#i wanted to hug him so badly during this scene

[gh0st-lie]

Oh, sweet boy

[old-lemon-tree]

Drunk headcanons - boys edition

How the gang acts while drunk.

Based on canon scenes and conversations from the game. The rest is just my interpretation of their characters. I also wanted to get silly with these so forgive my indulgence if someone results OOC. That said, keep in mind some of these characters have severe addictions so their entries won’t be as lighthearted as the rest.

Tldr: I was listening to Arthur’s drunk voicelines and went down a rabbit hole. Come with me.

TW: Alcohol and general drunkness / Alcohol abuse and addiction.

Arthur

He gets LOUD. Louder than the rest. During group outings he’s the one who’s constantly shushed. He will apologize profusely for it.

He will be extra friendly towards strangers. In the same way he will flirt on accident and get incredibly bashful as a result.

A brawl?! Fun! :D

Tries to provide words of wisdom Hosea once told him twelve years ago. Loses track of what he was saying halfway. That doesn’t stop him.

Continues under the cut...

Bill

Gets angry-drunk. Actively searches for fights and provokes strangers.

Will desperately seek company and comradely but act a fool the whole time and end up alone.

Dares you to drink “If you are a real man”

Will confess very deep feelings and secrets and generally open up a lot...if only you could understand a single word he’s slurring with his face pressed against the table.

Charles

The one and only time you can see Charles Smith dance.

Sobers up when is needed. How does he go from half-asleep to fighting three guys is a mystery.

Hugging and seeking out physical contact. Always has a hand on someone’s shoulder. Whether to keep them upright or balance himself that’s not clear.

He actually doesn’t enjoy getting drunk all that much. He will pretend to be drunker than he is to match everyone’s energy.

Dutch

Sleepy drunk. He’s the guy who falls asleep in the saloon with his hat over his face.

Will not show signs until is too late. One second he’s perfectly sober doing a speech, the next he can’t string two words together.

When severely drunk he will be quieter. He gets paranoid about saying the wrong thing.

He usually has game. Now he’s trying to flirt by boasting poetry and being a smartass about it. He’s peeved when for some unfathomable reason it doesn’t work.

Hosea

Liable to wander off

If someone catches him before he can disappear he will bring them along to look at this “nice spot” he saw earlier.

He takes his drunk ramblings extremely seriously so you better listen, he’ll test you about it later.

He will let you go on and on about your problems without ever complaining. Is he listening? Probably not. He’s still thinking about that nice spot. He should take you to see it.

Javier

Tries to hide how drunk he is, but his casual walk isn’t fooling anyone. He’s stumbling a lot.

Same goes for his face. No, Javier that is not a tough look, your left eye is drooping.

His flirt game is on point, though. Either that or working girls can smell how easily he gets swayed into tipping more.

Someone asks him to play a song. He enthusiastically agrees. Proceeds to play a completely different song.

John

Gets into laughing fits that last longer than they should and drag everyone along. Often laughs at his own voice if he talks too much.

He will flirt. Badly. Likely in the back of the saloon making an absolute fool of himself. Two braincells power this man.

Either that or he’s outside, burp-talking to his horse and telling them what a good boy/girl they are.

If you buy him a drink he’ll become your best friend for the night.

Kieran

Try to threaten him, and he will laugh. Is it drunken confidence? Has he always been secretly brave? Or is it that he doesn’t get people’s tone when he’s drunk so he thinks you’re joking?

If you’re sick he’s the one coming to check you’re alright.

He gets incredibly competitive if someone challenges him. Sure, I’ll jump in the lake in January, friend.

Tends to reminisce and talk about his sad childhood. Not sure this will woo the ladies, but they do look at him with the pity reserved to a limping dog.

Lenny

Gets dragged into situations™.

In all his youthful goodwill, he will try to be the sober and responsible one. He is, in fact, neither sober nor responsible.

Likes to pull little pranks. Hides the others glass, switches bottles with empty ones, moves the chairs around.

Where did he go?! LENNY!! (he’s probably with Hosea to see that nice spot he saw ea–)

Micah

Doesn’t like to get drunk around people. If he drinks it’s either way too late at night when everyone’s asleep, or when he’s on guard duty, far away from camp.

He’ll be honest with his opinions and won’t be pleasant about it. More so than usual.

Words? What are those? Grammar? Pffff! He talks like a five years old with whiskey breath and a a sailor’s mouth.

Has the worst hangovers. Waking up in the afternoon with cotton in your ears and a vice around your head kind of hangovers. He will whine about it. Incessantly.

Pearson

When he has one too many he gets sad. If you talk to him he will cry while reminiscing about the navy.

Up until that point, though, he’s the happiest you’ve seen him in days. He will join in every song. He knows SO MANY SONGS.

First to wake up the next day. Hangovers? Never heard of’em.

“Drink some water. Have you had any water? Got water, everybody!”

Sean

Has the unofficial title of drinking games official organizer.

First in line to defend his own if anyone starts something. Someone pushed you? He’s in their face before you. Not particularly effective in fights, but has the attitude and energy of a mongoose.

Will sing. Will ask others to sing. Will insult people if they don’t sing.

Tries to keep everyone's energy up even if he’s seconds from passing out. If he’s still standing he’s not drunk enough.

Swanson

Not a happy drunk or a pleasant sight. Probably the only one nobody is happy seeing with a bottle in hand.

He drinks alone most of the times.

Gets paranoid, aggressive, and accusatory when overly drunk, so the gang rarely lets him leave camp.

He will join into song if the energies around the campfire match. He usually gets overdrunk fairly quickly though.

Trelawny

He appears out of nowhere during night outings and buys everyone a drink.

He’s a chill-drunk, not much different from how he is normally, only now he’s slurring and his choice of words is a little less polished.

Impromptu magic show. How does he get better at magic while he’s drunk?!

Mostly keeps to himself but gets overly sentimental with people if they get near.

Uncle

Not different from how he is every other day. He is always drunk.

Although he loves to taunt people he’s rarely mean about it. Unless it’s Micah.

He wants no problem and if anyone starts something that could end up with a brawl he simply walks away.

He can easily predict when anyone’s had one too many and they’re about to throw up. Won’t hold your hair back or nothing, but he will pat your on the back and call you a dumbass.

[syluscrows]

Playing Outlast with the LADS boys

Sylus, Xavier and Zayne

Note: I have been obsessed with Outlast for years and after playing a bit again recently I want to write how I think they'd all react to it! Plus with it being spooky season and all, it feels needed.

Tw: Outlast spoilers, hanging mentioned, asylums mentioned

Xavier

- He's so cocky at first, "I won't get scared!" He insists.

- and at first you actually believe he may not get scared, this man has faced so many battles, seen so many things, all in all he does seem fearless in some aspe- nevermind he's already sweating on the loading screen.

-He's shitting himself from the moment you step out of the car in the game.

- REFUSES to touch the controller, you have to play the entire time

- He audibly gawks in horror at the part with the hanging dude. Poor Xavier...

- He screams at the jumpscare where you're walking down the hallway and the patient grabs you

- He ends up falling asleep not even halfway through. He totally forced himself to fall asleep because he was too scared..

- by the time he wakes back up, you're at the first encounter with the priest and he shrieks

- Pretty much every jumpscare he's hiding behind his hands and asking "do we really need to finish the game..?"

- He ends up hugging you as you play, hiding his head in the crook of your neck, occasionally peeking

- he comforts you if you jump even slightly, even if you insist it's not needed.

- most of the times he peeks is during a chase scene of some kind

- However, I think at the end in the lab with Billy and the wanderer he would be able to watch a bit more without freaking out. Maybe it was just the creepy atmosphere of the asylum that made him extra jumpy.. of course he's still jumping occasionally

Zayne

- "A horror game? Those aren't good for your heartrate." Of course, this nerd starts sneaking health facts into the game.

- He kinda just.. stares in awe..?

- honestly it shocks you how this man isn't feeling creeped out, he just has a stern expression as he watches closely

- and then the first jumpscare comes

- He doesn't have MUCH of a reaction, but you notice he gasps softly, his eyebrows raised slightly.

- He will play parts of the game if you ask him.. but really really badly. You'd have to go through 10 excruciating minutes of this man walking into walls. "How do I jump again?" Before he hands back the controller and admits defeat.

- He is totally the kind of person to point out the obvious during games, like "oh, you have to flip that switch." He says, as you're standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF IT "I KNOW, ZAYNE.. but thank you..."

- Throughout the game just pointing out "that isn't possible.." "they wouldn't be alive in that state.." god this man needs a mute button for his medical information

- every few minutes he says "record this".. it gets a bit annoying when you have to remind him you can't use all of your battery.

- All in all, he wouldn't be that creeped out, the jump scares do effect him slightly but, he finds it kind of fascinating.

- As the game ends, he starts talking about what it would be like if there was really asylums like that in the world, what a nerd.

Sylus

- Oh boy when you ask him to play a horror game with him he is NOT on board

- "Why should we waste our time on such an old game?"

- And when he eventually agrees, you're absolutely delighted!

- You start playing, exploring the asylum, occasionally batting an eye to see if Sylus is scared

- But he just has a smug face, not taking his eyes off the screen with his arms crossed.

- The first jumpscare comes and he just.. sits there. "You weren't scared?!" You ask him, "no, was I supposed to be?"

- He starts jokingly repeating "little pig.." in the same tone whenever he hears it

- He finds your reactions more amusing than the game itself, letting out a chuckle when you jump slightly

- If you asked him to play he would decline. Mainly to avoid hurting his pride, because this man CANNOT game for his life, but he would never let you catch on to that fact. (You've seen him lose countless times after attempting to cheat at a claw machine..)

- I think the part with the priest at and the chapel would actually intrigue him a bit, it's an interesting and unexpected twist to him!

- and honestly he would be quite intrigued as the whole story goes on, even if he doesn't admit it

- Like Zayne, he also points out the obvious, but this time it's quite helpful. If you're stuck he quickly figures out what to do, like that god forsaken water level..

- But of course, this man doesn't find it scary at all, but he admits it was entertaining. (Mostly because he got to watch you jump at every little thing...)

[chaoticfishiebride]

While I sip on my apple tea and eat my apple pie, let me tell you another my opinion of Calebs storyline.

Warning: Spoilers!

First of all, I was always a Caleb stan the moment I saw him and chapter 4 broke me back then. My worry was, how the devs will handle him in the story. It is hard writing a character who is suppose to be dead in MCs eyes.

His introduction was🥵 him in uniform and then using his evol against an assassin had me feel things and then the scene where the fleet landed and him in his sunglasses AHHHHHH!

The interrogation was also hot af! But that’s not my point, I could go on for days talking about how sexy Caleb is lol When they hugged you could actually feel the relief on both sides. Let me say this but MC in this story was better than before in my opinion.

And I know a lot are creep out by his possessiveness but knowing that he also lost his parents as a young child he probably was already traumatised and then MC came into his life, someone who gave him warmth, that little boy wanted to start protecting his sun so bad. In his anecdotes there is a hint that Caleb was already possessive like he is now. He almost lost his life too during his training as an aerospace pilot but the only thing that kept him fighting was the thought of MC. And now after the explosion he took the sacrifice to be an experiment so that MC won’t have to go through that. In his mind it’s better to be alive than letting MC fight on her own.

And that chip??? Every soldier seems to have in the fleet where they basically become cold and emotionless soldiers? Or when that kid was crying for his sister’s death and the chip realised an error? MC in his myth was implementing one into herself (Might be wrong but I think it is heavily implied) and the chip made her go crazy. She thought there is no tomorrow! Maybe that chip also makes Calebs fear even bigger and that’s why he’s like that now. And possessiveness might not be count as a “weak feeling” by the system.

His possessiveness throughout the main story makes more sense now if you keep that in mind. Am I still mad that he drugged us? Edit: A friend of mine told me that the english translation once again sucks ass. In Chinese it was just cold medicine and he just took the chance since MC was already sick to his advantage. Absolutely! But it shows me how easy it is for love turning into possession, the fear he feels makes him do things he normally wouldn’t act out. He wants to protect his sun so bad.

MC however wants to go back in time where everything was still alright. She sees that Caleb is in pain, that someone who had no secrets with her suddenly is not telling her everything. Unlike Zayne, who MC met again as basically “a stranger”, Caleb was constantly in her life and both of them didn’t want to be separated ever. It is understandable that she can’t grasp the “new Caleb” yet.

Both of them yearn for each other so badly and want whats best for the other one but they need to understand that none of them is the same as before. MC is not a child, she knows things about herself which she can’t ignore anymore and Caleb needs to accept that. MC on the other hand needs to accept that after the explosion, Caleb due to circumstances is not the Caleb she knew before.

I was so happy when the start of his myth told us that they found a way to coexist but you could feel that they don’t fully accept it 100%. Yet both of them are ready to die for each other.

And let’s not forget that MC is possessive herself. In his 4* where MC kisses his cheek, the story was about how MC thought he got a love letter and knowing how Caleb never accepted one before, she got curious. She vaguely asked Caleb in 3rd person and he thought she had a crush on someone. Both of them were restless and who tf gets restless not knowing your best friend crush?? UNLESS you yourself are possessive for that person. And the promise they both made at the end? “You promise to not ever get a girlfriend!” That is one cruel promise to make UNLESS again, you are possessive if each other and deep down you know you’ll end up together😂Crazy finds crazy😂

I really like how the devs wrote this story. It is exactly how I thought the vibe would be between those two and I can’t wait for the next story cards and main story.

What is your thought, dear reader?

[in-kaeya-we-thrust]

◡̈⋆ʜᴇʟʟᴏ(●’◡’●)ﾉthis is a little request its a evil cycle iruma x reader if you don't mind🥲

So i just wanted to ask if you could do evil cycle iruma x reader that's is the most sensitive person in the Netherworld and clingness and the whole school is already praying for reader safety when their with evil cycle iruma 🥲 and when making reader cry during the evil cycle iruma makes it up to them by Privately making out with them untill their breathless

If you don't or can't do it that totally alright! If you do it (*ˊᗜˋ*)ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ have a nice day!

Breathless

tags/warnings: iruma x gn!reader, evil cycle iruma-kun, pre-established relationship, demon reader, rank zayin iruma, 5th year iruma, aged-up characters, slight angst, hurt/comfort, slight NSFW (they're 18 here dw)

a/n: Don't worry bae, I got you. However, it is my first time writing something a lil spicy, lower your expectations pls.

More evil cycle iruma here!: purple iruma, hate or love

"Have you heard? Iruma-kun is causing a scene in the cafeteria."

"Eh, isn't that how he usually is?"

"No, today's different..."

You were walking down the halls of Babylys, when you heard demons talking about Iruma, your boyfriend. Yoy've gotten pretty used of it by now, considering how popular he is at school. No, not only in school, but in the whole netherworld. Sullivan Iruma, the principal's grandson, rank zayin (7), and one of the future demon king candidates. What more would you expect?

You just shrugged and paid their gossips no mind. Whatever Iruma is doing right now, you trust that he's not doing anything mischievous. He's literally the most pure hearted demon you know in the netherworld! You opened your hellphone to look at the message that Iruma left you this morning.

'Good morning, Y/N-san! I'll be back at Babylys today. See you at school later!'

You couldn't help but smile at his message. It's your third time reading his text today and you still melt at his sweetness. Iruma was sent on a mission by the thirteen crowns. You had no doubt that he'll succeed and Iruma did not disappoint!

But you missed him so muchhhhh. Your feet found their way to his current location, as per the rumors. You were about to enter the cafeteria when somebody grabbed your arm and started pulling you away. "Y/N! We're gonna be late for class, let's go!"

"Aww, but I want to see Irumaaaaa." you whined.

"You'll see him later at the awarding ceremony. Don't be such a baby." Eiko laughed and rolled her eyes playfully. Gaako did the same. Well, she did witness both of your fangirl antics about Iruma since you were first years. You pouted and just let yourself get dragged away to misery.

You weren't paying that much attention to class, mind filled with your lover. It's been two weeks since you last saw Iruma... it's also been two weeks since you last had cuddles! You missed his affection so badly that you went to his house yesterday to welcome him back with a hug and a few kisses, but Opera-san stopped you from meeting him as he needed his rest. You sighed for the nth time today, and this time, you grabbed the teacher's attention.

"L/N,"

"Y-Yes, Momonoki-sensei?" You sprung from your seat in surprise. You gulped, the last thing that you want to experience is embarassing yourself in front of the class.

"Are you okay? You seem down. You can go to the infirmary if you want?" Momonoki-sensei sincerely offered.

You let out a sigh of relief and kindly rejected her offer. You sat down and decided to sulk in silence this time.

Then, the awarding ceremony finally came. You hummed a happy song, skipping through the hallways, excited to see Iruma. Finally, finally!

However, to your surprise, the demon that ascended the stage wasn't your every day Iruma...

He's different.

It's not your first time seeing him in his evil cycle, as his first evil cycle did get him Royal One when you were still first years, but it's the first time you saw him pissed in that state. Not even a smirk nor a cunning smile was plastered on his face. Iruma's wearing a frown as Kalego-sensei gives him his award. The whole auditorium went wild when Kalego-sensei enumerated Iruma's achievements in a span of two weeks. However, the audience was quickly silenced with the click of Iruma's tongue. He sent a glare at the whole auditorium and went down the stage without a single world. Following his tail (as if he has one lol) was, of course, his friends, Asmodeus and Clara.

With Iruma gone, demons started leaving the auditorium. You, on the other hand, have other plans. You tried squeezing your way through the crowd, hoping to chase after Iruma-kun.

"Y/N, where are you going?" Someone grabbed your wrist, stopping you from getting away. It's Gaako.

"I'm going to find Iruma and talk to him. I also... want to be there for him." you responded.

"Really? You're going to talk to him? In that state?! Are you out of your mind?" she exclaimed. Both Gaako and Eiko looked at you with worried faces.

"You're overreacting. I'm his partner, I'll be fine." You said confidently before wriggling away from their grasp.

You heard them shout your name once again but you proceeded without looking back. You reached the back of the stage and there you saw Asmodeus and Clara standing in front of a door, quietly arguing with each other. It only took a few seconds for them to notice you, making them stop.

"Y/N-san..."

"What happened, Asmodeus-san? Is Iruma doing alright?" you asked in a worried tone.

"Iruma-chi told us to leave him alone." Clara pouted.

"We didn't know what happened. Iruma-sama was already in his evil cycle as soon as he arrived in Babylys. I presume something happened during his mission." Asmodeus sighed.

"But he was still himself this morning, see?" You pulled out your hellphone from your pocket snd showed them his text this morning. "Either way, I'm going inside. Wish me luck." Your hand finds it's way to the doorknob.

Asmodeus' face turned pale. "Y/N-san, I don't think that's a good idea-"

"I'll be fine, you guys worry too much." You chuckled.

You were just in the middle of opening the door when your body suddenly felt cold, making you shiver.

"What part of 'leave me alone' do you not understand..." There was something off about his voice; black smoke started coming out of his ring. "Fuck off!" Iruma snapped, purple shards came shooting at your way. You yelped in fear when one shard almost hit you, just passing by your right cheek. Your hands shook as you held your face. It's the first time he shouted at you... It's the first time he tried to hurt you. You didn't even know he was capable of doing that.

"S-Sorry..." was the only response you managed to stutter before closing the door again.

Asmodeus and Clara looked at you with horror and pity, witnessing the whole event. Before you know it, your tears started to fall. You tried to wipe the tears away, hands still shaking, but it just won't stop flowing.

"I think I'll get going now." You ran as fast as you could, hand clenched over your chest. It hurts. You didn't get hit but it feels like something sharp pierced through your heart. You should've listened. You should've left him alone. It's all your fault. You were too preoccupied with your feelings that you didn't notice the sound of someone leaving the room and shouting your name.

You stopped running when you finally reached the school gates. Auspiciously, you were alone. Not a single student was seen on the school grounds, as classes were still on-going. You crouched down and hugged your knees as you cried your heart out.

Suddenly, you saw a tall shadow casted over yours on the ground. You looked up to see who it was. "Opera-san..." you sobbed.

They carried you in their arms and lightly patted your bsck, comforting you. "It's okay, Y/N-sama. Let's get you home, shall we?" You hugged their neck and hummed in response. Suddenly, your body felt light. Opera-san started jumping from here to there, making their way to your home.

Before you know it, you fell asleep. You only realized when you woke up in a dark, familiar room. You sat on the edge of the bed as you recalled what you experienced today. Your eyes sting from all the crying you did earlier. You stared at the thick, cozy blanket bundled beside you.

"You're awake,"

You flinched when you heard a foreign yet familiar voice. A familiar silhouette stood by the other side of the room, leaning on the door frame. Then, realization hit you. This is not your room. Opera-san was the one who brought you home. But they didn't tell you whose home, did they?

In a snap of his fingers, the lights turned on. Your eyes finally meet... "Iruma,"

He started walking towards the bed, his bed, towards you. You avoided his gaze, still upset at him. He sat beside you with a small distance between the two of you, giving you space. No one talked. You still couldn't bring yourself to look at him so you just stared at the carpet and fidgeted with your hands. You bit your lip, trying to stop yourself from crying. He's so close and yet he feels so far.

"Eek!" He suddenly grabbed your chin and turned your face towards him. His dark violet orbs stared into yours.

Before you know it, Iruma's lips was against yours, kissing you tenderly. His kisses were soft, as if he was careful that you might break, contrasting his new personality. You just sat still, letting him shower you with kisses. When he finally pulled away, he looked at you with guilty eyes. He put his hand on top of yours and gave it a little squeeze.

"I... I wasn't myself earlier." he started. "Something happened... It made my mana go out of control. It's dangerous for me to be around other demons. So, I tried to shut myself away. I'm sorry..." He apologized again, voice full of regret and pain. "I-If you can't forgive me, it's fine. You don't have to force yourself to be with me after I hurt you-"

You started sobbing again. No, you cried, loudly. Iruma panicked, seeing you break down in front of him. Then, he embraced you. "You were so mean! I was just worried but you told me to fuck off!" you cried like a baby.

"I know, I know, I'm a complete jerk. I'm sorry," Iruma brushed your hair, doing his best to sooothe you.

"Is it my fault that I miss you so much? You were gone for two weeks!" you whined. "And now you're saying we should break up? Are you out of your mind?"

You punched him lightly on his stomach, making him chuckle soflty "Ouch,"

You break way from his embrace and glared at him. "And now you're making fun of me."

He reached out his hands to gently wipe your tears away. After that, he held your face lovingly and placed two kisses on the side of your eyes. "I missed you too," His eyes stared at you with so much sincerity that you forgave him on the spot. You noticed his gaze went from your eyes then to your pouty lips... eyes lingering a little longer than usual.

Noticing this, you grabbed his collar and pulled him closer. You kissed him. Iruma was taken aback, but it only took him a few moments to respond to your lips. If the kiss you shared earlier was soft and full of care, this time, the way you kissed each other is full of passion and longing. Damn, you really missed him so much. Iruma's hand finds its way to the back of your neck, pulling you closer to him, deepening the kiss. Feeling a little bold, you lightly bit his bottom lip, earning a groan from him.

He immediately pulled away. You were about to complain but you were caught off guard when he suddenly pushed you down on his bed. He fixed your positions, with him now towering over you. "You..." Iruma stared at you from above, his face red as a tomato, obviously flustered. He pushed his bangs upwards using his fingers. "This is what you wanted, isn't it?" he scoffed with a smirk. "Then you better take responsibility for your actions."

The next thing you know, he went down on you, kissing you ravishly. Iruma's kisses are now rough and desperate, rendering you completely breathless. He playfully bit your lower lip, earning a whimper from you. With your lips slightly parted, he took the opportunity to invade your mouth. You let out a soft moan at the new sensation, his tongue against yours. Your breathing became heavier as Iruma explored every corner of your mouth. Your grip on his shirt tightened as your make out session became more and more heated.

It's the first time you both shared this type of kiss. Iruma, the innocent one, usually gets overwhelmed every time you get intimate. Your kisses were limited to small, quick pecks on the lips. You guessed it had something to do with his confidence. But now that he's in his evil cycle, confidence at peak, there are no more shackles to hold him back.

You felt something hard pressed against your pelvis, making you whimper.

You internally thanked the missing demon king that you both don't have classes tomorrow because you're not sure you'll still be able to function properly after this.

[the-poets-might-disagree]

how Denis Villeneuve built Paul and Chani's love story in Dune Part Two – from beginning to end

In their first romantic scene together Chani goes after Paul into the desert because she knows he won’t last on his own. By this point in time she already starts to fear for him- she knows he is brave and a good fighter, but she also knows it’s not enough. „You sandwalk like a drunk lizard!” We see her teaching him the sandwalk. This is when their melody is first played in the movie, this time it's quiet yet, merely an introduction. He is proud enough to say he knows how to sandwalk, but wise enough to admit he has a lot to learn from her. So he listens.

And listens and listens, earning her trust little by little. „You know I’m the only one who believes you’re gonna make it ’till the summer”. There is a scene here when you can’t even hear what she is saying. Instead it’s their melody playing still, while we see Paul’s (all smitten) face watching her, just explaining things to him.

Second important scene is when during the first fight, Chani’s life is in danger, and Paul jumps on her without a doubt in a split second, to protect her life with his own. They share a quick meaningful look before they get up from the ground. There are no questions left in her after this.

Third. In the tent after he was named Usul and Muad’Dib. Paul speaks chakobsa, with a proud look written on his face, and there are many people present, but it's all for her. He wants to be one of her people so badly, he does everything he can. And it's working, Chani is watching him speak as if he invented it. When Stilgar invites Paul to join him, he looks at her. Chani is nodding and so he gets up. It’s always her approval he is looking for. Everyone is hugging Paul and it’s Chani’s turn. We see their faces slowly touching, her lingering there for a moment.

The fourth one is when she gives in. We see them sitting together, watching the sunset. Her telling him about her name in the prophecy. „Your blood comes from dukes and great houses. We are not like that. Here, we are equal.” „I’d very much like to be equal to you.” She is smiling back at him „Maybe I’ll show you the way.”. Their first kiss- the melody returns for the second time. A little later she is shown leaning on him, literally. He has earned not only her trust, but her love, too.

This is when his nightmares start to kick in. He knows he can’t go south. At this point she starts to wear blue, which in the fremen culture (in the books) means a woman is pregnant – was changed in the movie to be the symbol of being in love or being taken.

We see their only love making scene. They are just laying there on each other, but she cannot turn her thoughts off. „There will be trouble.” „What are you talking about?” „The way they are looking at you. They worship you now.” She fears what is to come for him, but he reassures her. „I’m no messiah”. She then warms him about the stories his mother is spreading. During this scene their melody returns for the third time, programming our ears and brains to connect it to their intimacy and bond.

When Gurney appears, Chani thinks he is not to be trusted. Paul says "he is family" and as soon as he does she gets up to help him. It's the small things that tell you at this point that she will do anything for him, as long as it is the right thing to do.

Paul telling her about the Atreides atomic arsenal in the tent. How it could change everything. This is when we first see him being slightly intrigued by power. "You promised me you didn't want power". Paul switching it back on her with "no matter what I do, you still don't trust me". He is offended and tells her that he is fighting for her people, no matter what.

When they visit the arsenal you can see how scared she is. Paul is confused, but proud of his legacy- even if it is one that is big enough to destroy their planet. Their differences keep growing. He keeps having nightmares about losing her.

The final conflict in him is people pressuring him to go south, but he says he cannot, because he is afraid of the fundamentalists. Chani is the moral compass still, and she emphasizes he is right to be afraid of them.

"The world has made choices for us." Sounds like the beginning of a goodbye. We watch their last intimate scene together before it all changes irreversibly. "If I go south, I might lose you." "You will never lose me, not as long as you stay who you are". Tears rolling down his face. He knows already how much he is about to give up. She has no idea. "I will do what must be done". We see their goodbye kiss.

He drinks the water of life. She is furious but she runs to his rescue. She refuses to do so, but compelled by the voice, she saves his life- as it was written in the prophecy. When he wakes up she makes sure first that he is feeling well, then she slaps him and leaves. He emerges with a facial expression that is pure evil. At this point we know he is innocent no more and has switched to his dark side, the one that gives into power.

"She'll come to understand. I've seen it." He is so sure he can do whatever, and he'll still have her by his side... But when he arrives to speak at the gathering, Chani is the only one who doesn't kneel in front of him. He is still her equal in her head.

"I'm pointing the way!" as he shouts we can also see a switch in her. He's losing her. She's not looking at him lovingly at all anymore as she realizes it's her worst fear becoming reality in front of her eyes, and he is not the person she fell in love with anymore. She's angry, she loses hope, she's disappointed. Is about to give up on him.

When they go into battle, she still wears the blue scarf, not on her head anymore but on her arm. Still there with her, but barely.

The final scene. Everyone's gathering. He orders Gourney to bring the prisoners and then stops for one last moment before it's all about to go down. He looks behind his back. Chani's standing there, keep looking at him while he is about to walk up to her. Her facial expressions are childlike, showing how devastated and afraid she is, but she says "this isn't over yet" as if she was still hanging onto something. "I want you to know..." he says but he is looking at the ground, afraid to look her in the eye "...I will love you as long as I breathe". They lock eyes. It's his final moment to confess his everlasting love for her. Pain is written in his eyes. He knows it is goodbye, but she still has no idea what's about to happen. She sighs and swallows, furrowing her brows. No answer.

The prisoners arrive. Chani lifts her head up, trying to collect herself and stand proud. When he tells the emperor he is about to take his daughter's hand in marriage, we see Chani's face immediately. Her jaw drops. When he says "we will rule together", she is literally breathless, her eyes darting. She bites her lip before she looks up in disbelief. Straightening her pose once again, wanting to maintain her dignity.

Before Paul and Feyd-Rautha start their fight, Paul sneaks one last look at her to gather his strength. The music stops. We can only hear the knives and breaths during the fight. When he's on the ground, he can't help himself and looks for her. "She's your pet?" asks Feyd-Rautha. Chani shakes her head, visibly disgusted. Feyd-Rautha starts walking towards her, so Paul gets up immediately. This is when he knows he is going to end this man. But he gets stabbed and looks for her with fear in his eyes. Chani holds her breath in disbelief and her eyes widen.

He can barely breathe anymore, but he wins the fight. Chani is relieved, and gasps for air herself. Paul turns back to her, before he talks to the emperor. Her face lights up, showing how special he makes her feel in this exact moment, but in a second, her gestures return to the childlike frown that shows how betrayed she feels. Paul demands the emperor to kiss his father's ring. He does, the music starts again and the whole room gets on their knees.

Princess Irulan, Paul and Chani are the only ones left standing in the room. We hear their melody return, and build into something that is a lot bigger than them, and it's meant to break our hearts with the bittersweet sound. It was all about them leading up to this moment, and now they are no more. Irulan takes a look at the two of them, and realizes it all. Chani is shattered. Paul is not facing the Princess, but watches Chani leave (this is the last scene she is wearing blue), refusing to be a fool like everyone else. He shuts his eyes. He's never been in this much pain before, but he cannot show it. With her, Paul's last pieces of humanity leave, too.

[buddiebeginz]

Guys don’t let spoilers for new eps rattle you. We’re closer to Buddie now than we have ever been. Just have to let the story play out.

Remember these things:

They’re not really pushing B/T in the press they’re doing for the show. Like sure they’ve talked about them but go read all the articles and watch the interviews T*mmy is being talked about more as a mentor figure for Buck and not a long term love interest.

The show has very deliberately connected Buck’s bi awakening including B/T to Eddie and compared T*mmy to Eddie.

They’ve literally with dialogue pointed out Buck wanted Eddie’s attention twice (once when Buck was talking to Maddie after the game and once when T*mmy says “my attention” a clear indication he knew Buck wanted Eddie’s attention).

They’ve full on paralleled B/T scenes and Buddie scenes (call Eddie/call T*mmy)

Buck was talking about how great Eddie is moments before T*mmy kissed him.

Eddie was the character they chose to have crash Buck’s first date with a guy. They chose to have it be where Eddie announces that Marisol is moving in and after the date was over and ended badly the main thing Buck focused on wasn’t T*mmy it was the fact he lied to Eddie.

They’ve made it a point to say in interviews that Buck isn’t going to be having any more one on one coming out scenes this season. Yet they had both of Buck’s important coming out scenes involve Eddie. Buck ends up coming out to Maddie because he’s talking about the date and how he’s upset he lied to Eddie. They also had some very deliberate dialogue when Maddie said “I just think maybe you’re not sure of your own feelings yet. And if there’s something you need to tell Eddie you will. In your own time.”

They devoted a whole intense scene to Buck coming out to Eddie including with a hug.

They keep promoting Buddie in interviews and the press and almost all of the promo videos and pics this season have included them. They’ve also had Ryan and Oliver front and center during the press early on and both seem excited about Buddie’s storyline together this season.

They’ve even made Maddie and Chim’s wedding about Buddie to a large degree. All the promos for it are 98% Buddie. They’re also wearing a couples costume, partying with drag queens, and being more physically close than we’ve ever seen them be. Remember this is also happening at an event we saw Buck invite T*mmy to and we know Eddie has a gf who should presumably be his +1.

Marisol has barely been in this season. We don’t really know her as a person or even her last name. We don’t even know how a relationship between her and Eddie functions because we’ve barely seen them together. The one ep Marisol was heavily featured in the show treated her more like a punchline than a fully fleshed out character and certainly not like a long term love interest to a main character.

They’ve already had Eddie talking about how he’s a nester this season. But they also had a very emotional scene where Chris talks about Shannon and how everyone leaves. Eddie having Marisol move in with him so quick (even if she did move back out) just proves he’s repeating old patterns. He’s looking to replace Shannon in his life and for Chris. Instead of looking at what he has and what he wants.

Also remember that Ryan was included with all the other cast members who play queer characters on that episode of Family Feud that’s likely to air during pride month.

I know a lot of people are nervous about what the show is going to do with Buddie but remember there is more incentive for them to make Buddie canon now than ever before. They’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback especially in the press from Buck’s bi storyline. Tim and Ryan and Oliver and the rest know how much people want to see Buddie happen and how much attention they will garner the show when it does. They’re in the perfect position to finally move these characters in that direction and I think they are slowly and steadily. We just have to be patient. We’re likely to have parts of the story suck as we get closer to Buddie but it will be worth it in the end.

[nattroan]

𝓣 𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆!!✦

𝓓𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬!!🕸

When you first started dating her, she was a little cold trying to make sure if she could really trust you, until one day she just came to your house after an argument with her father and you listened so carefully and hugged her and comforted her. so affectionately that you made her feel so safe with you, after that day she was much more affectionate alone with you

She's really so obsessed with giving you cute nicknames in Italian

She thinks you are the most beautiful person in the universe

Once during a sexual moment that you were having with her, she grabbed your neck out of lust and the heat of the environment. The problem was that she grabbed your neck more than she should and left the mark of her hand on your neck (and you didn't you wanted to tell her that she was taking your breath away because you didn't want to ruin the moment) and when you went to sleep after that she saw the mark on your neck and the mark on your neck reminded her of when her father was trying to kill her mother with her hands and began to cry on your shoulder while asking for forgiveness, you woke up and automatically asked her why she was crying while you hugged her and well, she told you what was happening to her while desperately asking for your forgiveness (my little baby thought that night that he had become his father😭😭)

When she's jealous, she puts her hand in one of the back pockets of your pants and gives you a kiss in front of the guy who's flirting with you just to make it clear to him that you already have a partner and it's her (if that doesn't work, she might start telling him to the guy who leaves you alone but with insults like that

“Hey idiot, don't you see that she already has a partner, leave her alone if you don't want her to break your fucking nose”

When she loses a match she feels super angry and yells or speaks badly to everyone who tries to tell her to calm down or who tries to talk to her, except you, <3

I think you are the only person capable of calming her down (help, I can't stop laughing, this reminded me of a scene from the kissing booth😭😭 look at me, Noah look at me!)

She thinks you look so cute in any type of clothes

Sometimes when she is stressed and it is not yet time to leave class she throws you a piece of paper in the middle of class telling you to meet in the locker room, when the two of them get to the locker room Natalie simply starts kissing you until she forgets why she was stressed

Natalie just loves having you on her lap while she kisses you

When she is depressed or angry the only thing she likes to do is go to your house and lay her head on your chest while you caress her head or play with her hair while a Nirvana song plays in the background

She really loves to tell you things and teach you songs from her favorite bands or soloists

She also loves it when you tell her about your tastes too and she will always listen very carefully

I feel like she would have been terrified when you told her you wanted her to meet your parents

until she finally comes to your house for dinner and sees that your parents aren't as bad as she thought, your dad asked her some questions but that's it, your parents absolutely like Nat

I think he really loves every part of your body but his favorite part of your body would be your thighsis

her loves to put his hand on your thigh and also lay his head on your thighs

You once gave him a Nirvana CD and he couldn't stop kissing you that day

She loves it when you steal her clothes and wear them, she thinks you look so cute with her things

you love the way her rings look on her hand and you're obsessed with always grabbing her hand and seeing her rings

“you really like my rings love”her said making fun of you a little

Oh, shut up,” you said laughing blushing

“Admit it” her said, grabbing you by the waist while giving you small kisses all over your face

Sometimes she gets very insecure and you have to remind her that you only love her and that you are not going to abandon her

She has a mixtape full of songs that remind her of you and she listens to it when you're not with her

when they kiss she likes to whisper I love you between kisses

You were the first to say I love you of the two, although she says it to you more often

Her loves to flirt with you just to see your blushing face

she dedicates many songs to you

For Natalie, you are the most beautiful woman in the world and it hurts her so much that you don't think the same

Every imperfection you see in yourself is something she loves

“baby you know you're too beautiful right?”

One day you told her about all your insecurities and she kissed all the imperfections you saw in yourself

n/a: hii, sorry if there are any spelling mistakes, English is not my native language, I'm sorry,and if you are reading this, I just want to tell you that you are surely a wonderful and truly beautiful person, even if you don't see it for yourself and if you ever feel too bad with your physique or you are having a bad time in your life. I'm always attentive to my messages so write to me and I will try to help you <3

[azrielslightintheshadows]

hello please could i request one where the reader was part of the inner circle for centuries and they were all very close. however, once the sisters come into the picture, they, without realising, neglect the reader and don’t realise until something happens to the reader, like her falling deathly sick or very badly injured etc. reader can be mated with any of the batboys, maybe with all three ;) very angsty with grovel and comfort 💗

ps love your writing 💗

My mate.

Bat boys x f!Reader (Mainly Azriel x f!Reader)

Warnings; mentions of abuse, trauma, scars and blood. Swearing.

Masterlist.

Sooo, the ending is not exactly what you asked me to write, but the story took me there. If you don't like it I can rewrite it :)

You were a toddler when your father found out that your mother had an affair with a lesser fae that resulted in you. He waited until your mother fell asleep and carried you into the Illyrian woods, he left you there with your blanket and returned home. You never found out what happened to your mother, and you didn’t care at all. Rhysand’s mother found you the next morning hiding under a tree’s root, she wiped your tears and carried you to her home. That was how you met Rhysand, Cassian and Azriel. You all grew up together, your friendship getting stronger as the years passed and a few months before Rhysand got trapped under the mountain the mating bond snapped.

You were training with Cassian when it happened. He kicked your legs making you fall on your back, your hands instantly grabbed his shoulders and you took him down with you. His face a few inches away from yours as you stared at each other, and it snapped. Both of you burst into laughter and immediately kissed. Rhysand and Azriel were ecstatic when they found out, congratulating both of you and talking about the mating ceremony.

Two days later you asked Azriel to take you to the city. You wanted to get the ingredients you would need to make Cassian’s favorite cake. You were flying back to the house of wind when you looked at Azriel’s face admiring his beauty as the sun fell on him, he glanced down at you and the bond snapped. You almost fell off the sky from the shock. When you landed you both ran to the library, trying to find a book that explained the situation. You didn’t find one. That night during dinner you announced it, both of you staring at Cassian and waiting for his reaction. He grinned and hugged Azriel shouting “We’re going to have so much fun”. Rhysand was smiling as he watched the scene, yet you didn’t miss the hurt that flashed in his eyes.

The next day Rhysand came into your room to ask you a few things about the mating ceremony, he wanted to know where you wanted it to happen and which priestess you preferred. You explained to him how you had imagined that moment, your eyes shining as you spoke and your cheeks heating up. He admired your face and pushed one strand of hair behind your ear making the bond snap into place. Both your faces paled as you stared at each other. He gulped and immediately called the others in his mind. You explained to them what happened, and their jaws dropped.

“Mother’s tits! Do we expect more mates to come?” Cassian exclaimed while Azriel shook his head.

You somehow managed to have a relationship without problems, the boys did everything in their power to keep you safe and happy and you managed to give everyone the same amount of attention. Then Feyre burst into your life, Rhysand became her friend under the mountain and when he found out that Tamlin was mistreating her, he sent Mor to take her. You didn’t mind that she took all your mate’s attention from you, you felt like you owed to her for saving him and Prythian. Afterall Cassian and Azriel were giving you enough attention, and you didn’t want to be greedy. But after a year her sisters were made, and Rhysand took them in to help them and everything changed. Cassian spent most of his time with Nesta and Azriel with Elain. They would cancel your dates, they wouldn’t show up for dinner leaving you alone with four cold plates and most importantly they would come to bed after you had fallen asleep and leave before you woke up.

When you confronted them about it, Cassian and Rhys called you selfish and greedy and stormed off. Azriel looked at you with guilt and quickly left when you screamed “get out”.  You couldn’t believe what was happening and you stayed back and watched your mates slowly falling in love with other females.

It had been a month since the last time you shared your bed with them, your relationship was non-existent, and you were slowly healing your heart. You got ready to go to the Hewn city to handle some problems Keir had caused. As usual no one was home so with a sigh you winnowed away. You were walking down the main hall of the castle when two males pounced on you from behind. You grabbed your dagger, but you were too late, one of them had already caught your wrist while the other one stabbed you repeatedly on your back. Your screams shook the whole court and you instantly opened the bond sending every ounce of pain to your mates. Black dots clouded your vision slightly, and your body went numb. You could only feel the adamant walls Rhys and Cassian had built around the bond and suddenly a wave of fear and rage. “Az” you whispered.

Shadows came like a wave in the room, and Azriel emerged from them, Truth-Teller in hand, his wings stretched wide and a deadly expression. The males took a few steps back with wide eyes as they saw your mate walking slowly towards them like a predator ready to pounce. You now understood why they called him God of death and goosebumps filled your body. You only heard screams and cries and bones cracking before a bloodied hand grabbed your shoulder and turned you on your back making you cry out in pain.

“Shh its okay I’ve got you angel” Azriel whispered and picked you up.

“I love you” you whispered before the darkness engulfed you.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

A groan left your lips as you tried to open your eyes.

“I’m here angel” Azriel’s deep voice rang in your ears.

“Az?” you asked and forced your eyes to open. The light burned your vision and in a blink Azriel’s shadows blocked the sun. He was sitting on a chair next to you, still covered in blood the only difference was that it had dried now.

“You’re okay” he smiled.

“What happened to them?” you croaked.

“I wanted to let them for you, but I couldn’t, I felt so much rage… I’m sorry” he lowered his gaze.

“It’s okay my love. Thank you.” You said softly.

The door opened and Rhysand walked in with Cassian behind him.

“You’re awake” Rhys gasped, and you nodded.

“Thank the Cauldron its been two days” Cassian exclaimed and grabbed your hand. You flinched and pulled your hand back harshly.

“Don’t” you snapped, and he frowned.

“Where were you when I needed you?” you yelled, your eyes filling with tears. “Both of you! If it wasn’t for Azriel I would be dead now!”

“Sweetheart we didn’t feel you” Rhys said softly.

“I know! Because you blocked the fucking bond! Where were you?” you sat straighter and with a soft whine that made Azriel growl and move closer.

“Y/n…” Cassian tried to speak but you stopped him.

“Where. The. Fuck. Were. You?”

“I was training Nesta” he mumbled and stared at the ground. You glanced at Rhysand who had a guilty look on his face.

“I was helping Feyre write a letter to Helion” he said.

“Get out!” you screamed. “Now! Get the fuck out… get out… get out!”

Azriel jumped on his feet and glared at his brothers, daring them to not listen to you. They quickly left the room, their faces red and their eyes filled with tears. Azriel quickly fetched a glass of water and gave it to you.

“Calm down angel” he mumbled as he placed a soft kiss on your head. “Don’t act like the perfect mate, you were ignoring me too.” You growled.

“I know and it broke my heart” his voice was soft and filled with regret.

“Then why did you do it?” your voice was raising.

“Because you have two perfect mates, a High Lord and a General. You don’t need a scarred monster to defile you!” he snapped.

“What? Are you serious?” your hands shook with rage.

“Yes! I’m a broken beast… you deserve way better”. He was yelling now. “You’re not! What the hell are you talking about? You are the exact opposite. Az you’ve been protecting me since the day you met me, you are the only one who cares about my day and my feelings, the only one who comforts me when I’m sad. You’ve proved multiple times that you would give your life for me. I don’t give a fuck about your scars, I love them. Would you leave me because of the scars on my back? Because I’m sure that they will not heal completely, I can feel them.”

“I would never leave you” his voice was barely above a whisper now.

“Okay shut up then.” You said and he chuckled.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

A few days later Madja announced that you are completely healed and offered to make a salve for your scars, but you denied. You wanted to show Azriel that its okay to have scars.

Cassian and Rhysand frequently checked on you, they would lurk around you with sad looks on their faces.

Azriel only left your side to get you whatever you needed. He even asked Elain to come to your room and he told her that he has a mate who he loves with all his heart and that he doesn’t want to spend time with her anymore. She nodded and left with her head bowed, a few days later she went on a date with Lucien.

You were currently getting ready for dinner, you had asked everyone to come because you had an announcement to make. Azriel was sitting on your bed behind you while you got dressed.

“Az can you help me with the zipper?” you asked as you checked your reflection on the mirror.

He got up with a smile and approached you. His hands traced your scars, his breath hitching as he leaned and pressed soft kisses on every scar making you shudder.

“So beautiful” he murmured on your back as he zipped your dress slowly. You smiled and leaned back into him.

“Let’s go handsome” you said softly, and he chuckled.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Everyone was sitting around the table waiting for you. Azriel pulled one chair for you, and you smiled thankfully. Cassian and Rhysand were staring at you with a guilty expression. You all ate in silence and after three glasses of wine you felt ready to speak so you stood up.

“I made a decision” you announced getting everyone’s attention. Nesta and Feyre nodded while Cassian and Rhys stared with panicked expressions.

“I know that Cassian fell in love with you Nesta and Rhysand with you Feyre.” You told them and they avoided your gaze.

Your mates opened their mouths but quickly shut them as you glared at them.

“Its okay, both females are wonderful, and I can see why you are pinning after them. So, I decided to let you go. I realized that I love you as friends and nothing more. I’m in love with Azriel though and it wouldn’t be fair to him if I allowed you to come back to me.” You smiled at Azriel who nodded. You had talked about it two days ago and he had told you that he doesn’t want to share you with anyone else.

“Are you sure about this?” Feyre asked you softly.

“Yes I’m sure.” You smiled.

Cassian and Rhys had tears in their eyes as they stared at you.

“Let’s go mate” you told Azriel and offered him your hand.

“My mate” he smiled, and you left the room with genuine smiles on your faces.

Because this ends with Azriel I will put it under him on the masterlist.

Princess chapter 7 coming later today!

[elzdaizy]

Trouble After Paradise (Part 2)

Warnings: slightly sexual content, explicit language, again angst

Summary: if you haven't already, read part 1 here !

A/N: For context, below is the visual image you will need to keep in mind for this part. Trust me. It will help.

This part is also a lot shorter. The good stuff to come is in Part 3. I should have the last part up by Saturday. It’s super hard trying to write and upload during the week because I work 8 hour days!

You had spent the first ten minutes that morning after Harry left for his run, doing some laundry. It helped to keep you occupied instead of going insane as you nervously anticipate his return. You aren't sure exactly how long he's planning on keeping up the silent treatment act for but you honestly don't think you can take it a second longer.

You then made about ten pancakes, shaped in hearts, all dished onto a cute pink heart plate you purchased about a year ago when you and Harry were making purchases for your new house. It was one of those plates that only get used for special occasions and to be honest, you were using whatever you could at this point to say sorry.

You then squeezed some fresh orange juice into a glass jug and set the table for the two of you. Some coffee also prepared to be made for his return. You cut up a few strawberries and threw them into a bowl with blueberries. Making sure the few final bits and pieces were also at arms length, you placed some whipped cream and maple syrup in the centre of the table, between yours and your husbands plates.

Looking at the scene you created, you were chuffed. You don't expect a breakfast made for his return will solve all of your problems, but, perhaps it might encourage him to finally speak to you about it.

After almost an hour, Harry finally returned from his run. You knew this because you could hear the door close as you were finishing up cleaning the kitchen. Your heart sunk to your stomach.

You stand there in the middle of your house, looking awkward and not really knowing what to do with yourself, or where to look as he walks towards the kitchen. He takes off his sun glasses then takes out his AirPods, not paying too much attention to his surroundings at first as he's focusing on steadying his breathing after running for so long.

"I made us breakfast. The same way I did it on Valentines Day, you remember?" You nervously ramble to catch his attention. Pointing over to the small dining table and although Harry is wearing that harsh frown on his face as he looks and listens to you, you notice the way he seems less tense that earlier.

"Is all of that supposed to fix what you did last night?" He bluntly asks, almost straight away.

"Obviously not, Harry." You sigh and you want to roll your eyes at his attitude so badly but you restrain yourself. You walk closer to him and thankfully he doesn't back away. You can see the sweat covering the entirety of his skin. It glistens in every angle of light in your sight. His muscles larger due to excessive use of them recently.

You've barely even realised how much his facial hair has actually grown since you saw him last week. You never cared much for it in the past but this grown out moustache is quite the distracting feature for the current moment.

You're stood in front of him now, only a step away from a hug but you dare not even try to touch him. He's staring you down. You can tell from the look in his eyes that he's genuinely disappointed and it crushes your soul to know you caused that sad look.

"I thought we could talk it through over a nice breakfast." You almost whisper. "Can we sit down, please?" You then add, eyes directed towards the table.

Without verbally replying to you, Harry just walks past you and heads upstairs towards your room.

You've had enough now. You're done waiting and you're done sucking up to him. He won't even listen to you and he's wasting the time you two have by dragging this on.

You wait a few moments, covering up the food so it doesn't get cold because you know it will get eaten at some point today.

"Right! That's it! Harry Styles, I've given you your space and I've let you go mute on me, but I am not tolerating this anymore. I need you to listen to me!" You begin ranting loudly as you storm your way up the stairs.

You enter your room to find Harry still sweaty but undressing himself as he's obviously about to get into the shower. He only managed to get his hat, shoes, and shirt off before you barged in.

He's stood in the ensuite with that angry pout on again, looking as angry as ever with you. He almost opens his mouth to retaliate but you cut him off before you give him the chance.

"No listen, Harry. I fucked up massively! I know that and I have no excuse for being an idiot to forget to pick you up and to forget about our dinner.” At this point Harry is arching a brow in amusement at your boldness. He’s still visibly livid but he’s listening.

“I was so caught up in wanting to spend more time with you this week. The only way I could make that happen was to race through three days worth of work yesterday just so I could have Monday and Tuesday with you because I miss you so fucking much." You say all in one breath. You're too heated to cry at the moment but you know as soon as this explanation is over you will probably tipple over the edge.

"I should've called you and should’ve stayed in touch to keep you in the loop but my mind has been on high-stress over-drive since we got back from our honey-moon. Work has not given me a second to breathe and unfortunately I’ve let it affect us which makes me so angry with myself but you have to know I would never do this on purpose. Please." And that was it, you said all that you needed too. It was a weight lifted and you literally had to gasp for air at one point but you did it.

"I'm so fucking angry with you." Harry deadpans but his actions next completely throw you off. “I’m angry but I can’t stand not being around you anymore. Fuck this.”

He storms toward you and grabs your face between his hands with a mild force as he brings his lips down harshly onto yours in a rushed, salty kiss. It's sloppy and full of anger but you melt into him with a small whine escaping from the back of your throat as your hands snake up his broad, sweaty shoulders and yank him closer in the kiss but tugging your fingers through the ends of his damp hair.

“Will you forgive me though? We only have until Wednesday morning to be together properly and I don’t want us to be like this the whole time. I’m really sorry. Please, Harry, my perfect husband, let me make it up to you?” You coax him and use that flirty tone in your voice that you knows has him in the palm of your hand.

Your soft hands are running up and down his large biceps and shoulders. Your eyes all doe like as you pout at him. He’s finding it so hard to resist. He holds you in his arms, still. He’s thinking of what to do next.

“I know a few ways how you could make it up to me.” He smirks ever so slightly. His eyes darting to your lips as you lick them knowingly.

His eyes darken and the energy has shifted in those few moments. He’s obviously forgiven you but he’ll never say it. Instead he wants to make up the way you both like to best. Sex.

“And what do you have in mind, moustache man?” You tease. Harry raises his brows in surprise before he leans forward and starts leaving small bites into the crook of your neck. You wince at the mixed sensation of pain, pleasure and the tickling from his moustache as he attacks your neck.

“You’re really asking for it, aren’t you?” He retaliates. Yanking you towards him harshly so he can pick you up and you wrap your legs around his waist.

[myth-blossom]

Thoughts on Max Valliant (The Splitter)

To avoid spoiling anything for those who haven’t played the new elusive target, read on below the cut:

First, I want to hug our bestest murder clone boi so badly. You can really tell how rough of an assignment this is for 47 as he deals with Valliant and his clones. His response to one of the guards calling the clones “freaks” (“Think you’re the freak”) and describing his numbness about what he does just really hits that point home.

As @dianaburnwood has pointed out, Valliant’s clones are essentially children, and just as we’ve seen with Ort-Meyer, their creators find them very expendable. They’re so innocent, even to the point where if anything chaotic happens (like the death of one of the clones in an accident), that one of them seems to wander off and has some sort of breakdown about it.

Definitely not a happy pay day for 47.

Second, I did my best to explore the level and hear all of the extra dialgoue between various characters, including sticking behind to hear a call from Valliant about the sale of his secret project to other buyers. As the target video pointed out prior to the mission, Valliant has been known to play multiple sides, so it was not at all surprising to hear him conducting business with another party despite claiming exclusivity if the ICA accepted. But that leaves me wondering: what if he’s already sent someone clones or the setup to do so prior to Pritchard’s arrival? I WISH they had Pritchard call the ICA while he waits in the room after the tour. Even if it would have stalled out at some point, I’d like to know the boards’ stand on it (gimme names, dammit), and who may choose to go rogue with that program just like Travis did with creating Victoria.

Third, what the hell was going on with Dr. Hei? The fact that 47 isn’t tasked to take her out as well is very interesting, but also her behavior with Pritchard was odd, too. She very much seems up her own ass about her clone work—something that was a bit fun to fuck with if you do the tour and choose to challenge the “perfect” clone in an example of combat training (to which the clone can die and she scowls “Motherfucker” at 47)—but despite her air of superiority, she also seemed to be a cautious player. Whether you choose to challenge the clone on the tour or just let him destroy a brick, she still pulls Pritchard aside and warns him to be careful with Valliant because he’s dangerous if he doesn’t get his own way. It seemed out of place at first, but I think it’s more that she knows the ICA would be a good source of financial backing for her to continue her work, and so she warns him not out of concern for his safety, but for the security of her future progress. I definitely don’t think this is the last we’ll be seeing of her.

Speaking of which, Diana tells 47 they have a team on standby to come in and take care of everything else after he takes care of Valliant and the clones. I trust Diana on this, but I think even she would admit that the team wouldn’t just come in and lethally clear out both the armed guards AND the scientists. At the very least they would be interrogated for information, if not paid to trade allegiances and work for them.

In terms of where this takes place in the timeline, it definitely seems to be when the ICA is still around (i.e. before the end of the Agency in Hitman III). However, with 47’s emotional responses during the mission, I have to wonder if this takes place after Hitman II’s antidote scene??? I’ve wondered about Diana and 47 working for the ICA still for a while after meeting Grey and Olivia, a good way to keep their Providence hunting under wraps for a bit longer until the shit hit the proverbial fan. But considering the Chongqing facility is meant to be quickly assembled/disassembled as needed, it’s not farfetched to imagine they removed all traces of the hostile takeover and cloning work and reset it back to what we see in the original H3 Chongqing level. It would explain the extra security measures later on (Pritchard needing the P41 form and scan to tour the facility, the heavier security presence, the entry code changing constantly, etc).

To stir the pot a bit about future plot theories: there is material here to make a new game. One thing to think about is Pritchard’s visit to the facility in H3 in the first place—why was he there? In theory, the damage and remodeling happened immediately after the Splitter mission was over. Was he there to make sure all traces of Dr. Hei’s work had been removed from the facility? Was Imogen Royce in on it and he wanted to investigate? Hell, even Hush could have been in on it—can you imagine if that sick bastard had an endless supply of clones to test his invention on in addition to the poor unhoused souls he was preying on?

In any case, 47 and Olivia (and technically Diana) were being hunted by the ICA at that point. If any board members wanted to pursue the cloning information the Agency should have obtained after the Splitter, they could’ve done that then….

HOLY HELL—WHAT IF ANY OF THAT INFORMATION CAME OUT BECAUSE OF 47????? WHAT IF HE AND OLIVIA ACCIDENTALLY REKINDLED THE CLONE INTRIGUE BECAUSE THAT WAS AMONG THE ICA FILES SOMEWHERE??? AHHHHH *scribbles furiously*

Okay, shouties over. For now. Probably.

There’s also the bit that @lucas-grey brought up recently about Lucas Grey possibly returning. At this point, I fear that if we did get Grey back, it’d be as a clone of our Grey, and as @bourbonthesecond pointed out, it would be quite the heartstring puller if 47 has to then help that Grey break free of his control and learn about his creation and past. But the way that would just fuck with 47??? My boi has been through enough.

I would really hope the next game would take a strong direction like this, and I’d love to see them have (and use, not kill or fridge) Diana, Victoria, and Olivia as well. I want to see them in the field and help 47 with things! I’d like that for Grey as well if we can get him back in some way.

I’m sure more thoughts will tumble out through plot bunnies and chats with friends. Hope you enjoyed this long read!

[abubblingcandle]

I would love to hear more about your thoughts on Jamie’s loan being terminated

You do not know the box you have opened my friend. I've been talking about this a lot today as fic may be coming but the one word summary is that it is all about the ✨optics✨

Because if we step outside of the AFC Richmond bubble and just look at the sequence of events that goes on, it looks so bad for our boy.

He fights with his teammate on the pitch over his treatment of another teammate. They are both booked for this fight. Jamie is then yanked in the first half of the game very close to half time. This looks like disciplinary action. It looks like the blame is being placed at Jamie's feet and he is being pulled off the pitch as 'punishment'. Because if it is a tactical change, if it is a problem with the play on the pitch then you wait until half time so it can be a more thought out decision. And looking at the quality of Jamie's play during the match, he's not playing badly so it can't be because of that. So it must be disciplinary.

Then, in the press conference post match Ted makes the comment "Jamie knows what he needs to do". Which is just so Ted but I'm not going to get into the Jamie side of that now because that's not relavent to this argument. SO from a press POV, that sounds an awful lot like this being a recurring problem, internal disciplinary action had been threatened and Jamie continued with this behaviour and so it would be taken further. It also places the blame for problems squarely on Jamie's shoulders.

Next couple of days, Dani Rojas. Dani would be plastered all over social media about his return. Running around training, scoring goals, being hugged by his teammates. And who's missing from these scenes ... Jamie Tartt. The striker brought in when Dani got injured who has been walking a fine line. Whispers will start proper now, where is Tartt? He wasn't injured at the game, Kent didn't even touch him. Is this disciplinary as in being barred from training in which case that is ten times worse than anyone thought or is he choosing to miss training in which case that shows a major break down and potential breach of contract. Bad news.

Then ... Jamie's loan is terminated. Now from all the vagueness about Ted not being told, no one knowing if it was City that called him back or Richmond that terminated it that likely means there was a vague as fuck statement likely just saying "Jamie Tartt's loan has been terminated, all of us at Richmond wish him well". Which screams (say it with me now) disciplinary issues. The rumour mill would be going a mile a minute but what conclusions do we expect them to draw with that being the image that was painted in the lead up.

Jamie then barely plays for City the rest of the season which doesn't fill anyone with confidence that Jamie has been 'forgiven' for his transgressions.

SO - the point being, if any other team looks at Jamie during the summer loan/transfer window after S1, his record screams DISCIPLINARY ISSUES which for basically every team out there is a deal killer. Why would you want to spend premier league salary and transfer fees for a player that might come into your team and be hostile, refuse to train, fight within the team ... you just wouldn't.

Being returned from a loan for disciplinary issues is a career killer and it adds so much to beginning of S2 Jamie because what if he had looked for a footballing way out of Manchester but no one wanted anything to do with him for the money that Man City were asking and so ... what else was he to do? But then in running away to LCA ... he just proved all of those issues right and gave Man City a real opportunity to void his contract

... for ... disciplinary issues

[warblogs17282]

Following Mastermind, there's been a lot of talk regarding Stolas and suicidal ideation/Stolas being passively suicidal, and Stolas' low self-worth, and I also want to discuss this subject, but I want to approach it in an unique way, by using a suicidal ideation risk assessment PDF and see what we can gather from it. Aka, enjoy my messy thoughts about this subject.

Link to PDF here:

Analyzing Stolas through a Suicidal Ideation Risk Assessment sheet:

1: Identify Risk Factors

Factors that may increase the risk of suicide:

Trauma: Current and past physical, sexual, or emotional abuse and/or trauma.

I can think of two examples of trauma that Stolas has, with the first being because of all the physical and emotional abuse that Stolas has suffered from for years upon years at Stella's hand, which is proven by Stolas saying 'your constant insults and cruelty.', basically meaning that Stella was physically and emotionally abusive towards towards during the arranged marriage.

And for sexual abuse and trauma, we have the fact that Stolas is a rape victim, once again, at Stella's hand, because this scene shows us that Stolas was very clearly dissociating during when they were having sex, and people who are dissociating cannot give actual consent, so it's a clear cut case of Stolas being raped by Stella.

Triggering Events: Factors, stressors, or interpersonal triggers, especially those leading to humiliation, shame, despair, or loss.

We can easily pinpoint one trigger that Stolas has, and that's when people around him start to show anger, including other things like showing said anger off physically, among other things like when the other person starts to shout and such.

There's plenty of examples I could show to prove this point, but I think the most obvious example I can give here is this moment in s2 e6, where you can clearly see Stolas hugging himself, because it's clearly something that stresses Stolas out and scares him, which is clear by just looking at him during this scene.

As for another triggering event I can think of, it's probably when Stella threw those parties, and I mainly say this because as seen in s2 e1, Stella uses these parties as a thinly veiled excuse to shit-talk Stolas, which would naturally lead to a bit of humiliation and shame for Stolas.

To be honest, it's probably just Stella shit-talking Stolas in general that's the trigger, but at the same time the parties were used as a thinly veiled excuse to openly shit-talk Stolas to her friends so.

Ideation: Presence, duration, and severity of thinking about death or ending life. These could be current or from the past.

We don't have enough information to make a full explanation of this part so far, but there is a few bits of information we can use to answer this part, that being the fact that the song in s1 e2, 'You Will Be Okay.' reeks of suicidal ideation, it also has lines in it like "When I'm gone, you'll be okay…", so already there's clear signs of Stolas thinking about his own death here.

While I will give Stolas the benefit of doubt here considering that he had no time he think anything of this plan through, and the consequences that would happen if Blitz was executed, it still is really telling about how passively suicidal Stolas is, and how little self-worth he has as well, considering that his first idea was to let himself be executed in Blitz's place, also potentially speaking to Stolas' suicidal ideation as well.

I suppose you could also mention the time in the bathtub where Stolas attempts what I assume is drowning himself, so that could also speak to Stolas' suicidal ideation as well.

Medical Health: Current and past medical health concerns or diagnosis, especially a new diagnosis or worsening symptoms.

The only thing I can think of here is in s2 e4, where Striker managed to badly hurt Stolas, and even to this day Stolas still has a lingering scar from the attack, plus he wore a bandage over that wound for quite a while as well.

Mental Health: Current and past mental health concerns or diagnosis, especially with recent discharge from mental health treatment or hospitalization.

For diagnosis, while not confirmed as canon, it's quite a popular theory that Stolas has C-PSTD and Autism. For concerns, I suppose you can list the fact that Stolas appears to be an alcoholic/frequent problem drinker, and the likely overdose (seen in s2 e1, takes three pills instead of two) on Stolas' happy pills as well.

Chemical Health: Current and past substance use disorders, especially with recent discharge from substance use disorder treatment or substance-related hospitalization.

Again, Stolas appears to be an alcoholic/frequent problem drinker, and in s2 e1, appears to abusing the happy pills by taking more than what appears to be the recommended amount/dosage Stolas should actually take.

Substance Use: Any significant change in pattern of use, or current/past use.

Following the trial's conclusion in Mastermind, it's quite likely that Stolas is going to be cut off on the happy pills and alcohol, marking a significant change in the pattern of use.

Although you could make the argument that Stolas stopped taking the happy pills since this scene in s2 e8, but we don't know the answer to that question either way.

Past Suicidal Behavior: Past suicidal thoughts, attempts, failed attempts, or a family history of suicide.

While I have established that Stolas has thought about death before and also likely has suicidal ideation, I cannot prove said suicidal thoughts, although it is likely that he has had them in the past. Suicide attempts and a family history of suicide appear to not have happened at all however.

Self-Injurious Behavior: Current or past injury to self.

Does not appear to apply to Stolas at all.

Trapped: Feeling of inability to escape current situation. Examples could include domestic violence, financial debt, health condition that feels inescapable, etc.

While I cannot entirely be sure about the current situation, although it is likely that Stolas might feel trapped about it in some ways, but in the past this definitely applied to Stolas. Mainly, the arranged marriage, because as I've talked about before, Paimon and by extension, the Goetia family, basically placed a metaphorical gunpoint onto Stolas to have Octavia, and likely to an unknown age of Octavia's life as well.

Especially because of the domestic violence and abuse Stella dished out to Stolas constantly as well, making him feel even more trapped in that arranged marriage for years upon years.

Purposelessness: Presence, duration and severity of feelings of no reason for living or no sense of purpose.

I'd wager that this applies to Stolas at least somewhat, considering how it's already clear that Stolas has very little self-worth combined with the fact that Stolas appears to have a decent amount of suicidal ideation as well, although we don't know the specifics of it at this time, especially after the trial considering that Stolas basically got told he won't be able to see his daughter for the next 100 years by Satan.

There is also his relationship with Blitz to consider as well, but as of right now we don't have enough information to make a fully accurate read on the presence, duration and severity of these feelings.

Hopelessness: Presence, duration, and severity of hopeless feelings.

Again, we don't know the entire specifics of this, but considering the outcome of the trial and the fact that I've mentioned about Stolas being stuck in the arranged marriage for years upon years, I'd reckon that Stolas' feelings of hopelessness are quite high right now.

Withdrawal: Removal from friends, family, and society, isolation, or living alone.

Stolas has always been quite alone, not really having any friends (apart from Blitz, I suppose), family (with the exception of Octavia, but even then she's with Stella on the weekends so) around him most of the time, choosing to generally stay out of society as well, living alone inside of his palace.

Although considering how Mastermind ended, this does look like it's gonna get better, considering that he's living with both Blitz and Loona now.

Anger: Rage, uncontrolled anger, or seeking revenge.

I wouldn't say this applies to Stolas much/at all.

Recklessness: Engaging in risky behavior, seemingly without thinking.

You could make the argument that the whole grimoire arrangement and Stolas' plan to be executed in Blitz's place could fall under recklessness here, although I have talked about the latter a bit in this post as well, so yea.

Mood: Any significant change from baseline, especially when demonstrating increased anxiety, agitation, lack of self-control, or impulsivity.

There are quite a few things you could point to here, especially for the impulsivity side. A few examples could be the whole 'that was the sound of a fucking divorce' line in s2 e1 (although I am happy and glad that Stolas did that, since it was the start of getting out of the abusive arranged marriage, I still feel like it could apply to Stolas being a bit impulsive.), the whole phone argument Stolas had in s2 e2 and Stolas being extremely anxious waiting for Blitz to show up in s2 e8, to give a few examples.

2: Identify Protective Factors

Protective factors buffer individuals from suicidal thoughts and behavior. Protective factors have not been studied as much as risk factors. The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention cites the following protective factors:

Effective clinical care for mental, medical, and chemical health.

For medical, this would apply as following Striker's near assassination on Stolas in s2 e4, Stolas did appear to get effective treatment for his injuries. Although for mental and chemical the care definitely wasn't effective as all they appeared to do was give Stolas a prescription for happy pills and nothing else, and well, who knows how long Stolas has been off the happy pills for tbh.

Access to a variety of interventions and support, at the least restrictive environment.

The only real support I can actually think of right now that Stolas has is the support of Blitz, Loona and likely Moxxie and Millie as well.

Connectedness to other people such as family, neighbors, community, and even culture.

Neighbors, community and culture are definitely a no-go considering Stolas is a banished prince, and well, almost everyone seems to have it out for Stolas right now, as in they really hate Stolas with a passion following the trial. So again, the only connectedness I can think of that Stolas has is with Blitz, Loona and probably Moxxie and Millie at some point in the near future as well.

Support from ongoing medical, mental and chemical health care relationships.

The only ongoing relationship with health care that Stolas had was in relation to his happy pills prescription, but following the trial I think it's safe to assume that this relationship Stolas had with health care is also gone as well, leaving him with no health care relationships at all at the moment.

Skills in problem solving, conflict resolution, coping, and healing.

This one is kind of a mixed bag, while there have been quite a few times that Stolas has shown problem solving and conflict resolution skills throughout the show, they're definitely nowhere near fully developed, especially when we get to the coping part, because we all know Stolas' unhealthy coping mechanism by now, and that's problem drinking. Although to be fair, Stolas likely won't have easy access to any alcohol now, so it'll be interesting to see how Stolas' coping mechanisms go from this point on.

Cultural and religious beliefs that discourage suicide and support instincts for self-preservation.

I'm pretty confident in saying that this doesn't apply to Stolas at all.

The rest of the PDF doesn't apply to Stolas at all, so let's skip to the table.

Multiple risks factors, few protective factors, and what could be thoughts of death with no plan, intent (the Mastermind thing was a spur of the moment thing that is well and truly over now, so I'm not including that bit here), although behavior is likely on the table considering the fact that Stolas just threw himself head first into the water in the bathtub, and the whole 'You Will Be Okay' song, but other than that I don't really have anything concrete for behavior.

So in conclusion, I'd put Stolas in low tbh.

While I don't think Stolas is at risk of making an actual suicide attempt, I do believe because of the risk factors and general lack of protective factors that Stolas has, that it shows that Stolas does likely have high levels of suicidal ideation and other things like thoughts of death.

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 大理寺少卿游/White Cat Legend.

White Cat Legend is the 2024 live-action adaptation of a funny historical manhua about a country bumpkin who winds up working with a bunch of mystery-solving officials led by a beautiful boss whose tragic past means no one can know he's also a kitty.

This is one of those cases where television comes in to adapt something that has both unfilmable elements and a very non-cinematic storyline that hasn't even been finished yet, and as such mostly just takes the characters and the basic conceit, then creates an entire vaguely nonsensical 36-episode AU fanfic of it. To call this show tonally inconsistent would be an insult to shows that are only merely tonally inconsistent. It is full-on tonal whiplash, the kind you should go see a doctor about. This shit is all over the place. It has arcs and situations that are genuinely emotionally moving, and then smash cut! to wacky nonsense happening with the B-plot. It does not know if it wants to tell a Serious Story or just have bonkers antics, and it will deal with this indecision by doing both at once.

So if you're in the mood for something fun with charming characters that won't tax your brain parts, let me give you five reasons this could be exactly the junk food you're looking for.

1. Just a family of all boys

If you're looking for a show rife with female characters, go watch Legend of Fei or Story of Yanxi Palace. Over here, it's Boys' Night Out.

The show is set in the Court of Judicial Review, which solves crimes. The boy in charge of all of them is Li Bing, who is secretly also a cat for reasons he doesn't understand. He picks up naive yokel and total sweeheart Chen Shi and brings him back to work with the Court's current occupants: a sad-eyed scribe with catastrophically bad luck, a former soldier who wishes he'd been born recently enough to be into Crossfit, a generic "foreigner" whose superpowers are spending his parents' money and pronouncing things badly, and the 8th-century Chinese equivalent of a mediocre white man.

And I'm going to tell you right now, up front, above the cut, that these boys' character interactions are the #1 reason to watch this show. You watch it because you like to see them bounce off one another like the unsupervised toddlers they are. They all love and care for one another in the best ways they know how, which sometimes aren't very effective, but darn it, they're trying!

What's especially cute is how they're so touchy with one another -- and not in any kind of sexual or creepy way, but in a sincerely affectionate bro way. There's lots of hugging and supportive arms around waists. Sometimes when they get scared, they hold hands. They grip one another when walking across unsteady ground or climbing over walls to break into yet another house. There's never any gay panic or no-homo reassurances. It hits that sweet spot right between brothers and boyfriends, where you can read their interactions as fraternal and/or romantic as you like (see below).

I mean, who needs a plot when you have half a dozen charming boys canonically working, eating, and sleeping side by side? That, my friends, is quality television.

2. Jam-packed with goofball nonsense

White Cat Legend is a show that will make you laugh out loud, and mostly even on purpose.

About 2/3 of this show is silly, and the other 1/3 is trying so hard to be emotionally resonant. But you know what? Screw emotional resonance for the moment -- let's embrace the antics!

There's a lot of silliness happening even at the production level. The show also starts out doing some very cute visual things, like breaking shots into multiple "panels" that give everything a real comic feel. It's especially effective during fight scenes and other visually confusing setups. ...And then about 1/4 of the way in, it forgets about this gimmick and stops almost completely. This is a shame, because I liked it! I liked that VFX tomfoolery that paid homage to the story's webcomic roots! (Also, someone behind the camera clearly got told that the way to make a scene more visually interesting is to slowly pan in during every shot. Once you notice it, you can't unsee it.)

The main villain is ... well, he's a lot. He's just a whole lot. I'd call him Evil Garfield, except Garfield is already kind of Evil Garfield, so this guy's Eviler Garfield. He's not chewing the scenery, but is instead treating it like a cat with a vendetta against some drapes. He's just hilariously over the top at all times. It starts out vaguely entertaining, then gets annoying, then wraps right back around to entertaining again.

Also, his wig is terrible -- and it's not even the worst wig in the show! White Cat Legend has decided that the way you style foreigner NPCs is just to jam unbrushed women's wigs on extras' heads and call it a day. There are indeed a lot of foreigners in the show, and the show has chosen to handle them by assuming everything beyond the borders of 6th-century Chinese territory is a great undifferentiated vaguely Persian-flavored mass. Who's that shady-looking guy? Oh, he's Foreign. What country is he from? A Foreign one. What language does he speak? You know, Foreign.

You are not ready for the score. This is a show that spent its entire musical budget on a handful of middling pop songs, realized it still needed ~40 minutes of music to put in each episode, and decided that it could just pull things at semi-random from whatever the Chinese television equivalent of the YouTube royalty-free sound library is. The result is some laugh-out-loud hilarious soundtracking. Do you know why they usually pay people to do things like score television shows? It's because when you don't, it sounds like this.

True story: During one antics-filled scene, I frowned, listened a second, and asked my wife, "Is that ... 'Deck the Halls'?" It was!

The mysteries are -- and I'm quoting myself here -- the celery that gets the cute boy peanut butter to your mouth. Not only can you, the viewer, not solve them, I don't actually remember what most of the resolutions were. Hell, I barely remember what most of the actual setups were. The individual storylines are mostly unimportant pieces of fluff that kinda sorta tie into the big mystery of the show: Why is that boy a kitty? ...And if you think you're going to be satisfied by the resolution to that one, honestly, you haven't been paying attention to what I've been saying in this post.

Basing this on absolutely nothing but vibes, here is my guess: The original vision for this series was as an ongoing thing, something that might hew a little closer to the comic storyline in later seasons. At some point in the production, the decision got made that there would be no further seasons made. The resulting drama is something that's technically self-contained, sure, but has a lot of little lingering weirdnesses that look like foreshadowing.

As just one example, the way they frame and shoot the empress is bizarre, and she might as well have a big SHE'S GOING TO TURN OUT TO BE EVIL neon sign above her head. ...Except that, no, she's fine! Perfectly fine, mostly normal empress, mostly normal levels of evil, nothing to see here. She is, however, evil as heck in the source material (and that's not a spoiler, she's a little pink thing who's clearly sinister all the way from the get-go), and I have to wonder if the showrunners weren't planning some future heel-turn villain arc for her. Well, we'll never know now, so whatever you choose to believe, the show won't contradict you on it!

Your reaction to all of this will 100% depend on how charitable you are feeling toward staring down a firehose of (mostly) intentionally slapdash shenanigans. If you go into this demanding coherence and substance, you will wind up disappointed. If you go into it expecting nothing more than a fluffy good time, you'll probably enjoy yourself tremendously -- and you'll maybe even be moved by the rare times it does work out to being something of substance! Such as...

3. We are never ever getting back together

The first thing you can tell about Qiu Qingzhi and Li Bing is that they are as divorced as two dudes in a c-drama can be. They aren't just a little divorced. They are nuclear divorced.

Except -- and this is the juicy part -- they obviously still work really well together. If it's just the two of them head-to-head, they will be assholes to one another with no mercy. If circumstances change and they have a shared target, God help that shared target.

The unspoilery version of their backstory goes like this: They were adorable little tween besties who grew up into adorable little teen besties, until Qiu Qingzhi went off to join the army and came back a real cold bitch, and Li Bing has no idea why. Now the two of them control state agencies that should work together but actually wind up competing more often than not (think the FBI and the CIA), a competition not helped by how the Jinwu Guards (Qiu Qingzhi's group) are actual professional soldiers in very nice armor, while the Court of Judicial Review is, well, [gestures to points 1 and 2].

And yeah, baby, this right here is The Ship.

I spent a nonzero amount of time while watching this series laughing out loud because Wei Zheming's face is just too beautiful to be believed. With his sculpted jaw and his perfectly practiced looks of disdain, his Qiu Qingzhi looks like a damn Disney prince. His face could not be more perfect if you'd assigned a team of animators to draw it. This actor is the reason I found this show in the first place -- he was so beautiful in Word of Honor that I found myself wondering what else he might be getting up to. Turns out, he is again being a smug bitch and capturing the heart of a doe-eyed younger man.

Don't let me oversell how much these two are together in the show, because they're not. Qiu Qingzhi is not part of the main crew, so he's not in most of the episodes. Most of his screentime comes in flashbacks during the last story arc, to a time in his past when Li Bing wasn't even around. But when they're together, oh, the sparks do fly.

I think it helps that the actors seem to have understood the ship, even if in that video, Ding Yuxi (Li Bing's actor) is trying so hard to do the Please Do Not Cancel Us dance of plausible deniability. I honestly don't even think this is the show's doing; after all, the source material (see the section near the end) is not BL in the slightest. I'd believe the show meant to create a normal platonic bro-relationship between these two. I'd even believe that it thinks it succeeded.

Still, if you're not the biggest fan of Lovers To Enemies? That's fine! Here's the relationship that's the real core of the show:

4. Here comes a special boy

All the boys of the family of all boys are special and wonderful, but truly, Chen Shi is the specialest and wonderfulest of them all.

He is your everyman character, the little country bumpkin overwhelmed by all the big-city dealings he's stumbled into. With his cute little twang and his natural inclination to trust everyone he meets, he's the perfect cinnamon roll, too good, too pure. I want to pinch his angelic little cheeks.

Fun fact: I have been informed by someone who speaks with the same dialect he does that said dialect is very sweary, which brings to mind the wonderful image of Chen Shi just casually and sweetly dropping f-bombs while everyone else stares in shock.

In a show where the characters are way more important than the plot, having a good POV character is key. Your audience lives or dies entirely on how much they want to see that POV character put into situations. To me, Chen Shi is a rousing success at this. He's not stupid! He's just extremely sheltered and on his own for the first time in his ife. He's the bravest little toaster, the goodest boy who's not going to let the little things stop him -- like, say, illiteracy, or a lack of familiarity with city living, or an inability to give any substantial details about the brother he's looking for beyond 'he looks just like me.' That's why he's got his friends help him out!

You better believe that when it comes time to save the day, Chen Shi will do it through the power of how everyone loves him.

And he and the kitty are ... romance? Kind of romance? Romance-adjacent? I could burn even more wordcount explaining the dynamic, but @uovoc has already said it best:

cdrama Li Bing is like: I've taken an inexplicable liking to this simple country boy so I'm going to entrust him with my life's greatest secret because I'm whimsical like that. And cdrama Chen Shi is like: this man is the most beautiful cat I've ever seen.

No matter how romantically you slice it, it's a dynamic I absolutely love: where a guy weighed down by his own past meets another guy who could not care less about that. Chen Shi is Li Bing's chance to figure out who Li Bing is, without the burdens of his family history, connections to the court, job, status, or any of the other things everyone else sees when they look at him. Chen Shi looks at Li Bing and sees Li Bing, whiskers and all.

I mean, Chen Shi makes Li Bing an entire office full of human-sized cat toys. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

And if you're not into besties-to-worsties or the pure and purrfect love between a man and his cat who is also a man? That's okay! I've helpfully made a chart to demonstrate the many flavors of exciting relationship dynamics White Cat Legend makes available to you:

Imagine the possibilities! Make your own fun! And then get over to AO3 and share it with the rest of the class! The White Cat Legend tag is sparsely populated and mostly not in English, and that's a shame, because there's so much smooching potential.

5. Not as dumb as it looks

Wow, that's kind of a backhanded compliment, isn't it? Well, no, not actually. You saw my earlier points about what a bag of goofs this show is. What's easy to miss, though, is how unexpectedly clever a whole lot of its dumbassery is.

A lot of this, I'm going to chalk up to the actors, who on the whole turn in some comedic performances way better than they have any right to be. That's the thing about comedy: to do stupid well, you have to be smart. They're all very funny, and they've got some great chemistry in combinations and permutations. It's a testament to their abilities that you can take any two of them, give them a scene together, and get something worth watching out of it.

Of course most of this is the main boys, but the major supporting characters largely have the same clever sense of comedic timing. Their actors know they're not performing some great work of literature, so they've decided to have some fun with it. I'm not going to praise anyone's performance here as particularly great, but by and large, the recurring cast members are doing solid work.

The aforementioned goofball nonsense also does a fair job of distracting from how creative the show can be. For example, the fact that many of the fights and chases are comedic makes it easy to miss how the fight choreography is often really tight. I don't think the show is trying to hide its moments of cleverness, so much as it's just grabbing them where it can without drawing attention to them.

I know a lot of people gave up on this show only a few episodes in, and I suspect I know why. It's not even that it just takes a while to find its footing -- it never quite finds its footing, on account of being such a patchwork creation. It's an adaptation of an incomplete story, forced to make changes because of budgetary limitations, promising things it's not allowed to deliver on, and further cut down between filming and release. That's what you call having the deck stacked against you. The fact that the final product is not only watchable but downright enjoyable is a testament to how the production got some critical fundamentals right.

In short, it's not just dumb fun -- though it is a lot of dumb fun. But it's dumb fun with just enough to sink your teeth into that it eventually becomes a compelling ratio. I don't blame the people who bailed, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

bonus: It comes in other flavors!

If you like the series and you want more, you're in luck! There's a whole ongoing comic and animated series!

The comic is the original version of the story: a tall vertical webcomic with a cute, distinctive style. It's still being published, and it's very different from the drama. There's a great ongoing translation project at @whitecatlegend, so if your Mandarin skills are as bad as mine (or worse!), you can follow along in English as well!

The donghua is a pretty close adaptation of several parts of the comic. You can find the whole first season at this YouTube playlist, though please note that the playlist is out of order, so you don't accidentally start with episode 8. The translation is ... eh, it's a little rough in places, to put it charitably, but it also makes some charming localization decisions, so I'm all for it. Oh, and here's the second season! It's even prettier and better-translated than the first!

Also, hey, furries? Li Bing's a perma-kitty in both of those versions of the story, so have fun with that.

The drama's casting is spot-on. Whoever picked these boys went out of their way to keep the original artistic vibe as much as possible, to the point where if you'd told me the drama had come first and then someone had drawn a comic starting from the actors' likenesses, I would've believed you.

(And yes, if you've read it, Qiu Qingzhi and Lai Zhongshu aren't technically Qiu Shenji and Lai Junchen, but I'm declaring them close enough for the purposes of this demonstration.)

I have heard that some fans of the comic are unhappy about the live-action adaptation, and I get that, I do -- they are not the same thing. There are plenty of things the drama leaves out where, okay, I understand why that person/event/factor got cut, but at the same time, dammit. In the end, I like them both as very different stories featuring the same(-ish) characters. Still, the drama is definitely not one of those situations where you get to tune in to watch the same things you loved on the page, just in a different medium. The delightfully accurate casting is about where the similarities end. Everything beyond that is its own legend.

Kitty.

Here, kitty, kitty?

The drama's an iQiyi exclusive, so that's where you'll get it.

It's a fun show, not a perfect show. It has some captivating elements and lots of promising nonsense worth thinking about. And like I said, it's a tiny-ass fandom -- a paltry 277 works on AO3, a mere 44 of which are in English. Somebody get in there and make some combination of those boys kiss!

Also, it is criminal that Kitty Li Bing has fabulous red eyeliner that Person Li Bing does not get to wear. Call makeup and fix that.

[xohachi]

illuminate

| sherlock holmes x u |

word count: 966

u have a date tonight! ur actually on the date for the first half of the story and sherlock’s brooding about it so badly that he can’t sleep :( BUT u come back sad 😧 so he comforts u ☺️. {angst/comfort/cute ending} {this is for the girls w no dad.}

(LOOK AT HIS PUPPY DOG EYES I WANNA CRYYYYYY) (i hate writing stories in my notes app but I watched American beauty last night and that “you could never be ordinary,” scene literally ate me so i just haddd to write something based off it. so enjoy this blurb i wrote first thing in the morning at a sleepover)

The mundane tick of the clock nearly lulled Sherlock to sleep. He persevered through the heavy bricks on his eyelids, pacing the room thinking of you. The time now was 12:34am. You’d left for a date at around 8, you never went on dates. Sherlock preferred it that way, maybe then he’d get some sleep. He thought of you, the image of you in your little black dress and red heels… the way you styled your hair and left a few dangling curls to frame your already perfect face. The stubborn detective would never say it but it enraged him to see you dressed up like this for another man.

…

“How do I look?” You asked sheepishly. He watched your eyes meet his, inhaling the presence of your soul snaking its way into the void where his was supposed to be. Somehow during the time that the two of you had roomed together at 221B Baker St, Sherlock had fallen in love with you and he hated the fact that he didn’t hate it.

“You’re leaving?” His tone was low, monotonous.

“Yeah silly, I happen to have a date tonight.” You gave him a spin. His eyes locked onto the slit in your already short dress and how it hiked up even higher when you moved. A scowl snuck onto his face as he thought about you dancing with lesser men at sub par bars, the way they’d probably slide a hand down your back, itching for an invitation to taint you with their touch.

…

‘A date,’ He muttered to himself. A cigarette sat between his lips. Sherlock leaned onto the fireplace and pulled his head back as he exhaled. Finally, your footsteps echoed up the stairs. He put out his cigarette and scrambled to find a place in his chair. Quickly picking up his violin, fumbling with the tuning to look busy. You’d left the house wearing heels yet your footsteps showed no indication of heels on your feet. You’d probably taken them off after too much dancing & the thought brought a red jealous haze back into his mind but he decided to let it go. Your dark silhouette emerged from the shadows. Something was wrong. He quickly scanned you with his eyes. Messy hair, your left dress strap sliding down your shoulder, your hand on your right shoulder seemingly massaging a bothering ache, perhaps from carrying your purse. Turning around, a yelp emerged from your throat.

“Sorry,” You choked out, trying to mask your sobs, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.” You glanced down at the violin in his hands, yet his attention was solely on you. Sherlock’s eyebrow was cocked as he continued to silently read your tells. Shaky voice, running mascara, you’d been crying. Your arms were hugging your body, you’d been hurt. He stood up cautiously.

“He hurt you…” Sherlock concluded aloud, inching closer. His hands were somewhat extended towards you as if he wanted to touch you but couldn’t.

“No, Sherlock he didn’t, I’m alright.” You closed the space between the two of you. The sudden feeling of your small hands on his chest electrified him yet also diminished a fraction of his anger. Physically sure, you seemed to be okay. Sherlock realized that you were hugging your body to console deep emotional pain. Physical or emotional didn’t matter to him though, all that mattered was that you were in pain.

“You’re crying. He made you cry, I’ll murder him.” His rough calloused hands cupped either side of your face, his words venomous with intent. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation but Sherlock had never allowed himself to touch you like this. The most touch you shared was when he’d let you rest your head on his shoulder during long train rides, even then he felt like he was playing with fire.

“He was good to me, I promise,” a small silence, “I did this to myself, with my own insecurities.”

“Am I… ordinary, Sherlock?”

The streetlights trickled through the curtains, illuminating the silhouette of you both holding back from indulging in your deepest desires. The image of you, gazing up at the cold detective with wide teary eyes, clinging to his word like he’s god reciting the bible directly to you. Him, his hands on either sides of your face, soothing you with his words, “You could never be ordinary, not even if you tried.”

Although your crying had ceased, his words broke the dam behind your y/e/c eyes. Your head fell into his chest and the sudden intimacy caused Sherlock tense up. He could feel you needing him, begging him to hold you just this once, to tell you that everything will be okay…and that he loves you so. He opened his mouth to protest the hug, only to be cut off by a small, “Please, just this once,” whispered into his chest.

Frozen in time, the gears in his brain began to short circuit. He was a sociopath, how could he feel like this? The two of you were never even meant to get this close. He could feel his defenses crumble. Every alarm inside his mind palace blaring. Emergency! Emergency! The void where his soul should lie was no longer empty. You’d fought your way past his defenses, seemingly effortlessly. He lived and breathed you. He burned for you, and only you. Your soul igniting him, Sherlock finally allowed himself to wrap his arms around your small figure tightly. His chin resting atop your head. He wouldn’t admit any of this aloud. As a matter of fact, he wouldn’t say anything at all. This was enough for now, he’d just be here, with you, for you, in the moment.

[diaryofaprettyprincess]

dean with bimbo!crybaby!reader who always goes to him for comfort n he doesnt understand why.. like you’re one of sam’s best friends but you have such an infatuation with dean (not knowing dean secretly likes you) he doesn’t really show his love crush that much cuz ur only 19 (almost 20) and he’s 27 n tries to not prove sam right when one day sam caught his older brother staring a little too long (and lovingly) at you whilst you chatted to a homeowner during a case you all had and sam mocked him for having a crush on you later on that day. 

you guys are all friends--kinda by proxy cuz sam asked you to come with them on missions to help with some paranormal research because you are surprisingly knowledgeable about history on the supernatural.

but all i can imagine is like that scene from that 70s show with jackie n hyde..

sam is sitting on the couch and dean is standing up, leaning against the wall, both sipping on a bottle of beer before they see you storming into the room, slamming the door as tears stream down your face.

“h-he broke up with me!” you sob, glossed lips pouted and trembling, shiny tears glimmering on your cheeks. 

he being your boyfriend from back home..you left him behind to go on the road with dean and sam--not telling him what you were actually doing with them, he assumed some really messed up things that was just a little too graphic in your opinion.

sam immediately jumps up from his spot on the couch; his face is filled with concern, open arms welcoming you in for a comforting hug. dean stays against the wall across from where you were-- his back a bit more straightened then before, but he nonetheless takes a long sip from his beer, assuming his younger brother can handle you. (and trying to hide his secret elation at the fact that you were single).

sam murmurs a small, “c’mere,” to you, but you ignore him, just wanting comfort from one specific person right now. the person that seemingly doesn’t want your attention on him (even though he secretly wants you). you weren’t sure why you wanted to be comforted by dean so badly, but you just couldn’t help it!

you brush past the younger brother--your own best friend--whimpering a soft, “dean..” as you run up to him and quickly wrap your arms tightly around his torso, your head lying on his chest as you breathe in his scent--much more comforting than your own boyfriend’s ex boyfriend’s. you adjust your arms so that they are now around his neck, your kitten heels doing very little as to help boost you up to fit your head in the crook of his neck.

“why does she always come to me?” his gruff voice speaks to his younger brother, eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

sam just shrugs, shaking his head as he chuckles lightly.

you sniffle, whining a little bit then hiccup.

the older brother pats your back lightly with his left hand a small but stiff, “there, there,” spoken from his lips.

ten minutes later, when sam goes into the shower, you two are cuddled up on the couch watching tv--dean’s arms wrapped around you. (and he tries to make you think that he doesn’t enjoy it, but even you aren’t that dumb) <3

UGHHH I NEED MORE OF THIS STUFF PLZ SEND REQUESTS OMG