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carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory · 4 years ago

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How I Became an Archaeologist

If you had told me when I was 15 that I would spend my life as an archaeologist, I probably would have been pretty surprised. I didn’t grow up knowing a great deal about archaeology or even being fascinated by arrowheads. At that time, I might well have asked what an archaeologist really is and what one actually does. I did get to visit the Parthenon and other ruins while on a trip with my aunt when I was sixteen. Even then, I don’t remember having more than a casual interest in what could be learned from these places. I was more interested in the living people and the new food dishes I encountered on that trip, which was my first trip outside the United States.

From talking to other archaeologists, I’ve learned that there are a lot of paths to deciding archaeology is going to be your life’s work. In my case, what led me to archaeology was anthropology, and specifically an elective course I took in the Fall of my senior year in high school that was taught by a Ph.D. student at the University of Massachusetts. Until then I had not been a serious student, although I did well enough in school. Perhaps I was slightly bored by most of my courses, but anthropology was anything but boring! It looked at people elsewhere in the world and over great periods of time. Many of these people lived different lives than my friends and I did, and they sometimes thought very differently about what was important in life than people here in the United States. I was fascinated, and, honestly, I particularly liked the fact that the conventions of American society, which to my teenage self were sometimes a little confining, weren’t after all the only sensible way to approach life. That year, as I chose a college to attend, I specifically looked for anthropology programs. I chose Beloit College in Wisconsin, which to this day has an excellent anthropology program.

Initially, I thought that I was most interested in cultural anthropology, but like most anthropology departments in the United States, Beloit required its anthropology majors to take courses in biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and archaeology as well as cultural anthropology. These are what are known as the four fields of American anthropology and together, they give us a more complete picture of humans in both the past and the present. Most people focus their careers in one subfield or another, though we recognize the importance of each one for understanding humans, and in most cases in North America our degrees are in anthropology not one of the subfields. In college, I found all these courses more fascinating than anything I had studied before, and I actually became a good student as I explored anthropology. I was learning so much neat stuff! I also did volunteer work in the Logan Museum at Beloit, which was founded at the end of the nineteenth century and holds some pretty amazing ethnographic and archaeological collections. It was there I first became interested in artifacts and learned to clean and care for them. After a college internship in cultural anthropology convinced me that cultural anthropology was not the most interesting part of anthropology after all, I began to focus on archaeology. I was most intrigued by my courses in Mesoamerican archaeology and North American archaeology, which before college had been completely unknown to me.

When I graduated from college, I still wasn’t sure what I would do with my life. I worked for about two years both in social work and as a tax auditor for the IRS, but decided in 1974 to try graduate school in archaeology because I still found what archaeology had taught me about past people compelling. I lived in Chicago, so I enrolled in the Ph.D. program in North American archaeology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

My graduate self in the late 1970s. Photo credit: Phillip Neusius

The biggest shock of graduate school was my professors’ almost immediate insistence that I pick what research I wanted to do. They pushed me to develop an expertise or skill within North American archaeology through my research. It sounds obvious to me now, but I think many beginning graduate students are like I was, lovers of the discipline’s knowledge, but a bit daunted by becoming an independent researcher. Developing an area of focus and specialty skills is part of becoming a professional archaeologist. One reason for this is because contemporary archaeological undertakings rely on teams of researchers, each contributing special skills and knowledge to accomplish the many aspects of excavation, analysis, and interpretation. If you envision archaeology as the solitary pursuit of an elusive artifact or site, you don’t have the picture quite right. Think instead of archaeological fieldwork involving groups of scientists working together to discover and carefully record many different bits of evidence about what the world used to be like and what people did in it. Also think about the many hours these scientists and others will spend not only in the field, but in the laboratory after an excavation is completed cleaning finds, describing artifacts, and analyzing data in order to make meaningful interpretations.

For someone like myself, who loved all aspects of anthropology, not to mention archaeology, and who had only gradually settled on North America as my geographic focus, picking a focus on entering graduate school was a hard task. There was so much that would be interesting to study! However, I did remember especially enjoying a research paper I had done in college on the relatively new interdisciplinary field of zooarchaeology, so under pressure, I told my professors I wanted to pursue this subfield in graduate school. Amazingly, this turned out to be a good choice of specialization for me. I found that I really love to work with collections of animal bone. For me, opening a bag of bone refuse from a site still is exciting. Bone identification work is a little like doing a jigsaw puzzle without all the pieces. It is challenging, and it takes concentration and careful observation to piece together what you can. There is so much to figure out about any single piece of bone! What animal is it? How healthy was the animal? What part of the animal’s body is it? Has it been burned or cut? How was the bone buried and changed after the humans were done with it? Then you have to record this information so it can be combined with other observations on the assemblage of bone you are looking at. After identification, making sense of what a collection of the bones means and correlating these kinds of data with other information from a site and region requires careful analysis, but also insight and creativity. To me it is endlessly fascinating.

Besides finding that I liked the work, choosing zooarchaeology was also serendipitous since my professors were looking for a student to work with them on this aspect of a big project they were undertaking in west-central Illinois centered on the Koster site, which was first inhabited more than 9000 years ago and then reinhabited by people right up into modern times. Most importantly the poorly known Archaic Period levels were numerous, well-preserved, and distinct from each other so we could add a lot of new information through our work. For my dissertation I was able to look at the animal remains from levels of this site dated between approximately 8500 and 6000 years ago, which represent how people used animals at that time.

Koster site strata. All those dark layers are from Archaic period camps at the site. Photo credit: Del Bastian, Center for American Archaeology.

Graduate school was intense, but I continued to be fascinated by archaeology’s ability to tell the story of people lost to standard Western history. In those days I was excited to be part of this science that could do so much more than describe and take care of cool artifacts. It was a heady thing to learn that I could contribute to what was known about people who lived thousands of years ago. In later years, I’ve had to think more critically than I did then about what a privilege it is for an archaeologist to learn about the history and lives of other ethnicities. Today’s archaeologists recognize their responsibility to present information about past people for both scholarly and public use in ways that are sensitive to what is considered sacred and private by the descendants of those people. I think this is an important change in perspective, but in the 1970s most archaeologists just wanted to show that people’s stories from the past could be told using the techniques of archaeology. I certainly was happy, if a little naively so, to have found a way to contribute to telling the human story.

If I consider entering graduate school as the start of my professional career as an archaeologist, I have been pursuing this career for more than 45 years! Over the years I have done zooarchaeological and archaeological work in the American Midwest, Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast working on telling the story of people who lived as long as 9000 years ago and as recently as the Sixteenth century. I’ve worked at several universities, in a small museum, and on small and large archaeological projects in the field of Cultural Resource Management (CRM) doing archaeological survey, site excavation, and zooarchaeological identification and analysis. I’ve written scholarly papers and articles as well as a textbook on North American archaeology. However, beginning in the late 1980s, I spent more than 31 years doing research and teaching anthropology and archaeology here in Pennsylvania at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In this job I taught both undergraduates and graduate students, but, as is typical of university professors, I also spent time doing fieldwork and analysis as part of my research while at IUP. Fortunately, because archaeology is a team undertaking, I’ve been able to involve many students in my research. Working with students in research as they discover what fascinates them has been a highlight of being an archaeologist for me. I’ve now retired from teaching but not archaeology. I’m still working with both physical and digital archaeological collections both through CMNH and elsewhere and writing about archaeology. Who knows what this career still will bring me!

Drawing a profile at the Johnston site with one of my students in 2008. Photo credit: Erica Ausel, IUP Archaeology.

Tracking down a bone identification with one of my students in the Zooarchaeology Lab at IUP. Photo credit: Beverly Chiarulli.

If you are reading this blog because you are thinking about archaeology as either a career or a hobby, I hope you realize that mine is just one story among the many that could be told. Because there are so many aspects of archaeology, people come into it from all sorts of backgrounds and because of all sorts of interests. I think that it is important to remember though that it really is about understanding people and telling their stories through the artifacts and other evidence we find. This is what interested me in archaeology in the first place. Discovering the details of the human story is a giant undertaking. There is no shortage of research problems or work to do, but solving the puzzles presented by sites and collections is both challenging and fun. I’m certainly glad I decided to become an archaeologist and zooarchaeologist so many years ago!

Sarah W. Neusius is a Research Associate in the Section of Anthropology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Definitions of Bolded Terms

anthropology -the study of humans including the physical, cultural and social aspects in the past and present.

cultural anthropology - the study of the cultural aspects of humans especially recent and contemporary social, technological, and ideological behavior observed among living people.

biological anthropology – the study of the biological or physical aspects of humans, including human biological evolution and past and present biological diversity.

linguistic anthropology - the study of the structure , history, and diversity of human languages as well as of the relationship between language and other aspects of culture.

archaeology - the study of past human behavior and culture through the analysis of material remains.

ethnographic – relating to the scientific description of people and cultures especially customs and beliefs.

Mesoamerican archaeology - the archaeology of the area from central Mexico southward through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica.

North American archaeology - the archaeology of the area from central Mexico northward throughout the United States and Canada.

zooarchaeology – a subarea of archaeology involves the identification of animal remains from archaeological sites and investigates the ecology and cultural uses of the animals represented.

assemblage - a collection of artifacts from the same archaeological context.

Archaic Period - a time period from approximately 10,000 BP to 3000 BP that is recognized in most of North America.

Cultural Resource Management (CRM) – an applied form of archaeology undertaken in response to laws that require archaeological investigations.

archaeological survey – the systematic process archaeologists use to locate, identify, and record archaeological site distribution on the landscape.

#Carnegie Museum of Natural History #Archaeology #Zooarchaeology #Archaeologist

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iclaimedtobethebetterbard · 3 years ago

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WAVES AT U . OK this has nothing 2 do w/ the ask u sent me 4 my birthday but it reminded me that I had a question 2 ask. I have had this question for AWHILE I just kept forgetting and wasn't sure how to explain in a way that made sense, but we are just going to go for it.

If you are assigned male at birth and shapeshift into a body able to get pregnant, would you be able to get pregnant? And would you be stuck in that body like Janus was when she got pregnant?

I HOPE THAT MAKES SENSE? I just want to know if your birth sex had any like control over how getting pregnant works and stuff. You put a lot of thought in2 ur shapeshifting & i dont get shapeshifting at all in like... every thing I've ever seen, it has just never made sense to me AT ALL. So I like that you put a lot of thought in2 it. :)

Also, somewhat related, is there a specific time that people get their powers? Or do they have it always? I've seen you talk about when Patton gets his powers and stuff, but is that the case for everybody? Like could you have a shapeshifting baby inside of you and would that affect your pregnancy?

ALSO ALSO COMPLETELY UNRELATED does janus' clothes shapeshift w/ them or is it just his body that changes? Like Camilo in Encanto, his clothes shift with him which doesn't make sense to me at all like how does that even work. Where do his clothes go. Why do they change with him. If someone with similar powers shapeshifted into a naked person, where did their clothes go???

:D :D :D yay i love questions!!

yes! the assigned sex at birth of a shapeshifter has no impact on the limits of their shapeshifting abilities. all shapeshifters have the ability to shapeshift into bodies that can get pregnant (at least, once they get old enough for their body to do that—the younger a shapeshifter is, the smaller the range of ages they can make themself appear as), and then they have the ability to become pregnant. and if they do get pregnant, then they lose their shapeshifting powers until the pregnancy is ended in one way or another.

people usually get their powers sometime between the ages of eight and twelve! anything younger or older than that would be a-couple-times-in-a-generation levels of rare. and the large majority (like probably 80% or so) of people get them somewhere between nine and eleven; eight and twelve are surprisingly young and surprisingly old, respectively, for powers to manifest. so patton was very young when he got his powers (the fact that both his biological parents have powers probably impacted this in some way, but idk for 100% sure yet exactly how the genetics of powers works, so *wavy hands of "don't think about it too hard lol"*). logan, who was twelve when he got his powers, was pretty old for it. and then virgil, janus, and roman all got their powers at more usual ages, janus and virgil both at age 10 or so and roman at 11. so, babies and small children do not ever have powers, and if you don't have powers by your teens, it's basically guaranteed that you don't have them at all.

normal clothes do not shapeshift! just the shapeshifter, and then whatever clothes they were already wearing would still be there. it is a major inconvenience for most shapeshifters. however, logan worked with janus to invent a shapeshifting fabric, and janus's supersuit is made of that, so it can shapeshift with them! and janus probably has a few pieces of regular clothing made of this fabric too, just for convenience's sake. logan has not made the formula for this fabric publicly available, but he will make supersuits out of it for any shapeshifter that contacts him, for a pretty low fee.

#peregrin answers #peregrin said a thing #if you're going my way i'll go with you #ghasper tag!!#iygmw lore #<- new tag!!

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teacupfulofstarshine · 5 years ago

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LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP: CHAPTER 9

cw: anxiety, swearing, panic attack, injuries/scars

chapter 1 // chapter 2 // chapter 3 // chapter 4 // chapter 5 // chapter 6 // chapter 7 // chapter 8 // read it on ao3!

wordcount: 8909

Thomas does not get paid enough to deal with this.

Realistically speaking, he’s the one in control of his own salary. He makes the budgets for the house, he decides what Virgil’s rate of pay is (at least for the work he does in the lab; his art commissions are something else), he decides how the grant money they receive is dispersed. He’s the only one he has to answer to in terms of payment.

Statement revised: Thomas does not pay himself enough to deal with this.

Roman stares expectantly at him, gesturing at the mound of smoking, sparking, stuttering metal Patton has just dropped at Thomas’s feet. Thomas nudges it hesitantly with his foot, and it throws up a shower of sparks that has him and Roman leaning back quickly.

“What is it?” Roman asks.

“It looks like a piece of trash.”

“It’s not a piece of trash!” Roman snaps indignantly. “Well - I mean, it’s trash now , but it‘s not actually trash! It’s some weird metal fish that was stalking us, so we killed it! So tell us what it is!”

“How the hell should I know?”

“It’s human technology! You’re a human!” “Not all humans can identify every single piece of technology on sight, Roman! Especially when it’s just been destroyed by a merman with a vengeance!” Roman frowns at him in apparent disappointment, but Thomas just rolls his eyes. “It’s essentially a piece of garbage right now.”

“It’s important garbage, though!” Roman’s tail spines poke out a little indignantly. “It almost attacked me and Dad!”

Patton’s voice echoes from the ocean and a curve of iridescent blue arches up alongside the boat. “Okay, okay, it didn’t outright attack us. But it was clearly planning to! Look at it!”

“It just looks like a mangled pile of scrap.”

“But it’s important!” Roman stresses again. Thomas resists the urge to facepalm and roll his eyes. Roman does have a point; finding something like this roaming around the open ocean is abnormal. It doesn’t look like any aquatic research drone Thomas has ever seen, but there’s nothing else it could be.

Is there?

“We have to go home now,” Thomas says. “We have to get this fish back to Logan so he can eat, and we have to analyze this whatever-it-is and figure out what it wanted from you. Are you riding home or swimming?”

“Swimming,” Roman says. He looks offended that Thomas would even consider him riding on the boat. Like an eel, he slithers over the railing and disappears into the ocean. Thomas sighs, kicking at the hunk of smoking metal on his deck, and then disappears into the cab. He pulls the radio off the wall and clicks it.

“Doctor Sanders paging Virgil. Come in, Virgil.”

The radio crackles, squeals out a harsh blip of static, and then Virgil’s voice comes in, worried. “Doc? What’s wrong, are you okay? Is everything okay with Roman and Patton?” Thomas can hear Logan making an assortment of strange noises in the background that he assumes is some sort of concern for his family.

“Roman and Patton are fine, don’t worry. We found something disturbing while they were hunting, so we’re on our way home. We have plenty of fish, it’s gonna be okay, but . . . but there’s going to be a lot of work to do when we come home.”

Virgil exhales heavily. Thomas can picture the way his hand is shaking, the way he’s gripping the hem of his shirt and twisting it around to try and calm his nerves. “I . . . okay, okay, Doc. I’ll get Logan situated and prep the tanks to move Roman and Patton into the lab.”

“Prep a large sample bag, too.”

“How large?”

Thomas squints at the smoking pile of wreckage on his deck. “I’d say . . . leatherback sea turtle or bigger.”

“What the fuck did you all find out there?!”

“Nothing good. We’re on our way back - meet me on the docks.”

Virgil disconnects from the radio, presumably to go and have a panic attack while ranting anxiously to Logan and pushing large carts around the lab, and Thomas makes his way over to the controls. A long, iridescent blue half-moon of tail curves up out of the water, followed by a few more as Patton circles around the boat before settling on the left side. Thomas revs the boat engine and makes his way home.

He stares out over the open water, watching as the fuzzy stretch of mainland on the horizon begins to gain clarity, letting his mind wander. If Roman and Patton hadn’t found that robot and destroyed it, would it have followed them home? Did it come from the same source as the net that trapped Logan on their beach? Would it have found its way into the lab and attacked Logan? Attacked Virgil?

Thomas’s fists clench tightly on the wheel of the boat. He takes a deep breath in, lets the stinging salty air filter in and out and take all the negativity roiling in his brain with it. There’s no point in speculating on what-ifs, as he’s so quick to remind Virgil. Roman and Patton did sense the danger of the robot, and they did dismantle it before it could attack. They’re safe, for now, and Thomas will do his damnedest to make sure they stay that way.

He still remembers what Virgil was like when he first came, all sharp edges and spite wrapped like a spiky cocoon around a curious, intelligent, artistic mind to protect it. Thomas had taken one look at him, hanging back after the rest of his class to ask questions and correct an error that no one else had spotted, and known that he would do anything to protect him. Seeing the way he’s grown now, matured into an intelligent scientist in his own right, Thomas couldn’t be prouder than if Virgil was his biological son.

He won’t let anything happen to Virgil, or to any of the mer. He refuses.

The rest of the journey passes in a blur of seawater and suspicion, until Thomas is pulling the boat up just shy of the rocks that guard the entrance of the grotto. Roman pulls up alongside the boat, poking his head out. “Dad wants to know what the plan is.”

“Head into the grotto with your dad. I’ll dock the boat and come down with Virgil to bring the two of you into the lab with Logan, okay?” Roman squints suspiciously at him but nods, disappearing back into the water. Thomas waits for the squiggles of Roman and Patton beneath the water to disappear into the distance before pulling towards the dock. A purple splotch waits on the docks, pacing anxiously back and forth along the edge. Thomas glides easily into port, killing the engine and throwing the mooring lines towards the dock.

Virgil ties the boat off anxiously, darting aboard before Thomas has even lowered the gangway properly. “What happened?” he demands. Before Thomas can answer, his gaze lands on the pile of metal wreckage Thomas had hoped to hide between the piles of fish. “What the fuck?!”

“It was following Roman and Patton around when they were hunting. Roman got suspicious and stabbed it, and then it started smoking. They asked me what it was, but I don’t know, not without further testing.”

“I don’t like this,” Virgil mutters, rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet. “I don’t like this at all. I don’t like this, Doc, this whole thing just reeks of someone looking for something they lost - I bet they’re looking for the net, since we deactivated the GPS, which means that they’re looking for Logan, too -”

Thomas reaches out and grasps Virgil’s shoulder. “Breathe,” he says. “Roman took the robot out quickly, so even if it was transmitting somewhere, they got very little evidence. The GPS was disabled when Roman took it out. The closest they got is a general location somewhere close to where the net they lost was originally deployed.”

“That’s still close to us, though,” Virgil says. “It’s close to our stretch of beach - they know we’re around these waters frequently, they have to, and this is just another nail in our coffin -”

“Virgil!” Thomas grabs both shoulders and wrenches him around to look at him. “You’re catastrophizing. You have to take a deep breath and count for me, okay? Come on. It’s okay. It’s okay, I’m right here. Nothing is going to happen as long as I’m around to prevent it, so take a deep breath. Come on, here we go . . .”

It takes longer than normal to get Virgil’s breathing back under control, but Thomas waits patiently until he’s breathing regularly. “There we go.”

“Sorry,” Virgil croaks.

“No need to apologize, or I’ll have to shove you into the sea. Come on, we gotta get this fish back to Logan so we can get Roman and Patton out of the grotto.”

They decide eventually that Virgil will go and fetch Roman and Patton while Thomas brings the fish and the robot remnants back into the lab. Virgil disappears down the docks, and Thomas begins loading as much fish as he can reasonably manage into a cart. The robot parts he loads into a separate bag, slinging it over his shoulder before leaning against the cart and grunting until it starts to move.

When it finally grinds to a halt inside the lab, Logan jerks his head up from where he’s apparently been falling asleep on the table. “Virgil?” he calls, squinting in confusion.

“Not quite,” Thomas laughs. “He’s gone to get your pod from the grotto. I did bring you food, though! I’ll be over there in just - nngh! - a sec -”

Thomas likes to think that he has a decent about of muscle on his frame. He’s not built, by any means, but he’s decently strong from hauling lab equipment around and working the boat machinery. He’s beginning to question his own strength as he struggles with the fish cart.

He drops the bag of machine parts on a nearby table as Logan sniffs at the air, leaning forward and snatching a fish off the cart. Thomas watches the flash of bone-white teeth as Logan leans forward and sinks his teeth into the fish’s flesh. He looks ravenous, tearing through one, two, three fish rapidly before finally slowing down around his fourth. Thomas opens the bag and starts laying out shards of metal and circuitry, inspecting them critically.

“What’s that?” Logan asks. “More fish?”

“No,” Thomas says, too distracted to pay much attention to Logan.

“Something’s wrong,” Logan says, setting down his half-eaten fish. “What is it?”

“Your pod,” Thomas says, turning away from the scraps. “While they were hunting -”

“What happened? Dad, Roman, are they okay? Where are they?” Logan bristles, and little lines of blue electricity begin to crackle along his arms.

“They’re fine,” Thomas says, raising his arms to calm Logan. “Virgil is bringing them in from the grotto right now. While they were out hunting, there was a fish that aroused Roman’s suspicions. He stabbed it with his spines, and it turned out to be a robot. Virgil and I have to analyze it more, but it’s suspicious, certainly. Especially given where and how we found you.”

Logan frowns. “But they’re alright?”

“Yes, Logan. Everyone is fine.”

“Logan!” Roman calls. Virgil staggers into the lab, Roman draped around him like the world’s heaviest, bitchiest scarf, and Logan relaxes instantly when he hears his brother’s voice. Virgil unceremoniously dumps Roman into the tank set up near Roman’s lab table and turns around to go and retrieve Patton. Roman reaches up and takes Logan’s hand, pressing his wet head against Logan’s upper arm.

“Thomas says that you encountered a strange and unusual creature in the water?”

“I killed it before it could hurt me or Dad, don’t worry.”

“You can’t kill something that isn’t alive,” Thomas says.

“What do you mean, isn’t alive?”

“I mean, this is a robot. It’s not a living thing. A human made it, using metal and computer circuits. They programmed it to do what they wanted. It’s not a real fish, it’s not really alive. I am glad you destroyed it when you did, though. From what I can tell, it has a transmitter on it, for audio and video feed.”

“None of those words mean anything to me,” Roman says, reaching for a fish of his own.

“It means,” Thomas says, “that there’s someone out there who could see what this thing saw and hear what this thing heard. And since it saw and heard you -”

“The other person did as well.” Horror dawns on Logan’s face.

“Don’t worry, Logan. Roman destroyed it well before anything significant or identifying could be transmitted. They got a glimpse of Roman, if anything, before he destroyed it.”

Logan and Roman don’t look particularly convinced, but luckily Virgil chooses that moment to begin complaining loudly about how he’s not strong enough for this as he wheels Patton’s cart into the lab. Thomas abandons the robot to help lift Patton up into the tank with Roman. The very tip of his long, light blue tail arcs up out of the water to gently stroke Logan’s back. Logan smiles weakly and leans into it.

While the pod eats their fill, Thomas and Virgil pull on gloves and goggles and set about examining the remains of the robot. Thomas is no expert in robotics or computers, but he knows enough to keep up with the advances being made in the fields of prosthetics and other such machinery useful for marine biology. He’s been doing more research, since Logan washed up on their beach, and what he finds makes his blood run cold.

“Luckily,” Thomas says quietly, “it seems that Roman managed to short out the GPS and transmissions systems when he took out the robot, which is good.” Virgil nods, frowning at something before sliding it under a microscope. “What is it?”

“There’s something engraved on this piece, but I can’t see what it is . . . I can feel it under my fingers . . .”

Virgil frowns into the microscope, and then he stands up abruptly, darting off to another corner of the lab. “What is it?” Thomas asks. The fact that Virgil is so flagrantly disregarding lab safety is ample cause for Thomas’s concern.

Virgil doesn’t answer him, scrambling frantically through a pile of something on one of the other tables before hurrying back to slide something else under the microscope. “I hate being right,” he mutters. “Fuck! Shit fuck god fucking damn it fuck -”

“What? What is it?”

“There’s an insignia engraved on this piece of shit machinery, and I thought it looked familiar. I was right. The same thing was engraved on one of the little barbs of the net that captured Logan. Which means -”

“They were made by the same person.” Thomas looks over at the small pod of mer assembled on his lab tables, sharing a meal, and feels ice cold fear strike through him like a knife in his heart.

He also hates being right - they are in danger, all of them.

*~*~*~*~*

“Is everything quite alright?”

Virgil isn’t looking at him. To be more precise, he isn’t looking at Logan’s face. His gaze flits from Logan’s knee to his shoulder to his chest to his neck to his hair, but never his eyes.

“Virgil,” Logan says. He reaches out to where Virgil is drumming his fingers nervously along the lab table, a rapid staccato taptaptaptap of anxiety, and takes his hand. “Are you alright?” Virgil’s hand shakes in his grasp, and Logan shifts to push his fingers between Virgil’s to help calm him. “You are shaking.”

Virgil doesn’t respond to him, but his entire face lights up pink. Logan squints at him, leaning in to try and gain more clarity regarding Virgil’s facial expressions, but it only increases the pinkness. “Roman and Dad found something, didn’t they? What was it? Did something happen?”

Virgil exhales shakily. His hand tightens around Logan’s, and Logan squeezes back to try and communicate that he cares about how Virgil is doing. “I . . . Roman found a robot in the water. It has a mark on it that’s the same as the mark we found on the net. We’re worried that it’s from the same person who tried to trap you, which means -”

“They are attempting to track me down,” Logan says.

“Yeah. Obviously, we’re not gonna let that happen, but it does mean that they know Roman’s here, at the very least, because they saw him on the video feed before he destroyed it. They won’t have gotten more than a glimpse of him, though.”

“Why are you distressed?” Logan asks. “Are you worried that they will attack you or Thomas to get to myself and my pod?”

“No! Well, yeah, kind of, but - I’m worried because I don’t want anything to happen to you. I l - I care about you, a lot, and I don’t want anything bad happening to you. Or to your pod, for that matter, but I - I just mean -”

The pinkness grows brighter and brighter still, and Logan squeezes his hand again. “Thank you,” he says softly. “I know it is an . . . imposition, caring for me and my pod the way that you do, but -”

“You’re not imposing,” Virgil says. “Taking care of wounded sea creatures is our job, and - and even if it wasn’t, I would be happy to do it for you. I would be happy to do just about anything for you.” Virgil slaps his free hand over his mouth, like he hadn’t meant for the last bit to come out, but Logan just smiles and squeezes his hand even tighter.

“Thank you, Virgil. I appreciate you, and everything that you have done for me and my pod.”

Virgil reaches up and gently tucks Logan’s hair behind his ear, sweeping his bangs away from his eyes. “Logan?” Logan feels his heart stutter and skip a beat, and he leans his head up, looking at Virgil’s face. Virgil is finally looking at him properly, and Logan can’t look away from his eyes. They’re like nothing he’s ever seen before, truly. How beautiful, Logan thinks, before nearly throwing himself backwards off the table because what in the seven seas is he thinking what is Virgil thinking -

“Yes?” Logan whispers. He can’t bring himself to speak any louder, worrying that whatever is happening between himself and Virgil right now will shatter like a fragile piece of sea glass if he speaks too loudly. He’s aware of Roman and Patton still eating next to him, aware of Thomas muttering to himself and making noises doing whatever he’s doing across the lab, but the only thing he can hold his focus on is Virgil.

“I - um - it’s time to change your bandages,” Virgil says, reaching out and tenderly touching one of the white patches on Logan’s neck. “Are you done eating yet?”

“Wh - I - yes,” Logan stammers. Virgil smiles at him, and Logan swears that the entire room spins and lightens.

“I’ll go get the bandages, okay? You good to wait here?”

“It is not as though there are many other places that I am capable of getting right now.” Logan means for it to be a serious remark, but Virgil snorts and smiles and laughs, eyes crinkling up and hair flopping into his face and Logan can barely stop himself from reaching for Virgil and demanding some form of affection.

He does, though, and Virgil heads off across the lab. Logan wonders what the primary expressions of human affection are, compared to his customs. He wonders how Virgil would respond if, when he gets his tail back, he curls it around Virgil’s legs and winds it in and around, different than the way he curls with his pod. He wonders how Virgil would respond if Logan spent hours, days even, combing the sea floor for a single perfect gift - an unmarred shell, a weathered stone, a piece of glass smoothed by the sea into an absolutely beautiful texture - and presented it to him as a token of affection, of his intentions. He wonders how Thomas would react if Logan brought him a heap of fish, proving his worth as a hunter and a mate, and asked for permission to - to -

To what? Is there any way, realistically, for Virgil and Logan to court? Logan may have legs now, but they are a temporary feature, and Virgil doesn’t have a tail at all. Even if Virgil is interested (which is still a pretty big if, in Logan’s opinion), is there any possibility of a serious courtship between them?

Logan decides that he isn’t going to worry about this right now and turns his attention back to Virgil, who’s returning with another roll of the white patches he uses to help bind Logan’s injury, as well as a few other things. “This is probably going to hurt,” Virgil says apologetically.

“You’re not doing anything that might hurt him!” Roman says. Logan wishes he still had his tail so that he could slap Roman across the face with it.

“It’s not a serious hurt,” Virgil says, rolling his eyes. Logan had been ashamed to hear that Roman threatened Virgil and Thomas, after all they’ve done for him, but Virgil seems to have taken Roman’s personality in stride recently, which Logan is eternally grateful for. “I have to pull off the old bandages, and since they’re sticky against the skin it can sting a little. Then I have to disinfect the wounds, and that stings a little too, and then I apply new bandages. It hurts a hell of a lot less than what caused these injuries in the first place, I can tell you that for certain.”

“It is not the first time I have had these changed,” Logan says softly. “I am used to the sting, Roman. It will not hurt me badly.” Roman snarls suspiciously, but he sinks back into the tank and lets Virgil get to work pulling off Logan’s shirt and rolling up the sleeves of his pants to reveal the injured areas.

Virgil’s fingers are long, although not as long as Logan’s, and his claws are blunted and short. He doesn’t seem to mind, though, carefully brushing the tips of his fingers over Logan’s skin as he peels off the old bandages. Logan winces and lets out a short, sharp puff of air, but does his best not to react too badly. Virgil won’t startle, but if Roman thinks Virgil was lying about the pain of the process he’ll lose his mind.

“What’s this from?” Virgil asks, drawing Logan’s attention from his wandering thoughts. Logan’s focus returns in time to notice Virgil’s fingers gently stroking over a silvery patch of skin on his arm. “It’s a scar, right? An old one, given by how well it’s healed.”

Logan takes a moment to find his voice. “I - yes,” he finally stammers out. “It’s - um - hunting incident. Back when I first joined the pod, while we were getting used to each other, Roman was practicing with his spines and he stabbed me.”

Virgil whirls around to glare sharply at Roman. “Some brother you are!”

“It was an accident!”

“It healed well, all things considered.”

Virgil’s fingers trace up Logan’s arm, lingering on another set of scars that swirl around his arms. “And these?”

“I fought off a squid.” Virgil’s eyes widen, and Logan senses an opportunity. “It was quite an adventure - I was separated from Roman and Dad, and before I knew what was happening, the squid was upon me. It wrapped itself around me, and -”

Generally speaking, Roman is the fanciful one, the one telling stories of grandeur and regaling others with his hunting exploits. Logan calls on every memory he has of Roman showing off as he speaks. Virgil sits on the lab table next to him, eyes wide and shiny, fingers always touching some part of Logan. They skate from injury to injury, peeling off the bandages and disinfecting the fresh wounds while tracing questions along the healed silvery scars. Logan tells story after story, and Virgil appears completely enraptured.

“Trying to impress the pretty human, are you, Sharkbait?” Roman snarks. Dad’s laughter echoes musically from the tank as well.

“Shut up, Roman!”

“Brotherly disputes?” Virgil teases, gently dabbing a damp cotton ball at Logan’s wounds. Logan hisses a little at the sting, but he keeps his body still to allow VIrgil to work. The rest of the wounds are treated and re-bandaged relatively quickly. “It’s interesting, you know.”

“What is?”

“Hearing your hunting stories. They’re really interesting. I love hearing about your way of life and how it differs from ours up on land. Any customs that you have, feel free to share them with me.” Virgil smiles broadly, and Logan smiles back. If he still had his tail, he would make a very rude gesture at Roman for snickering in the background.

“Are you finished, Virgil?”

“Yeah. Do you wanna practice walking for a little bit before I turn in for the night?”

“Turn into what?” Virgil laughs softly; Logan’s entire being melts, just a little.

“It’s a human expression, Lo. It means before I fall asleep.”

“Yes, I would like to practice walking, then.”

Logan is unashamed to admit that he has a very strong tail. He’s much faster than Roman is, and although Patton can travel more distance in a shorter amount of time due to his size, Logan is still faster relatively. He’d assumed that the strength of his tail would translate to his new legs.

That does not appear to be the case.

“You’ve got a whole new set of muscles in there,” Virgil tells him, wrapping his hands around Logan’s - what had he called them? Ankles , that was it - and sliding them off the table to the floor. “Swimming and walking are two completely different sets of motions, even for someone like me who uses their legs for both activities. You’ve got to strengthen yourself. It might take some time.”

“I’m sorry,” Logan says. “I should not need you to hold my hands like this.” I want you to hold my hands, he thinks. I want you to hold my hands and my arms and my all of me. I want you to hold me close and press your face into my hair and let me bring you courtship gifts.

“It’s okay, Lo. It’s no skin off my back. I like doing this, I like helping you.” Virgil carefully wraps one of Logan’s arms around his shoulders and takes Logan’s other hand, taking a few steps backwards and pulling Logan with him. Logan wobbles shakily as Virgil helps him onto his new feet, and Virgil smiles, and the entire world is okay again. There’s no mysterious force out there, trying to net him or his pod, there’s no fresh scars forming under the bandages all over his body. There is just Virgil, smiling at him like he arranged the Upper Oceans, and nothing else matters.

Virgil slides his hands down to grip Logan’s forearms, careful to avoid any areas with bandages on them. “One step back, one step forward, okay? We can do it. You can do it.” Logan nods. He’s determined not to let Virgil down. He can’t - he won’t.

Virgil pushes himself up onto the front part of his feet - his toes, Logan thinks he called them - and takes a step backward. Logan concentrates and lifts one foot, taking a single clunky step forward. It’s far more graceless than Virgil, who moves elegantly even when he’s in a frazzled rush, but Virgil still grins at him. “Fantastic! One more, okay? One step back, one step forward.” Virgil takes another step back with his other foot, and Logan shifts to follow him. They continue like this for quite a while, across the lab, and when they reach the far wall, Virgil slowly turns them around so they can go back across the lab. His hands slide down to take Logan’s, as opposed to gripping his arms.

“Less support for you, so you have to rely more on your own muscles,” Virgil says. “But I’ll still be here to catch you, no matter what. I believe in you. Two steps at a time now, alright?”

Logan nods, and when Virgil steps backwards, one-two, Logan attempts to step forward, one-two. Unfortunately, Virgil and Logan both overestimate Logan’s strength, and he pitches forward with a startled shriek.

“I gotcha!” Virgil says, surging forward and throwing his arms around Logan as he collapses into Virgil’s chest. Logan grunts as his face collides with Virgil, looking up to see the pinkness returning to his cheeks. It takes Logan a few moments to realize that he never put his shirt back on after Virgil changed his bandages, and now his bare chest is pressed against Virgil. Virgil’s face is open and pink, and Logan can feel his own face growing warm and pink as they stare at each other.

“Oh,” Logan says, softly.

“Oh,” Virgil agrees, equally soft.

“How long are you going to make penguin eyes at him before you give him a courtship gift?” Roman calls.

“I’m going to stab you with your own spines,” Logan snarls, struggling to try and right himself. Virgil’s hands quickly slide from his waist to his elbows, pulling him upright again. Logan slides his hands around to grab Virgil’s arms as well so that he won’t let go again.

“Everything okay with you and your brother?”

Logan sighs. “He is being abnormally stubborn and rude, at the moment.”

“Am not! You’re just useless and pining over the pretty human!”

“Ignore him,” Virgil says. “He’s just jealous because you get to spend time walking around staring at me and he doesn’t.” Judging by Virgil’s tone, he’s being sarcastic, but Logan knows that he’d be jealous if he were in Roman’s position. He’d be jealous of anyone who got to spend an extended amount of their time up close and personal with Virgil.

They walk a little more, and Logan only almost falls three or four more times. It’s not great, but it’s better than the last time he tried. Eventually, he grows tired, and his feet and legs begin to ache. Virgil helps him back to the table he’d been sitting on. “Hang on - I gotcha -”

Virgil bends at the knees and scoops Logan up, draping him across his arms and carefully arranging him on the table. “There you go, L. Sitting comfortably?” Logan is too stunned at his abrupt proximity to answer properly for a moment, but eventually he manages to answer.

“Yes, I - thank you, Virgil.”

Thomas and Virgil sit down to eat in the laboratory, at a cleared-off and cleaned table near Logan and his pod. They normally don’t eat in here, but apparently it doesn’t make sense to keep moving up and down and up and down repeatedly from the house proper to the laboratory. Logan lets his eyes slide closed as the conversation washes over him, soft like the gentle waves on a clear day. He tunes back in sharply when he hears his name.

“What are we going to do about Logan?” Thomas says. Virgil puts down his eat stick and frowns.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Patton said he won’t get his tail back until tomorrow, right? So there’s no way that he can sleep in the tank with Patton and Roman like he’s been doing. What are we gonna do about that?”

“He could always come and sleep in the house with us,” Virgil offers.

“No way, absolutely the hell not, there is no way I’m letting Logan spend the night alone with you humans -” Roman spits, spines puffing out like a sea urchin.

“It’s not your decision, Ro,” Patton says gently. “Logan, it’s your call. Thomas is right, you can’t sleep in the tank with us without working gills, you’ll drown.”

“What did Patton say?” Virgil asks.

“That Roman is overreacting, as usual -”

“Hey!”

“- and that I cannot sleep with them without my gills, which I will not regain until tomorrow at the earliest.” Logan looks at Virgil and Thomas, watching the way Virgil watches him - cautious, hesitant, but hopeful as well. “What do you suggest, Virgil?”

Virgil exhales shakily. “I have a room in the house, where I sleep. It’s big enough that you could sleep there as well, if you want. We can come back down to the lab first thing in the morning after breakfast, let Patton and Roman see that I haven’t done anything untoward to you in the middle of the night.”

“I would greatly enjoy sleeping with you,” Logan says, just a touch too eagerly. Virgil chokes on his food. Thomas makes a very strange face at him over the table; it reminds Logan of the way Roman and Patton have been teasing him recently. Logan decides to ignore it; he’s got plenty to think about in regards to his own entanglements with Virgil.

Patton and Roman are both teasing him about the anticipation in his voice. Logan decides to ignore them as well.

*~*~*~*~*

Virgil is not particularly looking forward to trying to maneuver Roman back into his tank. Roman is a bit snappish with him at the best of times, and while Virgil understands his disdain for humans after all he’s been through, he likes to think that he’s earned enough goodwill for Roman to drop some of his suspicions.

Still, Thomas has already wound the majority of Patton’s long, flexible tail around himself and braced his arms under his torso, shuffling his way up the stairs around the tank. Patton had reared up out of the tank to press his forehead against Logan’s, letting out a strident chirp of mer before pulling back into the water and forming his customary travel bubble.

“Can you please stop looking at me like that?” Virgil sighs.

“Like what, human?”

“Like you’re contemplating how many spines it would take for you to murder me.”

“Maybe I am contemplating how many spines it would take to murder you.”

“I have a name, Roman. You know my name. You’ve used my name before.”

“That was before I realized you had designs on my brother.”

“Yes, designs to keep him from drowning in the middle of the night since he can’t breathe water right now,” Virgil says dryly. Logan suppresses a soft, wheezing laugh, and Virgil feels his chest grow lighter. “Come on, Pincushion, into the tank with you.”

“Who are you calling a pincushion?” Roman demands. He furrows his brow in confusion. “Also, what is a pincushion?”

“It’s a soft little thing that you stick sharp pins into when you’re not using them so that you don’t stab yourself by accident, and as you’re full of sharp spines, you look and act very much like a pincushion.”

“I think I’m supposed to be offended by that.”

“Well, I’m offended that you keep trying to murder me for being nice to you and your brother and your dad. Life goes on. Put your spines down so I can put you into the god damned tank.” Roman hisses at him, puffing his spines up even more in protest. Virgil hisses right back, startling both Roman and Logan. “What? Did you think you were the only one who could hiss when they’re upset or threatened? Think again, Princey.”

Roman’s spines all flatten at once. It’s probably more out of shock than anything else, but Virgil’s not complaining. Roman reaches out and squeezes Logan’s hand before turning back to Virgil and lifting his arms up dramatically. Virgil rolls his eyes and drapes Roman’s tail around himself before hoisting the merman up into his arms. “If you prick me, I will throw you down all of the stairs in this lab, so help me God.”

“What is a god?” Roman asks crossly. Virgil huffs with the effort of going up the stairs and doesn’t respond. By the time he makes it to the top of the tank, Thomas has just finished lowering Patton down into the water. A curl of blue tail rises from the water and delicately curls around Thomas’s arm like a thank you before sinking back into the tank. Virgil drops Roman into the water with a good deal less delicacy. He gets splashed for his troubles, but he doesn’t care that much what Roman thinks of him.

“I apologize again for Roman’s behavior,” Logan says. He reaches for Virgil’s hand, and Virgil lets him take it. Logan’s hands are surprisingly smooth, as though they, too have been weathered and worn by the ocean; they’re a little cooler than the average human skin, but Virgil runs a little cold himself, so he finds it comforting. “He has always been quite . . . protective of me. I suspect that my being taken has only amplified those feelings.”

“I don’t have an older brother, but I understand where he’s coming from. As long as he doesn’t actually stab me, I’m not that upset about it.” Logan smiles, soft like the breaking dawn, and Virgil feels a tidal wave well up and drown him in overwhelming affection. It takes all his energy not to lean in and kiss Logan right then and there, to press his free palm up against Logan’s cheek and slide his fingers into Logan’s hair.

“I am glad,” Logan says softly, “that my brother’s . . . concerns have not destroyed what we have with each other. We are . . . friends, are we not?”

Virgil’s exuberance dims, just a little, but he nods. “Yeah, Logan. We’re friends.” Logan smiles again, squeezing Virgil’s hand. Virgil squeezes back. “Come on, we’ve gotta get you upstairs. Do you think you can walk over there if I help you?”

“Is walking backwards dangerous?” Logan asks.

“If you do it a lot and you’re not careful, it can be. You can’t see where you’re going when you do it, not unless you twist your head all the way around, and even then you have a limited field of vision.”

“I don’t want you doing that if it’s dangerous for you,” Logan says, brow creasing in stress and worry. “I don’t want you getting hurt because of me.”

“Aw, why not? Do you care about me?” Virgil teases.

“Yes,” Logan says, so earnest and serious that Virgil’s breath catches in his throat a little. “I do care about you, very much. You - you are the first friend that I ever made, outside of my father and my brother. You are . . . important to me, and I do not wish to see you injured.”

“There’s other ways to walk,” Virgil says, once he regains his voice. “We can go side-by-side, if you like.”

“If there’s less chance of you injuring yourself, then that’s the option that I prefer.” Virgil carefully picks up Logan’s shirt and helps him tug it on, to prevent any repeats of the capital-i Incident from earlier. Logan shuffles around until his feet hang over the side of the table, and Virgil bends down to help him up. He carefully wraps an arm around Logan’s waist and Logan drapes his arm around Virgil’s shoulders.

“Will you be okay putting the lab equipment away by yourself, Doc?”

Thomas smirks. “You seem to have your hands full, Virge.”

“We can wait to go upstairs if you need my help here,” Virgil says, pointedly ignoring Thomas’s insinuations. “Logan, you don’t mind waiting a few more minutes, do you?”

“I do not have any opinions of the sort.”

“See? We’ll be fine to wait.”

Thomas rolls his eyes, smiling. “Don’t worry about it, Virgil. I cleaned up the lab by myself for years before I took you on as my live-in doctoral student, I can handle one night.” Virgil resists the urge to flip him off and sticks his tongue out instead.

“What does that mean?” Logan asks as they slowly shuffle towards the door.

“What, doctoral student? It means . . . well, essentially it means that I’m studying with the doc so that I can write a really really long, really really specific paper that’ll get analyzed and hopefully approved by a bunch of people with a fancy title so that I can also have a fancy title.”

“Oh! Is that hard?”

“It’s pretty difficult, yeah. Most people don’t do it. I’m a bit of a rare exception.” Virgil tries not to puff out his chest in pride. He’s pretty sure he fails.

“That isn’t what I meant, though. What does . . . this mean?” Logan pokes his tongue out curiously. Instead of looking like a retort, like Virgil had meant it when he stuck his tongue out earlier, Logan looks adorable and confused. Every single cat video Virgil has ever seen involving a cat sticking its tongue out in a blep runs through his mind at once, and he nearly collapses from the sheer adorableness of the situation.

“It’s . . . just a human thing,” Virgil says quickly. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I - oh. This might be an issue.” He hadn’t considered it before, given how often he traverses this path every day without any issue, but he’s never traversed it with an unstable merman with the footing of a newborn deer before.

He has no idea how he’s going to get Logan up the stairs.

Virgil’s initial thought is that he’ll just show Logan how to climb the stairs and help him up, the same way he’s been helping him walk across the floor. This plan is quickly derailed when Logan nearly faceplants across the very first low step. “Will it be alright if i just carry you?” Virgil says. “Like I do when you have a tail, or like I do for your brother.”

“I hope you’re a bit gentler with me than you are with Roman,” Logan says. It takes Virgil a few moments to realize that Logan is actually joking, and then he snorts and laughs.

“Don’t worry, Logan. I like you much better than Roman, I won’t drop you.” Logan laughs.

“If Roman hears you say that, he very well might stab you.”

“I’d like to see him try.”

Logan loops his arms around Virgil’s neck as he’s hoisted up into his arms. Virgil fights very hard not to think about the fact that he has an arm very closely braced underneath Logan’s ass, or the way that Logan leans his face into Virgil’s shoulder with a soft, satisfied sigh, as though he trusts Virgil to protect him from any and all dangers in the world; he fights not to think about the way Logan’s lips look, still slightly wet from when he’d had his tongue poking out mere moments before, or the way his lower lip sticks out slightly, round and kissable; he fights not to think about the way Logan’s hair flops in his face and his eyes, or the way he wants to run his fingers through it and memorize the texture, memorize the way every curl, every lock, every individual strand feels slipping across his fingertips, along his palm, tangled up in his fingers and soft against his bare chest and tickling his nose if they fall asleep snuggled together and -

Virgil hurries up the stairs before he becomes so distracted that he drops Logan.

They get waylaid in the kitchen so Virgil can get a drink before he goes to bed. Logan is fascinated by the house, asking questions about everything he sees. “What’s that?”

“It’s called an oven. You put food in it, and it gets really really hot inside and it makes the food hot, too.”

“What’s that?”

“The stove. You put food on top of it to heat it up, kind of like the oven, but a little quicker.”

“What’s that?”

“The refrigerator; you put food in it to cool it down and keep it cold, to keep it from spoiling.”

“Humans are very obsessed with controlling the temperature of their foods, aren’t they?” Logan muses.

“I guess we are. I never really thought about it before . . .”

Finally, Virgil manages to get them up into his bedroom. It looks the way it normally does, but Virgil finds himself fixating on the mess - a few scattered piles of clothes, textbooks and other books strewn haphazardly around the room, random papers everywhere, pinned on the walls in patterns that wouldn’t make sense to a madman, most of them marked with thick streaks of marker and hastily scrawled three-am revelations.

“Sorry it’s such a disaster, Lo.” Virgil carefully sets him down in the desk chair and throws open the curtains covering the glass door onto the balcony. The sun has set over the ocean, but some of the colors still linger in the sky, vibrant like strokes of paint on an Impressionist canvas.

“I do not see a disaster here, Virgil. I see evidence of life. It is quite . . . fascinating. And I assure you, our regular sleeping grottos are just as messy.” Virgil still hurries to try and tidy up his room, kicking piles of clothes under the bed and throwing them into his often-neglected hamper. He stacks the books as best he can, assembles the papers into one large pile and pins them down with a loose seashell.

“Still, the floor is gonna have to be cleared off if I’m gonna sleep on it.”

“Why would you sleep on the floor?” Logan asks. “Is that not the point of that thing?” He points to Virgil’s bed. “Is that not a place for sleeping?”

“It’s called a bed,” Virgil says, “and you’re going to be sleeping there. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Why would you sleep on the floor?”

“Because the bed’s really only big enough for one person, Logan. You can sleep on it, since you’re the guest, and I’ll sleep on the floor. Or I can go downstairs and sleep on the couch, it’ll be alright, but I thought I’d stay on the floor in case you needed something.”

Logan frowns, looking almost heartbroken. “I . . . you will not be sleeping with me? You said you would . . .”

“Well yeah, I meant you were sleeping up here in my room, I didn’t necessarily mean - I didn’t know if you would be comfortable sleeping that close to me. I mean - I -”

“I always sleep with my pod,” Logan says. His voice is small and shaky, heartbroken. “I have not slept by myself - prior to the incident with the net, of course - for so long . . . please, do not make me sleep alone again.”

Logan is going to kill him, Virgil is absolutely sure of it. “I . . . okay, L. I’ll sleep with you. Just let me get changed, okay? Let me get into my pajamas.”

“What are pajamas?”

“Clothes you sleep in.”

“Do I need a pajamas?”

“No, that’ll work just fine. You’re comfortable, right?”

“Yes?”

“Then you’ll be okay. Wait right there, okay? I’m gonna get ready for bed. I’ll be back in a moment.”

Virgil quickly ducks into the adjoining bathroom. He splashes cold water on his face and tries to regain his composure. He never thought that inviting Logan to share his bedroom would entail sharing his bed, but he supposes he should have known better. In for a penny, in for a pound, et cetera, et cetera. Logan won’t read anything into it if he doesn’t act like there’s something to be read into it, so as long as he keeps himself together it’ll be alright.

The rest of his bedtime routine is relatively swift - washing his face properly, brushing his teeth, changing into loose sweatpants and an oversized tank top, dragging a brush through his tangled messy hair, making sure he remembers to take his anti-anxiety medication, using the bathroom. He’s in and out in less than five minutes, plugging his phone in to charge on the desk and making sure that he sets his alarm for the morning.

“It’ll just be a second while I make sure the bed’s ready, if you don’t mind waiting a little.”

Logan yawns, waving a hand at Virgil. “Take your time.”

Virgil piles all the clothes littering his bed into a corner, somewhat ashamed of the fact that he hadn’t been bothered to put them away properly, before digging out his nicest, softest blankets and pillows and piling up the bed to make it nice and comfortable.

As he turns back to Logan, a thought occurs. “Do you brush your hair, underwater? Or your teeth?”

“What is brush?” Logan asks. Virgil fetches his hairbrush from the bathroom and demonstrates how he drags it through his hair to make it smooth and neat.

“There’s a different one of these, as well, smaller, that we use to clean our teeth because otherwise they can get diseases and fall out.”

“We don’t have brush or whatever you call it, but there are small fish that swim around and eat the scraps that get stuck in our teeth. Dad likes to sit there with his mouth open for hours and let them swim in and out of his mouth.”

“You guys use cleaner fish?” Virgil asks.

“Is that what humans call them?”

“Yeah.”

“Then yes, we do. But we have no such thing for our hair.”

“I bet your hair is awfully tangled, after being in the ocean for so long. Do you want me to brush it?”

“Will it hurt?” Logan sounds small and scared, reaching up to hesitantly touch his hair.

“It may pull a little, especially if you have big knots or tangles, but I promise I’ll be as gentle as I possibly can.” Logan nods, hesitantly, and Virgil carefully lifts the brush to his hair. He expects it to be coarse and rough, since seawater dries out human hair, but it’s strangely slick. It sort of reminds Virgil of the way a duck’s feather repel water, but it’s smoother than that. It feels just as nice as he’d imagined beneath his fingers. Logan wince a little when Virgil pulls on a few particularly rough knots, but all in all he sits through it with a brave face.

“All done,” he says ten minutes later. “Does that feel better?”

“I do not know if I would say it feels better, per se, but my hair certainly feels nice and smooth.” Logan runs his fingers through his own hair, smiling. “I have never been able to do that before. It is quite wonderful.”

“I’m glad I could make you happy,” Virgil says. Logan smiles, and Virgil would sacrifice the world, the universe, and everything in it if he could keep making Logan smile like that.

Virgil puts Logan up against the wall so that he doesn’t accidentally fall out of the bed. It’s not really meant for two people, but Virgil thinks that as long as they’re careful he’ll be alright. He draws the curtains again, turns off the lights, and shuts the door. “Would you like a light o - oh.”

When he turns around, Logan is glowing softly - his eyes are bright blue, and every single freckle on his face and arms gleams like a little star. “Apologies,” Logan says, sounding embarrassed. “My scales and eyes glow in dark water - Dad’s and Roman’s are the same way. I didn’t think I would have the same effects while in this human guise, but . . . will this affect your ability to sleep?”

“It - I - um - it shouldn’t, I mean - there’s usually some light or another coming in, it’s never pitch black here.” Virgil shuffles across the room, finding it much easier to navigate now that he’s cleared the piles of clothes and books and other flotsam and jetsam from the floor. He carefully climbs into bed, settling under the covers and arranging them over Logan as well. He settles on his side, facing Logan, who blinks back at him with his eerily bioluminescent eyes. Virgil makes a note to test the bioluminescence of all three mer tomorrow.

Logan lets his eyes slip closed, exhaling a soft puff of air across Virgil’s face. “Good night, Virgil.”

“Night, Logan.”

Logan drifts off fairly quickly, chest rising and falling evenly, and Virgil, for all his gay pining, isn’t far behind. He wakes up sharply in the middle of the night, gasping when he realizes that he’s not alone. Blue light filters into his sleep-fogged vision, and then he realizes exactly what position he’s in.

Logan is slotted up against him, legs all tangled up together with his the way Virgil has seen his tail coiled in with his pod’s. His face is pressed up into Virgil’s chest, pillowed neatly on his shoulder, and his arms are tucked between them, hands curled in a delicate half-open shape. Virgil has one arm curled up around Logan’s head and the other thrown over his waist. He wants to move, to pull away before he wakes Logan up and makes him uncomfortable, but before he can do anything Logan stirs in his sleep. He shuffles, shifts closer to Virgil, and nuzzles into him, letting out a soft sigh and a soft trill of foreign language that sounds much more musical than any mer he’s heard before.

Virgil can’t bring himself to pull away after that. He leans forward, shamelessly nuzzling into Logan’s hair, and Logan presses into the touch with another gentle trill. Virgil has no trouble falling back asleep with Logan securely in his arms.

#starshinewrites #lovely dark and deep #logan sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #thomas sanders #patton sanders #analogical

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carmichealroyals · 4 years ago

Photo

CHARACTER INSPIRATION // C H A L L E N G E

Rules: Write up a blurb or make a visual collage of the people or characters (from books, TV shows, movies, etc.) that inspired your OC, either visually, personality wise, or just a general vibe.

I was tagged by this by so many lovely pals -- @thelockwoodroyals, @wa-royal-tea AND @ourwillowcreekroyals !!! I only feel bad that it took me so long but I wanted it to be as perfect as it could be while taking time to fiddle with Photoshop more (thank you @royaldevilliers for answering my silly questions). Below the cut are the descriptions for the personality types and tropes for each of the main three kids of this next generation!

Not sure who’s done this yet, so if you see this and you want to do it, this is me telling you to do it!

CHARLOTTE:

The Protagonist: Protagonists are natural-born leaders, full of passion and charisma. Forming around two percent of the population, they are oftentimes our politicians, our coaches and our teachers, reaching out and inspiring others to achieve and to do good in the world. With a natural confidence that begets influence, Protagonists take a great deal of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their community.

Spirited Young Lady: She is the girl who bends the rules just a little. Oh, she can dance a country dance or pour tea with the best of them, but she may also be a good walker or horseback rider. She may be the most intelligent girl in the story, and she is almost certainly the wittiest and the most outspoken, sometimes earning her the title of spitfire. She may be talented in more practical ways, as well: if given the opportunity, she may turn out to be a wise investor, and she may harbor talent for music, writing, or art that goes beyond drawing room entertainment and might become a means of financial independence if necessary. In rare cases, she may even solve a murder. Though she occasionally runs into some trouble, especially if she fails to obey the powers that be, she usually comes through in the end.

Deadpan Snarker: A character prone to gnomic, sarcastic, sometimes bitter, occasionally whimsical asides.The Deadpan Snarker exists to deflate pomposity, point out the unlikelihood of certain plans, and deliver funny lines. Typically the most cynical supporting character. In most cases, it is implied that the snarker would make a good leader, strategist, or consultant given their ability to instantly see the flaws in a constructed plan. More often than not, their innate snarkiness is the only thing preventing the other characters from comprehending this for themselves.

Politically Active Princess: The Politically Active Princess is a princess that takes active interest in and plays an active role in politics. Naive courtiers and commoners alike might view her only as a figurehead, but in truth, she discreetly uses her position and guile in order to achieve her ends. Skilled in diplomacy, she will usually attempt to solve conflicts via conversation or bargaining, rather than combat. Her defining trait is her involvement in politics or diplomatic matters, without letting herself serve only as a bargaining chip.

Inspired by: Mia Thermopolis (The Princess Diaries); Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls); Vex’ahlia (Critical Role); Jenny Lee (Call the Midwife)

PETER:

The Architect: It can be lonely at the top. As one of the rarest personality types – and one of the most capable – Architects (INTJs) know this all too well. Rational and quick-witted, Architects may struggle to find people who can keep up with their nonstop analysis of everything around them.

The Dog Bites Back: Unlike the Bastard Understudy and The Starscream, this character attacks as a crime of opportunity. There is no danger that he will take over the villain's place in the grand scheme of things. There is, however, a possibility that he will menace the others as a True Final Boss. The backstabber often ends up dead, but this is usually not Redemption Equals Death because their motive is not noble. Innocent victims who turn on the villain typically do it only for revenge, while evil victims prove that they were fine with all of the Big Bad's crimes except the one committed against them.

Middle Child Syndrome: Everyone loves the oldest child because the parents can rely on them, they watch out for their siblings, and they're so confidently attractive. The Youngest Child Wins because they're the "baby". But what does that leave the one in the middle? That's essentially the definition of Middle Child Syndrome, in which a child automatically may become The Unfavorite or the rebellious Black Sheep, specifically because they are the easiest child to overlook. They're not old enough to be given the responsibilities and privileges of the oldest, and the youngest child took their spot as the spoiled and doted-on "baby" of the family. This tends to be more of an issue when there are three children rather than four or more. Oftentimes in media, the middle child ends up becoming more of the Deadpan Snarker or the quirky one for this reason.

The Un-Favorite: Where there's an Alpha wolf, there's got to be a Beta. When there is a first banana, there is a second banana. This is the person in the family who can't get a break. For example, this is the child who's the big let-down to their parents, the daughter that was supposed to be a son (or vice-versa), the child the parents had by accident when they'd already decided they didn't need another mouth to feed, the adoptive, foster, or stepchild that came before the parents had a biological child, the illegitimate child conceived by infidelity on the part of one of the parents (if not even worse). But all in all, this is basically the kid who is always getting the short-end of the stick. In some extreme cases, this may cause Rich Sibling, Poor Sibling, especially if one sibling is forced into service to the other. A regular line that may be entailed with this is a variant of, "Honestly, [name], why can't you be more like [favorite's name]?"

Inspired by: Edith Crawley (Downton Abbey); Fiyero (Wicked: The Musical); Logan Huntzberger (Gilmore Girls); Rafael Solano (Jane the Virgin)

PEGGY:

The Mediator: Idealistic and empathetic, Mediators long for deep, soulful relationships, and they feel called to help others. But because this personality type makes up such a small portion of the population, Mediators may sometimes feel lonely or invisible, adrift in a world that doesn’t seem to appreciate the traits that make them unique.

The Baby of the Bunch: Being the youngest of your group typically comes with some perks and challenges. On one side you're probably the cutest, have a pass to act immature, people like taking care of you, and you can embrace your fun side, knowing that the elders are there to handle the serious stuff. And if there's anything you're naïve about, you have plenty of others to give you the realest unfiltered advice without the generational gap and detachment that your parents or the Old Master have. On the other end, sometimes people don't take you seriously. There you're kinda stuck because no matter how old you get, you'll always be "the baby" in their eyes.

Indifferent Beauty: A character who is attractive, aware of their effect on other people, but doesn't care or at least doesn't value their physical attractiveness over their other traits. Often, this character is a consummate professional who is well aware of the fact that they could use their "assets" to get what they want by other means, but feels that it would be unprofessional or beneath their dignity, and is instead focused on proving that they can compete purely on skill, often to the exclusion of romantic opportunities. While such characters are not averse to dressing in sexy outfits, they don't plan on relying on or even exploiting their sex appeal - but the camera will often do that for them. Other characters' indifference is not due to regarding relying on appearance to be beneath their dignity, but rather that they consider it to be unimportant.

Spoiled Sweet: The Spoiled Sweet character is a naive, spoiled, rich or comfortably upper-class or upper-middle-class girl, who has everything they could ever want, but instead of being mean, she is as nice as can be to everyone. While still spoiled, slightly naive, perhaps shallow, maybe even a bit selfish at times, when it comes right down to it, she is a loyal friend and doesn't use her money or popularity as an excuse to treat everyone like garbage — though the trope Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense is in play, especially since a particularly common sticking point is that characters of this type often believe their friends and other loved ones deserve to live just as well as they do.

Inspired by: Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls); Beth March (Little Women); Pike Trickfoot (Critical Role); Peggy Schuyler (Hamilton: An American Musical)

#sim: princess charlotte #sim: prince peter #sim: princess margaret

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raeynbowboi · 5 years ago

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BnHA Crossover Class 1-A

I saw a post this morning about the Teen Titans in UA, and it got me thinking about the quirks that would be found with other characters, so I cobbled together a class of 20 students from popular media, and tried to either turn their existing powers into quirks, or gave them quirks. It was a lot of fun, and I’m thinking of doing a class 1-B as well.

Name: Dick Grayson Hero Alias: Robin Quirk: Deductive Reasoning When Dick touches things, he can deduce their origins. He can tell the sort of gun that made bullet holes, whether something was written with the right or left hand, the way a knife was held while attacking a victim, or the height and weight of a culprit by finding their footprint. This makes Dick an expert in criminal profiling.

Name: Koriand’r (Corey Anders) Hero Alias: Starfire Quirk: Heartfelt Koriand’r’s quirk relies heavily on her emotions. She must be feeling a certain way to make use of her quirk, and cannot summon her powers unless she feels that way. To fly, she must think happy thoughts. For super strength, she needs boundless confidence. And for her starbolts, she must have a righteous fury.

Name: Garfield Logan Hero Name: Beast Boy Quirk: Animal Kingdom Garfield can turn into any animal he has seen before, but he can only copy the features of the animal that he knows about. This can include extinct and fictitious animals, but in order to become those, he must understand their biology and genetic make-up. Creating wings is pointless if he doesn’t know how to make them aerodynamic. This also means he can’t produce a dragon’s fire breath unless he can figure out a biological process to achieve this. Due to a mutation quirk he inherited, Garfield and any animal he becomes are permanently green.

Name: Rachel Roth Hero Alias: Raven Quirk: Psychic Soul Rachel’s soul is a semi-conscious entity within her. It is highly sensitive to the presence and emotions of others, and due to its link to Rachel, allows her to feel these sensations through her soul. This means she can tell how many people are in an area, and what they’re feeling. She can send pieces of her soul out into objects, allowing her to lift them with her mind, giving her telekinetic powers, or she can project the soul itself to create platforms, forcefields, or a bird-shaped battering ram. She can even use her telekinesis to lift herself, floating through the air, or envelop herself in her own soul and pass through solid objects. She requires daily meditation to focus and sharpen her mind, or risk letting her psychic powers become destructive and untamed.

Name: Victor Stone Hero Alias: Cyborg Quirk: Mechanical Infusion Vic has the ability to fuse technology into his body, a quirk which saved his life after his sports team bus had an accident and he was almost a casualty. The hospital technology infused with his body, and kept him alive. Since then, he’s focused on upgrading and improving his cybernetic enhancements, with a wide variety of technological detachments and gadgets built into his body. But his pride and joy is the sonic cannon he designed himself. While he can infuse any machine into his body, he’d be a horrible mechanical blob if he didn’t know how to compartmentalize. He maintains his humanoid appearance by understanding how to fold and store things inside of himself to fit as much in without overstuffing himself.

Name: Ruby Rose Hero Alias: Black Rose Quirk: Petal Storm Ruby’s quirk allows her to turn her body into a scattering of rose petals that move at a windswept speed. The petals can separate to move around objects, but must come back together for her to take human form again.

Name: Weiss Schnee Hero Alias: Ice Queen Quirk: Fairydust Weiss’ body naturally produces Dust, primarily in the form of powder. She has outfitted her revolver rapier to turn this dust into a variety of magical attacks. With enough dust, she can even create glyphs, a stationary magical property whose effect varries by the kind of dust she uses.

Blake Belladonna Hero Alias: Noir Quirk: Copycat Blake can leave a shadow duplicate of herself to take a hit for her. She can launch herself off the clones as well. However, the clones are not solid and cannot hit enemies for her. Instead they disappear after being hit by anything.

Yang Xiao Long Hero Alias: Dragonfire Quirk: Burn When Yang takes damage, it builds up in her muscles, allowing her to retaliate with tremendous strength. Her quirk causes her body to produce flames when angry, and she can shoot these flames with her punches, but not her kicks.

Name: Steven Universe Hero Alias: Pink Diamond Quirk: Gemstone Steven has a gemstone in his belly, which allows him to summon a shield made of hard light, and lets him give sentience to plants, as well as heal injuries and repair inorganic material. He can even merge himself with another person, creating a hybrid that shares a combination of their quirks.

Name: Aang Hero Alias: Avatar Aang Quirk: Force of Nature Aang has the ability to manipulate air, water, fire, or rocks within his vascinity. He has the greatest control over Air, but can manipulate the others as well. When he bends all four at once, Aang becomes able to tap into the raw power of nature itself, and awakens his full power, but becomes destructive and uncontrollable when he does so.

Name: Katara Hero Alias: Arctic Fox Quirk: Waterbending Katara can manipulate water, snow, and ice near her. Her body is highly acclimated to the cold, and with practice she can even create water by drawing moisture from the air and plants. She can even control the water inside of living things, but she doesn’t like using this unless she feels she has to.

Name: Sokka Hero Alias: White Wolf Quirk: Pack Tactics Sokka’s natural senses are hightened to the skill of a wolf’s, especially his hearing and smelling. This natural mutation quirk he inherited from his father makes him a master tracker. Sokka’s physical abilities improve when he’s around other people. As such, Sokka tends to avoid one-on-one fights if he can help it.

Name: Toph Beifong Hero Alias: Blind Bandit Quirk: Earthbending Toph can manipulate the earth underfoot, and bend it to her will. Her connection to Earth has become so finetuned that Toph can feel the vibrations of things in the ground and relay those signals to the entirety of her body. Because of this, she can see in 360 degrees, and detect small details others easily overlook.

Name: Zuko Hero Alias: Blue Spirit Quirk: Firebending Zuko can produce flames from his body when he uses proper martial arts form. However, he is highly disciplined in combat that doesn’t use his quirk, being a master in stealth and infiltration tactics. He is trained in the use of twin dao swords. His family is a prominent superpowered mafia, with his father being a notorious crime lord kingpin. Zuko applied to UA in secret, and covers for his absence by claiming to be undercover.

Name: Lance McClain Hero Name: Sharpshooter Quirk: Eagle Eye Lance’s quirk gives him extremely focused ocular perception, which makes his use of a stun gun highly effective. Lance’s gun has a built in freeze ray that turns his bullets into ice pellets. He has some skill with a sword and carries one in case he needs it, but due to his focus on ranged combat, he’s at a disadvantage once melee combatants get within close range of him.

Name: Keith Kogane Hero Alias: Yurak Quirk: Galran Keith’s appearance becomes more animalistic as he becoems angry, turning purple and developing feline-like traits. This includes the growth of fangs, claws, and animalistic eyes. This form is faster and stronger than his base human form. Keith is also very adept with a sword, carrying one into battle.

Name: Katie Holt Hero Alias: Pidge Quirk: Hacker Any technology Katie comes into contact with, she can rewire and reprogram. Because of this, Katie always has a stash of robotic drones to aid her in her field work. She had a promising future in the Support course, but she insisted on pursuing the hero course at UA.

Name: Hunk Garrett Alias: Gourmand Quirk: Iron Stomach Hunk is a walking tank whose body can dampen the damage he takes. This natural defense is increased when he eats. Especially when he eats good food. Certain spices and flavors also give him other temporary bonus features, such as spicy food dampening heat and fire damage, or mixed drinks letting him breathe underwater for a short time. He can even store energy in his stomach and fire it like a projectile, but this tires him out and makes him hungry.

Name: Allura Hero Name: Supernova Quirk: Alchemy Allura has a number of magical abilities she can perform, such as healing, creating blasts of magic, and other such magical things. Allura is skilled with a bo staff and primarily uses a segmented whip-sword. Her father was killed by a supervillain, and Allura swore she would become a hero in order to avenge his death.

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emy-loves-you · 5 years ago

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Sanders Sides AU-gust Day 22: Futuristic

In a world where cybernetic enhancements have reached the point of genetic inheritance and only those without them are seen as ‘pure,’ Logan is a mechanic attempting to hide his cybernetic status. He somehow catches the eye of Prince Roman, a human who has an interesting view of the Enhanced.

Logan POV, Logince

TW: Racism against cyborgs, brief mentions of oppression and public beatings/killings

Day 21 | Masterlist | Day 23

Logan sighed as he attempted to weld the two pieces of metal together. The sun hadn’t even risen yet, but Logan wanted to get this done as soon as possible. The client had promised to pay him extremely well if he had it done in under 24 hours. And if there were two things that Logan would admit to being, it would be determined and dirt poor.

“Ah!” Logan hissed as his right hand was burned through the glove. He winced, fully removing his right glove before moving to the back room, away from any potential prying eyes. He used his teeth to remove his gloves, not wanting to get anything on his burn. His navy blue metal hand gleamed softly in the light, and Logan resisted the urge to scowl at it. He grabbed some burn cream and bandages from a nearby table and started to wrap his right hand up. The sharp contrast between his hands drew in Logan’s attention. Right and Left. Weak and Strong. Flesh and Metal. Pure and Enhanced.

Logan scowled. A little over 300 years ago, people first began obtaining cybernetic enhancements to make up for missing limbs. Soon, there were entire generations that used cybernetic enhancements to create ‘perfect’ children. Around 80 years later, science had evolved to where cybernetic enhancements could be applied down to the cellular levels. Any inhuman enhancements could now be chosen before birth, and could even be genetically inherited. After 200 years of cybernetic enhancements, the ‘Enhanced’ took up over 40% of the population. That’s when people began to discriminate against the Enhanced, saying that their enhancements made them ‘less than human.’ It didn’t help that by that point, 90% of the Enhanced were born with their enhancements. It was soon seen as wrong for Enhanced to hold positions of power, or have any children. The people without cybernetic enhancements were seen as ‘the Pure.’

Logan sighed. While there weren’t any legal ramifications to being an Enhanced, there was still major discrimination against them. If anyone saw his external enhancement, he’d be fired within the week. Most people had obvious external enhancements, such as metal eyes and limbs. Very few were born with internal enhancements, such as multiple sex organs or a cybernetic immune system. Logan had a few internal enhancements, but his only external enhancement was his left hand, which he tended to cover up with his gloves.

Logan sighed as he finished wrapping up his human hand. He quickly put back on the gloves before heading back to the front of the repair shop. He was surprised to see someone there, staring at the metal pieces he had been working on. Logan cleared his throat. “Excuse me, can I help you?”

The person jumped, turning to face Logan. Most of their face was obscured by their hood, but Logan could vaguely make out their tan skin and reddish-brown hair. “Hello! I’m looking for Logan Croft; is he here today?”

Logan adjusted his glasses while staring down at the stranger. Not for the first time in his life, Logan was thankful for the glasses. Most Enhanced had perfect hearing and eyesight, so he was usually assumed to be one of the Pure. “My name is Logan Croft; what do you need today?”

The stranger looked through the window towards the street, where the entire street was empty. He then turned back and pulled down his hood. Logan felt his heart stop. The stranger was extremely attractive, with big green eyes and plump pink lips. The stranger smiled. “Greetings, my name is Roman. I was told that you are the best mechanic in the kingdom.”

Logan felt a small amount of recognition at the name, but he couldn’t remember where he had heard it. He then blushed at the compliment. “Nonsense, I’m sure there are plenty of mechanics in the area that surpass me in terms of skill.” Besides, even if Roman was being truthful, people didn’t hire Logan that often. Especially since he didn’t discriminate against the Enhanced.

Roman shook his head. “Even if they are skillful, it is rumored that there is no problem that you cannot find the solution to. Even when you are physically incapable of fixing it, you can easily discover and explain what the issue is and how to fix it. That is deeply admirable.” He turned towards the metal he had been observing previously. “What is this supposed to be? I’m afraid I’m not well-versed with machines, and it’s been bugging me since I got here.”

Logan quickly answered, grateful to no longer be under Roman’s praise. “It’s a compact engine for a replacement eye. My client suffered from minor head trauma, and one of the wires snapped. Since the engine is so small, I had to completely take it apart before I could repair the wire. I am currently piecing it back together. With any luck, the engine should be fully repaired before noon.”

Roman turned to stare at Logan. “You have enhanced clients?”

Logan immediately became defensive. “Do you have an issue with that?”

Roman shook his head. “No! It’s just not often that I get to meet mechanics that work on Enhanced. It’s a dying field, sadly.” He sighed. “The world’s prejudice against Enhanced is pathetic, really. It’s not like the Pure are any better biologically. Actually, most Enhanced people are better than the Pure, both biologically and as people in general.”

Logan raised his eyebrows in shock. “That’s a very bold claim.”

Roman scowled. “And what’s wrong with that?”

Logan shrugged, moving to collect the metal pieces around him. “I didn’t say there was anything incorrect with your claim. You’re quite correct, actually. But I’m one of the few people in this area that actually believes that. And the Pure tend to get violent when opposed.”

Roman gasped. “I didn’t realize that things were that bad.”

Logan nodded, not turning to look at him. “If an Enhanced has any visible enhancements, it’s nearly impossible to walk down the street without getting harassed. And if one is getting beaten or even killed, people have learned that it’s best to turn a blind eye. Even if you’re also Pure, if you try and defend the Enhanced you’ll find yourself beaten within an inch of your life. And the royals don’t bat an eye at the loss of a few hundred Enhanced.” He held up the motor he was working on, nearly complete. “That’s why I do this. Even if I can’t stop the Enhanced from getting harmed, at least I can help them back up if they survive.”

Roman stayed silent for a long moment. Logan turned to look at him, and nearly flinched at the cold expression on Roman’s face. Logan was slightly shocked at the fact that Roman knew nothing about the violence against the enhanced. How sheltered would a child have to be to not even know about the people that are beaten out on the street?

Roman suddenly smiled. "Thank you for telling me that. It is quite apparent that I have much to learn." He then pulled an envelope out of his jacket. "The Enhanced are actually what I wished to discuss with you. My dear friend's leg was injured a few days ago. I was wondering if you could examine these photos and see if it is repairable. He's severely wounded in other areas from the attack, so he is currently on bed rest. I will pay any price, I just wish for him to walk again."

Logan took the envelope and grimaced when he opened it. It was filled with photos of the patient's leg. The leg was violet in color, with a giant gash running from the Achilles heel to the knee. Several wires were sticking out, and Logan noticed some serious dents around the ankle. "I'm afraid these photos do not provide enough detail. I will have to view the patient in person. If you could arrive tomorrow at sunrise, I will have everything ready for a thorough examination. I will not ask for any money until I have determined the extent of the damage. Does this sound acceptable?"

Roman nodded. "That sounds perfect! I will be here tomorrow to escort you to him." He bowed his head slightly. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Logan."

Logan smiled, bowing his head in return. "The pleasure was mine, Roman."

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

Logan sighed as he popped the eye into its socket. "Janus, you need to stop antagonizing people."

Janus snorted as he moved his eye around. "Honestly, you make such a big deal out of things."

Logan frowned "One day you'll go out there and they won't let you come back alive. Being rich won't protect you forever."

Janus rolled his eyes. The mechanical eye glowed a little as he spoke. "Right, and pretending to be Pure will definitely protect you forever. Especially when you do nothing to hide your sympathy towards fellow Enhanced."

Logan winced. Janus had an internal enhancement that allowed him to taste lies and see when someone was hiding something. Janus had known since the first day he came in here that Logan was Enhanced. "Even so, at least I keep my head down. You need to be more careful."

Janus suddenly froze. Logan was about to ask what was wrong when Janus whispered. "You're lying."

Logan blinked. "What?"

Janus frowned. "Every time we talk, you say that you keep your head down. And every time before now, you've been telling the truth. But today you lied." His eyes widened. "What did you do?"

Logan blushed. "A Pure man walked in here asking for assistance in fixing his Enhanced friend's leg. I'm going with him to visit his friend tomorrow. His ideals were very similar to mine, and I will admit he was rather handsome."

Janus smirked. "So, what's his name? And should I be ready for a wedding anytime soon?"

Logan's blush grew. "We only met today. He's just my client, nothing more." He looked down at his glove, a sense of shame filling him. "I didn't even have the courage to tell him that I'm not Pure."

Janus scoffed. "You just told me that he sees the Enhanced and Pure as equals. And I'm sure he'll understand why you kept it a secret." He moved to lean over the worktable, resting his chin on his hand. "So, what's his name?"

Logan rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "His name is Roman. He's very kind and charming. He also seemed to come from nobility or wealth, since he was essentially oblivious to the street violence."

Janus started staring at him again. Logan tried to figure out what he'd lied about before Janus turned towards the monitor on the workbench. He typed something too fast for Logan to read before the screen showed a head-only picture of Roman. "Is this your Roman?" Logan nodded, confused. Janus pressed a button and the image expanded to show Roman standing in front of a crowd. He wore a white suit with red and gold accents. A sword was sheathed on his side. But what grabbed Logan's attention was that crown on his head. "That is Prince Roman, first in line for the throne." He turned back to Logan. "And not only do you have a crush on him, you also promised to see him tomorrow."

#sanders sides #AU_gust_2020 #futuristic #logince #logan sanders #roman sanders #Janus Sanders #virgil sanders

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nostalgic-pancakes · 4 years ago

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Room 73- Chapter 1/8

There is a being that lives in the chemistry building of Haley-Dove Secondary. It has been there longer than anyone’s living memory, and nobody questions it anymore.

Pairing/s: (Eventual) Romantic Prinxiety, Loceit and Pintroverts/Karrot Kings, Queerplatonic Intruality and platonic DLAMRT(N) with mentioned background Kailliot. Romantic (married!) Remile and mentioned Sanders Shorts characters.

Read on AO3!

Word count: 2950

Warnings: Mentioned bullying, allusions to the foster system, perhaps minor disassociation? Paranormal elements.

Other notes: So many thanks to my Beta (!!!) Juicyboxers for looking through this fic for me- and teaching me so much stuff about dialogue!! So if you notice that the dialogue here is better than the dialogue on my other stuff, than thank him!

Anyways, without further ado... (tinny drumroll)

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There is a being that lives in the chemistry building of Haley-Dove Secondary. It has been there longer than anyone’s living memory, and nobody questions it anymore.

It’s a strange one, a space completely fuzzed out by something resembling static, but if that static could exist, could take up space, be real in a way static really can’t be.

The being lives on the third desk to the right, second from top, room 73. It seems to be on friendly terms with the thing that sometimes screams in the courtyard and the witch who lives in the woods surrounding the town. It doesn’t seem to like the slamming locker much, but it doesn’t hurt anyone, so nobody cares.

It lingers, at that desk, watching boys and girls and everyone in between study the sciences as the years go on, seeing the building as a boy’s school, then a bomb shelter, then a public school classroom, watching. Nobody knows what the being is, really, but it’s there, so nobody will say anything.

Across the country, three people grieve quietly.

…

”BEEP, BEEP, BEEP”

“Shu-Shuddup, Pat...” Groaning slightly, Janus lifts his covers from his head, just a little, to flip the bird at his brother, who clearly understood the concept of ‘don’t wake someone up before sunrise’. “...lemme sleep.”

Pat doesn’t seem to realize this, clearly and he continues making obnoxious beeping noises at him. Stupid Pat and his relentless cheer never letting Janus brood enough to fit the aesthetic.

“Alright Pat, let’s get up then. Besides, this has to be better than middle school.” Janus feels bad almost immediately for bringing that up because Patton’s eyes cloud over some, before clearing themselves up and his brother smiles again, a little wider, beckoning Janus out of bed.

“Pat, could you pass me my cape?” asks Janus, holding out his hand expectantly. He’s moderately surprised when there’s nothing there after a few seconds. He glances over, and his brother’s looking at him a bit cheekily.

“Aww Janny, couldn’t you possibly go without it for our first day? You wear it all the time!” Patton replies, picking up the cape and throwing it to him, Janus catching from below. It’s routine.

“No, and you know it. Now, slacks or skirt?” asks Janus, sifting through the small clothes pile Patton kept out for the week

“Skirt, please! The one with the suspenders?” “You have no taste”

“Says the guy wearing the cape, Jan.” when Patton takes the skirt, it brushes against the wall first, promptly setting off a chorus of whispering flowers gossiping. Jamus is really, really lucky that Patton hasn’t realised that that’s a viable way to wake him up.

Deeming themselves acceptable, they both go downstairs, with Patton skipping down the steps more than anything, and Janus trying to avoid the cracks on the eighth, sixth, and second steps. The shadow in the creaks always snarled at him if he stepped on a crack, and it was, frankly, annoying.

Emile and Remy were already in the kitchen, Emile making (slightly charring) breakfast and Remy brewing coffee while simultaneously downing his fifth cup of the stuff, shifting from foot to foot to some mid-2000’s pop playing from Emile’s phone.

“Hey there, small fries! It’s eggs and toast for breakfast, so gobble up before you go- breakfast is the most important meal of the day!” Exclaims Emile, as soon as he catches sight of Patton’s yellow skirt in the stairwell. Remy looks up from the coffee pot, acknowledges Both Janus and Patton’s existence, then nods and brings out two more mugs, one yellow and black and one yellow and pink onto the kitchen island, next to the Steven Universe and ‘I’ll sleep when I’m Dead’ cups respectively.

“Hi, Emile! I’m so excited for today- do you think Jan and I could make some friends today?” asks Patton, still smiling as he elbows Janus for the latter part of that sentence. Janus turns around, knocks the perpetrator’s elbow, and grins, sitting down to accept his burnt eggs and coffee while Patton gets his burnt eggs and sugar concoction. Remy takes up the seat on Patton’s other side, grunting as he downs his sixth cup of coffee and Emile swoops into his husband's space, plucking the empty cup from Remy’s hands and not letting him get a refill. Remy grumbles a bit, but there’s no real malice- this is routine, always has been, as long as there have been witch-hazel plants growing along the house and as long as Remy and Emile have known each other.

Emile plops down with his breakfast and his coffee mug- always too much milk- and turns to face Patton, straightening his sweater vest, beaming in a way that fools a lot of strangers into thinking that Patton’s actually biologically related to him.

“I think you two can, Kiddo! With the right people, you and Jan could set the world on fire!” he cheers, and even though the smile’s a bit smaller around the end, the statement is sincere.

“Hey, arson is fun.” quips Janus, and Emile gasps, but clearly is holding back a grin, while Remy is straight-up (nah) cackling, as Patton chokes a bit on his eggs at the deadpan delivery. Janus doesn’t make an expression, just puts another bite of eggs in his mouth, scraping the edge of the plate with his fork. He cringes at the sound some, but it’s over in a second, thankfully.

It’s only about ten minutes later that he and Patton are at the doorway, book-bags packed and ready to go, with Remy and Emile waving, does Janus finally realize that yeah, High School is starting, and he’s terrified. A year without Patton at his side constantly is crazy- they only have two common classes, and that means this year will have the longest amount of time they’ve ever been away from each other since meeting every day. Patton’s scared too, Janus can tell, because the hand that he’s using to play-guide Janus around (“Because you’re a SLOWPOKE!”) grips tighter and tighter every metre closer to the bus that the two of them get, till it’s nearly bruising, the same colour of the whispering flowers down by the creek.

But they make it to the bus in time, and it’s good that Patton and Janus are holding onto each other so tightly, because of the swarm of kids piling in. Without that grip, they might not have been able to snag an empty seat to sit in together, right across a kid their age, sitting with his back ramrod-straight, wearing glasses and… going through this year’s textbooks? Nerd. But hey, Janus likes dissecting Shakespeare, so what can he say?

The bus starts going, from dirt paths in the residential area to a better built road as they all get closer to the main town, with the offices and shops and buildings and well, the school. Everyone looks a little exhausted, and some even look a bit excited, but nobody here is really memorable except for textbook-kid. Midway through the ride, as the view of the woods on everyone’s right starts thinning out a little, the witch who lives there waves, and her daughter, who’s apparently on top of the seats, in the luggage shelf (because buying buses from airports makes total sense), hangs upside-down, grinning wildly with her tangerine-colored hair falling out first, as she waves to her mother, still wearing her gathering-dress. She vanishes again soon after, lugging herself back up, but that’s no matter. She seems happier there anyway.

As the sun starts to rise in earnest, a lot of the night plants growing along the bus poles start shrinking away, letting the morning glories take centre stage for a while as the bus pulls over into the schoolyard, with the kids who took their bikes here already in their classrooms or on their way there, it’s a bit of a frenzy.

Janus takes a look at Patton, whose nerves that had been kept at bay for the moment while taking the scenery coming back in full force, and tries to smile for him. His brother deserves that much. Patton relaxes, and gives Janus’s hand one last squeeze before getting off the bus, and immediately hunting for his homeroom. 9-D, Janus thinks. He’s in 9-C himself. He sighs and trudges forward, seeing the witch’s daughter and glasses-guy enter the same classroom and hoping this doesn’t end like middle school.

…

Logan and Virgil Varma are in no way looking forward to school. Never have, really. Brings too much back about being too ‘weird’, or ‘scary’.

“Pssh, other kids are scarier” mumbles Virgil darkly under his breath while putting his bike away. He notices Logan behind him, fresh off the bus, putting his biology textbook in his bag (more like stuffing it, but Virgil isn’t about to say anything)

“Virgil, I do not think that you should say things like that when ‘other kids’ can hear you, especially if I could hear you-” Logan’s cut off by Virgil, who smirks.

“Three feet away, I know, L. But you have one thing nobody else does-”

“Superhuman hearing!” They finish off together, knowing this routine by heart and then some. Logan giggles, and Virgil automatically feels better than before for making that happen. His smirk turns into a bit more genuine of a smile as they finish the walk into homeroom together, in the same room for once, thank fuck. Virgil really needs to thank his Mom for pulling that off. She really pulled some strings for Logan to have a better year this time ‘round.

9-C. That’s his and Logan’s homeroom. When Virgil looks inside, he sees a… decently eccentric class lineup. There aren't many high schoolers in this place, so there’s only about ten people here. Hildi, who he’d hung out with in middle school, who waved at him enthusiastically, fiery hair flying about. It’s infectious, so Virgil smiles a bit back and waves too, albeit a little less excitedly. Well, there’s one person Virgil knows.

There’s a person just behind her who’s dressed up like a nineteen-twenties mobster, with the yellow-black aesthetic and cloak. He has a giant scar along the left side of his face which looks a bit like snake scales, so Virgil’s going to dub him ‘Snek Boy’ for now. There’s two people next to him, too. One looks like the ‘Chad from the horror movie’ archetype incarnate, and is flicking spitballs at the other kid in front of him, who smiles and passes him a stim toy. That person’s most likely an introvert, with all the pins on his stuff. Well then hello, fellow pintrovert.

Virgil inhales, knowing that he’s about to run out of time to stay at the doorway without looking weird, and takes the seat just behind Logan. Back row, no sun from the window. Logan turns back to face him, and Virgil does his best to smile reassuringly. He’s… relatively sure it worked, because Logan smiles as well, adjusts his glasses and turns back to face the front of the class, where the teacher enters. They look decently severe, tall, and wearing a tweed coat over a sweater vest, in extreme contrast to his dark skin tone. He puts his files down, cleans his glasses and turns up to face the class.

“Hello. My name is Corbin Robinson, and I’m your homeroom teacher for this year. I use he/him pronouns!” the severe expression tapers off into a bit of a smile as he finishes off his sentence. “Now, could all of you come up here and introduce yourselves? Preferably with your preferred name, pronouns and one fact about yourself that pertains to your personality!” he takes out a notepad, and steps to the side. Chad walks up and clears his throat after about ten awkward seconds.

“Uh, hi! My name’s Brian. Brian Cornwall. I use he/him pronouns. This is my boyfriend’s jacket! We’re wearing each other’s jackets for good luck today!” Ch-Brian finishes. He’s blushing furiously by the end of his statement, but the entire room (Virgil included) is clapping for him anyways, so he ducks down a bit to go back in his seat. Professor Corbin’s looking at Virgil now, and what is he gonna say what if he’s dumb and says something wrong and--

Hildi hops up to the front of the room, and Professor Corbin’s attention is on her for the moment. Thank god. She winks at him, and he smiles weakly back.

“Hi! I’m Hildi, the witch’s girl and I use she/her pronouns! Fun fact about me… uh, I once got to find out who’s hand the disembodied hand in plaza belonged to- Some guy called Andy from the thirties.” Hildi finishes with her hands crossed on her heart, the typical greeting that her coven uses. Virgil nods and crosses his hands as well.

Professor Corbin’s eyes wander around the class, to find whoever hasn’t spoken yet, and they land on Virgil. Since Hildi’s gone up, the eyes stay there. Virgil takes a steadying breath, and fiddles with a loose string on his hoodie.

“H-hi, I’m Virgil. Virgil… Sanders.” Great he’s already fucking this up why did he do this--

Okay, breathe. In two three four, hold two three four, out two three four five six seven eight.

“I use he/him and they/them pronouns, but I don’t really mind whatever you do end up using for me, and uh… fun fact about me?”

“I’m a twin, and my twin’s the coolest person on this planet.” he finishes, and tries his best to smile over the nerves. He feels good, though, praising his brother. Logan smiles, properly now, even as he burrows himself into his shirt best he can. Virgil smiles back, and makes his way back, trying to get his breathing back under control. It works, and he’s breathing just fine by the time Logan walks up, shoulders set.

“Hello,” he waves. “My name is Logan Ejiah Sanders, I use he/him pronouns and am Virgil’s twin. A fun fact about me is that I only use blue coloured stationery.” Logan finishes, clipped as ever. He’s careful with what he shares these days, and using solely blue stationary is something that can just be summed up as a personality quirk, instead of something wrong, the kinds of wrong that made teachers sigh and avert their gaze or puff irritably or what made him cannon fodder to other kids.

Logan’s nervous, and Virgil wishes that he could’ve done something sooner.

The introductions slip by after that, Janus, he/him, vitiligo scar, Nico Flores, they/faer, aspiring writer, because Virgil’s too floaty to care. Hildi passes him a floating earbud, and he takes it.

…

Roman really doesn't know what to expect from high school. In the stuff he reads and watches, it's portrayed as this ecosystem with really strict rules. His family calls it the most idyllic time of their lives. College students call it hell. So yeah, Roman's confused.

Remus is in a different class entirely this year, which isn't weird, so he doesn't know why he thought that? Stupid brain.

Roman was already in a shitty mood, having had to skip out on seconds of bacon because he'd already eaten too much this morning and might have to miss lunch later for club sign-ups, which is terrible. He's hoping that at least his class isn't too bad this year. Haley-Dove is a small town, but small doesn't always mean nice. He'd know.

(Roman can't get the words out of his head anymore.)

Both Mitchell and Croft were forced to change schools from Haley-Dove Secondary but what if there are new people?

Roman shakes the thoughts out of his head. School. First day. Homeroom. Class 9-D. This is doable. Just breathe, 4, 7, 8 and walk into the classroom. You can do it Roman, where's that confidence? Wait don’t answer that question just GO--

bump

“Hi! Sorry, I was so clumsy. Hey, I’m Patton!”

Roman first needs to decode that sentence before answering. Okay- Patton, sorry for bumping into Roman. Okay. Greeting, so greet back. Performance time, baby!

“No problem, Patton! I’m Roman!” Patton visibly cheers up in front of him, skirt swishing sideways a bit in the wind. Patton notices Roman looking at the skirt starts talking again.

“Uh.. he/him pronouns- but my gender is weird, yanno?” Roman did not know, but it seemed to matter to Patton, so he nodded and smiled a bit.

“Tis alright! I use he/him as well! Now, what homeroom address have you got, dear Patton? Let us make haste!” Patton giggled at Roman’s antics, meaning it was working. Good. Both of them fish into their pockets for a piece of paper they got at the entrance, unfolding it. Roman’s reads 9-D, as expected, along with Pattons’s.

“Hey- this means we’re in the same class! Woo-hoo! That means one new friend, huh kiddo?”

“Kiddo?”

“Sorry, I call my friends that.” Patton looks sheepish, as if he doesn’t expect Roman to react well.

“Oh no problem, dear Patton! I look forward to going through this year with you!” they both giggle, and Roman actually feels like they can be friends- Remus will be proud.

“Well, I am too! C’mon, let’s go- we’re already a bit late for homeroom.”

Roman looks at the clock- 8:02. They are officially two minutes late. Remus is probably in class already, if not just to pull a prank on the new homeroom teacher, meaning Roman had better get to class already.

“Yes! Onward! To academic achievement!”

…

The chemistry room is a little cold all of a sudden, and something has clearly woken up.

School’s in session, everyone. Hope you’re ready for this.

#sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #ts janus #ts virgil #ts roman #tw bullying mention #tw foster care #series: room 73 #vee's writing #sanders shorts characters #ts emile #ts remy #prinxiety #loceit #intruality #tw food

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miami-panda · 5 years ago

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I was re-reading my post about my SS theory and it got me thinking

(this is another Sander Sides post; obviously, spoilers ahead, if you haven’t caught up with the series in a while go do that first and THEN come back. also, fair warning: this post is gonna be long, lol)

I mentioned in my theory about why Roman got so upset in the last episode (POF - Putting Others First) that Roman was like the ego, as in Freudian psychology. And that got me thinking: if Roman is the ego, who is the id and the superego? And is Roman the only part of the ego? To answer this question, I needed to look up the definitions of all three. They are as follows (according to alleydog.com, a super reliable website when it comes to psychology vocabulary):

Id - “the part of the human personality that is made up of all our inborn biological urges that seeks out immediate gratification (guided by the Pleasure Principle), regardless of social values or consequences.”

Superego - the part of the human personality that “acts as our moral guide and mediates between the id and the ego. The superego contains the conscience, which makes us feel guilty for doing or thinking something wrong and good when we do something right.”

Ego - “the part of personality that helps us deal with reality by mediating between the demands of the id, superego, and the environment. The ego prevents us from acting on every urge we have (produced by the id) and being so morally driven that we can't function properly.”

So based on these definitions, I would revise my previous statement: in Freudian psychology, Roman would absolutely NOT be the ego. In a non-Freudian sense, yes, Roman is the ego of Thomas: “a person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance” (google), but it is factually incorrect to say that Roman would be part of the Freudian ego.

If Roman isn’t the ego, then what is he? THE ID (why I didn’t see this before I have no idea)! The id is the part of the personality that deals with instant gratification, and has all of our biological urges. Think about Moving On: when Thomas said his ex was calling him back, Roman instantly switched from apologizing to “PICK IT UP! PICK IT UP!” even though he knew the repercussions of what he was doing. It was a very instinctual move; almost an like an urge, if you will. Roman isn’t the only part of the id tho; his brother, Remus, is as well. Remus would do and say things that were completely against societal values and without thinking about any consequences. I’d argue that Remus is even more a part of the id than Roman, but they both exemplify the same qualities.

Patton is a part of the superego, unsurprisingly. Patton is the primary side that deals with Thomas’ moral issues, and also the main side that makes Thomas feel guilty for doing something wrong. The whole point of POF as well as DWIT was that Patton was being way too strict in a moral sense, and making Thomas feel overly guilty for every bad thing he did, but Patton isn’t the only one who does that. Virgil is also a part of the superego, although to a much more extreme and generally more pessimistic point of view; however, they are both two sides of the same coin. So in a way, you COULD say that Patton and Virgil are like father and son, as they both have similar functions, and because Virgil represents a singular emotion (anxiety) while Patton represents several (happiness, sadness..etc). You could also argue that Virgil also somewhat represents the ego; he tends to switch back and forth, depending on who else is in the episode. As an example: in DWIT, he was much more like the superego, both he and Patton agreeing that the thoughts Thomas was having were “wrong” (initially). But in Moving On, he tended to be more of a mediator; this was especially true when Logan left. But generally speaking, Virgil is a part of the superego, as well as Patton.

So then that leaves the ego, and the two sides that are a part of it: Logan and Janus. Think about it: both have mediated conversations between all the other sides, and argued in favor for or against certain arguments. Logan is the obvious example: in DWIT (I’m using that video quite a lot because there’s several examples), he calmed down Virgil and Patton, telling them they were being too hard on Thomas (superego), while simultaneously bringing down Remus a few hundred notches (id), thus making him the mediator of the siutation. Logan has also done this in countless other videos: Accepting Anxiety, a small part of POF, some of Moving On (both when he was there and also when he was speaking through Thomas), Are There Healthy Distractions...etc etc etc.

Then of course our snake boy, Janus. His part of the ego wasn’t nearly as clear to see until POF, but he really was the main mediator between the superego (Patton) and the id (Roman). He also represents understanding every side of a situation and, like Logan, has a full understanding of every side of an issue and is therefore very well equipped to be a part of the ego.

Like I mentioned earlier, Virgil can be the ego, but he’s primarily a part of the superego. Along with this, Janus could be considered a part of the superego, but as of POF, he’s more a part of the ego than anything. I get the feeling that this is part of the reason that he and Virgil are dubbed “the others” (Virgil’s words) - they are more complex than the main three, can tiptoe into another area when the time arises. The only reason Virgil and Janus are dubbed the “dark sides” (Roman’s words) is, I think, because of Remus. But even then, Virgil, Janus, and Remus aren’t “evil,” as Roman’s naming suggests, just like how the “light sides” aren’t always good. But I digress.

In short, Roman and Remus are the id, Virgil and Patton are the superego, and Logan and Janus are the ego, at least in a Freudian sense.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Also, @thatsthat24 and @thejoanglebook along with everyone else who helps write this series: I don’t know if this is something that was intentional, but either way, you and everyone else who writes this series are literally geniuses and I applaud you.

#sanders sides #sanders sides theory #thomas sanders #thomas sanders and friends #holy moly #this took way too long #totally worth it though #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #virgil sanders #sander side #sander sides fan theory

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multifandomaddictedfangirl · 5 years ago

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The Vampire Diaries Thoughts & Opinions (rewatch)

S1 :

OMG I completely forgot how cheap was this show! The dialogues in s1 feels so forced and fake 🤮 Not to blame the actors, but sometimes it feels really unnatural, like you know you’re in a fantasy young adult tv show. It doesn’t feel like real life, like what real people would do/say. It’s too obnoxious and dramatic and... overly intense ?? 😕 Rewatching it, it might be the biggest flaw of the early seasons 🤷‍♀️

They all look SO YOUNG tough 😳

Mmmm... Stefan acts like a total creep in s1, it’s really giving me Twilight vibes 😅 like if I was Elena/Bella, I would be terrified of Stefan/Edward ! 😰 They’re creepy and stalky and weirdly intense / edgy about ordinary stuff... Their entire personality screams : “I AM A VAMPIRE AND I CANNOT CONTROL MYSELF AROUND YOU” which... #yikes 🤔

Caroline Forbes is my favorite character of the entire show, I love her SO much ❤️ “I’m never the one” is still one of the most powerful lines, for me, and I loved her characterisation throughout the show

Matt has been irrelevant since s1 🙄, honestly he was maybe funny/quirky in the double-date episode and regarding his relationship with Caroline (while not having moved on from Elena)...? But that was like a couple of episodes and apart from that he was just useless. I do not understand why he stayed alive that long

Jeremy.... oh Jeremy 😔 He was... such a cliché! He was what adults see as the “typical” rebellious edgy teenager who does nothing of his life except smoking weed. And no, I don’t like that caricature. His relationship with Vicky... 🤷‍♀️ I mean, sure, it was sweet that he cared for her that way and that he saw more in her than just the “stoned-ass trashy girl” 💁🏻‍♀️ that she was supposed to embody. But Jeremy really acted like “The Nice Guy”and it seemed like he was expecting something for being nice with Vicky. He acted like if Vicky owed him something, while she never asked for him to interfere in her problems 🙅‍♀️ I don’t know, I guess he was just supposed to be a lost teen, damaged by trauma, and I get that.

OK, so if I was Elena, seeing Katherine’s picture would FREAK. ME. OUT 😱 I would run away. So far away. I would tell everyone I love to run away 👀 I would just completely shut down. I would never want to see the guy ever again (who clearly has a fetish and an unhealthy obsession!!). I mean, talk about being clinched to your ex

Damon and Caroline’s relationship was SO TOXIC in s1 !! 💥 And the show never really acknowledged that!! I mean, sure, they did, but I don’t think Damon realised the pain he caused her: he manipulated her, fed on her, hurt her, compelled her, used her to get what he wanted, abused her, put her life in danger, over and over again 🤢🤬😡

LEXIIIIIIIIII 💖💖💖 Finally! I remember I liked her a lot, but she’s just one of the best, purest character! I’m so happy Stefan can AT LEAST count on her 💕

WHAT?! 😱 SHE DIED SO SOON IN THE SHOW??!?? 💔😭 I didn’t remember that at all! I think my mind erased that fact from my mind because it hurt too much!

Ugh, Logan 😑

I hate what they did with Bonnie 😡 In s1 she’s this incredibly judgy character who ruins every single plan by having ridiculously high moral standards (for this fictional universe, at least), ugh. I love her but they used her to create unnecessary conflict in the show and she didn’t deserve that. Also she didn’t deserve all the pain, the deaths & the misery. She’s one of the (many) characters who have suffered SO MUCH throughout the seasons and they really did her dirty and i’m so mad about that !!

The flashbacks from 1864 were quite well done. I always found it interesting to learn more about Katherine’s past and the Salvatore brothers’ tragic origin story.

*sighs* John Gilbert... urrffffgh 🙄

Isobel being Elena’s biological mother AND Alaric’s ex wife was... so weird 🤨

Overall, I don’t have a lot of opinions for that season because I was bored half of the time 🤷‍♀️ I just really wasn’t interested about the plot and/or the characters because it was all so cliché and cheap. This season was really bad. It’s not working at all, for me at least.

S2 :

Katherine is a GREAT character and you can’t fight me on that 💁🏻‍♀️👠👑

The addition of the werewolves was quite a good idea, though it was predictable so far. Werewolves and vampires often come together in fantasy 🤷‍♀️ Tyler’s storyline was interesting though 🤔 The whole idea of a curse that you activate when you become responsible for someone’s death, no matter your intentions, was good.

CAROLINE BECOMING A VAMPIRE WAS ONE OF THE BEST THING HAPPENING TO THIS SHOW : YES ! 👏 She was such a better person as a vampire. She was arguably the best vampire of them all, the one who truly succeeded the most at adapting at her new life 💕

I DO NOT understand WHY Damon would ask for troubles to Mason, a werewolf, whose bite is DEADLY to him 🙄

Elijah was so different in s2 than I remembered. So uptight, and yet so evil ?? I remembered him as the nice brother in the Michaelson family. But the way he relentlessly targets Rose and her family and friends... yikes 😣🥺

Klaus was so HYPED by the show. Even Katherine herself was terrified of him 😱 And when you think about it, he might be one of the most dangerous creature of TVD’s lore... 🧐 But compared to other vilains, he was quite friendly.

Bonnie and Jeremy... mmm.... sure. You know what, it doesn’t scream “soulmate” but it doesn’t have to be. It can be just a messy, complicated, unexplainable crush. It can just be two people liking each other and enjoying each other’s company without trying to look for a deeper thing. Plus the situation is so awkward, with Jeremy being Bonnie’s best friend’s little baby brother, that it was fun to watch! 😄

My heart still feels for Jenna 💔 She had just learnt the truth about vampires and she had JUST figured out why everyone in her life was acting so weird... and then she died. And idk she was a lovely, messy, funny, pure heartface, completely lost gardian... 💕 and I’m gonna miss her. I would have liked to see her react to what happened next on the show (and how she could have supported Elena & Jeremy through all of this, etc.) 🥺

OF COURSE STEFAN WOULD MAKE A DEAL WITH KLAUS TO GET A CURE FOR HIS BROTHER! Is this Supernatural?

So, yeah, same thing here: most of the storylines developed in this season didn’t interest me whatsoever. So I don’t have a lot of things to say about this season, but just bear with me pls 🐻

S3 :

I absolutely adore Stefan as a ripper in s3. Especially regarding his complicated relationship with Klaus... I think his dependency / addiction to blood is really interesting 🤔 Stefan can’t be a regular vampire, drinking blood from humans then erasing their memories / drinking from blood blags. He can’t because he feels so guilty for the lives he takes / the pain he inflicts on other. So he’s like all or nothing 🤷‍♀️ A human blood-free diet guy. Or a merciless killer.

Regarding of the whole delena / stelena ship war... *sighs* 😔 I honestly don’t know 🤷‍♀️ Both relationships seem hella toxic (for different reasons, but still). I do believe Elena loved them both (maybe not at the same time, though). So, I don’t know who she should have ended up with... I remember shipping her with Damon on my first watch, but now I realise that was purely for the bad boy vibes (i.e bad boy, who, deep down, isn’t so bad because turns out he can change and blah blah blah... ugh what a cliché i know 🙄). So anyway, I’m not gonna defend Delena, it’s as messed up as Stelena if you ask me. But that’s where my heart went on the first watch and that’s who she canonically ends up with, so I’m not gonna fight it and try to make a case of whether she should have ended up with another person (or alone?). In my head, she’s with Damon 🙃 Just cause’ it’s easier, more convinient, and I’m lazy that way 😅 But I understand people who ship/prefer Stelena over Delena. I’m just not THAT invested in this freaking love triangle anymore ✋

The show really took off when they introduced the original vampires if you ask me 🧛‍♂️ Their backstory is so tragic, and after that, it makes more sense why Elijah, Rebekah and Klaus are so close, trust each other so much and manage to forgive the worst of each other💖

Rebekah, that poor girl who only ever wanted to have a human normal life and to BOND with people (whether they were family, friends or more than friends...) 💕has been betrayed by EVERYONE 🔪She was daggered more times than I can even count, and I’m surprised she hasn’t killed everyone out of pure revenge yet!

Yeeeeep. Still ships Klaroline. ❤️

My God, what would I give to see Caroline explore this world and enjoy the perks of her vampire life with Klaus...🥰 She wanted that. She secretly dreamed of that. And frankly, she deserved that. She deserved to feel happy and fulfilled and excited about her future! She deserved more than the life she got in Mystic Falls ✨ More than Tyler! More than Jessy. More than Damon. And more than Stefan too, even if she did seem happy with him in the end. I think I liked Klaus as a romantic option for the same reasons I liked Damon back then. For the challenge. For the way they always push their girlfriends further, and make them want more of life than what they’ve got. For the way they make them ambitious.

I think the reason this season feels so useless is because they try to find a way to eliminate the Original family... only to find out that if they do that, EVERY VAMPIRE EVER WILL ALSO DIE 👏

I despised the whole evil alter ego trope that they did with Alaric 😪😴 I liked the idea of the ring having real bad consequences. But here, Alaric can’t take responsibility for wanting to cheat on death precisely because he has a second personality that he cannot control. The blame is just put on somebody else, an entire other person that just cohabits in Alaric’s body. I never really liked the whole Dr Jekill & Mr Hide trope 🤷‍♀️ And I don’t think it was bringing anything to the table, honestly. It’s boring (because SO obvious and predictable) and it takes forever to deal with (ugh) 😑

NOOOOOOOOOO RICK 😭💔 He was one of my favorite character. I really loved his relationship with Elena and Jeremy + his friendship with Damon. I’m gonna miss him really hard. The scene with Damon on his grave was really sweet 🥺

S4:

Elena being a vampire : YES! 👏 We’ve been waiting for this for so long, the show really needed this to go on (realistically the show would have had trouble to move on if Elena would have stayed human for a lot longer). So I’m really glad about that being the premise for s4 ☺️ Plus her transition is well handled, with her memories coming back + her emotions being heightened (the scene where she bursts into laugh and cannot stop was really funny and somehow relatable 😂).

The scene in the car with Stefan, Matt & Elena VS Stefan, Elena & her father was really well done! 👏 I loved the parallel where she wants Stefan to save Matt first, just like her father wanted him to save Elena first. So touching 💕 It’s a tough choice and Stefan will have to live with both consequences for the rest of his life, which will NOT be easy with Damon blaming him for Elena’s death. But, really, Damon kinda has a point : "in what world are you [Matt] the one that gets to live?”. Matt has been saved so many times on the show and it’s legit to ask yourself : WHY? Why him? 🤷‍♀️He’s so irrelevant and useless. But I get that’s the whole point. Human life is irrelevant and useless (in the great scheme of things). And yet, we fight for it ✊ Because somehow it matters.

S4 helped me remember what I didn’t like about Stefan, regarding his relationship with Elena. He really had a big problem with her being a vampire, and he spent half of his time trying to “control” / “fix” her 🙄 He’s got such high standards for Elena when she turns into a vampire. It’s like he expects her to not make the same mistakes as he - or any other vampire in the history of vampirism - did. He desperately wants her to be a “good” vampire right away and avoid the “killer without humanity” phase 🤔 Which is understandable. He doesn’t want her to become a bad vampire who doesn’t care about human life, as he was during his ripper phase (or like Damon).

Damon truly accepted her, the new her, vampire! Elena 👐 You can argue that it’s because he’s selfish and he wants people to act as bad and carelessly as him (that’s why he tried to manipulate Stefan into drinking human blood again in s1 : he doesn’t want to be alone and he needs someone else to party with)... But he isn’t selfish when it comes to Elena 🤷‍♀️ The show proved us that. He wanted her to have a human normal life, to be happy, to grow old and have children. He wanted to give her that, and that’s why he would have saved her over Matt on the bridge. He’s not happy that she is a vampire. That’s not what he wanted. Never. But now that she is, and that there’s nothing they can do about it (that they know of), Damon tries to make the best out of it

Anyway, Caroline is such a better teacher then Damon or Stefan 😅 Drop the Salvatore brothers and get educated on the vampire life with your bff, Elena !

Elena being sired by Damon, OMMGG! 😮😮😮 So much drama, I really loved it. It was smart to use that as a way to postpone Delena for a little bit - playing on the general doubt that Elena might not truly love Damon and she might just be under the influence of the sire bond. Which, let’s be honest, was a legit consideration to have. So, yeah... REALLY GLAD that, in the end, the sire bond didn’t create those feelings out of nowhere, it only heightened and amplified what was already there beforehand. Otherwise, it would have been really problematic, especially regarding consent issues 😕

I love that Damon makes the right choice again with Elena and “sets her free”. He doesn’t want their relationship to be fake. And so he uses the sire bond to send her away, to be herself, to live her life without worrying about what makes him happy. You can say everything you want about Damon, at least he gets it right by her ☝️Just like when he confessed his feelings to her, but compelled her to forget because she’s in love with Stefan and he doesn’t want to mess it up. He was not selfish when it came to her.

It was really heartbreaking to see Jeremy becoming a hunter and having the sudden urges to kill his own sister and basically everybody else in his life 😢

Poor Carol Lockwood! 💔 She didn’t deserve to die. She tried so hard to help for Tyler, even when she learnt he was a werewolf, she cared so much for him...😭

Their inability to communicate with each other is INSANE. At some point in s4, they all know Shane is practicing a magic called “Expression”. Damon and Stefan also know that kind of magic is incredibly dark and dangerous (from their little trip to New Orleans when they tried to find a way to deactivate the sire bond and the witch there told them she wasn’t practicing this kind of magic). But NO ONE has still put two and two together. And so, Bonnie keeps blindly trusting Shane and hanging out with him 🤦‍♀️

The whole search for the cure was quite interesting and entertaining to watch! Each one of them wanted it for a different reason : destroy it, use it, share it, give it away, save it for later... Which really well portrayed how people can react to the idea of mortality. The fact that there’s only one dose was really genius! That makes it even more interesting to see who’s gonna fight for it (i.e. Rebekah, Stefan), who’s gonna just drop it because turns out they didn’t really want it to begin with (i.e. Damon, Caroline), who’s gonna exchange/bargain it and for what (i.e Katherine, maybe), who’s gonna get it the end and what will they do with it. Will it all be worth it? 🧐

Jeremyyyyy 💔😭 R.I.P 💀

Honestly, even though I still think Matt is irrelevant to the show, let’s remember he also has lost every single person in his life (his dad and his mom are basically gone, Vicky is dead, Tyler left town again, his goddamn history teacher died too) - and now he can add Jeremy, his best friend, to the list 😭 He’s handling it all WAY better than anyone else. I mean you don’t see him burning down the house he grew up in for instance! However, I agree that Elena have lost more people in her family than him (her adoptive parents, Jenna, Alaric, Jeremy, even John... and Isobel is basically gone too). But it’s not like you can compare their lost, anyway. They boty suffered a lot, but I just wanted to say... I liked that the show acknowledged Matt lost someone important for him too 💕

No humanity! Elena, OOMMMGGG!! 🤯 I was so mad when it happened, because Damon could have just used the sire bond to make her deal with her brother’s death, he could have just helped through the grief and tell her it was going to be okay. He didn’t need to make her turn off her humanity 🙄 Real dumb move here!

I kinda liked the friendship between Elena without humanity and Rebecca! Their little trip starting off in NY was fun!

Katherine is, and will always be, the baddest bitch in town! ❤️ I was quite surprised to see her kill Jeremy so heartlessly, but I guess it fits the character. She’ll always be looking out for herself and the opportunity to take the cure and be one step ahead of everyone was obviously too good to leave out. She always had to fight for her own survival, in a world that’s always been dangerous and ruthless against her, so it makes sense she became who she is 🤷‍♀️

Of all the things that could have triggered Elena’s humanity flip switch, really? Matt Donovan? 🤨😑 I mean, it makes sense since Elena seems to value his life over everything else, including her own. But from what we’ve seen so far, she wasn’t really happy when she was dating Matt 😕 They used to fight a lot, they didn’t want the same thing out of life, they just were really different people. And that’s fine, they didn’t work out as a couple, but they can stay friend... Except you don’t really see them interract THAT much as friends. I mean it’s a lot of "say" and not enough "show", for me 🧐 You don’t feel the bond that two best friends should have... between them. You don’t see inside jokes, common interests, similar hobbies, laughters and tears, serious conversations that last for hours, or small talks over the phone... Anyway, from what we were shown so far, she shouldn’t feel that close to Matt. Not more than, idk, Bonnie, Caroline, Damon or Stefan for instance! So the fact that she cares SO MUCH about him is kinda strange 🤔

“He was your first love, I intend to be your last. However long that takes” LOOK WHO’S BAAAACK 👀 My favorite hybrid! Awww of course he was gonna come back for Caroline ❤️

Btw the ceremony was very cute 💕 It’s the end of high school! The end of an era! And they all graduated 🍾🎊🎉

Awwwwww, when Bonnie dropped the veil and everyone got to see their dead friends and family again! Stefan & Lexi, Damon and Alaric, Elena & Jeremy 💖

BONNIIIIIE, OH NOOOO, WHYYY 😭💔 oh no no no no no no no, she wants to keep her death a secret from everyone, that is such a bad idea!!! 😣

OMG SILAS IS A DOPPELGÄNGER OF STEFAN !!! 🤯 POOR STEFAN IS STUCK IN THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE AND NO ONE KNOWS, NOOOOOO 💔😭

S5 :

The whole college experience with Caroline and Elena was so fun to rewatch😁 I wish Bonnie could have been there though, even if she kinda was.

It feels good to watch Elena and Damon being happily in love together and enjoying the summer ❤️☀️ But when you think about Stefan drowning over and over in that lake... it feels so bad :(

Katherine as a human is devastatingly entertaining! "I’m the freaking moonstone" 🤣 So iconic that she, of all people, took the cure! I loved that twist.

I loved the complicated and messy love triangle between Quetsiya, Amara and Silas. I want to empathise with Quetsiya and support her, because Silas screwed her over in such a supernatural, mystical way... he cheated on her and tricked her. He manipulated her to get what he wanted. So yeah, I’m all team Quetsiya ✊ but then again, she is sort of over-paranoid and obssesive? 🤷‍♀️ And being screwed over by a guy doesn’t exactly justify her quest for vengeance. So... I guess the only one who’s okay is Amara?? We don’t see a lot of her but I respect her wish to die after thousands of year in pain, as the anchor of the other side (which, btw, was BRILLIANT! 🤯 Quetsiya’s a genius! o.O)

"You are my life" ❤️ GOD, Damon always finding the right words!

I hate the travelers storyline 🙅‍♀️ I find it incredibly boring and I’m not that attached to Nadia. The only thing I liked about her was her relationship with her mom, Katherine. But apart from that, I don’t really like them as villains, nor as their storyline with Silas 😑😕

Stefan loosing his memory is okay-ish. It’s such a cliché as a trope, but it sort of works because Paul Wesley does such a great work at portraying different Stefans 👍 and it’s always entertaining to watch. And even though I usually ship Delena, I have to admit Elena recreating some moments with Stefan was very cute! 💕So it works but I’m not a big fan.

What I am a big fan of is the evolving relationship between Damon and Jeremy! 🥰 I mean, you can see that he didn’t really care about him, that he was mostly protecting him as a way to please Elena... But then, something changed 🤔He started caring for him for real, kinda like a big brother would:)

"You’re Katherine Pierce. Suck it up" hell yes 💪 keep fightingt, love !

Awwwwwww Bonnie 💔 Why do you always have to sacrifice yourself and put everyone else’s happiness before your own?? It’s really sad to see her becoming the anchor of the other side, feeling literally every single death of all the supernatural beings out there :’(

The Augustine vampire storyline!! 😮I’ve had completely forgotten about that! I love how they connected Damon with that institution, and how they introduced Enzo as Damon’s old mate. Well done👍

Katherine in Elena’s body: OMG! Love it! She’s such a survivor ❤️ That’s gonna mess things up so bad xD (btw the fact NO ONE notices anything is kinda weird and if I was Elena, I would be offended)

Nooooooo, don’t break up with Damon as Elena !!! 😱😱 Uuuughhh!!! Whyyy 😭

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG CAROLINE SLEPT WITH KLAUS !!! ❤️HELL YAS B**CH!!! SHE FINALLY ADMITTED HER FEELINGS FOR HIM !!! THEY KISSED !!! IT’S OFFICIAL !!! (i know klaus will never come back to TVD ever again buuuut... i’m still so so SO happy about that Klaroline reunion!)

Awwwww my baby Liv ❤️ I’ve missed her, she was so precious in season 5 !

Katherine AGRESSIVELY flirting with Stefan, while pretending to be Elena, was... both fun and hard to watch 😅Katherine was soooo pushy! And the fact that Stefan still doesn’t see she’s not Elena was infuriating! Like there’s just no way Elena would ever act like that!

"You’re never gonna as interesting as the next guy she wants to sleep with” poor Nadia 😭 that’s so true though :/ she didn’t deserve to die, I was really sad for her. She deserved a better life than the one she’s got 💔💔💔

FINALLY! 🙌 Finally they put two and two together and figured out Katherine is inside Elena’s body! Thank God 🙏 Caroline made me laugh so much with her "it’s Elena, we would have noticed something" speech. I was like YES. MY POINT EXACTLY 👏 I loved when they figured out all the little details that have been wrong ever since the beginning of this whole mess, like : Katherine was the reason that Tyler knew Caroline slept with Klaus. And Caroline’s like : oooohhh it all makes sense now. Wow. Congrats for figuring this out just now! 🙄

R.I.P Katherine ❤️ Weirdly, she will be missed. She did deserve better.

Jeremy was kind of a jerk with Bonnie in s5 ? I mean he was okay in the first few episodes i guess but then he completely ignored her... not cool bro, not cool 👎

The whole "Why do people seem to expect more of me?" speech of Caroline felt very relatable 👏 Just because she’s kind, because she’s trying to do good, doesn’t mean it’s easier for her! 😤 Plus, why do people keep slut-shaming her for having sex with Klaus when she’s not the first, nor the last, to have had one night stands with - arguably - bad people! ✋

Damon and Elena breaking up : lol 😆 As if. We know they’re endgame. Please. It’s only a matter of episodes until they find their way back to each other, which is why they are kinda cute as a couple.

Ugh 😑 Markos 🤦‍♀️ I just can’t ✋

Bonniiiiiiiiiiie !! Stop lying to everybody!! I hated how she was pretending she had a spell to escape the Other Side collapsing! Haven’t you learnt anything by now? Talk to your friend, figure out a plan together and if not, at leat say your goodbyes and enjoy your last moments with them!

Did I already say I hate the travelers storyline? Well, I do. I hate it 🤬

Season 5 finale was PEFRECT, I loved it. Bonnie resurrecting everyone, Liv doing the spell, Silas helping them just to be destroyed in the end (a fitting ending), Damon and Elena driving through the Grill to kill all the travelers, Alaric coming back, Markos dying... BUT. But, but, but, I was so upset about Damon!! It was just a matter of time and if they would have just kept going with the spell for a few seconds (damn you, Luke!), he would have been able to come through! And Lexi, omg 😭 at least she found peace❤️

Btw, that’s exactly what I meant about Bonnie’s character. Throughout the seasons she never stops sacrificing herself for other people (sometimes those people don’t even deserve it). She keeps lying to everyone. She lied when she died the day of graduation. She didn’t say how much it hurt her to be the anchor. She lied when she said they had a way to bring her back from the Other Side when it was collapsing. She kept minimising her (big-ass) problems. She kept putting other people before herself. And she’s one of the characters who suffered the most. Her storyline revolves around pain. The show doesn’t allow her to be fully happy. And btw, no one truly cares about her happiness (except maybe Jeremy and then Enzo), at least not when somebody else’s safety or comfort is at play. She’s never number 1 on the priority list. If somebody needs her to do a spell or whatever, they will use her. No matter how much danger she puts herself in 🤬

"Please don’t leave me” 😭😭😭 I felt that... It crushed my heart 💔

S6 :

I loved the way everybody coped with Bonnie and Damon’s deaths 💕 Elena got addicted to some magical herbs that made her hallucinate Damon again because she couldn’t deal with his death. Jeremy left a tone of angry voicemails to Bonnie’s old phone - which he paid for. Caroline got dragged into work and research in order to find a way to get back in Mystical Falls. Stefan moved on completely and started off a new life. It’s just... a nice way to show grief 😊

Ooohh I smell some Steroline moments!! Poor Caroline. To me, she deserved better than Stefan! He was such a jerk to her, especially in the beginning 😤😡

NOOOOOOOOOOOO 💔 ELENA DON’T ERASE YOUR MEMORIES! WHAT! WILL! YOU! DO! WHEN! DAMON! INEVITABLY! COMES! BACK! Elenaaaaa 😤 You have to learn how to deal with grief for real !

The fact she trusts Rick completely to do that was so beautiful though... They’re family and it was nice to see their bond.

Bonnie and Damon were kinda cute ! Like I don’t ship them, per say. But I get why some people do 🤷‍♀️ They had chemistry and they worked as an enemies to lovers trope. Anyway, I personally liked their friendship, how they both learnt how to support each other, how to function as a team, how they helped each other through the worst! In the end, Damon truly cared about her, and that’s why he was ready to do anything in order to save her 💪

Kaaaaaaiiiiii 🙈 i’m so conflicted about ya

I totally ship Jalaric ! ❤️ I loved how Elena tried to fix them up together! They’re really cute together. They both have complicated pasts and a messy family. They understand each other :) And Jo is such a confident woman! She knows what she wants, she’s not afraid of speaking her mind, she’s kinda fierce!

The fact that Elena wanted her memories back JUST when Alaric became human again was just... aaarrghh 🤬

"I think I deserve better than that” YES 👏 YOU 👏 DO 👏 CAROLINE! Stefan treated you like shit and you’re right to protect yourself, sweatheart 💕 I really didn’t like how he tried so hard to make amends... without acknowledging how much he hurt her, how he abandoned everyone, how he behaved like a jerk. I liked that Caroline took some distances for her own good 💖 #SelfRespectIsReal

The Gemini coven was really interesting. This idea of such a dysfunctional family, with a psychopath brother who killed half his siblings to merge with his twin sister in order to get leadership for the coven... it was all very compelling! Loved it ❤️

I think I have a thing for storylines about supernatural families in TVD : the Salvatores, the Mikealsons, the Parkers !

Liv and Tyler... mmm... don’t care 🤷‍♀️

You’re telling me that Damon got out of the prison world, even KAI got out, and BONNIE still gets stuck over there!! 🤬 Wtf ?? Why does this show hate this character so much? Why is she always the one who gets screwed in the end?? I just hate the way they treated her!! 😱

There was literally no good outcome to that whole twin-merging-together mess. If Liv merged with Luke, one of them would die and that’s not an option! If Kai merged with Jo, there was a huge chance he would win, which is simply not acceptable at all. Anyway, what a mess!

Kai literally sucking all the magic from the travelers’ spell, finally breaking it, allowing vampires to come back to Mystic Falls, was just... wOw! o.O

Luke merging with Kai 😭 R.I.P 💔

The ONLY good thing about that merge was watching Kai trying to deal with his feelings like ??? what’s going on??? 🧐🧐Why do i... feel??... stuff ?? 🤨🤨

"So I googled how to process emotional pain", i mean i hear you my boy, let’s not pretend that’s not my usual monday 👩🏻‍💻 "so i start writing and this water literally started pouring in my eyes ?? does that ever happen to you ??”, again same 😂

Jeremy going to art school... meh, it was okay. Clearly they didn’t know what to do with him anymore, so yeah, why not art school? 🤷‍♀️ The going-away party was nice :) Damon giving a joint to Jeremy was sort of sweet, Elena smoking it with him was also cool and quite funny!

Ugh 😑 Enzo & Sarah Salvatore... 🙄 this storyline was so boring, i just didn’t care

First Steroline kiss! 😳😮 Okay, that was kinda cute, I have to admit. But still, I don’t like the fondation of this ship, I think that Stefan hurt her too bad and, most importantly, didn’t respect her enough to get to come back and kiss her.

Sheriff Forbes being sick was KILLING me 😭😭😭 She didn’t deserve that at all, she was the sweatest, kindest, purest, most compassionate woman on this show... and she passed it on to Caroline...

The scene with the bike and little Caroline was so touching ❤️❤️😭 RIP Liz’!

OMGOMGOMG!!! Caroline flipped her humanity switch! 😱 "I just need the pain to be gone" 😭 I get why she did it, and I also thought Elena was being a little bit condescending with her. She had the right to turn it all out. Everyone else did. I get why she thought it was unfair :/

BONNIE’S BACK Y’ALL ❤️❤️❤️

I do not understand why people on this show just won’t accept people turning off their humanity switch 🤷‍♀️ I mean, Stefan, Damon, Elena,... they all did it! And every single time, the others tried really hard to fix that. And I’m like : why? I’m not sure it’s the smartest move here 🧐 Because they usually end up making things worse 😑 Look at Elena : she just wanted to not feel the pain of her brother’s death for a while. She even tried to make a deal with Stefan and Damon : leave me alone, let me do my things and I’ll behave. But of course, they refused 🙄🤦‍♀️ Because they couldn’t accept the fact that their precious Elena would ever be bad and do bad thing 😒🙄 And then Elena became ruthless! Who would have thought? 🙄 Same for Caroline! The poor girl lost her mother. She just wanted to get waisted, sing some karaoke songs, and live her vampire life without any care in the world. She even erased Liam’s memories when she fed on him. Her first instinct was to buy new clothes to start over and come back to her dorm to keep leaving her old college life! She kinda had it under control 🤷‍♀️ And then, she suggested a deal, kind of like the one Elena tried to make with Stefan and Damon :☝️ one year without humanity, and she behaves and doesn’t kill anyone. That’s a good deal if you ask me 🤷‍♀️ Why not let her have that? Why not agree with that deal? Caroline without humanity is still Caroline (sort of) : she’s functional, and to quote Caroline herself : she is not an idiot. She doesn’t want to feel so she’s ready to do anything to not be bothered. I think she would have respected her end of the deal. If you take a good look at it, in both cases, it’s when other people tried to bring them back, when they broke the deal, that Elena/Caroline became killers.

Stefan shutting off his humanity was so dumb 🤦‍♀️🙄 Elena was going to find Sarah, he still had time! And even if she didn’t, and Liam killed Sarah, it’d be one ☝️ dead body. But by turning off his humanity, Stefan practically ensured that there’d be more dead bodies after that!

Damon’s mom... urf, yeah? sure. I guess I should care? 🤷‍♀️ Honestly, even when I first watched the show, I found that storyline super boring. She didn’t inspire me anything whatsoever. Anyway, using her as Stefan’s emotional trigger was sort of smart, but kinda reckless. I mean, they had no idea if it was gonna work or not, and still they still risked it, I-... urf 🤦‍♀️

I liked Stefan’s little revenge 😈😈 He’s like : no, no, no, Caroline, you don’t get to have an elaborate system that protects you from feeling guilt whenever you’ll decide to turn your humanity back on. I’m gonna make your life a living-hell. I’m gonna break you. You don’t get to ruin MY life and keep being the same control-freak, organised, college girl 💁‍♀️

Alaric&Jo thinking about baby names 🥰

The cure is BACK??? Hell no 😤 I mean, sure, it was interesting the first time, don’t get me wrong. But we’ve already watched that storyline. So 🤷‍♀️

Btw, I hate how suddenly, everybody’s like "omg poor Elena will NEVER get the life that she truly wants, she’s condamned to an eternity as a vampire, without ever having the possibility of settling down and starting a family" 😱 like i don’t know Elena’s been FINE about her vampirism for like 4 seasons. She seems happy, she seems to have found a way to make the best out of it. But sure, NOW that the cure is back, she feels like her life is unbearable - how convenient🙄

"For the first time, I’m putting ME first" HELL YES, BONNIE ✊🏿 I wish she could do that more often though.

Awwww Caroline getting her humanity back was really sad and emotional 💕💕The LETTER 😭 The fucking letter 😭 "I’m sorry Stefan, I ruined everything" 😭

Are we gonna address Matt, Tyler and Alaric’s alcoholism or are we simply gonna pretend they don’t have a drinking problem and their behaviour is totally socially-acceptable ?? 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

I know it was her choice and it was probably for the best, but I think Elena taking the cure was a big mistake 😕 The show was way more entertaining when she was a vampire, and they basically erased every possibility of a "happy" ending for my favorite characters 💔 Elena will loose everyone she ever cared about, including Stefan and Caroline. She will have to move out of Mystic Falls and isolate herself from all her former friends. Damon is taking the cure with her so he will have to say goodbye to his own brother, the only family he has left. All of that... for a human life ?? A meaningless job?? Bills to pay?? School?? Money issues?? A house to maintain?? Misery and despair?? Children?? In that messed up world?? With that economy??? And the environment crisis we’re living?? Nope, I don’t get it 🤷‍♀️ I just don’t.

Secretly, I had always dreamed of Elena, Stefan, Damon and Caroline all being vampires and spending eternity together. And double date forever, I guess 😅

NOOOOOOOOO 😭😭😭 R.I.P Jo 💔

LIV !!!! 💔 NO, NO, NO, NO! Whyyyy 😭

AND THAT BASTARD GETS TO LIVE!!! What did do you do Lily? Oh my freaking God, why would you turn Kai into an heretic? He was already such a pain in the ass and now he’s even more powerful! Thanks to you, he has killed his entire family and he gets to live!! 🤬🤬

I ABSOLUTELY HATE WHAT THEY DID WITH BONNIE AND ELENA!! That whole "I linked your life with Elena’s" 😡 Cause it’s like : OF COURSE, we want to pick the main character. Of course we want Elena to come back to life. Of course we would be ready to sacrifice Bonnie if it means that Elena gets to live in the present with her friends and family. BUT BONNIE DOESN’T DESERVE THAT! She deserves to be the one, as Caroline used to say, to be picked upon everybody else. She deserves to live as much as Elena, even more (after everything she has done, everything she has sacrificed for her friends). She deserves to be happy! But now, everyone resents her for being alive, because if she’s alive then that means she is taking "Elena’s place". Now she feels guilty for being alive and breathing. For. Fucking. Being. Alive. Think about that. Again, I’m sorry if I repeat myself but : WHY THE HELL DID THIS SHOW HATE BONNIE’S CHARACTER SO MUCH?? 🤬🤬🤬

I’m just gonna say it once : The show is just not the same without Elena 🤷‍♀️

Btw, I KNOW Kai specifically said not to try anything to undo the spell he casted - otherwise Elena and Bonnie would BOTH die... But I’m surprised they didn’t even try to search for a loophole 🤔 I mean, let’s be real, when has Damon ever listened to anyone trying to reason with him? When did any of them? 🤷‍♀️ Bonnie would NEVER stop looking for a magical loophole to save her best friend. Caroline would read an entire library of mystical books to find a clue. Stefan and Damon would travelled the whole world to meet with different witches, trying to find some kind of magic that could undo the spell. No one would ever listen to Kai and just do nothing! I mean, he could be bluffing for all they know 😵 He could be saying that in order to mess with them. Were they really gonna take his word for granted? 🤔 I’m not saying "try the first anti-spell you find and roll the dices", but at least try and look for something!

S7 :

Anyway, AT LEAST, we get to see some good sweet Bamon scenes ! I love how Damon seemed to genuinely care about Bonnie. He didn’t want her to die, even if it meant he would see Elena again 💕

"You’re my best friend" awwwwww ❤️

I... liked the Heretics!😳 They were a fun new, even if they reminded me of Pearl and her vampire friends (in the "we are trying to coexist with humans but some of us don’t want to" trope). And again, I kinda have a thing for supernatural dysfunctional family, so... 🤷‍♀️ Valerie was very relatable as a depressed immortal being, Beau was so loyal it was really sweet, Malcom was boring but he died pretty quickly so he wasn’t in the show for long, Mary Louise and Nora were... the absolute cutest couple ❤️

How many times can they evacuate Mystic Falls without people realizing something’s wrong? 🤔 How many stories about gaz leak can they come up with?? 🤦‍♀️ Where are all the humans going? They’re moving away because they’re all compelled, sure, but to go where? like how can that many people find new homes in new cities, especially considering this crappy housing market? It just seems pretty unlikely that these people would just start over so easily, find new jobs, new homes for their families🧐

Stefan & Valerie was basically Steferine all over again 🤷‍♀️ I don’t have anything against Valerie herself. I think she’s probably the nicest one amongst the heretics. I even liked her chemistry with Stefan but it’s the same storyline recycled all over again, so I don’t really care much. Plus, I liked the idea that Katherine was Stefan’s first love (💕). First of all, Katherine being Stefan’s first love makes their story... EPIC. We, as an audience, care deeply about Katherine (whether we like her or not). She’s a regular and important character. We want her to have a compelling story, one that fits the legend that was Katherine Pierce. Valerie, as nice and interesting as she can be, only appears in the two last season. Plus, if Stefan had already been in love with Valerie and had already had his heart broken BEFORE knowing Katherine, then he should have acted differently when he met her 💡 He should have been way more suspiciously towards her 🧐 he wouldn’t have so easily trusted another woman, coming at his door with a pity story... if he had already been betrayed and abandoned by THE FIRST WOMAN he ever loved, the one who took his "v-card", his first love.

Hello Oscar... Goodbye Oscar 👋

Are you kidding me ? Bonnie is in pain yet again, because of some mystical element AGAIN, and nobody cares AGAIN. People keep using her, lying to her, manipulating her to get what they want and I- 🤬 Btw HOW is she okay with this? How would Bonnie ever agree to help raise people from the dead? What about her values and morals? What about everything she believes in??

These "Three Years from Now" scenes were just TERRIBLE 🤦‍♀️ Epic failure. I simply don’t care about whatever happens in the "future”. I’ll make my own headcanons, thank you ✋

JULIAN... UGH 🤢🤮 Could you be even more despicable?? Beating up a pregnant woman to the point of loosing her baby?? Poor Valerie, she didn’t feel like she could tell her own mother about that cause’ she knew Lily wouldn’t believe her 😢

Awwwwwww Ric bringing ""Jo"" back from the dead 😭💖 I felt bad for that poor vampire who just woke up in somebody else’s body, after years being trapped in some hell... And It was really heartbreaking to watch him get his hopes up and then realise she wasn’t his wife :’(

OMG CAROLINE’S PREGNANT??? 🤰WITH RIC’S BABIES??? 😱 I... I don’t even know what to think of that. I don’t really know how to react... Good for the twins? I guess? Yay, they’re alive? But... I don’t know, seems kinda rapy to put someone else’s babies inside a woman’s body without her consent ?? 🧐

The fact that Valerie HAD to confess her very traumatic story, to multiple people, MULTIPLE TIMES... because it was convenient to the plot was disgusting! 🤮🤬 She was merely used as a reason to try to kill Julian... Valerie was beaten by Julian to the point she lost her baby! She never said anything because she was afraid no one would believe her/people would judge her/people would hurt her - which is completely understandable considering how traumatic this must have been for her! But then she comes back to MF and Stefan keeps asking her to justify herself like she owes him a goddamn explanation for not having returned earlier as she had promised... um? I get that Stefan had his heart broken back then, but aren’t you mature enough NOW to understand something wrong must have happened?? And that maybe she just doesn’t want to talk about it because it still hurts?? It’s HER life and she is entitled to live it however the hell she wants?? EVEN if she just changed her mind and decided not to come back for an entirely different reason, it’s her choice! Having sex with someone ONCE doesn’t mean you OWE them anything! 🤦‍♀️🤬 Promises were made, sure, but they were both very young and things can change! ANYWAY... And when they need allies to kill Julian, she is almost forced to tell her story again, just to make people feel pity and sympathy... She’s not a damn tool, for God’s sake, respect the poor girl! 😤

While rewatching the show, I kind of like that they addressed Lily’s romantic patterns and how she had a tendency to chose violent, controlling, abusing husbands (first Giuseppe, and then Julian...) 🧐 It was touching to hear her story, and to understand that she only stayed with Giuseppe back then to protect her sons, Damon & Stefan. She had a plan to run away, she wanted to escape because she knew she was in danger with him, she was well aware he wasn’t treating her right. But sometimes you can’t just go away. Sometimes things are more complicated. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ I liked that she realised her own pattern and that she tried to stand up for herself against Julian after that... even though it didn’t end well (which... seriously? 🤦‍♀️ She killed herself? Is that the message you wanna send to all the people stuck in abusive/violent relationship? 🤮)

Poor Lily 😭😭😭 R.I.P. 💔

Damon burning Elena’s coffin... 🔥🔥 Yeah. Sure. As if 🙄 Honestly, even on my first watch, I wasn’t believing it. The show without Elena is such a catastrophic mess! If she had died in her sleep, it would have been devastating. I don’t think the show would have survived that. I think it would have been cancelled before s8, or something like that.

Stefan was... surprisingly not reacting a lot to Caroline being PREGNANT🤰?? I mean... I don’t know... I was expecting some kind of big talk about it. Like "hey Caroline, how are you feeling about all this? What are your thoughts about having Ric’s babies? Do you even want to pursue the pregnancy (cause you DON’T have to carry someone else’s babies!)? What does this pregnancy mean to you? What will happen once the babies are born? Would you consider having shared custody with Ric? Or if you don’t want to be involved at all, would you like the twins not to know you were the one who carried them? Did you ever or would you ever want to be a mom? Would you want to have children of your own in the future? Do you ever think of that?” 🤷‍♀️ And those are just EXAMPLES. He didn’t have to ask all of these questions all at once! But you know, I wish they could have at least discussed some of these points together. Instead, he just let her "handle her things", because good old organised Caroline has every figured it out, of course! 🙄🙄 sure, she can take care of everything on her own 🤦‍♀️

I didn’t like the idea of putting Damon & Stefan in the Phoenix Stone... if it was all JUST to do THAT in the end. They tried to add some PTSD, pain and remorse but failed at making it compelling to the audience. Wooow, Stefan must let go of his toxic relationship with his brother in order to save himself... How obnoxious can you be, TVD? And oooohh, Damon must get rid off his toxic masculinity to face the fact that he loved and misses his mother... how original!! 🙄 I just feel like TVD was trying hard to be deeper than they were, and it didn’t work (for me)

FINALLY JULIAN IS DEAD 🙌🙏🎉

The Huntress was, like, a JOKE, okay? She’s supposed to have killed a thousands of vampires. Even heretics feared her. Stefan & Damon should already have been dead by now! What is she doing? How are we supposed to be afraid of her? She’s not doing anything, she is barely a threat 🤦‍♀️

Am I the only one who kinda saw great chemistry between Nora and Bonnie?💕

I LOVE how Klaus just IMMEDIATELY understood that Caroline was NEVER gonna let go of these kids 😍 I just love how he ultimately gets her, how he’s able to predict exactly what’s she’s going to do because he just knows her that well. Their phone talk was VERY cute ❤️ I love how he teased her with her own words : how she said she couldn’t possibly allow herself to be with him because she was "in college, building a life for herself” and he just wasn’t in the picture... and then turns out... she had kids! 😅 He sounded surprised but not completely shocked and I love how he was very understanding and sweet with her, she needed that 💕

Btw this season is just desperately LONG!

Awwww... Caroline... 😬 I understand why she wanted to stay in Dallas, and why she asked Stefan to consider moving here... but she should have been honest with him right away, the minute he picked up the phone. She should have told him she wanted to be involved in these kids’ life. I know that she was afraid Stefan wouldn’t want to “settle down" with her and take care of the twins... but she could have asked him. Directly. Clearly. Maybe he wouldn’t have minded living with her and raising the twins in some kind of shared custody 🤷‍♀️ Family comes in all shapes and sizes (💖), and as long as they told the truth to the twins, it wouldn’t have been a problem. And if Stefan didn’t want that at all, or wasn’t ready, or whatever, then they could have ended their relationship in a healthy way. By acknowledging they both wanted different things and that it just didn’t work out, as it often happens in life. But here, they’re just stuck in the middle... and it’s awkward 😳😐 Clearly, Caroline wants to live near the girls. She wants to be their mom, and clearly Stefan doesn’t seem THAT into it. But no one is saying anything and it’s just weird! 😤

I understand why Damon would make the choice of dessiccating in a coffin until Elena came back 🙂 He didn’t do it just for love. Not just because he missed her. Not because life was unbearable without her. That would have been really lame btw 😒 He did it because he didn’t want to directly or indirectly hurt people around him. And you know what, for once that was kind of the best, most reasonable - and most noble - decision to make. I was proud of him. The letter he gave Alaric was pretty sweet, but I’m glad Bonnie got to catch him before he left 💕

Bonnie saying "I’m not okay with that”😭 I was soooo glad that FOR ONCE she said what she was really thinking ! 👐Damon is her best friend, and I truly believe learning he left in a letter would have been devastating for her 😞 His choice means she will most likely NEVER see him again, ever, in her entire life 💔 I can totally understand her asking sincerly "are we friends?" cause if one my friends dared to do that, I would be pretty upset. I liked that she asked him to be honest. No joke. No deflecting mecanism. No sarcasm. No insults. Just the truth. ❤️

I REALLY REALLY don’t care about what happens "three years from now" 🤷‍♀️ Ugh I hate this season, things are so slow and boring, the storyline isn’t interesting at all, and frankly... i wanna die💀

NOOOOO MARY-LOUISE AND NORA DIDN’T DESERVE THAT 💔😭😭

Ugh 😑 The whole idea of the vampire souls trapped in the Phoenix’s stone being reunited with the wrong bodies was just lame and boring 😒

I genuinely felt bad for Valerie 😞 you can see she truly loved Stefan and it must have hurt to see he didn’t feel the same, despite having spent basically three years together :/ Again, that’s kind of my general problem with Stefan: he’s so afraid he’s gonna hurt people that he’s never fully honest with anyone! 🙄 Same shit with Caroline. He just abandoned her because he couldn’t deal with this situation. What Stefan fails to realise is that he does hurt people by keeping things from them, by always running away. I’m sorry but women around him deserve better 🤷‍♀️

Bonenzo... I remember shipping it back then, but now, I just don’t feel it 🤷‍♀️ i get why people do, sure they both care deeply about each other and you can clearly see that (the guitar scenes were very cute 💕)... but it’s mostly flashbacks and that doesn’t have the same effect on me. Because I wasn’t there to see them developing a special bond over time. I still think they’re cute and I’m happy to see Bonnie finally fall in love with someone who truly loves her back ❤️

OF COURSE BONNIE IS THREATENED BY SOME MAGICAL ELEMENT THAT IS SORT OF CONVENIENT FOR THE STORY. OF COURSE. 🤬😡 I’m so mad, I’m so fucking mad at the show for treating her this way. She’s always the one in danger. She can never be happy for more than two episodes!!

Ooooohhh nooooo Bonnie’s the new Huntress 😭😭😭 She’s gonna want to kill everyone: Damon, Stefan, Caroline, even Enzo!! Nooooo 💔

OH THANK GOD, SHE DIDN’T KILL ENZO 🙏🙏🙏 I was so afraid. For Enzo but most of all for Bonnie! She would have been devastated if she’d killed him!

“You changed my life” awwww I feel bad for Ric, the same way I felt really sad for Valerie... They both hoped the moments of pure happiness they shared with their partner would turn out to be something more. They both dreamed of starting new with their loved one, to have their own perfect little happy life... 💕 even though they knew deep down the other one didn’t love them back. Not the way they wanted to be loved. And that’s sad 😭

Damon & Enzo being manipulated and brainwashed by that thing in that vault, at the end of s7 🙄 seriously? Who would have seen that coming ? 🙋‍♀️

Ugh, s7 was PAINFUL to watch 😑

S8 :

Yiiiiikes 🤢🥴 whatever that thing is, it’s not friendly! That scene where Damon and Enzo feed it was kinda freaky!

Ric running the armory makes sense actually! I’m quite happy about that :) he’s been wanting real hard to get back to his Indiana-Jones type of life ✊ He would have never been happy with a perfect little family life... even with Jo, I believe 🤷‍♀️ He truly loved her but at the end of the day, he has just seen too much. He knows too much to just stop fighting at all. That’s what makes him Ric.

A SIREN !!!! Cool ! Now we’re talking 😎

I understand why Damon would submit completely to Sybil : he has always hated himself for all the terrible things he’d done, he has always thought he wasn’t worthy of redemption, and now Sybil provided him a proof of that, a vision of literal Hell, of eternal torture... 👺😈 plus she erased all memories of Elena 😭 he has no reason not to work for Sybil. She’s the only one who can provide a way out of Hell. Who wouldn’t take that deal? If I suddenly found out no matter what you do, you’re damned to an eternity of pain and misery and loneliness, and the only way to escape that is to work for Satan, aka Cade, I would probably do it too 🤷‍♀️

The way Enzo resisted Sybil’s mind control for Bonnie was really sweet 💕 I felt bad when he had to shut down his humanity to save her life 😭

Honestly, I know I should care about Tyler’s death but he was never my favorite character and he’s been so... in and out of the show that I kinda stopped caring about him at all (since he wasn’t exactly a regular character) 😕 But he surely didn’t deserve to be collateral damage in that mess :( Also, I thought Caroline would react a bit strongly. I mean, Tyler was important for her and she barely said something? Weird 🤷‍♀️

CAROLINE AND STEFAN ARE GONNA GET MARRIED !! 💍 She said YES! OMG! Tbh I might not ship them (because I think Stefan got away with the pain he caused her a little bit too fast) but I’m happy for Caroline: she finally got to have her June Wedding!! 💛🎉 (though I’d prefer she married Klaus of course!)

I really liked the whole mythology of the sirens 🧜‍♀️ the story about the village girl and the island girl becoming sisters, having to kill and eat people in order to survive, was heartbreaking! But I was so sure Sybil was the “nice” one 🥺 Poor girl

Noooooo, poor Georgie 😭💔 knowing she is going straight to Hell is horrible, considering she’s seen and experienced it before and she knows what awaits her :(

Sebine played her game very well, no one suspected her to be Sybil’s sister 🤔 she’s really creepy and I’m so so so afraid for the girls 😱 she clearly has an evil plan for them and I’m so anxious 😱

"I’m your brother and I love you. Please come home with me” awww Stefan ❤️

Awwwwww Enzo and Bonnie ❤️ “I’m never leaving you” okay now I remember why I shipped them! They’re adorable! She chose him over her own best friend. She picked Enzo because no one else did. Ever. And she thought he deserved a chance, because deep down he is such a sweet, loving, caring person. He might not look like it, but he’s maybe the one who cares the most and who’s actually ready to do anything for his loved ones. I think Enzo might be the big love of her life. And I’m so happy she got to have that. I’m so happy she got to meet him, to enjoy his company for a little while, to appreciate every happy moments ❤️

AAAAAH SELINE TOOK THE GIRLS!! 😱

Caroline finally doing the healthy thing and prioritising her daughters over everything else 💖💖💖 Take that ring back, Stefan. At least for now. Caroline took the right decision. She cannot make compromises when it comes to the girls. She cannot allow herself to add any more variables to this already messy situation. Yes, it’s selfish but she has to be.

WHAT? I seriously hope you’re kidding Ric! HOW DARE YOU telling Caroline she isn’t the girls’ mother? 🤬😡 She carried them, she agreed to pursue the pregnancy and give birth to kids who weren’t even “her own”, she raised them, she put food on their table, she tucked them in at night, she loved and cared for them more than anyone could have ever askef her, she basically had to let go of her entire life in order to live with them as a family... She IS their mother. She will ALWAYS be ❤️

Damon and Stefan’s deal with Cade to take the twins’ place !! 😱😱🔥 I really hope they find a way to get out of this one, but I don’t see how, right now... And Stefan is heading to a dark place :/ I hope Damon will be able to bring him back!✊

Speaking of Damon, I am SO glad he got to free himself from Sybil’s influence! 🙏 Stefan, on the other hand... meh? 😒 I’m not so sure I’m a fan of the old ripper storyline, I mean we already watched it once and we KNOW it’s not gonna last for long cause they have to wrap it up eventually, and I feel like this is just here as a cheap way to create drama between him and Caroline and idk that was kinda unnecessary 🤷‍♀️

ENZOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😭😭💔 NONONONONONONONONOOOOOO!!!!! Poor Bonnie 😭 She was finally gonna get the happiness she deserved! RIP Enzo ☠️

OMGGG STEFAN’S HUMAN 🤯🤯🤯 Wow I wonder how he’s gonna take it, I mean on one hand being a vampire brought him a lot of pain, but on the other, it’s all he has known for centuries... rethinking your entire life, the basis of your existence, after all that time... ouch!

Kai is BACK ? Seriously ? Again ? I mean I like him, but let’s just say there are other people I would like to see again (#enzo❤️)

Btw I’m really conflicted about Bonnie trying to bring Enzo back : I want her to do it, of course, I want Enzo back, but I don’t want her to loose herself in the process 😱😭 I’m so scared for her :(

Stefan literally killing the Devil like 😎😎 “oh yeah bitch, bet you weren’t expecting that uh” ☝️ I am so so PROUD of my babyface :) also I’m really glad they got rid off Cade (ugh, I was so done with him)

Ahah, Kai’s in another prison world 🤣

OF 👏 COURSE 👏 KATHERINE 👏 IS 👏 THE 👏 QUEEN 👏 OF 👏 HELL 👏

Aaawwww I really really loved when Damon gave Elena’s necklace to Caroline 💕 their little chat was very cute: he knew she was quite sad because her wedding was being rushed and used as an excuse to drag out Katherine; she was going to walk down the aisle without her mother; Bonnie wasn’t gonna come; Elena wouldn’t be there; Alaric didn’t want to come... the MOST important day of her life was basically ruined 👰 and... idk he was being very sweet and compassionate with her :)

OOOOHH THEY’RE ACTUALLY GETTING MARRIED FOR REAL THOUGH! And Bonnie’s here!! Soooo cute 💖 I love how Damon insisted on the “does anybody want to object against this wedding?” part, like “really? No one?”

NOOOOOOOO THE GIRLS 😱😱🔥🤬

Omg they’re fine, I’m so relieved 🙏

Awww Bonnie saying goodbye to Enzo for real... that was so... bittersweet 😭 But he’s right: she’s gotta live her life. She cannot spend her entire life thinking about the people she could have spent more time with: Enzo, Elena, for instance. She has to focus on herself. On being happy. And I’m really glad for her ❤️

Katherine is literally gonna blow up the WHOLE TOWN !! Seems a bit extreme but I’m really not surprised xD such a Katherin-y thing to do, if you think about it

OMG FINAL EPISODE 😱😱😱

Okay, first I was like “I don’t understand why is everybody so obsessed with the idea of saving Mystic Falls”. 🤷‍♀️ Sure it’s their home, their childhood town, full of memories and all... but since Matt helped evacuate the entire town, there was no immediate danger for the population of MF. And at the end of the day, it’s JUST a town 🏙 It’s just buildings and roads and objects that can be replaced. It can be rebuilt over time. So Bonnie, Caroline, Damon, Stefan... they could have all just run far way from MF and then everything would have been just FINE 👍

But THEN Katherine captured Elena and trapped her in the high school 😈 NO WAY the Salvatore brothers would have just sacrificed Elena in hellfire 🔥🙅‍♀️

NOOOOOO I don’t want Damon to die 😭 But I also don’t want Stefan to die! Why do their plans always include one of them dying? Sounds like Supernatural 😅

THANK GOD 🙏 Bonnie’s here to save the day 💖 Damn, what would they ever do without her?? I liked how she fought for herself till the very end :) “it’s not my time” YOU BET YOUR ASS IT’S NOT 👏

OOOOMMMMGGG STEFAN’S DEAD 💀😱🔥 HE CAME BACK!!! HE CAME BACK FOR HIS BROTHER!! HE SAVED DAMON!! HE SACRIFICED HIMSELF!!! HE LEGIT DESTROYED HELL!! AND HE KILLED KATHERINE WITH IT!! 🤯

AND DAMON IS HUMAN!!! 🤯🤯🤯

AWWWWW LEXI IS THERE!! 🥰 I’m so happy to see her! I’ve missed her! Awww he found peace with his best friend 💕 I’m so glad for him! He deserves that!

“I was feeling epic” 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Honestly, it felt kinda cheap and too easy that Bonnie would just suddenly realise she had enough power to do ANYTHING, including breaking the spell that she wasn’t supposed to interfere with in ANY way, because she would be risking Elena’s life (and probably her own). Like, ok, she destroyed hell and that boosted her confidence enough that she decided she would just try it ? 🤷‍♀️ mmm... seems too easy... like why didn’t she do that earlier then ? Why did this entire season even happen then ? What was the point? What was the point of Bonnie realising she was worth living her life and that she didn’t have to feel guilty about Elena? Why would the show erase that wonderful character growth??? I- 🤷‍♀️

“We’ll see him again” ❤️ awwww I really love how they decide to develop Damon and Caroline’s relationship in the end... They both really acted like brother / sister in law. And that was genuinely cute. They both lost someone they loved and cared about deeply. I like that they know they can count on each other.

Awwwww Stefan got Caroline’s message, that’s really cute :) I hope it will help her move on, knowing he heard her, and he will love her forever too 💕

BONNIE’S HAPPY!!! SHE’S ALONE BUT SHE IS FINE BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T NEED SOMEBODY ELSE TO BE HAPPY! SHE LOVES HERSELF AND SHE LOVES LIFE AND SHE’S GONNA ENJOY HER LIFE TO THE FULLEST AND TRAVEL THE WORLD!! YAY! 🌈🎊🎉

The Salvatore boarding school : so it’s basically Hogwarts? Okay why not 🤷‍♀️ It’s not the big ending I was expecting for Caroline and tbh I’m a bit disappointed (but I guess her story doesn’t stop there and it’s more of a To Be Continued kind of ending) but it makes perfect sense for Alaric 🤔 Jo seing her daughters 💖 And Jeremy is a teacher there LMAO 😆

Awwwwww my Klaroline feels ❤️❤️❤️ “however long it takes” I CANNOT BELIEVE THE SHOW GAVE US A “MAYBE” FOR THAT SHIP. Honestly it’s more than I ever wished I would get! I’ll make my own headcanons, it’s perfect!

“I owe it all to Stefan” awww, true :’)

So what I got from Elena’s monologue: she had a great life, she was happy, she became a doctor, she grew old in Mystic Falls, she married Damon (funny how she doesn’t mention having kids? It was one of her biggest dreams, so idk 🤷‍♀️), then I guess SHE died before Damon did (-> what makes me think that is the scene where she holds his hands and says something along the lines of “I know peace exists and I know he will find it someday even though he doubts it” and then he disappears and she finds herself in the after life), and then she found peace and got reunited with her family in death 🧐 So bittersweet, I liked it! 💕 Even if I think it would have deserved to be a bit longer, a bit more explained, a bit more developed than just a “here’s what happened” 🤷‍♀️ It did feel rushed :/

“Hello brother” WAS THE LAST LINE OF THE SHOW! HOW. EPIC. IS. THAT.

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