#so I had to resort to making an entirely new post instead

[trollochkonst]

@oddarette made me hungry with that meatsicle so I had to make a 3D render of it.

[cursedonyx]

Hii! I saw your ideas for one shots you posted recently and I would absolutely LOVE to read all of them, but especially the one with Ominis, where Garreth slips Ominis his new potion and MC is helping Ominis with its 'hard' effects 🤭

So if you have time and if you'd want to write it, I would love to read it! ❤️

I have FINALLY gotten around to doing this ask, and as I’d had this in my drafts for ages I thought why not make it an eleventh-hour post for Kinktober too? I would have done more for Kinktober but, like our favourite old faithful that hasn’t been charged in a while, my smut battery was firmly depleted for quite some time.

This doesn’t follow any specific Kinktober prompt, but what the hell, hopefully you all enjoy this little tale of poor Ominis being utterly humiliated and thoroughly fucked.

Masterlist

Don’t Drug Your Friends

(Unless They’re Ominis and in Need of a Good Fucking)

Synopsis – After a multitude of experimental potions and a variety of undesirable effects, no one at Hogwarts wants to be a guineapig for Garreth’s new brews. In desperation, Garreth resorts to underhanded methods in order to test his newest concoction, and slips it into Ominis’ tea. Unfortunately for the poor Heir of Slytherin, the effects are both humiliating and unconquerable until the woman he’s secretly been in love with for the last two years offers to help put the proverbial basilisk back to sleep.

Word Count – 4.9k

Warnings – Female MC, House unspecified, NSFW, MDNI, dubcon, drugging, masturbation, handjob M!Receiving, oral M!Receiving, PIV, and a very embarrassed and needy Sub!Ominis.

All characters aged 18+.

Happy Kinktober.

Springtime at Hogwarts was a time for most students to pretend they were studying, as they instead dreamt about who they were going to ask on a date to Hogsmeade for Valentines, gossiped about the latest scandals, or got hyped for Quidditch. For the seventh years, it was a time to begin to panic about their upcoming exams and pretend they weren’t.

For Garreth Weasley, it was more a struggle than for most. Since the end of sixth year, when he’d convinced Lucan Brattleby to try his latest potion, and the poor lad had ended up in the Hospital Wing with scales, feathers, and the ability to burp luminous, sausage-like bubbles that took days to pop, the entirety of Gryffindor House had put a blanket ban on accepting so much as a biscuit from him. The other houses learned very quickly after this that no matter how much gold he offered, no matter how many favours, no matter how much he begged, it just wasn’t worth spending a week in hospital for.

But Garreth knew the only way to discover ✨The Perfect Potion™✨ was to practice, practice, practice, and in order to make sure his experiments actually achieved what he thought they should, he needed to test them. He always made sure he had a few poison antidotes on hand just in case, so he wasn’t entirely sure what all the fuss was about.

So it was that Sebastian and Ominis found themselves accosted by the boisterous redhead one early February morning in their seventh year, in the Defence Against the Dark Arts Tower.

“Seriously, Sallow, I’ll pay you fifty galleons. Fifty! Think what you could do with that money!”

“Fuck off,” came the terse reply. “I said no eight times already, I’m not going to change my mind.”

“But if I can get this to work ahead of Valentines-”

“Unclog your ears, Weasley, he said no,” Ominis said, using his wand to pour a cup of tea with the cool indifference only a Slytherin pureblood seemed able to master.

Garreth narrowed his eyes. “I’d have thought you’d jump at the chance, Gaunt. Heard your family’s fallen on hard times.”

“It’s no secret,” Ominis said, supremely unbothered. Then, a tiny smirk touched his lips. “That said, I’m surprised you’ve got fifty galleons to offer in your entire family’s account.”

Unlike Ominis, Garreth was just a little bit touchy about his family’s fortunes. He needed to make this potion work ahead of Valentine’s so he could sell it for a huge profit! It would be so popular and he’d be rich and famous and would be able to make sure all his family were comfortable, what was so wrong about that?

Perhaps this was why Garreth decided to do what he did. Maybe he was just in a bad mood and wanted to cause a bit of trouble. Or maybe, just maybe, he was having withdrawals from seeing his potions at work and was determined to do anything to get his creation tested. He pretended to see Peeves causing havoc on the other side of the Tower, and when Sebastian turned to look, he upended the tiny, pink potion into Ominis’ tea.

He shared a grin with Leander, and groped for a notepad as Ominis picked up his cup.

“Alright, fine, suit yourselves. But it would have made an absolute killing, and I’d have given you commission for your help,” he said, trying to be nonchalant.

“Whatever.” Sebastian rolled his eyes. “I’ve enough to be worrying about without dealing with beetles falling out of my ears, thanks.”

Ominis shook his head and sipped his tea, closing his eyes at the warmth that slid past his lips and down his throat. He let his mind wander a little, and as it always did when he let it have some form of free reign, it landed squarely on the most incredible woman he’d ever known, the Hero of Hogwarts, for whom he had harboured a secret, burning love since their ill-fated trip to the Scriptorium.

A slim line appeared between his brows as the warmth from the tea seemed to settle under his collar, before spreading over his chest, creeping down his torso to pool between his thighs, and something began to stir.

Ominis, like any other man of his age, was no stranger to random bouts of wilful disobedience from his personal basilisk, and so he elected to ignore it, crossing an elegant leg over the other, hoping no one else had noticed. He took a slow breath and another drink, wondering vaguely why this particular standing to attention was coupled with something that felt concerningly like arousal. Yes, thinking of her certainly fired him up him like nothing else did, but he hadn’t been thinking of anything particularly ungentlemanly. He was in public, after all.

His hands tightened on his cup as the unspecified heat began to intensify, his half-mast blooming full, and as he heard Garreth leaning forward in his chair, and the scratch of quill on parchment, he began to put two and two together.

Uh-oh.

“Soooo…” Garreth said, in a voice so overly casual that it sent a thrill of fear through anyone in the vicinity that had recently had a drink. “How are we all feeling today? Normal? Bit hot under the collar? Thinking of anyone in particular?”

Ominis faced him, quite certain that steam might be curling up from under his shirt as his heart began to pound.

“What have you done?” he managed.

Garreth laughed. “Only what I had to. Don’t worry, the effects won’t last more than a few hours. I think.”

There was a clatter as Sebastian lunged across the low table, followed by a smash as the teapot shattered. Garreth yelped as Sebastian gripped handfuls of his robes and wrenched him out of his seat.

“What did you do?” he demanded, snarling.

“I needed to test my potion,” Garreth said, shoving him back. “Just slipped him a bit, that’s all!”

“What the fuck do you mean, you slipped him a bit!?” Sebastian barked. “What the hell is it meant to do?”

“I’m not sure yet, that’s why I needed to test it,” Garreth said, proudly. “It’s only a variant of a love potion that’s meant to make anyone you like want you in bed, nothing to worry about. Gaunt, tell me exactly what you’re feeling, spare no detail.”

“Are you insane?” Ominis hissed, hunching forward as his arousal twitched, nudging insistently against his belt and threatening to pop right out over the top of his waistband. “You better have an antidote for this, you cretin!”

Garreth gulped and edged behind Leander as Sebastian drew his wand, aiming it at his nethers. “Antidote? It’s only in the testing stages, I’ve not had time to-” he yelped as Sebastian fired a curse at him, and Leander had to put out a small fire on his robes.

Ominis felt his cheeks sear as another thrum of unspecified interest surged through him, his mouth drying. There was an insistent, needy ache growing in his lower abdomen, and he got the feeling that if he didn’t take care of it soon, he was going to be in serious trouble. It didn’t help that he could sense his friends staring at him, Garreth’s lack of subtlety and his shortening breath all but confirming the state he was in.

“Undercroft,” he managed to growl to Sebastian out of the corner of his mouth. “Don’t follow me.”

“You okay?” Sebastian asked, as Ominis tugged his robes tight about himself and rose.

“I’ll be fine,” he muttered, trying to stand as casually as he could without revealing his significantly growing problem. “Do try not to kill that little bastard while I’m gone, I’d like to do it myself.”

The cool of the Undercroft’s stone walls did little to alleviate the heat in his body as Ominis shouldered his way through the hidden entrance, his pace increasing as he half ran towards a stack of crates at the back, positioned deliberately to hide a pile of cushions and blankets for the rare instances when he just couldn’t ignore his body’s needs. Ominis hissed between his teeth and turned his wand about the Undercroft, hoping that she wasn’t down here. Merlin, he’d never live it down if she saw him like this.

Hell, it was embarrassing enough to be in this predicament, but for his friends to know as well! The thought scalded him, making him cringe. It was worse that they knew why he’d gone off by himself. Yes, everybody did it, but that didn’t mean everyone should bloody know about it when he did! It was hard enough to find alone time as it was, but for anyone else to know… Ominis groaned. With the way gossip spread, the whole bloody castle would know that the infamously stoic Ominis Gaunt had needed to dash off and have a wank by the time he reemerged, if his past luck was anything to go by.

No matter. The state he was in, it wouldn’t take long, and then he could try and forget about the whole, sordid mess. After he’d murdered Garreth, of course.

He sucked a sharp breath between his teeth, bracing a hand against the wall as his mind flooded with thoughts of her, as it always did when he needed to attend to himself. He focused on the faint brush of her hand against the back of his when they studied together, her fingertips cool as she handed him a book or stack of parchment, each light touch sending sparks through his skin that never failed to stiffen his cock. He whimpered softly as he recalled those few times he let her embrace him, his attention always zeroing in on how her ample breasts pressed against his chest, his hands resting just above the curve of her hip. What he wouldn’t give to feel these things without the cursed barrier of her clothes…

And Merlin, the sound of her voice, low and rich, some sultry note always winding about underneath it, as if she was but a moment away from singing or whispering nothing but sinful filth into his ear, her dark chuckles, the freedom of her laughter never failing to set his heart to racing.

Then the scent of her hair… citrus and exotic blossoms from some far off, sun-drenched land infused his mind as he wished and wished he knew what it was like to have those silken strands fall over his face as she rode him.

Ominis fought with his belt and the fastenings of his trousers, unable to stop thinking about her, imagining all those things she could do to him that would only ever be in his mind. She was too good for him, too perfect, too glorious, but it never hurt to imagine. Imagination never hurt anyone. His lower lip found its way between his teeth as he took himself in his hand, instinctively setting up a rapid pace that, when he’d been this worked up before, had brought him blissful relief in little under a minute.

But something was wrong. He could feel his hand sliding along his length, feel the pressure as he tightened his grip, but it brought him about as much relief as sticking it in a jar of numbing potion would have.

“Oh, come on,” Ominis hissed, gripping himself tighter in a vain effort to evoke some of the promised euphoria such an act usually provided him, even going so far as to spit in his palm, but it didn’t work. To his horror, it served only to heighten his need, and brought him no relief.

✧˖°  ˖ * ˖  °˖✧

Almost an hour later, Ominis emerged, limping and red-faced, his breathing ragged and his hair dishevelled, his cloak pulled tight about his body.

“Well?” Garreth asked, eagerly, quill and notepad at the ready.

“Piss off,” Ominis snarled. “If you can’t get me an antidote in the next five minutes then what good are you?”

Sebastian shouldered Garreth out of the way and leaned in close.

“No better?”

“Fuck off. I don’t want anyone near me.”

“What about New Girl?” Leander piped up, clearly enjoying himself far more than was appropriate for the Slytherin’s suffering. “Bet you wouldn’t mind her being around you right now.”

Ominis spat a string of violent curses in Parseltongue at the thought of the Hero of Hogwarts assisting him with his predicament once again, before he tried to push away the idea as it sent another painful thrum of arousal through him. Unfortunately, the idea of her didn’t want to be banished and remained stubbornly inside his head, doing things no self-respecting woman would ever do, let alone to him.

“She hasn’t been new for two years,” Sebastian said, placing his foot firmly on Leander’s hip and shoving him away as Ominis clung to the wall, biting his tongue to stop himself groaning. “If you’re not going to help, then sod off.” He gripped Ominis’ shoulder, leaning close, and Ominis wriggled away, hissing as his skin tingled. “Mate, maybe he’s got a point. She’s good at potions, maybe she could do something about this? Plus, you like her, and she likes-”

“Never,” Ominis growled. “She can never hear of this.”

“Okay, then maybe we should get Professor Sharp, he’d be able to-”

“If you breathe a word of this to anyone I will kill you myself!” Ominis snarled.

It was getting decidedly hard to think, and Ominis huddled against the wall, bent almost in two as wave upon wave of rising need threw itself about his insides. If he didn’t do something soon, he was either going to explode or go completely insane. It was all he could do not to grab at himself, despite the fact that he was in public and he knew that it wouldn’t help one bit.

Sebastian shared a worried look with Garreth, whose eagerness to see the effects of his potion in action had worn off upon seeing how decidedly uncomfortable Ominis was. Yeah, it had been kind of funny to see him so embarrassed, but this was a problem. How could he sell his potion if the effects were this drastic, and didn’t wear off quickly?

“Maybe just… I don’t know, try and sleep it off?” Sebastian suggested, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry mate, I don’t know how else to help you.”

“I know a way you can,” Leander laughed, and quickly shut up as both Sebastian and Ominis glared at him, drawing their wands.

“Go up to the Room of Requirement,” Sebastian said, giving Ominis a little shove between the shoulder blades that made him yelp. “Garreth, you go too, there’s potion stations up there, and you better get to work on an antidote, or I’ll hang you off the Astronomy Tower by your balls.”

With a barely restrained whine, Ominis disillusioned himself and all but ran for the stairs, the outline of his figure vanishing as he rounded the bend. Garreth took one look at Sebastian’s murderous expression and followed, jotting notes on his parchment as he went. No sooner had he vanished than Sebastian took off, pelting through the castle, seeking the one person he hoped might be able to put an end to his brother’s suffering.

✧˖°  ˖ * ˖  °˖✧

“How long’s he been like this?” she asked, matching Sebastian’s pace as they hurtled towards the Room of Requirement.

“A bit more than an hour or so, I think,” Sebastian panted, struggling to keep up. “It’s really bad.”

She cursed under her breath, her long, dark hair swishing to and fro. “What did Garreth say it was meant to do?”

“Turn people on so they’re easier to get into bed,” Sebastian replied, glowering. “Or words to that effect. He wants to sell it ahead of Valentine’s Day.”

She made a face, her small nose wrinkling. “Creep. As if it wasn’t bad enough having to worry about love potions. Poor Ominis.” They slowed as they reached the seventh-floor corridor, and she glanced at him. “I presume he’s… um… tried the usual methods?”

Sebastian shrugged. “I guess so. Didn’t ask, he’s embarrassed enough. He’s going to kill me when he finds out I’ve told you.”

“Me in particular?” she raised a brow, and Sebastian hesitated. It wasn’t a secret to those who knew him well that Ominis was madly in love with the woman before him, but he hadn’t thought she’d figured it out. His silence seemed to be all the answer she needed, and a little smile touched her lips. “Leave it to me. He’ll be right as rain soon enough.”

“What are you going to-” Sebastian began, but she’d vanished into the Room of Requirement before he could finish. With a low sigh, he crossed his fingers, counted to ten, then followed, finding the large space mostly empty, save for a sweaty Garreth standing before a table of five cauldrons, each of them hissing different coloured steam. His nose was bleeding.

“What happened there?” Sebastian asked, and Garreth glowered.

“That cow just punched me,” he said, thickly. “Didn’t say a damn word and ran off to the bedroom.”

Sebastian grinned. “Can’t say you didn’t deserve it.”

Garreth wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Shut up and help me with these, would you? Whatever she’s planning, I hope it works, because none of these antidotes look promising right now.”

✧˖°  ˖ * ˖  °˖✧

Ominis twisted and writhed, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps. His clothes lay discarded on the floor of the small room, the light satin sheets of the bed dragging across his fevered skin as he desperately sought some form of relief from the blazing need surging through his body. But no matter how much he rutted against the mattress, no matter how fervently he beat himself, he couldn’t break through the barrier between desperate desire and the enduring numbness that denied him, over and over.

He couldn’t say how much time had passed. He couldn’t say how long he’d been tangled in these sheets, moaning softly as he chased a high that tormented him as it danced away, again and again. His mind was fragmented, consumed by a primal, visceral need for relief, for this aching agony to end, for the heavens to open and just please let him come.

So scattered was he that he barely registered the door opening, the footsteps hushing over the carpet as he gripped handfuls of his hair, curled in a ball on his side. But he heard the sharp intake of breath, smelled that torturously familiar scent that was so deliciously her, and his tormented mind took on a crystal clarity as pure, unadulterated panic flashed through him.

“No, no!” he gasped. “No, not you!”

She pulled up short, her brows drawing together a little as Ominis struggled to pull the fraying threads of his brain back together.

“I-I’m sorry… I didn’t mean…” he whimpered softly as another agonising pang of need surged through him, intensified by the fact that it was her standing there, and he curled up tighter, his hands tensing in his hair, trying to hide his shamed face as he tried to burrow under the sheets. “I… I don’t want you to see me like this.”

She was concerningly quiet for a moment, then her footsteps sounded once more as she approached, and Ominis bit down on a high-pitched whine as she settled on the bed, her weight pulling the sheets tight against his skin. He fought not to writhe, every nerve ending on fire as he curled up tighter.

“Please… please leave,” he begged. “I-I c-can’t…”

“This needs to be fixed,” she said, her voice low and soothing. “Ominis, you can’t go on like this. I want to help you.”

“Then get me a fucking antidote,” he spat, his limbs trembling as he fought to remain still. He didn’t care that he swore in front of her, something he vowed never to do in front of a lady, he was too concerned with retaining some miniscule shred of dignity. Shame and humiliation burned a torturous path through his body as he bit down on another low whine, his cock throbbing at the thought of her being so close to him, her beautiful scent, her delicious voice sending waves of primal desire through him.

She couldn’t be here. She had to leave, or he was going to do something they would both regret.

It seemed she either couldn’t sense the danger, however, or she didn’t care. She slid closer to him, a cool hand finding his shoulder, such a simple touch making his hair stand on end as he fought with himself not to grab at her. He had to maintain control, no matter how difficult. He was a gentleman, he was proper, he wasn’t one of those base louts that thought with their dicks and followed wherever they pointed, he was… he was…

Fucking hell. He was desperate for her.

Her hand tightened on his shoulder, pushing lightly, and little by little he uncurled enough to reveal his face, his skin flushed, his hair sticking to his forehead.

“You poor thing,” she murmured. “Will you let me help you?”

Her hand slid over his shoulder to his chest, and Ominis bit down on a whine. How often had he tormented himself with fantasies of this exact thing happening? It almost made him want to weep with the frustration of it all, because he knew all too well that nothing would come of this but further humiliation.

“P-please… don’t,” he whimpered as she peeled the sheets back, moving closer to him as she trailed her fingers over his stomach, the muscles contracting at her touch. “It won’t… it won’t d-do anything… I c-can’t feel-”

His next words were cut off by a yelp as the heel of her hand grazed the aching head of his length through the sheets, sending a surge of pleasure so powerful through him that it snapped his head back.

He could feel her touch.

His hands flew out, one latching onto her wrist, the other winding into her hair. She came to him willingly, her lips brushing his hesitantly for a heartbeat before he crushed his mouth to hers, moaning helplessly as she found his aching steel through the sheets, her palm curving around the shape of him.

Ominis launched up, hooking an arm around her neck, his free hand shoving at the covers. There was no longer room for hesitancy or fear or embarrassment – any last shred of lingering dignity had been eviscerated by her kiss.

All Ominis knew is that he needed to be held, to be kissed, to be touched, and to be fucked. Right. Now.

He shoved at the sheets covering him as her lips moved from his to lavish attention on the side of his neck, her hand travelling down his chest sparking through his nerves. A high, desperate whine escaped him when she showed no hesitation and wrapped her hand around his fevered length, the soothing cool of her skin a balm to his burning flesh.

Even through his maddening haze of desperation and need, Ominis was dimly aware of the inexplicable skill she displayed, each swift, twisting stroke of her hand designed by some omniscient power, it seemed, so perfectly did it make his body sing. Her pace was steady, her grip firm but not tight, and his mind went to pieces. In all his furtive, shameful imaginings of being with her at last, he had never once suspected that she would know just how perfectly to treat him.

She murmured gentle encouragement to him, her words a song of sin and fire as her touch sent him ever higher on a glittering ladder that seemed heaven bound. Ominis bucked helplessly against her, his hands alternately clutching and tugging at her clothes, knowing in some deep, primal way that the simple touch of her hand, no matter how glorious, would never be enough.

It seemed she understood this as well, for her lips left his neck, trailing down his body, each press of her lips tensing the muscles they touched. Something in the back of his mind set up a wild protest, the part of him that was still human underneath his frantic desire screaming that he would never live this down, but even this stubborn part of him was silenced when a searing heat enveloped him from head to base, hard at the edges and so deliciously soft in the centre, something long and dexterous winding about his entire length.

The sensation of her mouth on him in such a way pushed a yell that was almost a scream from deep within his lungs, flying up his throat so harshly that it roughed the edges of his voice, his hands flew to her head, winding his fingers into her hair and driving himself as deep as he could. He didn’t care that he might choke her, that he might make her wretch, he just needed more of that sensation, more of this heavenly feeling of pure euphoria.

She didn’t choke, and she didn’t retch. She tightened her lips, hollowing her cheeks and sucking hard, her throat closing over the tip of him as he threw his head back, yelping in wordless ecstasy. Her arms wound around his waist as his legs fell apart, anchoring them together as her head bobbed at a steady, rapid pace, and if Ominis had the gift of sight, he would have seen the entire cosmos.

"Fuck... yes..." Ominis gasped. "Right there... don't stop, please don't stop..."

And yet it still wasn’t enough. Though each swipe of her tongue drew a whining moan from his lips like silver thread, the pulsing of her throat in time with his racing heart, his body stubbornly refused to fall over the edge upon which he teetered. Almost rabid, Ominis gripped he hair, pulling her back up to crush his lips to hers, tugging at her clothes so forcefully that her blouse tore.

In response, she pinned his wrists over his head. He had no time to protest this as she straddled him in the next moment, leaning down to capture his lips with hers once more, holding him tight with one hand as the other slid down, grasping him firmly and angling him up.

Ominis could never have imagined the euphoria that he experienced next. One moment, he was aching, spit-slick and cool in the empty air, and the next he was enveloped in searing satin and silken fire. If her mouth had been the cosmos, this was heaven itself. He could barely draw breath to moan as she seated him fully inside her, and even through his primal haze, he couldn’t believe it, couldn’t understand it, that he, Ominis Gaunt, was being loved by her.

He thrust up with abandon, garbled pleas and frenzied, worshipful praise flowing from his mouth between urgent kisses, his hands held firmly above his head as she rode him like a graphorn. Her hair swung down, the silken tresses brushing over his face and chest like he’d always dreamed of. He began to feel a delicious, prickling heat pooling at the base of his spine, in the pit of his stomach, his skin tingling as he ran full pelt towards the edge. Something within him knew he needed to savour this, to commit each and every detail to memory as she herself released a soft, breathy moan, but that single sound, the knowledge that came with it being that he was making her feel good was too much for him.

"Fuck... fuck... FUCK! YES! YES!"

The spell was broken, the potion overcome as Ominis’ entire body went taught, his balls drawing up tight as he finally, finally came like a fucking hose. His head snapped back, his moans rising to echoing yelps as his back arched, his hands pinioned above his head as he writhed, the sensation so much more intense than anything he had ever experienced before, going on and on and on until he was certain he might go mad. But end it did, and he fell back, utterly boneless and exhausted, his breath trembling as his body quivered, the warm weight of her comforting as she settled to lie atop him, her lips soothing once more at his neck.

“Are you alright?” she asked, after some small time had passed. Ominis could only mumble non-words, his mind still scattered, his not quite feeling his body as he should now that there was this sudden absence of primal need. Little by little, the last few hours came back to him, and he felt his chest grow tight. Wincing as fresh shame burned a path through him, Ominis turned his face away.

“I-I’m so sorry,” he managed, his voice cracking. “Y-you shouldn’t have… my behaviour… I never should…”

“Hush,” she brushed his hair back, pressing a delicate kiss to his temple. “I was happy to, Ominis.” She pulled him closer, a hand at the back of his head, and he curled into her automatically, burying his face in the crook of her neck. The lingering ache in his body melded with his utter humiliation, contrasting bizarrely with a feeling of purest bliss. He held onto it, onto her, knowing that once she left this bed, this room, she’d never want to speak to him again. She had helped him, yes, but that was what she did. It wasn’t because she liked him. How could anyone like someone as depraved as him?

As if she could read his thoughts, she gave him a little squeeze, her lips brushing his ear.

“You know, I’d be happy to do this again,” she murmured, and he felt her lips stretch into a smile against his skin as his heart leapt. “With you, and only you. Only… let’s leave the experimental potions out of it next time, hm?”

Ominis was only too happy to agree.

[age-of-wonderbeasts]

nobody talks about how adora literally revived catra from the dead.

We don't often see the healing capabilities of she-ra's powers throughout the series, but what we do see shows A LOT of growth on adora's behalf.

Season 1 episode 4 Adora/She-ra struggles to heal the plant life in Plumeria, and instead resorts to solving the issue by doing what she does best, fighting. She is new to the She-ra mantle, so she doesn't have full control over her powers, but we also see the expectations placed on her by other people because she is she-ra. adora doesn't know how to heal trees, this doesn't come naturally to her.

In the following episode Adora heals the Salineas sea gate a lot easier than her attempts with the trees. this could be seen as Adora slowly understanding the magic of she-ra, or that because the sea gate is a piece of machinery, she finds it easier to heal, or "fix" than any living creature.

we also see Adora struggle with healing later in season 1 when glimmer is "cursed" by shadow weaver and is "glitching." Although played off as a joke (nature of the show being kids tv), adora cannot use the sword or the power of she-ra to heal her. Still, she has not held up the mantle of she-ra for long, so her understanding of healing, which completely juxtaposes her entire upbringing and everything she is used to / knows she is good at, is limited. This is something Adora isn't naturally gifted at.

Then, in season 3 episode 1, Shadow Weaver makes her way into brightmoon, and is essentially dying. She convinces Adora to heal her, which she does, and she becomes less weakened by her lack of magical energy. However, Shadow Weaver's magic is not fully restored, as seen in the rest of the show, she still needs to absorb magical energy to use it, a lasting effect of the obtainment spell as no other sorcerer requires this.

So we have seen a progression in Adora's healing abilities through she-ra. I would like to reiterate that healing goes against everything Adora was raised to be, everything Adora thinks she is. healing will not and does not come naturally to her as it goes against her very identity.

but in s5 ep 5, save the cat, catra dies. All the way dead. Adora's eyes and emotion in the moments when Catra is chipped are ones of pure horror. Absoloute terror. Enough to bring back the magic of she-ra without the sword the first ones made to control her. (We had already seen she-ra in the previous episode, but this is the first big she-ra appearance post sword breaking in season 4).

So as Catra is in Adora's arms, either dying or dead, we see Adora transform into this new, self-actualised she-ra form that is more representative of Adora as a whole, merging the two characters from 2 seperate entities to one character who basically gets taller and stronger from time to time. And with this, comes all of she-ra's powers.

And on this ship, as they're flying away from Horde Prime, Adora/Shera holds a dead Catra in her arms. And the sheer raw emotion, the guilt and fear of losing her, the hope of bringing her home, the realisation that she can't lose her, never hated her, loves her, it takes over. We see both their bodies glow as Adora brings Catra back from the dead. The growth of adora's healing capabilities is fully realised here. Here, she is a fully actualised, powerful she-ra, and her character development is [almost] fully realised. The fact she is able to heal her friend/lover completely, bringing her back from the dead, when in the first season she couldn't heal a tree is really a testament to not only Adora's physical growth in terms of power and magic, but her emotional growth as a person. It shows how her values have changed, how her principles and ideology have become so much more, transcended the expectations of "warrior" placed upon her. She has become more than what they expected of her. She is now, in this moment, a fully realised she-ra.

And I think the fact she becomes Adora as soon as Catra is healed shows her consideration for her. She knows catra will want to see her face, her true face, because that's what she knows. That's her home.

I love them so much

[genericpuff]

Scamlords is at it again.

A few nights ago, there was a sudden blow-up in the /r/webtoons server showing a new announcement from Snailords -

For anyone unaware, Death : Rescheduled has been on mid-season hiatus since October. And it's now, and only now, that Snailords has suddenly decided the comic is ending after it returns, but readers can get an extra 20 episodes... if they fork over $1k in merch sales.

Now, this could be a lot worse. They could be threatening not to return to the series at all unless their readers hand over money. But considering it's practically just one degree away from that, it's still pretty nasty. Not to mention, the further they divulged in their reasoning around this "idea", the more confusing it got.

They also even revived their @snailordsrant account on IG which, for those of you who were there and can recall, was the same account they used to put one of their own fans on blast over some very mild criticism.

None of this makes any actual sense, for several reasons:

1.) I literally fail to see how getting $1k in less than 24 hours is worth shoving in an extra mini arc of 10 episodes if you don't even have it planned out. Why do that to your audience or to yourself? Why drag things out just to scrounge up an emergency $1k? Why not just be honest with your audience and run a GoFundMe or just say , "Hey everyone, I've run into some financial troubles, I would really appreciate it if you could FastPass my newest episodes or donate to my Patreon or buy some merch so I can cover the costs". It's really telling that this shithead doesn't have enough confidence in themselves or their audience that practically worships them that they have to resort to this kind of underhanded shit to get the money they need. I wanna make it clear that this is NOT like a Kickstarter stretch goal or anything that incentivizes readers to support their work, they're instead holding the length and future of their series over their audiences' head (which they've done before) for money. That's not an incentive, it's an ultimatum.

2.) Maybe I'm misreading / being stupid (someone pls explain if I'm missing something here) but I literally don't see how their comment about working 50 hours a week explains why they're suddenly getting their fans to pay out $1k worth of merch in less than 24 hours. For anyone who doesn't know, $1k per episode is an example Webtoons uses in its post discussing how they pay out creators (this came after the platform got called out 2 years ago for paying creators too little, there are undoubtedly creators getting paid less). And yet for some reason $1k is apparently the difference between 10 episodes and 20? How does that add up? And is the bit about them wanting to buy boba supposed to be a joke? Where's the punchline here?

3.) They say they have writer's block and they want to use the money to "motivate them", but then just a few slides later they say 10-15 episodes is what would make them the "happiest" so which is it? Do they want to write 10 episodes or do they want people to pay them to write 20 episodes so they can draw the fluff scenes that they apparently want to draw? If you have an ending planned out, why rush it or drag it out depending on how this "fundraiser" goes? Why not just write the ending you want to write that will serve your story best? Why shove in an extra mini arc that you don't even have full confidence in writing and then try to compare it to a "super expensive cake"? What are you doing? Speaking as someone who's had trouble getting motivated in the past, suddenly getting a month's rent worth of money to do it doesn't necessarily solve that, it just turns up the pressure, and if you're not someone who deals with pressure well, then you're more likely to wind up just burning out entirely rather than fulfilling that goal.

4.) The fact that they did, in fact, hit their goal just makes it all the shittier to think about because their audience is mostly made up of teenagers who worship the ground that they walk on. It's horrifying that they keep pulling these stunts with their audience, and getting away with it to boot - and Webtoons, as a company, keeps enabling it by allowing it to happen by hosting and promoting people like this.

Anyways, there's already a lot going on here that's sketchy, but then... they went and deleted their posts. At the time of this happening (as I was there to witness it all play out in real time) I assumed this meant that they had hit their $1k goal - especially as they had been showing their progress on their IG and they were already at $900 after just a couple hours - but it gave me a sinking feeling seeing them delete it because they had also been called out by some brave readers telling them that it wasn't exactly a good look to essentially blackmail their audience through their own content into giving them money.

Snailords deleting it gave me a stronger impression of "burying the evidence", especially now that they had the money. By all accounts, they could do whatever they wanted now.

So what did they decide to do?

. . . Huh?

Okay, take a second to actually think about what Snailords has done here. Because I know some of you will go "oh, it was for charity all along! that was nice of them!" but . . . I don't know about the legalities of collecting donation funds under false pretenses, but morally speaking, it's a really shitty thing to do. They stripped away the choices - limiting them to three - of what their readers could donate to, and what I think their readers don't understand - due to being mostly teenagers - is that they're tax-exempt individuals and they just unknowingly gave Snailords an easy $1k tax write-off. You really, really shouldn't collect donation funds like this without being honest, it's just a shitty thing to do, especially after you've already collected the money. It mostly just comes across as damage control on Snailords' part to make it seem like they were always planning to donate to charity, when in reality, if they wanted to donate to charity, they would have been honest about that at the start. Again, even if they wanted to do that from the start, it goes to show how little confidence they have in themselves or their audience that they have to stoop to methods like these instead of just doing it honestly.

And do you really think Snailords will actually do those extra episodes? Or donate that money? This is the same asshole who has manipulated their readers for money not once but twice, and now seems intent on doing it a third time just for the charm. This is the same person who practically sabotaged their own comic, Freaking Romance, because they apparently didn't like the romance genre and may as well have only done it for clout / views / etc.

What was especially odd - and I found this out from folks who actually read Death : Rescheduled (I do not) - was finding out that it wouldn't make sense for D : R to end in as many as 25 episodes, because apparently, the plot has basically just gotten going.

So it does seem like this is foreshadowing that D : R will wind up just like Freaking Romance, rushed into an ending that wasn't expected. And this, of course, has the people who read their work confused because D : R was supposed to be Snailords' passion project, their magnum opus, the project they wanted to do. So them holding the timing of an ending that shouldn't even be happening yet for ransom contradicts that original intention. Really, it just goes to show that Snailords has no passion, they're just in it purely for the money, to a degree that I can't even cheer them on for being a hustler because it's missing the honesty and integrity.

And of course, every single time Snailords finds a way to backpedal and take his audience for a ride, they hop right in without a single thought for themselves.

And no, none of this is to hate on the readers directly, I hold Snailords entirely responsible for this - they have an audience of impressionable, naive, gullible teenagers, and they know it, and take advantage of it every chance they get. It's why they weren't just honest about wanting to collect money for charity from the start. It's why they resorted to basically holding their own comic's progression for ransom during its midseason hiatus. It's why the deadline was 24 hours and why the posts are now gone.

Thankfully the Internet does what it does - any evidence that Snailords was trying to bury is now all over reddit, and hey, just for good measure, here's a post on Tumblr that's been sitting in my drafts for days now, days after people have already seemingly stopped talking about it. Don't let anyone bury or forget about the stunts Snailords is pulling on their audience, with a platform that they've been consistently given by Webtoons, because that's what they want you to do.

[bookatans]

This is probably going to be a very long post but the more I think about the rise (and subsequent fall) of the New Mandalorians, the more that I get wrapped up in not only the colonialism committed by Satine and the movement, how it began in such a horrifyingly understated way, but also how it paved the way for Mandalore to be destroyed thanks to the almost-complete erasure of their culture.

First of all, Canon verse deciding to remove the True Mandalorians (and placing the "Old" Mandalorians in a similar, though less prominent position) feels particularly underhanded and paints everything in a black and white manner. Satine: a sympathetic character who is the only one standing against Death Watch, the last shred of peace left for Mandalorians to cling to. Which. Last standing? Yes, definitely. But not the only one.

A war where Death Watch and the New Mandalorians were the major players, only to have Death Watch defeated – even with the assistance of the Jedi keeping Satine alive – makes little sense from a technical standpoint. Is it impossible? Probably not. All sorts of things can happen in history, pure dumb luck makes every difference, but it's unlikely. A party which seeks peace is not going to survive against another ultra violent, volatile party that's pissed off at you because you want to erase the culture that they so deeply value.

Which, yeah I don't buy it. Even with the Republic stepping in later on, it's fishy. But for the sake of my sanity, I'm mostly focusing on Legends, because the more you try to create a coherent timeline (seriously, how is Clone Batch Math easier than this?) for the Mandalorian Civil Wars, the harder it is not to give up entirely.

Anyways. Satine did not survive years of conflict due to mere smarts and perseverance, and did not end the war by being charismatic and having good people skills. She was the LEAST THREATENING PARTY in a three-party war, hunkering down with her Jedi protectors and playing politician while the actual warriors in the conflict weakened one another and – for the True Mandalorians – were wiped out.

True Mandalorians. Death Watch. New Mandalorians.

So, okay. The approximate dates of the beginning and end of the Mandalorian Civil Wars don't necessarily make sense with Satine’s age. She'd have been slightly younger, and Canon seems to have a tendency to just wave their hand in the general direction of a time period and deflect onto another topic.

Which, you know what? Fine. I can work with that without having to think too hard about the dates. It kills me not to delve into it further, but. No. It's not like Disney's gonna pay me to fix their broken timeline.

(But if I had to, I'd shift Jaster's death to 47BBY instead of 52BBY, and push the Battle of Galidraan a year back to 43BBY, and—)

Here's what's important to remember, though:

- There are two Mandalorian Civil Wars. The first being True Mandalorians vs Death Watch. The second being the much shorter, and quickly solved Death Watch vs the New Mandalorians.

- The massacre of the True Mandalorians happened shortly before the beginning of the second civil war.

- The True Mandalorians had already been dealing with Death Watch for years, and they were winning. Death Watch wasn't just on the run, they were weak, they had to resort to TRICKING THE JEDI into killing the True Mandalorians for them.

Who wasn't weak? The New Mandalorians, the people that actively choose to turn their back on a culture that had survived for centuries. And yes, Death Watch remained even after the True Mandalorians fell. Tor Vizsla targeted Satine and the New Mandalorians viciously after that, there was even more destruction, but it wasn't with the severity with which he'd prosecuted the True Mandalorians.

Here's what happened next: Jango Fett escaped his enslavement. He hunted down Tor Vizsla, and he killed him. Whatever strength Death Watch had regained in those few years didn't matter, because the second their leader was gone they were certainly left unorganized and at a disadvantage.

Giving the New Mandalorians the opening they needed to cement in people's minds to their beliefs and convince the House and Clan leaders that abandoning their old ways was the solution. After all, how much more of Mandalore was left to destroy? How many more had to be lost?

With the public's approval and the Republic’s help, Satine Kryze and the New Mandalorians scavenged the corpse of Mandalore, and they took what they deemed fit, left the rest to rot and – given time – be erased completely.

What's worse is that Satine's activism and speeches made it sound like that made sense (because, to Satine, it did make sense); abandon what Mandalore once was because that's the reason we've been destroyed, isn't it? (Not entirely untrue.) And these people, whose world had been ravaged, who's clans and families had wrecked everything with in-fighting, were tired and desperate enough that they listened.

Actually, here's what's really worse — Satine got LUCKY! The first time! It should not have ended like that. But because she got lucky, because it worked once, she tried to do the exact same thing when the entire galaxy went to war. And she ignored the suffering of people whom she should have known empathy towards, who were going through the very same torment she experienced as a child. Because her position of superiority where peace is the only answer was so ingrained in her beliefs, because she was ARROGANT.

And because peace was the only answer, because she'd disavowed any sense of warrior culture from her people, Satine had as much a hand in dooming Mandalore as everyone who went in with the worst intentions. Does it matter that it was doomed regardless, because Maul was the great evil that came to destroy them? No. Maul was just the most convenient means to an end the resurrected Death Watch could find, but if not him it would have been anyone — anything – else.

I do feel for her. She had to experience her father's death so young and step into a role he'd left behind, didn't get a proper chance to grieve because she had to be strong for everyone else who was grieving. She gave up the possibility of love for duty. Satine was a good leader, I won't argue that, and she was the last stand between Mandalore and total annihilation, but she was also deeply flawed.

[popatochisssp]

Apparently I haven't been checking here enough because there's so many new boys I didn't recognize in the sibling post!!! And they all sound so cool and interesting!!

Thank you! But you’re probably not as out of the loop as you think—I’ve been a little shy about sharing my stuff lately, so I actually haven’t posted about any of those guys before!

If you want a quick rundown…

Transcendtale: The result of a never-ending cycle of RESETs with a No Mercy sort of human. Monsters gradually became aware and eventually resorted to extremes to put an end to the cycle, sacrificing themselves to create one single vessel powerful enough to kill the human for good. In the aftermath, most of monsterkind is gone…physically, but still persist as consciousnesses recorded digitally instead. (Sort of a cyberpunk aesthetic answer to Dusttale.)

Spectr (Transcendtale Sans): The unlucky bastard who got tapped to pilot the ultra-powerful human-killing vessel and one of only a few physical monsters remaining. His new body is entirely robotic but similar to what he had before—the only thing missing is a soul. He’s coping in the aftermath of Everything about as well as could be expected, but pretty heavily dysphoric and doubting his identity and his personhood as…whatever he is now.

PapAIrus (Transcendtale Papyrus): A virtual consciousness, a snapshot of the previous ‘original’ Papyrus, his thoughts, his feelings, his memories, his entire sense of self… AKA, Papyrus, just detached from a physical body and soul. He considers it a major upgrade, really—he’s eternal, everywhere, everything… Maybe a slight god-complex about it, but can you blame him? He can interact with the world directly via hard-light projections of himself if he chooses, so it’s hard for him to see a downside to his new state of being.

Ascendswap: Another never-ending cycle of RESETs with No Mercy to be found, but after a bargain is struck with an entity beyond mortal ken, a small inner-circle of monsters is granted awareness of the cycle, and access to deeper, older, more powerful magic in order to put a stop to the human’s reign of terror. Most of monsterkind is only peripherally aware of all that happened, but a select few have been Elevated beyond what they once were.

Xanth (Ascendswap Sans): He’s the one who struck the eldritch bargain and consequently gained power and magic, as well as the ability to share it with anyone he chooses. It’s come at a significant cost and large swathes of him have been lost, dissolved into pure magic. He’s also now one who’s seen beyond the veil, the ant who has perceived the circuit board so to speak, and he’ll never be quite who he was. Still, he’s happy, and far more attuned to souls and magic and energy than he ever was before, so he’s not complaining.

Piper (Ascendswap Papyrus): One of the beneficiaries of his brother’s meddling, a newly-minted boss monster with full awareness of RESETs and much stronger magic—including an ability to push intent into his words as he speaks them, making their influence stronger. Due to the nature of its source, there’s only so far that little trick can go, but between being far more persuasive than he ever hoped he could be, his increased power, and more than a few timelines of experience, his confidence is through the roof and stress over what people think of him is a thing of the past.

Underfell Fruition: The Royal Scientist is never erased from reality. He continues his work as planned, without interruption and continues experiments which produce marvelous innovations for monsterkind’s eventual conquest of humanity. Two of his most impressive achievements are a device which allows the user to produce magic seemingly limitlessly, from thin air without drawing on one’s own energy, and a war machine that attacks on command—both of which are frequently lent out to the Emperor and the Royal Guard to serve the crown’s purposes. …Until a bit of poking around uncovers some…moderately…alarming monster rights violations, amongst other charges, which lead to the Royal Scientist’s conviction and execution.

Carmine (Underfell Fruition Sans): Captured during his attempt to escape from Gaster with his brother, and due to a consistent pattern of disobedience, locked away—permanently. Altered to produce magic at a significantly higher rate and used as a magic battery, he’s got plenty of energy and a whole lot of living to catch up on now that he’s out of the (barely metaphorical) box. What he lacks in worldly experience, he makes up for in luck, intuition, and a cocky can-do attitude, all too ready to make up for lost time.

Tank (Underfell Fruition Papyrus): ‘Raised’ alone by a cruel ‘father’ whose only use for him was as the pinnacle of his project to create a perfect living weapon for the war against humanity, he is extremely new to a lot of concepts—making decisions, having opinions, being a person… None of that was allowed while he was being developed…er, growing up, so in spite of being tall, intimidating, and built like a truck, he’s hesitant around new people and situations where he needs to do any more than just follow orders. Tentatively starting to branch out and discover what being a monster (instead of a monster-shaped weapon) is all about now that his creator is out of the picture and the brother he thought he’d only imagined is back in it.

Swapfell Fruition: The Royal Scientist is never erased from reality. He continues his work as planned, without interruption and continues experiments which lead to the development of a black ops division for the Empress, a secret service of sorts to serve the interests of the crown and to do the unsavory dirty work involved in maintaining an empire whose citizens are prone to corruption and violence. Espionage, blackmail, and quite a few assassinations are carried out by the unknown team managed, equipped, trained, and modified by the Royal Scientist. …Until one day, he happens to turn up dead and it’s uncovered that the ‘volunteers’ for the program were less willing participants and more lab-grown experiments who were given no choice otherwise. Bearing in mind what’s come to light about the circumstances, the black ops program is disbanded.

Vi (Swapfell Fruition Sans): Stopped during his attempt to murder Gaster and escape with his brother, and because of his clearly duplicitous nature, far more tightly controlled and observed and forced into obedience to his creator after. Used primarily as a handler to debrief, control, and monitor the real asset, he developed a keen eye for detail and skill in fact-finding, being secretive, and lying…which was probably a tactical error because he devoted himself wholly to playing the long con and waiting for the perfect opportunity for another attempt to free himself and his brother. A little late…maybe too late…but better than never.

Hunter (Swapfell Fruition Papyrus): The asset and field agent, a thoroughly trained and heavily mentally conditioned assassin, operant on a small library of trigger words and phrases which compel him to follow directives and alter the functioning of his mind and body. He’s extremely competent when working, charming and ruthless and efficient, but off the leash, impertinent, impulsive, and impossible. He does as he pleases whenever possible which, now that his boss/creator/dad is dead, seems like it’ll be all the time. On some weird footing now with his erstwhile handler—his brother—who was apparently less complicit in said boss/creator/dad’s bullshit than he’d thought, but y’know. He’s out of the cage either way and can chase his whims wherever they take him.

Descendtale: A Horrortale variant, a human’s passage through the Underground has left monsterkind without their king, without any of the human souls they’d gathered to break the Barrier, and without a handful of citizens. The long-lost queen returns to lead her people and pivots toward survival, weathering the long-haul trapped Underground with dwindling hope and resources. An alternate food source is the highest priority as monsters are already starting to go hungry in the wake of the chaos, and one is found…though not without its…side-effects. Light sensitivity, slowed metabolism, darkening of extremities, thorn-like growths on the body, and some mental changes and personality drift among other metamorphoses. The Underground takes on a deep-sea quality—slow, cold, dark—monsters subsisting on what they have and waiting patiently for the next whalefall to swarm.

Kohl (Descendtale Sans): The human’s disappearance has left him more than a little bitter (betrayed, though he’ll never admit that). His opinion of humans (or anyone new) is quite low after what the last one did to them all and he’s not keen on trusting or believing in any, anytime soon. He’s chilly, selfish, and reluctant to engage—though he does have a slight mean-spirited streak, and is greatly amused by creeping out or otherwise agitating humans by his presence. Coping with the changes they’ve all gone through and settling in to his new normal, but very stubbornly digging in to the small pleasures that his altered biology makes more difficult. Determined to live much in the manner of a cockroach: through just about anything and regardless of the opinion of those who’d prefer him not to.

Bram (Descendtale Papyrus): The human’s disappearance has left him confused and hurt. He’d thought they were friends, but well…then they did all that and left, never to return. There’s…a lot of conflicting emotions in there and he probably shouldn’t try to unpack it all—he’s just focusing on being the best friend possible from here on out! He’s a little bit clingy with new friends and people he’d like to become new friends but as much as possible, a perfect gentleman, host, and conversationalist. Some strong emotional outbursts from time to time, and his tendency towards unintentionally unnerving statements do make that a bit difficult but he’s very amicable and unlike his brother, only creepy on accident, so…he can still be popular, right? …Right?

If anybody’s interested in a full lore dump for anything, I can draft something up, but that’s the gist of all the brand new ones!

Sorry for all the words! 😅

[wrencatte]

mini-fic 6(ish!) post-Fallen Order. Mantis Crew. Cal & Merrin. Omniscient POV (Mostly Merrin). 1.1k words Cal...has a beard??? ao3 mini fic link - chapter 6 (ponchos)

Cal plops down on the couch with a loud, drawn-out satisfied sound, relishing in the first comfortable seat in literal days. Merrin looks up from her holonovel, blinks once, twice, and bluntly asks, “What is wrong with your face?”

He slaps a hand to his chin. “There’s nothing wrong with my face.”

“No, there is,” she insists, abandoning her novel to grab hold of his wrist and wrench his hand away – or at least she tries to wrench it away, but Cal resists valiantly, muscles straining with the effort. He leans as far back from the Nightsister as possible until he yelps, and they both go tumbling off the couch to land in a groaning heap on the floor.

Cere watches them, eyebrows raised, and lifting not a single finger to assist either one of them. BD chirrups from his spot over the Master’s shoulder, something distinctly mocking in his tone even without knowing binary, and Cal groans again, louder and more obnoxiously.

“Thanks, buddy, knew I could count on you,” he snarks. The droid whistles something else that just makes him laugh.

“What did he say?” Merrin asks even as she resorts to prying Cal’s hand off his face, fingers digging under his palm. He tries to smack her hand away with his free one, but she just grabs it and pins it awkwardly to the side out of the way. She pauses, head tilted in contemplation, then drops her entire body weight on the Jedi. He lets out a wheezing oof! at the suddenness, eyes wide. BD laughs at him. “This would be easier if you just gave in.”

“Doubt it,” he grunts.

They grapple – no, actually, tussle is really a better word to describe it. Neither of them are actually trying at all. Cal’s stuck arching his face away from Merrin since he can use his hand, and Merrin could easily hurt him in this position, so her efforts are half-hearted at best. Both of them are laughing like children, little hushed, breathless giggles. Cere doesn’t hide her smile, thoroughly enjoying the sight of them acting so care-free, and secretly recording the whole thing. Even though they have BD for that, there’s something about having a version all to herself that she can’t resist.

Cal finally gives up and removes his hand. Merrin makes a noise of triumphant – that gets cut off when he (gently) smacks his hand against Merrin’s face instead, effectively blinding her. He uses the surprise attack as leverage to shove her back against the base of the couch and he scrambles to his feet, putting distance between the two of them quickly, and…goes back to covering his chin.

“It is not that embarrassing,” Merrin tells him.

Cal scowls. “You said there was something wrong with my face!”

She makes a conceding expression. “Fair, but I did not mean it in that way. It merely…caught me by surprise.”

Cal had been gone for the last few days, exploring a nearby mountain pass in hopes it was what they were looking for (it wasn’t), so forgive her shock when he came back looking like that. He changed out of his regular poncho and new vest combo in favor of a pair of loose pants with far too many belts and his ratty training top that Greez has tried to throw out several times – though not as many times he’s tried to throw out some of his older, more…pungent ponchos. His hair longer than when she first met him, long enough to tuck behind his ears, and when you add that to what’s going on with his face…

He eyes her warily then semi-reluctantly drops his hand, putting it on his hip instead in a sort of are you happy now? pose. Merrin stares at him. He stares back, weight shifting as if he’s about to bolt.

“It looks good,” she declares finally.

Cal rolls his eyes. “You literally said – .”

“I did not get a proper look! You surprised me!” Merrin snaps. Cal throws his hands up in a huff.

He has a beard.

Or…almost a beard. Barely a beard, it’s still growing in and all. But it’s there and it, and it adds a maturity to his face she wasn’t expecting. Before, his old, world-weary soul could only be felt in the Force when he dropped his shields and let them help him. Now, though, Merrin looks at him and she can see the weight he carries far too easily. The beard looks good, yes, but it makes her heart ache just a little.

Cal scrubs a hand over the short, scratchy-looking beard. It makes his freckles stand out, somehow, or maybe that’s because they’ve been hopping from sunny planet to sunny planet these last few months and he’s no longer stuck under the perpetually gloomy clouds of Bracca. He burns instead of tans, but he seems to get new freckles every day.

“I didn’t mean to grow one in,” he admits. “But I’m kinda attached now.”

“Literally,” Cere adds.

He sticks his tongue out at her then jumps with a strangled yelp when she thrums their bond in admonishment like he’s a twelve-year-old apprentice all over again. “Hey! That’s a cheap shot!”

“What’s a cheap shot?” Greez asks, walking onto the Mantis. He looks up from the holopad he was consulting. “Oh. Hey, Cal, welcome back…What’s wrong with your face?”

Cal swears at him in Huttese as Merrin laughs. “All of you! All of you are against me! It’s not that bad!”

“It truly isn’t,” Merrin assures him, sounding only half-sincere to his ears.

Cere shrugs. “It’s not too bad,” she agrees. “I think it needs another day or two before it really works for you, though. Right now it’s…” She wiggles her hand with a wince.

“Ehhh,” is Greez’s contribution.

Cal hides his face with both hands this time, sighing very, very loudly. “You are all so mean to me. Fine, I’ll kriffin’ shave it off. Greez, got anything I can use? My kit got lost somewhere.” He glares BD-1 from between his fingers and the droid chitters in response, sounding offended. “I am not! You’re the one who went over the ledge! I told you not to scan it!” BD-1 beeps something decidedly rude.

“Nothin’ for your human sensitivity. You’re gonna have to wait until our next supply stop, kid.”

He groans. “Unbelievable. That’s a week from now.”

Merrin pats his shoulder consolingly. “You will survive,” she says seriously. “And if you do not, I know several rituals that will bring you back with minimal…side-effects.”

“Thanks, Merrin, you really know how to make a guy feel better.”

She smiles. “You are welcome!”

[adarkrainbow]

Another fairytale park... Mirapolis (1)

We have been talking about Disney a lot - and of course, with Disney comes Disneyland. I have made reblogs aboutt the Efteling park (and maybe more posts shall come in the future). But today, I want to invite you to an amusement park that doesn't exist anymore, and yet remains a part of France's history, and a part of the history of French folklore and fairytales. This is... the defunct amusement park Mirapolis.

Mirapolis was opened on the 20th of May 1987, in the city-group of Cergy-Pontoise (more specifically it belonged to the town of Courdimanches. It was a complicated situation as Cergy-Pontoise was one of the "new cities" built in the 60s/70s by sticking various existing small towns together as a way to deal with the population boom in the Ile-de-France region/Parisian area... Its the convoluted ways of French territory delimitation). It lasted for only five seasons, closing on the 20th of October 1991. The name of the park was explained as such by its creator, Anne Fourcade: "mira" is meant to evoke mirrors, the infinite, the eternal, while "polis" reminds of "the greatness of cities and of ancient kingdoms". It is thus meant to bring in people's minds ideas of adventure, of fabulous, and of future... Too bad the park didn't live up to its name and was a big failure.

The project of Mirapolis is tied to the arrival in Europe of Disney - more precisely, the appearance of the Euro Disney Resort (current "Disneyland Paris"). The Walt Disney Company was on our ground, the Americans against the Europeans, and Europe had to fight back. [Another complicated thing: Euro Disney Resort only offically opened in 1992, but the project existed and had been going on - though secretly - since 1976, and in december of 1985 it had been publically announced that France would be the country welcoming the first European Disney park.] Mirapolis was an attempt to create a counterpart to this American implantation: it was to be the greatest, largest and first French amusement park.

And large and great it was! Too great probably... Mirapolis was agreed to be an excessive project, truly bigger than life - a lot of resources were given to the project, and they didn't hesitate to consume every last drop of it and even more. The park was 55 hectars in terms of size - something unheard of in France until this point. Created by the collaboration of Anne Fourcade (architect and the creator of the park) and of Ghaith Pharaon (a wealthy businessman), the park's main problems were an ever-growing debt and a series of constantly changing owner and staff. The park was first owned by the Paris-Parc society - until the society went bankrupt. It then became the ownership of the Cergy-Parc society, and the original gestion and maintenance team was replaced by staff coming from the Club Med (the most famous French holiday-club/vacation-company ever), but THEN they were replaced by a group of carnies (carnies who funnily originally were against the project and had loudly expressed their opposition... but they still were hired and ran the park until it went bankrupt, and their presence made the park half-funfair). Because while the first year was a good year that met its mark (500 millions of francs invested, no loss), the second year started going flawly (700 millions of francs invested, 85 millions of loss), and then the third went bad (140 millions of loss) - and so on and so on until the park clearly wasn't profitable in any way anymore.

Now, why would this park be interesting for this blog? Because its themes was "French legends and French fairytales" - it was an amusement park entirely centered around French folklore! Again, since Mirapolis was about counter-attacking the "American invasion", it makes sense the park would be focused on glorifying the local heritage and culture, and proving that you could do a fully French park instead of having Disneyified verson of Perrault and Grimm's fairytales. A very admirable project... that unfortunately failed. Why? There's a big debate as to what was the exact cause (or causes, in plural) of this park's downfall - we'll get into this another time. But all in all, beyond being an amusement park trivia, and the background of current urbex explorations, the story of Mirapolis is one of the chapters of the massive wave and passion for amusement parks in France in the 80s-90s. Plus, the park still technically "lives on" as a lot of its attractions and elements are currently in use by other European amusement parks... But I'll get into the more historical details later.

For now let's focus on...

WHAT THE PARK LOOKED LIKE

The park was organized in eight zones, whose names were only fixed by the second year of the park's run. Each zone was a mix of rides and food-sources. When the park opened in 1987, there were only 20 attractions in total - but when the park closed, it had a fifty or so or them.

1 ) "La Grand'Place" (The Main Square/The Great Plaza)

This area was called "Le palais des merveilles", "The Palace of Wonders", during the park's first year. While it was renamed the "Grand'Place", the name "Palace of Wonders" was kept for the theater in the area - a building for theater plays, special-effects shows and other ballets that could welcome up to 800 people and have different shows playing simultaneously. In 1987, René-Louis Baron (a famous name of musical experiments in the 70s and 80s) created there a show based on La Fontaine's fables, called "Partir à point", with costumes by Yves Brunier. It was also within the Palace of Wonders theater that the first episodes of the "Juste Prix" (the French "The Price is Right") were recorded, between 1987 and 1988. In the second year, "Le Palais des Merveilles" became "Le Château des Visions" (The Castle of Visions), and became the first and only permanent 3D movie-theater of France - sponsored by Fujifilm, and decorated on the outside to look like a medieval castle.

Other buildings of the area included "Le théâtre de verdure" (The Greenery Theater), an open-air theater of 900 places ; and "La Navette aux milles sensations", a small-sized moving movie-theater that was carried across the area. Finally when the carnies arrived in 1989, they prepared a karting course there. The Grand'Place area was also where "La Grande Parade" (The Great Parade) was organized, a big parade with roughly 200 characters/costumes - among which many were the characters of La Fontaine's Fables.

2 ) Le jardin de la Belle Epoque (The garden of the Belle Epoque)

[For those of you not in the know, "La Belle Epoque", "The Beautiful Era", is the nickname of the era of French history located between the end of the 19th century and the First World War]

Located north-west of the park, The Garden of La Belle Epoque was originally called "Les Impressionnistes", in homage to the titular artistic movement/group. The three main attractions of the area were Le Ruisseau fleuri, les Tacots-Chapeaux and Le Manège de chevaux de bois. Le Ruisseau fleuri (The Flowery Stream) was a boat-travel in a canal surrounded by animated scenes based on impressionist paintings (it was renamed Rivière fleurie, Flowery river, in 1988). Le Manège de chevaux de bois (The wooden-horse carousel) was, as the title says, a carousel of fifty-four wooden horses - and it was renowned for being the first traditonal carousel created in France since 80 years... It was later moved to the "Land of Legends" when the carnies arrived. The third ride was the Tacots chapeaux (Hat-cars), little cars you could drive around which wore eyeglasses, mustaches and hats. There was also a fair-organ/band-organ playing music for the guests.

In 1988 new attractions were added - but clearly designed with a medieval theme, which clashed with the Belle Epoque one (for example there was "The Knights' Poney-Club", which was a medieval-theme poney-ride). Among the novelties there was a small maquette of the Port of Deauville, a faithful miniature reproduction in which children could drive around mechanical boats.

3 ) Le domaine du Moyen-Âge (The Middle-Ages domain/area)

North of the park, the Middle-Ages domain used to be called "Gargantua the giant", because its main attraction was the huge statue of Gargantua - it was a "scenic route in height". Basically you could climb inside the giant and look at the park from within him - this statue was considered to be part of the "duck architecture" (l'architecture canard) where buildings were made to look like objects or people (for example you could have a building looking like a giant picnic basket).

This area also contained a miniature train station where the park's train, the Mirapolis Express, went. In 1988 they created there "Le Chapiteau de l'épée magic" (The tent of the magic sword), where there was a laser show of medieval theme ; but it was moved to the Legend Land in 1989. Meanwhile, the same year, this medieval area was invested by most of the funfair and carnival-attractions and stands, brought by the carnies: there was a UFO ride (called... UFO) for 48 people ; La Pieuvre (an octopus-ride) ; La Chenille (a Music Express), a Buggy ride ; and "Godbille", a children carousel.

4 ) Le royaume de l'illusion (The Kingdom of Illusions)

Its original title was "The Castle of Spells" - because the titular castle was the main ride of the area. There was also a restaurant called "Les Sortilèges" (Spells, The Spells), and a building called "La tour de Léonard de Vinci" (Leonardo da Vinci's Tower). Within this tower, which was meant to recreate Leonardo's workshop, there was an animatronic show created by Pascal Pinteau: the show was about a painting of king François Ier suddenly coming to life and presenting to the audience Leonardo da Vinci, while making parallels between his inventions and modern day's technology. (There was also a "futuristic character" named Alpha apparently?). The special effects were overseen by Jacques Renoir (the great-grandchild of the painter Auguste Renoir), Leonardo da Vinci was voiced by Jean Topart, and Roger Carel made the voice of the other characters of the show. The animatronic of Leonardo da Vinci was renowned for being very complex and advanced - it was moved by three hundred different motors, which allowed for things such as the animatronic's eybrows to move to mimick emotions.

To the back of the Castle of Spells, there was a rollercoaster named "Le Dragon des sortilèges" (The Dragon of Spells) ; and north to the castle there was Le Labyrinthe - a two-hectar maze inspired by an actual labyrinth of the Middle-Ages. In 1988 a hot-air balloon ride was added.

Now you know how it goes: in 1989, as the park became half-carnival/funfair, a lot of carnival rides were added in the area: Le Grand Huit (Galaxi-type rollercoaster), "Télé Combat Avion" (a plane-themed ride), a ghost train "Geisterburg/Train Fantôme", a "Tagada" (a sort of horizontal platform with a bench all around it facing the inside, and the platform jumped and turned around) - and "Les Cygnes Blanc", a water-ride in swan-shaped boats (once Mirapolis was closed, it moved to the parc Saint-Paul, renowned the Pédalos cygnes).

5 ) La terre de l'aventure (Adventure Land)

West of the park, it was originally called after its main attraction, "La descente des rapides" - going down the rapids of a river on 14 meters-logs (the ride was another spnsorship of Fujifilm). There was a lot of boats-and-water based rides: there was a "tow boat ride" called "La Rivière des Castors" - Beaver River. It took the guests on a water-ride onto thriteen boats, with the shores decorated by beaver figures. There was also a "balancing boat" ride, called "Le bateau pirate" (The Pirates' ship).

When the Club Med took over Mirapolis in 1988, a lot of attractions were added - twelve hot-air balloons ; an inflating castle (La Montagne molle), a gravitron-ride (Le Galion) and a "Bateau pirate junior".

But the most striking part of this area was the Nesquik sponsorized area. It was originally just one specific ride, the "Quick Cup" (also called "La Chocolatière de Groquik"), your usual spinning-cup ride, but with Groquik on the sides of all the cups. However in 1988, the "Groquik area" expended with three more children-rides: Le Mille-Pattes, Le Chemin des tortures (a kiddie train" shaped like turtles), and the Mini-dragons (a plane-jet-ride shaped like dragons - it survived the closure of Mirapolis by becoming the "Manège dragon" of the Parc Saint-Paul before being retired for good in 2009). If you are confused by my mention of "Groquik" let me explain: before Nesquik brought over in France its chocolate-colored bunny as a mascot, France had its own Nesquik mascot called "Groquik". Created in 1978, it was a big, jolly, large yellow hippopotamus with a straw hat (he also doubled as the Greek Nesquik mascot as "Kouikaras") ; but he got officially retired in 1990 because Nesquik realized having a big, fat mascot for their products could mean their products made children fat or obese... So he was replaced by the fit, trim and athletic Nesquik bunny.

6 ) Le Pays des Légendes (Legend Land/ Legend Country)

Its original name was "La ville d'Ys", "The Town of Ys" - once again, because it was the title of the main ride, The City of Ys. [When the name Land of Legends was brought, the attraction became "Voyage sous la mer", "Travel under the sea"]. It was an omnimover scenic-ride that went fourteen meters down below the earth, and made the guests explore the legendary city of Ys - this fabulous lost city of Bretagne supposed to have sunk below the waves. The SFP society designed the monsters and animatronics encountered during this ride, from gigantic invertebrate to a ten-heads hydra. And of course, Dahut was there too - princess, witch and mermaid all at once!

There was an area called "La forêt de Brocéliande" (Broceliand forest), which contained a replica of the Round Table, and a "potager des fées" (The fairies' vegetable garden). There was a lake, and on its shore a tent - a large circus tent that actually welcomed the shows of Annie Fratellini (one of the most famous female clowns). Annie Fratellini also had there a "circus school", that presented to the guests the story of clowns from the 18th to the 20th centuries. In 1988, due to the lack of food-areas, this tent was transformed into a restaurant - it was called le "Camp du Drap d'Or" (The Field of Gold Cloth), in homage to the historical event of the same name. But in 1990, it became once again a clown-area that doubled as "Le Musée des Arts forains", a museum dedicated to funfairs and the art of carnivals.

From the second year of the park onward, there was also a Viking-theme area prepared: a Viking village built near the lake's shores, with a drakkar within the lake's water ; and a "Viking Farm" with farm animals in it. (Plus a Palace of Mirrors/Mirror maze was added there, for some reasons).

7 ) Le paradis des comptines gourmandes

(This one is a mouthful to translate... "The paradise of tasty nursery rhymes" ; "The heaven of sweet-toothed nursery rhymes")

Originally called "Le domaine des enfants" (Children's domain, Children's area), the main building of this zone was "Le Palais de Dame Tartine" - inspired by the French nursery rhyme "Dame Tartine" (Lady Toast, with her "palace of fresh butter"). The Palace itself was divided into several unities, the two most important being a two-hundred places theater ; and a "Gallery of Automatons".

The theater could be reached by going through the sleeve of a gigantic reproduction of Mister Gimblette (Dame Tartine's husband in the nursery rhyme, here crowned with a "galette des rois", the typical dish of the Epiphany). The main show of this theater was a show depicting the four seasons, and partially created by the SFP - it also had René Clermont voicing an owl who told not just the cycle of seasons but also how the world was created ; there were also other automaton-animals, as well as an enormous luminous tree of 450 kilos, made with ten thousand optic fibers. It was due to this tree that the area was sometimes called "Le théâtre de l'Arbre Lumière" (The Theater of the Light-Tree).

As for the Gallery of Automatons, it was also called la "Balade des contes" (A walk through fairytales) - going all around the Theater, this gallery was filled with animatronic animals that activated themselves when a guest came nearby, and these animatronics sang the various legends and folktales of France. Other areas within Dame Tartine's palace included a gigantic kaleidoscope, a pool of plastic balls, and another theater of 500 places.

Outside of the palace, there was also a Music-Express ride called "Caravelles", and "Le Petit Train des comptines" (The Small train of nursery rhymes) - a children ride with two little trains, whose wagons were shaped like rabbits and elephants, and which rode through a vegetable garden with giant vegetables. After the closure of Mirapolis, the Caravelles ride was moved to the Jacquou Parc (Dordogne) and renamed Gabarots.

There was also a later inclusion of a "robot" shaped area added later, during the "funfairification" of the park.

8 ) Le sommet de la grande frousse (The top of great fear / The summit of big fright)

This was actually one of the first areas of the park, just west of the entrance. In fact, during the first year of the park it was called the "Entry zone" and grouped together with the park's entrance - before the entrance and this area were divided. Its main attraction was a roller-coaster called "the Miralooping", famed for being the French roller-coasters with the most loopings at the time. Some newspapers and advertisement also called this roller-coaster the "biggest roller-coaster of France", able to rival the biggest roller-coasters of Europe (though this was apparently not certain and put to doubt?).

There was also a troika-ride called "Le Tourbillon", and most importantly a train station called the "Mirapolis Express", with three trains leaving it to go around the park (with the second train station being located at the foot of the Gargantua statue). There was also a bike-shaped ride opened in 1990 called "Les Vélos drôles" (The funny bikes).

(This picture is not of the Mirapolis park, it is the Saint Paul park - but the white swans you can see were originally those of Mirapolis)

And before leaving you for now, I will share another weird trivia about this weird park. The official logo and symbol of the park was this:

But on all the merch the park sold (such as official Mirapolis clothes), a different logo and symbol was used, and it looked like this:

The idea was that the three faces would embody the three emotions guests were supposed to go through: surprise, joy and wonder.

[domesantis]

Keith and his Fanny Packs and Boots to bed

disclaimer: first post, extremely new to tumblr. but of course my first post HAD to be voltron-related, and it's about keith and his fanny packs and boots. (A stupid, small analysis)

in S1 E2, in the first minute we see Allura doing an unannounced drill (albeit dramatically) to evaluate the readiness, vigilance and speed of the newly recruited pilots. Other than Shiro, he seems to have the best mastery of these traits as he launches across the room to grab his jacket (Wow. His first instinct. Gotta dive into that sooner or later) then get out one second later.

Many people have pointed out the sheer absurdity and comedy of Keith wearing his fanny packs and boots to bed. How uncomfortable can that be? At conclusion, this scene was boiled down to just a trivial animation mistake and I also think that's all it is. But, out of fun, I want to look deeper into this "mistake" (Although many people have already probably concluded my upcoming analysis and I'm just late to the bandwagon.)

His fanny packs and boots are the solid testament to his life.

In later seasons, we find out that Keith has been practically raising himself throughout his childhood. He had an absent, dead (secretly alive) mother and also a completely dead father. In an optimistic sense, at least his father passed when Keith was 10 (?) years old, having a fragment of paternal love and care despite it being abruptly cut off. Oddly enough, orphanages aren't a thing in his time.

As if being stripped of parental love wasn't cruel enough, he also faced ostracization and bullying throughout his entire childhood without any adult to stand up for him whatsoever. Until around he was 16-17, Shiro saw his potential and eventually developed into his implied father figure. Then Shiro disappeared after a year, leaving him all alone once again.

So, during the timeframes before and after he met Shiro, he was left all alone to fend for himself. He lives in an almost dilapidated, shabby shack in the middle of a desert, naturally leaving security unattended and nonexistent.

Of course, for a child/teenager, this predicament alone would transpire paranoia especially when you're in the middle of nowhere with the imminent anxiety of wild beasts/animals without any nearby protection.

Onto my main point now.

Keith is a teenager that was left to fend for himself all alone. Not only does he have no parents, but also he lives in the middle of nowhere and faces extreme ostracization and bullying. His school is an extremely emotionally and physically unsafe environment for him, and so is his shack. Consequently, he makes it a priority to always keep his guard up everywhere at any time. He isn't familiar with the notion of a "safe space". (Perhaps he only literally experiences that concept when he forms a deep connection with a bunch of other teenagers in outer space. Now that's a safe space. LOL)

His only resort and closest alternative to a "safe space"? His dagger, fanny pack, and boots.

Boots, to immediately escape the grasp of an intruder/emergency;

His fanny pack, presumably with all his survival essentials in it, in case of any emergency;

And his dagger, to defend himself.

All of which are stationed on him.

When you've spent the majority of your life alone with absolutely nobody to depend on, vigilance and paranoia creeps itself onto your daily routine. Most likely, Keith feels naked and vulnerable without them, because these three are his fundamental objects of safety.

So, he learnt readiness, vigilance, and speed not by training, but through cruelty. Of course, even with the reassurance of sleeping in a high-security advanced spaceship, old habits die hard. He'd rather sleep through discomfort rather than face danger.

Last Comments

this would be so good for a klance hurt/comfort fic. just lance slowly easing keith into introducing the possibility of safety and vulnerability coexisting together instead of having to choose between the two. i GOTTA write something like this soon

keith needs a hug bro

[mays-corner]

(This post is a bit random so if you get it you get it if you don't get it it's fine)

It's 2024. I should be going to the disco, which I dislike.

Instead, I decided to hyperfixate on a Welshman.

One thing that baffles me to this day, and trust me it has happened more than once, is has anyone ever tried to protest at least a bit to still have Matt as John? Did no one try hard enough? Or have the attempts failed?

I mean-

I'm a newer fan (even with content crumbs I am a fan) still, so I can't be sure, but I'm amazed that in all these years that have passed, no one ever did anything, and now he can't even play Constantine (I think).

And now, the only role I've seen is him dubbing John 💀

Ignoring this discourse about John, I've decided to search for other roles, movies, and series, and what I've found was interesting, to say the least.

I am becoming passionate about him for various reasons. Other than wanting to revive pre-pandemic activities, I have noticed a pattern: I enjoy searching for things that I only watch. These are some thoughts I had about some things I could not find in Italy:

Hard to find (for example, I'm still searching for "The Halcyon," and the funniest thing about this is that in Italy, it was shown on TV (on an RAI channel, RAI is an Italian broadcaster) during 2017 and it's not available on their platform.

Region-locked content (the DCAU being region-locked is such a crime; we only have House of Mystery, and that's it) or even trying to watch a simple cameo when the entire series is region-locked (the Harley Quinn one). However (and this is good news), while searching for Away (one of his movies to watch), I found Tubi and used a free VPN. It was slow, but it worked, and I watched it.

Expensive (I paid Assassin's Creed Black Flag in installments, so that wasn't expensive, but still...)

It was a play, so they haven't recorded it, but to see and better understand the role he played (in this case, read), I read Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola, and it was still effective.

Not even available on Chili (an Italian streaming platform on which you can rent or buy movies), the title only appears but is not available for streaming (lol).

Using Vinted or secondhand shops in general (it’s not the best time for me to go fully secondhand, but I suppose I could find some things there).

At the moment, I've watched just what I could easily find without resorting to piracy (which is ironic, since in Assassin's Creed Black Flag, Matt voices Edward Kenway, a pirate.).

In this list of things I could easily find, we have:

Constantine (thanks to another fan)

Criminal Minds/Criminal Minds Suspect Behavior (I had Disney Plus for a month, so I've watched it from there)

Flypaper, Adverse (Prime Video)

Arrow (Prime video)

Legends of Tomorrow (Netflix and Mediaset infinity)

House Of Mystery (Amazon prime, you have to rent it but still)

While writing this I found that "Layer cake" is on Sky, which I have and Now TV too.

Pocket Money (While watching it I just understood two words out of an entire short and I'm a c2 in English 💀)

Away, Wild Decembers, Armistice, Blood Monkey

So, you might have been asking yourself... Have I gone mad? To search and find for stuff not even available in my own country? In my own continent, too?

But I thought this is what comes with being a fan of someone, even if the career is what it is.

Considering me being unlucky, I was never able to see Matt when he acted and then had premieres at the same time.

Asssassin’s Creed Black Flag? I was 10, a child, lol.

Legends Of Tomorrow? I liked anime, manga and everything japanese.

And the list goes on...

It's nice to see what was like and what I couldn't live, gosh, I'm praying hard that we get to see him act again, I want and I wish to be present, live or not.

I wanted to make a really nice speech but nothing comes to mind, when I get it maybe I'll post it 💀

[pisoprano]

This is an ML salt post, particularly about Lila Rossi. If you are actually excited about Lila being the main villain in future season(s), this post isn't for you, I just need to rant. A lot.

I hate Lila Rossi. I hate her with a burning passion. Literally every episode where she shows up, my hatred for this character will manifest in me saying "I hate her" the moment she opens her mouth, followed by seething throughout every moment she spends onscreen.

In prior seasons, this wasn't much of an issue--she'd show up for a couple episodes and then she'd disappear 90% of the time, so I could usually just focus on literally anything else in the show. With season 5, however, she started showing up much more. I knew it was coming, of course--the foreshadowing that she would be the successor to Hawkmoth has been visible since season 3, and it was announced that he'd be gone after this season. But if the show had ended at season 5 as originally intended, butterfly!Lila could have been a theoretical problem for adult!Ladybug and adult!Chat Noir in 10 years. But since the powers that be have decided to have the show continue past Gabriel Agreste, Lila is a problem now and will be a problem at least until Chris Lahiffe is a teenage boy, if "Timetagger" is any indication. And we, the audience, will be forced to suffer through all of it.

Why, though, do I hate the idea of Lila being the main villain? I was fine with having Gabriel in the villain seat for five seasons despite him being a terrible father and manipulative git, after all. With Gabriel, there was a particular humanity to him that made him interesting--this entire show is about love and Gabe's love was so overwhelming and myopic and self-serving that he resorted to villainy while convincing himself that he was secretly the hero all along, sacrificing everything (even his morality) for the woman he loved. He used his love as an excuse to justify the harm he caused Paris and his very own son. As he continually reached for forbidden means to get what he wanted, his dreams ballooned in scope--he'd defied the odds when he'd married above his station, he'd defied the odds when he'd become a world-renowned designer, he'd defied the odds when he found the miraculous and created the perfect son--and so it became all too natural for him to fight the impossible fight as Hawkmoth because he deserved to win this too. And the whole time, unbeknownst to either of them, he's fighting against the son who he's been neglecting and controlling in his fight to save someone who never wanted to be saved? That stuff is fascinating.

Lila, though? She's got none of that complexity. She's a consummate liar who hates the protagonists and literally nothing else. In other shows, she'd be the transfer student who shows up for an episode, gets exposed as a fraud by the end of that episode, and then literally never be seen again. This show, however, has Lila overstay the welcome that her character archetype is built for and instead be a recurring problem. And, because a liar can only get away with lying if the surrounding characters don't know she's lying, Lila is made untouchable by the plot. Other villainous characters have some plot immunity to their evilness--Chloe, obviously, has the automatic win condition of demanding her father to get her out of trouble whenever she wants. But Lila's plot immunity comes from an inexplicable ability to manipulate everyone around her (besides our main protagonists, who are forced to only cry wolf). She makes all the supporting cast love her without help, she does so even to characters we'd expect to know better. When she first showed up, her lies weren't even good and still she gets away with her reputation in tact basically every time. The one time where she does get exposed to everyone, she gets to have an easy redo by making up a completely new identity to try again. She's a Villain Sue. And her very presence weakens the story she's in.

Lila only exists because the writers decided to make an absolute hate sink. They absolutely succeeded in doing so. And frankly, that's a problem. Most of the time, if you're going to have a character in a show for any length of time, they should be likeable on some level. They could be sympathetic or competent or proactive or even just have a personality that's fun to watch, but the audience shouldn't feel like the character is a waste of viewing time. Lila isn't someone the audience can identify with, her competence is largely in name only (I will allow that her manipulative skills during season 5 are stronger, but her ludicrously bad prior lying and the unexplained nature of her sudden hypercompetence now aren't nearly enough to make me forgive her here). Lila's sometimes doing things behind the scenes, sure, but she has the laughably petty objectives of "be famous" and "ruin classmate's life" and I cannot take her actions towards achieving these goals seriously as a bit villain, let alone a primary antagonist. And--worst of all--her voice is extremely annoying. I will suffer through a myriad of things, but I can only listen to nails on a chalkboard so long before need to leave the room.

And this might be a bit of a hot take, but honestly? I don't think Lila was even necessary in the first place. In episodes like "Volpina" or "Oni-Chan," she could have been replaced with Chloe (our original mean girl who's clingy with Adrien--she might not be my favorite character either, but at least she's funny). I'm positive that the plot of "Catalyst" and "Miraculer" could have been reworked to happen without Lila's involvement without much effort. The entire subplot of Lila being Adrien's modelling partner was more about Gabriel controlling his son--it could have been easily about forcing Adrien to be alone instead of forcing him to be with someone he didn't like. The fact that Lila shows up so little in the first four seasons just goes to prove how unnecessary she is. She only becomes important in season 5 because the writers now know that they need to prepare for a new supervillain to fill Gabriel's shoes after he leaves--and she's the only one who comes anywhere close to fitting. So, suddenly, she's being far more active than she ever was (almost half of her total appearances are in season 5 alone), but her motivations are less clear than ever, so I'm left assuming that this hollow character must still have the hollowest of motivations--popularity, power, getting back at the kids who rebuffed her... after having 5 seasons of truly delicious drama, why on earth would I want to turn the worst thing about those 5 seasons into main course?

I know I am far from being alone in hating Lila Rossi's character. There are literally thousands of fics tagged with "Lila's Lies Are Exposed" because so many readers want to see her be punished for her actions. I'm actually not really a fan of these--I don't take joy in seeing Lila being taken down. I want her to disappear from the narrative entirely. If the current state of United States politics has taught me anything, it's that that watching a terrible person get their comeuppance is never as satisfying as you think it will be because that terrible person will keep popping up and keep being terrible and keep forcing you to think about them. The best possible punishment I can think of for Lila is to act like she's just an OC made from some background character that never mattered in the first place--and then never have to think about her existence in the show again.

I was happy to watch the first 5 seasons of Miraculous Ladybug. I wish it had only been those 5 seasons (side note: Chat deserved to go up against his father in the final battle. I get that he couldn't since the mandate for more seasons requires the identities to be intact, but this was the point in the narrative when the reveal was meant to happen and it has weakened the story to move it elsewhere). I haven't decided to not watch season 6 at this point, but knowing who I will have to deal with in every episode? It's making it very difficult for me to want to continue any further.

[skullinahat]

some long-ass thoughts on watcher and dropout

for the record, i've enjoyed both of their work. i won't talk abt it much in this post, but it's very interesting how people kind of view shane's performative anti-capitalism making their consumption of ghost files a reflection of their own politics. then, a business making a business decision feels much more personal, because an aspect of your morals has just betrayed you. instead of just losing access to media you enjoyed, you just lost a reference point for your identity. Dropout is very mildly more aware of their function in capitalist society when they make anti-capitalist jokes, but the effect is still the same. the concept of supporting small business being an effective political action has obviously fed into, or perhaps came from, consumer culture. there's been a lot of "disappointment" in shane specifically, which is why i bring this up.

this post is a mess and i definitely used some of the wrong words, but i hope it makes some sense.

Watcher and Dropout have been compared alot as of late, of course both being attempted independent subscription based streaming services with a small host of content. dropout is cast as the good guy, the thing that watcher is striving for and failed at. I've seen several people joke about subscribing to dropout instead as a little fuck you to watcher.

A lot of people have genuinely asked what the difference is. Why is watcher bad and dropout good?

The most common answer i've seen is that dropout was pitched as a last effort to save a dying company, instead of the greedy money grab that watchertv feels like. dropout also offers a much larger cast, and many more shows, releasing new episodes monday through friday. Both of these things, however, are only true of dropout as of now.

Dropout was started two years before collegehumor's death, and it was only able to release as many shows as it is now very recently. It also didn't originally advertise itself as a final resort, rather "netflix- but worse!"

It didnt begin as a hail mary for a dying platform, just a new branch of an old one with no ads and more freedom. (Though it was a final resort later.) i think the biggest material difference between the two is that dropout always felt like an addon rather than an ambush paywall. later when it did become an ambush paywall, it felt justified. there was complete clarity over what would be on dropout and what would remain free on youtube.

this clarity was never present in watcher's announcement. I personally don't think watcher was ever planning on removing their free content from youtube, and they just worded it really poorly in their original video, but keeping new episodes behind a paywall is still enough to alienate their fanbase. the concept of them removing everything from youtube has stuck around despite their assurances against it.

the rest of the reasons why watcher went over so poorly is audience trust, yearly context, and marketing.

People had already followed ryan and shane from buzzfeed to watcher, so their trust had been tested before, resulting in them being more loyal, but still. I've seen a lot of people discussing their disappointment with watcher's content compared to buzzfeeds, which, everyone hates change so on and so forth, but most people are pointing specifically to the overproduction and the awkwardness. I had the same expeirence. I specifically remember watching an episode of too many spirits and realizing i was forcing myself to continue. It just felt like lipstick on a pig, hours of animation work on top of an awkward joke. I think there's been frustration with watcher's content building for a long time, and this poorly worded announcement is the straw that broke the camels back. i also don't think there was as much streaming service fatigue back when dropout was started as there is now.

It is entirely possible, given that they were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on post-production per video, that watcher needs more money to continue. I, as many do, would attribute this to poor financial decisions. However, i think they could've framed watchertv as a last resort for a company that fiscally couldnt continue on youtube and gotten away with it. they still would have gotten some flack for steven's tesla and gold-leaf pizza, but it wouldnt be the total takedown it is now.

Instead, in the video they simply talk about being to big for youtube. No stressing about money. It feels entitled. even in the apology, where they claim that watcher couldn't continue on youtube, the overt focus is not placed on money. Wether this was a decision to try and not sound too whiny and pandering, or it's that they genuinely could continue to work on youtube but want more freedom on watchertv, i'm not sure. either way, it worked out horribly for them.

[allinthemagicshop]

We'll Fix This

I'm new to posting my writings so be gentle please.

FelixSKZxF!Reader

Angst, no warnings (I don't think, let me know if there should be for future reference)

This is a complete work of fiction originally written for a friend, I do not own rights to anything about Stray Kids. This is just a fun pastime for me.

Falling in love with someone is the easy part. The feeling of letting yourself slip into the comfort of someone’s presence and finding a new home within them takes little effort. Smiling at every interaction with someone is effortless. Recognizing their little mannerisms as endearing qualities is a breeze. Loving yourself more when they build you up is second nature. Smothering each other in love is like breathing. Realizing that the little things you fell in love with are now constantly irritating you is the hard part. It’s been 3 years since you and Felix started dating and loving him was the easiest thing you’ve ever done. Until it wasn’t.

Another comeback, another tour, and another period of repeating that “distance makes the heart grow fonder” to get through it. Only this time, you don’t have the belief behind those words. The last couple of days before a tour are always spent together, cuddling and promising that your love will keep this relationship going. Felix had his arms wrapped tightly around your waist while you threaded your fingers through his hair. Something was definitely different this time, he’s never held you this tight. Too nervous to say anything, you focus on the show you two had decided to finish together. 

“Babe…can we talk?” Felix mumbled against your side, not taking his eyes off the screen. Your hands dropped to your side at his tone. He noticed immediately, yet instead of reassuring you like he has so many times before, he pulled away. “Something has changed,” he looked down at his hands, spinning the rings around his fingers. You couldn’t even form a sentence as you felt your heart harden against what was coming. 

You weren’t stupid, you knew it was coming. The past two months have been filled with more fights than the entire last 3 years. Every time Felix wanted to be cuddly, you would stiffen and find excuses to busy yourself away from him and vice versa.  He would lock himself in the office to play games with Jeongin and Seungmin rather than having the door open for you to lay on the office couch reading or mindlessly scrolling in his presence. Baking nights were nonexistent nowadays. If he wanted to bake, he’d go back to the dorms with the other guys and rarely brought any home back to you. You made elaborate dinners for date nights that would go cold long before he texted that he wouldn’t be home that night as practice had run later or he was going out with the guys. 

Instead of working in tandem, it seemed as if you both were working around each other at opposite poles. 

You had attempted to text Changbin what was going on, only for him to reply with short, uninterested responses saying he didn’t know what you meant. Similar responses came from Hyunjin and Chan. So you stopped asking. He pulled away first and you would return the sentiment. It took about two weeks before Felix started asking your friends if you were okay, only to be met with unanswered or indifferent texts in return. You began canceling date nights in favor of working more or going out with friends instead. Again, another week before he tried asking why you kept canceling. 

The fight that followed landed you where you are now. Always one to resort to physical affection, Felix suggested a silent cuddle night to repair the hurtful words thrown at each other. It was about as expected, tense silence and too many unshared thoughts.

“Felix. Do we even need to talk anymore? You leave in two days again, that gives you a full day to set yourself back into who STAY expect.” He turned his head to you quickly, eyes widening in fear. “I’m not blind, I know something has changed. I tried to tell myself it was just the stress of a new album and tour, but that excuse only goes so far. When your own members start shutting me out with you, it’s a pretty clear sign,” you finished with a forced chuckle. “Although, I am a little disappointed you couldn’t just tell me that your love had faded weeks ago, rather than try to string me along until you could just leave and let it fully fizzle out with the tour as an excuse not to talk to me.” 

Felix fell to the ground in front of you on the couch. “No, no, baby, no. No please you don’t understand, just give me a second to explain. I promise-”

“Promise what? That you didn’t mean to pull out of this relationship? That you didn’t notice the hundreds of texts you’ve left unanswered or the dozens of dates you’ve ditched on? Or how about that you didn’t have me in mind the past two months in any of this?” You swipe your hand under your eyes harshly as you watch his face fall and tears build up.

“Love, don’t do this to me. I had so many things going on since we started this comeback, I didn’t know how to function properly. The boys are just as stressed, please believe me,” he sniffled the last part out, tears falling onto your knees as he knelt over them. He tried to grab onto your hands, but you pulled them back. 

“Felix I-” “No. No stop with the ‘Felix.’ You never call me that. Please, baby. Come back to me.” You just shook your head. “Felix,” you watched as his heart broke in his eyes, you were already gone, he was sure of it. “I can’t do this anymore. We’ve had plenty of comebacks and the last extended tour that we made it through. With communicating. Not by shutting each other out. I’m not going to sit and listen to excuses for you to rationalize why you have been treating me so badly recently. God, Felix, we used to be so good. Until you stopped trying. I don’t think I can listen to the excuses right now. I’m going to head to Yeji’s, please be gone when I get back.” You stood up and grabbed your keys and wallet, brushing past him to get to the door, not even looking back to see him stare after you as the door on your relationship closed with a soft click.

Felix sat there on your floor sobbing, staring after you for nearly 30 minutes before he realized you were right about one thing. He had one day to get himself ready for STAY, but also one day to figure out how this tour was going to fix him so that he could come back to you. Taking a minute to collect himself, he ran through your apartment and gathered all his things he kept at your place. He took off the hoodie he was wearing and buried it deep in your closet, hopeful that you’ll find it when needed, even more hopeful that these next three months on tour would selfishly not be enough time for you to move on. He put the spare key you had given him on the counter before he walked out of your life.

●●●

You walked into your apartment after spending nearly four hours crying into Yeji’s arms. You put up a good front for Felix, hoping that it would make it easier for him to move on if he thought you agreed with his recent feelings. The truth is that you felt like someone had punched into your chest and pulled your heart out. Complete numbness settled over your body as the ache in your chest kept blossoming further out, fogging your mind. You convinced yourself that the pleas from Felix were just for your benefit, not to truly save the relationship. If he had wanted that, he wouldn’t have pulled away months ago with no words or warnings. 

The ache in your chest bloomed into full searing pain when you spotted the spare key on your counter. Running through the apartment, you noticed everything that tied Felix to you was gone. He truly had wanted this, no matter how loudly the little voice in your brain had tried to tell you it was another overreaction on your part. Holding your hand over your mouth, you looked around your bedroom, noticing even his plushies he’d bought you had gone with him. You didn’t even make it to your bed before your legs gave out and sobs tore through your body.

●●●

Felix stepped into the dorm, barely getting the door closed before he fell to the ground, head in his hands. He couldn’t even cry anymore, just shake and feel his heart rip to shreds. He had done this. He knew that you didn’t want this, he could always read you so well, but he wasn’t going to hurt you anymore if he couldn’t fix himself.

Lino poked his head out of the kitchen after he heard the front door click shut. One look at the younger member had him throwing the utensils onto the counter and running to the front entrance. He nearly slid across the floor to grab onto Felix as the younger boy shook. “Yongbok, what happened? Are you hurt? Did you call Chan? SEUNGMIN, GET CHAN HERE NOW. Shhhh, I’ve got you. Talk to me, Felix, you’re scaring me.” The younger boy could only shake his head as he buried himself deeper into the arms of his friend. The other younger members ran in after the shouts, Seungmin already with his phone dialing their leader. When they laid eyes on one of their best friends broken in the entrance, Jeongin began crying and walked over to the scene while Seungmin locked his jaw and told Chan to get to the dorm as soon as possible with the other members, hanging up without explanation.

It was only 20 minutes later that the other four boys burst in, the eldest looking around for the fire, only to be met with an even more heart shattering scene: Lino rocking Felix back and forth on the couch as Jeongin sat beside him rubbing his back with Seungmin gently murmuring to him from his position on the floor in front of the trio. 

“What happened? Who’s hurt? Sick? Someone tell me what the hell is happening?” Chan rushed over to the group, kneeling next to Seungmin while the others looked on, wide eyed, starting to tear up at the sight. 

“I- I lost her. I screwed up. I don’t know what I was think- thinking. It hurts so bad, Channie. I feel like I’m drowning,” Felix sobbed as he pulled out of the tight embrace he’d been held in. “You guys didn’t help. Why did none of you talk to her? Why did none of you tell me she was asking about me? Why didn’t you guys warn me? Why- why did I let this happen?” He broke down again as Chan shifted into Lino’s spot, pulling Felix into him.

“Hey, hey. Shhh, you have to tell us what’s going on. Is it y/n? Did you fight? What are we a part of? Felix, I need you to talk to me, yeah?” Chan was rubbing his younger friend’s back, looking at the rest, questions and tears in everyone’s eyes. 

Felix pulled back before wiping his nose, Chan reaching up and rubbing the tear stains off his face, looking the younger one in the eyes. “I was so stressed about this comeback, this tour, continuing to be better for STAY. I lost myself, became obsessed with perfecting everything, perfecting our chemistry for STAY. She said she reached out to some of you, but was ignored by you guys too. We left her alone. Alone to think that I was done with her. Never even explained my obsession with this comeback. I lost myself, and I lost y/n in the process. I don’t know what is so different this time. I didn’t even get to tell her that JYPE was giving us the opportunity to go public. It slipped my mind. Another tack on my obsession with being perfect this time so that she would be protected. She’s been with me through so much already, and when it was finally time to take the next step, I took twenty backwards, away from her. I need to fix this. I don’t know how to fix this. I don’t have time to fix this. I love her so much, it hurts so bad. Who am I without her? Will I lose STAY next? She still only thought of me when she called it off, saying she was going to give me a day to get myself ready for STAY. She still looked out for me, thinking I had already given up on her. I couldn’t even get her to stop before she walked out. She walked out, trying to make it easier. It wasn’t easier. It’s my fault. Help me, please. Help me fix this. I want to make STAY proud, but I need her back. Help me.” Felix cut himself off, sobbing again. The others stared, open-mouthed and silent. 

Hyunjin pulled his phone out to look through texts between him and y/n, noticing for the first time how he had come across in his own obsession with perfecting himself for the tour. He turned to Changbin, who was silently crying while already staring at his own phone.”We did this. We left her alone,” Changbin whispered, voice cracking. Hyunjin just shook his head, disbelief coursing through his veins. 

“Lix, look at me. Please,” Chan gently pulled the younger one away from him, grabbing his chin to direct him to look in his eyes. “We have to focus on this tour and give our best. We owe it to ourselves and the hard work we’ve put in. We owe it to STAY. But we WILL fix this. I have a plan. The bag by the door, that’s your stuff from her place, yeah?” Felix nodded, tears still sliding down his cheeks. “Okay, good. We’ll need it. We will fix this, Lix. I promise you. You aren’t losing her, none of us are.” Chan looked around the group, noticing the tears in all their eyes at the thought of y/n no longer being a part of their lives after so long. He was going to fix this, not just for his brother, but for his dear friend he had found in y/n, for his members.

●●●

The tour began. Felix shaky behind the scenes, powerful on stage. They were leaving Seoul for the first leg of overseas concerts. A package arrived on your doorstep the day they left, pictures and one of the many plushies Felix had gifted you. A note sat on top. Y/n, I’m so beyond sorry for what happened. We got obsessed and none of us checked each other. You mean so much to all of us, to Felix. Please, I want to help you through this. I want to help Felix. This is where it starts. We’re all sorry. -Chan. You put the box in a corner of your closet, unable to look through the pictures.

The next flight was a couple days later. Along with it came another package. Hey, darling. I know we haven’t spoken in a while. That’s on me. I’ll be better, we’ll all be better. Take care, remember to eat and sleep well -Your favorite Cat Man. More pictures, another plush, and a bracelet the boys had gotten you for you first Christmas with them, the clasp fixed. You rolled your eyes, placing the new package with the other one.

A week later, another flight, another package. Sweet girl. I am so sorry. I let myself get caught up in the members and the practices and the new songs. That’s no excuse to have let you down in the process. He misses you so much. We all do. - Your muscle boy, Binnie. Again, another one of the plushies but this time a brand new necklace, obviously from Changbin, along with a new purse you had mentioned one of the last times you were with the boys. You felt your heart tug a little more as you hesitantly set the package on top of the other two. Closing the door, this time resting your head against the cool wood as you tried to steady your breathing.��

Expecting it this time, you rushed into the apartment with the new package. This time you couldn’t help the small smile that grew on your face. A painting of a beautiful flower field greeted you, this time with three of the plushies. Lovely y/n. I miss you. I missed you before we left, but I didn’t act on it. I’m forever going to be sorry that I let you slip away when I got carried away. When we get back, we’re going on a painting date again. I miss our jokes and your laughter. I want to fix all of it. Yours, Hyunjinnie. A tear slid down your face. It’d been a month since you walked away from Felix. It hasn’t gotten any easier. You set the package on your coffee table, walking to your room to grab the other three. You sat staring at them, chewing your bottom lip as you debated what to do. Ultimately, you walked into your bedroom, leaving them on the table. 

A couple weeks later, you were again greeted with a package. Opening it slower this time, you felt your heart rate pick up as all kinds of snacks from different countries greeted you, nearly drowning the two plushies at the bottom. My lovely honey girl! I suck. STAYs would say “predebut Han came out” and they wouldn’t be wrong. You mean so much to all of us. I did have to steal some of the snacks from Flour boy. I hope you enjoy them all, tell me your favorites when we get back. Hannie. You rubbed at your eyes, missing them all more than you can express. You pulled out the notes from all the packages so far. Heading into your bathroom, you stuck them all to your mirror. Gazing at yourself, finally noticing the dark circles under your eyes. You walked back to the living room, gathering all the plushies in your arms as you walked to your bedroom. You laid them all down on the bed before heading into your closet to find clothes to change into for a nap. While flipping through your sweatshirts, you finally noticed it. There in the back was the sweatshirt Felix had been wearing the last time you saw him. You grabbed it, feeling tears slip down your cheeks as you slipped it on. You slid on some random shorts you found and crawled into your bed, surrounded by the plushies of your relationship with Felix. You fell asleep with tears drying on your face, wrapped in the scent of the boy who meant the world to you, sleeping better than you have in weeks. 

With only one month left until the end of the tour, you got nervous for the next package. If they were following the pattern, it would be Felix’s turn. You slowed your walk when you spotted it at your door. Taking a deep breath, you walked into your apartment with the box tucked under your arm. You opened the box to a new book you had mentioned to Seungmin months ago. Your jaw dropped, and a weird wave of relief went through you. You hugged onto yet another plushie as you read the note. Hahahaha sorry that I’m probably not who you’re expecting. SEUNGMIN IN THE BUILDING!!! I do want to apologize to you. Y/n you are such an important part of our lives, and we got too caught up in ourselves and being perfect for STAY that we neglected you. I promise, if you take us back, that it will never happen again. -Puppy boy. 

The boys had been outstanding all tour. STAY were loving the shows, the boys were giving their all and then some. A cloud still hovered over all their hearts as none had received any word from you. Felix would go straight to bed after every show. It was a harder time each stop for Lino to keep him eating with the members instead of retreating to his room to scroll through all your photos together. Two more weeks remained until he would know if you truly had left him or not. The others were increasingly worried they weren’t going to get you back. 

Another package arrived. New shoes and a new phone case accompanied the plush this time. Cutie cutie it’s me! I miss you. Felix isn’t the same without you, none of us are. I’m worried about him, but I’m worried about you too. I miss our conversations on who’s concert fashion is the best (me, by the way). I want to take you shopping when we get back, if you will go with me. Baby bread. You sighed, you couldn’t stop the ache in your chest from coming back as you let yourself fully recognize how much you missed them all. Only a week remained in the tour. You pulled out all the photos from the first package. It was you and all the boys. There were some candids you had never seen, clearly taken during your many hang outs at the dorms. Many of your favorites with Felix were in there as well. Your heart swelled. You were fairly certain what your decision was going to be. 

A new package greeted you after a particularly hard day at work. Your heart sped up, knowing who it was. It was the last of the plushies Felix had gotten you over the course of your relationship, nothing more beyond the letter. I don’t even know where to start. One of our staff will have dropped this off only a day before we get back. Chan’s plan was so thorough. Each of the members have written an apology for how we all acted the last couple months before this tour. Accompanied by something of ours that I took back with me when I tried to give you as much space as possible by removing myself. It’s killing me, knowing that I hurt you so horribly. A sorry isn’t even enough, a thousand sorry’s won’t be enough. I royally screwed up. It’s no excuse that I let myself get too obsessed with being Stray Kids and getting everything perfect for this tour. I hope it goes well, as I’m writing this before we even leave. Everyone already has their extra gifts picked out except for Han, he wants to collect snacks from different places to send you. His package might be a little behind schedule, but Chan has it planned out to work anyway. I’m sure you noticed that I have nothing extra in here besides my words and the last of the plushies we’ve collected together. I do hope you’ve already found it and haven’t thrown it away or burned it. I wouldn’t blame you if you did. But I left my sweatshirt from that night in the back of your closet. It should still smell like me. I know how much trouble you have with sleeping, especially while I’m on tour. If you don’t hate my guts by now, maybe it will bring you some comfort. I love you, y/n. So much. Words don’t even come close to describing the way I truly feel about you. If you’ll have me, I want to be better for you. I know what I did, and I swear to you that I’ll be spending this entire tour working on myself so that I’m better for you. I’ll get strength from STAY. All the work I put in won’t be for nothing, especially if I lost you throughout this. It still won’t be worth losing you, but maybe I’ll drown myself in STAY’s love if I have to. I love you, endlessly, my beautiful star. - Yours always and forever, Lixie. Tears were streaming down your face as you put the letter down. You only gave yourself a few seconds before you throw yourself into action.

●●●

The boys walked off the plane, through the airport. The air crackled with excitement over how well the tour went. The cloud of anxiety still hung over them, but they were trying to block it out the best they could. As they walked towards the car to take them back to the dorms, they noticed one of their managers standing at an extra car. Trying to calm their heart rates down, Chan slowly walked over to the manager. “From y/n.” He gave Chan a gentle smile. 

Chan could almost feel his knees give out in relief. He hung his head and blew out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He turned to look at the rest of the boys. He couldn’t hide the wide smile that spread across his face, crinkling his eyes as he felt laughter bubble out. He ran over to Felix and shoved the small box into his hands. The rest of the members couldn’t hold back their tears of joy as Felix pulled the little ribbon off the top of the box. He looked at each of them, tears streaming down his face.

“No matter what, thank you all. What you did means the world to me, even if she doesn’t forgive me, forgive us, I love you all so much. Thank you.” Felix took a deep breath before he lifted the lid off. A tiny note was placed over something silver and shiny. He felt his knees give out as Changbin rushed forward to catch him. They all noticed the key at the same time and nearly sobbed in relief. Come back to me, I love you so much. “I- I’m going home. I’m going home!” Felix stumbled into the final car as the boys watched him head off to the love of his life, smiling until their cheeks hurt, tears slipping down all their cheeks as they realized they hadn’t lost two of their favorite people. 

[itsamenickname]

Okay, so do you guys remember how I talked about how both @jelixpo and @deckof-dragons/@anomander-dragnipurake inspired me to write my story, To Break the Bonds Within Two Kingdoms back in the Ao3 chapter 11 notes?

Well, what if I told you that there was another Bowuigi story idea I had in mind while brainstorming TBTBWTK?

That's right, what you are about to read is another rough Bowuigi story idea I had that actually originated back in late April-early May 2022 (right around the same time TBTBWTK was first born). While I ended up choosing TBTBWTK to flesh out and actively work on, I felt bad for keeping this WIP hidden within my computer files for almost an entire year (okay, I kind of told one person about this idea back in mid-November 2022, but it wasn't to the extent of what you're about to see).

And since the Mario movie is coming out today, I thought what better way to celebrate the momentous occasion than by sharing this fun little Bowuigi story idea? :)

Also, before I forget, if anyone wants to do something with this idea, then by all means go for it. (Just let me know if you have done something with the idea so that I can see it.) :) As I just mentioned, this was something I've thought of back in early-mid 2022, but because I want to not only finish TBTBWTK, but also work on a second (and bigger) Bowuigi story after TBTBWTK is done, I figured that it would be better to at least share this rough WIP/idea than to leave it in my computer files for no one else but myself to see.

Anyway, I apologize in advance for the extremely long post (and for any grammatical errors), but I hope you guys like the idea all the same! :D

(Adding a cut here to help make this post shorter.)

***********

Okay, so imagine a time in the Mushroom Kingdom where Bowser is living a good life. He and Peach recently signed a peace treaty together (and by recently, I mean like 1 month ago), not to mention that he's been dating Luigi for about 6 months now and has never been happier (per Luigi's request, they are keeping their relationship a secret which Bowser doesn't mind at all).

But on one mysterious night in the Dark Lands, Jerry (yes, the same Jerry from TBTBWTK) informs Bowser that he has a surprise visitor waiting for him in the throne room. Well, this didn't make much sense to the Koopa King. If it was Luigi, Mario, or even Peach, Jerry would've explicitly told him, but the fact that the Hammer Bro. not only refused to elaborate about the visitor, but also seemed kind of hesitant and nervous when Bowser asked for more info about the said mysterious visitor? That just seemed really weird to Bowser.

And oh boy was he right when he stepped into the throne room and saw the one and only King Boo.

Now, even though Bowser wanted nothing more than to kick the ghost king out of his kingdom, Luigi's kindness actually rubbed off on him just enough to where he instead angrily asked King Boo why the hell he's here. When Luigi talked to E. Gadd last month, the professor said that the ghost king was still trapped in that canister from the adventure of The Last Resort, so it didn't make much sense that the ghost king who he thought was trapped is floating right in front of him.

So King Boo explains to Bowser about his new plan. He rants on and on about how he is just so sick and tired of getting defeated and captured over and over again, so King Boo devised a new plan. He figures out that the best way to defeat the Mario Bros. (especially Luigi) and take over the Mushroom Kingdom/rest of the world is by teaming up with Bowser. Sure, King Boo understands that Bowser may not have a good track record when it comes to defeating Mario, but he figured that as long as Bowser distracts Mario and Peach just long enough, King Boo could use that stall to trap Luigi in a painting.

Bowser, of course, shoots down the idea. He explains to King Boo how he just recently signed a peace treaty with Peach and he doesn't want to do anything that would break Mario, Peach, and especially Luigi's trust (although he doesn't mention Luigi to King Boo). And even if he and Peach hadn't signed a peace treaty, he has very well learned from his past mistakes and knows deep down that Mario and Luigi can, and will, easily defeat both of them.

But before Bowser can leave the throne room, King Boo manages to stop him in his tracks by explaining how he knows that he and Luigi are dating.

King Boo also blackmails Bowser by saying that if Bowser doesn't agree to team up with him, he won't hesitate to posses Bowser and force him to kill Luigi with his own hands.

As much as Bowser wanted to call on King Boo's bluff, he's inwardly really scared to. If King Boo was making threats to him, Mario, Peach, or anyone else (should point out that the Koopalings & Jr. don't exist in this timeline, but I'll leave that up to reader's discretion), Bowser wouldn't care about the idea of King Boo possessing him. But King Boo was making an indirect threat to Luigi, the one person Bowser would not hesitate to lay his life down for. If anything were to happen to the love of his life, it would kill the Koopa King (no matter if it was his fault or not).

So Bowser grudgingly agrees to King Boo's plan as the ghost king is excited to finally set his plan into motion. But before he forgets, King Boo mentions one little important thing:

This new alliance they have has to be a secret. No one, not even Kamek and Kammy, can know about it. Everyone has to believe that whatever is about to happen is Bowser's ideas and his ideas alone.

And if anyone finds out about their alliance/plan on their own (or if Bowser tells anyone about their plan), King Boo will kill Luigi himself and force Mario and Bowser to watch.

_________________

So time skip to around 2 weeks later where Bowser has caused so many problems to the MK to the point to where Peach is sick of it. She sets up a royal meeting with herself, Mario, Luigi, Toadsworth, and the royal court about what they should do with Bowser. The royal court is honestly spilt on either declaring war on the Dark Lands (they have a justifiable reason to declare war because Bowser has broke parts of the peace treaty) or try to reach out to Bowser and meet with him peacefully.

Eventually, the arguments get so stressful and out of hand that Peach gets mad (and I mean really fucking mad) and orders the royal court to let her, Mario and Luigi discuss this in private. While the royal court (especially Toadsworth) are hesitant on this, they eventually follow her orders and leave the brothers and Peach alone in the room. When it's finally just the three of them, Peach just takes this time to calm down and take a few deep breaths (which Mario and Luigi don't mind and allow her to take as much time as she needs).

Once she is really to talk about it again, she explains to Mario and Luigi how she is kind of dead set on declaring war on the Dark Lands. As a few Toads pointed out earlier in the meeting, Bowser broke parts of the peace treaty, not to mentioned that she had actually privately reached out to him on multiple occasions, but has never received as response back.

Now Luigi (who had been mostly quiet throughout the entire meeting due to his anxiety and his tough decision on whether to stand by Peach or Bowser's side) tries to defend Bowser by explaining how both the MK and the Dark Lands had worked on the peace treaty for almost 3 months (not to mention that they've officially signed it last month) and theorizes that there has to be a reason that Bowser is causing so much trouble that they don't know about. Luigi begs Peach to give him time to talk to Bowser before she decides to declare war on Bowser's kingdom.

Now here, I should point out that both Peach and Mario know that Luigi and Bowser are friends, but they don't know that they're dating. So obviously, when Luigi begs Peach to let him talk to Bowser, Mario (being the protective older big brother that he is) hates the idea. He still doesn't trust Bowser and is afraid that allowing Luigi to talk to Bowser (especially right now) will ultimately get his little brother hurt or worse, killed (it would destroy Mario if anything happened to Luigi).

But despite Mario's protests, Peach makes a deal with Luigi: He has one week to talk to Bowser and make him change his ways. If Luigi succeeds, then she won't declare war on the Dark Lands. However, if he fails, Peach will declare the treaty null and void and declare war on Bowser's kingdom.

So over the course of the next 5 days, Luigi tries to reach out to Bowser in multiple ways. He tries to write him letters, meet at their usual spot on the usual days they hang out together, little things like that. However, none of his ideas work. Now, that's not to say that Bowser hadn't received Luigi's letters. In fact, Bowser has actually received every single one of his boyfriend's letters (at one instance, Bowser started to tear up as he carefully touched Luigi's handwriting, which led to King Boo taunting him on whether he should respond to Luigi's letter or not.), but...Bowser is honestly scared. He wants to tell Luigi that he hates doing what he's doing, he wants to tell Luigi about King Boo's ultimate plan to take over the MK and the rest of the world, but...he can't. He doesn't want to put Luigi in any form of danger, so he figured that the best way to keep Luigi safe is by completely shutting him out.

But that kind of backfires on Bowser because on the afternoon of the 6th day, Luigi gets a new idea.

He gets the idea to sneak over to Bowser's Castle (without Mario, Peach, or anyone else knowing) and talk to Bowser face-to-face (for the first time since Bowser's alliance with King Boo) in hopes of forcing his boyfriend to talk about why he's doing all of these bad things.

But as for what happens when Luigi finally arrives at Bowser's Castle?

Well, I'll leave that up to you. ;)

[scintillatingshortgirl19]

Do you have any thoughts on why Sally & Barry fail at that imitation to Gene/Fuches? @_@ good post

Oh man, that's a great question.

This honestly isn't something I've pondered before, so this was fun to think about! I feel like it has a lot to do with the people on the receiving end of their attempts.

In Sally's case, a core difference to keep in mind between her situation and Gene's is that Gene had his class in the palm of his hand. He'd made it his own personal shrine where people worshipped him and they wouldn't dare call out his behavior, if they even recognized it as bad at all. If somebody had gotten upset and left the class, no one would have followed them - instead, they would've been treated as a weakling and everyone would've taken Gene's side.

But Sally was brand new, and although she felt emboldened by the class being sympathetic to her, she hadn't actually built up any kind of relationships, respect, or trust with these people. It was way too soon to pull out an abusive tactic - it's much easier for people to call out bad behavior when the person is a stranger.

With Barry, it mostly had to do with the fact that Hank decided to stand up to him. Unbeknownst to Barry, Hank had been having some character growth. Barry massively underestimated Hank in that moment. Barry was in prison and had no allies to break him out - he was clearly all bark and no bite, and Hank knew it. So actually in that way Barry's imitation was pretty true to Fuches. Fuches tells ridiculous lies and makes empty threats and resorts to angry outbursts when he doesn't get what he wants, too. But it failed in that it ultimately just didn't work, because Hank ended up being a lot harder to manipulate than Barry gave him credit for.

Another difference is that Gene and Fuches have both been doing what they do for a long time. There's an inherent confidence in both of them that Barry and Sally just don't have at this point. I don't think Barry has Fuches' level of cunning, and Sally doesn't have Gene's level of experience (or the benefit of being a man, though it's entirely possible the class still would've called her out for the abusive tactic regardless of gender).

I will also say that, while Sally was definitely consciously trying to imitate Gene, I don't think it was something Barry was doing on the same conscious level.

Like, for Sally it was "my acting teacher did a specific Thing to me and I am now going to try the exact same Thing on someone else." Whereas with Barry I think it was more subconscious? Not so much literally trying to copy Fuches as just doing what Fuches did to him because he doesn't know any other way of going after what he wants. He doesn't know how else to solve problems - all he knows is what he's been taught. I think he might actually be offended if someone were to point out how much he sounded like Fuches in that moment - sort of the "guy who hates his dad doesn't want to recognize that he's starting to turn into his dad" type thing.

[masterwords]

good vibrations

Summary: Hotch & Morgan take the family to an amusement park.

Pairing: Hotch/Morgan

Warnings: Nothing I can think of?

Words: 1.4k

Notes: Continuing this domestic May nonsense, I just wanted to think about their family at an amusement park for a while. How cute it would be with that mix of personalities on the road and in the park and...believe me I could have turned this into a bajillion words but I kept it short and sweet.

Read on AO3 if you like! This one is short and all fluff so I posted it in its entirety here too.

**

Hotch considers himself a world class napper. A perfect vacation would simply involve a bed, warm blankets and no alarm clock. He can come and go as he pleases, close his eyes and open them using nothing but the delight of his own internal rhythm.

Derek, on the other hand, likes to be on the move from sun up to sun down. He wants to pack as much into their weekend as he can because they simply don’t get enough of them.

When things were still brand new, before the team had any idea that they would leave Friday night and sneak away together in a rental car to such exotic places as Busch Gardens or the Jersey Shore or Dollywood, they would make plans during the car ride. Hotch, car sick though he is, always let Derek drive. He would pull out his phone and flick through his notes app to run down their itinerary for the weekend while Jack watched the scenery fly by from the backseat in silence. The kid was a champion in the car, hardly a peep out of him for the whole first hour, and then he would pull out a book or some other quiet car game, wholly capable of keeping himself completely occupied. The last hour or so they would all be a little antsy and that was when Hotch would initiate such car trip classics as alphabet of road signs, spotting license plates until they hopefully saw one from each state (and if you saw one from Canada you basically won) or an old standby that eventually turned into arguments...I Spy.

Now that they’re seasoned, now that they don’t have to hide from anyone, now that Jack is older...they forego the planning entirely. Instead they arrive, find their hotel, and Hotch immediately begins preparations for his first nap of the trip. The first of many, he announces cheerfully. The planning happens on the fly. That's real comfort, real progress. They go simply with the intent to have a good time, itinerary not required. 

This time they’re at Knoebels Amusement Resort, a recommendation from JJ. It’s a little less ritzy than some of the others but what it lacks in style it makes up for in comfort. They’ve rented a little cabin with easy access to the park and secured all the passes they’ll need to pack a week’s worth of fun into three days. They even brought Jessica, just in case the BAU called and they had to take their leave...at least Jack could stay and finish out the good times.

“You’re both old fogies,” Derek huffed while he set out all of his myriad toiletries in the bathroom he staked out for he and Hotch. Hotch and Jessica just smiled knowingly at each other and, almost like mirror images, began preparing for afternoon naps.

“We need our beauty sleep,” is Jess’ sassy retort before she enters her small bedroom and closes the door behind her. Derek cups Hotch’s face in his hands, stares longingly into his eyes for a minute like he’s going to say something really romantic about how Hotch doesn’t need beauty sleep because he’s perfect the way he is, and then smiles.

“Don’t sleep through dinner,” is what he actually says and Hotch sighs, nodding.

“I won’t.”

He doesn’t. It’s a nice, short nap, just energizing enough that he showers and throws on some casual clothes and heads out the door to find Derek and Jack who are out shaking up their brains on rollercoasters, one after another. Hotch doesn’t mind a good rollercoaster, but he’s definitely not one to subject himself to a full day of them. He has better things to do.

Like buying a big salty pretzel from a vendor with a cart, and hoping he doesn’t spill the bright yellow mustard all over his khakis while he walks and takes in the sights. Everything is bright colors and loud music and it’s mesmerizing in the way it assaults his senses. Before Derek he used to loathe these places, they just felt like people infested stress cages and Haley would run off with Jack to wait in line somewhere and he’d spend at least a half hour hunting them down to make sure they hadn’t been taken. He doesn’t worry about anything with Derek around. It’s taken him a long time to get used to that feeling. Sometimes it’s so big he doesn’t really know what to do with it.

That’s not a problem right now though. He pops off at a little round table with bright red benches that are faded at the corners from the unrelenting summer sun and fires off an inquisitive text to Derek.

Where are you?

Next in line for bumper cars. Third round. Jack’s ruthless. You?

Hotch smiles and sends Derek a picture of his pretzel with the grand carousel in the background.

Hell yeah! Win us some free rides ya tall dark and handsome drink of water!

He hadn’t really thought about getting on the carousel, he just thought it made for a nice picture but hell. A ride didn’t sound so bad, he’d always liked the way they were just so simple and classic. And soothing, that up and down motion, the music, the mirrors. Something about it was almost enchanting. And being tall and graceful enough to reach out and snag that brass ring on the way around was, until recently, a talent he didn’t realize he had.

They all met up an hour later with Jessica outside of the Haunted Mansion, her one specific request. It’s somewhere between a slow moving rollercoaster and a haunted house and she’s all about it.

“You and Derek should sit behind us,” she says, pointing at the car she wants them to get in. “And then you can hold his hand when he’s scared.”

Derek rolls his eyes. “Ain’t me gonna be scared, little lady.”

“Yeah, right. Says the guy who hates Halloween.”

They all jump and laugh and close their eyes, and Hotch does find that at a certain point Derek is gripping his hand a little tighter than natural and leaning a little closer to him. He’s not scared, he says, it’s just that he thought being in the dark meant they could be a little extra close. Hotch has his doubts.

There’s golfing that fulfills all of Hotch's personal goals (18 holes while no one complains, and Derek teaches Jack how to drive the cart when no one is looking) and swimming and exploring and a whole lot of eating, all littered with a staggering number of naps by one or two of the adults at any given time. Jack refuses. While Hotch and Derek nap, Jess takes him swimming and follows him down countless looping swirling slides into the icy crystal water. While Hotch naps, Jess and Derek ride all sorts of rollercoasters and ferris wheels and while they’re down for the count, Hotch takes Jack on the Pioneer Train and they explore the history museums. All in all, they head home both exhausted and well rested, somehow. No incidents, no arguments, just some good old fashioned family fun.

Well, almost no arguments. Jack’s grasp on (or respect for) the rules of I Spy is shaky at best and Jess always takes his side, leaving Hotch and Derek to argue on behalf of reason and sanity. "You can't just say you spy something GREEN in a sea of green, kid...you gotta be more specific!" Derek shouts after the third round of madness while Hotch pats him on the knee and Jessica's laugh bellows from behind them. He's spied something green on each of his turns and Derek is certain that he's lying about his answer when it's guessed too easily. Changing which green thing he's spotted.

"Sure he can! Are you accusing a child of lying?"

"I study behavior for a living, I know he's lying."

Hotch nods. "I know his tells."

"SOMETHING GREEN!"

"Oh for the love..." Derek cries out, sending off a litany of green things he can think of that he can't even see at all. Apples, grass, lettuce, slime, aliens...he's losing his mind and Hotch thinks it might be the cutest thing he's ever seen, at least for a while. 

Jessica's laughing so hard there are tears on her cheeks and Jack is pleased as punch. Hotch finally waves the white flag and turns up the radio, invoking the power of the quiet game. The first person to talk loses.

Everyone in the car is far too competitive to lose at this game.