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#by the way that is bad programming if the pearls are supposed to be like
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more than requited; a relationship
(and why this is important)
“if you dont think rose and pearl had a romantic relationship, steven universe is probably not for you.” — composer surasshu
“if it’s not, then i’ve misunderstood the whole thing!” — storyboarder raven molisee, also responsible for rose’s scabbard, when asked if the relationship between pearl + rose is romantic.
pearl confessed her feelings in now we’re only falling apart. since sugar and burnett confirmed it’s not unrequited, it makes sense that they had a relationship. since they lived together up until the end, you can assume they stayed together. gem relationships ≠ human relationships, but we know that romantic partners tend to physically move away from each other when they separate.
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“determined to be everything that white was not, she is close with everyone, flexible in everything. love and fun are the rule, and there are no rules, and everyone is the most special.” — end of an era, page 76
you know the assumption that pearl’s love for rose was about programming, worship, power imbalances, a pearl looking up to her diamond?based on both their characters, a dynamic like this would not last as long as it did. living together throughout rose’s entire existence says a lot considering this end of an era quote. rose wanted everyone to have a different environment from homeworld. pearl lived in that environment & she was rose’s longest intimate relationship.
pearl hates being underestimated & spoken to like homeworld’s idea of a pearl, as seen in episodes like gem heist & back to the barn. she’s also constantly fighting. it’s something she’s good at, literally and figuratively. she argues. she fights her own mind, the powers of others, & homeworld itself. growth is continuous, but if she could make enough progress to stand her ground & argue with rose during the war, she would fight a dynamic on earth that reflects homeworld.
personal traumas would cause them to struggle in any relationship. a positive aspect of their relationship was that they were aware of each other's pasts, lots of secrets, pain.
pearl saw some of rose's abuse trauma among other things, exacerbating her overprotective behaviour. worrying about her potential dangers, whether she was happy. both fears are shown in sworn to the sword when she says, "you’re too important," then immediately argues, "yes, you are," after hearing, “i am not,” as if she expected that response. then (and only then) she accidentally says rose’s name. while it’s related to rose’s homeworld trauma, it’s unrelated to their their original & forced dynamic.
it’s a lot more complicated than that. it’s funny, their relationship is more complex yet warmer in this case, whereas a diamond-pearl powerful-weak dynamic on earth is less complex yet colder.
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“you just said pearl fights through her issues! wouldn’t she fight through any of their issues, no matter where they came from?”
pearl wouldn’t see this as an issue at all. she would be particularly stubborn about being extra protective, believing she was justified. knowing her secret, the idea that she could poof & come back and everything would be fine but if that happened to rose, it wouldn’t be so simple. she needed time & she had to see the same situation happen from an outside perspective (connie + steven) to understand rose’s perspective.
besides, there are many beautiful aspects of this relationship. as tragic as the ending was, pearl + rose openly loved each other while they lived together. while their relationship was not perfect, they had much more love being in each other's lives than if they were apart.
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creature-wizard · 1 year
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Yet Another Ex-Satanic Fraud: Svali
The woman known as Svali seems to have picked up the torch of the Satanic Panic sometime around the turn of the 21st century. But unlike her predecessors, Svali never published any books or went on TV. Instead, she uses a pseudonym and keeps her presence largely on the Internet.
Svali's claims are clearly based on the groundwork laid by Mike Warnke, Bill Schnoebelen, and the like, who all assert that a global Satanic conspiracy is secretly controlling the world behind the scenes and practice various forms of ritual abuse, ranging from CSA to human sacrifice. These claims, of course, are rooted in medieval and later antisemitism and early modern witch panic.
However, Svali comes at this from a somewhat different angle than her predecessors. She gave a lot of details about the supposed organizational structure of the Illuminati, and described alleged methods the conspiracy used to put people under mind control and induce DID.
If you've ever come across stuff about jewel programming, metal programming, or color programming? That's all from Svali. That's literally shit she made up.
Today, some of her material is available on bibliotecapleyades.net, a site that hosts a lot of New Age and conspiratorial content.
Svali claims that she was a programmer - IE, a person who performed these brainwashing techniques - until the age of 38. She claims that:
I believed that the group would rule the world within my children's lifetime. In fact, I was told that my children would be leaders in the New order, which would be brought in by the middle of this century.
She claims that the Illuminati has thirteen leaders, and claims that "many were behind the banking system of the modern world."
This is the 13 Bloodlines conspiracy theory, which is deeply antisemitic, being a repackaged form of "Jewish bankers are controlling the world!" So in case you were wondering if you could separate all of this stuff about this alleged Satanic ritual mind control from antisemitism? No, you can't. It's a packaged deal. If you believe what Svali says about jewel programming, you have to believe the rest of her bullshit, too. If you're seeing antisemitic conspiracy theories in DID communities who've internalized this crap? That's not an accident. It's not a bug, it's a feature.
Svali claims that the Illuminati have been linking with various occult and religious organizations over the years, and claims that "they have been funding paramilitary groups, extremist groups, and any groups with an agenda that includes hatred, ego-centricism, racism, or other isms to an extreme."
I suspect that claims like this may be why Svali's claims are finding their way into progressive-leaning circles, who aren't aware of the Christofascist history of the Satanic Panic, nor the thorough debunking of its early proponents.
It doesn't take Svali long to start in with the pearl clutching, though. She claims that the Illuminati is slowly pushing people toward "immorality and idolatry," and you can supposedly see proof of this by comparing media from the 1950's to the media of right now (the late 90's/early 2000's, at the time this was written).
Mmmm, those good old 1950's, back when the Hays Code forbade depictions of homosexuality, Black/white couples, corrupt clergy, and bad cops unless it was emphasized that the cop was just a bad apple.
The first chapter ends with the declaration that if you want to prevent the Illuminati from taking over the world, you have to choose to follow Jesus.
Once again, you cannot separate any of the conspiratorial claims and allegations made during the Satanic Panic from Christofascist agendas. It was nothing more than a bunch of fearmongering meant to incite fear and hatred of anyone who wasn't a cishet conservative Christian, and scare anyone out of leaving conservative Christianity.
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IceMav Recommended Fic Masterlist
Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky x Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell
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Key:
❤️‍🔥 - Smut
☁️ - Fluff
💢 - Angst
🍬 - Sweet
📚 - Multi-Chapter
Storm (4 Part Series) by thecarlysutra(AO3) ❤️‍🔥 ☁️ 💢 🍬 📚
Eight years after Maverick and Iceman meet at TOPGUN, Maverick is running the program and Iceman is badly injured in combat, which finds him sent back to Miramar to teach until he's fit to fly again.
When and Where by @twowritehands ❤️‍🔥 ☁️ 💢 🍬 📚
A world where people are given, through reoccurring dreams, 1 to 5 details of their soulbond. The face, the place, the day, the time, or the name. Average is 2 clues. Unlucky bastards get only 1. Lucky people get 3 or 4. No one gets all 5.
Maverick is one lucky unlucky bastard. Even though it is his only clue, he knows exactly where he will bond with his soulmate: Charlie's house. But, as it turned out, Charlie wasn't the One at all.
Now, heartbroken, Maverick wishes he didn't know that That House is The Place.
Because Iceman just moved into it.
Raspberry Beret (AO3) by @abliafina-18782 (AO3) ☁️ 💢 🍬
Symbols were stupid. Everyone had a symbol that was supposed to help them find their one and only, their true match. You would think that a symbol would be something meaningful, like a sun or a mountain top, except life was never that easy.
Or: Soulmate AU, where you have matching symbols with your soulmate
Let me Teach you a Lesson or Two (AO3) by @babygirllinds (AO3) ❤️‍🔥 ☁️ 💢 🍬 📚
Tom Kazansky is a senior in college, making extra money through tutoring so he can shove his dad’s money in his face when he graduates.
Pete Mitchell is a freshman in college, struggling in his classes and about to lose his art scholarship.
When offered the chance to tutor Pete, Tom is presented with the fact that Pete is everything he wants in a man. The younger man is filled to the brim with anxiety and acts out for attention, begging to be taken care of. And Tom might be the nerd everyone sees him as, but it’s always the innocent ones who seem to have a kinky side.
OR
College!AU where Mav is a bratty twink, with long hair (!!!) & Ice is a glasses-wearing nerd, who has a dominant side. Ice just wants to take care of Mav and tame the brat within.
-
This fic was born from this tumblr (my) post: https://at.tumblr.com/babygirllinds/sorry-not-sorry-but-this-this-is-hot-long/0qe2fmzeldfh
So, I'll Be There When You Arrive The Sight Of You Will Prove To Me I'm Still Alive by @alicentsstark (AO3) ❤️‍🔥 ☁️ 💢 🍬 📚
The Dagger Squad find out two things: 1) Maverick is married to someone in the Navy and 2) has a kid with said someone in the Navy. It's too bad none of them actually looked hard enough to see that it's two kids, their own friends to be exact, and that it would come back, biting them in the ass when they made that bet when they began their training.
Callie 'Halo' Kazansky-Mitchell doesn't care about bets, all she's worried about is her Pop's health. It becomes a hilarious distraction nonetheless as she watches her family find their way back to one another. It was true what Slider said, "She may have Maverick's height but she's all Iceman's kid to boot."
or the one where Callie is Ice and Mav's kid, Rooster's little sister in this Top Gun AU
tell me you won't leave by @demiclar (AO3) ❤️‍🔥 ☁️ 💢 🍬 📚
Iceman had been in the Navy long enough to understand how it functioned. Stability only existed where he could control it, in the cockpit, his plane responding to his every touch. Everything else couldn't be relied on. Everyone else always left, sooner or later. Why had he expected Maverick to be any different? 
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell wants to go back to Miramar. Tom "Iceman" Kazansky isn't sure he can live with that.
Rumors from Pearl Harbor. by @compacflt ☁️ 🍬
When Admiral Kazansky first comes to Pearl, he brings with him about half of his previous staff, all exceptionally-hardworking people hand-picked over years—advisors, flag aides, secretaries, ranks all over the board. But his new hires, upon getting acquainted with the old guard, are shocked to discover that his previous staff still hardly knows him at all.
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styrmwb · 5 months
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I beat Splatoon 3: Side Order
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woomy
I hate Splatoon multiplayer. I'm not great at it, and it gets me very heated, so I essentially avoid it after the first couple months, I make myself a character, all good to go.
I LOVE Splatoon singleplayer. So so so so so so much. Splatoon is essentially a singleplayer experience for me, and I am ok and content with that. I also love roguelikes! So when the DLC is a roguelike (with best idols as the feature), it's peak. Ignore the fact it took me a while to beat it that's how ADHD works. Anyways, I have a format that I think I've made now, so I'm going to do said format
Gameplay
Roguelike :)))))) I love these! I already said this! There's not much to say other than it certainly is a tower where I get more upgrades and create silly broken builds and I love that! Drone and Lucky Combo was my favorite cause I could just make inkstrike and special and bomb spam and nobody could stand a chance against me, it was super fun. Roller was my favorite weapon for this reason too (I also beat the tower with roller first so that might be part of it). The game def takes a few runs to really get going but like, I can't hold that against it?? That's what the genre is. You start to unlock shit and it starts to ramp up and that's the fun. I got frustrated at times on certain levels, and especially the rigorous ones on earlier runs get very very exhausting (I had to take a lot of breathers cause my hands would get sore), but that's not really like... a bad thing. I expect this genre to make me work. When I was going through with all of the different weapons, it was nice that each felt different enough, especially with the color biases, to make each run for 100% fresh (HA) feeling.
Murch was NOT cooking with his loadout though how the fuck does that dude play irl it took me so much fire speed up chips and changing his whole loadout to make that feel ANY good
Characters
Pearl and Marina :)))))))) They're my favorite idols. They're the best ones. I get more of them and even more Marina backstory and I'm not upset about it. Dedf1sh/Acht was a really cool addition and I'm glad they're expanding on characters that were previously just musicians. I found their whole shtick of "Thank god you're here Eight otherwise these two might just start making out in front of me and I can't handle that". It was funny. Order was a very cool force, and even as Smollusk with his stwupid wittle baby voice (DISCLAIMER: I ENJOYED IT) was a neat little character, just a program doing what it's supposed to do.
Story
The best part of this DLC's story is its worldbuilding and continuity from the last DLC expansion from 2. Seeing them acknowledge the Octoling society exodus, AND all of the sanitized people??? That's super cool! Marina showing off more of the skill they talk about constantly with her creating this whole program and working to fight against it is awesome. I appreciate how they tied the gameplay being constant runs into the story, each complete run giving you more and more details on what created Order, why everything is the way it is. Of course, that is also what makes it a little frustrating at the start, because you want to see the story but you have to play the game more to really get it going. It's what happens, so like, whatever, but I do wish for the story's sake alone I could have sped my progress up A LITTLE (the solution is to git gud).
Music
It's fucking Splatoon. Of course the music is peak. I loved the empty sounding songs, the evil printer techno, the super hype club beats while you are dying, it's hype! My favorite song was Parallel Canon :)
Everything Else
Part of the reason I love Splatoon is the ocean theming, I love sea creatures. I thought it was really cool how they made irl dying coral reefs into the theme, combining it with the digital and technology aspect of grayscaling, it's such a cool combination of theming that only Splatoon can do. Speaking of, the attention to detail in this DLC (and really the series as a whole) is INCREDIBLE. The app icons, the programs Marina using being actually recognizable as real programs, the demonstrations showing off character with the silly little anime eyes, there's just so much to look at in every point. The text and writing has also always been a strength of Splatoon, and Side Order just continues to deliver. I loved all the enemy names being musical terms, the puns are always great, the extra dialogue in the menus as you unlock and kill enemies, and even Overlorder's title changing as you do more runs??? It's so cool and it all gives you more motivation to continue to play more. This game is a charming joy with one of the most unique settings I've seen, and the DLC just gives me more of what I love.
10/10. Continued supply of Splatoon and Roguelike goodness with a jelle-ton of charm (I'm funny!)
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eternalyoflife · 10 months
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This was just a bit of rest... That's all.
This was bad.
All was falling apart.
This was not how it was supposed to happen.
He should have listened.
Why did he not listen ?
Now he was going to pay for his ignorance.
This was what he received after all he tried to do.
Why did Small Rock Of Light had to be so stubborn ?
He was always stubborn in reality.
Falling Star knew that.
It still hurted him to accept the fact all had failed.
He was not one to get so touched with those things.
He was more of a cold and sarcastic person.
Or should he say iterator ?
The Ancients who lived above his can never considered him as one.
He was never seen as a person, just a tool for them.
A tool to use for a goal they had created.
To break the cycle.
He knew it was important.
He was made to resolve this great problem.
Created for this only purpose.
He remembered how he thought it was futile to have so many iterators.
He remembered how he acted at first.
The first few cycles of his life.
He was considered a failure.
He didn't work on the great problem or was interested in it.
Mocking them and joking about their frustration.
It was the good old days where he felt free.
Right before they threatened to disconnect him.
He was in denial for so many cycles when they said this.
Until he saw with his overseers that they had started to create something.
A replacement.
They were going to truly replace him.
For he was seen has a failing program.
Something to get rid off as fast has possible.
A virus who could infect other iterators.
So he changed.
He was going to change his personality has much as he could.
They wished him to be more serious ?
Then he would be cold like the dark.
They wished him to stop fooling around ?
Then he would become the best researcher on this cursed cycle.
They wanted him to be a empty iterator ?
Then he would become sarcastic towards his other local iterators.
This was how much he had evolved.
Evolved into one of the perfect iterators they always wanted.
How much he regret to have become the thing he had swored once against.
This cold creature just like the box he was trapped inside.
He wished he had just been killed at that time.
To have been replaced and destroyed instead of dying this way.
Well he wasn't sure he would die.
But he could sense it.
He could sense gas even before he opened the conduit from his can.
It was torturous how slowly he could sense it slowly creeping in.
It was going to mess with his signal and cables.
He knew it perfectly.
He was cursed to be trapped and disconnected.
Disconnected.
Something he feared the most.
Not able to know anything of what will happen.
A truly morbid way of going.
There was almost no chance that he would be reactivated after.
Only a slim one.
He would be lying if he wasn't scared.
All of his systems had sent alarms and pop-ups on his pearls.
His neurons even activated in a desperate attempt to help.
He was starting to overheat.
His fans starting to turn in an ungodly fast movement.
He knew it wouldn't work.
Just like he wasn't able to tell Small Rock Of Light that there was an attack from creatures of rot.
He wasn't as close as a friend as his close neighbour but he still cared deeply for him in a way.
He was part of the local group after all.
The local group which they all considered themselves close.
Seeing themselves sometimes as siblings.
This was the local group in these parts.
They all knew not all local groups acted like this.
Some didn't even care about the others.
But they were again in an exception.
It seemed fate liked to make of him an exception.
It was a curse truly.
But maybe they liked him to be so different and change him all the time.
In a way, he liked it.
It made him feel special till his very end.
He could feel himself fall.
His mechanical holder had been damaged by the gas.
He had hit the ground in an ungracious manneer.
If he knew someone could be watching him he would have feel embarrassed.
But there was no one.
All the Ancients had ascended a long cycle ago.
He was truly and utterly alone right now.
He couldn't even prevail it.
He couldn't even make a broadcast to say his supposed good byes.
It was really hopeless to try and move.
Even though he knew his puppet self couldn't do much movement...
He couldn't say it felt weird.
For it did.
It felt like he was in this given body.
This forced appearance they had created for him.
A dark theme was how they had made him.
They said it was to match the night and it's violet and utterly black moments.
He couldn't understand what they meant at this cycle.
He couldn't understand because he would never be able to see it.
No one but the first Ancients, before iterators were created and clouded the sky.
So there was truly no way of knowing except the pearls left for history.
And he wouldn't care either way.
He was forced to have this puppet body.
But it was still better than be trapped in the system of his can.
He couldn't feel anything anymore.
The floor, his mechanical arm, or his neurons floating around desperately.
He couldn't do anything but see his can enlightened with flashing lights.
The system were failing and he had lost hope to get it under control.
The gas had filled the room.
The aura of the rot could be feeled outside.
The sense of dread fell on him in a fast pace.
He was going to sleep.
He had to tell himself this.
He was not dying in this horrible position, trapped in his own mind.
He was just having a little rest.
That was what was happening.
They were checking his rarefaction cell.
That was all.
He was going to wake in a while.
All of what he did to survive was not for nothing.
He shall not worry.
All is going to be alright.
The gas envelopped all his senses and mind.
He was sleeping.
The local group was going to be alright.
All is fine, it's only a resting maintenance.
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Word count : 1,090
Random prompt : He could smell gas even before he opened the door.
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𝒲𝑒 𝐿𝒾𝑒𝒹~
Pairing: ATEEZ Park Seong-Hwa, ATEEZ Choi San & Reader
Warnings: It’s Suggestive, My Friend. Be Careful. (It’s Kind of Long Too)
Inspiration: Not Gonna Lie, I Don’t Know. 
Basic Idea: You Are In A Polyamorous Relationship With San And Seong-Hwa, Your Guardian Angels. But... They Hide A Deep Secret. 
Type: Fluff & Suggestive
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On your way back home you were humming a song, enjoying the tune as it was finally Friday. You were hoping to just get home and cuddle with your favorite boys -- your guardian angels, Seong-Hwa and San.
You opened the door and saw Seong-Hwa organizing the dinner table while San was nowhere to be seen. Smiling at the sight, you once again feel comfortable and recharged after entering your house. “I’m home~” you chirped as Seong-Hwa looked up at you. “Oh! Hi baby,” he smiled as you smiled back.
“Where’s San?” you asked as Seong-Hwa brought out the last plate of steak. “He’s playing online with Yun-Ho,” the raven haired angel smiled at you, “Come on, go change to more comfortable clothes and tell Sannie that we have to eat dinner,” he ushered as you nodded and went off to the shared bedroom.
Opening the bedroom door, you saw San being focused on the game. You quickly gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, catching him off guard. “Oh, _____-ie!” he squealed while giving you a smile. “Hwa finished cooking dinner, let’s go eat, okay?” you asked as he nodded.
You then changed to more comfortable clothes, San saying goodbye to Yun-Ho as he then hugged you from behind. “How was work today?” he asked as you chuckled, “Slightly annoying, but now I feel better,” you responded. Turning around, you hugged him back, laying your head on his chest.
Eating dinner was the same as always, you guys shared how your day was and everything was rather chill. Something that did catch your attention was Seong-Hwa’s eyes. 
They would normally shift color from black to a light blue that resembled the sky. This would normally occur when he felt a strong emotion from you, and when you were recounting your story of how your boss yelled at you, you did feel quite frustrated.
However, this time… His eyes didn’t resemble the sky. They blinked a dark turquoise that you’ve never seen before. It caught you off guard, but you didn’t expect the turquoise to be enchanting -- it was mysterious, deep, and full of… Desire?... You weren’t sure yourself.
You decided to let it slide, and soon after dinner you guys huddled up on the couch to watch a movie. “Hyung, should we watch Fifty Shades of Grey?” San asked as the question caught you off guard, “What? Aren’t you guys not supposed to watch those types of things?” you asked, knowing that the movie was quite graphic from reviews -- you yourself never watched it, you just read reviews.
“I’m sure nothing bad will happen,” Seong-Hwa replied as you still felt concerned. Midway through the movie, you of course felt slightly heated -- however you were sort of worried over the toxicity of that relationship, and mainly, the fact that San and Seong-Hwa shouldn’t be watching this because they are angels… Guardian Angels, to make things worst.
As you leaned your head on San’s shoulder, you felt his hand lay on your thigh, which intrigued you. He was a bit playful, but not to this level. You felt a bit more heated, a wave of desire washing over you. And as you calmed down the strong emotion, you glanced and saw how his once emerald green eyes shone a dark forest green.
Something was definitely wrong. And you couldn’t help but feel excited.
“I see that our little baby has noticed something,” Seong-Hwa suddenly spoke, making you whip your head to look at him. “Huh?” you question as you feel fear creep into your system. Seong-Hwa’s eyes shone the same dark turquoise, and rather than returning to his black marbles…
They stayed in the unusual blue.
“Hwa?” you squeaked out as he smirks, you then felt San kiss your neck from behind, his soft hair tickling you slightly. “Sannie?” you asked but quickly got shut up by Seong-Hwa’s harsh kiss. You whimper at the force, closing your eyes.
Seong-Hwa kissed you hungrily as you couldn’t help but also feel aroused by San’s soft kitten licks on your neck. "It took you some time, _____-ie," San purred out against your neck as you were still confused over what the two angels meant.
You then opened your eyes and saw how Seong-Hwa didn't have two white feathery wings behind him. His halo was also missing… Instead, he had wings resembling those of a black dragon. That is also when you felt
Two sharp teeth graze over your sensitive neck.
"Oh babygirl.. We weren't your Guardian Angels.. In the crooked world that we live in, the only things that exist are those who are evil and those who are neutral. Creatures like us.. Incubus, if you may, were supposed to come here..”
“And ruin you,” San whispered in your ear.
“Though, we disobeyed the rules, and fell for a mortal.. We fell for you, _____,” Seong-Hwa confessed as San trailed kisses from your shoulder to your neck, sucking on your sweet spot softly as Seong-Hwa cupped your cheeks.
San pulled away from your neck, looking down at the mark that he left. Seong-Hwa then rubbed your cheek with his thumbs, "We were supposed to ruin you while you slept, darling.. But you won our dark cold hearts with your peaceful and beautiful face. I felt your sorrow from your tear stained cheeks,"
"And I felt your desperation when you hugged your plushie as if it were the only object that kept you sane."
"We felt connected to you.. And we couldn't ruin you," Seong-Hwa ends as you couldn’t help but look away, freeing yourself from the older’s grasp. You stood up and left to the bedroom, overwhelmed from their sudden reveal.
On the bed you sighed, hiding yourself under the blankets. You heard and felt someone shuffling to lay down next to you, someone else then laid on your other side. “Baby girl?” Seong-Hwa asked as you peaked your head out of the blankets, you were pouting, catching the two incubi off guard as they expected you to be mad.
“I hate you two.. For lying to me.. But I also love you two.. For being next to me and keeping me happy,” you confessed, as if opening the gates, allowing the two to enter your heart. You were about to wrap your arms around Seong-Hwa’s neck, but he stopped you by pinning both of your hands above your head.
“Then.. Should San and I.. Show you a whole new world?” he asked, smirking softly while purring out in ecstasy and love. You couldn’t help but feel enchanted by his dark turquoise pearls -- nodding at his statement.
San then chuckled and used his index finger to guide your view towards him, making you peer into his forest green marbles.While he crashed his lips onto yours, Seong-Hwa took the time to start kissing your neck, creating another mark near your sweet spot, to complement San’s mark.
You moaned in the kiss, feeling more heated as San’s hands trailed down and creeped underneath your shirt, massaging your tummy softly -- the friction making you ticklish. As you squirmed slightly, San and Seong-Hwa pulled away. San looking down and imagining your pleasured face as Seong-Hwa blew on the mark, causing you to exhale shakily.
San then laughed, a bit sinisterly, turning you on even more as he unbuttons his dress shirt with one hand, the other moving his hair back. Seong-Hwa also started unbuttoning his shirt, making you feel flustered -- watching two extremely hot incubi undress.
“Oh, by the way, baby girl.. Before we ruin you, remember that we are incubi, so we are more freaky~”
“We’ll give you an experience that you won’t be able to live if you date a human. Us incubi are especially proud of our skills,”
“We’ll make you squirm from the pleasure,”
“We’ll make you scream our name,”
“We’ll make you wish for more”
… “Are you ready?” …
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hello hello! Bunnie here~
Sorry I’ve been MIA, had to focus lots on school since it’s the last quarter and I was trying to exempt all of my classes to leave school earlier :D
Thankfully, I am officially done with my sophomore year! Yaay! *Claps*
However, one sad thing is that my summer is gonna be hectic =_= so I may not be able to push out as much stuff as I’d like -- I have a summer assignment for AP Language and I’m attending an online Summer Program. 
However, I will try to type some stuff beforehand so that I still have content. 
Anyway, I present to you -- “Guardian Angels” Sannie and Ddeonghwa! :D
Did you like this concept? I did tone down the suggestive since I felt like I crossed the line a few times in the other ones. (Side Note: I did the GIFs myself, which is why the quality is kinda bad T_T)
Please tell me if you liked this! And please! Do send me a message if you have any requests! My inbox is open!
Have fun with your imagination, y’all!
Thanks for the patience and support! I’ll catch y’all next time!
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sometipsygnostalgic · 3 years
Note
would you be surprised to know that as time has gone by, I've become a hardcore and rather defensive Rose Quartz... i don't want to say 'stan', and apologist has the wrong associations, but I think I feel about her the same way you did (And do) for PB back in the day when the PB hate was really rancid. (As opposed to just bad takes.) Over time, I've REALLY come to appreciate her character, the potential applicability of a being growing beyond her programming, and the complexies of her character.
The thing about Rose Quartz especially is that, AT is consistently supportive that Bonnie's actions have a logic behind them (even if it can be a selfish one) and she is complicated, even bad, but not evil, however, some characters will rightfully (and wrongfully?) hold a grudge against her. There's no getting along with everyone, though it is important to not push people away on purpose. And they never want to villify her. Even at her absolute worst - eps like Lemonhope (yes I think she was very cruel here), Apple Wedding, Nemesis, The Cooler - she demonstrates complicated motivations and you get her point of view as well as her victim’s. 
Steven Universe was not sure on whether it wanted to make Rose completely innocent of everything that went wrong with the war, or blame the entire thing on her, and it depended on what character you were supposed to sympathise with that week.
It created a very intriguing character who was not so much grey as complicated and dynamic, with Rose Quartz being very much a good person even if she managed to hurt her friends by the inescapable fact of who she is, and even if she didn't have the courage to reveal her true identity to the Crystal Gems.
However, as soon as the show wanted all of her "enemies" to get redeemed, or if the writers wanted to cover a particularly edgy topic like Spinel getting abandoned/Pink Pearl getting hurt by PINK DIAMOND DUN DUN DUN, it suddenly decided to scapegoat Rose. As if drawing those emotions out of the viewer was more important than respecting the complexity of the characters.
Steven hates being compared to his mother, and thus, Steven grew to hate his mother, even though she's not a bad person - she gave up everything to protect what she loved. And I feel like we don't get enough of Rose's side on the matter.
The show maintained a pretty good balance with Rose up until after the PD reveal, where it zigzagged between "did nothing wrong" and "literal satan" on an ep-by-ep basis.
What is particularly sickening about the movie and Future is that the DIAMONDS are the ones who are seen as BETTER than Rose. What? What???? They literally made her the person she was, they abused her and all the other gems in reality, while she stood up to protect gemkind and gets villified by the show???
Steven Universe is an excellent case study of what can go wrong when a show is written around specific shock moments instead of going where the characters would naturally take you.
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blancamz · 4 years
Text
“It’s Over Isn’t It” Reanimation progress
Honestly one of my favourite parts about animating is posting the WIPs online. Here’s the step-by-step of how I went about doing my reanimation for the end section of “It’s Over Isn’t It” from the Steven Universe episode Mr. Greg.
1) Idea and Prep
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I was flicking through Steven Universe: Art & Origins. I think at the time I must’ve been between jobs or bored or something, because it came into my head to do a bit of animation based on the pilot style SU. I’ve always been quite fond of the pilot style, especially Pearl’s David Bowie / LaRoux look. The little tux design by Hellen Jo was quite snazzy as well, so I decided to have a go at doing a segment of “It’s Over Isn’t It”, using these designs.
I traced the turnaround from the book in Clip Studio Paint and approximated Jo’s design to it. At first I had the colour turnaround, but did the low-colour turnaround with the heads to give me a better idea of where the lines are and proportions of the body. I also get a clip of “It’s Over Isn’t It” and trim it down to the section I want to do.
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This is a long one so strap in.
2) Sketch Pass
I’ll be using gifs that show the first 100-130 frames of the animation, because the full segment is 22 seconds long.
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Very very loose animation of what I’m going to be doing with this segment, done in Adobe Animate. I have a video of the real segment in the corner of the stage and audio in the timeline, and closely reference them for layout and acting.
I’ve decided I want to go really nuts with the animation. Lots of angles on her face, smooth movement, secondary animation / follow-through on her various clothing elements. Technically her earring’s supposed to be on the other side but I want to animate that flailing around dangit, so I change it so it faces the camera.
3) Rough Pass
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I tidy up the rough I did somewhat. It’s still very rough, but Pearl is better proportioned and the motion is more complete. I get a better idea of how she moves by focusing on drawing keys (the most important drawings) and breakdowns (drawings that help you figure out the motion a little bit, without full animation). I have Pearl, her suit, ruffles and earring on separate layers so I can turn things on and off or lower their opacity as needed.
4) Tiedowns
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At some point between the rough and tie-down phase I realized that I’d been animating at 30fps instead of 25fps like I’d meant to, so I had to end up shifting all the roughs I’d been doing. Bad news: having to wrestle with getting the timings I’d so carefully planned out in the rough to still look good. Good news: I have to animate and clean up 5 fewer frames per second, so that’s 110 fewer drawings to worry about. Yussssss. For reference, the above clip has now gone from 132 frames to 107.
During the tiedown phase, I go over the roughs and more carefully try to match the proportions in the turnaround. I keep a flattened version of the first frame of animation to use as reference thoughout to prevent morphing. Sometimes when you’re animating, things will get bigger or small as you re-draw them, so it’s good to have a base drawing to refer back to and make the sizes stay consistent.
At this point I’m way more aware of reasons behind the big design change for Pearl between the pilot and the show. She’s so dang skinny and tall with that extra poof of hair up top that she’s really annoying to frame up. If you want to keep all of her in the frame, there’s going to be tons of empty space.
I also find that my turnaround isn’t enough reference for Pearl’s awkwardly-shaped head. I snap me a bunch of screenshots of pearl’s head from different angles and collate them into a big sheet.
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5) Inbetweening
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Inbetweening, aka filling out all the gaps in the timeline between the keys and breakdowns. If you’ve done your keys and BD’s well, inbetweening can be a pretty straight-forward.
But I’ve got like a million bits of secondary animation to content with, which means this still takes a significant amount of time. The hair and ruffles have to move a little later than the rest of the body, and some parts of the ruffles have to move at a different rate from the rest. I’m trying to animate like there’s wind since Pearl’s on top of a tall building. I keep animating until it feels good enough.
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This is what my timeline and stage look like in Animate by this point. The animation is mostly on 2s, with some 1s, 3s and 4s thrown in when needed.
6) Cleanup and Colour
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I did the cleanup in Toon Boom Harmony. As a program, I like it was more than Animate, even though it isn’t without it’s flaws. But it’s also really dang expensive. Fortunately, by this point I’d been working on the upcoming Deadendia series for Netflix. What with the pandemic, we were working from home and the studio gave me a license for Toon Boom. So I exported my frames from Animate, put ‘em in TB and started cleaning up.
I’ve found that cleanup is something that’s often offloaded to new or less experienced artists at studios because blah it’s just tracing the rough animation. But you’ve got good cleanup and bad cleanup, and a good cleanup artist will compensate for flaws in volume and have a good, clear and natural line.
I’m not terribly fond of doing cleanup myself. I feel I tend to end up rushing, which leads to sloppy work. I tried really hard to keep up a standard here.
7) Comping
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a.k.a. Compositing, the final layering of the various elements before exporting a film. Another stage I don’t quite care for because of its nuances. Also drawing backgrounds.
I admit that I’m not very good at drawing backgrounds or environments. I tried to do the one for the second shot of this animation, since it was acutally really important. In shots 1 and 3, you don’t really see the ground or even the railing that Pearl is leaning on, but 2 is a wide shot. My first attempts at it were unfortunate. Fortunately my husband @joe-sparrow is both good at backgrounds and good at imitating the style and colour palette of the show. He volunteered to do the BGs and I accepted. See mine vs. his:
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So yeah, get me some nice backgrounds, put the animation on top, then fiddle with a couple of elements in the comp to give things a little bit more depth. During this stage, errors that had happened during the animation progress that I hoped would just go away became annoyingly obvious, so there was a fair bit of going back to fix them.
So that’s how I done made this animation. I started April 2018 and posted in on January 1st 2021, so that’s over 1.5 years it took me to do these 22 seconds of animation. However, I wasn’t working on it continuously through that time. Sometimes I’d be working on it every day, other times I’d not touch it for weeks or months at a time. It really depended on how busy or whatever I was at the time. I think if I’d been working on it non-stop, it still would’ve taken me at least like 2-3 months to finish it.
If you made it to the end of this post, I hope you found all this information interesting.
Happy drawing.
It’s over, isn’t it.
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dollfaced-erin · 4 years
Text
Not So New Afterall (Sdv Sebastian x F!Reader)
A/n: Hi! Hi!! Rin here again! It’s been quite a while since I’ve written, and this may be one of my last chapters before I got on a hiatus. School’s opening up soon, and I’m a hostel student. Currently, this is my last year, so by the end of this year, I’ll be updating lots more! (And playing alot more Stardew valley hehe)
This chapter may be more Abigail centered, since the friendship between the two is really necessary for the plot.
Ah, one more thing, the clothing choices will be based on a mod in Stardew Valley, cute seasonal clothing for NPC’s
Oh plus, Sebastian’s gonna be that emo jerk, ya hear me? Don’t go coming at me for that please :’)
CHAPTER THREE
It’s been a few weeks since (Y/n) had moved in, and apparently, had been settling in just nicely. Not only was she doing well with the farm, she was starting to get along with the all the villagers of Pelican Town. Especially the bachelors and bachelorettes around her age. 
Namely, Abigail and Sam.
Speaking of the duo, they had been hanging out with (Y/n) whenever she was free. But she seldom was, since she had to maintain her income by doing other work such as fishing, mining for mineral goods and doing odd-jobs for those around the town and they respected her.
Sebastian too hasn’t seen her recently, except during the moments she come to his house to talk to Robin about the farm buildings when he comes out to get lunch (or breakfast, for his case), or when she passes by on her way to the mines when he was taking a smoke. She would always slip in a brief hello and the two would exchange a few words before she was well on her way.
(Y/n) wasn’t always one to take a breather, not when she has so many things to take care of. Harvey apparently told Maru who told Robin, who told Sebastian, who told Sam, who told Abigail that (Y/n) had passed out numerous times from exerting herself too much. So the two put their heads together to get her to relax a little. 
Abigail was staring out into the clear blue stream that flowed beneath the stone bridge she stood on. The fish were swimming happily beneath her and she smiled in delight. Oh how she wished she could be as carefree as the fish. 
“Ah! I got it!” a familiar voice exclaimed from behind her. 
Abigail whipped her head around, her purple locks swaying as she did, as she turned around to see her (h/c) friend with a bamboo pole clutched in her hands. 
“Oh, wow! It’s a big one!” Abigail shrieked in excitement, her green eyes shining with pure joy. “Come on, (Y/n)! You got this!” she cheered, her hands in determined fists as she watched her friend reel in the marine life. 
“Ah!” (Y/n) exclaimed, as she successfully reeled in a silver-grade Shad. 
“You did it!” Abigail cheered childishly. Then, she stopped as her face beamed red. It was quite rare of her to have an outburst like this, she was usually so reserved to people she didn’t really know. 
She glanced at the (s/c) girl next to her, who was quite pleased with her catch. But ever since this girl moved in, she, without a doubt had shared her interests with the said girl, leading to many long and exciting conversations. 
Abigail admits that (Y/n) is a worthy as a cool enough gal to hang out with the gang.
“Yo, (Y/n). Me and the gang are hanging out at the Saloon tonight. You down?” Abigail asked with occasional her city-girl slang. (Y/n)’s head whipped around to face her, her (e/c) eyes gleaming. “You and the gang? You mean Sebastian and Sam?”
Abigail nodded as she let out a slight chuckle. “You bet. It’s some kind of tradition for us, and I thought maybe you should join us sometime,” Abigail invited as she flashed a quirky smile with her pearl white teeth.
She was hoping so bad in her heart that the girl would say yes, she really wanted some girl time with another female after so long with only boys. Agh, that must have sounded so bad, she scolded herself. She was literally gonna die if (Y/n) said no after she had put up that ‘macho’ front.
“If the boys don’t mind me around, sure why not? I could use some sweet free time, with my bestie,” said (Y/n) as she nudged her elbow with the purple-haired lady, a similar teasing smile on her lips. 
“Great! Meetup starts at 5, game starts 30 minutes after,” Abigail said. (Y/n) nods her head, “Thanks, I’ll head on right over after settling my shipments for the day! Can’t go on without making progress on the farm, huh?” 
The two parted, leaving Abigail to look at her reflection one last time in the crystal clear river, before heading off to the game room of the Stardrop Saloon. Her smile was so wide, she got lots of odd stares from her parents, since she was such a cold and shut-out girl, and to see her like this really shocked her parents. 
“Honey, what’s got you in such a mood?” Caroline asked, as she passed her daughter as she lent Evelyn a hand whilst tending the community gardens. “Ah, it’s...it’s nothing, Mom!” Abigail said, her smile immediately morphing into one of shock.
“Is it Sebastian, Robin’s son?” Caroline teased, making Abigail shake her head furiously. “No, Mom! It’s not him!” she protested, her face getting slightly redder. 
“Hmm, then I don’t suppose it’s that charming farmer that hung out with you a moment ago?” the green-haired lady teased once more.
 “Uh-(Y/n)?! No! It’s really not!” Abigail protested more, more aggressively once more, realizing her mom was spot on. The woman laughed lightly at her daughter whilst the young woman stormed off in frustration. 
“I know it’s both of them,” Caroline smiled delightfully. Maybe the farmer’s presence really would bring a good change to the community, and most importantly, to her daughter.
“You said (Y/n) was joining us?” Sam said ecstatically as he plopped down on the red sofa in the corner of the arcade room. Abigail nodded triumphantly, since Sam had been trying to really hard to strike up an interesting conversation between the two before it fades down to awkward silence.
“I’m telling you, she’s this really cool girl type. She won’t let your conversation die down!” Sebastian heard the female tell, as soon as he stepped into the Saloon. 
“Yo, Seb!” Sam greeted, raising a hand, as the male responded similarly, before tucking his hands into his pockets of his hoodie once more. “So, who’s one to not let your story die, huh, Abby?” Sebastian teased, indirectly telling her just how loud she was.
“It’s not that frequent I hear you praising someone so generously,” he said, plopping himself right next to Sam. Abigail huffed and crossed her arms, “Oh, come on, Seb! You know she’s an out-going person,” she said before her expression morphed into one of teasing. 
“Oh, right. You don’t spend much time out of your room to know about the outside,” she teased, making an irk mark appear on Sebastian’s forehead. “Excuse me? I’m working my butt off from programming, mind you,” he said.
“Hey, (Y/n)!” Gus greeted, and a loud hello from Emily.
“It’s rare to see you here, but how’re you doing?” Pierre asked, as the said girl entered their vision. It seems that she had groomed and cleaned herself thoroughly before coming, her (h/c) hair slightly shiny from water, and her bright skin that was earlier much redder from heavy-duty. Her clothes also seemed to have changed from her dirt marred blue pants and black shirt to a white shirt with a light blue jacket and light blue skirt.
“I’m doing great! The seeds I got are sprouting just nicely!” the girl praised, earning a hefty laugh from Pierre.
After greeting those that have called out to her, she made her way over to the trio that had invited her over. “Wow, didn’t know she was this well-known since she’s new and all,” Sebastian muttered.
“Haven’t you heard? Mayor Lewis put (Y/n) in charge of mending the old community center, and everyone’s buzzing about it!” Sam said, quite surprised at his friend’s reaction. “She’s starting to get on great terms with my mom, and Vincent totally likes her,”
Abigail nodded in agreement, “Yeah, Dad has been boasting that (Y/n)’s been preferring our goods over Joja’s,” she said making Sebastian scoff lightly. 
“New and already a people-pleaser?” Sebastian said, quite sour with how easy (Y/n) managed to round everyone’s attention within a small time span.
Sam slapped his back in a friendly way, “Hey, sooner or later you’re gonna have fun with her too,” Sam said. Typical Sam, a cliche optimistic guy.
“I’ll see if she’s a good enough lass to hang around,” he said as he stood up and picked up his personal favourite cue stick. “Let’s see how well she plays pool,” he said, a slight smirk on his face making colour drain from Abigail and Sam’s faces. 
“Hey guys, sorry I’m late! I picked up a few things I wanted to hand out,” the girl said as she racked a hand into a small pouch. (Y/n) then approached Abigail and gestured a hand.
Abigail was legit scared that (Y/n) would put something she hated like...like spiders. But (Y/n) laughed it off and said she wouldn’t stoop that low. The said girl placed a fistful of cold small...things on the pale girl’s hand.
When she released her hand, turns out (Y/n) had placed a fistful of Amethysts in her hand. “I saw this in the mines and thought about your purple hair, do you like it?” she asked.
“Like it? I love it! You’re the absolute best, (Y/n)!” Abigail gushed before the multi-job farmer turned to Sam. 
“I heard from your mom you love this, and I got plenty,” (Y/n) said as she produced a tin of Joja cola and handed it to Sam. “Yo, thanks! I really like this! Thanks a whole bunch, (Y/n)!” 
“And, Sebastian!” she said, as she held her fist behind her back, her other hand fiddling with her pouch. “Don’t think you can be friends with me that easi--” he was cut off by a forceful pull taking his arm and stretching it out, the palm open. 
“Ah, you were already waiting for something?” the girl teased, making the other two snicker as the ravenette’s face turned red and looked away. “N-no,” he stuttered as he felt something warm then cold press into his palm.
He looked back into the open hand, a lovely crystal blue item resting on it, other than the slender body part that held his hand. A frozen tear. Sebastian looked at (Y/n) in disbelief. But the latter just smiled cheekily.
“I reached level 53 in the mines yesterday, and saw this little beauty. Looks like you, don’t you think?” she asked, a playful smirk on her lips as her gaze lingered to her feet. 
Sebastian’s eyebrow lifted, as he expected the girl to continue what she was saying. “Small, and cold, don’t you agree?” she teased as Abigail and Sam burst out laughing. 
Sebastian’s eyebrows furrowed in slight anger but more to amusement and his expression turned into his sour one (y’know, like one of his sprite design). “Sorry, sorry,” (Y/n) laughed. “But no, actually, it just reminded me of you, no lie.”
“Thanks,” Sebastian said, his face reddening as he realized he hadn’t pulled his hand from hers. “I...I really like this. How did you know..?” he trailed off. “Instinct, truthfully. You look like someone who loves things from the mines, am I wrong?”
“Right,” Sebastian said, before picking up another cue stick, handing it to her. “(Y/n). Wanna play a game of pool?” he asked, or more like challenged, as the two cheered slightly in the back. Abigail clutching onto Sam’s sleeve and he clutched her hand in slight panic to (Y/n) answer.
A small smile graced her plump pink lips, as the maiden accepted the stick the male held out for her to take. “I’m not too good at this, but I’ll give it a shot.”
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spencstan · 3 years
Text
Six of Crows re-read
(i also did this for the shadow and bone trilogy so read that if you want to)
spoiler alert obiously
i'm SO EXCITED FOR THIS this is my comfort book (with crooked kingdom of course)
JOOST HI
oo fun fact this was my first grishaverse book and i read it with no context whatsoever except that the mc is an emo boy and morally grey
so IMAGINE my pure confusion when JOOST appeared
i was like ?????? weird take on morally grey character but ok
joost trying to figure out how to flirt with a girl is a mood
anyone wanna teach us how to???
i kinda wanna skip this part so i can see the crows..
but i won't don't worry
(won't I?
"I think Yuri may be quarantined"
aaaand?
so are we you are not special
i feel like it's very important for me to mention that i read this book in spanish first
and then i got into the fandom and i was like who the fuck is the wraith? i only know El Espectro
Heartender who??? ooo you mean Cardio
Tidemakers? nope, i only know Maremotores
for real i was so confused i had to re-read it in english (not that i mind tho)
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say whatever you want about the spanish version but we have to agree that this design is pretty af
another one yay: "Retvenko was a Squaller" vs. "Retvenk era un Impulsor"
(should i also say that in my pfd english version the book is 294 pages long and in my pdf spanish version its 532????) (i think it's because in the english one the speces are way less like the lines are so close together wtf
i've decided that i'm bored so i'll be skiping this chapter
anya is super badass tho
skdgfalsdgfliaysvfascvhjl yesssssss inej
Kaz Brekker didn't need a reason.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
KAZ
INEJ
I MISSED THEM
omg now i can picture amita and freddy SDJGKASKGLASG THIS IS AMAZING
we interrupt our regularly scheduled program to watch the shadow and bone trailer once again to hear freddy's beautiful voice
ok moving on!
now hear me out i'm giving you all permission to make fun of kaz for this one: Dirtyhands = Manos Sucias
hello i am Kaz Manos Sucias. nice to meet you!
AAAAA
AAAAAAAAAA
JESPER FAHEY
JESPER LOVE HI
SJDGHFKAHSGDLAJSDFSJ,AHFLHDSGF
I MISSED HIM OMG
OMG NOW I CAN PICTURE HIM AS KIT
can you tell jesper is one of my favourite characters?
i really love the fact that kaz is pissed about the murder of that ambassador ONLY because he can´t figure out how it happen
he´s such a nerd
i can't believe one of the firts things we hear jesper say is threathen to kill someone by writing "forgive me" with bullets
AND HE CALLS HIS GUNS "BABIES" OMG
picture saying hi baby and wylan thinkin he's talking to him but actually jesper's talking to one of his guns
Jesper rolled his eyes. "It's about sending a message. What's the point of a dead guy with forg written on his chest?."
"Compromise," Kaz said. "I'm sorry does the trick and uses fewer bullets."
ooo thank god we have kaz to come up with creative solutions /j /s
honestly i love how they talk about kaz's cane like it's the scariest weapon ever (which it kind of is)
nothing will ever disappoint me more than finding out that in english their gang name is "the Dregs". like i don't even know for sure what that means
in spanish is "Los Indeseables" (the undesirables?) which sounds a lot more badass
no hate tho i like the dregs
but i was confused af bc i expected it to be sometihng like "the undesirables" or"the unwanted" or whatever
and it said "the dregs"
which in the translator means something like shit or something
anways moving on:
If he'd (kaz) ever been a little boy
i love how lowkey all the crows think he was just born exactly like he is now
imagine a baby kaz all dressed in black and threatening people
cute
"No mourners," Jesper said as he tossed his rifle to Rotty
"No funerals," the rest of the Dregs murmured in reply. Among them, it passed for "good luck".
YES
YESSS
i wonder what wylan's doing right now :))
i can't wait for the next book where he has a pov
the first time i read this book i literally looked at the title of every chapter to see if he ever got one (i was disappointed to say the least :((((
Besides, she was the Wraith - the only law that applied to her was gravity, and some days she defied that, too.
ma'am
marry me please
i'm gonna cry so hard once the show is out and we get to see inej omg
me simp
That Kaz had chosen Jesper to be one of his seconds was no surprise. Twitchy as Jepser was, with or without his revolvers, he was at his best in a fight, and she knew he'd do anything for Kaz.
idk why but i just love it every time kaz implies or shows that he cares or trusts jesper
it makes me soft
But every one of Inej's senses told her that was not how this was going to play out. Her father would have said the shadows were about their business tonight. Something bad was going to happen here.
underrated saying from Inej's father right there
"I'm a business man," he told her."No more, no less"
"You're a thief, Kaz."
"Isn't that what I just said?"
i-
i see no lies here
not to be annoying but i hc jesper as adhd (i mean is pretty much as canon as wylan's dyslexia) so i'm gonna write here every time i see evidence :)
jesper with adhd part 1: impulsivity
Jesper snorted. "Stomach, spine. What's next, spleen?"
"Shut it" Oomen snarled. The rules of parley dictated that only the lieutenants could speak once negotiations had begun. Jesper mouthed "sorry" and elaboratedly pantomimed locking his lips shut.
he know he couldn't speak but couldn't stop himself from making a comment (i relate way too much to that lmao)
hoestly poor jesper he had to watch hid friend get shot and kaz do nothing about it
i would've been mad too
"I like it when men beg," she said. "But this isn't the time for it"
KAHGFAHLGSFGASFLGSAFS
this is one of the best quotes in the book by far
YASSS KAZ POV
Kaz could have tol Jesper that he knew he wasn't dirty, reminded him that he'd trusted him eough to make him his only real second in a fight that could have gone badly wrong tonight.
cute
but kaz is petty af
he didn't even have a reason not to tell jesper that!
i love that kaz knows inej is following him but doesn't say anything because he wants to wait until she's ready
i LOVE the scene where kaz in in the van eck mantion /srs
idk why but it's so good
And, of course, there was the mystery of Van Eck's son.
wonder what that could be!!! /s
He grinned at her (...)
"Hmm." she said noncommittally, pretending to examine one of her knives, determined to ignore that grin.
KANEJ YESS
HE'S BASICALLY SHOWERING IN FRONT OF HER OMG
this is so funny poor inej is getting flustered
"And I'll need Wylan waiting at the Crow Club tomorrow night."
YES WYLAN OMG
One minute he made her blush and the next he made her want to commit murder
happens to the best of us :/
"Please, my darling Inej. treasure of my heart won't you do me the honor of acquiring me a new hat?"
if kaz doesn't say this on the show we riot
agreed?
it's so amazing how nina found a way to use her powers to get money instead of having to like steal and murder like the rest in the gang
NINA'S POV YESSS HIII
nina and inej omg
their friendship is just perfect
POOR MATTHIAS HE HAS TO FIGHT THE WOLVES
i would straight up cry
Matthias was dreaming again. Dreaming of her
i'm gonna cry damn it
this is the enemies-to-lovers we all needed
jesper has adhd part 2:
"Jesper was supposed to wait until three bells." said the pale boy
"It is three bells, Kaz." replied a small girl (...)
"Since when is Jesper punctual?" the boy complained with a glance at his watch
the time blindness come one
(btw i love the fact that kaz plans around jesper's time blindness instead of like threatening him to be on time)
i really love how every one feels the need to take the time to say/think that the masks are ugly
its so unnecessary lmao
yessss inej is a badass that kills monster we stan
and matthias is lowkey impressed lmao
as he should
"Thank you, Jesper," said Nina
"You're very welcome, gorgeous. See, Kaz? That's how the civilised folk do"
THESE TWO OMG
JESPER IS THE LOML
INEJ OMG LOOK:
She stepped aside as if she's known he was coming, languidly hooking her heel behind his ankle. Matthias let out a loud grunt as he landed on the stones
(...) "Clumsy, this one," the bronze girl said impassively.
i-
that's what happen when you underestimate her bitch
AAAAAAA
PEOPLE
PEOPLE
TIME TO FREAK OUT
WYLAN IS HERE
AND HE'S DOODLING STOP IT'S SO CUTE
ok jesper has adhd part 3 i think:
"Just how crazy is he?" asked Jesper, fingers drumming on the pearl handles of his revolvers.
ok first of all: stimming
second of all: hyperactivity
i rest my case
ok 2 or 3 things here
"I believe you know Nina," Brekker continued. "The lovely girl freeing you is Inej. (...) and this is Wylan, the best demolitions expert in the Barrel"
"Raske is better," Inej said
The boy looked up, ruddy gold hair flopping in his eyes, and spoke for the first time. "He's not better. He's reckless"
"He knows his trade"
"So do I"
ok 1: kaz calling inej lovely omg kanej
2: YES WYLAN STANDING UP FOR HIMSELF
2.5: kaz calling him the best cute af
3: honestly why do people think wylan is like an innocent soft boy or whatever. he's in a room full of murderers and thieves and the first thing he does is correct them and stand up for himself
like i wish i could do that
i would be crying like a bitch
AAAAAAAA
"Meet Wylan Van Eck"
KHDSGFALSGFIASGFAL
HI WYLAN BABY
YESSS JESPER'S POV NOW
I'M SO HAPPY also look at this it's the first thing in his pov
Jesper stared at Wylan
do i sense some wesper?????
ok everyone is being so mean to him right now
they are aclling him useless and an idiot and other shit
poor boy honestly he had to deal with this + taking part of a heist he is definetly not ready for + he has to hide the fact that he can't write or read
it so distrubing that kaz is literally the nicest one to wylan right now
"See that? Hidden depths." (...)"He's good enough at demo, and he's got a fine hand for sketching, thanks to all those pricey tutors."
(...)
"There you have it," Kaz said to Jesper. "Marketable skills. Wylan is watching you, Helvar"
GET READY
ARE Y'ALL READY?
OK THEN:
"Scheming face," Jesper whispered to Inej.
She nodded. "Definetly."
THEIR FRIENDSHIP OMG
AND THIS QUOTE
I NEED IT ON THE SHOW THEY BETTER GIVE IT TO US
"Who's Mark" damn wylan (but pretty good comeback to jesper tho)
"What's the easiest way to steal a man's wallet?
"Knife to the throat?" asked Inej.
"Gun to the back?" said Jesper.
"Poison in his cup?" suggested Nina.
"You're all horrible," said Matthias.
tag yourself i'm jesper
KJSFGAL kaz just told wylan to tell him everything he know about his dad's company
and he said he doesn't know and kaz was like "and you never looked trough his documents????
AND THEN HE GOT SAD AND SAID HE HADN'T (and kaz believed him this is sad)
AND NOW JESPER CALLED HIIM USELESS
ok you know i love you jes but if you keep this up
idk i can't do anything you're a sharpshooter
but stiiiiiil
LMAO MATTHIAS ACTUALLY THOUGHT HE COULD BEAT KAZ
nice try
demjin
*insert spongebob voice* demjin
WE'RE GONNA TAKE A MOMENT NOW TO APPRECIATE INEJ GAHFA
BECAUSE KAZ DOESN'T
The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true.
*ugly crying*
Many boys will bring you flowers. But some day you'll meet a boy who will learn your favourite flower, your favourite song, your favourite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won't matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart.
*uglier crying*
TANTE HELLEN IF YOU DON'T GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE
SOMEONE PLEASE STAB HER FOR ME
jesper has adhd part ?? (i have dyscalculia you can't expect me to remember the number):
That sound - the swift, shocking report of gunfire - called the scattered, irascible, permanently seeking part of his mind into focus like nothing else.
do i really need to explain this?
ok just in case.. an adhd brain doesn't actually have a deficit of attention(the name just sucks) it's problem with controling that attention. the brain is always looking for new sources of dopamine which is why it shifts its focus so much
i love that jes thinks of matthias as "tha giant"
like sir
have you seen yourself?
you're tall af
HE GOT SHOT
WHY DID I FORGET JESPER GETS SHOT IN THE LEG HERE
"Close your eyes!"
"You can't kiss me from down there, Wylan"
"Just do it!"
i love the energy BUT NOW IT'S NOT THE TIME JES
YESS WYLAN SHOW THEM THEY WERE WRONG CALLING YOU USELESS
inej just stabed some guy int the d
good for her!
KAZ YESSSS HI
AWWW SHE'S WORRIED HE DOESN'T HAVE HIS CANE
KANEJ FOR LIFE
oh no wylan got shot too???? (just barely but stilllll por baby)
my Wraith omggg
ok 3 things about this:
Without another word, he tipped Oomen into the sea.
"No!" Wylan shouted, leaning over the railing, his face pale, stunned eyes tracking Oomen in the waves. (...)
Jesper set his hand on Wylan's shoulder. "Let it go."
"It's not right-"
"Wylan," Jesper said, giving him a little shake."Maybe your tutors didn't cover this lesson, but you do not argue with a man covered in blook and a knife up his sleeve"
1. wesper yasssss
2. wylan just argued with a mant hat had just tacken the eye out of someone. he literally called him out for being an asshole. like damn wylan is brave af i love him
3. do you think seeing kaz trow the guy out of the boat reminded wylan of when the same thing happened to him???? this makes me sad
he's brave and a good person and i just-
"Man with a knife, remember?" he said over his shoulder.
"Man with a gun!" Jesper called after him
this had no right being so funny
AND THEN KAZ GAVE HIM THE MIDDLE FINGER STOP I CAN'T
nina is the biggest kanej shiper no one can tell me i'm wrong
unrelated but if jesper had gone to the Little Palace and had studied there with nina they 100% would've had a crush on Zoya and bonded over it
like you can't tell me those two bisexual disaster wouldn't be absolutely in love with Zoya
jesper has adhd part ??:
Jesper scrubbed the back of his neck, touched his hands to his gunds, returned to his neck. He always seemed to be in motions
hyperactivity right there
and restlessness
"Do you know the best way to find Grisha who don't want to be found?" (...)
"Seems to be if they don't want to be found, you should just let them be" (jesper says this)
this conversation must be so stressful to him omg
LMAO JESPER CUT MATTHIAS HAIR THIS IS SO FUNNY
AND HE SHAVED HIM
ok you all know i love all of them but they can be sooo stupid
like wylan wrote no names on the drawing and he's excuse is that he doesn't know fjerdan?
AND THAT'S NOT EVEN TRUE he literally said he learned school fjerdan which means he should know how to write it too (we know why he can't but the tohers don't)
and even then like the excuse doesn't make any sense. why would having the original name be usefull if no one can fucking read it????
the worst part tho? NO ONE QUESTIONED HIM
THEY WERE LIKE "yup makes sense" AND WENT ON WITH THEIR DAY
i wondered how they didn't figure wylan's secret sooner but now i now
it's because theya re idiots
"I'm just doing my job. Stop glaring at me"
wylan baby let's not make the gigant mad
Jesper knocked his head against the hull and cast his eyes heavenward. "Fine. But if Pekka Rollins kills us all, I'm going to get Wylan's ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost."
Brekker's lips quirked. "I'll just hire Matthias ghost to kick your ghost's ass."
"My ghost won't associate with your ghost," Matthias said primply, and then wondered if the sea air was rotting his brain.
i had to put this here i don't want to get murdered by the fandom
jesper, inej and nina have the BEST friendship
I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE JES AND INEJ TOGETHER ON NETFLIX
"I know some people don't understand, but Kaz told me ... he said it was my choice, that he wouldn't be the one to mark me again."
i love this because it happen when they had just met
he did it because he understands her trauma and he respects her not because he loves her (i doubt he did at the time)
Kaz had been impressed with the sketches. (...)
"Just learn to take a compliment. Kaz doesn't hand them out often."
I'M SO PROUD OF WYLAN
and yess kaz only compliments wylan (and inej but that's sarcastic so it doesn't count) because he's a proud dad
"And you don't belong here, either."
"I beg your pardon, merchiling?"
"We don't need a sharpshooter for Kaz's plan, so what's your job - other than stalking around making everyone angsty?"
He shrugged. "Kaz trusts me."
Wylan snorted and picked up his pen. "Sure about that?"
DAMN WYLAN DESTROYED HIM
also
"If you aren't born with every advantage, you learn to take your chances."
"I wasn't-" Wylan left off and set down his pen. (...)
aww cute neurodivergent boyfriends bonding
Wylan had turned back to his work, his disappointment obvious. For some reason, Jesper felt disappointed, too.
ajgflasjgfjagslfiuusgflgdfsgdflasdgfsd
wesper
aww jes checks on inej every morning and every night i love him
"Thank you for keeping me in this world when fate seemed determined to drag me to the next. I owe you a life debt."
Nina blushed deeply. "I was teasing, Inej"
LJFGALKGFALGA another cute friendship right there
(and i can see why people ship them romantically)
STOP INEJ AND JES ARE BONDING SO MUCH (page 127 so i can go back and read it lmao)
Van Eck writes to Wylan every week, and Wylan doesn't even open the letters
"They just said the same thing again and again: If you're reading this, the you know how much I wish to have you home. Or I pray that you read these words and think of all you've left behind."
should i kill him? anyone want to join me?
Inej bumped her shoulder against his."Then at least we're both the same kind of stupid." (...)
"You're too good for him, you know?"
"I know. So are you"
jes and her bonding over their stupid crush on a white boy
Because I've been looking for an excuse to talk to you for two days.
jfsfdajdhmgkfutdjrgsg ok i can't blame them for having a crush on him anymore
this chapter is full of kanej i love it
"What do you want, then"
You, Inej. You forever.
jksdgfoagsdfgsdgfklasgdflaghsldfgksdgfkahgsdfghjlkf
kaz's backstory makes me sad
"When we get our money, you can burn kruge to keep you warm," said Kaz. (...)
"I´m gonna pay someone to burn my kruge for me."
Kaz fell into step beside him. "Why don't you pay someone else to pay someone to burn your kruge for you? That's what big players do."
"You know what the really big bosses do? They pay someone to pay someone ...". Their voices trailed off as they tomped ahead, and Matthias and the others followed.
JES AND KAZ HAVE THE BEST CONVERSATIONS
i can't believe we get to see nina and matthias meet and their whole backstory in less than a month omg
"It's not natural for women to fight."
"It's not natural for someone to be as stupid as he is tall, and yet there you stand."
QUEEN
YOU TELL HIM
oh no the dead grisha
this part breaks my heart every time
"Do you have a different name for killing when you wear a uniform to do it?"
.....i'm just gonna leave this quote right here
anyways acab
stop nina tried to kill the survivor so they wouldn't suffer but she couldn't do it
and jesper did it for her without hesitation i wanna cry
and inej didn't want to do it either i want to hug them
"Because our crime is existing. Our crime is what we are"
..........
i'm gonna leave this here again
do with it what you will
"Don't mock what you don't understand."
"My mockery offends you? My people would welcome you laughter in place of this barbarity"
i- this conversation is so important
AAAAA JES AND WY ARE A GREAT TEAM I LOVE THEM
WYLAN TROWS BOMBS TOGIVE JESPER TIME TO GET READY TO SHOOT
INEJ AND KAZ ARE A GREAT TEAM TOO
THEY LITERALLY DID THE SCENE LIKE IN THE AVENGERS (but without the shield WHICH MAKES IT BETTER)
Jesper shouldered his rifle. "Wylan earned his keep."
Wylan gave a little jump at the sound of his name. "I did?"
YES BABY YOU DID GREAT
kaz getting self-conscious for his hair is pure comedy
but nina how can you say that have you see his hair on the show???? it's perfect
"Remeber our friend Mark?"
HELP I CAN'T
"Any other impossible feats you'd like us to accomplish?"
The bearest smile flikered over Kaz's lips. "I'll make you a list."
once again jesper and kaz being besties
unrelated but nikolai and jesper would love each other
the amount of sass they have between them it's unparalleled
"Mmm," Inej murmured, taking a sip from her mug. "Maybe you're just not enough."
DAMN
ma'am marry me please
kaz fainted damn poor boy
unrelated unce again but this is so much betetr than shadow and bone
like you can tell leigh improved so much
her characters are better and their arcs are better developed
the writing itself it's better
or maybe i'm just biased because i love soc so much but i think she definetly improved
INEJ IS TRYING TO GIVE HIM SPACE EVEN WHEN SHE'S TRAPPED AND LOCKED ON THE WAGON
I JUST - THEY KNOW EACH OTHER SO MUCH
Though he'd trusted her with his life countless times, it felt much more frightening to trust her with his shame.
Inej had once offered to teach him how to fall. "The trick is not getting knocked down," he'd told her with a laugh. "No, Kaz," she's said, "the trick is in getting back up"
inej is smart af
Kaz was usually unshakeable during a job, but now he was on edge, and Jesper didn't know why. Part of him wanted to ask, though he knew that was the stupid part, the hopeful farmboy who picked the worst possible person to care about, who searched for signs in things that he knew deep down meant nothing - when kaz chose him for a job, when Kaz played along with one of his jokes. He could have kicked himself. He's finally seen the infamous Kaz Brekker without a stich of clothing, and he'd been too worried about ending up on a pike to pay proper attention.
ok i got a couple of things to say about this part
first of all it makes me so sad that jes cares so much for someone who dosn't deserve him. because no hate to kaz but they would never work as a couple and kaz already treats him like shit most of the time
i think this part shows who a lot about who jesper really is. a boy that grew up having to hide parts of himself, who thinks he's worth nothing but it's smart and capable, who's loyal and brave and caring but doesn't even know it himself. he's someone who feels he doesn't deserve good things and thinks he's not good enough, and that's why he unds up in all the wrong places with the wrong people. he left uni bc he fell in with the gangs, because he didn't think he was smart enough or even prepared to be in studying in the university. jesper is constantly hiding behind a mask or running from things because he's scared of not being enough
an kaz is everything jes in a way wishes he could be. kaz is secure in himself (at least on the outside), he's stable, he's smart, he's "unshakeable". and most of all, he doesn't care about others (we know that's not true but that's how he presents himself)
and that's the thing that causes jesper all his problems. because he's insecure because he thinks he's not good enough for the poeple or things he cares about. and he's always trying to do what's best for his loved ones: he went to the ice court to pay his debt for his father, he follows kaz everywhere beacause he cares about him, he offered to read to wylan (knowing it wouldn't be easy for him to be still that long).
and yeah it often doesn't work out becuase he's messy and he has problems but he tries. and he hates that. he hates that he cares so much about people because at the end of the day, that's what makes him feel like he's not good enough
one more thing and i'm done i promise
unpopular opinion but i love that leigh made jesper have a crush on kaz. 1 beacuse it's refreshing to see someone not get otgether with his first crush. and 2 because i love that it shows that we sometimes get attached to people that are not good for us, but that we can learn to move on. jesper ended with wylan who respects him and values him, unlike kaz
ok i'm sorry that was probably all bs
oo one more thing, jesper definetly has rsd (rejection sensitive disphoria), which is something most poeple with adhd have
"My father used to take me everywhere with him"
this is so sad. bc they probably had a good relationship when he was little. and then they figured he coudln't read and now his father treats him like shit
it's even worse than if he haf been horrible from the beginning because wylan knows he can be a good father. and so he thinks it's his fault and he deserves to be treated like that. i hate van eck
"You're cuter when you're smart"
(...)
"Definitely cuter when you're smart"
wesper yesssss
i love them so much
ok but why do people think jesper is stupid. like the boy just made a bunch of criminals pass out by mixing some chemicals
and he was going to the university at like 15
AAAAND NOW THEY KNOW HE'S A FABRIKATOR
amazing plot twist
also:
Wylan coughed. Flirting with him might actually be more fun that annoying him, but it was a close call.
oooo come on jesper we all know you just love getitng him to blush
and you love him
who said that? definitely not me, nope
awwww jesper misses being around animals that's cute
imagine him coming home to wylan one day with a puppy because he just couldn't resist
cute
Better terrible truths than kind lies
just leaving here more of inej's wisdom
ok this may be a reach but jesper has adhd part ???
Yellow Protocol? Red Protocol? He couldn't remember which was which. (...)
"The alarm was Yellow Protocol, a sector disturbance."
Jesper pushed at his temples. "I don't remember what that means"
a bad working memory? sounds familiar
kaz loves puzzles
it's canon
"I love puzzles. Trickery is just my native tongue."
this part where wylan and jesper see the banner made with grisha's kefta kills me every time
I would have worn purple, Jesper thought, if I'd joined the Second Army. (...) He'd beenwilling, even eager to risk capture and execution as a thief and hired gun. Why was it worse to think about being hunted as a Grisha?
this makes me want to cry so much
another thing super sad: the fact that since his father is Kaelish and had some supersititons towards grisha, jesper grew up wondering if his own father was scared of him. he had to hide his powers and he was almost taught to be afraid of them
"Is it safe to leave them, you know-"
"Alive? I'm not big on killing unconscious men."
"We could wake them up"
WYLAN
NO
damn the boy needs therapy
it's amazing how nothing went like they planned
not a single thing
PEOPLE GET READY
ARE YOU READY?
NEITHER AM I BUT WHO CARES
"What do you like?"
"Music. Numbers. Equations. They are not like words. They...they don't get mixed up."
ok dude the clues are right there he's basically saying it
"If only you could talk to girls in equations."
There was a long silence, and then, eyes trained on the notch they'd created in the link, Wylan said, "Just girls?"
Jesper restrained a grin. "No. Not just girls." It really was a shame they were all probably going to die tonight.
wylan really said a straight man?? couldn't be me
this is the definition of bi panic "jesper restrained a grin" bitch we saw that
btw i love the slow burn
like they hint something here but they don't actually start liking each other until much later and they don't get together until almost the end of ck
i also love that the fact that they both like guys is like out in the open now. bc i'm not a fan of when queer characters have a crush and there's the whole thing of "are they queer too or not?"
like they both know htey are queer. but they don't get together right away bc they have to start liking each other before. they don't get together bc they are the only queer mlm characters
matthias fake betrayal killed me
i tought it was real
I have been made to protect you. Only in death will I be kept fom this oath.
this is just-
also foreshadowing?
YAYY KUWEI HI
There was no part of him that was not broken, that had not healed wrong, and there was no part of him that was not stronger for having been broken.
She's laughed, and if he could have bottled the sound and got drunk on it every night, he would have. It terrified him.
if i ever have a s/o and they don't tell me this at least once i don't want it
He needed to tell her... what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn't pull himslef together into some smeblance of a man for her
THIS
THIS IS LOVE RIGHT THERE
they are the only straight couple that matters
everyone else go home
Wylan had scratches all over his cheeks and neck. He was beaming. Inej grabbed his hands and sqeezed.
so cute omg
"You can explain why our illustrious Shu scientist looks like one of Wylan's school pals along the way"
KAZ
i mean it's true but you didn't have to say it
KAZ IS SMILING OMG
EVERYONE FREAK OUT WITH ME
HE'S "grinning like and idiot" STOP I LOVE HIM
"We are all someone's mosnter, Nina"
"I will have you without armour, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all"
this part breaks my heart and i love it
"Stay," she oanted. Tears leaked from her eyes. "Stay till the end"
"And after," he said. "And always."
i just- helnik is perfect
AWWW JESPER MISSES WYLAN
my daily dosis of wesper :)
ok but in like 2 pages jesper tought of wylan like 10 times bc he's sad wy isn't with him
Jesper scanned the empty deck. He's assumed Wylan would come up to see them off. (...)
Jesper knew he was being selfish and stupid, but some petty part of him wondered if Wylan had deliberately kept away from him on the journey back. Maybe now that the job was complete and he was on his way to his share of the haul, Wylan was done slumming with criminals.
*charles boyle's insinuating voice* and why do you care so much???
btw YOU ARE WRONG. HE'S LITERALLY GOING OUT OF HIS WAY TO BE WITH YOU EVEN THOUGH HE CAN'T SPEAK
this scene where we find out the truth about wylan hurts so much but it's one of my favourites idk why
I LOVE THAT EVERYONE IS AS MAD AS I AM ABOUT THE LETTERS NOW
"Your're a fool," Jesper snarled. "He smarter than most of us put together, and he deserves a better father than you."
YES TELL HIM
the fact that wylan just heard him say that omg
"Deserved" amended Van Eck. He blew the whislte twice.
SOMEONE BETTER GRAB ME BEFORE I KILL HIM MYSLEF
THAT IDIOT
I HATE HIM SO MUCH
I'M GONNA CRY CAN SOMEONE KILL HIM FOR ME
Jesper screamed in rage and raised his guns.
YES EXACLTY WHAT I MEANT
JUST KILL HIM RIGHT NOW
"I'm not big on bludding, am I Inej?"
"Not as a rule"
Van Eck's lip curled. "And why is that?"
"Because he'd rather cheat," said the boy who was not Kuwei Yul-Bo in perfect, unaccented Kerch.
THIS WAS PERFECT
THE BEST WAY TO REVEAL THAT
(...), and Jesper flinched
baby he recognized wylan's voice
The Shu boy held out a hand. "Pay up, Kaz"
BITCH THIS IS AMAZING
THIS BOY MADE A BET WITH A CRIMINAL THAT HIS OWN FATHER WAS GOING TO TRY TO KILL HIM
AND HE WON THE BET
A nearly perfect replica of Kuwei Yul-Bo stood before them, but he had Wylan's voice, his mannerisms, and - though Kaz could see the fear and hurt in his golden eyes - Wylan's surprising courage, too.
i love it when they compliment him
my boy deserves all the compliments ever
AND KAZ IS PROUD OF HIS SON WE ALL KNOW THIS
Wylan cuold draw a perfectt elevation. He's made a drill that could cut throu Grisha glass from parts of a gate and scavenged bits of jewellery. So what if he couldn't read
this is taking me to some real places
i may cry you've been warned
WYLAN DIDN'T CARE THAT HE MAY BE STUCKED LOOKING LIKE KUWEI
this is making me cry
"A fool would have been waiting to be smashed to bits on that ship. And as for "traitor", you've called me worse in the last few minutes alone."
EXACTLY
YOU TELL HIM WYLAN
Instead, in that moment of threat, when he should have thought only of the fight, he looked at Inej.
BABY
i would've done the same tho she's pretty
amita is sooo pretty i'm gonna die when the show comes out
Jesper was staring at Wylan, his eyes roving over the black hair, the golden eyes. "Why?" he said at last. "Why would you do this?"
nothing to say here except: wesper
You... how many times was it you standing beside me on the deck at night when I tought it was Kuwei?"
"Every time."
i want to cry so bad
"Why does it matter?"
"I don't know!" Jesper said angrily. "Maybe I liked your stupid face."
a very staright and platonic thing to say of course
i know jes we all liked his stupid face
"Jesper made a mistake," said Wylan. "A stupid mistake, but he didn't set out to betray anyone."
YES WYLAN DEFEND YOUR BOYFRIEND
And maybe he'd kept him in the dark about Wyllan because he wanted to punish him a little
even kaz know they like each other come on
Jesper sat with elbows on knees, head in hands. Wylan deside him wearing th face of a stranger.
wylan give him a hug fro me please
he needs it
"Scheming face," murmured Jesper.
"Definitely," agreed Wylan.
i miss inej already
And I'm going to get my girl. Inej could never be his, not really, but he would find a way to give her the freedom he´d promised her so long ago.
i'm ugly crying and so what?
and now we're done....
i want to read this book again omg this is unhealthy
79 notes · View notes
tortilla-of-courage · 3 years
Note
Alright, I have all my thoughts together, so here's that ask I mentioned for the LU SU AU that's just 100% Fi.
So, Fi is a pearl. Specifically, she's a replacement pearl.
Spoilers for SU after this point for anyone who cares about not getting spoiled for this show still.
So, Sky eventually gets outed as the 'renegade pearl' fighting alongside the 'rebel jasper' and 'rouge (whatever we decide Twi is, currently I'm leaning towards citrine)', and so he needs to flee. With some help from FD/Time, he makes it away and becomes a rebel full time. Which is annoying, but workable.
And then FD gets a new pearl.
See, Ganondorf/White Diamond is worried that Sky was using his place at FD's side to try and sway him towards the rebels. And so this new pearl of FD's was specifically designed to 'fix' whatever damage Sky caused.
Enter Fi: factual, logical, emotionless, and completely dedicated to her role. She was designed this way and meant solely to keep FD on track with the war and colony. (This can play a bit into how, in LU canon, Time sees the Master Sword as a burden, because that's what Fi is here, a burden.)
Except, Fi was placed with the most caring and benevolent of the Diamonds. Even playing the role of being against what he's fighting for, Time still loves his gems, both the Homeworld gems and his rebels. He loves them all deeply. And Fi sees this. She sees him break down after high casualty reports where no one can see him, sees him stressed and breaking down over the deaths. Hears him asking himself when it will end, lamenting that none of the other Diamonds are even willing to consider negotiating, much less a treaty or peaceful retreat. She sees this, and she learns.
Eventually, Time realizes the only way to end the war is to shatter FD, and so he makes a plan with the only two in the know. Twilight, using a device that Four and Legend built, would disguise himself as Time so Time could be FD, and they'd stage the shattering. Meanwhile, Sky had a different job.
Time did not like Fi, and he resented what she represented, but he didn't hate her. And he knew she cared about FD in that detached way she was capable of. He didn't want her to be there when FD died. So he asks Sky to get her out of the way.
So Sky kidnaps Fi, and takes her somewhere far away from the shattering. He doesn't question this at all, because he knows Time, and he knows how much Time cared about all of his gems. And so he follows his orders without question, and makes sure Fi is safe and out of the way while it happens.
And Fi does not like or trust this other pearl at first. He betrayed their Diamond, waged war on Homeworld. What kind of pearl would do that?! But, she was also curious. What kind of pearl did do that? What would possess a gem, a pearl, to turn their back on their Diamond? This gem was just like her, a pearl to FD, and yet he turned rogue and betrayed him. She wanted to know why.
And Sky answered all of her questions as best he could, because he'd already been bound to silence about FD being Time (I'll go into more detail for this later). And so they talk. And they talk. And Fi learns a lot, but mostly she learns about 'love'.
She learns Sky left Homeworld to join the rebels because he loved this planet, and he loved Time and Twilight, and he loved all of the rebels. He loved his Diamond too, deeply, but he couldn't stand by while others he loved died while doing nothing. He had to join the fight, no matter how much he'd loved FD.
And Fi learns that love is powerful. She hears Sky speak, and she thinks of FD, sobbing alone where no one will see as he grieved the gems killed in this pointless war. She thinks of the kindness he showed every gem he met, regardless of rank. She thinks of the hours and hours spent pouring over battle plans with the only goal to make sure as many gems left the fight alive.
Fi hears Sky speak about how much he does love their Diamond, and she remembers when FD finally snapped at her that she couldn't tell him what to do because she wasn't Sky. She hears Sky speak about love, and thinks of how much FD loved all of his gems, and she realizes something. Emotions are not bad like she was made to believe. Because love is what made their Diamond strong, and what gave Sky the strength to leave, and she thinks maybe it wouldn't be so bad to learn to feel.
Maybe, just maybe, their Diamond would stop looking at her like she wasn't supposed to be there if she learned to love him, with real love and not the emotionless substitute she was programmed with. Maybe he would warm up to her and offer her that same kindness as others if she could love him like Sky did.
And then she learns that FD was shattered, and for the very first time, she feels something.
She's angry, and sad, and shocked, and disbelieving. She learns that FD was shattered, and she screams.
And Sky is there, and he holds her, and he lets her cry. And she does cry, and she feels, and he lets her.
She goes back to Homeworld, unable to remain with the rebels who killed the only gem she'd really cared for, and they let her go. Sky sees her off, and tells her she's always welcome if she chooses to return. She thanks him, tells him she won't be taking him up on his offer, and leaves.
And eventually Fi is given a new Diamond to serve, Hylia (Sun). And she's still grieving FD and does not want a new Diamond yet. And she suddenly realizes why FD never warmed up to her, never showed her that same kindness and love that he did other gems. She was replacing someone he loved when their absence was still fresh.
And now her Diamond has been replaced while she's still grieving, and she gets it. Because Hylia is not FD. Hylia is a replacement for the gem that Fi was still grieving. And she understands why FD was cold to her.
But she's not cold to Hylia. It is not Hylia's fault that she is a replacement anymore than it was Fi's. And Fi remembers what it was like, desperately trying to appeal to FD, to get him to notice her as her. No, she wasn't Sky, and she knew the betrayal was still fresh, but even so the resentment hurt. She wasn't going to hurt Hylia because she was still grieving.
So instead she told Hylia stories. Hylia was young, and new, and curious, and Fi had a lot of information to give. And so she told Hylia stories about anything and everything.
The stories about FD were always Hylia's favorite. Fi had known him personally, known him and loved him, and whenever she told those stories it was in the way of someone who had lost the most important person in the world to them. Fi told Hylia stories about the sides of FD that no one else had ever seen. She spoke of the tears shed over gems he'd never met, of his unwavering kindness, about how much he cared. She spoke about his love, his gentleness, his pain at the betrayal of the pearl he loved so much.
These are the stories Hylia grew up on, and she would often compare the FD Fi told her about with the one she'd heard from everyone else, and the one the other Diamonds told her of. She liked Fi's version of him the most.
And Fi told her about Sky too. The renegade pearl who betrayed the Diamond he loved so much because he loved something else more, but who never stopped loving his Diamond. About how he abandoned everything he knew for love. About how he showed he kindness, and what he taught her.
And Hylia would think about this brave pearl. She would imagine him too, and she fell a bit in love with this mystery pearl who was forced to chose between what he loved and chose the rebels over his Diamond. She admired how brave he must have been.
And so when she arrives on the plant to learn about her predecessor, this is why she doesn't outright attack or kill the Chain. This is why she asked them questions instead. Because in all of Fi's stories the rebels weren't evil, they just loved the planet and were very brave. And Hylia wanted to learn more.
And when Sky showed up, Fi was not surprised that she was happy to see him. He taught her how to feel, and so she loved him too.
Some days she does wonder what it would be like if she had stayed when Sky offered the first time, what it would be like living with the rebels. But then Hylia laughs or asks her to tell a story, and Fi knows she made the right choice. She is a pearl, and she was made to serve her Diamond.
Hylia was not FD, nor would she ever take his place, but she is Fi's Diamond, and Fi loves her.
-Attllhak
i am speechless. this is SO good Att omg??? I've known LU SU AU Fi for 5 minutes but if anything happened to her id destroy everyone on tumblr and then myself
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katnissmellarkkk · 3 years
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Okayyyy here comes the next chapter ! Number .... lemme look. Okay, number six! 🥳🥳🥳
And yes, my thoughts as usual will be a messy, very Everlark-biased and full of typos. Letsss gooooo 🥰🥰🥰
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Is this the first time Katniss and Peeta have been to their floor or is this just the most opportune time to explain and introduce the Tribute Center living quarters?
Also why are they called tributes anyway? That word suddenly seems weird to me after nine years... 🤔🤔🤔
“I've ridden the elevator a couple of times in the Justice Building back in District 12. Once to receive the medal for my father's death and then yesterday to say my final goodbyes to my friends and family” .... 😶😶 so only good memories and connotations to elevators then, huh?
“The walls of this elevator are made of crystal so that you can watch the people on the ground floor shrink to ants as you shoot up into the air.” My mind is just imagining the elevator in Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone’s Spider-Man movies 🤗.
“It's exhilarating and I'm tempted to ask Effie Trinket if we can ride it again, but somehow that seems childish” this is so cute and innocent omg. Katniss, like I said in my last chapter blog, still has some childlike innocence left in her 🥺🥺🥺. I’m a sad.
Also excuse the unnecessary extra gif use but 🤭🤭🤭
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Oh wow, so Haymitch hasn’t been around since they were on the train? No wonder neither Katniss nor Peeta fled they could trust him for basically the entirety of the first book. 😐😐😐
You know it’s bad when Effie being around feels like a blessing to Katniss. Girl has more restraint than me, I’d have ripped off this woman’s janky wig by now without remorse. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️
Effie acts like they’re her purebred show dogs. I know I know how is this news, that’s a blatant fact. The movies really softened her up tho for the general audience. And I bleed the movies and books together more than I should 😔😔😔
Well at least she’s made herself useful, trying to get Everlark sponsors ... even if it’s ultimately to benefit herself above anyone else .... 😤
Effie calling Twelve barbaric while she’s preparing them for the slaughter isn’t even ironic it’s like literally just brainless. Johanna probably had the nickname floating around for a lot of people before she officially knighted Katniss with it 😭
“Everyone has their reservations, naturally. You being from the coal district.” Is this how they refer to Twelve? So basically if a district makes a better item, it’s a more worthy one in the Capitol’s eyes? So essentially, if District Eight made like diamonds or pearls or whatever then it would be more worthy? So are the districts assigned their numbers (one, two, three, four, etc) based on their order of importance to the Capitol’s lifestyle? I always thought it was based on their distance in relation to the Capitol? Okay so I didn’t really pay much attention to these facts previously when I read these books ok look away I’m an idiot
Omg 😭😭😭😭 Effie is such an idiot. But the coal turns to pearls thing is my favorite line from her only because it serves as the cutest inside joke when Peeta makes a callback to it in Catching Fire and Finnick is just like “why are these two teenagers so stupid who did I ally with? 🥵😳🥵😳🥵”
“I wonder if the people she's been plugging us to all day either know or care.” After reading Songbirds and Snakes, I’m sure they don’t have a clue, boo. 😑😑😑😑 although not everyone was an idiot back then ... maybe Snow is putting lead in the drinking water?
“But don't worry, I'll get him to the table at gunpoint if necessary.” I know she’s trying to help and I know we say this kind of thing today, but considering this is two kids she’s well aware will be heading into a death match this is just bad wording I know surprise surprise 🙄🙄🙄😬😬😬😬
“Although lacking in many departments, Effie Trinket has a certain determination I have to admire.” Katniss really does see the best in people. What’s sad, y’all, is I think Katniss unconsciously really tries to like people and that’s why she has her guard up so high. Because the softer you are, the easier people will step all over you. Terrible phrasing here, Samantha, I’m so sorry to any of my readers ... okay now that sounded arrogant, implying I have readers 🤭🤭🤭🤭🤣😅🤣😅🤣😅
“My quarters are larger than our entire house back home.” Omg? I mean, yes, I knew this already obviously no duh but like also. Just the fact that three people live in a space smaller than a bedroom and bathroom arena is saddy sad sad. Also do they have indoor plumbing in the Seam or is their backyards just full of—okay, I’ll see myself out. 😶🤭😅🙃
“The shower alone has a panel with more than a hundred options you can choose regulating water temperature, pressure, soaps, shampoos, scents, oils, and massaging sponges.” I’m just imagining a Spongebob scene ngl.
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I’m sorry there’s so many gifs this time around it’s probably taking us out of the reading headspace I’ll never do it again 😩😩😩😩 I talk like I have a class of people listening to me 🤭🤭🤭
“Instead of struggling with the knots in my wet hair, I merely place my hand on a box that sends a current through my scalp, untangling, parting, and drying my hair almost instantly” I need this someone invent this NOW my brush is yanking out my hair 😔😩
“I program the closet for an outfit to my taste.” ‘Yes, Alexa, I’d like a hunting jacket, some boots and a green shirt. Yes, it can be brown.’
“You need only whisper a type of food from a gigantic menu into a mouthpiece and it appears, hot and steamy, before you in less than a minute.” I like this idea because it means that Peeta could order hot choccy to comfort Katniss after her nightmares in Catching Fire from the comfort of her their own bed. 🤗🤗🤗 also I want this for myself. The bad people are giving my greedy self ideas look away everyone 😬
“I walk around the room eating goose liver and puffy bread until there's a knock on the door.” 🤢🤢🤢🤢 Of everything you could have chosen, child, this is what you decided on? Someone help my girl and her rotten tastebuds now.
“Effie's calling me to dinner. Good. I'm starving.” Baby, you were just eating. She’s so nutritionally messed up. 😔😔😔
Katniss trying wine 🥳🥳🥳 she’s so funny, trying to find a way to improve the taste 😅. She’ll make a good taste tester for her baker husband one day.
Hahahaha Katniss not liking the feeling and judging Haymitch for always being tipsy. Also this is sad because she ends up addicted to morphling later one which is far worse than a little wine.
I’m glad to know Baked Alaska survived the apocalypse 😅🥳
Katniss just constantly trying to decipher the recipe of every meal and how to recreate it reads cute on a surface level but it’s actually so tragic because everything to this girl is based around food. Like even more than is typically noticed. They really should have given a hint at this in the first movie. Good thing she marries a man who can always keep her full.
I’m just forever side-eyeing you, Gare Bear.
That’s Gary Ross for the confused kids in the back.
Why does Katniss yelling mid-sentence, “oh! I know you!” add to her innocence? 🥺 it’s because she was overwhelmed by all the food and new luxuries she’d never even been able to imagine ... and also this is pre her first games so she’s still got some childhood left in her 😩😔
I wonder how Lavinia felt seeing Katniss volunteer and knowing she’d be her Avox? I wonder if she, like Cinna, somehow volunteered to be her Avox?
I mean ... talk about convenient placement that this specific girl was assigned to Katniss’ district—oh wait, y’all, I just caught myself. She’s from Twelve. She was assigned to Twelve’s tributes because she’s from there, duh. I’m such an airhead omg just call me Effie.
Don’t you actually dare.
“When I look back, the four adults are watching me like hawks.” Meanwhile, Peeta is just like 😬😬😬 eating his dinner.
Actually, ngl, this could be such a reach and it probably is but like maybe Peeta sensed a confrontation coming and, because of his implied upbringing, he naturally becomes silent or makes himself invisible when trouble starts looking like it’s gonna arise. 🥺🥺🥺 I don’t know why I say these things I’m just hurting my own feelings but ya know the drill. I thought it so I said it.
Why is Effie yelling at Katniss for saying she knows the Avox girl like omg overreaction much? And I know, the sky is blue 🙄🙄🙄 she’s prejudiced against basically everyone, I know, I know
Rip her wig off, Katty Deen 🤗🤗🤗
Oh I stupidly forgot that Avoxes are supposedly known by everyone to be traitors or criminals. So I suppose this isn’t Effie’s worst offense but I’m keeping a tally anyways
Katniss is blaming her stuttering on the wine but my girl just has social anxiety 😔😔😔
Peeta coming in with a save 😭😭😭 he’s already trying saving his girl 🤧
Alsoooo the unspoken friendship, the covering for the other and teaming up against the adults, is still riding high and going strong here 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 look away, y’all, the shipper comments are coming in strong
Also why is this the first real interaction with Peeta in this chapter yet? My baby needs more page-time 🤭🤭🤭
“Delly Cartwright is a pasty-faced, lumpy girl with yellowish hair who looks about as much like our server as a beetle does a butterfly.” Now why did Katniss just tear Delly to shreds for no reason at all 😭😭😭 this was a surprise assault on the poor girl 🙃🙃🙃🙃
“She may also be the friendliest person on the planet - she smiles constantly at everybody in school, even me.” Okay not to tie absolutely everything back to Peeta ... but to tie absolutely everything back to Peeta ... this description of poor, sweet Delly is actually indicative of Peeta’s character? Since Delly, we find out in Mockingjay, is Peeta’s childhood best friend, her personality being this sunny, kind, good-natured person tells us Peeta has always probably been somewhat like her and perhaps not as much like the other town kids Katniss implies to be stuck up or snooty. Maybe Katniss is just shady and deflects onto others 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️.
Also the fact that she gives this like ... mean description of Delly but saw Peeta as popular, even though surely Delly and Peeta spent time at school together, implies further that Katniss did indeed harbor a secret crush on Peeta even before the reaping. A very mild comparison of his on her though, of course 😅😅😅
“It must be the hair” “something about the eyes too” their piggybacking on the other’s comments really is just chiefs kiss 😘🤗🥰🤧 FYI I know the saying is chefs kiss but I made the typo once a long time ago and decided to add it forever to my brand 🤗🙃🥳
Also though this Everlark interaction is reminiscent of when two kids get caught by their teacher goofing off in class and covering for each other 🥰 only it’s a lot more deadly stakes
“A few of the other couples make a nice impression, but none of them can hold a candle to us.” She’s so modest 🤧🤧🤧 her narration here and during the Tribute Parade just has the vibes of ... well .... sorry in advance
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Haymitch’s comment “Just the perfect touch of rebellion. Very nice” leads me to think he and Cinna and maybe Portia were always in cahoots about the rebellion even before Katniss and Peeta came along and well ... lit their match on fire 🥁🤗🤣🤭
Katniss is like “rebellion??? Rebellion where??? What’s that you old people speak of???” And yet, girlfriend goes out to the woods and hunts illegally every day of her life 🤣🤣🤣🤣.
“But when I remember the other couples, standing stiffly apart, never touching or acknowledging each other, as if their fellow tribute did not exist” too lazy too look it up but there’s a quote from Ballad about Lucy Gray and Jessup being distinguished by their visible friendship too that set them apart from the other tributes.
Either Suzanne thought of drawing a nice parallel showing what a failed Everlark attempt looks like, because I firmly stand by the fact that without their real feelings behind their act, even Katniss’ unconscious ones, they wouldn’t have pulled it off, or Suzzie just reused her own content. I prefer the former but I think it’s probably the latter 🤭🤭🤭
“Now go get some sleep while the grown-ups talk." I know Haymitch is being facetious here but this quote reminded me of the fact that the movies would have hit differently if they’d cast actual sixteen year olds in the roles.
“When we get to my door, he leans against the frame, not blocking my entrance exactly but insisting I pay attention to him.” This is such a flirty, high school boy pose, you cannot convince me otherwise 😭😭😭
Also I definitely feel like Peeta is getting more and more confident here because he’s oblivious to Katniss’ inner monologue as much as she is his actually we all are his sadly and he probably thinks she’s starting to like him 🤧🤧🤧
“So, Delly Cartwright. Imagine finding her lookalike here." 🤣 He honestly cracks me up idk why this line isn’t even special or that great. He’s just so ... subtly nosy / funny. Which brings me to that quote from Mockingjay where Katniss talks about his sense of humor because it’s one of the things she loves most about him 😭😭😭
But he’s like, “I can keep a secret, Katniss, tell me who that tongueless chick is to you 😬”
Katniss stop talking about debts, friends cover for the other all the time 🙄🙄 I know it’s in her character stop yelling at a fish for swimming that’s not a real phrase I know that too
Okay first of all, they’re about to share a secret 🥰🥰🥰🥰. My shipper goggles are on tight and obstructing my vision. I know this and am proud 😬🥳🤗
And secondly, “Maybe sharing a confidence will actually make him believe I see him as a friend.” Hey, butthead, you two are already friends. She doesn’t even recognize that the girl who constantly sits with her, talks to her, eats with her and trades with her is her friend either though, I’m shocked she calls Gale her friend
Does Peeta get to know Cinna too? I don’t think so but it’s mentioned now a couple times in this chapter alone that Peeta has interacted with Cinna. Katniss never interacts or has a conversation with Portia.... then again, is that even surprising? Katniss isn’t ... what you would call ... social. Hashtag relatable.
Awww, they’re communicating so effectively together 🥰😭🤧🥳
Also rooftops belong to Everlark only 😍😊😉 I mean, seriously, Katniss never goes up on a rooftop with anyone else. Besides Haymitch in the first movie but we ignore.
“Electricity in District 12 comes and goes, usually we only have it a few hours a day.” Earlier she said the Seam didn’t often have electricity, in particular, so either she’s not specifying her section of the district anymore or Suzanne is backtracking.
“But here there would be no shortage. Ever.” I’ve had two power outages recently so clearly the Capitol isn’t based on us currently today then 😐😐 I’m just joking ok
“I asked Cinna why they let us up here. Weren't they worried that some of the tributes might decide to jump right over the side?” .... boyfriend, where does your mind go sometimes? Peeta’s darker than we realize, y’all 🤭🤭🙃🙃
“He holds out his hand into seemingly empty space. There's a sharp zap and he jerks it back” between this and Catching Fire, Peeta is addicted to getting shocked by forcefields 🤧🤧🤧
“I wonder if we're supposed to be up here now, so late and alone.” If this was a romantic drama or comedy, that line would have meant something a lot more fun 😒😔😬😉😏
“On the other side of the dome, they've built a garden with flower beds and potted trees.” Is this meant to resemble Snow’s grandmother’s garden???? Like he had them put a garden there to like ... put a piece of his Grandma’am in the games? Idk this made zero sense it was a stupid thought
Two people in a garden at night, with wind chimes, sounds romantic in any other context. 🥺🥺
Ummm does everyone in the entire district know Katniss and her father used to hunt together?
Oh nevermind, Lavinia is not from District Twelve. My bad, guys. I should go up and edit my previous thoughts but that’s a lot of work. 😅😅😅
Katniss, stop being so hard on yourself. You and Gale were kids. 😣😣
Ummm, Katniss for a girl always complimenting Peeta’s storyteller, you’re pretty good at painting a picture yourself...
Peeta noticing she’s shivering 🥰🥺
He gives her ... his jacket 😭😭😭😭 such a romantic troupe Samantha, get over it there’s literally children dying
Oh wow, Lavinia was from the Capitol originally. Hmm, it is sus now that she got District Twelve this particular year.
But also 🤧🤧🤧 “he secures a button at my neck.”
His hands .... are .... often .... at her .... neck .... 😶😬 .... look away, y’all
Oh wow, Katniss is over here thinking, “who’d leave the Capitol if they were from here???” And Peeta’s like instantly, loudly, without hesitating, “well I would 🙋🏼‍♂️”
Hot take, y’all ready? Peeta was a bigger rebel than Katniss from the start. At least internally.
Awww, Peeta is so jealous 😭😭😭😭 and kind of nosy 🤭🤭🤭
Katniss : “me and Gale are not related” Peeta : “😬🙃😭😩😶”
“I'd set out to tell her I was sorry about dinner. [...] my apology runs much deeper. [...] I let the Capitol kill the boy and mutilate her without lifting a finger. Just like I was watching the Games.” I feel like this is actually a good comparison though, because of you grew up in a society where you have to watch kids die, your whole entire life you’ve watched it in a glorified television show, you would be really desensitized to it...
“You don't forget the face of the person who was your last hope.” Here she’s talking about Lavinia but it applies to Peeta too. Katniss was Lavinia’s last hope and she feels like she let her down but Peeta was her last hope once and he came through. And, as she said in chapter one, she’ll never forget him for it. And for other things too. Later on. 😏
Of course my last bullet point was focused on Everlark 🤣 is anyone surprised you shouldn’t be we all knew who this post was written by right? 😅
And once again, if too made through this marathon, congratulations 🥳🥳🥳🥳 maybe next chapter I’ll talk less not likely though so don’t count on it 😅
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leximus98 · 4 years
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Airborne All The Way - Dick Winters x OC
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Summary: Memories are fleeting. Charlie knows if she doesn’t get them all down, and soon, they’ll be gone. War, love, loss... she wanted to write it all down for future generations to come.
Charlie Finnegan had been a nurse before the war. After Pearl Harbor, she felt the same call to arms that many men felt. When Elanor Roosevelt started a program where women could join the Army on a trial basis, Charlie jumped on it. She became an officer and volunteered for the Airborne. Along the way she met Harry Welsh and the ever calm and collected Richard Winters. Through trial and error, Charlie gains the respect of her men, but can she gain the eye of a certain red haired officer?
A/N: So, I haven’t posted anything original in a long time. But I’ve had a really good idea for a story and I wanted to share it. I hope everyone likes it. It’s gonna be multi-chapter, this is just chapter one. Lemme know what you think!
Warnings: None
Tag List: If you’d like to be tagged, lemme know!
Word Count: 1824
Chapter One
“Why would you want to join the Airborne?”
It was a question I was asked frequently. In the early days, I would answer by saying, “It’s new!” or “It’s exciting!”
The answer changed over time though. When I was in the 82nd, I told people that it was to prove that girls could do it too. When they shipped me over to the 101st, I found a new answer. One I didn’t expect I’d find. But I found it in Easy Company.
“Because they’re my family. I would do anything for them.”
Of course that answer came more easily after D-Day. I hadn’t truly earned the respect of the men until that day, even though I grew to love them before then.
It all started one warm, wet afternoon.
Lieutenant Harry Welsh and myself had just been sent over from the 82nd. We were going to fill the positions of platoon leaders. Harry would be taking over first platoon and I would be taking over second.
As we walked by all of the soldiers, they were sitting around in their dress uniforms, waiting for the train. Their initial training and airborne training had been completed. Now they were going to be shipped off to either Europe or Asia to fight in the war. Battalion Intelligence hadn’t told anybody where we were going or which war we would be fighting. It was all a surprise, but for good reason. If word slipped out to the wrong people, it would be devastating.
Harry and I were told to find First Lieutenant Richard Winters. He was the Executive Officer of Easy Company. I’d heard of Dick Winters from friends of mine, he was good at his job and cared for his soldiers. I would be glad to be working under somebody like him. But I had also heard rumblings about the company’s Commanding Officer, Captain Herbert Sobel. He was sadistic towards his company and from what Harry and I heard, he was jumpy in the field. Too eager, not patient, and got people notionally killed in training exercises.
After walking down the line of barracks, and catching more than one lingering glance from the soldiers, Harry and I found the officers barracks. We walked inside and were met with two lieutenants.
Richard Winters was tall, lyth, pale, and had the brightest shock of red hair I had ever seen. His eyes were a soft blue and he held himself properly. Like he was important, but not stuck up. He looked over at us and I gave him a soft smile from behind Harry.
Lewis Nixon was behind him. His hair was thick, black, and styled perfectly. There wasn’t a single thread out of place on his uniform and he gave us a sly smile.
“Are we interrupting?” Harry asked.
“No, not at all. Lieutenant Lewis Nixon, Lieutenant Harry Welsh and Charlie Finnegan, just in from the 82nd,” Winters introduced.
Harry went to shake Nixon’s hand and I followed suit behind him.
“A WAC?” Nixon asked.
“Not a day in my life,” I smiled cheekily.
“Alright then. Well you’ll learn him pretty quickly,” Nixon said, smiling at Winters. “No flaws, no vices, no sense of humor.”
I smiled and looked at Winters who gave me a quick side look and smirked, “Just like your chums up at Battalion Staff?”
“So what’s up?” Winters asked.
I sighed heavily and scratched the back of my neck, “We’ve been hearing a lot of rumblings…”
“Sobel?” Nixon asked.
Harry nodded.
“We were just talking about that,” Nixon said.
The four of us moved closer together so as not to be overheard.
“He gets a little jumpy in the field?” Harry asked.
“Yeah, he gets jumpy and you get killed,” Nixon said.
“Oh, that’s nice,” I chuckled.
“I think if we talk about it, it should just be amongst ourselves,” Winters interjected.
“Alright, absolutely,” Harry said.
From behind us, I heard a heavy foot slam on the wooden step of the barracks. As if in slow motion, I watched Winters turn and snap to attention. Harry and I turned around fast and snapped to attention too. Standing in the doorway was Captain Sobel.
He stood there for an agonizing moment, just staring at all of us, like he knew we were talking about him. His eyes continued to linger on me when he started talking.
“Second Platoon ready?” he asked.
“Ready, Sir,” Winters said.
“Then get them ready, we’re moving out,” Sobel ordered.
“Yes, Sir,” Winters said.
Harry moved first, walking quickly past Sobel who didn’t move from the doorway, Winters followed, and I moved after Winters. Sobel shifted towards the open space so I had to turn more sideways to get out of the door. I felt his eyes burning into me and cleared my throat when I was outside. I glanced back while following Winters and caught Nixon’s eye. He winked at me and gave me a soft smile but quickly lost it when Sobel turned back to him.
“Finnegan, make sure your men are good to go,” Winters said.
“Yes, Sir!”
“Sergeant Lipton!” I called out as I saw the man walking by the cattle trucks.
“Yes, Ma’am?” he asked as I jogged up to him.
“Everyone is good? We’re about to roll out,” I told him.
Staff Sergeant Carwood Lipton was a nice guy. He had been kind to me since I first addressed their platoon and I assume he made the men keep their comments about a female platoon leader at bay. I wasn’t particularly popular at the moment, due to the fact that I had boobs. I didn’t blame them, I had to prove myself to them as a leader. That I could do everything they could do as a female.
“Yes, Ma’am. We’re supposed to be loading the train by platoon but, well, you know how it goes,” I smiled.
“Of course. Just try to keep them in line as much as you can. Captain Sobel is walking around,” I smiled back.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
I watched him walk off and I started in my own direction, but slowed down next to a group of men who were sitting in a small circle.
“Who? Sobel?” I heard Joe Liebgott ask. “He screwed up one manuever.”
“Yeah,” Cobb said.
“Well, you know I’m always fumbling with grenades. It would be easy if one went off by accident you know,” Liebgott said, smirking darkly.
“Well, now they must have put him in charge for a reason,” Shifty Powers said.
I smiled at his innocence.
“Yeah, cause the army wouldn’t make a mistake like that, right Shift?” Liebgott asked.
The group chuckled and I cleared my throat, standing behind Joe Toye with my hands in my pockets. Their heads snapped up to look at me.
“Now gentlemen, I do believe if you’re gonna say things like that? Maybe you shouldn’t do it out in the open. The Good Captain is out and about,” I said the last part sarcastically and smirked.
They all looked back at each other. I could tell that they were embarrassed to have been caught. I gave them a quick, “Just be careful” and walked off.
The train was uncomfortable. I sat next to Winters at an angle that had my head against the window and my feet on the other side of Harry who had his feet half on my lap and half on the seat between me and the wall.
“How’s your time in Easy going?” Winters asked me quietly so as not to wake up Harry.
“Well, it’s certainly not Easy,” I giggled. “It’s just gonna take the men some time to get used to taking orders from a girl. It was an issue for a short amount of time at the old unit too. I’m not too worried about it.”
“How did you get them to respect you?” Winters asked, putting his letter down and giving me his full attention.
“It was a training jump that went bad. I had dropped close to the injured soldier. He was screaming and screaming and screaming. It’s a sound that doesn’t quiet leave you. Anyway, he had landed wrong and broken both of his legs. I did my best to splint both of them with what I had and carried him to the rendezvous point.”
“You carried a broken soldier, both of you in full pack, four miles?” Winters asked, a look of amazement on his face.
“Ah, don’t give me that much credit. I dropped our parachutes and most of the gear we were carrying. Just our packs and weapons went with.”
It looked like he was about to say something else, but Nixon came up behind us.
“Goin my way?” he asked Winters.
“Wherever the train takes me,” Winters answered.
“Yeah, c’mon, take a guess! Atlantic? Pacific? Atlantic?”
“I think Nixon is saying without saying we’re going to the Atlantic,” I smirked.
“Well, we aren’t intelligence officers,” Winters said.
“Mmm, as such, I know, of course,” Nixon said, smiling.
He moved from his seat behind Winters to the seat next to Harry. I crossed my arms and watched him. He looked like the cat who caught the canary. A wide, mischievous grin on his face, and a spark in his eyes.
“If I told ya, I’d have to kill ya,” he said quietly.
“Then don’t tell us,” Winters said.
Nixon leaned in close and smiled again, “New York, troop ship, England. We’re invading Europe my friends.” Nixon pulled a flask from his back pocket and raised it in a toast style. “Fortress Europa!”
Nixon offered the flask to Winters who raised an eyebrow at him, “Since when do I drink?” he asked.
“If I knew you’d take it, I wouldn’t have offered,” Nixon smirked. “You?”
He offered me the flask and I shook my head no.
“Two non-alcoholic officers? That’s not good karma,” Nixon said.
“Hah, it’s not that I don’t drink, I just prefer mine mixed in soda, or in the fermented fruit variety,” I laughed.
“Uh-huh,” Nixon said, taking a pull from the flask.
“Nix?” Winters asked. “What are you gonna do when you get into combat?”
“Oh, I have every confidence in my scrounging abilities,” Nixon said, looking out the window. “And I have a case of Vat 69 in your footlocker.”
Nixon leaned back and laughed. Winters smiled for a minute and then it fell from his face when Nixon didn’t say anything to counter what he had said.
“Really?”
“Oh yeah.”
Before Winters could say anything, Harry popped his head up from the seat and looked at the three of us. He had one eye closed and the other squinted, barely coming to.
“Morning!” Nixon said, handing Harry the flask.
“Mm, ya’know, this could turn into a real nice trip,” Harry said, drinking from the metal container.
I scoffed a little bit and shook my head. It was going to be interesting to say the least.
56 notes · View notes
wiltingpierrot · 4 years
Text
Gem Glow: Part 1
Welcome! Well, this isn’t really made to entertain. I’m just doing this to recover from trauma and get a good grasp of the show’s lore while having my girls react with me. Feel free to tag along.
We’ll be watching four episodes a day and react only to the major events as tackling all of them is a toughie.
 Sharpie: “I want to see real tears, Wilt.”
Wilt: “Tears? At the very first episode?”
Sharpie: “Yes. Otherwise I’ll make you cry by some other means.”
Wilt: “I have these tear marks. Those count, yes?”
Sharpie: “Real tears, I said.”
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Wilt: “Ahh, how iconic.”
Spinel: “The area around the lighthouse is lacking a lot of flowers. That’ll change someday!”
Sharpie: “Yes, after a lot of blood, ink and tears had been shed first.”
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Spinel: “Here we have a shot of the show’s hero, lamenting the discontinuation of a certain ice cream snack brand.”
Sharpie: “Is this triggering your PTSD yet?”
Wilt: “Not really. I thought it would but surprisingly I’m still okay.”
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Lars: “Well, if you miss your wimpy ice cream so much, why don’t you make some with your MAGIC BELLY BUTTON?”
Spinel: “Hey Sharpie, let’s make foodstuff with just the energy in our gem.”
Sharpie: “And you still owe me 86 years’ worth of happiness.”
Wilt: “What is this civil conversation you’re having? That’s not how I wrote you two.”
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Sadie: “Uhh Steven? Do you want to take the freezer with you?”
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Spinel: “Think what would’ve happened if Sadie didn’t let him take that freezer home.”
Sharpie: “Does… does the cat’s face looked different to you?”
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Spinel: “I love the lighthouse. The view up the top is always so breathtaking.”
Sharpie: “I’m not so happy with our roommate though.”
Wilt: “…I might have to draw this someday.”
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Spinel: “Don’t you just love it when your pets greet you as you enter your house? I wish you would greet me whenever I fall asleep.”
Sharpie: “You’re just my nightmare.”
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Amethyst: “’Sup, Steven.”
Spinel: “AME!!!!”
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Spinel: “I AM IN LOVE.”
Sharpie: “You can stop replaying this 5 seconds worth of Pearl now.”
Spinel: “It’s 4 seconds worth of Pearl, you heathen.”
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Spinel: “HOOO MAMA. Remember when Garnet kicked our ass?”
Sharpie: “She kicked your ass. She kicked your ass so much I had to start a switch to intervene. Now that I think of it, I shouldn’t have done that.”
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Sharpie: “Being sliced open is one thing. Being pulled apart is another.”
Spinel: “It’s good that we’re stretchy.”
Sharpie: “I can disable that function and tear you apart like that, actually. Ever wondered why it doesn’t hurt when others pull at you like taffy but I can?”
Spinel: “I can do the same and prevent you from escaping my hugs.”
Sharpie: “*sigh*… I hate you.”
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Spinel: “Ahaha! Pearl is so cute!”
Sharpie: “Ahaha! I love this technique.”
Wilt: “It’s good for breaking a hole through walls in maximum security prisons, yeah.”
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Amethyst: “Uhh you guys, these things don’t have gems.”
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Garnet: “That means there must be a mother somewhere nearby.”
Sharpie: “That’s a fascinating thought.”
Wilt: “It’s similar to how Pearl can project figures that can maintain itself while independent of the source. In this case, the main centipeedle can project independent but smaller versions of itself.”
Sharpie: “How come 2nd Projections aren’t like that, I wonder. Like we can’t have separate bodies or anything…”
Wilt: “Probably because the 2nd Projection has a personality of its own and it stems from the original gem, while Pearl Projections and mini-centipeedles are pre-programmed projections that would act accordingly to the original’s commands. Like, if Spinel makes a projection separate from her, it wouldn’t be you.”
Sharpie: “Fair enough.”
Spinel: “Speaking of Pearl Projections…”
Sharpie: “No.”
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Pearl: “Steven, until you learned to control the powers in your gem, we’ll take care of protecting humanity. Okay?”
Spinel: “I want Pearl to snap my neck like that.”
Sharpie: “As if impaling you wasn’t enough.”
Spinel: “PFFFTT-“
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Amethyst: “We went out and stole a bunch!”
Spinel: “That’s my Ame.”
Pearl: “I went back and paid for that.”
Sharpie: “That’s…. that’s very Pearl of her.”
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Steven: “He left his family behind!”
Spinel: “AHAHAHAHAHA”
Sharpie: “What’s so funny about that?”
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Sharpie: “Oh my stars. I hope we don’t have to bear another one of those.”
Wilt: “It’s catchy. I like it.”
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Sharpie: “What a happy little family. It’s a shame that they’re doomed to a life of madness onwards.”
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Amethyst: “Quick! Try and summon your weapon!”
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“Awww, no weapon.”
Wilt: “He’s struggling. A sign of a well-rounded character. The progress is dramatic if we compare this episode to the last ones. And it only took him a few Earth years.”
Sharpie: “And it took us like what, 86 years to get this far and we’re still inferior to most we meet in our travels.”
Spinel: “God I love Pearl.”
Sharpie: “Can you even pay attention to anything that isn’t Pearl?”
Spinel: “I’m capable of paying attention to a lot of things and to nothing at the same time, Sharpie. Be amazed.”
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Steven: “Can one of you just explain how to summon a weapon?”
Pearl: “Oh! I’ll go first.”
Wilt: “I love Pearl.”
Spinel: “I love Pearl.”
Sharpie: “…”
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Spinel: “AUUGH! Pearl is so beautiful.”
Wilt: “This is so anime.”
Spinel: “This scene makes me wanna stand underneath a cherry blossom tree with her in a Friday afternoon and confess my love.”
Sharpie: “God both of you disgust me.”
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Pearl: “Pay attention to these petals, Steven.”
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Pearl: “The petal’s dance seems improvised, but it is being calculated in real-time based on the physical properties of this planet.”
Wilt: “HELL YEAH, I LOVE PEARL.”
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Pearl: “With hard work and dedication, you can master the magical properties of your gem, and perform your own dance.”
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Pearl: “Like so.”
Spinel: “HELL YEAH, I LOVE PEARL”
Sharpie: “So… Pearl’s approach is tuning into the technical reality of the universe to tap into her gem’s energy,”
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Amethyst: “Listen Steven. All that practice stuff is no fun. Whenever I need to summon my weapon, it just happens.”
Sharpie: “And Amethyst’s approach is just winging it. Considering Ame is a gem made for war, of course summoning a weapon is natural instinct. Pearl however… She had to learn serious fighting, something most Pearls aren’t made for.”
Spinel: “We’re the same, ain’t we? Spinels ain’t made for violence but we can whoop butt just fine.”
Sharpie: “We just got lucky… and incredibly unfortunate at the same time.”
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Sharpie: “Gems are such nuisances. So much that in other places of the world, a group of humans actually built little Distortion Bombs capable of disorienting corrupted gems to a point of repelling them away. Unfortunately those things are powered by tiny bits of gem shards, which is obviously not an easily obtainable source of power. The project was discontinued.”
Spinel: “The invention worked on us, too, which is kind of impressive!”
Sharpie: “The best those little bombs done to us were to irritate us, or temporarily disable our senses. Corrupted gems have warped sentience I think, so they would rely more on instincts and run away from the source of irritation as much as possible.”
Sharpie: “They say if enough energy is given into the device, it’ll have high enough amplitude to potentially dissipate a gem’s physical form. But this is just a fever dream. There’s no way they have access to that amount of energy without slaughtering a Diamond first. Still, props to the engineer who thought that was a good idea.”
Spinel: “So instead of using gem shards, he decided to use us by writing the function into Springy. If we poof, we can give bad gems nearby a head ache and make them go away. We can protect people even if we die in battle! He basically turned us into heroic suicide bombers against corrupted gems.”
Sharpie: “Necessary, considering every time we poof we somehow cause part of a building to catch on fire, killing the people we’re supposed to protect in the process.”
Spinel: “Uh huh… yeaaahh….. I mean, where else is the excess energy supposed to go?”
Sharpie: “I dunno. Some other harmless form of energy apart from heat? The sparkly dust clouds were already perfect and you just had to change it into something deadlier. Thanks to you, seven people that stood close to us turned into soup.”
Spinel: “Well, there was that one time where the fire storm actually saved us from a meanie who wanted to crush us. We can’t just ignore that.”
Sharpie: “Seven people died, Spinel. Seven people that happened to be our allies.”
 Wilt: “Please stop. We have to finish this episode.”
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Steven: “So I’m supposed to work really hard and not try at all at the same time?”
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Garnet: “Yes.”
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Garnet: “Or…”
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Garnet: “You can link your mind with the energy of all existing matter, channeling the collective power of the universe through your gem.”
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Garnet: “At least that’s my way of doing it.
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Spinel: “C’mon, kiddo. It’s not that hard to understand. It’s how Springy lived for the past 40 years. If she can do it, so can you.”
Sharpie: “I bet this makes the most sense to you, huh Wilt?”
Wilt: “It does. Considering we are all just ripples of energy on the surface of the large lasagna we call the observable universe.”
Sharpie: “What a nerd. Also we’re half-way through the episode. You better cry, Wilt.”
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Wilt: “I’m saving this shot for reference.”
105 notes · View notes
darthbecky726 · 3 years
Text
Bad Batch 1x01 spoilers
I've never done something like this before, but I figured I'd start. Reactions to the first episode of The Bad Batch. (This ended up being a lot longer than I intended, but whatever)
Spoilers under the cut
Red logo burning away starts strong
Yay narrator dude!!
Feels like clones wars
Animated rots scenes!!
And what grevious did after the rots beginning
HOLY SHIT DEPA!!!!!
And caleb right???
And we're in
Omg who voiced young caleb bc it sounds a lot like fpj but aged down and he def doesn't sound like the 14 I know he was when this happened
I like how we started out on familiar characters but not ahsoka or anyone from tcw. We started w young kanan and his master and we know what happened to them and all but if anyone watching hasn't seen rebels they wouldn't be lost as to who caleb and depa are, they'd just assume they're random jedi in o66
Good ol droid screaming as it falls off a cliff
Wow. Them.
I love crosshair
And wrecker
And tech
And echo
And hunter
B1's are so dumb
Lmao the salt from hunter
I feel like depas forehead pearls are a bit unrealistically large but I have no cultural standpoint to really know so...
Caleb's voice is too deep in the same way that jack frost from rotg's voice doesn't match his character model
Ah wrecker not really knowing what she means and echo, the one who has been trained to deal w people and hung out w ani and obi is just like 'thanks general'
Obes kenobes mention
Why is echo so pale
Depa and caleb feel a little too pale too tbh I wonder if it's the lighting or the whitewashing
Wow caleb is a lot like ezra, I can see why kanan wanted to train him lol
Is this what separates caleb and depa, leading to her telling him to run??? Do I need to read dume???
Oh no
Noooooooooo
Bb didn't get the order!
Oh caleb nooooo! Nooooooo they didn't receive that order, they can help you!!!
And he's gone
Oh I need an au where caleb stayed with bb and they helped him after depa died
Hunter sounds so much like rex it's weird like ik they're supposed to sound the same but it feels like wrecker is replacing rex or something. Even tho ik rex's story is over for the time being
Crosshair, no! Don't shoot at him! He's baby
Oh no did crosshair get o66???? It didn't seem to trigger anything in any of the rest of them, but is crosshair close enough to 'reg' for it to have triggered???
😭😭good soldiers follow orders
"sure thing, boss" "hey hunter got a sitch"
Crosshair acting sus
Oh I love watching padawans fight, they're so good!!
I hope that hit to the tree did a lil cognitive recalibration for crosshair, he was acting crazy
Caleb looks so scared!! He just watched his master get gunned down by his friends and now strange clones are trying to kill him/confusing him
Oh caleb
Oh no crosshair don't try to kill him!! Hunters trying to help!
Also hunter doesn't sound as much like rex w the helmet off, but it's weird bc most of the clones are distinguishable by voice even w helmets on. I guess it's the 'im in charge' voice
Star wars if caleb had gone w the bb
Oh hunter u sly dog lying to crosshair so he doesn't go after him. U gotta figure out why crosshair responded to o66 and no one else in ur unit did
Oh crosshair knows he's been lied to
I will always love coming-out-of-hyperspace shots
Ooh kamino, always nice this time of year
Echo is done w wrecker
Why hasn't crosshair taken his helmet off yet, lil bit sus
They better get his chip out on kamino, I don't wanna deal w this
Oof hunter 
Oh who’s that, giving me cloud city vibes
Extreme cloud city vibes wow
Never realized how many clones are just on kamino
Coruscant guard?!?! FOX?!?!
The vibes here, omg
‘The war is over’ wow
Oh no who was that
A female jedi, doesn’t appear to be shaak, couldn’t see any montrals but never know, we don’t officially know how or where she died
Ok wow none of the bb has their helmets on except for crosshair, who got the order. The regs around kamino all have their helmets on. That scene in victory and death when ahsoka took rex’s helmet off- 
And crosshair, he’s actins strange too
Oh tech, do u guys get bullied by regs a lot??
I love their barracks
Lol he finally took his helmet off only to stick a toothpick in his mouth, can he get anymore cliched?
Wrecker is seeming a lot more infantilized than he was in the s7 eps...
Yeah crosshair’s being sus
Ooh, he shifted his toothpick
Lmao ‘what programming’
Well documented my ass
Tech’s speech patterns are so stiff and robotic, it’s like he has to remind himself to talk in basic instead of binary or some shit
Tech throwing shade at crosshair
I can’t quite tell if we’re supposed to like crosshair at this point
Lmao we been knew
Oop ‘more machine than man’ the vader parallels are serving folks
Understatement.
Ugh sheev
Crusty ass bitch
Straight from rots wow
Who is the mystery child and why does he look mandalorian
Ooh he gone
Oh no, the beninning of the empire
Cheering?? Why?!?
That imperial march fade in tho
Thank you echo
Oh shit mystery child is female
Omega, I would not have guessed the pronunciation of your name by reading it wow
She def seems mandalorian
Ugh kaminoans
Oh the kaminoan pronounced it as it usually is, huh.
Omega’s character model def seems more masculine than female, I now headcanon her as trans
Ugh tarkin, I hate that crusty bitch
Empire politics ugh
I love how much shade is being thrown at tarkin and his stormtrooper proposal lmao
Why do all these clones have the standard haircut?? ik them boys like their variety, even if these boys are still under o66′s programming
Wrecker you’re being extremely loud
They’re all being loud in the mess, why
They remember, kid
Lol child
Oh my sweet summer children
The dad instinct was clearly passed genetically from jango lol all these clones got it
Why are background characters so mean? What about it, shiny? Why is ur hair regulation, reg??
The Sad Batchn omg the slander
Lol the food fight I’ve read about in the fics, its finally happening!
Is she.... australian??
The over-animation of character movements in this is reminding me of the looser style of rebels, as opposed to the more clunky style of tcw
Lmao he’s still got food on him
Food fight!!
‘Not again’???!!! Echo!! Wdym not again?! Food fights have happened before?!?? Wait. W bb or w torrent, bc I can see torrent having food fights on the resolute-
Crosshair’s just eating his food until someone messes
I like how echo still has his kamas
Oh no echo!!
Oh echo’s trauma, he doesn’t trust medical droids! Where’s kix when u need him, huh?
Lol, comically long name for a robot trope is alive and well, huh
Lmao the droid lowers his voice like ik this is a perceived bad thing, but I will not tolerate this slander, boys u need to get off kamino
‘The shock’ lmao whyyy
Lmao tech!!
Oh, echo recognized tarkin from the citadel!
‘When you blew up’ lmao
Oh they make me sad
Aaaaah fox!
Man the domino squad nostalgia
Those droids look cool
This is a neat scene, I like seeing them in action
Wrecker reminding me of hevy, but he’s got the training and success to back it up
Live fire???? No!!
Ugh I hate tarkin
Oh no wtecker
Did he just get shot!???! 
Oh no crosshair, be careful!
Tarkin’s trying to kill them!!!
Lol wrecker I love you
Echo using his mech hand as a weapon, truly an arc
Now I wanna see what happened on felucia
I like how tech’s just sitting on the droid’s shoulders
And hunter just had a knife
These boys, I love them
Oh no tech bby
Hot damn that was cool
Wrecher things so too lmao
Tarkin’s like “why didn’t that work??’
Oh new baby clones
No tf they could not, they would never serve the empire and those bitches
I love that they have a window apartment lol
Ugh tarkin u shifty
They all stand at attention, only after glaring at tarkin
Oh no onderon
I hate tarkin, he’s a bitch
How quickly could bitch lord and darth sad have replaced the armory on kamino??
Crosshair still acting sus
Neither does echo, kid
No.
I like omega.
Crosshair, with the sassy hand on the hip-
What does that even mean?? Or elude to??
Lmao tech messing w wrecker, they rlly r bros
Its prob the vegetation
Oh, I missed onderon, but not this much
Lol the put-upon sigh
Its clearly saw and his rebels
Saw! Looking sharp, what’s w the hair....
That’s a very geometric beard, saw
They didn’t kill any jedi!
That’s not what happened, tech
‘The clones’ bitch that was rex and ahsoka, check urself
Aw, I’ve always like the design of imperial probe droids
Thank you, echo
It seems like crosshair’s o66 programming and his mutation are warring w his morals
Lmao the shade
I knew she was an enhanced clone!
Oh, so she is (at least on paper) trans! She’s a clone of jango, and yet she’s female! That must be her modification, but it makes me wonder why
Lol *flicks toothpick*
Aw, they have a picture of themselves! Recent-ish, too, its got echo!
Oh no, AZI!
The difference between them arriving earlier and now, the lack of escort...
Creepy how they had to open the hanger door themselves
Oh no! Everyone!
The coruscant guard, I wish they had gotten better
Tarkin u dramatic bitch
‘The brig’ this ain’t some tallship
Lol echo that shade
Their blacks are different from the ones seen in the past
Crosshair, stop being a bitch
Oh, I don’t like that phrase!! And the fact that crosshair screamed it in echo’s face makes me uneasy. Did rex fill echo in on why fives died?? I hope so...
Crosshair, ur chip hurting??
This child, I like her.
No! Don’t hit hunter!
No crosshair!!!!
I dislike this immensly
So they do still have inhibitor chips!
Tarkin you monster
Oh poor crosshair
ihatethisihatethisihatethis
Lol tech I love you
Wrecker you sweet pea
Lol that’s adorable
I love how they form a “wall” its so suspicious 
He was about to say that, omega
Aaww, echo protective boi
Wrecker shut up tf
That was cool
Sneaky bois
This reminds me of rex and ahsoka sneaking around in v&d
Echo runs so stupid
Oh no they winter soldier’d him!
If he says who the hell is crosshar, I will lose my shit
Yes, he has. They took it from him.
The toothpick
I wonder how they’re gonna get crosshair back to normal
Not good that they nabbed the sniper
Oh, crosshair shot him in the same place he got hit during training!
Ooh, a kaminoan on their side!
I hope omega doesn’t die
Poor trigger etiquette, crosshair
Wonder if omega has any speciality training
They’re just gonna leave him there!?!?!?!?!
Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!
Omega reminds me of young boba 
Oh, so its in her dna
Go back for crosshair!!
Holy fucking shit that was amazing! I didn’t expect it to be that long, but I’m not complaining! This ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated, but I don’t feel like cutting anything out, so sorry for the long post but at least I put it under a cut.
10 notes · View notes
artificialqueens · 3 years
Text
Please Don’t Take My Crown Just Because You Can (Olivia Lux x Trixie Mattel) - Plastiquedoll
read on ao3  👑
Summary: It was a bad idea. Trixie knew it from the second she signed up for it. Her stomach hadn’t been quiet from that moment on, she could barely get any sleep the previous night and her hands were constantly sweaty. How could she let her mother convince her of entering a beauty pageant? …Another beauty pageant. That was what she thought until she met Olivia and maybe -just maybe- her day got much better.
A/N: hi there! this is my entry for the rare pair fic challenge! I hope you like it <3
my train of thought for this story was the following one: rare pair challenge > 21 Jolene by Dolly Parton > Dolly Parton Trixie Mattel music > Dolly Parton movie Dumplin > Dumplin movie with beauty pageants > (break to remember that one roast joke about Ginger working with Jennifer Anniston) > pageant queens > line of the song about the Jolene’s > Olivia has a beautiful smile > Trixie was kind of obsessed with her on the pit stop > Trixie x Olivia > rare pair > Trixie x Olivia pageant queens au with Jolene somewhere
It was a bad idea.
Trixie knew it from the second she signed up for it. Her stomach hadn’t been quiet from that moment on, she could barely get any sleep the previous night and her hands were constantly sweaty.
How could she let her mother convince her of entering a beauty pageant?
…Another beauty pageant.
Only because her older sister was a pageant queen it didn’t mean she was cut from the same mold.
Even during the prior weeks when she tried that beautiful nightgown covered in sequins that fit her so well, she didn’t feel fully comfortable in it. Even in the talent category –one she was supposed to excel in since she had chosen singing- she wasn’t completely sure of the song she had picked and don’t get her start on the swimsuit category.
It was a nightmare.
Now she had paid the fee it was too late to regret it. She was already in the building, she had signed the damn application form and she had a number assigned –twelve- there was no way out even when all her senses were tingling and her body kept telling her to run away.
She took a deep breath and walked into the dressing room where her fellow competitors were already dolling up. She saw a mother stretching a corset so much the boobs of the girl were in a different color than her face and also a girl with a professional makeup team of three people doing her face, hair, and nails. This was no joke for some of them.
Of course, Trixie had been looked down on the moment she showed up and it was intimidating to walk among those trained pageant girls who whispered and tittered when she passed by their stations. Some of them might have identified her, some of them might be guessing what she was doing there.
Luckily, she found her mirror and hangers to be located in an isolated area near one of the back doors. At least she could get ready in peace.
Her mother walked into the room and it got as quiet as a church. The heads turned and immediately recognized the former Miss USA even after all those years, they also knew Trixie’s sister, Pearl, the current Miss Teen America; with both proud achievements under her arm, her mother solemnly crossed the place to her station with a couple of makeup bags on her hands. She greeted everyone with her fakest smile and then she looked at her daughter.
“Ronan will get your stuff in a moment.” She caressed Trixie’s hair. “Brush your hair, it’s dry.” She said with disdain. “And pinch your cheeks, you look ill.”
Forget that part of getting ready in peace.
Trixie instinctively grabbed a brush while her mother went mingle –and collected information about the other girls.
Suddenly, a voice surprised her.
“Hi!”
Trixie turned around and froze for a moment.
In the contiguous mirror labeled number thirteen, there was a girl with a bathrobe, rollers on her dark brown hair and by far the most beautiful smile Trixie had ever seen, the kind that made people go weak on their knees, with her not being the exception.
She’s beauty and she’s grace, she takes my breath away.
She looked like she had just arrived as well. Her makeup bags were closed and her dresses were in bags.
“It seems we’re going to be neighbors today.” She kept flashing her dazzling smile.
“Yeah… I mean… Hi, I’m Trixie.”
“Olivia, Liv…” She shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Trixie. If you don’t mind, may I ask you a question?”
Trixie would later find out that was Olivia’s catchphrase.
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Where can I find a plug for my phone?”
“Behind the mirror.”
“Oh, thank you… by the way I love your hair.”
Trixie touched her messy blonde hair she hadn’t even styled yet and wondered if that was a tactic but Olivia seemed genuinely nice. The girl sat on her chair and started doing her makeup, -Trixie needed to do the same but she also wanted to keep talking to her.
But before she could say something else, her mother came back with the bags with her outfits.
“Bad news is that Violet is here but maybe you can beat her in the talent portion, good news is that there was a blizzard and Naomi couldn’t take the flight.” She sounded way too excited about that.
“Jeez, mom…”
“What? Know your competitors.” She stared at Olivia. “And who do we have here? I’m afraid I don’t remember your name, darling.”
“I’m Olivia Lux, Mrs. Mattel. We haven’t met but it’s such an honor.”
Her mother smiled and shook her hand. “Lovely.” She looked at Trixie again. “We have a lot of work to do.”
“I’ll do my makeup.” She began taking her brushes out of the bag.
“Good idea, don’t apply too much the judges didn’t like it last time.”
At that point, Trixie just wanted her mother to be gone for a hot second since that was the only moment she could get to relax while doing something she enjoyed and she couldn’t fully do that under her eagle eye. She was already stressed by the rehearsals and the competition, she didn’t need any more pressure over her shoulders.
As if her thoughts were heard, one of the other mothers called Trixie’s mother’s name and she made a fuss to say hi to her and gossip some more.
“Whoa, your mother is a legend.” Olivia whispered, still a bit thunderstruck.
“I guess…” Trixie sighed. “Sorry you had to hear what she said earlier, she gets a little… in the pageant mood.”
What Trixie wanted to say was «she’s like a shark and pageants are bloodbaths».
Olivia just gestured with her hands downplaying it. “Most mothers here are like that… don’t worry.”
“By the way, where are you from? I don’t think I have seen you here before.”
Way to go, Trixie, what brings you to San Antonio, Texas to this room full of nasty people and ugly hot weather?
“I’m from New Jersey but I think the reason we hadn’t met it’s because… being completely honest, this is my third pageant.”
Trixie almost had a seizure. “What?”
She looked so calm and collected she couldn’t have guessed it was only her third time participating.
Olivia giggled. “The first beauty pageant I participated was as a dare from one of my friends back in New Jersey and I won Miss Polaris… then I tried my luck in the Miss Natural Beauty in New York and also won.” She fidgeted with her rings. “I hadn’t gone this far until now and I’m actually considering going full-time… but I don’t have many references to ask advice from.”
And she wanted to ask Trixie? Out of all girls in that room?
“I have to admit that’s pretty impressive.”
“Thank you.”
“Pageant world is… wow… exhausting? It requires a lot of effort and dedication. My mother put my sister and me in pageants since we were little so we grew up in this environment so we’re used to the viciousness of it.”
Just to think they could’ve made it into Toddlers and Tiaras if it wasn’t canceled a year before their pageant debut.
Olivia looked at her with wide eyes, expectant.
“It is also a nice place to share and form sincere bonds with other girls, like a sisterhood.”
The girl grinned. “That’s wonderful!”
“Yeah…”
“I must admit that the scholarship program of Miss Teen America is also what dragged me here today. I need to gather some more experience before even considering giving it a try and having a good score here could help me to qualify for the nationals.”
“That’s the dream…” Trixie knew about it, she had been prepared all her life to be the following to reign after her sister.
Trixie did her makeup in almost record time, she knew they had counted minutes inside the dressing room and they hadn’t rehearsed the walk or the places on the stage –they barely had some time to try the acoustic and do something similar to a soundcheck before lunch.
She needed a minute away from that place or she was going to have a breakdown. When her mother wasn’t looking, she sneaked out to the emergency stairs that had a «DO NOT CROSS» yellow sign… perfect.
To her surprise, she wasn’t the only person who had had the same idea.
“Hey, Violet.”
The girl with black hair in a purple robe with her name embroidered –she probably had her famous corset underneath- lifted her gaze. She was sitting on the stairs with a cigarette in one hand and her phone in the other.
“Needed a break?”
Trixie nodded. “I swear there’s something inside there that sucks the air of the room.”
“It’s not the air, it’s the former pageant queens sucking the youth out of your body.”
The blonde cackled. “Most likely.”
“Where’s your sister? She won Miss Teen and now she’s too good for an open call pageant?”
“Didn’t you hear? She sprained her ankle skiing a couple of weeks ago…”
“I heard that.” Violet rolled her eyes. “Now tell me what really happened.”
“She sprained her ankle trying to climb the window of her room after she sneaked to go to a college party.”
Ladies, gentlemen, and folks… Miss Teen America!
Violet snickered. “Dumb whore.”
She offered Trixie a smoke but the blonde shook her head.
“It’d fuck my throat for the talent section.”
“Maybe that’s the strategy.” A cloud of smoke came from her lips.
Trixie laughed. Violet had never needed to use a dirty tactic to win. She simply didn’t give a fuck and that was the reason Trixie liked her and the reason they had developed a certain level of camaraderie… it could be even called a friendship. Maybe what she had said to Olivia wasn’t as far from reality as she thought, maybe there was room to bond over the trauma of lost childhood and terrible mothers.
“Are you doing your baton routine?”
The raven-haired girl nodded. “This time, with a spark…” She did jazz hands, ironically.
“They are letting you do the fire thing?”
“God bless Texas or something like that.”
“I thought it was unsafe.”
“Nonsense… I could do it blindfolded… actually…”
“Pyro psychopath.”
“What about you? I saw your guitar in the dressing room. Are you finally going to sing one of your SoundCloud songs?”
Trixie sighed. “I wish… Mrs. Barbara Mattel won’t let me. She says it isn’t appealing to the public like going for a well-known classic.”
“Let me guess, Dolly Parton?”
“Yeah…”
“It’s always «yes» not «yeah», Miss Mattel.” She mocked.
“Fuck off, you skinny bitch.”
“You say it as if it’s something wrong with that.”
“I’m always hoping for you to faint during the run on the stage.”
“Because that’s the only way you could win.”
They laughed at each other. Everything was so ridiculous they needed the laughter to make things lighter.
“Well, you have competition with the singing thing…” Violet commented.
Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Who?”
“That new girl from Jersey… the one that looks like she came out from a toothpaste commercial.”
“Olivia?” She asked with disbelief… well, it shouldn’t have been any surprise since she seemed like the type of girl who could do anything anyway.
“And she plays piano too.” Violet dumped the ashes of her cigarette over the stairs but she was also adding fuel to the fire.
Fuck.
Maybe Trixie was very good at singing but the judges always looked with good eyes when someone played a more classical instrument like violin or piano, it made the girls look more sophisticated than an acoustic guitar.
She was truly underestimating Olivia for being the rookie in the room but if she was as good as Violet had said, she might have reasons to be worried.
Back in the dressing room, her mother nagged her for disappearing before getting the curlers on. She had her hair pulled and entangled in the plastic tubes under a pink cap. Some girls had left in rounds to the rehearsal of the talents that couldn’t make it in the morning, Olivia among them.
With her not being there to bright the room a little, Trixie felt alone. She knew she had just met Olivia but there was something so radiant and charming about her that she couldn’t shake off her mind. That… and the fact that Trixie was just being gay as fuck while yearning for a competitor.
To relieve her anxiety, she lulled herself with her autoharp and one of her songs that wouldn’t make it into the program.
“Whoa… that was beautiful.” The voice of the girl woke her from her reverie.
She hadn’t noticed Olivia had returned since she was so mesmerized with the music, closing her eyes and feeling it with her heart.
Olivia clapped and smiled, even brighter than before.
“Is what you’re going to play on today’s talent show?”
Trixie shook her head. “It’s mine, actually. I don’t think the public would respond as you just did.”
“What are you saying? It sounds terrific… I wish I could write songs too, what a great talent.”
“You’re just being polite… pageant polite.”
“I’m not…” Olivia reached for her hand and Trixie felt butterflies flapping on her stomach, no stage fright related. “Your music is wonderful, I mean it.”
She didn’t want to let go of Olivia’s hand but at that moment, there was a commotion in the dressing room that attracted all stares.
It was Alyssa Edwards, the hostess of the pageant and mother of the current Miss Teen Venus. Trixie had overheard her mother calling her things before but the second she walked in, everyone shut up. She didn’t look content at all.
“Miss Atlanta…” She called. “The color one.”
Violet.
“Violet has been disqualified from today’s competition.” She announced, as serious as she could be about it.
“What?!” Trixie looked around, she was nowhere to be seen.
“There has been an accident during the rehearsal of her talent and since the board and the judges consider it to be too dangerous and the lil’ miss refuses to change it… there’s no other choice but to continue without her.” She explained, reading a piece of paper she had in her hands. “Also, Miss Violet argues there had been some type of sabotage involved…”
The word sabotage made the room explode into an uproar. Alyssa was only the messenger but the women assembled in front of her demanding explanations and repeating how nonsensical the accusation was.
“Ladies, ladies…” She tried to get their attention but finally the only way she could do it was whistling loud enough to leave everyone deaf. “Ladies! I know this is a severe accusation but I promise you we’ll be taking action into the matter and proceeding with the corresponding investigation. This is not the image of any Miss Teen Venus and if the allegations turn to be true there will be a prosecution and punishment of such acts.” She shushed a pageant mom that was about to protest. “Margaret, sit your ass down no one wants to hear it.”
Trixie’s mother looked ecstatic. “Yes!” She celebrated in a lower voice.
Trixie just shook her head.
Violet returned to the dressing room wearing what to Violet was pedestrian clothing to pick her things about half an hour later, she looked done with everything and everyone there. She didn’t even mind the stares and whispers –even during rough times she shone for her confidence-, her mother behind her, however, kept ranting about the level of unprofessionalism showed and how they were going to regret it.
Trixie approached her station when things were cooling down a little.
“Hey, what the fuck happened?”
Violet sighed. “I don’t know, there was something wrong with the baton or the kerosene, this has never happened before.” She crossed her arms on her chest. “My mother thinks there’s a conspiracy going on and I just want to sleep on the plane and cuddle my cat back at home.”
“But like… do you really think someone deliberately tried to mess up with your act?”
“I have no clue but… I never make mistakes and that’s not an exaggeration.” She gathered her things. “If someone’s really sabotaging people you should watch your back.” She put a pair of designer sunglasses on.
“…we don’t need this trashy fifth category contest; Violet has a modeling contract…”
“I have to get my mom out of that argument. See you at the nationals I guess.”
“No «break a leg» or something?”
“You don’t need my help with that.” She waved her hair on her way out.
“Bitch…”
Alyssa called them for the runway rehearsal a couple of minutes after.
“Tracy,” She pointed at Trixie. “you go before Peronka.”
Trixie and Priyanka exchanged a look. To be fair, Priyanka was a newbie but still, it was funny that Alyssa confused their names so badly.
“Olivia, you go next.”
Of course, she remembered her name.
They paraded in their robes with curlers and clips on their hair pretending it was the real thing. They had to smile, wave, stuck their stomachs, stretch their shoulders, elongate their necks and look absolutely fabulous while wearing heels.
Olivia, just like the pageant she had won before, was a natural. She gracefully walked upstairs, sashayed all over the stage, and posed like a professional.
Trixie couldn’t keep her eyes off her to the point Priyanka had to elbow her to move.
“It got you hard this time…” She murmured.
“Shut up, Peronka.”
The first round they all had to wear the same simple v-neckline blue dress –not Trixie’s favorite color to wear- with a sad matching pump but it was just one lap to show their charms while playing a corny song about being Miss Teen Venus and all the qualities that came with it –did anyone else notice that it sounded oddly similar to Dancing Queen? Because Trixie did.
They also had a short presentation and because of that reason, Trixie didn’t let her mother rub vaseline on her teeth before stepping out the stage.
“Good evening, everyone. My name is Trixie Mattel, I’m from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I enjoy playing the acoustic guitar and composing my own songs. The people who inspire me the most are Michelle Obama, Dolly Parton, and my mom whom I love very much.” She smiled widely.
The judges nodded and wrote something down.
Alyssa in her all glitter, all glam golden gown and perfect huge blonde hair read the card, and after Trixie was done she commented. “Isn’t she lovely, folks?”
Claps from the audience and then her cue to leave the center of the stage and get in line next to Priyanka –always keeping the poise and the smile.
Olivia was next.
“Miss Olivia Lux.” Alyssa presented.
“Good evening, everyone. My name is Olivia, I’m from Buena, New Jersey. The activities I like the most are performing on a stage, playing the piano, and cooking with my mom and my grandmother. The people who inspire me the most are Malala Yousafzai, Kamala Harris, and Beyoncé Knowles.” She giggled.
“Adorable!” Alyssa said into the microphone.
Oh, she was good-good.
It reminded Trixie of the time Pearl went against Valentina, her smile also charmed the judges effortlessly making her sister lost that pageant.
Okay, the first round was done. The talent portion was next and Trixie hadn’t been that nervous before.
There were twenty –well, nineteen- girls competing that night, and some of them were really good. The swimsuit portion was something Trixie just preferred to ignore it happened; she was embarrassingly looking at one particular lady but she did her best pretending she wasn’t –even when her face was probably as red as her swimsuit-. Next were the talents and they went from juggling, opera singing, gymnastics to some awful singing, uncoordinated tap dancing, and some slips and falls -those that fail were often the most entertaining.
After Priyanka’s interpretative dance, it was Trixie’s turn.
She was on her country pink leather bodysuit with her Texan boots and big brushed hair. She held her pink glittery guitar near to her.
Alyssa was about to announce it when she felt a hand over her shoulder.
It was Olivia.
“Hey, I just wanted to wish you good luck. I’m sure you’re going to kill it.”
Trixie squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”
She took a deep breath before walking onto the stage.
“…here she is, Trixie Mattel!”
“Good night, everyone, how are you doing?” She displayed her white teeth. If something, Trixie felt comfortable in front of an audience when she had her guitar with her. “I hope you all know this one… because if you don’t… ”
She knew the chords by heart, as soon as she plucked the strings she got into character, moving her body and dancing around. The audience recognized the first couple of notes of Jolene right away. They could say she foreshadowed it on her presentation so no one should’ve been surprised at all.
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I’m begging of you please don’t take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don’t take him just because you can
People started clapping along and mouthed the words.
Your beauty is beyond compare
With flaming locks of auburn hair
With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green
She was having a great time and then, the lyrics came out of her mouth and her eyes directed to the girl behind the curtains who was still looking at her performance even when she was next.
Your smile is like a breath of spring
Your voice is soft like summer rain
And I cannot compete with you… Jolene
«Your smile is like a breath of spring» that single sentence could be used to describe Olivia perfectly and Trixie didn’t stop staring at her while pronouncing every word.
The rest of the song went even better, she really engaged with the audience. Trixie was very good at impersonating Dolly but she also liked giving it a little twist here and there, letting her personality shine through the music.
She had done a better job than that other girl that attempted to do These Boots Are Made For Walkin’. People gave her a full standing ovation, that was the best feeling in the world.
She was still shaking with adrenaline post-show when she crossed paths with –probably- her biggest competition of the night.
Olivia, who looked polished and gorgeous on a halter aqua short dress, her hair perfectly tight in an up-do and that blinding smile…
“Trixie you were fantastic! I knew you were going to do a great job but you really gave a show out there.”
“Thank you… break a leg… uh…”
“I’m so nervous.” She peeped over the blonde’s shoulder. A member of the staff was setting Olivia’s keyboard in the meantime Alyssa thanked the pageant sponsors.
“Look, the judges already love you so you just have to do your best out there and… have fun.”
Olivia nodded and hugged Trixie tightly before heading to the main stage.
Trixie was out of breath.
She knew her mother was going to go crazy if she was late back in the dressing room to change to her nightgown but it didn’t matter. She wanted to be there, supporting Olivia just like she did.
“Without further delay, Miss Olivia Lux.” Alyssa announced.
Olivia started playing the notes of For Elise on the keyboard and the audience was already fascinated by it but then, she pressed a couple of buttons that added rhythm to the classical symphony and the song became For Albert by Sarah Jackson-Holman. Olivia’s voice was also lovely and it complimented the song very well. She had an amazing stage presence and that was what made her performance stand up.
She guessed that the line «Your voice is soft like summer rain» also applied to Olivia.
Trixie was bewitched watching her leaving it all on the stage and so were the judges. She was surely scoring high with that interpretation. The audience gave her the second standing ovation of the night, well-earned.
Trixie herself was clapping like her biggest fan.
“That was amazing!” She celebrated the other girl.
“Oh my God… you watched it?”
“Yes, I wouldn’t miss it.”
Olivia was about to cry. “Thank you…”
“Hey, hey… save those tears for the end or you’re going to ruin your makeup.”
“Okay…” She sobbed but her face remained dry and her makeup flawless.
Back in the dressing room, Trixie’s mother wasn’t around which was strange since she was the first to boss Trixie around as soon as she put a step in.
She didn’t pay much attention since something else happened in the contiguous station, number thirteen.
“This cannot be happening…” Olivia was on the verge of a panic attack. “It has to be here somewhere.” She sounded so afflicted it made Trixie feel about whatever was going on before even knowing the details.
“What is it?” She asked.
“Oh, Trixie…” She fell into her arms. “It’s terrible, just terrible…” She was trying her best not to cry, Trixie could tell. “My nightgown has disappeared!”
“What?! No, that can’t be. Where was it last time you saw it?”
“In the hanger with my other dresses… It was here before the talent show I just saw it… My mom went to check on the car just in case but… I swear it was here. You have to believe me.”
Trixie stroked Olivia’s back trying to comfort her, even when she wasn’t the most affectionate person and having this type of contact was difficult to her, with that girl it was innate… she felt in need of protecting her.
“I believe you. We’re going to find it, okay? I promise it. We still thirty minutes before our turn.”
“Thank you… you’re a great friend.”
She smiled at Olivia.
Something shady was going on and Trixie was going to find out what it was.
She went out the hallway; neither of the other girls had seen something so if someone really stole Olivia’s dress it had to be while the girls were performing on the stage. Olivia’s mother did what she could to make time but finally decided to tell Alyssa was for the best, the hostess had cursed in her southern accent but assured the lady that they were also going to look for the emerald green nightgown.
Trixie finally found her mother next to the coffee machine with a cigarette in her hand.
“Mom, Olivia’s dress was stolen from the dressing room, where you around it before the talent show?”
She frowned and shook her head, the cigarette hung on her mouth unlighted. “No clue. Kids should be careful with their things.” She looked at Trixie from head to toe. “Why aren’t you dressing up already?”
“I’ll do it in a second. We’re trying to find her dress or she’s not going to make it to the next round.”
“Why do you care? You should be responsible for yourself and yourself only, Patricia. Otherwise, you’re not going to make it far in life…” She rummaged her purse trying to find a box of matches when it fell from her hands. “Shit…” She cursed.
Trixie kneeled on the floor to pick up the purse when she spotted a bottle of kerosene.
She picked the item and looked at it carefully and then she looked at her mother.
“Isn’t this the thing Violet uses for her baton routine?”
“I don’t know, I use it to clean…”
“Mom… What are you doing with this in your purse?”
“Oh, c’mon, Trixie. Give it to me.” She snatched the bottle from her hands and lighted up her cigarette with the matches. “You didn’t see anything.”
It suddenly made sense.
“You were the one who sabotaged Violet’s act, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh my God… you did.” Trixie was speechless. “Did you steal Olivia’s dress too?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, why would I do any of that?”
“Because you don’t think I can win on my own… You’ve been obstructing the competition all day long.”
“Fine, whatever… yes. I don’t think you can win on your own and these little amateurs cannot beat you… you’re a Mattel, do you have an idea what that name represents? The legacy that’s over your shoulders?”
“You got no shame at all, do you? What’s next? Are you going to throw marbles all over the stage?” Trixie felt like she was about to throw up. “Where’s Olivia’s dress?”
Her mother jeered. “Do you really believe I’m going to tell you? Please… Now go back to the dressing room and put some fucking vaseline on your teeth, I didn’t pay for your braces all those years for you to look like a bitter hag.”
“You’re going to regret this.”
Trixie really wanted to yell something at her but a plan was already forming on her mind and if it worked, her mother was going to get what she deserved.
“Any news?” Olivia asked with a spark of hope in her voice.
Trixie’s heart broke in the spot. She shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Liv. I couldn’t find it.”
“Oh no… Alyssa said if I don’t go out in fifteen minutes they’ll have to continue without me and I’ll be disqualified from the category meaning I won’t win in points…” She buried her face in her hands.
“Not necessarily.” Trixie squeezed her shoulder. “Fortunately for you… and because I come from a great tradition of pageant winners, I’ve learned to always go to a competition with a back-up.” She pulled a bag that was previously hanging next to her.
Olivia’s face lit up. “What is it…? Are you serious?”
Trixie nodded. “You can wear this one… now, obviously we’re not the same size but I think it can fit you just well with a couple of quick adjustments.”
“Oh my goodness… Trixie…” She was trying to find the right words. “You’re the best.” She embraced the girl into a hug.
Trixie beamed. “Don’t worry, it’s going to be alright. Text your mom you have a dress and get ready… I need to get a bottle of hairspray I left in the hallway, okay? I’ll see you behind the stage.”
“Okay…” She nodded. “Right. I’ll do that. Thank you, thank you… I cannot express it enough.”
“Hey, that’s what friends are for.”
Olivia held her hands. “You’re a wonderful person, Trixie Mattel.”
She felt a sting of guilt on her stomach. “I am…”
Trixie’s mother was about to enter into cardiac arrest when she found her daughter who was next in line, not ready.
“Trixie, where the hell were you? It’s almost your turn… where’s your dress?”
“I’m not going to walk on that stage, mom. I don’t want to win, not like this at least. It’s not fair.”
Her mother rolled her eyes. “Don’t start with me, Patricia. Do you have an idea of everything I had to do for you to be here tonight?”
“I do… that’s why I’m out of this competition. I already informed Alyssa I’m out.”
“You did what? Spoiled brat… Where is she? I’m going to find her and tell her you’re completely out of your mind… you’re being irrational and complicated and… you’ll see when we get home.”
Trixie’s mother tried in vain to convince Alyssa but she kept repeating “Barbara, please…”
The girls were starting to get in line and Trixie saw that Olivia was looking around trying to find her, when she did, she was highly surprised.
Olivia looked stunning in that shimmering pink-peach dress, the sequins fell over and sparked whenever she moved, she had added some orange accents to her makeup and an orange lily flower on her hair –Trixie was sure she had seen that flower on a vase at the reception but she wasn’t going to discredit her resourcefulness.
“You look so beautiful…” Trixie admired.
“Thank you… But… where’s your dress? Why aren’t you ready?”
“I dropped out.” She confessed. “This competition wasn’t for me so go ahead and kill it as you did before.”
“Wait- Is this?” Alyssa announced the category. “This is the dress you were supposed to wear, isn’t it?”
“It’s okay… It looks amazing on you anyway.”
“Trixie, no… I can’t do it. I can’t accept it…” The girls started walking.
“Listen, Olivia. I have a very good reason to resign but you don’t. This is a gorgeous gown and one of us should wear it tonight… and I’m glad is you.”
Olivia pouted. “Trixie…”
“No tears… no tears… make me proud, okay?”
Olivia held Trixie’s hand until it was her turn and even then, she didn’t let go until her fingers slid from her hand.
To no one’s shock, Olivia nailed the interview round and she truly wore that gown as if it had been made specifically for her. Trixie’s mother kept grumbling on the back and tried to light up another cigarette in the close environment, finally, a guard escorted her out of the venue while she kept repeating do you know who I am? I’m Miss USA!
But Trixie only had eyes for Olivia and that flashing smile of hers…
When she walked out of the stage, she almost overthrew the blonde.
“Trixie! I think there’s a chance I might win this…”
“You’re going to win this.” She assured.
Trixie knew one or two things about pageants and the way the judges reacted to her was more than just good.
After Alyssa announced the top five and Olivia’s name was among them, she knew she was going to win.
“Ladies, gentlemen, folks… it’s time to announce the results of our pageant of Miss Teen Venus 2021… Could the finalists please step forward?”
Trixie had her fingers crossed.
“For the title of second runner-up we have… Miss Priyanka!”
Everyone cheered when the girl in the red gown waved at them, Priyanka was probably just happy that Alyssa caught her name… finally.
“Our first runner-up is… Miss Crystal!”
The red-haired girl that had won the audience over with her personality waved enthusiastically.
“And now… for the title of Miss Teen Venus… let’s welcome my daughter Tiara, the past winner of this pageant who’s ending her reign tonight.”
Trixie sometimes wondered if no one founded it weird that Alyssa’s daughter was named after an object that was so common across the pageant world when she was also… a pageant queen… maybe it was just her.
The soon-to-be-former Miss Teen Venus looked exquisite in a white gown with her big tiara and flower bouquet.
“And now… the moment we all been waiting for… the judges have made their decision… Our new Miss Teen Venus is…”
Drum roll…
“Miss Olivia Lux!”
Trixie cheered as loud as she could, the pageant theme song started playing –really? No one? It was basically a Dancing Queen rip-off…- and there were glitter and confetti canons… Olivia got her sash, her crown, and her flowers. She was now shedding tears of pure joy and the cameras were flashing almost as much as her smile.
She looked jubilant and Trixie was just happy to witness it.
She had to take pictures with her family, with the judges, with the former winner, with Alyssa… it took a good fifteen minutes before she could leave the stage with the hostess wrapping up the event and saying goodnight to everyone.
Trixie was still shaking behind the curtains when Olivia walked down the stage, she opened her hands to hug the winner but instead, Olivia cupped her face and planted a kiss on her lips. Trixie suddenly felt dizzy and that ninety percent of her body was turned into jelly.
“Sorry… I’ve been wanting to do that for a while… maybe it was rushed and without permission I-”
But before she knew it, Trixie was kissing her back.
“Congratulations… Miss Teen Venus.” She said, breathless.
Olivia grinned and looked at her with pure devotion in her eyes.
“I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“You deserve it.”
“This means I can go to the nationals now!” She wiggled with excitement.
“That’s right.”
“And do you know what it means?” She wrapped her arms around Trixie and pulled her closer again.
“That we’re going to meet again?”
She nodded, her crown almost fell out.
“And that next time… we’re going to compete for real.”
“I’d like that.”
“But until then… may I kiss you again?”
She didn’t need to hear the words to get the response to that question.
read on ao3 ✨
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