#oh what could have been!

[roxannarambles]

Hey! I just want to make it VERY clear that I don’t expect much from this and I completely respect if you just simply don’t want to talk about this anymore and want to be done with the fandom/show (and you delete/ignore this ask as a result):

But, is there any chance you would be willing to tell us about the plans you had for your Lunter fanfic, Second Chances? No pressure at all, I just wanted to express how much I admired your writing and characterization, and I really loved that fanfic and I guess I’m just curious about how you were planning to end it!

Again, if you prefer to not answer this, I completely understand, seriously. 💕

Hiya! Oh, gosh, yeah, I had a lot of plans for that story. If I had continued with it, it probably would have ended up as long as Ships That Pass in the Night. My ideas tend to get kinda . . . long. 😩 Longer then I have the time for, sometimes. Alas.

I have indeed moved on from the fandom-- canon was just making me feel so frustrated-- but I don't mind sharing my Outline for the rest of Second Chances. Fair warning, though, it's long! I don't have the word 'rambles' in my username for no reason, haha. (And thanks so much for your kind words, by the way.)

-Oracle Homework. Hunter helps Luz with her Oracle homework. Talking to her is so much better then texting. Luz has glyphs that lets her activate the magic orb when she touches it. But while she has the magic she still needs the technique, to see the future. Hunter never has done Oracle magic of course. But he was taught the principles even thought he could not use it himself. He guides Luz through the process. Tells her to close her eyes and listen to his voice. With his coaching she can open her eyes and see the fragment of her future in the orb. She is thrilled. He's honestly surprised it worked. He asks what she sees. Luz says, "I see . . . us!" Hunter is floored by this statement. His heart flip-flops. "What?" She goes into more detail. She sees them camping together. Like they talked about before. Roasting marshmallows, eating s'mores. Hunter sort of squeaks, 'Really?' (The spell was meant to show your heart's desire, for the future, the trajectory of your current path) Hunter can't get this out of his head the next day. He tries desperately to forget about it.

-Glyph Magic. He's falling for her so hard. He grows slowly more rebellious. He continues to watch her glyph videos and eventually tries making glyphs for himself, and decides to show Luz, he is so excited. He does it late at night and Luz is so excited for him. They flirt.

-Ruler's Reach. He knows what he's doing is risky. But he doesn't care. Talking to her is giddy and intoxicating. They talk about Luz's writing for Ruler's Reach. It's casual and comfortable, so easy to talk to her now. They tease each other in an affectionate way.

-Staff Practice. She calls him during the day for help with staff tricks. Hunter is so damn in love he'd drop anything for her now. So he skips out on his duties to help her. He can't do much over scrolls though. He wants to go in person, but he isn't quite bold enough to do it. He helps as best he can, feels deeply frustrated, Luz almost gets hurt but saves herself with glyphs/only gets a little scratched. She thanks him for the help but he feels bad he didn't just go in person to help her. (He's terrified, go and meet the enemy? What if someone saw him?) Oh my god, he wanted to see her so badly. Luz: 'No I get it, I do! Don't worry.'

(but he WANTS to be able to be there. he WANTS to see her in person. and he's starting to RESENT the coven. he's so jealous of her being at hexside and doing all these fun things, he wants to share that with her, oh god, but he can't. he can't.)

-Luz Fills In. And then he learns the flyer derby team is down a player (Willow texts and asks if he can come, he says he can't and feels bad), and Luz ends up doing it, and Hunter is like but u need more training!! and she's like it's ok willow is gon help me and Hunter is so jealous and it hurts

He later sees they win!!! He is so proud. But wishes he could be there. It makes his throat tight, it burns. He does not sleep well at all and has a crap day next day, at the end of the day he is just an absolute mess and decides to brew a sleep potion. But he screws it up a little and gets kinda loopy and drunk. He texts Luz.

-Drunk Texts. He texts about his crap day and how much he wanted to talk to her. how he wanted to play the flyer derby game with her. he shit-talks the coven a little. luz is giggly at it, because he normally isn't one to talk such smack. it devolves into him rambling about how she makes him feel, how much he admires her, luz is really flustered and starts to wonder what's going on, he asks if he can call her because he wants to hear her adorable laugh, she calls and asks if he's okay, he is SO adorably excited to see her, she's like "are you okay man" and he's like, "damn girl I am now that you're here," Luz is like 'asdfrfhhgkk!!'

'so just like, curious, do you have any like, boyfriend or girlfriend'

'Oh my god Hunter seriously, are you okay'

'you're avoiding the Q :('

'um, no,'

"oh, cool! I mean. uh. it. would be cool. for. anybody whod want to. be that."

eventually Luz works out he's had a sleep potion but he thinks he kinda messed the recipe up a tad. luz gets worried and questions him further about it, but he explains it prob wont hurt him and will wear off probably around [insert time] (he knows potions pretty well) and luz realizes it's prob okay. she probably doesnt have to go over there.

hunter: 'you want to come here??'

she's like ah ha ha ummm that might not be a good idea, just promise me you'll drink some water and go to bed, okay? hunter is pretty suggestible in this state so she convinces him easily.

-The Morning After, he has a bad headache and is mortified at what he did last night, and is so scared he's wrecked his friendship with Luz. He cannot risk that, he values her way too much. Luz texts and checks in on him, and he is like........what do I say.

'luz I am so sorry'

(he does NOT remember all the stuff he even said, which is normal when you are drugged and sleepy, tbh, I don't recall all the stuff I think and say either when I've had my sleep meds. but he does recall being flirty and excessively honest and a few things he said, like how adorable her laugh is)

Luz assures him it's totally fine. And it was honestly freaking adorable. He's still embarassed, but she promises it's fine he just needs to be more careful with his potions.

Hunter tries to busy himself with work and forget about Luz. Yes, she is so tempting, she is so wonderful, but he had to be realistic. He could never be with her even if she DID want to be with him.

-Tibbles' Shop. And yet when he's out on patrol, busting Tibbles' shop of human trash, he can't help but think of her. And how much she misses home. He awkwardly asks Tibbles what a human would like. Eventually he gets a broken ukelele. He knows he can't bring it to her, but maybe he can play it for her? She could hear a human instrument. Maybe she'd like that. And m-maybe it would make up for the fact he couldn't be there for the team in person.

-Music Practice. He practices when he thinks nobody will hear, but Raine does. He is embarassed and tries to act dumb, but Raine is like cmon man what do you take me for. Sighing, Hunter shows them the instrument and explains it's human in origin and he was trying to figure out how to play it. Raine tells him it is out of tune (whatever it is) and they take it and tune it up. It's similar to a number of Demon Realm instruments, close enough for Raine to figure it out. The music it produces is lovely. Hunter wishes he could sound like that. Raine is happy to teach him, Hunter is hesitant about asking others for favors. Raine says it's fine, and also wonders why Hunter's sudden interest in music.

He finds a way to surf the human internet. He finds a song online to practice. He's never going to show it to her. Never. But he enjoys practicing it. Just as he enjoys practicing for Flyer Derby. His glyphs.

(haven't sketched out the scene where he actually plays for her, but he does at some point)

-Darius narrowly saves Hunter's hide. At some point, Kikimora finds a post on social media that shows Hunter with the rest of the Emerald Entrails (Willow had posted it), sporting a cardinal palisman, to boot. Kikimora brings this up to Darius, gleeful at the notion of busting Hunter. Darius has to think of a lie quickly on the spot to protect him. He mocks Kikimora for thinking that student was the actual Golden Guard. Obviously it was just some highschool student using a glamorstone to imitate him. Didn't she know it was popular among kids to use glamorstones to imitate celebrities? Very cringey, these kids, but yeah. AS IF the Golden Guard would waste his time playing sports games at Hexside?! Kikimora, you're ridiculous. Meanwhile, Hunter overhears this whole conversation, grateful for the save.

-And then, The Emerald Entrails lose another team member. Skara leaves the team to play Grudgby. They're in trouble. Without a full team, the EE will be disqualified for continuing to play matches. They need a new member. Hunter learns of this and wants to help but is incredibly torn about things. How can he possibly help? Eventually, he thinks back to Darius' lie to Kikimora and it gives him an idea. He goes to Darius to beg for help on his cover story. His cover story: he is a Hexside student named Caleb who does most his work as distance learning and he uses a glamorstone to look like the Golden Guard because he admires him. Except this isn't just a cover story. With Darius' help, acting as his legal guardian (forged paperwork), Hunter literally, legally gets accepted by the school this way-- so that he can join the game and play.

-Flyer Derby Game. We swap to Luz POV. We are not aware yet of all the stuff Hunter did with Darius to pull this off. We just see Hunter dramatically show up right in the brink of time to join the game and thus save the team. They play together, Luz & Hunter have incredible teamwork, pull off some really snazzy moves, flirt during the breaks, during the game too, are huge dorks, they win it for the team, it's a close race, they're victorious and so elated at the end, Luz kisses his cheek as the drink is dumped on them. The moment Luz looks away, Hunter bails, though; on the pretense he has to get back to the Coven before anyone notices, but the truth is he bails because he's overwhelmed and so tempted to pull Luz into his arms and never let her go.

-Aftermath. The social media reaction about that game is strong. Everyone adores the new student Caleb and how he and Luz won the game. There also are a lot of comments on how they looked together aaaaaand some implications are made about the nature of their relationship. (Luz tries to hide these comments from Hunter.) There are also some comments saying mean stuff because that's the nature of the internet, but in general it's a big hit.

However, Hunter is in crisis. He's certain he must not see Luz again in person, no matter how much he yearns, now matter how sweet it tastes to just be a Hexside student with no worries, how tempting it is to help her with Glyph videos, no matter how many comments on Penstagram are asking about them, etc . . .

-Climax of story. This is the moment Hunter faces a choice. I have multiple possible directions for the completion of the story. I usually leave multiple possible threads open for a story and don't decide on them until I have reached that point in the story. So this part isn't sketched out. But it's either Hunter chooses to stop interacting with Luz and remains loyal to Belos, or Luz manages to somehow convince him to rebel.

I do admit my favorite idea was that one night, Luz appears at his window, and the air in his lungs tastes like ice water; her eyes glow like the moon, and his skin prickles with gooseflesh from head to toe; the curtains flutter in the breeze, and in that moment, Hunter's resolve to stay away from her snaps like dry kindling.

[jvledrn]

[apollos-boyfriend]

so my younger cousin is flying in to visit from brazil on sunday, and will be staying here for like, the entirety of july. which, don't get me wrong, is super cool! i love the kid! but it felt like a super weird move, considering his parents are the SUPER strict and borderline helicopter parents. even the smallest prank/roughousing with him/his little sister would lead to a strict talking to from his parents, he couldn't ever do anything without their clear permission, that sort of stuff. so letting him fly at alone at 16 to a whole different country and stay there for a whole month seemed WILDLY out of character. additionally, it just felt like a super last-minute trip. it's not like we have any plans to do when he gets here, and the flight itself and stuff only got booked like, midway through june.

and i was talking to my mom about it, kind of trying to nudge some answers out of her, and after a while she went, "yeah, i think they're sending him over here to get away for his boyfriend. see if the distance breaks them off." which, first of all, surprised me because last i checked, they didn't KNOW he had a boyfriend. literally everyone in the family did EXCEPT for them because while that entire side of the family being semi-conservative, his parents (mostly his dad) are EXTREMELY old-fashioned. so clearly something already went wrong. and considering the only reason the rest of the family knew is because one person found out and it spread like wildfire, i have a sneaking suspicion he wasn't the one to tell them, either.

and second of all. they're sending him HERE. to try to make him forget his homosexuality. i couldn't do anything but just wordlessly gesture to the multiple pride flags scattered around my room, then to myself, because really? he has like two other cousins in the us and they're sending him to me? honey i am about to introduce this kid to queer scenes you have never even heard of. he'll be returning home with labels only shrimp can perceive

[strawlessandbraless]

Jensen Ackles saw this early script draft and made the choice that Dean would NOT make Cas feel bad for hugging him after the angel thought him dead

In fact, he let Dean be fully embraced by Cas, let him melt into the hug with a soft smile. Dean got to proudly Introduce his angel to Mary without shame or embarrassment, and that’s beautiful

[inkskinned]

"don't make it political!" .... what proportion of death and suffering must occur before politics are involved. if this isn't political, what is even the point of any politics, ever. of democracy. the words are "by the people for the people." if i am going to be left alone by my elected representatives to "figure it out" - to undergo damage, hardship, fear. what the fuck did i elect them for. what was their job. the entire point is that they handle this shit. this is why we were supposed to be electing leaders.

poverty is political. misogyny is political. gun control is political. climate change is political. how much aid a community gets is political. what the fuck are you talking about. it's been political this whole fucking time.

[technically-human]

Part two of the reverse verse is here! The reverse boys meet the original boys. They're not really getting along as well as I had hoped...

Again, this was a commission for @i-am-as-normal-as-you-are and they asked for angst/funny vibes... I think it's mostly just angst though. Oh, well...

Part one

[microvibing]

I like ward *gives him an existential crisis*

Character From marble sky comic by @ somerandomdudelmao, you should def read it right fucking now cuz its awesome

[crowleyanthonys]

it's been months and i'm still reeling from the fact that hell interrupted aziraphale's love confession while heaven interrupted crowley's love confession 💀

[twinstxrs]

so much happened in this whole episode but i’m still on fig infiltrating ruben’s dream, making it look like the place where his friend was murdered, and then disguising herself as kipperlilly & repeatedly saying different variants of “somebody needs to take the fall for this, and it’s not going to be me. it’s going to be you.” while adaine as the elven oracle shows up next to her. can you imagine waking up from that, the idea of a horrible truth being pinned on you by your friend to save her own skin while the personification of fate and destiny stands there, almost as a promise that this is GOING to happen to you. we don’t even know if this kid is guilty. my god.

[mysticalfg]

descends upon the cartinelli fandom from up high ayo anyone still alive over here?

[bewarethetooth]

HEYY I'M ACTUALLY ALIVE AND IVE TOTALLY BEEN ALIVE SO HERES MY FAVORITE THING EVER DRAWN TODAY:

Now excuse me while i sleep until 5pm because the sun IS rising and i AM so tired

[intotheelliwoods]

You guys wanted to see some Raph, heres some Raph!

Masterpost

[allgremlinart]

do I think Ty Lee at one point felt genuine friendship and connection with Azula when they were kids before it got corrupted ? yes. do I think Mai wanted to kill Azula with a looney toons hammer since they were 7 ? also yes.

do I think Ty Lee and Mai both incorrectly believe that their internal Azula experiences have been more or less the same ? also also yes. do I think this makes the toxic lesbian love triangle way funnier ? Triple Dog Yes.

[princesssarcastia]

re-watching the second episode of leverage and wondering, for the first time, how much of a revelation nathan ford's crusade was for eliot spencer.

did he have any plan, before then? any path forward that brought him closer to where he wanted to be? or was he stuck in a holding pattern, figuring that retrieval work for rich people who weren't damien moreau was as close to becoming a better man as he could ever reach?

how much did it mean to him, do you think, to be given the opportunity to do some good in the world again?

obviously he's of the opinion he'll never be redeemed, and he's not wrong, per se. but I'm suddenly curious about the internal journey there, for him, in the early days. do you think it was like a gentle dawn finally breaking? do you think it was a relief? or was it terrifying? realizing that he could actually do better, that what he chose to do next actually mattered?

no wonder eliot never abandoned nathan ford, despite all possible provocation. how could he ever betray or desert the man who gave him a hand up out of the darkness, who showed him there was still a path forward?

[somerandomcockroach]

[inkskinned]

one of the things that's the most fucking frustrating for me about arguing with climate change deniers is the sheer fucking scope of how much it matters. sweating in my father's car, thinking about how it's the "hottest summer so far," every summer. and there's this deep, roiling rage that comes over me, every time.

the stakes are wrong, is the thing. that's part of what makes it not an actual debate: the other side isn't coming to the table with anything to fucking lose.

like okay. i am obviously pro gun control. but there is a basic human part of me that can understand and empathize with someone who says, "i'm worried that would lead to the law-abiding citizens being punished while criminals now essentially have a superpower." i don't agree, but i can tell the stakes for them are also very high.

but let's say the science is wrong and i'm wrong and the visible reality is wrong and every climate disaster refugee is wrong. let's say you're right, humans aren't causing it or it's not happening or whatever else. let's just say that, for fun.

so we spend hundreds of millions of dollars making the earth cleaner, and then it turns out we didn't need to do that. oops! we cleaned the earth. our children grow up with skies full of more butterflies and bees. lawns are taken over with rich local biodiversity. we don't cry over our electric bills anymore. and, if you're staunchly capitalist and i need to speak ROI with you - we've created so many jobs in developing sectors and we have exciting new investment opportunities.

i am reminded of kodak, and how they did not make "the switch" to digital photography; how within 20 years kodak was no longer a household brand. do we, as a nation, feel comfortable watching as the world makes "the switch" while we ride the laurels of oil? this boggles me. i have heard so much propaganda about how america cannot "fall behind" other countries, but in this crucial sector - the one that could actually influence our own monopolies - suddenly we turn the other cheek. but maybe you're right! maybe it will collapse like just another silicone valley dream. but isn't that the crux of capitalism? that some economies will peter out eventually?

but let's say you're right, and i'm wrong, and we stopped fracking for no good reason. that they re-seed quarries. that we tear down unused corporate-owned buildings or at least repurpose them for communities. that we make an effort, and that effort doesn't really help. what happens then? what are the stakes. what have we lost, and what have we gained?

sometimes we take our cars through a car wash and then later, it rains. "oh," we laugh to ourselves. we gripe about it over coffee with our coworkers. what a shame! but we are also aware: the car is cleaner. is that what you are worried about? that you'll make the effort but things will resolve naturally? that it will just be "a waste"?

and what i'm right. what if we're already seeing people lose their houses and their lives. what if it is happening everywhere, not just in coastal towns or equatorial countries you don't care about. what if i'm right and you're wrong but you're yelling and rich and powerful. so we ignore all of the bellwethers and all of the indicators and all of the sirens. what if we say - well, if it happens, it's fate.

nevermind. you wouldn't even wear a mask, anyway. i know what happens when you see disaster. you think the disaster will flinch if you just shout louder. that you can toss enough lives into the storm for the storm to recognize your sacrifice and balk. you argue because it feels good to stand up against "the liberals" even when the situation should not be political. you are busy crying for jesus with a bullhorn while i am trying to usher people into a shelter. you've already locked the doors, even on the church.

the stakes are skewed. you think this is some intellectual "debate" to win, some funny banter. you fuel up your huge unmuddied truck and say suck it to every citizen of that shitbird state california. serves them right for voting blue!

and the rest of us are terrified of the entire fucking environment collapsing.