#despite like nothing of significance about her LOL

[cerealmonster15]

ive been watching sooo many vids of people doing doll restorations and doll customizations... making me both fight off the desperate urge to attempt New Hobby just because it Looks Fun and also resisting the urge to repurchase the fave barbie i had as a kid on ebay,,,,

[cambria-writes]

welcome to the very final chapter of honey and the hatchet! 🎉 it quite literally took eight whole entire years to get here, but i finally made it!

big thank you to everyone who's stuck around, read and flooded my notes with likes and shares this story around. i cannot express in any language i know how significant and meaningful that is.

for those who might be wondering, i used these photos of a suite at the macarthur to kind of situate myself.

...also sorry for kind of maybe edging you at the end there lol anyways enjoy!

pairing: patrick jane x named reader/ofc word count: 4,883 rating: A for adult content, MDNI warnings: smut, wearing, i know nothing about opera, PiV, unprotected sex, mild dom/sub, sir kink, neck grabbing but no choking, hair pulling if you squint, mentions of planned murders, relatively minor injuries (jane might have a cracked rib it's probably find), confession, the L word, this was not proofread and i'm almost sorry, please let me know if I should take anything else!

previousmasterlist

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕹𝖎𝖓𝖊𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓: ℭ𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔷𝔞

Several Months Later

An opera house. A fucking opera house is where you end up spending Christmas Eve. It’s not something that a lot of people would get upset about, normally, and you know this. That’s why you’ve schooled your face into an expression that’s more rich, entitled boredom than resentful impatience.

But you’re in a box for a fancy show, wearing a dress that definitely costs more just to look at than your apartment likely does in a whole calendar year, and there’s free alcohol. Not that you’ve been indulging up until now, but it’s nice to know that there’s expensive, free booze for when you will be able to pay attention to literally anything else. 

Right now, your eyes are half-heartedly trailing around the stage, eventually halting at the Sopranist singing her heart out. You can’t make out the lyrics at all—never could, with how broad and loud the voices are in operatic compositions, nevermind the insane acoustics of this place—but the sound of the song feels appropriate. A slow build that keeps on building despite several fake-outs that make you believe you’re finally out of this eternal musical waiting.

Conveniently, it’s when the Sopranist pauses for a quick breath that you hear it. The drag of a foot against an old velvet rug. You whip your fan open and feign interest in the elaborate emotional display the singer is putting on. You’re not worried; you know you look like every other bored twenty-something in this place.

Patrick had personally made sure of that. 

“Enjoying yourself?” A woman asks, her deep, airy voice drifting around you as she moves to sit down to your left, French accent heavy in her words. She flips open a small hand fan with a short “thwap” before turning her attention to you.

Madame Jonquière is someone whose gaze feels heavy. Patrick hadn’t told you much about her. Just that she was at Stonewall and that he owed her a favour. Didn’t mention what the favour was for, and you didn’t bother prying any further. Madame Joncquière’s eyes go down to your hands for a second before meeting yours again. She smiles politely and inclines her head expectantly. You realize you haven’t answered yet.

“Sorry, yes,” you reply quickly. Clear your throat before looking back at the stage. “I can’t understand most of it but it sounds lovely. Thank you for letting me accompany you tonight.”

Madame Joncquière swings open a hand fan with a muted ‘fwap’ before fanning herself. “Oh no, thank you for your presence tonight!” she exclaims quietly, leaning forward closer to you.  You grin and leave over. “No one ever wants to come to the opera house with me anymore. They all think it’s boring!”

You laugh quietly along with her. Madame Joncquière leans back into her chair and fixes her gaze to the stage. You appreciate the space she’s leaving you. Despite the fact that she knows damn well that you’re here to make sure she doesn’t get assassinated, she seems to be taking everything in good stride.

You watch his back as he carefully pours a drink out of a shaker. You have no idea what prompted him to pick you up at 11:30AM for cocktail hour. On a Wednesday. In the empty, closed bar of some man who happened to also owe him a favour. You hadn’t expected an explanation. But Patrick had kept silent the whole car ride. It hadn’t been uncomfortable, but the whole time you can’t help but feel like you’re being psychologically edged. You can only refrain from asking the slew of questions floating in your head for so long.

A highball glass filled with some strange red-purple liquid swirling enticingly inside it. The colours almost make the ice look like it’s sparkling. You’re dazzled for a second before looking up at Patrick.

“One Purple Haze for our esteemed guest,” he says, dramatically, with a flourish and a bow. You laugh quietly before picking up the highball. Hold the glass up to the light to watch the colours mingle.

“It’s definitely nice to look at.” Distracted, you don’t notice Patrick walking out from behind the island to stand behind you. You don’t flinch when his cold hands part your hair to slide down your neck and rest on your shoulders. “Am I really expected to drink this before lunch? I haven’t even had breakfast.” 

“I did tell you to get up early last night,” Patrick says, voice low, by your ear. “Sounds like someone snoozed their alarm four too many times.”

You don’t answer. You instead try to see how quickly you can down the purple haze that was handed to you. Hoping to maybe inherit some of its own haze. You only stop when you’ve gulped down half.

“It’s a bad one, by the way,” Patrick adds, pressing a soft kiss at your temple before moving away. He sits on the stool next to you, slotting his knees between yours. “You’re supposed to pour the liqueur last to let it settle at the bottom. It isn’t supposed to swirl like that.”

You hum in understanding a look at the glass in the light again. “Shame, it looks nice this way.” Bring the glass back to your mouth for another sip. “Why am I getting a lesson in mixology today?”

“You’re going to the opera,” he starts, and you chug the rest of the drink before bracing yourself for another briefing. “And I’m going to need you to remember to order this, and how it’s supposed to be made.”

You frown. “Okay, so if I get it and it’s well made that means… what?”

Patrick smirks. Your stomach flips, entirely unaided by his hands running up your thighs. “It means I might have gotten… held up.”

“And this is… bad?”

Patrick hums and leans in, brushes his nose against your jaw. “If you consider first degree murder ‘bad’ then yes, it would be quite bad.”

You scoff at the blazé tone he takes, but it’s half-hearted. His fingers are working their way up your loose shorts toward your hips. 

“It might be a bad idea to sip at something that might have been poisoned.”

Ah, so this was it. 

Patrick hadn’t kept you in the loop for the entirety of this particular… situation. Not only because Madame J had gone to see him directly rather than the CBI, for reasons that hadn’t been obvious at the time, but because this seemed to be a personal slight. You’d kindly asked to be kept at an arm’s length for it all; solving murders had been one thing, but actively trying to prevent one felt beyond you.

You put your hands over his to halt their movement. Patrick immediately pulled back, brows furrowed in concern.

“I feel like too much hinges on me here,” you say quietly, pointedly staring at your knees. You can see the veins starting to honeycomb on your hands. Your fingertips feel cold and stiff.

“You don’t have to,” Patrick answers, just as quietly, pulling one of his hands back to run down your face, brushing your cheekbone with his thumb. “I can bully Rigsby into it.”

You can’t help but laugh a little. He’d probably love the chance to go out at the opera with someone who also wants to be there.

“How long do I have to think about it?” 

“Only until Saturday,” Patrick answers, and you can hear the apology in his voice. The last-minute nature of this annoys you–it only gives you three days, including today, to decide whether or not you want to be the final hurdle.

“I’ll sleep on it and let you know tomorrow.”

The evening goes well enough. You still can’t understand much of what’s being sung, but you enjoy the performance. The drama and emotion in the acting, while singing, is something that’s at least legitimately interesting to watch. 

You occasionally look over the audience as well. Your perch from the box gives you a fantastic vantage point to see most everyone in the hall. The hairs at the back of your neck have been raising every now and then. Same feeling as you get being observed in the dark. But every time you try to scan the crowd, everyone’s either facing the stage or canted forward in somnolence.

You hear a knock at the door of your box before the door opens. This is it, you think. You’d ordered drinks just as you were coming back from the intermission. You take a quick look at the dainty gold watch Patrick had wrapped around your wrist earlier in the evening. It’s been… fifteen minutes. Which seems like an awful long time to prepare a purple haze and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

You don’t bother turning at all until you hear the serving tray being gently placed on the table between you and Madame J. You note, with no small amount of relief, that your purple haze muddled to absolute fuck and back. Perfectly safe to drink then.

Your server speaks up just as you notice, reaching for your glass, that there’s quite a spill on the tray.

“Au plaisir, mesdames.”

A thrill runs up your spine. Madame Joncquière looks up while you slowly wrap your fingers around the cool glass. She almost makes a joyful exclamation, but seems to stop halfway through taking in a breath for you. Keep your eyes on your drink while you listen to retreating footsteps, muted on carpet, until you hear the door open and close again.

Madame J’s hand lands softly on your shoulder to give it a squeeze. 

“How wonderful of Monsieur Jane to come look in on us himself!” she says to you, barely above a whisper. “Shall we cheers to that then, chérie?” 

Your heart still thrums in your chest from the thrill of it all. You raise your glass along with her, but just before knocking it against Madame J’s, you draw your hands back.

“Would you mind indulging me?” you ask quietly, trying to control the smirk threatening to take over your expression. 

Madame Joncquière clearly sees the scheming glint in your eyes and doesn’t hide her grin. It’s toothy, like a fox. And you feel like a peer, having caught a rabbit dead to rights. 

“Absolument! What would you like?” She leans in closer over the small end table between you. 

You carefully move to grab her wine glass and press your glass to her palm. She beams and immediately gets your meaning. You link arms together, giggling quietly as you try not to spill your respective drinks. 

“Cheers to yet another wonderful night on this train wreck of a planet,” you say, tilting the wine glass to clink against the highball. 

“I’ll drink to that!”

No sooner has the wine touched your lips, you hear a small commotion in the audience. Not enough to interrupt the show, but not something that won’t be noticed. 

The wine is bitter and sour on your tongue and you don’t bother to school your expression into something tame. Madam J laughs quietly behind her fan and offers your drink back. You hastily hand her back her awful wine and nurse your significantly sweeter cocktail.

The rest of the evening is blessedly uneventful. Patrick doesn’t make another appearance, but you don’t expect him to. You were surprised that he showed up personally in the first place. At the end of the show, after having another attendant–a real one, this time–slips you both back into your coats. Opens the door and thanks you for your patronage and only closes the door behind you once you’re most of the way down the hallway. Madame J links your arms together as you walk, chittering away about the singers’ performance. 

Once you reach the lobby, excuses herself for a moment to make a phone call. You make your way over to a plush lounge chair by one of the floor-to-ceiling windows and take a seat. It’s fairly early, for a Sunday evening, so you pass the time people watching. Your phone vibrates in your coat pocket just as you see Madame Joncquière making her way over to you. Quickly look at your phone notification. 

‘Have her drop you off here,’ followed by an address and a room number. You don’t have time to respond back and ask where the fuck that is before Madame J extends her hand out to you. 

“I’ve been instructed to provide transportation for you, chère,” she says as you accept her hand to stand. “You’re alright to give my driver your address, yes?” 

Your body doesn’t seem to know if it should be excited or apprehensive. You acquiesce to Madame J after a second. Once you do actually enter her car–a vintage Cadillac with the classic wings–and let the driver know where to drop you off, she practically begins vibrating in her seat next to you. 

“Oh, please, you have to tell me who you’re meeting there!” she says, eagerly reaching for and grabbing your hands. The question must be written on your face because she laughs giddily. “Ma belle, the MacArthur is a veritable oasis in Sacramento. If you’re going there and you don’t know this, someone is very eager to make sure you enjoy yourself.”

This time the excitement wins over; you can feel your face heating up and you’re not entirely sure what your face is doing. You struggle to come up with something to say to that–what do you say to that?--but Madame Joncquière giggles some more and pats your thigh.

“So it’s Monsieur Jane, after all? What a man. I wonder who he conned into letting him stay there tonight.” 

“Probably someone else who owes him a favour,” you mutter. Your cheeks hurt from trying not to smile too widely.

“That would be a pretty sizeable favour to cash in on for leisure.” Her tone says she’s just thinking out loud, but you think you understand what Madame J’s trying to say.

Awful big favour to cash in on one woman. Must be a special one.

You try not to think too much about it.

The general manager meets you at the car. You wouldn’t have known he was the general manager if Madame Joncquière hadn’t turned into a gossipy 14 year old girl at the sight of him exiting the hotel doors. He opens the car door for you and helps you out with a hand.

“Lovely to have you, Ms Benraft. I’m Stephen Crawford, General Manager,” he introduces himself, taking a moment to lean forward to address Madam J. “Always a pleasure, Madame. Your friend will be in good hands with us.” 

“Always a pleasure, Monsieur Crawford. Have a wonderful night, chérie,” she finishes while addressing you, tossing a wink. “À la prochaine!” 

The general manager understands his cue to close the door, and the Cadillac slowly pulls away. 

You’re guided through the main building, where Stephen explains the history of the hotel and its various accommodations, all of which go into one ear and out the other. You’re taking directly to your lodgings, and  the general manager assures you that all amenities have been accounted for, including a late dinner and, in his words, “a small wardrobe in anticipation of whatever you would find comfortable”. 

You’re starting to understand why Madame Joncquière reacted the way that she did. Patrick has treated you to luxuries before–dinners, various events, even a trip out of the country–but none of it felt quite this… decadent. Almost overindulgent, actually. 

It truly feels like being spoiled rotten, and you’re still not sure how you feel about it.

Stephen hands you a very intricate key and steps back to wish you a good night, and that the front desk is available 24/7 should there ever be anything you need. You thank him and wait until he’s out of sight before turning back to the door. 

Your blood feels like it’s effervescing in your veins.

You consider knocking first, but decide to just let yourself into the room. You’re expected, after all, so it shouldn’t really matter, right? 

The first thing you notice is the fireplace. Then, the plush chairs, then the bed, then the bay window. The lighting is dim; only two lamps lit and the faint glow from the electric fireplace. The last thing you register is the sound of a shower running. 

You carefully close the door behind you and shrug your coat off, throw it in the direct of one of the chairs to your right. Walking further in, you spot a desk in a took to the left of the door with a chair conveniently pulled out. You carefully sit down to remove your shoes. Beautiful as they are and however aesthetically pleasant it was to have them match your dress, you’re happy to have them off. Carefully massage the soles of your feet, rotate your ankles, before leaning back in the chair.

This is lovely. You almost feel like you’re in one of those secluded little getaway suites in Bali or something. The vibes certainly match, even if late December weather is a bit too chilly. If you actually just let yourself enjoy everything for a second, and stop worrying about what it cost, this is just very nice. 

Maybe you’re starting to feel a little less spoiled and a little more pampered.

You’ve half dozed off by the time you feel warm hands on your shoulders. You sleepily hum, content, and sit up a little straighter. Stifle a yawn behind your hand and hear Patrick chuckle behind you.

“Have fun?”

You groan as you stretch. “Mm, would’ve been more fun withou–”

You cut yourself off after turning around and actually lay eyes on Patrick’s face. His lower lip is split on his left, and there’s a cut above the brow on the same side that you immediately know was from getting decked in the face. There’s also a disconcertingly large bruise on his left side, above his ribs, and you can’t fathom what would have caused that.

“Oh my–shit, are you okay? What happened?” 

You get halfway to standing up before Patrick gently presses you back down onto the chair. “Nothing too bad, I promise,” he answers, almost cajoling. Well, he’s breathing fine, from what you can see and hear. And he doesn’t seem like someone who got stabbed, you don’t think.

You still let the fingers of your left hand glide over the bruise. Patrick does a decent enough job to hide the wince, but it’s still there.

“Can I at least know what caused this one?” “Fire extinguisher.”

The words take a second to sink in before you start laughing. The image in your mind is absolutely far more cartoonish than what actually happened, for sure, but after an entire night of holding your breath, you can feel the tension start draining from your shoulders.

You turn back to face away from Patrick, and he resumes kneading the stress out of your traps and your neck. Thumbs dig into your neck on either side of your spine. It feels heavenly. Your breath catches when a shudder runs up your spine. There’s a heat that flares at the base of your spine when you feel his fingers gently wrap and brace against the sides of your throat.

“You did well tonight,” Patrick whispers into your hair. Takes a moment to brush your hair away before pressing a soft kiss to the back of your neck. 

You temper the rising, bubbling pride. “I didn’t even have to do anything.”

You can feel his laughter at the back of your neck. Hands slide down your arms before you feel him resting his forehead on your shoulder. 

“Switching your drinks was a clever idea.” You feel Patrick pulling away, squeak in surprise when he grabs the sides of the chair to spin you around. Crouches in front of your–and only now do you realize that he’s only got a towel around his waist, which parts dangerously wide as he lowers himself. “Made it a lot easier to catch our guy.”

Whatever tension in our shoulders Patrick hasn’t been able to dispel and disperse with his hands just… vanished. It had been a relief, initially, to know that Madame was safe and sound and not at risk of dying a slow, horrible, poisoned death. For the past 48 hours, it’s been a struggle to reign in your mind. You could barely sleep at night just for trying to distract yourself from what would happen if you didn’t pay well enough attention.

Patrick runs his hands over your thighs, up to your hips, tapping twice with his thumbs.

“I’m here,” you say airily, shaking off your thoughts to look Patrick in the eyes. “Just basked in the fact that it’s over now.” Lift a hand up to his face and gently smoothing your thumb below the cut at his brow. “Starting to wonder if I should have been worrying about you this whole time, instead.”

“Probably should have,” Patrick shrugs, and there’s a thrill that runs through you when you think, Of course I should have, of course you’d be getting yourself in some kind of mess.

He doesn’t say anything else when he stands back up and extends a hand out to help you to your feet. You feel silly for it, but you giggle when he makes you twirl, puling you back in with a hand at your waist. 

“Love the dress,” Patrick says, dipping in for a peck on the lips. “Where’d you get it?”

You scoff to compensate for the blood rushing to your face. “Some absolute scamp made me wear it tonight.”

Leading you into a slow, gentle sway by the fireplace, he puts on a show of looking offended. You laugh lightly at the exaggeration, but clear your throat once his expression settles. 

“I suppose the scamp should take it back, then,” he answers, voice low as the hand that held yours skips over ribs and moves up your back. 

You tilt your head when he begins to place opened-mouthed kisses down your neck. You let him pull your zipper down but otherwise don’t help him. Not that he needs much help; once the zipper stops, nearly at the very bottom of your spine, the top of your dress simply crumples away, taking the rest down with it.

Patrick takes a moment to pull back, hands smoothing down your upper arms as he takes a look at you. There’s a very self-content smirk on his face when he takes stock of the lacey, racy lingerie you’re wearing. A hand reaches down and tugs at your garter before letting it snap back into place.

God, the way he looks at you with such open, raw hunger continues to do things to you that you hadn’t known anyone was capable of. Until him.

“Even happier to see someone can follow instructions,” Patrick comments, sounding every part like the cat that got the cream. Both hands both over your hips, up your ribs, thumbs tracing the underside of your breasts.

Patrick leans in, lips barely brushing against yours. “Think you can keep following instructions?” 

You sigh shakily at his tone. “Yes, sir.”

You can feel his chest vibrate with his rumble of appreciation. He doesn’t speak when he tugs you along to bed. Doesn’t need to tell you what to do when he sits, tossing the towel from his waist in the general direction of the sitting area, leaning against the headboard. You dutifully install yourself on his lap, slowly settling your weight over his thighs. 

With two hands firmly on your rear, Patrick pulls you in as close as he can. Thrusts his hips up as he does so. Just the heat of his erection, throbbing against your damp underwear, has you moaning behind tightly sealed lips.

“That’s it,” Patrick encourages when you begin to rut against him without prompting. “Take what you want, I’ll give you the rest.” The rest of his sentence is almost unintelligible as he takes turns between kissing and nipping at your breasts. The bra is a pathetic excuse for fabric, and you understand why he had you wear this particular set; it almost feels as though there’s nothing at all between your skin and the wet heat of his mouth.

It doesn’t take long before you have to brace yourself against Patrick’s shoulders, and soon after that you find yourself whining as you toss your head back. The friction and heat are both wonderful in their own respect, but the angle is wrong, and it’s not nearly enough. 

You’re ravenous, and Patrick is a meal that loves to hold himself out of reach just a bit past long enough.

“Use your words,” he breathes into your collarbones, one hand moving us to massage at one of your breasts while the other moves lower. Down past the delicate lace waist of your panties, thumb teasing around your clit. 

“Fuck,” you choke out, unable to keep yourself from grinding down harder and faster in the hopes that something will change. 

“Not quite enough words,” Patrick quips, and you growl, annoyed. Bring your head back forward and do your best to maintain eye contact. 

It still feels embarrassing, even now. To say it out loud.

You’re learning to accept that… maybe you’re just. A little bit into that.

“Please, sir,” you start, clearing your throat and swallowing thickly. “I would very much like you to fuck me, please.”

Patrick practically purrs, satisfied. This part, too, is well rehearsed. You muster just enough self control to raise your hips. Enough room so he can pull his cock forward. Enough for you to gather saliva in your mouth and let it dribble down. Over Patrick’s hand, and over his cock.

He groans with the feeling of it as you exhaled in something you think might be awe. His eyes are close and head tilted back. He looks debauched, you think, but not quite enough. 

“Can I–can I touch, sir?” you pants, hands already raised by the sides of his head.

“Can’t say no when you ask so nicely,” he breathes out. You immediately run your hands through his hair, digging your fingertips into his scalp. He moans, a drawn-out thing that has your cunt clenching in a desperate way. 

A shudder like electricity shoots through you when you feel Patrick simply pulling aside the gusset of your underwear before lining himself up with your entrance. He takes a second–during which you whine in complaint–to get a hand at the back of your head, fisting the hair there just enough to get your attention. Look down at him with impatient, hooded eyes. 

“You’ll forgive the terrible timing,” he starts, sounding about as breathless as you’re sure you currently do. “But there’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

“You’re right,” you groan, leaning your head forward to rest against his. “It’s terrible ti–”

Your sentence is blissfully interrupting when Patrick thrusts up into you. Not quite hilting himself, but damn well near it. You’re not sure what you would call the sound that cracked its way out of your throat. He groans in unison with you, and you’re not sure who’d trying to pull who in closer.

“Fuck,” Patrick breathes out, one hand guiding your hips to slowly move against him, the other smoothing the hair at the back of your head. “I love you.”

You keen, a quick, sharp pitched sound. Push yourself just far away to look him in the eyes. Takes him a second to build enough composure back off to raise his head and look at you straight on.

He’s been unguarded before, sure, but not like this. There’s something swirling in your chest and low in your abdomen. Something heavy, heady. 

“Christ,” you exhale, lifting your hips before slamming them back down. Your sharp inhale catches in your throat and Patrick bites back another groan. “Worst timing. Other women would question your motives.”

“Mmh, good thing you aren’t any other woman.” The end of his sentence is punctuated by a particularly sharp thrust upward. You can feel the tip of his cock just brushing against your cervix, and the jolt it sends through has you grinding down back in turn. 

Patrick winds his arms around your back and presses your against his chest. You feel him bracing his feet against the mattress, immediately move to grab the edge tof he headboard. Feel him chuckle under you, flinch when you feel teeth against one of your nipples through the sparse lace.

“Fortunate that I love you too, then.”

You don’t get to properly register the sound you hear bubbling up from the back of Patrick’s throat before he thrusts back up into you. Sets a pace that might’ve been brutal, but even in the haze of oxytocin in your brain you can recognize that this is relief. 

A man that’s been alone and snarling at and against the world for so many years just… just told you he loves you.

When you feel a hand make its way around your throat, you take the cue. 

It’s a tomorrow problem.

Tonight you can just feel, and bask in several jobs well done.

Tag List

@fucklife-or-me @mamacakeishereforfun @newavenger @yearningforsappho @natsukee @piper570 @rikuisthesweetestboy @berry-blink @wandabillywrites @leftovers-and-headrubs @pauphs @gamingfeline @racoonkitty @dogmatic255 

[ardentpoop]

'sam is a john copy'

what are your thoughts on this take?

largely used by people who don’t understand sam at all lol. like they say this because A) they cartoon-villainize john, and B) they villainize sam as well in order to validate dean’s self-centered perspective on everything that goes wrong btwn the brothers.

they didn’t even make it up themselves; as usual dean handed it to them. 4.19 “jump the shark” is the key example.

most of the audience takes scenes like this at face value because dean is the character who they’re primed to sympathize more with. like yes of course, poor dean who as a young man wanted nothing more than to be like his abusive father but is a hopelessly inadequate copy because his Heart Is Too Big, he’s Too Soft, Too Bruised. disregarding that between sam and dean it is in Fact dean (by this point in the series especially) who is the spitting image of their father in terms of his temper, his emotional unavailability, his psychological dependence on violence, the control he exerts over his family in the interest of keeping them “safe.” there are cracks in his hardened exterior because he’s a person, just as john was a person.

also note that despite dean continuing to revere john after his death and despite dean believing that john’s role in their lives was ultimately one that was necessary and justified (if he didn’t believe this he wouldn’t have behaved the way he did from s2 onward), he does tap into a deep well of resentment for john from time to time. we see it so clearly in this episode, especially with adam’s experiences with john being contrasted against sam and dean’s in ways that make both of them hurt. of course, the audience’s attention is pointed squarely at dean’s hurt over sam’s.

sam and dean often switch sides in terms of which of them defends or disparages john, depending on what’s going on in their lives and their relationship. regardless of this it’s crucial to understand that john’s role - his control over the conditions of samndean’s lives and his authority as head of household - is definitively dean’s following john’s death. with this in mind: despite dean outwardly appearing to criticize the detrimental impact that john’s behavior/lifestyle had on samndean as children, he is very much simultaneously upholding john’s “wishes” and approaching the question of whether to get adam involved with hunting from john’s perspective - the same perspective that was responsible for the differences in how sam vs dean were raised and the negative psychological effects on one brother but not the other. sam is always in favor of arming vulnerable people with information because he was denied information and excluded from The John And Dean Team for a significant chunk of his childhood. dean is (mostly) in favor of “protecting the innocent” at the expense of their own feelings about this “protection” because that was the role that was carved out for him, as angry and hurt by it as he often feels.

dean is arguing from john’s perspective here, and sam is arguing from the perspective of his younger self. it doesn’t seem like it on the surface because dean is using his resentment for john to cut at sam while the strain in their relationship in s4 comes to a head as a result of sam bucking against dean’s authoritative role by embracing his powers and going against dean’s orders (yes, orders), as well as because sam giving in to his “fate” as a hunter after years of loss and grief and evidence that he’d been “wrong” to “run away” is framed by the narrative throughout s4-5 as sam being pointlessly angry and revenge-driven due to his Monstrous Nature, as opposed to it being a bid for autonomy in the other direction.

overall: john’s role is dean’s and mary’s role is sam’s. outside of that there are traits of each of their parents in both sam and dean and parallels that you can draw between all four of them. john was the civilian and mary was the hunter. mary wanted to “run away” but her plans were violently thwarted. mary made a deal with a demon that would change her life and her family’s lives forever. john was once Soft and defenseless. john kept meticulous records as a hunter to the point that they are still referenced years after his death and even after samndean have access to the MOL’s records. mary kept her family in the dark about hunting after her deal with azazel because she was dedicated to living “normally.” there was strain in john and mary’s marriage before she died and it is implied that they might have eventually broken up if the universe didn’t have other plans for them. etc etc etc. truly you can go nuts with it there is so much more you can do with this family than the average viewer realizes.

I know that got long so let me know if you want further clarification on anything :)

[lovemyromance]

If people are reading Feysand & Nessian interactions and thinking they parallel Elucien ... idk what to tell them.

Feyre hated Rhys - but she did not balk from him. She did not avoid him. She did not shrink into herself around him.

Nesta bickered endlessly with Cassian - but she was not losing her boldness around him. She was not leaving rooms when he entered, refusing to even speak to him.

I am all for an enemies to lovers story. We've seen it twice already with Feysand and Nessian, in a sense. But what makes it enemies to lovers? It's not as simple as "they hate each other and then they somehow fall in love". Enemies to lovers always starts out with initial attraction.

Feyre through Rhys was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. Nesta nearly gave into Cassian when he visited their manor while she was still human. Despite how they felt about their love interest, they could not deny they were attracted to them.

And I don't just mean like, physical attraction. I mean there was that intensity, that honed in focus on only them. It felt significant, like two magnets that initially repel each other but once flipped, are impossible to pry apart.

Elucien does not have that.

Elain actively avoids Lucien. She does not initiate conversation with him, even when Feyre tries to force them into the same room. She does not use his gifts. She shrinks into herself.

Yes, SJM has written countless enemies to lovers couples. Like... all of them lowkey are enemies to lovers lol. But if you really look at those couples vs Elucien, can you say they are the same?

No. They are not. The female in all the relationships she has written has never balked from her male love interest. They have not avoided the other male. They don't lose their personalities around their men. They don't shut down and leave the room.

"Oh Elain is just shy" - No, she is not. She is quiet, sure, polite, yes, but she is not shy. She interacts with the IC just fine. She has friends in Velaris. She tends to the gardens of other fae in the NC. She is not some shy thing that is so afraid of the fae world that she hides from her mate 🙄

You know who she doesn't balk from, though? Azriel. She calls his scarred hands beautiful, she can understand him without a single word.

What about that tells you she's some frail little terrified thing? Is it really so hard for people to believe she does not want Lucien?

It's not enemies to lovers slow burn between Elucien. They are not enemies. They are not even friends-barely acquaintances. There has been no space for any feeling to grow between them. They do not hate each other.

But they also have no obstacles in their path. Elain is not afraid of fae anymore and she's over Graysen, so what are the other obstacles? There's quite literally nothing standing in their way to get together but they haven't. Why not?

I stand by my opinion that if Elucien ever stood a chance, SJM would have written it any other way. She wouldn't have brought in Azriel, she wouldn't have stated endless times how Elucien avoid each other (not just Elain avoiding Lucien). If she wanted to, she would've written Lucien in place of Azriel saving her at Hybern. She would've written Elain getting Lucien presents at Solstice. Elain & Lucien sharing an intimate moment under the cover of the night.

But she didn't write that! So if all this couple has is indifference and a stale mating bond - why are people insisting Elucien is about to be some kind of grand love story? Make it make sense.

Enemies to lovers needs intensity, drama, and tension. Elucien does not have that. Elain avoiding Lucien is not to cause drama and tension - it's because she is uncomfortable. Stated multiple times in the text.

Feyre was never uncomfortable around Rhys. Nesta was never uncomfortable around Cassian.

That's the difference.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

how do you feel about j*nsas stealing and appropriating your theory Frankenstein style? I know I’d be pissed but on the other hand it’s funny because it’s still their strongest “argument” haha

It makes me laugh, honestly. Especially the way many shippers -- who have evidently never read The Hedge Knight -- place so much importance on the Ashford Tourney, the Ashford fair maid, and the Targaryen champion! Like, Lord's Ashford's daughter is so significant, she doesn't even have a name. And the whole thing with Valarr Targaryen was that he was a pretty awful jouster, and only held onto the position as the fair maid's champion out of nepotism, because nobody good actually challenged him. (Though his cousin Aerion threatened to, before deciding to bully someone else.)

And the most significant point, that Valarr didn't come out of nowhere, defeat all the other champions, and crown the girl queen of love and beauty -- lol, not in the slightest, he was a champion from the start, and the way the tourney was set up was that at the end of the third day, whoever were the final five champions would either choose to keep Ashford's daughter as the QOLAB or select somebody else to be. And either way, that never happened, since during the first night Dunk and Aerion had their altercation, Dunk never saw who any of the champions were on the second day because he was in prison, and the third day the fair maid/champion tourney was canceled and they held his Trial of Seven instead. There was no queen of love and beauty at the end of the story!

Like, this tourney does not compare in significance to, say, the Tourney of Harrenhal. Historically, the fair maid means nothing, the Ashford Tourney is only remembered for the Trial of Seven that ended with Baelor's death. And I only happened to think it was a bit of a funny coincidence that four of the first day's champions matched Sansa's suitors (that's how you know it was taken from me despite claims of independent creation, it was known as "the Fifth Suitor theory") and thought it might be an even more funny coincidence if Aegon ended up pursuing Sansa as a bride after (or in the process of) claiming the throne, which was a common bit of speculation in 2012 after Aegon was revealed to be alive (presumably) in 2011's ADWD. And the whole point I had was how futile said champions were in the face of Dunk's actions, and well, *cough*.

But it was always just a crack theory, a silly coincidence. That they've imbued it with such significance, well, um. Good for them I guess. It's certainly less worse than pointing to Sansa Stark daughter of Rickon and her half-uncle Jonnel -- when most likely that was a forced marriage to steal an inheritance like the uncles of Alys Karstark attempted with her, and Jonnel had no children with either Sansa or his second wife, died, and two successive brothers became Lord of Winterfell before the youngest had any children to succeed him. That is not a historical model you want to follow, I'm sorry.

BTW, this post of mine also getting appropriated by jonsas also makes me laugh (2 for 2 lol my god), because the point of that parallel was that Jon is indeed a hero from the songs -- since again, in 2011 immediately post-ADWD there was a fandom reaction pushing Aegon up as the actual PTWP and such. (Well. The ones who didn't decide Victarion was Azor Ahai lol sigh.) And that Sansa's words were the foreshadowing ones, I thought was significant, again in response to fandom decreeing her unimportant. It was not to make Jon specifically Sansa's hero or lover or anything where is that implied I have no idea oh shippers oh fandom sigh sigh sigh 😂😅

[katamaridamacyonline]

tell me all of your ace attorney headcanons

to make it easier, maybe for maya fey specifically! I feel like you probably have a lot of thoughts on her

HI sorry for ignoring this ask for 12 days im gonna do it now (very very long post like holy shit how did i even type this much)

okay so for maya i have. a lot of hcs. basic stuff first she it trans (she/her), lesbian, poly, fat, and mixed black+japanese. actually there's a bit more to the fat headcanon cause i think she gains weight as she gets older, sort of as a "weight gain to represent healing" type of thing. i think around aa1 timeframe she's closer to her canon design but as she reaches more into adulthood she gains weight over time and is happier that way (part of this is because gaining weight is usually a good thing for transfems on estrogen)

okay anyways here's the part where i rant about trans maya stuff. actually i should probably talk about trans mia first cause theyre both trans in my hc and her transition actually plays an important part in maya's experience. basically mia was the first trans kurain spirit medium, before her it wasnt known that a trans woman could be a medium, but that all changed after mia realized she was a girl. for a while (months? years? not sure) mia thought that she would never be able to channel and just accepted the fact that she could be a woman but she wouldnt be able to channel, but eventually eh found that her realization of being a girl actually awakened significant spiritual power within her.

so anyways, onto maya, similar to mia she realized she was a girl when she was young, some time after misty left but while mia was still around. when mia came out, misty was very accepting in letting her transition, but with them under morgan's care they were both worried things wouldnt go as well. fortunately, mia would not let anything stop her sister from transitioning. i'm not completely sure if i think morgan would try to stop maya from transitioning or not (like yeah she's evil but idk if i see her as transphobic lol???) but if she did try to stop her mia would fight back no matter what.

anyways, maya transitions, but unfortunately things end up harder for her than mia, as maya isn't able to channel spirits. while she shows some signs of having spiritual powers, she's not anywhere close to as powerful as mia or any of the cis mediums in the family. this is deeply painful for maya and becomes a horrible source of dysphoria. how she sees it, if she can't channel spirits, she'll never really be a woman. in reality, this dysphoria is entirely false, plenty of cis women in the fey clan don't have spiritual powers (even morgan!). mia comforts her by telling her this, that she will always be a girl even if she can't channel spirits. this helps maya a lot, but it still isn't enough to fully rid her of her irrational dysphoria. it's all very hard for her, and i think morgan would definitely make everything worse for her, likely reminding her of her inability to channel for no reason other than to hurt her and make her feel inferior. but mia's positive influence helps her make it through everything, even if she does struggle a lot.

anyways, aa1 happens, and she's finally preformed her first channeling. but there's still a ton of doubt in her mind. despite now knowing she CAN channel, she's still struggling with this same dysphoria. probably thinking along the lines of. 'the only was i can channel is if i'm an urgent situation. If i was a real woman, i could channel at any moment, but i can't. I'm still just a man and nothing more." this all culminates with her inferiority complex in Turnabout Goodbyes. I actually really like reading into Maya's struggle in turnabout goodbyes as a representation of dysphoria, because the way she's hurt by not being able to channel mia is heartbreaking. hell, she literally says some genuinely suicidal things after the taser scene.

ultimately, I think maya finally begins to move past this dysphoria not because she learns to channel better, but because she finally, fully accepts mia's words to her, and i think Phoenix is really the person to finally help her out of it. sometime after turnabout goodbyes, maya opens up to phoenix about how hard this all is to her. tells him about how hard it is to feel like her womanhood is entirely dependent on a skill she struggles to grasp. phoenix would choose this as the time to finally come out to her that he too is trans, and would try his best to comfort maya, telling her how he's always seen her as a girl, how she should never doubt who she is just because she's not as skilled as her sister or mother. i think phoenix would feel some sense of guilt at this point, as he would feel like he played a part in maya's dysphoria since he was always hoping maya could channel mia again. with this, he would feel very motivated to help her through everything, both because of this guilt and just because he's now very committed to protecting maya. this of course wouldn't immediately fix everything for maya, but phoenix's continued support as they spend their days together would end up pushing her into learning to finally accept everything. over time, she's finally able to accept that no matter how strong or weak her spiritual abilities are, she'll always be a girl no matter what. of course, eventually she does become a very successful medium, but that takes much more time, and gradually freeing herself from her painful dysphoria helps her make it there.

okay wow i typed a lot what the fuck i was gonna write some stuff about other characters but this post is so long uhhhhhh apollo athena juniper trucy ema katherine sebastian adrian jinxie penny and a bunch of other ones i forgot to mention are trans women lol

[uyuforu]

After reading the potential time for marry it got me thinking, is it also possible to see potential children in the chart?

Id love to see their children!!!

Potential Time for Children in JK's Solar Return Charts

It's hard to see children in Solar Return Chart, as it can be tricky, and there aren't a lot of asteroids for it! So let's see!

ೀ SRC 2027-2028: A lot of planets in 5H can indicate having children, so directly after marriage (if he marries that year), he can have a child directly the year after LMAO. 5H being full in a SRC can be the first indicators for children/ pregnancy! He has Sun, Jupiter, Venus, Moon there! And moon rolling women and pregnancy in the 5H, I wouldn't be surprised if that happen. Having the ruler of the 5H in the 5th house is also an indicator, and it is there that year! AND Moon sextile (almost) Mars that year. Gurl. AND Ceres is in the 5H... I got nothing more to say. He would be 30-31 yo.

ೀ SRC 2031-2032: 5H is full of Venus and Mercury there, and it's also got Briede Asteroid there. It could be a desire to make his wife pregnant that year (LOL) or her desire to be pregnant that year! Talking about having a baby a lot too. The 5H in Leo got me feeling like there could be a possibility of getting pregnant or having a child that year! Ceres also conjunct the 5H Cusp! He would be 34-35 yo those years.

ೀ SRC 2033-2034: Moon sextile Mars that year, which is an indicator of pregnancy! Also, Jupiter is in the 5H, it could represents feeling blessed or lucky in this area of life, mostly children. And Pisces is in the 5H despite not being on the cusp. Traditionally, Pisces is ruled by Jupiter! This can be an indicator to have children this year again lol. Pluto is there also, expressing a drastic change in JK's life. He could consider himself a dad from this year rather than an artist or a singer/ performer. He could think more of his family and children more than anything. His identity changes at that time. Ceres conjuncts mars that year too. He would be 36-37 yo!

ೀ SRC 2040-2041: Ceres is in Cancer that year, it can be an indicator, but 5H is empty. Yet, 4H is FULL, literally. So I don't think it's a child indicator, but an indicator of being a year focused on children! Or he would often think how happy he is to have children. Or being with his children would sometimes make him want another one, yet it doesn't seem like he will? He would be 43-44 yo.

-> I'm gonna stop there but it seems like there are 3 Solar Return which are significant for having children! JK will most likely have 3 children!

Thank you for reading!

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[littlejuicebox]

Midwinter Carol 8 / The Scheme

Pairing: Ascended Astarion x Female Elf Sorceress OC

Word Count: 2.4K

Story navigation: [1][2][3][4] [5] [6] [7]

Summary/Setting: Based on the prologue/premise from my OneShot “A Midwinter Carol.” / Astarion and the OC broke up after his ascension. She left Baldur’s Gate for fifteen years, only to return just recently. Following the events of “A Midwinter Carol,” Ascended Astarion has been convinced to pursue a new beginning. Will he be able to change who he has become, with the help of his ex-lover or will he ultimately fall victim to himself?

Preview:

“You’re far too comfortable within our arrangement, darling. Now, simply stand there and look pretty. It’s what you’re best at,” Astarion had finally drawled after a long silence between the two of them, feigning nonchalance at her comment while the white-knuckled grip on his goblet told another story.

Warnings: This will be 18+ / in game spoilers / Eventual Smut / Angst, trauma, fluff / Gore / Violence / PTSD / Astarion’s past trauma

A/N: Took two weeks, but we finally got there! I am going to try to start posting my longfics on a more consistent schedule. Stay tuned for the schedule, once I've figured it out lol!

-----

Delilah loathed people in power. She hated the moneyed patrons looking down their noses at her, always with an air of disgust. The wealthy acted as if they were doing her a favor; as if they weren’t the ones begging for her skills.

The elite she entertained in the brothels might have different kinks, different preferences, and different fantasies that she danced around… but one rule applied to every entitled, powerful individual that purchased her time: they loved to hear themselves talk.

It was quite comical how much her clients would share when they perceived her as an idiot. They often thought her beneath them; nothing more than a glorified decoration, a plaything. An empty vessel to spill their seed into. 

But Delilah was far more cunning than she looked. She wouldn’t have been a whore, if only her circumstances had been different. Her aspirations had always been higher than sex work, and despite loathing people in power, she knew one of them would eventually be her meal ticket out of her situation. 

She was too smart to be a whore and yet too desperate to shy away from any opportunity that came knocking upon her brothel door. 

So when Astarion first spoke to her in Elvish, insulting her in the process, Delilah knew to stay silent. From almost the beginning, she intended to play the long game with the vampire and figured it best to appear ignorant. 

She assumed his goading to be a test. She felt the silver-haired elf wanted to know if she understood his native tongue, though she didn’t quite understand why at the time. So instead of giving any indication she knew Astarion had just called her a filthy whore, Delilah simply smiled and purred a superficial compliment; it was something about how sexy he sounded speaking Elvish.

He bought it. 

After that initial test from Astarion, he would often speak in Elvish when she morphed into Eirianwen’s shape. Most strings of his mother tongue were simply sweet nothings and lamentations he clearly would have preferred to say to the real woman, not the one he paid to portray her. It was tedious to endure the Ascendant as he relentlessly plunged in and out of her body, speaking sappy nonsense as she performed exactly the way he expected her to.

He always took forever to finish.

The ordeal was ridiculous, really. But her suffering proved worthwhile, for a time. It bought her connections to other elites, a new apartment, and — perhaps most valuable of all — pieces of information. 

Over the years, Delilah collected many useful bits  of knowledge from Astarion. The bastard loved to hear himself talk, in and out of bed, just like all the others. She sold some of the lesser information to his enemies and kept the most significant pieces stored within her mind. 

Delilah knew he held the secret to true power – it was etched upon his back — and she wanted it for herself. She spent years assembling pieces of the puzzle and carefully unlocking the vaults of his psyche for that one purpose. It was no easy task. 

But those years passed, and Delilah grew more impatient with the passing of each season. Astarion was dramatic, self-obsessed, privileged, and almost always held an air of missing that stupid sorceress. Constantly soothing his ego became a full time job, and Delilah began to think she loathed him more than she loved his money and connections to power.

Eventually, she thought she would simply convince Astarion to make her a true vampire, cut her losses, and just take those powers as a consolation prize. Her time enduring the Vampire Lord had been more than enough, and she was ready for it to end. She felt she understood why the real Eirianwen left him; if she’d had the means, Delilah would have been gone long ago, too.

But not everyone is a trust fund baby. 

So, one evening, at another party almost identical in theme and guest list to the soirée they’d attended the week prior, Delilah broached the subject of immortality with Astarion. Her frustration quickly rose to the forefront when the Vampire Lord denied her far too quickly, as if he’d considered the option long ago and decided against it. 

“Why not?” she’d pressed, her arm wrapped around his, simply playing the all-too-familiar part of a decoration at his side as they walked about the great hall of some noble’s mansion.

But, even as she asked, Delilah knew the reason: she was a glorified shell in his eyes; nothing more than a novelty item. She was hardly permitted to be in her own chosen form for these parties, or in general, after all. Astarion never wanted to see her as her. He always made her rotate her appearance as his date, instead. She was never supposed to be Eirianwen in public, of course, because imagine the scandal; but she was always some beautiful being. 

Just not herself. 

Among the many strange aspects of the egotistical man she’d tied herself to for years, Delilah found it odd that Astarion seemed to prefer the appearance of rakishness without actually being a rake. Though she suspected he liked the idea of appearing unattached, should the real Eirianwen ever flit back into his life. Idiot.

“I am not currently paying you to speak, Delilah,” Astarion had warned in a low hiss, his jaw tensed as he’d refused to look at the woman holding onto his arm. 

She was in the form of some gorgeous, pouty-lipped, large chested brunette she’d seen while working in Waterdeep years ago. Astarion always seemed to prefer silver-haired dates, so Delilah intentionally gave him anything else when she was particularly irritated with the bastard.

“It’s been half a decade… she isn’t coming back, you know,” Delilah had snapped in response, unable to hold back her frustration after tempering herself for ages. 

Five years had been far too long. 

She’d been attached to this vile man longer than his precious sorceress ever had been and still played second fiddle to a memory. The thought made her insides boil with rage.

Not that she loved Astarion. Absolutely not. But she felt he still owed her something after all this time. Because truly, he was dreadful, and he would have done nothing of note with all that money and power if she hadn’t pushed him in the right direction. Hells, he couldn’t even sleep properly when they first met, let alone play political dragonchess with dignitaries and crime bosses. 

No, the majority of that had been her doing. But of course, in his pride, the Vampire Lord was certain it had been him all along. 

“You’re far too comfortable within our arrangement, darling. Now, simply stand there and look pretty. It’s what you’re best at,” Astarion had finally drawled after a long silence between the two of them, feigning nonchalance at her comment while the white-knuckled grip on his goblet told another story. 

But the shapeshifter knew her value was severely underestimated. She was more than a common whore, more than an attractive escort, more than just a shell of someone else’s form. And after years of catering to Astarion’s massive ego, one would think her other talents would be of value to the Ascendant – at least enough to consider turning her.

Apparently not.

Ultimately, Astarion kept refusing Delilah’s requests for immortality. Eventually, the shapeshifter decided she’d had enough; she would have to find another route to power. 

She’d wasted too much time already.

*

When Delilah first planned to break into the Palace, she knew entering through the dungeon would be most convenient. Waltzing in right through the front door, while potentially possible in Astarion’s form, would attract far too much attention. The servants swarmed him the moment he entered any room. Plus, she suspected her target happened to be in the bowels of the Palace, away from prying eyes – the dungeon would be faster, too.

It would be a quick job – get in, get out, get back to her new boss, get turned. 

She knew the secret entryway into the dungeon was enchanted and required a password spoken in Astarion’s voice. At first, this had been a significant dilemma. Delilah’s shape shifting was flawless, and yet she always failed to adequately reproduce voices. However, thanks to his unwilling donation of DNA at the auction, the woman successfully brewed a potion that perfectly captured Astarion’s haughty tenor. 

One utterance of ���aeterna amantes” later and she found herself in the frigid cobblestone dungeon underneath her ex-lover’s abode. 

She could not help but feel pride for her multiple talents at this moment. If Delilah had been able to afford tuition at Blackstaff thirty years ago, her life would be inconceivably different. Self-study and natural talents could only get her so far, unfortunately. 

Locating the Jathiman Dagger – or “The God Killer,” as it had been called in the texts she read on the subject – had been effortless in comparison to her first trial. The ancient blade was rippling with arcane magic, and Delilah simply reached out to the Weave for guidance. Like a compass, the Weave led her straight to the second hidden passageway in the dungeon, this one much less guarded than the first. And there, behind an illusory wall, was the ticket to her future in the form of a well-worn, rusted dagger.

In truth, the woman thought the weapon that could kill anything from a god to a devil – and certainly a mere Vampire Ascendant, by that logic – would be far grander in appearance than just a simple serrated blade with a leather-wrapped hilt. At first, Delilah worried it was a decoy. But the arcane thrum when she touched the weapon was undeniable; all that was left on her end of the deal was to get back to Lady Lysandra and deliver the dagger. She could leave Edmund to rot if she wanted, Lysandra had indicated him to be disposable in their scheming. 

But standing on the precipice of her future, and try as she might, Delilah couldn’t bring herself to take the final jump and leave the stupid spawn. Not after the time they spent together the past few months. He’d been, over all, a gentleman. And when she finally propositioned him after weeks, he’d never asked her to change into any other form, despite knowing she could… that had been a first for her. 

‘Leave him, leave him, leave him,’ she thought as she made her way toward the secret tunnel leading out of the cobblestoned torture chamber.

And yet, against her better judgment and with half of her mind screaming in disbelief, Delilah stopped just before reaching freedom, tucked the dagger into her robes and began to climb the cobblestone steps of the dungeon. She willingly walked straight into the lion’s den.

*

Finding Astarion and Edmund had been simple; she only had to follow the pained grunts of the vampire spawn and the deranged shouting of her ex-lover. But as she walked in that direction, under cover of a simple invisibility spell, Delilah passed the master bedchambers where she’d laid under Astarion more times than she could count. Out of habit, she glanced into the room and spotted Eirianwen sound asleep, instead of writhing in pain like she should be with Delilah’s poisons working inside her body.

And gods that enraged Delilah. She wanted Astarion to suffer in the worst way, to watch the only person he ever seemed to love be tortured beyond belief, lose motor function, and eventually die after a long, chronic battle with the side effects of Delilah’s concoction. 

He deserved it, and by extension, Eirianwen did, too. She made him what he was, after all. 

But how was this possible? 

The knowledge-seeker in the shapeshifting woman decided to take a quick detour, temporarily ignoring the tortured cries from Edmund in the next room. He was strong, surely he could endure for a mere moment longer as she examined the sorceress, she thought.

After a quick study of Eirianwen, Delilah notices the ring on the sorceress’s blackening hand and realizes it's the flimsy golden band that’s protecting the woman. She remembers the auctioneer toting the magical abilities of the rings Astarion ultimately paid far too much for. 

But Delilah doesn’t dare touch Eirianwen to try and remove the ring. The newest potion coursing through the elven woman’s system had been a rush job; Delilah was not certain how potent the paralytic was or if it would transfer to her, another living being, via touch. It’s why she’d had Edmund carry the bottle around at the party, just in case there had been a mishap; her necrotic concoctions were much less potent on the undead, but on the living they were always particularly nasty. 

A flurry of curses on the other side of the wall, followed by more vitriol from the Vampire Lord, all coming from the space next door she knows to be Astarion’s office, finally rips Delilah from her thoughts and pushes her forward. She doesn’t have a plan. She really did not expect herself to risk her neck for this random spawn. 

Delilah morphs into Eirianwen’s form, mangled hand and all, and slowly edges her way toward the office. At minimum, she can distract Astarion and hopefully Edmund can break away with a bit of her assistance. He’s certainly strong.

When Delilah turns around the corner, she quickly realizes, much to her dismay, that any hopes of saving Edmund are gone. Astarion is crushing the other vampire’s skull in with one hand and plunging something into the man’s chest repeatedly with the other. Splatters of blood are sprinkled about the office like stars in the night sky. The man she’d spent months scheming with, fucking, and for whom she’d idly considered killing his master for once she achieved her goal is lying limp and mangled underneath the Ascendant. 

Edmund is gone. And the realization elicits a genuine, horrified scream from Delilah. In that moment she realizes that perhaps she actually cared for him… as much as someone like her could care about anyone. When Astarion’s eyes snap to her, Delilah forgets she’s in Eirianwen’s form and runs.

Before long, the woman recollects herself as the silver-haired elf shouts down the hallway, calling after his precious Ani. She turns to look at the Vampire Lord, her face filled with hatred, and misty steps as far as she can away from him, back toward the dungeon entrance on the lower floor. Delilah was supposed to leave the murder of Astarion Ancunin to Lady Lysandra… but she just decided that she changed her mind. 

She was going to kill Astarion in his own home, and she was going to savor every delicious moment as he watched the woman he loved stab him to death. 

-----

A/N: Special shoutout to a reader, @lil23akira for absolutely calling this! I love that you were able to pick up on all my foreshadowing. And thank you to @leomonae and @tallymonster for reading this and providing feedback as I worked through what was the most difficult chapter to write thus far.

[sneezemonster15]

Found this message under the post that I reblogged today, just below this one.

Like lol. This is why I say - People who don't get SNS don't get the story. They don't get the sentiment behind the story, they don't get the messaging behind the story, they don't get the themes, they don't get the tropes, they don't understand narrative. But most importantly, they don't have the capacity to feel what Kishi wanted to make his readers feel. FEEL.

FEEL

If you truly understand the story, you simply cannot deny SNS. It's a love story. Full stop. It's not a matter of interpretation, it's just a fact. Whether or not you approve it. That's immaterial. Your inane theories don't cancel out the actual narrative that unfortunately most people in this fandom just don't understand or want to understand despite having been told.

At the end of the day, that's what it's all about isn't it? That's what the story is geared towards, that's why the author wrote it the way he did. So that he can convey what he wants to convey with visuals, dialogues, tropes, panel placement, editing, sound effects etc. The ingredients that make a story. And all of it combined gives you the experience any piece of art or audio visual story is supposed to give you, that's how you judge that piece of art. How impactful it was, how detailed it was, how meaningful it was and why, what kind of effort went into it. What does a piece of art make you feel? What does it make you think?

And this is what fans like these who write shitty anti SNS posts don't understand. And don't bother to. People, I suspect from western countries who see everything in the world with their very limited worldview and eurocentric lenses, don't know why shinjuu is considered to be the zenith of expression of love. It's not just in Japan, its concept is quite popular in South East Asia as well. Popular stories, I grew up listening to these stories. To die for each other and with each other is the ultimate expression of love, it's spiritual, it's not for funsies, it's not because it's so darkly romantic. It's meaningful and significant because it's the only way for the said lovers to be with each other in a world that won't let them be together while they are alive. It's rejecting the ways of the world and subverting its rules by defying them in this way. If the world will not allow this love in life then in death. But be together, they shall. That's what it means. It's an evolved sentiment, you need to be up there to get it. These are all layered stories where the said lovers/characters have other obligations as well, they have their own worldly burdens to carry. Like for example, in Love suicides at Amijima by Chikamatsu, which is one of the inspirations for this manga, the man is already married. He has a wife and kids. He is a businessman whose business isn't doing very well, he is under debt but he needs to gather enough money so he can pay out the owner of the brothel where the woman he loves works, so he can be with her as he is meant to be. But he doesn't have it, and his wife knows about it, she knows about this other woman that her husband loves but she carries out somehow. She is written as a sympathetic character. So is the man, so is his lover.

Not everything is black and white, nothing is black and white. But people, especially of a kids' target group, are only shown media with black and white margins. A thing is either good or bad. No nuance. No critical thinking. No curiosity. No redressal. No need either.

Toxic ex bf shit. Lol. Ex bf shit I get hehe.

But toxic? Lol. Like people in this fandom simply loooove to put everything in its convenient little labels without understanding anything. They have no understanding of the character, character arcs, character traits, their motivations, their goals, their belief systems. But right at the top of the queue when it comes to criticizing them. Like nicely done. Lol.

Love is not rational. Emotions aren't rational. Emotions are multi dimensional, they are complex. These fans are used to watching Netflix chick flicks and rom coms and naturally, measure everything by that yardstick. They don't even know about the very significant and important cultural element such as double suicide or shinjuu which is very much a part of the romantic literary imagination of the Japanese public. And public from other Asian countries too. Fans don't understand what kind of obstacles people face in these countries, what with their identities and their values and monolithic social structures they operate in.

Only today, I was told by the admin that as long as I am part of their organization, I can't write anything problematic about the govt on any platform, can't even breathe about it, not even in jest, not even refer to anything negative, can't attend protests, can't speak at rallies, cannot document and publish them, can't write anything subversive, can't put pictures, nothing. Doesn't help that my own socio politico cultural identity already makes me a target in my country. But I can't even seek redressal because for that I will need to talk about it and the moment I do, they will put me behind bars. Heh.

People in such situations are vulnerable in a thousand different ways. But you have to know about them before commenting on them. If you are from a different culture or background, at least do something to learn more before commenting. But such decided fucking statement from these aristocratic elites, it's like a decree. They have said it and it's a line not to be crossed, or else they will harass you. Won't pay attention to useful stuff but would get primed to fight in an instant. So silly.

At least show some curiosity man, if the writer has taken such pains to write it, he must have been thinking something no? Nothing comes out of oblivion. This is simply common sense. But no, they would rather spew cheap, ineffective venom but won't move a finger to learn.

Toxic is what Sakura does to Sasuke. Who doesn't pay attention to his wishes, comfort, his dreams, his past, his goals. All she is concerned about is herself and WANTS a yes from Sasuke, no matter how he feels.

Naruto did everything to understand Sasuke. When Sasuke yelled at Naruto with pain and frustration in vote one, about how he doesn't understand what Sasuke went through, loss of his entire family and clan in one fell swoop by the hands of his own brother, so he won't understand why Sasuke was doing what he was doing (going to Oro and jeopardizing his life). And it makes Naruto stop in his tracks. He is devastated but he tries to understand. He spends the entire Shippuden understanding him.

This is after Pein arc, when Tazuna and Inari come to visit him in Konoha and help rebuild it (but like we all know who did the most of it, psst Yamato lol). Naruto lost Jiraiya in this arc, so he understood how Sasuke felt because losing Jiraiya was like losing family, and Naruto didn't have one to begin with. This is the import of this scene here. You can see it in the flashback.

This is Kage arc, on the bridge. Naruto was just visited by Obito who told him the truth about the massacre. So he understands Sasuke's motivations. He is clearly saying it. Sakura wonders what he is talking about but doesn't care to know still. She still went to assassinate Sasuke with a piss poor strategy. Naruto was ready to lay down his life for Sasuke in the same scene where Sakura tried to stab Sasuke in the back.

Lol. I am sorry but you don't understand what toxic means. Obviously. You also don't understand what love means. You just don't. You can't control love, it's a feeling. You cannot rationalize love. You just feel it. And you know it when it's reciprocated. In Sasuke and Naruto's case, it's both sided. Why else do you think Sasuke gave up his life for Naruto is land of waves arc when he didn't apparently even like him?? Why did he cushion Naruto's fall when he himself was half dead during the fight with Gaara? And why would he monopolize the right to kill Naruto when Obito expresses his intent to kill Naruto and Sasuke shields him? So no one gets to kill Naruto except for him? Naruto is his to save and his to KILL? Call that toxic too why don't you? Toxic ex bf shit. Lol.

Naruto's love for Sasuke is so impactful, even emotionally inept characters such as Sai are inspired, it changes their direction in life, their goals. What toxic man? How is this toxic?

Look how Naruto looks when he talks about Sasuke. Look at his passion, look at his reasons to love Sasuke. Where are Sakura's reasons to love Sasuke? There's none because Kishi didn't write it, said it would look contrived lol. And he is right, Sakura's character doesn't gel with it.

If you love someone, you must know the reasons no? Sasuke knows it, we see it when he is dying in land of waves arc. And we see it in Naruto's case as well. No one accepted his existence like Sasuke did, he was Naruto's friend, the bond they have is unlike any other. Tell me what's so toxic about an orphan relating and resonating with another orphan? What's so problematic about him trying to protect him from bad guys? What is so toxic about how deeply he feels for him? Especially when he KNOWS Sasuke feels equally strongly for him too? How do you connect with people? Don't you look for an intersection where you both just connect? Sometimes, it just happens. These days, people call it vibin I guess? Lol. Tell me what's so toxic about finding a kindred spirit that you can confide in? Or would you rather prefer someone like Sakura who doesn't understand or even attempt to understand what it means to be in Naruto and Sasuke's shoes? She dismisses Naruto's feelings, she dismisses Sasuke's feelings, doesn't even care to know. She realizes Naruto has had a hellish time in Konoha given he is a jinchuuriki, but does she improve her behaviour? Sasuke tells her multiple times that he thinks very lowly of her, she doesn't understand his feelings or goals, she is still the same and still cannot see anything beyond her own nose. She is annoying because she doesn't change despite Sasuke trying to make her understand. But does she change? Hell no. Still keeps pestering a clearly disinterested, disengaged Sasuke. Now THAT is toxic.

What's so toxic about Naruto finding relief in finding someone like himself in a village where there's no one else like him? Isn't this how people meet? Connect? That common thread? Because Naruto knows by instict that Sasuke, being an orphan and alone, will understand Naruto like others won't. Like I said, it's a matter of feeling. What's toxic about finding someone similar like you by the grace of which, you want to establish some connection? It only reflects compatibility and mutual understanding. What's so wrong with that?

Look at the second panel. Naruto looks so soft, so introspective, so loving when talking and thinking about Sasuke. He never thought he would have a bond like that, he never thought he would meet anyone who he would relate to so much, he, an orphan who never had the advantage of people understanding him or caring for him, which he finally found in Sasuke and Iruka. Why wouldn't he wanna protect him? Why wouldn't he love him? What's stopping him exactly? What's so toxic about him wanting to be like Sasuke? So that he can feel like Sasuke's equal, so Sasuke won't dismiss him. Naruto was insecure at this time but he is not some monstrous manipulator people think he is. Like fuck, what do you expect him to do? So just because you cannot place yourself in his shoes, and won't even attempt to even though Kishi puts so much emphasis on it, you get to mischaracterize him? That's just immature. Like I feel sorry for you. You missed out on so much. Naruto is someone who is strategically written as the underdog that we are all supposed to root for. Which means his character is written to evoke sympathy and wring the most melodramatic emotions from the readers so as to get them even more invested in this story. If you came out thinking Naruto is the bad dude, you clearly didn't get this story and you clearly don't get storytelling, doesn't matter if you approve of Naruto's character or not.

Naruto loves Sasuke and he would go to any lengths to save him. Just like how Sasuke did in land of waves arc. Just like how Iruka protected Naruto in chapter two. That's what Naruto knows. Loving someone is protecting them to death. No matter what the consequences. That's what he knows from his context and that's what we understand by reading this story. He would rather remain a fool but not give up on Sasuke.

As long as you see everything through your little, limited, juvenile lenses, this is what you will get from media. Explore, learn, talk to people, listen to them, do your own research and thinking and then come to your conclusions. How else would you understand anything?

Y'all Sasuke lovers are fucking dumb I gotta say. You should be happy for Sasuke that he has someone like Naruto to love him and care for him. (Ending not considered, since it's just fuckall anyway, a high pricetagged bandaid. It's contrived, a deus ex machina'ed ending.) Just like Naruto stans should be glad that he has someone like Sasuke to love him and care for him. You don't get Sasuke and Naruto stans who hate Sasuke, you don't get Naruto.

People who deny or criticise SNS, sorry but you don't get love. Not the feeling or its expression in stories and media. You don't know romance tropes, you don't know cultural elements, you don't know how other cultures see and understand love. They say everything is fair in love and war don't they? It's meaningful, it didn't come out of oblivion.

This story is about love, the point of this story is that true love is bigger than entire nations and all the restrictions and limitations it puts on you. That's why Naruto chose Sasuke over Konoha. This is not rocket science either, if you were paying attention rather than concocting your headcanons, you would have gotten it too. But it's much too effort isn't it? And more than anything else, you don't wanna break your circle of joy/mutual wanking bubble by acknowledging their love. How else would you project and self insert?

Sasuke and Naruto both love each other madly and deeply. It's mutual, they fuel each other's feelings and hence actions, that's why their feelings are so big. That's why they feel so righteous about it, because they know that the other person feels it too.

People do crazy shit for love. My aunt absconded with a man who worked for her father, my grandfather. He was much lower in class and status, these things mean a lot in some societies. They make or break relationships. So my aunt knew my grandfather will never allow it, neither will the society. So they absconded and lived a miserable life, without much capital or any connections. They were ostracized from society. Absconding with someone is a taboo of the first order. Not even their own parents talked with them. But they stuck together through thick and thin. He got a brain tumor but she nursed him through it while looking after the kids. She was so devoted to him, that you wouldn't believe. He relapsed some time ago and this time the cancer was terminal. She devoted herself to his care again. Her daughter, my cousin used to tell me: My parents love each other more than they love us, their children. They only have eyes for each other.

Hehe. And it's true, I saw it. In fact, I always felt a little uncomfortable with them in the same room, it used to make me feel like I wasn't needed there. They were so focused on each other.

You underestimate love because you have never felt it. Not everyone is equipped or capable of loving like Naruto and Sasuke. But have a heart man, you can understand it if you just removed those homophobic and dumbass cobwebs from your eyes.

[deepseafoamdiver]

I'm just going to blast out some mystical thoughts here as I've seen people talking quite a bit about this stuff in AAA.

Like we have the "black heart" which has appeared in different contexts, seemingly pointed at Rio and Billy. Or Billy not drinking in the house when everyone in the coven was supposed to. Or whether Sharon counts as a member of the coven at all. Etc.

I think what is being missed here, comically, is that this is magic(with a k, if you like). It isn't science, despite what the early MCU tried to say, or even how the 'sorcery' of Doctor Strange has been systemitized to the point that he and his cohorts largely just shoot sparky lasers, and whip sparky laser whips, and open sparky laser holes. This isn't even D&D style spells, where the variety is there but it is still just an encyclopedia of effects a user can cause.

The "black heart" has no intrinsic meaning. Whatever it has(significance, power, purpose) comes from what is ascribed to it, both within the story and with the audience. When Lilia wrote it down, who did she mean? Assuming it was Billy, Agatha took it to mean Rio. Rio is a black heart that beats for Agatha, Billy's boyfriend texts him a black heart, Lilia writes a black heart. They are all true, one does not supersede the other.

Same with the exact nature of the coven. The coven is a group of women witches who band together. Our group bands together but also includes a non-witch and a man. But they are all part of the group and sing the song and walk the road and do the trials.

As Agatha said(in a derogatory manner, lol) in the latest episode, it is subjective. Magic is an art and a craft, not a science ruled by laws.

Lilia has the gift of prophecy and knew/knows/will know/has known of her own death since she first got her gift. Despite the predestination trap, she still chooses to flip that card and flip that Tower. It might seem paradoxical to say she has seen how she dies and yet she still has a choice in the matter but that is magic, baby.

Everything has meaning when it is given meaning, the Tarot means nothing until it means everything. Agatha has been a queer character long before she explicitly set herself apart from a "straight lady".

Rio is Death. She is a Black Heart who climbs out of the grave of Mrs. Hart. And yet she is a Green Witch whose name can be roughly translated to "River of Life".

Magic and mysticism is sea of floating signifiers, it is the magician's, the wizard's, the witch's job to find meaning by giving meaning.

[buckybarnesss]

I was literally thinking about all the fics where Stiles is like "and then Derek pushed me around 🥺" like... Derek did the steering wheel thing because Stiles made him STRIP FOR A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD BOY.

I started to read an article that opened up by criticizing the "physically abusive sterek ship" and backed out immediately, like you people need to remember that the show exists and that is not based in reality.

Pack mom Stiles.... gah. Stiles would never help Isaac with his homework. Derek would!! But Stiles? Hell no.

Stiles is literally a fucking creep. He walks around telling everyone that he loves Lydia. He has no boundaries. I love him that way. He's a snarky little asshole who would definitely just show up in Derek's apartment one day and Derek would be like "how did you get in here?" And then Stiles reveals that he pretended to be a doordash driver with a delivery and then picked the lock on Derek's front door.

fun fact my url before this one was creeperderek. i am fond of that url. he of loitering at tree lines and creepily disappearing into shadows in the boy's locker room for no fucking reason.

stiles does have a lack of boundaries and really intense anxiety about the people he cares about.

he listens to the police scanner regularly and monitors his father's diet due to his intense, almost uncontrollable anxiety about his father. he's terrified his dad will die and has an intense fear it will because of him.

all of that of course stems from his mother's death when he was so, so young and how claudia in her cognitive decline blamed stiles and accused him of trying to kill her.

this anxiety also extends to scott and melissa to various degrees due to their significance to the stability of his life for so long and why he's irrationally scared to tell his father the truth despite knowing if the sheriff understood what was really happening it would help more than hinder.

than there's other things like how he has a copy to the key to the mccall house that melissa isn't aware of and it's made pretty clear that stiles took the imitative. scott didn't give it to him.

scott doesn't seem all that bothered by this but scott is one of the few people who knows and mostly understand stiles. they live in each other's pockets. scott would be oddly touched but also be like bro what in the fuck? because really, stiles what the fuck?

people find that fucking weird and creepy.

it truly wouldn't surprise me at all if stiles had a copy of the loft key and derek knew he did and said nothing about it because these two are weird little freaks that probably have frequently creeped on each other.

we do get indications they speak outside of what we're shown. two little maladjusted bastards sharing one brain cell to creep on each other.

if stiles showed up in derek's loft derek probably wouldn't even be surprised. in fact he'd tell stiles he took longer than expected, peter did it better and he sucked.

it's so funny that fandom developed the idea that derek sneaks into stiles's bedroom all the time via the window and we literally never see this. it never canonically happens. though it's not said how derek got inside in wolf's bane so maybe a window but frankly i find it more plausible derek just, you know, broke in the house via a door.

putting a read more on this because i had a lot to say lol

stiles and lydia. ooh boy.

sentiment within fandom swayed a lot on these two and i've seen the common argument that sterek fans don't like stydia as a paring because it's not gay, or something to which i say lol no. i, personally, don't ship them romantically because for like 2 seasons stiles didn't see her as person and she mostly ignored his entire existence.

he fixated on lydia in the 3rd grade which would've been around the time claudia declined and than passed away. he held onto that crush tightly, put lydia on a pedestal making her more into an ideal than a person.

there's moments where we see them genuinely connect but there's so many scenes between the two of them until like season 3 that are cringe and uncomfortable. my main issue is that lydia never really says much about it either.

it's like until she becomes a real girl to stiles her position doesn't matter even when we see her be uncomfortable or weirded out around stiles.

we actually do see stiles and derek develop boundaries with each other. stiles uses derek to literally queerbait danny in wolf's bane. both derek and danny seem to realize this as it occurs and derek pointedly, purposefully retaliates with violence which isn't great but it makes it clear that derek is not okay with what stiles did and a line had been crossed. s2 has derek also indicate to stiles it's not okay to touch without permission.

remember the finger tippy taps stiles's gives derek when boyd dies? that's stiles having learned derek's physical boundaries over 3 seasons so that he is able to offer him comfort in a awful, terrible moment.

in conclusion derek and stiles aren't abusive and it's odd people latched onto that idea. they're abrasive assholes to each other and lack boundaries in the beginning because their maladjusted people for various reasons while also just being two little freaks about each other.

[ramjam]

i just know you're cooking up something crazy with the jericho stuff

maybe i will talk about it. i just haven't been too in-depth about my theories because being potentially catastrophically incorrect about this would be SOOOOO embarrassing LOL but i'll put my foot in the ring here. i wanted to wait until i caught up with the new episodes to see how the anime adapted the scenes but i'm bored, so.

the idea that's been floating in my brain almost since those chapters dropped is that she's under some kind of mind-manipulation. we do know arthur has that capability, he's been using it to control the people he makes work for him.

since the main villain is literally "chaos", choosing to use her as a tool in such a traumatic and destructive way like this would just make a lot of sense. and could serve a lot of purposes for arthur. theory is a bit long so it's going under the readmore.

i'm currently under the belief that he warped her mind this way for one (or all) of these possible reasons.

to generally just cause chaos. it's implied that jericho and lancelot were investigating the chaos knights and this would be an insane way to get back at her/mess with her life for it.

to push lancelot away from guinevere. he may be aware that lancelot and guinevere's fates are connected to each other. he wants guinevere for her power, he can't let an opposing force connect with her.

arthur may believe that fighting this lancelot guy is crucial to his own destiny and goals in some way? so he did something to cause him to hate him. he acts quite smug about this when they first meet officially. it seems like he's asking a question he knows the answer to. more-or-less indirectly saying, "yeah. i did something to piss you off."

arthur didn't know that lancelot was one of the four knights, but he recognized his name and had a strong reaction to it. he's also seen his face before, but didn't connect that significant name to this boy. maybe it's because jericho's future vision of lancelot is explicitly really, really feminine (interesting choice, nakaba...) he looks nothing like lancelot, basically.

you could say he's just aware of him because of jericho, but this response comes across like the name has importance to him, and not just simply him recognizing lancelot as jericho's former student. hearing "lancelot" nearly stopped arthur in his tracks. this is before arthur officially abducted guinevere, too.

i'm under the belief that arthur was clued into the fact that guinevere has been searching for lancelot-- she's been doing this for years, investigating at random trying to find him by her own words. if arthur has been tailing her, there's no doubt that he'd have heard lancelot's name come up.

okay please stick with me i have to do a brief analysis on her introduction with guila in order to elaborate on my point here.

something else that i believe supports this is the fact that during guila and jericho's introduction together in the sequel, guila's mini-arc with gowther was brought up for the first time since chapter 168 of the original manga. ie: when she was brainwashed to love gowther for his own selfish experiments/motivations.

throughout the series, guila and jericho tend to parallel each other a lot. even when they're separated, their arcs often coincided. in the end of the original manga, it concluded with their epilogue being "together." their introductory scene in the sequel put heavy focus on the fact that they parallel each other. the way they couldn't land any hits on each other because they know each other's bodies and movements so well.

despite jericho being full villain mode, she still didn't want to hurt guila. there was a softness here. she refused to harm her unless guila did first, she gave her many chances to leave so it didn't have to come to that. jericho is lancelot's teacher, older sister, and supposedly in love with him. but her introduction is all about her fated connections with guila and the care she has for her, even when she has to face her as an enemy.

if jericho's relationship with lancelot was truly meant to be genuine, i feel like nakaba would've introduced jericho in the sequel by fighting lancelot instead, and not guila. but he doesn't. we have this multi-chapter fight with heavy emphasis on her relationship to guila and the way they always find each other again after falling apart.

two sisters-in-arms, fire and ice, forever linked together. her fight with guila is actually a direct callback to her introduction with fighting ban in the prison, too. which is um... an interesting comparison to make, all context considered.

the title of this chapter refers to the sudden reveal that guila managed to master some kind of body horror ability with the latent demon power she has in her. but in my opinion, it refers to both of them. so how has jericho "transformed" in such a way that can be directly compared to guila's shape-shifting?

and despite the significance behind the plot-twist with jericho and lancelot, the databook that released doesn't reflect this at all. jericho's main quote here is when she's speaking to guila. the japanese text is the line she's saying in the panel i'm adding alongside it. the line nakaba chose to represent 4kota-jericho is her telling guila that she'll be forced to kill her if guila isn't backing down. nothing to do with lancelot at all.

(guila's quote on her databook page is when she tells jericho that she has a duty to uphold as a holy knight, so she can't back down. they're directly speaking to each other. just to further emphasize this.)

meanwhile, the panel about loving lancelot is a tiny blurb. not even her personality description mentions it. it's just kind of a side detail. ultimately, she's still being centered around her dynamic with guila, like she always has been. i think this detail is fascinating and important.

anyways, jericho also had a really sudden shift in personality the moment lancelot entered the scene and touched her, like it triggered something. i'm really curious to see how the anime handled her voice-work at this moment.

circling back to the gowther situation being randomly brought up. the fact that jericho was being more like her old self (although a bit villainous, like her arc one personality) with guila and then having a sudden personality change when lancelot engages with her, reminds me a lot of this.

(edit: i'm dying, i forgot the punchline of this scene was that jericho became disturbed since she knows guila has no men in her life besides her little brother and couldn't think of anyone she'd be referring to. more emphasis on how jericho is very much not for predatory behavior.)

in the original series, jericho's presence seemed to have temporarily disrupted gowther's brainwashing, only for guila to suddenly have this insane shift in demeanor the moment gowther appeared again and she was forced to question her memories. this is also the first time the audience is clued into the fact something is deeply wrong here. it's so similar that it's difficult to ignore.

this panel in particular when guila first brings up lancelot reminds me of guila's reaction when jericho questioned her about how she managed to survive unscathed. like their true memories were getting mixed up after suddenly having to question reality.

kudos to my friend ren for this next observation: guila and jericho have also strongly paralleled hendrickson and dreyfus respectively as early as the original manga. guila suddenly having demon powers is a reminder of that. if you recall, an aspect of hendrickson and dreyfus' dynamic is the fact dreyfus ended up being a corrupted figure in power because he was having his mind tampered with in an extremely similar way.

so not only is jericho's current situation possibly reflecting what happened to guila before, it may also be further connected to dreyfus.

in regards to what i mean by the "shift" in personality: before lancelot directly makes contact with her, she's still in her smug-battle state.

the chapter where this reveal drops is called "a burning, freezing heart" which still draws more connection to her dynamic with guila than lancelot. the title is very much a reminder of their relationship-- especially after that huge focus in the battle where jericho froze guila's fire-- and not really necessarily about lancelot at all.

despite lancelot showing up-- this boy she supposedly loves-- her focus here is on guila more than anything else initially. her dialogue here in japanese is less "no hard feelings [from me]" and more her asking guila, "please don't hate me for this." but once he engages with her to save guila's life... something shifts.

there's even this notable focus on her gasping at the contact. all attention on her delicate relationship with her friend and partner shatters in an instant.

nakaba also visualizes this by having lancelot touch where the brand arthur left on her body is. and now all of a sudden, her demeanor became wildly different. it feels unnatural.

especially with the entirety of jericho's character in mind. she's exceptionally good with kids, acts as an older sister to both zeal and lancelot. one of the films also dedicates a scene to how good she is with children, when she's on patrol with guila and they encounter some kids playing in the street. she's an honorable knight with a strong moral code.

the two-parter movies also back this idea up, in my opinion. they take place about a year before the sequel manga begins. jericho is still watching over lancelot from a distance and behaving like her usual self.

nakaba could've used this point in the movie to set-up the whole "secret admirer weirdo" thing, but instead it's just her being the cool level-headed sisterly master that she was to him. sometime between then and now, she was taken in by arthur as a chaos knight and began to act a lot differently.

the one-shot has a moment that i feel serves as a red-herring for this plot point. out of context, you'd think it supports the idea that her words to lancelot are 100% legit and serious. in-context, it's not inherently weird and even elaine says so herself after the fact. she's literally just doting on him. lancelot only initially interpreted it as weird because he was just told the same thing by someone who had ill-intent with him. i think this scene exists to create doubt.

not to mention the fact that if jericho had been harboring these feelings for the three years they were spirited away, lancelot would know. he's a fairy, he can read hearts. he does it a lot, almost constantly using it so he's clued into everything around him. lancelot was doing it in that scene i just posted, too. he would've known. but he had no reason to suspect this was supposedly happening.

because it... probably wasn't! this is likely a new development manufactured by arthur for some villainous motivation, to create tragedy and conflict. this is not jericho's first run-in with being dragged into a cult and manipulated to behave in ways that go against her moral codes. she's a professional at this point.

the reason jericho up and left lancelot (if the version she tells turns out to be a fabrication) remains a mystery. i think it's possible it had something to do with his well-being. especially if she was looking into arthur, and we know arthur was aware this mysterious lancelot guy is a detriment to his goals with guinevere. i think it's possible she also could've made a deal of some kind but things got out of hand and she became a pawn, kind of like what happened to her in the first series.

if i'm wrong i'm going to be so embarrassed that i jump into traffic.

[austinslounge]

As funny as this article is, I do think someone close to both Austin and Kaia is sending info in. It's always very specific compared to other media outlets. Also L&S pretty much pulled a reverse uno card here by stating the two are pretty much having problems and it's not getting better. Despite that poor attempt at damage control last week. Where all the media outlets, mainly Page Six, were gushing about their "romantic" date night. Where was the romance? LMAO.

So basically what I got from that article is Kaia maybe has finally come to terms with reality. Austin is checked out. Nothing she tried to do all summer kept him interested. Now she wants this relationship to end. She wants to be single and free to go out, without everyone thinking she's cheating on Austin. Which is valid. She's 23 years old. She doesn't need to be tied down to Austin.

Austin flat out doesn't want to date Kaia anymore, as it's been stated in multiple L&S articles. That's been obvious all year.

Couples therapy may have been a solid option for Austin and Vanessa. They were together 8 years. Austin and Kaia? Nope. Just break up.

Cindy never seemed to be a fan of Austin. Especially with the way she talked about him with Andy Cohen. We all know how Presley feels about this relationship lol. I would actually applaud Kaia if she told her mom to shove it and broke things off with Austin. Cindy sounds like a terrible mother. Her kids are so screwed up. Pushing marriage and couples therapy on your 23 year old daughter? Almost makes me feel bad for Kaia.

Girl -- All of this! 💯

I totally agree with everything you said here. It's so obvious what's going on atp.

Austin flat out doesn't want to date Kaia anymore, as it's been stated in multiple L&S articles. That's been obvious all year.

Exactly! Body language does not lie. And there's been nothing that we have seen with them this year that screams "happy and in love" as a couple. I was even telling a Tumblr friend in my DM's just today that Austin has seemed checked out of this relationship all year.

Couples therapy may have been a solid option for Austin and Vanessa. They were together 8 years. Austin and Kaia? Nope. Just break up.

Thank you! Couples therapy on a couple that's only been dating each other for 2.5 years? 🥴 I said in one of the comments section that couples therapy I can see for a married couple, or maybe a couple that's been dating each other for a significant amount of time. But a couple that's only been dating for 2.5 years? No way.

It's time to move on.

I'm sorry, but if Austin is already losing interest like so many of these articles are saying, then it's only going to get worse. If he's already lost interest 2 years in, his interest is not going to get better.

Kaia needs to just go and be a 23 year old and be single for a while. Or, just go date a guy closer to her own age. She's so young. She is looking like she wants to live the single life tbh. 👀

Cindy never seemed to be a fan of Austin. Especially with the way she talked about him with Andy Cohen. We all know how Presley feels about this relationship lol. I would actually applaud Kaia if she told her mom to shove it and broke things off with Austin. Cindy sounds like a terrible mother.

Yea Cindy sounds crazy if this article is true. 🤪 I almost feel sorry for her kids tbh.

And yea, Presley unfollowing Austin is sus. And he still hasn't re-followed him back.

[misshoneyimhome]

Okay okay I’m thinking, our angel boy had a big heart and a dense brain - plus he’s Swedish and as a person who has lived in Stockholm for a while moving from North America…getting those boys to a point where you are dating and finally saying the first “I love you” feels like a million years compared to Canadians! So maybe you’re like on the edge because like duh he’s who you see as your life partner and you know I’m your bones you love him but you still haven’t said it after being like 5 months in so you just casually drop it one night lol rip the bandaid off, what’s his reaction? Dealers choice bby😚

Alright, so I was in the mood for something overly candy-cane sweet, and perhaps something that could maybe be close to reality? (I have no idea, but let’s roll with it) 😅❤️ Let me know if this was akin to what you had in mind bb 😉 otherwise, I may have another idea for it

➼｡ﾟ

Three Little Words I William Nylander

One significant aspect that truly appealed to you about your boyfriend, William Nylander, was his serene and easy-going nature.

He hardly seemed bothered by much, perhaps apart from his affection for his dogs, and his relaxed attitude had a way of influencing those around him.

Yet despite adoring this quality about him, it reached a point where it began to frustrate you. While you knew you were in a committed relationship, somehow the weighty words remained unspoken.

And you longed for hearing those words.

Deep within your heart, you acknowledged your love for William. Love. Not mere fondness, not adoration, nor simply enjoying time together - love.

But it was a great phrase to vocalise. At least, for most people that was.

Five months into your relationship, you were desperate to express those sentiments. Yet, for some peculiar reason, a part of you hesitated. Maybe a part of you wished for William to be the first to utter those words, to openly reveal his commitment to you.

Yet, silence prevailed. He said nothing.

William, however, didn't dwell too much on these thoughts.

He simply found immense joy in being in a relationship without an overly dramatic girlfriend, one who'd spark a quarrel if he didn't head straight home after a match or text her constantly while on the road. No, you were different, and he cherished that about you.

You stood by him no matter what, and nothing ever seemed to set off any alarms.

William had been with several girls during his late teens and adult life, but none of those relationships endured. His hockey career consumed much of his time, causing many women to grow weary of his lifestyle. Consequently, he refrained from fully committing when entering new relationships.

However, when he noticed that you weren't easily intimidated by his bustling lifestyle, he immediately felt the urge to keep you close.

And there was no reason for concern. William had captured your heart almost immediately, and you were completely devoted to him.

_

So tonight, you made a mental resolution to test the waters a bit.

During one of your usual date nights on his day off, you had planned to watch a movie together on the sofa after dinner. And this seemed like the perfect opportunity to express your feelings, but it turned out to be more challenging than anticipated.

Throughout the evening, the mere thought of opening up made you incredibly nervous, yet William seemed oblivious to your inner turmoil.

He carried on discussing his training, his preparations for the upcoming match, and how he had honed his skills. His enthusiasm for hockey was endearing.

Initially, he refrained from sharing too much, not wanting to overwhelm you with technical details and descriptions you might not care about. But over time, you had conveyed your enjoyment in listening to him talk about it. Hockey wasn't just a hobby for him; it was his lifestyle and an unfiltered passion to the core. And you simply couldn't help but be captivated whenever he delved into it. His eyes sparkled like Christmas lights, and his words spilled out in sheer eagerness.

It was nothing but adorable.

And as you sat together on the sofa, earnestly trying to focus on your boyfriend's conversation, your mind raced, grappling with how to articulate those three significant words.

Yet, no conclusion emerged.

"Shit," you murmured quietly under your breath.

"What's up, babe?" William asked curiously, but you just shook your head and responded with a sweet 'nothing'.

And after William finished sharing his story, you both switched to watching a movie, settling on the sofa surrounded by your favourite snacks.

The movie was captivating, and soon both of you were engrossed in it. However, when the film's plot touched upon a romantic scene, your initial plan resurfaced.

Summoning a deep breath, you geared yourself up to speak. 'Just get it over with,' you urged yourself. And with William focused on the large TV screen, you softly blurted out, "Willy, I love you."

It felt like a rush of emotions surging out of you as the words left your mouth.

And William was slightly taken aback.

It was a combination of your unexpected choice of words and the abrupt interruption during the movie that left him speechless.

Your expression radiated nothing but sincerity and concern as your eyes searched for any indication of his feelings towards you.

You could almost feel your jaw tightening as he remained silent, his eyes locking with yours for what felt like an eternity, though it was only a few minutes in reality.

But suddenly, he broke the silence.

"You what?"

His tone held neither disgust nor excitement.

"I love you," you repeated softly, this time with a touch more confidence, realising that the words were out and there was no retreat. You felt your body gradually relax, standing by your spoken words with a certainty, irrespective of William's response.

"Babe," William began slowly, "I love you too..."

His voice carried tenderness, yet his facial expression remained inscrutable.

The movie's sound filled the room as both of you sat in silence, eyes fixed on each other.

You studied William's face intently, struggling to interpret his expression, or rather, the absence of one. He maintained a stoic, serious look, but his demeanour seemed calm and nonchalant as always. 

"Do you?" you asked tentatively, prompting a slight shift in William's reaction.

A gentle smile appeared on his face, accompanied by a soft chuckle. "Of course, why wouldn't I?"

His response left you somewhat confused.

"Well, I just didn't know that you did..." you admitted, feeling puzzled by his excessively relaxed reply.

"What do you mean? We've been dating for, like, 4-5 months... you practically live here, and we talk all the time," he grinned broadly.

"That doesn't automatically mean you love me, Willy," you retorted, almost defensively, which only amplified his laughter. "It's not funny! I need to know how you feel."

"Is that why you've been so nervous lately?" His laughter grew louder.

"Well... yeah, maybe... I wasn't sure where we stood, and I wanted to express my feelings. I just didn't know how," you admitted, caught between feeling frustrated by the situation and relieved that it didn't seem to be a significant issue.

"Babe, of course I love you – I know I haven't said it, but that's because I thought you knew..."

His statement took you by surprise. He thought what?

"Willy, darling, how am I supposed to know how you feel if you don't tell me?" you asked, with a nervous grin, causing him to rub his neck as he considered your point.

"I guess... I don't know," he shrugged.

"You do realise I can't read your mind... right?" you lightly chuckled.

"Well, maybe that's a good thing, you know," he joked, shifting his body slightly to draw you closer. "But I do... love you," he added softly, before elaborating. "And I'm sorry if me saying it first meant something to you, but... I've been in relationships on and off for years – and every time I said those words, they'd get all excited... yet a few months later, they were gone anyway. So, I guess I just stopped saying it... in case it wouldn't last."

As William expressed his true feelings, a sense of relief washed over him, leaving you slightly puzzled by his unexpected deep confession.

In fact, you hadn't really considered his perspective on this issue before, but now it all began to fall into place.

"Good," you softly expressed, feeling the weight lift off your shoulders. "And for future reference, please clue me in on what's going on in that head of yours, so I won't be a wreck for weeks," you playfully pleaded.

"Seriously? You've been thinking this over this for weeks?" he chuckled.

"Well... maybe," you grinned. "But that's not the point. What matters is that you promise to share whatever's going on in that sweet little dense brain of yours, no matter what it is."

William couldn't help but smile, his eyes fixed on you, a subtle lick of his lips indicating his amusement.

"Well, maybe, for what I have in mind right now, it's better if I show you instead," he suggested, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.

You couldn't resist a chuckle. "Seriously? I was being romantic, and then you bring in your kinky fuckery," you teased, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, of course, you declaring your love – that's sexy, babe, and now I've got to show you just how much I love you too."

Once more, a gentle sigh escaped you as you chuckled at your boyfriend's words, and tenderly, both of you closed the distance between you, meeting in a heartfelt kiss.

[jenniferscigarette]

Jennifer Jolie headcanons because she deserves way more love

(I’ve had these headcannons for a while. More to come too. In my world, Jennifer lived and just decided to stay hidden due to fear. But knowing Jennifer… eventually was caught seen somewhere. PROBABLY at her own retrospective lol)

Ps: I’m also a huge Galifer shipper..just saying

Jennifer’s fellow co stars don’t take her seriously at all. Most people she works with all think she’s out of her mind and that she’s a complete goof. In fact, because of their slightly significant age difference, Sarah Darling would sometimes poke at and tease Jennifer for being the young starlet she is, by talking to her in a condescending tone. Everyone treats her this way for shits and giggles, and also because her reactions and outburst are always funny to watch. Jennifer also has the habit of trying to look big and mighty in front of more famous and experienced actresses (like Sarah Darling), and puts herself on a pedestal because she’s been in both Stab films.

Jennifer’s love language is physical touch. Platonic and romantic. If she likes someone, she can’t keep her hands off of them. She’s all for holding hands and clinging to a person’s arm. She does it so much that sometimes, she won’t even realize she’s doing it.

Jennifer has a huge tank of guppy fish in her living room. She remembers to feed them every day. She loves taking care of her fish, but she did a horrible job when she was younger. In fact, it felt like her parents were replacing her fish almost every week.

Award pt 1: Jennifer’s desire to win an award comes from the sacrifices she’s made to become an actress. She needs something physical that’ll prove everything she’s done hasn’t been for nothing.

Award pt 2: Jennifer has an empty trophy case, so when she does win an award, she has somewhere to put it.

Despite being in the Stab movies, Jennifer hates getting scared and avoids horror movies like the plague. Even acting scared makes her scared (does that make sense)? And because she’s such an easy scare, that gives people the perfect opportunity to mess with her. People hide behind doors and pop out at her all the time, and somehow she’s never prepared.

Talk shows adore Jennifer, because she can talk anyone’s ear off. She can chat her little life away, but she knows how to keep a conversation interesting. 

Jennifer believes in superstition and is so serious about it. If you walk under a ladder or cross a pole with someone, she’ll make sure you’ll never hear the end of it. 

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

I'm bored again so let me take it out on you once more. You've gotten me into my Spider shipping era and for that I curse you with some Spider ships content (note that this is literally off of the top of my head with no thoughts or edits lol):

With Kiri it's like coming home. They don't enter a relationship so much as settle into the one that's been steadily growing between them for as long as they can remember. Kiri is his endlessly loyal rock, the person who stands by him more than anyone in the world. All she has to do is look at him to understand the thoughts running rampant in his mind. And Spider is the person who listens to her. He's the first person she told about her moments with Eywa---really told, in detail. He's the person who sets everything aside just to spend time with her. Her best friend, her fellow weirdo. Spider has no problem listening to her rant on and on about the plants and animals of the forest and how each living thing feels like it has its very own spark. And Kiri has no problem filling him in on all he feels like he's missing without the ability to connect like a na'vi. Kiri will take him on pa'li rides and give him detailed descriptions of what's going on in the pa'li's head because Spider loves getting to know each individual one. Whenever Kiri losses herself in Eywa, Spider will hunker down and wait for her to come back to him. There is nothing but understanding between these two. Nothing needs to be said.

Lo'ak and Spider are bros. Partners in crime. They do everything together and somewhere along the way they both realize that they can't imagine a world where they're separate from one another. This is quickly followed by the fear that the other might not feel the same (or definitely doesn't). Spider, who's pretty used to the feeling, goes on as normal and accepts this realization that Lo'ak may mean more to him than him to the other. For Lo'ak, however, this manifests in constant fights as a form of self-sabotage. By the time Kiri has had enough and tells Spider what the hell is going on Spider is about ready to take a running leap off of a cliff.

Loving Neteyam hurts. I mean, all love hurts, but there is nothing quite as painful as the love Spider feels for Neteyam. He loves him in the way he pictures humans loved cigarettes. Breathing in all of the toxins and feel-good chemicals at the same time with reckless abandon, knowing it won't end well (loves like this never do) but doing it anyways. It's like playing with fire. Neteyam is the oldest son of two of the most influential na'vi to ever grace Pandora. He's the future olo'eyktan, but it's more than that. He is the future of his entire clan. What would the clan think if they knew he was sneaking around with Spider? Spider doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want to dirty Neteyam's reputation. Neteyam deserves something better than the limits of Spider, and Spider thinks that everyone around them would think so too. Maybe even Neteyam thinks that. But despite all of that, despite knowing that he isn't worth the loving looks and touches, Spider soaks it up eagerly. Because Neteyam is perfect. Not in that he has no faults, but in that he never gives up until those faults make up only a small portion of him. Every now and then it will occur to Spider that he just might be one of these faults. At this point he doesn't know which one of them is the cigarette anymore.

Rotxo is affectionate. Beyond affectionate, Spider comes to learn. Spider's never been been huge on pda, sure, but he still enjoys showing his friends affection and figured that whenever he started dating that he would, like, hold hands with his significant other or give them passing pecks on the cheek or something. Small things like that. Rotxo cranks this up to a thousand, though. From the moment they meet up in the morning to the moment they go their separate ways at night his boyfriend is all over him. He latches onto Spider's hand like it's the most natural thing in the world, leading him around Awa'atlu as if he might wander astray if they aren't connected. Whenever they're sitting he'll cuddle up to Spider despite the obvious size difference, and Spider would be lying if he said it wasn't reminiscent of a large, cuddly puppy. Whenever he's excited Spider receives a million pecks through his mask or an enthusiastic hug or both. Rotxo will babble on for hours when they're alone with Spider in his arms or listen attentively when Spider talks, all while their legs are twined together. When he's sleepy he'll rest his head on Spider's lap and just. . . pass out, company be damned. Rotxo is full of love and affection and Spider didn't realize how much he wanted that until he came along. God, he loves this boy.

Ao'nung is. . . a challenge. Hot and cold. Yes and no. He's happy one moment and hates you the next. What do you want?, Spider often finds himself thinking. What are you afraid of? But he's nothing if not persistent. Years of existing in the background of other people's lives have taught him to listen and observe. So he does. And Ao'nung, he soon discovers, is not unlike a skittish yerik. Suspicious, defensive, and quick to react to anything that sets of his (for lack of better word) sensitive trigger. Spider never thought he'd find someone worse at communicating their emotions than himself (well, himself and pretty much all of the Sully men) or someone who can be more insecure than Lo'ak but boy was he wrong. It doesn't matter if he's sad or guilty or frustrated, Ao'nung's response is the same in all scenarios. Lash out. And it isn't healthy, not by a long shot, but Spider isn't going to give up. He used to not understand what people like Jake and Norm meant when they referred to just knowing their partners. Knowing not just them, but what they want and need and think. And it doesn't happen overnight for Spider, either, but eventually he stars to know too. When Ao'nung asks Spider if he wants to go for a swim he's really asking do you want to talk?. When Ao'nung clenches and unclenches his fists, he wants to hold Spider's hand but is wondering if Spider would be annoyed if he did. When Ao'nung's pupils dilate and his lips twitch up the tiniest of bits, he's happy to see Spider (and probably missed him). He likes it when Spider plays with his hair but hates it when he points it out. He likes swimming, sure, but he especially likes to just lay floating on his back. His prefers fruit over fish, actually, because he has a major sweet-tooth. His favorite color is orange. Sometimes when they're walking on the beach he'll stand still and let the seafoam creep over his feet and laugh for some reason. And this, Spider knows, is only the beginning. There will be a time when, just like Jake or Norm, he'll be able to look at Ao'nung and know everything.

Tsireya is a breath of fresh air in Spider's life. Eager to learn everything about him. Eager to speak with him and eager to get to know the human parts of him. She takes to his hair the first week they start hanging out, playing with it and trying to style it in various different ways. Your hair is fun to braid, she tells him. She listens attentively while he tries to describe the plants and animals and places on Earth that the scientists have told him about and shown him pictures of. She loves both learning about English and trying to speak it. Sometimes he'll catch her mouthing various English words with a smile on her face like she's proud that she knows them. Humans have a lot of Sign Languages, Spider tells her one day. She perks up so fast he's afraid she might've pulled something and begins to bombard him with questions. He only knows the signs that Debra, a deaf xenolinguist, taught him when he was younger but Tsireya doesn't care. She wants to learn them and it becomes their thing. They've created a code of their own using the limited asl signs he knows. Her favorite thing to say in English is I love you, and she says it every chance she gets. Her favorite thing to sign in asl is I see you, and it's broken asl with zero grammatical accuracy but it means the world to him. I love you, she'll say. Then she'll sign I see you. And for once in his life, Spider never feels like questioning it.

And that's all I've got rn folks.

I have been letting this ask MARINATE because I knew I would feel all the feelings you sweet sweet anon. But, I have class for ninety minutes rn and I don't give a shit about American Literature before the 1800's so let's go.

-God, I love spiri, I know we focus on other pairings here but they really are perfect for each other and I'm so excited to see where their relationship goes in the future. I think I'm just gonna get more into it. It really is just a foregone conclusion for them. I love the idea of her just explaining everything he's missing because she knows even if he feels a little bit of jealously or feeling left out, he'd rather bond with the animals and know everything he can. It's like her strong connection with Eywa is there some of the times to help make up with him, and he is there to ground her when it's needed.

-LOL I love that we all accept Lo'ak and Spider as the clowns. They are too similar not to fuck up along the way. Even if they aren't soulmates we have been slacking on them being platonic soulmates.

-THANK YOU GET ON BOARD THE NOCORRO PAIN TRAIN. The way I literally have teared up in the back of class reading that, like it is 9:43am sir. I might really be in my nocorro era they are my FOCUS rn. The secret relationship just fucking hurts. The idea that Kiri and Lo'ak don't even know sucks too, because when Spider is taken Neteyam can't show his feelings about it too much. Kiri can cry, Lo'ak can rage, Tuk can be confused and wonder why they would leave without him. Neteyam just feels like he failed, and he can't do anything about it, not even share his feelings.

-Okay, I needed the Rotxo reprieve. Spider needs casual affection. Tuk and Kiri are always tactile, but Rotxo didn't grow up with him, or any humans. Him being all over Spider is a Spider thing. It's because Spider is different, one of the people. It's because he's him. Rotxo's just a sunny little guy and everyone loves being around him lol. Him just dragging and carrying Spider around all day like, worried he'll loose track of him is hilarious.

-Ao'nung and Spider is the trickiest Spider rarepair for me, I'll be honest. Ao'nung liking Spider is a hard image for me to come to rn, just because of how much he bullied the Sully kids for being part human in the beginning and how we have yet to see a major change or apology yet. I also struggle with Spider not holding a grudge over the Kiri bullying and the Lo'ak almost murder. Of course, I do think he's changed and he's going to be a loyal ally in the upcoming movies, but I don't see them starting off on a great foot. There's plenty of potential comedy there, but I feel like I like the idea of a clumsy apology from Ao'nung to Kiri and Lo'ak before Spider would take him seriously. Spider has very few friends, and like Lo'ak I think he's extremely loyal. I mean he did almost die and withstand torture for his friends many times. Ao'nung would have to give a LITTLE something. ALSO WHO IS NORM IN LOVE WITH I GOTTA KNOW, IS IT HIS BOYFRIEND AM I GETTING THE AGENDA THROUGH??

-AWW, I love asl mentions so much and I totally agree Tsireya and Spider both love learning more than any of the other kids. They could spend hours (sometimes with chronic third wheel Kiri) in the sea or in the forest exploring and studying various plants and animals, practicing the signs for each one. Norm and Max have NEVER had more field studies in their lives, and Norm jokes he would have hired Spider if he hadn't been there already through nepotism. Spider's in the medical mauri with Tsireya all the time, teaching her things he learning from spending time with Mo'at and Kiri and learning things in exchange. Ronal pretends to be annoyed with them every day but Spider has long since learned she doesn't actually mean it.

Thank you for this food, fav anon. This was delicious.