#most of the time and like to attach themselves to others (dai mostly; dark's just attached to dai) THEY WANT TO!!!

[dnangelic]

but that was good , wasn't it ? over and over again he had wondered if he would be completely alone , or rather , alone with dark forever . the same force that protected him from any bitter cold of loneliness was the same black mantle that seemed to separate him from the world . all he ever wanted was for someone to gently pull it back and to see him without repulsion . for someone like kate , who didn't have a face anymore , was it the same ? wasn't her heart still buried beneath the soot of her form , and wouldn't it have lightened having even just one person to hear its beats and truer thoughts and feelings ? briefly , the niwa imagines taking her into his hands , cupping her cheeks regardless of what black residue might cling to them ; memorizing not just the shape of her silhouette but the very feel of it , if only to try to get closer .

--- and yet , too close . his heart starts to pound at the vision , ( briefly , though the exact words end up lost in his fretting , he's sure he can hear dark's voice as well , ) and exposed for his thoughts if only in overwhelming sensation , he meekly transforms . ' no , i understand ... but , i wouldn't lie to you either . my family , they deal with strange things all the time --- and when something or someone doesn't have a home , they're willing to give them one , or at least let them stay until they find one . ' his voice raises with some urgency . ' --- and i definitely wouldn't leave you alone ! ' the subtle , somewhat visible quirk of her lips and cheeks lifts his spirits too in an instant . kate's words entertaining his offer might not have been an outright promise , but it could have still counted for something like a wish , right ? a reason to work hard and to keep going , to see everything through to the end , for the both of them . daisuke's brief outburst of gusto fast softens : ' taking you away , is it bad if we want to ... ? ' taking itself was only part of anything , and though they were undoubtedly thieves that relentlessly stole and stole , they still refused to ever become kidnappers .

' i'm just ... ' it hurts , again . the stretch of his limbs , the violet set of his bangs as his gaze casts elsewhere , all the way up until dark returns it to kate's smaller , red-and-black figure . ' --- worried . it's no good to willingly leave a little lady in so much danger . ' because that's what this was , wasn't it ? perilous and treacherous , a mansion casting a long and dire gloom worse than its own name . to hear she might have been just as worried for them was its own fret , and yet , after a moment , he only steps forward and smiles --- the confidence in his expression firm and unwavering . to her tremble , he offers up the palm of his hand again , the sharp tips of his teeth in full , neat reveal , grinning .

' ... but , we'll do what we can . a kaitō can always appreciate a good challenge . bringing you out might be one thing , but daisuke and i won't get caught --- never . do you know how many different worlds we've been to ? ' sure , they had the occasional close shave here and there , but the very fact that they could even stand before kate was its own sort of evasive testament . ' it's a phantom thief's rule to always keep a contingency plan . one way or another , there's always a way to escape --- so don't be scared . ' ginger in its greetings , the curl of his finger lifts up her chin towards him , away from the clutched hem of her dress . ' you have nothing to worry over when it comes to us . we promise . '

hers was a worthy ambition , and one that made his heart stir . even if the circumstances seemed daunting , wasn't it just a little exciting , too ? he only echoes kate's query in his thoughts : ( do you still really want to ? ) and somewhere from the hollows rings out his other self's voice , strong and true . ( --- yeah , i do . )

risking their lives had become just about ordinary , but how often did they get to do it for the sake of something like this ? ' ... the phantom thieves and their family are at your service , kate . ' he purrs and hums , immensely comfortable in the vow . ' --- use us well , won't you ? '

ㅤㅤIT was easy to tell that Daisuke was only attempting to console her after having revealed a painful truth but it was admittedly a bit comforting to have someone who could understand where she was coming from. They were both humans, forced to live with a curse that changed the course of their lives. " ... We're more similar than I imagined. I wonder if that's the reason why I'm able to tell you all these things so easily. "

ㅤㅤIt was freeing, not having to worry about who she could trust or what secrets she could unveil in fear that she would be discovered but she supposed that was the privilege of Daisuke being an outsider; their secrets were solely between them.

ㅤㅤ" You'd be surprised at how humans can react to strange things but ... I suppose it'd be different if you were accompanying me. I'd be willing to consider it once all of this over. " A soft smile quirked her lips. " ... Now that I think about it, there's suddenly a lot places I want to see now. It feels a bit dangerous to look forward to the future this much but ... it's not a bad feeling." Ah, she really ought to get them to meet Emilico at some point. They had a similar kind of reckless optimism that would surely agree with one another. " ... Are you offering to take me away from here if I'm ever in trouble ? " There was something familiar about his words, rather it reminded Kate of the first time she even met Dark but his desire to help made her resolve waver. She let herself be pulled away from the idyllic dreamscape and into the dreary reality that brought her nothing but unease. She exhaled a soft sigh in relief when she was finally transported back into her room, but it wouldn't be long before a familiar anxiety came to creep up on her, fully pulling Kate back into her everyday facade. She was Kate Shadows, playing the role of an upstanding noble in the Shadows House ... a place void of any true happiness and freedom, only the promise of a false paradise.

ㅤㅤBut ... even in a place like this, Daisuke's words cracked through the darkness of her world, offering a fragment of hope to light the way amidst the coming despair. Although Kate was determined to never give up, there were countless times she nearly found herself being overcome with hopelessness. She only made it this far because of the friends she's made along the way but even then, they were still at risk of falling into the darkness of the Shadows House but these two ... they were different. They couldn't be as easily influenced by the oppression of the manor and they possessed abilities that no shadow could ever dream to have.

ㅤㅤThat's why she was all the more hesitant.

ㅤㅤThe more she spoke with them, the less she wished to involve them in this mess when they already had their own troubles to deal with. Even if logic dictated to accept them as allies, there was still a part of her that worried what would happen if they did end up being exposed to danger. Daisuke was still human after all so even he wasn't entirely immune to the Shadows House's methods of forcing a human to obey.

ㅤㅤ" ... Kate -- " She paused, her lips pursing into a tight line before continuing. " ... I don't want to involve either of you in this. " She admitted softly, lowering her head as soot gently rose above her. " I'm worried about the thought of putting you two in danger. What if something irreparable happens and you can never return to your family ? Even if you are a phantom thief, there's no telling what the other shadows are capable of -- even I wouldn't be able to know what to tell you. " She trembled, gripping at the hem of her dress. " I can't leave here until I reclaim the Mirrors House and free the children of their suffering so that's why, I want you to at least know that you could possibly be putting your entire lives at stake here. Even knowing that ... do you still truly want to help me ? "

[alchely]

My Top Gallavich fics

So, under the advice of the lovely @iangallagherisadeadman I've decided to compile a favorites Gallavich fic list along with a brief rec of each, this won't be a strict top 10 cause I'm not gonna torture myself into excluding some of these stories on some made-up self imposed arbitrary rules.

A bunch of disclaimers: most of these fics are long fics, going from 30k words up, I'm not purposefully excluding shorter fics, I have read plenty of them, but they do have a harder time sticking in my head months after reading.

Most of these fics will be explicit, just read the tags on the fic itself if you want to find out more.

Some of these fics don't have links because the authors chose to lock them and as such make them unlinkable, in order to read them you will need to go through the author's page while you're logged in your AO3 account.

This ended up ballooning out of control and is A LOT longer than ten fics, I apologize in advance :p.

YOU'LL NEVER SEE US AGAIN – spoonfulstar - 231k words

Mickey and Ian have been students at Marceline boarding school their whole lives, as their time at the institute draws toward the end they will start to discover many things, about themselves, about each other and about the world they live in.

THIS FIC! I CRIED! The number of fanfiction that are able to make me cry can be counted on a singular hand, the emotional stakes get higher and higher as the story goes on, leading to a beautiful and bittersweet climax.

This story will make you think and feel deeply about topics you'd never think a shameless fic would delve into.

I am obsessed with Mickey in this fic, he and Ian grow up in an environment that could not be more removed from South Side Chicago and yet his personality is still so recognizably and distinctly Mickey.

The story goes very dark at times, and the fic itself could be considered lengthy, but I assure you the author has made sure to not make you feel it. Those 200k words flowed so well the story did not feel long at all.

HELP ME (TEAR DOWN MY REASON) – wehangout - 34k words

Mickey is a detective and Ian becomes a suspect in an investigation except Mickey already knows him because he's his favorite dancer.

This fic falls under the umbrella of fics where “Mickey is so in love with Ian he does something unbelievably crazy”.

Oooh boy, this fic, it's written in second person (yes you've read that right), tbh out of all fics I've read from this author I think this one was the easiest to adjust mentally to the change in perspective.

I loved Mickey’s “love” in this, just… This raw connection to Ian, the perfect cocktail of feelings, I could read that all day long.

IN ANOTHER WORLD – Roryonic - 249k words

Mickey does not get sent to prison at the end of S5, what happens after and how his presence influences future events (mostly Ian, but also every other Gallagher as well as his own family).

As far as I'm concerned this fic is the closest to a perfect S6 and beyond fix-it. The dialogue writing in this story is so close to canon Shameless that I could picture entire scenes in my head with the actors playing the characters, with their body and personality quirks.

Sometimes I find myself describing this fic like it's the actual show's deleted scenes, “Look, Mickey has his own storyline! And Mandy is here! And the existence of Yevgeni does not become a plot hole!”

There are some Mickey lines in this fic that to me are as canon as if they'd been in the show. Absolutely iconic writing.

I love this author so here's a rec of some of their other longfics, however I highly suggest a lot of their other much shorter stuff as well:

BATTLESHIPS AND LOVE BOATS: Ian and Mickey start their “no strings attached” kind of sex relationship a little later than canon but their attraction and love is just as strong. This is a sort of High School AU that turns into a Prison AU that turns into something else and every shift is just as lovely as the next.

YOU SMELL LIKE LOVE: Ian and Mickey are childhood friends, to the point that the rest of the Gallaghers might as well consider Mickey a seventh brother, mmmh, I sure wonder how things will start to change. Look, I never thought I'd love a childhood friends AU for Gallavich yet here I am, if it's good it's good.

ME AND THE DEVIL: Mickey unconsciously calls for a vengeance demon and Ian Gallagher shows up at his door, because Mickey is a stubborn dumbass they fall in love instead. This story has a lot of twists and turns and the premise is only the very beginning of the story. I LOVED it!

THE INCREASINGLY POOR DECISIONS OF IAN GALLAGHER – Shamelessquestions - 309k words

Ian is a dancer in a club, he accidentally gets involved in the affair of a dangerous mafia don, but the true danger is the attraction he and the mafioso’s right hand Mickey feel for each other as soon as they meet.

What. A. Classic. Truly, an unforgettable story, and I don't mean this in hyperbole, I read this story around… 2016/2017 during my second round in the Shameless fandom, then I read countless other fics in a lot of other fandom and yet this story was the only one that my mind retained from back then, to the point that I could still remember some of the finer details as well as the final plot twists when I came back to reread it.

The plot is constructed beautifully and the original characters (part of the Shamelessquestions fanfiction universe, as they come back time and time again in every one of their AU to fulfill their role in the story) are just as vibrant.

What a story, truly.

Favorite original character in this AU: Sal, his downfall is so satisfying and yet so pitiful to read.

TEENAGERS SCARE THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF ME – Mellow_Yellow - 221k words

Ian finds something scary and calls Mickey for help, even though they had only reconnected that very day after two years of not seeing each other. Together, they get sucked into a situation they weren't at all prepared for. Can they even admit that they're in over their head?

The very beginning of this fic is SO cinematic it grabbed my interest from the very first scene and didn't let go until the end, DO NOT search for spoilers.

The only warning I'll give is that it does deal with a bit of gore and what I'm personally gonna define as slight psychological horror. That's it. Enjoy!

BROKE STRAIGHT BOYS – dancermk - 66k words

Mickey becomes a porn actor for a site where he has to pretend he's straight and not enjoying the copious amount of gay sex he's having on camera, enter Ian, another actor under the same agency and their off the chart physical chemistry.

This story has, needless to say, some really, really good smut. I especially loved their first time together, but every sex scene in this story is seared in my mind.

ETHERIZED AGAINST THE SKY – Snarfle - 213k words

So, I debated whether I should add this fic or not, but I think if there is one fic that will stay in my mind long after this Shameless binge of the past couple of months it's this one, and it should absolutely become one of those fic that everyone in the fandom should read.

After Mickey gets shot by Kash his life takes a completely different direction and he ends up in a group home where, through many difficult times, he turns his life around.

So many iconic moments in this fic, some funny as fuck, some sad, some so absurd that I'm surprised they weren't lifted straight from Shameless, one so gruesome in the very first chapter that I was surprised to have such a visceral feeling from just words on a screen. Yeah, this story will stay with me for a long time.

OLD RULES FOR NEW SIDE PIECES – Shamelessquestions - 217k words

Ian is a Fed and he spots Mickey looking suspicious in an art museum, the mutual attraction is overwhelming, Mickey is not what he seems and Ian is already with someone else, but that's not gonna stop him from pursuing what he and Mickey have.

Putting it as bluntly as I can, this fic made me face the realization that I love cheating fics (if the cheating happens to someone else to bring together the endgame couple). I have already reread this fic twice and I could probably go for another one and not get tired of it, it's that good, and out of all this author's fics it's probably my favorite.

Favorite original characters in this AU: It's a three way tie between Dre, Ivan and Carrie, they're all very captivating in this story.

Other fic from this author I'd recommend cause I really love their style:

LOST IN TRANSLATION: Ian meets a very attractive man while he's in Ukraine who doesn't speak English, a mere language barrier won't stop him from flirting for hours. (adorable)

YOU MAKE ME FEEL HUMAN – Dragona - 66k words

Ian is an assassin, he meets Mickey and thus begins a very sick love story.

To say I'm obsessed with this fic is an understatement, I suggest to everyone to just go read the original author’s own description of the fic, it sets the tone of the story magnificently.

This is an Ian Gallagher that almost resembles Jerome (also played by Cameron in Gotham) but like… a slightly more subdued and saner S1/S2 version of him. I love the layers that get peeled right in front of my eyes, the madness that creeps in a bit more every chapter. I LOVE this story.

DRIED INK - 87k words

This fic combines my two favorite Gallavich-specific tropes, one being ‘Mickey comes back from prison after s6, Ian is with someone else’ and ‘Ian cheats on that someone else for Mickey’

I love the Gallaghers in this and how unsurprised they are at Ian going back to Mickey right away. It's a little jewel of a fic.

Mickey tries SO hard to stop himself and Ian in this but their love is too magnetic, they're irresistible to each other.

THE QUESTION OF NORMAL – blue_newman - 92k words

Ian is a prison counselor, Mickey is in prison, they fall in love and it's beautiful and Ian is incredibly devoted to Mickey in this fic and I fell in love with them both in this.

KINDA RAW – catgrassplantdad - 6k

Quite simply this is my favorite short pwp fic.

Illustrating those “five times” in one night that Mickey references in 11x01.

This fic is so hot, I love it <3

QUATERVOIS – DodgerBear - 51k words

Soldier Mickey gets stationed in the middle of nowhere and meets a farmer called Ian who makes him question everything.

Falling under the same umbrella of “Mickey does something crazy for Ian” fics and this is why it stuck in my mind even if it's been a while since I've read it.

I LOVE this story, their dialogues and everything that happens in it. The setting is lovely and you will fall in love with the description of Ian’s farm.

Other fic by the same author that I also loved:

BURDEN OF PROOF: Cop Mickey gets caught in a legal battle between the two oldest Gallagher brothers, something doesn't feel right though…

THE WORDS HE DOESN'T SAY: Mickey is released before Ian in s10 and has to meet a court-mandated therapist. The story is from the therapist POV and goes AU from the beginning of s10 in that Mickey gets involved back into Yev and Svetlana’s life, the dialogue is, quite obviously, the main attraction of the story and it's really well done. (Also, written in first person).

THE MENAGERIE – CrossMyDNA - 147k words

Ian decides to re-explore his bdsm preferences at The Menagerie where he meets sub extraordinaire Mickey on his very first visit.

Shameless is undoubtedly the fandom that opened my eyes to what bdsm could be back in… approx 2016? When that other popular bdsm fic was still around *ahem*.

So it definitely feels like a sign that coming back into the fandom this fic now exists and is SO GOOD.

Obviously it's very explicit, the smut in this fic is one of the best I've ever read.

The chemistry between Ian and Mickey sizzles off the screen and can absolutely be felt even in moments not of the nsfw variety, absolutely recommended!

MICKEY MILKOVICH’S GUIDE TO FLIRTING – whatwouldmickeydo - 40k words

An s2 “missing moments” between Gallavich, completely canon compliant, all under the pretense that Mickey is following a step by step guide to flirting.

I wish this fic was describing canon moments, not kidding a single bit, I wish I could somehow magically manifest these scenes into existence they're that good and fit that well into canon.

M8TE – gallawitch - 53k words

Omegaverse fic where Ian and Mickey both start using an app and end up matching with each other, even though a connection is made almost instinctively, coming to terms with it with a sound mind will take a bit longer…

Hey,had to have at least one of these on here lol

I love omegaverse and this was everything I wanted from it, couldn't have asked for anything better really <3.

SHACKLED – MyRelapse - 19k words

Ian has a change of heart and he decides that Mickey IS the one he wants, even if he's still in prison, so he keeps in contact and goes through every hoop imaginable to have him back as soon as possible.

Reading this made me so happy like I could burst, love it.

WAITING ON MY OWN TOO LONG – Ride4812 - 266k words

This rec more than any other on this list is what I'm gonna consider self indulgent because it covers the trope I always craved to read in such a satisfying way: Canon AU where Mickey comes back from prison after 8 years, Ian has found someone else but the moment the two meet again they fall back into each other right away.

The series is made up of 4 smaller fics:

One more night

Something more this time

No more lonely nights

Ain't this life so sweet

(I will point out here and nowhere else that the last installment of this series has some segment that probably needed to be re-read a couple more times, but by that point I was too invested, and the quality fluctuates a lot only in certain parts)

The writing style is very direct and to the point, which I love, the smut is very present and written beautifully and most importantly never boring.

Ian is a MESS in this fic and had me Stressed™, mostly cause for some reason I can't handle too much casual depiction of drug abuse and addiction (I know, ironic considering the fandom).

Conflicts and resolutions are never clean cut, they don't necessarily resolve quickly or definitely or the way you probably imagine they should and I find this level of realism very satisfying.

Taking a bit of space here at the end to also rec a couple other Ride4812 fics that I also loved:

COUP DE FOUDRE - A model/photographer AU where Ian and Mickey fall in love the instant they meet and do some crazy things because of that.

HOPE HE MIGHT - A lawyer AU where Ian and Mickey are on opposing sides for the same client, an interesting murder mystery steeped in a religious cult.

Generally I feel like this author is really good at depicting just how unapproachable Mickey can be to anyone that isn't called Ian Gallagher and I eat it up every time.

WHAT THE NIGHT DOES TO THE DAY – andchaos - 9k words

A Gallavich childhood friends AU with a quite original arrangement for the story and the various segments of their lives. Very satisfying read.

RANSOM – BeckyHarvey29 - 112k words

Terry sends his sons to kidnap a Gallagher child to force Frank into paying back the money he owes, unfortunately for him Mickey and his brothers kidnap Ian, and a whole other kind of story unfolds.

Mickey and Ian falling in love in this fic is such a good read. I don't wanna spoil anything of how that or the kidnapping plot goes, since the two are so intertwined. Just know that it will be worth it.

UNDER LOCK AND KEY – Suzy_Queue - 106k words

Ian is assigned the night shift at his new job where he provides spare keys to his fellow college students stuck outside their dorm rooms. To make matters worse his shift coworker is the oh so infamous Mickey Milkovich.

I am magnetized by the way this author writes their pining for each other, their attraction and obsession, how it blooms and unfolds. This fic in particular had me develop a very bad case of tunnel vision, couldn't really turn away until I finished reading it all.

I still haven't read everything this author has to offer, but so far I also loved:

INHUMAN: A mysterious force starts attacking people close to Mickey and it all seems to lead to a mysterious redhead Mickey is oh so coincidentally obsessed with. Very cool paranormal story.

THESE FOOLISH GAMES: Mickey takes over as the boss of the local branch of a trampoline park, where Ian is one of the employees, they annoy each other to no end but what they don't know is that they're secretly texting each other.

IS THERE SOMEWHERE – andchaos - 48k words

Mickey is born with no words on his skin, convinced he's going to live a life of misery cause no one will ever say the words he's destined to hear, he's not a very happy guy. Here comes mute boy Ian who crashes into his life and won't let go.

A classic Soulmate AU, I love that like in a lot of other Gallavich fics their physical connection and compatibility usually comes before their emotional one, it is one aspect that I feel distinguishes their relationship to many other fandom’s ships.

LAST NIGHT AT THE VERONA GRAND HOTEL – the_rat_wins - 27k words

Mickey starts working at an ancient hotel who's supposedly haunted. Mickey doesn't believe in ghost stories, he is much more interested in this one guest he meets at night during his shift.

What a cinematic experience this fic is! Absolutely recommended, the length of it makes it so you can read it in the same time it would take to watch the same story in movie format.

Other fics by the same authors that have impressed me:

FADE THIS ONE TO BLACK: Ian dies of overdose in a pile of snow outside the club, when Mickey finds him there he vows to do anything to get him back.

I don't know why but this fic in particular gives off the vibes of being a pilot for a ya urban fantasy TV series, except we gotta imagine everything that comes after the first episode lol

NO LIE: Ian and Mickey are Soulmates and as such they can't lie to each other. This series is short and sweet and full of feelings, perfect

PARAGRAPHS – pink_ink - 100k words

Ian becomes a reading tutor for ex-convicts, Mickey is among them and Ian starts paying him more and more attention.

This is a story where they meet under very different circumstances and where they've lived slightly different lives compared to canon and yet they're still able to find each other in the end.

Also, sign me up for every fic where Ian has to work just as hard to help Mickey and care for him as the opposite, where Ian's brand of stubbornness is the only way to get through to Mickey.

I'm also adding a couple of ongoing fics, just two to not overwhelm too much.

NONE THE WISER – Loftec - ~218k words

Ian starts visiting Mickey’s diner, it takes a while and yet no time at all to warm up to each other.

I'm captivated by the author's writing style. I love Ian's and Mickey’s relationship. I love how they sort of take their time and yet pine helplessly for each other.

I'm obsessed with the fact that the whole point of the fic doesn't appear until two thirds of the way in cause the diner scenes were just too good to pass up on lol (and I 100% agree with them).

INTRO TO QUANTUM DATING – spoonfulstar - ~563k words

Canon Mickey and Ian meet in University. A college slice of life but drenched in the casual (and not so casual) darkness of canon shameless.

The dark humor in this is fenomenal and left me gasping laughing so many times.

Unexpectedly Ian in this fic is pursuing a linguistics oriented degree, which was what I studied when I tried university, the topics are explained in such an accurate way I have to assume the author studied them themselves and that this story is somewhat a reimagining of their own college experience because if not this would be an absurd amount of accurate research to make.

Reading this fic feels like living through the American college experience from the comfort of my home lol.

As I said before, this author's way of writing does not weight you down even with its length, the story flows perfectly from one scene to the next and before you realize it you've reached the end and you have to accept that 500k words weren't even enough.

Let's end this list with some quick recommendations

WHILE WE'RE MAKING OTHER (PEOPLE'S) PLANS - kyasticlikestea

Mickey is volunteered to organize someone's else's wedding after he managed to salvage his own so well, he'll do it, but his own Southside way.

THIS IS THE ROAD TO RUIN - bricoleur10

Ian and Mickey never go to rob Ned, the story unfolds differently from there. A fix-it with a lot of Gallavich longing , very good smut and some really good dialogue.

HEY, HONEY MINE (I WAS THERE ALL THE TIME) - serveteas

Mickey talks about his crush with Iggy and accidentally pronoun-slips. Short, to the point, funny af and I just really love it. Takes place after their fight at Kash’n Grab in s2.

AGAINST GLASS - AllThatMatters

Ian gets traded from one club to another as a dancer (and more) and ends up in the Milkovich family's club. This is a Mafia!Mickey story with some pretty tight sub-plots, I love his brothers in this.

ONE OF A KIND - fckyeahgallavich

Mickey breaks his finger and it has to be set in the hospital, chaos - of the homophobic kind - ensues. Protective!Ian, I wanna hug Mickey in this.

IAN THE FRIENDLY GHOST - Ravenheart

Ian is haunting an apartment and Mickey starts living in it, Ian is maybe starting to have a crush on him. This isn't angsty!

BLOOD IN, BLEED OUT - brewrosemilk, Whatsastory

Historical AU. Perfectly innocent bystander Ian Gallagher is thrown into the affairs of the Ukrainian Mafia back in 1954, his relationship with Mickey will span decades and he won't remain innocent for long, the mafia can corrupt anyone.

TEENAGE RUNAWAY - sadwhales

Ian comes to live and finish high school with his half siblings on the South Side, he's immediately captivated by a boy sitting under the bleachers, maybe his North Side naivety will catch his attention too.

GARDEN SONG - melwrtiesthings

A glimpse into their lives in their West Side apartment, a lot of initial angst due to a manic episode and then a lot of recovery and healing and learning more about themselves.

[kristannafever]

Big Sky Ranch

Kristanna Modern AU Rated: M WC: 1829

In the foothills off of the Rocky Mountains, resides a generational Ranch known to all in the area. Kristoff, a humble hand on that ranch, works hard and enjoys his simple existence. It isn't until a new woman starts at the diner that be begins to acknowledge his loneliness and plans to ask her on a date. When his plans are foiled by a rival group of men, it sets events into motion that plunge Anna and Kristoff into getting to know each other through some very unexpected situations and their relationship blossoms as their lives begin to change.

--------------------

A/N: This had been my passion project for over a year, and is the most self-indulgent thing I have ever written. It is inspired by the ranch setting of Yellowstone and the rural area in which I live.

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Anna had only been working as a waitress at the diner for a week, and she was quickly learning what the biggest perk of the job was. 

It was the cowboys.

She’d moved to the small town only a month prior, desperate to get as far away from the city where her sleazy ex-fiancé was.  It was the fresh start she needed after wallowing about that cheating asshole for months.  Truly dark times they had been.

After finding a basement suite to rent since she wasn’t sure how long she would be there before she moved on again, she got the job at the diner, and was truly starting to enjoy life again.  And that was in large part due to the clientele. 

The town was surrounded by ranchlands.  Large farms spread out in all directions, and the roads were ruled by pick-up trucks and farm equipment.  Many times, Anna had gone for a drive to clear her head and she’d come upon some large tractor-thing, and she’d have to squeeze around the slow-moving vehicle in the wrong lane, or wait until it pulled into a pasture.  Even so, she never minded too much, because she enjoyed the drives and admiring the lovely scenery against the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains.

And every day, rain or shine, groups of men came in for breakfast or lunch.  Most of them in the full cowboy outfit; cowboy boots, jeans, roper or plaid shirts, and cowboy hats.  And no matter the size or shape of them, they were all ruggedly handsome in their own ways.

And decent!  Anna had never met so many decent men.  They were all extremely polite and respectful.  They held doors and said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘ma’am’, and they always tipped generously even if they only had a cup of coffee and a piece of pie. 

Anna truly did love her job, even if was a lot harder work than sitting behind a desk all day like she’d been doing when she worked at that insurance company with her ex. 

That asshole could rot in hell.

Now Anna had her eyes open for a cowboy.  A lot of them didn’t wear any wedding rings, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t married.  She’d asked one of the other waitresses and was told they don’t wear them for safety, not wanting them to get caught in ropes or machinery.  And the ones that did wear them, wore those new rubber ones that could break if they got caught in something.   It made perfect sense to Anna.  Although it certainly made it harder to tell who was and wasn’t attached. 

Which was why for the time being she just had her eyes open.  She never outwardly hit on any of them for fear of hitting on a taken man.  She just hoped that one day, one of them might just ask her out.  And until then, she would more than happily take in all the eye candy.

*****

Kristoff yawned as he got out of his truck and stretched out his tired back.  Him and Sven got up extra early and treated themselves to breakfast whenever they could, and right now they had a short break before calving season when their days were a little less long.

The air was still chilly with the last of winter’s tenuous hold, and their breath came out in white vapors as they walked through the parking lot.  At least the snow was mostly all gone, and while that meant that him and Sven’s work load was going to ramp up, it was hard to argue with the sun shining bright after six brutally long months of snow-covered ground.

As soon as they stepped into the diner, Sven gave him a nudge with his elbow.

“New girl,” he said under his breath, and flicked his head in her direction as they walked to a booth along the front windows. 

Kristoff glanced her direction then turned to Sven and gave him a hard stare.  Ever since he got engaged, Sven had been trying mercilessly to set Kristoff up with someone and it was starting to get on his nerves.  The girl was really cute, sure, he just wasn’t interested.  He was too damn set in his ways to be interested.

They sat in their favourite booth, took off their cowboy hats, and set them on the seat beside themselves.  Kristoff ran a hand through his hair a few times, shaking out the hat line, and the new waitress came over straight away and set menus on the table. 

“Morning, gentlemen.”  She smiled brightly.  “What can I start you out with today?”

“Coffee, black, and a water,” Kristoff said.

“Same here,” Sven said, “please.”

“Coming right up.”  She gave them another bright smile and walked away. 

“City girl,” Sven mused.

“Yup.”  He’d heard her accent too.

“She don’t have a ring.”

“Sven-”

“Come on, man.  You livin’ like that ain’t healthy.  All alone in that cabin.  You should move back to one of the main houses.”

“You know I don’t like being around people too much.”

“You like being around me.”

“Yeah, well, you’re the one exception and you know that too.”

“You could make another exception,” Sven flicked his head to the counter where she was pouring them coffee, “for her.”

“If you don’t cut this out, I’m gonna strap you to that nasty old bull out in the east pastures.”

“Ole’ Bruce?”  Sven laughed.  “That bull don’t got any fight left in him.”

“I beg to differ,” Kristoff stated.  It was only a month ago that mean old brute had him scrambling for the fences when he charged Kristoff.  And of course, no one had been around to see it and they all told him he was making shit up.  That bull had it out for him, Kristoff knew it.

The waitress came back with the drinks and they ordered their usual; the cowboy breakfast.  It came with two eggs, three strips of bacon, a pair of sausages, hash browns, beans and two slices of toast.  Both him and Sven would eat it all and be starving by noon. 

They ate quickly and Kristoff pulled his wallet out of his back pocket since it was his turn to pay.  The waitress came back with the bill and a card machine which Kristoff waived off because he always paid with cash.  He gave her a pretty nice tip since she’d kept their water and coffee cups full.  He hated it when he was halfway through his meal and he had nothing to drink because the cups weren’t topped off. 

On the way out, when Sven wasn’t looking, Kristoff glanced in the waitress’s direction.  She had her copper hair in braids, and actually, was very attractive.  He always had been a sucker for freckles.  If he was interested in a relationship, he might ask her out, but he was more than content not having to deal with what came in having that sort of thing.

*****

Anna watched the pair of cowboy’s head back to their big dually in the parking lot.  They’d been the best-looking ones yet.  Especially that blond with the big nose and the pretty brown eyes.  He was very handsome.  And built!  The guy’s biceps were giving that roper shirt a serious quality control test.  She felt a little flustered to suddenly think about what being with a man like that would be like.  Her ex had been on the skinnier side and nowhere near as tall.  Not to mention never really left her satisfied.  She had a feeling that the handsome blond cowboy sure wouldn’t disappoint. 

He didn’t really say much, he left her a very nice tip, and he did say thank you when she dropped off their breakfast, even if he didn’t say please when he ordered it.  Anna hoped she’d see him again soon and found herself hoping that he was single and looking.

~   ~   ~   ~   ~

Sven suggested breakfast again the next morning and Kristoff damn well knew why.  Still, it was hard to argue against a big brekky that he didn’t have to make himself.   They drove to the diner and sure enough, the attractive waitress was working.

They sat in the same booth and she came over a moment later with coffees and waters.  It impressed him a little that they didn’t have to order, even if was presumptuous of her. 

“Same as yesterday, gentlemen?” she asked, after she’d set their drinks on the table.

“You bet,” Sven answered.

“And are we sticking with sunny-side up eggs and rye toast?”  Both men nodded.  “Perfect.  I’ll have that right out to you.”

Kristoff found himself watching her walk away.  She sure had a nice smile.  Very friendly.  Good for getting better tips for sure.   And those eyes were something else.

“You should ask her out,” Sven persisted in a hushed voice.

He turned to Sven and scowled.  “No.”

“Why not?”

Kristoff shrugged and couldn’t really come up with a good answer. 

Sven heaved a big sigh.  “You know what, I give up.  You’re hopeless.”

Kristoff sneered.  “Like you pointed out, she’s a city girl.  Only one way a relationship with her is gonna end up, and that’s me being dumped after a week.”

“Maybe if you would just try-”

“That’s enough,” he said, very serious.  “I’m not in the mood.”

Sven scoffed.  “Fine, whatever.”

Kristoff looked down at his hands and started to dig some dirt out from under his thumbnail.  Sven had no idea what he was talking about.  Kristoff had always tried.  He did his best, even though he was pretty damn clueless about romance.  Which seemed to be why none of the ladies he’d gone out with stuck around long.  He did try, and it was never enough.  It had left him jaded about dating. 

Their meals came out quickly and they ate even quicker to get a head start on their day.  It was going to be another long one, meaning come Friday night, both of them would be more than eager to blow off some steam at the saloon. 

*****

Anna gathered up the tip the other cowboy had left on the table.  It was still very decent even if he wasn’t as generous as the blond.  Neither of the men seemed like they were looking for a date, so Anna gave up on thinking that either of them were single.  Like most of them, they were probably taken, leaving Anna wondered what she had to do to bag herself a cowboy.

Another waitress had been talking about going to a saloon by the highway at the edge of town on Friday evening for some dancing and asked Anna if she wanted to tag along too.  She accepted, giddy at the chance that perhaps she might have her opportunity there to get herself a date, even if she was warned that the crowd could get pretty rowdy. 

--

Next Chapter

[unclewaynemunson]

Read from the beginning | Read on ao3

Eddie finally manages to let it go. Truly, he does. Whenever he and Karen Wheeler accidentally cross paths, he doesn't stare at her, follow her, or try to strike up a conversation with her; he doesn't do any of that inappropriate shit anymore. He keeps his distance, gives her no more attention than a polite nod in passing. He keeps wondering, sometimes, if she knows who he is – but he mostly manages to shove that thought to the far back of his mind, where it belongs.

When Nancy starts dating Grade A Douchebag Steve Harrington, he suppresses the hell out of any lingering Concerned Big Brother feelings and he doesn't spare the two of them a second glance whenever he walks past them in the Hawkins High hallways. And even when Barbara Holland goes missing, he doesn't fantasize about being a hero or a shoulder to cry on for this girl who has no attachment to him in any way. In another life, he'd be the one comforting her or helping her look for her best friend. But in this life, he's just some guy who has nothing to do with her business.

He does think it's odd that both of the Wheelers' best friends have gone missing within a few days of each other; but hey, what does he know? It's not his business, so he stays out of it. He stays far away from Will Byers' funeral and doesn't think about this other life, the life in which he'd help little Mike put on a suit and dry his tears. He merely lets out a relieved breath when he sees the two boys reunited about a month later, both giggling about some private joke with matching innocent smiles on their faces.

He doesn't fantasize about punching Steve Harrington in the face when the douchebag drags Nancy's name through the mud on the front of the Hawk and he doesn't reach out to her when she seems to grow smaller and paler over the course of the months that follow with still no news about Barbara. He doesn't even talk to her after the news breaks that Barbara is dead. He knows his place. He has learned to keep his distance.

Which is why he's taken by utter surprise when someone knocks on the door of the trailer one night and he's suddenly face-to-face with none other than Nancy Wheeler.

She doesn't exactly look like the little miss perfect he's come to know from the glimpses he caught of her over the years at school or in town. She looks... Well, she looks distressed, that's probably the best word for it. Her resemblance to Eddie has grown over the years, especially since she started sporting curls and her girlish features made way for something more grown-up. She looks like the loss of her best friend has forced her to mature quicker than she would've if her life was still the picture-perfect suburban dream it should've been. It suddenly strikes Eddie, when he looks into her eyes for the first time in years, how much more similar they've become exactly. They're not as different anymore as they once were. They both know more grief than most of their classmates. They're both haunted, in a way. They've both been forced to grow up when they weren't quite ready for it yet.

'Wheeler,' he says, keeping his voice as distant and careless as he can, complemented with an indifferent nod to make the whole thing as convincing as possible.

'Can I come in?' Nancy asks him.

He's got to say he's surprised. It's not an uncommon thing to have people knocking on his door at odd hours, shielded by the dark and with varying levels of desperation in their eyes while they ask Eddie for whatever it is they need to calm themselves down from whatever demons they've got going on. But it's not exactly something he was expecting from Nancy Wheeler, even though he supposes she has plenty of reasons to need some help calming herself down after the loss she suffered last year.

He knows he should keep his distance. He remembers the promise he made himself, for his own good, more than a year and a half ago. But the look in Nancy's eyes is making his heart weak.

'Sure,' he says before he can stop himself. With a bow he opens the door further and steps aside to let her in.

She looks a little lost, standing in the middle of the trailer with her perfectly styled hair and expensive-looking clothes.

'Whaddaya want?' he asks when she says nothing. 'Just some weed? I'm guessing something not too strong, you don't strike me like a particularly experienced person – do you even know how to roll? I can do it for you, but I'll have to ask for a fee of –'

'I'm not here to buy anything,' Nancy interrupts him. 'I – I just need to talk with you.'

'Talk with me?' he repeats, confused. ''Bout what?'

'About my mom.'

The implications of that simple confession hang heavy in the air between them. It's quiet for an endless amount of seconds, the two of them merely caught in each other's equally wide-eyed gazes.

'You knew, didn't you?' Nancy asks finally. 'That's why you were, like, stalking me back in my freshman year.'

He still doesn't know what to say; the only thing he can do is nod slowly.

'Can we talk?' she asks.

He sinks down on the ratty old couch with the faded cushions, which Nancy seems to take as an invitation for her to take Uncle Wayne's worn-down but insanely comfortable armchair.

Never in a million years would he have expected things to play out this way. Oh sure, he's imagined it, Nancy sitting across from him in the exact same chair she's sitting now; he's imagined it countless times. But he never actually thought it would happen. And certainly not like this.

For fuck's sake, just when he managed to let it go, it all comes crashing back... He doesn't know what to think, doesn't even know what to feel right now.

'Did she tell you?' he blurts out.

A humorless laugh escapes from Nancy's mouth.

'God, no,' she says. 'I think she's planning to take it to the grave with her. I snooped around in her stuff.' She doesn't seem too ashamed about it. 'I met this P.I. a few months ago, when I was trying to find Barbara. He said some weird things, about my mom. That she was hiding shit, keeping secrets. Johnathan kept telling me to let it go, but I couldn't, so I started digging and...' She sighs. 'I never expected this. But I just – I needed to meet you. To talk with you.'

She seems to hesitate for a moment, biting her lip. 'I'm so sorry she did that to you,' she finally says.

Eddie wants to tell her a million things: that it's not her fault, that she has nothing to say sorry for, that he's beyond glad she showed up at the trailer... But he feels pressure building behind his eyes and finds himself stunned, only able to blink rapidly in order to keep his tears from falling.

He tries to hide himself behind his hair and his hands, but there's no use; Nancy is smart, he won't be able to hide anything from her...

And suddenly she's right next to him on the couch, wrapping her thin arms around him and nudging him until he's leaning against her and his head is on her shoulder.

'It's okay, I'm here,' she murmurs, putting a hand in his hair.

And it's all so goddamn ridiculous. He can't count the times he imagined himself being the big brother this girl never had. All the times he dreamed about catching her when she'd fall, being a shoulder to cry on whenever she suffered loss or grief or pain in any way... Not once had he thought about a reunion where he would be the one breaking down in her arms like a fucking child.

But when he looks up, trying to get his breathing under control again, her face shows him a reflection of what he himself must look like: Nancy's lip is wobbling, her eyes are wet and traces of tears are visible on her cheeks.

It takes his breath away in a whole new way: he doesn't think he's ever cried with someone before. Sure, Wayne was never above comforting him when he was younger. But he's nineteen now, an adult who no longer lets his uncle see him when he cries. And no matter how close he is to Jeff, Freak and Gareth, he has never let any of them witness his tears.

'I'm really glad I found out,' Nancy says, her voice unsteady but sincere. 'You must've felt so lonely.'

Eddie can't help but return her tentative smile.

'Are you gonna confront your mom?' he asks.

Nancy sighs. 'I don't know,' she quietly confesses. 'I honestly don't think I can even look at her right now. I just – I needed to get away from there. I think I need some time to process all of it.'

Eddie almost bursts out into unbelieving laughter with what he's about to propose.

'Wanna make this a sleepover, then?' He makes a broad arm gesture towards their surroundings. 'I mean, we don't exactly have much here, but my uncle's at work all night and I think I got enough room in my bed for two. If you want to.'

Nancy gladly takes his offer, borrows one of Eddie's old shirts that don't fit him anymore, and crawls under the covers beside him. It all feels more than a little bit surreal; like Eddie will wake up the next day to a cold and empty bed, and the sisterly love he's been yearning for will turn out to have been nothing but a dream all along, slipping through his fingers yet another time.

But, surreal or not, they keep talking until well into the night. They're lying in mirroring fetal positions, facing each other from their own pillow. They let words rapidly stream out of their mouths as they desperately try to catch up on seventeen years of not being together before the sun comes up, in a race against the clock. Maybe Nancy feels the utter outlandishness of this whole situation as well, making it feel like they'll only ever get this night, instead of a whole lifetime to properly get to know each other. As if everything they tell each other will be gone by the time they'll wake up the next day, and they have to cram as many words into it as possible.

Finally, Eddie can stop imagining what it would've been like to grow up in the big house on Maple Street. Nancy tells him all about her parents' loveless marriage, her annoying little brother and spoiled little sister; about what it's like to eat in the spotless kitchen and play in the neatly maintained garden. About how she feels like that picture-perfect life has its fingers wrapped around her throat and has been slowly choking her for years.

She tells him about Barb: about how she's been feeling as if she's walking around with a gaping, throbbing wound in her chest ever since she lost her. About the guilt that's still consuming her more than a year later. About how she wishes every single day that she had done things differently on the night Barb disappeared.

She also tells him about her mother: about how she resents her sometimes, for settling for a marriage devoid of love and willingly inhabiting the cage of being a housewife. About how much she looks down on her for caring too much about things like tablecloths or apple pies or smudges on freshly cleaned windows – and about how much she loves her despite it all, for knowing how to listen when Nancy needs her to, and for encouraging Nancy to become something unlike herself. She confesses to him how fiercely she hates her right now, for abandoning a baby and keeping that from her family. She tells Eddie how she feels like she never truly knew her.

And he tells her things, too. He tells her what it was like growing up as the son of Clyde Munson. What it was like to be a child without a mother, to have nothing but a father raging about some bitch whenever he'd ask questions about this mystery woman who brought him into this world. How he could tell that his father still loved her, despite everything, because he refused to give up her secret.

He tells her what it was like when his father got locked up for grand theft auto and arson, what it was like to come and live with Wayne. He tells her how he found out who his mother was; how he ended up in the Wheelers' yard on the night he learned the truth, and how he could never stop staring at any of the Wheelers during the all the years that followed. He tells her how he let his obsession grow big enough to make him fail his senior year. He even tells her the one thing he's never told anyone before, not even Jeff: that he feels guilty towards Uncle Wayne every single day. The supply of love he gives to Eddie is endless, and yet it will never be enough: he'll always keep standing in the shadow of this fantasy of a family.

But he doesn't only talk about his messed-up family. He also tells her about good things: about his friends, his band, and his other passion projects. When he finds himself talking a mile a minute about D&D, Nancy smiles and tells him it must be a family trait, because her little brother is equally obsessed with that game.

They talk until their throats are sore; until Nancy's eyes are falling shut every two seconds and she can't stop yawning.

He has so many things to tell her, so many things to ask her, so many lost moments to make up for. He understands all too well that they're both almost adults and that there's no possibility to turn back the clock and pretend like they're little kids again. There's no way to get back the versions of them that might play hide-and-seek on the street in front of their house, or egg each other on to see who can swing the highest in the playground. Those are the memories they'll never get to make. But they're here. Against everything he ever expected, he's having a sleepover with his little sister. They're sharing secrets while wrapped up in the same blanket. They're only properly meeting each other for the first time, but they're already connecting like they've known each other all their lives. And, against all odds, they get to build something neither of them ever thought they'd have.

[zofi-persson-quotes]

💔 An angsty headcanon of the color gang and the hollow heads

Angsty hc's? Sure!

Once again, under cut bc it's kinda long. Plus, some hidden lore :]]

The Color Gang as a whole suffers from separation anxiety in various degrees, and Red, Blue and Yellow sometimes still think of themselves as dangerous due to their respective accidents where they were possessed/were impersonated

Dark still fears that he's gonna snap. Yes, for the Showdown he was controlled by his corrupted Mission Code, but that doesn't say that he was always under its control. Many times he gave into the destructive urges he had, and he was the one who created the Virus. To this day he's still scared that he will hurt the people he loves once again, even if his Mission Code was obliterated by Second

Chosen sometimes may seem cold and rude, almost unapproachable, but in reality he's scared to get attached to people, just to be hurt when they will inevitably leave him, or if he ends up hurting them. He also hates to fight with Dark, fearing that things could escalate like during the Showdown.

Vic is still a bit scared of Alan, deep down. And they also fear a lot Silver, who is literally one of their clones (or are they?). Sometimes they think about the fact that they could’ve ended up just like Silver

Second has some fears, too, other than the ones that are known by the others, but these ones are inexplicable for him, so he keeps them hidden from everyone else. Tor example, they feel a lot of fear towards Silver, even before seeing what they did to Chosen. But most of these fears feel like nothing more than distant echoes from somewhen else, so they mostly ignore them

[Ask Game Here!]

[space-blue]

Ahsoka but the characters are better... The plot... everything is better.

I was talking/venting in RBs with @kanansdume on their post, and I started writing a reply that was just too long and in depth. So it's now its own post.

Offering you an alternative version of events for Ahsoka's first 4 episodes:

The cause of the break up between Hera, Ahsoka and Sabine, is Ezra.

Hera is more of a politician than a general these days, and if she sees action it's to police conflict and hunt down empire remnants. She's NOT under the impression that everyone who kept on living under the empire needs to be eradicated or whatever her deal is right now. She's busy splitting work with Jacen and not really able to help either of her friends as each would want to.

Sabine has never given up. She's still actively looking for Ezra.

Not Ahsoka. On her end, she's given up. She wrote off Ezra as a hero. She grew up watching Jedi sacrifice themselves to buy others some time or make doomed attempts to kill powerful enemies. She thinks Ezra is dead (gloriously so) and refused to indulge the fantasy that he may still be alive, driving a big wedge in her relationship with Sabine.

Until Ahsoka finds that Morgan seems to expect Thrawn to be alive… Which might mean Ezra is alive too… Just maybe.

We meet Sabine as she lands on Lothal. She isn't reckless, wasting time away in a tower like in the show. She's well dressed if rumpled and obviously drained. The moment she steps onto the space port, she's surrounded by local guards. The guy who chases her in the show is instead in full uniform waiting for her, and clearly distressed.

Did she forget what today was? That the governor asked her to attend the celebrations? She was meant to be here already, the event has even started.

Sabine brushes him off. She had no plan to come at all. She's been busy and never even opened the message requesting her presence. She's back from Coruscant, talking to the only scientist who seems to specialise in purgill, and does he have any idea how tedious it is to get useful fact out of someone who never steps out of academia? She's going home, thanks.

She gets upset when the "war hero" title is used to try and persuade her. She's trying to do war hero stuff by rescuing Ezra, thank you. Speeches and hand waving aren't for her, never were. Maybe the dialogue can hint that she used to play along, but has grown increasingly desperate in her search instead of the faff of her mostly ceremonial position.

But the guy drops a hint that convinces Sabine to get on the back of his speeder after all : her old "jedi friend" is there for the celebration. Ahsoka, who she hasn't heard from in ages!

Ahsoka would have trained Sabine for a while for saber, but they've since split and heir friendship frayed over the Ezra Lives situation. NOT because of padawan BS.

Ahsoka could also perceive Sabine's dedication to find Ezra as something worse with every year that passes. To her, it'd go from friendship to attachment, of the overly strong type. And even if Sabine isn't a Jedi, the way Anakin was, it doesn't mean that this attachment wouldn't bring some darkness.

Heck, Ahsoka could sort of wash her hands off Sabine by blaming the darkness brought by her Ezra fixation. Like this isn't her fault, no sir, it's the way Sabine is so consumed that she won't listen to reason.

Anyway, they're both here now, and though the "how have you been" is a tip toeing on eggshells exercise, Ahsoka eats some humble pie and admits she needs Sabine's help for something important.

She has tracked an artifact to a ruin, and although it's ancient, it clearly has a deep stratum. It's not just one culture that can be observed in it, but several stacked on top of each other. And one of the most recent traces of alteration are Mandalorian.

Ahsoka wouldn't solve that JFO puzzle on her own. She'd bring Sabine for her unique Mando insight. But trust would be an issue, so she'd remain super vague about what they're looking for and completely tight lip about why. Ahsoka doesn't want to kindle hopes about Ezra in Sabine of all people.

From Sabine's pov, she's doing Ahsoka a favour, and Hera asked her to please help as she's invested in this mcguffin hunt too. Sabine, by coming along, is doing that very adult thing of putting up with a shitty situation to accomodate people (the total opposite of her highway chase scene).

But even as Sabine finds the map and frees it from the old compartment it's in, they are attacked by the droids. A good old epic fight ensues, where Sabine is shown to be rusty with her saber, and rusty in general with droids, but also Ahsoka sucks at anticipating Sabine's actions, and keeps throwing orders that don't get obeyed (or can't realistically be obeyed).

In the past few years Sabine's been spending more time investigating, talking to people and reading books and buying intel, than fighting.

Not knowing what the map is for, she loses it. Does Shin come in then and wound her? Forcing Ahsoka to flee with her on the brink of death? I think it would be nice if the only reason Sabine lives is because Ahsoka was there to use a constant flow of Force healing. Not fixing her but keeping her alive as Huyang flies them away.

Because, you know, it's getting real tiresome to see people survive lightsabers to the centre of mass.

Then Sabine wakes up, she's sorry she lost the antique Ahsoka was looking for… But Hera calls in as a holo, upset with Ahsoka… And Sabine would slowly realise why. The thing she lost, nearly died over unknowingly, was a map! A map to Thrawn, and so to Ezra.

Nobody needs to be incompetent about that map thing, either, because it would be a very classic puzzle that Ahsoka could have solved. It's not old or mysterious, it was hidden in the old temple. In the show she never sees the map, and it needs to be inserted in the henge to make sense any way. Here Ahsoka didn't need Sabine's help to solve the mcguffin, but to get it. And she got it and lost it at the same time.

And now Sabine realises just WHAT it was. To Ahsoka it's a trail to Thrawn, or a clue in Morgan's plans. To Hera it's weeks of political favour wasted and hope for Thrawn and Ezra gone. Hera can't justify more spending on this without proof Morgan is up to no good.

Meanwhile Sabine sees the map as proof she's always been right. That Ezra is alive, and that Ahsoka used her and lied and kept her in the dark. Sabine would argue she'd never have engaged that rogue padawan if she knew what she was risking with the map. Ahsoka could argue back she only needed to follow her orders.

Huyang is the one who settles things between them by asking how exactly they think this argument is helping the situation? He could be the one to insist they have to stay and work together to get the map, when both Ahsoka and Sabine want nothing more than to split again.

Personality-wise Ahsoka can team work, but she needs to lead. She's used to being the most OP in the room, and grew up giving order to mostly unquestioning soldiers. Sabine has a different skillset, is pig headed, and won't take orders from Ahsoka, especially not now that she feels like she was used.

Hera and Huyang could both come in then to soothe things, and Hera would suggest they visit the other trail she's unearthed (dockyards) while the villains actively get their plan on the tracks.

At the dockyards, Hera would understand that people worked for the Empire because they didn't have a choice, and wouldn't expect people to 'get rid' of imperials after the fall of the empire. It's not exactly how that stuff happens in real life, right? It would also be interesting if Chopper FINALLY came to some use…

So I suggest that the smuggling was done by droids, and the main human mind behind this operation was the one maintening the droid fleet. Altering their codes and priorities. We could have Chop somehow help figure it out. He could also be the one who PWA PWAs at the very end that they shouldn't look so disappointed, since he managed to slap a tracker under the chest plate of that one droid he highjacked that fled on the ship.

They have their lead to that planet.

Now's a good time for Ahsoka to be able to report about Shin and Baylan's sabers instead, maybe spotting them at that place, whatever. They have no clear character or motivation and for all I care we could keep visuals of their sabers from early on when freeing Morgan.

But here's the cinch about Huyang :

He's completely out of place with Ahsoka. She doesn't have a padawan. Doesn't want one. Sabine isn't a real one and has no desire to even try to be. And any good droid could do Huyang's job, without her moaning about Jedi protocol so much.

So why does she keep him?

Huyang should be with Luke Skywalker. Wouldn't it be a little dark and sweet if it's revealed that Ahsoka has been planning to bring him over to Luke's budding school but hasn't because… (and let's forget all shit with them in Mando) well, because she doesn't believe in a New Order. She saw too many younglings killed or turned, and she doesn't trust Luke with rebuilding the Order. Doesn't really want him too.

Yet at the same time she misses it. Misses the protocols she broke with Anakin, and the life she had there as a padawan. Huyang feeds into this nostalgia. Sometimes he sounds like a master--but one she doesn't need to listen to.

She keeps pushing the time to bring him to Luke over and over.

But now Huyang could have his own motivation : Baylan has survived, and he's taken a padawan.

What was Baylan like? Why would he want to free Thrawn? Why team up with Morgan? Imo it'd be a lot more interesting if his saber was yellow or truly orange, and Shin's was blue or literally any colour but red. Make them apparently rogue Jedi and not weird darksiders larping as Taron Malicos and Merrin.

Maybe Huyang would try to push for them to be in touch. Maybe he'd want to approach Baylan himself. Because he wants to recreate the Order, right? And he's got an apprentice. And wouldn't it be a shame if they truly fell down a dark path?

So instead of Baylan being sentimental but actually not about Ahsoka staying alive, it could be Huyang who is ready to expend his kindness to even them, even after the interaction over the map. Afterall, Jedi aren't always shy about using violence to get what they want, and maybe Shin always arrives on the scene when her side is already in a fight. Maybe Huyang is on copium!

But Baylan could be seen as behaving one way, and Ahsoka could feel his vibes being rancid… VS. Huyang knowing him by reputation. Why not go on and fully rip Malicos, at this stage? You got his looks and his theories. You may as well also make Baylan a respected Jedi general. Someone Huyang remembers from his trips to make his first saber.

Now wouldn't it be neat if Chopper's tracker returns a system that Sabine recognises the name of? She was just talking to that scholar about Purgill after all, and he mentioned how this system was an important migration point, one poorly researched, because it's so remote, and at the fringes of Dathomir space, not a friendly locale.

Sadly I still don't understand WTF the map is. Why does Morgan need it? it seems ancient… And yet it points to Thrawn? HOW? Why does it go to a different henge style temple? Nothing makes sense in the show and we're meant to just accept it.

I propose something else.

The map is stored into a bog standard data storage puzzle thingy. Anyone who could handle a Japanese puzzle box could use it. But the map is just the tip of the iceberg. It's actually a nightsister spell underneath, and the entire goal is to hyper focus and pinpoint.

So Morgan 'feels Thrawn calling to her'. And yep, that's corny, but she does. And what she needed was that nightsister focus tool. She needs to wildly amplify the signal, and then use the map to pinpoint its origine totally.

She goes to that henge because it's a meditation space. It's within the Dathomir sphere of influence, but not Dathomir proper, which is why she hid the ring here. There's something about this world, the same quality that attracts the purgill, that really throws the Force into whack.

While it's good for Morgan, it'd be confusing and disturbing for any other Force user (how to nerf Ahsoka, Baylan and Shin).

Once she fully feels the location of Thrawn's call, the map zooms in and in and in. As she suspected (as she's prepared for), it's in another galaxy entirely.

Instead of having the badies split, Baylan would have to protect Morgan so she can remain in her trance as the droids help her refine the coordinates. Shin can go harry Sabine and split her and Ahsoka, who can't properly communicate due to the planet's interference.

When the women go to fight Morgan and co, perhaps Huyang would ask Ahsoka to convince Baylan to return to them. Maybe Huyang's interest in helping with Shin is also what keeps getting in the way of Sabine whenever she has an opportunity to strike to kill.

Anyway, please no fucking Anakin!!! We don't need more nostalgia bait. Stop!! Jedi canonically can't die from falls of any height so long as they've trained to cushion a fall. We see the trio take insane falls all of Clone Wars, and it's in High Republic now too. Ahsoka clipping off the world map from getting yeeted from a small cliff is sad and a pathetic excuse to show Anakin off.

Also would like to point out that with a tight script, all the events above are 2 or 3 episodes max.

What do you think? Opinions? Suggestions? It's a bit of a meta post so feel free to add on to it!

[yandere-toons]

I've been having these headcanons about what would happen if Batman had a child that became a villain. Since you seem familiar enough with Batman stuff I figured I'd show up with some general headcanons about that scenario!

-I like to think that in order for Reader to want to become a villain despite most likely fighting crime alongside Batman, Batman would have to break their trust in a huge way.

-I'm imagining scenarios where Batman unknowingly begins to brush Reader off, one day he heads out for a mission he doesn't think reader can handle. Reader creates an explosive device in secret to try to take out a villain and help (yes, I may or may not have been inspired by Arcane) but everything goes wrong. I imagine the explosion would be stronger than reader anticipated and they'd wind up taking out some innocent people, not just the villain.

-I think Batman genuinely wouldn't know how to react, given that his sidekick was trying to help. I can see him leaving them at the scene as he tries to collect his thoughts, or maybe he'd REALLY lose it and yell about how he told them to stay away. Either way, this ends up with Batman leaving them, not exactly with the intent of doing so forever though.

-I can imagine there'd be a certain villain in my mind that would greatly enjoy the little explosion show reader created. I imagine it would be Joker! Joker would offer to take them, not with any good intentions but more so because he loves the idea of taking another thing that's Batman's. Harley would definitely instantly grow attached to the kid, though. She'd act like their mother from day one.

-I can see Batman panicking and losing it when he realizes he can't find reader anywhere, he'd definitely stay awake for numerous nights blaming himself for their disappearance as Alfred comforts him. Meanwhile, Joker is showing reader all his tricks, and yes, he'd encourage reader's thing for making explosives in battle. He'd recognize the potential for destruction that they have.

-I can see the reader being mostly close with Harley at first, but I like the idea of Joker becoming attached as well over time. In other words, I imagine joker and Harley would be platonic yandere parents.

-When Batman finds out reader has been helping out joker and Harley willingly, I can see him breaking down and blaming himself, all the while begging for reader to come home to him again. It gets even more depressing if you imagine that reader has a fractured mental state after the explosion and is genuinely convinced that batman hates them. 

-I can see Batman vowing to try to bring reader back from the darkness they've thrown themselves into, even if they've committed heinous acts of crime he'd definitely be under the impression that he could safe them. I feel like this is how he'd become a platonic yandere parent tbh. 

[alexa-fika]

Tell me about your favorite pieces of work. What's an art piece and a writing piece you're just really proud of?

Oh boy Oh boy, it’s my time to shine ✊🏽

Among my writings, I have many that I am attached to mostly because of the love you guys have shown have really helped me be proud of them but at the top of them I have Demonically Adorable

I wrote the first ‘fight scene’ that I was genuily proud out, I think it was actually my first one in general and I think a smooth job in it.

I ‘ve also struggled with those types of fics where you introduce a Reader into a canon series of events because I struggle to find the balance between keeping it true to egents but also not making it a copy paste.

The funniest part about this is that this fic was I think the first request I rejected. I was telling @cosmocup1d, the requester, bless their heart btw, that I had spent days trying to think of a plot but I had failed only to get inspiration a day later. And man on my I was in the zone. I loved how it turned out from start to finish, which usually I end up insecure about one part of the fic but this one I felt so accomplished.

That being said I also feel great accomplishment for Hungry for truth, the one shot that I had written thanks to you and 💧’s prompts and ideas ( please let me work with you guys again, i am in my knees begging you). I think I have mentioned it before but I am a fan of yandere but am horrible at writting it. I gave a try on Delivery for one and Locked Database and I felt okay about them, I liked them but Hungry for truth was top of the top. It was something that I felt so proud to show both you and 💧.

With it I felt like I had truly ashieved that dark theme, yandere theme that I had attempted to reach with the other true but failed to truly achieve.

Now on to art, it’s funny I don’t think many of you know I draw 😂, thats how this blog originally started and was intended to be, an art blog but then you inspired me to actually try to publish my writings and so here we are.

I did many types of art, including the abstract art lgbtia event where I published a couple of them every day in pride month. I like those but they were pretty simple, fast, something to show my pride more than the art. Now if we are talking about my favorite one’s it has got to be this one.

In it I drew my oc Alexa ( the pink haired girl) along with the representation of two other friends who back then were anons who identified themselves with the 🧶 and 🌻 emoji. I felt proud of how I did the backround, something that I had been practicing for a while and finally aces to the creation of emoji representations like them. The autumn representation I did is also up there, I remember at first it was just a witch but when I started doing a bunch of hair do I was like wait pumpkin? (Please ignore the words on the post they are a mess of pretend family tree that even back then I din’t understand)

And an honarable mention to my soulmate compass, less up there because most of it was simply tracing the photo of my actual compass with just a pretty backround

So yeah there they are! My proudest pieces. Thank you so much for asking quin 😂, I love answering questions of the stories I write, what was the thoughts behind it and I like even more interacting with each and every one of you.

As promised take your smooch

[duckduckhjonk]

Omg look I am posting my writing again(shock)

Sorry this took so long, writers block is a bitch

Mystery of the Cyclone Chapter 5

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Word count: 1,548

Penny Lamb kind of liked being forgotten. It definitely beat how it used to be. Staring eyes stabbing into her back as she walked by, snickerings that only halted when she grew near, ceaseless name calling and slurs the author isn't allowed to say. It all faded eventually as everyone forgot who she was.

Of course there were still a few who did remember her. Mainly and rather strangely was this boy in choir who would greet her by name every single day. Then again, he'd greet everyone by name every single day. There were also the bullies who remembered to pick on her but that too had died down by Senior Year.

All of this to say, senior year was great for the most forgettable girl in town. At least until the Cyclone happened. All that attention had gone straight back to being on her. People would stop her and ask her about it, how it felt, if she was scared. Rumors swirled that someone saw her lose her head.

She could only laugh at that and awkwardly move to her next class, trying not to give anything away about what happened with Karnak or the warehouse or the fact she actually did lose her head. While the choir made light of the situation, there was still grieving Penny did for Jane Doe and nearly losing her entire sense of self that night.

~~

Penny was the last to leave the choir room at the end of the day usually. She lived in the boarding house attached to the school so she never had far to walk. She spent most of that time doing mostly homework or reading so she didn't have to worry about it when she got back to the boarding house.

Penny valued her free time, so she tried to have as much of it as possible. Not that there was much to do at the boarding house other than sneak out and cause trouble around the neighborhood or find something for her and Ezra to do.

As the final bell tolled, Penny shut her book and finally started heading towards the boarding house. As quickly as her walk began, just as she expected it to, it ended. She pushed the door open, walking past most of the other boarding house kids and staff and into her shared room with her brother.

"Honey, I'm home!" She called jokingly.

"Ah, I've been expecting you..." Came a low, faux gravely voice from a dark corner. The figure swiveled around in the rolley chair and revealed himself to be Penny's brother, Ezra. He motioned a dramatic petting of a cat upon a tiger plush Penny had kept since she was a toddler.

The two soon bursted out into a fit of laughter. It lasted for several minutes only starting to fade after a staff member came through the door to check up on them. Once it did, though, the siblings found themselves comfortable spots within their shared room and began to discuss their mostly uneventful day.

"Some kids asked me about you today," Ezra said.

"What'd they ask?" Penny asked, growing concerned that what happened to her might cause Ezra to be effected.

Ezra shrugged, seemingly not caring much about it, "they were talking about watching you dying or something ridiculous like that. I don't get it really. You're not dead so why would they be saying stuff like that."

Penny shrugged as well.

"Anyways, I made like fifty bucks today, you wanna grab something to eat?" Ezra offered, shaking a bag of obviously criminally obtained money.

"I thought we weren't allowed to sell anymore?" Penny asked, visibly concerned about this more pressing matter.

"I got myself a dealer," Ezra explained, "c'mon, were in good hands, I'll treat us to a nice dinner then we could bribe the guard to loan us the game cube for the night."

Penny felt unsure about this. She, for one, very much wanted to give up all that drug selling stuff. She had friends, right? The kids in the choir! They were her friends. She worried Ezra wasn't doing so great. He was put into band, a much more... How do you put it? Concerning environment as compared to choir.

"Are you sure you want to keep doing all of that?" Penny asked bluntly, her eyebrows raising.

Ezra just nodded, silently, awkwardly. His gaze flicked away from Penny's for a few moments. The air between the two felt stiff. In fact, everything did. It was a familiar stiffness for Penny. One she could only associate with Jane Doe. A tingling, near burning sensation bubbled up within her neck.

By then, Ezra had already gone off to figure out some place to eat. He was always good at that. For some reason, Penny found herself still unable to move. The ticking of a faint and distant clock loomed ever in the background. Everything was dim. Everything felt wrong. Like she wasn't supposed to be there. Like something was coming to right the apparent wrong of her own existence.

"Penny? You alright?" Ezra snapped his fingers in front of her face, quickly breaking this trance.

"Hm? Oh, yeah," Penny replied monotonely, "I'm fine."

"Weird, you got in that trance and it looked like you were some kinda zombie," Ezra elongated the last words of the sentence as he shook Penny by her shoulders. It was a moment of jest and Penny went along with it, flailing her head back and forth with his motions.

Although, as she went to fling her head back, she felt the world around her start to spin and the wind around her pick up. It was a falling feeling. It was only after the thump of hitting the ground did she realise what had happened. As she turned to look up at her now headless body, she nearly let out a gut wretching scream.

Ezra was frozen in fear as well. His hands had yet to be removed from Penny's now headless body. Despite this, she was fine. Everything felt relatively as normal as being headless could be. Nothing hurt aside from the place where she hit her head upon falling. There wasn't blood spraying everywhere. It was silent. It was still.

Penny could move her body while like that. Although it was much more difficult. She fumbled it around, attempting to grab her head and reattach it. Ezra was of no help in this endeavor. He was still completely frozen and tears had begun to spill down his cheeks. She felt bad for causing all of this. She never meant to. Does anyone intentionally lose their head?

Eventually she managed to get to a position where she could actually grab her head and get it onto her neck. It reattached with a slight click sound, like the sound your joints make when you crack your knuckles. Penny tapped gently on Ezra's shoulder, eliciting him to flinch.

He moved his lips, stumbling breathy sounds came out as he attempted to form words. He waved his arms around frantically, mimicking what he just saw. It only stopped when Penny went in to embrace him. His arms resting firmly around his sister.

"Are you okay?" Penny asked.

"Your head just fell off... How are you okay?" Ezra replied.

"I... I have no idea."

~~

After that, the two siblings managed to sneak off to get some dinner and actually managed to have a good time. The place they chose was a local spot, not too far from the school. Everyone in town knew it as the place with the best burgers, but the Lamb siblings knew it as their special dinner spot for those special occasions.

The servers there knew them by name, and the Lamb siblings knew the servers by name. The two kids were the most regular of the regulars. Even when they lacked any money, the duo were always there, finding some way to order their favourite food. Often it would result in them working behind the counter just for a meal or even to the point of stealing from other customers.

This night was different, though. No stealing or working. They had money to pay. Although neither sibling was particularly jovial, both were thankful.

"The usual for you two?" The server asked.

"Yes please," Penny replied.

The server nodded and within moments she was gone. This left the two kids alone at their table.

"Are you going to tell the choir kids about what happened?" Ezra asked.

Penny nodded slowly, "most likely. They were involved, they deserve to know."

Penny ran a finger across her neck. A large gap had formed where a scar had originally been. It didn't hurt, it didn't feel like anything. It just felt normal. Something had to be done about it. Clearly it wasn't normal. But why? Why so sudden? Why after all this time since the Cyclone?

"Here you are," the server said, interrupting Penny's thoughts, "you alright? That scar bothering you?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, it is," Penny replied rather bluntly.

"Here." The server took the scarf she had on and wrapped it around Penny, "It won't do much, but if you're worried about covering it, that scarf should work. You can keep it."

"Oh..." Penny wasn't sure how to respond, "thanks."

[lexicals]

So I'm gonna write this down partially for my own reference and partially bc I'm curious to know what other dms following me think of the concept - curse of strahd module spoilers below the cut here

So long story short the CoS campaign I was running had to be put on hiatus because of inter-group issues, and at this point my plan is that once I've finished running our current pathfinder module, I want to reboot it minus the players that will not be returning for various reasons, and plus the new players that want to join from the pathfinder group.

Now obviously the rub here is that 2 of the 5 or so players have already played this module up to lv5, but the other 3 are coming in with varying levels of knowledge (one person has DMed it, but long enough ago that he doesn't remember most of it, plus a lot of the later sections I've got for this module are homebrew, and the other two know nothing about it other that what I and the other players have mentioned to them). I don't really like the idea of subbing in 2 or 3 new characters to the campaign halfway through, as this will be a completely new dynamic that they'll have to adjust to on the fly, as well as the new players having no context or attachment to anything that's happening, but nor would it be fair to the OG players to just slap them back to level 1 and have them try their best not to metagame.

So, I am thinking. What if I just groundhog day the whole party. They get reset back to the entrance of barovia, but retain all their levels and gear that they've picked up, and the NPCs that were travelling with them (Ireena and Arabelle, in this case). My in-universe justification for this is that one or both of the party members who will definitely not be returning fell prey to the temptations of the dark powers, and tried to kill either Ireena or each other, in order to earn themselves their own demiplane domain (they've just come out of a homebrew mini-domain, so this would be thematically appropriate I think). The third player who is currently a "maybe-depends-on-scheduling-but-probably-not" happens to be a paladin of lathander, so he (in his aspect as the morning lord) and the elven god of dusk whose name I cannot remember right now work together through her to perform an act of divine intervention that results in the reset, and can remove her from play if needed due to the impact of channelling that much divine power. This would be linked to postgame homebrew plans I had linked to a couple of players' backstories (unfortunately mostly the ones that are not returning, but what can you do) wherein shar aka mother night is amassing a cult in her name whose endgame goal is to summon a beast capable of destroying the moon and thus assassinating selune, who lathander & co are allied with. They know that if the cycle begins again with ireena's death/the party falling apart and strahd remains undefeated the party will not be able to leave barovia in order to combat what's happening on the material plane, and they can't afford the loss of time that would occur (I'm thinking it has to be this particular group for prophecy reasons or something idk about that yet lmao). The party get their reset with the warning that they cannot fail again.

This also means that I can justify a hike in difficulty by removing the influence of the morning lord and the sun itself from barovia, leaving shar and strahd more powerful as it becomes a very literal land of eternal night. Aside from that, my plan is to run everything mostly the same as before, with the hope that the old players will be able to have fun being allowed to selectively metagame with their knowledge of events, which they can share with the rest of the group, who also get to experience events they would otherwise have missed. It should mean we get through the content we've already covered fairly efficiently but with room for things to play out a little differently this time, whether that's fixing mistakes from last time or making new ones lol.

I think it's hopefully a fair solution but I would be really interested to hear what other people think about it; my main worry is that it won't have the intended effect and the old players will be bored while the new players feel swept along. Genuinely would love to know what other GMs or even just other players think of the concept!

[kevinsreviewcatalogue]

Review: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

Rated PG-13 for strong violent content and disturbing material

<Originally posted at https://kevinsreviewcatalogue.blogspot.com/2023/11/review-hunger-games-ballad-of-songbirds.html>

Score: 3 out of 5

The Hunger Games was my jam in my college years. Even being just a bit older than its target demographic of teenagers, it was a series of books that I readily embraced as an antidote to the big young-adult literary sensation of my own high school years, Twilight. No sparkly vampires or Mormon abstinence messages here, no, these books were dark satires about teenagers forced to kill each other, like an American version of Battle Royale or a post-apocalyptic version of The Running Man, and what's more, they were actually shockingly well-written. Even if you were the kind of guy who'd never otherwise pick up a YA novel, there's no denying the appeal of that basic premise. And then came the film adaptations, which ranged from good to damn close to classic, even if splitting the last movie into two parts was kind of a dumb idea, and all the commercialism that got attached to the series was quite ironic given the messages in the books. It's those messages that are the big reason why I'm still nostalgic for the series today, long after the YA dystopia boom has passed us by. Suzanne Collins may not have been a subtle writer, but she was a smart one, and her books, for all their pulpy sci-fi flair, were fundamentally about how difficult it is to organize a revolution against even the most obviously unjust system, and how people you think of as allies may in fact have very different goals that stand opposed to your own -- a lesson that a lot of young people raised on the series and other teen-lit wastelands had to learn themselves as they organized against real-world injustices later in the decade.

Naturally, with the 15th anniversary of the original novel having recently passed us by, somebody decided that the time was right to revisit it. Three years ago, Collins, after having held off for years, wrote a prequel novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (a title evocative of the trend of epic fantasy novels that took over YA literature after the sci-fi dystopia boom), about the main villain of the series that explored his youth, the early years of the titular Games, and how they intersected to turn him into the bastard he became. I haven't yet read the book, but if the movie is any indication, I want to. It's a big and bloated movie that I thought could've stood to be trimmed down in some places and padded out in others, but it's one that boasts a star-making performance from Rachel Zegler as its heroine, an interesting new twist on its series' setting, and the same thoughtfulness that elevated the original trilogy above its peers. It had my attention from start to finish despite its length, and I'm not at all disappointed by my return to the world of Panem after all these years.

Set about 64 years before the events of the first book/movie, this one is set around the time of the 10th annual Hunger Games -- which is to say, ten years after the "Dark Days", the brutal war between the Capitol and the Districts for control of Panem, the post-apocalyptic wasteland formerly known as North America. The Capitol won the war, but ten years on, the scars are still visible. The film's retro-period setting was designed to evoke the 1950s with the technology and aesthetics on display, and in practice, it specifically evokes '50s Europe on both sides of the Iron Curtain, a time when the British were still winding down their wartime rationing, the cars were tiny econoboxes, the soldiers carried G3 rifles and traveled in Unimog trucks, the new construction replacing the bombed-out ruins was mostly shit-ugly brutalist monoliths, the old elite sought to maintain an appearance of propriety by dusting off old prewar fashions, and the scars of the war were still fresh in the minds of the younger generations. It's how I imagine a post-apocalyptic world that hasn't completely forgotten 21st century science would actually look once it had the time to start rebuilding itself, retaining some elements of modern technology (color TVs, certain plot-relevant biological weapons) but lacking the means to rebuild past a mid-20th-century level of technology, infrastructure, and industry; that would have to wait for later.

It was a creative choice that highlighted not only that this film is a prequel, but also the continuity between Panem's history and what it had become in the original trilogy -- because if "modern" Panem is an exaggerated parody of 21st century Western society, then it stands to reason that "historical" Panem might resemble a similarly grotesque version of what that society looked like seventy years ago. The world of Panem has always been part of the appeal of The Hunger Games, and this film did a lot to flesh that world out, showing us not only what it once looked like but also, more importantly, how it came up with the sick idea of the Games in the first place and how it might have possibly thought it a good idea. Watching the prologue set during the war, it took no time to realize the deprivation that the citizens of the Capitol experienced, and how pissed off they probably were when they finally won their hard-earned victory and peace, the future consequences of such be damned. The Capitol looks down on the Districts the way that Europeans at the time looked down on their colonies, or the Soviets looked down on their "fellow workers' states" in the Warsaw Pact (above all else the German "Democratic" Republic).

If the film's aesthetics look backwards, however, then its themes look forward, specifically to the life experiences that a lot of the books' readers in the years after their publication. Coriolanus Snow was, in his youth, a student at an elite academy competing with 23 of his classmates for a university scholarship, with the recipient of the scholarship decided by having the students each mentor a tribute in the Hunger Games, the winner being the one who puts on the best show for the citizens of the Capitol. Again, Collins wasn't subtle, and neither is this movie. The students' struggles may not be as life-or-death as those of the tributes, but direct and obvious parallels are drawn from the start, highlighting how the Capitol's system grinds down even the children of its own elites and turns them into the worst possible versions of themselves as they compete for favor and stab each other in the back. We see Snow, initially motivated by a desire to provide for a family that lost everything in the war, slowly but surely shed his morals as he comes up with a number of what would become the Games' signature concepts (particularly making the tributes into celebrities) and develop a star-crossed romance with his mediagenic, hot-headed tribute, District 12's Lucy Gray Baird. I liked Tom Blyth as Snow, watching him transform from a naive but well-intentioned rich kid into somebody who's willing to throw everybody and everything around him under the bus to advance his own interests, such that, by the time he finally, triumphantly returns to the Capitol at the end (not really a spoiler in a prequel telling the villain's origin story), even his own dear cousin Tigris barely recognizes what he's become.

The real MVP in the cast, though, was Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray. Implied to have been thrust into the Games thanks to a corrupt mayor in District 12 and her getting on the wrong side of a love triangle involving said mayor's daughter, from the moment she made her grand "screw you" entrance I was immediately rooting for her. Zegler gave the kind of "star in the making" performance that Jennifer Lawrence had for Katniss Everdeen, albeit playing a very different sort of character who has to learn the opposite things that Katniss later would. If Katniss was an outdoorsy survivalist who the Capitol turned into a glamorous romantic figure, then Lucy Gray is a theater kid (specifically, part of a group of traveling musicians known as the Covey) who has to learn how to fight, but one whose charisma and presence become an asset, especially once Snow realizes their potential to sway the audience to her side. Zegler carried a lot of this movie on her shoulders, from her multiple musical performances (putting her background in musical theater to great use) to her being the one who initially forces Snow to confront the ethics of the Games, with the breakdown of their relationship marking the last straw in his descent into villainy. Mark my words, Zegler is going places.

The supporting cast, too, was filled with standouts. Viola Davis devoured the scenery as the loopy scientist Dr. Volumnia Gaul who helps design some of the Capitol's bioweapons, Hunter Schafer had a small but memorable presence as Snow's cousin Tigris who watches his transformation, Jason Schwartzman played the Games' host Lucky Heavensbee like a snappy yet flippant '50s game show host, Ashley Liao made Snow's rival Clemencia such an obnoxious and cocky jackass, and Peter Dinklage playing Snow's dean at the academy as basically Tyrion Lannister as a bitter prep school headmaster, but I'll forgive it because there aren't a lot of people who play "I drink and I know things" better than him. Josh Andrés Rivera in particular got a lot to do as Snow's friend Sejanus, somebody with roots in District 2 who, even after his family got rich enough to become citizens, never forgot where he came from and voices the loudest objections to the morality of the Games. When it came to the tributes in the arena, the film sadly didn't take a lot of time to flesh out the ones not named Lucy Gray, but there were still highlights like the butch District 4 combatant Coral, Lucy Gray's District 12 partner Jessup, and the District 11 guy Reaper whose scary name turns out to be not at all indicative of his personality. The action was up to par with some of the best scenes from Catching Fire, director Francis Lawrence having lost none of his touch since the last time he worked on these films, with the bloodbath that opens the Games in particular being a hell of a one-take action scene shot largely from Lucy Gray's perspective.

Where this film ultimately let me down was its structure. It is a big movie, and there eventually comes a point where it rapidly shifts gears into something completely different, pulling Snow out of the confines of the Capitol and out into District 12. And if I'm being honest, it felt like a completely different movie from the one I'd been watching until then. It was still a good movie and an interesting story, but it felt like a whole new chapter of Snow's life where the problems he'd encountered in the first two acts, while still there, got pushed into the background as new characters and problems were introduced and Snow got sucked into the personal drama of District 12's inhabitants. I would've liked to see another scene of him interacting with his friends and family back home and keeping tabs on what's going on in the Capitol, as well as, more importantly, an scene or two in the first half of the film establishing some more of the people in Lucy Gray's life before she's chosen as tribute instead of throwing all of them at us in act three, especially given how it's all but stated that some of this drama was why she wound up in the arena in the first place. It would've been a minor change that likely would've added only a few minutes to the admittedly long runtime, but it would've alleviated a big problem I had with the third act of this movie, suddenly being asked to care about people I'd only just met knowing that there isn't a whole lot of movie left and there isn't much time to flesh them out.

The Bottom Line

This movie has a lot of, well, movie to cram in, and I'm not sure it entirely stuck the landing, but overall, it's a welcome return for a series I love, elevated by an outstanding lead performance by Rachel Zegler. Whether you're a diehard Hunger Games fan who was one of the first to snatch up the book this was based on the day it came out or a total newbie to the series who only knows it from memes, I recommend this movie.

[quibbs126]

I’ve been drawing more of my North and South Dragons these past couple days

I tell you, for some reason it’s been really hard for me to make a full sketch page like I used to. I think it’s because my brain now thinks it needs every sketch to be connected with one another in terms of characters and things I’m going for, when before that wasn’t really the case. But whatever, I’ll figure that out

So first up I had some normal Cookie disguises for Choco and Milk Creme, in which they go by their actual names, just omitting the Dragon bit, mostly because most Cookies don’t actually know their real names and it’s just easier. I based Choco off the physicians and Milk the warriors just because I wanted to base them off other NPCs in the kingdom, and doing different roles seemed more interesting. Another design idea was making them look more like some of the villagers we see, like Milk Creme looking like one of the Milk Tribe, but I just went with this instead. Maybe those are other disguises they use when they feel like it

With their colors, I wanted to make them look more like Dark Cacao, giving them purplish eyes (though they’re more of a pink), and I gave them somewhat similar dough colors, with Choco Creme’s being darker and Milk Creme’s being lighter. They’re also supposed to have long hair (though probably not as long as his), they just keep it tied up

So since I based them on Cookies in the Citadel, I decided that these guys actually show up in the Citadel. Every couple decades, they disguise themselves as members of the Citadel, Choco Creme a physician and Milk Creme a soldier, and spend a few days there, just to see how things are going with Dark Cacao and his kingdom. The other people of the Citadel know they’re odd, as they mysteriously show up one day and mysteriously leave shortly after, and no one has seen them outside of those days, not to mention there are those who have been there long enough to see them more than once and know they haven’t aged since last time, but at this point they’ve been showing up for longer than anyone but Dark Cacao knows, and he seems to be fine with them, so they’re just something people accept. Many suspect that they’re the Twin Dragons, but no one knows for sure. During one of these, they’ve met Dark Choco Cookie (though they likely first met him as a freshly baked Cookie), when he was a child. They probably told him who they are, but he’s meant to keep it a secret, which he does. Not sure if they know what happened to him though

Anyways, then I wanted to draw the two and Dark Cacao as smalls, with younger versions of their designs. To be honest, not sure I’m satisfied with these designs; I know I had a lot of trouble with the hair and I ended up just giving up, and it was a similar story with their outfits. I tried to base them off of Dark Cacao’s new flashback outfit, because I’m imagining that he would have gotten it from them. I also wanted to give them identical outfits, since they were a lot more attached to each other when younger. Over time they grew to individualize themselves more rather than just being a pair, but this was before then. For Dark Cacao I redesigned that young look I gave him before, making it have darker colors. I think I like this one better, I feel like it looks more like him? Also I’m aware that the fabric is facing the wrong way on his outfit, that was supposed to be intentional

To be honest, now that I’ve finished Episode 14, I feel like changing my personal headcanon for Dark Cacao’s backstory, but I was already making this before doing that, so I’ll just do that later. But some things I plan on keeping is that as a young child he ended up lost and alone in the mountains, the dragons find him and take him in, he grows up essentially a loner of the wilds, who goes around helping other Cookies, he meets the Ancient Cookies and we know the rest from there. Which I now realize is essentially the backstory I already gave him, but in my head there are more differences, like the dragons’ age when they meet him and stuff like that. And I might just throw it all out and start fresh. I dunno I’ll work on it

And the last one I did mostly just to fill up space, but it’s supposed to be one of them finding him and bringing him back with them. I like to imagine they’re big enough to hold him in one hand. Also it’s supposed to be like that ferret thing, but maybe I’ll draw that more clearly later. But they do pick him up in one hand and throw him around like a rag doll.

Also the dialogue is in parentheses because they’re supposed to be talking in the Dragon language, but I don’t know what that would look like, so just assume it’s in another language but being translated

Anyways yeah, dragons

[yuna-writes]

Trying to make a conscious effort to feel happy in the moment

If there was one thing about myself I can't seem to experience often is to feel happy in the moment. It's not that I'm unhappy, but I don't feel like I'm experiencing life as I should because I'm always worried about the next thing or things I should be doing. I feel like money is always dictating my decisions which impacts my happiness a bit, but I don't really have much money issues either these days. I always feel like every time I try to enjoy the present moment, life takes a turn and throws a bag of shit at you but I've accepted that it's normal to have ups and downs of life. It's just really difficult to stay positive these days.

You know some of the realization I've came to realize from working at my day job is that I feel like your job mostly pays you enough to survive but not really live your dreams. In other words, your job takes up so much of your time, energy and resources that it becomes a dream killer. I didn't exactly live paycheck to paycheck, but if I ever have children or a family, I'd defiantly be living paycheck to paycheck. Your job pays you enough to keep you poor, but you won't be able to afford the life you want until you turn old and frail. By then, you keep struggling through life and continue being poor until you drop dead. Boy, that does sound dark and morbid. I hope that's not reality, but I feel like these days, those concepts are becoming more real. Through all the hard work and sacrifices of your time, your employer decides to fire or lay you off anytime. I can see why a lot of people are unhappy, because they just become a slave to the system.

Some of the things I'm grateful for is that I don't have any financial issues such as student loans or credit card debts. I'm healthy and have a lot more time to explore other options. So even if there were downsides and pitfalls, I know that I should acknowledge some of the positive aspects to what I've achieved in my lifetime. I just feel like there's more to life then just grinding for a job, but I always feel society puts so much emphasizes on finding a job or we attach our entire identity on being an employee. And sometimes, I'm unsure if I can relate to it or not. It's not that I wasn't proud in my career, but sometimes there's so many elements to being an employee you can't really control. You can't control how much an employer pays you, and you can't control whether you deserve a promotion or not. Those decisions are up to the employer.

The funniest part out of this experience is that I realize society puts a lot of emphasizes on studying hard in school and follow the traditional sense of seeking employment by working 9-5. But I found out a lot of employers or business owners never really followed those societal rules themselves. There's a saying, a lot of rich and wealthy people never got rich by working 9-5 for an employer. They got rich by going through unconventional routes to success. Then these wealthy people impose those social constructs to other people so they can be loyal and work for them. Yet, they have never really participated on those social constructs themselves. The irony...because most people associate the traditional sense of education and seeking employment as "success." Is it really success to work for someone, who don't really care about your well-being? It's hard to say, because not everyone is a born entrepreneur and can experience that type of lifestyle.

I'm not sure these days on what happiness is suppose to mean. I was always told to study hard and work hard...then things will pay off and you'll be happy. But I don't feel like the promise I was told is reflecting reality either. So is it a lie? Hard to say, there are people who feel happy at their jobs and find security in it. I was always skeptical of it. It's not that I wasn't ever happy at my job but it's the question of whether you should attach yourself to your job when it can disappear anytime in the form of a layoff, resignation or firing. If that's the case, then your happiness and fulfillment shouldn't be allocated to a job, but we pretty much sacrifice our entire livelihood for our jobs to say it never mattered in the end. It's the most logical behavior, but the most depressing existence to be honest.

[greywitchrp]

There were many stories to be heard, and Ella smiled that some of the boys had attached themselves to Jack.

When she saw Vinnie outside she extracted herself from the children to go and check in with him.

"Have there been any more incidences?" she asked as she approached. The look on his face wasn't a happy one, it wasn't the look of a man who felt that people were safe.

He nodded and twisted his foot on the cigarette butt he'd just dropped. "Yeah, well across the district, out of our precinct. Don't have to be a brain scientist to figure out they're connected."

Ella smiled to herself at him mixing up the idioms. She did not point it out though, he looked like it was all weighing on him quite a bit. She sighed outwardly though.

"I guess it was too much to hope that it would slow Thane down."

Vinnie's head shot up and his eyes bored into Ella. "No one said nothing about Thane being involved, Miss Ella."

She opened and closed her mouth before attempting words again. "Well, I assumed."

"Don't give me that crap, you know something that don't you. Why aren't you saying?"

Ella ran her fingers over her face and then sighed again. "I don't know anything, I don't know enough. I've seen people around before things happen, people I think are Thane's. And I had a run in with him when I was a teenager. I know what bad news he is and I know some of the dark activities those companies are involved with. I have nothing that you can use to prove it is him or stop him."

She realised that Alec and Jack had arrived behind her but she was committed to this conversation now. Silence however greeted her comment. That was until Alec spoke.

"Ella, how old are you?"

"I'm thirty six."

"And this would have been about twenty years ago. You're one of the flower maiden survivors, aren't you? That's why you don't talk about your past much, isn't it? That's how you ended up with Molly before she died?"

Ella didn't reply. She hadn't been one of the flower maidens, she had been adjacent to that. Different kind of experimenting going on, to what those girls had been through. And her clients had been a different breed to theirs. She wasn't to be wasted on the cheap Joes.

Similar to debutantes, the flower maidens were young poor girls who were sponsored by rich women, like Martha, and taught to be a lady. They were given lessons in etiquette, cooking, sewing, all the useful things. Then there was a dance at the end of their training. Many were then employed into wealthy households, maids, kitchen helpers. It happened most years though it had fallen more and more out of favour. Mostly as the number of household staff lessened with such things as laundry machines. But back then it had been quite a big deal. It had been when the girls were vying to be chosen for sponsorship, so many teenage girls trying to be noticed. Instead, a number of them had vanished that day. Some were never seen again. Some still showed up from time to time, but there had been forteen who had escaped. Many of them died shortly after, the damage already done. Others still bore the scars physically and emotionally.

It had been a little while after those girls had escaped that Ella had ended up in Molly's care being nursed back to health before being taken under her wing. Still, her expereinces were close enough to not feel like she was completely lying. Those girls had suffered terribly, and yet, it was nothing compared to what Ella had gone through.

When Ella didn't answer Alec continued. "Thane was involved then wasn't he? There were rumours."

"Rumours don't get people convicted, and rumours won't keep you safe," Ella replied, deciding that any little information she gave about Thane might be puzzle pieces that might help Vinnie and Murray see the full picture one day. "He was involved, he wasn't as high up in the organisation as he is now, but it was his project. But we knew we could not prove it, and he would be believed not us."

She realised her hands were trembling slightly and she pushed them into the pockets of her coat to hide that fact. It was so long ago and she hated that Thane still had any hold on her. This might work in her favour. If it got back to Thane that she was a flower maiden, maybe he would stop trying to investigate her. It would give him a motive for helping the others. It would not explain what happened to his men but she was still hoping he might think they never even got to her before they met their ends.

"Well, you never know, tongues could wag" Jack made an over the top show or checking out all the windows for watching neighbours "But I somehow suspect being seen in your company two nights in a row could only improve my reputation"

Smiled at her, just walking for a moment before adding "You seem to be held in high esteem by everyone around her"

The walked, just chatting. It felt so natural, so easy to talk to her as the strolled together. She intrigued him, she had secrets she wasn't sharing, but more than that, they just seemed to find the same topics to talk about, just seemed to see the world the same way.

The reached the church all too soon, as the children came pouring out the moment was broken. Jack was weirdly sad the walk was over, he could have spent the whole day just talking with her.

[thepervymermaid]

Would things be spicy if you had 2 ppl being yandere for you? Like Mikey x reader x sanzu or something like draken x reader x inui? It would be so hard trying to escape ngl feel bad for the reader if something like this happens lol. Thoughts on this idea?

Character(s): Mikey, Sanzu, Draken, Inui

Warning(s): Yandere themes, assault, violence's, slightly suggestive, unhealthy dynamics

T_T I’ve been trying to write but being an adult is freaking hard man. Anyways, hope you like it because I have fun writing it!

Mikey x Reader X Sanzu

Did someone order a dysfunctional relationship at table 12?

To start with, Mikey liked you first. You were his beacon in the darkness, one could say. You would like to disagree. You’d just call it human decency, but for him, it touched his heart. He couldn't help but grow steadily attached to you the longer you guys were around each other, mostly forced on your part.

However, Sanzu noticed the very subtle changes in Mikey's behavior. He still treated everyone with viciousness, the dead look in his eyes never changing, but he had a certain softness when it came to you. Whether it was the mention of your name, or the sight of you doing a simple task, his entire demeanor just seemed to melt in your presence… and he really did not like this.

This leads to him confronting you the moment he gets you alone and spewing as many threats as he can to get you to stay away from Mikey, but the longer he’s in the presence the more he starts to understand Mikey's infatuation. There’s just something about you, maybe it’s the way you look at him, that has his last threat ending off as more of a sultry warning than an actual threat.

…and of course, Mikey will find out about this interaction. Do you think he doesn’t have eyes on 24/7? Of course, he does. So don’t be too surprised when you walk in on him later assaulting an already bloody and drugged-out Sanzu who seems to be enjoying all the pain given to him. It’s his punishment for touching you without permission.

You guys will never have a regular relationship by the way. 

Mikey will always have the most control, monopolizing you. I don't think he even really acknowledges that he shares you with Sanzu so much as he tolerates Sanzu begin around you. However, whenever all three of you are together, he hogs you to himself and gets violent if Sanzu tries to get touchy with you.

Sanzu really only gets time with you when you guys are alone, and when you’re alone he’s invasive. There’s no personal space, not a single part of you go’s untouched, and if he’s feeling particularly protestive, he’ll leave hickeys and marks for Mikey to find later, which never ends well for you.

It’s kind of like two dogs fighting over a chew toy… you could try to escape, but then they’d actually start working together, and then you’d really be screwed.

Draken x Reader X Inui

Possibly the best duo to be a part of, because they are very giving and loving.

Most of their yandere tendencies would go over your head because they both act so sweet to you. Though it was never stated or firmly agreed upon, most people who know you guys know not to try and get too close to you, otherwise, they’ll have to deal with both of them.

They both mutually kind of realized they liked you and just decided since the other person was trustworthy and wasn’t someone who would hurt you then it wouldn’t be that bad, and learned to compromise even if no words were officially exchanged. 

You find yourself spending most of your days at the bike shop with the two, and less with your friends. Part of it’s because they’ve been avoiding you in general, but you just feel more comfortable around the two of them. If everything between you three is going smoothly, then they’ll keep themselves in line and you could live a pretty decent life with them.

However, if you do decide to reject their obvious interest in, Draken’s more likely to be the aggressor between the two. He would never actually hurt you, but a too-tight grip, tugs that make you feel like your arm will tear, and manhandling you where he wants you to be, is not out of the question. 

Inui would be mostly hands-off. It’s his words you should watch out for. His insults are often demeaning and blunt, making you feel like you overreacting to the situation at hand. He won’t even argue with you, it’s just the names and the way he looks down on you that makes you feel over dramatic, despite being rightfully upset at the treatment.

This could either be a nice little paradise or an inescapable hell depending on how you act.

[baddiedaddy7]

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘀🥀🖤

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲😎

strong presence. can be charismatic. minds their own business lmao. their mysteriousness makes them sexy. might be pale. observant. can come off as cold or moody. might get tattoos and piercings. might like to “redesign” themselves every now and then. has good intuition. can be too secretive. doesn’t trust easily. can come off sinister. likes it rough. since first rules the head they might be into hair pulling.

celebrities:Beyoncé,Keanu Reeves,Britney Spears,Ryan Reynolds

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲🤑

probably great with money. ambitious. practical. can be stingy. hard headed. might be motivated by 💵 lol. good at making plans. try not to indulge excessively. likes sensual and strong scents. dark colored perfumes. sensual ppl in general. might have a thing for ppl with a “dark” style. likes someone they can’t easily read. desires oral sex, and hickeys.

celebrities:Cher,Heidi Klum,Harry Styles,Robert De Niro

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲🗣

charming in speech. might be a fan of murder mystery’s. likes to talk abt sex related things a lot. can be manipulative w/words. might have a deep or “sexy” voice. might’ve fought a lot/been bullied a lot in school. witty. over protective when it comes to siblings. the sibling that has mood swings lol. might even have jealousy issues with their siblings. siblings probably have scorpio in personal placements or a prominent pluto in their chart. doesn’t trust ppl easily. might have a knack for psychology. dirty talk, and sweet nothings gets these individuals aroused. anything that deals with hands are also a turn on. might not like sessions to be long, and into nudes lol.

celebrities:Céline Dion,Bella Hadid,Drake,Michael Jordan

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲❤️‍🩹

honest. strong-willed. mature, esp emotionally. loyal, and most likely reliable. can be jealous of family members, or just clash with them. mother might keep big secrets away or be abusive. mother might’ve been overly attached or obsessed with you. these ppl might’ve been an unexpected pregnancy. probably quiet and mysterious as a child, kept to themselves. the kid that probably just sat by themselves during recess/could’ve been a loner. moms death can take a great toll on you. parents might’ve been controlling but wanted the best for you. trauma stems from childhood. could’ve went through sexual abuse. mother that’s probably passionate, and can be caring. she might also have a lot of pluto/scorpio energy in her chart. these ppl might be hard to get to know. pragmatic. shouldn’t do one night stands, they might get too attached, so they’re most likely to sleep w/someone they have an intense connection with. touch boobies lmao. might like positions where you stare into eachothers eyes, and have access to hugging lol.

celebrities:Sandra Bullock,Selena Gomez,Kanye West,Ben Affleck

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲☀️

can be romantic, yet intense. probably spiritual. might like rock n roll music, or music that talks abt dark subjects like death, drugs, etc. enjoys horror movies, conspiracy theories, and true crime stuff. probably into witchcraft tbh, also probably really likes astrology. your flings might end up becoming very serious or intense. children, esp the first child might be a scorpio or have a lot of scorpio/pluto influence. try to avoid being judgmental. might also be childish. children may be intimidated by you at first, but get too attached later on. sex will be full of passion. positions like the anvil, or doggy, any deep penetration positions might work best for you.

celebrities:Mariah Carey,Lady Gaga,Gordon Ramsey,Will Smith

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗶𝘅𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲🫐

can be open minded. might be obsessed with health, and get freaked out over the littlest things. cats would make a great pet for these placements. they also might own unusual pets like spiders, reptiles, etc. workaholic. might have health issues with genitals, so be careful. might have surgery done on genitals at some point. might crave being in control. probably wants to be their own boss. always trying to improve or reinvent themselves. you probably have sex, or masturbate every day. might have sexual relations with co-workers. the shower or bath might be a good setting for sex to these ppl. might like anal lol.

celebrities:Shakira,Demi Moore,Snoop Dogg,Michael Jackson

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲🤍

loving. extremely passionate. can be empathetic. might attract scorpio/pluto placements a lot. lovers may be overzealous, overprotective, and/or envious or you might be this way. relationships can be life changing. can be low key aggressive. love, and being vulnerable can terrify these ppl. might keep their personal relationships private. selfless in the bedroom. all abt pleasing their partner. might be into spanking, or butt rubs lmao. face to face positions are a turn on for these folks too.

celebrities:Rihanna,Kourtney Kardashian,Barack Obama,Orlando Bloom

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲🪐

the ultimate lol. great intuition, has a knack for conspiracy theories, psychology, astrology, and probably taboo things. likes getting in trouble😈. sensual, and has major sexual appeal. people smart. thinks about sex, mortality, the unknown, and just general dark themes a lot. either fears or embraces death, maybe both. ambitious, and usually actually lives for a long time. experience makes these ppl wise. goes through a lot of transformations in life. understanding. a lot of ppl envy ppl of this placement, mostly bc of their sex appeal/attractiveness. powerful in some way lol. likes that moneyyy. can be possessive, either with possessions or ppl or both lol. sex can be life changing and intense. into or open to bondage, d/s, rough sex, etc but might like it romantic, erotic and sensual too.has an amazing sex drive.

celebrities:Princess Diana,Brigitte Bardot,Marlon Brando,Bruce Lee

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲🌺

full of curiosity. analyzes. deep rooted. might be emotionally invested when it comes to the beliefs/beliefs may take over their life lol. when in college, might major in psychology, solving, investigating, etc. justice is important to these individuals. judgement also, and self obsessed. likes big butts w/a side of thighs. sex is fun to these ppl, and they’re probably up to trying new things. lube is your friend. probably has a big penis/fat cat lmao.

celebrities:Nicki Minaj,Winona Ryder,Robin Williams,Frank Sinatra

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲🥂

charming, and creative. might come off as standoffish or just disrespectful lol. private reputation, and keeps things in the dark. might be known for being inappropriate. controversial reputation. known for being passionate among peers. may be feared by some lol. can manipulate their way to the top. i can see someone with this screwing their boss/authority lol. into domination and bdsm. leash and whips.

celebrities:Bjork,Taylor Swift,Prince,Eminem

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲👩‍🎤

friendship is a priority. friends are really enemies so watch out. friends might have scorpio/pluto energy in chart. kind. probably a good listener. the mysterious or quiet friend. you might not like when your friends bring around other ppl lmao. you don’t give your trust away easily, and prefer a small circle of friends. can be dismissive. might lose virginity to friends tbh or have sex w/their friends. experimental. group sex maybe. might get piercings on genitals

celebrities:Scarlett Johansson,Kylie Jenner,Chris Evans, Albert Einstein

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗳𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲🧜‍♀️

selfless. intuitive. past life was full of intensity. might’ve had a public death in the past life. past life could’ve been filled with crime. these individuals can be distracted and very sensitive. wild imagination. dreams can seem so real, and dark. dreams might predict things. may take secrets to the grave. gotta have a strong and emotional connection to want to have sex. won’t sleep with just anyone, unless they need to cope with something. might try to please too much during sex but you should focus on your wants and needs too. foot play is also big here.

celebrities:Marilyn Monroe,Madonna,Steve Jobs,Tom Hanks