#one of the many reasons i relate to ava so much

[simplykorra]

ava + every episode - episode 2: "proverbs 31:25"

[thecousinsdangereux]

if i'm falling wrong [1/1]

notes: over on Twitter, moonyriot has been working on a multi-part journal from Ava's POV covering her time in Switzerland and beyond. She asked me if I wanted to join in on the fun and write a short one-shot to cover some of the events in part 6. (If you haven't seen any of her posts, here's the first one. They are incredible so definitely check them out.)

—

“The integrity of the upright guides them,” Ava reads, taking care to enunciate each word, “but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. That’s Proverbs 11:3, Beatrice.” 

Beatrice definitely knows, which is — Ava thinks — what makes it so funny. Or. Funny to her, at least. Maybe not so much for Beatrice, whose lips have flattened into a thin line that hides almost all of their pretty pink hue (a color Ava has taken a liking to in a way that definitely relates to how often she finds herself staring at Beatrice’s mouth). 

“It is better to promise nothing than to promise something and not be able to do it,” Ava continues, because she’s never been any good at knowing when to stop. “That’s Ecclesiastes. And — ooh, this is a good one — A person who promises a gift but doesn’t give it is like clouds and wind that bring no rain. That’s — ”

“Proverbs again, yes, thank you, Bible.com.” 

“It’s actually Biblereasons.com.” She shows off the screen of her phone, the one that she’s definitely supposed to be using sparingly (and never does). “But sure, I can go to your bible website of choice. Whatever you want. Pretty sure I’m still going to find the same answer, though. Honestly, I would’ve thought a nun would know that lying is bad. Not to brag, or anything, but I learned that one when I was like five, or something.” 

For reasons unknown, this pries Beatrice’s lips wide, dragging them out into a full smile, pink mouth and small indent at the corner appearing just as quickly as Ava’s pulse picks up, heart slamming up against the poor, battered walls of her chest. 

“How odd,” Beatrice begins, in a low drawl that means Ava’s in trouble (in so many ways). “Because I seem to recall you telling Hans, just yesterday morning, that you were allergic to apples. As a result, he traded pastries with you, leaving you with the chocolate eclair you’d been all but salivating over since you first noticed it in the break room. Given that I know that you were perfectly able to consume a slice of apple pie that the neighbors brought up last week, I am forced to conclude that — ”

“Okay, okay! Jesus. Pump the brakes, Miss Marple. I’m allowed to lie; I’m a dirty sinner or whatever. But you hold yourself to a higher standard, right?” (Unfortunately, Ava adds, but only mentally, because yeah.) “So when you said ‘Ava, if you’re able to best me in a mighty trial of combat, I will bequeath to you a single portrait wherein my lips are upturned in joyous felicitations’ or whatever, I took that as an oath, Bea. A serious, serious oath.” 

“One, I don’t sound like that. Two, no English person alive sounds like that. Why do you default to the Regency era when you’re trying to mock my accent?” 

By now, Beatrice’s smile has really started to crack open, showing off the slightest sliver of white behind those lips. It’d be unfair to say that this (the moment where Beatrice’s eyes crinkle with a laughter she most likely won’t release) is always Ava’s goal in any conversation she has with Beatrice, but maybe it is always an intended stop along the way, whatever the actual destination might be. 

(Other pitstops of note include: the cute scrunch of her nose whenever she’s focused on Ava alone, the half-tilt of her head whenever she’s considering something Ava’s said, the almost absentminded brush of her fingers along Ava’s forearm whenever she wants her to pay especially close attention. There’s a common theme here, but Ava’s well-aware of her own preoccupation, so it’s fine. Probably.)  

“Uh, because I’m paying you a huge compliment? Ungrateful much? Mr. Darcy is like… the hottest the British have ever been. Not that that’s hard because otherwise they kind of really suck, but I’m trying here, Bea, and you’re giving me nothing but attitude. And lies.”

Beatrice sighs. It’s cute enough that Ava nearly sighs too, longing bubbling up behind her lips.

“I told you I would smile for one of your pictures if you pinned me during training. It was implied you would do so without cheating.” 

With a tsk that doesn’t sound anything like the one Beatrice sometimes uses (a low sound from the back of her throat that always did very little to help Ava concentrate), Ava takes a half-step closer so that she might properly waggle a finger in Beatrice’s face. 

“I’m only doing what you taught me, Bea I thought I was supposed to use all the resources at my disposal?” 

Beatrice promptly bats the finger away. But that’s sort of the point. (Sometimes, it’s a little pathetic, the lengths Ava will go to make sure Beatrice is touching her at literally every possible opportunity, but Ava’s never really minded being a little pathetic for a good cause. And Beatrice is honestly never hard to bait, at least in this particular way.) 

“Ava, you bit me.” 

“Which was using all the resources at my disposal! Come on! If I’d been in a real fight, you would’ve called that innovative!” 

“Perhaps if you hadn’t used your — ” Delightfully, Beatrice takes a small, steadying breath before her next word, which, to Ava (who’s spent months studying Beatrice with the rigor of a staunch academic) is as much of a giveaway as one of her cute little blushes. “ — tongue.”

“I think the element of surprise would still work just fine,” she insists, but then Beatrice gives her a look, one that she knows won’t allow for any debate over the merits of licking her enemies, and she gives in nearly instantly. (Ava’s really only interested in using any part of her mouth on one person alone, anyway.) “But fine. Okay. Good note, teach.”

Winter has begun to fade from the air and, as they walk back towards their apartment in the meandering pace that has become their custom, Ava is pleased by this for two reasons. One: their neighbors — who bake enough that Ava’s convinced they’re working up to competing on one of those bafflingly polite baking shows — now leave their windows open, filling the air with the most delicious smells, noticeable even a block away from their home. And Two: Beatrice has taken to wearing short-sleeves again, which means that when she nudges Ava now (with a charmed little roll of her eyes), it’s bare skin against bare skin. 

In training, this is both a pleasure and a problem, because then it’s Beatrice’s shorts and Ava’s shirt being pushed up as Ava gets pinned to the ground and it’s the skin of Beatrice’s inner thigh against the skin of Ava’s hip and that’s a lot more than the casual brushes she’s gotten used to. Ava had long ago realized that any and all logical thought flies out the fucking window when faced with a muscular thigh, so really, it hadn’t been all that much of a surprise when it’d resulted in Ava doing something completely insane. 

Like taking Beatrice’s thumb into her mouth. And biting it. And maybe sucking a little. Honestly, it’s all a bit of a haze, because Beatrice had then made a noise that would most certainly be featured in Ava’s dreams for the next week or month or year, in the most mortifying (and sexy) way possible. 

And to be fair, it had worked in getting Ava out of the chokehold she otherwise would’ve probably happily died in. 

So there’s that.

“Something with chocolate today,” Beatrice comments, and Ava short-circuits for a second, thinking about chocolate and fingers and skin and the really incredible potential combination of the three, before she remembers the neighbors and the smell and the baking and feels her cheeks burn.

“Uh — yeah. Maybe they’ll have extra to share.” The windows on the first floor apartment are (of course) open as they approach, and Ava raises her voice just enough for it to carry through. She catches the intertwined laughter of the neighbors that results, and shoots Beatrice a wink that dispels some of the heat building within her, an emergency vent that she’s learned to rely on. 

“You’re shameless,” Beatrice says, in the exact way she always does whenever she doesn’t mean it (lips quirking at the corners). 

“And you’re welcome, when we end up getting brownies, or whatever they’re making.” 

The door to their building never unlocks easily, but it’s gotten worse as the temperatures have started to rise; Beatrice shoulders it open, muscles bunching in her back, and Ava does absolutely nothing to help, watching the flex of her shoulder blades under the tight, gray fabric. 

“You know me,” Beatrice says lightly, knocking the side of her sneakers against the bottom of the stairs before heading up (and Ava does know her, enough to wait patiently for her to complete this small ritual). “I’m always craving sweets.” 

“You are sometimes! Whenever you come home from a night shift, you break into my stash! And since you have a lot of those coming up, on account of you losing our bet…” 

Beatrice laughs, a soft huff that turns into an adorable little squeak when Ava shoves past her on the staircase and snatches the keys from her fingers, bursting through their apartment door with far less effort than Beatrice had needed below. 

“You’re not letting this one go, are you?” 

It’s probably response enough when she snatches her camera off of the kitchen table and points it at Beatrice as soon as she steps across the threshold, but even this (pretty impressive!) sneak attack fails. Beatrice is quick enough to throw a hand up before the snap, lowering it only when Ava does the same with the camera. She continues to eye her warily as she bends down to untie her shoes, only abating to cast a significant look in Ava’s direction, which persists until Ava kicks hers off far less elegantly.

“It’s one photo, Bea!” she grumbles, watching as Beatrice arranges their sneakers in a perfect little line. “Just… one smile. Let’s just get it out of the way, you know? Look up and … ”

Beatrice does look up. 

Ava has to give her that.

It’s the only warning she gets before Beatrice is standing and her fingers are wrapping around Ava’s wrist and she’s pressed flush against Ava’s front and well. Sure. That’s one way to get Ava to shut up. Probably the only way. Ava knows this about herself, but really can’t find any regret when it’s led her right here. 

“You cheated,” Beatrice murmurs lowly. “Why would I reward that?” 

Ava has a lot of thoughts around the concept of Beatrice rewarding her, and absolutely none of them are good. (Or, rather, they’re all extremely good. Very good. Far too good for her to be able to say out loud, those curling, irreverent thoughts that stick her tongue to the roof of her mouth and keep her up at night.) So it’s really out of mercy that she phases then — slipping out of Beatrice’s grip the only way she knows how that doesn’t involve cheap tricks — stepping back and lifting her camera again. 

What follows transpires a bit too quickly for Ava to track. 

She’s seen Beatrice fight in all sorts of situations — at full speed in back alley brawls and at half-tempo when leading her through a new form — but Ava’s pretty sure she’ll never see enough to lose the surprise that comes from being on the end of one of Beatrice’s first strikes. She’s in front of Ava and then she’s not; it’s really as simple (and terrifying) (and hot) as that. One moment, Ava has her camera ready, and then she’s facing a different direction entirely, her hand twisted behind her back, her camera falling from her grasp. Beatrice is fast here too, swooping down to catch it before it hits the floor, but this allows Ava to throw an elbow backwards, a hit that surely would have broken something in Beatrice’s face had it landed (but which Ava knows by now never will). 

“Double or nothing?” Ava pants, stumbling forward and twisting back around to face Beatrice, who’s gently placed the camera on the floor, carefully out of the way. 

“Two photos if you win and you take my night shifts for two weeks when you lose?” 

“Wait, I don’t like the if/when placement in that senten — ”

She barely ducks out of Beatrice’s grapple, cutting herself off mid-word to manage it, a little breathless already. It occurs to her that she’s definitely made a mistake here, looking up and finding Beatrice serious and focused, strands of her hair slipping out of the low bun that’s already started to loosen. Even in the warm light filtering through their apartment windows, Beatrice’s eyes look dark, and Ava spends a second too long suppressing a shiver at the sight. Which means, of course, she’s unable to avoid the next hit: a full tackle to the floor. Either Beatrice really doesn’t want Ava to take this photo or she really wants to get out of her night shifts, because she’s not going about this in the calm, measured way Ava is used to. (There’s a third option and it’s one Ava likes best; maybe Beatrice just really wants to pin Ava to the floor, to feel Ava underneath her, to feel Ava squirm against her front, fighting to get out of the hold. This is the option Ava relates to best and maybe it’s the one driving her now, putting her at a disadvantage just as significant as all the other ones.) 

Ava hits the ground hard, enough to knock air out of her lungs, but she’s saved, partially, by starting on a twist mid-air, mindful of how dangerous it’ll be if Beatrice gets her flat on her back. Not that Ava is opposed to this idea. Not on a normal day. Not even today, if only Beatrice would — 

“Good,” Beatrice says, breaking through Ava’s thoughts, though not in a way that is helpful at all. Beatrice most certainly notices the jerk of Ava’s hips the single word causes, but almost equally as certainly dismisses it as part of Ava’s attempts to break free. “But you over-rotated. Just slightly. See how I can use that to put you on your stomach?”

Always the instructor, Beatrice explains precisely how she’s going to best Ava before she actually does it; if Ava were better at this (if Beatrice were worse) this might actually be of some help in countering Beatrice’s efforts. Sadly, she’s not, so it isn’t. 

“Fuck,” Ava grunts, face pressed directly into the carpet of their bedroom. It’s honestly painful, the way Beatrice’s knee presses into the center of her back, but it’s a sort of pain that Ava’s come to find — over their months together — that she doesn’t especially mind or maybe even likes and maybe gets a fair amount of pleasure from and maybe thinks about it from time to time whenever she gets a moment alone and — yeah. Fuck is really the only word for it. 

“What now, Ava?” Finally, there’s a hint of the breathlessness in Beatrice’s voice: when she locks one of Ava’s arms behind her back, and Ava attempts to land some kind of backwards headbutt, pushing herself up off the floor with her free hand. “What’s your best option?” 

Beg you to have your way with me, doesn’t really seem like the response Beatrice is looking for, but Christ a girl can only take so much. And right about then, Ava knows she’s going to cheat (because it’s either cheat or blurt out something that will inevitably be extremely horny) but is it really cheating if there hadn’t been any rules put forth in the first place? 

She’s gotten better about controlling the Halo, so it barely gives off any light before she lifts onto one knee and throws herself backwards, phasing neatly through Beatrice’s front. The effort Beatrice had been using to hold her down works against her now, effectively swapping their positions as she falls forward, and Ava’s quick to use that momentum, reaching around to grab the front of Beatrice’s shirt so she’s flipped with the motion. Another (gentle) Halo blast lands Beatrice on her back, Ava straddling her hips and pinning both of her hands on either side of her head. 

“You didn’t say no Halo,” Ava says in a rush, as though the victory will be taken away instantly, as though she cares at all about some stupid bet instead of being on top of Beatrice whose eyes are wide and lovely, whose lips are parted and pink, whose chest is — not something Ava is looking at, thank you very much. Because she’s respectful, she can be respectful, she has to try to be respectful. 

“I didn’t,” Beatrice says finally and then fucking licks her lips, like God Himself has decided that Ava needs to be punched directly in the face with attractiveness or whatever and holy shit. 

Holy shit. 

“Then I — that means — uh — ” She releases one of Beatrice’s wrists like it’s burning, very much aware of the intensity of the gaze resting on her, and blindly roots around on the floor behind her until she finds the camera, resting just where Beatrice had left it. “I get to do this.” 

Her fumbling with the camera is hardly graceful, but honestly, the fact that she’s able to produce words at all is nothing short of a miracle, so she’ll take it. Her right hand is still wrapped around Beatrice’s left, fingers circling her wrist as she pins it to the floor, and she takes a picture of this first, holding her breath all the while. 

“For — uh — proof?” she offers, a little weakly, and Beatrice’s stare finally breaks, intensity replaced by something much softer, something that seeps into the corner of her eyes and mouth in equal measure. Ava’s struck by the sight as much as she is by anything else, and her grip relaxes enough that Beatrice can slip out of the hold, both hands drifting down until they come to rest just alongside either one of Ava’s knees. 

“Proof for who?” 

“What do you — proof for literally everyone, Bea; Hans, Camila, Lilith, Mother Superion, Jillian, the regulars at the bar, our neighbors, the lady who runs the bakery down the street, any random person I walk past for the next month. Hell, I might take out an ad in The Guardian, or something, are you kidding?” 

Beatrice laughs and it’s like a crack in the universe, or something equally and unequivocally earth-shattering. Lungs empty, air knocked fully out, Ava lifts her camera almost instinctively, only to find her view devastatingly obstructed, Beatrice’s arms flung over her face (the grin, still wide with laughter, barely peeking out from underneath). 

“Beatrice,” she groans (or maybe pouts).

“I’m sorry!” And she sounds it too, even through the smile, the half-giggles now petering out. “Truly. I’m not used to being photographed. I can’t think of a time it happened before you took up this hobby, not outside of unpleasant family photoshoots and the like.”

Ava’s heart flips painfully in her chest, but Beatrice is quick to soothe, fingers falling back down to brush against the outside of Ava’s leg, as though Ava’s the one in need of comfort.

“I’m not protesting, Ava. Just tell me what to do.” 

Photographs are meant to reproduce moments, memories, emotions, but Ava’s not sure the best photographer in the world, with hundreds of thousands of euros in equipment, would ever be able to fully capture Beatrice as she is now, fondness bleeding from the tips of her fingers, affection lighting the brown of her eyes, and love — or something an awful lot like it — bending her mouth, a bow pulled taut with an arrow that might be Ava herself, as inconceivable as the notion is. 

“Pretend the camera isn’t here,” Ava rasps, her breath hot (heated by all the things boiling inside of her now). “Just look at me.” 

Beatrice looks at her. 

Ava stops breathing. 

She takes the picture. The camera lowers. And Ava forgets about it entirely, object permanence completely obliterated by a force far stronger than something as trivial as human development.

Underneath her, seemingly content to be straddled, Beatrice looks calm, which isn’t unusual, because she almost always looks calm, so maybe it’s that she feels calm too. Like all the things Ava can always sense running through her at speeds only known to light have slowed down or disappeared entirely. The mission, her duties, her vows, her expectations, these things have washed away (temporarily but completely) until it’s only Beatrice left, staring at her lips. And Ava had thought she’d experienced wanting Beatrice in every way, but this one is new.

(She wants Beatrice like this: exactly herself, without anything else getting in the way.)

“Beatrice,” she says, a hitch in her voice breaking the name into three, distinct syllables. “I’m — ”

Cursed. Saved. Ruined. Blessed. Fucked. 

Ava’s not sure which word applies when the smoke alarm goes off downstairs.

It is not especially loud, or piercing, but it goes off and all of the easy calm flees from Beatrice’s eyes as she jerks upwards, back lifting off the floor until she’s close, closer than before, so close and it’s too much, maybe, or maybe Ava’s instincts are working against her (or for her?) because she falls back as soon as Beatrice completes the motion, balance disastrously (helpfully?) disrupted. 

Oh well, Ava thinks, as she lets herself fall back. Maybe a bit of brain damage would do her some good. 

Except that, of course, Beatrice catches her, a simple slip of her hand around Ava’s back, palm pressing to the middle of the Halo, shocks spreading out from the point of impact. 

“You’re what?” Beatrice asks, terribly quiet, as though she feels the air rearranging around them, molecules shifting back and forth between possibilities and outcomes. 

And if Beatrice were still calm, if everything else were still pushed away, if Beatrice was just Beatrice in that moment — just as she’d been so briefly before — it would not be a choice, what Ava did next. And maybe it isn’t one now either, but it’s in the opposite direction: pulling away rather than pushing forward (creating space rather than closing it). 

“I’m — just — I’m done. With the photos.” Decision made, breath returning, she shrugs, a little bashful now, the steady beep of the alarm and the laughter of their neighbors drifting up from below. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Beatrice’s head tilts, a small crease forming in between her eyebrows. Some people want money or power or peace or the answers to the universe, but Ava thinks she would be content, if only she could know what Beatrice is thinking right now.

“No,” she murmurs. “Not so bad at all.”

[shslbunnylover]

hii!! i love your fics so much. i was hoping it isn’t too late to request a fluffmas fic with melissa x reader. where the reader has never had a good time during the holidays and it’s their first christmas together so melissa decides to make it as special as possible. they go to mels family for christmas and when they get home mel makes the reader feel as special as possible

★★★𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚★★★

Character: Melissa Schemmenti

Summary: See ask above!

Requester: Anonymous

Taglist: @inlovewithgreta @lilfartbox1 (Message me to be a part of the taglist until I get a page set up!!)

Trigger warnings (DL, DI): Mentions of family fighting and seasonal depression

Genre: Fluff

A/n: I added my on little touch to this, hope you like it anon!

Word count: 2.7k

...

...

You were a lot like Jacob. Not in the way that you were incredibly corny or attempted to use the language of your students as a way to relate to them, but rather in your opinions on the holidays. The holidays never meant more to you than family chaos and winter depression, and that idea had been ingrained into your head since the day you first saw the light of the world.

You enjoyed the lights and songs, they were always beautiful in your eyes, but the beauty they brought was always overshadowed by the pain and depression that Christmas and everything around it brought. Whenever people asked why you were a Grinch, you'd just say that 'Christmas was a commercialized holiday with traditions taken from Pagan rituals who were later demonized for those same things'. You tried to find so many things wrong with Christmas so you didn't have to admit that your family was the reason you never enjoyed the holidays. However, once you had moved to Philidelphia and started as a teacher at Abbott Elementary, you quickly realized that almost everyone felt the exact opposite about the quote-on-quote "Most Magical Time of the Year".

Janine was always chipper, so the Christmas spirit was bound to flow into her like the snow into the hand turkey's she used to prevent it from entering the classroom. Barbara was a devout Christian, meaning Christmas meant a lot to her along with it being her favorite holiday of the year. Ava loved the sexy Santa dresses and the incredibly suggestive songs played throughout December (and let's be honest, half of November if you went to any retail store). Gregory was neutral, as he always was, but he liked the movies. Jacob was just like you when it came to this whole season of magic and love and for roughly the same reasons. Melissa, well she adored the holiday season, even if she didn't show it. The only way you found out about the redhead's adoration for Christmas was after you began dating her.

She explained everything to you, her holiday party with Barbara, her dinner with her family, the special things she did with her students, and so many more things that left you completely shocked.

You simply didn't understand, and you wondered how someone could love a season filled with nothing but depression and fighting. It didn't make sense when everyone around you was talking about their holiday plans with family and they seemed excited.

So, when you were sitting in the teachers' lounge a couple of days before winter break, you were unusually silent as you sat next to your girlfriend.

"So, Y/n, what are you doing for the holidays?" Janine asked with her usual bright smile.

You hummed, looking up from your barely-drank coffee with tired eyes.

"I'm not doing anything, I'm gonna stay home," You muttered.

"You're not coming over for dinner hon?" Melissa perked up, her neutral expression into one of concern.

"No, I'm not one for all the family stuff..." You replied, looking down at the beverage in your hand, your focus going towards the patterns made by the creamer on the top.

"But Christmas is time to be with friends and family!" Janine tried to protest, only to be shot a scolding look by Barbara.

"If they don't want to do that, then they don't have to," Barbara spoke. "But, dear, are you alright? You have been down these past few days,"

"And I've said I'm fine," You rolled your eyes, missing the sharp and quizzical look your girlfriend was sending you.

"Can we just talk about literally anything else?" You sighed, mustering up the energy to take a sip of your drink.

"Yeah, I agree," Jacob said before talking about some sort of new movie coming out.

But Melissa wasn't about to let this go. She was fine with you not coming for dinner, but she wasn't fine with you being miserable.

"Babe, can you tell me what is going on with you?" Melissa asked gently, placing her hand on your thigh while her other held the steering wheel.

You weren't technically living together, as you still had your place, but you preferred to be at your girlfriend's house rather than your little apartment, after all, it didn't feel like home there anymore.

"I..." You began, looking out the window to see all the passing trees and cars. "I don't know,"

"You're never like this. I'm not mad at you at all. I'm just concerned," Your girlfriend squeezed your thigh softly to reassure you.

"...Look, my family just fought a lot during the holidays, so I don't like it that much," You confessed, leaning your head against the cold glass.

"Oh," The woman next to you spoke, her eyes focused on the road while her brain tried to comfort you in the best way possible. "I understand that, but there's so much more to the holidays than fighting,"

"I just...I just don't believe you, I want to, but I can't," You replied.

There was silence in the car for a couple of minutes as Melissa thought deeply, finally speaking up after an idea came to mind.

"How about I show you?"

"What?" You snapped your head to look at her.

"How about I show you that the holidays are enjoyable?" She repeated, clarifying what she had said.

"I-I don't know..."

"Look," Melissa said, parking her car in her driveway before turning to face you. "You give me till the end of the year to prove to you that Christmas is a good time, deal?" She smirked, holding out her hand.

You paused for a moment, staring at her hand with a nervous expression prominent on your face.

"And if you don't convince me?" You asked.

"I'll leave you alone, but there will always be a spot open at the table, so you have nothing to lose," The older woman replied. "Now, do we have a deal?"

You sighed, nodding in defeat before shaking your girlfriend's hand.

"You've got less than two weeks, Mel," You warned her, trying to hide that you were secretly grateful to your partner for caring so much about you.

"It's no problem, I can do it," She winked, kissing your hand, fully aware of your gratitude.

A couple of days later, you were sat by the Christmas tree, holding a simple family photo ornament in your hand, your thumb wiping off the occasional pine needle that had fallen onto it.

"Whatcha doin' hon?" Melissa asked with a smug smile, leaning over your sitting frame, blocking the light from your view and causing you to look up at your redhead girlfriend.

"Just looking at the ornament, are you sure your family doesn't fight?" You sighed, letting go of the decoration and allowing it to rest on the tree branch.

"Except for me and Kristin-Marie, no one does really. Every fight is clearly all in good fun," She assured you.

"So...no one walks out?" You asked.

"No, nobody walks out, cucciola," The woman standing above you chuckled. "Me and Kristin-Marie may not get along that well, but we kinda enjoy all that fighting. After Janine invited her over here, we got back to talking,"

You grimaced at the memory, laughing at how pissed off Melissa was at Janine the day after.

"Alright, I'll believe you, for now," You stood up, kissing her softly.

"You better, 'cause we Schemmenti's are known for our persuasion," She smirked.

You rolled your eyes, laying your head on her shoulder, already feeling your heart softening its harsh feelings towards the holidays.

"Say, do you wanna watch a Christmas movie? You can pick," Melissa asked you, wrapping her arms around you to embrace you tighter.

You nodded.

"I like Miracle on 34th Street, maybe that one?" You blushed, pulling your head from your girlfriend's clavicle.

Melissa smiled softly at your rosy cheeissing you on your temple.

"Of course, hon. You can put it on, and I'll head go make us some hot chocolate?" She suggested, walking into the kitchen and leaving you to prepare the movie.

You nodded, sitting down on her couch (that no longer had plastic thanks to you) and grabbing the remote, typing in the name of the movie.

When Melissa finally returned with two mugs of hot chocolate and a bowl of cinnamon sugar popcorn, you were pretty much dumbfounded.

"Holy cow Mel! This is so good!!" You beamed, taking a sip of the hot drink she had made before popping a couple of pieces of popcorn in your mouth.

"Thanks, babe," Your girlfriend sighed at the taste of her cocoa, wrapping her arm around you, her eyes focusing on the movie.

When Christmas day finally rolled around, you were impressed by just how many of Melissa's family members were at her mom's house for Christmas, and everyone seemed to get along (Except Kristin-Marie and Melissa, of course). The whole family seemed to absolutely adore you, and you felt...welcome.

You didn't even need to introduce yourself as you walked in the door, as everyone knew practically everything about you.

Teresa, Melissa's mom, immediately took you into the kitchen and asked you what your favorites of the array of food were so she could make more. John, Melissa's dad, gave you a gruff handshake and asked you if you liked football, which started a whole conversation about Melissa's early days of being a football fan. Kristin-Marie was standoffish, looking at you with a glare the entire time as Melissa had warned you about. Her infamous cousin Vinny was playful and tackled you with a hug in his large frame when he saw you enter the door with his favorite cousin. Her other younger cousins simply flocked around you asking you questions about you, and Melissa's older cousins quickly started sharing embarrassing stories about your girlfriend (You had to duck when she tried to punch them).

You walked into the dining room, helping set out the cutlery and plates to hopefully get some stress off Teresa's back.

"Oh dear, they're so much better than that pig you would bring," Melissa's mother laughed once you were out of the room.

"I told you that you'd like Y/n, Ma," Melissa sighed, stuffing her hands in her pockets with a smile.

You peeked out from the doorway connecting the kitchen and dining room, eavesdropping on the conversation when you heard your name mentioned.

'What are they talking about? Did I make a bad impression?' You worriedly thought, your heart rate picking up.

"Well, you were right. Only one thing, they seem so nervous, did you tell 'em that we were gonna sacrifice them?" Teresa snickered, taking a sip from the tiny bottle of prosecco you brought her.

"I've got a bet with them that I can make the holidays enjoyable, since it never was for them," Your girlfriend explained. "You should have seen Y/n a couple of days ago, they were miserable. I'm glad I got them to enjoy the season more than they used to,"

You smiled softly, your eyes brimming with tears that you quickly wiped away.

"Were you talking about me?" You asked, walking towards Melissa and her mother.

"Yeah hon, my mom loves you," She smirked. "I told you there was nothing to worry about,"

"You've got good taste in alcohol Y/n," Teresa laughed, finishing off the miniature bottle.

"I'm glad you think so, Melissa said it was your favorite, so I got you the new flavor they came out with. I can get you a bigger bottle if you'd like!" You beamed.

"That won't be necessary, I'll get my own," Your mother-in-law waved off your gesture.

You chuckled, beginning to talk about all the stories Melissa told you about her chaotic family, while Melissa slipped away to go be with her younger cousins, a soft smile on her face at the sight of you being so happy.

"I mean, when I heard that story about Vinny I think I couldn't walk from how hard I was laughing!" You giggled, covering your mouth to hold in more laughter.

"He was a weird kid, but we love him," Teresa chuckled, gesturing to the table once she was finished. "It's around dinner time, you wanna get a seat?"

You nodded, cheerfully making your way to sit next to Melissa, leaning your head on her shoulder.

"They're much better than Joe, he wasn't as happy when he talked to us about Melissa, there is something different about this one," Melissa's aunt Chloe walked up to Teresa.

"Definitely, I'm glad we got to increase their holiday spirit and give them a family, they deserve it for how happy they've made my daughter," The older blonde hummed, taking a seat at the table after finishing the conversation with her sister.

"Thank you so much for inviting me Miss Schemmenti," You smiled, hugging your mother-in-law. "The food was absolutely delicious, and your house is gorgeous!" You praised her, looking at your girlfriend before back at Teresa.

"Oh hon, call me Teresa, you're so sweet," The older woman placed her hand over her heart. "I'm glad someone as wonderful as you are with my daughter,"

You practically melted how kind she was and you were surprised you weren't crying.

"She means the world to me," You looked at Melissa, kissing her cheek. "Thank you again for inviting me,"

Teresa smiled, waving you two off as you walked to your car.

"So, how do you like the holidays hon?" Melissa sported a knowing grin.

"I love them, Mel...You did it, somehow," You sighed, looking up and laughing softly.

Your girlfriend chuckled, starting the car and driving out of the neighborhood, noticing how your eyes were locked on all of the Christmas lights and decorations unlike before.

"What if I told you that when we got home, I'd have something that'd make you love the holidays even more?" The redhead next to you spoke after around ten minutes of comfortable silence, squeezing your thigh to get your attention back on her.

"Oh really? What if I told you I didn't believe you?" You smirked, moving your body to face her.

"You didn't believe me a couple of days ago, now look where that got ya," Melissa teased as you pulled into the driveway at her house.

"Whatever," You rolled your eyes, a shit-eating grin still on your lips.

"Now come on, I have a surprise for you," The older woman urged you to go inside.

When you finally entered the house, you noticed the living room was much tidier, but nothing looked out of place except for a couple of non-flame sugar cookie candles being lit, making the whole house smell like a calm bakery.

"You cleaned! I was gonna do that!" You laughed.

"No hon, that's not the surprise, go lay down on your stomach," Melissa instructed you, kissing your forehead before going to the bathroom and bringing back a basket.

"What's that for Mel?" You asked, your speech slightly muffled by the pillow your face was lying on.

"You had a busy night, I thought I'd help you relax," Your girlfriend chuckled.

Her soft yet strong hands lifted your shirt, applying lotion to themselves before rubbing your back thoroughly. You hummed in contentment, melting further into the couch, your eyes hooding from the sudden feeling.

"Thank you, my love. You really didn't have to do this," You mumbled, letting out an occasional moan whenever she hit a sensitive spot on your back.

"It's no problem hon," She bent down to kiss the top of your head, smiling as your body relaxed under her touch. "I'm just glad I got you to enjoy this time of year as much as I do,"

...

If you enjoyed reading this, don't forget to like, reblog and comment! Thank you and you are loved <3

-Akira

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 8 OF BURROW'S END!!!🚨

Dimension20 "Burrow's End"

Episode 8

Timestamp: 15:11

Video Length: 4min. & 52sec.

I can't fully explain how powerful this scene is to me. One thing I love about Dimension20 is the fact that they're never afraid to roleplay the hard situations and the hard talks. It's-

I love how Tula has this hard conversation with her mom and she isn't afraid to tell her mom that she has an obsession with power and control. Ava really seems like she's at a loss for words, and it's understandable, because she's being called out on it....and it's hard. It's because Ava feels so much guilt and shame for losing Ken. The same feeling that Tula probably feels for losing Geoffrey. Ava chooses to feel guilty and tries to forget what happened... while for Tula, her losing Geoffrey is a constant reminder to her that you have to always be careful because so many bad things can happen? It's like- ugh. I don't even know if what I said is right..but that's... that's how I feel and it's so strong.

I wish I could have a talk with my IRL mom like this. In a way that she can just understand and apologize. Which, Ava didn't apologize right away, she did it later on. But I don't even think my IRL mom has apologized to me for so much. She just guilt trips me and says that she failed to raise me...or whatever. And I'm like...if I could have a talk with my mom like Tula did with Ava, and my mom actually just sat there and tried to actually understand what I was saying, I really feel like my own relationship with my mother would grow. 🥲 It's crazy how they have these types of talks in a show like this!! It's SO REAL and they're just playing a game of D&D! It's insane!!

And like- Viola standing up for Tula! Ugh! It was SO NICE! I LOVE Viola and Tula's relationship SO MUCH! How Viola sees Tula as a role model for her own self! I'm- It's so amazing! Tula and Viola are definitely my faves this season! I just can't with them! Rashawn did such a GREAT JOB with this season and I want to see her in more seasons! She gets so involved and attached and I can't even explain how much I enjoyed her in this season!! 😭✋

Also, Lila trying to comfort Ava near the end because Lila felt a little bad for her. Ava was getting cornered, but...the reason Ava gives for thinking and feeling that way...it kind of makes sense? Even though it's not the best thing to say or even think about and put onto yourself mentally. About like, when something bad happens, just finding someone to put blame on or saying that you haven't done enough or telling your own kids that when they lose someone. That's so tough. It's not right. But I can see why someone would feel that way. It's like- always wishing you could've done more. Because if you did more, then things like that "won't happen". But the truth of the matter is that sometimes things are just out of our control...and we have to have an understanding of that. Sometimes there really just isn't anything that could've been done. :/ As sad as that is...that is basically what Thorn was describing to Ava. Sometimes, life just HAPPENS! And you can't do anything but stand and watch.

I love how this season is scary but is also able to explore these super interesting family themes! I love it so much! It's so relatable in multiple ways and it's insane because these are stoats! It shouldn't be this relatable but it really is! I love watching shows that involve strong family dynamics! (One of the many reasons why I also love "The Umbrella Academy"!)

Family is strong! And it's so cool to see a family grow mentally, emotionally, and physically! My relationship with my family isn't the best. But it's cool to see the people inside of a family trying to talk things out and improve their relationships with each other so that they can finally bond and become stronger! 🥺 The messages here are so strong and powerful and I don't even know how else to say it or explain it in words! 🥺🥺🥺 This has been such a strong, and heartfelt season! 😭✋❤️

[limeleviathan]

Hi! I'm Lime, and this is my hole in the roof in this hellsite! As has been previously stated, no, I am not paying rent.

^created by @cittycatplay

Anons are on ONLY for fun reasons. If I get ANY hate from them, then that's it, no one can use them anymore. I've seen the damage it can do, and I refuse to let you engage in it. If you are someone who regularly sends anon hate, or sends it at all, fuck off! And if you are that anon who tormented Loife, know that I will find you and make you regret the day you ever learned what Tumblr was.

My fandoms are currently AvA/AvM, Destiny 2, Splatoon 3, and a little Wings of Fire sprinkled in every now and then.

My interests are (as was previously stated) AvA/AvM, Destiny 2, as well as Terraria, Minecraft, Civilisation VI, Splatoon 3 and various other random games.

My sticksona is featured below, with actual details featured in a post that will be created later:

OC Related Things

Story

[Writing and Drawing] Subject: ARACHNID's introduction and backstory

[Writing and Drawing] Subject: AVIAN's introduction and backstory

[Writing and Drawing] Cerulean's introduction and backstory (Sunset Beginnings)

[Writing] Light, Dark and Loss

Non-Story

[Drawing] AVIAN can shelter with her wings!

More to come as I make them!

And now, I present to you: the people who I am surprised like me because HOLY SHIT ARE THEY AMAZING HOW DO THEY LIKE ME THEY ARE SO MUCH COOLER WHAT

ANYWAY BYE I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS ABSOLUTE CHAOS >:3

My beloved moots:

@owocontroversy

@trying-to-be-cool-abt-it

@reptilia0freptiles

@minholing

@malewife-collector

@shatteredhope123

@aston-martin-in-the-ditch

@cittycatplay

@thx-sunsxts-addrxss

@hillian-sketch

@leaskisses444

@fish-ofishial45

@violetthunderstorm

@returnofthecabbageman

@glcive

@lakedo

@reptiles-of-the-mind

@hangon2thenight

@raccoon-hybrid

@anonymisprincess

@acornsgo

@pleasantdesttinykryptonite

@redley-of-many-noodles

@badgerdoesstufff

@queerquipster

@kitastermiao

@gengarghast

@toast-art

@shrxe

@naugtychild

@svnflowermoon

[daisychainsandbowties]

you know, Ava is my favorite character ever. i feel i can confidently say that. which is something because i have loved several characters very deeply in the past and yet, this feels different. for so many reasons, i relate to her, i empathize with her, i feel protective of her, i respect her, i admire her, i envy her, she brings me joy and i simply love her so much. likewise, Avatrice are, by far, my favorite pairing/dynamic i've ever encountered. i always used to find it was one character in particular in a couple that you were drawn to; and while Ava is my favorite, i am almost equally drawn to both her and Beatrice. both are so well developed, so equally interesting. great care has been taken with both of their stories. i find that rare, special.

i watched warrior nun the night it was released. sat there for seven hours and watched it. if i could have done so unblinkingly, i would have.

toya turner’s acting in that opening scene is what hooked me, because i knew immediately that Mary & Shannon were being played as a love story, a tragedy. felt a flicker of hope in my chest. and then there was Ava, kissing her reflection, running on the beach, and i just fell in love completely.

i opened this app a few weeks later and looked up ‘ava x beatrice’ just to check that i wasn’t alone. but i was, admittedly, too frightened to become invested in them.

what i did do was watch the show dozens and dozens of times. those were hard years, and you know when you love something so much it’s like breath, something you want to wrap around yourself? it was that to me. kind of feels unbelievable now how i clung to it in such isolation, how some days it was a raft and other days it felt like sunlight.

i think Ava is such a testament to survival. the halo wipes away all her scars but you can still see them in how she looks at the world, flinches from it, can’t bear to do anything less than love it. she was a very healing character to me because you can see her hurting and you can see, feel, experience her refusal to surrender to it. how she’s afraid and smiles anyway. Ava laughing in the catacombs (at death), Ava loving what is mortal (herself).

i remember when the second series was announced. i couldn’t believe it. i set alarms on my phone, couldn’t concentrate on the day it released until i got home, feeling terrified, hopeful. i cried for an hour when they kissed. it just… took me out at the knees. i’d lost faith in seeing myself in shows like that, and… i don’t know there’s something about watching two characters you love, two queer characters kiss on screen, for real, that makes you, as Ava says, fall a little bit in love with what you are because there it is!! what you are is beautiful.

so, yeah, ever since then i’ve been, for the first time in forever, vocally, loudly in love with these characters. with Ava, with Beatrice, i think in equal measure. i have a soft spot for Ava because we’re so alike, but i can see myself in Beatrice too. in both of them i see what i am and what i love, and i suppose in falling for them i’ve been tricked a little into falling for myself, something along the lines of kissing my reflection in a shop window

[sydney-carton-of-sour-milk]

The Many Illustrators of A Tale of Two Cities 13: Ava Lisbeth Morgan

Women and the Paths of Bullets

It's a special edition for our unlucky thirteenth edition of this series - an Edition of Two Firsts!

This is our first edition so far to be illustrated by a woman (yeah I know right)...

I have no idea if that Dickens portrait was made by this week's illustrator or not, sadly.

...and it's also our first to have (allegedly) been shot with a gun! Hello!

I've had this edition for a very long time - it's one of the first editions that I ever bought off the Internet, if not the first! I simply could not resist the absurdity of what I was seeing - what a story this book could tell if it could talk!

Sadly, I never saved the link to the online shopping page where I originally found and bought it, and based on my repeated failed attempts to find it again, I think it's been taken down - so you'll just have to take my word for it that the listing claimed it was a bullet hole!

The (alleged) bullet hole was the only reason I bought it, and once I had collected this little piece of intrigue and slotted it into its place on my shelf, I left it there for years.

I knew that it had these beautiful end papers, but many editions have illustrated end papers like this, so I thought little of it, especially since none of these are explicitly A Tale of Two Cities-related.

In all that time, I didn't investigate it much further (evidently not even to take a closer look at the title page) - I just let it sit there, in the back of my mind, separated off from the collection of illustrated editions that I have slowly begun to amass over the last half-a-decade.

One day recently, though, I opened it up again for the first time in a long time just to show it to a friend who was visiting - and when I thumbed through it to show the friend the path of the (alleged) bullet, I was shocked and delighted as the path led me to a new story, a new piece of intrigue that this edition had to offer:

An entire set of six illustrations that were not only "new" (so to speak) to my collection but which I had never even known to exist, by an illustrator I had never heard of! Completely new to me!

The incredible irony of this is not lost on me - I work hard to be complete and thorough in my research, and yet, on my own bookshelf, I had glossed over an entire set of illustrations - and the first (and only so far!) in my physical collection to be illustrated by a woman!

Pondering my own lapse here in living up to my usual intentions, I started thinking more about Morgan's intentions, especially along those lines - namely that, unique among the baker's dozen of sets that we've seen so far, almost all of her illustrations feature female characters as subjects.

It makes me wonder a lot about Morgan - who she was, what her interests were, what got her into illustrating, why so little appears when you look her up, what her life was like as a female illustrator in the 1940s, how she dealt with all that being a female illustrator in the 1940s must have entailed, how much control she had over what she illustrated, what her feelings were about A Tale of Two Cities...

How would Ava Lisbeth Morgan feel seeing this post - these bizarre images of the path of a mystery (alleged) bullet through her own work in a copy of a novel that has otherwise survived for generations? How would she feel tracing its path with us as it travels out of the book just before her final illustration for the novel

of the death of Madame Defarge by her own pistol?

& the standard endnote for all posts in this series:

This post is intended to act as the start of a forum on the given illustrator, so if anyone has anything to add - requests to see certain drawings in higher definition (since Tumblr compresses images), corrections to factual errors, sources for better-quality versions of the illustrations, further reading, fun facts, any questions, or just general commentary - simply do so on this post, be it in a comment/tags or the replies!💫

[demontamerarts367]

I haven’t posted anything on here in a hot second- because my computer is saying I’m not connected to the internet for some reason??? It is tho-

Soooo- here are a couple ava/m related story’s that I really wanna work on but can’t find the time to do so at the moment :(((

AvM Modded: A story where the CG sees a couple modded Minecraft videos and decides to make their own modded world(they also rope Mango and Purple into this)! Though they should have actually looked at what some of these mods contained before adding them. This is a story I originally wanted to do a comic of, but I feel I’m too inexperienced to tackle just yet… maybe once I get better at it…

AvM SoW: After getting separated and lost while playing in the nether (great idea I know), the gang finds themselves in many different locations in Ardonia just a few months after the Second Great War now they have to find their ways back to each other while being followed by Necromancers and the Unyielding Legion. I actually originally thought about this story quite a few years ago!

What if moment (I need a better name for this au plz give suggestions): One of those AUs where second escapes the pc shortly after their creation, but they are found by a group of young adults that are very much struggling with job finding and taxes, now they also got to worry about a child that has the powers of a god. I made a couple posts about this back when I officially joined the ava tumblr community and I really wanted to actually write it.

The Guardian mini comic: A lil mini comic(?) on my oc the Guardian! I’m not gonna tell u what the plot is about cuz I am still working on it lol.

Animation vs Sonic: A bit ago I made a couple posts on some interactions between Sonic and TCO! I have been thinking about these a lot and now I wanna expand it so we can see some other interactions between the Sonic and ava casts! :)

Outernet Fauna mini story’s?: a bunch of mini stories about the different fauna I made for the outernet! :))

[imgonnagetkilledbynutstink]

i love living in ohio. You know why? Its cause i honestly think we have one of the funniest inside jokes in america and im gonna explain it to you.

So, if youre not from here, theres this guy. This guy named Tim Misny. Never met him myself but hes a lawyer. Now, most people have no reason to remember the name of a random ohio personal injury lawyer that theyve never even met let alone worked with HOWEVER, everyone in the Cleveland area is likely to know who Misny is.

See, mr Misny has billboards. Like, a lot of billboards. So many billboards all over and and they always, at least used to say "Misny makes them pay". This, along with him being a pretty memorable looking man makes the abundance of advertising pretty memorable. But is it funny? Not quite.

See, i have this friend. Her name is Ava. And almost every time we'd be driving somewhere, sure enough we'd see one of these god forsaken billiards. In this year alone Ava has said at least three times the following words in relation to the billboards "if this man has the money to put up all these billboards, he has the money to hire someone to make him a better slogan"

Of course my friend is right, however, it wasnt until much later that things started to change... for the worse. See, Misny did change his slogan, however, instead of making it more professional and interesting he makes it "im tim misny. You know what i do"

..... now anyone in there right mind would consider this to be extremly personal. Could he hear my friends prayers? Was the outrage of his terrible slogan so huge that he decided to change it? These answers we may never know. However the chaos doesnt end there. Not to long after he changes the billboards again, but not the slogan. Actually he does the complete opposite of changing the slogan again and gets rid of it entirly, leaving a blank billboard with nothing but a picture of his eyes and terrifyingly sharp eyebrows in its place... needless to say this was much worse than the last slogan, and these billboards have been scaring ohioans, pleguing the local public, and leaving us with more questions that's answers. Dont believe me? I have proof

I might have actually dreamt this one up but im like 70% sure one time i saw one with no text and just him on a motorcycle

[george228732]

Fylass Through the Looking Glass - Chapter Four EX - Village of Serendipity

Dero finally decided to step out of the castle to finally check if those new suspicions on his head were true, but he had already figured out that he would tear up, no matter the answer he could get from all of this, but he was unsure if those tears would be from happiness, or disappointment.

He was afraid of the answer.

The outskirts made themselves present in his eyes, as Ades and Dolly were waiting in there, looking at the lilies outside, some were pretty, some others were red spider lilies, which weren’t ones that Dero, nor Ades liked around. It felt like a bad omen.

"...Are we ready to leave?"

"Yes. To the Tarot Card Village, right?"

"Indeed. If what I am thinking is true, we should find something that could help us with… the Jabberwocky as a whole." He lied for both Ades’ and Dolly’s sake, for he didn’t want them to know about Giselle’s existence. She and Ades were great friends when she was still Queen, but thanks to the Moon of Despair, Ades had to become King out of the lack of a head of royalty.

In case of Dolly, though, Dero had the feeling that she and Giselle were related in some way, for it’s rumored that the bearers of the same suit are always related in some way, and considering the resemblance, the knight become jailer had his suspicions, and wouldn’t want to fill the child’s head with questions she might not want an answer for, as much as he could want to have one.

"Hm, alright. After that, though, we still need to discuss THAT one other topic, if you please." 

"Oh? What other topic are you talking about?" Dolly asked.

"Don’t worry about it, just… adults talking about adult topics."

"Alright, then! Also, Dolly hopes that you don’t have many problems with sending out some of the knights to our mission!" Indeed, there were knights getting out of the castle towards the outskirts too, like Ava, Verin and TK, which were bickering in a friendly manner as they got out.

"Oh, My Queen! We are at your service!" Ava spoke up with glee.

"Dolly’s Knights! Dolly called you to aid us on our adventure!"

At this point, Dero and Ades didn’t have much say on what Dolly could do for obvious reasons, but they thought that this might be a good idea for protection; not that Dero would consider to have this much protection for the journey at hand, however, anything could be possible.

"Hm, alright. People, we are going to the Tarot Village to find something that will aid us in the defeat of the Jabberwocky, once and for all. We might need to talk with the Mayor of Tarot Village too, now that I think about it, for I heard she’s a prophet, and her predictions always have it right around this time of the year, right at solstice."

"Oh! A prophet! Dolly will be excited to see them!"

"A prophet on this land? How didn’t I notice beforehand?" Verin rhymed.

"Hm, I would love to see them too! We were forbidden to get out of the Castle, if only to get to the outskirts to paint the roses red, or on special missions that forced us to get out of the Castle, so it would be nice to finally get to visit Wonderland like we used to!" Twilight Knight said.

Ades got close to them, and gently patted them on the head. "Ah, well, it’s already time for us to get going, alright?" He chuckled. "We can recover our lost time after countless questionable Kings and Queens, at last."

Dero remembered how all of them were friends, but thanks to his demotion as Jailer, he couldn’t be able to reunite with them, only being able to hear the complaints and groans of the people inside the dungeons. It was great to have everything back, but at the end, Dero only wanted one more thing for his life to be complete.

"Well, it’s time to get going, shall we?"

After some more chit chat, the group finally decided to leave the outskirts of the castle, to get towards the Tarot Village, being the place where many of the Wonderlanders live. It usually was filled to the brim with parties, but after the Jabberwocky incident, being the catalyst of Wonderland and Underland’s eternal separation, the mood of the village went down a little. 

Dero was carrying Dolly on his back all the way through, and Ades couldn’t help but laugh a little, as the guards couldn’t help but to feel that something might be going on with them. 

"If we don’t keep catching an eye on these two, we might as well see how our Dero is going to be a dad." Ava said sarcastically to Verin, who quickly remarked, as Twilight Knight tried to find a thread of conversation, until he came up with something.

"Hey, uh… awkward question, but… have you guys had any nightmares last night? Not any "normal" nightmare, though…"

"...Now that you think about that, awful nightmares I surely had."

"Aw, Dolly had a bad dream as well… She can’t remember it well, though…"

Dero and Ades started to be quite suspicious about those statements; from what Dero could see in Ades’ expression, he had nightmares too, but in case of Dero, what he dreamed last night couldn’t be considered a nightmare per se. 

"...What did you guys dream about?"

"...I don’t remember." TK said. "The only thing I am able to remember was the end of it… It was dark, and the only thing I could remember were two green eyes floating in the vantablack space…"

"...We might need to attend some other business until we’re done with the Jabberwocky… There might be other threats around." Dero was certain that this was not normal, and considering those hints, and that talk with the moon above… Something horrible is bound to happen soon, much to Dero’s dismay.

"...Dolly’s scared…"

"...There’s no need to be scared, My Queen." He said. "...Or atleast, I hope so." He murmured as silently as he could.

The path was as joyful as it could be, but there was something in the air that the group couldn’t put a finger on, but seemed suspicious; looking at the ground, the path of dirt and grass became one of a conventional village, made of smooth stones comfortable to the feet.

"Oh, it seems that we’re already here."

Indeed, the village became itself present; its buildings were made of Domino Pieces, stylized dices, among more common houses which were made of popsicle sticks, but they seemed resistant enough for a storm. Whoever made the design of these houses deserves a raise, or better yet, to be fired.

"So… We’re here. What are we looking for, exactly?"

"We need to find the Mayor, of course."

"...Is that the Mayor?" Dolly asked, silently pointing at one specific individual at the center of the village. It was a lady, dressed as a high priestess, like the ones you would see designed in Tarot Cards, ironically enough.

"Yes. I am sure she is. Let me approach her." Dero said as he did as such. 

She was looking at the distance with calm expression, as an odd looking gray jay posed itself on her free hand, the other one being occupied by a flute. She was so serene, that Dero could swear the environment was getting brighter with her presence, as if someone was holding her dearly in their heart. That calm expression quickly became one of curiosity when she looked to her side, seeing Dero approaching her.

"Oh, hello. I assume that you are here on the Queen’s behalf, yes?"

"Actually, the Queen is with me; however, I wanted to confirm some suspicions."

"Oh, that is alright. My name is Aeon, if you didn’t know."

"My name is Dero-" Dero was quickly interrupted by the gentle steps of his Queen approaching him.

"Hi, miss! This is Queen Dolly, but you can call her Dolly!" Aeon was quite surprised to see her Queen just like that, on the outside; that, or because she wasn’t aware that her Queen wasn’t even half her age.

"O-Oh… Hello, dear… What brings you all here?"

"...We’ve been looking for someone special, and I am certain that they’re located around. Could you please guide us towards them?"

"That’s alright. Who is the person you are looking for?"

Dero pondered on the answer; if that letter was nothing but a hoax, his embarrassment couldn’t be outmatched easily, and his hopes would be at rock bottom, and he wasn’t even sure what she would look like at this point. He had to try, though, for he still had hope, against that future despair he was sure approaching.

"We are looking for a blonde lady, with red eyes, and a peach dress with a top hat, is there something with those characteristics?"

"...Not exactly those characteristics, although, from those descriptions, you could be refering to The Craftsman."

"...Craftsman?"

"Indeed. She’s a quite strange individual, a lady that doesn’t speak that much, and always has her eyes hidden. She lives quite at a remote house in that nearby forest." Aeon said as she pointed at one specific point in the woods surrounding the area. "If you see a lone house decorated with thread around, you should be able to recognize it."

The Jailer looked at that same spot, being able to see that it wasn’t that far apart from the place he found himself in Wonderland, around all those 9,000 years ago. He knew what he had to do.

"Thank you, lady-" He was about to speak, until he heard giggling from behind, realizing that it was Dolly, playing with the gray jay that Aeon was holding, and sure enough, she was starting to drift away.

"My Queen! Come back here!" Dero realized that the other Knights and Ades were already going after her, with Ades looking behind, telling him to keep going ahead, for he was sure that Dero could deal with this alone.

"Sigh. Thank you, Miss Aeon. May time be with you." Aeon nodded in a gentle manner, as she kept looking at the distance, until her expression changed suddenly.

"Excuse me, sir. I need to tell you something beforehand."

"...Go on."

"Yesterday, I had a strange prediction, disguised as a nightmare. I saw the four suits, looking at a broken sun and moon, with each star around slowly dying. The suits looked odd however, with their faces scratched out with chalk. I was about to send a letter towards the Queen’s Mailman, Wisp, but you people came beforehand, which is quite coincidental."

Dero was pretty confused.

"...I apologize if my predictions are that cryptic…"

"It’s alright. I’ll discuss this with the Suits later. Now, see you later, if you don’t need anything else to show me."

"I wish you luck, and time may be with you too."

Dero finally decided to leave the village, as he saw how he distanced himself further from civilization, having hope that Ades would be competent enough to catch her and take care of her as the Jailer tried to reach the house Aeon had mentioned.

The forest was dark and gloomy, being much different than the last time he crossed it with Giselle; it felt as if that charm was feeling incomplete. He will complete it, if lucky. It was so quiet that Dero could hear his own heartbeat, only the scurrying steps made by him being the only source of sound, becoming the already eerie place, into a place giving off such a heavy atmosphere.

It wasn’t too long until he realized that, in the exact same place he woke up in Wonderland the first time, now there was an old house, being unable to be found if someone didn’t know the exact same place.

"...This must be it…" Dero did their best to open the door, and the inside was… uncomfortable to say the least. The floor resembled a checkerboard, with brown walls, and red thread hanging from holes coming from the equally brown roof. There was no furniture, only being a hollow, yet messy room of a house.

Dero was about to open the next door, until he heard footsteps coming, and by pure instinct, he prepared for a possible fight, until… someone else opened the door.

She was as beautiful as he remembered her.

She was as shocked as he was at seeing her.

She was his Queen, and he was her Knight.

--------

@heiressofdoodles

@monsterhatdoodles (CREATOR OF THE DRAWINGS!)

@avathestarwarrior

@moon-mage

@ilikesillythingswooo

@loaflovesdoodling

@that-fanperson-meg

@the-chaos-axolotl

@den-of-the-blue-dragon

[snowandwolves]

Tis your neighborhood lengthy ask anon - happy Friday! it's been a weird week, I had a nightmare and it threw me for a loop and off course - it also made me wish i had someone to make me cold hot chocolate. (i was rereading that chapter and there's a line "She could cry. She could laugh. She could run." and she does all three, doesn't she? but also: she stays 😭)

just three questions for you this time - you keep answering, so i'll keep asking! but as always, pick and choose what you feel like answering (i will say that ava getting arrested for streaking feels canon for every universe lololol ALSO worms are weird as heck ack)

In relation to the story, when did Lucia leave? like a year before it starts? months?

Was there any one scene or chapter that gave you a hard time?

You posted chapters almost exactly a month apart - did you plan that? if yes, how did you stay on track?

If you were to have art done for either the lighthouse au or sixth to the ninth, what would be your top 3 scenes?

also holy shit how is it february? what the actual hecking fuck. wishing you goodness and delicious food served at the perfect temperature!

i was responding to an ask before this one and happened to type “february” for it, and i had the same reaction you did. how??? did we get here??? rip my concept of time. also! of course, i’d keep answering??? this is genuinely so much fun for me and also reminds me that there’s more to life than trying to survive capitalism LMAO also, also literally projecting you the warmest, most comforting vibes i have for that nightmare you had 🥺 i’m sorry you had one, and i hope you’ve been having better dreams since! on to the questions!

1. you know, i tried to make a timeline for this to keep track, but HAHAHAHAHA I HAVE NO CONCEPT OF TIME. so let’s say like a year before lighthouse au. i’d imagine it should be enough time for bea to figure out how to live in the aftermath of her but also still carry the hurt lucia caused. oh no, that hurt me to write akdnskd moving on.

2. oh, there were so many. i had the hardest time starting the storm chapter because i’d been building it up literally and mentally 💀 so the brain went overdrive until i finally was like,,, fuck it 😂 also ava’s thoughts after she asked for space! character progression is hard. but i think where i struggled the most with this fic is handling both a main plot (getting them together) and the subplots (ava and bea’s respective character growths). i loved the challenge but it also hurt my brain 😂 i had to put the whole thing in an overly detailed database to keep track of everything 😂

3. god, no. i genuinely have no idea how i managed an update every month 😂 but i think the notion thing and have it all broken down there plus my mess of notes with all the fragments definitely helped. this fic literally taught me the magic of outlining.

4. fuck, lengthy ask anon. i would bawl and make a twitter purely to yell at y’all about any art related to my fics 😂 lighthouse au: i’d pass away if i ever see bea grounding ava during the storm, also them not making it to the bedroom, and also—for some reason—ava taking bea’s photo the first time. sixth to the ninth: i’d cry over ava’s return (the one where camila was there watching bea weep), bea in lilith’s wings, aaand bathroom scene (will break my goddamn heart but yep).

lengthy ask anon, i wish i knew how we managed to get to february but i’m glad we did 🥹 as always, thank you for this, and i deeply hope you’ve been having the best days 💙

[lifeofkaze]

2023 - A Roundup

How fast the year has gone. I feel like it's been only yesterday that 2023 stepped on stage, and now, the curtain is falling on it already, with 2024 waiting in the wings.

It has grown quiet here this year. In the fandom, on my blog, on my online presence. There's multiple reasons for that - some personal, some life-related, some people-related, but with the prospect of a fresh new year on the horizon, all these things are either something I intend to embrace more fully or leave behind for good.

Looking at my history of 2021 and 2022, 2023 was the sparsest one on the writing front up to date, and here, too, are several very different reasons for this. I've written little this year, and published even less, and yet, I feel like I have grown more into myself as a writer than ever before. A lot of projects I had in the pipeline got scrapped, or converted, or pulled from public access to become a better version of themselves.

If you are interested in what has become of projects that I may have mentioned or worked on in the past, here's an itemised list of 30 years of what my future plans are (with major tbc because, have you ever even talked to me?)

HPHL era:

A Lifetime of Adventures - Selene's story What was meant to be an antology of several many stories is still an an antology but greatly reduced in both numbers, cast and things it covers. It will still span from Selene's first year at Hogwarts to her last, with an aimed at one story per year (which you fully know will not work, but hey). Parts of it are already written and published as independent shorts, others are unpublished and yes, it will still be happening. As for the parts detailing Selene's later life... that remains to be seen. There's a lot Selene has to tell but she and I need to sit and see if these stories are for me only, or if she wants to share them with the world.

Smoke and Mirrors - Caro's story With Brady going his own way in the Pendleton Tradition (you GO @kc-the-writer), Caro has decided that she can do what Brady can do because duh. Smoke and Mirrors is no longer a fanfic/fandom story but a very much unfinished rough draft that will probably turn out to be an original novella set in modern day NYC about a young med student and the pressure of expectations and self-imposed perfectionism. I wonder where I've heard that before.

Henry's story Despite being my resident book-character, Henry never asked me of a story of his own. Everything I still have in store for him revolves around either Selene or Caitlin and if he lets me into his head (which has always been an incredible but rare thing) it would be as unrelated shorts. In all honesty, I don't think it's likely that they will come into existence outside of my drafts, though.

Caitlin's story There is a potential novella about Caitlin's way to become a healer in my head which is too bittersweet for me to let go of just yet because not only would it give her some room to shine but also gives closure to two other characters very dear to me (and honestly, reading the draft makes me choke up, so there's that). I would prefer this as an original novella, but seeing as some of it would lose impact without the knowing the characters involved... I'm not quite sure what to do with it yet.

HPHM era:

A Source of Balance My baby, my joy, essence of my sleepless nights (and not in a good way). The third part of the Balance series is 100 % going to happen and 100 % happening on this blog. Apart from details I will figure out as I go, the whole story is planned in my usual over-planning style and I'm honestly just waiting for brainspace to clear up and the blank page to become less scary. It may take a while to get the complexity of it right but... watch this space.

Larger than Life My other baby, my heartbreak, my... yeah. Larger than Life has always been different, Ava has always been different, this whole project has been... different. Because of various issues, I've decided to remove this project from my fandom rota for good. It will still happen, my heart is too firmly set on it, but it will be as an original project over on @kaze-writes and will be a sweet while until I'm able to sort out the problems that comes from uprooting it. But all in all, I am very much happy with the decision I've finally come to with this.

When Stars Ignite When Stars Ignite has been removed from all my writing platforms as it is still under re-construction, and probably will be for another sweet while. This story has fully left any fandom connections behind and has turned into my (and @alyslaskeywriter) first full-length novel (mine, that is, Alys is miles head of me with her incredible book The Chief, which you really should check out bc oh my). My lose intention is to maybe query it for publishing at some point in the future, so I wouldn't hold my breath for its return to online spaces.

HPMA era:

New Horizons - Reva's story Reva's rise and fall from grace and her journey to herself has never really been a fandom thing and will become an original novel once I figure out how to research faraway travel destinations without drowning in wanderlust. It may take a while.

A Bright Future - Dana's and Dylan's story The story of Dylan and Dana is still up for debate in my head. There's days when I want to continue with this as a fandom project as intended, and there's others when an original friends-to-lovers romcom is begging me to have my way with it. The outcome remains to be seen.

Shorts:

All shorts directly associated with stories that have moved to the original side of my writing will follow suit. Everything else I have written or drafted up will remain here, or be posted on my original blog and reblogged to here in case there wouldn't have been a difference anyway.

Original:

All original works you have heard me speak about (namely, Lemons, Icarus, Memento Mori and That Fantasy Thing That Is Going To Drive Me Insane Before Long are still all in development and not yet ready to be written. But we're getting there. Somehow.

So, if any of the stories you have been waiting for or thought I had promised but forgotten them isn't on that list, do feel free to ask! I love talking to people and I've not been good at it this year. I miss the creative core of this community, and getting to see other people's projects unfold and grow from idea to reality. If you want creative exchange, I beg you, this is always a place for it.

In that regards, my favourite peeps, I wish you a very happy end to 2023 and a creative, peaceful and - naturally - balanced start into 2024.

Here's to you. Here's to all of us.

Keep writing 💛

xx Kaze

[ididntwanttohavetohauntyou]

#SAVE WARRIOR NUN

Avatrice is the best intentional slowburn wlw ship out there (you can’t change my mind). I will fight for them and Warrior Nun always for several reasons:

1) this representation is the kind we’ve been missing for decades (at the very least)

2) the team behind the show has shown that they’re willing to fight with us

3) this fandom is willing to take the time to fight passionately without blaming anyone but the people actually responsible - the network that didn’t promote the show and cancelled it despite good numbers

4) this show helped so many people (especially people like me who have struggled to reconcile their religion and their sexuality)

5) this show is female led and tells a story where the main storyline isn’t the women fighting for leadership positions or being catty unnecessarily

6) I love found family stories bc so many people can relate to them. We all find people who complete us and have our back no matter what and they aren’t always the people society says should do that

7) this show is genuinely just good. I’m studying film/communications rn and this show has all the components of the best ensemble shows:

a) strong and diverse characters who are not one dimensional or stereotypical (diverse in terms of race but also much more: personality, aspirations, paradigms, backgrounds, etc.)

b) conflict within the main group but also outside of it that play off of each other without being the same thing

c) major character development that is logical and well paced

d) realistic dialogue. It’s scripted but the jokes land when they’re supposed to and fall flat when they’re supposed to

e) the relationships (romantic and otherwise) are realistically complex and fluctuate

f) relatable characters and storylines (Ava exploring her newfound freedom recklessly, the girls all struggling with loss and change and Ava’s attempts to fit into that puzzle without replacing Shannon, Bea’s struggle with her sexuality, Camila’s need to prove herself and show her growth, Lilith’s thirst for validation, Mother Superion’s closed off nature because of loss, Mary’s stubborn fearlessness, Jillian’s loss of her son not once but twice, etc.)

g) natural chemistry between actors that shows onscreen

This show has done what so many have found impossible; It has balanced dozens of categories of expectations - that so many shows and movies don’t even attempt - and it has executed them all flawlessly.

I would like to thank the cast and crew for their amazing work. From one filmmaker/actor to many many more: thank you. This isn’t easy, but you did it, and you’re willing to do it again for us.

[howdytheresam]

Howdy there! Welcome to the Slenderverse Riptide au. For those from the Daily Jay you might’ve seen mod Kian make a few art posts about it. The mod is a collaboration between me and Kian and I’ll be providing a little bit of context into what the au is!

Much of this au takes inspiration primarily from Marble Hornets, but also some bits from Every Man Hybrid. This post is an overview of what the characters are in this au and what the general idea is. If people were genuinely interested I would be happy to dip my hands into an actual story and more art from me to go with it. :]

Overview:

Set with the crew of Riptide in a regular world, three college kids create a youtube channel where they post random mixed content varying of the style of pranks, vlogs, and other little videos. Creator of the channel Chip is joined by his two friends Jay and Gillion as they set to create content they enjoy alongside friends and occasionally some family.

Their usually fun content shifts however, with a figure appearing in the back and some characters experiencing odd happenings. It doesn’t help old mysteries arise and new ones constantly fight against the three friends.

Despite it all the camera stays rolling. It can never be turned off. Who knows what could go undocumented.

Character descriptions:

Jay Ferin:

(Based on Jay Merrick and a little bit of Tim Wright from Marble Hornets.)

A twenty-one year old mechanical engineer student pressured for her choices by most of her family, Jay Ferin is the Riptide Youtube channel certified camera holder and editor. Having the steadiest hand among the group she’s usually the one standing behind the camera just so the other two don’t drop it. This makes her the primary character the viewers follow, but not every time is it her.

In general Jay handles most of their technological related projects and is almost always the editor of their videos. A skill she’s been building on since she was little and hopes to pursue more.

Jay is from the Ferin family, a rather well known family in the town of Featherbrook. The Ferin’s aren’t only known by name, they are also known for the unsolved mystery of the disappearance of Ava Ferin, Jay’s older sister, and the whispered disappearance of Drey Ferin many years ago. There have been times Jay has wanted answers for her sisters disappearance but she’s never been able to figure out where to start…

Since she was a child her best friend has been Kira who grew up close by. After the disappearance of her sister, Kira moved away and the two lost contact.

Although Jay is the cameraman of the group she later requests they don’t keep the camera on in showing sensitive information and personal moments. It’s both in respect to her and others who appear on the channel. This, however, does not turn the camera off.

Chip

(Based on Jay Merrick from Marble Hornets and Vinny from Every Man Hybrid)

Chip is a nineteen year old film student who intends to make it big one day starting with the totally hit and awesome youtube channel called Riptide. He is also the primary holder of the YouTube account and writes most of their planned script videos.

Having been orphaned most of his life Chip has gained quite the skill in thievery, in fact, their camera is stolen. He’s also good at lock picking and cheating on the occasional test. It’s a skill that helps save a little extra occasionally, but might just save his life.

One of his previous caretakers, Arlin James, went missing years ago in a never solved case. Chip secretly believes Arlin is out there, he just needs to be found. It’s the reason Chip is ever so slightly drawn into investigating Kuba Kenta.

It’s his belief that the camera must document everything that happens to them, even if maybe it would be best to turn it off. He’s the one, even when Jay leaves temporarily and refuses to record, Chip continues to record their findings. Investigating the unknown may just be the answer to finding the closest person he had to a father figure.

Other than that Chip has no family besides the closest being an adopted sister named Lizzie. The contact is off and on, and in recent times Chip hasn’t seen her in a while. If she comes back though she may make a great guest to the channel.

Gillion Tidestrider

(Based on Tim Wright and a mix of Every Man Hybrid characters) (warning of hospital mentions nothing in depth)

Gillion Tidestrider is newer to the town of Canella looking at his major options in college. Having lived a more isolated childhood he’s a little awkward around his peers but settles in with Chip and Jay.

Being more built out of the group he often helps with lugging around equipment. Gillion is also better known for being the improv of the group unintentionally.

Gillion’s childhood was one spent in and out of children’s hospitals. A lot of it is blocked from his memory, not until the figures in the woods begin to show up again.

Later in the story Gillion experiences something similar to Tim Wright with Masky, as a figure with a fish mask appears in some videos with Gillion not present. This figure is nicknamed Champion until later discovered its Gillion. Gillion himself is completely unaware of the things he does as Champion.

He doesn’t live by himself, living with his older sister Edyn. Much like the other two he shares a missing relative, his grandfather Finn. His memories of Finn aren’t much but sometimes he’s curious how they would have gotten along.

Kuba Kenta:

(Slenderman / the operator)(Mention of hallucinations without detail)

A strange figure in the background of the videos, complete with backwards hands, causes hallucinations and technology glitches. Kuba Kenta is this universes Slenderman, haunting behind the scenes. Nobody can get close enough to figure out what it is.

While Kuba Kenta is an antagonistic figure he is not the main threat the characters face. It just so happens he lends a hand in that and sets multiple things into motion. The characters believe that he is the reason for their suffering, and seek to find ways to terminate him.

Who knew all it took was setting the damned camera down and leaving things as they were?

Other major characters/canonized roles:

Kira, Lizzie, Alphonse, Gryffon, Ava, Edyn, May and Jayson Ferin, Niklaus Hendrix.

Minor characters/in the works:

Ollie, Queen, Ensa, Earl

Anyone not mentioned has no specific place yet and may be added as the au becomes more rounded out.

Annnd that’s the main au! There are plenty of unfinished and extra bits. Mainly just wanted to cover the main characters plus Kuba Kenta himself. Like most Slenderverse stories if this were to become a full fleshed plot line would be more focused on the humanity of the characters versus Kuba himself.

If there are questions feel free to ask! Open book story-teller here. I’ll be happy to answer anything from characters to general ideas. :]

(Shout out to daily Jays out there! Hope this adds context to some of the posts on there!)

[chosec]

Hey so, if this is what the anon referred in regards to their claim that Chosen and Second are family, i'm gonna have to go "I respect your interpretation of it, but please also respect mine"

DJ points out that "they're related," to which Alan hums in agreement. DJ pauses, and goes "...in a way?" and Alan hums again, not elaborating further than that. The video is timestamped if you want to watch it yourself.

The word "related" has more than one definition:

Belonging to the same family, group, or type; connected. Associated with the specified item or process, especially causally.

The way I hear this is that they're not necessarily related, but correlated.

Sure, it could mean they're family. But it could also mean that their relation is simply through the fact that they have similar names and nothing else. Their relation could be through the same person drawing them into existence. Their relation could be that they're soulmates, or that they function like Avatars do in ATLA.

Maybe you could argue that, because they're made of the same code (which I personally don't think they are anyway), they're...biologically related to each other. Except the three hollowheads are man-made in a computer. They're not born like the average stickman assumedly is—we don't even know if they procreate like humans. It's so abstract, dude. Not every type of relationship nor worldbuilding (especially that of a virtual world) functions around the hiearchy of a core family.

...What about a ship like Chodark, too? They were made by the same person, were they not? Chosen and Dark share what could potentially be seen as a father. Like, I see them as brothers (though not for the same reason I just mentioned), but I respect that others don't. Second just appeared on his own despite his name being tied to Chosen. Alan agreeing to them being related could refer to so, so much; it doesn't necessarily mean familial relation. Being soulmates doesn't necessarily mean the relationship has to be romantic either, you know?

"Related" is not a word that explicitly means "blood-related."

The "source" for this claim that they're related in a familial way is... incredibly vague and, more likely than not, left up for interpretation like many other things that Alan does with AvA/AvM. King and Purple are pretty much the only ones whose dynamic is fully confirmed by the shorts themselves that it's clearly meant to be a father-son thing.

Them being family is, from what I can see, a fact extrapolated through word of mouth. None of the people claiming this type of relation had anything to back up their claim with.

I get that there might be a certain hidebound fanon you (or more) have established, but when someone challenges it with a vastly different version, please remember that it's just that—fanon. Alan has more than once gone "that's how I see it" when addressing things such as the ages of Second+RGBY. In other words, he does have his own interpretation of things, but he clearly also wants fans to come up with their own.

If Alan clearly, explicitly states that they're related in a familial way, then of course I'll stop shipping them.

...But until then, just block and move on. It's better than actively complaining about it, or heading into my dm's and attacking me/accussing me of shipping incest when the reasoning for your claim is flimsy at best.

All in all, it's not that deep. They're stickmen. Please close your browser and take a breather before engaging in discussions about why some people like to draw them kissing. I'm just here to have fun, and so are you. Let's not attack each other because our interpretations don't align.

[sandalwoodbox]

Vid you're the proudest of?

What are some fandoms and/or ships you'd like to vid for but haven't yet?

Bonus q: Is there a vid that you have watched/rewatched that has inspired you or informed the way you approach your vidding?

Thanks for asking!

(This is part of the Get to know the Vidder ask meme. See all my responses here and feel free to send me asks!)

I think I have to go with Trust+Fall as my top pick at the moment, for two reasons. First, I think it came together really well just as a vid - the audio edits worked out really well and let me structure the vid the way I wanted; I think the faster and faster cutting in the second half is effective in terms of increasing the tension, while still staying parseable (mostly?); and there were just a lot of interesting visuals and parallels to work with from the source, which was satisfying. Second, I was really worried about using a song that already has such an iconic vid associated with it (Parachute by thingswithwings for Leverage), because I wasn't sure if people (including myself) would be able to believe such a different read of the lyrics. Parachute was one of the first songs I thought of for this vid, and then I spent a long time searching for other romcom-type songs that might support a similar comedy -> tragedy read, looking for songs explicitly related to Romeo & Juliet, and even considering whether I could do some kind of mashup where the first half was a romcom song and the second half was a heavier / more tragic song (which I ended up abandoning mostly because all the romcom songs were in major keys and all the tragic songs were in minor keys, who would've guessed.) And in the end I think I managed to make something that's pretty convincing!

2a. Warrior Nun - Ava/Beatrice. I loved this show! It had no right to be any good at all and then it was fucking amazing. Jesus Doesn't Love Me by runawaynun is the vid that got me to watch this show.

2b. 911. I want to make a vid for Taylor (because she's awesome and deserves some spotlight) and I have an idea for a zombie apocalypse AU maybe? It's so many seasons! But hopefully having targeted goals will make it manageable.

2c. Ted Lasso - Roy/Keeley/Jamie. I'm currently rewatching the show with a friend and there's just. So. Much? Of them? They're so much.

Bonus q: MCU Dance Off by lim - the way it uses splitscreen and frame within frame is just mind-boggling to me. I would love to be able to do something like that someday! Also shout out to Candy Girl by vassalady for Princess Princess Ever After which is for a still source but has so much rhythm and movement, and does really cool things in terms of drawing your focus to different parts of an image by only revealing it piecemeal. And finally, 【暗黑向】如果江厌离是反派（不喜慎入）by 王秫秫 for The Untamed, which I think was the first AU vid I saw that really blew my mind, by taking the sweet older sister from The Untamed and portraying her as a poisoner and/or ghost - I think about it a lot in terms of how I can make vids lie to people (in little and big ways) about what happened in canon.