#the ending we have is so much more heartwrenching

[layzeal]

if i think abt the tragedy of 3zun for too long i go insane, because by all means all 3 of them should have died in that coffin. it'd be TOO fitting. sworn brothers, promising their lives and deaths to each other, stuck together in their cycle for 100 years until there's nothing left of them, until they've merged into one

just for, at the last second, one of them says no, and pushes the final piece away. his life spared, one of us will live to pick up the shards, forever separated from the others

[lunahearts]

Soooo I read all of Dungeon Meshi in this past week and I have many thoughts bouncing around in my brain and I think the only thing to do with them is some AGGRESSIVELY CLOSE READING of a scene I wanted to come back to and try to understand better.

So: I want to talk about chapter 28

This entire section of the story is something I feel like I am going to want to come back to a lot, because its such a transitional time and I feel like there are a lot of themes/ideas that I wasn't fully aware of during my first reading, and stuff I missed because of that.

One of the biggest things I have been turning over in my head is... hey, what was UP with the Marcille/Falin bath scene? Maybe it was because I was already primed to pay attention to stuff with them going into the story, or because I had already seen a couple of panels out of context. In any case, it really kind of stuck out to me as being very short but also VERY intense, while also being... hard for me to define? Some part of the nature of the intensity felt like it was going over my head.

I wasn't sure that revisiting it would help with this right away, but to my surprise, it actually WAS a lot easier for me to follow and understand when I went back to it. So I want to just do a close reading of That Scene and some other parts of the chapter & context around it all, because I think it offers insight into Falin & her relationships, and what purpose this chapter serves within the story as a whole.

So first of all, I think it's interesting that the scene starts with Marcille bathing Falin.

It feels very caring in a more platonic, less charged way then what will follow.

Marcille goes from this caretaker mode to joining Falin in the bath, and then of course we get the first of The Panels

(as a small note, I only noticed when revisiting that Marcille is using the rest of her Kelpie soap in the bath. Isn't that just the most heartwrenching little detail. Augh)

Anyway, one of the first things I thought was interesting going back to this is how much it reminded me of the very different sort of intimacy that came just before it - when Laios and Marcille assembled Falin's bones.

This is such a beautiful and intimate sequence, and something about Marcille examining Falin, whole, after the fact... I can't imagine there are not some echoes of those bones in Marcille's mind. The action seems more startling/intense for Falin at first, and maybe part of that is because Marcille has already experienced this level of intimacy with Falin's body in a way Falin herself wasn't a part of.

This panel in particular I think is a summation of the difference in the experience for them. This looks like... near orgasmic for Falin tbh, and Marcille is very focused on the actual like practical part of what she's doing, seemingly completely unaware of the Effect she is having on Falin.

The whole short sequence is focused on this intimacy that Marcille initiated seemingly without fully being aware of what she was actually doing. And once Marcille is satisfied, she is also the one that ends it, sitting back in the bath and moving out of Falin's proximity. All on her own terms, and for her own ends.

HOWEVER... Falin doesn't just let things go.

Instead, she returns Marcille's attention. First, by asking after her wellbeing:

Marcille, of course, deflects (there will be a lot of that in this scene).

But Falin doesn't let it go.

Falin is not a confrontational person. She likes to keep the peace. In this context, and in context of the way that Marcille was the one to come into Falin's space initially, the way that Marcille controlled the initial intimacy... this is striking. I genuinely think that these three panels might convey one of the most assertive actions Falin (as herself) takes in the entire story. One of the only things that outdoes it is the fucking INCITING INCIDENT OF THE WHOLE STORY.

I'd also like to point out here that this action of Falin's also parallels her resurrection by Marcille & Laios. It's is also a forbidden magical action done to save someone(s) she loves, and its something she does TO them, that they are not fully aware/able to react to until its done.

Anyway, back to the bath scene. Falin is taking action here and asserting herself. And how does Marcille react?

She flips out!! She rejects it! She tells Falin that she isn't supposed to be acting like that.

It's a very distancing response from Marcille, and also one that puts her back in that caretaker mode from the start of the scene. She also puts even more distance between herself and Falin by sinking into the water.

Falin doesn't give up though! She continues to assert herself. She's okay, she is allowed to chose to do this.

And Marcille continues to push her away. It looks to me like she only starts to relax a little once she fits Falin into a role she can better define and control. You're a patient, you're recovering, I understand this fact and you don't. Let me take care of you.

But, for a third time, Falin pushes back.

I don't think it’s coincidence that this is where she opens her eyes. She asks directly about the thing that they have both been dancing around:

The resurrection spell. The fact that Falin KNOWS about this, at least in part, recontextualizes the quiet battle for control between the two them. They both know at least some part of the truth. Marcille wants nothing else then to ignore it. Falin wants to be able to talk about it. Marcille's blatant refusal to give her those answers, I think, is what keeps them out of sync - intimate only ever in one direction at a time, never fully together.

And of course, even when directly confronted, Marcille refuses to engage with the truth.

This moment being on the bottom of the page is notable too. There's a beat here. The last panel holds on Falin's face. The reader reaches the bottom of the page, and they are held here for a beat as well, with Falin. It's not quite a rejection yet. What Marcille says isn't directly an answer to Falin's question, but it is a response. A valid one, even! Falin wasn't just asking the question after all, but struggling with guilt that Marcille has every reason to want to reject.

But then you move on the next page, and...

Marcille isn't actually addressing the question at all, not directly. She's deflecting, again. Oh we had a ~difficult time~, there were a lot of "tough situations." Even though she and Falin both know about the resurrection, and Falin has made it clear that she wants to talk about it, Marcille pushes away from the actual topic. She keeps things broad and indirect.

She offers the smallest gesture to Falin - nothing more than a whisper of 'don't worry about it I won't get in trouble' (even though Falin's concern was never just about Marcille getting in trouble).

Marcille then continues to deflect even further, completely changing the subject onto clothes and frog adventures, which seems to distract Falin as well, as she finally gives up on pushing.

And that's where the scene ends! Marcille pushes into Falin's space (without fully realizing), and Falin pushes back. She tries three times to get Marcille to acknowledge her wants, and three times Marcille rejects her, though she does eventually convey some truth. She is honest in her belief that Falin doesn't need to feel guilty, and that things will all work out, even as she continues to deflect the rest of the question. Falin finally accepts that, the topic of conversation changes, and we move on.

But there is a little bit more that happens between them. Towards the end of the chapter, they have this little 'oh no we have to share a bed' situation. Classic stuff.

And Falin seems to realize that the context of this is kinda different now then it was when they were in the magic academy. She's not a kid any more, and they just had those intimate moments in the bath. There's a new tension between them, or one that new at least to the bed sharing of it all.

And in this respect, too Marcille pulls away from what Falin is trying to say. She tries to frame Falin as a kid, tries to insist that nothing is different.

When I first got to this part, it honestly felt... a little uncomfortable? After the bath scene, it is really weird to move into a new intimate situation with Marcille explicitly treating Falin as a kid.

What I have realized in coming back to this scene, though, is how much I think its meant to feel uncomfortable. Throughout the chapter, Marcille's responses to Falin become increasingly patronizing. By letting some of that conflict between them resolve at the end of the first scene, the chapter seems to let things rest, and lets you set it out of your mind.

Then, when the same type of conflict comes back at the end of the chapter, Marcille is even more blatantly treating Falin like a kid, and the unfairness of it hits even stronger. They are both adults, and Falin deserves the truth. After 27 chapters from the perspective of Laios, Marcille, and the others in the group, this progression lets you feel things from Falin's perspective. It's supposed to feel uncomfortable because it IS uncomfortable for Falin, the way no one will quite tell her the truth.

After all, Marcille isn't the only one to do this kind of deflecting when Falin tries to ask about what happened. Laios has a similar response, right down to the 'treating her a bit like a kid' part.

Even more importantly, this final conversation of the chapter reveals one last layer in the knowledge/power imbalance between Falin and the rest of the party: she doesn't actually remember sacrificing herself and teleporting them out.

As I mentioned before, that action was one of the most assertive things we see Falin do in the story, and she doesn't even get to keep that for herself. Instead of being her action, her choice, it becomes yet another thing that the others know more about than her.

I think that's part of why there is such an air of melancholy to this hug they share on the next page

Obviously, obviously, there are so many emotions here for Laios and I don't think its all meant to be viewed as a negative thing, or that he or Marcille are being completely unreasonable. They've been through a lot, and what's more, they think they have time now. So much more time then they actually will have. Time to explain, to open up, to let Falin return to the group in full - as a teammate and not just as someone to be cared for and protected.

But they don't get time. And this relenting by Falin, this "I won't do it again," it's not something that feels triumphant. It's an attempt to comfort them, more a prayer than a promise. As if she is trying to exorcise a spirit. As if she is capable of promising that death won't come, eventually. It's what Laios needs, not what she wants.

That's the real tragedy of the chapter, I think. It's the one time, in the midst of everything, that they have the chance to give Falin what she wants - and they don't do it.

But I do think they realize that, and I think that this failure is a core part of their journey. It's another bittersweet taste to add to the mix - all the missed chances in this chapter to connect, amidst the moments of genuine peace they do get throughout it.

As Laios puts it later...

If Falin hadn't been eaten by the dragon, and perhaps if they hadn't failed her here, they never would have had the adventure that they got to share.

(or, perhaps more tactfully: in life & chapter 28, there are both good times and bad. Thanks, Chilchuk)

[lexirosewrites]

We are so back!

Rejection sickness is probably my all-time favorite trope from Omegaverse and as suck I love to inflict it on my favorite guy, Steve.

His parents aren't around, he goes through a secondary pack breakup, his Alpha says she doesn't love him and then cheats on him, he gets the shit beaten out of him, and he becomes the only leader of a secondary pack of feral middle schoolers all in the span of about a year. Omegas crave stability and they need pack and by the end of season two, Steve has been rejected by an Alpha he had a quasi-bond with and put through a level of mental and physical stress most Omegas, most Alphas even, will never come close to experiencing in their entire lives before he's 18.

The whole thing results in a rapid and brutal drop the likes of which Hawkins general has never dealt with. One minute he's getting checked for a concussion and the next he's collapsing on the floor. When he wakes up he's disoriented, confused, in a shit load of pain and alarm bells are ringing in his ears for no discernable reason. His instincts are going wild and his body is pumping out obscene amounts of distress pheromones, calling for an Alpha to help him and the longer his distress goes without being answered the more he drops. The doctors and nurses are clamoring to get him hooked up with hormone stabilizers, but they can only do so much for an Omega this deep in a drop.

Eventually, they do stabilize him but it's not going to be enough to bring him back. The mixture of physical and emotional distress means his body is trying to shut down on all fronts, leaving him in a kind of limbo at risk of slipping away completely. The kids all come and try to bring him back with pack scents and cuddling but while it does help it's not enough to bring Steve all the way back, even when he's trying so hard to just snap out of it so he can be there for his pups.

The hospital tries to find him a suitable Alpha match to be his caretaker and walk him back from the edge, but his extreme state makes him highly sensitive to unfamiliar scents and none of them end up working out. In a last-ditch effort, the hospital reaches out to his former Alpha, Nancy, with the hopes that if the Alpha who triggered the drop takes care of him his Omega hindbrain will be convinced that they have been taken back and proven themselves a good Omega.

Nancy agrees, guilt-ridden by her part in Steve's condition even if she knows it's not entirely because of her rejection, agrees to try and bring Steve back.

It has the complete opposite effect. As soon as Nancy enters the room Steve starts making the most heartbreaking distressed sounds, whimpering and crying out and eventually starting to thrash around and aggravate his wounds in his attempts to hide away in the corner of his hospital bed.

Nancy is immediately ushered out while the nurses try their best to get Steve stable again, but it's not looking good.

Fortunately for them all, Alpha Eddie Munson happens to be at the hospital stopping in with Wayne who's visiting a coworker who got injured on the job. He's waiting out in the hallway giving them space when the most heartwrenching cries break the silence. His instincts immediately go into overdrive because that is an Omega in extreme distress and his Alpha needs to help them now.

He gets to the room at the end of the hall to see Steve Harrington of all people surrounded by medical staff all trying desperately to calm him down. Before the nurses can spot him and get him to leave the room Eddie is emitting calming pheromones on max and crooning into the room. The staff are preparing to haul him out when they notice that Steve is starting to settle.

The Omega has stopped his thrashing and I looking at Eddie with big, pleading eyes. He looks at the Alpha like he's water in the desert, the one thing he's been searching desperately for. Eddie doesn't know Steve all that well but seeing the way the other Omega starts reaching for him from his sick bed he doesn't hesitate to push past the hospital staff and scoop the Omega into his arm.

Steve immediately buries his nose in Eddie's neck to get as close to that perfectly comforting scent as possible. It isn't long before he's sobbing with relief into Eddie's shirt. Finally, finally, a safe Alpha has come to help him. Eddie holds him and coos at him while he gets it out, snarling at the medical staff when they try to get close enough to check on their patient. Eventually, Steve's sobs taper off into soft whimpers which turn into sleepy purrs and kneading hands.

Eddie ends up staying with Steve, keeping him stable through the rest of his recovery. He never leaves Steve's side, and by the time Steve is finally ready to be discharged from the hospital Eddie presents him with his first courting offer, his mother's ring which just so happens to fit perfectly on the right finger of Steve's left hand.

if disliking omegaverse whump, omega drops, rejection sickness, and hurt/comfort is wrong, then i don’t wanna be right🥺

[alltimefail]

Hi @netflix and @warnerbrostv! I'd like to talk about the show Supernatural and how its history and legacy can provide some insight on why you should reconsider your decision to end Dead Boy Detectives after one singular season.

Supernatural is undoubtedly one of the most successful television fantasy franchises, but many don't know that it was nearly cancelled after season 2. Thankfully (and luckily) for the network they didn't go through with cancelling the show and by season 4 it was regularly breaking viewership records. A show that was nearly cut short in its prime - much like Dead Boy Detectives - became one of the largest and most recognizable fandoms across social media platforms between the years of 2010 and 2014. The show was so wildly popular that a confession scene between two of its leading characters (Dean and Cas) is STILL used today in a meme format to circulate everything from fandom news to world politics and current events. You can't go to a single comic-con without running into something relating to Supernatural, and ever since its conclusion there has been an opening in the market for a show to take its place.

I can say with absolute certainty that, given the proper time to flourish, Dead Boy Detectives would be the show to fill the spot Supernatural has left behind. It has loads of charm alongside a sensational balance of action, whimsy, heartwrenching character development, and horror. Furthermore it is objectively better with representation than Supernatural was, which is always something embraced in fandom spaces (which are diverse and filled to the brim with queer, neurodivergent, and/or a wide range of people of color).

I also think it's fair to remind you that one of your most popular "Nerd" shows, Stranger Things, is coming to an end after a 10-year-run, leaving behind yet another gap to fill, but this time on your very own platform.

It isn't too late to reconsider the cancellation of Dead Boy Detectives. The fanbase is dedicated and hungry for more, and we know you are currently sitting on finished season 2 scripts, making it impossible for the writers to take this story anywhere else for quite some time. The scripts are there, the cast, crew, and writers love what they do and want to make more... there's simply no reason to not give Dead Boy Detectives the chance it deserves - this time with an entire fandom that wants nothing more than to consume this show, market the hell out of it, and buy merch relating to it (another win for you).

(Source x)

Oh and did I mention that Steve Yockey was a co-producer on Supernatural as well? You know, that wildly popular show I just told you about that lasted 15 seasons. You are sitting on a golden goose; Steve Yockey and Beth Schwartz, among the other talented writers, cast, and crew, know what they're doing.

Give this show its time and market it well and you will have a hit on your hands. Frankly just based on the steady, continual fandom growth since Dead Boy Detectives' release in April and the vocal outrage over its cancellation just in the last 24 hours, I'd argue you already have a hit on your hands that rivals several shows you currently have on your platform.

Dead Boy Detectives has one of the most active fandoms of the year - do the right thing by them and bring Dead Boy Detectives back. It isn't too late!

[elvestoneanzelote1]

Hello may I request a Platonic! Dazai x Mother! Reader.

Basically, Reader is Dazai’s biological mother, but of course he doesn’t know and grew up thinking he had no mother for the majority of his life, and Reader watched over him during his Mafia days, watching and protecting him in the shadows while putting up a front and working besides Hirotsu, who along with Mori knew they were related. So before and during the Dark Era, reader and Mori made a deal that if Dazai left the Mafia, she would be forced into isolation with no contact with the outside world, but if Dazai stayed, the reader would finally be able to speak with her son as a mother instead of a stranger. Obviously, Dazai left, and it wasn’t until the whole fiasco with Fyodor and the vampire outbreak that during the scene with Chuuya “shooting” Dazai in the head, he finally heard his mother’s voice of sorrow and anger shouting to Fyodor, “What have you done to my son?!”

(The ending is up to you and how Dazai reacts and if you write this as Yandere or not. P.S. I love your works and I am an absolute fan of your Zhongli/Albedo! Reader, Yandere BSD fic❤️)

𝙰:𝚗- 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝... 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚍𝚘 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚝.

𝙷𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢.

𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚎𝚖!𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚡 𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙳𝚊𝚣𝚊𝚒. (𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚌).

𝙵𝚎𝚖!𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚡 𝚢𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙼𝚘𝚛𝚒 𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚊𝚒

𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙵𝚎𝚖! 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚡 𝙵𝚞𝚔𝚞𝚣𝚊𝚠𝚊 𝚈𝚞𝚔𝚒𝚌𝚑i

Part 2

What was a mother like for him...? Dazai does not know.

He doesn't remember his parents much either... Perhaps abandoned him? Perhaps he is worth nothing in the eyes of his parents... Even his mother must be ashamed to birth him... Right?

Dazai always felt incomplete as he Stared the happy families which he... Wish he had too.

That was until, Mori brought him to Port mafia.

Perhaps he truly belongs to... Bloodshed?

Perhaps not...

But his heart melt when you came to his life.

You were apart of Black Lizards... Well not that much but some... Connected mission you does so.

You were about 35 or perhaps more then that?.

To be honest... You yourself was shocked to see your son in port mafia.

Even if you want to approach him... Ask how the father was... You knew somehow he... The father must have past away leaving... Dazai alone.

Don't get y/n wrong... She was a victim of Teenage pregnancy... The father offered her money to birth a boy for him to inherit his property as a refine man

As your parents left a huge debt onto your life you agreed.

But somehow... Dangle yourself with Hirotsu your... Friend... Perhaps? You can say that way even If he is older then you but.

He was the one offered you to join Port mafia.

Unaware of the fact Dazai have no one with him... To call a family...

Only through Him appeared with Mori had you realise your guilt.

You blame yourself not trying to find the fact if your son was okay.

Perhaps money does blinded your motherly nature.

But... All you can do was smile warmly at him.

Despite Kouyou who take upon you too... She respect you like an older sister and watch over Dazai for you too when you are out.

But... Perhaps that was a fault on your part to be attach with your son... Who doesn't realise your his mother.

Honestly you were very much concern when he ask you to suicide with him.

It was... Heartwrenching on your part.

But slow it was yet, you stay with Dazai... Like a mother... No to ease your guilt for leaving him almost 13 years of his life.

He was an just a baby a year old when you left him... You can't blame him if he forget you... As you are the fault here.

"L/n-san! Did you know what happen today?" Asked Dazai who happily sat beside you and side hug you as you gently smile at him.

"What happen today? Dazai?"

"Today I burn a farm! It was accident but thankfully those people which we need to kill are dead now"

"So you completed your mission?"

"Yep! And I eventually hurt my head!"

"Are you fine now? Shall we go to Boss?"

"Nope! Just kiss my forehead and it will be better!" Said Dazai as you chuckle slightly yet does so.

He oftens stays beside you laying his head on your lap as you let him sleep.

He felt close to you... Perhaps if he had a mother... If she is alive maybe... Will she care like you do? He often thought that way while letting himself cuddle to you.

As much as he hate sharing your warmness you also care for Akutgawa... Well leading him to take some... Steps which concern you.

Akutagawa start avoiding you afraid he will disappoint Dazai.

Your ability was not for fighting more likely telepathy. You can talk to people afar through telepathy if you wanted to and... The fact you read mind because of it.

𝙿𝚢𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚗: your ability name.

Perhaps that is the reason why 𝙼ori was fond of you... Short of way.

He knows Dazai is your son and you care a lot.

Despite him should not value much but for an tiny bit he kind of find peace been with you.

"Did you know, Y/n-chan"

"Hmm?" Your gentle e/c eyes side glance at Mori who hold onto Elise hands who on the other hand holds yours.

Afar it might look like a family but you aren't far from that thought.

"Some colleagues were wondering if we were married of sort before I... even became the boss you often stay around for me" said Mori as your gentle smile never wavered.

"Oh? But I do say, Boss you should get married unless you plan on dying single"

"Your indeed correct but I cannot find a women who is kind or tolerable for me"

"Are you searching for one?"

"Not really... Perhaps I already have someone on my mind" said Mori who stopped and faced you.

You blink slightly confused as Mori gently hold your left hand.

"There are women's that come and go even if I trust my ability as a sole... You have also become an important piece on my life, Y/n"

"...what... are-" his other hand gently stroke your face as your eyes widen staring up at him.

'I know you will read my thoughts... But I guess it will better this way...' Thought Mori to you as your eyes widen by his confession.

'Will you marry me y/n? And solely be apart of my life?'

"...but what if, I betray you?"

"Will you?" Said Mori who let out a chuckle as he stepped away abit as your mind race with thought of confusion as the only word came to your mind.

'Reject him'

"Well I will give you time to think..." Said Mori leaving with Elise who chuckle and walk away with your mind been blank of what to think.

Your heart was forever close for anyone except your son whom you love dearly as a mother should.

But... Loving another man? Yes Mori have been kind to you and you knew him when he was just an underground doctor.

You even met Fukuzawa too who told you to leave Mafia.

But you couldn't.

You can't leave your son.

And before that you couldn't.

You cared about Hirotsu.

Who is only friend of yours that was with you when your parents sucided themself.

Time past by as you were more likely ignore the question of that day.

As One day Dazai left.

He left without a word.

As much as it hurted you.

You knew it was better perhaps that friend of his have really change Dazai for better.

You could only wish to see your son been in good well.

Even if Akutagawa was hesistant he still stay with you as you cared for him as he was indeed your son student.

Both the siblings admit your like a mother for them and you even encouraged them to call you their mother of sort.

But...

When Dazai left you knew your fate was sealed.

"What do you think, Y/n-chan? Do you like white or red dress as a wedding dress?" Asked Mori while selecting dresses with Elise looking in choosing some accessories.

"Anything... Will be fine Mori-san..."

"Now now, You should call Ougai now no?" Said Mori who smile and gently hold your face sway away strand of hairs of yours from your face.

"After all, We will be together and you will be my wife soon, Isn't it lovely and honour for you to be my wife?"

"..."

He squeeze your face tighter as you try your best to smile a bit.

"Ye-yeah... Ougai-san..."

"Good very good... It is a shame Dazai will be unaware that I will be his soon step dad... Ah the irony but don't worry Y/n-chan I really like you... But more likely your ability is something which I cannot let you leave Mafia again" as Mori lean to your ear as you could feel his warm breath to yours.

"Never are you... Going to leave me, understood?"

"Y-yes Ougai-san"

.

.

.

.

.

.

But perhaps fate will bring the truth to your son... Well... More likely Ada told him the truth.

"...what do you mean?" Muttered Dazai as he side glance at Ranpo who told him the truth with Fukuzawa nodding with a frown present.

"Y/n l/n... Is your biological mother"

"...why did she left me then? And why did she come to my life again instead... Why?" Asked Dazai as he couldn't care if he is over showing his emotions.

As gentle as you are Fukuzawa frown that not a bit of Dazai resemble you perhaps the father infected him more.

Though some part he is slightly glad you never married anyone else after The birth of Dazai.

Either way, Dazai was asking what they meant truly.

"Your mother gave birth to you when she was only... 16 perhaps yeah... Been force to pay debt of her late parents she was offered money to birth a son by your father... Your mother was tossed away and given money when you were just a year old. Unaware of your life that your father passed away soon after and... Your Uncle took away your inheritance leaving you... Somewhere either way... Yeah it is y/n l/n your mother"

"...all this time... She was so close to me... Yet I never knew... I have to meet her and ask her about it.. If she know it too or even-"

"That's not the reason why we told you" said Ranpo as Dazai was abit confused as he quickly composed himself with a stiff smile.

"What do you mean?"

Fukuzawa handed Dazai a card who was confused with Fukuzawa frown present on his lips.

"Y/n was a close one even for me too... But perhaps in time she choose.... The port mafia boss Mori"

"...what kind of joke is this" muttered dazai as Fukuzawa nod.

"Either she is forc-"

"She have to be forced! Y/n- no mother never love Mori-san... And Mori-san value her for her ability.... We have to save Mother!" Said Dazai as he glance at Ranpo then Fukuzawa.

"Please... Since mother was close to you too, Save her from the marriage!"

"..." Fukuzawa let out a sighed as Ranpo side glance at the president and let out a chuckle.

"Seems... Like president gonna get another son beside me and I am getting a mother!" said Ranpo leading Fukuzawa to side glare at Ranpo with slightly flustered face as Dazai blink twice as his eyes widen in realisation.

"Even if... we save mother that doesn't mean I'm letting mother marry you!"

"...shut it concentrate on saving her from marriage first"

"Listen to your father, Dazai! And even Your older brother, me!"

"Ranpo/- San shut it"

"Now... you both are aiming me for nothing!"

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

..

𝙰:𝚗- 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚍𝚊𝚢/𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚕𝚕! 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚊𝚢/𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚕𝚕!

[the-modern-typewriter]

Hello :) Can i request a mutually pining hero x villain piece where the hero finds out about the horrible treatment the villain goes through in prison (whenever the villain gets locked up) and they have an emotional confrontation where the hero apologizes and promises to fix the situation? a little bit of holding the villain's chin and asking them how much it hurts? just the heartwrenching stuff.

Whether you see this or not, I want to say thank you for everything you've shared with us. You are extremely talented, and an inspiration for people who want to improve their writing. Thank you, thank you. :') <3

"They hurt you."

The villain stilled. They kept their gaze fixed on the sky, their hands focused on the ember of a cigarette clutched between their fingers, their ears tracking the thump of music spilling out onto the street.

Inevitably, despite all of those efforts, their attention locked on the hero standing next to them.

Fury radiated from the hero, and something more. They didn't have to glance over to see it. They didn't have to glance over at all when the hero edged even closer to them, brow knitted, eyes liquid guilt in the pooling streetlight.

The villain took another drag of their cigarette to steady themselves, filthy habit though it was, before exhaling. "We're not doing this here."

The thin alley behind the club was empty except for the two of them, but that was hardly the point. The air was warm with the promise of summer and freedom. They didn't want to think about any else.

"Where are we doing it then?" the hero demanded.

The villain's jaw clenched. They stubbed out the smoke and began to turn away.

In an instant, the hero's hand was firm on their shoulder, pinning them in place. By all rights, if things in the world made sense, the villain should have flinched at the rough touch and the hero should have recoiled. The villain didn't flinch. The hero wouldn't hurt them, not like that. They knew it in their bones.

The hero didn't recoil. They ducked their head to try and catch the villain's eyes again.

The villains scoffed and slid their gaze away, throat tight.

"I want to fix it," the hero said. "This should never - if I'd known -"

"-You didn't know." It was forgiveness and accusation all at once.

"I should have."

"You didn't."

The hero had always been kind, in their interactions, in the complicated way that the two of them could be kind to each other. Not polite, not nice, not civil. But kind. Of course they hadn't known, and of course the villain hadn't told them. They would never have told them. Not in case, just in case, the hero had actually known all along. Not in case, just in case, the hero didn't care. Not in case, just in case, the hero thought they deserved it.

"You going to let me go free next time?" the villain asked.

The hero's jaw clenched too. "I'm not going to let them treat you like - like -"

"Like a criminal? You can say it. That's what I am."

"Like a monster."

The villain smiled. It didn't quite reach their eyes, but nor was it ungenuine. "Also what I am."

The hero's other hand shot out, seizing the villain's chin, forcing their gazes to lock. "No."

"Yes." The villain studied them. "Don't be obvious."

"You deserve better."

"Because you don't think I'm a monster?"

"Even if you are," the hero whispered. "And I'm sorry. I'm just - so sorry."

The villain didn't know what to say to that. The hero's sincerity, raw as an open wound, floored them utterly. They swallowed, pulse fluttering against the warm press of the hero's palm.

Contact. Firm, unflinching, not unkind contact.

"How much does it hurt?" the hero asked.

"This or the - before?"

The hero let go instantly, hand flying back to their side as if they'd been burnt.

The villain's hand rose to where the hero's hand had been, chasing the memory of it. The words 'you didn't hurt me' perched on the tip of their tongue. The villain swallowed them.

"I'm going to end up back there," the villain said. "You can't fix that, because you're the one that catches me. The only one who can."

"If you stopped..."

"If you stopped," the villain said.

The hero squeezed their eyes shut for a second, pained.

The villain reached out, despite themselves, to grip the hero's chin. Feather-light. "How much does it hurt?"

The hero laughed, a little raspy, a little not laughing at all. "This should never have happened."

"It happens to more than just me." I'm just the one you care about. The knowledge was as dizzying, as giddying and heady, as it was awful.

"If I asked you to tell me what they did to you, would you?" the hero asked.

"You already know."

The isolation. The power restraints that were always cinched a little too tight. The beatings. It was always better near the end of their sentence, to allow time for the bruises to heal, and it was never anything permanent. Nothing that could be used in a court of law. Nothing but words and hearsay.

"Yes." The hero watched them.

"But you want me to tell you anyway."

"Yes."

The villain dropped their hand and itched for another cigarette, and itched to continue touching even more. They turned their gaze away again and cleared their throat, because the hero's expression...

The villain had been hurt so many times before. The hero made it look new.

"I'll fix it," the hero said, less a wish or a want and more a promise. "This won't happen again. Not to you. Not to anyone."

The villain knew better than most that promises were easily-broken, fragile things. Still.

"What do you think I've been trying to do?"

The hero flinched.

The villain didn't recoil. Monsters didn't get to recoil from the worst that the world had to offer.

They started walking, and paused at the end of the alley where the shadows turned to light and life and the open world. They glanced back to where the hero stood, perfectly still and perfectly shattered, hands flexing like they were itching to touch again too.

Sometimes monsters got kind things too, even if it made no sense, even if what was theirs felt like it should belong to everyone else in a thousand different ways.

"We're not doing this here," the villain called out. "So. You coming?"

The hero followed.

The villain knew they always would.

[halcyonfawn]

the meaning behind "face the raven" theme in "wild blue yonder" and more

a continuation of this post. i need to talk about this otherwise i'll explode.

some people have also said that this theme is playing in "last christmas" and "hell bent" (thank you for pointing that out, i'm going to die) which makes it all even worse (better). therefore, this post is, more or less, destined to turn into capaldi's era brainrot. but not all of it, i promise.

you've been warned.

first of all, allow me to refresh your memory. let's look into the context of the scenes where we heard this music theme before.

"last christmas"

according to series 8 official soundtrack, this theme is a part of "every christmas is last christmas" and is heard quite clearly two times. they're both important scenes for the doctor and clara.

too late.

a moment full of regrets and nostalgia. the doctor thinking he's lost clara again, wishing he would have come back sooner. clara reminicing her life without the doctor in it.

"so no one matched up to danny, eh?" "there was one other man, but that would never have worked out." "why not?" "he was impossible."

it is (heavily) implied that "one other man" is the doctor. does the doctor himself realise that she's talking about him? open for interpretation. but what this small exchange truly does is showing a game of saying something without actually saying it.

"can you really see no difference in me?" "clara oswald, you will never look any different to me."

yet another way of dancing around words. there's something special and touching about this last line. it is sort of a confession of unconditional love. but the word itself - love - is never spoken out loud.

then again, twelfth might be face blind.

second chances.

now, this scene is a complete opposite of the one mentioned above. it's full of hope, anticipation, happiness. a beginning of a new arc. he is given a second chance and he takes it. the doctor asks clara to run away with him once again. and she says "yes" without hesitation, takes his hand, kisses him on the cheek.

conclusion? these two scenes are focused entirely on the doctor and clara's relationship. it is there to show their strong connection, how much they mean to one another. utter devastation at the thought of their time ending and the absolute joy of reuniting after being separated. a chance at a happy ending. which also makes the music that plays on the background their theme.

"face the raven"

"every christmas is last christmas" is now turned into "face the raven" and is asocciated with clara's death. it also makes the previous name even more heartwrenching since last christmas was literally clara and doctor's last hurrah. we can hear this piece of music appear in two scenes as well.

clara's monologue about facing the raven.

"if danny pink can do it so can i. die right. die like i mean it, face the raven. maybe this is what i wanted. maybe this is it. maybe this is why i kept running. maybe this is why i kept taking all those stupid risks, kept pushing it."

she's accepting her fate and aknowleges her recklesness all the way throught the season 9. it was meant to be. there wasn't enough space for two doctors in the tardis.

"i let you get reckless" "why? why shouldn't i be reckless? you're reckless all the bloody time! why can't i be like you?" "clara, there's nothing special about me. i'm nothing but less breakable than you. i should've taken care of you."

this scene is also about how a human life can be so very short compared to the time lord's and how easily it can end. it's fragile. and it's the doctor's curse: bearing the pain of losing his loved ones.

clara meeting her fate.

as she approaches the raven, ever so brave, the doctor watches her. he hears clara scream, then witness her collapsing onto the ground. it is extremely painful, but this is, i repeat, the doctor's curse: watching his companions leave. there's no use in running away from that pain, it haunts him every step of the way.

"hell bent"

next time, "face the raven" theme can be heard during the memory wipe sequence. there is no name given for the background music in this particular moment, but it's quite obvious it represents loss and... letting go?

the doctor is about to make clara forget their time together (does that ring a bell, anyone?).

it is worth pointing out that the music becomes the loudest at the exact moment the doctor says:

"look how far i went for fear of losing you. this has to stop. one of us has to go."

it is the culmination of their relationship. companions that push each other to extremes. together they might destroy the whole universe in order to keep each other safe. there's no other way but to separate. they've formed such a strong connection than one is ought to forget the other.

even though at first the doctor is determined to wipe clara's memories, he then admits she is right: it is unfair to take away all that wonderful time they had from her. so he gives her a choice. or, more like, an offer to play a russian roulette. it's either you or me. i'm not going to press that button. we will do this together.

to summarise: all of these moments featured a strong connection between clara and the doctor. it also tells us a story about how hard it is to lose someone you care about deeply, especially for the doctor.

how is it all connected to the doctor and donna?

memory wipe

the doctor has to make donna and clara forget about him in order to keep them safe. expect that he doesn't give donna a choice, wiping her memory almost instantly, without saying a proper goodbye to her. obviously, he didn't have enough time to think of a better way to solve the problem since donna wouldn't have lasted long. however, it is still a decision he regrets making.

from "the star beast":

"i'm so glad you're back, donna. it killed me, it killed me, it killed me."

if we take a look at clara's situation, it's a bit different. i've already mentioned it above: at first, the doctor wants to do the same thing to clara that he did to donna. make her forget. expect, this time he is confronted for doing so (even threatened, at some point).

"these have been the best years of my life and they're mine."

i think this line triggers something in the doctor. because this is when he realises that this is not the right thing to do. not exactly. he'd already done it once and he regretted it. so this time, he offers a slightly different solution. someone still has to forget, but they'll press that button together. it's a mutual choice.

now, i know it's not entirely related to the dialogue in "wild blue yonder", but i think it's worth mentioning that donna and clara's stories are somewhat similar. i'm sure it's been said before, but it's still important.

donna's story was incomplete because she wasn't given a choice. now, that she remembers, 14th doctor makes sure their time together is worth-while. a second chance just like in "last christams".

too alike

another similarity between these two stories is that clara and donna are not entirely humans. not anymore.

donna's half timelord. even though her head is still not big enough to fit all the doctor's memories, she still has a part of the doctor in her.

clara's frozen in time, that makes her practically immortal. she risks her life, she reverses the polarity of the neuroblock, she gets her own tardis, she's even reffered to as "clara who" at the end of "hell bent". she has become the doctor in a sense.

but there can only be one doctor. so where's the story heading to at this point, i wonder? but we'll come back to this question later.

"but what really happened?"

before i say anything, it is obvious that the doctor's silence before and after he says "a lot" is him reminicing all that'd happened to him during the 11th, 12th and 13th reincarnations. all of the loss and pain he went through.

but why "face the raven" theme of all things? it could be a general theme of grief/nostalgia/painful memories, nothing else implied.

but please let me be delusional for a bit longer!

just as that scene in "hell bent" brought the doctor back to the moment he made donna forget him, could it be that bringing back his best friend's memories in a whole universe that "he absolutely loves", also reminded him of another important person in his life with similar story? just like "hell bent" mirrored "the journey's end", "wild blue younder" gave us a reference to "hell bent".

this is where we get back to the question about the current story direction.

foreshadowing?

donna's story is not over. and there are a lot of possibilities how it can end.

say, there is a connection to clara's story here, i wonder if that's where the plot's heading. in one of the trailers, the doctor does say "i'm not sure if i can save you this time" to donna. and it worries me. then again, maybe they're just tricking us into thinking something bad will happen (oh the drama).

i'd say it's unlikely donna's going to die because that would be absolutely devastating after just bringing her back. at the very least, the ending wouldn't be completely "happily ever after". perhaps, sacrifices will be made in order to prevent something truly horrible from happening.

why did this face come back?

in "the girl who died" twelfth doctor finally realises why he got his face. it is a call-back to "the fires of pompei" (don't even get me started on its being the episode with 10th and donna).

the message the doctor was giving to himself turned out to be:

"i'm the doctor and i save people!"

but what is 14th trying to tell himself?

i think it's about donna and more.

he's fixing his mistake of erasing her memories and depriving her of the right to remember amazing things that'd happened to her.

it's a reminder to actually tell people how much they mean to him. as we can see, 14th's more open with his feelings and constantly shows signs of affection towards his loved ones, even breaking the "never say i love you" rule.

it's about being honest and open with people because they deserve to hear it from him and he deserves to hear it back. because "things happen and then it's too late".

again, take 12th doctor, for instance. he constantly represses his feelings. but in my humble opinion, the reason why he's changed by season 10 was clara. she pulled him out of the dark place. and even though her death almost threw him back to that state again, he is still a better man by season 10.

but there were things left unsaid. love and care were always there but it was never said out loud. kind of the same thing happened with 13th.

i strongly believe that donna is that person for 14th. they're best friends who love each other deeply. and after the doctor lost her and got a second chance to fix everything, he does, he's being affectione. he's finally open with his feelings.

conslusion: why did you make us read all fo this?

to answer the question in the title: it's all tied with how memories are important and priceless, fixing past mistakes, moving on and learning to treasure every moment with people you care about like it's your last.

it can also be a foreshadowing for something terrible, but i choose to hope for the better.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

aaaand that is the end of my doctor who rant. thank you for getting this far, if you did!

my feelings about all of this can be described with this one meme:

[annieqattheperipheral]

wooosh. That's me sighing and breathing it out. Couldn't watch the gaudreaus memorial service live while working, just watched it in full on cbj youtube. first off, I'm ever so grateful the family granted us a livestream of this very difficult experience, that they are willing to open their arms to all of us to grieve together. their generosity and love.. wow. I'm in awe of this family. Thank you thank you. It is helping and healing so many of us to be part of this circle of support. thank you.

The priest interwove such beautiful personal memories with the gaudreaus in his sermon, and brought hope and a sense of guidance to steer mourners after such a heartwrenching and sudden tragedy. He welcomed ppl of all different faiths and connected the family to those grieving both there with them and far away. It was a beautiful way to begin the service.

I paused quite a few times during Madeline's and then Meredith's speeches to wipe tears. Meredith's was long but i get it. As she was nearing the end i had this feeling of no don't stop talking because when you end this speech is when we say our last goodbyes to johnny and matty and that's it we all carry on without them. No more Johnny Hockey in the NHL and that cannot be right.

The stories of how Johnny wore meredith's comfy clothing to pregame cracked me up. How he came bounding down the stairs one day in her maternity sweatshirt and she's like noooo take that off and he's like what it fits so well 😂 i cannot!! I can just imagine him preening so proudly lolll. He was so proud of his baby's spit up on his clothes, wore em to the rink. Incredible father and husband. Cannot believe he won't be around to help her through her 3rd pregnancy.

That both of Johnny and Matty's wives are going to go through pregnancy and labour without them. This tragedy is insane. How. How???!!!

I liked hearing about Johnny and Matty's deep deep connection. That Johnny lived an nhl life all season but all he wanted in the offseason was to go sleep in his tiny twin bed next to his brother in his own tiny twin bed in their childhood bedroom. Meredith said she knows so much of the focus has been on Johnny but even in life Matty knew that's how it was and loved his brother for it, was so proud of him.

Sean Monahan... wow wow wow I'm hurting hard for him. Johnny was really excited to play in cbj with him. Omg.

And Kevin Hayes. Goodness. So much heartbreak. Lost yet another brother. The hayeses really took care of Johnny in the nhl.

Guy Gaudreau, their father. The very last shot of the family at the end as they exited the church, following the two caskets out, Meredith followed Johnny's. Madeline and the gaudreaus (parents and 2 sisters) then following Matty's.. Guy was an absolute mess being held up by his wife and daughter. My heart broke all over again.

Spotted a lot of familiar hockey faces in the pews. I hope being there was healing. I know for me, everything felt unreal and confusing until i physically got to see my cousin's casket and then see with my own eyes as she was placed to rest. That connection to reality helped the loneliness and confusion i felt. I wanted to be with her but then my brain could finally give me an answer, she's sleeping in that place where i can go visit.

Ok. well in the pans over the attendees saw cbj, flames, team usa, Matthew Tkachuk, Seth Jones, Cole Caufield, Nikita Zadorov and others.

Well. This coming season is gonna get off to a real sad start and I'm glad we have each other in the lb🫂💕 those home opener tributes are gonna be tough.

[the-authoress-writes]

Up Where We Belong

Part One

Pete “Maverick” Mitchell x Writer!reader

Up Where We Belong Masterlist

Synopsis: When a writer experiencing horrible writer’s block goes to the Apple Valley Airshow for inspiration, she meets a certain older, daring naval aviator, leading to maybe a little more than just inspiration.

Warnings: Mentions of hospice and family member deaths, age gap (reader is in their late thirties to early forties).

But really, this is just fluff.

Author’s Note: The plot bunnies have reproduced at an unholy rate, and I am so stupid for writing this, especially since I have another chapter of “Wherever You Go”, to write, the first chapter of “Safe and Sound” and a MavDad story to finish.

The second part and another Mav story is lined up, but at this point, I’m not going to complain, because at least I’m writing, and Mav is finally getting more of my writerly attention.

We’ll see what gets finished next, 😂.

#writerlife

Again, I name a story after a song, from another movie about the Navy, funnily enough.

(Only three of my stories on my masterlist are not named after songs—I can’t stop, apparently)

So here we go!

She had always been somewhat interested in planes—it was hard not to be, when most of her family was in commercial aviation.

Her father had flown for nearly thirty years for American, her younger brother was currently a first officer coming up on his command upgrade with Delta, and her grandfather, whom she affectionately called PopPop, had flown for Continental.

Some of her fondest memories were looking over her grandfather’s maps and airport diagrams, and sitting on his lap while he taught her how to use an analog flight computer.

But one day, when she was home from her freshman year of college, where she was taking her degree in English, her grandfather took her up to the attic to show her something.

It was a footlocker from World War II, the faded paint on the outside reading “USAAF”.

“This was your granduncle Joseph’s—my eldest brother.

He was a P-51 pilot.

He ran many successful missions in his aircraft until he got shot down saving his wingman’s life, near the end of the war.”

PopPop opened the footlocker, revealing a faded American flag folded into a tricorn lying neatly atop several dark greenish-brown uniforms.

PopPop gently lifted the flag and uniforms out of the footlocker, uncovering yellowed, brittle-looking maps, a compass set, and a thick stack of letters, tied together with a black ribbon.

It was the stack of letters that PopPop lifted out, and held out to her. “Look at these, and read them.”

She did, and the story the letters contained was beautiful and heartbreaking.

Her granduncle had fallen in love with a woman who was a member of the French Resistance, named Céline, whom he’d met during a covert resupply mission, and they even had plans to marry after the war.

But she’d died in a skirmish with German soldiers in Paris, leaving him so bereft that he’d taken to writing letters to her specter, just to have an outlet for his grief.

The last letter in the pile was heartwrenching, where her granduncle Joseph talked about how he was only living because she would want him to, only being careful in the air because she’d want him to.

She’d cried reading the letters, and she’d asked PopPop why he’d wanted her to read the letters.

“I wanted someone else to know their story,” he’d simply replied.

“No one else knows?”

He hummed, considering his answer. “Sometimes you keep some things to yourself until the right person to tell comes along.”

A few years passed, and when PopPop was on hospice, the two of them were watching “Band of Brothers”, when she remembered Uncle Joe, as she’d taken to calling him in her head.

“What’s going on in that bright head of yours, darling?” PopPop’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Oh, uh, nothing much, I was just remembering Uncle Joe.

Thinking that he and Céline deserved better.”

“They did.”

She shook her head, “I wish I could write them a happier ending, you know?”

PopPop hummed weakly. “Well, why don’t you?

If anyone could do it, it would be you.

If you do that, I’m sure in a few years, those English professors of yours would be saying that they taught a great American author.”

She was shocked and touched. “Wha—I—well, I guess I could, but, are—y-you’d be okay with that, PopPop?”

He laid a cold hand on hers, “I wouldn’t trust it to anyone else, my dear girl.”

“Okay,” she smiled tearily, and nodded, the two of them returning their attention to the episode.

A week later, PopPop passed, and many things happened over the ensuing years that caused the idea of writing about Uncle Joe to be put on the back burner.

In fact, she forgot all about it, until she was sitting on her couch a couple of weeks after having been let go from her job as an English teacher at her local high school.

She was mindlessly watching an episode of some show she couldn’t even remember the name of, when her eyes landed on the footlocker which PopPop had given to her in his will.

The memory of PopPop encouraging her to write about Uncle Joe came back to her, and she paused the episode, strode over to the footlocker, carefully opened it, and drew out the letters.

Madly, over the course of the next several hours, she reread the letters, numerous research-related tabs quickly opening up on her phone, tablet, and laptop.

As months passed, she made good progress on her first draft, but somewhere along the way, about slightly less than halfway through her intended story beats, she hit the dreaded dead end, writer’s block in full force.

Rereading the letters did nothing—every line she wrote, she deleted; she felt lost, and like she’d completely lost Uncle Joe and Céline’s voices.

She felt right back at square one.

Then, one day, as she was looking at her brother’s latest Facebook reel from his layover in Korea, she saw an advertisement for the Apple Valley Airshow, which would feature an aerobatic demonstration with an actual, airworthy P-51.

Maybe seeing the aircraft her Uncle flew would shake something loose in her brain so she could move forward.

She didn’t even hesitate—she immediately booked a ticket, and prepared herself to take down a lot of notes.

The airshow was absolutely wonderful, and even though she never got as into aviation as the rest of her family, it was still something which fascinated her, and seeing the planes made her marvel all over again at the miracle that was aviation, how humankind had successfully taken the skies for itself through brutally elegant means.

Finally, it was time for the reason she’d come—the emcee began, “Now, everyone, you’re all in for a treat, because up next, we have a nearly eighty-year-old aircraft, a P-51K named Bianca, and she’ll be giving us an aerobatic demonstration!

So let’s give a warm Apple Valley Airshow welcome to Bianca and her owner and pilot, US Navy Captain Pete Mitchell!”

She clapped along with everyone else, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the P-51.

Soon, the sound of a propeller engine grew louder and louder, and then, there she was.

Bianca was gorgeous, gleaming silver with red markings, the American star roundel on her side.

The shining aircraft got closer and closer to the ground, towards the crowd, and just as she was about to worry that the P-51 was in an upset condition, the plane pulled up slightly, buzzing the transfixed people.

Laughing in awe and delight, she clapped with everyone, and watched as the daring pilot put the plane through a series of hair-raising spirals, rolls, dives, and elegant, breathtaking passes with such precision, skill, and ease, just knowing that whoever was flying that old girl had aviation in his blood as surely as it ran in hers; it made her wonder what her granduncle would say about how the venerable fighter was being flown.

Before she knew it, the demonstration was over, and with another low pass and wing wave, the P-51 flew off to land.

It actually took her a moment to come back to herself, she was so stunned by what she saw, and she knew she had to see Bianca up close.

After asking for directions to the flight line, she scanned the row of planes, eventually spying a flash of red.

She walked over, catching sight of a tall, mustached man a few years younger than her, standing in front of the aircraft, wearing a borderline-obnoxiously-loud Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned over a white tank and jeans, stereotypical Ray-Bans pushed up onto his head.

“Excuse me?”

“Yes?” the man replied.

“Is this the P-51 which flew a few minutes ago?

She is a P-51, right?”

“That’d be a yes to both questions, ma’am.”

She chuckled grimly at the idea that her age was maybe showing enough for her to be ma’am-ed by someone only a few years younger than her. “Are you the owner?”

He scoffed, good-naturedly. “Nah, that’ll be my dad.

Hey Dad, someone wants to talk to you!”

A moment later, a man stepped out from under the P-51, and she’d absolutely be lying if she said her breath didn’t catch.

First off, if she had to guess, he was older than her, but there was something about him which made him seem younger than his age.

Then there was the fact that he was absurdly good looking—ridiculously so, in fact; impossibly raven-dark hair, mischievously sparkling, brilliant green eyes, and a physique that people half her age would kill for, all sinewy muscle, visible with the snug white t-shirt and jeans he was wearing.

The final nail in the proverbial coffin was his smile—God, it belonged in a museum, because it was a work of art, and coupled with his roguish air, everything about him screamed the most delicious kind of trouble, sending echoes of Whoopi Goldberg’s voice saying, “You in danger, girl,” through her head.

“Hi,” he began, extending his hand.

Luckily for her, she was quick on the draw, and extended her own hand, proffering a “Hi,” of her own, though she kicked herself at the fact that the next words out of her mouth were, “Are you the owner?”

Oh, well—couldn’t win them all.

His grip was firm and calloused, but gentle, without the cool metal band she expected on his fourth finger, quick eyes observing the lack of even a pale band of skin on the same finger, and she shook herself from the observation in time to hear his, “That’s me—Pete Mitchell, you can call me Mav.”

At her quizzical look, he continued, “It’s short for my callsign, Maverick—I’m Navy.”

She nodded, “The emcee did say you were Navy, and that tracks; judging from that impressive demonstration, you don’t strike me as the kind who blends in.”

“Thank you—I aim to please,” he grinned.

Miraculously, she managed to ignore his brilliant, beautiful smile, somehow mustering a “Well, you certainly delivered,” before she introduced herself.

A cough from the younger man, Pete’s son, made her realize that she hadn’t let go of Pete’s hand, and vice versa, which caused the two of them to practically spring apart.

“Oh, uh, this is my son, Bradley,” Pete introduced the younger man, reaching nearly comically up to wrap an arm around Bradley’s shoulders.

“Nice to meet you, Bradley,” she replied, trying to recollect herself while her mind acted like it was the first time she’d interacted with a good-looking man.

“Nice to meet you too, ma’am.”

“I look that bad, do I?” she chuckled.

“Just the way he was raised,” Pete proudly said, patting his son on the back.

Embarrassingly, she just then remembered the reason she was here. “Oh, I—I actually had a few questions for you, Pete, about the P-51, because I’m writing a book, and I wanted to get some details.”

His eyes lit up. “Details about this old girl, huh?

I can do that; come on, let me show you around.” He moved to the side of the aircraft and gestured grandly. “Bianca here’s a Dallas-built North American P-51K, with a Packard V-1650-7 engine and an 11 foot diameter Aeroproducts propeller.

She was donated to the Civil Air Patrol in 1946, and I acquired her in 2001.

I’m not sure if she ever saw combat, because her military flight logs were lost, but I know for a fact that she routinely patrolled the California skies way back when.

Let me show you the controls.”

He nimbly boosted himself up to the wing and held his hand out to her. “Come on up.”

“Uh, is this a wise decision?” she asked, glancing between his hand and the wing. “She is nearly eighty-years-old.”

Pete laughed, “She’s stronger than she looks, and these girls were made to withstand this sort of thing, come on.”

Deciding to trust his judgment, she took his hand and jumped up to the wing at the same time as he pulled her up, causing extra momentum which propelled her body into his.

He caught them on the edge of the cockpit, and after a second, she realized that she was pressed up against his body, both hands resting against his…very solid chest.

She prayed that her suddenly pounding heart and the burning flush on her cheeks could be discounted as a reaction to her stumble.

“I’m so sorry,” she breathed, scrambling back to put some distance between them for her sanity’s sake, while trying not to fall off either wing edge.

“Eh,” he waved off, “that’s my fault, I should have said I’d pull you up,” as he shifted to kneel on the wing. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she replied breezily, “I believe you were about to show me the controls?”

“Mm-hmm, come here.”

They slowly adjusted themselves into a configuration that enabled them both to see into the cockpit, and he pointed out the many gauges—explaining each one—and the literal stick stick, which looked nothing like the controls of any aircraft she’d seen in person or in the movies, as well as her general flight capabilities and technical specifications.

A further glance to the right showed something she didn’t expect to see. “I thought the P-51 was a single seat aircraft?”

Pete absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck, “They are—I made a… few modifications.”

“Oh.”

“You want to sit in her?” he offered, gesturing to the pilot’s seat.

She was not about to pass up an opportunity like that. “I—wh—sure!”

He carefully helped her into the cockpit, and once settled, she breathed in and out while she absorbed this moment, and imagined her granduncle sitting in a seat similar to this one, looking out at the boundless sky. “Wow,” she reverently murmured.

“I know, right?”

“This is amazing, that aircraft like this is still around and still flying, I mean—this is history,” she said, getting slightly emotional.

“It is; she is.”

After a few beats longer, she sighed, and reached for his hand so she could get out, and he carefully eased her out of the cockpit, onto the wing, then both of them back onto the ground.

“Thank you, for showing me around, this was really helpful, Pete, I think this really helped me.”

“You’re welcome,” he nodded easily. “If I may ask, what kind of book are you writing?”

For the briefest second, she instinctively recoiled from the idea of telling the story, but then, some part of her heart said that Pete Mitchell was someone she could tell this story to. “It’s uh, a fictional version of my granduncle Joe’s love story; he was a P-51 pilot during World War II, and he was in love with a woman in the French Resistance named Céline.” She turned to look at Bianca’s gleaming fuselage. “But they both died in the war; she was killed by the Germans, and he got shot down saving his wingman soon after.

I never even knew until my first year of college, when my grandfather told me the story through the love letters my granduncle and Céline wrote.

When my grandfather was dying, I told him that I wished they had a happy ending, and… well, he told me to write it for them, since I was an English major.

So here I am,” she shrugged, turning to face Pete.

He looked grave and touched. “That’s… that’s beautiful.”

“Thank you, I have to admit, I’ve wondered if what I was doing was disrespectful.”

“I know quite a few people who deserved happy endings that didn’t get them,” he glanced into the distance, a wistful, pained look in his eyes. “If I can help at least two people who didn’t have their happy endings in this world get it somehow, I’m more than willing to help.”

She sincerely replied, “Thank you for the validation,” wondering what his story was.

“You’re welcome.

And uh… you know what?

Gimme a second.”

He leapt back onto the P-51’s wing, and rummaged through the cockpit, pulling out a flight log book and a pen, hastily writing something on a page, before he tore it out, and leapt back down.

“Here, it’s my number—if you had any more questions, feel free to call, I’d be happy to answer them.”

If she had been placed in a similar situation as this maybe twenty years ago, she’d have probably done something to embarrass herself, because this—things like this didn’t happen to her—they only happened in movies, but here she was.

He gave her his number—yes, it was if she had any research questions, but still.

‘Get a grip, woman, just because you didn’t see a ring doesn’t mean he isn’t in a relationship,’ she told herself, trying to project “Respectable Professional Woman”, while her inner adolescent was trying its level best to come out.

“Th—thank you,” she managed to get out, with only a minute stammer on the first syllable.

“I’m serious, call if you need anything—I mean—there’s not a lot of people out there who can tell you what it’s like to actually fly one of these beauties.”

“Be careful,” she chuckled, already determined not to call unless it was absolutely dire, “You don’t know if I might take you up on that offer.”

“It’s what I gave you my number for,” Pete winked, and she commended herself for keeping it together.

Deciding to quit while she was ahead, and while she still seemed like a normal human being, she came in for final approach, as her dad would put it, with, “Alright—I better go, I’ve already taken too much of your time.”

“It’s fine, it’s always a pleasure to talk to someone about this girl.”

“Thank you again,” she stated, honestly grateful, feeling the creative juices flowing and simmering in the background.

“You’re welcome.”

And with that, she walked away, exhaling evenly for so many reasons.

That night, she wrote and wrote just as she expected, and the story was flowing.

That is, until she hit another wall just before the next weekend.

And this one was even more stubborn than the first.

It didn’t help that she had written herself into a corner with this dogfight scene she was on—she had no way of knowing if the tactics were sound, and she was thinking of completely cutting it, but it seemed so stilted without it, and she had no idea of how to avoid writing this scene.

But one part of that thought, she realized, wasn’t true.

Her gaze landed on her coffee table.

The sheet of flight log paper with ten numbers written on them stared tauntingly back at her, daring her to call Pete.

“Nope, no, I am not going to do it,” she told herself. “No—absolutely not.

I’m sure he has better things to do than answer stupid questions.

No—I will not call him.”

The paper raised a nonexistent eyebrow.

“No!” was her battle cry, and she turned back to her laptop screen, but it offered no relief.

The depressing reality of her blinking, unmoving cursor cackled at her in harmony with the flight log paper.

It was like that healthy cereal ad from years ago, with the little girl in a prim uniform, enticingly calling “Donuts?”

However, after ten more minutes, the dictatorship of the blank page grew too cruel and harsh, and she folded like a house of whatever was more insubstantial than cards.

“Fine,” she muttered, snatching up the paper. “I’ll call, but if he doesn’t answer, it’s no skin off my back—I’ll manage… somehow.”

At least that’s what she told herself.

She dialed the number, heart pounding as the phone rang…

And rang…

And rang…

And rang.

She was just about to breathe a sigh of conflicted relief and hang up, but then the line clicked, and she heard a slightly breathless “Pete Mitchell.”

“Hi,” she blinked, cursing herself for not thinking through what she was going to say. “I don’t know if you remember me, we met at the Apple Valley Airshow—”

“__, right?

The writer.”

“Yeah, that’s me, you said I could call if I had any questions,” she scratched her head.

“Uh-huh.

I’m guessing you have one,” she could hear the smile in his voice.

“More like a lot, really.

I’ve unfortunately written myself into a corner, it’s this dogfight scene, and there’s no way I can currently remove it without sacrificing practically all of my progress since last week.

I just need to know if the tactics are sound.”

“Huh.”

“I—you know, I can figure it out myself, if it’s too much trouble—”

He interrupted, “No, it’s no trouble, I’m more than willing to help, in fact… uh, this might sound—weird and uncomfortable—or—both, really, but if you want, why don’t you come out to my hangar tomorrow, we can talk about this, rework your scene if we need to, without having to do video calls or text or email.”

“Oh,” she breathed, eyes wide.

“I promise I’m not a serial killer or anything,” he chuckled.

“I—thank you for the reassurance, by the way—but I mean, that’s a lot of confidence in how well I can write a dogfight.”

“It can’t be all that bad,” he assured.

“I’ll just prepare to be ripped to shreds,” she half-teasingly replied.

Pete snorted. “Even if it were that bad, I wouldn’t rip it to shreds—I save that for my new students.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t know what’s worse, being torn apart or the porcelain treatment.”

“How about a balance, then?”

“I’d be very happy with that.”

“So… is that a yes to coming out to my hangar?”

“I… suppose it is,” she replied, before she could convince herself otherwise.

She was a mature, responsible adult, and she was capable of being said mature, responsible adult.

(And if time permitted, she was even capable of looking respectfully, when he wasn’t watching.)

(She was only human, after all.)

“Perfect, I’ll send you the address; I have to warn you, it’ll probably be a bit of a drive, is that okay?”

“That’s fine, after all, where else will I find someone with experience flying the P-51?”

“You could always try the local VFW post,” he joked.

“What are the odds my local VFW has a former P-51 pilot?

I’ll go with the expert I’ve already met.”

“Alright, alright, I already agreed to help, no need to butter me up,” he lightly said, humorously.

“Just send the address,” was her amused response.

And that was how she found herself on US-395 North making the three-and-a-half hour drive from her apartment in San Bernardino to the Mojave, praying that she wouldn’t somehow make a fool of herself today.

To be continued…

Next Part

Was part of this story inspired by Atonement?

Maybe.

I didn’t really have the movie in mind when I wrote the plot device, but I realized the similarity after the fact.

Analog flight computer

USAAF

Band of Brothers

The Apple Valley Airshow takes place every year in the town of Apple Valley, located in San Bernardino, California.

(I considered setting this story at the annual Miramar Airshow, which takes place at MCAS (formerly NAS) Miramar, but I imagine that Mav would probably want to avoid going to MCAS Miramar for obvious reasons.)

Roundel

I don’t think that most pilots would do very daring aerobatic stunts in a plane as old as the P-51, just because she’s a darn P-51, and she’s a flying piece of history, but this is Mav, he absolutely knows what his girl can handle, I’m sure he knows how to make something look more crazy than it actually is, and bottom line, let’s just suspend our disbelief, 😂.

Did I introduce Mav in that way just so I could use that gif?

Probably absolutely.

It’s a great shot, and I do not blame me.

“You in danger, girl.” Timestamp 1:35

All the information about the P-51 is taken from the information available about the model and history/registration of Tom’s P-51, except for the details of her name and the military flight logs being missing, as the history available for N51EW never mentions if she saw actual WWII combat.

She is registered in the FAA database with the serial number 44-12840, and her name since 2006 has been “Kiss Me Kate”.

(I know why she’s named this, and it hits something in my heart that Tom never bothered to rename her.)

Her name in this story will be explained later, but those who follow me on my main blog, @oh-great-authoress, might have a hunch as to why I named the P-51 “Bianca”.

The ad I mentioned was a real Kellogg’s Special K ad.

VFW

The travel time between San Bernardino and Mav’s hangar is estimated using the travel time from San Bernardino to NAWS China Lake, and then a further hour and twenty minutes from there.

Taglist

@valmare

@callsign-skydancer

@permanentlyexhaustedpigeon88

@tadomikiku

@malindacath

@aviatorobsessed

@lynnevanss

@djs8891

If you’d like to join my taglist, just send me an ask!

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

I'm very definitively positive on clone/Jedi relationships, both platonic and romantic.

I'm going to hit the biologically children thing first because like... no, they're not. If you want to go that route, then you have to count Grogu as a middle aged adult because he's 50 years old even though his official name for a while was literally "The Child" and he's definitely treated like a child in the narrative more often than he isn't. Jango Fett was (as far as I'm aware) a regular human. The clones, the altered ones at least (so not Omega or Boba), are almost an entirely different species. They LOOK human, but they've been engineered to be different from the baseline human they were based off of to the point that they aren't necessarily all that similar to a regular human beyond cosmetics. So if you don't view them as "fucked up humans who should be treated like children because they're technically only 10 years old" and instead view them as "subspecies of human that reaches maturity around 9 years old", then it's a lot harder to view them as children.

I think that it's fair to claim that the clones are SHELTERED and likely fairly ignorant and naive about a lot of things in the world due to their upbringing, sure, but that doesn't make them children. They're also relatively young regardless of whether you'd consider them children or not, the youngest ones we know about are sent out to war at what would be the equivalent of about 20 years old and they're only around 26ish by the time the war ENDS. So even accounting for the accelerated aging, they're still pretty young and there's going to be a lot about the galaxy and how to live in it that would be new to them. Their understanding of how relationships work is going to be skewed given everything we know about their childhoods and the way the Kaminoans canonically seem to view them.

So I think that the Jedi and clones would likely often end up in a sort of mentor/mentee relationship, especially in the beginning. We see this most strongly with Yoda and the three Coruscant Guard characters and Plo Koon with the three 104th characters in the first four episodes of season 1, as well as with Shaak Ti and Fives and Echo during the Clone Cadets episode of season 3. The Jedi are natural teachers and I think they'd start to get to know these young men who are so devastatingly intelligent but who were only ever taught about how to fight a war and they'd immediately take the opportunity to help guide the clones towards figuring out who they are and who they want to be. We're pretty much told that this is true point blank when I believe it's Nala Se or Lama Su speaks to Dooku during season 6 and they say that the Jedi have been encouraging individuality in the clones. Fives says that the Jedi respect the clones and calls the Jedi their best friends at two separate points in the narrative. The Jedi literally use their OWN PHILOSOPHIES to help the clones learn what it means to be PEOPLE and to embrace that for themselves.

The relationship between the Jedi and the clones is honestly one of the most beautiful and heartwrenching dynamics in the entirety of Star Wars to me. Their destinies are entwined irrevocably and they are each the others' doom and salvation all at once. The Jedi help the clones discover who they are, but they're also going to end up being the reason the clones lose all sense of themselves. The clones are a light in the dark for the Jedi during the war, but they're also going to be the weapon that helps plunge the entire world into darkness by eliminating the Jedi. These two groups that are SO similar in so many ways but for vastly different reasons who are thrown together by forces beyond either of their control and learn to understand each other better than anyone else ever has and love and trust each other implicitly for it and that love and trust is then used to destroy them both. It's absolutely devastating and really gets me in those feels.

As far as romantic ships, I sort-of said my piece on the age thing earlier, but I honestly find that fussing about characters' ages in Star Wars is more ridiculous than it usually is. These characters are literally ALIENS and it's a universe where human characters who are twelve years old are allowed to hold office. I have my personal preferences in terms of clone/Jedi ships, but I am a very ship and let ship sort of person (yes, even with the ships I DESPISE), so I'm not going to make a big deal out of clone/Jedi ships. I also like clone/clone ships which tons of people find problematic for other reasons, so whatever.

I HAVE seen the superior/subordinate thing get addressed in clone/Jedi fics before. Sometimes it ends in the characters deciding to wait until after the war and when the clones are given rights and official citizenship status or something before they begin a romantic relationship, and sometimes it ends in the characters recognizing that a lot of the rules shouldn't really matter when they're at war and they could die literally any day and they deserve to find happiness and pleasure where they can find it so long as they work to ensure that this doesn't impact their respective responsibilities. Again though, this is a space fantasy and absolutely nobody on the writing staff for The Clone Wars was taking the structure and internal dynamics of this fantasy military particularly seriously, so I'm not sure why I or anyone else should have to if they don't want to.

So yeah, I love relationships between the clones and Jedi, it's probably my favorite dynamic in the whole franchise, regardless of whether it's platonic or romantic.

[hellspawnmotel]

It's a shame about Astro Boy Epsilon 2003's design to be steeped lowkey in this "Well he's the most feminine of those seven robots so why not turn him into a girl" because his design is genuinely cute there, but also because of his more pacifist manners + caring nature, really sends an odd implication when it comes to turning of any of the famous robots from Astro Boy into a girl imho. Your comic really shined a light on that which I really enjoyed and it reminded me how while I enjoyed Astro boy 2003 it has its grounds to cover by how it changes things around

yeah I had the exact same thoughts! it's odd too that in 2003, epsilon doesn't retain the main qualities that make him such an interesting character- those being that he's a caretaker of human children, and his brief relationship with pluto. the former especially seems like such a missed opportunity given how much of a theme robot-human relationships are in the anime. we see plenty of other robots taking care of human children and the conflict that causes, so I don't see why one of those instances couldn't have been epsilon. it wouldve been a really smart way to integrate them more heavily into the plot. my only idea is the writers thought like "well if we make our only recurring powerful female robot a literal mother figure that feels pretty reductive" but it's not like the show isn't already sexist in other ways? and the consequence is that epsilon loses the things that made the audience care about him and becomes a pretty flat character. every other version of epsilon dies protecting a child. 2003 epsilon is defeated because she's worried about some random dolphins. it's kind of an emotional downgrade.

I don't mean to be overly negative though- I actually just finished watching the show last week and it was amazing. it had a perfect ending, which isn't something I can say for many things. AND most of the episodes range from "great" to "mindblowingly awesome and heartwrenching". there's so many good things to say about it- which is exactly why I get so critical of its few flaws, especially when it comes to things that felt like a downgrade from the manga. they stick out like a sore thumb! I could make plenty of complaints about the manga too (and I have, to my friends) but that doesn't stick in my craw as much because the manga is much less consistent in terms of quality. astro boy 2003 is a fantastic show and a really really smart adaptation apart from like, two things. and to be fair they're only things that will really bother you if you read the manga first, which I did. so if anyone reading this is an astro boy fan (or just likes robots tbh) and hasnt watched it for some reason...... do that. it's incredible, seriously. don't let my complaining scare you away.

[911whatsyourgratitude]

I'd like to give thanks for episode 8x05. Oliver said it was his favorite and I can see why. It checks almost all the boxes of what I expect from the show. There are funny moments but also heartwrenching drama, not to mention exceptional costumes, make ups, and decorations. All in a single episode. Moreover, an episode usually highlights the abilities of one or two actors, but 8x05 showcased the skills of Aisha Hinds, Tracie Thoms, Oliver Stark, Lou Ferrigno Jr., and Ryan Guzman, all at once. This is quite a rare treat.

Aisha showed-off her acting skills in two back-to-back episodes. I was amazed by her monologue in 8x04, and once again by her acting while saving Denny's life in 8x05. I'd been sure there was no way Denny would be killed in 8x05, but the Hen and Karen's panic expressions, and Hen's trembling voice, made me worried for a good while. I think it doesn't matter if viewers have already known how the story will end. The way it's delivered is what matters the most. That's why we watch our favorite shows/episodes repeatedly.

The trio of Oliver, Lou, and Ryan worked wonderfully in sync. The timing of their banter is impeccable. I love the way Ryan delivered his lines when Eddie was treating Buck's boils. His intonation and punctuation was impeccable, including when he emphasized that the boils might be caused by stress. And his facial expression when Eddie couldn't see Buck in the face on the next day is a comedy gold.

All eyes have been on Lou since Tommy kissed Buck back in 7x04. And because this episode cemented Tommy's position as Buck's boyfriend (and hopefully, as end game romantic partner), his performance was dissected more than ever. We wanted to know whether he deserved the coveted place in Buck's life or not. There are clips, gifs, slow-motioned gifs, zoomed gifs, pictures, and zoomed pictures of Tommy taken from episode 8x05 circulated on Tumblr. Probably, even microbes are not scrutinized under microscopes as much as he was. And boy, how he delivered! His facial expressions and gestures showed a lot of what his lines didn't. Fans love the fond look he threw at Buck, the amused and disbelief look at Eddie, how he touched Buck's leg a little in the hospital, how he rolled his eyes when Buck told him he knew how to break the curse, his sleepy voice while he was waiting for Buck to close his laptop, and so on. If this was a test to be Buck's other half, Tommy has passed with flying colors.

Oliver is always a bit of enigma to me. Like Angela Bassett, I've never yet watched a scene where I thought he needed improvements. And 8x05 is no exception. It's delightful to watch him telling the lore of Billy Boils with such concerns. And the way he portrayed Buck's stubborness about the curse, makes viewers fond of Buck instead of being annoyed by him. It is also fun to notice little details in Oliver's acting. Fans have watched with delight in previous episodes how Buck's shoulders slumped after he took care of the bees, and how Buck waved to the phone when Chimney was taking Maddie's call about Athena's plane emergency. In this episode, we caught the detail of how Buck winced in pain while he was trying to sit when Tommy visited him in the hospital. I always wonder, which ones of those details were directional, which ones were planned ahead by Oliver, and which ones were improvised on the spot. Oliver always acts which such ease, as if every scene is natural. Sometimes I just realized that his acting must be not that easy, when I watched other actors stumbled while acted on similar scenes or deliver similar lines. It is clear that Oliver Stark is extremely talented. I often wonder where's the talent ends and the hard work begins.

I also want to thank the people who have worked on the decorations, backgrounds, wardrobes, and make-ups on 8x05. Details on the Firehouse Haunt Fest decorations are amazing, so are the costumes of the casts. I bet the team had a blast while working on this episode. Also, hats off to whoever made Billy Boils. That prop reminded me once again why I didn't choose medical program at the university.

We notice that the festivities were not only shown in the Halloween costumes. The outfits of the casts also reflected the autumn vibes. Special shout out to the team who dressed Maddie, Buck, Eddie, and Tommy, and who decorated Buck's loft. Those beautiful outfits and decorations are really pleasing in the eyes. Especially in the cemetery scenes, where Buck and Tommy looked very sharp in their suits. Some fans have used a screen shot of Tommy in the scene, with green leafs and bright sky in the background, as their wallpaper.

A special thank to Taylor Wong, the writer of 8x05. She briliantly wrote the different treatments Buck received from his boyfriend (Tommy) vs. his bestfriend (Eddie), without painting Eddie as the bad guy. Making Tommy and Eddie ganged up to roast Buck is also a smart move to show that Tommy and Eddie are best friends, and not secretly compete for Buck's love like some people imagine. And

Lastly, a bunch of thanks to Christine Khalafian and Tim Minear, who have made this brilliant episode come to live. I cannot wait to watch the next one.

[lazyscience]

so season 6 of The Dragon Prince really went HARD on parents, children and generational trauma. A+, only one note which is not reeeeallly a spoiler? well OK a tiny part of it is a big one so I'll slap it behind a readmore.

what IS it with this show and dead/absent moms??? I mean, first Ezran and Callum, Rayla, Soren and Claudia, and - where was Leola's mother in all this drama?? She dead? Ditched Aaravos and Leola like Lissa did Viren because he was also poisoned by arrogance? Because that heartwrenching story feels juuuuuuust a tad too convenient (I mean, everything he said might be factual, it feels correct that anything as powerful as a Startouch elf is in fact probably All About Hierarchy and maintaining their supremacy, but Aaravos is the king of lying by omission and assumption.)

The only mother we see in this show that isn't dead is Zubeia, and it's not like they didn't TRY to kill her off. She's been nearest thing TO dead for like, almost a season and a half.

The IMPACT of all those missing moms? Not...really that much? Except for one - Lissa. Lissa leaving Viren and the kids is a festering scar of pain and resentment more than a decade later (we learn that Viren using dark magic to cure Soren was right around the time of Harrow courting Sarai, and describing Callum as a 'toddler,' it couldn't have been much more or less than that) that clearly hasn't resolved at all for any of them through the end of this season.

While Rayla, Callum and Ezran are described as missing their parents, grieving for them, they don't seem to have the same kind of fear of being unlovable; their fears and feelings about their parents seem to be mostly to do with legacy, "can I be as good/strong/worthy a person as they were," not "can I be good enough to be enough for them" The show HAMMERS on this point. Makes me wonder which showrunner was a child of divorce :P

It's not misogyny I don't think, there are active and interesting female characters in a number of different kinds of roles, not all just "ok, give THIS action figure boobs and make her a girl For The Rep" kinds of characters. But it's an interesting blind spot.

(I really, really just want an equally ridiculous and heartbreaking fic of Soren having an aaaabsolute meltdown/freakout about meeting Corvus' mom and Corvus' mom going from being reaaaal suspicious of her kid dating Virenspawn to just sighing a lot when Soren says something sweet but dumb, and to Corvus' intense relief not nagging him any more about 'well if you HAD to date another Crownguard who's too busy to give me grandchildren, why not that nice boy who translates for General Amaya instead of the Dark Mage's hellspawn?")

[sunnylolli]

How many au's do you got? and what's their names

Oh sweet mother, that's like counting grains of sand at the beach at this point-

I'll handpick from what I've posted and then add two or three more:

1. "Can I stay for a year or two?"/CISFAYOT- Alfred's Mentally Ill and goes to stay with Arthur to unwind so he can get back to work ASAP. Just to be jumpsacared by Arthur having gotten therapy and who is now enforcing obligatory therapy on Alfred which absolutely works. He has a stern dad-to-president talking to with Alfred's boss after christmas and has him put on paid sick leave so he can start actually getting better.

2. Lighthouse au - Arthur's a lighthouse keeper, Francis is a myserious specter of the sea that lures him in

3. Time Travel au - Alfred forgets to mind his business when out for a walk in the English Woodlands and ends up stepping through a fairy-circle-esque circle of branches and trees and is teleported back to early middle age England to meet England when he was 200 years old.

4. Domestic FACE au/Domestic au: A modern day, human au centered around the FACE-family, but where I've branched into including the nordics for self-indulgence. There's not really any plot, it's just a slice-of-life/Buying groceries kind of au :,)

5. Pirate au: (They are countries in this) Arthur's a pirate on the run from the English Crown, Alfred's a wee lad that hides in a crate of oranges and sneaks onto Arthur's ship. Arthur recognizes that he's a nation, thus let's him stay at the price of menial labor. It's an au where Arthur weren't there to discover Alfred in the 17th century and were held prisoner i England until he broke free and went to sea. Meanwhile Alfred's been growing up with his people around the east-coast but wants to explore and do more things, feeling like he's meant for more, so he finds a ship and sneaks on.

Gonna make a read more so this doesn't go rogue on the dash:

Here are the ones I haven't posted about because there's not really any art of it:

5. Medieval comedy sketch: In which we follow Arthur (Nation) through his very eventful life in the 15th century as a personal guard to an excessively annoying prince. The prince eventually grows on him and Arthur's ready to lay down his life several times for him, but turns out so is the prince. I started it initially as a full-on comedy sitcom (think Monty Python), but it became a comedy melodrama in the end.

I'm not mad about it though, one of the more lighthearted and fun au's to write - It's honestly my favorite one.

6. Big, little empire: This is prime example of biting off more than you can chew for me. This au is also medieval, but much much earlier- It's set in around year 1000, during the reign of King Cnut the Great and is about Arthur's and Asger's (Mathias, once he's properly christened) relations, personal and political. My plan for it was to explore Arthur as starting out watching empires and becoming one himself - Though with the constant nagging at the back of his head that he is not meant for greatness and the doubt is what consumes him in the end.

7. Race you to the end: Yet another prime example of too much plot for a skilled procrastinator who gets easily overwhelmed with details. This au is genuinely one of the saddest, most heartwrenching au's I have ever had, and I have MANY.

The au is nationverse and is about Gilbert and Ludwig maneuvering Gilbert's bucketlist once it becomes apparent that Gilbert is terminal. The title itself makes me want to cry, because it refers to the first scene where they're at the beach; Gilbert insists they race to see who reaches a group of seagulls first and ends up winning by tripping up Ludwig. I know it's a spoiler, but Gilbert does die at the end and Ludwig goes back to the beach from the beginning and chases a pack of gulls by himself.

8. Portrait of the modern nuclear family/Family unit: Tw for talk of drug and substance abuse for this one, lads.

This au is about FACE, but unlike my other FACE au's, it's dysfunctional. MAJORLY dysfunctional. Alfred is caught up with meth/cocaine and juggles a failing career on the side that leaves him to take up loans to fund his addiction. Matthew's caught up with weed and alcohol, though he's managing to seek help and make an attempt to get better, because he does not want to end up like Arthur and Francis. Francis is a bonnafide wine-alcoholic ("but it's wine, so it doesn't count!") and Arthur's "just" an alcoholic who has too much to say and too much work for his own good to maintain.

Together they make the perfect cocktail for family get together's like birthdays, holidays and whatnot, because all four of them together always ends up ruining the occasion. But they all want to pretend they're normal, so they keep doing it. Over and over again. (Nationverse)

9. Alfred gets lost in the Canadian winter wilderness au: Exactly as the title says, Alfred's on his way up to visit Matthew over the holidays just to get caught in a blizzard. He sees something in the middle of the road, swerves and crashes. It's just about Alfred wandering through the thick of it surviving and encountering ✨folklore creatures✨. It's a bit of a mystique, a bit of a horror au.

10. Haunted house au: Alfred forces Arthur to come along with him on several trips to American and European haunted or abandoned houses for the thrill of it. They end up in an actually haunted one in the US and things go south very fast. A very cliché horror, but one that I also enjoy writing immensely.

I am ending it here, but know that I do have more 🪩💃

[phantomsghoulette]

Kingdom of Heaven STORY IDEA

This post goes out to all the Kingdom of Heaven fans that write ffs, especially about our King - Baldwin IV

Now this idea may not be historically correct but I still need someone to make a story out of it. I'm talking A LONG ASS story with many chapters because I'm somehow a hopeless romantic when it comes to Baldwin.

So here's the story:

(Please use Y/N for Tiberias' daughter and not some name)

We start off long before Baldwin was born, when Tiberias and his wife arrive in the Kingdom of Heaven. Later on they have a daughter together, around the same time Baldwin was born. Tiberias already has a close relationship with the royal family at this time because of his wise knight shit. At some point Tiberias' wife dies and he has to raise their daughter on his own and he starts taking her to the palace where her and young Baldwin would often play together and develope a friendship. At some point Baldwin's illness is discovered. The priests and higher ranked people try to find a wife for him asap in order to keep the bloodline but every woman kindly rejects, scared of the illness so they just accept Baldwin's lonely fate. His illness is slowly taking over his body and Tiberia's daughter decides to take care of him, not being scared of him no matter how disfigured he looks. But when Baldwin notices that he's slowly developing feelings for her and that his face looks more and more sinister and his limbs are slowly becoming useless, he becomes kinda distant because he's scared to confess his feelings.

Remember that scene in the movie when Baldwin asks Balian to marry Sybilla? That's when he confesses his feelings. So let's imagine Tiberias' daughter is there too and when the men are done talking Baldwin sends off Balian and Tiberias but wants Y/N to stay. "No, Y/N. Not you. I need to talk to you. Stay... please." Or something like that. And we all know that Baldwin knew that Jerusalem was doomed because of his sister and that's why his confession goes something like:

"You know there is one more thing I could have done to save Jerusalem and its people... and I'm now regretting that I haven't done this."

Y/N: "And that would be?"

Baldwin: "Making you my wife"

And then he goes on with his cheesy romantic medieval confession. And Y/N confesses too bla bla bla and she then even takes off his mask and kisses him on the corner of his lips (one side of his mouth wasn't that damaged, remember?).

On his death day she takes care of his wounds one last time.

Make their last conversation HEARTWRENCHING. I WANNA CRY.

After his death Y/N seeks comfort in her father. Make it a wholesome daughter - father relationship (idk how to do that because I never had a father lmaoooo)

How the story ends is for you to decide. Maybe Y/N goes to Cyprus with Tiberias because she cannot take it to watch the Kingdom fall that Baldwin created and led with so much love and respect for the people.

You can also add some suggestive themes. For example Baldwin dreaming about getting intimate with Y/N because he's just that touch-deprived.

So yeah if anyone would be willing to take on this idea - you're more than welcome to do so and I'd DEFINITELY read it. I personally am not good at writing GOOD stories because English isn't my first language and I would ruin the story by using "basic" English. And since Kingdom of Heaven takes place during medieval times you need to write such stories in "fancy" English.

Anyways. I had to get this off my semi-autistic mind or else I would have gone CRAZY.

I just hope this post reaches the right people🙏

[heartbreakprincexsweetevangeline]

A Case For True Love 

There is nothing that the OUABH fandom is as invested in as the question who is the Prince of Heart’s One True Love–the one person that could make his heart beat again, whose kiss wouldn’t be fatal to, and his only weakness. 

It wouldn’t be as vexing if it wasn’t for the paradox that One True Love have supposedly been found and yet it was anything but love, and here’s another person who finally challenged the supposed unrequited love the Prince represents and yet they are denied to be rightfully called as “True Love.” 

That's what makes everything so confusing and compelling all the same. And  I sincerely believe that the One True Love, a powerful force in this universe, has always been the backdoor. 

Perhaps, like the Northern Tales, the promised One True Love had been twisted by the story curse until only bits of truth remained and none, even the Prince of Hearts is, the wiser

—----------------------------------------------------------------

Forewarning 

Before we proceed, I would hate to deprive you of joy of experiencing the stories you have not read before so please be cautioned that this will contain major spoilers for the Caraval book series (Caraval, Legendary and Finale) in which the Prince of Hearts first graced us with his presence. And obviously, the Once Upon a Broken Heart series (Once Upon Broken Heart and The Ballad of Never After) just in case curiosity got the best of you.

Lastly, I am aware that in one of the author’s IG story, Ms. Stephanie Garber have said that the third and the last book in this series, A Curse for True Love’s ending has changed. Thus all of my interpretations and theories based on the OUABH and TBONA would be rendered useless (ouch). 

And I've heard more people have received their copies of A Curse For True Love which sucks greatly, so at this moment, many have already know the ending and this is useless once again.

But I supposed if I love this series any less, I wouldn't feel be driven to write all of this.

Now all of that is out of the way, I hope you will have fun reading, as much as I had writing it. And perhaps could gain deeper appreciation of the wonderful, heartwrenching, but just as magical world of Once Upon a Broken Heart.

Paradox of The Prince of Hearts

One True Love that Perhaps Never Was 

The Ballad of the Prince of Hearts

The Key to the Valory Arch and More…

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·. Paradox of the Prince of Hearts

Some of us may know the tale of the Prince of Hearts by heart, but for all intents and purposes, let’s revisit what we’ve known about him, beginning from the 2nd book of Caraval Series: Legendary. 

Chapter 3, Legendary 

The description of the Prince of Hearts is the same as it is in Once Upon a Broken Heart, with the difference of Evangeline, being an angel as she is, couldn't imagine a more tragic existence.  She knew Fates weren’t saints or saviors, but she hoped that the Prince of Hearts was more feeling than the others. (OUABH, Ch1)

But that illusion is shattered. The Prince of Hearts is indeed a Fate. If not cruel and evil, Fates are dangerous because they couldn’t tell the difference between evil and good (OUABH, Ch 2). She thought Jacks wasn't a savior but someone needed saving from (OUABH , Ch 4)

And that makes the Prince of Hearts and his curse very baffling. On one hand, his entire driving force is to break his curse of fatal kiss, to find his one true love, and yet he himself is incapable of love. I

t’s not hard to imagine how he’s trapped in eternity of heartbreak, for in him exists the duality of Fate and very human desire–love. 

Contrary to belief, Fates are not entirely unfeeling as Lala said to Evangeline:

(OUABH, Ch 38)

As mentioned throughout, Fates are also very jealous, possessive and obsessive. They are not entirely incapable of love, but loving is antithesis to the very nature of Fates, and perhaps that’s why love will turn them human.

(Finale, Ch 20)

Jacks’s strongest feeling is to find his true love, in itself goes against being his Fate. Perhaps, that’s the problem- finding true love, but not allowing to experience love.

(OUABH, Ch 38)

Jacks could still be attracted to anyone, driving him to kiss even with tiniest hint of attraction. Operative word being “tiny hint of attraction” perhaps this is characteristic of Jacks’ Fatedness’s deadly combination of intense urges, obsessiveness, and inability to think of someone else’s welfare before his. As Evangeline puts it, Jacks being cruel as he always do. 

(OUABH, Ch 44)

His Fately powers could help him attract a person with his beauty, and indeed his kiss felt like it was worth dying for. But it is also the very thing that stands between him and breaking his curse, as if it wants to ensure he will remain a Fate.

And perhaps, a part of Jacks didnt want to become a human after lifetime of hurt. So the more he hurts the more heartless he becomes. But then again, his raison d'etre is find his one true love.

Thus the more heartbreak he experiences, the more his understanding of love becomes thwarted, perpetually damning him to remain Prince of Hearts and embodiment of heartbreak. 

Hope seems dire, until he finally comes across the girl who made his heart beat, the one who did not die of his fatal kiss, the most awaited One True Love…

︑︒⚬∙︓·⠄.*+:｡.｡　　｡.｡:+*·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.*+:｡.｡　　｡.｡:+*︑︒⚬∙︓·⠄

One True Love That Perhaps Never Was

In Once Upon a Broken Hearts, Princess Donatella of Valenda has been repeatedly mentioned and it’s becoming apparent that the sister of the Southern Empress is connected with the Prince of Hearts. 

It’s been said that she broke his heart (OUABH, Ch 13), Evangeline noticed Jacks had been tense at the mention of her (OUABH, Ch 40).

In OUABH, Ch 44, Jacks revealed to Evangeline their brief history- they first met at the sky carriage, she threatened to throw him off. The second time they met, he kissed her. He lied that she wouldn't die if she got him what he wanted. But as we know, she’s alive and well. And it’s because she’s made his heart beat and she’s the mythical One True Love promised in the story of Prince of Hearts. 

But as we could infer, it didn't work out. Jacks said that she never forgave him for their first kiss, fell in love with someone else, and stabbed him with his own knife. 

With Jack's propensity for cruelty, obsession, and selfishness, it's not hard to imagine why. But why is that the supposedly powerful force in the universe OUABH exists in itself could be so flimsy? Jacks himself repeatedly said that true love could break a curse, so why does it feel it’s the one being broken?

Most pressingly is the question, is there really true love in that One True Love? 

• • • • • • • SHORT NOTE• • • • • • •

Due to the bullet limitations, I had to cut out the timeline I created beginning from the second and third book of Caraval Series-- Legendary and Finale--up to the beginning of Once Upon a Broken Hearts. I will attempt to condense them and post them here in tumblr or on another platform.

But for now, I did as much as to include the most signficant moments and include the chapter in which you could find it

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Without further ado, let's proceed

*+:｡.｡　　｡.｡:+*

Reading the Caraval series definitely has my impressions vastly changed from what is told in the Once Upon Broken Heart series. That is just like the fairytales in the Magnificent North where stories are made both of truths and lie.

And I’d like to start with Jacks’ version of the story particularly on the part that it didnt work out :

(OUABH Ch 44)

First of all, Tella was able to forgive him, numerous times if I may add. She trusted him and she had been grateful for the kindness he showed her. She’d started to believe he was trying to fight against his nature for her, but ultimately betrayed her trust and hurt (Finale, Ch 39)

Jacks also conveniently left out that Tella was left with no choice but to stab him in the heart because it’s the only way to break out of the marriage he tricked her itno when that concept seems out of her card ( Finale, Ch 44) And when Tella thought that Jacks allowed their marriage to end because somehow the bond made him genuinely care beyond the immortal's feeling of obsession, all remains are selfish impulses. He wanted to use his restored full powers (which he was made to promise not to use against Tella or Legend but ofc he said unless they ask of him) to control her feelings for eternity. (Finale, Ch 54) 

 But most importantly, she has always been in love with someone else. She wondered if Legend felt love in the lust, obsession, and desperation in the feelings the Immortals’ possess (Finale, Ch 32). Or how during their kiss after they got unknowingly married and he’s absorbing her pain, her mind wandered to Legend (Finale, Ch 12). She didn't want to get married and yet in her mind Legend is the one that could tempt her to (Finale, Ch 22). When Tella was tempted to undo the immortal bond with Jacks she severed since she felt less alone when they were connected, Jacks wasn’t the person she wanted to be connected to. (Finale, Ch 45) 

If anything, Jacks simply made it easy for her to not to be swayed even when the object of all her desires has broken her heart numerous times.

Jacks may have wanted Tella, but to her wanting someone is not the same as loving (Finale, Ch 40) To her, love is messy but powerful all the same that you think more about someone else’s life more than your own. (Finale, Ch 34)

Of course, sometimes feelings and emotions are hard to untangle from each other. It’s hard oftentimes to say if they are the cause or the effect or something in between. Two contradicting things could be true. But I think it’s intentional that between Jacks and Tella the One True Love they shared is the lack thereof. 

As we’ve seen when Jacks kissed Tella during their marriage that allowed her to feel his emotions, there’s no love. (Finale, Ch 12) 

Or when the Ruscica that told the story of Donatella Dragna (which appears to only include objective truth) revealed that Prince of Hearts is still not capable of caring even though Tella, who supposedly made his heart beat. (Finale, Ch 44)

Perhaps, believing that he found his One True Love that thwarted it all. There’s no love that could counteract his Fately nature with propensity for cruelty and obsession. He only warmed up with Tella after the fact she’s possibly the One True Love, and it seems genuine, after all he disclosed intimate details about him and the fact he was once a human (Legendary, Ch 42).

He said that he didn’t know if she’s his One True Love, but he wanted Tella to be (Legendary, Ch 45). But is it Tella herself that dares him to hope, or because he wanted it to be true that One True Love has come? When he kissed her with all the passion and longing, did he truly want to kiss her because the lips belonged to Tella or is it because his kill wouldn’t kill her? Unlike Legend, not once Jacks said what he liked about Tella.

So if there’s no love, then why do Tella possess the characteristics of One True Love?

In OUABH, we have known there’s actual spell to turn someone into One True Love (OUABH, ch 47)

Then seven years before the events of the final book of Caraval series, Tella pulled up three cards and one of them is the Prince of Hearts. Because of this, Tella believed she’s doomed to loveless future for Prince of Hearts symbolizes unrequited love. (Legendary, Seven Years Ago)

 So maybe they got unknowingly cursed, as if dooming that their love will be loveless, and for Prince of Hearts to remain forever heartbroken. That future tried very hard to bring itself. Perhaps just like magic spells could mimic Love, some kind of curse could also mimic the promised One True Love.

So Prince of Hearts’ true love is told to be: 

Immune to the fatal kiss

Will make his heart beat

His greatest weakness. 

Let’s start with weakness. 

So it was said that Fate’s weakness is love because they will lose immortality. Well, Jacks didnt turn human, and if anything he became exactly the Fate and their destructive obsession that Tella was warned about.

With regard to weakness as in the kind of vulnerability that you could do unimaginable things for your love, or you’d sacrifice even yourself if it means they will be safe and happy – what actions did Jack do for Tella? 

Throw away his morals- he didn't have it to begin with.

 Willingness to sacrifice– regardless of his intentions, he put her life as a bargaining chip that made Tella think that he wanted his powers more than he wanted her (Finale, Ch 40) He betrayed Tella when she thought he'd try to fight his nature (Finale, Ch 39)

Unimaginable things– marry her without her knowledge and manipulate her feelings for eternity. 

Tella should've been her weakness but everything he did was less for her but more like for him and his own heartbreak. He may never intended to harm her, but as Tella said he already have. (Legendary, Ch 44) 

Making his heart beat

This one is baffling indeed. Jacks kissed Tella during the First Night of the Caraval (Legendary Ch 11), and Tella felt his pulse beating as fast as hers during the Fifth Night of the Caraval (Legendary, Ch 35). Firstly, Tella’s heartbeat weakened after the first kiss , and then it went fast, then it slowed down again until this moment. Secondly, four nights have passed by since the first kiss, did Jacks not just notice this until Tella pointed it out? 

There is a possibility that their heart beats synchronized at that moment because of One True Love binding them, and Jacks’s heart just took its time to beat. But at the same time, nothing stood out at that moment except the burning hate Tella had that made her attack Jacks, which he effortlessly avoided. 

There is another possibility that there are other things that have triggered Jacks’s heart to beat within the 4-night window. After all, Jacks is a busy man, a calculated collector, with many people writing to him asking for favors or meetings as Evangeline noted in OUABH (Ch47). There is a possibility that his heart beat far longer as there’s no definitive indication that he didn't have a heartbeat before that kiss. 

Immunity to Fatal Kiss

There were a lot of intimate moments and attempts at kiss but there about three times that Jacks and Tella shared a kiss and she didn't die. First, of course at the Fated Ball/First Night of the Caraval (Legendary, Ch 14). Second is the night Tella grieved for her mother and Jacks took her sorrows (Finale, Ch 13)

First kiss

With the first kiss, Jacks told Tella he wouldn't kill her if she got the second thing he wanted, but warned her that she’d still feel the effects. And so she did. Throughout the first to third night, Tella’s heart beat slowed down, even stopping in between (Legendary Ch 15, Ch 22). Blood pooled down from her ears to her neck, and beads of blood even fell from her fingertips. (Legendary Ch 16, Ch 24)

So if she’s One True Love, why is she showing symptoms of dying? 

By OUABH (Ch 44) , Jacks said that he purposely slowed down her heart so that she wouldn’t die immediately. That explains the heart beat. 

But I feel the revelation that Jacks lied to Tella, in a separate series, is quite significant. He purposely said that she could still feel the effects of the fatal kiss so she wouldn't suspect and still do his bidding, just to survive.

Perhaps that also explained why her heartbeat went abnormal again (fifth night of the Caraval, Legendary Ch 31, 34) just when her heart raced and healed her wounds after she was fed blood from Legend two nights ago (Third night of Caraval, Legendary, Ch 26 to 27). It healed her wounds and not completely counteracted the fatal kiss (Fifth night of Caraval, Legendary Ch 31, Ch 34). Tella was indeed dying. 

But then on the same night, Tella felt Jacks’s heartbeat pulsing . And her heart racing at the same time, which further confirmed to Tella that she’s his One True Love. The day after, she awoke with her heart pounding that further confirmed that Tella has survived the Fatal Kiss. (Fifth night of Caraval, Legendary Ch 35-36)

As mentioned with the heartbeat, there is a possibility that the One True Love activated at this moment which might explain why Tella’s heart quickened when she felt his heartbeat and no longer felt like she’s dying. 

Or perhaps, the love she had for Dante and her mother, somehow broke the curse. 

She might’ve hated her mother at this point that she no longer cared to win the Caraval especially now she knows she wouldn't die by his fatal kiss. But she wouldn't have felt so hurt by the betrayal had she love her any less. Despite the ruling anger, deep down she loves her mother very much. She was also increasingly conflicted about Dante who she suspects is Legend. That even if he wasn't, she feels she would still be betraying him. Tella was getting conflicted that she may have to choose between them so maybe the desire to save them both is what broke the curse. 

Second kiss

The second kiss took place at night (again) just after Tella’s mother had been killed. Overcame with grief, Tella agreed against her better judgment to accept the help Jacks was offering by temporarily taking away the unwanted feelings. Unknown to Tella, the blood exchange, and the words they uttered would tie them with an immortal bond that would forever tie their souls together in eternal matrimony. They proceeded to kiss as he took in her grief. (Finale Ch 12-13)

Unfortunately we don’t know if Jacks have experimented with someone else before. We also don't know how this exactly works. If the immortal bond goes beyond the grave— what happens if one half is immortal who has not become human, will the soul of the other half remain like some ghost?

There is the possibility that since the matrimony happened before the kiss, it could've saved Tella from the fatal kiss by an immortal bond that tied her soul to Jacks who was still immortal at this point. 

On other hand, I would imagine that if they were truly One True Love, they would’ve some existing bond before this..

• • • • • • •

Perhaps, the One True Love between Jacks and Tella is a cursed one, hence it mimics some of the supposed signs. 

Or maybe there is a universe where Jacks and Tella would’ve worked out in the infinite possibilities. And possibly the contradictions were due to the fact it failed to realized. 

What is clear to me, in this timeline, Jacks and Tella's love story felt almost doomed—not in a star-crossed lovers way, but doomed to never happen with every odds not in their favor. 

Perhaps their meeting and connection are necessary–Tella to challenge her notions of love. From a person who didnt allow herself to fall in love, to someone who embraced her heartaches, fought for love, and finally experienced all its wonder. 

Maybe, true could be said for Jacks. His story continues, and his true ending and ever after awaits him…

︑︒⚬∙︓·⠄.*+:｡.｡　　｡.｡:+*·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.*+:｡.｡　　｡.｡:+*︑︒⚬∙︓·⠄

The Ballad of The Prince of Hearts

It wouldn't take a genius to say that Prince of Heart’s concept of love is rather terrifying. It’s easy to chalk it up to him being Fate but we know that he was once a human. He might say he’s grateful it lasted for short time, but there's a hint of regret. (Legendary, Ch 42)

He was genuinely brokenhearted when the supposed One True Love didn't feel the same obsession as he felt for her. (Finale, Ch 44). Tella even thought that whenever she thinks of heartbreak, she will forever think the way he looked at her for the rest of her life. (Finale, Ch 45)He longs so much that he’s willing to manipulate if he could have a taste of true love. 

But we also know that using magic to make someone love you rarely ends well –we’ve seen that with Luc and Marisol, Tiberius and Marisol, Evangeline and Apollo. Their experiences may have differed but they are all left with the same despair (OUABH, TBONA). For Jacks, it's witnessing with his own eyes how his spell even with his fully restored powers, would be broken by true love. (Finale, Ch 59) 

If he witnessed true love, then it seems his notion and concept of love barely changed. Why is his concept of love twisted to begin with?

From Lala we have known that Fates are not entirely unfeeling. When they do, it’s intense and consuming; and the greatest of these feelings is the urge to be which they were made to be. (OUABH, Ch 38)

For Lala, it’s to be loved. As the Cursed Bride, she’s left alone at the altar crying poisoned tears. 

For Jacks, it’s to find his one true love. 

To help with the urge, Lala makes gowns, seeing brides happy in ways she couldn't be.

To Jacks perhaps it’s the apples. After all there’s no other constant with Jacks than apples. Perhaps that’s also why his diet varies only with the colors of the apples, because there’s nothing his lips wanted more but to feel someone else's'.

Later on, Lala revealed there’s more to her curse . The reason she’s Cursed Bride is because she’s unable to move on from her first love, calling off her weddings. She had chosen to become a Fate, thinking she would be able to stop loving him, to let go but she couldn't. (TBONA, Ch 38)

Perhaps the same is true for Jacks. Perhaps there’s more to his curse and how it was borne because of love.

Evangeline’s favorite tale is the Northern Tale Ballad of the Archer and the Fox , a romantic tale about a crafty peasant girl who could transform into a fox and the young archer who loved her, but was cursed with the need to hunt her down and kill her. (OUABH, Ch 8)

It was said that Northern fairytales and history were treated as one and the same because their stories and histories were all cursed. 

Except this one is true and it was Jacks all along. He wasn't lying when he said truth is never the what you want it to be– he, the Archer killed the Fox (TBONA Ch 43):

Jacks said he didn't know if he really loved the Fox, but if he hadn't he wouldn't have broken the curse that makes him want to hunt her. He wouldnt own seven volumes of the Ballad, and which is the only collection precisely positioned (OUAB Ch 47) The Fox appears to have felt the same; she's the one who encouraged him anyways and chased him even when he’s driven to kill her. 

Perhaps that’s how his idea of love had become so twisted. Could he even dare to call the love he shared with Fox as true love when even though they broke the curse, she still ended up dead. 

Maybe his perception of love has become opposite of what he had once felt for Fox, because it seems it’s not meant to be. 

So when the girl that was immune to his kiss appeared, it didn't matter if there was love. He could just rely on magic to make her feel things, and perhaps that was enough. 

But we know that he desired true love. He needed true love. Because he’d be trapped in eternity of misery for chasing someone who didn't love him; for relying on love borne out of magic, an illusion so fragile that would always end up shattering.  He very deserved true love.

︑︒⚬∙︓·⠄.*+:｡.｡　　｡.｡:+*·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.*+:｡.｡　　｡.｡:+*︑︒⚬∙︓·⠄

The Key to the Valory Arch and Possibly More...

As we’ve established, Jacks’s qualities as Fate with propensity for cruelty and obsession might be the reason he is unable to break his curse. But at the same time, his strongest feelings is to find his true love, which is very human desire, and itself antithesis to his being Fate. 

But a lifetime of heartbreak– killing his Fox, being trapped in the Decks of Destiny, and the One True Love that should’ve been promised to him didn't work out– desensitized him from feeling any remotely human feelings, and fueling his obsessive nature even further. 

And perhaps he just needed something that could make a tiny track in his hard exterior, and something that could prevent his obsessive nature from taking over. That someone could make him tempted to actually love, to care for someone so much they’ve become your weakness and you will do anything in your power to keep them safe and warm. That for a Fate like him, he’d do anything within his power to fight against his nature. 

Jacks might believe that the key to the Valory Arch is his last chance to get his One True Love–and he may not be incorrect, because that will also lead him to actually experience one of a kind love..a true love in the truest sense of the word. 

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The moment Jacks’s realize that Evangeline could open doors, and saw the color of her hair, he have already thought of the prophesied key (OUABH, Ch 2) :

“You will know her because she will be crowned in rose gold. She will be both peasant and princess–  a fugitive wrongly accused, and only her willing blood will open the arch. (Ch TBONA 53) 

At that point, he still had some leverage over his supposed One True Love as their souls were still bound for eternity. [Note: It was reported that wedding turned to stone but was saved by the bride's sister arrived the morning after the marriage (Finale, Ch 12, 15, 16) ]

Jacks could find her use for later. 

But that’s not the only surprising thing about Evangeline–when he helped by turning something worse to even worse, she couldn’t just stand back and drank the poison to take the place of the boy she loved and people who turned to stone. Jacks must’ve been reminded of the person he used to be when he warned her heroes don't get happy endings–they give them to other people, and she should want her happy ending. (OUABCH, Ch 3)

Maybe that’s prompted Jacks to become a hero even for a short while when he gave Tella the Map of All, despite knowing she will find out about their secret marriage (Finale, Ch 40). And when he did not fight her, encouraged her even when she was reluctant to sever the bond. (Finale, Ch 44) 

As we know, he’s the one that asked Poison to save her, and suggested that the Empress send her to the Nocte Neverending, get her married by making the Crown Prince in love with her, all so she could fulfill the prophecy. 

But he also needed her willing blood, which prevented him from directly manipulating her. He needed her alive, so he needed to protect her. And all of this perhaps is how he has grown to genuinely care for her well-being. 

Unbeknownst to Jacks, Evangeline has started hearing his voice way back in the Nocte Neverending “Self-pity doesn’t look good on you, Little Fox.” (OUABH, Ch 19). And it was confirmed further when he tried to take away her grief of sorrow that was being amplified by the poisoned tears (OUABH, Ch 36) Not only that, his magical manipulation wouldn't work on her. And from there on, they could project and hear each other's thoughts, which is reminiscent of the immortal bond that Jacks once attempted with Tella. 

But that didn’t stop Jacks from betraying her trust when she realized that he’s the one who cursed her husband in suspended, thwarting his scheming (OUABH, Ch 44). Even so, Evangeline was able to gain her autonomy, as if she possessed some kind of charm that Jacks couldn't fully manipulate with magic or elaborate scheming. 

Jacks also needed Evangeline alive, that’s why he had been overprotective over her– he quickly shoved her out of the way when a vampire lunged at her (OUABH Ch42) or when he hold onto her like a grudge and didnt let go, so she could properly recovered for being given poisoned tears (OUABH Ch 36). But as Evangeline felt, perhaps with increasing intensity over time, how he genuinely protected her for her– he held her close and carried her as if his life depended on it instead of hers. (TBONA, Ch 13). Even Lala knew that he wouldn't let Evangeline die (TBONA CH23) His nostrils flared when he saw her arms with crudely carved words (TBONA Ch 20)

Not only is he protective of her, he’s gentle and comforting. Unnecessarily to his goals, and excessively even. Maybe he held her like a grudge, but then his arms were tight as if he had no intention of letting her go. When he slid his hands across the rail and twined his cold fingers with hers; he didn't even let go when she squeezed his hand (OUABH Ch41)   Or when Jacks offered to kill people who were whispering bad things about Eva (TBONA Ch 23) Even he kept warning Evangeline about Petra, Jacks was never condescending about how he is right and just crushed Evangeline to his chest, gently pressing her head to his shoulder. When she got a slash across her back, he slid his arms carefully and under her neck as he cradled her to his chest. How he comforted her when Evangeline said how much it hurts “I know love, I’m going to take you somewhere safe.” (TBONA Ch 31). 

Perhaps Evangeline is easily dazzled that Jacks had fun teasing her– claiming she is tempted to kiss him or that she's jealous. When it’s increasingly obvious he is the jealous one; but it feels that it wasnt because he is a Fate, it felt something that belonged to Jacks; something that we havent really seen him do with his supposed OTL. 

Jacks was off-kilter when Evangeline pulled her hand free from him in her desire to answer Luc’s pleas for help. He told her how to most people, he’s the worst thing that can happen to them, but not to her, as if she’s willing to be destroyed and he was only a human (OUABH Ch 42) Or how he told Lala he’s only giving her what she wants, when he just terrorized every man approaching Evangeline before (TBONA Ch 25) then wouldn't allow Luc to take her to a dance (TBONA Ch 30). 

Jacks kept reminding Evangeline that he’s not a human, and it seems Evangeline is the human that is tempting Jacks to love.

Maybe when he told Apollo for weeks how gorgeous she was, it wasn't entirely because of match-making purposes (OUABH, Ch 15) Evangeline felt the way Jacks slowly took in every inch of her black thigh-high boots, her shortened skirt, and the form-fitting lace corset cinching her waist and the muscle in his jaw (OUABH Ch 39) Or when he couldn’t seem to let go when they were wrapped in embrace even after the vampire effects have come to pass (OABH Ch 45) How as he take his took slow bite of his apple, his eyes darkening moving from her lips to her neck, to her clavicle then to her breasts (TBONA Ch 15) The way he looked her where you weren’t supposed to watch someone when they knew that you were looking —bold and unabashed and utterly inappropriate. (TBONA Ch 25) Or the occasional brushing of his fingertips to her stomach or ribs, occasionally her breasts (TBONA Ch 25) And that he knew her wounds would heal on its own but he tended to them anyways  because he wanted to take off her clothes off. Evangeline was dying, yknow! (TBONA Ch 37). 

Perhaps, Jacks has always been attracted to Evangeline, after all a sliver of attraction could drive him to kiss. But he needs her alive, thus he needs to keep fighting his urge, his nature as Fate, that only grew in intensity over time. 

Even when he was burning with desire, about to kill another unsuspecting girl, he was able to fight against his nature because Evangeline didn't want him to. And as he touched her, grazing the slit of her skirt with fingertips soft as they traveled higher, and how he reached for her hips and hitched it to his– he reminded her “I’m not a human, Evangeline. And I’m not your friend, or your husband, or your lover.” It is apparent that he was being tempted–“Then don’t try to make me act like it. It doesn’t end well.” (TBONA Ch 25)

Even he was feeling blissful –perhaps as an effect of Mirth stone– he kissed her neck instead, as if he’s not taking any chances. His mouth pressed against her throat, slowly traced a blissful line next to her ear. (TBONA Ch 38) Or when he held her tightly that it hurts but Eva didn't mind, wrapped in embrace she knew they both wanted. Even when he deliberately fell his gaze on her lips, he licked only the center of her lips softly. She could feel his fingers against her scalp, holding her firm–he’s keeping his lips just shy of hers, he wants to kiss her but her safety is undoubtedly his priority.  (TBONA Ch 43)

Perhaps because he believed the mystical One True Love has come already, that from the beginning he, warning her that he is a Fate. If he loved her any less, he wouldn’t try so hard to push her away. After all, as Chaos said, she reminds him of his first Fox (TBONA Ch35) ; he doesn't want Evangeline to end up just like her (TBONA, Ch 43). 

But ust like the Fox, Evangeline had faith in Jacks. She kept chasing her even after knowing all this time he wanted to go back in time to his supposed One True Love, pleading with him to come with her instead. That he’s wrong that they aren't meant to be (TBONA Ch 45) And one last time, despite the hurt that he wanted her to just leave, she wanted to run back to him, tell him how much she felt. On one hand she believed that love was the most powerful magic of all, and on the other, it didn't matter if they stayed forever cursed–all that matters is he stayed. (TBONA ,Ch 46) 

How she couldn't love him?

 She kept being warned against Jacks, just like Tella. The moment Evangeline stepped in the Church of the Prince of Hearts which aroma supposedly would be one’s greatest heartbreak, it smelled of apples and blood. (OUABH Ch2).

When they jumped off the cliff, where she felt like that he held her close and carried her as if his life depended on it instead of hers —she hasn't stopped failing, she could no longer deny her feelings (TBONA Ch 37).

Maybe it has been foretold when the dragon-roasted apples that were supposed to taste true love, tasted hot, searing sweetness and Jacks–(OUABH, Ch 16). 

The same man who had admitted that he’s selfish, is asking Evangeline to stay with him for one night, asking her to let him pretend she’s his. Or if it will be easier, he asks that she could also pretend she wants to be his. The man who is said to know how only to take, is asking someone to take him (TBONA, Ch 37)

Romantic as she always is, Evangeline didn't want to be person that could disappear without anyone knowing she’s gone; she wanted to be important to someone, that if her heart stopped, she wanted someone else to feel it (TBONA, Ch 14) 

Only it did happen, and only if she knew afterwards the agony, the sort of raw grief that was only seen once in a century, how horrible the scream he let out as he held her in his arms when he lost her once. How he cried bloody tears for her. 

(TBONA, The End)

Evangeline might not be the one that made Jacks’s heart beat, but she is the one that tempted him to love, to truly love again.

 Evangeline has become his weakness–he’d fought hard against his nature as Fate. He would’ve traveled through time he used to be against for the One True Love, his raison d’etre—But he did it for Evangeline. All the scheming, the hardships they went through was so he could get back to his One True Love, his reason for being, but he didn't bat an eye and sacrificed it all for Evangeline. (TBONA, The End)

To Jacks, there’s nothing of equal value to Evangeline. 

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Conclusion

No doubt in my mind that the “One True Love” promised in the story of the Prince of Hearts is the true love in the truest sense of the word. The same love held with highest regards, the powerful magical force on its own. 

Perhaps, this will also mark the ending of the Prince of Hearts– his heartbreak will cease, his love no longer unrequited because he knows how to love and someone could return it with the same intensity. 

He breaks out the curse, and perhaps he embraces the humanity he once discarded after a lifetime of heartbreak. 

The Prince of Hearts and the Valenda’s Sweeheart Savior may have experienced the greatest heartbreaks, but maybe in A Curse for True Love their story shall be remembered as a love story of astronomical proportions.