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thecapricunt1616 · 8 months ago

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Pomegranate (C.B. One Shot)

“Alright so last minute alterations are really nothing to worry about - We can always add an extra fabric panel to the dress, It wont even be noticeable! This is why we inform our expecting brides to go 2 sizes up, sometimes though as second time moms we pack on a little extra trust me, I did too with my second” The nice, Bridal assistant explained to you as she finished cinching your dress that fit you perfect…now.

Your wedding was still 2 months away, when you would be 7 months along and likely with a bigger bump (and chest) as your body made room for your & Carmys growing daughter. You look at Syd, Nat, and your best friend, Gabriella in the mirror. The look flashing on your face was insecurity, “What if I look…Like- awful- and swollen and- and all third trimester” you asked worridly. Natalie gave that worried mom look and stood up, coming over to the circle platform you were standing on and looks up at you.

“C’mere, you sound like you need a hug sweetheart” she said and opened her arms sweetly. You pouted, holding back your tears and the bridal assistant speaks up, rubbing your back gently as you carefully stepped down and gave Nat a big hug“You are gonna look beautiful, I’m sure of it. All your morning sickness will be gone, and you should still be comfortable honey- 7 months is a perfect time to get married” The bridal assistant assured you as she gently rubbed your back. “I’m gonna give you ladies some time to talk while I go measure out for more fabric and jot the dimensions down. I’ll be back soon” she shuts the little curtian of the showing room as she leaves to give you 4 privacy to console your pregnancy hormones.

♡ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨: In Greek and Persian mythology, pomegranates symbolize fertility, beauty, and eternal life. In the Greek myth of Persephone's abduction by Hades, the pomegranate represents the indissolubility of marriage. ♡ 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: You're feeling insecure that your wedding is only happening for traditions sake & sweet Carmy assures you that isn't the case ♡ 𝐖/𝐂: 6,050 ♡ 𝐀/��:She's baaackkk!!! Guess who finally got a new laptop, y'all!! So I'm officially back in the groove! This one has been a long time coming, so long coming that I can't even find the ask because I replied to it so long ago that it got buried on my blog, but this is DC to my lovely little burrito baby @daysofyellowroses - darling, thank you so much for your patience while waiting for this, you've been absolutely wonderful & amazing & the best ever with waiting. Also, thank you so much for your support all the time even when I'm not writing ILY to Saturn! I'm so happy that my original format is back, because I know people have been saying lately they like it & I'm so glad! It was just nearly impossible to do on my phone / iPad! This is a lot longer than the blurbs that I've been writing lately so I hope it feels like we're getting back to normal! I love love love you all <3 ♡ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐓𝐂: Swearing, Pregnant!Reader, Dad!Carmy, No use of Y/N, R has long hair but no other physical descriptions really, (Kinda) Vulgar language, Not terribly edited, !!Fluffy Carm!!

♡ 𝐌𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬 ♡ ➵ 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 ♡ ➵ 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 ♡ ➵ 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 / 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵 ♡ ➵ 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 ♡

“You are gonna look beautiful, I’m sure of it. All your morning sickness will be gone, and you should still be comfortable honey- 7 months is a perfect time to get married” The bridal assistant assured you as she gently rubbed your back. “I’m gonna give you ladies some time to talk while I go measure out for more fabric and jot the dimensions down. I’ll be back soon” she shuts the little curtian of the showing room as she leaves to give you 4 privacy to console your pregnancy hormones.

“I- I just worry, Nat” you sniffled a bit. Gabriella quickly got up, handing you a tissue and you thanked her, taking it and dabbing your eyes carefully to not disturb your mascara more than you already had.

“Trust me, when Pete and I had our first before we got married I was terrified. But I promise, you know Carmy is your person - You’ve told me a million times! And he’s told me a million times” she giggled assuringly, wiping stray tears that had trickled down your cheek. “I can’t think of anyone more perfect to deal with his antics” she joked, causing you to laugh just a bit in turn.

“That is for sure the truth, You and little man” Gabriella chimed in and you nodded, taking a deep breath and trying to calm back down.

“You’re right- that’s right. I’m sorry - let me go change so we’re not late to brunch” you said and Nat squeezed your arm kindly in response as you head back to the dressing room. After you finished getting switched out of your dress and back into your clothes, you checked your phone and saw a text from Carmy as well as an attatched image.

‘Cub learned how to make Foccatia today, kid had the bright idea to put in cherry tomatoes and chives to make them look like cherrys on a stem he’s a fuckin genius already’

You see the picture attatched was your adorable son, smiling brightly and proudly holding up a tray of foccotia dough, and just like Carmy said there was little cherry tomatoes nestled in making it look like cherries. You gasped to yourself happily, smiling wide as you send a text back,

‘Not only is he your little twin, he got your talents in the kitchen too!!! Little girl is gonna be jealous if she comes out with moms lackluster cooking skills’

You joked back and slipped your phone into your large ‘mom purse’ as you called it, since small messenger bags and clutches or crossbodies weren’t at all practical with all of the things you had to carry around just in case for motherhood, because something that you learned early on was the moment you don’t have it with you, youll need it. Natalie had agreed, it was just one of those things you had to learn with as a mom. You were happy that you and Carmy had waited a bit though, to have your next. Granted, time did feel like it slipped away from the two of you by accident.

Your first was absolutely a suprise. Not a bad one, just very unexpected. You and Carmy had been together for 4 years by that point, and the universe must have had some kind of grand plan - because the pharmacy messed up with your birth control that month, and when Carmy realized the condom had ripped it was already too late. You had tried taking a Plan-B to be as responsible as you could the following morning- but 3 weeks later Aunt-Flo had not shown up, and thats when you knew, considering she had always been a very…timely guest, ever since she’d started visiting.

You made sure to take 3 strip tests, 4 ClearBlue First-Response tests, and made an appointment with your OB-GYN doctor to have a confirmation ultrisound just to be sure, before you told Carmy. The two of you had talked about kids before, but he had spoke about them like he was unsure, so to say that your hands felt sweaty when you told him when he came home from work that night was an understatement. What you didn’t expect was for him to burst into tears, and ask “You’re gonna have our baby? Really? We’ll have a family together?“ whispering it, as if he couldn’t believe it was something you’d ever want to do.

From that moment you were absorbed with parenthood together. Lamaze Classses, Bradley method classes, Breastfeeding classes, Newborn classes, Childbirth classes, Infant & Toddler development classes, Doctors appointments, Nutritionists, Ultrasounds. Not to mention the shelf that Carmy had to build in the nursery for all of the parenting, breastfeeding, childbirth, etc. etc. etc. books that he’d gotten delivered from Barnes & Noble before the end of your first trimester. He made sure to not miss a thing, and be there for you every single step of the pregnancy, the good, the bad, & the ugly too. When you found out that you were pregnant with your second, he proposed.

It wasn’t that you weren’t sure if he really wanted to get married, you knew he loved you - but you had just felt that the timing was a little…off. Just because it was so close to the time that you had let him know, only 2 months later did he pull out a ring while you, him, and cub were sitting at the park having a picnic together and he asked if you wanted to share he and Cubs last name. So you can be a real family.

You thought it may be that phrase, real family. Like, you and Carmy and cub and the little girl on the way werent a family enough, that you had to be bound legally to eachother for him to see you as a true family. The phrase had been randomly keeping you up at night, or even waking you up sometimes. You didn’t want to bring it up, though.

He already coddles you and a pre-schooler, he’s been putting up with you for nearly 10 years, don’t question him and make him leave.

You wanted to believe that it was just the horrible anxiety that came with your first trimester, that it was the hormones racing through you that were lying to you, trying to make you hate the person in the world who you love most, other then your son and your daughter on the way of course. But it still caused you to go to the bathroom and silently cry in the middle of sleepless nights when it all felt to be too much.

Especially when he had to skip out on multiple parts of the wedding vendor appointments due to work. This had made you feel like he wants to be present for your children as a father which you loved and appreciated more then anything, but when it came to being there for you, as his wife, and just his wife. Sure, he would sit with you on his time off and pick everything out with you, and he was there for most of the appointments. But not all of them, when he had never missed a single ultrasound or doctors appointment for your son since he’d been born.You shake your head to yourself, pulling yourself from your negative thoughts and step back out to meet the girls waiting for you, “Lets go to brunch I’m starved!” you push your purse up on your shoulder and head out with them.

By the time you’d gotten home, it was around 1:30 and Carmy was in the kitchen finishing wiping down the front of the fridge. He stood up with an adorable dad grunt “There’s my favorite girls!” he grins, coming up to you and giving you a loving kiss before rubbing your baby bump gently. “How was the appointment sweetheart” He asked, taking your purse from you and bending down to give your belly a kiss “Hi Jellybean” he whispered to your bump before standing back up and leading you over to the couch.

“It was…good, I guess. I mean, good in the fact that the dress fit perfect” You said, resting your arm over your belly as you sat on the couch

“Thats awesome baby!” he knelt down, taking your sneakers off for you and taking them over to the shoe rack at the door, and hanging your purse on the hook

“Not really awesome because if it fits perfect now, when I go to waddle down the isle it wont even zip. Remember with Gio I didn’t even really pop until I was 6 months! So the month before the wedding, I’m worried I’m gonna turn into a pregnant balloon!” you huffed, and to that he tisked, going over to the fridge and pouring you a glass of your favorite tarte pomegranate juice over ice.

“Last minute alterations are no big deal, and if the month before I have to order the damn dress in a whole other size and have it tailored the week of so be it” he hands you the glass and sits down next to you, wrapping his arm around your waist and rubbing over your belly sweetly “Cause I’m makin’ us official” he said before kissing your temple gently. You stared into your class, there it was again. You thought of ways that you could ask him what he means by that, but before you could settle on one your son comes barreling out of his bedroom cheering

“Moooooommyyyy you’re home! I missed you!” He goes to jump in your lap in the careless child like way and Carmy quickly catches him

“Woooah!!” he scolded gently and scooped him into his lap with one arm “Remember what we said, Cub- who’s in Mama’s tummy?” he asks and your son gently pats your belly gently and looks at Carmy

“Baby sister!” he said happily and Carmy nods with a small smile

“Thats right honey, so we have to be extra gentle around Mama’s tummy, right? Gotta keep baby sister extra safe while she grows big and strong” he explained and Gio nods obediently

“Mommy we meet baby sister soon right? How many more weeks?” he asked excitedly and carefully crawled into your lap, wrapping his arms around your shoulders and kissing your cheek sweetly.

“Hmmm, well why don’t you go look at the baby calender mmm? And see how many stars we have left to count?” you asked and he nodded happily, sliding off your legs and running off to his bedroom. When you and Carmy had told him that he was going to be a brother by giving him a t-shirt that said ‘Promoted to Brother Bear’ and a Kids book called ‘Archie the Bear becomes a Big Brother’ - he was over the moon and had asked you and Carmy every single day how many more days until he would meet his new baby sibling, and it was starting to drive you both mad.

So after 14 days of the same question he finally got sick and tired of answering, he made him a 40 slot calendar and each Sunday he got to put another star on the calendar. He had gotten him a sticker book of rainbow glittery stars, and sat with a ruler and a thin sharpie as well as an 11x17 piece of cardstock and drew out a ‘Weeks until brotherhood’ calendar and when he gave it to him the next morning he cried because he was so excited which in turn made you cry, and that made Carmy cry.

“22! I counted 22 squares left Mommy!” Gio shouts as he runs and jumps back into Carms lap and he grunts

“You’re getting to be a big boy huh?” he asked him, patting his back gently

“Doctor says it’s cause I eat my vegetables” he said proudly and Carmy chuckles with a nod

“That’s right buddy, d’you wanna help me get dinner started? Mm? Make somethin’ real nice f’r mommy yeah?” He asked him and Cub gasped excitedly

“Yes! Can I wash the vegetables?” he asked hopefully and hopped off his lap

“You can bud! Go wash up” Carm told him and he giggled happily as he ran off to the bathroom that was connected to his bedroom to do as he asked.

You look over at Carmy fondly and smile softly. “You’re so good at this Dad thing” you gently brush his curls from his eyes. He smiled and took your hand, kissing your palm and fixing your engagement ring so the stone was straight

“And you’re fucking amazing at this Mom thing, baby” He rubbed over your belly gently. “Were you still in the mood for the Birria tacos that you sent me last night?” he asked and you hum with a satisfied nod

“You are the best in the whole world. My back is killing, I think jellybean has been sitting on my tailbone since the drive home so I’m gonna go have a bath while you get that goin’ - hopefully the water gets her to move” You carefully got up and he stood of course quicker then you could given your condition and is sure to help you.

“That sounds like a great idea babe - here I gotchu I’ll get the bath ready you just focus on getting undressed and picking out some comfy clothes you wanna wear after yeah? I’ll make sure they’re nice and warm for you when you get out” he said as he helped you up the stairs. You were used to this routine now, his anxiety while you were pregnant very much mirrored his sisters, which was just taking care of absolutely every need you could possibly have assistance with and attempting to prophesize what the need would be before you’d even requested it. You had tried fighting him on it before but it just made everything worse, and when you finally relented and stopped being so stubborn, you saw it could be really nice to be doted on.

“You always make the best baths so I wont say no” you told him as your son came out of his room and heard you guys talking in your bedroom and came in getting up on your bed and sitting with you

“Whatcha doin mooommy” he said playfully and hugs around your neck before kissing your face and you giggle a bit at how he still grabbed peoples faces and mushed them into his lips in that little kid way when he kissed someone.

“Well Mommy needs a little bit of rest so Daddy is running me a bath, and you guys are gonna get to have bear and cub time while you make us some dinner yeah? You gonna do such a good job at cutting our vegetables?” you asked him and he nods happily

“One second Mommy- wait” he got off the bed by carefully sliding on his belly and runs off to his room, coming back a few moments later with his favorite spiderman submarine bath toy “Here Mommy, so you dont get bored” he said sweetly and handed it over.

You pout “Thank you, baby, that’s so kind of you to share your favorite toy” you kiss the top of his curly head and look up as Carmy came in from your ensuite bathroom “Look Daddy- Gio is sharing his favorite toy with me, Isn’t that so nice?” you gush and Carmy gasps, ever making big deals at good gestures and behaviors that Gio had exhibited.

“Wow, Gio! That’s a very nice thing to do. Are you gonna share your toys with baby sister when she gets here?” he squatted to his level and Gio nodded with a big smile showing his cute little baby teeth he would still have for a few more years.

“All of em’ Daddy just how Eva shares with me too! And- and we can teach baby sister how to make dinner with us- and we can show her how to play hide and seek -” Carmy nods and nods as he goes on humming along and when the kid finally paused to breathe Carmy seized the opportunity to pick him up.

“Mommy, your bath is ready, well be makin’ dinner” he gave you a peck on the lips and Gio copied him after which always made you giggle and pout because you knew by kindergarten he’d stop that, so you enjoyed these small innocent childlike things while you could.

“I love you both” you ruffled Gio’s hair on the way to the bathroom which made him giggle as Carmy made their way down to the kitchen. You made it into the bathroom and the scent of roses and honey hit your nose, emitting from the lukewarm bubblebath in the corner since Carmy knew taking hot baths early on could induce miscarriage or premature labor from the birthing classes that we attended. You had your tall refillable cup filled with lemon ice water, as well as a cup of lavender chamomile tea and your latest fantasy novel that you’d been indulging in before bed.

You hadn’t even realized how long you’d been in once you stripped and got to reading, that when Carmy came in he chuckled a bit. “I was expecting you to be sitting on the bed in your towel scrolling on your phone, you’ll be a prune come on baby this waters getting cold, heres your clothes theyre nice and warm” he turned the towel warmer off, opening it and resting the towel over his shoulder as he helped you up carefully and helped you wrap the bath sheet around yourself.

It was something that you (he) had indulged in purchasing during your last pregnancy when your belly had gotten too big for the regular towels you both had and that made you have a fit one morning, so he was sure with these towels it would never happen again and it hadn’t. He nestled the fluffy black fabric around the top of your breasts, under your arms, before tucking it so it wouldn’t slip. “I only have 15 chapters left, it was getting good” you explained as he helped you step out of the tub and stuck his arm in the soapy water, finding the plug for you and pulling it.

“Yeah? I got bedtime t’night babe. Dinners almost ready, it has like 30 minutes left simmering, I’ll go get his bath done now, and then after dinner we can settle down and watch a movie and you can read your book, mm?” he kissed your temple gently as you dried off before dropping your towel when he had put lotion on his hands and he rubbed some of your stretch mark cream on your tummy for you per your usual after bath/shower routine as you responded“I could go for another rerun of into the spiderverse, we both know thats what he’s gonna pick since he’s choosin’- and the apple doesnt ever fall too far” earning a chuckle from him that made you feel warm and fuzzy.

You heard giggles coming from Gio’s bathroom as Carmy gave him a bath, listening to him draw little animals for him and asking him what they are “Whats that one called, Cub?” you hear him ask

“Thats a Cow!!!” he replied excitedly

“Oh! I know what this one says - it’s easy, the Cow says…..meeeeow! Right?” Carmy said jokingly earning playful squeals and giggles from your son

“Noooo Daddy! The Cows say moo! The Kitties say meow!” he corrected matter of factly

“Whaaaat! Kid- I think you got your animals all mixed up, I’m pretty sure that Kitties say blub blub blub!” he jokes and your son laughed again

“Alright c’mon head back so we can rinse out this stinky hair” he teased earning a

“Noooo i’m not stinky you’re stinky!” from your son which made you giggle a bit. You made sure every 5 minutes or so you were making your way over to the simmering pot on the stove and giving it a stir, and being sure the homemade tortilla shells werent burning in the oven, before sitting back down and resuming your book. You only had to do that about 3 times before your son comes skipping out with his favorite blanket and stuffed brown bear in his tonka truck pajamas

“Mommy smell my hair!” he said and got up on the couch sitting on his knees next to you. You bent over and smelt his damp curly head and hum impressed

“Woooooow is that bluey strawberry shampoo?!” you asked him and he smiled and nodded “An-and after cookies Daddy said he will help me brush with the bluey strawberry toothpaste - move this now Mommy I wanna sit” he pushed your book out of your lap and plopped down

“What did Mama and Daddy say about please, mm? It’s polite to ask Mama and Daddy please if you want us to hold you” you reiterated and he nods, wrapping his arms around you

“Sorry mumma love you” he said and you rubbed his back gently, kissing the top of his head

“Love you too baby boy, lets go get your book so we can read while Daddy finishes up dinner?” you asked him and he nodded, getting up and walking over to the little shelf in the living room and squatting down looking at the titles. You smiled to yourself seeing as he was so big brained he could read at a kindergarten level 2 years early but was still wearing pull ups to bed.

“This one” he comes over with The Missing Piece meets The Big O by Shel Silverstein.

“Ohhhh, this one - Daddy looooves this one. He picked your favorite Daddy!” You held up the book and he turns and looks

“That's a great pick cub, momma does a great job at reading that one” he said and you smile, cuddling in Gio as he nestles into you close as you opened the book and beginning to read,

“The missing piece sat alone, waiting for someone to come and take it somewhere”

After so many tacos you looked 3 more months pregnant then you really were, you, Gio, and Carmy were snuggled up on the couch. You were in the middle because they both needed to be touching you apparently and Carmys arm was once again around your side rubbing your belly in sweet little strokes as you focused on your kindle while he and cub focused on the movie. Gio had insisted before you started it that he goes and gets his spiderman plush toy to hold during the movie and covered himself up in his spiderman blanket hoodie Richie and Eva had gotten him last Christmas as well.

You sigh contently resting your head on Carmy’s shoulder, smiling a bit to yourself as you feel the tiny little butterfly like kicks in your belly. “You cant feel it cause shes only a bell pepper right now, but shes moving all around, I think she hears you guys- or feels you, I dunno” you said softly. Carmy lights up

“Really?” he asked gently

“Hiiiiiiii baby sister!!!” Gio lifts up your shirt and says onto your stomach causing you to laugh.

“She said Hi big brother!” you tease and he giggled

“Babies cant talk mama! Baby cousin Mickey doesnt talk” he giggled and you lean in really close until your foreheads are touching

“Mmhmm- but I’m your Mama, and were connected - in our brains! Thats why you only get one mama! I heard her in my brain she said hi big brother I cant wait to meet you!” you said in a small mousey voice as you tickled him and he squealed and laughed, Carmy making sure to wrap his arm around your belly protectively in case he accidentally kicked you from the tickle attack.

“Ok! Ok no more please!” Gio said and you stopped, sitting up and he giggled

“You’re silly mommy” he wrapped you in a hug again, nuzzling his face on your ribs and kissing the top of your belly “I can’t wait to meet you too baby sister, we can watch Into the Spiderverse together - it’s the bestest movie ever” he said and got comfy laying on your arm again as you held him.

You got back into your book, only having about 4 chapters left before the end of it so you could hopefully be finishing the series by the time you give birth, knowing you you’ll be disappointed you wont know what would happen for a while since the newborn stage is just a whirlwind of tests and appointments and sleepless nights. When the movie had about 40 minutes left to it, Carmy gently squeezed your breast to get your attention and your head snaps up to look at him, he nodded over to Gio and you look on your side to see him peacefully sleeping next to you.

You sigh gently, knowing that once you woke him for teeth brushing and bed he would ask you about his cookie, and that would prolong bedtime - but you felt guilt for waking him up yourself. “Get the cookies” you whispered and he huffed a chuckle before carefully unwrapping himself from you before padding to the kitchen. As soon as he heard the crinkle of the pastry paper from the box after carmy got it out of the fridge he was sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“Daddy can I have my cookie now?” he asked after yawning. You giggled shaking your head and ruffling his now dry hair

“Daddy was getting you your cookie bud, go sit at the table after I’ll help you brush and give you a kiss and Daddy will tuck you in and read you your story mm?” you ask and he nodded, going over to the table and you lifted him up into his chair.

“Thank you Daddy!” he said thankfully as Carmy set the plate with the entire chocolate chip cookie on it, one of the ridiculously big ones from the restaurant.

“Carm!” you look at the plate as Gio’s eyes widen and smile grows, picking up the cookie and taking a big bite.

“What! Thats not the only one!” He pointed to the box on the counter and you roll your eyes.

“Half next time, hes either gonna have nightmares or be bouncing off the walls at 4 am” you sigh a bit and went over to the box, taking one out and eating it over the kitchen sink. He followed you in, wrapping his arms around you and resting his hands on your belly, rubbing little back and forth strokes with the pads of his thumbs.

“My bad, Mama, sorry- I shoulda asked” He said gently and kissed the base of your neck “Can I have a nibble” he said in your ear low enough for only the two of you to hear before nibbling at the sweet spot on your neck and squeezing your breasts. You giggle quietly, knowing that Gio was too focused on the monstrous cookie in his hand to be anywhere other then cloud 9 right now.

“After you put cub to bed maybe i’ll think about it lover” you turn your face to the side, giving him a slow and gentle open mouthed kiss, holding the cookie up in front of your lips so if Gio just so happened to look up he wouldn’t see what was going on. It went on for a few moments, his hands trailing down to your hips that had never gone back to their original place after you gave birth, but each and every time you screwed he reminded you how much he loved it.

When Cub said “Mommy?” you jumped a bit, being so lost in the moment and pulled away, looking over

“Sup’ honey?” you asked

“Did dinosaurs have teeth?” he takes another bite of his cookie. You took a deep breath, shoving down the aggravation that was having nearly every moment of alone time being taken by your offspring

“Mmhmm! They had teeth” you answer evenly

“Did they like having teeth?” he wondered out loud and you shrug

“Daddy, did Dinosaurs like having teeth?” you asked and he planted a gentle kiss on your shoulder

“We like having teeth, so I’d think so, cub. It helps them do alot of things, what do your teeth help you do?” he asked him knowing it was easiest if you gave a generic answer and tossed the ball back to them in regards to how kids went at this age

“We like to eat, and we eat candy, and we eat pasta, and - and we eat veggies-” he went on and you drop the rest of your cookie in the box.

“Let me know when he’s ready” you whispered to Carm and he nods, watching as you grabbed your kindle and headed back to the bedroom. It wasn’t that you were annoyed at Gio. It was just your hormones likely getting in the way. You were starting to creep up on that window of pregnancy where you were nearly insatiable all the time, needing more and more of Carmy - last time it went on for a solid 2 months, but this time it was starting earlier and you thought it likely had something to do with seeing just how good he was with your other little one, on top of all the hormones.

But, on top of having another kid this also made it very difficult to have that time with you, especially with having a kid home for summer break from pre-k, and having to manage work, and neither of you could bare for sending him off to some sleepaway camp, so you settled for him sleeping over Richies or Sugars when they really realized that Carmy was needing a break. He never dropped the ball with Gio, though. No matter how tired or worn thin or in need of a break he was, just like tonight - he would find time to get away, come home, make him dinner, and put him to bed before going back off to finish his shift and come home around one am.

It was only about another chapter of your book that went by before Carmy came to tag you in, gently knocking on the bedroom frame to get your attention. “He’s ready for you, im gonna take the trash out i’ll be right in for ‘em” he told you and you nodded with a small smile “Thanks Bear” you put your kindle on the nightstand and got up. You shuffled to his bedroom in your slippers and bedtime robe, hand rested over your belly as you walked and you see Cub sitting on his spiderman sheets in his racecar bed.

“Who’s ready to brush those teeth!” you went over and kissed the top of his head. He looked up from his little etch-a-sketch that he’d been playing with, “I am mama” he said sweetly before getting up and heading to his bathroom with you following behind.

Once Carmy had been suckered into 2 stories instead of just one, he was able to get Giovanni tucked in for the night and he came to bed. He had already started your nightly routine of rubbing shea butter on your belly and had moved on to rubbing your swollen aching feet with massage oil.

“So I was thinking earlier…” you look down at your ring that you hadnt taken off yet, nervously spinning it around your finger.

“M’listenin’” he tears his gaze from the cooking show he’d put on the tv as you read your book and you looked over at him, nervously biting the inside of your lip and he stopped rubbing your foot. “I know that look, whats going on?” he asked gently “Talk t’me princess” he told you and rubbed soothing strokes back and forth over the top of your foot and over your ankle.

“I just….my sister asked me if this was a shut up ring” you admit a bit nervously and he crinkled his brow in the sweet undoubtedly Carmy way

“The fuck is a shut up ring?” he asked. Allthough he swore, there was no anger in his voice, just genuine confusion.

“Like- like- I guess when a girl talks about getting married too much he will get her a ring or something just to get her to shut up even if hes not happy and he’s more likely to settle especially if you already have a baby - and you keep talking about making things real and this feels so real- but I just feel like you dont care” you swallowed the lump as it began to grow in your throat and his features softened, grabbing a kitchen towel he brought up to wipe his hands after he was done his massages for the night and wiped them clean of the oil to be sure he could rub your hair without getting it all oily.

“C’mere” he sat against the headboard and opened his arms. When you snuggled into him he rubbed your back gently and kissed the top of your head, allowing you to relax and shed a few tears as you needed to before he spoke again “I asked you to marry me, A - so that all this dumb tax shit is rectified, and B - in case god fuckin forbid baby, something happens to me or you - we get to decide whats next. I don’t-” he swallowed thickly, taking a deep breath before he continued. “I don’t want anyone to think they can steal what i’ve built for you, and our kids. The restaurant is theirs babe. That is their 60% stake in it. All of this, the house, our savings - all of it is for them. I want them to have no problem in getting it when we go” he explained and you could burst into tears at how relieved you felt.

Here you were, all these past few months keeping yourself up and pacing, making yourself sick over this - over thinking that you were becoming a chained burden to your future husband just because he created life with you. When the whole time you could have just talked to him, and your stupid pregnancy hormones were making you crazy thinking he would hate you for even asking. But instead of crying, ever the random hormone imbalance that came with pregnancy, you just started to laugh. You sat up, wiping your tears as you giggle, before pulling him into a kiss and he chuckled a bit when you pull away.

“Do you mind filling me in on the joke?” he asked and you nod with a smile

“I dont know why I was ever taking marriage advice from my sister who’s been divorced three times when your sister who’s only ever been happily married has been telling me that my sister is a fucking fuck”

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claudiarya · 17 days ago

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More thoughts on Sunrise on the Reaping:

At the end of the day, Haymitch is the perfect mix of both Katniss and Peeta.

While reading sotr I think that we all saw the parallelism between Haymitch and Katniss’s story:

1. They’re both the older sibling of the family.

2. Both of their fathers died in a mining accident. Living them to provide for their families.

4. The choices they make during the Games, especially deciding to be allies with the underdogs amongst the tribute, and the inescapable unsuccessful attempts to save those who they think deserve it more to live, that allows them to be the Victors at the end.

But at the same time I could not help but notice the resemblance between Haymitch and Peeta.

1. They know and live the horrors of the Games first hand, and start with the mind set that they not want to be changed by the Capitol.

Peeta’s: “I do not want to be a piece in their games.”

And Haymitch’s father’s quote: “Don’t let them use you, Sarshee. Don’t let them paint their posters with your blood. Not if you can help it.”

2. At the same time they both adapt quickly to the Games in order to survive. Haymitch by painting himself as the Rascal and Peet by being the affable star crossed lover of District 12. They’re both undervalued and not one would have thought them to turn out to be victors.

3. Both Haymitch and Peeta know full well that their lives are expendable if it would mean the definitive end of the Hunger Games. They are not scared to put others first in the end (e.g. Katniss, and Wellie as well as other Newcomers), as long as they play their part in taking down the Capitol’s show.

4. Peeta’s love for Katniss, no matter the adversities and the tragedies is similar to what Haymitch feels for Lenore Dove. They’re both tormented by Snow, that uses their feelings against them.

To finish, I think Haymitch sees in Katniss and Peeta the little good there is to be found in the Hunger Games: firstly, in the two kids’ bond, that however fabricated at the beginning becomes indissoluble.

Second of all, in the choices they keep on making, such as Katniss’s choice of allies in Catching Fire, and Peeta’s willingness to be expendable for the greater good.

One thing is for sure, at the end of the day the District 12 unlikely victors are what have allowed the Capitol’s dominion and the Hunger Games’ cruelty to tumble.

#the hunger games trilogy #hunger games #catching fire #mockingjay #sunrise on the reaping #sunrise on the reaping spoilers #sotr spoilers #thg sotr #thg series #thg haymitch #haymitch abernathy #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #my thoughts #my interpretation

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katakosmos · 3 months ago

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the rosier twins incest hits harder if it happens in a universe where voldemort wins the first war and evan, rewarded and free, returns to france to his sister.

rosier manor is now completely empty: mr and mrs rosier are dead, and pandora lives alone, alienated from the world. for years she hasn't left her laboratory. she has lost all her splendor, she barely recognizes where and who she is. evan drags her out of her world and explains everything that happened.

she's devastated, for all the wizards and muggles in england. but above all she can't believe that evan took part in such an oppressive movement. their parents didn't raise them that way, the rosiers don't despise muggles or non-pureblood wizards. evan has made their ancestor's mistakes, tarnishing the family name again. it's an insult to the memory of their parents, and pandora can't forgive him.

she rejects evan. she refuses to talk to him, to see him. but evan lived two years without her and he can't lose her again, he misses her so much. he tries in every way to make amends, but pandora has now made her decision. the first few months, when evan is forced to continually receive visits from the death eaters, are the hardest: evan is tormented by his guilt while pandora cultivates her hatred. it seems like they don't even live in the same house.

but pandora is now weak both physically and psychologically, and she needs help. she's forced to rely on evan and he's forced to stay by her side. they get closer again, but they hate each other. they hurt each other. for years they don't leave that house, forgetting the outside world. for years they don't see anyone but themselves.

there are moments when, with a sharp pain in their heads, they remember the years gone by. they loved each other, they cared about each other. the closer they get, the more those feelings increase, mixing with contempt. by now something indissoluble binds them.

when the name rosier starts to be heard again among the families, evan and pandora are now a couple. they got married in a moment of madness, but the memories are still lucid. they are now 50 years old, they call each other husband and wife, they kiss in public.

when they die, together, no one remembers that they were once twins.

#evan rosier #pandora rosier #rosier twins #rosier family #rosier twins: fww

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tell-me-a-tale-that-tells · 6 months ago

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BIRTHMARK

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

Request:

The female reader is from another village with her own magic family. She has her powers (ice, blizzard, or weather ish powers would be fun to clash with Pepa), and the families meet at Casita to discuss the miracle.

Pairing: Bruno x FEM!reader.

Type: fluff, soulmate marks AU

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

You were tired from your journey, the muscles of your legs were sore for the long time you spend on your horse, It was two days before that you left your village with a purpose in your mind and heart: find your soulmate.

In your native land, doesn't matter how much you searched, no one had the same birthmark.

It was shaped like a small bowtie or an infinite symbol, bright red and marking your right wrist.

At first, you thought that your soulmate was in one of the near villages but as soon as your research goes the result didn't change.

You imagined the worst scenarios, and your family and friends told you their ideas.

"Maybe your soulmates is unfortunately dead"

"Maybe he's born in another time, maybe a century ago or maybe he isn't born yet!"

"You just have to find him!"

So your research took you away from home, too far away to go back and simply let go, sure you could have found another person but it wouldn't be the same kind of love, because the one between two soulmates is an indissoluble bond.

You almost fell asleep while riding your horse's back and maybe you did, because all of the sudden you were right in front of an enormous mountain and you slowly arrived at the top.

The view that opened in front of your eyes was breathtaking.

A small colourful village was surrounded by high mountains like the one you had just passed through, the flourishing vegetation was vibrant and you could see a very big house on the top of a small hill.

Deciding that you had enough of riding around you headed for the crowded village, people were staring curiously at you and you kindly greeted them asking if there was an Inn where you could eat and rest.

A kind woman gave you the directions and you rasped "thanks, señora" you were thirsty to no end and the first thing you wanted was a cold glass of water.

You tied your horse in a nearby paddock so she could eat, drink and rest, you patted her brown coat and caressed her soft black mane.

Once entered the Inn, a scent of coffee filled your nose, you kindly asked for your order and the bartender, a young boy not probably old enough to work there, handed you a glass full of still water.

But it was not cold.

"I guess I have to do it by myself" you mumbled grasping the glass and concentrating.

In an instant, the water became ice-cold, condensation dripped from the glass and the boy looked at you with amazed eyes.

"Wow! How can you do that? You're like Pepa!" He told you.

"It's a gift fro-" then realization hit you, he said that someone could do the same thing "Who's Pepa?" You asked.

"Pepa Madrigal! Everyone knows her here, but you're not from Encanto. She's my friend's mamá, she can change the weather." the boy explained.

"Where can I find her?" You question, drinking your water.

"The big villa at the end of the road, it's the Madrigals house" he said making a nod towards the direction.

"Thank you. Do you have a room for rent or do you know where I can find one? I'm tired to death" you smiled weakly.

"There's a room upstairs but I have to call the owner for that" he disappeared into another room and came back with a short chubby man who was revealed to be the kind owner of the Inn, you talked to him a bit, paid for the room and get upstairs.

The room was quite nice and smelled of lavender, the walls were in yellow stucco, wooden furniture, a big window and a small bathroom, the bed was comfy but creaky but you couldn't care less because as your head touched the pillow you fell asleep.

The next day you took a bath, dressed in clean clothes and after a good breakfast, you decided to go to check your horse.

Returning to the paddock you were not prepared for the scene in front of you.

A tall muscular girl was carrying two mules on her shoulders without the minimum effort like they weighed a couple of grapes, she noticed you, and most of all she noticed you staring and became uneasy.

"Hum, good morning...do you need something?" She asked, placing one mule on the ground.

"Good morning, I was about to check on my horse, sorry for interrupting" you said politely.

She extended her free hand "I'm Luisa Madrigal".

"Oh, another Madrigal" you thought, but responded instead "Y/N, really nice to meet you" and you shook her hand.

You expected that your hand would be almost crushed but her hand just gave you a light squeeze, she was gentle and feminine despite her impending physical shape and it suited her very well.

Luisa, for her part, made a strange expression when her eyes briefly rested on your wrist, where your birthmark was, the muscles of her right eye trembled.

You made sure that your horse was fine before asking "I'm coming from another village, as you could have imagined. I'm searching for my soulmate, do you know someone with this birthmark?" You showed your wrist.

Her eye trembled again, you guessed it was a nervous tick.

"No, I'm sorry" she answered quickly, too much.

Suddenly you felt someone grabbing your arm, you gasped in surprise.

Inspecting your birthmark, was a young boy with brown curly hair and green eyes, he was wearing a yellow ruana, his nose scrunched in concentration.

"I kind of remember this one but I can't pinpoint on who I saw it on..." he mumbled.

"Camilo! I don't think she needs your help." Luisa said through gritted teeth.

"What? I can take people's appearance, if you let me check I could help her!" He answered like for him not helping someone in difficulty was an affront.

You saw him shapeshift from one person to another in rapid succession, checking his wrist that wasn't looking his most of the time.

Feeling a bit confused you stopped him.

"You're a Madrigal too?" He nodded, turning into himself "I wish to talk to your whole family. It seems your village and mine have something in common".

That evening you made the acquaintance of the whole Madrigal family, especially of Alma, who explained to you how in a moment of despair she received the miracle and how the candle gave each member of the familia a special gift, everyone except Mirabel, who in your opinion, was the sweetest and cheerful of the family.

At dinner you chatted with everyone, even if you had the vague sensation that something was off, visiting the house you counted 9 magical doors but only 8 gift-bearing members were sitting at the table.

" What about you? You mentioned that magic exists in your village" Mirabel questioned.

"When my mother was five years old, our village suffered from a huge famine, it hadn't rained for months and not a single thread of grass could grow in the fields. Just when they thought they had lost all hope, the rain came, but it was not regular rain. With every drop the earth was awakened, the fields became luxuriant, the plants blossomed and filled with fruit and even the people who found themselves under the downpour were healed." you narrated.

"It was a miracle!" Exclaimed Antonio, while with the corner of your eye you saw Alma whispering something to her daughter Julieta.

"Yes it was, and you know what's extraordinary? The rain filled the old big fountain in the backyard of my grandma's house, the water inside cannot be exhausted, no matter how much you get it, the fountain is always overflowing. Each newborn is bathed in the water of the fountain because it will give them a life free of any disease. Sometimes, the water also grants powers, as happened to me and my family." Saying so, with a swirl of your fingers, you created an ice statue of a tucan on the centre of the dining table.

Pepa was amazed and with pride, she showed the raging storm that was forming on her head, clouds swirled and darkened as little lighting threatened to zap his husband.

"By the way, I'm not here to show off my abilities, I'm here to find my soulmate. Do you know someone with this birthmark in the same place?" You implored showing the symbol to the family.

Agustìn coughed, Luisa's eye trembled, Felix looked elsewhere, Isabela grew a cactus in the centre of her plate, Julieta reddened, Dolores was fakingly concentrated on her food while the clouds on Pepa's head transformed into a snowstorm.

Alma was looking like all the blood was drained from her body and sighed.

"Come with me" she told you, raising sharply from her chair.

She accompanied you in front of a door, like the others it was inlaid with the figure of a member of the family but it was not glowing, on the top was the name of her only son.

"Bruno" you read.

"To my son, the candle gave a humbling gift, he can see the future and this brought only pain and suffering to this family. He left 10 years ago and no one saw him ever since." Alma pointed at the figure on the door "check more closely" she instructed you.

You approached the door, looking better at the details until you find it.

On Bruno's wrist was inlaid a birthmark, shaped exactly like yours, your heart started to hammer in your chest and you felt that the air was suddenly not enough.

"It's shaped like an hourglass." the woman told you.

You never realized it, mistaking the shape for something else but when she pointed out it was pretty obvious.

A heavy silence fell in the house.

"I can't help you, my dear" Alma was sorrowful " I would like to have my son back too," she said before excusing herself and returning to her family.

You followed her, thanked everyone for their gentle hospitality and left the house to return to the Inn for the night.

You passed more days in Encanto, asking about Bruno, but no one was willing to talk about him.

Somebody told you he was a walking nightmare, someone said he was mean and others were simply scared.

You were eating an arepa, wandering through the streets of the village, kicking some stones that were in your path as you proceeded, one of the said stones rolled down and under a shrub from which you heard a squeaking sound.

A small rat was between the green leaves of the bush.

"Sorry, little friend. How about an apology gift?" You asked rhetorically at the animal, placing a piece of your arepa on the ground.

The rodent quickly took the offered food and sprinted away, but soon it stopped and looked back at you hesitantly.

You made some steps toward the rat and it repeated the previous behaviour.

"Okay, I'm following a rat now" you mumbled.

You follow it, turning several streets and ending up immersed in some vegetation, once you emerged you realized that you were in the garden of the Madrigals' house and the mouse slipped into a narrow hole in a wall just wide enough for a person of small stature to pass.

You squeezed through the tight space, crawling in the dark until you found yourself between the house walls.

You saw patched cracks and buckets of paint and sparkle, the floors creaked under your feet and you heard a voice.

"Mirabel? Is that you?" Asked a man with a kind and hushed voice "10 years without no one knowing I'm here and now..." You heard him murmuring.

Finding a wooden door, you knocked twice, feeling a bit out of place because you were in someone else's house, precisely in the walls, knocking on a door.

"Mira, I think that my vision about-" he opened the door staring with wide eyes at you.

Standing in the doorway was Bruno, an inch taller than you and weighted like a wet fledgling, his overgrown black curly hair was framing his face, tired hazel eyes were fixed on yours, mouth opened in surprise.

He was so much better than you've ever dreamed.

"Bruno, I-" you started but he swiftly moved to close the door but you tried to stop him.

"Please let me explain!" You shouted.

"Who are you?" He asked frightened.

"My name is Y/N, I know this is crazy but I'm your soulmate, please open the door," you explained, resting your forehead on the door.

He opened it just a crack to peek "Show me your birthmark" he demanded.

You tried to uncover your wrist, your heart was about to explode, fingers trembling as you unbutton the right cuff of your shirt.

Eventually, you succeeded and Bruno finally opened the door to let you in.

The room was filled with tons of objects, some of them were reused for other purposes, a bunch of rats were sleeping in old slippers and some of them were intrigued by your presence, watching you from shelves and wooden beams.

"Hum, sorry. My-my social skills are...well, a bit rusty I suppose. I apologize for the door slamming and the suspicious manners. Only my niece and my youngest Sobrino know that I live here..." He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I'm a stranger, you were just wary for the right reason." he made you sit in his armchair while you spoke to him "I came here to find my soulmate...and I found you"

"Pretty delusional, I think!" he said sincerely, knocking three times on wood items and one on his head.

You smiled at the superstitious gesture "Not at all" he froze on the spot and slowly looked back at you, maybe he thought you were joking.

You chatted a lot, Bruno liked talking and he narrated to you his whole story, from the day he got his so much hated gift to the day he isolated himself for the love of his family.

You fell in love more with every passing minute, the way he moved, talked and joked was enchanting to you as was the way he cared for the others Madrigals, he has nothing to do with the man the persons of Encanto described.

You told him about your journey, all the villages you visited and how you found Encanto by coincidence.

He listened to every single word that came out of your mouth, sitting on a table and casually petting and feeding some rats in the meantime.

Bruno was more relaxed by the time you finished talking and was absently rubbing his birthmark with a finger while looking at yours, you reached for his wrist and his breath itched.

"Can I touch you?" You asked and he nodded "Shaped like an hourglass, how fitting" you commented, moving your hand slowly from his wrist to his forearm, caressing warm skin.

He shuddered but didn't pull away "Soulmates have a sort of magic bond or so I heard, something that pulled them together, no matter how far they are, they always find each other" Bruno whispered.

"Indeed. I found you and I'm not planning on letting you go" you chuckled.

He was staring at you like a lost puppy that finally found his family again, hurt and desperate but also relieved and happy.

You placed your hands on his cheeks and lean closer until only an inch was separating your lips from his.

"You shouldn't" he murmured, eyes closed, bumping gently his forehead against yours "But I want it" you answered back.

You closed the gap, pressing your lips softly on Bruno's, a strangled whimper came from his throat as he clung to you as if his life depended on it.

He spun you around, making you sit on the table where he previously was and deepened the kiss.

"Sorry, too much?" He said suddenly separating from you, his cheeks red from embarrassment.

"Oh, that was fine by me" you chucked, leaning to rest your head on his shoulder.

A loud terrifying and crackling noise tore through the air.

"Pepa's storm?" You wondered confused.

Bruno grabbed your hand scared like never before in his life.

"Run! Run outside Y/N! I'll be right behind you in a second! RUN!" he cried out pushing you out of the room.

The house was falling, cracks were forming everywhere as you moved as fast as you could.

Once you were outside you watched the walls crumble down, Bruno escaped a few seconds later, wearing a bucket as a helmet.

You immediately checked his body for injuries, throwing away the bucket and inspecting his head.

"You're all right?" You demanded scared to the bones.

"Just a couple of scratches, I'm fine but...my vision came true" he sighed "what are we going to do?"

"MIRABEL?" The two of you heard calling.

"MIRABEL?WHERE ARE YOU?" Called Julieta.

Once you understood that Mirabel was not under the debris of the house, the family and you started searching for her.

You took your horse and Bruno came with you, even if the animal scared him a bit, he didn't know how to ride but he managed anyway, sitting on her back behind you, hugging you tightly.

"I'm sorry you had to witness all of this," he said apologetically "I know I told you about my vision and you already knew my powers but-" you let go of the reins of your horse to hold his hands which at that moment were resting on your hips.

"Everything will be fine" you reassured him "look, isn't that Mirabel with Alma?" You pointed the two women by the river.

You dismounted but Bruno remained on the horse "Go to your family" and saying so you patted your horse rear and she started running.

The scene was a bit comical.

After Bruno, Alma and Mirabel returned and the family reunited, you and the generous people of Encanto helped the Madrigals in rebuilding their house.

You and your soulmate grew even close, stealing kisses in moments of pause and sleeping embraced at night, only to be affectionately mocked by Camilo the following day.

His family also became yours, Bruno's room was adapted to accommodate you and even on the entrance door, your figure was engraved.

You sent a letter to your family to inform them of how your life had changed and to invite them to meet the Madrigals and especially Bruno.

They were taken aback at first because they were not expecting another family with powers and they were not expecting a man much older than you to be your soulmate, but they saw the way you loved each other and changed immediately their ideas.

During the lunch with your reunited families, Bruno shyly stood up and cleared his throat.

"Hum I would like to make an announcement, that is, it is not an announcement but I think it will be ... soon. What I meant is ... " he turned to you, took your hands and made you stand up while he instead lowered with one knee to the ground"Y/N, my soulmate, you b-brought light into my life and this house, you saw in me what no one else could and I-I love you more every day. Will you marry me?"

Your whole life flashed in your mind, from the day when growing up you wondered who had your same birthmark when you understood that your love was not in your village and nowhere you searched him, to the day you found him and there he was down on one knee asking you to marry him and have a life together.

"Yes, of course, Bruno!" You cried with joy.

The whole family cheered and clapped their hands and you and Bruno kissed and hugged.

That was better than you could ever imagine.

⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

#fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #fanfic #archive of our own #encanto #bruno madrigal x reader #bruno madrigal #we talk about bruno

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apoloadonisandnarcissus · 2 days ago

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“Passing powers around”, Rings of Power and the One ring

"you just cannot "pass" powers around because it's just not how it works in the Tolkien universe”, I hear, and this is making stuff up based on “Reddit theories” instead of in what Tolkien wrote. And, yes, this is yet again, about “blood binding theory”.

So this person is criticizing “Rings of Power” because we have this exchange in 1x08:

Sauron says this while holding Finrod’s dagger, and after Adar tells the audience, in 1x05, that “only blood can bind”. What does Sauron mean by “binding to power”? This implies some sort of power-sharing by the union of their bloods (she gives him light, and he gives her power).

In Season 2, we also saw Sauron placing his blood into the Nine alloy. This will not only bind their ring-bearers to him, but also give these rings a different set of power than those of the Seven (which he was directly involved), and the Three (which he never touched, but were made by using his lore).

But does this has any basis in what Tolkien himself wrote and created in his legendarium, or is just a RoP invention?

In "The Shadow of The Past" chapter from “Fellowship of the Ring” (“The Lord of the Rings" trilogy), Gandalf explains to Frodo what the One ring is and how it came to be, and how it can be destroyed. Another notion is introduced: "the [One] ring had given him [Gollum] power according to his stature"; which, according to Galadriel in the "Mirror of Galadriel" chapter, applies to all rings of power: "Did not Gandalf tell you that the rings give power according to the measure of each possessor? Before you could use that power you would need to become far stronger, and to train your will to the domination of others."

But I'm going to the source here, and see what Tolkien himself had to say about this in his letters (which are the most "neutral" source of information about the legendarium):

"at Eregion great work began – and the Elves came their nearest to falling to 'magic' and machinery. With the aid of Sauron's lore they made Rings of Power ('power' is an ominous and sinister word in all these tales, except as applied to the gods). [...] they [Nine rings of power] had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron ('the Necromancer': so he is called as he casts a fleeting shadow and presage on the pages of The Hobbit): such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible." Tolkien Letter 131

These "other powers" will find paralel in what Tolkien says about the One ring:

"he [Sauron] had been obliged to let a great part of his own inherent power (a frequent and very significant motive in myth and fairy-story) pass into the One Ring. While he wore it, his power on earth was actually enhanced. But even if he did not wear it, that power existed and was in 'rapport' with himself: he was not 'diminished'. Unless some other seized it and became possessed of it. If that happened, the new possessor could (if sufficiently strong and heroic by nature) challenge Sauron, become master of all that he had learned or done since the making of the One Ring, and so overthrow him and usurp his place." This was the essential weakness he had introduced into his situation in his effort (largely unsuccessful) to enslave the Elves, and in his desire to establish a control over the minds and wills of his servants. There was another weakness: if the One Ring was actually unmade, annihilated, then its power would be dissolved, Sauron's own being would be diminished to vanishing point, and he would be reduced to a shadow, a mere memory of malicious will. But that he never contemplated nor feared. The Ring was unbreakable by any smithcraft less than his own. It was indissoluble in any fire, save the undying subterranean fire where it was made– and that was unapproachable, in Mordor. Also so great was the Ring's power of lust, that anyone who used it became mastered by it; it was beyond the strength of any will (even his own) to injure it, cast it away, or neglect it. So he thought. It was in any case on his finger." Tolkien Letter 131

"The Ring of Sauron is only one of the various mythical treatments of the placing of one's life, or power, in some external object, which is thus exposed to capture or destruction with disastrous results to oneself." (Tolkien Letter 211)

Everyone (even if they have only watched the Peter Jackson adaptations) should know, by now, that Sauron placed a part of himself into the One ring.

Sauron’s power is his own being, since he’s a immortal “angelic” spiritual being in nature, a Maia. He doesn’t belong to the Seen world. He’s one of the Ainur, and he (like every other Vala or Maia) can choose a physical form of the “incarnates” (Elves, Men or Dwarves) to appear in the Seen world (until he can’t take on fair form anymore after the “Fall of Númenor”). This subject is addressed in both “The Silmarillion” and Morgoth’s Ring” (and in Tolkien letters, too). And these physical forms are not illusions, they are real, made of flesh and blood.

Which explains RoP decision of going with Sauron using his blood on the Nine, and this will probably happen in forging the One, too. And it’s the most likely explanation for him being “goo” in a cave for centuries, too, while he tries to rebuild a physical form for himself. The “goo” being his blood.

This is nothing new, because one of Peter Jackson’s ideas for his film adaptation, was to have Sauron using his own blood to forge the One ring (which never made it to the final cut of “Fellowship of the Ring” prologue):

So, indeed, there is basis for Sauron “passing his power around” in the legendarium. Not only with the rings of power, but mainly with the One ring, and its ring-bearers gaining power (Sauron’s power) from using it. But this power isn’t “boundless”, the One ring gives its bearer power according to their own stature.

And, as JD Payne described, Sauron is the One ring personified, and that’s how they are handling his character in “Rings of Power”.

“You think it was only you, who put yourself in my power?” (2x07)

I’ve seen “Peter Jackson’s inventions” being mentioned quite often recently, and, yes, that “Sauron doesn’t share power” scene is one of those inventions, because Saruman’s entire deal with Sauron was to take the One ring for himself, and fight power with power. He had no loyalty towards Sauron, and was planning to betray him from the start (which obviously didn’t work, and he ended up corrupted in the process).

And, so, Sauron passing power to Galadriel isn’t out of pocket with the legendarium, nor is it “making stuff up” nor “pushing Reddit theories as true informations”. Also, Galadriel corrupted her (Elven) Art into Power in the legendarium, and we don’t know how. This doesn’t mean “blood binding theory” is a given or confirmed. This is saying there is basis for it in Tolkien world, unlike what this person is saying.

So, indeed, whoever wrote that rant saying “people usually aren’t all well versed in the Tolkien lore to spot inaccuracies in reddit/Tumblr posts” should take a look in the mirror. Because it seems to be their case, too. They don’t seem to grasp the complexities of Tolkien legendarium or what RoP is attempting to do.

If their argument is that “no character in the books stabbed others to pass their power around”, as far as I know, yes, that’s correct. But Palantíri don’t show visions of the future, either (they are communication devices), yet in RoP, it seems they took on the role of the “Mirror of Galadriel”. Galadriel and Sauron never met in the Sundering Seas, either, Galadriel has never been to Númenor, among so many other changes I would be here all day. So this person is thinking about “lore” as in “canon”, not as in “legendarium”, as in the mythology Tolkien created in this work, which is what the showrunners have said they would be doing in this show, before Season 1 even aired.

#Rings of power #the rings of power #Sauron #sauron rings of power #Sauron trop #Sauron rop #one ring #Galadriel Rings of power #Saurondriel #Tolkien legendarium #JD Payne

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ardafanonarch · 1 year ago

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Hello, in fic I've come across mentions of

- the elves stopping frequently on their journey to Aman to have sex (and Orome urging them forward by creating storms?)

- elf sex being too intense for most mortals to survive

I think these come from HoME or NoME (or similar sources), but I've never seen the actual quotes. There might be other things related to elf-sex in there as well.

So I guess my question is: What else did Tolkien mention about elf sex, apart from (the already relatively well-known) LaCE?

Elf Sex Lore

There comes a time in every Tolkien fan’s journey when they come upon the Professor’s writings on Elf sex — and, since 2021, there are even more! Elf Sex Lore remains a hot topic as the fandom continues to experience the aftershocks of the spurt of new lore that came with the publication of The Nature of Middle-earth (NoMe) in 2021.

As you say Anon, before NoMe was published, the fandom’s primary resource on Elf sex was the (in)famous essay Laws and Customs Among the Eldar (LaCE), published in 1993 in Morgoth’s Ring, the tenth volume of the History of Middle-earth series. LaCE is full of juicy (or not-so-juicy) lore about Elven aging, marriage, gender roles, naming, death, and rebirth.

It is in relation to the first two that we get some details on Elf sex, such as the knowledge that “it was the act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after which the indissoluble bond was complete.” (Laws B). We also learn that:

“…the Eldar say* that in the begetting, and still more in the bearing of children, greater share and strength of their being, in mind and in body, goes forth than in the making of mortal children. For these reasons it came to pass that the Eldar brought forth few children; and also that their generation was in their youth or earlier life, unless strange and hard fates befell them. But at whatever age they married, their children were born within a short space of years after their wedding. For with regard to generation the power and the will are not among the Eldar distinguishable. Doubtless they would retain for many ages the power of generation, if the will and desire were not satisfied; but with the exercise of the power the desire soon ceases, and the mind turns to other things. The union of love is indeed to them great delight and joy, and the ‘days of children’, as they call them, remain in their memory as the most merry in life; but they have many other powers of body and of mind which their nature urges them to fulfil.” The History of Middle-earth Vol. 10: Morgoth’s Ring, ‘The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II)’, Laws B

*Note how this paragraph is introduced: “the Eldar say”. Phrases like this signal to us that LaCE is not written from a Elvish point of view. There are indications elsewhere clearly pointing to a human author with a human audience in mind.

Translation: Elves use up a lot of energy in baby-making, including in the sex part (“begetting”) but even more in the pregnancy and birthing part (“bearing”), so they don’t have a lot of children and they do so early in life, shortly after marriage. But even if they marry later in life, Elves are still able to have babies because being able to and wanting to reproduce are the same thing for Elves. But once they’ve fulfilled the desire to make babies they’re good and turn to other things. Still, they look back on the time of baby-making as “the most merry in life”.

In most (if not all) cases, when Tolkien writes about sex he is writing about reproduction. Did Elves have sex solely for pleasure? Maybe; I cannot find anything that says they didn’t. I also can find little conceptual separation of sex and reproduction in Tolkien’s writings. Make of that what you will.

(At this point I want to reiterate a principle central to this blog: it’s about presenting what canon says; it is not about casting judgement on creations that subvert, reinterpret, or ignore canon, none of which makes a work lesser than one which adheres strictly to canon.)

So what did NoMe add to our knowledge about Elf sex? First of all, let’s make sure we all know what NoMe is.

What is The Nature of Middle-earth?

NoMe is a volume of texts by J.R.R. Tolkien collected and edited by Carl Hostetter. It is basically a supplement to the last three volumes of The History of Middle-earth (Morgoth’s Ring, The War of the Jewels, and The Peoples of Middle-earth), which cover a period from the late 1950s to his death during which Tolkien was undertaking a rather massive project of worldbuilding, working out the structures underlying his Silmarillion mythology in preparation for revising and publishing what he had written of it before ‘a sequel to The Hobbit’ (LotR) took him away from it for the better part of two decades.

Christopher Tolkien in Morgoth’s Ring called this undertaking “analytic speculation concerning [the] underlying postulates” of his world (Foreword to Morgoth’s Ring). That’s how we end up with essays like LaCE and the philosophical debate about the fates of Men and Elves in Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth.

The texts in NoMe all date to around the same time and deal with the same sorts of questions about the physics and metaphysics of the world: it contains the essay on ósanwë, for example.

The Context of the NoMe Sex Lore

The first section of NoMe, ‘Time and Ageing’, is where we get the new lore on Elf sex. As it happens, the sex lore is rather incidental to extensive ruminations two core questions:

How did Elves experience the passage of time and how did they age?

How did the population of Elves go from 144 at Awaking to a sufficiently high number (around 30 000) when they reached the shores of Beleriand on the Great Journey?

(It is not relevant to get into why 144 and why 30 000 here; suffice to say those are the numbers Tolkien wanted and he expended great imaginative and mathematical energy trying to make them work.)

A note on the textual context: Anyone who has ever engaged in worldbuilding knows how it can go. You think (for example), “Okay, I need to develop a backstory for this character’s spouse,” and before you know it you are knee-deep in invented genealogies and geographies and Eru-knows-what-else.

It’s important to bear in mind that this is what Tolkien was doing. The quotes we are about to look at (yes, very soon!) are from a collection of evolving (and unresolved) notes in various states of refinement from barely legible scribbles to carefully penned essays. I will let you decide what that means to you based on your personal definition of canon, but I wanted the textual context to be clear.

Elf Sex Is Intense

In relation to Question 1, Tolkien considers the time-scales of Elven growth, including pregnancy. In the essay under discussion, Tolkien decides that Elven pregnancy should, like human pregnancy, take about 3/4 of a year. Oh no - not that kind of year. A yên, a ‘long year’, the unit used by the Elves and to which the matter of their bodies (their hröar) is bound. Elves gestate for 108 Sun years.

I know what you’re asking: If the pregnancy lasts 108 years, then how long does the sex last?

No? No! You’re probably asking yourself why Tolkien hated Elf-women so much (don’t worry, he says there’s no pain…)! But Tolkien was interested in the first question, which he answered thus:

“On the other hand the act of procreation, being of a will and desire shared and indeed controlled by the fëa, was achieved at the speed of other conscious and wilful acts of delight or of making. It was one of the acts of chief delight, in process and in memory, in an Elvish life, but its intensity alone provided its importance, not its time or length: it could not have been endured for a great length of time, without disastrous “expense.”” (NoMe, p. 24)

An earlier version of this passage, which you may also come across in fandom, comes to a similar conclusion:

“But the act of procreation not being one of growth until the union of the seed and being under full control of the will does not take long - though it is longer and of more intense delight in Elves than in Men: too intense to be long endured.” (NoMe, pg. 27)

Translation: Pregnancy, like other aspects of physical growth, is a process of the hröa over which the fëa has no control; thus it is bound to unfold on “Elvish time”, i.e. 1 year = 144 years. But the sex leading up to it is an act of the fëa and under its control and therefore occurs at a “normal” speed. The Elves love it, too! But not because of how long it lasts, which is a regular amount of time, but because of how intense it is. In fact, it is so intense that if it were any longer they would suffer “disastrous “expense”.”

What is this “expense”? Basically, it’s referring to the usage of an Elf’s natural “vitality” — far greater than that of Men but not infinite. As far as I can tell, this passage means that having intense Elf sex for too long would have spiritual results similar to Míriel’s bearing of Fëanor, or Fëanor’s creation of the Silmarils. Too much of their spirit would be expended (used up) in the act, with possibly disastrous consequences.

These are the quotes from which, I think, originate the rumour that Elf sex was too intense for mortals to survive. As you can see, the discussion is about Elf/Elf relations. Elf sex is too intense for Elves to endure for too long. Anything about what this means for Elf/Mortal sexual relations is fan conjecture.

That’s the Elf Sex nugget from Tolkien’s considerations of Elven growth rates: Elf sex (between Elves) is intense but of a normal duration.

Elven enthusiasm for baby-making delays March

As you can imagine, more nuggets are unearthed in relation to Question 2, which boils down to Tolkien crying: “I need the Cuiviénen Elves to breed a lot and quickly!”

Initially, Tolkien developed some Elven life cycle schemes that had them taking a leisurely approach to reproduction, with each generation taking many hundreds, even thousands, of Sun years to materialise.

This scheme did not work for getting him from 144 to ~30k in the timeframe he wanted. So, he made some adjustments to the scheme with respect to the timing of Elven maturity and consequent desire to begin reproducing — and then set about getting those Elves procreating!

One of the solutions he entertained was giving the Elves opportunities to reproduce on the Great Journey. He laid all of this out in a timeline (NoME, p. 49-53) detailing where and for how long the host of Elves would pause because of the “desire to beget children” (p. 49).

Reading this timeline, it can become increasingly comical each time this desire to reproduce (i.e., have sex) halts the host. It can start to read like, “The Elves took forever to cross Middle-earth because they couldn’t stop banging!” And, in a way, that is what happened. But bear in mind the context is an attempt at solving the problem of increasing the Elven population to a number Tolkien considered satisfactory for his worldbuilding endeavours. An Elven enthusiasm for sex is there, but it’s not the whole picture.

There are several points on the timeline when Oromë hangs out with the Elves or checks in on them, and he does become increasingly concerned with their begetting-related delays. For example:

“About 2000 pairs (of available Telerin 8th gen. of 4,950) beget children in the spring 1130/80. The Chiefs and Oromë are disturbed.” (NoMe, p. 51)

(“The Chiefs” are Ingwë, Finwë, and Elwë.)

And:

“Either by chance, machinations of Sauron, and/or because Oromë withdraws protection (hoping to make the Eldar less content with their new Home (Atyamar), winters are hard and the weather worsens.” (NoMe, p. 51)

The second quote is the origin of that rumour about Oromë creating storms to urge the Elves on because they were having too much sex. Is it canon? Not quite: Oromë didn’t create the storm, for one, and the emphasis is on sex for the pleasure of children more than the pleasure of sex on its own (though, as we know from the previous discussion, sexual pleasure was certainly had!). But the rumour you've heard is not without basis in Tolkien’s notes.

The First Elves Really Loved Sex

There’s one more Elf sex nugget in NoMe that I’d like to end with. While scrambling to get his Cuiviénen Elves reproducing at an adequate rate to reach his population-at-finding target, Tolkien came up with what he calls the “Quick prolific” scheme (p. 99).

“The Quendi in their first few generations before the March (or reaching Valinor) must — as is quite reasonable — be made far more eager for love and the begetting and bearing of children. *They must have larger families, at shorter intervals between births.” (p. 107)

To explain this attitude of reproductive eagerness in the first few generations of Elves, Tolkien coins the term “philoprogenitive” — they love to procreate! Procreating — not artistic and intellectual pursuits or exploration or leadership as with later generations — is their number one priority in life. So much so that “they mated almost at once with their predestined mates” (p. 54).

Not only that, but they have so many babies! In one version of the scheme, 12 children per couple in the first generation (p. 108). (This soon changes to 6 per couple. Philoprogenitive they may be, but no one gets to outdo Fëanor).

As with the highly intense Elf sex and the Great Journey delayed by procreating, this is another bit of NoMe lore with great imaginative potential. As we learn from LaCE, Elves enjoyed sex, quite a bit actually, but they enjoyed a lot of other things also, and after a period of baby-making they would usually move on from sex (though they would always remember it fondly). But the First Elves, those early generations by the shores of Cuiviénen? No such balance between sex and other pursuits. It was all about sex and procreation for them.

Of course, what we’ve been looking at are drafts and notes. While all written around the same time (late 1950s to early 1960s), none of the texts here examined were ever finalised and many of them don’t even agree with each other. Tolkien was experimenting; he was worldbuilding. And with the publication of these notes in NoMe, we in turn get some intriguing ingredients for worldbuilding of our own.

So, do as you like with the Elf sex lore. But if you’re looking for a great setting for some canon-compliant smut, may I suggest Cuiviénen?

Resources

PDF of LaCE

Mythgard Academy’s seminars on The Nature of Middle-earth. You don’t actually have to have read or own NoMe to follow these discussions. Great for getting a handle on the material, and ideal for listening as you work your way through reading.

#nature of middle-earth #history of middle-earth #laws and customs among the eldar #anon #happy valentine's day

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