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imaginespazzi · 6 months ago

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Niviii, bestie, how are you? Hope life’s treating you well, and especially as well as you treated us with part 6!

As always, my thoughts:

Was waiting on when Katie would make an appearance again and you did not disappoint! Someone needed to finally talk some sense cause god knows we were getting nowhere leaving it all to those two dumb gay idiots (affectionate) to figure it out.

But for real, I loved this scene between mother and daughter and hearing others acknowledge that the bond between them was always just different. More. Katie’s like “honey please, it was too obvious”.

As always, I love when real events bleed into the story so absolutely loved draft night getting incorporated here. I could feel the tension as Paige inched closer and closer to Azzi on the carpet like oof the writing was- *chef’s kiss*.

Then them escaping to finally get that moment alone together again and Azzi finally giving in 🥹. Also, their dramatic ass goodbye being only two weeks or so prior to this LOL. Were just absolutely kidding themselves thinking they could really survive staying away from each other.

You already know how I feel about a Drew cameo!! Pleassseee, the whole “you are gonna get married right?” killed me in the best way. He will accept no other outcome, that’s his pookie for life and P will absolutely not mess that up for him again!

The UCLA team finally welcoming P with open arms- we really have come so far.

But omg this whole scene – them finally getting to have the date. What dreams are made of. But P was so done with Azzi here lmao, the NBA quip (tbh, Azzi definitely has a case cause like how is she meant to know that games start late October and not early October?! Like ntm on pookie now 😩). And then the stray that P’s Lebron posters caught – very valid.

For real though, that scene was so healing after everything we’ve all been through with this fic 😌. And P flying all the way to Cali during school – DOWN BAD.

And then just when I thought you’d written my favourite fluff scene, you go ahead and write the dancing in the snow scene.

I don’t even really have much more to add for that specific scene because I wouldn’t be able to do it justice. Just know that dancing in the snow/kissing in the rain scenes have my whole heart and this was no exception.

Then the final scene. I was actually wondering whether you would have Azzi winning the natty because I didn’t know if you could do that to UConn, even if just in a fic, but I appreciate you doing it for the plot (I know it must have killed you a lil writing them losing- and NOT EVEN MAKING IT TO THE NATTY GAME) 😭.

But it was only fitting that we got Paige in Azzi’s jersey this time around (side note: something I badly need to see irl at some point).

And the ending – THE ENDING – look, that may also be how I’ve imagined next season panning out irl (the kiss) but obviously with them both on the court… and since I know there’s almost no chance it would actually happen, I’m glad we got to live it out here.

What’s next?

First of all, I can’t believe we’re coming to the end, like from one offhanded comment about “what if Azzi had chosen UCLA?” being my roman empire to this? Insane.

Not that I had a single doubt but whatever expectations I had coming into this, trust, you more than exceeded every. single. one.

I’ll prolly go on a much longer thank you after the last chapter or epilogue so I’ll save it for then!

But yeah, in terms of what’s next, imma leave it to you, Nivi.

The “or so she hopes” at the end has me a little worried, but remember “everything changes, except the ending” and you did promise us a happy ending 😌.

Favourite lines:

Taking the picture is a task, both of them bickering about angles and lights. It’s unnecessary arguing, in true Paige and Azzi fashion really but there’s something so mundanely domestic about it that Azzi finds herself wanting to memorise this moment too. They finally get the frame just right, somewhere in between what they both wanted. Azzi smiles at the camera, her Paige smile, as the blonde in question presses her lips against her cheeks.

Bonus (also because this is how I want it to play out irl next season when they win the natty lmao):

“On a scale of one to ten, how bad would kissing you right now be?” Azzi asks, still a little breathless.

A myriad of emotions flicker through Paige’s face before settling on a mischievous smirk, “probably pretty bad but you should do it anyways.”

Alternate lyric/song (I fucking love arms tho, that song just fits this entire fic so perfectly):

In the darkest night hour, I search through the crowd. Your face is all that I see, I’ll give you (I've given you) everything, baby, love me lights out.

Side note: I was a little high when I first read part 6, and it was an experience (in the best way)!!!

As always, thank you. You already know.

Much love,

-🙋‍♀️

Bestieeeee, I'm good love, thanks for asking and I hope you're good too! Can you believe I finally wrote a chapter without breaking your heart?

If we left it up to Paige and Azzi, this fic would end up running in circles for another 10 chapters but thank god for Katie and common sense. I really love Katie and Azzi's relationship and she felt the perfect person to make Azzi see sense

The draft scene is probably my favorite scene to have written throughout this whole series, an accumulation of everything else and I'm so glad you liked it because I wanted to do the confession justice and I hope I did

LMAO okay so I was fully gonna drag it out a little longer cause 2 weeks is so short but a) I wanted to include the draft and b) let's be honest these idiots definitely are the kind people to only make a dramatic goodbye last barely 2 weeks

I love Drew so much so you know I had to add him in here but yeah that's their no.1 supporter and you best believe he will drag them to the aisle if he needs too

I threw in that UCLA team line for you, I knew you'd appreciate the growth!

Even though I've been teasing my anons with sadness for most of this fic, the date recreation was always gonna happen from the minute I wrote the call lol.

Honestly as much as I love writing angst!Pazzi and fluff!Pazzi, bickering!Pazzi is my favorite and I just had to add that in

I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED THE SNOW SCENE. It truly adds nothing to the plot but it popped into my head and I was like fuck it, the people deserve their dance in the snow moment lol

You know me too well. It physically hurt to write UConn losing (at least they'd already won in this universe) but for the plot, and because it's Azzi, with a heavy heart, I wrote another team winning it all.

I put all my hopes and dreams for next season into that ending and yeah look it's not happening, but life imitates art right? Why not manifest?

I have to go back and find your ask because man I can't believe we've come this far. WE DID IT BESTIE! We lived your roman empire out just a little bit and there's just a little bit left to go!

Alright, there's maybe just a little bit more turbulence to come but I think you're gonna like the actual ending I have planned (you have to or I will actually cry)

XO!! Fantastic song choice!

LMAO I love that for you babes! And thank you for always, always having such a detailed review for me. They mean the world to me and I appreciate it so much. Til next time my love <3

#ask #fic talk #UCLA ANON LOML FR <3 #literally these reviews are my one reason to write

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morganlefaye79 · 2 years ago

Note

Can I get 34, 40, and B for all of them?

Hi Wash! Thank you for your ask! 💙

34. How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt?

Valaire was an assassin and he killed many and feels guilty for every single one of them. He has problems to shake the guilt off he feels. Especially the hit on Faye's parents.

Killing goons during gigs is different to him, they know what they signed up for and he will not have sleepless night because of this filth.

Vicco killed also many people during their life, most of them to survive. They doesn't feel guilty for any of them. It was either him or them and he chose his own life is more important to himself.

Joris won't kill anyone that stays out of his way. But if you do he will be ruthless and will not have the slightest remorse.

40. How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

Valaire knows his flaws, and he hates them. He struggles accepting that no one can be perfect. He will by time though.

Vicco, does he even has flaws? Who knows? He is good in hiding them.

Whatever flaws Joris has, and he does have them, he accepts them.

B) What inspired you to create them?

I just wanted a male V in the first place when I created Valaire, and he even didn't have that name then. He also evolved much. In one of this asks I showed first versus last Valaire but there are so many more stages here:

Between the first and second picture should be another one similar to the first, but much older looking. But I couldn't find any of those for some reason. Whatever, he is my main oc and my only V. If you look closely in the second last picture Valaire has 2 cyberarms, so yes I wanted to take both his arms, but I decided it would be too cruel of me and just took one.

Vicco was first planned as a V, but during my playthrough (he was always a joytoy) I found so many things that won't work for him being V. He hated Johnny, and didn't get along with Panam, so he would only have the devils ending, he would take it, because there would be at least a small chance to live, but it is my least favorite ending. I didn't want to drop him though, and so I incorporated him into Valaire's story and extended Valaire's backstory.

Now I had the problem that Valaire was happy with Kerry, but Vicco was left behind heartbroken. None of the ingame NPC did fit for him that well and so I needed yet another oc: Joris.

Joris and Vicco weren't planned as a romantic couple, but only as best friends. (I explained this already but well, here we go:) I didn't want to do this because I know that it is difficult to have a partner who is a sexworker so I actually didn't want to go into that niche. Yes Vicco and Valaire already were there but bc this would be the past I didn't need to provide too much details. With Joris at this time being asexual it would have worked well.

But then I got sabotaged by a friend who said, but what if?

I wrote a 2 chapter what if fic, and I fell in love with them and the idea of them being a couple, or better getting together.

I changed Joris to pansexual as Valaire and Vicco and here we are.

Joris and Vicco only had minor changes in their appearance which I already showed in a previous ask so there's not much more to say there.

Joris was from the start supposed to be Valaire's twin, and Valaire would have never knew about him if he had died from the relic.

#uncommon questions #long gush with pictures #Valaire #Vicco #Joris

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lunar-lurker · 8 months ago

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Giving this a full response bc tags are not enough

Okay, so,

THIS. WAS. GORGEOUS.

I genuinely loved all of your descriptions of the Void and the song - it painted an intensely beautiful scene that contrasted really well with the darker, more grimy descriptions of the dungeon. I feel like it shows the dissonance between what the power of the Void is like for its followers vs. how the rest of the world views it. You have a wonderful way with words.

Also Seth's inner monologue was really well written!! I could really feel the intense emotions and lowkey mental breakdown he was going through. You did a good job of showing his conflicting thoughts and how deeply he's been lying to himself. And the whole part with Muriel slowly drawing his true feelings out of him?? Especially the whole "I... love the Source bit."?? Brilliantly heartbreaking.

And the LORE!! There are so many interesting things even within this one chapter that I can't wait to get more info on in future parts! Firstly - the whole Seth and Muriel dynamic. He last saw her when he was six and they ended up talking the whole night - I wonder how long that night was? Was it just one visit that ended when his grandparents found out? How much do his grandparents know about his visit? Is Muriel in the dungeon for similar reasons as in Fablehaven (like her husband caught her practicing dark magic and threw her in)?

The grandparents are intriguing too! He mentions both of them, so Stan is probably in the picture but no specific details so far. And Kendra!! Seth doesn't bring her up at all, even when he mentions the powers of the Source which is interesting. Does Kendra have Source powers in this AU? How does she feel about the Void? You mentioned we'll see more of her soon, so I'm excited!

The Galas of the Seasons are very cool and a neat way to incorporate Fablehaven attributes into the AU! Muriel's proposed plan for Seth to go to the cemetery feels like it will have important impacts on the story. I wonder what he'll choose to do. It feels like it'd be hard to execute, but also I can't really imagine the Void letting him go even if he does make it - after all, his intentions need to be clear and they're definitely not, even to himself.

In summary, this chapter was magnificently written and I enjoyed it a lot. I've already re-read it like five times, it's very detailed! Definitely expect question in your inbox later because I have so many thoughts!!

So! The entire first chapter of this medieval AU is finished and ready (other than not being edited or beta'd or-) if anyone would want to read it. This is my first time posting any of my writing, so I hope it's good? Anyway, I feel it's important to also mention that it's not a mistake, I meant to use the last name Burgess instead of Sorenson here, and there is also cursing in the fic. (Also, if I need to add any warnings or tags please tell me) So uhhh yeah!

Chapter One: Fool Me Once

Torches sputtered and cracked from the draft, open flames waving hello as he slipped by, his cloak flying open behind him. Ruby and topaz stones carefully clinked and collided with one another as they hung from the golden circlet in his hand. The guards he met along the way flinched from his stare and gave him a mile’s wide berth once they saw the circlet. They allowed him to continue, on through locked doors to the deeper caverns of the castle, his footsteps echoing off of the stones placed haphazardly atop one another centuries ago.

As the stairs spiraled downwards, shadows began to rest on his shoulders, pulling at the light of the torches, causing them to waver— shudder—at the weight. Similarly, his mind began to spiral, tugged in directions he hadn’t known existed before now. His heartbeat reverberated in his skull, and it grounded him in such a way that it felt like the very dirt beneath him wished for nothing more than to swallow him whole. Maybe that would be preferable.

A prison such as this would likely inflict a feeling of depression, of hopelessness and horror. It would feel somber, damp with water leaking through the bricks to form stagnant puddles. And yet…

The yells started even before he reached the bottom of the stairs, before the door swung open, clanging shut behind him as he steeled himself, shadows flickering at the edge of the door. No one should have been able to hear them as he did, not from that distance. That simple fact raised a chill through his body, hair standing on edge as he walked towards the cells.

“I’m innocent!”

The yell shuddered through one of the inmate’s throats, the sound ripping through him as he came through the door. He closed his eyes, breathing heavily as he attempted to block out the noise. Other inmates rattled the bars of the cages, hummed old warning songs he knew well, and some even attempted to grab for his clothing, begging him to save them.

He knew well enough who these people were: heretics, murderers, traitors, felons of the highest degrees. He worked alongside those who put these people in chains, and if any of them knew he stood here, knew of the anomalies plaguing him… Perhaps he too would be shoved into one of these cells, left to rot forever. Of course, that stood under the assumption they let him live in the first place.

At the end of the hall, he quickly opened and slammed the door shut. The yells did not cease, twisting their way under and around the door, but fortunately, his focus trained elsewhere. Only one other cell stood in this room—the lowest, deepest place you could possibly go in the castle.

“Hello, Seth Burgess.”

Rags hung off her wiry frame like old drapes, and her knuckles seemed to protrude from her hands as she held onto her elbows. Scabs and pulsing veins ran along her arms, insect bites imprinted on her skin. Her hair laid long, ratted, and white, her eyes bloodshot as she smiled a little wider than humanly possible, a few of her teeth missing. Warts covered her body, and her hands showed the slime that stuck to her skin, the consequence for using magic from the Void.

Muriel, the Witch of the Forest.

“I haven’t seen you in years, boy. You’ve grown. There’s a wariness to you now, a glint in your eyes. What has happened to you since I’ve seen you last?”

Seth’s last visit to her stood in shadows, a vague mess of colors and swirling memory. He had been young, naive, and he wandered down into the same place he stood now. She twirled tales of forbidden magic, of twisting shadows and the creatures that slept within them. She drew pictures in his mind of demons and fairies, of their wars that raged much before his time. The stars, something he often turned a blind eye to, were now something new and bright in his eyes. He understood the moon, the stars, and the planets out in space, the darkness that held them, comforted them. And despite everything, it drew him in.

Enough time spent down there in one, singular, night, led him to learn magic he never should have known. She taught him something that plucked at strings in his heart, echoing a melody that flowed through the background of his life, through his ears and lungs. It kept his feet moving forward, and if he wanted, he could recite it note for note.

As he grew older, the song became tinged with a sour taste. He learned of the Void and how it infected everything it could grasp with a deep unknowing, a mystery hidden from the light. He learned of how it twisted and changed people, whether it gave them an amphibian-like slime, reptile scales, rare birds wings, or anything and everything within the same selection. It stood as something drilled into his mind during his lessons: amphibians, reptiles, birds, amphibians, reptiles, birds. Over and over again people taught him this.

The Source, as an opposition, became the thing people worshiped. It stood for peace, warmth, and the very known force of creation and growth. Mammal, fish, and invertebrate changes were welcomed, gifts given by the Source. People with such eccentricities were held on pedestals, something akin to saints.

And according to Seth’s grandparents, who caught him with Muriel that same night, all of his trust resided in the Source. The Source, his lifeline, kept him from falling farther into the darkness. As long as he continued to hold onto the Source’s rope—no matter if it felt like it seared through his skin, burned his eyes—he would be acceptable. He would be right. He would be fine.

Instead, Seth now heard voices from rooms over, a field’s length away, or through walls. He heard things people intentionally said behind his back, he heard compliments alongside criticisms. He heard when people outright lied to him, their small inflections clipped in their tones. The song lifted his eardrums to a heightened sense, and yet he continued to look towards the stars with burnt hands.

If only he had been better. If he had been better, lies wouldn’t slip off his tongue like truths when he spoke to his grandparents. He would have no reason to keep this visit a secret—or have this visit at all. If he had been better, a hole would not have carved itself into his mind. The remnants of magic he used before would not still taint his mind and thoughts. He would not feel comfort as shadows enveloped him in this very room, and he would not rest ever so slightly when the song settled in his mind.

If he had not made a mistake years ago to come into this very room, he would be able to say he trusted the Source with his very being. He would not give a second thought about the Void, as he did now, standing in front of her.

Seth had to wonder if this would be nothing more than another mistake. Another item to regret on his not-so-organized list that continued to roll far past his feet if he ever unfurled the parchment—if he ever opened the seal.

“You are being especially quiet this time around, aren’t you?” Muriel said, leaning forward and backward against her chains. Held so uncomfortably in the cold iron if only so she would never cast magic again. Her shoulders sagged, bags under her eyes as she stared at him. Her sudden cleansing of magic ability certainly took its toll on her.

“I guess you aren’t quite six anymore, are you?” Muriel laughed quietly to herself. “No more questions I can answer for you? No more questions about the stars?” Seth kept his composure, other than his hand tightening on itself, fingernails digging into his palm. “You do have more questions about the stars? Please, do tell, what more do you wish to know about the unknown levels of the universe?”

“Stop,” Seth whispered, his voice strangely weak. Something stuck in the back of his throat, something echoing a sob. He did want to know. He did want to hear. So badly.

Muriel’s bloodshot eyes widened. “Don’t tell me you’ve become one of them. They do not listen to my answers, nor do they ever ask me questions anymore. Take me back to the old times.”

The old times. Seth almost wants to agree with her.

A fact which, he supposed, indicated many things he didn’t wish to think about.

“How do I get rid of it?” Seth asked, his voice barely audible. “How do I make it leave?” He wished he could make it so he didn’t sound on the verge of tears, but you can only hear so much before you break—before you shatter utterly.

Muriel jangled her chains as she attempted to lean closer. Her eyebrows raised unnaturally high, “Leave what? Get rid of what? My dear boy, you must be more specific than-”

“You know what I’m talking about!” Seth tried to snap at her, he did, but it only came out in such a desperate plea. He began to pace in front of her cell, back and forth, wearing down the stone under his feet. The echoes of the steps resounded like drums in his heart. Loud, disorienting, just like the screams and pleas from the other room-

“Shut up!” Seth yelled. The shadows at the edges of the room inched forward, grabbing his ankles, pulling him, whispering things of hope- “I can- I hear- There’s too much and I don’t know what to do with it.” Seth ran his hands through his hair, gently pulling—as if that would make the voices stop. His voice, no better than a sob, said, “Tell them to stop.” A pause. “Please.”

Muriel’s eyes softened ever so slightly, and Seth had no way of knowing if she pitied or worried about him. “The power of the Void.”

The voices backed away at that, the shadows slipping off of his legs, laying at his feet like broken limbs, unsure of their function afterward. His heart softened as she said it, and the song picked up in his mind, swirling around them as he breathed a little easier. It called out for beginnings and ends, a form of destruction that led to creation: ash that helped flowers bloom. The cycle and the Void were the same.

The shadows at his feet squirmed, and he jumped back, heartbeat in his throat as he tried to clear it. Shadows were not something he could fight—nor were memories. And yet, both of them haunted his every step. “What did you do to me?” Seth asked as his voice wobbled and broke. “Why am I…?”

Seth said nothing more, simply staring at her, waiting. He couldn’t clear the tears from his eyes, but Muriel hadn’t mentioned them yet either. Perhaps she wouldn’t call out his weaknesses. Perhaps she owed him that much.

Muriel hummed, deep, resonating in the small cell. “I’m afraid you’ll have to give me more information than that.”

The floor seemed to fall out from underneath him. “You know!” He paced back to the door, the way he could leave here without any lasting consequences. The tears laid against his eyes, not daring to leave in the presence of someone else. “I shouldn’t have even tried, I should have known you’d never help!” Seth spun on his heel, pacing back to the cage. “You’re no better than them! Do you know that?”

“And why is that?” As quiet and calm as ever.

Seth went to run his hand through his hair once more, but instead, a laugh left through his lungs, shaking his entire being. “You all like to think you’re so different, but you all only look out for yourselves! You know exactly what I’m talking about—you did this to me!”

“I did nothing of the sort.”

Grabbing a hold of one of the bars, Seth watched as she moved back from him. The cold bite of the metal sank into him as he sobbed, falling to the ground, onto the heels of his feet. He felt insane, utterly. Why did he insist on asking her for help? Why couldn’t he ask his family, or even his friends? Why couldn’t he just be normal?

The Source kept the world pure. The Void corrupted.

…And yet.

Muriel tsked at his pathetic form, shaking her head. “Something indeed changed. Something’s taken its toll on you, raked its claws through your mind. You’re not the same boy who came down here all those years ago, are you?” When she said it this time, she spoke solemnly; she spoke a fact of life. Seth couldn't help but agree with her.

“The Void did this to me,” he eventually said. Even before he had finished, Muriel already began to shake her head, sighing. “What?”

“The Void did nothing of the sort. It gave this power to you because of your belief in it. If there are any… mental ramifications, you created those yourself.”

His words were no more than an emphasized sigh. “What?”

“Any constraints you have are because of your own making, or the making of someone who you let get into your mind. Who has gotten under your skin?” Muriel stared at him for a very long moment, tilting her head until it hung almost parallel with the ground. Seth hadn’t made the conscious decision to flinch back until she laughed, much like the caw of a crow. “Your family.”

“No.”

“Yes. They are sole believers in the Source—the light of creation in the world. Your family are the ones who believe the Void will corrupt your soul—if it hasn’t already.”

“It hasn’t-”

“You believe in it, don’t you? You’ve heard the song.”

Seth had not once mentioned the song in front of her.

Muriel continued. “The song floats through your head in the same way the power flows through your veins. With every step you take, you think about the vast darkness that hangs above our heads—the thing the sun obstructs. You can hear too much because the Void wished for you to. It loved you—loves you—and this is what you do in return? You ask me to get rid of it.” She scoffed.

Seth slowly stood, holding his head against the bars. His voice broke as he spoke. “They’ll- If I don’t get rid of this, they’ll kill me, and I won’t be able to do a single thing. If I fight back, they’ll count me as a traitor, and if I don’t, I’ll be killed. The family name will be tarnished, and I’ll be banished or- or executed on sight. They would have to make an example out of me, and they’ll-”

Muriel raised her eyebrow.

“My own family would execute me!” Almost hysterical, the words prying themselves against his will out of his mouth. They laid on the floor for everyone and no one to see, and he wanted nothing more than to light them on fire, watching the smoke rise into space.

“But do you want to rid yourself of the Void?”

No, he didn’t. “Do you not understand? They’ll kill me!”

Chains shuddered, clattered, and hung tense as Muriel rushed forward, reaching out towards the bars as Seth rammed back into the wall of the cell room, his breathing erratic. He felt his vision shudder as he watched one of her shaking, knobbly fingers barely reach out, her nails tinted green and yellow, barely able to reach and brush against the bar. He could hear the most faint sound of nails on a chalkboard. Her wrists were white with the strain from the handcuffs.

Muriel started slowly, slower than he had ever heard her speak. “You have not answered the question. It is an obvious fact they will kill you if they figure out why you’re down here now. It is an obvious fact that the Source and your family’s beliefs have tainted your perception of the power you have been given. I care little about either of these things. Do you want to rid yourself of the Void?”

Seth opened his mouth to say yes, to say anything to refuse what she implied. Of course he wished to get rid of this so-called gift the Void had given him. He hated the Void and what it had done to him. He hated its corruption, temptation, confusion…

“I… love the Source.”

That’s not what she asked.

You know what she asked.

Seth shook his head, holding his hand against his forehead as a headache spiked. Slowly, but quick all the same, the explanation clicked into place in his mind. “You’re trying to trick me.” He let his hand fall back down to his side as he laughed with all the strength remaining in his body. “You’re trying to trick me again, just like all of those years ago—when you did this to me.”

“I did nothing of the sort-”

Seth didn’t listen as he let his feet guide him back to the bars, back to where she tried to intimidate him, where she stood, chains taut. “You’re always trying to trick me, just like them, just like everyone, I…” With some last bit of resolve crumbling, he wrapped his hand around one of the bars, almost letting himself fall against them. He spoke with something akin to a sob—with something not-so-distantly related to anger. “You’re always trying to trick me, but you can’t fool me twice. Please, not twice.”

The chains jangled back to their original place as Muriel backed away, her breathing careful and jagged. Seth didn’t trust her, quite the opposite, but she couldn’t—wouldn’t—hurt him as he stood here. Muriel, well known as a questionable, terrible, utterly irredeemable person by the general public, would never hurt him.

Seth didn’t know why he was so sure.

Muriel, he suspected, did not either.

A long, worn-down sigh emanated from the cell, the sound and curdling smell echoing through the small room. Seth opened his eyes as the old, possibly immortal woman stood with her creaking bones. “Of all people…” She laughed, shaking her head as she fell back to the ground. “Of all people, you chose to come to me with this.”

“Fool me once,” Seth’s hoarse voice choked out.

The cell’s silence held as they stayed on opposite sides of the bars, a tense, angry, and understanding emotion in the air as Seth felt emotion bubble up in his chest and throat.

‘The Void did this to me,’ said with resentment, anger.

‘The Void did this to me,’ said with curiosity, wonder.

The sky hadn’t looked the same since that fateful night. Seth supposed it never would again.

“Am I already tainted?”

The words slipped from his mouth, but he didn’t regret it. He knew what her answer would be, something different than if he were to ask his family—his friends.

“Am I…” he continued, “Am I past the point of no return?”

With gentle, genuine concern—something she hadn’t used often so far in their conversation—Muriel asked, “What do you mean?”

“The Void changes people, taints them with its power. I could be a different person now than I’m supposed to be because of its influence, but I wouldn’t know. What if it’s already taking over my mind? What if the reason I’m…” Seth shook his head, rethinking his words. “What if I’m changing, and I can’t even realize it because it’s gotten so deep into my mind that it makes me think it’s okay?”

Seth’s family always reminded him he had never been all too eloquent with his words.

“You’re afraid you’ve been compromised.”

He needn’t say a word in order for her to know his answer.

“I’m not repulsed by the thought of the Void or by the song. I should be. Everything in history, in my life, all around me tells me so.” Seth looked up from the floor, into her eyes deep with pity. “I should be, but I’m not.”

Muriel sat in her silence for a long moment. “The Void does not change people.”

Seth laughed bitterly. “It does. Everything has always pointed to the fact that it does. Your skin would be free of slime if the Void didn’t change people. I wouldn’t be hearing things from entire rooms away if the Void didn’t change people.”

“Those are the physical changes we know and understand—which I should add, are brought to us by our own use. But, ignoring that, the Void does not change the mentality of its followers. Even if it wished to, it couldn’t.”

Without thinking, Seth said, “But then why are you…”

Muriel smiled and hummed. “I am not like this because of my use of magic. The way I look, the way I am weak without it, the way I think, all of that is of my own doing. I am the only one who can change myself.”

“It could have made you think that. What if you’re different and you don’t even realize?”

“Everyone is different from their younger counterparts. Life revolves much around change, and if you think that is always an indicator of the Void sinking into your mind, then maybe you are more naive than I thought.”

“Was I-” Seth said, before Muriel interrupted.

“You, as a child, were not as different as you are now. Though, you’re more closed off now. The curiosity in your eyes has been toned down in order to best fit your family, your public. You’ve become palatable for the people around you.” She paused. “You remind me much of my younger self before I realized I did not need to be easy for others to process.”

“Yeah, and you ended up in a jail cell.” Regret in his words pooled in his stomach as he took a step away. “I don’t… I don’t want to end up like you.”

The silence stretched for longer than Seth had let it so far. Muriel, deep in thought, suddenly nodded with only a small sigh. “Then you won’t.” She held up five bony fingers. “You have options: run, learn, or barter.” She touched one finger with every option she gave him. Seth couldn’t help but notice she skipped two fingers.

“What’s the last-”

“You can leave the Void,” Muriel interrupted. “Forget about it, never think about it, let alone ever look towards the night sky again. Believe only in the power of the Source. If you do that, you have the possibility of returning to normal. The song will stop lingering.

“If you don’t wish to alleviate the comfort of the night sky, then I would suggest training yourself in the power you’ve come to find yourself with.” Seth began to protest, but she continued, raising her voice above his. “It would bring a sense of control into your life, and you would be able to hear only what you wished.”

Before she continued, Seth wedged his way into the conversation. “That cannot be the best possible solution. What if I start to show physical symptoms? I can’t hide things like that. I can lie and pretend all I want, but that’s something permanent. I can’t fix permanent.”

“Demons and witches like me could possibly help you, then. If you would wish to barter, they are the ones to speak to. Though, their deals have loopholes and fine print like you’ve never seen in your life, and, as a royal, you’ve had to deal with politicians.” Muriel’s laugh echoed in the jail cell. “But, they have power, and if you wish to change something like this so drastically, you would need such power to do so.”

“I can’t do that either.”

“I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t recommend it; I used to know those people. They’re all batshit crazy—and that’s coming from me.”

Seth sighed, rubbing in-between his eyes. “Okay, no demons and no witches then. No running from the Void and no trying to bargain with it. What else is there?” He looked to the two bony fingers she still had held up. “What other options do I have?”

“Well, you can run from the Void mentally, as I’ve already mentioned, or you can run from this place, this city, physically. There would be no one to judge you, no one to believe you’re conspiring with the forces that you are.”

“I’m not conspiring-”

“Of course not, of course not.” Muriel grinned.

Seth groaned, walking back over to the door and leaning against it. “I can’t run. My family, my city, my duty is here, and I can’t just leave that. I have friends here. I can’t leave them alone and just- just fuck off into the wild and hope I get my life figured out.” Seth paused, beginning to gesture wildly with his hands as he began to slowly unravel. “It’s- It’s like I'm on the end of a rope, right? And the rope is fraying on one side, burning on the other. I’m just left in the center, doomed to fall because of, what, some stupid mistake I made when I was six?”

Muriel, for what felt like once in her life, said nothing to him. She stayed quiet, watching him as she settled back into her seat. To her benefit, she did look guilty in a way Seth could never understand. She certainly didn’t feel guilty about teaching him. Yet, she felt pity for him. What did that mean? Did it mean to impose a better feeling onto him? It didn’t. The growing pit of uneasiness, anger, and utter understanding of his doomed position wanted to consume him. A little bit of pity wouldn’t change that fact.

For years, Seth had been able to ignore the song, ignore the empty space he felt within him during his every waking moment. He paid it no mind, and it did not bother him. But, for every slip-up, for every thought that roamed a little too far, a little too deep, the song became louder. The thoughts came closer to the surface, and Seth began to lose control of them.

Because what if? What if he did train his powers? What if he ran away? What if he didn’t have the responsibility of a castle on his shoulders? What if he filled the gap in his heart, what if he went against the whole of society, what if he abandoned his familiar beliefs, what if he rejected everything he came to know as true? The thoughts always started out blazing, like thousands of stars in front of his eyes, blinking in tune with the beat of his heart.

But then, reality came in, and it turned each little flame into smoke. It put out the fire, leaving Seth with the fear and realization that he was trapped without an exit. He continued to turn, hoping for a better choice, a sudden awareness of his situation. There had to be something other than rejecting everything and everyone he’s ever known, right? But, he would always look, and he would see nothing. He would see twisting shadows, and they would creep up his leg, across his body, and around his neck. His own curiosities turned against him, silencing him, and leaving him to watch. He could do nothing else.

Useless.

“What other options are there?”

Muriel’s silence said much more than words could.

“There has to be something else. You’re still holding one finger up, so there is something else. You have to tell me,” Seth pleaded.

“Well, if I know my traditions, there is a party tonight. The Gala of Summer, if I remember correctly. You are being trained to, later in the future, become Captain of the Guard, yes? You would know this.”

Seth nodded. While every solstice and equinox became a day of rest for every citizen in Fablehaven, the two days before were not.

Children learned of Festival Nights when they were young, begging for another story from their guardians. “Monsters lurk in the woods,” parents would say to their children. “And on Festival Nights, these monsters come out and try to attack our very way of living.”

No one knew why, no one cared to ask. Some theorized Festival Nights stood as a tradition for them as well, though they lost every year due to the preparation of the Royal Guard and their Captains. Monsters ravaged the walls of cities, and if they dare reach the inside, established groups for every town and city known as Festival Knights would fight them until dawn came. So, every day before the Festival Night, people would prepare until three in the afternoon, and instead of lying in their stress and terror that night, the castle would throw a party for royals, nobles, and respected citizens alike—the Galas of the Seasons.

Tonight, they were throwing the Gala of Summer, and all morning, Seth had been helping either Captain Burgess with their preparations. Queens without magic always took the position of Grand Captain of the Royal Knights, but Ruth, now getting older in age, began teaching Warren everything she knew. Until Seth turned twenty—or became King, whichever happened first—Warren would then teach him and take his place if Ruth resigned. The knowledge and experience trickled through the generations, leaving Seth staring at a burden he would eventually need to carry upon his back.

Grand Captain Ruth Burgess, Captain Warren Burgess, and Associate Captain Seth Burgess, the names continued on alongside the Summer Gala, the Festival Night, the Summer Solstice. Those words had branded themselves onto his mind in the past month.

“Of course I know what it is. It’s my job to understand what that is.” Seth scoffed. “But what does that have to do with my current… predicament?”

“Well, this option has a very low possibility of working, but every solstice and equinox, the Path of Stars opens. The Path of Stars is a dimensional line that connects to the Void itself. The connection point lies on the highest hill of Glasshed Cemetery, the biggest cemetery in this city. Arrive at the entrance to the cemetery at eleven tonight, and then wait there—do not look, touch, speak to, or anger the spirits there. Do not bring a lantern or any other source of light. Wait until a quarter ‘til midnight in this spot, and when the clock reaches the appropriate time, begin walking the path up the cemetery. You will need to be at the top by midnight, no later. The Void is understanding, much so then people lead others to believe, and while it may be crestfallen, it will understand your reluctance and rid you of its power. That is, if your motivations and intentions are clear. This is your only clear, direct option, and it may not even work in a way that does anything to you, good or bad. Do you understand?”

Seth did not move, barely even took a breath as his heart fumbled in his chest. Slowly, eventually, he nodded. Muriel said nothing more, nor did she look like she wanted to say anything more. So, Seth turned, putting his hand on the door. But—before he opened it, before he left her down here for perhaps the rest of her life to rot—he paused. It took him multiple tries to get the words to leave his mouth, let alone for them to be coherent and clear. “…How can I trust you?”

Muriel tilted her head up. “Do you?”

Seth flinched back ever so slightly before pushing the door open, letting it thud closed behind him. Despite everything, he found himself memorizing the list of directions.

“Fool me twice,” he muttered.

((If you've reached the end I'm thanking you so much for giving it a chance,, please reblog or comment or anything if you liked it, I'm hoping to continue it, but it may take a while (this is draft #3 for this chapter alone) and ask any questions about this AU in my asks if you'd want!! I'd love to answer them :D))

#dragonwatch #fablehaven #beautiful fic #can't wait for more!#sorry if this was rambley but i loved it!

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joyfulexperiment · 2 years ago

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Joyful Experiment, Day #4: "Graham Study" charcoal

"Ah, horsefeathers, Chester. This boy is no courier. He desires a position in King Edward's court. He appears to be a compassionate gentleman, but he is clearly out of his comfort zone." - "King's Quest Chapter One: A Knight to Remember"

(Art diary under the cut)

Shared creativity is one of the great happinesses of my life.

I direct amateur and school theatre, and love collaborating with my assistant directors, my actors, my costumers, my running crew, my prop masters, my set designers, and the rest to shape a true experience for the audience. It's never just my vision. It's the work of the team. I am Socratic teacher, meaning that the backbone of my classes is collaborative discussion seeking truth through mutual exploration and argument rather than primarily through lectures. I love seeing students come together to uncover a striking piece of truth that likely would never have been turned up if not for the open-minded give-and-take of the group. I love holding dances, and sharing my love of ballroom and social folk dancing, especially with people who've never taken lessons. The light that comes into people's eyes when I walk them through the Sir Roger de Coverly, or Ginny's Market, or the Texas Star, and they realize they can do it, is great fun. But the best part is the moment when I see the group has the steps down pat, and I stop calling the steps out, and they whirl away, often incorporating their own moves into it - kicking up their heels like Riverdancers instead of just taking a step, or playfully doing "the wave" when they realize their hands are free for a few moves.

This is shared creativity, and as a happy spinster, it's one of the greatest ways I experience friendship and love. If someone creates along with me, that's in the same league as black cherry ice cream and summertime and Rossini music and being perfectly in the writing zone for a whole chapter.

What's this got to do with my picture? Well, you see, this here is Graham from the 2015 video game "King's Quest," a game loveable enough to make this confirmed non-gamer smile. It's got a gorgeous art style, some fun character moments, a cheery sense of humour, and a few genuinely heartfelt passages that resonate.

But it's flawed. Man, is it flawed. After the first "chapter," it royally drops the ball when it comes to the principles of storytelling, drops an awful lot of the things it tried carefully to set up in the beginning, makes some awful faux pas's with characterization, and frankly becomes rather dull in the closing chapters. And it's really not that deep.

But there's this fabulous, tiny little group of fic writers and fan artists who have basically taken the setting, the characters, and two or three of the plot points and used them essentially as a jumping off point for shared creativity - and let me tell you, it works so much better when treated that way! This little community is so much fun, works so hard and has some excellent skill on display - and that's why KQ has a lasting place in my heart. Not because it's an amazing game, but because I've had fun interacting with them, expanding the story and characters in new and better directions. The support from this tiny ring of creatives has helped me keep my writing going during a time when I had to take a hiatus from working on my original fiction, and brought many smiles to my face.

So, this is Graham, and he's a little gift for the KQ friends. Here's to bravery, wisdom, compassion, and what awesome fun it is to create together.

(As for the picture itself - meh. It turned out well for what it was supposed to be, but I cheated with tracing rudimentary markers, and essentially did this as another screencap study that didn't do much to push me beyond what I've already tried. I mean, I did fix his hair. We all hate Graham's canonical hair.)

#art challenge #traditional art #king graham #king's quest #kings quest #At some point I should try drawing Goblin Graham - everyone's done it but me.

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tomatograter · 3 years ago

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Do you think Dirk saying that he doesn't like to label himself as gay means he has internalized homophobia? Or does he really just don't like to put labels on himself? I've seen ppl saying it's homophobia but there's ppl in real life that don't feel comfortable with labels so I'm a bit confused honestly, cus we are talking about Dirk and he's... Dirk after all

Easy answer: Dirk is Gay.

Prolonged answer: I think it's kinda weird how some fandom discussion around "Dirk dodging the label in One pesterlog" has largely spiraled way outside of its original context to be talked about in a vacuum, especially when that context is crucial to understanding what is actually being said, AKA — it belongs to a deeply awkward conversation between Dirk and Roxy. One of Many they are implied to have had about the subject of Roxy's sustained, unwelcome, and oft drunken advances towards Dirk (& his splinters).

I'm going to reproduce it plus another bit of text down below, for the sake of comparison.

(To prevent the trickster text from looking like absolute shit, I have altered the background. Read the original here, if you're nasty: https://www.homestuck.com/story/5754 )

Now that we've been reacquainted with how and where that sentiment is expressed, let's try to break down what Dirk is doing here.

He is not receptive to Roxy's early advances, and spends most of the 'intro' for this conversation (not pictured) ignoring when Roxy flirts with him, until she gets upset at how 'boring' he is being right now.

Dirk is the one compelled to apologize.

He proceeds to shut the scenario down as an unwanted probability, eliciting further guilt-babbling from Roxy over how Dirk never wants to play along with the perfect traditional family fantasy, until she finally blows up and says it's because he's gay.

"I mean, yeah, that's what I thought."

Dirk, rather than saying I Am Not Gay, since he looooooves changing a conversational subject, claims that "Gay" is not entirely historically appropriate for this situation, given the non-negligible passage of time and the wildly dystopic circumstances* they find themselves in.

Dirk reassures Roxy he does still care about her.

Dirk is absolutely terrified of a similarly inclined (and intoxicated) Roxy up close. This is the most exclamations he's ever used.

Now, *These circumstances? The loss of 99% of the human race, including their society, customs, culture, and prejudices. (ALLEGEDLY.) It's important to remember that from Dirk and Roxy's side of the timetable, troll culture has been pushed as "the norm" for actual fucking centuries. HIC tried to recreate the caste system by artificially coloring human blood, leading to the death of billions. Faygo came out of the water tap, not water. Troll slang was incorporated into the English language. Humans ceased to organically reproduce. They were actively Discouraged from reproducing, since that's not something HIC could have total genetic control over; rendering traditional marriage and the concept of the nuclear family pointless.

You could also argue that same-gender relationships are not uncommon in Alternia, making "gay" altogether unnecessary by proxy, and that's true! But my point is this one: any union (or at least our society's holy concept of it) between straightie humans would be by definition undesirable under HIC's rule, too. She is the church, the president and the governing body. The population is only as good as they are assets for her to do whatever she wants with, including mass murder.

But wait! While that tracks… Roxy clearly still holds onto very 'conservative' definitions of romance for most of Homestuck. We see this multiple times. Dirk, as proved in conversations with Jake, uses 'gay' as an ironic pejorative. Suddenly it's not Historically Inaccurate anymore, Jake's interests are just gay.

Does this mean the context above is basically worthless, since they don't seem to have internalized it? No.

What must be kept in mind is this: Dirk and Roxy's only "active" link to de facto humanity is our society as it was in the early 2010's. Those glimpses they get by talking with jane and jake. They have all that dystopic context, yes, but the reality that seems the most "unfucked" to them for a grand majority of their lives are the halcyon years before the Condesce's rise to power: back when weed was illegal, BlogSpot was popular, movies sucked, MTV was still a hip channel, and gay generally meant something real bad. The wave of homophobia as a punchline or fear mongering tactic was at THE HEIGHTS. Marriage equality was a hot debate topic. Those were the dayz.

Dirk is keenly aware of the taboo implication the word "Gay" as a self-denomination carries. He's no dummy. But he's rarely direct with his intentions either. He's slippery as a bar of soap. (He's never "straight about his feelings", if you prefer.) And for a guy that cares so much about his reputation and maintaining a curated sense of utter coolness, he wants to avoid outing himself as any sort of weirdo no matter the cost.

But that's not all. I think the gravity of just how much Dirk believes he *owes* Roxy simply for existing as the last human in the same timeframe as her is a severely underplayed aspect of Dirk's core character, together with how much he tries to avoid her sexual advances only to end up feeling like absolute shit over it, because — if they truly are the last people on god's blighted earth, isn't he being "selfish" and "irrational" about not feeling shit for Roxy, in the grand scale of things? Is Roxy not his only friend in tangible reality, even if he avoids the mere suggestion of visiting her? Even if she gets black-out drunk and tries to push him into indulging her, regardless of how many times he's already said no?

(Spend enough time here and you realize how it directly mirrors the jane/jake experience.)

Dirk cares a lot about each and every one of his friends.

He pointedly adapts his speech based on whichever one of them he's talking to in an effort to express that investment. May it be reassuring Jane, fooling around with Jake, or trying to prevent Roxy from falling into a total catatonic doom-spiral; he avoids telling them anything that would be too crushing to hear. That's not what he's trying to do here. Not to say that he isn't bitchy sometimes, but that’s far from the central thing he does. The Epilogues have retroactively led people to believe that Dirk abhors and despises every single person he's ever been close to before (god forbid) LIKING them, and I think buying too much into that assumption ignores the foundations of his canon text, as well as the central motivation behind 99% of his actions in the story. This is the guy that grew up on Friendship Is Magic, has a picture of rainbow dash shamefully glued to one wall and a rainbow poster of Jake's symbol stapled to another, and everything he does is a little cringe attempt to demonstrate his worth by showing how much he cares about people, even when he's punching his actual feelings down instead of up and saying them.

Which brings us back to the load-bearing part of this question: Admitting to Roxy that there is absolutely no fucking way he will ever agree to having her babbys because he is gay is precisely the opposite of what Dirk wants to say, if his intention isn't pulverizing her. So he doesn't. And his worry on this regard is such that it prevents Dirk from even telling Roxy that he does love her, in the platonic sense, as a friend and hell-earth survivor, because he knows that specificity is what that would disappoint her greatly. (He only ever confesses this to Jane, on the death slabs.)

But also I think this is a really funny visual of Dirk's relationship with the word gay, to put statements into perspective:

#homestuck #meta #dirk strider #roxy lalonde #dirkroxy #long post #janejake

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telehxhtrash · 4 years ago

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I tend to see a lot of people say that Togashi will leave things uncertain and ambiguous in between Killua and Gon, and while it’s a possibility, I honestly don’t think it’s the most likely thing to happen, and if it did, ambiguous wouldn’t be the correct term to call it.

People often say that Togashi likes to play with ambiguity when it comes to queer matters. Yes, Togashi likes to play with gender. We get to see that through Kite, Pitou and Kalluto in HxH (although its arguable because Kite is definitely not cis). But when Togashi decides that a character is queer, or that there is a relationship going on between two characters, he doesn’t leave it ambiguous.

Togashi has created queer characters in 3 of his main works : Yu Yu Hakusho, Level E and Hunter x Hunter. And everytime he created those characters, he made damn sure that everyone knew that these characters were queer. No room for any sort of ambiguity.

The first examples I have are from Yu Yu Hakusho, with a character named Miyuki, and the other is from Level E, with a character named Kyoko Mikihisa.

For these two characters, Togashi made it so that they emphasized themselves that they were trans. It’s painted extremely clearly, that they were born in the wrong body. There’s literally no room for any sort of ambiguity here.

Togashi could’ve easily kept things ambiguous. There are plenty of ways he could’ve done it, keeping the character’s gender confusing. But he didn’t. He made it EXTRA clear that these characters were trans. This is mostly why I genuinely don’t believe you can describe Togashi’s queer rep as “ambiguous”. Because when the characters tell you themselves that they are, it’s canon. It’s not ambiguous.

Now, sometimes, Togashi likes to play it more subtle. He doesn’t make his characters say “I’m gay” or “I’m trans”, but he finds another way to say it.

In YYH, Togashi wrote a gay character : Itsuki. And he’s canonically gay, because when talking about another man, Sensui, he mentions that he sees him as a lover.

It’s subtle. It’s not ambiguous.

Same thing for Alluka, Alluka never comes on screen and says “I’m a trans girl !”. The reason we know that Alluka is canonically a trans girl is because the Zoldycks insist on misgendering her, while Killua emphasizes that she’s a girl.

And once again, it’s subtle. Not ambiguous. Even though I’ve seen a lot of redditors say that “Alluka’s gender is ambiguous”, Togashi is literally doing his utmost to highlight subtly that yes, Alluka is a trans girl.

But subtlety is not canon’s enemy. Not everything has to be painted clearly for it to be canon. Sometimes, you just have to piece every little clue together yourself. Just because the word “trans” is never canonically stated in HxH concerning Alluka, it doesn’t make her any less of a trans girl. Because as the audience, we UNDERSTOOD from the subtext and from the clash in gendering that she is trans.

So, yes, Togashi likes to be subtle. But subtlety doesn’t make things any less canon.

I’m drifting a bit to non-queer matters, but I also want to talk about two relationships in Togashi’s work that were canonically romantic, but subtle.

The first is Meruem and Komugi. It’s canon that the nature of their relationship was romantic. They never did couple-y things, or even kissed. But it doesn’t make the nature of their relationship ambiguous. Because it was once again, subtle, but drowning in subtext that Togashi deliberately put there.

Togashi paralleled Killua saying that him dying with Gon would be a shinjuu (lover’s suicide), only for it to not happen in the end - but Togashi wanted to throw that word in. So we could have it at the back of our heads. Because when Meruem and Komugi died, it was a shinjuu. It was two lovers dying by the same method with the belief that they’d be united in the afterlife. Meruem only cared about spending his last moments playing with Komugi. They both said that they were only born to experience this moment, of being in pure bliss as they die together. When Komugi replies to Meruem and says that she’ll join him in death, she uses an old phrasing used to accept marriages proposals. They died holding hands.

It was subtle, but canon. Because of all these clues and all the subtext Togashi planted, it is undeniable that their relationship was romantic. And they never kissed, never said “i love you”, but we still know : and that’s the beauty of subtlety.

Because yes, romance can be subtle AND canon.

Another example of a canon romantic relationship that was never officialized by a kiss : Keiko and Yusuke in Yu Yu Hakusho. Correct me if I’m wrong, but while they kissed in the anime, they never kiss in the manga.

But a relationship doesn’t need to be canonized by a kiss. I’ve never seen/read YYH, but while I was doing research, I read that their relationship grew naturally over the course of the manga. That they grew together, were affectionate with each other, but never told each other the nature of their feelings. Until one specific moment towards the end of the manga where this happens:

All of this came naturally. No big confession, just a confirmation of what they both felt. And no kiss either ! No hand holding, no true “romantic” actions, either before or after that chapter. Just feelings. I’m quoting one of the post I used as reference, but “On one hand it's beautiful to finally hear it, but on the other, it's not even surprising. You find yourself caught off guard by how easily you're willing to accept that these two have felt this way throughout the entire series.”

And while it’s subtle, because you’d expect at least a kiss or something, it’s canon and undeniable that their relationship is romantic. It’s clear that the two of them are in love, even if they never kissed. Because it was clear from the beginning that this was where their relationship was going : all the building up to that one moment where they both basically tell each other “oh yeah, btw, i love you”. A simple confirmation of what they both knew, and of what we as readers knew too.

I guess my point is that Togashi can insist on the nature of his characters and relationships. He insisted that Miyuki, Mikihisa and Alluka were trans. But sometimes he also likes to be subtle, and not put everything plainly. But the subtlety doesn’t discredit its the canon legitimacy.

Now, onto what it means for Killua and Gon.

I emphasized that Togashi liked to highlight when his characters are queer. There are absolutely NO DOUBTS that Miyuki and Alluka are trans girls, Mikihisa a trans man and that Itsuki was gay. It’s in canon. But they were all brought up differently, and it was either confirmed by them saying it themselves or by the context and subtext surrounding their queer identity.

But Togashi never left it ambiguous. We always had canon confirmation that they were queer. What I’m saying is, there’s a very, very high probability that Killua is gay and in love with Gon. We’ve seen it in the incredible amount of subtext deliberately placed by Togashi. And like I said, Togashi never left the nature of his queer characters ambiguous. So it’s highly likely that Togashi will confirm in canon at some point that Killua is gay.

Now, while it’s likely Togashi will canonize Killua being queer plainly by either him saying it or subtext (just like Alluka), it doesn’t mean that his relationship with Gon will be canonized plainly too.

I mentioned earlier that Komugi/Meruem and Keiko/Yusuke’s relationships were subtle, while undeniably romantic. So maybe this will be the case for Killua and Gon’s relationship too. It looks like Togashi’s style for writing romance is show, not tell, thus making it a possibility that it’ll be the same for Killua and Gon.

But I can assert with 100% certainty that Togashi will NOT leave their relationship ambiguous. Maybe it’ll be subtle, but NOT ambiguous. Just like Meruem/Komugi and Yusuke/Keiko.

Killua and Gon’s relationship is the backbone of HxH, and it’s very clear that Togashi’s intent from the beginning of the story was to canonize it as a love story. When Togashi wrote Killua, he incorporated elements of Tanabata, a legend about two lovers, in his story, and made Tanabata his birthday. Togashi queer coded Killua from the beginning, and I honestly doubt that he would never canonize it, when it was his intent to queer code him from the beginning. He made the both of them have an extremely deep relationship, being each other’s most important person. Combine this with all the subtext, and yeah, it’s pretty clear that HxH is a love story.

So yes, Togashi wouldn’t leave ambiguous something he planned from the beginning of the story. Especially since HxH is his first chance at writing a manga and being able to do everything he wants with it. Especially when Togashi’s gay manga got turned down 30 years ago.

I mentioned Togashi never leaving stuff ambiguous, but rather either putting it plainly or more subtly. And honestly, I’m thinking it’s going to be a mix of both for Killua and Gon. A mix of subtlety and undeniable proof of the romantic nature of their relationship. Exactly like Yusuke and Keiko’s relationship.

I feel like Killua and Gon’s relationship perfectly mirrors Yusuke and Keiko’s, and I can totally picture it following the same patterns. By having their relationship grow even deeper as they reunite, with no explicit romantic gestures, just deep, deep feelings. Until ultimately, they both confirm it one way or another.

I could literally picture Gon turning to Killua, telling him out of the blue something they’ll do when they get married, Killua being confused but Gon saying something like “Well, I wanna get married to you Killua. Don’t you want to?” and Killua almost choking but saying that yeah, he’d like that. Plain and simple. No romantic gesture. No kiss, no hand holding, no feelings confession under the stars. Just a mutual assessment of what they both already knew.

But honestly, I’m saying all this to try and be objective, but I’m not in Togashi’s head. Togashi could also very much go absolutely crazy and make Killua and Gon share a kiss, hold hands, affirm their love out loud, Because it’s his first chance at being free to do what he wants with his manga. And because he’s been wanting to draw a gay manga for a while, he might want to emphasize that HxH is queer.

Especially when it seems like Togashi likes to incorporate shoujo elements in his work.

And as @/sincerelysamedt mentioned in her wonderful post, queer relationships are often dismissed as platonic in media, and that it’s important to overplay it to canonize it efficiently. And Togashi is probably aware of this. Hence Killua’s stuttering, blushing, the constant gay poetic lines Gon tells Killua about how he’s so glad he met him, Killua’s inner monologues comparing Gon to light itself, multiple characters highlighting their mutual love, a date under the stars where they mutually affirm their want to stay together and travel the world while they both blush.........Togashi didn’t have to go THIS hard, but he did.

These panels highlight the difference between the subtle relationships I talked about above. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Togashi represented Yusuke or Keiko having internal monologues about how they wanted to stay with the other forever or poetically comparing each other to light. It proves that while Togashi likes to play it subtle, he's also not afraid to put extremely cliché shoujo tropes and heartfelt moments in his narrative too. Maybe he’s aware that internalized homophobia might pose a problem to the narrative he’s trying to convey, and thus he might be enclined to overplay it.

When you keep in mind that Togashi most likely wrote Killua and Gon with the intent of making their relationship a love story, you can see that he’s never really written with the intent of being ambiguous or even subtle, providing us with multiple intense scenes of mutual devotion. And that’s one thing that’s leading me to believe he wouldn’t shy away from delivering highly emotional scenes that would canonize their mutual love. Because their relationship has never truly been portrayed as subtle, or ambiguous, it’s just.... developing.

So yeah, it could go either way ! Either Togashi will decide to paint it subtly like every relationship he’s painted in the past, or he’ll either decide to go all out and maybe show us an extremely heartfelt confession under the stars, maybe even an on-screen kiss (the latter option being highly likely considering all the very emotional scenes between them we’ve already had) - (EDIT : i wrote a post on why i believe there’ll be an explicit confession if you want to read it !)

But one thing is certain : it will never stay ambiguous, because Togashi has never painted any of his queer characters or the relationships between his characters as ambiguous, Subtle, yes. Ambiguous, no.

#hxh #hxh meta #meta #my meta #killugon #ok hi hello this is my attempt at trying to stay optimistic #full disclaimer that i am not togashi and therefore i dont know wtf is gonna happen #but im pretty sure that togashi wouldnt leave this ambiguous #when u look at his past history and writing style and the context of hxh #when u see how apeshit he went with all the romantic scenes in hxh #imo killugon is not ambiguous its literally just developing #and togashi has NEVER left major relationships ambiguous in his works #he wouldnt leave the backbone of his manga ambiguous #especially when hes planned to canonize it from the beginning #hes just taking his time to portray it in a very heartfelt and natural way #but i have no doubt in my mind that by the end of hxh itll be undeniable #just like his past portrayal of relationships and queer characters #im HOPEFUL #and he might do like his wife did : emphasize the canon legitimacy in an interview

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spade-riddles · 4 years ago

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Submission: Adjusting expectations

Okay, guys. Wading in here where it’s possible no-one wants me, but … here goes.

We - Kaylors - are in a hard place right now. People feel hurt, they feel hopeless. They feel like they were led on by the likes of Spade. I’m not here to invalidate any of the feelings that come from seeing Karlie and Taylor play out this charade.

But I think we (collectively, as a fandom) need to take a breath and ask if any of this is really as bad or unfixable as we think it is. Because, for me, the recent stunting is hard to stomach but not truly surprising. On some level this is how I expected Karlie and Taylor to handle both the birth of the baby and the launch of the rerecorded albums. As much I wanted to believe in the idea of spring breaking loose and bringing with it a fervent revolution … I could see the pieces still in play on the board and I doubted it was coming.

I think the problem is that there was a split between the optimist and pragmatist sides of the fandom, over the last year or so. To be clear - I’m not judging the optimist side of the fandom. Not at all. Taylor has pulled wildcard moves before, and emotions run so high in all this, especially with a baby involved now, that I don’t blame people for wanting to believe the best. But it reached a stage where some of the things people were trying to talk themselves into were just wildly unrealistic. And when that happens, of course you’re going to get hurt. It’s inevitable.

But let’s really look at this for a second. We should have known that neither Karlie nor Taylor was going to be shaving her beard in March. Ditching Jerk right after or just before the birth would have been too soon for Karlie. It’s not unusual for a celeb marriage to fizzle out within a year of the birth, but before the baby even arrives? That would be weird, and would draw attention just when it seems Kaylor don’t want it. They just had a baby. That’s an adjustment in itself, and Karlie is suffering enough social media hate on top of that. I wouldn’t blame her for just wanting to take a break and lie low during this difficult time. And unfortunately, for Karlie, that means maintaining the status quo of the situation she put herself in with Jerk. She may be doing the bare minimum to maintain it, but if she wants to avoid attention, she has to make it seem like everything between her and her “husband” is normal. And that she’s trying to make it work, which I believe will be important later. Good people try to make it work, even in bad relationships.

Toe wasn’t going anywhere either. Taylor had relied on him so heavily during the promotion of Folklore, with the William Bowery narrative, that she was almost backed into a corner. She had to give some allusion to his air quotes “creative input” and their so-called happy relationship, or her failure to do so would have become the story and overshadowed her night. The headlines would have either been break-up speculation or complaints that she didn’t give him his due. We think the cutesy coverage after she named him in her acceptance speech was bad, but negative headlines have a far longer shelf life and can take on a life of their own. They would have been worse. Whatever we might think of Taylor’s actions, Folklore is one of her best albums and she deserved to have her night.

So, on to the announcement of the birth. This is a tricky one, and again, I completely understand why people reacted so badly against it. It was everything we as a fandom said we didn’t want. It was Jerk using the baby for personal good PR. But I have to be honest here. I always thought we were kidding ourselves believing he would NEVER be seen with the baby or implied to be the father. I do believe Karlie is doing her damnedest to minimize the digital footprint of his involvement and keep her actual baby out of it. But he was always going to get to bask in the glow of playing daddy for a while. It’s the trade off Kaylor made when they used him to shore up their closet.

This is also why I increasingly suspect the timing of the announcement got the green light from Kaylor too. If Jerk was always going to be assumed to be the father of Karlie’s baby, then there was always going to have to be a birth announcement that incorporated him somehow - unless the girls were ready to answer awkward questions, and it doesn’t seem like we’re there yet. So the best way to minimize the damage is to have his moment of glory overshadowed by a bigger win for Taylor. It worked pretty well actually. Even on Kaylor blogs the stunt was mostly buried by Taylor content.

I know a lot of fans feel gaslit by all the hints, but I do think there’s a possibility Taylor really didn’t grasp how hurt Kaylors would be. From her perspective, she “fed” fans three times over that night. She gave us a beautiful performance, a gorgeous red carpet moment, and a win to celebrate. I think it’s possible she really didn’t realize the double whammy of stunting that night would make it all feel worthless for many.

Taylor is in an awkward position. As a consequence of Kaylor retreating into the closet, the support base for them has shrunk. (When I use the words “Kaylor fandom”, I refer to this support base.) I would say Kaylor fandom consists of two parts. There is a silent portion, who observe events and comment anonymously, but don’t say anything “on main”. And then there are the small corps of true believers, who think Karlie and Taylor are still together and the baby is theirs. This latter group do most of the actual talking about Kaylor, but they tend to be pretty battle-hardened. They’ve been around for years, they never believe any of the stunts and their capacity to be hurt by them is, as a result, pretty limited. These Kaylors criticize sometimes, but they tend to fall back in line eventually and mostly adopt a “let’s wait and see how this all shakes out” approach. The problem is that I would say these “chilled” Kaylors are the minority. For their own sanity they curate their blog experience and often don’t post the more negative anons they get. Which is fine, but if you were looking at it from the outside, I could see how it might create an impression that the fandom as a whole can roll with the punches. And for a lot of the silent majority, that’s not the case.

But again, I can see how Taylor might not necessarily know that. She went quiet after the Grammys, when I might have expected more celebratory posts from her. If I had to guess, I’d say she didn’t expect the backlash. I’m especially noticing a backlash against her for allowing Karlie to take so many hits while her own reputation has never been better. And I can’t defend her on that one, except to say I hope she has a plan. But I understand where people are coming from when they say the songs aren’t enough and actions speak louder than words. It’s tough to watch.

Still, we’re in a position we should realistically have been able to see coming. We should have known Jerk wasn’t going to be out of the picture immediately after the birth. This is one of those things nobody likes, but maybe we all just have to be patient on. I don’t see Karlie busting out of the closet to admit her marriage was a fake, or testifying to the FBI. I think she’ll just let her marriage quietly fall apart, as many real marriages did during the pandemic. And for that to work, she needs to make it look like didn’t throw away a family unit lightly. Hence the “I tried” post, the social media break, and the suggestions of spending time with Jerk’s family. All of this can be spun later into a narrative of Karlie having tried to make it work, only to never really be accepted. The hate online affected her mental health and she gradually realized how unhappy she’d become and decided she needed to break free and find her old self again for her baby’s sake. This is the most likely narrative for Karlie’s freedom and it’s one that could work - but it’s going to take time to unfold. Personally, I’m giving it a year. If we don’t see a separation by then, and definitive moves to a reunited Kaylor, I’ll be bowing out. I’ll still know what I believe the truth to be, but I won’t see the need to devote my energy to defending it. ,

Meanwhile, the masters rerecords are about to be released, and Taylor has invested a lot in their success. Because of this, I can’t envision her coming out until at least the big three (Fearless, 1989, and Red) have dropped. She might drop hints, but I don’t expect anything earth-shattering. Even the order of the album releases seems to confirm this. She’s breaking out the big guns first.

I’ve seen people speculate that because Rep can’t be rerecorded until 2022, Taylor will hold off on any coming out until then. And I’m not so sure of that. Yes, people listening to the album for clues would give Scott and Scooter money, but if we’re being honest, a fair amount of people are probably listening to those albums already, regardless of the drama. Those sleazeballs are profiting from Rep, full stop. But if Taylor profits more, from her bigger albums, she still wins. And she can still put out a Taylor’s version of Rep with vault tracks and collabs, to seduce people away from the Big Machine version in early 2022. Honestly, I think there’s a good chance Taylor would consider this is a worthwhile trade-off anyway, if it meant she got to live a more open life with Karlie - and most crucially, begin to repair Karlie’s reputation. As children get older and the world begins to leave the pandemic behind, it becomes harder to live behind closed doors. I guess we’ll find out how Taylor finds the reality of such a life, and what she considers worth sacrificing to step away from it.

All this to say: I can’t predict the future more than anyone else, but I don’t think the situation we’re in now is irreparable, and if we’re being really objective, I don’t think it’s even surprising. I do think Taylor should give us something, if she wants to keep us around. No-one can live on a complete absence of hope, and as I’ve stated, letting the fandom dwindle to this extent has its own dangers. But I think we also need to keep our time frames realistic, even if it means rejecting lifelines like the Spade riddles. We shouldn’t expect Karlie to be free of Jerk for around a year, and we shouldn’t expect Taylor to do anything much beyond general music promo until at least the big three have dropped. Sucks to say it, I know. But at least this way we won’t be disappointed, and if Kaylor do pull a wild card and move towards freedom, we can be pleasantly surprised.

Just my two cents.

___________________

Well written and fair arguments on our reactions and expectations. I had typed up more, but I will let others post their comments before I chime in.

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loveyhoneydovey · 4 years ago

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Joaquín Torres as a Dad part two

Note: I did it again. I can't help myself fejnsdfwe. This one is a bit more focused on what he would be like with a daughter, but it's still about what he'd be like as a dad in general. The plot was kind of inspired by a comment someone left on AO3. Also I've included a bit of Sam and Bucky in this

All my stories are written with a bisexual reader of colour in mind, but anyone else is more than welcome to read them

Joaquín Torres x fem!Reader

Warnings: mentions of infertility, pregnancy, mental health issues and adoption

· okay so this one is going to be a bit different from the last one

· remember how I said sometimes he’d bring back animals he found on missions

· well one day, this man came home with a whole baby

· when you asked what was going on, he explained to you he had found her on a mission with Sam and that she was an orphan

· he didn’t know what to do at first, but when he’d heard her cry, his paternal instincts kicked in

· he decided to bring her home with him, and although it was a lot, you understood the reason behind it

· you discussed what your next step should be for a few days, although deep in your heart you knew you wanted to keep her and so did he

· you had some complications when you were pregnant with your son, which made getting pregnant again very difficult for you

· you were both heartbroken by that, but you also didn’t want to dwell on it. You already were so lucky to have your baby boy and you knew there were other ways for you two to become parents

· you thought the fact that Joaquín found this little girl was a chance for the two of you to complete your family

· ok so listen

· Joaquín would be the best dad to her

· from the moment he brings her home, he starts buying her a shit ton of clothes, even if he knows she’ll grow out of them in the next few months

· loves spoiling her. He has this tradition where if he goes on a mission to another country for a long period of time, he will bring back a souvenir to your son, and now he would do the same with her

· gets you and her matching outfits, the way you did with him and your son

· sometimes you all wear outfits that colour coordinate because you and he think it’s cute

· he knows she’s a baby and doesn’t remember what happened to her, but he’s afraid she’ll subconsciously feel alone because of everything that went on. So he spends a lot of time with her just keeping her company, even if she doesn’t understand much yet

· likes reading to her and her older brother bedtime stories or interacting with them during moments like breakfast

· she LOVES it when he makes plane noises while feeding her. One time she laughed so hard she ended up regurgitating her food all over his shirt

· they both looked shocked for a second then they just started laughing again

· Joaquín and you would do scavenger hunts with them often. You thought it was a nice way to keep them entertained and thought it would push them to become more observant. And of course, they looked forward to the sweet treats they'd be rewarded with

· she’s a daddy’s girl. She loves you too of course, but she’s glued to him most of the time. Especially when he first brings her in

· she would wake up often during the night or sometimes she’d get restless and frustrated since she’s not used to this new environment yet, but he never loses his patience

· his goal is to make your babies feel safe, whatever it takes. So he will wake up and stay up the whole night if it makes them feel better

· you end up buying those twin strollers and Joaquín is usually the one pushing it while you’re taking pics secretly bc god he’s such a dilf

· sometimes instead of putting her in the stroller, he'd carry her on his shoulder while she excitedly points at everything she sees

· he always says the names of the things she points out so she can learn at the same time

· like "yes, that's a butterfly!! and that's a leaf!"

· you also end up buying him a “yoda sexiest dilf” mug which he ends up using regularly

· sometimes you’d try to kiss him and she’d stick her hand between your mouths to stop it 💀and since both your kids love to copy each other, your son starts doing it to

· Joaquín would have such a hard time saying no to her, especially because she mastered the puppy eyes look (which her older brother has definitely taught her)

· Also, just like with your son, he would be her biggest fan. If she displays interest in any type of activity, he does his best to encourage her to pursue it

· when you had your son, he had made a scrapbook where he kept pictures of the most important moments in his life, and he did the same for her

· you and Joaquín also do your best to incorporate the culture of the country she came from into your lives, because you didn’t to erase where she was from

· instead, you wanted her to feel accepted, even if she was still young to understand

· both Joaquín and you would be super open about mental health with them as they grow up. You wanted them to know that just because they were young it doesn’t mean they can’t have struggles

· you definitely introduce therapy to them to (because everyone should see a therapist)

· can we talk about how Sam and Bucky would be the best uncles?

· your daughter would be OBSESSED with Bucky’s metal arm and that doesn’t bother Joaquín at all

· she prolly chews on his metal fingers when she’s teething cause it helps with the discomfort 💀

· he doesn’t know how to deal with it at first, but it’s not like she gave him a choice ajjekfjdskc

· much like she does with you and Joaquín, if Sam tries to kiss Bucky, she’s sticking her hand in there 😌

· Sam was much more comfortable with them since he has more experience dealing with kids. Your son LOVES to play with his shield (bc he’s captain America I said what I said)

· Sam also being very supportive mental health wise. The fact that he worked with veterans in the past and even had his own struggles to deal made him great at giving good advice and listening (this man deserves the world)

· in conclusion, Joaquín would be such a supportive and present dad for all his kids. The kind who just wants them to be happy and healthy and to do whatever makes them feel fulfilled

tags: @littlekidsteve @need-serious-help @tkachuk-dubois @parkjammys @pm-my-hubbies lmk if you wanna be untagged or tagged!!

#joaquin torres #joaquin torres imagine #joaquin torres x reader #tfatws imagine #fatws imagine #bucky barnes #sam wilson x bucky barnes

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gra-sonas · 3 years ago

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The Young Folks: Rosa’s very heavily influenced by songs from the ’90s and early 2000s. If Rosa had to update her playlist to today’s top hits, what would be on it?

Amber Midthunder: Oh, man. Honestly, I feel like with her coming back, that has already happened and I feel like she’s so committed to what she is. I feel like she’s the girl who still listens to Courtney Love, you know what I mean? That’s just who she is.

TYF: One of my favorite scenes from the season was between Michael and Rosa, when he acknowledges his part in covering up her murder, which led to years of racism and hatred toward her family. How important was it to include this moment, and what were some of the conversations you had with the writers, Alanna Bennett and Danny Toli, the director, Rachel Raimist, and Michael Vlamis to prepare for the scene? Especially since it happens between two characters who haven’t had a lot of interaction up until this point.

Amber Midthunder: That’s a great question. Honestly, I feel like our writers do a great job of incorporating real life conversations, and making sure that the story is relevant to what’s happening in the world. So in general, we just have a great team, we’re very prepared and that’s nice.

I think between me and Vlamis, it was just like … first of all, we got to have scenes together this year, kind of for the first time ever, which was really fun. He’s a very fun scene partner to have. And that scene in particular was actually quite fun, in a heavy way, you know? It was really on him, which is I think true to life, as far as repairing or building a bridge between people that have a hard history together, it is true that it’s on the person in his position to do the reconciling.

We didn’t have a whole lot of conversation. I think that was intentional. And I think it was not necessary for us to talk about it because everything was there on the page. When it was time to go, I felt like I had a scene partner who was there with me and he’s a very present actor—what he gives you is different every time. So it was just easy to allow myself to be affected. And in turn, I feel like I was able to give the same. So, it was honestly just fun for us to go out and just experience what was written.

TYF: In both Seasons 2 and 3, Rosa’s been trying to find her place in this world that’s similar yet totally different at the same time. As well as learning she has new powers. How do you think her discovery of her alien powers contribute to her journey toward sobriety and finding herself again?

Amber Midthunder: Honestly, I think that it’s been really fun to see Rosa as somebody who battles so much with her sense of self-worth at times. It’s really fun to see her learn that she not only has a place, but that she has responsibility to herself and the people around her who she loves and cares for.

Her thing for so long was and has been that she feels as though she failed Liz, and she failed her family, and that she’s not good enough. She tries and she fails. But I think for her to finally, especially in this season, in the last few episodes with Isobel and Maria, and then with Liz, realize that she has importance and that she contributes and that she can help because that’s all she wants to do, is help. I think for her to see that she has that significance inspires her to know that she, in fact, can be good. It’s simple and kind of heartbreaking. But for her to realize that she really can do well just being good, is, I think, huge for her to stay inspired to be sober.

TYF: Another one of my favorite parts of the season with Rosa is that she does have a lot of conversations with Liz and also Isobel and Maria, to support her in that journey. In 3×11, again, Rosa teams up with Isobel to find a way to stop Jones. What do you like about the friendship between Isobel and Rosa? And why do you think it’s so strong despite their history in season one?

Amber Midthunder: First of all, I just love that you pointed that out. The girl gang, I love all the girl gang moments that we get to have. It’s so cool and so fun. I love those scenes because I love these women, and I love getting to work with them. I love when our characters get to support each other.

I think that [Isobel and Rosa] have the bond of being victimized by the same person. They have a history, whether it was through mind control or however it came. They do have time shared together. I think initially it was a triggering experience to be in the presence of Isobel. But Rosa obviously has done a lot of work in herself in that way and how she responds to triggers and trauma. And I think she and Isobel have the common bond of being victimized by the same person and they have far more to relate to in their personalities and their experiences than I think people realize.

TYF: Rosa’s had a pretty interesting storyline with Wyatt this season. What’s important about showcasing the similarities between Wyatt’s and Rosa’s situations, where they wake up in an unrecognizable world? And what do you wish people to take away from this storyline?

Amber Midthunder: I think it’s just an interesting debate. I think people have a lot of feelings about it one way or another, and I think that all of them are correct because it is an insane situation. What’s fun about this show is that we get to explore this crazy “what if,” that otherwise would never be real.

You can’t really experience, “what if one girl died but only for 10 years and then this guy is left insane, but then gets his memory erased,” right? That’s what’s cool about what we do. But, I think their relationship is fun just as people, because I think that they relate on a level that is surprising. They both have the experience of feeling outside of their communities. I think it’s always exciting when you find somebody that relates to your deep thoughts or the things that you don’t tell people. That they had that history and then they get to explore it again. I think that’s always exciting.

TYF: What are your hopes for Rosa as we head towards the Season 3 finale and beyond?

Amber Midthunder: I’m excited for her to continue realizing all the things that we talked about. Her relationship with everybody and her place in the group, and beyond that. She’s doing something very important, which is she’s investing time in her greater good and then the big picture of her life to ultimately benefit those around her. And so I’m excited to see where everybody takes that.

#amber midthunder #rosa ortecho #rnm spoilers #rnm 3x11 #rnm cast interviews #roswell new mexico s3 #rnm 3x05 #michael guerin #michael vlamis

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roswellnmsource · 3 years ago

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‘Roswell, New Mexico’ interview: Amber Midthunder talks Rosa’s music playlist, and the surprising ways people can relate to each other

One of the best things Roswell, New Mexico has done is bring back Rosa Ortecho from the dead. Not only is Rosa one of the best characters on the show, but she’s also portrayed by Amber Midthunder, who imbues Rosa with a lot of strength, sarcasm, comedic timing, and a vulnerability that’s hard to look away from. When she’s not calling out the aliens on their bullshit, Rosa’s offering a steady kind of wisdom to those around her, whether to her own sister Liz, or to Wyatt Long. At other times, Rosa learns how to be gentle with herself. And this is all on top of waking up as a 19 year old who’s been dead for 10 years.

A lot has happened to Rosa Ortecho on Roswell, New Mexico. I got speak with Amber Midthunder over the phone about the majority of it, including her hopes for Rosa as Season 3 comes to a close next week.

Not transcribed in this interview are the first couple of minutes where we talk about how much I love fall (after our general hellos and how are yous, Amber starts asking me questions, which is very kind of her but not at all interesting for those of you reading this interview) and about how much I enjoyed her performance in The Wheel, which premiered at TIFF a few weeks ago. Keep your eyes peeled for when that eventually releases wide.

The Young Folks: Rosa’s very heavily influenced by songs from the ’90s and early 2000s. If Rosa had to update her playlist to today’s top hits, what would be on it?

AM: That’s a great question. Honestly, I feel like our writers do a great job of incorporating real life conversations, and making sure that the story is relevant to what’s happening in the world. So in general, we just have a great team, we’re very prepared and that’s nice.

AM: Honestly, I think that it’s been really fun to see Rosa as somebody who battles so much with her sense of self-worth at times. It’s really fun to see her learn that she not only has a place, but that she has responsibility to herself and the people around her who she loves and cares for.

AM: First of all, I just love that you pointed that out. The girl gang, I love all the girl gang moments that we get to have. It’s so cool and so fun. I love those scenes because I love these women, and I love getting to work with them. I love when our characters get to support each other.

AM: I think it’s just an interesting debate. I think people have a lot of feelings about it one way or another, and I think that all of them are correct because it is an insane situation. What’s fun about this show is that we get to explore this crazy “what if,” that otherwise would never be real.

TYF: What are your hopes for Rosa as we head towards the Season 3 finale and beyond?

AM: I’m excited for her to continue realizing all the things that we talked about. Her relationship with everybody and her place in the group, and beyond that. She’s doing something very important, which is she’s investing time in her greater good and then the big picture of her life to ultimately benefit those around her. And so I’m excited to see where everybody takes that.

#roswell new mexico #amber midthunder #rosa ortecho #rnm spoilers #3x11 #cast #press

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animatedminds · 3 years ago

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Star Wars: Visions - Episode 8: Lop and Ochō

Early reveal for the rest of the review: this is by far my favorite of the films so far (who knows, maybe Episode 9 will extremely wow me, but until then...), for what is actually a variety of reasons that I will probably go into at length. And because there’s nothing I like better than to nerd out at length, there is better time than now to delve into... Episode 8: Lop and Ochō Developed By: Geno Studio Directed By: Yuki Igarashi Another one that uses a brief narration to approximate the opening crawl of the films, again to great thematic effect.

This is also another one with an explicit timeframe. During the rise of the Galactic Empire, we focus on a formerly isolated planet that has reached out to the Galactic Empire in hopes that the Empire’s influence can modernize their society (some very clear Japanese historical subtext here), leading to many aliens immigrating to the planet. This includes Lop, a homeless bunny-girl alien (mildly jarring, since Gamorreans aside animal-people aliens is something you’re more likely to find in Wing Commander) who escaped from captivity and one day bumped into the patriarch of the ruling clan of the planet and his young daughter. The daughter - Ochō - insists on adopting Lop, leading to her father bringing her into the family: and so Lop and Ochō become like sisters.

Years later, strife strikes as the patriarch - Lop and Ocho’s father - realizes that the Empire only intends to exploit their planet and mobilizes a guerilla force to strike back. But Ochō takes the opposite opinion: without the Empire’s influence, their backwards planet is doomed to fall behind no matter how noble their culture is, so they must submit to ensure their own future. This rift explodes as Ochō formally joins the Empire and their father steps up his efforts to fight back, while Lop stops at nothing to stop the fighting and bring her adopted family back together again.

The very first thing I’m going to focus on here is the choice in how the story opts to approach the setting. Here, instead of getting a Jedi who visits this planet, seeing these people as an outsider does in the way most of the other shorts set up narratives of this type, the focus is on this particualr culture and how its individuals see the Empire’s presence. You are immersed into these people and their ideologies, their history and how Lop and Ocho fit into it all as heirs in the next generation. This is a fantastic way of doing this - you may recall that back during my review of The Village Bride, I commended that short for giving the people of that short a distinct means of looking at the Force, but even in that one the people were secondary: objects of the Jedi’s perspective. Here, Lop is technically an outsider, but that only outlines the prominence of the setting and storytelling as she is then raised alongside this new family and world.

The presentation here is very similar to something like Lost Stars, a book in the current canon that I’ve always seen as one of the best Star Wars novels made in the last few decades. Like Lost Stars, this short uses the characters culture to set up their upbringings and situations, and then applies that to the issue of the Empire: Lop chooses to oppose the Empire - or, more accurately, to try and bring Ochō back home - because of how much her adopted people’s attachment to family has shaped her. Ochō chooses to join the Empire because she sees nothing but the big picture, her good intentions leading her down a draconian path, and as the story goes on her conceit as an entitled heir eventually starts to show itself. The conflict does strike similar beats as the one between Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree for similar reasons: the story makes sure we know why these characters are going to split before the split happens.

The characterization is good, is what I’m saying. A great example of doing great, distinctive character work in a short amount of time.

I should also get the visuals. This short combines bright, modern character designs with a very classical, painted aesthetic for the world around the characters. This gives it a very classic animation feel, like watching a Miyazaki movie or Sleeping Beauty: the location art of this episode is among the series’ best, and the action animation manages to combine a fluidity of motion with a simplicity of choreography, in a way not unlike The Ninth Jedi - another of the shorts whose action animation stood out.

Back to the plot with another interesting track: the story makes it unclear how strongly force sensitivity plays a role, which also gives it a good contrast to the others which generally don’t just star Jedi, but are almost exclusively about Jedi intrigue and entanglements: Lop is clearly strong with the force, but she has no context for that and her objectives have nothing to do with being a Jedi - she is centered around her people and her family. The lightsaber we see in the short - fantastically - has a backstory similar to the Darksaber we see throughout The Clone Wars, Rebels and The Mandalorian: centuries ago, a Jedi was trained from this warrior culture, and instead of passing their saber down to a padawan or giving it back into the Order, this Jedi instead passed the saber down through their family, again cycling back to the way this short uses the characters’ unique perspective and history to approach the setting rather than the other way around. The people in the short only have legends of the Jedi, and the only thing that’s significant here is that the sword featured is the prized possession of their clan.

This gives the story a lot of room for questioning, especially as the ending is open rather than definitive: is Lop going to learn more about the force, and if so will she do through the lens of her people? Who was this old Jedi, and does the sword have a history like the Darksaber does? And most importantly: the war against the Empire does not end with the end of the short: where will it go from here? Will Lop and Ochō ever be reunited? There is a degree to which this short comes off almost like a pilot for a longer story, which would serve me just fine - for the reason I’m about to get into now: As always, a purpose of these reviews is to look at how much potential these shorts - which are currently non-canon - have to some day become canon, or even at least be followed up on by the studios involved. The potential there comes down a few key factors: the major one being the amount of support these shorts get from the fanbase. But another is in how easily or organically these shorts can be incorporated into the framework of the Star Wars universe.

And are the chances for this short’s incorporation good? ABSOLUTELY. I generally judged the other shorts’ potential on how little they contradicted the world and setting around them. With this one, however, its simpler to think of it from the opposite direction: this is exactly the kind of stories that gets told in the Star Wars universe today. There are several stories I can think of just like this in concept that were made within the last few years alone, or even being made right now: the current canon loves its stories about X culture in one corner of the galaxy and how its reacting to the rise of the Empire, which heroes come from there and why. Where those heroes go in the end. The comics, especially, always seem to be on the lookout for more focus characters to play with, but I also mentioned Lost Stars earlier, and that’s a very good point of comparison: for the same reason Lost Stars makes for one of the best prose installments of the current canon, Lop and Ochō has a lot of open real estate it can waltz into to define its own part of the universe.

Besides a couple superficial stylistic things (the symbols on the lightsaber blade, as I mentioned before, Star Wars doesn’t typically do strictly “animal people” as species - that’s more a Wing Commander thing - but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t if they really wanted to), there’s nothing really stopping this thing from getting canonized. I really hope people make some noise for it, because I’m being serious when I say this of all the films has The Best Chances of being followed up - minus The Duel which, of course, was already getting a followup before the series even released.

All in all, I mean it when I say this was my favorite of all of the shorts. It, pound for pound, has everything that I found enjoyable about this set of films all in one package, ever interesting means of approaching the Star Wars universe that I was looking for, all of the interesting ways of looking at situations we already know that I was hoping for, with a set of endearing characters on top of it.

If we can get more stuff like Lop and Ochō in the future, I would be more than happy. If we can get more Lop and Ochō specifically, all the better for it. I also mean it when I say I hope people make some noise for this one. It’s worth it.

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ddarker-dreams · 4 years ago

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dropping by to tell u that ur my favoritest yan fic writer out there and your yan genshin updates give me life MUAH

thank you so much nonnie!!!! 😘😘😘 i appreciate you!!! i’ve absolutely loved writing for genshin, so i’m glad that the community is thriving with so much content aaaa ❤️ warms my heart...

anon 2 asked: I’m not sure if this has been asked before or not, but have you read/watched Togashi’s other work Yu Yu Hakusho? If you haven’t, I think you’d definitely like Kurama.

i have heard of it but i haven’t watched it before! i looked up the design for kurama and wow... he is a very pretty boy. he has these mysterious vibes that makes me think i would like him. if i ever get around to watching it i’ll keep an eye out for this boy 👀

anon 3 asked: If you don't mind me asking, what other games do you play besides genshin?

my cycle of playing games is kind of messed up by genshin right now since that’s the main game i play whenever i get hit with Gamer Urge. however, the games ive enjoyed the most recently other than that would be divinity original sin 2, darkest dungeon, pokémon, animal crossing, and fire emblem!

anon 4 said: it's nice to see a fellow hu tao simp! i was so excited to see you make a yandere hu tao x reader,, i rarely see any x reader content of her so i just silently suffer most of the time 💔 ty for feeding us hu tao simps good food op i will be reading that story religiously everyday 🛐

we need more hu tao in this world, i fully agree. every time i see her i just can’t help but smoke... i think it’s the super cute hair. long pigtails �� ANYWAYS you have god tier taste anon. i trust anyone that loves hu tao.

anon 5 said: i am going to kiss u on the forehead as gently as i can,,, that hu tao fic was absolutely delicious❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

THANK YOU NONNIE!!! i was worried at first over how much macabre hu tao typical dialogue to incorporate into a fanfic, but i ended up content with the balance. she can be soft when she wants to, after all. i’m happy that you enjoyed it!

anon 6 said: You posted the harem HCs right after I finished work and it was such a treat to read. I love them. I know you obviously didn't write them for me in mind but thank you for brightening up my day!

PHEW what good timing!! i end up working on my writing on and off throughout the day and finishing it around the time people (in american) time zones would be getting home. i’m glad that you were able to enjoy the headcanons after a day of work!!

anon 7 said: I loved the Liyue reverse harem, how can you be such a good write???Xiao being a puppy is actually cute and I love this concept

i was looking forward to including vigilant xiao watching over his crush the most 😭 it’s just an adorable sight to picture. he’s such an intimidating figure, it can’t help but melt your heart that he’s there to ensure you’re always safe. the main trick is writing the most self indulgent stuff, anon. that is what produces the best you have to offer because you’re having such a good time writing it.

anon 8 said: akfhdsh Lock why was that Zhongli fic so hot🔥?? Ahh I haven't been able to get it out of my head ALL day & 5000 words? You are superb 😍 I can't help but feel so sorry for poor darling. Having to do that with him on the very first night, man didn't even give her a break/a chance to settle down. Either way I'd love for you to throw some concepts here & there if you can 👉👈 or share your afterthoughts ^_^ the universe in this one felt especially great! I wish you the best of luck, take care <3

it’s all because of the random zhongli dream anon 😭 i couldn’t get him out of my mind until i wrote a loooong fic for him. the idea of his darling being with him since the archon war days is my favorite! i’ve always had a soft spot for it, ever since i was trying to figure out what a yandere zhongli might look like back in november. it’s just... genuinely horrifying to imagine being stuck with that for thousands of years. especially when people view rex lapis so highly in liyue, darling feels even more alone on her festering feelings. there’s no relief to be had.

i think i’ll do a big ol headcanon post because the world for yan zhongli and his god darling is so big, i’ve given it a Lot of thought. but the main gist of it is how darling deals with the inaccurate portrayal of their history together. and of course, she interacts with others, since zhongli has the reassurance from the contract that she won’t try to escape. so there’s a lot of angst there. 😭

anon 9 asked: Hey! any plans for more Hu tao content in the future? your last story was just really gooood, she's such an interesting character! I've also been hooked to Rosaria and I'm wondering if you plan to write for her aswell... hopefully no one asked this already lol

i’d love to write more for hu tao!! she is a character that i adore a lot. currently, i don’t have any ideas for her that would get me going, but once i see one or get hit with inspiration she’ll make a reappearance. i do have a few hu tao requests so hopefully those will help inspire me. AND ROSARIA... 🥺 WHAT A WOMAN. i want to learn more about her!! i’ll write for her when her stories and voice lines are all out, that way the characterization is more accurate. she captured my heart with that distant attitude and those listless eyes 🥰🥰

anon 10 said: hi hi!! i just wanted to say i discovered genshin impact bcs of you! i saw your yandere genshin posts back in november, i didn't know anything abt genshin or their world but i read it and just googled their names to know their appearances lmfao and until then i just fell into a rabbit hole of genshin. i eventually grew tired of not knowing anything abt genshin and its lore so i craved around early january and downloaded the game despite me not rlly being a gamer™ and now i'm here at ar 51, a hu tao main and no, i haven't touched grass since downloading the game 😭

ah yes, welcome anon, to what could be considered heaven or help depending. if you were able to get hu tao then i’d say you’re in the latter camp (aside from having to grind for her ascension materials, that is pure suffering). it’s a fun game to get into during this quarantine/spotty lockdown time, so i hope you’ll enjoy your time with it! i’m glad that mihoyo releases content often enough to keep us well fed.

anon 11 asked: Lock dearest, have you ever watched Jujutsu Kaisen?

i like that super cute girl with short finger hair!! i’m planning on watching the show when it’s completed, which i think is soon? ill binge watch it. i’ve recognized a lot of my favorite voice actors from the clips i’ve seen posted, so i’m excited to give it a shot.

anon 12 asked: You watch Demon Slayer? It's really great 🤯

i’ve seen clips of the amazing animation before! it’s currently on my list of shows to watch. 👀👀

#sweet asks #lock lore #answered #Anonymous

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avengersassemble-fics · 4 years ago

Text

Leave Out All The Rest

part 01/?? “the french quarter”

next part

summary: in the summer of 1994, four years after the death of their father, a teenage witch is pulled from their roots in new orleans and moved back to their mother’s home in westminster. out of place and being pulled in two different directions, the teen is faced with a new life at hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. people fear what they don’t know, a lesson their father tried to shield them from their whole life, but maybe friends will make it easier.

word count 3.3k

an: efngojkf;enb; a harry potter fic i never saw myself falling back down this hole but here we are. don’t want to label this a certain pairing and ruin the story so y’all gotta bear with me :) also this takes inspiration from tvd/to in terms of the magic showcased, and the history of new orleans. as an la resident it’s always been fascinating and i’ve always wanted to incorporate that in some way. the only oc characters are the mother/father names. also title is inspired by leave out all the rest by linkin park.

The streets are lined with lights, fluorescent and bright to indicate the exciting environment. The jazz that radiated from the four person band making their way down the street carried up into the businesses and homes that resided in the French Quarter. The sunshine from the outside world that warmed the bodies underneath didn’t make it into the apartment off of Chartres St. Inside the red bricked building and in apartment 2D in 1990, the ever growing shouts from one adult to another could be heard from even down in the streets.

It was like any other day in the observant eleven year olds life. Focused on packing things into the expensive trunk her mother had bought for her, she did her best to tune out the shouting. She ran her fingers over the blue and cranberry robes, lost in thought of what this new school would be like when she heard the sound of a slammed door followed by footsteps. She knew who it would be, and closed the trunk and latched it before they could even get the door open.

“Are you all packed?” They had asked in a calm and comforting tone.

She nodded her head, pushing the trunk out of the way before standing to scratch the head of the black and tawny screech owl resting near the window. It lowered its head further into itself in satisfaction, when a hand grazed her shoulder. The child stopped, eyes looking up to look out into the street, and subsequently to see her mother disappear just around the corner into oblivion.

“She just needs some time to cool down,” her father told her. His daughter nodded, but he knew it was just an automatic response. He guided her to the ledged seat and she sat next to him while he grabbed her smaller hand in his.

“She doesn’t want me to go,” his daughter said matter of factly. He inhaled a bit, and gave her hand a squeeze.

“Your mother thinks you should go to the school she went to when she was your age,” he carefully explained. She gave him a nod, though there was a second of hesitation before she spoke again.

“But they aren’t like me. They’re like mom.”

There it was, the acknowledgment that you knew more than he ever wanted you to know. Vincent Dupuis had done everything he could to protect his daughter from the fact that her mother didn’t know what to do with her besides send her off to that school in Scotland in the hopes she’d return as only half of herself. It wasn’t an malicious intent, not at all, but it was an attempt to take a part of you (his part of you) away. That seemed to be the root of all their fights as of late, but he didn’t want you to know that. Vincent reached over and pulled his daughter into his lap and rubbed his thumb over her cheek.

“Ilvermorny will be able to teach you not only what your mother knows, but what I know too. Safely,” he emphasized. “You’ll be the brightest witch this city has seen. I know it.”

She smiled at that, and he kissed her forehead. It was the last tender moment they’d share, though she didn’t know that before heading off to the boarding school in Massachusetts. It was the last memory she had of her father before his death a few months later.

Vincent Dupuis was celebrated in a traditional New Orleans style. Though his family and his coven mourned him, the city celebrated his life (though the strangers lining the streets didn’t really know him). That was just how it was, and your mother said he would have appreciated that.

Vincent Dupuis was a part of a deeply rooted witch lineage in New Orleans, which now was a part of you. One of the original founding families of the witch covens in New Orleans to be exact. He often would remind you (and especially your mother) of that fact. You were a respected witch family, even if you were seen as different. Because of your mother.

Vincent was born and raised in the heart of the French Quarter. His parents still lived in the same house that smelled like cookies (your grandma would always have them ready when you’d stay the night when your parents would fight). It was a second home, and it was adorned with pictures of his family, and then yours. They moved and smiled, they held life in them. It was your favorite thing to see, though your grandparents didn’t see what you saw. They only saw the still motion. You wondered why that was, but eventually that thought trickled away when you found out why.

Althea Talpin (she opted to keep her maiden name) was a part of one of the most important bloodlines in the witch world. It was never tainted with muggle blood your maternal grandparents boasted about throughout your childhood. But when it came to her daughter, to you, they were colder than grandparents should be.

Althea was born and raised in Westminster. She was raised with the finest things, and was amongst one of the wealthiest families at this time. When she came of age, Althea was sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and continued her family's legacy by being sorted into the Slytherin house. Over the next seven years she excelled in everything from potions, charms, to defense against the dark arts. She wanted a change after her final year, and took to traveling the world.

She eventually travelled to The Big Easy, drawn to the French Quarter because of the festivities and thrill of it all. She had always been a thrill seeker, and she found that in a man named Vincent. They fell in love and within the year were married, and when you came around shortly after was when Vincent opened up about his own life and lineage.

Althea was fine with it, she hoped her daughter would be free of that kind of magic, and she could convince Vincent to move the family back to her home. After eight years away, she missed everything so dearly. But he always refused, he was afraid of what people would say or even do to their child. The witches knew about the murders, knew the name which shouldn’t be spoken, and he was fearful of what would become of his only child. That was when the resentment started, almost immediately after she had found her daughter bringing dead flowers back to life with the touch of her hand.

Four years have passed since that day, those final moments between father and daughter. The summer of 1994 was soon coming to an end, though the fifteen year old didn’t want it to. With summer ending there was an ever looming cloud of uncertainty over her head, especially with her mother's eccentric ideas for the weekend, and future.

Westminster was nothing like the French Quarter. It was gloomy and busy with people who dressed like they were on their way to business meetings. Looking out of the average townhouse (on the outside, of course the inside felt like it had grown two sizes) it was dreadful. Your mother shouted from downstairs, and with a final sigh you scratched your owls head.

“We’ll be back soon, Arro,” you told the black and tawny feathered bird. “Don’t bother the house elves too much.”

Arro chirped at you, and you stood and grabbed the jacket off your bed. You bounced down the stairs and moved around the cleaning house elves. It was still odd to you to have these creatures in your house. You had always done the chores around the apartment in New Orleans, but your mother said you didn’t have to do that now. It didn’t sit right in your chest, but your mother was hard headed.

You missed your dad.

Your mother was transfixed on her hands, elegant and long, she barely looked up at you as you shoved your arms through your flannel. She was dressed like what you would think witches dressed like. Black jumpsuit that was sitting just below her shoulders, but also joined with a hood less black cape that just passed her elbows. Like you said, elegant and long, and daring as usual. She was like a new woman, back in her own world. Whereas you were more simple, you could even say more dressed to the times.

You had opted for a black overall and white shirt under it, basic shoes, and a loose flannel jacket. If you were honest you had seen a character from Friends wear it and you loved the look. You felt comfortable, but that faded the minute your mother looked you over.

“Did you not like the outfit I had picked?” She asked.

Right. The black stockings, black dress that looked too stuffy and had a weird collar that looked like you were a doll. No thanks. You could only offer a shrug and could see her eyes roll.

“This is more me.”

Partially true. You were at an age you didn’t know who you were really. Two halves of two different worlds ate away inside of you, but that was a topic for another day. She huffed in defeat and messed with the cape on her one more time. “Well that’s fine. Our stuff is already there, and as it is we’re late.”

She offered her hand to you, and you grimaced. “Oh no, please not this again.”

“It’s the fastest form of travel! You’ll need to get used to it.”

“It makes me feel sick,” you mumbled. She wiggled her fingers at you and you sighed. Taking her hand in yours, she led the way. You walked side by side down the hall on the first floor, and in a second were in a new location. Apparating still left your stomach in a twist, it may be effective but certainly not your favorite form of travel.

Night was falling quickly, and at the same pace as inside the house, you walked side by side, hand in hand, amongst others. The same air snapping sound rippled around you as others Apparated and approached the stadium.

The Quidditch World Cup was something your mother had been looking forward to for weeks. After receiving a personal invitation from the Minister of Magic, she insisted they both attend. With each flight of stairs upwards her stomach flipped more and more than when they Apparated. The large crowd trying to reach their respective seats was hard to navigate through, you even knocked into a boy around your age, but could barely mumble an apology as your mother kept pulling you in different directions.

Finally, the loud yells were hushed when a curtain was peeled back and they entered their destination. The private booth was full of others dressed almost like your mother. Eccentric. She detached her hand from yours as she approached a man, and you followed behind like a lost puppy. You were uncomfortable in this unknown place, with these unknown faces, and messed with the sleeves of your flannel. Your mother seemed to smile hugely, which was a rare occurrence to see, when the shorter and stout man met her eye.

“Althea,�� he breathed. She laughed as he engulfed her hand with his large ones. “My it’s been so long.”

“It has Cornelius,” your mother replied. “You don’t look any different.”

He laughed and tapped her hand still in his. “Either you’re lying or you’ve been gone too long.”

“Too long,” she confirmed with a smile. The man called Cornelius looked behind him and called another unfamiliar name and a woman came over. After more laughs and smiles and embraces, your mother wandered over to what appeared to be a father and son duo. “I see you’ve grown your hair out Lucius.”

The taller man turned around, and without even a flicker down to you, his cold face erupted in it’s own smile. It felt uncomfortable to see, like it wasn’t genuine, but either way your mother embraced him

“Is this Draco?” She asked after a few moments. The man placed his ringed hand on his son's shoulder and looked to give it a good squeeze. Your eyes met the look of the young boy, while his father spoke.

“The one and only,” Lucius answered. That’s when his eyes looked down on you, and settled into something you couldn’t quite place. “And who is this?”

Ouch. So she knew of his son but he didn’t know of her daughter? You felt a pang of insult form at the back of your mind, but your mother stepped behind you and gripped onto your shoulders. It was as if she was offering reassurance. “This is my daughter. (Y/N).”

Lucius let out a humph, not disassociated but not satisfied either. His cold eyes went back to your mother and with instruction told his son, Draco, to not be rude as the parents stole one another away. You awkwardly stood before Draco, who overlooked you in some kind of judgement.

“My father never mentioned your mother had a daughter,” he finally said to break the silence. All you could do was shrug.

“My mother never mentioned either of you existed,” you said back. Draco’s brow lifted a bit, intrigued it seemed.

“You’re American,” he said.

“Guilty as charged,” you replied. Draco grinned a bit, before glancing around the room. His eyes hesitated for a moment, and you looked over to where his gaze paused. Another boy, older with dirty blonde hair and a nice smile, stood beside a man. Draco seemed to turn you away quickly and out towards the Quidditch field.

“So you’ll be coming to Hogwarts then?” He asked. Your hands reached out to hold onto the railing as you reached your body past to get a good look around.

“Against my own free will,” you joked. Draco huffed, laced behind another grin. “You’ll be the first person I know.”

Draco saw his opportunity, his eyes catching the far away look of the bunch he had just seen while travelling up here. His hands clutched the railing as well and motioned with his head across the field. “More than happy to give you the inside scoop, from one Slytherin to another.”

Hm, made sense. Your mother had explained her house background, and he seemed to fit the description to a T. You fought the urge to roll your eyes, but Draco pulled something from the side. It was like a magnifier, and he positioned it before you both, on a group of people. You glanced his way in confusion, but he began to explain his antics.

“See those red headed freaks? Those are the Weasleys. They’re pureblood like our families, but the father is fascinated with muggles. Their mother makes their clothes, and they share hand-me-downs. The twins are in Fifth year, the other one Ron is in our year, and the girl is below us. Awful family.

“Then next to them is Harry Potter,” Draco spat his name out. You raised a brow at the recognition of the name. You had heard of the Potters, though it was only small information. “He thinks he’s the bloody center of the world. Can’t believe he’s the Chosen One.

“That girl with the bushy hair is Hermione Granger,” he scoffed. “Thinks she’s so witty, but she’s nothing more than a mudblood.”

Can blood freeze? You shifted your weight a bit when the warm air seemed to hit you straight on. The Minister announced the start of the match (maybe, you weren’t too sure) but you looked over at the platinum blonde and inhaled a bit too sharply.

“Mudblood?” You repeated. Draco glanced your way before looking back to the field.

“Right, you probably don’t know the term. She’s of non-witch blood, bloody pathetic, not even half witch. Don’t know how she got into this school. It’s gone down the drain if you ask me.”

“I didn’t,” you stated. Draco looked over at you as if he wanted to rebut your statement, but a hand dropped down on your shoulder. You looked behind you and sighed a bit, the tension leaving your body though your fist were still tight in a ball you didn’t realize had formed. Draco’s expression fell, and your mother gave you a squeeze.

“You two doing alright?”

“Peachy,” you mumbled. Her thumb rubbed the back of your shoulder, before turning you to face her, and small tsk’s leaving her lips.

“Sweetie why don’t you go back down and get some fresh air?” She offered. You glanced back over to Draco, who looked uncomfortable in this moment, and nodded a bit. It was too pretentious in here anyway.

All the way back down, bumping past bodies you wouldn’t remember as more time passed, you felt the frustration reaching a boil. Finally as you pushed past the final set of bodies you breathed in the empty air.

You weren’t dumb, you liked to believe you were far from it. In ways your parents had tried to warn you about how people could be once they learned of your true lineage. You knew people could be cruel, that’s why being here, being brought to the world your mother had lived in, was so.. Wrong. You could only imagine the possibility it could get worse, the names they would call you.

No one deserved that.

Your frustration toppled over in a gust of wind that blew pieces of trash away from where you stood, blew the flaps on surroundings tents, but the release felt better than holding it in. In deep breathes you attempted to calm your mind, uncurling your fists and easing yourself into some foldable seats left out. You were sure the owners wouldn’t mind.

There were chants and hollers coming from the stadium, but they sounded far away. Your mind was drifting back to the thought of home, where you should be right now, and didn’t hear the crunch of grass as someone approached. “Mind if I join you?”

You averted your attention to the voice, met with the welcoming look of the other boy inside that pristine booth. You glanced at the chair beside you and nodded. “Sure.”

He smiled a bit, the one you recounted as being nice, and took the seat next to you. Your knees touched ever so slightly, and he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his legs, glancing up at the twirling lights in the sky. There was an awkward silence, one you didn’t know how to break or if you even should. Thankfully, he seemed to know how. “I couldn’t help but overhear what Draco was saying.”

You looked over at him, but his gaze still lingered up in the sky. It was an invitation to talk about it, and you couldn’t help but accept it. You rubbed your hands together and stole a glance at the ground. “I just can’t believe he uses a term like that so vilely.”

“Unfortunately there’s been a lot of prejudice circulating around recently,” he trailed off. You looked up to meet his gaze, and he offered a smile. “But don’t let Malfoy get to you.”

You wanted to scoff, but your throat couldn’t produce the sound. Instead you simply nodded, only to catch the slight lean in from your company. “Are you coming to Hogwarts this year?”

“It.. Looks that way yeah,” you answered sheepishly. He smiled even wider and offered his hand out to you.

“I’m Cedric,” he introduced. You hesitated only for a moment before taking his hand in yours.

“(Y/N),” you replied with a shake of your hand. His hand was warm, and nearly engulfed your own. The moment only lasted for a few seconds before shouting from the match drew both your attention, and your hands from one another. The slight gust of wind brought a fresh scent that would stick in your mind for the rest of the night.

Worn leather, the fresh scent of laundry detergent, and a hint of butterscotch.

- - - - - - - - - -

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#Harry Potter fic #harry potter #Draco Malfoy x reader #Draco Malfoy x you #Cedric diggory x reader #Cedric diggory x you #Draco malfoy #Cedric diggory #Harry Potter x reader #Harry Potter x you #tvd inspired #to inspired

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