#she is symbolic in a lot of ways- and the way that she is being treated by fans

[dammit-tazmuir]

I have crossed the face of the universe. I poison it to match my grief.

That's always been it for every Resurrection Beast including John. Nona is the only exception, and I highly suspect that's only as Nona. Alecto, after all, was a monster in a human suit from the moment he resurrected her, and then he went and made her worse. Nona is only able to be her purest self by making herself forget her grief.

But Alecto still loved, even before she was Nona. She still loved John even in the immediate aftermath before he'd raised anyone else, and she loved Anastasia enough to swear an oath and want to see her, and G1deon and Pyrrha may have feared her but they saw something in her they still liked.

Varun still loves, yearning not just for revenge but to help and support their sister, even when they don't understand her, even when it makes them confused and furious that she would love these creatures, even when she's nothing like she used to be.

John still loves, too. He's never as sentimental as you think, sure, but far more than that line gives him credit for, I'd think; Augustine thought the retribution was purely symbolic, but it really is about an unattainable revenge; he made himself God and he still can't change time. He's never stopped caring, and that's not limited to hatred.

He never has to show Harrow any kindness; the only person who would have begrudged him at all for saying "not worth it" is Ianthe and she would have held her tongue. The two-faced bullshit is appalling in itself but every risk he takes (a lot) is fully unnecessary. When he confirms what her parents did, he projects his own self-defense, absolutely, but in his mind he's showing solidarity and genuine care.

And from "Hi, not fucking dead, I'm dad" onward, he seems to have at least some genuine investment in Gideon as a person. Like he 100% has shady ulterior motives tied to her sharing the god-soul and stuff, I'm not denying that, and maybe latching onto the father-daughter bond is just the easiest way to pull her close. But with Ianthe's "he's so fragile right now" and what a mess it sounds like he's been and the fact that none of that necessitated inventing a whole new thing for Ianthe to be part of too, idk, it really feels like he's trying to fill a void. John does care, and wants to care, even if he ultimately cares about himself more. He wants to maintain plausible deniability enough to lie to himself that he's justified, but like, that's not a given. Not everyone cares about being able to do that. Wanting to pretend he's Not The Bad Guy is itself something.

And we know what John did to Varun and the others, but he didn't kill earth alone; he delivered the killing blow, and a massive one, but she was in agony slowly dying for a long time.

And there's no one we could turn to and ask what they did to get her to that point or make John this way. You can't even blame the governments and the trillionaires, not fully, because it didn't start with them. It's so big and so old. Earth is bigger and older but even she can only take so much.

Hey. Just thought of something.

In Nona the Ninth, when Nona’s pretending to be Harrow and needs to avoid Ianthe’s questions, she screams in the resurrection beast’s language. Specifically, she yells “Help!” And Varun starts dropping heralds, because Varun is trying to help.

Now, this implies that the resurrection beasts can feel things like empathy. Which means they’re not just monsters. Every single one of them is just as capable of loving and being loved as Nona, but because they were created in a terrifying storm of death, they reacted in fear, and were treated like monsters as a result. And that’s so fucking tragic!

These thinking, feeling beings, ghosts of murdered worlds, who could and can know love, but have only ever known hate and fear. I feel for them, I really do.

[butterflydm]

Scattered WoT rewatch thoughts (1x01-1x04)

This includes spoilers for s3, because my rewatch is adding some context to my thoughts for season three and the spoilers we know so far and book spoilers through Lord of Chaos:

1x01

I do think it's likely that Egwene's Accepted Test is going to mirror the scene with Liandrin gentling the man from the cold open, but Rand being in a river ties it more to Egwene and the Two Rivers. Egwene has been very associated with water so far, from needing to trust the river in s1 to undergo the rite to officially become a woman, to a jug of water being the symbol of the battle of wills that she has with Renna in 2x06.

We have been watching Egwene's and Rand's paths diverge from each other from their very first scene together - the first time we see them kiss (and have implied fade-to-black sex) basically is a play from Rand to buy himself a little more time with Egwene before she breaks things off with him. Afterwards, she tells him that their futures aren't going to be aligned with each other. We even see her reject his symbolic romantic gesture of giving her a berry, which he used to give her when they were younger.

Rand will later say that Selene is the first woman to see him as a man and it does feel like his relationship with Egwene is very tied up to his boyhood.

So, s1 has an ep1 post-coital scene where Egwene's abilities separate her from the possibility of a future with Rand, so we may see this mirrored (if you'll pardon my choice of words) in 3x01.

First Finn foreshadowing for Mat: the tiny noose-like bits of thread on Fain's wagon.

The Rand & Egwene on a cliffside rock scene is another one that we know gets echoed in s3, with Lanfear taking Egwene's place and changing the narrative.

I really like that Nynaeve's feelings about the Two Rivers are grounded in her personal relationships (Rand has also been hearing a lot of things about the AS to make him wary, going by what Tam says about them).

Mat provides gambling, alcohol, and fostering emotional sharing in the relationship between the three boys. And we see them showing care and concern back to him.

I really do love how the show took the concept of Bel Tine and tied it into the world mythology of the Wheel and reincarnation. Very good philosophical setup for the future. Wheel keeps turning and we keep trying to do better than the last time.

We also see Nynaeve's loneliness in the Bel Tine scene, which is what Rand talked about when he was talking about what Egwene choosing to be a Wisdom would mean - no family of her own.

Overall, the show does such good job of showing how this mountain village has held onto the old ways without even realizing the depth of what those ways mean.

The battle is so well done. The fear and panic of the villagers at first, and how Moiraine helps them. I am also going to stand up and say that i think that having (and killing) Laila was a good choice! It shows us the cost of the Trolloc attack, it sets up Perrin's fear over his own battlerage, it sets up Perrin's overprotectiveness over his love interest without making wild overprotectiveness just a Two Rivers trait. And it really made all the show-only reactors that I watched sympathize with Perrin instantly. It was a solid change.

Rand undergoes the first of many "my parents weren't what I thought" when he sees how well Tam fights with a sword.

I love that we see our EF5's courage so strongly but in different ways.

Our first glimpse of weaves and of Aes Sedai working together with their Warders! And we see how effective they can be together. We're going to see the limitations of Warders in s3, I think, because they don't help much in a Power vs Power battle, but for most trouble that an Aes Sedai has been able to get into before now, they were very useful!

Also: Egwene is wearing a bracer on her left wrist here that is very much like the one she wears in s3 (and that does kinda echo the sul'dam bracer).

Rand mentions earlier that stories say a single Aes Sedai is said to be able to turn the tide of a battle and we get to see that here when Moiraine pulls down the Winespring Inn to hurl the stones at the Trollocs.

Poor in-denial Rand here, who does not want to believe what his dad confessed to him on their journey to the village.

Rand, Egwene, Moiraine, and Laila all in blue here, in the aftermath of the attack. Both Rand & Egwene cover up their blue shirts with brown sheepskin coats for their journey out of the Two Rivers. Mirrors!! Foils! Following parallel but separate paths, which is part of why they can't be together.

Rand knows that this about him but he can't admit it to himself. I love it when stories continue to add depth on a rewatch.

1x02

We saw the danger of the Shadow in the last episode, now we set up the danger of the Whitecloaks. Another scene that gains depth on rewatch, as show-onlys will later realize that the Whitecloaks are murdering a healer here, once they find out more about the Aes Sedai. They are zealots.

"Sometimes brutality is the only path to mercy." Yikes!

This episode also brings in the evil of Shadar Logoth, a more ancient example of purely human evil that is not driven by the Shadow or Darkfriends. The city that ate itself alive out of paranoia and self-isolation from the world. A cautionary tale for what the Two Rivers could have become.

We get first lessons in Aes Sedai Oaths here, both their limitations and the ways to find loopholes around them. We also see that Rand confronts Moiraine publicly while Egwene also confronts her, but privately (because Moiraine is also clearly more comfortable having private confabs with Egwene over any of the boys - she's no Red but still has a wariness about men could channel).

Is this Egwene and Mat's only conversation? (And they are quickly joined by all the others)

We see Mat trying to lighten the mood, while Rand begins to show hints of leadership, wanting them to form a plan in case Moiraine turns on one of them.

I like the change that the show made in the Three Oaths, giving them a solid origin based in history - and tying it to Hawkwing also ties it to the Seanchan. The White Tower chose to leash itself to specific rules, while the women in Seanchan were forcibly leashed by their government.

Moiraine must feel so hopeful when she realizes that Egwene can channel and so the world might get a Dragon who can't go mad from saidin.

Genuinely, it is so baffling to me how some people watching the show were calling Rand clingy and trying to hold onto a dead relationship when it's literally Egwene sending the mixed signals and trying to cuddle up to Rand here, the episode after she broke things off with him.

Rand and Moiraine's first fight! We're going to get more of this in s3 as well, I believe. Moiraine trying to direct and control them, while Rand wants to actually know the endgame and what her plans are.

Poor Mat & Perrin forced to witness the fight afterwards between Rand & Egwene.

Mat is so good at defusing emotional conflict. He is the one who gets Rand to level out after the disagreements with Moiraine & Egwene.

We are shown the division in the Whitecloaks here - the Questioners being the true zealots, with the regular Children being willing to bend on matters of Aes Sedai.

Rand is gonna glare a hole in Moiraine's back.

The ruined bridge! Love all the old ruins in the Two Rivers area.

Mat again shows his emotional intelligence by starting the sing-along to boost spirits among the group. And we get a little history lesson. Fingers crossed for Mat singing again in s3!

Also: this scene made me cry during this rewatch.

We're briefly told here that they've been traveling for days, before the night when they go into Shadar Logoth.

Rand and Egwene work through a bit and come to better terms over the course of this episode but their main conflict of being on fundamentally different paths is not resolved. I'm guessing this will get echoed in s3 but they will actually fully accept and come to terms with their separate paths.

Perrin's first wolf encounter! ❤️

Once again, we see Mat reaching out to one of his friends to help them process - Perrin in this case, offering him a dagger that Laila had made for Mat and returning it to Perrin. I hope we get to see some of that in s3 with his friends in ep1. Mat is so sweet to his friends.

S1 - Rand goes to a dead city with Moiraine & Egwene; s3 - Rand goes to a dead city with Moiraine & Aviendha (based on the trailers).

Mat getting drawn to the dagger. Man, that is gonna fuck him up. My poor sad wet cat.

Our first plot-mandated split up - I do understand why we don't get a second Cauthor road trip since they did get all this time and focus together in s1, but I am definitely hoping that the change means we'll get them together again later on the series, hopefully spending time with each other in s4 (if we get it, etc). And I hope for a couple of good scenes before they part ways in s3.

1x03

We learn more about Nynaeve's grit and cleverness in the opener, as well as revealing that Trollocs will cannibalize their injured companions.

Nynaeve is such a badass here. 💖

I love this credits sequence so much. I understand wanting to spend every moment of the episode runtime but it's just so lovely.

Lan being impressed by Nynaeve tracking them. 💖

The Great Cauthor Roadtrip has begun!

"They say all roads lead there." "That's not how roads work." I love them so much.

Perrin & Egwene's roadtrip also begins. I do quite enjoy their scenes together even if I'm not getting the shippy buzz from them. But Perrin & Egwene both trying to light the same fire and not being certain who did it in the end... I hope we get a continued connection between them in the future (iykyk).

This episode is where we can clearly see Nynaeve's healer yellow under her warrior green. Perfect, no notes. All the scenes between Lan & Nynaeve in this episode are pure gold.

We can also see more clearly how Lan has a fancy pattern on the shoulders of his outfit.

Ishamael trying to suss out which of the ta'veren is the Dragon via dreams. Perrin dreams of Ishy here but Egwene doesn't seem to. The wolves herding them to safety in the scariest way possible lol I love them. They are probably trying to talk to Perrin but he can't see their visions yet.

Our first glimpse of an Aiel (dead in a cage). It really sets the tone for the town as a whole.

Hello, Thom! And Dana has her eye on the boys from the beginning. I do love Thom's song here and, of course, what it implies about Thom's sympathies towards men who can channel. I'm hoping for at least one good convo about Rand between Mat & Thom in s3.

Mat's keen emotional intelligence in display in previous episodes gets turned like a knife against Rand in this one and it hurts a lot.

"Someplace new, you can be anything you want. And no one's gonna know the dirt you were born in." We'll see Mat indulging in this idea a bit at the start of s3, I think.

Our first hints of Perrin's overprotectiveness post-Laila's death, and Egwene pushing back and offering compassion that Perrin doesn't feel like he deserves, and refusing to let him risk himself for her sake - they go together.

I think we got Aram confirmed for s3, so looking forward to his reunion with Perrin and how they might interact.

Egwene getting covered with the shawl of many colors.

Dana is such a good compilation of "every darkfriend on the road" that Mat & Rand encounter on the road.

Lol at Rand being so snippy over Mat when we know he actually thinks extremely highly of Mat. He's just mad at him right now because Mat is being an asshole for what seems to be no reason.

Our first hint that Siuan and Moiraine got a relationship upgrade comes when Moiraine whispers a pained "Siuan" when she's really out of it. Also they did a great job of making Moiraine look on the edge of death.

We get to see more of Thom's compassion when Mat encounters him at the dead Aiel's cage. Love our little lesson about Aiel here - and our first open hint about Rand's heritage, as Thom tells us red hair is rare outside the Aiel Waste.

"If you're going to take from the dead, the least you can do is bury them."

First mention of the Stone of Tear and the Lion Throne of Caemlyn.

Dana going for the kiss - start of a pattern there, the Shadow trying (and succeeding in s2) to deceive their way into Rand's bed. And she genuinely likes Rand too, but is still willing to betray him.

Our first hint of Rand using the Power, when he breaks the reinforced door.

I really like that they used Dana to give us Ishamael's philosophy. Break the Wheel to stop the pain of the world. I like that Mat encounters this again with Ishy at the end of s2 and we see him reject it.

Okay, Thom never openly tells either of the boys that he thinks they're the Dragon but he overhears their conversation with Dana and also assumes right away that it's the madness troubling Mat in the next episode.

Hi, Logain! I like how both Nynaeve and Logain are used to create doubt in Moiraine's mind over the accuracy of the prophecies.

1x04

Logain does a good job showing us all the scary foreshadowing for what the Dragon will be capable of. What Logain does to one country, Rand is supposed to do to the world, essentially. We see both the power and the madness here.

"What does a crown mean to the Dragon Reborn?"

Logain knows and believes in the prophecies and believes that he is truly the Dragon, with the voices in his head urging him on.

We do see Logain fighting and winning against the corruption here, healing the king instead of killing him.

I love what they've done with Logain so far in the story. I don't think we've seen any spoilers about him in s3 yet but I would not be surprised to see him.

We get to learn a lot about Aes Sedai in this episode, with Nynaeve as our main vehicle for learning the lore, which is great because of her prickly relationship with Moiraine.

The war party to capture Logain is comprised of Green & Red sisters and this is an authorized operation that we can directly compare to the unauthorized operation that Liandrin and her fellow Reds carried out in ep1. Logain is captured and shielded, not gentled on the spot. Then he is meant to be taken back to the White Tower for trial - I'm guessing this is actually meant to determine if he's the real Dragon Reborn. False Dragons get gentled and the true Dragon stays shielded until the Last Battle, to keep him from using the Power and going mad from the corruption.

Liandrin is so snippy and petty with Moiraine. I kinda do feel like she tried a flirtation with Moiraine in the past and got shot down.

I really love how the show gave the Warders their own subculture and community. We did not get enough of that in the books at all. A+ improvement.

We find out here how secretive Moiraine & Lan are around other Aes Sedai & Warders. We also learn that Liandrin is pushing against the Amyrlin's decrees and that there are rumors spreading about the unsanctioned gentlings.

Aram is lovely and charming. The show also did a really good job making the Tuatha'an endearing.

Rand and Mat bonding over their mutual paranoia towards the rest of the world: oh dear.

"I always knew women couldn't see men's weaves..." setting out right here that there is a distinction between the two Powers.

I like Alanna & Moiraine's friendship. And Alanna does a good job setting out the Green Ajah mission statement - the Battle Ajah, to prepare for the Last Battle.

Alanna worrying that the current Tower policy about the Dragon is too aggressive and might lead to the Tower gentling the Dragon Reborn and dooming the world.

Liandrin starts her work on trying to get to Nynaeve. Not sure if she already knows anything about the Two Rivers ta'veren or if she's just looking to subverting someone traveling with Moiraine.

Rand taking charge of the situation to de-escalate, while Mat continues to slip.

Lol at Liandrin being the one to tell us the Blues are ~just spies~ and then to give us the official line on the Red Ajah philosophy - the magic cops, basically.

Liandrin also makes it clear here that men are not welcome under the Red Ajah's tent.

Tying the Way of the Leaf into the reincarnation cycle of the Wheel makes so much sense and rally solidifies it and grounds it into the world.

Rand starts to worry that something is really wrong with Mat here. The little girl offering Mat the Birgitte doll is so sweet.

Rand trying to rationalize what's happening with Mat, and Thom tries to gently led him to the idea that Mat can channel. Very good conversation, because Rand is torn between not wanting to believe it of himself but part of him knowing that it's him, and his worries over Mat. Rand hears about the consequences of being gentled here, and then sees both gentling and mental illness up close in s2.

"Nothing is more dangerous than a man who knows the past." Appropriate for both Rand & Mat!

Having Nynaeve hang out with the Warders so that we can learn more about them is so good.

And our first poly relationship hints!

I like that we get to see Moiriane doubting herself and her path, questioning the prophecies. And Lan reassuring her that they're on the correct path, reminding her of the dreams and the Trollocs, that Logain doesn't fit what they know about how old the Dragon should be.

This story that Ila tells is going to echo in s3 as well, as we see the Aiel come up against this choice and the split between them happens as some of them pick up a spear while the others do not, choose to stay true to their original culture instead.

"Have you lost him?" "No. No, I would know if I had." Egwene still thinking about Rand, as Rand was thinking about her last episode.

Rand waking up and making that promise to Mat. Awww. "No matter what happens, I'm here."

The show really has set out such a strong foundation for Mat & Rand's friendship, so while them not being together in s3 isn't my favorite adaptation choices (though I do think I will probably love Mat in Tanchico) they do have a very solid foundation of relationship work already put into them.

We got Perrin's Ishy dream, now we get Rand. Perrin is hammering away (at Laila's body?), Mat is wandering around with a bloody red hand, and Egwene is yoinked away by Ishy. And Rand wakes up from that into a waking nightmare of seeing Mat surrounded by a murdered family and then leaving Thom behind to save Mat & himself. Genuinely, not having a good day.

Thom was already ride-or-die (or believe them to have murdered a family under the influence of the corruption but still be willing to help) for the boys here.

I imagine the pitch Liandrin is giving Kerene here is the same slippery slope that the Reds went down originally - these men are too dangerous for us to risk carting them all the way back to the Tower.

Nynaeve and Lan bonding over lost family. Very sweet moment. Cried a bit here too.

I do think this fight is serving as big foreshadowing for Dumai's Wells. The Dragon captured by the Tower, his forces rallying to free him, him breaking out to join the fight. We'll just be on the other side of the battle that time, as Perrin (and hopefully Mat, in this version, fingers crossed, come on, let him actually be Rand's general for more than ten seconds!) fight to free him from the Tower embassy, while Rand fights to escape.

In addition to Kerene's death, we see a Red sister shot up with arrows too, though maybe she lives.

Nynaeve's AoE heal that probably made Moiraine less inclined to believe that Egwene could be the Dragon, because of how strong Nynaeve is.

[gallifreyan85]

If I Had A Box Just For Wishes

pairing: Agatha x reader

summary: being agatha's only student has its sacrifices. you navigate around her tough exterior, but she's not the easiest to talk to.

Warnings: cutting your had for a spell? slight mentions of blood. agatha trying not to be soft

A/n: read warnings. I wanted to finish this for days but I'm not sure how I feel about it now. anyway. this is part 2 of I Want No More Than This but can be read as standalone. enjoy!! <3

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆

You knew from the moment you agreed to listen to her, that having Agatha Harkness as something akin to a mentor would be no easy feat. It wasn’t that obvious at first, not much, just her being demanding as always and wanting you to be thorough in whatever magic you did. She was not soft, or reassuring, or a warm teacher. But still it all seemed normal enough. Well. As normal as learning magic could be for a witch. You found yourself enjoying it even. Rarely, yes, but as much as she was downright scary sometimes, Agatha was good with words. She’d tell you about things in the world of witchcraft that you’d never hear from other witches, and she made it all sound like some adventure-filled story, complete with a demonstration of said spell at the end, plus a few dramatic gestures, the constant addition of her snarky charm.

You listened. Went along with it. Of course you wished for more, more attention, not that you’d ever admit it, but she kept calling you sweet things- names like honey and darling and pet, allthewhile somehow making it all sound like an insult. And you took it anyway. You’d begged your way into this mess you called a mentorship, you would endure it no matter what. And you were safe. From what, you weren’t sure yet, but one of the perks of being in Agatha’s good circle, and it was a very small circle, was that no one would dare hurt you.

Well.

No one but her, of course.

And she always made a point of reiterating it, no onebut her. It worried you a little at first, swirling silently inside your head before you drifted off at night, trying to imagine the way her words would one day come true, you promised her your loyalty, begged her to take you in and teach you, so where was your fee? And then after a little while, slowly but surely that thought faded away into the backround with all your other worries about life, and you didn’t really give it much thought.

It wasn’t late exactly but you felt exhausted, just about making it down to the basement after she called your name, and you wished that whatever it was she wanted wouldn’t take long, because the four long hours you spent training and learning were starting to take their toll, starting with general exhaustion which had then slowly started to bleed into outright tiredness. You couldn’t wait to take a shower and go to bed. Her words were still echoing faintly in your head, progress is slow darling, you have to concentrate.

When you descended the stairs she was standing in the middle of the room, in a halo of pale light that always fell in odd circles in her basement, you weren’t even sure where from as there were no windows, but… When you approached her she gave you an odd smile, a sort of cold, almost self-satisfied smirk. As if she knew something you did not. That was of course true, she knew lots of things you didn’t, but as you came closer to her, your steps slow and a little unsure, you couldn’t help but feel a slight shiver wash over your back at the way her eyes were following you. When you stopped in front of her she met your eyes, her own blue ones willed with a sense of… what was that, amusement? Curiosity?

No, anticipation. She was waiting for something, but for what?

“You needed something?” you looked up at her, feeling oddly small in the chill of the room.

“Yes, dear.” she said, gaze falling back down onto the large book laid open in front of her, darkened pages filled with symbols you didn’t understand.

“I’m working on a spell of sorts. Very advanced, and certainly too much for your little head to turn over.”

Your eyebrows furrowed slightly. “So then why did you call me?”

“Oh, I need your help with something. Just a little, tiny thing really. And then you’ll be free to go.”

You tilted her head.

Something about her tone made you want to back away while you still could, but no. Whatever it was you could take it. You were going to prove to her that she made the right choice by letting you stay.

“What do you need me to do?”

She chuckled lowly.

Then, with one smooth and swift move, she slid something onto the table towards you. A small, pristine ceramic bowl, with a few scattered herbs and leaves inside. You looked at it for a moment, confused, then glanced back at her. She chuckled again.

“Come over here, darling.” she said, beckoning you closer.

You walked over to her side, feeling very much like a gazelle walking into a lion’s den.

When you stopped beside her, the table and bowl still in front of you, she reached for something else behind her back, saying casually,

“You see the spell I’m working on requires a few special items, some extra ingredients. And it seems you’re the perfect candidate for one of those.”

You frowned.

You were about to ask her to explain when she set something else on the table in front of you, and your mouth went a little dry.

It was a knife.

Small, silver, oriental and decorated with some sort of old-loooking swirly symbols, black handle pointing towards you.

“Bleed.” she said.

You blinked.

She didn’t move.

Didn’t say anything else.

“What?” you looked up at her.

She nudged the bowl towards you, a smile now curling her lips.

“I said bleed. I don’t need much but it’s important. For the spell.”

You didn’t move.

“You need-- blood?”

She sighed, an edge of frustration seeping into her tone.

“Do I need to make everything crystal clear for you hun? The spell requires blood, and who better to offer some but you? Come on.”

She pushed the knife towards you.

“W-why can’t you do it?” you made out, feeling slightly shaky.

She laughed. A genuine laugh.

“Oh, I’d be happy to, if you weren’t such a scaredy cat, but what I need here is blood of the innocent. And trust me dear I’m not innocent. In any of the ways. Seriously.” she shot you a sly smile and winked as if that explained you needed to know.

You hesitated.

“Ugh, come on,” she sighed, huffing with a hint of annoyance. “this was part of our deal, or did you forget? You listen to me, and I’m asking you to help out.”

She didn’t sound like she was asking.

You swallowed. Picked up the knife.

She nodded, the barest hint of a nod. It made you feel a little better.

You raised the knife to your hand.

“That’s it. Come on dear.” she murmured, eyes watching you like a hawk.

“How much do you need?” you asked, stalling for just a moment.

She thought it through for a bit, then shook her head. “Not much. Just enough for it to work. I’ll tell you when to stop.”

You looked at her, then back down. The knife felt slippery in your grasp. You didn’t move. But she was watching you with those eyes, that icy blue scrutinizing stare that made you feel jittery and filled you with a need to please her. Everyone else had left you. You couldn’t be alone again, you wouldn’t. Agatha had just started towards you, seemingly ready to do it for you, when you slid the tip along your hand, feeling that smooth, warm trickle that slid down your palm and into the ceramic bowl.

You didn’t see her expression, but she stopped a few feet away, watching you. Her head tilted slightly, as if in consideration.

“Hm.” she murmured. “So you do have some guts in you after all.”

You tried to smile. All you did was wince. You kept your hand above the bowl, stayed still for a moment, waiting for her to say it’s enough, but she was watching you with a new kind of intensity in her gaze. You didn’t know what to make of it. Your hand was starting to hurt, a tingly burning feeling, and you tried to pull away but she gripped your wrist and forced it straight.

“Just a moment longer.”

You gave her a look.

She didn’t say anything else.

When she was finally satisfied she pulled the bowl away, back towards her, and did some sort of swirling gesture with her palm. You watched as the contents glowed bright purple, such a beautiful color that you came to associate with her and this dark basement. It glowed for a while more until the light died down, leaving a small shimmery residue that reminded you of tea leaves. You waited. She didn’t say anything, just picked up the bowl and put it away in some dark corner, then rolled up her sleeves a little better and went back to the big book. You tried to push down the growing feeling of frustration inside you. Your eyes felt tired, drooping on their own accord, and while you knew you didn’t exactly lose a lot of blood your head still felt slightly woozy, maybe from the training-packed day, maybe not. You looked down, pressing the sleeve of your shirt into your palm. It hurt a little, but the pain that was really bothering you wasn’t in hand but in your heart. Was this what it was going to be like? Just you going along with her whims, never complaining, never getting anything in return? You got knowledge, yes, but…

It didn’t feel right.

It didn’t feel like enough.

Maybe you were selfish. You felt a burning in your eyes and tried to blink it away. When Agatha turned next she paused, as if forgetting you were still there, and tilted her head a little to one side.

“Why are you still here?”

You opened your mouth. Closed it again.

You were starting to feel more desperate, and for what you didn’t know.

Agatha raised her eyebrows. “Yes?”

You shook your head, feeling your voice quiver just slightly.

“Is this all you want from me?”

She frowned, genuinely confused. You would’ve laughed if you didn’t feel so close to crying.

“What are you talking about?” she asked flatly.

“This-- I mean-- is that why I’m here? To just-- bleed when you need it and- and do everything you say and never-”

She looked at you. Really looked at you.

“Never what?” she asked, and you were surprised to hear that she wasn’t angry, just slightly curious.

“Never do anything more?” you sniffled.

She gave you a deadpan look. “More? What more do you want, kid? I’m already teaching you magic. Are the endless everyday lessons not enough for you?”

“No-- no, I meant-”

“Yes?”

“Like-- outside of that.”

She paused. Looked at you like you just said something dreadfully nonsensical.

“You-- you could be- just- just a little… you could talk to me.”

“I do talk to you.”

“Not like that.” you murmured. “Just- normal things, y’know? Like, what you’re doing, or ask what I’m doing, or… or what we’re having for dinner.”

She straightened. For a moment you thought she was going to laugh in your face, but she just stared at you, scrutinizing your face as if she could read your thoughts from your expression or your teary eyes. Then she sighed.

“Fine. I’m not in the mood for this touchy nonsense, and I am not about to deal with you crying—”

“I’m not crying-”

“Ah, ah, ah. Zip it.” she shook her head, pointing a finger into your face, “I know you better than you think kid, and those teary eyes aren’t fooling anyone.”

You didn’t say anything.

She stared at you for a second more.

“Give me your hand.” she said.

You looked up, hesitant. “W-what?”

“You’re making a mess on my floor- if you get blood on the upholstery you’re cleaning it up yourself, this is eighteenth-century wood.”

She yanked your hand forward in an oddly gentle way that surprised you, and murmured something under her breath.

A wave of warmth shot through your hand, and your looked down hesitantly as seemingly nothing happened. You frowned.

“Was that-”

“Disinfectant spell.” she muttered. “I’m no potions witch but I’ve been in enough battles to know what to do when you’re—” she gestured vaguely as if you’d know what she meant. You watched quietly as she stepped away and then came back with a--

A bandaid?

Really?

She peeled the paper away and stuck one across your palm, right over the length of the cut, ignoring your slight wince.

“Don’t be such a crybaby.” she muttered, but her hands never faltered as she pressed everything over your palm, making sure it was secure.

You let her.

There wasn’t much you could read from her expression but there was a warmth in her blue eyes that you hadn’t noticed before. Never directed at you. Never until now. Maybe you were imagining it. Probably.

The feeling of her hands over your own felt welcomingly warm, and you let yourself relax for a moment. When was the last time someone had fussed over you? Helped you, like this? You just about closed your eyes and sighed softly, feeling the tension in your shoulders unwind when her hand left yours, and suddenly you felt cold at the loss.

You opened your eyes to see her studying you, eyes narrowed, an odd mix of emotions on her face.

“There.” she said, patting your hand once, “Now you won’t bleed to death.”

She waved a hand the rest of the mess on the table cleaned itself up in an instant.

Then she glanced towards the ceramic bowl she set aside and nodded to herself, seeing something you clearly could not.

“You did-- a decent job.” she said.

You were about to ask how it was possible to do an indecent job when all you had to do was bleed but her hands were back on your shoulders, and you relaxed again despite yourself, letting her steer you towards the stairs.

“Tomorrow after lessons if you stick around a bit longer I might show you what I’m working on.” she said, surprising you. You looked up but she kept walking, pushing you forwards until you were both out of the basement and back in the living room.

“You will?” you murmured quietly, hating the way your voice gave away more than your words.

She sighed, and nodded, albeit begrudgingly.

“You did help a little, I suppose it’s only fair you at least get to see what it is.”

You smiled faintly. She noticed, and paused a little, then shrugged it off like seeing you smile was something she was unprepared to deal with at the moment.

When you were both at the door of your room she stopped, letting her hands fall away from your back, and turned, meeting your eyes.

“There’s things I need to finish up downstairs.” she said, voice even and low. Then as you kept looking at her, waiting for more, she added, in a very questioningly sort of normal tone,

“And we’re having pizza for dinner.”

You nodded.

She looked you up and down, spared another quick glance at your hand, and turned.

She paused just slightly, and then, surprising even herself, set a hand on your arm, her touch barely there but unbating.

“Get some rest.” she said, a little awkwardly. “You… Well, I suppose you earned it.”

“You suppose?” You murmured, fighting a small smile. It only grew when she bristled, huffing and waving a hand around the air, seemingly embarrassed.

“Yes, I suppose,” she said quickly, already stepping away, “and that’s all you’re getting. Be thankful.”

She turned fully at that and left back down the hall, you watching her in silence and stifling a quiet chuckle when she almost tripped over Senor Scratchy, who was innocently hopping around the floor, not even pausing to look at her.

She grumbled about him some more, and you thought you caught her mumbling about him being ‘just as bad as she is’, which made you feel a little better. You watched her leave and then knelt down to pet the rabbit, its fluffy fur like a soft haven under your fingers.

You scratched behind his ears and over his back, then straightened up and went into your room, grateful to change into something more soft before dinner. Your hand still hurt a little, but you kept replaying the look on her face when she fixed up your hand, that gentle foreign something in her pale eyes that seemed to surprise even her. Maybe it was care. You knew she’d deny it until the end of time itself but the way her fingers hovered gently, careful not to hurt you, that quiet tender expression she held as she steered you away into your room…

It wasn’t exactly what you kept hoping for but it was something.

It was something. More than before. A step in the right direction.

Progress was slow.

You sat on your bed, trying to imagine what sort of thing she’d tell you about tomorrow. Maybe she would sit beside you and talk. Maybe she’d let you lean in close while her hands brought up violet strands of light from nothing, weaving it between her fingers like a delicate ribbon dancing in the wind.

Maybe.

You’d have to wait and see.

A/n: I have the next part of this planned out and it's a bit more sweet (we're finally getting to it) Also don't do this irl, don't bleed for Agatha, don't bleed for anyone. This is not proofread, sorry for any mistakes. Title is from Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce. Love y'all, thank you for reading <3

Taglist 💜 @milflovers4, @senhorita-girassol (you said before you'd like to read more of this series so i thought i'd tag you, if you don't want a tag just let me know <3)

[floridecuts]

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

And here's the epilogue, guys! Hope you'll enjoy it! ^^ I actually had wanted to draw Yashiki with the kids for this part's chapter art but this week hasn't been great for me on the creative side, sadly. After a lot of struggling I threw the towel and ended up just drawing (a hopefully cute) Yashiki. Anyway, I want to give my thanks again to all readers and a special big Thank You to everyone leaving comments! I'm super grateful for your support and that you took the time and effort to write these!! <3

With this part, we've finally cracked the 100-pages-mark! I never thought this project would become this big when I started working on it a few months ago, but here we are! xD So this plays one day after the successful pacification of the Departed. Yashiki is still in the hospital to recover but already feeling a lot better! I guessed it would make sense to have him getting a cold because of the events the night before - he'd been dragged out of bed by the Departed, held in it's clutches for who knows how long only wearing thin hospital clothes in a chilly cold room (because spirits often cause the room temperature to drop). Not to forget that his health state hasn't been the best in general since he fell victim to the curse. I just liked to add that small detail. ^^

I was glad that I found a way to include Ai and Tsukasa here, so I got almost every Mark Bearer included in this story (sorry Banshee ^^'). I know it's probably a bit weird that Ai is wearing her idol costume here when doing a hospital visit. I thought about drawing her in some alternate everyday clothes but decided against it because I didn't want her to be the only one to wear a non-canon outfit. My explanation for her wearing that in this scene is that Ai just returned from that "idol-buisness trip" and, after hearing that Yashiki is in the hospital, went straight there after work.

I hope I did Moe's character justice here. I can just imagine her being a little cheeky and very enthusiastic about the OOPArts Monthly. About the rabbit figurine: I had the idea that Yashiki, being very talented in crafting, once carved that rabbit for Saya, maybe even when they were still kids. It could have been one of his first masterpieces! It had been a precious item for Saya, a symbol of her brother's love for her, so she held it dear and unconsciously it became infused with her spiritual energy. Even after her death her spirit kept watching over Yashiki. To help him when he fell victim to the Departed's curse, her spirit reached out to Yasuoka, guiding her to the Kujou Mansion to get that figurine. Yasuoka didn't exactly know what it would do, but she knew it would be important, so she put it inside that O-Mamori and gave it to Yashiki at her visit. I like to think that, after the Departed's case, Yashiki keeps holding onto it, always carrying it in his pocket, both as a memento to his sister and a lucky charm.

The idea with the OOPArts article about Yashiki was actually a spontaneous idea. I found the thought so amusing that I just had to include it! xD Hope it makes someone else smile too! Also, a blushing and embarassed Yashiki is so adorable! In the end Mashita appears and saves Yashiki from Moe's mischief. He came because Yashiki specifically asked him to. Since he woke up from that coma there's been something Yashiki needs to talk about with him. What it is about will be covered in the bonus part - the next and also last part of this comic (it's gonna be extra long!). I chose to make a seperate bonus part because it's Yashita shipping content (nothing drastic though!). But still, in case anyone does not want to be confronted with this shipping they can just skip that last part without missing any story relevant content. But from what I've seen in the few months I've been in this fandom, I got the impression this won't be much of an issue. xD

Lastly, I am happy to announce that the bonus part is actually a collaboration with a friend! I want to give a shout out for her amazing and beautifully written Yashita fanfictions! You can find her works on AO3, her username is MoonflowerSong. Go check them out if you like, they are so sweet! <3

Link: MoonflowerSong on AO3

I wish you all a nice week! Thanks for taking a look! :)

[stradakiev]

Ok I’ll talk about it

I love this idea and agree with it soooooooo much and it’s my favorite Martha take ever

From Martha’s first story Smith and Jones she is figuring things out as if the doctor would without first seeing the doctor do it. She talks about how the windows aren’t exactly air tight and that there must be something keeping the air in. She figures out the genetic transfer, gets the Jadoon to catch the plasmavore, and brings the doctor back so he can fix the scanner. If you want to dig deeper with this episode the doctor is not introduced as his character he is John smith and Martha is studying to be a doctor. Foreshadowing she will play his role at the end of the season.

We don’t see much of this in the second episode because it her out of here element for real this time and she’s taking it in but still a very active character in the story.

Gridlock we get to see Martha separated from the doctor and kidnapped onto the highway. Martha is the one descending to the lower lanes and learning the stories of the sounds at the bottoms and putting the pieces together. It’s her quick thinking to turn the engines off to save them until the city was open by the doctor and they could drive up.

Daleks take manhattan and evolution of the daleks is when we see Martha start to boss the doctor around. Unlike other companions we’ve seem Martha spends a lot of her initial time traveling with the doctor actually away from him. When the doctor wants to just go off and see why the daleks changed their minds she asks if he’s just going to leave Hooverville to die. She is the one thinking of how to keep people alive like a doctor like the doctor. I like to think that the doctor hiding from the daleks behind Martha is symbolic of the doctor hiding from his grief and in many ways responsibilities and becoming more reckless while Martha holds things together.

The Lazarus experiment- the only part of this episode I want to focus on is the ending. The doctor suggests “one more trip” and she tells him she’s not going to keep doing it like that and that it’s either a full time passenger or good bye and the doctor agrees to it. Her being the one to have the power to chose to travel with him and be a full time companion makes her fulfill the role of the doctor as she decides who will be traveling in the tardis and he agrees like a companion typically does to an invitation.

42 her and the doctor are again apart for most of the episode and once the doctor has saved Martha he is possessed for the rest of the time while Martha cools his temperature and ejects the fuel from the sun saving both the day and the doctors life. So again companion doctor reversal once the doctor has saved her from imminent death.

Human nature and the family of blood- do I need to go into it? The doctor literally turns into a human and leaves everything up to Martha so she is the doctor for the episode and is the only one using the tardis (we’ve never seen her touch the console this much).

Blink- my man isn’t processing his grief with rose and now is separated from his ship. I can only imagine how much he was struggling. Martha was keeping them afloat with her job in the shop.

Utopia and the sound of drums!!! You can see Martha this whole episode just process more and more how poorly she’s been treated by the doctor by the way he interacts with jack and the stories of rose. She moves the story around narratively with the watch which. From here to where he family is kidnapped in the next episode (and we get the iconic scene of her yelling at the doctor) she is transforming herself through her actions until when she finally uses the vortex manipulator (the first type of time travel she has used by herself) she becomes the doctor.

Last of the time lords Martha is fully acting in the doctor role walking the whole worlds by herself without a weapon spreading a message of home. Her message is the doctor but in that moment she is the doctor. She embodies everything he is while he is removed from having control in the story.

I think the sound of drums/last of the time lords is Martha’s version of dark water/death in heaven. Martha is a lot more emotionally healthy than Clara and also has a live she has dreams for on earth so she chooses to leave. Martha has to cope with the consequences of becoming the doctor so she becomes a unit soldier I think to cope with how she has changed fundamentally but it also nicely brings those two lives together for our successful Queen. Whereas Clara becomes the doctor and no longer has anything or any dreams connecting her to earth to she toxically spirals out until she dies and then becomes not human so we love our toxic queen too

So basically I like to call season 3 the season the doctor was numbing his grief with reckless decisions, straight up not existing, and he’s classic running from it with adventures bc they have a savior complex. He got away with falling apart this much for a whole season bc Martha is a queen and held shit together.

Clara becomes the Doctor but can we talk about how Martha is also the Doctor. Besides being an actual doctor, she also becomes a soldier and tries to justify it to herself. She went through hell and saved the earth and bore that weight alone, and was never thanked for it. In the Doctors Daughter she is forced to watch as her Hath "companion" sacrifices themself for her and dies horribly, and she has to leave them behind. Is this thing on

[raayllum]

Is there like‚ some kind of symbolism of Claudia fixing Callum's hair VS Rayla lovely touching it?

There's probably a whole mini meta just waiting in TDP about hair (how Soren parts his hair switching post-timeskip to reflect how he's literally switched sides; Claudia's moon symbolism hair, which I do have a meta for in my drafts rn) so to put it simply: yes, I think so!

Claudia cares a lot about appearances. This ties into how much she hates feeling judged ("you're doing it again prince judy-face!" / "here to judge me, captain true heart?"). She values things looking put together, largely because she puts more emphasis on things being Physically okay rather than considering someone's emotional state (i.e. overruling Viren and Soren in S2 and S4 respectively). We see this overtly in "Lost Child":

“You’re still here. Even though I’m…” She gestured at herself, to something beyond the soil-soaked boots and tearstained face: a total mess. [...] A moment later, she blinked into the pond; her reflection beamed up at her. Her eyes brighter, her face fuller, more color in her cheeks. Small changes, but still—There I am, she thought.

We also see this in show canon. She checks with the little leaf-cub creature in 6x04 that her new haircut suits her. She also reflects that maybe seeing the creature as parts is bad, implicitly, because the creature is so cute/adorable. (This is in stark contrast to Ezran who reflects a season earlier in 5x06 that sea slugs may look gross, but they have a rich inner life and he's regularly made friends with them. Post with that comparison here)

Another consistent facet of Claudia is that her compliments are sometimes not entirely compliments. This happens just once with Terry ("Claudia says that makes me weird, and wonderful, so...") as she more readily compliments him ("you saved the day!" / "goofy and glorious just like you!"), but it happens basically any of the few times she compliments/offers praise etc. to Callum in any manner.

It was completely ridiculous. Adorable. Did you just say adorable? Did I? (1x02)

That was very confident Callum. Oh, thanks. Even if your hair's a little messy. (2x02)

You didn't open it? Why would I do that? [The letter] is for you. Though I could've easily opened it and then resealed it with magic. Did you? Did I? We may never know. But no. No.

Yeah, you always were a very clever human, weren't you, Callum? (4x08)

Impressive, Callum. Somehow you learned primal magic. But dark magic will always have the edge. (7x07)

(AKA she giveth and she taketh away.)

So Claudia fixes Callum's hair. She compliments him, but also makes him more nervous. She adjusts his appearance to something she thinks is 'better' (cleaner). Absolutely none of it is malicious, but it does reaffirm that when crushing on her Callum never felt entirely comfortable around her despite being longtime friends, whereas even though Rayla can be much gruffer, Callum feels a lot more comfortable around her (even once he develops feelings) in general.

So there's the obvious level of comfort (Rayla) vs non-comfort (Claudia), as well as a longstanding childhood crush vs what has blossomed into more mature, enduring love of 3+ years as of the end of 7x09.

Claudia sees that his hair is messy and points it out; Rayla sees that his hair is messy and quietly fixes it herself, doing so simply and leaving Callum looking more relaxed than before, rather than less like in 2x02.

Rayla, as we know, doesn't really care about appearances. She routinely doesn't care about titles, she goes with what her gut tells her, and anytime she expresses distress over her appearance ("I'm a mess") it's scaffolded under "I'm showing weakness" rather "I look bad". There's a similar fear of judgement lurking underneath as Claudia's, but I don't think Rayla sees herself as a Good Person the same Claudia does, and therefore doesn't have the need to keep seeing herself that way in the same manner.

Either way, Callum is always Callum to her ("You're so gross" with a fond smile on her face; his scarf is smelly and he knows it and just smirks at her over it; "you're a good person, Callum, maybe the goodest," etc), and always her Callum — her heart, her home, her best friend and partner — and that's what the 7x09 scene is ultimately about, I think.

Do me the honour of letting me talk a bit about hair-touching and white streaks, though, for a second, when it comes to Claudia, Terry, Callum, and Rayla.

Because despite Claudia and Terry being very touchy-feely for 3.5/4 seasons, Terry never once touches Claudia's hair in quite the same manner or framing that we see in 7x09. He touches her hair, sure — he braids it for her and then later cuts it — but this is the closest we get to an adjustment, which is when he's bathing her and cleaning her up in 6x03.

Now, pushing the white hair and all its associations to get to Claudia, flesh and blood and very much still alive, underneath would be ripe enough as a symbolic examination, honestly. The reason why this feels so different to me than 7x09, I think then, is that there are two scenes 7x09 mirrors when it comes to someone touching Claudia's hair in the "facing the camera, strands on the face/cheek" directly shot.

And it's herself.

SOREN: You saw what Dad turned Kasef into. What Dad turned into. Claudia, you're changing too. (3x07)

CLAUDIA: But... I'm still nice. I'm still me. (7x09)

In both instances, she's not willing to admit that Soren is right / that she's changed (or, arguably, that she needs to change just in the opposite direction). She touches it first as a sign of shame in the face of her brother's words, the first white streak in her dark hair. Then she touches one of the few dark streaks that remain, reassuring herself (because nobody else will or can at this point) that she's still the person she thinks of herself as, someone who's still nice ('good').

Callum, meanwhile, never touches his white streak. He wakes Rayla up in the middle of the night (which she takes much better than I would, I can say that much) and offers his scarf, asking if she trusts him. But Rayla notices his hair is a little askew, so she tidies it for him. And the whole time, his expression is completely open, smiling and trusting her in turn... even when she hasn't actually answered his question yet, and his expression softens even before she has too.

She doesn't tuck or hide it away. It's a part of him, and therefore a part she loves ("Everything"). And he knows it.

[avatarofthearchives]

TMA Name Meanings And How They Intertwine With Their Character

Jon - The name Jonathan means "God has given" which is quite ironic considering a fear entity (that some people worship like a God in the TMA universe) spends the entire series giving Jon the power of The Eye. His last name is also deeply ironic, as the last Sims means "To Listen," which...is not the right sense for Jon's main thing, but it is perfect for a statement taker.

Martin - The name Martin means "dedicated to Mars" and "God of war." While a name that means "God of war" seems a little intense for Martin, it does tie into the themes of his story about constantly being underestimated and having a lot more fierceness than he tends to outwardly show. His last name Blackwood means...you guessed it, "black wood."

Tim - The name Timothy means 'one who honors God.' Much like Jon's name meaning, his also has a hint of irony considering he serves a figure that is viewed as god-like in the TMA universe, but it's ironic in the opposite way of Jon since Tim does NOT honor The Eye. However, his last name Stoker suits him a little too well. It means "one who tends to the fire"....which I don't love considering his death.

More Undercut

Sasha - The name Sasha means "Defender." It's a very sweet first name considering how many of her actions in the series are in the name of defending her friends. Her last name James is SUPER interesting because James means "holder of the heel." That's a phrase that comes from a Bible story about a man named Jacob who was born holding onto his twin brothers heel as a sign that he'll eventually take his brothers birthright. Which is relevant to Sasha because she was supposed to take Gertrude's place as head Archivist.

Melanie - The name Melanie means "darkness," which is fitting for a ghost hunter who is first drawn to The Institute because she finds an Avatar of The Stranger begging the Angler Fish creature in the dark. Her last name King means "rule" or "monarch." It's a fitting name for someone becomes a leader of a cult in Season 5, and it's a powerful name for one of the characters who has one of the strongest wills in the series.

Georgie - The name Georgie means "farmer." That meaning doesn't have a lot of tie-in to canon, but it could make a Corruption or Flesh avatar Georgie AU hit super hard. Her last name Barker means "Shepard," which has a lot of relevance to her role in the story. Like a shepherd she tries to guide Jon away from the fears, and while she unfortunately fails due to no fault of her own, she is able to be there for Melanie when she walks away from the fears. Shepard's also have religious symbolism which ties into Georgie's role as a chosen one cult leader in Season 5.

Basira - Basira's name means "wisdom." That's fitting for a character who is so grounded in logic that she's able to think herself out of The Stranger's ritual. Her last name Hussain also means "handsome" or "good." So that could be a tie in to how she perceived her role as a cop before the Daisy character development, or it could tie into her role in helping stop the apocalypse in Season 5.

Daisy - Daisy's nickname means "purity and innocence" and she says in canon that she uses that nickname because she likes the irony. Her real name Alice means "noble," a powerful name for a women who uses her powerful position as a cop get away with brutality. Her last name Tonner is just as strong as it means "thunder." A force of nature that is typically used to symbolize strength.

Peter - The name Peter means "rock" or "stone." An ironic name for someone who's so..."stoney" 🥁 His last name Lucas means "bringer of light" or "to shine"....which is not a name meaning a guy who likes to be followed around by fog probably appreciates.

Elias - The name Elias means "The Lord is my God." In a similar vein to Jon, it's an ironic name considering his body ends up as a vessel to a guy who practically serves The Eye as a religious deity. His last name Bouchard is no less ironic. It means "brave,"....which Elias is not shown to be in his statement.

Jonah - The name Jonah means "dove" and doves typically symbolize peace, love, hope, and renewal. While I wouldn't use the words "peace" and "love" while describing a character like Jonah, "renewal" does ring a bell. His life is in a constant state of renewal as he has to jump from one body to a next. His last name Magnus means "Greatest" which could be a tie-in to both his pride and his role as the one who created The Institute.

Gerard - The name Gerard means "hard spear." That doesn't have any relevance to canon, but it does have relevance to his last name. His last name Keay is a variation of the last name Kay, which means "Wharf." He has a name that's extremely fisherman coded and that's hilariously funny to me because it literally has nothing to do with anything.

Gertrude - The name Gertrude also means "hard spear" and yes I will be thinking about how Gertrude's name parallels with Gerry's forever. Gertrude's last name Robinson means "son of Robin." Robin's tend to symbolize good luck, happiness, and rebirth. While that isn't perfect symbolism for Gertrude, you could argue that she has good luck to be able to foil so many rituals and survive far longer than anyone else involved with The Institute. (Though personally I would assign her as a raven if I were to give the cast bird symbolism.)

Michael Shelley - The name Michael means "a gift from God." I find the fact that his name references him as a gift a little disturbing in this specific, particular, context considering that Gertrude did give him away like one. His last name Shelley means "meadows edge." Meadows tend to symbolize peace and tranquility, which fits both a character who had peace in ignorance about the fears and a character who seemed like a very soft person.

[nerdybookworm25]

Even MORE Caitvi Headcannons

If you don’t ship Caitvi pls just scroll away 🩵

SFW:

- as soon as Cait was able, she was back at work. It was a lethal combination of her workaholic nature and her guilt over what she had done under Ambessa’s manipulation (this drove Vi nuts)

- Vi didn’t know what she wanted to do after the war and healing (physically) and it had her really down for a long time

- Eventually, Vi gets back into boxing (which helps improve her mental health) and much later on ends up opening a boxing studio where she teaches classes for all ages on the Zaun side of the bridge, but still in view of Piltover

- every class is entirely free Zaunites

- The studio ends up reconnecting her with Zaun, less people consider her a sell out/Piltover lapdog, etc, and she ends up regaining ownership of where the Last Drop was, rebuilds it, and reopens it

- You will see Vi there working pretty much any night that Cait is working overnight because she hates sitting alone in the Manor

- All of the money Vi makes from running the bar goes to the upkeep of the facilities, her employees, and the Firelights; she keeps none of it for herself AT ALL

- Cait doesn’t go into Zaun for YEARS after the war. She just staunchly refuses no matter how much Vi tries to convince her to visit her at either of her jobs

- PDA is something they both do a lot but only to an extent

- Like in public Cait and Vi are always holding hands/someone’s hand will be in someone else’s back pocket/an arm will be around a waist but they don’t really like kiss or hug in public

- you might catch a cheek kiss or a kiss to the back of a hand but it is always chaste on the rare occasion it does happen

- these girls LOVE a farmers’ market holy shit like they will walk around with Artemis and Apollo and kids’ll come up and pet the dogs and it’s just like a fun family thing they do together

- SPEAKING OF FAMILY, THE KIDS!!

- I think they have 2 girls and they’re named Cassandra Felicia Kiramman (Cassie/Cas) and Lavander Kona Kiramman (Lav/Vandie)

- I looked it up, and found that League (which I know nothing about tbh) bases Ionian language pretty heavily on Japanese, so “Kona” is the Japanese word for “Powder” or in this context, the Ionian word for it

- Cassie is older and looks like baby Cait but with more indigo/purple hair than Cait’s indigo/blue hair and has Vi’s eyes. She also has Cait’s build: Long legs and a short torso

- Vandie has hair that is a super pale purple — like it’s truly reflective of her name and Cait’s eyes, but holy fuck does she just have Vi’s face. She has a long torso and long legs (Vi’s torso with Cait’s legs if you wanna have it put that way) so she ends up being the tallest in the family by the time she stops growing

- When Cait sees Vi and Lav together, she calls them her flowers (Violet and Lavender — get it? Also fun fact these flowers both have been used historically as symbols of lesbianism so that’s fun too!!)

- Cas got nicknamed muffin as a kid and it has STUCK so when she and Cait are together, Vi ends up calling them baked goods or sweet treats and they both roll their eyes affectionately

- Cassandra and Lavander are five years apart and holy fuck they DID NOT get along until they were like 15 and 10 respectively and even then it could still be a little rocky, but it was usually a lot more playful from then on

- They really became best friends the year before Cassandra went on her first tour about Runeterra with Piltover’s professional shooting league

- UGH I HAVE SO MUCH I COULD WRITE ABOUT THESE GIRLS I SWEAR

NSFW:

- idk why im so fixated on Sub!Cait and Dom!Vi right now when I think they do the reverse slightly more often but oh well

- I’m just gonna get right into it I think they’re both into ass play/anal to an extent and no I cannot explain where that thought comes from

- For whatever reason, I think Cait is both the most into that between the two of them and the most embarrassed about it (Vi fucking LOVES to tease her about when she’s domming)

- While neither of them will be outright degrading to one another (both in and out of kink and ESPECIALLY when Cait is domming Vi) but Cait does like a mix of praise and degradation and tries to

- they both absolutely have collars

- Vi kisses it after eating it regardless of if she’s in charge or not

- These ladies LOVE a boiling hot bath together as part of aftercare

- QUICKIES ARE A STAPLE

- these two always have hickies all the fuck over

- Cait always tells Vi to not put them in visible spots because she doesn’t want ppl at work or around Piltover to see them (not because she is embarrassed of Vi at all, but rather because she thinks that it would be unprofessional of her…and admittedly very distracting to her when she’d catch herself in a reflective surface)

- in contrast, Vi doesn’t give a shit where Cait puts a hickey on her and she won’t cover up visible ones unless she and Cait have an official event to go to. It wouldn’t be unusual to see them walking around Piltover together on a weekend holding hands with Vi’s neck looking like it got mauled

- I KNOW I SAID NO IMPACT PLAY AND I STAND BY IT BUT I do think that if she’s in the mood for it…Vi doesn’t mind having her pussy slapped lightly; its never enough to hurt — frankly, it’s more of a tap than anything — but the moan she’ll let out when Cait does that…fuck

- they’ve had sex in some form in almost every single room of the manor (excluding the servants’ quarters and the rooms that Tobias moved to once Cait and Ci moved into the master bedroom)

- Grinding is huge for both of them, but on different parts of each other’s bodies

- I think I’ve mentioned this before (I could be wrong but whatever) but I think that Vi loves to grind on Cait’s thighs

- Cait, on the other hand, loves to grind on Vi’s abs

- Both of them are fucking freaks and will occasionally grind on whoever’s in charge’s boots

- Cait is ABSOLUTELY more of a brat than Vi. They’ll both brat sometimes, but if it’s a game of who’s most likely to, it’s going to be Cait

- I know I’ve talked about how Cait would punish Vi in a previous post, but I don’t think I talked about how Vi would punish Cait

- It is absolutely making Cait work herself up while she watches Vi work herself up OR Vi will make Cait work to “earn” her collar (this is where the boot grinding comes in — just read a FANTASTIC fic with this premise and holy fuck it was so so SO GOOD)

[minireenasauce]

This is just a small analysis on how Himiko Toga’s emotions influence the usage of her quirk throughout the show:

(Major spoiler warning for My Hero Academia!!!)

Himiko Toga has always loved a lot, and because of her quirk, Transform, she would express her love by drinking blood. When she drank a dying sparrow’s blood and happily showed her parents, they pressured her into suppressing her quirk, and by extension, her love, “I fall in love too easily. With animals, with villains, heroes too, boys, girls, anything alive. Because they all have such lovely blood flowing through them.” (Episode: A Girl’s Ego).

Since she wasn’t going to drink blood to show her love anymore, she started envying others, instead. She envied their quirk, their smile, their relationships, and more, “Everyone told me I shouldn’t smile, and it made me so envious” (Episode: A Girl’s Ego). A prominent example of her envy is with Izuku Midoria. She is constantly asking for his blood, and saying that it’s because she utterly and truly loves him. While this is true, she is intentionally ignoring the reason why she loves him so much, that being how she would rather be him than be herself.

The one character that she loves purely at this point in the show is Twice. But when Twice gets killed by Hawks, she ends up switching from using her powers because of envy, to using her powers because of hatred. She does so by turning into Twice and making clones of herself in order to get revenge on Hawks, along with other heroes. “Die, heroes!” (Episode: A Girl’s Ego).

Himiko Toga has now gone through three stages. Love, envy, and hatred in that order exactly. In the episode A Girl’s Ego, Ochako Uraraka manages to get Toga from hatred back to her final and first stage, love. Ochako Uraraka is the one who ends up fighting Himiko Toga, but instead of harming her, she just tries to talk. This doesn’t work, however, because Himiko Toga is way too blinded by hatred to cooperate, “I’ll make you stop talking, Ochako Uraraka!” (Episode: A Girl’s Ego). Eventually, Uraraka manages to get Toga to go back to Envy, “You seem normal because you played by the rules! You have no idea what an easy life you had!” (Episode: A Girl’s Ego). Now that Toga had went back to the stage of envy, it was easier for Uraraka to get her back to the stage of love. “Ochako, am I cute?” “The cutest in the world” (Episode: A Girl’s Ego).

Himiko Toga never stopped loving. All she needed was understanding, and that was enough to clearly see how she drank blood out of malice. It was always pure love and affection. Now that she had someone who loved her for who she was, she decided to save Ochako’s life at the expense of her own. “Thank you, Ochako. You made me so happy. Genuinely, truly happy” (Episode: A Battle Without a Quirk). In this heartbreaking scene, Himiko is shown, alive, holding a sparrow that looks exactly like the one she had drank the blood from in her past. But this one looks up at her and flies away as Himiko smiles at it. Though it’s true that she had started and ended her life loving how she wanted to, the first sparrow was dead, symbolic of how back then, Toga only knew how to take. But now that she had met Uraraka, the sparrow was alive because she knew a way to love that now benefits everybody.

“If only I had understood then. If I’d had experienced this kind of love before, maybe I would have wanted to give people blood just as much as I wanted to drink their’s. And then maybe the world would have been an easier place for me to live in.”

[fanfaire]

WAS IT HER IMAGINATION, OR DID HE LOOK MORE COMFORTABLE? was it just that he had thought she'd merely wanted to come in and impose her will upon this place? it couldn't be further from the truth——she'd only thought of this strange detour as another part of her dizzying wanderings, not entirely unlike groping around a padded room in the dark with her hands, being bumped from one spot to another on chance alone. her eyes drift momentarily over to lowell busying himself at the far wall end of the establishment, his not-quite-coherent mutterings faintly audible even from here. perhaps it was understandable, given that the little man appeared to intend just that himself.

attention returns to monsieur gallagher when he finally starts to talk, and her hand wanders absently to the bottle of soulglad on the idle instinct to nurse whatever was in reach of her while conversing over a table, only to belatedly remember its repulsive taste. the hand returns, as if nipped by something, to her lap instead. "a time capsule. . . " she parrots thoughtfully, then nods, not quite meeting his eyes but instead down at a slant as if to find the source of her musings in the weathered grooves and worn-down polish of the wooden floor. "that's not uncommon. anyone who's been around long enough almost always has some sentimentality for places to look like they've always remembered. it's one of the hallmarks of the human emotional experience and helps us decide who we are." now her eyes lift and find his again, plainspoken. "and that doesn't have to change."

casting around at their surroundings anew, she sees plenty in need of renovation or at least repair to bring things up to industry standard⠀(⠀. . . did this place have an industry standard?⠀) ,⠀but though the style of the venue wasn't to her personal taste, what difference did that make here, where she was just an (un)lucky visitor?

"there's a lot of places like this in fontaine—— ' the oldest bar in the quartier lyonnais ', ' ségoléne dormoy's apartment, preserved just the way it was when she died ', that kind of thing. "

"in a niche, tourist's alleyway, yes," a voice out of nowhere startles her, and she looks down to find lowell suddenly appeared, quiet as a mouse, tapping his measuring stick against the palm of his open hand like a schoolteacher's paddle ready to slap unsuspecting wrists. his look cuts from her to gallagher and back, wide and a little intense, but not as hostile as the interjection had made him sound. "but this is the front row seat of the moment of stars. you saw it, fair lady——right off the bubble pinball and it's the first stop on your right!" she'd nearly forgotten how animated he was with his gestures. lowell shakes his head. "that kind of real estate should be a welcome stop, a symbol, and you can save the charming hole-in-the-walls for a backstreet. we're trying to make the moment of stars lively again, not turn it into a museum."

furina blinks in the pause. then, honestly: "why not?"

lowell turns to look at her, bewildered. "why not what? turn it into a museum?"

her only response is to shrug, glancing at gallagher instead to see his reaction.

✧　if only you walk long enough.

　　　　　　　　　　　　❪　 vaporize　/　pepeshi　❫

[theoldkyokodied]

One wedding and three funerals

Background paintings under the cut

[trauma-bot]

sin eater

[lotus-pear]

rewatched madoka magica again today bc i fucking hate myself and to absolutely no one’s surprise i went through all five stages of grief in a single evening

[sersfandomthings]

wanderer

(referenced from that one shot in the 3.3 interlude quest)

[instantpansies]

life is hard for us oz fans who are only meh about wicked. have half a meme.

[mortellanarts]

🧡 My full piece for PrisMagic by @dotzines starring my OC girlie as a magical girl