#but this guy got revamped a tad

[squidkid15]

babe wake up new AU dropped

[lj-lephemstar]

Progress Checkup! (Aug. 2024) | Scratchin' Melodii Devlog

Hello again, strangers! I thought it was about time to add another devlog again! This time I'm trying out a more in-depth approach to this, to somewhat make up for the lack of gameplay previews. Let me know what you think!

For starters, I've revamped the rhythm system 🤯 (like... again! 🤯) Don't freak out, though. Surface level gameplay-wise, it works mostly the same as it did in the last demo, so you won't have to re-learn much. I just needed to redo some things so it'd be easier for me to work with in the long-run while developing the rest of the game. Way less headaches await me now when working on new levels. In the process, I was also able to incorporate some neat new aspects to it and make the core aspects of it better. If you're familiar with older rhythm games, it's now a tad closer to what the dog was doing.

The opponent's icon has been covered up to avoid spoilers. I might be updating all of the character icons soon, actually.

I still plan to revamp the game's tutorial at some point. Something I've noticed is that often, new players don't seem to understand the purpose of the beat dots. Initially, I thought the idea that "on the beat dot = on beat" would come as second nature to new players without need for explanation. However, I hadn't considered that many players are likely to be more familiar with rhythm games that don't even have beat dots in this manner, so they're probably inclined to focus more on getting as close as possible to matching the order of the suggested inputs, and in this game, even at the cost of being off-beat if they aren't keeping up. So, I think the most important thing I need to emphasize when I give a new in-game explanation of the mechanics is the beat dots and really getting new players into the mindset of prioritizing the tempo. I think I should also have the tutorial's gameplay portion try to discretely get the player used to the control scheme to help people who haven't particularly memorized where all of their controller's buttons are without looking. This'll probably result in the tutorial song shown in the demo being replaced in the full game. I do still like its instrumental though, so maybe that will be repurposed for another game feature, at least.

There's probably some guy out there who just REALLY loves Astral Advisory as the tutorial song that will be very upset to hear this. In solidarity with them, I've depicted their enthusiasm with this rather silly image I've created.

As for other levels, now that I've got the updated rhythm system up and running, the 3rd rival battle of act 2 is almost complete. If you didn't like the Pow-Notes in Supastar Tennis, you might not like me very much after this! So far, I think this level has some of the best and most ambitious animation work I've done yet, so I hope you'll look forward to it. Not sure when I'll show a gameplay preview of this level, but I probably will at some point.

Also, I've made a new logo for the game! I'll gradually be phasing this one in to replace the old one, but until the full game releases you'll probably still see the old one hanging around too in some places.

That's all I can talk about for now, but thanks for reading! - LJ

[artfulbassoon]

The itsy bitsy spider guy is back!

I wanted to revamp my old Web!Scar design and make him a tad more distinct than the End!Scar in From the Archives, so his suit is based on Mayor Scar (S7) instead of Tycoon Scar (S8).

A BUNCH of info on my design under the cut :D

Some fun little details that I never really mentioned in my original design, but were always intended: he's got two red herrings built into his design.

(1) is the burn scar across his face. I imagine he had an unpleasant run-in with a Desolation Avatar, but he now uses the scar as a semi-disguise. Since he's technically been touched/marked/whatever-the-term-is, he pretends to be an Avatar of the Desolation in order to do Web stuff without being too suspicious.

(2) is that his bolo tie is shaped like a coffin. The metal is engraved with a wood grain texture and houses an amber pendant. The shape is meant to be a nod to The End (death and all that). The amber itself is a bit foggy and does an okay job of hiding the spider encased in it.

Originally, there were meant to be three red herrings: The Desolation, The End, and The Stranger. I wanted his eyes to be unnaturally dark and glassy, like a doll, but I had a hard time figuring out how to make it super apparent. The reason for this decision was that the bigger, black eyes was actually an effect of The Web (spider-like eyes), but since they weren't fully black, they could be confused as looking similar to porcelain.

Instead of having the eyes as a third point of confusion, I decided to turn the white flower from the Mayor skin into a white spider lily (so he would actually have more visible aspects of The Web).

The biggest thing about my Web!Scar, though, is that he's a Jane Prentiss-type of character. He's got a bunch of spiders living under his skin and, whenever he suffers an injury, he doesn't really bleed (he just "opens"). The spiders quickly get to work stitching the wound shut with their webs and, eventually, the skin heals over and leaves behind scars. When the spiders fix the opening, they pull the wound wider apart first and then quickly pull it shut after stabbing their legs/web through the surrounding skin.

[autumnslance]

So I haven’t gotten far in MSQ (just past Dungeon 1) but how did you feel about Thancred as part of the opposition from a shippy viewpoint? You’re free to throw in other perspectives.

From the earliest FanFest discussions, about this being a contest and the Scions being on opposing teams on this initially lighthearted journey to the west, it always felt like a friendly rivalry to me. People thinking early on this would be a bloodthirsty deathmatch made no sense. Especially given, y'know, the entire storyarcs of Shadowbringers and Endwalker, particularly the way Endsinger was defeated. "With Hearts Aligned" is a revamp of the WoL's theme ("The Maker's Ruin") with the addition of how important the support and love of WoL's friends are to their success.

Anyway. I was looking forward from the start to friendly competition between the team, and wish we did get a tad more of it (particularly there's a point where Thancred mentions being happy to put Alisaie on her ass if it comes to a scrap between them; I've long had headcanons that he and Alisaie tend to train together, given they have similar drives in terms of combat excellence and their reasons for it, and they'd trust each other to push as necessary). It made sense the moment they mentioned that Koana was studying in Sharlayan in 6.55 that he was the one contracting the fellas, and he was likely not the warmonger if he'd lasted so long in the Studium.

(How much Koana assimilated to Sharlayan culture was a bit of a surprise; we were calling him a sheeb in one of my servers--a Sharlayan weeb)

Thancred did not explicitly tell Aeryn he was going to be working for another Promise. The scenes of him spying on the WoL and other Scions that Erenville's recruiting are canon for me, even if Thancred was a little more present between scenes and before leaving town than that part of the MSQ showed (I mean, the guys still lived at the Annex too, when you think of it). What she got from him was that he and Urianger had a contract that would take them out of town for a bit, and he wasn't too concerned about her going off to Tural. "You can teleport more freely than most, and I'm sure we'll see each other soon enough," that damn rogue said when they parted.

And then he showed up on the dock with Koana. She was somewhere between surprised, mad, and amused at how to get back at him. There's maybe a conversation at Many Fires that also leads to other things, a lot of note passing (they're both letter writers, at least in my world), and a few meetings at other times when traveling Yok Tural, or when back in Tuliyollal, where the friendly rivalry adds sparks in Aeryn and Thancred's relationship, working on their playfully competitive natures.

They also initially have plans, after the contest concludes, to meet up somewhere in Xak Tural in their respective explorations of the continent, but the rest of the plot interrupts that.

So yeah. My shippy nonsense for Dawntrail is that the contest allows Aeryn and Thancred to play, letting them relax with no dangerous world-shattering stakes, just friendly rivalry, teasing, and stolen moments that are fun and freeing. And in the second half of the story, when things do get much darker, heavier, and more dangerous again, he plays his supporting role alongside the others and is there afterwards for comfort and care.

[eurotowne]

here are some semi final 2 second rehearsal clip thoughts for you guys

1) reiley’s new outfit is SOOOOO cute where can i find it

2) he’s also got a pretty good voice!

3) BRUNETTE MY QUEEN

4) armenia’s staging is by far one of the most aesthetically pleasing ever

5) romania…babes this was not it but i like the pink better than the yellow

6)Alika looks and sounds good, but the song itself is so boring to me sorry

7) i think Gustsph needs to wear more color because he’s starting to blend into the stage

8) BUT THE BACKING SINGERS AND DANCER??? THEY ATE IT UPPPPP

9) CYPRUS OH MY GODDDDD

10) stage is kinda boring but ANDREW IS SERVING VOCALS I NEVER WOULD HAVE IMAGINED

11) diljá has so much energy, but it isn’t enough to save the song methinks

12) sorry i like greece. even though the outfit is giving UPS driver/Safari tour guide

13) does greece’s song sound like it may have been revamped??? because i LOOOooooOoooOOOVE it

14) idk if still might not qualify :/

15) poland is better than expected

16) the dancebreak is another example of classic polish esc editing

17) slovenia…my boys

18)the stage itself is a tad boring, and the boys are really trying to connect with an audience that simply isn’t there…but i know when it’s time for semis, it will be a huge party

19) idc all five of my slovenian boyfriends ate it up

20) LETS TAKE A MOMENT FOR IRU

21) GEORGIA DID NOT COME TO MESS AROUND

22) i’m the biggest piqued jacks stan so obviously i’m living for Like An Animal

23) “the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY” is sounding good (idc that my mom says it sounds like screaming)

24) Teya and Salena are sounding and looking great…but the slow walk to the front stage during the most energetic part of the song is not it for me

25) albania exceeded every expectation….they are qualifying i fear

26) i don’t love monika’s new dress, but we got another flawless vocal performance from her

27) australia looks fun, loving the choreo, it’s just so DARK and why is there a car 😭

[avirxy]

the way I want to ask you about all of your wips ksajdhfkjsadf the titles all sound so interesting!!! But hmmm I suppose I will go with My what sharp teeth you have

Oh god don’t get me started, I’d ramble about each and every one of these au’s for hours it’d drive you absolutely nuts.

This one is basically a revamped au of another au, because I’ve gone and turned it into a multi chapter instead of just one. Instead of trolls it’s monsters.

And for context Claire got bit by the monster they were hunting and didn’t tell them. Most of the group end up as something other than human or human adjacent by the end, except Douxie he’s been something for a very long time haha.

He stares at the lump of sheets, pillows and blankets, hoping it’ll give any indication it’s awake, let alone alive because she hasn’t moved at all. Taking up the middle of Blinky and Aaarrrgghh’s king sized bed.

“Anything?” Toby asks quietly, his voice worn and shaky as he enters the dark room.

Jim shakes his head. “Blinky said to let her rest.”

“Is she gonna sleep the whole day away?” Toby tries to joke but it falls flat, there is something seriously wrong with their friend and they both know it.

And recently, but also concededly seems to worsen in turn with the oncoming full moon.

It was the little things over the past month, ever since they’d went on that failed mission, lost their target and it ended with Claire limping behind the group in the dark, moonlight accompanying them.

Claiming she must have pulled something in her leg.

Darci said she’d almost punched Shannon in the face for bumping into her on accident in the hallway. Mary kept complaining that the flash on her phone was repeatedly messing up their pictures becasue it’d make her best friends eyes look all reflective and glowy.

It was the frequent undeniable, unexplainable bouts of anger.

Toby almost lost his head in the forge during training a week ago.

“Hey! I didn’t mean to trip you!” He shrieked as he threw his hands up and Claire just seethed at him like she wanted to tear him in two.

It was unsettling, frankly.

Two days prior to their current debacle is when things took a real turn. She wouldn’t even so much as open her mouth to speak, Toby formally dubbed it the silent treatment. Jim got the feeling it was something more.

They’d been at Blinky and Aaarrrgghh’s house that afternoon and she’d disappeared from the living room for almost an hour. Jim and Toby went searching for her after just twenty minutes. Jim was the one who’d found her.

He’d heard the sink running in the bathroom, the splash of water and sound of wet droplets hitting the tile.

Jim hesitantly knocked and the bathroom went silent, she opened the door moments later and claimed she needed to go.

Giving some bumbling, half baked excuse, homework.

But he’d treaded back into the bathroom minutes later after she left, just to be sure. Jim felt his body go cold as he stood in the small room. There was blood, most of it had been cleaned up, hidden but it was there, smudged along the edge of the sink.

Jim couldn’t figure out why until he saw her again. She’d been avoiding them all day at school.

It was her teeth.

Which is frankly weird to say, but that’s what finally stamped out any indication this could be anything else. The stress of school or she’d ignored Blinky’s advice and been overusing her staff.

The guy at the coffee shop, Douxie? was that his name, had sharp teeth too, his irises just a tad too red in certain shades of daylight.

But this was different.

The way they caught in the light when she spoke, or that time she’d kissed him, the sharp edges grazing against his lower lip and causing blood to welt up. He’d drawn back a bit confused but nothingness tried to assure he was fine.

And as he stared at her horrified expression did Jim realize two things.

Claire’s teeth weren’t human, which meant neither was she, not anymore.

[raving-raven-writing]

TUA Season 2 Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoyed the second season. I thought it was actually just as good, if not better than the first season.someone who isn’t caught up with the comics.

Anyways, I’ll discuss all the characters, or the main 7 and also our main baddies and my thoughts on them. This might run over several posts, so stay tuned if you want to read more. Now, sit back and grab a martini and read on ahead.

Luther: He is actually very humorous this season and we got to see a few bonding scenes with him and Five, which I adore since he and Five are twins in the comics. There is still the whole weird relationship/sibling thing going on with Allison but I find that he has definitely mellowed out in regards to “Dad sent me to the moon”. He works as a body guard and is a fighter for someone named Mr. Ruby, which is respectable I suppose.I like that in this season, he does not see himself as Number One of the leader anymore, and is just Luther Hargreeves. He seems a lot more likable this season compared to the first. I’m hoping he’ll continue to improve in character if/ when we get a season 3.

Diego: I absolutely loved him this season! With where things start, Diego is locked away in a psychiatric hospital shortly after completing the time jump into 1963. I have a strange fascination about mental hospitals, particularly ones that are sent in the 1950s or 1960 so my interest was perked. Also, just to note, the straitjacket scene--I thought that was f**king hot! Yes, I know that’s weird but I enjoyed it so leave me be. This season, he seems a little less moody, a bit more social, but still lovable and hotheaded. And we do get see the mama’s boy in him for a few brief moments. I also feel like this season, he has lost grip on reality just a tad in a sense that there does seem to be a fixation in wanting to save the president JFK. Just a bit, but several times he was reminded that they shouldn’t change the past since it would change the future. There was a really nice scene between him and Ben (or Klaus who was possessed by Ben) and I like the scenes with him,  Lila and Five. His new love interest, Lila, is quite interesting. They have a lot of chemistry and make a cute couple but needless to say, he ends up heartbroken at the end. Allison: So, Allison does marry someone by the name of Raymond Chestnut. (Played by Yusuf Gatewood, who also stars as Vincent in The Originals). I personally prefer this relationship to the one she had with Patrick since they are so cute together. I also live her hair and outfits this season, very retro and chic! I enjoyed that we get to see more of her with Klaus and Vanya ( 3 + 4+ 7. I don’t know if that was supposed to be a joke but whatever) and also some hand to hand combat with her and Lila.

Klaus: Loved him! Robert plays him so well! This season we got to see him as a leader to a cult with lots of followers. He’s got a revamp in outfits, but I personally prefer his first season clothes to his second season clothes. I would say he is still very much a comedic relief in this season and one of his abilities was actually stolen by Vanya. I don’t know if the creators made that intentional or not though. I love how he is more of a companion with Allison in this since it is super nice to see them bonding together and being sibling like toward one another. We also see Klaus run into Dave, before he joined the army, and it doesn’t seem very positive, but I hope to see more of Dave in future seasons since it seemed like Dave was thinking about backing out of joining the army.

Five: Where to start? He’s had a really long two weeks. He arrived later than all of his siblings to the 1960′s but I say kudos to him for managing to get them all there with in a span of three years. At least they all jumped to the same city, so that’s good. I feel like this season, Five is more willing to seek out and accept help from others, mostly because he had no idea of what caused the 1963 Apocalypse. He is still as bitter as ever and we get to see Five fight an older version of himself, which is quite entertaining. But honestly, he needs some therapy after seeing everything he’s been through. But considering where season two left off, I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon.

Ben: I still feel like Ben could have been in this more, but I honestly think they are setting season 3 for him to be in it way more. I love Ben, he’s so adorable. Sadly, he’s still a ghost and what I find sad, yet sweet, is that he fell in love with one of Klaus’ followers. Both of them learned that he could posses Klaus which is how he managed to actually have a conversation with his crush, Jill, which was absolutely one of the purest things I’ve seen. I still really enjoy how he is somewhat of a conscious for Klaus since he seems to lack a voice of reason most of the time. And I also loved the scenes he shared with Vanya, seeing the sibling bond between them was also one of the purest moments I’ve seen too.

Vanya: I think this season she gets kinda lucky that she gets a blank slate. After landing in the past, she loses her memory and ends up as a guest and becomes nanny for Harlan (shout out to all the  people on the autism spectrum. Although it would have been called different in those times, Harlan seems very much autistic and would like this to be confirmed, since I enjoy seeing characters on the spectrum represented in television and movies). Like Diego, she too finds love with the Harlan’s mother, Sissy, and let’s just say that that causes several problems, the main one being that Sissy is a married woman and Carl, her husband, does not like Vanya hitting on his woman. And like Diego, she too ends up heartbroken as well. (Although, now that I think about it, her, Diego, Allison and Klaus all lose someone in some sense). We get to see a lot more of her abilities this season, however, sadly, she remains “a bomb” and causes some trouble. I’m going to post about the season 2 bad guys in a second post since this is just too long.

[bamon4bamily]

TVD 9x11 - Jukebox Feels (part 2) Enjoy! =)

Cut to – Akumal, Mexico. Damon, Bonnie, Stefan, and Caroline, are enjoying their last beach day. Caroline is doing cartwheels by the water; Damon has gone to get everyone drinks.

 BONNIE: (Looking at Caroline and smiling) She’s so crazy…

STEFAN: (Also smiling) Absolutely insane, I love it. (Turns to Bonnie, looks into her eyes) Thank you.

BONNIE: For what?

STEFAN: For giving me a second chance.

BONNIE: Hey, we’ve talked about this, there is nothing to be thankful for.

STEFAN: Of course there is, I hurt you very badly, and you still found it in yourself to forgive me.

BONNIE: What you did had nothing to do with you. That was ripper Stefan, not my friend. And yes, it took me a while to get over that, but I understood. You are not that person, you never were, so forgive yourself.

STEFAN: If I do this revamp thing, there’s a risk that monster might come back.

BONNIE: No, there’s not, and even if there was; for you, for your life, it’s worth the risk.

STEFAN: You are an amazing woman, Bon. Thank you for being my friend.

BONNIE: (Teasing) You’re not so bad yourself, and I’m glad to be. Now, enough with the seriousness, this is our last day, let’s indulge and enjoy! (They smile and hug) How about we play a little prank on those two? Payback for the other night…

STEFAN: I’m so in! What you have in mind?

BONNIE: We book a nice boat ride, then… Shit! Damon is coming; if you let me, I’ll telepathically message you the rest of the plan.

STEFAN: Shoot!

DAMON: Okay, margarita for the lady (hands it to Stefan), tequila for the woman (hands it to Bonnie), and… (turns to see Caroline still doing cartwheels) a gin for the child (places it down on the table).

STEFAN: (Laughs uncontrollably) Oh, that’s too good!

DAMON: (Smirking but a tad confused, Stefan is laughing so hard tears are coming out his eyes) Okay… but it wasn’t that funny...

STEFAN: Oh, it totally was! Hilarious! (He laughs with Bonnie in complicity).

DAMON: (Looks at Bonnie) You two have the weirdest sense of humor…

BONNIE: It was a great joke! The child… pure gold!

DAMON: Did you guys smoke that stuff while I was gone?

BONNIE: Nop…  maybe it’s the mimosas? (Her and Stefan keep laughing).

CAROLINE: (Comes back and grabs her drink) Okay, got my work out, time to sit back and relax!

BONNIE: How about we take a nice boat trip by the bay? No stealing the boat this time around.

CAROLINE: I’m so down with that!

DAMON: Me too!

STEFAN: (With a smirk) Oh, me three!

BONNIE: Great! Stefan and I thought you’d be on board, so we booked in advance. We leave in an hour.

Cut to – the Salvatore school Library. Radka, Alaric, Lexi, Tyler and Margo are planning for the prison world mission.

 MARGO: Okay, let me see if I got this right. You want me to summon a Bennett witch, while simultaneously opening the spirit realm, and doing an incarnation spell. Then take all of you to a prison world, get Katherine, avoid a psycho killer, and successfully bring everyone back?

RADKA: I know it’s crazy… but we thought we’d at least ask.

MARGO: You do realize I’m not nearly as powerful as Bonnie, right? A lot of things could go wrong, starting with summoning a Bennett witch. That’s major league witchcraft we are talking about, they don’t appear just like that… Why not ask Bonnie? If anyone can pull this off, it’s her.

ALARIC: We don’t want her involved; she has a dark history with Kai. Please, Margo, just give it a thought?

TYLER: Okay, hear me out. What if we get the Madame and Danae to help Margo? One can do the summoning, the other the spirit realm stuff, and the other the reincarnation spell? Power of three witches can definitely get the job done.

ALARIC: Slight problem with that, the Madame is not a witch.

TYLER: But she does that psychy woo with her mind; can’t that help?

MARGO: She is a psychic?

ALARIC: A psychic vampire to be exact.

MARGO: Wow, I’ve never encountered one of those… Well, all witchcraft is rooted in psychic energy, so she can use that to open the realm.

LEXI: You really think this could work?

MARGO: If I have help, yes, I think it could.

ALARIC: So the plan could be, Danae summons a Bennet witch, I suggest Emily; The Madame opens the spirit realm, and Margo, you do the incarnation spell. Lexi, Sergei, Radka, Ty, Emily, and I, go in, get Katherine, and get out.

MARGO: You make it sound so simple, Ric. But I am in, as long as they agree.

ALARIC: I’m on it (grabs his cell).

MARGO: And here I thought my peaceful retirement would only involve teaching newbie witches some old tricks…

Cut to – the Powell mansion. The Madame and Anthony are getting desperate, Edward is still nowhere to be found.

 ANTHONY: It has been days, Madame; I’m starting to lose hope. Dare I ask, do you think he is…

THE MADAME: No, that I am sure of. Augustus might be a sadistic soul, but he would never kill his own son. What I’m worried about is Edward’s mental state, you know what can happen if he has a breakdown.

ANTHONY: Oh, dear, please, no… He has been doing so great, I don’t want him going through that ever again.

THE MADAME: It is very frustrating that all my power is absolutely useless at this moment. How I wish Tamara where here, she would know how to handle this… except if she were, she’d probably kill us for letting this happen.

ANTHONY: Absolutely, then again, she would have probably found him by now; there was no one as headstrong and determined as she.

THE MADAME: That’s for sure. (Her phone rings, it’s Alaric). Well, this is odd, it’s that Saltzman professor… (she picks up).  

Cut to – 2018 prison world. Katherine, still tied up and with her mouth covered. Kai, still sitting on a chair in front of her, reading. He pauses for a moment to make small talk.

 KAI: Did you know that Shakespeare wrote King Lear while in quarantine? Amazing things can be achieved while in isolation, if you have the talent and patience. Not that I assume you even know who that is, let along that you have read such a literary masterpiece. All you people know how to read are your facebooks, twitters, and instagram’s. Talk about involution…  

(Sees that the boy is struggling to let himself loose). Yes, it’s uncomfortable, I know from experience, but I can’t untie you. I will, however, take your mouth cover away, eventually. You need to be fed, and I need to know how, and why, you are here. But for now, be calm while I finish reading my book. (Plays the same song on the jukebox, and continues reading).

Cut to – the Mikaelson mansion, New Orleans. Klaus, Abby and Danae are having dinner. Danae gets a call from Alaric.

 DANAE: (As her phone is buzzing) That’s strange, Alaric is calling me…

KLAUS: That is strange, but if you don’t pick up, we won’t find out why, love.

DANAE: (Picks up) Hello? (…)

KLAUS: (To Abby) Wonder what trouble they have gotten themselves into now, that’s the only reason they call. (Danae gets up from the table, signals them that she will be right back).

ABBY: Guessing it’s something big if Bonnie needs back up…

KLAUS: I reckon that is precisely why they are calling; Bonnie is unavailable at the moment; (mocking) she’s on a “love vacation” with Damon.

ABBY: (Spits out her drink) Did you say, Damon?!

KLAUS: Oh, love, I haven’t told you… well, I suppose this is as good a time as any.  

ABBY: Oh, please, say it ain’t so…

KLAUS: Let me pour you more bourbon, you are going to need it.

Cut to – Akumal, Mexico. Belvafore are on a dock, about to embark on their boat trip adventure.

 CAROLINE: (Amazed at the boat, which turns out to be a luxury yacht) Guys, this is amazing!! When you said boat trip, that (pointing to the yacht) is definitely not what I had in mind. I mean, look at that thing, it’s like a floating house!

DAMON: (To Bonnie and Stefan) Gotta hand it to you, it’s perfect! Way to go Stefonnie!

BONNIE: (Teasing) It’s not going to stop, is it? 

DAMON: (With a smirk) Oh no, Bon-Bon, I’m on a roll! (Kisses her on the cheek).

CAROLINE: You guys really outdid yourselves! I love it!  

BONNIE: (Mischievous smirk) Well, we wanted our last day trip to be grand, so…

STEFAN: (Also mischievous, yet nervous, trying to hide their alternative motive) Yeah! Big pimpin' style… spending the gees, you know? (They look at him with a WTF face, such an awkward comment, specially coming from him; they can’t help but crack up).

BONNIE: Okay, well, what are we waiting for? Let’s hop on board! Oh, one minor detail, we weren’t able to secure a captain, it’s his day off. We had to prove that one of us had a sailing license, so I used a little trick to make them think Stefan did. No biggie; he’s driven a boat before, I’m sure he can do it again.

STEFAN: Oh, yeah, totally can. I think it comes naturally to me; don’t worry guys, you are in good hands.

DAMON: Hey, as long as you don’t sink this thing, I’m cool with it.

CAROLINE: Me too! (They go on board, as Damon and Caroline are checking the yacht out, it embarks; once they check out every single spot, they go back on deck to find that neither Bonnie nor Stefan are on board. As they head-off, they see Bonnie and Stefan waving to them from land). 

Oh, my god, Damon!! (In a funny panic) They left us!!!! What are we going to do?!! Neither of us knows how to drive this thing!!!! We are going to die; we are going to die!!!!!

DAMON: Relax, woman! Let me think… I knew they were up to something!

CAROLINE: I say we jump in, and swim back while we still can!!

DAMON: No, Blondie; that’s just what they want us to do; I say we give them a little taste of their own medicine…

CAROLINE: Uhm, hello??!! Don’t you get it? We don’t know how to drive this thing; we are going to crash!!

DAMON: That’s what I’m saying!

CAROLINE: What?! You’re not making any sense!

DAMON: I know!

CAROLINE: Well then do something, Twiddle Dee!

DAMON: You know that makes you Twiddle Dumb, right?

CAROLINE: Oh, shut up! I’m going to kill those two!!! This isn’t funny!!!

DAMON: It’s sort of funny, in a dark sense of humor type of way…

CAROLINE: For you, because you are a freaking crazy person, just like them! You better learn how to drive this thing really fast, or I swear!!

DAMON: I can’t tell left from right, there’s no way in hell I can drive this thing!

CAROLINE: God, I can’t think of anything worse than being stuck on a death ride with you!!

DAMON: Feeling is mutual, barbie!

CAROLINE: Okay, let’s think clearly, no need to panic. We are both vampires, so we are definitely not going to die, unless this thing crashes and one of the wreckage pieces drives through our hearts… Oh shit, we are so going to die!!!

DAMON: No we’re not; they’re just pushing this prank as far as they can; so again, I say we push back.

CAROLINE: Okay, so what’s your masterplan?

DAMON: (He sees they are rapidly approaching another yacht) I got nothing… fuck it! Let’s jump in and give them the win on this one.

CAROLINE: Oh, hell, no! I changed my mind. If they want to play games, it’s game on!

DAMON: You realize this ship is about to crash?!

CAROLINE: Nah, they’re playing chicken, and I’m not about to lose! (Sees that the boat is about to hit) Then again, who cares about pride! (She vamp-jumps off board, Damon follows. Once they resurface, they see that the second boat is gone, and that the yacht hadn’t even left the dock; it was all just a mind trick. Up on deck are Bonnie and Stefan looking down on them, laughing and having a glass of champagne).

BONNIE: Payback’s a bitch! That’s for the little prank you pulled on us the other night.

CAROLINE: (Looks at Damon) Oh, I forgot about that one… Oops.

DAMON: Me too… talk about holding a grudge. (To Stefan and Bonnie) Well, guess we are even. Now, can you please get us out of here! (They get them back on board, and give them some dry clothes. After, they all sit on the deck, laugh, drink, and enjoy a beautiful boat ride).  

Cut to – the secret facility, surveillance room. Augustus is on a call with Pietro.

AUGUSTUS: I knew you would throw that in my face; some things never change, regardless of how long they’ve been on this earth…

PIETRO: You know that torturing you is my main source of entertainment. By the way, I’m sorry for your loss.

AUGUSTUS: (Laughs) Aw, you’re too kind.

PIETRO: Anyway, back to business; has your son solved the situation?

AUGUSTUS: He’s on it, shouldn’t take long; he contacted the wife’s mother, so Donovan should be receiving the news soon, and on a plane back here for his daddy’s funeral.  

PIETRO: That mistake of yours cost me a lot of money, and I expect to be paid back.

AUGUSTUS: Don’t worry, I’ll wire you whatever the sum. Well, there, my part is fixed. Now, how are you doing with the program? Are our recruits ready?

PIETRO: Not by a long shot, but we still have time till they come to play, so, no delays from my part, right on schedule. Plus, your little mistake bought me some extra time, thanks for that.

AUGUSTUS: (Teasing) I did it on purpose, just to help you out. On another note, I’m going to need some extra funding for more of our fun gadgets; I’m thinking going with children, they are the perfect bait.

PIETRO: I’m not going to deny your genius, but you’re a sick puppy. Just send me the amount and I’ll transfer it; minus the sum you owe me. Oh, and I also want you to bring Darius back from la-la land, I know he is a liability, but he can be very helpful too, as long as we can control him. I’m sure one of your toys can help with that.

AUGUSTUS: Really? Darius?  I hate that guy, but yeah, I can see how he can be useful. I’ll work on something… definitely with a switch off button.

PIETRO: And a mute button.

AUGUSTUS: I’ll let you know when it’s done, but that’s gonna cost extra.

PIETRO: Fine, cheap-ass, consider it your debt payment.

AUGUSTUS: Done. Oh, before I forget, just as a fun FYI; guess who is trapped in a Bennett prison world, inside another body, with the Gemini psychopath…

PIETRO: That’s an easy guess, those kinds of things can only happen to Katerina Petrova.

AUGUSTUS: Ding, ding, ding! (They laugh).   

PIETRO: Oh, Katerina... guess she should have stayed dead. Did I tell you her doppelgänger is part of the program? You know, the one that my dear half-brothers were head over heels for. I have to say, she’s definitely overrated. But anyway, enough with the chit chat, we have a lot of work to get done.

AUGUSTUS: Always a pleasure talking to you, wise-ass.

PIETRO: Always, geek-ass! We’ll talk soon. (They hang up).

 Cut to – Matt and Khuyana’s cabin. Matt is reading a letter that has been sent by Khuyana’s mother. As he reads it, he begins to cry.

KHUYANA: Matt? What is it?

MATT: My dad… he’s… dead. (She hugs him).

KHUYANA: Oh, my god… what… what happened?

MATT: I’m not sure; the letter is from Edward; all it says is that he has passed, and that I need to go back. It also has some sort of encrypted message, but I can’t quite figure it out… (hands the letter to Khuyana).    

Cut to - Akumal, Mexico. Belvafore and La Bruja are having a beachfront dinner.

 LA BRUJA: This place is lovely, thank you for inviting me.

BONNIE: Thank you for coming.

CAROLINE: I’m so happy I finally got to meet you! Bonnie was right, you are so beautiful, inside and out! Grams really knew how to pick them!

LA BRUJA: (Smirks) Carolina, you are such an authentic soul. God bless you.

CAROLINE: Aw, Bruja, you are too sweet.

STEFAN: Can I ask, what’s your real name? We can’t keep calling you La Bruja forever…

LA BRUJA: (Smiles) No, I guess you can’t. It’s Ixchel.

BONNIE: It’s beautiful, what does it mean?

LA BRUJA: It means “Lady Rainbow” in Mayan.

CAROLINE: So fitting!

LA BRUJA: Thank you. So, you are heading back home tomorrow?

BONNIE: Unfortunately, yes. Our moment of bliss has come to an end.

LA BRUJA: Well, you will be back soon enough. I have the perfect spot.

BONNIE: Thanks for your help. And you know, once it’s built, you can stay there for as long as you want.

LA BRUJA: I’ll take your word on that. Well, this has been lovely, but I must be heading off now.

DAMON: So soon? It’s not even 12! Come on, stay for a bit longer.

LA BRUJA: I’d love to, Damon, but I have a midnight ceremony to attend. It has been wonderful meeting you all. (Holds Bonnie’s hand) Remember, brujita Bennett, no matter what is to come, stay true and strong, and you will overcome. Keep that amulet close, trust me, you will need it. (As is her usual MO, she disappears into thin air). 

CAROLINE: She’s so amazing!  

BONNIE: She really is. Kind of wished I had the chance to see her with Grams.

DAMON: Something tells me you might (sweet smile)...

STEFAN: (Holds his glass up) Guys, this trip has been nothing less than spectacular. To new beginnings! (They cheer, and have a wonderful last night, laughing, dancing, talking, and teasing one another).

 TVD 9x12 - There’s no place like home; coming next! 

Hope you stop by, read, and enjoy! =)

You can also read the fic here: 

https://mytvdfanfic.tumblr.com/

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17683253/chapters/41709824

[dontcallmecarrie]

Are you planing on ever making By Dawns Early Light into a full blown story? ... And is Thanos an issue in this AU? I think you havent mentioned him in it so well, I wondered?

UMM. *looks over what I’ve got in that tag, and winces*

geez this thing’s longer than some of my actual fics, when did that happen?

Here’s the thing, though: this AU’s meant to be a writer’s-block-buster. Which, if the current evidence is anything to go by, has been a resounding success. 

However. 

As of right now it’s just that, a thought-and-snippet-writing exercise, because there’s a lot of things that’d need tweaking before I’d even consider posting it on AO3 [aka my inner perfectionist strikes again]. 

Again, this is mostly just me messing around with a fluffy tumblr-exclusive [for now, anyway] AU because this feels smaller stakes than if I were to round this up and make it into a full-out fic.

Also, in regards to the second part of your ask: not exactly. By Dawn’s Early Light is, at its core, a fairly fluffy self-indulgent AU, which for me is also code for ‘nobody dies if I can help it’ and ‘if the MCU can have a Gary Stu villain then I can do what I want, Deus Ex Machina-levels of fixits included’.

How? Simple. By nerfing the heck out of him, while also unfridging as many other moms as I can, with a side of I-have-yet-to-forgive-the-writers-for-pulling-this-bs-seriously-what-kind-of-writing-was-that. 

Here’s how the entire Thanos situation would go down, in By Dawn’s Early Light (spoilers for a fic I have yet to write):

First, let’s take a step back, shall we? This is, among other things, a timeline-crunch AU. There’s a lot going down in a very compressed time frame [originally just because I wanted Howard to still be around just for Tony to be able to punch him, but now I’m invested in this so time go the full nine yards, buckle up everyone].

So. The entire situation around Maria Stark and Tony and Bucky’s been covered fairly well, but to sum up: when Howard turns out to be an abusive asshole of a husband, his wife smiles at him and promptly turns around and burns both SHIELD and Stark Industries, revealing HYDRA and Obadiah Stane’s double-dealing ahead of schedule [unintentional fixits ftw]. In the chaos, Bucky manages to escape and joins up with Maria and Tony as they go in hiding. 

Ripple effect that didn’t get mentioned: Hank Pym sees this shit going down, realizes that the most famous missing child in the country is about the same age as his daughter, and decides to not aim to be Absentee Father of the Year. He ends up being a tad overprotective, sure, but is way more involved in his kid’s life and Hope Van Dyne grows up with at least one (1) parental figure in her life, so…there’s that. 

Things happen, and the timeline for bringing Janet back gets moved up somehow, right around when the Avengers assemble.

Note to self: adjust part of Scott Lang’s origin story in this? Compare whistleblower laws of that time era, alt. entrance for him could be him somehow helping Tony hide because BDEL!Howard’s the type of petty and vindictive asshole who’d pull some strings if he found out this rando interfered with his search somehow. 

Bonus for giving Scott and Hank something to commiserate about, later on, and would also have Tony and Co. feeling indebted to him [which would result in a lot of shiny prototypes and records being expunged, later on, probably]

…though that might be a bit much. Hmm.

Reason to bring Janet back: I do what I want also I think the MCU fridged moms because otherwise they’d be too powerful 

Ripple effect that didn’t get mentioned, the second: since this is also the AU where moms get unfridged, Frigga’s going to be derailing the plot from her corner of the galaxy.

Also, since I finally watched Ragnarok but was a mythology nerd as a kid and have a passing knowledge of the comics, time to revamp how Hela fits into this universe.

Okay, she’s still murderous and powerful and ruthless. 

Only, turns out there’s a very good reason for it: she was one of Loki’s students [iirc she’s his daughter in the myths, that’s the best I can come up with atm] before Odin saddled her with the thankless duty of being the watchkeeper of Asgard’s enemies and prisoners. As in, Odin just straight-up went ‘hey you look pretty talented, here, I now hold you responsible for this entire goddamn realm of assholes and creeps, if any get out we’re all screwed’. 

Which is something Hela absolutely did not sign up for, but she’s now just about the only thing standing between said realm of undesirables and her home so she stays put […also maybe Odin sealed the only way back? Maybe? Idk].

It didn’t help that in the early days, these ruffians thought they could overpower her and escape to wreak havoc. So she had to kick everyone’s ass six ways to Sunday, until they finally accepted her as the head honcho of this dump and as someone Not To Be Fucked With.

Thus, why Hela’s known as the goddess of death and ruler of Helheim.  

…and it’s also why she accidentally came to Thanos’ attention.

(Because why the hell not, as if her day wasn’t bad enough Odin you owe her big time—)

Thanos, of course, is in love with her carnage and seems to be the kind of guy who doesn’t take no for an answer. Hela just wants to be left the alone but can’t tell him to fuck off because if she did, she’d risk leaving her home open to attack from enemy agents, which is how we get the story behind why Thanos is known as the madman who courted death. 

[Hela: fuck you and the horse you rode in on shoo you bastard and take your stupid flowers with you—]

Thanos was on one of his especially annoying ‘let me woo you with the ashes of this one civilization!’ kicks [Hela: ashes. How romantic. Not. Leave me alone already.] when some of the Dark Elves snuck out and killed Odin. 

Hela…is only pissed she couldn’t have done it with her own two hands. Also slightly embarrassed that the Dark Elves escaped in the first place, and relieved that it was only Odin who’d kicked it because his wife had seemed pretty nice, the one time Hela’d seen the lady before she’d been drop-kicked to this hellhole. 

Also— apparently she now can leave this place? Sayonara, bitches. 

.

Thanos is very displeased when he doesn’t find her standing guard over Helheim when he returns.

Displeased enough to get creative, as far as courting gifts go, and think that if she didn’t like rings or jewelry, well, maybe this Lady Death would appreciate a shiny, fully-assembled Infinity Gauntlet instead.

well…let’s be honest, if it weren’t for his ‘don’t take no for an answer’ thing, you’d have to give the guy props for trying. Nothing says ‘I love you’ more than ‘here have this item of absolute cosmic power’, amirite? [just kidding]

.

Hela now has mixed feelings about Asgard. Before she was crowned Queen of This Dump, she’d been a student of magic, had been used to certain things. There��s quite an element of culture shock to be had, now that she’s back. It’s the first time she’s seen sunlight in thousands of years, and also there’s a lot of systemic changes going on now that some of Odin’s dirty secrets are coming out at last. Turns out she’s not the only one who’d been pressed into duty: some of Loki’s other students[/children in the myths] came back with stories of the same. Fenrir was apparently voluntold to be the guardian of the Reality Stone, Jormungandr had apparently been busy on Midgard […which now had a school of Mystic Arts? Pfft. Overachiever], and the more Hela thought about it the angrier she got.

Especially when it turns out that her teacher had been mocked for suffering a breakdown and was also tortured by the creep who’d been flirting with her for millennia [Everyone: wait what Hela: I am going to KILL THAT BASTARD NEXT TIME I SEE HIM]. 

However, thanks to Frigga being Frigga and having a crazy-high charisma stat, Hela is still mostly willing to play ball with everyone else on Asgard. Despite her not being happy with how ungrateful the general populace acted [oh, magic’s just ‘tricks’? Here, have a fireball TO THE FACE I FOUGHT MONSTERS WITH THESE TRICKS FOR MILLENNIA]. 

So when Thanos shows up again, he gets one-shotted by Hela, who’s very very pissy about her vacation being interrupted.

Because this planet has sunlight and hot chocolate and punk rock and she’s got centuries’ worth of time off and she is damn well going to enjoy it.

.

…aka why Thanos is a bit of a non-entity in this one. Again, fixits are the name of the game for this AU.

[choicesfanatic86]

Through the Storm: Part 1

DISCLAIMER:      All characters belong to Pixelberry Studios, except characters  unique to my story.  Those belong to me. ;)

PAIRINGS:  Riley (MC) x OC, Riley (MC) x Liam, Liam x Riley (MC) x OC, Olivia x Drake, Bertrand x Savannah, Maxwell x OC

SUMMARY: Riley Lawson returned to New York a broken version of herself after a failed whirlwind romance.  Years later, she has put the past behind her and rebuilt herself into a successful event planner who is happily enjoying her fast-paced New York lifestyle.  However, just because she’s put the past behind her, doesn’t mean it won’t come back to haunt her.  When an unexpected letter turns up on her doorstep, she’s forced to face the people and feelings she ran away from all those years ago.

Please check out my MASTERLIST.

PERMANENT TAG LIST:  @umccall71​ @drakelover78​ @jamielea81 @bobasheebaby​ @speedyoperarascalparty @hopefulmoonobject​ @theroyalweisme @gardeningourmet​ @jlouise88 @hamulau​ @traeumerinwitzhelden​ @blackcatkita​ @mrs-simmy​ @kaitycole​ @alwaysthebestchoice @mfackenthal​ @trr-duchessofvaltoria @pbchoicesobsessed @liamxs-world @flyawayboo​ @devineinterventions2​ @ranishajay​ @jayjay879​​ @alepowell @greyeyedsmile14​​ @mspaigemoore​​ @princesaakl @annekebbphotography @angelicfangirl  @katurrade​ @cordoniaqueensworld​ @ao719 @kingliam2019​  @custaroonie​ @lovemychoices​ @texaskitten30 @harlequinash @smalltalk88  @pixieferry @thatspicegirlssong 

Tag List for TTS Only:  @herladyshipxx  @captainkingliam  @cocomaxley @queencatherynerhys​ @spetstoof​ @grapefrults @pessimystic-fangirl @dralenamax @hhiggs @penguininapinktuxedo @topsyturvy-dream @diamond-dreamland @pnhanga @ladynonsense​ @mrsdrakewalkerblog @crookedslimecreatorpasta @liamxs-world​ @flowerpowell​ @bruteforcebears @withice​ @jared2612​ @darley1101​ @sleeplessescapades @leelee10898 @craftytacotrashdream​ @eileendannie​ @bella-ca @x0valkyrie​ @sunandlemons​

11/26/29 - Here we go again.  I bet you’re wondering why I’m rewriting/revamping TTS? Five months ago I got a critique about TTS saying that the reader felt it wasn’t realistic enough.  For them, things felt rushed and kind of disjointed (examples they gave were the beginning/agreeing to go to the wedding; glossing over Drake/Olivia’s relationship; Riley’s relationship with Paul; Maxwell and Andy’s engagement.  I’ll admit, my heart hurt a little because I had put so much time and energy into it and had been getting so much positive feedback that I kind of got blindsided by that critique. With everything that was going on in my life, I kind of just ignored it and moved on thinking that I’d address it when I had more time.  Of course, I didn’t really get back into writing again until recently.  So, I took the opportunity to reread TTS and I found that the reader who shall remain anonymous (lol!) was correct.  It was rushed . . . I did do a disservice to such awesome characters like Paul and Andy and Maxwell and even Olivia!  So I’m gonna do right by this critique and rework it so that it is a bit more realistic.

So?  What does that mean?  The plot is going to change.  Eek! I know.  Scary.  But the general premise will remain the same.  Plot twist - I already have the ending written and that won’t change.  But Riley’s time in Cordonia will be a bit different. :)

I really hope you guys decide to continue to follow along!

If you want to be removed from the tag or be tagged, please message me! :)

                                          PART 1 - LIFE GOES ON

“Oh my goodness,” I whispered.  “Roxy, you’re a magician,” I sighed as I inhaled the delightful cinnamon aroma permeating from my warm cup of cappuccino.

Roxy winked at me.  “I know what my best customer likes,” she chuckled.  “It’s been ages since you’ve swung by for a visit.  I had to make it just perfect for you.”

I smiled brightly at the owner of the coffee shop.  Roxy’s Coffee Shop had become a second home to me over the last two years.  I had stumbled across it back in college when I first came home to New York.  I was in between mid-term exams and needed somewhere to decompress before heading back to campus and happened upon this little hole in the wall café.  It was love at first sight.  Sure, there were a bunch of mainstream coffee shops scattered across the city, but there was just something that drew you in at Roxy’s.  For one, they had the coziest little set up going on.  The lighting is dimmed just right and the chairs are extra cozy – which is perfect when you want to get lost in a good book or in my case a really tough crossword puzzle.  Another thing?  Roxy makes THE best cup of cappuccino this side of the Hudson River.  I couldn’t count how many times I found myself huddled in a corner sipping a cup of Roxy’s perfectly brewed coffee after a long day of classes.

And that’s just where I am today – snuggled in a plush, brown chair at the far corner of the shop, steaming cappuccino in one hand and the New York Times in the other.  This was the life.  I brought the cup of cappuccino to my lips, savoring the delicious taste as I sipped it slowly.  “I’ve missed this,” I sighed happily.  “I’m sorry I haven’t been around as much,” I offered.  “Business has been crazy, and . . . well . . .you know how it goes when you’re your own boss,” I explained.

“Do I ever . . .” Roxy agreed.  “Stay as long as you like.  I’ll be sure to have Gus bring you a refill when you’re done,” she smiled.

“Best Barista Ever,” I exclaimed.

“Just you today or is that handsome hunk of man joining you?”  Roxy asked waggling her eyebrows.

“Just me,” I laughed.  “Paul’s in Boston.”

“Too bad,” Roxy winked at me.  “I’ll leave you to it,” she motioned toward the crossword puzzle page in front of me.  “Mmhmm, she chuckled.  Only girl I know that does the New York Times Crossword in pen,” she shook her head as she went off to tend to another customer.

Sighing, I leaned back into the chair getting myself comfortable.  Roxy had been right.  I hadn’t stopped by in at least a month.  After all, it had been just as long since I had an actual day off.  I was about due for some nice rest and relaxation.  When Alicia offered to do my consults for the day, I jumped at the opportunity to breakaway for a little while.  I was going a bit stir crazy in the four walls of my office.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved my job and I loved being my own boss even more, but I seemed to constantly be moving at the speed of light.  I started Savvy Events right out of college and despite the rocky start I had trying to get it off the ground, things have been booming every since.  

I loved the hustle and bustle of my fast-paced life.  My weekends were spent planning and coordinating some of the trendiest events in New York City.  So I wasn’t planning parties for the Kardashians just yet, but I did plan a party for one of the girls from Sex and the City once and it got featured in Glossy magazine.  That was pretty epic.  Mostly though, I found myself catering to high-end business professionals who were just too busy to plan parties themselves – corporate galas, year-end celebrations, weddings.  You name it; I pretty much could plan it.  My weekdays were just as busy – filled with client meetings, scouting visits, and designing sessions.  It wasn’t easy, but it kept me busy, the money was great, and I was really, really good at my job – if I do say so myself.  

Admittedly, there were times when I missed how much downtime I used to have.  I sometimes longed for the days when I could randomly decide to wander aimlessly around the city and discover all of the little idiosyncrasies that New York had to offer.  But the Riley back then didn’t have as much responsibilities as I do now.  Man, just thinking about how much has changed over the years makes me nostalgic for life pre-business.  I’ve come quite a long way from the days when I was waiting tables at that dingy little bar out in Brooklyn.  I couldn’t help but smile when I thought about all the late night shifts I spent working at Upscale.  I snorted at the memory.  Upscale . . . what a totally misleading name.  There was absolutely nothing upscale about that crummy, little bar.  The patrons were a bit too touchy, and my manager Craig was a giant ass.  It wasn’t all bad though.  My coworkers were fun and the tips were a dream, especially when I was trying to save up enough money to get back into college.  And if it wasn’t for that oh so glamorous waitressing gig . . . my life would have turned out pretty differently.  Hell, I never would have met him.  Had I not picked up that last party the night he walked into the bar, I never would have met the man that turned my life upside down.  I never would have had the opportunity to cross off so many items on my bucket list.  I never would have gotten to see the world outside of my tiny little studio in Brooklyn.  I never would have fallen in love.

Ouch.  Let’s not go there.  It had been months since I had even thought about him. I closed my eyes at the thought, clinging onto my cup just a tad bit tighter.  My heart had a slight twinge . . . of pain?  Regret maybe?  I shook my head, mentally chiding myself for letting myself go there again.  I was doing so well.  What had it been three months since I last thought about him?  Or them?  That had to be some sort of record.  They say time heals all wounds, and I was slowly starting to believe it.  It had been two years since everything had happened, and I refused to allow myself to ever be that weak again.  I’ll never let myself revert to the girl I was back then.  I came back to New York a ghost of my former self.  I remember feeling like the aching heartbreak would stay with me forever.  I thought that I would be doomed to a life of wallowing in my never-ending grief.

It still amazes me that I was somehow able to pick up the pieces of my broken life and glue them back together again.  It was a long and hard road that took many months, but here I am . . . almost as good as new.  Were the fractures still there?  Oh yes, of course.  Once something was broken, you couldn’t just pretend that it hadn’t shattered into a million pieces.  The cracks of my former life . . . as much as it killed me to still admit it . . . were still dancing along the surface of my rebuilt life . . . although faded they were still very much a reminder of everything that happened all those years ago.  

God, how tragically sappy.  The buzzing of my cell phone thankfully interrupted my thoughts.  Looking down, I saw my boyfriend’s name flash onto the screen.  I couldn’t help but smile.  Here I was dwelling on the past when my future was calling.  Paul had been away for the last three weeks facilitating a corporate merger between two well known companies.  Headquarters for both companies were based in Boston, and although his law firm was centered in New York City, they wanted him to go out and meet the clients directly in their neck of the woods.  He’d been flying in and out of Boston for the last few months.  I missed him something fierce when he was away, but we’d been getting by through countless text messages and many FaceTime sessions.

“Hi, Handsome,” I answered.  “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you until later today,” I murmured.

“Hey, Gorgeous, I know . . . but I just couldn’t let a whole morning go by without hearing your voice,” he responded.

“Well, lucky me then,” I smiled.  

“Luck you indeed because I also happen to have a surprise for you,” he said.

“Ooh,” I hummed.  “What kind of surprise?” I could feel my smile grow wider.  Paul was something special . . . he was funny . . . sweet . . . caring and oh so thoughtful.  He spoiled me.  A lot.  And I didn’t know exactly what I did to deserve snagging a guy like him, but I was certainly thankful for whatever powers that be that found us winding up together.

“Guess who was able to book an earlier flight and is flying in to see you in exactly three hours?” He said in a sing-song voice.

I was grinning so big my cheeks were starting to hurt.  “Shut up!” I exclaimed.  “Paul, that’s the best news I’ve heard all day.  And you know what?  You’re just in time for movie night,” I almost squealed.  “They just haven’ been the same without you these last few weeks,” I laughed thinking about what it’s been like him without the last few weeks.  I had used my best friend Andy as my stand-in date and she was less than thrilled at my movie selections.  “I’ve had to resort to spending movie nights with Andy and you know how that goes,” I chuckled.

“Oh, I have a funny inkling about how that went down.”  He chuckled.  “Let me guess, she demanded it be a sci-fi flick?”

I groaned.  “YES!” I exclaimed.  “She tried to get me to watch Deep Impact three times,” I sighed.  “I told her that I had no desire to watch a movie about a giant asteroid pummeling down to Earth, but she scoffed when I suggested Legally Blonde,” I said with a slight chuckle in my voice.  

Andy had been the first friend I made when I moved back to New York.  We found ourselves in the same creative writing class at Hudson University and instantly bonded over our love for all things French.  Before you knew it, we were inseparable.  I loved her to bits and pieces, but she drove me absolutely crazy.  For every similarity we had, there were at least two differences.  For one, I was an absolute neat freak . . . whereas Andy seemed to leave a trail of clutter wherever she went.  Even our taste in movies differed astronomically.  Andy was all about action-packed sci-fi thrillers, whereas I leaned more toward the cheesy romantic comedies.  Despite our differences, and me wanting to throttle her a time or two, she and I became tremendous friends, and I absolutely, positively couldn’t imagine what life would be without her.

“Let’s just say that last movie night resulted in a full blown popcorn fight,” I laughed.  “That I ended up cleaning all by myself,” I sighed.  “There were many a moment I wanted to shove a handful of popcorn in her mouth just to keep her mouth busy,” I chuckled.  I paused for a moment, before clearing my throat.  “It’s been a long few weeks, Paul.  I’ve missed you,” she murmured.

“I’ve missed you so much, too, baby.  Remind me not to leave you this long again. Next time, I’m packing you up with me,” he laughed

I grabbed the newspaper and threw it in my tote bag.  “Careful … I just might hold you to it.”

I glanced down at my watch and was a bit surprised with how much time had flown by.  “Ah damn, if you’re coming home in a few hours I should head back to my apartment.  Get things cleaned up a bit.  Maybe we can do dinner at Russo’s tonight if you aren’t too jetlagged?  Then maybe catch up on all our movie nights we missed while you were gone?”  I asked hopefully.

“Anything you want, babe.  I honestly don’t care what we do as long as I get to see your gorgeous face.”  

I could feel my cheeks grow hot at his compliment.  This guy.  My God, was he a sweet talker or what?  I got that our relationship was still in the honeymoon stage so to speak – we had only been exclusively dating for eight months after all, but man, did he know how to sweep a girl off her feet or what?  Butterflies?  Nope, I had full blown moths fluttering around in there, and somehow, he also managed to make me go weak in the knees each time I saw him.  

Admittedly, I wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of going out with him at first, but I’m very glad that he was able to wear me down eventually.  Yeah, the frequent trips to Boston were hard, but we were making it work.  And surprisingly, we hadn’t even had a single disagreement since we first started dating.  Our relationship was easy.  Comfortable even.  And well . . . normal.  God, how I craved normalcy.  Those were things that I never had with him.  Then again, I don’t think there was anything really normal about my relationship with him.  Ugh.  I’m doing it again.  Just stop.

Paul’s voice broke through my internal struggle.  “There’s ah … something I wanted to talk to you about, too.  Been thinking a lot about it while on the trip, and was hoping to run it by you today.”

“Oh?  Okay, that sounds good,” I replied, as I waved a quick goodbye to Roxy.  “I’ll see you in a few, babe,” I smiled as I tapped the end on my phone and left Roxy’s Coffee Shop.  

The trek back home wouldn’t take me long as I only lived a few blocks away.  There was so much I needed to do before he got in, but I was pretty excited to see Paul.  FaceTime was great, but nothing could replace seeing him in person or hearing his laugh right across from me.  We had met about a year after I returned to New York.  I had finally picked myself back up and moved on from my time in Cordonia.  I had reenrolled in college, finished my last semester and earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Business. Shortly after I graduated, I went to my local credit union and asked for a loan to start up my own business.  It was a gigantic risk at the time – after all, I had no backup plan if I failed miserably.  They started me off with a modest loan which I used to get the foundation of Savvy Events created.  Even with the loan, money was tight.  To cut down costs, I was working out of my apartment with only a single laptop and my design book.  

Paul’s law firm was one of my very first clients.  I’d been hired to coordinate an event honoring the firm’s newest partner – Paul.  When I went in to meet with him for the initial consultation, I found myself surprisingly attracted to him.  I hadn’t dated anyone since . . . well since Cordonia, and it wasn’t like I was looking to date again.  My heart was pretty shut off from jumping into ANY relationship, and when I met Paul and felt a little spark, I tried my best to snuff it out.  I didn’t NEED a relationship and I certainly didn’t WANT one.  Especially after the shitshow that had happened back in Cordonia, but there was something about Paul that kept drawing me in . . . even though I wanted none of it.  Paul was tall, slender with touches of gray in his dark hair.  He was just under ten years older than me, and he had an air of sophistication that was very fitting of a corporate attorney.  I tried my best to ignore the growing attraction between us.  It was my first major gig and I could not screw it up by being attracted to the guest of honor.  That would be a big no-no.  I wanted to keep things professional.  I also didn’t want my newly pieced back together heart, broken again.  I tried so hard to pretend that there wasn’t anything between us . . . but each meeting had me falling a lot more in like with him than I wanted.  He was sweet, charismatic and genuinely interested in knowing more about me.  That’s why, I wasn’t all too surprised that when the party was over he had asked me out to dinner and wouldn’t accept no for an answer.  

I agreed to a single dinner and made it clear that I wasn’t looking for anything serious.  I didn’t go into a lot of detail, but just gave him the rundown that my heart had been smashed to smithereens and there was no way in hell I was going to fall down that black hole again.  He was oh so patient and understood completely.  That single dinner turned into a standing weekly date which then turned into frequent movie nights throughout the week.  Eight months later, I’m still in major like with him.  LIKE.  Not love . . . I mean, yes, there have been moments when he does something so amazingly, sweet that I go all heart-eyes on him . . . but love . . . yeah, no.  Thanks to him, I don’t really think I can ever “love” someone so freely again.  If there was anything that I learned from my time in Cordonia it’s that love is a four letter word that makes you weak . . . and I’d be damned if I would allow myself to get swept up in that whirlwind again.

After wrestling with my thoughts, I found myself standing on the front stoop of my apartment building.  It was the typical New York City brick-built walk up.  It was in a pretty good area near a lot of shops and markets.  It was also ridiculously close to the subway making it so easy to find yourself in any one of the other boroughs of the city.  Because of that it was obscenely expensive.  I mean, two bedroom apartments in New York are already obscenely expensive, but one in close proximity to the subway typically broke the bank.  Thank God for Andy.  Without her splitting of the rent, we never would have been able to afford something in this area.

I climbed up the three flights of stairs to my apartment unit, all the while, butterflies floated around happily in my stomach.  My mind raced to what I was going to wear to our early dinner tonight.  It also drifted to what Paul wanted to talk to me about.  He seemed a bit vague about it.

“Hey,” I said happily as I walked through the front door.  I threw my keys onto the island in the kitchen.  Andy was sitting on the floor furiously typing away on her laptop.  Papers were strewn all around her in different piles.  

“How’s the thesis going?” I asked, eyeing a few of the crumpled, wadded up paper next to her.

Andy stretched her arms over her head, yawning.  “I’ve been at this since seven this morning and got all of one page done.  You tell me.”  She snorted.  

Andy was an English major who had earned her Bachelor’s Degree two semesters ago.  Her educational goals were much loftier than my own.  She wanted her PhD.  I just wanted to get the hell out of school.  It had already taken me a bit longer than expected to get my degree, and I didn’t have the funds or drive to continue any further beyond my BA.  

Andy was in her second semester of Hudson’s Literary Studies MA program, and I didn’t envy her in the slightest.  While my life had become consumed with all things Savvy Events, her life was consumed by her thesis.  I didn’t understand why someone would willingly spend so many hours of their life working on a paper that could either make or break your educational endeavors, especially when there was going to be more schooling and papers waiting for her on the other side of her MA.  She’d still have at least four more years in her doctoral program.  I internally cringed at even the thought of it.  Andy had mentioned a few times that she’d probably have to move out of state to pursue the PhD program that she wanted.  I didn’t even want to think about what that meant for our friendship.  

Andy had been my saving grace when I first moved back to New York.  And if I were being honest, she was the only friend I had for quite a while upon returning.  When I had come home to New York, a lot of my college friends had graduated and moved out of state.  Even my old coworkers at Upscale had found new jobs and moved on with their lives.  A lot changes in six months.  I was left in a state of limbo, not really having anywhere to go or anyone to turn to.  Meeting Andy was a blessing that I so desperately needed at a time when I wasn’t really sure what to do with my life.  

I never really told Andy what happened to land me back in New York, and being the godsend that she is, she never pushed or pried.  I vaguely mentioned that I had been traveling out of the country for a while, and she assumed that I had been a part of some foreign exchange program.  She never prodded and I never corrected her because . . . well . . . talking about Cordonia . . . and him . . . would just reopen the wounds that had taken so very long to heal.  I wanted a clean break from all things Cordonian.  I left no contact number or forwarding address.  I wanted them to forget I ever existed, and to be honest, I wanted to forget they had ever existed, too.  

“Hey, one page is better than nothing right?”  I popped open the refrigerator grabbing a soda can out of it.  “Want one?”  I said as I held up a can to offer Andy.

“I’m good.  I’m wired on three cups of coffee right now.  I don’t think my body can handle any more caffeine right now.  So how was your day off?”

“It was fantastic.”  I sighed happily.  “Paul’s flying in today . . . in a few hours in fact.”

Andy cocked her eyebrow.  “Really?  I thought he was going to be gone for nearly a month?”  

“Me too, but I guess his negotiations must have wrapped up quicker than expected, so he’s flying back.  We’re doing dinner tonight at Russo’s, so you’re on your own tonight okay?  Looks like my movie partner is back in action,” I chuckled as I made my way toward my bedroom.

“Thank God!” Andy exclaimed.  “Your taste in movies is horrendous, geeze,” she sighed.  “Wait . . . does that mean you guys are planning on coming back here and having some post business trip loving, because I was planning on working until at least eleven tonight.”

“Andy!” I yelled, turning away from my doorway.  “Seriously?” I narrowed my eyes at her.

“I’m just saying!  Every time that man goes away on business, you can’t keep your hands off of each other when he gets back. I mean, I get it, you’re still in the honeymoon phase of your relationship … but can you may be spread the lovey dovey googly eyes crap at his place tonight?  I do not like being the third wheel,” she said pointedly.

“Stop it,” I scolded.  “And we aren’t that bad,” I chided.  “I mean . . . yes when he comes back from his business trips we are quite happy to actually be together in person again . . . but we hardly push any hard limits . . . we always keep it to a nice and comfortable PG-13 level, thank you very much.”

Andy waggled her eyebrows.  “Sure, you keep telling yourself that.”  

I rolled my eyes and threw my balled up jacket at her head.  “I’m going to go get ready for tonight.  Get your mind out of the gutter.”

As I turned into my bedroom and started to rummage through my closet for something to wear, I heard Andy enter my room behind me.  "Hey, before you go off to get all glamorous for your date …  you got mail today.  Seems pretty fancy . . . and it looks like it has some sort of foreign postmark.  Cor-something?  I can’t make out the rest,” she said as she squint her eyes to make out the lettering.  

My hand clenched on my closet’s door, an unsettling feeling forming in the pit of my stomach.  “Foreign?” I asked, turning to stare at Andy, my jaw clenching.  “What do you mean foreign?  What’s it say?” I asked, abandoning the clothes in my closet.

Andy had the envelope in her hand and looked at it again.  It was a cream-colored envelope.  She scrunched up her face again.  “Well, the postmark looked weird, and I had to sign some sort of funky slip of paper to acknowledge that I received it,” she shrugged.  “I can’t really read the full postmark.  Look,” she motioned to the envelope.  “It even has a fancy red seal on it.”  

My heart beat faster in my chest and my legs felt like they were turning into noodles.  A wave of emotions washed over me.  Foreign postmark . . . red seal . . . it couldn’t be.  Could it?  Not after all this time.  I mean . . . it’s about two years too late to be reaching out.  The thoughts hummed through my head as I eyed the envelope in Andy’s hand.  

I cleared my throat, trying to steady my voice.    “Does it say who it’s from?”

Andy shrugged nonchalantly, as if the letter she was holding wasn’t the ticking time bomb that it was.  “Nope, just some sort of insignia.”  Andy handed me the envelope.  “Does it look familiar?”

I swallowed hard, my eyes dropping to the seal.  My fingers traced the wax seal on the envelope.  Did it look familiar?  Of course it did.  I’d seen the crest hundreds of times during my time in Cordonia.  Bertrand and Maxwell had made sure that I was familiar with all of the court’s seals and crests.  I wanted to speak, but my voice cracked a little in the process.  How could this happen?  Fifteen minutes ago I was so excited that Paul was flying home . . . . now all I felt was absolute dread.  The butterflies from earlier were gone, replaced by a gnawing feeling of anxiety.

“Ri?” Andy questioned.

I lifted my head.  “Hm?” I asked as I felt my eyes glazing over.

“Does it look familiar?” She asked again.  I could sense the impatience growing in her voice.

“Y-yes,” I replied softly.

I could feel Andy’s eyes boring into me.  “Well?  What is it?” She asked.  “Who’s it from?”

I licked my lips nervously, and cleared my throat.  “It’s the family crest of House Beaumont from Cordonia.” I replied softly.  My chest felt tight, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe.  I braced myself on the arm of the couch, trying to sit down.  I tried my best to remain composed, but I could already feel hot tears pricking my eyes.

Andy scrunched her face up in confusion.  “From where?”

[gottaenjoythelittlethingzz]

Happy Storyteller Saturday! I saw in an ask your wip was based on a tv series? Witch one and how much did it influence it?

Oh boy. Are you sure about this one mate? It’ll reveal me as a fraud! Alright then.

I’m a FanFiction writer. That’s how I learned I liked to write, that’s how I learned to write fiction and separate it from school or else I would have stopped entirely years ago.

The Reaper’s Only Daughter is based off the tv series Sons of Anarchy. It centers on a motorcycle club that has a Reaper as their symbol.

I fell in love with the show in May of 2018 and have been working on Schuyler as a concept character for 2 years (and you see how little progress I’ve made on the actual WIP 🤦🏼‍♀️😹). Technically, I’ve only been working on TROD since the winter of 2018 and this is because the concepts for it as a work have gone through several changes.

When I first started out, I created Sky as well as the world around her that was based entirely off the series. The club and outlaw life, certain familia bonds, and similar villains as her club did the same work as the original from the series. However, I was so obsessed with the show, (newly) obsessed with who are now my favorite actors in the business, and so beholding to the screenwriter of the series (a career I’d like to enter) that the ideas fell through completely. I scraped all hopes for writing an original series (rather, I established my ideas as a backstory for Schuyler) and instead decided to grovel at the foot of the masters and inject her directly into the vein of fanfiction. TROD is a ff, a completely none monitizable work; and for good reason.

Sky’s story is a ‘add in scene/fixing canon’s mistakes’ story. Especially in the beginning (though the further I get into it, the more confidence I gain to venture away from canon), I flat out copy and paste dialogue, much less whole scenes and plot lines (just adding characters, changing who says what and when and to who, and changing relationships drastically). Though, the dialogue parroting is because I’m following the original story so closely, there’s hardly a way to change the delivery of information and the characters’ use a certain style of speech I’m unfamiliar with and still learning to write for. 😬✍🏼

The truth is, I’m very unconfident with my writing, ideas, and especially my dialogue. But, the more I write and the more I learn, the more I’m thinking “well hey, maybe I can go back and change this discussion just a tad” just to fix the dialogue and make it more my own work/characters.

It is funny you should ask this question. I woke up this morning with the idea (like I have many times before) where I think, “why don’t I try to write just the first chapter of what Schuyler’s story would be if it were completely my own and removed from canon”? Because I do have her, her family, and a large sum of characters to make up her extended family and one antagonist mapped out/fleshed out and characterized just ready to be written into a story of their own. And at least two plot lines, goddamn it!!

It wasn’t in the outline, but there is a scene in the chapters that I have posted where she “phones home” and has a discussion with her best friend. And in 1000 words the best friend’s entire life story, their entire friendship, and a bit of Sky’s past is revealed. I’ve been considering working in a similar phone conversation with her mother but haven’t found the right spot yet. This is all to say, I now see it is possible to do my own stuff!

Going back to writing the first chapter of an original story, I was wondering if I could detach myself enough to make it into a flash back, but since I don’t plan on writing flashbacks and I’m so focused on the story I am writing, I haven’t convinced myself to try it out just yet. Maybe one day!

There are two problems that keep me from making the jump from canon to original work:

There is nothing in my body that wants to do research for a project

In order to create the world for Sky I would have to do a mess ton of research. Title change (story can’t have anything to do with a reaper anymore 😾), research on IRL motorcycle gangs and federal officials, and organized crime (crimes). Everything that the TV show handed me on a plate would have to be scraped and I’d have to craft a new motorcycle gang that has nothing to do with any in irl or else I’ll make some very real people angry. Believe me, it’s a lot of work I’m not prepared to dedicate myself to.

There are some smaller caveats. Would the world (outside fan culture/FF) accept a female in such a masculine world, even in fiction? Would I have to make Sky a guy? Is the mainstream media ready for a polyamorous couple? I’d have to create two new characters (or revamp the ones I currently have) to take them away from the canon characters her partners already are. Or would I have to scrap this amazing relationship I’ve spent two years dreaming on entirely?!

Which brings me to my second issue:

(#2) I’m not confident enough in myself yet to write a convincing/entertaining/compelling story.

Which is a whole caveat in itself. I’m afraid my dialogue is garbage, my OC characters are not compatible/relatable, and my action scenes are bland. I’m afraid to hurt or put characters in danger that I cannot get them out of convincingly. I don’t want to take risks or make mistakes in a story. Which is a huge learning curve I’ve got to get around before I can make Schuyler a real original story concept

All of this to say, going back to the previous ask. (!)Yes, I’ve considered making Sky into an original character in an original fiction book series AND television series. (!)I’ve considered writing TROD totally following the original tv series and hardly changing anything. (!)I’m most recently considering changing things drastically and only following the series up to about S4 (but this prediction keeps dropping in season numbers and I keep thinking of new story lines for my character). (!!!) I’ve also considered finishing TROD (in 10 or so years) and then going back to write a prequel titled “The Reaper’s Sister” and a third book “The Reaper’s Mother”; both titles being totally original 👀👀👀👀☠️

I have a lot of ideas, a lot of time on my hands, and almost no will to complete any one project because projects take me years to do anything of substance with.

Regardless, I appreciate the opportunity to ramble and I’ll keep tumblr updated as far as if I ever suddenly go completely insane and start researching for my next trilogy blockbuster critically acclaimed series extravaganza!!

Thanks so, so, so much for the ask! 🖤 I appreciate the interactions. I’ll be answering questions for Storyteller Saturday this week!!

[fandomssmoothie]

Do You Remember?

707 x 606/Seven x MC

Hello, guys, long time no see! Hehe! We are revamping this blog -- we are upgrading from VandyBella content to Mystic Messenger collabs in general. This one-shot was written during a short period we shared in an RP (Another Story Centered) as a story mode.

Some background! 606 is 707′s bad ending MC. After being in a car accident with Seven, 606 is taken to Magenta. Reset happened before the two were able to reunite and the lovers never meet again until...

A new game starts and Seven ends up in Mint Eye. He’s trying to save his brother when Mr Ray is deemed MIA from the messenger and a mysterious assistant pops up. He chats in the messenger with the assistant and they agree to meet...

Hope you guys enjoy the story under the cut!

Believer A707: Thank you Believer A606......Can I ask you something? Believer A606: Okay... Believer A707: Why are you here? In Mint Eye. Believer A606: Because... I made the wrong choices... but don't matter now... I got a restart here. Believer A707: Lololol Restart, huh? Hahaha...I wish the game would restart right now Hahahahahaha...But...wrong choices...you're not here because of your own will...? Is that what you mean? Believer A606: I mean this is the result of the choices I made, I'm here now. Believer A707:...This place...I don't think...Happiness can be found...Hahaha, Can you really be happy here? Believer A606: Of course you can... A707 I think you need help. I don't think you are feeling okay Believer A707: Hahahahaha. You're right. I don't know what to feel. Right now I need to see the Savior Believer A606: No, you can't see the Savior like this, you'll make her sad. Believer A707: Hahaha Sad? I think...She'll be happy to see me! Surprised but happy... Believer A606: I guess... She loves all the Believers... but your attitude is not ideal right now. You'll get in trouble maybe even... Believer A707: Maybe even...? Believer A606: Be sent away to retreatment...Do you want that? Believer A707: Hahahaha I only want one thing right now… happiness ...But not for me...Was Mr Ray sent to retreatment? Believer A606: I cannot say that, I don't know, A707, we will get in trouble if we keep talking about this here. Believer A707: ...You're right, I should go. Believer A606: I think you need help... come to my office... not Mr Ray's. The code for the door is space_station, but I have to go now. Believer A707: Thank you. Believer A606: See you soon. Believer A707:  Yes Hahaha Believer A606 has left the chatroom Believer A707: ... Please… Be safe... Believer A707 has left the chatroom

Space_station.

Seven stares at the log, at the words written on the screen. And the fact that this new Believer...this girl…

606.

Everything feels so complicated. It feels like pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. But it’s all wrong. She shouldn’t be in this reset.

And where is his brother…?

Seven closes his laptop and hides it in a loose floorboard, before covering it with the carpet. A cliche hiding place, but he doesn’t really think the Believers would check there. Besides...it’s wired to self-destruct if it recognizes a face other than his.

The red-head pulls his hood over his face and starts making his way towards her office, 606’s. He doesn’t know what to expect, this is an entirely different game… But he’s ready to play it.

And this time, he wants a good ending.

She logs out of the chat and her mind starts to wander… back to days where she just like now talked to someone who made her smile.

A606 touches her lips, the pad of her thumb running over the smile on her mouth.

For a moment she forgets all her duties, all the things she has to do and the shoes she has to fill in. A wave of responsibilities was thrown to her for being his assistant… where the hell is he? He is supposed to be with the Savior but knowing her and knowing what really lies under the sweet smile of the blonde A606 is worried.

She hears the footsteps outside the door and closes her laptop.

Now or never.

The red-head raps his knuckles against the door twice, blinking to make sure his contacts are in place. When he hears her voice, telling him to enter, his heart skips a beat. Turning the handle, he goes in…

And is met with her.

A606.

MC.

In the previous reset, he had lost her...and now. Now she’s here, with mint streaks in her hair. Those eyes, those lips...the same ones he gazed into, the same ones he…

No... don't think about it. You can’t, Luciel.

Her amethyst eyes are met with golden ones and her breath gets stuck in her throat. He’s like a mirage, from a story she remembers, a story that plays every so often in her head.

She swallows trying to find her voice, “A707?”

“Yep. That’s me. A707.” Seven answers, offering her a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “You’re...606.”

“Yes…” She is frozen in place, trying to figure out if this is reality or the effect of the drink she had minutes before he arrived. She feels her fingers twitching but does her best to look normal. “Thank you for coming here, I got worried when I talked to you earlier.”

You have no reason to worry, is what he wanted to say. But he can’t get those words out. Because he’s worried too. Worried...about her. Seeing her like this, her fingers twitching like that. It does nothing to calm his already jumbled mind.

“I should be the one thanking you, A606. For inviting me here.”

For giving me a few pieces of the puzzle.

He should be angry. Seven should be angry that whoever is preparing this sick game brought her here, to this hellish place. But at the same time...she’s here. She’s here and she’s right in front of him.

I can save you.

His voice weaves a feeling in her chest, one she had long forgotten… or wish she had.

This feeling only brings doubts to the truth of the salvation she found. She is a new person, the one who loved and smiled, that girl no longer exists… that girl doesn’t deserve her past or the people in it, this new girl doesn’t deserve him.

“I just want to avoid trouble, A707, I don’t want you to do something that will bring that trouble to me.”

I don’t want you to be in danger…

“Oh, trust me, I won’t do anything to put you in danger.”

I lost you once, I’m not losing you again.

“But tell me...A606. Are you in any sort of danger?”

She can’t withstand his gaze so she looks away and removes the big black robe covering her small frame and places it on the chair.

“Danger? Of course not… if anything it would be getting fired.” Her lips curl up just a tad.

There is a scrunchie around her wrist, she uses it to hold her hair into a ponytail. It’s not until she is done fixing her hair that she realizes what she is doing… being too normal, too familiar… too intimate.

But what’s done is done, she sits on the chair and looks up at him.

“So, A707, are you doubting our faith?”

Everything feels too familiar. It’s too soon, the reset has barely sink in...God. Seven takes a deep breath and focuses his eyes on her face.

“Our faith...what is it you believe in, A606?”

Why are you HERE? In Mint Eye!

His question feels like a protest.

“I believe in Magenta of course, in our Savior. In the idea that everyone can be happy here. That no matter what you did before, you get to be happy here.”

This is a second chance…. You don’t belong in this one, though.

“But, A707, why are you here?... I mean since it seems you are not sure about your faith.”

Seven stares at her, trying to decode the meaning behind her words. He wonders if she remembers...but no. It doesn’t usually work that way. MC always forgets, always forget him.

But he never forgets about her.

Her words though…’no matter what you did before, you get to be happy here.’

Could she actually…?

“Oh,” he says out loud, clearing his throat as he grins at her. “I’m here because I want to offer salvation...to someone precious to me. Though now it seems that I get to save more than one person.”

He wants to say more, to tell her the truth, but that’s not how it works...if he reveals anything, A606, the other guests, the RFA...Saeran. All of them will be put through the horrible process of reset again. And he doesn’t want that, not when the game is still in progress; it hurts more when it’s cut so suddenly.

“How did you meet the Savior?”

“Salvation… well, you’re in the right place.” She smiles and her fingers fidget on her lap. “I met her when I came here… Mr Ray is the one who brought me to Magenta. I owe him who I am now.”

She wants to ask, curiosity starts to go off… she wants to ask if he remembers and if they’ve met before.

“Listen, A707…” She looks at him, “you… I… I’ll help you. If you want to save someone. I will help.”

Help me save you.

If there’s anyone he wants to save...It’s Saeran...and it’s her. His 606. The woman he wanted to take to the space station.

“Thank you...that’s really kind of you, 606.” Seven gives her a chuckle. “But I really think you should keep yourself safe too. Don’t worry, I’ll do everything I can to help you too.”

To keep you safe. Make sure Rika doesn’t suspect you...Make sure his brother doesn’t make her his next target.

That’s right. He’ll delete their logs. Saeran can’t see his conversations with MC, or he’ll know...and Seven can’t afford to lose either of them.

“You don’t have to worry about me, A707. I worry about you, the way you speak… it could bring danger to you…” She should take back her words.

“I mean, you should be more careful on the way you act…” She focuses her eyes on her trembling fingers. “I don’t think I’m being a good believer right now… maybe I need a session with the Savior too.”

He can’t help it. Seven kneels in front of the woman and takes her hands in his, grasping them tightly. He keeps his head bowed, his face hidden so she doesn’t see how much this is hurting him, how seeing her like this is painful for him.

“You don’t, 606...you don’t.”

He closes his eyes. Why does this keep happening to him..? People around him always get hurt. He runs his thumb across her skin, feeling her trembling hands underneath his touch.

“I’ll help you, okay? Please wait for me...I’ll help you, 606. Don’t...don’t go to her. Please.”

His touch makes the trembling worst, her heart drums in her chest so fast she can feel it trying to jump out.

“W-what are you doing?” She moves her hands but can’t bring herself to free them from his grasp. “A707 this is… you shouldn’t…”

He lets go of her, getting to his feet. There’s a slight tint to her cheeks, and it takes all his willpower not to tease her about it. Just like before, MC.

“I’m sorry, 606. Hehe, I was being rude~”

He puts another fake smile on his face. Playing the part of the goofy hacker again. She’s blushing but...maybe she doesn’t remember. How could she?

“I hope you don’t see the Savior just yet though...I really want to go with you when you do.”

She raises an eyebrow recognizing the happy mask he puts on.

“Yeah, it’s alright, I don’t think I can see her now. She’s busy with the party preparations. But if I do I won’t take you with me. Not when you’re acting so weird.”

Seven laughs at that. Weird.

Once before, they were ‘weird’ together.

She opens her laptop and clicks on the file. She stands and walks to where the printer is.

“Here is the schedule, keep it safe, A707.” She hands him a couple of papers. “... and whatever is that you need them for… keep me out of it.”

Seven takes the papers from her, careful not to brush his fingers against hers again. The desire to touch her is too strong, and it’s never easy for him to keep pretending like he doesn’t care about her. He shoves the papers in his robes, then looks at her again.

“Thank you, 606. I always knew I could count on you.”

He wants to say more...God. He can’t. He mustn’t. All he can do now is watch over her from afar, keep her safe as best he could under the circumstances. Seven turns and heads for the door, opening it a little. But before he leaves, he shoots her another glance. A smile.

“And 606…”

“I would love to go to the space station with you someday.”

The redhead steps out. Closes the door behind him. And silently walks back to his hideout, his heart even heavier than before he walked into the room. He only hopes...that this time, the game would let him save both of them.

She doesn’t know if she should laugh or cry… the emotions swirl in her chest.

She walks to the door and presses her forehead on the cold surface. Her eyes are closed but she can see the blinking lights of the computers.

“... 606 is not my name… do you remember..?”

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

Thank you for reading! Let us know what you think!

[ladyadalicialove]

Guess who finished University for the year? 

THAT’S RIGHT ME HAHAHAHAH IM FREE

The only commitment I have now is my casual job lmao gotta make bank. I don’t even go back to uni until next year in late feb or early march.

THIS MEANS I GOT LIKE THREE MONTHS TO BE A CREATIVE MONSTER

So my current goal right now is finishing the Be Prepared Animatic before November ends!! 

And then guess what? I’ve decided I will give you guys the first five or so pages of the My Favourite Things comic. I was thinking maybe early december? It depends on how quickly I finish the animatic. 

I’m trying to decide if the comic should either coloured or black and white manga style? I like colouring so I leaning towards that... idk opinions?

And then I need to figure out a proper mft comic page release schedule!! I want to give a minimum of two pages a week after the debut, but we will see how it goes!!

I will be continuing with my kwami swap series too, but they will be sprinkled inbetween my big projects.

I also wanted to possibly introduced new AU ideas for a little bit of fun, I have three currently in progress - some might make it pass conceptual stage with art and proper writing but others might die in my AU bin:

1. Is how I would have done Chat Blanc episode if I wrote/created the episode: I felt it was focused on Marinette a tad too much and I wanted to see more of Adrien falling into madness rather than a sudden breakdown. Think of it as my version of an ideal finale, like if the series ended here I would be happy. So yeah scrap the plot of the episode and revamp it into a muscial! AKA a four part animatic series. If you’re wondering yes my heeled Chat Blanc is the star and they are older hehe. I love me some good ol' Marichat.

2. AU Inspired by Disney's 2009 movie Princess and the Frog and 1970′s Aristocats. Yeah I could totally write a fanfiction on this. Might have to brush up my writing skills but I have a plot!! Adrien, a prince from a nearby kingdom comes to France in search of freedom! His luck takes a turn for the worst when he is turned into a fluffy cat with green eyes by Dr. Lila Faciliter, an evil witch doctor who wished to marry him for his wealth. Adrien comes across Marinette whom he believed to be a princess, but when she kisses him to change him back she is also turned into a blue eyed cat. How will they navigate the busy streets of Paris while trying to change back into humans? Let's just say Adrienette is strong with this one. Cue 1920's Jazz~

3. Lost in a Promise - Deaf Marinette AU. I wrote a chapter already for it in August, but the premise of this AU is that Marinette is in fact deaf but when she is Ladybug she can hear. She loves being Ladybug because of this newfound ability but she quickly becomes addicted to music and hearing Chat Noir’s voice! She also frequently listens in on Adrien playing the piano, it always sounds so sad to her... don’t get me started on how she feels about Luka. Hard OTP3 feels here.

There's probably more I want to do but I can’t think of them right now. I have feeling the first two AU's will go further but not the third.

[poppymouth]

Updated Urban with revamped characterization and 2019 ref! Info sheet under the cut!

Name || Urban Age || 24 Race || Skeleton/Veiled (invisible monster-type) Occupation || runs Journey’s Thread, his father’s materials and fabrics shop. Also works as an occasional courier. Gender || Male Height || 5’5 Relationship Status || Taken by Ace Voice Actor || N/A (looking around) RELATIONSHIPS Family >Farren: Father. Fallen Down and in comatose. Despite his aloofness, Urban works extremely hard to keep up with his medical bills to keep his dad under care. >Geneva: Mother. Deceased. Has never seen eye to eye with her, but despite feeling >Altan: Non existent twin brother. Soul was absorbed by Urban’s during Geneva’s parturiency. It’s complicated.

Significant Other >Ace: Current Boyfriend, and the relationship is going strong despite either of them having little to no real dating experience. Opposites attract, Ace fills the goob-shaped hole in Urban’s heart.

Friends >Octi: He’s a weirdo, but not bad in urban’s eyes. Definitely don’t ask about his interest, and especially don’t ask or bring up the fact that he draws. >Frisk: Urban was pretty apathetic towards Frisk as first, not knowing that they were a human. But through Ace, he comes to learn more about Frisk and loves the little squirt, designating them as his flirt prodigé under his wing. Gave the kid a candy stick that looked like a cigarette upon their first meeting. >Roman: hahahhahaha no actually that was a joke >Sans: One of Urban’s close buddies. They used to be closer… but it never would have worked out in the end. Papyrus: Associative friend through Sans, talks to him from time to time but not very deeply. Took a bite of his food once and has successfully avoided it ever since. #W̬͇̣̦̼͚͉͇̩.҉̧̪̬̟̗͔͎̹͡D̹̩͕̦.̴̻̙̤̝̰͞ ̸̸͎̩̤̻̫̥̕G̨̰̙̬͔ͅa̶͓̦͕̕s̺̮͖̝͠t̶̘̙̖͚̻͚͚͘e͓̗͉̯̝̗͝r̭̼̙̱̩͟:҉̳̫͖͕͙  I̧ǹ his̵ ͝yo̸u͠th,̴ ̷U͢r̸ba̶n͢ ̀wa͝s̶ i͜ǹvite̢d in͘tơ ̢h̸i͡s ̷la̧bş ̸a̶ś ̵a͏ ̴res͡p̵éc͡te͟d͡ ͏s͝ub̀ject ̢o̕f̸ ͠s̀t̶ùdỳ ̶t̴o͠ bet̛ter͜ ͢u̶n̡der̡s͞t̢and ͢h̀is͡ ̷men͝t͜a̷l ͡a͠nd ̶s̀o̸ul҉-b͠a̕s̶ed ҉si̵tuat͜io͟n̡.̷ A͠fte̛r̴ beco͜m̀ing̢ ́reda͟cte̷d fro̸m ͜t̶h̵e̛ ̛w͢ǫrl̡d h͝ow͠ever͝,̢ Uŕba̶n ha̴s no r̀èco͏llect̵ion o͜f ev͡er ǵo͜ing͠ to t̛h̸e͏ ͡Ĺabs̷ ex͢cep̡t̴ ͝f͞o̸r͠ ͠th͟e͏ ̢r͡ar̀e ̡del̢i͡v́e͜ry͡ tḩe̡rȩ.͞

???

>Slick: Their relationship is messy and complicated. Urban is currently unaware that he and Slick are one and the same, instead believing they are two people with two different lives. Is Slick his own person, who is he? It’s a question he has found himself asking time and time again.

Other Urban casually hooked up with a lot of women, but no one has ever become anything more than One Night Fun Nights. PERSONALITY Flirtatious | Loud | Playful | Crude Humor | Natty | Excitable | Selectively Dependable A simple way to put Urban is to think of him as a goon with a heart. He’s ballsy and a tad rebellious against rules (if the occasional weed stash in his house is anything to go by), and enjoys thumping to hard beat music but truthfully, he is generally easygoing guy and fun to hang around, with no real need for confrontation. In fact, instead, he tries to make any and all situations something to laugh at, whether a crude joke or directing tension to something more interesting and off topic. Let no one ever know thought he gets mushy with his bae, Ace, he’s got a reputation of keeping his Cool Guy Syndrome up. Likes: weed | little animals | his tattoos | chains rings and tags | wrasslin’ | hats and bandannas | “Gettin’ it on” | comedy movies | swimming | hard rap/hip hop | underground music (no pun intended) | ironically dabbing in front of people | dancing | his own fashion sense

Dislikes: drinking | the cold | having his facial damage visible in front of others | arguments | being sick/puking | being alone | people looking like a fool with their outfits | working out | when people mistake him for Slick Brief History Urban was born in New Home with his father, Farren, an ex-nomadic crafter and his mother Geneva, who he has grown up to have very shaky relationship with due to his birth causing her to be permanently weakened and with only one child when she was supposed to have twins (as his soul had absorbed his twin’s during conception). They did not hate each other, but love was tough and hardly spoken between them. Urban found most of his parental love from his more forgiving and sympathetic father. During his early adolescent years (around twelve years old), Urban had unknowing formed a second personality in the form of Slick, who in turn became his own being through Urban’s malformed soul. It is reasonably assumed that Slick is a creation of both mental stress and the physical conundrum of Urban’s soul, since absorbing his twin’s left a separate magical imprint from his own. Because Slick differed from Urban in personality, introvert and reclusive but rebellious and artistic, it’s not very long that these switches between Urban and Slick give the former trouble, including holes in his memory. Several years after, Slick’s purpose of shutting out everyone, opposing any and all forces, came to a head when a confrontation with the wrong Royal Guard at the wrong time left him with half his skull blown into. This Royal Guard was relieved of his position after the incident, and Urban has yet to know of his identity. Urban was admitted into medical care by healers (who did all they could, but they told Urban’s parents the bone would never completely heal over) and almost immediately after taken in for therapy, where he finally admits of the existence of Slick, who he believed he was—but after close observation, proved to be completely false and made up in his head. Either way, this condition had already proven dangerous to his health. It was around this time his mother had dusted to due her own failing health. His condition was a medical mystery until Urban’s case caught the attention of Hotl͢and ̴La̡b͢s̸, ͢and́ ͏o͘n̡e̴ Dr. W.͢ D.͠ ͡G҉ast͞e͢r.̷ ̴It҉ ̡di̢d͟n’̧t ͟t́a͜k̵e long fo̸r҉ U̢rb͝a͜n tò ̀be̢ ͠w̛e͜ļc҉ome͘d͡ ̷i̧n͜ ̀a͘s a ̀re͜speçted stu̕ḑy̕ s̷ub͞ject ͠a̸nd͞ ̶Ur͜ban s͡t̀ay̧s̀ in ͢t̢h̀e La͠bs͡ ̡f̡or ͢a c҉o̴upl͘e ҉of́ ỳe̴ars͠ ͞a̛s th̢os͜e p͜a̧r͡t҉ óf̨ ̡hi̴s͡ c̴a̷se̛ s̨tudy f̶i̧gure̵ o̢ut how ̵h̸is͠ ̢m͏i͠n͠d ̸works ̶i͜n t͠a҉n҉dem̧ w͢it̀h his ͟ma҉g̷i҉c.̧ They were trying to find any results if this was really mental, or if it’s partially the result of remnants of his twin’s absorbed soul trying to become a singularity within Urban’s body. At seventeen however, after Urban had gotten news that his father had become one of the victims to Falling Down, he left t͏̶h͘͘͏è l͟a̡̛͜b̨̡s̸͢ in order to maintain the store in the capital, an income, and tries to pick himself up into continuing life on his own. Presently, he lives at the edge of the capital where rent is cheap and works small jobs from within the city (and sometimes in other parts of the Underground) to make ends meet. Magic and Weapons >Urban’s arsenal for FIGHTs include >Bone-based attacks >Invisible attacks (outlined, hard to see) >Orange and blue attacks >Switchblade

Trivia >Urban has a short gold barbell tongue piercing >Urban’s magic is purple, the symbolic color of perseverance >Whenever he goes through a magic swap (Urban’s purple to Slick’s green and vice virsa), he immediately pukes that current magic; it’s his body’s way of ejecting the previous “foreign” magic >While Urban passes as a full Skeleton, he is half Veiled from his father’s side and as the hereditary ability to turn invisible. >Under the light of a full moon, glowing patterns appear on Urban’s bone, another trait carried over by his Veiled ethnicity >Almost all tattoos were gotten by Urban, except for the flower tattoo on his right arm, which Slick had gotten himself

>Urban’s jacket logo and the Veil culture is based on the Bohemian culture!

[abitterlifethroughcinema]

      Three Summer Taquilla Behemoths in Cinemas!       WOKE! Film Reviews...Halfway Through Summer                                        by Lucas A Cavazos

It goes without saying that Disney is undoubtedly the strongest hand in all of cinema. They have proved that beyond any shadow of a doubt over many decades but definitely most recently, what with the takeover of Pixar and LucasFilms and Marvel Studios and and and… As I hinted at last time, growing up, whether in Texas or Brooklyn, my dorky bum always had that weekly subscription of Entertainment Weekly waiting for me come week’s end. And that meant I had all the box office data, top album sales, Nielsen TV ratings, book sales and such all there to satiate my stats-obsessed appetite. Now, I bring to you a summer run-down of what fare has been most successful throughout this first half of the summer. Believe it or not, we are only halfway through the summer cinema season and these last six or seven weeks mark the last summer fare that either got delayed from the early summer due to concern of being pulverised by these upcoming blockbusters, or they are merely getting rid of fodder too long on the shelf or in need of distribution.

I’d dare say in fact that it was a rather smart move on behalf of Guy Ritchie and the entire marketing team behind the live-action remake of Aladdin, to release it just before the summer season truly hit. It is now fast closing in on 25€M in Spain alone, and has surpassed 1.1€B globally…quite an accomplished feat and second in box office stealth only behind Endgame for 2019 so far.

But let’s please talk newer reviews first as Disney’s The Lion King ###-1/2 burst into Spanish cinemas with a loud roar two weeks ago, and the same can be said of its success worldwide. Now soon to pass 19€M in Spain in a matter of mere days and more than 1.0€B globally, we at Bitter Life are pleased to say that the film, much like the formerly mentioned live-action remake, is a thing of wonder. What director Jon Favreau, who so lovingly concocted the impeccable remake of The Jungle Book a few years ago, does so well is adapt a timeless, and much beloved, cartoon classic into a breathtaking adventure story of the animal kingdom. One thing is for certain, if you are a true lover of the cartoon, this film will merely be palatable. For those few of us who were none too keen on the cartoon and its cheese-tactic musical numbers nor its cornball last-attempts at Top 40 numbers by Elton John, this film is quite the spectacle to behold. Telling the story of a proud lineage of lions who preside over what could best be described more as a savannah than a jungle, this rendering gives us a lifelike portrayal of fathers and sons, duty and honour, and is easily a testament to whatever family means to any individual. Apart from the brilliant, yet almost frightening, way in which the creators have anthropomorphised the creatures into almost too-real perfection, there isn’t too much to tell that the viewer is not going to know already, and thereby lies a part of the challenge that I find intriguing. While Disney continues to take risks in revamping their classics into live-action newer ones, do they then run the risk of petering out of new ideas? I mean, now that they have Pixar and so many more studios to pick up the slack, will we slowly see the demise of the annual big, Disney cartoon classic? We already have Frozen 2 appearing soon enough in cinemas, but even that is not building anything new and original into the cartoon oeuvre…it’s a damn sequel. I say it’s fair enough that most all investments in Disney live-action prequels are bound to be successful in terms of box office. Still, few of them will boast the talent power of Beyonce and Donald Glover, along with original Mufasa James Earl Jones, plus John Oliver, Seth Rogen, Keegan-Michael Key, Alfre Woodard. Amy Sedaris and so many more. These artists breathe life into a fun, if tired, film that we’ve all seen before, just never in this way. Here’s to hoping the tots of today don’t scare too much from the frolicking if fierce, fun found in this film.

The next big movie that has blown up the taquillas here in Spain is also the best one of the lot…Toy Story 4 ####.  If we have to wait nearly a decade between film sequels to have this type of wonderment thrown lovingly at our eyes, I’ll gladly take it and wait. So far, the film has taken in a nearly whopping 19€M in Spain alone, and it is also nearing 950€M worldwide, so far be it from me to deny that absolute scores of millions agree that this film marks itself in our hearts yet again. It is rather surreal that over the span of well over a generation, the creators have moved through the mid-90s to damn near 2020 with the same revolving door of a family, while carefully detailing the intricacies of our own nostalgia…and playing on that also forces us to love it.  Again, I dare say that they have achieved that tremendously throughout the entirety of the series’ lifespan. The premise this time revolves around Andy, now all grown up and, I’d suppose well past grad school, has donated his toys to little sister Bonnie, who has her own taste on what she prefers to play with versus her older brother, and dear ol’ cowpoke Woody, sensing certain neglect under the ownership of Bonnie, sneaks himself into her rucksack one day y voila!…the new adventure commences. The others set off to search for Woody, outdone by no one less than Buzz Lightyear, who is allowing himself to be led by his inner voice, which fits wonderfully into the guffaws of this type of silly and campy humour. What I began to notice while the screening went on is that the film continues to come up with a specific theme that ties itself into the plot, the denouement and frankly, throughout the film. Simply put, that would be the fear of rejection or not being wanted/accepted. Herein is where story developers like John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Rashida Jones, Stephany Folsom, amongst others, and all under the directing tutelage of Josh Cooley, spring to life and steer the film into witty and on-fleek, au courant elements that should make excellent fodder for post-parental conversations! What more can be said? Steal away and grab a 10’er and retreat to the coolness of your local cineplex!

Lastly, the other big box office behemoth so far this summer in Spain’s movie houses is Spider Man: Far From Home ###-1/2, with just under 12€M reaped into the Spanish taquilla coffers. This time around finds us back in live-action mode and with our recurring Marvel characters picking up after the what can only be described as intense ending of Avengers:Endgame. Okay then, while I was not a fan of the new Peter Parker with Homecoming from a couple of years back, I can now see how Tom Holland has taken a stab at ye olde generic if endearing dork-that-could appeal, and he feels much more fluid now a few Marvel flicks in. Director Jon Watts and go-to writers McKenna and Sommers seem to strike a chord with their flow, though we really do have to wait until the last half of the film to see the ebb actually catch up with that flow. Here’s why…our Marvel superheroes have gone bye bye, you dig? Flashbacks of the fallen Marvel superheroes actually made me a tad sad to be honest, so when the injection of the last part kicks in with all its CGI glory, what I take the director and writers to be doing, this time around, is actually showing us how Parker is growing into his own belief within himself and his powers. Zendaya as his love interest, and I’ve monitored her from afar for quite some time, is fun as hell to watch, and she should seriously star in a film version of Sade’s life story, but it really does come down to the charm and vivid need for suspension of disbelief that envelops the characters towards the end of the film. This has a lot to do with the enter-stage-right presence of Quentin Beck, a.k.a. Mysterio, played with an enigmatic if smug awareness by Jake Gyllenhaal, and frankly, all of the myriad cast of characters do their thang to breathe a sense of renewal just when you think the film is getting a tad too slow and eager. From Sam Jackson to Marisa Tomei, though perhaps not Jon Favreau as Stark caretaker Happy Hogan…he’s best suited as a director of Disney re-boots these days, me thinks (see The Lion King review above). Apart from all that, I’d say the Marvel universe has quite rightly fixed another pathway into the continuance of the Spiderverse journey.

[ofreflectedskies]

That’s POSEIDON / SIDNEY PO not Stella Maeve. She’s Unknown years old and a God. She may be +Benevolent, +Reasonable, & +Protective but she’s also -Dramatic, -Prideful &  -Careless.

So guys I’m revamping Sid in some aspects so here’s a new intro. Ya’ll also notice I made her a new icon and redid her theme! If anyone is interested in prior connections or anything like that then come at me, I’d love it!!

PAST:

A God, one of the big three. God of the sea, of the ocean, Poseidon af. 

Lived a great long time. During her life had to be apart of the decision to seal the powers of the other Gods and leave them, mortal, for the good of the human race ( they would have died otherwise ). 

Never really got over this?? Very lonely, immense guilt, etc. Sort of traveled the world looking for places to call home ( the only one she could find thou was the ocean ). 

The Godly powers got stolen, the big three acted, a barrier around San Francisco. She’d been there for a long time now and it’s becoming almost a home (and that is a wow ).

When the true Gods were released she felt both relief and fear and a whole mixed bag of lots of emotions. 

CHANGES:

Okay so biggest thing is water is gonna be more tied to her this time around rather then a passing thing she controls. She’s def gonna be more active in the environment and protecting her ocean. She’s a fucking KING after all.  

She’s still the middle child between Zeus and Hades -- AKA, she tries to keep the peace. However, this time around it’s gonna be less at an ease thing and more like. Legit, TRYING to help people and making a difference in the world and settle issues. 

 Swims a lot more?? Like any time she needs to calm down or just have fun, she goes into the water. Sometimes she swims with the fishies, sometimes just sits at the bottom, and other times sort of just takes the shape of water and is legit at ONE with the ocean.

Sometimes goes SCAVAGING at the bottom of the ocean to get rid of the trash. Sometimes if the trash is legit cool stuff like gems or just fancypants stuff she pawns it. So you could find her with the oddest little things found there. 

RIDES HORSES. Loves riding horses, it reminds her of Pegasus (and she misses Pegasus). She could pick up on their feelings a tad bit ( as in, she could pretty much talk horse, just a BIT ).

( STILL ANGRY AT ODYSSEUS. the fucking punk. )

Still pretty chill but also quicker to temper? And more ready to fight someone. Though she’d fight harder on behalf of someone else rather than herself.

NOT proud of her old ways. Lowkey tries to pretend like it didn’t happen? Like all the shit Poseidon used to pull, all the crappy stories and rude and temperamental and all the OOF stories. Def a better person now but beyond certain things, tries not think about the past all too much unless faced with it ( which is why Medusa hit her so damn hard, in more ways then ONE )

This isn’t a SUPER change but like, when Sid falls into a depressive state she could be extremely dramatic. This could go from sitting in the rain and wallowing to just STOPPING and being lowkey catatonic for a bit or just switch her appearance completely to avoid EVERYONE or even let bad shit happen without interference. 

Sometimes these states happen bc her brothers die. other times its bc everyone is SO DAMN MEAN to her ocean. 

CONNECTIONS: 

So I’m keeping her main and most developed connections. If anyone wishes to keep one particular or even a diff kind of pre-made connection we could def do that.

ZEUS - Big SISTER brother. Still loves Zeus so much and still mourning him af. Their relationship will stay fairly the same, with her always trying to defend Zeus’ name and missing them. Developing a tentative soft friendship with Zelda ( can’t wait to see how this goes ha ).

HADES - Little brother. More likely to argue with them, still protective af. When Hades died Sid nearly lost it (she couldn’t live without them BOTH). She worries about him nowadays, two different forms. Lowkey always searching for him, and wants to help him in any way she could. ( she wants to play protective big sister, helpful big sister, but feels like Hades wouldn’t be one to accept that. )

PERSEPHONE - Percy was her roommate and best friend, Percy is dead now. To Sid, it feels like Persephone killed them the same way she killed Zeus. It was the epitome of betrayal ( literally stabbed in the back ) but despite herself, she still does care. ( sometimes she wonders if caring is a problem ).

ARTEMIS - Though Artemis is her niece technically Sid feels more like a big sister. She hates that Artemis lost her Godesshood and would do anything to protect her. Nowadays she tries to watch out for her and sometimes do normal humane stuff with her. ( Getting their nails done together? Wild experience. Truly. )

APOLLO - a sweet but tentative relationship. Sid loves Apollo, thinks the best of him. But she also knows how dangerous he could be, and the two have fought about past choices more than once. ( She hopes one day the fighting with stop, and they could stick to their kinder aspects ). 

GODS AS A WHOLE / OTHER GODS -- Sid has this bad habit where she tries to act like she’s on equal power level with everyone when she could very much destroy the hell out of them. This applies to other Gods too, though they have more chance of getting the best of her rather than normal folk. She tends to try and act like a big sister rather then an aunt ( though not all of them are her niece and nephews, a big chunk of them are ). She stands by the choice the big three made so long ago (but feels deep sorrow for having to lose her family in the process).

MEDUSA - A choice was made and Medusa’s life ruined because of it. It wasn't Sid’s direct hands, but she (he, back then) was involved all too much. Medusa wanted to destroy Poseidon, and she almost did. But then Medusa met Sid and things... changed. The two of them are figuring themselves out right now, but Sid is fairly sure she wants to be Medusa’s girlfriend and might be falling in love with her. ( Might already be in love with her, actually. Not that she could tell. )