#he could have so much fun being out and single in the modern timeline | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

feyascorner · 1 year ago

Note

suggestion for a funny but fluff fic or miniseries: Modern day Baldurs gate /faerun, were Ascended Astarion and GN Consort reader have lived a couple of centuries together and are still acting like newlyweds / deeply in love and just obsessed with each other. (but also dress gothic/victorian or like they don't belong in the current timeline.)

Would be funny if its written from the perspective of a new servant or a party guest- Maybe they mess up using medieval words when trying to describe modern things and the POV person is not aware they are vampires.

idk Dracula investigator reporter style- Thoughts?

anon you're such a genius for this1!!! THIS WAS SO FUN TO WRITE UGH I TWEAKED IT A BIT THOUGH W THE PERSPECTIVE PART I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND <33 (also this is not proofread)

A ball in this day and age is uncommon.

At first, Alfira was skeptical. Especially considering the party's hosts were famous for being---a rather eccentric couple. Inviting but strange at times. Dressing in garbs similar to the pictures Alfira has of her great great great grandmother, it was natural that they'd stick out like sore thumbs in high society. But with the pay proposed to her, Alfira could dare not decline playing her instrument at the party. Even more so when she realized how exclusive the party really was.

She'd been invited to stay at their obnoxiously large mansion alongside the other servants for the week preceding the event, and while the sensible decision would be to practice her piece, her naturally curious nature got the better of her. And now, she hides an entire notebook under her pillow regarding all the peculiar things about the couple.

'No. 1: They rarely show their face during the daytime. Perhaps they simply don't want to expose their skin without a concerning amount of sunscreen? Everyone online raves about how bad the sun is for your skin nowadays.

No. 2: The kitchen is completely off-limits to everyone but the head chef. It reeks anytime I go near it, so I don't mind.

No. 3: He calls them their consort. Weird. Is that considered affectionate with rich people?

No. 4: We're not allowed to take our mirrors outside of our rooms. This one I really don't understand.'

The list goes on for ages.

Alfira's observations are ones done from across rows of other recruits or servants, given how rare of an occasion it is to see either of them. Though, she's noted that where one is, the other isn't far away. They're practically attached at the hip, and even if she's a complete outsider, it's easy to tell how smitten they are for one another.

And with how well she was being treated (the food and rooms alike) under their care, Alfira began to feel a sort of guilt for suspecting so much. They surely didn't deserve such obsessive note-taking when all she could see was the way Astarion pecked your forehead before lending you his arm, only gentle laughter ringing in the air.

Perhaps the two of you were truly just a happy couple. A strange one, sure, but happy.

The day of the event comes in no time. Despite the lack of preparation, Alfira manages to play her main musical piece with minimal slip-ups, and continues to leisurely play as she watches all the wealthy guests. The ballroom bustles with people, and because she knows that she isn't acquainted with anyone here, her eyes are naturally drawn to a crowd in the center of the room where you and Astarion are greeting the guests. As usual, your arm is locked tightly with his.

In a room full of dresses and suits, the two of you still somehow manage to stick out. The intricate designs on your attire aren't all to blame, because Alfira swears she sees a sort of aura around the two of you.

It must be a trick of the light, though, surely.

When Alfira and the other musical hires begin to play a slow dance song, you eagerly pull your partner to the dance floor. The dance comes to easily to the two of you, eyes so loving as they're set on one another that Alfira nearly feels jealous. The other single guests seem to feel the same way as Astarion leans into your ear and grins with a whisper.

Alfira squints.

'No. 32,' she notes in her head. 'He has sharp teeth.'

Once the dance is over, she thinks her hand may very nearly fall off. But when she sees you and your partner approaching in her direction, the pain is immediately forgotten as she straightens her back, eyes wide when you offer her a smile.

"Alfira, right?"

"Y-yes! That's me."

"I apologize I couldn't greet you sooner," you place your free hand on Astarion's arm. "We were so swept up in the preparations we didn't get to welcome the truly important guests."

Alfira blinks. A guest? She's not a guest.

You huff. "You really do look just as I remembered you to be! Right, Astarion?"

"I don't particularly remember the bard from then to be frank, my love," he responds, as if Alfira isn't standing right in front of them.

'No. 33,' she notes again. 'He's kind of a jerk to anyone else.'

But more importantly, a bard? She's a musician! Not merely a wandering bar entertainer with a bloody lute and a corset to go along with it. It's even stranger that you seem so familiar with her, even though she's only first talking to you right now. Is she finally losing it?

"Sorry, have we met before?" Alfira blurts.

"Ah," you laugh. "Apologies for my informality. We have, but I doubt you'd remember."

What does that mean?

"Although it pains me to tear you away from such a fascinating conversation, my love, we should greet the others," Astarion chips in, and Alfira inwardly sighs in relief. "Good day, bard."

That damn word again--

As Astarion leads you away back toward the crowd with you pressed close to his side, he smiles down at you while you whisper something he finds humorous up to him. Alfira realizes she's never been that close to either of you, and fears she may have missed her chance---as strange as the encounter was.

However, she does notice one thing about the couple as you walk away.

Both loving sets of eyes are the same piercing shade of bloody red.

#astarion ancunin #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate astarion #astarion x tav #bg3 astarion #astarion x reader #astarion #bg3 x reader #bg3 #astarion x oc #astarion x you #bg3 companions #bg3 tav

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mowiwow · 13 days ago

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for every call of your name, "i love you" (modern ayn)

post-deimortem era ayn route fic

The feelings of love that grow stronger with every passing day, the feelings of love that spread like wildfire threatening to consume the entirety of this material world. In this frenzy, the timelines feel like they blur together and confuse your heart and mind.

But in this timeline at least, with him, you think you'll be just fine.

notes: told in 2nd pov, but assumes the setting of "miss painter" (female, her childhood is mentioned, and lowkey more mc centric than ayn), ~3k

There’s always so much to think about.

When you see Ayn, slumped over in a horrible shrimp-like posture on the loveseat (something he bought shortly after the two of you started dating— his old chair was only enough for one person), you’re simultaneously filled with the most complicated and simplest emotions in the world. Sometimes he catches you looking at him with a faint crease in your brows immediately, and other times it takes him a little longer for him to drag his gaze away from the switch in his hands.

But every single time, he will notice your gaze on him, and reach out to smooth out the crease in your brows quietly.

Ayn doesn’t ask about his counterparts often.

In fact, anytime his other selves are brought up, it’s because of you. Be it the theoretical you once asked him before telling him everything, about what he’d do if he could clone himself, or the few times you ran to him to bury your face in his shoulder without explanation.

Each time, he doesn’t try to pry but rather waits.

You don’t know if it’s because he’s secretly scared of what confessions you might make, or if he simply doesn’t care, or what— but he’s always unusually hard to read in those moments. He doesn’t let you see his face but just holds you tightly to him so you can listen to his accelerated heartbeat.

He’s so cute, you think distractedly. He’s gotten better at controlling his blushing, but he can’t ever hide his rapid heartbeat from me.

When you look at your Ayn, your Ayn , the wounds left behind in your heart from other worlds sting a little. It’s dull, and you’ve learned to ignore it most of the time. But sometimes it comes back full force, making you want to almost rip your heart out of your chest to avoid the painful throbbing.

In truth, ever since the Spirit World, your mind has been in disarray. You were never someone amazing to begin with, but just a girl who had lost her family, and a girl who just wanted to be loved by someone. You just wanted to help people, perhaps in order to help the past you.

Of course, nothing is ever simple. The timelines and endless possibilities are always in the back of your mind. All of the tragedies that the lucky you have avoided, the different paths taken, the timelines with a hopeful future, or the ones meeting a grimmer end…

Something you haven’t told Ayn yet is that you sometimes see flashes of these alternate timelines when you fall into a deep slumber. You’ve often struggled with sleeping peacefully, but it’s gotten worse since then. On those many sleepless nights, Ayn quietly hums for you despite his usual aversion to singing. It’s only then that you can sleep peacefully, at least until the next night.

The many “you”s that you’ve seen are all very different. Sometimes you never ended up with Ayn at all, and instead were with another person whose figure you could never make out. The silhouette sometimes changes, but it’s never really clear to you exactly what happens in the other timelines. They all merge together, overlapping with the Ayn you know, and you often grow irritated.

Whenever you have these sorts of dreams, you’re always trying to find out what happened to the Ayn of that timeline. Or, maybe, you just miss him and want to see him and want to return to the reality you’re familiar with.

Very simply, you love Ayn.

It’s this love that drives you almost insane, unreasonably so. You often make fun of Ayn for being whipped, always going along with even your more outrageous whims even if he kicks up a bit of a fuss in the beginning. But truthfully, you think you’re just as crazy as he is.

Right as he finally lifts his head from the screen of his switch, feeling your steady stare on him, you whisper his name.

In turn, he replies with yours.

When you walk closer to the little living area, Ayn straightens his posture and sets the switch down. You raise an eyebrow and crouch down to pick up an empty can of cola from the floor.

“If only you could turn into a Roomba,” you joke wryly, dangling the bright red can in front of him. “Then, maybe your place would be cleaner— or, actually, maybe not. You might end up getting stuck on all of the things lying around instead…"

Immediately, Ayn’s expression sours. “Stop making fun of me.”

His fingertips brush yours as he takes the can from your hand, setting it aside on the small table next to him. He tugs on your wrist and you let him, easily falling into his lap. His mistake. You pinch and pull at his cheeks with a grin, eyes curving. “Making fun of you? Why, I would never.”

Ayn knocks his forehead against yours lightly, pinching your waist with his fingers. “Miss Painter, it’s not good to play dumb.”

A pause.

“...I’ll tidy up the secret base tomorrow. But it’s not like you don’t have a few things that you’ve left lying around. Some of your clothes are mixed in with mine. And you have some painting supplies that you’ve forgotten here.”

To avoid his scrutinizing gaze, you bury your face in his neck.

“Well,” you say muffledly, “I guess it isn’t too bad. As long as you aren’t getting cockroaches in here…”

“My places are not that dirty.”

“So you’ve never found a cockroach once in here?”

“...I think they’ll find a way into any place ever. It doesn’t matter what kind of place it is.”

You pull away from him slightly to look at him with some worry. “That’s not a ‘no’...”

As you start looking around the open base vigilantly, Ayn pinches your cheek and stops your rapid movements. “There aren’t any. You don’t need to be so scared.”

“Really?”

“...Probably?”

“Okay. Tomorrow, we’ll do a deep clean. I’ll take back my paints and brushes, my clothes too… I don’t want to bother a certain Mr. Pianist, after all…”

“No.”

“No?” you echo teasingly.

“You can keep them here,” Ayn says quietly, resting his forehead on your shoulder. You take this opportunity to thread your fingers through his hair, fluffy and soft. You’re pleased that the shampoo you gave him is working well. “Leave whatever you want here. It’s your secret base, too.”

“That’s sweet. But we should probably do some cleaning tomorrow. I never thought much about it before, but I don’t want to wake up to a cockroach crawling on me one day.”

Ayn exhales slowly, his breath tickling your neck. “...Do you want me to get a Roomba?”

“If you do, I’m giving it mechanical wolf ears.”

“Don’t do that.”

You can’t help but laugh a little as Ayn’s hold on you tightens, his voice full of complaint. “Why not? It’ll be cute.”

“Won’t it stop the Roomba from getting into tight spaces.”

“...Damn.”

After a second, though, you realize it’s fine, because—

“Miss Painter,” Ayn says in warning, pulling away from you as he instinctively senses something.

“Then, you’ll just have to wear the ears for it!”

“No, I refuse.”

“You’re so cute with wolf ears, though,” you muse as Ayn falls silent. “I mean, it’s not like I’m asking you to wear a catmaid headband or anything… unless you would prefer that instead?”

Unexpectedly, instead of denial, Ayn stares at you silently for a long time.

“Ayn?” you question.

“Would I be better that way?” he asks quietly.

The words are like a punch to your gut. Immediately, you backtrack in your mind and belatedly realize what you’ve said. Ayn seems to do the same and blinks quickly, lips parting slightly, unsure of what to do with the words that had seemingly slipped out by accident.

The two of you never really spoke about it.

Before then, it was easy to ignore it— the muddled stinging in your heart, the different versions of him that you’ve encountered. There was a clear line between Earth, your home, and the worlds beyond.

But the further the two of you venture onto this path with no return, the more Ayn will be exposed to the other world alongside you.

Here’s the thing you know about Ayn—

Many see him as the cold but handsome prince of the music department. Ayn conducts himself in a very distant way, appearing arrogant to many. He no longer leaves immediately after every performance, instead occasionally staying behind for just a few seconds to give a few words to the crowd, but he still mostly retains his cold prince character.

But this clingy, cat-like person is really just mushy inside and a bit of a romantic, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it.

Ayn will stick to you even during the height of summer, forcing you to push at his cheek so you aren’t dying of heat. He’ll pout and cause a fuss over it. He’ll sulk. He’ll show you the things he’s accomplished, looking for praise. He’ll often tell you about random things throughout the day. And if you’re busy working on something, he’ll sit down somewhere near you and work on his own things in the same room.

Admittedly, you do the same things. You’ll drop by his practice room in the music department at every opportunity you get, and you’re always buying cakes to share with him. Your sketchbook is filled with more loose drawings of him than you can count, and you like to often hug him from behind to see what he’s up to.

If you were to explain it to someone, you guess you’d just say it’s your guys’ way of making sure the other is still there.

You think about it sometimes— the level of attachment you feel towards Ayn. In truth, although you’re able to smile again, a part of your heart has been permanently torn out from your childhood and you can only try and grow around it with Ayn’s help. You think of the first time you spent a night at Ayn’s family home in Leighton, of the way he clung to you, of the way he often spaced out, and you think he’s probably doing something similar.

So, you really want to…

“Ayn.”

“Mm?”

“Ayn.”

“...Are you upset?”

“ Ayn .”

With some struggle, you get him to face you, and carefully hold his cheeks in your hands. Then, you smush them together.

“I don’t care if you’re not as capable as the Lord of the Night, or that you can’t do the things he can. I don’t care if you don’t have the same qualities as some other version of you in another universe. The one I choose to be with, the one I am spending time with right now, the one I hold in my hands, is you .”

You don’t know why you’re starting to feel a lump form in your throat, or why you want to cry— maybe because you haven’t slept well lately, so you’re currently more sleep-deprived than usual.

No, you know why.

You think of all of the other counterparts of your lover that you’ve seen, of their own tragedies. You think of your most recent brush with a counterpart of his, and your inability to do more for that Ayn beyond sitting at the shore quietly by his side, providing him a quiet companionship right before being the one to drive the blade into his heart.

It magnifies the fear you feel towards losing the Ayn you love, the one before you now. You think of the Ark World, of the blade you saw yourself driving into Ayn’s chest. You don’t know how you can handle it once, twice, and however many more times the world might make you kill the people you love, for whatever cruel reasons.

Childishly, you feel it’s unfair. Why can’t you just live peacefully with the boy you like? Why can’t you just live normally and well, with most of your worries being looming deadlines?

Why did your father die, why did your mother have to be taken away from you?

Why doesn’t it really feel like you can save anybody at all?

…Why is it only now that you’re breaking?

You thought you were able to tuck most of these thoughts away in a hidden place that you’d never touch. You know lingering on these things would shatter your heart into little pieces, difficult to retrieve and piece back together. You know that once you get started in this kind of thought process, it’s hard to break out of— the endless cycle of self-blame is only full of misery.

Maybe you were a bit naive for thinking you would be able to keep it all together. You thought you were used to handling all of this.

But, well, you aren’t really keeping yourself together right now.

Ayn covers your hands with his, gently lowering them so he can lean over and kiss the tears on your face.

“Oh…” you utter hoarsely, unsure of what to say.

He whispers your name with the tenderness that made you fall in love with him in the first place, his brows lightly creasing as he pushes your hair out of your face.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” you say fiercely, scrunching up your nose through the tears. You grab a hold of his shirt— a stupid shirt you’d bought for him on a whim with some random mascot character, for some reason he started to wear it around more as loungewear— and pull him closer to you. There’s a hint of anger in your voice. “Don’t you ever apologize. It’s not your fault, it’s—”

“But it’s not yours either, is it?”

Your grip on his shirt slackens, a bit dazed. The brilliantly blooming eyes look at you clearly, reflecting your entire world. You wonder how he can look at you like this, seemingly with no worries.

Oh, but that’s not right. His hold on you periodically tightens, then loosens, and his hands on your back are restless as they tap in a vaguely familiar rhythm.

He’s uneasy, too, you realize.

But, well, it’d be stranger if he wasn’t, as someone in a very bizarre situation.

He’s just him, and you’re just you— two normal university students who are trying to get through some residual grief of the past.

Ayn reaches over behind you, taking some tissues, and he starts to wipe your tears.

“I sometimes dream about different timelines and not just worlds,” you confess quietly, loosely tapping on his chest in the same rhythm he had been using on your back just a few minutes prior.

Something for you to distract yourself with. Now that you tap it out, you realize it follows the same rhythm as that piece you titled for him— World of Possibility.

“A lot of the time, the one I’m with isn’t you, but someone else.”

The hand cradling your face tenses briefly, the hand with the tissue stuttering. Then, he carries on with a quiet hum.

“I don’t like fate,” Ayn says suddenly. “It annoys me.”

He puts the tear-stained tissue down and wraps you in a tight hug, pressing his cheek against yours. The warmth spreads from his body to yours, drawing you closer to him. It’s a little funny, you think— it wasn’t that long ago that you were the one comforting him like this, supporting his body in the ruins that he’d created.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I… don’t like the idea that there is a world where we never meet, or we never end up like this, but that also makes this reality all the more special to me. Miss Painter, in this timeline, you chose to stay with me. That’s the most important thing, isn’t it?

I am the me of this world, and you are the you of this world. I am the me of this timeline, and you are the you of this timeline. The choices we’ve made aren’t from some sort of pre-set fate where we will always meet each other no matter the timeline, but a unique outcome created by our own hands.”

After a long silence, Ayn clears his throat, following his spiel with a mumble.

“That’s what I think. What about you, Miss Painter?”

Oh , you realize slowly. It’s more like, with every unique counterpart of Ayn I meet, the more I grow to love the Ayn I met in this world I consider home.

“I could leave, one day.”

You meet Ayn’s eyes, and you realize he’s just as scared as you are, just as confused, just as worried. He’s not once let go of you throughout all of this, and despite his words, you can tell he’s still anxious.

“I will not stop you,” he replies eventually. “You are your own person and not someone I can keep tied to me forever. But I— I will probably seek you out and ask for a reason. As long as I can hear it directly from you, and not some puppet, or some other person, I think I could accept it with time.”

He pulls your hand to his cheek, pressing his face into the palm of your hand.

“You’ve already given me enough happiness to last me a lifetime. These memories I have now are enough.”

The hand Ayn has pulled to cup his cheek suddenly starts pinching and stretching it.

“Ow—”

“What do you want? Ayn.”

Ayn purses his lips but meets your eyes honestly.

“I want to share a future with you. I love you so much that it scares me. I don’t want it to turn into the sort of love that binds and strangles. I don’t want to become like my dad, obsessing over safety and danger only, but sometimes I can understand him because whenever you disappear, I’m scared I'll be powerless to help. But I also want you to love me, only me; that sort of possessiveness... but I also don't want to take your freedom from you.”

Ayn falls silent for a long time, but not out of hesitance. He quietly basks in your presence here with him, and holds you in his arms in the present the two of you live in, for a few minutes.

You bury your face into his shoulder, holding onto Ayn frighteningly tight. Because it's not like you don't feel a similar paranoia. Fear. Your mind had been sent into a frenzy during the first white day the two of you spent together, when Ayn suddenly stopped replying and never showed up. And when Ayn had called you, only for you to hear the soft thud of someone falling and nothing else, you felt as though you had been plunged into an icy abyss and had to immediately find him to pull yourself out.

“I want to be someone who can stand by your side. I want to be a part of your story.”

“Ayn.”

“Yeah?”

“Ayn.”

“I’m here, Miss Painter.”

“Ayn.”

The clumsy boy in front of you smiles, normally sharp eyes softening at the corners in a way only you can see in this very moment.

He responds to your confessions of love in kind, murmuring your name.

“I think… for every world I visit, for each unique Ayn I see, I’m reminded of you and fall deeper in love with the you in front of me now. Even though it’s dangerous, and I’m terrified I’ll lose you because of my mistakes, I… also want you to come with me on my adventures because there have been so many wonderful experiences and sights that I hope to share with you.”

The countless figures blurred together in your dreams start to become clearer. Through the focusing lens, you see his silhouette as clear as day— as clear as the notes that had charmed you the very first day you walked into the music building, as clear as the world before you whenever you pick up a paintbrush.

It’s only in this unique world that these specific possibilities were grasped by the two of you. Who you are, and who he is, no matter what happened somewhere else in the universe— this is what has happened and is happening here and now.

“Ayn,” you say softly. “It’s a heavy burden, even when split between two people. It’ll hurt a lot.”

“It sounds like you’ve experienced a lot of pain,” Ayn replies simply. “So let me share it with you. At least we can complain about it together if it gets particularly annoying.”

You don’t really know about the other infinite amount of timelines, but you know in this one—

In this one, you’ve chosen Ayn and he’s chosen you.

end notes: this can kind of be taken as an indirect sequel of "still here" or at least i wrote it with this specific fic in mind

#ayn x reader #ayn alwyn #lovebrush chronicles #lovebrush ayn #lovebrush chronicles x reader

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qinluna · 11 days ago

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interpreting tarot for the possible future for l&ds and its story...

My baddie hunters unite… how are we all feeling after the Caleb update? (Me personally, unsettled.)

I felt the itch to do another tarot reading after doing one for Caleb [ one / two ] months ago and I am both shocked and thrilled to hear that my predictions had ended up becoming true, especially with Zayne being a guiding light to the conflict at the center of it all. Knowing that this story is taking a darker and mature tone (as it should be), I felt my third eye twitching with some possible theory as to what might happen next. Considering the heaviness of the cliffhanger left, and the fact that this is the first time MC has failed a mission… the next course is unpredictable and anything could happen to move the story forward. And—I wanted some insight on who the sixth love interest could be (even the slightest hint would help.)

This time it felt a bit more complicated, however, because I ended up actually doing two different card spreads—one for MC and one for our sixth leading man. And just like Caleb’s return, the reading ended up feeling heavier than I had expected it to be. Please be prepared for a long read ahead. Also, SPOILERS below the cut and in tags.

*Notes before proceeding: As per my previous tarot post: please take all of this with a grain of salt. I am not a professional tarot reader, and still consider myself a beginner (I started my tarot journey in 2023). I invest in tarot for my own personal means and spiritual benefit/practice, and I’m doing this for fun. I just like merging my special interests together, especially since Love & Deepspace has various themes surrounding spirituality, astrology, etc. tysm :3

MC’s Cards:

Three of Wands (Reversed) / King of Wands (Reversed) / Ace of Swords (Upright) / The World (Upright)

The 6th L/I’s Cards:

Temperance (Reversed) / Strength (Reversed) / The Devil (Reversed)

This is the first time I’ve felt that music has been a personal communicator in what aligns with these characters and their stories. I’ve had the Season 2 Arcane soundtrack on repeat for weeks on end ever since I finished watching it, and I have to admit that it takes a more solemn tone compared to what the first season brought. Despite Love & Deepspace being a game that centers on romance and creating an intimate relationship with the love interests offered, the deeper end of its lore and character myths are devastating and unfortunately continues to get more dire for its cast. The same can be said with any other franchise that does sci-fi fantasy, questioning who truly has power over catastrophes and defying godhood for any means.

I reference the Arcane soundtrack because a couple of songs from Season 2 stand out to me that are all too familiar to Caleb’s predicament. The Line by Twenty-One Pilots, Remember Me (incl. the intro) by d4vd, and What Have They Done To Us by Mako, Grey.

Caleb’s return to the forefront of everything has revealed to us, the audience, and MC that he is integral to what is the center conflict especially as it grows more powerful. It’s a heavy burden he bears, along with other distressing occurrences that have caused his PTSD. Though, this doesn’t excuse that he has done morally reprehensible things especially under the feat of wanting to protect somebody (MC) from all danger possible. Even if there is no real danger. Yet, Caleb is in a position that makes himself dangerous and most susceptible to hurting everyone around him.

So, what comes next?

MC’s card spread was initially the reading I did with the intention of finding some hints or insight into the sixth leading man. (For the sake of writing cohesively, I’ll be calling him ‘Six’ rather than constantly writing ‘the sixth love interest’ etc.)

But when we think about every single major event that MC has been through up to this point in the modern timeline—it’s genuinely too much. Our girl’s been running around in circles over and over again only to get very little information every time she gets to the point she needs to. Yet, she continues to operate the same as a Hunter. She’s confident, bold, and self-assured in everything she does, even in her interactions with our leading men.

Until it comes down to the tragedy of her childhood home and everything that was taken from her.

Skyhaven is the first time we’ve seen MC falter by a considerable amount because, of course, Caleb is alive? How? What? Why? And of course she feels inclined to embrace him, as he did her. To try and accept this reality despite the obvious ominous air surrounding him. (He’s not even giving her clear answers to very important questions she has surrounding his fate.)

MC’s first two cards, the 3 of Wands and the King of Wands—both reversed—call to the consequences of her failed mission. Due to her empathy for the young siblings, it pushed her to investigate their case, having said so herself she didn’t want what happened to her to happen to anyone else. It was risky, and undoubtedly, personal feelings were involved in her reasons for wanting to go to Skyhaven.

The Wands-suit cards in reverse share similar themes in highlighting her haste and recklessness in wanting to resolve a conflict as quickly and efficiently as she can. Even before she dives headfirst into this situation, she is asked (by Captain Jenna) if she is capable of handling whatever’s about to come her way.

Girl, she was not.

Her plans of efficiency and wanting to move forward even with the risks at hand were interrupted in every way possible due to the emotional heavyweight surrounding Caleb and learning of his true fate. This includes how Caleb is an important hand in the operations of Skyhaven’s darkness. MC’s internal strife regarding him interrupted her focus on the mission, even if she attempted to prioritize it again.

Now… this is where Ace of Swords and the World.

Ace of Swords is an interesting card that traditionally symbolizes hope and power in a breakthrough. It still holds that same meaning in this particular reading, but doesn’t stand out strongly. There is a lot that was thrown onto MC that’s left her temporarily blindsided. Swords suited cards center around intellect that often needs to be heightened, revisited, etc, and each card is unique in its own call to action.

I take this as a sign that moving forward, MC can no longer operate as a Hunter the way she normally does. The central conflict continues to grow with all these moving pieces she learns about—but due to this, she is acting brashly. The brashness comes as a result of feeling the need to solve everything right away. This mindset will no longer benefit MC, now knowing that Caleb is heavy-handed in this situation that is no longer a simple procedure of seek and destroy. Applying the meaning of the Ace of Swords to this—she needs to take greater responsibility with her power and come to a more leveled head before making her next move.

It wasn’t necessary for me to shuffle for a fourth card but it felt necessary to find something more conclusive. I’m literally worried for MC. (LMAO) So the World serves as reassurance, that there is a proper conclusion to the bumps in the road she’ll run into. But it is more important than anything that she shouldn’t underestimate the additional hurdles that are bound to come.

Alright, so our sixth love interest.

Instantly we are dealing with an entire spread of major arcana—all in reverse.

This is the part where it gets unpredictable because for a long time coming we had been anticipating Caleb to return. Now that he’s home… this new guy could be literally anyone. I won’t go into the details of theories or attempt to piece things together in this post, since I’m going off speculation and interpreting what I know.

To keep it simple, this collective of Major Arcana is overwhelming and heavy. Temperance and Strength are similar in their messages where they are asking for reevaluation after a heavy pushback. Yes, this does call back to the 3 of Wands and Ace of Swords for the MC. Remember how she was acting out after the house explosion and acted abrasively with Sylus?

We’re about to witness that again with Six. (A literal crash out, if you will.)

Even though it’s necessary for MC to take a breather before she does something, there’s a cloud of impatience for when she does end up running into Six. I imagine he’s going to be an overwhelming surprise—but he’s going to be the most helpful asset she’ll need to move forward. His entrance into her life won’t be accepted or given a warm welcome—and he’ll be met with the most hostility we’re about to see from MC.

The Devil in reverse… Whether she likes it or not though, she needs Six. More importantly, Six wants to help her. They’re both working towards similar goals, it’s just that he’s in a position that allows him more room to be more shameless about his approaches. But even he knows she can’t be shameless because with the mind she’ll have when they meet, it won’t work and she’ll attempt to once again do things on her own.

MC can actually learn a lot from Six. Despite the differences they’ll have, despite his complicated reputation, he is literally the last piece of the puzzle to start finding real answers that will help her. We can say he’s a Devilish figure, and it’s known well that making an agreement with the Devil means giving something in return.

(Sensing that godhood and worship are going to be important concepts at the center of the next major story update.)

It’s unsure of what Six wants from MC. (Maybe just her. Lololol.) But no matter what, he is genuine about his intentions to help her get what she wants.

#this took me 2 days to fully write and i couldn't shake off any of these thoughts at all #i am aware that for Final Farewell in Abyssal Chaos the topic of tarot cards does actually come up in Sylus' section #which brings me to believe the 6th l/i will be some kind of godlike figure (not Astra) in his myth #please if anyone else is versed in tarot or some kind of spirituality i would love to know your thoughts too #idk idk there's just so much in the air to think about and ponder #love and deepspace #love & deepspace #lads #lnds #l&ds

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yesimwriting · 1 year ago

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I support you in the tate interest bc I'm right there with you

Has he done crimes? Ya sure but look at him he's cute!

And I'm intrigued with your modern day fic idea if you wanna share 👀

a/n i love you for indulging me <3

also i will be the first to admit that i don't think i ever fully got what AHS apocolypse did to murder house?? like the time travel and new timeline? ig there's no more murder house??

idk i didn't love it so i'm leaving it out partially out of preference and partially out of being a little confused lol,, and i honestly don't want to get into all of that!!

and there's time in between the end of AHS murder house and AHS apocalypse so you can also imagine this is somewhere in there, where season 1 trauma is less fresh to all the characters but not season 8...if that makes sense??

anyways this made me so excited i decided to use this as my homework study break instead of the fic i was working on earlier

----

"And maggots crawl up their nose and eat their brains."

And just like that, I no longer have the luxury of letting whatever Kayla's into these days be just background noise. "Wait a minute..." She looks up from the large book laying in front of her, raising an eyebrow like she had been talking about something any seven-year-old girl could be into. Like brain eating maggots are no different than Barbies or baby dolls. "Maggots?"

"Mhm," she nods, sitting up a little straighter, "It's in my new book, I checked it out at the library."

Kayla lifts one end, giving me a way to check out the cover. 500 Weird Ways to Go. Ugh. Can't blame her, I blame the person raising her. I look away from the dining room table and glare at my mom who's searching through the boxes that have lived on the kitchen counter since we first walked in about a week ago.

"What?" My mom doesn't even have to look up to sense my disappointment. "It's educational, and you were into some weird stuff, too when you were seven." She pushes aside the box she's looking through in favor of the one next to it. "...Used to tell me how much bacteria a single roach could carry."

I set down my pencil. "Doesn't matter--Kayla's been having nightmares." The trig homework was frustrating before and I can't tell if this is worse. "It's not appropriate." She walks away from the boxes, giving me a chance to see the low cut, silky tank she's wearing. "And neither is that top if that's what you're wearing for the PTA meeting."

"Lighten up, sweetheart." I don't. She sighs, nails tapping against the counter. "Y'know you used to be fun."

"Yeah, well," I stand, picking up my school supplies, awkwardly forcing them all into my arms, "That was before some crazy lady forced me to move halfway across the country to live in some house that we shouldn't even be able to afford."

Her glossy lips fall apart in mock surprise, "I'm not crazy." She shakes her head once, "And I've told you...the financial stuff just worked, okay...so just relax and be a kid for once. Worry about decorating your room, or-or making friends, or throwing a rager and making me hate you."

I am so not in the mood for the you worry too much speech. "Lot of ways for me to make you hate me." Before she can respond, I reach over and steal the mug of coffee she had been drinking from. "Just saying."

I walk out of the kitchen, mug and school supplies all awkwardly balancing in my arms until I'm in what's supposed to be my room.

There's nothing wrong with the space. Actually, in another situation, I'm sure I could have really loved this space. The room has dark blue walls and wood arches that make it feel unique. It also came pre-furnished and everything feels like it fits. But none of it feels mine.

Maybe it's just the lack of unpacking...the boxes of posters and personal items pouring over the dresser and onto the floor...the suit case I'm still living out of. Or maybe the good qualities of the room are the issue. It's put together so perfectly I feel like I'm what's wrong with it. Like I'm intruding--a guest in someone else's room...someone else's house...someone else's life.

Sometimes when I can't sleep I imagine what it might've been. Some nights it even slips into my dreams. The story rarely stays the same...sometimes it's a teenage girl who wanted to be here even less than I do...other times I picture a little kid who grew up here...and sometimes I even think of this as some boy's room that relies on rock music and doesn't get along with his mom.

None of that matters, I guess. It's my room, obviously, and imagining who might have lived here before won't help me with my homework. I squeeze my eyes shut, rubbing my temple before turning my attention back to the real villain. Trigonometry.

I breeze through most of the questions as much as anyone can breeze through trigo until I'm on the last one. I'm stuck. I work on it again and again and it keeps being wrong.

I sigh, grabbing a pillow and using it to muffle my groan of frustration. How many times can I do what I'm supposed to do and still get it wrong? I pick up my eraser, knowing what I should do. I should just start over. Instead of dragging it across the page I throw it across the room.

Instead of smacking into the door and falling to the ground, the door pushes back. I sit up quicker than I thought possible.

"Warm welcome." The sarcasm comes from the stranger lingering way too comfortably in my doorway. His dark eyes scan the room before landing on me. He takes in my appearance openly, which I'm not used to, so I instinctually do the same. He seems like he's average height with blonde hair that's long enough to shag slightly and he's wearing an oversized sweater. "Cool room, by the way."

"Uh..." He's definitely lying, because all I've fully unpacked are a couple of books, a few pictures, my record player, and a single movie poster. "Thanks."

I'm not stupid. I know home intruders can be anyone, even cute boys that look like they're around your age and act casual enough to gaslight you into feeling like you're the weird one for not inviting them in. But if that's the goal, he's really good at it. I feel awkward and like I should be doing something to compensate.

"Sorry about the eraser." The words feel flat, almost shy. "That wasn't--wasn't about you--" Like I wouldn't have been well within my rights to throw something at someone who may or may not be breaking into my house. "That was...trig."

He nods once and I can't tell if it feels indifferent. I'm not sure why it matters. The stranger steps further into my room, his attention briefly focusing on the framed photo of a younger me and one of my best friends from back home. He's closer than a stranger should be now, close enough to lean over and look at my homework, which he does.

"Uh..." I sit up even straighter, a part of me wanting to grab my notebook and shield it even though that's irrational. There isn't anything he can get from it. "Who are you?"

The stranger holds my stare for a beat before answering, "I'm Tate." I nod, even though that does nothing for me. "I live around here."

Okay--that makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't be surprised if my mom ran into him on her way out and waved him down and told him to just let himself in and find her oldest daughter. Maybe this is an ambush attempt at getting me to make friends.

"Oh," I mumble like that explains everything, "Did my mom stop you?" The assumption feels like it could make me seem weird. I don't know why I feel like I'm the one that needs to come off as casual when he's the one that has less of a right to be here. "She invites people in sometimes, especially when she's new to a place." I scratch my knee to have something to physically do. "She never thinks anyone could be a murderer."

Oh my god?! Did I just accuse the only attractive guy I've met here of being a murderer? "Not that I think you're a murderer." I fight the urge to physically cringe. "--I um--I've been doing math for way longer than physically tolerable so my head's kinda mush right now."

"Explains why you divided wrong." Before I can ask what he's talking about, Tate places his finger against the bottom of the page. I look at what he's pointing at, some throwaway basic math...that I messed up. That's why it wasn't working.

"Oh?" I pick up my pencil and cross out my mistake so that I remember where to start over. "You totally saved my life." I rewrite the numbers so that I can actually solve the problem. "I'm Y/n, by the way."

Only halfway done with my math problem, I look up. He didn't ask for my name, which doesn't matter. Maybe he feels less comfortable in a stranger's room than he seems or maybe I've weirded him out and he has no intentions of speaking to me again. Not knowing is making my skin feel like it's crawling. It doesn't make sense for me to care.

I want him to like me. The realization burrows itself deep into my chest. It's an uncomfortable feeling, making it hard to just sit there and stare.

I've never considered myself someone that needs validation from guys, but this doesn't feel quite like that. School hasn't seemed too promising and every day I talk to my friends from home or I see their posts online and realize that they still have everything I did. I'm not mad about it or surprised--the world doesn't and shouldn't stop and start with me--but it hurts to suddenly have no one. And even though I know nothing about him, Tate's the first remotely cool seeming person I've met.

He waits a beat, eyes focused on a point that feels just past my head. I don't know why, but something about the silence feels pivotal. Tate then dips his chin downwards, a nod of acknowledgement. "Cool."

Tate takes a partial step forward, body angling itself towards the nightstand that I've been using for my record player. "This work?"

"Yeah," I turn myself so that I can watch him, "I know everything's online, but I like having physical copies." My nails press into my knee.

Tate reaches forward to mess with the volume dial. "What kind of music do you have?"

"A little of everything," I force my hand to relax, "But most of my vinyls are still being shipped."

His eyes briefly flit in my direction, "Got anything worth listening to?"

"Uh..." Is he implying that he's staying? Do I want him to? I'm lonely and kind of desperate for friends, but I should probably at least try to be a little suspicious. "We can listen to whatever you want on my..." I move a pillow and straighten my comforter in search of my, "Phone."

After a second of searching, I find it under my textbook.

"Anything?"

I unlock my phone, "Yeah, your pick, I owe you for the math thing."

Tate shrugs, "I just wanted to make sure you'd stop at the eraser, y'know, as a friend."

He gestures towards the door in a way that almost feels teasing. I can barely register the fact that he's kind of making fun of me because my mind's stuck on the last word. "We're friends?"

"You wanna be?"

The bluntness of the question surprises me more than it should. He's yet to feel particularly invested in social norms. "...Yeah." I scratch at the back of my wrist awkwardly. "That'd--that'd be cool."

Tate's head turns his head away for a second. He takes a step forward before sitting at the edge of my bed. The proximity nearly makes me jump out of my skin. I redirect my nervous energy into grabbing my homework and moving it to the other side of the bed. "You got any Kurt Cobain on there?"

----

a/n i accidentally developed the background way too much for something idek if i'm going to touch on again but i spent all day doing hw and deserved to give into a harmless impulse

might have to make a part 2/mini series bc what did i do all that for 😭 i lowkey wanted to add violet and reader friendship to add some angst so maybe that? idk

#ahs #ahs x reader #american horror story #american horror story x reader #american horror story murder house #american horror story murder house x reader #ahs murder house #ahs murder house x reader #tate langdon #tate langdon x reader

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rabbitcruiser · 4 days ago

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Ice Cream For Breakfast Day

Eating ice cream for breakfast is basically every little kid’s dream! Well, that and being able to have pizza for dinner every single night. But even for those who are no longer 8 years old, it is worth admitting that there’s certainly something fun and enticing about the idea of having a big ol’ bowl of ice cream first thing in the morning.

Since it takes three gallons of milk to make one gallon of ice cream, perhaps it’s simply like getting the kids to eat a bunch of milk in the morning (with a bit of sugar and other flavors as well)! So why not celebrate Ice Cream for Breakfast Day this year?

History of Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

Ice Cream for Breakfast Day was created in the 1960s by housewife Florence Rappaport from New York. The exact year of the day’s creation is unknown, but it is suspected that it could have been 1966, as an enormous blizzard had hit that year in the New York area–and this delightful little story hinges around cold and snowy weather.

The idea behind the day was simply that Florence’s 6 children were exceptionally bored one cold and snowy February morning. As a mom and social worker, she felt she needed to come up with something to entertain them so they wouldn’t get restless and cranky. As she herself explained years later, “It was cold and snowy and the kids were complaining that it was too cold to do anything. So I just said, ‘Let’s have ice cream for breakfast.’”

The following year, Florence’s six children, who had obviously enjoyed the new little holiday their mother had created, reminded her of it. So they celebrated again, and the day became a tradition in their family from then onward.

The day really caught on, too, as time went on. Thanks to Florence’s grandchildren, who have traveled extensively, the idea has been shared with others and the news has spread around the globe. Over the past 60 years, Ice Cream for Breakfast Day has grown to be celebrated in countries all over the world, from Germany to Nepal to as far as Namibia.

These worldwide celebrations range from small, family-style gatherings to large parties. Some of the celebrations have even been featured in the Chinese edition of Cosmopolitan magazine and local magazines or newspapers as well. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has done at least two pieces on Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, once in Hebrew, and once in English. And the day continues to be a popular one among English speakers in Jerusalem.

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day Timeline

500BC First ice cream-like food is eaten

Some sources trace the origins of ice cream back to Ancient Persia in the area that is known in modern times as Iran. This is probably more like a flavored ice where juice is poured over snow.

1649 Man is beheaded over ice cream recipe

The chef of Charles I of England makes an oath to never reveal the secret recipe for ice cream. Later, when King Charles finds out that his chef shared the recipe for ice cream with the public, he swiftly has the chef beheaded.

1843 Hand crank ice cream maker is patented

Nancy Johnson, an American from New York, invents and patents a much less labor intensive way to make ice cream using a hand crank and portable freezer that would keep the concoction cold for about 30 minutes.

1960s First Ice Cream for Breakfast Day is celebrated

Florence Rappaport from New York is stuck at home with her 6 children on a cold and snowy day. With a group of cranky children, it seems like something exciting should be in order to keep the kids happy. So Florence simply declares that it should be a day to have ice cream for breakfast!

2020 Huge Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day celebration in Israel

The people of Jerusalem have a particular fondness for this celebration and it is garnering support and attention over recent years. In 2020, the Jerusalem Post newspaper reports an expected celebration of more than 100,000 participants.

How to Celebrate Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

The celebration of Ice Cream for Breakfast Day has some pretty obvious instructions right in the title–simply enjoy ice cream for the morning meal! However, those who are looking for some other, more creative ideas, try out some of these for inspiration:

Enjoy Ice Cream for Breakfast with the Family

Seeing as how Ice Cream for Breakfast Day is the perfect day to not only enjoy a breakfast of cold sweetness but also to spend time with your family, what could possibly create a better atmosphere than the whole family sitting around the table together, talking, joking around and having a tasty bowl of ice cream?

Make Ice Cream Sundaes for Breakfast

To make the morning even more fun, why not make some special ice cream sundaes? Buy some Neapolitan ice cream, some real whipped cream, maraschino cherries and chocolate sauce, and arrange everything decoratively in some nice bowls. It might even be nice to buy some decorative wafers to make the sundaes even prettier.

Try an Ice Cream Alternative for Breakfast

However, for those who feel ice cream is a bit too high in fat or sugar for their family, don’t worry! There are plenty of alternatives, such as frozen yogurt, that many people enjoy making themselves and garnishing with fresh fruit.

This option will provide a family with the protein little bodies need to grow, as well as the kind of “good bacteria” the human bodies need in order for the digestive system to function properly. These bacteria are so good for the body, in fact, that they are often called “probiotics”, a word that literally means “for life”.

Try Making Ice Cream at Home

Of course, if ice cream is going to be used to eat for breakfast, then this project will need to be accomplished a day or two in advance! It’s a fun project for the family to make ice cream, and the results can be absolutely delicious. Plus, it might be a bit healthier too, since the list of ingredients is simple and includes no preservatives or artificial ingredients.

Ice cream recipes can vary wildly, but some of the best are super simple. Usually the list of ingredients will include heavy cream, whole milk, sugar, salt and a choice of flavoring. This is a fun time to get creative with flavors, whether sweet or savory, fruity or filled with chocolate.

Learn Fun Facts About Ice Cream

While enjoying the delicious flavors of Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, try out these ideas for trivia and facts that can help inspire interesting conversation:

The world record for the largest ice cream cone ever made was achieved in 2015 in Norway with a cone over three meters high. While it usually takes a whole 50 licks to get through one normal scoop of ice cream, this one would obviously require a much greater effort!

Ice cream headaches or “brain freezes” are the result of the nerve endings in the roof of your mouth sending a message to your brain regarding the very quick loss of heat!

In the UK, an individual on an average consumes 7 liters of ice cream in one year. However, Finland is ahead of the UK where a person consumes 14 liters of ice cream every year on average. But the country with the highest per capita consumption of ice cream is New Zealand with a whopping 28 liters per person per year.

According to NASA, ice cream is one of the three foods astronauts miss the most when they go on space missions. This is, of course, no surprise as it’s certainly one of the best foods on earth. The other two foods most missed by astronauts are pizza and soda.

Test Out Unique Flavors of Ice Cream for Breakfast

Perhaps some folks might feel that the idea of ice cream for breakfast seems a bit boring because eating yummy ice cream is something they tend to do each and every day! In this case, there are still opportunities to make the day just a bit more special by trying out some unique and interesting flavors of this delightful and delicious treat.

Skip over the regular chocolate or vanilla and check out some of the more unusual flavors that are out there, including avocado, garlic, azuki bean, jalapeno, and pumpkin. Or, for those who still want to channel that breakfast feeling, why not try out a variety of cereals as toppings for a bowl of ice cream and see how they taste? Try out Froot Loops, Cocoa Pebbles, Cap’n Crunch, Lucky Charms or some other favorite version.

Whatever way is decided upon to celebrate Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, don’t forget to spend this morning just enjoying the little things in life and appreciating the occasional day to do things a little differently.

But isn’t this the wrong date!?

There are actually two holidays that are very similar in name but they were founded for very different reasons. Today is not to be confused with Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day which takes place on the 18th of February in honor of the bright soul that was Malia Grace who passed away fighting cancer. That day was set up to honor all the children who have or are battling childhood cancer.

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day FAQs

Who invented Ice Cream for Breakfast Day?

Florence Rappaport was a mom and social worker from New York. In an effort to entertain her six children on a cold day in February, she announced that it should be “Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast” day.

Is ice cream good for breakfast?

While it does tend to have high sugar content, ice cream may still be good for breakfast. One study shows that the cold temperatures may help to have an awakening effect on the brain.

Does ice cream have calcium?

Depending on the brand eaten and the ingredients it is made from, ice cream usually contains some calcium naturally and may also be fortified with additional calcium. But if it is home made directly from milk, it is likely to have more

Where was the largest Ice Cream for Breakfast Day Celebration?

While it hasn’t been officially recorded, the biggest Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day celebration so far took place in Jerusalem in 2020 where it was reported that more than 100,000 people would participate.

When is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day?

This day that was formed as a holiday back in 1966 is celebrated on the first Saturday of February. A similar day, called “National Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day” was started in 2013 and is celebrated on February 18.

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plumbogs · 1 year ago

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ohoho i do have hcs for this. loosely based on existing implied lore and things i made up for fun (mostly ts2 era):

- The Goths and Landgraabs are generally at odds. Not nearly the level of Capp/Monty but there's still a sort of mutual dislike. Under Gunther the Goths did do a lot of property investment type stuff, but Mortimer toned that down a lot because that's not really his thing. The (theoretical because I imagine they're a larger family) Landgraab youths like to pretend there's still some kind of tension but the Goth kids could not care less (except for that time the bluewater village Malcolm asked Cassandra to a dance in high school and she gleefully turned him down publicly and it was embarassing). In contrast the Goths are literally just the small single family lines we see in the games.

- I am too attached to the Goths being immigrants to have them be super mega "here since the dawn of time" old money personally... like Gunther wasn't poor by any means in the Old Country and he did marry a Crumplebottom so it's not like they ever struggled but he did luck out majorly by being in the right place right time when Pleasantview/SimCity was found to be an ideal place to urbanize, which made them actually wealthy in the modern sense.

- Bonus: The Bachelors came into enough money that Bella and Michael had an easy enough life if they wanted to coast along, but nothing impressive. Bella became a Goth so it doesn't matter anyway, and Michael liked to flash it around (and winning over Dina before dying and making her realize he wasn't actually that rich, just had an inheritance and spent every last penny of it on luxury lifestyle)

- The Altos are still newer money. When Mortimer began selling off a lot of the Goth assets they basically went in like vultures. Less of a proper rivalry to the other families, more of an annoyance. Kinda assholes about it. Whatever.

- The Capps are super closed off and stick to themselves but they aren't necessarily outwardly aggressive (besides Tybalt). They generally don't mess with the other families besides the Montys. I hc them as have a lot of inter-family turmoil that they wouldn't dare let anyone else know about. They're good at keeping up appearances. Like none of the other families consider them close but it's almost given that if you're hosting some kind of highly important event you're inviting Consort and the crew.

- The Montys are involved in culinary and agriculture, so besides the farms and restaurants they don't really serve a threat to the other rich families. Beyond the Capps, of course. I know the mob comparisons are common with them but I've never really gotten that vibe beyond the fact that they're pretty tight-knit. They do get to use the restaurant to host just about any important rich people garbage the non-Capp families want to do, which sometimes gives the Capps something to be bothered about but they know better than to tell the other rich families to stop.

- The Crumplebottoms are essentially an ended family line by the time the TS2 timeline comes about, but they were definitely the oldest money of the whole group. Like, descended-from-fuedal-lords level.

- The Summerdream wealth is sort of like. Titania and Oberon are a sort of immortal to me and so of course they have a decent amount of money. They just move around a lot (in search of the drama usually) and don't really even know or care that they're particularly wealthy, they don't do much to expand it, they're just throwing their little parties and happen to never run out.

Have you ever wondered if the rich families in The Sims knew each other what kind of relationship they would have with each other? if they would do business?

Like the Landgraabs, the Altos, the Goths, Crumplebottoms, Capps, Montys, Summerdreams

Bonus: Vandermorgan (idk I always had this thought that Lyla's family is noble or something like that) ...and The DeBateau? (the DeBateu as "nouveau riche")

#i also only have a vague knowledge of how wealth works so don't come at me for not making sense #sorry for the essay OP i just love theorizing

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writingsfromhome · 4 years ago

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Water under the Bridge (Josslyn II)

A/N: Okay! Here it is!!!! This was fun and made my heart hurt a little but maybe I’m just being emotional. And can you guys believe it’s been over a year since I posted Josslyn?? Where has the time gone?? I don’t think we’re on the sacred timeline anymore........Anyway thank you anon who suggested this storyline, and hope y’all enjoy! <3

Josslyn (Original)

------

We’re going to have the best weekends evr, Regan texts me even though she’s just in the other room. Schedules were released for our summer semester and Regan and I had managed to get Fridays off. Summer was going to be so fun, and after two years doing college together we were experts at managing our workload to have fun on the weekends--even if that meant sacrificing a few nights’ sleep.

We’ll make summer our bitch, I text back. I hear a chuckle from her room.

Help me pick out a fit? she texts. I want to tell her Adam would love her in whatever, but I head to her room instead and watch her try on a dozen outfits before settling on the second. I tease her about Adam--they were going steady since first year, but she still got so nervous about him sometimes. Adam’s college was a train ride away so he would come down at least one weekend a month.

As for my own love life, there’d been no one steady. I did the whole hooking up and dating scene in first year but I was romantically burnt out by second. Nowadays, I could go home with someone if I chose to, but I also didn’t mind if I didn’t. My active endeavor to find a boyfriend had stopped when I realized I was trying to fill a gap. Instead, I was learning to be happy on my own.

“Are you sure I can’t convince you?” Regan asks. She was taking the train to Adam’s college and staying with him, there was this big start-of-summer party and she’d been trying to convince me for weeks.

“I don’t feel like being a third wheel,” I tell her honestly.

“You don’t have to!” She goes over her one argument again. “Gaelle’s roommate isn’t even back until next week so she has a spare room! She said you should come. Plus,” she ties her hair up, “it’s the weekend before the semester starts so have some fun.”

I make a noise, and she turns to look at me, totally judging me. It makes me laugh. “That’s why my version of fun is to.binge Netflix and-”

“Y/N!” She groans.

“Fine! I’ll go.”

Two words that would change everything.

***

By the time we get to the campus, Regan and I had come up with a dozen things we could potentially do this summer. I’m high on excitement as we meet up with Gaelle, and the three of us head to Adam’s place.

The sun is almost set by the time we leave, most of the sky is dark but a streak of orange stays stubbornly on the horizon. I pause to take pictures before we’re rushing off.

We approach the frat house--if you could call it that. It was half glass with a very modern structure. The greek symbol on the side of the house was the only indicator it wasn’t a millionaire’s summer-house.

“Since when did frat houses get so modern?” I ask. “This is...nice.”

“Wait ‘til you see inside,” Adam says. And he was right, even the drinks were fancier with their own guy behind the bar...although he was taking the occasional shot and getting progressively drunk.

We settle in an area close to the music and get swept up into the party atmosphere. Some people were beyond drunk already and I enjoyed the slight buzz of the drink in my hand. The views from inside with floor-to-ceiling windows were amazing.

Pretty soon, Adam and Regan break off. We move towards the centre of the party where the typical party shenanigans were happening. We tip back our drinks and pretty soon I’m straddling the line between tipsy and drunk. I find a cute boy with blonde hair and deep brown eyes and makeout with him until he gets too handsy.

“Ugh!” I give him one last shove and look for Gaelle but I’d lost her too. I search for a bathroom but they’re either occupied or have a lineup. This was a huge ass house, one of the bedrooms had to have one.

I open the first door to shouting.

“It’s called locking the door!” I shout drunkenly as I close it. The next room actually is locked, and the next one isn’t but I wish it was. “Eugh.”

I climb up to the topmost level, three doors--one was locked with the sound of people inside and the second is a bathroom. I was grateful people hadn’t made it up this far.

As I wash up, and touch up the mascara that was crusting under my eyes the door shakes as someone bangs on it from the other side.

“Dip! What the fuck are you doing in there? Everyone’s waiting for you!”

My heart pounds at the sudden noise and the deep voice demanding me to open up. The rush of adrenaline sobers me for a moment as I rush to open the door, “Sorry I didn’t realise anyone was...waiting.”

My words slow down and freeze altogether as I realise the fist banging on the door belonged to...him. Harry. He seems just as surprised as me, straightening up before a smile slowly inches across his face, it was almost sweet bordering on predatory. “Y/N!”

“Hi,” I say awkwardly. There was a lot of history and also not at all. I was also, I decide, too drunk for this. Act sober, this is not the night to run into this fucker.

“You-you’re the last person I was expecting to--excuse me it’s... good to see you! You look--you look as beautiful as ever!”

The events from high school that created this tense history between Harry and I was one of the worst things possible to happen to teenage Y/N. The thing is though, that I’d totally bounced back after I had decided he could fuck himself. Although it was awkward seeing him every day until graduation, it made me tougher. I credit it for making me so casual about relationships now...I stopped expecting so much of the boys I saw.

But leaving high school behind, my world expanded with college, I realised how childish it had all been: I’d had a fling with a player, and he’d played the field...It wasn’t that deep. But seeing him now, It made me aware in a way I wasn’t for a long time. Maybe what they said about distance had some merit. Or maybe I was just buzzed.

“Thanks...I wasn’t expecting you either.”

“You don’t uh, you don’t go here do you? I’ve never seen you around.”

“No,” I look out to the small hall but there’s no one there. The room that was previously locked is slightly ajar carrying male voices. “Adam goes here, I’m...with Regan.”

“Ah, Regan.” He smiles. “You’re still two peas in a pod?”

“Obviously,” The stiffness eases at the mention of my best friend. “So...can I get out of here?”

“Yeah sorry,” he moves aside so I can step into the hall. “Um, we’re playing video games in here room if you...you’re probably not interested.”

I clear my throat, Harry was playing video games when there was a party downstairs? I was curious, that maybe he changed.

“Oh,” he laughs and the dimples I adored make an appearance. “I’ve still got it! My frat just hosts too many parties for me to keep track.”

I guess I said that out loud, I bite my tongue but it really has a life of it’s own. “Did you jussay you still got it?” Oh my god, I was teasing him already. What about Harry made me absolute putty.

“Yeah,” he looks almost bashful. “Uhm, go easy I’m a little nervous here Y/N.”

I don’t know what to say to that, I bite my lip so nothing stupid comes out.

“So you’re just here for the night?” He carries on.

“Staying over with a friend,”

“A fr-” he cuts himself off, pressing his lips together. I realize I’m staring and look away.

“I should go-”

“Wait I-wait uh, how have you been? I haven’t seen you in years.”

“Yea,” I play with the rings on my fingers. “M’good, great. College’s a lot better than high school.”

“It’s not even comparable,” Harry says as he leans his shoulder against the wall. He looks perfectly placed there, and a tipsy voice flashes inappropriate thoughts into my head. “So...any...boyfriends?”

“Um,” that was direct. “No. No, I’m trying out being single...”

“Did something happen?” His expression is still casual but he holds himself rigid.

“No? A girl can’t be single?”

“Sure but someone like you...I’m just surprised.”

“Whatever that means,” I roll my eyes and head past him to go down but he blocks my way.

“Wait, I didn’t mean to offend you...” his voice dies out as I cross my arms. “I also didn’t mean to block you in.”

He steps aside and it feels painful to me but I take the small steps towards the staircase. One part of me--I blame the tipsy stupid part, wants to kiss him just to see if there was still something there, see if anything’s changed. The other was listing all the reasons this was an awful idea, to top it off he was a proven player, has broken my trust once before, and went to a school almost 2 hours from mine.

“Y/N,” Harry’s gruff voice says from behind me. My feet turn without permission and he’s right behind me. “M’sorry. Let me start over.”

I glance at his lips, damn. I can’t meet his eye suddenly. Oh god, I was still pretty tipsy. My mind short-circuits and all I can do is turn back to walk away, down the two sets of stairs, past sweaty bodies and loose limbs. In a great coincidence I bump into Gaelle in what looks like a game room.

“Harry goes here?” I ask--shout at her immediately. Her eyes widen, something passes over her face. “Was no one going to tell me he was going to be here?”

“I’m sorry!” She shouts. “I forgot you two had history!”

“I just wish I was prepared,” I say and she doesn’t hear, I just shake my head when she asks me to repeat. I needed another drink, and Regan. Maybe she could remind me why I stopped caring about him.

As I set off to find her, I’m reminded again how stupid this all was. High school was an ancient dream, we were all different people. I was a different person.

But even though what happened in high school was petty and juvenile, I remember how Harry made me feel. How it felt when we were together--even if it was a joke for him back then, I couldn’t forget the feeling of being seen. Of having arms to fall into, even if I knew they weren’t permanent.

“Regan!” I find her sitting on the dining table while Adam spoke with someone else. Her eyes alight and she waves me over. “I saw him! He...he goes here!”

“Who?” Confusion strings her brows together.

“Harry! From...you know Harry! He was upstairs! I--I didn’t know how to act.”

“Shit Harry! I forgot he went here!”

“You knew?” I throw my hands up.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal! He’s a dick but that was high school?”

“No I-” I sigh. “You’re supposed to tell me he’s still a dick! I saw him and it just got...complicated.”

Regan slides off the table and pulls me into a side hug, we can also hear each other better. “You’re a big kid now, do whatever you want Y/N. Tell him off, kiss his face, take revenge, who the fuck cares? We’re taking the train two hours home after this anyway!”

She had a point. But still...he couldn’t have changed much from the boy who hurt me.

“Adam hangs out with him sometimes,” Regan continues. “Apparently he’s not as bad as high school. He’s...mellowed out.”

“Unreal,” I roll my eyes. Adam was just covering for his friend. We hear a cheer go up behind us and Regan bulges her eyes as two guys help Adam up on his hands to do a keg stand.

Regan swears and heads back to him. I walk away, somehow feeling more and less confused after talking to Regan--do I go back up and see what this leftover emotion was, or ignore it as a drunken need for comfort?

But it’s like the decision is made for me when a hand wraps around my arm as I move from the dining area to the kitchen. I already know it’s him before I turn.

“Can we talk?” he asks. I nod and his grip loosens, slipping down into my palm. “Upstairs?” He motions to the staircase and we climb up the two flights. This time he leads me into one of the locked doors and although I’ve never been here, I’d been in some version of this room before. It’s familiar.

I ignore the ache when he lets go of my hand once we’re inside. I set my drink down on his desk and perch on the window ledge, it’s not big enough to sit on but has enough space for a few of his books and a speaker. His room’s pretty near, but then again Harry was never messy.

“So what do you want-” I start just as he says “Let me get this off my chest.”

“Go ahead,” I cross my arms before uncrossing them, and then crossing them again. With the way he ruffles his hair and crosses to the door and back, he seems just as nervous.

“You can leave at any time. I just want to say I was an asshole, I still kind of am sometimes. And I’m sorry for what I did to you. I know it’s like what--2 years late but all that with...Josslyn and all that...I’m sorry.”

Hearing her name makes me want to grind my teeth but I let the feeling pass. I reach for my drink instead to give me something to do. “It’s all water under the bridge.”

“Really?” Harry regards me suspiciously. “Because the way you were talking to me out there...”

“You’re just you,” I shrug. “Harry Styles, player and sweet-talker. I was just guarding myself against that.”

“Because of what happened between us?”

“No...maybe. I don’t know. But honestly, I’m not upset with you. It feels like an eternity ago. I guess it’s just self-preservation.”

“I guess,” he echoes. “So where does that leave us? If you’re all self-preserved?”

I eye him but he cracks a smile, he was teasing me. “It doesn’t have to leave us anywhere,” I snort. “We’re water under the bridge Harry...”

“My parents split,” he says suddenly and I’m reeling with the direction he’s taken. I open my mouth, and close it when nothing comes out. “Sorry, I know that’s random it’s just I never really talked to anyone about how they were rarely home and when they were they were always arguing a-and we spoke about it a lot. About our families so I just...”

“I’m sorry to hear that, do they still live in town?” I ask, wanting to put my hand on his or show him I cared but they stay glued to my drink.

“My mom moved into the city, it’s closer to her job and since I’m not living at home anymore it doesn’t really matter...”

“You still go home?” I ask.

“I don’t even know where home is?” He looks at me then, and the look in his eyes chips at the wall I’d been trying to build all night. Things had changed, for him.

“Are you--do you have someone to talk to?”

His laugh is dry, “They split last summer, convinced me to talk to some therapist. I don’t know if it really helped I think I’m actually better off. They’re better off and I just feel...free.”

I don’t know what to say to that so I stay quiet. He looks back up at me then, cracks his knuckles, before perching on his bed. “I’m just--sorry I’m not telling you that so you can feel sorry for me-”

“I don’t I just-”

“No it’s okay I just want to tell you that because you knew about that stuff. But I’m trying to tell you I’m not the same guy. Not completely, I’m just trying to tell you things changed and so have I.”

It echoes the same sentiment I had earlier in his conversation, and I remember Regan said he’s mellowed out. Maybe it was true. It still didn’t mean I was going to get together with him anytime soon but my heart hurts for him. I walk up to where he sits, he watches me with a steady gaze.

In the quiet, I hear the party going on outside the window, three floors below us. If I listen really carefully, I can hear sounds coming from the video game being played next door. In the stillness, I reach for Harry’s hand and he obliges, grasping mine.

“I wish I could...help you with the hurt. Not knowing where to call home is pretty shitty.”

“Don’t worry about me Y/N,” he pastes on his classic smile and I return one for his sake. It was getting heavy in here. “I’m just happy I got to talk to you. And I just found out you don’t hate me so...” he holds our intertwined hands and shakes it. “woo hoo!” I laugh as we let go.

“I guess I should go back to the party.”

“Yeah, okay. I won’t keep you.”

“Okay,” I’m a little stung he doesn’t suggest I stay a little longer. Maybe it was all in my head, maybe his intentions really were to make amends and that’s it. I pick my drink up from his windowsill and move to the door. I glance back before I go, he’s laying on his bed deep in thought, gazing up at the ceiling. I close the door behind me.

***

I wake the next morning, surprisingly well. I can’t say the same for Gaelle who’d passed me her keys at some point and told me she’d be home late. I spent the rest of the party trailing Regan until I decided I should just go crash. Harry hadn’t come out to find me, and I tried to hide the sour feeling, excusing myself early.

“Fuck me,” Gaelle croaks from her bed when I step into her open doorway.

“How about coffee, and pancakes?” I ask, returning the favor of being able to sleep here.

“I’ll take it,” she flops back into bed. I busy myself with measuring coffee and water, my thoughts occupied with everything Harry and I had been through since we last saw each other. I demonized him for so long, humanizing him is harder to swallow.

What he’d done to me was shitty, there was no denying. But had he really changed? And most importantly, why did I care so much? It’s not like he was the one.

My phone rings: Regan. She’s talking so fast I hardly hear her, only really understand that it was a party ritual to gather in the student centre the morning after a big party. Endless coffee and free food seemed to be the general consensus for a party cure.

“I don’t know if I can make it there,” Gaelle says when I tell her. “I was hoping for pancakes at home.”

“I already put the coffee on but I’m hauling your ass there if you’re not up in 5. Our train leaves after noon anyway and it’s closer to the college.”

Slowly but surely Gaelle emerges and we make our way, spotting Regan easily as the bright spot in a sea of college students in PJs and last night’s clothing. She’s the only one fully dressed, with a full face of makeup on.

“I didn’t drink that much,” she shrugs when we settle around her and Adam’s friends. “Unlike some people.” She looks pointedly at Adam who’s slumped where he sits. I remember the kegger and laugh.

Life soon flows back into the group around us as does the coffee and breakfast foods. I’m relaxed in the environment until I look down the tables to where Harry stands, looking back at me. He raises a hand and I do the same until an extremely tall angel--she was literally wearing a halo, probably from last night-walks up to him and wraps her hands around his waist. She says something to him and he tears his gaze away.

I look down at my cup immediately, my cheeks burning with humiliation. I’d been thinking about him all this time, thinking about how it might feel if I kissed him and of course he had a girlfriend. She never came up, but he never said he didn’t either. He didn’t make any moves on me yesterday, if I looked at it he only made an attempt to talk. Sure he was flirty but that was just Harry and I...I was a fool. I was such a fool. Things may have changed for him but he hadn’t. He was still the same Harry who chose Josslyn over me. He would always have a girlfriend, I was just the girl from his past who he could trust. I couldn’t say the same about him.

“What’s wrong,” my best friend nudges me. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I don’t know,” I look into her concerned eyes. “I’m just going to--I’ll be right back.”

I head out and find the closest washroom. The tears are instant and I let myself cry--out of frustration, humiliation, or some twisted sense of betrayal...it was all the same for me. I check the time, I just had to hold myself together and avoid Harry for another 2 hours before we were back on the train home. I would tell Regan everything then.

*** Three weeks later ***

“If Adam’s over later...” Regan trails off. She’s sprawled on my bed while I sit in my desk chair trying to read one more chapter before I close the books for the week.

“I have my earplugs ready and a second place to stay,” I roll my eyes. “I already told Kiara I might crash on her couch.”

“I owe you,” she jumps back up.

“You owe me like, 7 and a half.”

“7 and a half?”

I’m about to answer but a knock on our door has her racing out. I try to ignore the voices, I just had two more pages I had to get through--the joy of summer classes.

“Y/N?: Regan’s voice is a whisper. “We’re going now but...you have a guest. If you want me to kick his ass I totally can though.”

Standing behind her is Harry. I focus on him, yes it really was him. Why was he here?

“Harry?” I sound confused because I am. He’s wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans, and he’d traveled 2 hours just to get here.

“He wouldn’t leave me alone,” Adam says louder as they leave the room. “I’m sorry Y/N...”

“What is this?” I ask. My feelings are at war with each other, I was still feeling slighted by the last time we saw each other but seeing his face was also an exciting surprise.

“I wanted to see you,” Harry says nervously. He still stays at my bedroom door.

“You can come in...” I stand up and realize I was wearing an oversize t-shirt and the scruffiest PJ shorts I owned. “Phones have cameras now, you didn’t have to come all this way.”

He shrugs, taking one step in. “I liked seeing you in person last time. But I feel like we left it wrong.”

He knows I saw him, what conclusions I must have come to. It wouldn’t be that hard. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We talked it out.”

He comes to life, “Don’t play dumb Y/N I know you saw me with...I know what you thought and-”

“Did you really come all this way to explain that you had a girlfriend? Like, three weeks later?”

“No that’s the thing-”

“Because that’s kind of dumb. And unnecessary-”

“No listen!” He says a bit louder so I do. “The thing is she wasn’t my girlfriend...we’d hung out a few times but she saw me at the caf and got clingy. We’re not an item honestly, I can’t remember the last time I had a girlfriend-.”

“So why are you here?” My voice is higher than usual. I was confused, and upset, and I wanted him to leave. This was starting to sound like Josslyn part 2.

“You know why I’m here. Y/N I’ve been nothing but a dick to you and I know I don’t deserve you but I really like you. I want to clear the air, and ask you if you can see something here I...”

He trails off when he notices the tears trailing down my cheek. It’s just too much for me, as I finally face the emotions from that weekend. I’d shoved them aside after Regan had gotten onto the train worried her and Adam were headed towards a breakup. I’d put aside what happened and never thought about it. But my heart broke a little that morning.

I knew what I knew: maybe Harry and I weren’t good for each other but we were good with each other. In an attempt not to get hurt I’ve been distancing myself from romantic connections--I found more of myself in doing this, but a part of me was missing without exploring it.

Harry moved closer until we’re nearly touching. I wipe my tears with my shoulder and we stand still on the hardwood floors of my room. An eternity passes before he reaches out to wipe the tear caught in my lashes. I close my eyes to his touch, scared of how much I wanted it.

“Y/N,” my name is a breath on his lips and it makes my heart stutter. My eyes open in slow motion, seeing him so vulnerable right in front of me, and suddenly things speed up and we’re reaching for each other; two waves crashing until they become one.

***

I don’t know how much time had passed in minutes, Adam and Regan are still out but Harry and I had fallen together and crashed apart so many times that I’m dizzy with it.

“You’re wonderful,” he says as we face each other, our noses just nearly touching. He trails a finger down my cheek. “Just...incredible.”

I feel the flush spread through me, “Great vocab Styles. We’re really using the big words.”

“Words are sort of hard right now,” he grins. “My brain’s all mush.”

I laugh, “Not much different to its usual state!”

“I knew you were going to say that!” he tries to reach for me but I skip off the bed with a laugh. “Come back.”

“I have to pee,” I slip on pants and can’t stop grinning the whole time I’m away. When I come back in, the blissful smile on his face tells me everything I need to know. I climb over him but he stops me in place, a knee on either side of his hips.

“I’m happiest when I’m with you Y/N,” he says, his voice roughened with emotion. “I think I always was. Younger Harry liked to self-sabotage.”

I bend down and my hair slips around us. The way he looks at me makes my insides mush. And even though I have proof of why I shouldn’t trust him, he’s here. In my bed. Miles away from where he would be if he hadn’t traveled all this way to see me. And that means something.

“I’m glad you’ve done some growing,” I say to him quietly.

“I had to,” he says softly. “I couldn’t have you like I do now if I hadn’t.”

“I guess we’ve both grown,” I brush a curl from his forehead.

“I know, old Y/N would have punched me if I showed up unexpectedly.”

“Rightly so,” I grin. He smiles back, brushing my hair behind my ear, back over my shoulder. He props himself on his elbow to kiss the shoulder he’d bared. It’s simple, and sweet, but it’s enough to unravel me all over again. And he knows it.

“When does Regan get home?”

“We might have another half hour,” I grin.

“Let’s not waste it,” he mumbles into my skin.

I agree.

#harry styles #harry styles fanfic #harry styles x reader #series #harry styles series #harry styles fic #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff #harry styles imagine #writingsfromhome #college!harry #I think the idea of growing separately as a young adult #and coming together again as more mature versions of yourself is what #gets me #or maybe I'm emotional because I'm a year older soon #and it's got me thinking about being in your 20s #either way hope this is enjoyable #tag talk out #ps dont mind any inconsistencies i wrote this quick

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petalsmooth · 3 years ago

Text

Ok.

Let’s talk Lili.

First off we only know what stars put out about themselves or other people say about them. We are not friends with these people. We are not in their homes. We don’t usually hear what they say in unguarded conversation. What we know is what is out on social media with some highly distorted soundbites from chats or DM’s with her mother that were exposed.

We were initially presented a portrait pushed by her and her family no less of a middle class family with the standard girl next door hit it big narrative. Down to earth, relatable, somewhat quirky. Strong two parent supportive household. All that was missing were the apron and pearls.

This girl came out of the gates talking about a modernized Riverdale with two girls who would be actually close and not vying for the same redhead. Feel free to add/or correct along the way of course...especially early on when not following as closely.

We got very little in the way of insight into Cole and Lili because they were trying to keep it quiet even if there were hints together. Mostly during this period what fans were fed was that she was slightly awkward socially, maybe not the most intellectual but nice and harmless. She spoke of empowering women, independence, she constantly shut down the idea of Barchie and praised Bughead. Along through the year’s she would speak to social bullying or bullying in general. She would openly talk about struggles with mental health. She’d talk and show her cystic acne and share photos not all airbrushed in ode to body positivity. She’d talk about not having an hourglass figure, and cellulite and often go out in ratty shorts and a bun sans makeup. You see she’d talk about it then follow through by showing lived the walk or calling out photoshops done of her.

Again this is “relatable girl next door quirky Lili” we told was the REAL Lili.

She would frequently talk and post about her family and dogs at home and how much she loved and missed them...though oddly not so much her older sister.

At a certain point it became undeniable Cole and Lili were together to even the hardest deniers. Of course also the Met gala eventually made official for media.

We get have her liking posts such as Miley’s about how lucky she was to have a man who checked off all the boxes. But at times there were glimpses all wasn’t kosher. People have mentioned various cons where she’d be caught flirting somewhere else, or she’d be in a bad mood giving Cole a cold shoulder. We recently saw an old video of them walking and her basically demanding he drop the fans and attend her. We have the con were Camilla is sexually harassing Cole everywhere and Lili doesn’t shut it down until Camilla tries to grind on him. It was so bad even Mads intervened. We have the interview where she is talking over him or rolling her eyes and basically being the unprofessional brat her fans claim she is not. Even though it’s ON CAMERA. Snapping at your co worker/boyfriend and rolling your eyes during a professional interview is not deniable.

Flashforward to the trip to Italy because for me there was always something off about that. That trip was obviously planned far in advance. Clearly Lili was supposed to be there. Her fans quickly blamed Cole because Lili was working. Lili didn’t have to work. It wasn’t a career changing move to do that film. It did not do well. I’m not entirely sure what was happening around that time but I have the sense Cole was disappointed/a little angry she prioritized it over him accepting very likely the offer AFTER the trip was planned.

Lili spirals during this time. Cole comes back to clean up mess. They are quiet on social media for a long time then slowly emerge again and eventually get the photo booth shots, the wedding and her mingling with NY friends for once. Turns out close to the end for them.

I don’t want to make this a Sprousehart post though although some relevance to bring part of it up. The point is Lili put her career over her relationship. It was a calculated decision. It was also the wrong decision. Her fans talk about her being this warm giving person but that was a cynical call and a pretty lousy thing to do to your boyfriend of several year’s. I’m all for supportive partners but there are time’s where you make sacrifices if you really care for someone and this was a special trip planned long in advance. She blew it off. If I’m the partner she does this too, I question why I’m putting in the effort if it doesn’t mean to them what it means to me.

TBH I think the bad choices she made there is why tried to make it up by meeting with his friends, the wedding etc...

Something than clearly happened because by January they were done. Not sure we’ll ever know but it looked like they were trying to fix things given the happiness hadn’t seen on Cole’s faces in a long time in those booth pics and then...it was done. We didn’t know at the time, but this is timeline Cole gave. There was a brief attempt at reconciliation where she babysits him at a photo shoot and posts a photo of them in bed and then shortly after...Cole calls it off.

He heads to LA, she follows him there but not without making sure to shove Casey’s face into her chest to post and rent a place close to where he is staying. She posts weepy messages about the world ending etc....and weird new photos mimicking old shoots with him so naturally people think this means whatever happened they worked through. Around same time she and hers manipulated her fans to try to cancel him earlier because she misunderstood a picture of Kaia....although flat out if he had been with Kaia he was SINGLE and it was no longer her business.

She tries to walk back the firestorm she unleashed on him by “defending” him from a lesser twitter trend after realizing misconstrued the Kaia picture, All summer she weirdly seems to be trying to avoid the topic if they are together or not despite saying once if they weren’t she’d tell people. She finally puts her foot in her mouth one two many times' and Cole confirms they broke up which she doesn’t acknowledge. Because she doesn’t want to be broken up.

As we know know it wasn’t all rainbows on the set even before all this happened as in the musical she’d launched an object at him hard enough to have the crew concerned. Lili fans keep saying Cole is abusive but the only evidence we have of abuse is her towards him. We also had her suddenly doing a 180 from past 4 year’s and excusing cheating with Archie and promoting everyone in her live recaps except Cole/Jughead.

Back to the events following Cole’s post....then we get a sudden string of interviews taking shots at Cole, doxxing him, implying he could have strayed (just to resurrect hate against him) but can’t say he actually did because she has no proof. We know this because in those chats admit it was just suspicion and paranoia and never did have any names.

We learn that Lili has been funneling news and gossip and photos to keep her mother’s hold on the fandom in check and her mother in turn has been bullying people who would stand on Cole’s side. They sought to ruin him. This is not debatable.

For year’s people had made fun and called Bree out for being an obsessive stalker unable to let a relationship go, then Lili starts doing the same. We know she has tried to copy Ari’s style, her mother made a snide comment about breast size, Lili tried to taunt Ari from on set and Ari shut her down. A girl who almost never was in the line of sight of paps suddenly is snapped everyday following break up even before the public new. That doesn’t just happen. She wanted the attention.

I’m not going to go into all of it, you all know it. Suffice to say revealing she has a bitter vindictive attitude she has submersed herself in ever since Cole made it clear no reunion. She won’t even broach the topic of Bughead/Jughead unless forced. You can spin all you like but the split screens was not an artistic choice by RD. It was spurred by need to keep them apart.

Lili last summer was doing precious little other than a post or two of Black Lives matter and then when Cole gets arrested suddenly she jumps on the me too and sets up impulsive lives. Maybe she meant well but a part of me thinks she did it to attract his attention. Notice once she got praise for it and the initial protests faded she more or less doesn’t bring it up anymore. Cole never intended to get attention, it just happened because he’s a star and got taken in to a jail cell. He never put himself on camera for notice.

Lili also co-opts the murder of a girl to flaunt she thinks she looks good naked. Completely tone deaf.

Lili very rarely is seen in fan photos, only usually when she’s getting flack for it online. She, a girl who talks about bullying, went on a midnight tirade against a guy who dares to critique or poetry setting her fans on him. Then deleted it probably because publicist in her ear.

She first said poems not about Cole, than said you could read into what you wanted to sell them. Now she doesn’t want to talk poetry or sequels because it flopped and was critically panned.

There are constant rumors about Lili on sets of productions to point they even had someone on her newer movie try to downplay. Yet we see in a video the cast barely talking and looking tense on a boat.

The girl who used to talk about body positivity now lets them airbrush abs onto her.

The girl who used to talk of therapy and mental illness now promotes OTC supplements for $ and cults.

If she mentions cellulite she uses other tik toks of people showing not her own.

She said she would never be on tik tok, yet now has her own and post old videos that aren’t funny.

Lili once tired to attack Cole by talking about losing yourself in drugs or alcohol or sex yet we’ve seen her drug paraphernalia because she advertises. Her friends post and laugh over her being drunk. She was in an off and on relationship with Wallis that doesn’t seem to be about anything but sex.

We were told Coles friends are bad influences but Taylor is out there solicitating questionable clients and making videos slamming LILI’S COWORKER as a bad actor and his brother,

The majority of Lili’s posts no longer feature Sunny or her family/Addy.

She insulted Vancouver, compared to a prison, and made it clear her creature comforts were of more importance than a pandemic. Not quite the attitude of an empath. Which she claims she is with intention to be a master which require sucking more gullible people into the cult.

She brags about being a “rich man” without understand the context. She went from artistic photos to modeling pinups to fuel her lack of self esteem.

She’s in her mid 20′s, claims she had grown and matured in the last year but there is no evidence of it. Still can’t work with her ex without buffers which still influences show direction though her fans deny.. Still lives off junk food and hangovers. Those glasses aren’t just for sun. Her timeline is mostly an ode to her vanity with pictures of herself and then her dog. She doesn’t seem to have any causes she’s deeply involved in on the side apart from her cult. She’s still stalking Cole as her impulsive makeup tutorial showed. She said she cut out of her life anyone who doesn’t service her. I highly doubt she is receiving quality therapy on the regular right now. She still does not seem to possess the ability to own her mistakes and apologize when warranted, rather deflects or erases when heat becomes too hot.

The content she puts out about herself post break up is very different than the bill of goods fans were sold before. She is a far cry from that quirky girl next door that stood FOR something more than vanity and shallow affirmation. So no, I don’t see what you see in her stans. Everything that once seemed to distinguish her from other spoilt princesses has long faded.

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literallymechanical · 3 years ago

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Book Recommendations? Book Recommendations!

This is the list of books I've read during the pandemic, and let me tell you, I am doing all sorts of decision paralysis on what I should read next. If any of y'all vibe with these, do you have anything you'd recommend? Other than the obvious sequels. Ideally nothing too YA-ish, right now.

In reverse chronological order: Skyward, Ancillary Justice, A Desolation Called Peace, A Memory Called Empire, Spinning Silver, Empress of Forever, Red Mars, The Priory Of The Orange Tree, This Is How You Lose The Time War, Harrow the Ninth, Gideon the Ninth, Rhythm of War, Dawnshard, The Ruin of Angels, and Four Roads Cross. I've put a little review of each of them under the cut!

Skyward, by Brandon Sanderson, 2018. Your usual story about an outcast, misunderstood teenage girl finding an injured dragon and nursing it back to health, except instead of a dragon it's a starfighter spaceship. Really solid YA scifi with Sanderson's trademark meticulous worldbuilding. An enjoyable read, though much lighter than his usual epic fantasy.

Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie, 2013. Honestly, I didn't enjoy this one. It was pitched as a queer science fiction space opera, but the "queer" bit was gimmicky and falls apart if you think about it, I didn't find the characters interesting, and the plot didn't even try to hide that it was just a list of checkboxes. Felt like a YA novel that refused to admit it. This is the only book on this list that I personally wouldn't recommend. But all my friends seemed to enjoy it, so I might be the odd one out here.

A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkadiy Martine, 2019 and 2021. The first two books in what will presumably be a trilogy, and the best stories I've read in a long time. Twisty political thrillers wrapped up in gorgeous science fiction, and by FAR my favorite books on this list. Vibrant characters with nuanced relationships, scifi worldbuilding that is frankly breathtaking, a captivating story, and an all-around delight to read. Language, identity, colonialism/imperialism, and cultural assimilation are tackled through the lens of scifi. In my opinion, this is what science fiction should be. Also there are lesbians. Above every other book here I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE ONES. Martine seriously earned her Hugo Award.

Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik, 2018. Folklore-fantasy about three young women — the daughter of a jewish moneylender, a poor peasant girl from an abusive home, and the daughter of a nobleman who wants to marry her to the Tsar — caught up in a conflict between the Faerie realms, the human world, and something much more sinister than either. Highly recommend, especially if you're jewish.

Empress of Forever, by Max Gladstone, 2019. A fantastical science fiction breakneck-pace adventure romp that puts its foot on the gas in Chapter 2 and doesn't let up. It's also quite explicitly a genderbent retelling of the classic Chinese epic Journey to the West, with more lesbians this time. This book has all kinds of energy, extremely fun characters with more depth than you'd expect, and some bonkers high-concept SF. Highly recommend if you like swashbuckling found-family adventure stories, and wlw romance.

Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson, 1992. Every book, movie, and TV show about colonizing Mars since Red Mars was written owes pretty much everything to this book. It can be a bit dense if you're not up for lengthy (but gorgeous!) descriptions of Martian landscapes, and there are one or two bits where you just have to keep in mind that it was the 90's and this was quite progressive for its day. That being said, I am a sucker for a two-page description of a martian sunset. If crunchy hard-science fiction thrillers (emphasis on the "science") are your thing, I recommend this one. I'll read the sequels (Blue Mars and Green Mars) at some point.

The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon, 2019. The prose and plot read like classic high fantasy, but with a modern eye towards character-driven storytelling. It's not often that you get something that feels so classic and so modern at the same time. Scratches that Lord of the Rings itch, with Queens and dragons and glorious heroes, but queer romance and a heavy focus on character development makes this a modern fantasy classic. Highly recommend if you like doorstopper-length high fantasy, and lesbians.

This Is How You Lose The Time War, by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar, 2019. A novella, you can read it in a couple of days — or a single marathon sitting, if you get into it. Gladstone (same author as Empress of Forever) and El-Mohtar take turns writing letters back and forth from time-traveling spies of rival timelines: Red works for the post-singularity mechanical Agency, and Blue fights for the Garden, a post-solarpunk biofuture. Their letters start out as taunts, and gradually change in tone as each develops a grudging respect for her rival. That rivalry blossoms — or compiles — into something deeper. It's emotional and raw, and it cartwheels merrily down the tightrope of fantasy, science fiction, and poetry. Highly recommend, though the flowery prose and gleeful disregard for explaining itself to the audience might be off-putting for some.

Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, 2019 and 2020. I'll let the pull quote from on the cover of Gideon from Charles Stross' review describe these: "Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space! Decadent nobles vie to serve the deathless emperor! Skeletons!" This one is horrifying, and it's funny, but I wouldn't call it comedy-horror. It kind of defies genre, outside the very broadest scope of "science fantasy." Read it if you like lots of gore, graphic violence, madcap humor, and extremely unhealthy, codependent, dysfunctional relationships that are always on the verge of self-destructing into multiple-homicide. Highly recommend.

Rhythm of War and Dawnshard, by Brandon Sanderson, 2020. Rhythm of War is book 4 of the Stormlight Archives, one of several epic fantasy series by Brandon Sanderson. Dawnshard is a novella set between books 3 and 4. This is the same author as Skyward, but intended for a more mature audience. Stormlight is definitely my favorite epic fantasy series, and I've read a lot of epic fantasy. These books have some extremely interesting takes on racism, mental illness, trauma, disability, identity, family, and regret, far more so than pretty much any other high fantasy I've read. The first book is The Way of Kings, and if you like bigass doorstopper multi-book fantasy series, The Stormlight Archives should be at the top of your list.

Four Roads Cross and The Ruin of Angels, by Max Gladstone, 2016 and 2017. While Empress of Forever and Time War were standalone novels, these are books 5 and 6 in Gladstone's Craft Sequence, and they are absolutely brilliant. This is a world where about sixty years ago, humankind went to war with the Gods, and the Gods lost. "Magic" in this world is more or less synonymous with "legal contracts," where you can literally sell your soul to your student loan company and resurrecting a dead god is basically bankruptcy restructuring. "Necromancer" is roughly synonymous with "lawyer." The first five books can be read more-or-less out of order, but I recommend you start with Three Parts Dead. Gladstone is probably my favorite author these days. Everything he writes feel like it could be a poem. Also, once again, lesbians.

I am really not sure why about 2/3 of these books are about lesbians. Like seriously, I went into almost all of these books completely cold. The only ones where I knew ahead of time to expect lesbians were the Locked Tomb books, and The Priory of the Orange Tree. I don't know if this is just because a lot of modern scifi and fantasy has lesbians, or if all my friends who recommend me books are queer, or if it's just a coincidence, but hey, I'm not complaining.

#books

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wickedpact · 3 years ago

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A ranking of all the TTT stories in order of how much I liked them.

(Oh god this is so long)

1 My Mother's Axe

BABY ANDYYYYYYYYYYYY. Honestly this one had the trifecta of developing a character's motivations, developing a character's backstory, & developing their personality. The story starting out with Andy teaching Nile to use the axe was so charming and fun, and you could feel that chemistry they had in Opening Fire, the way they teased and bickered with each other so naturally. I loved the wedge between them on the subject of the axe, how Nile was perhaps a little too young to understand Andy's feelings about whether or not its the 'same' axe. I also love how the axe is obviously the symbol of the franchise and hugely important, but you never get a sense of exactly how important it is to Andy until you read the story.

I love the entire Ship of Theseus theme, and how it feels so natural that for Andy she has to get attached to the idea of things rather than the things themselves because she'll always outlive the things themselves-- the axe is symbolically her mom's axe, even if physically it isn't. And I love how she clearly clings to that concept so tightly. "This is the labrys she held in her hands...." IT GETS ME.

And the fact that this sense of BELONGING, of FAMILY, of CULTURE is so important to Andy that she clings to it (figuratively and literally) with both hands. And of course it's important to her, she spent so long alone that the woman doesn't even remember her birth name. That axe (or the idea of that axe) is all she has left of her mother and that family/culture she was born into.

PLUS on that note I love how Andy doesn't remember if her mom was her actual biological mother, but it doesn't matter to her. This woman was her mother in all the ways that counted. And how her mom BETRAYED AND KILLED Andy but Andy loved her so much that she avenged her and carried her axe for thousands of years. THOUSANDS OF YEARS!!!!!!

I also loved how the story transcends the timeline of the whole franchise and seeing Andy through the years. Loved seeing her with the varying squads and with varying axes. Also baby Andy was so cute. It was cool seeing her so young. like holy fuck. Andromache The Scythian, Immortal Warrior (but smol). Love that.

Also I think this one is one of the few ttt stories that doesn't suffer from length problems.

tldr: goddammit greg you've done it again.

2 Zanzibar and Other Harbors

Zanzibar my beloved. I've said before, but it's downright comedic how little regard there was for Joe and Nicky's character designs in this story. The same person who does the colors for the regular comic did the colors for this one too, and you can tell, every panel of this story was Beautiful.

Ik there was A Lot of criticism of this one (lmao @ how the fandom had no idea what was to come) but I thought a lot of The Discourse was a bit dramatic. I did think Nicky came off as a little oblivious to Joe's feelings in this story, but I've said before, I honestly think that was a 'tone not translating' thing. It felt like Nicky was nagging Joe for [checks notes] saving innocent people, but Joe was so amused by Nicky's complaints I really do think it was supposed to come off as teasing.

Plus I know the 'Joe running off into danger and Nicky reluctantly following' dynamic wasn't popular (I'm a pretty meh on it meself) but I did love how Joe's impulsiveness (if you want to call it that) was interpreted as heroism and not hot-hotheadedness. All of the examples Nicky and Joe talked about included Joe explicitly saving people. (and it also took A Lot for the nazi to actually provoke Joe).

I also feel like their characterization here was closest to the movie canon-- the bit where they hear the woman scream and Joe goes running in to save her while Nicky swoops in on Joe's heels to comfort her while Joe and the nazi were fighting reminds me of the train car scene. Joe had suggested First that they go find Nile because she needed to be protected, and Nicky later added that Nile probably also needed emotional support. Similar reactions.

But it was So Good, the themes of queer community and the enduring nature of queer culture are Not themes you see in media that often and it was such a delight how it was done. Also it's one of the few more modern TTT stories that has a completely valid excuse for taking place when it did. Chef's kiss.

3 Passchendaele

I love the Duality between seeing baby Andy and then seeing Mama Andy in the very next issue. This story doesn't have a ton of meat to it, but the entire concept of Andy adopting a war orphan straight off the battlefield PLUCKS MY TENDER LITTLE HEARTSTRINGS, and I think it's especially poignant for comic!Andy. I think most people wouldn't think twice about movie!Andy doing something like that but comic Andy is so hardened and almost cruel sometimes, and seeing that even for her the world hasn't beaten all of the compassion from her yet is SO!!!!!!! this woman contains MULTITUDES okay, she's violent and angry and tired and Done but she's also so kind and compassionate and THE STRENGTH OF HER!!!!! Also the idea of her and Yitzhak co-raising a kid together is so damn cute. It was #mysterious pre-Yitzhak-story but now it's cute. holy fuck. It's cute.

& the headbonk panel of her and Zeus lives in my heart. anyways.

4 Many Happy Returns

I Know people weren't thrilled about Booker being in this one, but I've developed a pet-peeve about that: this story was *not* booker-centric. Booker only exists in this story to the extent required to explain the importance of the gesture Nile makes towards him. If there was a story about Booker making some grand gesture of kindness to Nile no one would be saying it was Nile-centric. bc it wouldn't be! Booker exists in this story to explore Nile's kindness, its not about him. I saw that a couple times and it bothered me. anyways.

AAAAAAAAAA I loved this one, the art was beautiful, I loved how Andy Nile and Booker were drawn (like their comic selves but.. more looking like actual people). I loved Andy and Nile's Bants, how Andy wanted to jump right in and Do Violence but Nile was basically telling her to hold her horses.

I feel like I'm just repeating the post I made on this story a few days ago, but I LOVED how Nile's plan revolves not around violence or Cool Mercenary Skills but on Nile's own life skills (as she canonly did a lot of minimum wage job-hopping before the marines in comics canon). Her plan used her skills, not the skills of an immortal warrior, and HER SKILLS were in fact more useful for the situation! lov to see Nile's resourcefulness and planning skills.

AND HOW NILE WAS PROBABLY WATCHING BOOKER??? it's so Much bc 1.) nile knew booker A SINGLE DAY and yet he made such an impression on her emotionally that she had to keep an eye on him and 2.) she said in the movie she wanted Booker to get off free with an apology. Yes she's a member of the team but that doesn't mean she's necessarily going to follow orders like a good little soldier. I also love how she convinced Andy to go along with it. her HEART, her KINDNESS, her THOUGHTFULNESS, UGH.

5 The Bear

Honestly I have like no negative things to say about this one other than a.) character design issues which is less about the story itself and is more of a 'tog comic in general' criticism and b.) too short, but it was supposed to be a tease, so.

But I loved Yitzhak, I wasn't expecting to really like him at all but like I said in my other post, he tickled me. I love characters who are Kind™, especially if they have little reason to be so given their backgrounds. Chef's kiss. Lov him.

6 Bonsai Shokunin

I know this one was a little controversial bc of the outsider POV but whenever I see people upset about that they never point out that the Outsider Guy (the samurai) existed as a reflection on Noriko. His ideas are explained in the text to develop hers. The whole story follows how she gave mercy to a scared young man and in response he murdered Noriko, repeatedly! Who gave him the right to inflict such pain and suffering on the world? In his opinion, the lack of response from the gods was his permission. And for Noriko-- over and over again she dies and suffers because she gave mercy, which lines up with her ideas in FM about how it's their fate to rule mortals and if they don't align with that plan/fate/whatever then they suffer. It shows some background to those ideas and how they developed in her mind outside of Ocean Madness™. Additionally, his idea of 'the Gods have done nothing to strike me down so it's fine if I do these things' kind of explains how Noriko may justify her own morally corrupt actions-- she's died so many times and it's never stuck. Maybe if she did die any of those times, or while she was in the water, maybe that would've been a sign she was doing something right, or at least doing something normal. But she hasn't died. Fate isn't done with Noriko yet. And maybe there's a reason for that. In her mind, it's just not a very pleasant reason, is all.

There were things I was kind of meh about tho. I did kind of wish we saw something of Noriko and the team, or smth explaining the way she was before her dip in the pool-- personality, likes dislikes, etc. but it wasn't bad or anything. It was super vague tho, I had to read it a few times before I got what it was going for. Liked the art. Liked the bonsai metaphor. And of course I Respect the decision to use the 1300s (1200s? I don't remember off the top of my head) rather than using the last 200 years.

7 Strong Medicine

Honestly looking back, this one made me kind of sad because both this one and Bonsai Shokunin explored character's ideas on Fate and The Divine and how that intersects with immortality and I totally thought that theme would be continued, especially with Love Letters. But Then It Wasn't™.

Admittedly.... I had to re-read this one to remember most of it. I liked Booker's ideas on God, 'The conductor of the symphony just may not be very good at his trade' but the plot itself was kind of forgettable. Some fuckin cowboys try to kill a doctor (their second) because he couldn't save their sickly brother. Book tries to stop them, gets killed, and then comes back and kills them all before they get the doctor. Alright. I liked the artstyle because the characters were ugly in a similar way that leandro's are, but way more bearable.

I love the Irony of Booker concluding that there is no such thing as fate or destiny and nothing has meaning, AS HE UNKNOWINGLY SAVES MERRICK'S GRANDFATHER FROM BEING KILLED. Booker getting fucked over by life/god/destiny yet again. It also kind of explains about where the fuck hell Merrick's interest in immortal mercenaries even came from.

I originally had this one a lot higher and then I thought about it and moved it down like two spots.

8 Never Gets Old

I liked seeing Booker interact with his kid. And we got a name for the kid! Philippe was a little bitch though, he was a little obnoxious. I liked how Booker was so thrilled to experience a restaurant with his kid (and since we know he was there before, it can be assumed he went with all of his kids and yet he was so charmed each time). It fits with his line to Nicky in the moon landing story about how you don't appreciate beautiful things 'unless you have someone to share them with'. It was charming to see Booker interact with his kid, and to see him so happy. Also lmao @ Booker's big fat Ye Olde Crush on Andy.

However at the same time it was like.. of all the things to write about,,, I guess? Booker's Night Out...... alright. Especially since Book had so many stories.

I don't know, it was alright. The old man killing him really came out of nowhere, (but the 'Salut, asshole!' panel was funny tho).

9 How To Make a Ghost Town

I've hit a point where talking about these stories has gotten less fun. I liked this one but I felt like Achilles getting lynched was not really necessary for a story that was already tragic (a story that already involved Achilles doing a lot of suffering at the hand of bigots). When we first got the blurb for this story I thought it would be about Andy returning to the squad and making friends with Booker after losing Achilles and them butting heads on the idea of family and when to cut off ties. So a little bit of my underwhelmedness about this one might be just my expectations being different.

Honestly I was pretty interested in Andy and Achilles' relationship and I would've liked to see more of them-- like, what was their dynamic like? What did they love about each other?

But anyways Andy leaving and Achilles getting killed anyways feels so pointlessly tragic (which I suppose is the point..... I don't like tragedies) she left to save him and yet people killed him anyway. Meh.

I did love the bits about Andy wanting to have a domestic life (Andy and her multitudes again) and the little detail about how she buried her axe near the road but he buried his guns under his bed-- he was an escaped slave, he never had the luxury of assuredness like Andy did. It was a sad story.

10 Lacus Solitudinis

'You put this one above love letters crim??? how could you???' easy, lmao.

There was stuff in this one I liked. But to talk about stuff I didn't like: (I'll keep it brief, I know ragging on this story has been done time and time again)

UH, setting aside the 6 year cold shoulder between Joe and Nicky, I thought their chosen method of conflict resolution was... bad at best. Nicky's inability to talk about his feelings was also annoying, especially since the entire point of this story is a fight Joe and Nicky had, and yet we don't get both sides to the story, which is...... important? That fact is especially annoying bc in the absence of Nicky explaining his side of the story, it's absolutely a possible (and admittedly probably unintentional) interpretation of the text that we do get that Joe routinely resolves conflict between him and Nicky by simply cutting Nicky out of his life entirely until Nicky just. caves? Even if it takes years?

WHICH i could get into that interpretation and how fucked up i find it. but im not going to. out of restraint.

I don't know, I think there are a lot of interesting ways to go about this conflict but 'Nicky wants to kill a guy and Joe refuses to acknowledge his existence until he stops because he thinks Nicky is too much of a Good Boy to get his hands dirty like that' ('I wont watch as the world turns his (...) compassion into something ugly'. ) wasn't.. how I would've done it. (I mean you know Joe doesn't give a shit about what Nicky is doing in a moral way, because Joe doesn't even care or mention that Booker is killing those cops too. Joe only cares because he doesn't like the idea of Nicky changing in a way he finds undesirable.)

admittedly I've said before, I do like the emphasis Joe's reaction puts on Nicky's kindness. Joe has a complete inability to cope with Nicky simply Not Being Kind. It speaks to the steadiness of Nicky's compassion all those years. but still that fact doesn't make it the conflict feel worth it

hm. I said I would be brief and I wasn't.

oh well. basically I thought there was interesting conflict potential there but it wasn't done the way I would've liked, and the way it was done leaves a lot of disturbing (and again probably unintended) interpretations to lie.

What I did like? Andy and Joe having that pessimist/optimist dynamic. Joe nerding out about science. Andy not being impressed by The Achievements Of Man. I loved Booker needling at Nicky about his outdated slang and also trying to give him Older Brother advice practically in the same breath. I loved Booker giving The Worst relationship advice ever and Nicky being like 'I Will Not Do That, Ever, Thanks.' the family vibes were so good. The Joenicky vibes left a lot to be desired tho.

11 Love Letters

I talked about my problems with Nicky in this story (and Lacus Solitudinis). I don't know, the story isn't bad but I do hold a little bit of a grudge towards it because its very existence begs the existence of a solo Joe story and we didn't get one. If we never got this story, then we could happily count Lacus Solitudinis and Zanzibar as The Joenicky Stories™ and move on with our lives. sigh.

I remember when we first got the blurb for this story I was really curious about why Nicky specifically + the setting, and the answer kind of feels like 'the author had an idea for a story like this and saw ttt as a good enough place to utilize that idea'. Plus I was really underwhelmed by the Romantic Sentiment in the letter. If you look at it line-by-line, the majority of the letter is actually Nicky talking about how lonely and disturbed he is, rather than actual,, yknow,,, Romantic Sentiment. I mean, compare the van speech and this letter and this letter is just kind of meh in comparison. I liked nicky calling joe wise! and I liked the brief sun/moon metaphor! and otherwise it was eh. It didn't even have cute squad banter, which is why Lacus Solitudinis is above this one.

12 An Old Soul

Nun orgy. Nun orgy?????? Nun orgy.......

The whole story felt like a setup to have a nun orgy. Why did Booker have abs? Why did they do that to Andy's nose? ?????? the art was good at least.

nun orgy.

#tales through time spoilers #obviously #long post #seriously dont open that read more unless youre committed to scrolling past all these Words

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forerussake · 2 years ago

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rules: post the names of all the files in your wip folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have wips.

i was tagged by the wonderful @thedaughterofshadows tnx!!! <3

i’m tagging: @aredhel-of-doylkien @scaredysap @psychic-waffles @phantomhydeoftheopera @youngks-smile @cute-rocks @stupid-lemon-eater @pangzi @enjaami @omaenanimonoda @lynne-monstr @morifiinwe @elenothar if you feel like it. idk if yall all write xD

unfortunately mine is also going to be very boring, bc the file names of my WIP files are generally just the fandom name + character name + WIP or sth along those lines. also my WIP files (several ones for different fandoms) sadly contain many things I started such a long time ago that i do not think I will ever go back to them, for the simple reason that my writing has evolved and the styles would not fit together anymore, but here goes nothing :D putting it under a read more bc it got long...

1. DMBJ gnc Wu Xie fic : pretty much what it says on the tin. post-tltr wu xie exploring some gender stuff he wasn’t ready for before

2. Cheng Xinyan fic : Guardian, obviously. This one is set after the scene where sw gets soaked kneeling in the rain to get the annoying doctor to fix zyl’s eyes. sw goes to see his old uni buddy afterwards bc he needs some tlc. the whole thing is an exploration of their relationship and shared history, as well as sw’s emotional state in the present.

3. Guardian fic - A hand within a hand (holding light) : i’m working on chapter 6 atm. fic is an exploration of various oc povs of sw throughout the guardian timeline. the current chapter follows my oc chen anjing, who is a dixingren single mother living in haixing with her young son, who both have a history with hei pao shi that takes a lot of effort to get past.

4. Student Shen Wei fic : this one might get scrapped bc the intended plot is very similar to what i ended up doing in chapter 4 of the fic above this one, only with prof. Zhou in place of my oc :/

5. MDZS murder mystery : i have every intention of getting to this one one day but damn if it isn’t too complicated for me. it’s a murder mystery fic surrounding the death of a young boy in a village on the border between lanling and qinghe. lan xichen, jiang cheng and a bunch of ocs set out to solve the murder, and in the process they unearth a bunch of lxc’s old trauma he thought he’d worked through. the whole thing is told in flashback, from the post-canon perspective of nie huaisang who is the only one still alive who knows what actually happened those days and what lxc and jc did not manage to figure out.

6. SHL modern au : a ballet/dancer au of word of honour. not much to say about it honestly.

7. Immovable rock x desert dust fic : QZGS fic also known as the immovable rock amnesia fic. tells a story about a weird forest, an eldritch being with immense power, and the avatars who get caught in the web of fate.

8. Life Extinguisher fic : QZGS fic, about what would happen if someone devised a weapon that could fry LE’s mechanical box in battle. so basically LE getting electrocuted. great fun xD

9. Vaccaria x Troubling rain fic : an exploration of vaccaria’s power as the magician and the reason he wears his eyepatch. (hint: there’s chaos in his soul that only good pk can calm)

10. Shishen bond fic : YYM-DOE fic, explores the nature of the shishen bond, and what it actually entails to give a spirit guardian an order, especially one they do not want to follow. set post-canon, focuses on snow hound’s recovery after the serpent battle.

11. Tryptich WIP : YYM-DOE fic, also known as the Metaphorical Serpent Modern AU. it’s a modern au centred around killing stone. the basic premise is that the serpent of the movie is not a real entity but rather a metaphor for our personal demons. it’s a very heavy story about the mental health of all its characters that loosely follows canon, in which qingming is not a yin yang master but a psychiatrist, and the shishen are not qingming’s spirit guardians but his patients.

12. YYM fanfic - what’s in a name? : fic exploring the meaning behind the various shishen’s names.

13. LotR the disadvantages of kingship : Thranduil takes up the crown after his father’s death, in the middle of a raging war. this one is so old, it’s probably the first fic i ever started writing, because it literally came to me in a dream when i was 13, and it never got finished. bc i was 13.

14. the time before time : a Silm fanfic that chronicles (pun intended) the time before time. from the birth of the ainur in the timeless halls up until the creation of arda. probably the second fic i ever tried to write. didn’t go anywhere even though i had like 11 chapters planned.

15. Feanor wip : about fëanor’s mental state after the burning of the ships

16. ecthelion wip : about the crossing of the ice, the founding of gondolin, and how ecthelion became the lord of the fountain.

17. And miles to go (before i sleep) : fic about finarfin’s return. i would love to finish this bc it was important to me, but i cannot say for sure i ever will.

18. celebrimbor wip : about celebrimbor disowning (i guess) his father after doriath.

19. fingolfin wip : from the start of dagor bragollach until his duel with and death at the hands of morgoth, told from both his and fingon’s perspective.

#tagged #writing #my writing

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birdsareblooming · 4 years ago

Text

Infinite is connected to Solaris

This is gonna be a long one, strap in.

Infinite, Infinite, Infinite. The most recent in-game villain, and the most powerful in recent history as well. Despite being only around 3 years old, he’s become extremely popular. and half of that is because of the song.

Mephiles, Iblis, and Solaris. Villains over 10 years old that haven’t been used since their original game appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Or... have they?

Now I want to say before all of this, this all could be coincidences, me being delusional, or something otherwise. It is ONLY a theory, but for something as crazy as I’m claiming I need to preface with this for my own sanity.

But i’m gonna cut the bullshit. You’re here to see how I am going to bs my way to saying that Infinite the Jackal is connected to a dead god from what is regarded as the worst Sonic game.

And, like most of these, I need to start with some house cleaning, some things you need to understand.

1. Time Eater is Mephiles

You might have seen me meme about this before...

...But yeah that’s exactly the situation.

I had theorized this before I knew Ian Flynn thought the same thing. Their identical color-schemes, almost identical aesthetic, and completely identical power-set.

Even the name Time-Eater, that was Mephiles, and Solaris’s goal. To eat time.

2. Ifrit is Iblis

Now i’m going to assume you have two questions

If Time Eater is Mephiles, than where’s his counterpart, Iblis?

Who the fuck is Ifrit

Long and Short,

But, more importantly,

Ifrit is what caused Silver’s Future post Sonic 06.

Ifirit was their retcon for keeping Silver’s future the way it is (even though they defeat it at the end of sonic rivals 2, causing the future to not be that way, hence why Silver was 3 conflicting backstories. Thanks guys.)

So, when it comes to fire demon that destroys the world and causes the future that Silver the hedgehog lives in, that’s a good amount of evidence already, especially with the preface that Mephiles is alive in the form of Time-Eater. If Mephiles was reborn, why wouldn’t also Iblis? and Ifirit is so uncannily similar theres no other candidate.

also, might I add:

(thanks @zorloser)

For you who don’t know, Ifrit’s story ended being re-trapped in it’s pocket dimension with Eggman Nega.

3. The Phantom Ruby

The Phantom Ruby... Oh, the Phantom Ruby.

A very new addition to Sonic, and yet very important. It was the leading mcguffin of two games, and is made out to be very powerful.

yes I know that’s a lot up there, but you need to understand the Phantom Ruby to fully understand this theory.

It’s also very important that Eggman didn’t create the Phantom Ruby as he claims. He created Infinite, not the stone attached to him. Despite there being prototypes, which does confuse me, but from what info we’re given from the wiki the Phantom Ruby seems to have come from Classic Sonic’s universe, even retreating there after the events of Forces. This is also confirmed in Episode Shadow:

Although, Eggman did name it, seemingly on a whim.

~Tangent Time~

Despite being CALLED a Ruby by Eggman, the Phantom Ruby doesn't LOOK like a ruby, despite being magenta.

Rubies CAN be dark even to the point of being Black, but never connected. They’re usually just one shade.

(And don’t you dare say “The chaos emeralds don’t look like emeralds bc they’re not green. They’re all TECHNICALLY emeralds, they’re part of the beryl family, and even if only green beryls are called emeralds, they are all the exact shades of beryl.)

But what the Phantom Ruby DOES look like, is obsidian.

note this for later.

4. Infinite

For those who don’t fully know Infinite’s backstory, it’s expanded upon on the wiki and Rise of Infinite

Now that we’re all on the same page, lets continue to him now.

Lovingly referred to as the “Masked Clown.” Infinite goes about the entirety of Sonic Forces revealing nothing of himself, the only things we know about him are from Episode Shadow and Rise of Infinite. We don’t even see his real face in-game.

Although we have enough to know that his personality changed post Phantom Ruby, it’s even mentioned on the Wiki. Although how much of that change was spurred on by being beat up by a 15 year old, we’ll probably never know.

Although his goal has always been the same. Starting the planet over as a desolate wasteland. What a fun dude to be around. Probably the life of the party.

5. Connections

(i’m using Mephiles and Time-Eater intermittently, same with Iblis and Ifrit.)

Alright, now we’re all on the same page. Let’s move on.

I’m going to play a game we’ve played before. I’m going to name something about Infinite or the Phantom Ruby, and add something that’s eerily simmilar to Solaris (Mephiles + Iblis)

All of this Info can be found on the Sonic Wiki

Phantom Ruby: -It is an interdimensional gemstone of incredible power- Ifrit: It is an interdimensional, demonic fire-creature of incredible power- (wow those are, the same description huh)

Infinite: -After Infinite's fusion with the finalized Phantom Ruby prototype, he acquired the ability to generate, destroy, and manipulate virtual realities, which he could turn into virtual reality projections to interact with reality.[32] Said virtual realities are illusions, which Infinite creates by exercising control of one's visual and depth perception by feeding the brain false information- Ifrit: -Described as capable of binding one's soul, the Ifrit can enslave others with powerful mind control powers.- -Ifrit, which manages to use some kind of mind control on Sonic and/or Tails (or Knuckles and/or Rouge, depending on which team the player is controlling), but is defeated by the other teams, and is destroyed.-

Infinite: -Infinite's newfound strength proved so great that he was able to effortlessly defeat figures like E-123 Omega and Silver the Hedgehog, and ultimately best even Sonic the Hedgehog twice. He was even able to single-handedly overwhelm the entire Resistance army during Operation Big Wave. His power was such that not even the Miles Electric was able to give an accurate reading of his capabilities.[31] Time Eater: -the Time Eater has demonstrated immense super strength; even in its incomplete form, it easily knocked Modern Sonic and Classic Sonic unconscious with a single hit. After being completed, the Time Eater was able to effortlessly repel both Classic and Modern Sonic's and knock them out using brute force alone-

Phantom Ruby: Its powers can also warp the fabric of space-time,[1] allowing it to create pocket dimensions such as Egg Reverie Zone and Null Space, as well as teleport entities from place to place. When used alongside the Chaos Emeralds' time-space powers, it transported Classic Sonic and itself to another dimension, and later sucked Dr. Eggman into a rift- Time Eater: Its signature skill however, is creating "Time Holes",[8] spacial rifts that lead to any point across time and space, including alternate timelines and across different dimensions.

Infinite: When everything you know has come and gone (You are at your lowest, I am rising higher) Only scars remain of who I was (What I find in the ashes, you lose in the fire) When there's no one left to carry on (This is an illusion, open up your eyes and...) This pain persists, I can't resist But that's what it takes to be infinite Solaris: -Much like his two halves, Iblis and Mephiles, Solaris is immortal and virtually indestructible.- -As a transcendent life form, Solaris possesses a unique state of existence that lets him exist in the past, present and future simultaneously, making him omnipresent throughout time and virtually impossible to defeat unless he is attacked simultaneously in all eras-

Possible reach:

Phantom Ruby:

Solaris:

(I’m refering to the odd red-stone in the middle, also that the wings somewhat resemble Infinite’s sword.)

~Tangent Time~

remember the first tangent? Where I meantioned that the Phantom “Ruby” looked more like obsidian than a ruby?

Well someone else looks like a certain type of obsidian, Snowflake Obsidian to be exact:

Alright Reaching time over.

Now you might have noticed that the Ifrit-Infinite connections seemed to fit just a bit more-Maybe it was just me- even down to the Phantom Ruby and Ifrit’s OPENING DESCRIPTION being almost copy/paste, which i’m still amazed at.

This get’s to the next part of my theory.

6. Where are they (Mephiles/Iblis) now?

Welcome to~ where are they now!

Mephiles, or Time-Eater, So far is undocumented. It’s said they were “Destoryed” at the end of Sonic Generations, but for all we know it was just the machine additions, and Mephiles was “destoryed” over 10 years ago and he started kicking again.

Iblis, or Ifrit, was locked in it’s own pocket dimention along with Nega, and hasn’t been seen since...or have they?

haha that’s a callback! Do you remember the beginning of this post or is it too mindbogglingly long for your brain to comprehend in one sitting?

7. The Phantom Ruby is Iblis/Ifrit

let’s talk about the power set of the Phantom Ruby. Interdimentional, very powerful, capable of some kind of mind fuckery.

Ifrit is, Interdimentional, very powerful, capable of some kind of mind fuckery, immortal and is constantly on fire,

You may be wondering about this “Fire” thing. “Solaris was a sun god and infinite has no connection-” WRONG!

sorry that was forceful.

Infinite used a very specific and strange method to destroy the planet. He made an illusion of the sun, and set it on the planet. Out of all the methods, and interesting choice to be sure. But not for a sun god.

also: “What I find in the ashes, you lose in the fire”

“What are you saying you dumb bitch?” You might be thinking. First of all, rude, second of all, I’m saying that the power inside the Phantom Ruby IS Iblis/Ifrit, hence their connection.

Before I get to timeline and other stuff, some minor things:

The decision to have Infinite take on specifically Silver, and showing Silver being able to withstand a fight against him for a good amount of time, as well as giving them a minor repertoire, which no other seemingly “unconnected” Resistance Fighters get.

the name “Infinite” fitting the naming scheme if “Iblis and Ifrit” and you know how this franchise is about naming schemes.

Now, where we last left Ifrit he was trapped in a pocket dimension with Nega.

Where we first find the Phantom Ruby is “In Sonic Mania, the Phantom Ruby appeared on Angel Island after a dimensional breach occurred in the atmosphere.” (via sonic wiki)

Now, it is kinda hard to connect those two lines, but the dimensional causation is there.

(I could add an ENTIRE subsection of me trying to connected Mephiles to the time-traveling nature of Little Planet, therefore connecting Solaris to Classic Sonic’s world ((and “fun is infinite)) but this theory doesn’t need to be any longer and I cannot physically do any more research.)

it’s possible Ifrit would be trapped, Mephiles was trapped in the Scepter of Darkness, so it’s more possible than impossible.

But, Imma be fully honest with you guys, Most of this is because of the song.

If you haven’t heard “Infinite”, What is wrong with you. Go listen to it. Oh my god.

But, some of the lyrics, don’t totally make sense knowing Infinite’s backstory. But it makes more sense seeing through the lens of the added Ifrit influence.

“And after all this time you're back for more“ (If talking about Shadow, it wasn’t a “long time” inbetween Infinite’s defeat and his rise. And Infinite has no stated relationship with Sonic. However, Solaris and subsequently, Iblis, do.) “When everything you know has come and gone“ “But that's what it takes to be infinite“

Even the name “Infinite.”

He chose that name after fusing to the Phantom Ruby and “ABAndoNiNg hIS pAsT SeLf”

But, the Phantom Ruby has no connotations of immortality. None specified. it’s possible it’s power could be used to trick the user into immortality, but it’s never specified. You’d think he’d be called “Phantom” or, even, “Zero” (his working-and possibly true-name) But no. Infinite.

Now, think back to the connections earlier, and the info I took from Solaris’s wiki.

“Omnipresent throughout time and space”

Sounds pretty “Infinite” to me.

Am I saying Infinite is the new Iblis Trigger? Yes.

Ok my fingers hurt from writing this sorry it’s so long

bye

#infinite the jackal #solaris #mephiles the dark #iblis #ifrit #theory #sonic theory

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rabbitcruiser · 1 year ago

Text

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day

History of Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day Timeline

500BC First ice cream-like food is eaten

Some sources trace the origins of ice cream back to Ancient Persia in the area that is known in modern times as Iran. This is probably more like a flavored ice where juice is poured over snow.

1649 Man is beheaded over ice cream recipe

1843 Hand crank ice cream maker is patented

1960s First Ice Cream for Breakfast Day is celebrated

2020 Huge Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day celebration in Israel

How to Celebrate Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

Enjoy Ice Cream for Breakfast with the Family

Make Ice Cream Sundaes for Breakfast

Try an Ice Cream Alternative for Breakfast

Try Making Ice Cream at Home

Learn Fun Facts About Ice Cream

While enjoying the delicious flavors of Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, try out these ideas for trivia and facts that can help inspire interesting conversation:

Ice cream headaches or “brain freezes” are the result of the nerve endings in the roof of your mouth sending a message to your brain regarding the very quick loss of heat!

Test Out Unique Flavors of Ice Cream for Breakfast

But isn’t this the wrong date!?

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day FAQs

Who invented Ice Cream for Breakfast Day?

Is ice cream good for breakfast?

While it does tend to have high sugar content, ice cream may still be good for breakfast. One study shows that the cold temperatures may help to have an awakening effect on the brain.

Does ice cream have calcium?

Where was the largest Ice Cream for Breakfast Day Celebration?

When is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day?

Source

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today-only-happens-once · 4 years ago

Text

(un)claimed

Title: unclaimed

Summary: Virgil is a demigod. The good news is that he is not alone. A Percy-Jackson!AU fic. Platonic/found-family DRLAMP dynamics.

Word Count: 4217

Warnings: some violence and weapons, Greek mythology, passing mention of curses, feelings of anxiety, some self-doubt and self-deprecation, parent issues (of course, it’s a pjo!AU), no Side is a bad guy but there’s some tension between Remus and Roman, I play a little loose with PJO timeline stuff woops, Janus has done some light antagonizing of the gods.

A/N: Honestly, it should surprise nobody that I wrote this. Heh. Just for fun to release the happy chemical in my brain. Not that deep or involved. Just a light little diddy. <3 Hope you enjoy! Edited by yours truly so all mistakes are mine. No tags because it’s a fandom-specific AU, not because I don’t love y’all. <3

///

“See that tree on the hill?”

Virgil quirks an eyebrow at the boy beside him, taking in his bright orange t-shirt and the three beads on his leather necklace. He has what Virgil would swear was snake scales across the left side of his face. Janus, he had said his name was. (Like the god? Virgil had asked. No relation. Not unless Athena has some explaining to do, the boy had told him with a wry smile as if that was somehow supposed to make sense.)

He’d met Janus four hours ago in New York in Central Park after a very weird encounter with a cyclops. Though if he’s being honest, the cyclops had only been the most recent run-in with vicious creatures out of his mother’s old Greek myth anthology. He’d been ducking and dodging and outrunning them for nearly a year at this point. Janus had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, sliced the cyclops with a dagger and it vanished in a puff of gold dust.

Then Janus told him he knew a safe place to go. Perhaps he was an idiot, but Virgil had followed without much objection. The idea of a place that was safe was nearly too good to be true, but Janus had just dusted a cyclops. And Virgil figured there was at least some power in numbers, if nothing else.

Virgil follows where the other boy is pointing and sees a tall pine tree at the top of the steep hill. He nods.

“Go there. You’ll see a camp in the valley. Chiron will explain.”

“Chiron?”

“Yes. Activities director. You can trust him.”

“You’re not coming too?” Virgil looks at the boy beside him again. Janus is looking in the opposite direction of the tree back the way they’d come and he yanks the dagger out of his belt.

Janus’s mouth twitches. “We’ve got company. I will hold them off. The border is protected. You’ll be safe once you cross the tree line.”

Alarmed, Virgil looks over his shoulder and sees a winged creature in the distance. It looks almost a like a bat, if a bat could be the size of a human person. “What is that?!”

Janus gives a slight shove to Virgil’s shoulder. “Run, Virgil!”

“I can’t leave you behind—”

Janus mutters something that sounds foreign, and yet Virgil understands it. A curse word in… was that ancient Greek? Virgil isn’t given time to process it before Janus grabs Virgil’s arm and takes off at a sprint up the hill. Virgil stumbles but he manages to keep his feet under him as he takes off at a run for the looming pine. As they get closer, Virgil chances a glance over his shoulder. The winged creature is maybe twenty yards away. It’ll be on them any second.

Janus whistles sharply. “Hey! We got incoming!”

Seemingly out of nowhere, three other kids appear from near the tree. One of them notches an arrow in an honest-to-gods bow. He aims, then releases. Virgil watches, stunned, as the blow strikes true and the winged creature vanishes in a puff of gold dust that gets caught in the breeze.

Virgil rests his hands on his knees as he catches his breath. Janus, beside him, is breathing hard as well but he nods to the kid with the bow and arrow.

“Nice shot,” Virgil tells him.

The kid looks to be maybe a year older than Virgil, and is wearing a t-shirt that matches Janus’s. He’s also got a necklace of beads, though his has five of them. Virgil realizes that some of them match Janus’s, plus a few more. He slings the bow across his back and flashes Virgil a bright grin.

“Thanks! I’m Sloane.” He extends his hand.

“Virgil.” He shakes the kid’s hand.

Sloane nods to the other two kids that had materializes near him. One of them is a girl that looks a little younger than Virgil, maybe 14, with dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. The other is a guy in a backwards baseball cap and a plaid shirt over the orange tee that looks about Sloane’s age. His necklace only has one bead on it.

“This is Valerie,” Sloane introduces. “She’s from Cabin 10. And this is Kai. He’s from Cabin 9.”

“Sloane,” Janus interrupts. “Where’s Chiron?”

Sloane jerks his head down the hill. “In the Big House with the lead counselors.”

Virgil watches Janus’s brow furrow. “Seems unusual. Did something happen?”

Valerie sighs. “Kind of. Dionysus gave one of his kids a quest. Counselors are meeting about the prophecy to see who is going.”

Janus’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Which one?”

“Jack. The prophecy mentions a death. That never bodes well, and kids aren’t exactly lining up to work for Mr. D.”

Janus hums thoughtfully, his eyes trailing over the crest of the hill. Virgil watches as he shoves the knife into his belt. Kai cocks his head slightly, studying Virgil closely. Then, he looks at Janus. “Has he been claimed?”

Virgil frowns. “Claimed?”

“No,” Janus tells Kai, then looks to Virgil. “Follow me. I’ll explain as we walk.”

Janus nods to the other three and Virgil follows him down to the valley below. From this vantage point, Virgil sees the cabins Janus has been talking about, forming something like a horseshoe shape. In front of it is a large building that Virgil assumes is the ‘Big House’ that Sloane had mentioned. He sees other buildings and structures, but decides to wait to ask about them.

People mill around, most of them wearing the orange t-shirt that has a winged horse and the words Camp Half-Blood printed on them. When they notice Virgil, most of them throw a curious glance to Janus. Janus doesn’t even seem to notice.

“Welcome to Camp Half-Blood,” Janus says as they walk. “It’s one of the few safe spaces left for demigods like us.”

“Wait,” Virgil says, certain that he heard Janus incorrectly. “Demigod?”

Janus glances at him. “Hm. I gather you really don’t know very much. Yes, demigod. Half-god, half-mortal.”

“And you think I’m one of these, uh, half-bloods?” Virgil shakes his head. “Listen, I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”

Janus looks almost amused now, an eyebrow arching almost like a challenge. “You couldn’t have gotten across the border into camp if you weren’t. Let me guess… you have ADHD and dyslexia.”

“Wh—I mean, yes, but—”

“You were raised by either a single parent or no parent at all,” Janus continues.

“My mom, until—”

“You see things others either don’t see or don’t remember.”

“I—”

“Please. Do stop me if I’m wrong.”

Virgil falls silent, his chest a bit tight. He crosses his arms over his chest as they walk.

Janus waits for a beat before he elaborates, sounding like it’s a spiel he’s given a dozen times already. “The ADHD is the battle reflexes. Dyslexia is because your brain is wired for ancient Greek, not modern English.”

Virgil’s mind is reeling. “But—”

“The things you see are because you’re a demigod. You are able to see things as they are. Mortals—most mortals—get deceived by this thing called the Mist. Someday, with training, you’ll be able to manipulate it as well. It’s a useful skill.”

Virgil feels suddenly way too hot, and yet still has the sudden desire to pull the hood of his hoodie up over his hair. “Demigod,” he repeats, though saying it aloud doesn’t help it make sense. “Are… Are you telling me that my dad is a god? Like a Greek god? Zeus? Apollo? Those guys?”

Janus glances at him and looks, for a split second, almost apologetic. “I understand that it’s a lot to take in at once. This is why Chiron usually takes the initiation. He usually has a more, ah, sensitive means of broaching the subject. But since he’s meeting with the lead counselors, I’m afraid the responsibility falls to me.”

Virgil blinks. He can feel the pressure in his chest building and he forces himself to take a breath. It doesn’t help as much as he’d been hoping it would. “Which one?”

“Hm?”

“Which god is my dad?”

They’re passing in front of the Big House now. There’s two people standing on the front porch—a blonde girl holding a Yankees cap and a boy with a goatee leaning against the railing—seeming deep in conversation. The blonde girl offers Janus a small wave. Janus nods back.

“To your question, the answer is that we don’t know,” he says. “Since you haven’t been claimed yet, your guess is as good as ours. But you might be claimed any minute now, or never claimed at all. I was claimed three days after arriving at camp by Athena. But we have several campers who haven’t been claimed at all. Remy Short is one such example.”

“Athena. Goddess of wisdom and strategy,” Virgil remembers. He’d read that name in his mother’s library when he was younger. And he has a vague memory from sixth grade social studies.

“Indeed,” Janus replies. They circle around the house and Virgil realizes that Janus is leading him towards the semi-circle of cabins. “Since you haven’t been claimed yet, you’re designated to Cabin 11. Hermes’ cabin.”

“Janus!” A bright, cheerful voice calls from behind them. Janus stops and turns, and Virgil follows his gaze. A boy that looks about Virgil’s age, maybe a year older, is running towards them from the Big House. He’s got a flop of curly hair and big round glasses.

“Patton,” Janus greets as the boy slows to a stop near them. “Virgil, this is Patton. He’s the head of the Hermes cabin.”

Patton grins and holds out his hand. “Hi, Virgil. Welcome to Cabin 11. I’ll talk to Chiron about getting you some supplies—”

“I’ll talk to Chiron,” Janus interrupts as Virgil shakes Patton’s hand. “I need to ask him about some things anyway. Patton, could you—”

“For sure,” Patton agrees readily. “I’ll show Virgil around!”

Janus excuses himself and starts towards the Big House. Virgil rubs the back of his neck and offers Patton an awkward smile. Now that he’s closer, Virgil realizes that Patton is maybe an inch or so shorter than him. He’s got four beads on his necklace.

“How ya doing?” Patton asks him, startling him out of his thoughts. Virgil meets his eyes. Patton’s are a warm brown, and his smile is sympathetic. “I remember my first day at camp. It’s always overwhelming.”

Virgil huffs. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“You’ll love it here,” Patton says with a surprising amount of confidence.

Virgil arcs a skeptical eyebrow. “I’ve heard that before. I don’t seem to, ah, stay in one place very long.”

“Kicked out of school?” Patton guesses. He starts walking around the cabins and Virgil follows, slipping his hands into the pocket of his hoodie.

“Yeah. Several times.”

“We all have,” Patton says, not unkindly. “That’s the best thing about camp. In the mortal world, we’re all labeled as weird or outcasts. But at camp? We’ve all been through it. Oh! This is Cabin 10. Aphrodite’s cabin.”

Patton walks Virgil around the semi-circle, explaining each cabin’s assigned deity. He adds that Cabins 1 through 3 are empty, though apparently there was a girl that used to be in Cabin 1—Zeus’s cabin—who joined the Hunters of Artemis and left camp. Cabin 2 was Hera’s, and since she didn’t have children, the cabin was mostly honorary. Cabin 3 usually had a kid in it, but he apparently was on some kind of recon mission and wouldn’t return for another day or two. Cabin 8—Aretmis’s cabin—is also, usually, empty except when the Hunters visit.

“Since you don’t know who your dad is, you get to bunk with us at the Hermes Cabin,” Patton explains. “We take all unclaimed kids, since Hermes is the god of travelers.”

“I thought he was the god of thieves,” Virgil says before he can think about it.

Patton smiles sheepishly. “Yeah, that too. If you’ve got anything important, maybe keep it with ya. Just in case. I try to dissuade stealing, but old habits die hard for some of these kiddos.”

Patton leads him around the camp, pointing out the strawberry fields, the armory, and the forge that mostly gets used by the Hephaestus kids. A few of them wave at Patton, who eagerly waves back and calls a few of them by name. He shows Virgil the arena, where two kids are sparring. Patton takes a seat and Virgil sits beside him, watching the two boys circle each other.

Both of them are wearing matching orange t-shirts—Patton had told him that he’d be getting one too—and some armor. One of them has dark hair and square glasses. He’s got two knives, one in each hand, and even from a bit of distance Virgil can sees the slight sheen of sweat to his forehead. The other one’s hair is a couple of shades lighter. His sleeves are rolled up and he wields a sword and a shield.

“The one with the glasses is Logan,” Patton explains. “He’s a child of Athena. The other one is Roman. He’s a child of Apollo. I met both of them in Seattle before we made our way to camp together thanks to some help from a satyr.”

“All three of you have been claimed?” Virgil asks, watching as Roman charges at Logan who rolls out of the way and then nimbly jumps back up to his feet. He slashes at Roman’s back but Roman parries the blow with a well-timed flick of the sword.

“Not immediately,” Patton says. “Logan was claimed as soon as we got to camp, but it was a month or so for me. And Roman was nearly a year before Apollo claimed him during a campfire song. It certainly surprised a lot of people.”

“Why?”

“His brother was claimed by Ares three months before him, so most people thought Roman was Ares’ kid too.”

Virgil glances at Patton. “Roman has a brother?”

Patton’s mouth presses into a thin line for a moment, and Virgil gets the sense that it’s a touchy subject. “Yeah. Remus. It’s unusual for two kids of the same family to both be demigods, and the fact that their father are two different gods led to some… tension. Roman and Remus don’t exactly get along.”

Virgil nods his understanding and turns his attention back to the sparring pair. Roman blocks a quick slash from Logan with his shield and swipes at him with the sword, but Logan parries the blow with the other knife in his hands. Then in a series of quick movements—Virgil isn’t sure how it happens, exactly—Roman is flat on his back and Logan is on his chest with the knife to his throat.

Roman says something that Virgil can’t make out, and Logan says something in kind before he climbs off Roman and helps him up. Roman flashes a grin and shoves Logan’s shoulder before he glances past his sparring match and sees Patton and Virgil sitting on one of the benches.

Roman waves. “Heya, Padre!”

Logan glances over his shoulder and quirks an eyebrow at Virgil but stores his daggers as Roman jogs over. Patton stands and Virgil follows him down to meet Roman halfway.

“Hey, Roman,” Patton replies. “I didn’t know you started using a sword!”

Roman grabs a towel off a nearby bench and mops the sweat off his forehead. “It’s new. I’m still trying to get used to it. I think the balance is off.”

“The balance is fine,” Logan quips, stepping up beside him. “You just need more practice.”

Roman rolls his eyes but doesn’t argue. “Either way, Specs. I’ll take archery any day over waving a sharp stick around.”

“You are definitely a son of Apollo,” Logan rejoins back without malice. “And it would be unwise to only be versed in ranged attack.”

“And you are definitely a son of Athena.”

“Correct.”

Virgil snorts, and then a part of him regrets it as Roman and Logan both look over at him. Virgil flushes slightly, uncomfortable with the sudden attention, but Patton seems to only perk up more.

“Oh! Sorry, this is Virgil. He’s a new camper. Janus ran into him on his way back and brought him along.”

“Which cabin?” Logan asks.

Virgil shrugs. “For now, Cabin 11, I guess.”

“Unclaimed, then.” Virgil listens for the judgement in Logan’s voice, but he doesn’t hear it. It sounds more like a flat statement of fact, as if reporting the weather. Logan nods once. “Very well.”

“I was just showing him around,” Patton supplies. “You guys wanna join?”

Logan starts shrugging out of the armor he’s wearing. “Regrettably, I said that I would assist Harley with some blueprints when I had finished sparring with Roman.”

Roman slides the sword into the scabbard at his side. “And I’m overdue for a Pegasus lesson. I can’t miss it again. The last thing I need is Mr. D giving me another earful.” Roman gives a quick two-finger salute and rushes out of the arena.

Virgil blinks at Patton. “Pegasus?”

Patton grins brightly. “Come on. I’ll show ya.”

…

Patton spends the rest of the afternoon showing Virgil around the camp. They go to the stables (where Roman offers to take Virgil for a ride but Virgil immediately declines because he’s never been a fan of flying). They swing by the beach on their way to the climbing wall. Virgil watches, amazed, as two kids climb with impressive speed and narrowly avoid the magma that starts to pour down it.

One of the kids has a Morningstar gripped between his teeth, a green bandana around his upper bicep and a matching one around his head. He’s fast, scaling the wall with a well-practiced ease. Virgil hears him laugh delightedly when his hand slips and he almost gets burned by the lava. It’s somehow both impressive and disconcerting.

“That would be Remus.”

“That’s Remus?” Virgil repeats, though when he looks a bit closer he sees the similarity in hair color and skin complexion. “I guess I see the resemblance.”

“Don’t tell Roman that,” Patton says lightly. “C’mon.”

They pass the amphitheater where, apparently, there would be a bonfire tonight. Patton shows him the volleyball court where four kids are playing one another. They wave at Patton as they pass.

“You seem popular,” Virgil supplies. He’s lost track of how many kids have waved at them as they walk around.

Patton lifts a shoulder modestly. “I dunno. Since Hermes is the catch-all cabin, a lot of camp knows me since they come to our cabin if they haven’t been claimed yet. Sometimes we get kids that get claimed right away, or kids that already have been claimed, but otherwise? I get to be their lead counselor for at least a little bit.”

“Sounds like a lot of responsibility.”

“I kind of like it,” Patton admits with a smile. “It’s like I’m everyone’s honorary camp dad.”

The conversation cuts out as dinner is called and they head to the mess hall. Patton explains the offering to the gods prior to the meal, and Virgil scrapes part of his plate into the fire. He doesn’t know what to ask for.

It’d be nice to have a family again, dad, he thinks, unsure of who he should even direct the comment to. Patton waves him over, offering a seat beside him.

Virgil chances a glance around the mess hall as they eat. The Hermes table is certainly the most crowded, though Virgil can’t say he finds that surprising. Athena’s table has several kids reading while eating. Two kids at the Ares table are in the middle of an arm-wrestling competition. One kid at the Hephaestus table is pouring over a blueprint, and Virgil wonders if that was the Harley kid that Logan had mentioned.

Towards the end of the meal, a few kids at the Apollo table starts singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” and it’s not long before most of their table is doing the entire song with harmony. Someone from the Demeter table tells them to ‘save it for the campfire’, but it does nothing to deter the Apollo kids. Virgil catches Roman laughing as he sings, one of his sibling’s arms slung around his shoulders.

Virgil glances over and sees Logan at the Athena table sitting next to Janus, watching the chaos unfold and the faintest quirk of his lips betray his amusement.

Virgil feels some of the tension in his chest relax just a little.

…

The bonfire starts around dusk. Virgil is making his way to the amphitheater from dropping supplies off at the cabin when Roman comes up from behind him and loops his arm through Virgil’s, chattering excitedly about how much he loved this part of camp. Virgil sees an ukulele case slung around his shoulder.

Logan appears a second later on the other side of Virgil, commenting dryly that the Apollo kids had done their vocal warm-ups during the dinner. This only served to lead Roman to do actual vocal warm-ups—trills and scales, specifically—as they walked. Patton and Janus were already sitting down, three rows back. Patton waves when he sees them file in. Remus is sitting beside Janus, seemingly trying to goad him into some kind of competition that he was having no interest in. The firelight glints of Janus’s scales.

“Hey,” Virgil says to Roman and Logan. “Can… I ask what happened to Janus?” He immediately regrets the question, cursing his lack of a filter, but neither of the other boys seem perturbed by the question.

“A curse from Aphrodite,” Logan answers. “Janus had gone on a quest for our mother, and it led to some… unsavory tension between himself and Aphrodite. From what he’s told me, he accused Ares of being a snake in the grass while in the presence of Aphrodite, and… well. The love goddess didn’t take kindly to that. But it’s purely cosmetic.”

Virgil arcs an eyebrow. “Remus seems chill with him.”

“I’m not sure that Remus is aware of the accusation Janus leveled at his father,” Logan muses. “And Janus is not one to hold the children accountable for the actions of their godly parent.”

“It doesn’t benefit him,” Roman adds in, using his free hand for air quotes. “Or something like that. Janus is all about himself and how he can improve his own standing.”

“Sounds like someone else I know,” Logan quips dryly.

Roman scoffs, but when Virgil looks at him, there’s a teasing glint to his eyes. “Well, I wasn’t going to say it, but you guys are half-brothers for a reason.”

Logan looks at Roman over the top of his glasses, but Roman just shoots him a cheeky smile as they approach the other three. Virgil slides into the seat beside Patton, followed by Logan and then Roman. There’s a few kids—Virgil isn’t sure what cabin they’re from—trying to lead a call-and-response chant as campers file in. Down the row, Remus enthusiastically calls out the responses at the top of his lungs.

“Roman!” A new voice calls out from the end of their row. A tall guy, a couple of years older than them, is holding a ukulele and jerking his head down towards the bonfire. “You ready to help me kick this thing off?”

Roman grins and jumps up. “Would be an honor, Thomas.” He rushes off and he and Thomas start playing a song together with practiced ease. He and the other Apollo kids start singing, and before long the vast majority of campers are joining in. A few of them, including Patton, sway a little. Virgil doesn’t sing, but he listens and tries to remember the words.

The sky grows dark. The Apollo kids eventually cede the floor to some Ares kids who start up another chant. More songs are sung, some snacks get passed around, and Virgil is starting to think that maybe, with time, he could get used to this.

“Oh! I almost forgot!” Patton says beside him, as the next song starts. He drops something into Virgil’s lap. “I got this for ya.”

Virgil looks down. It’s two camp t-shirts. The black winged horse and the Camp Half-Blood print stares up at him. He looks over at Patton.

Patton just smiles. “Claimed or not, you’re one of us. We claim you.”

Virgil feels like maybe that’s good enough for him.

#sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides au #platonic drlamp #virgil sanders #percy jackson au #pjo!au #fighting #weapons #violence #found family? in my fics? its more likely than you think #janus sanders #remus sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders

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