#desert queen just vibing

[skeletondremmer]

Tablet cord broke so cacti

I love weird cactus wife. [Also little doodle of desert Queen just chilling up there she's fun to draw]

Smug plant bitch..

inspired by artist iv seen on this site drawing the cacti

[rooksamoris]

Woke up, first thing I did was see your response to my request! I love it! You have done well in spreading the Jamil L/N agenda.

Here is my next request: a confession/proposal scenario.

Reader confesses, Jamil tries rejecting them but reader knows him too well and asks for the real reason. Cue his usual "you deserve better than a servant" & "I don't want to trap you in a life of servanthood". Reader, completely unfazed, just goes "then just marry into my family". Cue blushy Jamil cause he somehow got a confession and a proposal all at once. Before he can overthink Kalim just busts through the door going "YES! I'LL PAY FOR IT!" (he was eavesdropping).

💞 — in which jamil rejects you and then rethinks it.

💞 — jamil viper x reader

💞 — warnings: hurt/comfort vibes, metaphor of burning skin on sand used

💞 — around 750 words. im obsessed with jamil taking his lover's last name to escape servitude. so sorry this took sooooo long!! im getting to requests and asks asap <3

“No.” You did not even get the chance to complete your confession before he suddenly hit you with a rejection. A cold rejection at that. You recoiled, pulling your offering with you, and your brows furrowed. “You didn’t even let me fin—” Jamil sighed, seeming exasperated with you, “It’s so obvious what you’re about to say,” he tells you, before turning around, his long dark hair following him and swaying. To be fair, you were quite obvious. He could see exactly what you were about to do. He had noticed the way you had been looking at him lately. If you were not talking to him, you were gazing at him longingly somewhere in the corner instead of paying attention to what Grim or Ace was saying. You made it even more obvious with how you showed up, bearing gifts in your hands and constantly touching up your appearance. If he were anyone else, he would have reassured you that you looked amazing instead of just rejecting you before you could say a word. Before he could walk away, you grabbed his wrist. Perhaps you were suddenly possessed with the confidence of the Red Queen, or maybe you were just stupid, but you did it and now had to deal with it, “At least tell me why,” you pleaded.

His heart broke a little when he heard the tremble of your voice. You bit the inside of your lip to keep anything else from escaping. This was the last thing you wanted to happen. Your fingers slipped away from his wrist and you averted your gaze in embarrassment. “I’d never have any time for you,” he said, simply, keeping his head turned away from you, “I’m very busy taking care of Kalim as is… it would be dhulm (cruel) to do that to you,” he added. That was the last thing he wanted to say. He knew this confession was coming for a while and prepared himself to reject you from the first time he felt your lingering gaze. What he wanted to say was that he wanted you to. Jamil would have used his bare hands to dig through layers of scalding desert sands for just a sip of what your love could have been like. He would have worn the burn scars like a trophy—a testament to his love and devotion. Instead, he said no. Before you could speak, he held a hand up to silence you, “I can’t give you the life that you want to live. You’d be bound to servitude for just being mine.” He loved the thought of that. Being able to call you his was a dream, and it would stay a dream. When his blood was spilled, it did not hold even a bit of value, and he could not bind you to him and make your blood as worthless as his. There would be no ceremonies when he died, no pretty tombstones, and few people who would care enough to attend. He did not have it in him to make that your fate as well. You stared at him in disbelief, your nose scrunching up slightly as you grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer. It was a forceful tug, causing him to stumble forward a bit, and you took your chance, pressing your forehead to his. Those eyes of yours were piercing and determined. “Marry into my family. Take my last name, and Viper servitude would be a thing of the past.” His hands were suddenly torn out of the scalding sands which burned them. He stared at you in pure shock, a blush rising from his neck, to his ears and finally painting his pretty brown cheeks. His brows were knitted—the words dared not to spill out of his lips. “H–Huh… wait—you can’t be—” Before he could speak, Kalim barged in with a wide grin on his lips, throwing himself against you and Jamil and tugging you both close in a hug, “I’ll pay for it! It will be the most grand occasion! We’ll even dress up the camels—” As Kalim rambled, Jamil looked over at your pretty, smiling face. You were laughing at Kalim’s words and planning the occasion along with him, as if you would be married tomorrow and not years from now. His gaze softened, and when your eyes met his, you knew he accepted your confession. Finally, he could let someone mend the burns the sand left on his palms.

[honourablejester]

Every time I go back and watch Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, I’m amazed all over again by the panoply of genres this movie and the VHD setting in general indulges in.

The story is set in “the distant future, where vampires rule the night but their numbers are dwindling”. It sort of plays like a weird techno-gothic post-apocalyptic sci-fi western? Over the course of Bloodlust, we start out in a cross-bedecked gothic city, head to a meeting in a ruined church straight out of western, complete with rifle-armed cowboys on guard, go full fucking Dune in the middle with D riding his biomechanical horse across the back of field-sized sand manta rays migrating across a massive duned desert, head to a small canyon town that's a hideout for various yokai, stop off at a roman ruin in a lake and a massive science fiction stronghold with a mirror-cloaked exterior and automated defense lasers, before heading to the final showdown in the massive crimson techno-gothic castle of Carmilla the vampire queen, which doubles as a spaceship. Because the vampire D has been pursuing this whole time wants to go to the endless night of space to be with his love.

The team of hunters competing with D are armed with, variously, a massive fucking hammer, an absolutely ridiculous arm-mounted crossbow that launches roughly 2000 silver arrows a second, a singularity shooting pistol, and an astral self that flies around the battlefield like an angry sparkly ghost that shoots lasers.

Conveyances include said already-mentioned biomechanical horse, a horse-drawn carriage drawn by similar horses, a full-on motorbike, a massive armoured motor truck-slash-tank, and also said previously-mentioned spaceship.

Let’s just say the aesthetic is simultaneously all over the place, and weirdly unified. It’s a far flung dystopic future run by gothic creatures of the night, after the slow apocalypse that has led to their dwindling. So you have futuristic technology and gothic medieval sensibilities in bizarre but functional post-apocalyptic union. It’s really cool.

Possibly helped by the fact, mind you, that this movie is just stupidly beautiful and so gorgeously animated that you’ll forgive it a lot of sins. But it isn’t actually committing too many. The weird genre blend makes sense, and the vibe is cool and coherent enough that you’ll roll with it.

[glimmerlofsea]

Hey it's me again. I was wondering if you could do a billy hargrove imagin. The reader and Billy "hate" each other and end up having to share a bed. The rest is up to you.

Thank youuuu 🖤

HIII!!! your request is very interesting!! And I will put the song 'Shameless' as the vibe of this fanfic, thank you for requesting it and I hope this meets your expectations and you like it! And I apologize for the delay. 💚😕

Billy Hargrove x Reader

MASTERLIST

SPARK OF HATE

Warning : Just a few harsh words maybe? fluffy, and there's some making out session... BUT NOT TOOO MUCH ;D

WC; 3,4k

#TALKISSA; As in the request above! :d and relatedly, since I'm a perfectionist and detailed writer (which kinda sad) so the story is too long, sorry if it's boring :(, I really hope it's not. Thank you for requesting!

Such a relationship is very complicated to explain. He hates you, you hate him more. Well, he hates you for no apparent reason, but the reason you hate him? Just look at that sly, arrogant, disgusting smile every day in the school hallway, it makes you want to vomit every time.

Jessica, your friend always assures you that the spark of hatred is just wishful thinking to hide your feelings of mutual liking. You couldn't hold back your laughter when you heard that, you, like Billy? Pft, you'd rather die.

"Oh, come on, Y/N! You think we didn't see the tension that was there when you look at each other?" Jess complained while you were putting your textbook into your bag.

You ignored her, "Someone should give him some advice."

Jess chuckled, "You think he'll care about that little advice of yours?"

You slammed your locker, and turned your position 90 degrees towards Jess, "Are you on his side or me?"

Jess groaned, "God, not this again. Every time I hear this it's like choosing a side in war you know?"

You grinned and brought your face closer to Jess', "This is war, Jess. Get used to it."

"You're just annoyed because he took your Physics Queen's throne, right?"

You started walking down the hall followed by Jess, "That's the most important thing. He can't just come in and take my throne!"

"Oh, please, you're not the only one who is good at Physics." Jess' cigar, you look at her, she immediately closes her mouth tightly, afraid you will scold her, but no, you nod in agreement.

"Yeah. You're right, but that doesn't mean I can let a Billy fucking Hargrove take my title!" You whined as you tied your hair in a ponytail.

"I heard you mentioning my name, Princess."

You groaned, knowing who the voice was, when you wanted to turn around you felt your scrunchie slipping from your hair, making your hair flow freely and fly in the wind. Billy Hargrove took it,

"Give it back." You warn.

"Or what?" He replied with a grin.

Oh, this is what was meant when Jess said there was 'tension' between you two.

You still stared at him intently, he chuckled, "God, just admit you're attracted to me, Y/L/N, there's nothing to be ashamed about."

You took your scrunchie and started to put your hair back in a ponytail, “Go back to sleep and you'll see it happen, Hargrove.”

When you turned around, Jess was gone, sneaky girl, she left you because you saw her following Trevor, her crush from middle school. You laugh in disbelief,

"That girl," you whispered, annoyed.

For the past few days, your car has been confiscated by your parents. You caused trouble in Hawkins by accidentally crashing your car into one of the trees that was being felled. It costs a lot of money and you are not left to drive.

"Lost your ride?" Teasing Billy from behind,

You gave him your middle finger without looking at him and walked away. Today you had to walk a few more deserted blocks because you lost your ride.

It was sad how your relationship with Billy ended like that, because you had to see him every week because Max—his little sister hired you as her Physics tutor. It makes you happy to be able to show off your abilities in that subject when teaching Max at her house, which means Billy can clearly see this, even though he himself is very good at Physics, but Max doesn't believe him? What else could upset him?

The day you are going to tutor Max arrives, you immediately leave, 'walking' to get to her house, you knock on the door, expecting Max to immediately open the door but she doesn't. That's her shitty brother.

He flashed his usual grin, making you wrinkle your nose and groan, "Max's here?"

"Why are you looking after her anyway?"

"I'm her tutor, remember?" You flip your hair, "Since I'm the smartest in Physics. She trusts me enough for that."

Sometimes Billy feels that Max only hired you as her fake tutor to make him feel useless as a brother, but he doesn't care, she's quite a bother for Billy, and he's a little grateful that Max hired you as her tutor, apart from being able to see you often but Billy calmed down because that little piece of shit wouldn't bother him.

Billy chuckled at your words, he turned his head back a little but still locked his gaze on you, looking at you from top to bottom who was wearing a small skirt that reached your thighs and the rest was covered by knee length socks.

"Max, your little friend is here!" he shouted.

Hearing no answer made Billy look back completely, annoyed that he had to take his eyes off you, he left you to check on Max.

Soon after that the door opened completely, "Max isn't here." He said, he sounded panicked but tried not to show it to you.

You frowned, "What?" Max never goes to the Arcade without taking you, she usually takes you if she wanted you to show her around Hawkins, but not this time.

"You can go." Billy said as if he was being pushed by something.

You sighed, you knew Max wasn't your little sister and just your friend, but at least you showed concern, right? Nah, you are really worried. In addition, Billy's expression was frowning all the way down, unlike usual when he showed all his firm facial muscles.

"Do you want me... To, um— To help you look after her?" Your words are stuttering.

"That little shit is probably in the Arcade, I don't care."

Billy was about to close the door but you held him back and shook your head, “she's not, you know that, Billy. Don't hide your fears, I insist, I know where we'll go to find her.”

Billy had time to think about it.

You raised your eyebrows to reassure him, he rolled his eyes and opened the door wide, "Okay."

You guys use his blue Camaro car, you roll into the Arcade first, then drive to Lucas' house, one of the kids Max's age who has been friends with her recently, Max talks about him a lot, so you think maybe she's at Sinclair's house. But the results were nil.

The longer you look, the air gets colder in Hawkins. Billy gives you his jacket, even though you were already wearing a furry sweater with colorful patterns, but he still forces you to wear his jacket, you don't have a problem with that. It's just... Why suddenly?

"Fuck that bitch, I have a date, dammit." Billy said cursing Max but in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

Date? For some reason your ears heat up and your whole face heats up.

You cleared your throat and adjusted your sitting position to be comfortable, "Date?" You asked in a small voice.

"Yeah, with Penny, that girl has a nice ass. I could take her virginity right now if I didn't have to look for that load." Billy explain in the midst of his laughter.

You looked up at him and wrinkled your nose in an ugly way, “Gross, Hargrove.”

Billy chuckled and glanced at you briefly, "What? Wish that was you?"

You looked at him, your mouth wanted to say yes, yes to asking you out, but if you say that, you would be a cheap girl like the girl Billy had slept with several times in Hawkins. You don't want to be one of them.

"I'd rather eat Mrs. Hills' dessert." You said which made Billy chuckle, "That's the worst."

You smiled, "I know right? Jess once told me, she accidentally filled Mrs. Hills' dessert, she almost threw it up right then and there if Mrs. Hills didn't look at her. AH! And have you ever seen Mr. Pill who wears pants incorrectly? His panties keep showing when he walks down the hall!"

Girl, you talk a lot.

"And are you—"

Then you realize you are like a talking machine that can never stop talking. What's more, you talk a lot in front of people you should ignore because they are your enemies.

"-Sorry." You said looking back towards the street,

Billy smiled, you could even feel it without looking at him, there was no answer from him but you felt a hand land on your thigh, giving you goosebumps all over your body, he stroked it slowly,

"It's okay, go on. I love hearing your voice, Princess." His words made you look at him again, he locked them, looking alternately at you and the road, "If I'm being honest, it calmed me, even if it was a little loud to the ears."

You chuckled, “Now, keep your eyes on the road.”

"Yes ma'am."

Long story short, you go to the Wheeler house, Billy uses his charm to seduce the housewife, and he doesn't let you get out of the car to see the action. It irritates you, he thinks you're jealous, but you try to argued it, and it only ends up being him who keeps teasing you, making you just stay silent on the way to the Byers house. He continues to stroke your thigh, if your voice makes him calm, then his caressing your thigh makes you calm.

Oh, what is this? What is this feeling? You will continue to avoid it even though your heart cannot lie. Jess seemed right, the feeling was starting to rise in you. But it's just nonsense if it's only felt by you.

As soon as you arrived at the Byers house you watched a small fight between Steve Harrington and Billy, in between their fight you noticed Max peeking out of the window, she gave a signal for you to close your mouth. But it was too late, you already saw Steve lying there on the ground, and Billy have gone to the front door, you help Steve to stand up,

"You're Y/N, right? Why are you with that jerk?" Steve asked as he stood up, helped by you.

You shrugged your shoulders, "I don't know."

You heard a loud stomping from inside, making you run to the source of the sound leaving Steve there, you heard lots of screams from the kids there, including Max.

You walked over to Max, "Are you okay?"

Max nodded quickly, "Lucas, Y/N!"

You saw Billy grabbing Lucas roughly by the collar and cornering him into the kitchen cupboard, Steve was about to step forward but you held him back, "No harm."

Steve chuckled, "Yeah, but did you see he hurt the kid?"

Steve was about to pick up his pace again but you got ahead of him, grabbing Billy's shoulder, "Max's here, let's go."

"Let him go." You said, moving forward to stand next to Lucas,

Billy glanced at you briefly before looking at Lucas again, "This is the last time I see you with her, Sinclair."

Billy let go of Lucas roughly, you made sure Lucas was okay, "Are you okay?"

Lucas nodded.

You thought it was over, no more violence, but it wasn't, it was over quickly, Billy beating Steve mercilessly, Max screaming his name over and over, as did you too, "Hargrove!"

He didn't stop hitting Steve, making the jolt of his hand push you back and make your forehead scrape against the edge of the cupboard.

Max tackled his brother and inserted a syringe which made Billy fall on the floor.

You held your forehead and groaned, then saw Billy who didn't have enough strength or energy to stand up.

Max walked over to you, "I can't explain in more detail, but I have to go with them. In Billy's car. Mind if you look after him, Y/N?"

You looked at Billy then looked at Max again, you shook your head, "Not at all."

"Thank you."

With that, Max and his friends went to who knows where they were going, you helped them carry the battered Steve to the car, you felt guilty for the guy.

You went back inside and brought Billy's heavy body to rest on the edge of the couch, you used Byers' house phone to call Jess. Tell her to pick you up at the Byers residence.

You landed yourself next to Billy, saw that his head was still swinging, you saw that his shirt was still half-buttoned, you decided to button the shirt all the way, and put his jacket back on him. You took a clean towel from the one you took to clean the blood from his nose.

You felt a hand holding your hand, making you stop what you were doing before, with dim eyes, Billy opened his eyes.

Feeling the awkwardness of the eye contact you smiled slightly, "Um, hi?"

You didn't imagine his next move would be him leaning forward to kiss you, right on the lips. Oh, how you hated him, you should have pushed him away and slapped him for harassing you, but no, you kissed him back.

'The Kiss' started to heat up when Billy started to pull you to sit on his lap, but you didn't want this, you didn't want to. You just... Don't want to. You pulled back your face, while he seemed to feel unsatisfied,

"What—"

Billy stopped you by moving to your jawline, tracing it, “Don't talk. Hell, don't even try.”

He started tracing your neck, oh, this time your whole body was really hot, "It's been a secret for a long time that I really want you."

"Need you more than I want to." It's almost like a whisper in your ear.

The door opened with a bang, making you change your position to sit back on the floor, Billy chuckled,

“Shut up,” you told him.

Jess stood silently in front of the door, you really hoped she didn't see it.

"Hi." You said.

Jess immediately rushed over to you, "What the hell?! I thought you were in danger!" Seeing her reaction it seemed like you were quick enough to get away from Billy's lap.

You smiled and stood up, "Who said that? I told you I just needed to be picked up, and thank you for coming. I love you."

Jess rolled her eyes and looked down, seeing Billy who was still half conscious, "and what did you do with him?"

You widened your eyes, "It's a long story. Just take us back, please?"

Jess looked at you again, repeating it not at your face but your forehead, she grabbed your wound making you groan, "Did you do this, asshole?!" Jess asked Billy.

Billy blurted out, "Huh?"

You put a hand on Jess's shoulder, "No, I'm fine, just a little scratched."

You showed your sparkling sparkling eyes, "Can we just go?"

Jess narrowed her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, but Trevor is in the car, problem with that?"

"No! Absolutely not."

You grabbed Billy's hand to put around your neck, he was so heavy you couldn't lie, making Jess stand beside him to help you support him.

"I love it, like a double date, right?" Billy asked you, still rambling.

"Shut up."

"What did he say?" Jess asked, you kept your head steady, "Nothing! You heard wrong, Jess."

Jess kept looking at you, suspicious of you, but she felt like you would never be able to hide anything from her, so she looked away again.

Trevor and Jess were in the front seat, you felt bad for ruining their date, meanwhile Billy continued to cling onto you, not wanting to pull his head from your shoulder.

"I don't want to go home." He whispered which only you could hear since the music was playing in Jess's car.

"I'll be completely beaten by him if I come home without Maxine."

You know this. Max once told you that her stepfather was abusive to Billy, and Billy took it out on Max when he was in a bad mood, either scolding her loudly, or holding her hand tightly.

"We can sleep over at Jess' house if you want." You said.

Billy started to pull his head from your shoulder and looked at you, “Can we?”

You grinned, "Jess, can we stay at your house?"

Jess looked at you, "What is this? An impromptu sleepover?" Jess smiled, "YES, yes. You up, Hargrove?"

Billy just smiled fakely at Jess, Jess chuckled, "I told you there was some tension between—"

You glared at Jess, “Zip it.”

Not long after that, when you arrived at Jess' house, she and Trevor went on their next dating session. What kind of 'sleepover' would it be if she just left you like that?

You were wearing Jess' pajamas, looking at Billy who was asleep on Mr. Dunphy a.k.a Jess' beloved father, you decided to sleep in your best friend's room. That's a shame, because you'd love to talk about something unexpected at the Byers house.

If he could tell the truth, it was the most restful sleep Billy had ever experienced without the sound of his father cursing, without the repeated incidents of his father beating him, just the peace he had been longing for. But it didn't last long when he heard a loud bang on the wall from the direction of the room.

He woke up and groaned, took the golf club that was at the end of the wall in Jess' house and walked towards the room that had the source of the sound, not an animal, not the wind, and of surely not a ghost, but you.

You continued to bang your head gently against the wall, trying to walk, while rambling, "...I told you, there's no tension or whatever you said."

It looks like you are trying to talk to someone through your unconscious.

Billy put his golf club down and blocked the contact of your forehead with the wall, “You okay?” he asked. But he noticed your eyes were closed tightly, he had heard of this, sleepwalking or whatever the term was.

"Let's get you back to sleep, yeah?" Billy said then grabbed your hand to lead you back to the bed.

You were still rambling, "...I don't like him! What?" You whined, making Billy really confused, was this normal?

"I like him... A little. I hate to admit it."

Your words began to attract his attention, he landed you very carefully on the mattress and the blanket you used before to lock you inside again,

When Billy wanted to leave you, you woke up and pulled his hand so he fell beside you, you comforted your position on his chest, "I can't sleep without you,"

Billy didn't say anything, or precisely can't say anything.

"Jess." You continued, Billy thought you must still be half conscious because you thought he was your best friend.

It wasn't the way Billy expected to share a bed with you, but when you started wrapping your arms around his body he felt a feeling he had never felt. Comfort, and someone to say that everything will be okay. His mother had done that, but her words did not reflect what she did to Billy because she left him and did not try to take him back from his psychopath father. And in your arms? Different.

Billy was lost in his thoughts for a moment, but he started to close his eyes again and again and went back to sleep with you, holding you in his arms so that you also felt safe and definitely not sleepwalking again so as not to hurt yourself. He noticed the small wound on your forehead due to his carelessness, and he would make sure his emotions wouldn't hurt you again.

"I'll get my title back from him." You rambled again, Billy, who hadn't completely closed his eyes, just chuckled, knowing that you were talking about him.

Jess and Trevor have just returned from their long 'trip' which apparently took the whole day, Jess comes back and called your name, but there is no answer, making her walk towards your room and get—

"WHAT THE FUCK!" She shouted hysterically, Trevor, who heard his new girlfriend's screams, immediately ran into the room, "What's wrong?!"

It turns out that what Jess saw was you sleeping comfy in the crook of Billy's neck and Billy pressing his chin into your hair.

Billy groaned at Jess' loud scream, but you didn't move an inch, still lost in your beautiful dream. Billy noticed Jess and Trevor were both slamming their jaw together, he squeaked, "We didn't do anything, now shut it, she's still asleep."

Jess leaned closer to the bed, "Why not?! I noticed something sparking between you and definitely more than 'hating' each other." Jess shouted but in a whisper.

You snored, making Jess hide under the bed and pulling Trevor to hide with her, but you didn't wake up, just adjusted your position so you were comfortable.

Billy tap down on the side of the bed and slowly signaled to Jess and Trevor that it was safe, Jess and Trevor started to come back out and stand up as before.

"What did you mean by what you said earlier?" Billy asked Jess.

"Ask her out, dumbass. Don't argue, you like her, she likes you. Now go on a date so we can actually double-date." Jess said.

Trevor tossed the blanket that hiding Billy and yourself inside, “Good luck, man.”

As soon as Jess and Trevor were out, Billy smiled to himself like an idiot, you like him? Something he really couldn't have expected.

Not to mention that you are still clinging to him and don't want to let him go in your sleep, making him feel like he is your safest place, and he will continue to make sure that you are safe in his watch. Mark my words, he will definitely take you on a date. But what will your reaction be when you find out that you cling into him all the time? And share a bed with him? He couldn't wait to see and witness it.

Author Note : I'm sorry if there are some typos because I didn't have time to check it a few times since I was already feeling bad about being behind on this story for a week. I'm sorry, hope you like it! @patrickbatemanswife1987 (´✪ω✪`)♡

[ms0milk]

✧ forget-me-nots ✧

trying to pass on some of the appreciation I receive here because it's crazy to break the 4th wall for a second and really internalize how this community is driven by creativity and mutual loving. here's a list in random order of my most dear to me loves + a few nonmutuals whose work i think of often, and the pieces that remind me most of them

when they come for you in the night (thorfinn x reader) | @gardenofnoah

the depth of dive i had to take through your blog to find this is just.. the moment i hit "when you’ve known nothing but cruelty, kindness would surely be terrifying" it was game over. thorfinn came so so to life and this was such a stunnning introduction to your style. youve written so much now and i find myself always totally stunned! but i still always think of this one first. (i give it all to you also spills out of my brain sometimes while im trying to go about the world and was a close contender + this bkg x feral creature little piece of wonderful)

you. that's what happened, you (maki x reader) | @neiptune

you already know, i would be a godless liar if said i didn't think about this weekly; the maki rizz is heretofore unmatched, this piece went above and beyond all req expectations, “hold my hand, they’ll think something’s wrong if you don’t” will be the epitaph on my tombstone. you have the power to make me love all those boys ive never even thought about, and when it was time to write for my actual wife you cracked your knuckles and made sure id never be satisfied by another! (aint that the worst thing you ever heard also reminds me of you sm, eren aot of all people)

unsubtle pro shinsou drabble | @moonbeamwritings

i can feel the heat of shinsou's crush through both our screens it is just perfection!!! what a dweeb. love to send this to myself so its easy to find and reread on the regular

To Shape a Home (bkg x reader) | @kweenkatsuki-fics

not only do the stardew vibes shine through every corner, this fic was carved out with such care it makes the relationship + bkg's growth all the more precious! "yer nothin’ to go nuts over." was an insane introduction and the two of them only got better and better and sweeter and stickier with time (ao3 tagged bc i cant find your beautiful masterlist marquie sosrrrrry)

bittersweet (vash x reader) | @heich0e

i remember exactly where i was when i read this for the first time and I remember how excited I was to find a vash fic after so long loving trigun! i didn't even know the new series had been released yet! this was agonizing, such a soft characterization for both, and the desert was so palpable-- the setting really added so much spice to an already seasoned piece

hanafuda (tanjiro x reader) | @cherryblossomsenpai

way way back in 2022 this was one of the first tanjiro pieces i ever read that really made a romantic argument for him. love his exhaustion, exasperation, fear and relief all wrapped up in one hug "The rest of his lecture is indecipherable," bc he's just crying so hard! total sweetheart, so in character

kirishima drunk girl wrangler | @mechamedusa

dusa🫱🏻‍🫲🏼kirishima ofc your kiri thoughts are unmatched and this one is so quintessential, when i think of him i think of you. he is so wrangler shaped! the perfect boyfriend, your mind is a treasure trove

wedding vows (hashira x reader) | @meowzfordayz

to my very first friend <3 you'd think the piece i associate most with you would be one of giyuus and you write so so impressively much it was hard to decide, but this hashira drabble wrung me by the neck when I first read it, and it still crushes me that your kyojuro isn't a real man i can go outside and hunt for sport. "I have an energy bar in my suit pocket — just in case." a snack for his partner at their own wedding put me down, love your mind always

sleepy rengoku drabble | @vampcubus

my femdom queen! why was it so hard for me to remember which character this was written for? reader's rizz blinded me, thank you for introducing me to dom!reader works bc now every sexy hc i have is filtered through the puppysub filter to make all those big strong boys tastefully more submissive

anything to do with anika~ | @ltadoriyuujl

love your oc, she's such a caring nuclear bomb! loved reading your wonderful chara exploration piece and being able to write for her myself! what a trust fall

the only exception (yuuji x reader) | @touyangel

yuuji is such a boyscout at the end of the world, even in total tragedy he is kind and calm and caring. thinking about "If he wasn’t teaching you how to decapitate something that used to be human, it might have been romantic." this one hurts so so good and very easily convinced me love on him. even with all the choso pieces of yours I adore, this yuuji piece reminds me most of you (this sick choso drabble is a close second!)

menthol (aki x reader) | @cyancherub

the smut hall of fame all time champion on my knees on the floor kicking my feet and smiling, love the characterization in this piece! car guy/childhood friend/overprotective/smoke sess/ so intimate and perfectly filthy. a tried and true classic, this is a blessing

fill my little world right up (aizawa x reader) | @shibaraki

the fic of all time yeah, WHAT a way to be introduced to your writing and what a privilege! this piece is just a beating heart, every action and character introduction felt like a memory, the love was so palpable. reread this one all the time, can't believe it's free, want to bind a copy for my bookshelf

cor unum (sukuna x reader) | @vampyrsm

this was the first writing i ever saw from you and in an effort of solidarity (im finishing a longform fic as well and holy fuck) i've very recently started reading and can already tell how much care you had for this world and its characters. the dedication to setting and history is so cool and rare in reader fics, can't believe you're letting us read all this for free! what a tome, seriously looking forward to it (and this bkg thought abt crowded places! mmm)

i love you more than being seventeen (nanami x reader) | @strawberrystepmom

this fucking guy oh my god, this fic almost put me in the hospital, so so glad you reposted. "hey. I love you." OOhhhHHGoowwAWAWAAAA this is such a timeless character piece-- nanami running away from this word he hates, job he hates, girl he loves, and coming back to it all knowing he'll die and knowing its worth it. i get chills

strawberry stars on my lips (bkg x reader) | @willowser

breaking the rules of speed dating is insanely romantic, probably the most romantic thing someone has ever thought of and this is the piece i think of when i think of your blog. bkg is simultaneously so constipated and so vulnerable i almost feel like i have to cover my eyes for him and it is sugary sweet in the best way. happy hiatus!

[melancholicstation]

god & monsters — bobby f. kennedy

taglist: @jackiesgirl @callmeaftersupper @astro-vibes-bro @lamperry4ever @darcyspirits @absurdlyvintage @h-l-v-kennedy-blog @h-l-vlovesvintage @fortheloveofjos @superzealouscollectordetective @remotewatch @bleatngheart @obsessedwithjohnjr @starsprangledgirl @hisamericanmuse @kimcrystal123

summary: On an October eventide, you are invited to an ordinary Halloween eve soirée. You contract a horrible affliction, a yearning of the heart to end all those before it. All because of your serendipitous meeting with a certain camel haired mortal named Robert “bobby” Kennedy in the grass. For the only the birds and the bees bore witness to what lecherous things you both did with each other on the mead….

tags: 18+ but warning will be given ahead, tiny bit of blasphème sorryyy, rough s*x, fucking in the grasslands, cheating, explicit language, bee sting as repentance, infidelity, you are married but bobby is not.

words: 4,142

my linking should not serve as how you have to imagine this story/world if you do not wish to, these are simply just where I draw personal inspiration.

October 30th 1966

The solitary confines of the seventeen-century estate, all its Provençal grace stood tall unbothered by the many people going in and out of the homestead. Like a glamour queen it seemed entirely unfazed by the many important people within its walls: senators, governors, princesses of niche European constitutional monarchies just to name a few. Now you may be thinking what do all these people have in common? well each got the most coveted invitation to a halloween party hosted by America's very own royal family, or at least that's what The Life Magazine said in their glossy spreads, more specifically the forgotten american prince: Robert F. Kennedy.

And that's exactly how you got here as well. A short week ago you received that same invitation and shared it with your husband: Charles. Charles your husband has been, for years now, vehemently set on a career in politics. Though the farthest had gotten in terms of that had been holding a temporary assistant position at a republican running for state senate. But, turns out grab-handing and meandering around your fair-share of important people eventually you see the benefits. This invite, in Charles head was looking like a decadent, chocolate-covered benefit.

You cringe inside at the thought of chocolate, you've seemed to have a direct affliction to chocolate after a particular 1964 family Christmas in which your husband had had the marvellous idea of bringing his mistress, Kamila, over for Christmas Eve desert. Not like a total unmannered slob, as you would've much preferred, Kamila brought a milk chocolate and toasted hazelnuts bar engraved with a sentence "wishing wealth and prosperity". How gouge. Since then the mere thought of chocolate, or toasted hazelnuts for that matter has utterly repulsed you.

To you this invite was another hellish routine of domestic purgatory. In which you'd smile while dodging questions on why you and Charles hadn't started a family yet with a persistent yearning gnawing, clawing, burrowing in your chest.

"in the land of gods and monsters...

Now parties like the one stamped on the worn card stock weren't all bad. Once you'd met a particularly enticing couple looking to shake up their sex lives with a third. Quite a modern idea you'd thought for the sixties but hey it was eleven pm and the champagne was flowing, and more importantly free.

For the past few days you've been passively doing once, twice-overs on your closet trying to drum up what costume you could make out of the items you already had. High society halloweens were strange in a way. On one hand you would be looked down upon for not dressing up: with people assuming you think yourself to good for such things, on the other if you dressed up in a way unbeffiting of the status you'd be quietly heckled from across the ballroom. You inspected the address on the card more closely, surely there's no ballroom in—you squint your eyes—Château d'Estoublon. Okay, maybe it did have a ballroom if anything was to be indicated from the name. Château d'Estoublon was the creme da le creme of prime-time property in Massachusetts so you were passively excited to gawk at the beautiful exterior.

You decided on recreating Empress Elisabeth of Austria's, or as she'd began to be commonly called 'Empress Sissi', court wedding gown when she married Emperor Franz Joseph. In your eyes it fit the bill, the costume was still playful in its callback to a glamorous Hungarian empress but not so out there that you would look out of place in a billowing cream gown. No doubt many would overshadow you with their elaborate gowns but you didn't mind going understated for the night, you never really felt comfortable 'peak-cocking' like the rest of high society woman did. Though sometimes you wish you did.

,i was an angel looking to get fucked hard...

As you placed the delicate undergarments over your body: a white chiffon one piece - with knickers, linked by satin ribbons and floating chiffon back panels, a gift from a quite eager French man in the fifties. You used to be so encumbered by sexual need and carnal desire, catching the eyes of many: you missed that feeling and you desperately wanted it back. Cutting through the bullshit and to be quite frank you hadn't been truly screwed in about 7 years. Initially the desires of you and Charles had been unendingly compatible, but that compatibility had wavered after marriage and deteriorated like a good piece of cashmere out in the hay bales. Now up until 1964 Christmas you were under the impression that Charles was going through a dry spell and that you would come together soon enough. What you didn't realise was that in fact your husband was not going through a dry spell, no, no quite the opposite. It seemed he was drowning in the orgasmic sap of any woman he could find on his office floor.

If someone had asked you questions on the topic of infidently 10 years ago you might've said some sanctimonious crap on its moral qualms. But now after being routinely cheated on, you finally started to play his game, not often, but play his game all the same when you did.

,like a groupie incognito, posing as a real singer...

Looking at yourself in the baroque gold mirror, an audacious housewarming gift from Charles older brother, you surveyed yourself from the top. Your skin was perfection: slightly unnervingly pore less like those haunted 18th century dolls, your under eyes amazingly betrayed no defining clue that you barely get fours hours of sleep a day. Moving to your décolletage: it was well nourished after a sebum upper body mask wrap last week, beautifully reflecting the breastplate Galliano necklace. Speaking of spa's, funnily enough as a last-ditch effort you had booked a couple spa appointment for you and Charles. Unsurprisingly he didn't show but as fate would have it, another young woman of the name Catherine had done the same with her husband and he hadn't shown either. Incidentally you both wanted to make the most of it and decided to step in for each others husband's. By the strange hand of luck, Kit and her husband had to been invited to the Kennedy Halloween party. Hey, at least you'd have an ally. Moving down your body you'd picked an ivory, red, and gold embellished haute Dior gown as the base of your dress, and billowed it out using a tiered satin padded chemise to mimic Sissi's grand wedding gown. Matched with simple white pumps passed down from your mother.

Despite your pitiful nagging for him to dress as Franz Joseph I so you'd match, Charles decided not to and instead dressed in the polite yet deeply boring combination of a: twill bow tie, vest, backstrap trousers and wool tipping jacket. With a swift look up to you, nothing but a polite smile and a hand on the small of your back, you were both out of the door and into the car.

The first hour of the party proved to be exactly how you expected... pretty boring, vainly you caught the sight of your reflection in the many mirror of the chateau just to keep yourself occupied. You applied a thin, balmy layer of pink blush via a colour stick and applied a hint of lilac hue across the span of your fluttering eyelids, combing your brows back into submission with a pencil. Counting the creeping in wrinkles and frown lines, despite you only being 31, maybe it was all in your head. You looked down at your costume, how sadly fitting. You'd chosen this costume based on a book you'd read on the empresses life during her marriage to Joseph, you'd read her undying battle with an obsession with beauty. And in that way you related to her, in a dying marriage you grapple with anything to have control over. As said as it was you looked forward to the beauty regimes you scheduled and the sacred-rituals you performed on your hair, because it was something entirely your own.

,Life imitates art...

Just as you were about to entire a self pitying comparison between you: an upper-class sixties socialite and the empress of Austria, you see a saving grace in the form of a face. Catherine, finally you thought, what was taking her so long?

Catherine, a woman of striking features and long black-hole like dark hair, "Hey Stranger" she says while brushing an unruly curl from the perimeter of my face with a motherlike tenderness. Speaking of mothers, Catherine brought her 9 month old baby along to the halloween festivities, whom I already known was coming as she'd been complaining to me about how hard it was to find a babysitter to stay after 6pm!

After fussing over Catherine's beautiful velvet tea-length gown and her impossibly adorable babe with wiggling feet and grabby, powdered limbs who had throughly enjoyed your 5 minute game of hide and seek with your manicured fingers in Chanel's shade phénix. Surely enough the guests, including you and Catherine, were all herded like a cattle of sheep into the expansive dining room, suffocated by eighteenth-century French tapestries covering each wall.

First, pisanelli served over friselle crisp bread. Then, a cabbage soup and chou farci. Canned fish and tomato for a side. For desert, pavlova with strawberries, créme anglais and fig-leaf whipped cream. As you took in the delicious aromas, checking in Catherine's baby only to see the bottom of her face beaming with a smile and absolutely covered in the fig-leaf whipped cream.

I don't really wanna know what's good for me...

What was odd however, was not the delicious food, but the absence of the host of the halloween party, Robert F. Kennedy. You had seen some of this family members around, seen Teddy and even the mysterious Jacqueline Kennedy.

Though maybe he was a recluse, hosting parties to keep up the Kennedy name. You didn't pay much mind to it and continued to eat your food.

Hours later, moonlight had descended over the chateau and you, Catherine and her babe had moved under an outside pergola. It was due for the babes feed and Catherine, justifiably, felt uncomfortable revealing herself to a bunch of snobby strangers so the outside it was. In camaraderie you had chosen to forgo the alcoholic beverages on offer and instead bode for a glass of non-alcoholic punch. But looking back down at the punch, after a long chat with your friend, the cup had been drained.

"I'm gonna go over and fill me up another one of these, do you too want anything while I'm up?" gesturing to the smiling mother and babe.

Catherine politely declines and fakes her babe waving to me as I depart the table by waving the sweetlings tiny arms back and fro, to which you childishly giggle in return.

As you traipse through the beautiful grasslands of the estate you come across a large set of oak tables, reminiscent of old-school desks. But instead of notebooks and pens, the tables were now used to display freshly baked breads with individual ribbons on them. A parting gift for the evening no doubt.

God's dead, I said, "Baby, that's alright with me"...

Rounding a stone arch you see a man shrowed in the most beautiful darkness. A kind of darkness that makes you swear of light and go nocturnal simply to marvel at his beauty. His beauty rivalled that of the Gods. His beauty shall live forevermore. His movements are strange until you realise the purpose behind his actions. His large hands peeling open a tuna can, and patiently beckoning a black cat his way. A cat that seemed to be very familiar with the figure as it immediately came and sat at the feet of the man: sapping up the canned tuna.

Though the man has his back to you, you faintly recognised the puffs of smoke coming from his delicate fingertips, could be a hand model this guy! you joke with yourself to starve off the reflex to call out to the mysterious figure. You stare for a creepy amount of time, fitting for the date you guess.

"Sissi right? Empress of Austria" the man calls out in the dark, now his body has turned to your direct attention. And to your surprise it's not just another Harvard graduate with a good back profile, it's the host of the evening: Robert fucking Kennedy.

You stammer out a "Yes-yes, well I've gotta make use of these dresses somehow." An awkward silence grows, as Bobby looks to the moon-cast sky as if he's pondering what to say next

"Sorry I'm very, very rude to not have introduced myself--I'm Robert Kennedy"

"Oh I know who you are"

"You do?"

"Yes sir, quite intimately if reading the New York Times is any metric of intimacy" you halfheartedly chuckle.

"Funny girl. Now funny girl can I get your name perhaps?"

"Y/n"

When you talk, it's like a movie...

"Ravishing" he says in a tone that you can only comprehend as a little teasing but yet kind.

Moments pass as you chit chat about the nights festivities, with him asking you how you felt about the 3-course meal provided, and ask about why Kennedy as a devout catholic decides to throw a halloween party. You politely compliment his choices--

"Oh I didn't choose them. It's all my secretary she's the real brains of this party anyway--she should be here somewhere" bobby states as he looks towards the periphery of the garden.

"Well she has lovely taste, speaking do you know where I could find a bottle of coke? Y'know I saw them about in one those iced buckets but it's location has completely passed me by."

And you're making me crazy...

"I know exactly what your talking about follow me Mon bébé"

The French term of endearment makes your heart flutter, but you simply assume that for these Kennedy men endearment is given out dime a dozen.

You follow him like an obedient cattle dog, catching the stare of bobby as he turns his head to look at you every few moments to make sure you're still there. Some would find that creepy, that you're sure of, but to you it seemed be an unconscious thing for Robert--seemingly not believing in himself to make someone stay.

On the walk you began to become curious on how Robert got your costume so lightening quick "You read up about Emperors and Empresses of Austria or what? How'd you get it so fast"

'Cause life imitates art...

Robert chuckles, looking down slightly "No--Nah, I-I did some reading on them during the Vienna summit. Y'know cause jack wouldn't let me into the meeting, he thought I'd embarrass him or something, so I just had to wait outside. And I don't really like waiting all that much so I went down to the local bookstore and rented a few, took them back in the morning."

You nod and feel slightly taken aback at the mention of his brother, he discussed his brother with nearly no one. No one in the press at least. The last time you could remember bobby talking about his brother directly was that Democratic National Convention in 1964, looking like a wounded deer.

You aren't able to sit in that stupor for too long because you've come to arrive at the coke's, all the bottles laid beautifully in a bucket of decadent, some would say over the top amounts of crushed ice.

While Robert grabs the drinks, you fumble inside the pockets of your dress to find your compact, opening it to inspect the state of affairs on your face.

Robert grabs two: one for you and one for him, you don't miss that he grabs yours before ever thinking of himself.

If I get a little prettier, can I be your baby?...

"Shoot!" you say under you're breath: you'd just realised in that moment that you would one hundred percent smudge your lipstick if you drank that coke, and then you'd have to continue the party looking like an absolute idiot because you'd forgotten to pack the lipstick in your clutch.

"What's the matter?" Robert says with a father figure-like concern, despite not having any children: at least to your knowledge.

"Oh it's nothing really I just realised I can't drink this 'cause of my lipstick"

"O-oh okay" Robert stumbles out as he looks up at the sky again, seemingly deep in thought. He does that a lot you think.

Bobby bumbles out "Well if it wouldn't make you to-to uncomfortable. I could Y'know feed you the drink so you don't mess up your lipstick--if you want of course"

You tell me, "Life isn't that hard"...

Taken aback slightly, due to the intimacy of the offer, you freeze for a few seconds but ultimately agree to his proposition. You trust him, a man you've just met today and formally only seen on the news stands, for some bovine reason.

Before you knew it he delicately placed curling, like a willow tree in the string, finger and cupped your chin: pouring the kola nut coloured drink down your oesophagus. Despite the strangeness of the position you two were in it felt right. It felt like what you'd imagined married life to be: the person you love more than anything filling you, and you filling them in return, both metaphorically and literally.

18+ AFTER THIS POINT

There was a certain erotic substance of being feed you'd learned in these past moments. I felt thirsty for him, for his hands, for this chest barely concealed by the Japanese cotton sweater he donned, for his musk that was like if tuberose had been carried on by the sea breeze, for anything and everything you'd be so lucky to receive from him.

I had someone who was hungry for me. I could see it in his eyes, robin's egg blue coloured eyes, as he feed me the coke.

And I was equally, if not more, much more hungry for him. Starved.

He paused the flow of the drink, in order to stop me from completely choking: at least one of us had kept our whits about us.

The hand on your chin never leaves, it lingers and lingers and lingers. My god you are such a fool for a man you've didn't know 12 hours ago.

He catches your eye, looking ever so pensive.

"Do you wanna go messin' around with me, cause I can take you back it's no pressure. I assure you there's no need to give the host any favours" he says in a timid tone expecting, almost wanting to be proven right: that'd you leave. That you'd desert.

"I think we should fuck. Do you think we should fuck?" you say in an incredulous tone, you'd never assumed this kind of attitude but his being had brought it out in you. This carnal, caged animal, woman scorned desire bubbling inside you like a pot of Turkish tea over the stove.

"Yes-yes well I think it's a great idea to fuck actually. It seems like a very good idea in my opinion. Y'know as a U.S senator." his slight arrogance, drunk with power disposition could've scared you. But it really didn't at all, in fact it enticed you to him even more.

All of a sudden, he grabs the skin of your neck and kisses you almost punishably: trying to communicate where have you been hiding for all these years? why didn't we find each other sooner? why have you left me alone?

Messy top lip kisses turn into feverish French and soon you're traipsing further into the countryside of the chateau. He seems to know his way around here: you don't even want to think of the rendezvous he probably has had here.

He leads you to a short alcove in the forrest with tree stumps and a billowing willow tree shielding it from the cruelness of the outside world. A cocoon of sorts.

"Is that a bee's nest"

"No, it used to be but it's been barren after they migrated in the summer. Relax, no one with be able to see not even the bee's. Promise."

You get situated on the ground when Robert drops a bombshell question out of complete left field

"You married?"

"No, are you?"

"No--well not in the real sense, not how marriage is supposed to" Hey maybe that was a bend of the truth but it wasn't a lie, I mean really was it?

From that assurance he immediately pounces on you like a Burmese tiger. His wandering, yearning hands scour your body looking for something you're not quite sure of yourself.

He seemed to like to assume a more dominant position so you let him have his way with you, for so long you had had to hard-shelled around men. But with Robert he had this aroma that just made you want to show your soft underbelly to him, wanted him to care for it like he cared for you.

He manoeuvred both himself and you to be on your sides, your back to his chest. And slowly dipped it in. At first it was only the start, almost knocking at your door: begging to be let in, to get at whatever was inside. And so you welcomed him in the only way you knew how. He wasn't aborally big but he fit like those perfect pair of white tennis shoes that have been worn out just the right amount. His being felt like a return.

"Fuck yeah, give it to me you braves mädchen (good girl in German)"

"I'm giving it. Want to give everything to you, take it from me. Robert, take it all from me now."

His hips moved at a pace that showed a man who aimed to please. A man who aimed to please you, beyond the confines your physical existence.

"This is heaven. This is what they meant" I finally got what made people so devout. They found something to believe in, and in that moment I had to. In that fallen angel taking the form of Robert Kennedy.

Just before his climax, Robert switched positions hoisting your body to now be facing him. A sweetness to the fact that he wanted to share this moment with you, to make sure you didn't feel alone. As he climaxed he reached pitifully at you, pawing but with the determination that he wasn't done until you had gone over that wonderful edge as well.

Soon came your time, and went it came it was the epitome of that beautiful fall from grace. In your bliss you hadn't noticed that Bobby did not share the look he donned just a minute ago. He looked quite concerned, gazing upon the valley of your breasts.

God he's such a man, you thought. But once you looked down you saw a pretty nasty wasp bite right between your two breasts. You weren't all too bothered as you'd experienced stings before: Bobby however looked abjectly terrified. Fumbling through the pockets of the little clothes he kept on to see if he could aid the pain of the sting.

"Bobby It's just a wasp sting. Don't mind it"

"Well I should mind it, You're hurt. Plus now i'm gonna have to explain to the John Jr's night nurse why in the hell I need bee sting supplies at 12pm"

"It's fine, it'll pass" your face betrays that it's not quite fine in the moment. As your post-orgasmic bliss fades and the pain pentrates you.

"No-no, that just won't do. Tell you what we're going to do: we're going to go hop in my car and drive to the clinic and see what they say. It looks pretty nasty honig." (honey in German)

"There's that German again when did you learn that?"

"About five or six, truth be told I stole the language books from Eunice room. She never used them anyway."

Bobbys moves to gather his things and looks at you expectantly.

"Y'know it's kind of funny. Those bee's haven't been seen for months around the likes of here."

"Maybe they wanted to punish me"

"Now what would a girl like you ever do that needs punishing, huh?"

"Nothing" you say innocently. Bending the truth be damned.

"Damn straight." Bobby says with a killer smirk, responding to your held up hands by hoist up and over his shoulder. Crassly patting the flesh of your bum.

"Hey shouldn't the host stay till the end of the party?"

"Nuh-uh. Not tonight they shouldn't." bobby says still carrying you upside down.

The blood rushes to your head. You've never felt so alive in your life.

It's innocence lost Innocence lost

the end.

[feelmyskinonyourskin]

going to the beach with Frank?

tbh I think he would hate it

You are 10000% correct. My brain just can not picture Frank not in jeans/tac pants and combat boots even to sleep. That man in shorts and barefoot in the sand? Nahhh

I'm sure he went with his kids cause Brighton Beach and such isn't a far hop skip from Queens. But he only did it because he loved making family memories.

Also the parts of Iraq and Afghanistan he was stationed in were probably pretty remote and mostly a sandy/dirt terrain so he grew to absolutely hate it from his time in the Marines. It ended up in all his gear, in his cot on base, his guns and other equipment had to be cleaned way more often to get it out. (I know these countries are diverse in landscape and not all desert, but just stories I've heard from vets that served there was they were never in the big cities and always in remote places like this and all there was to look at on any given day was dirt, rocks, and sand.)

You'd really have to beg and plead to get him to join you for a beach day or god forbid a vacation. If it was just a day at one of the beaches easily accessible from the city, he would go but stay in his jeans and combat boots the whole time and just stand and watch you. Frank's face is always stoic, so you never know what he's thinking, but there's a certain edge to it and you know he's grumpy but trying to hide it to not ruin your good time. He gets close to the water to watch you swim and be close for safety reasons, but never even lets it touch his toes. And for days after you can hear him grumbling about finding more sand on things and in his truck. He also doesn't give me vibes of a guy who has any kind of body/skin care routine that isn't a 21 in 1 shampoo, so he doesn't sunscreen his face or body and then you also have to listen to him bitch for days while his sunburn peels. He never complains about the pain from any injuries he gets when he's out Punishering, but he's being whiney about sunburn? You betcha.

And a few days at a beach location for a vacation? Forget it. To quote Curtis, Frank hates "just standing still, that's why you're always looking for a fight, any excuse to keep moving." Frank is down for any vacation to a big city that involves lots of sight seeing and go go going, but to get him to just sit on a beach for a few days and just relax? He'd be on your nerves in less than an hour. Fidgeting in his chair, bored with his book, huffing and licking his lips as he looks around. Coupled with the sand in everything... Yeah it really tests your relationship since he's so damn cranky the whole time.

[lesbianpraetor]

Extra Extra Initial thoughts about Furiosa now in bullet point format Summary the movie made me want to write several essays about George Miller's brain, but also I wish somebody had rained him in just a little bit. Spoilers Ahead!

-It was super obvious that George Miller was trying to expand images that he couldn't show in the first (fourth?) movie. Speciallyyyyyyyyy the History Men, Miss Giddy in Fury Road was a character by herself, but now the archetype is well and truly established with a very specific cosplaying Saruman in the desert with tattoos vibe. Also showing in detail the other two citadels, showing the green place, showing the absolutely vile way that the wretched live, going in depth with the war boys million other things as well. I personally loved it and the picaresque sense it gave the movie.

-The citadel looked soooooo similar to Fury Road it was eerie, since everything else looked so different. But I think it made an important point about stagnation and how the men at the top will keep killing the world for as long as they possibly can only even changing their methods when forced to.

-There's a whole extra movie in the vault about how exactly the wives that were there ended up disappearing. how the politics of it changed from women desperately trying to stay there to have the high life to five women deeply committed to their own liberation (with little Cheedo being the only detractor in retrospect when she is spooked by the wider world). I feel like there is a whole lit fic novel in there about them reaching a breaking point. Maybe a situation where Joe throws out all of them and only keeps the very very best because I counted a whole 11 woman in that vault, maybe the Wives from Fury Road are kidnapped all since wretched woman would not be able to give birth without any deformities? Is Angharad that inspiring? I don't think it's the first one because the fact that woman that chose to be there then decided they didn't want to live as things is much more powerful

-the other extra movie is how exactly Furiosa befriended the wives since she actually didn't spend that much time in the vault itself. I did feel it weakened my favourite reading of Fury Road a little bit, but oh well that always happens with new instalments.

-Talking about Furiosa I'm actually so deeply sad that they casted Anya Taylor Joy for this, not even because she did a bad job, although I think Young Furiosa did a much better job, but because I have watched Queens Gambit so many times that her mere presence made me think about the movie in Doylist terms. She also just seems too Holywood? I don't know there was something about her face that made me think that she was CGIed it was too smooth. Did she even shave her head? I felt Furiosa would not have let it grow out in between escaping the vault and joining the war rig crew, and don't tell me she couldn't, everyone else had short hair Praetor Jack had a nice salon haircut. But the acting itself was good! I actually think it was an effects and direction issue.

-Since we are talking about casting Chris Hemsworth did work for me and I'm questioning if I'm having internalized misogyny about him working better than Taylor. Maybe it was the copious amounts of beard, or that he wasn't the main character but I could really inmerse myself in his character and his parallels to not Furiosa, he was a fucking lying piece of shit about that, but to Immortan Joe. Can't quite articulate waht it was exactly but I think it hit whatever Miller was trying to hit with him. Although my favourite casting was the people I didn't know from anywhere, specially Mary Jo Bassa and the Biker Crew. Burn down the media establishment where we even see actors outside of their characters, it ruins the movies.

-Most viscerally hated character from that movie was the organic mechanic though, instant visceral disgust coupled with professional disdain at this point. You are trying to tell me you couldn't even try to steam the bleeding of the man's throat? you are trying to tell me you are giving birth on the floor like a fucking amateur? he probably didn't even know the anatomy necessary to start trying to close a neck wound. And it's cannon now that he didn't create either Immortan Joe's or Rictus breathing apparatus, because they already had them before the prisoner exchange. Absolute charlatan, no this has nothing to do with me still being pissed as hell as to how he treated Angharad what are you talking about? There's one man in the movie that instantly made me think in Watsonian terms I hate his guts so much.

-And in general I felt the hypocrisy of even the men trying to be kind to Furiosa much more keenly in this movie, which is to say that I did like Praetorian Jack as the pinnacle of the archetypical road warrior and parallels to Max are very interesting and I adored how it created even more parallels to Furiosa and Max's character development in the two movies. But, I don't know, there's something about how he carried himself with Furiosa that rubs me the wrong way I just can't quite place how, might need a rewatch. Anyway Furiosa's crush on him that honestly seemed pretty unrequited from his part was fun, although I hope people don't make it the most important part of the movie (it honestly reminding me of Cheedo and the Dag, they even had a similar was it a stolen kiss moment? but I digress, the parallels between him and Max were much more interesting)

-Back to the topic of the wives there was a moment in the beggining when Mary Jobasa didn't kill the woman who claimed to be a mother and then she betrayed her, which both shows the kind nature of the green place, how it really doesn't work like that in the wasteland and how exactly the vuvalini might have been so diminished in numbers. But my favourite part about this scene was when she said "I'm not to blame" that had to be on purpose because I wanted to shout at the screen " THEN WHO KILLED THE WORLD?" so bad. The fate of the world really hinges on the simplest choices since without that little bit of snitching they just get to go home.

-Honestly just Mary Jo Bassa appreciation, she died on the third day but damn what impressive three days. If I write fic it's going to be about her and Furiosa's other mother, who made the movie pass my personal Bechdel Test with the true purpose of the original Bechdel test, to woman talk to each other in a way that let's you see the Lesbianism in their eyes.

-The scenery of the green place definitely deserves a mention as well, it felt so tiny! it felt so different from everything else of course, they didn't linger to preserve both the runtime and the feeling of it being a place almost from Furiosas's dreams. But from space it felt tiny! the space shot of the outback with the most minuscle amount of green made it feel so deeply vulnerable, and the presence of the crows everywhere made me genuinely emotional. It did clearly have enough of everything to survive and for people to thrive and be super healthy, but it seemed like every millimeter was planned to the last detail to be of the best use.

-Honestly I think the relationship between Furiosa and her mother was the beating heart of the movie, I definitely liked the first third more than anything, it felt the most like something new and fully immersed not only in the setting of Fury road but honestly more of Road Warrior in way?, I don't know closest I got to crying was at Mary's death and her little good girl when furiosa killed a man to protect their home was the cutest most uwu part of the movie. Not to mention revenge of her death is the entire point of the final confrontation.

-Also I have to mention Mr. Norton. Mr. Norton I'm free on saturday for tying up to a motorcycle, I'm sure everything you did was totally justified and also super hot, thank you for your dirty rabid woman duties it was fucking awesome how you shot a man and the quartered your former boss.

-Last comment before I forget, that scene where Jack was killed had impressive Hector vibes. Tied to the back of the chariot while hounds eat you and disfigure your corpse? More to add fuel to the fire of George Miller adoring archetypical images, and I do too no complaints, it was gut-wrenching when I realized what was going to happen. The Horde in general had a mixture of Greek Charioteers and Mongol horde I really loved it.

-Also their first fight scene together where they work seamlessly together and then Furiosa threatens his life? classic crazy wasteland, you and Max really were identical. It also cements my idea that the movie is Fury Road backwards, since Max threatened Furiosa's life first and then they seamlessly worked together. I'll have to find where all the beats parallel and how they fit together, to see if I'm right.

In Conclusion honestly excellent movie, I didn't leave with the deep emotions Fury Road made but how much it's making me think about it is deeply appreciated.

[forgotn1]

As we come to the final episode of not just season 2 of Interview With the Vampire, but also the end of the book, I can't help but wonder what will come next. It seems unlikely that they'll stop the story there, although it is possible they change the title or start a "new" series that picks up where this one left off with a POV shift to Lestat in the modern era. But, what story do they tell?

The obvious choice would be to jump straight into the Vampire Lestat to tell Lestat's origin as well as his take on what happened with Louis and Claudia. However, I think it's possible the showrunners will take a different direction and they may have already dropped a major hint as to which book they'd tackle next. That hint is Raglan James, the man who stole Lestat's body in the Tale of the Body Thief.

Why else would they have him be the Talamascan to give Daniel the information about Louis, Armand, and his capture in 1973? It could've been David or Jesse or even a new character, but they chose someone who has direct ties to Lestat in the modern era. That seems like a deliberate choice - and not just as a way to set up the Talamasca show they've been talking about making. The most telling part was when Raglan joked to Daniel that he'd "swap bodies with him" if he could.

It'd make sense too. They could use season one of the Talamasca to establish Raglan's ability to swap bodies as well as his rebelliousness within the Talamasca itself. It would also be the perfect place to introduce David Talbot to the audience and bring him and Lestat together, even if for just a few scenes. They could end the season with Raglan tracking down Lestat through David and the next season of IWTV (or whatever comes next) could cover the events of the Tale of the Body Thief interspersed with Lestat reminiscing on his past.

Outside of the hints, I think the show has also entirely sidestepped Lestat's impetus for writing the Vampire Lestat in the first place. He initially wrote it because he was annoyed with how Louis portrayed him. But the show has given us a far more nuanced and accurate portrayal of their relationship than either showed in their respective books. We didn't get Louis' 1973 version that was filled with venom and hatred and vitriol. Instead, we got a story that pulls from both books and gives a far less biased view than either.

There is also the story of the Tale of the Body Thief itself to consider. In the beginning, we find a depressed and anguished Lestat who is questioning his life as a vampire while also struggling with the guilt of Claudia's death. He is broken and talks almost exclusively with David Talbot before ultimately trying to burn himself to death in the desert. Which is where Raglan enters and the story takes off. It would be a fitting place to begin following Lestat as the primary character after his role at the end of season 2.

Of course, this is all just theory and conjecture based on a few hints and observations. I would love to see the Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned be adapted, but I can also see how they might not be the easiest stories to tell considering they're the most well known parts of the Vampire Chronicles. I'm also not sure the rockstar storyline entirely fits the vibe of the show, even if it is a lot of fun.

[quinloki]

Sir Crocodile - Bitter

Requestor: @thecrimsonacademic Reader Vibes Requested: AFAB they/them CW: Injury, recovery, amnesia, angst, manipulation, self-deprecation, the request was for me to go all out, and I poured a lot into this.

“Get back!” You roar, haki and emotions flaring, pushing Crocodile back despite his desires. “You bastard!” You growl, still moving away from him, pulling off one high heel and then the other.

You were dressed in silk and pearls, elegant and extravagant, the worth of a small island tied up in the diamonds that glittered against your neck. They were heavy and choking right now, you were sick that you had accepted the gifts with a smile on your face and need in your heart.

You rip the precious stones from your neck, the hot sting of skin ripping against the white gold doesn’t even make you flinch, bare feet against the pavement. The words echo in your mind, the accusation from the young man was soaked in truth and facts.

You’d taken Crocodile’s word all this time, but you couldn’t refute his cruelty in the face of the young man’s words. Couldn’t refute your part in it.

But no more.

“I should’ve known,” tears sting your eyes and your body shakes as you glare at him, keeping distance between you however you can. “I warmed your bed through it all, and I should’ve known.”

“It is unfortunate,” he replies, golden amber eyes narrowed dangerously. He was furious, not only at you, but at the fact that you had learned the truth. “Let us talk about this back home.”

You laugh, it’s full of anger and disbelief, “Big bad Sir Crocodile,” you spit. “Can’t have the news coos seeing you’ve lost control of your trophy whore, huh?” You pull the ring free from your finger and throw it at him. It thumps against his chest before he catches it easily. “You used me.”

“… Perhaps.” He nearly bites the word off. “Come back here and-.” He grunts as you push back again, anger and haki flaring in equal measure. If you keep this up you’re going to exhaust yourself, but you can’t risk going easy on him.

He’s not the Desert King for nothing.

“I can’t believe I bought so many lies!” You rage at no one in particular. There’s no crowd gathering, none would dare. A spat between the King and his Queen was an event no one wanted to witness. “For the small price of my soul.” You grunt, body tense, muscles searing with the strain of haki and your own emotions.

“To love as a lie as well,” you shake your head, feeling your heart twist.

“My love-.”

“DON’T YOU DARE!” You bellow, his words shattered by your anger more than your haki. Despite your waning strength he stands still in the face of your words, giving you more space as you continue to back away.

You use the buffer to collect yourself, keeping a lookout for Daz Bonez, knowing he’d do whatever was necessary to force you into the limo at this point. He’s almost more of a danger to you than Crocodile, since he doesn’t have any love for you like his boss does.

“I’m not going to just fold to your will and-.” Bright lights fill your eyes, a frantic horn nearly drowns out all other sound, but you can hear your voice like fire and ice from his lips.

The impact shatters the final sputtering remnants of your neglected haki, and your world goes dark.

A terrible flood of pain shuts your body down and your mind swims in and out of memories that danced, sweet and sorrowful, along the edges of your consciousness. Muffled sounds and incoherent questions assail you, but nothing prompts you to react.

Exhaustion eats at your marrow, and anger gives way to dull aches and nauseating throbs. On some level you know you’re alive, you think, because being dead wouldn’t hurt so much.

Time comes and goes in fits. Darkness prevails for long stretches, and muttered voices that are too far away to be understood speak hastily against a steady beep. The stench of cleanliness burns your nose, and the scent of something familiar eases your soul.

Warm. Warm and soft, like hints of citrus mixed with sugar and spirits. Fine like sand, shifting against your feet as you walk along a beach, the scent of the ocean lost to the cigar between his-.

Your eyes open slowly, and the world around you comes into focus for the first time in however long. Hours, days, years, for all you knew you had been out for so long as to be reborn, but your body protests as your fingers twitch.

A warmth against your skin catches your attention, and a large hand carefully, and slowly, moves over your hand, holding your fingers delicately in his.

Golden eyes find yours, and you close your eyes against the intensity of emotions in them for a moment. You don’t feel fear, but the relief is almost too much to accept right now.

“Where?” You question softly, voice heavy, dry and cracked like desolate earth. You try to swallow and wince from the feeling of needles in your throat.

“Home.” He answers, voice full of authority, relief, and satin. He brings over a cup of water with a straw in it, gloved hand holding it steady for you. “Small sips.”

You nod a little, taking a few small drops of water and feeling relief wash through your mouth.

“How?” You grimace against a pain that tears through your head, fingers curling around his, holding on tightly for a moment until it passes.

“An accident.” He answers. “Don’t stress about the details right now, just rest and recover.”

You shake your head a little. “How… long?” You manage. He’s not wrong about the resting part, you can feel exhaustion starting to take you and you’ve only been conscious for a few minutes at most.

“Almost two weeks. You were in surgery for twenty hours, and at the hospital in recovery for ten days after that.” He explains, eyes shivering with emotions as he recounted the passage of time. “Once you stabilized, I brought you home. We converted the first floor den, in case you needed to be taken back to the hospital unexpectedly, but you’ve been steadily continuing to recover.”

Knowledge brings relief, and relief brings sleep, and you slip back into slumber with those last few words. You could feel warmth against your fingers, and the soft scent of smoke and citrus cradled you as you slept.

Over the next couple of days you slept like you were more cat than human, waking up long enough to drink some water, maybe some broth, sitting up eventually and having gelatin, only to go back to sleep immediately after. Slowly your ability to stay awake improved.

Your food became more solid, and you had short walks around the manor.

Memories danced down the halls, and shifted quietly through the courtyard, but it was hard to hold onto any of them. They clawed at your heart in desperation and twisted your stomach, but you weren’t sure if it was the memories themselves or the guilt of having forgotten.

All you knew for certain was that you were calmer when he was nearby.

The scent that followed him brought you comfort. The sound of his voice soothed your heart and you found reprieve from your turmoil in the quiet sounds of his existence. Comfort was yours to be had in abundance, since he was rarely ever far from your side.

Work kept him busy, but the more you recovered, the more you saw of him, to the point of you voicing concern about his responsibilities. He assured you that his empire wouldn’t collapse if he stepped away a little more often than usual.

Bejeweled fingers slipped gently against your cheek, golden amber eyes warm and content as they comforted you.

“Nearly losing you has caused me to… prioritize certain things, my love.” He insists, bringing your hand to his lips, bending low so you didn’t need to reach far.

You hadn’t been able to remember being in a relationship with him, and he’d given you space because of it. Just recently he’d slipped into referring to you with sweet titles, and warm names. You didn’t stop him, even before this point you’d understood on some level that he was important to you.

His very existence warmed your heart.

“I…” You pause a little, heat rushing through your body. “I would like you to kiss me.” You manage to say the damnably embarrassing words, eyes flicking up to his, before you look away. The surprise on his face was nearly adorable, and you didn’t want to let him know.

Warm fingers trace a gentle line against your neck, tilting your head up as he leans down. “All your desires are my pleasure to submit to,” he assures you, leaning down closer. “This, perhaps, top among them, desert flower.”

Your breath catches in your throat just before his lips brush against yours. Soft and careful at first, he pulls you in a little more, giving you the opportunity to step back if you so desire. Quiet tears slip down your cheeks as pleasure and love swell in your heart.

That you could ever forget such a sweet love was unforgivable.

[neko-naruto]

nowhere to hide out in the open

summary: the one good thing about these 'Genre Peace' meetings, it would be that Delta Dawn has an excuse to be next to Queen Essence

warnings: its just fluff

authors note: EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU TO @ohposhers FOR DRAGGING ME OUT OF RETIREMENT BY MAKING DELTESSENCE REAL INSTEAD OF LETTING IT ROT IN OUR DM'S FROM MARCH, LITERALLY DRAGGED THIS FIC OUT FROM THE BACK AND FINISHED IT UP IN 2 HOURS NOT EVEN. anyways hope ya'll enjoy and if ya do consider dropping a reblog or checkin' the Ao3 port

To be frank, Delta Dawn didn't necessarily enjoy the fact that the genre leaders had to meet up in Funk's spaceship of sorts; they called it Vibe City. The deck may have been solid beneath her hooves and the air perfectly metered in temperature, but it still felt wrong. Just something made her feel off about living up here, especially when they used to inhabit the deserts and oasis's below.

The only plus was the fact that she was allowed a seat next to Queen Essence, Funk's co-ruler. Pale blue fur and glistening silver tinsel littered across her form and like necklaces on her neck. A spattering of glitter on her face and golden adornments in her hair, voice a gentle timbre and comfy pace-

Delta Dawn definitely enjoyed her, and the fact that she was married with children.

"Now, Queen Poppy, are you sure we really need to unite geographically as well?" Trollzart asked, and the annoying sound of his voice snapped Delta out of it. He sounded like a 'woodwind,' as the Classical's called those instruments.

"Yeah, Popseed, I quite like Volcano Rock City. The Rocker's need some heat to keep us going," Barb tacked on, voice sharp as always with a blunt edge that Delta respected. Even if the gal tried to destroy all music, she had good work ethic.

Poppy gave a nervous laugh, "Well we could at least try making a place where the cross-genre's and genrefluid Trolls could exist in peace?"

"A utopia," King Quincy supplies.

"A Trollstopia, if you will," Queen Essence adds on.

"The only problem with that is the Techno's, they can't be out of water for prolonged periods of time," Branch said. He was already splaying out blueprints, "I'll work on a fix."

"I can help manufacture it," Trollex said and his voice also had an annoying sting too it out of water, oddly synthetic but natural to their speciation.

"Dawn," Queen Essence said, and it took Delta a moment to realize she was referring to her.

The sheriff of Country nodded, "Yes, miss Essence?" Country sensibilities sneaking into her speech again, she really hopes that isn't an offence in Funk.

Instead it makes Queen Essence smile, "Do you have any objections to this Trollstopia?" There's a softness to her tone, a calm that Delta doesn't know too well. Everyone's much gruffer in Country, more to the point and strict about it. Working together is loving each other and tussling in a rodeo is a love language.

Funk Trolls are so... Different, in a refreshing way of course. It's confusing too, Delta never took herself for a romantic, but the Queen is doing something to her. And it's just how she exists too, even when they aren't interacting she's just like this. Smooth and calm and with an amount of allure that Delta is sure must be practiced in advance.

"I got no objections to it, I think it's a great idea," Delta said before standing up and pushing aside the cushion she sat upon. At the slightest hint of Poppy going to speak up, she waved it off, "I'm fine, Queen Poppy, I just need to stretch my legs, get some water."

Her hooves clicked uncomfortably against the metal-adjacent platforms below her. She rubbed her temples as she walked, taking long, deep breaths to try and compose herself. How on earth do they expect her to keep it together when they put her beside Queen Essence? She shouldn't be getting this worked up over a married Troll.

"Dawn, you're probably gonna need some help finding the vending machines," Came a gentle voice from behind her and all she could do was freeze up.

"Naw, I'll be fine, Queen Essence," Delta said, turning to give her an affirming smile. It looked kind of forced.

"Please, just call me Essence," She said before leading Delta along and the sheriff followed without questioning her own actions despite her previous defiance.

Delta gives a huffing sort of sound, it earns her a perplexed look before she remembers that the Funk Trolls don't have that in their lexicon, "Then I have ta ask that you call me Delta."

Essence gives a long hum as she pads down the halls, her paws are near silent against the flooring. A stark contrast to the clip-clop of Delta's hooves, "I'll see what I can do for you."

The slight teasing lilt coupled with a small chuckle has Delta going mad. She trots up closer to the queen of Funk and follows her obediently down the halls. The swirled design of Funk architecture matches the consistent beat thrumming below them in the main corridors. It pulses with a faint glow, so subtle it's almost unnoticable unless you really look close- and Delta needs something to stare at that isn't her guide.

When they come to a stop Essence grabs her a bottle of water, gifted in return for a small melody in a genre Delta doesn't know well. It's interesting technology really, maybe Country is outdated after all. Then she remembers that Pop still lives in the woods and hasn't rebuilt after they had their empire swept out from under their feet by the Bergens. Her genre isn't too far behind, and Funk is highly advanced anyways.

"So, Delta, what's got you down?" Essence asked, dropping down to sit with folded legs on a cushion. Delta followed suit, a low table between them, and she didn't quite sit the same way Funk Trolls did but she made it happen.

"Nothin's got me down," Delta said, twisting the cap off the bottle, "Don't know what gave you that idea."

Essence's brows furrowed, but she didn't narrow her gaze much. She just sighed, "I can't be offended that you don't want to tell me, but I can be offended that you think I can't see what's right in front of me."

That shakes Delta down to her core, she didn't expect Essence to have such keen observations as well. She nearly chokes on her water which has a tang too it, a hint of citrus flavouring perhaps? She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, "I suppose I shouldn't treat ya like an idiot cause you're different than me."

"Some signs are universal," Essence said, "And your vibes aren't exactly feeling on point."

Delta gives a low laugh, "You have a point there, Queen Essence. You're mighty smart, mighty tenacious for waiting so long for your son to show up."

Essence smiles a smile that's so warm it contradicts the soothing frosted hue of her form. She tilts her head a bit as she smiles, a small laugh arising and she brings a paw to hide it. "I'm flattered, Dawn."

"Essence, you seem like the loving type," Delta begins, "Happily married and whatnot."

"So it's a romance problem you have."

She nods, "Yeah, that. What would you say is the best action for loving someone whose already set for life?"

That gives Essence pause, and she's more than clever enough to piece it together right then and there, but she still takes a moment. "In Funk we're usually pretty open, most relations are fluid and shifting states frequently."

"They are?" Delta asked a bit too fast.

"Of course they are, Delta. Are they not in other genres?" Essence asked, a genuine curiosity lacing her voice.

Delta shakes her head, "We're rather monogamous in Country."

"Tell me, Delta," Essence begins, a type of smile on her face that makes Delta shiver. Essence leans a little bit closer, "Is it me?"

"What gave it away, your majesty?" Delta asked.

"Country Trolls are very up front, it translates to the way you act," Essence explained before pressing a kiss to Delta's cheek. It left a silvery, snowy mark in its wake and Delta was too stunned to move. It made Essence giggle a bit.

"But, but you're royalty!" Delta managed to get out, "Doesn't royalty have ta keep a closed relationship?"

Essence shrugged and the tinsel shifted and coat the technicolor glow of Vibe City. "Quincy is understanding, I doubt he'd mind if we let you in for a bit."

"Well alright then." She's not in a cohesive enough mindset to get anything else out of her mouth. She's wearing this dumb grin on her face that's quick to fall.

Essence brings a paw to Delta's face, "What's wrong, darling?"

"Nothin' that needs to be worried about now," Delta brings her hand to rest on Essence's wrist, or ankle maybe? Delta isn't too sure of the proper terminology to use.

"You got your legs stretched out enough to head back, Dawn? They can't make much progress without Country," Essence asked.

"I'm ready," Delta said before standing up, she traced a digit across the lipstick mark on her cheek, "Say, won't this be incriminating evidence?"

"Quincy won't mind," Essence assured with a hum.

"The others?"

"They're in our home, we can evict them."

[importantchaosgiver]

The Griffin And The Dragon:

A Big Day

Summary: It was the day of the wedding! And not a single frown was to be seen. Not even on those who initially opposed the idea of a Queen from Concordia. And perhaps, having a queen with magical abilities wasn't such a bad thing...

Warnings: Fluff, implied smut, happy vibes

******

No One's POV

Today was the day! The big day. The wedding of King Viserys Targaryen and Princess (Y/N) Arcane. But, she will not be known as a princess for much longer. Oh, no. Soon, she will be Queen Consort of the Seven Kingdoms and even be officially known as Queen of Concordia. Speaking of (Y/N), she was in her chambers, looking at her being as her handmaidens flittered around her, preparing her for the day. Well, it wasn't just them. Rhaenyra and Alicent were in the room, giggling away in excitement.

"You are aware I can hear you two," (Y/N) chuckled, looking at the dress she wore. It incorporated Westerosi and Concordian parts. Only further highlighting the union between not only the people, but the two lands (pic down at the bottom). "Apologies... your grace," Alicent giggled, stepping up to the soon-to-be queen. "Oh, hush," (Y/N) said, her cheeks flushing slightly. She didn't know if she would ever grow accustomed to being called that. Perhaps, given time. "No, no. Step-mother is far better," Rhaenyra added with her own chuckle. All three of them giggled. (Y/N) could feel her nerves ease slightly, but they were still there as her (h/c) hair was left in is natural and beautiful state. "You truly look very beautiful," Rhaenyra said sincerely as (Y/N) pulled on her white silk gloves. "You really do," Alicent added, the two best friends wanting nothing more than today to be a day of pure love and kindness.

(Y/N) turned to the two girls. "I thank you both. Truly. You are honestly two very bright young women. And I thank you for being by my side in all of this," she said, a hand holding one of theirs. "And I only wish I can make your father happy," she added, looking at Rhaenyra. She didn't plan to replace Aemma, but to help him not only move on, but move forward. This was rather sudden as it still hadn't been a full year since the late queen died. Rhaenyra gave a small smile and hugged (Y/N). "I know you will... step-mother," Rhaenyra giggled, pulling away. Before she could be playfully scolded, a handmaid stepped forward. "My lady, it is time," she spoke timidly, placing a silver circlet upon (Y/N)'s head. A gift from her parents for a wedding day. She took a deep breath. Rhaenyra and Alicent gave her hands reassuring squeezes before going to where the wedding was to be held. (Y/N) held her head high. She could do this. Calm, confident and composed. Show them who you are, she thought. Show them you can be a queen, she remembered.

With that, she left her chambers, outside was her mother, ready to walk the new queen. "Oh, my dear. You look just as beautiful as I dreamed," Galene said softly, brushing back a few strands of her daughters hair. (Y/N) smiled a small smile, walking with her mother. "I hope I can make you proud, mother. I hope I can be a good queen," she said quietly, their footsteps echoing around the deserted corridors. "My daughter, do not worry. Your father and I have prepared you for this. And your husband can help guide you. You know your duties and our ways. Do not fret, my sweet child. Today is a good day. Today unties the houses of the Griffin and the Dragon," Galene explained softly. They stopped outside the doors to the throne room. "Brave heart, my child. For the gods shine upon us and bless us with this day," she whispered before heading inside. (Y/N) faced the closed doors, preparing herself for what awaited. Soon, the doors opened and everyone's eyes turned to look at the bride. So, it was time...

******

(Y/N) looked at the bed in front of her. Being in the king's chambers for a simple visit was one thing, standing before him as his wife was another. It had been a long day, filled with festives and cheer as (Y/N) was not only declared Viserys' wife and Queen Consort, but Queen of Concordia. Yes, it has happened. She stood in her gown, the light of the setting sun casting a low orange glow with the help of the fire and candles. She wrung her hands nervously. It was the wedding night. One of the most crucial parts. She was to be taken to bed, her maidenhead broken and claimed by her king. To say she was nervous was an understatement and as a pure maiden, she had no idea what to expect in these matters.

But, as Viserys removed his gloves, her thoughts were diverted. "What happened?" she whispered, taking his hand gently in his. There was a cut on his pinky finger. Thinking back, she remembered it being bandaged. But now, it looked like some form of infection had been growing and festering. "I was cut upon the Iron Throne. An occupational hazard," he said with a small chuckle. (Y/N) gave him a concerned look. "You are lucky I have seen it. Who knows what would happen should this be allowed to continue," she said, observing the cut and infection. "I do not think there is any cure, my dear," Viserys said gently, caressing her cheek with his other hand. She chuckled. "Because this isn't a problem one often sees in Westeros. In Concordia, we have many remedies, aided by our magic," she said, holding the infected area. (Y/N) closed her eyes, focusing what she had learnt as a young teenager. She could feel warmth in her palm as she felt her magic take hold.

Viserys could feel tingling in all the areas that had shown the infection. His hand, back and arm. He no longer felt fatigued or ill. It was... working. After a few minutes, (Y/N) let go to show his hand was as good as new. It was enough to shock him. "You, my dear, are full of surprises," he chuckled, flexing his fingers. She smiled as well with a soft chuckle. Yet, she wasn't awake of what she just prevented. Of what pain she had stopped from happening. Of what suffering would have awaited. No, only peace. Only the Concordian way...

Then, (Y/N) felt his hand touch her chin, lifting it a little. She took a quick breath as her eyes locked with his. Viserys smiled softly, his thumb tracing her bottom lip. "Never have I seen such beauty before. Nor your kindness, caring or purity before. But tonight, my dear, I intend to take away your purity. If you will have me," he whispered, his lips dangerously close to hers. (Y/N) felt a jolt of lust shoot through her, settling into the pit of her stomach. His touch was gentle and soft. And he spoke with such passion. Her eyes looked into his and gave a timid smile. "I-I do not know what to do, Viserys," she whispered. He chuckled upon hearing her stutter. It was so endearing. "Then, allow me, my dear," he whispered, his hands upon her waist, gently turning her around. He started off simple, removing her gloves, necklace and circlet, gently stroking her arms, feeling her soft skin in a far more intimate sense. It made goosebumps rise upon her skin. But, she never once protested. It felt nice to be held and touched like this. Carefully, his hands moved to the clasps of her dress, the heat in the pit of her stomach growing more as she felt Viserys' lips upon the column of her neck. She let out a soft sigh as he undid her dress, letting it fall to the floor. And what a night it was...

******

Okay, I know this is taking a very big and drastic turn. But, I had to let Alicent and Rhaenyra keep what they had. And, besides, things will only keep getting better and better. Next part I'll get into more of Concordian lore. Hope you enjoy. And should I do a smut at some point? Would you want to see it? I dunno. Anyways, here we go and enjoy...

Wedding Dress:

[ducksbyday]

HELLO TUMBLR PEOPLE,

Since QSMP is all about globalisation and learning about new cultures and countries, I think this is the perfect opportunity to tell people about most known MC RP series from the Netherlands, by assigning characters from the QSMP to kingdoms!

TLDR: The Kingdom (DDG) was a minecraft survival roleplay server. The server was devided into different kingdoms (hence the name) which were ruled and inhabited by A LOT of different Dutch-speaking creators. The first episode launched in 2012 and the series ended around 2021. It played out in a medieval-fantasy type setting with magic, Goblins/orcs/gods/dragons and a lot lot of war. Most kingdoms even had their own national anthem (or multiple).

vv WHO WOULD BE FROM WHERE vv

Recognised by their half black-stained skin, white glowing eyes and their extensive knowledge (and gift) of magic, the Empire was the main villain of the series. After forcefully being locked away in the Nether for decades, the civilisation made their way back to the surface with only one goal, revenge. Now with access to the Empire Wand, they quickly got damn good at it.

BBH - EMPIRE

I see Q!BBH as someone who could've been apart of this group, but having met someone allong the way that made him change his mind about wanting everything to perish. Due to that he had to flee from the Empire, since they would've never accepted him like that.

The only ally of the Empire. Jenava, also known as the desert rats, were violent and opressive people who underwent a ritual to gain the same power as the Empire. They had access to the Scripts of Jenava: documents kept very secretive, containing secrets about kingdoms, magic and curses. (also it's the kingdom with the best songs ngl.).

BAGI (+ tazercraft & Cellbit) - JENAVA

It wasn't uncommon for people (especially women) to attempt to escape from the kingdom of Jenava. The living conditions were terrible, for registered citizen but also for the natives (Kanta Tribo) who's land was forcefully taken (also later a civil war). I think Q!Bagi could've been one of the people who forcefully underwent the Empire ritual before running away to warn other kingdoms about the situation. Further, the kingdom had ownership of the most secure prison of the whole server ("Fort Forland, the prison island") which is a place Pac, Cellbit and Mike would've fit in perfectly.

Elementos, the kingdom of the Gods. In the story, the wife of King David (Eclypsa) passed away due to illness and became a deity, joining elementos. During the war between Entropia (her husbands kingdom) and Firjen, she sided with Firjen and gifted them 'The dragons of Bovisti', making Firjen "The kingdom of dragons".

FOOLISH - ELEMENTOS

Dragons, gods, a little betrayl and siding with the enemy for funsies. Foolish the totem god with a dragon base, Do I need to say more?

FOREVER - FENRIN

A island cursed hundreds of years ago, turning everyone into werewolves during full moons. They tend to keep to themselves. They used to be a part of the kingdom of Ljord, but fled and now peacefully live on their own, away from dragons and war (kinda).

ROIER - ENTROPIA

I don't really have a good reason for putting him here, it's just kinda a vibe.

Ah Entropia, the kingdom of capitalism and talking shit. With king David as their leader together with Queen/God Eclypsa their main stick was trade, being rich and doing wars. The statue of the Entropian Sword could be seen from miles away, imbedded with emeralds and other richments (making it a big eyesore for the powerhungry kingdom of Jenava). The king of this wonderful empire died once by the hands of the king of Firjen and his dragons. He was sent to Elementos to become a god, but refused because he is a little dumb and very stubborn.

With Roier putting stores all over the place and unnessicarily putting his egg in big danger, I think it's a good fit.

TUBBO & AYPIERRE - MALINO

The kingdom of goblins and mining. They lived in a gigantic hollowed out mountain, rarely coming up to the surface. They were the only kingdom (that I know about) that had a person assigned for redstone contraptions. Tubbo being the create boy with the gigantic tubhole would do well there in my opinion. Also Pierre (and perhaps Felps) would be a very respected citizen with his extensive knowledge of big holes.

ETOILES - THEROS

I personally know very little about Theros, except that they are known for their assassins and lack of kings/emperors. They dissapeared at some point and got taken over by a different kingdom (Magnos). I wish I could to this man more justice :'(

BAGHERA JONES & SLIMECICLE - ATLA

Probably the strangest of all the kingdoms, and also one of my personal favourites. Atla is a kingdom existing of multiple island, mostly known for worshipping chickens.

Their belief is in the two Chicken-gods Kiip & Kalf, together with the golden egg. Killing and eating chickens is illigal on the island, and the king is ready to start war on anyone who tries (besides that they're quite friendly tho :) ).

The golden egg is.. Well.. a large golden egg. It is believed that any attempt on damaging or stealing the egg will curse the person for eternity, giving them everlasting bad luck. This was evantually proven to be true, when Entropia used it to curse another kingdom (Krax).

I feel like Baghera could be a scholar from the island, perhaps a diplomat who'd travel to different kingdoms to exchange information and perhaps spread the good word.

Further, I see Charlie as one of the people that could pull the chicken=god trope of better than anyone. Also seeing the bad luck he's having on the QSMP, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to take a little nibble of the shiny egg-statue.

I have a lot more people to assign and a lot of kingdoms not mentioned yet (like Kanta Tribo (a native tribe and arch-enemy of Jenava, Firjen, Ljord etc etc.. there were.. So many.). But this would go on for ages and ages so I'll cut it here for now LMAO

I hope you enjoyed this thread and learning something about Dutch youtube culture. It's a series I watched a lot when I was younger, and always seem to stumble back to. It was very well done and to this day one of my favourite things to watch/talk about.

[legendary-69420]

Chapter 4: The PR Game

(Racing Hearts : VOLUME 2)

It was only a few weeks since the announcement of Mark joining Red Bull, and already the buzz around him and Max as a team was louder than anyone expected. With Mark and Charles’ on-track rivalry now intensifying, the fans were eating it up, especially online.

The first PR stunt was a friendly interview together, one that the team had set up. The two sat side by side, both in their Red Bull and Ferrari gear, laughing for the cameras and feeding the media with sound bites.

“I’m just warning you,” Mark grinned at Charles, “I’ve got a lot more jokes lined up for this season. It’s gonna be unbearable.”

Charles rolled his eyes, but there was a smirk tugging at his lips. “Oh, I’ve been preparing. Mentally and emotionally. Don’t worry.”

The interviewer chuckled, glancing at the fan-submitted questions on their cue cards. “The fans are really excited to see the two of you on the grid together again. They’ve been… very active online.”

Mark glanced at Charles, and they both knew what “active” meant — the ship comments, the fan theories, and the endless jokes flooding social media.

“Oh, yeah?” Mark leaned in, flashing a smirk at the camera. “Anything juicy?”

The interviewer laughed, flipping through the cards. “Well, one fan wrote, ‘Charles and Mark, who’s better at handling the media attention?’”

“I think it’s obvious,” Mark started, but Charles cut in smoothly.

“Definitely me,” Charles teased, his grin widening. “Mark’s terrible at it.”

“Hey!” Mark feigned offense, poking Charles’ arm. “I’m great with the media! I give the people what they want.”

Charles raised an eyebrow. “By singing Material Girl in a club?”

The whole crew burst into laughter, and the comments on social media were already going viral.

Instagram Live Comments:

@speedy_girl1987: “CHARLES CALLING OUT MARK LIKE THAT, I'M DYING”

@MarkSpencerFans: “OMG THEY’RE LIKE AN OLD MARRIED COUPLE ALREADY!!”

@Charles_Leclercx_Fan: “Mark, we all LOVED the Material Girl performance, ignore him 😂 #BestNightEver”

@queenf1_fan: “PR stunt? More like PR flirting. You two better KISS on camera, I’m begging.”

@F1Rumor_HQ: “Everyone in the room seeing that sexual tension is palpable 👀👀”

The interview moved on to the next fan question.

“Alright, next one: ‘If you had to pick one teammate to be stuck on a deserted island with, who would you choose?’”

Charles laughed, already shaking his head. “Don’t make me choose.”

Mark shot a look at him, mockingly clutching his chest. “Wow, I’m right here.”

“No, I mean—” Charles backtracked, clearly trying to navigate the question. “Well, Mark would be good at keeping things entertaining, but Max… Max might actually help me survive.”

“Okay, I see how it is,” Mark said, rolling his eyes dramatically. “Charles doesn’t appreciate my survival skills. Noted.”

Twitter Fan Reactions:

@RedBull_Racing_Fan: “Mark really out here acting like a drama queen and Charles is just DONE with him. They’re comedy gold, I swear.”

@ferrari_forever: “CHARLES SAYING MAX WOULD HELP HIM SURVIVE. MARK I’M SORRY, BUT YOU’RE JUST HERE FOR VIBES 😂”

@Fan_fiction_HQ: “Get them on a deserted island ASAP and let’s see how long before they really appreciate each other…”

@Formula_1_Memes: “This interview is like a sitcom with the way Mark and Charles banter back and forth.”

After the interview, they moved on to the photoshoot part of the PR day. The team had organized some promotional shots, but the candid moments between Charles and Mark were the ones that stole the show. They’d laugh between takes, Mark trying to make Charles break his serious face while posing.

During one moment, the photographer caught Mark casually slinging an arm around Charles’ shoulder, pulling him close in a friendly hug.

“Oh, we’ll break the internet with this one,” Mark said, grinning at the camera.

Charles, smiling faintly, shook his head. “You’re going to be insufferable this season, aren’t you?”

“You love it.”

Behind-the-scenes footage later posted on Instagram:

Mark messing with Charles’ hair during the shoot.

Charles trying to stay composed while Mark makes funny faces behind him.

Mark pretending to "model" in exaggerated poses until Charles pushes him off-screen, both of them laughing.

Instagram Comments:

@MarkSpencerFans: “Okay but the way they’re so comfortable with each other now??? This is what we LIVE FOR”

@F1_PR_teams: “These two make the best PR team ever! The energy is unreal.”

@Ferrari_Nation: “I think Charles was actually smiling the whole time for once! WHAT IS THIS SORCERY, MARK?!”

@ThirstyF1Fans: “Mark. Stop. Touching. Charles. I can’t HANDLE THIS.” ---

By the end of the day, Mark and Charles had wrapped up their PR obligations, but their chemistry and ease with each other were undeniable. The internet buzz was louder than ever, their interactions fueling both shippers and die-hard fans alike.

As they walked off set, Charles nudged Mark. “You’re really enjoying this, huh?”

Mark laughed. “Can’t help it. You’re just so much fun to mess with.”

Charles shook his head, but he couldn’t hide the smirk on his face. “You better bring this energy to the track, Spencer.”

“Trust me,” Mark replied with a wink, “I’ve got plenty more where that came from.”

---

[nudgeling]

I've had a resurgence of listening to First Aid Kit recently so I decided to pair up a bunch of their songs and lyrics to traffic characters and ships. I'm surprised they’re not more popular in fandom spaces since they’re pretty similar genre-wise to both Crane Wives and the Oh Hellos, so consider this is my community pitch (+ commentary cuz i wanna)

Fleeting one - BigB

"My love is a fleeting one / My man could be anyone / And our love is a setting sun / My life is fleeting one / My work is just a web I've spun / Oh, my life is a setting sun / Baffled by the lives we were lent / We met the end too soon / I was honest when I told you / We're as cryptic as the moon"

BigB has a bit of a history with wavy loyalties. The secret soulmates with Grian, betraying Cleo, and most recently tricking Skizz (I know that was resolved but a pattern is a pattern my man). And well, not that I have any clue what the man's up with all the cryptic gaslighting but I feel like that applies as well.

The lyrics outside the chorus seem to be about a couple falling out of love, but I like to apply it to him and Cleo, which still fits fairly well. Angst galore ofc.

Wolf - Pearl

"When I run through the deep dark forest long after this begun / Where the sun would set, the trees were dead, and the rivers were none / And I hope for a trace to lead me back home from this place / But there was no sound there was only me and my disgrace"

Scratch this being the most Pearl-like FAK song, this is the most Pearl song ever. It's basically what started this whole project. All the lyrics and all the vibes just screams DL Pearl. The song is also a bop, one of my personal favs, if I were to recommend just one of these to listen to then this is a strong contender.

Josefin - Martyn

"You go home with feet bare in the snow / You raise up your head to the dead / You seek of such magical things / And nobody knows where you've been"

This smells of watcher lore guys. Don’t have much more commentary than that, it’s just watcher lore straight up.

King of the World - Lizzie

"I keep running around / Trying to find the ground / But my head is in the stars / And my feet are in the sky / Well I'm nobody's baby / I'm everybody's girl / I'm the queen of nothing / I'm the king of the world"

The lyrics is giving Last Life Lizzie, but it’s also one of the more whimsical-sounding songs on the list which feels very Lizzie in general.

I'll admit the rest of the lyrics isn’t particularly easy to tie into the life series since there’s a bunch of specific modern references like going to the airport and traveling through states, but I love the song way too much not to include it. Might be the personal favourite.

Rebel heart - Desert duo

"You told me once I have a rebel heart / I don't know if that's true / But I believe you saw something in me that lives inside you too / Now I all I hear is the wind / There’s a storm coming through / Did I misplace or forsake my love now that I gave it to you?"

Picking just one lyric section from this song was difficult. Every single word, top to bottom, fits Scarian like a glove. It also slams in a "But I know you truly saw me / Even if just for a while" which just MMMM. Makes me wanna bite someone.

I Found a Way - Treebark

"We play the game with skillful hands / And so I asked for your demands / "Give me your love, give me your gun" / And you traced us back to where we begun"

Tbh this song could apply to a lot of traffic dynamics but it had a lot of loyalty themes which is why I put it at Treebark specifically. That being said: man. It works so well. Specifically Martyn POV. The gun in the lyric above would ofc be the beheading, plus the song later mentions the protagonist having a lot of guilt and being prone to running. It's got C!Martyn all over it.

My Silver Lining - Skizz

"I try not to hold on to what is gone / I try to do right what is wrong / I try to keep on keeping on / Yeah I just keep on keeping on / I hear a voice calling / Calling out for me / These shackles I've made in an attempt to be free / Be it for reason, be it for love / I won't take the easy road"

This is another one where it just is Skizz. He’s probably been the most consistantly loyal and good-natured person in the series, doing anything and everything for his team. I feel this especially with how he was in Limited Life, being determined to spread some light into the world despite the game they found themselves in. When making this list I found that most of these songs could fit multiple dynamics/characters, but this is his song, full stop.

Stay Gold - Flower Husbands

"The sun shone high those few summer days / Left us in a soft, wide-eyed haze / It shone like gold / It shone like gold / But just as the moon, it shall stray / So dawn goes down today / No gold can stay / No gold can stay"

👏ANGST👏GALORE

Another one where I just want to quote the whole song. The song is all about grieving time periods and memories you can’t get back, to which I'm thinking late-game 3rd life, post-3rd life divorce or s1 empires characters having weird nostalgia. I go feral for all of it.

Bonus empires:

Heavy storm - Sausage

"I saw, I saw, I saw, I saw an old photograph / And the picture that appeared / Well, it took me back to the times / When she was around / She used to play that old mandolin / And the moon and the sea invited her in / I wish that I had told her by then / What she knew deep down / That she only wished that time would come back"

S1 Sausage angst my beloved. Or s2, could work either way, but I'm partial to s1. "She" could be either Pearl or Gem, however there is a "he" in the first chorus which is very much Fhwip. Like Stay Gold it’s all about grieving old times, so I like to imagine a post S1 Sausage grieving his old family :D

[nanyoky]

Okay sorry if I just missed it but I haven't seen people mention it and it made my ears prick up as I try to catch up-

Prism bringing up going to the shadowfell for the ascendency festival REALLY felt like a deliberate drop that Matt gave her when they talked between episodes about what she could bring into the conversation. Which supports MY theory that we (and by we I really mostly mean the hells) are getting way too distracted by whether we think the gods are nice or not and are not paying NEARLY enough attention to all the pieces of this puzzle coming back to birb mom.

Am I the only one getting the vibe that both the Raven Queen and her followers, but also KEYLETH have a plan B that's already well into motion??? Perhaps the same plan?? Facilitated by my goth birb son mayhap?

Something about when they checked on the RQ temple in uthadern- they seemed much calmer there than any other worshippers and said something about "trusting in the matron's plan." Which, yeah, she's the goddess of fate that makes sense. But she's not the goddess of fate in the "everything that happens is her will so bad or good, it's what she wants and we can't question it" kinda way. She fucking loves Vax because he was someone who fought tooth and nail against the way things seemed to be going when he didn't like it.

And then in the scry on Keyleth we got, didn't she mutter something like "it wasn't supposed to be like this..."? Which again, yeah, you could def say "well duh- she was supposed to have the love of her life for longer than like three years, she was supposed to have more years of leading her people in peace after saving the world once already. A LOT of things were supposed to be different." But Matt usually doesn't give them *dialogue* in a scry, does he? So it REALLY rang !!!!THIS IS A CLUE!!!! alarm bells for me.

And it would make sense, right? Cuz I don't think we saw other Ashari come with Keyleth to the desert, did we? And she was a bit cagey with Orym about how she couldn't bring that many forces. If the Raven Queen, Vax and Keyleth all *knew* what Ludinus wanted to do- use Keyleth as bait to get Vax- it would absolutely make sense for her to be like "get beat up a bit, my already dead boyfriend shows up and chills in an orb for a hot minute, birb mom pulls the ace and we have the upper hand, no one else gets hurt. Sounds like the best plan." But then things are already SO BAD. and it's not like letting more people in on this mystery plan would really help that at all?? Only just put it in danger? But she'd kinda been trying to contain and control the chaos, and there's only so much of that you can realistically do. And she's a great leader, and a great leader doesn't *like* keeping things from people who are scared and looking for guidance, but sometimes compartmentalization is necessary.

AND THEN that's not even mentioning Mor in exu. And how she seems to be on a mission from the Raven Queen without being consciously aware of it. And how she was sent by Nana Morri - the FATE STITCHER - to exandria. Birb mom is making moves quietly through others and the evidence is scattered all over this story, but it comes back to her every time.

I'm just !!!!!!!! PLEASE SOMEONE TALK ABOUT "FATE" AND THE RQ INVOLVEMENT MORE I'M BEGGING THESE HEROES!!!!!