#just funny that she's comparing herself to them this late in the game

[potatopassenger]

Hilarious revelation that Vivi might have not actually seen Luffy and Zoro fight together at full strength before

[sm-baby]

OFF-LIMITS

freakshow AU by @hootbon

Context || The Chosen one (Part 1(??))

PRETEND MARRIAGE FIC LETS GO!! Off-limits is a non-canon sort of continuation for The Chosen One!! Also Just putting it here: Showtime is not canon in freakshow AU!! I'm just.. being indulgent-👉👈

Word count: 7750

The pacing is a little off but I'll let you be the judge...OK ENJOY BYE HUGS AND KISSES!! NO BETA WE DIE LIKE MEN!! also if Hoot's reading this I'm so sorry.

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There were many benefits to being the ringleader's favourite.

One of them is being proposed to, apparently.

She didn't think her body still had the capability to choke, but apparently it was all too possible. She gagged, punching her fist to her chest on the flavourly assault on her throat, hacking wheezing as the grip on the tea table tightened. 

Pomni winced, eyes twitching and swallowing before sitting back down with a not-so-casual tone in her voice. She faked a laugh “Haha… what-”

“ I'm marrying you."

The man sat on the opposite side of the tea table, classy, with full manners. the way his hands were politely on the table, proper yet focused… Caine so specifically wanted the meeting in Pomni’s room... She was perfect for the setting. A doll playing tea party. Classic. Simple. 

“ A-And what does-”

“ It means my brother can no longer claim ownership over you." 

Pomni inhaled and stirred the tea in her hands. She fawned a fake sympathy towards his perspective humming along as if she understood his reasonings…but she choked, this time mentally. 

Were they seriously still on that dumb brother’s quarrel? Ownership? She didn't think Able would want to do anything with her after their last meeting but it seems the tension she's been feeling between the both of them has been growing… Caine’s brother has been nicer to her lately, she assumes, still in the effort for him to be in her good graces… but she didn't think it would really lead to anything, nor would she let it. 

“... Ha." Was all that left her. Pomni doesn't often know what to say in tense situations. She lost herself in her thoughts, cupping her tea in both hands, nervous and tense. Of course, she definitely doesn't want to do this. She was more so thinking about a way to decline him rather than a yes or a no.

Uhh… hmm..

“ You would still be performing, but this also means you get to sleep in the old manor. Or so I think that's what husbands do… unless my sources are wrong which—“

Pomni could spit out her entire drink! That changes everything! “ YES-" she slammed her hands on the table.

Caine wasn't startled, but rather, just looked at her, raising a brow at the rude interruption. he'd look down, seeing that pomni just spilled tea over herself and the table… what manners. 

“ Uhh-... Yes- that- that is what husbands do, yes… “ she sat back down, her voice awkwardly lowering to a timid whimper. 

The gentleman barely looked at her, rather levitated a napkin to wipe the table. It was a cruel silence, almost like he dared her to explain such rude behavior. 

Pomni cleared her throat “ sorry, I-I would uh… love to be married- to-- You… ?” Is that how one says yes to a proposal? 

“ Ha. It humours me how you think you have a choice in the matter. “ Caine snapped his fingers, and the napkin disappeared. If he were to be perfectly honest, he saw no qualms in letting Pomni live in the manor. He would relish in the thought of her walking past his brother knowing she was officially unattainable. A sort of trophy of sorts. A taunt mayhaps. A jest. A silly funny mockery.

Meanwhile Pomni’s brain was completely somewhere else… 

To have access to the circus on the regular while having more time in the manor… no more stupid games necessary, no more-- having to kiss up and hold the balance towards both brothers! This was a win! Of course this isn't a ticket out of the circus, but she's going somewhere, and it's refreshing compared to the circles she's been running for the past few months. 

Pomni looked up to see Caine, sitting across her, this time with a hand extended to shake. 

As soon as she shook his hand, a ring formed around her finger, from thin air, seemingly out of nowhere.

“To show that you're reserved." 

Pomni looked at her finger, and-- honestly the way he said that made her skin crawl. Caine always saw Pomni and the others as lesser than him. And the way he proposed was no different from a person booking a seat at a restaurant. 

The deal was struck and Caine wasted no time to get up and leave the room. A small good bye greeting, closing the door behind him, but otherwise his business there was done.

Pomni was still sitting on the tea table, thinking to herself, staring at the ring on her finger. It was like it was part of her body. She would try to pull it off but to no avail, no budging or anything. 

She grit her teeth… great.

The two went their own separate ways thinking nothing and everything about the transaction… though it must have been quite the sight to see Caine leave the room, and have Pomni follow a few moments later, now with a ring on her finger.

“ No f@#$ing way.” Jax thought, seeing the sight.

She didn't know what she was expecting, but it was certainly a Caine wedding.

The ceremony itself? she could barely remember any of it. Rather, small clouds of memories that were important.

The way she walked down the aisle so stiffly, like a gun was pointed at her head. The way Caine placed a ring on her finger, Kaufmo’s death gurgles as he officiated their wedding…

There were small comforts. She didn't actually think of it as anything special— more just a necessity rather than an actual wedding, but some of her friends tried to make it special for her. Ragatha was sitting front row in support not for the union but for Pomni herself��� Kinger hallucinating, holding her hand in a father daughter dance. And Gangle making the the effort of getting her a wedding gift– or what she could give anyway…which was a drawing of her in her wedding dress.

Caine wasn't even present in the after party. He just placed the setting and left the guests to their own devices. That was honestly a relief for Pomni for a short while, to be able to hang out with the closest things she had to “friends”. She had the lone memory of Ragatha and Kinger giving her a drink, and asking her how she was doing.

They've both been well aware of her motives by now. Exit, exit, exit. At this point they were convinced that was her form of insanity. But they supposed that little bit of hope was keeping her going.

Kinger turned Ragatha then back to Pomni. “ We hope you know what you're doing.”

“ I never said I did…” the bride said, her pitch getting timidly higher. “ But– it's a direction! I don't have a lot of expectations either, but…hey, I think I'd regret it if I didn't take the chance. ” She looked back up at them, embarrassed at her short rambling. “ Oh! I hope– you two are holding up relatively okay tonight?”

Ragatha chortled.

Kinger answered “ We haven't been okay for years, Pomni.”

“ Y-Yeah…I… I should have seen that coming, yeah…”

Suddenly, a slow song came on the reception. 

Most of them weren't fond at the idea of a slow dance at first, but a tap from Ragatha to a ribbony friend (and a sister begging the other) later, people were on the dancefloor.

Ragatha danced with Gangle, then exchanging partners from her to Kinger. The Gangle AI found it funny to force Kaufmo and his rabbit friend in a dance. The night was going off with a hitch.

Ragatha swayed back to exchange partners from Kinger to Gangle, and the magician was off on his lonesome again. He took no offence to this, but standing in the middle of the dancefloor on his own, to a song that used to be considered romantic, he couldn't help but freeze.

He stared at one of the guests in the distance, the one who decided to sit out the activity. The one in the dark staring daggers at him as they dawned the very torso that used to bring him warmth.

Maybe…

… If she was still in there…

He could ask if—

Before Kinger could take one step further, a hand took his own, the hand of a very worried bride clearing her throat and walking him back into the dancefloor. “ Kinger, this sounds like a good song!” Pomni laughed nervously, heels clacking as she pulled him gently but insistently.

Kinger blinked, and turned to her. “...Oh! Yeah! It is!” And just like that, the old man was brought back to the dance floor.

It was almost like the poor were invited to their first celebration. Some were laughing, and there were definitely moments of teasing and natural play, but at the end of the day they knew they would be hungry again. It was an inevitability. Some chose to spend it to the fullest, some chose to wallow, some chose to make the best out of it.

Pomni struggled to keep up with the magician’s stature, but they figured it out after their earlier father daughter dance. She would be pleased to see that He was almost experienced with the way he moved.

Her dance partner wasn't all that mentally present, but she could see that he was calm. The way he listened to the music and closed his eyes was disassociated. But it was a look of contentment. 

His grip was so sure yet gentle around Pomni. Holding her like it was the last dance he would ever have with someone. 

She could only imagine what he was picturing in that brain of his. She dared not interrupt.

“ I've danced with someone before... I think.” 

Pomni looked up at him. “ What do you mean?”

“ I don't know who that person was, but I remember feeling very nice when I was with her.”

Pomni sucked air through her teeth. She's heard… read… stories from Ragatha. Although it wasn't the most in detail, she figured out the jist just from hush-hush language she used.

She had a feeling she knew exactly what was going on. But it wasn't her business to correct him.

“ She must have been a great person.” Pomni said.

For the first time Kinger didn't feel like wood. His eyes relaxed just from that simple validation, a moment of blissful unawareness of where he was or who he was. Love spread from his heart, to his chest, to his finger tips, to the… little…friend? Yes, friend… that he was dancing with.

Pomni was well aware that she wasn't the person he was seeing at that moment. He had no thoughts, but the feeling of a powerful comfort took over him, he didn't care to take back anything else. Not his memories, not his sanity, not his mind. Like holding the hand that he once kissed. Spinning her, laughing with her, holding her close when the clock struck a romantic midnight. 

He could feel a tear escape his eye.

“What about you, Pomni?” Kinger opened his eyes and suddenly realised that his hands were holding at nothing. Not a person, not anything. Kinger blinked and looked around, that blissful feeling suddenly becoming fleeting. 

He was by himself on the dancefloor again

“... Pomni?”

Pomni would catch herself tripping forward. What was once the tiles that was the dance floor was now wooden, and unfamiliar. “Wh- wha- where…?” 

In the blink of an eye Pomni was somewhere else. For a moment she was confused before turning around and seeing her new found husband, back turned to her, sitting, looking down from the balcony they were at.

“ Awfully rude of you to dance with someone more than your own husband.” He didn't even bother to turn to her. He was still looking down, hands on his would-be chin, sitting on a long chair made of cushion and fine wood.

“ I-I was just dancing with—”

Pomni was cut off by Caine slowly patting a space on the seat beside him. The cushion, comfortable, yet sturdy. Pomni gulped before approaching.

When she joined him she could see the view from above…it was an indoor balcony built for the rich to watch the poor. 

From up high, Pomni could see the other performers, and quickly she scanned the dance floor to see Kinger, shaken, looking around and interrupting Ragatha’s dance in worry for where she went.

Pomni bit her lip and sunk down. Guilt over took her. She stood on her tiptoes, hands on the wooden railing and waved to be seen, to let them know that at least she's safe, and praying that they understood that she didn't leave them but-

Caine’s hand grabbed her arm. “ No, no. Let them figure it out.”

She froze from his touch. Caine guided her hand to make her sit down and she sunk in the seat right beside him. She looked down to read the others distress and felt immense relief when she made brief eye contact with Ragatha which then the assistant turned back to kinger, calming him down without making it obvious she's seen them.

Pomni sighed.

On her way to lean back on the chair, she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder, then pulling her to her side.

She stared at it for a moment, the arm. her body stiffened at the all too familiar touch, before looking forward, sweating, in denial at the situation.

Caine crossed his legs, an ankle on the other knee, still looking on at the view in front of them. His posture was far from hers. Swaying his crossed legs, relaxed, and confident. for a moment he looked at her and back down at the party. 

Amazing reception as always, Caine. You've really outdone yourself with this one.

They stayed there in silence for a couple of moments. Caine was all too comfortable and Pomni had nothing to say to him. The groom would say that his bride looked beautiful that night, but in the most objectifying way possible. She was an accessory. She always was. Nothing different from a beautiful pearl necklace. 

Maybe it was the way he was gripping her, but Pomni couldn't breathe with all the tension in the air. She let out a shaky breath, a face comparable to a cat hypervigilant towards a cucumber. Sometimes she forgets how affectionate Caine can get with her physically, and every time she just accepts it. Not like she can do anything about it really.

“ Wine, boss!” A servant walked into the balcony area. A voice so signature, and unmistakable Pomni didn't need to turn around. Caine and his bubble were inseparable except for the moments when they weren't. If she hadn't known any better she—

Pomni came back to reality.

…Wine?

“ Thank you, Bubble.”

Pop!

Caine didn't even have to lift a finger, the wine bottle was already levitating towards him as well as a wine glass, ready to pour.

“ Wine???” Pomni flinched, turning her whole body towards the bottle.

Caine blinked. “ Oh! How could I forget, you've never had this…” He thought to himself. 

He would never let the circus members have wine for multiple reasons. The poor PG rating would go down if their mouths were without filter. And also he didn't need to have a bunch of wild animals run a muc and destroy the circus tent. But right then, he duplicated the wine glasses into two, pouring one for himself and for his bride. 

“ Consider it a reward for being so attentive today.” 

Pomni got her glass, and held it in both hands. God damn. She hasn't had alcohol in so long.

It was as plastic as expected but wine wasn't there for the texture. She was just about ready to drink the night away. Pomni tried to play it with manners but admittedly took longer sips than what she could usually handle.

They both continued the night in silence

and Pomni waited…

And waited…

And waited…

And… 

Motherfucker, this isn't doing anything to her!

The visible frustration was clear and Caine couldn't help but let out quiet snickering.

“ Huh—!?”

Caine snickered again, barely audible, but less is more. Pomni couldn't help but feel embarrassed. There he is again! Playing with her like always! “ You didn't actually think I would let it affect you, did you?”

“ No—! I… I didn't even think that you could--! I..!” The woman gripped the wine glass. “ ugh! ”Had it been for the fact that she had to watch herself around Caine, it would have been in pieces by now!

Caine would continue to laugh, not seeing any of the woman’s frustration as a threat. It would take a great deal to scare Caine. One could take a knife to his throat and he wouldn't take it seriously. Pomni wasn't even sure if fear was programmed in his AI.

But Pomni stared at the floor, eyes scribbled, forcing herself into disassociation to stop herself from doing something she’ll regret, and suppressing any more anger.

She hated him. She hated where she was. She hated so much of this. She had a long fucking day and she really didn't need this. She couldn't cry, she couldn't scream. She felt the strongest urge to have a tantrum in her room but that wasn't possible! She just can't win in this shit hole!

Ugh! God DAMN IT!

So much screaming went through her head, but it was nothing but silence on the outside. She was just about ready to be completely immobile for the night. Mentally skip pass the rest of the day, she could just explode and she would be okay with it.

Caine rolled his eyes and took a sip from his glass, but Pomni’s overall energy was too loud to ignore. He sighed. 

The groom lifted her head up by poking a finger on her forehead, and forcing her to look up at him. “ As much as how beautiful you are pouting, it's really ruining my night.”

Silence.

“ Pomni, do you want to be intoxicated?”

Silence again.

…Caine patted her face.

“ Huh? What? Where am I?”

“ I'm noticing your desire to be intoxicated. Do you want to be drunk?”

Pomni squinted her eyes and furrowed her brows, looking at him in question. Suspicious. “ What's in it for—”

“ I will give you the ability to be intoxicated if you stop seething. I will not have this attitude on my wedding night.” Caine said, grumbling, taking another sip at his glass. “ So I ask you one last time, would you like to be-”

“ YES!” pomni cried!

Caine squinted his eyes at that reply, once again unamused by Pomni’s rude interruption. But this time she wasn't apologetic at all, rather grabbing at his collar desperately.

she continued. “ God, yes, please—” 

Oh he really shouldn't be rewarding this behaviour. 

And just like that, Pomni's glass was filled once again. It didn't take her long to start sipping but their mini deal came with boundaries:

(1)She is to take her time and behave while drinking.

(2)Caine has the ability to make her sober again at the snap of a finger.

(3) She may only have one glass of wine.

That was it. Truth be told, I didn't care for anything else. If she gets aggressive he could easily subdue her. If she hurt herself, as long as her dress wasn't ruined he was fine.

At first it felt like nothing. Pomni was just calm, her speech becoming slightly slurred, but otherwise it was just Pomni. She looked light weight and she was light weight. 

Ah, that's more like it. Quiet. 

He wrapped his arm around her again, and this time Pomni just accepted her fate. She leaned into his touch, thinking of him as nowhere different from a pillow.

Pomni’s vision could go blurry with how little attention she was paying at that moment. But she couldn't help but wonder. The blinding lights, the food, nice decor… and asked: “ Why all the effort?”

“ I don't say no to a celebration to my name! and yours I guess.” Caine mumbled that last part in the middle of a sip.  “… and if my brother asks one of you, you have the right to say that our wedding was official.”

“ God, you two are such brothers….” Pomni muttered under her breath.

“ Only by code.”

The bride put a palm on her face, muffling her words. “ No… the fighting. The quaralling, the one upping…  you act like little boys.”

“ …Excuse me?”

“ I didn't even think marriage can be official in the digital realm… you make the rules. Might as well make wedding certificates and it would be just as official.” Pomni chuckled. “ But you married me cuz you wanted to make your brother jealous.”

… He didn't have the energy to reply to such an immature, untrue, false, made up, retort. He just rolled his eyes. He had too much self respect to entertain such false assumptions. “ Ugh…” his face grew in disgust. Pomni without filter is worse that he thought. At this point he'd prefer if she got aggressive instead.

Time passed. Pomni wasn't very pretty when she was drunk. She'd have the ugliest laugh, and the crudest things to giggle at, though, the last one was a little amusing. But Caine was just waiting for til the moment the glass was empty so he could— pop! Snap her back to soberity. 

But something intrigued him.

She started talking about his brother.

Her filter became less and less. And Caine perked up when she did. She talked badly about Able’s taste in music and art, how annoying it was whenever he visited the circus, how much she despised his very existence…

…Caine filled her glass again.

“ —a-and that nagging voice! ‘That sounds wonderful, sweetie!’ ‘ Oh, Pomni, you're so smart!’ God!”

Caine chuckled, and started leaning closer towards Pomni to hear her better.

Pomni continued,“ Oh he's so pretentious! And so-- so—”

“ Condescending?”

“ Yes! C-Condescending, patronizing, I— what am I? Nine??!”

Caine laughed! Oh hearing slander about his brother was music to his ears! And to hear it from someone to passionately-- he can't get enough! This was making his night!

“ S-say… was my glass always so full?” Pomni turned to her wine glass. She could have sworn she's been drinking for an hour at this point… she doesn't remember refilling it!

“ Hm? Oh, no no, digital hellucinations, my dear. Do carry on with what you were saying.” Caine pushed her wine glass closer to her chest, not bringing much attention to it.

“ Oh. Right. As I was saying…”

Oh Caine was having the time of his life. Smug chuckling left his teeth, absolutely enraptured by Pomni’s unfiltered bad mouthing. Shes been putting into words feelings he held for far too long. Ahh, he could stay there for hours.

“ I mean— at least you don't even-- try to hide that you don't like me. You don't act like friends with any of us.”

Caine could feel himself blush, playfully swiping his wrist at her. “ Oh you're too much.”  She was praising him now? Why, Christmas came early! How can he not enable this behaviour? “ Keep going.”

The trauma bonding would further on, but at some point Pomni tuckered herself out. The alcohol was getting her, she's been talking long enough, she's been full of hate enough today. Pomni leaned her head back on the chair to doze off, before Caine shook her awake. 

“ Hey!” He grabbed her face, mushing both her cheeks. “ Awaken! Tonight hasn't ended yet. We have yet to full-fill the husband/wife quota.”

“ Mmm…you're already my husband, remember? Kaufmo said so at the..the..” Pomni yawned. “Wedding.. ceremony…”

Caine groaned!

Snap!

“ Oh- damn it!”

And just like that all alcohol was erased from Pomni’s system. He also fully woke her up. Pomni can never truly escape that day. She groaned into her hands as she felt energy return to her body.

“ Come, come.” Caine got up and fixed his suit. “ Let's at least greet the guests off. Then you'll sleep at the manor.”

“ On my way…” 

Alcohol truly was a temporary darling. Just when she felt her sorrows were drowned away, she came back into reality— at an even worse state.

The two teleported back downstairs to end the party. Caine announced it's end and Pomni was saying goodbye to her friends. She greeted Kinger goodnight, waved Ragatha goodbye while she was busy with (one of) the twins. Jax’s goodbye was nothing but mockery, gesturing to her like she's some little princess in her wedding dress, which Pomni froze in embarrassment. Zooble wasn't even there when she came downstairs…for the better maybe. They always made her skin crawl.

The guests were away and the two were alone once again. At the snap of a finger, Caine fixed the entire reception. Any mess, streamers, decoration, gone, as if there never was a party to begin with.

Caine fixed his coat and arranged his gloves, dusting off all the mess that came with being in the vicinity of the others. Meanwhile, Pomni was thinking to herself— something she never thought to question…

“ Hey, Caine…” she looked up at him. “ When you said ‘sleep at the manor’, what —”

And swoop! Next think she knew he swept her off her feet in the traditional bridal style position, and before she could react—snap! They were teleported somewhere else! A bedroom that was nowhere like the others.

“UH—” Before she could say anything, Caine put his arms out straight and dumped her on to the bed. Man. What a romantic guy.

Oof Pomni frowned when she was dropped head-first, so carelessly and aggressively on the cushions… she groaned in misery— before remembering where she was.

She quickly got her head up and looked around! She was wrong! This place was familiar!

“ Huh!?”

“ My bedroom.” Caine said so passively. “ Well technically now it's yours as well, but. It's mine.” It looked like his mind was occupied with something else, he was staring forward but he was not at the present moment. She knew that look, he was searching something in his database.

“ When was this??” 

“ Since I told my brother you were moving in.”

“ Why??”

“ I'm ignoring you if you keep asking questions.’

Pomni looked around… this was like the guest room they made for the performers but grander. The bed was even a little higher— God forbid she falls off in her sleep. 

Caine fits right in the room’s aesthetic, Pomni was completely out of place. The room’s palette was red and black, with linings of gold here and there… Caine really hadn't bothered to make it accommodating for her. She just sat there in silence awkwardly like she was just invited to a friend’s house.

Man…can she even sleep in this? She looked down on the sheets: they were red, The pillows as well. the wood was furnished black and if she looked up, she'd see a chandelier at the ceiling. 

She shivered… Her old bedroom was weird, but she's spent just enough time in it to grow comfortable. at least she fit in its overall aesthetic. But she doesn't think she could say the same for this one. This whole room screamed Caine.

“ Ah. Here it is. ‘How newlyweds spend their wedding night’.” Caine said, and continued to look forward. 

“ What…N...No. Caine, don't read that.” Caine really…really…did n o t need to know about human customs. She's going to die from how awkward this was about to be..

The AI muttered what he was reading, “ ‘ Spend time together, Newlyweds often feel drained after a day of celebration …’ skip.”

“ Caine.” Pomni winced. “ Caine, did you not do research beforehand-”

“ ‘ When both couples lay in bed together it's important to have both parties feel safe in each other's presence—’ ickk.. skip. Are there any alternatives?”

“ Caine, I'm going to throw up.”

“ ‘According to a new survey with over 350 recently-married couples, nearly 40 percent of newlyweds had—’...” 

Caine squinted in disgust. 

“ I'm not reading that.”

Pomni at this point just gave up and put her head on the pillow.

“ Seeing as none of this is applicable to us, let's just skip this step of the consummation. As much as it pains me not to properly follow the process. I'll just leave you here and you can sit out the night. Good?”

“ I-”

“ Wonderful.” Caine snapped his fingers and the two were back in their usual outfits. He was back in his ringmaster clothes and Pomni was in her sleeping wear. And by sleeping wear, it means her usual tutu. Because she does not have sleeping wear.

Caine fixed himself up and pulled a blanket up on Pomni’s body. That's good enough. Husband's say goodnight to their wives if he was correct? 

Caine scanned his database again. 

Yeah, he was correct. 

“ Goodnight, dear.”

“ Ahh…” This was weird. “ G-Good.. Goodnight.”

And just like that, Pomni was off to sleep. Meanwhile, Caine teleported out of his room into another place at the Manor. He dusted his hands off and was already somewhere else mentally. he had other matters to attend to, another show to organize. He's spoiled himself enough with a night celebrating his name, now it was back to work. How Caine liked to work.

Morning followed and Pomni was snapped awake with a booming greeting “ Good morning, dear.”

Pomni screamed.

Her heart would beat out of her chest from the surprise-- forcing her up from her fight or flight

She flinched away at the sight of Caine's face inches away from hers. They sat there in silence for a moment… Pomni gulped, before looking pass him and seeing where she was then remembering the night before. 

“Wh…” the red bed, the chandelier… “Oh.” Pomni look at her hand, the left, and saw the ring that stubbornly stuck to her finger. but before she could say anything more, the blanket was thrown off of her, a snap, and the next thing she knew she was sat on the vanity table.

Oh god-- everything was going so fast… Caine snapped his fingers again and her grooming mannequins teleported in. “ I'll leave you here to get ready. I must awaken everyone else for role call. There should be a door to the circus down the hall! Be there.”

Pomni forced a smile and two thumbs ups, then, Caine was off.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She hadn't considered how little privacy she had now that her and Caine shared the same bedroom. Will he be doing this every morning? God, not only is it an incredibly inconvenient start of her day, it's also like having the world's most dangerous alarm clock.

Pomni put a hand through her face and grumbled, keeping herself awake— less so in the physical sense more in the emotional motivation sense. And before she knew it, the mannequins brushed her hair and did their work.

The next few days were something she had to get used to. Every morning Pomni would be greeted by a routine wake up, and every night she would be dumped back into bed, greeted goodnight, and Caine immediately leaving a second later. “Goodmorning, dear.”, “goodnight, dear.” again and again. Caine really was committed to the husband role-- though it wasn't far for AI to follow certain routines and patterns after acquiring a new set of data.

Oh how could she forget: 

Able spent more time in the Manor than Caine did. She would often see him around the house minding his own business, doing his own half of work. He never tried to make small talk anymore which was a stark contrast to his overly friendly persona towards her before she got married. The sounds of violins would go quiet when she walked in the room. It was as if he could just walk pass her with how invisible she was to him. He didn't have lips but she felt that if he did, it would turn into a scowl.

Once, she remembered walking pass him in the hallway, that time she tried to start conversation and—

“ Able?”

“ Don't talk to me.” With out even turning around, his heels were already clacking away, posture more spiteful than his usual.

It was odd but Pomni rolled her eyes.

Good riddance.

During her stay though she never stopped looking for an exit. Being in the brothers’ home was a system all in itself. Ever since she moved in, Caine apparently was there more often. This made it hard to navigate but memorizing both the brother’s schedules didn't take long. Being ai they were very systematic, consistent, as long as there were no human interruption nothing was stopping them from following the same routine.

To be in close vascity between Caine and Able meant no privacy. Pomni snuck around to investigate, less she’d be caught and teleported back. She's tried most of everything, but the brothers’ Manor was bigger and more…liminal, than she thought. 

For every one hallway it felt like there were 50 more. Door after door, an endless maze of nothing but unfinished projects and code. The Manor was a testing facility… a place where the brothers tested out code and concepts before applying them at the circus… there has to be something.

At some points she was so deep into it she didn't think either of the brother's could hear her. She didn't know if anyone could hear her. She could scream or laugh as much as her manic mind can get, and no one could. It was comforting in a way to finally be left alone, but dread came with it.

The dread or never making it back home. The dread of never leaving this torturous realm. 

Things started to get blurry.

The wallpaper was repeating. Doors, every single one looked the same. She didn't know if one door was the other. She turned back and— did the lay out change?? The wallpaper was all so fancy and clean but headachingly repetative. The world was spinning. Her head had a pulse. Her heart was wriggling in her chest. It felt like someone reached inside her back and pulled her spine out.

She opened a door, 

And another

And another

And another.

Random generations, code and miscalculations, projects abandoned and left to dust, circus acts left to die. To die. To die. To die. She envied it. She envied the ability to die.

She got so dizzy. So frustrated, but there was nothing to break, nothing to focus on. she was on autopilot. With how she's been opening doors for the past few hours, she didn't even care to find an exit anymore. Simply open doors. Wander around. If you find an exit on the way, congratulations. But otherwise, there was nothing anymore.

One hallway had a mirror and all she could do was stare with broken eyes. What she saw, she couldn't care less about anymore…who was that she was looking at? Where was she? Who was she? How did she get here? What was her name again?

She kept staring and her eyes wandered to her hands. Amongst all the dissociation was a pit of anger in her throat. She looked at her finger. The ring. And all she saw was the very thing keeping her trapped there. The cruelest person— the cruelest thing, in the world.

Pomni started to pull at the ring.

She hated him. She hated him so much. She hated how much he toyed with her. She didn't understand how such fucked up things could even happen to a block of code, she didn't know what peice of shit of a person would ever create him. If god can be proven then the devil can be too. And he was living proof of that. The entire circus was proof of that.

Pomni grunted a tearful cry, desperately aching for the ring to come off, but it wouldn't budge. If there was pain, she couldn't feel it. She would bleed if it meant having to take it off. Pain was the last thing on her mind at that moment, just the desperate need for something, anything to go her way. Out of anything in this god forsaken realm, she wanted freedom from something, living breathing proof that there was hope in leaving, that she had a semblance of control in this hell.

“ God DAMN IT!!” The pain on her fingers were apparent, yet she hasn't processed any bit of it. “ I hate you! ” She sucked air to her teeth as tears formed in her eyes. She saw no use in keeping anything in anymore. 

Tears streamed down her face with no means of stopping. Pomni, with bruises and scratches on her ring finger, collapsed with her knees on the floor, bent down, letting her tears be absorbed by the carpet. Her whimpering, cries, tears she hadn't let out in ages. She soon let her forehead touch the floor, complete and utter loss of hope and motivation. 

And for a few moments she just sat there… adjusting by sitting on the floor, leaning her back on the wall, tears streamed empty emotions. Crying didn't help. Running didn't help. Screaming didn't help. And so she sat there. Like a puppet left to sit until their next performance.

That's all she was. And that's all she'll ever be.

Was she any different in the real world? She didn't care anymore.

Pomni let out her last hiccups. The floor wasn't comfortable at all…The doll stood up, body heavy. Her steps towards any door were heavy and unmotivated. The only sound echoing through the halls were the sound of her muffle heels, clacking above the carpet.

She could use some sleep. 

After a long day of organising and work, Caine reached into his coat for his pocket watch. It was about time where the performers would be off to bed, and he didn't need to tell them that. This is one of the rare times of the day where he leaves them to their own. He, however, doesn't need sleep. Caine AI knows no tire. He turned his heel, ready to do more work before remembering— ah. His wife. That part of the daily routine. 

See, for the past few days he's been having the formula to wake Pomni up in the morning, and putting her to bed at night, leaving seconds after. Always with his “goodnight, dear” and “good morning, dear”s that one. That's right. He was officially given the trait husband, and-- he's heard that that's what husband's do. And so he Incorporated it in his system.

Of course, even after their wedding night he never put in the effort to even think about laying in the same bed with her. First of all, he has no use for sleep. Second of all, that would be a complete waste of time and resources—He can do work simply standing up and staring into oblivion, but there is only so much he can do. Third of all, it was terribly boring. Fourth of all, he can touch Pomni but laying in the same bed for a prolonged period of time-- no amount of snaps would rid him of all her filth. And fifth—

The list can go on and on, and yet… something ached him to his core. It's been bothering him since the wedding night actually. The very act of not spending the night with her as husband and wife, that skipped a step in the process. And that bothered him more than any boundary he has up. It was part of a system, and he didn't officialize it because he wasn't feeling it that day? Caine AI, were you coded in a barn? Frankly, he was disappointed in himself for letting his ego— perfectionism get the better of him. Was he even truly husband without that final step? He felt like a fraud.

That whole thought process took place in the matter of .0001 seconds. And he was off. 

He teleported to The Manor on his way to atleast clean up the bedroom first. But just when he made his way up the stairs, he turned, noticing the clearly dishevelled and previously distressed looking Pomni coming out of one of the hallways.

He squinted and scanned her. 

Dirty clothes, eye bags, wet and sore eyes, sniffling, head low… 

Oh. She had been crying. 

He rolled his eyes. As long as she wasn't doing it on stage he didn't care. And frankly he didn't want to deal with it.

He cleared his throat to let her know that he was present, in a way, also telling her to gather herself.

“ Oh…” But Pomni didn't budge. She wasn't as disassociated as earlier but still had little energy to be scared at that moment. “ Hey, Caine. I’ll get upstairs soon, I just need a minute to—”

He didn't have time for this. 

Snap!

The usual routine continued. He teleported her to their room, dumped her to bed and sent Pomni face down on the cushion. She doesn't think she would ever get used to that. She put her head up groggily, still too tired to even really complain, before crawling to her usual side of the bed, the right side. She let out a few sniffles of misery. But before she could tuck herself in, she realised that Caine hadn't greeted her goodnight. Or— hasn't even teleported away yet, actually…

She turned to Caine in the bedroom and would notice that he was looking at himself in the mirror. He was snapping his fingers, switching through different kinds of sleeping wear— what??

She squinted in confusion. Caine usually wouldn't stick around for any longer than a few seconds. 

“ Wh…what are you doing…” Pomni said, voice clearly still sore for all her time crying.

Caine finally found pajamas that fit him and fixed himself in the mirror. “ I'm spending my time here tonight.” 

“ …Why…?”

“ It doesn't concern you.” he turned to her, and floated his way to the bed, before noticing what she was wearing. She was still wearing her uniform! Is that what she was sleeping in the whole time? Honestly he hadn't cared, and he wouldn't care had it been for the fact that he was joining her tonight. He was in classy night wear while she wore her tutu. That simply isn't uniform.

A snap of a finger, and Pomni was wearing a nightgown that matched his shirt and pants. With bags under her eyes, she looked down. She didn't have the energy to comment on it as anything special. It was nice to be comfortable for once. But there was nothing more she can say about it.

“ There we go.” Caine said. “Goodnight, dear.”

“ …Goodnight.”

He put himself under the covers, but Pomni was still staring off. Someone who cared for Pomni would ask her how she was feeling, but they were not in the room at that moment.

Pomni wasn't feeling good. She was feeling terrible. If this was any other day, she would be terrified to be sleeping next to Caine. But the fact that she doesn't feel anything strong…

She didn't have a good day… entirely honestly, she was hoping to cry herself to sleep that night. It wouldn't be her first, and it wouldn't be her last. But with the devil beside her, he had no choice but keep herself together.

Her breath was shaken. But she laid down for sleep.

A few hours passed. It felt like the longest night the two would ever spend.

Pomni didn't know if it was her nerves or the room temperature, but she buried herself in her blanket. She could close her eyes all she wanted but no amount of pretend could distract her from all the voices in her head. She wasn't hallucinating, it wasn't anything. Rather the voices were more of doubt, insecurity, and fear. It would come often, but that night was especially loud. Terribly so.

Caine on the other hand was staring at the ceiling. Hands on his chest. He's been staring in silence for hours at this point —and he had the artificial patience to go on for longer—but he found this activity inconvenient. And even worse so when he could hear his wife sniffling right beside him.

Pomni finally started shaking under the covers. Hands shielding her head-- her knees were on to her chest with how curled up she was. It hurt to be quieter than she was already being. The voices got to her and all she could do was cry at that point.

Neither of the couple could get themselves to sleep.

Caine could only roll his eyes. While he stared at the ceiling, Pomni was faced to her side, away from him, curled up cold and unrested. For a moment she looked at the hands shielding her, and the representation of her entrapment looked back. With several bruises and scratches around it, her finger still dawned the very ring that put her there. 

The memory of Caine in the wedding ceremony played back-- the very moment he put the ring on her at the altar. That was the moment that sealed her fate. She wished she could take it back. The image felt like dying a hundred times over.

Caine wasn't stupid. Although he knew little understanding of the human condition his processors picked up on certain symptoms and body language. He would usually ignore them as they were a waste of energy, but he had nothing else to process other than the ceiling he'd been staring at for the past few hours.

He knew Pomni wasn't well. What for? He didn't care. All that he knew was that she was upset, and it wasn't worth his time. It wasn't anything that he hasn't already heard a hundred times from the other performers. She was going to cry again and again anyway. What was the use?

Her hiccups and sniffling were tiny compared to the rest of the room. And yet no one was willing to hear her, listen to her. Perhaps that was all she wanted. If she had someone to be there to trust-- maybe this would have been bearable. Maybe in a different timeline she would still have the strength to go on for just another day. But that wasn't realistic. Not in the digital realm. She could scream all she wanted and no one would bat an eye.

This wasn't the first time she cried tears this painful. And it certainly will not be the last.

[yazthebookish]

I just reread the bonus chapter and I'm just, as always, struck by how fucking obvious Gwyn and Azriel's set up is.

✨ He found it already occupied. His shadows had not warned him. It was too late to bank without appearing like he was running, Azriel landed in the ring a few feet from where Gwyn practiced in the chill night, her sword glimmering like ice in the moonlight.

I'm telling you those shadows are going to play wingmen for Az.

✨ His shadows peered over his wings at her. The young priestess smiled--and Azriel thought it might have been directed at his curious shadows.

Does anyone ever really smile at his shadows except for Gwyn 😭

✨ "Happy Solstice," she said, as much a dismissal as it was a holiday blessing. -- He snorted. "Are you kicking me out?" -- Gwyn's teal eyes flashed with alarm. "No! I mean, I don't mind sharing the ring. I just...I know you like to be alone." Her mouth  quirked to the side, crinkling the freckles on her nose. "Is that why you came up here?"

Gwyn really indirectly said he was going to be a brooding ass so let's wish him a happy solstice and let him go and he still teased her back instead of taking the opening she gave him. Also, no one pays enough attention to this detail but SHE KNOWS he likes to be alone 👀 girl is paying close attention to him alright 👀

✨ Sort of. "I forgot something," he reminded her. -- "At two in the morning?" Pure amusement glittered in her stare. Better than the pain and grief he'd spied a moment before. So he offered her a crooked smile. "I can't sleep without my favorite dagger."-- "A comfort to every growing child." -- Azriel's lips twitched.

Gwyn has no filters on I love her 😂😂😂 she really indirectly called his lying ass out.

✨ "How was the party?" Her breath curled in front of her mouth, and one of his shadows darted out to dance with it before twirling back to him. Like it heard some silent music. -- "Fine," he said, and realized a heartbeat later that it wasn’t a socially acceptable answer. "It was nice."   Not much better. So he asked, "Did you and the priestesses have a celebration?"

For a 500+ year old immortal Az you should've been better at this game, but I'm proud of you for at least being self-aware and trying to have a normal conversation. 2/5 on the effort but still appreciated.

✨ She angled her head, hair shining like molten metal. "Do you sing?” -- He blinked. It wasn't every day that people took him by surprise, but..."Why do you ask?" -- "They call you shadowsinger. Is it because you sing?" -- “I am a shadowsinger--it's not a title that someone just made.” -- She shrugged again, irreverently. Az narrowed his eyes, studying her. "Do you, though?" she pressed. "Sing?" -- Azriel couldn't help his soft chuckle. "Yes."

1. Not many people take him by surprise but she did. -- 2. I wouldn't be surprised because it's funny as hell if she asked him because of shadowSINGER -- 3. Azriel taking offense and reaffirming he is, in fact, a SHADOWSINGER. -- 4. Sarah confirmed there will be a scene of him singing, as far as we know Gwyn is likely the only character who knows he does, also the fact that SJM created something common between the two of them and it's that they both sing? -- 5. It's sweet to think that Gwyn wanted to know something about him and asked him about something she herself loves to do, which is sing.

✨ "I blame Cassian for this. He's too busy making eyes at Nesta to notice such mistakes these days." Azriel laughed. "I’ll give you that."  

Gwyn complaining about Nessian and Az is like "I can relate " 😂

✨ Gwyn smiled broadly. "Thank you." -- Azriel dipped his head in a sketch of a bow, something restless settling in him. Even his shadows had calmed. As if content to lounge on his shoulders and watch.  

She smiled at him and both him and his shadows felt calm 🥹 like compare how aloof and depressed he was at the start of his scene with Gwyn to him feeling this just after one conversation with her 😭😭 it's so 😭😭 I love them so fucking much.

✨ Gwyn nodded her farewell, again facing the ribbon. A warrior sizing up an opponent, all traces of that charming irreverence gone. Azriel entered the warmth of the stairwell, and as he descended, he could have sworn a faint, beautiful singing followed him. Could have sworn his shadows sang in answer.

"That charming irreverence" Gwyn is so unapologetic about that irreverence I love her for it -- also, that's a clear, in-your-face, clue about a mating bond. I stand by that and my opinion remains unchanged since I first read the bonus chapter in 2021.

✨ Clotho was smart enough to see through his deflection. She wrote, "I’ll give it to Gwyneth, Tell her a friend left it for her". -- He wouldn't go so far as to call Gwyn a friend, but... "Fine. Thank you."  

I don't really find this alarming when people try to push into my face. It's obvious they're not in love "yet" and Azriel doesn't have any friends outside the IC, he doesn't know how to label it. It's still early to even label it. That "but..." leaves an opening there.

✨ Clotho's pen moved once more. She deserves something as beautiful as this. I thank you for the joy it shall bring to her. -- Something sparked in Azriel's chest, but he only nodded his thanks and left. He could picture it, though, as he ascended the stairs back to the House proper. How Gwyn's teal eyes might light upon seeing the necklace. For whatever reason... he could see it.  -- But Azriel tucked away the thought, consciously erasing the slight smile it brought to his face. Buried the image down deep, where it glowed quietly. -- A thing of secret, lovely beauty.

When Clotho thanked him for the joy the gift wil bring to Gwyn that's when something sparked in him. That's when he started to picture that joy. "For whatever reason" she's likely your mate bro that's why but we'll save that for later. He was aware and conscious enough to erase his smile yet bury the image of Gwyn's joy in his chest. He had a DAMN SMILE on his face while thinking of Gwyn's joy, like, that's so precious 😭 and Clotho is 100% true, she deserves all the joy the world has to offer for her (I just wish it wasn't a necklace meant for someone else). I get the kindness behind the act but it can bite him in the ass if SJM brings it up in the main book.

That's only a teaser for what's to come and that's the purpose of the bonus chapter. I can see why Sarah was more excited for readers to read Azriel's chapter than Feysand's chapter. She knew what she was doing here and what she's setting up. I didn't want to post the earlier scenes since I don't want to deal with people showing up with pitchforks and I don't need to talk about other ships I'm happy and content to gush about my own.

Every time I reread this chapter it just reminds me of how obvious Gwyn and Azriel's set up is and you don't need a pairing to bang or make out to create a set up. We didn't even get much but they are going to be such a fun couple, I need more of funny and easy-going Azriel.

[coffincestuous]

i’ve been super busy this month so i’m about (checks date) 15 days late to the progress report, but…

kit9 progress report #4!!

we have these two images to start us off!!

before i get to leyley’s dialogue here, i want to say that i love the inside of wherever this is. is this part of the abandoned factory? is this just somewhere they found? i also see a hammer that stands out, and a particular door that’s boarded up. break in!!!

i wonder if this is a genuinely flashback or a dream sequence? if it’s a dream, whose? we’ve seen both andrew and ashley have dreams about their past (ashley when the game starts episode one, and andrew when he falls asleep at their parents’ house), and from the devlogs, we know that we’re going to see a whole lot more of their past with the next update!! so, i wonder who this moment is important to?

anyway. leyley suggesting they start a shooting spree in a church is very in-character for her. i don’t think i have to ask how she got there or why, because she’s just kind of… like that. we see that same behavior when they’re going back to the hotel room to lure the cultist out:

she’s so silly. my favorite problem girl.

the second image we have is this:

ashley is in some cultist’s apartment? house? …where’s andrew? did they break in? probably not, considering the ritual on the floor being up and ready to go. is andrew around, or is it just ashley here? was she invited? did she invite herself? did they attend another cultist event??

the rune on the floor here is different from the runes we’ve seen previously!! the one in the first cultist’s house is your standard pentagram with five smaller pentagrams around it. the second one, at the cultist party, is also a pentagram with five smaller pentagrams around it (but it looks better than the first one).

welcome to “how to summon a demon 101” with ashley graves!

i assume ashley made some kind of snarky comment to provoke the cultist into identifying her boyfriend. it’d be really funny if she asked if the guy was their brother. really funny

finally, we have A VIDEO!!!!!

hoooooly shit!!!! teenage andrew!!!!! teenage julia!!!! it’s great to see they haven’t grown out of their emo fashion.

julia’s so CUTE!!!!! it’s very sweet of her to reach out to andrew!! we know that andrew’s not the type to give a shit (internally) about rumors, but julia doesn’t know that. it’s very nice that she went out of her way to reassure him!!

it’s very surprising that andrew is the one who ultimately kickstarted their relationship. julia probably wasn’t going to say anything to him about her crush despite it being super super obvious. she’s very nervous and flustered in this scene!! the rumors surrounding him and ashley, regardless of truth, must have been harmful enough that he felt like he needed to step in to dispell them. andrew and his reputation… his care for ashley…

i love how we can see ashley’s interpretation of things and compare it to andrew’s interpretation of things. ashley’s view of the world is so skewed by her fears of abandonment and not being enough. she’s terrified of losing andrew, so anyone getting close to him is a threat that needs to be dealt with. but, andrew doesn’t have that same insecurity. he knows where he stands with ashley, he knows that no one can replace him in her life, and she can’t be replaced in his.

i’m so glad we get to see more of julia!! i know the game is titled the coffin of andy and leyley, but she’s important to the narrative!! she’s one of the few people to witness ashley’s full anger!! she was friends with nina!! she has seen how andrew acted when ashley wanted something!! i didn’t want to leave her in episode one…

it’s unfortunate that the next episodes will be delayed due to editor limitations, but that means that the game has so much content and i’m so exited to play it upon release!!!

[babydollmarauders]

more on dove and johnny’s friendship? like besides her and mercs ofc i just love their friendship. has johnny and dove ever had a moment that Jack has seen and is like “yeah they’re good for each other” (but like platonically ofc)

okay, i’m so late to this and i apologize!

dove and johnny have such a soft but chaotic friendship— like, while she and dawson’s friendship is pure and heartfelt (lots of platonic cuddling and words of affirmation), she and john have a different kind of bond

dove and john technically met for the first time while he was on the penguins. dove was already working for the devils at that time, but of course, if the devils are playing against the pens then dove will be found with her cousin, so sidney introduced them! they became acquaintances, but their friendship truly bloomed when johnny came to the devils.

john and dove have plenty of inside jokes, and obviously they playfully bully each other often— dove has a bit of a hard time being emotional and lovingly verbal with john, solely because she loves him on such a deep level (platonically, of course) that if she tries being soft with him, she cries. which is why it’s mostly seen when she’s drunk. but john understands completely and he loves the way their friendship is, bullying and all.

there definitely was a moment where jack saw them and just knew they were good for each other— there was one night where dove was just feeling absolutely homesick. near tears, just absolutely not herself, and jack was so worried for her. but she just really missed sidney. and jack had tried everything he could think of to help, and none of it was really working, all dove wanted to do was lay in bed and flick through her camera album of her and sid, and wait for sid’s game to be over and for him to get off the plane back in pittsburgh so she could talk to him, but that would be hours and jack just could bear seeing her like this for that long. so he did the only thing he could think of… he called john (technically he called dawson too, but dawson was busy with his girlfriend).

john came over and crawled right into bed with dove. they laid side by side, staring up at the bedroom ceiling (where dove had put up glow in the dark stars not long after she moved in) with the lights turned off, just exchanging stories of sidney. soon enough, dove was smiling wide, melodious laughs falling from her lips as she and john recounted the funniest moments that each of them had of sid. and that’s when jack stood in the doorway, his lips quirked up in a light smile, and he knew that john and dove were good for each other. they had things in common that jack couldn’t compare, but he didn’t feel threatened or jealous, because he knew that though they got each other in a way that nobody else could, they only had the purest and friendliest feelings. john and dove may have a funny way of showing their affection for each other, but that moment showed jack how deep their friendship truly ran.

[streamdotpng]

Hahahaha! The Big Three. I love it!!

You know the rest of Nevermore is looking at the three of them wondering how the heck late bloomer Enid got all these woman.

You have Wednesday, the on most known to the students and hey can kinda see why. They've been in that 'will they? won't they?' Stage for years. There's been bets since 'The Hug'. Plus Bestfriend turned lover's is a classic.

Then you have Phoebe. Who just gives this baddass drifter vibe. Who wouldn't seem the type to look twice at someone like Enid but has her a blushing mess daily.

Finally Tara. And most are gobsmacked. How they hell did Enid manage to get a college girl?! A really smart one apparently as Tara has joined a few of their classes. Tara brings out the wolf side to Enid. More specifically the protective wolf side. If any student starts to make waves of a normie in the school, Enid is there with a slightly terrifying smile reminding them to be polite.

IKR, THIS IS WHY I FIND IT SO FUNNY DURING SENIOR YEAR

like listen, enid is lovely! i love her, she's my favorite character but she's very bright in a this can be lowkey obnoxious kinda the way. (probably a teenager thing too, which is valid, we all go through it)

I got a headcannon where she purposefully made herself so bright and colorful (basically the opposite of a werewolf student, who usually had dark colored hair etc etc) to bring attention to things she can control instead of her not being able to wolf out. Not to mention that she seems intense asf to things that she likes and sometimes intensity can make people who aren't into you already dislike you more

however since she wolfed out and got more confident by the end of season one, the reason to be this way dissapeared! Enid can totally like her colors but now there's no use to putting out a certain image anymore

so as years past, Enid got influenced by the girls and yada yada, character development but it doesn't stop the lingering reputation Enid held since most of the time said character development happened off school grounds.

Soo to nevermore, Enid tends to be this rather happy go lucky gal, probably more bark than bite! The scar says otherwise but compared to Wednesday? yeah, Enid's kinda the more approachable between the two.

Also i don't know why but basing off how Enid acted with her crush with ajax, i just love the iteration where she's a girlfailure when it comes to actively showing her attraction. Her and Wednesday match with that honestly

BASICALLY, its very surprising to their batch that Enid has game

[shining-gem34]

||A few days late cause it slipped my mind and I wasn't in the right mood to talk about the Trailer/Live-Stream for 2.7. owo

I am very much hype to meet Sunday and Fugue (Tingyun) again, because we finally get to see what happened to them after main story quests. Tingyun!! Because really, this be our first official meeting since the one we met was Phantyllia in the luofu. ;w; There's alot of brainworms I have about Tingyun mindset at the moment. Considering how she almost died, her identity stolen, and now she's returning to the Xianzhou Luofu not with glory...but as a survivor who is scared if they still have a place there or not. After all, I do think Tingyun went through a lot before she was discarded... Also Ruan Mei, what are you planning still because it's still sus----

Sunday. Oh boy, I did have a feeling he might end up being similar to the Wanderer. He lost everything he's built up, but the most important thing is that he's free now from The Family shackles. Even so, what does freedom mean for Sunday? Does he believe he deserves to be free? Does he think he deserves to be redeemed?

But holy shit, the trailer giving me Wanderer Interlude quest vibes with facing your other self. I am so hype.

I want to say they're both so pretty with their idle animations. HNRGHHH. I really do want to get them cause they're pretty, Sunday good with Jing Yuan, and Fugue is good for Firefly Super Break Team. But...I'm out of jades. ;w;

[Stares at Amphoreus Trailer] ...Okay, I am like very interested in most characters that will appear in the new planet. But not much else to make me want them as badly. So until then, I will be on the fence if I want to pull for them or not when they become playable.

Okay back to the Amphoreaus Trailer cause it is so gorgeous??? The Greek-Style trailer is just so beautiful. The rich history in Amphoreus is going to be one heck of a ride when we get there. I do think each of the Aeons had an impact on Amphoreaus at some point in time.

Gold-Nanook

Black/Darkness- Ix

War (or the one scene with the backstabbing)- Aha (beucase THEY do get off a good laugh from conflicts too).

I don't think there's ONE Aeon they follow, but they follow multiples of them. That is a food for a thought for Jade only.

AlsoAlsoAlso, I am aware we're going to see alot of HI3 expys in Amphoreaus. I have not played HI3, I only know very little and only enough to recognize some of the characters (like Himeko, Mei, Welt, Bronya, Seele, etc.) So this is going to be fun watching HI3 players go bananas about 3.0 and onward.

Astral Express Update: We're getting to see a new car unlocked soon! :000 The Party Car do sound fun like a Game Room honestly. Gaslightning March 7th, it has always been there but renovated to reflect Penacony ascetics to keep things fun and relaxing like a dream. And Caelus/Stelle finally gets their own room to renovate too! NGL, if I was March I be envious too my bestie gets a fancy room int eh PARTY car away from the others. SMH.

Which...Looking at the sneak peek of the Trailblazer room...It looks so big compared to the train itself??? I have so many questions to what they have done with the room to make it fit. Guess we'll see when the patch drops.

I love how PomPom is finally putting the law down and getting the passengers/members on cleaning duty. I do think everyone chips in to help maintain the Express, but because things have been busy lately it's all been on PomPom to clean/polish the Express. smh.

Okay I think that's pretty much it overall my thoughts about the 2.7 livestream/trailers.

I am looking forward to meeting THE Herta too this patch. It's so funny she chose that title for herself.

Mentions:

I love PomPom throwing their broomstick at Owlbert for making a mess.

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

DREAMING OF YOU (2024)

Starring Jack McCafferty, Lauren LaVera, Ian Ross, Jake Westphal, Katie Marovitch, Liz Priestley & Kevin Giles.

Screenplay by Jack McCafferty.

Directed by Jack McCafferty.

Distributed by Rinky Dink Kitchen Sink Productions. 95 minutes. Not Rated.

Screened at the 2024 Philadelphia Film Festival.

This local Philly-based debut surreal romantic comedy from writer / director / star / animator Jack McCafferty is a lot of fun and often very funny, even if you know it’s just wish fulfillment rather than an even slightly realistic look at a relationship.

It tells the story of Miles (McCafferty) and Ren (Lauren LaVera of the currently white-hot Terrifier movies). They meet in a medical waiting room because they are both having issues with sleep problems. Not surprisingly, Miles is immediately smitten with the gorgeous Ren. (Somewhat more surprisingly, the feeling seems to be mutual.)

Much of Miles’ world is broken up by nightmares, and he is rarely able to sleep through the night. (Several of these dream sequences are shown in animated sections done by McCafferty, who is not a great artist, but has a certain style in his work). In these animated dreams, suddenly Ren is in all of them. However, Miles can’t reach her, or even talk to her, as a subconscious representation of his anxiety and shyness. Which is kind of strange, because she’s pretty much throwing herself at him in the waking world.

In one of these dreams, he is on a game show called What Doe She See in Him? and Miles has no answer to this question. Nor does the gameshow host, it’s audience (which is made up of turkeys… don’t ask, it’s sort of a reference to something that happened earlier), or even his sidekick stuffed bear. And honestly, neither can the filmgoers.

It’s not just that she’s massively hotter than he is – and that is very much the case – but he’s also a complete mess. He has problems with anxiety and no self-esteem. He has no job (well he has one he hates early on, but is quickly fired), no money and lives in his late uncle’s garage, which is filled with creepy knickknacks. He also can’t sleep through the night, having nightmares which cause him sleep paralysis, and he often imagines he is being attacked by a demon during these occurrences.

Comparatively, she has an ex-boyfriend who is kind of a dick, and she is dealing with sleep apnea, which causes her to sleep with a CPAP machine. On the plus side, she flirts with him first in the awkward meet cute (in the waiting room of a medical sleep study). She tracks him down in the parking lot and offers him a ride home. She adds him on Facebook first. She texts him first. On their first date, she eventually tells him to make the first move and then has to pretty much talk him into it. Then she even kisses him first.

And why does she fall so hard for him? Well, she says it is because he doesn’t smother her with affection, and he is just himself with her. Yeah, that’s how it usually works with gorgeous women.

Okay, so it’s a nerd romantic fantasy. The hot chick who falls for and seduces the geek. It’s not overly realistic, but it still can be fun to watch. Hell, Judd Apatow made his early career pretty much on similar storylines.

Made on a shoestring budget, Dreaming of You actually turns out to be a pretty impressively well-made film for such an obvious indie. And like I said, it’s often pretty damned funny. Which in the end is all you can ask for in a comedy. I’m looking forward to seeing what McCafferty comes up with next, hopefully with a bit more of a budget.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: October 28, 2024.

[lady-assnali]

Seven (Rosé’s Version)

I guess all of these are going to be named after Taylor Swift songs, here’s the next part. No Rosenali but Rosé deserves a chance to be heard.

(This goes with Rosenali (10 Minute version) and the whole of the teacher au, which will be on AO3 at some point I’m so sorry, for now it’s pretty decently tagged on here)

———

“Are you awake?” Jan hears Rosé’s whispered question right away. She hasn’t been able to sleep, the events of the night still sitting funny in her gut. Also, they’d all been allowed to have an extra scoop of ice cream after dinner, and even though she hates to admit it she’s old enough by now to know that the restlessness in her body is definitely caused by her choice of Moose Tracks and Rosé letting her sneak some of her hot fudge when she’d run out of her own. 

“I’m here.” She answers. Her voice floats through the darkness, softer than usual. Her peppy demeanor leaves her body as soon as Rosé crawls up to her from the trundle. She’s been quiet all night, sitting between Jan and Lagoona during dinner with her eyes trained on her plate. She hadn’t even fought with them over why the crust is the best part of the pizza. She’d barely touched hers. Their mother had told them to leave her alone, that sometimes people just don’t feel like talking.

But this is Rosé.

She’d just gotten to star in her first musical as a high schooler. As a freshman, no less. But she doesn’t seem to have anything to say past thanking them for coming to the show and letting her stay over. She always wants to talk. Between her and Jan, Lagoona can barely ever get a word in. Lagoona tries, and they’re not mean to her, but lately her ten feels young compared to Jan’s twelve and Rosé’s fourteen. They can’t talk about Lemonade Mouth all night long no matter how beautiful Hayley Kiyoko is.

This isn’t her.

She crawls into bed beside Jan, tucking herself in and facing the ceiling. Even in the darkness Jan can see the frown painted across her face, how her cousin doesn’t even try to start whispering silly things into the empty space between them. 

“Hey,” the younger blonde prods, turning her body to face Rosé. “Would you rather…”

“I don’t want to play right now.”

Jan sinks back into her own space, taken aback. Their sleepover games had always kept them awake well past bedtime, causing her mother to lovingly scold them all for sleeping too late the next day while making them breakfast far after the sun has risen. She’s restless in this silence, feeling awkward and young and not like herself at all. But there’s something wrong with her cousin, and she’s pretty sure she can guess what it is. Jan wiggles her way across the bed, fingers threading themselves through soft pink curls with a maternal humming.

“I know she’s your mom, but she’s stupid.” She says, and Rosé can see the roll of her eyes and the irritation through the way the blonde squeezes her tighter, arranges the blankets into a cocoon.

            “But what if it’s me?” The question sits between them, a broken admission of the fear that had been following the older girl throughout most of her life. It’s been a conversation she’s only had through silly jokes and self-deprecating jabs. I’m the ‘special surprise’ baby; the accident, the oops.. Now, all of that just feels real. Jan refuses to answer, partly because she doesn’t want Rosé to hear the way her emotions are clogging her her throat, how the crackling of her older cousin’s voice had sent her stomach an unrelenting, menthol-lingering pang of grief. 

            “She never really wanted me anyway.”

“Don’t say that.” Jan rebuts, her hand stopping in Rosé’s curls. “She’s just…” she attempts to explain the situation away, but even her level of optimism is shaken by the reality of it all.

“Exactly.”

The words seem final; Rosé closes her eyes, sighs against the familiar darkness of Jan’s room. Even though she doesn’t sleep with a nightlight or a sound machine like Rosé does, she doesn’t need it here. There’s nothing to block out. She can hear her aunt moving around the kitchen, stacking the rest of their dishes while humming to herself. Lagoona’s quick footsteps hop up and down the hallway until her father gently chides her, the two of them laughing as he catches up to her. 

Give the big girls a night alone, he warns. You can stay up for an extra half hour if you give them their privacy. Rosie needs a good night’s sleep after all that singing.

Relief floods her as she listens to their footsteps grow faint, the click of the television in the living room. She lets herself get lost in the mundane noises a house can make, the dishes and the chatter and the smooth movements of night until everything is quiet again. She isn’t sure how long it takes; Lagoona attempts to put up a fight to stay up even longer, but it’s resolved with a gentle finality. No screaming, no arguing. Jan’s breathing deeply beside her, and she looks around at the glow stars and the broadway posters and wonders how they got here-how their mothers could be sisters but act nothing alike. She’s not Jan’s sister, but the two of them have always been alike, even as babies. Maybe things like warmth aren’t doled out evenly in families. Maybe there always has to be one bruised-up banana in the bunch.

But then she gets to thinking about the cousins; her and Jan and Lagoona, Marcia and Lemon…she knows who the pick for rotten fruit would be. She hopes that skips a generation.

Jan rustles next to her, lays on her back with her hands on her stomach.

“I can’t sleep.” She says, although Rosé knows she must’ve been asleep for at least fifteen minutes before this. She grunts in agreement, keeping her eyes trained on Jan’s ceiling. “You were really good up there, Ro.”

“Thanks.”

“You deserved to be Ariel. You nailed it, and I’m so proud of you. You’re a freshman!”

“They lost a bunch of people last year, they had to pull from somewhere. Plus, my hair?”

“You got that role because you deserve it. Do you really think that girl who played the chef could’ve sang as hard as you?” Jan giggles, mimicking the French accent the senior girl playing the chef had all but butchered. It makes Rosé smile in spite of herself, and it even prods a laugh out of her when Jan uses the terrible accent to start whisper-singing Kiss the Girl. But it fades out too quickly, and the hush of the night brings back the cloud that Rosé has been sitting under. 

“What’s going on?” Jan prods.

“I’m just…really sad.” Rosé stops, attempting to keep her emotions at bay. It doesn’t work all that well; a fog crowds her eyes, a pressure that makes tears sit in their corners waiting to drop. “I thought maybe this time, she’d come. And I think that maybe that makes me an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot.”

“Then why do I keep doing this to myself? She’s never going to come. I’m never going to get that perfect mother daughter moment. The chef got that moment. Fish #3 got that moment. But I didn’t.”

“You know what you did get? What you’ll get for the rest of your life? Us. Me and Goona and mom and dad in the front row cheering you on. You’re my sister too. You belong with us.”

“I don’t want to go home.” She sounds as little as Lagoona now, tucking the blankets up to her chin and trying not to cry. 

“Stay here.”

“I can’t. She has nobody.”

“So that means you have to be all alone too?”

She doesn’t have an answer for that, so she says nothing. Rosé closes her eyes against the familiar room, the posters and the wall of photographs and the trophies lined up in a row on Jan’s bookshelf. She tries to picture what it might feel like to live here with them, Jan and Lagoona. She’d have to share a room. She’d have to change schools. 

Her mom would be alone, maybe even wondering where Rosé had gone. She’d be angry. Everything would be her fault and nobody else’s. Or maybe she’d feel lonely, or sad. She wouldn’t have Rosé there to keep everything clean, or remember where her spare key had gone. She’d have an empty apartment for her dates but there’d be nobody there when she got broken up with again. She can’t let her mother feel that deep, empty hole in her heart. She feels it every day.

Just as her eyelids begin to feel heavy, she feels Jan’s hand slip into her own.Her younger cousin’s voice is the only love you she’s heard in weeks

[doueverwonder]

I'm so sorry if I'm bothering you, I just love all your OC's.

I kinda wanted to hear about Austria-Hungary, more specifically how Aushun reacted to her death.

oh boy, and no your not, absolutely I can talk about Edith. I'm gonna put the whole thing under a cut bc major tw: for death, mentions of war, and people neglecting their own health because of guilt.

okay so, Edith Stafania Rosemarie Edelstein; she's the as you said representative of the Austro-Hungarian empire, she was born June 8th, 1867 making her 148 years younger than Liesl, 52 years younger than Ludwig, and 109 years older than Franz.

She's terribly stubborn and overdramatic, the second one especially when she's proven wrong; like no one likes being proven wrong but she'll be driven to full out fits over it. The stubborn one more pertains to when she decides something is true it must be true, there's no other way things can be. In her defense on both of those she was very small.

She started counting Ludwig as her best friend as soon as she was old enough to know what a best friend was, Ludwig thought it funny that his little cousin was so attached to him if anything. He called her 'Ditte' which is technically the Danish diminutive of the name but I thought it was cute so it stays.

Liesl as all older siblings do got annoyed by Edith more than most but also would have thrown herself in front of a movie vehicle for her; y'know as all older siblings would. There was a fairly large age gap in between them that made their relationship somewhat odd, Liesl was good at helping take care of Edith when she was a baby, but once Edith was old enough that she wanted to play with Liesl they didn't spend nearly as much time with each other because Liesl didn't want to play most of the games Edith did. (She would fairly often though indulge her little sister in playing castle and being the queen of said castle)

Edith was Roderich and Erzsébet's for lack of better term "miracle baby" (even though considering physical age the title would probably be more accurately applied to Franz) after they lost their second child they decided they still wanted more kids, and tried for a couple decades before giving up. Then when they made up and resumed their relationship in the mid 1860s in comparatively no time at all they were expecting Edith. So she was special, the only one of their kids that was planned and the only one that was born in wedlock (not that important now but this was the late 19th century so bit more important then); as much as they don't want to admit it their world revolved around Edith.

in 1918 she was eight years old, physically. She had been sick the whole war, that wasn't unusual. It didn't make it easier to bear, but they weren't that worried either. Until the end, unlike the last person in the family to pass--Heidi, Holy Rome--there was no gradual decline at the end. She was the same amount of sick she had been the whole war, no concern, she'll be on the mend any day now. Then one morning someone went to go check on her and she was dead.

as for their reactions; by the time Edith actually passed in September on 1919 Erzsébet had already gone back to Budapest and would find out about her daughters death through a far too cold and formal letter. This would happen on both sides but Erzsébet would blame herself a lot, way too much "if i had just stayed with him she could have survived, if I hadn't left, if-" ignoring the fact that their were a dozen reasons the empire crumbled. Her staying might have not changed anything. But she was convinced for a few years this was all her fault, it woukd effect her even years later when she would find out she was expecting Franz; her initial reaction would be to be terrified at the idea of having another child, because that brought about the possibility of losing another child.

Roderich blamed himself sure, but unlike Erzsébet he didn't stop there. It was everyone else's fault too, it was the ww1 Allies who killed his daughter. It was Vuk's fault for killing the archduke and setting off the war. It was Adéla and Evžen's fault for leaving the empire. He even blamed Gilbert and Ludwig at some point. It was everyones fault, her blood was on their hands as far as he was concerned. He buried his daughter because of everyone else's actions, not his own. It would take him years, decades even, to get over this mentality Victim theory. And when he finally would, it would have gathered a lot from both the world wars, and even some things before to the point that his entire belief system would crumble around him. The entire thing would be set off on Edith's Birthday.

as he did every year Roderich would walk himself down to the cemetery with some flowers and some new little trinket he thinks she would enjoy. And he has a conversation with his daughter, "good afternoon. Happy birthday Mäuschen; you're how old now? 120? impossible you were born just yesterday" starting in 1992 Erzsébet & Franz would join him. By 94' so would Liesl, and a year later so would Ludwig.

Roderich and Erzsébet spend a lot of time questioning what could have been done differently, what could have changed how everything turned out, if there could have been a way to save her. But sometimes, like on sunny days in June, they have to stop asking 'what if-' and just start remembering the happy little girl they had.

[mymanyfandomramblings]

Gleecap 3x06--Mash Off

Here we go, controversial episode about which I have controversial opinions. To clarify, this is my second watching of this episode, and I was able to watch it more critically this time around. Here's my reaction recap:

Puck running around the hallways so that Shelby can walk past him again--hilarious. To be clear, I don't like the Shelby/Puck storyline, but damn it gets some funny moments out of Puck

Additionally--Hot For Teacher was a hilarious number. The mic stand duelling, the sheer amount of fun all four guys were having--love it. Ditto the above point.

Sue's political ads are so ridiculous, and I love that the show tries to pretend that people are actually taking them seriously.

You And I/You And I is one of the best mashups the show ever does. It's actually heavenly

Also--Puck plays piano? Since when?

Also half the ND's just sitting down on the floor for no real reason

Now the first part of the episode that bothers me--Finn specifically tells Santana that he's not interested in making it vicious. He wants to keep it civil. If he'd started off matching the competitive energy, Santana's actions would have made more sense, but no. He says he doesn't want it to get vicious, and Santana sails in with her insults. I really don't like her until late Season Three, and I know that she's actually great by season four, but this..is not it

When Will enters the choir room, Quinn, Rory and Blaine are looking out the windows at the top of the wall. Why? We'll never know.

Honestly, the New Directions are actually working together pretty well--Finn moves to give Rory a solo, Blaine backs him up, they're all friends. The fact Finn is so decent the rest of the episode makes what eventually happens extra frustrating.

"You're skinny, like all the crops on your family's farm failed.", Rory, I adore you

Now, here's a part where the whole Incident could have been avoided if the writers had just remembered one thing that they established earlier--insults don't roll off Santana. She can dish it out but can't take it. But no. Drama.

Quinn's dodgeball faces are perfect. Of course she's the dodgeball-as-an-outlet-for-repressed-rage girl

Also I adore that at all points in the game, there are random players just flying through the air

I fundamentally disagree with Kurt's assessment that dodgeball is bullying--it was one of but a few things we did in PhysEd at school that I liked. However, the way the Troubletones attacked Rory was plain mean.

I love protective Kurt. Bullying is such a sore spot for him, and he will rise to anyone's defence.

"I sound just like her" --Sugar, you are brilliant

Now observe--both Mercedes and Shelby tell Santana to back off Finn, because there's no point to the feud. Santana has an option here--she could stop, or she could keep going.

Also Brittany's response to Mercedes making herself leader is gold.

And then the Hallway Scene. I really really really wish I could have more sympathy for Santana because nobody deserves to be outed, but this lead up makes it really hard.

I also paid close attention to what Finn was doing during this scene. As Santana talked, managing to hit every one of his insecurities (his weight, his comparative mediocrity in comparison with Rachel, the fact his future is more or less hinging on riding Rachel's coattails, the fact he slept with her and neither came away happy etc.) you can see him slowly getting madder and madder, and then boom.

I am not defending Finn. He's not the brightest, but that's no excuse for discussing her sexuality in a crowded area where anyone could hear--and they do. However, I do think that it wasn't intended as an outing per se. He was primarily focusing on what he perceived as cowardice (which it really isn't), rather than trying to say anything homophobic, or intentionally yelling 'hey everyone, Santana Lopez is a lesbian'. Once more, I don't condone his actions--he took a cheap shot, he was thoughtless, and he endangered Santana, I just wanted to...nuance the discussion. (I would also like to add, that I hate that the outing is turned into a 'Finn was doing it for her own good' in the next episode--Finn was retaliating and hitting her where it hurt, nothing more)

Once more, Sue's political ads. I wonder how Carole responded to either of the implications a) that Burt is cheating on her with a donkey or b) she is the donkey

Puck is actually very sweet with Beth and I love that.

Next pet peeve--Mercedes is team captain of the Troubletones. Shelby knows that Santana has been crusading against Finn for seemingly no reason. Why then did she let Will pit Santana (and not Mercedes) and Finn against each other in the coin toss

Also Rachel is hilarious at how ridiculously aggressively she responds to Finn winning the toss.

You Make My Dreams/I Can't Go For That is actually brilliant. The costumes are fantastic, the choreography is fun, Rory and Tina get exposure, the girls' skirts and hair is so cute, and they are all having the times of their lives.

Brittany vaguely frustrates me throughout the presidential campaign arc, but then she does that a lot. Brittany is very up-and-down for me as a character.

Rachel being a selfless friend!! Yes, Rachel!! Love that for her.

Quinn in early Season 3...sure is a ride.

Also here, even Brittany is telling Santana to lay off Finn, to which Santana responds that manatees have thick skin. I am trying so hard to be sympathetic to her, but she makes it so difficult.

And now the scene. I love Sue taking responsibility for once. I love that for Sue

Now comes the bit where Naya Rivera's acting makes me feel sorry for Santana. That 'I haven't even told my parents' is so heartwrenching.

My unpopular opinion is that I prefer the Hall & Oates mashup to the Adele mashup. That said however--Santana sounds stunning. STUNNING. Her dress is also really pretty, even if I find the costumes a bit plain compared to the ND's. I don't find that the songs suit Mercedes incredibly well, but everything about Santana's performance redeem it, along with Britt's worried faces.

I genuinely believe that Finn was only saying that the Troubletones were good, however he probably did deserve the slap. Once more Naya acts the heck out of this scene

There's my two cents about this very controversial episode.

[finitefall]

Say whatever you want about the Lannister, they might not be good people at all but honestly they were extremely compelling, complex and intriguing characters and they were antagonists to the starks!Being antagonist doesn't necessarily mean that character is irredeemable or boring.Grrm managed to show us how cersei was a victim in her life but she was also an abuser, tyrion was a victim of family abuse but he became an abuser as well in his ADWD arc.Grrm didn't need to make them little meow meow to make the readers like them or enjoy reading about them, he only made them complex characters with compelling arcs and that made them popular.The thing is, Hotd can and should have written alicent in this way.they should have shown her as a victim in the beginning, because at the end of the day she is a woman living in a patriarchal society but also show how she is a woman with AGENCY instead of putting all the blame in Otto and viserys.Aegon as well should have been written in a similar way to how Grrm written Tyrion.A character that started as a harmless lazy hedonist who can be funny sometimes but then becomes a very dark character over time.And that would be much better than the passive irreredeemable one dimensional character they given us in Show!Aegon.Also they should have focused on Aegon and Rhaenyra relationship more, what did they think of each other before the war?What was their relationship before the usurpation?"Because as far as we know Aegon didn't want to usurp the throne of his sister at first before Criston and Alicen convinced him.So there are many different ways to portray their relationship in the show especially before the dance, The dance is remembered through the history as the civil war between a Sister and a Brother . so to not have the eldest daughter and the eldest son of viserys interact with each other is bad writing simple as that. Instead, we have given this weird fanfiction of Rhaenyra falling in love with her stepmother. This relationship is so painfully bad that it has severed their characterization in the show .

Hi nonnie! Sorry for the late answer, I’m only starting to catch up with my messages...

The Lannisters are extremely interesting and compelling characters, indeed. You can love them, love to hate them, both in the books and the show. I’ll start with the show even though you’re talking about the books, since we’re comparing to how the Greens aren’t compelling and interesting in the show.

Cersei was a fan favorite in Game of Thrones. Of course, Lena Headey is an incredible actress and the writers weren’t dumb to the point of not seeing it and letting her talent go to waste. Some of the most iconic scenes of the show are still, to this day, her scenes, including: “Is this meant to be your shield, Lord Stark? A piece of paper?” *tears it up* (x) and “Power is Power” (x). She’s not being nice, she’s not being a victim, she’s in charge, she’s an amazing antagonist, she’s a badass who totally owns the fact she does crazy and evil things - and is rather proud of it, too. And yet, she was a victim during her marriage with Robert, had him killed to protect herself and her children (and I don’t blame her), and we felt for her every time she lost a child (even if it’s Joffrey), when Tywin tries to marry her off to Loras for politics (even though a few seconds earlier, she was looking delighted when he told Tyrion he would marry Sansa), when she had to do the “walk of shame” (even though she was the one to put the Faith Militant in power and we hated her at first when Loras and Margaery were thrown into cells to her absolute delight). No matter what she did, we loved her. My favorite character is Daenerys, who’s a heroine unlike Cersei. But I loved Cersei because she’s interesting, compelling, she has agency... oh wait. That’s the problem for show!Alicent stans, isn’t it? Cersei was a female character with agency, she didn’t just stay a victim.

Even Tywin, played by the amazing Charles Dance: I looked forward to every scene with him and I hate the man (Tywin, not Charles). Who’s interested by any scene with Otto? Yeah, me neither. Jaime did some seriously fucked up things, including pushing a little boy out the window with the intent to kill him, and I ship him with Brienne. God, even Joffrey was at least well-written and we had compelling (and sometimes hilarious) scenes between him and Tyrion. Now, Tyrion was whitewashed in the show unfortunately, which wasn’t such a problem in the earlier seasons for me, but became ridiculous when he joined Daenerys’ side and was basically reading her the Geneva Convention. Speaking of, Tyrion in ADWD is an excellent example because I could have hated him so much and wished for his death... but it wasn’t the case. That’s how talented GRRM is: no, I don’t think of Tyrion as a good person, he’s extremely complex and tortured, and there’s no excuse for rape - not ever. But I still think he’s one of the best characters Martin wrote, I can understand why he loves writing him the most, and I still want to read Tyrion’s POV.

Compared to this, we have another rapist in HOTD, Aegon, who only had interesting scenes in episode 9 and was, before this, reduced to a jerk and a rapist. It’s hard to actually find him compelling, and as I said before, it’s even more a waste because the actor proved in episode 9 that he has talent, that he could have been a villain I loved to hate. There’s no scene between Rhaenyra and Aegon because they’re making the show all about Alicent and Rhaenyra, when Aegon has always been the threat to her claim, is the one sitting on her throne and will be the one killing her. They’ve had literally zero interaction in the first season. Even after episode 9 and giving Aegon the screen time he deserved and showing the importance of his character, they don’t follow on it. Next episode, the terms are offered in Alicent’s name, when in the book they’re delivered in Aegon’s name. But the writers are too busy with Rhaenicent, and suddenly the Dance of the Dragons is apparently a lesbian divorce drama, making Alicent awfully incoherent and uninteresting, while Rhaenyra is way more passive than should be allowed in face of what’s been done to her.

[clatoera]

uni application season has made me drop off the face of the earth so i'm extremely late coming to this chapter... but omg glim glam and cato.. TRAUMA BONDING?!?!?

cato with a gun. that's the entire review.

i love how simple this chapter is with the most infinite lore ever!!! clove can cook! what! how did that start, what was her favorite recipe, does she partake in... girl dinner?? so many questions.

glimmer with finnick kind of gives the platonic soulmates vibe. i just love how comfortable they are with each other and how much they have this underlying love & respect towards each other even though the other can fuck them over. ugh my beautiful capitol ruined babies.

"“It is. But you can’t change it now. I want to hate you, Finnick. I want to hate you, but then I remember being seventeen and terrified and in pain and you being the only one who could sit with me while I cried in the shower. I want to hate you but you were the one who carried me home after those terrible procedures, every time I cried because I thought I was bleeding to death, Finnick... I want to hate you but it’s hard to hate you when you look so pathetic.” Glimmer takes the risk, reaching her hand out to place it on top of Finnick’s. “How can I hate you, after we ended up in the same terrible sinking boat again.”"

LIKE WHAT? do you have no shame in just ripping out my heart in broad daylight?!?! 'it's hard to hate you when you look so pathetic' is so funny but so sad when you compare it to katniss saying it's hard to be angry at someone who cries so often back in mockingjay. UGH. justice for finnick, he better not die this time around.

CATO WITH A GUN. cato... with a GUN. there should be a hunger games with pipe bombs in it and i think we should place cato in it just for the giggles. i also love how the second they're back with weapons they just revert back to the academy mindset of Kill The Enemy which used to be other tributes but now has morphed into actual treason. well! sucks to be snow i guess! especially now that glim glam is getting her pink gun (which is also bejeweled in my mind)

love it as always! love u! it's all amazing thank u!

Hi bestie! I understand! I am actively working on residency applications as well so I totally understand. I'm actually waiting for my board scores to be released Wednesday so thats why I haven't posted/written another chapter yet, I am literally in too much distress to think of anything else until wednesday afternoon (think of me bc i'm going through it).

Cato and Glimmer trauma bonding was immediately part of the plan once I decided to take Glim Glam to 13. That was a without a doubt going to happen sort of situation if they were together here.

Thank you! The whole idea if these couple of chapters is to establish their lives in 13 and what will happen in a world without the people they love and without anyone to ground them!

Soooo yes Clove can cook. That comes from her childhood, in which she was a neglected little girl in charge of her own meals and keeping herself alive. She learned how to make her little sandwiches and keep herself afloat another day, at like..6...before she went to training at the academy. It compounded in her adult hood as a way to use her knives and keep up to date on fine knifework skills. I think she really got into it once she won and had the time and means to try new recipes. They seem like steak people. Good roast chicken people. I think Miss Clove would participate in girl dinner if not for the fact she's also responsible for feeding her 6'3 man friend who most definitely could not survive on girl dinner with grapes and rice crackers.

Glimmer and Finnick..have gone through a LOT together. They are TRULY trauma bonded and have been working on that bond about 7 years tbh. They have gone through a LOT and they went through a lot TOGETHER. They love each other and they DO respect each other, after all they've been through, they are life long friends. As they deserve.

I did hope it would rip your heart out, if for no other reason than I think it's fun to hear your reaction. I kid i kid but seriously the heart to heart HAD to happen. They had to make up from the whole "hahah no I didn't tell you about a whole rebellion" thing. And while she isn't happy about it, she can't hate him anymore. Not after what they've experienced together and also...because he DOES look pathetic with his little knots.

Cato with a MF gun. That can't even entirely be credited to me. That was honestly @ohhowwehavefallen sending me a tik tok that sent this into existence. She should get credit tbh.

Being back with weapons like..it's almost a comfort for them. It's how they were raised, it's like your favorite stuffed animal after not seeing it for a long time. This is what they know! Weapons! Kill! Enjoy treason! Glimmer has a bedazzled glock everyone watch out!

thank you thank you thank you my love! I am sorry this took me so long, I have been stressing MASSIVE amounts over these exam scores and it's disoriented me!

love you long time bb @lwveless

[magpies4nights]

(Title is a joke don’t take this seriously (please don't go to Ecuador)) GASA4AM COSPLAY MEET UP AT 0°47'03.1"S 91°00'09.9"W 1:00 PM ECT, BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!!! (dev log #10)

Hi guys. I haven't died yet, for the people who are waiting on my downfall. It felt like I was dying because I was sick! yippee! I mean, I still am, but I can walk around mask free because it's basically just a little itchiness in my windpipe, but compared to last week Friday (I felt so sick I couldn't even get out of bed without the help of my parents dragging me out or even lift my head for that matter), I feel great. With how sick I was, I kinda didn't get to work on the fan game as I hoped I could. Of course, I could have requested to have a break from classes, but I think they wouldn't be so lenient without a covid test and I'm sure it would have been negative. I also had to do homework on top of having a sniffly nose and walking around like I was hit by a car. You know heavy machinery? I had to deal with that with fogged up glasses. My mom apparently said that her dad lost part of his finger to a table saw, and I thought I was going to have history repeat itself, although hopefully that doesn't mean the 90's are making a come back. The only good thing that may have happened was the MTV shows, Humongous Entertainment games and the Parappa series. And before you argue with me, Nirvana started in the 80's, and Titanic (1999) is not a good movie. Rose didn't love Jack, she basically kills him in the end because there WAS enough room on that door. Everyone who says she didn't kill him is a Rose apologist/j

Anyways, no more depressing shit for now. I’m almost done with the locations. At last. I have one more to do and then it's everyone else’s sprites and maybe rework Xandra’s because there are some animation errors in her sprites such as her ears disappearing when she walks. So yeah, next week when I finally have down time and feel better I can work on them. With the way things are going I'll probably have to update y'all the week after my birthday (which is late March. You guys will know when I change my bio from 20 to 21 (whopee I get to finally drink *shudders*)), because good god, classes are also going real hard on me. Midterm on the 6th? No thank you. Not after that essay you made us write which I practically had several panic attacks because I thought that piece of shit was going to fail me. If you're asking if I failed, no, surprisingly it got me a 100. I don't know if the teacher gave me pity points but somehow she said my clarity and my content was great which is surprising because there is no way someone who is practically having a panic attack and is really sleep deprived could ever do that (me when I was writing that).

I’ll be honest, the bottom floor for the house was a nightmare because there would be times when I had to figure out how the hell it would do the thing I wanted it to do based on Xandra’s location.

Anyways, music time. For possibly the last time for dev blogs for this project:

WATER BOWL💧🥣 WATER- 🗣️ WATER- 🗣️WATER- 🗣️WATER BOWL💧🥣🗣️ W-W-W-W-WATER ✨𝓫𝓸𝔀𝓵✨ (I was sick (and I still am) when I made that song)

(I guess there's now 2 songs with vocals)

Oh yeah I also drew up some stuff to make up for Valentine’s Day because I think it’s funny. And also it’s to cope with the pain of when my parents said go to bed and I was sick and bored and I couldn't lift my head up.

I also drew up something which was an old concept I had with Priyah, where instead of just pestering Xandra she did it to everyone by disguising herself as an erson (specifically as a holiday erson) and since there was no valentines verson in GASA4AM that I knew of I decided maybe she could pretend to be one of them.

(Translation because I know my handwriting is horrendous: Hi guys I’m Valentine’s Verson but you can call me Val. I’m like your 4th cousin. (These guys don’t look convinced))

Trust me you will recognize her in that Valentine’s version/Val disguise once you smack her glasses on her and take the lipstick off.

[null-is-sparing-you]

Okay so hear me out:

Rouxls Kaard.

We know Deltarune has a lot of "unused" scenes that seem to be tied to a timeline that doesn't exist. This suggests time travel shenanigains, which... yeah, the save points back up.

But first a quick refresher on Rouxls Kaard. Rouxls is constantly a bit off, to the point where we don't know if he's just Like That, or if there's More To Him. His name is based off Rules Card, an object he seems to be at least somewhat based off of.

He can create simple puzzles that use just about any mechanic, but he always shows them to you a little late. That's funny at all, but I'm gonna need to come back to this, cause it's actually kind of important.

Now, i gotta talk some about theories I've seen around the unused text. Unfortunatly, they seem to have been recommended posts so now I'm having trouble finding them so please leave a reblog if you have the ones I mention :/

The first one I'm going to call out is the one about Susie and Dads. One of the changes we've observed in this world compared to the ones in the unused text is that Susie and Lancer are friends. That didn't happen in the unused text. Why? I'll return to this.

Another theory going around is that Kris died protecting Susie before the world was ultimately reset. Given that we are the only ones we've met so far who can reset the world, that's worth raising an eyebrow. We don't have a Flowey this time, and Sans hasn't made any relevant jokes. We might be the only one we know with this power.

Except this is where Rouxls Kaard may come in. We've seen time and time again that he

Always shows up in the right place

Can pretty much do whatever he wants, but in a simplified way

There's also something special about the Rules Card that I think is relevant. You usually don't need them for normal play. It's only when the game gets into a weird situation that you really look at them.

What could make a weird situation? I mean... the protagonists dying would certainly do that. And if Susie and Roulx Kaard were the only ones to make it out of a bad situation, I could see a low quality save reset puzzle being the absolute best thing that could happen.

Speaking of which... you remember when I said I'd come back to Rouxls Kaard always being a bit off about his timings? Well... I can certainly attest to the fact that my timing is always a bit off when I play a game for a second time. Some things I expect early, others I expect late.

But that knowledge can still stick with me. Which brings us back to why suddenly Lancer and Susie are friends. We know that Rouxls secretly adores Lancer, right? To the point where he's a "Lesser Dad"? Well... in both versions of Chapter 1, Susie stands up for Lancer. She's proven herself friend material and protective. If Roulx knows this already from time shenanigains, then he'd have a very good reason to send Lancer to meet us early, hoping that we'd build some form of relationship and change the way the story turns out.

After all, the Rules have the power to determine how the story ends... even if the players choose how it gets there.

[lunas-otome-blog]

Luna's Review: Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth~

Official Summary:

Venture into a reimagined steampunk version of 19th century London. Follow the adventures of the poison-skinned maiden Cardia, the men trying to help her, and the mysterious organization intent on capturing her.

Experience a visual novel adventure brimming with literary and historical characters including Victor Frankenstein and Abraham van Helsing. Will Cardia find love, or destroy those she cares for? Her story is in your hands.

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(Spoiler-Free) Luna's Thoughts

This game was ok! It wasn't the trainwreck that was "even if Tempest," nor was its storyline as convoluted as "Cafe Enchante." I liked the historical figures and other fictional references, and the art was lovely.

A small thing that annoyed me is that they keep referring to Cardia's skin as "poisonous." I believe poison has to be ingested, so it would be more correct to say she is "acidic," but I guess that's not very charming to say lol. There are also a few plot points that seem a bit silly, and I didn't think the true end character necessarily deserved that role.

But overall, this was a solid game. The steampunk London setting was cool AF and I enjoyed the emphasis on airships and steam power. All the routes were pretty different, and though I would have liked to see more crossover between them, none of them felt extremely out of line like in some other games I've played.

I wasn't excited enough about it to bother with the ample supply of bonus content on offer, but I did like it and would consider playing it again in the future.

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(SPOILERS) Common Route

Honestly, Cardia's backstory is the weakest part of the game as writers scramble to explain why she can't wear normal clothes or stay in one room for long. She can't eat with normal utensils, for example, but nobody is concerned that she might melt through her bed because her hair covers her back and her hair isn't poisonous for some reason. Some details were given a lot of thought and some are just explained away with "science" that happens off screen.

None of that is truly an issue, but I feel like it could have easily been more streamlined to say, for example, that Cardia can melt living things. That would still have the effect of making her isolated, alone, treated like a freak and unable to interact with humans. But it would do away with some of the more contrived details such as how she avoids melting into the ground.

The scene that should have been one of the most emotional — when Cardia tells the story of how she was trapped in a cave and accidentally killed her mother figure — ends up feeling frustrating, as you yell "just melt the rock!" at the screen the entire time. She does, but not until too late. "But she didn't know she created toxic air!" you say. Ok, but surely she didn't want to sit in the cave indefinitely? She could have just started work to melt the rock immediately. Maybe the result would have been the same, but at least it would seem more logical.

I thought the first choice to ignore Lupin's offer, which dead ends the game as Cardia sets out on her own adventure, was very funny. I also liked how she starts becoming more expressive as she spends time with her boys. My favorite part is how it shows her gaining skills and learning to fight and defend herself. That's refreshing compared to some other series where the protagonist is always being protected.

Below follows some thoughts on the actual routes, in the order I played them.

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(SPOILERS) Impey Barbicane

What I thought was going to be my least favorite route ended up being my favorite. Impey is the flirt archetype, and also the genki character of the game. His route was the lightest, as he carries the least baggage of all the characters, but his sincere nature got to me.

Unfortunately, his flirtiness makes him annoying in other routes. Like, boy, I'm romancing someone else, back off!!

I do wish Impey being a vampire was more relevant to the game in general. I know that angsting over the fate of the vampires was more for Victor, Helsing and Delacroix II, but having Impey be a vampire was basically thrown in for shock value and didn't end up being super relevant.

I did think Nemo was an extremely fun villain and his design and speech pattern are so unique. He was a good foil for Impey, as they have similar reasons for becoming engineers, but he becomes the typical "mad scientist" here and takes everything a little too far.

I'd say Impey's route was the simplest of the five, but for that reason, I also thought it was the most solid, and the one that left me with the least questions.

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(SPOILERS) Saint-Germaine

Call me nitpicky, but Saint-Germain is the character with the most baffling design choices IMHO. His hair is ridiculous. He only wears half of his coat the entire time. He has watches all over his arms that seem to do nothing. Truly some odd decisions were made during his creation.

Aside from Victor, I'd say his route was the most angsty as he rebels against his job and his nature to save Cardia. Unfortunately, this results in him being off screen for a lot of his route as he kills his way through the other members of Idea to save Cardia.

I thought the whole route felt a bit overkill-y. This is a man who essentially caused the Black Plague, who knows what one bad decision can do, and yet instead of choosing to stay by her side and defend her, he abandons her to preemptively fight the other Idea members, none of whom are given a sprite except Guinivere. (Side note: I adore Guinivere. Easily one of the most rad characters of the game.)

What's stopping any other of the Idea members from attacking Cardia while she's left defenseless? It falls apart under scrutiny. Perhaps this is because Saint-Germain's attraction to Cardia was the least convincing for me. I just didn't feel much of a connection there.

I do love how you basically only see his eyes on his route. It makes it all the more threatening when you do. And despite how critical I'm being, I did think the concept of the Apostles of Idea was pretty cool. I just thought it was a little far reaching for the framework of this particular game.

While one of the more interesting routes, I'd call Saint-Germain's route the least romantic.

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(SPOILERS) Victor Frankenstein

Personality-wise, Victor is my favorite character. He's got baggage but desperately wants to reverse the damage he's done inadvertently. And he's so sweet and wears glasses! I did want to know what was up with his headphones but they're never addressed.

Victor's route is the one where you have to deal the most with Queen Victoria, and at least for me, this kind of ruined her character for me. You learn she was the instigation behind a lot of dark incidents and has an even darker one planned that basically equates to genocide. While in the true ending she fesses up and seems to have grown as a character, it was hard for me to get behind her again after seeing how needlessly cruel she was in Victor's route.

I absolutely adored the development of the Queen's relationship with Leonhardt in this route. Honestly I ship them more than most of the characters in this game with Cardia. Even if you want to interpret them as having a more father-daughter relationship, it's still really sweet. He clearly cares so much for her and just wants to guide her down the right path.

But back to Victor. I like that, despite being the gentle nerd of the game, he can still fight in his own way, and even teaches Cardia to do the same. It was nice to see him come out of his shell and become more confident as the game progresses.

Victor's route was solid and his relationship with Cardia is very believable. After all, he's done so much for her. He's the reason, in every route, that she can eat with the boys and wear different outfits. Cardia returns the favor by forgiving him for being involved in her creation. I did think the brief "is Victor my father" storyline was pretty funny. I mean, he kinda is though.

All in all, one of the better routes in my opinion.

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(SPOILERS) Abraham Van Helsing

Man, I wanted to like this route more than I did.

Van Helsing is the closest thing to a tsundere in this game, so I thought I'd like him and saved him for last before the true end. Unfortunately, he's so cool and collected that he rarely breaks, and he comes across as cruel a lot of the time, even when it's revealed that he's doing so to keep Cardia out of it. She's kept at arms' length so much that I didn't feel the relationship developed naturally. She isn't present for a lot of the conversations, either, though we do get to see them off-screen.

Helsing's route is also the one that's least connected to the rest of the storyline. He's got a few tie-ins, most notably to the Vampire War, but his dealings with Aleister didn't relate to the overall mission. It felt a little disjointed to me.

I also thought we'd see more of Delacroix II in this route. I figured it would be Cardia helping the two of them become friends. Delacroix needed to learn that Helsing regretted his actions. But we honestly don't get a lot of that. I also figured it would be more angsty, with Helsing's death wish being relevant, but again, that didn't come up a lot.

I do find it extremely endearing that he can't cook to save his life. And I feel bad that his is the only route that ends without him being able to touch Cardia.

I don't think this was a bad route. It just wasn't what I was expecting so it made me a little disappointed.

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(SPOILERS) Arsene Lupin

Lupin's route was ok. My gripes are mainly the same as with the true end of Collar x Malice: I don't think he's fitting for a true end character.

Not only is he visually the least interesting character, but his backstory is also not particularly interesting or impactful. A lot of stuff happens on his route just because it's the true end, and we have to wrap up the game. Lupin himself isn't particularly relevant to that.

He's a nice guy, sure. You can't help but like him and his positive attitude. I think his route is the one that most treats Cardia like a human, but this comes at the cost of not allowing her to do a lot. This could be seen as a positive, I suppose. She's spend most of the other routes convincing other characters that they should be forgiven, so it's fitting to have the final route involve forgiving Cardia herself for being created.

All in all, the game wraps up pretty well, and it felt like a suitable end for everyone. I just wish Lupin was a bit more interesting of a character.

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(SPOILERS) Side Characters

Here, I'm going to comment on a few side characters in the game.

Finis

No notes. Flawless character design. My theory for why he looks like this is that the original Finis and Cardia were both female. Maybe this is explained in the bonus content, idk. I've heard his hair donuts are part of the headband and not his actual hair. Either way, adorable. More male characters like this, please.

Herlock Sholmes

Upset this character wasn't a datable option. Perhaps that's for the bonus content. Either way, I wanted to see more of him. I thought he'd be more relevant in Lupin's route, and you do get to learn a bit about him, but not enough IMHO.

Queen Victoria

Who approved this outfit? I just wanna talk... Seriously, this is the worst sprite in the game. I get that her whole thing is about bees and visually there are a lot of honeycomb references, but surely we could have a black and yellow outfit that doesn't make her look like she raided an antique store.