#but whenever they mention sylvie its like

[decodedparagram]

On one hand im kneeling beggING PLEADING FOR LOKIUS TO BE THE FIRST IMPORTANT GAY RELATIONSHIP IN MARVEL BECAUSE ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING IS HINTING AT THAT

But

On the other hand i know that disney is a motherfucking COWARD that will never let that happen because they are emotionally atached to the pennies that russia gives them and will go 'they're just buddies 😜 just friends😜😜 pals😜😜😜 totally platonic😜 no homo😜😜😜'

And it suking fucks

[agendabymooner]

closure ! max v. x ofc (hearth sister!ofc)

“it wasn't right—the way it all went down. looks like you know that now.”

summary: sylvie just wanted to prove that she was good enough for the red bull racing team, but everything that had to do with her history with max seemed to get in the way of her determination— and she made sure that he knew that.

content warning: panic attack (and its triggers), use of explicit language, mentions of absent father figure, j*s verst*ppen 🤢, christian horner, frenemies to lovers (ish), confrontational text messages (max and sylvie), max being oblivious to her mental state, mentions of max’s childhood (not detailed)

note: as someone who struggled to find peace at certain situations, I know what it’s like to struggle in asking for help. please remember that there are people that are more than willing to give you the support that you need.

(i may not be able to update any of the smau works for the next two weeks as i am out of town and i only have my ipad with me. i normally do the layouts on my computer. i’ll try my best!)

enjoy xx

masterlist

2016 Spanish GP

If fate worked like this all the time, she might as well jump off the cliff if any of her peers asked for it.

She had been pulled out of her lectures for the week only for her to sit and watch how the racing teams operated. She could only roll her eyes when Christian Horner recommended she should have her presence be known in the paddock and the track as she prepared to work in an F1 team.

Sylvie already knew how everything worked; she was going to be a driver, for fuck’s sake. She had been trained for it. She grew up attending the race weekends because of her father and grandparents. She knew everything now. Hell, she even had Toto Wolff for an in-law (practically). He could just rerun everything to her if she needed to remember.

Christian Horner clearly had a different intention towards her visit. He claimed that she needed to relive the experiences in the garage, the media pit and the hospitality. But she knew the truth.

She had a rapport, her history in the academy was obviously discussed to Christian at some point. How Christian never mentioned anything about her departure from the program to her sister, who now held parts of Red Bull and the other two teams, she never had an answer for. It wasn’t a secret to most. At least to those who were there the day she left.

Tilly was in the Mercedes area, leaving her little sister in the Red Bull hospitality as she listened to nothing. She felt so alone and isolated, her urge to go to Mercedes was overwhelming. But it wasn’t as if she could; Christian had already told her off about her role and position in the company.

It didn’t help that Max Verstappen, donning his number 33 shirt, was in the same building. He was quite adamant on keeping her company but she constantly avoided him, slipping out of his sight as soon as his eyes settled on her.

She found excuses, most of which had something to do with Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian hadn’t minded though, knowing that she felt uncomfortable being around other people especially around Max. Daniel never minded her excuses, instead making up a lie that’s believable to others. Just so she could escape.

Max’s family was there that weekend. Obviously, she knew his mother and Victoria, his sister. Max and Sylvie, the two 18 year olds, were practically soul twins. Born on the same day, grew up together, and had been attached to the hips since the day they could crawl— they were friends, no one just knew what had happened. His mother had always asked Sylvie’s mum about her and how she’d managed to let her friendship with Max dissipate like that. Victoria missed having Sylvie over for tea whenever she visited the Netherlands, asking Max about what he had done to let Sylvie go like that.

Jos Verstappen was a different story. He never liked Sylvie, only holding a certain amount of respect for Julius Hearth and Blanche Ford Hearth. He always wanted Max to be successful at motorsport and this meant that nobody could be as equally good as his son. Not especially when Max’s ability matched Sylvie’s. He always claimed that hanging out with “that girl” will simply distract Max.

Even if he nodded at his father’s direction, Max continued to be friends with Sylvie, spending more time together whenever she and her family would fly and meet with his family.

At the ripe age of 12, Max admitted to her that she’s the closest thing that he had to an imaginary friend. Like he was forced to grow up before he could even walk. She was the one who would pull up the PlayStation whenever he failed to please his father for the tournament of that time. Jos never liked her, but he didn’t know exactly what could’ve made him dislike her. Sylvie didn’t like him, either, because she couldn’t believe that she was the one who’d have to give Max the childhood that he deserved. There are times when she wished she could simply spew out the foulest words and lump him with her own father. Well… she had already considered him a shitty father, and there’s no changing of opinion now.

So for Sylvie to see Jos in the paddock, basically keeping his eye on his son like a pestering hawk? Yeah, she turned away from their direction.

Then another group of people came, the same arrogant smile all over their faces. They taunted her.

She could remember her last week at the academy, when she had enough. These boys questioned her abilities on the track as soon as she started, trying to get her to quit as soon as she could. She didn’t care about them, because whenever they’d race she remained on the top of their level. They hated her because of it. Then on her last day, she was left to be called a name that didn’t even fit her…

“Snake Sylvie!” Matt Bauer was what she called Max’s bitch. He never liked Sylvie and had always wanted to be in Max’s family’s good graces. Alongside him were Max’s two other friends. These three were the same incompetent fucks who never ended in Formula 2. Thus, ending their racing careers early. They were doing fuck knows what these days. Which was quite hilarious, if you were to ask Sylvie, because they were the ones who kept telling Max to “Keep working” or “toughen up and get the first place.”

She couldn’t remember their names when she met them again that weekend, her eyes were already blurry from the tears as she shoved her way through them. “Where are you going?! We’re just going to catch up, babe!”

She didn’t even stop, her feet speeding up as she attempted to wipe her tears away. Her lips let out a stutter of excuse me as she pushed her way into where the Mercedes garage was.

Second free practice didn’t start anytime soon and Sylvie was thankful for that. It, however, never stopped the camera by the engineering station from capturing the sounds of a sobbing girl and an image of her nearly soaked Red Bull shirt as she ran inside. Had she been stronger than this, she wouldn’t have ran to Toto.

As if he knew someone was coming his way, Toto Wolff immediately took his headphones off and turned. His face etched with worry as Sylvie wrapped her arms around his broad figure. She was hysterically sobbing and shaking, her tears almost soaking his white shirt as she kept her head tucked in his chest.

“Can we stop the camera? There’s an obvious situation going on in here and we need a moment,” Sylvie couldn’t hear his voice as it was something more of a rumbling noise. Meanwhile Toto’s stern expression made the cameraman do as he was told. “Hey, schwester, are you okay?”

She was relentless, sobbing as she kept her head down and her arms tightly wrapped around him. She couldn’t speak. Not breathe for that matter. It felt like the last day of the academy all over again. Having no voice felt like she was just as defenseless once more.

“Sylvie, do you want me to take you to your hospitality?” Her bloodshot red eyes, still tearing up, stared into his dark ones as her lips quivered and her head shook left and right. “Do you want your sister?”

Toto knew that the Mercedes hospitality was nearer to the Red Bull area than the Mercedes garage. So for her to go this far just for comfort… something told him that she didn’t want to stress out the pregnant woman and that she needed more than her sister.

He pursed his lips, feeling helpless as he kept an arm around her shoulder as they walked out of the garage. He nodded at his engineers as if he was letting them know about leaving for a moment.

He did his best at comforting her. Rubbed her back, shushing her quietly and gently leading her to the hospitality. People outdoors had gotten a glimpse of her situation and began to speculate, which forced her to hide her face once more as Toto glared at them.

“Come on, schatzi,” inside nobody had batted an eye on her. And instead of speculating, certain people merely looked at the two with concern. What the hell happened, they probably asked themselves.

She was too busy crying and hiding her face away that she hadn’t realized Tilly was already approaching the two. Sylvie didn’t look up until she heard, “What happened, bello?”

“She came to the garage,” Toto said quietly, looking down at his in-law with concern as he said, “she couldn’t say anything because she’s having a hard time breathing.”

“Oh, lovie,” Tilly whispered empathetically, her delicate figure reaching out to hug her little sister, “I’m sorry to hear that. Come, let’s sit down, yes?”

Sylvie could barely think throughout the process of moving from one place to another. They reached the Mercedes motorhome and found themselves in a private room, Sylvie’s lips were swollen and her tear-stained cheeks were red.

She wasn’t even aware that Toto left until his tall figure returned with two bottles of water in his hands. He simply placed it down on the empty table and exchanged looks with his girlfriend. They couldn’t even find a way to help her out of this.

“Listen, Sylvie,” the girl’s sobbing subsided for a moment as Toto said, “I will come back. Okay? I will check and make sure that you’re alright, but I have to go.”

“Yes, go,” Tilly nodded at him, “I’ll be here. Thank you for taking her to me, mon amour.”

“Alright, I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Toto murmured as he leaned down and pecked Tilly’s lips. “I love you.”

“And I love you,” Tilly smiled ruefully, her eyes trained on her little sister as Toto moved to stand and hug Sylvie. Sylvie could only hug his waist, not wanting to let go but had done so anyway.

“Take some time to breathe, lovie,” Toto said for the last time before he left hesitantly.

Nobody but the two were inside the motorhome, thankfully. Sylvie would be so embarrassed to cry in front of other people— as she had done so ten minutes ago. The silence was interrupted by Sylvie’s sobbing. Tilly couldn’t help but wrap her arm around Sylvie’s shoulders, trying to occupy as much space as a pregnant woman could. God, this was the only thing that she didn’t like about her pregnancy. She wasn’t able to comfort her sisters or anyone as much as she’d like to do.

The model couldn’t even think or try to let out a single word, only crying in her sister’s arms as she listened to her shushing. It didn’t take long until the tears dried up. Her energy drained from crying too much over some fuckers who couldn’t even make it to the podium. Them, and that one person would be able to do that on Sunday.

With exhaustion washing over her, her sniffles turned into something more silent as she shut her eyes. It didn’t take long for Tilly to notice this as she stood up, giving more space to the girl on the couch. “Get some rest, lovie,” Tilly said quietly, brushing Sylvie’s hair away as the girl drifted off to sleep.

She really didn’t like being here in Spain.

—

Argument just outside the motorhome was what had woken her up. It was normal to have frustrated drivers or team principals throw a bitch fit, but hearing an argument was a different story.

Her eyes stung from opening after her post-crying nap, her feet meeting the floor as she popped the lid of the bottle open, her parched body taking in the water that she swallowed.

She liked eavesdropping, she really did. She liked to provide her own input even if it’s not needed— she was nosey and everyone knew that. But what she had gone through just about an hour or so ago made her lose the energy and motivation to be her usual self.

It didn’t stop her from walking closer to the door and listening in to whatever argument was going on.

“She’s here to observe and work, she’s not here to spectate,” that was Christian Horner.

“But she’s not feeling well, Christian, she has to rest,” now that’s her favourite in-law. Not really in-law.

“Look, I get that you’re looking out for her but you have to understand,” Christian hissed, “she’ll be signing with Red Bull as soon as she graduates. I cannot have her working with the team if you’re constantly mollycoddling her just because you’re the closest that she has to a father figure. This is a professional work setting, Toto, and she needs to be disciplined to be a part of it.”

“Disciplined, in what way?” The sternness on Toto’s voice could kill, unless you’re just as stupid as Christian as Sylvie heard a scoff coming out of the Red Bull team principal’s mouth.

“Everybody’s going through tough times,” Christian said, “so what? Most of us are moving along anyways. Don’t treat her like a child and make exemptions. She’s never going to learn how to toughen up from it.”

“Hey!” Another voice rung out as the door opened slightly, making her step back as she heard an exclamation of, “That girl was distressed after she left your area— the place where she’s supposed to feel comfortable working in. It’s not her responsibility to bear the problems that are clearly happening within the area of your control, so don’t you tell us how to accommodate if you can barely take care of it. Alright?”

“Fuckin’ prick,” the door slammed shut as Sylvie’s figure remained frozen, her eyes watching as they met Lewis’ dark ones. He smiled gently and asked, “Hey. Are you feeling better now, sweetheart?”

She didn’t respond for a moment after she heard Toto say, “Just give it a rest. She’ll work on what she has to do, just let it go for now. Speak to Tilly, if you would like.”

“Don’t worry about them,” Lewis pulled her back to the couch and sat with her. He leaned back as he joked, “Lovers’ quarrel is what’s going on between the two.”

She chuckled quietly, unable to keep her facade. The laughter fell eventually as she muttered, “I didn’t mean to create such a scene. I’m sorry.”

“What? Hey, girl, no,” Lewis felt his heart break at her words as he reached and rubbed her shoulder for comfort. “Don’t be sorry for snapping. It’s brave of you to keep it together in the first place.”

“I really didn’t mean to make a big deal out of it,” her voice cracked as she tried not to cry. Thinking about it was exhausting and saddening. “It’s just— there’s—“

“It’s okay, take a deep breath,” Lewis told her softly. She did as she was told. Many would say that it’s a rare thing to happen but Sylvie listened.

“There’s just people,” Sylvie explained quietly, not looking at Lewis as she murmured, “I haven’t seen them for a while and… I felt so uneasy. Like it’s the final nail in the coffin. I didn’t want to make a big deal because it was at Red Bull. Nobody’s in there. Toto, you and Tilly are in Mercedes.”

“Sorry we couldn’t be there,” Lewis told her sympathetically. “But it’s a good idea that you went to the garage as quickly as you did. Now look, even Christian’s facing Toto’s wrath.”

“I don’t want to think about it anymore,” Sylvie whispered shakily, shutting her eyes close as she sighed, “I just want some closure.”

The next few days were dreadful. She hadn’t wanted to go back to England as much as she did that weekend.

The people she never wanted to see were there. The sad part of it was the fact that Max would continue to be a part of her life and job, whether she liked it or not. She’d have to tolerate him, no matter how much shit she had gone through because of him and those people around him. This was the second time she had seen him and felt so angry. It was like her life was a race. It starts out very well, with her at the pole. But then she crashes the moment she tries to take advantage and overtake.

On Sunday, Max landed in P1. Sylvie watched him pop the cork of the Moet out and showered his fellow podium winners with it. The text that she then received and sent spilled everything that had nothing to do with champagne. But rather explained how she ended up leaving the academy after that damn open tournament four years ago.

Max complains a lot, he could admit, but he never felt so guilty as much as he did when he practically berated her through a series of text messages. He always demanded answers to things that he believed had explanations, and he wouldn’t stop until he got it. But sometimes he wished his relentless demands were silenced by his conscience.

He felt extremely guilty and upset. It wasn’t because Sylvie Hearth refused to give in to his demands, but rather because her answers explained her hatred and anger. It wasn’t just any anger. It was an ounce of hatred and a lot of anger directed towards him.

Because really, he was the reason why Sylvie never turned out to be the first woman to become a Formula One driver. She never got the seat in Red Bull Racing and Max had gotten it instead. Now he understood why she would refuse to speak to or look at him as if they were childhood best friends and act like they were strangers.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

I have watched Loki's second season, and I have so many feelings... I apologize for the rant ahead!!

This season feels like the writers listened to fan's critics. But somehow, they managed to get it wrong anyway... Take Loki's role: he is, without a doubt, the lead character this time. They even have him speak about his past (another big complaint about the first season) and they have him literally say what his motivations are (he doesn't want to be alone, he is searching for a place to belong), but it feels so damn wrong! Yes, it's true, belonging is a crucial point for Loki, and I would have been very happy to see him finally finding a place to call home, but.... the TVA 2.0?! Seriously?! And it's all so rushed. Almost overnight, the TVA becomes now a good thing, its new purpose is to protect all timelines and prevent Kang's variants to start another war - yes, there is a small group of people who still believe in pruning the other timelines, but the problem is easily and quickly contained and forgotten. I really have to believe that such a big and complex organization, with countless brainwhased "workers" and soldiers, just because Mobius (an obscure analyst), Loki (who for everyone is still a dangerous variant) and B15 (a rogue hunter, previously detained) say so, suddenly becomes the new Amnesty International. I mean. It could have been a great story of change and renewal, if only they would have taken the time to actually tell it...

Sylvie deserves a moment all for herself. I don't like her, and I didn't like her romance with Loki, but the writers put her in this show, they created big expectations on her role, and in this second season they just... forget about her, without a reason. They even have erased the romance between her and Loki, and again, I didn't like it, but if you want to erase a romance, then do it properly! Instead, it feels like it never happened. Loki was very clearly attached to her in the previous season - he wanted her to be okay, he even asked her to figure out their lives together, after everything, and sure, they had a big fight in the last episode, but... again, it's like it never happened. Now Loki doesn't particularly care about Sylvie (yes, she is in his group of "friends", but nothing more), he just feels somehow inexplicably guilty when she is around, and Sylvie seems like she has troubles remembering who he is... Not to mention her choices after she kills He Who Remains. Again, I really have to believe that after all her trauma and tragedy, after all the travels around worlds and apocalypses, apparently all a norse goddess might want is a job at a MacDonald. What a terrible lack of imagination... And I get the "I want to live a humble, simple life, to enjoy little pleasures", it's a beautiful concept, really, but I'm not exactly sure that working in a fast food chain is such a heavenly and simple life - ask real workers how beautiful and full of little pleasures that life really is. But no, here it is the new american dream. To sell hamburgers on a minimum wage.

And yes, the ending was good. To see Loki finally secure of himself, to see him finding his purpose and his powers, it was cathartic, even if bittersweet: we already knew he was capable of great things! And, at least to me, it didn't feel much like a sacrifice: he does not die, he does not suffer; yes he is alone (side note: at least Mobius has the decency of feeling sad to have lost his friend, Sylvie simply doesn't care, which is unlikely even for her, but they wrote her like that, so...), but he has the means to travel across time and space whenever he likes (he literally spent centuries studying physics! Who knows what else he could do!), he is not trapped inside the time branches. He becomes the most powerful being in the MCU so far, truly a God, and in that his ending is way better than Thor's ending (poor Thor...). But Loki gets here for all the wrong reasons, and the thing that I hated the most is that he needed Mobius advice. So, in the end, Mobius gets to say that he always felt like pruning timelines was a heavy burden, but a burden he chose to bear for a greater good in lack of better options. Seriously?! And we have to pause and think "oh, you see, he wasn't really a mindless killer, he had pity, empathy, especially for children, poor him, he was just trying to do the right thing..." and we have to accept that what Loki does in the end is inspired by him, can be compared to what TVA did for centuries. In fact, what Loki does is presented as an improvement: TVA's purpose was to avoid the multiversal war and to avoid the distruction of all timelines by protecting just one of them, they did it as best as they could given the impossible circumnstances, now thanks God (literal God: Loki) someone else can keep all the branches alive without the whole world collapsing, so they can focus on finding Kang's variants and avoiding the war, yay!

I have much more to say, but I ranted enough for now. Thanks for reading all this :)

Loved the rant! 😉

I'm glad to hear he wasn't sidelined in this one. It's crazy because I remember a review published before the series aired saying the exact opposite, so… I'm glad they were wrong.

No wonder it felt rushed, 6 eps are not enough to tell a good story, not when they pretend to take the lead character from point A to B with a completely different characterization/motivation. And I suppose it's made worse by the fact that Loki was always this complex character so trying to tell a story where he's hilariously basic just can't work out.

They're wasting an outrageous amount of money on these eps, making a longer series is unattainable, especially when everything I have read on the matter states these streaming services are not making huge numbers, if anything Disney+ is losing money.

I'm not surprised the TVA are shown as good though, Marvel thinks they're Shield. If they refused to acknowledge that Shield was corrupted in its core, they were never going to do it with the TVA.

Why does Loki feel guilty around Sylvie though? Are they still claiming he was in the wrong in the S1 finale? That's insane!

I couldn't agree more with you about flipping burgers at McD's. It screams of elitism that these execs are so stupid they think these jobs are what… humbling? A life lesson? If Sylvie wanted a simple life you can't give her a mid-life crisis or a break where she does something a human would do. She's not human, she's a goddess.

I feel bad that they ignored her though. It seems she didn't have as big a fanbase as we were led to believe but to write her as the main character in S1 only to push her aside in order to show more Loki/Mobius is just wrong. The problem with Sylvie is not that she exists, is that she was written only to take the spotlight from Loki and make him look bad, she never had a complex story of her own.

And with Mobius… the very same guy who said the TVA was his glorious purpose, the same guy who said he didn't waste time in questioning anything and he just accepted what was, the same guy who put Loki in a torture chamber for escaping them… we have to fall for that "I was doing it for the greater good"? Come on, now! 🤦‍♀️😂

[csolarstorm]

Thoughts on Loki, Episode 2-5: Science/Fiction

Can these characters just cool it with the dying metaphors for one second? First we get pruning, which sends people to the end of time, which is basically purgatory. Mobius gets pruned, Loki gets pruned. Sylvie feels left out so she prunes herself.

Now that pruning is old, spaghetti-fying takes its spot this season as the new way to not really die at least not permanently. Not only does p-p-poor Mr. Victor Timely "die" heroically, we can assume everyone else got spaghetti-fied in the explosion of the Temporal Loom. And then when Loki gets the gang back together in Ep. 5, they get noodle-d all over again! Not to mention the poor record store guy, whose first reaction to the incomprensible failure of spactime was to warn and/or protect Sylvie. Aw, what a guy.

I have to confess I still don't understand the Temporal Loom. It's taking raw time and weaving it into timelines, and without it...time falls apart? Without it, time is "raw" and organized time doesn't exist? Okay, then how did the universe work BEFORE the Temporal Loom? Does every universe have a TVA and a Temporal Loom literally creating their timeline? Why does the fabric of spacetime literally depend on Kang? That doesn't seem right.

It would make more sense if "raw" time is still something people can live in, and the Loom was just organizing "raw" time for He Who Remains' timeline. But after Episode 5, it's pretty clear that the literal fate of the multiverse depends on the Temporal Loom working, and I find that a bit ridiculous. Hopefully I'm missing something.

I have a theory about Loki's time jumping. We see him meeting himself at different points in time several times in the show. He really seems fractured, scattered throughout time. What if this is what it's like to be spaghetti? Maybe each of these Lokis are a single noodle of the Loki scattered through time, and each noodles looks like a snapshot of Loki, until they glitch and twist and collapse on themselves, snapping to other times like a noodle attached to another end.

Does this theory affect anything? Absolutely not.

In the next episode, Loki, the fledgling God of Stories, will attempt to rewrite the Temporal Loom explosion so they can save the TVA and all time, always, because apparently the multiverse needs the TVA to function. As he keeps trying, we are sure to see more explosions and more spaghetti before he figures it out. And that leads me to my point:

Dying and being reborn with new knowledge is such an integral theme to Loki. This new Loki is a symbolic reincarnation of the Loki that that Thanos killed. He made friends, learned humility, fell in love, seriously considered questions about the greater good, and then acknowledged his power and responsibility as a voice in the reform of the TVA.

Whenever he experiences metaphorical "death", he learns information that changes his entire paradigm. When he's pruned in the first season, he goes through his own little Divine Comedy. He learns perspective about himself from spending time with his variants. He learns about Alioth, a pivotal piece of the multiversal war. And he meets He Who Remains, who changes his entire perspective on existence.

In Season 2, Loki's rebirth after the explosion of the Temporal Loom shows him his friends and their backstories, what gives them joy and why he wants to save the TVA so badly. With this new understanding of what he really wants, he is able to control his time jumping, as if he's been reborn onto a higher plane.

The fall streaming schedule this year has been a gold mine. There was Gen V, Loki, Rick and Morty (ironically the spaghetti episode is coming up...or is it on purpose...) and now even the return of Invincible. Loki has come really close to the quality of last season, and it does a good job of doing something really different and yet thematically the same to keep a coherent and gripping show.

[stinkrascal]

🌸 TAG YOU’RE IT! Name your Top 5 OTP created by your fellow simmers. Spread the love and happy simming! 🌸

oh yes this ask was made for me!! i love love!! ok lets go:

elia and makoa by @warmsol of course!! they are my forever otp. ive been there since the beginning, like i literally remember when lune was just a casual gameplay, seeing its transition from a casual gp to such an involved love story makes me feel so nostalgic, like im watching my favorite show from childhood. kai and ashton are a close second!!

serena and mia by @itsmariejanel theyre just so precious together, whenever i see a post w them my heart sings!! (special mention to kiara and jace as well, i've been rooting for them since day one haha)

miles and sylvie by @peonypyxels they are just so adorable together! although i will admit the latest posts made me scared as hell, but im glad miles made the right choice bc i'd seriously kill him otherwise <3

kellen and beau by @tartiish im really rooting for kellen right now, DONT MESS THIS UP BOY 😩

tobias and circe by @orphyd THEYRE JUST SUCH A BEAUTIFUL COUPLE arent they?! whenever nia posts her gameplay of them it makes me so happy, i love seeing them in love <3

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Since this is my first post on this blog, I figured I’d layout some basic information about who I am as a fan and what this blog will be about. This will be a pinned post. (If I can figure out how to do that. I’ve been a Tumblr vet of 13 or 14 years, well before pinned posts were a thing. And if there’s one thing tumblrinas are, it’s stubborn as all hell and resistant to change. So I’ve never made a pinned post before.) I’m sorry it’s so long; I’m a rambler. But let’s jump into it. 

My basic, core text for my Loki fan-hood, my Gospel of Loki religion, if you will, at least in the comics and what I’m always trying to assimilate into the MCU and any other comics that I read is Loki: Agent of Asgard by Al Ewing, which started its run in 2013. That’s probably where I get most of my theories and headcanons and how I characterize Loki. So if you’re confused about something I’m stating as a fact, it’s probably because it’s something I got from Agent of Asgard, especially when I’m talking about Loki as a comic book character rather than in the MCU. Regardless of who wrote the comic that I’m talking about or if what I’m referencing was even in AoA at all, I’m probably stacking it against how Loki is characterized in that comic run. Though I will try to state that that’s where I’m getting that theory or assumption about Loki. 

Regardless of what source, even if I’m talking about the mythological Norse deity, it doesn’t matter, Loki is genderfluid (in my definition of the term as a genderfluid person, not the MCU’s definition of the term and in some cases not even the comics’ definition of the term) and either bisexual or pansexual. I usually say pan, but people are saying bi in terms of the MCU. The thing is, I don’t think we ever really get an explicit statement about one or the other for him. What we do get in the comics is him saying that on Asgard, there are sexual acts, not sexual identities. So he doesn’t even see himself as having a sexual identity, it’s just who he’s attracted to at any given time. So really it could go either way. Additionally, I tend to use he/him or they/them pronouns when talking about Loki unless I’m specifically referencing a moment in the comics (or one of my fics) when Loki is a woman, just because most of the time in anything (movies, tv shows, novels, comics) Loki seems to be presenting as a man. (He’s also said in the comics that any pronouns are fine whenever.)

I ship Loki with a lot of characters, both MCU and characters as yet exclusive to comics or Marvel-commissioned novels. However, I tend to ship him with a lot more guys than women. I do also ship him with one little known genderfluid character (I’ll probably talk about them in another post and why I ship them with him). This doesn’t mean I’m against him being with a girl. I just think that he has this running habit both in the comics and as we’ve seen a little bit on the show (and Mackenzi Lee’s Where Mischief Lies), where he chooses women who turn on him almost immediately. And I’m tired of it. Maybe I’ll get into that a little more in a later post (they say, continuing to make promises they likely can’t keep), about the juxtaposition between the men that I ship him with or that he canonically gets with for a little while and how they treat him versus the women that he is--because of the heteronormative world we live in--more often canonically together with, and how they tend to treat him. 

Which leads me to state, I am a Sylki anti. I’m sorry to those of you who may ship that (assuming there’s anyone who’s going to be looking at this blog). I won’t tag any of my hate, but it may come up in searches sometimes, when you aren’t searching the tag but mentions of the word, so sorry, I can’t control that. I’m not a selfcest shipper in general (with the small exception of Moon Knight, but that’s a conversation for a blog I’m not going to make). I’m not a Sylvie hater, though. I just hate the ship. I love Sylvie and would die for her and she’s perfect and can do no wrong, except for that one time she kissed Loki. Also I absolutely do think that Loki would fuck himself in a heartbeat, I just don’t want to see it and I don’t ship it. I probably won’t talk about it too much, unless I’m ranting about the show being so no-homo that they created selfcest. But again, I will never tag my hate; I’m not looking for a fight and that shit’s just petty. Don’t do it, guys.

So this blog itself will be a variety of things: rank lists, essays because I have a lot to say about this character (and right now I’ve been forcing my best friend to deal with all my feelings), photos and descriptions of my collection (because I recently put it all together in its own spot and I have a lot of shit and it just keeps growing because I cannot help myself), plugs for my Loki fics (I’m very nervous about going online and saying “I wrote this, please read it” but then I go on AO3 like “Why is nobody reading this? :(((” so this is the place I’m going to try to do that sometimes), as well as anything else Loki related that I feel like talking about. I might reblog some things I find elsewhere, but it’s not likely, at least not at the beginning. I’ll also do my best to source anything that isn’t mine. 

[messymindpalace]

Okay, hear me out.

In the post credit scene of WandaVision, Wanda hears her two sons asking for help.

A lot has been discussed about this sceane, whether this is a memory (when they were taken by Agatha) or if like the comics both Tommy and Billy are alive in a different universe, living as Speed and Wiccan.

Now, in the second episode of Loki we have Lady Loki/Sylvie blowing up the sacred time line creating different ramifications with different outcomes to every event that had happened or will happen.

Would I be going way beyond to imagine that maybe in one of this ramifications both Tommy and Billy were really born?

I don't think so. Why? Because we had one of this during WandaVision's "commercials":

Which was never explained in WandaVision.

Until Loki.

When Loki is learning about the sacred time line he learns that whenever a variant is out of its predetermined path it creates a nexus.

When Sylvie/Lady Loki dropped the bombs along the sacred time line that's what she did, she created nexus all around.

So it would not be crazy to assume that the mention of nexus in WandaVision was a information previously implemented in order to tie it with Loki's series.

Also, let's not forget that Dr.Darcy, from Thor's movies, not only appeared on WandaVision but was the one who first understood what Wanda was doing. Marvel wouldn't randomly use a character from another franchise without a cause.

Now, where does it ties with Dr.Strange In The Multiverse of Madness? Well, not only on the title but probably with the fact that Wanda will probably further compromise the sacred time line by trying to track Billy and Tommy, being Dr.Strange's responsibility to try to resolve what Sylvie/Lady Loki did (meaning messing up with the sacred time line) since that's basically his job (to protect his universe).

This theory would also explain how would be possible to Tom Holland's Spiderman to meet with both Tobey and Andrew's Spidermans on Spiderman No Way Home, if all the rumours are right.

Let's not forget that Marvel always finds a way to intertwine all of information that it "randomly" throws at us.

And that's my theory. Hopefully I explained it throughly and clearly.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[thebookreader12345]

Road Rage

Pairing: Kelly Severide x Rhodes! reader

Summary: Y/N gets into a bad car accident, with Squad 3 first on the scene. Her boyfriend, Kelly, helps her stay calm while they free her, and at the hospital, her older brother Connor and Kelly are worried about her

Requested: Yes, by anonymous

Warnings: slight swearing, mention of injuries

Word Count: 1,213 Words

One moment, I was driving home from work. The next, I was being t-boned by another car on the driver’s side. After that, I fell in and out of consciousness for a bit. Now though, I was fully awake, and I was freaking out. I could hear sirens approaching the scene, and I tried to focus on them, but it wasn’t working too well. My head was throbbing, and I could feel blood trickling down the side of my face. My side also hurt like hell, and when I tried to move, it felt like something was stabbing me. My legs were pinned beneath the dashboard, so I couldn’t see if they were hurt, but I could barely feel my left leg, so I was going to assume something was wrong.

“Y/N! Y/N!” Kelly shouted and appeared at my passenger window. “Don’t move, okay. We’re going to get you out of there.”

“Its not like I can move anyways,” I mutter weakly.

“Capp, find a way to move that other car. We need to get Y/N out of here,” Kelly ordered.

“Got it,” Capp responded.

“The guy in the other car, is he okay?” I ask.

“Don’t worry about him right now. Just focus on me” Kelly spoke calmly.

“Its hard to do that when I feel like I’m going to die,” I mumble, tears leaking from the corners of my eyes.

“Hey. Don’t say that. You’re going to be okay,” Kelly said.

That’s when I coughed, and my side exploded with pain. I winced and closed my eyes, taking a few deep breaths. I didn’t want to die. Not here. Not now.

“All right, Y/N, we’re pulling the other car away now. That way we can get to you and get you out of there,” Kelly explained.

“Okay” I murmur and cast my eyes out the front windshield, which had sustained some serious damage, seeing as a huge crack spanned the whole thing. I took another deep breath, causing more pain to arise in my side, but I ignored it and tried to stay calm. After a couple of seconds, the huge weight that was pressed against my side was lifted, meaning the car of the other drive must’ve been moved.

“I’ve got the spreaders, Lieutenant,” Cruz said and held up the tool.

“Okay. Lets get Y/N out of here,” Kelly told him. Cruz stuck the spreaders into the door, but as soon as he turned them on, an immense amount of pain arose in my side.

“Stop! Stop!” I cry out.

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” Kelly asked me.

“There’s something lodged in my side. Whenever you guys use the spreaders, you jostle it,” I explain through the pain.

“Get me cutters,” Kelly demanded before turning to me. “Y/N, I’m going to put my jacket up to block the sparks from getting to you, okay?”

“Okay,” I say.

Kelly held his jacket up against the side of my face, and I heard the cutters go on, but I ignored the sound. After a few seconds, I felt my side disconnect from the car door, and Kelly took the jacket away from my face.

“We’re going to get a collar on you, and then we’ll get you on the stretcher,” Kelly informed me.

Kelly took a collar from Sylvie and leaned through the missing driver’s side window, placing the collar around my neck. Then, as soon as my door was removed, and my dashboard was lifted a bit, Kelly carefully maneuvered me from the car onto a stretcher. Everything hurt like hell, and somehow, I managed to keep it all in, but internally I was freaking out. It didn’t take long to get to Chicago Med, and right as my stretcher was rolled into the ED, my older brother Connor was hovering over me.

“Y/N! What the hell happened to you?” Connor asked.

“Car accident,” Kelly replied from his spot next to me.

“All right. Lets get her to Trauma 2,” Connor said and rolled my stretcher into the nearest room.

“Connor, I can’t feel my left leg,” I tell my brother. Connor glanced down at my leg, and his face paled.

“You’ve got compartment syndrome. We’ve got to get you up to surgery right away to decompress that leg” Connor explained.

“You’re going to be okay” Kelly said and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” I mumble.

The next thing I remember was waking up in a hospital bed. My left leg was wrapped up in thick white bandages, and my side had a piece of gauze taped over the wound I received from whatever was lodged in my side. I was still a bit groggy from the anesthesia, but it only took a few minutes for the rest of it to wear off. I glanced around, hoping to catch sight of a familiar face, but no one was around. I groaned and shifted in my bed, moving myself into a more comfortable position. That’s when Kelly entered the room with a cup of coffee followed by Connor, who held a tablet in his hands.

“Hey, babe. I’m glad to see that you’re awake,” Kelly spoke and took a seat in the chair next to my bed, squeezing my hand.

“I am too. I can’t have my baby sis dying on me,” Connor exclaimed.

“I’m only 2 years younger than you, and I’m not a baby anymore,” I point out.

“Well, you are to me, and you always will be. You feeling okay?” Connor asked me.

“My leg and side hurt like hell, but other than that, I feel all right,” I answer. “When will I be able to get back to work?”

“Man, are all members of the Rhodes family workaholics? Because it seems like you are,” Kelly said.

“We prefer to say work-driven. But to answer your question, Y/N, you should probably be able to get back to work within two weeks. Your leg looks like its healing well, and as long as your side is bandaged up, it should be good. Might I add that I did a fantastic job,” Connor admitted.

“Connor, your arrogance is showing,” I joke. “But thanks for saving me.”

“Yeah, man. Thanks,” Kelly spoke.

“No problem. You take care of my sister, all right,” Connor told Kelly.

“Of course. When we’re able to get back home, I won’t let her out of my sight,” Kelly confirmed.

“I’ll talk to you later, Y/N,” Connor said before leaving my room.

“Thanks for keeping me calm earlier,” I tell Kelly. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

Kelly smiled and kissed my hand. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“So, when I get out of here, can we have pizza for dinner? Please,” I beg. “You know how much I hate hospital food.”

“Whatever you want, babe. For now, just focus on getting better,” Kelly said.

“Okay, but I will be counting on that pizza,” I input.

Kelly laughed. “I love you so much. Did you know that?”

“It may have occurred to me once or twice, but you could always tell me again just so I don’t forget,” I say.

“I’ll say it as many times as you want me too. I love you,” Kelly confessed and kissed me.

____________________

Tag List:

@prettypyschoinpink @securityfriendly-jay @scarletsoldierrr @lorenakaspersen @virtualreader @carnationworld @caitsymichelle13​ @campingmonkey @winterberryfox @anotherfan07 @giagma

[greensaplinggrace]

What Is There To Celebrate About the Darkling? (Part 2)

1 2 3 4

He’s a musician. He plays the fiddle.

He’s the darkness to Alina’s light. He’s steeped in yin and yang symbolism. His banner is the eclipse.

The Starless Saint is a badass title.

Him and Alina are soulmates.

He’s eternal. He’s tragic. He has a vast and complex history that we can’t even begin to unravel, but one that would be so incredibly interesting to learn about.

He’s wicked smart. Very intelligent. A great tactician.

He sits as an equal with his men and treats his soldiers well.

He has a complex relationship with the Otkazat’sya. He doesn’t hate them as most would assume, and in fact trusts quite a few with his life and the lives of the Grisha

That entire scene in Demon in the Woods where Sylvi keeps asking to play with his shadows and he smiles while he makes shapes and lets her have fun with them.

His title is the Darkling, which is honestly just kind of pathetic and makes me think of tiny fluffy shadows. So whenever people refer to him as the Darkling I think of him as a baby shadow and that’s entirely Leigh Bardugo’s fault.

He’s a murderer and he looks sexy doing it.

Do I agree with him killing all of those ambassadors? No. Do I think it was funny? Yes. Did I hate the ambassadors with a burning passion? Also yes. Was I cheering when they died? Quite possibly.

Dumbass didn’t tell Alina about Marie or the Conductor, so every time he mentions how he’s doing this for her she literally has no idea wtf he’s talking about.

“Fine, make me your villain.”

Gave Alina the most elaborate and plush tent in the universe even though she was his prisoner.

The way he says “Mal” when they first meet like a scorned lover surprised to see his ex at a ball.

“Where is the boy? I have my Summoner. I want my tracker too.”

The way he kisses Alina in episode five like a man starved.

How surprised and enamored he is after she kisses him for the first time

“I used to come here as a child” he said, like a liar

His hair is perfect and beautiful.

He looks stunning even when he’s crawling out of the fold like a bat with rabies.

His face scars.

His entire bromance with Ivan.

“Ivan? My kefta!” Bro do you not have legs? Why is Ivan dressing you?

Literal walking disaster of an ancient being.

“I bEg YoUr PaRdOn?”

When the Little Palace is called quaint and he looks as if he’s about to commit a murder.

“After a long moment he said, ‘Aleksander.” A little laugh escaped me. He arched a brow, a smile tugging at his lips. ‘What?’ ‘It’s just so…common.’ Such an ordinary name, held by kings and peasants alike. I’d known two Aleksanders at Keramzin alone, three in the First Army. One of them had died on the Fold. His smile deepened and he cocked his head to the side. It almost hurt to see him this way. ‘Will you say it?’ he asked.”

He talks about how amazing Alina is and how much she matters constantly.

He can speak multiple languages.

Every time he uses the merzost is something to be celebrated because it legit just looks like porn.

“’Alina’s blade wrapped in my shadows and your blood.’ The Darkling’s voice was thoughtful, like he was remembering a favorite recipe.”

He’s very protective. He’s a protector.

He created the Little Palace.

Him looking absolutely feral in that entire fight scene with Mal in the fold. Also never really realized how long his legs were until I saw him get flipped on his ass.

Ben Barnes saying moya tsaritsa.

The mental bond with Alina only works when they’re both thinking about each other. Alina sees him when she’s kissing Mal.

He makes so many innuendos about his relationship with Alina for someone who barely even got past first base.

Gets reverse uno’d to shit and back by Alina when trying to seduce her. Catches feelings like an amateur. Tragically unable to think about literally anything else anymore.

Have I mentioned that he’s whipped as shit yet? Because he is.

The dramatic coat billow when he enters the stag scene like a classic fantasy villain. Only man on the planet who doesn’t need words to say “I’m the bad guy.”

He lets Mal get healed.

Wears all black even though his favorite color is every single other one on the planet.

Gives zero fucks about Mal escaping for someone who felt so threatened by the guy literally two seconds ago.

“I’m not going to kill you, Mal. I don’t need to. Time will do it for me.” Me, who knows how this is going to end: yeah it sure will buddy.

The way he wraps his legs around Alina in the name scene.

He created the fold.

He loved Luda and he loved Annika (as a friend) and he loved Alina. His feelings for them all were genuine and all encompassing, and that’s not talked about nearly enough.

He defends Annika and Sylvi from Lev.

He embodies the “that’s my wife” meme.

Height difference.

The way he speaks so softly. Idk if its my issues with men yelling, but the Darkling being soft-spoken was what made me really appreciate his character from the start.

But also, him pulling the knife out of his chest and screaming “it will take more than this!” 🥵

He’s bisexual as fuck.

He’s here, he’s queer, and he’s ready to murder an entire city.

Him going absolutely apeshit when Alina disappears. Convinced she’s been kidnapped.

He makes shadows go snip.

Alina loves him (despite the warning signs).

Oh, what’s that? It’s a tracker! *gets tackled over the edge of a skiff*

Unkillable. Will come back to life just to fuck with you. Gives zero shits about the way reality should work.

Would sell Alina’s and his own soul to the devil for a corn chip. But sike! He’s actually the devil. So now he’s got two souls and a corn chip.

He’s just plain amazing. 💖

[nincompoopydoo]

DEBRIS AND MISERY

DOUBT MAKES THE STRONG WEAK ; PART 8 / ?

PAIRING: Loki Laufeyson x Female!Reader WORD COUNT: 3.5k SUMMARY: From concussions to destruction, you find yourself developing an odd trust in the last two people you would even begin to have faith in and when the apocalypse seems unavoidable, you discover that there may be more to the mystery of the universe. A/N: Well, this chapter is long. And mainly pertains around the theme of 'doubt'. A lot more of Sylvie stuff and Loki just having heart eyes the whole time. I love this chapter and I can’t wait to write more as the story ends. Please tell me what you love, hate, anything (maybe theories lol). Thank you for showing so much love. gif from this gifset by @kamalaskhans WARNINGS: Swearing. Apocalypse. Injuries. Blood. support my writing through ko-fi💖 MASTERPOST ; MASTERLIST

You were once a fighter.

Hunter E-87 was the name you once knew, hollered through different fields and dimensions in time and space. You fought for what you thought was right, pledging allegiance to a cosmic establishment that held all power to a single timeline and never questioned the works of the Time-Keepers. The Sacred Timeline is indeed sacrosanct, too important, too valuable to interfere. You fight in the name of the single thread of time, the bark of a tree, forbidden to bare branches of a potential multiverse. You fight because the thought of alternate timelines used to scare you. Yet, if alternate universes were meant to be, the lives you took and destroyed are now in the grasp of your bloody hands. You hold the responsibility of the death of the innocent, taking part in mass genocide.

But promises must be kept.

The thought constantly haunts you in your sleep. You have dreams of death, war, destruction, and famine from across the universe. People seem to glide like specters in the world built by your imagination and mind. You have seen a lot, more than any being in the universe should, but no one talks about the aftermath of witnessing the tragedy of the universe as time goes on and on. No one talks about what it does to the mind. Music from cassettes and the wonder of human space exploration were distractions to cope with the grinding hole in you and the fact you might be turning truly crazy.

Sometimes, you would like to be human—Fewer problems and less time to live.

You blame the sickening and bizarre vivid images that come and go whenever you close your eyes as a symptom of being a hunter. The others are stronger than you. Well, they act like they are. Becoming an analyst made you sleep better but there was always doubt. Sakaar made you doubt.

Doubt makes the strong weak. Doubt makes you weak.

“You startin’ to have doubts?”

Green eyes. They watch you with curiosity with a hint of amusement. You hear yourself hum. “Would it be bad if I said yes?”

He laughs. It’s mighty. “Yeah. Definitely bad.”

A beat of silence. You feel your eyes start to sting. “I couldn’t even tell my mom.” A laugh escapes your lips despite the hurt you feel in your chest. “Did you tell anyone? Your wife?”

You see him now, blonde hair slicked back and deep-set eyes. He shakes his head. “Nope. Not even my wife.”

“She’ll be proud, you know.”

“I know...So will your mom. Jesus, you’re gonna be the first woman on—”

Wake up.

“—Is she dead?”

The voice is familiar. It pulls you back to reality but right now, your eyes are too heavy. Doubt is the first emotion that waves through your brain before the process of pain can even occur—uncertain if you are dead or alive.

You can’t feel your limbs, they are too weak.

Doubt makes the strong weak. Doubt makes you weak.

Maybe, you are dead.

“This is your fault! You’re the one who swung that sword of yours to her head! You’re careless—”

Sword...Sword...Careless? You remember a train, a fight.

“Oh, I’m the one who’s careless? You’re the one who’s drunk!”

Drunk...Who was drunk?

Then, your voice echoes in your head, images of a certain brunette with a deep frown. He called you a mewling quim. You quoted Hávamál. You then left him and wandered through the other cabins of the train. He blew his cover. He got you into a fight.

Loki. Loki Laufeyson.

Son of a bitch.

Your eyes are wide open now. All you see are the faces of Loki and Sylvie, looming over you. Just two floating heads. Then, the pain arrives, coursing through the entire back of your head. You wince in immediate reaction and the floating heads turn to you in an instant.

What a way to wake up from a concussion.

You remember everything now, but you certainly don’t recall being on the outside of the train. Must have gotten thrown out. The thought angers you, irritation practically boiling to the brim. Yet, it’s your fault. You hadn't thought to babysit the very person you wish were dead. As your palm grips onto the dirt beneath, muscling all strength left to lift yourself. Your head feels light and heavy all at once. Not good.

“Are you alright?” is the question that flies from Loki’s lips, tinged with an emotion you never knew he had for another but himself—worry. Whether selfless or selfish, you wish to ignore the complexity of Loki’s reactions and possible change in character, especially towards you. Ever since you stepped foot on Lamentis, all you felt was pain. You have never been injured so much within the last few hours than in your entire life and weirdly, you feel fine.

Sylvie is quick to stand, watching the two of you work in tandem. His grip finds the curve of your shoulders as you stick your hand out to grip him by the bicep. At your touch, you notice how his arm stiffens ever so slightly. You don’t say anything.

Some things about Loki are best left unknown and unanswered.

Today is filled with a lot of getting off the ground in the most unceremonious way possible.

A deep exhale leaves your lips, wisps of your hair drifting with the brutal breeze from your nostrils. Beads of sweat trail along the curve of your forehead and the back of your neck. Some entangled with the strands of your hair. Your hands feel clammy and dirty but you run them to push your hair back and away from your face anyway.

“I’m fine,” you mumble, pulling yourself away from his touch.

You finally get a good look at the two. Loki looks like complete shit but Sylvie manages to maintain the regalness to the locks of her hair despite her opposing overall behavior. It’s the Asgardian blood coursing through her veins. You cannot hide your ancestors' blood. It’s hard to believe the two are the same—one being. Yet, it's believable when you’re angry at the two of them.

The two messed up your career, that’s why.

Unbothered and uncivilized. It’s a miracle you’re still alive.

As your eyes shift along the train tracks that meander along a gorge with steep rocky walls that leer above it, you catch sight of a spark by your feet, glinting under the iridescent sky.

It’s the TemPad, shattered into pieces; you recognize the color gold of its border.

Your eyes grow wide, mouth agape. You don’t even feel angry anymore, it’s more than that. You stick out your hand to gesture towards the destroyed device, “Is that—Is that the TemPad?” you ask as your other hand lifts to hold the side of your head. “Or am I just seeing things from the concussion?”

Sylvie is the one to speak. “It’s not the concussion.”

You suddenly feel like you’re burning.

If it were possible, you could have instantly killed him with a look.

“You. You killed us!” you step closer to him and for a moment, Loki doesn’t exactly know what to do. “So, it’s my fault then? You were the one who left me alone in the lounge.” are the words that leave his lips. Completely useless. Trying to diffuse the tension is the exact opposite of what he does.

His silver tongue isn’t so shiny and silver anymore.

You don’t pull your blow this time. Your palm strikes his cheek, rocking his head to the side. Your hand is oddly soft. Loki winces and you stand your ground. “You’re a jerk and an asshole. You’ve probably been called that for all your life and yet, here you are. Still, the most insensitive and pathetic man I’ve ever met,” you articulate your words with frustration and rage. You don’t raise your voice like before, it’s low and frightfully intimidating. “And I’m not your babysitter.”

—

Battles, ruination, and fracas gave a sense of familiarity to Sylvie in a time of an impending apocalypse. When worlds end, benevolence is resolute. The tragedy of the end of lost souls—afraid to die. But as daunting as the apocalypse is, the beauty of their souls finally returning to the universe protrudes amongst the debris and misery.

She sees herself in the two of you, as much as she doesn’t identify as a Loki anymore, and her hatred towards the TVA. You have a temper and he doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.

You’re mysterious in an almost enchanting way and possibly significant as you seemed to be at first glance. Sylvie is highly curious about you.

You don’t stray too far from the group, only to find rest by the edge of a pit made by a crashing meteor. You sit with your back turned against the very two beings you distrust as you watch the border where the bustling city of Shuroo is based. Your guard is down and you don’t care at this point. Everyone is about to die anyway.

Sylvie’s gaze finds Loki who seems to be only watching the back of your still figure, eyes glinting with an emotion unknown to her. Possibly regret? Sylvie doesn’t know what regret looks like. But fear and anger, she feels it radiating from you. She knows it. Something tells her you’re not solely angry at her and Loki.

She finds herself drifting closer to you. You don’t move. She cautiously settles beside you. “You’re not hiding a knife somewhere, aren’t you?”

You merely scoff, caressing your head, “You’re the one to say.”

Sylvie blinks. Fair enough.

Silence. Sylvie’s eyes shift to the handkerchief tied around your arm, stained with blood. “How’s the arm?”

You hum. “Surprisingly, fine.”

Oh, Sylvie knows it’s fine. She knows what Loki did. She decides not to mention the scratch she made across your cheek.

“Did the slap make you feel better?”

The question is hinted at near sarcasm, but genuinely, she wants to know.

“Yes, it did. You should try it sometime.”

She simply hums. “I would have but you beat me to it.”

A turn of your lips as they curve into a small smile. Sylvie watches with an odd sense of satisfaction. “You know, I’m still mad at you. For what you did to me.” Your words are slow. You find yourself swallowing. “But it’s nothing compared to what the TVA did to you.”

Empathy. Is this what empathy feels like? The moment when someone finally understands what it’s like to be alone for so long. Your lives are different but they reflect in certain ways. You have had your fair share of living in constant fear and constantly running. Sylvie finds herself wanting to tell you that she hadn’t simply pushed you into Sakaar. When it’s a mission, things are never accidental. She always has a plan.

Yet, she chooses not to say anything.

You speak again but merely whisper, fidgeting with your fingers, “Before Sakaar—did you enchant me?”

It's as if you're reading her mind.

“Are you seeing things?”

After a pause, the fidgeting stops.

“I’ve seen things all my life, images. Brief and insignificant. But ever since I was in Sakaar, it’s gotten a lot harder to differentiate a dream and a memory.”

“That’s because they aren’t dreams.”

Your hardened gaze finds hers for a brief moment, nearly growing wide at her words but in an instant, your guard is up once you hear the shuffling of feet behind you where Loki lingers. The subject is dropped immediately. He meets Sylvie’s gaze, the two share a knowing look.

Your anger is provoked and well deserved and yet, the last thing he wants is to be your enemy. Loki doesn’t know why. He has lived a life full of them.

You’re different.

He stills, wondering if you’re going to lash out at him again but when he notices your slow breaths, he decides to sit next to you anyway, awkward glances to you in his periphery. A deep sigh escapes his lips, fiddling with his fingers. “What now?”

Sylvie is the one to answer. “I don’t know. You broke the TemPad.”

“Well—”

“And that planet is about to crash into us.”

Loki looks up at the nearing planet of Lamentis. He blinks. “Well, yes, but—”

“Yes, but what?”

“Well, the entire moon is destroyed, right?”

Sylvie is trying to suppress your growing annoyance. “Yep. And everyone on it is killed.”

But Loki pesters on. “Including us.”

She raises her voice. “Yes, including us.” Loki glances at you momentarily. A pause. He furrows his brows in thought.

“What about the ark?”

“The ark never leaves because it's destroyed.”

Suddenly, an epiphany, his eyes light up. He turns to you and Sylvie, “Never had us on it.”

You suddenly scoff at his words. “Are you suggesting we hijack the ark and make sure it gets off this moon?” You turn to him to only spot a vague smile playing upon his lips. He nods in return. “Sounds like a good idea to me, Agent.”

You merely blink, watching the way his eyes shift across your face. First, you’re struck with uncertainty. It’s a risk, a huge one but you know, risks are meant to be uncertain. Risks are also vital in success. Hesitation, doubt—they make you weak. This time, you want to be strong. Strong enough for one last push to save your life.

“Okay.” is what you say, your expression reflecting his.

For the first time, since he took your hand in Sakaar, you’re starting to trust him.

—

The walk to Shuroo seemed endless. You trail behind the two, feeling like you’re about to suffocate.

“—To preserve the connection, I have to create a fantasy from their memories.”

Loki and Sylvie had been conversing about the science and functions of enchantment in a rather surprisingly calm manner. Loki hums, amused by her elucidation. “And you call me a magician.”

Her expression is unchanged as she continues to trudge alongside Loki, ignoring his previous statement. “That young soldier from the TVA, her mind was messed up. Everything clouded. I had to pull a memory from hundreds of years prior...before she even fought for them.”

Loki halts abruptly in his step, hand flying to grab Sylvie’s arm. “What? What'd you say? Before she joined the TVA?”

Sylvie blinks. “Yeah. She was just a regular person on Earth.”

His mind starts to reel, face muddled with confusion. “I was told that everyone who works for the TVA was created by the Time-Keepers.”

“That's ridiculous. They're all variants, just like us. Including her.” Sylvie gestures discreetly to you who has stopped to take a breather, hands on your hips as you blink up to the sky.

You, Mobius, all of them. All variants.

“They don't know that. She doesn’t know that.” he breathes a terrified expression.

Sylvie looks at you from afar. You’re now looking at them with a bewildered expression. “What?” you call out, voice echoing through the wide area, in a somewhat defensive tone.

She turns to Loki once more, voice nearly faltering. “I have a feeling she already knows it.”

—

Loki doesn’t realize the unfamiliarity of hopelessness. Throughout his life, he was constantly surrounded by those with unfaltering determination—His brother, family, friends who were warriors, The Avengers.

Never was it known that he would see it burning in your eyes as they reflect the growing fire of the Ark, crumbling down, tongues of fire engulfing it whole before you. His heart burns with it as Shuroo falls quiet—only the sounds of the metallic crashing of the disintegrating parts of the ship falling from above and the screams of the rich and deemed worthy to live. Every Lamentian still alive held their breath, a moment's silence for their lives must end. Everything must end.

So close yet so far.

Sylvie is gone by the minute as the city starts to descend in terror and panic. He stands behind your still form, just watching your only chance of making it out, swallowed by its own billowing smoke. He reaches out for you, tugging you by the sleeve. “We should leave,” he says with a sudden sense to protect you. There isn’t much to do at this point. It doesn't matter if you are hit by the falling pieces of the Ark because you are all going to die anyway.

But he considers it a gesture, as insignificant and small it is. The least he could do is to distract you from the end, whether for a mere second or minutes.

“I know things haven’t been the best between us and I concede I bring out the worst in you, but I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

You turn to Loki with his sudden words. He watches the way your expression softens so gracefully, face adorned with gashes and wounds. Your mouth twitches as you respond with a gentle voice. “I forgive you.”

Three words. Very powerful words.

His heart skips a beat.

You find Sylvie at the brink of the city, sitting on a stretched slab of rock amongst the dirt, watching the horizon where the planet starts to meet the moon. Loki still has his hand around your arm, but you don’t complain. It’s your only source of support at the moment. It’s an unconscious move, but everything about it feels right when the two of you settle beside her, shoulders brushing against each other. It only makes sense to want to feel the nearness, the closeness of another as the light at the end of the tunnel begins to dim.

It’s impending. It’s scary.

“I remember Asgard.”

Sylvie’s voice trembles, her eyes are somber.

“Not much, but I remember. My home, my people, my life. Then, the TVA showed up, erased my reality, and took me, prisoner. I was just a child.”

You turn to her, guilt bubbling in your chest, but you don’t say anything. You let her speak. It’s only right.

“I escaped.” she breathes, blinking the brimming tears in her eyes away. ”Stole a TemPad and I ran for a long, long time, which really sucked. Everywhere and every-when I went, it caused a Nexus event.”

Sylvie turns to you with a melancholic gaze. “The universe wants to break free, so it manifests chaos. Like me being born the Goddess of Mischief. But to you and the TVA, I’m not supposed to exist.”

For so long, you hadn’t realized the consequences of your work at the TVA. You believed you were right. That erasing, resetting realities were meant to be. You cannot comprehend how it only occurred to you to question the authority of the Time-Keepers over time itself after Sakaar. All those years of being ignorant and selfish. You hadn’t realized. You never did.

But now you know.

Sylvie continues, gaze shifting away from you. “I figured out where to hide. And so that's where I grew up, the ends of a thousand worlds. Now...that's where I'll die.”

Then, silence. It sits heavily between the three of you.

“The universe—isn’t she beautiful?” Your voice is soft, eyes trained on the horizon—a fleet of asteroids, they reflect the end. But they seem to dance to the silence of the apocalypse, drifting across the stratosphere, lining the firmament. Loki’s gaze shifts to you, training on every curve of your face and the tears slipping down your cheeks. He agrees, the universe is beautiful.

You’re beautiful.

“She brings turmoil, agony, and destruction but in all her flaws, there’s beauty in her very existence.”

Your hands find Sylvie and Loki’s hands, holding on to them tightly as you fight the wavering of your voice.

“You...Both of you might be the epitome of chaos but you must know that you have such beautiful souls. All of us, we're her children...and if she is beautiful, so are we. And the Universe is always right. If she created you then we are wrong.”

Sylvie’s face is soft. Loki squeezes your hand.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. I should have known from the start...that the TVA was lying to all of us. I should have questioned. I should have doubted—”

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault,” she says, smiling with saddened eyes.

You laugh. You don’t know why, but you do. Maybe, it’s because you know you are a part of the problem anyway, even if you were just doing your job.

You find Loki’s gaze that’s already on you. You sigh and speak through a whisper. “I’m sorry for slapping you.”

His lips curve into a grin, eyes crinkling like your own. “It was well deserved, but I forgive you.”

Fingers entangled with the hands of two unlikely people, you finally realize what it truly feels like to not be alone. To be in the company of someone you want to be with.

“Now long now.” Those three words leave the very lips of Sylvie and your chest feels like it’s about to collapse.

You never knew you were afraid of death, yet here you are—terrified.

The ground shakes beneath you. It’s dark and there’s fire everywhere. A meteor collides to the ground just across the way, it sends smoke billowing to its surroundings faster than you can blink.

Even in the last seconds of your life, you have doubts remaining. What if the universe isn’t always right?

Then, through the growing dust, you see a spark, like lightning. A glint of a figure, standing before you. White, pure, and serene. You’re standing now, staring ahead. Sylvie and Loki cease to exist in your mind as they gaze at you with bewilderment. They anxiously call you by your name but you don’t hear it. There’s only silence now, you don’t hear anything but the ringing in your ears.

A voice, she speaks with dignity. A voice so familiar.

“Doubt makes the strong weak, my child.”

Then, you hear it. A soft hum—a Time Door glows warmth amid your impending death.

Suddenly, she’s gone.

TAGLIST:

@lareinedususpense

@poubxlle

@mystoragehatesme

@the-maroon-panda

@kashasenpai

@nyxrae

@johnmurphys-sass

[emeraldspiral]

So, given that Renslayer was shown to have once been a hunter before she was a judge and the anxious way she approaches the Timekeepers when nobody is around to see her, I don’t think it’s possible for her to be the mastermind behind the TVA. Seems more likely that she came to know of the façade whenever she was promoted and goes along with it either because she believes in the necessity of maintaining the order of the Sacred Timeline or because she feels that it’s hopeless trying to resist whoever’s really in charge.

The actor playing Kang in Ant-Man 3 has denied that he’s in Loki and Ravona’s actress has implied that he’s not even mentioned in the show. But if he were in the show, they wouldn’t be allowed to spoil it, and Marvel is notorious for getting actors to film things without telling them the context or what project it’s even for. It’s possible something with Kang was filmed that the actor doesn’t know was meant for Loki, or that Ravona has lines that allude to him or reaction shots that will be composited with footage of him later but wouldn’t have made his inclusion apparent to her while filming.

My understanding of the comics Kang/Ravona storyline is that Ravona was a princess of future earth, Kang tried to takeover peacefully through a political marriage, but she rejected him so they went to war. At some point Ravona realized that Kang had genuine feelings for her and sacrificed herself to save him in the same moment she confessed she loved him back. Then there was a whole thing with her being like Nora Fries for a while and then they had kind of a back-and-forth love/hate thing.

If I had to guess how Ravona fits into the Loki storyline as anything more than an in-name-only adaptation of her character from the comics, I’d say that the backstory for the TVA is that Kang used time travel to gain ultimate power, then established the TVA to maintain that power by ensuring that any reality where someone might influence things in a way that would undo whatever Kang did to gain control would be erased or reset. Ravona was a princess of future earth who started off as just another variant, but at some point either Kang fell for her and gave her a promotion/made her his confidant out of loneliness or she learned the truth on her own but didn’t let on to Kang that she knew.

Its also possible Renslayer has been subtly working to undermine Kang, or whoever’s in charge of the TVA if she doesn’t even know the whole truth. Maybe she figured out a Loki was the only thing too chaotic for the TVA to control, so she deliberately let Sylvie escape to conspire against them. Maybe she also knows her baton doesn’t really erase people, it just sends them somewhere else, and she sent Loki away because the bigger the Loki team-up, the bigger the threat to the TVA’s power.

Also, while it’s possible the reason Loki survived being pruned could be explained by some innate power he has that even the TVA can’t nullify, I’m leaning toward my speculation from a previous post that the TVA is simply incapable of erasing people or timelines because of the law of conservation of matter. They can repurpose variants into servants of their own agenda or they can banish them to the cornfield, but they can’t just delete their existence as we previously thought. Which means it’s not just Loki who’s still alive. It’s Mobius. It’s the mouthy trust-fund kid. It’s C-20. And not only that, it’s possible Sylvie’s Asgard still exists and she may be able to go back to it. And maybe Loki can return to 2012 New York, but take his life in a totally different direction from that point on. One where Frigga and Odin don’t die, Asgard isn’t destroyed, and Thanos doesn’t kill him.

[a-magical-artist]

Top Ten Favorite Doppels

Turned in less than five minutes before Halloween ends, but whatever:

10. Abigail

Hagumu is really just a scared kid despite being a Neo Magius stooge, and Abigail is a very good representation of that; Hagumu closes her eyes whenever she comes out, to which, same as Abigail is a very intimidating doppel filled with teeth and spikes. Her form’s listed as a “reversible shape” and she gives the impression of a torn up, straw-filled doll with a toothy mouth and spines/shards all throughout her inner lining. It’s also a good twist that since Hagumu’s magic makes her unusually strong against witches, Abigail is the opposite, being effective against magical girls. 

I really love the exterior on this one, it looks very pretty and ornate, and it does a nice job contrasting with the messy, shard-filled fiber underneath.

9. Gothel

I’m very close to unlocking Gothel (all I need are materials for Magia leveling), but I already love her design. She takes Yozuru’s wish and magnifies/projects it as many witches (or doppels) do, in her case, trying to find someone or something that can make Yozuru feel the emotions she wished away. She takes the form of a tower (name being a great Rapunzel reference) with exposed ribs she uses to drag in and crush whatever she sees, which is...fairly impressive as a doppel design without being too gory (a reason why Beatrice and Therisia aren’t here or in this slot). 

8. Clothette

I...really, really don’t like Suzune Magica, and I don’t like Suzune. I do however, have a grudging respect for her Doppel design. Clothette’s based around a gadfly, comes out of Suzune’s eye, has bells for eyes, and is constantly on fire. It’s a great design, but points off for coming from a character I can’t stand.

7. Gibdaughter

So, fun fact about hummingbirds for anyone who doesn’t know; they’re beautiful little birds...that have the worst tempers. I love them for that, and I’m happy to see one used as a base for a doppel design. Gibdaughter, as per usual, externalizes Kanae’s wish to be left in peace by using her very love of music. Her main attacks all revolve around the vibrations she gives off, adjusting them to resonate with her targets until they shatter. Given both the animal and the character of Kanae, this was an all too appropriate fit. The doppel’s mechanical appearance is pretty and both a nice reference to hummer feathers (they give off a metallic sheen when light hits them), and to Kanae’s aloof exterior.

6. Sylvie

Given how sweet and caring Ikumi is, this one was a surprise. Sylvie’s a very invasive doppel-moreso than Hevelius even-in that she’s not only formed from Ikumi’s lower half, but also seems to thread her way through her entire body given Ikumi’s eyes turn into glowing, barbed anchors. Definitely lines up with her nature, but...jesus. She gives the impression she’s based around one of those cymbal monkey toys, which is already creepy enough, but Sylvie’s “head” is just Ikumi, and also the gigantic screw jutting out of her upper back. The accordion midsection does not help in any of this and makes Sylvie’s movements look off, even for a doppel. Good but horrifying design, though the glowing eye anchors are a little over the top for me. 

5. Hund Balou

Hund Balou is one of the rare genuinely disturbing doppels; Hanna was already very close to being her by externalizing her curse on the world and those around her, so there’s not much for Hund to do except just. be destructive. Her form is creepy, her description’s creepy, everything about Hund is really screwed up. And Hanna, being spiteful, vindictive Hanna, loves her and thankfully, never got the opportunity to use her for some pretty obvious reasons. Hanna’s relationship with Hund is similar to Alina’s with Old Dorothy-both are in sync with their doppels and have the same goal, which is...horrifying given both characters. Hund is really cluttered and witch-like in appearance, being covered in leashes, chains, and buttons with a splattered green/purple/blue dress topping it all off. Her mixed media feel is pronounced, which is a good indication of how close Hanna is to her, and how messed up her implications really are.

4. Ein Roter Drache

This is the stupidest, and yet most awesome doppel I have ever seen; it’s a dragon that makes its entrance by riding on its hoard of treasure and smacks its targets with its tail. The tiny crown is a really funny touch for it and I will forever be sad that I can’t get Elisa outside of a support as of NA’s shutdown

Also love how it’s just Elisa’s bottom half to give the illusion she’s riding the doppel-that’s awesome and I love the creativity going into it

3. Oaji

*Insert the “What are you doing in my swamp” mere here*

Oaji takes the appearance of an entire swamp that lures people in, hinting at both the barrier of the witch and the witch herself possibly being similar to Zola, which is a cool concept. I love how simple she looks, and her coming out from behind Chiharu lines up with her misguided efforts to help her. She kind of gives off a similar vibe to Elsa Maria from the original series-even the branches bring the Sebastian familiars to mind. Also really love the lantern and the gray pool forming underneath Chiharu-the gold streaks just really top everything off here.

2. Marita

I love assassin bugs and so I love Marita. Instant number two for me

For real though, I didn’t expect these to be used as a doppel base, so I was very surprised when Sunao came out and her doppel had this as one. It looks appropriately creepy and very elegant, and I like the little necklaces hanging just below the head of the doppel. Marita also shares the needle/sewing aesthetic with Latria, and although there’s no blood, the giant one serving as a mouth is scary enough in implication. The crystal ball (that turns red during attacks) being the doppel’s abdomen’s also a nice touch. 

Honorable Mentions:

Old Dorothy: Old Dorothy in-game is described as witch-like, and that’s because unless the viewer knows where her core body is, she just looks like an unrecognizable mass of puffballs and paper flowers dipped in orange paint. With witches, you can never really tell what it is you’re looking at, so Old Dorothy gives off that same impression. She didn’t officially make it because of her weird little core body, but I do love her gimmick. 

Theresia: I do like Theresia, but I felt her design wouldn’t fit since I’m trying to avoid the more gory doppels. I do like how she’s literally just Sana’s ears, and how there’s two versions of her that have an equal chance of coming out (though this does present some complications when going competitive with Sana).

Poker Alice: Too much of what looks to be exposed muscle for me to feel comfortable putting her in, but I adore the skulls exploding outward behind the chair and the hands covering Yukika’s eyes. Speaking of, the eyes on this thing are both cool and nicely scary in contrast to the simplicity of the rocking chair. 

Gosirsa: Colorful and very beautiful, the wheels at the front make for a surreal touch, something that many doppels tend to lack due to being scaled down versions of the full witch. Didn’t make it because there’s too few slots and too many doppels to choose from, but definitely in my personal faves.

1. Campanella

Campanella’s just the right amount of dumb, elegant, and unsettling, hence her being here at the number one spot. Yachiyo’s training event also helped me warm up to her; while Yu Hong and Cyan were self-defeating and frustrated respectively, Camp was really, really mellow by contrast. She seemed willing to work with Yachiyo as long as she accepted and stopped rejecting her, which was, at the time, a very nice change from the usual (not that Camp doesn’t try to take over however-once Yachiyo implies she’s going to keep running from her, she goes on the attack). She takes the form of a ticket puncher holding a lantern, comes out of Yachiyo’s leg, and gives the overall impression of a scorpion, ridiculously oversized shoes and all. Her anime appearances are a nice representation of Yachiyo’s fears and it’s just really satisfying to find out  that they have enough of a relationship to where she can use her in fights. Doppels when it comes down to it are a sort of agreement/truce between the magical girl and their witch self; not only does it allow them to come back, it allows them to make peace with their insecurities and fears without the danger of turning into a witch. Campanella, both in-game and the anime, represents that relationship to its fullest, so she’s at the #1 spot. 

[anime-lover-forever-1127]

A Woman With Vision {Arthur Leywin} - 20. Beast Glades

Beast Glades

*****

Disclaimer - (Cause fanfiction is tricky ground and I hope not to offend the creator of the original story and get sued)

I do not own "The Beginning After The End", it belongs to its original creator TurtleMe. This is only a fanfiction that I was inspired to write by the original work. Please support the official release. Most of the media - such as the art and illustrations, gifs, video's, etc. used in this fanfiction - are from the web. Thus, most of them aren't mine (because I really, really can't draw) unless mentioned. To fit the story, images are also edited by various apps and websites. So they aren't mine, just edited. I get much of the text, especially the fight scenes and thought, aside from my oc's, from the original novel, which can be found on Library Novel. Please support the official release.

Also if you own a picture or Video that I found online, and you either want your name added, or me to take it down. Please contact me and we can talk it out. P.s. I also ask that you do not copy my work and publish it onto any other website.

If you're gonna use my idea, please ask me (If you ask nicely, I for sure, will agree). If I don't contact you within a week, then just assume I'm giving you the all clear and go for it. Just remember to credit me.

I will be writing out scenes even if my Oc isn't in them. As long as she's mentioned, or influencing the characters in some way. This may seem a bit annoying. But that's just how I write. I like to embed my characters into the story line. Because of this, most of the dialogue/scenes will come from the original work.

Playlist

For the playlist you can go to my YouTube channel, which is under "Anime-lover-forever-1127" and click on the playlist titled "A Woman With Vision {Arthur Laywin}". Or you can use this link watch?v=GYlAaNM7WS8&list=PLVKYkztH1Zd8bdl2_a1C8F6u8gPPwfa6D&ab_channel=7clouds 

Warnings: Spoilers for Chapter 30 and chapter 54 of the comic

*****

Today's Special

No one tells you that the hardest part of MOTHERHOOD is when your kids grow up

~ sitiraihana

*****

{Morgana P.O.V.}

Crossing through the teleportation gate, my senses jolted from the scenery. The City of Xyrus had the most teleportation gates among the cities since they were the only way one could enter it, it being a floating city and all. The one we crossed led us directly to the front entrance of the area known as the Beast Glades.

The chirps of birds, occasional cries and roars of beasts, and the constant sound of water flowing filling the background all created an enticing symphony of nature. The sight of tall trees and numerous hills covered in various plants and shrubs made it hard to believe that this beautiful landscape was filled with magical beasts capable of killing even the strongest mages. However, because of abundances of natural resources on the outskirts, it was mostly only the lower rank beasts that inhabited this deeper an adventurer traversed, the more mysterious and treacherous the landscape turned, filled with the lairs of powerful beasts that have amassed their treasures and power in the solitude's of unexplored regions in the Beast Glades.

I took a sip of the crisp air as Jasmine and Arthur arrived behind me through the teleportation gate when, suddenly, I heard a wish, and from the corner of my eyes I saw Sylvie scurry off.

"Wait, Sylv! Where are you going?" Arthur called after her, dumbfounded.

Sylvie transmitted a vague response; I could feel her emotions of excitement as she sent out thoughts about her plans to train as well.

"Did she just?" I asked, pointing at the direction my baby just ran off to.

"Yep, she just ran away from home." He answered weekly, his tone going a little high.

"Oh, Arthur." I sighed, pulling him close and giving him a shoulder hug. I had only known Sylvie for a couple of months, and I felt as if something was missing without her here.

But she was Arthur's bond, and had never left him since the day she had hatched. I could only imagine how big the hole in his heart must feel.

"Are you gonna be ok?" I asked. "We could take a break."

Arthur shook his head, "We just got here. Plus, I'm only a little…" He struggled, unsure of what world to use, "...uneasy. But… I can sense her whereabouts. So it should be fine."

"You can sense her whereabouts?" I asked, surprised.

He nodded, "Wait! You can't?"

I shook my head.

"Close your eyes, and try searching for her aura."

I did what he had said. I could see the mana floating around me, but no Sylvie. I opened my eyes, "Nothing. No trace of her. Maybe we're not just there yet."

Sylvie had explained to me that the longer me and Arthur were with each other, the stronger our mate bond would become. And the stronger it becomes, the easier it would be for me to create an adopted bond with Sylvie. Of course that would only be possible after spending time with her. And if I ever got a bond, it would be the same with Arthur. He would form a bond, through me, until he had a second, slightly weaker bond, with my own, on his own.

So because of that, until my bond with Sylvie was complete, I would be using Arthur's bond, to support my own developing one with her.

Now it was Arthur's turn to give me a sympathetic and reassuring hug. "It's fine mama bear."

"You're right." I nodded, "Knowing you can still

"She'll be okay. Mana beasts have a natural instinct to grow stronger. She must've felt very suffocated being in a sheltered environment all of her life," Jasmine pips up , walking next to Arthur.

"I know." I nod, "But that honestly doesn't make it hurt any less."

Jasmine lets out a chuckle, "It's like your her mother."

"She is" - "I am"

Arthur and I answer at the same time.

Jasmine stops a bit, staring at us long and hard, before smiling, "I think I get what your parents meant now. Well, to each their own."

Both me and Arthur smile at that. She really is a great woman.

Putting her hand on our shoulder, she signalled for us to start moving. "There's a place I wish to visit first before going to a dungeon. We have to hurry though; it gets a little more dangerous at night."

Willing mana into her body, Jasmine bolted off into the distance, her wind attribute mana propelling her even faster.

I followed after her, forming two gales of wind below my feet as I dashed after her, Arthur doing the same, followed.

Everyone in a while, Arthur would give me an update on Sylvie.

"I just hope that she doesn't go after bigger beasts until she's ready." I sigh.

"Don't worry. She knows she has us if she ever gets in over her head. She knows she can always ask us for help." Arthur says, petting my head.

*****

The journey lasted a few hours and it began to grow dark. The only reason Arthur and I had been able to keep up with Jasmine, even when she was at a dark yellow stage, was Arthur had been using mana rotation throughout the way, and I had controlled mine to only use the bare minimum amount mana needed to create a controlled, constant amount of wind. This skill had become almost second nature to me now as I utilised it unconsciously whenever I exerted mana.

By late evening, we had cleared through a dense forest and arrived at a small clearing. Surrounded by trees, there was a small field of grass with a stream of clear water flowing through it.

"We'll camp out here for a few days," Jasmine announced as she set down her bag and took out a couple of items.

"Weren't we going to a dungeon right away?" Arthur asked, setting down his bag as well.

She simply shook her head, picking up a few branches of wood and gathering them together.

Well Arthur and I went into the forest, finding some decent-sized branches to make a fire with. After a bit, we had a fire crackling and popping in the middle of our camp. Making myself comfortable, I leaned against Arthur who had removed his mask and sat silently by Jasmine, next to the fire.

Trying to break the silence, Arthur asked Jasmine, "What made you want to become an adventurer?"

"…"

Her gaze never left the fire and after a few minutes of more awkward silence, I just stared back at the flame, assuming she didn't want to answer.

"I wanted to get away from my family." I almost missed what she said from how quietly she spoke amidst the wood of the fire snapping fiercely.

"I see… were you on bad terms with your family?" Arthur responded, his eyes focused on the fire.

I choose to just listen to their conversation.

"…"

"The Flamesworth House was a major contributor to the war against the elves. Our house has provided many powerful mages, both conjurers and augmenters. Our lineage in the fire attribute element was second to none. We took great pride in this, because fire is considered to be the most powerful of the elements," she stated monotonously.

Despite her short sentences, this had been the most Jasmine had talked in one sitting.

"But Jasmine, aren't you a…" Arthur asked, looking up at her as she nodded in response.

"Since early on, when I had first awakened and started training, my family tried to test my mana for fire affinity. I went through various tests so they could see how my mana was exerted and how it flowed through my mana channels." She took a pause and poked at the fire before continuing on. "When it was made clear that I had no aptitude for the fire attribute, my family regarded me as lesser."

"…"

Arthur didn't know how to respond to her. For the first time, the always aloof and cold Jasmine seemed…vulnerable.

"I'm sorry for what happened…" was the only response Arthur managed to utter.

But so much for staying silent, I stood up to my knees and crawled over to Jasmine until I was face to face with her. Looking her directly in the eyes, I told her firmly. "Your family is wrong… and crazy." Her eyes went wide at my statement. "Wind magic is probably stronger than fire when you get down to it! All your family is, is a walking matchstick. All they can do is shoot out flames, a pillar if they're really getting creative. But with wind magic… we can create tornadoes, fly, move objects across a room. I mean it was because of wind magic we covered a distance that would have taken us days, in mere hours. Do I really have to say more?"

Jasmine's eyes widened and she shook her head, she gave me a faint smile. "The Twin Horns have treated me well and I don't dislike what I am."

I smiled, "I know that. I can tell it on your face whenever you're with your party, that you're clearly happy. But I'm just letting you know that your family is wrong. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but theirs… is just plain stupid."

I glanced at her palm as Jasmine formed a small swirl of wind, different emotions running through her face as she peered at her hand.

This world was a place of discrimination and classification. The hierarchical roots embedded into this land would never truly disappear. Normal humans were considered second-rate people, while even amongst mages, augmenters were discriminated against by conjurers. It went further than that where, unless one was a deviant or a dual element specialist, some elements were considered "higher class" than others.

Being born from a family of powerful fire attribute mages, she was discarded as inferior because of the elemental attribute she had; something that most mages would kill to acquire. She was a dark yellow augmenter skilled in fighting and mana manipulation at the ripe age of 24. Many would consider her a genius but from the standards she grew up with, she considered herself lesser.

We placed more wood to last through the coldest parts of the night and laid out our sleeping bags a few feet away so we could still feel the heat.

As we got ready to go to sleep, Arthur leaned into my ear and whispered, "I know subtlety isn't really your strong suit. It never has been."

I sent him a glare, "This better be building into a compliment."

He sent me a smile, "Well, more of a request. But I'm not shy to add one in there. Anyway, if we ever meet with nobility… and royalty again - assuming you haven't scared them enough yet. Could you at least try to hold it in. Until we least have a chance at beating them."

I huffed, "Speak for yourself. I already have my network ready. Of course it really isn't anything that great yet, but it has potential. The seeds are planted, and ready to sprout like a butterfly bush at a moment's notice." I winked at him.

He stared at me confused, "Who would-"

I cut him off, "Finishing school is quite boring when you've actually played the high society game. But, when it comes to making connections with little girls eager for your approval, there's nothing like it. As for informats, they're easy to buy. Mom and dad's allowance has always been generous, and I know exactly how to put it to good use." I smirked as I thought of the various amounts of blackmail I had collected for various families.

Arthur stared at me, wide eyed. "Damn, why didn't you say anything?"

I shrugged, "I thought you knew me?"

"I do!" He defended himself. "But I may have accidentally underestimated you. I thought your network may take you another two to three years. Sorry. Never again."

I smiled into the fire, "Well… If I'm being honest. It's nowhere near as good as my old one. But it's better than nothing. Information is the name of the game. And plus, every now and then, I do find a few pieces of gold." I said, remembering the little golden nugget of information I'd collected on a certain elf princess. I don't wanna be mean, but if she pushes my hand...

My eyebrows furrowed as I remembered, "Where's my compliment?" I pouted.

Arthur chuckled, "What you said to Jasmine, was truly amazing."

"Of course it was." I said, smiling and accepting the compliment. I ran my fingers through his hair, and added, "Though, we really do need to work on your elements. You need to do so much more than just creating pillars of fire." I felt a sweat drop roll down the side of his neck as I began making plans. "I've made a lot of progress with my wind, though I definitely need to work on my water. Before we start school, I would like to start working with ice a little bit. Though I'm not sure how much I could exactly get done between practising wind, and working on water, and relearning the sword." I pouted, eyeing the blue blade Arthur wouldn't let me touch unless he knew for a fact I wouldn't drop it on myself.

As much as I hate to admit it, I don't really blame him for it. Considering he never lets me forget it, I know for a fact he remembers how bad my first sword training lesson went. And to be honest, as fun as it would be to swing it around again, I don't wanna know how well it would work out with my current build. It was too big for my current body. So until I grew a bit, I'd have to use a practice sword.

Eyes closed, I waited to drift off when I heard Jasmine mumble something.

"…It's weird. When I talk to you two, it doesn't feel like I'm talking to children."

I didn't respond. Pretending to be asleep, I hoped she wouldn't push further for a reply.

*****

"Good morning." Jasmine was up and cooking something over the fire by the time I had gotten up and out of my sleeping bag.

My stomach rumbled to remind me that I hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon as I looked hungrily at the skewered fishes being grilled on the fire.

"Good morning! You should've woken me up, Jasmine. There's no need for you to do all of the chores on your own."

I turned my head to see Arthur rubbing his eyes.

"…I tried waking both of you up… But you wouldn't budge." Her half-closed eyes that give off an apathetic stare regarded us with concern. "If I didn't hear you breathing, I would've mistaken you for corpses."

"Haha…" Arthur let out an awkward chuckle. "I'm sorry, I really need to fix that."

"You and me both." I nodded. I usually woke up early on my own. But if I didn't, then nobody could wake me up.

After devouring the grilled fish for breakfast, we put out the fire. Using the nearby stream to wash myself and my clothes.

Arthur put on his mask and swords, well I wrapped my cloak around my shoulder, and placed my contents lenses in, assuming we'd go hunting for some mana beasts around the area, when Jasmine stopped me.

"Your opponent for these few days will be me."

"Huh?" I couldn't help but be surprised at the turn of events. We came all the way here to spar?

"This area is close to the dungeon we will be exploring, but for these days, I want you to focus on fighting me. I noticed that your fighting style seems… awkward at times. Like, you know it in your head, but your body doesn't listen to you… or something like that." She told Arthur and then turned to me, "You have your control down. But you need to focus on increasing your mana amount. We can stay in a dungeon for days at a time. So you're going to need to work on that."

Unsheathing her two daggers, she pointed one at me, continuing, "We won't use any kind of mana for these next few days while sparring."

I hadn't expected Jasmine to catch on to what I had been worried about, but it was a good opportunity.

"Good idea," Arthur replied, unsheathing his short sword.

I sat down on the grass, getting ready to meditate.

{Arthur's P.O.V.}

"Use your other sword…" Jasmine's eyes flickered toward Dawn's Ballad.

"How did you know this was a sword?" I wasn't planning on hiding my weapon from her but I was still caught off guard.

"Knowing you, that black stick should be something more than just a cane or a practice stick," she shrugged, walking a few steps closer to me.

Giving her a confirming nod, I tossed the short sword to Morgana, who caught it with her eyes closed. From my position, I could see the mana around us, begin to gather towards her.

As the sword soundlessly glided out from its scabbard, the translucent blade glowed a light teal as it reflected the sun's strong rays.

Holding it out in front me, I positioned myself. "Ready when you are."

"Y-Yeah," Jasmine stuttered as her eyes remained glued to Dawn's Ballad.

We dulled the edges of our weapons using mana before beginning. Without mana strengthening my body, I realised just how much I had been neglecting myself. After a few swings, my arms felt heavy and my legs trembled as they pushed feebly off the ground.

This was my mistake. I knew of the limits that my juvenile body had, but instead of trying to fix my shortcomings, I chose only to mask it using mana.

While magic in this world was capable of many things, it should be only used as a supplement to your abilities, not a replacement to cover them.

I lunged out with a sharp thrust aimed at Jasmine's sternum. Even though our swords were coated to prevent fatal injuries, it would still leave bruises and even broken bones if taken lightly; this made the sparring experience much more intense and real.

Jasmine swung her two daggers down in an outward arc, parrying my lunge and knocking the blade of my sword into the ground.

I brought my rear foot forward to maintain balance as my teal blade sunk into the ground below her. However, by that time, Jasmine had already brought her daggers back into position to follow up with a quick, downward slash.

Prying out my sword, I immediately pivoted my body to the side to avoid the overhead slash. As her daggers grazed harmlessly past my loose shirt, I kicked her arm away and stepped away into a more comfortable distance.

My arms were burning from the quick, consecutive movements as I positioned my sword in a defensive stance.

"It's my win," Jasmine said, sheathing her two daggers deftly into their scabbards attached to her thighs.

"You're right," I laughed as I dropped Dawn's Ballad on the ground. We had sparred for a little less than five minutes but my arms and legs screamed in protest from overuse. Massaging my forearms, I picked my blade back up and slid it back into its black sheath.

The duel had ended with me with the upper hand, but I didn't have the strength to proceed. It was my loss.

"Hey Jasmine, I think I'm going to need more than a couple of days to work this out," I confessed with a chuckle.

Her lips curled up slightly as she nodded in agreement.

I had three years before I'd attend Xyrus Academy. During my time at school, I would have plenty of chances to focus on studying mana.

I knew what my priorities were at this time.

Making a rough calculation in my head, I held up two fingers. "Two years, Jasmine. I'll dedicate two years to getting my body truly adjusted to sword-fighting without relying on mana."

"That's it?" she said, surprised.

"Just watch," I smirked.

*****

A Butterfly bush is a really fast growing plant. I could have used weeds, but referring to an information network as weeds, doesn't sound nearly as nice.

Also, finishing school only takes about 6 weeks. So I didn't have to worry about that.

I get the whole bond system is a little confusing, especially with me throwing in mate bonds and secondary bonds. So if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Because I do have plans to keep using and referencing the bonds - so it would be easier for you guys and less confusing, if you know what's actually happening. (Or if your just here for the romance - I guess you can sort of skip it - though again - their is the mate bond)

I feel like I should give you guys a heads up, that the next chapter is going to likely be on the shorter side (and the two after that as well). But man will it leave a huge impact on you guys. I'm actually willing to bet the title of the next chapter alone would be worth the hype (and the happiness and excitement you would get from four pages - why four you asks, one page for each word in the title.)

In fact, here's a little teaser (Feel free to try and guess what may be happening, and the contents of the paper):

Next Time~

Morgana untied the bright red ribbon and uncurled the scroll.

Her eyes widened as they flew over the contents of the paper, before tears began streaming down her cheeks.

[therealsehinton]

40,41 with Chylvia?

okay so 40 was body swap and 41 was fairy tale so 🤩🤪🤪

also this isn't my fav but wususue I hope it's alright

pairings: cherry & sylvia romantically

warnings: mention of a kissy

my taglist: @naturallesbain @dallas-fuckin-winston @chaotically-cas @twobitapologist @thegaygreaser @donttakemyknives

~~~~~~●●●●●~~~~~~

"Well," Sylvia says flatly, "that certainly didn't work." 

I keep my eyes shut--I like to squeeze them whenever Sylvia tests a spell on me. In the kindest way possible, well, she isn't too mature with her magic yet, and usually her attempts go horribly awry. So I hold my breath and block my vision whenever she lifts her wand, knowing that at any moment something unpredictable could happen--something wilder than my imagination. And still, I let her plead with her large, hazel eyes. For some reason, I can't say no to her.

"How bad is it?" I ask, refusing to look.

She sighs hopelessly. "Well, it's not likely to go away anytime soon. So you might as well open your eyes."

And I do so, cracking each individual one with caution. 

"So, tell me what you think," she says in a light and airy voice, her hands delicately grabbing at the skirt of her dress and-

and-

I realize.

That dress in its olive and pink patterns and distinct shape is undeniably my dress. And the fingers touching it are pale and slender with sparse brown freckles on them. And her face. Her face is longer and her jaw sharper, her nose upturned like so, and her eyes a muted green. It's undeniably…

Me. My body. Sylvia is in my body.

When I speak, my voice is shaky, "Sylvie-"

"Oh, darling," she says defensively, "it isn't that bad, you know?"

I lift my hands in front of my vision only to see they're not really my hands. They're smaller and a rich mocha color, with a mole doting the wrist. I know that mole. I know this skin.

"AM I IN YOUR BODY?" I shriek.

Sylvia, or me I suppose, winces at the sudden raise of my voice. "I understand you're alarmed-"

"HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FIX THIS?"

"Goodness," she huffs, pouting and placing her hands on her hips. "give me a second to think."

Sylvia paces for a moment, eyes landing on her spell book which she discarded to the floor. She bends down to pick it up, more awkwardly than usual but perhaps she isn't used to moving in my body, and shifts through the countless pages. "There are many spell reversals, I just have to find the right one." She pauses and then beams, glancing up at me with unfamiliar green eyes. "Found it!"

"Great," I say, looking for my wand only to remember I left it in a pocket of my dress. I walk up to Sylvia, feeling stiff at that sight of myself in the flesh, and reach out to grab it. 

"What are you doing?" She asks.

"I'm going to reverse the spell, since we can't rely on your magic."

Her lips pout again. "That's cruel."

I outstretch my palm to her. "Please let me have my wand."

"Cherry," she whines, "don't you think this could be kind of fun? Imagine the pranks we could pull on people! At least for a day or two!"

I let out a sharp breath and purse my lips. "I won't let you kiss me for as long as you're in my body."

Sylvia hastily reaches into her pocket and pulls out my wand, dropping it quick in my hand. "Lords, you're no fun."

[catalinaroleplay]

Gender & Pronouns: Cis man, he/him

Date of Birth: December 20th, 1986 (34)

Place of Birth: Catalina Island, California

Neighborhood: Lafayette Square

Length of Residency: Native

Occupation: Professional Golf Player

Face Claim: Derek Theler

BIOGRAPHY

TRIGGERS: ADHD, Dyslexia, Car Accident, Suicide.

When Sylvie and Johnathan got pregnant with their second child, they weren’t ready for how different their experience with the boy would be from his oldest sister. Starting by his premature birth (by a whole month) in the middle of the holidays. He soon proved to be strong through, he wasn’t a quiet baby by any means, Gabriel tested his parents’ will power and patience every night when he made them have a taste of his healthy lungs at three in the morning, sometimes not keeping quiet the whole night. He would hear those stories continuously while growing up, especially when he brought girlfriends home to meet the family. He still thinks they are Sylvie’s finest way of making him feel embarrassed as any good mother should. It’s needless to say that he grew up surrounded by what most people envied: a good, supporting family. He was incredibly close to his parents, even closer to his sisters. His proximity with all that female energy made him inevitably stray away from some male stereotypes which didn��t make school any easier for him. He spent too much time with his mother in Carmichael Roses, which made him learn everything about flowers, including the best of each season, and as a teenager helped with their shipments for a while. The rest of his time would be spent in a green field, playing and falling in love with golf alongside his father and his older sister.

Gabriel never felt like he was a child as the other children around him. He was loud and rambunctious, yes? However, his mind was far too scarce for him, he was disruptive in class, impatient, he was forgetful of his tasks and had a difficulty in concentrating, not to mention, he constantly complained about his difficulty in reading and writing. It would take a while for the family to  this as more than a kid just being a kid, thankfully, his parents paid his symptoms much mind, and when Gabriel’s grades started tanking in elementary school, before everything got worrisome, he was sent to a therapist and diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. From that moment on, both Sylvie and Jonathan would do everything in their power to make sure that it wouldn’t hinder him in any way in his future and that he would have a chance as any other kid would, even if he was already behind by a grade from the rest of his classmates.

From the moment he was diagnosed, Gabriel remembers working harder than ever just to fit in. He was still made from the same mold as his older sister, but as a young boy he couldn’t feel more different if he tried. His diagnosis translated into anxiety to deal with most social situations, but over time, and with the proper support, not only from his family, but medically speaking, he got better. Gabriel understood that quite possibly he would never be able to function the same way other children did, and it was perfectly fine. Both himself and his parents were completely against medicating him as a child. For once they were afraid it would cause some sort of dependency, and for Gabriel, he was scared of the side effects and that instead of giving him just enough to concentrate, it would numb him out and he was not interested in that. Therapy, stress management and educational support, not to mention cognitive behavioural therapy became normal in his life. His parents hired tutors to help him study after school in attempts to keep up, but he was always a step behind no matter how hard he tried. His difficulty with learning words and how to write properly, paired with a brain who thought too fast for how slow he was able to scribble words on a page, or read them for that matter. He hated math, the symbols confused him to no end and he thought that if he never had to see math in his life, he was fine with it.

As a part of his therapy, though, to learn how to concentrate better, his therapist told him not to abandon golf, in fact, she prescribed him more time on the field, as he had described a sense of peace and quiet whenever he was swinging a golf club.

Golf would soon become his whole life, much to his father’s happiness. It was as if he was someone else when he was on that course. He managed to get the queues without having to read anything on a board and his mind had its own way of processing what his hands needed to do, the exact amount of force he needed to put in to make sure that his swings were precise. Besides, it was nice to see people praising him, instead of being concerned over something that if he had any say in it, would never hinder his professional path. It was clear that he wanted to be just like his father and it was also clear to see that Johnathan took it as a compliment, especially when he saw his son had a natural talent for the game. Gabriel would want to start competing as soon as his father and his teacher thought he would be able to do so. Competitions brought a different side of him and made his fear of failure and being a disappointment flourish. He didn’t win every tournament under his belt, by any means, but it wasn’t until he was ranked high enough to participate in the 2000’s masters that a loss hit him so hard.

Coming back home as a second placer did not bode well with what he demanded of himself, thinking that because he lacked in certain areas of his life, he needed desperately to compensate in others. Everything pertaining to Gabriel needed to be handled carefully, it was easy to see that the boy didn’t treat himself kindly upon failure and naturally, the family had been wary of it, with reason too. After the failure in the masters and with other competitions approaching, he turned to performance enhancers. There was no denying his head felt more in the game, and he did better in practice. It wasn’t until the next year’s masters that he even attempted to take one for an official competition. He was busted, of course, his reputation tainted and he never saw his father as disappointed with him as he was at that moment. It was agreed that maybe he should take a break from the game, handle the penalties that were put his way and try another time, in a few years perhaps. Not knowing what he would do with his free time, Gabriel turned to working for Carmichael Roses, helping his mother with shipments and anywhere he couldn’t mess up. Golf had put him in a certain place at the school’s social hierarchy, but things definitely changed after his use of drugs hit the national news.

His next few years in school were a way for him to rebuild his reputation. He stopped using the enhancers and logged in extra hours in the therapist’s office to try and deal with the feelings properly. He got himself his first girlfriend, which would not end well on both parts, and while he wanted to follow the family’s footsteps and aim high for Stanford, he knew it was an unnecessary risk for his well being and years of treatment to try and fit in alongside people who were, for the lack of a better word, overachievers. By the time he was 17 years old, he had returned fully and carefully to golffing and because of the game, and how he was so good at rebuilding his image (alongside a marketing team, of course), Gabriel landed a sports scholarship to UCLA. Getting a superior education and having something to fall back on was Sylvie’s condition to let Gabriel play his game. It would soothe her heart, she used to say, but he was pretty sure that after the stunt he pulled on her, she would never stop worrying again. His father, on the other side, had forgiven him entirely after he apologized and swore to him he wouldn’t take anything. Truth be told, Gabriel missed the way golf made him feel, and while he had his fun while working at Carmichael’s, nothing quite compared to the thrill of being recognizably good at something.

His time at UCLA came with a nasty break, but breezed through. He was happy for the scholarship, although it wasn’t really necessary. He was the first, in a long time not to attend Stanford, but his parents seemed to be okay with it. He was trying and while he was going through college for his mother, there was nothing that could make him feel interested there. During the four years of university, Gabriel concentrated more than never in what he was there for. The close proximity with Catalina, made him able to commute and be home to practice with his father whenever the man could. Soon he would be making headlines again. Sports channels predicted a larger than ever return, because up until his 18th birthday, he had been only playing in minor tournaments, ranking himself up again, rebuilding his reputation from the ground up and handling all sorts of jokes from his peers. He would go on to play his next masters at 19, this time coming home with a victory, and that scene would repeat itself for the many years to come.

It wouldn’t be easy, but by the time he was 24 he managed to get his degree in psychology and the whole family was there to see it. Among every trophy and medal he had conquered so far, getting his diploma meant more to him than Gabriel was willing to admit. It meant, more than anything else, that he had conquered his childhood difficulties, and while he would always live with them in one way or another, he had spent years learning how to make himself better. Ever since he had enough money to do so, Gabriel has been very vocal about his support for organizations who do their part for kids who went through what he did and did his best to educate other people on what that meant for him and what it would mean for other children who had different experiences and harder experiences than he did. For years and before starting his own organization once he had a good influential level, he was a spokesperson for children and their parents. Especially those who weren’t as lucky as him. His condition was also one of the reasons why he chose his degree, and what made him even more proud to have gotten it. After his diploma, Gabriel would once again settle back in Catalina, despite his constant travels, the island would always be the home he would return to.

The next year, one day after his 25th birthday, Gabriel would receive a call in his parents home telling him of the passing of his best friend. Few things had been pivotal in changing the way Gabriel thought about things, or caused disruptive changes in his life. Peter had been someone he knew since he was 2 or 3 years old, he was always with the family, almost glued to Gabriel’s hip in a way and he had commited suicide. Gabriel was devastated and numb at the same time. He would spend his next few months (and the rest of his life) doing everything to support Peter’s family, but even when everyone had moved on, he didn’t. He got depressive and reclusive, only leaving home for practice and even then, he took too many weeks off the game to process what had happened. While Sylvie and Johnathan had raised their children in a free environment, as a young boy, Gabriel had turned to the catholic church for many answers, he was regular in his attendance to Sunday church, he had a good relationship with the community, he went to the confessional weekly and thought that all those rituals brought his mind some peace, but once Peter passed away, there were no answers his church could give him. He went soul searching, he took a break from the game, traveled places, met new religions, but none quite spoke to him like spiritualism. He doesn’t know now if he considers himself to have broken up from catholicism, but he definitely found a place that gave tranquility to his heart when nothing else had done ever since Peter died. Gabriel’s depression gave place to peace and he was able to close that chapter in his life.

From late 2013 to middle 2020 Gabriel collected trophies and ranked high among other golf players such as his own father (who had retired to take care of his family) and Tiger Woods. He got endorsements, appeared (much to his chagrin) in underwear commercials. He was officially sponsored by Nike for the 2014 Rio Olympics and while he didn’t come home with a gold medal, he knew how to deal with that now. Despite his romantic slip ups, and those were many, Gabriel didn’t lose his place as a hopeless romantic, saying in many interviews, he wanted what his parents had: someone to be with him for the rest of his life.

Enter Rebecca. They would meet at a journalist and players get together after a particular game, during interviews. Truth be told, Gabriel never cared for any sport other than golf, but he would listen to her going over football plays forever. He was struck from the moment he met her. He would ask her out on a date, which would not go good, and be fairly surprised when she was the first one to contact him the next day. They would be together for three years total before Gabriel popped the question. He didn’t do it in the middle of the field, or anything for the world to see, it was just between the two of them. She would go on to plan the wedding alongside his mother and while being a romantic at heart, Gabriel knew better than to put himself in the middle. As the wedding approached, Rebecca changed, Gabriel brushed it off for wedding jitters, since the nuptials were so close. It would be an intimate ceremony, just the family, no media, no press, no nothing. It wasn’t until he knocked on her dressing room door on the morning of their wedding that he found a small note. She had ran away with her best friend, and claimed to be in love with him. Gabriel never took such a high leap again, but he still made some minor mistakes for love over the next few years. He had to go through some awkward press conferences after he was left.

Gabriel was thankful to have his game to fall back on. Rebecca had been a big part of his life for the last four years, but he needed to move on. In some ways, he was happy that she was happy. Was there anything he could ask more? He started prepping for the next Olympics and ranking high enough to be a part of the team. He was okay with being resumed to the one thing he loved the most (aside from his niece and nephew, of course). Being left at the altar only hyped people’s interest over him, his PO box had never been more full and he had good laughs about it.

Around November 2020, Gabriel got into a car accident with another friend. They were just making a short ride from his parents’ house to his friend when a car came straight towards theirs. In an attempt to get rid from the collision, Gabriel’s friend swerved and they ended up hitting a tree instead. His friend had the seatbelt on, but Gabriel, because the ride was so short, didn’t. In attempts to soften the blow and buffer the impact, he put his right hand on the dash, which caused him to dislocate his shoulder, shatter his thumb, broke his wrist and tore a ligament. A concussion cost him his consciousness and he would only wake up hours later after the surgery was done. Naturally, he was worried about his game, and was relieved when the doctor explained that the injury wouldn’t cost him his grip or his swing, but he needed to be careful, take it easy and not overstep himself and injure himself further. It would take him months to return fully and he needed to be patient with himself, although patience wasn’t exactly what Gabriel was known for.

Since the injury took him out of any future competitions, Gabriel has moved back to Catalina full time now, getting himself an apartment in Lafayette Square, large enough for him and his big ball of fur. His mother has been overwhelmingly around, but he doesn’t complain about it. His time is both devoted to his physical therapy and everything he needs to do, but also he has been spending a lot of time on the organization he has helped fund about two years ago and became his baby. The Smile Foundation came from an effort to help underprivileged children with learning disabilities to reach their full potential, Gabriel spends most of his time now at their building close to his home and makes sure to speak to children and parents alike. Since it’s non-profit they thrive out of other people’s volunteering and donations, and they have been offering a good space. Naturally, Gabriel is doing everything in his power to return to where he left, but it doesn’t mean that for the first time in forever he hasn’t been enjoying some off time from the game.

PERSONALITY

Positive: Optimistic | Spontaneous | Fair-minded

Negative: Restless | Tactless | Naive

Gabriel Livingston is portrayed by Rosa.

[superprincesspea]

Knock, Chapter 19

Everyone gets one mistake

Simon/You

Chapter 1    Chapter 2    Chapter 3    Chapter 4    Chapter 5  

Chapter 6    Chapter 7    Chapter 8    Chapter 9    Chapter 10

Chapter 11   Chapter 12   Chapter 13   Chapter 14   Chapter 15  

Chapter 16   Chapter 17   Chapter 18

When Simon yanks the door of the RV open you expect to see Negan’s devilish grin peeling across his lips but you don’t. Your savior isn’t Negan, Dwight or any of the others. Sitting in the driver's seat is an old man, untamed grey hair tucked into a beaten up Phillies hat and a beard that’s reaching for the curve of his belly. You think of Santa Claus but more importantly you think, if it came to it, you could take him.

“Get in!” he urges and your pistol slips, quietly, back into its holster while you share a look of agreement with Simon. This isn’t just your best chance, it's your only one. 

There are no other passengers inside the RV and as you stumble towards your seat you catch sight of a tiny plastic trophy which reads, “Worlds best Grandpa.” It’s not enough to fill you entirely with trust in this stranger but it's something. 

“So where you folks headed?” he says, glancing at you in the rearview mirror. 

“Just…” you pause, “out of Virginia.” 

“Well, I’m on my way to Pennsylvania so I guess you can join me until then,” he offers and Pennsylvania is as good anywhere, taking you further north and more importantly further away from Negan. 

“We’d appreciate that, Sir,” Simon replies, taking your hand and wrapping it in a cloth he’s ‘borrowed’ from the kitchenette.

In between thinking you were going to die and suddenly being rescued you’ve completely forgotten about the cut. Your heart clenches and you allow a tear to roll down your cheek as you stare out of the window. It had only been a day and you had already almost gotten Sylvie killed.

What kind of mother were you? Maybe this was the wrong choice? Maybe it had been the hormones that talked you into leaving. Maybe if you just went back then Negan would forgive you… Your mind is racing, your heart sinking. What if you and Simon couldn’t do this?

“We’re ok,” he whispers, his hand stroking soothingly along your hair.

You blink your tears away before turning to look at him but your face is puffy and he knows you well enough by now to know you’re upset.

“We’re allowed one mistake,” he says, smiling as his thumb brushes across your cheek to sweep away the tears.

“If anything would have happened to her I-”

“Nothing happened. Getting away today was always gonna be the hardest part. When we’re settled it’ll be smooth sailing, I promise.”

You know it's a white lie and maybe Simon is telling the lie to himself as well as you but he looks so damn sincere that you can believe him. After all that's why you’re out here in the first place. Together you can get through anything. 

Eventually the RV pulls up in a layby surrounded by trees on one side and an empty gas station on the other. 

“This looks like a good place to hole up for the night,” the driver says, hefting himself from his seat before pulling out a shotgun. 

Your hand quickly settles on your pistol, ready to use it if he makes any move to hurt you. He doesn’t. He opens the door of the RV and from the windows you watch him checking the perimeter. 

“You think we can trust him?” you ask Simon who’s now standing, watching his every move with more scrutiny than you are. 

“If he wanted to do something he’s had plenty of opportunity to try and why stop in the first place?” he says and you agree. 

Being a Savior has definitely made you paranoid. It's been a long time since you’ve accepted help that didn’t come with strings but maybe not everyone was like that. You weren’t like that, not anymore. Sylvie needed to be raised in a world where people could be good and kind and generous. That was one of the reasons you’d left the Sanctuary in the first place.  

“They call me Rusty,” he says as he returns to the RV and you wonder if all that white hair was a bright shade of red once upon a time.

Simon introduces you and Sylvie and Rusty nods, edging closer, looking about as nervous as you and Simon must look to him.

“Why, she looks brand new,” he says, peering at Sylvie with the awe of a man who hasn’t seen a baby in a long time and probably didn’t expect to see one again. 

“6 days today,” you say, brushing your finger against her perfect chubby cheek. 

“Well ain’t that something,” he beams. “Now I can’t offer much but what I have is yours to share.”

“You’ve already done enough,” Simon insists but Rusty won’t hear it. He begins pulling canned food from his kitchenette and sets up a camping stove and some fold out chairs outside for a cookout.  

It’s a real treat sitting by the stove with a blanket over your legs and the smell of baked beans filling the air. It's ordinary and feeling ordinary is one of the best feelings in the world when you’re so used to feeling afraid. 

You and Simon don’t say much, you’re tired and you don’t want to accidentally slip up and mention Negan or the Saviors. You might not know Rusty but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know the Saviors. Saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could be very costly this close to the Sanctuary. 

Fortunately Rusty doesn’t seem to pay any attention to your quiet. He fills  the silence as he fusses over the food and while you eat he doesn’t pry. Instead, he talks and talks and talks. Talks like he hasn’t had anyone to talk to in a while and you think that maybe he’s glad you don’t have much to say. 

He tells you he’s been on the road for a long time. He started out in New Mexico where he’d been visiting his little brother, Hughie. They’d held out together at first but things had, as Rusty put it, “got messy.” 

You don’t press him for more. The Sanctuary wasn’t the first, second or even third group you’d been a part of. As far as you could tell things got messy everywhere eventually. The picture of a wife and two grown up sons that sits on his dashboard tells you all you need to know about what he’s trying to get back to and before you settle down for the night he admits, “I wouldn’t have picked you up if it wasn’t for the little one.” 

You don’t blame him for that. You wouldn’t have gotten into his RV if it wasn’t for Sylvie but accepting Rusty’s help was a good call and it was clear he was a good man.  

You travel with Rusty for two weeks, helping find fuel for the RV and food whenever you can get it. At one point you reach a crossroad and make the decision to stay with Rusty until he makes it home. After all, you have nowhere better to go. 

His house is on the outskirts of a small town and he points out the stores as you drive though. Like most places it's deserted except for the dead and you watch Rusty examining their faces as you pass them by. You know what he’s looking for and you hope to hell he doesn’t see it. Not like this. 

His house is at the bottom of a long drive and the gate is closed, which is a good sign. But you don’t let yourself have hope, if you do then you know you’d only be setting yourself up for disappointment. When the house comes into view it looks untouched except for the weeds which have started to grow across the porch. 

In your heart you know it's empty and you hold Sylvie a little tighter as you watch Simon and Rusty break open the door to get inside. After ten minutes only Simon comes back, his face grave. 

“What is it?” you ask him and he cups your cheeks, his hands feeling so warm on your skin as he tilts your head to look at him. 

“I love you,” he says, pulling you against him, careful not to crush Sylvie who is in her usual spot on your chest. “I love you both so damn much.”

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Its taken me way longer than expected to come back to this story (and writing fanfiction) but I didn't want to leave it with a loose end so not only have I finished this chapter but the last one too :)