#i just don’t remember if disney kept that

[phoenixkaptain]

Me upon waking up this morning, before I thought of anything else: Vader definitely wanted to put Obi-Wan’s body in the Obi-Wan Obsession (Obi-session) room that he ended up keeping Obi-Wan’s lightsaber in.

[cookinguptales]

So I’ve been enjoying the Disney vs. DeSantis memes as much as anyone, but like. I do feel like a lot of people who had normal childhoods are missing some context to all this.

I was raised in the Bible Belt in a fairly fundie environment. My parents were reasonably cool about some things, compared to the rest of my family, but they certainly had their issues. But they did let me watch Disney movies, which turned out to be a point of major contention between them and my other relatives.

See, I think some people think this weird fight between Disney and fundies is new. It is very not new. I know that Disney’s attempts at inclusion in their media have been the source of a lot of mockery, but what a lot of people don’t understand is that as far as actual company policy goes, Disney has actually been an industry leader for queer rights. They’ve had policies assuring equal healthcare and partner benefits for queer employees since the early 90s.

I’m not sure how many people reading this right now remember the early 90s, but that was very much not industry standard. It was a big deal when Disney announced that non-married queer partners would be getting the same benefits as the married heterosexual ones.

Like — it went further than just saying that any unmarried partners would be eligible for spousal benefits. It straight-up said that non-same-sex partners would still need to be married to receive spousal benefits, but because same-sex partners couldn’t do that, proof that they lived together as an established couple would be enough.

In other words, it put long-term same-sex partners on a higher level than opposite-sex partners who just weren’t married yet. It put them on the exact same level as heterosexual married partners.

They weren’t the first company ever to do this, but they were super early. And they were certainly the first mainstream “family-friendly” company to do it.

Conservatives lost their damn minds.

Protests, boycotts, sermons, the whole nine yards. I can’t tell you how many books about the evils of Disney my grandmother tried to get my parents to read when I was a kid.

When we later moved to Florida, I realized just how many queer people work at Disney — because historically speaking, it’s been a company that has guaranteed them safety, non-discrimination, and equal rights. That’s when I became aware of their unofficial “Gay Days” and how Christians would show up from all over the country to protest them every year. Apparently my grandmother had been upset about these days for years, but my parents had just kind of ignored her.

Out of curiosity, I ended up reading one of the books my grandmother kept leaving at our house. And friends — it’s amazing how similar that (terrible, poorly written) rhetoric was to what people are saying these days. Disney hires gay pedophiles who want to abuse your children. Disney is trying to normalize Satanism in our beautiful, Christian America. 

Just tons of conspiracy theories in there that ranged from “a few bad things happened that weren’t actually Disney’s fault, but they did happen” to “Pocahontas is an evil movie, not because it distorts history and misrepresents indigenous life, but because it might teach children respect for nature. Which, as we all know, would cause them all to become Wiccans who believe in climate change.”

Like — please, take it from someone who knows. This weird fight between fundies and Disney is not new. This is not Disney’s first (gay) rodeo. These people have always believed that Disney is full of evil gays who are trying to groom and sexually abuse children.

The main difference now is that these beliefs are becoming mainstream. It’s not just conservative pastors who are talking about this. It’s not just church groups showing up to boycott Gay Day. Disney is starting to (reluctantly) say the quiet part out loud, and so are the Republicans. Disney is publicly supporting queer rights and announcing company-supported queer events and the Republican Party is publicly calling them pedophiles and enacting politically driven revenge.

This is important, because while this fight has always been important in the history of queer rights, it is now being magnified. The precedent that a fight like this could set is staggering. For better or for worse, we live in a corporation-driven country. I don’t like it any more than you do, and I’m not about to defend most of Disney’s business practices. But we do live in a nation where rights are largely tied to corporate approval, and the fact that we might be entering an age where even the most powerful corporations in the country are being banned from speaking out in favor of rights for marginalized people… that’s genuinely scary.

Like… I’ll just ask you this. Where do you think we’d be now, in 2023, if Disney had been prevented from promising its employees equal benefits in 1994? That was almost thirty years ago, and look how far things have come. When I looked up news articles for this post from that era, even then journalists, activists, and fundie church leaders were all talking about how a company of Disney’s prominence throwing their weight behind this movement could lead to the normalization of equal protections in this country.

The idea of it scared and thrilled people in equal parts even then. It still scares and thrills them now.

I keep seeing people say “I need them both to lose!” and I get it, I do. Disney has for sure done a lot of shit over the years. But I am begging you as a queer exvangelical to understand that no. You need Disney to win. You need Disney to wipe the fucking floor with these people.

Right now, this isn’t just a fight between a giant corporation and Ron DeSantis. This is a fight about the right of corporations to support marginalized groups. It’s a fight that ensures that companies like Disney still can offer benefits that a discriminatory government does not provide. It ensures that businesses much smaller than Disney can support activism.

Hell, it ensures that you can support activism.

The fight between weird Christian conspiracy theorists and Disney is not new, because the fight to prevent any tiny victory for marginalized groups is not new. The fight against the normalization of othered groups is not new.

That’s what they’re most afraid of. That each incremental victory will start to make marginalized groups feel safer, that each incremental victory will start to turn the tide of public opinion, that each incremental victory will eventually lead to sweeping law reform.

They’re afraid that they won’t be able to legally discriminate against us anymore.

So guys! Please. This fight, while hilarious, is also so fucking important. I am begging you to understand how old this fight is. These people always play the long game. They did it with Roe and they’re doing it with Disney.

We have! To keep! Pushing back!

[kizzer55555]

I had a crack idea and I really like your content I was wondering if you would like to hear it

Damien had an Over The Moon moment with Danny

Over The Moon Is about a little girl while building a rocket to the moon to meet a goddess so she can get advice about accepting the death of her mother

As a child Damien remembers one of his caretakers telling him the story of the god Phantom how something happened to him and how he floated up and away to space and became their God but could never see his family or friends ever again

Story that Damian got told was incredibly popular one in the infinite realms about King Phantom after he had to shut down the portals to the infinite rounds from the human world to keep the ghost safe and himself

And the ghost saw this heavily liminal child is like oh let me tell him the story of the space god Phantom

This was when Damien was still dueling Talia to find out who his birth father is and like a few days before his birthday Damien actually did find a portal that led to the infinite Realms

He ended up meeting ghosts like the Box Ghost or Johnny 13 and Kitty and going on a big adventure to the infinite rounds to meet High King Phantom who encouraged him to venture out there and find out about what it's connected to him

And turn there was a portrait made of Damien and Danny of Danny being in Royal where in Damien sitting on his lap with the brightest smile on his face

Damien ends up going back home and never telling anyone else in the League of assassins or in bat family about his adventure in the infinite Realms and king Phantom

Damien ends up getting into it like a really bad argument with Bruce and feeling unwanted so decided to go back you get advice from Phantom it ended up taking Jon with him

The bat family have to realizing that Damien's gone missing are spending most of their time trying to find Damien when Constantine calls them and shows them a portrait of Damien and the ghost King

Which leads the bat family thinking that Damian got kidnapped by the ghost King probably because of the Lazarus pits while Damian and Jonathan are out there living their Disney adventure

So the bat family and Constantine summon the Ghost came to the man Damien back while Damien trying to convince Danny at the world is changing that he might be able to go back home and see the people he loves

Anyway I just kept having the idea of Damian singing my rocket to the moon but changing out the lyrics

Anyway I hope you like my dumb idea and you might watch Over The Moon it's really good movie

This is such a cool idea! Unfortunately I don’t know much about over the moon but here’s my little spin on this idea.

The Justice league do the summoning but unfortunatly, they are still under the impression that the ghost king is Pariah Dark. So there is a bit of interference. So the summoning latches onto the last person to touch Pariah Dark (AKA his coffin) and while Danny did defeat the previous king in single combat, he wasn’t the one to turn the key. No, the last person to touch Pariah Dark was one Vlad Plasmius. So when the JL starts the summoning, they get a very confused Plasmius and before he can comprehend what’s happening a bunch of angry and colorful adults just start demanding that he return Damian.

Vlad has no idea who these people are. He has no idea who this Damian kid is. And no matter what he says, none of these strange costumed adults believe him! He’s not even the ghost king!

JL: lies. Lies and slander.

And THEN, ooooh, and then he wasn’t the only one summoned. For Maddie the cat was right there and unfortunately got caught in the summoning because it was feeding time. And because she wasn’t a ghost, naturally she was able to wander outside the circle. The JL, having multiple interactions with Kalrion assume this is the ghost king’s familiar and snatch up the fluffy white cat.

Vlad can only stare in horror.

The. Pure. AUDACITY.

You know what? FINE! Yes! It is I! The ghost king! I have your PrEcIOse little boy! You want him back?! THEN GIVE ME BACK MY CAT!

So here Damian and Jon are, having the time of their lives, chilling in a strangely warm ice castle with Danny and telling him their problems, giving Cujo scratches and meanwhile, Vlad is screaming bloody murder from his summoning circle.

JL: give us back our child!

Vlad: Give me back my princess before I ERaSe YouR exIStaNce and I’ll think about it [insert intelligible ghost swear]

Constantine: *dramatic gasp* How DARE you?!

[pixiesfz]

I know it’s not the normal thing you write so if you don’t want to then that’s fine! But I’d love a platonic lionesses fic (or just Lucy if you’d prefer) when r is the youngest player on the team and they’re all a bit overprotective of her

love this idea of a young teen lioness!!

plot: y/n's partner breaks up with y/n right before camp

warning: them pronouns are used for partner, and crying, I'm not sure what you should call a warning (also if anyone thinks they wouldn't cry like a bitch when they get broken up with is like wrong)

You stared at your phone as your tears dropped down on the text message that now clouded your brain.

You were sixteen you shouldn't expect your first relationship to be your one and only.

But you loved them.

You read the message again.

'It's really not working y/n'

'I think it's best if we break up'

'I can't deal with this anymore'

You wiped away the tears on your face. Long distance was hard and you were leaving every now and then for your soccer career, you thought they would supported you and they did at first.

Then you stopped ringing each other every night, you were sometimes late to their messages because of training and you even saw on your other friends stories of them at parties talking to other girls.

You tried to convince yourself it wasn't going to happen.

But now it has.

The doorbell went off causing you to jump and drop your phone on the floor "fuck, shit fuck" you grunted out as it hit your foot.

You remembered that Ella and Alessia had decided to pick you up to drive you to camp that day.

You quickly wiped the tears off your face and took a deep breath as the doorbell rang again and Ella's voice could be heard.

"Y/N! for god sakes are you deaf!"

It almost brought a smile to your face before you grabbed your suitcase and walked out of your room and to the front door and opened it.

Alessia was about to ring the doorbell again until you opened the door. "Finally" Ella yelled as you looked down and played with your air pod case.

"I uhm- yeah sorry I was on a call with mum" you said with a soft voice as you were already walking towards the car trying not to make eye contact with any of the girls who thankfully didn't think anything of it.

You were quiet the whole ride which weirded the two girls out usually, you would be talking their ears off and you would all sing along to some Disney song.

Even when you had arrived you quickly hurried off with a quick 'thanks' and went to get changed.

"Somethings off" Alessia said once you were out of earshot "no shit sherlock" Ella replied before they ushered over to Lucy and Keira who had also just arrived.

"Why's the little one running?" Lucy asked as she watched you with furrowed brows "somethings up she didn't talk the entire ride" Alessia explained and Keira's mouth dropped "your kidding" she said and then looked at the doors you had just walked through with worry.

You were in the rooms tying up your shoes when Leah and Beth walked in "hey chicken" Beth smiled and you nodded "Hey Beth" you relied softly, still with your head between your legs.

Leah looked at you weirdly before they walked through the rooms again and collected everyone to start training.

You weren't doing well, even when you first walked onto the pitch you looked into the empty stands where you once ran up to see your ex and hug them after a game-winning goal.

You opted to tell someone but you shook it off, you were just sixteen relationships aren't important and they definitely wouldn't care about it much.

But the more you battled your brain about it the more you kept on stuffing up weather it was a dribble, a tackle or a shot at goal.

It was Mary who noticed first "y/n you good?" she asked as you missed another shot "yeah" you replied as you fought away the tears that tried to slip out just by the goalkeeper asking about your feelings.

She nodded before looking at Leah who shot her brows at her.

You kept on trying to kick some goals and missing or taking easy shots and Mary caught them with ease. You knew what was wrong but you didn't think it would impact your playing skills.

It frustrated you and all the girls were sharing looks about your 'skills'.

When training finished you stayed on the pitch and watched as they all went in, leaving you alone.

You grabbed a ball harshly from the sideline and took it to the penalty line and kicked it.

miss.

kicked it again,

miss.

then again,

post.

You were growing so frustrated as tears now ran down your cheeks and you swore loudly at yourself. You walked up to the ball one more time to grab it but your hand stopped once you reached it as you thought about the texts once more this morning and you let out a choked sob.

You hadn't given yourself time to really cry yet and now it finally caught up to you.

You didn't know that some of the team hadn't left yet as they were worried about you but watched from the top.

"She was funny before training" Alessia explained to Leah who had her hands crossed whilst she watched you try and kick penalties "She didn't look at me at all when I said hi" Beth piped up and Leah tilted her head "She never misses" she muttered.

Lucy noticed the frustration growing on your face "Do you think something happened at home?" she wondered quietly before the girls looked back at her and took it in.

You weren't aware of their eyes on you as you dropped to the floor with the ball and kicked it as hard as you could near the goals which hit the net.

"fuck off" you cried out with your annoyance at the accidental goal and you rolled up your long sleeve to your palms and put them to your face which you cried into.

It wasn't anyone's fault it didn't work out, you tried to tell yourself but you didn't believe it.

You left to pursue soccer, you left them behind.

They were your first love and you're the reason they left.

You were too focused on your own thoughts to hear Lucy running over to you and you were too tired to pry away her arms which were picking you up.

"y/n/n" she said as she turned you around but you found yourself hugging the older girl in comfort. Keira came in next her heart dropping at the sight of you hugging Lucy in tears.

"Y/n what's wrong?" Lucy asked softly as she looked down at you, you sniffed and looked up "they broke up with me this morning" you said and watched Lucy's reaction.

She breathed in before hugging you tighter "it's going to be fine y/n, you'll get through this" she said before Keira beckoned the other girls to come over "we will help you get through this" she said before nodding her head at the girls which were now on the pitch walking towards you.

You let go of Lucy to look at the Lionesses who where worried about you.

"I'm sorry I was shit today at training" you apologized to Leah who scoffed "Oh shut up we only care about if you're okay" she told you and hugged you as well.

"I do have one question though" Lucy said from behind you "what?" you asked

"Can I find them and beat them up?"

"Lucy!" Keira said and smacked her arm which you laughed at.

"Thanks, guys," you said with a smile that wasn't fake, you couldn't believe you lucked out with a team like this.

[convolutings]

Look don’t get me wrong I love the PJO TV show. The cast is perfect and some moments that were added I absolutely loved. But… there are some things I felt were so well done in the book there was no need to change it and I’m a little disappointed by the adaptation’s version.

Some of these takes I saw from other people and it put into words what I was feeling so I’m just expanding on what they said.

1. Gabe could’ve been worse. We are supposed to get mean Smelly Gabe vibes and Sally isn’t supposed to feel comfortable standing up to him. I understand “girl boss” and disneys restrictions but it still wasn’t great. I’m hoping they add something towards the end so his murder feels deserved.

Edit: upon a rewatch I take this back and believe Gabe was still abusive, if not physically as in the book, but as manipulative and demanding which is still abuse so I actually appreciate the changes they made now.

2. Sally felt off. Like they read her plot points but didn’t understand her character. She is wholesome and kind and devoted to Percy. The Sally we know never would’ve put that much pressure on Grover, plus him putting the pressure on himself is vital to his character. They also made her seemingly pine for Poseidon. They shouldn’t have changed the way she described her relationship with him and the choices she made to keep Percy safe. (I will say though that the Jesus joke was perfect and hilarious)

Edit: upon rewatch I still believe the wholesomeness was lost a little but I have come to like her character more and think these changes allow for greater depth into Sally’s story which I’m excited for.

3. We should’ve gotten Percy remembering the warm glow of Poseidon. I thought it was important that Poseidon broke the rules and came to see Percy when he was a baby and had that memory.

4. Percy thinking that Annabeth looked like a goddess when he first saw her was so cute and said a lot about how he viewed her. I think they should’ve kept it.

5. I think Luke being the one to guide Percy around the camp was a great choice, but Annabeth should’ve been part of welcoming scenes. And Grover should’ve been the one to tell the story of Thalia.

Edit: Episode 3’s reveal of Grover’s story was genius I take this back!

6. The claiming in the book was perfect! There was no reason to change the dialogue or have the trident not be the way it’s originally described. And seeing the campers reactions/having them bow down was important. I was underwhelmed tbh.

7. Percy is SMART! He was the one to put together that Sally was alive and agree to the quest in order to get her back. There was no reason for Grover to be the one to do it.

Otherwise it was wonderful. I still love it immensely and the care into the heart of the show I feel is still there. I can’t wait for next week!

And yes, I know Rick wrote the episodes and was a part of every single choice that was made so if he wants to leave something out obviously he knows his story the best this is just my opinion.

[ultrone]

just saw your hcs about fuckgirl!nat and they were so good that got me thinking... what if she fell in love with reader? how would nat convince R that she wants more than a few nights together?

⨳﹙❤️‍🩹 ♰﹚fuckgirl!nat falling in love w reader

omgg i love this thought <33 — context

at first, she'd ignore it, avoiding thinking about it altogether. she liked doing her own thing, so admitting her feelings, even to herself, wasn't her style. deep down, though, she knew. but whether she admitted it to herself or not, you didn't pay much mind, since she kept her cool as always.

then, a conflict started brewing inside her. on one side, she craved a real connection with you, but on the other, she preferred independence and shied away from commitment. sometimes, she'd ponder over it while watching you sleep peacefully beside her. but once she left your dorm, she'd throw herself into other things to keep her mind off it.

but gradually, she began showing her feelings through actions instead of words, even if she didn't intend to.

the first thing that gave it away was that she didn't call it quits with you after the two weeks mark. she brushed it off, saying she just really enjoyed being with you—sexually, of course. but who was she kidding? she didn't even last a week with the hottest girl on the hockey team.

around the third week, she started sleeping in. that was unusual for her; she usually slipped out before her fling woke up, or at least tried to. but now, she lingered, whether it was staying in bed longer or sitting by your window to smoke. whenever you woke up, she was there.

she cared about her self-image, though, so she tried not to do anything that seemed inconsistent with her usual behaviour. so even though she was doing these things, she'd play it off like, "my roommate’s being annoying these days. don’t feel like heading back if that's cool with you lol," and then end up staying over the entire week 😭

at first, whenever she noticed you were awake, she'd just leave without much conversation. but as time went on, you two started talking. it began with small talk, but then turned into long conversations. slowly, she started opening up to you, sharing things she hadn't with any of her previous flings. they weren't too personal, just stuff like her favourite songs, opinions on certain topics, even her favourite disney princess—yeah, she has one. it might've seemed trivial, but it meant something.

but alongside this, she started sending you mixed signals; sometimes she'd be affectionate and intimate, but then she'd pull away and act distant. the more she shared with you and the closer you got, the more distant she became at times. once, she didn't even come over for a whole week.

naturally, you started to worry because now you felt closer to her than ever before.

“it’s not that deep bruh, i’m just busy with homework. don’t feel like screwing tonight anyway,” she’d say. and her words stung, because you didn't see her as just a fling anymore. but maybe you misjudged her, and the rumours were true. maybe she really didn't give a shit.

so, of course, you started pulling away too. even when she tried reaching out and acting like she hadn't been a jerk, you kept your distance. you ignored her texts and calls, locked your door at night, and avoided her on campus.

eventually, she got the message and left you alone, moving on to the next person.

nat never admitted it, but after things ended between you two, she hardly felt satisfied with anyone else. she'd pretend she was, but truth be told, whenever she closed her eyes, she'd think of you. the sounds you made, the way your skin felt against hers, your hitched breaths against her ear—it was only when she thought of you that she'd climax.

she’d also remember those mornings you spent together, her fingers through your hair while you slept, stopping as soon as she felt you stir.

though there was still no contact, you couldn't help but notice her from afar. catching her staring at you often, she'd quickly look away, but it happened too frequently to be coincidental. it happened in the cafeteria, the locker room, even the library—what was she doing there anyway? she didn't even study.

it wasn't until some other girl got overly touchy and flirty with you at a party that nat finally reached out.

 ୨   ﹙ 🦇 ﹚drabble ୧  

natalie, nursing a cheap beer in her hand, watched with silent fury as the girl wrapped her arms around you. she cursed to herself, taking a swig of her drink to calm her nerves. it was ridiculous how possessive she felt. she knew she had no right to feel jealous since she'd never even made her thoughts known to you, but there it was–jealousy bubbling beneath the surface. angry at herself, natalie pushed through the crowd, stepping between the two of you.

"excuse me," she interrupted the interaction, the other girl stepping back in surprise. her voice held a dangerous undertone, the mocking tone replaced by a sharp edge. "she’s with me."

with a forceful grip on your arm, natalie pulled you aside, leading you towards the balcony. the cool air outside felt refreshing in comparison to the warm, stuffy atmosphere indoors. she pushed you up against the railings with little effort, standing so close that her body almost brushed up against yours. her breath hung heavy in the still air, her grip tight around your arm.

“so,” she said, her tone soft yet menacing at the same time. “are you with her?”

"so?" you retorted defiantly. "why do you even care?" your words sounded harsher than intended, but you were growing annoyed. she had ignored you and now acted possessive? no fucking way.

her grip tightened around your arm, the change of tone in her voice making her serious. "don't play dumb," she said forcefully. "just answer the question."

"i'm not playing dumb, and screw you," you said angrily, moving your hand away from her grip and pushing her away. "you treated me like shit and then acted like nothing happened, and now you're being all territorial?" you asked incredulously. "what's your fucking problem? do you have any idea how much pain you put me through when you ghosted me?"

she stepped back, surprised by your sharp words. for a few moments, she stood still, seemingly stunned by your response. her face remained expressionless, but from the quick way her gaze darted to the ground, she appeared to be caught off guard. eventually, she straightened up, a bit of coldness settling in her demeanor.

"my problem?" she replied. “you’re my fucking problem!”

"why the fuck would i be the problem?" you demanded, your voice rising slightly.

"why would you be the problem?" natalie echoed, her voice tinged with frustration. "because every damn time i try to move on, i see you everywhere. i hear you and think of those days we spent together. every time i try to just go and be with someone else, i’m always thinking of you instead."

you stood there, taken aback by natalie's raw confession. her words hung heavy in the air, punctuating the tension between you. "shit, natalie," you said, your voice softer now, your anger dissipating into a mix of frustration and empathy. "why didn't you say something? we could have talked about this."

"i couldn't," she admitted frankly, her expression softening slightly. a brief silence followed, the sound of traffic below filling the air. "i was scared," she confessed. "i've never felt this way about anyone. and you know my reputation, i don't exactly fit the 'girlfriend material' mold," she added with an ironic chuckle.

"so, i stayed away," she went on. "i convinced myself i could just stick to the usual. have a fling, move on, forget. but it never worked." there was another pause, this one lasting longer than it should. the atmosphere between you grew heavy, almost like a weight pressing down. "i’ve been trying to move on from you for so long," she confessed, "but no matter how many other people i tried to be with, no one ever measured up. nothing felt the same."

"the way i could just watch you for hours as you slept beside me, the way i always looked forward to sneaking into your dorm at night, the way my hands trembled when you touched me, or the way my heart raced every time i thought about you..."

she had to pause to gather herself, her voice starting to crack and falter as she continued. "i was scared to feel that, so i avoided it."

a heavy silence hung in the air as nat took a deep breath, finally calming down.

"then i realized," she continued, a newfound seriousness in her voice. "that no matter how many shitty one-night stands i had, no matter how many random people i tried to distract myself with, none of it mattered. i would always come back to you, to those feelings that i've tried my damn hardest to run away from."

she stepped closer, her voice lowering to a barely audible whisper.

“but now, i'm willing to put all that aside, because i know what i want."

as nat finished speaking, her words hanging in the charged air between you, she closed the distance between you with a determined step. without hesitation, she reached up, gently cupped your face in her hands, and pressed her lips softly against yours. the kiss was tender yet full of the intensity of her emotions, conveying everything she couldn't put into words. you couldn’t resist returning the kiss, missing the familiar taste of her lips, like cheap beer and cigarettes. as she pulled you closer by the waist, you wrapped your arms around her neck.

"i want you," she continued after breaking the kiss, her voice firmer and more certain. "i want to be with you. i know i haven't treated you fairly, i know i've made a lot of mistakes, but i promise i'm willing to change all that."

you looked into her eyes, searching for any signs of dishonesty, but found none. “if you ever hurt me, i swear i’ll fucking kill you, natalie,” you said seriously. "i'm not just a toy for you to play with, do you understand?"

"i'm never going to hurt you," she replied softly, her hands still gently caressing your waist. "i know i've been a jerk, i know i've been distant, but trust me, i'm not going to do that again. not when you mean this much to me," she said sincerely.

"you mean it?" you asked, feeling the tension in your chest release as you saw the honesty in her eyes. "you're not going to disappear like you did last time?"

"i promise i will never break your trust again," she said solemnly. this time, her words sounded more genuine, as if she believed them herself. she tightened her grip on your waist and continued, "from now on, i’ll always be upfront with you, no matter how messy or hard it gets. i won't give you any more mixed signals."

“well, looks like i’ve gotta believe you now,” you said, suppressing a smile. “i'm ready to trust you again; let's just hope it works out this time.”

the two of you stood in silence for a while, soaking in the moment and each other's presence. you couldn't help but notice the faint smile on natalie's face, as if she was just as relieved as you were to be together again. then, she finally broke the silence.

"so, does that mean you’re my girlfriend now?" she asked, a playful smile spreading across her face.

“all yours,” you replied, pulling her into a deep kiss, which she eagerly returned.

[twinsarekeepers]

I’m curious as to your honest thoughts on the show? Like I love pjo and all but the show was a bit of a let down writing wise. There’s always the point of “it’s an adaptation, not a carbon copy” like yes but this new writing isn’t exemplary better than the book just because it’s rewritten by the author himself

I think the show is well-written not because Rick is attached to it, but because I actually like the way the writers are approaching adapting the source material. I have a lot of issues with the original books in terms of writing quality because frankly speaking, I don’t think Rick is a very good writer. He has a lot of interesting things in those books that he never explores or drops within the first two and this fandom gives him and the books too much credit imo.

This is why I’m not very moved when people try to ascribe meaning to a certain scene or choice he made in the books to get mad at the show for changing. As an example, one of the main things people were upset about was the kids “knowing everything” in the show when they were getting tricked left and right in the book. Many posts were dedicated to how the book version is superior because it illustrates how they’re just twelve years old kids so of course they’ll make mistakes and get tricked by monsters.

That’s a perfectly fine interpretation but I was twelve years old when I first read tlt and I was able to anticipate almost every single trap, despite being pretty gullible and naive at that age. My knowledge of Greek mythology consisted of Disney’s Hercules, maybe two Google searches, and my second grade teacher’s reading of the kid friendly version of the Odyssey. No where near the level of Percy who’d been learning for a whole year in an established class on the topic with Chiron or Grover who was literally a satry born into the world or Annabeth, who spent the majority of her life dedicated to studying specifically quests and Greek mythology and was also on the run fighting monsters for a good portion of her childhood. Like twelve year olds can be dumb but those three stumbling into every trap was asking me to suspend my disbelief too far. I remember being upset that they weren’t able to figure it out because it was obvious that Rick wasn’t making that choice to show any personality flaws or character dynamics (because he would’ve had them learn and grow but they never did they just kept being not smart), he just wasn’t able to figure out a way for them to fall into those traps organically so he had to dumb them down.

I think the show was able to get across the characters’ childishness without compromising their established backstories. Yes, Annabeth knew it was Medusa right away because that makes sense for a kid who has experience with running into monsters. But, she still acted very much like a child in her interactions with her (and throughout the episode and season). She lashed out and called her a liar and wouldn’t listen to her side of the story because it painted her mother in a bad light. That’s peak twelve year old behavior.

Yes, Percy figured out Kronos was behind everything, but it makes sense because Percy knows Greek mythology and where Kronos resides. He still very much acts like a child when he asks Hades to give him back his mom in exchange for nothing because it’s the right thing to do.

There are dozens of examples like this for a lot of complaints of the show. And this is not me saying that the show is perfect: every single show has flaws. For me, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the dialogue or the exposition dumping. It didn’t hinder my enjoyment though because I don’t think it was egregious (and wrt the exposition dumping, I expected it because the book did it and there’s really no way to “show not tell” Greek myths). I also didn’t like that we didn’t get to really see the huge clashes between Zeus and Poseidon in the weather (we got references to it through news reports but I would’ve liked something more). I was able to look past it because I really liked the storytelling and the themes the show was pulling out of the original source material.

I loved Medusa-Sally parallels and Medusa-Annabeth parallels. I loved the juxtaposition of Pan’s quest to manifest density. I loved Percy and Annabeth’s opposite trajectory in respect to their relationships with their godly parents. I loved exploring Sally’s choice to send Percy to school instead of camp. I loved explicitly coding Annabeth as autistic. I loved Luke’s backstory being brought earlier into the story. I loved the deadline passing and Poseidon surrendering to save Percy. I loved Persues-Andromeda and percabeth parallels. I loved fleshing Grover out. I loved glory vs home seeking being the central theme of the show.

And lastly, I was able to understand that with a limited number of episodes and run time (due to the nature of child labor laws!), they did the best they could and I feel like they did a pretty good job for a first season.

These are not ALL of my thoughts on the show because that would be a very long post. I gave one detailed example of why I think the show succeeded in something the fandom tries to ascribe the books and it was like three paragraphs lol. Anyway this is not the post to try and convince me that the show is bad for whatever reason you have cooked up. I’m not going to change my mind and I doubt I’ll change yours. Here’s to a season 2 that builds on a solid season 1!

[wings-of-sapphire]

HELLO THERE LOVES I MADE A WISH REWRITE

I watched Wish twice (once on early screening day and once on the offices release date) and I fuckin loved it. But I feel like while this was a great movie, it was Disney’s 100th anniversary one and it needed like twenty minutes more or so to develop the characters and make it a truly spectacular celebration of 100 years of Disney.

I recently read about the concept pictures for Wish— Asha being the daughter of Magnifico, Star taking a human form and having a relationship with Asha— and I liked the idea of changing up the “quirky main character” idea as well. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with girls like Rapunzel or Mirabel. They’re fun, they’re optimistic, they’re hardworking and determined. Buuuuut as more of a pessimist myself I found my favorite character to be Gabo. The short pink sarcastic side friend based off of Grumpy. Yes, the friends are based off of the seven dwarfs. But ANYHOW— I thought maybe a return to the Classic Disney Princess attitude would be nice. So I chose Kusco. Because he’s the best Disney Princess out there.

I’ve been rambling long enough. Full rewrite under the cut! Will explain more in future posts! Ask any and all questions you’d like! Now, presenting my Wish rewrite~

💫 Asha is the princess of the kingdom of Rosas. Her parents, Magnifico and Amaya, built Rosas after Magnifico’s old kingdom was burned by greedy Wishers who used magic to give them whatever they wanted, which led to their own destruction.

Asha grew up in her kingdom learning that because her father kept the magic in check and only he granted wishes, Rosas could stay safe and happy. Asha gives tours of the city to people who sail in, and as they give their wishes to Magnifico, Rosas grows stronger and safer.

Welcome to Rosas

(Though she’s on carpets and stuff and there’s servants swarming her and she’s comfortable while giving the tour— we see Asha being kind to the child of the tour group)

Asha puts on a happy face for the tourists. But the people of Rosas say they know the “real” her. They hate their princess, truthfully. But they love her parents.

Asha doesn’t really have friends. She’s above that. She’s a princess and her parents founded this kingdom that literally granted people’s wishes. Sure, she sometimes lingers in the kitchen to hang out with Dahlia, the head chef. And sure, sometimes she wished wanted to hang out with them. Dahlia and her six friends whom Asha could never remember the names of. She calls them nicknames based on their characteristics. Easy and efficient. Dahlia is Doc, since she always patches her friends up. She said Asha couldn’t call her friend Stoner, so his name is Dopey (Dario). There’s Happy (Hal), Sleepy (Simon), Sneezy (Safi), Bashful (Bazeema), and Grumpy (Gabo). They’re all close-knit and trust each other with everything.

Asha doesn’t have that.

But she’s their princess. And she remains that way. Untouchable. Unbreakable.

Until one day, Grumpy Gabo says she’s not above them for any reason other than her title. That if ranks were stripped away, she’d be talentless and left behind.

Of course Asha can’t have that.

Soooooo she sneaks into her father’s study to get some of his magic.

What? He has a ton of it.

But then stuff goes awry. Asha tampers with Magnifico’s forbidden books and… nothing happens.

Grumpy laughs at her and Asha threatens to have him imprisoned if he doesn’t treat his princess with respect. Dahlia and the gang stand up for Grumpy and Asha storms off.

Amaya tries to comfort Asha when she runs to her room and throws herself on her bed and cries, princess-style, and Amaya and Asha talk about how Asha dreams of a group of friends she can have fun with and trust, and Asha says her brain knows what her wish was, and it was to become the most powerful sorceress princess in the lands just like her papa. Amaya says that a dream is a wish your heart makes, and Asha’s heart didn’t want to be the untouchable princess of Rosas. Her head may tell her that, but everyone needs connections.

 It’s Magnifico that ends up cheering Asha up by bringing her to see the wishes of Rosas again.

At All Costs

Asha calls Magnifico “Papa” and Amaya “Mama” by the way

That night, Asha tosses and turns, and we see the magic swirls from the book start to gather around her, then shoots into the sky as she shoots up, panting.

Turns out she accidentally ripped a star out of the sky. Asha runs after the giant comet fall, where a young man is floating in a crater in the forest.

The star had taken the shape of a young man. Who can fly. And bring objects to life for a bit.

He’s glowing yellow and wears a dark teal-blue velvet cape and his glow turns pink when he spots Asha.

When Asha freaks out and grabs the boy— she’s calling him Star— and hides his glow with her pajama cloak, and asks how the heck did this happen?

Star shrugs and says he was just chilling in space when the force of someone’s dream pulled him down to land.

Asha quietly excitedly stims, saying she can’t wait to rub Star in Grumpy’s face, and Star is like please don’t rub me in someone’s face, sweetheart.

Sweetheart?

Asha glares at Star, who smirks.

Asha exclaims that anyways— she knew she was a powerful sorceress, and Star says he senses no magic on Asha.

Asha says she must’ve had magic in her, or else how could she have ripped a star from the sky?

Star says people can learn magic but right now, Asha was inexperienced. It was probably because of her connection to the stars.

That means—

No, it’s not just you. All people are connected to the stars.

You’re a Star

Asha takes Star back to her room and says they can’t let her dad know she used his books to summon Star— but maybe Grumpy would need more proof. Maybe she could sneak a peek at his book again, and summon more stars to prove to Doc and the gang that she has talent and she was sooooo qualified to be their fr— sorcerer princess.

She tells Star to stay put in her room, and she’d sneak out and take a quick look.

Star asks if he can come with.

He just got ripped from the sky and needs some more exposition than “I don’t know.” And he’s too impatient to wait for Asha to come back.

Asha says he’ll have to learn and Star magically locks the doors until Asha explains something about how he was brought here.

“You made trees dance the hula and we rode here on a singing deer.”

Star gives Asha a look.

Asha pinches the bridge of her nose and explains that her papa’s whole family was killed because of the greedy wishmakers. With him in charge, he gets to choose, and people are safe.

Star says that the people deserve more, and Asha snaps that get family decides what everyone deserves because they’re the rulers of Rosas.

Star smirks at her and says she’s adorable when she’s mad. But, she’s wrong. The people deserve a chance to get their wishes returned so they can become dreams that can be achieved by pure hard work.

Asha says they’re the same thing, and Star shakes his head. “A wish you give away. A dream you keep with you to work hard and achieve your heart’s goal.”

“Wow, you have a great personality.”

Asha rolls her eyes and says Star can come, but he has to be quiet.

In Magnifico’s study, Asha sees Star heading to the wish room, and before she can grab him, he opens the doors and sees the wishes of Rosas.

Star is amazed and Asha sighs and walks up next to them. She looks up and closes her eyes and bathes in the feeling.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

“Yeah… they are.”

Star quickly turns to look at the wishes above them, his glow pink.

They end up arguing again because Star wants to return the wishes to the people so they can become dreams once again and Asha says her father worked hard on protecting them

Out in the hallways, Asha ends up shoving Star into a nearby room when she hears Doc and her friends come by

Asha smooths down her skirt and holds her head high as she walks by and calls to Grumpy. She smirks and says unfortunately, they were incorrect about her being talentless. In fact, she was so powerful, she ripped a star from the sky.

Behold.

She opens the door (which turns out led to the chicken coops) where Star was chilling in the sunlight where his glow looked normal.

“You brought us all here to check out your boyfriend?”

“Hal!”

Asha rushes to explain that no, Happy, he was the star. She orders Star to step out of the sun.

Star crosses his arms.

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

Dahlia and her friends all gasp and start planning Star’s funeral.

“Sorry, sweetheart, I’m a star. If you ever want your dream to come to fruition you have to be nice to people you want to befriend. Go on. Apologize and then ask me nicely.”

Dahlia and friends are now forgoing that funeral, there will be no remains left to bury.

But then Asha flares her nostrils, taps her foot, then glances at Doc. She averts her eyes and mutters, “sorry for being mean to Grumpy. Star, can you… can you please show them?”

Jaws: dropped. Wigs: snatched. Princess Asha of Rosas, apologizing and saying “please”? Sure, she cared for her people. But she never apologized if she accidentally ran into someone for walking in their way! It was her way! She was the only one who’s way mattered!

Star smiled and thanked Asha, then steps out of the sun to reveal his glow.

Jaws: even dropped-er. Wigs: even snatched-er.

After the initial “ooh”s, [something something]

Asha tells everyone that because she’s a star, she was able to be this powerful. They should all be impressed.

Star then corrects her by saying everyone was made of stardust and therefore had a connection to the stars and magic.

When Gabo laughs, Asha throws a fork at him and tells him to do that to himself.

Magnifico is calling Asha for a family meeting, and she says it’s probably about tonight’s wish ceremony. Dario’s Sabi who’s turning 100 today wants to get his wish picked. He doesn’t remember what it is as all wish-givers forget, but he knows it has something to do with his sickness. Asha tells everyone else to keep quiet about Star, or else. And with that, she leaves the room.

Star opens his arms and asks which of the group wants to help him commit a crime.

“What?”

He wants to break into Magnifico’s study and return the wishes to the people of Rosas.

Gabo snaps at him that they can’t just steal from the king and queen, and everyone else agrees. But Dahlia purses her lips. “Why?”

Dario asks if he wants to betray his girlfriend like that, to which Star turns pink and rolled his eyes saying they were not dating, in fact, they were enemies! She was uptight and didn’t care about anything but her title, scoff!

“Uh huh. Sure, buddy.”

“Gabo, stop talking.”

“Yes Bazeema.”

Star explains that losing people’s wishes made them lose a part of themselves. The most beautiful part, their heart’s dream. He tells Simon that his heart is sad.

He asks that if he returns Simon’s wish back to him, and it does make him whole again, then would they believe him?

Dahlia shakes her head and says they wouldn’t be part of this. But… they wouldn’t mention anything to Magnifico or Amaya. For the time being.

Star thanks Dahlia, and she says this was for Simon. And if Asha also changes her mind, then that’s a bonus. Then she smiles. “Good luck, kid.”

Magnifico called Asha to talk with her and Amaya about a threat that’s happened to the kingdom. Last night, someone harnessed the magic of a star and ripped it from the sky, which disturbed the wishes and his magic. Someone has threatened him, and this was a warning that something was to come. He couldn’t let that fire happen again.

Amaya and Asha calm his worries, and Magnifico says he doesn’t want the people to lose faith in him. Amaya says she will explain to the people about the giant light last night since they were asking questions, but they shouldn’t let it worry them.

“Thank you, darling.”

“You’ve got this, papa. I’m sure whoever bashed that light meant you no harm.”

“Thank you, Asha.”

Star asks Asha to spend the day with him, to which she agrees until the wish ceremony that night. The two have a day in Rosas, Tangled-style. Romantic montage, beautiful moments, Star sneaking glances at Asha when she isn’t looking and Asha doing the same for him.

Star shows Asha how to be messy and see the beauties of life while Asha shows Star how she actually does have good in her and cares for her people, truly. Star gives Asha a small wand to practice some small magic as a gift. While she shows him the study, he sneaks into Magnifico’s office and steals Simon’s wish.

Star returns to the seven and gives Simon back his wish. His dream was to become the kingdom’s best knight— and now he could achieve that! They show Asha how much happier Simon is with his whole self again, and while Asha is happy for Simon and that the seven are being kind to her (after she’s been kind to them), she asks Star to promise not to steal stuff from her papa without running it by her first.

“I promise, sweetheart.”

Safi asks Asha if she can get her papa to grant his Sabi’s wish, or at least return it so he could have a chance at fulfilling his dream like Simon now can. Maybe it would reveal a way Sabino could live longer.

Asha hesitates.

In her room, Asha paces. Her papa said that if people kept their wishes, they’d be dangerous and bring another fire to burn down their kingdom. But Simon seemed so happy. She didn’t know what to do.

Later, in the wish ceremony, all her friends are happy and excited for Safi’s Sabi. Sabino only has a few weeks left to live, and if this month his wish is granted, Safi can keep his Sabi with him.

Asha did talk to Magnifico but Amaya reminded her of the dangers of people chasing wishes in the wind. They showed Asha that Sabi Sabino’s wish was too dangerous, his heart’s dream was live forever. Sure, he was sick now, but once he gets better from that, who knows what immortality will do? Magnifico revealed the true story of their home using magical glass shards—

Backstory details that’s tragic and sad

Basically a king wanted to be immortal and it led to him going insane which led to the destruction of his kingdom

He sent his son away before the whole place burned to ashes

Magnifico was that son

A Wish Worth Making (?)

Asha agrees with him that that can never happen, and Sabino’s wish must never be granted and only the royal family can keep Rosas safe.

At the ceremony

Magnifico doesn’t grant Sabino’s wish and Amaya makes a public statement about how wishes were kept with him to stay safe and anyone who tried to oppose that rule was a danger to everyone in Rosas and a traitor to the crown.

Star calls them out for this and while Simon hides his glow with his huge body, the seven create a ripple effect through the crowd with questions that question the king and queen’s authority. They bring up how Amaya reassured them but this contradicted her words. Magnifico ends the ceremony and storms up to the royal master room with Amaya.

Asha and Star have an argument, with her saying her parents were good people and him saying that Safi’s Sabi will die because her parents were scared, and with that Asha flares her nostrils and says that she is the princess, and as their superior, they should watch their tone before something bad happens.

Safi is heartbroken. Without that wish, his Sabi will die.

Dahlia comforts him, and Star steels himself.

Star tells the group that they’re going to steal all the wishes. And return the dreams of the people back to them. Especially Safi’s Sabi.

“But Asha—“

“I’ll tell her when she comes back. We need to do this now.”

Back at the castle, Magnifico is pacing angrily in his room with Amaya. How dare these people question them? They’re doing everything in their power to prevent that (points to a burned tapestry of young Magnifico and his family) from happening again!

This is the Thanks I Get?!

Amaya also joins in

Cutscenes of the seven + Star breaking into the wish room again

Meanwhile, Asha goes back to talk to her parents. Maybe talk to them about Sabino again, maybe tell them everything, who knows—

Wait. There’s a noise in the wish room.

Asha uses her magic wand to open it and sees Star using his magic to lift the roof open to free the wishes. But it isn’t enough. They need more people; the roof is too heavy.

There’s a small magic scuffle with Asha and her wand against Star and his magic, and Asha ends up beating Star (much to his surprise and he’s totally not turned on by this which is why he’s bright red he’s not at all attracted to powerful women). Her heart breaks and she yells at him and all the seven and says if they ever show their faces around her again she’d banish them from Rosas.

“Sweet—“

“Don’t call me that name! Just— just go!”

“Asha, please. Safi’s Sabi—

“Go!”

Star stays and says he’ll be back to free the wishes and return them to the people. Sabino’s sickness has gotten worse, and he can’t wait another month for Magnifico to turn him down once again.

Asha snaps and yells at him a lot and blames him for everything that’s happened lately, the chickens, and the chalk drawing, and the dancing in the city square, and especially that sticky feeling in her chest when Star’s giving her those sad looks. So she doesn’t want to see him again.

She goes to snitch then sees the Epic Celestial Villains her parents had shifted into. Both of them used forbidden magic in the other section of the book Asha used. She asked if she had forbidden magic in her too, but they tell her she wasn’t powerful enough to handle this magic.

Their magic swirling fog is telling them via shapes that Asha was the one that ripped a star from the sky.

They’re acting different— they barely acknowledge Asha and demand that she tells them where Star is.

They crushed wishes to give them power, and Asha is of course horrified.

She saw how happy Simon was, and now those people…

Her parents weren’t survivors.

They were just power-hungry.

And now this forbidden magic was changing them.

They demand Asha tells them where Star was so they could siphon his galaxy magic and become the supreme rulers of Rosas— no one would never question them again.

Asha tells them she doesn’t know, and Magnifico uses his magic fog on Asha to make her tell them that Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, Dopey, Sneezy, and Doc probably did know.

Amaya tells Asha she was grounded. She says Asha should sit down in her room and wait for the new era to rise.

Asha runs back to her room and cries, princess-style, and speaks out to the sky, to Star, that he was right. He was telling the truth, her parents weren’t good. And now she didn’t know what to do.

This Wish

Yeah she says she’s the first to stand in line but she’s been told that all her life okay

Magnifico makes an announcement to the people of Rosas that the entity that came from the sky was named Star, and he, along with Simon, Gabo, Hal, Dario, Safi, and Bazeema were conspiring to commit treason. He says to find them all and get him Star’s powers do he can grant all of their wishes!

Asha runs after the seven and sees them arrested by other citizens, with Gabo cursing everyone out. Magnifico waves his hand and mutes Gabo. Asha commands the soldiers to give her the satisfaction of imprisoning these traitors and interrogates them in the carriage driving them to the prison with guards posted by. 

She asks all of them where Star was, and they refuse to listen to her. They’re cold because she sort of beat them up with her magic. She says as their princess, they have to tell her.

“You all are underneath me. I am your future queen. Tell me where Star is. This is important.” She turns to the shortest in the carriage. “My parents are looking for him. Gabo, if you know where he is, you have to tell me.”

Gabo’s eyes flicker up at her saying his actual name. He glances at Dahlia, who sighs. She says that even if they wanted to, they couldn’t hand Star over, because he was already gone. He was at the place Asha first starting falling in love with him.

The guards raise an eyebrow at Asha, and she says the fools were so simple-minded that they believed her lie. Then she tells Sabi to shut up and stop sneezing.

She says the forest was where she first found Star, and Magnifico creates a dark fog horse to ride out and find Star.

Once she’s sure he’s gone, Asha whips out her magic wand and blasts the doors open. She apologizes to the seven and says nothing could make up for imprisoning them and lording her title over them, but she needed their help to help Star.

Asha and the seven run back to the Rosas town square where Star is rallying the people and telling them the truth about Magnifico and Amaya. The crowd gathers to help pull open the roofs to free the wishes.

Knowing What I Know Now

Asha joins in and leads the people

Asha apologizes to Star for yelling at him and he apologizes to her for going behind her back. He says she deserved to know. Before they go, Asha tells Star to wait.

“That… feeling. That I mentioned before? I think… I think they’re feelings. For you.”

Star’s glow slightly turns pink. “Like, do you mean…”

“Yes. Feelings of affection. I just… wanted to let you know.”

“Sweetheart, you should know I feel the same. Have since I first laid eyes on you.”

“I am pretty beautiful.”

“The beautiful-est.”

Asha laughs. “That’s not a word.”

“She’s right, it’s not,” Dahlia quips.

The two pull back and laugh awkwardly.

The seven lead the people of Rosas to help lift the roofs, but Amaya catches them and there’s a magic battle where Amaya turns into a dragon a la Malifacent. Star helps Asha suck out the evil magic, and Amaya falls to the floor. The roof is opened, and the wishes began to flow out.

Then Star is grabbed from the back by a fog hand and Magnifico tuts, telling Asha he’s disappointed in her. But now that he has the power of a Star, no one will ever question him again.

He ties down every single person and closes the roof, draining Star’s essence into his magical staff.

Asha yells and uses her magic wand against him, and the two have a giant blast of magic against each other, but the energy is draining Asha while Star’s is giving Magnifico more strength.

Star weakly whispers to Asha to remember where she came from.

Magnifico snarls do Asha that she is nothing, and Asha remembers.

“We… are… stars.”

Asha’s blast of magic is battling Magnifico’s but he’s still stronger.

Asha cries out a plea to the people, these stars just like her, and Dahlia responds.

This Wish (Reprise)

The strengths of these stars give Star enough energy to break free from Magnifico’s staff and fly over to Asha’s side, and the magic blast shines bright and blasts Magnifico back, burning away the evil magic.

When the dark clouds clear and the night sky is sparkling once again, Magnifico isn’t moving. Amaya and Asha run to him, and Amaya cries over his body. She apologizes to Star for what they did, and asks if she can help her husband.

Star sadly tells her that his powers weren’t strong enough for that.

Amaya cries, and kisses Magnifico’s lips. Then, her star soul orb thing in her chest glows bright, and Magnifico’s does too. His body glows that shimmering yellow and he’s lifted into the air and the last bit of evil magic is burned away.

Asha asks Star what he’s doing and Star says he’s not doing anything!

Suddenly, Magnifico’s eyes open and he gasps, then falls.

Amaya and Asha rush to catch him, and Magnifico asks what happened.

Star shrugs and says some sort of True Love’s Kiss.

Magnifico and Amaya walk up behind Asha and address the people of Rosas. They apologize for what they did and they know nothing could ever make up for it. But… they promise to keep working to be the best king and queen they can be. If the people will still accept them. Also, they should have what’s rightfully theirs.

Magnifico uses his magic to lift the roof and release the wishes of Rosas back to their people. Amaya tells them that now they have a chance to fulfill their dreams, and she and Magnifico will be behind them every step of the way.

Dahlia steps foreword and thanks them for apologizing.

Basically they can still remain king and queen but they start a council of representatives where people can address them directly about problems and stuff

Then, Asha turns to the seven and says she has to apologize to them. For treating them all so poorly in the past.

They forgive her, and when she asks how they can do something like that so easily, Dahlia smiles. “It’s what friends do.”

“…friends?”

“Do you have a hearing problem, or something?”

“Gabo!”

“Sorry, Bazeema!”

Asha laughs and turns to Star who spins her around.

“I have friends!”

“You have friends!”

Meanwhile, Gabo whispers to Simon how they ever feared the princess. She was just a sad, lonely, friendless girl.

Asha turns to her wand and discovers it broken in half when she was blasted backwards.

Star restores her wand, and she says she’s going to be the most powerful sorceress in the history of ever and Gabo says she looks like a stupid fairy.

Asha glares.

“A fairy godmother,” Gabo smirks.

Star laughs and says that sounds amazing and Asha groans and bites back a smile.

Star smiles at the family, but he looks sad still. Asha holds his hands and he rubs her thumb.

“You have to return to the sky, don’t you?”

“If I had a choice, I’d choose to stay by your side.”

“I’ll keep on wishing on stars. I’ll find a way to bring you back.”

He tells Asha that they’ve learned that sending your greatest desires into the universe in hopes that they’ll be answered doesn’t do anything. It didn’t work for Magnifico, and it didn’t work for Asha. Instead, the people of Rosas should work to achieve their dreams.

Asha says she’ll work to achieve a way to find him again, then. Since she was going to be the most powerful sorceress—

“Fairy godmother~”

“Shut up Gabo.”

—she’d find a way.

Star smiles and says she’s his dream girl, and Asha jokes that’s he’s got to work to achieve her.

Star flips his cape and says it’ll be easy since he’s so absurdly handsome, and Asha snorts as she pulls him down and raises an eyebrow at him. Star turns a bright pink, then rolls his eyes as he smiles and pulls Asha up in the air with him by her waist, and the two kiss.

When they finally separate, Star is vibrating happily and he accidentally shoots out a magic blast at a nearby chicken, which makes it grow big and lay a giant egg on Gabo.

Star winks at her and returns to the sky.

EDIT BC I CAN’T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO ADD THIS BUT

ASHA DOES END UP USING HER FAIRY GODMOTHER POWERS TO HEAL SAFI’S SABI

MAYBE SHE MAKES A MAGIC FLOWER FROM A SUNDROP AND DAHLIA COOKS A PETAL INTO A COOKIE THAT HEALS SABINO

THEN BEFORE STAR LEAVES HE PROMISES TO HIDE THE GLOWER IN A FAR AWAY KINGDOM EHERE NO ONE WOULD BE ABLE TO EXPLOIT IT FOR IMMORTALITY (*side eyes Gothel*)

HE DOES END UP GETTING HEALED OK THE PEEPAW DOESN’T DIE

[ladyazurith]

Cater Diamond Analysis

Honestly, my first impressions of Cater were…not good. When I very first started playing Twist, I picked Idia as my starting character because I love Hades (not the Disney version but the classical Greek mythology version, though the Disney version is great he’s a terrible representation of Hades but I think everyone knows that) After playing the game Azul quickly became my favorite (That’s why my first Broken Mirrors story was about him) and just Octavinelle in general. 

When I first picked up Twist I kind of sped through books 1 and 2. At the time I was still knee deep in the MHA fandom and was playing the game because a friend recommended it (they’d followed the JP release) And didn’t really absorb much. Books 3 and 4’s release is when I really started to pay attention. My Ao3 page definitely reflects this given stories started appearing in April of 22. 

The first thing I really remembered about Cater was Beans Day and I was overall just annoyed with him because I wanted to spend more time with Jade. And Cater it seemed was the reason he kept leaving. 

Another thing is I have Cater’s Birthday SSR from the first year (it was the very first Birthday Card we got in the EN version) I do not remember pulling for it, let alone actually getting his card but it’s there so…*shrugs* 

It wasn’t until I saw a music video on YouTube set to Kill the Lights, that I even took a second glance at Cater as a character. The video made me compare him to Twice from MHA (I was again still attached to the fandom at the time) and I loved Twice, so I started digging more. Twice has an incredibly tragic backstory and it made me curious about Cater’s. 

After that I dug through all the information I could about Cater, both in EN and JP releases, I watched translations of all his available vignettes or others he was in, and events he was a part of. I’ve always loved picking characters apart and I found that Cater was far more complex than I first gave him credit for. There are a few key cards/events that I believe are essential for understanding who Cater is.

First is of course is Heartslabyul’s chapter of the game. I know a lot of people will point to this and say it’s why they don’t trust him or take him seriously, but context is key. Yes, he does “manipulate” the group into doing some of his chores.  But in the wider context of the story, Cater is often left doing a lot of extra work around the dorm. Picking up the slack, because of his clones and making up for the mistakes of others. (Trey’s CR Card is a good window into this, along with Trey’s Star Sending Card) And honestly, this is about the worst thing he does throughout the entire game. 

What is also shown is that Cater is very forgiving. He’s never actually upset with Riddle for the way he behaves. It’s not that he condones his actions, but he knows why Riddle behaves the way he does and tries his best to be understanding while also helping the 1st years navigate the situation and in a way protect them. (He even asks Trey if he’s okay with what’s going on when Ace and Deuce get kicked out) Even at the end when Ace gets on Riddle for his apology Cater chastises him. In the end, Cater is very conflict averse, he doesn’t really want to fight with people, and would rather everyone just get along (this is part of why he Kalim and Lilia all get along so well in the LMC) I think some people see his reaction in the manga, and take his reason for not wanting to step in wrong. Personally, I don’t think it had completely clicked with him that this wasn’t an altercation that could be ended peacefully. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. 

There are a lot of hints that Cater is fairly depressed under his happy come-what-may attitude. His Labcoat personal story is less than subtle about it, (Vil and Lilia straight-up talk about what the Mandrake Cater tried to hide meant), And even his CR card shows that he’s not really a fan of all the socializing he does, and finds it exhausting. He also isn't afraid of death, at least as his clones, in the Heartslabyul Manga he takes a spear to the chest to save Deuce, and in Chapter 2 he creates replicas of the Diasomnia Spelldive team and allows himself to be trampled. The level he's nonchalant about it is a bit disturbing, especially because he can remember what happens as his clones (he makes a comment about not being able to use them to study because the information can get jumbled up) and they have been stated to *be* him. (this is part of why I HC that Cater's clones can confuse Rook's UM because he can't tell a clone from the real Cater)

Another really important one is Cater’s Halloween SSR (and really the first two Halloween events), His SSR is one of the few times we get to see his thoughts so clearly. He’s excellent at hiding his true thoughts and feelings. The conversation he has with Lilia and Kalim about not being really close to anyone, and preferring to keep people at arm's length is heartbreaking because it comes from a place of moving around, being forgotten, and being hurt. Everything Cater does is an effort to get people to remember him, from his guitar to his magicam account. 

At the end of his SSR is a very touching moment between Diasomnia as Lilia comforts Malleus, Cater’s left to the side feeling completely bitter about all of it. Angry Lilia thought he could ever understand him when he had connections like Malleus, Silver, and Sebek in his life. Connections Cater doesn’t feel he can ever make. The follow up to this is when he’s still standing there and gets the call from Trey who yells at him because he’s not in Heartslabyul to help solve a problem there, and gets called a liar when he explains what he was doing. (People sometimes ask me why I don’t like Trey and this scene right here is part of that reason.) 

As for the rest of the first Halloween, the only time we really see him relaxed is in Lilia’s card. Every other time he’s working, solving problems, or helping other people. Even at the very end when everyone else was relaxing at the after party, he was off comforting the Ghosts who felt guilty about causing all the problems with their picture in the beginning, helping them feel better and bringing the subject up to others.  

In the second Halloween event, he was one of the possessed missing students. I don’t think everyone realizes this but all the ghosts made the ones they’d possessed act in the exact opposite of their true nature. (Vil who he was stuck with is a great example, he was crying acting like someone who had no self-esteem, but the things he was saying were in complete contrast to his behavior, which in reality Vil acts like a very self assured person on the surface but deep down he’s a doubt ridden insecure mess. Kalim is another he was angry and violent) 

Cater was forced to be cruel and malicious, which lines up with being the opposite of who he really is from the little bits we’ve seen. He often tends to go out of his way to help people. When they needed help in the final act of Endless Halloween when the other students appeared he was the first one to step up to help take care of it. In Silver’s card, he took the time to console him and give him advice but even his advice to live in the moment and don’t care about what happens in the future tells us a lot about him.

Even Beans Day and the fact he stuck with Yuu (something that first annoyed me) is an example of this. A lot of people saw “us” as a liability and ditched the MC in the very competitive game, but Cater didn’t he stayed, and in the end, they almost won. 

Other notes along the way are he never really talks positively about his family. He’s always complaining about how overbearing his sisters are. How they treated him like a doll. Bought presents for him that were meant for them, not him, etc. And I know what he says about his dislike of sugar and how it came from one incident as a child BUT that’s not very likely. I have a feeling it was more than *one* incident and a repeated dismissal of his own autonomy in his family BUT that is just a theory. Personally, I think he downplayed the event like he seems to do a lot of these things. It’s very clear he generally conceals how he truly feels about an incident. 

He even comments about how he doesn’t want to go home over winter break because he knows his sisters will just put him to work. In his second year birthday jacket card he talks about how his sisters take him shopping and force him to carry everything. Every time his family comes up it's never in a positive context. 

In his Silks card, it’s shown he has a problem buying things for himself. Jamil pokes him about it, while he’s buying souvenirs for other people, and in the end, makes Jamil pick something for him. We get hints that Jamil can see past the facade he puts up and that makes Cater nervous BUT we also know Jamil absolutely trusts Cater. He left Kalim in Cater’s care in Silk City, and even though Kalim doesn’t generally eat anything but Jamil’s cooking (not even his own) Kalim is the one that judges Cater’s culinary crucible meal. And the way Jamil conducts himself in Cater’s birthday interview. 

Cater also tends to treat people as people. He’s never really been intimidated by Malleus, not the same way other people are (outside Yuu/MC), and will talk to him freely. When realistically he has more reason than most to be afraid of Malleus. It takes a bit of stringing of different card stories and events together, but Malleus has knocked Cater unconscious with his magic before. Because in Malleus’s first Birthday card, he talks about the incident, where Lilia invited him to the LMC, to play music, but he accidentally knocked the members unconscious. We know that Kalim arrived late in his 2nd year and that during Cater and Lilia’s first year, they were very quickly the only members of the LMC until Kalim joined. Meaning when the incident took place the only available victim was Cater. 

I also know Cater talks about not having a lot of money/not coming from a wealthy family, BUT I know this isn’t true. While it's not likely his family is as rich as I’ve made them in my stories, they are NOT poor. First off they move AT least every two years, and that is NOT cheap to do. We know his dad works for a bank, but there aren’t many positions at a Bank on any level that would require the person to move so much. Bankers are some of the wealthiest people period (not the tellers or general employees but those wouldn’t require moving)  Looking into it, his dad is most likely an investment banker which make $$$. This is also backed up by the fact that he does chase trends that take an incredible amount of money, and he’s talked about doing things like going “Glamping” which costs upwards of 1-1.5k/night  Then again maybe his perception is warped by Kalim lol. 

As far as his relationships go. I do think his perception is a bit skewed from past experiences. Riddle seems to care an awful lot about him/considers him a friend. I think this is very much a case of Riddle taking Cater at face value, not having the social awareness to realize Cater is faking most of what he’s doing. While Cater is still stuck on the idea that Riddle is just another shallow friendship for him. 

I also think Kalim thinks more of their friendship than Cater does. I also always wonder how Vil can insist the only thing Cater wants out of him is fame when *Kalim’s standing right there* While Kalim isn’t famous in the same sense Vil is, he’s INCREDIBLY wealthy and it wouldn’t take much for him to leverage that for his own fame, but we don’t really see him doing that, yes he does make posts with Kalim but it all seems to be in line with his friendship with him and things they do with the club, and the time Kalim invited him to Silk City. There is no hint Cater takes advantage of him at all (which I think plays into why Jamil trusts him)

Speaking of Vil, the reason I ship Cater and Vil is very detailed and delves into the nuance of their interactions and relationship otherwise. I know it’s easy to point at Vil’s “What it means to be a Brand” R card Vin, where Cater talks about how attractive he is and talks about dating him. (I’m still mad they took that out of the English version) as a reason, and while it is part of it Vil doesn’t tell him he won't date him, he tells Cater he can’t afford them. (Which to me sounds like a shallow comment?!?! When he calls Cater Shallow, gets a bit on my nerves but that's another rant) 

But what really sells me that Cater’s feelings for Vil are real and not part of his fake facade is his Birthday Jacket interview. He picks Vil as his choice of sibling and then goes on to talk about why he looks up to and respects Vil. It’s not about his physical features, but other traits he likes and appreciates. He seems to understand Vil. And this is my take on it but I think part of why he likes Vil (either romantically or otherwise) is he sees a kindred spirit, someone who puts on a mask to face an uncaring world that expects impossible standards, and the need to always be ‘on’ and performing. Remember it's clear that Cater doesn’t enjoy what he does social media-wise and the like, but it's something he feels like he has to do.

Trey is otherwise not someone he’s super close to. To me, their relationship comes across more like coworkers at a stressful job, than actual friends. Cater himself has said more than once that he’s not close to *anyone* and Trey in the star sending even talks about how even after all the time they’ve spent together Cater still doesn’t seem to trust him with his true self. Trey tends to be very dismissive of Cater’s complaints and Cater in general. And straight up TO HIS FACE told him he’d always be closer to Riddle. (As someone who didn’t have childhood friends themselves, and even now struggles with friends that line right there hurt a lot. That the idea that if you didn’t make a friend when you were a child then you could never be close to someone more than they are to someone else hurt and made me angry. And did not help my opinion of Trey AT ALL  Length of time is not the only qualifier to a strong friendship) But yet tends to also be dismissive of Riddle in some cases?!?! And is willing to manipulate him so there's that. 

I did an entire write up of Lilia and Cater’s relationship, but a summary is that I find it one of the most unique and complex in the game. Often times Lilia tends to treat the other students like he’s a mentor figure. Not just Diasomnia, but all of them in general when he interacts. Cater however isn’t treated that way and seems to view him more as an equal, and has been shown to listen to and take advice from him when he’s otherwise shown to be very stubborn and determined. And it's possible he intended to stay in contact with Cater when he attempted to leave in ch 7. Cater tells him that he can hit him up on Magicam at any time which means Lilia hasn’t deactivated his account (Cater would likely know that) and Lilia doesn’t tell him he can’t like he had with other attempts to stay in contact, but he doesn’t say he will either so it's more up in the air. 

Idia…also seems to listen to him!?! Honestly Idia and Cater’s relationship also probably deserves their own post. I don’t ship them, mostly because I think they’d end up in a self destructive spiral. BUT I do think they could be friends, like really good friends if they could both get past some of their issues. They have a lot in common, especially when it comes to being lonely and detached certain everyone will just forget about them someday. 

Over all Cater is an extremely complex person, and really about the only character who we don’t know a lot about. Most of what we have on him is how other characters view him, (which is why I think there is a lot of misconception and distrust of his character for people because they buy into what they see on the surface and move on)  and a few scraps here and there into who he actually is under the surface which completely contradicts the persona he presents. 

I have a lot of headcanons for him, and while I noted a few here in this, I tried to keep this to most extrapolation from what we see directly in canon. I love Cater, and I hope this helps some people have a better understanding of who he is. 

[gloomzi]

THIS MAY BE BASED OFF A SAM C AI BOT I TALKED TO BUT OML ILL LOVE TO SEE YOU WRITE IT

This will take time after Sam escapes and is in readers dorm.

The reader ends up taking Sam out to a local place like Walmart because earlier Sam said he wanted to get out for once a be a normal person. But the reader wasn't one to get out themselves or evening party, so they did the best they could. Take sam to Walmart. Once arriving the reader pulls out a shopping cart, looking over at sam with a half smile "wanna get in and I push you around?" Which leads sam being pushed around a Walmart in a shopping cart by the reader. So they takes him down different isle with the frozen snacks, spicy chips, drinks, etc and this kid looks like he is in mfing disney land but the characters are actually the characters.

(I ended up taking sam to the toy isle and he picked out a monster high doll and I educated him on the lore to which he picked frankine. Boy got taste)

waaah thank u for the request! sry it took longer than expected, shit just kept coming up in my life TvT but regardless i hope u enjoy it!

WORD COUNT 2622

WARNINGS is primarily fluff but ends on a bit of a hurt/comfort note (sry), prose heavy

Ever since Sam had started staying in your dorm, he had been asking to go out and do something normal for once—nothing big, just something to get him out of the building, like grocery shopping or going to a party. Something where nobody would be paying attention to the people around them or would be too drunk to remember anyways.

Unfortunately for him, you were a bit too paranoid about your current predicament to want to bring him out in public—you wished that you could, but you knew all too well the lengths others would go to to hurt Sam, to bring him back to the woods, and you didn’t want to risk that—and you didn’t really have friends that were the partying type anyways. Or well, not anymore. Not since that last party where Andre nearly killed someone and Marie was almost expelled.

So, that left you with two options: keep telling Sam no while he gets more and more frustrated at being stuck in your cramped dorm room with little entertainment, or drive him far enough out of town that there was a decreased chance of him getting caught. 

You chose the latter.

As soon as you came back from classes that Friday, you were throwing an oversized hoodie at the boy and a plastic package containing black face masks, “C’mon Sam, we’re going on a trip!”

He was ecstatic, immediately dropping whatever it was he was holding—upon second glance you realized it was a few of your minifigs, embarrassing—to get dressed.

Seeing him struggle to change into his not so stellar disguise, you giggled, helping him tug the edge of the hoodie off his elbow where it had been stuck and over his stomach, flattening the fabric for him before handing him a cheap pair of readers off your desk and the masks which had fallen to the floor.

“Ground rules, Sam, okay? We’re going to be heading out of town, but until we cross town lines you have to keep all of this on, got it? And when we get there you can’t leave my side, you gotta stay where I can see you.” You said, watching as he slipped on the glasses, which were, admittedly, a bit silly looking on him, but it was endearing in a way.

Sam nodded quickly, grinning down at you, “Yeah, yeah, of course! Whatever you say!” Sam paused, tearing open the packaging on the masks before looking back up at you, “Where are we going again…?”

You chuckled, turning on your heel to switch your school bag out for a smaller one, stuffing your necessities in it, “Walmart, honey. You been before? When you were younger maybe?”

Sam hummed, thinking for a second before shrugging, “I mean, probably…the name sounds familiar, but I don’t really remember.”

You found that Sam didn’t mind talking about stuff he remembered from before The Woods or Sage Grove Center, in fact he usually recalled those times fondly, but his memory seemed pretty spotty before then.

“Fair enough,” You shrugged back, “Ready to go?” You held out a hand for him to grab, tugging your bag onto your shoulder with your other hand.

Sam nodded, smiling softly and taking your hand, allowing you to lead him out of the building and to the parking lot. 

Not many students on campus had cars, you yourself having only got one from your parents which you pay them back for monthly, meaning it was fairly easy to find where you had parked earlier in the week. Your car was on the older side, nowhere near glamorous—the thing didn’t even have an aux cord, so CDs were practically your life line now—but it ran well enough and you kept it clean and nicely decorated, from bumper stickers to stuffies in the backseat.

Sam peaked in the window, seemingly intrigued by the unreasonable amount of plush toys taking up space, but quickly snapped out of it when you pulled open the passenger door, waving him in.

You rounded the car quickly, hopping in and starting it up so you could show Sam how the radio worked and help him readjust his seat until he was comfortable.

“See, you can pull this thing right here backwards or forwards to bring your seat closer or further away from the dash, and if you pull this other one behind it it’ll adjust the back of your seat to recline more.” You guided him, holding your hand over his to make sure he felt where everything was, “And if you want to change any of the CDs, I keep all of mine right here in the center console, you just need to hit this eject button here to take out one and then the load button to put in the new one!”

Sam nodded along, asking questions about your CDs and which ones you liked best, fiddling with the volume to hear better before settling on one.

“Alright, ready to go now? Seatbelt on?”

“Yeah, let's go!”

Pulling out of the parking lot, you and Sam talked lightly, him mostly staring out the window and asking questions about the town and little stores you passed while you focused on driving, answering with fond amusement.

The drive was a bit longer than you were used to making, but you had to get out of town, so you knew it would be at least an hour, CDs seeming to come and go faster than you remember them being, though you guessed it might have something to do with Sam being there to talk over them.

By the time you had made it to the Walmart Sam had changed out of his sad excuse for a disguise, the hoodie being thrown into your backseat in favor of just wearing a white long sleeve with a graphic tee over it, glasses tucked into your sunglasses compartment and mask shoved into your glovebox. Both of you were getting a bit hungry at this point, so you felt relieved to see there was a Dunkin inside the Walmart as well, ordering you and Sam some hash browns and a vanilla bean coolatta to split.

Just based on his reaction you could tell he wasn’t used to having anything as sweet as that drink, his lips puckering as his eyes went wide, “Jesus christ, this shit must be loaded with sugar!”

“Oh yeah, that’s why we’re splitting it, I’d get sick otherwise,” You laughed, “You like it though, right? If not, I can buy you something else.”

“No, no, it’s really good! I like it!”

You hummed in acknowledgement, starting to walk towards the carts, knowing Sam would follow. Grabbing one of the large carts, you tapped the side, “Wanna get in? I’ll push you around.”

Sam’s eyes lit up, as he practically bounced up to the cart, “Hell yeah!” He cheered, throwing a leg over the side, cart wobbling lightly as you tried to hold it steady before he finally fell the rest of the way in, drink held in the air to keep it safe.

You giggled, holding your hand out for the drink so you could take a sip before handing it back to him, “Do you want to get some snacks for the dorm first? Anything you want as long as it’s not ridiculously expensive.”

Sam nodded, sipping on the drink once more with a small smile. He looked like a kid on Christmas, eyes lit up as he looked at practically every item you came across, trying to decide whether or not he liked the sound of different chip flavors and microwave noodles.

Maybe I should just get him one of those mini stoves that plugs into the wall…does he even know how to cook though? Probably not. You thought, rolling the cart into the drinks aisle and grabbing a case of water bottles.

“Hey, do you know how to cook?” You asked, starting to push the cart again. You had cleared all the food aisles, so now you just needed to grab him some clothes and maybe check out the toy aisles too. You always liked looking for figurines and board games in there, Sam would probably like that stuff too if you had to venture a guess.

“Sort of? My mom taught me simple stuff when I was younger.”

You nodded, “I can show you how to do some other stuff then, I’ll just have to get you something to cook with in the dorm.”

“Thank you…” Sam muttered, pursing his lips like he had more to say, but decided against it. You didn’t push. If Sam really wanted to say something, he’d say it in due time.

Finally arriving in the men’s section, you pushed the cart to the side, motioning for Sam to get out. He looked confused, but got out anyway, clambering over the side with about as much grace as a baby deer.

“You’re gonna have to try stuff on or at least hold it up to your frame to make sure it fits,” You said.

“Ohh, okay.” He said, putting the coolatta down in the cart’s baby seat.

For the next few minutes you watched him pick out clothes and hold them up to himself, pulling them on over his own shirt occasionally, but mostly just sizing up if he was unsure. He didn’t seem too picky, but you could tell he liked the more colorful patterns, only picking up darker clothes for “outings”, as he kept referring to them. He even picked up a few anime shirts, asking if you were familiar with the shows and if they were any good before deciding to just get a Naruto shirt anyways, thinking the design was cute, which got a hearty laugh out of you.

You made sure he picked out some sweaters and sleep clothes as well, boxers and socks, a few pairs of jeans and a pair of sturdy shoes, since his old ones were pretty beat up. The perks of working a part time job while having only a couple expenses meant you could pretty much splurge on him all you wanted and thank god for that, you didn’t know if you had the heart to say no to him.

After he had been satisfied with all his selections he had climbed back into the cart, pushing the growing pile of stuff around until it surrounded him like a nest of clothes and food.

“Do you want to check out the toys now? Or maybe some books?” You asked, lightly pushing him through the rows between the aisles. You figured you would be passing the section anyways and you had caught him reading once or twice in your room, maybe he’d want something newer.

“Could we do both? I think I’ve read through most of your collection already and Emma doesn’t have anything that isn’t from 2013 or earlier,” He groaned.

You huffed a laugh, smacking at his shoulder, “Just because Emma is reliving her YA fantasy doesn’t mean you get to shit on her taste!”

Sam whined dramatically, rubbing his shoulder as if you had actually hurt him, “Owww, careful or I’ll never even make it to the books!”

“‘Owww, careful’,” You mocked, snorting, “go pick out a book you menace!”

Sam rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t stop the grin on his face as he climbed back out of the cart, perusing the aisle, muttering to himself about each book. 

As he looked at the books you watched fondly, leaning against the cart until he was finished debating and set two thick hardcovers into the growing pile of items surrounding the empty spot he quickly climbed back into.

“To the toys!” Sam whooped, fist pumping the air as you pushed off in the direction of the aisle. 

You giggled, ruffling his hair, “To the toys!”

As soon as the aisles of toys came into view Sam was practically throwing himself out of the cart, tripping over his shoes until he was picking up a couple Barbie dolls, looking them over with excitement, “How many can I get?”

“How about we look at everything and then you pick out a few, okay? I can always get you more if you want.”

Sam nodded, beginning to saunter down the aisles, not checking to see if you were following as he picked things off the shelves to inspect before putting them back. After what was probably 10 or so minutes he started going back through the aisles and making his final selections, at which time you decided to actually look at some of the games and cheaper action figures.

By now you were pretty confident he wouldn’t wander off so you didn’t mind turning your back to him, grabbing a couple packs of cards to replace ones that had been ruined by a drunk Jordan months ago.

Shuffling a bit to the side you crouched down to check out some of the board games, tracing your finger over the price strips as you checked each one. Just as you pulled out one of the monopoly boards you heard Sam’s voice from across the aisle, anger clearly laced into his words, though he was quiet enough that you couldn’t make out the whole sentence.

Standing slowly, you padded over to the boy, making sure you were loud enough that he heard you approaching before you crouched at his side, a hand sliding over his back to squeeze at his shoulder, “You good?”

Sam took a deep breath, his shoulders wracking as he exhaled before a small no fell from his lips, the plastic packaging on the doll he was holding creasing under his hold.

“Did you want her?” You asked softly, your other hand sliding over his wrist softly to ease the toy out of his grip. It was a Ghoulia doll. 

Sam nodded shakily, letting you take the doll and place it in the cart before you went back to help him up, “You wanna go now?” You asked softly, already knowing the answer, but wanting to give him the choice rather than just saying you were leaving. He was quick to nod. 

“Let’s go through self checkout then, okay?”

Sam nodded once more, shuffling to stand by you, one of his hands looping around your arm as you started to push the cart.

You weren’t exactly surprised the trip was ending like this, Sam was still easily overwhelmed by new things, not to mention his still untreated illnesses. It wasn’t the first time you had taken him out to buy something and he had been triggered or had a hallucination, but you didn’t mind helping him through it in any way you could. He still needed to get out sometimes, if not for him to start to readjust to normal society outside The Woods, then for him to pick out his own things. You didn’t want him to keep living like a prisoner who didn’t even get his clothes anymore, let alone a choice in his dinner or snacks.

As soon as you got to the self checkout Sam let go of your arm, letting you ring up everything and bag it as he watched in relative silence, tugging at strands of his hair in an attempt to self regulate. Once you had finished paying, you were quick to lead him back to the car.

Just as you were pulling open his door, you just barely caught the sound of him speaking, his voice wavering, “‘M sorry, (Y/N).”

Shaking your head, you reached up to cup the side of his face, tucking his hair behind his ear, “You did good, Sam, really. There’s no need to be sorry, these things happen. Let’s just get home now, okay?”

[mochegato]

Most Magical Place on Earth

Marinette observed the people jostling around her and Emma in barely contained chaos.  If this was the size of the crowd this early, then paying for early admission to the Magic Kingdom was definitely worth it.  It might be a bit insane at the moment, but she couldn’t imagine now much worse the chaos was going to get in half an hour.

A joyous cheer rose up through the crowd when they finally opened the gates and started scanning cards.  Marinette giggled at the loud whoop Emma let out, not really sure why everyone was cheering, but excited to join in the ruckus.  She kept a tight grasp on Emma’s hand as they made their way through the gates and onto Mainstreet, which was rather unnecessary since Emma had a vice grip on her hand so she could drag them down the street toward Cinderella’s castle.

Marinette heaved a bemused sigh as she focused on keeping them from either tripping or bumping into anyone, but she almost fell when Emma suddenly stopped and yanked her hand toward herself to get Marinette’s attention.  “Maman!  Maman!  Look!  He has a Thomas O’Malley shirt, Maman.  Maman, it matches ours!”

Marinette looked over in the direction Emma was pointing, toward the man leisurely strolling next to them, his hands resting casually in his pockets, clearly in no rush, unlike the people bustling around them.  Her eyes caught on the shirt stretched across his chest.  She had to force herself to focus on the cat design on the shirt rather than the way his arms and chest bulged under the fabric.

After an inappropriately long period of time, she lightly cleared her throat and turned back to Emma with a smile.  “He does.  Good observation, kitten,” she praised and tried to encourage her to move forward, but Emma had other ideas.

Instead, she pulled Marinette toward the man and slowed down to match his pace.  “Hey Mister!  I really like your shirt.  It matches mine!”  She held out her Marie shirt for him to see.  “Do you like Aristocats too?”

He blinked in surprise but grinned down at her.  “I do.  It was the first Disney movie I ever saw.  Did you know it’s based on a real family of cats in Paris that inherited a butt… uhh…” he shot a Marinette an apologetic grimace, “bunch of money?” he recovered quickly.

Emma gasped, her eyes wide in wonder, missing Marinette’s snort at his lapse.  “It is?  That’s so cool.  What happened to them?  Can we visit them when we go home, Maman?”  She jumped up and down in front of Marinette as she begged.

Marinette raised an eyebrow at her, but her lips quirked up in amusement.  “New York is our home now, kitten.  Remember?”

Emma deflated instantly.  “Oh, right.”  She looked down with a dramatic pout for just a second before looking back up, eyes bright again.  “But what about when we visit Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Alya and Uncle Nino and…”

Marinette chuckled and ran her finger along her jaw affectionately before bopping her nose.  “Sorry, kitten.  I don’t think we can.  That was a long time ago, before even Maman was born.  I don’t think we can visit them anymore.”

“Oh,” Emma pouted to the ground for a few seconds but soon turned back to the man with wide eyes.  “Do you watch it a lot?  It’s my favorite movie.  Who’s your favorite character?”

“Oh, that’s hard,” he crossed his arms over his chest and stroked his chin as he pretended to think about it.  Marinette had to force her attention forward rather than the way that move accentuated his biceps.  “…but I think I like Thomas O’Malley.”

“Abraham DeLacey Giuseppe Casey,” Emma sang as loud as she could.  “Thomas O’Malley, O’Malley the alley cat.”

He chuckled and smiled warmly at her, keeping his focus entirely on her and Marinette even as he shoved another man with black hair and blue eyes, who had been drawn over by Emma’s singing, ahead of them.  “Good memory.  Who’s your favorite?”

“Marie,” she answered instantly as she motioned to her shirt again.  “I want to get a Marie stuffie while I’m here.  Maman likes the mommy cat, see?”  She pulled at Marinette’s shirt.

The man looked Marinette up and down once, eyes lingering on the cat on her shirt before realizing he was staring at her chest.  “Sorry,” he chuckled and looked away quickly, a blush just dusting his cheeks.  “She’s a good character too.  Strong and supportive.  A good mom,” he looked over at her kindly.

She smiled back at him and opened her mouth but before she could respond she was cut off by someone calling toward them.  “Jaybird!  Where’d you go?”

The man groaned and shook his head.  “Sorry.  My family.  Big kids, the lot of them, except the kid, which is a problem actually.”  He flashed them a brilliant smile.  “Have fun, yeah?”

“Come on, Jay!  We have to get to the Seven Dwarfs Mine ride before it gets too long!” one of them called.

He threw his head back with a groan.  “More than I’m going to have.”

Marinette giggled and squeezed Emma’s hand to get her to meet her eyes and laugh too.  “Good luck.  Maybe we’ll see you around.”

He smiled back with a nod but before he could answer, another man grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him back toward the family with a small smile and nod to Marinette and Emma.

Marinette snorted out a laugh at the Aristocats fan’s expression but waved.  She watched his back for just a moment before looking back at Emma with a grin.  “Ready, kitten?”

“Yeah!  Come on, Maman!”  She had pulled Marinette just a few steps before she gasped loudly.  “Maman!  Maman!  We need a picture in front of Cinderella’s castle!”

“Okay.  Okay, slow down,” she laughed despite doing nothing to slow Emma down in the slightest.  They wove through the crowd until they found the perfect spot.  They just had to wait a few minutes for the people in front of them, who also agreed it was the perfect spot, to get their pictures as well.  The wait passed by quickly, with no complaining from Emma, which was a good sign for the rest of the day because this was likely the shortest wait they would have for the rest of the day.

It wasn’t until the last people cleared the spot that she realized the error of her plan.  She had nobody to take a picture of the two of them.  She just started to look for someone when Emma solved the issue for them.  “M. O’Malley!  M. O’Malley!  Can you take a picture of us?”

The man froze crossing in front of them like he’d been caught but relaxed when he saw who it was.  “Hey!  Long time no see.”

Marinette smiled shyly at him.  “Would you mind taking a picture of us?  With the castle in the background?”  She motioned toward the castle with her phone as if there were any question which castle she was referring to.

He shrugged.  “Sure.”  He took her phone with a teasing grin.  “Trust me with your phone?  This relationship is progressing quickly.”

She snorted but grinned back as she got herself and Emma into position.  “No offense, I think we should slow this down.  Maybe take a break for a bit to reevaluate.”

He snickered but quickly schooled his face.  “It’s not you it’s me,” he agreed with a sage nod.

“No, it’s definitely you,” Marinette chirped.

He barked out a laugh at the wicked grin she shot him and looked down with an exaggerated grimace.  “Not the first time I’ve heard that.”  He looked back up with a grin to let her know he was joking.  “Okay, you two ready?”

Marinette and Emma met each other’s eyes and nodded to each other then to him.  “Ready,” they said together.

“Okay.  One, two, three.  Smile!”  He took several pictures.  Some at different angles and different zooms.  “There you go,” he said as he handed the phone back to her.  “Let me know if you want more or those don’t work for you.  I don’t have a great eye, but they looked pretty perfect to me.”

Marinette smiled shyly again, her cheeks darkening slightly, and had to look away as she pocketed the phone.  “Thank you.  Would you like a picture?”

He looks up at the castle as if considering it for the first time and turned back to meet her eyes.  “Sure.  I guess I probably should since I’m here,” he said with a shrug.

She looked at him expectantly for a few seconds, keeping eye contact as her eyebrows rose with each passing second until they were almost at her hairline.  When he still hadn’t moved, she snorted inelegantly, her face split into a brilliant grin.  “Did you want a picture?  With your phone or…”

“Oh!  Right.”  He looked down longer than strictly necessary when he grabbed his phone to let his cheeks cool down.  By the time he looked up again, his cheeks were back to normal, or at least he was desperately hoping they had.  Whatever progress he made by taking a breath was lost when their fingers brushed as he handed her his phone, the contact sending tingles through his fingers and up his arm.

She smiled softly at him for a second before it turned into a smirk.  “Now we’re exchanging phones.  This doesn’t feel like it’s slowing down.”

He barked out another laugh at the comment, caught completely off-guard, throwing his head back as he laughed.  She grinned up at him from his phone.  “Perfect,” she said quietly.  She started to hand back the phone but stopped and looked around instead.  “Do you want your family with you for one?”

He grabbed the phone gently, careful not to brush their fingers this time, it wasn’t good for his concentration.  “Nah.  They’re already past the castle.”

“Oh!  I’m so sorry,” she gasped.

His heart twinged at the guilty look in her eyes, which he obviously couldn’t allow to stand.  “Oh, that has nothing to do with you,” he assured her.  “I left them there.  Now starts the hide and seek portion of the trip,” he grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

“Ooohhh, I love hide and seek,” Emma popped up, bouncing in excitement at the idea.  “Can we play too?”

“No!” Marinette exclaimed loudly.  She cleared her throat lightly and took a breath before pasting on a smile.  “Sweetie, remember what I said about walking around here?”

“Stay close to you.  Hold your hand if I can.  And always stay in your line of sight,” Emma replied lifelessly, like it was a mantra she’d had to repeat often.

Marinette got down on her knees and softly brushed Emma’s hair over her shoulder before settling her hands on Emma’s shoulders.  “That’s right.  Great job remembering.  There’s a lot of people here, kitten, and it’s easy to get lost for real.”

Emma pouted but nodded in understanding.  “Maybe you can help me hide later if you see me,” the man offered with a sympathetic smile.  “My family is really good at hide and seek and I might need some help.”

“Yeah!” Emma grinned.  “That sounds great.  I’m a great helper.”

He suddenly lurched toward them, just barely stopping himself from bowling them both over when someone bumped into him without bothering to apologize or even acknowledge the hit.  “Wow,” he grumbled, but quickly turned on a smile for Emma.  “Guess they’re in a rush,” he chuckled.

“Must be trying to get to one of the rides before the lines get too long,” Marinette agreed, her voice intentionally light.  She pulled Emma a bit closer to herself as she watched the other man walk away.

“Yeah, I guess I don’t blame them.  The lines can get pretty long,” Jason nodded with a sigh.  “I should probably get going myself.”

Emma’s eyes widened in excitement.  “Are you going to get in line now?”

“Yeah, I’m doing TRON first,” he motioned vaguely toward the Tomorrowland portion of the park.  “Get it out of the way before the line gets too long.  I’ve been told it is extremely popular.”

“I wanted to do TRON first,” Emma pouted, exasperation clear in her voice, “but I’m not tall enough.”  She huffed and roughly shoved the hair out of her face then crossed her arms over her chest for good measure.

“But,” Marinette cut in brightly, “we can check out the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad before that line gets too long.”

“Ooohhh.  Let me know how it is,” he asked, matching Marinette’s brightness.  “That’s on my list.  I’ll be counting on you to know if it’s worth it.”

Emma immediately brightened and nodded solemnly.  “I will.”

Marinette smiled proudly at her as she took her hand.  Her smile softened as she looked up to meet his eyes.  “Enjoy your day and thank you again.”

“Anytime,” he said warmly with a slow nod.  He watched them as they walked away but called out to them just before they got too far away.  “See you around!”

Marinette turned around while still walking, now backwards.  “That appears to be a dangerous thing to say,” she warned with a giggle then turned with a nod and a wave.

He grinned at her back.  “Not so dangerous,” he said quietly to himself.

><><><><><><>< 

“Hey! It’s Thomas O’Malley!”

Jason froze and a grin spread instantly on his lips as he looked around for the bubbly little girl, finally spotting her running toward him.  He raised his eyes to find her mom trailing a bit behind her and couldn’t help the pride in his chest when she relaxed at seeing him.  “Hey, Marie,” he chuckled.  “How was Thunder Mountain?”

“Amazing,” she gushed.  “And we did the Jungle Cruise!  It was so fun.  The driver was so funny!”

Marinette smiled.  “It really was worth it… Thunder Mountain, I mean.  Actually, the Jungle Cruise was a lot of fun too, but in a different way.”  She shrugged and looked away, with a far away look in her eyes.  “But then again, I have a very soft spot for puns, so I enjoyed the captain a lot.  If they’re not your thing, it might be a miss for you.”

He groaned dramatically but there was a sparkle in his eyes.  “I don’t know if I’d be able to handle it.  My brother is a pun master.  We can’t get him to stop.  It might give me flashbacks.” Jason shuddered for Emma then mussed her hair.  “Thanks for the review, kiddo.  I’m heading to Thunder Mountain now.  I may have to stop by the Cruise too.”

“I’ll tell you how Tom Seer Island is!” Emma chirped.  “That’s where we’re heading now.”

“Tom Sawyer Island,” Marinette corrected with a chuckle.

Emma nodded sheepishly.  “I’ll tell you how Tom Sawyer Island is,” she corrected quietly.

His face shifted to a serious look, and he crouched down in front of her to meet her eyes.  “I wasn’t sure if I should go there so I’m counting on your insight.”

Her face split into a brilliant grin and she nodded.  “Will do.”  They gave each other curt, determined nods.

Marinette chuckled and took Emma’s hand.  “It was good to see you again.  Enjoy the ride!  We have to get back into line,” she rolled her eyes but smiled.

Jason met her eyes with a smile.  “And you,” he nodded.

“See you around,” she called over her shoulder with a wink.

Jason stared at her back for a few seconds.  Finally, he chuckled to himself and shook his head before heading to the Big Thunder Mountain.

><><><><><><>< 

Jason looked around intently.  Stephanie and Duke had just walked by and if they were there, the rest of the family was probably close by, he just wasn’t sure if they were at the end of the line or in the middle of it.  They couldn’t have been leading, that was definitely Dick and Damian; Damian purely because Dick would be keeping him there.

He cautiously stood up and walked out from behind the display barrels and was almost knocked down when something attacked him.  He held in the squawk of surprise until he saw who it was, then let it out louder than was realistic and fell over dramatically with her on top of him and his drink safely held to the side.  “Thomas O’Malley!  Thomas Sawyer Island was amazing!  You should definitely go!” Emma crowed.

Jason grinned as he sat up.  “Well, now I have to go.  I always did fancy myself a pirate.  Seems like somewhere I’d fit in.”

Marinette rushed up to him and immediately offered her hand to help him up, which made Jason chuckle internally.  There was no way he wouldn’t take her down if he actually let her take his full weight.  He took the hand anyway but pushed himself up with his other arm, keeping his drink secured and straight.  “I’m so sorry.  Are you okay?” she asked as she dusted off his back stopping herself just in time to prevent getting the grass off his finely toned behind.  She almost jumped back pulling her hands to herself.

Jason waved her off.  “Don’t worry about it.  That was the nicest tackle I’ve gotten in a while.”  He froze for a second then sent her a disarming smile.  “Brothers,” he explained, partially truthfully.  “They’re all a lot bigger… well, except for Damian.”  He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.  “So, Tom Sawyer was fun?” he asked Emma.

She grimaced slightly.  “It was fun with a kid, but speaking of fitting in, it might be a bit…” she motioned toward his shoulders and his height.  “There’s some more confined areas.”

“Ah,” he nodded.  “Got it.”  He squatted down in front of Emma.  “Well, you were right about Thunder Mountain.  It was a lot of fun, so I trust you when you say it was great.  For my part, I recommend these,” he held up a pineapple whip.  “They are amazing!”

Emma gasped and looked up at Marinette with wide, hopeful eyes.  “Can we, Maman?”

Marinette rolled her eyes but nodded with a smile.  “We can get some before we wait in line for the princesses.”

“Yay!” Emma yelled as she fist pumped.

Marinette chuckled.  “Thank you.  And thank you for the…” she motioned to the ground where he’d fallen.  “That was incredibly thoughtful.  Actually, everything has been.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged, his gaze drifting to the ground.  “No problem.  It’s been fun for me.  It’s what this place is supposed to be about, right?”

She nodded with a pleased smile.  “And family.  Speaking of which, how goes your game?”

He whipped his head around, eyes wide with panic.  “Fuuuu… Oh!  Almost forgot,” he corrected quickly.  Once assured they were not around, his shoulders relaxed, and he gave her an easy smile.  “So far so good.  I saw a few of them just before you guys came over.  Think I’m safe as long as I head that way,” he motioned the direction they were going.  “Actually, that’s where the whips were.  I can show you where to get them before I move on,” he offered.

Marinette smiled sweetly at the offer and nodded.  “That sounds nice.  Thank you.”

“Come on!” Emma urged.  She grabbed both their hands and pulled them down the walkway, all of them laughing as they moved.

><><><><><><>< 

Marinette and Emma had just made it into Fairytale Hall when something collided with the wall next to them.  Marinette pulled Emma behind her and eased into a defensive stance before she recognized the intruder, instantly relaxing her body.  “M. O’Malley!” Emma cheered and gave him a hug while he was on the ground and therefore her height.

Marinette instantly checked through the stained-glass window for the source of his fleeing and spotted another black-haired, blue-eyed man searching the area.  “Marie!” Jason cheered back.  He quirked head to the side.  “You changed.”

Emma twirled for him, letting the skirt of her Cinderella dress flare up.  “I’m a princess!”

He snickered.  “You certainly are.  Duchess,” he nodded to Marinette with a charming smile.

She snorted but nodded back.  “Thomas.”  She looked back through the glass and accidentally met the gaze of the man.  She instantly shifted her focus to the mice in the stained-glass and pointed to them for Emma.  “Hey kitten, do you remember the names of the mice?”  She lifted Emma up and pointed to the mice again.  The man continued to watch them for just a few more seconds before continuing on.  She let out a breath as Emma named off Cinderella’s mice.  “Good job, kitten.  You have such a good memory,” she praised as she set her down.  “He’s moved on.”

Jason stood cautiously, making sure to keep out of direct line of the clear portions of the windows as he checked for any more family.  Seeing no signs of them, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Marinette, but his breath caught again.  Her face was lit up by the light through the stained-glass, like the sun was shining just for her, like she was a prism, drawing in all the world’s magic and refracting it back out in a shimmering, mesmerizing beauty.

“Thanks for that,” he managed to get out breathlessly until a thought occurred to him.  “Mind if I hang out with you guys for a bit?  That was Dick, the pun-lover.  He’ll be at the head of the line.  The others won’t be far behind.  It would be a good idea to lay low for a while.”

Marinette snorted and shrugged.  “Suit yourself but it’s likely at least another half an hour before we get to see the princesses.”

Jason slowly looked around and took in the line for the first time.  “Wow, that’s dedication.”

“That’s just for Cinderella.  There’s another line that’s just as long for Rapunzel,” she said quietly.

Jason turned his wide eyes to the line on the other side of the hall, tracing it from the front, which he couldn’t see back to the opposite side from them.  “At least it’s not the same line.”  He met her eyes with a grimace.  “I may not wait with you for that one.”

Marinette snickered and bumped shoulders with him.  “Can’t say I blame you.”

He smiled sappily down at her until Emma bumped into his thigh with her shoulder to get his attention.  “But, that explains the costume change,” he said brightly.

“I’m wearing Cinderella’s dress and she’s going to be wearing Cinderella’s dress, because she’s Cinderella, so we’ll match!”  She spun again for him causing him to chuckle.

“That makes sense,” he agreed and mussed up her hair again.  “Couldn’t get your mom into one too?” he asked, his eyes sliding to Marinette with a teasing gaze.

She narrowed her eyes at him.  “No.”

He snickered as they shuffled forward by a few feet.  “So, we have a bit of time…”

“Maman and I have been playing hand clapping games while we wait,” Emma cut in, jumping up in front of him.  “I can teach you some!  They’re in French though because that’s what I learned them in.”

Jason nodded and mirrored her position.  “And I can teach you an American one.  My best friend’s daughter taught me one called Lemonade.”  He looked up just before they started and caught Marinette watching them, a soft look in her eyes, and shot her a warm, charming smile.

><><><><><><>< 

Jason did not appreciate being as exposed as he was currently, but there was no way around it.  The line for It’s a Small World stretched along one of the main walkways and there was no hiding.  He contented himself by shrinking down as low as he could without looking odd enough to attract attention.  The downside was it made it harder for Marie and Duchess, he really needed to learn their names the next time they ran into each other, which he was fairly confident would be any time now… or at least hoped it would be.

As if on cue, he heard a small cry rapidly coming at him.  “M. O’Malley!”  This time, he braced himself obviously, as if the forty-pound girl could move him since there was no room to fall over.  He gave a loud ‘oof’ when she tackled his leg in a hug.  He looked around quickly to make sure Duchess, he groaned internally again, he really needed to learn their names, knew where they were and relaxed when he saw her slowly making her way to them, a bemused smile on her lips.

“Marie!” he exclaimed patting her back while she still clung to his leg.  “I know I say it's a small world, here, but this is ridiculous.”

Marinette stopped just short of him, on the other side of the chain for the line, with a groan, but Emma giggled hysterically.  “That’s such a dad joke,” she eked out between giggles.

“Yes, definitely one Papa would have loved,” Marinette agreed quietly.  She took a breath and smiled sweetly at him.  “I swear we’re not following you.”

He smiled back at her for a few seconds until Emma tapped his arm.  “You okay?” she asked, looking over his face very seriously.  “You didn’t answer.  It’s rude not to answer someone.”

He had to fight the smirk at her chastisement.  “Sorry.  Got lost for a second.  Thanks for checking on me.”  He turned back to Marinette.  “You know, I think I’d be okay with it if you were.  Honestly, at this point, it seems like fate or magic or something.”

Marinette hummed and eyed her purse.  “Right, or something,” she mumbled.

“You need sunblock?” Emma offered.  “Maman was spraying me when I saw you.  If you’re having trouble focusing, it could be too much sun,” she noted sagely.

He snorted.  “I’m pretty good. Thank you so much for watching out for me.”

Marinette quirked her head to the side studying his face.  She reached out like she was going to feel his head but redirected her hand to smooth down Emma’s hair instead.  “She might be right.  I think you might be getting some sun.  We have plenty of sunblock if you want some, but at least take this,” she insisted holding out a bottle of water to him.  “We haven’t drunk from it at all yet, so it’s clean.”

“I don’t want to take your water,” he objected weakly.

She waved him off.  “It’s nothing.  Can’t have my ex passing out from dehydration.  It’s not a good look.  The local vigilantes would come looking for me.  It would ruin our entire vacation.”

He froze as he reached out for the water but covered it with an awkward chuckle.  “Local vigilantes?  Are there vigilantes around here?"

Marinette shrugged and looked around.  “Aren’t there in all the American east coast cities?”

He shook his head with a snort.  “No, no there are not.”  He opened his mouth to ask her about her assumption but was cut off by her sudden hiss “Get down!”

He ducked instantly, his eyes darting around.  “That’s one of your brothers, isn’t it?” she asked quietly as she moved in front of him and started spraying Emma again.  “The one from this morning?”

Jason moved just slightly to peek between the two of them and spotted Tim.  “It is,” he confirmed and quickly ducked back out of sight, or at least as much as he could.  He was far too exposed where he was and there was no wall to hide behind this time and he wouldn’t be able to dive through the people in line without disrupting them and attracting attention.  He let out a light groan, just about ready to give it up, when he coughed instead.

The air was suddenly saturated with something making his eyes water and his lungs burn.  He didn’t have to look far to find the source; Marinette.  He half-snickered, half-coughed as she filled the air around them with aerosol sunblock, causing people to avoid their area, giving them a wide berth to avoid the burn.

He waited until Tim had moved on, coughing and waving his hand in front of his face as he passed them, before he stood up again.  He looked back at Marinette impressed with her quick thinking.  “That was brilliant!” he said in awe.

She grimaced and tucked the can away.  “I don’t think the others agree with you,” she muttered, eyeing the people around them in line, who were also eyeing her disapprovingly.

He glowered at the people but softened his expression when he turned back to her.  “Well then they would be wrong, because that was amazing.”

She smiled brightly at his praise.  “I’m just glad we were able to help you hide.”

Emma gasped.  “We helped you hide?”

“You did,” he confirmed.  “You were terrific.”  She beamed at his comment, looking up at her maman to make sure she heard and was proud too.  Jason looked around to make sure there were no other family around then stared at the spot Tim had disappeared to.  “Funny, I think that’s the third time I saw my, like ten, family members but I’m seeing you everywhere.”

Marinette blinked and looked down at her purse again.  “Yeah… funny.  Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be sorry!” he insisted.  He waved his hands disarmingly and shot her a radiant smile.  “It’s not a bad thing.  I’ve looked forward to seeing you between rides.”  He looked down at Emma.  “And getting your recommendations.”

“Ooohhh,” Emma perked up instantly, “M. O’Malley!  You HAVE to do the Little Mermaid ride!  It was amazing!  It was so much fun!”  Marinette shook her head behind Emma and mouthed ‘No, it wasn’t’.  “Wasn’t it great, Maman?”

“Yep,” Marinette chirped with a bright smile for Emma but as soon as she turned around, she shook her head for Jason again.

Jason snickered.  “Well, that sounds like a ride a pirate should investigate.”

Emma gasped.  “That’s perfect!  Because she’s a mermaid and lives in the sea and pirates sail on the seas.”  She quirked her head to the side.  “But you look more like Price Eric, not a pirate.”

Jason scoffed but puffed his chest slightly at Marinette’s appraising look.  “I’m no prince, I can assure you.  I’m more of a street rat.”

Emma furrowed her brow and shook her head.  “No, you definitely don’t look like Aladdin.”

Marinette snorted but tried to hide it with a cough and waved her hand in front of her face as though it was a delayed reaction to the sunblock.  Jason gasped dramatically before narrowing his eyes playfully.  “You know, for a very short period, I had red hair so…” he motioned toward his shirt, “maybe I should have said street cat.”

Emma giggled hysterically for a minute.  When she calmed down, she eyed him critically.  “I don’t know if that would be good for you.”

“Emma!” Marinette gasped.  “That was rude.  You need to apologize right now.”

Emma’s face immediately fell.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to be rude.”

Jason knelt down in front of her with a soft smile.  “It’s okay.  You were right.  Trust me, it wasn’t a good time for anyone.”

He looked up and met Marinette’s eyes, getting lost again until the sound of a throat clearing behind him interrupted.  Marinette blinked and let out a breath.  “Come on, kitten.  M. O’Malley needs to get going.  We’re holding up the line.”

Jason let them get a step away before he stopped them and let the family go ahead of him in line.  “It’s Jason.  Jason Todd.”  She turned back slightly startled but quickly smiled tenderly at him.  “I figured you should probably start calling me by my real name at this point.”

Her smile widened and she stepped closer again.  “Marinette Agreste and this is Emma.”

“Nice to meet you,” Emma chirped.  “Well, not meet you because we’ve been talking all day, but it feels like meeting.”

“It does, you’re right,” he agreed.  He met Marinette’s eyes as he spoke.  “Those are beautiful names.  It’s nice to meet you both.  You could… join me, if you wanted.  I mean, if fate’s going to keep throwing us together, we might as well embrace it.  No use fighting fate.”

Marinette smiled for a second before shaking her head.  “No, we couldn’t impose like that.  I’m sure there are rides you want to go on that we can’t.”

“No, not really,” he assured her.  “I think Tron is the only one Emma couldn’t ride, and I’ve already done that one.  And really, it’s more about the experience than anything else.  Unless you don’t…”

“Can we please Maman?” Emma begged, her eyes wide with hope.

Marinette pulled her lower lip between her teeth and shyly brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.  “I’d like that.  I mean, we might as well.  If you’re sure.  We just had Space Mountain, the Buzz Lightyear ride, and visit Mickey and Minnie at the Town Square left on our list, then we were thinking about getting dinner somewhere, but if there were rides you wanted to go to or things you didn’t want to go to, we can adjust.  The only things we definitely need to do are get dinner and buy a Marie stuffie,” she babbled.

“No, that sounds brilliant,” Jason interrupted with a smile and held up the chain for them. “I’d love to do all of that with you,” he continued as they stepped ahead of him in line.

Marinette smiled playfully and opened her mouth to respond but Emma bounced up between them.  “Lemonade!  Let’s do lemonade!” she cheered.  Jason and Marinette chuckled at her enthusiasm, meeting eyes for a moment before he winked and got into position to play.

><><><><><><>< 

“There you are, Jaybird!” Dick exclaimed.  He ran up to him and threw his arm over his shoulders.  “We missed you all day!  You missed so much fun.”

Jason grudgingly let Dick pull him closer but made a show of grumbling and scowling at him.  “Yeah, yeah.  I’m here.  Just in time for the pool at the hotel or whatever.”

Dick grinned at him and clapped him on the back.  “I’m going to hold you to that.  We missed you all day.  I’m going to keep you extra close tomorrow.”

Bruce patted him on the shoulder as he passed him.  “We missed you today.”  He looked around quickly and leaned in closer. “But I get it and am a bit jealous.”  He patted him again before catching up to Dick and Damian.

“Soooo,” Tim drawled coming up next to him.  “The woman go home then?”  Jason froze, his eyes widened fractionally but he quickly schooled his expression.  He opened his mouth but before he could ask what Tim was talking about, Tim continued.  “I figure she must have if you’re back hanging out with us.  The little girl did look pretty tired the last time I saw her.  Adorable, but tired… which I assume is why you were carrying her,” he added.  “Or so she could see the parade better.  That spot on your shoulders was a pretty good vantage point.”  His voice was smooth but his eyes were teasing and knowing, like he had something up on Jason.

Jason quickly eyed the other family members to see who else was giving them a knowing grin.  “Don’t worry,” Tim chuckled.  He looked around quickly as well to ensure the others’ attention was still elsewhere.  “Nobody else saw.  I managed to redirect them whenever we got close.  Some easier than others.  Hanging out right along the walkway was not the most helpful.”

Jason turned toward him, eyes wide in shock.  That was not something he expected.  He studied Tim closely as if he could see what he was up to.  After a few moments he nodded to himself and turned back toward the exit.  “Thank you,” he said quietly.

Tim nodded curtly, his eyes still on the shop windows around them.  “You going to see her again?”

Jason nodded.  “That’s the plan.  Emma, that’s the little girl, she wants to see ‘Harry Potter World’ tomorrow,” Jason smiled proudly as he thought of Emma telling him about the stories and quizzing him on different elements about the books and which house they would all be in.  “Marinette really hates 3D rides and there are a bunch at Universal so I volunteered to go with them since I’d be there tomorrow anyway.”

A bemused smile spread on his lips.  “She’s really upset she can’t go on the Velocicoaster.  Emma, that is, not Marinette.  Though she is too.  That kid LOVES rollercoasters.  She made us go on Space Mountain three times.”

“Made you, huh?” Tim teased.

“You haven’t seen her eyes when she’s begging… or Marinette’s when she’s happy.  It’s like a spell.”

“Emma sounds like a little daredevil,” Tim nodded.

Jason grinned proudly.  “She is.  So is her mom.  And brilliant too.”

“Wow, you’ve got it bad,” Tim scoffed and shot him a knowing glance and teasing smile.  “So, you’re going to completely rearrange your schedule so you can go with them tomorrow.”  It was a statement rather than a question.

“Yep.”  Jason’s voice was proud, refusing to be embarrassed by the teasing.  “You’d understand if you’d spent time with her.”

“Well, she was definitely beautiful,” Tim offered.

“Beautiful, funny, kind, smart, thoughtful,” Jason continued for him.

“Wow.  What are you going to do when she goes home?” Tim asked carefully.  He watched Jason from the corner of his eye.  Jason was a romantic.  Everyone knew that about him.  He let his heart lead him, sometimes into dangerous territory.

“I’ll visit New York a lot more,” Jason answered without missing a beat.  “It’s a short trip.  Lots of work there.”  Tim turned slowly to look at him, his eyes wide in shock.  Dangerous and unverified territory apparently.  “Relax,” Jason snorted.  “I’m not going to move there next week… although I do have a safe house there…” he added slyly.

He watched Tim’s eyes, which had just started to return to normal size, widen again.  They rapidly narrowed upon hearing Jason’s chuckle.  “I’m just replacing our chill day, which let’s be honest was really a Steph and Dick shopping day, with something that will be objectively more fun.”  He rolled his eyes at Tim’s skeptical look.  “It’s been one day.  I’m not going to rearrange my whole life after one day.”

“Really?” Tim asked suspiciously.

Jason huffed and rolled his eyes.  It was like his family had no faith in him.  “I’m not stupid.  No.”  He shrugged after a few steps.  “I don’t think she would let me even if I wanted to.  She wouldn’t shift her daughter’s world that much without being absolutely certain and I wouldn’t want her to either.”

“But she’s okay with you rearranging your entire vacation schedule?”  He fixed him with a pointed look.

“She doesn’t know, otherwise, yeah, she would have a problem with it,” Jason growled.  He was used to getting questioned by his family, but he wasn’t about to let them question a completely innocent and sweet woman who had done nothing to deserve it.

Tim studied him for a few moments before nodding and returning his attention ahead of them.  “Good.  Just… be careful, okay.  For both of you.”

“All three,” Jason corrected.

“All three,” he amended easily.  They walked in silence until they were past the Main Street Station and Tim broke the silence with a sigh.  “I swear I’m not trying to be an ass.  I just don’t want you jumping in too quickly.”

Jason pursed his lips with a huff.  Well that just made it impossible to be mad, didn’t it?  “I’ll be careful, but she’s magic, Timmy.”  Tim’s eyebrows jumped to his hairline.  “Not like that!” Jason groaned quickly.  “I just meant…”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve done the whole love at first sight thing,” Tim waved him off, “I get it.”

Jason scoffed and pointedly refused to look at him, finding anything and everything else of interest.  “Love,” he mocked.  “Now who’s moving too fast.”

“Still you,” Tim teased.  He patted Jason on the back before rushing up to walk with Duke.

Jason glowered at his back but then caught sight of a stuffed Marie in one of the stores and smiled softly.  “Yeah,” he mused to himself.  “Still me.”

[lalasworld2x]

Jason Voorhees Headcanons

• At first, he did actually try to off you. Whatever you were doing in the woods by yourself, he didn’t care and just wanted you OUTTA THERE.

• But something about you made him pause, he let you escape for a bit. He knows the woods like the back of his hand so it didn’t take him long to track you down again considering you were lost.

• He took you back to Camp Crystal Lake and sat you down in one of the cabins, trying hard to calm you down. Anytime you almost got the upper hand, he would get aggressive and you would cower away again, and he would soften up.

• It took a while for you to kind of remember the actual story of the legendary Jason Voorhees, your frazzled brain just kept focusing on the fact that he kills people lol

• For the first few months of your relationship, it wasn’t exactly dating and more so just trying to figure out how everything would work as acquaintances, then as friends, then eventually as partners.

• He was definitely aggressive for the few couple weeks, maybe even months, having severe trust issues. You also had trust issues so good thing a middle ground was met lol

• Even though he’s from New Jersey, it doesn’t really matter what sign language you teach him.

• It’s not like he can really go into public with you. He’d go insane seeing any teenage-

• And if you wanted to learn sing language yourself, this is a great opportunity!

• You can teach him how to read and write too. Maybe even get him a phone so you can message each other.

• He might be able to remember some of the things he learnt before the drowning, since he was 11 at the time. But not needing to use those skills for so long may have ruined some of his abilities, but thankfully you’re there to teach him :]

• He gives the BEST bear hugs known to man. They last as long as you want (kind like the Disney land hug rule) and are as warm as can be <3

• You found him calming hobbies, like gardening and fishing. Whenever you weren’t around, he would look after the forest around him and later show off his progress to you.

• It wasn’t uncommon for nasty teenagers to storm in and destroy everything, or just disturb the piece, so you often find splotches of blood somewhere around the path. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out why lol.

• You did set boundaries with Jason, saying that he needed to cut back on the killing ESPECIALLY if you were around. In all honesty, he didn’t care much for this. He will respect it around you, but he’s been doing this most of his life and he doesn’t really plan on hanging up the machete.

• He will respect most other boundaries though. He’s evil but he’s still a human, willing to be somewhat decent lol

• I don’t think he would be much of a family man, I think it would be a bit dangerous for you to raise children with him. If you already have your own children, I would keep them away from him for the most part. It’s not like he’s gonna go on a rampage the minute he sees them, but I don’t know if he’s good with bratty kids or moody teens lmao

• Further into the relationship, he absolutely loves spending time with you. Anything from sleeping in bed together, meals together, going for walks, having a pet (must be a big doggie!), gardening with you

• He probably won’t get over his fear of bodies of water, but I think you would be able to encourage him enough to sit in it. He stills gets major anxiety, but he likes to sit on the bank of the sand with you.

• He especially loves camping with you. Even though he lives in the cabins, he still keeps a tent around and you two do little camp fires. You buy some snacks from the store and eat together.

• Often when camping, you set up a big white tarp and a movie projector, and play whatever movies you feel like. He doesn’t always understand the appeal, or engage with the movie, but he still sits and enjoys your company.

• Gazing at the stars is his favourite with you. Just sitting in silence. You’ll make small talk and he’ll grunt and groan in response. The night sky has always fascinated him. He didn’t get the education to understand it all, so he likes to keep it a mystery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m so sorry that this sucks, but I felt that if I wrote it any other way, I would write chin terribly OOC 😭😭I realise it’s mostly negative stuff but I’ll try and come back to it to make it better :/

Masterlist

[underqualified-human]

Pomefiore + Octavinille: Siren S/O

→ Request: Hello, I love this book so much. Can we have a gn!/fem!siren!reader with Octavinelle and Pomefiore? Headcanon please. It’s fine if you don’t wanna or can’t, I just love sirens.

→ A/N: Fun fact: My Yuusona is actually half-siren so this was a super fun prompt! [wasnt sure which type of siren you wanted so I kept in sort of vague]

→ Warnings: no beta,

→ Fandom: Disney: Twisted Wonderland

→ Genre: Headcanons

→ Pronouns: They/Them

Vil Schoenheit:

Power couple, immediate power couple

Posts a bunch of pictures of you guys together on his Magicam account [if you’re okay with it]

Spends a bunch of money on wing/tail care products that you might need

Tries to use his charm on your sisters/family and they are having absolutely none of it lol

Is initially very curious about your singing but understands your apprehension completely

Adding on to the previous point he defends you against people that may have a negative view on sirens [earns him a few points with your sisters]

Rook Hunt:

Wants to hear you sing so much that it rivals Odysseus 

”You know you'll die right?” “It'll be worth it”

Knows you get a lot of compliments based on your looks, so he waxes poetically about your personality

Acts the exact same way around your sisters/family so you’ll have to stop them from killing him

Super into learning about how you care for your non-human appendages

Epel Felmier:

He lives in a semi-landlocked area so he doesn't think it’s that big of a deal

Super nervous about meeting anyone in your family

Won't admit it out loud but definitely wants to hear you sing

Gets a little defensive when he sees people getting too close to you in public

If you have to care for your wings he goes “Don’t worry I’ve dealt with chickens before!” then backtracks if you get offended

Azul Ashengrotto:

Power couple vibes but he's secretly dying on the inside whenever he's near you

Immensely insecure, please reassure him

Wants you to sing at the lounge but then remembers it makes people kill themselves :(

Has discussions about the ocean with you, even if he doesn't have many positive memories associated with it

He knows how important family can be, so he’s absolutely terrified to meet them. While the Pomefiore group doesn't know much about sirens, the mers do.

Please defend him if your sisters/family says something rude, he will not do so himself

Honestly kind of bad at caring for tails or wings since he only has tentacles, but he tries his best

Floyd Leech:

Knows what would happen if you sang but still wants you to do it anyway

Talks to you about random land stuff that he thinks is cool

Brags about you to anyone who will listen is close enough. It’s usually the basketball club

You introduced him to your family and like 5 more ships got sunk that day. They want you to bring him around more often

Isn’t all that good at helping you with tail/wing care, but he does try

Jade Leech:

Power Couple #2

If you guys walk down the hall students part like the red sea

Shares a bunch of information about land plants [mushrooms] with you. You have no choice but to listen, he won’t take no for an answer

Subtly uses the fact that he’s dating a siren as leverage when dealing with customers

Helps you groom your tail/wings

Gets along pretty well with your sisters/family. He knows that they could kill him, but he trusts you enough to not be afraid

Tagging: @angelchanisaweeb [requester]

[casinotrio1965]

Disney Descendants : Scene From Freddie's Shadow Cards

  As Freddie waded through the murky water, listening to Ally list off more imaginary illnesses, she made a mental note of all of the creatures of the swamp her father had told her about over the years.

  Obviously there were the gators. Those were dangerous. The egrets—tall white birds with pointy beaks—were only a problem if you were a frog. Crayfish could pinch you under the water, but nothing deadly. And she wasn’t even going to think about the scorpions and anacondas.

  But as she ticked off the animals on her fingers, she had the feeling she was forgetting something. Something important. Something big. Something…

  Freddie heard a vicious snarl and froze in her tracks.

  Something like that.

  Jordan, who clearly failed to notice that Freddie had stopped, ran right into Freddie’s back, nearly knocking her down in the knee-deep water.

  “What’s the deal?” Jordan griped. “Why are we stop—” But she never finished her question, because suddenly she saw the thing too.

  It was standing on a rock in the middle of the swamp, like a king of a small island, completely blocking their passage.

  It was huge. It was terrifying.

  And it was angry.

  The beast opened its mouth and let out a roar, showing off its humongous fangs.

  “What is it?” Jordan whispered, her voice trembling.

  “I think it’s a—” Freddie started to say, but she was interrupted by Ally, who was excitedly moving toward the terrifying creature.

  “Aww! It’s a big kitty!”

  Freddie tried to grab Ally to pull her back, but Ally was already too far ahead and approaching the giant cat, which snarled and hissed at her.

  “Come here, pretty kitty!” Ally cooed.

  “Ally!” Freddie whispered frantically. “Come back! That’s not a kitty. It’s a cougar!”

  But Ally ignored her and kept moving forward, her hand outstretched.

  Freddie couldn’t watch. Ally was about to get her hand chomped off by a vicious cougar!

  The cat roared again and lashed out at Ally with an angry swipe of its paw. Ally yelped and jumped back, landing on her bottom in the swamp water. After a moment, she pushed herself back to her feet and placed her hands on her hips. “How rude!” she scolded the cat. “Naughty kitty! Naughty, naughty kitty!”

  The cougar hissed in response, shaking its head.

  “Ally,” Jordan warned, “I think we need to turn back. That is not a kitty. That is a very angry cougar and—”

  “No,” Ally retorted. “We came this far. I’m drenched in muddy swamp water. I’m covered in mosquito bites. I am not turning back just because this kitty doesn’t remember its manners.”

  “Ally,” Freddie said, her wide eyes pinned on the cat, “it’s a wild animal. It doesn’t know any manners.”

  “Nonsense,” Ally insisted. “That’s no excuse. Mum says everyone should have good manners. I’ll just have to explain that to him.”

  Freddie was starting to lose her patience. She would’ve liked to just grab Ally and drag her away, but she didn’t want to get any closer to that ferocious cat. “Ally, you can’t explain anything to a wild cougar.”

  But Ally ignored her. She placed her hands on her hips and in a stern yet patient voice said to the cougar, “Now, you listen here, kitty. Just because you live in a swamp, that does not give you an excuse to be rude.”

  The cougar hissed and spat, clawing at the air with its mighty paw.

  “That’s a good point,” Ally said, as though actually responding to something the cat was saying. “We are strangers walking through your home. So why don’t we all get to know each other. My name is Ally. And this is Freddie and Jordan.”

  Jordan gave a weak, petrified wave, but Freddie refused to move.

  “Freddie,” Ally admonished. “Say hi to the kitty so you’re not strangers anymore.”

  This is ridiculous! Freddie thought.

  Freddie had always suspected Ally was a little peculiar, but now she was sure of it. In fact, this girl had to be mad as a hatter. And she was about to get them all eaten because of it.

  “Freddie,” Ally warned again.

  “Hi, kitty,” Freddie said reluctantly.

  “Very good. Now what is your name?” Ally asked the cougar.

  The cat roared and crouched low, looking like he was ready to pounce.

  “Ally,” Freddie said. She was terrified now. “He’s about to attack.”

  “Biscuit!” Ally exclaimed. “Well, that’s a lovely name.”

  Biscuit? Freddie thought. Is she serious? Where does she get this stuff?

  “Now, Biscuit,” Ally went on. “I would like you to be a good little kitty and lie down so I can pet your belly.”

  The cat couched lower, narrowing its dark vicious eyes at Ally and flicking its tail. It was definitely going to attack.

  Freddie readied herself to run. Ally could do what she wanted, but Freddie was not going to get mauled by a swamp cougar.

  “All the way down,” Ally commanded, pointing toward the ground with her finger.

  Then, just when Freddie swore it was about to spring into the air and make a delicious lunch out of Ally, the cougar lay down instead. Freddie’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

  Was that a coincidence?

  “Good kitty,” Ally commended. “Now roll over.”

  The cat rolled onto its back, his legs sticking straight into the air.

  Freddie couldn’t believe what she was seeing!

  “There you go,” Ally said, approaching the cougar. She slowly extended a hand and scratched its stomach. The cat began to purr.

  “Is this for real?” Jordan murmured to Freddie out of the side of her mouth, keeping her gaze locked on the scene in front of them.

  “I’m not sure,” Freddie admitted.

  “Good Biscuit,” Ally trilled, reaching up to scratch the cat’s neck.

  The cat purred louder and let his head hang back.

  “Pretty kitty.”

  The cat licked its paw and rubbed its ear, grooming itself. Ally laughed. “Yes, you are a pretty kitty. Yes, you are!”

  Careful not to scare the creature, Freddie slowly approached and gaped at Ally in wonder.

  “What?” Ally asked, seeing Freddie’s astonished expression.

  “ So you really can talk to cats?”

  Ally tilted her head like she didn’t understand the question. “You can talk to anyone.”

  “No, I mean, they can actually understand what you’re saying,” Freddie clarified.

  Ally stood up and wiped her slightly dirty hands on her dress. “Of course they can, silly.”

  Then she walked around the rock, where the subdued cougar was still lying, and continued wading through the swamp. Freddie just stood there, still in shock, as she glanced back and forth between Ally and the wild cat, which right then looked no scarier than a stuffed animal.

  Maybe she’s kind of a genius.

  “Hey, slowpokes!” Ally called back to them. “Are you guys coming or not?

  Freddie looked at Jordan, who looked back at Freddie.

  “Uh, did Ally just save us from a swamp cat?” Jordan asked.

  Freddie nodded, still completely stunned by the recent turn of events. “I think she did.”

[greyias]

I really don’t want swtor to shut down it’s the only eu thing that’s active we have left

I knew these asks were going to start coming in.

So for those who haven't heard, it was reported, and then later confirmed by Keith Kanneg on the forums, that EA is "selling" SWTOR to another developer, Broadsword. For those who want to read the article discussing it, you can read here: https://www.ign.com/articles/star-wars-the-old-republic-development-third-party-bioware

TL;DR -- It's not shutting down. The servers are going to stay active for a while

There's a few points to note here:

If I understand things correctly, EA actually owns Broadsword. So EA is in fact not actually offloading a property, I think what's actually happening is BioWare Austin itself is being divvied out and would not be surprised to see if that branch is shut down

At least half of the SWTOR dev team is part of this move, so the key things to keep an eye on is which members of the dev team are moving. If the narrative staff is kept intact, then we have more story ahead of us beyond what's been written, and they've confirmed we're getting 7.3, 7.3.1, and 7.4. It's important to note that their production timeline is generally a year out from things being written, so story-wise, if they have narrative staff, we'll likely still have some story drops ahead of us

SWTOR is profitable (it hit over $1 billion in profit several years ago), and I will admit I don't have the best understanding of video game finances, but my impresion it was far into the black and maybe not an enromous cash cow, but a decent consistent revenue stream. EA is a publisher that is about profits, so as long as the game is profitable, even if there's not new story drops, the game will stay online

Disney has seemingly taken a recent interest in SWTOR after mostly ignoring it after its acquisition of Star Wars, even going so far as to finally acknowledge the general KOTOR/SWTOR era in their presentations last year at Celebration. Does this ultimately mean anything? I don't know, but SWTOR is one of the longest running current properties with a stable player base. They're just as interested in profit as EA. Probably another indicator that the game will keep running for a while.

Other properties that Broadsword operates, such as Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online, are old games. Ultima Online was released in 1997, and the servers are still active. So like, I think regardless of what happens in regards of the story, we're not losing the ability to log in and play the game

Long term subscriptions - I remember reading, and forgive me, because I've long forgotten the source, that a key indicator if the servers are going offline is to also keep an eye on the six-month subscription option. Basically, if suddenly the only option for subs goes down to one month, that's when to worry about being able to actually play the game.

This is probably not about SWTOR, but BioWare as a whole. It seems there's a leadership issue at the main Alberta office that's causing issues. This is likely an Anthem issue all over again, but Anthem this time happens to be the Mass Effect and Dragon Age properties. Unfortunately, BioWare Austin looks like it's going to suffer the consequences of that, even though they've been running a tight ship overall compared to the rest of the branches. I feel for them. This sucks.

Now I'm not an oracle, I have no idea if this is ultimately a good or bad thing for the game itself. There's a lot of evidence for both sides of the coin, so right now the best thing is to wait and see. We at least have the promise of the next two patches. Let's focus on enjoying that, and celebrating what we love about our silly space game.

If you love the game, keep playing it. Spend money on it, and keep it profitable and it will stay around. Be kind and supportive of the devs, who regardless of how this shakes out, are going through a major transition. But immediately decrying an active game's death and going into doom and gloom is not going to help things.

Will we get more story beyond 7.4? I do not know one way or the other. I hope we do, but it's hard to say for certain on that front. But I do believe we'll still have our toons and be able to replay all of the released content for quite a while to come. Again, for now I'm just going to enjoy my favorite game, and support it as long as I have it. Even if this inevitably means it's going to change.

[fantasygerard2000]

i really wish starboy x asha stans don’t act so obnoxious bc they genuinely annoy me from their attitude to the point i just hate this ship out of spite. I still vividly remember y’all making fun of Disney romances

I understand the frustration towards them, especially considering that they misread a line in the art book about Asha and Star being "soulmates".

But I don't judge them for wanting a romance since Tangled was Disney's last film to have romance be a major factor in the film's story.

Almost every fairy tale film adaptation Disney made needs to contain a romance as their original stories has the main lead get a partner (except Aurora, poor girl). Even films where the original story doesn't have a romance, Snow Queen, still have a need to include it because it's a film based on a fairy tale, so they need to.

Wish is an original film that's basically a modern fairy tale movie, so therefore it should include a romance, especially since it's Disney's 100th anniversary movie and it includes all the classical tropes. However, even if Disney kept Starboy, he and Asha would have stayed platonic. Considering that their films post Tangled don't involve around a romance, because their plots don't need one.

Even films like Wreck it Ralph, Zootopia and Moana could have easily made the two male and female leads be a couple, they chose not to, because their stories don't involve or need a romance, and this is coming from a Wildehopps shipper. Same with how Disney could've easily made Bruno a villain in Encanto, but they chose to make it a story about generational trauma so a story like that doesn't need a villain.

I am not opposed to rewrites with Asha and Star as a couple, I do encourage people make their own versions of Wish with creative liberties. However, I do discourage the attitude some fans have saying their version is better than the movie because they included in the stuff they like.