#lucy di luna

[sirathurheit]

"The Heart resides within the Soul

Which is in turn guided by Fate

To it's rightful place."

[moonybemine]

yall i made more hp sims today i might post an intro to some of them in the morning my mary sim is sooo cute😭

[persa-tra-i-miei-pensieri]

San Benedetto del Tronto

[m4tthewmurd0ck]

Tom Blyth x Actress!Reader

no y/n and i try to avoid descriptors but do use she/her. you star in house of the dragon and your character is aemond targaryen’s girlfriend (let me live ok i know we could change him! he told me!!) aaaand also tbosas as sejanus girlfriend (get it bc rachel and josh and now you and tom). your character in tbosas is nova may winter.

your social media ~

just a fun little social media series, will do this in between editing my coriolanus snow x reader series. first part below the cut, sometime early 2023.

liked by enews and others…

tmz_tv trouble in paradise? rachelzegler and tomblyth spotted looking a little cozy last night! wonder how yourname and joshandresrivera feel!!!

yourname heartbroken!

↳ joshandresrivera shocked!

↳ yourname betrayed!

↳ joshandresrivera bamboozled!

↳ yourname flabbergasted!

↳ joshandresrivera devastated!

↳ yourname yeah that we weren’t invited hadbdjsndj

↳ tomblyth i hate you both 😭

↳ rachelzegler you guys literally had reshoots for tbosas though????

↳ tomblyth and we offered to reschedule for when all 4 of us could go?

↳ yourname fuck we’ve been exposed

↳ joshandresrivera gotta blast!!!

username wait are they really dating?!

↳ username no. rachelzegler is dating joshandresrivera and tomblyth is dating yourname.

↳ username waaaait i just read tbosas. obviously coryo and lucy gray, but also yourname character is dating joshandresrivera character 😂 so everyone had to kiss each others significant other 😂😂😭

↳ username oh to be yourname and rachelzegler

🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍 30 minutes later 🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍

⚫️⚪️⚪️⚪️

⚪️⚫️⚪️⚪️

⚪️⚪️⚫️⚪️

⚪️⚪️⚪️⚫️

liked by taylorswift and others…

yourname here to serve your #snowbaird needs! first 3 📸 are the love of my life and tomblyth is in the shots too.

rachelzegler hahaha i love you

↳ yourname marry me when???

tchalamet where was the post for paul and luna when dune came out? #fakefriend #betrayed

↳ yourname timothée??? i literally made a whole youtube video talking about my experience with dune? and i sung your praises for like 10 minutes???

↳ tchalamet not the full first name 😳

joshandresrivera and what about the ship for our characters 🤬

↳ yourname istg you’ll get an entire post dedicated to u once the film is actually out.

↳ joshandresrivera carry on 🤭

ewanmitchell aemond and juliette didn’t get a post either 🤨

↳ yourname aemond killed my baby lucerys, he doesn’t get shit 😞

↳ ewanmitchell you did a whole post when osferth died????

↳ yourname my sweet baby osferth did not deserve to die either 😔

username damn yourname your onscreen boyfriends are low key needy af 🫣

↳ yourname i know right 😩

tmz_tv 👀

↳ yourname this was a joke. i’m laughing at you, not with you.

yourname has blocked tmz_tv

tomblyth caption got me like 😧… and what’s the last photo my love?

↳ yourname my lockscreen is what it is.

↳ username “my love”

↳ username she said my lockscreen hahdudsbdifesz one of us one of us

hunterschafer you’re my spirit animal

↳ yourname hunter is the ACTUAL loml you guys

↳ tomblyth “heart been broke so many times” - rod wave 😧

username i read the book. coriolanus has to choke nova may. tomblyth did u develop a choking kink 🤭😏😏😏

↳ yourname hahahaha username i love you so much for this

↳ username someone spoil it for me why does he choke her

↳ username nova may figures out that coriolanus is the one who betrayed sejanus right when he’s executed and she goes to confront him later. this is when he and lucy gray first get to the cabin. she has a gun but he manages to throw it to the other side of the room. and at least in the book he slams her against a wall and tries to kill her by choking her.

↳ username istg they better put this scene in the movie.

↳ username but does he kill her?

↳ yourname watch and seeeee!

↳ rachelzegler so proud of my girl yourname! we can’t talk about it too much because #spoilers but you guys she’s incredible and it was so cool to watch her and tomblyth film that scene

username i bet tomblyth felt so bad having to be mean to yourname

↳ yourname all jokes aside, tomblyth aka the actual number 1 love of my life, he did feel so bad 😭 i love seeing him turn into coriolanus because it’s obviously so different from who he actually is as a person. but after each take he’d immediately ask if i was okay 🥺🥹

↳ username god i’m so single

if you’d like to be tagged in future tom blyth x actress!reader let me know!

[spaceagebachelormann]

𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬

!!REQUEST REQUIREMENTS!!

-> state the character, romantic or platonic, the format of the request, and a plot

-> do you have any specifics for the reader? blonde, poc, male, neurodivergent, etc? (please keep in mind i will write poc readers but i’m white so they may be a little difficult for me)

-> requests are preferred to be sent through inbox, but i can make dms work if needed

-> PLEASE ACTUALLY SPECIFY WHAT YOU WANT WITH YOUR REQUEST!! ITS VERY HARD FOR ME TO WRITE “____ x reader fluff” GIVE ME A PLOT LINE

!!WHAT I WILL WRITE!!

-> platonic

-> romantic

-> familial

-> any gender x any gender

-> headcanons

-> long fics

-> multi character

-> blurbs

-> poly relationships

-> x reader

-> i will only write cheating if it’s a character comforting r after being cheated on, not a character cheating on r

!!WHAT I WONT WRITE!!

-> smut (i’m 14)

-> yandere

-> most aus, ask about the specific au before requesting an au

-> incest

-> age gaps

-> canonical gay/lesbian character x a man (if lesbian) or a woman (if gay)

-> song fics

-> things about ocs

-> ships

-> sunshine x grumpy tropes, i’m horrible at this trope

character list

keeper of the lost cities

sophie foster, dex dizznee, fitz vacker, keefe sencen, biana vacker, marella redek, maruca chebota, tam song, linh song, wylie endal, jensi babblos, stina heks, elwin hesledge

chronicles of narnia

peter pevensie, edmund pevensie, susan pevensie, lucy pevensie, caspian

riordanverse

percy jackson, annabeth chase, grover underwood, jason grace, piper mclean, leo valdez, hazel levesque, frank zhang, nico di angelo, will solace, reyna arellano, rachel dare, travis stoll, connor stoll, thalia grace, magnus chase, alex fierro, carter kane, sadie kane

harry potter

harry potter, ron weasley, hermione granger, neville longbottom, luna lovegood, ginny weasley, fred weasley, george weasley, sirius black, james potter, remus lupin, mary macdonald, marlene mckinnon, lily evans, dorcas meadows, regulus black, barty crouch jr, narcissa black, andromeda black, bellatrix lestrange

ride the cyclone

ocean o’connell rosenberg, noel gruber, mischa bachinski, ricky potts, jane doe/penny lamb, constance blackwood

shadow and bone

alina starkov, malyen oretsev, genya safin, zoya nazyalensky, david kostyk, tamaar & tolya, nikolai lantsov

six of crows

kaz brekker, inej ghafa, jesper fahey, nina zenik, wylan van eck, matthias helvar

the outsiders

ponyboy curtis, johnny cade, sodapop curtis, darry curtis, steve randall, twobit matthews, dallas winston, cherry valance

the hunger games

katniss everdeen, peeta mellark, finnick odair, johanna mason, cinna, effie trinket

it (2017)

bill denbrough, eddie kaspbrak, richie tozier, stan uris, beverly marsh, ben hanscom, mike hanlon

the school for good and evil

agatha, sophie, tedros, hort, hester, anadil, dot, nicola, rhian mistral, rafal mistral, clarissa dovey, leonora lesso

the land of stories

connor bailey, alex bailey, red riding hood, jack, goldilocks

scooby doo

shaggy rogers, fred jones, daphne blake, velma dinkley, thorn, dusk, luna

little women

jo march, amy march, beth march, meg march, laurie

dracula

dracula, lucy westenra, arthur holmwood, john seward, mina harker, abraham van helsing, renfield, quincey morris, jonathan harker, the brides

frankenstein

victor frankenstein, elizabeth lavenza, henry clerval, adam frankenstein, justine mortiz, ernest frankenstein, the bride

dr jekyll and mr hyde

henry jekyll, edward hyde, richard enfield, gabriel utterson, hastie lanyon, lucy harris

phantom of the opera

christine daaé, erik destler, raoul de chagney, meg giry, carlotta giudicelli

a good girls guide to murder

pippa fitz-amobi, ravi singh, naomi ward, cara ward, connor reynolds, jamie reynolds, nat da silva

the mighty ducks

charlie conway, adam banks, lester averman, guy germaine, connie moreau, fulton reed, dean portman, julie gaffney, ken wu, luis mendoza, dwayne robertson

monster high

frankie stein, draculaura, clawdeen wolf, cleo de nile, abbey bominable, ghoulia yelps, operetta, rochelle goyle, spectra vondergeist, elissabat, clawd wolf, deuce gorgon, heath burns, jackson jekyll, holt hyde, kieran valentine

the powerpuff girls

blossom utonium, bubbles utonium, buttercup utonium, brick jojo, boomer jojo, butch jojo

david bowie

david bowie, ziggy stardust, jareth, thomas jerome newton, celliers

sweeney todd

sweeney todd, anthony hope, mrs lovett, johanna todd

the rosewood chronicles

lottie pumpkin, ellie wolf, jamie volk, ollie moreno, raphael wilcox, anastacia alcroft leblanc, saskia san martin, lola tomkins, mickey tomkins, binah fae

hairspray

corny collins, link larkin, amber von tussle, tracey turnblad, penny pingleton, seaweed j. stubbs

attack on titan

eren yeager, mikasa ackerman, armin arlert, jean kirstein, sasha braus, connie springer, annie leonhardt, bertholdt hoover, reiner braun, hange zoe, levi ackerman, erwin smith, colt grice, niccolo, yelena, onyakopon, zeke yeager

daisy jones and the six

daisy jones, billy dunne, graham dunne, karen sirko, warren rhodes, pete loving/roundtree, eddie loving/roundtree, camila dunne, simone jackson

doctor who bbc

ninth doctor, tenth doctor, rose tyler, jack harkness, mickey smith, donna noble, martha jones, clara oswald, river song, simm! master

miss peregrines home for peculiar children

jacob portman, emma bloom, millard nulling, enoch o’connor, olive elephanta, alma peregrine

miscellaneous characters

sarah williams, bernard the elf, rodrick heffley, varian, lisa frankenstein, the creature (lisa frankenstein)

UPCOMING FANDOMS : les miserables

[sovksluv]

character list !

𖤐 . back to navigation .

☠︎︎ . current hyperfixation !

☾ . favorite characters !

𖤐 . Riordanverse ☠︎︎

𖤐 . Percy Jackson

𖤐 . Annabeth Chase

𖤐 . Grover Underwood

𖤐 . Clarisse La Rue ☾

𖤐 . Luke Castellan ☾

𖤐 . Silena Beauregard

𖤐 . Nico Di Angelo ☾

𖤐 . Will Solace

𖤐 . Leo Valdez

𖤐 . Thalia Grace

𖤐 . The Last Of Us

𖤐 . Ellie Williams ☾

𖤐 . Abby Anderson ☾

𖤐 . Dina Woodward ☾

𖤐 . Joel Miller

𖤐 . Jesse

𖤐 . Marauders

𖤐 . Marlene Mckinnon ☾

𖤐 . Dorcas Meadowes

𖤐 . Regulus Black ☾

𖤐 . Remus Lupin

𖤐 . Sirius Black

𖤐 . Narcissa Black ☾

𖤐 . Mary Mcdonald

𖤐 . Lily Evans

𖤐 . Celebrities

𖤐 . Charlie Bushnell ☾

𖤐 . Crystal Reed ☾

𖤐 . Dylan O’brien

𖤐 . Dior Goodjohn

𖤐 . Taylor Swift

𖤐 . Supernatural

𖤐 . Dean Winchester

𖤐 . Garth Fitzgerald IV

𖤐 . Jack Kline

𖤐 . Castiel ☾

𖤐 . Gabriel

𖤐 . Sam Winchester

𖤐 . The Hunger Games

𖤐 . Coriolanus Snow ☾

𖤐 . Katniss Everdeen ☾

𖤐 . Johanna Mason

𖤐 . Finnick Odair

𖤐 . Sejanus Plinth

𖤐 . Lucy Gray

𖤐 . The Maze Runner

𖤐 . Minho ☾

𖤐 . Thomas

𖤐 . Newt (mlm! or gn! reader only)

𖤐 . Teresa Agnes

𖤐 . Brenda

𖤐 . Teen Wolf

𖤐 . Allison Argent ☾

𖤐 . Lydia Martin

𖤐 . Stiles Stilinski

𖤐 . Kira Yukimura ☾

𖤐 . Malia Tate

𖤐 . Scott Mccall

𖤐 . Harry Potter

𖤐 . Mattheo Riddle ☾

𖤐 . Theodore Nott

𖤐 . Pansy Parkinson

𖤐 . Luna Lovegood

𖤐 . Onyx De Loughrey ☾

𖤐 . Blaise Zabini

𖤐 . Lorenzo Berkshire

𖤐 . Lucille Granger

𖤐 . Criminal Minds ☠︎︎

𖤐 . Emily Prentiss ☾

𖤐 . Penelope Garcia

𖤐 . Spencer Reid ☾

𖤐 . Aaron Hotchner ☾

𖤐 . Derek Morgan

𖤐 . The Walking Dead

𖤐 . Rosita Espinosa ☾

𖤐 . Maggie Rhee

𖤐 . Rick Grimes

𖤐 . Glenn Rhee

𖤐 . Tara Chambler

𖤐 . Buffy the Vampire Slayer

𖤐 . Buffy Summers

𖤐 . Cordelia Chase ☾

𖤐 . Willow Rosenberg ☾

𖤐 . Xander Harris

𖤐 . Angel

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #50 — The Midlife Crisis Cruise Comes to an End

Our issue begins on Earth— not Swearth, but honest-to-god Earth— where Optimus Prime and Jetfire are watching a broadcast. It’s not syndicated television like I Love Lucy or The Transformers (1984), however. No, this broadcast is coming from some of our favorite Lost Lighters, detailing their last will and testament.

Nautica wants to be buried on her home planet, and doesn’t give a hot gay fuck what they engrave on her sparkcase. Also she’s missing a good chunk of her face, but don’t worry about that too much.

Chromedome’s just happy that he’s dying WITH his husband this go around. I’m sure Brainstorm’s also thrilled to not have the “please please please stop stabbing yourself in the brain to avoid the pain of being a widower Jesus Christ we can’t keep doing this”.

Rewind takes the opportunity to poke Chromedome in the inferiority complex one last time, making his message out to Dominus Ambus. Our resident lovebirds want to “enter the after spark simultaneously”, though that seems more like something to address with whoever’s killing them.

Over on Cybertron, in Metroplex’s titties, it would seem this broadcast is VERY wideband, as Starscream and Scoop (we’ll go over whatever the fuck’s going on there in another post) witness Nightbeat’s will and testament, though considering Nightbeat’s technically undead, I’m not sure how much legal weight it holds. Having done the whole “dying” thing before, I’m sure he’s spent many a long, sleepless night thinking about how it would happen next time. Ikea Johnson wants a “Neoprimalist” funeral, where they preserve only the head. Interesting that Nightbeat's religious sect is the same as Flywheels, the Scavenger who only existed to be a stand-in for the word "fuck".

Over on Luna 1, Red Alert is convinced that Megatron is using his gun mode to threaten Nightbeat. Fort Max isn’t so sure.

Minimus shows off the most recent trick he’s learned, saying the word “fun” with only stuttering twice. He wants to be buried on the moon, next to all of Rodimus’s failed pregnancies, and wearing the skin of a man who’s been dead for thousands of years.

Whirl doesn’t want a funeral, though you’d think he’d at least want his corpse thrown in the general direction of the Wreckers’ base, where every member gets a slot in the Zone of Remembrance as part of the onboarding. I know he got kicked out, but being shot out of a rail gun at Debris sounds roughly his speed.

Rung only requests that, should he die in his vape pen form, that he be dismantled. He’s so committed to preventing underage smoking, and for that I commend him.

Rung’s request greatly disturbs the Scavengers, who seem to have forgone fixing the Krok-shaped hole in the wall and buying a couch more than two of them can sit on at a time, in order to afford a replacement TV, after Krok fastball-specialed a golden disc through the last one.

On another part of Cybertron, Windblade and Wheeljack watch Velocity state that she doesn’t regret a single thing that’s happened while she’s been a part of the Lost Light. To recap, in the few months Velocity’s been aboard: Thunderclash almost died of being too perfect, Velocity’s first boss ran off to go bang a billionaire with a sword collection, Swerve almost died from too much television, her second boss ran off to get roped into the Polycule Wars, Tailgate exploded, Rung was revealed to be practicing without a license by way of a weird gibbon with a ball gag and his serial killer boyfriend, and she became the only practicing medical professional aboard a ship of over 200, after failing to pass her medical exams ten times. Oh, and she wants to be recycled.

Optimus wants to go save them, thinking that there’s still time. However, the Lost Light isn’t responding, and it doesn’t actually matter anyhow— these recording were sent out weeks ago.

Looks like that’s a series wrap on Nautica, Chromedome, Rewind, Nightbeat, Minimus, Whirl, Rung, and Velocity! Let’s give ‘em a hand, folks!

Three weeks prior, on the planet of Miliarium, action is happening:

Being on your headset in the middle of a battle seems rather rude, but I suppose sacrifices to politeness have to be made, when one of your co-captains is effectively forbidden from stepping foot on any planet that’s aware of Cybertron’s existence, given that he, y’know, is the face of a cause that slaughtered billions over the course of millions of years.

(No, don’t ask Optimus how relations with Earth are going.)

Megatron, continuing to command from orbit, tells Whirl to go help Cyclonus and Crossblades with the Rust Giants’ longship, asking for no casualties. Which is sort of like asking a horse on cocaine to not freak out and kick someone in the head, if that horse also had guns tied to 30% of its body.

Rodimus asks Megatron if he’s enjoying himself, playing a pacifist run of a wartime strategy game with their lives, and Megatron says that he’s “rumbled”; which I’m not sure if I’m search-engining wrong, but I don’t know that even the British are saying that to mean they’re right chuffed or tallywackered about a situation, or whatever. Rodimus is suddenly faced with a Rust Giant that he doesn’t even come up to the knee of, but luckily we have a new superhero to save the day, by way of incredible violence.

Looks like we’re still workshopping the battle-cries.

Tailgate punched this guy so hard it cause a jump-cut to the post-battle celebration, where Rodimus shows off his multi-typefacial abilities, Megatron perpetrates his bigotry towards organics, the Cybertronians make galactic news for a not-awful reason for once, and Swerve is also here! For some reason! It looks like it’s gonna be all peaches and cream from here on, so long as we ignore the first three pages of this issue!

Hey, Cyclonus, you have to wait for him to call you, you're not an Autobot. Just because the little white guy you're Sufjan Stevens-level attached to is going, doesn't mean— Cyclonus, hey. Hey, Cyclonus. Cyclonus. Cycl—

Later, back on the Lost Light, class is in session. We finally get a look at those course Megatron’s been teaching, only briefly mentioned by Riptide in issue #29. The current course track is on the Knights of Cybertron, Megatron having assigned those in attendance to write essays tackling “pre-Functionist folklore and contested heritage”.

Today’s class consists of:

Minimus (old as balls, former high society)

Skids (the best at everything)

Brainstorm (literal genius)

Perceptor (slightly-less-literal genius)

Nautica (jack-of-all-trades brainiac and bibliophile)

Crosscut (former senator, current playwright, therefore probably has at least some sort of degree)

Nightbeat (nosy as fuck, loves to figure shit out)

Hound (former Primal Vanguard)

Thunderclash (perfect student, researcher, friend, confidante, and maybe even lover)

Grapple (not much to say here, other than he’s fucking jacked in IDW)

Xaaron (chief legal advisor for the Autobots)

And Riptide (created during the war and therefore has the least connection to Cybertron's folklore, canonically not a good test-taker)

Poor Riptide's grades don’t stand a snowball's chance in hell against his peers', but good on him for sticking with the classes regardless.

This essay was assigned to help students establish context for the Knights within a world where they have not existed for millions of years, having disappeared since they embarked on their quest to Cyberutopia; a world where information creep, the slow degradation of memory as time passes, has made them into mythological figures. Megatron posits that the only thing we really know about the Knights is that they failed to do what they set out to do, as the universe is not a peaceful place, himself arguably being exhibit A of that failure. Still, he intends to use this course to help the Lost Light’s crew understand the Knights to the best of their current, modernity-biased ability, prior to potentially meeting them. Considering that the Knights will be deciding Megatron’s fate, perhaps this is also for him to grapple with understanding his own end.

Anyway, let’s look at a plot device.

The last time we saw this symbol was during issue #46, both drawn by Grimlock on his walls, paired with the words “prepare confront repel”, and then on some mysterious fellows who were working with Krok’s nasty little friend Demus and someone called "The Grand Architect". However, the first time we saw it was with Skids in #21, after he went through Tyrest’s space bridge and talked to a giant technicolor ball of light.

Seeing this image kickstarts Skids’s memory, enough so that he interrupts class over it. Nautica has also seen this symbol, at an exhibit on Troja Major (a planet that Roberts will use as a dumping ground for many plot points in the sequel series to MTMTE) where it was claimed to be some sort of coat of arms. Thunderclash also knows this symbol, having seen it with his beautiful mind and kind heart in his visions, the same visions that were leading him to the Knights and allowing him to create a map to Cyberutopia. Nautica asks Skids to write out the symbol that he “heard” phonetically into her space phone, in a move that will prove HIGHLY useful later on. Perceptor adds in his two cents, showing off that he’s wearing the “feminine” nose-type today, stating that he had talked to one of the Circle of Light members back in Season 1, who had theorized that the Knights of Cybertron was either originally made up of OR broke down into clans, and that the symbol/map Rodimus and Thunderclash were drawing is merely connected to part of the Knights, and that there could be others floating around.

Nightbeat thinks that all this brainstorming (which hasn’t involved Brainstorm, oddly enough) is super cool and great, showing off his anime thumb in approval. When Minimus tries to give Megatron props for bringing everyone together to figure this out, he finds that Megatron is having some troubles, hunched over his podium as far as his fucked up old man toy articulation will allow. When Minimus approaches to see what’s wrong, he gets punched clear across the room for his troubles. Then this happens:

Look, I don’t care if 99.9% of the Cybertronian population can reclaim, you shouldn’t just limp your wrist at your first officer in the middle of class.

No, what Megatron is actually doing is pointing the fusion cannon he doesn’t have anymore, but had attached to his arm for roughly 4 million years, directly at Minimus’s tiny little skull. Quickly coming back to himself, Megatron is both horrified and mortified by what he’s done, offering nothing more but a quick apology before he dismisses the class and bolts, not even helping Minimus off of the floor.

The following day, Velocity’s paying a visit to Megatron’s room, which is STILL as barren as the most dire of single male living spaces. Velocity’s here because Megatron missed his appointment yesterday, after whatever happened in the classroom. Megatron reminds her that the weekly appointment is for him receiving his ration of “fool’s energon” which is meant to keep him in a weakened state, which arguably shouldn’t make it medicine in the traditional sense. Velocity reminds him that he nearly knocked Minimus Ambus’s (yeah, she uses his full name, guess she’s not been around long enough to get “just Minimus” privileges) block off, and that if Megatron had been at full strength, we might be dealing with a murder situation instead.

Though Minimus IS a load bearer, who regularly slings around a body three times his size, on top of weapons, so maybe not. Also, there’s an even smaller guy inside the first mustached guy, so honestly it’d probably be fine.

Does Velocity even know about the irreducible Minimus? Is that in his medical history? Does she even know that Ultra Magnus and Minimus Ambus are the same person? Because Megatron didn’t even know until they found that corpse on the quantum duplicate Lost Light, and Magnus was his lawyer for the trial as well as being his SIC. Really, what are the legal ramifications of Minimus having assumed the identity of a dead man, now that Tyrest isn’t there to keep up the charade and the secret is a bit more open? Does Minimus have legal claim to Magnus’s identity, or at least ownership of the armor? Can Minimus lay claim to any property he purchased as Magnus, or that the previous Magnuses had purchased prior to their deaths? Was Minimus legally declared dead prior to undertaking the role of Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, if only to make things easier in terms of paperwork? Can Minimus sign off on things, and if so, does he use his own signature, or Magnus’s? If he signed something as Magnus, would any contract bearing it be rendered temporarily void whenever he’s not wearing his work pants? How much of Minimus’s existence makes him cry late into the night with how legally dubious it is? Does Delta Magnus know about Ultra Magnus being a skin suit? I feel like we don’t focus on how fucked up this whole situation is nearly enough.

Anyway, Velocity asks after Megatron’s medicine, probably because First Aid’s medical note-taking skills often get usurped by his need to write SpringerxReader fanfiction. She mentions that what they’ve been feeding Megatron over the last year have some side effects, which Megatron seems surprised by. Considering he’s felt sickly and crampy this whole time, the side effects are likely meant to be the intent of the medication.

Velocity then takes a gander at the dents Megatron put into his head when he had his little freakout, stating that “chemo-sedatives” can change one’s whole personality in extreme cases, as well as increased stress levels, as Megatron admits that the reason he crushed his head with his hands is that he heard voices screaming. However, Megatron doesn’t think stress caused such a thing.

To recap how the last year has gone for Megatron: he was forced to renounce the cause he had led for the last 4 million years, became co-captain of a fucking Carnival cruise ship, had 95% of his crew disappear from reality, found a bunch of corpses, got slapped in the face by Soundwave’s dad, had to lie to Rewind’s face to make him okay with killing himself so that everyone else might live, got shot as an infant, gaining anywhere from three-to-five fathers as a result, visited the most passive-aggressive garden in the galaxy, got stabbed in the chest and brained with a flat-screen television and then had to apologize for it, and was non-consensually hugged by a swarm of flesh-eating insects parading around in his SIC’s skin suit.

Velocity gets a call on her smart watch, Swerve on the other end demanding her presence at the medibay, seeing as she’s the only doctor on the ship now, and there are multiple people having a crisis.

Smash cut to Swerve, Cyclonus, Tailgate, Chromedome, Rewind, Rung, and Megatron standing on the bridge, their colors looking super fucked up and light bloomed out, because this is a 40-page issue with a shit-ton of detail and characters, so we’ve got three colorists, two artists, and an extra inker on for this one. They’re meeting with Rodimus, whose fingers have shrunk down to the size of shoestring potato fries, because Swerve, Tailgate, Rewind, Rung, and Megatron heard some sort of awful noise in their brains at the exact same time. Chromedome is here to support his husband, because he loves him so, so much, kissy-noise kissy-noise. Cyclonus is here mainly to clarify that he’s a badass who no one has ever heard cry, because emotional vulnerability and expressing pain are for pussies, unless you’re doing it by way of self-harming directly onto your face meat.

Only Tailgate and Rewind actually admit to what they heard, Tailgate hearing Cyclonus berate him for falling for Getaway’s tricks and Rewind hearing Dominus berate him for not doing enough to find him. I’d imagine both Rung and Swerve were hearing things relating to their professionalism, given that Rung fucking sucks at his job, and Swerve’s gonna fry the moment Ten gets a union sorted out. Megatron, is well, Megatron, so there’s a litany of awful things that he could have heard.

Rodimus has Blaster reveal that the ship received a signal at the exact same time that these people had their little brain event. Brainstorm hypothesizes that what happened was some sort of psychological assault, perhaps of Galactic Council origin, as a means of testing a new brain weapon. Magnus, who has been up on an upper level with a clipboard up to this point, notes that they could trace the signal. Mainframe informs him that they have, but the origin doesn’t seem to correspond to any known location in the navigation, and they’d have to physically go there to see what’s up. Which isn’t sketchy in the slightest.

Rodimus wants to load up on his big, beautiful Rodpod with everyone, so they can find who did this and make them stop. When Magnus questions if this is a wise course of action, Rodimus uses American grammar to trip up Magnus’s British-based spellcheck, so he gets to do whatever he wants. This is a trick he’s picked up since Drift left, as the old game of “pitting my people-pleaser hippy dippy boytoy and my no-nonsense stick-up-the-ass sentient rulebook against one another, so whatever I wanted to do from the start can seem like a pleasantly centralized option” doesn’t work very well when you replace the boytoy with a grumpy old man who tried to murder everything with a heartbeat.

Velocity wants to join the trip alongside Team Rodimus, but Mainframe has his reservations. I don’t blame him, considering she is, again, the only medical doctor currently on board this ship. He suggests she take along some personal protection, just in case.

…I mean, he’ll definitely make sure any bad guys who come her way will die horribly, if nothing else. Also, apparently the Rodpod's artificial gravity goes all the way around.

Nautica’s spent the last few weeks tricking out the Rodpod with a fancy schmancy new teleport drive, because Rodimus was annoying her to the point where if she didn’t give him what he was moaning about she might have had to kill him. Megatron is hesitant to use the drive, but after being informed that there are safety perimeters in place that’ll keep the ol’ Rodimus Podimus from teleporting inside a asteroid or whatever, he pulls the level and they end up in the dark.

No, not space dark, don’t be funny. That’s my job, and they don’t pay me for it, which should tell you how dire the situation is. This is a special sort of dark. The sort of dark that leads to panic and lethal levels of quipping. Rodimus cuts the lights on, but it does very little to offset the absolutely suffocating darkness outside. Rewind notes that there aren’t any stars, and Tailgate admits that he doesn’t know how space works. That’s alright Tailgate, neither do any of the people who draw or color this comic. You’re amongst (created by?) friends here.

The scanners reveal that there’s something 3000 miles in front of them. And behind them. And to the left, to the right, 12 o'clock, three o'clock, six o'clock, nine o'clock, rock around the clock tonight— that is to say, they’re surrounded by something the size of a planet. After disabling the safety protocols on the Rodimus Podimus, the gang find themselves on the surface of Necroworld, where the Necrobot Censere lives and operates his many plinths to the living and dead. Megatron isn’t exactly thrilled to be back here. Nightbeat on the other hand, is overdose on mystery, and he couldn’t be happier. Nobody’s sure what the fuck is going on. There’s no time to theorize, however, as half the gang just got blown sky high.

Everyone books it back to the Rodpod to escape the dozen attack craft coming after them, but there’s more trouble here— the teleport drive is dead. Which is weird, because they should have had enough juice to get to and from their little trip. When Rodimus tries to contact the Lost Light, there’s no response. They’re not responding. Megatron tells him that those are two different things, mirroring the same thing Optimus said about trying to contact the Lost Light after he and Jetfire viewed the will tapes. Everyone else is busy trying to figure out who the hell could be firing on them, all of them roughly coming to the same conclusion that Cybertronians as a whole aren’t terribly well liked, and the Lost Lighters have made a bit of a name (derogatory) for themselves, since they insulted the Galactic Council, caused the end of the 16-million year Stentarian war, and have ruined at least one bar with physical violence over home movies.

Rodimus tells Megatron to park the Rodpod at the Necrobot’s citadel, just in time for a missile to hit the ass-end of the shuttle, blowing off Magnus’s arm, shredding off roughly half of Nautica’s face, and giving Cyclonus an excuse to hold Tailgate in his arms. Everyone bolts to get inside, Nautica being carried by Skids so we can further solidify the straightest pairing in the series. Once they’re all inside, their attackers retreat, and we see where Censere’s gotten to in all this.

Let’s give him a hand, folks!

While Velocity looks over the body, Nightbeat deals with his personal Santa Claus being dead by way of trying to figure out what happened. Megatron, meanwhile, noticed that the craft that attacked them were of Decepticon design, and he tells Ravage to go check it out. Honestly, I doubt he was the only one to notice, given that all but three of the people on this trip were dealing with the Decepticons in some form or fashion all throughout the war, and could therefore identify the make of the crafts, if not the model, so I’m not sure what the deal is with this secrecy.

Brainstorm is brought over to Nightbeat to help solve this mystery, and he promptly identifies that some of Censere’s equipment is very similar to the stuff Tyrest used for the Aequitas trials, likely used to figure out what sparkflowers to plant where. Rewind, having popped on his sparkliest nipple pasties on, because he hates Censere and wants to get glitter all over his house, asks the boys to scootch on over so he can try to call the Lost Light. Nightbeat thinks that Censere tried to sabotage a signal someone else had sent in an attempt to lure Team Rodimus (and friends) to the planet, and that resulted in the brain attack that had happened earlier in the day. Unfortunately, Censere didn’t spend any time with Rodimus the last time the Lost Light visited, so he didn’t get a taste of the ridiculous way Rodimus likes to live his life, and why the psychic attack wouldn’t work.

Rewind gets the phone working, calling Rodimus over to get on the horn. Magnus stands in the background, showing off his grievous amputation. After a bit of fiddling with the settings on their end, the Lost Light makes official contact with Team Rodimus.

Getaway, last we saw him, was very much in prison, but Rodimus isn’t going to focus on that niggling little detail right now, as he asks for the Lost Light to swing by to pick up the team so they don’t all die. Getaway sort of DOES want to focus on that detail, however, as he very much didn’t appreciate being fetish fuel throughout the holiday season, and, despite his name, didn’t actually escape that setup. No, Getaway had help.

Man, guess Megatron should’ve reconsidered failing Riptide on his essay.

Speaking of Megatron, he walks up about now to see what all the hubbub’s about. Rodimus, looking like he’s about to cry, realizes that Mainframe lied to them about not being able to track the signal. Getaway gives him points for getting that right, but really, he wants to drive home the point that the entirety of the crew wanted Megatron’s little pals off the ship. And that’s what it’s really about, at the end of the day. Getaway hates that high command gave Megatron a party cruise to live out his last days on, last days that might not even happen, with the track record of this goddamned quest. He’s sick of Rodimus and pals acting like this whole arrangement isn’t an affront to every single life that’s been snuffed out because of Megatron’s actions.

Everyone other than Whirl seems pretty bummed out by these accusations. Swerve pipes up, enraged that he’s been doomed to die alongside everyone else— he doesn’t even LIKE Megatron. Getaway reveals that at some point or another, he and Atomizer (the interior designer turned bowman, you’ll recall) approached every single crew member and asked if they thought Megatron deserved to have a second chance and also, completely unrelated, but what would you do in the event of a coup? Anyone who didn’t provide a desirable answer got visited by the nudge gun fairy— that gun that can fire thought into your brain, or just erase memories if fired dry. The collection of headaches main cast have been experiencing over the last several issues? The side effect of being shot. Skids especially does not like this reveal.

Of course, Getaway isn’t just upset with Megatron’s leadership— he’s also mad as hell what’s supposed to be a trip to find their ancestors, who will guide them back onto the straight and narrow, has, in actuality, been Rodimus’s midlife crisis road trip. Getaway wasn’t even here for Rodimus and Drift’s ass-slapping contests and insulting galactic officials who want the Cybertronians dead, but he didn’t need to be. He took one look at the Rodpod and decided he needed to kill Rodimus right then and there.

Rodimus, at this point, remembers the list Atomizer had offered him back during the trial. Magnus, biting his lip at the idea of a list existing, asks what that’s all about, and Rodimus explains. Getaway really was hoping that Rodimus would take the bait, so he could’ve blackmailed Rodimus into stepping down and letting literally anyone else take over. Probably Magnus, at that point in the timeline, given that he hadn’t gotten buddy-buddy with Megatron yet at that point. Unless Getaway considers acting as someone’s lawyer under order of the space pope as being too close to an individual.

Getaway decides that this conversation has reached its natural conclusion, as he’s got questing to get done, and it should be moving at a pretty even clip now, since he’s excised all the distractions. Rodimus swears to come after him, but Getaway doubts it’ll happen, given what’s happening next.

While this debacle has been happening, Ravage has been busy searching a crash site, trying to uncover the identity of who the hell’s decided to attack them. Tarn commits a microagression at him, before firing his twin fusion cannons.

The call ends, Getaway cutting off the comm to all contact.

Ravage shows back up at this point, to give everyone the bad news.

Nightbeat, honey, the tragedy is in the opposite direction.

Now, that’s technically the finale of the main story, but there’s a little bonus comic attached to the end, acting as a sort of sideways epilogue to hint at what Getaway and his merry band of mutineers will be getting up to, since we aren’t seeing them again for a bit.

Our little backup strip begins right before the original launch of the Lost Light, where we see some guys we haven’t seen the 2012 Annual issue. Shock and Ore wander around what will one day become Swerve’s, Shock convinced that this ship is actually the ship they lost 5 million years prior, the Unitrex-1. Ore isn’t so sure, but as the readers, we saw the exact moment that Unitrex-1 disappeared in issue #38, after Rodimus forgot to wash his hands while putting the quantum engine together. Shock, wanting to prove that he’s right, fumbles around in the dark, looking for the graffiti he carved into the underside of a table. Ore gets a call on his space Blackberry while he’s doing this, and we finally get the other half of that call Prowl made in issue #1, after he failed to get Chromedome to stay on Cybertron. The Duobots have 20 minutes to get Overlord’s massive, lippy ass on the ship. Knowing that that isn’t a ton of time, the two quickly book it out of the bar, leaving the spectral form of Skids to look really bummed out.

Later, at Swerve’s grand (secret) opening, we see some more old faces.

Whoa now, Drift, you’re not supposed to be back until next issue!

Pipes thinks he’s been cursed to not have friends, since Hubcap is still at his dead-end job with the Wreckers, and Riptide was too busy being in a coma to come say goodbye. How rude!

Drift doesn’t seem to particularly want Pipes around more than necessary, pushing him to be friends with Rewind, who he describes as having kind eyes. Whether Drift is doing this to keep Pipes safe from overhearing any Overlord-related secrets, keeping his ass-slapping and sexually-tense sword training time with Rodimus safe, or just because he finds Pipes to be mildly annoying isn’t clear. Pipes, however, is looking for more than friendship— he’s looking to bone down.

Pipes’s ideal partner is wide as they are tall, with tits to match and at least one alt-mode that he can use as a yacht. Drift tells him he can introduce him to Tailgate, though something tells me Pipes isn’t really Tailgate’s type, given that he can actually say what he means and doesn’t have some fucked-up facial situation.

It’s really too bad that Pipes died, because I bet he would have loved Nautica, and he would have REALLY loved Nickel.

Later still, we see all of our doctors together— even Ambulon is there! In one piece, even! Ambulon wants to tell First Aid something, and First Aid automatically tries to make it a cosmetic thing, because of COURSE Ambulon would be insecure about his bad skin, and what he really needs is a better cleanser. What Ambulon actually wants to talk about, though, is his alt mode, and the fact that the puns involved with being part of a Combiner make him want to die. First Aid understands, but Swerve, known menace to society, might not be so compassionate, as he throws a grenade into the back of Ambulon’s head, triggering his transformation. Ambulon is mortified, and Swerve does the thing that Ambulon literally just said he hates. First Aid continues to rip flakes of paint off of Ambulon, as the specter of Velocity watches, looking pretty bummed about the fact that she never got to be part of banter like this.

Later on than that, Rewind and a wheelchair-bound Rung are in the currently-empty Swerve’s, as Rewind calls Chromedome to gather up one of the groups for those storytelling circles Rewind organized to try to fix Rung’s brain. He hangs up, then tells Rung that once his brain works again, they’re going to have a goddamned chat about Dominus Ambus, which is only mildly hampered in its threat by the fact that Rewind standing is barely the same height as Rung sitting down.

Rewind then gets to work writing out the story map for when the “Shadowplay” group gets there, as the specter of Chromedome reaches out longingly for the dead version of his husband. He laments that this Rewind died without closure, but the ghostly specter of Rung reminds him that there are rules to this, and they have to leave now. Not sure why Rung’s here to watch himself be threatened by Pipsqueak McGee. Is he actually doing his job for once, helping guide someone through their grief? I doubt it, since Chromedome isn’t a hottie bo-body like Skids, and his problems haven’t (directly, at least) caused the sort of trouble that make entire star systems hate you like Megatron.

Later, during the Overlord disaster, Perceptor sprints into Swerve’s, shouting for a medic, as the rest of the battered and beaten watch. Hoist, himself hooked up to the wall by some sort of cable, while wearing his extra-special Rodimus Star, offers to help, though he’s technically an engineer, and whatever he’s gonna do probably won’t have any consideration for the soul or ability to feel pain. Perceptor was using Tripodeca— sweet, beloved, friend to all, who was the star of the post-Overlord mass funeral Tripodeca— as a, uh, tripod for his rifle, when Overlord probably noticed that the ol’ science sniper looked sort of familiar and did a lil’ grabbing with his big nasty hands. Hoist asks if Perceptor is going to stop Overlord, and considering how things went the last time Overlord was the star of the show, I doubt Perceptor thought he was gonna get lucky twice in terms of survival, especially when Overlord is riGHT BEHIND HIM OH GOD LORDY JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH

How Perceptor survived this isn't clear, but we know he did, as he continued to show up in the story past issue #15 in a decidedly alive, non-paste form. His specter watches this scene unfold, expression unreadable.

Post-Luna 1, Swerve stands in his ruined bar dejectedly, when he realizes that quite a few people have shown up to help him clean up the mess, as long as he promises to reward their hard work with reopening once it’s done. As everyone works to get things back in order, Swerve tells them to keep an eye out for a non-trashed Legislator that he could use as a bouncer, once he fucks around with its head enough to make it do what he wants. Ten’s specter watches as his shitty boss and arguable father is gifted the body that would become him, making a note to get his union going with a bit more urgency.

Later, on the day of the “Fuck Off Megatron 2-for-1 Drink Deal”, Crosscut lead Riptide, Mirage, and Nautica on a tour of the ship. Mirage notes that Swerve’s is a bit of a dive, not suited to his refined tastes in the slightest. In a booth, Getaway and Atomizer have boxed Mainframe in on either side to have a little chat. Swerve and Bluestreak talk television, Bluestreak making a little jab at MTMTE’s second season not being quite as well-received by fans as the first. Over at the bar, Highbrow and Perceptor talk about Quark, while Brainstorm watches while having his briefcase, which he is NOT supposed to have in here.

Crosscut goes on about this bar being where all things happen and where bittersweet is the most often-felt emotion, then calls Trailcutter/blazer an alcoholic as he dances on the ceiling. The specters of just about everyone on the ship watch their fallen friend, enjoying the moment and missing him terribly, as Perceptor brings them back to the here and now of the story, which turns out to be just after the holiday special, judging by the Christmas lights.

Minimus asks if this is safe, and Perceptor says that it is, as nobody can actually interact with the past, because Brainstorm is the only one who’s ever actually perfected that tech, not that this isn’t his fault either. It turns out that when you try to fly against the stream of time as it naturally occurs, you tear a few thousand itty bitty holes on the way to perfecting the process. Perceptor’s found a way to let others view the past, at least for a little while. Minimus is fine with it, as long as everyone continues to behave, and it seems like they are, as everyone mingles in Swerve’s.

The two of them sit down, Megatron handing Minimus what I’m sure is a mocktail, and Perceptor explains that while the window into the past is closing for now, it may open back up in the future. When Rodimus asks when that might be, he then immediately decides that he doesn’t want to know, instead wanting to have a fun little surprise for later. They don’t get very many of those, fun surprises.

As everyone toasts to the dead and to future adventures, the specter of Getaway watches on, smug as hell.

That’s the end of “No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases” but that is STILL not the end of the issue! It never ends, this thing! Because the number 50 is very big and impressive, obviously this is a double-sized spectacular, and has to cap off with a note from the man himself— James Roberts.

And then after that we get a new notes from fans, but this is already obscenely long and I think I can show you the crux of what they’re all saying right here: MTMTE (2012) is fucking good. It’s a good series. Make your goddamn family, friends, coworkers, librarians, and goldfish read it. Share it with people you’ve never met. Get a long-term personal project out of it. Get long-term friends out of it. Get a long-term romantic partner out of it. If I can do it, so can you!

[tybaltsjuliet]

Favourite pieces of Weird Girl media? That uquiz has me Thinking (along with that gothic heroine dress up game, might revisit the concept of a gothic romance I came up with some years back)

any and every alice in wonderland, of course! my all-time beloved.

so weird. this was a show that ran on disney channel in the ’90s. the protagonist, fiona, has paranormal adventures and encounters while traveling all over on her musician mom’s tour bus and writes about them on her fantastically ’90s webpage. fi is a True Believer and her family and friends largely think she’s a lunatic. her father died under Mysterious Paranormal Circumstances that haunt and vex her. this show made me who i am today and as my rewatch last fall can confirm - a lot of the scary stuff holds up!

speaking of cute and spooky disney Weird Girl properties: gravity falls and halloweentown. on any show besides GF i think mabel pines would have been a total joke, but the show loves her SO MUCH and SO DO I. (it helps, i think, that a lot of her was inspired by the creator ’s real-life sister.) halloweentown gets extra points from me for not being one of those annoying Magical World stories where the protagonist gets kicked back to her boring, ordinary life with extreme prejudice in the end.

pan’s labyrinth. for the most discerning and sensitive Weird Girls, and those who also got into trouble for putting strange and occult items around the house as a child.

coraline. ESPECIALLY the book. the movie is cute and fine but has absolutely nothing on the book for spookiness and strangeness.

labyrinth. a classic, obviously.

the secret garden. give a listen to the marsha norman and lucy simon musical adaptation, too, which comes not only with all of the Weird Girl delights of the novel - “the girl i mean to be” is a Weird Girl anthem - but bonus Tragic Gothic Romance for the adult characters!

emily of new moon. i know that anne shirley is many people’s go-to LMM-written Weird Girl. these are people who have not yet met emily byrd starr.

true grit. the 2010 one. now, mattie ross is a little different to the others on this list, but this American West subspecies of Weird Girl checks out.

a series of unfortunate events. another one i do not see cited often as Weird Girl media, which is a slight on everything violet and sunny (and isadora and fiona, for that matter) have done for us.

and a few honorable mentions for Weird Girls who are slightly older than the typical and/or not main characters of their media, but nevertheless were formative and inspirational to me as a Weird Girl-Child:

christine daaé; katrina van tassel in the tim burton sleepy hollow; and luna lovegood who deserved better even before HP went radioactive.

[sciatu]

Idda Idda stiddi e pallida luna idda focu du suli etennu idda luci, ventu, futtuna idda paradisu, idda ‘nfennu idda sognu e fimmina vera idda u to ciatu, u to sangu idda estati e primavera idda acqua, terra, fangu idda ciauru, cielu, ciuri idda suggenti, idda u mari idda du jonnu ogni culuri idda da notti u sugnari idda cantu, vessu, puisia idda bidizza di ogni arti idda d’ogni notti mavaria d’ogni vita a megghiu parti Idda peddi, mani, capiddi idda cosci, minni, sessu i so occhi chini i stiddi a bucca unni sugnu pessu idda silenziu, idda canzuni idda parola, idda pinseru, idda ciareddu, idda liuni idda malizia, cori sinceru idda munti, idda vadduni, idda acqua, gebbia, vita giallu ranu, niru cabbuni idda a sula, a preferita idda nu jonnu piffettu idda ricchizza da campagna idda cosi giusti, rispettu idda soru, idda cumpagna idda ricoddi, idda dumani idda lacrimi, cori ruttu idda da vita u tempu, u pani idda di tuttu, sempri u tuttu

Lei, stelle e pallida luna, lei fuoco del sole eterno, lei luce, vento, fortuna, lei paradiso, lei inferno, lei sogno e vera donna, lei, il tuo respiro. Lei il tuo sangue, lei estate e primavera, lei acqua, terra, fango. Lei profumo, cielo, fiori, lei sorgente e lei mare, lei del giorno ogni colore, lei della notte il sognare. Lei canto, verso, poesia, lei bellezza di ogni arte, lei, di ogni notte magia, di ogni vita, la meglio parte. Lei pelle, mani capelli, lei cosce, seno, sesso, i suoi occhi pieni di stelle, la sua bocca dove sono perso. Lei silenzio, lei canzoni, lei parola, lei pensiero, lei agnello, lei leone, lei malizia, cuore sincero. Lei monti, lei vallata, lei acqua, cisterna, vita, giallo grano, nero carbone, lei la sola, la preferita. Lei giorno perfetto, lei ricchezza della campagna, lei giustizia, rispetto, lei sorella, lei compagna, lei ricordi, lei domani. Lei lacrime, cuore rotto, lei della vita tempo e pane, lei di tutto, sempre il tutto.

She, stars and pale moon, she fire of the eternal sun, she light, wind, fortune, she paradise, she hell, she dream, and true woman, she, your breath. She, your blood, she summer and spring, she water, earth, mud. She perfume, sky, flowers, she spring and she sea, she every color of the day, she dreaming of the night. She song, verse, poetry, she beauty of every art, she, of every night magic, of every life, the best part. She skin, hands, hair, she thighs, breasts, sex, her eyes full of stars, her mouth where I am lost. She silence, she songs, she word, she thought, she lamb, she lion, she malice, sincere heart. She mountains, she valley, she water, cistern, life, yellow wheat, black coal, she the only one, the favorite. She perfect day, she richness of the countryside, she justice, respect, she sister, she companion, she memories, she tomorrow. She tears, broken heart, she of life time and bread, she of everything, always everything.

[quelmaredeimieiocchi]

Quando meno te lo aspetti la tristezza invaderà anima e corpo. Verrà a bussare dolcemente alla tua porta e tu, invincibile come ti senti, non potrai far altro che aprire e lasciarti travolgere. Quei volti così familiari li sentirai ormai distanti, ed ogni carezza non sarà mai quella giusta, o quella di una mano amica. Le risate rimbomberanno nella notte e non riuscirai a chiudere occhio. I pianti più frequenti, e sinceri.

Quest'altra notte insonne la dedico a me, che mi fingo tanto il Sole, ma sono una dolcissima Luna. Candida e carezzevole. E le prime luci del mattino, che mi sorridono nonostante tutto. 

Chiedo scusa a chi mi segue, e a chi mi legge quotidianamente. 

Non prendete esempio da me, ho semplicemente sbagliato strada. Ed è un errore solo mio.

Ho intenzione di dirlo a te che stai leggendo: non fingere mai che non ti importi. Sei ancora in tempo per cambiare le cose sbagliate in giuste.

[smokingago]

Mi basta questa oscurità circoscritta a dimenticare lo splendore argenteo della Luna. E i miei doni migliori. Basta un po' di buio a cancellare tutta la luce che sono. Sembra notte senza Luna per sempre. Invece è solo un'eclissi, che mi dipinge colori nuovi. Un'oscurità che vorrei fuggire. Invece sono spettacolo di luci e ombre da contemplare.

Manuela Toto, Eclissi

Perché dovunque fugga è sempre inferno: sono io l'inferno;

e nell'abisso più fondo un altro abisso ancora più profondo si spalanca.

John Milton

[idkwhatshappeningbutok]

So, I'm writing a fic bc I read a fic and now I'm having THOUGHTS.

So. We fuck with the time table. Instead of Noctis being 10yo, Ignis being 12, Luna 14, and Ravus 17 (how old I normally hc them to be for the attack), they're about 2 years younger (Ravus is 16 but only has been for like 3 weeks). Noctis and Regis went to Tenebrea with Claruas, Ignis' uncle, and Ignis because they thought it would be a good idea for Noctis and Luna to get to know each other. Obviously this falls to shit and the Empire attacks. However, the kids make it out and Queen Sylva doesn't die. I have an oc (her name is Kendra and ill explain her more at the end) who ends up going with the kids because she's friends with Ravus. The kids end up going to Galahd to hide, and of course change their names.

So now Ravus is 'Ralin' but not really because they chose that sense it shortens to Rae, and that's Luna's nickname for him. Kendra just shortens it to Ken. Luna's now Lily. Ignis is Edward because Eddy sounds like Iggy. Noctis is Nathin because Nat sounds like Noct.

So they end up in Galahd, which is mostly open to the Tenebrain refugees, so long as they contribute in some way. They don't really need to worry about money because due to the war the government has all the money, and people just use trade. The kids end up on the largest island (will use map we see in ep. Ardyn and put screenshots at end), and they wander around for a few days before Ravus finds somewhere for them to stay. This is a slightly rundown inn with 5 floors and a basement, each floor has two apartments.

They are on the second room on the second floor. This inn is run by a woman, Miss Erica, and rather than paying rent they just kinda work for her. So she'll send Ravus out of run errands and teaches Kendra to cook. Because she is teaching them how to cook and clean. She also has a school on the top floor.

Their version of school is set up different and I will explain that in another post, but they all have to go to school at different times of day.

Nyx and his family also live here. Nyx ends up becoming friends with Ravus. Nyx's mom helps watch Luna, Ignis, and Noctis. And everything is good for about 2 years, then the Empire attacks again. Ravus protects Nyx's sister and motjer, and losses his left hand and about half of his left forearm. Kendra was hiding in the inn's basement like she was meant to be doing. Ignis and Noctis were out in a field not to far away and get attacked by a Maralith (giant 6armed sword welding snake lady). Ignis dies, but Noct doesn't know that so he accidentally brings him back to life. Iggy is now blind. Noctis has about the same ingury that would have sent him to Tenebrae in canon. Luna panics and ACCIDENTALLY SUMMONS A GODDESS.

She's also an oc, Ifrit's younger twin, goddess of molten rock. Her name is Agyua. She puts everyone in a pocket dimention of sorts, and kicks the Empire the fuck out of there. She did not send Luna away, and sort of goes through Luna's head to figure out where to put people when she puts them back. Like putting Ravus, Ignis, and Noctis in the hospital. Luna passes out, ends up in a coma to regain her strength. Same with Noct. Kendra has to help with cleanup, and Ravus and Ignis help each other relearn how to walk. (Ravus doesn't get a prosthetic for a few more years because unlike most healthcare in Galahd those aren't free.)

Now Agyua gives Galahd's solders and medics her blessing, and now you have the Glaive only not loyal to Lucis. These abilities do change a bit based on where you're from, like Tenebrain's are very good healers.

About now Sylva makes a deal with another oc, Miyako, goddess of the dead, and also Ardyn. Miyako was imprisoned by Bahumut and whipped from history, and is pissed at him. Cor also adopts Prompto around now. Kendra joins the hunters.

Another four years Regis still hasn't been able to track down Noct, and make Cor the heir. Regis keeps a group to secretly look for Noct (Gladio, Aranea, Cor, eventually Iris) Prompto has been online buddies with Noct for a while now, figures out who and where he is, and tells Cor. Cor sends him with Gladio, Aranea, and Iris to go get him. He's not home when they get there but Luna is, and she thinks them sus so she stalls until Noct does get home. Noct knows Prom, nobody else. And trusts Prom, but nobody else. Hence more stalling until Ravus can get beck, because he's been in charge from day one, Ignis isn't n town today and neither is Kendra.

Ravus has Prompto call Cor to better explain the situation, basically goes 'I'm not dragging us over that hell hole of a war zone to get to Insomnia' and now Gladio is mad at Ravus because Cor put Ravus in charge and Glado was supposed to be. Another year, and Miyako uses an army of dragon ghosts to drive the Empire out of Tenebrae. Miyako and Agyua are dating and have Tenenbrae and Galahd make an allince. Somewhere in there Ravus and Ignis get together. Also almost all of them end up fighting on the front lines at least once. Luna and Ravus (bc he also can heal screw u) fix up Noct and Iggy so Iggy can see in one eye and Noct's only issue is he now accidently shares him magic with Ignis in ways he's not supposed to be able to. Libertus and Crowe move in down the street, become friends with them.

Ardyn kidnaps Sol, kills her dad who was the heir the nif throne, and gives her to Sylva because that man doesn't know how babies work. Now the Empire is starting to self destruct.

Two years later, and our group gets to go to Insomnia. (Also Noct and Luna are a thing now.) They tell a few people about who they actually were, and Nyx is flabbergasted lol. After a bit Luna and Ravus have to go home, which isn't fun because by now they all have some level of seperation angxity and codependency issues (pls ignore bad spelling).

They figure out the whole Prophcey, go f*ck Bahumut, fight him with Agyua and Miyako, win, and Ardyn ends up ruling Lucis with Area after Miyako brings her back form the dead, while Noct and Luna get married and run Tenebrae. happy ending but Nyx dies only to come back during fighting god. so. just don't always trust that the dead are really dead.

Anyways! Kendra! She's 15 at the start, has long brown hair she likes to dye random colors, is pretty smart, and strong, basically the dad friend while Ravus is the mom friend. Also sarcasm.

Map screenshots! 1. what gods rule where, 2. map of Galahd as best i could, 3. Altissia, 4. Insomina in the light and the rest of Lucis, 5. the weird cost above nif is tenebrae, 6. full world map, 7. the other islands above tenebrae are where demons first popped up & are uninhabited, 8. nifelheim.

[killed-by-choice]

“Elaine Roe,”46 (China 2012)

"Elaine" was a 46-year-old woman who underwent the chemical abortion pill regimen. Mifepristone was used followed by misoprostol, as is typical.

After the misoprostol was administered, Elaine suffered from asthenia, feelings of chest discomfort and shortness of breath. She was hospitalized, but went into cardio-respiratory arrest and was declared dead on April 6, 2012.

Elaine's death was one of 688 adverse events reported in a medical study published nearly nine years later. Her death was the result of an adverse reaction to the misoprostol.

Although Elaine's death occurred in 2012 and the study that reported her case was published in 2021, the FAERS database did not receive any report of her case until March of 2024.

Others who died from legal use of the abortion pill regimen include Holly Patterson, Chanelle Bryant, Hoa Thuy “Vivian” Tran, Rebecca Tell Berg, Oriane Shevin, Nadine Walkowiak, Manon Jones, Sarah Dunn, Alyona Dixon, Brenda Vise, Jessie-Maye Barlow, María Del Valle González Lopez and many who are unidentified, including: “Marcie” (Australia 2010), “Crystal” (27, Canada 2003), “Jane” (26, Canada 2001), “Summer” (19, Canada 2021), “Fleur” (25, France ~2013), “Joana” (14, Portugal 2005), “Raeden” (31, Taiwan 2006), “Jess” (UK, 2004 or before), “Janet” (UK 2020), “Janice” (UK, 2004 or before), “Olivia” (31, UK 2010), “Alina” (31, USA 2023), “Belle” (21, USA 2009), “Bridget” (24, USA 2021), “Carmen” (29, USA 2008), “Ella” (27, USA 2010), “Mandy” (28, USA 2003–2007), “Lucy” (29, USA 2022), “Luna” (31, USA), “Sabrina” (18, USA 2007), “Tara” (USA 2005), “Taylor” (33, USA 2017), “Tina” (USA pre-2017), “Toni” (USA pre-2017) and “Wanda” (24, USA 2006).

Analysis of 688 Cases of Adverse Drug Reaction Induced by Misoprostol (Pharmacovigilance, 2021)

FDA Adverse Event Report #23601184

[spaceagebachelormann]

𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔!

HOW TO REQUEST

— state the character, romantic or platonic, the format of the request, and what you want with it

— do you have any specifics for the reader? male, female, blonde, poc, etc?

— requests can be send through inbox or dms, but inbox is heavily encouraged!

— PLEASE ACTUALLY SPECIFY WHAT YOU WANT WITH YOUR REQUEST!! ITS VERY HARD FOT ME TO WRITE SOMETHING THAT JUST SAYS “_____ x reader fluff” WITH NO FURTHER EXPLANATION!! GIVE ME A PLOT LINE!!

WHAT I WILL WRITE:

platonic

romantic

familial

any gender x any gender

headcanons

poly relationships

sensitive topics

x reader

ships (canon or non-canon, so long as it’s not problematic)

i. i WILL write cheating, but not if a character is going it to the reader/another character. i’ll make someone comforting another person after being cheated on, but i won’t write finnick odair cheating on someone

same thing ^^ goes for homophobic, transphobic, ableist topics like that, and. well i guess the same goes for abuse?

WHAT I WONT WRITE:

smut (i’m 14)

yandere

incest

student x teacher

canonically gay character (ex: wylan van eck) x fem!reader for romantic requests

canonically lesbian character x male!reader for romantic requests

songfics (nothing against them, i just don’t know how!!)

things about ocs

ship fics

character list (more to come!)

❍ = easiest characters to write for

bolded — favourite characters to write for

KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES

❍ sophie foster, ❍ dex dizznee, fitz vacker, ❍ keefe sencen, ❍ biana vacker, ❍ marellla redek, ❍ maruca chebota, tam song, linh song, ❍ wylie endal, ❍ jensi babblos, stina heks

CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

❍ peter pevensie, ❍ edmund pevensie, ❍ susan pevensie, ❍ lucy pevensie, mr tumnus, ❍ caspian, eustace scrubb, jill pole, shasta, aravis

RIORDANVERSE

❍ percy jackson, ❍ annabeth chase, ❍ grover underwood, ❍ jason grace, ❍ piper mclean, ❍ leo valdez, ❍ hazel levesque, ❍ frank zhang, nico di angelo, will solace, reyna arellano, rachel dare, ❍ travis stoll, ❍ connor stoll, thalia grace, magnus chase, ❍ alex fierro, carter kane, sadie kane, lester papadopolous, lavinia asimov

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

❍ christine daaé, ❍ raoul de chagny, erik destler, ❍ meg giry

p.s. i’ll write for the movie, musical, book and 1990 miniseries versions!!

HARRY POTTER

harry potter, ❍ hermione granger, ❍ ron weasley, ❍ luna lovegood, ❍ neville longbottom, ginny weasley, fred weasley, george weasley, ❍ sirius black, remus lupin, ❍ james potter, ❍ marlene mckinnon, mary macdonald, dorcas meadowes, lily evans

RIDE THE CYCLONE

ocean o’connell rosenberg, ❍ noel gruber, ❍ mischa bachinski, ❍ ricky potts, jane doe, penny lamb, ❍ constance blackwood

SHADOW AND BONE

❍ alina starkov, malyen oretsev, ❍ genya safin, ❍ zoya nazyalensky, david kostyk, erm others i accidentally deleted remind me to update this

SIX OF CROWS

kaz brekker, inej ghafa, ❍ jesper fahey, ❍ wylan van eck, nina zenik, matthias helvar

THE OUTSIDERS

ponyboy curtis, ❍ johnny cade, sodapop curtis, darry curtis, steve randall, ❍ twobit matthews, ❍ dallas winston

THE HUNGER GAMES

katniss everdeen, peeta mellark, ❍ finnick odair, ❍ johanna mason, marvel sanford, clove kentwell, cato hadley, ❍ cinna

IT (2017)

bill denbrough, eddie kaspbrak, richie tozier, ❍ stan uris, beverly marsh, ben hanscom, ❍ mike hanlon

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL

❍ agatha of woods beyond, ❍ sophie of woods beyond, tedros of camelot, ❍ hort of bloodbrook, ❍ hester of ravenswood, ❍ anadil, ❍ dot, nicola, aric, rhian mistral, rafal mistral, leonora lesso, clarissa dovey

THE LAND OF STORIES

❍ alex bailey, ❍ connor bailey, ❍ red riding hood, ❍ jack, ❍ goldilocks, ❍ bree campbell

SCOOBY DOO

daphne blake, ❍ fred jones, shaggy rogers, velma dinkley

LITTLE WOMEN

❍ jo march, amy march, beth march, meg march, ❍ laurie

A GOOD GIRLS GUIDE TO MURDER

pippa fitz-amobi, ❍ ravi singh, naomi ward, ❍ cara ward, connor reynolds, ❍ jamie reynolds, nat da silva

THE MIGHTY DUCKS

❍ charlie conway, adam banks, ❍ lester averman, guy germaine, ❍ connie moreau, julie gaffney, ❍ ken wu, dean portman, luis mendoza, dwayne robertson, ❍ fulton reed

DRACULA

dracula, ❍ lucy westenra, mina harker, arthur holmwood, ❍ renfield, dr seward, abraham van helsing, ❍ quincey morris

FRANKENSTEIN

victor frankenstein, ❍ adam frankenstein, elizabeth lavenza, justine moritz, ernest frankenstein, henry clerval, the bride

DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE

henry jekyll, ❍ edward hyde, ❍ richard enfield, gabriel utterson, hastie lanyon, lucy harris

MONSTER HIGH

gotta update this one guys,,,

THE BREAKFAST CLUB

john bender , ❍ claire standish, allison reynolds, brian johnson, andrew clark

THE POWERPUFF GIRLS

❍ blossom utonium, bubbles utonium, buttercup utonium , ❍ brick jojo, boomer jojo, butch jojo

DAVID BOWIE

❍ jareth, thomas jerome newton, david bowie

SWEENEY TODD

❍ sweeney, anthony hope, ❍ mrs lovett, johanna

THE ROSEWOOD CHRONICLES

lottie pumpkin, ellie wolf, ❍ jamie volk, ❍ ollie moreno, ❍ raphael wilcox, ❍ anastacia alcroft leblanc, saskia san martin, lola tomkins, mickey tomkins, binah fae

HAIRSPRAY

❍ corny collins, ❍ seaweed j stubbs, amber von tussle, tracy turnblad, penny pingleton, link larkin

MISC. CHARACTERS

sarah williams, ❍ bernard the elf, ❍ rodrick heffley, ❍ varian

[asvterias]

𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝟦: 𝖮𝗇𝗅𝗒 𝖥𝗈𝗋 𝖸𝗈𝗎

Series Masterlist || The Cast || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter

chapter warnings: some jealousy and minor cursing

chapter pairings: lynn loud x black!fem!reader, platonic!bailey family x platonic!lynn, platonic!loud family x platonic!reader

word count: 5.9k+

tag list: @sheluvv-jen

author’s note: there’s finally some romance going on!

also send me a private message, an ask, or leave a comment if you want to be apart of the taglist!

The next morning over at the Louds’ house was productive, to say the least. You changed into a sleeveless mini red plaid dress that dangled over mid-knees with a pair of black converses to match. After getting dressed, Lynn wasn’t upstairs so you assumed that she was downstairs, but to your surprise when you checked, she wasn’t there either.

Lori had informed you that Lynn was out and wouldn’t be back till later. That was how you found yourself conversing with the teen rockstar, Luna Loud. For half of your Sunday morning, you spent with Luna, just discussing each other’s interests. You and Luna settled for breakfast next to each other. You ate some pancakes with orange juice while Luna just ate cereal.

Lunch has rolled around and Lynn arrives back at home, but not empty-handed. You walked up to her, curious to see what she had brought but she gave it to her mom for safekeeping. Luckily for you, the design logo on the mini bag gave it all away; Birmingham Jewelry. You felt completely clueless being fully aware that Lynn wasn’t the type to wear any fancy jewelry at all, mostly sporting tiny earrings.

Although seeing the frown form upon your face after the encounter with her mom, she shrugged it off. She didn’t trust herself with priceless items, especially if she was planning to give them to you. It was safer in her mom’s hand anyways. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

You ventured upstairs, making your way into Lynn’s and Lucy’s room. Lynn was not that far behind, catching up to you rather quickly, her speed becoming an instinct at this point.

“Where were you all morning?” You interrogated, crossing your arms.

“I was out…” The athletic girl trails off.

“Out where?” You pushed her further.

“Look, [name], that doesn’t matter, but I’m here now. So can we just drop it?” She sighs loudly and sits on her bed.

You scoff unconvincingly at her trying to change the topic of your conversation but allowing it with the rolling of your eyes.

“Fine,” You flop your body next to her, looking at her iPad’s screen, noticing that she was on an online shopping website. “So…what are you shopping for?”

“I’m trying to get these new cleats but they’re so expensive…” She groans, gently shoving the tablet in your hands and flinging herself on the bed. “Or the ones that are at a decent price, they don’t have it in my shoe size. It totally sucks!”

“Well, what happened to your current cleats?” You scrolled through the viable options of baseball cleats.

“They’re all worn out and I desperately need one for the new season.” She explains with a tone of annoyance, feeling defeated. You looked at her with sympathy in your eyes, remaining silent, unsure of what to say. “It’s nothing for you to worry about anyways, let’s go get lunch.” She hastily cut you off, not wanting any more non-verbal pity from you.

“Yeah, let me use the bathroom, first.” She nodded you off and you headed towards the bathroom.

When you finished using the bathroom, you were in the hallway and stopped by Luna. “Hey, [name]!” Luna smiles, popping up from her doorway. “Mind if I steal you for a sec? Lynn’s not gonna mind.”

“Sure, don’t see any harm in that.” You complied, walking into Luna’s room.

She grabbed her guitar and sat down on her purple DI box. “Thanks, I just need a second opinion on this tone that I’m working on for my new song.”

“Go right ahead.”

She fiddled with the guitar strings, piecing together an upbeat melody. The lively tune was very hypnotic, almost placing you in a trance but it wavered away when she stopped.

“It’s great, I like it!”

“Thanks, you’re the best, [name].” You nodded in agreement, leaving the bedroom, searching for Lynn, thinking that she’d be where you left her.

“I swear this girl…has a habit of running off whenever I leave.” You mumble to yourself, looking into the empty room in which you last left Lynn.

Her voice seemed near. “So, I brought her this bracelet from this crazy-ass expensive jewelry store and I was planning to give it to her when she has her tennis tournament.” Following Lynn’s voice, you stopped at the twins’ bedroom, finally finding the source of the sound.

Lola’s and Lana’s bedroom door was slightly cracked open, sufficient for unintentional eavesdropping. Neither of the girls noticed you by the door and resumed their conversation.

“Since you’re one of the only people in this family, who has good jewelry taste. I mean, I would ask Leni but then she’d probably tell.”

“Say no more and show me the bracelet,” Lola demands, pausing for a few minutes before sighing, “It’s gorgeous. Is that her birthstone beside her initials, that’s so thoughtful.”

“Really, you think? Cause I spent all weekend having it customized by the jewelers.” Guess that also explained why she was being so secretive whenever she held her tablet around you.

“Oh, I don’t think, I know. Trust me, she’s gonna love it.”

It sparked her confidence. “Thanks, sis.”

“No problem! Now let’s get back to business.”

“Are you sure that she’ll like it, Lola?” Lynn asks with a hesitant look on her face.

“I’m 100% positive!! Now, put some more glitter on there.”

You were already downstairs with your packed bag, sitting on the couch watching television with Lincoln and Clyde while Lynn packs her overnight bag and hauls it downstairs. After spending the weekend with Lynn, your mother only saw it fair to have Lynn spend the weekend at your house. Neither of you has disagreed on the matter, rather enjoying spending more time together.

“Ok, do guys want me to drop you?” Mrs. Loud offers. Lynn joins you on the couch with her overnight bag parked by her feet.

“Oh, no thanks. Mrs. Loud, I’m getting picked up.” You answered.

“By one of your parents?”

“No, by my driver.”

A car honks outside, signifying that your ride is here. “Oh, that’s him. See you guys later.” You barged out the door with Lynn right behind you. You discarded your bags into the limo’s trunk as Lynn did the same and got into the car.

“His name is Mike and he’s my family chauffeur,” You introduce Lynn to him.

“So how rich are you?”

“What? Want me to give you a number?” You playfully ask, taking it as a joke.

It was very surprising when she nodded. “Oh! Well, I would say $5 million rich.”

“$5 million!!” She exclaimed, “Do you know what I could do with 5 million dollars?” You giggled at her outburst, finding it adorable.

“You can do a lot, Lynn.”

An idea came to your head at that moment. An idea that would solve Lynn’s sports problem. You knocked on the small glass barrier that separated you and the driver as he rolled it down. Whispering something inaudible to Mike and he nods at your instructions.

“What are you up to, gorgeous?” She detects that mischievous smirk plastered on your lips.

“Nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about,”

That was all you said, wanting Lynn to play the guessing game for your delight. The car drive to your house was deterred and rerouted to the nearest shoe store.

Lynn noticed the difference in the passing houses that she’d grown familiar with. “Hey, this isn’t the way to your house.” Her eyebrows furrowed in utter confusion.

“I know, baseball girl.” You shrug, “But a certain someone said that they needed new cleats and we’re getting them for her.”

“You don’t have to do that for me, [name].“

You rested your hand on top of hers, and gazed into her eyes, “Well too bad because I want to.”

“What if I don’t want you to?” She folds her arms in a joking manner.

“Then I’m going against your wishes.” You concluded.

The car stops, indicating your arrival at the shoe store, and you two step out of the car. The perplexed look on Lynn’s face was so priceless which had you feeling extremely giddy on the inside.

“Are we gonna stay standing outside all day or are we going inside?”

She grabs your hand, tugging you along with her to the entrance of the shoe store. After two hours of shopping through sports equipment, Lynn is finally done and you’ve never been so bored in your entire life, but there was something about the familiar gleam in her eyes that made you change your mind. Your sentiment towards Lynn’s favorite sport changed just because you knew that she admired it so much.

You, Lynn, and Mike had to carry all of the items to the counter due to there being so many sports items.

Lynn had doubled up on everything. New socks, new cleats, new baseball bats, duffle bags, and batting helmets, and all because you told her to get anything she wanted. Well, she did fulfill her heart’s desire and you were content that you made that happen.

“Is this your dad’s credit card?” She asked.

“No,” You scoff, flashing her the name of the card. “It’s my credit card. We all have our own credit card and bank account, it’s better this way.”

She nodded in acknowledgment with a tint of blush on her face. You paid for Lynn’s items and you all headed back to the car, putting them in the limousine’s back trunk.

“Come on, let’s get food, whatever you want, it’s my treat.”

“Chick-fil-A is the best!”

“Chick-fil-A it is.”

Mike drove down to the nearest Chick-fil-A and you all ate inside, tired of lounging around in the car for the last few hours.

“Why did you pay for all those things for me?”

“I just wanted to spoil you today.”

Since your eavesdropping incident, you wanted to repay her kindness without letting her know that. What? She was already giving you something, so it was all in good time.

During the car ride back home, Lynn slept like a baby in the comfort of your arms. Apparently being a consistent athlete meant that she slept very easily.

Eventually, Mike was granted access to your security gate and he parked close by the front door. You wrapped an arm around her waist so most of her body weight would depend on you. Surprisingly, Lynn was very lightweight, making it easy to carry her outside of the car. While assisting Lynn, Mike had brought all the baggage out of the car and left them in your care.

“I’m not tired.” She mumbles, trying to fight her tiredness. You made it to your bedroom door as you opened it and walked inside.

“Yes, you are.”

You placed the brunette girl on your bed, tugging her into the fresh sheets, watching her slightly stir trying to find a comfortable position.

You left the bedroom for your bathroom to change into your practice outfit, abandoning a sleeping Lynn, and heading into the backyard to practice.

You had set up your tennis trainer, putting it on a medium pace. Your tennis trainer helped launch the balls to you without the help of another person, so it was money well spent.

Within a few hours of your practice, Lynn was finally awake and caught you practicing tennis. She sits down on the singular black bench by the far corner to your right, watching you train freely.

“I thought that you ditched me, and was almost worried for a sec.”

“Oh please, I would never do that to my baseball girl.” You grinned, swinging your racket to hit the flying balls.

“You know, I like it when you’re looking at me.” She emphasized.

“And I like it when I’m winning so hold off for a bit.” Too focused on the practice, you didn’t realize Lynn walking over to your tennis trainer, and turning it off.

“What the hell Lynn?” You shout, now distracted from your tennis rehearsal.

“I told you in advance that I’d rather you look at me.”

“Okay,” You nod before pointing to the bucket of tennis rackets, “Grab a racket and help me practice.”

“W-what? That’s not what I meant.”

“You wanted my full attention during practice and now you got it. Get a tennis racket.”

She sighed and retrieved a tennis racket, walking over to the court.

“Ok, we’ll do a simple round.” You said, flinging the ball in the air before whacking it over to Lynn.

She swung but missed it by a few meters. Not too shabby for a first-timer.

“That was a love for you.”

During the middle of your game, you became more driven with each swing and hit. Lynn felt inclined to pry into your peculiar behavior, “Ok, you’re training harder than I’ve ever seen you do.”

“This is your first time seeing me play.”

“Exactly and I can tell that you’ve been adding unnecessary pressure when hitting the ball. What’s going on with you?”

You fiddled with the green ball in your hands, deciding that practice was finished for today. You threw the ball on the ground, and walked over to her, close enough to the net.

“I have this upcoming tournament and my opponent Emma Campbell is highly known for being the teen best tennis player and I just feel like I might lose to her.”

“What didn’t you tell me?” She gently squeezed your hands, trying to coax an answer out of you.

“Because…you said that tennis wasn’t exactly a real sport.”

“You know [name], tennis isn’t really my forte unlike you. But for you, I’ll try to understand and enjoy it. Tell me when your next game is, and I guarantee that my family and I will be the first ones there.” You giggled at her heart-warming gesture. “And don’t worry about Emma Campbell, I’m pretty sure that half the time that she’s cheating.”

“Really, you think?”

She hums, nodding her head, “Now, I think that you should practice a bit more, but without the force, can you do that for me, beautiful?”

“Of course, I can.”

The next morning was nerve-racking for you as you got dressed. You tied your hair in a ponytail and dressed in a black tennis outfit with a black sports visor and white tennis shoes. On the other hand, the car ride over to the country club eased up your anxiety alongside your family’s reassuring words.

As soon as your car stopped in front of the country club, you grabbed your racket bag and sprinted out in search of a particular brunette. You spotted Lynn and her family in the shaded stands with a giant poster, encouraging your future win. Natalie was there for your support system as well.

Right now, you were in the stands talking with Lynn. To be honest, you did most of the talking or rather rambling while Lynn did her best to alleviate your continuous panicking.

It took Lynn a little while to calm you down. “[Name], I wanted to give you something before you go.” Lynn stops you.

“What is it, Lynn?” You inquire with a confused gleam in your eyes. At first, she didn’t answer as if she was contemplating whether to continue. Your eyes caught sight of a baby blue box in her hands that she horribly hid behind her back. “Is that for me?”

Her eyes widened at your question. “Yeah, it is!” She handed you the box and grinned when you took it from her hands. Lifting the top cover of the box, opening it to reveal a stunning bracelet. It was a beaded bracelet that had your first name initials next to your birthstone.

“It was kinda hard to find your birthstone on such short notice.”

“It’s beautiful, Lynn, thank you.” You cooed, taking the jewelry out of the box and putting it on your right hand. This generous gift certainly felt like a good luck charm bracelet. For a while, you admired the stunning bracelet on your wrist before looking up and noticing the giant poster that her parents held. “Is that why you were in Lola’s room? To make me that poster?”

“How did you know that I was in Lola’s room?”

“Your frustrations were very easy to spot.”

She laughs boisterously, earning a few annoyed looks from strangers but she ignores them. If they weren’t you then she wouldn’t give them the time of day.

“Oh, umm…your sisters wanted me to give you this.” She showed you a dainty gold necklace with a crescent moon lingering at the bottom. You recognized it when you were shopping with your sisters for the first time in Royal Woods. Cassandra had the sun, Madison had the star and you with the moon.

“Can you put it on me?” You ask, giving her the necklace and turning around.

“Of course, anything for you, beautiful.” You felt flush under those words. Those simple words shouldn’t have such a major effect on you but it did.

She brushes your hair to the left and clips the necklace around your neck, securing it. Turning back around to face her, you smile at her, gazing into each other’s eyes lovingly.

Just then, the loudspeaker announces with a booming voice, simultaneously breaking the shared eye contact “May all tennis players make their way to the tennis court. The game is about to start in 5 minutes.”

“You’re gonna crush it!” She bids you off with a cheek kiss, watching you scurry off down to the tennis court, warming up for the last time. Lynn joins her family back at the bleachers and sat down, ready to enjoy the competition.

“So, are you two dating?” Lori asks, leaning into Lynn subtly whose eyes were trained on your figure.

“What!” Incredulously, she turned to look at her eldest sister, breaking her sight away from you, “No, we’re not dating.”

“Are you sure?” Leni chimed in, now seemingly interested. “You two seem pretty close.”

“Yes, I’m sure.” The brunette girl deadpanned.

“Really?” Luna invites herself into the conversation. “Then how come you can afford brand new cleats that are very expensive…and all new sports equipment?”

“[Name] offered to buy me new cleats and other items as well.” She explains with a shrug of her shoulder, “How could I have said no?”

“Really?” Lori persisted with a raise of her eyebrows, “And did [name] offer to buy you lunch as well?”

Lynn nods. “Yeah, so?”

“And it was also Lynn’s idea to create this giant poster.” Lola and Lana walk over.

“Wait, is that why you were gone Sunday morning to buy [name] a bracelet?” Luna questions.

“Yeah, what was the store where you got it from?” Leni rambles, tilting her head to the side, trying to remember. “It was Birmingham Jewelry. Woah, sis, that place is like crazy expensive, those pair of necklaces that I brought from them took me 6 months’ allowance.”

“That jewelry store is the most expensive in town, Lynn. Wow, you really must like this girl.” Lori expresses with a grin.

“Guys, I’m just trying to be supportive.” Lynn finalizes, trying to stop her sister’s meddling in her love life. “There’s nothing wrong with being supportive.”

“As her friend or as her girlfriend?” Luna questions with a skeptical look, folding her arms. Lynn stays silent, avoiding eye contact with any of her sisters, unable to decipher a proper answer. Were they right? Did Lynn hope that you wanted to explore past the bounds of friendship with her? Of course, she did. She fell in love with you the moment that she laid her eyes on you which eventually turned her into a stuttering mess whenever you were with her. However, with the possibility of embarrassing rejection lingering in her mind, she kept her feelings hidden, buried deep down until she was certain that you would reciprocate those feelings back.

“Yeah, because nothing says supportive like a $300 bracelet,” Lori mumbles to Luna and Leni.

Luna drags Lynn away from the huge crowd, despite her protests. The two sisters are by the bottom of the bleaches, not straying too far away.

“Look, Lynn.” The rockstar starts with a deep exhale. “It’s okay to have feelings for [name]—“

“For the last time, I don’t have a crush on her!” She exclaims, momentarily shocking her older sister. “Why does everyone keep thinking that?”

Luna wasn’t convinced by her sister’s outburst, aware that she was in denial. Whether it was her developing feelings for you or the fact that you were a girl seemed to throw her off track.

“You can deny all you want, but we both know that you’re falling in love with [name]. It’s cute to see you all lovesick whenever she’s around.” She smiles, observing the coat of red appearing on her sister’s face by the mention of your name. “Now I’m not saying that you should rush your confession but at least wait it out to see if she’s at least reciprocating those feelings in return. That saves you less pain, regret, and embarrassment.”

“I’ve never had romantic feelings for someone and now when I realize it, I’m scared. I’m still exploring my sexuality.”

“It’s okay to stay unlabeled for now, you’ll know when the time is right. I’m your big sister and I’m not gonna judge you for being you. You’re still my annoying sporty and loving younger sister, Lynn and I love you for it.’

“But what if…” She looks down and sheepishly kicks her feet, “I do confess and she doesn’t like me back, and it ends up all weird between us two.…”

“Then it’s her loss.” She slides a comforting arm around Lynn’s shoulder, “She missed out on someone really awesome.”

“Thanks, Luna.”

“Anytime sis.”

“And besides, if you two lovebirds get together, we can go on double dates.”

“Hard pass.” Lynn laughs, getting a playful shove from Luna, who just laughs as well. Luna was happy that she was able to brighten Lynn’s spirits regarding her possible love life.

The two girls rejoin their family in the crowd. Just then, your family finds their seats next to the Loud family and greets them with a wave of their hands.

Alongside the help of Luna, Lynn confidently holds up the poster with a matching smile etched on her face. “You got this, [name]!” She enthusiastically cheered. Both of your families made noises of encouragement as well.

Down at the tennis court, you heard her voice very faintly but smiled nonetheless.

“Oh, that’s so cute!” Your current competition, Emma Campbell sneers with fake sympathy, “Your little girlfriend cheering for you in the stands, so cliche.” The blonde rolls her eyes. To be honest, you’ve never liked the Campbell girl, whether it was her snobbish attitude or her inconsideration of other people. “Too bad that she’s gonna be cheering for a loser in a few minutes and maybe I’ll steal her away from you.”

“Oh, shut up!” You defended Lynn. “We both know that Lynn could do so much better than you.”

“Why are you so worried about Lynn? Aren’t you two just friends?”

“I never said that!”

“Yeah, whatever!” Emma drags on, “You should know that me and Lynn are kinda an item.”

“What type of drugs are you on?” You boisterously exclaimed. To say that you were shocked would be the understatement of the year. Surely, Lynn would have told you if she was talking to someone else. The athletic girl didn’t seem like the two-timing type, and she wasn’t…she couldn’t be…right?

‘No! Don’t overthink, Emma’s just trying to get under your skin! Besides, Lynn is a great girl, she’s not conniving, she’s generous. She gifted you that specialized bracelet.’ You think. ‘The gesture was sweet and so is she.’

“And how long have you been pining over Lynn for?”

“Doesn’t matter!”

“It does if it concerns Lynn.”

“Fine! I’ve had a crush on her since we were ten!”

You didn’t mean to have a bitchy attitude, you swear. But it just happened, and you couldn’t stop it and you weren’t planning on stopping it either.

“How about this…” She suggested, “Whoever wins this game gets to ask Lynn out on a date. The loser can’t interfere with their relationship.”

You scoff at her desperate attempts of being in a relationship. “Lynn’s not an object! She’s a human girl, like the rest of us, who has feelings. Let her ask out whoever she wants, even if it isn’t any of us.”

“You’re only saying this because you know that Lynn’s gonna choose me.”

“What makes you think that? Is it the lack of communication that you have with Lynn or is it the heavy delusion that lingers in your mind all day? She barely acknowledged you before and when I moved to town, we became instantly captivated with one another.” You say, “So I’m certain that I have a better chance with her than you’ll ever do.”

“You’re just saying that to throw me off my game.”

“Oh, please, throwing you off your game will require you to have any game, and you’re lacking that.”

“What? Scared that you’re gonna lose!”

She was losing this argument and you could tell that she was choking up.

“To you? You’re not even real competition!”

Your bold comment earned a petty eye roll from the other teen as she began the first serve. The first match commenced and the scores were being rallied up.

You were at complete ease throughout the entire game, finding your inner peace with your love for tennis. On the other hand with Emma about Lynn, your jealousy had gained immediate control of your hand performance but you managed to restrain yourself, not needing overkill to happen and cost you the game.

The intensity that you radiated during the game only strengthened when you closely observed your opponent’s strategy to keep herself on point. Although you were in the lead, Emma was sneakily rising slowly. However, your fierce movements didn’t stagger, not even once, highly determined to win.

The medium-sized green ball was constantly tossed, bouncing between the two sides of the court. The sun was blazing, urging you to forfeit the match right then and there in the middle of the intense game. Might as well get used to the scorching heat because this was the first out of three matches to complete.

This tournament was going to be in the bag, and the trophy will be just another memento in your awards case.

The next game passed with ease, putting the crowd in anticipation when the scores were beginning to even up. It was a heavy tie for the second round, bringing up your anxiety.

This was it. The third and final round of your match. It was the final round that would determine your success and prove your ability to maintain a winning streak. You were gonna crush it! And certainly, destroy Emma Campbell’s athletic self-esteem, partially for Lynn, loathing those words that Emma spoke of her.

The judges called for a mini-break, letting you and Emma relax and recharge your energies. You headed over to the table that supplied the refreshments and grabbed a cold bottle of water.

The two families made their way over there as fast as they could, no longer containing their excitement as they bombarded you with chaotic noises.

“That was amazing!” Lynn cheers.

Natalie exclaims with a radiant smile. “Yeah, you were so terrific out there!”

“You crushed it out there!” Everyone else voiced their agreement with your future victory.

“I would totally hug you right now if you weren’t so sweaty.” Leni complies with an innocent grin, “Oh what the hell!” She pulled you in for a short hug, earning laughs as she did so.

You both pulled away from the hug. “Well, I haven’t won yet.” You drink your cold bottled water as it refreshes your dry throat. “So, let’s not jinx it.”

Everyone chuckles and Lynn pulls you away for a private conversation.

“You know what I mean, beautiful, this game is yours,” She bit her lip.

“Thanks for the encouragement, loud.” You tease, shoving her playfully watching the smile emerge on her lips. “I’m feeling more confident by the second.”

“It’s not encouraging if we both know that it’s true. That other girl has nothing on you.”

She handed you three orange slices, making sure that you ate all of them, keeping you well-nourished. Sometimes when you’re too focused on something, you tend to forget about the basic needs such as eating and drinking. Luckily, Lynn had noticed the tiny flaw and she wanted to end that bad habit of yours. “Gotta keep my superstar properly fed.”

Heading back to the rest of the group as you started to talk with Luna and Lori. Emma skips over with a sneaky grin on her face. God, you wished that you could have wiped that stupid smile off of her face.

“Hey, Lynn.” She greets, already managing to get into the brunette’s personal space. Talk about having boundaries.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion but her smile welcomes the blonde. “Uh, hey…Emma is it?”

“Yep, you guessed right.” She giggles annoyingly, making you roll your eyes.

“So, what do you want?”

As she speaks to Lynn, you notice how Emma advanced to arm touching, sometimes leaning in slightly whenever she found one of Lynn’s statements amusing. In your opinion, she was too much of a try-hard, and that irked you to your soul. You could see that Lynn was uncomfortable, and it made you furious at the sight. You glared at the blonde girl with hatred in your eyes and decided that two can play that game.

All of a sudden. you felt your hidden anger transport to your plastic water bottle that was held in your hand. With every touch that Emma gave Lynn, the pressure on the bottle intensified until it didn’t…well it couldn’t anymore. The water emerges from out of the bottle, aiming directly at Emma’s face.

She shrieked, flinching at the contact as she tried to shield herself from the attack, coming up to no avail. Stuck in a trance state, you didn’t let go of the bottle and rather squeezed it tighter so your sister Madison didn’t grab the bottle out of your hands until it was empty. Turns out, no one stepped in to cease Emma’s embarrassment, seemingly taking amusement in it as well. It ultimately messed up her rich-girl look, drenching her face and ruining her semi-makeup.

“It’s just water! It’s not gonna harm you.” Cassandra taunts the girl.

Madison shrugs. “You’ll be fine! Just dab some concealer on and you’re good to go.”

Her gaze planted on you was lethal, barely touching the surface of making you tremble. Her supposedly dangerous stares at you made her look like a terrible joke.

To make sure that you rubbed salt directly on the wound, you walked over, wrapped your arm around hers, and kissed Lynn on the cheek before pulling away with a cheery smile. “I’ll see you at my house later,” You wink at her, enjoying the thrill of her flustered state.

You watch as Lynn and both of your families leave and head back to the bleachers with a faux smile plastered on your face.

Once you turned around, facing your arch-nemesis, your smile immediately dropped as you ventured closer to her.

“Listen here, you bitch.” You scowled, with fury rising in your voice. Her eyes stared into yours, trying to intimidate you, desperately failing while doing so.

“If you ever come around Lynn, uncomfortably touch her, or even look at her wrong like that again, you will be done for. I will bash your fucking head in so much that you’ll be completely unrecognizable that even your own mirror won’t remember you.”

“Woah, don’t tell me that you’re overprotective of Lynn.” She was teasing you relentlessly at this point. Practically urging you to fight her with that ugly little smirk on her face. But you weren’t gonna play her stupid mind games like she intended.

Catching her by surprise, you roughly grab ahold of her arm, pulling her in closer by force. So to the bystanders, it looked like you were whispering in her ear, engaged in a friendly banter. Right now, you were feeling anything but friendly towards her.

“I don’t tread lightly with the people that I care deeply about and now that you’re highly aware that Lynn is one of them, I’m letting you off with a simple warning.” Your tone was menacing, slowly seething your words out. “If you’re smart enough, don’t wait around to find out.” She felt herself inaudibly gulp and tremble as you kept speaking. “Or do you, I haven’t fought a rich bitch in so long and need a little deja-vu.”

And with that, you roughly released her arm from your grip and walked over to the court. Emma watched you leave, uneasiness forming in the pit of her stomach at your threatening words.

Stomping her feet like a big baby, she ran off, searching for her parents to assist in fixing up her appearance again.

You felt like you were on top of the world. Now, you just have to win this competition and your success will reign. It was close that you smelt the victory from here.

You won the game! Fuck, it feels good to relive the moments leading up to your fantastic victory. When the triumphant photo was taken to be put in the country’s club headline for this week, you all had crammed in, wanting to be included. The huge trophy that you held righteously in your hand while being in the middle, sure did you justice.

Your family had hosted a celebratory dinner at the finest restaurant in town. Of course, you were seated beside your beloved Lynn and your best friend Natalie.

“I’m so proud of you, sweetie.” She wrapped an arm around you, pulling you in closer for comfort as she kissed your cheek.

You blushed, feeling yourself heat up on the spot, ignoring the knowing looks from Lori and Luna.

The dinner was an absolute blast so Lynn and her family crashed the night at your house. Your parents showed the Loud family the guest rooms, allowing them the comfort of beds. Somehow, you showered all of the sweat from earlier games, changing into warm pajamas. Tiredly, Lynn had followed you up to your bedroom, seeking your cuddles, in hopes of a good night’s sleep.

© asvterias, 2023. please do not plagiarize any of my works.

[libriaco]

Il Cielo Stellato

l filosofi hanno detto che il cielo è rotondo, girevole e ardente e che esso è stato chiamato caelum perché reca impressi i segni delle stelle quasi fosse un vaso caelatum, cioè cesellato. Dio lo ha infatti adornato punteggiandolo di limpide luci, e lo ha impreziosito con il sole, con il cerchio luminoso della luna e con i segni risplendenti degli astri scintillanti.

Isidoro di Siviglia, [Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, 636 ca.], Etimologie o Origini. Testo latino e italiano, Torino, UTET ebook 2013 [a cura di A. Valastro Canale]

Isidoro e le sue etimologie...

Immagine: Marco Caratelli, riproduzione di un cielo stellato del '300.