#otoh i really like the little story i came up with in my head. i would love to come up with more

[jacksprostate]

yo dude i was really curious and i just read yr primal fear fic, just wanted to say that your writing is genuinely so impressive.. not a lot of people could take a prompt like this and actually give it so much substance, your stuff shows such a deep level of understanding of the media ur working with +intuitiveness.. like characterizing shit well from 90s movies is crazy hard and u like immediately got how to write an in-character martin vail so if u can do that u can do any thing im like blown away 🙈 cant wait to see what u do in the future with yr original stuff, youre a beast with the pen ✍️✍️

sobbing for real dude.... this is so kind... "shows such a deep understanding of the media youre working with" truly there is few better compliments 😭 the 'from 90s movies' part is hard as hell sometimes yeah... I feel like I understand the psyche pretty well but there's so much just general milieu that's easy to just... not even realize is relevant. Of course it helps that most of my readers are also not particularly familiar with the 90s lmao but. Idk I try to keep that post-fall of the soviet union pre-9/11 immense nihilism in mind. Fortunately I have some friends who have a pretty strong lock on the vibe for one reason or another who help too— I assume they'd tell me if it was a 'he would not fucking say that' situation haha. It's funny wrt Martin Vail because I do think I did him pretty passably.. I don't always mesh into characters well per se; like for Tyler, I think I understand him pretty well but it's still tricky to figure out how to actually word what he says — I'm tempted to outsource to @a-forsteri who has a goddamn LOCK on it... we should collab, bestie... but regardless yeah Vail was an interesting one for sure. You only get so much characterization of him in the movie, really. Thanks for reading and I'm really glad you enjoyed it, comments like this are what keep me going fr :')

[eddieydewr]

I'm not the anon who asked you about Millie but I wanted to add a comment... Millie said something about how she couldn't wait for ST to end because it was preventing her from working on other things and rumor has it people affiliated with the show were upset with her. I don't think this slashed her screen time. I don't think El is a main character the way the fandom makes her out to be. She isn't the focus of the show so I think this was always going to happen. But I think Millie said that because El wasn't the focus and she was forced to realize that by the time S5 came around and was annoyed about it.

I find it interesting that she is getting paid more than anyone else even though she is barely in next season. It makes me wonder if they paid her so that she wouldn't say more dumb shit in interviews when she is promoting the show. I get the impression she likes to be the star and the center of everything and never had a good grasp of what the show was about. Also from the little I have heard about her parents they seem to think she is the greatest actress of all time but she isn't actually better than anyone else in the cast. I think it messed with her head. She didn't make the show what it is. Millie just strikes me as someone who needs to be front and center and sounds kind of hard to get along with tbh. I don't get the impression she gets along with most of the cast either. She let the fans (particularly younger fans) convince her she was the lead when she wasn't and then got annoyed when the story started wrapping up and she wasn't in focus so she said a dumb thing. But I doubt the writers would be petty enough to cut her screen time because of it (she says a lot of questionable things in interviews that make me wonder how well she is following the show. And is also really rude to Finn a lot). Will was always the focus of the story regardless of what Millie does.

bestie. bestie,

i have to agree and disagree lol i get why people would feel that way about millie but idk if you’ve seen my previous asks about millie’s family but i tend to blame her parents. i don’t think there’s anything wrong with a little girl being confident and while i don’t know how she felt about everything she’s been through growing up, it’s obvious her parents inflated her… idk, i don’t want to say ego because i feel like that’s a weird thing to say about children in general? but it’s possible she thought she was important and the main focus of the show. — otoh, i don’t like how she started to feel small for talking ~too much~ during press bc she spoke the same amount as the boys. it’s giving misogyny. especially when sadie joined the cast and people are like omg why can’t millie be classy and demure like sadie… what 😭 i thought millie had great energy as a kid and while she’s definitely still extroverted like her bestie noah, she seems like she has to be composed… although she’s been coming out of her shell more since getting engaged. i hope that means she has more self agency and isn’t being controlled by her family, but at the same time, they’re always around her even nowadays. THEY LIVE NEXT DOOR. and it seems like millie is stuck with netflix for a while longer. idk much about the electric state but it’s supposed to have potential for a great adaption and to perform well at box office, but it’s being released on netflix?? all because daddy brown says so. fock that grifting loser.

i understand why millie is ready to move on from ST but i don’t think she meant it in a negative way, she’s just ready to grow up. she’s married now so it must be weird to be portraying a character who is 14-17, or however old el is supposed to be in s5. when people gave her shit for saying she doesn’t watch movies, i don’t exactly blame her. she was pretty much forced into the acting industry and yeah, she obviously enjoyed it for a while before reality caught up with her. i believe she’s fond of the show, if her 011 tattoo is anything to go by, but it must be a reminder that she only got famous because her dad is jobless and wanted to get rich quick after all his other schemes and business ventures flopped. he’s also the reason millie gets paid more than the rest of the kids. he’s such a scrub 😭

how is millie rude to finn btw?

thenks for sending this btw, i hope i’m not coming across as harsh or angry lmao idk why because i’m a very different person but i can relate to millie and feel angry on her behalf because her relatives are an absolute shower of cunts and idek if she’s aware of it … but i also get why some people find her off putting. as long as they don’t go too far fjfjsk cos she’s not that awful, surely.

[seriouslysam8]

Bête Noire anon here !

This might be my interpretation but i really like what we learn about Walburga's personality and motivations through Alphard's POV in that story vs what is conveyed to us by Dumbledore in Backstabber and Sirius throughout the entire Petrichor series.

Both Sirius and Dumbledore see her as plainly two-dimensional evil, although for different reasons. Sirius' perspective is of a child whose mother barely cares to provide her son with even a modicum of affection and, once he gets sorted into a wrong house and gets progressively more rebellious, Walburga goes all in into abusive territory. Dumbledore, well.. i think his age (sorry, but dude is nearly ancient) and early life experience with Grindelwald resulted in him having little nuance at times - he pretty much irrevocably perceives Tom as evil right off the bat without considering that this is a kid in an orphanage inbetween 2 world wars and great depression, of course he'll be fucked up. He perceives Walburga the same way as well but well, not like she'd known any better with Blacks at the time, eh?

Alphard's POV, otoh, shows us that yes, bitch is crazy, but in a screwed up way she cared and protected her little brother and that she is capable of love (at least an obsessive one). The dialogue between her and Alphard after Alphard helps Sirius escape, imo, also hints that she might have come up with that absolute abhorrent shit she did to Sirius not just out of Black madness Dumbledore refers to in Backstabber, but out of fear of how Voldemort might retaliate to her and Sirius should Sirius continue showing metaphorical (and literal) middle finger to the family.

All that is to say, as much as I love Brumous, I think I'll just keep nagging you until you wrap up Bête Noire. 😋

Gosh, I really need to finish Bête Noire. There’s only two chapters left.

Your analysis is exactly how I perceive it.

Sirius is a very unreliable narrator when it comes to his family, because of everything that came to a head Bête Noire. He has filed them as foul and evil, refusing to acknowledge even the good and/or decent times before he went to Hogwarts. You see the stark contrast with the way Andromeda and Sirius talk about the past. Andromeda is more nostalgic about their childhood, often talking about how close they were and all the fun times at Alphard’s and their summers in France. But for Sirius, it’s harder for him to remember those times because he was younger during those times and because his teen years just got progressively worse with each passing year. What happened during Christmas of 1975 just overshadows any positive memory he may have. There’s just a dark stain for him. Honestly, I don’t blame him in the slightest. What happened was absolutely abhorrent.

By contrast, Alphard grew up with Walburga. I imagine their relationship was a lot like Sirius and Regulus. They were close until they weren’t. The only reason it didn’t break completely was because Alphard never left the family. He just put more space between them, slowly drifting further away. It’s very evident in Poisson that Alphard, by this time, is more interested in spending time with the children than he is with his siblings. It’s mentioned that Alphard always seemed to miss Voldemort when he came by Grimmauld Place and was able to avoid taking the Mark by carefully curating his schedule to be conveniently away. If it wasn’t for the children, Alphard would have broken away completely.

I agree, what Walburga did to Sirius was out of desperation. She has this obsessive love towards Voldemort. She makes it clear in that memory in Brumous that she wanted to raise Sirius and Regulus with him. He had zero interest in playing house and made it very clear that he didn’t want to see the boys until they could be useful to him. This idea that Walburga had in her head was never going to happen. Yet, she clung to it. The more Sirius slipped away, the more she panicked. So what happened in Bête Noire was the breaking point for her to keep her relationship and status with Voldemort intact. Even Sirius goes into the situation thinking he’d get a lecture and locked in his room all of the holiday. He never even thought that things would get as bad as they did. He was more worried of being forced into marriage with a Bellatrix or to take the Mark against his will. He never even imagined that Walburga would do the things she did to him. That any of them would have done the things they did to him.

Obviously, this isn’t what I think happened in canon. I don’t think the break was so messy nor do I think it was one big event that caused him to leave. I think there was a lot of little stuff that piled up until he couldn’t take it anymore. To top it off, I do think there was a lot of emotional abuse and manipulation. It wasn’t a healthy environment. Sirius seeing what a normal family was like by visiting the Potters only helped drive that wedge even more between him and his family.

[pinkandgreenarepurpleandyellow]

WIP WIP WIP WIP!

Early Concept

Some doodles/mockups

Current progress and some details.

My major plan for the moment is to find my brown markers (seriously, how do those things keep disappearing) and figure out what my background for the teeth/grin is gonna look like.

Ngl, I'm really proud of this one! kinda annoyed that the 1 in 2013 is a little too close to the 0, but I think I did some nice work on the nectars and blood splatters. (More details/breakdown below cut).

Escape From Furnace was one of the first books that I was super-passionate about, even though I wasn't online for the first while. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of stuff I loved and wanted to do bigger deep-dives into, but it was a kinda interesting perspective for me since I'm Jewish and the main villain is, y'know, a fucking Nazi.

It's kind of a weird feeling where on the one hand, watching the fandom was what actually shoved me online and on to Tumblr. Otoh, the obsession w/Warden Cross was kinda creepy to me, and it felt like almost everyone conveniently pushed to the side that he wasn't just a Nazi in the past, but kept up the ideals, modeled a prison on them, and constantly talks about "superior races" and "wiping out the inferior scum" and such.

Seeing the rest of the fandom, especially the headcanon that Zee is Jewish, resonated a lot more, and kept my head on this vague idea of breaking down how much that would change the narrative of the story (consider that Zee is the only person we know for sure is immune to the nectar, add that the version of nectar used in the Furnace is Cross's variation, multiply by how both Cross and nectarized Alex talk about Zee in Death Sentence and Fugitives. There's also the whole 'blondes w/blue eyes who keep responding esp well to the nectar' shtick with Alex and Gary).

So this idea's been rattling around in my head for a while, obviously! I initially wanted to do two triangles with the three circles, superimposing an upside version of the Furnace's logo over itself to create the Star of David, but it looked kind of weird so I might come back to it later. For now, each triangle has it's own mini-scene or element starring. breakdown, top to bottom, left to right:

I initially wanted to draw the dog's face/jaws but it just wouldn't look right no matter what I did. It was switched out for the three different nectar strains we see in canon: The silver syringe full of Cross's blend, the berserker blood with specs of red, and the mostly black that's running through the tubes connecting Alfred Furnace to the machine.

Teeth: I'm honestly not quite sure where I'm going with this in the final draft, but teeth stick out to me throughout the book as one of those details we get to see characters more clearly. Donovan's smile, Kevin missing two front teeth, the berserkers, Bodie's grin, Cross's teeth like crooked tombstones, y'all get my point. But yeah, teeth.

Hands: Donovan's hand (bathed in gold, currently yellow because I don't have any gold markers rn), and Alex's reaching out to Donovan. The big scene, but also all of the smaller ones that came earlier, like in Lockdown.

Prison bars: There's something that sticks in my head about the bars and all of the numbers used, for the inmates and the cells and the three chipping rooms and the blacksuits and how I imagine at some point, you only remember yourself as a number. I'd hope that with his memories back, Alex wouldn't forget his name, but I'd argue that 2013834 (inmate number) still holds better memories than 208 (blacksuit number).

Eye: Another big motif. So many blue eyes, so many silver ones. I've kinda been sticking to only 4 colors for all of these except the panel with the hands, we're doing something with emotions and colors and the way the Furnace saps all hope here. Again, can't quite decide on a background yet.

Gas mask: A rough redraw of the one in Lockdown, the very first book of the series and, again, that little connection of Zee with the idea of him being Jewish and the canon detail that he would have been made into a wheezer if not for Cross.

The center: Their motto is nine words, two phrases. It looks somewhat awkward, but I think it works.

So yeah. I'm planning on finishing the colors and then seeing if I can figure out how to turn this into a patch on fabric or embroidery or something, but this is one of my favorite concepts and I'm glad I can finally bring it to life!

[laufire]

Supernatural s3

It’s so unfair that the season that has Ruby AND Bela is so short :(((. I was done with it waaaay too quickly, and now I’m speed running through s4 xD (which, like the first time around, is Strong Mixed Feelings territory).

-My girl Ruby!!!! I was so happy to have her back, I kept grinning like a loon every time she was on screen. It’s quite interesting watching the 1.0 and 2.0 versions so close to each other, instead of as they air. I have... Thoughts, on whether Ruby as a double agent was something planned or that they decided as they went, but that’s for the s4 post. s3!Ruby really doesn’t come across as one (“I don’t believe in the devil” oh I wish sometimes xD, I love my nonbelievers), imo, but the beauty of such a device is that you can rationalize anything she does as devious if you want to xD

And it goes without saying that I love her interactions with Sam. THIS SHIP ISTG. I love how immediately ~attuned to her he is lol, his present and instinctive concern for her even if he tries to mask his interest as “practical”. And all the repeated times Sam’s conflicted between her and Dean -like when he deviates Dean shot (wasting one of the Colt’s bullets lmfao) or during the argument about the virgin sacrifice xD. And the “that’s my boy”/ “little fallen angel on your shoulder” quotes!!! Ruby 1.0 deserved to be railed by Sam too, smh.

My favourite episode of hers is “Jus in Bello” (which would be my fave of the season just by virtue of having both Bela and Ruby in the same episode lol. Not interacting, of course, the world as we know it wouldn’t have survived). I just love that she gets that final moment of I TOLD YOU SO to the brothers xD. I really like how she expands on the demonic lore of the show- I love, LOVE the detail about how all demons used to be humans, how they’re souls corrupted in hell. And that in her past life she was a witch (there was this really good fic in Spanish fandom about it... I need to hunt it down).

BTW, though I think her interactions with Dean in that episode are interesting, it really hammers home how much I hate him sometimes xD. Can you stop saying misogynistic slurs for TWO GODDAMN MINUTES, DEAN (and as we know from as early as this season, only HE can have demon/monster friends!! What a fucking hypocrite xD). I freaking love the moment in the finale when she viciously yells him about how she wishes she could see him in hell lmao (and how it foreshadows that when she shows sympathy later, it’s actually Lilith in disguise lmfao). I hate Dean gets the last word in their dynamic, tbqh. Until the s15 cameo, at least xDD

One thing that’s been bothering me xD: the French fries. Demons are vulnerable to salt, like other spirits, right? (and hey, look what a nice piece of foreshadowing that was). How does that translate to food lol. Because Ruby adores French fries, and they obviously contain salt. It’s like spicy food for humans? Or like pineapple? Inquiring minds etc. xD

-I still cannot believe Bela Talbot was only on the show for six episodes lmao. Her presence still lingers in the watchers’ heads so much?? Which is understandable because she’s Lead Girl Material if there was ever any lol. The care with which they styled her even?? You don’t do that for just any character lmao (I mean, just look at most of SPN’s female characters for comparison xD).

Her ship with Dean could’ve really been something, too -even if I hate Dean in it, I can’t deny it packs a punch, narrative-wise. I mean, the Batcat undertones alone!! The fake married undercover shenanigans!! And I think it’s really interesting that she’s such a blind spot for him; Dean’s unusually intuitive about people, but with Bela he takes everything at face value and she can fool him like no other (while, OTOH, is Sam who questions her facade and wants to see more). If he hadn’t been such an idiot (and such an asshole) he could’ve had a really powerful ship. Sucks to be him lol.

Anyway. Man, I love her. So much. I love how Gordon’s threats to kill her don’t work on her, and I love that the show basically said “Bela killing her abusive parents is good, actually” (I’m so tired of forgiveness narratives, you guys. This entire show is founded on revenge, so let me get my revenge fantasies in peace!!) xDD. And I love, LOVE that she withheld that truth from Dean, that she decided he wasn’t worth it. OTOH, you know, fuck the fans that got her written out, definitely; but on the other, I do love how her story ended (and that it was a clear "fuck you" to shitty fans). Doesn’t stop me for wanting to read and re-read (and maybe write!) even more “Bela escapes hell” fix-its, but still.

Also, very important question: what happened to her cat?? It’s the cat alright?? I’m going to headcanon that she left them with that cougar friend of hers lol.

-So. THE DEAL. Okay. Oof. I love this storyline, a lot. A loooot. I love the conflict it creates between the brothers (as long as there’s still conflict and Sam hasn’t yet started taking everything lying down I can enjoy that part of their narrative lol). I love Dean’s initial forced giddiness about “making the most out of his last year” and I love the moment Dean decides he does want to try to live because it makes the last few episodes all the most desperate and cruel (and hey, I’ve heard he only went to hell because the season was cut short due to a writers’ strike... if that’s true that’s so funny lmao).

My absolutely favourite part however? That you can FEEL Dean’s unvoiced resentment towards Sam. For Dean having to die for him, even if Sam never asked him to. He lashes out to Sam repeatedly through the season, but it really came to ahead in the dreamspace episode, where Dean confronts another version of himself that talks about how Sam was “dotted on” (the revisionism asldfkaf). This show is absolutely ruthless when it comes to showing you its characters’ ugly, unfair reactions to things and it’s my favourite thing evah.

Speaking of the dreamspace episode, OMFG. I loved both brothers there. Dean’s hallucination, seeing himself as a demon? And how he let out his anger about John?? Beautiful, truly (regarding John, I also loved their different reactions when it looked like his spirit had contacted them: Dean jumping on it and Sam detached skepticism). But my favourite part has to be when Sam uses the villain’s abusive father against him. Like. Damn. That was cold-blooded o.0

The second-to-last episode, when Sam tracked down that Frankenstein doctor to try and make Dean immortal was ABSOLUTELY HORRIFYING OMG. I loved that. I love that Sam wanted to use it for both them. It was some scary shit. I also love the scene where the crossroads demon questions whether Sam really wants to break the deal, I’m gathering it’s going to be nice foreshadowing later on in the show lol.

Anyway. I also found Dean’s death scene more impactful than Sam’s. Partially because of the horror of it, but mostly because I think at this type of scenes, Padalecki is better. Sam’s grief felt more real, Dean’s got me out of the scene (it’s the voice, I think. Sometimes Ackles’ voice takes me out of scenes, it sounds... forced).

I also really enjoyed how the time loop episode wrapped around this subplot. It managed to be both heartbreaking and mind-numbly hilarious lmfao. Like?? All the deaths?? Were so pathetic?? I tip my hat to Ackles because I don’t think most actors could carry plots like this half as well lmfao.

Sidenote, it’s always a trip to see The Trickster God knowing that fucker is Gabriel. Archangel “hey Mary do you accept God knocking you up” Gabriel. Which I guess isn’t exactly a thing in this show?? Since according to the wikia SPN Jesus was “just a man” (and let me tell you, I’m tickled pink by the fact that out of ALL mythological figures, specifically all CHRISTIAN mythological figures, the show decided to go “nah” on Jesus Christ. I mean, I guess he’d take away from Dean’s, Sam’s and Castiel’s resurrection narratives, but still. It’s so funny!!).

-Gordon Walker remains a superbly acted and fascinating character with extra racist nonsense alsdkfjasdf. But I can’t deny I loved seeing him as a vampire. He was terrifying. And I’m definitely shipping him with Kubrick, ouch xD

-The Ghostfacers episode is... something. As in, incredibly exploitative and homophobic and with an egregious case of BYG (and the first where I’d say it’s incontestable to claim the trope was used. s1 and s2 are muddy territory given the circumstances, IMO, but this one is 300% BYG), but so successfully manipulative my heart hurt for Corbett and Corbett x Ed still. Fuck them for that ngl. I do still enjoy how anti-Winchesters they all are though xD

-3x01 introduces the one nice marriage of hunters so far, between a black couple. The man dies in a gross, horrifying way within the episode ofc (because he was Mean to the the brothers duh). She makes it out alive, and since she doesn’t reappear in the show she gets to live. So for now black women have a sliiiiiightly better track record in SPN than track guys there: they get to appear in a few more episodes and be more fleshed out (Victor, Gordon), but as long as they’re only in one episode they get to live!! (Cassie, Tamara).

-Rufus and Bobby are exes, right? Right?? Probably still married in some state? You know that post about how when gay marriage was legalized across the USA there were a lot of issues because some couples had split and never bothered to divorce, since it was only legal in one place? That post was made for them. Pity Rufus is a black man, and as such has a limited number of allowed appearances before he’s killed off ¬¬

-I would’ve enjoyed Dean’s moments with Lisa and Ben more (it’s just so RIGHT that in this moment he’d want Ben to be his) if my knowledge of future spoilers didn’t perpetually have me in a state of “pls keep this guy away from kids” lol.

-They had Harmony’s actress (BTVS) and they made her a vampire!! The show’s hard on for the Buffyverse is a bit of a hit and miss but I can’t say I don’t relate xDD.

-I know Jensen Ackles can sing (in fact thanks to youtube I know a few of the actors can... is there a musical episode. Does this show have its own OMWF. I need to know). So why. WHY. Does he sound like that during “Dead or Alive”??? I actually like the scene but he sounds so off-key lmao.

-BTW, I found out that apparently Katie Cassidy and Lauren Cohan originally auditioned for each other’s roles añslkdfjasf. I can’t picture it. Ruby 1.0 is Ruby 1.0 and Bela is Bela xD. Although I’ve seen each playing roles that could meld with the other, just. Nope. Good choice on the casting there lol.

[nerianasims]

Billboard #1s 1980

Under the cut.

KC & The Sunshine Band -- "Please Don't Go" -- January 5, 1980

Is that falsetto in the opening or merely an attempt at it? KC & The Sunshine Band trying to do a sincere, sad ballad does not work. Now I have the dance remix by KWS that was a hit in the 90s (and apparently plagiarized from a Euro-dance group) in my head.

Michael Jackson -- "Rock With You" -- January 18, 1980

I thought I had never heard this song before until I heard the chorus. Oh yeah, this one. I don't know if Michael Jackson singing a sex jam would have worked for me before, well, all the child molestation coming to light. Now it really doesn't. There's only so much "separate the art from the artist" I'm capable of, though I am in favor of it. On another note, in the video, he's wearing the sparkliest outfit I have ever seen.

The Captain & Tennille -- "Do That To Me One More Time" -- February 16, 1980

I don't want to think about The Captain doing it even once. That is the problem with this song. Other than that, I think it's a perfectly acceptable cheesy love song. Well, except for the... plastic flute? I don't know what that is, but I'm not fond of it.

On a kind of strange note, I scrolled ahead, and starting here, I recognize almost all the songs for the next couple years on this list. Maybe they were played more on the oldies stations? At clubs? Restaurants? Maybe I came to musical consciousnous at three and a half years old?

Queen -- "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" -- February 23, 1980

 This is not a top tier Queen song, but Freddie Mercury belching would be better music than anything Barry Gibb did. Not top tier, but still very fun. And it's always great hearing Freddie Mercury do whatever the hell he wants to do with his voice. Here, he has fun doing a little bit of Elvis, but not too much. It's a rockability track by Queen. So it's great.

Pink Floyd -- "Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)" -- March 22, 1980

We don't need no education. This is a song about the horrible British teachers who used withering sarcasm and cruelty against the children under their care. (Like Snape, basically.) I think it's about boarding schools, since the teachers apparently have control over whether or not the kids get pudding. British boarding schools were terrible. British boarding schools are terrible, though they seem to be trying to be better. We'll see. They have hundreds of years' practice at bricking kids' psyches up in walls, and I don't trust them to change. Um, anyway, it's a good song, but not one I'd choose to listen to separate from the entire album.

Blondie -- "Call Me" -- April 19, 1980

This song actually does start with "Color me your color, baby." Or I suppose "colour" since Blondie are Brits. But it's not like the lyrics are deep -- if you can understand "Call me," you get it. I guess it's technically a love song, but since Debbie Harry sings in such an intentionally icy manner, it's anything but passionate. It's still fun and light and musically interesting.

Lipps, Inc. -- "Funkytown" -- May 31, 1980

This song is about moving out of a town that's stifling and to a town that's right for you -- "Funkytown." It could be any big city with a music scene. It's a dance song with very few lyrics, and yet the lyrics are important. The singer has "talked about it talked about it talked about it," but is determined to finally do it. It's a good funky disco song, and a good send-off for the genre's dominance.

Paul McCartney and theWings -- "Coming Up (Live At Glasgow)" -- June 28, 1980

It sounds a little bit like McCartney trying to do Philly soul, horns included. But lighter, because Paul McCartney. I can't remember the lyrics even just after I heard them, but it's a love song. Quite boring.

Billy Joel -- "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" -- July 19, 1980

I love a lot of Billy Joel songs. I don't really love this one. I like the sentiment -- "Oh, it doesn't matter what they say in the papers/ 'Cause it's always been the same old scene/ There's a new band in town but you can't get the sound/ From a story in a magazine/ Aimed at your average teen." He also criticizes the 80s' roaring materialism, which hadn't even hit its nadir yet. But I dunno. Maybe it's a little slow? It needs something.

Olivia Newton-John -- "Magic" -- August 2, 1980

I had never heard of the movie Xanadu until about a decade ago. It's a staple of bad movie sites. Its plot is bonkers, and some very 1980 blockhead is the male lead. The story would have made more sense and the movie been far better if Olivia Newton-John's character had gotten together with Gene Kelly, who's also in the movie, instead. Anyway, this love song is from the movie's soundtrack. It's got a little bit of that mystical vibe that Stevie Nicks did so well, and that always appeals to me. I can't pretend this is a great song, or even necessarily a good one. But it speaks to the 12-year old in me.

Christopher Cross -- "Sailing" -- August 30, 1980

This is the most Florida song ever. Because it doesn't sound like he really has a boat. "Fantasy, it gets the best of me/ When I'm sailing/ All caught up in the reverie, every word is a symphony/ Won't you believe me?" Musically, it sounds like it would go well with a sailboat. But almost none of us have sailboats. We have fantasies. It's a nice-sounding song, and if you think about it enough, it becomes more complex than it seems.

Diana Ross -- "Upside Down" -- September 6, 1980

I'm going to have to face up to the fact that I usually don't like how Diana Ross sings. She's too slick and detached for me, without lyrics that go with that. I cannot believe this woman was ever turned "upside down" by love. And of course the guy she's singing this to is cheating. But she's okay with it, because of course she is, he's just so awesome that she's singing to him "respectfully." I like this song musically, except for Diana Ross' emotionally distant singing, but I hate the lyrics, and I am extremely sick of this no-maintenance schtick.

Queen -- "Another One Bites the Dust" -- October 4, 1980

This might be the only Queen song I don't like. I'm not saying it's bad. It's probably very good. But I have heard the chorus way too much. Otoh, I've heard "We Will Rock You" even more, and I still like that. Maybe there's too much... stuff in this one? I don't know. It's definitely too repetitive. It's no "Don't Stop Me Now," that's for sure. Queen's best songs never reached #1 in the U.S., and I don't know if any came near until "Bohemian Rhapsody" hit #2 when I was in high school. But reaching the charts is a very bad sign of whether or not music is actually good.

Barbra Streisand -- "Woman in Love" -- October 25, 1980

I'm not going to go back to check, but I think Barbra Streisand has exactly the same pose and expression on the covers of all her singles. This one was written by Barry Gibb, oh joy. I wondered if this would be an additive or a multiplicative factor in how bad the song (which I had never heard) was. Something happened that I didn't expect: It made the song so boring it slips out of my head while I’m listening to it. There's the line "no truth is ever a lie." Brilliant, Barry, what a lyricist. Also, that line is not true. Barry Gibb was apparently not familiar with Othello. Anyway, since I'm just bored, I guess Streisand and Gibb together is actually better than them separately. Still bad, though.

Kenny Rogers -- "Lady" -- November 15, 1980

It's a love song in which the narrator sings that he's your knight in shining armor. That sentiment should be surrounded by more interesting music in some way. Something operatic, or mystical, or country, something. Kenny Rogers was never one of my favorites, but he's capable of something. This song is nothing. Lionel Richie wrote it, so of course.

John Lennon -- "(Just Like) Starting Over" -- December 27, 1980

This song hit #1 just after Lennon was murdered. I was 4 years old, but I actually remember when John Lennon was murdered -- I was in the car with one or more parental units (I don't remember who), and it came on the radio. I was upset. I knew Beatles music, my parents played it all the time, and I knew who John Lennon was. I'm still extremely sad about his death today. This song is about how happy he was with Yoko, all settled down and looking forward to a nice, calm, loving future together. Ugh I'm gonna cry.

BEST OF 1980 -- "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Queen. WORST OF 1980 -- "Please Don't Go" by KC & The Sunshine Band

[olderthannetfic]

You’ve probably heard of that film version of The Magnificent Seven from a couple of years ago. Maybe you know it’s based on a film from 1960, which is itself a remake of Seven Samurai.

But if you’re like 99% of fandom or even that guy I know who worked on the 2016 version, you probably don’t know that there was also a TV series starring, among other people, Ron Perlman.

(This came up because said dude and I were working on another Western starring Ron Perlman. A sucky one though. Alas, I cannot pimp it.)

Mag7, as it is usually called in fandom, was quite the little slash fandom in its day, yet it is nearly forgotten by newer fans. The show aired for two seasons from 1998-2000.

It’s one of those shows I bought, sight unseen, so I could catch up on older fandoms. I ended up liking it more or less, but I don’t think canon has aged well. It’s too bloodless for the era it came out in while making a pretense at covering serious, dark shit. It has neither the standing sets of old Western TV nor the big budgets of the 2010s Western revival. It’s too white. The one black lead gets relegated to token status along with all Native characters. The treatment of women is laughable, from the Happy Hooker stuff (gah!) to the time they try to teach the tomboy to be more girly so she can get the young dude in the cast (ragescream!). It feels more in line with what I’d expect a Western to look like in 1988 than 1998, especially on the heels of the far more inventive The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. in 1993.

Fanlore says that Mag7 suffers because current fandom is not into Westerns, but my problem is that I am far too into Westerns, and this show is not a good one.

OTOH, there is a lot of material here to work with, and work with it fans did!

It’s a super interesting fandom for a fandom historian because of how intensely AU-infested it is. Maybe you’ve heard something about “ATF-verse”? That’s a Mag7 thing. It’s not just regular AUs: The fandom is full of these shared universes with established rules for writers who want to play in them.

The “Seven” are:

Chris Larabee: The black-clad, taciturn loner with... wait for it... a dead wife and child.

Vin Tanner: The soft-spoken woobie, sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, who has spent time amongst the Indian tribes. (It is every bit as cringey as you think.) Fandom’s #1 fave, natch.

J.D. Dunne: Horrid little twerp with a terrible hat. I wanted to stab him every time he was on screen. x100 whenever he was interacting with a woman.

Buck Wilmington: Played by Dale Midkiff of Time Trax fame! (What? Everyone important, by which I mean me, loved Time Trax!) He is Chris’s old friend and polar opposite, a jolly, good-humored man raised by a prostitute mother. Ladies, including the working girls, love him. Also he gets fake dead more than once, so he’s clearly the BEST character, and fandom ought to have loved him the best too! >:( 

Josiah Sanchez: Ron Perlman plays a wacky preacher and ex-gunfighter. Is he haunted by his past? Does he make woo-woo philosophical proclamations about this? Does this show love its ubiquitous Western cliches? (Don’t answer that.)

Ezra Standish: If Vin is the quiet, soft-spoken woobie, Ezra is the woobie who hides his Tragic Pain under a mask of charm and cheer. He’s the one with the rapidfire con artist patter, the fancy suits, and the Southern accent. He has a complicated relationship with his con artist mother. His wardrobe is a thousand times prettier than anyone else’s, and he crossdresses at some point. Naturally, he is fandom’s other darling after Vin. Possibly the #1 darling in ATF-verse.

Nathan Jackson: Nathan is a former slave and a doctor. He has a girlfriend in the local Seminole village and not enough to do on the show.

Other characters include a sad widow for Chris to have sad dead partner angst at, the judge who sends them on missions, and, in the pilot, that guy who played Harper in Sharpe. The judge is played by Robert Vaughn, which I 100% did not realize until I was looking at wikipedia just now!

Anyway, standard Western hijinks happen. The mystery of Chris’s wife’s death is eventually solved as angstily as possible. Chris pretends to kill Buck as part of a ruse at one point, making them my ship of choice. (What?) J.D. and the local tomboy get set up by all the other characters, causing me to want to stab not only them but also myself in the eye.

COME AT ME BRO!

Oops. I’m supposed to be promoting Escapade, not starting fights about old tv shows. Anyway, I think the canon has some issues, but the fic... let me tell you, there are no words more likely to attract me to a fandom than “presumed dead”, and Mag7 fandom delivered, not only in the slash but in the gen. I have no idea, years later, where to find any of those fics or even which ones I read, but I remember there was self-indulgent melodrama and it was GREAT.

Sweet, sweet idfic, come to Mama!

I would link you to a vid, but as Fanlore hilariously confirms for me, there are like no good vids in this fandom. They did eventually release it on DVD, but the image quality is... uh... not great. Oh, wait, I did love this lulzy het vid about ladies being thirsty for Buck.

Actually, that’s a total lie. I have gone looking for Mag7 vids repeatedly for the Escapade dance party. Excavating my old spreadsheets, I see a bunch of interesting ones, like this slash vid of Nathan/Ezra. The Southern gentleman and the black guy are an obvious cliche teamup for Westerns, but the fandom rarely went there. This vid is great though! The only reason I’ve never played it is that no one at the con ships this.

Past Escapade panels include:

2001 - True pairings and permutations (Who are the "right" couples, and what other combinations are remotely possible? Video excerpts for newcomers.)

2003 - AUs! Crutch or creative lifeblood? (Are ATF stories a creative extension of the universe or a cop-out by folks too lazy to do their historical research?)

2004 - The Multiverse (Where canon is a formulaic retread of a remake of a classic, the critical mass of fan creativity has exploded in fascinating and bizarre ways. Often, richly textured parallel universes seem more attractive than stories based on the original source material. From conflict over "closed" AUs to creative in-breeding, what's really going on in the Mag 7 multiverse?) [HAH, EVEN YOU GUYS AGREE WITH ME.]

2005 - Where has the Old West gone? (Magnificent Seven has it all! Seven sexy men, horses, the old west, guns, adventure, right and wrong, you name it! So why isn't there more Old West fic? Why all the modem and future AUs? Where do we go from here?)

2006 - Cowboys- Real Life v. Fantasy (From Magnificent Seven to Brokeback Mountain, from John Wayne toughness to curtain fic. What's reel? What's fun? And how much reality do we want in our fun?)

2007 - Chris Larabee: Tragic Hero or Pig-Headed Bastard? (How worthy is Chris to lead the Seven? Does he lead them because he believes in protecting the weak an innocent, or because it strokes his ego? Does he truly value Buck's friendship and support? Vin's? Anyone's?)

2008 - M7: Need Topic! by Megan Kent [LOL]

2011 - Mag 7: Deader Than a Beaver Hat (They're gorgeous. They're archetypes. Lots of other fandoms have less to work with. So, what the hell?)

2012 - My Paring is OK. Your Pairing Sucks! (In a fandom famous for pairing wars, let's get it all out in the open and put it to bed. Come and defend your pairing of choice, and enjoy others doing the same. Inflatable lightsabers, laughter, and the ability not to take yourself seriously. All welcome.)

2013 - What holds the gang together? (The deal was simple: a dollar a day, plus room and board, for a month. And now they've been together *how* long? What holds these seven loners together over the long haul? All pairings, all points of view. Bring story recs to share.) [Duct tape. The answer is always duct tape.]

Mag7 on Fanlore (including links to many smaller archives)

Mag7 on AO3

Mag7 on FFN

[nairil-daeris]

Holly Hell

continuation to my fanfiction that you can read here https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12280276/1/Holy-Hell

I need to thank to amazing and absolutely incredible the-foxes-fangs for beta

I was also heavily inspired by otohe’s story. As they say, really good art inspires others to do their own.

............................................

Annoying.

“It’s all absolutely annoying“ Neji decided while sitting under his favourite tree in heaven‘s orchard.

The sun was slowly setting on the horizon and birds were chirping their evening songs. The peaceful atmosphere invited him to relax and have a nice session of meditation.

Or not.

Where was his favourite moment of concentration without any necessary thoughts?

In hell apparently.

He had decided to forget his little experience with the she-devil as the unimportant incident it was.

But it was not to be. Tenten seemed to remain on the angel’s mind that evening and the many that followed. It was upsetting, to say the least.

Neji decided that he hated the little demon. She drove him crazy even after so many days. The memory of the challenge in her gaze alone was enough to make his blood boil. With rage of course.

Which was one of the many reasons that the existence of this… dream was more than a little irksome. It implied that there was something beneath that hatred, which just simply couldn’t be true.

The Dream, as Neji called it, came just when he thought he had banished all thought of her.

Even if he wanted to recall the curves of her body, or the fullness of her lips– which he didn’t – he certainly wouldn’t. She was disgusting, filthy demon trash. A mere plebe and a tramp compared to him and his status as an angel.

It didn’t matter how much the thought of dominating her appealed to him in his dream

– how much he’d love to pin her down and force her into submission, make her squeal and moan while he told her of the myriad annoyances, she had given him, for which she must now be punished.

He had become so obsessed about the demon, that he was hallucinating about her right now.

She was standing in the clearing before him, hand on one hip cocking her head at him with a too-glib smile. The fact that he found her attractive was ridiculous.

“I didn’t expect you would be here again.” He said to his imagination.

“And whom did you expect?”

“Not you.”

“I’m hurt.”

Wait. Fantasies weren’t supposed to talk back. They weren’t supposed to talk at all!

It took several seconds before reality dawned on him.

“How dare you! How did you even get here without me noticing!?”

“I got here without you noticing the first time as well.” She said and shrugged.

That was quite a blow to his ego. And it made him furious.

“Go back to the depths of the hell that you came from, you pitiful creature!” Neji roared.

But there was no answer. The she-devil was watching him thoughtfully.

“No.” She said finally, staring him down, “I don’t think I will.”

“And why not?” The words escaped him through gritted teeth. His gaze fell on her slightly exposed cleavage and he tore his eyes away before his thoughts could run away with him.

 “Because you want me to. And I enjoy irritating you, angel.”

He pictured himself kissing her like he did last time. He couldn’t help it. It was … irritating indeed. Thinking of the swell of her bottom lip was one thing. Thinking of how much more swollen he could make it with his teeth and his mouth was another thing altogether.

He was paralyzed by contradictory desires, both to kiss her and throw her out of his sight. So he chose to converse instead and see where it took him.

“So you do.” He replied carefully.

“I’d almost dare say that you feel the same way.”

“No, I can’t say that I enjoy it when you irritate me. I know this must come as a great shock–”

“But you do enjoy irritating me, if our last encounter is anything to go by. But you’re absolutely dreadful at it right now.”

Now, she had gone too far. Neji stood in one fluid motion, rage winning out for now if only to cover up reality. The sight of Tenten’s smug, self-satisfied face had exhausted his patience.

”Why are you here, you vixen?“

“I want what I came for before, the apples.”

He crossed his arms in front of his chest, sneer appropriately fixed on his face before he even bothered to open his mouth. “Yes? Didn’t I teach you a lesson?”

But something felt off. As though he were disappointed that she wasn’t there because of him specifically. For no other reason than to torment him.

Which apparently would be a good prospect now? What on earth was the matter with him?

“Oh? Were you expecting another fucking? Not gonna happen!” The she-devil said in a mocking sing-song voice.

Bratty minx! He was going to show her that fucking was definitely not on his mind when he��sent her right down from heaven’s clouds. Literally.

The darkness descended.. Oh, the old trick won’t work twice on me, thought the angel.

“I don’t suppose you enjoy being left in the dark.” He could hear her mocking. 

“That’s a shame...for you.” A part of him couldn’t believe he was wasting his time on her. The other part… he refused to acknowledge.

It was easy to locate her position now when she spoke. One good flaming arrow was enough to interrupt her dirty spell.

“Because I do so enjoy annoying you, as you said yourself” Neji continued.

The two of them stared at each other now, sizing each other up. 

 “Do you? You’re so cruel. Am I that bad to look at? Am I unnerving you?” She answered while making seductive pose. 

Bold, bratty, and annoying. It would have been so delightfully easy to shut her up with a kiss, searing enough to make even that she-devil melt. He knew he could do that now. It would be even easier with his cock between her lips, but that was…  dangerous territory. How…unsettling. He hardly even recognized himself anymore.

A staring contest wasn’t a good idea. 

He caught himself staring at Tenten’s mouth and righted his gaze, doing his best to look as bored as possible. As bored as he truly didn’t feel at all.

 Tenten used his moment of absent-mindedness to bolt behind the trees.

Off he went after her. 

Ugh she is fast, that little shrew, Neji thought. How irritating.

By the time he caught up with her she was already holding an apple in her hand.

“That’s as far as you got the last time” he said with a smirk “you’re not going to get any further now.”

He expected her to put the apple into her bag but to the angel’s surprise she bit into it instead.

Just like that. In front of him. Such audacity! And while wearing such a smug grin, munching on the apple, like she had won first prize in a lottery.

But her smile changed. It crumpled into a grimace as Tenten started coughing.

That’s curious, thought Neji as he stopped through drawing his flaming sword.

The she-devil landed on all fours, coughing and sputtering violently. 

The angel just stood there, unsure how to react. Had his prey suddenly turned into a victim?

That was … troubling. Confusing.

Downright alarming, the more he saw her writhing in pain.

He wanted her writhing, but beneath him with pleasure, not like…this.

Gingerly he came closer, anticipating another of her tricks, only to see that her distress was genuine. This was his second time seeing Tenten with an unguarded expression, but this time he wasn’t enjoying it a bit. 

At last she went still, her consciousness leaving her. Neji checked her pulse, she was alive but passed out. 

As he bent down toward the little devil, he felt powerless in more ways than one. Neji had no idea why the perfect apple from heavens orchard had caused her so much pain. He blamed himself for having let this happen at all. It was his job to protect the garden from creatures like her anyway, but he had let his cravings get in the way.

And now he felt completely thrown off. How vexing. Not that he could fault her, but– still. He’d very much like to fault her. Agony of bliss suited her much better that this. He wanted to help her, he realized.

But how? 

”Angel wantssss to help hissss little friend?”

The Snake. Neji had almost forgotten that he wasn’t the only inhabitant of Heaven’s Garden.

„She is not my friend!“ He said with a glare at the Snake.

„Sssory than, a lover perhapsssss?“ Now if only there was some hole he could crawl into, because the Snake was, in fact, right.

Neji decided to swallow his pride and ask, „Do you know what happened to her?“

„Well of coursssse I do.“ Snake answered a little moodily.

„Than do tell me!“ The angel shouted.

The serpent’s eyes narrowed in pleasure and he stalled for a few more excruciating moments before answering: “She issss a creature of darknesss, she belongsss to Hell.”

“And here I was, hoping you would tell me something I don’t already know” Neji sights.

Not bothered by his interruption, the Snake continued “All of usss supernatural beingsss have delicate balance of power in our bodiesss. But now she hasss heavens essence inside her organsss and itsss slowly but surely killing her. Her balance isss disrupted.”

She is really dying, Neji thought. And he felt … remorse. It would be a pity to never see that smug smile again, he realized.

“Isn’t there any way to help?” He asked, internally cringing at how miserable his voice sounded.

“Well there isss and an easssy one no lesss.” Snake hisses.

Neji waited for him to continue but it looked like that was it. A new emotion rose within his chest and he was surprised at how utterly livid he felt. Now he knew there was hope. He was going to set things right.

“I have no idea why you are even allowed to stay in this holy garden! You, disgusting serpent, tell me how to cure her or I’ll make sure you are thrown out of this place for good!”

“Yesss, I can help, that being sssaid, I will be asssking for sssomething in return, I hope you realize.”

The problem was, that Neji couldn’t just kill the serpent on the spot or torture him no matter how delightful that might be. The Snake was under direct protection of God himself, only God knows why.

“How can you help her and what can you possibly want?” Neji asked apprehensively. 

“You sssee, I can bite her.” 

“What the hell?”

“Yesss, Hell that’sss exactly where I came from, therefore I’m filled with it’sss esssence…. My poissson won’t affect her and it restoresss the balance within her. But my help comesss with a price.”

“Out with it, you slug.”

“Don’t call me namesss, lassst time I checked you needed me to sssolve this little situation with your darling over here. I’d hate to caussse any problemsss in your budding relationssship,” Snake said sounding awfully insincere. 

Hmpf, and what a relationship it is, the angel though while trying to look as scornful as possible.

“Luckily for you I can be sssatisfied with a little.” Neji can almost see him sneer “You’ll be owing me a favour, nothing more. A good bargain if I sssay ssso myself.”

There really wasn’t much Neji could do other than accept. He nodded. 

Delightful,” the Snake hissed, and bit Tenten’s pale arm. “Ssshe needs to ressst now.” He added before slithering away.

The She-devil lay there on the cold ground, as cold as death herself. Neji’s stomach clenched at the sight. It made him angry…at her…not at himself, that he was so utterly invested in her well-being. Neji tried not to look too closely at why in the first place. 

He wanted to tell her how it was all her fault, but it seemed unfair, since she was still unconscious. There would be plenty of time to school her on how not to behave later.

He picked her body up and charged to his garden house, impatience to keep her safe winning out over courtesy.

He was almost certain he’d regret it, but... Apparently her idiocy was catching.

It was a strange feeling, with the devil collapsed in his arms. He felt protective of her even though she was enemy not long ego. She is his enemy still, he chided himself.

Fortunately, she seemed a lot warmer by the time he laid her on his bed to rest. 

 “Not even going to change? Take your shoes off?” he joked, knowing full well she couldn’t hear him in her sleep.

She looked … good like this, on his bed, he decided. 

And since there was nothing to do other than wait, he laid next to her to rest as well. His bed was more than big enough, after all, for the both of them, with plenty of room to spare in between.

It was, however, rather nice to wake up next to her some time later. Next to a demon. How low had he sunk?

He crouched over her to check her temperature, only to be met with a small but definitely hard fist. 

They were both out of bed in seconds.

“Aww and you looked so comfy in my pillows, I thought you liked it there.” Neji said with a smirk. He was just riling her up. But– he had absolutely no interest in looking at why he wanted to rile her up so much in the first place.

“You perverted kinky angel, you wanted to take advantage of me! You took me to this…this”, Tenten looked over his Hellenistic style chambers “….lair of yours!” she snarled at him.

And now he regretted it, he thought as he rubbed his temples.

“Well thank you, would be more appropriate, considering I saved your life and all. I owe a favour to the garden’s Snake, too. But what could I expect from ill-bred low life like you.” Neji fired back.

“I have no idea how I got here, but I’m definitely not going to thank you for all those insults. Although coming from an idiot like you, I guess I don’t need to be offended!”

“Yes,” 

He said slowly, taking a step toward Tenten and utterly delighting in the sight of her immediate retreat. “I daresay I just might be, seeing as I have spent the last several hours completely–” Another step. “– and utterly wasting my time on your well-being, which–” Step. “– would be bad enough already, but then I’m forced to take ingratitude from you, filthy witch, which would have already been more than bad enough–” His last long stride is enough to have her backed into the wall, Neji growling his words through his teeth, eyes flashing furiously. “Only to learn that it was an entirely stupid idea?!” He said, grasping her arm firmly.

She didn’t say anything at first. He wondered at his disappointment about that.

 “You were worried about me.”

He wasn’t sure which was more infuriating– how absolutely certain and sure she was, or the way she let her gaze fall to his lips after saying it.

And how he couldn’t help but allow his own to follow.

“It seems I was wrong,” he says, the words leaving him achingly slowly through clenched teeth. It was almost distracting how good she smelled. Of pepper. It brought unwanted memories. It should have been a warning– he was too close. “Between the two of us, it would seem that I am not the greater idiot after all.”

“You’re worried about me,” Tenten said again. It was just as infuriating to hear as the first time, as it turned out. “And right now…” she licked her lips, drawing his gaze for a split second too long, “… you want to kiss me.”

She looked good like this, he decided for the second time, wide eyed from fear or thrill. He wished it were easier to resent her for that instead of himself.

It was as though she’d seeped into his skin, planted a seed and watched it fester. He pictured her lips kiss-swollen, and tried to decide if it would be worth it to prove her right if it meant getting to push her into the wall and leave her breathless and wanting.

“But that’s not going to happen.” she said with a smirk, using his moment of distraction to free herself from his grasp. 

The she-devil leapt on the top of his of bed’s canopy with a laugh, a bright and happy sound that stirred something in his chest. It was … uncomfortable. Not entirely terrible, though. He’d rather not look too closely at that. 

“Tsk, Tsk, how easily you lose your composure around me, Mr. Angel.” She mocked him again.

“You are utterly insufferable.”

Insults. As if those could possibly restore his dignity to him now.

 “I do try.

Her smug smile was provocative enough to make his stomach churn, an undeniably… unacceptable feeling, he decides.

All right, so maybe he couldn’t refute that. How extraordinarily annoying of her.

Cheeky trollop.

“You brought all of this on yourself trying steal. I should give you a lesson, so you never try to do something that outrageous again.”

Neji frowned. she didn’t look nearly as concerned by that as she should have. If anything, she looked delighted.

How strange.

“Ooooh, noooo I’m so scared of your empty promises!” She said, and actually winked at him.

Ridiculous creature.

“It’s getting boring here. I’ll be leaving then.” The she-devil said, making a mock-bow that gave him a good view of her cleavage.

Neji forced himself not to stare. This simply wouldn’t do.

She flapped her wings, but he caught up with her by the Hellenistic-inspired arches near the marble ceiling.

They exchanged a few blows, but ultimately she was no match for him. She bolted to the stained glass window, but before she could make it there, he threw her against the huge library wall.

“You’re a completely insufferable demon–” Neji growled as he pinned her hands to the wall.

They were still in the air as Tenten tried to kick him with her free legs. He was glad that he was so much bigger than her when he pressed his body to hers to stop her from kicking and writhing out of his grasp.

She stopped kicking. But she was still writhing and his mind helpfully offered him some very suggestive ideas.

How… deeply… unsettling.

She was breathing rather heavily now, tired from her futile struggle.  It wasn’t helping.

Tenten noticed him staring and the fire building between them. The tension was palpable.

The angel tried to turn his eyes from her, his attention solidly unfocused on the books atop the shell mantle before him. His expression turned carefully blank.

He lowered them to the floor and stepped back. 

The demon was obviously beside herself with humiliation over her defeat. At least that’s what he thought until she actually threw a book at him and yelled “One single apple and you make it look like a capital crime!”

The insolent bitch.

He had her backed against a bookshelf with her hands pinned above her head in less than a heartbeat before he said “It’s not about one apple, it’s the principle I’m stressing here. You were stealing, and you don’t feel an ounce of guilt about it! Such a shameful vixen deserves to be punished.”

But his treacherous mind showed him the kind of punishment that involved kissing that defiant expression off her face. He wanted her to beg. To submit to him.

And the she-devil seemed to read his intentions. Tenten’s eyes widened, she opened her pretty mouth and yelled “You fucking perverted angel! You kink-starved deviant! You have some twisted idea of justice, you-“

“I might as well have” Neji interrupted, and when she inhaled to yell at him again, he wondered why he didn’t shut her mouth a lot earlier.

Suddenly he was kissing her. He was crushing her mouth, her loud, warm and quite intoxicating mouth. The pleasure of the feel of her had him seeking more and she was now resisting a lot less he noted smugly. 

She tried to say something but instead, he cut her off with another searing kiss, her lips parting willingly against his. The feeling of her becoming pliant against him like this was nothing short of ecstasy, bringing him deep gratification.

He took her lower lip in his teeth and slowly, slowly moved it between them. When he freed her, she whined for more, licking at the air until he found her mouth again.

He moved to the crook of her neck, biting and nipping, sucking on the skin. The action drew several moans and gasps from her before he was even somewhat satisfied. Neji wanted more. She offered him moans of pleasure and soft hisses of pain whenever he sucked too hard. He didn’t want there to be a single spot of her body left unmarked by him, but he’d settle for the few marks he has littered her with now, ones that no scarf could ever possibly cover up. He allowed his free hand to run up her body, to cup her breast and tease her nipple through the dark swimsuit– the same clothing that she wore the last time they were doing this.

“Neji–” He wasn’t sure he could ever tire of that sound– his name, half-whimper, half-submission. “Are you going to kiss me again?” “I was going to. I’d hoped to leave your lips just as bruised as your skin–” Pinning both her wrists with one hand was effortless work, the angel delighted in drawing back and allowing his fingertips to ghost over the bruise-riddled path dotting her skin. “But then you became impatient and greedy.” “What do I have to do, then?” She said, with a flirtatious tilt of her head. “Beg me.” But still, she did little more than give him a level stare.. “I believe I told you to beg.” “And if I don’t want to?” “Then you won’t be rewarded.” He caught the way the corner of her mouth quirked up. “No reward? That hardly sounds like the proper punishment for someone so impudent like me, angel.” “You should learn that I am not so gentle when provoked, she-devil.” He said, returning her level stare. “Try me,” Tenten said testing his patience. “I hope you realize that only good, obedient demons get punished in such a way as would delight them. If I’m to punish you, I can guarantee that it won’t be enjoyable for you.” “Are you trying to scare me?” “If you are the type to be scared by that, then yes.” “I’m not.” “Good.” Admittedly, he was hoping she wouldn’t be. “I will not repeat myself, Tenten.” Silence descended, heavy and pregnant between them. “… please,” she finally says, visibly swallowing. A veritable treat for his eyes.

“Please what?” “Please kiss me– punish me– I don’t really care anymore, honestly, I just want it–” 

If there was more coming, he didn’t allow her to finish her thought, not when her words lit a desire in his gut that was impossible to shake.

He was ravishing her gain after what felt like months– years– of waiting. It hadn’t been even remotely that long– even claiming weeks would be genuinely pushing it, but his desire for her had been considerable. Neji wanted to tell that brazen minx, that the fact that she was still wearing clothes was an injustice, but that would require ceasing his kissing of her, and he wasn’t sure he was physically capable of it now, not as utterly drunk as he was on the pepper taste of her. So he let his hand do the work for him, ridding her of her clothes as agonizingly slowly as possible. He didn’t stop until she was left nude. He looked her up and down. She was utterly lovely like this, with a flush colouring her cheeks. Trailing a path up to her hip, Neji allowed the tips of his fingers to explore her body, pausing only with the discovery of her folds. Parting her with few fingers, he drew his thumb up to her clit and waited  for another inhale, another gasp or another moan– anything to sustain him a little longer, to hold off and spur on his desire all at once. It came  alongside the buckling of her knees, the sweetest moan leaving her parted lips before he could capture them again, sliding his knee between her legs to both hold her up and offer friction.

The demon took his offering as the gift that it was, and let herself rut against his thigh, eager hips seeking out his thumb over and over. He had done this before, of course, but it hadn’t felt quite like this, as though the stakes were so high. He wondered why, and slid two fingers inside of her only to find her wet and wanting.

Smiling at the sensation, Neji leaned closer to her ear. “You lustful thing,” he teased in a whisper, knowing he was at least as wanton for her. She was close now– he could tell. It would be hard to miss. Her kisses had become less messy, finally stopping altogether, movements directed– if not by him– then by instinct alone, as she arched her body, yearning for her peak– He pulled his hand away just as his teeth found her earlobe, a loud whine escaping her at the lack of satisfaction. “That, my witch,” he whispered, lips ghosting along the shell of her ear, “is punishment.” Not a spanking. Not the myriad ways he could tie her to his bed. Nothing that could have her moaning deliciously for him.

He studied his slick hand, her juices dripping over it.

“I didn’t realize you wanted it that bad“ “Beg,” he ordered, and was met with another whimpered whine. “Please–Neji, please–” “Please what?” “P-please let me come–” “That’s better,” he purred into her ear, the reward he offered almost instantaneous. He had her back on the brink in moments, the feeling of her clenching around his fingers enough to make even him shudder at the prospect. He removed his knee from between her legs only once he was convinced that she could stand on her own again. It wasn’t surprising– the way she quivered in his grasp had him genuinely concerned for a bit. Finally satisfied that she could stand, he released her wrists. She staggered for a moment, but remained upright. Good enough.

“You seem to be holding up, but we’re only getting started. I haven’t even fucked you yet. 

Now. On the bed – don’t make me wait.” he commanded.

He could see how her gaze cleared and watched her eyes get their defiant glint again.

“You-“ she started to protest, but was cut off when he unceremoniously dropped her onto the bed on her knees.

She squealed, taken by surprise, and before she could recover, he landed a smack on her ass before his fingers sought out her cunt to slide inside once more. 

It was enough stimulation that her body gave way to another moan. He pumped his fingers and curled them inside of her almost lazily as her fingers dug into the sheets beneath her. She felt nailed down to the bed, unable to move, only concentrating on the pleasure he was giving her.

He withdrew and grabbed her opposite leg, effectively flipping her onto her back in the process. Neji renewed his assault on her pussy, pumping his fingers rhythmically. “Look at you,” he drawls, feeling very smug. “You’re a mess.” She just mewled and gasped for air.

“You can’t even speak. Heh…” 

He gripped her jaw and moved her face until their eyes were locked.

“You’re shaking,” he said, fingers pressing into her clit now and moving just enough to draw a whine from her, “Mm, cute. What a face…now you’re getting me excited.”

The angel leaned in for another kiss, hard and hot and just as intense as all the rest had been. She wrapped her legs around his waist without even so much as a comment, grasping hold of his cock between their bodies before he caught hold of her wrist and pulled it back with a chiding look. “Eager, are we?” “I want to feel you; I can’t help it.” she managed. “Demanding…You sound so good when you beg for me.” He muttered, glancing down at her. He pulled back seemingly just to undo his robe and rid himself of his undergarments, but it was for far more than that: It allowed him an excuse to look at her, to drink in the sight of the stunning body he was about to ravish, properly.

Then again, she seemed to be doing the same thing, judging by the way she was staring at his cock and licking her lips. Not that he didn’t want to know what it felt like to have her mouth wrapped around him, but– Right now, he had greater priorities. “Do you want it?” he asked, his tone suddenly serious. He still thought of himself as a gentleman somehow. “Yes.” His hands found her wrists once more, and left him marvelling for a moment. “You must be a considerable idiot to want to sleep with the enemy.” “That makes two of us.” He didn’t keep her waiting anymore after that, instead recapturing her lips. His tongue teased  at the seam of them until she granted him entry, and he offered a reluctant freedom to one of her wrists to position himself at her entrance. She ran her newly-freed hand through his silky hair to pull him down into another kiss. He thrust into her– not all at once, but slowly at first, until she moaned and tightened her grip on his hair, the heels of her feet pressing into his ass to urge him on and deeper, and he knew  he didn’t need to hold back.

Still, there was no harm in making her wait for the rest of him. Especially not when she was being so delightfully needy.

„That’s right, ah, do you want to take me even deeper?” “Please?” “You’ll have to be more convincing than that, Tenten.” “Of course I want it, you idiot. Will you please just–” Her words dissolved into a moan as he cut her off with a thrust into her tight, wet heat. “I’m not going to be gentle” he warned her again, and started to thrust, hard, holding her legs open with his free hand perched just beneath the inside of her knee. She looked delicious like this, a wanton, mewling mess of a thing, wet and barely intelligible at all. Then again, even he was struggling to keep his cool entirely. He knew he was flushed, knew that she has him riled up to a point that no others are ever privy to seeing, and, what was more, he had no regrets. How… incredible. “Ne– ji-”

Every syllable of his name that came from her luscious lips was met with a thrust of his hips, pressing her harder and harder.

‘What a pretty sound ….let’s hear more of that, shall we? You sound just right when you scream my name.” He released her other wrist, the angel guiding it to hold her knee up and keep her obediently open for him while the other was tangled desperately in the sheets beneath her. It was all in the name of a good cause, of course. He needed his free hand to touch her again, to bring her to another climax. As if he could ever be satisfied with only one orgasm from her. “Will you come for me again, demon? Or must I wait forever for the feeling of your release around my cock?” “I’ll–” She gasped, whimpered, panted. It was a breathtaking sight to behold. Tenten arched deliciously, Neji not once letting up his thrusts or his thumb’s attention on her clit. Her expression was a feast for the eyes that he wasn’t about to take for granted, not when he knew it would dissolve right before his eyes, and quickly, the very moment that she finally lost her control. She quivered. The tremors started in her feet, muscles tightening, before moving up her body in a crawl. All of her slowly drew taut. He whispered to go ahead and come just seconds before he knew she was about to, and she followed his command, perfectly obedient, clenching and throbbing around his cock as she cried out, loudly. He didn’t dare cut off her cries, but the desire to kiss her again, to reclaim her even whilst buried inside of her completely, was too strong to ignore. So he returned to the darkest welt he had left on her skin, right at the crook of her neck, hoping to make it even darker as his thrusts sped up into a barely-controlled frenzy. Her skin swallowed his own groans of release when he came, throbbing inside of her for what felt like an eternity. All bliss, all contentment. A strange feeling. She let out a fluttery sigh by the time his cock finally stilled its frenzy, and he decided that he liked the sound, annoyingly. She was playing with his hair, which would have been utterly unacceptable in anyone else’s hands, but… he’d tolerate it with her. It might even be somewhat nice. “If you do something to my hair, there will be consequences,” he told  her, and she had the audacity to laugh. He supposed he should be used to it by now.

 “Don’t get too cocky, only because it feels so good to fuck with me.” She replied dreamily.

It was … strangely comfortable, this rapport between them. Natural, even. The angel thought to his astonishment. 

There was a calm in his chest that he hadn’t felt in years, a sort of effortless weightlessness. Neji felt … content. And sleepy.

Tenten watched him thoughtfully while he dozed off in the sheets.

She had to admit, she kind of liked him. He was a good fuck, she knew that already, but he was also….something she couldn’t put her finger on. For now.

“The Snake made me eat the heaven’s apple because I owed him a favour.” She thought.  

“It was the serpent’s plan from the start wasn’t it? It’s easy to have indebted hell’s creatures, but hard to get an angel within one’s grasp. What is he going to make him do?”  

For some reason it irked her a lot. Since when did she have a conscience?

[randomnameless]

Final Chapter - Seliph’s journey ends here : Velthomer to Belhalla!

Time to end Julius!

Seliph will achieve Siggy’s quest and return to Belhalla. 

Julia cleans up the remaining foes, including her brother.

i totally forgot to screen cap the various fights against the deadlords... but if you want the story, Julia rekt’d them.

So have the glorious post battle convo. where a dragon sets the continent for another great war!

i tried to screen cap everything i could, but the convo runs automatically so i might have skipped some lines...

Meet at last, you in your castle Meteoring people from afar. Sure.

Julius tries to Meteor an heir of Baldur into oblivion, but he isn’t talking about Leif or Alty here.

This is where Seliph’s liberation of Jugdral’s story ends?

PLOT CALLING 

GRAVE MISTAKE = CHANGING SKIES - there is no escaping from plotholes, especially since Julius ordered Manfroy, after explaining why, to kill Julia ASAP.

Julius dies in a flashing light

he gives his sister bad level ups - a douchebag until the end.

:)

The only acceptable ending and, imo, the only one that should exist.

Ulster wonders what is that thing, he was just following his wife here

I wonder if everyone in Jugdral saw this afterimage of Loptyr? Or everyone who was near Belhalla?

Anyways, after this other worldly apparition, Seliph seizes the castle!

His journey finally ended!

Means little? Julia defeated Loptyr, so the big bad is over. But yes, the continent is in ruins, and everyone needs to rebuild the land!

this is where we step into the realm of nonsense - what kind of “rightful throne” are we talking about? Might makes right? Or just opportunity, because everyone is dead so anyone with a shred of Neir blood can claim Dozel?

and let’s not talk about Thracia :)

All can live in happiness? Colour me surprised. And how’s that the Crusader’s heirs will need a proper leadership? Are we falling back into the dark times where manga!Langbalt was pissed at Kurth’s family omnipotence?

A brand new world? without fear of prejudice haven’t i head something like that back in the first gen? Seliph will be the one to create a new world when it used to be Arvis’ end goal. Does that mean that, somehow, Seliph inherits Arvis’ dream?

HERE IT GOES

BAD FUCKING ADVICES 1 : WHY IS SELIPH SUPPOSED TO GUIDE THE RISE OF THE NEW WORLD IN ISAACH, AGUSTRY OR EVEN SILESSE AS THE KING OF GRANVALLE????

For sure, everyone loves Seliph because they fought together, and Eldie was Siggy’s best pal, but why should Leif’s kid, or Ares’ kid listen to anything coming from Granvalle? Their dads were Kings of their own, sort of (Ced and Ares) liberated their countries alone so why should they listen to Granvalle?

Are we back to the Granvallian hegemony of the first gen? 

and that’s not even tackling the Julia issue - Seliph led the liberation war in Isaach, Manster, Miletos and Granvalle, but who was the one who defeated Loptyr?

And the Granvale’s kings are supposed to rule over the world??

Julia of course can’t be the leader and is ignored because she has girl cooties. Note that here, F!Lewyn says Seliph should be King because he has the blood of the Granvalle’s kings, not because he is Siggy’s son or Deedee’s first born!!

??

I can assure you that Quan, Travant, Lamia, Siggy and, idk, Ishtore didn’t give a fig about the Granvalle kings, putting a Naga on the throne or Julia. 

Quan wanted to unify the peninsula, i doubt he’s watching over his nephew. Maybe Arvis entrusted his world free of prejudice to his daughter, but i heavily doubt so. And what kind of light Bridget, or Burian strove for?

I know it’s post battle nonsense to give Seliph a sense of duty to make a better world, but damn. Seliph is, for instance, the only member of the junior lord trio who doesn’t want to fulfill his dad’s dream to rebuild/unify his country. 

All he can to make the world a better place, I guess.

It’s the end of the game, so F!Lewyn finally allows her to have some lines! Go Julia! Use your new sprite to deliver something powerful!

Oh! That mean you will take an active role in the future years to come? I’m expecting great things from you!

Go Julia! OTOH, seeing her with the “happy” sprite makes me sad, because she killed her twin a few minutes/hours ago and Julia shouldn’t be happy about that...

That famous subplot^^

Damn it Larcei, she’s married to your brother, remember?

...

Back when i entered in the Jugdral fandom - eons ago - i really didn’t like Deedee. This line, along with “she didn’t oppose any reistance when i killed her” from Julius really made me see Deedee in a bad way. Maybe Julia didn’t see the ghost of her mom and she’s thinking that’s what Deedee would want when Deedee herself wouldn’t want her daughter to atone for what her “kind” dad did.

So Julia thinks she has to atone for what happened to Siggy, as Arvis’ last (lol) kid when it’s not her role to do so, and no one tells her that no, atoning for your dad’s mistakes shouldn’t dictate your life.

Jeez.

But apparently everyone is happy if Seliph inherits Verdane and/or Agustry despite the various failings of Siggy in those countries he invaded, and no one asks Seliph to pay for Siggy’s crimes... Double standard much?

The famous epilogue where everyone talks to the Lord! FE9 didn’t start it!

i expected F!Lewyn to say “first task as their king” but hopefully he didn’t cross this line :)

“i have left them to wait long enough, and i didn’t even liberate my own country so i’m pretty happy no one can come and usurp my title with secret Odo brands because as a King I really sucked big time” - don’t worry Shanan, you led a rebellion, that sure counts for something. I think.

:)

You thanked him for everything he has done by liberating his country?

Liar, Deedee disappeared pretty early on ! And uh, didn’t Shanan have an aunt or something that was always there for him?

Lord Sigurd was a moron who entrusted his “wife, stay in the kitchen!” safeguarding duty to a preteen, not taking into account that Deedee might have wanted to see him and that a kid shouldn’t see anything wrong with a wife wanting to meet her husband.

God damn it, stop it people! Stop grieving for things that weren’t your fault to begin with!

OTOH, i wonder if exile!Oifey sometimes reminded Shanan of this failure when they would be fighting over something in Isaach...

That’s true. Siggy’s act of kindness saved Seliph. even if said act was used to frame him as a traitor and participated in the series of events that made Seliph an orphan

:)

I love this part, where the lord shows gratitude to the “humble” people who raised him. That and “those 3 years were the best part of my life” really made me love those dorks.

What the fuck Patty? I really love your character, but this is nearly on the “Lana will forever be jealous if she isn’t married and doesn’t end up with Seliph” moment that could ruin everything.

Shanan and Seliph are equals, they’re both Kings!

Or maybe she’s talking about he should act “nobler” since they’re talking to Seliph the King from Shanan the King, and not Seliph talking to Shanan.

Shanan is being sarcastic, but where does this “imperial majesty” comes from? There’s no empire, or if there is one, Seliph should be the Emperor? Or maybe Shanan is bad with royal titles ^^

Again a moment where Patty shows empathy that makes my earlier rant useless, you’ll forever be a fave Patty!

Breaking news : Patty knows more about how nobles should act than King Shanan himself?

Didn’t you hear anything Seliph? You’re “King Seliph”, so call him “King Shanan”!

OTOH, the “my blade will always be yours” feels and sounds wrong. As a King Shanan, your blade belongs to Isaach... not to Seliph. You could have said “i’ll always come to your help if i can” or something like that would have been better...

Why best of luck? Do they have to to fight or something, or isit  a way to say farewell?

Oh, Leif. Well, you too have to thank Seliph, and a lot. I mean, in this game, he liberated all of your castles!

hm... She loves her homeland, at least Leif understands that.

Seliph understands! Maybe he’ll allow Julia to spend some time in Velthomer, because she might have some attachment to that land?? kidding

“this war i participated in and wondered more than once why i was there”

But hey, Seliph, you’re also to be the king of an united kingdom^^ 

Maybe Leif knows Seliph will need some of that luck for himself?

They died around the same time, and they were friends! And there was that pink-haired lady in the picture, but i don’t know why she was there.

I mean, being cousins doesn’t mean we’re automatically friends, look at Scipio and Faval!

Are you really asking that from your wife?

uh... what kind of might?

“Thank you, Lord husband, for allowing me to remain by your side”

Leif told you earlier she was going there to help...

OH COME ON NOT AGAIN

If you maybe have to atone, it’s to the Thracian for switching sides during the war, not for their crimes - i mean, what has Arion done?

Wonderful??? No, Arion should die or pass for dead and disappear from Jugdral! I mean, him being alive is just like, idk, Leif being alive when Travant conquered the peninsula!

And why should Arion work with them? To rebuild the country they destroyed? Hopefully Alty says that he can’t do that right now, but maybe in the future.

Oh, Finn. I thought you were headed for the Yied desert? wait, wrong game

In siggy’s cause? “well, true enough, i often came to help your aunt when she would call me!”

OH MY GOD

I LOVE YOU

he literaly tells Seliph that no, i didn’t give a fig about you or your dad, my loyalty lays with House Leonster. GOOD JOB FINN! He’s eons away from Shanan!

Seliph knows that Leif will need everyone’s help to build the united kingdom. Finn is more than happy to help, and note how he inserts Quan’s name in this convo about Leif and the future. We’re talking about the future here, not about your dead Lord!

Oh, Jugdral’s best dad!

Hannibal might be one of the only reasons the Thracians didn’t revolt against Leif, or pulled a Dorias against him.

Teach them that no, Thracians aren’t hyenas and you’re all one nation!

a devoted son! Do your best! In this verse, since he’s the bio-son of someone worthless, he is able to spend the rest of his days with his dad!

“may just be adopted” no you didn’t - i know this game emphasises blood relationships, but Seliph called Isaach his home a few hours ago so...

Thanks to whom who said we had to eradicate the Thracian royals?

Leif will managed to do it, but hopefully it won’t be with your crap advices, but with competent people we see in FE5

Ares “It is I the Black Knight” is very familiar with Seliph.

Since when Ares is a prince? Note how Seliph calls him a Prince when King Shanan is just a King. Is it because Shanan is a barbarian or a friend he grew up with while Ares is just a guy who wanted to kill him and they just happened to spend 2 years together on the battlefield?

Maybe Seliph drops the honorifics when he’s close enough to someone?

“leif sucks” - he is also the son of your father’s friends!

???

Siggy had faith in Eldie, but, iirc, Eldie was ready to kill Siggy because Siggy was invading his country and tried to kill his King! So the “friends until their ends” kind of falls flat.

What dream?

OMG, are they talking about the old bottle of wine they were supposed to share like the old times? Are they going to drink it, after 20 years??

Or not, it must be another kind of dream.

And here, Ares is impressed at Seliph’s ability to make a rousing speech that he calls him “King” now.

Carve in blood? Remember that Eldie wanted to serve the King of Agustria, he never wanted to become King himself! Granted, whatever Ares knows of Eldie comes from Raquie’s forged letter so...

:) Ares is so sweet, compared to Leif!

Good luck to you two!

Anyone can live happily? “Where people like me won’t be forced to dance to make a living!” given how agustria is supposed to be wonder france, i’m afraid to tell you that it failed

You have no wife. No dad to give you some important kingdom or duchy to inherit. 

You don’t know that and you spent 17 years of your life with him in the same village ????

Your strength and your smarts!

idk what were the last wishes of your mom, but an united Agustria was far from her dreams.

Oh well.

Oh? Aren’t we going to help them, like how we interfered in the Thracian civil war?

“how’s that, you won’t accompany us?” “sorry, i’m in Granvalle now so i won’t help foreign nations” “your dad created this mess” “see you later!”

No Agustria 790 for us. Why Kaga, why?

Oh, an useless character!

Truth to be told, in this run, Ulster isn’t useless, lineage wise! He is the “last royal” of Verdane, and Isaach’s second prince, meaning, if Shanan were to kick the bucket, he’d become King!

And he is also Julia’s husband!

Destroying axe units is what i do best! “and why the royal family collapsed” “ we don’t talk about that”

???

Why is Ulster supposed to give a fig about Seliph’s “my parents met here! It’s a super important place” when Ulster told him he is Jamke’s son, and he wants to get rid of the bandits to restore this country it’s in ruins after siggy killed every royal and never brought Jamke home or let him oversee the succession of his dad?

How to become a puppet nation (again!) 101 : I became your King because my King asked me too! maybe they could pull an england and become a country of its own in a few centuries?

Why is Ulster leaving alone, where is his wife :)

Capable? I doubt Faval knows how to count to one thousand! Hopefully some people left from Scipio’s administration know how to run a duchy!

Mmh... Eyvel wouldn’t be happy with that, what about the orphans you had in Conote? Are you going to leave them in the orphanage because you’re the son of a Duchess? “don’t worry mom, i’ll turn the castle into one big orphanage!”

But apparently, helping orphans wasn’t “a purpose in life”...

Because he is your King.... and your military commander?

Oh. You.

What kind of might are you talking about? poor lester wants to help his cousin for the rest of his life? Talk about a lifelong dream...

Who are you? A random named Sigurd?

Tinny asks for Seliph’s help in Freege, she’ll need it. Because returning to Freege reminds her of Hilda’s torture or because the Freegies will hate her because she and the LA killed everyone, even, kind-Ishtar and kind-Ishtore?

Is Johalvier rude because he is rude person, or because he doesn’t consider Seliph as his King?

Atone for his dad’s crimes and his own, maybe? Johalva knows it won’t be easy to return home though, i mean, he is seen as traitor by those Dozels... At least he acknowledges this.

Owe him one? For what? Letting him live when he could have suffered the Ishtore treatment?

Gentle spirit? Well, being kind wasn’t a reason to let him live, i mean, ishtore died but yes, i feel that Johalvier is the only one who cares about his randoms, unlike the rest of Seliph’s gang.

See you !

Oh. What a softie? Maybe Lana fell for his kind side? and it wasn’t just, poor planning on my part that prevented her from becoming Ms Dermott?

I know it’s a generic convo, but Seliph sounds as if he’s talking to someone he knew since a long time, which fits with Lana.

but no, you can’t leave him be, he’s your husband.

That’s it for Johalva, who is, despite F!Lewyn’s accusations, not a disgrace.

:)

JULIA WHO

There used to be a post (a few weeks? Months ago?) on why Atly wasn’t inheriting Chalphy - i didn’t want to necropost but here we have the Julia side -

No Arthur, you’re not all that’s left of House Velthomer, Julia is there and unlike Saias, she exists in FE4.

Why Arthur should atone for the crimes of “his kin” but Tinni shouldn’t atone for all the crap the Freeges did? See how stupid this “atonement for the crimes of my kin” is ?

Surprisingly, I think so. But Azelle would want you to assume a Dermott role, atone for the crimes of Arvis while supporting Arvis’ last child on the Velthomerian throne (Julia), not seizing the ducal seat for yourself.

but Julia has girl cooties, so she can’t inherit anything

At least he acknowledges he did before.

YOU HAVE TO OFFER YOUR CONDOLEANCES TO JULIA DAMN IT

JULIA SHOULD BE THE ONE TO SAY THANK YOU

DAMN THIS GAME

Really? More world building, i guess.

You have a lot of work to do, friend.

“I’m your wife!” “but i promised you we will return to silesse?” 

OMG - that’s so cute.

Oifey wants to go home! It’s been 20 years damn it!

Seliph gets really emotional about Oifey’s departure. Despite all the bro-ness and F!Lewyn nonsense, Oifey is Seliph’s father/Finn’s figure.

Oh :’(

It makes me genuinely sad, King Seliph was acting all kingly and mature before, but now, faced with the prospect that Oifey won’t be there, breaks. Oifey has always been there, but don’t worry Seliph, Chalphy isn’t that far!

!!!!

Someone acknowledges that Seliph’s duty was/is to protect House Chalphy, as a Baldur Crusader!

Jugdral AU : Julia rules over Belhalla while Seliph is Duke Chalphy, chaos ensues, but is it more chaotic than King Seliph’s Jugdral?

ETHLYN WHO

i know she cut her ties with Chalphy when she married, but is her blood erased due to the holy bonds of matrimony or something???

“it’s not that far! We crossed the continent with our ponies, your know?”

:’(

Don’t tell him that, you’re killing him!

Being kind is something that must be taught? 

Jugdral AU : Oifey takes F!Lewyn’s place, Burian and Ishtore are green units who “kind of” join us during the final map like Arion’s squad.

Still, what does it mean, to live as a knight?

:’(

Maybe it’s just me, but i’m sure those two are crying during this scene

Taking your brother of 15 on a continental war? OTOH, maybe Oifey wasn’t fighting in the first gen because Siggy didn’t want him to be hurt.

:’(

You were ordered to leave with Seliph, but poor Oifey feels as if he abandoned his lord. I’m not sure how a support convo between he and Finn would go “i let my lord die alone i’m so worthless” “no i’m more worthless i was of babysitting duty” “just like me damn it”

his fault? Well, Seliph is the reason why Oifey left the battlefield but hey, thanks to him, he didn’t suffer the Noish treatment!

He will!

Finallly Ced returns back home! The people of Silesse have been waiting for him! not sure about his dad though.

????

That’s downright insulting to Oifey and Shanan, Seliph!

“I’m so proud to be his son, he never asked how i was doing or why i was in Manster, told Fee that it was too bad mom died but we shouldn’t give a fig about them and didn’t talk to her after she risked her life in Isaach fighting for your cause!”

Truly Jugdral’s best dad, fig Hannibal!

...

Truth to be told, i’m more used to FE5!Ced. So all jokes apart, I don’t really understand why he wants his dad to come home, it’s not like the country was in shambles because he wasn’t here - as a king he did nothing for Silesse during the Arvis’ years, Rahna died during the invasion and Queen Erinys ruled the country until she died.

... Maybe FE4!Ced isn’t confident about assuming the role of the King ? But why asking Lewyn to come though...

Wouldn’t you be envious of a dad like that? 

Oh? Is Ced aware that F!Lewyn isn’t Lewyn? or he is aware that F!Lewyn never gave a fig about Silesse and its royal family?

Hopefully FE5 introduced Misha and Karin to give more life/insight to Silesse because here...

Guided? uh... if you say so.

he sure didn’t guide julia to the book of naga -

Poetic and draconic words?

And what kind of duty are you talking about? Naga most likely never ordered you with such a duty, and if it is a duty about “helping the humans” it would have failed if Manfroy wasn’t a moron.

so you mean you guided everyone in the army? Or tried to help everyone?

who told you those tales??? Where are they from??

MMH

i still support Naga’s position about not becoming “entangled” with humans - and even moreso after seeing Forseti’s “guiding” in this game.

Also, can’t we say that Forseti guided them when no one would, but in the same sense,  the Crusader weapons were meant to deal with Loptyr, so it’s a sort of leftover from the original 12′s guidance?

Save for the Dozels! And Julia, and Arion, and their kids! And the future kings of Isaach, Augstria, Verdane and, Silesse!

At least that’s a cool name! 

[multsicorn]

[omgcp, mostly negativity, which i would not bother to post except... i think at least a couple people wanna hear.  don’t like, don’t read!]

Mostly I just don't care enough about the comic to criticize it?  I am here, to whatever extent I am, from inertia, cause I haven't fallen head-over-heels for a NEW fandom yet.  But since anyway I do have thoughts, and two whole people might wanna hear…

I was just typing in fic notes the other day and thinking how interesting a Bitty-becomes-famous storyline would be, regretting that it's not gonna happen, etc., cause we get the story from his vlog posts (and his tweets), right?  So if his audience suddenly explodes overnight, from people who are there for his personal life, he gets companies that wanna give him sponsorships, etc., (I am only quite slightly familiar with how youtube fame works) - like.  That would be FASCINATING.  He suddenly almost has to become a way more unreliable narrator?  Or differently unreliable, at least?

and he just came out ON LIVE NATIONAL TV, and we know there's an active (invasive about peoples' personal lives) hockey fandom in omgcheckplease verse, it has been MENTIONED BEFORE

(and is probably point two, after point one of Jack's derailing at life and trying to rebuild issues, of my interest in this comic in the first place.  i am always here fourth wall stuff.)

… anyway, THIS COULD BE REALLY INTERESTING.

Not even to mention, yeah, Bitty just made a really impulsive decision and now he'll have to deal with consequences…

(I don't think it was AS rash a decision as it could at first look like; Bitty's been TRYING to tell his parents for ~some time,~ he just hasn't found a way, and well, this is a way, I guess!  And the flashback is clearly(?) there to inform us that Jack and Bitty had previously thought that if/when Jack won the Cup, then he could come out…

of course, I'm sure they assumed that Bitty would be out to his parents before Jack winning the Cup happened; that (probably private and uncertain) plan was only about being out to Literally The Whole World, not to their friends and family.)

(AND.  The existence of the plan certainly adds a new perspective to Jack's and Bitty's mounting anxieties over the last few comics, over the playoffs and Bitty coming out to his family, respectively.  If he was thinking that if all goes well for Jack for these next few games, then maybe his family will be finding out whether he tells them or not…!!!!!.  Or, that, if he can't find the words, then it'll be HIM keeping JACK from coming out, to the degree of 'out' that he wants to be, in a reversal of the start of their relationship…)

Anyway.  Hm.  I LOVED Jack's anxiety in the flashback, that I said it too much!  Too quickly!  Oh no!  But I can't really - take it back - since it is true??  (Less caring about Bitty's crying, but, whatever, no one ask for my feelings for Bitty.)

And I can figure out, like, it seems obvious, why the flashback exists in one sense - it is to tell us 'oh they had planned to come out when/if Cup all this time,' but, at the same time, I don't understand why the 'I love yous' scene belonged there?  If anything it seems to me that it should be just a little more discussion about that plan, but, otoh, 'OH NOES I SAID I LOVE YOU TOO SOON' is the only part of this update I really… liked… so.  ~waves hands~  idk!

AND NOW GOING BACK a couple/few paragraphs… like I said, there's a LOT of potential for drama, for complications, etc., set up in this comic, going forward.  ESPECIALLY IN BITTY'S TWEETS DISAPPEARING, (don't @my priorities), that's, the most interesting thing to me, HOW DO YOU DEAL etc.  When you've been using this weird public/private space that social media provides to work through your life, and you DON'T HAVE IT ANYMORE….

But… the almost total lack of drama, of conflict, of Anything Happening At All, in this comic, through most of the year or so I've been reading it live… does not make me excited at all for WHAT"S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT, even when technically I should be.  Even though I'm super surprised (it did not occur to me that Bitty'd come out to the whole world before his parents) as well as kinda super not (zimbits kissing under the Stanley Cup was gonna happen sometime, you know it).

I'll care if there are consequences, I guess?

In the meantime I'm mostly still pissed off at Jack's Magical Disappearing Anxiety, which is clearly not this post, and may or may not be a different one, but I'm sure the resulting emotions are still bleeding through.

(I still have to deal with mine every fucking day, okay.  Even though I have the best partner, that DOESNT MUCH HELP.)

[vardasvapors]

replies

simaethae replied to your post:                    So, what is your overall opinion on the Narnia...                

   Very Tiny Christian Me picked up the allegory right away and eventually, worriedly, asked her parents if it wasn’t blasphemy to compare a lion to jesus, which is probably not what CS Lewis was going for >_> I loved the books but feel they are probably best left for me in the warm glow of childhood (as with The Hobbit, which, alas, is not something i can reread with much enjoyment as an adult)   

Oh dear poor you :( I do remember picking up on the allegory too even though (because?) I was never raised christian, but I actually forget what my initial reaction to it was. I know I was not bothered by christian allegories per se but otoh uhhhh...being nonwhite, nonchristian...as with the racism and stuff there were a whole lot of kids’ fantasy and adventure books that would have been impossible for me to enjoy if I didn’t take them with a lot of salt. But for Aslan etc I think I was actually pretty serious about it in a ‘oooh where is he going with this’ sort of way until ‘where he was going with this’ turned out to be the Last Battle lmao and I was super unimpressed and felt cheated or whatever

simaethae replied to your post:                   So, what is your overall opinion on the Narnia...                

   (that proably came out wrong, it’s more that i remember being super immersed and caught up in what was happening to the characters as a kid, and it’s not really the same experience when you have everything that happens next memorised)    

Haha I have heard hearsay that this is, apparently, a phenomenon that happens to other people but unfortunately I can’t relate because having every single thing memorized IS the entire appeal of childhood books for me :D Probably because I re-read everything I liked so much when I was a kid that I had them totally memorized even back then or something idk.

kareenvorbarra replied to your post:              elesianne replied to your post:                ...                

   okay! i figured it might be that but i don’t remember the last battle very well, i think it’s the only one of the narnia books i’ve never reread because i hated it. so much. by the time i read it i was old enough that the religious allegory didn’t just go over my head anymore, and the ending of that book is SO heavy-handed i couldn’t take it.   

A GOOD DECISION. I think I DID read parts of the Last Battle a LOT trying to figure out if I missed something that would make it better! But no. :) I think like, detached from the book series’ narrative, I actually did like some of the imagery near the end in terms of like...how he wrote and conveyed it. I was (still am) very into religious/spiritual/mythological imagery. But the actual story ruined it >_<

maedhrosrussandol replied to your post:               So, what is your overall opinion on the Narnia...                

   I’ve loved those books since I first read them as a 10 year old. Like LOTR and the Hobbit, I used to reread them over and over. I think LOTR and the Hobbit hold up better in the long run but I still appreciate them. Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was always my favorite–sentimental likely as it was the first one I read and I was mesmerised by the idea of Narnia.    

Heh yeah me too <3 I feel a little bad about how negative that post got but I just assumed the anon was probably referring to the religious stuff since it was in response to me talking about tolkien’s religious stuff...and IMO Lewis’ religious stuff is genuinely just nowhere near as good, though I don’t exactly have the formal education to be able to write a whole clear post about it.

[laufire]

Supernatural s5

I finished it a little while ago, but I haven’t had the time to make an involved post about it -or watch that much of s6 yet; I’m trying to be Resposible and the time I have has been spent in advancing fics a little bit or answering short asks lol.

-I have really enjoyed this season for the most part, but there’s something I need to get of my chest LOL: all through it, the song “Too Many Dicks (On The Dance Floor)” played in my head xDD. Like, listen, I knew what I was signing up for with this show!! I didn’t expect NOT to find it offensive or regressive on multiple occasions!! But I guess s3-4 must have spoiled me lmao. I’m not saying those seasons are the height of feminism, but if you removed its most important female characters, ESPECIALLY Ruby, the plot of the season would fall apart. That’s not something you can say for s5 and preventing the Apocalypse, just sayin’.

It wouldn’t’ve been that hard to expand Meg’s, Anna’s or the Harvelle’s part (they had good material to go there -Meg as the faithful possibly opening her eyes, Anna as the betrayed and the juror jury and executioner, the Harvelles as normal hunters fighting something way too big for them-, but barely any time and like I said, no incidence in the actual plot of the season). Hell, I’m biased but bringing back Ruby would’ve at least taken care of the problem lol. Or if the show had indulged me and kept Bellamy Young as Lucifer, at least. But everyone with a real say in the plot is a dude, or at least wearing one as a vessel (angel’s conception of gender is clearly different from humans, but in terms of ~~representation the results are the same lbr).

-My constant frustrations with Supernatural’s bigotry-related stuff lol, like I said, I really enjoyed the season (that combination is one of the most frustrating things about the show lmao). Especially Castiel’s plot. The guy has reached Potential Hall of Faves status and that’s hum. A Problem xD

But seriously, he was breaking my heart in all the best ways. His search for God (the Absent Father that the show specifically compared to John añsldkfjasf. This show ISTG!!), his disappointment and sense of betrayal at being let down (he called God Himself “son of a bitch”!!!). I was especially fascinated by his Endverse version -that AU will have its own section lol-, although it resulted in making me reaaaally nervous whenever he was close to an addictive substance :). Like yes, those scenes were lowkey humourous and adorable (like when he drinks shots with the Harvelles and Ellen is fascinated and Jo delighted -... lowkey shipping this too btw. Lowkey shipping Castiel with lots of people-, or his combo with Sam when he got drunk), but also, you know, WORRYING xD

Some of my favourite scenes of his were, predictably, his interactions with Meg or Lucifer in 5x10. The Megstiel scene was SUPER HOT (both their voices are very unf-y lol), I can’t wait to edit it. And having Lucifer call Castiel “a peculiar thing” sure was something xD (although lbr, this Lucifer isn’t keeping with his rebel angel reputation, Castiel is carrying that all by himself smh).

Another scene I couldn’t get out of my head if I wanted to is when he uhhhh... completely LOSES IT and starts beating the crap out of Dean when he was ready to give it up to Michael. “I gave everything for you, and this is what you give me?!?” ooooooof. It was hard to watch, and fascinating and intense. I shamelessly loved it lmfao.

Though my favourite moment of his is one that can only be appreciated when you know certain things about s6. It’s the scene where, unlike everyone else, he shows appreciation for Sam’s plan of sacrificing himself to get rid of Lucifer. Because yes, at this point it’s the only thing that can save the world. But Castiel isn’t saying, “Sam’s life is a small price to pay in comparison”, because he will go into s6 and snatch Sam out of the cage immediately. s5 established Sam got out, so with that in mind, he didn’t bring it up because he didn’t want to create false hope in case he failed, but he backed the plan with the intention of saving Sam anyway. I love that. I love him.

-The entire season was Missing Ruby Hours for me lmfao. Like I said, some of the problems in the season wrt female characters would’ve been at the very least lessened if she’d gotten to be here wrecking havoc. But generally I just miss her and What Could Have Been with her here. I enjoyed some of the crumbs (Sam using the witchcraft skillz he learned from her! Sam immediately knowing Meg isn’t Ruby, unlike Dean! Her knife! The ARCHANGEL GABRIEL referencing her as “the demon Sam chose over his brother”!! The callbacks with Crowley or Brady!!), but I would’ve wanted her here, dammit xD.

-Aaaaand we’re finally getting to Sam, who is without a doubt the star of the season, if you ask me. His plan at the end, to let Lucifer possess him in the hopes he can fight back for just long enough to overpower him and throw them both into the cage, with no hopes for himself? This is the kind of Big Damn Hero stunt I’m a sucker for, I won’t lie. And I love that the show felt the need to confirm he was still alive at the end of the season hehe.

He really Went Through It this season and he held on lmfao. On top of everything (the apocalypse, the guilt of being its final trigger, the addiction recovery, etc.), he also had to deal with Dean’s usual bullshit, which is no small feat xDD. Like, sure, from an audience stand-point all those things are interesting (some fave/the fuck moments are when Dean is obviously peeved that Bobby still supports Sam because he wanted Bobby in HIS corner, or when he has the nerve to say he wants to say yes to Michael because he doesn’t trust SAM not to say yes to Lucifer lmfaoooo), BUT IT’S STILL A FEAT XD

One note: for all the talk about bi!Dean, bi!Sam is so SEEN this season xDD. AFAIC he totally hooked up with that bartender Paul (RIP Paul. At least in your last moments you enjoyed Sam, who’s clearly an energetic, attentive lover 😔). And Crowley refers to Brady as Sam’s demon ex-boyfriend and nobody bats and eye lmfao (that story is so angsty... the parallels to Ruby, how he ingratiated himself with Sam by pretending to have fallen off the wagon... ouch).

-I have mixed feelings on Crowley. On his own, I fell absolutely in love with the guy on his first appearance. A demon that DOUBTS Lucifer and doesn’t kiss his ass?? That wants to get rid of him and do his own thing?? And clearly enjoys ~earthly pleasures to the fullest (his complains about how the other demons ate his tailor had me rolling laksjdfa)? The way he turned the tables on Brady? OFC I love him. OTOH boy, does it annoy me knowing that fandom GLADLY embraced him when they condemned characters like Bela or Ruby for similar things. It’s not his fault so I still like him (he’s like Gabriel in that sense), but it’s annoying!

It also annoys me how Dean Must Be Right All The Time syndrome interacts with him lol. This season Dean decides they can trust Crowley (despite Crowley killing two humans in front of him and getting him beat up by Brady lol), so they can. Next season he decides they can’t, so Castiel will be WrongTM because Dean Says So. Ugggggh xD

-To be fair, however, this season has my fave Dean so far LOL. In the love/hate scale, this one has been almost solely in camp love, barring some of those moments of irksome hypocrisy that he’s so prone to xD.

But there was something about how this season’s plot chipped away at him, you know? For all the traits he has that drive me up the wall or unsettle me, I appreciate a lot of his personality because it makes him a unique and interesting character driving the narrative -his irreverence, his ability to think on the fly and get out of shitty situations, his disbelief. Seeing all of those things under siege this season made me hurt for him in a way I hadn’t anticipated LOL. By the time he was ready to give in to Michael (and I love that what made him step away from that choice was Sam showing a trust in him he patently didn’t deserve lbr), sometimes I felt terribly for the guy.

I also wonder if this season kind of marked like... the beginning of the end for him, narrative-wise? Making him Michael’s vessel (his angel condom) is the kind of thing that turns him from subject into object, and that can doom characters ime. The fact that he ~resigns himself to Sam’s death when his identity as a character came with being His Brother’s Keeper is another slight.

-I continue having mixed feelings about Destiel too LMAO. I’ve decided I’m just going to try to enjoy the good and interesting parts while I can, while trying not to think of future developments that’ll likely sour the ship for me lol.

Because in truth, yeah, I enjoy their interactions a lot here! The Endverse was particularly enjoyable for me (back to that in a moment), but the entire season had a lot of gems. That moment in the finale, when Dean is wounded on his knees after Sam sacrifices himself, and Castiel resurrects and heals him with a touch? And Dean is staring in awe and asks him if he’s become God?? Like wtf am I supposed to do with that. WHO SAYS THAT. XDD

-The Endverse. Omgggggggg. The Endverse. I doubt I can say anything about it that hasn’t been said a thousand times, but seriously. I loooove it, all of it. My favourite was endverse!Castiel, ofc. The way he was in No Man’s Land, not an angel and not quite a human, his ways of trying to cope with that, how burned he was... I uncomfortably related to some of it too lmfao, but let’s not get into that xD.

Seeing both Deans interact was gr10 too. They really couldn’t stand each other lmfao (do you understand me now Dean?? They actually reminded me of two OCs in an original WIP of mine that are in a similar situation -in this case it’s the future version purposefully traveling to the past though-, which made me even fonder of the AU). And the Destiel? *chef’s kiss*. The bitterness, like when Castiel laughs when present!Dean berates endverse!Dean about the tortures and then purposefully says “I like past you” to hurt him asñldkfjasf. Or those looks when Dean returns to the past and tells Castiel to “never change” d’aw.

I loved Lucifer!Sam in this episode too (and personally, I think in the finale Lucifer -and Michael- should’ve changed his outfit too. Sam’s clothes just don’t get to The Devil’s levels, but that white suit was perfect). He was terrifying xD.

BTW: I’ve decided that, since we never see endverse!Castiel die, well. He didn’t xD. I could see Lucifer keeping him alive and captive out of a sense of nostalgia, as Castiel is the only other thing close to a fellow angel left. Might even decide to return his powers with time, or to ~entice him with such an offer lol. And ofc I headcanon Sam is still inside, occasionally trying to fight. Cue in all the Castiel/Lucifer and Castiel/Sam fic ideas too (I have waaaaay too many of those for this mini-verse. It’s very inspiring).

-I’m still on the fence at Lucifer’s motivations but I can’t question how the family issues fit so, so well into this ‘verse. “Family is hell” is the show’s thesis, after all xD. IMO the angels in general don’t feel like a family, they’re a military body/cult lol, but the Archangels are another matter. I guess is the whole “only four angels have seen God-slash-Dad” thing, the rest were... well, the help, apparently.

But Lucifer, Michael, and Gabriel do feel like brothers when they interact (I’m guessing here Gabriel is the Adam: discarded by the other two like nothing :)))). Raphael too, but since he doesn’t interact with them... does he get to later? Or is he the odd one out? Did the others avoid him because he kept quoting Nietzsche at dinner?? LOL.

-There are no words to explain how terribly I feel for Adam. JFC that poor KID. Who was kind and helpful and intuitive, and only wanted his mother back and to help stop the end of the world. And that Sam and Dean will leave rotting in Hell for a millennia :))). It’s kiiiiiiiiind of hard to do for your show’s “heroes” when they do shit like that lmfao. It’d be different if they never tried to make him feel he’s family, but Sam tried to convince him with the bs “because we’re blood” and they did a half-baked attempt at saving him from Zacharias, and then... yeah. At least he had Michael in the cage, but still.

-I was already spoiled of this, but the reveal that cupids made John and Mary fall in love is so chilling (good on Dean for punching that cupid asshole, btw). It puts what Mary says about John in flashbacks, about how much she loves him and how perfect he is, in such a terrifying light. And I’m under the impression that the show didn’t bother to deal with this properly when they resurrected Mary and just... I hate that tbh. It’s a narrative choice that should have a huuuge impact, dammit.

-I kind of loved how bitter and angry Bobby was about (temporarily, thanks to Crowley, his new demon bf -watch out Rufus) ending up in a wheelchair. That there were no platitudes or false sentimentality and it just... was.

-The Harvelles’ had a good send off. I can respect Kripke for wanting his faves to go on his terms lol. Having Jo refuse Dean’s offer of a fuck on their possible last night on Earth with “I rather spent it with a little thing I have self-respect”? Not because she doesn’t have feelings for him, but because she thinks she deserves better from him? I love it. This guy knows his pettiness xD

-The fact that this fandom seems to have ignored Gabriel x Kali is one of the reasons I’m never going to vibe with it, sns. Immortal exes? Check. She tricked him and killed him... but then it turns out HE tricked and he’s alive? Check. BUT THEN HE STILL GOES BACK AND SAVES HER, DYING BY HIS BROTHER’S HAND?? CHECK CHECK CHECK. Ugh, why can’t they come back to me. I know, I know, Kali is a WoC and those are only allowed one (1) appearance before they’re killed off, apparently. So it might be a good thing that she doesn’t return xD. But gosh, they were gr10.

-Death the Horseman’s intro cleared my skin. I love him. I love how utterly terrifying he is and how chilling his and Dean’s scene was. And I yearn to find a picture of the guy a little younger and with a goatee, because he’s the most perfect Discworld’s Vetinari fancast I’ve ever found xDD

-I’ve seen tons of commentary over the years, and especially lately for obvious reasons, about how this season finale would’ve been a much better ending for the show. I’m not there yet, and it does sound like the finale was a mess and this one’s was a very well constructed episode (and, ofc, the Final Love Interest was NOT blurry!!). But even if by the end I come to loathe the finale, there’s one reason I already know won’t let me agree on the s5 ending being perfect: God xDD

The episode makes Chuck come across as a ~benevolent figure and no, fuck that, do NOT want, take it away from me!! Give me God as the Big Bad Wolf, the last evil to conquer any day. It’s like Dumbledore all over again: I enjoy the character a lot more if I feel canon and I are on the same page wrt his shadiness xDD

[nairil-daeris]

So I wrote next chapter for my 3 years old story.

I need to thank to amazing and absolutely incredible the-foxes-fangs for beta

I was also heavily inspired by otohe’s story. As they say, really good art inspires others to do their own.

the first chapter is here:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12280276/1/Holy-Hell

second chapter starts now:

..................................................................................................

Annoying.

“It’s all absolutely annoying“ Neji decided while sitting under his favourite tree in heaven‘s orchard.

The sun was slowly setting on the horizon and birds were chirping their evening songs. The peaceful atmosphere invited him to relax and have a nice session of meditation.

Or not.

Where was his favourite moment of concentration without any necessary thoughts?

In hell apparently.

He had decided to forget his little experience with the she-devil as the unimportant incident it was.

But it was not to be. Tenten seemed to remain on the angel’s mind that evening and the many that followed. It was upsetting, to say the least.

Neji decided that he hated the little demon. She drove him crazy even after so many days. The memory of the challenge in her gaze alone was enough to make his blood boil. With rage of course.

Which was one of the many reasons that the existence of this… dream was more than a little irksome. It implied that there was something beneath that hatred, which just simply couldn’t be true.

The Dream, as Neji called it, came just when he thought he had banished all thought of her.

Even if he wanted to recall the curves of her body, or the fullness of her lips– which he didn’t – he certainly wouldn’t. She was disgusting, filthy demon trash. A mere plebe and a tramp compared to him and his status as an angel.

It didn’t matter how much the thought of dominating her appealed to him in his dream

– how much he’d love to pin her down and force her into submission, make her squeal and moan while he told her of the myriad annoyances, she had given him, for which she must now be punished.

He had become so obsessed about the demon, that he was hallucinating about her right now.

She was standing in the clearing before him, hand on one hip cocking her head at him with a too-glib smile. The fact that he found her attractive was ridiculous.

“I didn’t expect you would be here again.” He said to his imagination.

“And whom did you expect?”

“Not you.”

“I’m hurt.”

Wait. Fantasies weren’t supposed to talk back. They weren’t supposed to talk at all!

It took several seconds before reality dawned on him.

“How dare you! How did you even get here without me noticing!?”

“I got here without you noticing the first time as well.” She said and shrugged.

That was quite a blow to his ego. And it made him furious.

“Go back to the depths of the hell that you came from, you pitiful creature!” Neji roared.

But there was no answer. The she-devil was watching him thoughtfully.

“No.” She said finally, staring him down, “I don’t think I will.”

“And why not?” The words escaped him through gritted teeth. His gaze fell on her slightly exposed cleavage and he tore his eyes away before his thoughts could run away with him.

 “Because you want me to. And I enjoy irritating you, angel.”

He pictured himself kissing her like he did last time. He couldn’t help it. It was … irritating indeed. Thinking of the swell of her bottom lip was one thing. Thinking of how much more swollen he could make it with his teeth and his mouth was another thing altogether.

He was paralyzed by contradictory desires, both to kiss her and throw her out of his sight. So he chose to converse instead and see where it took him.

“So you do.” He replied carefully.

“I’d almost dare say that you feel the same way.”

“No, I can’t say that I enjoy it when you irritate me. I know this must come as a great shock–”

“But you do enjoy irritating me, if our last encounter is anything to go by. But you’re absolutely dreadful at it right now.”

Now, she had gone too far. Neji stood in one fluid motion, rage winning out for now if only to cover up reality. The sight of Tenten’s smug, self-satisfied face had exhausted his patience.

”Why are you here, you vixen?“

“I want what I came for before, the apples.”

He crossed his arms in front of his chest, sneer appropriately fixed on his face before he even bothered to open his mouth. “Yes? Didn’t I teach you a lesson?”

But something felt off. As though he were disappointed that she wasn’t there because of him specifically. For no other reason than to torment him.

Which apparently would be a good prospect now? What on earth was the matter with him?

“Oh? Were you expecting another fucking? Not gonna happen!” The she-devil said in a mocking sing-song voice.

Bratty minx! He was going to show her that fucking was definitely not on his mind when he sent her right down from heaven’s clouds. Literally.

The darkness descended.. Oh, the old trick won’t work twice on me, thought the angel.

“I don’t suppose you enjoy being left in the dark.” He could hear her mocking. 

“That’s a shame...for you.” A part of him couldn’t believe he was wasting his time on her. The other part… he refused to acknowledge.

It was easy to locate her position now when she spoke. One good flaming arrow was enough to interrupt her dirty spell.

“Because I do so enjoy annoying you, as you said yourself” Neji continued.

The two of them stared at each other now, sizing each other up. 

 “Do you? You’re so cruel. Am I that bad to look at? Am I unnerving you?” She answered while making seductive pose. 

Bold, bratty, and annoying. It would have been so delightfully easy to shut her up with a kiss, searing enough to make even that she-devil melt. He knew he could do that now. It would be even easier with his cock between her lips, but that was…  dangerous territory. How…unsettling. He hardly even recognized himself anymore.

A staring contest wasn’t a good idea. 

He caught himself staring at Tenten’s mouth and righted his gaze, doing his best to look as bored as possible. As bored as he truly didn’t feel at all.

 Tenten used his moment of absent-mindedness to bolt behind the trees.

Off he went after her. 

Ugh she is fast, that little shrew, Neji thought. How irritating.

By the time he caught up with her she was already holding an apple in her hand.

“That’s as far as you got the last time” he said with a smirk “you’re not going to get any further now.”

He expected her to put the apple into her bag but to the angel’s surprise she bit into it instead.

Just like that. In front of him. Such audacity! And while wearing such a smug grin, munching on the apple, like she had won first prize in a lottery.

But her smile changed. It crumpled into a grimace as Tenten started coughing.

That’s curious, thought Neji as he stopped through drawing his flaming sword.

The she-devil landed on all fours, coughing and sputtering violently. 

The angel just stood there, unsure how to react. Had his prey suddenly turned into a victim?

That was … troubling. Confusing.

Downright alarming, the more he saw her writhing in pain.

He wanted her writhing, but beneath him with pleasure, not like…this.

Gingerly he came closer, anticipating another of her tricks, only to see that her distress was genuine. This was his second time seeing Tenten with an unguarded expression, but this time he wasn’t enjoying it a bit. 

At last she went still, her consciousness leaving her. Neji checked her pulse, she was alive but passed out. 

As he bent down toward the little devil, he felt powerless in more ways than one. Neji had no idea why the perfect apple from heavens orchard had caused her so much pain. He blamed himself for having let this happen at all. It was his job to protect the garden from creatures like her anyway, but he had let his cravings get in the way.

And now he felt completely thrown off. How vexing. Not that he could fault her, but– still. He’d very much like to fault her. Agony of bliss suited her much better that this. He wanted to help her, he realized.

But how?

.......................................

to be continued