck the actually interesting, built up story beat that was RIGHT THERE.)

And this reaction is BAD in the context of the rest of the episode. She has rejected help, so now her actions are only her fault. She has forced herself upon someone else without them saying anything to her and her first reaction to failure... Is to run away from the person who she JUST HURT. Honestly, if this were about a character who was emotionally manipulative, used platitudes to gain clout and appear to be good to everyone learning that some things need actual care, this would be a great twist on a common episode trope. That's not where this goes but it would have been a neat twist.

Also, I suppose I should acknowledge the story of Gus running away which is cute... But not current pressure on Willow. Hell, usually this tropes demands that the party therapist is kind enough to help everyone but isn't actually happy about the role, especially when they're in pain. They do it because it's right, no other reason. Willow on the other hand... Revels and celebrates the role. Constantly. Which implies she likes doing this and likes the attention and adulation it brings her.

So finally we get to the last scene actually about this trope when she has her breakdown and is being a complete perfectionist. By the logic of this episode, the perfectionist thing is ham fisted but fine but it still leans into the self martyr angle. She cannot falter. She HAS to be better than everyone else. To never fail so her accomplishments seem all the greater. That actually is another episode trope for a lot of things, usually including the person working themselves close to death and that causing everything to fall apart but it's REALLY awkward to mix with emotional support. Helping others with their emotions has no 'perfect' answer. You don't just walk up to a depressed person and expect a few nice words to get the job done. You actually have to listen and be prepared that there may be nothing you can do. A lot of times, the team therapist doesn't even have the answers during episodes like these. They show their care by the fact that unlike everyone else, they listen and don't judge whoever is in need.

But once your goal is to 'fix' the person and be appreciated for it, your hope to actually help people is corrupted. That's why Willow doesn't talk about how she's worried about Hunter too but he'll be okay when comforting Gus. That would be real emotional intelligence, reading the room and responding to why Gus is upset. Instead, she says what she should say to Hunter to Gus. A reaffirmation that they're all invested in this and that they CAN beat Belos. That's HUNTER'S concern. Yes, it's to give himself something to focus on besides Flapjack but it is also a VERY real fear for him and understandably so. He probably won't be ready to deal with Flapjack's death until he knows Belos at least isn't able to harm anyone else he cares about. Then with Camila, she rejects the help because she likes the feeling her title gives her too much. Not because anyone has actually forced her not to say anything or ignored her, Gus himself helped Willow feel better with illusions with the red grass stunt when he noticed she could probably use a pick me up since she was sad until seeing the grass, but because she likes the attention.

But then the attention got bad and she said fuck this which *glares at Luz* isn't the first time the show has written someone THIS SEASON like this. And so when her scene at the end comes up of people telling her it's okay to cry... I just don't feel anything about it. I am not going to sympathize with an egotist who finally realized other people's emotions are more complex and maybe she shouldn't try to force her solutions upon them. I'm sorry if that's strange on my part.

And again, this is just based on the episode. Stuff she's done before actually doesn't help her. She has ignored help in the past when given for NO REASON and also ignored others feelings when they didn't accept her kind words. I'll try to keep this brief but she has no reason not to admit she's still angry about Amity to Luz. Literally most of their relationship is built on Willow's anger towards Amity and Luz helping with that. This isn't new and you have no reason to hide your feelings from your friend besides claimed moral superiority like she does in the episode. Then in Sport in a Storm, when her trying to tell Hunter that her being a late bloomer is totally a reason not to judge a book by its cover, a stupid argument to begin with for the problem at hand, she just straight up kidnaps him and FORCES him to see her perspective. We don't even know how long he was underground for because we saw later that season that people who get sent into the ground can just take an hour to dig themselves out despite, you know, oxygen, and she did need to get everyone over there to explain why they're actually super awesome, please believe us, so some amount of time passed.

And all of this is the emotional core for For the Future. Luz has only THREE moments angsting about her issues, one of which comes like twenty to thirty minutes after the second one, and otherwise acts entirely unbothered by anything, almost like she's back to being her season one self, and there isn't really an emotional core otherwise. And yet, despite the fact that they were using a bog standard trope, the writers still fucked it up. I don't even care about why in this situation, there's plenty of explanations you could come up with but none of them look good on the writer's parts but you absolutely can't blame the shortening. This is a self contained story that doesn't even have to be a character climax, even if it was here technically. Willow's plot in this could have easily been the 15 minute A plot, or hell, a seven minute B plot since that's probably the amount of time it took to happen, in a 22 minute episode for a full season 3 and it would still have been GOD AWFUL.

And this was honestly shocking to me. For the Future had always been described to me as just the unoffensive filler episode of S3. It is so much worse than I had been led to believe though. It's probably the worst full episode, from just an objective writing standpoint, of the series. It's just incompetent. If me showing how they fuck up basic tropes isn't enough to prove that, there's PLENTY else wrong about this episode. I would rank Yesterday's Lie and Reaching Out as worse personally because they ruin more crucial elements of the show but like... *sigh*

Willow's plot here is just a bad part of an already bad episode.

======+++++======

Fun fact: I got a literal headache and at one point got upset enough to have tears at the edges of my eyes, which really shows I do still care about this series. It hurt so much because I just couldn't fathom how this was the same writing team who made a cast of characters I had once so deeply loved that I wrote half a million words for them in six months. Fuck this episode.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[sarah-sandwich-writes]

Word Search Tag Game!

Rules: In a new post use the words below (or choose your own) to find where they appear in your WIP/s and share those parts.

Thanks for tagging me @writer-or-whatever! This is one of my favorite games 🥰 and it didn't even take a full month for me to get to it haha

I'm oversharing as usual! This time from my as of yet unnamed fic that I've been calling Not SM4: Bring it on Home. It's my Harley-centric nonparkner canon compliant post-nwh fic where trans!Harley uses his homemade Iron Man suit to steal in order to keep Rose Hill afloat post-blip.

Breath:

“D’you want me to bring Evrett by today?” [Harley] asks, abandoning the previous subject entirely.

[Mama]’s squatting in front of a cupboard, digging through Tupperware for the matching lid to the bowl in her hand. “A few days with Tonya’ll do him good, I expect. I’ll be a breath of fresh air in comparison.”

He can’t see it.

“I’ll bring him in a few days then.”

He waits while she spoons the remaining fried apples into the bowl and seals it. The lid steams over and the plastic is hot in his hand as he takes it and allows his mother to kiss his cheek.

“You make sure that gets to your sister,” she says. Her eyes are dark as they sweep over his face. He sees neither guilt nor regret in their depths. “I love you.”

He swallows his pride and says, “I love you, too.”

And he does. He just wishes it didn’t hurt so much.

Out and Clarity:

“Tell me what’s happening,” [Harley] barks into the comm as the parking garage comes into view. There are two sets of headlights where there should only be one.

Through the comm, Josh sounds rattled and that’s when he knows the shit has truly hit the fan.

“There’s another group trying to— Alison, no!”

Harley puts on a burst of speed that brings the people on the roof into clarity just as an Alison-shaped figure leaps from the back of the box truck and tackles an unfamiliar figure in all black. He’s flying in hot to do anything short of a brutal amount of damage, so he doesn’t grab her by her jacket and throw her back into the truck like he wants to. Instead, he blasts the concrete roof with a small burst from his repulsor to send one of their adversaries dancing back, away from the truck, and then lands with a concrete-crushing crash between the open back doors and what he now sees is a team of seven dressed in matching fatigues.

Great. This is why nobody bothers with New York except egomaniacs with something to prove. Nothing can ever be simple. You always run into some big shot living out their crime lord fantasy or some big shot with delusions of heroism. If you're really unlucky you get caught between the two.

Almost as though summoned by the thought, a blur of red and blue flips over the tall concrete wall that rings the roof and shouts something quippy as he blasts a spray of webbing at the guy standing closest to the truck.

Harley panics. He’s made his peace with the idea of eventually getting caught and being brought to justice, but not his team. He’s supposed to protect his team. They’re not supposed to get pulled under by the crumbling of his little gambling operation. It’s supposed to land on his shoulders and his shoulder alone.

He turns his back on Spider-Man, braced for the tug of web against his armor, part of him already running the calculations—tensile strength vs. repulsor torque, which would win?—and hauls Alison up by the back of her jacket. A body hits the ground behind him with a groan while Spider-Man chirps something about getting punchy when he’s out past his bed time.

“Get back in the truck and this time stay there!” Harley says with an audible pitch in his voice.

Immediately after he wishes he would have thought to whisper, although it likely doesn’t matter. It’s no secret Spider-Man is ridiculously enhanced. While most people like to speculate about what is, Harley has found it’s more productive to note what isn’t. The list is depressingly short.

Tagging: @zerolostwalks @sheps-shepherd @shipskicksandgiggles @physalian and anyone else who wants to play!

YOUR WORDS: leave, drain, and rest

[selcaby]

So I saw Wish today and … Encanto is going to stay my favourite Disney movie for the foreseeable future.

But I want to talk about the wishes, because I've seen people on here saying that they're lame or vague or just silly. And I kind of agree with that, but I also think it's part of the point.

Take Sabino's wish. He wished to inspire people, apparently with his mandolin playing. We don't know if he wished this when he was 18 or whether he arrived in Rosas later in life and gave up his wish then. But given Magnifico and Amaya don't look very old, I'm guessing they are both older than they look thanks to sorcery, so they could have been ruling since before Sabino was 18. So for the rest of this post I'm going to assume that's the case.

So when Sabino was 18 the dearest wish of his heart was to inspire people with his mandolin playing. And then he gave this wish to Magnifico for safe keeping and forgot all about it. His mandolin's probably been gathering dust for the last 82 years.

Yes, this is an excessively vague wish. But the movie knows that. Magnifico says it: inspire them to do what? And although you can argue he shouldn't use this as a reason not to grant the wish, he's also not wrong.

And this kind of wish? It's the kind I think the creative team would have made themselves. Think about it: they work for Walt Disney Animation Studios, that world-renowned dream factory. I assume they're happy to be there and have passion for the work they do. If you'd asked them at age 18 what they wanted out of life, they'd probably have told you they wanted to be artists, animators, writers, composers ... that they wanted to make art (of some kind, maybe movies, maybe not) that entertained and inspired people. Now imagine someone taking those ambitions away from them, so that they forgot what they even wanted. Would they be making Disney movies now? No, they wouldn't have bothered going to film school or learning animation or whatever they did to get to where they are today. They'd be doing something far less interesting, probably. I imagine them imagining that kind of alternate life and seeing it as a nightmare.

The tragedy of the situation is not that Sabino never had his wish granted. (He still doesn't have it granted in the movie. He just gets to remember what it is.) The tragedy is that by giving it up and forgetting about it, he lost the chance to make it come true by his own efforts. He doesn't regain that chance for another 82 years. That's a long time to live directionless and lacking the drive to be what he once truly wanted. I wonder what he did in the meantime. We know very little about his life, and I do think that's a missed opportunity.

What we got instead was Simon. He's the only one of the teenage posse to be over 18. His friends know that giving his wish to Magnifico changed him, and not for the better. He's become boring (and perpetually sleepy, which might be a sign of depression stemming from his lack of direction in life). His friends don't seem to know what his wish was, but it's not clear whether he just never told them or whether Magnifico's magic made them forget as well. Simon is there to show us what it (theoretically) does to someone when they lose the memory of their wish. I say theoretically because the kingdom still seems to be functioning pretty well, and most people seem unaware of the negative side effects of forgetting one's wish ... but I suppose these things are necessary for the story to work.

This actually reminds me of Delirium by Lauren Oliver, a YA dystopia series where, on reaching adulthood, everyone has a surgical procedure that "cures" them of the ability to love. Afterwards they enter loveless arranged marriages, put in the work to bring up their children purely out of duty, and spend their working lives in jobs they have no passion for, assigned to them by the government. The only people who see anything wrong with this are those who haven't had the procedure yet, or on whom it didn't work. The protagonist is a girl who accepts the system until, not long before she's due to have the procedure, she falls in love. I never finished reading that series, but one thing I liked about it was how it made the effort to show what a society without love could look like and how it could work. Wish could have done with more of that sort of thing.

The woman who has her wish granted? She wants to make the finest clothes in all of Rosas. Since she's going to make them herself, I'm not sure what will make them the finest; does her talent get a magical boost? Isn't that cheating? What's the point of being the best at something if you're not the one doing it? So yeah, I think that wasn't particularly well thought out. They had to show it happening once so we could see what it looked like, but they probably could have picked a better example. (In Encanto, they similarly had to show what it looks like when a child gets a gift the way Mirabel didn't. But they picked a good example: Antonio, who gets the gift of speech with animals, plus a magical room that's a forest full of animals, and who loves this, and immediately makes friends with a bunch of animals who hang out with him for most of the rest of the movie, and spends his time trying to use his gift in ways that might help people, including in ways that affect the plot. For example, his gift is the reason why the rats can rat out Bruno.)

Remember, the wishes don't all get granted at the end. Mainly, people get their wishes returned to them, so they can remember what they were and do their best to make them come true, if they still want to and still can. The queen doesn't grant that woman's wish to fly, but she does introduce her to a man who dreams of building flying machines.

And so what if they're the dorky wishes of teenagers? That's also part of the point. Without their wishes, everyone's development is arrested.

I could complain about how someone really should have seen the problem with this before Asha did, but I need to get off the internet and have dinner. This post is already longer and ramblier than I intended, but never mind; right now I wish for some food, and I'd better make it happen and not forget about it.

[roses-dreams-andthorns]

Woo finally getting out of writers block! sorry for the absence, Trey had exams and writers block, so that wasn't nice ;-;

Requests are open 24/7 again!

anyways, here’s today's fic!

Deuce Spade + Ace Trappola (Seperate) x Xiao!M!Reader!

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Deuce Spade:

Upon your first meeting, you were rather silent, giving mostly one word answers to his questions, your stare was colder than freezing temperatures, it made him shiver whenever you glanced his way with that stare... He figured that he should leave you alone, but at the same time, he was curious about you, though your stare was scary, those golden eyes of yours were almost hypnotizing, and your hair looked soft to the touch. He realized quickly many things about you, you clearly don't eat or sleep enough, especially when you say "Adepti don't need to sleep or eat." But he still wanted you to eat at least something, so he asked if you had a favorite food, you sighed almost as if you were annoyed, and replied with your favorite; Almond tofu, he didn't know what it was, but he was willing to find out, just so you could eat something at least... He eventually figured out that you had a softer side to you, after a while you had stopped giving him those scary glares, and he was instead met with a blank expression and a slight nod from you whenever he said "Good morning" to you, you're also talking to him a bit more, replying with at least a sentance, three if he's lucky, your voice was once just as cold as that stare, but now its softer, more... calm, per say. He viewed you as his friend (and crush), but he was unsure of what you saw him as, since your expressions were either anger, unamuzement, or just as blank as unused printer paper. He looked up to you as a role model for him, you were obident to the rules, you did insanely well with your classes, despite never speaking in any of them, you were organized and neat, and you were strong.

"Deuce." You suddenly said his name, in the middle of a conversation, sounding as serious as ever. "O-oh uh, yes Y/n?" he replied, "If you ever run into any trouble that involves a fight, call out my name. I will be there when you call." you said with no hesitation, he was surprised, but thanked you none the less, but then he spent the past 3 hours thinking about what you would do if he did happen to call out your name... would you protect him? Do you actually see him as a friend as well? He has 99 questions, but not one ounce of courage to ask you about it.

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Ace Trappola:

He's a very lively kind of guy, and you're a silent introverted kind of guy... opposites attract, I suppose. He was one of the first people you met in Twisted Wonderland, he slightly remined you of Hu Tao, but remove the funeral parlor director role and dark humor. He was a menace to you, dragging you to lunch with him and his friends, trying to scare you around every corner, pulling pranks and getting in trouble. When he showed up at Ramshackle with that collar around his neck, you gave him a stare colder than the temperatures in Antarctica, full of unamusement and dissapointment, you don't even bother asking him what he did, you end up just saying "deal with it yourself." and slamming the door(thats hanging on to its hinges for dear life), in his dumb but loveable face. Though he is a menace, you slowly but surely learn to tolerate him more, and he never leaves you alone still, and he sees you as a friend, though he'd never admit that, though the feeling of butterflies in his stomach whenever he's around never leaves him be... I wonder why... *Cough* he likes you *cough*

"Ace." you suddenly say, startling him a bit "Eh? what's up?" he asks, "If you ever run into trouble that involves a fight, call out my name. I will be there when you call." you say in a serious tone, he doesn't really understand, but he thanks you anyways(in a very confused tone). When he actually does call your name, you appear right by his side in a flash, shielding him from the threat that dared harm someone you saw as a mutual, you knock some real sense into those idiots, violently. He's quite amazed by your strength, despite the fact your physical appearance seems weak... to him anyway. If he's lucky enough to some how get a smile out of you, even if its just the smallest smile, he'll never leave you alone about it. Ever.

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