#i didn't get the surprise factor but it did also help me see how this was a good final act for the boot

[accirax]

initial thoughts on DCAS episode 16

... is Derek really an incel? like, at the very least, shouldn't him being with Kristal prove that he isn't an incel? i have no qualms with Emily insulting Derek, but she should at least be accurate.

ooh, Emily going full villain mode? we stan :D

girl how would you possibly think this would work

so Ally has resorted to playing a fully emotional game, huh? you either get eliminated a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the Jake.

the music in this scene cracked me up. also, i think aleriya is (canonically) dead after this scene, if it hadn't already died beforehand. (i say canonically bc fans can do whatever they want)

d-does he still...? also, obligatory "just because Connor loves Riya doesn't mean she has any obligation to love him back, villain or not."

i really can't tell if this part of Ally's character arc is meant to be viewed as good or bad. like, the show is obviously telling us that Ally's overall trajectory is bad, and being needlessly cruel to other people for the sake of putting your own emotional wellbeing first could certainly be a part of that. but, there's also been a lot of commentary about how hard it is to be under the scrutiny of social media (likely from the crew's own experiences), so Ally learning to stand up for herself and what she needs could also be a form of wish fulfillment. hopefully it'll resolve as a multi-layered predicament in the end, but i'm just trying to figure out how Ally will respond to her edit in All Stars in either the finale or the Loser's Motel episode.

...can't you just wait, like, two more episodes to directly state the point of your character arc, essentially then concluding it? then i could be sure that you'd win.

HELP

lmao of course the nerd can't rock climb. he can carry 120 pounds on his back but he cannot ascend.

Connor is really fucking strong goddamn?

Ally really can't fight this, because this is the exact rationale that she was trying to use on Jake for their entire games.

i want to see people draw buff Grett in the style of the buff Natsuki meme from DDLC. but, also, go Grett!!!

the intense difficulty of a twelve piece jigsaw puzzle. Venus noted that it really sounded like Kristal was describing a slide puzzle, but I understand why that would've been really difficult to storyboard.

Connor you can't be this stupid (/j)

in-universe, i don't really understand how she beat Alec (he was really good at the block puzzle in s1 and it fits his vibes), but yay Grett! i knew she wasn't going home tonight anyway.

what else could it have possibly been, Ally? regardless, we're definitely setting up the pieces for Grett's downfall soon.

can you really count the TikTok challenge as a "Jake immunity win"? literally everyone except Gabby and Grett won immunity in that challenge.

for a moment, i really thought Connor was going to pull the Kim Possible "out there... in here..." thing.

so true Jake

this feels like a fanfic line

you know Jake's having flashbacks to his last final 6 experience.

well, while i certainly thought that it was Riya's time to go in terms of the cut, it does actually make more sense for Alec to go home here, no plot armor involved! (other than arguably the plot armor of not letting Alec win the challenge.) Alec is much more threatening in a final 3 situation because of his greater athleticism and intelligence as compared to Riya, and Grett is closer to Riya than Alec. it sucks to see one of my favorites go, but it's entirely logical.

Riya out here projecting ("little toy")

this was such a good moment. i especially love the storytelling without dialogue going on with Connor's reaction. anyways, if Riya wasn't going to win before, she's definitely not going to win now. you don't get hit with the "look at what a sorry state you're in" three episodes before the final and then snatch the W.

maybe you shouldn't have fired and humiliated your employees live on TV, then.

is this season going to end with Kristal resigning from the show? i thought that might happen to make way for Emily as the new host, but now that she's going more villainous, i don't think that'll be the cast anymore. maybe Derek and Trevor will take the show back over, as (I think) the more popular hosts in the fandom?

anyways. a solid episode! i think a good number of people saw the Connor idol play coming from a mile away, so it wasn't all that surprising that one of the major villains was going down. still, we had interesting strategy and some great character moments, especially for Connor. they're really making the best of his extended time in All Stars. and, hey, there are only two guys left, so maybe he'll make the finale! it doesn't really matter, though, because it's gonna be Jake. i'll keep riding the Jake winner train until he gets eliminated. not that i think that's going to happen ;)

see you next week!

[gods-perfect-idiots]

Y'all have been so kind and welcoming of my half-baked concepts and unpolished doodles - it has been an uphill battle to fight my own self-judgment and just post my stuff! Anyway, here's another one - this time with more ~spicy memories~ (aka trauma).

The premise for this one: I was thinking about how Logan/Worst Wolverine probably hasn't slept next to someone in years, and how that is partially because he is likely prone to nightmares/sleep terrors and probably gets suddenly violent while still half or fully unconscious - maybe reliving past conflicts, maybe lashing out against his demons, maybe just unprocessed grief and rage coursing through his system when he's sober and has his guard down in sleep.

Here, I imagined him not only getting violent, but also screaming and crying while in this somnabulant state, half-waking in a sudden frenzy of fear and anger, and in the process flipping over on top of Wade and rapidly stabbing him multiple times, through the head and the gut.

Regenerative healing and quick reflexes notwithstanding, I think Wade would be taken aback to be awoken to that kind of sudden attack (not least because I think he sleeps better next to Logan - less jumpy and more restful with his big boy next to him y'know?). But his first thought, even with all six of Logan's claws embedded in his flesh, and horny hallucinations galloping through his skewered brain, would be to comfort Logan and try to bring him back to himself, even while his body and mind struggle to catch up to what's happening.

Continued ramblings and details under the cut lol.

I imagine Logan snapping fully awake and being utterly inconsolable, just collapsing and sobbing uncontrollably onto Wade's chest, blubbering nearly incomprehensibly (a lot of hoarse "I'm sorry"s and "Oh God oh fuck"s) while Wade heals and tries to soothe him with one hand combing through his hair and the other gently stroking up and down his back, trying to make jokes that simply don't reach Logan's grief-stricken psyche.

"It's okay, Peanut, no need to apologize, I'm good already see? That healing factor coming in clutch yet again haha. You do owe me a new mattress though, Mr. Scissorhands - you know how head wounds bleed like a fire hydrant, those pesky blood vessels amiright? Though fully half of all of my blood is a bit further south currently ifyouknowwhatimean... did I ever tell you about the weird response when I get Le Brain Stabbed? I didn't mention it in the Odyssey because, well, heat of the moment and all that, didn't want to stop for an expositional lore drop y'know? Anyway, point is, I get like, *diabolically* horny and hallucinate little cartoon characters to boot, it's pretty wacky tee bee aitch but does take the sting out of a surprise lobotomy so that's something... hey, you still with me, beautiful? Shhh sweetheart, it's okay, you're okay, just let it out, everything's hunky dory peachy keen cupcake unicorn rainbow blowjobs as far as the eye can see, darling honey kitty babycakes..."

But no matter what he says, jokes or not, Logan is just completely unreachable for a while; he just keeps crying and crying into his chest, like he's letting out 200 years of grief and confusion and loneliness and fear all in one fell swoop, his tears mixing with Wade's blood until Wade starts to worry he's getting dehydrated (ever since the time ripper Wade has made it his personal mission to Rehydrate That Old Man - the abs were undoubtedly impressive to behold but also a mark of a deeply desaturated body, and Wade keeps energy drinks and water bottles everywhere now, forcing Logan to drink every chance he gets. Sure, Logan's abs are less defined now, but Wade thinks he's practically started glowing - probably from all the nutrients and hydration, and the constant physical affirmations and calm daily routine probably helps too).

The crying isn't even really about Wade - Logan knows Wade is alive and well, but years of being petrified of hurting anyone he loves, and despite that crippling fear haunting him all his life he still failed to save anyone in his universe, and in fact, not only failed to save them but destroyed their memory by turning around and letting his feelings take over and turn him into (to him) an irredeemable monster, slaughtering anyone who crossed his path until he collapsed from exhaustion. And that haunts him even more, the innocent people he massacred in his supposedly righteous fury... he can't think straight amid the turmoil and all he can do is cling to Wade and cry and cry and cry until eventually he passes out again into a deep dreamless sleep.

It's not the last nightmare he has by any means, or the last time he wakes Wade up with his claws in a frenzied state, but Wade makes a mental note to be prepared so he can wake Logan up from his next half-awake nightmare with something pleasurable instead of painful. (Wade - in a rare moment of self-restraint - doesn't dwell on the whole "brain skewering = horny hallucinations" but he is absolutely BRICKED UP about it and the next couple of times he jerks it, all he can think about is fucking that old man silly until he can't even remember his own name much less the centuries of trauma).

(Spoiler: it works, and over time Logan's nightmares become gradually less debilitating and violent as he starts to associate them with - ahem - more positive feelings and maybe - *maybe* - forgive himself and start to imagine a life where he can be redeemed, can be treated like a good person, can be beloved and cherished and maybe even for a moment feel like he deserves it).

.... sorry this turned into a whole thing but here ya go!

[chaoticloving]

So... I had this funny request.. See.. What if Reader is a famous personality? Like they are an actor and a singer at an young age? Like they worked for movies like Harry Potter and marvel and then later on took singing as career option which resulted being an awesome choice as their music skyrocketed. So what if One directions manager arranged a collab with reader? And one direction was also a huge fan of her but Harry had a huge celebrity crush on reader which he had hinted alot of times in interviews which fans could see, reader didn't knew them well only that they were a famous band and she didn't knew their names too? as she was rather busy with her own stuff plus she didn't knew fans shipping her and harry? So when they all saw reader at the office because it was kept a surprise for them with whom they were gonna collab so Harry started fan girling? I mean it's just pure fluff and teen love?

Performance of a Lifetime

harry styles x reader

a/n: lil blurb for ya! changed it a bit! plus some cheesy h for you!

Harry’s never felt more excited in his life, entirely exhausted, but had that excited-about-to-vomit feeling inside of him while practicing this dance routine.

Its how all of one-direction was feeling at the moment. Wanting to drop dead like flys but not because they needed to impress a certain singer, joining them for a charity performance.

Y/n was a house-hold name, from a young age of being a child star, working her ass off to be taken seriously without being taken advantage of, she slowly dipped into the world of music before she started to become the face of the music industry. She was doing a joint performance with one-direction this friday as the headliner for the day.

Harry nearly fainted when his managers told him they were preforming with her; he also didn’t hesitate to go to dance rehearsals when asked too. He needed to make sure his performance was flawless but also needed to work up his abs—and by work up he means create.

This afternoon though, will be the first time him and be the rest of the band meet Y/n. Harry new he had some competition over winning the stars heart; both Zayn and Louis were trying suspiciously hard during rehearsal to outshine one another, and Harry hated every moment of it.

Soon enough though, they were out of the showers and changing into more professional clothing to meet the singer. Harry was tapping his foot, rehearsing how he was going to introduce himself and win over the girl.

“You ready?”

“Huh?”

Niall chuckled and wrapped his arm around Harry as they walked down the long hall. “You’re going to meet your celebrity crush! Big day for you.”

“I don’t have a celebrity crush-“

“Everyone has a celebrity crush. Mine in Selena Gomez.” Niall chided. “I think Zayn likes one of that Hadid girls, Liam likes Miley Cyrus, and Louis likes any celebrity that people say are nice—which I think is a good thing honestly.”

“How’d you know that then.” Harry sighed.

“You remember in X-factor days, those stair videos we did?” Harry nodded. “Someone asked who our celebrity crushes were, and I think yours is the only one that hasn’t changed.

Harry shook his head, ignoring and hoping that Niall is the only one stupid enough to remember whatever video. “But you saw Zayn and Louis in practice today? They were trying much more than normal, no way they don’t have a crush.”

Niall shrugged his shoulders. “She’s hot. Of course they do. I mean, if she talks to me and is nice I might.”

Harry shoved Niall off of him and groaned, speed walking away from his friend and trying to catch up to the rest of the boys.

“Wait up you dolt.” Niall yelled. “Don’t be stupid, I follow the girl code—I won’t date, flirt, or fuck your crush—and the bro code—I will hype you up. Scouts honor.”

Harry sighed. He was grateful for Niall’s help, really; but sometimes it gets a little carried away with matters of the heart.

“Hurry up ya pussys!” Liam shouted from the elevator, holding the door open for the boys. He got a smack from the manager, John, who gave him a stern glare for his word choice.

Harry and Niall got into the cramped elevator and watched as the doors closed. Harry watched the red numbers go up, slowly yet not stopping. He started worrying as he got higher and higher, it was less than five minutes until he meets his crush—he shivered at the thought.

The doors chimed and then opened. The boys pushed each other out, Zayn, Louis, and it seems now Liam were all extra eager to meet Y/n. John walked slowly behind the group, typing away on his phone.

The say the assistant who stood up when the men entered and made a gesture for them to follow her. She knocked on the door. “Y/n you’ve got your entourage here.”

“Entourage-“ Liam questioned, before the door swung open.

Y/n glanced over the boys, giving them a once-over, and then opened the door fully to let them in. “It’s nice to meet you all!” She chided, flashing a quick smile. “Come in! Come in!”

The women turned around and sat at the other end of a long table, filled with mood-boards, pictures, and tons and tons of sheet-filled binders. The rest of them joined on the opposite side. Harry didn’t miss the glance Y/n sent him, it wasn’t as confused as the last time though, it was more…curious.

Harry ignored that thought. He’s just being delusional.

“Alright so one-direction I can’t wait to preform with you all this weekend.” Y/n’s assistant handed her a clipboard, and she flicked through the pages. “I see the songs you want to preform, and I must admit, I’m not hugely familiar with your work and would like to go over them.” Her manager nudged her. “Sorry.” She sighed, clearing her throat. “I’d like to get to know all of you foremost.”

Harry blinked, but Liam didn’t. “My names Liam, huge fan of your work—both music and film. I sing, dance, date, you name it!”

“Alright nice to meet you-“

“I’m Louis. Raised in Doncaster. And I like your work too, especially that one song on your last album—the one that goes like “why not me la la—“

“Would it surprise you if I told you he’s a singer too.” Zayn smirked, hand on Louis’ shoulder to get him to stop. “I’m Zayn, and to make the rest quick that’s Niall and the one on the end is Harry.”

“Hello.”

“Hey.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you all. And I’m Y/n and quite frankly I’m ready to get to work.” The boys nodded in agreement, a little afraid. “So...Story of My Life.”

~

“Y/n how was it preparing for this event with a group of boys? Annoying I bet.” The interviewer asked.

Y/n and the boys were in their stage outfits, less then an hour left until their due on stage. Harry had on his black skinny jeans, and a grey tang top, his tattoos on display—trying to go for the edgy, bad-boy look. Y/n had on black baggie jeans and a tight, cropped bra-like shirt to match. Harry liked how they looked coordinated.

“It’s been a trip, honestly.” Y/n laughed. “I didn’t know much about one direction, but I like to think that that I’ve made some friends.” Y/n giggled as she pulled in Harry, her arm around his neck. Harry was quite shocked, first of all, he wasn’t apart of the interview, and second of all, she considered him a friend!

“Can you confirm Styles?”

“Oh yeah. We’re best friends at this point.” He delivered his million dollar smile (with a hint of desperation in there) and felt the heat from his blush on his cheeks rise up. “Nice break from those losers back there.” Harry pointed to the boys behind him, shooting the shit and trying to look better.

“How cute you two look! All matching! Was this on purpose?”

“Uhh.” Harry didn’t know what to say. Luckily Y/n saved him.

“Of course! Gotta have the main attractions coordinating!” She joked, leaning into Harry’s chest.

“How cute of a couple!” Harry’s jaw dropped and could feel Y/n freeze. “I’ve got the others to interview! Good luck!”

~~

How Harry got through the performance will forever be a mystery. How he will face Y/n again is an even bigger mystery.

After the interviews went on, more and more people questioned or reminded him of his relationship status with the star. He couldn't even get much of a break after the show because they swung into even more interviews, some better than others though.

Y/n acted odd though. Harry thought back to different relationships he has had with women he was friends with, none were this close to him, sometimes the hug here and there but never hand holding or arm around the neck constantly. Harry was getting mixed signals and was scared he was misinterpreting Y/n's actions. But the public eye, and his band mates, were always around watching him so it's not like much could be said without fear of someone knowing.

"Alright, I think that wraps up this interview. Next in two." Some manager said.

"Hey." Y/n whispered. Harry glanced around him, no one was near; the other boys sat on a separate couch from him and Y/n, and no praying ears were about.

"What?" Thats how you flirt Harry? Come on.

Y/n smiled though. "I just wanted to say I liked hanging out with you today."

"Really?"

"I wanted to know if you could hang out again, but without everyone else?"

"Like a date?" Harry gasped, voice not even a whisper.

"Yeah? If thats alright?" Y/n asked, looking at the dreamed out Harry who was rapidly blushing. "H?"

"Get ready boys!" ... "And Y/n."

"H were are almost live." Y/n reminded him, fixing herself up and then him. "Wanna answer?"

"Good afternoon-"

"Yes." Harry interrupted the interviewer, looking over at shocked Y/n. "Of course! I know this great place off of some road-"

Harry got knocked with a pillow by Niall, who gave him a rude look.

"Anything you wanna share mate?" The interviewer asked.

Harry smiled, finally looking where he should of been all this time, instead of the girl next to him. He nodded his head, held up high and straightened his shirt.

"I got a date."

[eden-writes-stuff]

Chritmas 1975

Tags: Pining wolfstar, topic: first kiss, misteloes, Pining James, gay Remus (implied), trans Regulus (implied), Pining Mary, Mary having a sexuality crisis, Sirius being a bit of a wanker

"How is Operation Wolfstar going?" James raised an eyebrow "You are aware that Remus is kinda fucked if anyone hears that name you came up with?" "If anyone hears that name we have a totally different problem." 

Sighing, James shook his head. "I hung all the mistletoes just like you asked." Sirius grinned euphorically. "Perfect. Knew I could rely on you. You're gonna be the best man at our wedding." "I was always gonna be the best man at your wedding", James insisted. "Well, yes. But now you'll be the best man at our wedding."

"You better go make sure, Moony doesn't end up with someone else under a mistletoe", James reminded him, patting his back. Immediately Sirius nodded and headed toward the stereo, where Remus was sorting the records by artist.

"Are you ready for tonight?" "Almost. Peter made sure everything is connected, so I think we're good to go. Did you get on with the decorations alright?", Remus asked, without looking up. "Yup. We have the fairy lights, the mistletoes, the decorations for the pictures..." Now Remus did look up. "Mistletoes?"

Sirius loved having Remus' undivided attention. It was a powerful experience, unlike anything else he had ever felt. He smiled. "Yeah, why not? It's a tradition, right?" Remus tried to play it cool, but four years and some months with him had taught Sirius to see beyond the act. "Yeah. I'm not gonna kiss anyone though. I don't do that." "You don't have to..." Sirius shrugged, trying to act normal when his plan was shattering around him. "And I'm a bit surprised that you knw of it. I thought it was a muggle thing." Remus started chewing his lip as he did so often.

"Not actually. They just stole it. Witches and Wizards used it against poison, that's why it is used in so many healing potions. Also, people thought that it kinda looked like sperm, so it became a sign of male fertility. Funny how things work out." Remus raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?" "I have a lot of useless knowledge. It's a heavy burden..." He sighed dramatically, then laughed. Remus shook his head, but couldn't help smiling.

Sirius loved his smile. More importantly, he loved being able to make him smile.

"I'm gonna go change. See you at the party?" "Sure."

~

All evening Sirius didn't dare take his eyes off Remus. Operation Wolfstar had seemed like a safe bet, but now that Remus didn't want to kiss anyone... Sirius' first instinct was to try and change his mind, but then again if he did that, Remus might end up snogging someone else.

Remus wasn't objectively attractive with his scars and his too-big nose, but he was incredibly sweet and kind to everyone and he always smelled good - especially considering that he was a teenage boy -, but then there was his rough side, the one that usually came out around the full moon... It was utterly fascinating how these factors made Remus - at least to Sirius - irresistibly hot.

"Stalking Moony again, are we?" James appeared next to him, drink in hand. Sirius shot him a look. "Trying to impress Reg again, are we?" he lifted an eyebrow. James blushed. "No... How would I be doing that?" "Leaning against the wall, acting all cool, talking to me... You're trying to make him jealous." "Is it working?"

Sirius glanced over his shoulder to his little brother, who was looking just a little lost in between the rest of Hogwarts that had stayed here over the holiday season. "I think you have a better shot if you go talk to him right now, save him from the awkwardness", he replied. It had taken him a few months to adjust to the thought, that James was head over heels for his little sibling, but eventually, he got around to it. At least that meant that James would someday be his brother-in-law. Plus, he knew that James would never hurt Reggie, so that was something he didn't have to worry about.

His eyes darted back to Remus, who was sitting at the edge of the staircase, right behind a mistletoe. "That's my chance. Good luck." Sirius patted James on the back before making his way through the crowd of people dancing and chatting in the middle of the room.

By the time he arrived, Mary, visibly drunk, was sitting next to Remus. He sighed.

"It just sucks that she is dating this guy now. I mean, she could have anyone and she chooses HIM?" "Victor isn't that bad." "Sure he isn't, I'm just saying that she could do better. She deserves better."

"Jealous of Evan's boyfriend again?", Sirius asked, leaning against the corner. "Pratt. I'm not jealous. Why would I be jealous of him?" "Because you obviously fancy Lily." "What? No, I don't! You have no idea what you're talking about." With angry tears, she stormed off.

Sirius sighed, taking her place on the stairs. "Well done", Remus teased dryly. "What? It's just the truth. They've been pining over each other since first grade, it's getting kinda annoying." "Not everyone is as smooth about this as you are. People need their time, you can't just spring that on someone.

"Sirius knew he was right, that he should have been nicer; more remus-y. But by now Mary was probably somewhere in the girl's loo sobbing about her sexuality. "I wasn't always as smooth about it." "I know", Remus took a sip from his beer, "I heard you that night in second year."

Of course, Sirius remembered that night. The first time a boy had kissed him. The first time anyone had kissed him. He had felt so guilty, and hid in his dorm room and wept the entire night. Not even James had been able to calm him down.

"I should probably look after Mary. She's having a tough time right now." Remus was about to leave when Sirius grabbed his wrist, holding him back. "Wait." He didn't even know what he wanted. But he knew that he didn't want Remus to leave.

"What?" The taller boy asked calmly, looking at him with those soft, brown eyes.

Sirius' head drew a complete blank and it took him a good few seconds to remember how to speak. "Mistletoe. We-" he cleared his throat, "Is it the right time to tell you that we're standing under a mistletoe?" Remus looked up, then down at him again.

"I told you I wouldn't kiss anyone tonight." "You didn't say you wouldn't kiss me..." he tried and failed not to sound too hopeful or too pathetic. Remus took a step toward him. "Sirius..."

'how could you ever think I would want anything like that with you?' 'I have a secret boyfriend' 'I'm actually dating your brother' 'I'm actually dating James' 'I'm not interested in guys anymore' 'Your breath smells.' 'You disgust me and being within ten feet from you physically hurts me'

"I don't want our first kiss to be like this... I don't want it to be forced by anything. But, if it'll make you happy..." He leaned forward, his lips brushing Sirius' cheek. Everything inside him seemed to explode.

Sirius stood completely still for a few more seconds, bathing in the feeling of Remus' lips, the warmth, the smell of beer in his breath. When he opened his eyes again, Remus was already gone.

A/N: My soulmate forced me to post this at 00:30, because she really wanted to read it, so thank her.

[spnhunter4life]

Familiar

Summary: Sam, Dean and Y/N are on a case, and it turns out Y/N is just the monster's type.

Word Count: 8.2k

Warnings: reference to nonconsensual sex, canon typical violence

A/N: I've had this one done for a couple of weeks, but things have been very busy and so I just finally got around to doing a reread/edit of it. I hope everyone enjoys it!

This one includes the writing prompt "character A flipping positions and shoving B against a wall 'now this seems more familiar doesn’t it?'"

I don't remember where I found this. I have a list of prompts I saved, but didn't include who posted them, so if you happen to know where this came from, let me know and I'll give credit to that person.

Also, I've had someone ask me to be tagged in new stories I post. I am happy to do this, so if anyone else is interested in being tagged, let me know!

Masterlist

I met the Winchesters for the first time five years ago when I was 22. I was in college and had just moved to a new dorm building that turned out to be haunted by a ghost. I had been the next intended target when Dean and his dad stepped in and saved me. That was the last time I would see either of them for a long time, but I never forgot the faces of the people who had saved my life.

After that experience, I was obsessed with the supernatural. Dean and I had talked a little bit before they left town, and he told me about how he and his dad traveled the country killing monsters. I wanted to do that too. I wanted to be able to save people’s lives the way they had saved mine.

So a couple months later I dropped out of school and started getting ready to hunt. I signed up for a gym membership and started going everyday as well as taking boxing and Krav Maga lessons. My life had given very little opportunity for me to build muscle or learn to fight. But I wasn’t stupid enough to go into a fight with a supernaturally strong creature completely unprepared.

I gave myself a year to get in shape and learn to defend myself. During this time, I put every spare minute I had into research. I looked into what kinds of monsters were out there, how to kill them, which ones were most common. While doing all this research, I ran into a man named Bobby Singer. He had all kinds of helpful information and taught me how to track them down. I started the process of purchasing weapons I would need and also saving up money.

Once I felt ready, I set off on my first hunt. The overwhelming satisfaction I felt at saving a person from the ghost that had been haunting them was too much to ignore. I knew without a doubt now that this is what I should be doing with my life. So I went on another hunt. And another. 

Things were a little rough going at first and I got more injuries than I cared to admit – fighting a trained professional in a controlled environment wasn’t the same as going up against an angry monster – but my fighting skills improved and things started going smoother soon enough. I didn’t regret my choices.

I ran into Dean a little over a year later. I was looking into what I suspected to be a witch and had stopped for lunch at a local burger joint when I saw him. I recognized him immediately and went to talk to him. It took a little bit for him to remember me, but he did. When he asked what I was doing so far from home, I told him what I’d been up to since the day he saved my life. He seemed surprised and impressed. Apparently the people he saved didn’t often take up hunting afterwards. 

When I asked after his dad, he told me that they were starting to work separate cases on occasion. They still hunted together too, but not as often. 

Since we were both in town for the same reason, we agreed to work the case together. It was difficult at times, learning to rely on another person and factor their thoughts and opinions into what we were doing. I’d never hunted with someone else before. In other ways, though, it was so much easier. I decided I kind of liked having a partner. Dean and I worked well together.

He must have thought so too, because the day after we finished that hunt, he asked if I wanted to come with him to look into a string of suspicious murders a couple states over. I’d been hunting with him – and occasionally his dad – ever since. 

About nine months into our new arrangement, his dad went missing and so we picked up his brother Sam from school to help find him. Adding him to the mix had been another adjustment. That was two years ago now though, and we’d all found an easy rhythm together.

“We should go check this out,” Dean said, sliding the newspaper he’d been looking at across the table to Sam and pointing at one of the articles.

We were at a diner waiting for our breakfast to be brought out. Sam scanned the article.

“I don’t know, Dean,” Sam said, passing the newspaper to me when I motioned for it. I skimmed the article Dean had found. 

“Come on, Sam. Three murder suicides in under two weeks. That’s weird,” Dean insisted.

“It is weird. I just don’t see how it’s our kind of weird,” Sam answered. 

“Y/N? What do you think? You agree with me, don’t you?” Dean asked, confident I’d back him up. We typically saw things pretty eye to eye. Not always though.

“Well, actually I agree with Sam. There’s nothing here that really makes it sound like our kind of thing. But,” I continued, saying the word a little louder to stop Dean’s protest. “It’s only a few hours away and we have nothing else to do right now. So we might as well go check it out.”

“Alright, fine,” Sam agreed, sighing at the triumphant look on Dean’s face. “But I really think we’re wasting our time.”

“Right. Because we’ve got much more important, productive things going on here,” Dean said sarcastically.

“It’s never a waste of time,” I said. “Even if it ends up being nothing, making sure people aren’t being killed by something supernatural isn’t a waste. What if we decide it’s not worth checking out and it turns out it is our kind of thing? Then those deaths would be on us.”

“Ok, yes, you’re right. I already said we could go check it out,” Sam said.

“Well thanks for the permission, Sammy. I really don’t think we could’ve moved forward without it,” Dean snarked.

“Bite me,” Sam answered.

“Alright, cut it out you two,” I scolded.

The waiter brought our food out and we spent the meal trying to come up with ideas of what we could be dealing with. We didn’t come up with much since we had so little information to go off of. Dean paid our bill and we were just heading out the door when something occurred to me.

“Oh! What if it’s a siren?” I suggested.

“A siren? From Greek mythology? Like in The Odyssey?” Dean asked. 

“What?” Sam looked at his brother in surprise. 

“What?” Dean asked, a little smug and a little offended.

“What do you know about sirens?” Sam asked me, moving past his shock at Dean’s knowledge.

“Not much,” I admitted. We reached the car and I climbed into my usual spot behind Sam. “All the vics have been couples though, right?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Dean confirmed, turning in his seat to face me. “Is that important?”

“All I really know about sirens is that once they infect you they convince you to kill someone you love. The only siren case I’ve heard of had several husbands killing their wives before it was stopped. So maybe in this case once the men realize what they’ve done, they kill themselves.”

“Seems like the best theory we’ve come up with,” Dean said. He backed the Impala out of the parking spot and headed out of town towards the highway.

“Let’s get there and do some digging around before we settle on a theory,” Sam cautioned. “But say you’re right. How do we kill it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve already given you the extent of my knowledge on the subject.”

“Okay. Well at least we have a starting point. We can look into it more if that still seems like the most likely scenario after we’ve investigated things a little bit,” Sam said.

Apparently deeming the conversation finished, Dean turned up the music. I leaned my head against the window and watched the road blurring by.

~~~~~

The bar we were at was crowded, the music was loud, and the guy I was talking to was cute. Not stop and stare cute, but cute enough that when he came over to where I was standing at the bar and started flirting, I flirted back.

“So how long are you in town for?” Cute guy asked. I vaguely noted Dean in my peripheral vision, making his way to the bar. If I’d been paying attention, I would have noticed how irritated he looked. But I was trying not to notice him. He and I were just friends and would never be more. I’d accepted that. It meant I couldn’t let myself be distracted by him when there was a guy standing right in front of me who was interested.

“Don’t know yet,” I answered, giving him my best flirty smile. “I’m definitely here for the night though.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Dean interrupted. “Come on Y/N. Sam’s waiting for us.”

“Woah, hey, come on man,” cute guy protested. “You can’t just come in here and force her to leave. We were in the middle of a conversation.”

“You were, were you? Sorry pal, but we’ve got important things to do. Go find someone else to bother.” Dean grabbed my arm and pulled me with him, away from the bar and towards the exit.

“Dean!” I hissed as I was forced to follow along behind him. “What is your problem?” I asked when we made it outside.

“What’s my problem?” Dean echoed, letting go of my arm and turning to face me. “What’s your problem? You know what we’re after here. What made you think it was a good idea to offer to go home with some random guy who for all we know could be the siren?”

I scoffed and started to walk towards the car, but Dean grabbed me again and pushed me up against the building. He stepped in close and put an arm on either side of my head, effectively caging me in.

“What are you doing?” I asked. It didn’t sound quite as irritated as I wanted it to. His close proximity mixed with the few drinks I’d downed had me too overwhelmed to hold on to my anger.

“Next time you’re wanting to scratch an itch in the middle of a case where the monster we’re after seduces people into murder, just save us the trouble and come to me instead,” he instructed. Then before I knew what was happening, he leaned in and kissed me.

I gasped in surprise and he used the opportunity to lick into my mouth. Finally catching up to what was happening, I wrapped my arms around his neck, threading my fingers through his hair and eagerly kissing him back. I never could have predicted this, but I was so thrilled it was happening. 

He made his way to my neck. He kissed a couple of different spots before finding a spot he liked and starting to suck and nip-

I woke up with a jolt and a gasp. I quickly took in my surroundings and realized I’d fallen asleep in the back of the Impala. 

“You ok?” Dean asked, turning in his seat to look at me. I realized we were parked outside a motel. The engine turning off must have been what woke me. I briefly met his eyes and was immediately bombarded with the images from my dream. 

“Yeah,” I told him. I managed to successfully fight the blush that tried to rise in the presence of the very man I’d just been dreaming about. It wasn’t the first time I’d had this sort of dream about the older Winchester. I doubted it would be the last.

Dean went inside to get us a room. We unloaded our bags and made a plan. We decided the boys would drop me off at the police station to talk to the sheriff while they went to question the medical examiner. We would meet at a diner a few blocks away from the police station when we were done. 

“What’s the connection between all of these people?” I asked Sheriff Jones once I’d introduced myself and explained why I was there.

“Connection?” He asked.

“Yeah. This many murder suicides in this short of a time, there’s something going on here. Maybe you’re wrong about the suicide part and it’s just flat out murder. Maybe it’s some sort of messed up pact these people made. There has to be something that connects them though. So what is it?”

“As far as we can tell, there is no connection between any of them. Sometimes these things just happen,” he said.

“How long have you been sheriff?” I asked. He was starting to get up in age, probably in his mid to late 50s at a guess. I assumed he’d been a police officer for a long time.

“Almost 20 years,” he informed me proudly.

“And in those 20 years, how many times have you seen something like this? Three different couples killing each other and themselves. One after another.”

“Well… never,” he admitted.

“Right. So what’s the connection? Graduated from the same high school? Go to the same gym? In a bowling league together? There has to be something that connects them other than them all being married.”

“Actually, they weren’t all married,” Jones corrected.

“I was told they were,” I said. 

“The last couple wasn’t. They were roommates, but as far as I’m aware, that’s as far as the relationship went.”

Damn. Did this throw a wrench in my siren theory? Not necessarily. Just because they weren’t together doesn’t mean one of them wasn’t secretly in love with the other. Or maybe they were really close and loved each other in a non romantic way.

“Great. I’m gonna need a list of close family and friends of all the victims,” I requested.

“What for?” He asked.

“To find the connection. You figure out the pattern, you have a chance of stopping it from happening again,” I said frustratedly. How were these idiots not investigating this further? Did they really believe it was just all a coincidence? 

Jones gave me a list of names and I left. I scanned the list on my walk to the diner, trying to figure out where to start and how long it might take to talk to these people. I rounded a corner and ran into an extremely attractive man. 

“Sorry!” I apologized as he nearly spilled the coffee he was carrying.

“No worries,” he said, flashing a charming smile. “No harm done.”

Had I not spent every day of the past three years sharing close quarters with the most attractive man I’d ever seen in my life, I might have been caught off guard and turned into a mumbling mess. But my time with Dean mixed with the quick thinking and lying that was sometimes necessary for hunting meant I was able to keep it together.

“Still. I should have been watching where I was going.”

“Well in that case, I was just on my way to get some lunch. How about you make it up to me by coming with?” He offered. It only took me a few seconds of consideration to make a decision.

“Sorry, but I’m busy. I’m on my way to meet a couple of colleagues for a kind of work lunch,” I told him.

“Ah. Well, maybe next time,” he smiled.

“Maybe,” I agreed, knowing there wouldn’t be a next time. I sighed as I continued my walk to the diner. He was awfully good looking. Under different circumstances, I probably would have taken him up on his offer. 

I walked the last couple of blocks and noted that the familiar black car wasn’t in the parking lot. I went in, found an open table that would fit all three of us, and sat down. I had to wait about ten minutes before Sam and Dean walked in. 

“Hey. What did you find out?” I asked once they were seated.

“Not much. There wasn’t anything unusual about the bodies as far as anyone could tell. The ME did say that based on the most recent body, she wondered if the suicides weren’t actually suicides though. She’s looking over the other two bodies again to see if it could have been staged to look like a suicide,” Sam told me.

“That qualifies as not much to you?” I asked. “I mean, granted it doesn’t really up the weird factor. But what if they missed something else too? Something they wouldn’t know to look for?”

“That’s exactly what I said,” Dean said smugly.

“Whatever. I’m not having this discussion again,” Sam told his brother as the waiter came over. We rattled off our orders to him and waited for him to leave before continuing.

“Did you find anything?” Sam asked.

“No. I do have a list of people for us to talk to though,” I answered. I took the list out of the pocket I’d tucked it into after folding it up and handed it to Sam.

“What, the cops have a suspect list?” Dean asked.

“No,” I snorted. “Whether or not this ends up being our kind of case, I feel bad for the people in this town. Their idiot sheriff doesn’t even think it’s worth looking into. It’s an open and shut case as far as he’s concerned.”

“What’s your list then?” Dean questioned, leaning over to read over Sam’s shoulder.

“Close family and friends,” I answered. “I’m hoping we can figure out what connects them all.”

“Right,” Sam said. “It’s not like we can monitor every single married couple in this town on the off chance they might get murdered.”

“Actually, they weren’t all married,” I told him. “I guess the last two were just roommates.”

“There goes the siren theory,” Dean sighed.

“Not necessarily. It still could be,” I said.

“How?”

“Sirens don’t target married people specifically,” I explained. “They just make you kill someone you love.”

“So you’re saying they were living together as friends but secretly in love?” Dean asked.

“Maybe. Or maybe not. Love doesn’t have to be romantic.”

The waiter brought out our food and we made a plan as we ate. Dean wanted to check out the crime scenes first. Sam argued that we might get more information from talking to people. I wanted to side with Dean because I really wasn’t looking forward to interviewing ten different people, but I had to agree with Sam. Might as well get this part out of the way. We could look at the victims’ houses after.

~~~~~

Several hours and too many interviews full of crying loved ones later, we stood in our motel room going over the information we’d gathered today. The ME had called an hour ago and confirmed that it was flat out murder, not murder suicide. We hadn’t gotten any useful information out of any of the people we talked to today though, and we were all a little frustrated. 

“Alright, well the roommate vics were extremely close,” Sam recapped, thinking out loud. “Which means Y/N’s theory on them loving each other pans out, leaving a siren as the most likely culprit. But how are we supposed to find it? We still don’t have anything that links these people together,” Sam grumbled.

“And why is it killing people?” I added. “Usually they leave the killing to their victims. Maybe we missed something.”

“Or,” Dean cut in, standing up from the chair he’d been in. “We'll find the answers we need at the crime scenes. Which I said we should look at four hours ago.”

“Yeah, Dean. We know,” Sam snapped.

“Let’s just figure out our next step,” I interjected. 

“Maybe we should do some research on sirens. It would be easier to track it if we can figure out where they live, how they make people do what they want, that sort of thing,” Sam suggested.

“C’mon Sam, we’ve spent all day doing research on the victims. Now you’re telling me you want to do more research?” Dean complained. “What we should do is go to their houses. I’m telling you, if we want answers, that’s where we’ll find them.”

“Maybe, but we still have to know what we’re up against,” Sam pointed out. “Why don’t you and Y/N go check out the houses. I’ll stay here and research,” he suggested. 

“Fine. Let’s go,” Dean said, satisfied with this compromise. He went outside and I heard the Impala’s engine roar to life a few seconds later. 

Sam grabbed his laptop and settled in to work while I grabbed my coat.

“Let us know if you find anything,” I said. Sam assured me he would and then I followed Dean out the door.

We decided to split up to cover ground faster. Dean would drop me off at the first house and head to the second house himself. When he was done there he would pick me up and we would look at the last place together.

Dean parked outside the first house, a small blue one with a row of flowers planted along the front of it.

“I’ll call you when I’m on my way back,” he told me as I was getting out of the car. He drove away and I walked into the house, ducking under the police tape strung up on the door.

The first room I walked through was the kitchen. Other than a few unwashed dishes in the sink, it was spotless. I knew the murders had happened in the bedroom, so I didn’t expect to see much in the rest of the house, but I was looking for any sort of clue that would lead us to the siren. I took a quick look at the pictures on the fridge but didn’t see anything that would help.

The next room was the living room which was also clean. A cursory scan of the room told me these two were huge movie fans. There were several movie posters hanging up on the walls, an entertainment center overflowing with DVDs, and a little box full of old movie tickets. I didn’t know how this could be a connection with the other couples, but it was clearly a big part of their lives, so it was worth making a mental note of. Other than that, I didn’t see much. A brochure for a yoga class stuck underneath a pile of magazines on the coffee table. A framed picture of the two skiing was hanging on the wall. I noticed a coffee mug with what I assumed was the name of a local bar printed on the side. I made another mental note of both the yoga class and the bar just in case.

Then I moved on to the bedroom. Even if I hadn’t known ahead of time what happened in here, it would have been pretty clear. There was a bloodstain on the bed and the blankets were rumpled, like there had been a struggle on top of them. One of the pillows was knocked on the floor. The nightstand on the left side of the bed had been knocked over, a picture frame shattered beside it. And there was a second blood stain on the cream carpet.

I braced myself, turning off the part of my brain that wanted to be horrified and turn away from the scene. I looked around the room for any sort of clue as to who the siren might be or where it might have gone. It would be a lot easier if I knew what exactly I was looking for. Sam was right. We should have done the research first. 

After thoroughly searching the bedroom and the bathroom and finding nothing, I made my way back out of the house. I wasn’t quite ready to give up yet, but I was getting more doubtful that this wasn’t something the real FBI should be handling. I stepped back outside and saw the cute guy from earlier walking past. He heard the door close behind me and looked over.

“Oh, it’s you,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he answered as I walked towards him. “I do believe that’s a crime scene you just walked out of. Not exactly legal.”

“It is when you’re FBI,” I told him, pulling out my badge. It identified me as agent Y/N Perry.

“That explains why I haven’t seen you around before,” he said, not seeming overly surprised by the news.

“What are you doing here?” I asked again. 

“I live next door,” he told me. “I didn’t really know them. Terrible what happened though.”

“It is,” I agreed. My phone rang and I took it out of my pocket, seeing Sam’s name on the screen. I excused myself to answer it.

“Hey, Sam. What did you find?” 

“Have you heard from Dean?” He asked urgently. 

“No, why?” I asked, immediately worried. Before he could answer, everything went dark.

~~~~~

Sam’s POV

“What do you got, Sam?” Dean asked immediately upon answering my call.

“Not much, but I think I’m starting to figure out more about this siren,” I told him. I hadn’t had time to gather much information yet, but what I had found mixed with a quick phone call to the ME was starting to clear things up.

“Like what?” 

“So get this. When sirens… put you under their spell or whatever, it leaves high levels of a hormone called oxytocin in your blood.”

“So?”

“So, I called the ME and asked her about it. There were high traces in three of the victims. The female victims. For whatever reason, this siren is going after the women, not the men.”

“Son of a bitch! Please tell me you called Y/N before you called me,” Dean said.

“Why? Aren’t you together?”

“No,” Dean growled out in a tone of voice that suggested stress and frustration. “We split up to move faster.”

“Alright. Well don’t worry. I’m sure she’s fine. I’ll call her now,” I said, trying to calm him.

“I’m going back to get her. I’ll call her on the way.”

Before I could argue that he was already worked up enough and should just focus on driving I heard a thump, Dean grunting, and then the sound of his phone clattering on the ground.

“Dean!” I yelled. No response. I hung up and headed outside. I needed to find a car. Once I had one ready to go, I started driving to the closest address on the list.

~~~~~

Y/N’s POV

The first thing that registered in my mind was the way my body was shaking. I heard a distant voice calling my name as consciousness slowly found me. It took a few seconds for me to fully wake up and process what was happening. The shaking was due to the hand on my shoulder, trying to jostle me into consciousness. The voice was Dean’s, and it wasn’t distant. It was right in front of me.

My head was pounding. I tried to remember what happened. I was outside waiting for Dean. Sam called. Then what?

“Y/N!” Dean said a little louder. I opened my eyes and immediately closed them again, hissing at the pain that shot through my skull from the bright light in the room. Someone must have hit me over the head. Who? No one else had even been around. Except for that guy I bumped into earlier. He must be the siren then.

I felt a surge of frustration at my stupidity. How did I miss it? I knew it was weird that he just happened to be outside that house.

“C’mon. We should get out of here,” Dean encouraged, pulling me to my feet.

“Just a minute,” I pleaded as a wave of dizziness rushed over me upon standing. I braced my hand on the wall beside me.

“What happened?” He asked. “You didn’t answer the phone.”

Once the dizziness passed, I slowly opened my eyes. The pounding in my head was intense, but it was more manageable when I took things slow.

“Where is he?” I asked.

“Who, the siren? Dead,” he told me. That was good news I guess. I didn’t know how much help I’d be in a fight right now. He was almost entirely supporting my weight. Then something occurred to me.

“How?” I asked, looking up at his face. “We don’t know how to kill them.”

“Well I had a machete with me. I couldn’t walk in here completely defenseless. When I saw him standing over you, I cut his head off. Apparently that’s all it takes,” he explained.

I looked around the room, searching for the body, and realized this was the house of the first murdered couple. We were in the living room.

“He brought me in here?” I asked.

“Well. It was close by. And there isn’t much chance of anyone walking in. Made it easy for me to find you, too. How are you feeling? Ready to go?” He asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” I told him. My head was still pounding, but the dizziness was gone.

“Good,” he said, carefully turning me to face him. “I was really worried about you.” Then he kissed me.

I so badly wanted to be able to enjoy this. I’d dreamed about it so many times but never imagined I’d ever build up the courage to tell him how I felt. Or that my feelings would be reciprocated. 

I placed one hand on the back of his neck and gave myself a couple of seconds to be sure my balance was good. Then in one quick motion I stepped to the side and used the hand around his neck to shove him face first into the wall.

“Ow! What the hell?!” He yelled, clutching a hand to his bleeding nose. 

“Where’s Dean?” I asked, watching closely for any indication he was about to run or attack.

“I am Dean!” He insisted. He held a hand out placatingly and took a step towards me.

“Stay back,” I warned him. I reached into my boot and grabbed the silver knife I kept there at all times. “I know a shapeshifter when I see one.”

He dropped his hands and stood up straighter, a cocky smile gracing his mouth. He started to walk in a slow circle around me.

“What gave me away?” He asked casually.

“A few things,” I answered, rotating my body to keep him directly in front of me at all times. 

“Like?” 

“Where’s Dean?” I asked again.

“Oh, he’s fine for now. Just a little tied up at the moment,” he smirked.

I lunged for him, hoping to catch him by surprise. He easily blocked the knife I had aimed directly at his heart and threw a punch that caught me in the stomach. The force of the blow knocked the breath out of me, but I recovered quickly and slashed out with the knife at the hand that was reaching for my hair. He hissed in pain and quickly withdrew his hand.

“Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” the fake Dean growled. “You know you can’t win. Might as well save yourself some of the pain.”

My head was killing me and the dizziness was threatening to return and become a very serious problem. I waited for his next attack. I didn’t have to wait long. I saw his muscles tense to move and then he closed the distance between us quickly. 

He reached out for the hand that was holding the knife, trying to force it out of my grip without touching it. I took advantage of the way he focused on the knife to kick his knee as hard as I could. His knee buckled and I used all the strength I had to push him into the wall behind him. I pressed the knife to his throat.

“Where is Dean?” I demanded.

“What gave me away?” He asked again. I couldn’t believe the arrogance. Did he really not care about anything but the fact that I’d seen through him?

“I’m not going to ask again,” I threatened, pressing the knife just a little harder into his skin. “Where is he?”

“Quid pro quo,” he offered. “Answer my question, I’ll answer yours.”

I seriously debated just killing him, but decided to humor him just this once. He wasn’t going anywhere and I’d get the answer out of him one way or another.

“First of all, Dean wouldn’t just sit there waiting for me to wake up. He would have just carried me out. Secondly, he has a scratch on his jaw that hasn’t healed all the way yet. That particular scratch is missing from your face. Third, if he’s not sure which weapon to bring with, he always chooses his gun. Silver kills a lot of things, so it’s usually the safest bet. Also, where’s the body? You said you killed the siren, but there isn’t a body. And as far as that goes, you don’t have a machete either.”

“Hmm. You’re observant,” he said. “Not observant enough though. Otherwise you probably would have seen this coming.”

His hand shot up and grabbed my wrist, pushing the knife away from his neck. He pressed hard on the tendons there until I was forced to drop the knife. Then he spun us around, pressing me up against the wall. He pinned both of my wrists to the wall and leaned in close, his breath brushing my face.

“Now this seems more familiar, doesn’t it?” He smiled.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I spat.

“No?” He mocked, pressing his cheek to mine and talking directly into my ear. “You’ve never dreamed about Dean pressing you into the nearest wall and kissing you breathless? I think you have. Many times. As recently as just a few hours ago.” 

I whipped my head to the side to look at him. He grinned triumphantly. 

“That’s right. I’ve been inside your head. I know exactly how you feel about this pretty boy of yours.” 

I bristled at the way he had stolen Dean’s face, tried to use it against me, and was now flaunting that fact.

“You don’t know anything,” I spat. He just continued as if I hadn’t said anything.

“That’s why I chose you. It was pure coincidence running into you, but you’re a very attractive woman, so I figured I’d give it a shot.”

“Give what a shot? Murder? News flash, you’ve already done that. I’d suggest branching out and finding a new hobby.” I pushed lightly against his hands, testing the possibility of breaking free. That wasn’t an option. He was holding on tight, and I wouldn’t be able to beat him in a battle of strength.

He smiled and kept ignoring me.

“You see, I had to turn into you first to get in your head and see if you fit what I was looking for. It was a shock, of course, to find out that you’re a hunter. But it turns out you did fit my needs, and you and your friends were so far off the mark, I knew I’d be safe enough.”

“What do you mean, I fit your needs?” I asked. I had a plan to escape his hold, but as long as he was content to talk, I wanted answers.

“Well you’re in love of course,” he said.

“So?” I didn’t bother denying it. Like he said, he’d already been in my head. 

“So,” he answered as if I was being extremely stupid. “Isn’t it so much better being with someone when you’re in love?”

I felt my brow wrinkle in confusion. Being with someone? What was he talking about? What did it have to do with murder? 

I felt a wave of horror and disgust wash over me as I understood his meaning. He’d posed as the men the women were in love with and slept with them before murdering them both.

“If it’s any consolation, they died happy,” he told me. “Well,” he amended. “The women did, anyway.”

“So what?” I snarled. “You thought you’d come in here looking like Dean and I’d just take my clothes off for you? Just like that?”

“Well, not just like that. But I figured you’d be willing enough once I had some time to convince you.”

I remembered how he had kissed me before. I assume that was the kind of convincing he was referring to. 

“We still could, you know,” he offered. He brushed his lips gently against mine and I jerked away. “You can pretend I’m him and I’ll give you what you’ve always wanted.”

“Right before you kill me, you mean?”

“Well obviously I can’t let you live,” he said.

“I think I’ll pass,” I said. I drove my knee up as hard as I could into his crotch. He may not have been entirely human, but he still went down as hard as any human man.

I dropped down to pick up my knife, doing my best to ignore the pain the quick movement caused in my head. I didn’t give the shapeshifter time to recover. I immediately turned to him and drove the knife into his heart. He gasped in shock and pain and then collapsed, unmoving.

I rose to my feet and made my way – a little unsteadily – out of the house. I was pretty sure I had a concussion and that fight had taken all the strength and energy I could muster. As I stepped out of the house, a car came screeching down the road and parked next to the only other car on the street. I didn’t know if I could really handle it, but I prepared myself for another fight.

The driver door opened and a tall man stepped out. Sam, I realized when he called my name. And the car he was in was the Impala. How had he gotten it? Sam ran over to me and put a steadying hand on my shoulder.

“Are you ok? What happened?” He asked.

“Where’s Dean?” I asked, ignoring his questions.

“I don’t know. I’ve been looking for both of you,” Sam said. “I found Dean’s car at the second house, but no sign of him. I was hoping I’d find him here with you.”

Just then we heard a muffled banging noise coming from the other car on the street.

“Stay here,” Sam told me, drawing his gun as he walked towards it. I was in no position to argue seeing as the dizziness was returning and I was struggling to keep my balance. He stopped by the trunk of the car. “Dean?”

“Sam! Get me out of here,” I heard Dean say from inside.

“Just a second,” Sam breathed out in relief. He tucked his gun back into his jeans and went around to the front of the car in search of the keys. He pulled them out of the ignition and then opened the trunk. Dean jumped out, fuming. He was down to just jeans and a t-shirt, the shifter having stolen the rest of his usual layers.

“Where is it? I’m gonna kill it,” he seethed, marching towards the house. He paused momentarily when he saw me swaying on the sidewalk and then hurried over to me. He wrapped my arm around his shoulders and put his own around my waist to help me stay balanced.

“What happened? Did the siren do something to you? Where is it?” He asked.

“It was a shapeshifter, not a siren,” I told both him and Sam who had followed close behind his brother.

“Was?” Sam questioned.

“It’s dead,” I said.

“That explains why my clothes are gone,” Dean said irritatedly. “Why is it that we seem to be leaving behind a trail of shapeshifter bodies wearing my face?”

“Well, you’re an objectively good looking guy. Maybe they just can’t resist all the girls they know they’ll get with a face like that,” I teased.

“Alright, well you’re obviously in even worse shape than I thought,” Dean said, half teasing half genuinely worried. I guess I haven’t ever said anything to him before about him being attractive. This concussion was loosening my tongue apparently. “Sam, you mind getting the body? I’m gonna get Wobbly here to the car.”

“Why can’t we just leave it?” Sam asked.

“Because I want my clothes back for one thing,” Dean replied. “And for another, I don’t want to be blamed for yet another set of murders.”

“Good point,” Sam agreed. He headed for the house.

Dean turned us towards the car and the movement caused me to trip a little on my own feet. The adrenaline was fading away, leaving me helpless to fight off the dizziness that I thought had disappeared.

Rather than let me stumble my way to the car, Dean moved the arm he had around my waist a little higher on my back and put his other arm under my knees, scooping me up in his arms and carrying me. I couldn’t be bothered to keep my head held up and rested it against his chest.

“What happened?” he asked, referring to my balance issues.

“He caught me by surprise and hit me over the head. I think I have a concussion.”

“You thought he was me, so you didn’t see it coming,” Dean said. He adjusted my weight so he was able to open the car door.

“No. He looked like someone else. I turned my back to take a call and he hit me. When I woke up he was pretending to be you,” I explained.

“I’m sorry, Y/N,” he sighed as he gently set me down, careful not to hit my head.

“Why?” I wondered.

“He took me out too. Only I didn’t even know he was there. If I’d been paying attention better, I could have stopped him before he got to you,” Dean said, ashamed.

“Not everything is your fault, you know,” I told him. I saw Sam step out of the house, a large body tossed over his shoulder. “This isn’t on you. And it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s over.”

I could tell he didn’t agree with me and he would beat himself up over this for a while. But he left to open the trunk for Sam and I was too exhausted to try and convince him otherwise.

~~~~~

An hour later Sam was watching over me while Dean went to take care of the body. I sat on the lumpy couch and held a bag of frozen peas to the back of my head in an attempt to bring down the swelling. I’d taken Ibuprofen as soon as we got to the motel and both the headache and the dizziness were slowly starting to fade. I’m sure finally sitting still helped the situation too.

“Why do you think it killed them?” Sam wondered aloud. “I mean, how did he choose his victims?”

“He chose women that he considered beautiful and that were in love. He turned into the man they loved and when he was done with them, he killed them,” I answered even though he hadn’t actually been expecting an explanation.

“He told you?” He asked, surprised.

“In way too much detail,” I said.

He was quiet for a moment.

“You know what I don’t get? If it wasn’t a siren then where did the oxytocin come from?” 

“The what?” I asked.

“Oxytocin. It’s a hormone that sirens infect you with,” he explained. “Actually, Dean was on his way to warn you when he got ambushed. I told him that all the women had high levels and so it looked like they were the ones being targeted.”

My face drained of blood at the reminder of what that thing had done to those women. Of what he’d tried to do to me.

“I know what it is,” I told him. “And it’s not specific to sirens. It’s a naturally occurring hormone in the body. Ever heard of the love hormone?” At his nod I continued. “It occurs during childbirth, breastfeeding… and sex. That’s why he wanted women that were in love. He said it’s so much better that way.” 

Understanding showed on his face alongside a mix of horror and protective anger.

“Y/N… he didn’t?”

“No,” I assured him quickly. “Not me anyway. I figured out what he was too quickly.”

Relief replaced the other emotions on his face and he stayed silent as he processed this new information. Then he wrinkled his brow in confusion.

“You said he chose women that were in love,” he said.

“Yeah,” I confirmed.

“So why did he go after you?”

I was practiced enough at hiding my feelings for the older Winchester from both brothers that I didn’t even have to hesitate to come up with an explanation.

“I guess he found me attractive. Per his usual pattern, he turned into me to see if I was in love with anyone and found out pretty quickly that I’m a hunter.”

“Then why did he turn into Dean?” He asked.

“He was pretending to rescue me,” I answered.

“Right, but why? What’s the point? If he wanted you dead, he had the chance. There was no reason for him to mess with you that way.”

I didn’t have a reasonable explanation for this, so I stayed quiet.

“He wasn’t just going after you because you’re a hunter. You fit the profile he was after and he wanted to-” he cut himself off and considered his wording. “He wanted to… complete his usual pattern. Because you’re in love with Dean,” he surmised, smiling a little bit at this conclusion. 

I decided silence was the best option here. I couldn’t possibly contradict his completely accurate deduction. I wouldn’t outright confirm it for him, but I wasn’t going to deny what we both knew to be true.

“Y/N.”

More silence.

“Tell me I’m wrong and I’ll drop it,” he promised. I sighed.

“You know you’re not,” I told him.

“Then why don’t you do something about it?” He asked.

“There’s nothing to do about it,” I answered. “He doesn’t see me that way. And that’s fine. I’ve accepted it.”

“How do you know he doesn’t feel the same if you don’t tell him?”

“Sam, I’m really not in any condition to do anything to you right now, but I swear if you say anything to him, there’s going to be hell to pay in a couple of days,” I warned.

“I’m not going to say anything,” he said, offended by my assumption. “But I really think you should tell him. You guys are so great together. I think you would be good for each other. And I would be very happy for you.”

“Thanks, I guess. My head hurts too much to even consider thinking about this right now,” I told him.

“Alright, fine. I’ll let it go,” he conceded. “For now.”

“That’s all I ask.”

After that we sat in companionable silence while we waited for Dean to get back. Sam turned the TV on. I closed my eyes to block out the light and just listened to it, finding it to be a suitable distraction from the day’s events.

Dean got back probably twenty minutes later by my estimation.

“Hey, how are you doing?” He asked as soon as the door was shut behind him.

“A little better,” I told him. 

“Good,” he said. He took the peas from my hand and gently felt the lump that had formed on the back of my head. “I think the swelling might actually be going down a little bit.”

He took the now room temperature peas to the freezer and switched them out for a fresh bag. He handed it to me and then sat down beside me, putting his arm around me. 

“Is this ok?” He asked. He didn’t know the details that Sam did about the shapeshifter’s intentions, but he knew that I had been attacked today by a guy wearing his face. 

“You don’t have to tiptoe around me,” I told him. “I know it wasn’t you. For the record, I knew the whole time it wasn’t you. I’m fine. I’m not traumatized and I’m not afraid of you.”

“A simple yes would have been fine,” he teased, pulling me closer into his side.

Movement from Sam’s direction had me glancing at him. He just smiled at me, looking meaningfully at Dean and then winking at me. I would have rolled my eyes if the action wouldn’t hurt my head. Instead I pointedly looked away from him. Things with me and Dean were fine the way they were. I wasn’t going to mess it up now just because Sam knew about my feelings.

A romantic relationship with Dean was something I wanted, but not something I needed. This right here – sitting together with my two best friends, knowing that even though I was temporarily unable to defend myself should it be necessary I was still safe and protected – this was all I needed. At least, that’s what I’d continue to tell myself.

Chapter 2

Tags:

@123passwort

[the-writer-is-always-write]

Thoughts on Dune: Part Two

General Impression: I adored this movie from start to finish. Having just rewatched Part One a week ago, it felt like a seamless transition hopping back into the story. The score, the set design, the costumes, all of it was impeccable.

Chani: her character arc was obviously the biggest deviation from the book, and although I felt a lot of surprise watching it unfold, I think some reflection has left me alright with it. I've admittedly only read Dune and Dune: Messiah, but both books are clearly meant to illustrate the dangers of religious fanaticism and the ways that religion and prophecy can be manipulated and utilized as a tool for oppression. While these ideas can (hopefully) be discerned fairly clearly by the reader, I think it makes sense to have an audible voice of dissent in a film adaptation, particularly from someone among the Fremen. The only concern I have is wondering how Denis will handle Dune: Messiah, since the plot sort of hinges on Paul and Chani being together. But I guess that's a worry for later.

MY BOY MUAD'DIB: Timothee is just so utterly perfect for this role, I genuinely could not imagine anyone else doing it with such grace and gravitas. Seeing the gradual spiral of innocent teenager to reluctant leader to religious icon was heart-wrenching. Paul has honestly become one of my favorite fictional characters because his story is so complex and layered with tragedy. He's simultaneously a product of manipulation and coercion, and an angry young man seeking revenge against those who have hurt him. He lacks agency in many ways, yet he still makes decisions that lead to so much destruction. He tries so so hard to avoid the holy war, but it becomes an inevitability he can't escape. Reading Dune: Messiah for the first time a few weeks ago really helped me to understand how the prophecy controlled him as much as he used it to control others. I could literally give a ted talk on this, and how it's such a fascinating take on the messiah figure trope.

Jessica: I saw an article recently where I think Denis called Jessica "the puppetmaster," and I think that's very fitting for her depiction in this movie. I like how it openly shows the manipulation tactics of the Bene Gesserit, particularly how they prey upon the "vulnerable" Fremen first. Rebecca did a fantastic job giving the creep factor.

Feyd-Rautha: I still don't know why Denis had a vendetta against Harkonnen eyebrows, but I guess it was cool? I LOVED the black and white lighting on Giedi Prime, and the arena scene was SO. GOOD. Denis really went for it. Feyd's accent caught me off guard a few times, but overall I think the ruthless and brutal nature of the character really shined through. He's the antithesis to Paul, and I think Denis captured that theme well enough.

I thought all the other characters were well done too. Stilgar was maybe a touch too comic relief-y at times, but nothing catastrophic. Gurney was great, but I would have liked at least one more baliset scene :(

Things we missed: I'm a little bummed we didn't get Harah. I know the movie was already pretty stuffed, but I honestly thought they could have used the actress that played Chani's friend (I can't remember if they ever mention her name). Even if the idea of Paul "acquiring" her was a little icky, they could have done something else with her character at least. I was also sad they didn't do the full funeral scene with Jamis, but oh well. I think the greater omission was Thufir Hawat, but again I can see why they chose to cut him. I just think the dynamic between the Baron and Feyd-Rautha had a lot more friction in the book, mostly because of Thufir conspiring them both against each other.

I'm honestly not upset we didn't get to see freaky-toddler Alia. I was excited for Anya though!

Overall, I really loved this film. No adaptation can get every detail perfect, but I can see the ways that Denis and the actors adored this story and wanted to tell it in a powerful way. I thought the themes stayed true to the book, and I'm really hopeful we get Part Three!

AND THE WORMS. THE WORMS WERE GREAT. LONG LIVE THE WORMS.

[my-pjo-stuff]

At this point I think we've all seen the "Luke is a heartless monster who just started a war because of daddy issues and cared for no one" take. Which.... I'll be honest is even stupider than the pedo take imo. But it did give me the idea for this. So let's all have a thought experiment together :

What if Luke was an actual heartless monster who cared for no one?

Here's how I think it would go : >TLT goes the relative same, as Kronos wanted Percy to be his OG body I doubt Luke would seriously harm him there. >Shit starts going down in SOM. Because since he cares for no one and nothing he would have no intrest in getting Thalia. If I remember the plan with her only came up after she returned, so Luke just poisions the tree and lets it die to weaken CHB while getting the fleece himself. Possibly sending Al or other demigods >Which means that A)Thalia's tree is now just straight up DEAD including her and B)Kronos is back MUCH sooner since they have the fleece now. >If we still have the plot with Annabeth and Artemis in TTC then Annabeth just straight up dies, since Luke has no reason to protect her. Since there's no Thalia to take Luke at the finale someone else would need to fight him- or he'd team up with Atlas on Artemis. I'm gonna go with possibly Zoe or someone taking the sky from Artemis so Percy can go up against Luke. >Luke ends up capturing Percy to use as Kronos' body since let's be real, Percy had no chance in a 1v1 against Luke. Everytime they had one in canon Percy always lost until someone came to help him by surprise attacking Luke. >Percy ends up being forced to be Kronos' vessel as he's brought back. >The gods are overthrown, practically every character not in the TA dies and Luke wins.

AND THAT'S JUST HOW I'D THINK THE PLOT WOULD LOGICALY GO FROM THE START

Here are other situations I think would have been WILDLY different:

>Thalia going up to fight Luke in TTC would just end with her getting killed since he'd have no real reason to be so broken up over her or be in a bad mental state which gave Thalia the advantage she had. Thalia dies. >If Kronos didn't need Percy Luke wouldn't have done that last attempt to recruit him at the end of TLT and would only see Percy as a threat. Meaning he'd kill 12 y/o Percy in his sleep before taking off to get rid of that risk factor. >He never would have given Annabeth that dagger since he's purely selfish here. He'd probably have kept it for himself as a weapon. >Oh also NONE of the kids he rly cared for are getting any real care. Best he does in periodically manipulate them to keep them on his side- but even that would only happen after he already decided to go after the gods. So for the first time at camp he just does his own business. >This means Annabeth has NO real comfort after Thalia dies! >Oh also RIP Annabeth and Percy in SOM when they get on Luke's ship and Kronos doesn't need/want Percy. Because they IMMEDIATELY get jumped and killed by monsters. Yeah, no good night of rest for them, just immediate attack and kill. >Grover dies to the cyclops in the meanwhile. >If by some miracle they make it to TLO and Kronos does posess Luke like in canon everyone ALSO dies since Annabeth's "family Luke, you promised!" wouldn't have worked either.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk!

[baby-alien11]

Birthday scream (Y/N Ulrich Universe)

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! *Alexa, play 22 by Taylor Swift (Taylor's Version)*

P.S.: I had to search Skeet's house for this, it's so cool where he lives

I will have a Q&A for my birthday so you can leave your messages for me so you can get to know me better (actually is always open, so you can ask me anything whenever you want)

taglist: @volturi-girl-imagines @dessxoxsworld @aonungsgirlfriend @ethanlandryluver @wenvierismycomfort @aliciacat20 @gabbylovesreading @nikfigueiredo

Since you were born, your birthdays were special, it didn't matter if it was only the five members of your family or a small party with your classmates, you enjoyed it

When you started to go to the Riverdale set, they usually throw you a theme party acording to the season they were filming at the time (seasons three, four and five were weird parties), and in the weekends your entire family will spend a day together

Also, there was also the tradition that someone will be standing up by your bed with the ghostface costume at the moment you wake up, and the person was different every year

Things change because of COVID, making the celebrations family-exclusive, but due to the fact that the virus was slowing down, a big party was a good option

So, while you were still sleeping in your room, on the first floor there was comotion to prepare everything with your friends from Scream and Avatar (due to the filming of the last season, the Riverdale guys wouldn't be there)

"If someone, pet or human goes to the cultives garden, please be careful with the plantings", Skeet exclaimed making the breakfast with Matthew's help

"And if they want to go potty?", Mason asked helping with decorations

"They have a space for that in the garden", Naiia assured

"It's okay if I record most of the party?", Jamie asked with his camera on hand, "And uploading it on my channel?"

"For my part is a yes", Georgina, your mother, answered making a cake with Anna's help, "But Y/N is the birthday girl, so she has the ultimate answer"

"Should we inflate more balloons?", Bailey asked with Liana and Duane by her side surrounded with a lot of balloons

"I think we should fill the trampoline with some of them", Jack suggested, "It will be fun"

"Kids, we have enough with the castle jumper in the backyard", Skeet interrupted, "And I still don't know how she convinced me to get one for the entire day"

"Because she is the baby of the family", Melissa joked organazing some helium balloons

"I actually suggested her the idea", Trinity said whit a proud smile

"You are my new favorite kid", Jasmine said towards the pre-teen

"Wait, don't you have the tradition of using the ghostface costume?", Devyn asked suddenly

"Yeah, who's turn is this year?", Filip continued

Realising that they didn't remember who's turn this year was, the four looked at each other with panic

"What if we add a surprise factor this year?", Jakob suggested turning towards the living room where everyone was, "Who wants to wear the costume?"

"Do you have more than one?", Jenna asked, "Because more than one would be cool"

"Or someone she won't expect", Duane said

"Just so everyone knows", Liana talked, "It's difficult to breath under the mask"

"True!", Matthew exclaimed

"Wait, has anyone seen Iggy?", Amenah, Mason's girlfriend talked, "I haven't seen him in a while"

"Wasn't he sleeping in the couch with the other pets?", Mason asked

"I think I saw Butters and Izzy going upstairs, along with Alaska, Rambo and Zeus", Xavier, Melissa's husband responded

"Jakob", Skeet said causing his son to look at him with a little fear, "When you went to see if your sister was still asleep, did you close the door after checking?"

"Not completely", Jakob laughed nerviously, "I mean, I didn't want to wake her up, so I didn't close the door"

Upstairs, you were already awake thanks to Butters who jumped into your bed to start licking your face, and noticing the other five dogs, you reach out to let them snuggle in your bed

And being wake up with your door barely open, you heard everything downstairs making you smile with fun

"If they knew I'm awake and listening to everything", you laugh to the pets

Hearing someone coming to your room, you decided to pretend you were still sleeping covering completely with your bed sheets, leaving the pets uncovered

After disscussing who would wear the costume, they choose the one who you never expect, and that was Bailey, who was walking slowly towards your room trying to make zero noise, with Jamie following with his camera to film

When they arrived at the room, Jamie stood in the door filming while Bailey started walking towards your bed noticing the pets laying at the feet of the bed

The moment you felt someone next to your bed, you were quick to jump and scare the person behind the costume, earning a girl-ish scream which you recognized

"Oh my God! Bailey?", you exclaimed in surprise kneeling in your bed

"Happy birthday", Bailey said taking the mask off, "Liana was right, it's hard to breathe in this"

"I didn't expected this", you laughed while she sat in your bed

"Yeah, last time I'm going to use this", Bailey said, "Jamie is filming also"

"Hi, happy birthday Y/N", Jamie spoke still from the door

"Thanks", you smiled, "Wait, who is here?"

"Almost everyone", Bailey responded, "Come on, breakfast is ready"

Without caring that you were still in you pajamas that consisted in a tank top and sweatpants. you went downstairs with Bailey and Jamie, seeing the first floor full

"Happy birthday!", everyone exclaimed the moment they saw you

Squealing of happinnes, you were quick to hug everyone in the place, watching all the decorations that adorned the first floor

"Did you like the way to wake up this year?", your mom asked while hugging you

"Actually, I was awake before Bailey entered", you revealed surprising everyone, "I heard almost everything"

"I'm sorry in advance for leaving the door open!", Jakob exclaimed

"I knew you were the one who leave it open", you laughed, "You always leave it open"

"Welcome to the club, man", Mason spoke, "I'm also the sibling who leaves the door open"

That comment made everyone laugh before getting to the kitchen to serve all the breakfast foods that was made, and sitting in the living room while the pets lay besides their owners

"So, what's the itinerary for today?", you asked sitting between Jack and Trinity

"We rented a castle jumper", Skeet answered, "Is in the pool backyard"

"No way!", you yelled with surprise, "Are you serious?"

"It arrived early in the morning", your mom responded, "And it's ready to use"

"We also bring a piñata", Melissa said, "We'll put it next to the garage"

"And we also bring three bags of candy to fill it", Xavier continued

"This day is going to be so fun", you smiled

"After breakfast, we'll spend time outside, then we will have lunch and you'll open your gifts", your mom continued, "And the cake will be the dinner, what do you think?"

"It's the perfect day", you smiled

After everyone ended up breakfast, you went to your room to change your sleeping clothes for a over-sized shirt and comfy shorts

"Baby, are you ready?", Jack asked entering your room, "The castle jumper is waiting for you"

"Totally ready", you smiled aproaching to him

Before both of you could leave the room, Jack was quick to softly hold your cheeks and share a small kiss

"Happy birthday", Jack said leaving a kiss in your forehead, "I love you"

"I love you", you responded with a love smile

Carrying you in his back, you and Jack went downstairs in direction to the pool backyard were everyone was already in the castle jumper

"Before everyone start to jump, we decided to make a rule!", Georgina exclaimed, "Everyone who is filmimg, promoting or working on projects be careful and don't do anything dangerous like backflips or jumping into the pool!"

"Please, is for your own safety", Anna continued

"If you don't follow the rules I will eat the two cakes that we have!", Matthew yelled, "I'm serious about that!"

Laughing for that threat, everyone that was in the castle started to jump and play while having fun and listening to the music that was on the speakers

After everyone was tired of jumping and the lunch was over, it was time for the next part of the party: the piñata and the gifts

"Okay, here´s how this works", Melissa said before starting, "Everyone will hit it three times to try to break it, if it doesn't break when everyone passed, anyone can hit it, of course, the birthday girl is first"

"And what do we do when the piñata is broken?", Filip asked

"Fight for your life for the candys", Xavier answered holding the rope from which the piñata hung on the thick branch of a three

"This sounds fun", Jakob commented

"Now, fictional half sister", Melissa spoke again handing the wood stick, "Let's start with this"

Smiling with excitement, you walk towards she was and took the wood stick to aproach to the white and pink flower piñata

"This looks so cute", you said refering to the piñata before hitting it hard surprising everyone

"Mini Ulrich has a strong arm", Jasmine commented

After hitting it three times, you passed the wood stick to the next person who was Naiia

For the next minutes, everyone took their turns to hit the piñata getting to break it slowly due to the hits, until it was Matthew's turn when he mannaged to break it, which caused that the young adults and teenagers throw themselves to catch the more amount of candies that were previously inside the piñata

That scene made all the adults laugh and take pictures of the fight for the candies

"Where are all the chocolates?", Devyn asked

"I saw Mason put them in his bag", Trinity responded

"Are you serious?", Mason exclaimed, "This are Amenah's favourite"

"Dude, just give us some", Duane said

"But you have to give us some of the strawberry lollipops", you yelled

"I don't have them", Duane answered with indignation

"Yes you have them", Liana argued, "I saw you took them"

After a little argument about the candies and everyone having all types, the group went back to the living room for the next part of the party

"Well, since we are the people who gave you life, it's fair we are first", your mom said

"Happy birthday tornado", Skeet continued leaving a big box in front of you

"Thanks mom, thanks dad", you thanked both of them before opening the box revealing materials for VFX make up, "Oh my God, thank you so much, this is awesome"

"Yeah, ours is better", Naiia spoke while Jakob gave you a medium box

A little nervous because you didn't know what to expect from them, you open the box laughing at the moment you saw the content

"What is it?", Jenna asked with curiosity

In response you lifted the white shirt with the phrase "child of divorce" which made everyone laugh

"We also get ones to ourselves", Jakob laughed

"I can't wait to wear this outside", you joked

"I'm next", Jack anounced giving you a big box, "Happy birthday gorgeous"

"Thanks babe", you smiled opening the box revealing a set of LEGO flowers, "I love them!"

During the next hour and a half you spend it opening the gifts that included more supplies for VFX make up from Matthew, a polaroid camera from Jamie, jewelry from Bailey, the 'email's I can't send' vinyl album from Trinity, a Thom Brown backpack from Jenna, books from Filip and Duane, aromatic candles from Jasmine, two pair of sneakers from Mason and Amenah, clothes from Liana, phone cases and accesories from Devyn, skin care products from Melissa and Xavier, and a sketchbook with supplies from Anna

yn.ulrich, jackchampion, masonthegooding and 128, 805 more

skeetulrich this is how my living room looks after Y/N birthday, because a whole day together wasn't enough

tagged: yn.ulrich, naiia, julrich21, jackchampion, melissabarreram, xavierzazuetaoficial, jasminsavoy, masonthegooding, amenahsoares, baileybass, lianaliberato, misstrinitybliss, jamieflatters, duane.evans_, devyn_nekoda

yn.ulrich this was one of my best birthdays ever!!

baileybass I can't believe I almost get hit by a piñata

› jasminsavoy I already apologized a hundred times

› kjapa did you have a piñata?!

› jackchampion yeah, it was a flower one, Melissa brought it

user497 I want to be friends with all of them

matthewlilard good luck with the kids, I'm already taking my flight

› yn.ulrich uncle Matthew, you know I love your gift, but you know what will be awesome as a present?

› yn.ulrich to know if Stu is alive

› matthewlilard okay, I'm going to block you, happy birthday

› julrich21 HAHAHAHAHAHA

[mrs-monaghan]

Why do you think Jimin decided to travel the world for 3 weeks without Jungkook back in 2019?

Here is a few things:

•They could have gotten a Tokyo 2.0, but decided not to.

•The little glimpses we got from JK during that time,... he looked quite sad

•I feel it in my gut that Jikook had a pivotal moment during their summer break in 2019.

I am not usually confident on speaking about Jikook fights/breaks seeing as I wasn't Army yet. As a late comer I only have others to rely on and I can't trust that 100%. It's always gonna be better consuming content in real time.

That being said 😁

I do agree with most assessments that something was a bit wonky in 2019. And while what Jimin did for JK's birthday was HUGE and sweet and amazing, I do feel like it happened for a reason. Almost like it was crucial for him to do so. Like, think about it.

He went to great lengths to make it for that birthday. And he was only there for a short period before he had to leave again.

Jimin spent more time travelling than with JK. But for some reason he just had to be there. Something about this has always seemed...not sus, no. But like there was more to it. You know what I mean?

And we haven't even factored in the photo Jimin uploaded where its pretty clear JK had been crying. Why would JK cry on his birthday? My theory, which isn't really mine but rather an existing theory that I agree with, is that mans did not expect so see Jimin and was hella relieved that Mimi showed up.

Jimin had taken off for however long the Tannies were on holiday for, without JK and the latter thought for sure his bf wasn't going to be there for his birthday. We know this because the whole thing was a surprise.

Also, this was around the time (2018-2019) members were moving out of the dorm and getting their own places so we know Jikook had been inseparable until this point. And while it has always been common knowledge that Jimin had other friends outside of BTS, that wasn't the case for JK.

So members are scattered doing their own thing with their friends and family and JK is in Seoul doing what? Jikook are interdependent we already know this and JK's person is travelling Europe without him. So probably the very first time in years they've been away from eo, for this amount of time.

I can see this affecting satellite Jeon big time. And so when he's already accepted Jimin will be MIA for his big day, BOOM! their friend helps Jimin organise the surprise party for JK.

If Jikook were fighting like many seem to think, then JK was prolly so happy to see Jimin. He didn't expect him, for one. And also he didn't know how long the fight was gonna last for, so the waiting had prolly been torture. So Jimin showing up must have made JK so relieved and happy. Poor baby

That he went and tattooed JM on his hand to show his gratitude? His devotion? His commitment? Who knows 🤷🏽‍♀️

So why do I think they fought u ask? I do not know, anon. I wasn't around. But theories that make sense to me;

Jimin wanted them to enjoy their holiday separately?

They'd been inseparable for 8 years and Jimin thought some space would do them good?

Jimin wanted them to hang out with other people rather than just each other?

All theories insinuate whatever separation was happening during this time was Jimin's call. Because if it was up to JK they would spend 24/7 together and he would be just fine. As long as he has Jimin, is all good.

And because Jimin knows his baby has separation anxiety, he made sure to @least come back for JK's birthday. Even if it would only be for a few hours before he was off traveling again.

[class1akids]

What do you think of Nana as a character?

She was really intriguing for me when she was introduced in the Kamino fight. I thought that reveal was a great twist and couldn't wait to find more out about her.

But in the end, I have to say, her character just didn't add up very well for me. She's another one of the "buff, pretty women" who people really love for their design (Nagant, Star, Nana, Mirko), but their characterization relies on a lot of tropes and "cool factor" and remains pretty shallow.

The bits and pieces we get from Nana just feel like a lot of wasted potential instead of really digging into an important theme of the story - the pain caused by self-sacrifice for the people left behind.

She is kind of a contradictory person: she tries to hide her son to protect him and cut him off from the hero world but at the same time she burdens another child - All Might - with OFA and the fight against AFO, but leaves him with at least some support. Gran Torino supporting Toshinori helps him rise and her forbidding GT to look after Kotaro is a factor in his spiral.

Hero Nana feels like all the tropes of "badass woman hero": she grins at AFO in her death, talking about how All Might will take him down, also telling a young Toshinori to keep smiling because that's what makes him "strong". And ironically, that smile to Tomura becomes the symbol of everything he hates about hero society, pretending not to see the suffering they cause or simply ignore.

Hero Nana seems like someone who successfully compartmentalized Mother Nana and shut her inside a box when she gave up her son for adoption and seems to have severed that part of herself until the end. The feelings of guilt only come after she sees what Tomura has become.

Vestige Nana with her "testing of Izuku" and "can you kill Tomura - oh I was just kidding" is also tropey as hell. I would have preferred some real introspection, or at least some good interaction with Izuku about the moral dilemma of what to do about Tomura, but Horikoshi is not great with that when it comes to female characters.

So in the end, she is just kind of a crying mess of a vestige, flip-flopping on Tomura's fate. I'd like to say that her finally taking responsibility moved me, but it being between two dead people in vestige land, just doesn't carry the same weight to me (like as opposed to Rei running into the fire).

I always say that Horikoshi is mostly a visual storyteller, and he knows exactly the stuff 99% of his audience wants. I'm in the minority and I actively dislike when I feel like he's trying to manipulate me with sentimental visuals instead of solid storytelling (like last week's episode of Anya x Damien in MHA).

But at least the way he used Nana wasn't too bad - even if it had to be really spelled out for her that leaving her son behind like that was kind of bad for him - hugging and stopping Dreamland Kotaro is stepping up both as mother and hero - reuniting her two halves. She couldn't get through the barrier until she reintegrates the mother into the hero and becomes the hero to save her family. And she is the final piece to help Izuku get through. Thank you. I get the theme. It's about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

I guess it's a decent cap for a character who embodies a key theme. But I think she could have been fleshed out (not just drawing her in a lot of detail), but in actual character nuance and storytelling (things like how she met En, why did she take OFA, her state of mind after losing her husband, etc.)

On another note, it would be nice if this was finally the end of the vestige peanut gallery (I absolutely came to hate their parts in the final fight), but considering Yoichi and Vestige Might just seemed to have gone poof, unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised to see again all of them.

[starflungwaddledee]

Ok so I read awtdy au stuff in order according to a link you made and it gave me so many questions.

Like when exactly did they swap in the new timeline? Because it can’t be from their beginnings as Meta wouldn’t be sealed for the being too powerful like Galacta was so unless you can give another reason for the sealing then Meta shouldn’t be sealed if it was at that time. And other times have other complications due to be not being swapped from the beginning.

I know Gooey’s definitely dead because come on we know how Galacta’s been raising Kirby and while I am mildly displeased at Galacta causing the death of what I consider a very interesting character I know it definitely happens.

I know Necrodeus’s ambush on Kirby in the original time line definitely is a surprise for Galacta when it happens in the altered one as there is absolutely no reason for him to know it happens because why would he. He wasn’t summoned during the events of the game and who would know it that ambush happens? Marx definitely doesn’t know because come on why would he. Bandana dee probably know about from what Kirby told him during the original but as during the ambush no one was with Kirby; Bandana dee wouldn’t know what exactly happened like the exact when or where.

Does Stardream and other Ancient made stuff know of the timeline altering? Because I personally find it kinda weird if they don’t remember and that Galacta doesn’t use this chance to get another wish for something.

I hope that Galacta since he is more ruthless doesn’t kill Kracko after Kirby fights him. Because the Kracko has a kid named Kracko Jr. I am kinda finding some humor in that Galacta, the guy with a attack that has heart shape on it, is so heartless. Anyways I have liked the story.

okay, this is a pretty long ask with a lot of questions; i'll answer what i can! to start with, here's a basic timeline breakdown which will hopefully help:

the rest will be mostly text answers with one little drawing at the end!

when did they swap? how did meta knight get sealed?

during the events of the haltmann invasion. there is a little bit of wifflewaffle 'what's canon' here, but we adjusted the canon ending of robobot a tiny bit to allow galacta knight to appear (as he does in Meta Knightmare Returns) and for him to defeat meta knight and make a wish on star dream. galacta knight wished for them to trade places; for meta knight to go into the crystal and for himself to be sent to popstar to enjoy meta knight's life. he did this to ensure his own escape and also to make meta knight suffer. strength, power, or being 'the greatest warrior in the galaxy' didn't factor into this in any way; the crystal is a magical prison and doesn't care who it's holding.

is ____ character dead?

probably. sorry. this is not a lighthearted AU and galacta knight purposefully seeks out and eliminates kirby's allies in order to isolate him. there is a happy "everybody lives" ending, but if the (mostly temporary) existence of all this character death or the absence of your specific faves for any reason upsets you, then you do not need to read this au! gooey in particular was actually already asked after in the comments section of this post! <- (cw: lying and psychological manipulation)

what about (events in non-mainline games)?

this au is dreamland four centric (+ magolor) and tends to follow the mainline games more than others. none the less, in response to Mass Attack in particular: this occurs right before galacta knight's entry point. so there's a chance that it would have been over before he even got there

would galacta knight know about (event)?

i really like the attention to detail you thought about on whether he is or isn't summoned or present in certain in-game timelines! however for the sake of this au, there is a headcanon in place that galacta knight exists atemporally and outside of time, and has done for longer than many people can fathom. he can see and interact with events from timelines and dimensions to his liking; he was inhibited on doing this by being trapped in the crystal this is implied a little in the ending of the another dimension fight comic, where he tells meta knight "to watch". from within the crystal, meta knight can see all of this new timeline unfolding, because the crystal is turning him into an atemporal being as well. there is also a specific connection between him and galacta knight at play, but rest assured; galacta knight is simply obsessed with meta knight's timeline and if he had arrived before necrodeus's ambush he would most certainly have been expecting it and would probably have just not let kirby take a nap that day.

what about what other characters know?

bandee knows what he's experienced first hand, and what kirby's told him. so sure, he'd know about necrodeus- and other adventures before his time- second hand from kirby. marx (who is not present in base awtdy au) is also caught up by the "here's the new rules of the universe! this guy was always here!" that occurs when galacta knight assumes meta knight's place. however, he is capable of noticing that meta knight is missing because meta knight is part of galactic nova's timeline, and so he can put two and two together. if the wish had removed anyone else, marx would not have been able to tell. he is however very smart and extremely attentive, and does have ways to notice other shit happening; which is how he clues in during the clockwork heart variant of this au.

galacta knight heart motifs vs heartlessness

not really a question but yeah, it's delicious isn't it? this is why i love him as an eldritch, unfathomably relentless and unstoppable villain lmao. i actually find the version of him we have created in our heads so compelling and interesting; we have bucketloads of characterisation for him if anyone's ever interested!

wouldn't galacta knight try to get another wish?

have never said he is not trying to do this

does stardream or any other ancient made stuff know about the timeline altering?

the answers to this are important actually and tie into our headcanons for the wishing stars and how they work. stardream knows because it powered the wish. galactic nova does not know because the wish was not made by her; also she just doesn't care. several other ancient artifacts don't know, but have the means to figure it out. some definitely remember better times, though:

[kotamagic]

It's Lore Olympus time again! Mostly visuals, though the plot moves forward a bit slow.

We commence with Hades after he escapes, then imprisons Kronos.

Hi Morpheus! Glad to see you back! How did you break free from Kronos' mind control? Was that through Hades' efforts, Hera whooping Kronos' ass, or did you have your own battle with him that we don't get to see?

I'm a little leary about this. Just because Kronos is down and out on 2 fronts doesn't mean he's done on ALL fronts. Morpheus' being back to normal so suddenly is still suspicious to me. I feel Hades handing the crystallized Kronos over to Morpheus is not a great idea.

Let's also factor in that Melinoe is still around somewhere. She needs to go back to her proper time in the future. Did Melinoe have her own trial? Did she succeed? Or is this all still a nightmare in disguise?

On Hera's front, Kronos tells her of the fear and trauma he experienced under Ouranos. Whether it's legitimate or not, Kronos apologizes.

But rationalizing why Kronos behaved the way he did doesn't excuse it. It makes sense of it, but it will NEVER justify it.

Thankfully, Hera doesn't care. She is not obligated to forgive him, and she does not.

On Persephone's end, she works to start healing up the Mortal Realm. Just as she gets a sprout to spring up, it gets stomped on... by Apollo.

He grabs a hold of her, verbally condescending the entire time. Persephone struggles, but is undeterred.

Of note are the distorted music lines associated with Apollo and the memories of what he did to her. It might very well be why she struggles, but doesn't give up-- Persephone has worked to move past the trauma and heal, but it's not over yet.

Oh good. At least Persephone has no dillusions about what happened at Apollo's televised display of supposed power.

Ooo... and another thing Apollo doesn't like? The thought that Persephone is no longer too scared to speak up about the SA. Apollo doesn't like folks outing his dirty deeds, especially this particular doozy.

What's this? Is Apollo bleeding ichor through his skin? Why does he turn yellow? If it's him using whatever power Ouranos gave him, I hope it hurts like hell.

Apollo turns to victim-blaming, attempting to verbally crush Persephone with all of the things she is sensitive about.

Ah, and here it is. Apollo shows his hand with the "true love" arrow he forced Eros to give him. Apollo really thinks that it's going to make Persephone love him. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Or, rather, nothing will certify the truth more solidly. Those arrows, as we know, show the truth about a person, whether they themselves believe it or not. Daphne saw the truth about Apollo when Psyche shot him.

If Apollo REALLY wants to see how much Persephone absolutely hates him with every fiber of her existence.... well, that arrow is certainly one way to do it.

If Apollo is really expecting Persephone to "change her mind" and let him fuck her, he is in for a very nasty surprise.

Not that it was hard to guess, but having the confirmation helps.

How far back does this actually go? How long ago did Apollo know Persephone was a fertility goddess? Does this go all the way back to the very beginning of LO when he SA'd her? Or did he find out after the fact?

Not that it matters; Apollo is still a huge piece of shit.

Oh, fuckity-yes!

I mean, Hades is perfectly capable (and willing!) to do many horrible and extremely painful things to Apollo.

And now, despite likely being terrified under the surface, Persephone plays her hand. She uses Apollo's perception of her as helpless to distract him....

...AND STAB THE FUCKING ARROW IN HIS NECK!!!!

Apollo has now been struck TWICE by these arrows. They show the truth. Persephone already knows what a monster he is.

Honestly, I'm more concerned about the horrible truth about him she's going to see, but didn't know about before.

Who else has he harmed? And will getting stabbed AGAIN finally nail home how much Persephone and so many others hate him?

Anyway, thanks for coming to my LO post!

[sokkastyles]

This is the post that I mentioned in my previous ask, if you still want to take a crack at it.

And this is the reblog.

OP put in a few picture from the comic which I haven't put here, but I'm sure you could guess which ones they are.

Sigh. The thing about this "Oh, they assumed she was dangerous because stigmatization of mental illness, they didn't ask her who she was seeing, blah blah" argument is that they don't assume she is dangerous because she is seeing things or acting irrationally or exhibiting signs of mental illness. They assume she is dangerous because she has attacked them in the past and continues to do so, and is the defeated princess of an imperialist nation who tried to commit genocide. Her entire worldview makes her dangerous. There's no reason for them to stop and consider that Azula's behavior is out of the ordinary because to them, it isn't. The idea that people who Azula has personally victimized need to stop and ask her why she's trying to kill them and should be blamed for not doing that is ridiculous.

I actually do find the depiction of mental illness in this comic distasteful, but that's because it's unnecessary as an explanation for Azula's violence, not because a person with mentall illness is being wrongfully depicted as violent. That's also why no one asks her what's going on, because they already know why she might want to kill them. Her whole motivation in this comic could have been easily explained without any of the mentall illness stuff. I can believe she might want to kill Ursa, who she has fixated on as the source of all of her problems in lieu of admitting that her father was at fault, without the hallucinations. In fact, it diminishes the compelling story of the family drama and Azula's feelings of resentment towards her mother to have Ursa show up as a hallucination that torments her because then it makes the conflict about her mentall illness instead of her actual relationship with her mother. Nobody asks Azula what is going on with her because none of her behavior in this comic is surprising. She was always mean, vicious, cruel, violent, and manipulative and that hasn't changed, except she's maybe crueler and sloppier, but that comes from being in a diminished position that she resents being in. These people act like Azula was a nice, happy person before being put in the asylum who has no reason to feel resentment towards the gaang so it must be that she was abused. Of course she is angry and hateful and not getting better, she's a cruel, arrogant person who was taken down from the privileged position from which she lived most of her life and not allowed to get away with being cruel and arrogant anymore, and she hates that.

There is also NO proof she was in a straight jacket "24/7" and these people state it like it's a fact. It's not. It's not even implied. We see Azula in one when she's in the company of people she wants to hurt, and one other patient in the background who is also being transported in the open. I don't give a shit about whatever "realism" people want to try to apply, this is a fantasy cartoon and it's ridiculous to apply realism to ATLA's concept of chi blocking, not to mention that Azula can create fire with her hands, which, you know, might factor in to why she is in a straight jacket to begin with.

She also did not get chi blocked "for no reason." She got chi blocked because she hit Zuko with the tea tray he gave her because he was trying to be kind to her. She attacked the Fire Lord. Even so, Zuko protests, because he wants to help his sister even at risk to himself, but Ty Lee sure has ample reason to want to protect herself and the people around her from Azula, and also says in the comic that she is still afraid of her. And how does Azula respond to her former friend? Does she say "Ty Lee, my dear friend, how could you do this to me?" Nope. Instead she wants to know how Ty Lee "lost her fear" of Azula. Wow, what a nice person and great friend who does not deserve such treatment! I know, I know, the stans will say this is Yang "demonizing" Azula and isn't what the "real" Azula would do, but then point to other things Yang wrote as one hundred percent canon and evidence of abuse. Guess it's only canon if you can make it look like Azula is a victim, huh? They probably might also try to play the mental illness card here to explain Azula's attitude toward her friend, except Azula treated Ty Lee with the same dismissiveness and controlling behavior always.

And lol, how does Ozai have better conditions? Maybe Ozai is being abused offscreen just like they think Azula is? Something also tells me that if Azula had her bending taken away and was imprisoned and shown to look as bedraggled as Ozai, these same people would be foaming at the mouth about the "abusive" conditions.

Azula also wanted to commit genocide in the Earth Kingdom, had no intention of stopping the war, and cheered about Zuko being burned and made fun of his scar twice. It's also ridiculous to act like Azula is getting unfairly punished for being "crazy" in comparison to freaking Ozai, because homeboy is characterized as pretty off his rocker and nobody even suggests that he needs any mental help. And Zhao? Are you serious? Are we saying Zhao is characterized as sane and not made fun of by the show for it? We're also not gonna argue about how Azula "didn't do anything worse" than Zuko or Iroh again, because the key, once again, is that they stopped trying to hurt people and Azula did not.

I can think of a few women in media who are similar to Azula, in that they become abusers because of being abused by male relatives, and tbh, I'm tired of seeing tumblr go to bat for abusers and try and call it feminism. Trying to compare this to women being abused in real life is actually disgusting.

Also lololol at the first "evidence" of the abuse in the asylum being that Azula complained sarcastically about the food! She's a princess of a powerful nation who is used to having servants do everything for her and she hates the asylum in general because she does not want to be there, thinks there is nothing wrong with her, and resents having to face consequences for her crimes. Even if the food were less than what she might be used to as a princess, that's hardly evidence for abuse and the attempts at appeal to authority OP makes are laughable. But it's hardly surprising that Azula would complain about anything given to her in the institution, since she resents being there.

Again on the point about straight jackets, even if this wasn't a ridiculous overanalysis of a few panels, it's still trying to make real world comparisons to a fantasy setting and a villain who can create fire with her hands. There are obvious reasons why Azula is restrained so comparing this to real cases of abuse is hugely trivializing the real world issue of the abuse of mentally ill patients.

I also really dislike the way these people always argue that Azula did the other patients such a favor by breaking them out, when the panel where she says this is this one:

Where she's talking about how much these women owe her because she broke them out and so they have to do her bidding. She's emotionally manipulating and using a group of women who probably had nowhere else to go. This isn't evidence of how horrible the asylum is, it's evidence that Azula is still the same manipulative person who is willing to blackmail others into doing her dirty work. You want to talk about abuse of the mentally ill? Maybe we should talk about this.

I also don't wanna hear that shit about Zuko "projecting his negative feelings towards Ozai onto Azula." Zuko has good reason to feel negatively towards Azula for the ways she treated him and the ways she sided with Ozai against him and continues to do so. These people do not get to talk about abuse and then say things that callous and dense.

[typingwithmyhandstied]

a love letter to the Realm Breaker trilogy

I am losing my mind over the Realm Breaker trilogy again, and I can't wait for Fate Breaker next week. To my knowledge, only one of my mutuals has read it (@crowgenius <333), but I will probably not be shutting up about it. Here is my little love letter to Realm Breaker because it may not be my absolute favorite, but it does mean a lot to me. (I did not mean for this to get this long sorry)

I first read Realm Breaker around the time it first came out in paperback. It was one of the last (if not the last) fantasy books that I found in the bookstore by chance and picked up. I had never heard of it before. It wasn't one I'd seen recommended somewhere or something. I did vaguely know who Victoria Aveyard was (I owned Red Queen but had never read it). It was facing out on the bookshelf, and I could see the cover. I think that's what caught my eye first, and then I noticed how the back listed characters (i.e. "a squire forced to choose between home and honor, an immortal. . .). It reminded me of Six of Crows which I had loved, so I bought it.

I looked it up on Goodreads that night (which I had just recently joined). I remember cursing when I saw that it was an incomplete series. I didn't do those. I had never done those except a select few (the Fairy Tale Reform School series by Jen Calonita which I'd been obsessed with and KOTLC). I am surprised I even read it after that to be honest. I did not want to be left on a cliffhanger, but I did. I read it. I wasn't even thrown off by the length, only excited.

It was more intense and LOTR-esque than anything I'd ever read. It was also probably the first book that I couldn't just memorize the worldbuilding for (I had learned the Grishaverse backwards and forwards as well as everything that came before it). It was the first book that I mostly had to go with the flow and be immersed in it and learn as I went along. There was no info dump at the beginning. I loved it. It is also to this day one of the most descriptive books I have ever read but not suffocating. I also really loved how Corayne was handled as if not the classic chosen one character then something adjacent (I love her with my whole heart).

I feel slightly ashamed saying it, but I was a lot like every other person I knew in the sense that I really liked romance. I remember specifically not reading things because they didn't have a romantic focus. I am not saying that Realm Breaker did not have hints of romantic potential and building (my favorite), but it is in no way portrayed to be a main, driving factor of the story. It is there, but it is not the reason to read it as much as even some less romantic heavy books (Six of Crows, etc). (To give credit where credit is due, ADSOM was also something I read before that and doesn't have romance as the main reason to read it, etc, but I do not think that I realized how it was done before.) I was new to that. It challenged me to return to the mindset of romance not being the most important factor that I had had before with other books like Percy Jackson, etc. It was good for me. It helped push me on my journey to understanding that romance was not the most important thing in books to me, and that really that was just the characters and their dynamics in general. I had just been presented with many books where the majority of the notable characters and relationships were displayed in a romantic sense. (A quick caveat---I still absolutely adore a good romance with my whole heart. I love my romance novels. I also do enjoy many fantasies where romance IS the driving factor.)

Upon finishing Realm Breaker, I instantly wanted more. It was a masterpiece in my mind even if it never had that feeling I got with many other books that meant it would be one that stuck with me forever. (Realm Breaker had been 4/5 stars for me the first time. Upon rereading, I realized that it was even better than I remembered and actually was a favorite and a 5 star read. Was I just too stupid to appreciate it fully the first time? Jury is still out on that one.) It was only a few months until Blade Breaker came out. I was resolute. I could wait, and I would be able to wait until the third book came out as well.

"I cannot wait" had to have been among the first thoughts I thought upon finishing Blade Breaker. I had looked forward to books in the past (the aforementioned prior incomplete series), but those books had been ones I'd patiently waited to have the mail carrier bring them. I could not wait that long for Blade Breaker. I had to have it. So on a hot summer day, Blade Breaker became the first book that I went to the bookstore on the release day to purchase. I went with my mother. I ran into my friend in the parking lot. Life was good, at least until I finished.

I had brought Blade Breaker with me on my family's annual camping trip. I usually spend the whole time sitting in a hammock and reading. I had already finished Geekerella by Ashley Poston on the trip. (I needed light reading for the car.) I read Blade Breaker sitting in a hammock looking out onto the lake. When I looked up, I could see tall pine trees and a bright blue sky. I could have been in some of the forests the Companions traveled through. I read for as long as there was light. I read in the tent with a flashlight. I read as bugs bit me. I finished it days before the trip was done.

I remember that I finished it just as it got dark one night. My parents were making a fire. I walked over, and I sat down on the big rock in the dimming light. I was flabbergasted. I was awestruck. I was heartbroken. I was so close to tears. I remember telling my mother that all of my favorite characters might be dead, and I remember it hitting me that I'd probably have to wait over a year to see if they were alive. Little did I know that it would be even longer than that. So long that I managed to completely block out the ending for my own emotional survival probably.

I waited and waited. I understood why I had to wait of course. I in no way expected instant gratification. I knew it probably wasn't even written. I knew writing and publishing took pressure time, so I persisted. Then, in December of 2023, I decided that I would have to reread. I needed to remember the worldbuilding to be able to appreciate the intricacy and nuance of Fate Breaker, but also because I happened to read a horrible book (which I will not name) that did everything Realm Breaker had done so well so badly. I needed to remind myself that good books existed.

I accidentally opened Blade Breaker to the last page first. It is then that I realized I'd completely blocked out the last few pages and what happened on them. I knew that I thought many of my favorites could be dead, but I did not remember that. I did not remember the specifics. I did not remember the last paragraph. I was crushed, but I kept rereading. I listened to the audiobooks while I did everything when February hit to finish on time. I looked at the map. I got my bearings back in this fantasy world I loved so dearly, and the best part was that I loved it even more the second time.

Then, yesterday exactly a week before Fate Breaker releases, I read the ending of Blade Breaker a second time. This time, I was not just close to tears, but they did fall. This time I was terrified not just for the characters in that moment but for all they were yet to encounter. All of the possible foreshadowing of their imminent deaths. I am still terrified today, but I am mostly excited because I know that Victoria Aveyard will at least write it well no matter how cruel.

Next week, I will be buying Fate Breaker on Tuesday, February 27th 2024 when it comes out in a bookstore just like I did for Blade Breaker. I will most likely scream and cry and be my overdramatic self. One thing is new though. I will be spending every moment up until then scheming up what I think the plot will be to that book. I have developed new habits (thank you secret shanghai fandom).

I am excited. I am terrified. I am ready to have my heart broken. Thank you, @vaveyard, for writing such a beautiful book series. It has been something I never knew I needed until I had it. Please don't kill my favorite characters. Please. If Andry Trelland dies, it will be my villain origin story. 

[ghostchasersmagazine]

Of all the leader-type characters of the Hanna Barbera mystery solver shows, I think Biff from Jabberjaw is one of the most underrated. I like how his ideas weren't always bright, as it makes him different enough from the other leaders. Also, his designs in both the original series and the Cartoon Network Groovy are really fun. Speaking of the Cartoon Network Groovy, I'm surprised only Jabberjaw and Josie And The Pussycats got them, as I think that Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kids, The Funky Phantom, Goober And The Ghost Chasers, and The Amazing Chan And The Chan Clan could have all benefitted from having them.

I agree! A lot of the other leader characters tend to act as the Straight Man of their respective groups, so Biff's character is a fun play on that by having him be more of a plan guy, someone who's in charge mainly because it was all his idea in the first place.

What I particularly like about his characterization is that he's still good-natured about it. A fast-talking character like him could have easily be written as a scammer or a schemer, so it's nice to see that they avoided that route and had him still be a good guy.

His character also still has at least one of the major benefits of the traditional leader characters have, in that he's arguably the most "grounded" of the four Neptunes. He serves as a good middle point between his friends; he's not as serious as Shelley, as he does come up with plans that could fail in comedic ways, but he's still more serious than Bubbles and Clamhead, as he's still the one coming up with the plans to keep the group going in the first place.

As for Biff's (visual) depiction in the Cartoon Network Groovie, I'll be honest - I'm not a fan of his design there. Conceptually it works; I think the designers did a good job of making the Neptunes look like a 90s band, and I am a fan of time capsule designs like that.

The problem is that it just doesn't read as Biff to me. By making his hair noticeably shorter, straighter, and changing it from brown to black, it takes away what made Biff visually stand out among the other leader types. They didn't even give him the same shade of blue to wear. They could have said that it was a (then) modernization of any other guy character and it likely would have been just as convincing to me.

It's a very similar problem to what I don't like about Bubbles's design in the Groovie. There's an argument that her design is even worse in this regard because by straightening her hair it does take away the main factor that did separate her from the other blonde girls, her curls, but I do like her design slightly more, since by keeping her hair the same color and length I could at least tell it's supposed to be a version of her.

That's both the inherent brilliance and biggest flaw of Hanna-Barbera's human character design in the 1970s - because most of the characters are drawn physically the same, the hair and clothing are essential in making the characters memorable. By changing/getting rid of those two aspects, it makes the characters near unrecognizable, which is what I think happened to Biff in this case.

But moving on to discussing the Groovies more generally, I apparently don't remember these as well as I thought. I looked up a list of them to refresh my memory and I only remembered like, three of them, the Atom Ant one (if only because it unnerved me as a kid), the El Kabong one, and the Magilla Gorilla one. I don't think I heard songs like "Jabberjaw Running Underwater" or "Signal in the Sky" until I found them on YouTube later on. There were also a couple of shorts I thought were Groovies but apparently were part of the Cartoon Network Shorties line instead, like the Huckleberry Hound short.

That is to say, while it would have been cool to see Groovies for other shows as well, I guess it wouldn't have helped me personally get interested in the shows as a kid.

I do think it's interesting that Josie and the Pussycats and Jabberjaw were the shows chosen for the Groovies to represent the 1970s, though. I do get why they did it, as they were both musical shows and Hanna-Barbera produced multiple adaptations and mystery solver shows during that time. But since a lot of the other Groovies were based on heavy hitters like The Flintstones and Yogi Bear, you think they would have opted to make Groovies out of the seemingly more obvious Scooby Doo or even Speed Buggy given its popularity at the time.

Of the shows you listed in particular for potential Groovies, I think an Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan Groovie would have been cool. The fact that the Chan Clan is a musical group tends to get overlooked when discussing Hanna-Barbera's musical shows, so acknowledging that would have been neat. Plus it could have been a way to have a Groovie about the actual mystery solving aspect of these mystery solver shows, since that surprisingly tends not to be discussed as much when bringing up the shows.

In a similar vein a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids Groovie would have been fun too, just swapping the detective imagery from the Chan Clan idea with spy imagery. (Though, this hypothetical does make me wonder if a Groovie was made based off the show would [then] modernize the characters' designs too, modeling Butch after a 90s heartthrob instead of David Cassidy.)

No real ideas for what a Funky Phantom or Goober and the Ghost Chasers Groovie would be like, though.

[theredengineapologist]

Now that you finished the classic era, what are your top ten favorite classic era episodes?

Apologies for this ask taking so long, but I wanted to take the time to answer your question in the detail that it deserves.

Before I begin, I just want to clarify that this is a list of my top 10 favorite episodes. This is not an indicative list of which Thomas episodes I think are necessarily written the best. They are ranked purely based on how much I enjoy them.

Anyway, Top 10 Classic Era Thomas Episodes, Let's GO!

10. S6 Ep15: "James and the Red Balloon"

Kicking off the list with a James episode (because favoritism ALWAYS wins in this house)! There's definitely a nostalgia factor to this episode, as it's one of the few episodes that I actually remember from childhood (I have the "James and the Red Balloon and Other Stories" vhs tape). But also I just love the irony of James getting jealous of another vehicle that is also red.

Also I love his sad face after he saves the balloon.

It's like "Congratulations James! You saved the day!" and then James is just like "But I didn't want to. The balloon's gonna take my job :(". I dunno, I just think it's funny. He's so silly.

Also the ending of James dreaming about flying like the red balloon is very cute.

9. S5 Ep13: "Stepney Gets Lost"

I gotta admit, I do have an interest in Thomas's darker episodes. I know that kids' shows aren't happy/pure/hunky-dory all the time, but it still surprises me when they aren't. Purely because even though I know that, I still don't expect it. And so it's always a pleasant surprise when kids' shows like Thomas and Friends are willing to venture into darker territory. Like, they LITERALLY showed an attempted murder on-screen. I gotta give them props for that.

8. S1 Ep9: "Troublesome Trucks" / "Foolish Freight Cars"

I adore James's whole character arc from the first season, but out of all the episodes from that arc, this one definitely takes the cake for being the best one. I feel like we really get to see all the facets of James' character at their best. Allow me to elaborate.

First of all, for as much flack as James gets for being "the vain one", he takes his mistakes harder than everybody. Look at him here! He's literally crying in the shed! Dude has seen the error of his ways and regrets it so hard. And that's honestly one of the things I love about James's character and that I'm glad stays consistent throughout the show. Yes he has his moments of being a jackass and a showboat. But the moment he sees that he's done something wrong, he will atone for it! He's not afraid to take accountability, and that's something very admirable.

Speaking of atoning for one's actions, I feel like being The Determinator (TvTropes lingo, means a character who never gives up in the face of hardship) is a character trait we more commonly associate with Edward or Thomas. But James sure is one too! No matter how many times the trucks make him stop, James keeps going! I love how encouraging his driver and fireman are being towards him during these moments too. Good to know he has that good support system.

Then we get to the part where James is puffing up Gordon's hill! And he's all like "omg this is so hard. how tall is this hill" and then suddenly it gets easier and he's like "Yippee! Yippee!", not knowing he's left his tail of trucks behind. Any time the engines go about their work smiling and happy unknowing that something bad just did or is about to happen is insanely funny to me.

Now we get to my favorite part of the episode, where James has to go back down for the rest of the trucks. Please excuse my 2x5 shipper brain coming out for this, but I love how Edward has always been a supportive figure throughout James's character arc. He offers to help James with his work. But then James just gives a polite "No thank you". And then Edward continues to support and encourage him to keep going. I love that! I love them!

I don't think it's a coincidence that it was Edward who brought Sir Topham Hatt to see James's triumph. Edward has been with James since his first day working after the accident. And so of course it would be Edward to bring Sir Topham Hatt to see James at his best. Like, this is such a satisfying episode and it's nice to see James win (because let's be real, the majority of his focus episodes going forward is just James taking Ls).

7. S7 Ep7: "James and the Queen of Sodor"

Look I'm gonna be honest, this one's just a really fun watch in my opinion. I love to see James try so hard to be important. Gordon really tried to trick him but James was like, "Nah, fuck you guys! I'm gonna stay ✨shiny and clean✨!" And he did! Up until the very end when Percy sneezed on him. But you know what, a win is a win (and that comes rarely for James as the series goes on).

Also I love this face Gordon makes when he asks if collecting the Queen of Sodor is important. Dude knows what he's doing and he's trying SO HARD not to be smug about it it's hilarious. XD

6. S1 Ep15: "Tenders and Turntables"

What can I say? I enjoy watching the Big Engines struggle. It's really funny XD I love how James makes fun of Gordon for getting stuck on the turntable only to immediately get spun round and round. The Island of Sodor really does have laser-guided karma, huh? XD

Also as a continuity thing, I like that we get to see how Thomas getting his branchline effects the other engines around him. It makes the events of each episode feel like they have a greater impact, something that I believe gets lost in later seasons.

5. S5 Ep10: "Toby and the Flood"

I don't think I ever mentioned it, but Toby is one of my top five favorite characters in the entire series. Right up there with James, Edward, and Thomas! Any time Toby gets a highlight episode, I know it's gonna be the highlight of the season. But this one, BY FAR, takes the cake as the BEST classic Toby episode.

For me, "Toby and the Flood" was the first episode that really made me think "Oh my god! The trains are in PERIL!" Like, this is a legit scary situation they put Toby in this time around. Not that past incidents like The Flying Kipper crash or James' multiple derailments weren't scary from the engine's perspectives. But train crashes kinda feel par for the course in the silly talking train show. Something about a natural disaster just hits different.

Like when Toby was floating in the water about to go over the waterfall, I was legitimately worried for him. Going into this blind, I had no clue how Toby was gonna get out of this. Logically, I knew they couldn't just kill Toby off. But at the same time, when Harold dropped the rope, I thought they were just gonna pull the driver up and leave Toby there. I was not sure how they were gonna save him but I'm so glad they did.

The Toby-Harold-Percy dynamic is ✨P E A K✨ here by the way. I loved seeing them work together and it's a shame we don't get to see more of it.

Aside from the story itself, the score is amazing as well. Really does a great job of setting the tone for this story.

Oh, and one more thing.

THE SETS ARE GORGEOUS!

Seriously, I think this is one of the best examples of just how GOOD the model series can look. The sets look so realistic. And when the dam broke and the water came spilling out? That was spectacular! I'd give this episode a 10/10 just for the visuals alone.

4. S3 Ep18: "All At Sea"

"All At Sea", in my opinion, is by far the most thought provoking episode in the entire classic series. After watching it for the first time, I was still thinking about it and contemplating its meaning for weeks afterwards. Even to this day, I still find myself going back to think about it from time to time.

For a while I remember I was going back and forth about whether I actually liked this episode or not. The lesson at the end is "sometimes, the best travels are the ones you can only dream about", and I wasn't sure what that meant. Growing up American, we were always taught to go out and chase our dreams, no matter the risk or the cost. But in Duck's case, not only is he not encouraged to go travel and see what's beyond the horizon. He is, in fact, actively discouraged from doing so. From a logical standpoint, it makes sense. What reason would an engine have to go sailing or travel the world. But it still got me thinking. Was it really so wrong for Duck to dream about greater things?

But after talking about it with my sibling (bless their heart for dealing with my incessant prattling on a daily basis), we came to the conclusion that it's not that it was wrong for Duck to have dreams. But instead, "All at Sea" is a story about why it's important to be content with where you are right now. Every one of us is going to have dreams. But the unfortunate reality is that not everyone is going to be able to achieve those dreams. Many of us, in fact, will not even have the opportunity to chase our dreams. And in such cases, perhaps it's best to simply be content with where we are right now. Understand that we still have a purpose in life at the place we are currently.

Dreaming is all fine and good. But understand that where you are right now is just as important and just as worthwhile.

3. S2 Ep13: "Dirty Work" / "Diesel's Devious Deed"

I love Duck's whole arc against Diesel. I think it's great. But if I'm being honest, the reason why the middle episode is my favorite out of the three-parter is because the Big Engines are absolutely ✨ICONIC✨ in this!

We get our very first utterance of "DISGRACEFUL! DISGUSTING! DESPICABLE!" in this episode. Not to mention this iconic roast:

"Duck called me a Galloping Sausage!" "Rusty Red Scrap Iron!" "I'm Old Square Wheels!" "Well Duck?" "I only wish sir, that I had thought of those names myself. If the dome fits!"

I just LOVE the drama of watching the engines be absolute Mean Girls to each other. You can't tell me that in an AU where Thomas and Friends is a high school show catered to young girls, that Gordon, James, and Henry wouldn't be the equivalent of The Plastics. I nicknamed them "The Railway Heathers" for a reason. XD

2. S1 Ep2: "Edward and Gordon" / "Edward Helps Out"

This was the episode that made me instantly like Edward. He wasn't someone that I really remembered liking or disliking as kid. But after re-watching this episode, he immediately skyrocketed to being my second favorite character.

The story does a great job of establishing exactly who Edward is with only about four minutes and thirty seconds. He's smaller than the others (though surprisingly, I noticed they don't actually mention that he's old until season 2), and is very kind. But he often doesn't get appreciated for all the hard work he does. It makes you really feel for the guy.

Thankfully, Edward gets many more wins later in the series, so it's all good!

1. S2 Ep5: "Old Iron"

Is it really a surprise to literally anyone that this is my favorite classic series episode? Of course not! It's literally the EPITOME Jameward episode.

My shipping preferences aside, I would also like to say that "Old Iron" is a fantastic James episode AND a fantastic Edward episode as well. Both characters are at their best here, and let me tell you why.

Starting with James first (because, say it with me now, favoritism rules in this house!). We all love James being a dumbass. And while he didn't directly cause his own karma this time around, we still get to see him be a little dumb of ass. Like, when he becomes a runaway at first he doesn't even realize there's anything wrong.

He just puffs along, laughing to himself going "What a lark! What a lark!"

Then of course, we gotta have the "Regretti Spaghetti" moment, in which he realizes "Oh shit! I don't have a driver! I can't stop!"

This is James's second time being a runaway. The first time, he was pushed by cars and derailed into a field. Those memories are probably still fresh at this point, except I'd argue this time is even worse because he's completely alone. No driver or fireman to check him over like last time. James is all by himself.

But who comes to save him? It's Edward!

Edward doesn't even hesitates. He's puffing and chuffing as fast as his wheels can carry him because he HAS to save James. He has to!

The chase scene is very intense. Even if you know how it ends, there's still this feeling of tension there that I'd say is palpable.

At last, Edward catches up to James! He's got him! And they're puffing along together.

"So, the Old Iron caught you after all."

Edward isn't even mad about James's insult to him. He just takes it in stride.

Still, we all know that James, for all of his faults, knows when to take accountability. When he knows he's in the wrong, he apologizes for it and makes up for it, no hesitation.

"I'm sorry. Thank you for saving me. You were splendid Edward."

Splendid is a word James usually reserves only for himself. The fact that he's giving it to Edward really means something special.

I love "Old Iron" because it shows James and Edward, my two favorite characters, at their absolute best. All their greatest characteristics are put on display right here. I would say, not only is "Old Iron" my favorite episode in the Classic Era, but it's also one of my favorite episodes of the entire series period. There's only one episode I like in the entire show more than "Old Iron", but we can talk about that another day (though feel free to place your guesses in the Ask Box).

That just about wraps up the countdown! Thank you Anon for this ask! It was so fun getting to go through my favorite episodes and talk about what makes them so great! I hope y'all enjoyed getting to hear my commentary. ❤ Until next time...

CHOO CHOO BITCHES! 🚂💨💨💨