#fun fact he used to have 5 (!) sisters in old canon but that was honestly always too many

[void-botanist]

Trick r treat :)

A treat for you, anon! I haven't really talked about Spinder's sisters (the non-adoptive ones) so here's a speed round of them:

Sierra: 65, taught Spinder to sew, has a shifter husband and adopted kids, dour, "they can have a little bullshit. as a treat"

Teagan: 63, Cady and Martin's mom, widow, mischievous, "I HAD to change my last name. now my initials are TIT"

Nieram: 62, Spinder's adoptive mom, has five other kids, gentle, "how about the two of you stop looking at each other. then we won't have any problems"

Iris: 58, fueled Spinder's hovercycle interests (mostly via her wife), also has adopted shifter kids, goofball, "you just gotta hit 'em with the puppy dog eyes"

🎃come get a treat…or a trick!🎃

Nicea taglist: @kahvilahuhut @malloen8c @outpost51 @writernopal @athenswrites

[all-made-of-stardust]

I must ask about fantasy costco, where all your dreams come true. Because yes.

oh absolutely.

so, one of the main six party is a lovely lad named William Allen ("please call me Will"). William is a Water Elemental, but he doesn't know the Water part yet, and he really couldn't give two shits about figuring out his Elemental heritage. He instead wants to be a merchant.

He grew up super rich and raised by his older sister, Becca, after their parents died when he was 5 years old. Becca always wanted the best for him, so she helped him get into elite private schools that eventually provided Will with a chance to go out on his own and be a traveling merchant.

He fucking LOVES this job. He's kind of a con man/sleazy dude who will try and cut unfair deals and swindle people, but he's also at his core honest. Problem is, he's also an Elemental, and that fact can get him into trouble, especially when he's out and about by himself.

So "fantasy costco" is a WIP exploring all the shenanigans and misfortunes that he gets into during his earlier life prior to entering canon. I've only done two scenes so far - one where he accidentally scams a woman in a city that is not friendly to Elementals, and Becca has to come and bail his ass out; and the other where he gets in too deep over his head and goes poking around the black markets of another city, wherein he gets mugged and almost killed by some assholes who steal his merchandise, and he's barely able to survive.

I have other ideas to add onto it (bc honestly I really like beating this character up because he's a horrible coward and I like exploring that), but for now it's just those two scenes.

Fun fact! The beginning of the first book introduces us to Will through the protagonist, Mel, ALSO mugging him! Isn't it delightful the way we make friends?

[bronyinabottle]

MY LITTLE PONY: A NEW GENERATION (G5 Movie) THOUGHTS

It’s finally here. The beginning of Generation 5. Though before I get into the movie in some detail I’m going to reiterate one more time what G5 means for my content and a non-spoilery summary of the movie.

Again, I will say that the movie nor will the G5 series coming later have much of an effect at all on any of my blogs. The revelation in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear that life itself is also magic means that a world that implied to have no magic for years would mean the extinction of all life (Perhaps resulting in the wasteland we saw in the Season 5 finale). There may be something I’ll probably do at some point on a certain different blog. But even then, that may likely be a one-time thing and probably come around the time the series is starting to air.

That said, just because I’m continuing with mainly G4 content doesn’t mean I disapprove of G5. In fact, my non-spoilers thoughts on the movie is I think it is a good start for this new generation. There are questions I have that I’m not sure will be answered (Though many of those questions are the same ones I had in my Trailer/Preliminary thoughts) quickly enough. But the movie is structured well enough, in fact it’s probably a better movie as a whole compared to any of the movies G4 had (The 2017 movie, Rainbow Roadtrip, and all 4 Equestria Girls movies). As the 2017 movie was fun, but it jumped around a lot, sometimes scenes transitioning too fast. And while Rainbow Roadtrip may have been this on purpose, the entirely slice-of-life story taking up a long length… made it something of a less interesting plot to follow. It feels like some of that special could of been cut to at least a two-parter length and keep the same beats they hit. And while i have a soft spot for the 3rd and 4th Equestria Girls movies, I’ll always say a full-length pony adventure feels better suited for what I want to see out of MLP then spin-off movies with high school movie cliches and weird pony/human world shenanigans.

So movie-wise I’m not a G4 purist. It’ll take some time to see how Gen 5 compares to Friendship is Magic when we get to the series. As I feel it’d take a lot for it to surpass G4 in my mind. But I’m going to try to be as fair as possible and judge on it’s own merits. The implied connection to G4 by referring to G4 being ancient Equestria is going to naturally get the staff and hasbro pressured by fans to tell us what happened in-between the generations. Because that’s the trap they put the writers in when they made it so they want to try to say it’s in the same universe. That’s the double-edged sword Hasbro chose to have, trying to appease the G4 fanbase and keep at least some of them around. But at the cost of questions both nitpicky (Such as character design being inconsistent) or actual honest questions that need to be known (Why did magic disappear, and what happened to the Alicorns) for some of us to truly see this as the same Equestria.

After the break, I’ll have more spoilery thoughts

Even for a brief moment, it was nice seeing the Mane 6 and 2D animation. The former because of course those are the ponies many of us that saw all of G4 loved. And the latter, because while the animation wasn’t bad in this movie. I’m one of those who’d prefer to have 2D animation in an animated film. As in most cases aside from Pixar, it’s just a strong preference of mine. If this had the animation of the 2017 MLP movie but otherwise everything else was generally the same here, I feel that would of have been great.

I wish they didn’t have to have Sunny’s dad die off-screen, as he seems like he could of been a compelling character. And not to mention if perhaps he has any connection the “ancient” days in any fashion. But *sigh* I get it, it’s an old trope where part of the character’s offscreen growth is not having their parent(/s) around.

On a side note there’s quite a few times during the beginning of the movie that somewhat foreshadow what happens to Sunny later. 3 times where she had a fake horn and wings on her. Once in the flashback, then 2 separate times when she’s doing her protest where she has her own costumed wings and horn. As well as the helmet and mechanical wings.

Also, there’s no way around it. Some of the discussions this movie are going to get quite political. (Namely one part of Sunny’s song that could be seen as having a double meaning of a jab at Trumpsts regarding “Building your wall”) From the very premise in the early times, we know that the inspiration for the story was last year’s Black Lives Matter protests. Which honestly, I do support the message they’re going for. Having an anti-racism message to tell kids from the very beginning and making a focus on it is important when in G4 it only got briefly touched upon in Bridle Gossip and the Heath’s Warming Eve play. Although it certainly rose up to some form of prominence with Season 8 and onward. Still, while you can argue if G4 executed the anti-racism message well. it does come with something of a problem that the series finale left Equestria in the least divided it’s ever been.

And personally, I feel it’s a terrible interpretation of time to say “Well, it’s a realistic take. Racism has existed for years in our world. Same should go for the ponies” and while yes, racism is still rampant in today’s world. That said, that ignores that if we went from The Last Problem to the start of G5. There’s a huge difference between our world and Equestria. There is no ancient civilization that we look at like “Yeah, those were the golden days of world peace” when normally the “Golden age” was reserved for the high classes of Ancient Greece or Rome. It was most decidedly not perfect, with slavery rampant and wars for the sake of expanding an empire. While if you look at The Last Problem’s Equestria, you not only have peace between the three main types of ponies. But you literally have non-pony citizens in Equestria. You can see a dragon handing off a flower to a pony which can imply cross-species romantic relations. With the Friendship school still going strong, and was the reason that the world was saved in The Ending of the End. While perhaps it may be too glowing to say that future is perfect for everyone even in-universe. It’s certainly a hell of a lot better outlook then comparing to how we view even the so called Golden age of ancient civilizations. The Last Problem’s Equestria implies it looks to ally with every country outside of Equestria, not conquer them.

So it should still be a valid question on just how this world collapses to the point it gets to where G5 is at the start. I at least assume that it’s not the fault at all of any of the Mane 6 nor Twilight. Or at least I hope it isn’t, as I’d rather the MLP fanbase not have to deal with a The Last Jedi Luke Skywalker situation. (Where after the joyful end of the original trilogy, things go wrong as Luke almost murders the son of one of his best friends and his sister despite trying to hard and succeeding at redeeming his father who at that point in the canon was a galaxy-wide known ruthless mass-murderer.) I assume we’re at a point where everyone of the Mane 6 sans maybe Twilight are presumed dead. And even in Twilight’s case, there’s a chance that G5 decides to say that G4 overestimated the whole Alicorn immortality thing. Though I wouldn’t put it past Hasbro to have some event where the Mane 5 of G5 meet the Mane 6 in some special event whether that’s a a Season finale or a sequel movie/special. Where either the Mane 6 return in a limbo situation similar to the Pillars at the end of Season 7 or Time travel gets involved. They may even string us along on answering just what in the heck happened until they involve a meet-up with the Mane 6 in that way. Though I hope they don’t, I’d really like the beginning of the series (Or I guess this supposed special coming up in Spring supposedly?) starts to answer some questions. G5 should get a chance to stand on it’s own, but I hope the writers are actually well aware there will be so many questions people have and address them in the show. A cynical part of me feels like they’re likely to string us along until at least the Season 1 finale.

Onto the characters for a bit. I think Izzy Moonbow was absolutely the most stand-out character in the whole movie. She was energetic, funny, and aside from “The pegasi are bad news” she along with Zipp and Sunny were the most averse to the way the world was. She was already the most popular due to the tennis ball memes. But now it feels like she legit stands on her own and most certainly deserves to be the most popular character of G5 thus far. Behind her in a bit of a surprise to me was Zipp, who I thought would be mainly a Rainbow Dash-expy. Though she really helps out Izzy and Sunny in Zephyr Heights. Despite having Twilight be my favorite pony from the very beginning of G4 all the way to the end, I didn’t feel as strongly about Sunny for some reason. So she’s in the middle of the pack, she could grow on me later. I just don’t know if I click with her as much as I did with Twilight. As for the last two, while I don’t hate either of them. Either one could be the lowest of the 5 for one reason or another. Pipp (Although I will say she's probably my favorite character design out of the 5) feels like she doesn’t do a whole lot in the movie and it takes until she’s forced to be an outlaw because the other choice was to get imprisoned like her mother was. So she may come off as quite pretentious, though it’s arguable Rarity was the same way early in G4. But she definitely grew later. Could be the same case for Pipp. And as for Hitch, he has shining moments in the film. But what might hurt him is the fact he was such a bad friend to Sunny up until the campfire scene. “I’m the last real friend you have. You really want to lose me too?” is not a healthy friendship. Hitch may have been Sunny’s friend the longest, but it definitely feels like Izzy connected immediately. I don’t know if this show will get into shipping any of the main characters between each other mid-show, but if they do. I hope it’s between Izzy and Sunny currently, cause Hitch and Sunny just gives bad vibes even with Hitch getting better later.

None of the songs I felt were particularly too special. Though I think the closest was Sprout’s “Danger, Danger” song that has similarities to Smells Like Teen Spirit in some parts of the song since I tend towards more rock/metal-esque music.

I touched upon it earlier, but there’s perhaps a stand-out reason for why the G5 movie outdid the 2017 MLP Movie. They have the typical “Our heroic group splits after a sad moment before coming together again for the climatic good end” in Sunny seeing that that the two crystals don’t instantly bring magic back, and when Twilight left the group after an argument that happened with Twilight trying to take a pearl. They perform the same purpose in the movie. But the crystals not working, crushing Sunny’s hope for a little while works better into the story. Where as Twilight’s part frustratingly brought the sea pony scene to an end too quickly and/or doesn’t feel right of Twilight to have done that. It felt forced in the 2017 movie, but works out in the G5 movie. Especially since a part of it is that it’s not the crystals themselves capable of bringing magic back. But it’s the journey going after the crystals that brings the ponies themselves their magic back.

Just a small note on dictator Sprout, he tries to cause a war. Though admittedly the film seems to treat him as a joke the entire time despite his seriously evil ambitions. With the only repercussions is he gets a wishy-washy answer on if he was a good sheriff from his mom. I don’t quite know how I feel about that yet, but I wonder what they’ll have in mind for Sprout given his actions. He and his mom are the only ones that feel like a true antagonist. Though they seem to be ok with things fast when the magic comes back.

But anyway on to the ending, we see that Sunny becomes an Alicorn. Which I guess with no other real Alicorns around, I guess it makes sense to alicornify her since she’s the real leader behind what united the leaders of each type of pony again. Though there is of course this weird thing where her horn and wings don’t seem like as much a part of her body compared to very obvious connected wings on Twilight when she got hers. Sunny keeps her horn and wings to the end of the movie, and has colored streaks in her hair. Though I do wonder if that;s truly permanent. If it is permanent, I suppose at least they got to have a headstart and have it established at the end of the introductory movie rather then have it shock people at the end of a shortened 3rd season. I still feel like Twilight had well earned her alicornhood considering that besides what she did in the series. She has a whole childhood and time as a teenager learning under Celestia. Which had to mean something, and I’m not sure Celestia just leaving her to live the rest of her days with her friends in ponyville was that. Sunny has no doubt been trying countless time to try to spread friendship throughout her life even after the tragedy of her father’s passing. So there’s no doubt she’s been through a lot, and may indeed be worthy of being an Alicorn at this point. Though in terms of screentime before Alicornhood it's definitely a lot less then Twilight had. And it is at least nice to see that it is possible for non-unicorns to become one. (The only case of that we sort of got was a children's book that may or may not be canon that implied Cadence was a pegasus before she ascended)

Though you have to wonder if the visual differences such as Sunny’s alicorn horn and wings, the cutie mark only on one side (Yes I know that’s how it was normally in the MLP generations before G4. But a distinct visual difference between shows is still noticeable even if the context of G4’s cutie marks on both sides of the flank was about it being easier on the puppets for Flash), and how animals can have wings or weird round shapes such as those bunnies when G4 has normal looking animals. There’s enough striking visual differences for any nitpicky G4 to say “This isn’t the same Equestria”. And if someone tries to say maybe some sort of evolution happened. That’s still trying to put a little too much real world logic on this fantasy world. And evolution tends to take millions of years to have such dramatic changes. Not 1000 years or so, there should still be normal looking animals at this point and time. And these small details are probably going to be the things most ignored but nonetheless can build a case that this isn’t the same Equestria. Even if they touch on the important questions like how magic disappeared and what happened to the Mane 6, there will be details they make different that will add to the case that this is it’s own universe if it doesn’t quite matchup with what was remembered about G4. There will be fans who will be that nitpicky to call G5 out of continuity for small details like that. That is again the trap they put themselves in when they decided to try to say it’s the same Equestria.

All-in-all though, I think that’s at least a good enough chunk about my thoughts on the movie to end off here. If there’s something I missed or something from the movie you’d like me to give a particular opinion about or elaborate on something feel free to ask me here. G5 is indeed off to a good start, just I will be along the many hoping some questions get answered sooner then later. And I’m not sure I’m confident in getting anywhere until a Season finale or a 2nd movie. And it’ll be a year before the series starts proper (Though again I guess there’s a 44 minute special coming in Spring to try to hold us over). But I could definitely see G5 finding it's own following, now there's just the inevitable clashes between some of the more vocal fans of each generation bickering at eachother. But hoping there will be enough that take the movie's lessons on divisiveness to heart and be able to enjoy both even if there may be preferences.

[black-rose-writings]

Some thoughts on Winx characters’ ages

From youngest to oldest, more or less

Characters discussed: Miele, Roxy, Daphne, The Earth Fairies, Faragonda, Griffin, Griselda and Valtor.

This is very long and I’m very sorry.

1) Miele (Flora’s sister)

She has been aged down in season 8, so I’m no counting that into her age.

She seems really young in season 3, mostly because she is so much shorter than the Winx in a lot of the shots (though her relative height compared to them seems to change a lot - sometimes she’s up to Flora’s waist and sometimes to her chest. Ugh, inconsistent art is the worst).

In seasons 6 and 7, she looks like she could be in her early teens, like 15 at most (and most of her classmates fit that age range, too).

She doesn’t have an official age, as far as I could find, but I’m headcanoning her as being 10(ish) in season 3 and 14(ish) in season 6.

Final headcanon age: 10 (season 3), 14 (season 6)

2) Roxy

Roxy does actually have a canon age, but I’m chosing to ignore it, because it doesn’t feel accurate.

Roxy is supposedly 15 in season 4, but the thing is, she doesn’t feel that much younger than the Winx, who are at least 19, 20 in Stella’s case, possibly even a bit older (the time skips between seasons aren’t exactly clear). Like, don’t get my wrong, she does feel younger than the Winx, but not by 4-5 years. I’d put her at like, 17(ish) in season 4.

One more reason I headcanon her to be older is simply because the younger she is, the more plotholes there are in the whole “The magic on Earth has been gone for a really long time” thing (especially if you could the later seasons and the Selina plot, but that’s a rant for another day). To sum it up, if Roxy was 15 in season 4, it would mean she was born when Bloom was 4 or 5, already on Earth and that Morgana would have been captured around the same time Eldora took Selina under her wing (aka, Bloom and Selina’s magical power were already noticable) and that’s assuming Roxy was just 1, when Morgana was captured. Which would raise the question why the Fairy Hunters, who have spent the last several centuries hunting down fairies, wouldn’t notice two other fairies living a few blocks away from Morgana.

Aging Roxy up makes the timeline make more sense as most of the plotholes created by season 6 are eliminated if Roxy is closer in age to the Winx.

Final headcanon age: 17 (season 4)

3) Daphne

Daphne, again, doesn’t have a canon age, and, in fact, her seeming age changes a bit here and there. Both her picture in the book of Fate (1st movie) and her voice in the (probably fake) memory in season 2 make her appear to be younger than in any of her other appearances, but since the first is from a movie (which have questionable canonicity, especially, when it comes to details), the other is most likely fake, and both of them are at odds with everything else we know about Daphne’s story, I’ll just ignore them.

The youngest I’d go for her is 18, at the time of her “death”, with the oldest I’d go being like 23.

Honestly, I’m very tempted to headcanon her as being 18 or 19, because, like, do you see the angst potential? I mean the whole Domino resurection is an untapped angst mine, but like, having Bloom be the exact same age as Daphne was, way back when? It just adds a bit of something, you know?

It would also be kind of fun to have Daphne be physically younger than Bloom, once she’s resurected, too. Bloom is 20(ish) when she brings Daphne back, possibly older (again, time skips aren’t really clear between the seasons).

I’d also like to add a friendly reminder that, regardless of her physical age, Daphne is around 40 chronologically, when she’s resurected.

Final headcanon age: 18 (at the time of death)

4) Faragonda, Griffin and the others

The others being mostly Griselda and Kalshara, since all of these characters are meant to be roughly the same age, give or take a year or so. And I guess Saladin and Kalshara’s brother, though those two aren’t really confirmed to be around the age of these four.

Faragonda has a “100 years of being a headmistress of Alfea” party around the start of season 6. Even if we say she had become a headmistress right out of school, she’d be at least 120 at that time, though she’s probably at least a decade older than that.

Since Griffin, Griselda and Kalshara have all been in school at the same time as her, it’s most likely they are about the same age as well.

This does give us a lot of insight on the lifespans of people in the Magical Dimension. Griselda looks middle-aged, despite being at least 120. Griffin barely looks human, so her age is hard to guess, but she doesn’t look terribly old either and neither does Faragonda, if you think about it. Kalshara and her brother have that wild magic thing going on, so I’m not really counting them in.

Also, the flashbacks on the old Company of Light show them looking really young, when they would be a least 100, when Domino fell. So, if we exclude continuity errors as an explanation (even though that is the real exaplanation), we’re left with either:

A) 100-year-olds in the magical dimension just look like they’re still in their twenties

B) They’re all vain bitches that make themselves look younger using magic.

C) The Company of Light goes a lot further back than we thought.

Or any combination of those three, really.

And, again, this calls into question how long do people in the magical dimension live? I’m thinking at least the same as wizards in Harry Potter universe (who live to be like 140 on average, apparently).

FInal headcanon age: 130 at least

5) The Earth fairies and the Wizards of the Black Circle

All of the names Earth fairies from season 4 (with the exception of Roxy) have been around since at least the medieval times, as have been the Wizards of the Black Circle.

So, we can assume all of these character are at least like 600 years old.

But

Morgana is strongly associated with Morgana le Fay (literally: Morgana the Fairy) from Arthurian legends in the show - assuming that this isn’t just a reference, but she actually inspired Morgana le Fay in the Winx universe, she’d have to be over 1100 years old at least (since the first recorded version of the legends comes from the 9th century), most likely closer to 1500 years of age (since the legends are set in the late 6th century). That is on the low end, so she might be even older.

As for the other major fairies

Diana has quite strong paralels with the roman goddess of the same name. She is incredibly powerful, so it is quite possible, that she was seen as a goddess by the ancient humans and became the inspiration for that particular goddess. That would make her go at least as far back ar 6th century BCE, if not further. Her temple isn’t much help, since pyramid-like things have been some fo first permanent things humans built and are being built to this day.

Aurora does have some links with the roman goddess of the same name, but those are pretty weak, so I’ll not dive into them much.

As for Sibylla, well, Sibylla’s cave and the Sibyllini mountains are things IRL, named after the Sibyl prophetesses (who are heavily linked to the oracle of Delphi, which you probably know of). Earliest record of those is in 5th century BCE.

To sum up, the Earth fairies are old as sin, and probably don’t actually age.

Which probably means Roxy is also going to be ageless. Now that would be an interesting thing to look into.

6) Valtor

Valtor has a canon “at least this old” limit, if you count season 8 info.

That is, he is at least 1000 years old. We know he wasn’t born, but made, so he might have theoretically been just a few weeks old, when he tried to catch the wishing star last time.

We know the spark that Valtor came from was “lost” around the same time as creation (I’m just now processing that creationism is canon in the Winx universe. Great). The Ancestral Witches were supposedly first evil creatures to exist in the Magical Universe, so they probably came in shortly after. And then they created Valtor, at some point.

So, Valtor could literally be almost as old as the Magical universe, however long that is.

Final headcanon age: Who knows, certainly not me, and since 1000 years is the lowest possible age, I don’t actually want to know.

[askmerriauthor]

Star Wars: Visions thoughts and discussion

Been on a bit of a Star Wars binge lately. Getting ready for the Book of Fett and the return of The Mandalorian soon, just finished playing the Jedi: Fallen Order game, and recently "Star Wars: Visions" dropped on Disney+ (not to be confused with the, like, half-dozen other Star Wars properties that use "Visions" as their title). If you've got the streaming service and haven't watched the series yet, I can honestly suggest you should do so. The whole thing is a series of very short episodes and is entirely non-canon to the setting, so you don't even need a hard understanding of Star Wars to enjoy it.

In fact, it's actually better if you don't know anything about Star Wars going in. Spoilers and brief episode discussion after the jump.

Episode 1: The Duel As soon as I saw a lightsaber umbrella and a R2 droid in a hat, I knew this one was going to be a must-watch.

I REPEAT. LIGHTSABER. UMBRELLA.

Solid kick-off for the short series. Dig the aesthetic, dig the classic samurai vibe (even if it's more of an homage than a direct application of the style), dig the simple story. The particular animation style they chose here was a little wonky but I quickly got used to the visuals and loved a bunch of the design choices too much to care. This one was very action/style-focused and clearly chosen as the leading episode for that reason, which I don't fault them at all for.

Episode 2: Tatooine Rhapsody I'm sorry, I don't recall giving Star Wars permission to be this fucking adorable, how dare you.

The tale of a Padawan survivor of Order 66 who makes a new life for himself not with the power of the Force, but with the power of Rock and Roll and Friendship. Bitchin'. Super adorable, semi-chibi art style that's honestly ringing, like, a dozen different bells in my head for trying to figure out all the different styles it's drawing from. Good fun, if a bit bland in the end. The biggest problem is the music. The story relies on "using music to save the day", which is fine. But when you use that trope you need an absolutely face-melting banger of a performance, which this just doesn't have. An enjoyable entry all the same though. Not bad, not great, cute designs; the quirky story of how Jabba the Hutt got a new slave band to play at his den.

Episode 3: The Twins This entire episode is animated by the team who brought us Kill la Kill and that should really tell you everything you need to know.

You know how if you get a bunch of little kids together, they'll start playing make-believe games where they just invent stories and plot twists and super powers like "I have whatever you can do, but infinity plus 1 better!" shit like that? That's what this short is. It has only the vaguest allusions to the setting proper and immediately hurls every semblance of consistency, logic, and sense out the window with both hands. It is 1,000,000% style over substance.

Okay, y'know what, no, that's not enough to describe the utter insanity this episode is. All I can find online is pictures of the main villain character pulling a General Grievous impression or the protag snaring lightsaber whips on his lightsaber, but that is fucking tiddlywinks compared to where this episode goes.

There is a scene in this short where the protag, who is ghost-riding the hood of his X-Wing upside down in space without a space suit, super-charges his lightsaber into a giant rainbow of FUCK YOU GEORGE LUCAS with the power of familial love and fabulousness, using said rainbow super saber to CUT AN ENTIRE STAR DESTROYER IN HALF WHILE ACCELERATING TO HYPERSPEED, all to save his twin sister's life by making her explode in a somehow non-harmful manner.

This short is utterly nonsensical drivel and yes I would like more right the fuck now, please and thank you.

Episode 4: The Village Bride Wait, we're actually trying to tell a reasonable story in this series? Sorry, I was still on a sugar high from the previous episode. Lemme sit down.

The Village Bride is great. Excellent short that's just dripping with atmosphere and a slow, purposeful pace to its writing. It's short and sweet with little focus on the Force-using characters themselves, which actually serves to its credit. Even in the Star Wars universe, the Ainu people can't catch a fucking break. Easily one of my favorites in the whole run.

Episode 5: The Ninth Jedi The fact that two characters in this short have Sasuke's haircut was extremely distracting. But I actually really enjoyed this entry overall.

Despite playing extremely loose with the established lore around how lightsabers work, this episode over all others really embraces the original setting and tells a slow-burn story about the potential revival of the Jedi Order. A little meandering at times, but it's a solid piece and well worth exploring. Of all the shorts in the series, this one has the greatest potential to actually continue on as a standalone series or be folded into the canon franchise. Main protag is an adorable bean and I love her.

Episode 6: T0-B1 This episode is simultaneously a love letter to Astro Boy and a giant middle finger to Star Wars lore purists.

The tale of an imaginative Droid named T0-B1 who dreams of becoming a hero like the Jedi he's heard so many stories of. This short gets extra credit for being so unyieldingly stylish and charming. On the surface of its presentation and story choices it seems like it doesn't know anything about Star Wars lore, but it's actually packed full of some pretty deep cuts that show the folk behind it do know what they're talking about and just don't fucking care what purists have to say. The entire thing is just "Yeah, I'm ignoring your lore, but I'm doing it in a fun way that makes the setting more interesting, and I'm so genuine about it that you can't be mad at me". I can respect that. Plus the old dude in that screenshot is an armless Jedi who's retired to be a botanist and that's just fucking cool.

Episode 7: The Elder I'm Episode 1, but better.

This one. This shit right here. This is the good shit.

I'm sure y'all have heard before that Star Wars is directly inspired by Kurosawa and samurai films in general, but The Elder really digs into that hard. Where Episode 1 styles itself after a samurai tale, Episode 7 is a samurai tale. Subdued, methodical storytelling, slow-burn pace, charming dialogue amid believable characters, and a truly intimidating villain who provokes a brief but striking duel. This is my vibe. I crave more of this. Far and away the best short of the entire series.

Episode 8: Lop and Ocho Oh for fuck's sake, there's going to be so much porn of this bunny girl character, isn't there?

This entry is another that kind of meanders with the story it's trying to tell and plays very loose with the lore. It reimagines a lot of what we know of the Jedi/The Rebels and Sith/The Empire into a feudal faction-based conflict akin to what you'd see in a period samurai drama. Modernization and callous industry crushing the spirit of the people and breaking apart families. A decent work overall, but nothing really all that impressive in the end. It takes too long to get going and then peters out halfway through its pay-off for some reason.

Episode 9: Akakiri The fact that I had to look up this episode's name and scenes online and still could not remember anything about it should tell you a lot.

The series ends on a downer with the dramatic tale of a fallen Jedi who sacrifices himself and succumbs to the Dark Side. Turning evil for... the greater good? Wha? Had some pretty neat visuals, but I genuinely cannot remember a damn thing about this episode or its characters. Big swing and a miss in terms of impact.

[kittyprincessofcats]

She-Ra S5 E05 - Save the Cat

ARE YOU READY TO HEAR MY THOUGHTS ON THE BEST SHE-RA EPISODE EVER? SO AM I!

Sorry this took so long. I was pretty nervous to talk about this episode, to be honest, because I love it so much and was scared I’d forget something or wouldn’t do it justice. Don’t know if I still need to say this at this point (since it’s been so long), but there will be spoilers for the rest of the season in this post!

- First of all, and I’ve already talked about this in my review of Stranded, but I need to say it again: Just the premise that Adora is going back to save Catra from Horde Prime really makes their story come full circle: Back in the pilot, Adora left the Horde without Catra, and Catra has been accusing her of “leaving her behind” ever since. In Catra’s mind, Adora leaving the Horde meant that Adora didn’t care about her, and it’s been a huge source of grief and bitterness for her. And now, so many seasons later, even after Catra has hurt so many people, even after she’s asked Adora not to come for her, Adora is literally walking up to Horde Prime himself (way more dangerous than Hordak’s version of the Horde) and endangering her mission and the entire world because she doesn’t want to leave Catra behind again. Because Catra means that much to her. It’s such good storytelling! If Corridors was what started Catra’s redemption, then I think Save the Cat is what redeemed Adora in Catra’s eyes (or at least, what made her understand that Adora does care about her).

- I love how determined Adora looks in that beginning shot. That’s the look of a girl about to go save her gf!

- I thought it was a bit strange that the clones didn’t notice that Adora’s talking to the others on her way to Prime, but since Prime later reveals he knows her friends are there, they probably actually did notice and just didn’t say anything.

- I wish they’d kept that scene of Glimmer having a more elaborate flashback, but I get that they just didn’t have the time for it.

- I love how Entrapta just goes *heart eyes* at the many clones. And Bow asking if they’d believe they’re the inspectors 😂 - great way to bring back that gag.

- “You would never risk the safety of your Catra.” PRIME SHIPS IT. No, seriously though - Prime says he “sees all” (and we know he’s seen Catra’s thoughts) and he said “your” Catra. This, and some other lines in this episode, made me realize it would be canon. (Also, fun fact, because I watched some bits of this show in other languages for fun: As awful as the French dub is for changing that “Kyle had a crush on Rogelio” line to “Catra had a crush on Rogelio”, in this instant they did really well: In French, Prime goes a step further and says “your precious Catra” instead of just “your Catra”.)

- The way Prime touches his clones is so creepy.

- Entrapta asking Wrong Hordak (thinking he’s Hordak) if he recognizes her made me so emotional. I wasn’t even that into Entrapdak back in s2/s3, but the way their relationship was written in season 5 really made me ship it. It’s about the PINING, the LONGING, the TRAGEDY, the way his memories of her make him overcome two mindwipes... I’m here for it!

- I always wonder if it hurts Entrapta when someone grabs her by the hair. Since her hair is magical and all that.

- “We’re not keeping him.” “But we broke him! We’re responsible for him now.” Okay, I love Wrong Hordak. I love how Bow talks about ‘keeping’ him as if he was a pet. And I also like how Entrapta immediately realizes how useful having him around could be. Also, I love that they name him “Wrong Hordak” and seriously just keep calling him that. 😂

- “I don’t fight for the first ones. I fight for my home, for myself and for my friends.” I honestly really like that the show never showed us the first ones or Adora’s birth family. Not that it would necessarily be a bad thing, but I like the message that it doesn’t really matter where she came from - Etheria is her home and what she’s fighting for and that’s enough.

- “Of course, your Catra.” He said it again!

- “She hoped you would come for her, poor thing.” Oh, the angst is real, I love it! Just thinking about Catra (who’d told Adora to stay away) eventually getting so scared that she started to wish Adora would come for her after all... I love angsty stuff like this.

- Oh, that first look of Catra with the gelled back hair and green eyes is so properly creepy.

- When Wrong Hordak complained about the ship being designed “so that it may only be navigated by one who access to the hivemind” it reminded me of Entrapta’s castle that only she can navigate. I think some people have pointed out before that Entrapta and Horde Prime are foils to each other (especially when it comes to Hordak), so that’s a really nice parallel there.

- How did Glimmer manage to open that door when she’s running from the clones? I thought only the clones could open them? Is that a mistake, or is there some canon explanation?

- “What did you do to her?” Oh, I love it when Adora’s so worried about Catra. These two and how cute they are will be the death of me.

- Oh, Prime’s so creepy when he touches Catra... I love him as a villain, but I love to hate him, you know?

- “My place is with Horde Prime, Adora. I don’t want to leave.” Can we talk about the parallel between this line, and Catra insisting back in season 1 (in Promise, I think) that she doesn’t want to leave the Horde?

- “You broke my heart.” I mean, come on! That’s gay!

- Catra and Adora’s fight is so tragic because it’s the first time they’re fighting but both genuinely don’t want to hurt each other.

- “I’m not leaving without you.” Exactly what Catra wanted to hear from Adora back in The Sword Part 2 - You know what I said in the beginning of this post about their story coming full circle?

- “I don’t wanna hurt you!” “But you have already hurt me.” This is supreme lesbian drama, and it’s so good! (I’ve been waiting so long for a show to give a lesbian romance this kind of attention!)

- Adora’s terrified expression when Catra almost lets herself fall is so painful. And the way she hugs Catra afterwards... my heart.

- Catra and Horde Prime talking together is creepy in just the right way.

- “I always hated that guy in particular.” Hell yes, Glimmer!

- “She was afraid in the end. And she suffered. Perhaps I will make her my new vessel, though she would not last me long.” Oh, the angst hurts so good, I love it! (Why do I love seeing my faves suffer?) Also, this slicked back hairstyle on Catra looks kind of amazing.

- “Why did you come back? We both know I don’t matter.” “You matter to me.” 😭😭😭😭😭😭 Yes, tell her, Adora! Tell her you care! Don’t let her talk herself down like that!

- “Come on, Catra! You’ve never listened to anyone in your life. Are you really going to start now?” I love how this is what gets through to her. I could also just quote the entire dialogue from here because everything about it is pure perfection:

Catra: “You’re such an idiot.”

Adora: [smiling and crying] “Yeah. I know.”

Catra: [laughs]

Adora: “I’m going to take you home.”

Catra: “Promise?”

Adora: “I promise.”

Catra: “Adora...”

I mean, what do I even say to that? Catra affectionately calling Adora an idiot, the callback to Promise, how Adora doesn’t hesitate to say “I promise”, how Catra breaks free of Prime’s control... it’s all so perfect. 😭

- Adora just not hesitating to jump after Catra - that’s love, holy shit!

- God, Aimee’s voice acting when Adora cradles Catra... so good. (And that’s their childhood theme playing in the background.) Didn’t Aimee (or someone else?) say on Twitter that that was intentional since your most vulnerable moments make you feel like a child again, or something like that?

- Adora’s transformation into She-Ra gives me chills every single time. Best scene in the entire show, don’t @ me (or at least second best after the kiss). The way she cradles Catra’s lifeless body, Horde Prime’s taunting words, and then she opens those glowing eyes... amazing. And what makes it even better is that this is her first proper transformation after breaking the sword. We got a tease of it in Stranded, but this is when She-Ra really comes back, and it’s her love for Catra that enables her to transform. PERFECTION.

- “You miscalculated.” Yeah, you miscalculated how gay she is.

- Entrapta whistling Darla over like a dog is amazing. 😂

- Adora carrying Catra bridal style while that epic music plays... I’m living!

- Also, side-note: Adora’s new She-Ra look is SO MUCH BETTER than the old one! She also seems a lot stronger now - look at that fancy stuff she can do with the new sword! (I like the idea that the Sword of Protection was only holding her true power back.)

- That healing scene! Adora’s healed people before, but it’s never looked this gay. And Catra waking up and saying “Hey Adora” is just so fitting.

- That hug... I’m not crying, you’re crying. They’re finally together! And Catra’s clinging to Adora so tightly! 😭 Also, she’s purring! (When I first watched this ep with my sisters, one of them literally went “Finally!” at this moment - mood.)

- Hordak finding the LUVD-Crystal and saying Entrapta’s name also gives me chills. I also just realized that he thought Entrapta was dead until this moment - holy hell!

- One more thing I love about this episode is that their plan to save Catra actually worked. Because it’s a plan that seems so stupid and risky at first, and while you’re watching you kind of expect it to go completely wrong and expect Horde Prime to catch them... and then it seems like he does, only for Adora and her friends to turn things around and succeed. I love that.

- Another thing worth pointing out is the whole symbolism of Catra’s death and rebirth and how it marks the beginning of a new chapter in her life.

So yeah, this is the best She-Ra episode ever, I rest my case. Before I watched season 5, I expected it to be gay (I even estimated the chances of Catradora becoming canon at around 70%), but I didn’t expect it to be THIS gay. This episode went beyond my wildest dreams and expectations. Horde Prime saying “your Catra” twice, that whole “You broke my heart / Prime has set me free of that pain” talk, Adora being so scared for Catra during their fight and so determined to save her, the whole “I’m going to take you home / I promise” part, Adora jumping after Catra and cradling her in her arms, her love for Catra bringing back She-Ra, the bridal carry, the healing scene, the hug, and I could go on. Noelle said on twitter that there were two versions of this episode and the gay version is what we ended up getting - AND IT SHOWS.

This is when I knew for sure that Catradora was going to be canon. Before season 5, I gave it a chance of 70%. After those little hints in the first few episodes, I said 80%. But after Save the Cat, I was 100% sure. I basically already considered it canon after this. I kept wondering how it would happen, but the "if" wasn’t a question to me anymore - so I decided to just lean back and enjoy the ride through the rest of the season :)

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[kaydeefalls]

Tagged by @andrea-lyn​ , who is the most astonishingly productive writer I've ever known, which means I've got waaaay slimmer pickings than she did for this one. XD

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (or so) favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought to the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

My lofty goal this year was to post 100k words of fic, and I did! I managed just shy of 125k words (and wrote another 40k on my TOG Mini Bang, which won't be posted until Saturday, so I guess it'll jump start my 2021 total instead). That only wound up breaking down into 7 fics + 1 vid, but hey, a few of those fics were on the longer end. So picking of top 5 is more like...side-eyeing my bottom 3. WHATEVER.

1. Travellers from an Antique Land (Old Guard, Joe/Nicky + Andy/Quynh + ensemble)

Canon-divergent AU. Five hundred years ago, they lost Andromache to the sea. Now Quỳnh leads the team, a new immortal just woke up, and some pharmaceutical company is getting a little too interested in their business.

I nattered on about this one in a different askmeme, but look, I love canon-divergent AUs, and I love long plotty fics, and I really, really enjoyed writing this one.

2. life is very long (Old Guard, Joe/Nicky + team)

Andromache tells him: "The Greeks used to have seven different words for love. Well. More, probably. But I remember seven." She shrugs. "There are many ways to love one another, and life is long. We've time enough for them all. It's the only thing that makes it worthwhile." Nicky and his immortal family, over the centuries.

My first foray into TOG fandom, and MAN did I luck out. I hit the sweet spot of posting this a week after the movie hit and JUST as the fandom was taking off, and it got a truly stupid (for me) amount of kudos. But also, I am genuinely fond of this one, and it helped me wrap my head around Nicky as a character (which has served me well since).

3. We'll Show Them All (X-Men, Charles/Erik + Raven)

Pacific Rim AU. Ten years later, the monsters are back, and newly-instated Marshall Charles Xavier needs to pull a team together to prepare for the coming war. That means finding his talented sister a Drift-compatible copilot -- even if that turns out to be his old flame Erik.

It would be wrong for me to not include this, because X-Men is by far my personal longest-running fandom (I'm pretty sure I first posted fic for it in 2002?), and even if I've kind of let it drop off recently, I'm sure it'll pull me back in eventually. Also, I will always be a sucker for an X-Men fusion AU, and Drifting is fun. And the art by @irelise is GORGEOUS.

4. though it was not my task to watch (Old Guard, Joe/Nicky)

"Death always matters. It is not a game, it is not casual, it is real and it is painful and it is not a thing to be chased, not ever!" After Merrick, Nicky can't stand seeing any of them die. It takes Joe a while to put it together.

Wrote this to help myself process personal grief, when a close friend was unexpectedly diagnosed with terminal illness this summer. Kind of hard to go back to it now that he's passed. But still. I'm glad I wrote it. All our gays should be immortal.

5. When It Alteration Finds (Star Wars, Poe/Finn, WIP)

Poe is nine years old when his mark first appears, in an alien script he can't even read. When he's twelve, it…blurs. Like someone took an eraser to an old chalkboard, but couldn't quite scrub it out. That's not the end of their story. (Soulmark!AU. Sometimes it takes a while.)

Look. Did I finish it? No. Do I intend to? Yes, as soon as all these damn challenge deadlines have passed. But I'm still glad I started posting it as a WIP, because I honestly think I would have dropped it entirely if I hadn't forced the external motivation, and I am FOND of this dumb 'verse, okay? Poe and Finn are great and deserved better and I need to figure out how the hell to wrap this fic up without actively rewriting the entirety of TRoS.

Tagging @lindstrom2020, @turtletotem, @ladynox, @kianspo and whoever else wants to celebrate the fact that this year is OVER and you SURVIVED IT and you deserve to brag about the stuff you're proud of!

[hiirolangley]

Okay, we’re discussing Maruma ships now so here are some not on the main list yet! + my rambling and disjointed thoughts as they occurred to me. 

So there was the brief Flynn x Yuuri mutual crush thing that happened in Shimaron.  The almost-touch in Big Shimaron when Flynn reaches out to him springs to mind as well as the 'kiss' to knock Yuuri out and their dance at the ball where they just end up holding each other.  Although Yuuri very clearly decides in his brain not to like her in the end and Flynn is like, I'm married to Caloria, there was still a little something there (and it probably partially contributed to how much Wolf hates her XD).  Throwing in my thoughts about this one here... it's kinda ehhhhhhhhhhhhh.....  I mean, Wolfram is one thing because the whole mazoku aging thing, but Flynn is a human in her twenties and Yuuri is sixteen.  It's definitely ehhhhhh..........  I’m not calling the police or anything especially since nothing happened, just giving it a major side-eye.  In any case, this crush is significant because once Yuuri decides in words in his head not to fall in love with her, he stops looking at women altogether.  Name another woman from that point on that he fanboys over like he did all the time prior to meeting Flynn.

Sticking to Flynn, Flynn x Norman were a married couple and they did truly seem to be in love.  Just by how much she fights for her late husband's land and people and talks about how she regrets never having the chance to have his children and how she completely betrayed her family's expectations to infiltrate Norman's family for political fuckery, I think it's pretty obvious.

Also Conrad x Maidmer Princess!!!  How could you forget the most iconic pairing of the entire series!!  XDDD She's the one and only woman Conrad out loud admits to being in love with (although honestly not sure how that worked because they couldn't even have a conversation, but oh well).  The story this came from also gave us many fun moments ranging from Josak trying to set extremely obviously straight Conrad up with a group of crossdressers, Gwendal's mind getting blown like 10x in a row thinking that extremely obviously straight Conrad was sleeping with men (including Josak) but then trying to assure Conrad through his shock that he’ll be okay with it while Conrad freaks out, Gwendal wholeheartedly ready to accept a fish lady as his sister in law, Yuuri accidentally insulting the fuck out of Conrad's room, Conrad being worried that Yuuri was calling him boring for a minute before getting mentally smacked in the face by Yuuri complaining about being rated 88% unfuckable (and Conrad thinking to himself, well yeah of course), and just Conrad's POV in general which is always fun because he is a little shit XDDD  Also I love when he was thinking to himself, I spent the war sleeping with all sorts of women, some of whom were married, and when the war was over people called me a Whore Prince... and then the first complaint he makes about that is along the lines of I’m not a prince, dumbasses.  What a fucking gift to humanity that story was.

Getting off my Crack!otp, there’s Cherie's 3 husbands!  I think volume 5's prologue sums that up best so I’ll just direct people there.

And then, Yuuri’s parents!  Shouma x Miko.  The couple that should not have lasted because they literally went on like 5 dates before Shouma confessed to being a mazoku and Miko was like OMG MARRY ME NOW SO I CAN HAVE MAZOKU BABIES despite thinking he was lame af beforehand... and then they got married XDD  I feel like every time they appear on page together they get into an argument or misunderstanding, but they’re still together so /shrug

That’s all I can think of right now~  

Moving on...

My otp for this series is the royal couple.  How often is my otp the official endgame couple!?  NEVER!  Lord knows I get Second Lead Syndrome on every damn story I read/watch, but for this series I’m not rooting for Conrad.  Way back in my early maruma fangirling days, I liked Yuuram and Conyuu equally because who doesn’t love anyone Morikawa Toshiyuki voices?  I know that could be hard to believe I liked opposing ships the same amount, but that’s an actual thing that happened.  Once I grew up, the Conyuu went away.  That kinda sounds insulting to Conyuu shippers, but it’s not.  Let me explain~  Psychoanalyzing myself, me liking Conyuu was more me being like, Conrad would be the perfect boyfriend! instead of Conrad and Yuuri are great together!, but when I got older I was like, holy hell he would actually be the worst boyfriend after a while no thanks??? XDDDDD  That’s a whoooole other post I probably won’t make~  Anyway, we all have embarrassing college-aged memories whether you attended or not so let’s move on.

Anyway, I know Conyuu is baited all the time and rereading the Maidmer Princess story reminded me that Conrad says looking at Yuuri’s sleeping face gave him the same feeling as looking at the maidmer he fell in love with, but there’s no way that relationship’s gonna pan out canonically.  I feel like I’m playing with fire saying that though o.o

Moving on again, ships I fully support would be:

Yuuri x Wolf

Gwendal x Anissina

Adalbert x Julia (you know, in a posthumous way)

And you know what???  Josak x Murata.  The chaos.  The pure Bisexual Chaos™.  I’m here for that.

Also on the topic of couples!  Let’s talk about Nicola and Hube.  I have feelings here.  Say what you want about Wolfram, at least he’s mentally on the same page as Yuuri.  Gegenhuber is a whole ass man who knocked up a 15/16 year old.  I know they made her older in the anime, but don’t believe those lies!  Do I need to elaborate how he’s gross?  I don’t think so.  BUT, I do like how sensei filtered it through Yuuri’s POV.  (Fyi, I realize the following is partially headcanon) As an also 16yo, this grossness does not cross Yuuri’s mind at all.  In fact, the only thing he remarks on is that he can’t believe she was pregnant and getting married to another man ... but it crosses Gwendal’s.  Adult Gwendal is FURIOUS when he finds out Nicola is pregnant.  He was already mad because he hates Gegenhuber and was getting irritated that he and Nicola were in love/told her he’d use the mateki to help humans, but when he finds out she’s preggers and they totally had sex he loses his shit.  I dunno, it’s like sensei properly communicated that a teenager wouldn’t necessarily recognize the fucked-up nature of a man in his twenties (or the mazoku version of that) starting a relationship with a 15yo and that they also might misinterpret the anger of the older people who do know better.  

And like a cherry on top, Gwen’s anger is solely directed at Gegenhuber, not Nicola.  After this adventure, Gwendal personally takes super good care of Nicola and makes sure she’s set up nicely with the Grisela family and even visits her regularly... and then when Gegenhuber wakes up, Gwendal almost kicks him to death.  Seriously, he literally kicked him so much Anissina had to heal him so he wouldn’t die (and while she was healing him she was like, you’re fucking gross and I wouldn’t care if you dropped dead here, but I kinda have to do this.)  I dunno, I feel like there are so many reasons for people to hate Gegenhuber, I can’t make the claim that this is 100% significantly adding to the hatred.  Would you notice another drop in a bucket?  But this is my opinion on the matter~  Anyway, it’s 1:30am and I need to stop typing!

[missnight0wl]

Do you place any of the time limited side quests at a different year from the game? For example, i think it makes sense for the Howling Halloween sq to be set after the sq with the forgetfulness potion in year 3 rather than year 1. The first Christmas sq also takes place in year 1, even though MC wouldn’t know Bill at that point. The patronus sq makes a reference to Mc being a legimellion even though they wouldn’t find that out till later.

I kind of stopped trying to fit all the TLSQs into my story at some point, but I still can’t help wondering where they belong into the canon story. And yeah, probably most of them don’t make sense where they’re placed by the devs (or at least would make more sense somewhere else). Now, I’ll try to keep it short, but I’m gonna comment on pretty much every TLSQ, so… beware.

YEAR 1:

Hagrid’s Birthday. It should’ve been at least Y2. Merula comments at one point that Dumbledore probably wants to give MC 100 House points (which really makes sense only after we got points at the end of Y1), and MC’s bond with Hagrid was much closer in Y2, so they’d indeed be the right person to throw his birthday. Especially that Hagrid canonically was born on December 6th, so in Y1, MC knew him only for three months.

Howling Hallowe’en. All right, so I personally HATE this TLSQ because MC duelling Greyback is stupid no matter their age. But if it has to exist, then as you said, it should’ve happened after “Penny For Your Thoughts”, so not before Y3. I believe Scarlett was supposed to die between Y2 and Y3, so before that, it doesn’t make sense that Penny’s fear of werewolves is so great. It also takes away from the relationship between Penny and Chiara (if Penny didn’t experience the death of her friend, it’s not that meaningful that she overcomes her prejudice for Chiara).

Christmas at Hogwarts. It CAN’T happen before Y2. When Rowan mentions Bill for the first time, MC doesn’t even know who he is. How would it make sense if they spent Christmas together a year earlier? Personally, I think it should be Y3 when MC’s friendship with both Bill and Tonks was closer already.

YEAR 2:

The Weird Sisters. This one should probably be Y4, even if only because of the Sisters’ age. Myron is supposed to be one year older than Bill, meaning that in MC’s Y4, Myron was in his last year. Orsino is supposed to be the same age as Percy, so at the same time he was in his second year – a bit young to be on the band, but possible (more likely than in his first year if you ask me).

Hosting the Beauxbatons. I guess it could stay in Y2, but MC talks quite a lot about the Cursed Vaults and how great they are at solving mysteries, so I believe that Y3 or even Y4 would make more sense.

Chiara’s TLSQ. It happens a year after the Halloween events, so it should be Y4.

Christmas at the Burrow. Again, since it happens a year after the previous Christmas TLSQ, it should be Y4. It goes well with Charlie coming to Hogwarts to rescue us because he and MC got pretty close in Y4 (working on the Forest Vault and all).

Meet the Malfoys. Lucius came to Hogwarts because the school governors were alarmed by the things going on at school, so it has to be after the Vault of Ice. Although, I’d argue that two vaults are more likely to be a reason for concern, putting the quest in Y4. Also, in MC’s second year, Draco was only five! He looked and acted more like a 7/8-years-old.

YEAR 3:

Become an Animagus. A friendly conversation with both Barnaby and Tulip at the very beginning of the quest suggests Y4.

The Frog Choir. It could stay in Y3 since Tulip acts rather uncertain about her friendship with MC. The problem is that it triggers too early. When I played with my second MC a while ago, I’m pretty sure it triggered even before I learnt from Tulip that she worked with Merula.

Flying Solo. It should be Y5 (I imagine that becoming an Animagus would take at least all Y4). There’s the whole conversation where Talbott talks about Rakepick’s white owl. In Y3, Merula thinks she’s about to meet Snape, but then, the mention of school owls doesn’t really make sense – it was definitely written with Rakepick in mind, so I just don’t understand why they placed it in Y3.

YEAR 4:

Become a Prefect. No complaints here.

Magical Creatures Everywhere. As far as I remember, there was nothing that wouldn’t really fit here, so I guess we’re also clear.

Celestial Ball. It’s a bit odd to have a ball when there’s the Sleepwalking Curse at school, but… sure, we can go with this.

Grand Pranksters. Yeah, I believe it all works here again. Tonks and Tulip are pretty close friends already, Rita returned like a couple of months after her second SQ (when we blackmailed her about being an unregistered Animagus). Even Ismelda’s part is okay since she was also one of the optional people to borrow a broom from.

The Patronus TLSQ. It probably should be Y5. The Legilimency scene you mention doesn’t happen if you do the quest in Y4, but the fact that it exists (and it’s quite developed) suggests that the quest was written with Y5 in mind. Again, I don’t understand why it was placed earlier.

First Date. I mean… sure.

YEAR 5:

Sir Cadogan. It definitely belongs to Y5 since it talks about Beatrice being trapped in the portrait. However, similar to the Frog Choir, it triggers too early. I believe it triggers in chapter 6 now. It’d make more sense after our fight in the Library (to remind MC how important it is to work with their friends) and after we found Scabbers in front of the Vault of Ice – so around chapter 14. In the TLSQ, Rakepick revived the Ice Knight, so MC shouldn’t have been that surprised seeing the cursed ice around the castle in the main story. Also, when they searched the Icy Corridor with Jae, it sure sounded like they weren’t there since Y2.

O.W.L.s. No complaints here.

Valentine’s Day. NOPE! Just nope. There’s no way Penny would care about stupid Valentine’s Day while Beatrice was trapped in the portrait. Similar goes to MC who was worried about both Haywood sisters AND they were anxious about finding Jacob in the next vault. Moreover, THERE’S NO WAY Rakepick would allow Lockhart to waste the time of her apprentices. I don’t know where else it fits better, but quite frankly, I don’t care.

The All-Wizards Tournament. I mean, I’m not mad about it being in Y5, but I actually like it better when I think that Hagrid and Kettleburn organised it to distract everyone after Rowan’s death. I’d say it’s more meaningful in Y6.

Festival Fun. Very similar arguments as for the First Date. Although, I suppose it could’ve happened on its own in Y5, just without the dating element.

YEAR 6:

The Dragon Sanctuary. Honestly, it’d probably make more sense as the summer holidays event or even post-graduation, but I guess Y6 is not bad.

The Headkid. Yep, makes sense.

[yououghtaknow]

18 and 20 for the meta asks? also I already commented on clip 3 but fr this clip was so good that was such a good execution of that scene and s5 has been so good and literally brightens my day thank u 💛 i hope you’re doing well

hi, thank you so much!!!!!!!! i hope you’re doing well too <3 <3

i am putting a read more because i am a rambley person, but underneath you will find talks of unused plot points, the parallels between the girl squad and the lad squad, and what taylor swift album(s) i believe each season has the vibe of.

tw for discussion of abuse, mental health problems, addiction and eating disorders

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

skam brighton has. so many aus. because it itself is an au of an original work. me and two of my great writing friends have written a great numbers of aus including but not limited to riordian-verse, glee, doctor who, rwrb, trc, a murder mystery au, and many aus based on comfort media of mine that i started on never finished (house of anubis, barbie movies, etc.). and many of them are unironically so good???? @fingersmithbysarahwaters and @nightwing642 are incredibly talented screenwriters. but also i did write a screenplay adaptations of the first two books in the raven cycle series and 2/3s of rwrb for no reason other than fun and autism.

as for skam brighton. oh boy. not many plot points have been changed, but some certain scenes/character moments were changed. for example, the scene in season 2 episode 8 where liz has a meltdown at the shopping centre and she has a heart to heart with mary was originally liz having a meltdown and running into al in the sensory room. but i wanted to hold back on revealing al as a main character until season 3. 

also in the og season 3, jake and al didn’t break up. as i was finishing the season, i was getting ideas for how i wanted the series to develop (james’s crush on al namely) so i thought it would be good for both of their developments for them not to end up together. also in season 3 i hadn’t planned for jake to move house originally, so there was a scene in the finale episode of the lad squad hanging out, but it got cut because it just didn’t make sense. 

in season 4, al and bree were a lot meaner to each other originally, because i love it when it gets busy at the brighton and the gay people get mean, but then i thought about it and decided it was out of character for both of them to be downright cruel. al and bree also had a scene in season 4 that was cut due to just not making sense. 

also, in season 5, the “inner white girl” scene originally wasn’t in the show at all, but one day i was listening to the song, and about a week before the episode came out, i wrote it. also, bree wasn’t written to be a she/they until literally the day of putting the clip out because i thought it would be cool. that’s it :)

also the way i write is that i write the full clip out in a google doc and then edit it in ao3 about an hour before i put it out, so a lot of changes happen there. just small things, like making dialogue flow better, changing certain songs because i just want to, and sometimes adding in new sequences that i just thought of.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

oh!!!! there!!!!! is!!!!! 

personally, my favourite thing to write is little symbolic moments that make me happy because i play 4d chess in my head with myself every time i write.

before i go off, i must say, so many hints and clues have been dropped for season six so far. season six has been my favourite season to write and i’m already planning a spin-off project based on it to write, and it’s gonna be starting sooner than you think.

so a piece of writing i’ve been thinking about lately is the parallels between the girl squad and the lad squad. before i begin to go off, these are the characters i think parallel each other the most.

jake - sandy james - bree nick - rori theo - esther al - liz

jake and sandy is quite an obvious parallel to draw - both are football players, both begin the series closeted and having a close relationship with bryan - but their personalities are quite similar. both of them are closer with their mother than their father, both use their relationships as a method of protection, and both are afraid of of societal rejection at the beginning of the series. they also both discovered their sexualities and mental health issues over the course of their seasons, and both of their love interests are more outgoing theatre kids. jake and sandy’s relationship is also so interesting to me - because they start as very awkward friends, and jake tries to help sandy by making bryan break up with her, but outs her in the process, and sandy doesn’t want to forgive him. she takes her time and comes to terms with it on her own and decides to forgive him because sandy’s just a sweetheart - and this also parallels the way jake takes his time to forgive his mother. also, in their friend groups, they’re both the newcomer to them, and we get the introductions to the group dynamics in their seasons, and in the later seasons, they’re both a lot more relaxed as they’re in recovery <3

james and bree are also very similar characters. both have problems with substance abuse, both have promiscuous reputations, both have both mommy and daddy issues. they are both dean girls, to put it in spn terms. they’re both very funny, and use humour to cover up their struggles. both are dealing with a lot of mental illness and, throughout the series, it becomes more and more clear. they’re also both seen as “the hot ones” of their groups, with a lot of the characters canonically having small crushes on them (liz, rori and nick with james; rori, esther and annabell with bree). they’ve also both canonically hooked up with sophie. which i just think is fun. they also played mimi and roger together, which i think shows their parallels as addicts and people (with roger struggling with recovery and depression until the end, when he begins to get help, and mimi living the high life until it all crumbles down around her). they also share a want for independence and both are very sana-esque characters (james being middle eastern and religious, bree being the cool rebel girl in season 1).

nick and rori are both the “fun friend”. they’re both comedic relief in the early seasons, but we do get in depth with them as the show goes on. in grease, they play james and bree’s love interests (which is ironic, as rori and bree get together and nick is in love with james), and in rent, they play angel and maureen, the two main comedic relief characters. both of them struggle to connect their asian identity with their british identity, and both struggle with how the world perceives them (nick with their gender presentation and rori with her eating disorder). they both struggle with toxic masculinity and toxic femininity and use humour to cover up their struggles.

theo and esther are similar in the fact that they’re the squad members we know the least about. they’re both jewish, they’re both the mum friend of their respective groups, they’re both autistic and they’re both quite nerdy. they’re the most grounded member of their respective groups and tend to take charge and help make decisions. they’re also both quite sarcastic and very firm in their opinions. 

al and liz are parallels simply because they are both nooras and vildes. they’r eboth autistic, they’re both the odd one out in their friend groups - liz being a lot more serious than the girl squad, al being a lot more in his own little world than the lad squad. they’re both very blunt and straight forward and say whatever they’re thinking.

also just some of my favourite bits of foreshadowing: nick being bitchy to liz throughout season 2 because they’re in love with james….. al talking about his sister to jake in season 3 and whenever al talks to the girl squad, bree insults him or walks away…… in season 4 episode 1, audrey mentions bree’s cousin is pregnant and then when bree finds out the results of her pregnancy test, oh no by marina plays (i’m now becoming my own self fulfilling prophecy)....... nick and all of his gender stuff throughout the series……. just all of the character stuff with grease and rent….. also just bree and rori’s whole relationship arc because it has everything. queerbaiting. subverting expectations. musical homoeroticism. a little cheating for fun. and they were best friends. honestly bree and rori season 3 is very august by taylor swift…… you weren’t mine to lose…….. 

speaking of, no one asked by here’s each season of skambr and the taylor swift albums they’re most like.

season 1 - debut/fearless

bro sandy is just such a debut/fearless era person. she’s looking for her place in this world!!!!!! she has the teardrops on my guitar energy (quite literally sandy pre-canon voice i bet he’s beautiful that boy she talks about and he has everything that i have to live without about bryan and sophie)..... the fun giggly crush songs that are deeply homoerotic….. esther season 1 voice the entirety of you belong with me. like esther really made a deeper connection with sandy in one month that bryan did in years of knowing her. sandy also is the type of person to stan love story, she just thinks it’s such a fun song and she does yell the key change every time it comes on. 

season 2 - speak now/lover

elizabeth!!!!! liz is the type of person who only liked old taylor and then got internalised misogyny and then got over it and loves taylor again. the story of us is canonically a liz/rori song…. yes i am still a liz/rori subtext warrior….. liz is very never grow up and dear john is a very her and james song in the fact that they both relate to it……. when they bonded over their trauma “don’t you think i was too young”...... also lover is a liz season 2 album because it’s about liz learning that love is the most important thing in the world….. liz voice i want to be defined by the things that i love. also the archer is just a skam brighton song because it is an isaac song. also i’m just gonna say it. i like me! it’s a good song when brendon urie isn’t in it, you all are just afraid of having fun. also though liz in season 5 is very better than revenge because, while her season is about unlearning your internalised prejudices, i believe she deserves to be misogynistic for 3 minutes 37 seconds.

season 3 - red

now this is controversial. this season is about depression, grief and anger, and these feelings are red. literally jake voice so you were never a saint and i loved in shades of wrong we learn to live with the pain mosaic broken hearts….. like treacherous….. holy ground….. the whole country pop vibe….. the bitchy songs mocking people’s perceptions of the singer…..  22 is a lad squad song…. also jake voice i remember it all too well but it’s about his father’s abuse and his mother’s neglect…… like the whole season is just jake getting to the point where he is at “begin again”. also i feel like jake would like red because he spent a lot of time watching taylor swift music videos as a youth both because he liked the music and had crushes on the guys in them, and he feels red is the perfect middle between the country and the pop and the indie and he just really likes being sad.

season 4 - reputation

bree big reputation holland!!!!!!!!! she has it all - the romantic drama, the hatred of men, the fucking homoeroticism. bree stans the reputation tour and they have made the entire holland-fletcher family watch it on their netflix (al fucking loved it because he’s a canon swiftie, audrey had a fun time, patrick was a little confused, but has the spirit). listen bree “i did something bad”. bree “look what you made me do”. bree and rori “new year’s day”. bree voice i swear i don’t love the drama, it loves me!!!!!!!!! like the reason the season has a lot of reputation songs and ends with daylight from lover is a metaphor for bree leaving their reputation era…. also reputation has she/they vibes

season 5 - 1989

1989 my best friend 1989!!!!!!! i am coming out here as a 1989 (deluxe) stan. it’s just a serotonin album for me and it is just so nick. the mocking songs about their reputation…… the genuinely deeply depressing homoerotic songs that have fun upbeat music…… the cars….. also clean is just such a nick song. he is in recovery, he is just so personal to me. also nick voice one night he wakes strange look on his face pauses then says you’re my best friend and you knew what it was he is in love!!!!!!! nick canonically in love with all of their best friends braxton!!!!! also nick feels like a 1989 stan because they just have those fun energies. nick WILL scream the spoken part of shake it off at the top of his lungs. also new romantic is just a skamverse song in general. also just. out of the woods. no reason for me to say it other than it’s one of my favourite songs of all time.

season 6 - folklore/evermore

no evermore is not out yet. yes i am claiming it for season 6. see taylor has said that these albums are all about telling stories/fairy tales and that’s what season 6 is about. i cannot wait until next friday when the main and my plans for the hiatus are revealed…….. genuinely i do not know how anyone perceives skam brighton so i don’t know who people think the next main is, but…… i can only describe the state of me writing this season as the various ambiguous disorder gifs.

[ayy-spec]

Arospec Awareness Week Ask

1. Where are you on the aromantic spectrum?

I identify as demiromantic, but I also use the term gray aromantic and sometimes aromantic.

2. What are some other labels you have tried out?

I used to think my romantic and sexual orientation worked exactly the same so I identified as abroromantic for a while and at one point identified as only liking girls. I don’t clarify the gender of my attraction with labels, but I have been romantically attracted to 3 people in my life and they were 2 guys and a girl, so I think I could be attracted to people of any gender.

3. How long have you identified as aro-spec?

I definitely identified as alloromantic ace-spec for a while before questioning being aro-spec, so that was probably when I was 19 or 20? So 3 or 4 years.

4. How old were you when you first heard the term?

I heard about the term aromantic when I was in high school, probably 14 or 15. I heard about the terms aromantic spectrum, demiromantic, and gray aromantic later than that but not by much.

5. Are you sam or non-sam?

I use the split-attraction model (SAM) because I feel like my romantic orientation works differently than my sexual orientation. I am demiromantic and abrosexual gray asexual. 

6. Do you wear a white ring?

No, but I do usually wear a black ace ring! I haven’t been wearing rings since the pandemic however because it’s just another thing to clean. I’ve been considering getting a white aro ring.

7. Are you out?

I don’t have a straightforward answer for that. It doesn’t come up a lot, but I’m definitely not in the closet and I do talk about it sometimes. A big reason it doesn’t come up is because I don’t think about romance that much lol.

8. What are some aro headcanons you have?

I’m going to make a post about this later this week when I’ve had more time to think about it, but my 2 biggest aro-spec headcanons are Amethyst from Steven Universe being aromantic (and asexual) and Fitzroy Maplecourt from The Adventure Zone: Graduation being demiromantic (he’s canonically asexual).

9. Are you romance favorable, indifferent, adverse, or repulsed?

I would like to try out a romantic relationship! I don’t know how I’ll feel about it until I’ve actually tried it, but like I said I don’t think about romance very much, I had a boyfriend in high school for a few months and I wasn’t very into it, but I also didn’t like him like that anyway.

10. Are you in a qpr? Do you want one?

I’ve never been in a queerplatonic/quasiplatonic relationship but I’m not averse to the idea! If I met someone and felt like that would be a good fit for us I think I would go for it, but I’m not actively seeking one out.

11. Are you in a romantic relationship? Do you want one?

I’m not currently in a relationship. I’ve tried dating apps a few times but nothing ever came from it, plus it’s hard when I rarely feel attracted to people based on a quick look at a picture and bio. I don’t have a lot of opportunities to meet people my age either. I would like to be in a romantic relationship, I think. I’m also open to polyamory so I could see myself being in more than one romantic relationship.

12. Tag at least one aro-spec blogger on tumblr to help grow connections

I’m going to tag @acespectips and @arospectips ! acespectips is a blog run by arospecs who experience sexual attraction helping out questioning ace-specs, and arospectips is its sister blog which is run by acespecs who experience romantic attraction helping out questioning arospecs!

13. Do you know any facts about aro history?

Unfortunately, not very much! I believe that the word aromantic was added to the Merriam Webster English Dictionary in 2020 (might have been 2019?) and I know that quite a few aromantic terms were coined on the AVEN forums. 

14. What piece of media that you like has a canon aro-spec character?

Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of arospec representation in stuff that I like. I loved Steven Universe when it was running and Peridot was word-of-god canonized as aroace, but imo her aro-ness was not really explored. I use the Choices app a lot and there’s an aroace character named Zephyr in the Elementalist series. Jughead from Archie comics seems fun, but I’ve never read the comics.

15. What’s your ideal friendship?

I don’t have any specifics in mind. As long as we get each other and can communicate, there’s a lot of ways I have friendships with people!

16. Did you have a good discount chocolate day? (the day after Valentine’s Day)

I did not partake because I only go to stores when I really need to right now, and I didn’t really need anything that day. 

17. What are some issues you have faced from being aro-spec? (if you’re comfortable answering)

I have trouble understanding romantic relationships a lot of the time, and the rules relating to them. I don’t understand why people decide to stay in relationships where they’re not happy or fight a lot (this is not about abusive relationships, just ones that don’t seem to be working) so I have had a lot of trouble trying to help out friends who are having problems related to that. 

It’s also been very frustrating when I was actively looking for a relationship on apps, because it seems clear that most people are able to determine whether or not they would be open to dating somebody very quickly in a way that I can’t. I honestly wish that I wasn’t a-spec, but I don’t dwell on it and I’m not ashamed to be the way I am.

18. What are some positive experiences you have had from being aro-spec?

I like the online community I’ve found! I love that I’ve been exposed to so many different lifestyles and kinds of relationships that I likely wouldn’t have known about if I didn’t engage with the a-spec community. I’m glad that I never went through a phase of being super preoccupied with dating when I was a teen. There’s a lot of problems and drama that comes along with romantic relationships that I’ve been able to avoid as well lol.

Questions Source: @swords-and-aros

[mwolf0epsilon]

((As kids)) the polks let Sammy live with them after being abandoned by his parents. At first he’s rude to them but then he gets straighten out. Maybe he helps around there farm/ work?

Reworked a few things here to fit the prompt considering Samuel Sr. wasn't the best person or parent, but he he wouldn't just abandon his child, and the fact my Norman is 20 years older than Sammy in the canon compliant verse.

Summary: Sammy was a weird kid. Norman thought he must have been a major brat to get thrown out, and the blond spitfire never tried to disprove it. Then he got wiser.

---

Everyone in their area knew the Polks. They were a quaint little family that owned an equally quaint little farm out near New Orleans. Nothing too fancy, just a few sugar cane plantations, and a bit of cotton on the side. Enough to get food on the table, pay for studies, and even support a few hobbies . It was a comfy lifestyle for a tight-knit family.

Those who were aware of the Polks also knew what they tended to do when not tending to their crops.

Despite a few shady (and sadly true) rumours about dear old Poppop Polk, the military background of a few of the Polk men, and the sheer physically intimidating bulk that they often grew into (even the women) due to years of hard work, the only hardened part of them were the muscles. In truth the Polks were the kindest most soft-hearted folk in Louisiana. As such they were suckers for a sad tale, second chances and what not. This tended to lead into them bringging in strays...

The most recent, much to a young Norman's displeasure, being a bit of a sour crumb.

Sammy Lawrence was this pale tiny boy with a shock of curly blond hair and eyes that weren't a color Norman couldn't quite name. Something in between a soft brown and a flicker of green.

He was a skinny sort, no more intimidating than a little fuzzy newborn chick, with knees marked by bruises and scratches (from climbing trees and skinning his knees on gravel) and unevenly cut nails that looked like they'd been bitten until they were short (a nervous tick).

But, most notably, the kid was a snake. One with venom in his eyes, and words that bit into flesh like a snapping turtle out for the kill.

Now Norman's mama always told him never to judge a book by its cover, but surely the saying couldn't apply if he judged the contents, right?

The kid was just... Mean-spirited...

Yelled, had tantrums like the devil himself made him whacky, and honestly watching his mama fret over him and try to make him more comfortable staying at the farm was like watching a trip for biscuits. Completely pointless.

Sammy was a weird kid. And Norman thought he must have been a major brat (because obviously he was) to get thrown out by his parents.

To his credit the blond spitfire never tried to disprove it or give any logical reason to be there. Instead he resorted to verbally attacking him and his older siblings at every chance he got.

Norman didn't much care for those wordy insults of his. The kid thought he was smarter than him, so fine let him believe that. But the moment he told his sister she looked like a little ugly ape, Norman's composure snapped like a twig.

"Yous thinks yous plenty rugged uh? Spoutin' all them nonsense fancy words like ta rest o' us don't get what yous sayin'?" He'd spat out twice as venomously, with a hint of fury over little Jolene's tears cutting his heart deep. "What sorta wet sock goes 'round throwin' crust at little girls?!"

"None of your business you slobbering cyclops!" The little shit had his fists balled like he thought he could take on someone who brawled with two much larger siblings. He may not be able to beat Franny and Carol in a fight but damn, Phineas couldn't tear them off him either and he was 16!

At 12 Norman wasn't stocky but he put up a fight. This 10 year old egg would go down easily. "She started it!

"She's 5! I bet this why you ended up here. So dang mean not even your parents could love yous!"

"Nomie!" Jolene protested, but the damage was done.

The little blond stared wide eyed with his mouth hanging open, before his face went red with rage. Like the devil possessed him.

Shrieking loudly the brat lunged and both he and Norman went rolling downhill into the creak.

On Jolene's account, both of them were in trouble for saying and doing bad things (his one regret was not biting the kid harder when he tried to go for his neck). She also got a light spanking for something she'd said.

Much to Norman's embarrassment, matters parteining his behavior were taken up to his Great Nanna. And boy did she look angry...

"Bárbara told me yous went and said some evil things to that poor boy." The burn of her gaze made his cheeks hot with shame. But also a little bit of resentment.

"Not like he a saint Nanna! He called Jolene a monkey, she was just playin'!"

"She also insulted him to his face, cuzz you boys drilled it into her head that it's fine ta go around making fun o' people you don't know as long as you ain't caught doin' so." Nanna pointed out. "Now why'd ya go an' tell him what yous did?"

"Ain't it obvious? Kids out here for SOME reason... And his attitude sure makes it seem like he gots thrown out with the rest o' the trash."

"NORMAN ELIAS POLK!"

Norman yelped in fright as his great grandmother pointed her long crooked finger at him and began laying down the law. You did NOT piss off Nanna.

"You do NOT get to say such evil things in this household! You don't know nothin' 'bout why that poor boy is out here, and goin' bout saying such booshwash will get your hide tanner than a leather belt!" She spat as she went, her toothless sneer a great sign of her displeasure. "That boy just 'bout went and lost his poor mother, and his father is in hospital sick as a dog, so you best go out and 'pologize to that frightened child before I get half a mind to drag you there by the ear and spank your butt in front o' the whole family 'til the only words comin' out that crude mouth a'yours are words a regret!"

"Y-yes Nanna!"

"Go on then! Git!" She pushed him out the door. "Apologize!"

His Nanna was crazy scary when she wanted to be. Her promises were also always kept.

He shakily apologized as soon as he caught sight of Sammy, and he must have well and truly looked shaken up because the kid took it without so much as putting up a fuss.

At dinner things simmered down, and the little blond didn't put up a fight about staying or eating "slop" like he'd his memaw's cooking before.

According to Phineas, their pops had sat the kid down and layed it out just as hard as Nanna had done to Norman.

Either behave or risk getting sent somewhere less friendly. His pops also called in for extra drills the next morning, as punishment for their bad influence on Jolene. Sammy would participate, as his father thought such exercise routines were good for later on in life.

You never know.

Through following the same routine as everyone else, Sammy seemed to overall mellow out. He was less aggressive towards everyone else, actually did a decent job, wasn't too bothered about the farm work (apparently his dad owned a cattle ranch), and he actually started playing with the other kids as well. It took time for him to get comfortable, but heck if he wasn't fun to brawl with! Least now Norman had a chance to win!

Sammy Lawrence's stay wasn't a long one though. A month and a half.

As soon as Mr. Lawrence got out of the hospital he'd practically floored it all the way down to their farm to get his boy as far away from the black folk (no wonder the kid was such a ball of bad manners, his old man was one of THOSE people) as quickly as possible.

Must of thought they'd tainted the kid or something...

No skin off Norman's nose. He may have been in the wrong about why Sammy lashed out the way he did, or about the kid being a crumb, but that didn't stop the little shit from being a weirdo.

Hopefully he'd grow out of the superiority complex.

[flesymetahiq]

Elinor (My Apprentice OC)

pls don’t say Bonjour to me ,-,

However, I hope I did nothing bad if I say that my OC  is the apprentice , I only step back a little from the canon(?) I’m sorry ..Just questions are very suitable,_, I'll probably skip some questions >~<Next time I will use this template on real OС, I hope you do not get mad at me

I think the same way to arrange Ask with her, maybe this will also help me develop her as a character.

Finally,after the hundredth attempt to draw my apprentice, since I represent her,I succeeded, now I’m going to the second round of hell - information about her. Honestly, this is a whole hurricane of thoughts in my head,and soon I’ll lose my mind, seriously ,_, 

Although what I’m talking about, in my head a mess reigns, reigned and will always reign(yaaaaaaiii)

By the way, so that some have visual representations about Elinor (Yes, maybe I will use different versions of her name( Eleanor, Elenore, Eleonora, Eleonore, Elinor, Elinore, Ellinore, Elynor, etc. XD, not a canon)

So as not to go crazy, I’ll just answer the questions posed by @apprenticealec (thank you very much QwQ)I will also add my items. Just really liked the questions, sorry again!

Let’s begin! 

1. What is their occupation in the Arcana World?

In the Arcana world, Elinor’s occupation is to develop her magical skills. In addition, she’s very interested in legends and various nationalities, languages and cultures, for the most part, because in this way she hopes to stumble on something,that will lead to memories of her past.She strives to learn all that is possible.Therefore, when Elinor gets into the palace library, she’s simply cannot be pulled out of there.

Closely related item: Dreams and Desires

Elinor often sees homeless and hungry people, sometimes even very talented, but who do not have anything to somehow light up in society or develop further. Therefore, its goal is to solve this problem as soon as possible. She dreams of creating an  academy where children from various sectors of society can study, as well as a charity in favor of those in need.

2. Where are they from?

In fact, Elinor came from a fairly kingdom called Augusay.The power of the kingdom lay, naturally, in the presence of its strong warriors and magicians, who came from some ancient clans, each such clan differed in magical priorities. For example, once on the territory of the kingdom, there was a clan of magicians named Haiko, magicians in this clan were distinguished by both white and black magic. There are legends that once a powerful warrior Haiko Ken was able to defeat a nine-tailed fox - a demon who penetrated into a world in which harmony and good reigned. However, demon's killer cannot remain an ordinary mortal. Ken was cursed, devil left his mark on him, since then demonic blood flowed in warrior’s veins, and sometimes Ken turned into a monster, which he seemed to have killed. Fortunately, Ken met a beautiful sorceress who helped him control the curse. They had children who transmitted both magic from their mother and the demonic curse from their father, thus forming the Haiko clan, a clan in which reigned balance between demonic power and white magic.From such a clan came the mother of Elinor - Aurora,who was the queen of  Augusay. At the moment, any mention of the kingdom and its memory were mysteriously destroyed, as if it had never been.

3. Do they have any family members? 

Haiko Akane (Elinor’s mother - Queen of Augusay )  - died by demon Lilith when Elinor was 3 years old

Haiko Fuji  (Elinor’s grandfather - And also the most strict teacher, whom Elinor hated and loved at the same time  when she was child/teenager. Come on he hit her  head with his huge damn stick when she was doing something wrong, a terrible old man.) - Oh yes, baby he saw dinosaurs, what are you talking about? (Joke.Yes, he is alive).

Carlisle Victor  (Elinor’s father - King of Augusay) - died protecting the Augusay from the (army of demons) army of the Lilith  (this is a long story).

Carlisle Anastasia (the illegitimate sister of Victor -  Elinor’s aunt) - died of heart failure.

4. Where were they during the plague in Vesuvia?

Even before the plague appeared in Vesuvia, Elinor received a letter from her aunt Anastasia (who owned the magic shop), since Asra and Eleanor managed the shop, Elinor’s aunt  lived on the territory of Venterre. In a letter, Anastasia wrote that her health was deteriorating due to severe heart disease, and she would like her niece to visit her. So Elinor spent enough time with her aunt, trying to maintain her condition and always be there so that aunt Anastasia would not be lonely. Before her death, Anastasia, who cared for Ellinore after her 18th birthday (since her memory was completely lost, like all the information and the kingdom of  Augusay itself) and claimed that the girl’s parents were middle nobles , who were killed by robbers, wanted to admit that everything was wrong, she hid the girl’s past for her own safety.Perhaps Anastasia had not time or simply didn’t gain strength, but still could not tell Elinor the truth. So aunt only left her property, highlighting a large mysterious box that she had been hiding from her niece all this time.Elinor felt that something was wrong, but she did not have time to figure out how she found out that a plague epidemic had begun in Vesuvia. Naturally, she went there, because she was extremely concerned about the lives of people and friends she knew.

5. Where are they during the main Masquerade? Were they invited royals or just townsfolk who decided to stop in when Nadia opened it to everyone?

Aunt Elinor was known in the narrow circles of high society, despite the fact that she led an extremely unusual way of life for her status.Therefore, Elinor was invited  royals to a masquerade. To say that she did something special during the masquerade, no. She was unusual to even be in such a crowd of people, she just wanted to distract herself from everything that had happened earlier, being at that time with Asra and Nadia, who were close enough friends for her.

10. What’s their idea of a perfect day?

Oh yahhhhhhh,in fact, everything is simple, the perfect day for Elinor This is the day when all her friends are nearby, happy, they are having fun as anyone can, well, actually this is all that is needed for happiness and the perfect day for Elinor (almost).

12. What’s one of their favorite memories?

This memory is extremely muddy, with every attempt to penetrate into it, Elinor almost faints. She remembers .. someone’s gentle warm voice, soothing, she remembers that someone sang a gentle cradle, as well as vague features of a woman’s face.

13. What’s one of their least favorite memories?

The moment in the dungeon with Lucio, at that moment she really was very worried and did not know what to do, although she tried not to show it so as not to make Lucio worry or blame himself if she had to sacrifice herself.

14. If they’ve interacted with (insert one of the Main 6 here) what is their opinion of them? If they haven’t interacted, what would their first impressions be?

(If I said anything above that I'm talking about ... oh, it's hard, just imagine that I crossed the MС, or rather an  Apprentice  with OС ?? :0)

 Asra -  Master? Master! Master!Maaaster! (agm, I’m sorry).  Asra, in secret, her top friend. However, it is worth noting that he is also an authority and an important object for respect for Elinor, for the most part she treat him as an older brother or really as a teacher, although he most likely will not be happy about it.Everything is somehow complicated, he the best friend to whom she trusts even her own life and the at the same time hi’s a teacher to whom she tries too much respect. Like all her friends, Ellie wishes Asra only the very best. Not to say that she is an angel who cannot be offended or angry at anyone, since she really often was offended when Asra went away for a certain time without saying where and for how much, which made her very worried and worried.

Julian - Dear Mr. Ilya, say something bad about yourself and I will crush you with.. MY RASEN... I’m not serious person..Not to say that Elinor was shocked to find out that Julian Devorak was not at all connected with the murder of Lucio, despite his first EPIC appearance in her shop, which scared Elinor so much that she almost fainted and almost every time she met him didn't squeal ..It is not strange that even in the worm Eleanor will find something beautiful, Ilya is far from being a worm, he is a wonderful person who should not think of himself as any kind of monster or garbage, she rather found in him an unfortunate person who lost himself, who is exactly help is needed..

 Portia  - One Portia's smile and Eleanor’s day made. In her eyes, Portia is a wonderful, strong, cute, cheerful person, while they walked to the castle to Nadia, Elinor asked her a bunch of questions, even the most stupid ones, just to at least listen to her giggle or joke while answering them.When she met Ilya with tears in her eyes, believe me, Elinor inside was already dead, her brain simply could not digest the fact that bitter tears were rolling on the face of this beautiful cutie.In general, Elinor is very happy for Ilya, because she would like to have a sister like Portia. Although, all her friends are her family, which she loves and tries to show care and attention.

Nadia - For Elinor Nadia, authority is no less than Asra and not because of her social status. Elinor sees a patient, strong, kind and wise person in Nadia, to which she cannot but respect. Even the movement of the Nadia’s hands makes Elinor delight, well, this countess is too beautiful...Eleanor is very pleased to discuss with Nadia any important topics related to life, philosophy, art, she is always interested in the Nadia’s opinion. For example, when they argue about something, is it not a gross argument, even rather a reasoning? Oh my God, how she seeks to hear Nadia’s arguments, sometimes her  thoughts can sit in Elinor’s mind for the whole day, night, week, month, she will return to this conversation 200 more times, only with other thoughts.

 Lucio - please give him a chance ..She likes him the most, but ... what kind of sympathy I'm talking about, Elinor is deeply in love with him.Despite everything, the fact that he is a complete moron, selfish in the opinion of others, in her eyes  he is the one who also needs help and support. In general, Elinor does not believe in bad people, for her there are people who make mistakes unknowingly, Lucio is one of those. Her opinion only gained a foothold after she began to pay attention to  Lucio, and the more he changed, the more she loved him.She was very touched when he showed his concern, or at least somehow regretted his actions, she believes him, believes that he will never repeat his mistakes ..At the moment they have a very warm relationship, Eleanor really hopes that her other friends will also be able to change their mind about this goat man,and Lucio himself will become more loyal to others.

Muriel  -  This man deserves the best of this life, his appearance says absolutely nothing about him, so when he saw Elinor was not at all afraid. He is a gentle, kind person, and no matter how he pushes her away from him, no matter how she is annoying, she does not lag, she will do everything to make him feel freer, so that other people also see Muriel as a sweet, good-natured person.

15. Share a song that describes them or just fits their “vibes.”

                                         Nandemonaiya

ROMAJI:

Futari no aida toorisugita kaze wa

Doko kara sabishisa wo hakonde kita no

Naitari shita sono ato no sora wa

Yake ni sukitootteitari shitanda

Itsumo wa togatteta chichi no kotoba ga Kyou wa atatakaku kanjimashita Yasashisa mo egao mo yume no katarikata mo Shiranakute zenbu kimi wo maneta yo

Mou sukoshi dake de ii Ato sukoshi dake de ii Mou sukodhi dake de ii kara Mou sukoshi dake de ii Ato sukoshi dake de ii Mou sukoshi dake kuttsuite iyou ka

Bokura TAIMU FURAIYAA toki wo kakeagaru KURAIMAA Toki no kakurenbo hagurekko wa mou iya nanda Ureshikute naku no wa kanashikute warau no wa Kimi no kokoro ga kimi wo oikoshitanda yo

Hoshi ni made negatte te ni ireta omocha mo Heya no sumikko ni ima korogatteru Kanaetai yume mo kyou de hyakko dekita yo Tatta hitotsu to itsuka koukan koshiyou

Itsumo wa shaberanai ano ko ni kyou wa Houkago «mata ashita» to koe wo kaketa Narenai koto mo tama ni nara ii ne Toku ni anata ga tonari ni itara

Mou sukoshi dake de ii Ato sukoshi dake de ii Mou sukodhi dake de ii kara Mou sukoshi dake de ii Ato sukoshi dake de ii Mou sukoshi dake kuttsuite iyou yo

Bokura TAIMU FURAIYAA kimi wo shitteitanda Boku ga boku no namae wo oboeru yori zutto mae ni

Kimi no inai sekai ni mo nanika no imi wa kitto atte Demo kimi no inai sekai nado natsuyasumi no nai hachigatsu no you Kimi no inai sekai nado warau koto nai SANTA no you Kimi no inai sekai nado

Bokura TAIMU FURAIYAA toki wo kakeagaru KURAIMAA Toki no kakurenbo hagurekko wa mou iya nanda Nande mo nai ya yappari nande mo nai ya Ima kara iku yo

Bokura TAIMU FURAIYAA toki wo kakeagaru KURAIMAA Toki no kakurenbo hagurekko wa mou ii yo Kimi wa hade na KURAIYAA sono namida tomete mitai na Dakedo kimi wa kobanda koboreru mama no namida wo mite wakatta Ureshikute naku no wa kanashikute warau no wa Boku no kokoro ga boku wo oikoshitanda yo

ENGLISH VERSION:

The sorrowful gust of wind that blew right between you and me Where did it find the loneliness it carried on the breeze? Looking up at the sky after shedding a stream of tears I could see for miles of blue, it's never been so clear Speeches that my father gave me would always make me despair Somehow, I feel a warmth and comfort today Your ever kind heart, the way you smile, and even how you find your dreams I knew nothing, so honestly, I've always copied you Now, just a little more Only just a little more Let's stay here a little longer now Now, just a little more Only just a little more Let's stick together just a little bit longer Oh yes, we are time fliers Scaling the walls of time, climber Tired of playing hide and seek with time and always coming just short Crying even when you're happy Smiling even when you're feeling lonely It's because a part of you Has made it here before the rest has I used to wish upon the stars, the toys that I once adored Forgotten now, are rolling 'round the corners of the floor Finally, my dreams have counted up to a hundred today Someday, I'll trade them all for just the very one Girl that I have seen in school, that never have told "hello" After class today, I waved and said, “See you tomorrow” It's not really that bad trying something new every once in a while Especially if I can do it with you by my side

Now, just a little more Only just a little more Let's stay here a little longer now Now, just a little more Only just a little more Let's stick together just a little bit longer Oh yes, we are time fliers, so, and I I knew who you were way before... Way before I even knew my own name There's no clue, but I'm sure, I swear Even if you're not around in this wide world Of course it surely would have some kind of meaning But if when you're not around in this crazy world Would be like the month of August without summer break And if you're not around in this great world Would be like Santa Claus without any glee If you're not around in this wide world Oh yes, we are time fliers Scaling the walls of time, climber Tired of playing hide and seek with time and always coming just short No, never mind that No, never mind what I said now 'Cause I'm on my way to you Oh, we are time fliers Dashing up the steps of time now No more playing hide and seek with you and time And always coming just short You're quite a showy crier Want to stop your tears, see your eyes drier But when I went to wipe your tears dry You refused but I saw them pouring down your face, I knew why Crying even when I'm happy Smiling even when I'm feeling lonely It's because the heart of mine Has made it here before my body

This song, oh yes, the song not only describes Elinor and her feelings, but it seems to me that this is exactly her voice I imagine.. ( Mone Kamishiraishi <3)

16. What do people assume about them at first glance?

In general, it’s hard for me to answer. Perhaps many people will perceive Elinor as the most ordinary girl, although it all depends on the situation and the person. For some, it may seem very creepy and mysterious. So that..

17. What’s something (personality aspects, body type, hobbies, etc.) that they find attractive in others?

Generosity, tolerance, understanding, loyalty, kindness, good sense of humor.

She doesn’t care about  appearance, including body type.

As for the hobby. Hmm, most likely hobbies related to art, playing musical instruments, drawing, poetry and literature.Well, of course, magic-related hobbies

18. Do they have any hobbies?

Sure! Some have already been listed. Elinor　also loves to cook, play keyboard musical instruments and sing.

19. Who’s someone that they just can’t stand? (One of the Main 6, another OC, etc.)

Another OC - Hushiba Madara >:0  (Her childhood friend with whom she competed. He often ran into her and did not even think when he said really offensive things in her direction. True, at the moment, Ellie does not remember about Madara absolutely nothing. I’ll actually make an answers about him, because he’s  totally an OC)

Another OC -  Demon Lilith 

[idealisticrealism]

Hello! I hope you are doing fine. So I read the new chapters of Into Flames and ... oh boy, oh boy... I'm not gonna lie, when I read chapter 3 my first reaction was similar to the one Remi half-expected from Weller: a psychopath creeping into the house where Sawyer was sleeping with a knife. And, I am not gonna lie again, I was a bit puzzled about Kurt's reaction in chapter 4. His sister and her son were sleeping in that house. And Remi just decided to go there and threaten his father after (1)

Oh, ReviewerAnon. I freakin love getting to hear your thoughts on this story. And funnily enough, I literally thought of you the very day before you sent these Asks, wondering if you were still reading along, and I was so excited to see the notifications show up less than 24hrs later. Given the length of your messages-- not to mention the undoubtedly very long responses I will be giving to your questions/comments about IF-- I’m going to put the rest under a Read More so people don’t have to scroll past a huge block of text. But to any of my followers that are reading IF, feel free to read this and even add any thoughts you might have, bc there might be some interesting (and spoiler-free) things for you to discover if you want to look below the cut :)

So I read the new chapters of Into Flames and ... oh boy, oh boy... I'm not gonna lie, when I read chapter 3 my first reaction was similar to the one Remi half-expected from Weller: a psychopath creeping into the house where Sawyer was sleeping with a knife. And, I am not gonna lie again, I was a bit puzzled about Kurt's reaction in chapter 4. His sister and her son were sleeping in that house. And Remi just decided to go there and threaten his father after a two sentence discussion with Weller. Determined to get an answer Weller hadn't gotten, in a way he never dared to. It made me uncomfortable. So I gave it a couple of weeks and thought about it. And in some way it made sense. Because she loves him and she realized that he could never be a whole person again until he got an answer that would allow him to put the past behind him. And he would never get an answer because he could never put a knife in that man's throat and demand it. And the past and that man would continue to hunt him. The same past and man that had pushed him to almost take his own life. So she does what he can't do and he accepts it because he understands it comes from a place of love and more importantly because he feels it in his bones that he would never have an answer in any other way. Or at least that's how I saw it. 

Oh man. I have so much to say about this and I hope it’s going to make sense. Firstly, my immediate response to you not liking Remi’s actions was “Nooooooooo” because I’m always sad when someone doesn’t enjoy something in my writing. But I’m so delighted that you actually gave it the benefit of the doubt and thought about it from different angles rather than just dismissing it as a poor writing choice, and honestly the conclusion you came to is pretty much exactly what I was going for! But to say a bit more about it, because I can’t help myself lol: firstly, though we haven’t had much opportunity to see it in either fic, Remi is fiercely protective of kids (even while having very little idea of how to interact with them), given her history with the orphanage and Shepherd’s parenting etc. Literally from the moment she heard his story about Taylor in the cave, she knew that she would have gotten the truth out of Bill by any means necessary if she had been in Weller’s shoes, and would also have made Bill pay dearly for it. When she discovers at the safehouse that Bill is practically within reach, there is no question for her that she has to do this for Weller. Not only does she love him and want him to have closure, but she feels that she owes it to him to do what he can’t-- to her, Weller saved her, showed her that she wasn’t just the irredeemable monster that Shepherd had created; but she also knows that her darker side is exactly what is needed for this, because only someone who was a little bit monstrous could do what was necessary to get the truth from someone like Bill. By doing it herself, she ensures Weller will get the answer he so desperately wants and needs, all without ever tainting his soul or his conscience. Did a part of her also almost hope (even as the thought terrified her) that doing this terrible thing would make him turn his back on her once he learned of it? Honestly, I think so, even if just a little bit. Because yes, she loves him, but she is still half-convinced that she is the very thing he needs protecting from, not to mention that she is insecure as hell, and if he left her now because of this, that would be easier to bear than him leaving her later bc he just ‘lost interest’ or fell for someone else or whatever.  

As for Weller’s reaction-- despite their grim nature, he sees her actions for the gift of love that they are, sees her taking the burden of doing ‘evil’ onto her own shoulders in order to both heal his old wounds and prevent him gaining new ones. And honestly, when he learns of it, I don’t think her going into the apartment with Sarah and Sawyer gives him even a moment’s concern-- firstly, he knows she would have used as little force as possible with Bill, because he knows her and knows that she’s not needlessly cruel, and also that she cares what he thinks of her, so there would have been no doubt in his mind hat she would have been very restrained in her approach. He knows, too, that with her level of skill, Sarah and Sawyer were bound to never even know she was there. And if by some unlucky chance they did discover her, it would probably all be fine-- Sarah knows and trusts her and so would listen to what she had to say, and Sawyer was little enough that he would believe pretty much anything that this gentle and pretty lady said, especially if his mom was also awake to say she was Uncle Kurt’s girlfriend. (Btw let’s not forget Bill would be rendered unconscious the moment he made a peep, so it’s not like either of them would walk in on him squealing like a stuck pig with her standing over him covered in blood and holding a knife). 

But aaaanyway TL/DR; Remi Briggs would do anything to protect Kurt Weller from literally any form of harm, regardless of the cost to herself, and Weller recognises this and would never turn on her for doing so, even if she did it in a way that others might condemn. He just accepts her and finds his own ways to protect her in return, because that’s what you do for the people you love.

A question here: why do you think he never threatened his father for an answer when he was sure about what he had done? Why didn't he put a gun to his head? He must have thought about it. Perhaps, when it came to that man Weller would always feel like a 10-year old boy with no power over his paternal figure? Helpless and hopeless? 

Oooh boy, time for a fun fact: my first idea for Weller’s ‘dark secret’ wasn’t that he tried to kill himself. It was actually much like what you said; sometime when he had grown into a tall, broad-shouldered teenager who almost physically rivalled his father for size and was no longer paralysed by his fear of him, he was going to finally snap, attack his father and threaten him with a gun to get him to tell him the truth about Taylor. Then, either he would have the sudden realization that he had also become a violent monster just like his father and immediately back off, or Sarah would unexpectedly appear and interrupt the confrontation, following which Weller would run off and enlist and basically banish himself to the other side of the world in shame/to protect her and others from himself. When I thought about it, though, I decided that him actually going through with something like that didn’t really fit with the image of Weller I had in my head (even a traumatised and angsty and hormonal teenaged Weller) so I changed the plot to have him nearly kill himself instead. The subtext of that moment, which I never actually explicitly wrote but was definitely there in my mind, was that the reason he nearly killed himself and then later ran away to the Army was because he wanted to kill his father, wanted to attack him just like I described above, and was so horrified by that urge-- and by the belief that it meant that he truly was his father’s son, just another violent monster like Bill-- that he ran as far and fast as he could and then focused his entire life around helping people (as much as one can while in the Army... though that’s a political debate for another time), trying to stamp out or at least outrun that part of himself. Obviously that’s a level of complexity that you guys never really received bc I never actually told you-- but actually as I write this, I actually now know exactly where and when I will include it in the future. So I guess you did just get a teeny spoiler there haha :P

Anyway... Chapter 5 was AMAZING. I love how much she loves Weller and I'm so glad that she just went ahead and said it. I love that it is important to her that he knows that she feels the same. What a difference a few weeks, a good man, and the generous love of that man can make to a broken person... Remi has come a long way. I also LOVED the interaction between Emma and Remi but I kind of also wanted a glimpse of Remi's thoughts on the necklace and what Emma's gesture meant to her. 

“What a difference a few weeks, a good man, and the generous love of that man can make to a broken person”-- Yes!! You have literally captured the entire theme of FTA and IF. I started writing FTA purely because I wondered what kind of person Remi would have become if she’d met Weller earlier. The assassination attempt by Orion was a turning point in her life, one that (in canon) drove her back to Shepherd and to the ‘dark side’. But if it had led her to Weller instead, and to the side of good... what else would change, not only for her, but for all of them? Exploring that in IF has been awesome, partly because I get to right a lot of wrongs, but also because I get to take two traumatised people who have suffered a lot in their lives and let them start to heal together, and just be happy and stupidly in love?? The whole thing is pure bliss, both for them and for me lol

Also I get what you mean about wanting to know Remi’s reaction to Emma and the necklace, given that we never got to really see it bc that scene was all from Weller’s POV. I will do my best to address it someday, and I think I even have an idea of where it could happen....

The tattoos in chapter 6 were indeed EXTRA but they are drunk in love so go ahead with all the grand dramatic gestures... 

Dude, you have no idea how hard I fought with myself on that one. The sensible side was all “Laura, no, it’s so lame and over-the-top! Don’t do it! Everyone will roll their eyes and be unable to take you seriously ever again!” while the fluff-loving little fangirl in me just repeatedly cried “But I wanna!!” Which was clearly enough argument to convince me, given the sappy romantic that I am lol. (A decision that was helped along by a little encouragement from the ever-awesome @chibinoyume). And as it turns out, people seemed to enjoy the whole tattoo thing, thankfully! I think the fact that these two are clearly very much in the ‘Honeymoon Phase’ helped out there, as did the fact that the tattoos could technically be viewed as a reminder of their journey/survival rather than just specifically of each other. But man, I wish I could have gotten to write Remi’s indecision as she paced around the spare bedroom for a couple of hours trying to decide whether to tattoo herself or not lol. Because (much like my own little internal debate haha) she wanted to do it, but felt that she shouldn’t want to do it, and was also nervous about the reaction if she did. But anyway, I may very well end up writing a oneshot of that moment someday. We’ll see.

Chapter 7 was so much fun! Thank god for shared bathrooms and extra doors and kudos to Remi for claiming what obviously belongs to her. She loves him and he loves her and good for them for not holding anything back. Life is too short and they wasted a lot of years already without love in their life. 

I agree completely!! These two have both lived so much of their lives in emotional isolation-- I mean, yes, Weller had Sarah and Sawyer and Emma, but like I said earlier, he had deliberately kept his distance out of fear and shame, and then by the time he started to realise that he wasn’t his father, he was so used to being far away that I think it just made sense to stay that way. So when he and Remi found each other and experienced that deep sense of connection for the first time, they might have shied away from it at first, but once they accepted it, no one was ever going to be able to make them let go. They are each others’ person, and always will be, even if they both get afflicted by insecurity at times! 

Also hell yes about the shared bathrooms!!! I know I could have written it that way regardless, bc I’m the author and I can do what I want, but having reality actually back me up on it was amazing lol. I’m pretty sure you asked several weeks ago what the bedroom/roommate situation was like at Quantico and I couldn’t tell you back then, so I’m glad I finally got to share the answer with you haha!

And although I am sure other readers are ready for team bonding and first friendships (at least for Remi), I am here for Mayfair. Mayfair is an absolute queen and has shown more caring and love for these two than their parental figures ever did. I am now gonna go ahead and selfishly say what I would like to see: I'm here for both of them (together and separately) having a heart-to-heart with Mayfair. I'm here for Remi sincerely saying how much she appreciates everything Mayfair has done for them, although she owed her nothing. I'm honestly here for them to send Mayfair flowers and chocolates and maybe a new scarf. I want grand gestures! One of the greatest failures of the show, in my opinion, was the lack of healthy relationships between people of different generations. It's pathetic that almost every person over 40 turned out to be a villain and every single parental figure (except Emma who we saw for like 2 seconds and Bill Nye) failed miserably their children (I am not even going to talk about killing Mayfair). Our relationships are not just with people of our age, our friends or siblings. We have important relationships with our parents, our aunts, our older colleagues or friends and we often turn to them for love and advice and encouragement and maybe to get yelled at for doing stupid things. Why on earth could we not have that on Blindspot? The team is great and everything but Mayfair's relationship with Weller was amazing (and I guess her relationship with Patterson and the others, if they cared to elaborate on time and not after death). So please please more Mayfair in the story... (They will have weekends off at some point, right? And they will need protection. A safehouse, right? I am sure Mayfair can have a beachhouse or a lakehouse or a house on the top of a mountain where they can go spend the weekend safely because Mayfair is the head of the NYO and she has to have extra security, right? I will pay money for a Remi-Mayfair talk about her relationship with Weller and how it has changed her but also confiding to her about what kind of future she sees with Weller after Orion is defeated.) 

This is a really interesting point, and I honestly hadn’t noticed until now just how many of the older characters turned out to be absolutely awful, or if they weren’t, got quickly killed off. I will forever be bitter about Mayfair’s end (I held onto denial about her death for so damn long, sigh) and that was one of the things I wanted to rectify in this story. Mayfair is an amazing part of the team and an incredible character in her own right. Though with that said, I honestly hadn’t planned for her to be in the Quantico-based chapters much at all, purely bc she’s a busy lady and NYC is several hours away, but after getting your asks I had an idea for a very Mayfair-focused chapter and I think you’re going to enjoy it a lot. Well, I hope so, anyway!

Finally, with the way these two are behaving I'm half expecting a marriage proposal and a yes before the question gets fully asked and I will be like "I mean yeah... it makes total sense after 6 weeks together..." 

Hahahaha I love that you would be on board with a Reller engagement already! I get what you mean; they’ve been A Lot lately, especially bc of all the uncertainty of their changing situation, but I think once they settle into Quantico life they’ll tone it down a notch lol. Plus, it definitely is still early days, and there’s a lot that these guys have to figure out before they could get to that point! I can neither confirm nor deny that a proposal will happen by the end of the fic (mostly because I legitimately don’t know yet lol-- I have about 20 chapters to write before we even get near to the end, so I’ve got lots of other things to be focusing on for now haha). But with that said, if I do include one, I hope it’ll be done in such a way that it makes you go “Yes. This is right. This is exactly how it should be.” And if I don’t include one, I promise I’ll make it very clear that they’re committed to each other regardless ;)

My friend, you are crazy talented. Insanely talented. And I can tell how much you enjoy writing this story. So kudos to you and here's to many more chapters of Remi and Weller (and Mayfair...) This message is waaaay too long but I wanted to write for a few weeks now and finally I had some time to write down my thoughts. I hope this is okay. Stay healthy and safe! ReviewerAnon

Oh man. Honestly, the fact that you have so many thoughts and feelings about this story is one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received (although you saying I’m insanely talented is definitely another huge one!!!). Thank you so much for taking the time not only to read my work, but to think about it, to analyse what you feel about it and why, and for coming here to tell me your findings! You’re right, I do absolutely love writing this story and inhabiting this world with these characters, just as I love sharing that world with you guys! I truly hope that you continue to enjoy the journey, and that you will feel comfortable to continue sharing your thoughts about it. And of course, I hope that you are happy and well in whatever corner of the world you inhabit, just as I am in mine! 

Until next time x

[lins-fandom-hub]

HPHM Profile: Clara Lin

Template by @hogwartsmystory​

Identity

Name: Clara Xing-Hui Lin (林星慧）

Gender: Female

Age: 17 as of May 31, 1990

Birth Date: April 25, 1973

Species: Human

Blood Status: (Pureblood, Half-Blood, Muggleborn)

Half-Blood? Both her parents are Muggleborn and were chosen by magical institutions to study magic.

Sexuality: Heterosexual.

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Ethnicity: Chinese

Nationality: English? She’s born in England after all.

Residence: Oxford, England

Myer Briggs Personality Type: ESTJ

The Mage

1st Wand: Acacia wood with Unicorn Hair, 12 inches, pliable

A very unusual wand wood, which I have found creates tricky wands that often refuse to produce magic for any but their owner, and also withhold their best effects from all but those most gifted. This sensitivity renders them difficult to place, and I keep only a small stock for those witches or wizards of sufficient subtlety, for acacia is not suited to what is commonly known as ‘bangs-and-smells’ magic. When well-matched, an acacia wand matches any for power, though it is often underrated due to the peculiarity of its temperament.

2nd Wand: Ebony wood with Dragon Heartstring, 11 and a quarter inches

This jet-black wand wood has an impressive appearance and reputation, being highly suited to all manner of combative magic, and to Transfiguration. Ebony is happiest in the hand of those with the courage to be themselves. Frequently non-conformist, highly individual or comfortable with the status of outsider, ebony wand owners have been found both among the ranks of the Order of the Phoenix and among the Death Eaters. In my experience the ebony wand’s perfect match is one who will hold fast to his or her beliefs, no matter what the external pressure, and will not be swayed lightly from their purpose.

Animagus: Chinese Li Hua (a type of tabby cat found in China)

Misc Magical Abilities: (Legilimen, Seer, Parselmouth, Obscurial, ect)

In the canon story, Clara is a born Legilimens, first practising the art with a wand and under Snape’s tutelage before perfecting the art on her own time without the pressure of the final Curse on Hogwarts and without a wand. It made reading the minds of her family much easier, especially when it came to how they felt about Jacob’s return and the downfall of the Lin reputation all those years ago. In a way, she tried to use it for good.

Boggart Form: 

Considering that Clara’s got as many fears as the typical human being, it could take the form of knives coming her way, or a puddle of blood turning into a torrential flood around her ankles. But her biggest fear, and hence her Boggart, was hearing her friends and family say that she was hopeless, worthless, and useless. Backstabbers, to put it concisely. Her Boggart would be in the form of her friends and people she trusted coming in at her, spitting out those words she didn’t want to hear.

Riddikulus Form: 

If said Boggart appears before her, Riddikulus would make their tongues all tied and saying such pure nonsense that it’d make her laugh. Why would she feel bad about imagining them affected with the Tongue Tying Curse, anyway? They’re not real.

Amortentia: (What do they smell like?)

If anyone was to smell Clara’s scent, they’d smell jasmine, burning wood, and a hint of orange juice. Okay, don’t ask about the orange juice. Something citrussy goes well with something sweet.

Amortentia: (What do they smell?)

Clara would smell petrichor, fresh linens, and an aromatic sort of wood--pine, maybe? Not sure? Something that calls her to the woods.

(*cough cough* totally not *cough* Barnaby’s *cough* scent *cough*)

Patronus: 

Clara’s Patronus is a unicorn--a pure creature with a sole intent to protect, it can outrun any danger and face it head on.

Patronus Memory: 

You mean her happiest memory? Seeing the stars one summer with Jacob and her little sister, Em, one summer. Feeling the close ties of her siblings was what made her happy.

Mirror of Erised: 

In the past, she would have seen herself surrounded by all the people she loved, just being happy together. This image used to include Rakepick until she revealed her true colours in the Buried Vault--since then, her image had been forcefully shunned.

Following certain events in year 6 that caused Clara to lose her friend, the reflection had now changed to an image of Clara and Rowan, both sitting together and laughing together like they used to in old times. The sight of their smiles would have been enough for Clara to just sit in front of the mirror without any sense of time. If only she could have done something to save her best friend...her tree twin...

Specialized/Favourite Spells:

Reparo (and yes, she is fully aware that this does not heal a broken heart)

Incendio

Stupefy

Protego

Appearance

Faceclaim: N/A

**I haven’t thought of a face claim at all when making Clara, as she’s literally based off of me, appearance and personality wise. So we’ll say I’m her face claim? Though I’m not that comfortable allowing a picture of myself to circulate around Tumblr, so I’m going to leave this part out.

Height: 5′7″

Weight: I mean, she’s not overweight but not underweight? Does that count?

Physique: Somewhat slender figure, overall an average build

Eye Colour: Dark brown

Hair Colour: Black

Skin Tone: Pale

Body Modifications: N/A. She does wear glasses, though.

Scarring: N/A

Inventory: (what do they carry on them?)

a lucky Knut from her sister

her textbooks

her quills

her ink

two silk bookmarks

her wand

a couple pieces of miscellaneous candy

Allegiances

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor

Ilvermorny House: Pukwudgie

Affiliations/Organizations:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Gryffindor House)

Auror Office, Ministry of Magic, London

Chinese Wizarding Task Force, Beijing

Professions:

Auror

Free-lance Magizoologist

Free-lance Curse-Breaker

Free-lance pianist/musician

Hogwarts Information

Class Proficiencies:

Astronomy: E

Charms: O

DADA: O

Flying: E

Herbology: E

History of Magic: E

Potions: O

Transfiguration: O

Electives: Care of Magical Creatures (O), Divination (A), Arithmancy (E)

Quidditch: Gryffindor Chaser from year 3 to year 6 at Hogwarts

Extra Curricular: 

Frog Choir

Music Club

Duelling Club (on occasion)

Favourite Professors:

Professor Minerva McGonagall

As Head of Gryffindor House, Clara looks up to her a lot and always turns to her for troubling issues arising. Well, it wasn’t solely based on the fact that she’s Head of Gryffindor that she felt so connected with her. She had a strict air but it was not always for the worst circumstances. In some ways she reminded her of her mom. 

Professor Filius Flitwick

As Jacob really loved Professor Flitwick, Clara always tried her best to make Flitwick proud of her Charms work. In a way, though, she always felt like he was encouraging her to do her best every time, almost the same way Jacob might have if he was still present with her. Besides, Flitwick was an insightful person when it came to certain magical phenomena she didn’t understand.

Least Favourite Professors:

Professor Sybill Trelawney

There was something a little off about the way Trelawney presented herself to her Divination class, and honestly it made Clara question her legitimacy in her pursued arts. However, she did well not to question it openly, as she knew Trelanwney would do more than challenge her.

Professor Severus Snape

She knew she could trust him, but his sullen disposition still scares her and makes her very wary about him. Truly, she couldn’t find herself entrusting him with even the most serious of her secrets and problems. Nothing good would come out of their interactions, even if he did show a sliver of care for the girl.

Relationships

Brother: Jacob Pan-Hui Lin

Jacob Lin is her closest sibling and the one person she knew she would always stand by no matter what. After all, they were close when they were kids, despite him being 6 years older than MC.

In the olden days, he used to tease her a lot on her potential music career. It wasn’t bad, of course--just something for lighthearted fun.

Jacob’s known to be quite the fashionable neat wizard in his old days. He was really picky about what he wore and how his hair looked before heading out for the day. Eventually those thoughts faded away with time.

When he attended Hogwarts, Jacob was Sorted into Gryffindor.

Most of his time at Hogwarts was a mystery, but few people who came in after his expulsion knew that he wrote in a private notebook, had a chamber where he sorted all his information and gathered clues about the Cursed Vaults, and left in his wake a rather...interesting mix of emotions.

Jacob didn’t want to be a Curse-Breaker at first, but the Cursed Vaults kept luring him in that direction until he eventually accepted its calling. Well, with severe consequences, of course. 

Misc Siblings:

Little Sister: Emily Wen-Hui Lin

Emily, often nicknamed little Em by the two older siblings, is 5 years younger than MC. She was very young when Jacob disappeared, thus she had very little memories of her brother.

There were only a few moments little Em could remember when her parents were actually peaceful and at ease. Most of their time, though, was spent fighting, and...well...let’s just say she tried to ease the rifts but with no luck.

When she eventually entered Hogwarts, while her older sister is in sixth year, she got Sorted into Hufflepuff, making her the only sibling in the family to be Sorted in a different house apart from both her siblings.

Upon her graduation, Em went on to become a professional herbologist and potioneer, working closely with Penny and Chiara in her endeavours

Father: Sueh-Yen Lin

Sueh-Yen was born in China and attended Mahoutokoro at the age of 7. Following the end of his magical education he began to pursue his passions in herbology in London, where he met Clara’s mother, Renee Tao. After he became a family man, he began to work as a landscaper, helping other people design and nurture their gardens both Muggle and magical. Following Clara’s fourth year, he began to work at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes.

Mother: Renee Lin (nee Tao)

Renee was born and raised in America, attending Ilvermorny and being sorted into the Horned Serpent house. While she was at school she developed an interest in psychology and the mind, and so she began to take up studies in such areas and continued to branch her studies further after her graduation. She attended a Muggle university in England then, majoring in psychology, and eventually she met Clara’s father. She began to write books for both Muggle and wizarding communities after she became a mother, her topics focusing on proper child discipline for parents. Following Clara’s fourth year, she also took up work at the Ministry of Magic, in the same department as her husband.

Love Interest: Barnaby Lee

Before Clara’s third year, Barnaby was an insignificant student whose name had been mentioned once or twice by her peers. Then she knew of him in his third year, and at first they couldn’t stand each other. At least, Clara couldn’t stand him. Eventually they warmed up to each other through an uneasy, almost awkward, interaction in the Three Broomsticks following a duel. Well, you can find all the information on their relationship here. 

Best Friends: Rowan Khanna, Penny Haywood, Nymphadora Tonks, Tulip Karasu, Jae Kim, Charlie Weasley, Diego Caplan, Liz Tuttle, Badeea Ali

Rival: Merula Snyde

Enemy: Rakepick, R, Voldemort

Dormmates: Rowan Khanna, three other female Gryffindors

Pets: Clara was allowed to take Wagner (her owl) and her cat (Chopin) home after every year at school. As for the other pets in her dormitory, she would give them all to Hagrid every year before leaving Hogwarts for the summer.

Closest Canon Friends: 

Rowan Khanna

Nymphadora Tonks

Penny Haywood

Tulip Karasu

Charlie Weasley

Closest MC Friends: 

Sarahi Silvers (@dat-silvers-girl)

Aleksia Aries (@aleksia-aries-hogwartsmystery)

Aisilng Baskerville (@elefseija)

Helene Adler (@heleneplays)

Carewyn Cromwell (@carewyncromwell)

Kyril Vasiley (@kyril-hphm​)

Cato Reese (@catohphm​)

Xia Howlett (@ljthebard1​)

Katriona Cassiopeia (@mcnullychaser​)

Montague Donohue (@montaguehphm​)

Septimus Crowe (@brothergrimm71​)

That’s all for now unless you want me to add your MC to the list...

Flavio Ceccere (@sirfluffig​)

Alvina Arcane-Zheng ( @oneirataxia-girl )

Background/History

Born on April 25, 1973, Clara was surrounded by love from her first cry

Okay, well, you know how it is--babies cry the instance they’re born, so don’t shun me for saying this

Clara first witnessed her parents’ occupations watching them work at home when she was young. She always loved interacting with the plants whenever she helped her dad in the family garden, and she saw her mom’s growing success with her expertise on child discipline translated into writing

When her little sister was born, Clara and Jacob both loved her dearly, but as she was too young at the time they relied on each other for many things

Clara began to take up playing the piano when she was around four years old--she first learned from a teacher just down the street for about five years, then she continued learning on her own

Her interest peaked when she was young and she saw some street musicians performing on the streets. She took up said instrument as a hobby, and eventually developed a gift for music through her education.

Clara got glasses when she was seven years old due to prolonged exposure to tiny notes on the paper. Yes, that’s a valid reason for people to get glasses. Since then, she had to go to yearly eye appointments every summer just to make sure her eyesight isn’t getting worse.

Jacob went to Hogwarts, and soon Clara saw his transformation due to his slow growing obsession with the Cursed Vaults

Eventually, when Jacob went missing in the beginning of June 1984, it was the family’s last straw

Clara’s parents both began to row over every single little thing now, leaving poor Em almost traumatized and scared of arguments

Em had been told at the time that Jacob was on vacation, thus she didn’t understand why her parents were arguing so much

Clara’s mother had resigned from writing another book after Jacob’s disappearance, having received so many negative reviews from critics (and she had been bombarded by owls with such slander)

The family gardens almost completely wilted in her father’s negligence, and had it not been for little Em the garden would have withered completely

The events of Hogwarts Mystery unfolded

Following Clara’s graduation, she began to work as an Auror in training alongside Tonks and Talbott

She and Barnaby, her love interest, got a place of their own, where they lived happily for a while

Three years into living together, Barnaby and Clara got engaged

In the summer of 1995, shortly before their initial wedding, Clara was called away for about a year and a half to China

The dark wizards expelled from Mahoutokoro have now started their own band and began to infiltrate most of China by the time Voldemort had risen once more. Clara was dispatched to Beijing, China, at her own will, and with the help of some other wizards and witches in the group they trained together and began to take down these Japanese foes

During this time, Clara stayed with her maternal grandmother (her grandfather passed away during her fifth year), occasionally visiting her paternal grandmother once in a while to make sure everything there was okay

The training with this task force was very different from her training as an Auror given the circumstances. Clara had to learn to work not only with her wand, but also in martial arts (notably taichi, taekwondo, and kung fu). She was also given a magic carpet to travel from one place to another in place of her broom.

Clara only returned to the United Kingdom when she heard of Dumbledore’s death, and attended his funeral. However, she had to return to China shortly after as the dark forces there got so strong that the task force could not hold them back without her. 

Clara returned to the UK once and for all on May 1, 1998, and fought alongside her friends in the Battle of Hogwarts and survived. She married Barnaby following the end of the war, but not before they and their surviving friends first paid tribute to the fallen.

The Chinese Wizarding Task Force disbanded upon Voldemort’s fall.

They eventually had three children--Melvin and Milo (twin boys) and Sylvia--and they lived in peace ever since.

Personality

Clara’s a very well-rounded person who understands that life is all about taking risks and making mistakes along the way

Okay, well maybe one shouldn’t solely focus on making mistakes. She just acknowledges that not every person is made perfect and so she embraces everyone’s different personalities, understanding every flaw that made them who they are.

She’s analytical in many circumstances, always stepping carefully in every interaction and situation to avoid any sudden flares of attacks

She’s studious in academics, and friendly around many people, to put it in short

She won’t hesitate to help anyone, but if they knew they lied, she could never find it in her to forgive them

If someone tries to double cross her, though, she’d get really angry and wouldn’t hesitate to show her opponents how powerful she could be.

Misc

Clara’s not a very good cook. It wasn’t until her detention in fifth year when she was asked to make a simple sandwich, and from there she began to work on her rough cooking talents--almost none when she first started, and still basic when she left, but it was enough for her to sustain a simple meal.

Professor McGonagall gave Clara a room for her to practice piano at Hogwarts if things became too stressful. Not many people stumble upon this room except for one particularly curious person...

Though Clara’s dorm was decked in red, her favourite colour was actually purple. And blue. No, she couldn’t choose between the two.

Clara would always have a mug by her bedside so that whenever she had a nightmare she would make herself a mug of hot chocolate (and yes, in the middle of the night--don’t ask)

Clara could speak somewhat fluent Mandarin. She eventually continued to hone that skill when she was in Beijing working with the Chinese Wizarding Task Force.

More facts to come...

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 73

Eyyyyyyy look at me finishing a chapter on Thanksgiving. Because of course I would. Either way this one is hella cute and filled with all them good Dipifica vibes i won’t shut up about, also god bless its finally canon. Anyway I’ll stop spoiling the chapter and let you at it. Enjoy!

Previous: https://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/188894376744/universe-falls-chapter-72

***

Chapter 73: Mismatched Making

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For the past several weeks, the Crystal Temple had sat still and silent, its usual inhabitants having taken up shop at the barn out in the countryside to finish their progress on the drill. Likewise, the Mystery Shack was also rather silent, for while Stan had more or less remained there to maintain the gift shop and the museum while the rest of his family was away, for the past day or so he had been absent, a large closed sign hanging from the door all the while. However, that peaceful quiet all but came to an end as the conman’s car pulled up in front of the shack to let out the far too many passengers that had piled into it for the trip back. 

“We’re home!” Steven exclaimed brightly, bursting out of the vehicle first with both Dipper and Mabel not too far behind. 

“Oh, it’s been so long!” Mabel proclaimed dramatically, hopping up onto the shack’s porch to hug one of its support beams. “I almost forgot what this old place looked like!”

“Mabel, we’ve only been gone a few weeks,” Dipper chuckled, amused. 

“A few weeks too many!” Steven chimed in, already running towards the hill that led up to the temple. The Gems followed after him, ready to finally settle back in themselves, something they readily started doing the moment the young Gem first burst back in through the front door. “Hello, house!” he greeted blithely, running inside. 

The Gems all chuckled amongst themselves as they watched their young ward run about, refamiliarizing himself with his cozy home. “Hello, bed!” Steven grinned, flopping onto said bed as he switched his television on. “Hello, TV! We’ve got some catching up to do. Hello, kitchen!” he continued, rushing back downstairs to throw the fridge open. “Hello, food--augh!” The young Gem quickly stumbled back, rushing to cover his nose to avoid the overwhelmingly foul stench coming from the fridge. 

“Uh oh, did that cake go bad?” Amethyst asked, taking a peek inside at the rotten assortment of food. 

“That was a cake?!” Steven gawked in disbelief before he quickly picked himself up off the ground to head towards the door. 

“Steven, where are you going?” Pearl asked curiously. “I thought you were all excited about being back home.”

“And I am!” Steven grinned. “But now that I’ve gotten ‘re-acquainted’ with home, I’ve gotta do the same with the Mystery Shack! And with Dipper and Mabel and Mr. Pines and Mr. Ford!”

“Dude, we literally just saw them like… 5 minutes ago,” Amethyst pointed out, deadpan. 

“And I miss them already!” the young Gem heaved a heavy sigh, leaning against the door. “See you guys later!”

As Steven set out to head back down to the shack, the Pines family was just stepping inside, all eager to pick up their usual flow of activity where they’d left off. “Ah, finally,” Ford sighed rather contentedly as he made a beeline to the basement stairs. “Back to my real lab again. Even if we did manage to build a functional, earth-piercing drill there, working out of a barn is… less than ideal when it comes to in-depth, tactile scientific research. Also, I miss my favorite reading chair. And my favorite coffee maker, unlike the one at the barn that Peridot broke. Twice...”

“Heh, yeah, that’s right, sixer, head on back down to your ‘nerd cave’,” Stan called as the author began to trudge down to the basement. “Meanwhile, I’ve got real work to do. Like marking up all these prices!” The conman quickly began doing just that, working his way through the gift shop to raise the tabs on just about everything. “Shack’s been closed for two days now; I’ve gotta make up for all those lost profits somehow! Though… I guess I could always cut Soos and Wendy’s pay again… hm…”

While Stan pondered over this plan, Dipper and Mabel eagerly ran past him to head back up their usual space in the attic, ready to make themselves comfortable within it once more. “Yeeeesssss!” Mabel cheered as she burst through the door first. “Bed!” she happily jumped onto her bed, high fiving each of her colorful posters along the wall and ceiling as she did. “Posters!” As she flopped down onto her stomach, she didn’t hesitate to wrap her nearby pet pig up in a tight, affectionate hug, glad to see him again after all the time they’d been apart. “Waddles! Ah, it’s so great to be back! Dontcha think so, bro-bro?”

“I gotta admit, I do,” Dipper grinned as he much more calmly reclined on his bed. “Especially since we don’t really have anything to worry about for the change. The Cluster’s under control, Lapis is finally free from being Malachite and her and Peridot are ok with living together. Even that group of Rubies is out of our hair with no problems at all. For once, it looks like everything is finally gonna be ok.”

“You can say that again!” Steven chimed in as he entered the attic blithely. “We’ve been through a lot of really tough, dangerous stuff this summer. But now that it’s all over, we can spend the rest of our summer just hanging out and having fun!”

“Yeah! Like all those kids in those wacky summer comedies!” Mabel exclaimed excitedly. 

“I love those kinds of movies!” the young Gem quipped brightly. 

“So do I!” 

“Heh, well while you guys are off having your ‘wacky summer comedy’,” Dipper chuckled as he leaned back on his his bed again. “I’m gonna use this as much-needed chance to hang back and relax.”

“You? ‘Relax’?” Mabel scoffed. “Pfft, I don’t believe it. Just watch, Steven, it’ll be no time at all before he’s out and about with one of the journals, hunting down some monster or mystery or something, just like he always does.”

“Oh, come on, Mabel, I’m not that predictable,” Dipper protested, sitting up. “Sure I like a good mystery hunt every now and then, but after dealing with so many of them this summer, I… kinda wouldn’t mind a change of pace. Maybe I’ll try my hand at hunting down something else for a change.”

“Oh yeah?” Mabel asked with a challenging smirk. “Like what?”

“Like…” Dipper trailed off, admittedly unsure of what to say. After all, he’d spent so much time lately embroiled in one mystery, one fight, one disaster after another. So much time spent struggling in the loudest of moments to win the quiet moments like these. And now that they finally had these quiet moments, admittedly, he really had no idea what to do with them. 

Fortunately, he didn’t have to supply an answer to his sister’s question as the shack’s doorbell abruptly rang out. “Well, right now, I guess I’m hunting down the door,” he said succinctly, slipping out of the conversation to answer it. 

“Wait… how can you hunt down a door…?” Steven wondered, confused, though all the same, him and Mabel followed along after Dipper to see who had arrived. The initial speculation on all sides was that it was probably the Gems, though it was a bit odd for them to not just enter without knocking or ringing as they usually did. Though who was actually at the door was just about the very last person any of the kids could have expected, even from the moment Dipper first swung it open. 

“P-Pacifica!?” Dipper exclaimed, absolutely baffled to see the heiress standing in front of him. Even more bewildering was the fact that, unlike the last time she had ventured out to the shack to seek his help, this time, Pacifica hadn’t come in any sort of heavy coat or concealing disguise. Rather, she was in her usual fashionable attire, her expression pensive and her hands held tightly behind her back before she greeted him back with a somewhat awkward wave. 

“O-oh! Uh, h-hey, Dipper,” she said, smiling rather tightly. “Looks like you’re back--finally. N-not that I haven’t been hanging out around here waiting for you to get back ever since that day we spent at the mines, b-because that would be weird, obviously, but… um… what was I talking about again?”

“I… honestly have no idea,” Dipper frowned, confused before breaking into a small, cordial smile. “But anyway, hi, Pacifica. What brings you all the way out here-”

“Pacifica!” Mabel suddenly interrupted, pushing her brother aside to brightly greet the heiress. “Hi! How are you?! Did you come out here to invite all of us to another super glitzy, glamorous party? Because if you are, we are so on board, the last one was so fun! 

“Yeah, it was!” Steven interjected just as cheerfully. “Ya know, aside from the vengeful ghost and crazy Gem mutants. But that’s the sort of stuff we deal with all the time, so I guess it was nothing too out of the ordinary.”

“Oh… you guys are here too…” Pacifica’s smile fell as she looked between Steven and Mabel. “Great…”

“Uh, so…” Dipper cut in, squeezing his way back into the conversation between the pair. “Like I was trying to ask before, what’s up, Pacifica? You need some help busting another ghost or dealing with a pack of angry, city-slick dwarves?” 

The heiress couldn’t help but let out something of a small laugh at this, one that Dipper slightly joined in on, not noticing as Steven, and Mabel in particular, watched the exchange curiously. “No, nothing like that,” Pacifica smirked. “I was just… um… w-well, you remember how you said after your how drill thing was over, we’d… uh… h-hang out?”

“Yeah…?” Dipper nodded, raising an eyebrow before he realized Pacifica’s intention in coming all this way to see him. “Oh, wait, you mean right now?”

“Uh… I mean, if you wanna?” she shrugged apprehensively. “I-if you’re busy though, I-I totally get it. I can always come back some other time.”

“I mean, we did only get back from the barn for weeks on end just a few minutes ago…” Dipper noted with an earnest frown. “But…”

“But he’s totally free and he would totally love to hang out with you!” Mabel sharply interrupted, excitedly pushing her brother out the door a bit. “Wouldn’t you, Dipper?”

“Uh… well…” Dipper hesitated for a moment before meeting Pacifica’s hopeful expression. She offered him a small, almost demure smile, one that carried none of the cold haughtiness she often used to front, but instead, it was completely honest, completely genuine. And if there was something that Dipper knew well from experience, it was that Pacifica was always at her very best when she was at her most genuine. “You know what? Sure, why not. It’ll be fun.”

“R-really?” Pacifica asked, quite surprised to hear this as her cheeks flushed the slightest pink. 

“Yes, really!” Mabel exclaimed as she pushed Dipper out towards Pacifica even more, urging the pair off. “Now, go on, get outta here, you crazy kids! Go out and make some memories!”

“Yeah, and have fun!” Steven called after the two as they exchanged a somewhat startled glance, though ultimately decided to head off together towards town all the same. Leaving a very satisfied and a somewhat confused Steven behind. “Huh… that’s… kinda weird,” the young Gem noted. “I wonder when Dipper and Pacifica became such good friends.”

“Friends?” Mabel scoffed. “Steven, please. Those two aren’t just friends. They’re absolutely, 100%, head over heels in love with each other!”

“Whaaaaat?!” Steven exclaimed, dumbfounded. “But… how can you tell?”

“Just look at them!” Mabel motioned towards the pair as they headed off down the forest trail. They lingered noticeably close beside each other as they casually conversed and caught up, sharing the occasional warm laugh along the way. “The rich, elegant heiress with a hidden heart of gold; the awkward, nerdy bookworm who’s looking for something more in his life. Its like something out of a fairy tale, a true, forbidden romance, just like Romeo and Juliet! Though hopefully with a lot less dying involved…”

“Eh, I don’t know, Mabel…” Steven frowned, crossing his arms. “I’m pretty sure Dipper and Pacifica are just friends.”

“Oh sure they are now,” Mabel said with a flippant wave of her hand. “But the sparks of something deeper are there, for sure. And if you don’t take it from me, then why don’t we just go see for ourselves.”

“What do you mean?” the young Gem asked, confused. 

“I mean,” Mabel put on a wry, daring smirk as she wrapped an arm around Steven’s shoulder and nodded off to the path Dipper and Pacifica had just taken. “You and me going undercover, Steven. For the sake... of LOVE!”

***

Neither Dipper nor Pacifica had any particular plans in mind as they ventured into town together to spend the afternoon. After all, Gravity Falls was a rather small town with not too much to offer in the way of man-made attractions, but even so, they decided to make do with what they had. Though as they first set out on the town, Pacifica did make it a point to make herself rather scarce, doing everything she could to conceal both herself and Dipper from anyone who so much as looked like they had a camera at the ready. It was a strange, sort of anxious behavior, one that Dipper quickly picked up on, especially as the heiress pulled them both into another alley for what seemed like the fifth time in the past hour. 

“Uh… Pacifica?” he asked as she peeked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear. “What are you doing?”

“Huh?” Pacifica turned back to him, startled before throwing on a forced, casual grin. “Oh, uh, n-nothing! Just, uh… hanging out in a dark alley, like all you middle class people do!”

“Uh, I hate to break it to you, Pacifica, but most middle class people don’t do that,” Dipper pointed out, somewhat amused until his smile faded somewhat. “You know, if you’re embarrassed to be hanging out with me, you can just admit it. At least then we won’t have to keep ducking in and out of alleyways every five minutes.”

“Embara--what? No!” the heiress quickly shook her head, flustered. “I’m not embarrassed by you. It’s just…” She hesitated, glancing away in anxious shame, almost as if she was afraid to tell him the truth. Though as she met his patient, expectant expression once more, she ultimately folded and decided to do just that. “I’ve never… ‘hung out’ with anyone before. Heck, I’ve never even had any real friends before, just fake ones that my parents hand picked for me, This sort of thing is all new to me and I’m just… scared, I guess, that I might mess it up. Or even worse, that my parents might find out and keep us from hanging out anymore. I mean, no offense, but… you’re not exactly their… favorite person…”

“Gee, I wonder why,” Dipper remarked with a bit of a sardonic grin, though his manner turned serious as he placed a consoling hand on Paifica’s shoulder. “But… if you really are worried about word getting back to your parents, then… I think I know somewhere we can go where nobody will be around to snitch on us.

For a moment, the most Pacifica could do was look to him, surprised and bewildered that he was willing to accommodate her so easily, all for the sake of making her feel more comfortable. But in the end, she smiled, warmly, almost daringly accepting the hand he was holding out to her to let him take her away to wherever he might lead. And that’s exactly what he did. 

Though just as the pair slipped out of the alley as discreetly as they could, the lid of the dumpster tucked away within it suddenly flipped open. And out of it, both Steven and Mabel popped up, their ‘undercover’ mission steadily underway. 

“Aha! See, Steven?” Mabel asked with an eager grin. “Just like I said, it’s forbidden love! And what’s better yet is they aren’t even about to let that stop them, they’re sneaking off to go hang out together alone anyway! Augh, it's so beautiful and so romantic I could cry! Speaking of which, you brought that box of tissues, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” Steven nodded, handing said tissues off to her. “But… I don’t know… I still think they’re hanging out just as friends, Mabel.”

“But Dipper took her hand, Steven!” Mabel protested. “He took her hand! That’s always how it starts, and then it builds and builds from there until they’re in smooch city! Believe me, I’ve read enough $5 romance novels from the grocery store to know all about these sorts of things.”

“Hm… well, you do seem like an expert when it comes to love,” Steven noted. “I mean, you’ve been in plenty of relationships yourself, right?”

“You bet I have!” Mabel grinned proudly. “Like the time I… uh, actually, let’s not count when I dated all those gnomes. Ew, or Gideon either… Mermando was nice, but… he was the one that got away… and ugh, and let’s not even bring up Gabe. And not to mention my massive crush on youuuuuuu-” She trailed off, her eyes wide  as she looked to Steven, realizing what she had practically just let slip until she found a rather sloppy way to recover from it. “Y-your sandals! T-they’re so… pink and cute a-and… I love them!”

“Um… thanks?” the young Gem raised a confused eyebrow at this, though thankfully, he didn’t seem to suspect anything else of it, much to Mabel’s immense relief. “So, you think maybe we should just let Dipper and Pacifica hang out without us spying on them from afar to see if they’re in love?”

“Are you kidding? Of course, I don’t!” Mabel exclaimed, more than ready to change the subject. “We’ve barely even scratched the surface when it comes to those two adorable lovebirds! Now come on!” She boldly pointed in the direction Dipper and Pacifica had went, ever curious to see just where their unplanned day might take them next. Or ideally, how that day might end up bringing them closer together. “We’ve got ourselves a romance to watch blossom!”

***

True to his word, Dipper wasted no time in leading Pacifica not only out of town, but away from prying eyes that might carry word of her rather rebellious activities back to her parents. Instead, he took her back towards the forest, heading out past the temple and the shack and out into the open woods before venturing off the beaten path entirely. Pacifica was rather hesitant as she watched him do so, unsure if she should follow after him as she stared into the light-speckled shadows deep within the vast labyrinth of trees ahead. 

“Uh… are you sure about this?” she asked, frowning at the untamed shrubbery he expected her to head after him into. 

“What?” Dipper asked with something of a challenging grin. “You wanted to make you weren’t caught hanging out with me, right? Well, nobody’s gonna catch us all the way out here, I can guarantee that.”

“Well, yeah, but…” Pacifica paused, frowning down at her outfit, one that was quite ill-suited for traversing the wilds of the woods. “It’s like, super gross and dirty out there…” She caught herself, however, upon looking back to Dipper, who could only really raise a critical eyebrow at such a shallow concern. “A-and isn’t it also sort of dangerous too?” the heiress recanted, coming up with a much better excuse. “What if we run into a bear or a rabid chipmunk or something? Why don’t you have that weird magic sword of yours, just in case?”

“First of all, the Sword of Seasons wasn’t magic, it was technology,” Dipper pointed out before his tone turned slightly embarrassed. “And uh… I sort of… dropped it into the lake on accident. It’s a long story, but don’t worry. We won’t need it anyway.”

“Oh yeah?” Pacifica crossed her arms. “And how do you know that?”

“Because,” Dipper pulled back a few branches leading into an obscured clearing deeper into the woods. “What we’re looking for is right here.”

“It’s… a mailbox?” Pacifica frowned, absolutely confused as she joined Dipper in walking towards it. Sure enough, it was a simple, unextraordinary mailbox, resting alone and rather mismatched against the forest that surrounded it. “Ok, I’m lost,” the heiress shook her head. “You really dragged me all the way out here to the middle of nowhere to look at a boring old mailbox. Is this really what people do when they hang out? Or is this just some weird nerd thing of yours?”

“Oh, this isn’t just any ordinary, boring old mailbox,” Dipper corrected with a knowing smirk. “Its magical. I… think. To be honest, I’m still not actually sure about how it works but trust me, its weird.”

“A magical mailbox?” Pacifica chuckled incredulously. “You know, Pines, I knew you were into some strange, kinda dumb stuff, but this is a little out there, even for you.”

“No, it really works!” Dipper protested insistently as he reached into his backpack to pull out a notebook and a pen. “Watch this.” 

The heiress did so, observing as he wrote a simple greeting of ‘hello’ onto a page before ripping it out of the book and slipping it inside the mailbox. For a moment, nothing really happened at all, that is until the mailbox’s flag suddenly flipped upward entirely on its own accord. “W-what?” Pacifica balked, taken aback by this, though Dipper simply offered her a coy grin as he opened the mailbox and pulled an entirely new slip of paper out of it.

“Out there, huh?” his smirk widened as he showed her the page, which unexplainably read ‘Hello, Dipper and Pacifica,” as plain as day.

“H-how did you do that?!” Pacifica demanded, taking the page and looking over it in disbelief. She was quick to turn back to the mailbox itself, peeking inside to see if there was any hidden chamber or compartment inside. “Is this some sort of weird prank or something?!”

“No, its not,” Dipper laughed, thoroughly amused. “Amethyst and Garnet told me about this mailbox that can answer basically any question, so me and Soos came out here to see if it actually existed a few weeks back. And it turns out, it’s totally the real deal. It knows pretty much everything”

“Hmph, I don’t buy it,” the heiress scoffed.

“Then why don’t you try it out for yourself,” Dipper offered his pen and paper to her, which she readily snatched to pose the mailbox a question. 

“Alright, ‘magic mailbox’,” she snarked as she scribbled her question down before tossing it into the box. “If you’re so ‘all-knowing’, then what did I have for breakfast this morning?”

The mailbox was quick to come up with a response, its flag tipping upward once more just before Pacifica quickly retrieved her answer and read it aloud. “Strawberry crepes suzette with quiche lorraine and imported no-pulp orange juice’?! How does it know that?!”

“Like I said, I have no idea,” Dipper shrugged. “You can ask it anything and it just knows somehow! Isn’t it cool?”

“...Anything, huh?” Pacifica mused thoughtfully, tapping the pen against the paper for a moment as she looked between the mailbox and Dipper. And then, she tipped the notebook up a bit, scribbling another quick question onto it and making sure to keep it out of Dipper’s sight all the while. 

“What are you writing?” he asked, intrigued as he tried to peer over the top of the notebook and see. 

“Nothing!” Pacifica lightly pushed him away, letting out a small, somewhat flustered laugh as she did. “I-I just wanna know something really dumb.”

“Oh yeah, like what?” 

“Like nothing,” she insisted, beating him to the mailbox as she shoved her question inside. Sure enough, it delivered another answer, one that only came in the form of a simple ‘yes’. The heiress was unable to hold back a small, delighted gasp as she read it, one that only made Dipper all the more curious to know what she had asked. 

“Come on, seriously, what did you ask?” he pressed with a wry smile as he began to follow her out of the clearing. 

“It doesn’t matter,” she grinned with a playful wave of her hand.

“Well you sure seem happy about it, so yeah, I think it kinda does.”

“Oh, mind your own business!” she shoved him once more, though this time, he lightly shoved her back, eliciting a shared, bright laugh from them both as they continued back into the woods from whence they came. 

As soon as they’d left, however, Steven and Mabel emerged from their own hiding spot beyond the other side of the clearing, both of them still intent on spying on the pair’s adventures from afar. “Playful pushing? Him showing her magicy stuff? Her getting all excited over a question she wouldn’t let him see?” Mabel listed, growing steadily more excited as she did. “It’s all too good to be true!”

“It is?” Steven asked. “How?”

“Don’t you see, Steven?” Mabel replied, stars practically brimming in her eyes as she hopped up and down on the balls of her feet. “Those are all classic slow burn romance tropes! The evidence just keeps stacking up. And I have a feeling that they’re nowhere close to finished yet!”

***

And sure enough, they weren’t. For as the next day arrived, Pacifica showed up at the Mystery Shack, this time on Dipper’s invitation for them to hang out once again. Just like the day prior, the pair set out into the forest rather than into town, and just as before, Steven and Mabel followed after them, watching from the shadows as they spent more time together. 

“And then we found the Gems’ lost memories about Great Uncle Ford and the portal, but that’s a whole other long story that leads into several more long stories,” Dipper recounted as he led the way through the forest and across a small stream. 

“Wait, let me see if I can get this all straight,” Pacifica interjected, holding her hands up. “So your great uncle actually has a twin brother who was trapped in another dimension for the past 30 years. And the whole time, your uncle was trying to bring that brother back using this huge portal that was secretly under the Mystery Shack the entire time but no one knew about it?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Dipper nodded. 

“And the Gems factor into all this… how?”

“They sort of… don’t for a pretty long time. Like I said before, they lost their memories about all of this thanks to their leader, Rose, erasing them after they were possessed by…” Dipper trailed off, his expression darkening at the mere thought of the dream demon. “Y-you know what? N-never mind that right now.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Pacifica sighed, relieved. “I feel like my brain’s about to burst from everything you’ve been telling me. Your life is like some crazy movie or huge story written by a psychopath or something. Seriously, how do you deal with all these massive bombshell shake ups all the time?”

“Eh, you learn to just deal with them as they come,” Dipper shrugged, hopping up onto a nearby log to take a seat. Pacifica joined him, glad for the much needed break from their ongoing hike, though even so, she watched in curious confusion as Dipper pulled a snack out of his bag that she was entirely unfamiliar with. 

“What’s that?” she asked, intrigued by the oddly shaped sandwich. 

“Oh, it’s peanut butter and jelly,” Dipper grinned, offering half to her. “Mabel packed it for me before we left and for some reason she cut it into a heart shape and said it was ‘for luck’, whatever that means. Anyway, you can have some if you’re hungry.”

Pacifica didn’t immediately accept his offer, instead looking over the half-heart sandwich with a furrowed brow of confusion. “You said this is a… peanut--who and… what, exactly?”

“What, you’ve never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before?” Dipper asked with an incredulous chuckle before meeting the heiress’s dumbfounded expression once more. “Oh my gosh, you’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Is this some sort of… poor person snack?” Pacifica wondered, holding the sandwich up to get a better look at it. “N-not that being poor is a bad thing! It’s just… I-I’m not really allowed to anything that doesn’t cost over at least $100 per tiny gourmet plate portion, so… yeah…”

“Are you kidding?” Dipper asked in apt disbelief. “Your parents don’t even let you eat what you want?”

“Heh, welcome to the super ‘glamorous’ world of a Northwest,” the heiress laughed somewhat bitterly.

“Well, here’s your official welcome into the super average world of a Pines,” Dipper countered, placing his half of the sandwich into her open hand with a playful grin. “And unlike most of your high class gourmet meals, this one’s completely free.”

Pacifica tried her best to suppress the sudden blush that filled her cheeks as she accepted his offering, though all the same, she was still a bit hesitant to try the sandwich for herself. Until, of course, she ventured her first bite of the sandwich. “Mm! This is sooo good!” she exclaimed, her eyes alight with newfound discovery. She disregarded all the proper manners she had been taught in favor of voicing her overwhelming excitement over such a simple treat. “The bread’s so soft and it’s all so creamy, but then there’s like… little nuts in it too? I love that!”

“That’s the power of chunky peanut butter,” Dipper chuckled warmly, amused by the heiress’s elation as she scarfed down another bite. 

“And this fruity taste? What is that?”

“Strawberry jam. So technically, it’s more of a peanut butter and jam sandwich, but eh, same difference.”

“Whatever it is, it’s amazing!” Pacifica grinned as she finished off the other half. “And you just eat stuff like that all the time?!”

“Eh, maybe not all the time, but PB&J is a longtime favorite for me and Mabel for a reason,” Dipper said, still laughing, especially as he noticed the small smudge of jam marring the heiress’s face. “Oh, hey, you got a little something on your cheek there.”

“Huh?” Pacifica reached up, rubbing just shy of the jam that she missed it entirely. 

“Here, I got it,” Dipper slipped his vest off, not really having anything else but the corner of it to wipe the heiress’ face clean. He stopped short as soon as he did however, suddenly caught off guard by exactly what he was doing, and exactly how close their faces happened to be as he did. In the briefest, most breathless of moments, he caught sight of her eyes, wide and wondering as they practically sparkled in the low light coming in through the trees above. Eyes that were staring at nothing else in the world at that moment... other than him. “I-I… s-sorry,” he quickly recanted, backing off as he hastily threw his vest back on and slipped off the log to stand. “W-we should probably get going.”

“O-oh…” Pacifica frowned somewhat, slowly, almost sadly returning to reality as she did the same. “Yeah, you’re right… Um… thanks, by the way, for the… what was it called again? Sandy Witch?”

“Sandwich,” Dipper corrected with a smirk. “And you’re welcome. I’ll be sure to bring you another one when we hang out again tomorrow.”

“T-tomorrow…” Pacifica repeated, her former smile returning in full force upon hearing this. “Yeah, tomorrow. I can hardly wait…”

“Steven, please tell me you saw that!” Mabel whispered as she looked out of her hiding spot just behind the log the pair had been sitting on moments ago. “Because it was absolutely adorable!”

“Yeah, that was really cute,” Steven agreed with a warm grin. “Still, I can’t believe Pacifica’s never had a PB&J before… That’s like… one of the basic food groups alongside donuts and fry bits!”

“Who cares about that?” Mabel shook her head dismissively. “Did you see the way those two were looking at each other? It’s like they were hypnotized… by love!”

“Eh, I don’t know…” Steven noted with a frown. “I’m still not sure if that was really ‘love’ or not…”

“Oh, so you still need even more proof, huh?” Mabel challenged, her hands on her hips. “Well, then don’t worry, Universe. If you need proof, then I’ll give ya proof!”

At this, she let out something of a wild, almost manic laugh, one that admittedly startled Steven as he anxiously tried to reign her back down from her obvious obsession. “O-or instead of that, maybe we could just--whoa!” The young Gem didn’t get a chance to finish as Mabel suddenly grabbed his hand and pulled him along after her once more, all for the sake of secretly eavesdropping in on Dipper and Pacifica once more. “O-or I guess we could always just keep doing this, that’s fine too!”

***

The next several days flowed along in a similar, surprisingly sweet succession. In light of the lack of any old or new threats or foes to face, Dipper didn’t mind spending his now very open free time with Pacifica at all. If anything, their already unexpected friendship seemed to grow closer and closer with each passing day as they shared new discoveries, snacks, and even secrets on occasion. The woods of Gravity Falls were essentially a treasure trove of adventures just waiting to be had, though fortunately none of their trips into it led to any real danger or disaster. Though one constant that neither of them were ever aware of during their days together was the fact that just about everywhere they went, Steven and Mabel followed behind at a safe distance, always unseen but always keeping tabs on the pair to look out for any signs of budding love between them. And suffice to say that, at least as far as Mabel was concerned, by the time the week was through, they’d seen more than enough signs of just that. 

All the same, Dipper and Pacifica’s latest trip into the woods happened to fall under the cover of dusk, just as the sky filled in with the colors of twilight and the shadows of the trees gave way to darkness. Even so, the pair ventured into that darkness unfettered, their path only illuminated by a simple flashlight as Dipper led the way further into the forest, his hand intertwined with Pacifica’s all the while. 

“Alright, Pines, I’ve had enough of your ‘mysteries’ for one week,” Pacifica remarked wryly as she eagerly followed after his swift pace. “Where are we heading this time? Some sort of creepy cave or underground tunnel to find some secret monster or something?”

“Nah, nothing like that,” Dipper chuckled, pulling the first journal out of his vest. “Its something I found in here that I’ve never had a chance to see for myself before. And I have a feeling it’ll be right up your alley.”

“Oh really?” Pacifica smirked. “So you’re saying it’s some sort of magical creature that eats terrible, over-controlling, prestige-obsessed parents?”

“Heh, if only,” Dipper replied just as playfully as they finally emerged into a small clearing entirely covered by trees from above. This served to block just about all forms of dying daylight out, to the point that the entire clearing was practically engulfed in darkness when Dipper suddenly shut his flashlight off entirely. 

“D-Dipper!” Pacifica gasped, blindly reaching around until she grasped onto his shoulder tightly. “What are you doing?!”

“Don’t worry,” he assured, placing his hand over hers to steady her. “Just wait and watch…”

The heiress let out an uneasy breath as she decided to heed him, allowing the symphony of the evening to fill in for them. Crickets, cicadas, and birds alike all echoed around the darkened den of trees, frightening and fascinating Pacifica all at the same time, but amidst them, she held on tight to Dipper, almost as if he was the anchor keeping her from losing herself to it all. Until… 

A sudden speck of light illuminated somewhere in the darkened space before the pair, small and sparse but persistent all the same. Another tiny light soon joined it, followed by another, then another, until the petite glowing orbs were popping up all around them, creating a warm, ambient sort of radiance that soon filled the entire clearing, making it apparent exactly what these little lights really were. 

“Fireflies…?” Pacifica wondered, smiling softly as she cupped her hands under one of the glowing insects. 

“Not exactly…” Dipper noted knowingly, watching expectantly until the creature’s normal yellow light suddenly, starkly turned a bright, vibrant purple. 

“W-what?!” the heiress gasped, her hands flying away from the bug as she looked around to its kin, only to see similar shifts among them. The fireflies all seemed to slowly, gently change colors with each passing moment at random intervals, some glowing pink while others illuminated blue, as even more blinked orange and still more among them turned green. As they meandered about the clearing, they ultimately created a glittering rainbow of light, one that absolutely enchanted Pacifica as she simply stood there, trying to take it all in. 

“They’re… beautiful…” she whispered, afraid she might scare them off if she was too loud. “What are they?”

“Iridescects,” Dipper informed, nodding to their depiction in the journal before shutting it and putting it away altogether. “Or, color-changing fireflies. They only live here in Gravity Falls, and they only come out during the summer months. I’ve been meaning to come out here to see them for myself, but everything’s been so busy lately that I haven’t gotten the chance to until now.”

“So,” Pacifica began, her wondering smile still apparent as she stood close to him and gazed out at the iridescects. “Was it worth the wait?”

Dipper paused, taking a moment to glance over at the heiress beside him. And the moment he did, it felt as though the entire world slowed to a soft, almost dreamlike crawl. 

The iridescects still drifted through the clearing, colors changing as steadily as ever as they hovered across the otherwise shadowy trees behind them. And yet, despite their practically magical beauty, Dipper found himself captivated by beauty of an entirely different kind. If he was perfectly honest with himself, he’d always known Pacifica to carry an almost regal sort of elegance and grace, though as he looked to her now, those things seemed so much more natural, so much more vibrant, so much more free. The lights all around her reflected off of her skin to the point that it almost seemed to take on an otherworldly glow, her golden hair taking on a similar, constantly changing, but always appealing pallor. Yet what he noticed most, what amazed him the most, was her smile, her eyes, her soft, easy laughter as a small group of iridescects came to hover around her head, creating what looked like a sparkling, multicolored crown. A crown that somehow, in some impossible way, served to make her appear even more radiant than she already was on her own. 

And suddenly, there was that feeling again, striking at his heart and bearing in deep. The very same feeling he’d first felt inklings of that night at the party when they’d first danced, that feeling he’d felt again, stronger and more realized deep within the titan’s ore mines. The same feeling he’d felt brief, crisp moments of scattered across the week he’d just spent with her each time they sat close, each time they happened to touch hands, each time their eyes happened to meet in stolen glances carried by unspoken words, unknown thoughts, and that feeling. So warm, so curious, so real and raw and rich that this time, it refused to be ignored. It demanded to be known, to be realized, to be felt. And as he slowly started to allow himself to feel it, he couldn’t help but wonder, as he looked down to her empty hand beside him, just waiting to be held, if maybe, just maybe, that feeling might just end up taking him somewhere this time after all. 

And yet… 

Maybe, he wondered, he feared, it wouldn’t take him anywhere, just like it hadn’t once before. 

As the gravity of that fear pulled him back down to earth once again, he suddenly drew his hand away from hers before they could even skim one another. His awestruck expression fell into something much more solemn as he tore his glance away from her, almost as if so much as looking at her was like holding onto a promise that would never be guaranteed. “Y-yeah,” he finally answered her question halfheartedly. For even despite the blissfully warm array of colored lights all around them, he felt as though he was standing in a sea of cold, empty darkness instead. “I… I guess it was…”

***

“Ok, Steven, I think we can both agree,” Mabel began, pacing around in front of the chalkboard she’d positioned in the shack’s den. “That what we witnessed last night in the woods was pretty much THE most romantic thing ever! The color changing fireflies, the cool night air, and they way they kept smiling at each other? Augh, it was all so perfect!”

“Yeah, you know, I wasn’t really sold on the idea before, but… I think last night convinced me for sure,” Steven nodded with an excited grin. “Looks like Dipper and Pacifica really do like each other like that. So I guess that means we can be happy for them and move on with our lives now, right?”

“Wrong!” Mabel corrected succinctly. “You saw what happened last night, Steven! Dipper was this close to making a move that would have changed everything! He totally would have taken him and Pacifica out of the friend zone and into the love zone, but nooooo, he just had to back out at the last second, just like he always used to do with Wendy back when he was crushing on her too!”

“Oh yeah,” Steven nodded thoughtfully. “He almost took her hand and everything. Why do you think he didn’t?”

“Cause he’s an awkward dork who doesn’t know how to show people how he really feels!” Mabel huffed, frustrated over the fact that she knew her brother far too well. “But to be honest, I… kinda think Pacifica might be the same way. Which, I’ll admit, is gonna make this… a little tough.”

“Make what tough?”

Steven and Mabel both let out a startled gasp as they turned to find Dipper entering the room, curious to know what their ongoing conversation was about. Though that curiosity only grew as he spotted the chalkboard that Mabel had written D + P onto, surrounded by a bold, massive heart. “Uh… what’s going on in here?” he asked, confused.. 

“Um… good question…” Steven frowned, still somewhat lost in Mabel’s shuffle. 

“N-nothing!” Mabel insisted readily. “And certainly nothing that involves you and a certain rich girl you’ve been hanging out a lot with lately, though if there’s anything you wanna discuss on that front, bro-bro, we’d be more than happy to listen!”

“Uh… no, thanks,” Dipper raised an eyebrow, looking between the pair with growing suspicion. “Wait a minute…” he glanced past his sister, narrowing his eyes at the chalkboard and the heart drawn on it until he all too quickly realized exactly who the initials within it stood for. “Mabel, please tell me you’re not doing what I think you’re doing…”

“Me? Doing what?” Mabel feigned innocence. “Dear brother, I haven’t the faintest idea of what you’re talking about!”

“Ok then,” Dipper said flatly before turning to the young Gem. “Steven, what’s Mabel holding behind her back?”

“Oh, well, it looks like a list!” Steven informed, catching the title of said list before Mabel could hastily shove it into her sweater. “I think it said ‘Dipper and Pacifica matchmaking ideas’ or something like that?”

“Steven!” Mabel hissed, flustered, especially as she looked back to her brother’s disapproving expression. 

“Oh no, absolutely not, Mabel!” he quickly, adamantly exclaimed. “There is no way I’m letting you try to set me and Pacifica up. Like I’ve told you so many times before, we’re just friends!”

“Yeah, but don’t you wanna be more than friends with her?!” Mabel protested earnestly. “We’ve been secretly watching you guys all week, and we’ve seen that special spark between you guys! All you gotta do is stoke it a little, bro-bro, and it’ll turn into a full fledged, passionate romance for the ages before you know it! Right, Steven?”

“Uh… yeah,” the young Gem shrugged with an awkward smile. “Um, sorry for spying on you all week by the way, that was Mabel’s idea.”

“A great one, just like all my ideas are!”

“...Ok, first of all, never do that again,” Dipper began, hardly even surprised by his sister’s antics at this point. “Second of all, there is no spark! Pacifica and I have been hanging out a lot lately, yeah, but we don’t have feelings for each other and that’s that! So you can forget any of your little matchmaking schemes, Mabel, because they’d just be a big waste of time anyway.”

“That’s what you say, Dipper!” Mabel called after her brother as he turned to leave, thoroughly annoyed. “But just you wait and see! You and Pacifica will be smoochin’ it up before you know it! After all, the only thing stronger than the power of love is the power of MABEL!”

“Uh, I dunno, are you really sure about this, Mabel?” Steven asked just as soon as Dipper had left. “Even if Dipper and Pacifica do like each other, I don’t know if its such a good idea to try to force them to be together.”

“You’re right, Steven, its not.”

“Garnet!” Steven and Mabel both gasped, startled as the Gem leader spoke up from her previously unknown spot leaning against the front entryway. 

“How long have you been standing there?” the young Gem asked, startled, though not surprised, given just how often Garnet did this sort of thing. 

“Long enough,” the Gem leader noted as she stepped up to the kids. 

“Great! Then you’re in on the plan to get Dipper and Pacifica to be an official couple then?” Mabel asked with an eager smile. “This sort of thing is right up your alley, Garnet. After all, you are certified expert when it comes to all things love and romance!”

“Hm, thanks,” Garnet smirked, adjusting her shades, though her smile quickly fell into seriousness all the same. “But I can’t say I’m completely in on the plan.”

“Aw, why not?” Mabel frowned, disappointed. 

“Mabel,” Garnet began, kneeling down to the girl’s level. “I know you mean well in trying to help your brother find love. And… you’re not wrong. There definitely is something there between him and Pacifica. Believe me, I know. I’ve been watching them over the past week too.”

“You have?” Steven asked, bewildered. “Why?”

The Gem leader grinned once more at this. “Let’s just say I could see the sparks flying between those two from a mile away. Even back before either of them knew it.”

“Oh my goooosh!” Mabel gasped, excited beyond measure. “So if even your future vision saw them falling in love, then that means they must belong together! In that case, we gotta get ourselves on matchmaking patrol STAT! Break out the romantic candles and the sweeping violin music! Steven, call up a reservation at the nearest fancy restaurant as fast as you can. We’re workin’ overtime here people, this is a love emergency!”

“Hold on there, Mabel,” Garnet cautioned much more calmly, effectively stopping Mabel’s frenetic energy right in its tracks. “There’s a better way of doing this. Love isn’t something that can just be rushed out the door; it needs time to grow, and for the people who are feeling it to grow along with it. And if we really want to bring Dipper and Pacifica together, then that’s what we have to do: help them grow together.”

“So… how do we do that?” Steven asked, curious.

The Gem leader smirked. “I have a few ideas in mind…”

“Then let’s try them!” Mabel readily lept on board. “All of them! No matter how big or crazy they might be or how many illegal fireworks might be involved in any number of them!”

“There’s no illegal fireworks involved in any of them,” Garnet informed evenly. 

“Oh, wait, that’s one of my ideas, sorry,” Mabel chuckled. “Still, this is a pretty big deal. I have a feeling we’re gonna need some extra help to make sure it all works out…”

“Help with what, dude?” Soos asked as him and Wendy entered the den for their break. 

“Oh, you know,” Mabel said with a casual grin. “Only making sure Dipper ends up with the one true love of his life!”

“Whoa, really?” Wendy asked, both her and Soos equally intrigued upon hearing this. “Well, good for him. I knew the kid would bounce back eventually. So who’s the lucky lady?”

“Pacifica Northwest,” Steven said, somewhat obliviously. 

“Whaaaaa?!” both coworkers exclaimed, exchanging a baffled glance at this. 

“No way!” Soos shook his head, amazed. “I thought Pacifica like, hated all of you guys.”

“She did, until Dipper worked his way into her heart and melted it entirely!” Mabel gushed dramatically. “Seriously, they’re so cute together, and they’d be even cuter if they would just admit how they really feel about each other! So what do you guys say? Are you in?”

“Oh yeah, of course!” Soos readily agreed. “Anything for Dipper, dude.”

“Yeah, what the heck, why not?” Wendy shrugged with a smooth grin. “This whole thing honestly sounds super wholesome and sweet, and besides, it’ll be a good excuse to get us out of work for the rest of the day.”

“Hey, hey!” Stan snapped, suddenly poking his head out from the gift shop upon overhearing this remark. “What have I told you kids before? There is never any good excuse to get out of work.”

“Oh, Grunkle Stan!” Mabel greeted the conman with a bright wave. “You’re just in time to help us get Dipper a girlfriend!”

The moment he heard this, Stan was unable to hold back a heavy burst of laughter, slapping his knee as he leaned up against the doorframe. “Ha! Especially not that!” he chortled, essentially beside himself with amusement as he looked to the group in the den incredulously. “That’s a good one! I mean, we all know the words ‘Dipper’, ‘getting’, and ‘girlfriend’ don’t even belong in the same sentence together! Seriously, Mabel, you’re splittin’ my sides here!”

“I wouldn’t speak so soon if I were you, Stan,” Garnet spoke up knowingly. “The chances of Dipper and Pacifica ending up together are much higher than you might think.”

“Pfft, oh what, did you see that with your fancy future powers--wait,” the conman stopped short as he considered exactly what the Gem leader had said. “Did… you just say Pacifica? As in that bratty, spoiled rotten Northwest girl?”

“Uh huh,” Steven nodded. “Her and Dipper have been hanging out a whole lot lately.”

“Cause they’re in looooove,” Mabel added with zealous smile. 

Stan, however, completely ignored them, his eyes growing wide with dawning realization. “As in the same Northwests who are so stupidly wealthy that they have way more money than they even know what to do with? Those Northwests?” 

“Oh boy,” Wendy smirked, crossing her arms. “I can already tell where this is about to go.”

“Well, then why didn’t you mention that from the get-go?!” Stan exclaimed with newfound excitement. “If Dipper really does get with that Northwest girl and they end up getting married someday, then we’ll all be RICH!”

“Does that mean you’re gonna help us out too, Mr. Pines?” Soos asked. 

“Are you kidding? Of course I am!” the conman said as though it was obvious. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to make absurd amounts of money without even doing anything and I’m not about to let any of you kids mess it up, and I’m especially not about to let Dipper mess it up!”

“Actually, Dipper’s not the one you’ll have to worry about on that front,” Garnet noted, though once again, Stan largely paid her no mind as caught up in his own flights of fantasy over the matter. 

“So what are we sitting around here waiting for?” the conman asked, dollar signs practically in his eyes. “Let’s get those kids hitched so I can finally buy my own private island in the Carribean, just like I’ve always dreamed of!”

“Uh, m-maybe we should just settle for getting them together for now?” Steven suggested much more rationally. 

“Eh, that works too,” Stan shrugged as everyone came in close to begin properly planning. “Just as long as I walk outta the wedding with the deed to my new personal island when it’s all said and done.”

***

Despite the many hands involved, the first stages of planning out a starting scheme went surprisingly smoothly. And in the end, the entire group walked out of their meeting with something that they all hoped and believed had a solid chance at working; the only thing they had to do was to make it all happen. 

Securing a venue for the affair was easy enough of a task; the temple house had just enough room and would do the job nicely, especially after Steven, Mabel, Soos, and Wendy spent the better half of an afternoon stringing up lights and setting up tables. In the process, they managed to recruit Connie, Pearl, and Amethyst into their plans as well, with the former all set up to provide a romantic violin accompaniment while the latter pair would handle the food. Strangely though, neither Garnet nor Stan really participated in the preparations, save for dropping in to carry out a table here, take a few plates and utensils there, even cart off one of the flower arrangements for some unknown reason that neither of them would never explain, no matter how many times they were asked. Even so, the others managed to pull their plans together in record time, with everything and everyone set up perfectly in place just as evening began to fall. All that was left was to bring the hopefully soon-to-be couple into the mix and let nature take its course. 

While, of course, not letting either of them in on that plan at all. 

“Ok, seriously, you guys, what is going on?!” Dipper asked with a frustrated huff as Steven and Mabel shoved him out the Mystery Shack’s front door. Out of nowhere, the pair had pounced on him, forcing him into a clean-cut dress shirt and freshly-pressed pair of pants before they essentially held him down to run a comb through his hair. By the end of it all, even he had to admit he was dressed to impress, though for what reason, he hadn’t the faintest idea. 

“Oh, you’ll see…” Mabel said with a leading grin, more or less dragging her brother up towards the temple. 

“That’s what you guys have been saying for the past two hours now!” Dipper protested, thoroughly aggravated. “And it’s not good enough anymore! I need some answers now! Why are you guys acting so weird? And why did you force me to get all dressed up like this?”

“Aw, sorry, Dipper!” Steven said much more apologetically. “We’d tell you, but that’d ruin the surprise!”

“What surprise?” Dipper asked, still quite disgruntled as they all stepped up onto the temple’s porch. 

“This one!” Steven and Mabel chimed in cheery unison as they threw the door open to reveal the equally bewildered heiress standing just on the other side of it. 

Surprised, Pacifica spun around, showing off the simple, yet classy teal tea tress she was wearing. Her golden hair carried a slight wave to it, her face peppered with just a little bit more makeup than usual, creating an elegant, natural, appealing look. All the same, her eyes widened as she caught sight of Dipper, looking his own formal attire over for a moment before she ultimately broke into a small, impressed smile. “Hey.”

“H-hey,” he returned her greeting much more tightly, trying his best not to show just how mesmerized he actually was by how lovely she looked. 

“Its working!” Mabel whispered to Steven, unable to hide the huge grin on her face. “It’s working!”

“Its starting to,” Steven agreed, chuckling before speaking up to the entranced pair with a formal bow. “Sir, madam, your table awaits.”

“Wait, what?” Pacifica blinked back into reality, confused. “Table?”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on,” Dipper cut in, sending Steven and Mabel a suspicious glare. “This better not be-”

“A date! Yep, you got it!” Mabel exclaimed, pressing past the pair into the shack. 

“A-a date?!” Pacifica flinched, startled as her cheeks flushing bright red as she looked to Dipper, battled and distressed. 

“Pacifica, I swear I had no idea they were planning this!” he quickly assured, scowling at the pair. “Though in retrospect I guess I should have seen this coming considering how you guys always take these sort of things way too far…”

“What was that?” Mabel asked with a growing smirk as she stood before the curtain obscuring the rest of the house. “I couldn’t hear you over that romantic violin music.” She paused, her smile fading as she realized no such music was wafting through the building. “I said… that romantic violin music!”

“Oh! Sorry!” Connie called from the other side of the curtain. At this prompting, she began to play an elegant solo piece, one that Steven and Mabel used as their cue to pull the curtain back to finally reveal their master plan. 

“Prepare yourselves… for a night of romance!” Mabel proclaimed, throwing a dramatic hand out to the setup behind her. In just a few hours alone, the rag-tag team had turned the house into a makeshift restaurant, complete with Christmas lights and candles in an attempt at creating a sense of atmosphere and ambiance, though in reality it ended up coming across as somewhat cheap, perhaps even a bit cheesy. A handful of small tables had been set up, complete with lacy tablecloths and fine plastic dining ware, and at each of those tables sat a different, romantically-involved couple, each of which had been invited for the sole purpose of filling the restaurant up. 

The couple that was clearly enjoying themselves the most was Soos and Melody, the latter of whom just so happened to be visiting town at just the right time to make this impromptu date possible. They sat leaning in close, warmly conversing all the while as they absently munched on their breadstick appetizers before they happened to grab the same exact one, opting to eat it together until it led up to a brief, but very welcome kiss. Sitting at the table across from them was Robbie and Tambry, neither of whom were very invested in their date as much as they were sending each other flirtatious text messages, occasionally reacting to said messages with a coy grin across the table. Surprisingly, Lars and Sadie were also present, though quite begrudgingly so, given how flustered they were as they realized just how romantic the atmosphere around them actually was, something they were clearly uninformed of in advance. And still several other couples sat somewhat boredly as Wendy casually waited on their tables and Connie kept her gentle violin accompaniment going all the while. Even as a very audible argument began to break out between the pair of “chefs” in the very open kitchen nearby. 

“Amethyst, for the last time, nachos are not considered fine dining!” Pearl huffed, clearly irritated. 

“Oh yeah, and how would you know, P?” Amethyst retorted, still trying to prepare the simple snack food despite the white Gem’s protests. “You don’t even eat.”

“Maybe not, but I do know refined elegance when I see it and nachos certainly are not that!”

“Huh, and things were going so smoothly in here too…” Steven noted with a concerned frown that he was quick to chase away with a forced smile as he turned back to Dipper and Pacifica. “N-not that there’s a problem, because there isn’t!”

“Uh, yeah, there is,” Dipper replied flatly. 

“Oh, and what might that problem be, dear brother?” Mabel asked, trying to maintain an air of class despite how classless the scene behind her was. 

“Well for starters, you invited half the town to… whatever this is,” Dipper huffed, waving a hand out at the restaurant. “And second of all, you guys just threw all this together without even asking either me or Pacifica! I mean, did it ever occur to you that maybe we didn’t want you guys setting us up on some big, embarrassing date? B-because we don’t. We definitely don’t…” He essentially had to hold back a disappointed sigh as he said this, and likewise, he didn’t even bother to glance back at Pacifica behind him. Though if he would have, he’d have gotten a glance at an expression that was every bit as crestfallen and fretful as his own. “Right?” 

“Um, y-yeah…” the heiress forced herself to say, frowning as she wrapped her arms around herself and looked to the floor. “Right…”

“More like right idea, wrong execution.” 

The kids were all quite surprised by this interruption as Garnet suddenly stepped into the house, a confident grin on her face as she looked down to the hesitant pair in front of her. “Dipper, Pacifica, your other table awaits,” she stepped aside, holding the door open to the night air outside. 

“Other table?” Steven and Mabel whispered to each other, completely bewildered by this turn of events. 

Likewise, Dipper and Pacifica exchanged a wondering glance, but even so, they decided to at the very least follow the Gem leader’s lead, curious to know where it might take them. At the same time, Garnet silently beckoned Steven and Mabel, as well as Connie to pick up shop and follow after her, which they all did, even despite their palpable confusion. 

“Hey, wait, where you guys goin’?” Amethyst called as she noticed the group heading out the door. “What are we supposed to do with all these nachos?!”

“Not serve them to our guests, obviously,” Pearl scowled, snatching a plate away from the purple Gem before she hastily grabbed it right back. 

“Ah well,” she shrugged with a smirk before scarfing down the entire plate whole in full view of their very confused patrons. “More for me!”

***

As initially out of the loop as Dipper and Pacifica themselves were, now it was Mabel and Steven’s turn, for as the two of them and Connie treaded after Garnet and the couple from a distance, they couldn’t help but wonder exactly what shakeup to their well thought out plans the Gem leader had in mind. Which was exactly what Steven ventured to ask her as she continued to lead the group out past the shack and into the forest instead. 

“Um, Garnet?” he asked in a whisper as him, Mabel, and Connie caught up to the Gem leader. “Where are we going?”

“That’s a surprise,” Garnet said, a finger to her lips as she vaguely nodded back at the pair behind her. 

“Uh, n-not to sound like Nervous Nelly here, but this... wasn’t part of the plan,” Mabel frowned anxiously. 

“It was,” the Gem leader countered. “It’s just a bit of a different spin on the plan. I figured those two would appreciate just a little more privacy. And I wasn’t the only one to think so either.”

“Yeah, that’s right, which means you three oughta give them that privacy!” Steven, Mabel, and Connie all gasped in surprise as Stan of all people suddenly pulled all three of them aside, away from the setup that Garnet was taking the pair still following her to. 

“Grunkle Stan?” Mabel asked, bewildered. “What are you doing out here?”

“Like I said before, I ain’t about to let anyone mess this whole shebang up,” the conman said bluntly. “And that includes you kids. So sit back and watch some real romance happen. Or at least romance according to Shades over there, though since she’s pretty much in constant honeymoon mode, I’d say they’re in pretty good hands.”

“Boy, I’ll say,” Connie agreed, glancing forward and prompting Steven and Mabel to do the same. “Look!”

Garnet had finally stopped, Dipper and Pacifica pausing behind her as they looked around the dark, yet very open clearing they were now standing in with a shared sense of confusion. That is, until the Gem leader swept her hands out, somehow filling the entire area with a soft sort of gentle, multi-colored light, all of which radiated from the handful of iridescects filling the jars and lanterns strung across the clearing. Under that light sat a single table, set only for two, and every bit as warm and inviting as the rest of the serene, intimate setting very much was. 

“I’ll leave you two to it,” Garnet concluded with a simple smile as she turned to the pair, pulling down her shades a bit to reveal her trio of eyes, the topmost of which offered them a brief, knowing wink. “Enjoy.”

And with that, the Gem leader stepped aside, joining Stan and the kids back in the shadows of the surrounding trees. As she did, Dipper and Pacifica looked to each other once more, both of them equally perplexed as they tried to make sense of exactly what both of them had been unwittingly dragged into. 

“W-well, I gotta admit,” Pacifica began diffidently. “This… wasn’t what I was expecting when Mabel texted me earlier and told me to dress up nice and come all the way out here without even explaining why.”

“Ugh, Pacifica, I’m so sorry about all of this,” Dipper sighed tiredly. “I don’t know what those two were thinking with all this. Well, actually… I know exactly what Mabel was thinking, b-but that doesn’t matter. A-anyway, if you wanna call it a night and go home, I wouldn’t blame you. I mean, this is probably way more awkward than you ever could have bargained for…”

“N-no, its not!” Pacifica suddenly exclaimed, far more intently than she had meant to. She recanted somewhat, flustered, though she still managed a small, genuine smile all the same. “I-I mean… it’s actually really… sweet that your sister and your friends would throw all this together for us. E-even if it is sort of… out of the blue. Still, y-you… wouldn’t want all their hard work to just go to waste, would you?”

Briefly, Dipper paused, looking between heiress and the table before them, both of which were practically aglow in the low light surrounding them. And despite his staunch rejection of this so-called ‘date’ before, he found himself hard pressed to turn the offer down when Pacifica herself was the one presenting it to him. “N-no, I guess not,” he shrugged just as apprehensively, following after her as she moved to take a seat. 

Things were still somewhat stilted as they did so, however, the noises of nighttime filling in for any sort of actual conversation. That is, until they happened to lift the covers off their plates to reveal the deceptively simple, but surprisingly meaningful meal underneath. 

“Oh! Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!” Pacifica laughed brightly, absolutely charmed the once again heart-shaped snack. “How’d they know?”

“Trust me, you don’t wanna know the answer to that,” Dipper remarked, chuckling himself. “Honestly, I still can’t believe how much you liked PB&J the first time you tried it. It was pretty funny to see you get so excited over something as simple as a sandwich.”

“Ugh, no, it wasn’t,” the heiress smirked, blushing. “It was embarrassing. Even if that sandwich was totally delicious.”

The pair shared another laugh over this, one that was filled with warm that didn’t slip away, even after it was over. “You know…” Pacifica began with a soft, easy smile. “Even though we can both agree that this isn’t a… ‘date’, it’s still really nice to just be here… together…”

“Y-yeah…” Dipper agreed with a grin that was every bit as genuine as the heiress’ own. “It is…”

As the pair continued their casual conversation, they had largely forgotten about the group spectating over them from the sidelines. While both Garnet and Stan had taken a much more discreet, wiser approach to watching in the woods, Steven, Mabel, and Connie had all scaled a nearby tree to get a better vantage point. They had perched themselves on an obscured branch, just out of the pair’s view, but still giving them a perfect spot to see and hear everything that was going on between them. And suffice to say, they were quite happy with what they were seeing. 

“Oh my gosh, Garnet was right, this was way better than our old plan!” Mabel gasped, delighted as the pair leaned in a bit from their respective ends on the table, laughing softly all the while. For a moment, it seemed as though their hands were about to overlap, though just before they could, they both ended up drawing back, noticeably flustered as their conversation carried on all the same. “But… they’re still holding back…” Mabel frowned upon seeing this. “Ugh! I can’t deal with all this ‘will they/won’t they’ tension! I need those two to finally get to Smooch City already!”

“Hm…” Steven mused, staring down at the pair. “There’s gotta be something we can do. What did Garnet say again? We have to help them grow together?” The young Gem paused, looking around the dimly lit clearing for anything that could give him an idea. And sure enough, he found that idea in the form of the violin still resting in Connie’s arms. “That’s it! Connie, can you play us a song? Something slow and easy, but emotional and passionate? Like a love song!”

“Well,” Connie grinned, positioning her bow to play. “Let’s see what I can come up with…” After a few practice notes, she was quick to find her footing in a smooth, natural, calmly-tempoed tune, one that soon filled the entire clearing with its gentle, pleasing sound. 

“Yes, that’s perfect!” Steven whispered, stars in his eyes. “Now, if only I had my-”

“I’ve got you covered,” Garnet said as she handed the young Gem’s ukelele up to him. 

“Thanks!” he smiled back down at her, quickly tuning his own instrument before finding the perfect place to jump into Connie’s melody to create a sweet, soothing duet. One that wasn’t lost on the pair listening to it from down below. 

“Yeesh,” Dipper shook his head, facepalming. “They just don’t know when to quit with this stuff, do they? Remind me to get new friends and a new sister when all this is over.” Pacifica couldn’t hold back a small snort of a laugh at this remark, one that admittedly caught Dipper off guard from the very second he heard it. “Whoa, since when do you snort when you laugh?”

“Augh! Sorry!” the heiress flushed, covering her face in embarrassment. “It’s something my parents have tried to break me out of doing ever since I was little. They say its ‘not ladylike’, but sometimes I-I guess sometimes the snort just can’t help but slip through the cracks.”

“Well, I’m glad it does,” Dipper remarked, not even realizing just how red his own face was as he forced himself to maintain eye contact with her, largely speaking without thinking at this point. “Cause to be honest, i-its really… well, cute.”

By this point, Pacifica’s smile was so wide and so elated that she couldn’t help but let the bright, cherished feelings sparking within her brim over, urging her to be bold, urging her to take a chance, urging her to cross the line. Which she did in the form of something quite simple really; by doing nothing more than slowly, carefully resting her hand on top of Dipper’s own. “Say, Dipper…” she began thoughtfully, perhaps even a bit leadingly as she met his awestruck expression evenly. “You remember the night of the party, right? After the ghost was gone and we just went out there danced like a bunch of total dorks for hours and hours until we couldn’t anymore?” 

“Heh, how could I forget?” he answered, finally tearing his gaze away from their hands and toward her imploring smile instead. 

“Do you maybe wanna… I dunno… give that another go?” she offered, her tone soft and hopeful as the musical melody continued sweeping through the air, practically inviting them to move along to it. “W-we don’t have to, of course, I just thought… W-well, it might be-”

“‘Fun, or something’?” he countered, repeating the very words she had used the last time she’d asked him to dance. “Y-yeah, I think it would too, though… I, uh… don’t really know how to dance to something like, um… well, this.” He paused, allowing the almost waltz-like tune to fill in once again. 

“Oh, it’s easy,” Pacifica assured as they stood and stepped up to each other. “All you have to do is just put this hand here, and this other hand here…” she trailed off, steadying herself as she rested one of his hands against her back before she took his other one. As apprehensive as he clearly was, his touch was light and more than welcome, especially as she met his anxious, yet adapting expression with a soft, good-natured smile of her own. “And then… you just go.”

And with that, their dance began, Pacifica leading it given her greater experience with this sort of skill. It began slow and easy, though still in time with the music as they spun in calm, cool circles near their table, their eyes never drifting away from each other all the while. And as that melody carried them on across the clearing, Steven decided to put words to it as he strummed along, creating a fitting love song for the pair that was clearly starting to fall into exactly that. 

“How could it be? Now do you see? Its starting all at once…”

Prompted on by these gentle lyrics, they spun out wider, greater, with Pacifica gradually letting Dipper take the lead as he grew more and more comfortable with each and every step. True, he was still new to this, but she trusted him, she always had, from that very moment he’d helped her realize she could be so much kinder, so much stronger, so much happier than she’d ever thought possible. Happiness that she always, always felt in full form whenever he was by her side.

“You take a leap, then fall in deep. Slow at first, then all at once…”

Perhaps it was the night air or the colorful lights or the dreamlike music urging them onward, but urged by whatever it was, Dipper accepted the lead Pacifica was giving him, using it to spin her out swiftly yet carefully. When he pulled her back in, it was as though her eyes were sparkling as she looked to him, unquestionable elation and excitement filling them to the point that both were instantly infectious. For a brief moment, he could hardly believe that this moment was real, that they were here, together, like this. Certainly it had to be some sort of dream or fantasy and yet as he looked to her again, felt her hand intertwined with his own, he knew that this perhaps the realest thing in the entire world, the realest feeling he’d ever experienced in his entire life. 

“Doubts disappear, there’s no more fear. And it happens all at once…”

Gradually yet naturally, their pace began to slow, their twirls becoming more lofty as the music did the same. Their hearts were both admittedly racing, both from their ongoing dance and from nerves, fear, and exhilaration all at the same time. But there was no question they treasured all of those feelings. They wanted to cling onto that moment, as blissful and sweet as it was. They wanted it, and everything it represented, to last for as long as it was able, even as the song soon came to its peaceful, promising end. 

“Now that you know, your hearts can grow…. Together, all at once…”

Even as the lyrics reached their gentle conclusion, Connie and Steven continued playing their song, albeit a bit softer as the couple opted to ultimately slow dance to it down below. For awhile, neither Dipper nor Pacifica said anything as they continued, their hands still pressed together and their eyes tightly locked on nothing other than each other all the while. When this lingering silence finally was broken, however, Dipper was the one to do it, even if his voice was barely over a whisper when he did. 

“A-are you ok?” he asked softly, intently. 

“Y-yeah…” she nodded, just as subdued as he was. “I… I’m just a little dizzy.”

“Oh. S-should we stop?”

“No…” “Never,” she wanted to say, but she didn’t. And yet, despite this, they still stopped all the same, still holding onto each other loosely as they stared at each other, entranced and enchanted and unsure of what might happen next. That is, until, acting not on reason or logic or any sort of thought at all, slowly but surely they both began to lean in, their faces steadily drawing closer together, much to the delight of the trio watching them from the trees.

“YES!” Mabel shouted in a bright, elated whisper as she pulled out her camera to capture the moment as it happened. “This is it! Smooch City here they come!”

“I’m so happy for them!” Steven grinned joyously as tears started welling up in his eyes. “Oh man, I wish I’d brought a box of-” The young Gem stopped short as Garnet handed him off a box of tissues from down below right on time for his tears to begin to fall. “Thanks again!”

“Guys, shh!” Connie cautioned with a small, amused chuckle. “You’ll ruin their moment!”

Steven and Mabel were quick to pipe down at this, opting to instead watch in anticipation as Dipper and Pacifica only continued to move in closer and closer. For what felt like ages, nothing else seemed to matter, not the several sets of eyes they knew were on them, or the radiant colored lights all around. As if on instinct, their eyes both slipped shut, both of them breathless as they braved themselves to bound across the line and let their hearts lead the way. 

Until, at the very last minute, when one of them realized exactly what was happening. And as soon as they did, they were all too quick to fearfully pull away. 

Once Pacifica noticed her eager lips had been kept waiting, she hesitantly opened her eyes, only to see something that made her heart immediately plummet. For some reason, Dipper had pulled away, relinquishing his hold on her entirely as he took a small step back. His expression was rife with dread and guilt as he all but refused to make eye contact with her and instead gazed downward fretfully. 

“D-Dipper?” Pacifica dared to venture, newfound hurt filling into her own expression as she reached an almost trembling hand out toward him. 

“I-I... “ he hesitated, finally looking up at her before shaking his head. “I-I can’t do this… I’m sorry…”

The heiress flinched, awestruck as she watched him turn to leave her behind without even explaining why at all. All of the previous warmth that had once spread throughout her was now filled in with a bitter chill, one that carried into her tone as she worked up the courage to fiercely call him out. “S-so that’s it then?” she asked in disbelief. “Y-you’re just gonna walk away like its nothing? I thought… I thought you… t-that we were…” She took in a sharp breath, forcing every ounce of willpower she had to keep herself from breaking down entirely. “I-I guess it doesn’t matter what I thought, does it? Because clearly, you weren’t thinking the same thing.”

Dipper let out a long, remorseful sigh at this, briefly glancing over his shoulder at her to meet her bitter gaze. “Pacifica, that’s not-”

“Oh, what? That’s not it?” Pacifica filled in, obviously frustrated. “Then what is it, Dipper? Is… is it me?”

“W-what?” Dipper turned fully at this, seemingly distressed. 

“Look, I get it, ok?” the heiress continued, choking back a small, harsh sob. “I treated you and your sister and your friends terribly. I was awful to everyone and, a-a lot of the time, I feel like I still am except for when I’m with you. Y-you made me want to try to be someone better, to be somebody who’s actually worth all the effort but… b-but… I guess that’s not good enough, is it?” She let out a small, pained laugh at this, her tears finally falling as she shook her head. “I should have known; after all, nothing I ever do is ever good enough for anyone, right?”

She was more than ready to resign herself to such a grim thought, a thought that she had always been taught her entire life and had only recently begun to believe could be false. But all too quickly she was being reminded of just how miserably true it really was, just how hopeless and powerless she to make that change she desperately wanted. 

Until, of course, he came along and, in a single moment, pulled her right out of the darkness of that despair and back into the light, just as he had before. Only this time, it was in the very last way she could have ever expected:

With a kiss. 

She barely had time to react, to think as she felt it, his lips pressed against hers in perhaps the most surprising moment of her entire life. Admittedly, it was quite surprising for him too, especially as he realized exactly what his feeling had so recklessly, thoughtlessly pushed him into doing. And yet it was too late to take it back now, for they there were, standing there, kissing of all things, both of them feeling absolutely ridiculous… and absolutely wonderful all at the same time. 

“YESSSSSSS!” Mabel cheered as quietly as she could as she snapped a picture from the trees. “I got it! This baby is getting an entire scrapbook page all to itself!”

“I-I’m so glad you brought these tissues along, Garnet,” Steven sniffled as he glanced down at the Gem leader. “C-cause I’m really needing them now!”

“You’re not the only one,” Garnet grinned, thumbing away a stray proud tear of her own. 

“Huh,” Stan remarked, absolutely dumbfounded as he watched the scene unfold. “Who could’ve guessed the kid actually had it in him? Either way, I’ll be rollin’ in dough in no time!”

These collective, excited reactions were all but lost on Dipper and Pacifica themselves as they slowly drew away, their faces still close as they tried their best to catch their breath and regain their bearings. After all, everything had just changed in an instant; and yet neither of them could deny that it was an instant in which they could go back to and live in forever, for all it was worth. 

“O-Ok…” Pacifica spoke up first, uncertain. “Now I’m really confused. A-are you like… trying to play some sort of mind game with me?” 

“N-no!” Dipper quickly, anxiously replied, gripping her hand and holding onto it tightly. “I’m not, I-I’m sorry, I just… I-It's not you, please, don’t think it’s you. I love how much you’ve been trying to change and it is good enough and it’s always been good enough and I… I’m just rambling at this point, aren’t I?”

“Um… yeah, sort of?” the heiress raised an eyebrow. “What exactly are you trying to say here?”

“I-I don’t know!” he admitted earnestly, absolutely overwhelmed by all of the thoughts in his head conflicting with the feelings in his heart. “I’m just so bad at these sort of things, I always have been, e-even… even the last time I felt this way about someone…”

“L-last time?” she asked, concerned. “Wait… you mean that crush you used to have on that Wendy girl?”

“W-wha--how did you know about that?!”

“Mabel told me,” she said with an understanding smile. “I didn’t really know why she did… until now, I guess.”

“Ugh, like I said earlier, remind me to get a new sister…” Dipper grumbled, letting out a long groan as he allowed himself to flop down to sit in the grass, defeated. Pacifica hesitated a moment, but ultimately joined him, sitting close, though not too close, as she waited for a long enough beat of silence to pass before speaking up. 

“Uh… so if you don’t mind me asking, what happened with… that whole situation?” she asked, curious. 

“It was dumb,” Dipper shook his head dejectedly. “I was dumb. She’s way older than me and I knew that, but I just had to go and fall in love with her even though some part of me always knew it was never gonna work out. So I spent so long being all anxious and scared and coming up with all these crazy plans to get her to impress her when it all just ended up being a huge waste of time in the end anyway. But then, after it did fall apart, I started to wonder if I was ever really in love with her at all? Like… maybe I just thought I was all this time? I don’t know…” he sighed, closing his eyes thoughtfully. “I know this sort of stuff is all a part of growing up, but that doesn’t keep it from being less confusing…”

“W-well, at least we have that in common,” Pacifica grinned slightly. “After all, I’m all new to this stuff too…”

“Wait… you are?” Dipper looked to her, amazed. “Aren’t you like, the most popular girl in town? I would have thought you’d have had a thousand boyfriends by now.”

“Heh, never any real ones,” the heiress chuckled. “More like stuffy suitors my parents forced me to hang out with to make their business partners or the press happy. But I never actually cared about any of those guys… until… until you.”

“Pacifica…” Dipper said quietly, unsure of what to follow it up with, though thankfully he didn’t have to as she continued for him. 

“I… think I finally get it… why you held back at first,” she explained, slowly taking his hand once more. “It’s… hard wondering if you’ll ever really be good enough, working so hard to try to be the best you can for something that you’re not even sure is gonna work out in the end. It’s like a weight… one that’s so heavy you sometimes wonder how you can even carry it all without being crushed completely. So in a way… I guess we both have our own weights we need to carry, huh?”

He hesitated, though only for a moment. And in that moment, he realized that while his supposedly infatuated interactions with Wendy had always felt awkward and stilted, with Pacifica, it was like always seemed to know exactly what to say and do. A fact that, once again, proved to be completely true as he gave her the kind, easy smile he knew she deserved. “Well,” he began, prompted on by courage he didn’t know he had. Courage that was fueled by affection that he was now absolutely, finally certain of as he offered her hand a steady, supportive squeeze. “Maybe we can carry those weights together. That is… if you want to…”

Tears were welling up in the heiress’ eyes, though this time, they were filled with unquestionable joy as she nodded warmly. “Of course…” she whispered blissfully, somewhat playfully as she began to lean in closer to him. “But only if we take things slow…”

“Like I said, I’ve never done this before,” he laughed, overwhelmed once more, though by feelings of an entirely different, much better kind. “So slow is the only way I really know how to go.”

“Same here… and that’s perfectly fine with me,” she agreed, her eyes closing along with his as they drew in, this time entirely on purpose. 

And on that purpose, their lips met once more. Perhaps even more than their first kiss, this second one was genuine, crisp, and warm, one guided not by fear or guilt but by instinct, by fondness, by faith that this could and would work out. As it continued, she lifted her hand to rest gingerly against his cheek as he absently weaved his fingers through her hair, the mere touches alone striking even more soaring emotions within them both. And by the time it was all over, it felt as though by that kiss alone they had solidified something, that they had made a promise to themselves and each other that this was the start of a bond, of a relationship that they’d cherish and protect, no matter what might come their way. 

For as long and dreamlike as it all was, eventually, that kiss did eventually come to its natural end, though even as it did, they lingered close, their foreheads pressed lightly together as they shared a small, sweet laugh. However, for as tender as this moment was, it didn’t last long before it was inevitably interrupted by the flood of excitement that rushed out to meet them. 

“Mazel tov to the happy, brand new couple!” Mabel cheered, catching the pair off guard as she tossed a handful of rice over them from behind. Steven stood alongside her, brightly applauding while Connie hurried over to try to keep them from ruining the moment any more than they already had. 

“M-Mabel! Steven!” Dipper exclaimed as him and Pacifica pulled away, flustered. “What are you guys-”

“Oh, no need to thank us, bro-bro,” Mabel grinned proudly. “We were more than happy to make a match out of a couple as cute as you two, right, Steven?”

“Right!” the young Gem happily agreed. “Though… to be honest, I think we owe a lot of our success here to Garnet.”

“Well, my experience in the field of romance has never steered me wrong before,” the Gem leader remarked, grinning as she stepped up to the group. 

“Hey! Don’t forget about me!” Stan cut in brashly. “I helped set all this up too! Speaking of which…” The conman threw on an amicable, somewhat patronizing smile as he looked to Pacifica. “Welcome to the family, kid. Does folks on your side of the tracks still do that whole dowry thing? And if so, how much are your parents willing to fork out for yours? Just asking for the sake of reference.”

“Uh…” Pacifica trailed off, exchanging a bewildered glance with Dipper over such an odd question. 

“Ugh, come on, you guys…” he groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose before turning to his new girlfriend with an apologetic smile. “S-sorry. I hope you don’t mind dealing with… them.” He nodded to the group surrounding them, composed of Steven, Mabel, and even Garnet’s wide, elated smiles and Stan’s much more greedy one. 

Even so, the heiress let out a bright, genuinely amused chuckle at their antics, one that did more than enough to set Dipper at ease that she’d find a way to fit in among his occasionally overbearing friends and family just fine. “I think I’ll get used to it,” she grinned, accepting his hand as he helped her up to stand. “After all, I’d much rather deal with them than my family.”

“Well then, like Grunkle Stan said, welcome to ours!” Mabel quipped, throwing an arm around both Dipper and Pacifica’s shoulders as she sandwiched herself between them. “Oh my gosh, Pacifica! Does this technically make us sisters now?!”

“Um… I’m pretty sure that’s now how any of this works,” Pacifica noted sardonically. 

“Alright, everyone, it’s getting pretty late out here,” Garnet spoke up, nodding over to the jars of iridescects that were starting to dim as they fell asleep for the night. “Let’s head back to the shack; I’ll make everyone some hot chocolate.”

“Ooo yeah!” Steven exclaimed excitedly, readily following after the Gem leader as she began to head back. “And we can put on a movie too!”

“Something romantic for you two lovebirds to cuddle up to,” Mabel added, offering Dipper and Pacifica a sly wink.

Even though Dipper let out an exasperated sigh at this, Pacifica merely chuckled once more, a laugh that Dipper himself couldn’t help but join in after a moment or two. As the others all went on ahead, the newly-formed couple trailed at the back of the group, their hands inconspicuously intertwining as they set out. As their fingers laced themselves together, they shared a soft smile, realizing just how well their hands fit together, how well they fit together. It was strange, perhaps even downright bizarre just how two people, so completely different yet also so very much the same, hand ended up together, but through fate or luck or something else entirely, they had. And as they strolled through the darkness into their fledgling future together, at long last, neither of them had any doubts left at all. Their feelings for each other were real, rich, and radiant, and there was no question in either of their hearts or minds, that together was exactly where they needed to be. 

“Now that you know, your hearts can grow…”

“Together....”

“All at once…”

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