#technically he's back but they're still on a break which is why i'm still making those sets

[sonoranbumblebee]

"Carm...I love you." "Yeah. I love you too."

He's in the back of the restaurant, where she'd once been sad and he made her laugh for the first time, and he's feeling that fractured feeling he gets across his whole body when he doesn't know where she is and can't echolocate her. She pushed him away hard, and that's fair, and he can't push back like he wants to when she's going through something real like this. But he still feels the rejection and disconnection, acutely.

He's waiting for her call.

It's her, thank god. Picks up on first ring.

"Hey." "Hey." Reconnection. She's there where she's supposed to be, in reach.

First and only question: "Is he OK?" Only thing that matters, because if he's not, she's not, we're not, I'm not, she's not.

"Yeah, he's OK." "Good. Thank god."

He can feel her sadness and fear over the phone. "You need anything?" This is one of those questions he asks her where if she said I need you to build me a nuclear submarine he would build her a nuclear submarine (even though he is so so so dumb). But what he means by here it is not a question so much as a request: please let me give you my body and soul because I'm stronger than you right now and you need it.

"No I'm OK thanks." She is technically OK but also her voice is shaking. Sydney. Please.

"Well, why don't you let me come over there? I don't want you to be alone right now." The captions say he stutters as he says this, which means he's not quite clear in his head, which is because he is on his knees begging and she keeps looking down at him, shaking her head no, while looking at him with a sad little Syd pout-frown and sad brown eyes. He wouldn't care if he didn't know that she wants and needs him right now, the same way she knows he sometimes wants and needs her to intervene when he's breaking down into anxiety or rage.

Sydney please.

"It's...really...fine." He's right. She knows he's right. He should be there. She wants him there.

She wants him there more than anything in the world. But she's already so bombed out from crying that she simply doesn't have the strength to make that decision right now.

[redacted discussion of topic that she is using to deflect and that is fine but also makes me angry!]

He's still in pain because he now recognizes they're separated in a way he never knew was possible before.

"Um, all right, well I'm thinking about you. And, um, if you need anything just-just-just let me know, OK?" I'm here. You know I'm here. I'm here.

"I will." I know. I'm sorry. But I know. I know but I'm a little broken right now and I can't do anything and I'm sorry. "Carm...l appreciate you." I love you so much and I wish you were here with me but I can't travel to that place right now, OK?

"Yeah you too." I love you too, so so much, and I miss you and I'm here waiting and don't be sorry for a second I get it.

"Ok, I'll talk to you later, yeah?" He misses her and knows he has to let go but doesn't want to let go.

"Yeah." Carm, actually I'm so broken please come help me I need you please.

"Ok, bye." Fuck my life I cannot believe how much I have fucked this up.

[Enter Shapiro.]

[starchaptertogether]

btw i've mentioned this before but i'll keep posting daily soobin sets for the next week. the boys will all be on beomedio on the 7th, so that's probably when i'm gonna post the final gifset, bc it's the day their break will be over

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Birthday! I'm dying to why Hokage's daughter Naruto is so strong when everyone who knows seals thinks she should be weak. so more of that AU please.

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Naruto pulls tight on the chains restraining Gaara, waiting.

Her father stands, flash stepping to her side. Her mother stays seated, but she'd expected that. She hasn't been able to form chakra chains since she had Naruto, her coils too badly damaged by Kyuubi fighting out of her during the birth.

"What's going on?" he demands. "Naruto, stop, this is dangerous!"

She stares. She honestly hadn't expected this out of him and she thinks she would be touched if she weren't so mortified. "Do you have a way to restrain a demon that I don't know about? Because if I let go, Shukaku here is going to go on a little rampage."

She's the only one in the village who can use adamantine chains. It's a good thing her mother hadn't gotten rid of her scrolls about the technique even though as far as she knew none of the remaining Uzumakis could make them. Maybe she intended to pass it on to Naruto's children.

"I'll call the ANBU," he says, eyes scanning for whichever of them are hidden. Kakashi is staring at her, one eye still covered, which almost makes her weak with relief. This is already going to be pretty difficult to talk her way out of, but if Kakashi were using the sharingan, it would be impossible.

There's a shift of air next to her and Fugaku is standing there. He gives a the giant restrained demon a glance, but nothing more. "Hokage, sir, the invasion of the Sand has been thwarted per your orders. We currently have all the criminals in custody." He tilts his head to the side. "Almost all of them."

Her father isn't stupid. He knows the village is watching them and his spine straightens and his mouth thins, but there are no other tells. No one watching would guess that he had no idea what Fukagu was talking about.

There's another shift and then her classmates and Team Guy are moving, a coordinated attack they'd gone drilled until Naruto was sure she wasn't about to get her friends killed. The Sand genin find themselves restrained, now that it's safe to do so, now that the invasion has been made public.

The Uchiha police are not shinobi and not subject to a shinobi's laws. If they aprehend foreign shinobi for questioning, if that questioning gets a little out of hand, it's not an act of war. They're civilians, technically, trained as shinobi but removed from the established chain of command. If Naruto had been wrong, then having the Uchiha do the investigating would have prevented the Kazekage declaring war on them in retaliation anyway.

Uchiha police appear around the arena, Sand shinobi restrained in their arms as they break the genjutsu they'd been using to hide themselves, to ensure that no genjutsu could be cast over the arena while the Uchiha's sharingan watched over them.

Naruto has almost relaxed, everything having gone exactly according to plan, when her mother appears next to her grabs her wrists.

"You cant!" she cries hysterically. "It'll kill you, it'll kill you! You have to stop!"

Naruto's eyes widen and she strengthens her grips on the chains, trying to pull away. "Mom, stop! I've got it! MOM!"

Kushina doesn't listen. She sends a powerful burst of chakra through her hands, more than she's done in almost thirteen years, and severs Naruto's connection to the chains and taking them into her own hands.

Except she can't control them, of course, and as soon as she has them they break apart, shattering into pieces around them, and Shukaku tears himself free with a roar of triumph and rage.

Despair overtakes Naruto, a selfish grief she's been avoiding most of her life settling deep into her bones.

She doesn't have to do this. She could let the ANBU deal with it, leave it to her parents who's fault it is, no one would blame her for stepping back.

But if she does, her people will die. Not all of them. Probably not even a lot of them. But one dead from her cowardice is one too many.

She yanks onto Kurama's chakra, pulling it out around her, chakra claws and a thick red auror surrounding her, nine three tails of chakra swaying dangerously behind her. She already hears the screams of her people, the cries of demon ringing in her ears, but it doesn't matter.

She'll always choose her people over herself, no matter the cost.

At the end of the day, she's still her father's daughter.

[3hks]

Various Ways to End Your Story (But SPECIFIC)

How you end a story can make or break it, so it's REALLY important to end it in a way you find fitting! If you're looking for some ideas on this topic, you've come to the right place! Not only will I list the different types, but I'll detail them, break them down, and hopefully, include some that you've never thought/heard of before!

CIRCLE ENDING

Yes, I know, this is a pretty basic one; most people have heard of this ending before. However, that doesn't mean it's not a good way to end your novel!

As its name suggests, this is when the story circles back to the beginning, or at least references it, for an ending. It sounds basic, but there are a few different types of this!

I. Repeating the First Sentence

This is where your last sentence is a repeat (with none or few changes) of your very first sentence, which makes it super effective if you have a powerful first sentence!

II. Repeating the First Sentence (But Different)

As you can tell, this is nearly the same as the idea I mentioned above. The first and last sentence are the same, but the meanings of them differ because the readers have read through the whole story. When they re-read what was written, they'll see it through a different perspective.

For example: "He thinks it'd be amazing if he could fly like a bird."

At first, you might think that the character just finds it cool how birds can fly, and he wants that. But after reading, the readers might realize that there's a metaphorical meaning to "bird" or "fly", and they may realize that the character actually longs for freedom, peace, etc.

The point is, that ONE sentence takes on a different meaning despite remaining the same.

III. Returning to the Same Timeline

Unlike the first two, this one does not repeat the first sentence of your story. Instead, it references the beginning as a whole, often returning to the same timeline the narrator began at.

You can see this in works where the narrator is actually reciting the past (so they're speaking from the present), and around the end, they return to the present for final words.

ABRUPT ENDING

This is literally in the name--these next few conclusions are ones that are more abrupt. You'll see what I mean!

I. Cliffhanger

We've ALL heard of this, I'm sure. This is where the story ends at a point with high tension and suspense. While cliffhangers don't always have to be a quick ending, they technically leave the story unfinished, which I why I included this here.

All in all, this is good for maintaining interest and encouraging your readers to continue reading any sequels you might have!

II. Quick Ending

You might be thinking, 'what's the difference between the "quick ending" and the "abrupt ending"? The answer to that question is that the quick ending is the more general subcategory of the latter.

Basically, this is the ending where all--or at least most--loose ends are tied and there is a concrete resolution that satisfies your readers. However, there often is little insight to what your characters' futures may hold, since everything is ended often in a sentence or two.

Still, this is one of my all-time favorite ways to end a story because it can be very empowering if done right!

ALTERNATE PERSPECTIVE ENDINGS

I definitely feel like these are less common because they can get kind of off-track and they're hard to really fit in, but that just makes it more interesting!

I. Different Character's Perspective

I've honestly seen one author do this, and while I can't say it was my favorite conclusion, it was certainly fascinating to me.

This is where the story ends through the eyes of a side character, not the protagonist. Your stories actual resolution could have happened earlier, but the ending is from a different character's POV of a past, present, or future presented in a meaningful way.

II. Time Skip (Epilogue)

Out of these two subcategories, the 'time skip' ending is more popular for sure! If you have a more complex story (by that I mean one with a bigger cast, a lot of plot events, etc.), a time skip ending could be a good choice for you!

Usually, these time skips aren't just a couple of days or weeks, but often years or even decades. This is great if your protagonist has a super ambitious goal, and you want your readers to see what happens years after they reach it!

III. Reflection

This ending typically happens after a long time skip, where the narrator reflects upon their last actions/events that happened. Truthfully, I see this a lot more in stories that have sad or bittersweet endings, which we'll get into next!

IV. Flashback

If you're looking for a different one that ties back to the main character's past, this might be it! Instead of your story ending during the present or the future, in this case, your story ends in a meaningful flashback of a character. This is great if you want to emphasize how much the character changed and grew from their beginning!

EMOTIONAL ENDINGS

Let's talk about emotional endings, real quick!

I. Happy Endings

We all know about happy endings. Typically, the protagonist (and often their close friends/family) achieve their goal(s) and is satisfied with the results of their journey.

This is the most common story ending, emotion-wise, because it provides the readers with a good sense of closure and appeals to them!

II. Bittersweet Endings

This is where the resolution feels both happy and sad. Perhaps the protagonist achieved their goal(s) but lost things they valued along the way, or vice versa.

III. Tragic Endings

This ending can be both happy and sad, but there's definitely a lot more sadness than happiness. It can be like the one above (where they reach their goal but lose stuff/people they care about), or it can be a situation where the main character lost essentially everything.

"NON-CONCRETE" ENDING

I. Open-ended Ending

This is where the ending is up to interpretation! There might be suggestions of what happened, but it's ultimately unconfirmed, allowing the readers to draw their own conclusions.

Personally, I've never attempted this type of resolution (because I have a bad feeling it won't end well if I did), but it's pretty common!

II. New Beginning

This is where the story ends when the main character is starting a new life. Maybe they've moved to a new city, underwent changes as a person, and is escaping from their old life to start fresh.

This is one conclusion I see sometimes in dystopian novels!

III. False Victory

If you've ever watched a movie or read a book about a person whose goal is to make a HUGE impact on the world, you might've experienced this ending.

A "false victory" ending is where it seems like the protagonist has won, but the readers know that the victory itself is empty and/or temporary, with no permanent change.

Although, yes, this is technically a pretty concrete ending, it can leave readers--for lack of a better word--rather unsatisfied. However, that doesn't mean it's a bad choice!

EVOCATIVE ENDINGS

For this next section, I'll be talking about a few endings that I think heavily resonate with the readers--final words that your readers will remember.

I. Wordless Ending

Throughout the last few paragraphs of a resolution, there often is dialogue involved somewhere, and that's not a bad thing! I will never deny that dialogue is powerful, but so is the opposite.

This ending revolves around having no dialogue (and thoughts!). Instead, it focuses on imagery, the characters' actions, the setting, and literary devices to create a more immersive, beautiful ending!

II. Anonymous Hero

This one, in all honesty, this ending type applies to a more specific type of stories.

So basically, this is the situation in which your protagonist achieves their goal, normally a pretty impactful and important one at that, but no one actually knows it's them who accomplished this, resulting in their life returning to--more or less-normal than--their old one.

III. Proverbs, Quotes, Questions

We all know that we can begin a story with any of these options mentioned above (and more), but that doesn't mean we can't end them the same way! Granted, I do prefer the former, but there's undeniable charm in ending your work this way!

By making your last sentence(s) a quote, proverb, question, or even a poem (I like the idea of ending it in a couplet), it reemphasizes the theme of the story while providing resonant, beautiful final words.

CONCLUSION

If you made it all the way here (or skipped here), thank you for reaching the end! Remember that you can shape endings however you want! You don't have to pick only one of these and stick with it--combine them! Actually, I think several of these resolutions overlap each other.

If you have sent me a question/request, I PROMSE I haven't forgot! I'm getting to it (albeit very slowly), so I thank you for your patience; your support means everything to me!

Comment any other endings you can think of! I'd love to see what you guys come up with!

Happy writing~

3hks <3

[cutebat]

Yandere Batfam x Neglected, but Defiant Reader

What's Next?

Warning(s): Yandere themes, past neglect, a lot of swearing, stealing, violence, mentions of bribery

(This is where now you can pick your own choices in this series, so this isn't technically a chapter)

~~~~~

Two weeks went by quickly, thank God.

You arrived at school as how you could have if it wasn't for Bruce ruining your fucking break by making you spend time with the rest of the family.

You were forced to watch movies that made no sense due to its plot or whatever and went shopping, only for them to buy you things that you didn't like that all. Like, who still buys and wears things that could cause a whole closet clutter.

The worst part of all this is that Damian has to walk you everywhere around the school, except for using the restroom. Even worse is that Bruce changed your entire schedule to you having teachers who love to fuck you over. Because of this, you can't skip anymore!

Anyway, the day quickly went by, and now it was break time. As you two walked into the cafeteria, you spot your two basically only normal and only friends, Noelle and Sasha.

"(name)! There you are...-"

Noelle calls out to you before her smile slowly flattered when she spots Damian beside you.

"What is he doing here?"

She whispers to you that made you roll your eyes.

This made Damian narrow his eyes down at the two of them.

"Do you have a problem with me being here?"

He asks with a snarl that made your friends cringe a bit.

"(name)..."

Sasha mutters out to you that made you sigh.

"No, no... Damian, they're cool, don't worry."

You reassure him that luckily made him calm down.

"Oh, alright then. Come now, sister. We need to find a table."

Damian tells you which made you feel annoyed.

"Oh, uh, actually. I need to get my water bottle. I left it in my locker, so..."

You try to make an excuse to get out of here.

"No worries, I can go get it for you."

Damian said as he turns around.

"Wait, you don't know my combination!"

You call out of realization.

"I'll figure it out."

He calls back as he leaves the cafeteria.

You and your friends stayed where you were in silence.

"Isn't this great?"

You speak up out of sarcastically as you sit down with them.

"(name), what are you doing with that guy?"

Sasha asks as she takes a bite of her pudding.

"Being stuck by his side for the whole day and the entire Christmas break?"

"No, why are you hanging out with him?"

"Oh, god, don't be a bitch over this. I know he's such a pain in the ass, but I can tolerate him, okay?"

"No, we're not jealous or anything, he's actually fucking insane, (name)!"

Noelle tells you

"Insane like how?"

You ask as you cross your arms.

"Sent many guys to the infirmary, punched a guy in the throat earlier, nearly set a teacher's car on fire."

Noelle said as she started to list down all the things that Damian did.

"Wait, so all of this happened in one day?"

You ask with your eyes wide a little.

"Yeah."

"How do you know all of this?"

"I have two classes and a passing period with him."

At that moment, a guy with a neck cast walked up to your table.

"Were you guys just talking to Damian?"

He asks the three of you.

"Yeah."

Sasha mutters out.

"I hate him. He literally punched me in the throat during gym and didn't even apologize to me or get expelled. I'm pretty sure he paid off the headmaster or something."

He said with his eyes furrowed that meant he was pissed.

"See?"

Noelle mutters to you.

"Hold on, why did he exactly punch you for?"

You ask out of curiosity.

"Cause I said that you were pretty hot and told him that he was a wimp about it or something."

He said as he rubs his cast.

"Still sound normal to you?"

Noelle asks you.

"Oh, come on. That's like one of the things that's like the less worse things."

You tell her.

"'Less worse'?! I was passed out for like half an hour!"

The guy said in a defensive tone.

"Dude, that sounds like a you problem."

You tell him with a bored expression.

"Oh... Shit hurts."

Sasha said with a chuckle.

"Fuck you, guys... Stupid bitches..."

The guy mutters out as he walks away from you and your friends.

"Anyway, what can I do about all of this?"

You ask as you place your chin on the palm of your hand.

"Honestly, I don't know. You're pretty much on your own, (name)."

Noelle said as she takes a sip of her honey milk.

"What? You guys aren't going to help me?"

"We want to, but we don't know how."

"Please? Like actually, please. I have no idea what to do and I don't even know how to get away from all this."

You tell your friends in a slight pleading tone.

Noelle and Sasha gave each other a glance before they stare back at you.

"Okay, fine. As much as we don't know either, we'll try whatever we can, okay?"

Sasha said as she sets her pudding cup down.

"What are you exactly going to do now, (name)?"

Noelle asks in a soft tone with a soft gaze on her face

~~~~~

Go to your next class (Coming soon)

Skip until the end of the day with your friends (Coming soon)

Go home with your friends

•

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(If you want to be in the taglist, let me know!)

[audliminal]

It's just a game, right? Pt 2

Masterpost

"It's like. Crazy, y'know?" Bernard's voice echoes in Tim's ears as he fiddles with his mask. "Like, when they started posting, I was kinda meh about it? I mean the first few videos they posted were just like. Basic shitty, scrambled audio, and the first clues were just like, real simple. Basic word replacement stuff; mostly vigenères, right? But now it's- they're using everything! The current drop is. It's layers, man. And I think it's intentional."

"Isn't it supposed to be intentional? I thought that was like, the whole point of an ARG."

"No I mean, like yeah obviously the clues are intentional, but like. The way the difficulty curve is just increasing. When this started it was so easy, but I don't think it was because they like, didn't know what they were doing or anything. Which, cool yeah that makes sense, you want people to buy in before it gets super hard or whatever, but there are, like all these threads that never went anywhere. And everybody kind of wrote them off as red herrings because they didn't seem to fit into the narrative that we had so far, but I can't stop thinking about them, you know?"

"I mean, they could still be red herrings, couldn't they?"

"Well, technically, yeah, but like. Why? It's one thing to have a dead end that maybe calls back to a previous clue or, like, reaffirms some detail from before but having something completely unconnected seems like a weird choice. Especially when the creator keeps telling us to dig deeper."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Tim asks with a laugh.

"No that's the thing!" Bernard's voice goes intense, and Tim momentarily stops putting his mask back together. "Literally every fucking drop those exact words are hidden somewhere in the mess of encryptions, and as things get more complicated, it's showing up more not less. And that together with all the fucking loose details that don't seem to fit in anywhere? I'm literally on the verge of going back to the beginning of the whole thing and solving it from scratch, bc I think we're missing a lot." Tim kind of forgets, sometimes, how similar he and Bernard are, but the in his boyfriend's voice is one he's intimately familiar with. That combination of obsession and frustration - and obviously it's not really serious because like, it's an internet game, but it doesn't matter what the stakes are, being stuck on a puzzle fucking sucks, and he can't exactly patrol what with his broken ankle, so maybe a fun, no-stakes challenge would be good for him.

"We were planning on hanging out on Friday, so what if you walked me through it from the start, and maybe together we can come up with some answers?"

"Seriously? Dude that would be so awesome! I will teach you everything I know about code breaking!"

"I mean, I do know some things, you know. You think I didn't have a spy phase as a teenager?" Tim smiles at Bernard's responding laughter. It'll be nice, he thinks, to mess with a puzzle where nobody's life is at stake.

[thebroccolination]

TEAM TAM TAKES A STAND [EPISODE 5 EDITION]

THE DEFENSE FOR MY CLIENT TAMTAWAN HAS ARRIVED.

I need to rewatch this episode eighteen more times to get my head more fully around it, but I wanted to talk about how I thought the main point of this episode was done very well. Namely, showing the audience that Tam has had reason to believe that Phi has been careless with his heart and his feelings in the past.

The very first thing we get as the episode starts is this flashback in which Tam reminds Phi of the promise they made before this visit: since Tam's mother is arriving on Saturday (which is presumably the next day) they're not going to do anything physical; they're only going to work. I got the impression from this that Tam's mother didn't know about their relationship, but either way, what matters is that Phi made Tam a promise.

This is immediately followed by a sequence of sexy flashbacks confirming that they did not, in fact, only do work.

And we also know from later on in the episode that Phi started it and broke his promise to Tam:

["key did you just make this post to post these screenshots?" NO I AM GOING TO MAKE A SEPARATE HORNY POST ON MAIN LIKE A RESPECTABLE CREATURE OF BASE INTEREST THANK YOU VERY MUCH]

Like, Tam does totally go along with it, so it's not like Phi forced him. That's not the point I'm making. It's just important to note that Tam asked Phi not to do anything three times:

1) Before they got to the house 2) Before they went into the house, and 3) Literally while Phi is making moves on him

I think Tam went to those lengths because he knew himself well enough to know that if Phi did start something, he wouldn't be able to tell him no. After all, look at that last frame! Phi asks him, "Can I do this a little?" while kissing Tam's neck. He is technically asking permission, and Tam doesn't tell him no, but this is after Tam has already asked him not to three times!!!

So it seems like the narrative is showing us a particular flaw in their previous relationship: that Tam often gave in and let Phi have whatever he wanted, and Phi was happy to take and take from him, probably without even noticing he was doing it.

Until…

HE TOOK IT TOO FAR, YOUR HONOR.

When Phi came back from grocery shopping, he left the door open:

I was sitting there with cat roommate senses like, "Close the door, close the door, close the door, close the fucking door!!!" wondering if it was a production mistake or if the characters just didn't care.

But then…

Tam notices mid-kiss that the door's still open and starts to panic that Sosay's gotten out.

Phi, less fond of the cat and more interested in making out, makes the point that Sosay was a stray and she can handle herself.

Let's break down the whole argument, shaaall we? :D

Phi says, "She'll come back. Let's keep going." Assuming the flashbacks are linear, they've already slept together (at least) once, so Phi's going for another round. Another round after the one Tam asked him not to pursue!

When Phi keeps pressing him, Tam snaps at him, and crucially, Phi looks confused.

Tam is basically like, "I am no longer thinking about sex, I am thinking about my missing cat."

To which Phi is all,

"She's a stray, she can take care of herself. Why are you so worried?" Or, translated: "But I want to have sex with my hot boyfriend."

And Tam is correctly like, "Cool, you don't care about my cat, but you also don't care about me since I am visibly distraught about my cat. Also, you keep trying to sleep with me when I told you that was off the table."

Critically, even though Phi broke his promise, it was only this time when Phi left the door open and Sosay got out that Tam actually stopped him. And I think the reason he loses his temper like this is because he was telling himself he should have stopped him before.

Like, this is definitely Turned On but I detect a bit of annoyance there, too.

Also, check out this subtle moment!

This is the same night they found Sosay! (Or Sosay found them.) Tam finishes working on whatever they came to work on, and Phi gives him a massage. Notably, Tam thinks Phi being sweet and accommodating is weird.

And, tellingly, Phi isn't actually doing it to be sweet and accommodating. Moments after making Tam beam so happily, Phi goes in to bite his ear and kiss his neck and bulldozes past Tam's reminder of the promise he made.

Tam thought Phi was giving him a massage to be kind.

Phi was actually doing it to get laid.

But again, what makes this a really good conflict is that one could assume that from Phi's perspective, Tam isn't making it super clear that this is a boundary he doesn't want crossed. You can almost see in Tam's face when he tells himself it doesn't matter. That what he asked Phi for wasn't that important, really.

But isn't it kind of heartbreaking to watch that moment of Phi cradling Tam's face in his hands and think maybe Tam believed this was a simple act of kindness. That Phi really did just want to give him a massage and tell him he did well.

That for all he does for Phi day in and day out, he got some affection that stayed within the night-long boundaries he asked Phi to respect?

Perhaps from Phi's perspective, he was just being affectionate. No one was actually home, after all. He probably didn't think Tam was going to be upset and hurt when he pushed him for sex. We can see he didn't take the promise super seriously even at the start of the episode where he salutes in the adorable way he does. It's a very, "Sure, sure, I promise. Wink~"

Like, if you haven't watched Singto's solo MV "Consent" from Tam's perspective, absolutely go give it a watch, because it's very clear that Tam has an extremely different perspective of their relationship. (Also, Singto has the sweet and mellow voice of an angel and he does not get enough love for it.)

Phi's greatest grievance in his song is how Tam left him.

But Tam has specific complaints from their actual relationship.

Obviously, the best thing to do when one has issues in one's relationship is to talk about the issues with one's partner, but if characters did everything right all the time, then we wouldn't get stories about ex-boyfriends who squabble and then have sex about it.

I think Phi's not getting Tam's breakup reason because there's some piece of it Tam can't tell Phi yet, but I think we're not getting the reason because the narrative put us squarely on Phi's side in the first episode, and now it's gradually showing us that Phi wasn't an angel.

Think about how much we knew about Phi from the start: his job, his condo, all his possessions, his colleagues, his boss, his reputation, his fanbase, his university days, his ex-boyfriend, his award, his billboard, etc.

Now think about what we knew about Tam in episode one: he studied abroad in Australia. He dated Phi. They broke up. He's really hot. He came back because Yong said, "If you still love him, come back."

We spent all of episode four with Phi's mother.

It's only in episode five that Tam's is mentioned.

And I think this is all very intentionally and cleverly laid out. Because Phi already knows a lot of what we're going to see, but his perspective is going to change. Like in this episode, he relives the night Tam adopted Sosay, which was also a night they fought and Phi went out to find Tam's cat to make amends.

We're literally seeing that Phi's capable of changing for the better when Tam tells him directly what he wants or needs. I think that could be the lesson Tam needs to learn.

Hard to say without the second half, but that's the impression I'm getting from the setup we have so far.

Anyway JUSTICE FOR TAM MY SON IS BEAUTIFUL AND HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING WRONG IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE.

The defense rests.

[yanderestevenuniversewriting]

Could you do Steven headcannons?

I can't believe I'm just now getting to this- Sorry, anon, I know you sent this is like over a year ago-

You were childhood friends, so great for you- You have a trauma bond with him and Connie

He tells you stuff he would never tell Connie, because he doesn't think Connie would understand

He feels like he can talk to you without judgement

When he develops romantic feelings, he doesn't think they're different than his friendship feeling

But god, he loves when you smile and laugh

It warms something so sweet in him

When he does realize he likes you more than a friend and accepts the feelings, he's to scared to tell you

His fear of rejection overcomes his love for you

When his trauma really starts to get to him, he finds it hard to be around you

He shuts you out, because he doesn't want you to see him like that

"I feel like you're shutting me out," You exaggerate your hands, before point at him and then yourself, "And I don't even know why"

"It's nothing personal, Y/n"

It breaks your heart and you don't know how to get through to him

You'll try and talk to Connie [Bad idea] and she tells you you just need to give him time. [Yeah, you didn't want to do that, so you ignored her advice, even though technically that would have been the best thing to do]

You think about going to Pearl, but you know she'll probably say the same thing as Connie- So, you go to Garnet, because she can see the future

Expect, Garnet tells you that the best thing to do is let him come to you and you groan, which causes Garnet to laugh

"Not the answer you wanted?"

"Of course not. Thank you though, Garnet."

Garnet knows you're not going to take her advice, but maybe Steven needs someone to care enough about him to pull him back into reality

You try talking to Steven's dad, but that doesn't go well either. Steven's father is so out of touch with his son. You should of known better- Even though Mr. Universe is a good dad in his love, he's never there. You supposed it was complicated.

So, you go to the last choice- The one you were trying to avoid

Amythest

She's more than happy to help you. She doesn't give you words of comfort or anything, she's all about movement and action

You start to think you should of gone to her first, but this was a bad idea

You end up making Steven so angry, he yells at you

You're a little taken a back, but you finally back off

You give it a few days and he comes to you to apologize

"I'm sorry, Y/n. I shouldn't have yelled at you," He runs his hand through his hair, "It's just... Ugh, I don't know..." He looks over at you, a frown overtaking his face, "Difficult. I didn't mean it"

"I know. I shouldn't have tried to push you. I should have known better."

Thankfully you make up, but he still doesn't let you into what's going on

"You know, Steven, you can tell me anything"

"I know"

[itstheghostofmypast]

One More Hour

Idol San x (f)Reader

Summary: If Choi San was sure about one thing, it was the love that occupied his heart, his love for her. She had become everything he needed, everything he believed in and everything he worshipped, not a thought that went by that wasn't followed by a thought about her. The only problem was, his undying love for her, was a secret known only to her, not the people he had been living with since his teens.

Genre: Fluff (a tinge of angst) (simp San, technically they're both hopelessly, dramatically inlove- i do not regret this)

Warnings: None

A/N: Choi San's got me whipped, I just can't. Please remember to show some love by 💗 and reblogs

With her cheek squished against his cotton-clad chest, she felt his warmth slowly lull her to a state of blissful sleep, their heartbeat synchronized as he hummed a familiar, yet random tune, perhaps it wasn't the tune that was familiar but his melodic voice that could compete with angels.

She had long forgotten the plot of the movie, too engrossed by his presence, arms squeezing his waist, pressing herself closer into his side, his hand reaching to rest on top of her head, fingers caressing through her hair. It had been long since the two had spent time together like this, just enjoying each other's presence, basking in each other's warmth. So, when given the opportunity to take a day off, when everyone else had other things to do, he chose to stay at home alone, unknown to the rest of the members that instead of sleeping in, he had decided to spend the evening with his significant angel. Calling her over with a well-formulated plan, since everyone was leaving and coming in late, he had told her to drop by earlier and he'd drop her off before they arrived back home, meaning the two could spend some time together- both knowing even an eternity spent together wasn't enough.

It's not that he didn't want to tell them or that they wanted to keep it a secret, it's just that company at the dorm was… something noone preferred, possibly due to this being the only place of privacy they had. More importantly, he didn't want to introduce her as just her girlfriend, his brain had been buzzing with a certain idea he wasn't sure if she was comfortable with, which is why he had been waiting for the perfect opportunity.

"Sannie…" her hushed voice rang in his ears, earning a hum in return she paused, eyes darting to the wall clock as a sigh escaped her lips, finally causing him to look away from the screen to scan her face, eyes tracing the subtle frown of her brows and pouted lips- "What's wrong-hey" he called out, trying to hold her still as she slipped away, sitting up straight, "Where are you going?" his own pout making its way to his face, mirroring the sad look in her eyes.

"It's six, Sannie, I need to get going before it gets too late," she mumbled, trying to make her way over his sprawled-out legs to the other side of the bed, only for him to gently push her down, ignoring her high pitched, over-dramatic squeak, climbing over her form as her head hit the soft mattress pinning her down, glaring up at him, his grip on her wrists tightened, pushing them down next to head. "Don't go." his whine not even remotely representing the death grip he had on her, his whole body engaging her, face pressed into the skin of her neck, lips pressing against her pulse, stretching into a smirk at the feeling of her breath hitching.

"One more hour," mumbling against her skin he traced his lips up the column of her neck to her jaw, trailing soft kisses to her ear, "I'll drop you home myself, just…one more hour."

"But Sannie- uff" her whine was cut off as the air was pushed out of her lungs, thanks to him putting his entire body weight on top of hers, rubbing his nose against her cheek, "You have been detained, due to the horrendous crime of breaking your boyfriend's heart."

"I'm about to die." wheezing out she tried to pull her hands out of his death grip or at least shove him off, only to fail and whine in defeat. His chest vibrated as a chuckle broke past his lips, proud at how all that time at the gym had paid off, before pulling himself off her, only to hover over her, his hands letting go of her wrists, to cup her face, thumbs brushing over her warm cheeks.

"Just one more hour," he whispered before placing a chaste kiss on the tip of her nose, smiling at how she scrunched her nose in response.

"Tempt me to stay."

Words that had no malice or implications, in truth she just meant food or a tasty treat, nothing else of any sort but a fact that slipped her mind. A thought and a fact about how the big, shy, feline-eyed man of hers was a pervert. A sinister smirk replaced his easy smile, eyes gleaming at the way her smile had faltered upon the realisation of the innuendo that could have been behind those words- mind you she had not intended for there to be any.

.

"You perv." was all she could manage to huff out, chest heaving after the tedious, tiring yet exhilarating session, staring up at the false ceiling in post haze. His pillow felt cold under her head, her body shivering, more from the buzz of the aftermath than the cold. Laying on his side he watched her features, the way her gaze seemed to be unfocused, lips slightly parted, cheeks puffed out and pink, propping himself up on his elbow, he reached over to caress her cheek, neither concerned about the time anymore.

"Shower?"

"Yes please."

With a quick shower, the two had returned to their usual spot on the bed, after San had oh so kindly changed the sheets. He had forced her to wear his hoodie, only for her to insist he give her something to wear underneath too because it was cold and much to his displeasure he had to give his gym shorts, even after he had explained how he'd keep her legs warm even without anything, only to receive an "I've had enough of your nonsense for one day, Choi."

"What are you doing?" her words broke the comfortable silence, catching him in the act, and stopping him from pulling the covers over the two. She had allowed a cuddling session to commence but never approved of anything more, it was almost nine and she had to go- no, he said he'd drop her off- no, she'd rather go alone to avoid anything else.

"I thought we could rest…for a bit…you know…" clearing his throat he looked around, "After all that fun."

"And who decided to have that 'fun', huh?"

"You. It was actually you." with that he pulled her closer, holding her close as she struggled against him, "Don't worry, I set the alarm, just one more hour." she paused looking up at him, as he leaned down to press a sloppy kiss on her forehead, "Just one more hour, I promise."

.

"That was by far the worst film you could have ever forced us to watch." Mingi sighed, opening the door and entering the passageway, kicking his shoes off, followed by the others.

"It was an art film," Hongjoong argued, locking the door behind him, noting how Seonghwa had been neatly stacking everyone's shoes, in order only to pause at a pair of Converse, one that looked too small for any of them.

"It was SHIT, that's what it WAS." Wooyoung called out as he headed towards his room, "A bloody day off and we decide to let him plan it- SAN WAS SO SMART FOR NOT COMING." he stopped by the kitchen, before swinging open the fridge, "I mean I get it, it can be in French or whatever language, but why did the dude become a slug and- this bastard…"

"What's up?" Yunho asked, ripping open a packet of instant ramen, midnight snacks are important. Motioning to Yeosang who nodded, signaling for a serving as well.

Slamming the door closed Wooyoung turned around and glared at them, "The asshole ate my cakeslice!"

"You mean the toothpaste one?"

"Not funny Yunho.Not.F*cking.Funny!"With that he stomped out of the kitchen, probably to confront the criminal.

"What's his deal?" Mingi, who Wooyoung slammed his shoulder into, stumbled into the kitchen, earning an eye-roll from Yuho and a quiet "He's insane" from Yeosang.

"Not mine," Jongho mumbled, staring at the shoes, both his hyungs humming in agreement. Hongjoong looked at the two, "Did San have company over? He never said he would- is he seeing someone?"

"Not that I know of?" Seonghwa mumbled, glancing at Jongho who looked up at the door when they heard the familiar keypad beep. All three stared at the door as the person of conversation walked in, the cap of his hoodie covering most of his beanie-covered head, his bangs peeking out from beneath. Pulling his mask down he placed the plastic bag on the floor to kneel and untie his shoes, only to freeze at the sight of the many shoes before him, slowly glancing up to meet the gaze of the three most judgmental members.

"I can explain." he began only for Seonghwa to snort, "We didn't ask anything yet."

"Listen, she was meant to leave- I- we thought you'd come later-"

"Please tell me, she is not a professional." Hongjoong cut him off, rubbing his temples, they could not and did not, need a scandal of sorts.

"Of course not!" he snapped, before biting back his tongue at the way Hongjoong stared at him, correcting himself, "No… she’s not a fling or a hookup, I swear she's special and I-"

A shriek cut him off, alarming everyone else too, "Shit!" Bolting past them he ran to his room, noting the door was open and from inside he heard, none other than Wooyoung, "I AM SO SORRY! I SWEAR I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING!"

"Yah! What did you do??" He growled, stomping in to find his girlfriend crouched on the ground next to the bed and Wooyoung with his eyes covered by the doorframe.

"I CAME HERE TO BEAT YOUR ASS AND THEN I SAW- "He paused at the whimper, "I MEAN I SAW YOU MISS- NOTHING ELSE I SWEAR!"

San crouched down beside her trying to pry her hands away from her face, only for her to glare at him with teary eyes and hiss, "You asshole." Trying to shove him away but he pulled her into his chest, eyeing his shorts that she was wearing on the ground, oh, so she was trying to change her clothes- honestly, he had only gone for 40 minutes. He had woken up as soon as the alarm rang but with his quick reflexes, he turned it off, wanting to spend a few more minutes with her, call him selfish, clingy or obsessed, none of them was wrong. After a few minutes, an idea popped up in his head, which is why he had decided to make a little trip to the bakery nearby, to bring her something.

"So, this is why you didn't come with us today?" Wooyoung finally looked at the two, her face still hidden in his chest, San's hoodie covering her form, her grip on his sweater tightening at the question. This was it, it was all over, she would either be asked to leave or forced to leave his life, they’d take away the only reason why she woke up in the morning, the only reason she still had hope in the future of humanity- call her over dramatic but that was just how much he meant to her. His scent, his body, his soul, if she could she would keep begging the stars to make sure they are bound together for an eternity, surrounded by him, to keep her grounded. Though that was a distant dream now, one that was going to be snatched out of her hands, the very hands that were pulling him even closer, in fear, if he were to be pulled away from her so be it, but she would savour the few seconds she had left with him, to imprint his being in her soul, a memory she could turn to on rainy days. She had hopped he had not picked up on this little anxious act, but how could San be San if he hadn’t, the moment the question had left Wooyoung’s lips, he had felt her grip on him tighten, his heart growing three sizes bigger at this very act of love and want. He had noticed how she was clinging onto him, no longer out of embarrassment or anger, but fear- fear of uncertainty, the fear he knew had accompanied him the first time he had asked her out, the first time he had kissed her, the first time he asked her to become an official couple- that very day he had promised himself to never put her in a position where this fear would become a reality, yet here they were, about to face this demon, together for the last time.

"Good choice. The film was shit."

Her head snapped up to meet Wooyoung’s casual gaze, who shrugged, “Seriously, certain art films should be banned, and I’d rather choose to stay at home with a lady than go out with Hongjoong any day.”

San smiled at his best friend, eyes watering at the note of acceptance and approval, delivered in the most Wooyoung manner, but words of affirmation that both needed to hear. Slowly standing up he pulled her up with him, letting her adjust the oversized hoodie, “Thanks man, I appreciate-”

His words were cut short as Wooyoung raised his hand, “Not you, bastard, I still want to stab you, not only for eating my slice of cake but also for not telling us beforehand you had a guest, now she’ll think I’m a creep.”

“I’m sure she already thinks so.” Yunho peered in from the doorway, smiling at the girl who shied away, moving behind her boyfriend, who glanced up at Yunho, “Also, Hongjoong called for a group meeting and you’re invited too!”

.

With her clothes changed, she sat a good distance from her boyfriend, hands in her lap, the same lap that seemed oh so interesting that she had been staring at it silently while San was trying to explain how they met.

“So, let me get this straight, you have been together for four years and you thought not telling us, your ‘brothers’, would be a good idea?” Hongjoong asked, staring- no- glaring at San.

“Four years, three months and 23 days actually…” he mumbled, before noticing the way she was staring at him, with the most, ‘what the f*ck, dude’ expression she could muster.

“Is he a good boyfriend?”

“Does he treat you well?”

“Are you into dumb dudes?”

“Have your parents met him?”

“Are they scared of his face?”

It was the last question that had her choking on her spit, trying to conceal the laughter, that increased in volume after his whines became more apparent, he knew what they were doing, they were embarrassing him on purpose- a form of payback.

“Yes, yes, I uh…guess so and yes they have met him and no they find him to be very good-looking.” Finally looking up at them she smiled gently, the nervous atmosphere around them, maybe this wasn’t so bad. At his point she was glad that they had accepted her, or rather had approved of their relationship, it was as if a giant boulder had been lifted off her shoulders, and she was free to love him with the certainty of them being together.

He was thrilled to see how everyone had absorbed this, he knew they’d give him hell once she left, but it wasn’t because they disliked her, no, it was due because of his cowardice. It was he who made all of them promise to be transparent, yet here he was keeping one of the most important people in his life a secret, putting strain on the relationship with his lover and his members. The issue was no longer whether they would accept her he had found a loophole for that, he wanted to introduce her to them, really did, but he wasn’t going to introduce her as ‘just his girlfriend’. San slowly moved closer, hands reaching out for hers only to pause and stare at her, “Wait, did you just say I’m dumb?”

“I uh-

“So, did you wait this long to tell us because you were going to propose first and then tell us?” Wooyoung cut her off as she choked on air, her boyfriend too busy trying to pat her back, his face dusted with pink, the tips of his ears burning at the embarrassment of being caught. Whispering to her, “You okay?”

She glanced up at him through her lashes, whispering back coyly, “Were you going to propose?”

“Yeah,” he gave her that million-dollar dimpled smile, eyes turning into crescents, only to turn into cat-like slits with the most serious and judgemental expression, one that sent shivers down her spine. His head whipped in Wooyoung’s direction, “How did you know- oh you bastard.”

Holding the crumb-covered ring in his hand, showing it to everyone, his eyes met his best friend's glare, the plate of a half-eaten cake slice on his lap, an easy smirk making its way to his face, “That’s what you get for eating my slice.”

[tacticaldivine]

There can be no better way of knowing In a world beyond controlling Are you gonna deny the savior In front of your eyes? Stare into the night

Daccapri Dante WIP I've been sitting on for a while

Okayyyy Dante and Daccapri. Where to fucking start? (oc notes undercut)

Already breezed over the general gist of how they meet but let's run it back:

Direct descendant of some important demon that inherited all of their predecessor's problems

Left with almost zero knowledge aside from hearsay about said demon

Lack of a proper childhood making way for an insanely rough and troubled upbringing

Resentful of paternal figure. Reverent of maternal figure.

Daccapri also uses an alias when dealing with human affairs

"You don't look like an Alice" "Funny. You don't look like a Tony."

She first approaches his office under the guise of merely being a mentee of Morrison and helps deal with bills

(In my perfect world Daccapri meets Dante specifically around the '07 Anime)

Dante doesn't really think much of her

On going in-joke of her shaking them thangs to get out of paying a pizza tab or distracting the IRS agent

Important to note that Dante doesn't pay her, she helps out financially just because which immediately lets him know there's something more to her that she isn't telling him

She has like,,, her own little side hustle as an informant outside of DMC. She isn’t attached at his hip I need to add

She’s kept at arm’s length. Daccapri’s just there to be nosy and keep tabs on him for her bosses. So she really dgaf

They're like. hmmm how to put this in a way that doesn't get me hit with hammers...

If I said they’re like Travis/Sylvia NMH would you get mad?

Dante and Daccapri's relationship is mostly just like that one work friend you're close with, but not close enough to meet outside of work. But you still make up hypothetical plans regardless

Daccapri is not capable of getting mad, but Dante makes her crash tf out.

They both desperately want for a more intimate connection (not just sex, I'm talking emotions baby) but clearly refuse to let the other in

so its very "on a need to know basis" and they just never discuss anything bc they don’t think the other person needs to know

Always differing ideas of what the other should be doing or acting like, always a performance, rarely are they genuine with each other

It doesn't help that they’re both also technically the other's boss.

"I've got a better idea! Why don't I call someone whose job it is to fix it? You know why? Because when I need a job done, I get someone with a job to do that job!" "What are you saying?"

A little bit of infantilization on his end cause Dante, bless his heart, thinks she’s a bad little thing mixed in with the wrong crowd.

Which is stupid. She owns a firearm and knows how to confuse a government agent.

toxic? a little. unhealthy? absolutely. dysfunctional? yuh baby. frustrating in an entirely separate way than what Daccapri/Nero is

(Also yeah before you ask they've totally fucked. daccapri has been passed around that office like a blunt. but this isn't about that rn.)

Proximity Crush!! Not really cause they wish to pursue the other; rather they’re just together so often so they link up. It’s as shrimple as that

They mistake the feeling of familiarity for the presence of romantic love. Two very broken ppl I fear

Messy by Lola Young makes me think of them

Anywho-- despite all of that they do enjoy the company of each other. And once Daccapri begins her Public Safety stuff in Fortuna; they have a much better rapport with the other.

Other ongoing joke is that Daccapri eventually ends up owning half to majority of the business after like 20+ yrs of topping off bills to keep out of the red. How nice of him to make her a partner in his business that just barely pulls in enough to break even every year. ah so kind! so charitable! so thoughtful!

he still doesn't pay her after that either

Dante definitely finds out she’s part devil after he meets Lucia and she’s like "hey so I need your help finding Arius' daughter" and he’s like “haha ok sure what’s she look like?” And it’s like ahhh my hot sexy assistant is the daughter of a megalomaniac sorcerer hellbent on resurrecting an ancient demon and may or may not be planning to do the same thing. But in his defense he did suspect something was up, just not that specifically.

Extras

No I don’t think Daccapri explicitly tells anyone her age (500+ yrs old) except perhaps Nero after their divorce arc

Ermmm… I have scent marking notes but.

Think of it like Giving each devil a sort of fingerprint for their magic/powers. Like a ballistic fingerprint. And we will put a pin in this for later.

Daccapri's weird blood thing does trigger around him and its why she's incredibly irritable around him

Unlike with Nero, there is simply no way for her dominate him in any unconventional way to soothe her beast

She could fight him, but it'd give away her identity which is no bueno

so instead she just gets black out drunk and smokes cigars! yayyy we love healthy coping mechanisms (girl dinner!)

she would not vape. she sucking on cigars cause the appeal for her is the bad taste

Dante makes fun of her having an old timey smoking pipe

He doesn't really have a reaction other than like a momentary "aw" when Abernathy begins dressing more masculine cause it means no more little black dress

Erm they could be a power couple if they actually spoke about their feelings but that’s an insanely rare occurrence for both of them ☝️🤓

Which is ultimately why she ends up hanging around Nero. The emotional maturity arc is a very grounding experience and one necessary for a stable and healthy relationship platonic or otherwise.

A taste of mundane normalcy

i also think that nero may indulge in her violent tendencies a bit more than dante bc she targets corrupt old white men and nero thinks thats super punk rock (it makes his fat wife wet as hell that daccapri is so committed to their family that she would act crazy. and that gets him going too)

whoa who said that?

Could I make their relationship normal? Yeah. But it’s more fun to write them as messy humans cause why not. It also makes the dinero fic funnier so there’s that too.

If you read this far, thanks!

[bluesbonney]

🛁 <3

YAY BATHTIME

After dumping the final bucket of water into the big metal bathtub, you sink onto the chair next to it and take a moment to catch your breath. You're technically on the back porch, but it's not as exposed as it used to be. Needing extra storage, you and Billy put up boarded walls one weekend, and now this space was where you kept lots of things like the bathtub and the laundry bins.

It was a cozy space. From here, in the still blue dusk, the calming outside sounds are more clear: crickets chirping and birds singing. The trees rustle in the breeze, which has the scent of sun warmed sagebrush still clinging to it. Bitter but familiar.

From the front part of the house, you hear Billy hanging up his hat and belt. He must've just gotten home; perfect timing. Maybe you'd get him to join you, like you'd hoped.

A stool next to the tub is piled with clean clothes for the both of you. A new candle burns on the little shelf right above the tub; its light warm and comforting.

A soft knock alerts you of Billy's presence. Looking up, you find him taking in the scene.

"Everythin' okay, angel?" He looks tired, but his eyes have that worried look reserved for you. He must've thought something was wrong.

You stand and give him a soft smile. "I'm okay. Just needed a break after hauling all the water buckets."

Billy wrapped one arm around your waist and leaned in to press a gentle kiss to your lips. "I'll let ya have your space, just wanted to see ya." He gives you another kiss.

You study the way his curls are more prominent around his ears, forehead and neck; a sign he's sweated a lot and ran his hand through them too much.

"This warm enough for ya?" Billy asked, leaning over to dip two fingers into the water. Immediately, he pulled them back and shot you a look. "You didn't heat the water?"

"Billy, it's been so hot and humid today. I had no desire to stand by the stove." You say lightly, with a little laugh.

He nodded. "I get it. Havin' it cool's gonna feel better. But," He chewed on his bottom lip a little and you wait for what comes next, "I don't want you gettin' sick."

"It's not that cold." You gather a handful and flick it at him.

Billy jumps a little, and like the sun shining after a thunderstorm, lets out a soft, rumbling laugh. You like it when he laughs. He doesn't do it enough.

"I see how it is." He says, with a playful pinch to your side.

"Why don't you join me? It'd be nice." You say with your best pleading look, a measure not needed, really, because he didn't need any convincing to join you. The little glimmer in his eyes shows he was already thinking about it.

"Ah, so we can freeze together?"

You flick him with more water and get another laugh. And that big, dimply smile.

Leaving your clothes in a pile on the floor, Billy gets in first and then you follow, sitting with your back to his chest.

The cool water turns out to be much nicer than either of you anticipated. It was just the right temperature to make you forget about how hot and balmy the day had been. Billy, for his fussing earlier, is now quiet. You begin to wonder if he's fallen asleep with his head against your shoulder, and his lips tracing your skin absentmindedly. His fingers trace little ticklish patterns on your ribs.

"Turn around. I'll wash your hair." You request.

He contorts his large frame around as gracefully as possible, laughing again when his hand slides and he resembles a baby deer on ice.

You lather soap onto your hands until they're sudsy enough and then sink them into Billy's hair. His shoulders immediately slump in relief, tension melting off like the wax on the candle. As you work it into his hair, his eyes fall closed and you think your heart just about explodes.

"Feels nice, angel. Thank you. Bein' so good to me." He murmurs, sounding so sleepy.

You grab a cup, filling it and using it to wash the soap from his hair, relishing in the lavender scent. When you wake up in the morning and smell it on his pillow, you'll remember how happy you are at this moment.

"You're welcome. I love you." You want to say more, but those simple words seem enough.

You carefully cover his eyes with one hand to ensure the soap doesn't get in them. Once you're done, he takes that hand and kisses your palm, once, then twice.

This whole evening so far feels like the first spot of light in a very long time. You lock it away in your memory; hoping to never forget the bliss of quiet, intimate moments like this one. They're what matters the most. They're what Billy is fighting to keep.

[quilloleander]

Underneath the Golden Gaze of God - Golden Sunset (Chapter 1)

D-16 is an ordinary security mech working in the archives. Aside from his troublemaking roommate and amica, Orion Pax, his life is as mundane as it could possibly be. Although, even as a sparkling, he's always had the weird ability to sense a presence that lurks and clings to every Cybertronian… except himself - a fact that he has never acknowledged to anyone except Pax. It was a mundane solar cycle when he noticed that he noticed the presence clinging strongly onto Pax, and that seemed like a sign of the end to come, for though he didn't know what the last days were like for those who disappeared - the presence in itself felt an omen of the end. If only knew that sometimes the end, didn't really mean death.

I know… I am disappointed at myself too skskskks

This is why I need to be held accountable everytime I start a new fanfic/project because my mind wanders off skskks. I promise I'll get to the High Guard + Sparkling Megatron one-shot book sksksk I can hold myself accountable I swear lmao. But yeah, you know the drill, you can tell which AU this is from sskskks.

I decided to write about it - like an actual multichapter fic - because it's actually nearing one year since I graduated college and I promised myself that I would only give myself a year since I graduated to take a break before I went to look for a serious job. I have since gotten my certificate (cause in my country, if you wish to work in a certain field, you need a certificate proving you're capable of working in that field - at least for the field that my college course is part of) and I need to start applying for jobs soon. So, while I had the free time, I decided to write the one fic that I do genuinely want to write a multichapter of since this is the one concept where I genuinely stayed up until 5am chatting in the opmeg server because I loved it so much lmao.

So yeah, this is the Sole Survivor Prima AU… combined with the Vessel Prima AU that a friend and I talked about. If you've read the previous fanfics, you already know what the Sole Survivor Prima AU is, but for the Vessel Prima AU… I'm going to keep that one a secret since it's the one aspect of the fic that is supposed to be a mystery (let's hope I can actually nail the mystery cause sometimes I worry I don't even nail the horror in my fics skskks).

If you're new here - to my Tumblr account/my old Tumblr accounts and this fic skskksk - and you don't know what the Sole Survivor Prima AU is (I have two other fics covering it but you don't need to read those cause they're technically disconnected one-shots from this multichapter one, though reading it will give more context to what's happening), essentially it's an AU where Prima survived Sentinel's ambush, killed him and the Quintessons, and came back to rule Iacon as the sole Prime. He is very unstable after the events of losing everyone he loves and I know most fanon interpretation makes him nice but I personally don't interpret Prima that way because I based his personality off Covenant of Primus (and he's honestly a bit of a bitch there), so he may come off as cruel and cold here. This is also an AU where Megatron/D-16 is Primatronus' sparkling because I like that idea (due to people joking that Megatronus is related to Dee due to them both being bucketheads) and because this is my fanfic and I get to decide the narrative.

So yes, hopefully you enjoy this. I plan to finish this fic at least before June 23 because that is when I need to start my job applications dying inside. I'll still be writing for the one-shot book though and I will be writing more fanfic, it's just that I may not have much time anymore after June 23 skskks - we shall see but I WILL finish that one-shot book because I promised and I am not breaking that promise.

Ao3 Link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/66273385/chapters/170860012

================================================

It was a mundane solar cycle when he felt the strange shift around his amica. The sun had begun to set, casting long shadows across the apartment floor when Pax had come in after another shift at the archives. Dee was in the middle of preparing energon cubes for his own shift when the presence of the other mech bursting into the room startled him. He didn’t know why it did, as Pax always rushed into every room he walked in anyway, yet something about the gesture felt strangely off to him.

“Hey, guess what.” Pax sat down by the counter, his servos drumming against the metal as if he still needed to catch Dee’s attention. Trying not to roll his optics, Dee placed the last energon cube in his subspace, readying himself for whatever shenanigan Pax was about to curse his poor audials with. When it came to his amica, there was never a solar cycle where something didn’t happen in the archives. He wondered if what happened would explain why Dee felt strangely uncomfortable as he met Pax’s optics from across the room. “I’m not the newest archivist anymore, you know what that means?”

“You’ll be more responsible?” This time, Dee couldn’t help but roll his optics. He walked over to the counter, leaning against the edge as he stood next to Pax. He tried to keep the amusement out of his voice as he continued on, “Or do I still have to hide your aft every time you break into the archives during the lunar cycle?”

“You only had to help me hide once, and how were we to know that the head archivist would be giving a late night tour to Prima Prime?” Pax muttered out, his voice lowering as his optics shifted around the room. Dee couldn’t help the shiver that ran down his frame as Pax carelessly used the Prime’s designation. There weren’t any laws that forbade you from fully-mentioning the Prime, yet everyone knew to hold their glossa when they absolutely had to mention him. Only Pax, with his reckless attitude that Dee couldn’t help but be fond of, didn’t seem to care all that much. “It means I have more access now.”

Honestly, for all of Pax’s nonsense, Dee was proud of him. He’d been working as a security mech for the archives for a few cycles before Pax was ever an archivist. It had only been two cycles since Pax had started and already he was trusted enough to be given access to information only older archivists were allowed to know. Pax may sneak into the archives during the lunar cycle to read data he didn’t have a high enough clearance for, but there were some that even Dee couldn’t help him ever gain access to.

“That’s—”

“You’d like him, the new guy. He’s quiet like you and like a total rule-follower.” Pax cut him off, his excitement clear in his voice. Dee smiled, glad to know the sudden change in his work did not deter Pax from still being himself. “I think he recorded the entire orientation in his processor since he kept citing everything the head archivist mentioned when he introduced him around the archives. He’s an older mech though, said he worked in some old radio broadcast station before making the jump to the archives. I should ask Jazz if he knows him, you know how Jazz is about that old pre-Quintesson War technology. The new guy said his designation was Wave so maybe he’s some famous mech or something… even if he is, he’s friendly and keeps to himself like you. Hey! I should introduce you two.”

“Pax… no…”

Dee tried to hide the wince in his voice.

“Deeeeeeee, you’ll like him, I swear. I know you, so trust me, I know you two will get along.”

“Pax, maybe focus on your job instead of trying to meddle with my social life. You’re the only friend I need.” He placed a servo on Pax’s shoulder, squeezing the metal slightly. It’s not that Dee didn’t trust Pax, and Dee liked some of Pax’s friends well enough, but he didn’t enjoy the constant interaction. It was a miracle of Primus that he even agreed to have Pax as his roommate. “I like the way my life is structured. I don’t need to meet your new coworker.”

He could tell Pax wanted to argue, so Dee quickly left the room before he could say another word. It’s not that Dee disliked other bots, but he never felt comfortable with others. Even when Terminus was still online, Dee couldn’t help but be wary of the mech, even if he was his creator. It was… the heaviness. Strange as it was, and he’s only ever told Pax about it, Dee felt as though there was a constant presence around everyone except for him. It wasn’t a constant thing, yet there were moments where he felt as though the air had shifted. There were countless times in his life where he could remember having a conversation with Terminus, and then it would feel as though they had an invisible audience, pressing in before inevitably disappearing. He knew he wasn’t crazy, for Terminus would always shudder when it happened.

Really, it was only Pax who had explained everything to him - and that was why Dee had trusted him enough to keep him as his closest friend, eventually even his roommate and amica. Terminus never tried to tell him, though Dee didn’t know why.

In Iacon, every bot felt the constant presence. It was… a simple part of life that Dee couldn’t understand. No bot went through life without feeling watched from time to time… except for Dee. He could feel the presence around others, yet never around himself.

Pax’s theory - though he’d only ever confided it with Dee - was that it was the Prime’s doing. Dee had found it blasphemous at the time but… there are rumors. There are certain rules, not written ones, to be followed and breaking them usually leads to disappearances.

For instance, everyone knew it was best not to bring up the rest of the twelve Primes. Even mentioning any of them by designation could lead you into trouble. Dee had known many bots in the archives who had gone missing a few astrocycles after they had accidentally dug into information regarding the Primes. That’s why Dee worried for Pax a lot. He wasn’t afraid of talking openly about the other Primes and even wanted to find out what had happened to them on the surface all those cycles ago. He knew that there would come a time where Dee would never see Pax again. He’d walk back into the apartment after a long shift in the archives, and Pax would just be gone. Maybe Dee would even be arrested or disappear with him since, even though Dee knew it was dangerous, he couldn’t help but listen to Pax’s ramblings about the Primes.

Pax was curious, and Dee didn’t fault him for that. If he did, he would have called the enforcers on him during the first lunar cycle they had met. He could still remember how Pax had broken into the archives through the vents, and how Dee had nearly shot him thinking he was an intruder - which he was, but Dee didn’t want to explain to the head archivist why he had shot his newest hire. Pax had begged him not to say a word, trying to convince him that he was only there to look through a few datapads that he wasn’t allowed to look at yet due to his low clearance. He had sounded sincere enough that Dee felt bad denying him.

They’ve been friends ever since… even if Pax did stress out his processor most of the time.

Which is why… Dee glanced back into the refueling quarters, catching a glimpse of Pax as he walked around - preparing a cube of energon for himself. He stood by the door panels, hiding around the corner even though he knew from his chronometer that he only had a few minutes before he needed to head for his shift at the archives. Dee couldn’t force himself to move, a roiling feeling in his tanks preventing him from doing so. When Pax had entered the room, Dee had already sensed the shift in the air. There were times when the presence did appear when Pax and Dee were together, yet this was the first time it had stayed for so long.

Breaking his view of Pax, Dee’s optics turned to the unlit living quarters where he was currently hiding in. Over the cycles, it hadn’t changed as Dee hadn’t moved anything even after Terminus’ passing. Only a few colorful ornaments - that Pax had brought along with him when he had moved in - brought a freshness to the room that Dee couldn’t help but love. Terminus had been a simple military mech, and had kept to that habit even after he had retired. Dee never minded his creator’s lackluster decorating skills, though he was a bit ashamed to admit that he preferred the brightness and life that Pax had brought with him. Even if Pax had a terrible habit of not cleaning after himself, as evidenced by the many datapads that were displayed on the couch and on the tables that they were nearly falling off the edge, Dee preferred it like this. Ever since Terminus passed, the entire apartment had felt as though it had grayed along with him.

“Dee?” His protoform nearly jumped out of his kibbles as he turned around to see Pax at the door, a half-eaten energon cube in his intake as he looked at him with wide blue optics. He quickly swallowed down the energon cube, leaving a few crumbs of it on his face that Dee nearly reached over to wipe them off. Even with the innocent look on his amica’s face, Dee couldn’t help but shudder as the presence continued to wrap around Pax - refusing to leave even though it had never done that before, staying for too long. Dee wanted to panic. He didn’t know what happened to those who disappeared, but did the presence linger on them until they inevitably went missing? “Won’t you be late for your shift?”

“I was… thinking.” Dee ran a quick diagnostic test through his systems, mostly his weapon system. He knew from his chronometer that he needed to go now but his pedes remained where they were as he continued to look at Pax. “Pax, did you do anything recently? And I’m serious… don’t you… feel it?”

Pax stared at him blankly, his dermas set into a confused frown. From his stare, it looked as if he was more concerned for Dee. He tried not to show his agitation, yet Dee couldn’t help but place a servo against his hip plates, impatiently waiting for Pax to drop another one of his mishaps on him. Dee was used to his antics, and had even gotten him out of a few of them since Terminus had been friends with the head archivist who owed him a few favors. Dee had never needed those favors since he took his job seriously, but if it meant keeping Pax out of trouble, he didn’t mind using them. Still, if there was one consequence that Dee couldn’t protect Pax from, it was somehow gaining the ire of the Prime himself. No one who caught the attention of the Prime ever escaped his retribution… at least that’s what the rumors and the many disappearances seem to claim. 

“No… Are you sure you’re okay, Dee? You know, you could use your sick leave from time to time. You’re a hardworking mech, you could use a day off once in a while.” Pax approached him, placing a servo on Dee’s shoulder. It should have assured him, but Dee’s processor clung to the fact that Pax didn’t feel the presence - when he usually could before. He didn’t know what had changed, but Dee did not like it. He didn’t like the idea that he might leave in a few kliks only to come back a few joors later to find he was alone again… “You look like you have a lot on your processor, and at this rate, you’ll be late for your shift… We can talk about it over some Strat Ball.”

“Pax…” He trailed off, unsure of what to say. If he told Pax about the presence… Dee had never brought attention to it before while it was around… “Promise me one thing.”

“Yeah?” Pax followed him to the front door, his helm tilting to the side as he kept his servos at his side, though they were twitching as if Pax wanted to stop him from leaving. He knew how he must have looked to his amica, as if he was terrified but trying to keep on a brave face. He didn’t know how to tell Pax that he was scared he’d come back, and Pax would be gone. “You know I’ve always got your back, Dee. What’s wrong?”

“You have my commlink.” He tried to keep his voice even as he pressed the button to open the door panels. Even so, he lingered at the entrance, the sun glinting off his silver frame and illuminating the gold of his optics. “If anything happens…”

“Pssh, Dee, you know me. If anything happens, I’ll disappear so fast they won’t even be able to find me. Now, go on before you blame me for being late.” Pax gave him a little wink, wrapping an entire arm around him as he flashed him a cheeky grin. Dee tried not to laugh as the crumbs of remaining energon still clung near his dermas. 

He reached out to wipe some away, earning a blush. “Fine, stay out of trouble, Pax. I mean it!”

—

The overhead lamps had begun to illuminate the darkening streets by the time Dee had begun his long walk to the archives. As a tankbot, he knew it didn’t matter if he transformed into his alt-form as he was not forged for speed. He hadn’t bothered trying to catch the train from the Kaon District to the main heart of Iacon City, knowing that he had already missed it. As he raced down the path towards the archives, he kept his gaze forward though occasionally he looked up towards the sky. Being underground, there was only a slim chance of catching sight of the stars from the holes that punctured through the surface - yet that wasn’t what Dee was trying to catch a glimpse of. He rarely had the opportunity, since he didn’t make it a habit of running late to work and Terminus never liked it when Dee looked out too much at the windows, but he knew that it was during these times that the High Guard seekers would return to their base.

And he was right, as his gold optics caught a glimpse of them flying just overhead of him.

—

By the time he had reached the archives, the only light present was from the streetlights outside. There were red lights inside, but from an outside perspective, it usually meant that the archives looked like an imposing metal fortress. It was only during the solar cycle that it shone with all the brilliance of its architectural design - modelled after the paint colors of Alpha Trion himself and constructed by Solus Prime herself, though that was a fact that Dee had only heard from Pax since Dee had never actually seen the archives during the solar cycle due to his shift in the lunar cycle. He felt his pedesteps were loud against the pavement as he rushed up the marble steps, venting hard as he glanced around in the darkness for the head archivist. She usually waited for him before she went home for the lunar cycle, yet with Dee being late, he wondered if she had just decided to lockdown the archives and leave without seeing if he would show up.

“Inquiry: You are D-16?”

He snapped his helm in the direction of the voice, noting how monotone it was before he finally found the source of it. An older mech stood by the entrance to the archives, his arms crossed in front of him. From the little light that reflected off of his frame, Dee could see he had a blue and white paint job - though his chassis was made from orange glass. These were the details he focused on the most since he couldn’t tell what the other mech was thinking. His dermas were set into a thin line, and his optics were hidden underneath a pair of orange visors that Dee didn’t know if he was upset at Dee’s tardiness or if he didn’t care and just wanted to go home.

“Yes…” He couldn’t keep the wariness out of his voice as he approached the strange mech. Dee considered himself to be one of the bigger and taller mechs, yet he felt a bit small as he stood near the stranger. Somehow, Dee could tell that there was something peculiar in the way this other mech stood - almost stiff. Even without being able to see his optics, Dee could feel the mech’s sharp gaze on him - particularly on his face as if he was trying to commit it to his processor. He kept his stance guarded, his weapon system ready in case he needed to defend himself. It wouldn’t be the first time some crazy mech tried to break into the archives - surprisingly, it wasn’t just Pax doing it but at least Pax was an actual archivist. “Can I help you?”

“Inquiry: You are the security mech for this shift?”

“Yes.” He crossed his arms, and narrowed his optics. “Why do you ask?”

“D-16: Late. Head archivist: Tasked Wave to hand you security card.”

Before he could process his embarrassment, the older mech reached out a servo to him. In between two digits, the familiar glint of the archive’s security card caught Dee’s gaze. He tried to keep his shame out of his face as he quickly took the card from the other mech. Dee didn’t fault the head archivist for leaving ahead since he was the one who was late, and she probably had a conjunx and sparkling to get back to - yet he felt a tinge of awkwardness knowing that she had asked the newest hire to wait for him just to give him the security card. He knew it was a terrible first impression - not that Dee usually cared about that since he didn’t meet a lot of bots anyway, but it was precisely that reason why he felt so ashamed. Even moreso knowing that Pax and this new mech may become close friends and he may dislike Dee for keeping him this late.

“I’m not usually this late.” He tried, wincing at how defensive he sounded. “I promise this won’t happen again. Thanks… for waiting.”

Even though he really shouldn’t, Dee cared a lot about what other bots thought of him. He didn’t know anyone aside from his creator’s old friends, Pax, and Pax’s friends. If he wasn’t at work, he mostly kept to himself in the apartment. So it stung to think this mech may think he was incompetent at his job when Dee couldn’t even properly explain why he was even late.

Before he could begin to apologize, or maybe run past the other mech and lock himself in the archive, the quick movement of blue in the corner of his optics made him lean back. Orange visors stared down at him, as if suddenly very interested in him.

“Inquiry: Your designation is D-16?” He asked again, his dermas set into a thin line. “Inquiry: There is no deception in your statement?”

Dee felt his faceplates shift as his servos clenched into fists. He knew it was an unconventional designation, and up to this point, he never knew why Terminus had kept his designation as D-16 - which Pax had theorized may have been an impersonal identification provided by the orphanage that Terminus had taken him from. Still, he was proud of his designation and didn’t like it when people pointed it out. He reset his optics, trying to keep the impatience from his voice as he answered back, “Yes. It is D-16. You met an Orion Pax a few joors ago, he’s my roommate. He calls me Dee. My close friends call me Dee. I think he mentioned you, is your designation really just Wave or is that not your main designation?”

“Wave: Will not confirm or deny.”

An uncomfortable tension filled the air around them, though Dee wasn’t sure if only he felt it. He wasn’t usually confrontational, but he didn’t take disrespect so lightly, especially if it somehow came around to somehow insulting his creator. He didn’t know why Terminus kept him as D-16, but it was one of the few keepsakes he had left of him. A designation, no matter how strange, held meaning and love behind it - and he knew how much Terminus had loved him.

Without sparing the other mech another glance, Dee walked past him and into the archives, ensuring that he locked the door behind him as he did.

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Status Report on the Ongoing Investigation Against Orion Pax

Main Investigator: Commander Soundwave of the High Guard Intelligence Division

Priority Level of Investigation: High

Subject in Question: Orion Pax

Basic Information Regarding Subject:

Current Designation: Orion Pax

Current Status: Single

Current Function: Archivist at the Iaconian Archives

Current Residence: Apartment within the Kaon Section of Iacon City, shared with another mech designated as D-16.

Main Notes of the Investigation:

Orion Pax: Guilty of Accessing Confidential Information and Conspiracy to Commit Treason

Under orders from Prima Prime, an investigation was launched against Orion Pax under the allegation of accessing confidential information, which is considered treason under the laws established by Prima Prime. Preliminary investigation has proven these allegations correct.

Current Measures to be Taken: Reconnaissance mission to further investigate the extent of the crime. Undergoing “Wave” identity as a new archivist in the Iaconian Archives to determine if Orion Pax will utilize the opportunity to delve into more restricted data.

“Wave” has established friendly connection with Orion Pax and will maintain connection until further evidence is gathered to charge a conviction.

Supplementary Notes:

During investigation, “Wave” established connection with D-16 - Orion Pax’s roommate and a security mech in the Iaconian Archives. D-16 observed to have gold optics.

Soundwave Request: Launch a separate investigation on D-16.

[butterflydm]

Now that the interviews are dropping, I am torn between wanting to know All The Things and not wanting to know too much! Conflicted, for sure! Time needs to pass more quickly so that I can see the episodes. It also sounds like the interviewers had seen the first two episodes, so that's why they were asking questions about things that hadn't been shown yet in the teasers or the cold open.

Some stuff that I've seen in the various interviews so far that I'm poking over in my head (because things once known cannot be unknown lol):

I don't know how deep into the season that these spoilers go! Be wary!

It does sound like Rand & Egwene's relationship dissolution will be way more drawn out in s3 than it was in the books. On the one hand, it makes sense, given that it was always kinda silly that Jordan had them break up and then immediately go on a roadtrip together. But I do have that (irrational! I admit that it's irrational because Elayne's my girl) concern that Rand-Elayne-Aviendha will end up feeling like consolation prizes rather than strong romances in their own right. Again, I admit that this worry is irrational especially since I was saying during s2 that Rand & Elayne would probably not happen until s4 and probably no romance in s3 for them (though that was before the very romance-coded intro that the two of them had at the end of the season!). Plus the show has been very good at being efficient and yet effective with their emotional moments (the Cauthor in s2 was so unexpected but amazing). But, yes, it sounds like Randgwene and Randfear will be Rand's two romantic focuses this season (maybe with surprise Avirand sneaking in with the steel chair at the end of the season, but maybe that will be s4 instead).

It does make me wonder if some of Mat & Rand's interactions in book 4 will get shifted to Egwene & Rand instead, since even though Rand & Egwene are technically on a roadtrip together, they don't really interact that much in book 4, with her spending most of her time with Moiraine & the Wise Ones instead.

Also given this, Rand still sleeping with Egwene might end up being Lanfear's breaking point, and both Aviendha & Elayne are held off until s4. As someone who still reverts to thinking of Randgwene as "like brother-sister" due to the books, it is somewhat jarring to me every time the show avoids breaking them up for good, lol! show vs books!

We did get confirmation that Tear & Callandor are still planned but scheduled for after the Waste instead of before. This makes a lot of sense to me and I've been speculating it for a while. Again, if Mat isn't pulled back into Rand's plotline via other means, I imagine that they might reunite in the show the same way as the books -- they're all infiltrating the Stone of Tear for their own reasons (actually that would make for a great 'big boom' opening, much like s3's cold open is) and end up in the same place. So that would give us some Mat-Rand interactions, and the Rand-Elayne-Aviendha interactions.

If we're still doing Randgwene deep into the season, then potentially no hints of Egwene-Gawyn yet. If Tear and Cairhien get combined in s4 (the Shaido go to Tear instead of Cairhien, maybe trying to fulfill the Car'a'carn prophecy), then the White Tower embassy might get sent to Tear, and that's when Egwene and Gawyn meet again.

In terms of 'doing late things now', it kinda sounds like they're leaning into some of Perrin's book feelings about not wanting to deal with the Last Battle here in s3 instead (which I am a fan of -- yes, please, deal with that early and then move past it!). In the interview I transcribed, it sounds like Perrin might not even have heard any rumors about the Two Rivers and is just going back home because he wants to put aside adventure. He's Refusing the Call (if that interview answer was correct). Meanwhile what Donal said about Mat learning about how 'heavy is the head that wears the crown' was a very fascinating answer.

We might actually get Mat going to Caemlyn (how do they have time for that? But the show does move way faster than I expect at all times, so there's that! I keep assuming that they will need to skip things for time and then the show goes 'nah, we can still do that') because Rafe talks about 'doing Mat's book three plotline' and 'catching up with the girls'. And we know he's not talking about Tear, since that's been pushed off to post-Waste. It is really interesting that Donal focused on Mat's moral convictions and seeing that he could be a good person in one of the answers that he gave, and that implies some interesting things about his storyline (though I do mourn that we aren't going to get much of Rand and Mat interacting during the section of the books that are the most Cauthor-heavy!).

It sounds like Elayne & Aviendha are potentially going to bond very strongly in the first episode, which could be a great gateway into our poly relationship in s4, if we get renewed. (I do think not knowing for sure if we have s4 or not is probably affecting my feelings about Randgwene - I want my poly relationship on-screen, lol!)

Rosamund talks about 'suffering' happening in the inn in Tar Valon due to the bubbles of evil, and Moiraine watching it happen because she wants Rand to be separated from his friends. Very book accurate to how she behaves in Tear! So I wonder if Rand will get blamed for the bubbles of evil (or blames himself?) and thus head off on his own with just Moiraine, Lan & Aviendha, and Egwene stays in the Tower (meeting Gawyn & Galad in ep2) and then speaks to Bair in TAR and rushes off to catch up with them (or maybe Rand even leaves without any of the Maidens, and it's Aviendha who escorts Egwene and that's part of what makes her continue to take against Rand, because she dislikes him slipping off like that).

So it feels like some of the speculation that @markantonys and I have had about the show bringing and keeping Elayne into Rand's plotline in s4 rather than having her wander the continent feels more likely. Because if there's no hints of romance at the start of s3, because we're still deep in Randgwene, but they are planning on still doing Rand's canon romances, then it has to happen sometime and they need to spend a substantial portion of time together, especially since the audience has spent so long with Randgwene.

All that said, it's actually pretty rare for a show to focus on the slow dissolution of a relationship. I might finally get the chance to use the song "Broken Strings" in a fanvid edit.

[lacrimosathedark]

The Radioapple Haters™️ are at it again.

This time they're attacking shippers with the newly released Playbill.

There's so many issues with that. Beyond harassing people for ships is dumb.

This is what people are pointing at.

This is on the cast info page. It says Lucifer misses his wife.

So, three things about that.

Firstly, We Been Knew, babe.

His very first appearance, after his daughter says her parents split up, he's in a room covered in pictures of not just said daughter, but her mother too, and he's still wearing a presumed wedding band. If that's not "showing not telling" with a goddamn airhorn, idk how more clear it could get without Lucifer flat out saying he misses Lilith. So like...this is not new info. So there's nothing to really rub in. We knew this.

Secondly, this is in-character Lucifer saying this.

I'm not a professional, but when I was in high school performances, we wrote our own little Playbill bio info things. That seems to carry into professional ones too. If you can read the actual cast, some of the the actors less entrenched in the fandom culture have basically an IMDB of their relevant previous roles, while the ones you see at cons are more personable. Those were written by the actors. So, logically, the character bios are written as if by the characters. This could not be made more obvious.

So, logically, you can read that little above as Lucifer himself actually saying he misses his wife. Which leads me to--

Third, break-ups are messy and painful and Lucifer not moving on, unwilling to remove his ring or call Lilith his ex, doesn't mean they are still together. Hell, they could still even be technically married, doesn't mean they're still romantically entangled.

Look, I know the only seeming one-sided relationships in the show is Vox/Alastor and Adam/Lilith and every other "pair" are together or at least friendly (Chaggie, Huskerdust, Cherrisnake, Staticmoth, Guitarspear) but not every separation has to be a violent resentful split. Lucifer is explicitly Depressed™️ which can be hard for any partner to deal with, especially someone as ambitious as Lilith. It wouldn't be surprising if she, not even cruelly, thought she'd be more successful away from him even if he still loves her.

And all this is on top of the fact that most Radioapple shippers don't expect their ship to happen (some hope it does, some hope it doesn't, I'm personally neutral on the concept), and that a lot of writers and artists explicitly acknowledge and use Lucifer's love for Lilith in Radioapple because people love the drama.

I have several posts listing why one might ship Radioapple so I won't go off about it here, but suffice to say the entanglement between Lilith and Alastor and how the two are similar and different makes interacting with Lucifer interesting from any angle.

This also hurts me personally a bit because a lot of these people are Lucilith shippers and, yall, I'm one of you. I don't want them to get back together for many reasons, but I would love to see endless flashbacks of them obnoxiously in love. Most of my favorite works of fanart aren't even Radioapple, my primary ship, but Lucilith, in large part because of how adorable they are. How indulgent or smitten Lilith can look. How adorably excited or flustered or just happy Lucifer can be.

I love Lucilith. I adore Lucifer. I just also think his interactions with Alastor are funny and intriguing.

We don't need to hate each other. We can try to keep our little sandboxes separate, but we can play nice when we spill into each other, can't we?

I am really just so sick of the silly in-fighting. It costs zero dollars and zero energy to not be a dick. Need to type out a rant to get it out and off your chest? cool. But you can post it privately or delete it instead of going into peoples' ask boxes and and posts to be nasty. Not having the self control and wherewithal to not go out of your way to be a dick to people is honestly pretty pathetic. If you think you're so much better, prove it by being better, or being smug in your space. Making people feel like shit for a nonexistent fictional relationship does literally nothing for anyone and makes YOU look worse.

Dislike the ship all you want. No one cares either way. Just don't waste your limited time in this life making your distaste everyone else's problem.

[theallianceofcelestials]

Could we have a small drabble of ETD Ruin meeting SEA Mirror! Solar, and SEA Eclipse?

I feel as though the interactions might be intriguing.

I'm not gonna lie, I really love this concept.

So as set up, Eclipse and Solar know each other and are in shared custody between the two SEA fams, so they're technically brothers even if they don't refer to each other like that. And Ruin is already back on the mainland with his Eclipse, and they're living the life, but he's also taking over rigs still

"It's fascinating for me how much more you can handle. Me leaving this place was the best thing in my life"

Eclipse raises a brow, eyeing Solar quite obviously. The other animatronic scowls at him and punches his shoulder lightly. It's probably moreso because of his condition than any kindness towards Eclipse.

"Maybe you are just a snowflake"

"And you are a shortie, but you don't see me antagonizing you over it"

They glare at each other for a bit more, only to burst out into grins.

It's good to have someone to be a dick with

"But really, I could swear my experience with this place was cursed, what with getting torn apart and damaged and all that, but you seem to have it much bette-"

The floor disappears from under them, and the only reason he doesn't scream is because he's too busy grabbing at the damaged animatronic beside himself. With their luck the poor sod might just break his legs apart, and his Moon is terrifying.

The world breaks apart, rebuilding itself in rapid colours and sounds, and then they're landing with Eclipse taking the brunt of the impact.

He groans, wheezing when his technically brother pushes himself up on his stomach, and he doesn't exactly realise why the fucker is freezing at first. In this moment, all he knows is this piece of shit crushing him

And then something fleshy touches him, and he jumps, knocking Solar off of him.

When he turns to look, he freezes too. He doesn't know how, but some sort of primal fear overtakes him.

They're on some sort of oil rig, but that's not what has him start shaking. That would be the towering wall of glowing, pulsing flesh monstrosity that's crawling up towards the sky.

"What the fuck"

He barely hears the other animatronic beside him, too busy staring at this-this thing

"Eclipse- Eclipse it's moving!"

He snaps back to attention, noticing a tendril like thing that's too close to them raise itself, others following it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out they're going to grab them if they don't run

But where the fuck are they supposed to run? It's everywhere!

"My, oh my, I did not expect visitors to fall out of the sky!"

Is that fucking British?

"And especially not a version of my dearest treasure! Ah, but the other one with the pretty, rosey cheeks is also familiar!"

Wait a minute

"Ex-fucking-scuse me?!"

"What!?"

This thing, still in that same British accent, which might just give him malfunction on the spot, chuckles, and then from the tentacles a more animatronic like form manifests, one that reminds him of their family with its clothes. Only, this one doesn't really seem to want to know if he's a solar, or a lunar model

"How lucky can one be? Not one, but three Eclipses in the same world? I'm being spoiled!"

His brother shifts next to him in discomfort, and Eclipse bears his teeth in a grin. Mismatched red and blue eyes flash at it, especially when he stands up finally, towering over the much smaller avatar.

"Don't call him that"

The being's head tilts, and it holds its hands up in surrender.

"My apologies, what are you called then dear?"

"Why don't you start?"

That surprises it, but its face breaks out into delight, and it cackles. When it looks at him again, it's with a hungry look that makes his casing crawl

"You are feisty aren't you darling? But very well, my name is Ruin, and it's a pleasure to meet you"

That name doesn't spell anything good for them

"You seem to know my name pretty well"

Solar has since gotten to his feet, but Eclipse can see his knees are trembling, ready to give out at any moment. The fingers on his left hand seem to be spasming, and he winces in solidarity. That looks painful

"I'm Solar"

Ruin nods, continuing to eye them heatedly. He does seem to get himself back under control once he notices the same issues Eclipse is seeing. Something in his expression shifts to cold

"Is everything alright with you dear?"

"Just a malfunction"

One that's not going away. But this thing doesn't need to know that

"A malfunction caused by humans mayhaps? Are there people you need gone dear?"

Eclipse can't help it, he snorts. The horror's attention is on him immediately for it, but he doesn't care.

That just reminded him a bit too much of their family

"Like a human could tear him apart! Nah, it was something more like you.'

"Something... like me?"

"Yepp, anomalious, unexplainable for humanity, that sort of gist. Maybe not something exactly like you, don't have too much access to eldritch horrors, but close enough"

Glowed hands grab onto him for support, and he reaches up to give one a squeeze. Solar takes it as invitation to lean more on him, and he doesn't mind.

Even if he can feel a couple dents on himself, he's fine. He's had worse than a bad landing.

"Is that why you two seem so calm? You've seen something like me before?"

Ruin prowls closer to them, and Eclipse eyes him distrustfully. He doesn't trust the flirty attitude, the playful winks, the nothing. It honestly makes him want to gag.

"Buddy, my job is to study the anomalious. As was his before he moved into the wilderness with his family"

One of those tendrils sneaks closer to them, and he backs away. His claws are itching to exit their housing, ready to tear into soft flesh. He feels more on edge the longer they're here.

"Oh? That's interesting! Say, don't you want to... learn a bit more?"

He doesn't like how that world is emphasized. He doesn't like how that predatory look is back. He doesn't like any of this. His involuntary shudder of disgust is second only to Solar's.

"Ew, I'm not into that, thanks. Also, romance is not my thing"

"Same. You go have fun with yourself tho!"

And then Solar begins dragging him backwards, towards a door, and the eldritch horror lets it happen with an indulgent smile.

"Those are more than fine my dears! But I'm here if you want to study!"

Eclipse slams the door shut behind them, ignoring how they're still surrounded by those glowing tentacle-tendril things. At least whatever this is doesn't bring its avatar out again.

"So ugh, how likely it is that your family will get us soon?"

Given how it's shopping day today, how Moon fucked off to work on some invention and how Sun's doing the big cleaning right now-

"Almost zero"

Solar groans, flopping down uncaringly onto the floor, hiding his head against his knees.

Eclipse wholeheartedly agrees with his annoyance

[myfairkatiecat]

The Katielife Soap Opera™️

Here's the drama that's going on, all in the past 24 hours! I kid you not. 24. I almost said 48 but then did the math and realized it really was 24. This day will never end

Part 1: The Roommate Saga

Making this one short bc I've told you all about it, but long story short: my roommate in the first semester was seeing this ugly ass guy and she was on and off with him in this awful situationship. He ended up giving her mono (which he knew he had) and she still went back to him. Eventually she ended them for good--until she was drunk at a party last weekend! Okay but seriously they're done for good now.

Don't believe her? Yeah, neither did I. You can read all about it in my past roommate saga posts, which have been made. But now there's ANOTHER guy! I found out bc last night he slid a note under our door telling her to send him a cute pic! She spilled the tea and it turns out he's a player but he's cute so she's going for it anyway! Technically he's Christian, so she's like, "he doesn't break The Rule!" But... he's... he's a fuckboy... I am floored by her poor decision making.

Part 2: The Mr. Friendtoallwomen Saga

Mr. Friendtoallwomen has been making friends with a lot of women at this college. He's a genuinely nice guy and even made friends with me and my best friend. But here's the thing... he always has a crush on a new one of those women. He's always asking girls out. He hangs out with all these girls one on one. He's just desperate.

Desperate, but genuinely nice, so my friend doesn't want to STOP being friends with him.

Then it became increasingly obvious that he liked her.

And she began to catch feelings for him, but we all warned her it was a bad idea and she agreed. She eventually, after an agonizing week, managed to lose feelings for him.

He was being super touchy feely with her the other night, but then abruptly switched on the same night to being touchy with another of our friends. Afterwards, he told my best friend that he liked the other friend. (The other friend already had been asked out by him and rejected him.) My best friend cried about it before remembering that she didn't like him or want to date him.

Mr. Friendtoallwomen got stood up by the other girl, and is now back to liking my best friend. But my best friend has bigger problems now...

Part 3: The Urgent Care Saga

For you see, then my best friend got very very sick. Incredibly sick. Her roomate and I were incredibly worried about her (even her roomate, who is an overall terrible person and always mean to her, which is how you KNOW something is wrong). (Oh I should do a tea spill session on why we hate her roommate on another date.) So I went to get my car to take her to urgent care but found out my key was broken. Awesomesauce.

I have an old car with a manual key insert though, so it was ok and I was able to get my car working.

I take her to urgent care. We sit in the waiting room for 40 minutes while she's about to puke, trash talking the people working there in Spanish because they weren't doing their jobs? Like they just sat there gossipping while they had her id and insurance card.

She eventually gets in, sees a male doctor, the male doctor figures out she's on her period and dismisses her entire illness as symptoms of Being A Woman. When she pointed out that she had a fever, he considered that it could be an STD. She said no, it's not that, I'm not sexually active. He considers pregnancy. She again is like did you not just hear me. By the way, if you're wondering what her symptoms were and why he was assuming THAT had to be the cause? WHO KNOWS?! major nausea, involuntary shaking, fever, hot cold flashes, inability to move, fuzzy vision, wheezing, coughing up green chunks, and being unable to think definitely seem like your average womanhood symptoms.

He gave her some nausea meds, referred her to a gyn (????????) and sent her home. (???????????????????)

Part 4: The First Breakup Saga

Today, I get a text from a friend from home who said he broke up with his boyfriend. This was major news. The two of them have been dating for two years. Even worse, all of their friends are the same people.

Now, I knew their relationship wasn't going to work out. The guy I was friends with first just has some quirks about him that meant he and this other guy, who I also liked a lot and is a great person, were never going to be able to work out long term. It's complicated and I don't want to get into it, but I just knew.

I still felt awful for him, though. So when he needed someone to talk to, I was there for him and let him explain the story. Apparently the guy did it in a few text messages out of nowhere after a week of silence. A+ communication, folks. My friend said he's not even angry, he's just sad and still loves him. I jokingly told him to put on SOUR.

Basically, my friend was broken up with (for the exact reason I figured would happen) and I texted my family (who was close with these friends and who also were worried their relationship wouldn't work out) and told them it happened. I needed somewhere I could say "I'm glad they broke up sooner rather than later" without seeming insensitive, and that couldn't be my friend group. But I really did feel for my friends.

While I'm on this call, I get a text from my brother saying he wants advice on how to break up with his girlfriend.

Part 5: The Second Breakup Saga

I leave the call with my friend to talk to my brother. He's fifteen, he's in a great, healthy relationship with a girl he was close friends with, and I'm like, HELLO??? They were a fantastic relationship. They were good friends, grew closer and closer until they were obviously going to date, and then they started dating and everything was great.

And then my brother texts and basically says the same thing my friend's boyfriend said about their relationship. I was like, this cannot be happening.

I grilled my brother for reasons, making him articulate his feelings (he's a 15 year old boy. he's scared of emotions. I get it.) He basically says the vibes feel weird and he wants the friendship back. My heart is breaking for his girlfriend because they're so cute and sweet and she loves him so much, but I agree he shouldn't string her along, no matter how sad it is. So I tell him to not do it over text, and he agrees.

He wants to do it in person, but it isn't going to be an option, so we resolved he would do it over facetime and I coached him slightly on how to talk to her about it gently. I mention the breakup between my friend and his boyfriend.

My brother goes oh yeah, about that....

Part 6: The Accidentally Starting a Rumor Saga

Turns out, remember how I texted my family? Here I'll copy and paste that part: I texted my family (who was close with these friends and who also were worried their relationship wouldn't work out) and told them it happened. I needed somewhere I could say "I'm glad they broke up sooner rather than later" without seeming insensitive, and that couldn't be my friend group. Yeah so remember how that happened?

Turned out, my brother opened that message sequence while a mutual friend of us and the boyfriends who broke up was looking over his shoulder. That friend took the phone and read over the whole dang exchange, seeing me say that I was secretly glad it happened. It looked really really really bad.

He went into basically shock, because no one thought this couple was gonna break up (EXCEPT ME!!! BECAUSE I KNEW MY FRIEND REALLY REALLY WELL!!!!!) and he was really attatched to them both. He found out simultaneously that the two of them were officially over AND that I never believed in them in the first place! And now he's probably going to spread that around! Which is great!

I texted my friend to let him know that this happened and told him I was so sorry. Well... I told him about the "this guy found out by looking at my brother's texts" thing. I didn't tell him the whole "I never thought this relationship was going to work" thing, and I am PRAYING that doesn't get spread around. But this guy is in high school, and high schools are breeding grounds for atrocious rumors.

THIS WAS ALL IN 24 HOURS

THIS DAY WILL NEVER END