#man I love writing this tv demon there are so many fun things to play with
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Insufferable (1/7)
My sick!Vox fic is finally up, or at least part 1 is! Decided to break into what I think will be 2 chapters. Featuring an insufferable bastard, plus caretaking from the Vees.
Next chapters: 2 3 4 5 6 7
Wavs: 1 3
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âWhy are the lights so fucking bright in here? Are you trying to give me a headache?â Vox was often a bit of an insufferable prick, but today he was far worse than usual. His interview for Voxtech Angelic Security was just an hour away and heâd already managed to insult pretty much everyone in the room. The lights dimmed, he returned to a previous complaint. âAnd why havenât you turned the AC colder already? Itâs like a sauna in here!â
âThe AC is already as cold as it goes, sir.â
âThen fix it! God, what am I even paying you for?â He paused, then pulled out his cell phone. âHey Val, are you free right now? I got an employee Iâd like you to knock some sense intoâor rip the limbs off of, whichever you prefer. I could do it myself, but I know how much you enjoy that thing.âThe employee shuddered. âGreat, thanks! See you soon.â
Vox looked around. âWhere is my water bottle? There should be one on the interviewing desk. Is anyone around here doing their goddamn job?â Another employee rushed over with a water bottle. âFinally.â He took a sip and immediately grimaced. âWhere did you get this? Normal water doesnât scrape my throat like that! Disgusting.â He threw the water bottle aside, pausing only to make sure the lid was on first.
He took a deep breath, which immediately triggered a coughing fit, his voice crackling like a broken speaker. His screen went grey and fuzzy, static flaring with each cough. âWho did the last maintenance on the filtration system?â A sheepish woman stepped forward. âFix it! Actually, no. Get out. Youâre fired. The air is so thick in here I can hardly breathe.â She hung her head and wandered off. It wasnât like she was the first to be fired on a whim, and at least Vox didnât literally tear people apart. âIâll take a look at it along with the AC, then, sir,â the employee from earlier offered.
âYouâd better. But donât think thatâs enough to save you,â Vox said, standing so close the employee could hardly hear anything over the fan. âValâs still on his way.â The employee gulped.
Valentino began shivering the moment he stepped in the door, but he ignored that and made a beeline for Vox. âWhereâs the victim?â he asked with a grin.
Vox pointed to the man cowering in the corner. âHe wonât fix the AC.â Val nodded, still shivering. âHe says itâs already as cold as it can go, but Iâm boiling here!â Val raised an eyebrow at that. A loud whirring started as Voxâs fans kicked in.
Val put a hand on Voxâs forehead, and jerked it away almost immediately. âAmorcito, youâre incredibly hot!â
âSave it for later, Val,â Vox chuckled.
âNo, I mean itâs hard to believe how much youâre overheating. And in a freezing room, no less. I thought my hand was going to burn!â Vox crossed his arms and shook his head. âI mean it, Vox, youâre obviously running a fever!â
âShut up. Iâm fi⌠hiâŚâ his screen flickered with each hitch. âHiâtzzzcht! Fine.â
âSir?â The employee raised a finger tentatively, regaining some boldness now that neither of them was ripping him apart. âOne of the lights just broke.â
âWhy the fuck are you telling me? Just fix it! Ugh, itâs a wonder anything gets done around here.â He gave a long sniff, trying to stave off the buzzing tickle. âAnd send a cleaning crew in. Itâs way too du⌠huh⌠huh⌠hutâTZZZZSHT! Dusty in here.â
âWe just cleaned yesterdayâŚâ the employee said weakly, trying not to look at the speaker that had just popped.
âI didnât ask you when the last cleaning was, I asked you to clean the damn studio! Now get on with it before I change my mind and let Val rip your arms off.â
âYes, sir. Sorry, sir.â The employee practically ran off to begin his tasks as Val gave a toothy grin, looking menacing despite the intense shivering.
âThere you go. Iâll be back here for the sound check. And this place better be fucking spotless.â
Vox and Val walked out the door. âIâll catch you at the penthouse,â Vox said, activating his teleportation powers. He only made it a few feet. âHhhâdzzzzcht!â The hallway lights flickered.
âHow about we walk together?â Val offered, wrapping his arm around Vox. Vox sighed, but it wasnât like he had a choice. Repeatedly teleporting a few feet at a time sounded even more annoying than walking. While they walked, Val pulled out his phone with his free hand to text Velvette. âMeet at the penthouse ASAP.â
Velvette almost dropped her phone when she saw the pair of them walk through the door. âWalkâ was actually a bit of an overstatement. Vox was practically staggering, leaning heavily on Val for support. His screen was dimmed, except for a bright spot in the center where his nose would be, if he had one. His fans were still whirring loudly. His normally immaculate suit was wrinkled, as if heâd crumpled in on himself repeatedly. The man was, quite obviously, a mess.
Velvette stared in silence for a moment. âWow. He really does look awful, doesnât he?â
Vox glared. âIâm fine. Iâm just taking a quick break before the studioâs ready for my interview. Those morons still have a lot to set up.â The pair stared at him.
âUm, Vox? You sure now is the best time for an interview?â Velvette asked.
âIâm fine,â he insisted, his hypnotic eye swirling so slowly it might as well be a broken Ferris wheel.
âRight,â Velvette said, rolling her eyes as Voxâs screen flickered again. âTotally fine, and definitely not about to sneeze.â
âIâm not going to⌠hihâtzzzzch!â He opened his mouth to protest more, but no sound came out. Damn it, were his audio drivers glitching too? Or was it just his vocal cords? He smacked the side of his head with a grimace. âThe interview has to be today. If I delay it, itâll look like weâre hiding something.â Thank god that worked. Vox without his voice was⌠well, he really didnât want to think about that.
Velvette raised an eyebrow. âYou literally just smacked yourself in the head cause you couldnât talk. You really think youâre in a good state to be giving an interview?â
Voxâs screen brightened for a moment. âIâm fine! Itâs fixed now.â His screen dimmed again, then started flickering. âIâm perfectly heal⌠heh⌠hhh⌠healthy! Just let me go to the godda⌠ehh⌠ahh⌠hahâTZZZZSHT! The goddamn interview.â Valentinoâs phone instantly shut off. Velvette, seeing this, clutched her phone tightly to her chest.
Val tried turning his phone back on, but it was unresponsive. âYou broke my phone, Vox. You broke my fucking phone! What else are you gonna break if you go back in there?â
Vox frowned. Loath as he was to admit illness, it really was in his best interest to minimize property damage. Especially with a live audience.
âIâll do the interview,â Velvette offered.
Vox gave a laugh that quickly turned into a coughing fit, his screen a sputtering mess of static again. âNo offense, Velvette, but Iâm pretty sure youâre not familiar with the ins and outs of the system.â
âAnd Iâm pretty sure youâre not recognizing you donât have a lot of options. Would you rather send Valentino?â
The other two recoiled at the suggestion. âGod, no!â Vox replied. âUgh, I guess if you really want to, go knock yourself out. My notes are on that tah⌠hhh⌠ahh⌠hah⌠hahâTDZZZCHT! Tablet.â Said tablet was now stuck in bluescreen. âShit.â He rubbed his aching head, trying to think.
âAre the notes backed up like the rest of your files?â Vox nodded, not even trying to speak this time. âI can pull it up on my phone, then. Iâve got this. Backbone of the Vees, remember? You just stay here and get some rest,â she said, blowing a kiss as she left.
Velvette strutted out the door, taking with her the responsibility that had been keeping Vox together, and it was like a switch had been flipped. Vox immediately plopped himself down on the couch, limbs dangling limply. âEverything huuuurts, Val.â
âI know, Amorcito, thatâs why Iâm here.â He gently stroked Voxâs arm. âNow, is it really everything? Or can you be a bit more specific so I can actually help you?â
Voxâs mouth moved, but no words. A frown. A throat clearing sound. More mouth movement, still no words. A deeper frown. A self-inflicted smack on the side of the head. Still no words. The fans kicked into high gear as Vox was about to spit steam out of his head.
âShh, gentle, Voxy. Letâs try not to blow out the power grid again, hm?â Val patted Voxâs screen. âIâll get you something for your throat.â He searched through the fridge for some Gatorade. Electrolytes had to do something for an electric being, right? In the absence of any speech from Vox, the fans were even more noticeable. Better grab a cold compress from the freezer too, then. He placed the cold pack on Voxâs screen and handed him the bottle. Vox took a sip and shook his head. His voice still failing him, Vox made images appear on the screen. Val blinked, trying to figure out what he was looking at.
âSomething wrong with the drink?â A nod. âTastes bad?â Head shake. Val tried to think what could possibly be wrong with a drink. âToo liquidy?â Vox rolled his eyes. âWrong color?â A facepalm. âUh⌠too cold?â Vigorous nodding, and then a wince and a dizzy expression. âI got it. Just rest here, Vox. Iâll find you something.â
Val returned a few minutes later with a steaming mug of tea. Voxâs screen was dim and pale, the colors washed out. His weak fingers could barely grasp the handle of the mug. âOh, Voxy, you poor thing,â Val said, his wings wrapping around Vox for support. The steam from the drink got into Voxâs vents and his screen started flickering. Val noticed immediately and set the mug on a nearby table, holding Vox through the buildup.
âHhh⌠hhhh⌠hhh⌠hhhtâdzchhht! Hhhhâzzzzch! HhhâZZZZZSHT! HtchhâRRRRGZZZZZZT! Ugh.â The demon clawed at his throat, then paused in realization. âFucking hell that hurt!â He winced. âTalking hurts.â Still, better to have a functioning voice, he supposed. He gestured to the mug, and Valentino handed it to him. He took a sip, grimaced, and then finished the rest of the mug in one gulp. Val surveyed the room and realized that a few of the TV screens were out. âLetâs get you into bed, hm?â Vox raised an eyebrow. âNot like that! Unless you want to, of courseâŚâ he added, licking his lips. Vox shook his head, exhausted. Val led Vox to the bedroom, the TV clinging hard to the moth as he took a few shaky steps. Val paused, then nodded to himself. He hoisted Vox over his shoulder, ignoring the spluttering protests. âAmorcito, you can barely walk. Let me carry you for a bit.â
Vox huffed, and Val felt the static shock. âYou could at least have the decency to carry me like your partner instead of, I donât know, a corpse?â
Val chuckled. âHave you seen yourself, darling? You practically are a corpse at this point.â Still, he switched to bridal carry.
After what felt like an eternity, dragged out by Voxâs complaining that he was on deathâs door, they finally reached the bed. Val laid Vox down and sat next to him. âNow then, does everything still hurt? What can I get you?âVoxâs lips moved silently, then rapidly into what Val assumed to be a string of curse words. Hard to tell without audio. Val sighed. âYou really are feeling awful, arenât you?â Vox nodded. Val stared at Vox for a while until the mothâs singular brain cell finally came up with an idea. He blew a puff of smoke in Voxâs face. Vox flinched, and his screen flickered rapidly. âHhh⌠hih⌠hhhhâdzzzzzzcht! Hihâtzzzzsh! HahâTZZZZZCHT! TZZZSH! TzzzschâTZZZZZSTâdzTZZZZZSSHHT! What the fuck, Val?â He rubbed his throat. âOh. Uh⌠thanks, I guess? I donât know. That fucking sucked.â
âIf youâd rather not repeat that, then I suggest you get your words out now before you lose your voice again.â
Vox scowled, but he knew it was a valid point. âI just⌠Iâm sore all over. Itâs not fair! What did I do to deserve this?â Val raised a finger. âBesides everything that got me into hell.â Val shrugged. âUgh⌠my throat hurts, my head hurts, all my muscles ache, thereâs this constant buzzing in the back of my head that wonât go away, everythig is blisterigly warmb whatever I try⌠oh for fugckâs sake, I get congestiod dnow too? UghhhhâŚâ He groaned and rolled over, faceplanting into the bed.
Val tutted sympathetically. âYou never do anything half-assed, do you?â Vox nodded, dragging his screen across the blanket. âVox, if youâre feeling so warm, why are you still wearing all those clothes?â A pause. Vox wasnât sure how to respond to that. âThereâs no image you need to keep up right now, Vox. Letâs get you comfortable.â Vox sat up and let Val get to work. The crumpled suit was set on a nearby chair. The sweater and shirt were pulled off and tossed to the same chair, Vox dropping his arms instantly the moment he no longer needed to put in the energy to keep them up. The shoes were removed and the pants taken off and folded up with care. As soon as it was done, Vox collapsed face down into the bed again, breathing heavily from the effort.
âYou said youâre sore all over, would you like a massage, Amorcito?â A thumbs up. Val got up to find the massage bar. Theyâd found that using a more solid form helped avoid any accidents⌠they did NOT need a repeat of the time poor Vox got massage oil stuck in his vents. Val began massaging Voxâs arms, but paused when he felt Voxâs shoulders shudder.
âHhhhâdzzzzzzchmp!â The sound was muffled into the bed. Vox slowly dragged himself up until he was facing Val. âHitâchZZZZZZZCHT!â Sparks flew from Voxâs screen and landed on Valâs arm.
âKeep your sparks to yourself, Vox!â he said, wincing at the static shock. âHmm⌠that might explain the electronics failuresâŚâ
âSorry, Val.â He said, rubbing his screen. âWasdât expectig it to comb that fast.â He gave a long sniff. âHhhhhâdZZZZZZT!â He pointed at the massage bar. âCan you put that away? I think the scent is too strong right now, my sensors must be acting up.â
Val switched to an unscented massage bar and resumed the massage. A few soft moans from Vox let Val know that his attempts were effective. Eventually the sound dropped off entirely, except for the occasional sneeze, which Val assumed meant the video demonâs voice had given out again. After a while, there was no sound at all except for congested breathing. Val gently turned Vox on his back, revealing closed eyes. Val breathed a sigh of relief. The man was much less exhausting when he was unconscious. Maybe now both of them could get some rest.
#my snezfic#snezbin hotel#srsly pls help me come up with a better title lmao#chapter 2 will have more of Velvette - a snippet of the interview and then some caretaking when she comes back after the interview#also I donât care if itâs ooc to have Val be this caring you can pry caretaking tropes from my cold dead hands#man I love writing this tv demon there are so many fun things to play with
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What They Dress Up As For Halloween & How They Spend The Holiday
Masterlist
Post Type: Headcanons
Warning(s): Drug Use, Alcohol Use
A/n: Just some headcanons for spoopy day
==========
Nathan:
Goes all out on a demon costume and you can't change my mind
Quite a bit of fake blood (obvs)
Eats some candy, mostly eats chips
His favorite movies to watch during this time of the year are Rob Zombie, Stephen King, and Clive Barker movies and you can't change my mind
Doesn't do too much else
Pickles:
It varies, back during his SnB days he dressed as a playboy bunny one year. And then another time he dressed as a pickle (self-explanatory)
But this time? This time he had the bright idea to grab one of those inflatable dino outfits
Probably spends the night getting high and drinking
BUT!
Instead of smoking, he's taking edibles
And stuffing himself with candy
While watching shitty b-list horror movies like Auntie Lee's Meat Pies or I Drink Your Blood (aka two of my favorites)
Skwisgaar:
Either dresses as an elf or a vampire (or The Rum Tum Tugger from Cats 1998)
This time he chose to dress as Lestat
He spends time in his room playing guitar (any surprise?)
But also binges movies like Casper and Hocus Pocus
*Insert Skwisgaar dancing to Get Down Goblin*
Also carves a pumpkin (and fails)
"bUt sKwIs iS sErIoUs!!!"
He's a goofball, just a dignified goofball who pretends to be serious
Secretly gets a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks
alright im having too much fun with this
Toki:
Dresses up as Mister Mistofolees from Cats 1998
Eats way too many sweets, Charles made sure they were sugar-free, but that didn't stop Toki from getting a major tummy ache
Probably spends the night alternating between Halloween episodes of shows, children's movies, and quality gore-fest horrors
Some notable things he watched: The entire Spongebob Squarepants Halloween DVD, Casper, Hocus Pocus, Earnest Scared Stupid, Human Centipede, Basket Case, etc
Murderface:
THis man doesn't want to dress up too much, so he puts on some devil horns and attaches a devil tail to his belt
Def eats x3 his weight in candy
Does the thing where he watches some jump-scare-filled horror movie and has to sleep in Pickles' room
Charles:
Totally dresses as Westley from The Princess Bride
(omg im imagining it and đŚ, i might need to write a smut piece later ft him dressed as Westley)
Doesn't gorge himself on candy, but he does treat himself a little bit
He's one of those people that loves black licorice (aka me) and candy corn (aka not me)
Puts on a horror movie while he works (still dressed as Westley)
Knubbler:
Initially, I was gonna write Toki dressed as Mad Hatter (bc imagine him having a s/o who dresses as Alice omg so cute), but another time
Knubbler dresses as the Mad Hatter (specifically Johnny Depp's Hatter, but I can also see him attempt Andrew-Lee Potts' Hatter)
His eyes make it all the madder
His favorite Halloween candy is Twix, but he also enjoys Sour Patch Kids
Probably watches at least one horror movie
Magnus:
Dresses as a pirate, and you can't change my mind
Of course, this was probably to infiltrate Dethklok's Halloween party
But if he was with someone (or if this was after Doomstar), he probably just stays home and hands out treats to kids
Eats a couple pieces of candy, but then just has one of those microwavable TV dinners
And watches horror movies (Saw, Hellraiser, etc)
==========
#original post#metalocalypse#nathan explosion#skwisgaar skwigelf#pickles the drummer#toki wartooth#wiliam murderface#charles foster offdensen#dick knubbler#magnus hammersmith#halloween#happy halloween
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request: an MC thats very good w playing games or like,,, is proficiently skilled in all game categories or smrhn
alsp hi xander i love ur writing
and can i giv u a kith? if so: mwah đ
Well I hate to tell ya, sweetie, but Iâm not Xander. Iâm Jazzy. Hello! I can see why youâd want something written by Xander, though. Heâs mad talented (better at this than I am quite frankly) and heâs on the list of people I wish I could write as well as. I guess we can both take a moment to be sad that Iâm not Xander⌠*sigh*... to be Xander⌠đ
Oh well, I am who I am and I donât begrudge that fact. Meanwhile, Iâve wanted to do more shout-outs so everybody go read @sevendeadlymorons! If youâre not⌠I mean⌠why not? Heâs more than worth your time. In the meantime, I hope I can entertain you despite my not-Xanderness.
Brothers React to an MC Whoâs Good at Games and StuffÂ
Lucifer
Honestly couldnât care less about the MCâs game proficiency in most cases. So theyâre good at games? Good for them, heâs sure theyâre happy.
But when theyâre playing against him on the other handâŚ
Well, Lucifer may or may not be skilled at whatever game you set him on (heâs a very quick learner so never underestimate him), but heâs whole new levels of competitive when he wants to be. ESPECIALLY if he already thinks heâs hot shit at something.
Video games? Not his forte. Table top games? One word for you: Chess.
Lucifer believes that he can and will whip pretty much anyoneâs ass in chess. That includes Satan, Solomon, Levi, and even Diavolo. He is at grandmaster level.
So imagine his shock, no, his disdain to have lost a game of chess to the MC⌠The moment they said "Checkmate" he stared at the board in front of them for a solid five minutes trying to work out where he went wrongâŚ
And he wasnât having that.
He and the MC now have regular chess matches in which he wins some and loses some so the tally stays pretty evenly tied. Really itâs all good fun... (but if they think heâs going to let them go home when heâs on a losing count, theyâre Dead. Wrong. Heâll drag them back to down just to play chess with him until the score is right again. He DOES NOT lose, you hear? đ¤¨).
Mammon
Guess whoâs found his gambling buddy??Â
No, really. He and the MC can make a KILLING at a Poker or Blackjack table! Heâs never seen anyone better at poker than they are!! They have nerves of steel and give nothing away, so heâs lost more than a few hands to them before...
Even past the casinos, theyâre perfect for making bets on! He once arranged a Devil Cart competition between the MC and Levi and took bets around RAD for whoâd win...
Naturally, everybody assumed the Devildomâs resident Super-Otaku would win hands down, but the MC had this insane last minute save with a blue shell and pulled ahead in the last lap!!
He was like, the only person that bet on the MC and he got soooo much money that MC found HIM crying and hugging a bag of Grimm after the matchâŚ
Any time they win a game that gets him money, heâll treat them like royalty for the next week. Man knows not to bite the hand that feeds him!... and creditors at bay... đŹ
It may get slightly annoying that Mammon won't stop telling them about gaming competitions where they can get him more prize money, but hey, at least he's supportive, I guess.
Leviathan
Oh they are either his best friend or mortal enemy⌠Sometimes both in the same day.
Our boy hates losing, can't stand it any better than Lucifer, you KNOW the second he knows there's someone out there who even has a chance of beating him, he gets serious. This is not a "friendly rivalry," MC.
When theyâre playing any game against each other, he'll call them by their gamertag/online persona to keep himself focused (yes, even if theyâre playing Monopoly). They can't be his MC right now, they gotta be the person he's going to beat...
He's NOT opposed to dirty tactics to win, either. Saying things that will get them mad or flustered mid-match? Check. Using his tail to distract or tease them? Check. Just being a general nuisance/annoyance in game for the hell of it? Guilty as charged!
He's both a sore winner AND a sore loser, so unfortunately MC, you really can't win here... He'll be obnoxious regardless of the outcome.
However⌠when theyâre on the same team, it's really something special. They don't just destroy the competition, they bulldoze over them like an armored tank barreling through rush hour traffic!
These two are legends in the online gaming community and have even started a streaming channel on the side. Sometimes your worst enemies also make the best allies... Who knew? đ¤ˇââď¸
Satan
Is surprisingly impressed by their gaming prowess. Are they just supremely skilled or incredibly lucky, you think�
That being said, he's not the biggest gaming man on the planet so he's not too competitive with them one way or the other.
When Satan plays a video game, he usually goes for story-based, single-person experiences anyway so it's not like he could compete with them even if he wanted to.
That being said, they do share an informal challenge of sorts when it comes to puzzle/detective games (a not so guilty pleasure of his). He likes to try and beat the levels first, so when they start playing a new one they'll both compare time spent and scores.
He even enjoys playing those Devildom-style AR murder mystery games with them! Itâs pretty cute to watch Satan get into it, he dips into his inner Levi and cosplays as some of his favorite TV drama detectives for the occasion and insists they dress as his co-star (best just go along with him. Itâs not a bad time, even if they have to carry around an old tobacco pipe for a few hours).
Asmodeus
Good at games? That sounds dangerously like they're another Levi⌠đ What about party games? Oh oh, or drinking games??
Actually scratch that. How about ANY game while drunk? That sounds pretty fun doesnât it??
Like Drunk Truth or Dare!! Oh that's a favorite of his⌠đ¤
To be fair to the MC, the booze does diminish their skills somewhat (because that's kind of what it does in general) but not by all that much⌠It's pretty impressive.
He once challenged them to a game of Drunk Twister figuring that they'd be too unsteady to actually win for once, but no. If anything, the alcohol must have numbed the stretching pains because they bent over him like a pretzel!
Not that he was complaining or anything⌠đ
He likes to take the MC to parties where he knows a game or two will be played just to show off to the crowd and brag that theyâre HIS lovely, talented human! You go, MC, beat that competition to a pulp! đ
Beelzebub
Sports count as games too, right? Well, they aren't half bad at those either.
Beel found it surprising that he found a human who could actually keep up with him. His brothers rarely want to play practice games with him anyway so itâs pretty exciting to have a sports partner at home!
He likes to ask the MC to help him train with practice matches or to go over certain moves or maneuvers heâs having trouble with. Itâs not uncommon for the brothers to come home and find the two of them tossing a ball around in the front yard or something.
And the both of them on the same team? Forget it. It takes the dream team of Lucifer and Mammon (who arenât just arguing with each other for once) to even come close to a challenge for them.
He also enjoys playing the occasional video game with them, though he treats it a lot like playing with Levi and just assumes heâll never win unless he gets lucky - which does happen from time to time.
He doesnât mind losing that much as long as heâs having fun, and if nothing else he can always win against them in an eating contest⌠Heâs got those on lockdown. Come atâem MC, heâll pack away an entire fridge before youâre done with your first plate. Try him.
Belphegor
So Belphie enjoys a good game or two - video-based or otherwise - it comes with the lazy-bastard territory. He may not be as skilled as Levi, but he can hold his own in some genres.
But heâs given up on beating the MC looong ago.
Do you know how much practice it would take? How many hours that he would have to use?? The hours where he could be napping instead??? Yeah, no thanks. They can continue to be the reigning Super Smash Devils champion for all he cares.
Buuuut even he has to admit, itâs pretty relaxing to watch the MC play something in the background... Thereâs a certain sort of satisfaction to watching someone whoâs good at a game just play it straight through.
If theyâre set up in Leviâs room or the Common area then Belphie may come over, set his pillow up on the floor, and watch them play. He may even throw in a comment or two like, âYou missed a health pack,â or âBetter save now,â but other than that he likes to just let them do their thing.
The MC has had many an all-nighter with Belphie spectating until about 4am or so. Then heâs dead to the world and they have to work out how to get his not-exactly-light demon ass onto a couchâŚ
Or they can just leave him faceplanted and snoring on the floor. Up to them, really cause he did it to himself. đ¤ˇââď¸
#obey me#obey me shall we date#shall-we-date-obey-me#obey me requests#obey me lucifer#obey me mammon#obey me leviathan#obey me satan#obey me asmodeus#obey me beelzebub#obey me belphegor#obey me headcanons
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Top 22 of 2022
End of the year tag game created by the lovely @otomiya-tickles This was so much fun, you always make the best tag games! Thanks for tagging me!
Part 1: Fandom FavesÂ
01. Favorite new fandoms of the year:
Our Flag Means Death, The Boys, Moon Knight, Workaholics, The Stanley Parable, (I know Iâm super late to the game but this game rocks) Godless, other seasons of critical role, inside job & uh⌠does Goncharov count?
02. Favorite new ships since this year:
Blackbonnet, not new but still my faves, Namdermo, & Shadowgast & probably some more that Iâm forgetting
03. Favorite anime/TV show of the year:
Despite not seeing the new season, my fave anime this year is Demon Slayer. As for my favorite show of the year, I think the latest season of WWDITS wins
04. Favorite movie of the year:
Prey, Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro), but if I had seen NOPE it would undoubtedly be that, Where the Crawdads Sing, others Iâm sure. But this year I have barely seen any new movies & I havenât seen any new marvel film starting with Spider-Man NWH (I know I know, youâre gonna beat me with rocks & all that jazz)
05. Favorite character of the year:
Caleb Widogast has had me in a headlock ever since I first saw him & he hasnât let me go since
06. Favorite soundtrack of the year:
I genuinely donât have an answer xiavaowh I donât tend to remember what movie soundtracks I like unless it really stands out, & Iâve barely seen any new movies this year. But my favorite soundtracks in general are Wild America, The Kings or Summer and O Brother Where Art Thou
07. Favorite book/manga/comic of the year:
I donât keep up with what is published that year, but my favorite book I found this year is Night Film by Marisha Pessl
08. Favorite game of the year:
Favorite game actually released this year? God of War Ragnarok. Favorite one Iâve played this year? Either Doki Doki Literature Club or The Stanley Parable
09. Highlight of this year to remember:
Fuckinâ Goncharov babyyyyy!
Part 2: Community Review
10. Favorite Tumblr moments of 2022:
Goncharov obvi, the queenâs death crab rave, Nov. 5th anniversary, & all the memes that came out this year. I have no grip on time so I have no idea which ones came out this year & Iâm so dead inside I canât force myself to remember
11. Favorite fan art of the year:
I donât keep things organized enough to be able to actually find my favorite fan art specifically, but @fluffomatic is one of my fave artists on here, along with @ssnicker-doodless & @shyticklemonster r, @fluffy-alien alien but of course tons of other blogs as well!
12. Favorite fic of the year:
Bold of you to assume I can pick favorites & actually remember them 12 months later skagdk fr tho, some of my favorites are You Got My Devotion & Temptation, Frustration, So Bad It Makes Him Cry- @nhasablogg A Gentleman's Torture- @august-anon & uh, basically every single critical role fic. But specifically Waiting For My Mind To Go To Sleep & Embarrassing and Undignified- @chockfullofsecrets lightning damage- @spritewrites & something good to celebrate- @sapphicquill
13. Favorite ask game of the year:
Even tho I never really get asks when I reblogged that kind of stuff, I really enjoyed the list of questions on the fic writer ask game
14. My top achievements as a writer/artist/creator/blogger:
I finally managed to participate in tickletober & finish it despite 2 major deaths in the family at that time, can someone say coping mechanism?
15. My own best fic/post of the year:
I gotta go through & actually look but Draw Me Something as Pretty as You did the numbers this year, like ever other steddie fic lol. MY personal favorite tho was Dare to be Bold & actually got over 100 notes.
16. My most underappreciated fic/post of the year:
Too many of my tickletober fics tbh but thatâs what I get for writing for microscopic fandoms like new girl, tuck everlasting & wolf 359 which all clock in around 10 notes each. Youâd think with only 4 notes my Night Film fic What A Prize would win this category. But my Imposters fic Junk in the Trunk & Workaholic fic Pizza Payback tie with a whopping 1 note!!!
17. A post of mine that got more popularity than expected:
My recent âporn bots want me carnallyâ shitpost. I guess because itâs so relevant? (Seriously donât get me started on that, I had close to 10 try to follow me yesterday alone)
18. Something I changed on my blog since this year:
I made a kofi! So if you feel like supporting me or you really want a fic, feel free to commission me!
Part 3: Next Year
19. Something I didnât post this year but would like to do next year:
Mark my words I WILL make a Goncharov tickle fic, just you wait & see. I also want to write more for new or smaller fandoms I enjoy & get back to writing my chaptered fics. I also have some long one shots I want to make
20. Goals for next year:
Keep writing as much as I can, get back into physical art like oil painting, post more of my chaptered fics that I accidentally. I also want to read more fics because I really fell behind this year due to mental health & school
21. 2023 releases I look forward to the most:
The new season of The Legend of Vox Machina & uuuuhhh yeah Iâm brain dead, I have no fuckinâ clue whatâs coming out next year
Part 4: Spreading Love
22. Shoutouts to people who made my 2022 a better year:Â
I canât promise to remember everyone, but I can sure try. Thanks to everyone for making this year not suck as much as it couldâve, yâall donât know how much it makes me smile
@happyandticklish @ticklishraspberries @ticklish-touch @raybidtickles @shunniebuns @sugarfics @hypahticklish @fluffomatic @fluffy-lee-boa @fluffy-alien @a-fluffer-nutter @a-simple-lee @lemonsandstrawberries @tickletastic @anasticklefics @tickle-bugs @tickle-fight-club @rosileeduckie @thebest-medicine @peachytickles @poesparakeet-fics @eldritchtickles @tickly-floof @spritewrites @august-anon @ticklygiggles @sapphicquill @nhasablogg @chockfullofsecrets @sunlitanon @shyticklemonster @ssnicker-doodless
& a ton of others! Love you all & Iâm so glad I have yâall in my corner!
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The Runner
(Part 2 here)
A/N: Okay so I've been writing this for a while and only just finished it but I'd like to know whether you guys would like me to turn this into a series? This part works well as a stand-alone but can easily turn into a series if you would like!
Word count: 3194
Summary: The reader works as a runner on the set of Infinity War and developes a bond with Chris Evans.
(SPOILER WARNING: There is one spoiler for Infinity War in this fic, but I'm sure many of you have seen it anyway)
--------------------------------------------------
âBlack coffee for Mr Evans please! Black coffee!â A man called over the radio. Your ears pricked up and you ran into the kitchen to make a black coffee. You came charging back out and headed straight for Chris Evansâ dressing room, but his assistant jumped in your path.
âIâll take that to him.â He said, snatching it out of your hand.
This was your first time working as a runner and you were starting to get the hang of the job. You had only been working there for three weeks and you had about 8 months to go. You were highly excited to work for Marvel, being a fan yourself, but you hadnât met any of the cast or even the directors. You had caught small glimpses of them but never had any interactions. You had a lot of responsibilities as a runner - making tea and coffee, handling the paperwork, assisting anyone who needed it - and yet you were just chopped liver to everyone on set.
-------------------------------
Another month had passed and you had grown closer to the other runners, the kitchen staff, the cleaners and even the third assistant directors. You were far more comfortable in your job and you even had the opportunity to stand with the third assistant director and watch them film Lokiâs death scene...though not your favourite thing to witness.
You still hadnât interacted with any of the cast but you were used to that by now. It was mainly running orders for everyone and handling the secretary-type roles, which you didnât mind doing anyway.
Call after call came over the radio with people demanding all sorts of coffees and teas and hot chocolates and cold drinks. Enough to keep you on your feet during the long days. There was a break in demands when they were setting up ready to shoot another scene so you stood with your work friends for a chat before the room had to fall silent. One of the runners let out a small gasp and directed you with their eyes. You turned around to see Chris Evans walking behind you, heading onto set. He turned to you all and gave a little nod and a smile before carrying on. Your heart fluttered. Chris Evans just acknowledged your existence. A stream of small shrieks and giggles came from your group as everyone tried to compose themselves before filming commenced. That was your day made.
------------------------------------
âBlack coffee for Mr Evans please! Black coffee!â A man called over the radio. Same guy every day, always his assistant. You quickly marched into the kitchen to get his coffee ready before anyone else did. Strong black coffee with one sachet of sugar. You grabbed the cup, marked it with Chrisâ name and strolled over to his dressing room. Once again your luck had vanished when his assistant jumped in front of you and grabbed the cup.
âThe order is absolutely correct, yes?â His assistant asked, like he did every time you brought the coffee.
âShe makes it the majority of the time, Iâm sure she has the order right by now.â Said a voice from behind you. You turned around to find Chris Evans smiling at you. You gave a shaky smile back.
âYou know, you make my coffee all the damn time and I donât even know your name.â He said. You gave a shy giggle. There was a pause.
âSo...what is your name?â He asked.
âOh, um, sorry, yeah, itâs Y/Nâ, you responded.
âY/N. Very pretty name. Well, thank you Y/N for the constant coffee. Iâll make sure you deliver them straight to me next time.â He winked at you and you giggled again. His assistant cleared his throat.
âMr Evans youâre needed in makeup now.â
âYes thank you Darren. And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Chris?â He huffed. He gave you one last smile and walked off. You were in heaven.
-----------------------------------
A week had passed and you hadnât interacted with Chris since. Every time there was a call for his coffee, you were busy doing other jobs. You had sorted out multiple paperwork, made drinks for crew members and you were currently assisting the cleaners in cleaning up a very messy set after they had stopped shooting a scene. You didnât mind because the cleaners were all lovely people, plus it gave you a bit of a break before running all over the place. You were kneeling on the ground sweeping up the smaller bits with a dustpan and brush until a pair of feet suddenly appeared in your eyeline.
âMissed a spotâ came a voice from above you. You looked up to find Chris Evans towering above you. He winked.
âYouâre everywhere at the moment. Iâm sure this isnât in your job description.â He said.
âItâs not, but the more hands on deck, the quicker this gets cleaned.â You shrugged. âPlus, I donât mind, all of these people are lovely to work with.â
Chris smiled at you and bent down to help.
âYouâre an A-List celebrity, you shouldnât be cleaning up this mess.â You said.
âYouâre right. Iâm far too big of a diva to clean.â He replied. He flicked a tiny stone at you and you gasped.
âNow is that any way to treat your staff?â You teased, throwing a bit of soil on him. He laughed and you continued to throw bits of rubbish at each other until Darren appeared.
âOi! You there! What do you think youâre playing at?!â He asked you.
âOh, Iâm sorry we were just..â
âChill Darren, I was helping her clean up and I started the rubbish fight.â Chris interrupted.
âWell, you need to be resting. You have a big scene coming up.â Darren huffed.
âItâs fine, I was resting then I got bored and now Iâm having fun.â Chris responded.
âFun? With a runner? I highly doubt that. You best head to makeup and get yourself cleaned up.â Darren said to Chris. He then shot you a glare and marched off.
âSorry about him, heâs very pompous.â Chris apologised.
âItâs fine. Iâm used to it.â You said. Even though you were used to people degrading you for being a runner, it still hurt when they did.
âWell you shouldnât be.â Chris said. He reached out to squeeze your shoulder but was interrupted by Darren yelling âCHRIS!â at the other end of the room.
âI better go before Sir Shouts-A-Lot yells at me again.â Chris said. You let out a little laugh and watched him leave.
-----------------------
Two more weeks had passed and you had only spoken to Chris on the odd occasion that he would pass you on set. Every time there was a coffee call, Darren made sure someone else made it to stop you two from interacting. You couldnât see what his problem was but you chose not to kick up a fuss anyway.
When your break finally came around, you grabbed a cup of tea and decided to walk around the studio...just so happens that along your walk was the caravan park where all the actors stayed on set. You heard a familiar voice behind you and your heart dropped.
âOi! What do you think youâre doing back here?â
You froze.
You slowly turned around, ready to face the wrath of Darren, when, to your surprise, Chris was standing there grinning.
âGood impression, no?â He chuckled. You let out a long sigh.
âJesus, Chris, you nearly gave me a heart attack.â You scorned, but you couldnât help smiling,
âOn your break?â He asked, gesturing to the tea in your hand.
âYeah, only a short one though. I get to finish early today.â You said.
âOh nice! Iâve already wrapped for the day myself. Say, did you want to do something when youâre finished? Itâs cool if not, I just thought it would be nice for us to actually talk and maybe become friends? Without the demon on my shoulder.â He said. You smiled instantly.
âI finish in 2 hours, I would love to do something!â You said, maybe a little too enthusiastically.
âOkay okay, um, I have a few movies back in the caravan if you wanna pick one later?â
âSure, sounds like a plan. Iâll run over as soon as Iâve finished.â You smiled at him.
âItâs a date.â He winked at you and walked away.
Time was moving slower than ever. You kept checking your watch to see how much time had passed but it was only ever a couple of minutes. You decided not to look at your watch for a while and carry on with your duties. The next time you looked at your watch you had half an hour left. A wave of excitement came over you and you went back to finishing up your jobs.
Finally, the time had come.
You finished the jobs you were doing, collected your belongings and clocked out. Butterflies swarmed your stomach as you walked off set and into the caravan park. Thatâs when you realised you had no idea which caravan was Chrisâ. You walked up and down and scanned each one, careful not to look like a creep. Suddenly, the door of the caravan on your right opened and Chris stepped out.
âYouâre not lost are you?â He asked, smiling.
âI wasnât sure which was yours, they all look the same,â you said, shyly. He chuckled and invited you in.
You stepped into his caravan. There wasnât a lot of stuff as it was only a temporary home, but it was still enough to produce a warm ambience. He gestured at you to sit down on the sofa, opposite the tv.
âI have chocolate, popcorn, sweets...salad...what do you fancy?â He asked.
âTheyâre all fine...except for the healthy stuff, that ruins movie time,â you said. He laughed and poured the sweets, chocolates and popcorn into separate bowls and placed them on the table in front of you.
âDrink? Iâve got fizzy drinks, water, hot chocolate, tea, milkshake...um...black coffeeâŚâ he said, you chuckled.
âA milkshake might be nice if thatâs okay?â You asked, he nodded and said he was gonna have one too.
You couldnât help the mix of nerves and excitement flowing through your body. You were sat in Chris Evansâ caravan...with Chris Evans! It really was a dream come true. You tried to calm yourself before you had a fangirl attack but it meant you came off quite shy and quiet.
âHere we are,â he said, placing the milkshakes on the table. âAre you warm enough?â he asked. You noticed you were sat on the sofa looking quite tense. You nodded.
âIâll get blankets just in case,â Chris said. He went into his room and came out with two large blankets. He passed the softest one to you. You thanked him and adjusted yourself, taking off your shoes so you could sit cross-legged on his sofa with the blanket draped over you. This made you feel a bit more relaxed.
âSo, um, what do you fancy?â he asked. You bit your tongue to stop you replying with âyouâ, you felt it was far too soon in your friendship to make a joke like that.
âUm, Captain America?â You joked. He giggled.
âNuh-uh, not happening. Try again,â he said.
You had a small discussion on the types of films you like and you settled on Deadpool. Still a great Marvel film, just one that doesnât have Chris in it so he didnât have to stress about watching himself.
Chris put on the film and sat next to you, he grabbed his own blanket and draped it over his long legs. He offered you food and you kindly accepted. You both sat in silence whilst the film began, though you kept having to bite your lip to stop you from smiling so much.
About 45 minutes into the film, Chris started to get fidgety, so he tried to adjust himself without making too much noise. In the process of moving his hand, he accidentally scratched the sole of your foot. You let out a squeak and pulled your foot away.
âSorry, sorry, that was an accident,â Chris said, apologetically.
âItâs okay,â you said, relaxing a bit but praying that he didnât notice your squeak. You didnât notice him giving you a side-eye with a puzzled expression on his face.
He sat still for a few minutes then went to adjust himself again, this time deliberately scraping his nails against your sole. You squealed louder and tucked your foot under your leg. You looked over at him and he had a wicked smirk on his face.
âYouâre not ticklish by any chance, are you?â He asked, the corner of his lip curling up.
âN-no, you just made me jump,â you said, unconvincingly. He narrowed his eyes but let out a âhmâ and turned back to the film.
You were a lot less relaxed now. You were ridiculously ticklish but only a handful of people knew. The trouble was, you did enjoy being tickled but you were always embarrassed by how ticklish you were. Your heart was pounding at the thought of Chris Evans discovering this weakness.
A few more minutes had passed and you couldnât properly relax. You were still sat cross-legged but your foot was tucked further under your leg this time. Chris let out a little yawn and stretched, you flinched at his movement but still kept your cool. He noticed and tried to hide his smile. When he put his arms back under his blanket, he casually let one hand slide over and gently tickle your toes. This time you let a small giggle slip out and you clamped your mouth shut.
âI think you are ticklish,â he teased. Your heart did a somersault. He gave you a playful smirk and the nerves washed over your body. You couldnât even find the words to speak. He reached over and grabbed your foot with one hand, pulling it out from under your leg, and he used his other hand to tickle your sole. You shrieked loudly and tried to tug your foot away but his grip was too strong. You couldnât even twist that far away because of how you were sitting. You fell backwards into the sofa and kept giggling.
âChrihihis plehehease,â you giggled.
âAww look at you, youâre so ticklish,â he cooed. You lifted up your blanket to cover your bright red face.
âOh no you dont,â he said. He stopped tickling your foot and lunged at you, pinning you down to the sofa. You screamed at the sudden attack and pulled the blanket further over your face. He shook his head and vibrated his fingers into your tummy. You shrieked loudly and used one hand to bat away his hands.
âCome on, I wanna see your face when I tickle you,â he said. Your laughter shot up an octave when he started squeezing your hips.
âOh? Did I just find a bad spot?â He asked. You kept trying to bat him away with one hand but it was no use.
âRemove the blanket or Iâm gonna make this worse for you,â he said, sternly.
âNEHEHEVER!â You shrieked under the blanket.
âDonât say I didnât warn you.â He shot his hands under your arms and you screamed loudly. You couldnât keep holding the blanket over your head with him tickling deep into your armpits. You slammed your arms down and the blanket fell off you in the process.
âThatâs better, I can see your face when you laugh now,â he said. The feeling of his fingers wiggling deep into your armpits was absolute torture.
âSurely it doesnât tickle this much?â He asked. You shrieked loudly and your laughter grew more desperate with every tease.
âDoes it tickle more when I mention how much it tickles?â He asked, clearly aware of what he was doing.
âSHUHUHUT UHUHUP!â You cried. He laughed with you which made it worse.
âOhh, cootchie cootchie coo,â he said in a high pitched teasing voice. That made you scream more and frantically try and buck him off you.
You thought that would be the killer move? Oh no. Not for Chris. He picked up the pace of his wiggling fingers in your armpits and bent down to nuzzle his beard into your neck. His longer hair brushed over your ear too. This was the killer. It was absolute torture. He blew a raspberry into your neck and you fell into silent laughter. You couldnât cope with him tickling your armpits, his beard tickling your neck and his hair tickling your ear. He laughed into your neck and the vibrations were the final straw. You started hitting his shoulder with as much force as you could and he sat back up, removing his hands.
âSorry, I went a bit too far. Are you okay?â He asked, getting off of you. You lay there, sucking in deep breaths, and nodded. Your face was the deepest shade of red it had ever gone.
âAre you sure?â He asked, giving you a hand up.
âI...I...â you began, he looked at you with a concerned expression on his face. âIâm okay,â you breathed out. He gave you a soft smile.
You were more in shock at the fact you had just been ruthlessly tickled by Chris Evans. You couldnât speak, your heart was pounding ten to the dozen.
âYouâre quite possibly the most ticklish person Iâve ever met,â he said. Somehow your face went an even deeper shade of red.
âAww, youâre so cute when you blush,â he cooed.
âShut...up..â you whispered.
âAre you sure youâre okay?â He asked, shuffling closer to you.
âYeah, Iâm more than okay,â you said. He raised an eyebrow.
âDonât tell me you liked that?â He asked, a hint of teasing in his voice. You blushed and tilted your head down.
âNo. Way. You enjoyed that didnât you?â He asked. You blushed once again and gave a very small nod.
âJust when I thought you couldnât get more adorable,â he said. âLittle Y/N enjoys being tickled.â
You looked up at him. A wave of playfulness came over you.
âIâm so gonna get you,â you said. Before he could protest, you launched yourself at him and tackled him to the sofa. You wasted no time in squeezing his sides.
The laughter that came out of him was one you had never heard before. It was so warm and genuine and it only made you want to tickle him more. You giggled at his weak state and switched between tickling his sides, armpits, tummy and ribs to see which one made him laugh the most. It was clear that he was enjoying himself too.
âAww is Chris ticklish too?â You cooed, surprised at your sudden confidence. You were met with a chorus of begs and pleads but you couldnât stop yourself tickling him.
It was a really cute afternoon with just the two of you. But you were both too distracted to see who was outside the caravan, watching as you both ruthlessly tickled each other.
Darren.
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1, 6, 17 and a question of your choice for the ghostbusters asks.
Oh this will be fun, thanks for sending! đ
Fandom Ask
1 - What originally drew me to it
Back when I was a teenager they played reruns of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series on Teletoon Retro and that's the piece of GB media I was most familiar with. I think I did watch the movies on TV at some point, but not all the way through. I was mainly hooked on the cartoon then.
GB was not my main interest in my younger years however, as my heart belonged to Alice in Wonderland (especially American Mcgee's games). After a while I depressed and wanted to move away from the tale of a girl who was lost and alone in favor of something more friendly. Queue the announcement of Ghostbusters: Afterlife and me rediscovering my love for nerds chasing ghosts together :)
6 - A character I'd like to frame and hang on my wall and admire like a work of art
Well, it's not in a frame, but I am very fond of my Peoplebusters art poster designed by RichiCrypt.
These are some of my favorite villains from the cartoon for the concept alone. I'm a sucker for evil dopplegangers in fiction. Their designs kick ass and I love Richi's take. His inclusion of a demonic Flip Winston is great too since he was missing from the original episode that introduced them.
(...You thought I was going to be cheeky and put a picture of Vigo's painting, didn't you?)
17 - The line of dialogue I quote most often
This franchise has some great quotes. "He slimed me" "Get her, Ray" and "It's true, this man has no dick" still slay me every time. Although I admit I don't actually quote anything specific that often? My friends tell me I sound a lot like Egon so I've tried to say a few things in his voice for a laugh in VC. Other than that, I was saying a few of Peter's lines on Halloween like "Back off man, I'm a scientist" as a warning to the ghosts in the haunted house (Ironic, since I was cosplaying Phoebe).
20 - Fics/fanart I'd love to see
Right after watching Afterlife I was 100% convinced we were getting a cartoon spinoff to bridge the gap between that and the next movie. This... Does not appear to be happening, much to my profound disappointment. All I really want is to see Pheebs and the gang going on adventures around their haunted town. If anyone out there wants to write more of that in fanfic, I'd be very grateful.
I'd also love to see more art and stories focused on the villains delving into their origins and motivations. This franchise has so many cool ghosts and creatures too offer, I can't get enough!
#ask#spookspectreghost#ask meme#ghostbusters#ghostbusters afterlife#the real ghostbusters#thanks again!!#long post
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I posted 10,976 times in 2022
23 posts created (0%)
10,953 posts reblogged (100%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@alleiradayne
@coffeebox62
@that-crazy-drummer-chick
@flock-of-paper-birds
@hanaaeri
I tagged 791 of my posts in 2022
#ofmd - 56 posts
#happy tag - 53 posts
#destiel - 46 posts
#the witcher - 37 posts
#write this way - 32 posts
#tora - 25 posts
#goncharov - 24 posts
#supernatural - 23 posts
#dean winchester - 22 posts
#the boys - 22 posts
Longest Tag: 138 characters
#i would love to see demon dean and collecting honey cas bc while completely unhinged demon dean would have been so careful & loving to him
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
Me watching the Batman: *turn away for a second to check on the cat that's being real sneaky like*
Police Captain: *starts talking*
Me: *swings around almost hard enough to give myself whiplash* IS THAT IZZY HANDS?!!!!
Police Captain: *is Con O'Neill*
Me: it IS Izzy Hands!!!
Cat: *runs and hides from insane parent screaming about Izzy Hands*
12 notes - Posted April 20, 2022
#4
Looking for more Witcher blogs for me and my bestie @coffeebox62 to follow. I know I follow several of y'all and want to rec you to bestie but my brain doesn't retain blog names to share and I'm awful at tagging tbh. So if you post/reblog Witcher content please interact with this post. Thanks a bunch!
16 notes - Posted January 4, 2022
#3
I didn't have time to post Friday for the week's fics. Life happened but here we are! Hope you enjoy!
Day 15 â Smoke â Rated T â Sam and Dean retire from hunting and live their best versions of lives that work for them. Destiel and Salieen, Canon DivergenceÂ
Day 16 â Red â Rated E â Serial killer boyfriends. Destiel AU
Day 17 â Muse â Rated T â Cas has performed as Jimmy Novak for years. The last few years have been rough and he hasn't been able to write any new music. To loosen up some, his friends take him out for a fun night. From that night forward he started to write as he'd never done before. Destiel AU
Day 18 â Tattoos â Rated T â Werewolf Dean hadnât told Cas that he was a shapeshifter. Dean is forced to shift and Cas finds him. Destiel AU
Day 19 â Ladies â Rated G â Ladies night with a little extra. No ship, SPN ladies AU
Day 20 â Spa Day â Rated T â Eileen and Rowena set up a spa day for Cas with ulterior motives. Destiel Canon DivergenceÂ
Day 21 â Haunted â Rated M â Dean remembered lost. Then the one day he had finally decided he'd had enough, the man he loved was back. Destiel Canon Divergence
Day 22 â Rain, Rain â Rated G - Kid Jack shows up on their doorstep. Destiel Canon Divergence
Day 23 â Sleepless Nights â Rated T â Dean and Cas welcome new additions to their family. Destiel Canon Divergence (I had accidentally tagged this as mcd, so if you skipped this I PROMISE it isn't mcd. that was my bad when I posted from my phone.)
Day 24- Fish â Rated T â Sam and Jack are up to no good but it has a happy ending. Destiel AU
Here is the series to stay up to date.
See the full post
18 notes - Posted October 26, 2022
#2
Week two coming at you!
Day 8 â Sober â Rated M - Cas was gone and Dean found himself at the bottom of too many bottles. He knew that he couldn't get the love of his life back if he didn't have a clear head. He'd do whatever it took to get him back. Destiel Canon Divergence
Day 9 â Vintage â Rated G â Cas explodes an ATM b/c it didnât work properly. Destiel Canon DivergenceÂ
Day 10 â Enchanted â Rated M â Dean buys an antique mirror at a flea market and gets more than he bargained for. Destiel AU
Day 11 â Drag â Rated M â Dean gets caught during a body dump. He is not a very good liar but Cas doesn't care. Two serial killers in the same area and Cas is just trying to protect his territory. Destiel AU Murder Boyfriends
Day 12 â Crossover â Rated T â Cas comes home one day and things are moved around. He checks his wards. They're all still in place. Over the next few days, things are moved, the TV randomly turns on, music plays out of nowhere, and the pie keeps getting removed from the fridge to the counter. Cas reinforces his warding. Then one day there is a man he doesn't know standing in the middle of his living room and he isn't quite corporal. Destiel AU
Day 13 â Morning After â Rated T â Sam wakes up not sure what the previous night after a huge hunt had held. Saileen Canon DivergenceÂ
Day 14 â All for You â Rated M â Dean sees a flyer for an art project that paid $200 a day. Some doctorate student was in need of help with a project. He hoped that whoever Castiel was actually planned to pay. Destiel AU
Here is the series to stay up to date.
See the full post
19 notes - Posted October 15, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
Hey y'all! Back at it again this year. Here's the first week of fics!
Day 1 Maze/Maize â Rated T â Dean cooks Casâ favorite foods. Destiel AU
Day 2 Pillow Talk â Not Rated â Aftercare. Destiel AU
Day 3 Digital â E â Dean is in heat and Cas is in another country. Destiel AU
Day 4 Wicked â T â Cas practices darker magic and the gov't doesn't like it. They do more than necessary inspections on his facility. Dean is being punished and gets assigned to difficult cases. Destiel AU
Day 5 A Perfect Disaster â M â Stubborn Dean didn't evacuate when he was told to. Luckily Cas has a safe house nearby. Destiel AU
Day 6 Parody â T â Dean had moved away as soon as he could from his abusive father. It doesn't mean he doesn't still end up dealing with bigoted assholes. Destiel AU
Day 7 Fine Wine â M â Dean and Cas had gone to high school together and occasionally ran in the same circles. It'd been over 20 years since they'd seen each other. They reconnect at a work event. Destiel AU
For some reason it's been all Destiel so farđ¤ˇđžââď¸. Was not the initial plan. We'll see how the rest of the month goes. Here is the series to stay up to date.
See the full post
28 notes - Posted October 8, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review â
#tumblr2022#year in review#my 2022 tumblr year in review#your tumblr year in review#im actually shocked by a lot of thisđ¤Ł#i totally disappeared dealing with mental health stuff for months#gotta be thankful for queue stuffs
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popcorn & pronouns
Fandom: Sanders Sides Characters: Janus, Remus, Roman Rating: Teen & up Relationships: Dukeceit, Creativitwins Warnings: Not much to warn for in this one. Language, a little bit of suggestiveness, vague non-detailed descriptions of a horror movie. Word count: 3402
Read on AO3!
My writing masterpost
Starlight Universe masterpost
Dukeceit Week 2021 start - previous - here - next - masterpost
Summary: A movie night date leads to an important conversation. Already being t4t makes it a lot easier. Or, in Remus's own words, âThis is just, like, going to be a week of people coming out to me, I guess. Huh.â
Notes: Day 6 of Dukeceit Week 2021! Almost there! @dukeceitweek Takes place in my Starlight Universe, where each piece can be read without any context. Takes place 9 months after college; at the start of the story, Janus uses only they/them pronouns.Â
--Â
âOoh, popcorn! Can I have some?â Roman popped his head into the kitchen of the apartment he, Remus, and Logan had shared in the nine or so months since they had all graduated college.
âNo, Jan and I are having a date in twenty minutes,â Remus said, waving Roman off without looking away from the air popper.
âOkay, I donât see how thatâs relevant to my question.â Roman pushed himself to sit on the counter by the sink. âI mean, thatâs really cute, I hope you have fun. But can I have some popcorn?â
Remus rolled his eyes. âMake your own when Iâm done.â
âBut you make it better!â Roman pouted overdramatically.
Remus raised an eyebrow. âAll I do is plug in the machine?â
âRight, which is better than me doing it.â Roman grinned at them. âLess work for me.â
âHey!â Remus swatted his arm. âThe transphobia, honestlyââ
âWell, if you making it for me is transphobic to you, then you not making it for me isââ Roman broke off quite suddenly, his expression undergoing several shifts very fast that Remus could not make sense of. Which was⌠unusual, to say the least. Roman was normally the one person they could always count on understanding. They didnât like this new development one bit.
âRo?â
âIiiiiitâs⌠queerphobic to me,â Roman said at last, a worried pinch to his eyebrows. He laughed, and it almost didnât sound forced. âSo weâre at a tie, so you should just make me popcorn.â
âFirst of all, Iâm queer too, make your own damn popcorn. Secondââ Remus turned away from the popcorn machine and gave Roman his full attention, leaning back against the kitchen island and tilting his head to the side. âDo you wanna talk about whatever the fuck that was?â So far as Remus knew, Roman was bi; that was the label heâd been using for years and years, so long that it practically felt like forever. Since almost the very beginning of high school. Since before Remus had questioned their gender, even. Only last week, heâd called the light switch biphobic without hesitation when it broke.
Whatever had happened to make him so very deliberately not call himself bi just now, it was new.
Romanâs expression closed up very fast indeed, but not before Remus caught a flash of something he was almost certain was fear. âNo.â
âYou know itâs okay to question, right?â Remus inquired awkwardly. âNo matter what specifically, and no matter what the outcome is? Yeah?â
âI donât want to talk about it.â
âYou know Iâd still love you no matter what, right? Even if you were, like, a straight manâlike, I would make so many jokes about not agreeing with your lifestyle, butâRo, you know everything is always gonna be okay, right?â
Roman glared at him. âRemus, I donât want to talk about it.â He wrinkled his nose. âAnd Iâm definitely not straight.â
Remus blinked and raised their hands. âAlright. I didnât mean literally straight, I just meantâyou could be literally whatever, and it would be cool. That wasâlikeâthe most extreme example I could think of, you know?â
Roman let out a slight huff of laughter. âThanks,â he said reluctantly after a pause. âItâs nothing, though.â
âBullshit,â Remus said immediately.
âItââ Roman swallowed. âI need it to be nothing, okay?â
âIf anyoneâs making you feel shitty, Iâll beat them up,â Remus said immediately. âEven if itâs Patton. Just drop the names. Iâll do it. Iâllââ
âRemus, itâs fine. I want to stop fucking talking about it now!â Roman snapped.
Remus hesitated, fumbling for what to do or say next, everything about the conversation feeling just a little wrong and sideways.
Roman sighed. âSorry.â He pushed off the counter, went to the fridge, and stared into it for a solid thirty seconds, then took a cheese stick out of the door. âIâll make my own popcorn later,â he mumbled and retreated back to his room.
âDamn, alright,â Remus said to the empty room. âBe like that, I guess.â They flung their hands into the air and went to get the butter theyâd been melting in the microwave before Romanâs appearance.
Roman would talk to them about it, whatever it was, eventually. He always did. And whatever was bugging him, Remus would figure out a way to bug it back until it stopped and Roman was all happy and bubbly again. Because that was what Remus always did. It would be fine. It was just a waiting game.
Remus sighed. He always hated waiting.
***
âMmkay,â Remus said, when Janus had arrived, and they had worked together to move the TV out of the living room and into Remusâs room, and they had settled in on Remusâs bedâRemus sitting up against the headboard and Janus half-laying in Remusâs lap with their long thin legs stretched out along the bed and their head on his chestâand the popcorn had been set beside them where they could both reach it, and the blanket nest had been fluffed once more. âWhat shall we watch?â
Janus was silent for a long moment. Actually, come to think of it, they had been quiet since theyâd arrived at the apartmentâeven more quiet than usual. But Remus was almost certain they werenât nonverbal, seeing as they had exchanged a few fond words with him. It just hadnât been very many words.
âJanny, baby?â Remus leaned forward, over their shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of their face.
Janus had their fingers knotted in the blanket that was spread over their lap, fidgeting with it anxiously, a thinking-hard expression on their face.
âBaby?â Remus curled one hand lightly around theirs. âYou good?â
âChoices are too hard right now,â Janus said at last.
âOkay, thatâs okay. Do you know what you need?â
âI want to watch a movie.â Janus frowned. âI just canât choose.â
âGotcha. No problem.â Remus pressed a kiss to their cheek. âIâm really good at choosing.â He threaded his fingers through Janusâs long hair, scratching soothingly at their scalp in just the way he knew they liked, and pulled up the library of movies, switching from Romanâs profile to his own.
âHowâs some really cheesy horrible horror film we can make fun of sound?â he asked, scrolling with the remote and still playing with Janusâs hair with his other hand. âI know we have a bunch of those, I loved âem when we were kids and I think theyâre funny.â
âThat sounds fine.â Janus nodded and relaxed a little further against Remus.
âGood.â He kissed the top of their head. âDo you need anything else?â
Janus shook their head. âIâve just been kind of stressed lately. Workâs been shit, and all that. Itâs fine. I just want to cuddle and things.â
âOoh, âand things,â I like the sound of that,â Remus teased, sliding his hand gently to their chin and drawing them to twist around far enough that he could kiss them soft and slow.
âI didnât say what kinds of things,â Janus said innocently, their eyes still closed and so close to Remus that their lips brushed against his as they spoke. âPerhaps I could be persuaded later.â
âIâll be sure to prepare my best arguments,â Remus said, leaning slightly up to kiss their forehead and then back down to their lips for another lazy kiss, taking his time and exploring Janusâs mouth until they sighed and melted against him.
âA compelling preview,â they murmured, their eyes still closed and the slightest smile curling at their lips.
Remus meant to make some kind of witty quip in return, really he did, but all that came out of his mouth was a quiet, awed, âHoly fuck, youâre so beautiful, Jan.â
Janusâs eyes opened and met his for a moment, soft and vulnerable, before they turned and hid their face in his neck. âLove you,â they whispered against his skin.
âMm, I love you too,â Remus said happily, wrapping his arms securely around Janus and kissing the top of their head. âLove your pretty eyes and skin and hair and body, love how clever you are, love your scary goth clothes, love your snark, love your stims, love youââ
Janus whined wordlessly into his neck, pressing kisses to it and fisting their hands in the front of his shirt.
Remus chuckled, taking a handful of their hair and gently tugging until they looked up at him once more. âDo you want to watch a movie at all, or do you just wanna make out? Cause Iâd be good with either, but if you wanna do a movie, we should get on that before weâre too distracted.â
âOh.â Janus leaned their head back a little until it was resting against Remusâs hand. âNot that I donât want to make out, butââ
âNah, I gotcha. Gotta at least get through the popcorn, am I right?â Remus cast about for the remote, lost in the blanket pile, as Janus shifted about until they faced the television again.
âThere it is!â Remus snatched the remote up, clicking through the library on the television until he saw the particular film he was thinking of and pulled it up. âThis look good?â
ââWhen moving into their new house, little do our protagonists know it is haunted by a demonic serial killer. Will they get out in time? Or will they be his next victims?ââ Janus read the summary aloud. âSounds absolutely thrilling. Extremely original. Love the bad Photoshop on the cover. Iâm sure the acting will be of the highest quality.â
âOh, yeah, itâs so shitty, I love it. So many cheesy effects and fake blood, itâs the actual stupidest shit,â Remus assured them. âI love it, though. Went as the demon thing for Halloween when I was nine. Nobody fucking knew what I was, but I had the time of my life. And got fake blood on Roman when he wasnât looking. It was great.â
Janus chuckled, reaching up to brush their fingertips against Remusâs cheek. âWell, with such a glowing review from someone so attractive, how can I resist?â they said fondly.
âThatâs the spirit!â Remus hit play.
Remus had watched this particular movie more times than they could count over the course of their childhood. He peppered commentary throughout the film:
âThis is my favorite part, if you pay attention you can see her real fingertips holding onto the fake hand sheâs about to get chopped off!â
âThereâs a jumpscare in this scene, I know you hate thoseâokay, hit the skip-ten-seconds button in three, two, there. Perfect. Dumbass demon movie canât even trust itself to be creepy without cheap scares.â
âLook, I know the mom is supposed to have some kind of hot blonde thing going on for the horny straight men in the audience, but sheâs got nothing on you.â
âFor some reason they made a directorâs commentary and it actually includes the fake blood recipe they used, Iâll show you sometime!â
Janus, in turn, provided brilliant, extremely snarky roasts, mostly of either the actorsâ absolute lack of skill or the gaping plot holes:
âOh, yes, going alone to the attic at midnight without so much as a candle is a fantastic idea, nothing bad could possibly happen in this scene.â
âListen, I can excuse the children because theyâre about eight years old, but do you think this man has ever even heard of acting? Or even, like, speaking in a non-monotone?â
âI am truly fascinated by the special effects departmentâs understanding of human anatomy.â
âSo, the demon feeds on misery? Why hasnât it taken up residence in a large office building? I mean, come on, hundreds of souls in an environment designed to grind out constant levels of misery? Itâs perfect. The poor thing must be starving out here in the two-point-five-kids-and-a-dog suburbs, every meal it gets is tiny. I would be so much better at its job than it is.â
At last the credits rolled.
âWanna see pictures of the costume I made?â Remus asked.
âSure.â Janus sounded amused.
âLemme justââ Remus scrolled through their camera roll for a minute. âOh, here they are.â They displayed their phone to Janus; tiny nine-year-old Remus, who sported long tangled brown hair in two ponytails, was draped in a black curtain, donated by his great-aunt, that he had very enthusiastically taken a pair of scissors to to create a tattered effect; the curtain was splattered with bright red goo, and tiny Remus had a pair of plastic knives in his hands, which were blurry in almost every photo because theyâd hardly stopped making stabbing motions all evening. To their right, their little sister Gabby, whoâd been six at the time, was dressed as Elastigirl and making a punching motion; to their right, Romanâwho had already been a full three inches taller than Remus, even at nineâwas wearing a Belle dress with a poofy skirt and a sword strapped around his waist and a huge smile that was missing one front tooth.
Remus swiped through the photos; a delightful scene unfolded, as tiny Remus posed for a few pictures, then in one was blurrily turning towards Roman, then dumping something on him, then Roman was screaming and Remus was laughing as red goo dripped down the poofy yellow skirt; Gabby watched with both hands clapped over her mouth, eyes huge.
âYou two really have not changed at all, have you?â Janus asked, stifling laughter.
âAbsolutely not,â Remus agreed with an answering laugh. âI think the most that either of us ever changed was when I chopped off all that hair and dyed it green.â
âWhen was that?â Janus asked.
âSophomore year of high school. I did not have permission to chop it all off, but I did get permission to dye it afterwards, so that was pretty sick.â
âAnd that didnât go against dress code?â Janus inquired.
âNo, actually. Not sure how. But I bet my parents wouldâve kicked up a big stink about it if the school tried and made me change it; they were always super big on self expression and shit.â Remus gestured towards the picture, indicating tiny Roman in his princess dress. âWe always got to wear whatever we wanted, and shit like that. It was nice. Made gender shit way easier when that became a thing for me, you know?â
âIt sounds nice,â Janus said softly. âIâm happy you had that.â
Remus nodded and pressed a kiss to their forehead, reaching for a handful of the popcorn dregs in the bottom of the bowl.
Janus shifted in their arms, rolling over to face Remus and propping themself up on their elbows. âActually,â they began.
Something on their face told Remus that whatever this new topic of conversation was, it was important. He swallowed the half-chewed popcorn in his mouth. âYeah, baby?â
âSpeaking of gender.â Janus picked at the edge of the blanket.
âI love speaking of that, go on.â Remus tousled Janusâs hair fondly.
Janus took a deep breath, staring at the blanket in their hands. âI want to start using he pronouns again. In addition to my regular ones. Or.â They wrinkled their nose. âMy current ones, I guess. So, he/they.â
âThatâs great, he/they pronouns are very sexy,â Remus said at once.
Janus laughed, looking up at him at last. âThatâs true, you are the sexiest person I know,â he said fondly. A shadow passed over his features. âBut,â he went on slowly, chewing on the inside of their lip and picking at the blanket once more.
âYeah?â Remus encouraged.
âI really donât like the idea of telling anyone else about that.â Janus grimaced. âI keep worrying Iâll get asked stupid questions about âoh, so are you a man again now?â whenâlikeâno, and I never was one in the first place. So.â
âOh, that sounds gross,â Remus agreed at once. âI can see why youâd be worried about that.â
Janus nodded. âI justâI donât want to explain. And I donât want people to ask questions. And they might. And I justâI don't want any of it. I want to skip to the part where they know and itâs all how I want it to be.â
âThatâs reasonable,â Remus agreed. âBut, I mean, if they can get me using he/they pronouns and being nonbinary, they had better fucking wrap their minds around the concept of you doing it too. Yeah? Or Iâll make âem. Violently, if you want.â
Janus snorted. âI appreciate the offer, darling.â They reached up and touched his cheek. âI⌠donât know if I want to tell anyone else yet. But I did want to tell you.â
âYou got it, cutie.â Remus booped Janusâs nose once. âJust let me know if anything changes. Iâll punch people for you. Anytime. They donât even have to have done anything. Just point me at them and consider it done.â
Janus did laugh at that, outright, scrunching up his face and burying it in Remusâs chest. âI should not be this into you offering to punch people for me,â he said wryly.
Remus grinned and flipped their hair. âNah, I think itâs definitely very sexy of me and should absolutely turn you on.â
Janus smacked Remusâs arm. âI did not say that!â
âYou implied it.â
âNot⌠necessarily. That was one possible interpretationââ
âOh, right, I see, mmhm, very interesting.â
They smacked his arm again. âYouâre teasing me.â
âOnly a little bit. Youâre so pretty when you get all flustered.â Remus bent their head at a somewhat awkward angle to kiss Janusâs lips gently. âAre there any new words you want me to use, by the way?â they asked. âBesides updating pronouns?â
Janus tilted his head to the side, considering. âI think⌠I still like all the sorts of things you call me already. Pretty, and partner, andâand baby, and so on.â
Remus smirked. âThatâs good, I like calling you baby.â
âOh my god, shut up.â Janus hid their face in their hands.
âWhy, baby?â Remus asked innocently.
Janus made a strangled noise, and after a pause carried on. âI do think I wouldnât mind adding a little bit of⌠masc terminology? I guess? If that makes sense? Adding that into the mix. Not all the time, and not as much as the things you already call me, but⌠just a bit would be nice.â
âGotcha.â Remus nodded. âI can do that. So, like, my baby is very pretty and handsome?â
Janusâs cheeks went bright red in an instant, and he hid his face in Remusâs chest again, letting out a tiny wordless scream. âYes. That. Thatâthatâs nice,â they managed after a pause, sounding almost entirely composed.
Remus chuckled and ran their fingers through Janusâs hair. âGood to know,â he said teasingly. âI will definitely keep this in mind.â
âOh my god,â Janus mumbled. âAre you trying to kill me?â
âAbsolutely, but only in a sexy way of making you happy.â Remus kissed the top of their head. âThis is just, like, going to be a week of people coming out to me, I guess,â they mused. âHuh.â
âWhat do you mean?â
âOh, somethingâs clearly eating at someone else we know, and I think theyâre going to tell me about whatever it is within the week. Thatâs all. It was just funny timing.â Remus kissed the top of Janusâs head again. âSo, the movieâs over,â they noted, which, sure, was a blatant and deliberate change of subject, but he felt this was justified, both for avoiding-speculating-about-Romanâs-personal-information purposes and, more importantly, for fun-after-movie-things purposes.
âThat it is,â Janus said, a particular innocent tone entering their voice. Excellent, he was of a similar mind to Remus, then.
Remus grinned and drew them up for a kiss. âSo, what does the very pretty and handsome and lovely human in my arms want to do now?â he inquired.
Janus made another small, wordless, flustered noise and promptly dragged Remus into another kiss. âYou canât just say things like that!â
âWhat, about how youâre the loveliestâprettiestâsexiestââ Remus pressed tiny kisses to Janusâs lips with each word, until at last they caught his lips with their own in a proper kiss to shut him up. âPretty sure I can say it, actually,â Remus murmured against his lips. âCause itâs true.â
âOh, like youâre one to talk,â Janus said, sounding very pleased indeed, and kissed them again.
--
Taglist (ask to be added/removed!): @theimprobabledreamersworld @peruviandesertfox
#sanders sides#dukeceitweek#dukeceit week#thomas sanders#thatsthat24#dukeceit#demus#romantic dukeceit#romantic demus#creativitwins#janus sanders#remus sanders#ts janus#ts remus#roman sanders#ts roman#nonbinary remus#nonbinary janus#ts fic#ts fanfic#fanfic#fanfiction#my writing#peregrin's starlight universe#language
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Chapter 5
So this is going to be my attempt to summarize part 1 of the beginning part of chapter 5 (episode 1 to 21) of twisted wonderland.
Again, spoiler alert since Iâm about to write out everything that happened, and I apologize for my grammar and horrible French in advance.
 You heard someone singing -> it was the scenes from snow white when the evil queen asks the mirror on the wall and snow white singing into the well  -> player choice: a beautiful women was watching from the windowâŚ/ I felt like Iâve meet that beautiful person before⌠-> you woke up from dream -> in the main street, you meet up with Ace and Deuce -> after seeing the statue you realized youâve seen them in your dreams before
In classroom -> Ace felt it wasnât weird to have dreams like that when you see those statues everyday -> you mentioned about in your dream âmickeyâ appeared in the mirror -> Ace and Deuce never heard of that name before -> Ace suggest to take a photo of it with the âghost cameraâ you got from Crowley since it can even take pictures of ghosts
Crewel showed up and explained about ânationwide sorcerer training school culture festivalâ -> itâs a 2 day event with representative students from all the sorcerer training school, a festival with speeches and debates all about magic related music & art topics -> for NRC, all the 4th year students will be send all across country for internship and research study -> they will all come back on that day to share their experience and result -> end of the homeroom -> fight Crewel for the defense magic class
In the dorm leader meeting -> Malleus is not there again -> Lilia mentions how he couldnât find Malleus anymore after class so heâs here instead -> Idia questions if Malleus is missing meetings on purpose -> Lilia talked about how fairies feels time different from humans, and how Malleus have some troublesome karma on him as well
The meeting starts -> Riddle started reporting everything about the event -> but the âvocal & dance championshipâ has surprising amount of media focused on it -> Riddle was surprised since he thought it was just a chorus competition -> because of the time change and consideration for different types of music, now it includes singing, dancing, and performance -> and because of how popular it got, it becomes one chance for students to professionally debut -> and now itâs getting extra notice because the famous influencer Vil and Neige are in it -> Lilia commented how Neige is getting really popular online and on TV -> Idia surprised that people in Diasomnia actually go online -> Lilia âkuhuhu, of course, we are still just students in high school, we watch dramas and play games.â -> Crowley âVila and Neige, 2 world known famous celebrity are going to appear in VDC, it wonât be an exaggeration to call it the highest degree of attention we are going to get in this event.â -> Crowley ask Riddle to make preparation in case of troubles -> Azul offered to help since he learned all about it from magic shift event -> Leona âhey octopus bastard⌠do you want your flappy tongue to turn into dried food or what?â -> Azul âoh my how scaryâ -> Riddle refused Azulâs help since he donât want Azul ask for something later -> Kalim âjust tell us if something is bothering you, weâll help you anytime.â
-> Kalim âI canât wait for the day of festival~!â ->  Idia âsign~~~⌠the popular guys just looks so happy everyday. I had to think about the day to announce our research result⌠if I just step on stage, everyone would be like âhey isnât his hair burning?â âcould he be Shroud familyâsâŚâ âwhat kind of dark research is he doing?â aah I canât⌠for person like me to do a speech on stage is just challenge level EX.â -> Riddle mentioned how the rules said student have to go on stage themselves and offer to train Idia for speech after school -> Idia said heâll manage something himself (whispering) âI really donât wanna have a farming event with demonic trainer Riddle.â -> end of meeting
In Vilâs room -> Vil âMira, Miraâ -> Mira âwhat can I help you with?â -> Vil âwho is the fairest of them all right now?â -> Mira âthe account with the most mention of fair in web currently is⌠Neige.â -> Vil âNeigeâŚ! Finally⌠this time have arrived.â -> Mira âsorry, I couldnât quite hear you. Could you please repeat what you said?â
Few days later in cafeteria -> Ace, Deuce, Grim, and you saw the poster for the VDC audition -> the reward for wining the championship is 5 million Madollar to spilt among the members -> Crowley popped up and explained many corporation sponsored this event -> Grim wanted to join for the money so he can buy tuna cans
The song for audition is âpiece of my worldâ -> Ace wanted to try so if he got accepted he donât need to help set up the places anymore -> Deuce wanted the reward money to help his family -> but he never did singing or dancing before so he didnât want to join ->
In courtyard you heard someone singing beautifully -> you saw Epel ->Deuce remembered the time he bumped into Epel last chapter -> He asked Epel why is he practice singing here -> it was because Vil told Epel to practice singing to the well so Epel can hear his voice clearly -> Deuce âdoes Pomefiore have some rules where you have to be good at singing?â -> it was because Epel has to take the audition for VDC and practice for a more lovely voice -> Epel (whisper) âevent like that should just disappearâŚâ -> âoh my Epel, are you skipping practice and talking with pigeons now?â -> it was Vil -> Grim âthat guyâs leg looks like itâs 1 meter longer than MCâs!â -> Vil âthereâs only 2 month left till VDC, Epel have no times play with muddy potatoes like you people.â -> âEpel, you too, if this keep going on you wonât be able to become the âred poisoned appleâ letâs go.â -> Epel ââŚBut I actully donât!â -> Vil âdid you forgot the promise with me? Just come here already.â -> Ace and Grim was pretty mad and wanted to fight -> Vil âItâs not bad for a walk after meal. Come at me, Iâll make you into mashed potato.â -> fight time -> you are beat up by Vil -> and he only gives you 5/100 for the fight since you lacked the beauty when fighting -> Epel has to go back with Vil and Vil mentioned how it ends up like this because Epel skipped practice in break
The next day -> Deuce decided to try the audition -> so if they are accepted, Epel might got eliminated and donât need to practice anymore -> Deuce âas a honor student, I canât just watch him being forced into the things he donât like.â -> Ace âI donât think itâs very honor student of you to call yourself honor student.â -> dance practice time
Kalim and Jamil showed up practice for audition too -> Kalim âhonestly you guys are pretty bad at this, you look like a panicked elephant trying to stand on 2 legs! Ahhaha!â -> Deuce âman this really hurts when heâs not even try to be mean.â -> Ace asked Jamil to teach them how to dance -> Kalim âoh sure! Jamil is really good at singing.â -> Jamil âwhy are you replying for me! ⌠well it is also review for me when Iâm teaching someone, fine Iâll do it.â -> teaching time -> Kalim âhey, how about we practice together tomorrow too? Jamil is really good at singing, weâll show you.â -> Jamil â! You just decided that yourself tooâŚ!â -> Kalim âitâll be fine, besides isnât it more fun when you have more people for dancing, singing, or partying?â -> Jamil âfine, just donât expect me to be so kind.â -> Jamil âfor now, letâs just clean up, take some mops from the storage room -> Deuce, Ace, Kalim âokay.â -> Jamil âKalim, you donât have to do it⌠sigh.â
Azul showed up -> Grim mentioned how Jamilâs evil plan was streamed worldwide last chapter.â -> Azul âwhy do you think the merciful me would end my classmate societal life like that?â -> Jamil ââŚyou would.â -> that day Azul was just on phone with Jade -> Azul âdifferent from Leona, I donât have an interest to beat down someone more than necessary, besides itâs a secret that Iâve finally got, I wonât do anything to make the price fall like that.â -> Jamil âhate to say it, but thanks to Azulâs mercifulness, my parents and Asim family didnât know the real reason I overblot. But the dorm studentsâŚâ
Flashback -> Scarabia students questioned why Kalim donât change the vice dorm leader after what happened
-> Kalim âare you guys worried about me? Thank you! But⌠he was not the only one wrong this time, Iâm also at fault. Besides, is there anyone in Scarabia that have not received help from Jamil?â -> student âthat, that is true⌠if thereâs something going wrong we would always just ask himâŚâ -> Kalim âI know right? He is an excellent vice dorm leader. A lot better than me, the dorm leader. His judgements might be clouded back then, but he is still great at his work. He did try to expel me by manipulating you guys but⌠up till that incident, he has never hurt me even once before. He has many chances to do other much more horrible things to me, but he didnât. Not once, in 17 years. I wonât call him a good guy but⌠itâs hard to explain but would you please give us more times?â -> students ââŚif thatâs what you said soâŚâ -> Jamil ââŚâ  -> end of flashback -> Jamil âthe chance I had for holiday was once in a lifetime, thought my life would be over if I failed, but in the end it didnât change that much⌠surely something to be âgratefulâ for. So unless Iâm fired by Kalim, Iâll continue to serve him. And Iâll continue to show everyone how useful I am.â -> Grim âJamil⌠your character really changed a lot after the holiday.â -> Azul âif you are fired by Kalim, Octavinelle will always welcome people like you with open arms.â -> Jamil âthank you for the offer, but no matter what happened I would never go to Octavinelle.â -> Kalim âHey you guys~ if we donât head out soon we are gonna be late for class!â
3 days later -> everyone is getting better at dancing and singing -> Jamil reminded them to sign up for audition with Rook in class 3-A -> Grim saw Leona and called out to him -> Leona: angry lion noises -> Grim asked where is Rook Hunt -> Leona âwhy are you trying to find that weird guy.â -> Rook suddenly popped up from behind -> Rook âhahaha, did I surprised you? Pardon. Conceal my footstep sound was a habit I had. I am Rook Hunt. The hunter of love that set his life theme as looking for beauty, helping beauty.â -> Leona âtsk, there it is, that weird guy.â -> Rook asked where is monsieur dandelion -> Leona âno way we are together 24/7, just take those herbivores and go.â -> Deuce questioned who is monsieur dandelion -> it was Ruggie -> the reason why Rook calls him that is because last spring, Rook saw Ruggie picking dandelion in the sports field. Ruggie plans to eat those since his budget is a little tight this month -> so Rook calls him monsieur dandelion out of respect -> Leona âthat guy⌠is he really fine with eating everything thatâs not rotten? He didnât make me eat dandelions too, rightâŚ?â -> Rook ânon non, itâs not poison, itâs not good to be picky like that lord lion.â -> Ace brought up the audition for VDC, we almost forgot about that because of what happened -> Rook âI apologize, so you guys are, human species Ace Trappola, height 172cm, from class 1-A with student number 25. Human species Deuce Spade, height 173cm, from the same class 1-A with student number 24. And human species MC with demon beast species Grim, height 70cm. right?â
-> Deuce âhow did you know our class and student number!?â -> Ace âand even height too!?â -> Rook âhuhuhu. As a hunter, I have to at least know the species and heights about the students.â -> thereâs no need to write anything to sign up, you only need to show up to the audition 3 days later in Pomefioreâs ballroom -> Rook ask why donât Leona try for the auditions too -> Leona âwho would go to a game event like that, besides, that annoying Vil is also there. I would never go.â -> Rook âthe Vil with the beauty of metropolis, and Leona kun with the beauty of wilderness. If both of you dances and sings together it would definitely be beautiful. The competition between different types of beauty, itâs just tres bien!â -> Leona âthis guy really doesnât listen to other people at allâŚâ
3 days later -> in Pomrfiore dorm lounge, you saw around 50 students whoâs also trying for audition -> Cater was also one of it -> since he wanted to go to the event with the famous celebrity Vil -> Ace âisnât that reason a little too light hearted?â -> Cater âreally? I thought everyone is like that, I mean look.â
-> pointed at Ruggie whoâs clearly here for money -> Lilia popped up again -> you recognized him as the person who handed you the holiday card -> Grim âhe wasnât the sender?â -> Lilia âthe initials are different from mine right?â -> Lilia is here since heâs in light music club and it just makes sense for him to try -> he tried to invite Malleus too but he said he donât want it to become the exhibition of some kind so he refused -> Lilia âthat guy is kind of shyâ -> Cater âI feels like thatâs a little bit different from shyâŚâ -> Lilia asked why didnât Cater brought Trey along -> Cater tried but Trey has to help Riddle with all the works
they saw Ortho by himself for audition too and was surprised -> Ace commented on how Ortho looks like an elementary school student -> Cater said Ortho is accepted into this school with Idia, and they always take classes together -> Grim âhow much of a brothercon is IdiaâŚâ ->Ortho âdonât talk bad on my brother!â -> Ortho explained how everything was approved by the principals, and is not like Idia brought him just because heâs lonely by himself -> Cater âsorry sorry, we kinda got to excited while talking about it since the Shroud brother is like the 7 mysteries of this school.â -> Ortho âI want to apologize for getting too upset as well, I just donât want you to misunderstand my brotherâŚâ -> Cater asked if Ortho is also here for audition -> flashback -> basically Idia made a software with his voice to read out everything he typed -> for the speech since he just canât talk in front of everyone -> but Idia also got pretty interested in the sound editing world -> Idia âsince virtual idol is getting popular, should I put vocal synthesizer in Ortho too?â -> Ortho âsounds fun! I wanted to sing too.â ->Idia âalright~ let big brother handle everything.â -> so to test how far the vocal synthesizer can go, Ortho is here to take the audition -> Ace was surprised that they can just make singing sounds from programs -> Cater said those got quite popular and he likes it too, and wanted to show Grim a video of it -> there was an ad
Neige is promoting in the ad -> Cater mentioned how popular he is getting -> Vil, Rook, and Epel kicked in with sparkling effects -> Vil started introducing himself and explains how he will be the producer for the members appears in VDC
Auditions starts -> Ruggie sung and danced
-> Rook âmonsieur dandelion. Such a light step and bright smile. With manliness and loveliness combined perfectly. Beaute! 100 points!â -> Vil âhis way of moving isnât bad, but his dancing and singing is still messy⌠next!â
Cater -> Rook âmonsieur magcam. Your voice sounds just like the elegant sparkling diamond! I wanted to listen to it forever. Beaute! 100 points!â -> Vil âsinging and dancing wasnât bad, but I canât feel any passions⌠next!â
Lilia -> Rook âmonsieur curiosity. Such a lovely form and singing voice with an alluring aura⌠Beaute! 100 points!â -> Vil âI donât know why⌠but I canât feel any freshness of a high school student from Lilia. Next!â
Ortho -> Rook âmonsieur doll. What a brand-new styleâŚ! Your robot dance and singing voice, will be sculpted into my eyes. Beaute! 100 points!â -> Vil âno matter how genre-less this event is, thereâs a limit⌠next!â
Kalim -> Rook âlord gold! Your dance were just like the breeze that blow through the hot sand! And the singing that make me felt like flying. Beaute! 100 points!â -> Vil âhmm, itâs a little bit better than the vegetables thatâs just rolling around.â
Jamil -> Rook âmonsieur mulch. As expected⌠I can feel your buring soul underneath your cool mask! Beaute! 100 points!â -> Vil ânot bad, heâs the most normal one out of all of them.â
Epel -> Rook âmonsieur crabapple. So lovely! Beaute! 100 points!â -> Vil âthat kid, misstep again, no matter how good was his rehearse, it would be meaningless if he canât do good in the real deal. Also, Rook. arenât you giving out nothing but 100 points? Are you judging seriously?â -> Rook âof course, but itâs so hard to pick a first when everyone are so wonderful. Thereâs beauty in the neatness, and thereâs also beauty in the twisted. Donât you think so?â -> last group -> Ace, Deuce, and Grim -> Rook ââŚI see I see.â -> end of the audition -> result will come out tomorrow -> Rook recommend the trio to Vil
Next day, Ace, Deuce, Grim just got off from class -> suddenly an arrow flies across barely missed Deuceâs nose -> Ace realized thereâs a piece of paper on the arrow -> Deuce âwhat!? Is it a challenge to fight!?â -> Ace âstop connect everything to a fight, let me seeâŚâ -> both Ace and Deuce are accepted -> you are also asked to go with those two
You all headed towards Pomefiore -> you saw both Kalim and Jamil -> they are accepted as well -> but after going in Pomefiore, students keep showing up asking for fight -> finally you arrived to the ballroom
-> Vil showed up with sparkling effects again -> apparently the students are fighting with you because you are accepted members, it was a warm up Vil prepared for all of you so he can start the lesson right away -> Vil âlisten up, start from now on we would be the representation for NRC, and aim for the first place in the VDC. The members that canât even win a fight like that is not needed. The battle has already started and all of you should be prepared to be whipped to shape!â -> Kalim âI donât really understand but okay!â -> Grim asks why are him and you here when you are not accepted -> Crowley showed up and explained, in order to practice for the team work, all of the members will live together in Ramshakle dorm -> Grim wanted to refuse -> but Vil and Rook said they will give you all of their reward money since their goal in this event is not money -> which is around 1.42 million -> you decided to accept the deal after all ->Vil ânow letâs start the lesson!â -> Ace âI thought the lesson starts when we starts living together?â -> Vil âdonât get a big head, new potato number 1. You are still an amateur at singing and dancing, we canât waste a single minute.â -> practice time.
 End of this update.
Oh man it tooks me a whole entire day to do this⌠and to think this is just like part a of part1. The chapters are getting so much longerâŚ
I Honestly felt like I missed up half of Rookâs nicknames since I donât know French at all, basically got everything from google so please correct me if Iâm wrong.
Also, Rookâs nickname for Epel is kinda weird, he call Epel hime ringo which directly translate to princess apple, but it is also a type of apple. In English itâs called crabapple, which kind of feels different then the Japanese text.
Can I just say I love the fact that we can fight Crewel now? And I just love how he call us zasshu while fighting, it probably referenced to like mixed blood dogs and all but it only reminds me of Gilgamesh lol.
Ahhh I really want Crewel to slap me.
#twisted wonderland#twst#twst translation#twisted wonderland translation#kalim al asim#twisted wonderland kalim#jamil viper#twst spoilers#twisted wonderland jamil#twst jamil#vil schoenheit#twst vil#twst epel#twisted wonderland epel#epel felmier#rook hunt#twisted wonderland rook#twst rook#ace trappola#twst ace#twisted wonderland ace#twst deuce#twisted wonderland deuce#deuce spade#twisted wonderland grim#cater diamond#lilia vanrouge
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Part 4: The Sixteenth Fear
The Magnus Archives was a horror podcast. It is now completed. Many of the showâs mysteries were never explained on the show. I intend to explain them. Spoilers for the show, but also spoilers if you wanna solve these mysteries yourself.
In part 3 I said every fear has an opposite. But the Flesh didnât exist before the industrial revolution. So there would have been 13 fears then, an uneven number, and not every fear could balance against an opposite. So how could that be?
The answer is, there were only 12 fears before the Flesh. The Corruption and the Desolation used to be the same fear.Â
Diego Molina of the Lightless Flame cult worships Asag. A Sumerian god of disease that could make fish boil. So Asag seems to be of both the Corruption and the Desolation.
In Infectious Doubts Arthur Nolan complains about it: âNot like I can vent to the others about what a prat Diego is. Got a lot of funny ideas. Still calls the Lightless Flame Asag, like he was when he was first researching it. I just really wanna tell him to get over it; I mean Asag was traditionally a force of destruction, sure, but as a church we very much settled on burning in terms of the â face we worship, and some fish-boiling Sumerian demon doesnât really match up, does it? Plus thereâs a lot of disease imagery with Asag that Iâll reckon is way too close to Filth for my taste, but no, he read it in some ancient tome, so thatâs that ââ
Ancient is the key word. The tome predates the industrial revolution and the Flesh. Asag probably isnât a thing anymore and Diego is indeed a prat for worshipping it.
In The Architecture of Fear Smirke writes âI know you say the Flesh was perhaps always there, shriveled and nascent until its recent growth, but to grant the existence of such a lesser power would throw everything into confusion. Would you have me separate the Corruption into insects, dirt, and disease? To divide the fungal bloom from the maggot?â
It is not random that Smirke uses the Corruption as an example here. The Corruption is the opposite of the Flesh, so the Corruption is the fear that Smirke believed had no opposite for hundreds or thousands of years.
In part 3 I said vampires where Corruption/Desolation/Hunt. This is a little far-fetched, but I wonder if the vampireâs weâve seen have been old ones that predate the Flesh. And thatâs why they are part Corruption, since Corruption and Hunt used to be next to each other. Maybe there are more modern vampires without the long sucking tongue. Maybe instead of sucking blood, when they bite you begin to burn or boil. Since the Hunt is now next to the Desolation instead of the Corruption-Desolation combo.
In Vampire Killer Trevor says âI have killed five people that I know for sure as vampires, and there are two more that may or may not have been.â There is a missing middle part of Trevorâs statement. Maybe there he talks about killing two vampires that are modern and therefore different so heâs not sure if theyâre actually vampires.
Speaking of fears splitting up, why is the Darkness the opposite fear of the Slaughter? In Last Words we hear of the first fear âA fear of blood and pounding feet, a fear of that sudden burst of pain and then nothing.âÂ
And of the second fear âThe fear of their own end, of the things that lived in the darkness, became a fear of the darkness itself.â
I think the first was a general fear of violence. It includes what became the Hunt âBlood and pounding Feet...â and the Slaughter â...Sudden burst of pain and then nothingâ, and the End âThe fear of their own endâŚâ And the second fear was the Darkness. They were the opposite by default, simply for being the two first fears.
When the Buried became a fear, the Hunt split up from the Violence to oppose it. When the Vast became a fear, the End split up from the Violence to oppose it. All that was left of the Violence was Slaughter, still opposing the Dark. When humans began warfare, fear of war fit nicely with the Slaughter.
The Eye might have been part of the Dark at first. Still from Last Words: â...because they knew the dark held flashing talons and shining eyesâŚâÂ
When the Lonely became a fear, the Eye split up from the Dark to oppose it.
So what about the Extinction? Does it have an opposite? Yes! There is a sixteenth fear. And what can be the opposite of the fear of the end of the world? The fear that the world isnât real. That weâre all just living in a computer simulation. If you think the world isnât even real, youâre not gonna be so worried about it ending. Iâll call it the Simulation.
Here is how the fears are arranged on the wheel, with the two latest fears added:
Description of image: A circle with 16 spots similar to a clock. On each spot is a number and the name of a power: 1. Corruption. 2 Extinction. 3. Desolation. 4. Hunt. 5. Slaughter. 6. End. 7. Lonely. 8. Stranger. 9. Flesh. 10. Simulation 11. Spiral. 12. Buried. 13. Dark. 14. Vast. 15. Eye. 16. Web.
The Extinction is next to the Corruption. Disease and garbage are both gross. Possessive is an Extinction episode, even if not acknowledged as such by any of the characters. Itâs about garbage. And Maggie is creating people out of garbage. She is making the inheritors mentioned in Time of Revelation. There are also creatures made of garbage in Concrete Jungle. And Maggie was full of moving insect legs, showing Corruption influence.
Quote from Adelard Dekker from Rotten Core: âIâve spoken before about how keenly Iâve watched news of possible pandemics, which is where I suspect the Extinction may pull away from the Corruption during its emergence.â Adelard knows the Extinction is next to Corruption.
The Extinction is next to Desolation. That fits, nuclear weapons cause fire. Quote from Times of Revelation, describing corpses: âThey were stiff, and desiccated, mummified by some process Bernadette could not begin to guess at, but that rendered their flesh like tightly packed ashâ Ash as if they were burned.
The Simulation is next to the Flesh. The Flesh makes you think humans arenât people, they are just meat. The Simulation makes you think humans arenât people, they are just NPCs.
The Simulation is the next to the Spiral. Both make you question what is real. The Spiral makes you doubt your mind, the Simulation makes you doubt your world.
There are four episodes about the Simulation: Binary, Zombie, Cul-de-sac and Reflection.
In Binary Sergey Ushanka uploads his mind into a computer. He becomes a simulation and it hurts. There is influence by the Spiral, the statement giver isnât sure if sheâs going crazy. And there is influence by the Flesh. Ushanka uploads himself into a computer and then he eats the computer. So thatâs cannibalism.
In Zombie the statement giver thinks other people arenât real, theyâre philosophical zombies, In other words they like simulations or NPCs. The man that follows her repeats the phrase âJust fine, thank you for askingâ and says nothing else. Just like some NPCs in video games will say the same phrase over and over. The man is identical the three times they meet, except for his t-shirt changes color. Sometimes in video games some NPCs will be identical, except for some colors are changed. (Because itâs less work to recollar a character than to draw one from scratch.)
John thinks Cul-De-Sac is about the Lonely. And yes, the statement giver was lonely. But the people affected by the Lonely choose to be lonely, and the statement giver didnât. His boyfriend broke up with him because of cheating and then he lost his friends because they sided with his boyfriend.Â
I think the theme of the statement is unreality, not loneliness. In the Magnus Archives, when someone gets marked by a power it is because they made some wrong choice. The choice the statement giver makes is to return to the place he found dead and soulless. He drives back to his ex-boyfriend to deliver the moose, rather than send it by mail. He specifically wants to meet his ex. Not an act of loneliness, quite the opposite. Also he is returning a moose that is angular and creepy, in other words it is unreal.
When the statement escapes from the nightmare itâs because he got a phone call from his ex. And he says âI love you.â and that fits neatly with the Lonely. But it also fits with escape from the unreal. He escapes because he communicates with a real person.
The road signs says âRoadâ and âStreetâ. Generic and unreal. All the houses look the same. Like in a computer game. The statement giver wonders if they are the same house. Like in a computer game where one might reuse the code for a house many times.
The house he enters has stock photos. Unreal.
The people on TV have something wrong with their eyes, similar to the eyes of the zombies in Zombie. And it's a fake cooking show, and a fake infomercial.
The dead woman upstairs was someone who had social media profiles, and that nobody notices had died. Meaning she lived her life online. That sounds like she was lonely. But living online also makes her a good victim for the Simulation. Everyone she talked to was on a computer, she couldnât know for sure if they were real.
The woman had killed herself with a mirror. I think what happened was she had looked into the mirror and seen that her eyes were wrong, like the eyes of the people on TV. And she had thought she was just a simulation, like everything around her. And therefore she killed herself. Or perhaps she wasnât reflected in the mirror at all? Like inâŚ
Reflection. Adelard speculated that this statement was about the Extinction, but I donât think so. The protagonist was in a world that seemed unreal. A fun fair is artificial so that fits the theme. The people were playing games, which fits the theme via computer games maybe.
Adelard says âI canât quite get past the detail that there was no reflection at all in the mirror he used to return.â It is almost at the end of Adelardâs letter, itâs clearly meant to be significant. The no reflection might be symbolic for the statement giver starting to think he isnât real, which might be what happened to him after he gave the statement.
Reflection has influence by the Spiral, with the maze of mirrors. There is influence by the Flesh, with the cannibalism.
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A Royal Pajama Party âAnalysisâ - Part 3 (of 7)Â
Unlike the previous two posts - which were fairly length - this one is a little less of a formal analysis and more of a âholy shit this manâs so fucking cuteâ ramble. Itâs significantly shorter; I would have actually compiled these together with the previous post if Tumblr wasnât so awful with its image-per-post limit.Â
It continues with Diavolo and MC watching a movie together, and once again leads into more Story Key-locked content. So, here is your cursory spoiler warning!
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Picking up from the previous post, the movie Diavolo picks to watch with you is a black and white Human World film. A few thoughts come to mind on this.
One: He picked a movie specifically because he wanted to watch it with you. Not just anyone in general, or even just a human in general - specifically you. He spends a lot of time thinking about and noting down things he wants to do with you.Â
This, to begin with, is just... impossibly sweet. Heâs never had a friend before, so heâs never had someone to think about when heâs looking at things he enjoys. Even the closest demons to him donât generally like humouring him with his more playful whims.Â
Now, however? He has you. Someone willing to spend time with him. Suddenly, he has someone utterly receptive to the things he loves; someone happy enough to listen, someone who might enjoy them just as much as he does.Â
Weâve all done it before, after all. As soon as we know someoneâs happy to listen to you ramble about something, we take note of things we think they might like so we can share it with them and (potentially) get them into it as well. Make it a bonding experience, because we like the thing and we like them, so why not mix the two? Thatâs how you deepen a friendship, after all.Â
Itâs such a normal, human thing for Diavolo to do. Heâs sincerely just happy to have you there; to finally have someone he can pick out likes to share with. Just a passing thought -Â âOh, MC might like that, Iâll have to save it for our sleepoverâ - that speaks a thousand words to how often (how casually, naturally, easily) he thinks about you.Â
But itâs also a bit more than that. Because while this is just about the movie, weâve already seen Diavolo admit heâs quite literally written out a list of activities he wants to do with you.Â
How long is that list? What sort of things has he got written down? Weâve been given a small glimpse at the list for this Devilgram, but it really is just a small glimpse. How many times has Diavolo seen something that has immediately pinged in his brain as âthings I need to do with/show MCâ?
(How many things has he never felt comfortable or happy showing anyone else before?Â
How many times has he tried to share his interests, only for them to be rejected?)
Two: Itâs Human World media. Diavoloâs only recently (in the main game) gotten to see the Human World properly, and considering this is black and white, Iâd say itâs fairly old. At the latest? Maybe a hundred years old at this point.Â
Thatâs (possibly) at least 100 years Diavoloâs been consuming Human World media.Â
The fact that heâs remembered it this long, too - for you to appear, and him to want to share it with you - either means itâs something he watches frequently, or itâs something that made a big impression on him. Â
Diavoloâs infatuated with the Human World, that much we already knew; one of his Homescreen interactions is about wanting to see the sunset, and another mentions how he hasnât been to the Human World (either at all, or often). Itâs something he wants to see more - something that excites him in a very boyish, childish way. Like a kid going on holiday to Disney World after seeing it on TV a thousand times.Â
But this isnât a recent infatuation. The movie (potentially) proves this. Even before the Exchange Programme - before he met you - heâs held this infatuation with humanity. Itâs not just about peace; thereâs something about the Human World that draws Diavolo in.Â
Thereâs more evidence of this in a later post, so Iâll go over this a bit more then. For now, however...Â
We can say with certainty that Diavolo wasnât kidding when he said the Exchange Programme has been a dream of his for some time. It makes me wonder just how far back he wanted to unite the Three Realms, and why; whether he started with interest in the Celestial Realm or the Human World, and whether or not he hoped the Exchange would branch out his social contacts (considering we already know that demons donât tend to spend time with him, and Diavolo is horrendously lonely).Â
(As an aside: the fact that heâs seemingly so infatuated with the Human World makes it even more special for him to share this movie with you. This is something he adores, something thatâs affected him so much, heâs dedicated his life to improving relations across the Three Realms - and he wants you to experience it, too.)
Three: A bit more of a joking point, admittedly. Boy really said âIâve been wanting to watch this movie with you that I love that also happens to be related to the Human Worldâ with the same vibe as Ariel seeing the Prince for the first time and realising he could tell her what all the crap sheâs been collecting is for.Â
I just... love the idea that his logic is âwell, MC is human. This movie was made in the Human World. Ergo, this is the most appropriate movie to watch with MC for our super special sleepover!â
Heâs so determined for everything to be perfect... I wonder if this movie was his immediate choice - something heâs always known from the start heâd do with you first the moment he could - or if he debated over several movies for the longest time, trying to come up with the best possible choice.Â
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Adorable ramble time!
Heâs good, in that he wonât make you do anything you donât want to - youâre always given the choice of how close you want to be to Diavolo, and if you want to nope out of vaguely (or even overtly) romantic situations even at the last minute - but when given the chance? He will get as close to you as possible.Â
Heâll have you sit right next to him, pressed arm-to-arm, thigh-to-thigh. Heâll thread his fingers through yours, and rest your joined hands on your lap. And heâll savour every moment, because this isnât something he gets often, if at all.Â
That comment -Â âyour hand is so warm...â - has such a sense of awe to it. Heâs finally close enough to you to say that youâre warm. Heâs finally reached this pinnacle of contact that heâs always wanted - and look at him! Heâs so happy! Heâs so, genuinely, wonderfully happy to be this close to you.Â
Heâs been wanting to watch the movie with you for at least months, if not a few years (timeline depending), and he finally has the time to show you this thing heâs genuinely excited for you to see - and it is totally blown out of the water by the fact youâre snuggled up to him, holding his hand.Â
Thatâs how special you are to him. Thatâs how special this moment is for him.Â
Thereâs something so sweet - and yet so heartbreaking - at seeing the damn Prince of the Devildom get so flustered over asking to hold your hand. I know that the OM demons arenât always depicted as your typical demons, and a few of them are fairly sex-shy, but thereâs just... something about this scene that hits different.Â
Heâs so tentative, so hopeful, to be able to hold your hand. Heâs so shy about it, too. And, yes, some of that is absolutely him fretting over ruining the evening by asking - fretting over chasing you off if heâs too touchy, when youâre already doing so much just by staying as long as you have - but some of it has to be him not knowing if thatâs an okay thing to ask for. Wanting to get closer, but not knowing if itâs appropriate.Â
I have a lot of feelings about this scene. Itâs just... whether you see it as romantic or not, heâs so happy. Heâs so happy just to have you there. Heâs so happy youâre humouring him. Heâs so happy youâre letting him do these very simple things.Â
Heâs so lonely. And you just make all of that go away.Â
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This is actually more of a silly thing, but I just wanted to note that - the Devildom has fucking Jenga and itâs called The Demonic Tower.Â
Iâm also still not over this for a slightly sadder reason. This is another one of the things that Diavolo wanted to do with you - another activity on his list. And itâs playing fucking Jenga.
He knew/knows so few people and has such little free time, something as simple as Jenga is riveting entertainment for him.Â
Heâs played so few board games in his life, he actually thought it was worthwhile to write down as something he absolutely had to do with you for your special, rare night of shared time spent together.Â
There are so many normal, plain, boring, everyday life experiences heâs never done, and every new thing he presents just hits harder than the last.Â
+++
And that concludes our (slightly shorter) part 3! Once again, thank you for making it this far. Hopefully the slightly lighter post was alright-Â
Next post, weâre going to skip ahead a bit. The game of Jenga itself is mostly just fun, so thereâs no need to focus on it specifically. What is important, however, is the next activity - and what Diavolo does based on certain choices.Â
So, if youâd like, head on over to part 4!
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CW for discussion of suicide
- She's the crazy ex-girlfriend - What? No, I'm not. - She's the crazy ex-girlfriend - That's a sexist term! - She's the crazy ex-girlfriend - Can you guys stop singing for just a second? - She's so broken insiiiiiide! - The situation's a lot more nuanced than that!
Thereâs the essay! You get it now. JK.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the culmination of Rachel Bloomâs YouTube channel (and the song âFuck Me, Ray Bradburyâ in particular where she combined her lifelong obsession with musical theatre and sketch comedy and Aline Brosh McKenna stumbling onto Bloomâs channel one night while having an idea for a television show that subverted the tropes in scripts sheâd been writing like The Devil Wears Prada and 27 Dresses.
The show begins with a flashback to teenage Rebecca Bunch (played by Bloom) at summer camp performing in South Pacific. She leaves summer camp gushing about the performance, holding hands with the guy she spent all summer with, Josh Chan. He says it was fun for the time, but itâs time to get back to real life. We flash forward to the present in New York, Rebeccaâs world muted in greys and blues with clothing as conservative as her hair.
Sheâs become a top tier lawyer, a career that she doesnât enjoy but was pushed into by her overprotective, controlling mother. Sheâs just found out sheâs being promoted to junior partner, and thatâs just objectively, on paper fantastic, right?! ...So why isnât she happy? She goes out onto the streets in the midst of a panic attack, spilling her pills all over the ground, and suddenly sees an ad for butter asking, âWhen was the last time you were truly happy?â A literal arrow and beam of sunlight then point to none other than Josh Chan. She strikes up a conversation with him where he tells her heâs been trying to make it in New York but doesnât like it, so heâs moving back to his hometown, West Covina, California, where everyone is just...happy.
The word echoes in her mind, and she absorbs it like a pill. She decides to break free of the hold others have had over her life and turns down the promotion of her motherâs dreams. I didnât realize the show was a musical when I started it, and itâs at this point that Rebecca is breaking out into its first song, âWest Covinaâ. Itâs a parody of the extravagant, classic Broadway numbers filled with a childrenâs marching band whose funding gets cut, locals joining Rebecca in synchronized song and dance, and finishing with her being lifted into the sky while sitting on a giant pretzel. This was the moment I realized there was something special here.
With this introduction, the stage has been set for the premise of the show. Each season was planned with an overall theme. Season one is all about denial, season two is about being obsessed with love and losing yourself in it, season three is about the spiral and hitting rock bottom, and season four is about renewal and starting from scratch. You can see this from how the theme songs change every year, each being the musical thesis for that season.
We start the show with a bunch of clichĂŠ characters: the crazy ex-girlfriend; her quirky sidekick; the hot love interest; his bitchy girlfriend; and his sarcastic best friend whoâs clearly a much better match for the heroine. The magic of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is that no one in West Covina is the sum of their tropes. As Rachel says herself, âPeople arenât badly written, people are made of specificities.â
The show is revolutionary for the authenticity with which it explores various topics but for the sake of this piece, weâll discuss mental health, gender, Jewish identity, and sexuality. All topics that Bloom has dug into in her previous works but none better than here.
Simply from the title, many may be put off, but this is a story that has always been about deconstructing stereotypes. Rather than being called The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, where the story would be from an outsiderâs perspective, this story is from that womanâs point of view because the point isnât to demonize Rebecca, itâs to understand her. Even if you hate her for all the awful things sheâs doing.
The musical numbers are shown to be in Rebeccaâs imagination, and she tells us theyâre how she processes the world, but as she starts healing in the final season, she isnât the lead singer so often anymore and other characters get to have their own problems and starring roles. When she does have a song, itâs because sheâs backsliding into her former patterns.
While a lot of media will have characters that seem to have some sort of vague disorder, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend goes a step further and actually diagnoses Rebecca with Borderline Personality Disorder, while giving her an earnest, soaring anthem. Sheâs excited and relieved to finally have words for whatâs plagued her whole life.
When diagnosing Rebecca, the showâs team consulted with doctors and psychiatrists to give her a proper diagnosis that ended up resonating with many who share it. BPD is a demonized and misunderstood disorder, and Iâve heard that for many, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the first honest and kind depiction theyâve seen of it in media. Where the taboo of mental illness often leads people to not get any help, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend says there is freedom and healing in identifying and sharing these parts of yourself with others.
Media often uses suicide for comedy or romanticizes it, but Crazy Ex-Girlfriend explored whatâs going through someoneâs mind to reach that bottomless pit. Its climactic episode is written by Jack Dolgen (Bloomâs long-time musical collaborator, co-songwriter and writer for the show) whoâs dealt with suicidal ideation. Many misunderstood suicide as the person simply wanting to die for no reason, but Rebecca tells her best friend, âI didnât even want to die. I just wanted the pain to stop. Itâs like I was out of stories to tell myself that things would be okay.â
Bloom has never shied away from heavy topics. The show discusses in song the horrors of what women do to their bodies and self-esteem to conform to beauty standards, the contradiction of girl power songs that tell you to âPut Yourself Firstâ but make sure you look good for men while doing it, and the importance of women bonding over how terrible straight men are are near and dear to her heart. This is a show that centers marginalized women, pokes fun at the misogyny they go through, and ultimately tells us the love story we thought was going to happen wasnât between a woman and some guy but between her and her best friend.
I probably havenât watched enough Jewish TV or film, but to me, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the most unapologetic and relatable Jewish portrayal Iâve seen overall. From Rebeccaâs relationship with her toxic, controlling mother (if anyone ever wants to know what my motherâs like, I send them âWhereâs the Bathroomâ) to Patti Luponeâs Rabbi Shari answering a Rebecca that doesnât believe in God, âAlways questioning! That is the true spirit of the Jewish people,â the Jewish voices behind the show are clear.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend continues to challenge our perceptions when a middle-aged man with an ex-wife and daughter realizes heâs bisexual and comes out in a Huey Lewis saxophone reverie. The hyper-feminine mean girl breaks up with her boyfriend and realizes the reason she was so obsessed with getting him to commit to her is the same reason sheâs so scared to have female friends. She was suffering under the weight of compulsory heterosexuality, but thanks to Rebecca, she eventually finds love and friendship with women.
This thread is woven throughout the show. Many of the characters tell Rebecca when sheâs at her lowest of how their lives wouldâve never changed for the better if it wasnât for her. She was a tornado that blew through West Covina, but instead of leaving destruction in her wake, she blew apart their façades, forcing true introspection into what made them happy too.
Rebeccaâs story is that of a woman who felt hopeless, who felt no love or happiness in her life, when thatâs all sheâs ever wanted. She tried desperately to fill that void through validation from her parents and random men, things romantic comedies had taught her matter most but came up empty. She tried on a multitude of identities through the musical numbers in her mind, seeing herself as the hero and villain of the story, and eventually realized sheâs neither because life doesnât make narrative sense.
It takes her a long time but eventually she sees that all the things she thought would solve her problems canât actually bring her happiness. What does is the real family she finds in West Covina, the town she moved to on a whim, and finally having agency over herself to use her own voice and tell her story through music.
The first words spoken by Rebecca are, âWhen I sang my solo, I felt, like, a really palpable connection with the audience.â Her last words are, âThis is a song I wrote.â This connection with the audience that brought her such joy is something she finally gets when she gets to perform her story not to us, the TV audience, but to her loved ones in West Covina. Rebecca (and Rachel) always felt like an outcast, West Covina (and creating the show) showed her how cathartic it is to find others who understand you.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the prologue to Rebeccaâs life and the radical story of someone getting better. She didnât need to change her entire being to find acceptance and happiness, she needed to embrace herself and accept love and help from others who truly cared for her. Community is what she always needed and community is what ultimately saved her.
*
P.S. If you have Spotify... I also process life through music, so I made some playlists related to the show because what better way to express my deep affection for it than through song?
CXG parodies, references, and is inspired by a lot of music from all kinds of genres, musicals, and musicians. Same goes for the videos themselves. I gathered all of them into one giant playlist along with the showâs songs.
A Rebecca Bunch mix that goes through her character arc from season 1 to 4.
Iâm shamelessly a fan of Greg x Rebecca, so this is a mega mix of themselves and their relationship throughout the show.
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Iâm in a TV group where we wrote essays on our favorite shows of the 2010s, so here is mine on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, I realized I forgot to ever post it. Also wrote one for Schittâs Creek.
#crazy ex girlfriend#crazyexedit#cxg#ceg#crazy ex gf#writing#mine#mental illness#bpd#mental health#spotify#music#playlist#essay#*
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Ready Player Two â Opening Cutscene & Chapter 0
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Hello again.
Itâs been a while. I havenât been active on this blog since, fittingly enough, Ready Player One. I was going to do this soonerâeven had an alarm set up and everythingâbut then, it turns out, Iâm feeling so much negativity about the world in general that a book just pales in comparison.
Seriously, I had to scrap this postâs entire intro because itâs not even 2020 anymore as I write this. And you know, maybe thatâs for the best. Iâm not really in the mood for doom and gloom and bitching anymore. I uninstalled Twitter from my phone a while back, Iâve been doing good at my daily writing sprints, my biggest fanfic project concluded on a positive note from people I didnât even realize had been following it for years.
So I donât know what this is going to be like. My commentary, I mean; Iâve heard echoes of what the book is like, so Iâm not expecting a surprise there.
The book opens right after the end of Ready Player One, in a âCutsceneâ where Wade recounts to us what happened after he won Hallidayâs contest. It also assumes you remember exactly who the main characters of the book are, which is a bold move for a sequel that came out almost a decade after the original.
Technically, I could just look up the details Iâm fuzzy about. But also, I think itâs more authentic if I donât. I trust my memory enough that if Iâm wrong, itâll be in subtle enough ways that itâll almost be a private jokes between all of us. An âif you know, you knowâ sort of error system. And I donât think thereâs anything more true to the spirit of this book than that.
Shoto had flown back home to Japan to take over operations at GSSâs Hokkaido division.
So Wade starts his tenure with nepotism. Wasnât Shoto really young? Why is he qualified to run anything?
Aech was enjoying an extended vacation in Senegal, a country sheâd dreamed of visiting her whole life, because her ancestors had come from there.
You know what, Iâm not touching âsend the token black character back to Africa.â This isnât my lane.
And Samantha had flown back to Vancouver to pack up her belongings and say goodbye to her grandmother, Evelyn.
Why is she saying goodbye? Why, sheâs moving to Columbus to be with Wade, of course! Itâs not like there was anything else in her life. Was there? And why isnât she referred to as Art3mis? Iâm pretty sure Wade found out all of their offline names in the last book, and the inconsistency mildly bothers me.
These three sentences are back to back, by the way. SomeoneâI forget whoâonce described Ready Player One as a book thatâs fun to write a wiki about, because itâs got fun concepts to summarize about until you realize that all the emotional connective tissue you need to turn a list of things into a story is missing, and thatâs roughly how this first page feels.
Hell, the first line of the book is Wade telling us he remained offline for nine whole days after winning the contest, but by the end of the second paragraph weâre already to him logging back into the OASIS to "distract himself from [his and Samanthaâs] reunion.
Iâll give Ernest Cline one thing: it feels like he wrote this opening nine days after the first book and did about as much maturing as a teenage boy would do between the two books.
Way more time is spent describing Wadeâs OASIS rig, or the in-game planet where the climax of the last book happened, than anything else in this introduction. He is immediately greeted by a crowd of adoring fans who have been waiting over a week for him to come back in the game, because theyâre all grateful that our protagonist and his friends restored their avatars after they were annihilated by the Sixers.
Youâd think the adoring fans would serve some kind of purpose, or that something would happen, but no. Wade immediately goes âew, peopleâ and teleports away, since he essentially has ultimate powers within the game. With a caveat: the powers are actually coming from the Robes of Anorak heâs wearing, and Iâm mentioning that in the hopes that it will pay off sometime in the bookâs future, assuming Cline at least learned to do that. But still, letâs not skip too fast the fact that we introduced that crowd of adoring fans for no other purpose than to tell us theyâre out there, because it fits right in with the last bookâs attempts at saying as little as humanly possible in as many words as possible.
Anyway, Wade went back into Anorakâs study, where he arbitrarily checks out the Easter Egg he got at the end of the last book, and finds an inscription on it. I was dreading another riddle, but no, itâs just straight-up instructions to a vault in the GSS archives, so Wade logs off and goes to check it out.
Of course Halliday had put [the archives] [on the 13th floor]. In one of his favorite TV shows, Max Headroom, Network 23âs hidden research-and-development lab was located on the thirteenth floor. And The Thirteenth Floor was also the title of an old sci-fi film about virtual reality, released in 1999, right on the heels of both The Matrix and eXistenZ.
Iâm equally shocked that it took two whole pages (on my ereader) to get to the first slew of references, and that one of these references is from 1999. I didnât know we were allowed to think of anything that isnât the 80s. Speaking of which, Iâll spare you the whole paragraph, but the book does feel the need to explain why itâs vault 42.
Inside the vault, thereâs another egg containing a super-fancy and advanced OASIS headset. The egg also has a video monitor that plays a video message from James Halliday shortly before his death.
But despite his condition, he hadnât used his OASIS avatar to record this message like he had with Anorakâs Invitation. For some reason, heâd chosen to appear in the flesh this time, under the brutal, unforgiving light of reality.
That oh-so-important message? An infodump about the headsetâs working. He called it an OASIS Neural Interface, ONI for short. It basically lets you experience the OASIS through all your senses with sensory input just like the real thing, you know, that thing Wade had to get a fancy suit and massive rig to do in the first book. And yes, Wade does spend a paragraph or two comparing it to other works of science fiction. Of course he does.
More importantly, it also records all the sensory input into a separate file, which can then be replayed over to re-experience said sensations, or live someone elseâs experiences. Halliday tries to frame it as a tool to generate communication and empathy, seemingly all without acknowledging the potential creepiness of that. But hey. Who knows. Maybe thatâs because this is the setup stage, and itâll pay off eventually.
I also wondered about the name Halliday had chosen for his invention. Iâd seen enough anime to know that oni was also a Japanese word for a giant horned demon from the pits of hell.
Add âreducing Japan to animeâ to the list of things the book has failed to improve upon. By the way, the narration insisted on spelling out ONI letter by letter earlier, so itâs weird to make that link now. Itâs also just kind of inelegant to just tell us âthis is the symbolism behind the nameâ, but thatâs just the sort of thing Iâve come to expect from this book.
Anyway, the reason Halliday kept this for his successor to find is he wants Wade to test out the technology and decide if humanity is ready for it. Why Halliday thinks the most glorified pop culture trivia / video game competition qualifies you for such a decision should be a problem, but sadly, a lot of billionaires have said and done a lot of dumb and eerily similar things in the past few years since I read Ready Player One, so actually, I canât fault the book for that one. Tragically, our fates really are in the hands of people who should rightfully be cartoon villains.
To his credit, Wade does question Hallidayâs motives in keeping this under wraps at all rather than releasing it himself. So hey, maybe it really is setting something up.
Wade goes back to his office with the ONI, and weâre treated with this lovely piece of narration:
I was grateful that Samantha wasnât there. I didnât want to give her the opportunity to talk me out of testing the ONI. Because I was worried she might try to, and if she did, she wouldâve succeeded. (Iâd recently discovered that when youâre madly in love with someone they can persuade you to do pretty much anything.)
Thereâs a lot to unpack about the implications this has for their relationship, but itâs way too early in the book for me to editorialize when one character hasnât even been on the page yet. So Iâll just leave it here for the record. Hopefully you see the problem without me needing to point it out anyway. If not, feel free to hit my inbox.
So Wade, confident in the fact that Halliday would have warned him if there were any risks to using the ONI, decides to try it out. Even though he immediately follows up that statement with this:
According to the ONI documentation, forcibly removing the headset while it was in operation could severely damage the wearerâs brain and/or leave them in a permanent coma. So the titanium-reinforced safety bands made certain this couldnât happen. I found this little detail comforting instead of unsettling. Riding in an automobile was risky, too, if you didnât wear your seatbeltâŚ
Wade. My dude. What the fuck is this simile. And why donât you see that maybe a machine where youâre forcibly trapping yourself inside a virtual reality might be dangerous? Hell, when I said this was setting something up, I was expecting something vaguely interesting about the potential breach of privacy, or how you donât need to literally walk in someoneâs shoes to feel empathy for them, or anything substantial, but now Iâm worried itâll just end up as âman, sometimes science fiction machines will scramble your brain, isnât that weirdâ?
Like, I donât know, to me âit will put you in a comaâ sounds like a good reason for Halliday not to release the ONI. Maybe we can still make it into a commentary on how corporations will sell stuff they know is directly harmful if it can make them a profit. Who knows.
The book waffles on about more risks, and the mechanics of how the ONI activates, and the warning disclaimer when it does turn on. Specifically, thereâs a time limit of twelve consecutive hours, after which youâll be automatically logged out, because yes, using the thing for too long can also cause brain damage.
Gregarious Simulation Systems will not be held responsible for any injuries caused by improper use of the OASIS Neural Interface.
See, now thereâs the sort of thing that could be a source for commentary, but no, instead itâs thrown in there like itâs nothing and Wade glosses over the entire warning, and instead keep wondering why Halliday didnât just release the ONI if even the safety disclaimers were in place.
By the way: this whole system has apparently gone through several independent human trials already, so Iâm finding it hard to imagine that itâs actually a secret Halliday took to the grave as Wade says. Unless he also had everyone involved in those trials killed afterwards. Or maybe they all ended up with brain damage which rendered them incapable of talking about it.
And before you think Iâm being unfair and maybe weâre supposed to understand that ourselves even if the protagonist doesnât, Iâll remind you that the book didnât trust its reader to know what the number 42 is a reference to, or what an oni is, even though I donât think anyone in the target audience wouldnât know about these two things.
Thereâs also the fact that, since this book came out, a video game did release with a scene intentionally designed to cause seizures, and it had countless fans flocking to defend it over that fact. So youâll have to excuse me if Iâm not assuming this bookâs stance on whether your video game console causes brain damage and possibly coma is actually a bad thing, or just an acceptable risk.
Wade certainly seems to think so, since he agrees to the terms of service.
As the timestamp faded away, it was replaced by a short message, just three words longâthe last thing I would see before I left the real world and entered the virtual one. But they werenât the three words I was used to seeing. Iâlike every other ONI user to comeâwas greeted by a new message Halliday had created, to welcome those visitors who had adopted his new technology: READY PLAYER TWO
Well now thatâs just silly.
And thatâs our opening cutscene. And while this post is already long enough, I feel like I have to go on to chapter 0, because it feels like barely anything has happened so far. We didnât even introduce any new character motivation or conflict, or a mystery to set the plot into motion, unless Iâm supposed to think âwhy didnât Halliday release this?â counts.
So Wade is back into the OASIS, and tells us about how much more real it all feels thanks to the ONI. I especially have to question how he can smell or taste anythingâboth of which he tells us he can. Like, who coded that? Did Halliday implement every single smell and taste himself, without anyone noticing? I hope you donât need me to tell you thatâs not typically how features are added to a large-scale video game.
If it feels like Iâm nitpicking at the logic of the book, even though I always say Iâm not very interested in that and would rather talk themes, itâs because I am, because there isnât much else to discuss so far. Wade is happy about tasting virtual fruit. Thatâs the scene.
He tests out if he can feel pain, but no, the ONI reduces pain (a gunshot is translated as âa hard pinchâ). On one hand, good, it would be a nightmare otherwise. On the other hand, I sort of hope thereâs a setting for that in there, because otherwise, you just lost an entire clientele of kinksters.
This was itâthe final, inevitable step in the evolution of videogames and virtual reality. The simulation had now become indistinguishable from real life.
Ah, now we have some juicy themes. Because if you think this is the inevitable final step in the evolution of video games, I invite you to look at literally any other art form, and what happened to them once hyperrealism became easy. Hint: they didnât stop evolving, because it turns out realism isnât the only goal one can achieve with art.
The realism discussion is not a new one in video games, mind you. In case youâre out of the loop: most of the big-budget blockbuster games (âAAAâ as theyâre known) are aiming for hyperrealism nowadays, and it results in development teams being forced to work in horrible conditions (known with the equally horrible euphemism of âcrunchâ). And, because it turns out that 1) humans working themselves to the bones isnât healthy and 2) racing for realism with little to no vision besides it makes for poor creativity, a lot of these games come out as disappointments. Oh, there are hordes of Gamers⢠who will defend them to the bitter end, but inevitably, in the months following release, the defense cools off while the criticism keeps on going, because the defense was a knee-jerk reaction born of a mix of people hyping themselves up for a game they hadnât seen that much of yet, then attaching a part of their identity to liking that thing.
Anyway, what Iâm trying to say is that this throwaway line feels like it comes from someone who is so out of touch as to accidentally support a world view that has in fact resulted in the biggest part of the industry stagnating artistically while growing more toxic for the people working in it. All the while, more and more independent games come out every year, proving that that realism is nowhere near the most important thing to making a game good, and that you can achieve much better results with a small team.
What Iâm trying to say is: watch Jim Sterlingâs channel, theyâve been bleeding out subscribers since they came out as nonbinary and make much better commentary on this topic than I could, and play Hades.
Back to the book, which sadly hasnât become any more interesting since I decided to go on a tangent. Wade tests the ONI functions some more, all the while musing on how he knows Samantha would disapprove but that he doesnât care, because what loving relationship doesnât consist of that?
Among the functions, he tries the ONI files, the aforementioned recordings of someone elseâs experiences. Specifically, a woman, which Wade tells us by telling us he suddenly has breasts, I suppose because Ernest Cline saw that subreddit about men writing women and went âI want a piece of thatâ. Oh, and also, those sample files were recorded from real people, in the real world. And yes, this goes exactly where you think it does.
SEX-M-F.oni, SEX-F-F.oni, and SEX-Nonbinary.oni
Look, I actually started writing a complaint about the boobs thing, and I deleted it, but now Cline is doing it on purpose. So, here goes: I saw a quote from this book on Twitter that looked like Cline attempting to make up for Wadeâs casual transphobia in the first book. It wasnât good, but it at least sounded like he was trying. So to immediately get this isâŚa lot? Letâs go for a lot.
I can almost excuse the use of âMâ and âFâ. You gotta name your files and you could excuse a non-exhaustive list. ButâŚnonbinary? On one hand, I want to know what Cline means. On the other hand, I donât think he can come up with an answer Iâll find satisfactory.
We are thankfully spared from finding out because Wade has just lost his virginity to Samantha a few days ago and heâs 1) not ready for this and 2) pretty sure this counts as cheating. You could make a case that this is more like porn, but I can see that this is more of a personal distinction anyway, and I can respect that one. Plus, you know. I donât want to find out.
Wade logs off, and he canât tell the difference between the OASIS with the ONI, and decides this will change the world. And then itâs back to the âhow did he do it and keep it a secretâ, even though Wade now finds out in the documentation that this had been in development for twenty-five years, basically since the OASIS launched. So itâs not really that itâs a secret, so much as there are a lot of people under very strict NDAs out there. Or, again, theyâre all dead and/or otherwise incapacitated.
The ONI is the product of the Accessibility Research Lab, and Wade tells us about other stuff that the lab has produced using similar technology, mostly for medical purposes.
GSS patented each of the Accessibility Research Labâs inventions, but Halliday never made any effort to profit from them. Instead, he set up a program to give these neuroprosthetic implants away, to any OASIS users who could benefit from them. GSS even subsidized the cost of their implant surgery.
Look, itâs nice that you want Halliday to be the good guy through and through, but itâs kind of hard to take any social commentary seriously when you think this is how a billionaire is made. Hell, even when he shut down the lab and fired its entire staff, he gave them a big enough severance package to set them for life. You know. Capitalism!
Hey, remember when Samantha said she was going to end world hunger if she won the contest, a thing billionaires right now could be doing, but arenât, and she is now the co-owner of GSS? Yeah, I kind of hope the book remembers that too.
Speaking of the co-owners, the book just completely skips over the debate that our four main characters have over whether or not to release the ONI to the world. All we know is that they voted, and the vote goes in favor of releasing it. I mean, why have characters who could have opinions and feelings that could create a discussion? That might make us care about them! And who wants to care about characters in a story?
We put them on sale at the lowest possible price, to make sure as many people as possible could experience the OASIS Neural Interface for themselves.
What exactly is âthe lowest possible priceâ here? Your company literally owns money. Like, OASIS money is real money. There is literally nothing stopping you from giving them away, especially because what youâre giving away is access to the platform youâre already running for a profit.
Itâs almost like, even trying to make âgood billionairesâ out of its protagonists, the book canât stop and actually make them significantly good.
Oh, I should mention. If you thought my Ready Player One review was angry at capitalism, wait until you see what the past couple years have done to me.
Anyway, once they his 7,777,777 simultaneous ONI users, a new riddle shows up on Hallidayâs website. Because yep: our plot is apparently not about the implications of releasing the ONI, or any of the potential ideological discussions associated with that, itâs another riddle. Oh boy, do I wish Iâd known that.
Seek the Seven Shards of the Sirenâs Soul On the seven worlds where the Siren once played a role For each fragment my heir must pay a toll To once again make the Siren whole
I cannot wait to have the book give me just not enough information to solve the riddle until itâs solved by the book itself. That was so much fun the otherâŚwhat was it, five times? Six times? Something like that. Wade already tells us the Siren might be Kira Morrow, because her alias was named after one of the sirens of Greek myth, so I canât wait for that plot point to stick around. It was so fun to hear all about this man pining for another manâs wife the first time!
So this is the âShard Riddleâ. People are apparently convinced it was made by Wade and his crew as a publicity stunt, but of course, they know that that isnât the case, and they also donât know what that riddle is supposed to lead to. So, thatâs great. We have a puzzle, and we also donât know what the stakes are. All we know is that Wade wants to solve the puzzle essentially because itâs a challenge.
We skip over a year, and Wade tells us about how IOI collapses and gets absorbed by GSS because of the ONIâs launch. Remember IOI? They were the bad guys, so I guess we have to cheer?
GSS absorbed IOI and all of its assets, transforming us into an unstoppable megacorporation with a global monopoly on the worldâs most popular entertainment, education, and communications platform.To celebrate, we released all of IOIâs indentured servants and forgave their outstanding debts.
On one hand: good for the slave. On the other hand: not gonna cheer for a monopoly, you guys.
Another yearâs skip, and now 99% of the OASIS users are using the ONI, and yes, that includes trading their experiences with one another too. And I guess weâre still hand-waving any possible problems associated with that technology, because the technology is made so that all recordings must be shared and played through the OASIS.
This allowed us to weed out unsavory or illegal recordings before they could be shared with other users.
How? Do you know any of the problems associated with content moderations on the current platforms? I donât know if I want to point to Youtubeâs extremely faulty algorithm, Twitterâs complete apathy towards its Nazis, or Facebook doing moderation by making underpaid staff watch all potentially problematic content, which resulted in serious psychological damage to said staff.
You canât just say that as if it solved everything. The chapter later says this is handled by an AI called âCenSoftâ, and as an AI engineer myself, let me tell you: this is not going to work. Again: Youtube is the way it is for a reason.
It also let us maintain our monopoly on what was rapidly becoming the most popular form of entertainment in the history of the world.
And again, monopolies are totally a good thing as long as itâs in the right hands!
When Iâm implying that the book does not care for any of these potential problems, I mean it. These enormous ethical issues are sidestepped in cold narratin, and we just keep going on introducing new slang that I hate, but have to quote so help you keep up.
âSimsâ were recordings made inside the OASIS, and âRecsâ were ONI recordings made in reality. Except that most kids no longer referred to it as âreality.â They called it âthe Earl.â (A term derived from the initialism IRL.) And âItoâ was slang for âin the OASIS.â So Recs were recorded in the Earl, and Sims were created Ito.
There. You have been infodumped.
In the midst of all this (still extremely dry) exposition about how this changed media, we also get this tidbit:
You could take any drug, eat any kind of food, and have any kind of sex, without worrying about addiction, calories, or consequences.
Now, I was going to rant about this, but then, a page later, this happens and spares me the trouble:
Iâd struggled with OASIS addiction before the ONI was released. Now logging on to the simulation was like mainlining some sort of chemically engineered superheroin.
So, you are aware that addiction isnât just possible, but extremely facilitated by this. But sure, no worries! Itâs perfectly safe! Because our protagonists are good.
Also, remember how the last book ended on a weak attempt at having a moral that maybe the real world is good, actually? Yeah, Wade tells us the ONI helps poor people live enjoyable lives in the OASIS. So. Fuck that message, I guess. It only applies if youâre the literal wealthiest man on Earth.
And me? All my dreams had come true. Iâd gotten stupidly rich and absurdly famous. Iâd fallen in love with my dream girl and she had fallen in love with me. Surely I was happy, right? Not so much, as this account will show.
Aside from the aforementioned returning OASIS affiction, thereâs the Shard riddle that Wade is now obsessed with, to the point of offering a billion-dollar reward to anyone with information about the riddleâs answer.
I announced this reward with a stylized short film that I modeled after Anorakâs Invitation. I hoped it would seem like a lighthearted play on Hallidayâs contest instead of a desperate cry for help. It seemed to work.
On one hand: good, Wade finally has a character flaw that the book actually acknowledges as a character flaw. I can work with that. On the other hand: this is all told to me in such a dispassionate that I am dreading how the book will handle this character flaw. Which is to say, Iâm not expecting it to be very good.
(For a brief time, some of the younger, more idealistic shard hunters referred to themselves as âshuntersâ to differentiate themselves from their elder counterparts. But when everyone began to call them âshartersâ instead, they changed their minds and started to call themselves gunters too. The moniker still fit. The Seven Shards were Easter eggs hidden by Halliday, and we were all hunting for them.)
Especially when this is something the narration feels is more important to tell me about.
Anyway, skip another year, and a gunter finally leads Wade to the First Shard. Solved that riddle, I guess. And wait, wasnât part of why IOI was ~evil~ in the first book that they were paying people to find the Easter Egg for them? How is this any different, Wade?
And when I picked it up, I set in motion a series of events that would drastically alter the fate of the human race. As one of the only eyewitnesses to these historic events, I feel obligated to give my own written account of what occurred. So that future generationsâif there are anyâwill have all the facts at their disposal when they decide how to judge my actions.
And that is the end of our chapter 0. And can I just say: what a mess already. I donât think my snark can properly convey how utterly devoid of emotion this bookâs writing is, and that alone is honestly more of a turn-off than anything else in the book so far. Even, knowing that I railed about it in the first book, I still feel newly unprepared for it. And itâs not like this double-prologue is making me hopeful that the book will show an ounce more critical thinkingâor decent fucking humanity towards marginalized groupsâas its predecessor.
So, thatâs a lot to look forward to! For the sake of my sanity and schedule, donât expect me to do such big posts every time. Iâll probably do one chapter a week from now on, if that. Weâre in for a long ride, but I hope itâs worth it, at least.
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Shadowhunters (Freeform show) Review
Review #2!!
In case you missed it, I wrote a review on the Mortal Instruments book series books 1-3 (theyâre the only ones I read because a chapter into book 4 and I was over it). I had mixed feelings on it, as I do with most things - including the Shadowhunters TV show, which is what this review is about!
Casting
Letâs talk about the casting in this show. First of all, I think the cast matched the physical descriptions of each character in the books and I very much enjoyed that. I do like when shows take liberties with casting, especially for the sake of things like diversity but thereâs something very satisfying about seeing the characters exactly as they were written.Â
I donât think all of the acting was fantastic, but itâs FreeForm so I really didnât expect much. It did get a lot better as the series went on and I think the actors really found their footing with these characters. Itâs one of the reasons that I love series so much more than movies for things like this because thereâs growth and the chance to really explore characters as they exist. These characters really took on a life of their own in a way, but weâll get into that as I go through the rest of my points here.Â
One thing I will say is, while this show did much better than others in terms of diversity it is not lost on me that the BIPOC characters in this show (and in the book series as well) were all âotherâ characters. As is often the case, people of color in fantasy media are usually portrayed as animals such as werewolves, or other âundesirableâ characters. This is an incredibly complex part of casting, creating, and writing, and I will not get into it here, but I didnât want to not mention it.Â
Gay Pride & True Love
If you read my review of the Mortal Instruments series then you already know that I love love love Alec and Magnus, but that love grew exponentially when I watched the show. Magnus was an interesting character in the books but Harry Shum Jr. really brought the character to life and that show especially in the scenes with Alec. The show also gives Alec a ton more depth than in the books and I love that they didnât keep him hung up on Jace (a straight man) for most of the story. He fell for Magnus and he fell for him hard. Magnus is the one that broke through Alecâs shell and encouraged him to be himself. By cutting away all the petty teenager shit that was in the books we were able to see this real, complex, but honest and deep love story that rivaled the main love interests immensely. I would watch this show over and over just to watch these two again.Â
Representation and diversity are two huge factors when I think about whether or not I liked a piece of media. These kinds of things are what makes media so relatable, real, and ultimately enjoyable in a lot of ways. This show didnât make the characters gay-ness a main factor of their relationship; they just showed a relationship as they would with a straight couple. They didnât ignore their gay-ness either, though, and acknowledged the difficulties within that. By making this normal, they took huge strides in showing these kinds of relationships on TV and I adore that. And I just cannot get enough of this pairing in general - there are so many contrasts and compliments in their relationship and itâs what I honestly consider to be a perfect OTP relationship in any kind of romantic plot.Â
10/10 would watch the show just for Alec and Magnus.Â
I like Clary better in the show than in the books
Clary is by far, not one of my favorite characters in the fantasy genre. I find her to be selfish, martyr-like, and just kind of annoying but I really felt like the show was able to redeem the decent characteristics that she has and shed off most of the aggravating ones.Â
As a whole, I am not a fan of how stupid the books make Clary out to be. Clary falls into the category of characters I donât like because there is ultimately nothing very special about them yet they end up with a guy who is completely out of their league in every way who is head over heels in love with them. It infuriates me so much and Clary is not an exception to this rule. Her character is still this way in the show but it is much less evident because she seems to be more of an active participant in her own life and I donât have to sit through her endless internal monologues about how attractive or strong or whatever Jace is. Thoughts that she still has while she thinks theyâre siblings. At least in the show, these characters seem to draw a strong boundary here when they think theyâre related rather than making out in a field like they did in the books.Â
Clary also has a much stronger sense of self in the show and often reflects on what her life was and what it has become, how sheâs grown. And I think thatâs a huge part of it - that she has grown when in the books she was just constantly such a dumbstruck teenager who only thought of herself. I absolutely love the difference in her character here so Iâll give the show a star for that.Â
Her relationships with other characters is also so much stronger. I believe this is in part because we donât know her every inner thought about them and we also arenât distracted by her distraction that is Jace. Her relationship with Izzy is so much better and stronger. Iâll always give good reviews to strong female relationships! Even her friendship and relationship with Simon is more in depth in the show. Their book friendship is very baseline; they constantly say theyâre best friends but thatâs not really reflected in the way they act around each other. In the show they have anecdotes about the past we never see in the books, they talk in a comfortable way and even show their relationship with each otherâs families a lot more. This plays into her being an active participant in her own life as well.Â
The Lightwood Family Drama
This might be something that happens later on in the books (however I donât think so because of some spoilers Iâve received on my main account) but I really liked the Lightwood family subplot. I would imagine they have some marital problems after Maxâs death in the books but considering they donât kill him in the show, divorcing them earlier and giving Maryse a second chance was a fantastic choice. I kind of wish they had kept Maxâs death because to me, it was the driving force between Izzy and Simon, but overall I donât mind the way they did it. It just felt like a missed opportunity for drama and angst.
Back to the point at hand - families are complicated and the only ânormalâ or rather, nuclear family we see in this series is the Lightwoods. Clary was raised by a single parent, as was Simon, and no one else really has parents that weâre introduced to to be able to judge their family life. By making their family story a complicated one, rather than the âidealâ, it becomes not only more dramatic, which is fun and interesting, but real. And it may seem counterintuitive to make things seem real in a fantasy genre show/book series but that, in my opinion, is what makes it easier to believe the fake stuff. I can focus more on the magic and the demons and the end of the world as we know it if itâs grounded in something thatâs familiar to me. The Lightwoods feel like a very real family with complicated relationships between kids and parents, adopted children/siblings, and marital issues that affect everyone differently, which invites us as an audience to relate to them and doesnât make the Shadow world so different from ours.Â
A scene I loved specifically is when Izzy brings the doctor sheâs seeing to the Hunterâs Moon and theyâre all messing with each other, eating, drinking, laughing, talking. They really felt like a family there, like adult siblings which can be a really difficult feeling to capture but I think it was done very well. I didnât want to go through this review without mentioning that part since it was something very special for me.Â
Design Choices
Changing topic just a little bit, I wanted to talk about the design of the show. First thing I noticed was that the runes were not at all how I pictured them. Now, that may be a fault of the writer because they werenât very well described so it all landed on imagination which is different for everyone. The show design gave me kind of Henna tattoo vibes, whereas the books gave me full black ink vibes.Â
The clothing was also something very strange to me. Izzy was always described as wearing long silvery skirts. I very much imagined her as wearing borderline rave outfits in most of these scenes but she mostly just wore crop tops and low cut shirts. I also noticed that as the series went on she dressed in a bit more of a conservative way compared to the first half of season 1 when I recall her wearing literally just a sports bra as a shirt in a few scenes. It was apparent to me in the books that the way Shadowhunters dressed was something that separated them from humans, made them stand out, and the show lacked that. I think this also took away the idea that Shadowhunters are a whole race of people with a history and culture separate from being human (they are, in essence mixed raced, but this comes with a lot of implications and is not a complete statement or comparison in any way). My point with this is mostly that I wish there had been more of a separation visually between Shadowhunters and humans beyond their runes.Â
I also pictured the Institute to have a very non-human, Catholic type of design and instead just got pseudo-futuristic feel. I didnât hate it, it just feels overdone in these kinds of shows and movies. For example, the Divergent series or Maze Runner or even Tomorrowland all have this type of vibe and I was hoping for more of a DmC: Devil May Cry approach.Â
Jace Wayland is a beautiful character
I had mixed feelings about Jace in the books; he felt stale and like every other straight, white, male, romantic lead. In the show, however, I think Dominic Sherwood did him a great deal of justice and gave him the depth that actually made him a desirable person that I could understand someone being in love with. Heâs charming, and a little cocky but we also get to see a deeper side of him than we do in the books. We see his emotions, especially his unconditional love for Clary (whether I agree with that or not).Â
The Owl plotline was a waste of time in my opinion, but the scene when Izzy and Alec go to save him from inside his mind and we see him break down is absolutely beautiful. Jace is introduced to us from the start as hard, strong, calloused and here we see him vulnerable and scared with two of the people he trusts most in the world. I will accept the Owl plotline if only to keep this scene because I think it is absolutely essential to his character arc.Â
I also found that scene to be indicative of his relationship with Izzy. In the books itâs often alluded to that he and Izzy had been together in one way or another but thatâs not the case for the show (thank the angel) and here you can really see them as siblings more than in any ther scene, I think. But this takes me to his relationship with Alec as well.Â
ParabataiÂ
I donât remember Parabatai being mentioned much in the books but it is a huge deal and talked about quite a bit. I this this is super cool, personally and itâs not something I can really think of too much in fantasy outside of sires or singers or the like in many vampire novels but that has a whole âownerâ vibe that doesnât exist with Parabatai. I am super intrigued by this idea and I loved how much they played with it being a strength and an essential part of their existence.Â
The relationship between Alec and Jace is obviously stronger than just brothers, but it also isnât quite love in the romantic sense. Itâs something else and it makes them vulnerable to each other. They feel everything the other person feels, sometimes literally, and while that can weaken them they use it as a strength. Itâs really beautiful how honest and open these men are with each other. I feel like the Parabatai bond breaks down a lot of the toxic masculinity traits these characters might have otherwise and I will always be in favor of tearing down those walls. A+ characterization if you ask me.Â
I thought Izzy deserved better in the books - the show gave it to her
In the show Izzy is way more badass than in the books, which I wasnât sure was possible. They made her so much smarter, gave her important roles at the institute like head of weapons and she even did autopsies? In the last episodes we even see her as Head of the Institute. Beauty, brains, and brawn simply canât be beat.Â
Her love life was even more interesting! She wasnât boiled down to just a slut who slept with everyone regardless of species: she was a lover who fell quickly and saw the best in people despite what people might tell her about âtheir kindâ. Sheâs strong and very sure of herself; she doesnât need a man in her life but she wants love and I think thatâs a really amazing trait they gave her that deepens the character.Â
They made her an activist, too in a way. Sheâs found really standing up for her beliefs in the show and challenging the way things are. In the books Izzy is pretty stuck in the way Shadowhunters do things but in the show she speaks up when something isnât right. Her connections to downworlders does a lot of really great things for the Shadow world as a whole. They certainly could have beefed this up a little bit, but it wasnât a huge part of the show in general so Iâll allow the pass on it.Â
Her Yin-Fen addiction was so interesting! Again, I donât know if this is something that happened in later books in the series but this is just another layer to Isabelle that I really loved. No one is perfect, even her, and it built her relationship with Rafael (another plot I was a huge fan of) which was incredibly complex.Â
All in all, I would die for Izzy. Please give me shows and books about her and more characters like her.Â
This series was steamy as hell
I canât write a review on this series without mentioning all of the steamy scenes with so many of the characters. I mean, of course, I expected as much with Jace and he got a lot but so did everyone else. We got saucy scenes with Alec, Magnus, Simon, Izzy, Maia, everyone. (Not all at the same time, thankfully). But they were all very well directed and acted and I enjoyed them quite a bit. What can I say? Sex sells.Â
In conclusion, I liked this series a lot. I really was not expecting to. I was warned that it was bad, and to start off it was but I found myself unexpectedly enjoying a lot of it. Thereâs still work to be done and it is by no means perfect but it was entertaining and had some really good moments. I also give so much credit to the actors and creative team for doing so much with material that didnât give them much depth in the first place.Â
Would recommend for something to enjoy but maybe not think too hard about.
xoxo
Mony
#shadowhunters#mortal instruments#series#cassandra clare#freeform#izzy lightwood#alec lightwood#magnus bane#harry shum jr#jace wayland#jace herondale#dominic sherwood#clary fray#clary fairchild#clary morgenstern#shadow world#writing#review#series review#tv show#monyreview
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Hold on
A/N: This Oneshot/Songfic is my contribution to @xxwritemeastoryxx 1K Celebration Writing Challenge. Congratulations again ! Iâm so happy for you :) So this has really turned out differently than I thought at first and maybe the length got a little out of hand, but I hope you like it. So, two weeks of work, two root canal treatments and a jaw abscess later we are finally here and you don't believe how happy I am. Oh, and I just have to say that english isnât my native language. So sorry for any spelling or grammatical mistakes.
Prompt : âPlease...stay.â (I will make it bold)
Word Count : 10.6K - Yeah, like I said : It maybe got a little teeny tiny bit out of hand.
Warnings : Angst, major character death, deadly disease Okay, this Fic is like the saddest I have ever written. If you are offended or triggered by any of these warnings, please read at your own risks.
Pairing : Elijah Mikaelson x Reader
This was inspired Chord Overstreetâs beautiful yet so sad song âHold onâ
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Loving and Fighting
An icy cold went through Elijah when quietly opened the door to the intensive care unit and entered the room. It almost seemed as if a black veil was suddenly covering him.
His hands were shaking. It was a long time ago since they had last done it, but now they didn't want to stop. His whole body trembled at the thought of what awaited him.
Her quiet and weak heartbeat was drowned out by the shrill, constant beeping of the heart rate monitor and Elijah swallowed hard. Her heart had always been so strong, always so loud. Its tone had given him strength. But now that he heard it only so weakly, it seemed to have drained his strength.
She was no longer wearing the colorful dress she wore in the afternoon. In the shock room, it had been taken off and exchanged for a drab hospital gown. He could hear the rustling of her blood and his eyes fell on the pronule that she had on her left arm and with which she was given strong pain relievers.
He hadn't noticed that he had stopped. He looked at her closely and when he saw her like this, he felt like he had really failed for the first time in his life.
Slowly, he took a few steps across the room and quickly blinked the tears in his eyes away. He had to be strong now; strong for her.
He sat carefully on the edge of the bed and looked at her. Her face looked cramped and sunken. Her otherwise red lips were dry and pale, as was her skin. The sight frightened him. She looked so weak so ... lifeless.
He cautiously reached for her hand and stroked gentle circles on the back of it hand with his thumb. He timidly heard her heart beating faster and saw her move a little.
"Hey," he said softly as he watched her eyelids start to flicker. It seemed to be an act of strength for her and yet he felt her gently squeeze his hand.
,,You are here."
Her mouth was dry and it was difficult for her to even say a few words at all, but she smiled when she could feel his presence and forced herself to open her eyes slowly. Slowly she turned her head and finally looked at him from cloudy, y/e/c eyes.
"Yes," he replied, and the corners of his mouth also rose a little. ,,I wont leave you."
I canât imagine a world with you gone
The music was loud. Way too loud.
The courtyard was illuminated by cool blue and purple lamps. People strolled through the courtyard in extravagant robes, waving their overpriced champagne in their hand and chatting with other important people.
The short version was that Y/N wished to be anywhere else, just not here. Parties had never been her thing and never would be. The only reason she was here was her old student friend Cami, whom she had met during her semester abroad in New York. And now that Y/N had recently moved to New Orleans, Cami hadn't missed the opportunity to let her know about its nightlife. However, she didnât expect that with ânightlifeâ she meant such an extravagant party for the super rich.
,, Ow, donât make that face. Come on, have a drink. "
"I don't make a face," denied Y/N and let her friend give her a glass of champagne. "I just should have known where you were going to take me when I saw the dress."
Y/N looked demonstratively down at herself and looked briefly at the long, burgundy and tight-fitting dress with the slit on the side that flattered her figure. She brushed a strand of her y/ h/c hair from her face, which had loosened itself from the elaborate up-do, and sipped on the expensive but extremely bitter champagne.
"I hope this Klaus is worth it," she grumbled and Cami gave her a warning look.
"It's not because of him," she said a little too quickly and Y/N grinned to herself.
"Of course not," she murmured instead and was left shortly afterwards when her friend had spotted said acquaintance and disappeared.
"No, of course it's not because of him," Y/N said to herself as she looked after her friend and sighed. Looked like she was the one to fil the gap for the time when Klaus wasn't there to keep Cami busy.
Instead, Y/N went looking for the bar and was happy that free drinks appeared to be a high priority for the rich.
"Whiskey on ice, please," she ordered from the bartender, put her half-full champagne glass on the bar and smoothed her dress.
"The same for me, please."
She squinted at what she was doing when she heard a deep male voice only a few yards away. He looked good, even she had to admit that. He was wearing a suit, had one hand casually in his pocket, and was leaning against the bar with the other.
"The champagne does not seem strong enough for you", he noted,, looking over at her.
Y/N looked back and sipped the drink she had just received. "Unfortunately not nearly."
"You don't seem to enjoy the celebrations as much as many others here," he said and now turned completely to her, leaning his side against the counter.
"No, you're right," she agreed, taking another sip of her drink. "I'm afraid I'm playing in a different league than yours."
Y/N had already noticed because of his suit and how it flattered his well-built body that he must be one of those super rich who attended such a party every week.
"You accommodated yourself very well for that," he replied, and Y/N could see the slight twitch of the corners of his mouth as he eyed her from top to bottom and let his eyes slide over her dress. She blushed.
"Thank you, then I did everything right, I guess," she laughed softly and took another sip.
"I'm sure of that," he smiled, taking a quick look around the crowd. ,, But I am curious: Others would commit murders for an invitation. Why don't you ? "
,, I ? Murdering for something like this ? Certainly not,â waved Y/N off. ,, So, the music. It is much too loud and ... inappropriate ? I donât know. Â And the champagne. A bottle probably costs as much as my car, and yet it tastes just like the cheap one from the gas station, which always makes me sick.â
In her heated list she didnât notice how he listened to her attentively, not taking his eyes off of her and the corners of his mouth rising further with each of her words.
"To be honest, I'd much rather sit in front of my TV in my pajamas and watch some junk. Excuse my directness, but itâs just exactly like that. "
When she finally looked back at him after all, she misinterpreted his grin. ,, Oh my god, I didn't mean to offend you. That was totally rude, that ... "
"It's alright," he calmed her down and took a sip of his whiskey. ,,Everyone has their own opinion. I am not a friend of big celebrations myself, my brother sees it differently. But from time to time those are necessary. "
Y/N nodded, she understood. In today's world, splendid parties werenât only there for fun, but also to make new contacts or maybe find and convince trading partners.
"I am Elijah."
Her eyes darted back to him and he could see the y/e/c flashing briefly. She gave him a bright smile and took his hand. "Y/N, itâs nice to meet you, Elijah."
"The pleasure is mine."
He also smiled sincerely at her and Y/N actually got a little dizzy. Well, the man in front of her was handsome, charming, nice ... What more could a woman want ?
"Mister Mikaelson ?"
And he was the organizer of this party.
Y/N's smile slipped from her face and she couldn't put it back there when she saw another man in a suit approaching Elijah.
Her eyes widened in shock and she looked at him in panic as he turned back to her. ,, It was a pleasure to meet you, Y/N. And thank you for your honesty, â he replied charmingly and by no means unkindly. As if in a trance, she watched him blow a kiss on the back of her hand and then disappear into the crowd. Frozen, she looked after him.
"I see, you got to know Klausâ brother. "
"Yes, after telling him that I think his party is shit."
Cami laughed next to her and sipped her champagne glass. "You couldn't keep your mouth shut. I shouldâve known," she laughed.
,, Heâs one of them. But he doesnât look like them. "
"Like an Original vampire ?"
Y/N shook her head and watched Elijah talk seriously to the man who had just interrupted their conversation. "Not in the slightest."
Cami just shrugged and emptied the rest of her glass. ,,What can I say ? You are a witch. Nothing should really surprise you anymore. "
Y/N just swallowed and looked at her friend with a frown, turned back to the bar. "Okay, now I need something really strong."
The joy and the chaos, the demons weâre made of
That evening was a long time ago. When Y/N woke up that morning, she was awakened by the jazz music that flew through the open window from the streets into the bedroom. She blinked a few times and looked around briefly as she opened her eyes fully.
She was lying in a big bed, wrapped in a soft duvet with an even softer pillow.
When she tried to turn on her back, she became aware of the strong arms that were wrapped around her waist and which pressed her tightly against him.
Y/N smiled and turned carefully in his arms.
Elijah was still sleeping, but he didn't seem to want to let her go even in his sleep. Carefully, she raised a hand to brush a strand of hair from his face and looked at the brunette. They had danced around each other for a long time now, had never come closer; the family had always been a higher priority for Elijah. It was a chaos of feelings. Until Esther captured him. She didn't know what she had let him see, but he had been different when he returned yesterday.
Y/N smiled slightly at the feel of his skin on hers and drawed gentle patterns on his chest with her fingers, closing her eyes.
She opened her eyes when she felt him quickly grabbing her hand and stopping her by planting a kiss on her fingertips.
Slowly, she raised her head and smiled. "How long have you been awake ?"
"Long enough to know how you looked at me."
He also opened his eyes at his words, gently looked down at her, which only made her smile wider. She raised her head and squinted at the old clock between the windows. Y/N groaned in agony.
,,What ?"
"My shift in the hospital starts in two hours," she sighed, dropping her head back onto his chest. "I have to go."
,,I do not think so."
Her eyes fell back to Elijah while he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him. Y/N laughed when he let his fingertips dance across her waist and breathed gentle kisses on her neck. "Elijah, I'm serious, as much as I would like to stay here in this bed, I have to go to work."
"Hmh," he just agreed and put his lips on hers and caught her in a hot and steaming kiss. Y/N involuntarily groaned when she let his tongue in and when she could feel something pressing against her stomach.
Half an hour later, Y/N groped barefoot through the old halls of the Mikaelson estate. She had slipped pn Elijah's white shirt from the night before and was looking for her top that she had lost on the way to his bedroom last night.
"So, you're the woman my brother gave his heart to."
Y/N paused at the unmistakable accent. The door next to her was open and she could see Klaus standing in front of an easel with a painting brush in his hand. She swallowed briefly when she remembered that she was actually only wearing panties and Elijah's shirt, but remained confident in the doorframe.
âSeems so. Any problems with that ?"
"Actually, yes."
Y/N involuntarily took a breath and frowned as the hybrid slowly walked towards her. "And that would be ?" She asked bravely.
He just gave her a mild smile. âEven if you witches are very good at nighttime activities - and you are, judged by the sounds you and my brother made last night and just now - you're a pain in the ass. "
Y/N smiled mildly. She knew about Klaus' Mikaelson's aversion to witches and had already been prepared for something like that. From the moment that Cami introduced her to him and he learned what she was, he had been against her. Klaus Mikaelson hated witches even though he his daughter was one.
"I know you aren't particularly addicted to witches," she replied carefully. "But I have no bad intentions towards your family, believe me."
"Yes, if Celeste DuBois had told me, I would have believed her, too."
Y/N's eyes narrowed. She knew who this witch was, had helped to kill her herself, and yet Klaus didn't trust her in the least. She turned to walk away, but his voice stopped her.
"You don't know about the red door, do you?"
Y/N paused. Slowly, she took a step back and looked again from the door frame to Klaus, who smiled contentedly. "The red door," he continued when he saw her look. ,, All my brother's demons; all the people he killed. The victims, all the suffering he has done. "
Y/N opened her mouth and closed it again. She knew what this was going to be. Klaus wanted to unsettle and intimidate her. But Y /N had known who she was dealing with from the start and the man she had fallen in love with.
"I know about all of this," she lied, proudly raising her chin. ,,I know what you're trying and it won't work, Klaus. I'm not one of those gullible, weak, little witches."
When her tone got a little too sharp, he took another few steps towards her. "Is that supposed to be a threat, love ?"
Y/N swallowed and looked up at him. She concentrated, looked him straight in the eye. Satisfied, she noticed how beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. Klaus gasped, his eyes widening slightly as his blood started to boil.
,,No of course not. For such a pain in the ass like me, it's really foolish to threaten the Original Hybrid, isn't it? "
He struggled for words and the two were only interrupted when Y/N heard the footsteps behind them.
,,That's enough now. Niklaus, Y/N. "
Klaus gasped abruptly as he got cool again and Y/N broke eye contact when she looked behind her at Elijah.
The relationship between her and Klaus Mikaelson had always been ... special.
Elijah held the top she was looking for in her hand and she quickly took it from him and disappeared back towards his bedroom. She didn't hear Elijah's words to his brother: "If she gets hurt, she dies, if she catches a fever, if she gets bitten, she gets hit by lightning, anything - anything happens to her, brother, you will pay for it. "
Iâd be so lost if you left me alone
Many months later, Y/N left the hospital where she worked at exhausted and overtired. Her feet ached and killed her. An emergency heart operation had given her a 36-hour shift and she just wanted to sleep.
Exhausted, she climbed up the stairs to her apartment, kicked the now uncomfortable sneakers off her feet after she closed the apartment door behind her and threw her handbag into the next corner. When Y/N took off her jacket and hung it on the coat hook, she paused. It smelled of ... food.
She raised her eyebrows in confusion and groped across the hall into the living room. On the dining table were two plates of pasta that seemed to be still hot. A slight smile crept onto her lips when she recognized Elijah. He was standing with his back to her leaning over the kitchen counter. But when he turned to her, her heart skipped a beat and the smile disappeared. She swallowed hard.
There was pain in his eyes. She could see it, see how hurt and disappointed he was. He lifted the package insert of the pills on the kitchen counter and pointed to it. "I found these when I was looking for matches."
Y/N glanced for a split second to the candles that were on the table and then back to Elijah. Her heart contracted painfully at the sight of him and she could feel the tears coming up.
"When did you want to tell me ?"
Y/N swallowed and took a few steps towards him. She reached for his hands, but he pulled back. A stab in her heart. She could hear the pain in his voice and hated herself for being the source of it. She took a deep breath and didn't know what to say. She wanted to scream and cry at the same time.
She carefully arranged her words. "I got the diagnosis shortly after I met you at the party."
Elijah swallowed, looked at the half-empty pills pack on the kitchen shelf. He kept his eyes down, but he could see the tears that had formed in her eyes.
She licked her dry lips. ,, My mother has already died because of it. Actually, it skips a generation in our family but ... "
"How much time do you have left ?"
Y/N fell silent. She hadn't been prepared for this question and when she became aware of the answer, she pressed her lips together in a thin line. A telltale tear rolled down her cheeks and more followed. She bit her lower lip to keep herself from sobbing and the only thing she could do was shrug her shoulders. "I - I don't know ...", she brought out with difficulty and more tears followed. "It was recognized too late and the only thing that keeps me on my feet are these," she pointed to the pills. ,, There is no cure and ... I don't know, Elijah. I - I have no idea. I donât know."
"Hush," he said reassuringly, pulling her close as her body began to shake and tears ran down her cheeks uncontrollably. Her fingers reach for his vest for help and she closed her eyes. He could hear her sobbing and every further one was another stab in his heart.
"I didn't want to tell you anything because ...", she started and was interrupted by another sob. "I - I didn't want you to only see this disease in me then."
Y/N looked up when she felt him brush a strand of hair from her face and behind her ear. "I could never do that."
Y/N smiled sadly, but she could see the pain that had cast a dark shadow on his face.
Elijah closed his eyes when he hugged her tightly. He breathed in her smell, that fine scent of lavender and vanilla and he put a hand comfortingly on the back of her head, placed a loving kiss on her head.
The prospect of not being able to do all this anytime soon frightened him. He would never be able to smell her smell again, never again would he feel her soft skin or lips on his, never again could he hold her. He felt that someone had torn his heart out and for the first time in his life he thought he knew what all the victims he had done this to had felt. The woman in his arms would die. He didn't know when yet, but she would and he thought he was cursed. Tatia, Katerina, Celeste ... All the women he loved died. Loving him was a death sentence. And now, the first woman he saw at his side in eternity was doomed to die. With all the dangers like werewolves, Mikael, Esther, Dhalia, the Strix ... A deadly disease seemed almost ridiculously primitive, and yet it reminded Elijah of the incredible vulnerability of humans.
"I'll find a way," he said as he buried his face in her y/ h/c hair, so Y/N couldn't see the tear that escaped one of his eyes.
She smiled at his confidence. ,, There is no way, Elijah. No vampire blood, no back door, no loophole."
"You won't die," he replied firmly. "And if I can't move heaven ..."
"... I will raise hell."
You locked yourself in the bathroom Lying on the floor when I break through
The mood in the past few weeks had been tense. A new force and new enemies of the Mikaelson had risen from the darkness and were now chasing the family.
Y/N had been living in the Mikaelson estate for a long time now, Elijah had insisted that he could "protect" her better this way. But Y/N was sure that there were other advantages that he derived from the fact that they now lived together. She always successfully repressed the thought that it was because they had already been allowed too much time together and instead put it down to the fact that she could help them with her witch skills.
While Elijah and Klaus were out, she was sitting with Freya in the fireplace room over a stack of old grimoires when the two heard a rumble in the courtyard. Both women looked up in alarm and Y/N's eyebrows raised suspiciously. "I thought youâd cast a boundary spell."
"I did."
Y/N swallowed hard and got up - just like her friend -, following her out of the room into the gallery. She walked quietly after the blonde, careful not to make a sound.
,,Find them ! Now !"
Y/N's blood froze in her veins when she heard a man's deep voice and then the steps of the vampires hurrying up the stairs to the first floor.
"Damn it," Freya swore, immediately turned and pushed Y/N in front of her, towards the nursery, in which little Hope had already started to cry.
Silently, Y/N let the blonde allow, pushed open the door to the nursery and Freya locked it behind them.
Y/M immediately turned to the little girl, carefully lifting her out of bed and rocking her to and fro in her arms. "Itâs alright, hush," she said reassuringly and gave Freya a troubled look. "How did they break the spell ?"
"I have no idea, but now we have other problems," Freya replied and looked around the room.
"What do you think, how many are down there ?"
Freya shrugged. ,, Maybe a dozen. I couldn't see much. "
,,And what do we do now ?"
"We won't let ourselves be killed until my brothers arrive."
Y/N frowned. ,,You gotta be kidding me."
"We have to get Hope out of here safely. I distract them, you take her and hide. Protect my niece."
Y/N looked suspiciously at her friend. She didn't like her plan and she had a bad gut ffeling, apart from the dizziness that has haunted her since the vampires surfaced and her body was on alert.
Y/N had no way to say anything against the other witch's plan, because in the same second the first vampire burst through the door, that shattered under its weight.
"Now !" Freya called, dodging the attacking vampire and ramming a wooden pole through his back into his heart.
Y/N looked wide-eyed at her for a moment, then took off running when she realized that she had a small, helpless child in her arms.
She disappeared through the side door into Klaus' adjoining bedroom. The rest of the vampires, spurred on by Freya, rushed into Hope's nursery while Y/N ran through the hallways of the property, trying to calm the little girl on her arm and find a safe hiding place.
And then she heard footsteps in the hallway. She cast a panicked look over her shoulder, couldn't see the vampire who was apparently on her heels, and with luck, she hadn't been spotted. Nevertheless, Y/N quickly opened the next best door and found herself in one of the old guest rooms. Looking around in panic, she saw the door to the adjoining bathroom and disappeared into it.
The bathroom was small and old, but at first it seemed safe. Y/N carefully placed the toddler on the floor. She closed her eyes in submission when she heard the door to the bedroom open again.
She was afraid of what was to come and briefly rubbed Hope's cheeks. The little one had become calm now and was looking at Y/N with big gesture eyes, almost as if she understood what was going on.
Y/N took a deep breath, crouched, and left the bathroom.
"I think you took the wrong room."
Y/N looked around. A pencil lay on the old, dusty desk. Maybe it could help her.
The vampire in front of her grinned broadly and slightly shook his head. ,,I donât think so."
At the same time, his eyes grew darker and the veins under them became visible. Y/N had just enough time to took a step away when he rushed towards her - but he caught her anyway. She flew in a high arc through the room and landed on the desk that gave in under her weight. A sharp pain went through her spine when she painfully hit the floor and the splinters of wood pierced her back uncomfortably. Desperately, Y/N tried to drive the blackness out of her field of vision and gasped. Hope had started to cry again.
Dazed, Y/N had to watch the vampire straighten up and walk slowly towards the bathroom door.
She clumsily raised one arm and made a sweeping, swift gesture, whereupon the vase on the old wooden chest hit the vampire's head with a muffled sound.
Y/N struggled to her feet. "Don't you dare touch her."
The vampire grunted deeply and angrily while the laceration on the back of his head slowly healed and he turned to face her. "That was your death sentence, witch."
Y/N pressed her lips together, could barely raise one hand when the vampire started to attack her again. He cringed painfully when this throbbing pain in his head became unbearable and one aneurysm after another burst.
Y/N quickly took a few steps back, looking around. She would have to get past him to get to Hope's and into the bathroom and to be able to entrench them there. Her eyes fell to the broken desk and the large pieces of wood. But before she even put foot in that direction, she felt a hand wrapping around her ankle and yanking her off her feet. Again, she hit the ground hard and this time it wasnât so easy to get the blackness out of her sight.
She screamed angrily, turned to her back, but the vampire was already over her. His fist whipped down on her jaw and Y/Nâs sight went black again. She gasped as a throbbing pain spread through her jaw.
"A real waste," said the vampire, pulling her into a sitting position, causing Y/N to groan in pain. She could see how he was looking at her, how the pulsating veins were slowly visible under his eyes and she widened her eyes.
"No," she pleaded weakly, and immediately cried out in pain when she felt his sharp teeth pierce the delicate skin on her neck. Her skin burned like fire and she could feel the pressure in her carotid artery as the vampire slowly sucked the life out of her. No, she definitely wonât get killed by a vampire now, certainly not.
Resolutely, she drove the dancing asterisks out of sight, hit the vampire wildly with one hand, and groped for a piece of the desk with the other. And her heart skipped a joyful beat when she actually felt a long piece of wood in her hand. She gripped it tightly, raised it and shortly thereafter the wood pierced the heart of the vampire, who was only gurgling now. His eyes widened, his skin slowly turning gray.
Y/N gasped, pressed her hand onto the bleeding wound on her neck, and tried to control her pulse. Her heart pumped her blood through her body at three times the speed of panic, and it was a miracle that her already weakened body hadnât given up yet.
Hope. She abruptly stood up, staggered helplessly for a few moments until she regained her balance, and then staggered toward the bathroom door. With a shaky finger, she opened the door and pushed it shut behind her shortly thereafter.
She instantly took the little girl in her arms again. ,, Hush, everything is fine. Itâs alright, âcalmed Y/N/N Hope and then turned to the door. While she held the girl with one hand, she directed the other towards the door. "ApnĂŠ sĂ mene," she casted the room isolation spell, which was supposed to protect her and the child from the rest of the vampires. ,, ApnĂŠ sĂ mene. ApnĂŠ sĂ mene. "
Y/N swallowed at the returning dizziness. The spell had worked, she knew that. If their enemies have no witch on their side, she and Hope would be safe in here. She anxiously blinked several times to drive the blackness out of her sight. That wasnât good, definitely not. This excitement, the fight with the vampire, the loss of blood, now the exertion by this spell. It was too much for her weakened body.
"We sit down, okay ?" Y/N spoke lazily to Hope in her arms, held her tightly and then went down to the floor, leaning lazily with her back against the bathtub. Suddenly she was incredibly tired. There was nothing she could do about it when her hand, which she had pressed on the bite wound on her neck, fell down to her side. She was just glad that she was holding Hope tightly and that she was safe.
Already when Klaus and Elijah saw the main door, which was wide open, they sprinted into the courtyard. About a dozen vampires lay motionless on the cold ground. Someone must have broken their necks. The two brothers could hear fighting noises from the second floor.
,,For God's sake."
Elijah looked at the lifeless vampires at his feet with his eyes wide open before he heard the sounds of the fight.
"Theyâre in Hopeâs nursery," the brunette stated, when his brother had already let out a deep growl and was gone. Elijah quickly followed him, repressing the panic fear that threatened to spread inside him. Nothing should have happened to her.
When Elijah arrived in the door frame, Klaus was already holding the heart of a vampire, whose head was rolling over the wooden floor, in his hand.
"It's great that you finished your Sunday stroll," the blood-soaked blonde said when she saw her two brothers.
,,Whereâs my daughter ?"
,, Y/N fled with her. I donât know where they are."
Elijah's heart skipped a beat and he and his brother exchanged a look before Klaus burst out of the devastated children's room.
"Y/N !" He screamed so that it echoed through the old walls of the building and trudged off, Elijah was close on his heels.
Elijah swallowed hard, looked around in search. She couldn't have run down the stairs to the main portal, that would have been too dangerous. He knew Y/N, knew that she wouldn't do anything that would endanger Hopeâs welfare. No, she must still be in the property, looking for somewhere safe to hide with his niece. And for the first time in his life, he prayed. He prayed that they were alright.
"Y/N !" Klaus called again and was forced by his brother to stop. He glowed at him.
"What is it, Elijah ? ..."
Just when the hybrid wanted to add something, Elijah held up a hand and Klaus fell silent. Now he was listening carefully, too.
A whimper was carried to them quietly, very quietly. Elijah swallowed. It was his niece who made this sound and he closed his eyes for a moment.
,,Here."
Klaus started to move with vampire speed, Elijah followed his brother through the several corridors to the open door of an old guest room.
Perplexed, the brunette stopped in the door frame. The room was completely devastated. The shards of an old vase were scattered all over the floor, the old desk was now just wood splinters and a dead vampire was lying in the middle with a piece of said wood in his heart. There was an unpleasantly penetrating smell of blood in the air and Elijah's heart contracted painfully. He inflated his nostrils. It was her blood, no doubt. He saw the drops of blood that led to the bathroom like breadcrumbs and clenched his hands into fists.
Klaus wasnât in the slightest interested, his thoughts were all about his daughter, whose whimper was dampened by the locked door of the bathroom.
"Y/N ?!" He called and wanted to bang on the door, but barely touching it, he flew across the room and landed between the remains of the desk. "Tell your girlfriend to break her barrier spell," Klaus growled angrily.
Elijah hurried to the door too, but didn't touch it. "Y/N ?" He asked carefully, listening intently. ,,Itâs alright, itâs me."
"Freya !" Niklaus meanwhile called his sister in the background ,whose hasty steps Elijah could already hear.
"Y/N ?" Asked the brunette once again, but he didn't get an answer. His fingernails pierced painfully in the heel of his hand as he continued to clench his hands into fists. If anything had happened to her, she would have been ... He swallowed hard.
"Y/N, I beg you, open the door," he continued to plead and briefly closed his eyes. Something worried him so that he fell silent. Klaus, who misinterpreted his brother's behavior, narrowed his eyes and came up to him, looking at him questioningly.
Suddenly, Elijah's heart pumped his blood through his veins at three times the speed and his chest rose and fell rapidly. No, it couldn't be. Not her, not ...
"I only hear one heartbeat."
Klaus' pushed the pent up air out of his lungs and looked at his brother with wide eyes. He added up one and one. His daughter was crying and alive on the other side of the door, but Y/Nâs blood led the brothers straight to the bathroom. That meant ... He closed his eyes, devotedly.
"Freya !" Elijah for the first time cried. He was desperate. He had no way to get to her as long as the barrier spell was working. He wasnât be able to help her. "Freya !"
"I'm here, I'm here," the blonde hurried into the room.
"I ... I can't hear her heartbeat. She spoke a barrier spell. I have to get to her. "
Freya gave her brother a brief look with wide eyes, but then nodded, carefully pushing him to the side and raising her hands to the door, closing her eyes.
Elijah nervously watched his sister's lips moving, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. His thoughts only revolved around Y/N and this panicked fear of having lost her now. He couldn't think clearly anymore, he could ...
,,Broken."
As soon as Freya had taken a step back, Elijah shot forward, but the door was still locked. He took a few steps back and then threw his entire body weight against the door, whereupon the lock gave way and he stumbled into the room, followed by Niklaus.
When he saw her, he held his breath. Blood kept flowing from the bite on her neck. One of her hands, covered in blood, lay on the floor beside her. She had slid to the side, lay motionless in the corner, but one of her arms were wrapped tightly around little Hope, as if she still wanted to protect her by all means.
Her jaw was swollen and her lip had split open. Her skin was pale and her eyes closed. She didn't move.
I pull you in to feel your heartbeat Can you hear me screaming âPlease donât leave meâ ?
,,No no no no."
Elijah dropped to his knees, while Klaus picked up his daughter and soothingly stroked her head. Meanwhile, Elijah pushed up the sleeve of his shirt, bit his wrist without another thought. His blood quickly flowed out of the wound and ran down his wrist, dripping onto the cold tiled floor.
He carefully lifted a hand and placed it on the back of her head, pressing his wrist against her pale, full lips.
"Please," he pleaded softly and briefly closed his eyes. He could feel his blood running down her throat, but she didn't swallow. "Please don't leave me."
Quietly, very quietly, he heard her blood roaring in her veins and ... a single heartbeat. Elijah suddenly looked up, looked at her. He carefully brushed a y/h/c strand of hair from her face and hopefully looked at her. He watched how the wound on her lip slowly closed. The swelling of her jaw faded and the bite became smaller and smaller with every second until it completely disappeared.
Hold on I still want you Come back I still need you
,,Please..."
He kept stroking his thumb over her cheek, waiting, praying, pleading. But nothing happened. She didn't move. He could hear her quiet heartbeat, but the silence in between them was still too long.
"The vampire blood is working, why doesn't she wake up ?" Freya asked, also concerned, and Klaus gave her a quick look. He comfortingly weighed his daughter in his arms, gave her a kiss on top of her head, but he had a dark guess. He would never admit it, but his heart ached when he saw his brother on the floor, in front of him, the woman he loved. Elijah had his head down, his eyes closed.
Klaus swallowed. "It healed all the injuries it was able to heal."
Elijah slowly opened his eyes when his brother's words came to him. Niklaus was right. Vampire blood did not heal all injuries. If he was actually right, then ...
Elijah's head immediately went up. He got up, wrapped an arm around Y/N's waist and lifted her into his arms. "We have to take her to the hospital."
"I'll get the car," Klaus nodded, handed Hope to his sister, and then left the room with vampire speed.
When Elijah stepped out of the courtyard with Y/N in his arms, Klaus braked the big off-road vehicle in front of the entrance portal, got out and opened the car door to the back seat for his brother so that he could get in with Y/N. No sooner he had closed the door than his brother depressed the accelerator pedal.
A long endless highway, youâre silent beside Drivinâ a nightmare I canât escape from
Elijah held her tightly in her arms. None of this was allowed to happen. It was like an inevitable nightmare from which seemed to be no escape and Elijah wanted to wake up. He wanted it so much.
He didnât hear Niklaus swearing loudly when a small Fiat 500 twitched down the road ahead of them, taking all time in the world, and he did not hear him honking loudly and then overtaking it - to the disapproval of the oncoming traffic.
None of this was allowed to happen yet. The time was not ripe, they hadn't had enough. She was the woman he wanted spend eternity with and now she was going to die ? That was a bad joke. It had to be. Even their enemies couldnât have imagined anything more cruel than the terrible reality did.
Helplessly praying, the light isn't fadin' Hiding the shock and the chill in my bones
He gently stroked a  strand of hair out of her face and examined her face closely. Everything had to be fine. He couldn't lose her, he couldn't.
The two brothers had been flashed at least twice on the way to the hospital, but they didn't care when Klaus braked hard in front of the emergency room and several paramedics looked up in alarm.
Niklaus got out, opened the door to the back seat and Elijah climbed out of the car with Y/N in his arms.
"We need help !" He shouted as loud as he could and some of the paramedics were already hurrying towards them.
"Everything is going to be fine," he whispered softly as he looked down at Y/N, who was still motionless in his arms. The sight made him terrified. He had never seen her so weak, so lifeless, as if the vampire had sucked all life out of her, despite the vampire blood that had healed the most serious injuries.
They took you away on a table I pace back and forth as you lay still
Meanwhile, Elijah hurried straight to the emergency room. Some nurses met him with a table.
"Put her here."
He did as he was told. He carefully her on it and swallowed hard when he saw her lying there. He was caught up in his personal nightmare from which was no escape. His hands had started to shake and he clenched them into fists to stop them. Y/N was immediately surrounded by several nurses and a doctor.
"What happened ?" the doctor asked. That was the question of all questions.
,, She has a serious disease. Dr. Pace is responsible for her,â Elijah just replied. "I found her like this."
They pull you in to feel your heartbeat Can you hear me screaming, "Please don't leave me"
"Weak pulse," another nurse noted. Elijah's eyes suddenly flew to her and the doctor also turned to the nurse. The brunette didn't notice how his brother pulled the doctor to the side. He only had eyes for the woman he loved.
"Listen," Klaus said meanwhile and his pupils dilated when he made eye contact with the doctor. ,, I want you to do everything possible to keep this woman alive. Everything. No matter how much the drugs cost, you give them to her. "
The doctor swallowed and then nodded quickly. âOf course."
Meanwhile, like in a trance, Elijah watched them push Y/N away. He wanted to go after her, but two nurses stopped him. He didn't have the strength to manipulate them, and frankly, he didn't know if it would be that good. Her life was in the hands of the doctors now.
The large double door closed and the corridor in which they had followed the doctor's staff had become quiet. It was dead silent.
He just stared at the door, tried to hear something, but the doors didn't let a single sound pass.
He weakly dropped into one of the hard chairs at the wall, just staring straight ahead at the gray hospital floor. Only now did he notice the blood on his hands - her blood. His hands trembled uncontrollably and he could only stare at them.
Almost startled, he winced when he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder.
"Elijah ?" It was rare for Klaus' voice to sound so careful and gentle, but his brother didn't respond. His mind was a mess that he was no longer able to organize.
"She is strong," the blonde continued and dropped onto the chair next to his brother. ,, Stronger than most people ... and witches. She won't give up without a fight. "
Elijah just nodded absently and Klaus swallowed hard. He felt a sting in his heart when he saw his brother sitting there; like a heap of ashes and only because the woman he loved was in mortal danger. He was almost surprised, when he heard his voice after some minutes of silence.
"I can't lose her, Niklaus," he said in a rough voice and when he looked at his brother for the first time, his eyes were red. ,, Not her. Just ... not her. "
"You wonât lose her," Klaus assured him, but he also knew that he could not promise anything.
Hold on I still want you Come back I still need you
It took full two hours. Two hours during which the entire corridor in front of the intensive care unit had been occupied by the Mikaelson clan.
After walking uneasily up and down the corridor for an hour, Rebekah had persuaded him and he finally sat down on a chair again, holding his head down and supporting it with his hands. Hayley was sitting opposite him with Freya, Klaus was leaning against the wall next to them with his arms crossed and Rebekah had leaned her head back against the wall beside Elijah and was staring at the white concrete wall.
When the door to the intensive care unit opened again that day, everyone present hopefully looked up. And this time, Elijah's heart beat a little faster when he recognized Y/N's doctor, who was now approaching them.
,,How is she ?"
Elijah immediately got up and expectantly looked at her. He still hoped that anything, any luck, could save her. His siblings had also expectantly sat up and listened intently.
Dr. Pace, however, wiped her dry lips and glanced at Elijah's siblings before turning back to him. She was looking for the right words. "She's not stable, but she's in no pain," she started slowly. ,,Mr Mikaelson, I don't want to lie to you. Her vital signs are miserable and her body is very weak. I am afraid that your fiance will not make it ... "
Elijah inhaled sharply, abruptly looked away from the doctor and swallowed hard. There was nothing he could do about the tears that drove into his eyes by themselves and made his field of vision glaze over. He ran a shaky hand over his face. He felt Rebekah's hand dull on his shoulder and heard the doctor's further words as if through cotton wool, but he no longer listened. His heart was squeezed in the most brutal way he could imagine at that moment and all he wanted was to see her. He wanted to be with her.
Until the very end.
Let me take your hand, I'll make it right I swear to love you all my life
,,How do you feel ?"
Y/N studied Elijah for a moment while he sat on the edge of her bed. She made a face at his words. ,,My head hurts."
,, You lost a lot of blood. My blood couldn't heal everything, â he wistfully said and Y/N encouragingly and lightly squeezed his hand. Both ignored where the headache really came from.
She turned a little further in his direction. It seemed her whole body was on fire and with every movement she did she felt like every muscle was torning and every bone was breaking.
Elijah forced a smile, but Y/N could see what was really going on with him; of course she could.
She watched him for a while, watching him keep looking at her two hands and not stopping to run his thumb over the back of her hand.
"Hey," she finally said, forcing herself to smile, even if it hurt her heart. "We knew that it has to end at some point. We have already been given more time than it should have been. â
He swallowed hard at her words. She spoke the truth, but it had never hurt as much as it did at that moment.
She saw it in his eyes, saw it in the way he looked at her and it broke her heart, over and over again, every single second. This broken man had stumbled into her life and had ended with his own centuries before at the same time. Only she had managed to make it back to something worth sacrificing.
,, I have no regrets, Elijah. Just that we didn't make more. "
At that moment it occurred to him. So much had crossed his mind that he hadn't thought about where he was with his brother in the morning before it all started.
With his hand that didnât hold hers, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the little box from the jeweler. He forced himself to smile as he opened it and looked at the silver wedding rings that were inside. The Mikaelsons emblem engraved on them. His eyes wandered between her and the rings. "Thereâs no pastor and this is neither a church, but .."
"It's perfect," she interrupted him, and this time the pressure in her hand was a little stronger.
He smiled at her again, and still struggled to hold back the tears that started to form in his eyes every second. But her smile, her happy smile, made him strong. It gave him strength.
One of her hands vaguely moved to the remote control of the bed, blindly groping for it until she finally found the button that would push the head of the bed a little up so she was sitting upright. Meanwhile, Elijah slid a little further onto the edge of the bed and then took her two hands.
Y/N sniffed once and then smiled again as she started to speak. "I hereby take you, Elijah Mikaelson, wholeheartedly to my husband, accepting your weaknesses and your strengths as you accept mine. I promise to trust you and support you in everything, and always make the happiness of our love and our family my number one priority. I will be your partner in wealth and poverty, in sickness and health, in success and failure and in life and death. I always promise to stand by your side, no matter what life has in store for us. I believe in you, in the person you will be and the couple we would have been together. You are my love, my life, my today and the rest of my life."
At her words, a single tear ran down his cheek. A single tear that represented what could have been and what could have become of them; but they were denied it.
He took a deep breath, looked at their hands, whereupon another tear dripped onto the white bed sheet below. He swallowed, then looked up at her, who was also struggling with tears.
"I hereby take you, Y/N Y/L/N, to my wife from this day on. I promise to love and honor you. I promise to give you my infinite love and affection, to always be sincere, to appreciate you and to share my thoughts, hopes and dreams with you. It is an honor for me to be able to spend the rest of my life with you. I hereby promise to love you. Always and forever."
But now it was Y/N, who had to sniff at his last words. Always and forever. That was what it meant to the Mikaelsons. An always and forever was of the utmost importance to her and she knew that Elijah in particular would do anything to keep that promise. She was part of his family now. She had already been a long time ago.
She gave him a sad, yet so happy smile as she reached with a trembling hand for the ring in the box, Â carefully removed it, and then took his hand to slide it over his finger.
Elijah did the same with her ring, took her dainty hand and pushed the ring down her ring finger.
She happily looked at the piece of jewelry on her finger. This may be the last minutes of her life, but it were also the most beautiful. Nothing could have been nicer for her.
Now, the tears ran down her cheeks and she looked at Elijah, looked deep into his eyes, as he did. In a shaky voice she said: "You may kiss the bride."
Elijah carefully leaned forward, careful not to pull any of the many hoses or cables while she clumsily raised a hand and finally put it on his neck as his lips carefully touched hers.
It almost seemed as if he was afraid that she would break if he touched her and yet, for Y/N, it was the most beautiful kiss out of all. She could feel the love he put in it, the pain, and the salty taste of tears on her tongue. But she didn't care; it had always been what she longed for in life, he had always been the missing piece of the puzzle in her life that she didn't even know she needed. At that moment she had lost everything and had had everything at the same time.
He leaned his forehead against hers, one of his hands on the back of her head supported her a little. She closed his eyes like he did, could feel his hot breath on her face and the tears he was desperately trying to hold back.
,,I love you so much."
A smile formed on her lips and she tried desperately not to scream and break into tears.
,, I love you too, Elijah. Always and forever."
At those words, he kissed her again and her heart contracted painfully. It had long been clear to her that this would be her last moments and with every passing second the pain grew.
,,Do you lie down with me ?"
There was so much hope and despair in her voice that Elijah felt like someone was zealously tearing his heart out of his chest.
The tears on his cheeks were dry, he had made an effort that no more would flee from the corners of his eyes, yet his eyes had a steady, moist shine.
He cleared his throat, swallowed the lump in his throat. He had taken off his jacket some time ago, the tie was right next to it over the back of the chair. He had rolled up the sleeves of the white shirt and opened the first two buttons of it.
Elijah slowly nodded when Y/N gave him a little space and slid aside so that he could lie down with her.
He carefully lifted the tube of the infusion, lay down next to her and immediately felt her seal up to him and put her head and left hand on his chest and listen to his heartbeat.
He closed his eyes for a moment after putting his arms around her and pulling her closer. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and rested his chin on top of her head. He looked at the heart monitor which recorded her steady and now slowing heartbeat, with mixed feelings.
He carefully grabbed one of her ice-cold hands, gripped it tightly with his, and closed his eyes just like she did.
Hold on, I still need you
Y / n woke up to the sound of the rushing waves and the screeching of a few seagulls. She blinked in confusion, turning to her side.
When she opened her eyes, she was blinded for a moment by some sun ray, but found out that she was lying in a very comfortable bed. Slowly, she recognized the outline of the open bedroom and looked through the opened wooden sliding door to the deserted, untouched beach.
She raised her eyebrows in confusion and looked beside her, but the space was empty. She glanced down at herself, found out that she was wearing one of Elijah's dress shirts and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Now, she could hear the soft piano music, which was  very quietly carried to her through the open door.
She barefooted tapped over the wooden floor, gazing at the sea and the waves outside and only following the music.
She smiled when she saw him, stroked the y/h/c hair on one side and tapped to him. She finally wrapped her arms around him from behind and watched his fingers continue to dance elegantly over the black and white piano keys. She kissed his neck and shoulder and briefly closed her eyes until the music stopped. But she knew what this was. And she knew this little, cute hut on the island off Brazil too well.
"You proposed to me here," she stated and slightly smiled at the memory.
"The best weekend of my life."
"And that only happened because we fled from your brother," Y/N laughed quietly, remembering how Klaus had barely given them privacy in the New Orleans estate.
"His ego wasnât too hurt," Elijah replied, pulling Y/N onto his lap so that she leaned back against the piano and could wrap her feet around his waist. She did the same with her arms and his neck. She closely watched the man in her arms and gently ran her index finger down his temple to his jawline.
"I loved it here," she admitted. ,, No one had ever done that for me before. And that just made me love you more. "
Elijah smiled slightly and yet Y/N noticed the dark shadow in his eyes that he was trying to hide from her. But he had never been able to completely hide everything from her.
I don't wanna let go I know I'm not that strong
For a moment, he just closed his eyes and buried his face in the crook of her neck. "I can't do this without you."
Y/N forced a smile and stroked her fingers soothingly through his hair as she felt him take a deep breath. ,, Yes, you will. I know you, Elijah. When you are about to lose your footing, think about how much I love you, whatever you do. "
"Please ... stay."
Y/N devotedly closed her eyes and pressed her lips together in a thin line. She tilted her head back, but couldn't stop the tears. "I can't," she said and her heart contracted painfully at the thought.
Elijah listened to her voice and the sound of the waves. A seagull was screaming a little away from their little hut.
âI should have found a way. It's my fault."
"Hey," Y/N immediately said in a firm voice and leaned back a little to look him straight in the eyes as she grabbed his face with both hands. ,, It's not your fault, Elijah. If you dare to think that, I'm gonna haunt you as a ghost and kick your ass. It's not your fault. Vampire blood doesnât cure all diseases. "
But he shook his head slowly, trying to blink the tears away. "There has to be another way."
"It doesn't exist," she denied, forcing an encouraging smile. âStop doing that. You did everything you could do, okay ? When I got the diagnosis ... it was already over for me - until I met you again. Thanks to you, I have weighed my entire life within a few years. You made it worth living and if it should be over now, then itâs okay. "
She gently stroked an escaped tear from his face and gave him another of her smiles before she finally got up and reached a hand out to him. The piano started to play the melody Elijah played before when she pulled him to his feet.
"Am I gonna get my wedding dance ?" She asked with a happy smile on her lips as she led Elijah a little into the room. He also smiled as he took her hand, pulling her by his waist and pressing her against him. She carefully laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes as they slowly began to move to the delicate piano music. Suddenly, she had become incredibly tired and Elijah had been ignoring the slowing, dull beeping that came from far far away and that only he could hear.
He gave her a gentle kiss on her hairline and led her over the old wooden floor.
I just wanna hear you Saying baby, let's go home Yeah, I just wanna take you home
Slowly, very slowly and lazily, she finally raised her head again and looked at him with tired eyes. Still, she smiled.
,,I love you."
The beeping grew louder. And it slowed down.
Elijah closed her eyes and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead. He gently stroked a strand of hair behind her ear and examined her face closely. Y/N had always loved it when he did that, but now there was a whole different reason: he was afraid to forget her.
He pressed his forehead against hers, closed his eyes. ,,I love you, too."
Y/N smiled happily. ,,Always and forever."
She pulled him down for a last kiss, felt his soft lips against hers, and smiled into it. She could taste the salt of her tears and pressed Elijah tightly against her. She didn't want to go, but she had no choice.
A shrill, continuous beep tore the moment and Elijah's heart at the same time when he realized what it meant. The scenery in the open hut on the beautiful island was gone, faded like fog in the morning sun.
No, no, no, he desperately thought and his eyes widened, the tears now unstoppable. An incredible anger over his inability came over him, but the grief was greater and he didnât want to believe it.
His breath was faltering and frantic, he almost didn't dare to do it when he propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her.
The tears ran down his cheeks. Her eyes were closed, a satisfied, little smile was on her lips and one could almost think she was sleeping. And in a way she did; she had fallen asleep peacefully and happily.
"No," he whispered as one of his tears dripped onto her shoulder, making the fabric darker there. He carefully raised a trembling hand and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. She didn't move.
The other Mikaelsons had also gathered in front of the window to the hospital room. They too had noticed what had happened. They all had tears in their eyes. Tears to see therr brother there and tears because a part of her family had left them.
"No ...", he sobbed and put a hand on her cheek, but it was clear that she would no longer feel it; she wouldn't feel anything anymore.
And then he broke. He could feel his heart shattering and leaping in a thousand pieces, his tears falling down his cheeks in the event of falls, and he carefully lifted her up and buried his face in her chest. He didn't want to let her go, he couldn't let her go. She was gone and something in him refused to accept it.
He sobbed and cried desperately, still smelling the light hint of her perfume as he buried his face deeper in her chest.
She was gone and he was alone now. He was completely alone. He had no one left.
Hold on, I still want you Come back, I still need you
#doms1kchallenge#elijah mikaelson#elijah mikaelson x reader#theoriginals#to#angst#fluff#death#klaus mikaelson#freya mikaelson#challengesubmission
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ggweek 2020: All About Rio
Thanks for tagging me, @gild-and-fireâ -- I never get to talk about Rio unless Iâm denouncing his crunchy jackets!
Tagging @bathroombreaks @bourbon-ontherocks and @magneticflower if you havenât done it yet :)
Why do I personally like or dislike Rio?Â
He was always so light and fun. He turned all the stereotypes inside out since the second he talked about taking Bethâs dog out for a pee, admired backsplashes and got concerned about citrus erosion. There are a thousand reasons I love Rio, but the chief one is that he was the kind of person you just know everyone is drawn towards because they want to be around that energy. If he was on my screen, he was entertaining me, even if it was just because his dumbass doesnât know how to operate a coffee machine, lol.
What are your headcanons about Rioâs and Mickâs relationship? Did they meet through crime? Are they lifelong friends?
To me, ~Demon (lol) always seemed like his right-hand man who would follow him to the ends of the earth and I think Rio trusts him implicitly -- my headcanon is that that isnât because of lifelong friendship but rather because Demon did something (possibly life-threatening!) that proved his loyalty to Rio. I think theyâve probably known each other around 10 years or so and Demon sticks by Rioâs side because he trusts his instincts too and knows he will always do either the most right or smartest thing. Theyâre Best Friends 5Everrrr but would, like, never admit to it even though they are the embodiment of this meme:
![Tumblr media](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e6916733f273064e0516a306238134c5/484070fd0666bac0-5a/s500x750/4fbb6b86fa372dd0332e8e4ac089f7e806bcd615.jpg)
What are Rioâs hobbies outside of work and Marcus? What do you think heâd get up to on a day with absolutely no responsibilities?
Boxing. Beth. LOL.Â
I donât think he has that many hobbies -- I think he loves being around his extended family, having a drink on his own or maybe settling with a book (/a TV show if it manages to lure him in) for a while. Otherwise heâs out there hustling, flipping his game; heâll sleep/hobby when he dies.Â
What do you think Rioâs goals for the future are?
Maybe this is with my Do Not Collect $200 lenses on, but retiring. I think, just like Beth, he initially had a plan with a goal -- whether a position or a number -- for when he would get out. He knows his life and job isnât sustainable and ultimately he wants a good life for his kid and he wants to be there for that life. I also think heâs smart enough to invest what he makes so that eventually he wonât need the money; all heâll have to figure out is how to get out.Â
What do you think Rio is bad at (cooking, dancing, singing, etc.)? How come?
Compromise. Hahahahahahaha. Shopping. Hahahahahahaha. Ok, but seriously now: Who buys 20 of the same sweater in the same colour? Maybe heâs bad at washing so he just throws them out each time? I bet once he turned something pink (from that mahogany shirt of his!) and he was just like fuck it, I can afford a new shirt every day.
Why do you think Rio is drawn to Beth? + Why do you think Rio didnât kill Beth?
Oof. I could write an essay. To cut it short: I think theyâre identical and different in all the right ways. I think heâs different (see answer 1) to the world he inhabits despite being so damn good at it and he sees itâs exactly the same for her. I also think he sees a future in her -- he wants (some part of) that normal life for himself one day. Manny said it best: They want to be each other and they want to be with each other. The implications of that are vast.
What are your headcanons about Rioâs family? Siblings? Parents? Lifestyle growing up?
This is obviously something Iâve had to put some thought into because of all the fics I write. I feel the same as most people seem to that he grew up around a lot of women -- to me that could be up to 3 sisters. Iâd say heâs really close with his mom and the apple of her eye -- both because heâs the only boy and heâs him, yâknow? Who can resist that lil shit-eating grin?Â
I donât know that he has as great of a relationship with his dad, I donât think he was present much. BUT I stand by my crack idea about his dad being a huge crime boss whoâd been incarcerated for most of his life whom Rio then broke out with Boomerâs help, only to be roasted to death for all his decisions. That would entertain me greatly. I also think he could have a brother, but thatâs mainly for selfish reasons because I want Jay Hernandez to play him, hahahaha.
Do you think Rioâs been arrested before Beth got him arrested in 1.10? When, and what for?
Yes, he was way too casual about his arrest in that TV clip, mans had picked out his best outfit and everything. He had the air of someone whoâs been put in cuffs many times but always released soon after. He even told Beth that he sees the FBI as a routine part of his job. The police have probably come after him for petty shit before, hoping to turn him on anyone higher than him on the food chain, but within 48 hours heâs strolling right back out of the station with above-mentioned shit-eating grin.
If Rio werenât a crime boss, what jobs do you think heâd be good at? Why?
Haha, Iâve made so many Accountant Rio jokes in my fics because I do love my Math King, but something that rigid wouldnât really be for him. I think heâd do something thatâs some combination of creative and analytical -- civil or structural engineering, perhaps. Or heâd do something completely creative -- art buyer? photographer? -- with a side hustle in stocks or something. In essence, heâd still be flipping his game and making big money because the man needs a way to fund his addiction to drawers.Â
#ggweek 2020#Rio#NBC Good Girls#also yes Stan will join the bro-ship after they bond about clothing#Demon will be jealous for a few weeks#before he too is seduced by the dimples and kind eyes#nobody can hate Stan these are facts#Stan will also graciously take the backseat in the G-Wagon Gang Uber#but he will keep leaning forward#until Demon is considering relinquishing his prime position#just to get him OUT OF HIS EAR#Stan also hums showtunes#Rio pretends to be V annoyed#but actually it calms him#it drives him mad though#that his Mitchum Huntzberger-type dad#ADORES Stan#because again no one hates Stan das facts#and he's like um can you please make my dad stop hating on my bad jackets#and Stan's like BUT DUDE LOOK AT THE COAT HE BOUGHT YOU#and Demon is endlessly tickled by this#but also would one hundred percent kill Mitchum if Rio gave the word#BFFS 5EVER#ok I'm done in crackfic land hahaha#it would be so interesting if Manny filled out one of these#I'd be fascinated#considering how much of Rio is his creation
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