#that doesn’t mean the others forgive her by any means and those who cut her off still maintain that

[watchfuldeer]

last night i went to a really fun and informal fundraiser evening with jesse and lucy at westminster school, where they were interviewing each other. i got to ask a question which i’ve mused upon for some time about tom, shiv and greg. enjoy! full transcript under cut

Transcript

me: so i’m gonna have to look at what i wrote down.

jesse: that’s alright, you’re highly in credit since you know more about the show than us. more about john berryman.

(laughter)

lucy: tell us what we’ve done wrong so far!

me: god, no. i wouldn’t! so my question, this is a character based question, and one thing that probably got a bit subsumed in the fourth season just because everything was happening. but i’d like to know more about tom and shiv, and also greg. because my read on the situation between the three of them is that greg is a source of marital strife (laughter) that shiv never noticed, and what would it have taken for shiv to notice the depth of greg’s presence in their marriage.

jesse: uh huh.

me: and tom’s attachment to him.

jesse: uh huh. sometimes you get little bits in life or you see something and you’re like, i wish we were making the show, because i suddenly do want to hear shiv say ‘greg you’re a source of marital strife’.

(laughter)

jesse: that’s like, when you’re like, that’s gonna be in, we’re not gonna cut that.

lucy: absolutely.

jesse: (doing greg voice) wh-wh-what?!

(laughter)

lucy: yeah. well we enjoyed that, didn’t we. we had a scene in america decides, which was the only scene between shiv and greg.

jesse: oh yeah.

lucy: the election episode in the final season where she takes him into a little room and threatens him.

me: ah, but it’s jealousy over lukas, over the greg and lukas thing, and it’s like, have you forgotten your husband, who is also very attached to this limpet?

lucy: yeah. i would also say that there are marriages in which a third party is not an unuseful thing, as well. not in a forgiving way about infidelity, but i would say that there are things that tom can express with and at and on greg (laughter) as it were, to greg, that are useful because he’s both a - you know the great, the interesting thing about tom is that he’s both a courtier and a bully. he’s that rare combination of someone who you totally believe as being almost like (mimes bowing and doffing cap) ‘oh yes sorry thank you yes ma’am’ and also like, ‘i’m gonna kill you’ and that juxtaposition is what makes him so interesting.

but in his marriage to shiv he has no real way, until quite late i guess in the final season, where we explore it, to hold power over her and to use that part of himself. so he’s accepted the acquiescing, he’s accepted the role of courtier in that marriage, and greg is quite a useful place where he gets to express all of that, the bully in him so that maybe it doesn’t have to come out in the marriage. which might be bad, because perhaps it should do and then the marriage would’ve ended much earlier, yknow, when shiv would just be like ‘i’m not dealing with you challenging me in any way’. so it’s not until that balcony scene i think where he really challengers her much at all. possibly the beach scene, where he sort of says that he’s considered leaving her, and how that would feel. but with aggressive challenge? it’s all directed at greg, and greg is allowed to be the place where all those feelings go.

me: but the affection - there’s also affection between them.

jesse: YEAH. and i think that’s the other thing maybe you’re alluding to is like, she… i think, some things you know you’re putting in the show because you talk about them and other things just naturally occur, and audiences and people tell you what the show is and what you put in there and you didn’t even realise, but i think we were aware of this - she’s oblivious. her obliviousness is a big part of her wealth and her upbringing and… so there’s something homoerotic going on between greg and tom.

me: i mean it’s not for me to say.

(laughter)

jesse: and does she… i think there’s two ways of reading that, either she’s oblivious, and that’s intriguing and possible. the other is that she sort of - there’s a scene in, you know that one, in the sun valley media conference in argestes, where we wrote a bit where shiv shows up unexpected and tom’s sort of flirting with someone, and it never really landed that much. i think we were like, oh this really gonna, shiv’s gonna spark up when she sees him flirting with someone. and it’s one of those things where you were like, you know what? i don’t think she gives a hoot, really, does she.

(laughter)

jesse: it’s like, she hasn’t got that, that’s not in her belly, that fear of loss.

lucy: no.

jesse: so i think that goes, that probably goes for a same-sex relationship or flirtation as much as it does for with a woman.

lucy: i think that’s true.

jesse: like she really… even if he was like - and this is not the way that tom would be like - ‘i think i’d like to sleep with greg’, i think she’d be like (mimes looking at watch) ‘when?’.

(laughter)

jesse: (as shiv) ‘not when i’m in the city, that’s weird, tom’.

(laughter)

jesse: i don’t think she’d have any fundamental objection to that.

lucy: that’s true. i think jealousy is quite a low status emotion.

jesse: yes.

lucy: and i think that she would struggle to feel it.

(jesse laughs)

lucy: even if it was present in some way, she would never be able to access it because it would put her too much at a disadvantage. so i think yeah exactly that, it would be like, ‘oh i guess you’re going to fuck that boring woman now are you, tom’ or do that, like… she has to be here (mimes one hand above another hand) so jealousy can’t really be accessed by her. so she might be irritated by greg, but in the way you would be by a mosquito.

me: to her detriment.

lucy: to her detriment, sure, ultimately yeah.

[simp2537]

𝓗𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻

Twilight x Reader

When Charlie and Renee’s relationship was breaking the pair thought it’d be a good idea for them to have another child. However they couldn’t convince another child. So instead they chose to adopt a two year old little girl with a strange mark on his wrist. Bella was four when she met her new little sister. At first she didn’t like Y/n. She was always taking her dad’s attention.

Till one day Bella cut her knee on the sidewalk while playing. The first person that ran to her when she was hurt was Y/n. From that day forth Bella and Y/n were inseparable.

When Y/n was five her parents realized their marriage wasn’t working. Then they realized how smart Y/n was. Then two men from another country came and told Renee that they wanted Y/n to go to a special school for extraordinary children. They paid Renee and she sent Y/n off when she was five.

What happens when Y/n turns fifteenth and goes home. Will how different Y/n is change her life. Will the new being in her home change her.

Read and find out.

Jacob Black x Reader (romantic)

Y/n Bendis Swan

The Eclipse Hunter

“If you don’t take your hands off her you won’t have hands!”

“Sometimes memories are the worst kind of torture.”

“They say in a traitor, and maybe they’re right. Maybe they’re right but I know one thing. I did was needed to get done.”

“Don’t try to get inside my head, it’s too dark for even you.”

Edward Cullen

The Abomination 

“I know you don’t understand it but I love Bella more than you can ever understand!”

“Stand any closer to me and I won’t be able to hold back!”

“No…. I trust her anger and loyalty.”

“I wish I could kill you and be both know Bella would forgive me, I just wouldn’t be able to do it.”

“It’s just me Y/n, it’s just me, just me with you.”

Isabella Marie Swan

The Sister

“I really happy you’re home Y/n”

“I had a nightmare….”

“I love him! It doesn’t matter what anyone else says!”

“Why do you sacrifice so much for me, we both know I wouldn’t do the same.”

Charlie Swan

The Dad

“I missed you some much baby girl, I won’t lie it’s been lonely with you girls around.”

“Wait, so you mean to tell me you got all those scars from being clumsy? How dumb do you think I am Y/n?”

“Shh, I’m here now.”

“So you and Jacob. You’ll a thing are what? I don’t have to worry about you getting married at eighteen are you?”

Jacob Black

The Wolf, The Mate

“Y/N! You’re back!”

“So this whole time you knew and didn’t say anything. You could’ve kill my entire pack and never told me.”

“You own my heart! For all of eternity you own my heart!”

“Just breathe for me okay, don’t think about anything but me.”

Rosalie Hale

The Beauty

“You all understand that she could kill us all right!”

“Look I don’t hate you or anything you’re just dangerous. To others and yourself, oh that’s right don’t think I haven’t seen you drink. Look your personal business is none of my concern but I care about my family. If your a threat to my family….”

“Y/n don’t strain yourself, you’ll hurt yourself even worst.”

“I know I don’t say it often but I’m really glad you became my friend. I got really lucky to have a friend who’s kill for me without question.”

Alice Cullen

The Seer

“Hey! You’re Y/n right. I’ve heard about you from Edward.”

“They’re still undecided. that’s not good. I can’t tell if they want her dead or alive.”

“You look so pretty as bridesmaid!”

“I know it hurts but if you die Bella dies, and so will they! So fight!”

Jasper Hale

The Cowboy

“You smell really good better than Bella.”

“Okay sweetheart I wanna see you try and take me down.”

“No, no she can’t be, no. Alice tell me you’re joking.”

“I’m really glad you’re alive.”

Emmett Cullen

The Strong

“God girl, you really strong!”

“Guys! Y/n is the best drive ever and she’s younger than all of us.”

“You’re strong, you’ll be fine.”

“Hey kiddo, wanna hear how she beat my ass when she was fifteen.”

Esme Cullen

The Kind

“You’re really brave you know that. I don’t think anybody could’ve gone through what you did and still he so strong.”

“Do you want a snack? I have fruits?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I got you. Shh, shh, breathe.”

Carlisle Cullen

The Healer

“You know, I’m all my years of life I’ve never seen scars quite like yours. They’re unique, and different.”

“You listen to me, you can’t die. Bella wouldn’t be able to handle it, or Jacob, or anyone else! You live and come back from this!”

“You know you might not survive, with Bella linked to you and……. I just want you to know that you might die.”

“I really thought we’d lost you there.”

Damon Drakin

The Blood Hunter

“Oh come on Y/n, aim and shoot it’s not that hard!”

“I would die for you, and I know you’d die for me. So ready to go die.”

“War allows us to dress monsters up as saviors and many would say we are those monsters.”

“I’d kill a thousand slaves  before I’d let one man to make me his slave.”

Aeron Night

The Solar Hunter

“Men go to battle, women wage war and win.”

“This is gonna be a massacre.”

“They will take about this war for thousands of years. The great Eclipse Hunter, first women of her kind, fought glorious battles.”

“You can relax my friend, and greet the world with open arms.”

“I-I’m gla-d you’re my la-last sh-shad- shadow.”

Trigger Warnings: child abuse, depression, war, war crimes, imprisonment, torture, abuse, predatory behavior, anxiety, nightmares, suicidal thoughts, death  gore, murder, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, alcohol addiction, just heavy themes all around

The gif used above for Y/n doesn’t have anything to do with what she looks like. Y/n is you it is just for aesthetic purposes.

Prologue

[hibiscusol]

IVY - rafe cameron .⋆·˚ ༘ *

navigation ! masterlist

warnings: language and mentions of alcohol

summary: rafe came back after swearing he never would.

author's note: we are sooo back guys :]

The moment Rafe’s hand snaked up your waist after three years of no contact, your mind went full-blank.

You never thought that Rafe, of all people - who are you kidding, you always did - would come back one day after swearing on his dad that he never would.

It’s not like he ever really liked his dad anyway.

So as you turned around in shock to connect your drunk glossy eyes to his, it felt wrong. So wrong. Sarah had told you he’d found someone new. That he’d found a pretty blonde who looked better next to him. She’d never say it to your face, but the pictures you’d see on his account screamed it at you.

It took you a second to remember that he probably mistook you for her, and you take a step back, shaking your head quickly.

“Wait, Y/N,” He whispers, and even in the bustling crowd, it reaches you just fine. You wait and turn, feeling dizzy. “Excuse me?” You say, too stunned to make up any other words. You want to shove him away and scream at him, yet his fucking beautiful blue eyes hold you in place. 

“Can we talk? By my bike?” He says, inching a little closer so that his voice would reach you. His body towers over yours and the blue and purple lights dim a little.

“No?!” You say defensively, making it sound more like a question. “Who even are you?” You say jokingly, your freshly manicured hand landing on his shoulder and pushing him slightly away. He doesn’t resist. He takes a step back and puts his hands up in understanding. “Y/N. Please. I need to tell you some things I needed to tell you all those years ago.” 

You feel your eyes sting, and a tear rolls away. You instantly turn away from him to the backyard, looking at all the half-naked people in the pool, even though your eyes are getting blurry.

He doesn’t say anything. He knows you. He waits for you to turn around.

“Your drinking problem never went away, did it?” You finally manage, barely saying it without crying. Your voice breaks, but he doesn’t notice it with the loud sound of bass-boosted Travis Scott playing in the background.

“No, Y/N, I know I’m drunk. Which is probably why I’m not rethinking this. Just 5 minutes. Please.” He says, frowning. He sounds like he’s going to cry too.

“Isn’t she here?” You spit out, rolling your eyes. Your heart has never beaten so fast before. You believe him. It must’ve been a big deal if it’s still breaking him after three years. “I tried to make me and her work. She’s not you.” He says and your heart stops.

It fucking stops.

“Rafe, stop it. You’re being mean,” You say, raising your voice. You don’t want to believe him. You don’t want to believe all the tears you shed were for nothing. You don’t want to believe when Sarah told you herself that his brother sucked, you felt like the only person who understood yourself. You hated him, yet you loved him too. And you didn’t want to believe he was sorry. You wanted to get the closure and move on. But every day, you found yourself refusing to take the picture of you and him off your bedstand. Just in case this happened.

“Mean? Y/N, what are you saying? I…” He says and you interrupt. “No, Rafe, I’m not fucking falling for this again.” You say and shake your head. Your hands are feeling so empty. You want to grab his flesh, hug him, and tell him you forgive him. For ignoring your calls when things would be rough at home all those years ago. For getting wasted and coming home, yelling at you because his dad had cut his only source of income for his rich shit. You wanna tell him it’s okay, that he was 17 and you know he didn’t know life isn’t just about that. But you can’t. Because what if he doesn’t think that like you do? What if that girl is waiting for him to come back with her drink?

“For what? Baby, I…” His voice breaks again when he calls you baby, and your body stiffens. He sounds broken and you can’t help but put your hand on his shoulder. “Don’t call me that,” You say, making it sound like advice and not a threat. “You should leave, you’re not feeling okay. You’re out of your…” You say and he shakes his head. “No, Y/N, I’m not okay because you won’t let me talk to you. I didn’t want to ruin your night, I just… I have to tell you how I feel. I’ve bottled it up for too long.”

A tear rolls down your face, and he notices it. “Don’t cry, I’m… I’m sorry.” There you go. He’s said it. He’s sorry.

The magic word. It goes through your brain and every single cell, making you shiver. You nod involuntarily, wiping your tears away with the palm of your hand. “You’re crying too.” You say, looking down at the space between the two of you. He’s wearing the shoes you bought him for his 17th birthday.

“I am.” He says and sniffs, looking away. He chuckles to lighten the mood and lets out a sigh. “I’m sorry for everything. I was a kid and I didn’t realize what I was doing wrong. I know better now.” He says and nods repeatedly. 

“And I’m not with her. I… we didn’t even like each other like that. She once asked me if I was gay because of how uninterested I was.” He says and you laugh. The fact that something not even funny could sound funny coming out of his mouth makes you blush. He smiles from ear to ear when he hears your laugh. “I missed that laugh.” He whispers.

“So… do you forgive me?” He says and your smile disappears. “Wait, Y/N, don’t be like that. I’ve changed. I’ll change more. I’ll change however you want if it means I’ll have you again…”

“Okay, Rafe, I understand.” You say and nod. “I just… why three years? Where were you?” You say and rub your forehead.

He takes a deep breath and puts his drink down. He hesitates to cup your face, but then you give him the nod of permission, and he does. “Because I wasn’t in a good enough place to be with you. I wanted you to be with someone you truly deserved, even if it wasn’t me.”

The next few seconds happen before you can digest his words. His lips part and gently crash onto yours, making your breath get stuck in your throat. His head leans forward and his thumb caresses your jawline as you melt into him. You smile through the kiss and your arms snake around his neck, pulling him closer. 

He pulls away abruptly and you frown. “Wha…” You try to protest but he stops you. “As much as I would love to keep on kissing you and more, I’m not here for this tonight. I’m not too drunk to drive so let’s go under that one tree we always hung out under. Come on.” His words make you chuckle as he pulls on your hand through the crowd, leading you to his bike. No matter how intoxicated you both are, you feel safe with him for the first time, because you know he’s not the same person he was all those years ago.

[livwritesstuff]

Question- do Steve and Eddie (mostly Eddie) only do the fun, lighthearted pranks? Does Eddie ever try a “meaner” prank (i.e., “I hit your car with mine,” *waking from a dead sleep* “get up my boyfriend is coming,” ‘not saying I love you before leaving,’ etc.)? How does Steve (yes, he’s a therapist, but there’s still a trauma response because of what he went through) react to it?

I 100% think Eddie pulled some shit earlier in their relationship (like, pre-kids era) that he learned real quick not to repeat for the sake of his relationship with Steve (which he really does value, no matter how many of his behaviors might contradict that).

Like, maybe he once answered a phone call, and when Steve asked who it was (it was Robin), he said, “Oh, no one. Just my other boyfriend.”

(Robin just said, “Jesus fucking Christ, Eddie,” and hung up).

Steve did not appreciate that one at all, obviously.

I also feel like Eddie might have gotten somewhat lax about Hazel’s adoption (because it was their third go of it at that point and they already had her older sisters and they had the same judge as the last two, which made it basically a shoe-in in Eddie’s eyes, so he didn’t really feel like he needed to be all that checked-in), and maybe Will is learning how to use Photoshop for editing at the time, so Eddie sends him a picture of Hazel being tossed up into the air by Eddie and asks him to edit it to look like she’s way higher up than she actually is because, to him, that’s funny, and he thought Steve might find it funny too.

He turned out to be very incorrect. Steve was incredibly upset, and they ended up having a very long argument about it (because, in Steve’s opinion, that photo in the wrong hands meant game over for their adoption case, and he would never forgive Eddie if he did something to screw up the adoption).

As Eddie gets older, he finds the mean pranks less and less funny.

I feel like the only people who really find those meaner pranks funny are young people – kids and very young adults, so Hazel sees that leave without saying I love you trend on TikTok and doesn’t see any issue with it at all, but when she tries to convince Eddie to try it on Steve, he outright refuses.

“Oh c’mon,” Hazel goads, “I bet it’d be funny.”

“Nope,” Eddie replies, because he knows for a fact how that kind of thing cuts deeper for Steve than their kids realize, “Not doing it, Haze. Give it up already.”

[cameronspecial]

Assisting In Deception (Part 10)

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x Reader

Warnings: Sexual Jokes

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 4.1K 

Summary: Can Rafe do whatever he can to get his happily ever after with Y/N?

A/N: This is the final part and I hope you enjoy it! I am going to miss writing for these two because I love their dynamic.

Masterlist

The news had gotten out, not only about Y/N and Rafe’s break up but also about their relationship being only for the media and wedding. A lower-level lawyer at Cameron Development had found their contract and after the breakup was made public by someone at the company, she thought it was a good time for a payday. In true media fashion, Y/N was crucified for being a whore and materialistic, while Rafe was praised for being such a great boyfriend to her even when the relationship was fake. The double standard bothers Rafe way more than it did Y/N. She has finally learned not to take anything to heart. Rafe on the other hand knows how much those labels sunk into her skin, especially since he called her those exact same things. He has done every single possible interview he could to clear her name, but no outlet would really listen to his words. 

Not to mention, his father’s anger just adds to his feeling of guilt. Ward screamed about how Rafe could treat her that way and he should’ve made the relationship real as soon as he knew he was falling for her. Ward wasn’t upset at the lie; instead, his feelings were more focused on the fact that his son had let love go.

Rafe is going to get her back though and this is the only thing he has ever been a hundred percent sure about in his entire life. The long days without the refreshing smell of strawberry shampoo and the long nights without the soft whispers from her sleeping lips are driving him insane. Every morning and night he reaches out to pull her into his warmth, always being left empty-handed. 

He thinks of a thousand ways to make it up to her, but he doesn’t know what to do. He decides to go to the one person who he knows could help him with her. “Juni, please talk to me. I need your help,” he begs, wedging his foot between the door and its frame to stop it from shutting in his face. The shorter girl shakes her head, “She is very angry at you. I don’t know what I can do for you. We both know she doesn’t mess around and that’s exactly what you did, Big C” His eyes flicker to the carpeted floors of the hallway, dragging his left foot back and forth across it. “You don’t need to think about anything. I just need you to send her food every week. I’ll give you my card number so you can charge it to me because I know she won’t take it if I put my name on it,” he states. His hand reaches into his pocket to pull out his card. Her head tilts and her eyebrows frow together to become one.

“If this is about getting her back, then what’s the point of sending her the food without your name?” 

“It’s not about her forgiving me or taking me back. I just want to make sure that she can still eat out. I know she’ll get frugal about her money while she is figuring out a new budget with her new income and she won’t factor in getting take-out into her budget until everything else is taken care of. Her accountant degree will definitely kick in.” 

“That’s really sweet. And I know what you mean, she’s already started cutting her own expenses on groceries. I’ve never seen her go more than a day without having coffee from the shop downstairs. It’s weird.” 

“Exactly, so do it for me, please. I just want her to be happy and cared for.”

“Fine, you are lucky that I was rooting for you guys.” 

“Thank you! Thank you so much! Let me know if you guys need anything else, okay? Nothing is too big.” 

“I know Y/N needs a trip to Cabo, but under my name.” 

He gives her a playful smile with the tilt of his head. She shrugs, “I tried. Let me know if you need any help with your plan.” Rafe nods at her offer. “I will. Thank you again,” he says, walking away from the apartment after their goodbyes. 

——

Y/N sits at her desk looking at the number on her screen. They start to merge together and she wants to bang her head against the wall. She got a job as an accountant’s assistant and she is not exactly thrilled with it, but it made the most sense because of her degree. She needed a job and she didn’t have the time to try to figure out what is the right career for her. Her boss has gone to lunch but needed her to stay behind to finish up this budget. 

The noise from the door draws her focus to Lydia, the secretary for the office. Nutmeg and parsley fill the room with its aroma. Her mouth salivates as it smells exactly like her favourite creamy mushroom gnocchi. The brown bag with a familiar logo sits in Lydia’s hand. “A delivery guy brought this over. Said it was from Juni,” she explains, placing it on her desk before exiting. Y/N grins at the bag and her hands draw together near her chest. Her shoulders sway from side to side in a little dance. She opens the bag, letting the food overwhelm her senses. With her phone in hand, she takes a selfie of herself hovering over the food and sends it to Juni with a thank you. The food hits her taste buds and she wants to melt as the creamy goodness settles in. 

——

“Sir, all of your meetings, appointments and business dinners are on your calendar. I took the liberty of decolour-coding the calendar and rearranged it in a manner that each happens in the same time frame every day. It makes more sense like that. All your meetings are arranged in the afternoon. Appointments in the mornings. And obviously the business dinners in the evening,” Ricardo debriefs, showing Rafe with his tablet what he meant. Rafe isn’t too pleased that Ricardo changed Y/N’s system, but he knows it’s because he is holding on to any piece of her he can. It isn’t Ricardo’s fault that she left. Rafe acknowledges he heard his assistant, “Okay, sounds good. Thank you. You may go back to your desk now.” 

Ricardo does as he is told and heads to his desk. The ding from Rafe’s phone immediately attracts his attention. He scrambles to pull it out of his pocket and opens the text from Juni. The screenshot she sent makes the clock stop spinning for just a second. The smile on Y/N’s face is enchanting and he wishes he saw the little dance he knew she did after taking the food out. He sends a thank you back and practically begs her to send him the actual photo so that he can save it to his camera roll. Once she does, he lets out a sigh of happiness. This is who he is trying to fight to get back. 

——

How do you make up for pushing your not-real girlfriend, but the girl you are totally in love with, away is not a Google search that has a lot of results. Something big and grand would scare her away. Something small and intimate doesn’t feel like enough. And there really isn’t a middle ground when it comes to gestures. He always defaults to food, so he wants to do something different from his norm. The sounds of his socked feet dragging against the hardwood floor bounce off of the walls as he paces the room. His head darts to the space over his bed and he stops. He takes in the painting he bought from Nancy. Each stroke comes together to show the emotions he felt at that moment and he knows the perfect way to prove to Y/N what he feels for her. 

——

When she opens the door, Nancy isn’t expecting to see her sister’s fake ex-boyfriend standing behind it. “What do you want?” she growls, crossing her arms. It is clear that her crush on him is gone with the way he upset Y/N. He looks at her with pleading eyes, “Hey Little Artist, I need your help. Please.” Her cheeks start to redden, but he can tell that it isn’t because of embarrassment or her small crush. 

“Why should I help you? You called my sister a gold digger. Do you know how much she is hurting right now? If anything I should be trying to figure out how to hide your body.”

“I know. I’m sorry that I hurt her and I want to tell her this too. I just need your help with how I execute this apology.”

“Well, I don’t want to.”

“Little Artist, please. I love your sister so much and I can’t handle knowing that I’ve made her feel bad about herself. I just want to apologize and show her her worth again. If she tells me to get lost after I do, then I promise she will never hear or see me again. I just want her to be happy.”

Nancy looks him in the eyes and her anger lessens at what she sees. Rafe is practically in tears at the thought of what he has done. His words have really hit home for her. “Fine, I’ll help you. But you are buying me food.” 

“Wow, you really do take after your sister.” 

——

Nancy watches over his shoulder as he sketches onto the canvas. The look she makes at the outline causes him to turn towards him. “What did I do wrong?” he asks, immediately erasing the mark he just made. Her hand stops his movement, “No, it’s not that. It’s just that this is great and all, but you aren’t capturing anything deep. I don’t feel the emotion you are trying to convey right now. Just make sure when you are painting to try to bring what you are trying to say to life. But don’t worry about it for now.” He takes in her advice and keeps doing what he is told. 

The next day he starts painting. He is a lot more nervous about making the first mark than he thought he would be. “Would you stop being a big baby and just start?” Nancy complains, trying to push the paintbrush in his hand onto the canvas. His strength halts her attempt, “No, I can’t. I have to make this perfect, Little Artist. I need to show your sister how sorry I am.” “Trying to make it perfect isn’t going to work. The raw emotion you put into it is what is going to make it perfect. So turn your brain off and start,” she commands. She goes over to her own canvas to do some work. He takes a deep breath and takes a leap of fate in himself by completing the first stroke. 

——

For weeks, Juni has been sending Y/N food every single day at the office. Y/N has tried to tell her that leftovers are okay to eat for lunch, but she doesn’t appear to listen. Y/N questioned how Juni could’ve gotten the money and was met with the promise that her work has added a lunch plan for two in her contract. This doesn’t sound any bit true to Y/N, but she goes along with the lie. The headphones over her ears make her oblivious to the world around her. She opens the door to the dark apartment, grooving to the music. The routine she moves through when she gets home goes smoothly until she gets to her bedroom. 

The thin large square package leaning against her bed is not a part of that routine. She approaches the gift, looking for any indication of who sent it or how it got into her room. Her first thought is to ask Juni if she knows anything and is met with the answer to her question. You got a package this morning when you left. I brought it into your room, Sweetie. This eases her worry that someone has broken into her room. She puts her purse away and starts tearing into the wrapping paper. The painting she finds brings tears to her eyes. Years of living with Nancy means Y/N knows a little bit about painting, so she knows the technique is nowhere near perfect. Yet, the meaning it is trying to convey is clear to the woman. She can feel the emotion he felt while he painted it. There could only be one person who made this for her. 

The subject of the painting: her, specifically from a picture of her when they went to Greece. They had found a little cafe near the beach and she was completely in love with the saragli and baklava he bought her. She was too occupied enjoying the nutty and sticky pastry to notice him taking her picture. The painting isn’t a good likeness to her. Her nose is a little too close to her lips and her eyes are wider apart than in actuality, but the lighting tells her everything she needs to know. She remembers the picture vividly and knows that it isn’t accurate to the day. Instead, the light paints her in a golden light that makes her look ethereal. The love he feels for her comes across with every golden stroke on the canvas. Her anger starts to vanish. 

She doesn’t know how she knows, but she heads to the front door. Y/N opens the door to find Rafe waiting with bubble tea in his hand. “The painting was amazing. It doesn’t make up for what you said though,” she comments, moving out of the way for him to come in. He does and sets the drinks on the kitchen island, “I know. I was hoping the bubble tea would make up for the rest of it.” 

“You and I both know that’s not what I am waiting for, Boss.”

“I know… I’m sorry, Butterfly. I have never thought that you were a gold digger. I was hurting because I didn’t like seeing you with another guy.”

“Just because you are hurting, it doesn’t mean you get to hurt me.” 

“That’s true. And I want to prove to you that I don’t truly think those things. But I’m going to have to be around you for that to happen. So if you feel the same way about me as I think you do, then please let me back into your life. I missed your excited squeals about food or watching you play with Dax. He misses you too you know.” 

“I miss him too. I just don’t know if I’m ready to forgive you.” 

He steps toward her, reaching for her hand. His fingertips graze hers before she lets his large hand envelop hers. His lips brush the shell of her ear, “I am prepared to wait for eternity to get you back.” Her eyebrows form a caterpillar as she gives him a trying look. “What if it takes an eternity and one day?” she pushes. His other arm pulls her flush against his chest by the waist, “I’d beg on my knees an eternity and a hundred days if you want.” “On your knees, huh? How about on your knees between my thighs?” Y/N whispers, lips ghosting his. She can basically feel his lips on hers. “I thought I was apologizing to you? But I’ll be on my knees between wherever you want. So, are we going to give me another chance?” 

“I think I have to think about it.” 

He chuckles at her playful tone, “Well, I hope you don’t mind me doing this.” She takes the lead and brings his lips to hers. Their lips move in tandem like a well-oiled machine. Her hands twist in his hair and he plays with the bottom of hers. This is where they are meant to be. She is who he is meant to be with. 

——

A year. A year of bliss as her official boyfriend. Although Rafe likes to count the time they spent faking dating as the start of their relationship, he knows Y/N likes the beginning of their relationship to be the day she found his painting in her room. She believes it’s more romantic that way. Now, she’s spent the last six months living in his apartment with him. He gets to wake up every day with her and go to sleep beside her every night. 

After they got together, Y/N didn’t go back to work for him and he completely understood why. She wanted to find someplace for herself in the world, which she did. Her love of food turned into an Instagram account reviewing different places around the city. It’s grown quite the following, but nothing so great that she would quit her job as an assistant accountant. Rafe insisted that he would take care of her while she pursued this passion, but ever the planner she is, she said that she wants a steady income to make some savings for herself first. Plus, accounting is a little more bearable when she can devour delicious food for money after work. 

Y/N is away at a work conference for the week and the empty house makes Rafe feel a little lonely. Dax keeps him company, but waking up the first day she is away is normally the hardest for him. Over the last six months of living together, they have grown into a well-synced routine with each other that is currently broken. Rafe would normally wake up earlier than needed so they could get ready for work together and he could drive her to her office before he gets to work himself. He tried offering to buy her a car, but she is very keen on saving up for one herself and he is not about to take away her independence. He sadly walks to the bathroom, getting ready to brush his teeth by himself. His hand reaches for the toothbrush and is met with the sound of paper rustling against his finger. He looks down to see a Post-it note on his toothbrush: I’m sorry I had to go away for work, but I love you, always, Boss. He smiles at the little note and feels his mood start to lift immediately. 

The next note he finds is in his car. The sun was in his eyes while he was getting ready to pull out of the parking spot, so he put down the sun visor, only for a small paper square to float down onto his lap. Did you know that 90% of drivers sing behind the wheel? So sing your heart out to Call Me Maybe, Boss. He loves it when she gives him random facts. He opens his phone case so he can keep it safe to put it with all the others. He’s kept every single Post-it note she has ever written for him, even the ones she wrote when she started as his assistant. 

By the third note, he guesses that the rest of the time that Y/N is away he is just going to be finding them everywhere. Ricardo walks in like he normally does every morning to give him a detailed rundown of his day. “The last thing of note is that Ms. Y/L/N has ordered me to give you this today,” Ricardo finishes, handing Rafe a blue piece of paper. He waits for Ricardo to leave before reading it. What do you call a butterfly that can fly faster than any other butterfly? A betterfly. He laughs at the horrible joke and texts her the laughing emoji. He knows she’ll know why without any context. He waits for a response and receives the kissy face emoji. 

He gets home from work and is getting ready to feed Dax when he finds the next one. He doesn’t know how he didn’t notice the note sticking to the jar when he fed Dax this morning but he shrugs it off. Confusion crosses his face when he reads it though. Hi Daddy, Mommy wanted to let you know that I’m not going to be an only child soon. Love, Dax. Why in the world would Dax not be an only child soon? Is this her way of telling him she is adopting another dog? Dax whines for the food and snaps him out of his thoughts. He’ll just have to call her later to ask. 

The phone call he plans to make gets quickly forgotten and he is watching TV at the moment. However, Dax’s scratching at one of the guest bedroom doors removes Rafe from the couch. He goes upstairs to see what is going on, opening the door to see what Dax wants. The dog immediately enters the room and hops on the bed to his favourite chew toy that has somehow got in there. He heads over to take the toy into the living room so he can keep an eye on Dax. He stops at the contrast of the bright pink sticky notes against the light gray sheets. “Huh, why would mommy leave a note here? We never go in here,” he asks the occupied dog. Rafe takes a second and remembers the last time this room was used. It was the first-night Y/N had ever stayed over at his house. His hand hesitantly picks up the note and this time he isn’t met with words but a drawing.

The drawing is of a woman without a clear view of her face because her hair is blocking it. She is looking down at her round belly with her hands placed lovingly on it. Rafe’s first thought is that there is no way Y/N drew this because she can barely draw stick figures this well. Then the dots start to connect. The note before this one. The complaints that her favourite foods are repulsing her. The crying at every animal commercial. The little belly weight she gained that he just chalked up to being because he read in one article that the extra weight gained at the beginning of a new relationship means they are happy and he isn’t displeased by that fact. His happiness quickly turns to upset that she isn’t here to celebrate the news with her.

His hands clumsily fish for his phone in his pocket and he goes to dial her number. When the ringing comes from behind, he freezes all movement. He slowly turns around to see her standing with a massive grin on her face. His phone drops to the floor and he doesn’t care that a massive crack noise sounds throughout the room. He runs to her, taking her into his arms. He lifts her up from the ground and spins her in excitement. Her giggles send pure joy through him. “We are having a baby!” he exclaims, finally letting her two feet find the ground again. She takes his chin into her hand so she can look into his eyes, “We are.” 

“I can’t believe it. We have so much to do. I have to go to the store so we can repaint this room. Actually, we should hire someone to paint a mural. And we have to pick out the crib, a new dresser, a diaper gen-”

“Woah, woah, woah, Boss. Slow down a little. The baby isn’t coming for another nine months. And I thought I was supposed to be the planner.”

“You are right. I’m just really excited. I literally just found out about them and they are just the size of like a pea, but I already love them as much as I love their mommy. I can’t help it.” 

“I love you too and I can’t wait to meet them too.” 

The couple takes a moment to just look at each other in their eyes, conveying all their emotions and thoughts. The baby was not planned, but it is clear to both of them that the baby is still very much wanted. They smile at this communication and kiss each other for the first time since she got home. For once in her life, Y/N Y/L/N took a chance on love and look where she is now. She never looked back on that decision to let go of her fear of commitment because it led her to not only her first love of her life but to her second one as well. 

Taglist: @loves0phelia @thelomlisrafecameron @wickedlovely121 @aprilrudgate @loving-and-dreaming @thepatriarchykeychain @maybankslover @abbybarnesstuff @wh0reforbucknasty @spencereidbasis @drewsmusee @starkowswife @mskezza @h34rtsformilli @ijustwanttoreadlols @forstarkey @f4ll-for-you @bellbottombaby @jaydaaasworld

[badfictropes]

Danny/Dani and Clark/Conner

(Warning: This is just my opinions and while I would love to hear other thoughts please be polite in your comments.)

Now I want to start by saying I don’t think Clark is wrong in feeling the way he does about Conner and about not wanting to be a father to him. But the way he dealt with and expressed those feelings is my problem. The way Clark treats Conner as if he isn't a real person with emotions and feelings and refuses to acknowledge Conner's personhood is fucked up.

Clark doesn’t want to be Conner’s father and while this is deeply unfair for Conner and will no doubt leave a scar it would be far worse to try and force Conner on Clark, I don’t doubt Clark will not be able to be the parent Conner needs.(Side note:does Lois or Clark’s parents ever find out about Conner in canon?) In DpxDc fics and prompts the JL trying to force Clark to play daddy is not going to do any good for Connor or for Clark. Clark does not see Conner as his own person/a person at all; all Clark sees is evidence of his violation and while this sucks for Conner forcing the two together isn’t going to help.

I read one DpxDc fic where Clark got therapy about this(Side note: this fic also pointed out how unethical it is to have a therapist that not only works under you but is also your personal friend ie Dinah. A lot of fics have her as not only the JL’s counselor but individual teammates personal therapist which just can’t be ethical.) and his therapist pointed out that Clark talks about Conner worse than he does Lex who actually violated his consent. I thought this was a very good point and definitely something Clark needs to think about. How is his opinion of Conner(who is the innocent and also a victim in this) worse than his one of Lex?.

Now for the Dp side. I personally am a fan of Danny being a mom(gender-neutral) to Dani(and Dan) and it’s my top 3 favorite Dp tropes but I know not everyone prefers it. While I imagine that after everything was over the full force of his violation at Vlad’s hands hit him I don’t think Danny ever wished Dani didn’t exist at all, I don’t think it ever even occurred to him to think that way. I could see him wishing the circumstances around her existence was different(after all Neverborne are a thing and it would be just like Danny to make one by accident) but he could never regret Her no matter how she got here. I’ve seen people mention that Dani manipulated and betrayed Danny and I’m just like while Dani has Danny’s memories she was literally created a few months ago cut her some slack, Dani was also being manipulated and used and Danny knows that he understands that; it why he not only helped her but forgave her. And I know people are going to be like forgiving someone is not that easy or quick but sometimes it is especially when your not even 18 and full set in your stubborn mindset and when your an empath like most people hc ghost to be(a little hard to stay mad for long when you can literally feel someone’s regret and remorse, it doesn’t hurt Danny no doubt saw Dani as someone smaller and weaker that needed his help and protection.)

Onto DpxDc. Now I think Danny would be sympathetic to Clark’s feelings and circumstances but I think his sympathy would end when he hears/witnesses how Clark treats Conner. Clark’s feelings are valid but how he deal with/expresses those feelings are not. Clark is a grown ass man and should know better than to take out his anger and pain on a child(Side note: Do you think Clark wouldn’t be as cruel to Conner or that the JL would be more intolerant of Clark’s behavior towards Conner if Conner was younger/a baby?). Danny would find Clark’s treatment/opinion of Conner deplorable after all Neverborn/Mirror born are precious no matter how they came to be and while it understandable Clark can’t be a parent to Conner that doesn’t mean someone shouldn’t be. Conner deserves to have a parent, a family that loves and cares about him; he deserves to be treated his own person and choose how he wants to live his life(not just be a hero) and since he won’t get that from Clark, the JL should find him a good foster parent he can get that from.

So in conclusion I think Danny would be sympathetic and understand of Clark’s circumstances until he sees Clark’s treatment of Conner/hears his opinin of Conner and then the sympathy is over; Danny will then focus on Conner and helping him/helping to figure out what’s best for him.

[demigod-shenanigans]

"I can go into why i dislike ToA (especially Tyrant's Tomb is. a book that exists) but box of pandora. Once open good luck shutting me up" (source: your tags)

Now that you said that, i'm geniunely curious. Open the box. I dare you

This should be obvious but @ the people who really enjoyed ToA, this post is not for you. I’m not sure I’ll even tag it because this is mostly me venting into the void because two people asked and not me wanting to ruin other people’s fun. These are just my personal opinions.

I also apologize if I get any details wrong, I did recheck a lot of the things mentioned but it’s been a minute since I read ToA and might not remember everything 100% correctly. Also, obvious spoiler warning.

*claps hands together* Okay, you asked for this but heads up, it’s going to be long. Maybe grab a snack and a glass of water beforehand.

My beef with ToA can be summarized into a few key points that I’ll elaborate on below but basically:

-It tries to wrap up character arcs for some of the seven (and Reyna) but does this through the eyes of someone with zero context and also treats these characters arcs as unimportant footnotes in the larger story

-Jason’s death and everything surrounding it was handled extremely poorly.

-I cannot remember any demigods staying mad at Apollo. Redemption arcs should not mean everyone has to forgive this character for all the shit they’ve done in the past.

-The death toll. This is not helped by the fact that a lot of the deaths feel like they exist solely for the purpose of making Apollo learn death sucks over and over again (Jason is the worst example of this, but there are others)

More grievances I have but don’t have enough to say about to justify a longer explanation:

-There are a whole bunch of new minor characters on top of the old ones already struggling for screen time. I don’t remember much about any of them, which is a shame because the idea behind some of them is really compelling.

-The story is centered around the Triumvirate as antagonists, with Python as a final boss, but book four just dumps an additional antagonist on you out of nowhere? Why?

-Reyna rejecting Apollo is nice and all but I still had to put up with him crushing on her and was very uncomfortable the whole time.

-Chiron sends a bunch of new demigods into what’s potentially a death battle and tells them it’s a fun field trip (what the fuck)

-This is a personal grievance more than anything but it took me ages (book five) until I really got attached to Meg. I feel like that could have been fixed if she at least got a few POV chapters.

-Dishonorable mention to the punch line joke. Two whole camps of people lining up to hit the canonically abused kid that saved them is not funny.

Details under the cut (Pandora’s box, I did warn you)

Character arcs:

The books really do try to tell meaningful stories for people whose arcs weren’t finished in Heroes of Olympus. With some of them, you can even tell the ideas behind wrapping up those arcs were solid. But the books also tells those stories through the eyes of a character who doesn’t know these people’s pasts and quite frankly doesn’t care a lot of the time. People will voice/do something that is huge for their character and instead of going into that it’s followed up with some random Apollo anecdote that’s only tangentially related at best.

Taking Leo as an example: Apollo has no idea why Leo settling down and finding a home somewhere after everything he’s been through is meaningful. That’s a story that could have been the focus of an entire book of its own, but instead it’s just a side plot to a completely different story. And that story really should have been told through Leo’s eyes, or at least through the eyes of someone like Jason or Piper who realize why this is huge for him.

Apollo also does not care why Leo and Calypso are fighting, so it’s not something that’s properly explored. Leo’s fights with Calypso are mainly mentioned/witnessed. You get some guesses as to how they started but they never mention the exact reasons. They both say they care about each other, but only to Apollo, when the other person isn’t present. When they sort things out it happens largely off-screen. I was also not a fan of the way many of their issues ended up being pinned on Leo being sexist when it was actually way more than that.

ToA does this a lot. It gives arcs to characters who honestly deserved to be explored more, but those arcs are barely footnotes in a larger story where these characters just cameo for a hundred or so pages.

The cameo stuff works okay for Percy and Solangelo because the books are very aware they’re cameos and they get to have fun but this is not their story. But the characters the series tries to give proper plots to are all over the place.

It’s said that Jason and Thalia are really close but they never interact in the books. Jason had a bit of a chance at a normal life finally but that’s barely gone into. (More on Jason later because my god did how the books handled him piss me off massively)

Piper’s struggles with her queerness get the random Apollo anecdote treatment. There’s some stuff about her reconnecting with her dad and her heritage but that’s not explored a ton either.

Frank’s firewood burns up and he’s fine, which is just sort of hand-waved and doesn’t feel meaningful, especially because I think the fireproof pouch was already a fine solution? Congrats on being free of this, now you can get stabbed to death like all the other characters, I guess.

Reyna gets a sort of arc but it feels really weird because it happens almost entirely off-screen. She spends a large fraction of the book chiding Lavinia for leaving her post, then gets her leg broken, is off-screen for a while and then just DIPS with the Hunters after her home suffered huge casualties.

I also think her joining the Hunters is a super lame way to resolve her arc in general (she just lays down one responsibility to sign up for the next, and a character not wanting romance/not wanting romance right now should be allowed to exist without having to join the eternal maiden’s club, but that problem isn’t isolated to Reyna and could honestly be a whole post of its own)

This also comes down to the fact that I’m here mainly for the demigods. I care about these kids having good arcs and good lives. I care significantly less about Apollo having to learn really obvious shit like “murdering my pregnant girlfriend was perhaps a little messed up”

Jason’s death and everything surrounding it

Killing off a major character (especially one whose arc isn’t finished) can be a plot twist that works at times. But it has to be handled well. Doing it to a character that’s suffered horrifically and is starting to heal is also a hugely shitty move, but I understand you want meaningful deaths for the plot sometimes.

But you cannot do it the way Rick did it with Jason’s death. If he was going to kill off one of the seven, he should have done it in Heroes of Olympus, with that character narrating and their friends getting to deal with the aftermath and grieve.

Instead, Jason dies in a book that he appears in for like. A hundred pages iirc? Two-hundred at most? You get Apollo narration on it, and sure, he’s big sad about it, but he also knew this guy for two days.

Piper gets a few pages to deal with his death, then disappears from the book and comes back for a heroic rescue later. Leo gets like two pages to deal with the fact that his best friend is dead. They then proceed to fuck off to Oklahoma instead of going to the funeral. For what reason? No idea. The book doesn’t bother to explain it.

Jason gets a Camp Jupiter funeral, with none of his Camp Half-Blood friends present, because fuck the fact that him belonging to both camps was a huge part of his arc, right?

Piper and Leo know Jason is dead but they cannot be there because they’d already used up their time as ToA side characters, I guess. Percy and Annabeth can’t come, they don’t find out due to demigod communication issues until the end of the series. Thalia also doesn’t get to go to her brother’s funeral. She doesn’t find out until the funeral is already over. We don’t even really get to see her grieving, her finding out Jason died happens off-screen too.

Because this is the Apollo show, Apollo is the guy who leads the funeral procession instead of, like, Reyna, who knew Jason for years.

Also, for some reason, the person avenging Jason is Frank? Absolutely no offense to Frank, he’s a great guy and I’m sure he cared about Jason, but that choice still feels deeply comedic considering I can remember exactly one meaningful interaction him and Jason had in HoO (Jason giving Frank praetor position at the end of HoH) and not a single conversation they had beyond that. If Rick had to write Leo and Piper out of the plot, why not at least have Reyna avenge him?

Jason dies specifically because Apollo broke a stupid oath he made on the River Styx. We’re told that people around him will keep dying because of this. He dies as a chess piece in a stupid game between gods, for the sake of Apollo’s character development. He dies so he can be brought up every hundred pages for Apollo to waffle about how sad his death was but how he’d also definitely not want to be brought back (I get it, we cannot revive people constantly, but having Apollo make this point when, again, he knew the guy for two days, is still really stupid. Nico also gets to make the same point at the end just in case the reader didn’t understand before that we’re not bringing Jason back)

Apollo is forgiven by everyone

Related to the above point. Like I said, we’re outright told that Jason dying is a direct consequence of Apollo’s oath. Apollo also knew taking them along on the mission would get Jason or Piper killed and he did it anyway.

Piper gets to be mad at him very briefly, but when he tries to apologize at the end of the book, she interrupts him and tells him “it’s fine” (her voice is described as “no anger, just natural heat”)

Thalia doesn’t get to be mad at him at all. Her baby brother died and she just pats Apollo on the back and tells him “it’s fine, Jason made his own choices. That’s what heroes do.” And then it’s made about how Artemis lost Apollo when he got transformed into a human instead of. Like. The fact that Thalia just lost her baby brother for the second time in her life.

IT’S FINE?? THAT’S ALL ANYONE HAS TO SAY ABOUT THIS??

Hell, Apollo even has a sort of dream hallucination of Jason’s ghost so that ghost can forgive him too.

Was that really necessary? Why do people think that a character learning to be better means absolutely everyone has to forgive them? Wouldn’t it have been a better sticking point for a god to learn people are allowed to stay mad at you?

The death toll

A lot of people die in these books. People dying in pjo books has always been a thing, but it’s never felt this pointless or this much like it was solely happening for a single person’s character development.

Jason is the most pointed example of this, but there are more. Starting with the fact that two of Apollo’s kids almost get torched in front of his face in the first book (Austin and Kayla) and somehow that is not a sticking point. I don’t think it’s ever brought up again afterwards.

Other characters that die so Apollo can learn death sucks:

-Several Dryads die saving the grove of Dodonna

-Heloise the Griffin

-One random unnamed demigod in Dark Prophecy (mentioning them because that’s where it occurs to Apollo demigod deaths also suck)

-Money Maker (Dryad)

-Crest

-Harpocrates and the Sybil of Cumae

The death toll in Tyrant’s Tomb is completely ridiculous. Like, “feels worse than Last Olympian despite not even being the final battle”-ridiculous. And unlike how Percy at least gets to use that tragic battle to change things in a fundamental way, the Camp Jupiter demigods don’t win anything significant. Their home is only almost completely destroyed. Some of them aren’t dead. That’s it.

If you remember the name of any side character Camp Jupiter demigod from HoO, there’s a very high chance they die in this book.

We don’t get exact numbers for how many people die. The book actually explicitly refuses to give numbers, stating “We didn’t count the dead. They weren’t numbers. They were people we had know, friends we had fought with.” (Which gets even more ironic due to the fact that, again, we barely have any named CJ demigods to begin with)

The closest thing we get to numbers are that 25 demigod members of the legion died in the battle before the book started, and towards the end there are fourteen total demigods still standing of the first to third cohort combined. Even if half the missing demigods are “just” so severely wounded that they can’t fight anymore, that’s still 60 dead kids! The pre-book battle was mentioned to have been hardest on the civilians. We don’t know how many of them died, and losses among the fourth and fifth cohort are also unknown, but that is a ridiculous amount of losses. Why are there so many dead kids in this book and why are we all just supposed to be okay with this?

Jupiter explicitly forbids the other gods to intervene. The only one who does is Diana, after an offering, and she takes her sweet time to get there. That camp is named after the guy! That’s people’s kids down there! I know the gods not helping their kids isn’t exactly new, but this is on a whole other level.

There are funerals but those are largely skipped over, and Frank announces that they’ll resolve this by asking Lupa to bring in more demigods so they’ll come back stronger, which. Baffling statement. Let’s just fix the dead people by replacing them.

TL;DR: Good on Apollo for learning to be better, but I really didn’t like how it was done. There were a handful of things I liked in almost all the books, not including Tyrant’s Tomb which wins the award for rrverse book I most wanted to chuck out of a window. Some of the ideas were good. I think the first and last book are mostly solid (largely due to the fact that those don’t try to shove in entire side character arcs). But the things I did enjoy just get very heavily outweighed by everything that annoyed and upset me.

I really wish ToA had been mostly new characters with maybe some minor cameos, and other people’s arcs had been saved for different books. I also think splitting the perspective between Apollo, Meg and maybe the HoO character who was trying to have an arc in that specific book would have helped.

[procrastinatingsoicanreadfanfics]

Vikings + gen z slang

Summary: How Vikings Characters would react to Gen Z slang

Notes: back on working on requests, so i hope i can get some more oneshots out soon. happy lunar new year to everyone who celebrates!!

Tagged: @majesticwren @obsessiveformiyatwins @leithdragon @demon-of-the-ancient-world @alicedopey @ivarlover @levithestripper @batmandallyboy @akayxo09 @vrtualfairy (hmu to be added to any taglist!)

Masterlist | based on this request | requests are OPEN!

Ragnar

With the program

He knows that he’s a slay-queen-girlboss-cunt-serving-camp

He understands gen z slang like no other

Rizz? He’s got it. Mister Worldwide? Been there, done that.

Turns into a ninth century (?) twitter queen

Lagertha

She doesn’t really care all that much about gen z slang

“You’re slaying? Me too, but on the battlefield. Catch up.”

Pretends not to understand

Fully understands and sometimes busts down on her gen z meme culture knowledge

Aslaug

Aslaug is above gen z slang

But she also knows that she’s camp

She just knows

She’s a volva, magic is in her blood. You know what else is? An immaculate sense in fashion

That’s the only thing that might make her willing to try to understand our culture

Perfected the lightskin stare the moment she was born (it’s permanently on her face istg)

Athelstan

PLEASE NO

You know that ancient man video? Athelstan is the ancient man. Would he understand the video? No.

This would be his response: God, that girl looks terribly drunk.

As a linguist, he tries

Approaches it as a foreign language. It works to some degree.

I never want to hear the words “You’re serving girlboss today, Ragnar.” Out of his mouth

(this happened to me in a dream. Literally traumatizing)

Bjorn

Thinks it’s girlish (it is not)

Would say “You’re one of them queers?”

I mean yeah, but so is your mom.

Gen z talk isn’t cool enough for him (he’s suffering from Rollo’s internalized generational homophobia/gayness, give him some space)

Ubbe

Like a supportive mom

‘That’s wonderful sweetie. Now back to my casserole.’

Absolutely understands gen z slang after you teach him

Prides himself on having the most rizz

Boy you rizzed up a slave girl and your aunt calm down

Protects gen z slang against ivar like it’s cultural heritage

Hvitserk

Worst mistake you could make is teach him slang

He uses it

Just incorrectly

At all times

And does not care to be corrected.

Slang is a product of pop culture? Hvitserk is now making it HIS product

Deal with it (don’t. make him stfu pls.)

Sigurd

He’s one of those abcdefu people

The ones that are like ‘let me sing my new song for you, and if you don’t like it, I’ll pay for your gas’

So annoying

But also in an indie artist generational trauma daddy issues kind of way, so I can forgive him

Not really

Ivar

HATES gen z slang more than anything

He thinks it’s stupid

Dumb

Dull

Incredibly unintellectual

Secretly uses it to express his feelings in a diary he burns every week

Ecbert

ECBERT MY SILLY LITTLE GASLIGHT GATEKEEP GIRLBOSS

Manwhore and proud!

Get this man a gag asap or you’ll live to regret the day you met him

With him and Ragnar, you’re gonna be stuck in a little hellcircle (probably to be joined by Athelstan)

Gets acrylics despite not knowing what they are and clicks with them

STOP HIM! STOP THIS SILLY LITTLE MAN!

Aethelwulf

Literally the opposite of Ecbert

If he has to spend one more second around his father speaking slang

He’ll cut off his ear to match Judith

And then the other to outdo her (he’s such a loser smh)

So done with Ecbert

He’ll literally hate everything Ecbert likes

[mexicangela]

okay. so. about tedbecca.

this is long and i apologize i just have thoughts. first, the fakeout in the beginning was cruel. BUT i was willing to forgive because tbh it was kinda funny and i’m not convinced that the “morning after” tension between ted and rebecca didn’t make everyone, everyone, think for just a second that they had slept together. y’know, like, if there was never any chemistry there, why the fakeout to get tedbeccas excited/cut them down and antis worried? did the reason for ted, beard, and jane being there really make a ton of sense? no. therefore, it really does feel like it was just something they wrote in to be mean and, like. come on, guys. why be mean? second, their talk in the stands??? you gotta be fucking kidding me. rebecca welton poured her fucking soul out to ted and he didn’t have a thing to say about it other than that “i’ve already made my decision” bullshit? didn’t even offer her a hand or hug of comfort? how out of character was that? he seemed so stoic through the whole episode, like he was stunted. which, maybe has to do with his being sad about leaving but still it threw me off. jesus, talk about “subverting expectations” or whatever. also, the things rebecca was saying? “you go, i go”? the ultimatum of “either we both stay or we both leave” and then her saying they’d both go only to take it back in the end? be so fucking for real right now. the offer to pay him insane amounts of money then telling him there was really no kind of monetary compensation that could represent how much he meant to the club (and her), the proposed solution to bring his child and his child’s mother over to london for him to stay (it is one thing to offer to get henry over, but to extend the offer to michelle is something else)? those aren’t things regular old friends say/do for each other, i’m sorry. listen, i love my friends but that’s a lot to offer anyone. you really have to love someone to be willing to do all that and cry real tears while begging them to stay, to choose you, to choose the home you’ve made for yourself. third, the airport scene gutted me but AGAIN i was kind of at peace with it. it would have at least left it super open ended and allowed the fanbase to imagine what could have happened afterward, y’know. like the whole “rom-com leave-cute” thing was another mean thing to do because where was the rom or the com about that?? why do that? but like i said, i would have been at peace with it because, dear god, the way rebecca was looking at him (again, ted gave us almost nothing but whatever. not even a tear? ugh.). i mean, she was looking at him like she wanted to say “stay. choose me. choose your own happiness.” also i know she’s loaded but WHO BUYS A FIRST CLASS TICKET JUST TO GET PAST SECURITY ONLY TO SAY GOODBYE TO A GOOD PAL? doesn’t make sense to my little pea brain!!! sudeikis, make it make sense (unfortunately for me and everyone around me i still love him)! there really should have been an “i love you” and not even necessarily in a romantic way. these two are supposed to be soulmates, cosmically connected, there’s not supposed to be one without the other and all we got was…”thank you” and a head nod? like, yes, thank you. thank you for showing me warmth and kindness and grace. thank you for reminding me what my strength looks like. thank you for being there for me. yes, yes, yes, thank you! but an “i love you” really would have been wonderful and i’m actually sad they didn’t get to hear it from each other. fourth, the way nameless boat dude came back in like a fucking generic ass early disney prince was just lame. i thought it was lazy. here we have a rebecca who is devastated that this weird, funny, kindhearted american football coach who shoved himself into her life and her heart has just left to go back to kansas and this little dutch girl trips and suddenly rebecca’s found happiness? it’s frustrating. really, it is. like i’m happy rebecca has a shot at happiness and a family, but she just as well could have had it with ted, who is admittedly very similar to this dutch man. i don’t get it. this is where it well and truly lost me. fifth (this one’s a three parter, sorry), where’s ted’s happy ending? because i don’t think it’s a life of volunteering to coach children’s soccer. i know people have been implying/worrying that ted and michelle reconcile but i don’t see that happening. ted, at his core, is still the man michelle left. he’s still overly optimistic (although we didn’t see that in the finale, like what?), he’s still punny, and let’s be real, he’s still a mess. i didn’t see the resolution to his arc. in fact, returning to kansas feels like a regression. he literally ran from kansas. that’s the whole reason he went to richmond in the first place. what changed? why is he going back now? for henry, yes, of course, that’s understandable. and at the same time, within the show we’ve been shown that the bond of a father and child is not always enough to get dad to stay/be a good and decent father (i.e. ted’s father, i.e. james tartt sr., i.e. rebecca’s father). this isn’t, of course, true for ted and henry, but i think it’s a point to make concerning everyone saying things about the child-parent bond being end-all, be-all. for some people, that’s true. for others, it isn’t. it isn’t a jab at anyone or the parent-child relationship in general, it’s just the truth. this is a coin that has two sides, y’know. got off course there but anyway, henry also could have gone to london, which i think might have been the best thing for him anyway, he seemed to have a good time there and he would have had a whole band of new brothers with all the himbos. michelle isn’t a bad mother by any means, but she’s got her own shit to work through if the whole doctor jacob thing was anything to go by. i also don’t think the show did all that great of a job showing us that henry had this super deep connection with his dad, but maybe that was just me lol. regardless, i still understood the bond and its importance and of course ted wanted to be there for his child. that part does make sense. the way it was gone about felt like a disservice though. ted’s expression at the end there doesn’t scream happy. he looked rather sad to me, like something was weighing on him still. and i’m sure there was. i don’t think he’s at peace with himself yet, or happy. maybe he’ll get happy in kansas. i hope he does. but getting to see rebecca’s “happily ever after” and not ted’s hurt my heart. guess i was hoping they would actually subvert the expectations and have him stay in the home he’d made for himself instead of going back to the place where he lost so much. why did he have to give up his found family and the job he loved (and was still actively learning about!! offsides!!) and the best friend he made and the support system he found (which, no matter your age or your progress, you always need a support system) and the community that had come to love him andandand- all ted did was sacrifice to make other people happy and better and this feels like another sacrifice because his mom guilt tripped him by saying something he already fucking knew (sorry i’m not a fan of dottie). i just don’t get it. how is his happy ending going back to the root of all his problems and staying there? just sucks, really, even if it was always the obvious outcome. sixth, i’m just mad all the signs lead to nowhere. the matchboxes, the army man, the bantr fakeout (will never, ever be over this one), the hotel room fakeout where they cut from rebecca to ted in the room and then he opens the door and it’s sassy, the romcommunism, the soulmatism. it wasn’t all for nothing, of course. their friendship is so important and i love it, but this ending felt like a big fuck you to it too because ted was so…distant. it almost felt like he didn’t care that much that he was leaving rebecca and it makes me super upset. all of this is based on the one-time watch from last night but tbh i don’t know if i can handle watching the episode again right now. it really did hurt, especially the way rebecca looked at him at the airport. tbh nothing can convince me she wasn’t at least a little bit in love with him. and, yes, i know. henry is ted’s everything and that’s so admirable and it’s not all about romance, and it’s not. but just let me believe what i want to believe. let me find the joys in the media i consume and if it’s the hope that two attractive, single, middle aged leads could have gotten with each other in the end and figured out how to be happy together, then so be it. i just hate seeing the hate from all sides, honestly, and a lot of people are legitimately really mean about it when this show is all about being kind. ted lasso is a beautiful series and, at the end of the day, it’s just another piece of media that the audience is free to interpret and pick apart however they want to. me, personally? i will continue to live in my delusional little world where ted and rebecca figure out that they belong together/i will pretend the last 10 minutes of the finale didn’t happen. thanks for coming to my tedtalk.

[bellesans-merci]

not my inspiration flying over to a Deadpool/Sakura crossover 😭

Deadpool ending up in the Naruto verse, obviously knowing where he is because he’s canonically a fan.

Except, he somehow lands in Sakura’s apartment and she is ✨unamused✨. He starts fanboying, because of course he is President of Sakura Haruno Deserved Better™️, and he’s her biggest fan.

He gets excited because he’s in a village full of assassins, fanboys over Naruto and Kakashi. Ironically, he hates Sasuke - thinks he’s a douchebag, but he acknowledges that he’s very hot and he can forgive him only if he’d allow him the courtesy of a reach around.

Surprisingly, in this AU, Sakura isn’t married to Sasuke…who turns out to be married to Naruto. Deadpool squeals, “🤩 omg it’s a fanfiction universe. Oh, the possibilities are endless!”

Sakura doesn’t know what to do with him, he follows her everywhere like a lovesick puppy. Kakashi wants to lock him up somewhere, but Deadpool’s like, “Well, you could, but I’d be a very, very, very, very, very, very long term commitment and we all know you have issues with that.”

Sai cuts off his head.

Deadpool’s head on the ground: “I see why no one likes you.”

Sakura’s intrigued, agrees to keep an eye on him just so she can study him. They get closer because she’s lonely with a bleeding heart, isn’t too disgusted by his face, and they have some bonding moments even though he’s so fucking annoying.

Kakashi needs Sakura for a mission, Deadpool begs to go just once since it’s his dream, and Kakashi inexplicably agrees.

Deadpool nearly moans: “You’re letting me go? Oh, this such a fucking plot hole - I love it.”

Kakashi: “what does that even mean?”

Sakura: “I don’t know, I stopped processing what he says a few days ago,”

The night before the mission, Deadpool locks himself up in the guest room and the next morning he comes out dressed as Naruto. Complete with wig and orange jacket he probably stole from him.

Sakura, absolutely dumbfounded: “wuh-what are you doing?”

Deadpool, striking a thumbs up: “If I’m gonna be Hokage, I have to look the part.”

Sakura, exasperated: “Hokage? Seriously?”

Deadpool, nods: “Yeah, I’ve even got my campaign slogan: SASUKEEEEHH!”

Sakura: “Oh god, please no, we already have one of those.”

Narutopool: “I can’t wait to use Talk no Jutsu.”

Sakura, sighing: “You already do. Let’s just go.”

They go on this mission, Deadpool calls his attacks Rasengan and Raikiri and all these other things that don’t even make sense — Sakura wants to kill him herself but admits this lunatic is wildly entertaining.

Deadpool, on the other hand, is having an absolute blast. They complete the mission, they end up drinking to celebrate, he dresses her up in his suit. She thinks it’s restrictive, he thinks it’s hot.

Sakura: “Do you ever shut up?”

Deadpool, shaking his head: “No, not that I can recall. They do call me the Merc with the mouth.”

Sakura: “You’re actually so annoying.”

Deadpool, gleefully aghast: “That’s so ironic, coming from you. Say it again.”

They’re in another battle, both assassins just decimating everyone, and Sakura has an internal crisis over why she thinks this masked lunatic is so fucking hot when he cuts someone in half.

Sakura, despairing: “Whyyyy is he so hot when he’s killing people??? Is it because he’s focused and not talking for once?”

Deadpool, with his blade in a howling shinobi’s asshole: “Shh, shh, it goes in easier when you relaxxx.”

Sakura screams in frustration. He’s making a mess of things, as usual, and she just can’t take his jabbering any longer. She punches him through the chest, immediately feels better, and he regenerates.

Deadpool: “God that was so fucking hot, you were literally inside me.”

They end up at another bar. He’s growing on her, unfortunately, even with the bloody Naruto wig he stapled onto his head.

He’s asking her how to use chakra, he obviously doesn’t have any. She asks him when he’s going home, he shrugs and tells her he fucked everything up and he kind of likes it there. Sakura panics a bit, knowing that if he stays, he’ll cause an international disaster.

Sakura: “You need to go home. You don’t belong here.”

Deadpool, for the first time since she’s known him, is silent and she gets the feeling he’s a little hurt: “I don’t belong anywhere.”

Of course, Sakura feels bad now: “I didn’t mean it like that, you probably have a whole life waiting for you even if you think you messed up. Everyone’s redeemable.”

Deadpool, nods sagely: “Yeah! Like Sasuke.”

Sakura: “…You fucked up like that?”

Deadpool goes on to tell her that he may have accidentally stolen a hero from another timeline to save his world, but he didn’t account for how his love interest would get the hots for him.

Deadpool: “It’s probably because he has a working dick.”

Sakura, shocked: “Your dick doesn’t work?”

Deadpool, gestures to his face: “My face isn’t the only thing that looks battered and air fried.”

Sakura, wide eyed, glances down at his crotch then at his masked face: “….can I see?”

Deadpool: 😳

Sakura: 😳

Deadpool, grabs her by the hand and drags her to the room: “Fuck yeah, you can see!”

He drops his pants as soon as they’re alone and Sakura gasps. She doesn’t even feel titillated considering she’s staring at a mottled sausage, substantial as it is.

Deadpool, hands on his hips, squinting down at it: “Yeah, I guess it does kinda look like a sausage.”

Sakura, mortified: “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

Deadpool: “You’re good, it’s nothing I haven’t thought of myself.”

Sakura, continues to stare: ….

Deadpool: “I’ve never had a chick stare at my dick for so long.”

Sakura: “I could probably get it to work. Actually, I think I might be able to fix you at the molecular level. Probably not permanently though, given your regenerative abilities are due to this…mutated cancer.”

Deadpool, overcome by emotion, drops to his knees in front of her, dick still swangin: “What? You can?”

Sakura, ignoring the genitals near her pinky, nods: “Yes, probably. I’m not sure until I get in there, though.”

Deadpool slaps his hands against his cheeks, absolutely excited: “Holy fuck, I forgot you’re Medical Jesus in this world!”

Sakura: “Please, what does that even mean?????”

Sakura, obviously fixes him up, taps into her inner mad scientist and works with his cells and experiments. She only fixes him temporarily, every time he gets hurt the cells come back, but it’s light work for her. When she fixes his face, she’s genuinely taken aback by how handsome he is, if saddened by how much he has struggled.

Deadpool, now going by Wade without the suit, is definitely obsessed with her. Calls her his Messiah and plastic surgeon.

Out of Scientific Curiosity™️, she asks if the mouth on the merc is only good for talking shit, and Deadpool’s not the cherry stem champion for no reason. When they fuck she tells herself it’s because she wants to know if her work is that good, not because he’s so damn hot in that suit and she’s 🎀 just a girl 🎀.

They fuck a lot.

When they get back to the village, it’s in chaos. There’s a yellow clad man running around with steel claws wreaking havoc and Sasuke’s about to Tsukuyomi his ass to white padded walls. Deadpool runs in between them.

Deadpool, arms out in appeasement: “Woah, woah! Down, boys! This is my pet!”

Naruto, Rasengan in hand: “Your pet?!”

Deadpool, slapping a hand on a growling Wolverine’s bloody head: “Oh my—is that the Rasengan?! Wait! Hold on! This is Wolvie! Isn’t he cute?!”

Random shinobi, clutching his bloody stump of an arm and holding his cut off hand: “He cut off my arm!”

Sakura, rushing forward to reattach it: “Oh shit, give me that!”

Deadpool winces and sucks in air through his teeth: “Sorry, haven’t had the time to house break him yet!”

Wolverine, twisting out of his grip: “You fucking piece of shit, where have you been? I’ve been going to all these fucking crazy dimensions looking for your dumb ass!”

Deadpool tells him how he’d ended up in the Naruto verse, how he’s had a great time, and met a very pretty lady who’s been his handler. He tells Wolverine how it’s a world ran by assassins with mutant powers, and it’s fucking great and there’s unlimited Japanese takeout everywhere.

Deadpool, smiling and proud: “And they love me here!”

The villagers and shinobi blanch, having been around for the mayhem and chaos and meddling, and someone calls out: “Take him home!”

Kakashi finally steps forward and addresses the two: “While we appreciate your services to the village, Mr. Wilson, I think it’s time you return to your dimension with your friend.”

Deadpool deflates, thinking of how he was happy there and even though no one else accepted him, Sakura did…after putting a fist through his chest and experimenting on him, of course. And the sex was hot, hot as fuck.

He takes off his mask, showing his healed face and head full of hair.

Anko whistles low, pressing a hand to her chest: “Oh yeah, I’m definitely having a wet dream tonight.”

Deadpool turns to her, touched: “Thank you, crazy snake lady, that means so much to me.”

Wolverine grabs him by the shoulder, exasperated: “Let’s fucking go, idiot. The Time Slider’s battery is almost dead.”

Deadpool turns to him, disappointed: “You forgot to charge it?!”

Wolverine: “I didn’t know it was rechargeable!”

Sakura steps forward, sad smile on her lips. He was an absolute menace and lunatic, probably shared a brain cell with Naruto on a good day, and defied all logic; but he was fun, the most fun she’s ever had, and she’ll miss him.

“Well, I guess this is it, Wade,” she says, looking up into his quite vulnerable face. He reminds her of Kakashi, with the way he uses the mask to hide from the world. “It’s been fun and I really enjoyed your company.”

Wolverine turns to Wade, incredulous and suspicious: “Did you drug her?”

Wade’s offended: “Must you always think the worst of me?”

Wolverine, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke: “Yes.”

Wade and Sakura share a moment where he thanks her for reminding him what it was like to be happy. Sakura sadly explains that once he leaves, her work will come undone every time he’s injured and he’ll go back to what he once was.

He’s disappointed, of course, wanting so badly to look normal but who’s he but a tragic anti-hero in a world of violence and puns. If only a benevolent god would pity him and send him back sometimes, just to have one good thing every once in a while now that Vanessa and Wolvie are bumping uglies.

“I’ll miss you, Sakura,” he says, a little choked up and sounding like a pussy. “You were the best foster home I could have ever hoped for, and I am truly sorry for humping your leg.”

Sakura laughs and gives him a hug and a chaste kiss, surprising everyone. Most especially Wolverine, who thinks Sakura’s probably been knocked in the head a few too many times. “I’ll miss you too, Wade. Remember that you’re worth it.”

Deadpool, pulling his mask back on: “Fuck yeah, I love L’Oreal.”

Sakura, tightening her arms around him and cracking a rib: “I don’t know what that means.”

After their heartfelt goodbye, Wolverine sets the Time Slider and drags Deadpool along with him, who’s throwing kisses and waving to the crowd of villagers, to the other side.

The portal disappears and Sakura deflates, already missing his mouth and surprisingly, the endless vocalization of intrusive thoughts. Ino saddles up next to her, “So, did ya fuck him?”

Sakura simply looks at her. Ino nods pleasantly, “Yeah, I would have too. That costume and mask combo was somehow so fucking hot, and his thighs!”

Sakura giggles conspiratorially, “I know!”

And if a benevolent god takes mercy on Wade and breaks the Time Slider so that it’s permanently set to the Naruto Verse, making it so he can return to Sakura for healings and good dicking downs, well…it’s an alternate universe with plot holes, who are they to complain?

[lxdymoon0357]

Can you do hcs for yandere! Unmarried queens? Like yandere! Navier?

(I don't know what to do in this world.....I love this! I missed this.... Yandere! Rashta)

Yandere! Unmarried Queens

(Navier)

❤ Navier met Rashta in the garden and though Rashta greeted her informally and inappropriately, something about the concubine made Navier curious about her, as she invited Rashta to have tea with her.

❤ Navier there asked her if she would like to study etiquettes and learn about how to be a lady, to which Rashta hesitantly agree, Navier immediately who would help Rashta with etiquettes, manners, talking skills and more.

❤ Navier would often find Rashta in the garden with a few of her maids who were given to Rashta by the emperor, Navier went to the emperor to ask if he was truly in love with Rashta, to which the emperor got mad and dismissed her…

❤ Navier would still talk with Rashta and send her tiny and tiny gifts to her as a friendship token and allow her to call Navier “sister” even though she hated that word from Rashta’s mouth, not realizing how she was getting obsessed with Rashta…

❤ Soon all the things with Heinry happened, where Navier then asked if he would allow Navier to reveal a few things about herself, Navier then told Heinry about how Navier liked this lady, not revealing it was Rashta, Heinry promised to her wingman.

❤ Navier was absolutely transfixed on Rashta during the ball seeing her dance and even invited her to dance with her later on in the night seeing her look so pretty, she had the urges to kiss her and take her right then and there, but she couldn’t she is an empress. And Rashta is a concubine.

❤ Navier slowly and slowly had some of her maids planted in as Rashta’s maid, who gave Navier every single information about every motion done by Rashta. They were also very much sure to treat Rashta nicely because if a single cut or a single tear from her eye would result in them wishing they would die.

❤ Navier in all honestly would send her gifts and love letters telling her how she was the most beautiful person in this world, the one who would bring happiness to her face, how she should be the one to rule over them with kindness and all that, but would never send it to her.

❤ Whenever Rashta would do classes with her, Navier would be touching her to show her how it’s supposed to be done and how she should be doing it and how a single thing could completely change the meaning of her gesture.

❤ Navier upon kidnapping Rashta and killing everyone who defied her (Sovieshu/ heinrey/Kosair/others) , she’s hellishly touchy and loving to Rashta, doesn’t care that everyone can see her kiss, hug or love the new second empress of the empire…

❤ Navier wouldn’t ever let anyone see Rashta with their eyes, if they look wrongly at her, she will get their eyes gouged out, don’t worry she will never show anything to Rashta, Rashta rarely ever sees anything, she’s lucky if she even gets to go to the garden of the castle or she gets out of her and Navier’s shared room…

❤ Rashta doesn’t usually see many people other than a few chosen maids, who get changed every day, but she doesn’t mind she’s happy to receive so any gifts from her wife, he one who spoils her and her daughter rotten, RimWell are all dead and Ahn is back with her because Rashta tells Navier of her past on their wedding night…

❤ Navier hates when Rashta disobeys her, but nothing one hard slap from Navier to Rashta can’t solve, Navier’s anger does scare everyone including Rashta, who cries herself to sleep those types of night, but always forgives Navier the next day…

❤ Navier is very adamant on the behavior she accepts from people around her, including Rashta, her punishments aren’t too hard, just enough to engrave a lesson on Rashta’s head. Just some slapping, starving and locking up nothing too bloody

❤ Navier will 100% engrave her name in Rashta’s body somewhere, while she’s knocked out as to stop her from whining, crying, wailing and sobbing so loudly, also to slow down the bloodshed from Navier’s side…

[feather314]

I was thinking about how in the first game, GLaDOS says ‘we’ a lot up until the endgame, and she really doesn’t do that in the second. We can assume that this wording is referring to Aperture as a whole and their ‘public image’. In the first game, GLaDOS still has a professional attitude and is focused on running things how they’re ‘supposed’ to be run and keeping up with what Cave Johnson started. In short, using ’we’ could symbolize her loyalty to the business and to Cave. If this is the case, it reveals some interesting truths about how she is built in the second game:

Firstly, it shows that she is thinking much less of the company aspect of Aperture, which I think does show through in her actions and words. She has none of the previously mentioned ‘professionalism’ and doesn’t seem to care at all about keeping up the legacy left behind by Old Aperture. She becomes childish, throws insults around, doesn’t even pretend that she’s not being especially mean to Chell or otherwise not treating her like she would any other normal subject. This is very significant because it shows just how much her motives and values have shifted between the two games. Even after she forgives Chell, even in the co-op campaign, she still seems to have no respect left for Aperture as an organization. She gets a lot more selfish and lax with the rules and just kind of does whatever she wants (including testing robots instead of people as the original scientific mission entailed). It is up to us to wonder whether that was all just the morality and/or anger and/or curiosity cores, or whether some other event triggered this change.

Additionally, it draws an interesting parallel between her and Chell and how they each change between games. I believe it was in the developer commentary that someone talked about a certain, seemingly small detail: the fact that Chell has tied the sleeves of her jumpsuit around her waist instead of wearing it properly. Basically, it said that it symbolizes her ‘shedding’ the logo in an act of defiance and indifference to her prison, and also that she’s ‘rolling up her sleeves’ and preparing to fight dirty this time if that’s what it takes. That seems quite similar to what happened with GLaDOS. They both are cutting themselves off from the company of Aperture, and they’re both acting in what could be interpreted as defiance toward the establishment that’s keeping them both there. Even in the beginning of the game when they are clearly painted as enemies, they are in quite similar positions. Whether they realize it or not, it’s the company’s fault that they even ended up pitted against each other in the first place, and they’re only against each other to start because they’re both so stubborn that they refuse to cooperate until it’s absolutely necessary.

This could also have something to do with GLaDOS slowly realizing (or remembering, I guess) what happened with Caroline and the non-consensual computerization that happened to her all those years ago. Now that the numbing, stupefying, pacifying presence of the morality core is gone, she can see herself and her situation for what they are and can feel something wrong. Once that starts to dawn on her, perhaps she doesn’t really want to be the head of such a company anymore. She may also be doing it to defy Cave since she now knows that he’s the one who did this to her. (It’s unclear how she feels about Cave once she remembers what happened. She seems to still like him, since she hypes him up when he talks, but we can’t know for sure since she doesn’t give us much. Perhaps she’s more focused on her old self, and maybe she only starts defying Aperture to do what she thinks her old self would have wanted. But that creates an interesting contrast between her deleting Caroline and her doing what we can assume Caroline would have wanted. Maybe she realizes this, maybe not, maybe she realizes that she’s trying to heal her old wounds by deviating from the set system and she doesn’t like this and deletes Caroline to try and stop it, there’s sooo much I could talk about here. Anyway!) Similarly, Chell realizes that this place managed to drag her back down into its jaws, and is willing to do whatever it takes, to break as many rules as she needs to (again, and it will be even harder this time, and she probably knows this), in order to get out. For Chell, it’s not nearly as much of a change since she obviously never liked what was going on, but she’s now in an outright war instead of quietly trying to slip out the back door. (This brings up a possible argument as to whether or not Chell was planning to kill GLaDOS in the first game all along or whether she just went through whatever door was open and ended up in her chamber, but that’s a different post.) Maybe they’re both distancing themselves from the company facade that Aperture’s made and trying to do whatever they can to defy and escape the prison that they certainly now know that it is, whether they realize, like, or admit it or not.

Or I could be looking too far into it and it could simply be because GLaDOS finally accepted the fact that there is no more public on the surface to maintain an image for and just plain enjoys tormenting Chell with no restrictions , but that’s no fun.

[yourpenpaldee]

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ WHEN ART TALKS: THE INTRO

When a girl meets a boy who sees the world as his playground, and she has to learn how to let others in her space.

if you would like to be tagged, please let me know! frequent updates will be coming soon after the character intros are up :) this is quite a lengthy post, but i hope you'll enjoy if you choose to stick around until the end.

BASIC OVERVIEW

GENRE: — romance

POV: — first person, present tense

STATUS: — rough first draft in progress

TROPES: — friends to lovers, opposites attract, slowburn, forgiveness

WORD COUNT: — making a last minute decision to (somewhat) start fresh because why not. starting at 0. will update this everyday :)

WARNINGS: — smoking. will update this along the way.

SUMMARY:

Aniyah Hope is a wishful thinker who wants more than what she has. As a reserved poet, she has documented her most inner personal thoughts and feelings inside her poem journals. Her poetry contains the most critical parts of herself, and exposing that to a world beyond her own is not a risk she’s often willing to take. So when Aniyah meets Noah Ford, an outspoken musician who proudly wears his heart on his sleeve, around the same time her journal goes missing, she initially hides further in her shell. What she doesn’t expect is how quickly she comes out of that shell, and the unexpected comfort she finds from what she usually shields herself from.

CHARACTERS, SNIPPET, PLAYLIST, AND MOODBOARD UNDER THE CUT!

CHARACTERS

ANIYAH HOPE has always kept to herself, finding more comfort in poetry than she ever has in people. She never wanted to cruise through life in the shadows, but she couldn't take another rejection of friendship due to superficial judgments. When she discovered poetry, she found the safe haven she needed to explore every little piece of herself. Because she couldn't connect with others as easily as she hoped, she'd put the pen to paper and write down all the things she wished she could say. Aniyah’s heart desires nothing more than to have these words spoken through a microphone. Unlike the boy who sees the world as his playground, she just isn't ready to let her guard down.

NOAH FORD has been on a mission to prove his parents wrong ever since he’s gone off to college to pursue music. His father always expected him to follow in his footsteps of becoming a well-respected lawyer, despite the countless times Noah emphasized his fiery passion for music. Instead of supporting his dreams, his parents brushed it off as a silly little phase he would eventually grow out of. It’s been a year since he’s gone no contact, his uncle and younger sister being the only familial support system. College provides him the freedom to make noise, to be reckless, and to meet a girl who has yet to experience the spotlight’s glow.

JACQUELINE TRẦN has never been the type to back down easily. She’s always up for a challenge, which often makes her appear intimidating to those on the outside looking in. Everyone in her life knows the opposite to be true, as she’s the kind of person everyone wants to have around them. Jackie is self-assured, loyal, supportive, and will be the first to defend those she cares about against any and all wrongdoings. However, taking advantage of her genuine kindness results in getting cut off with no hesitation. Now that she has her core group of people she knows she can rely on just as much as they rely on her, she pushes them to thrive and win, even if it means going beyond the safety net.

NADIA "EVIE" LOUIS has a curious mind that is eager to seek knowledge everywhere she goes. She isn’t afraid to let her curiosity take direction and lead, especially when a new opportunity presents itself at her front door. The world has too many offers for it to remain unexplored. As much as she enjoys diving into the unknown, she still needs some sort of certainty when it comes to her personal life. She has her future mapped out down to the last detail. With her ambitious nature, she puts in the work to show up on time for every milestone with ease. But not every meticulous plan is meant to be rigid when unexpected curveballs exist. When she can’t find the answers to her own crisis, she doesn’t shy away from finding help from others.

ELENA FORD is one year away from starting a new chapter in her life as a college student. She’s a go-getter that knows what she wants, and will find a way to make it happen. Ever since her parents have cut Noah off, she's made it her duty to sway their minds. She's had no success with it, and it bothers her a great deal. Ellie is used to getting her way— and in a timely manner— without having to suffer any consequences. Her persistence on the issue came with the cost of her relationship with her parents, which has left a strain that might never be repaired. Even though Noah has accepted the fact that he won't ever get his parents' support, Ellie continues her attempt to be the voice of reason for her brother and his future.

(VERY ROUGH) SNIPPET

Another silence falls upon us, and I come to the conclusion that our silence isn't an indication of the end, but rather an ellipses. It's a momentary pause for us to gather our individual thoughts and feelings. A continuation of savoring the moment without forcing ourselves to speak when it doesn't feel natural. The silence catches all of our spoken and unspoken words when they fall and speaks for us until we are ready to talk again.

PLAYLIST

Here's the playlist on YouTube for those who don't use Spotify.

MOODBOARD (coming soon!)

TAGS: @pixies-love-envy @honeybewrites ♡

[moonlightspencie]

tricks up your sleeve

Part 2 of ‘the sweetest con’

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x fem!Reader

Word Count: 1k

<- PART ONE

I twisted the ring on my finger, unsure why I still had it on, but not taking it off. It was something that used to mean so much: a lifetime commitment, love, a family. Now it was a flash of gold that served to feed my nervous habit.

Jack was due to go home at any moment. He was fast asleep, and it was everything in me not to wake him in order to soak in every moment. Instead, I watched his little eyelids flutter as he dreamed in my bed. He looked so tiny on such a large mattress. He was tiny. Too small to deal with visits to dad’s house once a week and parents who couldn’t be around one another. I rested my hand against the soft hair on top of his head and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

Haley came to take him away five minutes later, giving me the cold shoulder entirely as she carried his sleeping form away. I wished more than anything that I could have given him a real goodbye, scared he would think that the time we spent together was just a long dream when he woke up in a different bed than the one he fell asleep in. Maybe one day he’d be able to forgive me for everything. I hoped he would.

The next phone call I got whisked me away to Florida. We were tracking down a killer who was going after college-aged women, doing things to them I didn’t think I’d ever be comfortable hearing. It made me sick every time, without fail.

It’s a lie to believe that it ever gets easier. It doesn’t. You just have to learn how to deal with a constant barrage of bad news.

I held the door for her as we walked into the house of the latest victim’s parents. She gave me a soft smile and a curt ‘thank you’ before slipping back into the persona she puts on to speak with others on the job. I let her take the lead, admiring the way she could break down walls so easily. Her voice was soft and sounded like silk as she spoke. She occasionally looked at me to give a word or two, though I much preferred to let her continue without my interruption. The family responded so well to her.

“That went surprisingly well,” she muttered under her breath as we walked back to the car.

“Of course it did. You always know what to say,” I noted, a tiny small pulling at my lips.

We got in the car, and she looked at me, unimpressed.

“You’re being such a suck-up. Remind me, who’s the head of the unit, again?” she asked, a cheeky smile on her face.

My own smile came through now, and I shook my head, pulling out onto the road.

“I’m trying to compliment you. Just take it.”

“You know I don’t take compliments well.”

“I know.”

“Then why do you insist on giving them?”

I sighed. She was so delightfully stubborn sometimes.

“Because you should hear it.”

“I disagree.”

“Disagree all you want. I know you secretly like it,” I said, glancing at her briefly out of the corner of my eye.

“You don’t know anything, Hotchner.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

She laughed, rolling down the window to see the trees and buildings pass us by as we drove along. It suddenly felt so silly and domestic. Her smile still stuck in place as she watched the city, and the radio playing low, a breeze seeping into the usually-stuffy vehicle.

“When was the last time you had a vacation?” she asked.

I hummed, thinking on my answer. It had been a long time, that’s for sure.

“A couple years since I had a real one. Little trips here and there, but I’m not sure those really count.”

“You deserve one. Like, a real vacation. Sitting by the pool and frying like a piece of bacon in the sun. I think that would suit you.”

“A sunburn?”

She laughed again. “No. Relaxation. You don’t get enough of that.”

“It would be nice.”

“Why don’t you take one? You deserve time off more than anyone.”

I shrugged. “Not sure being all alone right now would do me any good.”

“Oh,” she said, going quiet.

“That sounded really—“

“No! No,” she cut me off, almost panicked. “I get it. Maybe we can convince Strauss to let us stay an extra day next time we’re in a warm climate. Then you can hang out with the whole team and get some rest.”

“Does that count as a vacation?” I asked with a chuckle.

“Baby steps, Hotchner. We’ll work you up to a full-fledged one.”

“Right.”

Our time in Florida was short. We were lucky to catch our unsub quickly. Though it meant that, at least for the time being, the woman I was paired with for much of the case would be away from me again. She deserved time to herself, much like she tried to convince me I should have, but I couldn’t help but wish I could stick around her a little longer. It was probably selfish, maybe me slipping down a slope I couldn’t return from, but she made the slide down so comfortable.

I found myself in my bedroom, all alone, but feeling a little less lonely. As if on cue when I started feeling that familiar weight on my chest, she sent me a message.

- ‘I have the sneaking suspicion you’re still awake. If I’m right, please get some sleep. At least for my sake if you won’t do it for your own. I’m bringing you breakfast tomorrow morning and I don’t want to deal with a grumpy Hotch.

- Sweet dreams, boss man.’

I bit back a smile, setting my phone and the wedding band on my finger on the nightstand.

NEXT PART ->

[blueisquitetired]

The Birth of a Shadow

Context for this one: This was the originally planned chapter 15 that….. obviously didn’t work out. The original conceit was that Emmet was having trouble using magic, so he had to dive through his brother’s memories to learn what it felt like. It was supposed to be a journey backwards in time, featuring different times of Ingo’s life before he met Emmet.

Unfortunately, that didn’t really work out, and I ended up cutting the whole thing. We didn’t lose too much in the process, just the exact specifics of Ingo’s past and an explanation for his beef with moms. 

So yeah, here’s what got written out, featuring Ingo’s origin story and a tone that really doesn’t match the rest of the fic.

Length: 2,000 words

Rating: G 

CW: Child endangerment? I guess???

Deep breathes. In and out. Reach inside and-

Opening his eyes, Emmet threw out one of his hands, attempting to channel some unknowable energy. 

Nothing happened.

“Any luck?”

Mai sat on the grass next to him, idly plucking strings on her guitar. This was his third day of magic lessons with her and so far….

“No. Nothing.”

Sighing, Emmet lay down on the grass next to her, looking up at the bright blue sky. At least it was a nice day.

“Maybe it did work, but you just didn’t notice?” Lady Sneasler was sitting a bit away with the rest of the peanut gallery. Not close enough to get in the way, but still easily reachable. “It’s supposed to be kind of subtle right?”

“He would feel it. Probably.” Mai sighed. “At least that’s how it works for me.”

“Right. Because that’s been such a good indicator so far.” It was Melli who spoke this time, the warden having joined the group to help Elesa with her embroidery and just enjoy the show. Emmet was starting to understand why Lady Sneasler didn’t like him much.

Still, he had a point. As much as Emmet appreciated Mai’s assistance, one just couldn’t escape the fact that their magics were completely different. Mai’s were nature spells cast via music, and Emmet’s…

Well it certainly wasn't that.

“Well, does Ingo feel his magic when he casts it?” Mai asked, bringing the group back on track. “His magic would certainly be more similar to yours than mine.”

“Not sure.” Shrugging, Emmet tried to remember times that his brother had used magic- and came up frustratingly short. “He does not like using it. Or talking about it.”

“Too bad.” Mai sighed. “That would have been helpful.”

“Hang on.” Elesa finally spoke up, having been far too concentrated on her embroidery to join in the conversation so far. “Didn’t you say you had Ingo’s memories? Doesn’t that mean you can learn straight from the source? Maybe even figure out how he learned magic originally?”

“Wait what do you mean he has his memories-”

That…. was a good point actually. Emmet had been kind of avoiding touching that part of his psyche at the moment, but there weren't any actual barriers. Still, he was still sort of… put off by the idea.

“Those are private.” He managed finally, working around the bitter taste in his mouth. “I have not received permission. Snooping is a breach of trust.”

“Normally yeah, but this isn’t exactly a normal situation.” Pointed out Lady Sneasler. “You’ll need to be prepared for whatever comes our way. I think Ingo will forgive you for a bit of snooping if it helps save his life.”

“I suppose…”

It still didn’t sit right with Emmet. Sure, they could read each other’s minds whenever they wanted- but that didn’t mean they did! Boundaries were important, and privacy was to be respected. Still, Lady Sneasler was right that this was a special situation….

“….alright.” Taking a deep breath, Emmet attempted to calm his racing heart. “I will look through Ingo’s memories. Try to find out how magic feels. Or how he learned it.”

“Attaboy!” Lady Sneasler grinned. 

Mai seemed a bit more skeptical.

“So how exactly does that… work?”

Emmet shrugged.

“It is like meditation? Kind of? I close my eyes and….” He let out a deep breath and closed his eyes, going boneless. “This will take a while.”

“How long is a while?”

But Emmet didn’t answer, already beginning to tune the rest of the world out and sink into his own subconscious. Carefully, he reached for his brother’s soul, embracing it and sinking into his brother’s memories. He wasn’t exactly sure where to start- memories had a tendency to be a bit finicky after all, but if he just started somewhere familiar and worked his way back….

He thought of the first time they met, an old and messy memory colored by time and his subpar human recollection, only still around because of how many times he’d watched his brother’s version.

A version that was responding to the memory he had fed it, sparking up around him and begging to be recalled.

So he let it.

oOo

Someone was crying.

The monster stopped and listened for a moment, the sound of soft sniffles and a human in distress. It really shouldn’t get any closer, shouldn’t approach, especially not after last time- but there was crying! Crying was something it knew well, and if it could help…

Maybe it could assist from the shadows. As long as it wasn’t seen, there would be no reason for the human too….

This time would be different.

It followed the sound.

As much as Emmet would love to relive that particular memory again, now wasn’t the time. Instead, he honed in on that mention of “last time” pulling on it and looking for the related memory. It wasn’t hard to find.

oOo

[This section would contain several scenes from Ingo’s past in reverse order. This would include him disguising himself as another child and getting run off for being a duplicate, trying to take a human form and not doing a very good job (and getting run off), and him visiting Hisui and having a bad time.]

oOo

First, there was nothing.

Not pain, or sorrow, or even emptiness- no, there was just nothing at all.

And then-

“Oh. It’s beautiful.”

There was something.

A… a face? Yes. A face. A… a red face who was…

“Dude it just looks like a blob with eyes.”

A different voice. A different person? Yes, there they were, behind the face-

“That’s just because you can’t appreciate the sheer craftsmanship on display here.” The face moved, getting taller and… further? Further away. (From what?)

“Sure. Whatever. But does it work?”

“Of course it works! I made it after all!”

“…so you haven’t tested it yet.”

“What’s the point of a test? It’s a changeling. They aren’t complicated.”

There was a conversation happening. That’s what this was. Understanding was… difficult, but possible. The whole thing was quite alien overall.

“Anyway, I’m releasing this bad boy today. You wanna see?”

“Sure I guess. Don’t have anything else planned.”

The face came back(?) bending forward and-

SENSATION!!!!

THERE WAS TOUCH HAPPENING!!!

WHAT?!!!

And with touch came feelings!!! Pride and confidence and-

“Huh. It’s being more squirmy than normal.”

Squirmy? Movement? Was something moving?

“Maybe cause you finished it? So it’s ‘coming to life’ and all that?”

“Yeah maybe. Let’s get going before it gets harder to carry.”

And then.

AND THEN.

Movement! Lots of movement! The squirmy apparently! So much movement and things that had names but there was no time to ponder such things as MOVEMENT WAS HAPPENING.

And then movement stopped happening.

And everything was dark.

“This place good?”

“I think so. I checked out a few houses beforehand and this one had a baby.”

“Cool.”

Movement started up again, going a bit before-

THE TOUCH WAS GONE!!!!

Where did it go?!!!

“Now what?”

“It’s supposed to eat the baby.”

“….maybe you need to move it closer?”

The touch returned briefly…. before disappearing again, replaced by-

Different touch?

Calm touch. Sleepy touch. Touch full of dreams, muted sensations of lightssoundscolorsemotions. Touch that-

There was hunger.

Hunger. Hunger. Hunger.

And emptiness. Something that needed to be filled. Something that could be filled if- if-

If there was eating.

And so there would be eating. There would be devouring. There would be biting and tearing and-

yes

YES!

Yes! There was taste, there was warmth! There was energy and magic and-

PAIN

Pain that caused screaming, pain that caused crying. Pain that was more intense than hunger or pride. Pain that encompassed all else and-

Light.

“Yes yes Johny. Mommy’s here. Now what’s got you so-”

A sharp gasp, thudding footsteps and-

“GET OFF MY BABY!”

Touch. But not gentle touch- rough touch. Pulling and grabbing and flinging. Flying before impact, new fresher pain as-

New impact. New pain. New-

This was danger.

Danger. Danger! Pain meant danger and there was so much pain, so there was so much danger but how was-

And then something happened.

Something happened and suddenly the shadows reached out, sweeping in and pulling out of danger. 

The shadows were gentle. Calm. Quiet and dark and-

Grabbing, pulling, RIPPING and angerangerANGER

“What was THAT!?”

There was laughing.

“I believe that’s what we call a failure Alimar.”

“Shut up. Shut up. This is just- just a slight hiccup. We can just try again.”

Try what again? Why was there anger? Why was there failure? Was it the danger?

And why was the pain still there?

Movement. More. Movement that made the pain stronger. Movement that pulled at somethings. Somethings that could be felt. Somethings that could be moved.

“Stop squirming.”

That wasn’t the only somethings. There was more! More somethings that could also be moved. Easier even, since the voice was not holding them. They could be moved, and they were moved because it was fun and made the pain less noticeable. Oh! Fun! That was new!

“What in Titania’s name has gotten into you?!”

More yanking. The face was back! But it was dark. Because it was night. Strange. Night. Had night existed before? What was night?

“Looks like yelling at it worked.”

“Yeah I guess.”

Night was something that came after day. But day came after night. That didn’t make sense. How could it come before and after?

“Okay. Here’s a new place. Let’s try this again.”

That was how time worked right? Yes, day and night were based off of time. Which was. Harder to understand then day and night combined.

The touch that hurt was gone and the somethings were dropped. They were dropped and-

Huh.

They felt.

The somethings were moved, and where they moved they felt. The feeling was soft. Soft because it was a blanket. That’s what it was. 

“Eat the ####ing baby already.”

The somethings were- they were tendrils? Yes. That’s what they were. The tendrils moved and felt and they felt each other and oh! That was not soft! That was… smooth! Smooth! And both tendrils could feel the other tendril and wasn’t that strange. What were tendrils anyway?

…limbs? Right. And limbs were… uh. They were attached to something alive! And they could do things! 

Obviously. They could move and feel.

But what were they attached to?

“….What is it doing?”

“UGH.”

Touch again! Not good touch!! But! There were more tendrils! More! And they were attached to-

Uh-

“Dude I don’t even think it sees the baby.” 

“Yeah I noticed.”

Actually, what was ‘it’ anyway? There was the human baby- but that couldn’t be ‘it’. And the blankets could not see so. Maybe the tendrils? They were attached to something alive, and if it was alive it could probably see!

But what were they attached to???

They were- They-

???????

No seriously what were they attached to.

There was hunger.

Yes but the tendrils!

Hunger.

The tendrils lead to something but that something did not exist but it could be felt which meant it did exist-

Wait.

Was that seeing?

Hunger

If seeing was happening then seeing was ‘it’ and the tendrils were attached to the it (which was seeing) and seeing happened with eyes that could be moved-

MORE MOVEMENT!

Hungerhungerhungerhunger

Movement that changed seeing!! Yes! Good! Good! That was-

Pride! Pride for figuring it out! Pride for-

hunger

Okay okay hunger. Hunger which meant movement which meant-

What was that?

“…is it broken?”

New thing to move!!! It could be moved and it moved a lot and how many more movement-

HUNGER

Right, right, okay. Movement again which was biting and biting on the baby which brought warmgoodenergymagiclife- AND PAIN AND CRYING!!!

PAIN AND CRYING MEANT DANGER!!! DANGER MEANT SHADOWS AND LEAVE AND AWAY!!!

“Wha- hey where’d it go?!”

“#### it shadow sneaked again. I have to catch it before it-”

NOPE!!

IT WOULD NOT BE GRABBED!

GRABBED WAS PAIN AND PAIN WAS BAD AND IT DID NOT WANT THAT!

“Come back here you little-!”

The shadows pulled it far away. Far far away.

Where it would be safe.

[fenrelmercar]

28 & 30 for Fenrel!

28 - Propaganda for or against Rook.

Rook: Dock Town’s Ally

When the Venatori slithered into Dock Town, spreading their poison and threatening to drown us in red lyrium madness and demons, who stepped in? Not the Templars. Not the Magisters. It was the Rook, orb in hand, cutting through their schemes and leaving their rotting plans in the gutters where they belong.

Some of our leadership call her chaos incarnate, her methods dangerous and unorthodox, but let’s not pretend Dock Town was a beacon of peace before she came back. What she’s brought us isn’t destruction—it’s justice, served cold and fast. The Venatori fear her, curse her name, and that’s precisely why the rest of us should cheer it.

Sure, she doesn’t follow the rules, but whose rules are those? Magisterial laws that keep us down? Venatori rituals that steal our lives? Rules enforced by our beloved leaders that halt our progress? To rebuild sometimes means to destroy. Treading carefully is a thing of the past, one we cannot afford these days. The Rook is a shadow’s best ally—swift, ruthless, and unrelenting.

So, to the naysayers: maybe step aside and let her finish cleaning house. And to Rook, wherever you are—Dock Town stands behind you.

—A Shadow Dragon Loyalist

30 - A note/letter that Rook never sent

Solas,

I hate how easy it is for you to get under my skin. I hate how much time I spend trying to figure you out when I should be focusing on things that matter. But here’s the worst part: I hate that I think I’ve already figured you out.

You’re not the monster I want you to be. That would be so much simpler. No, you’re worse. You’re the man who’s convinced himself that being the villain is the only way to save the world. You are just a man who is afraid to forgive himself and move past his regrets.

And what does that make me, then? The idiot who can’t walk away from you? The fool who sees the cracks in your resolve and feels sorry for you? Or maybe just someone too stubborn to stop hoping that this fight—our fight—doesn’t have to end with one of us buried under the rubble.

I see it now—the way you look at me. Like I’m the question you didn’t expect and can’t afford to answer. And I hate that you won’t let yourself look at me any other way. Because I think, for all your schemes and convictions, you know what I am to you.

But here’s the truth: I don’t want to be your lesson. I don’t want to be your regret. I want to be the person who makes you see that all this destruction doesn’t have to define you. That the path you have predetermined for yourself isn’t the only way.

Maker, listen to me. Like you don’t already know this. Like you haven’t already made up your mind. This is just me, screaming into the void, pleading that our story has a better ending than the one we’re rushing towards. I look at you and try not to think of how you’ll eventually betray me. I knew that I have doomed myself to it the day I decided to keep talking to you, yet I still hope it will never come to pass.

I don’t even know if you’ll ever see this. Maybe I’ll burn it. Or maybe I’ll leave it where I know you’ll find it. And if you do—if you’re reading this—then know that I’m tired. I’m so fucking tired, yet I will never give up.

You wanted me to understand you. Well, congratulations, Solas. I do. And I hate it. And yet, I still keep talking to you. What does that say about me?

-Fenrel

(letter found hidden in between paint pots in the music room)