#i was originally going to keep one of the ducklings

[the-reclawmation-studio]

Mother duck & ducklings mount now for sale!

$750 NZD with free shipping

A mallard duck and her three ducklings standing in the grass! These ducklings were siblings, but had no familial relationship to the mother duck while they were alive.

The mother duck was shot during duck hunting season.

The three ducklings were abandoned by their mother and died shortly after.

All were sourced in the Far North region.

[l0vedoe]

Hello! I was wondering if you are up for a request. If so I was wondering if you could do something with a Yandere Lucifer(You can count this as a somewhat part 2 to your original Yandere Lucifer if y’a want) when he took us down to hell. I was think that he finds out that we can dance really well if we actually tried to(I feel like the little dance we did for him was just silly to make him leave) how would he react to that?

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPR35fxHm/

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPR35BGFM/

^here are some inspiration TikTok’s

I really enjoy your work keep it up!

I loved that! Sadly, I can't do anything happy with yandere Lucifer, but I hope that you like what I wrote! I changed the dance because I thought it wouldn't match the vibe of that fic, I hope you're okay with that!

Part 1 here!

Yandere!Lucifer X GN!Reader - Part 2

Words: 2181

Synopsis: Two weeks after being kidnapped by Lucifer, he notices that you're quite sad and decided to do something to cheer you up.

The only time you felt everything was all right was at night. At this time, Lucifer wasn't usually around, so you would sleep thinking that you weren't in hell, that it was all just a dream and that you would wake up soon in your bed, in your house.

You dreamt with your friends, your family, with your home, and everytime you woke up covered by those red blankets you felt a discomfort in your chest and your eyes filled with tears. It wasn't at all pleasant being stuck in hell. You know you hadn't died, but you didn't feel alive anymore.

Two weeks had passed since your arrival in hell, two weeks in which your life had changed abruptly without you having a choice.

You were fast asleep, dreaming of everything you wanted back, when suddenly something woke you up.

“Good morning, my love!” you hear a familiar voice. When you open your eyes, you notice Lucifer wearing his pajamas and holding a plate of pancakes, which he places on the dresser next to the bed.

It wasn't comforting seeing him as the first thing when you wake up.

You sit up, rubbing your eyes.

“Did you sleep well?” Lucifer asks, kissing your forehead and sitting next to you on the bed. You don't answer him. “I made pancakes, they're delicious! You have to try them!”

Lucifer takes one of the pancakes and eats it. You weren't making eye contact with him and he noticed, worried.

“What happened, dear?” He holds your hand. “It's been a while since I last saw your smile. Is something bothering you?"

How ridiculous. How couldn't he notice he was the one bothering you? He was the one who was ruining your life, depriving you of everything and not giving you freedom.

You sigh.

“It's nothing”.

He kept looking at you with worry in his eyes. He snapped his finger, a light bulb went off in his head, looking like he had an idea. A smile appears on his face.

“I know what can cheer you up.” he stands up, extremely excited. “Eat your breakfast, get yourself ready and come to the dancing room!”

Without you being able to answer, he ran out of the room.

You weren't in the mood to eat and get out of bed. You just wanted to get under the blankets and stay there, quietly, without anyone bothering you. You just wanted to be alone.

You took a deep breath and finally did what Lucifer asked you. You ate, changed your clothes and headed to the dancing room. When you entered, you could see Lucifer humming softly as he walked around the room.

Your breathing quickens when he notices you.

“Honey, right on time!” He approaches, hugging you. You don't hug him back. He lets go of you and walks over to a table in the corner of the room. “Come on, I've prepared everything!”

“Everything…?”

You ask, slowly walking towards him.

“The music!” He answers, touching a stereo on the table.

Music? What did he want now?

“Let's dance a bit, shall we? I think it might cheer you up! When you danced dressed as a duckling it was so cute, I loved it! But I want to see how you deal with something that is not so silly."

You arch your eyebrows. Why didn't he ask you if you wanted to do that? He always did that and you always got mad at it. He brought you stuff that you never asked for, he made you do things that you didn't want to. He never really cared for doing something that you liked to do. It was always about him, everyday was just him.

“I don't wanna dance.” You say in a low voice. You didn't even have strength to speak like you used to.

“Oh…” Lucifer gets discouraged. “But what do you want then, my love? We could watch something together, or cook together, or I can show you my new inventions! You know, I made a rubber duck that can–”

“I don't want any of those things!” You raise your voice, making the blonde startle and stop talking. “I wanna go home, I wanna see my friends, I want my life back…”

Your eyes filled with tears, the sensation of your throat closing and the discomfort in your chest showed the first signs before you could collapse crying.

For a moment, Lucifer had an annoyed expression on his face, but it soon softened and his eyes began to convey empathy. He approached you and held your face, rubbing your cheek with his thumb. He was looking at you with a comforting smile.

“My love, I hate seeing you like this…” he says, you still don't look at him. “How about that: we dance a little bit and, after that, I’ll let you see your friends. What do you think?

You look incredulously at Lucifer. Was he really serious? You could see your friends again?

You were so happy you couldn't believe that was really happening. You were so happy that you could hug Lucifer if it weren't for everything he did to you.

“Everything he did…”

No, it couldn't be true. Lucifer kidnapped you, kept you in his house and whenever you tried to escape he would left you locked up in a room without windows for hours. He wouldn't let you have any contact with the world outside, your life was just about pleasing Lucifer, talking to Lucifer and staying with Lucifer. Your life was Lucifer. Knowing him, he would never let you see your friends again.

But then, why did he said he would? What did he want, anyway? Test your loyalty to him?

You didn't know what his intention was, but you decided to believe in his words for now. He could be telling the truth, maybe he was sorry?

“Would you really do that…?” You ask, fearful.

Lucifer nods his head, still smiling.

“But you have to dance with me!”

You think about it again. If he was telling the truth, all you had to do was dance a bit with Lucifer and you could see your friends again, right? They should be worried by now, and maybe Lesley would know how to get you out of here…

Whether it was true or not, you didn't know, but you decided to try.

“All right.” you say after a long sigh. “What do you wanna dance?”

“Oh, I have so many ideas!” Lucifer goes back to the table, you follow him. “Can you dance anything other than silly dances?"

“Actually, I have done dance classes since I was a kid…” you say.

Your parents had put you in a lot of dance classes, and you grew up loving it, but after moving from your parent's house you stopped dancing often. You were a bit rusty, but it would work. It had to.

“That's great! So, how about we dance something romantic?” Lucifer asks. You could feel his flirty aura.

You nod.

Lucifer, then, puts music on the stereo and slowly approaches you with a smile. He holds your left hand, while his other hand rests on your shoulder. Your free hand was now holding Lucifer's waist. He was smaller than you, there wasn't much way to change the roles.

Lucifer didn't take his eyes off of you for a second as you two slowly danced around the room. You two were completely silent, just feeling the music and letting yourselves go, and he couldn't take his eyes off of you.

You felt uncomfortable, Lucifer always looked at you intensely, sometimes looking like he was eating you with his eyes. It was weird and most of the time you looked away, but even doing that you could feel the blonde still staring at you, and even without looking at his face, you could tell exactly when he was smiling or not.

As soon as the song ended, along with your dance, Lucifer pulled you closer. His hands held your face, and finally he pulled you for a kiss.

It wasn't everytime that you two kissed, fortunately, but whenever it happened you could feel like you were going to throw up at any moment. Lucifer tried to use his tongue with you a lot of times, but you never let him and used the excuse that you weren't ready.

It was disgusting to feel the lips of someone who didn't really cared about you.

When he stopped, you could see his red cheeks and his eyes glowing. His gaze oscillated between your eyes and your lips.

“So…” you start. “Can I–”

“I want just one more thing.” Lucifer interrupts you. You look at him curiously. “Dance for me. It can be any dance, any song, just dance for me again. Please?"

If that's what it takes to have a chance of escaping this (literally) hell, you'll do it.

You shake your head positively and go to the music player to choose a song. It was hard to choose something like that, without even having an idea of what to choose.

You close your eyes and take a deep breath, remembering when you used to dance to your parents, when you used to be alone in your room and convey your emotions through your dances. That’s it. You would use your dancing to vent again.

As soon as you've chosen the music, you get ready to start.

When the song starts, your eyes close and you let yourself be carried away by the music.

Good times for a change

Seems the luck I’ve had can make a good man turn bad

Being able to dance like this was like flying, flying in a blue sky being free to go wherever you wanted. Every second, every step you took and every turn of your body you could feel yourself free again. You weren't a prisoner in hell anymore, you were in a flowery field, feeling the breeze and breathing the fresh air.

Haven't had a dream in a long time

Seems the life I’ve had can make a good man bad

Your hands touched your chest and softened, falling beside your body, as if that simple move could take away all the weight that was inside you.

So for once in my life let me get what I want

Lord knows, it would be the first time

Your mind goes blank, and even a smile begins to appear on your face. Your expression was soft, just like your movements.

Please, please, please

Let me get what I want

All your pain had dissipated at that moment, and what remained was an intense feeling of floating.

Let me, let me, let me

Let me get what I want this time

The song ended along with your dance, leaving you with your head tilted back. You open your eyes, noticing the dark ceiling above you, making that feeling of floating disappear in a few seconds as you remembered your current situation.

As you returned to your normal posture, you looked forward just to find Lucifer, who was standing there staring at you in amazement. His eyes were shining in admiration, his mouth was ajar and his cheeks were rosy. Lucifer seemed to have been intensely touched by your dance.

“So…?” You ask, nervously.

Lucifer runs to hug you.

“I loved it! You danced so well, my sweetie, you were feeling the music and I was feeling you! You did so good, my love…” he smiles, caressing your face once more.

“Thank you…” you say. “So…can I see my friends now?”

You ask, nervousness consuming you even more when you hear Lucifer let out a laugh.

“D-did you really believe it…?” He asks between soft laughs. Your eyes widened, your head shaking wanting to deny what you’ve just heard. He couldn't be serious. “I'm not stupid, love, I know you would try to run away from me…"

Your eyes fill with tears, an even greater feeling of suffocation consumes you and you break down crying, sobbing. You fell to your knees, you were breathing fast and crying loudly, hugging yourself in search of comfort.

Lucifer knelt down, placing a hand on your shoulder.

“I can't risk losing you, you're everything I have…” Lucifer smiles, caressing your shoulder. He pulls your chin, making you look at him. “I can't risk losing you, did you understand? I’ve already lost someone important once, and I won't let that happen again."

He kisses you again, making you cry even more. He hugs you tightly, stroking your hair.

You keep hugging yourself, the pain in your chest getting worse and worse, your sobs getting louder, your thoughts getting darker and blurrier. The life you once had was now in the past, and you would never have it again, never, and that hurt so much, so much... Lucifer's words seemed to have woken you up to reality, making you realise that it really was impossible to free yourself from the chains that bound you, and that your destiny now was to stay here, with him, forever.

Well, that's it! I hope you all liked!

I guess I won't be doing more chapters to this fic, and I won't do Yandere!Lucifer anymore either

I feel bad lol, he's just a baby, he would never that

So, if you guys wanna request something other than that with Lucifer, you can!

Thank you so much for your support!! <3

[alastor-is-best-deer-boi]

Cute Lucifer, Lilith, and baby Charlie headcanons

Under the cut so I don't dash stretcher spam someone

Was absolutely overjoyed when Lilith told him he was going to be a father. Probably got teary-eyed let's be real.

Immediately started planning stuff with Lilith even though they had nine months, he wanted to be prepared.

Really hated seeing Lilith feeling ill and not feeling good in general. Helped her with whatever he could.

It got to the point that he became a little too helpful and overprotective. Lilith had to quickly remind him that she could still do plenty of things.

Before they decided on names, he'd call the baby "Duckling"

Originally thought it would've been strange talking to Duckling before they were born but sort of fell into the habit of it. Started telling hem about everything.

Charlie definitely recognized both of her parents' voices when she was born because of this.

Lucifer and Lilith going baby clothes shopping! Once they found out they were having a girl, Lucifer had the urge to buy all the cutest little dresses.

Attempted to build the crib but didn't understand the instructions (Lilith had to help)

Multiple instances of reality sinking in for him that he was going to be a father which caused some anxiety about if he'd be good at being a father or not.

He and Lilith were there for each other about each of their worries, which helped.

Reading a lot of baby books helped too.

Panicked more than Lilith when she went into labor but quickly managed to pull himself together because he didn't want to make it worse.

Was by Lilith's side the whole time, never wanted to leave her. Most supportive husband.

Definitely cried a little when Charlie was born.

Fun fact one of the first colors babies see is red, which means Charlie really paid attention to her dad's eyes 🥹

He came up with the Char Char nickname soon after she was born.

Loved to hold her, loved all the "baby cuddles" as he put it.

Got so much cute aggression/overwhelmed with love that he'd bury his face into Lilith's shoulder (while they were all cuddling together) and mutter about how he couldn't take how cute Charlie was.

His favorite thing to do was kiss the cute little circles on Charlie’s cheeks.

Lucifer always volunteered to take care of Charlie when she woke up in the night or at the very least brought Charlie to her mother so Lilith wouldn't have to get out of bed to feed her.

He loved all the important skin-to-skin time, holding a sleepy Charlie against his chest and hear her calm breathing.

Both parents made sure to keep a baby book and write in it constantly as well as taking baby photos.

There was no reason for either of them to wear their usual fancy clothes so Lucifer and Lilith were out here wearing t-shirts and sweat pants on a regular basis.

Lucifer got really excited when Charlie entered her babbling stage. Would always talk to her despite getting babbles in response.

Lucifer and Lilith singing lullabies to Charlie is a given.

Lucifer and Lilith having a friendly competition to see if Charlie would say Mama or Dada first.

Charlie ended up saying Duck. (Lucifer considered it a win)

Her second word was Mama. And then Dada was third.

Lucifer actively holding back tears when he'd hear Charlie’s happy giggles.

Lucifer doing the parent thing of pretending to eat her little fingers and feet to make her laugh.

Lucifer: "Charlie can crawl now!" *realizing his baby can basically free roam now" "Charlie can crawl now... oh no"

They extra baby proofed the castle when that happened.

Lucifer and Lilith cheering and encouraging Charlie when she took her first steps.

Lucifer and Lilith trying not to laugh when Charlie would try new foods like ice cream or a lemon.

*Charlie lovingly aggressively patting Lucifer's face* Lucifer: "Charlie, I know you're a baby and you're not good at this yet, but you're going to take my eye out"

Whenever Charlie does a certain thing, Lilith and Lucifer discuss who she learned it from.

Charlie copying her father's expressions a lot and Lilith laughing saying how similar they are (Lucifer doesn't see it)

*that one scene from Modern Family but it's Lucifer and Lilith trying to get Charlie out of the car after accidentally locking her in*

Lucifer flying while holding Charlie and letting her "fly" around the castle.

Lilith is always like "Not too high!"

Lucifer carrying Charlie around in a baby carrier or sling(?)

Lucifer coming up with excuses every time he brings Charlie to a meeting.

Lilith very gently playing "toss little Charlie like a sack of potatoes" on the bed or anywhere with a lot of cushions (Lucifer almost always has an aneurysm watching this despite nothing bad happening)

Charlie always getting plenty of cuddles and kisses from her parents :')

Lilith: "Luce, you can't cry every time Charlie cries..." Lucifer 😢 "watch me"

Charlie’s parents always telling her bedtime stories.

Lucifer: "Charlie fell asleep on me and now I can't move"

Charlie having glow up stars on her bedroom ceiling that work as night lights.

Lucifer out somewhere with Charlie: "It's getting late, I better get this one home" Charlie, sleepy but fighting it: "No.. no, no, no" Lucifer amused: "Yesss"

Charlie going to her parents every time there's loud thunder or something and them holding her and making her feel safe.

Charlie having bad dreams and insisting on sleeping in her parents' bed when she's scared. (Lucifer can never tell her no)

Little Charlie trying to get her parents' attention: "Look! Look! Watch!" *does a little spin and a hop* Lucifer and Lilith clapping: "Good job!!"

Lilith: "Charlie, we color on paper, not the floor" Charlie: "No I just 'tending" Lilith: "But you are coloring the floor, do you want some paper?" Charlie aggressively shoving the crayons away: "All done!"

Charlie always coming up with the craziest games to play. Lucifer is constantly confused but goes along with it.

Lucifer and Lilith telling each other crazy things Charlie did at the end of the day after she's gone to bed.

Lucifer getting emotional every now and then about how fast Charlie is growing up. :( Lilith's feels the same and they try to comfort each other.

Ending on a happier note, Charlie drawing pictures for her parents. Lilith keeps them on the fridge. Lucifer keeps some framed in his office.

That's all I have for now.

[fairytale-poll]

BEST MODERN FAIRYTALE ADPATATION! SEMIFINALS, MATCH 2 OUT OF 2!

The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley is based off various fairytales; Princess Tutu by Ikuko Itoh is based off the Ugly Duckling and Swan Lake.

Propaganda Under the Cut:

The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley:

The Sisters Grimm was a formative read for me as a kid. It’s fun and episodic, but over time it also examines both what place fairytales have in modern lives and uses fairytale characters as an allegory for self-determination.

Amazing to see The Sisters Grimm go up against Diana Wynne Jones. I know which one is probably objectively better, but only the other has kept a stranglehold on my brain to this day. For all its flaws, honestly maybe because of all its flaws, Sisters Grimm really is the middle grade series that keeps on giving. I'm not saying that anyone new should, like, read these books, I'm just staying it's nice to see people vote for them Anyway the other reason you should vote Sisters Grimm is because if we could get it facing off against OUAT in a later round that would be funny I think

there were a good few years of my childhood where I could only sleep with an audiobook on. Except I didn’t have a phone then so I would play them through my Alexa. But my Alexa only played the free ones. Aka the sisters grim book 2 and this other book. so for a span of around 5 years almost everyday I listened to the audiobook of the sisters grim book 2 and I can now recite passages of it.

OK sorry one more thing. I feel like you can't just compare the newer editions' cover art to a good DWJ cover like that. These books originally came out with some honestly iconic illustrations. Look at this stuff. [Click through to see the illustrations] The physical design of these books was another thing that I always truly loved. They were different than all the other books on the library shelf. I was especially fond of the paperbacks, because something about the squarish proportions just made them feel so nice to hold. And the hardcovers with their textured fabric and all the gold detailing really felt like you had happened across not just a book, but a tome. These books felt genuinely special when you held them.

Princess Tutu (2002 - 2003):

This show is PHENOMENAL. Starts as a fairy tale show, slowly starts to discuss fate vs free will and the archetypes that fairy tale characters have to play and what would happen if they could fight the narrative. Also has one of the most perfect endings to Duck's arc that any protagonist could ever have.

Princess Tutu ftw, let's be honest here

Princess Tutu is a combination of The Ugly Duckling, The Nutcracker, and The Swan Princess In addition to the plot points and themes already mentioned, look how pretty this series is [Click through to see images] This show is hella underrated And it's two seasons, you could totally binge the whole thing

[yandere-daydreams]

Just went through all your genshin android doll au and now I'm. Thinking.

A reader who works with young kids in some capacity, maybe a teacher. Buys a second hand Albedo bot (because lord knows they dont make enough for a brand new one) with some bugs. It's not quite "isolate you from friends and family" levels and more... Clinginess. Anxiety when you need to leave for an errand. But he needs to stay home while you're still fixing him up with YouTube how to videos, just in case.

He has many quirks still remaining by the time hes able to join the classroom, but they're completely harmless. His tendency to make too much or too little eye contact, trailing after you like a duckling for the first few weeks, rocking and clicking his tounge(? Voice box?). But these are all traits you've seen before in your own kids, and his body language isn't something that needs to be fixed. It's helpful for some of your students to open up and express themselves, when they see an adult figure like them.

But of course, he still gets rather lonely. He wants to take care of you when your home, it's how he keeps your attention. He gets irritable if he's idle for too long. So you pick up a Klee model since he gets along so well with kids, and they're both models approved to used in classrooms. She's more then energetic enough to keep him busy, and they get along like bread and butter. Or a house on fire. You still have to buy second hand after all, and Klee came with some fixations. But thats nothing an equipped science bot can't handle, Albedo keeps her satisfied with science experiments. You buy another fire extinguisher just to be safe.

It isn't until you're fixing up a Albedo you got at a steal (free99) from the seller who gave you Albedo and Klee that you realize you've become somewhat of a hobbyist. This one will probably be your last permenant bot, considering his higher needs, but you've gotten quite good at fixing up quirky models. This Albedo reverted to his beta personality that had been left in some forgotten folder, and no one could quite get him to go back. But thats not your goal.

You patch some of the more... Aggressive tendancies and bugs, and leave the personality itself in tact. This gains you quite a bit of favour with your new companion, and he's quick to fall into your daily life. He exhibits some... Jealous habits with your original Albedo, picking on him and trying to one up him any chance he has. But thankfully Klee and the classroom is something they can both agree on, so it rarely extends past an (usually) innocent rivalry.

Sorry for the surprisingly long ask, but androids are one of my favorite tropes!! And Albedo (and his double) are one of my favorite characters... Please enjoy my ramblings

tw - unhealthy relationships, obsessive behavior, all albedos ini this scenario are extremely questionable.

dkljfdkdjksdjfksfsdjfsj i have not touched the sex doll au in a hot minute but i think albedo's 'beta' personality would probably have been developed and refined as an attempt to give one of the child-friend robots a bit of an edgier personality before immediately realizing that that's,,, just not a great idea and mellowing him down into our current and well-loved albedo. needless to say, when you get him in the same room as his replacement, he's less than pleased - as is your first albedo, your original companion, as he's intent on reminding you as often as he can. still, you're his precious master, and he's fond enough of klee, so he bares with the unwanted company, makes-nice with your first albedo droid, helps around your classroom, tries to prove that he can help you the way he's supposed to, too, even after the dozenth time you turn him down. you say you just doesn't feel right to sleep with the same android you bring to work everyday, but he has a feeling it might have something to do with the rip-off you keep so close to your side, the flawed copy who can't seem to go a minute without your attention. you refuse to believe him, but he swears that he's seen his copy drop that innocent mask, spare a smirk over your shoulder as you compliment him on another day of keeping your classroom relatively un-wrecked by grade-schoolers, slip into your room tonight after klee's powered down for the night. clearly, he's not the companion you deserve. clearly, teyvat made a few mistakes when they took his programming and butchered it.

and, while you might be too oblivious to see it, it's clear to him that your little family could do without a duplicate.

[stellar-skyy]

OLDER SIBLING HCS: MONDSTADT EDITION. (PART ONE) - Platonic Jean, Rosaria, Lisa, Sucrose, Eula & reader

i. SUMMARY: Mondstadt characters with a younger sibling. ii. CONTENT WARNINGS: Implied death in Rosaria's part, mentions of food/eating in Jean's part. iii. NOTES: Fluff, slight angst, gn!reader, they/them pronouns used, 2.4k words. iv. A/N: i actually read rosaria's and eula's backstory for this, and wow... give my girls a break. i wanted to include everyone in here, before realizing how long it would get, so here is a part one for mondstadt girls! stay tuned for the rest of the nations (and maybe tell me who you want to see next?)

JEAN

Okay let’s be honest, while Jean is an amazing big sister while she’s there, she is rarely… there.

It isn’t out of a wilful neglect, it’s rather that as the Acting Grand Master, her schedule is so tightly packed that she barely has time to breathe, let alone taking time off for personal reasons.

When she does manage to squeeze in room for you, it is usually a short slot of time between her usual tasks. Kaeya, noticing how desperate she was in rearranging her schedule to spend time with her sibling, did her the favour of crossing off some of her tasks and handing them away to other Knights.

(When she found out it was Kaeya who was messing with her schedule, she gave him a stern talking-to. She was secretly pleased that she got to spend more time with you… even if it meant chasing down some poor subordinates to make sure her jobs actually got done properly.)

Windrise is the first place that Jean likes to take you. If it’s a warm day out, she’ll pack a picnic and spread it underneath the shade of the trees. There, she’ll tell you stories; about Vennessa, about the origins of the Gunnhildr Clan, about her own adventures during her early years as a knight.

Sometimes she will reminisce with you about when you were a kid, clinging to her arm. She’ll tell you about how as soon as you learned to walk, you would follow her around like a little duckling, one tiny fist clutching the hem of her jacket. When you got a little older, you joined her in her preparation to become a proper noble, sitting beside her in etiquette lessons and observing from the sidelines during her knightly training. Even if the lessons were painfully dull, she’d always try and keep you entertained with little games to pass the time—or as much as she could without your mother staring in disapproval.

By the time she’s done with her stories, the day would have already almost finished.

It’s pleasant; peaceful in the way that one can’t grasp the flow of time until hours have past and the two of you are curled up on a picnic blanket under a sky full of stars.

She takes you for meals at Good Hunter too, letting you order whatever is on the menu. If there isn’t anything there to your liking (or if you’re just not feeling up for it that day) she is quick to whisk you home and cook you something herself.

It’s calming for her, when she’s able to direct all her focus into one manageable task like putting together a meal. She likes pizza best—a simple, delicious meal that she can put together with minimal effort and something she can easily share with her sibling.

When the day ends, and she must go home, she’ll give you a tight hug and kiss the top of your head, with a promise that you’ll spend the day together again soon.

ROSARIA

No. 1 protective sister right here.

Like, good luck to anyone who even thinks of hurting you. Their graves are already dug by the time they turn your way.

She made a promise, after all: no matter what happened, she would protect you.

It was first made when she was only a young girl, holding an even younger child in her arms. She brought you closer, squeezing her eyes shut and whispering the words into your hair. You were far too young to realise what the words truly meant, but you would come to learn their meaning as you got a little bit older and the remote village you both called home was massacred.

The bandits that took her in were apprehensive about the tiny child clinging to her leg. After all, it’s one thing to teach a little girl how to become a crook, let alone a literal toddler. But Rosaria refused to part with you, baring her teeth and yelling and screaming at anyone who even dared to suggest leaving you behind.

Your role was their errand person, mostly. While Rosaria made sure you were seen as the smaller and feebler of the pair, letting you drift away to the shadows of the crew, she also passed on everything she learned: lockpicking, thievery, and most importantly combat.

The bandits taught her how to fight, and she taught you. It was a compromise; keeping their contact with you minimal while also teaching you the skills you needed to survive in your new life.

(Even if you rarely got to use your newfound skills. Anyone who even tried to cause you trouble were swiftly taken care of by Rosaria.)

In her eyes she was doing you a favour; if you were treated as weak and insignificant, they would forget about you. And if they forgot about you, they were less likely to hurt you.

It was a blessing from Lord Barbatos himself when the group of bandits was taken down by the Knights of Favonius, and you were both swept away from the life of bloodshed and carnage that you had spent your entire childhood surrounded by. When you faced the Grand Master, you were considered young enough and inexperienced enough to be pardoned, while Rosaria began rehabilitation via the Church of Favonius.

These days, your lives are far less hectic than your youth.

During her free time (or rather the time spent slacking off on her duties) Rosaria slips away from the Church and sweeps you away for a day of bonding. If you need more clothes, she’ll drag you to every store in Mondstadt looking for something that fits you just right. It’s a sweet gesture, even if she brutally critiques your fashion choices. It’s out of love, I swear.

She also likes to just sit quietly with you, comfortably existing next to each other.  

Rosaria isn’t big on affection, but whenever she knows you won’t see each other for a long period of time, she’ll embrace you tightly and murmur a promise into your hair just like when you were kids.

“No matter what, no one will ever hurt you.”

LISA

When it comes to her loved ones, Lisa is a big fan of pet names, particularly the overly sappy ones.

Sweetheart, cutie, love—no matter who it is, anyone who is close to Lisa has probably been called at least one term of endearment in their life.

But while she has a variety of names for her favourite people, she has a habit of mentally assigning each person a different nickname that is exclusive for them.

Jean is her darling. The traveller is her cutie. Razor is her sweetie. You’re the only one to end up with two names.

There’s her most frequent one, dear.

“Oh, would you pass me that book, dear?”

If she’s feeling particularly affectionate, she’ll switch it to precious.

“(Name), my precious, are you feeling alright?”

Either way, there’s always a light teasing and subtle edge of fondness to her words when she talks to you.  

Good luck if you ever try going to her for romantic advice. She may give the most wonderful, effective guidance in the world, but it will be accompanied with heavy teasing and not-so-subtle prompts to divulge more details about your love life.

Even if you’re not interested in romance, she still finds ways to tease you.

Rest assured that despite her tormenting, she knows when to step back. She’s always been perceptive of other’s emotions, so as soon as she notices you getting upset at her words, she is already smoothly shifting the conversation to something more comfortable.

When you’re tired, she’ll let you take a nap in the library, either resting your head on your arms at her desk or curled up on one of the couches in the library. After chuckling at you (and making a mental note to tease you later about falling asleep so abruptly), she will fetch a blanket and tuck it over your shoulders.

Archons help anyone who even tries to wake you up. The library patrons learned to fear the wrath of the librarian a long time ago, and anyone who dares to disturb your peace will face the pain of Electro.

You become slightly feared in general, if only by being so closely affiliated with such an intimidating woman. If Lisa manages to get you to help track down some books, it only takes one threat of calling her to get the person to panic and hurriedly accept the late fee.

Lisa is thoroughly pleased with your work when you return, and might even treat you to some Sticky Honey Roast from Good Hunter if you’re lucky.

Overall, Lisa is a great sister. She adores her sibling more than anything, and that is what counts.

SUCROSE

Sucrose is such a sweet big sister!

She’s not the best at comforting others, but she is an amazing listener. Come to her with any of your worries, and she’ll nod along and consider your words carefully, only interrupting to suggest a solution to whatever is going on in your life.

She’s also willing to just give you a hug while you work through whatever emotions that you’re dealing with.

Speaking of which, Sucrose is a 10/10 hugger.

She will squeeze you just the right amount and rub circles into your back while she murmurs comforting words. Hugging her feels so safe and warm, like in her arms you’re sheltered from anything that could hurt you.

If you show even the slightest interest in her work, she will be thrilled. It only takes one question, a simple ‘what are you doing?’ to get her to vibrate with excitement and ask eagerly if you want to hear about her work.

She gets very rambly in her explanations but give her a little patience and she’ll go through her process, step by step. She’s more than willing to have you observe her experiments, and even participate in them if you’re confident enough to.

Sucrose is very insistent on you taking good care of yourself. She knows the detrimental effects a lack of sleep can have on a person’s health, so she makes sure you get a good rest every night, and lightly scolds you for staying up too late. On nights when you can’t sleep, she’ll make you a soothing cup of tea, and tell you stories to lull you into a slumber.

When you were younger, she would tell you all kinds of stories. With just her words, she could weave epic tales and colourful worlds, all from her own imagination. As she grew older and began her interest in alchemy, she strove to create a wonderland of her own, and make the fairy tales you loved become a reality.

Her research still has a long way to go, but rest assured she will keep going, to make your stories a reality.

EULA

Just like Rosaria, Eula is the sister who would not let anything happen to her sibling.

She won’t stand for anyone acting snobbishly towards you for your Lawrence heritage. When it comes to herself, she doesn’t care what others have to say about her. She accepted their distrust of her a long time ago, and their words do not affect her anymore.

But her sibling? Her precious, innocent baby sibling? Who has never done anything wrong in their entire life? Who doesn’t deserve a single one of the hostile remarks that they face simply for their lineage.

That simply will not slide.

She knows what it is like to be a social pariah—she was forced to become one ever since she was born into an aristocratic family—but she despises the fact that you have to go through the same thing. It only fuels her desire for vengeance, seeing someone who she knows is a good person being ostracised for no reason. She can’t help but wonder, ‘Why wasn’t I enough? If you must make someone your martyr, then why couldn’t you have settled with only hating me? Why do you have to drag another innocent person into it?’

She is well aware that her demeanour causes others to distrust her more, but at least it makes you look more palatable in comparison. Maybe if they do see her as the worst of you both, they’ll see you as a perfectly respectable person, rather than simply a Lawrence. Besides, she doesn’t owe anyone any kindness, not when none was shown to her.

Other than being a bit overprotective, Eula also adores teaching her sibling new things.

It started with bladework—an essential skill, as she called it. According to her, everyone should have at least one weapon they’re proficient in, and for you she chose swords. Catalysts were always too finicky for her, she’d never been fond of long-distance weapons like bows, and both claymores and polearms were too heavy for you at that age, so swords were the best option.

Soon enough, you were as skilled in Favonius Bladework as any knight. She was rather proud of how quickly you picked up the skill.

The one thing she is most enthusiastic for you to learn is dancing. I think if you asked her to teach you, she would have trouble hiding just how excited she is.

Despite having an open distaste for aristocratic traditions, the Dance of Sacrifice is one that she will always cherish. It is the one custom that feels close to her, and one that she only shares with the most important of people.

So of course she will share it with you.

Eula may act aloof and cold most of the time, but if you surprise her with a hug, she will simply melt. Physical affection (affection in general, actually) wasn’t given freely in your house growing up, so whenever she gets it, Eula doesn’t quite know how to react, other than embracing you back tightly.

(That privilege of being able to come that close to her without asking is strictly only tolerated by you. Anyone else, and she would have sworn vengeance ten times over.)

reblogs and comments are appreciated! ♡

[beloved-calypso]

・ ゜ ʚɞ ゜ ゜𝕳𝖔𝖜 𝖈𝖆𝖓 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖆𝖈𝖍𝖎𝖊𝖛𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖉 𝖇𝖊𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖞? ♡ ・ ゜ ʚɞ ゜ ゜‎♡‧₊˚✧ ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა ✧˚₊‧♡

♡ “𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝓎𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓉𝓎 𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓋𝒾𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈. ~ 𝒮𝓉𝑒𝓃𝒹𝒽𝒶𝓁" ♡

All pictures and gifs are not mine but belong to their original artists.♡

I. -> II. -> III.

ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴘᴀᴄ ꜰᴏᴄᴜꜱᴇꜱ ᴏɴ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴄʜɪᴇᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴅᴇꜱɪʀᴇᴅ ᴘʜʏꜱɪᴄᴀʟ ʙᴇᴀᴜᴛʏ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇꜱ ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʙᴇᴀᴜᴛʏ ʀᴏᴜᴛɪɴᴇ. ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ᴀᴘᴘʟʏ ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴀɴʏ ʀᴇᴀʟᴍꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴘʜʏꜱɪᴄᴀʟɪᴛʏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ꜱᴛʀᴜɢɢʟɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜ, ꜱᴜᴄʜ ᴀꜱ ʙᴏᴅʏ ᴡᴇɪɢʜᴛ, ᴅɪᴇᴛ, ꜰɪᴛɴᴇꜱꜱ, ꜱᴋɪɴ, ʜᴀɪʀ, ᴛᴇᴇᴛʜ, ᴇᴛᴄ. ♡ ɪ ᴀᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ ɴᴏʀ ᴅᴏ ɪ ᴄʟᴀɪᴍ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴍʏ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢꜱ ᴄᴀɴ ꜰɪx ᴡʜᴀᴛ���ᴠᴇʀ ᴘʜʏꜱɪᴄᴀʟ ᴀɪʟᴍᴇɴᴛꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ. ꜱᴇᴇᴋ ᴀ ᴘʀᴏꜰꜰᴇꜱꜱɪᴏɴᴀʟ ᴍᴇᴅɪᴄᴀʟ ᴘʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴛɪᴏɴᴇʀ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ.

~ XOXO 💋🎀

P.S ✨️Remember to check the collective message AND the poll at the end!✨️

⊰᯽⊱┈───✧

౿૮꒰ྀི collective message◞꒱ა

This is what I channeled. To all my readers, please know that beauty is an INVESTMENT. You must treat it as such! Things like smooth skin and weight loss typically take months to achieve. Be wary of miracle cures, overnight subliminals, or trendy products (even if they are said to be scientifically backed up). I know with subliminals the whole point is to have unfaltering belief, but don't put so much pressure on yourself to where all the time you're listening to subliminals and overloading your brain with them. Everybody's body is different. Everybody's journey of expression is different. Remember that your body loves and supports you. It's the vessel for which we navigate through life and we only have 1 for this current lifetime. I would say with any beauty routine moderation is key (think of the Temperance card). These types of things take just as much mental strength as physical to keep up with, so it's good to treat them with simplicity, not just in consideration for what you physically can do, but what mentally you can handle. ♡

౿૮꒰ྀི pile 1 ๑◞꒱ა

9 wands (rx), 5 of wands (rx), The Lovers (rx), 9 of Swords (rx)

So this pac was supposed to focus on improving your external beauty, but apparently spirit is saying that you need to focus on what's going on internally. The major reason why you haven't achieved your desired beauty results is because you're burnt out. You've overloaded yourself with so much information and recommendations on how to achieve your desired results through the internet (video tutorials, how-to guides, beauty forums, subliminals, product reviews, etc.) that you think you should have had your results by now, and that it's a punishment from the universe that you are stuck in your "ugly duckling phase". This has led you to being perpetually frustrated, underconfident, and jealous of those that fit your beauty ideals. The truth of the matter as to why you haven't seen much results is that you try too hard and you lack the motivation to commit to any of these self-improvement tools. You may have researched so much that now you're confused and intimidated by all the information with some ideas and opinions even overlapping or contradicting thotherser. You may have tried multiple things at once and expected that to accelerate your results. You may also be the type to buy a bunch of recommended products in bulk and so far nothing has been working. Spirit is saying that your body itself is confused and cannot adjust to all these routines you keep trying out. It's like you go through aup-and-downwn cycle: you try one routine for 2-3 weeks and if it doesn't work, you leave it, go through an inactive wallowing stage for the next 2 weeks, and start over with a new routine. Your body cannot support these constant switch-ups and exposure to new chemicals (yes, even 100% natural ingredients). They're taxing your body and you're not giving it the chance to properly process what you've put in/on it. Your body and mind are also in conflict; it's like you've detached yourself from it out of anger and resentment. I have to say it: self-love is VERY much needed here. The Lovers in reverse just emphasizes that you need to compromise your wants and desires with what your body is physically capable of doing. Be patient and gentle with it. A few weeks is not enough time for many products/actions to take effect. When they do, the effects are usually internal first before they show in the external. Your body needs consistency and simplicity. Spirit is saying you only need a few products and to stick to a strict routine for a few months. Extensive routines will do more damage than good. Regarding forming your routines, you need to create solid habits. Your main obstacle is you are impatient. Given for most of you, it's probably been years that you've been working on your body and confidence, but a few months seem little in comparison to those many painstaking years of trial and error. Another obstacle here is you worry excessively and tend to assume the worst. By not caring for your mental and spiritual well beiyou'reyour psyching yourself out from doing the groundwork that's needed to solidify your imaginings into reality. Your moods heavily affect your motivation which is essential in moving your results forward. Know that success is destined for you! You just need to take the long road and to simplify the things carrying you along the journey.

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧

౿૮꒰ྀི pile 2 ๑◞꒱ა

9 of Swords, Page of Pentacles, 3 of Pentacles, The Devil (rx), 2 of Swords

Pile 2 you also need hug! I can tell you are overly anxious and stressed out. I think self love is very much needed here as well. In order for you to improve your beauty routine, you need to get out of your toxic headspace and have faith in your ideas. I can see that you suffer from periods of anxiety and isolation. Maybe you avoid going out as much because of your insecurities. You have very low confidence and don't have much faith in your future. I think the main problem stopping you from getting your desired beauty results is low self esteem and an obssessive mentality. You are self sabatoging yourself from taking action. It's like your stuck in a cycle of rumination. Your scared of having to commit to one thing and if that one thing doesn't work out you have to tear down all of what you've built and start over. The process of dissapointment is one you try your hardest to avoid by doing...nothing. Could also be that you do too much but feel you never do enough. Either way, your in your head a lot about what you can do and you don't know how to navigate the wealth of information that's out there, but you are scared on who and what to trust. I think in order for you to get your desires, you first need to ground yourself, start believing that change is possible and you are not stuck in your circumstances. Beauty is an investment, and it's not so much as what you put on that matters as much as how often you do it. Spirit is saying take the time to formulate a plan and stick with it, make sure every moving piece correlates well together. You may be young and fairly new to making routines like this. Take your time and have patience, it's not a race, but you should start making these plans for the longterm future. It can't be something that you quit right after seeing results, these will be things that you will need to give consistent care and attention towards, just so you know how to care for your body and recognize the signs it gives you moving forward. You also need to detach the results from your mind. You need to think clearly and objectively, let the changes come to you and don't try to force it, because I'm getting that some of you will stress so much that your body will have bad physical reactions, like migraines, rashes, breakouts, food cravings, and more. I'm also getting the message that for some of you, ya'll need to go to the doctor (nutritionist, dermatologist, gynecologist, whatever). Everyone needs to visit a doctor if they can, but ya'll especially. I think you would do well to go to professionals and get expert advice rather than trust unknown sources on the web. Some of ya'll maybe even need coaching, like a trainer or life coach. There's a lot of confusion and doubt in this pile. I think a clear, defined path is what you need, so do please be open to seeking help from others. I do think you've been working hard on the spiritual front to manifest your results, but you are constantly being disheartened. I think ya'll need to fix yourselves mentally first because its inhibiting your motivation. For some of you, you have even formed obsessive attachments to your appearance and do things to feel "right" or stable. It's giving me OCD. It's even giving me Cassie from Euphoria's excessive beauty routine (look it up). Like in the TV, it appeared as if she was doing all those things for Nate's attention, but really she did it because it was her way of grounding herself and feeling in control. I think ya'll have an issue with feeling in control and may be prone to acting out of impulse, like buying unnecessary things out of desperation or just simply overinvesting your time and energy in the wrong things. For the others, you lose steam and don't actually do the things you need to do. Be more wise with your money and where your putting it, as well as your energy. Try not to over exert yourself or comit to a bunch of things at once. Your time and energy is precious, and your mental wellbeing comes before all.

(I had a headache while doing this reading, so sorry for the confusion. That 2 of Swords energy was strong, lol)

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧

౿૮꒰ྀི pile 3 ๑◞꒱ა

5 of wands, Page of Wands, Ace of Wands (rx), Judgement, The Tower

Oof, all this fire energy Pile 3. So I do sense that ya'll have problems with taking on too much. You have a lot of insecurities you want to tackle, for example, skin, weight, hair, teeth, etc. and you are trying to "fix" all those things at once. Maybe you are around people that make you feel insecure and you're in this unspoken competition with them on who's prettier. There maybe even family members or friends that speak out on your appearance ( I'm so sorry if this resonates) and make you feel insecure and like you have to work on yourself. I think you've been stretching yourself thin, searching for ways to constantly improve all the while you are already trying your hardest, and instead of achieving your desired looks your heading towards a total burn out. The Tower here is telling me loud and clear, you need to slow down and take a deep breath before you crash. What other people's opinions of you don't matter. Like at all. What matters is how comfortable you are in your own skin, and what makes you feel authentic and beautiful. I don't think you are even insecure or underconfident, but rather nitpicky, and those around you are making you so. I see that you're intentions in your beauty routines are either not genuine or are unnecessary, and are forced and uncomfortable. You don't feel motivated enough to keep doing them but you still do it anyway. It maybe compulsive, but you are taking on so much at a time that it's building frustration within. What you need to do to improve your beauty routine and improve your mental health is to do a serious self evaluation. Check that you are doing these things for the right reason and not because of outside influences. Check on whether these things make you feel confident or are downsizing you. Check if your overall happiness and wellbeing is in order, whether you've spent too much money or have invested so much into your routines you've neglected other aspects of your life. I don't think what you've been doing has been necessarily bad, but it is somewhat obssessive and it will eventually backfire if you don't lessen the burden. I think you've once enjoyed doing all these things in your routine; they were fun and kept you on your toes, but now you've fallen out of love with the whole monotony of them. I think you should take a break from your beauty routine, maybe just do the bare minimum if you can't afford to drop everything. Focus on one focal point at a time, like skin and hair, or body and skin, and make sure your setting boundaries and prioritizing your mental and emotional wellbeing. I think your body is currently feeling overloaded with all that your putting in/on it. You may feel low energy and because your neglecting sleep or not staying hydrated. Make sure your also doing these bare basics and not just whats in your itinerary as they can greatly hinder your results if not catered too. Consider changing the direction of your journey or take a momentary break.

⊰᯽⊱┈─── ✧

Put in the comments down below if you would like me to make PACs focusing on specific bodily insecurities, like a pac for how to improve your skincare routine, how can I achieve my desired dream body, and how can I improve my physical health, stuff like that!

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧

ᴀɴʏ ᴄʀɪᴛɪᴄɪꜱᴍꜱ ᴏʀ ꜰᴇᴇᴅʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴀʀᴇ ᴡᴇʟᴄᴏᴍᴇᴅ. ɪ'ᴍ ᴛᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ᴅɪʀᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙʟᴏɢ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀᴍ ᴏᴘᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ᴀɴʏ ᴏᴘɪɴɪᴏɴꜱ ᴀꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ɪ ᴄᴀɴ ɪᴍᴘʀᴏᴠᴇ ɪᴛ. ♡

ᴅɪꜱᴄʟᴀɪᴍᴇʀ

© lolita-bonita — Please do not plagiarize, translate, or repost any of my work on other social media platforms without my permission. This is the only platform that I post this type of content. If you see my work being posted anywhere else, please kindly report them to me. ♡

⊱┈───── ✧

✨️ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ɴᴏᴛᴇ: Tarot is not an exact science, nor can it produce information that is factually true. All things posted are alleged and for entertainment purposes only. The future is fluid, and what may happen is based on your choices and actions, not what I and a deck of cards say. You are still the creator of your future. ✨️

⊰᯽⊱┈───── ✧

[undiscovered-horizon]

Amendments II: The Panther and the Duckling - Kaz Brekker x Reader

[Part 1]

[vulgar language, canon-typical violence]

SUMMARY: The moment comes when Kaz gives you the opportunity to make amendments for the two thugs that started a fight at his club. He can only nod in appreciation at the mayhem you effortlessly cause.

WORDCOUNT: ~ 2.2k

[Grishaverse-inspired playlist]

Kaz didn’t quite know what to expect when walking towards your place. Would it be filled with riches? Or instead, kept plain and simple? How golden is the Golden Panther’s lair?

Despite having no expectations, he’s pretty surprised to see the interior of Albasten Vlam Casino. Creme and crimson furnishing along with gold chandeliers and brackets make the venue appear exclusive. A soft jazz tune carries through the venue, skilful hands of the pianist creating a neverending, atonal melody. The guests are also nothing short of lavish, losing in one game the same amount of money some citizens of Ketterdam earn in three months' time. It seems as though the entrance to the Albasten Vlam is a doorway into another realm, where poverty and disease are about as real as the boogeyman under a child’s bed.

Two Fjerdans, each roughly the size of a grange, eye Kaz suspiciously as he walks through the spacious halls. His common elegance looks almost offensive among the million-Kruge suits of the casino’s clientele. Even if he wasn’t a thief, the guards would still expect him to dabble in thievery - simply because of the way he looks compared to the other patrons.

Walking up short stairs and turning into backrooms and staff-only corridors, Kaz knows that he’s expected. Otherwise, why is no one stopping him? In fact, most of the employees don’t seem to pay him much mind.

The long hall decorated with statues and paintings ends in a two-wing pair of doors almost completely covered by the stocky bodies of bodyguards. One of them, covered in tattoos of Zemenian origin, laughs when Kaz approaches the door.

“Oi, boys!” the tattooed man yells to someone behind Kaz. He speaks with a heavy accent. “Would you look at this! Twee’y wans in.”

Kaz hears two sets of footsteps behind him. They’re not distinctively loud, those people aren’t carrying weapons.

“I came to speak with the Golden Panther,” Kaz states, unaffected.

“Like many did before ya and many will do after,” the guard answers. “Wha’eve’ ya have to say to me Boss, ya can say to me, Twee’y.”

“Very well,” Kaz says quietly. “I’m here to discuss the repayment of Panther’s debt for causing a fight in my club.”

The tattooed man gives his friend, who looks like his archenemy is the Sun, a meaningful look.  “Keep an eye on the lad, I’ll check in with Boss.” He goes to open the door but before he walks into your office, he makes sure to give Kaz the most annoyed expression a face can make.

A few minutes go by when no one makes a sound. The sickly pale guard barely blinks, keeping his watchful, grey eyes on Brekker. Whoever followed Kaz is still standing a few paces behind him, also remaining suspiciously quiet.

Kaz hates this feeling. He has to put his faith in your apparent reliability. Some people say that ‘there’s no honour among thieves’ and perhaps they’re right. But what honour could there be between a panther and a crow? Isn’t the only thing they can honour Mother Nature? The food chain?

Right when Kaz is about to give in to his fatalistic thoughts, the door opens once again and the tattooed man emerges from the room. His lips are kept in a thin line. The man appears to be dissatisfied with what he had learned but alas, there is nothing he can do about it.

“Today’s ya lucky day, Twee’y,” he speaks up, his voice bitter. “Pop in and behave yaself.”

Without another word, Kaz pushes past the tattooed guard and into the room.

Your office is furnished in a similar style as the rest of the casino: creme, crimson and gold. The first thing that Kaz notices, and pretty much anyone who walks in, is the taxidermied panther head hanging on the wall behind you. The motif of a panther is quite prevalent as the legs of your desk are also carved to resemble pouncing and roaring panthers.

Bright ringing chimes in his ears. He turns his head to the side only to notice a frail woman, if she is even old enough to be called that, typing away on a typewriter. Judging by the stack of papers next to her, she’s rewriting your letters and notes. Kaz makes a note of her clothing: the pigeon blue barely fits the interior design but the quality of the material and craftsmanship looks far too expensive for a typist. 

“Kaz Brekker in the fucking flesh,” you say aloud. His attention is once again focused on you. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to show up in person.”

“An opportunity has arisen for you to repay me.”

“Tell me.” Your voice sounds disinterested as you look back down at whatever document you are signing. Kaz puts his gloved hand on the back of the chair in front of your desk but you’re quick to shut him down. “Nah, don’t sit,” you say without looking up.

It’s all a gimmick, he thinks, but she has the means to uphold it. The skill and power to make it real.

For a moment he considered sitting down against your will simply out of spite but he’s heard enough stories to not get in your bad books just to prove a point. Golden Panther is a name even Pekka Rollins would say with fear in his voice. Kaz has seen the damage you’ve done to Pekka - damage that even his title of “The King of the Barell” can not repair.

“I’m planning a job and I need a distraction,” Kaz explains. “There’s a brewery in town. Belongs to a man known as Magnus Molders. Your job is to destroy his business, thus drawing the Stadwatch away from me and my Crows.”

With a devilish smile on your face, you look up from the document and set your pen aside. “And what did little Maggie-boy do to you, Dirtyhands?”

“That is none of your concern.”

You give him a knowing nod.

“So, kill two birds with one stone,” you sum up. “Practical, effective, sends a message. Solid 6 out of 10. Lacking in the finesse department.” Half-jokingly, you shake your head with an expression of disappointment.

“I’m not interested in your appraisal,” Kaz retorts. “Magnus Molders’s brewery in two days' time. That’s your assignment if you want your debt erased.”

A scoff flies past your lips. “I’m rude, not stupid, Brekker,” you drone your words. “I’ll be there. Stadwatch won’t even catch a sniff of you. Here, let me walk you out.”

You stand up from your desk, grabbing the cane with the panther's head leaning against it. Although Kaz doesn’t want to admit it, hiding a blade inside the cane is an idea that has been growing on him. Practical, effective, sends a message, he hears your voice in his thoughts. 

Kaz follows you out and is immediately met with an obvious change of behaviour in your employees. The guards suddenly stand uncomfortably straight, pushing their chests out. Now, Brekker can take a look at the two men who had followed him up to your office. They both look like chimney sweepers or shoe shiners, the type of lanky young men no one pays attention to in a crowd. People of this sort tend to be overlooked enough to listen in on any and every hot scoop or invited into people’s homes and no one ever checks whether they’re not helping themselves to the expensive belongings of the homeowners.

“I want Sorokin and Evander with me,” you order. “They started this shit and I will do my damn best to make sure they end this.”

“Yes, Boss,” the tattooed man hurriedly answers and bows his head slightly. He’s about to march away when you ask him one more thing:

 “And bring the Duckling.”

The tattooed man’s lips turn into a devilish grin. “Aye, Boss,” he drones the words.

“The Duckling?” Kaz repeats in a questioning manner.

“Oh, we wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise now, would we?” you answer in an irritatingly patronizing tone. “It’s very me.”

Explosions and mayhem? Kaz thinks to himself. But then he realizes it doesn’t quite matter - if this “Duckling” lives up to your known style of dealing with things, he’s going to get one hell of a distraction.

Magnus Molders rushes out of his brewery. He didn’t even have the time to button up his coat. The cold, rainy wind tugs at his thin shirt and dishevelled hair.

He gasps in surprise. His employee, a redhead boy with a lisp, told the truth: there’s the Golden Panther waiting for him on the circular driveway in front of the brewery. You’re leaning against the backdoor of the steel carriage, finishing a hand-rolled cigarette.

“I’d say ‘good morning’ but it’s more of a shitty noon, you know?” you speak up. With a flick of your fingers, you throw the finished smoke under the brewmaster’s shoes.

Nervous, Magnus clenches his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. His lips tighten into a thin, white line.

“What…” his voice trembles. Magnus clears his throat. “What do ya want, Panther?”

“A lot of things,” you answer. “But I don’t suppose you sell lavender cream puffs or pistachio croissants, do you?”

“No, I-” he hangs his voice when he sees you put your hand up.

“That was a rhetorical question,” you spit out.

“So,” he continues, “What brings ya here?”

You took a small step towards him. “At first, I wanted to talk to you. You know like proper adults. But then I remembered I don’t speak little bitch.”

Magnus clenches his jaw. His eyes begin to burn with anger, fear and humiliation. Like a wounded animal, he ounces when threatened.

“Yer mad, woman, is what ya are!” he screams. A few distant passers-by look towards him and you. They scurry away, sensing immediate danger. “I’ve no bad blood with ya. What’s all this for?!”

With a sad expression on your face, you shake your head disapprovingly. “Because you’re a cunt.”

You hit the steel door of the carriage with your fist, the banging ringing in your ears.

“Duckling?” Jesper repeats confused. Kaz only nods along, an absent expression on his face. “What in Hell is-...” he hangs his voice when he notices a metallic shine in the darkness of the steel carriage. “Oh. Oh, that’s proper mental.”

Without a warning, the massive Gatling gun hidden in the cab begins shooting. Bullets faster than blinking eyes pierce the air, thousands in a second, destroying the brewery. As you ordered before, Sorokin is the one aiming and firing, his whole body trembling from the recoil of the machine gun. Evander, the other man responsible for the fight, is holding the casings with the bullets and making sure the Gatling doesn’t seize up.

After barely a few minutes, although they felt like hours, the brewery building looks like one of the kerchen cheeses that have more holes than actual cheese. Magnus Molders is catching his raspy breath as he tries to stop the bleeding in his left arm. Most of his white shirt is crimson now. Blood is covering the circular driveway, red mixing with greyish rainwater in puddles only to turn into a black, thick liquid. It’s hard to say what happened to his employees back at the brewery but you couldn’t care less. “Bad place, bad time” as some people say.

The streets are awfully quiet but not for long: galloping horses are heard in the distance. A bell begins to ring feverishly. It’s the Stadwatch, always arriving when the party’s already over.

When Kaz gets back into his office in the late evening hours, he’s met with something he should have expected - you’re sitting in his chair, legs propped up on his desk. Although it’s supposed to come off as arrogant, he notices that you’ve stacked his papers, so that your shoes don’t actually damage them. Strangely nice for someone who has no qualms about shooting up a random brewery.

“What are you doing here?” he asks angrily.

You look at your pocket watch. “Took you long enough. I was beginning to think you’ve lost your way.” You take your legs off his desk and stand up. “I should probably ask whether you’re satisfied with my service but I find myself unable to care for your opinion.”

“Why’d you come here, then?” he retorts swiftly.

“Business etiquette, I guess?” You shrug. “Shake hands, erase the red from the ledger and go our separate ways, admiring each other’s achievements from a safe distance.”

Kaz slightly squints his eyes. By the way he’s clenching his jaw, you can tell he’s angry. He does accept your handshake but keeps the courtesy short and stern. Professional, one might say.

“And yet I feel compelled to give you my appraisal." His tone is intense, filled with violent emotions kept under control with the last bits of his self-control. "You’re like a fly that keeps buzzing but keeps escaping the swat. Infuriating.”

A humourless chuckle erupts in your throat. “You might want to check that with the board of directors.” Before he has any time to react, you pat his thigh, indecently close to his groin, before walking past him and out of the room. At first, he’s angry, blood boiling in his veins and begging him to put you in your place, demand respect in the only way people like you and him understand. But then Kaz grows strangely bashful as he realises that there might be some truth in your words.

___

Guys, I promise I'm not actually dead T_T Been writing original stuff and binging The Mortal Instruments (the Netflix show is so bad it's actually fun...?)

Tagging people who were interested in part 2: @queenkalico @kplatzman @sunset-kisses-vibes @zeeader

[locke-esque-monster]

There's a part of me that wants to think that House MD is a spiritual successor to Mash (which is a whole separate post). It's fascinating to me because outside of one brief reference in the early seasons to Trapper John, and the whole similar "POV of the patient" episodes, there aren't really any references to Mash within House. And frankly, I'm surprised their aren't unless it was deliberate on the part of the creators. But I honestly prefer to believe Greg House within the confines of the show itself is actually an old Mash fan.

Picture it with me, will you...

A young 13 year old Gregory getting obsessed with the show. In part because it's anti-military and anti-authority sentiment pisses off his dad. But he also loves it's mix of drama, goofiness, and quick-witted banter.

He mostly gets to keep watching it because his Mom also likes it, it reminds her of the quick banter of old screwball comedies of her youth.

Sixteen year old Greg being torn between appreciating the accurate harsh reality of killing off Henry Blake, and the fact he wants to write angry letters to the studio on behalf of his mom because the episode made her cry.

Do you remember in Sherlock (2010) how Mycroft brought up that Sherlock had the mind of a great thinker, but chose to be a detective? And his original hope was to be a pirate? I think of that when I think of how Greg became a doctor. He was never going to be the empathetic doctors he saw on Mash, but the show did infuse an interest in medicine he never quite shook.

Imagine Greg at 24, exhausted from med school and a little choked up watching the finale of a show he's spent half his life watching.

Greg starting our his doctor's career with a hatred of doctor's coats like Hawkeye hated uniforms. He knows it's a cliché for doctors of this era to love Mash so it's his own dirty little secret. The thought of wearing a Hawaiian shirt one day has crossed his mind, but is ultimately rejected because it's not worth the teasing, or really his style.

Greg brings his love of banter and hatred of authority right into his work environment. He also has had no problem mixing the bleak with a sense of humor, maybe a residual effect of so many episodes of Mash.

He also maybe took Henry's season 1 speech about doctors not being able to save young men from dying maybe a bit too seriously, and that mixed with his own cynicism has helped inform his distance from his patients.

House meeting Cuddy and him taking great joy from their Margaret/Hawkeye "pushing back against authority but also kind of flirting" . He knows it'll never work, but damn if it isn't fun. It's fantasy straight out of his teenage years.

His ducklings (Cameron, Foreman, Chase) are his other assorted characters of the camp to bounce off of - the Radars, Klingers, and whatnot. He'll run circles around them verbally, but they have the potential to surprise him with a good idea or a clever comment.

When he met Wilson, it was like meeting his own tentmate in the Swamp. He maybe envisioned a little of having their own Swamp when he convinced Cuddy to move Wilson in next door. He was always sure Wilson was his BJ, with his commitment to his wives - even if maybe he went through them like Trapper did with nurses. But when Wilson left after Amber's death, he wondered if Wilson was maybe really his Trapper all along and his BJ didn't exist. When Wilson came back, House immediately thought back to BJ coming back to Hawkeye in the finale.

Wilson is the only one, other than his mother, who knows of his secret love of Mash. Wilson is also fond of it (he maybe internalized Hawkeye's commitment to his patients). And he sees a bit of Hawkeye in House's sense of humor. They occasionally watch it together and will makes jokes about it when the team or Cuddy aren't around. That said, Wilson has to convince House every so often that "No, we're not building our own still."

[mmelionsblog]

ᴄᴜᴅᴅʟᴇꜱ [lucifer x reader]

your eyes squint with water in them, your breathing stuttering instead of having a nice cool flow. you were staggering your way back to charlie’s brand new hazbin hotel, and all you wanted to do when you got back there was flop into your nice big made clean bed. everyone you knew in that hotel knew that you were the shiny, happy go to, amazing friend whenever they needed a friend like you instead of charlie— whom they all love of course, just a bit too much sometimes.

as soon as you opened the doors to the hotel, you heard your friends making chaos somewhere. your eyebrows twitched with all the screaming, your headache only getting worse as seconds go by.

“why, someone doesn’t have a smile on for once!” alastor popped up from behind you, making you trip on your untied shoe. glaring at him from the floor, you spoke “as much as i love you alastor, i just need space away from everyone right now. please— could you be a doll and distract them till i get into my room?” you asked him.

alastor’s smile twitched a bit, but he hummed in agreement. “as you wish, my dear.” he patted your head and disappeared to wherever your darling friends where. as soon as you got into the elevator, you laid yourself on the wall and closed your eyes for a good minute.

-

“where’d you go alastor?” vaggie asked, her eyebrowed raised when she saw the familiar red man. “just to greet the guest that came in,” he sang out. charlie’s smile beamed, “WE HAVE A GUEST? YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?”

alastor chuckled at her reaction, “no. we know this guest. our old dear apple just came back from her other- 9 to 5 job.” he spoke. lucifer perked up at the mention of his new girl, “my ducklings home?” alastor nodded.

“she’s home, but i’m assuming she had a rough day. she was definitely not herself when i spooked her from behind.” lucifer bit his lip, “thanks for informing me!” he poofed, leaving red clouds from where he was last seen. “oh i should’ve informed him our sweetest girl doesn’t want to be seen.” the redhead tch’d, “oh well. he’ll learn soon enough.”

-

your make up is a disaster, ruining your perfect white pillow as you were on a call with the one and only beetlejuice who was yapping his ass off that he found a new girl he could haunt with, what was her name? lydia? yeah.. “b.j, i’m— im really not in the mood right now.” beetlejuice’s eyes widen when he saw a familiar king of hell behind her, “oh shit! erm, yo are you banging the king of hell or what?!” his raspy voice screamed, he hurriedly hung up the phone and you groaned.

“i told alastor to keep all of you away for at least a day!” you screamed, your original hair was now flying with orange and red fire around it, your eyes blaring red to the person who was standing at the foot of your bed. your eyes realized it was lucifer, who you wouldn’t mind being comforted by. “oh im sorry luci, didn’t know it was you.” you calmed down after a bit, your hand caressing his cheek. “it’s ok my duckling, what’s got you such in a- mood today?” he asked nervously. “this stupid… UGH so you know how i work for rosie right?”

-

“looks like lucifer learned!” alastor chuckled, while the others were petrified from your scream.

-

“STUPID SUSAN! god i know rosie and alastor warned me about her but SHIT, she fucking needs to learn where she fucking belongs!” you screeched, “want me to put her in her place?” lucifer grinned out, you nodded your head no. “no it’s fine, just one stupid ass cannibal i can get rid of myself.” you hummed. “can we just- can we just cuddle please?” you whined.

he nodded, “anything for my cher.” he whispered. he crawled into bed with you after taking his shoes off and everything else off, climbing into your soft yet hard bed. he wrapped his arms around your waist, snuggling close to you and placing his head in between your chest.

“you’re so warm,” he mumbled, you giggled, his breathing hitting your exposed chest made it tickle. “yeah?” you asked with a smile. “mm, yeah you are.” he kissed the expose skin he saw, looking back up to you with puppy doll eyes.

“i’m sorry you had a shit day, mon amour. if you ever need anything you know i’m here for you,” he kissed your lips, your eyes closing softly when he did so. “i know luci,” you mumbled, your arms wrapping tightly around him and soon enough falling asleep with him on you.

-

a/n:

might be my only hazbin hotel fic, i dunno, i don’t really know how to write into their characters that much but i wanted a cuddle fic with lucifer so here we are! :)

[mira-likes]

Anyway, thoughts now that I’ve finished the season

- really wondering why the emperor chose to reveal the fact that Fan Xian is his son, and do it at this specific time. What does he gain by it? (The novel spoilers could probably tell me, but I’m avoiding all of those.)

- I needed to see everyone’s reactions to the parentage reveal and there were hardly any from the imperial family!! Except from the Princess Royal, whose reaction I cared about a lot less than the Second Prince’s! But he didn’t get to have a proper reaction of his own because his feelings took a backseat to hers. But he had to have so many feelings!!! You can’t tell me that this little gremlin who’s been obsessed with Fan Xian didn’t feel a lot of emotions upon finding out that they’re brothers!

- though I guess for him murder (attempted) is an emotion

- the Crown Prince got even less of a reaction—we see him after the fact. But what did he think!!! I know what he told his mom in that chilling conversation, but what does he actually feel!!

- also the Crown Prince never resembled his father more than during that convo with his mom. My god. She’s telling him her traumatic backstory and his reaction to this is like, wow, yeah this is hella difficult for me politically. I think it’ll be fine though if you beg an apology from the guy you just said you wanted super dead. Oh, was I insensitive? Sorry. Here are some tears. (He’s looking forward to the time when he won’t have to pretend to cry or care anymore.)

- even the First Prince’s reaction would be interesting. This troublesome kid he met is his brother. Does he even care? Then again, he seems to have checked out of the family entirely, minus his affection for the Third Prince. But he looks at the Second Prince and the Crown Prince like he’s internally dreaming about being as far away from them as possible at all times. He’s so “not my zoo, not my monkeys” with them, he doesn’t even care when Fan Xian maybe poisons the Second Prince. What’s another brother to this, especially one embroiled to the neck in political struggles? Maybe he views Fan Xian, the Second Prince and the Crown Prince as enrichment in each other’s enclosure

- the Third Prince so doesn’t get what’s happening, I’m not sure he even actually understands that Fan Xian is his brother. I think he has long been schooled by the First Prince to keep away from all political struggles, and also that knowing as little as possible is a great virtue. But now he’s a duckling who’s following Fan Xian, who’s likely to instil different if also useful lessons

- also Fan Xian may say what he likes about the Fan ancestral hall, but I’m pretty sure the emperor will have Thoughts about it. Because we’re circling back to the original point—the emperor revealed Fan Xian’s identity for a reason. I don’t think Fan Xian slinking away and saying, “hehe, nothing to see here, just an ordinary law-abiding Fan son,” is going to cut it.

- (if not for that, I could’ve seen the emperor being content that his secret kid is running the Imperial Treasury and the Inspection Bureau, and so both these powerful assets effectively are in his descendants’ possession. Others would’ve thought he’d given them away, but mwahaha little do they know he’s kept them in the family. And he could’ve let Fan Xian stay an uncontested Fan if that were his goal. But why drag his identity into the light? What is he hoping to achieve?)

[satelliterayne]

Eddie is so ‘dad shaped’ as May likes to remind him and he denies it until the day that Hen leaves the station and they have a new probie and the new kid starts and she’s barely 21 and graduated from highschool a year early and has a degree in conservation and biology of all things and Eddie looks at her and immediately picks up on the small rainbow tattooed on her hand. He’s spent 30 years of his life repressed, sue him if he likes knowing that the generations after him are safer to be out and proud about it. He also can see that shes anxiously pulling her long sleeves down as if to cover it and so he goes over and shows her his home screen which is of course him and Buck and Chris at LA pride last year and the watery smile she gives him makes it worth it when he notices at lunch that her sleeves are pulled up to her elbows. After that it just accidentally becomes a ThingTM anytime someone enters the firehouse thats even a little bit gay Eddie just… adopts them (Ravi insists he was the first queer that Eddie adopted but Buck maintains that its just misplaced Stockholm syndrome from when Eddie saved Ravi from a chainsaw wielding Buck). He doesn’t do it on purpose, he just aches sometimes, imagining them coming into the firehouse and not knowing for sure if they will be accepted or just tolerated.

Jay comes into the firehouse just after Cora and they immediately gravitate towards Eddie, soon his weekends off are filled with wine nights at Karen and Hen’s that have grown to include Cora and her girlfriend and Jay complaining about their crush on Dylan who works at the 136 with Lena and then May starts coming and then it just spirals from there. There is a groupchat used to coordinate babysitting for date nights and wine nights and memes. so so so many memes.(Eddie is out of his comfort zone and why the fuck does Cora keep sending raccoon memes that are mildly concerning) 

Jay’s little brother who’s Christophers age hangs out at the firehouse to do his homework ONE TIME and Eddie learns that Jay was “asked to find another place to live” after coming out and that their little brother followed after announcing he was bisexual. Eddie aches for them and on his next 48 off he ropes Buck into making dinner and he invites Jay and Blake over for a family dinner and pretends to not notice when Jay thanks Buck for their first real homecooked meal in years, from that day forward there is a standing invitation for the siblings and Buck teaches them both how to cook.  Cora ends up spending the night on his couch after her first real fight with her girlfriend, he wakes up the following morning to the sound of Chris practicing his speech for his sophomore AP english class and Cora listening so intently and giving such good pointers that it makes Eddie joke about her being the big sister Chris has always wanted before pulling her into a hug before she leaves (he also ends up officiating her wedding and cries. Buck has proof). May comes over before she introduces her girlfriend to Athena and Bobby for the first time and Ravi just comes over whenever he wants to complain about how gay panic inducing it is for hot guys to live in his apartment complex and work out at the same time as him. 

Eddie has moved on from being nicknamed 8-pack and is now dubbed mother duck because “Eddie you adopted us like fucked up trauma ducklings and now we follow you around” said by a very deadpan Jay. (Eddie does NOT cry when Chris and Blake go to senior prom together.) Even farther into the future, when he becomes captain of the 118 he prides himself on having the queerest shift in the LAFD, he keeps a pride flag in his office, next a framed picture of him and Buck on their wedding day, Chris and Blake’s wedding invitations and 7 rubber ducks, all signed by his original crew of adopted ducklings.

Idk man I just really need to see Eddie cope with Chris growing up by adopting traumatized queer firefighters on accident. 

[iwanttobeliv]

Yo soy Betty, la fea (Now and then)

Man, I’ve been meaning to write something ever since I finished watching the very first episode of Betty la fea, la historia continua but there were too many thoughts and feelings and too little coherence to make it happen, and yet, here I am trying it anyway.

Even in Brazil, a country that culturally embraces telenovelas, every now and then when I said Betty, a feia was my favorite, people would look at me funny. And it’s kind of difficult to explain or make people understand that there is just so much more behind Betty’s fringe, braces, and very peculiar laughter. Yes, Armando did yell a lot. And there were perhaps too many episodes focused on Sofia and Efrain's drama or those final ones with Inesita’s ex-husband, and when I managed to rewatch the whole thing, boy was I glad to be able to fast-forward these parts. Some of the sets, like Betty’s room were very clearly low-budget and full of strange choices that I could never quite figure out, and yet, none of this really mattered because the writing was phenomenal. The characters were engaging. The actors were brilliant. And the love story, that was just the best.

So I watched and rewatched. I managed to come across friends who were happy to talk about it and dissect all the things that made it work so well, and so subtle is the distinction that despite the many many adaptations worldwide, to me, none have ever been better than the original Betty.

When Betty was first aired in Brazil, I was about 15 and I can’t begin to explain how seeing a young woman who never belonged anywhere due to her looks resonated with me. Someone who was made fun of for being different and used a sense of humor to keep going. Someone who had hopes and dreams and felt none of them were within reach. And someone who managed to survive all the terrible things life would throw her way in pursuit of her happy ending.

And I guess this feels like something that needs to be said first.

As far as I'm concerned, what makes Betty so fundamentally brilliant is the fact that in YSBLF, when it comes to the love story, the guy falls in love with her being exactly who she is. No more or less. There are so many stories about the ugly duckling who manages to be seen after becoming a swan, and yet there it was, a story that showed that the duckling didn’t have to be anything else to be deserving of love and happiness.

Watching her we went through all ranges of emotion. I remember closing my eyes as I tried to watch her going through her first ‘transformation’ and the disaster it was. I remember feeling joy for her, for having such a good friend in Nicolas and such loving parents. I remember watching Armando as he was, having his feelings change little by little, all while she became an essential part of his life and work. And then, watching expectantly as we had to go through the awful plan he and Mario came up with and all the repercussions that would come of it. I remember thinking that JEA had to be a pretty great actor and that Armando had to be very well-written otherwise it would be impossible to feel anything but disgust for him and what he did. And then watching him fall for Betty utterly and completely. I remember sharing her fury and thirst for revenge when she found the letter. And then drinking up on every interaction between the two of them, knowing what she knew and waiting for the bomb to go off. And then to watch Armando go through hell and lose everything that meant something to him, and Betty trying to pick up the pieces of herself and survive the worst of times. And finally her triumphal return and what would soon enough lead her to a happy ending.

Last year, when we got the news of the remake and the OG was made available on streaming, I watched it once again and felt all those things all over again. But now, almost two decades later, with a very different understanding. I still loved every minute of it, but there were things I would have liked to be different.

Like many soaps, as soon as the main couple manages to patch things up it’s a quick jump to the expected happy ending, and while I fully expected Betty to get one, I couldn’t help but wonder, how a relationship could ever work after such a thing. Sure we knew Armando’s feelings were real and there, and all of that way before Betty, the ugly was made beautiful. But she didn’t. How could she truly forgive and trust someone who managed to betray her trust and make her go through hell as a result of deliberate actions? I would have liked to see more of it. It’s the one thing I don’t particularly enjoy in so many love stories and most soaps. How they are always in such a hurry to end the story as if by being together there was nothing else to be told about these characters and their relationship. Oh the potential wasted by their need of getting to the wedding and a baby on the finish line.

And then, much to my surprise, they decide that there’s more to tell. That the story didn’t have to finish there. [Yes, I’m aware of ‘Ecomoda’ just as I’m aware of the universal consent that it never managed to do justice to the characters we loved and cared for. Which is why, I think, the sequel now also made the choice of ignoring it.]

So now I’ve watched the first four episodes. And I have thoughts I would very much like to share and discuss. Things that I don’t particularly like, but understand. Things I wish had been done differently. Things I absolutely love. But this post feels already much too long. For now, I just want to say, I never expected the sequel to be perfect or to perfectly preserve what the OG managed to perform. But I’m genuinely happy we get to see Betty again. And to be able to laugh and cry with her, with all of them. 

It takes me back and it fills me with expectation for what’s yet to come.

Is it Friday yet?

[youredreamingofroo]

εїз Stardew Valley Profile εїз ʚ- Roo Norman -ɞ

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Made by : @bigeyedkitteh ( Profile maker ) Portraits from : Slightly Edited Portraits by Poltergeister Duck and Chicken icons from : Elle's Cuter Coop Animals by Elle/Uploaded by junimods

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(Just a fair warning, this got a LOTTTT longer than I expected it to 😭)

Because I got a little too invested in this, I'm gonna lengthily elaborate on most parts of the profile, enjoy :)

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Pequeño and Gräddkanna/Grädde

Pequeño is a 3 year old Mallard Duck. As a duckling, Pequeño lived with Marnie on her Ranch for a couple of weeks, Marnie was convinced he wouldn't live to see the next week, at this point, as he was scrawny and very obviously a runt compared to the rest of brood. In this same week, Roo was looking for another feathery friend to occupy his space with him and ended up visiting Marnie, and upon seeing the scrawny duckling, he asked Marnie if he could take him in, she warned him, but he was persistent- He left that Ranch with a duckling who could barely hold his own. It's taken three years of strenuous work to keep Pequeño well, but Roo didn't give up and now, at three years old, Pequeño is alive and, although he struggles from time to time, he is well and very happy. Roo calls him Pequeño because it means little, and Pequeño is a very little duck- Pequeño is also one of the only words Roo knows in Spanish. (Pequeño is also a reference to a tame I had in ARK LMAO)

Gräddkanna, or Grädde, is a 6 year old Cream colored Silkie Chicken. Roo has had Grädde for 4 years, like Pequeño, She was taken in from Marnie, although Grädde was in much better condition than Pequeño upon being adopted. Roo never considered himself to be a bird lover, and especially never considered himself to be a bird owner, but it was like love at first sight when he saw Grädde meandering Marnie's Ranch- So Roo began indirectly asking Marnie if Grädde (or Mila, as Marnie had originally named her) was available to buy, she said that Mila/Grädde was there to stay on her Ranch, but it was the saddened look in his eyes when he was exiting that had Marnie begin to reconsider her choice, and Roo left her place empty-handed. A week later, Marnie showed up at Roo's door, early in the morning with a Silkie chicken being cuddled in her arms, she knocked and was met with a rather grumpy Roo, however he lightened up when he saw Mila in Marnie's arms, She offered him Mila for a low price (15 dollars), while she was willing to give up Mila, she wasn't going to give up Mila for nothing- He happily paid Marnie and took Mila, now Grädde, in his arms. Grädde co-parented with Roo to raise Pequeño, Grädde was very happy and eager to take Pequeño under her wing (pun intended), and so she did. Grädde and Pequeño are now best friends and sometimes you'll see Pequeño hitching a ride on Grädde's back, this is more commonly seen when Roo is wandering the town and he isn't actively carrying Pequeño, he [Pequeño] does this mainly because he is too weak to walk for long and has to rest, and Grädde is just strong enough to carry around Pequeño for a moderate amount of time. Gräddkanna means Creamer and Grädde means Cream in Swedish, Roo named/nicknamed her that because of her Cream feathers and because the texture of her feathers reminds Roo of Cream.

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Roo Facts 1-5

- ♪ "Tends to wander town with Grädde and Pequeño" Roo loves his birds, and equally loves wandering as much as he does his birds, so during the day (during any season except Summer), you'll often find Roo wandering about in town or in the forest with Grädde and Pequeño, there's a couple different wandering variations, the most common being him carrying Pequeño with Grädde following suit, an uncommon variant will be of, as mentioned earlier, Pequeño on Grädde's back, and a rarer variant that will only occur later on during your playthrough (around year 2, and progressively becomes more common beyond year 2), is of Roo with only Grädde or Pequeño, this is due to Pequeño's condition and age and Grädde's age, Roo will only carry one of his two birds, as the birds age, Grädde becomes weaker and unable to walk as much and unable to carry Pequeño as long as she used to. As for Pequeño, he is unable to stay out for long at this point, meaning Roo has to leave him at home so he can stay warm, leaving Roo to carry Grädde around town (and vice versa, depending on how Grädde is doing). Another rare variant that only occurs VERY late in the playthrough (around year 4-5+, becomes more common in later years beyond year 6) is of Roo by himself- as mentioned, his birds are old at this point, and around year 4-6, they are too old to be able to even travel with Roo, this variant contains the least amount of dialogue lines from Roo and is the variant where most times, you will not be able to talk to him, due to him being sad about not having his birds (I did not want to include pet death in his story, so Roo's birds do live, however any year after year 6-8 will only include his last wandering variant)

- ♪ "He hates Summer, so most of his summer schedule is spent in his home" It's as the fact states, Roo hates the Summer and thus doesn't leave his home much for most of the day. You're more likely to see him wander around around sunset, as it's cooler and isn't nighttime where his birds won't get lost. Due to this, it is significantly harder to befriend and/or romance Roo during this season- it's still possible, just a bit frustrating/difficult to do so. To get a brief/broader look at his schedule during the summer, here's a time chart of his weekly summer schedule:

Mon-Thurs, Sat : [ 9:00 AM: Waking up [ 10:00 AM: Tending to his birds [ 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Hanging out around his home with his birds, awaiting sunset [ 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM: Nap [ 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM: Town wandering with his birds (or without, depending on the year)

Fri : [ 10:00 AM: Waking up [ 11:00 AM: Tending to his birds [ 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Cleaning house [ 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM: Nap [ 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM: Town wandering with his birds (or without, depending on the year)

Sun : [ 11:00 AM: Waking up [ 12:00 PM: Tending to his birds [ 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM: More house cleaning [ 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM: Hanging out around his home with his birds, awaiting sunset [ 5:00 - 5:30 PM: Nap [ 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM: Town wandering with his birds (or without, depending on the year)

- ♪ "Used to date Leo until he [Leo] moved to Zuzu City" Leo and Roo briefly dated/were friends with benefits (it was complicated), Leo was new to Pelican Town, and it didn't take long for him and Roo to hit it off, however, Leo did not fancy the small farm/town life, and left a couple of months later for Zuzu city, officially cutting it off with Roo. This took place before Roo got his birds and when he was also new to Pelican Town (albeit, not as new as Leo)

- ♪ "He resides in Cindersap Forest" Roo technically lives in Cindersap Forest, he lives in the forest gap between Cindersap Forest/Marnie's Ranch and 1 Willow Lane (Sam's house), i'm sure ya'll know what I mean, but here's where he is on the map (for all my visualizer homies out there):

Roo's home is unavailable during the very beginning of a playthrough, and you cannot meet him properly until the Flower Dance. It IS possible to meet him during the Egg Festival, however he is off to the side somewhere beyond the bar, over by Dusty- At this point, Roo won't really talk to you, and will only say "Hello." before going back to watching the festival from afar, this will not count as meeting him. Going back to the Flower Dance, he is found standing awkwardly off to the side by Elliott and Leah, you can talk to him, and he'll, like before, say "Hello." and this will count as meeting him, and you will see him around town from here on out. After meeting Roo, two new areas will be introduced, when going between Cindersap and Pelican town, you will instead go to a small threeway intersection instead of going directly to and fro- going upwards will take you to another small area which is where Roo's home is. I don't have an exact image of what his home looks like right now, but just know it does have a little fenced off area for his birds, and the inside of his home is pretty duck/chicken-proofed. Roo's home cannot be entered until you get 2 hearts with him, and after reaching 2 hearts and entering his home, you will have to further your relationship with him (4 hearts) to be able to enter his bedroom.

- ♪ "Roo rarely visits Calico Desert, but when he does, him and Sandy chat up a storm" Perhaps one of the biggest surprise facts LMAO Him and Sandy are really good friends, unfortunately he doesn't visit a lot cause he hates the warmth of the Desert, but he does occasionally visit her, and their vibes actually compliment each other well and they like to chat and even sometimes gossip between each other (although Roo doesn't like to gossip a lot so it's moreso them just chatting).

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Favorite Thing

I just wanted to briefly elaborate on this one, but it's kind of two things (ofc I couldn't put two), Leo is his favorite thing/person, but since Leo has left and since Roo has... mostly... moved on, Roo's new favorite "thing" is Elliott, he's absolutely enamored with him. (It seems Roo's growing type is long hair...)

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Favorite Villagers

His absolute favorite villager is Elliott, he could marry Elliott if he could, and while Elliott does like him back, Elliott has established that he doesn't want to take their relationship further. Following Elliott (in order of most liked to least), is Sebastian, they both share a very familiar emo/grunge-y vibe... Next is Sandy, who I've talked about- Then it's Alex, who's kind of a guilty-like/crush, Roo doesn't really like some of Alex's ideals/outlooks, but he can't help but catch himself admiring Alex's face when he's near- and lastly is Harvey, Roo thinks Harvey is cute and they're good friends, but Roo is a little weirded out by the fact that Harvey's name is... well, Harvey- If you know Roo lore, you'll know that Roo's birthname is Harvey and thus why Roo getting with Harvey would be a little strange. Saying Roo doesn't like any of the aforementioned villagers isn't right, he loves all his friends (and Elliott a little moreso), however there are a couple of villagers he doesn't like... 👀

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Other Random Facts

★ Roo and Elliott, ironically enough, have the same birthday hehe

★ While Roo is romancable, his sexuality is still in place, and is the only villager/character who is only romancable to male villagers/characters/farmers. If a female character tries to romance Roo (Asking him to the flower dance, Bouquet... etc), He will reject them and their advances, you'll lose a heart with him initially and if you try again a second time, you'll lose 2 hearts and if you REALLY just cannot give it up and try again, you'll lose all your hearts with him and all his dialogue with the farmer will change (basically being distant), you can regain hearts with him, but it takes twice as long and if you do end up trying again for a FOURTH TIME, he'll reject you and will become incredibly distant to the farmer, and you will not be able to regain hearts with him.

★ Most of Roo's disliked items are items that can only be acquired during the Summer (Spice berry, Hops, etc), which goes hand in hand with his general dislike for Summer altogether- While most of his liked items are catered towards Fall items (Fairy Rose, Wild Plum, Plum Jam, etc). Even though his likes/dislikes are catered toward preferred seasons, he also has separate reasons for liking/not liking those things (not liking Hops because he doesn't like beer / liking Fairy rose because of the color)

[justworthlessreblogs]

Unironically here for the tangled au I want to eat it

and so you shall feast. you have no idea how long i've been keeping this in i've wanted to talk about it so bad (it was originally gonna be a surprise fic while u all waited for finale. i thought it was gonna be 5k. it was not 5k.)

i call it the riopunzel au because rio's the rapunzel in this au. and yes he has the 70 feet of hair

why is rio rapunzel, you ask? because noir is the perfect fit for gothel. also riopunzel is a really funny pun. the pun is literally the reason this au exists in the first place. i was falling asleep one night and my brain went "hey you know what an au where rio was rapunzel would be called? riopunzel" and i went "oh my god. i have to write this down" and the rest is history

this makes ciel flynn, of course! kirarin is her real name. she's the princess of the kingdom of ichigoyama, but is currently on the run because she may or may not have stolen a certain crown

the reason she stole the crown is because she's looking for her twin brother who was kidnapped shortly after they were born. she's got this grand fantasy in her head of finally finding him and presenting him with the crown (it's her brother's. she has a matching one) and then they can all live happily ever after. mom said no we are absolutely not doing that that's too dangerous so she went Fine I'll Do It Myself and ran off. absolutely nothing is going to go wrong with this plan at all

to be fair the crown is technically her property anyways

their mom is lumiere. she's the queen, ofc. and no noir is NOT the father we are noirlumi haters in this household. i have no idea who the dad is there aren't really any canon characters i could use and i also don't want to invent an oc. so there's no dad in the picture

lumiere is understandably very protective of kirarin after losing her son, which is part of why kirarin runs off

yukari is the horse except not a horse. she's co-captain of the royal guard. lumiere sent her to track down kirarin and drag her back

akira is yukari's wife and the other co-captain. she's more of a background character but she does show up very briefly

aoi is the daughter of the noble house tategami. she plays in a street band, not that her parents know. she and ciel kinda know each other from events but never really spoke much. she only gets a cameo (sorry aoi)

himari also only gets a cameo (sorry himari) but i picture her as some sort of sweets scientist (maybe like varian from the series but with sweets instead of alchemy? and no villain arc. i haven't actually watched the show so that's all i know about him sorry if i just failed varian 101)

ichika is just a townsperson (sorry ichika)

the ciel de reve is the snuggly duckling. ciel took her alias (ciel kirahoshi, of course) from its name. it's one of her favorite places to hide out when yukari is especially hot on her trail

bibury is a server/bartender at the ciel de reve. she's a lot more well adjusted in this au! riopunzel!bibury was found and taken in by chourou around the age of 6 and got to grow up happy and healthy :)

cielbib have a situationship

chourou's granddaughter, pekorin, also helps out at the ciel de reve from time to time

chourou owns the place but since he's getting old it's pretty much bibury's tavern by now

everyone's aged up a little, the middle school gang is now 17-18 and akiyuka are 21-22. pekorin is like. 11. also everyone is human

eliso and grave are the stabbington brothers, but ciel never teamed up with them so revenge isn't a motivation. they're just in it for the money, especially grave

noir is World's Shittiest Father but what else is new

ciel's natural hair color is blonde, but she dyes it pretty regularly to disguise herself. rio's is his original civilian persona's black-blue color, but the flower makes it the pale blue color it was as julio. as in tangled canon when it's cut it reverts to that black-blue

he's referred to as julio for most of the au, because that's what noir called him. his birth name is pikario ofc

for the most part the story follows the events of the movie. it's more of an exercise in "hey wouldn't it be really funny if i put the characters in this situation"

[bethanythebogwitch]

A while back I made a series of posts examining the real-world origins of every fish Pokémon. It’s been a while but I’ve gotten the urge to do more of that. So now I’m doing the same thing, but with every aquatic non-fish Pokémon instead. What I define as aquatic is that it has been depicted as aquatic either in Pokédex entries or in the main series games. Most of them are water-types but not all and there are even a few water types I don’t think are aquatic. I’m also going to cover the water starters and legendaries/mythicals in their own segments. I will start with generation I, which I will be splitting in half because of how many there are. This entry will cover the Psyduck through Shellder lines while part 2 will cover the Krabby through Dratini lines.

The Psyduck line seems pretty obvious. It’s right in the name, they’re ducks, right? Well I’m not entirely convinced that’s all. Psyduck has the classic yellow duckling/rubber duck coloration, but it clearly has arms instead of wings. There’s another hint of them not being ducks in their typing. Back in the development of gen I, the flying type was called the bird type. This is why the Doduo line is part flying despite being flightless. The similarly flightless psyduck line not being granted the bird type makes me think they aren’t supposed to be ducks, but rather playtpuses (platypi?). These are among the only surviving monotremes, a lineage of primitive, egg-laying mammals that may represent a stage of development between pre-mammal therapsids and modern viviparous mammals. The platypus has four legs with webbed toes and a duck-like bill, just like the Psyduck line. The only thing the two are missing is the beaver-like tail.

(image: a chimera platypus)

Golduck is also based on the kappa, a creature of Japanese folklore described as a humanoid with a beak that lurks in ponds and streams. The gem on Golduck’s forehead is likely based on the third eye symbolism you get in a lot of new-age woo and the pseudoscience of parapsychology, which was adapted from the chakras of Hinduism. This is in reference to the line having psychic powers despite not being psychic-type.

(image: one of many depictions of a kappa)

The Poliwag line are based on tadpoles, the larval stage of frogs. As they mature, tadpoles go from basically a head with a tail on it to a tailless frog. Poliwag represents an early stage in the metamorphosis of a tadpole where it starts to grow hind legs and has not yet lost its tail or started to grow its front legs.

(image: a tadpole with its hind legs grown in)

Poliwhirl and Poliwrath are a more advanced state of metamorphosis where the tadpole has grown all its legs and lost its tail, but is still not a mature frog. Only if Poliwhirl evolves to Politoed does it become a mature frog. Poliwrath never fully maturing is an example of neoteny, a species retaining juvenile traits into adulthood. There aren’t any examples of neotenic frogs that I could find, but there are neotenic salamanders, most famously the axolotl, with keeps multiple juvenile traits as an adult. Politoed is just a generic green frog. The spirals on the bellies of the line is a reference to how some species of frog have such thin abdominal skin in their tadpole stage that their intestines can be seen through the skin. (warning, potentially gross picture below).

(image: a tadpole with visible intestines)

The tentacool line are jellyfish. Specifically, Tentacool may be a box jellyfish, the only jellyfish with true eyes.

(image: diagram of a box jellyfish with focus in the eyes. source)

Several species of box jellyfish are also extremely dangerous to humans, with their venom causing extreme pain and death. Tentacruel may also be based on the Portugese man-o-war (in fact, Manowar was its prototype English name). Despite looking similar and having a similar hunting style, man-o-wars are not jellyfish, but siphonophores, an extremely cool group of colonial cnidarians you can learn about here. Man-o-wars float on the surface of the water and with for prey to run into their stinging tentacles. Tentacruel is often depicted hunting in a similar style.

(image: a man-o-war)

Finally, the line’s big red gems and ability to fire laser beams from them likely comes from “bug-eyed monsters” a classic type of sci-fi monster typically found in b-movies.

The Slowpoke line are weird. They are one of those Gen I lines that are weird monsters with little in the way of real-life counterparts like the Nidos, Rhyhorn, and Kangaskhan. I think Slowpoke is a combination of hippos and giant salamanders. It has the little round ears and snout of hippos (which spend much of their time in the water) while its body shape and behavior are closer to giant salamanders. Not just any big salamanders though, they are based on the Cryptobranchids, of which there are three living species: the Chinese giant salamander (actually 5 closely-related species), Japanese giant salamander, and north American hellbender. These giant salamanders spend most if not all their time underwater and are known to be very long-lived and spend most of their time sitting perfectly still, waiting for prey to pass by. Their very still and slow lifestyles inspired Slowpoke’s slowness and stupidity.

(image: a man holding a giant salamander and fulfilling a wish I didn't know I had until just now)

Things get more complicated when Slowpoke evolves. Both Slowbro and Slowking have a symbiotic relationship with a shellder that bites onto their tail or head, respectively. The shape of the Shellder is based on a turban snail and was planned to be available as an evolution foe Shellder in the Gold/Silver beta called Turban. The fact that the line’s Japanese names (Yadon, Yadoran, and Yadoking) come from the word “yadokari” meaning “hermit crab” and Slowbro being called the hermit crab Pokémon is pretty clear that they supposed to be hermit crabs despite being possibly the least hermit crab-like creatures ever. Come to thing of it, Digimon has Shellmon, another supposed hermit crab that's a weird pink monster sticking out of a turban snail shell. I don't know what to make of that. The hermoit crab connection isn't a very strong connection as hermit crabs live in the discarded shells of snails for defense while only mega Slowbro can actually withdraw into the Shellder. Slowking’s Shellder being on its head and it having that neck ruff is a reference to royalty wearing ruffs, crowns, and turbans. It being the smartest of the Slows may also draw from imagery of the wise, middle-eastern vizier or scholar trope. Finally, both evolutions are based on the sazae-oni, a legendary Japanese sea monster that wears a turban-shaped snail shell. The Pokémon version did not keep the part of the legend where it steals a bunch of sailors' testicles and holds them for ransom.

(image: a depiction of the sazae-oni)

The Galarian forms aren’t much different, though they seems to have moved to a more terrestrial lifestyle. Their Shellders being poison-type may reference the highly toxic cone snails. Galarian Slowbros Shellder being on its arm and acting as a projectile weapon references side arms and arm cannons while Galarian Slowking is a more sinister take on the turban-wearing wise man, with its Shellder now looking like a pointy witch hat.

Seel is, rather obviously, a seal, probably a harp seal pup. In addition to its seal origin, it may have some inspiration from other arctic marine mammals: the “horn” of a narwhal, white color of a beluga, and tusks of a walrus. Dewgong is named after the dugong, a relative of the manatee, but that is where their similarities end. Dugongs are rotund sirenians while Dewgong is obviously a seal. It’s a more mature Seel, with all the same inspirations.

(image: a harp seal pup, easily the cutest thing I've ever put on this blog)

Shellder and Cloyster are both a hodgepodge of various bivalves. Shellder is a combination of clam and scallop. Clams spend most of their time buried under sand and have a powerful foot that can stick out of the shell and is used for moving and digging. Clams also have siphons, organs that are used to intake water, that can be extremely large in some species, most notably the geoduck.

I know what you're thinking and shame on you (Image: a geoduck clam)

Shellder’s constantly exposed tongue is likely a representation of the foot or siphon. They are also based on Scallops, which can swim short distances by rapidly opening and closing their shells to shoot out water.

And now you know why Spongebob made these into birds (gif: a scallop swimming)

Cloyster retains the Scallop swimming methods, but are more based on thorny oysters and true oysters. Thorny oysters are known for having prominent spines on their shells to deter predators.

I CAN FEEL THE WARP OVERTAKING ME! (image: a thorny oyster)

True oysters are the most famous pearl-producing bivalves. Cloyster’s head is based on a pearl, specifically a black pearl. These are produced by only a few species and are very valuable due to their rarity.

(image: black pearls on the shell of one of the species that make them)

That’s it for the first half of gen I. I will return soon (hopefully tomorrow) for the second part and they we will move on to gen II and beyond.