#the passage of time fucks me up fam

[charlie-pippin-faraday]

My danganronpa v3 chapter 6 running commentary:

"MY NAME IS MAKOTO??????"

excuse me you black-haired bitch you're not makoto naegi

bro what the HELL was going on in that cutscene i'm so confused

"if my actions result in your deaths so be it" nah there's something wrong here, that doesn't sound like that keebo i know

keebo's protecting us he's stalling keebo i love you i love you so much

guys i gotta level up my FRIENDSHIP POINTS to move ROCKS

ah shit fam we finally found kokichi's lab. it looks like a door from fallout in a literal tunnel underground lol

kokichi wants to be a batman villain so bad

is kokichi actually the ultimate improv comedian or something what is this

what is the "inconsistency" in the hope's peak academy book that shuichi pointed out but won't tell me? come on now don't leave me hanging. is it that makoto established the academy for normies actually? or is it something to do with the secret DR2 killing game?

i'm not wrong about either of those facts, am i? am i misremembering? didn't makoto say in i think the anime that he wanted to establish the new hope's peak for everyone and not just ultimates? and weren't the events of jabberwock island kept a secret from the general public? the fact that he was trying to rehab the remnants of despair in the neo world program was supposed to be a secret, right? to protect them?? am i wrong about that??

that flashback light only had me more confused

woah you can go outside and watch an action sequence of keebo fighting an exisal that's fucking sick

kokichi has the wax figure of rantaro?? just strung up by his bed?? what the????

oh THAT'S where the caged child document went!

so he really WAS the leader of the ultimate improv comedy group

i bet they do flash mobs

i think a more accurate title for him would be "ultimate little shit"

obsessed with the whiteboard in his room with all our pictures on it. he wrote who murdered whom, then wrote "suspicious" by maki, "weird" by keebo, "trustworthy?" by me, and "annoying" by the monokubs lol

REAL makoto naegi??? in the flashback flesh???

hell yeah we're FINALLY going to rantaro's lab!

...now that i'm in here i instantly regret it i don't like it in here

how did kokichi know about the vaults in rantaro's lab early enough to leave those notes? did HE even leave those notes? and WHY do the vaults have a monokuma USB in them?

is it gonna have that message from rantaro that we saw in a cutscene earlier?

ha i knew it

ultimate survivor? maybe himiko wasn't joking when she said maybe he went on a bunch of game shows lol. get this man to CBS

"i never imagined rantaro the first victim would come up again like this" i mean, *i* could! at least i was hoping. there were way too many unanswered questions about him

the voice of one of these unnamed classmates in this flashback sounds SUSPICIOUSLY like bryce papenbrook. i've learned never to take his presence lightly in these games

cold sleep room?!

aw hey the whole gang back together in the flashback! man it's been awhile since i've seen some of these people

i'm sorry, kaede has a TWIN??????

bro this game actually game overed me because i spent too much time clicking on people to talk to. I WAS TRYING TO BE THOROUGH IN MY INVESTIGATION!!!!!!! i didn't think it would do that to me, i just thought the time limit would be done once i'd completed everything. ffs

...motherkuma?

oh the mastermind just be making flashback lights to include whatever memories they choose? so yeah they all have to be COMPLETE crap

if himiko suddenly reappeared and is once again being super unhelpful about how she escaped the sealed hidden room, i'm guessing that means there's another door to that room

oh shit fam a hidden passage in the girl's bathroom? hm

hey they repaired keebo's ahoge! which was the key to his inner voice clearly

ha i knew those "small bugs" were actually cameras of a sort

"i'll hit them with my 'all your relationships will end up being love triangles' curse!" damn himiko that's cold. i feel like a remnant of despair would enjoy that tho

you know, if you'd asked me to predict who my final group would be, i NEVER would have guessed himiko and tsumugi. maki absolutely, keebo maybe, but never those two. this is such an odd grouping to be the final one

wait how the fuck do you know about jabberwock island, shuichi? or was that less secret than i thought?

i need to know more about this "previous game" rantaro survived

god how i fucking WISH rantaro was the ultimate game show host that would be so funny

your honor my girlfriend kaede was innocent!!!!!!!

are you telling me that the throwaway joke the game grumps made about the shot put ball landing right next to rantaro and not actually hitting him is what ACTUALLY happened???

i knew everyone kind of brushing off that tsumugi went to the bathroom back in chapter 1 was odd

we're doing a closing argument now? we haven't even hit intermission. i assume part 2 of this trial is just gonna be off the rails then

they're literally all begging tsumugi to tell them she's not the mastermind but she can't do it

dude if kokichi were here he would be tearing her apart verbally

junko the 53rd?! new ultimate despair?

is tsumugi just doing a REALLY effective cosplay rn?

they all keep trying to tell me that kokichi was a remnant of despair but i don't believe he was

don't tell me that makoto went back on his promise to have hope's peak be for normies

i like to believe that toko wrote this book

yeah i knew all those memories were fake as shit. we're in like a hunger games arena i'm calling it now

lol they weren't even hope's peak students? i'm willing to be they're not even ultimates at all, and not a single one of their backstories is real

i like to imagine everyone who's died so far is watching this from another room like everyone eliminated from a season of the bachelor or survivor watching the finale episode

the ONLY piece of evidence leading me to believe anything told to us might've been even remotely real is kaito's strange illness. other than that, i'm fairly certain every single thing told to us about the backstory and the outside world is fake. i bet there is no gofer project, there were no meteorites, there is no disease

what the- HAJIME?????

mahiru? okay this is starting to get a little batshit. felt some whiplash when she turned into hiro and then soda

hey don't you DARE turn into makoto naegi that feels disrespectful

bro does this take place in a different universe from the other two games???

this is getting way too meta

i have no idea where this goes from here if this isn't in the same universe as the other games

wait are we actually in a time loop of sorts, like i'd predicted awhile back?

oh dude i just noticed there are little "V"s and "3"s in the eyes when tsumugi is cosplaying

is this girl really blaming her actions on ~society~?

bro this is getting WAY too meta. like, past the point of being fun

shuichi just shouting at them to shut up is my mood rn

is this a roundabout way of saying they're all quote-unquote actors?

damn even that illness was fake huh

bro not her actually becoming soda to make the tenko comparison 😂

guys i'm not really sure what to make of this. idk where to go from here

like i genuinely feel like a bucket of cold water was just poured on me. like. what the fuck is this

guys i'm gonna be real: this fucking sucks. i've never been a fan of "it was a dream this whole time and none of it mattered or was real" storylines. it's lazy writing. and i really feel it here

bro i got the BAD END??

...or maybe not?

oh my god is keebo gonna be my actual savior??

i knew keebo was the only bitch around here i could trust

hang on am i playing as keebo now?? it's my dream. he had an ahoge for a reason! the TRUE true protagonist! this game is starting to redeem itself

lol of course that was an antenna. and he was basically the first person camera for the audience? interesting

you know this means in the final chapter the audience wasn't watching the rest of us running around finding clues for the situation, they were watching keebo fight exisals lol

ULTIMATE HOPE ROBOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there's always an ultimate hope at the end of these. and it's very interesting that unlike the other games, they didn't have it be the character i was controlling for a majority of the game. and tbh i think that was the correct choice. shuichi you're great and your heart's in the right place but you're not the ultimate hope lol

oh this is now a battle to save keebo's life???????? oh i am putting my ALL into this

the fuck kind of rules are these? even if we win we gotta sacrifice two of us? huh?

speaking of, what happened to the 11 other people in this game? are they actually dead? or not? that feels very unclear now

i gotta fight shuichi in verbal sword battle? i gotta fight essentially myself?

i was never good at the sword minigames i could never figure out the best way to control it

oh man that poor boy is just so clinically depressed

and the fact that we had that sword fight to clair de lune...oh man

shuichi i am unsure about this logic of yours

oh am i shuichi again now?

yes shuichi we stan a weak king

tsumugi don't you dare talk as makoto you're making a mockery of everything he stood for

wait now i get to be himiko too? i better get a turn as maki by the end of this

oh thank god i do

thank goodness i didn't enable the "more time" skill

did they fry keebo?????????? unforgiveable unforgiveable UNFORGIVEABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh my god they took him over i hate this. let me go back to playing as keebo again

THEY ERASED HIS PERSONALITY??????? i'm never forgiving this game. this last chapter is like the finale of how i met your mother

at least he came back to say goodbye 😭

I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT THIS FAR AND THEY FUCKING TOOK KEEBO FROM ME NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

can't believe i had to fight keebo and not tsumugi in the final battle

"we're friends, aren't we?" oh shut the fuck UP, tsumugi

no votes? thanks keebs

keebo fucking razing the place to the ground and executing everyone else in the process was NOT how i expected this game to end

oh shit they pulled a fast one on me with this epilogue - shuichi and maki and himiko lived?!? damn

they've made it unclear whether or not this is ACTUALLY in the same world as makoto and friends ughhh

i hate that they ripped keebo from me at the last second. they erased his personality and made him self-destruct. he was the hero but at what cost. this is a personal betrayal

could they rebuild him? maybe? all i want is a reunion with keebo and the survivors (VERY small survivor pool this time btw)

i'm going to be thinking about keebo nonstop for days fyi

guys, i gotta be real with you. this was the most unsatisfying horseshit. it felt like nothing mattered, and honestly it felt like they were making a mockery of us for enjoying the previous games and content. i didn't like it. and honestly it felt...lazy? like i had been speculating so much about how this would connect with the rest of the danganronpa plot and how this would build upon the already established story and characters. like you should've seen the theories i had in my head (one of my best ones: tsumugi was a rogue hope's peak student who idolized junko and wanted to do a killing game in her honor. keebo was a plant from makoto and the future foundation/academy to guide the others and eventually help lead to their rescue - that would've been a great plotline tbh). but no, none of that happened, it didn't build on the story, it didn't add to it, it wasn't part of the same story. it was just............nothing. it didn't lead anywhere, it didn't build up to anything. it just went nowhere and did nothing, it wasn't connected. it felt like all the investigating i did to find out the truth was a waste of time, and all the plot twists and turns that happened and all the choices the characters made had no fucking payoff. it was so frustrating. there are so many creative choices they could've made to build on the story in the danganronpa world but...that meta bullshit was not it.

in other news, i have already started writing a fanfiction: an alternate version of v3 that actually takes place in-universe, therefore making all the games connected! and i think what i've thought up is pretty good, ngl. it might be related to that theory i mentioned above. if you're interested in reading, lmk and i'll work to write it faster!

and thus officially concludes my v3 gameplay commentary! i might post here and there about my experiences in the bonus modes as i do them

[reyolfx]

destiel fic excerpt - claire kinda tricks dean into going to pride with her

okay i've been in a massive block lately for any writing whatsoever but i'm TRYING to get back into it. mentally i'm just not really anywhere but i would like to be anchored back down into writing mode.

so here's a little bit of the destiel fic i have in progress. it's a dean focused post-15x19 (lol what finale) fix-it that deals a lot with dean's grief. this particular excerpt is quiiiiite a ways in, cas has been dead for almost a year at this point (happy destiel ending guaranteed fam). dean is still absolutely grieving but he's been doing a lot of work.

(warning dean does use the word queer here in a way that's like, halfway between accepting and internalised homophobia - it's not made out to be a big deal in this but i thought it would mention anyways)

***

"I'm not a parade guy, Claire, and I sure as hell ain't a flag waving queer. I'm not - I'm not this." Dean gestures vaguely to the revelry and upbeat atmosphere around him. He feels like a fish on a bike.

Claire shrugs with her whole body. "I don't give two shits what you think you are or aren't, grandpa. Every baby gay needs to attend their first Pride, it's like a right of passage or whatever."

Dean gawks at her. "What the fuck," he sputters. "Baby- did you just call me grandpa and a baby gay in the same sentence? What the fuck is that?"

Claire rolls her eyes like Dean's a fucking idiot. He feels like one right now, in his jeans and flannel with a knife tucked into his waistband, surrounded by rainbow everything and kids making out in those weird napkin tops that don't pass their navels.

She says, "exactly what it sounds like, loser. You're old, but you finally had your big gay realization, it's fresh and shit, erego, baby gay. Reborn a queer, hallelujah."

Dean stares at her like she's speaking another language, but he latches on to one bit that's plain. "Ain't that fresh," he mutters.

Because. Because it's not like Dean never had an inkling he was into dudes as well as chicks before. Not like he never had any tiny lightbulb moments while drooling over Doctor Sexy or being 16 and watching a hunter in his 20s clean a gun in front of him. It's just that every time that lightbulb flicked on, Dean had been very quick and very thorough in burying it 6 feet under like it was a body in a grave after a salt'n burn. Expert, even. Like he was was with real graves. He could go years without that lightbulb resurfacing, and he could forget. He could flirt with women and forget, kiss women and forget, take women back to his motel room when he was 24, haunting small towns all alone, and forget. It was easy. Because women's waists and women's hair and women's voices made it easy. When they pitched their words low and came on to him with confidence and a shadow, a daintier echo of violence than what he was used to, it was easy. What would have been the point in—in anything else?

Nothing. No point.

Until his best friend told him he loved him and his graveyard of buried lightbulbs was flooded, upturned, exposed. Electrified. He sees the bones of every man he ever desired like they're cartoons sticking their fingers into sockets.

Bzzzt. That hunter with his rolled up sleeves, exposed forearms, cleaning his gun while chatting easily to John. Dean sitting there, trying his best to be a part of the conversation, puff himself up like he belonged at the table, 16 in a too-big jacket, a real hunter, a real man, dragging his eyes away from the hunter's hands again and again until he could unfocus them entirely with the beers his dad let him sip.

Bzzzt. A shop teacher of his, once, during a 9th grade stint somewhere in Nebraska. Mr. Callaghan. Showing the class how to use a circular saw, sparks flying, Dean's eyes wide, mouth a little dry.

Bzzzt. Benny in purgatory. Slicing and hacking his way through monsters to get Dean to Cas before they could escape. Dean's weird, twisted up, sickening feelings of - I love you because you know my secret. Because you know I love someone else even though I won't let my own self know. I love you because you have big hands and a big heart and an appetite for blood and because I can bully you into staying, searching, endlessly, for the one. The one I love the most. I love you until I find him and then I still love you a little because you helped make that possible and because you did it for me.

Bzzzt. Cas. Castiel who walked into a barn, sparks again (maybe men are electric and women are grounding, or - fuck, who knows, maybe sparks are just hot) a few days after Dean rose from the dead. Castiel who walked towards him with steady eyes of blue fire and withstood every act of violence Dean could commit against him (or so he thought). Castiel who saw into his soul, maybe not even into it, just the whole scope of it, macro and micro. Cas who shoved him into walls, laid hands over his mouth and a knee between his thighs (accidental?), Cas who spoke to him vulnerably one moment and then disappeared the next, Cas who stared into his eyes and made Dean's chest feel molten, his tongue feel heavy. Cas who wore a stupid trench coat, even when given a fresh start, an opportunity for reinvention. A trench coat Dean grew to hate because of the sheer amount of times he imagined pulling it gently off the angel's shoulders. It always stayed. Dean could burn that fucking coat.

He kept that coat. He carried it. He misses it.

Dean comes to in the middle of a fucking pride parade with the desperate, overwhelming urge to press a coat that he no longer has into his nose. He needs—

"Earth to fuckin' Dean Winchester," Claire is saying, eyebrow cocked kinda like Cas, which is weird because he doesn't remember Jimmy ever doing that. He guesses he didn't know Jimmy very long though. Maybe he's just seeing Cas wherever he can manage it.

"Sorry, kid," he says lamely. No follow up. He feels the hole and it aches and aches and he needs to get a hold on it before it engulfs him.

"Dean," Claire says gently, and she sounds like she knows where he is. Like she can find him back here among his grief that is so far removed from, and unrelated to the situation.

He looks at her and forces a grin that cracks his face. Painfully. Half rolls his eyes.

"C'mon kid, show me the ropes then," he says. He's here now. Probably wont ever be again, but he's with Claire.

And he loves Claire. Because she reminds him of his not so long ago self—young and angsty and passionate and angry and full of mistakes past, present and future—and because she reminds him of Cas. Her face, her independence, her stubbornness, her smile. Because Cas loves (loved, Christ) her, even if her feelings towards him might be more convoluted.

She doesn't let him off easy, a trait she kind of shares with both of them.

"Dean... I miss him too".

Years ago, maybe even just months ago, Dean would have rolled his eyes and changed the subject. He would have deflected: "so how do you get on one of those floats" or "why is there so much mesh here" or maybe mouthed the words to You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) right along with the drag queens in the parade without even realising it.

But now—

"Claire—I can't. Not if we wanna— not if today's gonna be any good."

His voice sounds far away and raw and he feels tears in his eyes even still. Even still after all these months. He wants. Wants Cas back so hard it scalds his insides.

Claire's mouth sets hard and she nods once. There's a grim-feeling cloud around the two of them, a black hole in the middle of this rainbow candy-land ass street block on a sunny day.

And then Claire scares it away. Physically waves it off like she can see it and then plasters a grin on her face that's almost conspiring. She can rally, Dean'll give her that. It's not as if Claire completely fits here either—she looks more like him than she does most of the other revelers. Black tank top, red flannel tied around her waist, black shit kickers. Hunter get-up. But she grabs some stickers from a drag queen that's handing them out and slaps one on her chest - it says "I support gay rights and gay wrongs" on it and the circle behind it is striped orange and white and pink. Dean snorts. He doesn't know for sure what that means but he guesses it's probably for lesbians cause he knows everybody gets their own flag in this world. He's learned that through osmosis at group*.

She grabs his hand and slaps another sticker on the back of it. The circle is blue, purple, and pink, and he does know the bi flag, has figured that one out at least. The words in the centre say "oh no, everyone is so hot".

Dean rolls his eyes so hard he almost throws his neck out. "There's no way in hell you think I'm keeping this on," he says.

"You are keeping it on, old man, and if i see you've taken it off I'll take you to the face painting tent and make them give you full bisexual glam." The threatening tone of her voice contrasts too deeply with the contents of that sentence and Dean huffs out a surprised laugh.

"Oh yeah? How do you think you're gonna make that happen?"

"You're not the only one packing here, Winchester."

Dean keeps the sticker on his hand. Stares at it for a minute, then looks all around him, taking in the colour and the joy like a thing that's not used the sun would. A rodent or a worm. Maybe a monster.

"Don't get me wrong but this doesn't really seem like your scene," he says.

Claire shrugs. "I dunno. Maybe a couple years ago I woulda felt the same. Used to think it was all real frivolous and silly y'know?"

She pauses for long enough that Dean's pretty sure the conversation's over. Finally, she speaks again, just a bit quieter: "But, I kinda figure, I can be more than just one thing, right? I can be a hunter and still enjoy some of the nice shit in life. Frivolous and silly is kinda fun."

She's not wrong. Dean doesn't get a lot of moments to be frivolous and silly, but he takes them when he can. Feels like maybe if he'd been born in an different universe he could've known those feelings full time like they were an engrained part of him rather than just fleeting visitors.

Then Claire says, "you're more than one thing, y'know. You're lots of things"

Dean huffs a little laugh and shakes his head, not really sure what he's denying.

"Don't make me give you a whole rundown on your own personality dude. You're not just some workhorse hunter, you got other stuff. Like, gay shit like this doesn't have to be one of your things. But everything's worth a shot once, right?"

He wants to agree. Thinks maybe he'd like to be a lot of things, but everything is kind of blur right now, has been for a while. What are the things he'd like to be? Like to enjoy?

He shakes his head again, not so much denying as delaying.

"Okay Oprah, what got you so wise?"

Claire smirks. She nudges him forward to follow the parade and says, "the internet mostly."

[riversofmars]

Ok Fam, let me hit you with a bit of German literature cause I just randomly got thinking about this and the Liv/Helen vibe is so strong, I can't deal!

When I was younger, my grandma - incredible woman who I miss dearly - used to read poetry and such to me. One thing that really stuck with me and always reminds me of that lovely time is the 1799 ballad "The Bürgschaft" by Friedrich Schiller (one of the great German poets alongside Goethe and Lessing). I was obsessed with it and knew it by heart (which is quiet something considering how long it is...) and it randomly popped into my head this morning. And as I was thinking about it my brain went: OMG LIV AND HELEN! Because it's a depiction of deep friendship and loyalty (and massive gay undertones but you know, the time...).

Right, so, the plot as summarised by wikipedia cause I couldn't be bothered to write my own summary:

The ballad is set in the ancient Greek polis of Syracuse. After a failed attempt by Damon to kill the gruesome tyrant Dionysius, he is caught and sentenced to death but asks for a delay to marry his sister to her designated husband. Dionysius allows him an extension of three days on condition that his friend remains with him to guarantee Damon's return. If he would not be back on time, his friend would suffer his punishment, while Damon would go with impunity.

To Dionysius' astonishment Damon, despite facing floods, an assault by a bandit gang, beating sun and lack of water on the way back to his own execution, at the last minute returns to save his friend. Ashamed by this deed, the tyrant admits the moral value of fidelity and asks to be considered as a friend in their midst.

Now, tell me Helen wouldn't put her life on the line and trust in Liv to take her place at the execution until Liv returns. And tell me Liv wouldn't move heaven and earth to return and go to her death willingly to save Helen.

Particular this passage really fucks me up when someone tells Damon to turn back because of course Liv would - even if it was too late - return and prove the value of love and friendship and join Helen in death!

Anyway! You can read the whole thing here with English translation. I just needed to get this off my chest cause I'm having soooo many feelings about this!

[zorua-gaming]

Chapters Twenty Four through Twenty Six

We’ve made it to the end! (Also I cry a lot.)

Wait what? How is red Alear here as well?

Was NOT expecting time travel to be part of this.

Hold on, need to write down these details for my Engage dragon fam headcanons (and I guess ocs). So, one older brother drowned; one older sister burned alive; little sister and little brother torn apart by the Corrupted.

Also HOLY FUCK THAT ONE. That must be why the Corrupted unnerve Alear.

More siblings that died in the war? GIVE ME A NUMBER PLEASE, I MUST KNOW FOR THE SAKE OF MAKING OCS OF THEM!!

I love the way red Alear is talking. Idk how exactly to describe it, but you can tell they’re traumatized from what happened to their siblings and trying to prove themselves to Sombron and that they’re trying to hide their emotions.

Ooooh, red Alear red Marth duo!

Alear, why are you shocked to see Zephia? You just deduced that we were in the past.

Oh XD are we about to have Marth on Marth?

Red Alear can just cause avalanches without meaning to? Does this mean ice powers? ADD THIS TO THE LORE/POTENTIAL HC&OC PILE!!

Also forgot to mention that this is the first time this game that we’ve had a lose condition based on how many turns have passed.

God, those battle dialogues between past Alear & Alear, as well as past Alear & Veyle, ARE SO *gestures wildly*!!!

PAST LUMERA!!! 💖💖💖

NOT THE FUCKING PINKY PROMISE AGAIN!! 😭😭😭

Okay, but since those feels kinda paradoxy right now, how would it be that the shard is intact again when past Alear eventually becomes present Alear? Maybe I’m thinking too hard about this…

Veyle, what are you hiding?

Wait what? LUMERA?!

THESE ARE HER SAME LINES FROM THEIR REUNION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME!!

Okay, but I thought only Veyle could make Corrupted as perfect as this, so wtf is going on here?

Love it when I have a question and then the game immediately answers it.

OH SHIT THIS LUMERA VEYLE CUTSCENE IS RAW AS HELL!! LOVE IT

Damn, Lumera kinda theatric here; neat that she has hobbies even in death /j

I’m literally in tears rn, they make me so emotional

YO WHAT IS THIS HYPE-ASS MUSIC RN?!

Don’t mind me; gotta go cry over that cutscene. The parallels, THE PARALLELS!!

Damn, did Alear and Marth just get married? They promised to protect Elyos together forever.

Wait, what do you mean you can’t stay and help us build a peaceful world? Marth, you just promised forever!

Final battle time!

AY YO WTF

What about if all the Emblems are engaged with someone when the portal closes?

Wtf is Zero Emblem? (He’s probably gonna tell me in a second.)

Cool story, bro. You’re still an asshole who kills your own children if you see them as defective.

Also just gonna make a note that he called it the Emblem of Foundations.

How did the Emblem just leave the ring? Did this bitch really in all this time never try to resummon Emblem Zero?

Love this hype-ass Emblem role call.

OOOOH NEW ONE FOR THE LIST!! “Connect us, Fire Emblem!”

AND THIS HYPE-ASS OPENING INSTUMENTAL IN THE BACKGROUND!!

Love that Sombron was like “patricide, really?” and Alear shot back with “filicide, really?”

Why does the model for Sombron’s dragon form get so up in your face when you attack him? It’s kinda funny.

COBRAI KAIJU IS DOWN!!

YES EXACTLY!! DID YOU NEVER ONCE TRY TO CALL THEM BY THEIR INVOCATION AGAIN AFTER THEY LEFT?? YOU DUMBASS!!

Okay, so he DID try to resummon this Emblem.

Gonna add “Burn us, Emblem of Foundations.” to the list too.

Well, if Marth is about to disappear, then we gotta make out before he does.

“I hope you make an Arcadia of this land.” ROY 🥺🥺🥺

Alear and Chloé got so many MVPs. Truly a power couple.

Also shout-out to that one time Clanne got MVP.

Why does the beginning of this music sound like Lost in Thoughts All Alone? Is it gonna be a remix of past FE songs?

EXCUSE ME WHAT

Angsty Queen Céline fics when?

BOUCHERON’S PASSAGE, THAT’S SO CUTE

ALPACA MASTER

POTATO GODDESS LAPIS

Dang, Ivy is still remembered even after Alear has passed on? That’s gotta be a LONG fucking time.

Teacher Goldmary fics when?

😂😂😂 HOWLING BECOMES A PRAYER TO THE DIVINE DRAGON MONARCH!!

Ooooh, Gradlon Queen Veyle!!

ALEAR IN LUMERA’S OUTFIT!! 😭😭😭

Love this ending song. It’s the same tune as the opening, but different words. Gonna have to listen to it again later to catch all the lyrics.

MARNI REINCARNATED?!

Okay, so we still have the rings. Good.

What did the end of that cutscene mean? ARE THE EMBLEMS BACK?!

[maurastierney]

Are you here from Purimgifts?

Here are a few ideas for you!

Most of my prompts here are based around crossovers, so if you don't find any of these of inspiration feel free to scroll down and I'll give some more general likes and prompts:

Deep Impact (1998)/ER (TV 1994) -- I love the character played by Laura Innes in DI, and would love anything linking the two of them together as one character.

Felicity (TV)/The Diplomat (US TV 2023) -- what if Felicity became The Diplomat? How would she struggle to hold it together? Who does she end up marrying? Who from her University life could show back up?

The Diplomat (US TV 2023)/In The Loop (2009) & The Thick of It -- any scenario bringing these two fandoms together would be great.

For All Mankind (TV 2019)/The Americans (TV 2013) -- the opportunities for crossovers here are pretty cool and endless, one idea for me could be the Stan Beeman Big Mac Method for Killing a Man, what if Stan Defected to the KGB in the FAM timeline?

Titanic (1997)/The Gilded Age (TV 2022)/Downton Abbey -- Since Downton leans into the Titanic Tragedy so much, it would be good to see how this affects the Gilded Age characters, their families, or how the Tragedy or other transatlantic passages brings the two sides together.

ER (TV 1994)/The Good Wife (TV) -- there are endless opportunities here due to actor crossovers and everything taking place in Chicago -- I've already begun/had a go at a couple and I hope you find these as good inspo. Also feel free to use The Affair (TV) from the 3rd Request if you like.e

ER (TV 1994)/The Good Wife (TV)/In The Loop (2009) & The Thick of It -- I always thought "In the Loop" would be a good Chicago-themed version of The Thick of It - can we reimagine the characters from ER or TGW as the politicos we see in the Ianucciverse.

ER (TV 1994)/Felicity (TV) -- if you're very adept at spotting Donal Logue's character in Felicity, I'd love to see him explored as young Chuck.  

Ghosts (TV 2019)/Any other fandom -- how can the Ghosts characters be inserted into the other fandoms? Did they travel to the US on the Titanic? Do they stowaway on a plane? Or back in the UK, what does Julian think of the current idiots in charge? Who can see them?

General likes & Prompts:

Wlw, f/f, poly and multi ships, babyfic, found family, blended family, canon divergent AU, what-ifs, missing scenes, aging down/up (in line with canon timelines or in time-travel where this would fit canon); any rating (I love an E rating though); school & workplace romance dynamics; bisexual characters (both canon and non-canon); established relationships & Marriage (particularly "unconventional" marriage); first dates & dating; friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers; poly & kink negotiations

Smut likes:

Anal; anything with a woman on top; BDSM [clamps, bondage, dom/sub, shibari]; breastfeeding; clit torture; dirty talk [the word cunt is 100 emoji]; dovefucking; edging; exhibitionism; fingering; fisting; fuck machines; [reverse] gangbangs; gender/sexuality affirming sex; inexperienced with an experienced partner; lactation; moresomes; nipple play; oral; pain into pleasure; sex as education; sex as performance; sex toys [particularly dildos]; sharing of sexual fluids; shower sex; squirting & ejaculation; suspension; water play.

Favourite Characters & Ships:

Downton Abbey Mary/Henry, Mary/Matthew, Mary/Tom, Tom/Sybil, Mary/Gwen, Mary/Anna, Anna/John

ER (TV 1994) Abby/Kerry, Elizabeth/Mark, Susan/Mark, any other f/f ship

Felicity (TV) Felicity/Noel

For All Mankind (TV 2019) Aleida/Margo, Margo/Sergei, Ellen/Pam, Molly/Anyone

The Good Wife (TV) Alicia/Kalinda, Eli & Marissa Gold

Anyone played by the following actresses: Carrie Coon, Laura Innes, Keri Russell, Maura Tierney

DNWs:

Sex & relationships Omegaverse; m/m; non-con without any context i.e. a rape scene but not a wider story around why or how it happened.

Genres and tropes Neurodiversity/Mental Illness Headcanons without a strong link to canon; overly preachy undertones (in particular using christian imagery or symbolism); Gore/Torture porn; AUs that assume prior knowledge outside of the fandoms I have selected or that take place in a themed universe

Smut in the following fandoms:

Felicity, Ghosts, The Thick of It, In the Loop

[wereseoyoung]

just wondering but since you said you had an au planned (or being planned) for all 18 members does that mean dream is going to come in as college students eventually? Also does that mean that’ll bc further along since like 1/2 of dream is too young for college? thanks for your time oof

haaksjsjajsj you made me remember that mark graduated this year omg my headass genuinely thought that he graduated last year sjsjshsjsj so the Dreamies would graduate next year lmao

but I’m dumb af and i said that ‘99 line going into their second year during Johnny’s au so you KNOW that means that ‘00 line going into their first year😔🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼 but like jisung and chenle👀👀👀

[persephones-deadly-nightshade]

Beauty and The Beast

ft. familial relationships

A platonic JasonXSteph      pre-romantic TimSteph

Background: 

The batfamily are loyal protectors. A mix between knights a vigilantes. Jason dies. Jason gets resurrected via the pit. Jason comes back pissed. He returns home though, doesn’t go on a killing spree, slowly incorporates back into the family.  

Jason still dislikes Tim, (Replacement) and Damian (Demon Brat). He is still bitter at Bruce, (B stands for bitch) and resenting Dick(Golden boy/perfect child). He loves Cass (hard not to.)

Anyways something happens, maybe he’s benched Demon Spawns not, pit rage occurs, a guest pops by the door. 

Guest is treated rudely and prepares to curse entire family. 

Alfred and Bruce welcome her in. 

She doesn’t curse yet.

Hears Jason wish he didn’t have family. Family sucks.

Curses him into a beast, transforms his servants into furniture, telling him if he doesn’t feel brotherly love and learn to appreciate family, they’ll stick. The family (Ohana Bitches) intervene to give him a shot to fix this. 

They sacrifice their voices/bodies for time. Each person earns Jason an extra 20 years. (100 total) His family members are like ghosts, unable to communicate with Jason besides occasional impressions. They’ll be back if he ever breaks the curse. 

Jason is horrified at himself and sinks deep into depression. The pit madness rages more often than not. Time is passing all to quickly...

Start of Story:

Meet Steph. She is a pretty girl, but all to smart and spirited for her village. She loves her mother, another smart woman, an nurse from the city who moved from the country at the behest of her controlling husband.

Meet the controlling husband, Arthur Brown, aka the “Gaston” of the story.

He is not a good person, or father, but the town loves him.

He wants a “perfect” daughter. Timid, reserved, demure. Steph is resisting, but soon she won’t be able to put him off. 

Her mother goes into the city for special herbs, needed as the village healer. She ends up seeking refuge in the beast’s castle.  

Alfred, who previously disconnected from the Waynes, becoming more butler than grandpa to keep Jason company, takes care of her.

Jason flashes back to the last woman whom they invited in and pit madness overtakes him. He throws her in the dungeons.

Steph comes looking for her mother, running towards the terrifying castle because without her mom, Arthur Brown would bend her quickly to his will. 

Steph and Jason’s first meeting was... A disaster. 

Think Steph screaming, think Jason screaming back. Think Alfred pushing her into the guest bedroom as the Waynes try to calm Jason the fuck down so he can use the girl to break the curse. 

They are in an awkward limbo for days. 

Alfred, fed up, escorts Mrs. Brown out in exchange for Stephanie, after explaining what the very aro/ace Jason will need from Steph. (Basically reassurance that Steph would be trapped, but zero chance of getting raped or seduced.) 

Because she must not think of him a brother purely for the curse, Steph doesn’t get the full story. 

The first week and a half is Jason avoiding the fuck out of Stephanie and being annoyed at Alfred’s deal. 

Steph is terrified. She rashly agreed to this deal including spending time with a giant strong monster, Alfred is kind, but she hasn’t seen the silver candlestick since he broke the rules. She is fearing for his safety.

Alfred’s fine, just giving Jason an I’m so disappointed in you silence.” 

Eventually, Steph starts poking around. 

To preserve his brother’s privacy, he stops her before she can go into the family wing, and has Alfred show her the library. Steph is bored.

She pokes around more. Jason bodily stands in her way. 

She persistently pokes him into spending time together. Listen, She is really fucking bored out of her mind. 

Alfred refuses to show her the training room, so Jason has to do it.

Less than a month later, he caves. (Steph is annoying persistent)

Her eyes light up at the sight of punching bags and Cass’ equipment, that girls were allowed to fight maybe she could.

She doesn’t ask for permission. 

He catches her throwing a fucking terrible punch. 

He can’t let that stand. 

The fam watches in glee, as the blonde pokes every single one of his buttons, and accidentally/unknowingly manipulates him into spending time with her. (Tim might just be falling in love)

(She out of his league, like a lot)

Invisible family thinks it’s adorable.

Alfred tells her the history of the manor, and about the Batfam spirits. They comfort her when she gets scared, an impression of warmth and safety. 

She learns to differentiate. She notices Tim spending a lot of time, doesn’t know it’s Tim. Alfred Knows. Alfred knows all.    

Eventually Jason begins liking teaching, and instead of just a harsh taskmaster, he becomes more of a mentor. 

Coins her Spoiler after hearing about how she resists her shitty dad. 

Winter comes. He teaches her siege warfare and silent moving through snowball fights and games. 

He teachers her piano. How the fuck is his voice that nice? 

He teachers her to cook and they have ingredient fights. If she can get him in a good mood, he’ll tell silly stories about his family, going all wistful. 

Good things come to an end. She gets word that her father is beating Mrs. Brown because she managed to escape. It’s her fault, her mother is getting hurt.

A worried Jason bans her from going home. 

Steph runs away anyways, with a purple cloak streaming behind her.

Wolves attack. She can’t hold them all off. 

The Red Hood makes an appearance, saving her life. 

The Pit rage comes back, he almost couldn’t protect her. Suddenly her broken body gets replaced with, little Timbo’s, babybat’s, his dad’s, Big Wing’s, and Cass’. All gone because he couldn’t control himself. The depression returns full force. 

He barricades himself in his room. 

Steph punches the punching bag, often. She knows she fucked up. She misses her mentor. Things deteriorate.

The orange rose petals are almost out. 

Jason, unable to stand the sight of Steph after associating her with his family, sends a carriage for her to take home, gives her weapons to stand up for herself easier. 

Steph, split worried between her mother and Jason, takes the opportunity to go home, as Jason will have Alfred, but her mom has nobody. 

She gets home to try to protect her mother, and her father captures her and puts her in a shock color that is programmed to send a jolt of electricity each time he presses the button. (Aka when she disobeys)

Arthur Brown, annoyed that she had been protected from him for that long, and dismayed that she had learned to fight, (That punch to his face was beautiful Steph, the whole Batfam is proud.) Decides to storm Wayne castle. 

Mrs. Brown (’cause I still don’t know her name) notices Steph looking troubled and tells her to escape and send a warning to her new family. 

Steph denies the family part twice before her mom shuts her up with a look and pretty much said, “Steph, he’s like, your perfect older brother. You guys even have nicknames.”

Steph realizes she’s right.

Steph disables collar and runs toward the manor, taking the conveniently located, super secret passage. 

(She didn’t take it home initially because she didn’t know, then Alfred told her after the wolf attack, but it wasn’t an emergency because Jason prepped a carriage.)

So Steph arrives as her father does, he is still the better fighter, so Jason goes up against Arthur Brown as Steph and the furniture/servants take out the mob. 

As they are fighting, it is, of course, the perfect time for a heart-to-heart. 

���Why did you come back?/Why did you avoid me?”

“I can’t lose my brother!/I can’t stand seeing my family hurting!”

“What?!?/What!?! 

“Cool/Sup.”

Arthur Brown gets a lucky hit in when the two are dramatically confessing their new familial bonds. 

Jason falls.

Arthur gloats. 

Steph knocks him the fuck out. (Heartwarming)

Steph then bear hugs Jason, Jason pecks her forehead. 

Swirl of magic...

The servants turn human, the Waynes resolidify. There is a beautiful reunion. Oh, Jason also rebecomes human. (Meh) 

Bonus-

As Tim is reforming, Dick shoves him towards Steph. All the bats think a blushing Tim would be hilarious. 

He ends up a little to close.

Steph seeing a person she does not know directly in her personal space. Promptly bends down and yeets the brick she is holding. (Mwahahaha)

It was the start of a beautiful romance for the ages. 

[the196thbattalion]

star wars human! high school! au

i’ve seen so many headcanons circling throughout the star wars tumblr about high school au’s, so i wanted to share my bit with all of you :D

anakin skywalker

five words: REBEL CHILD ON A MOTORCYCLE.

he doesn’t like riding the school bus because it makes him feel extremely claustrophobic, so he scrapped and scavenged up parts to make his own customized motorcycle, which he lovingly dubbed artoo.

the blue and silver detailing was the joint effort of ahsoka and obi-wan, because anakin doesn’t know how to paint.

if he can catch up to the bus, he’ll ride alongside it and flip off the students on it before revving on ahead of them. (the freshmen think it’s the funniest thing in the universe)

probably one of the most well-known juniors in the entirety of temple high school (mostly because of his shenanigans but partly because he’s dating padme fuckiNG AMIDALA, PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE DAMN SCHOOL)

he always wears this worn-down leather jacket his mom gave to him before she passed away, and refuses to take it off, even though it’s somehow “a violation of the dress code and should be outlawed.”

his hair alone has seduced eight different students (boys and girls)

sometimes during study hall, ahsoka or padme will get a hold of his hair and style it into little braids or make a super rad ponytail.

he really likes iced coffee with milk and sugar. he puts in the milk to make it nice and light (it’s aesthetically pleasing, obi-wan!), and then like eight tablespoons of sugar to make it actually taste good.

his favorite class is mechanics, taught by kit fisto.

anakin spent months on a mechanical arm project to replace his clunky plastic prosthetic, and he was so freaking happy when it was finished; he almost cried. (he did cry and ahsoka got it on video)

obi-wan kenobi

a mixture of the soft™, pretty™, hippie™, grunge™, vsco™ and nerd™ tropes.

he really likes peppermint tea with lots of honey but takes his coffee black.

he has had too much tea.

someone needs to stop him.

almost all of his classes are ap courses, and if cody hadn’t been watching when obi-wan was making his schedule, all of them would be.

him, cody and padme have ap english with mace windu, and cody knows how much his classes stress him out, so he lets obi-wan sleep during class and sends him the notes

the only ap class obi-wan doesn’t take is mechanics, and he shares that class with anakin.

anakin and obi-wan are super close with each other. kenobi was there when ahsoka was adopted, and anakin was there when kenobi got his cat. (they were like 5 okay)

“NAME IT C3PO OBI-WAN, OR I SWEAR TO FUCK-” “what kind of name is that, and why would i - anAKIN PUT HIM DOWN!?”.

mr. fisto constantly has to split them up for disrupting the class, but it’s almost like they can communicate telepathically, and the teachers have a running bet

mace windu literally bet $50 on these fucking nerds so you know it’s for realsies

in reality, they’ve just gotten super creative with passing notes.

kind of off topic, but he has these brown harry potter glasses that he uses (kinda for reading???? but mostly so he can do that anime pushing up glasses thing)

cody thinks it’s the funniest shit ever

whenever cody is feeling stressed, obi-wan just does the thing™ and BOOM! happiness.

people think he’s a goodie two shoes, and honestly, it’s really easy to think that. if the iconics are trying to do something stupid, he’s usually the voice of reason.

but parties?

…

you know what, just ask anakin for the video footage.

ahsoka tano

this hs!au ahsoka tano turned me bisexual confirmed ✔

okay before i go into her style, which is mainly what made me drool over my computer, can i just put skatergirl!ahsoka out there?

spray painting of the rebellion symbol all over the bottom of her board and on items in a couple of the places where she skates the most (like the back of an abandoned car yard)

her instagram is filled with these super cool vhs-tape recorded skate videos (u know)

lots crackhead 3am visits (starring anakin, rex, kenobi and barris) to a gas station to get slushies and grind the shit out of the curb connecting the store to the parking lot

trying to teach anakin how to skateboard but he just can’t figure it out? uh yes

“try to balance skyguy!” “HOW DO I MOVE? DO I SCOOT? SNIPS THIS ISN’T FUNNY AND I WANT TO GET OFF – GUYS, STOP LAUGHING!”

okay okay okay i’m done

for now

anyway, her style???? is so???? fucking????? cool!!!!!

her genetics gave her a 80% of having vitiligo, so it really wasn’t a surprise when patches of her skin got lighter, but it still freaked her out a little bit.

basically, went like this: “DAD, I’M TURNING WHITE!” “???? oh my gosh ‘soka, no.”

she has long braided dreadlocks she dyed a super bright orange with various colored beads woven into them with the help of anakin and padme. she usually styles them into little space buns atop her head.

her entire clothing wardrobe consists of fishnets, neon bomber jackets, at least 11 bisexual beanies™, handmade patchy jeans, white tank tops, and light-up platform shoes.

she doesn’t give two flying fucks about the dress code, and – IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOST BUSY HALLWAY - punched principal sidious over whether or not she “could wear shorts that short” (anakin may or may not have cheered when she broke his nose).

the fetts (chuck have mercy)

*cracks le knuckles* i’ve put it off long enough

we have: fox (24), wolffe (19), cody (17), rex (17), echo (16), fives (16), boil (15), waxer (14), hardcase (13), jesse (12), longshot (8), kix (6), tup (3), gree (2) and boba (9mo)

wolffe is off at college - fox already graduated and moved out, that cheeky little fucking shit - but both still keep in good contact with the fam, and it’s a constant clamor between eleven of the siblings of who gets to talk to them first

fox majored in government/politics, bly is majoring in space/astronomy, and wolffe is majoring in police/law enforcement shit (i don’t know how college works, so sue me)

cody and rex are juniors, and despite their similar looks, the amount of schoolwork each of them completes drastically varies

cody is the honor roll student, valedictorian, whatever you want to call it

rex kinda just either does the work really well or 9/10 times gets distracted by anakin or ahsoka sending him some nice spicy memes

cody tried to tutor rex but it ended up almost landing tup in the hospital

“that’s really simple, actually. if you – vod? rex, are you okay? what are you oH NO TUP DON’T PUT THAT IN YOUR MOUTH-”

fetts on the varsity football team is like a right of passage in the family

right now, only the juniors of the fett family are on the team, but the coach has eyes on fives and echo for next years team

SPEAKING OF

echo, fives and boil are the infamous sophomore trio that pulled the milk bucket prank on the gym teacher, pong krell.

they had to help the janitor (99) clean up afterwards, but they genuinely enjoyed 99’s company, because he’s rad as shit and knows all the secret school passageways.

to be honest, not one person (except maybe sidious) was complaining

that motherfucker makes everyone run like eight laps during gym class

even mr. windu gives them a small smile in the hallways after that

boil says he was blackmailed into it

waxer is a freshman (the poor dude, i’m so sorry), and he always looks out for the nervous freshies

if someone is having a bad day, he’ll give them a lollipop (he carries around a whole bag), a place to sit during lunch, and a shoulder to cry on

all you need to do to find waxer is to locate this long ass line of children

the school counselor, plo koon, sometimes brings his niece numa into school during the day because he can’t find a babysitter, and waxer. fucking. loves. her. PERIOD.

w+n pull these tiny little pranks on teachers, and the staff pretends not to notice, but numa always giggles and gives them away.

boil has a soft spot for numa too, and sneaks her rice krispies.

bonus shit i want to add in but can’t figure out where to put it (or i’m just gonna add it on and shit)

plo koon adopted anakin after his mother died (him and anakin’s mother were good friends), and found ahsoka on the side of the street, shivering like a maniac.

he doesn’t know where ahsoka came from, but he loves her so gOD DAMN MUCH.

he’s the school counselor, and still keeps in touch with a lot of students even after the graduated (he thinks that majoring in law enforcement/police is a bit dangerous for wolffe but he still supports his unofficial but basically son 100%)

yoda is the super old but radically rad english teacher.

his entire point of existence in my mind fic is to troll the shit out of palpatine.

a recent conversation starring yoda and palps: “did you give the students the mountain of extra work i assigned them?” “for the students, that was?” i’m sorry. my bad, that is.” “this is the seventh time, yoda.”

okay but for real

mace windu violently roots for the school football team.

“BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HIM, CODY! YOU TOO...OTHER CODY!”

“THAT’S A HOLDING! THAT’S A HOLDING!”

“REF IF YOU DON’T COUNT THAT TOUCHDOWN THEN I SWEAR TO SAMUEL L. JACKSON I WILL COME DOWN THERE AND BEAT YOUR SORRY PINSTRIPED ASS!”

[nonobadcat]

BNHA Fantasy AU: Troll Muscular X F!Reader

Four Chapter Short Story - Updates about once a week

Summary:

From the moment you fled him, you knew there would be precious few places that you could escape The Duke of Tredal. Sure, legends said that in the dense fog of the Natt Valley, trolls lay in wait for weary travelers who lost their way in the dark. Nevertheless, with your pursuers hot on your heels, you had little choice but to head for the Old Bridge if you wanted to escape the fife. After two days on the run, you finally collapsed from exhaustion. Desperate to survive, you cried out to the stars for the strength to go on.

However, it was a monster from the deep that would answer your call.

Rating: Explicit

TW: Non-con monster fucking (or at best dub-con under implied threat of death), graphic depictions of violence/gore, troll on troll and troll on human cannibalism, mentions of previous sexual slavery/rape, menstural cunnilingus, fellatio, drugging, kidnapping, graphic depictions of lung disease.

NOT a vore story. Reader will live and be unmaimed.

Chapter 1 Excerpt Below:

As the heavy mist swirled past your pounding feet, terror-ridden eyes hazarded a glance back.

Did you lose them?

All humans in the Kingdom of Trefal knew, at the end of Fjell Forest, there was only a carpet of shadows awaiting you. Midday or not, the area at the edge of the Natt Valley lay under a coat of fog that was, even at its thinnest, thick enough to hide the trees only six wagon lengths away. As you witnessed this fact first hand, the hairs on the back of your neck rose. That also meant you couldn't tell if the men pursuing you still lay out there, hidden in the dark.

Those that traversed the Old Bridge between the Capital City Ottsk and the Duke's fiefdom knew that they may yield their lives to make the treacherous passage over the hazy valley. In addition, the tales told stories of man-eating trolls who prowled the fog, waiting for road-weary travelers to lose their way. Everyone knew that the Duke's land grant was generously large for a reason. The king always hated his brother. There was no doubt he hoped the infamous divide and the rumored creatures would mean they never met again.

As your heart pounded against your ribs, you prayed to the stars that you would also escape the old man so totally.

When last you saw his crippled husk, he had patted your cheek and told you he was so desperately disappointed at how things had turned out. He thought with you as First Concubine, you would be the one who could bear him the heir he'd always wanted. You had always been his favorite after all. You were so pliant and responsive that his training took easy. That's why he'd let you live longer than the others despite your failure over and over again. However, his wife really wouldn't tolerate it anymore. If you couldn't give them the child they wanted, it was time to move on.

When he told you your fate, his wrinkled brow had contorted in an approximation of pain. He couldn't really feel pain. The king's little brother lived too pampered a life to know pain. However, he could mimic it from the look on your face. After all, the way you cried was plenty painful for two. Not to worry though! Since you were his favorite he'd always treasure your heart. After he carved it from your chest, he'd put in on the nicest shelf in his bed-chamber. When he died, you could even be buried with him in the tomb! It was the highest honor he could give a simple concubine. After all, you were much closer to him than his wife in life. It was only fair to you that the same be true in death. He cherished you so much after all.

Needless to say, you'd felt differently about that honor.

That's why, two nights ago, you'd slapped the tainted wine from his hands, plunged the golden dagger into his arm, and jumped out the window into the pond below. As you swam to the far shore and raced across the castle grounds to the Old Road, you promised yourself you'd do whatever it took to survive. After two days with no food, no sleep, and no hope, you wondered if "whatever it took" would be enough to escape the fife.

When the long woven ropes of the suspension bridge came into view, a burst of adrenaline spurred your burning legs forward.  You surged out of the treeline, coming to a stop as you reached the precipice below. The bottom of the rock-lined valley was rumored to be so deep that it was said your vocal cords would wear out before you hit the ground. No one actually knew how far it went since it was covered in heavy mist year-round. The slick, moss-covered stones made it a near impossible climb. Many foolish men had died trying. Perhaps those disappearances explained the tales of the monsters who lived in the valley below.

You stared at the dark, moldy boards of the bridge. They were slick as oil in a lamp and the ropes looked frayed. You gulped, trying to find the will to move your aching legs towards your only escape. They were heavy as lead. Your anemia wasn't helping. The cramps this month were worse than ever before and the fear barely dulled them. As you hit the mildewed tressel, your knees buckled below you. Your hands barely caught you as your skin hit the splintering wood. Frustrated tears started to pour down your cheeks. Blistered hands wiped at your face. You gritted your teeth and tried to swallow the hopelessness building in your throat.

"Move!" you urged yourself, flexing your shaking arms. Quivering fingers reached out, trying to drag your weary body forward board by board. They clawed at the bridge as your head looked to the heavens. Your thin voice pierced the damp, musty dark as you begged: "Please just let me move!"

Covered in a blanket of thick, grey clouds, the heavens were blind to your suffering. Just as you realized the stars would not answer you, a voice from the deep did.

"Oh? I come up for the smell of blood and here I find someone trapping across my bridge? Been a while."

Read the rest at: Archive of Our Own

@shigashigashig​ - I got you fam​​

@mel-hoedee @yuiji-yuiji @themidnight-slasher-thot @lovelydeepcherryblossom @thats-just-not-okay @gojoisthemilktomycereals @famouscreatorwolfcalzone @shadyfarmcookiefish @hinatabokeboke @fallen-baron @smallfry-crybabyblog @kingrandomness @professionalreblogs @insanebot109 @thesmokingcat @darkshadowguardian @dwight-y0u-sunflower-slut @daughter-of-the-gods0011 @bandaged-despair @oikawascakee @smallangrynerd @failinginlife @psychicglitterdetective @nimbus-lab @shinywombatbatland @little-bit-odd @yoyoyoonie @lisethelizard @averagepersonontheinternet @the-lady-writes-what @fluffabutt @isarahlouwho @bludspp @mythology-studios @kooljojoz @dr3lls @spitfyrefae @sayanetsuzune @qualityauthorsludgeland @kaitlyntalks @jackhowlswife @hi-what-is-anything @ravenrebel24 @assorted-beany @requedup @xanny-emo @anonymous-stuff @emo-smurf-owo @bai-pai

[nekoprankster218]

Fucking crazy RWBY dream time. Unfortunately don’t have all the details because of immediately forgetting a lot as soon as I woke up, but what I still have in my memory is still so insane. No spoilers for RWBY Vol 8 btw, since this dream version has its own storyline. Although I do mention a Vol 7 spoiler that’s carried over to Vol 8.

SO! First I need to explain that at one point in my chain of dreams (because one of the ways I dream is to have a chain of technically separate ones but sometimes they either transition from one to the other smoothly or even one makes reference to a previous one from the night) last night had a dragon around attacking a place and eating two of the royal children and the later RWBY dream also added to it by showing the dragon destroying a kingdom Ender Dragon style. There was once a “blue eyes blue dragon joke” except the dragon was blue with white, pupil-less eyes (so it would’ve actually worked as an inversion of the joke if my brain wasn’t stupid).

Anyway, so when my dream chain re-contextualizes the dragon dream as me and my dad watching RWBY in the new dream, my dream also shows off some other parts of the dream episode. Actually, there’s a good chance that the chain of events is dragon dream > dragon dream becomes RWBY plot > cut to living room where it’s all apparently been an episode that I watched. I don’t remember the full thing, but the end of the “episode” is...honestly kinda lit fam. I don’t remember if it was a season finale or not (actually might not have even made e distinction within the dream), but it ended with a crazy cliffhanger that changed everything and set up hype for the next volume/rest of the volume.

So the scene is a flash forward to the modern day, and Ruby is walking down the side walk next to a high school football field. A pan reveals a teenage boy that’s never been seen before walking directly behind her, and I don’t know why but it’s just known that he’s protecting her although it’s also unknown if Ruby even knows he’s there. A eulogy can be heard going on in the football field thanks to speakers, and the school is solemnly mourning a high school student who’s described as brave and reliable and basically a daily life hero. The thing is, even though the audience knows little about this modern day world, it’s clearly implied that the boy walking behind Ruby is the boy being mourned, so either he’s a ghost, he faked his death, or he immediately reincarnated.

Reincarnated? Why would you say that? Well, maybe because it’s also somewhat-implied, somewhat-confirmed to the audience that the boy is Ironwood’s modern-day reincarnation, and everybody in Remnant will eventually reincarnate in this modern day timeline (either because of death or the end of Remnant at the end of the series or just because the passage of time is still unclear at this point).

But! That’s! Not! All! At the end of the eulogy, his final message is read, and it causes Ruby to actually freeze and gasp, as well as me once starts to transition to being an episode being watched. These final words? A thank you to “the Fire Bird.”

Context: in this dream-version of RWBY, “the Fire Bird” is a badass nickname of Raven’s. Also just for clarity’s sake, one of the divergences this dream-version has that I am aware about is that Ironwood is more heroic - either he never had his antagonist turn, or it was so minor that he was easily redeemed in the audience’s eyes once he went back to the heroes. Also another divergence I know about is that at one point Raven was fighting against Team RWBY from going to a dangerous place and even tho she was on the villain team connected to that place/story arc, it’s later implied to the audience that her true goal was to protect them from the danger because she was convinced they’d die.

And I don’t know how I know with such little information, but the implication here is that reincarnated!Ironwood somehow had his Remnant memories and was trying to reach out to others who were reincarnated from Remnant, but also especially Raven. Because, apparently, besides foreshadowing the whole modern-day reincarnation thing, this scene was also serving as foreshadowing that Raven was about to save Team RWBY’s lives in the next volume/the end of this volume.

Anyway, so dream-me was freaking out about all of this and what it all meant and what was going to happen next in the story, and that’s all I remember. Almost bummed it turned out to be a dream because just the reveal that everyone’s gonna reincarnate in the modern world by the end of the story was already so crazy and I loved it.

[artificialqueens]

Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, 8 (Branjie) (and background everyone) - Ortega

a/n: ayo fam!!!! thank u so so sososo much for reading and sending love, it makes my heart HAPPY! i apologise in advance for this chapter…….a Lot goes on. wouldn’t be much of a rollercoaster if it was flat would it!! hope u will all still like me afterwards xoxo

fic summary: Strictly Come Dancing enters its 18th series and its producers, after being goaded by a rival dance show on its inclusivity, commission it to be an all-female cast. Unlike Akeria who’s just here to bone her potential dance partner, dancer Vanessa is ready to act like a professional.

And then TV presenter Brooke Lynn walks into the rehearsal room.

***

31st October 2020

“Ready, baby?”

“Always.”

Vanessa smiles at Brooke from her position on the platform she’s standing on. Brooke has an identical one beside her, a huge purple structure with a phone box drilled into it that’s strong and has definitely been checked by the health and safety experts at least six times. Looking down, the ballroom floor looks ever so slightly too far away, but Vanessa knows that’s just her eyes playing tricks on her. She knows that when the music starts and the time comes, she’ll jump off it without any problems. As the band continue to set up she picks at her skirt, all messy netting and tulle. Vanessa supposes she’s never seen a fashionable zombie.

Halloween week has crept up on her- she’s honestly been too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice the passage of time. Instead of seconds, minutes and hours her days are now measured in dance steps, quick glugs of her water bottle in rehearsals, how many times Brooke flirts with her that day. Ever since last week they haven’t seemed to be able to stop flirting. They always seem to be laughing or smiling at each other, casually hugging or holding hands mid-rehearsal like it’s natural. It’s not, though, and Vanessa knows it’s only a matter of time before her feelings become unravelled. She can’t figure Brooke out yet, and she knows that there’s a chance she’s acting this way because she’s more comfortable with Vanessa, maybe that’s how she acts around all her friends. But still…she doesn’t know. She knows she’s not going to risk ruining anything, though, and she’s definitely not going to risk anything going wrong with their partnership after they scored 32 on Saturday for their Salsa, favourable comments pouring out of the judges’ mouths like water out of a jug. Laganja had stood up from her seat at the table and actually screamed when Michelle asked her what she’d thought, babbling about how hot and sizzling and perfect it all was.

“At one point I thought you two were gonna kiss!” she’d screeched, and the audience had all laughed. Vanessa had wanted to tell her that she hadn’t been that far from the truth.  

Their Salsa actually got higher marks than Jan and Jackie’s, which had put a spring in Vanessa’s step. The goal had been to showcase her and Brooke’s chemistry, and Vanessa feels like they definitely did that. It gets harder not to compare themselves to other couples though, especially when there’s only nine of them left now. Aja and Farrah are out of the competition after a dance-off with Willam and Phi Phi last week, so now that the strong have well and truly been separated from the weak things are coming very much down to the wire. Even Heidi and Vixen and Shea and Peppermint’s scores haven’t been all that favourable lately. Vanessa shifts on top of the platform. Dress rehearsal is usually fun but she’s overthinking things now and making herself nervous. She gives herself a little shake, looks at Brooke for a reassuring smile she knows will come. She can’t let Brooke know she’s feeling anxious. Their dance is, overall, quite an easy one- it’s their couples choice week, so naturally Vanessa has chosen Commercial as their genre, never one to shy away from the chance to behave like she’s in a music video. She knows it still needs to be sharp and synchronised, neither of them missing a beat. They’ve done similar in their Jive, so all they really need to do is transfer the same skills into this dance.

“Ready to go in three!” a producer shouts. Vanessa takes a deep breath and steadies herself, taking her position inside the phone box. From across the ballroom floor she can see Brooke doing the same.

A hush falls over the girls that are watching in the audience, the drumsticks click, and the song begins.

“Calling all the monsters, calling all the monsters…”

Vanessa pops her hip as she acts out a conversation with Brooke, putting the phone down and stepping out of the booth as soon as the beat kicks in. She puts her hands to her heart and pulses them, getting ready to launch herself off the platform the moment she hears her cue.

“Heart thumps and you jump…”

Vanessa jumps, flying through the air-

And the moment she hits the ground she knows something’s not right. She feels her leg give out, a pop, and searing pain shooting through her calf. She’s fallen to the floor and every fibre of her body is screaming at her to get up; she’s the professional, and what kind of professional is she if she can’t carry on after a small mistake? The music is still going so she drags herself onto her knees, attempts to stand up. The whole dance is thrown off now. Fuck. When she puts her foot on the floor and tries to stand it’s too painful- she can’t do it. She can see some of the girls in the audience standing up, yelling, gesturing to producers and runners.

Brooke runs over to her and the music stops. Vanessa’s on her back and she’s drawn her leg up to her chest. She can hear Brooke asking if she’s okay and the concern in her voice, can feel her stroking her hair and holding her hand, and usually this would’ve warmed her heart and made her feel all soft inside but the pain is overwhelming and it’s all she can focus on. She’s embarrassed and aware of how weak she must look in front of the other girls- she’ll have just landed on her ankle funny, there won’t be any more to it than that.  

“I’m fine…it’s fine…” Vanessa protests, embarrassed at the amount of people now surrounding her. She’s got Brooke, a runner, a producer, and now someone from first aid. She tries to stand up again and is annoyed when everyone reacts much the same as if she’s pointed a gun at them, telling her to lie back down and fussing over her. All Vanessa can do is stare up at the ceiling and look at the rigging while the woman from first aid pokes and prods and massages her calf, the filters and lights all bright and overwhelming above her. Her gaze snaps away from the ceiling to rest on Brooke’s face. She’s wearing a troubled expression, little lines deep set into her forehead and her bottom lip trapped between her teeth. Vanessa hates seeing her look this worried and she’s horrified that it’s she herself that’s made her feel this way.

“Brookie, don’t worry,” Vanessa musters up a smile for her. Brooke blinks, and when she looks at her again Vanessa can see tears in her eyes. Vanessa carries on, squeezes her hand. “They’ll stick a bit of ice on this an’ then I’ll be ready to dance with you tonight, you’ll see.”

She watches Brooke take a deep breath, nod at her supportively. Vanessa isn’t lying- she truly believes in what she’s saying. She’ll be fine. It’ll just be a rolled ankle, nothing too serious. She panics, though, when she sees two runners with the studio’s stretcher, moving through the audience seating.

“That ain’t for me. Surely not.”

The producer is telling her it’s just a precaution, but it’s a precaution that’s made Vanessa’s worry spike. They roll her onto it, and Brooke doesn’t let go of her hand. The first aid woman is telling her she can’t go with them. Vanessa scowls, feels the anger build in her gut.

“But I want her there. She’s my partner,” she snaps. She’s never mean to anyone she works with, always goes out of her way to be kind, reassuring and understanding, but all she wants is to have Brooke by her side because everything is starting to sink in now and she’s scared. First aid insists there’s no way, and Vanessa lets out a frustrated sigh that’s too close to a growl.

“What should I do?” Brooke asks her, worry etched on her face. Vanessa gives her hand one last squeeze before the stretcher is hoisted off the ground.

“Practise. Just practise. Make sure you’re ready for me,” Vanessa winks at Brooke in a vague attempt at reassurance then suddenly she’s being carried away from her, away from the ballroom and the glitter and colour and into an off-white room with strobe lights and a brown examination bed. She’s transferred onto the bed and left there for a small while, the silence in the room almost crushing her.

What the fuck has she managed to do?

It’s crazy, but her only thought is Brooke. What will happen to her? Will she get given a bye, will she be taken out of the competition? Will she get a new partner? The thought creeps into Vanessa’s brain and lodges itself there like a tick. Vanessa wants to shake it out but it won’t budge. If her first year competing with a celebrity is ruined by her stupid fucking leg…

She squeezes her eyes tight shut. Maybe this is all a dream. It wouldn’t be the first time. When she opens her eyes she is still in the same room as before. Fuck. She looks down at her calf and mutters the same word as she sees how much it has swollen up underneath the grey tights she’s got on.

Soon enough, a producer enters the room with someone Vanessa doesn’t recognise. It turns out they’ve called in a doctor. Her dance shoes and tights are peeled off and after much poking and prodding, the doctor steps away and fixes Vanessa with a sympathetic smile.

“Okay, my love, I’d usually take you in for an ultrasound but from what I can see I’m confident that what this looks like is a grade two level torn calf muscle.”

Vanessa wants to be sick.

“What that means is that you’re going to need lots of rest, lots of ice and compression. Try to elevate it wherever possible. The producers are going to make sure you get a follow-up appointment to get it looked at so you know when you’ll be able to get back to dancing.”

Vanessa frowns. She refuses to believe it. They’ve not come out and said she can’t dance. Maybe if she does the dance just once tonight she can rest it next week. “But I’m dancing tonight, I…Brooke needs me-”

The doctor is smiling at her like she’s a child and it does nothing for Vanessa’s blood pressure. “I’m really sorry, love, there’s no way you can dance on this. For at least a week, but that’s in the best case. Sometimes torn muscles can take six weeks to-”

“No. No, no, no, no,” Vanessa blurts out. She can feel the tears in her eyes; they’ve sprung up out of nowhere but all she can hear ringing in her ears is six weeks. The final is six weeks away. She needs to be better. It can’t take that long. “I need to be here, I can’t withdraw, I need to…Brooke Lynn…”

She is reduced to crying on an examination table with a doctor and one of the producers simply watching her. The doctor hands her a tissue, clearly feeling guilty. “Look, it really just depends on how well you look after it. It would probably take six weeks if you were trying to dance on it immediately again! As long as you’re sensible and take care, your recovery time will be much less.”

This does nothing to reassure her. Vanessa fixes her eyes on the producer. “What’s gonna happen?”

He scratches his neck and shrugs. “Well, we’ll offer Brooke a bye for this week. We’ll need to give her a new partner though. Just temporarily, until you’re better.”

Vanessa pouts, feels herself whine like a baby. “This is so unfair.”

“I know. I’m sorry. S’pose this comes with the territory, though, doesn’t it? Injuries…dancing,” he rambles on. Vanessa wants him to leave. Vanessa wants them both to leave. She wants to be on her own. She just wants a big, therapeutic cry with nobody there to watch her. Vanessa communicates this to the two of them and they both nod understandingly before leaving. A runner comes in with some ice for Vanessa’s leg and some pillows to elevate it, and they disappear equally rapidly.

Vanessa tries to think rationally, but no rational thought comes. All she can keep thinking is six weeks, six weeks, six weeks. It feels like her Strictly journey is over already. She knows she’s being selfish, knows that it’s Brooke’s journey. She should be happy for her- she’ll still get a partner, she’ll still get to continue and succeed.

But it should have been her.

The tears are still streaming down Vanessa’s face when there’s a shy knock at the door. It’s Brooke Lynn, and she’s still in costume but she’s had her hair and makeup done as well. There’s prosthetic chunks of blood and gore all over her and her skin is painted all grey and decaying, but Brooke still looks beautiful to her.

“Hey, boo,” Vanessa gives her a soft smile, frantically wipes the tears away from her face. She feels silly. “Get it? ‘Cuz it’s Halloween.”

Brooke laughs a little, entering the room and coming straight over to the bed to give Vanessa a hug. Vanessa can’t describe how much better she feels in Brooke’s arms, how much easier everything suddenly is.

“How are you, baby?” Brooke asks her mid-hug, and Vanessa can feel her murmur against her neck. It’s nice.

“I tore my calf…they told me I gotta rest up, it might take six weeks to heal…fuck, Brooke, I’m so sorry…”

Vanessa feels herself start to cry again as she clings onto Brooke like a koala, and Brooke hugs her even tighter in response. “Don’t be ridiculous! It won’t take that long at all. Torn muscles are so common, think about how many people must tear things in dancing! You’ll be fine. Hey. No more crying.”

Vanessa obediently wipes the tears away from under her eyes as she pulls away and gives Brooke a smile. Brooke meets and mirrors it, then leans in and kisses Vanessa gently on the forehead. When she pulls away again she seems shy as she laces their hands together. Vanessa is gazing gently at her. She’s never been closer to telling Brooke…

And then it sinks in all over again that Brooke is in full costume. And she’s had her makeup and hair done. Why would that have happened if she had taken the bye this week?

Vanessa frowns a little, confused. “So, uh. They give you a bye?”

Brooke nods. “They offered me one. Or they said I could dance it but with one of the other pros, so I said I’d just do that.”

“Oh,” Vanessa says before she can stop herself. Brooke’s words manage to hurt her even more than her leg already is.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing. Of course you wanna dance it. You need to, you worked so hard on it,” Vanessa says quickly. Of course Brooke wants to do the dance. She’s on a competitive TV dancing show, what the hell else was she going to do? Did Vanessa really think she was going to turn around and say no? She tries to squash the feeling of being slowly eaten up inside. “So, uh. You’re dancing it. Who with?”

Vanessa’s heart sinks. Please don’t be-

“Plastique. She’s in makeup now. She was literally the first pro the producers grabbed; she walked past as we were having the conversation and they just asked her if she would do it. Had to teach her the whole thing in like, 45 minutes. You would’ve been proud of me.”

Of fucking course she’s dancing with her. Of course. Vanessa can still remember the way Plastique had looked at Brooke across the room on induction day, all interested and intrigued. Vanessa doesn’t want to be dramatic but this has to be up there with one of the worst days of her life. She can see Brooke looking at her and waiting for a response, so Vanessa just smiles tightly. She doesn’t trust herself to speak; she’ll either say something she’ll regret or she’ll simply cry.

“I know you probably just want to get home, but you could stay and watch in the green room? Blair and Scarlet have come to visit to watch Toni and Yvie. You could sit with them!” Brooke encourages her. Vanessa wants to say no- there is nothing she wants less than to watch Brooke dancing with someone else, especially if that someone else is Plastique, but Brooke’s expression is so hopeful and pleading that Vanessa just quietly nods.

“Amazing! I promise I won’t let you down,” she beams at her. There’s a producer shouting for her in the corridor so with that, Brooke gives Vanessa another hug and Vanessa wishes her good luck.

She’s gone, and so is a part of Vanessa.

But she’s said she’ll stay and watch her so Vanessa takes her ice and pillows and hobbles through to the green room, finds Blair and Scarlet sitting on the big sofa in front of the TV screen. They’re equal parts excited and sad to see Vanessa, fussing over her and her leg and distracting her with stories about life post-Strictly. Blair has been contacted by some up-and-coming makeup company looking to make her the face of their brand, and Scarlet’s been filming in between meeting up with Yvie for dates. It turns out the both of them had made connections with some of the girls, as Blair’s here for Vixen who she’s been texting non-stop since she left the show. Vanessa finds it odd the amount of things that have managed to go on right under her nose only for her not to notice, but she supposes she isn’t surprised given how up in the clouds her head’s been over Brooke.

The show begins. They prerecorded the pro dance this week, and it’s weird for Vanessa to watch herself dance across the screen. The whole thing is weird, really. She shouldn’t be watching the show at all. She should be on it, she should be there, live, dancing. The pro dance ends and Michelle comes out to introduce the judges and the couples. Before they all come down the stairs, she explains why Vanessa won’t be on the show that night. Hearing her say that she won’t be dancing makes her tear up all over again. Blair pats her shoulder and Scarlet squeezes her hand in support. Vanessa thinks she might cut off Scarlet’s blood circulation the moment she sees Brooke descend the stairs with Plastique, the two of them holding hands, waving to the audience and smiling at each other gently.

Vanessa’s got ages to wait until she can see Brooke dance and she spends every second stressing and fretting and worrying. She wants to be at home, to just go to sleep and wake up when her leg’s better and she can go back to dancing with her beautiful celebrity partner. Instead she’s here in a green room with a melting bag of ice under her leg watching Willam struggle through a Paso Doble, with a girl on either side of her wittering on about the object of their affections. So when it cuts to a VT that the editors have obviously hastily scraped together of Plastique gushing about how much she’s looking forward to dancing with Brooke and Brooke talking about how she’s nervous to dance with somebody new, Vanessa sits up straight on the sofa.

“Dancing the Creepy Commercial for their couples’ choice…Brooke Lynn Bites, and Plast-eek Tiara!”

Normally she’d crack at least a small smile at the ridiculous puns that get used for Halloween week, but Vanessa can’t draw her eyes away from the screen. There’s the both of them, and Plastique on her plinth, bevelling in her phone booth, about to dance with her partner.

The dance begins and Vanessa is on tenterhooks. The pair of them spring off their plinths, land perfectly and continue with the dance. Brooke is hitting every beat so well and it makes Vanessa proud, but there’s a point where Plastique freaks out beside her, doing something that entirely wasn’t choreographed. She’s obviously forgotten the dance. Vanessa bites her nails as she watches Brooke gently guide her into the next section and they pick it up from there. When the dance finishes, the audience lets out rapturous applause. Three of the judges are on their feet.

Vanessa feels like crying all over again.

The only saving grace is that Brooke hasn’t given Plastique the same kiss she normally reserves for Vanessa. She can hear Plastique apologising to her as they hug, and Vanessa grows irritated. This doesn’t ease up when they receive their comments and the judges give the pair of them glowing praise. And then they get their scores.

“Seven!”

“Nine!”

“Nine!”

“Nine!”

They’re the highest scores Brooke’s ever received, and she got them while dancing with Plastique.

Vanessa feels like storming off home but she can’t, not with her damn leg being the way it is, so she goes to chill in makeup for a while. The team there are nice- they’ll chat to her, take her mind off things, and they certainly won’t be as loved-up as Scarlet and Blair seem to be. She needs to not be around loved-up people right now. So it’s fitting, so fitting for the day she’s having, that the moment she walks into makeup there’s Jan sitting getting her foundation re-applied after her Jive with Jackie, who’s sitting on one of the couches having already finished her touch-ups. The pair of them are singing along to the song playing softly over the speakers, and neither of them notice her at first until she gives a hiss of pain, her knee not liking all the movement.

“Oh! Vanessa!” Jackie exclaims, sympathy in her kind eyes. “How’re you doing, babe?”

Vanessa doesn’t miss the way Jan’s eyes snap open involuntarily at the pet name, the makeup artists cursing and the eyeshadow brush creating a white glitter spot against Jan’s orbital bone. The cogs turn quickly in her brain- if Plastique and Brooke have just finished their dance, it’s likely they’ll be heading to makeup soon too. Vanessa’s not petty, but she’s only human; Brooke has made her jealous, and it wouldn’t be fair if she didn’t return the favour.

“Not great,” Vanessa pouts, sitting on the sofa beside her. “It’s really fuckin’ sore. Great job out there, though. You both killed it.”    

“We did our best,” Jackie shrugs bashfully. Their Jive was a little undermarked this week- they’re all at the stage where anything under 30 is disappointing- so Vanessa knows a good tactic to get Jackie onside is to stroke her ego.

“Well, your best was amazing. Don’t beat yourself up,” she smiles at her, resting her hand on top of hers and patting it. She thinks Jackie might be blushing, but she’s honestly not sure (the green paint she’s got on in her witch costume makes it impossible to tell). Vanessa hams it up, hisses excessively in pain and grabs her calf. Jackie’s face twists into a concerned frown.

“Hey, have you ever had Reiki done before?” she asks. Vanessa shakes her head. Jackie perks up, clearly excited about whatever the fuck Reiki is. “I’m trained in it! I used to get it done so often and I loved it, so then I took a course and it’s what I did before I got into journalism. My parents said it wasn’t a real job, but…whatever, basically it’s energy healing transferred through palms. It can help with mental health or physical health. I could do some for you now, if you want! It might help things.”

Vanessa raises her eyebrows, nods a little. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll try anything at this point, they’re sayin’ this bitch could take up to six weeks to heal.”

Jackie tuts and motions for Vanesssa to put her leg up onto her lap. “Six weeks? No way. We’ve got to get you better for Brooke Lynn! Where’s it sore?”

Vanessa rubs the offending area on her calf and Jackie nods understandingly. She rubs her palms together to warm them up, places them both lightly against Vanessa’s bare calf. She leaves them there for a few moments before turning to Vanessa questioningly. “Any better?”

“A little, yeah!” Vanessa lies. Jan’s almost finished up in the makeup chair now and she can see her looking at the pair of them suspiciously.

“Jacks!” she calls over to her. Jackie looks up, smiles expectantly. She doesn’t take her hands off Vanessa’s leg. “Did costume not want to see you about that hem?”    

“Oh shit, of course! Thanks, baby,” Jackie beams at her, then smiles apologetically at Vanessa. “Sorry, ‘Ness. I hope that helped, anyway! If you ever want more done, just hit me up anytime!”

“I will. Thanks, Jackie,” she smiles back. She’s a little annoyed that Brooke didn’t even come into makeup when her impromptu jealousy plan was put into place. Vanessa doesn’t have too much time to think about that, though, as Jan’s approaching her from the other side of the room, a fake smile on her face.

“Hey, Jan.”

“Hey, V!” she begins, the cheer injected into her tone but not quite meeting her eyes. “Uh…what was that all about?”

“What was what? Oh, that?” Vanessa frowns, looking at the doorway Jackie’s just disappeared out of. “Yeah, Jackie does Reiki apparently. Fuck knows what it is, but she wanted to try it out on me, so…”

“Um, cool!” Jan smiles, fiddling with the hem of her fluffy white dress a little awkwardly. “Hey would you mind, um…I mean…it was just kind of weird. That’s all. I don’t really appreciate you doing all that in front of me, you know?”  

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Vanessa snorts a laugh. Then the penny well and truly drops- obviously the rumours about Jan and Jackie aren’t rumours at all. They’re facts. Jan rolls her eyes at her, laughs sardonically.

“Oh my God, have you been living under a rock? I thought me and Jackie were like, the worst kept secret of the season,” she gestures, as if everything had been so obvious. Vanessa supposes it was obvious, but she kind of has been living under a rock. Jan’s face drops in response to her blank expression. “Oh. You really didn’t know.”

“No.”

“Right.”

“Well, uh…” Vanessa begins. She shrugs. “Sorry, I guess.”

“No, it’s fine!” Jan backtracks kindly, visibly relieved. “I was just worried, you know, and obviously with you and Brooke Lynn…”

Vanessa screws her face up, confused. “Wait, what?”

Jan mirrors her facial expression. “Are you two not…?”

Vanessa puts two and two together and gets one million. She blushes furiously, can already feel her face hot. “Oh, uh…no. No we’re not…there’s nothing happening there.”

“Fuck, I am so sorry,” Jan grimaces, embarrassed. “I just assumed- you’re so close, and you’re always flirting, and near each other, and…”

Vanessa watches as Jan trails off. They’ve both managed to completely embarrass themselves, and Vanessa is about to open her mouth and mercifully end the conversation for the pair of them but Jan gets there first. “Guess I should go make sure Jackie isn’t Reiki-ing half of the damn costume department, huh?”

She gives a weak laugh which Vanessa politely joins in with. Before she leaves, she flashes her a smile.

“For the record, though-” Jan leans down to squeeze her hand, winks at her. “- you two would make an awesome couple.”

Jan’s turned her back and is leaving before Vanessa can even respond. She doesn’t even know what she’d say, truth be told. Her head is too packed, and she’s full of too many emotions. Vanessa decides she’s had enough of Elstree for one night, and she hobbles out of makeup and orders an Uber to take her home.

She’s half-asleep and tossing and turning in bed with her leg propped up on too many cushions when Brooke texts at roughly one in the morning.

B: Hey omg so sorry I didn’t text til now, tonight was just crazy! So sorry I never got to see you before you left but totally understandable, hope you’re feeling better? Idk if you got to see our dance or not but we got 34!!! Highest ever!!! Wish I could’ve been doing it with you but hope I made you proud. Sending loads of love xxx

The text should make Vanessa happy, make her feel reassured and warm and cared for, but all she can take from it is that Brooke had been too busy with Plastique to text her earlier, she hadn’t come to seek Vanessa out after her dance, and those high scores just twist the knife. Vanessa knows Brooke won’t have meant it like that but she’s still down about it, and she turns her phone over without replying and tries to get some sleep.

A new week comes after a day spent with her leg in a bucket of icy water, and Vanessa spends it sitting on the studio floor with her leg elevated and wondering why she’s there. Saturday night brought a shock of a dance-off- Yvie and Jaida against Shea and Peppermint- and in the end it had been the latter of the two couples that had to bow out when everyone was least expecting it. As a result, everyone is working even harder to make their dances perfect and stay in the competition. Vanessa watches Brooke rehearse with Plastique, watches them laugh together and hold each other and smile at each other. It’s been agreed that Plastique would choreograph their dance this week and Vanessa would attend rehearsals in case she was better and ready to dance it by Saturday. But she’s not taking any of it in, none of the steps, none of the twirls, because of course it’s their Viennese Waltz week and of course Plastique has picked the most emotional, heart-wrenching song to do it do, and as the pair of them glide across the floor with their bodies pressed together in hold Vanessa closes her eyes and listens to the lyrics and feels the tears bubble up under her eyelids with very little reason behind them.

“So it goes…one foot after the other, til black and white begins to colour in…”

But there is a reason. The reason is that Vanessa has connected with Brooke Lynn more than she’s connected with anyone else since Kameron, she knows her body without them even having so much as kissed, her heart lights up whenever Brooke smiles at her or flirts with her or even so much as texts her and she likes her, really fucking likes her, but now that’s all been thrown into a tailspin and as Brooke and Plastique gaze at each other while they dance, and as the music continues to play Vanessa feels as if her heart’s being ripped in two. She’s been distant with Brooke this week, damage limitation. Instead of laughing uproariously at her jokes she gives a small smile, instead of launching enthusiastically into conversation with her if she asks her a question she keeps her answers to a sentence and doesn’t follow up. There haven’t been any moments where it’s been just the two of them this week and she feels worse off for it. At times she can see Brooke looking at her with concern in her eyes, wondering if there’s something wrong, wondering if she’s done something to hurt or offend her.

She hasn’t, and that’s the worst part.

It gets to Saturday night again and Vanessa stays home to watch the show. She could’ve gone into the studios and sat in the audience, should’ve done so, but she couldn’t bring herself to see everything being danced out live in front of her and not be able to join in. She’s also seen Plastique and Brooke dance through their Viennese so often together that she doesn’t think she can face it live, in their dresses and full makeup and hair with the lighting and the band. She doesn’t know what she was expecting but watching them dance it on screen hurts equally as much, the camera focusing on the soft gazes they give each other and the way Brooke holds Plastique tight.

“I’ll bow out of place, to save you some space…for somebody new…”    

Vanessa would’ve laughed at the irony of it all if she wasn’t so upset. She’s only got herself to blame. The fact she’s developed feelings for Brooke is ridiculous; she’s a walking cliché, developing a crush on your partner is like the Strictly equivalent of crushing on your roommate- it’s such a massive don’t, one that’ll only end in tears. When Vanessa thinks of all the couples that’ve come from the show, though- Shea and Sasha, one of the old dancers, Roberta, and that newsreader Alexis- it makes her feel a little bit bitter that she and Brooke didn’t work out. She supposes she’s giving up before she starts. She doesn’t really know her chance with Brooke is over, she shouldn’t give up, but as the judges’ comments drift into her stream of consciousness and she hears Kennedy complimenting Brooke and Plastique on “what amazing chemistry you both have together, so obvious and heartwarming!” she nearly throws the remote through the TV. She sends a text to the group chat she shares with Akeria and Monique, even though she knows they won’t receive it til after the show. Vanessa is sure they’re both fed up of hearing her mope about Brooke Lynn (they’ve had to put up with sad texts all week), but they’re cheaper than a therapist, so Vanessa hits send anyway.

V: this is so UNFAIR why do i need to watch Kennedy telling B and Plastique that they’re basically meant to be together???? :(((((((

A reply comes back from Akeria instantly. Vanessa supposes she’s just danced, having gone before the pair of them, and has got her phone while she gets her makeup retouched.

A: stop wallowing and just tell her how you feel already xo

But there’s no way Vanessa’s going to do that, not after the week she’s had and certainly not as she watches the TV and realises that Brooke and Plastique’s Viennese Waltz has earned them a score of 35. Brooke’s scores keep improving with Plastique as her partner. Maybe she’s just a better teacher than she is. She’s about to switch the TV off and have a self-indulgent cry (even though she should really keep the TV on so she can watch Monique’s dance and be a good friend) when her name makes her shoot her eyes up from her phone to the TV screen. Brooke’s looking into the camera.

“Vanessa, babe- I know she’s watching at home- that one was for you! Get better soon so we can dance together again, okay?”

Vanessa’s heart instantly jackknifes into the air. Brooke was dancing that for her, she wants to dance with her again, she called her babe on national television and oh my God the papers will have a field day with that but Vanessa doesn’t even care. She needed that validation and reassurance so badly. Looking down at her phone again, she opens up her messages with Brooke and is typing before she knows it.

V: dedicating that dance to me was real sweet of you. you did so well, i’m so proud of you, you’re killing it. seeing doctor tomorrow so will let you know how I get on. sorry i’ve been a lil distant this week xxx

When Vanessa wakes up the next day the reply is simply a series of love heart emojis, which both lifts her spirits and disappoints her. She can’t overthink for too long, though, as she’s got two messages from Monique that’re sitting unread as well.

M: fyi- Willam and Heidi danceoff, Heidi left xx

Vanessa frowns, disappointed. She got on really well with Heidi in her time on the show, and she kept everyone in stitches in dress rehearsals by whistling through her teeth (which drove the producers mad). Vanessa will miss her. She turns her attention to the next message, which has a blue link pasted into it.

M: also ur bae’s caused quite the stir with that cute lil pet name she used last night 👀

Vanessa frowns, feels herself blush as she clicks the link. It opens up on a Daily Mail article with the title, “Strictly 2020 star Brooke Lynn Hytes causes Strictly curse speculation” and Vanessa feels her stomach give a dip. The article talks about the shoutout Brooke gave her last night, the selfies and videos they both have posted on Instagram of their rehearsals. It also recaps the entire Kameron situation, at which point Vanessa clicks off the article. She texts Monique back and tells her to shut up, but the article has done nothing to lower the hopes she’s already got raised so high.

Vanessa tries to put all that out of her mind as she makes her way to her doctor’s appointment in the late November afternoon. The weather is cold and drizzly, and it’s dark outside even though it’s only four o’clock. She’s nervous and she’s desperately hoping they’ll tell her she can dance again. Vanessa has hardly moved all week, her calf resembles a vacuum-packed piece of meat with the compression bandages she’s used, and she’s sure that her leg is still so numb from the constant ice that she could get a six-inch needle shoved into her leg and wouldn’t feel a single thing. Her heart is in her mouth as the doctor rubs gel on her leg and runs the ultrasound scanner over it. The smile she gets in return sends her pulse racing in anticipation and hope.

“Well, it’s good news! You’re healing really well. This is the quickest I’ve seen a tear like this heal in a while, you must’ve done everything by the book!”

Vanessa wants to laugh. Her doctor doesn’t know the half of it. “So am I good to dance again?”

The doctor gives her another smile. “Since these pictures are looking so promising, I’m going to say yes.”

Vanessa wants to scream and cry all at the same time. It’s the happiest she’s been all week.

“But don’t overdo it! You don’t want to go flying back to square one. Take it easy for as long as you can. Don’t go high-kicking into any splits or whatever you dancers do.”

Vanessa frantically promises her doctor that she’ll take it as easy as is physically possible, promises herself internally that she’ll just mark everything for the majority of the week because she’ll take what she can get.

Six weeks? Kiss my ass.

She would’ve skipped out of the doctor’s surgery but that would’ve broken every promise she’s just made, so instead she walks calmly as she makes her way to the pro rehearsal and texts Brooke frantically.

V: i got the all clear to dance again!!!!!! see ya Monday!!!! Xxx

A reply comes back almost instantly that makes Vanessa way too happy.

B: !!!!!!!!!!!! The BEST news!!!!! So excited to see you xxx

It’s embarrassing but Vanessa almost wants to hold her phone to her chest like a lovestruck idiot. She is a lovestruck idiot. Her good mood is made even better by the cheer she gets when she arrives at rehearsal, the dancers all running to hug her and welcome her back. As Vanessa gently warms up and joins in with learning the group dance (marking it all and resolving to only perform it properly on Saturday), she can almost feel her heart singing. The only thing she’s missed more than Brooke is the dancing, and she’s so glad she gets to do what she loves best in the world again.

She doesn’t think her day can get any better, that is until rehearsal ends.

Jan and Jaida are the first girls to leave and they open the door, greet somebody, then turn immediately back into the room, their faces scheming.

“Vanessa?” Jaida shouts over to her, a little twinkle in her eye. “You gotta visitor.”

Vanessa’s confused and she’s pulling her jumper over her head so she can’t really see. It’s only when the other girls file out of the room and it’s completely empty that the visitor in question comes in, and Vanessa’s heart stops at what she sees.

It’s Brooke, and she’s holding a huge bouquet of flowers. Vanessa doesn’t quite know how to react- she knows she’s gone shy and red, and she doesn’t even want to assume the flowers are for her because that would really Mean Something if they were and God, the way Brooke is smiling at her, all nervous and reserved, is giving her way too many butterflies.

“Hey,” Brooke greets her, her voice all quiet. Vanessa laughs out of sheer relief of just being able to have her all to herself again, and she rushes forward to hug her. Brooke accepts gladly, and the two of them stand with their arms around each other and Vanessa holds her tightly as if to convey how much she’s missed her. They break the hug but they don’t let go, and they stay in each others’ arms as they talk.

“How come you’re here?” Vanessa asks her, her smile entirely too big and too happy but she can’t in any way help it. Brooke tucks some hair behind her ear then returns her hand to her waist.

“I wanted to see you,” Brooke shrugs. Vanessa’s heart inflates so much it almost pops, an overfilled helium balloon that’s soaring up to the ceiling. Brooke removes her arms from Vanessa’s sides and holds out the flowers to her. “For a few reasons, really. The first one was to give you these- congratulations on getting better!”

Vanessa laughs, thanks her as she accepts the flowers. They’re beautiful- clusters of tiny purple flowers arranged amongst tall stems with yellow-orange petals wrapped in florist’s paper and a lilac ribbon. Brooke’s still talking to her as she’s examining them.

“And second of all-” Brooke holds up her phone. “I was wondering if you wanted to dance with me.”

Vanessa gives Brooke a funny look, still unable to stifle her smile. “I mean, sure, but you know we got rehearsal tomorrow?”

Brooke grins, crosses over to where Vanessa’s speakers are still plugged in and connects her phone. “Yeah, but…I never got to dance the Viennese with you, and I want to.”

Vanessa can feel tiny fireworks going off in her nerve endings. Or perhaps that’s just her pulse thudding through her veins with alarming intensity. Either way it’s intoxicating.

“Alright,” Vanessa shrugs, pretending it’s the most normal thing in the world. “I guess I could dance with you. Since, y’know, you came all this way.”

She sticks her tongue out and Brooke laughs, although even though she’s acting carefree Vanessa’s stomach is fluttering with nervousness as Brooke hits play on the song and the piano introduction rings out into the echoey silence of the room. She doesn’t know why she’s nervous, it’s just dancing- scratch that, she knows exactly why she’s nervous, and when Brooke stands ready to hold her Vanessa gives her a shy smile

“Just follow my lead.”

Vanessa snorts quietly. “Hark at Miss Celebrity.”

“Shush.”

Brooke leads her effortlessly and it only makes Vanessa’s sense of complete, all-consuming longing worse. She twirls under Brooke’s arm, marvelling in the way the girl makes her feel like a princess in a pair of sweatpants and a baggy gym top. She’s so infatuated and it’s dangerous, but Vanessa doesn’t care.

“You can have Manhattan, the one we used to share…the one where we were laughing, and drunk on just being there…”

The choreography falls away and they slip into just swaying, Vanessa resting her head against Brooke’s chest. The chords of the song reverberate off the walls of the rehearsal room and Vanessa doesn’t know why, but tears start forming in her eyes. Maybe it’s the relief of everything being back to normal again, maybe it’s the sadness of the song, maybe it’s the happiness of Brooke doing all these sweet things for her. The tears roll down her face silently as she clings to Brooke, and Brooke doesn’t notice she’s even upset until presumably she feels her tears begin to seep through the black t-shirt she’s wearing. She steps out of hold and Vanessa looks to the floor, can’t bear to face her with tears in her eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey. What’s wrong?”

Brooke gently tilts Vanessa’s chin up with her fingers so that their eyes are level. Her gaze is gentle and kind and all at once the safest place Vanessa has known. Quickly and suddenly Vanessa leans in and bridges the gap between them, and before she can overthink things she’s meeting Brooke’s lips with her own just like she’s wanted to all these weeks. She’s got a hand on either side of Brooke’s face, her touch urgent just like her kiss, and as good as her lips feel it hits Vanessa with a sobering clarity that Brooke isn’t kissing back oh God why isn’t she kissing back-

And it’s just as this thought hits her that Brooke gently tugs herself away, frowns at Vanessa with concern and sweeps away a tear from under her eyelid. “Vanessa…”

Vanessa feels sick. So many thoughts are running around her mind, but in her vast panic she immediately latches onto three of them.

1: Brooke didn’t kiss her back.

2: Brooke broke away from the kiss.

3: She needs to get out of this room before she humiliates herself any further.

Brooke hasn’t stopped holding her which she supposes is a good sign but she can’t focus on that now. She wriggles out of Brooke’s arms, ignoring her protestations and blindly snatching up the flowers Brooke gave her (she’ll later realise she forgot both her speakers and her jumper). Trying to stop the tears of embarrassment that are now streaming down her face, she dashes quickly to the door.

“Fuck…V, wait-” Brooke urges, but Vanessa doesn’t. Brooke doesn’t follow her and she’s glad of it as she bursts out of the studio and down the corridor towards the exit.

The closing chords of the song that’s still playing ring in her ears in harmony with Brooke’s pleas, and it’s the worst kind of music Vanessa has ever heard.

[thydungeon]

Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth

Every now and then I read history books when I read enough fiction that displeases me. While I lived in West Africa, I read books about the Hundred Years’ War and the Thirty Years’ War. You would think I’d follow it up with the Seven Years’ War or Eighty Years’ War, but no, I read a book about the main character from the most difficult of the five campaigns in the base version of Age of Empire 2.

Anyway, the book was on loan from another library, so I didn’t get a chance to renew it (I read 550 fucking pages in 3 weeks, and that writing is dense), and actually flesh out what all these pages note, but here’s what I remember. I assume there are a lot of errors in my memory, so please don’t sue me if I included Bohemia in a list when it shouldn’t have been included.

25 - the author goes into excruciating detail about an insane bust of Barbarossa that includes metaphors about his position as the emperor and if he actually is bringing peace on earth (?)

43 - an amusing paragraph about how we have written evidence that many of his cousins/predecessors/successors/sons/brothers have canonically fucked, but we don’t know if he fucked before he married

100 - the empire had this thing called the Fodrum, which was basically a tax of goods that was levied on all the places (?) in the empire, namely Germany and Italy (but probably also, like, Burgundy, Denmark (?), Bohemia (?), and Austria (?)) - and the amounts are absolutely batshit crazy, like 4762 bags of rice, 77 cattle, 2102 strands of wheat, etc.

142 - I had this marked as “curb your enthusiasm,” so it can only refer to the hilarious moment where Alexander III (or maybe Adrian IV, I can’t remember) and Barbarossa had a big fight because the latter held the wrong (?) stirrup when doing some kind of ceremonial thing

148 - okay I had to hunt down the exact passage because this quote is pure fan fiction (and hilarious)

Take now, O Rome, Teutonic iron instead of Arabian gold. This is the price which your prince offers you for your crown. Thus do the Franks purchase empire. 

WHAT LOL

160 - apparently, as a punishment, Barbarossa had two dukes (or counts, or margraves, or whatever) each carry a dog from one city to another as punishment? Is this the cruel and unusual stuff we outlawed in the constitution?

186 - Barbarossa’s second wife Beatrice had 11 children :/

223 - I wrote “incompetent glory hogs” in my notes, so I can only assume this is a reference to somebody doing something I read about like 30 times in the Hundred Years’ War book, which is doing something tactically/strategically stupid for the sake of looking good, and then getting btfo as a consequence

289 - I wrote “straight savage fam” here, so I think this is about Barbarossa burning multiple cities to the ground, I think either Tortona or Crema in northern Italy

314 - Barbarossa enfeoffs the same land (Sardinia) that he does not own to two people at the same time

347 - Barbarossa again burns down a city, and apparently there is written evidence that his wife was satisfied about it

355 - Barbarossa was friends with Saladin????

404 - Barbarossa had the gall to offer mystery terms to Alexander III, in which Alexander would un-excommunicate (communicate?) Barbarossa, but Alexander wouldn’t know what he would receive until he agreed

479 - I wrote “caught and killed for raping,” which I think is a reference to one of Barbarossa’s sons, who was.... here we go, from Wikipedia:

This chronicle is uncertain whether he was killed by a woman whom he had raped or by her husband.[18] But the Annals of Konrad von Scheyern recorded specifically that he was bitten in the left nipple by a girl he was attempting to rape; although an increasingly large wound developed, he did not want to be treated and died three days later.

499 - Barbarossa used the words “burning zeal” in a letter to his son - nice turn of phrase

508 - starving soldiers ate horse poop

521 - there is apparently conflation between Frederick I and Frederick II (grandson) in the sleeping-king-in-the-mountain myth because [ERR: DATA NOT FOUND]

Anyway, my conclusion:

very hard book to read

overall enjoyable

there were a LOT of Fredericks and Henrys in medieval Germany

shout out to whitman college for having this book and loaning it to the seattle public library

[ot5ismyhome]

Bloodbound Chapter 26- Closure

Hello fam! Sorry in advance for the long ass chapter. This is the last chapter so bear with me.

*****

Coulson found Thompson training in the combat room with Agent Barbera Morse.

“Bobbi, I would like to have private conversation with Thompson over here” he announced looking at her. She gave a nod to the director as she went out.

“I think, it’s better if we take a seat” Coulson said pointed to the rest bench in the side. Thompson nodded uneasily. He didn’t like Coulson’s tone and dreaded what he might hear.

As he sat down, Coulson continued, “I’m sorry Jack. We lost Pietro in the field.”

“No. It can’t be true” he shouted. He looked at Coulson with tear filled eyes. “No” he repeated.

“I know you and Pietro were close. I’m sorry for your loss” Coulson repeated.

Thompson sat there petrified not responding. Suddenly his head started throbbing and his heart rate increased and felt the room closing in on him. He clutched his head in his hand and repeated no several times. It can’t be true he thought. He spoke with Pietro on the phone last night. Tears threatened to escape his eyes. He excused himself and ran to an empty locker room. He kneeled near the bench clutching its edge. He closed his eyes and let the tears roll down his cheeks.

…..

Steve called the council for the hearing of Rumlow and his men. The four remaining council members gathered at the temple to decide on the fate of Rumlow. Natasha and Steve produced proofs of their activities. Jiaying thoroughly went through the videos and documents and looked at Steve.

"I agree that Rumlow put everyone in danger but so did you and Tony. I say justice be served for all."

"What Steve and Tony did was wrong by the old rules. I say we change them" Natasha spoke up in their favour.

"And let the city run amok with ferals?"

“Steve and Tony’s intention were never to create ferals. They saved people. Rumlow and Stane purposefully changed humans into vampires and denied them ‘Drought of Frost blood.’ These two acts can’t be compared.”

"Accepting their action will allow others to repeat it. "

“I completely disagree. I think you should talk to the clan-less leader himself. No one is a better person to talk about it.” Steve said.

…..

Bucky had arrived at the temple few minutes before the meeting. He looked at the magnificent structure in front of him. He had frequented it few times while spying on the council. But he was still awestruck by its beauty. He walked to it and looked at the intricate carvings on the wall. The stories of the first vampire and ancient vampires were carved into it. He slowly placed his fingertips on the carving and traced it. He saw the carving of Loki and his rule. It must have been a prosperous time he thought. He circled the temple studying each carving. Each small piece of work was rich in design. He heard the sound of car from front of the temple. He made his way round temple and saw Natasha making her way in.

Seeing Bucky, she stopped in her tracks and turned to him. She gave a small smile which he returned.

“I will show you the adjacent room. You can wait there till we talk to Jiaying” she offered.

Bucky nodded his head and followed her. The walls on both the side of the corridor was painted in lush colours. Most of the paintings were of Loki and his followers. He spotted a familiar face in the painting.

“Were you there when Loki ruled?”

“I was his second-in-command”

“Must have been good times.”

“It was. Until it all turned to ashes in our mouths” Natasha said. Her voice was devoid of any emotion. Bucky cringed worrying that he might have hit a sore spot. Before he could apologize. She continued, “After the meeting, I will fill you in on the vampire history. Or you can access the library here.”

Bucky nodded. Natasha led him to a small room and asked him to wait there. After half an hour she called him to join the meeting. Bucky entered the main sanctuary. It was one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. The paintings and carving were outlined with gold. The light from the fire reflected on the gold lining and illuminated the room. On the dais, a golden throne was places. On both sides of the throne, ornate chairs were placed. From the look it was understood that good care has been taken of this historic place. The group were seated in a circle around a table. It must be new as the varnish hasn’t faded and it sorely stood out from the rest of the room.

Bucky occupied the empty seat next to Tony. Even before he could speak Jiaying protested to him joining the meeting.

"This is a meeting of council members only."

“Then make me one” Bucky retorted back immediately.

“You broke the vampire law and now you ask for a seat at the council.” Anger shone in her eyes as she looked at him.

He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. His eyes turned a slight shade of red. “You think I turned every vampire in the clan-less? I have never turned a single human. Every fucking vampire in the clan-less has been turned by someone in the clan. Why should we suffer for the mistakes of others? Personally, I don't like the little council of yours. But the clan-less needs the council. As their leader I owe them that. That's why I came here in peace. Don't make me retract my offer."

Jiaying remained silent thinking over what to say.

Natasha spoke up, "We ended Loki's rule ‘cause it was flawed. We shouldn't do the same mistakes. We can't let history repeat itself. We have got to change our ways with the time."

“We have had the law that no vampire outside clan for as long as I remember. But still they are created. The law didn’t stop anyone” Steve said.

“How many clan-less are there?” Jiaying asked looking at Bucky.

“738”

Jiaying was taken aback. The five clans combined make the same number. “Won't it be a threat for other clans to have one clan powerful than others?”

“Not giving us seat at the council also poses the same threat. We will retaliate.”

Jiaying frowned at Bucky. Steve intervened, “Jiaying, denying them means sure war. So many innocents will die on both sides. Humans will die. The clan-less are also one of us. You have lived your life protecting our kind. Why can’t you change the rule to accommodate them?”

Jiaying thought over what Steve said. She finally agreed to give Bucky a seat in the council. Jiaying shook Bucky’s hand welcoming him into the council.

“Welcome to the council. Even though we didn’t start off in right note I’m looking forward to mend it.”

“I’m also hoping we will get along. Thanks for agreeing in our favour.”

Tony and Natasha followed her lead and welcomed Bucky. Bucky eyes met Steve’s and there was an awkward tension between the both. Steve muttered a welcome and turned away. He accompanied Jiaying on the way out.

Tony turned to Natasha and whispered, “I could slice the air with a knife.” They both snickered like teenagers.

Natasha straightened up and looked at Bucky, “Again, welcome to the council. I will make arrangements for ‘Draught of Frost blood.’ I have got to leave now. Catch up with you later.” Bucky uttered thanks.

After everyone left, only Bucky and Tony were present. Sam had convinced him that he needs to let Peter decide whether he wants go Tony or stay with him. Bucky wasn’t sure whether Sam cared about the boy or just wanted to get rid of him. Peter can’t stop following Sam around which drove the man to nuts. The two had been Tom and Jerry since day one. He had decided to talk to Tony about it. He turned to Tony, “Stark, there is someone you need to meet.”

Tony first looked at him with confusion then it dawned on him. His eyes watered as he looked at Bucky. “Oh my god. Does he- Does Peter want to see me?”

Bucky nodded.

“I thought he might be angry me. Can I see him now?”

“Yeah. You can accompany me to the Shadow Den.”

The two men made their way to Shadow den. Bucky led Tony to Peter’s quarters. He knocked at the door of the teenager and waited. Having no response, Bucky gave an apologetic smile to Tony and led him to another room. Bucky knocked again calling out Sam’s name. After a moment the door opened and, in the doorway, stood Sam. Seeing Tony, he called Peter who was lounging on his bed talking non-stop. Peter came to the door oblivious of the man waiting to see him.

Tony gasped, “Peter?”

“Mr. Stark” the kid shouted as he ran into Tony. Tony caught him in a hug. He whispered a thank you to Bucky as he held Peter tight. Bucky smiled at the reunion and moved away not wanting to spoil the moment.

Tony and Peter caught up with each other forgetting the passage of time. He continuously apologised even though Peter said he wasn’t angry. After talking for two hours, Tony promised him that he will visit often and left. He wanted Peter to have time to think where he wants to stay. And he needed to see one more person tonight. He thanked Bucky on his day out. He got in his car and drove to his destination.

Tony stopped the car in front of a big mansion and got out. He walked the unfamiliar path which he had never once set foot before. He wished he had done his sooner. He shouldn’t have let his anger cloud his emotions for long. He walked to the door and rang the bell. After a few minutes, Howard opened the door. He was shocked to see Tony there. But he stepped aside and let him in.

Tony quietly followed him inside. On the way his mind thought of so many things to say but now everything was a blur. His eyes had tears till the brim and he looked at Howard. Howard stepped forward and enclosed Tony in a warm hug. That was Tony’s breaking point. He cried as he hugged him back.

They settled down in the bar and Howard poured him a drink.

“I didn’t expect that you will ever forgive me” Howard confessed.

“Considering... The situation right now… It didn’t make any sense to hold any more grudge.”

Howards nodded knowingly.

“I didn’t want it to be too late, you know.”

“I know” Howard smiled sadly. “I’m glad you forgave me.”

“So much happened in the last few day. It just… changed how I see life” Tony spoke after a long pause.

“He was too young. It shouldn’t have happened to him.”

“Life is unfair. It sucks.”

The two men silently raised their glasses in honour of their friend. The sudden meeting was sure awkward but both made efforts to reconnect with the other.

“I shouldn’t have ran out on you and Maria. I was the stupidest thing I ever did” Howard admitted with guilt in his voice. “A day doesn’t pass without me regretting it” he added.

Tony nodded. Even though it still hurt that his father had left him and his sick mother, he decided not to let the past hurt his future.

“I met Peter today.” He looked at the alcohol in his hand contemplating what to say next. “I thought I had lost him. Even when I found out he was alive. I was afraid he would be angry with me. But he wasn’t” Tony’s eyes watered as he talked fondly about Peter. He wiped away his tears and smiled at Howard. “That just made me I don’t know… decide”

Howard smiled back at Tony. He was happy that he got an opportunity to mend his relationship with his son.

…..

Steve left as soon as the meeting has ended. He had been reluctant to leave Wanda alone after what happened but Piper stepped up to check in on her. Steve went to his home to find Piper in the living room.

“Where’s Wanda?”

“She never came out the room. I went in once to check on her but she asked me to leave.”

Steve nodded gravely. “Thanks for the help” he said.

“No problem. Take care” she smiled sadly and left.

Steve knocked on the door twice but hearing no reply went in. He slowly walked up to Wanda and sat near her in the bed. Wanda was curled on the bed, crying. There were no tears. She had been crying for hours and her eyes have dried out. The tear stains were imprinted in her cheeks. He gently placed his hand on her forehead. He noticed that she was burning up so he brought her an Advil and a cup of water. Wanda refused to take it and needed some coaxing from Steve’s part. After she took the tablet, he tried to get her to eat something but she plainly refused. She lied down in the bed and faced away from Steve. Steve left the room deciding to give her some time alone.

Wanda woke up from her sleep screaming Pietro’s name. She had apparently dozed off and had a nightmare. She was panting, trying to catch her breath but she wasn’t able to inhale. She heard the sound of her heart pounding. The room became distorted and everything was out of focus. She felt the room pressing in on her. The walls were spinning and she wasn’t able to hold herself together. She tried to get away but her legs gave away and she sat on edge of the bed. She held the night stand and supported herself.

Suddenly the door opened and Steve was near her. She heard his voice but wasn’t able to follow what he was saying.

“Hey kid. Focus on me. Breath out slowly. Breath out.”

Wanda figured out what he was saying and followed his instructions. Steve gently guided her breathing by breathing along with her. After some time, her breath became normal. She held on to Steve’s hand for support.

“You want anything?”

Wanda was still a bit dazed and didn’t respond immediately. “Water” she said. Her voice was feeble and cracked.

Steve poured her a glass from the water jug on the nightstand. She held on to the glass with both her hands as she drowned it. He filled the glass again for her and she drank it. Steve sat on the bed, closer to her and let her rest her head on his shoulder. Wanda closed her eyes and let the tears fall. Steve held her through the night.

…..

Rumlow, Stane and Toomes were locked up in the execution room for overnight. They sat in the corner of the room. No one spoke to each other. They knew their end was near and there was no escaping it. The time passed and the sun was about to rise. An executioner stood outside the room ready to pull the lever when he hears someone call his name.

“Skurge.” The executioner turned around to see one of the council member walking towards him. He was accompanied by an unknown woman.

“You wouldn’t mind if we do the task” said Steve. It wasn’t an order but Steve’s tone implied that it was not for discussion either.

Skurge wasn’t in any mood to argue or pick a fight with the man who sealed the fate of the prisoners. He nodded his head and left, not wanting to involve in the two’s business.

After Skurge left, Steve turned to Wanda. “Are you sure?” he asked a bit softer. His eyes looked at the younger woman with concern.

Wanda simply looked at Steve without giving him a verbal answer. The rage in her eyes made him step back. She moved towards the lever and pulled it without giving much thought. The roof of the execution room retracted, bathing the room with sunlight. The three men’s screams filled the air as they turned to dust. The sound reverberated through the old building. Again, without uttering a word to Steve, Wanda turned in her heels and walked away.

Epilogue (coming soon) I will reveal the title of next book after the epilogue

[fuckyeahvoltron]

X

(via https://www.coroflot.com/william_neil_hirsch/Voltron)

Today, March 4, 2020, is the ten year anniversary of Fuck Yeah Voltron. I know it’s not been what it was in the past couple years. And even having said on the 35th anniversary of Voltron that it would be updating more often, I’ve yet to deliver. Obviously, the ultimate blame must go on me. And social media. Me on social media is a dangerous combination, and my other writing ventures suffer as a result.

And right after I began what was supposed to be the first salvo in where I was taking this subject next, I had some for real craziness come up in my personal life. Like, the kind that involves lawyers. And no, I’m the plaintiff. It’s a strange rite of passage to have to sue a motherfucker. The only relevance this has to this blog is that it has stymied my progress, and that the bulk of my Voltron (and other toy robots) collection is in the wind, as is a bunch of my property.

The comeuppance, and it IS coming, will be FUCKING DELICIOUS.

Oh thank The Defender, FYV!!!!! is still the place I can come to be the sort of dick that no one should take as affiliated with the “official” Voltron presence. While up until a few mos ago that would have seemed a longshot, despite my 2015 TEDx Talk and being followed by the official Voltron Twitter account. But around the time at which my life went nuts, I also did two things:

1) I paneled at the first but not last VoltCon in Indianapolis, IN, at which were luminaries from World Event Productions, parent company of Voltron, as well as past creatives on said property. This was a relatively last moment invitation from the organizers after a previously-booked entity cancelled, and I brainstormed some panel ideas: Jumping The Baby Shark (about the parallels between the Cousin Oliver Syndrome and the “New School Defenders” from Voltron Force), It Came From Generation X (about how the culture of the 1980s influenced modern culture) and Hy’ Five (about how concepts of alchemy were encoded into Golion). I must admit that after the GenX one my preparedness definitely fell off from what I’d hoped to bring to the table. What I did bring was:

2) The literally just-finished pilot of my new YouTube channel to which this has all been leading, DEFENDED BE.

Which is what I was trying to say back in September: this is now a self-stan Tumblr account. I’ve been building up to this over the past several years: a ritualistic worship of The Defender, as a means of self-improvement through discipline and exhibitionism. I want all of you who have been along on the journey with me thus far to stay for the next phase, and to tell the whole Voltron fam. Shit’s gonna get kinda crazy in what I hope will be the most entertaining ways possible.

Even if it continues merely as a means to promote Defended Be, Fuck Yeah Voltron!!!!! will remain online and active for the foreseeable future, hopefully for at least another decade. Thank you all for humoring my obsession and eccentricities. May we all eternally Defended Be.

[punkscowardschampions]

Ava & Buster

Ava: Are you lot en-route? Buster: 'Course Buster: But we've had one foot out the door for like half an hour, honestly Ava: Good, 'cos I have presents Buster: Yeah? Buster: Pot of gold or what, like Ava: Hardly appropriate for a two-year-old Ava: None for you, soz 💔 Buster: I'd argue it's very appropriate Buster: All the shit he needs haemorrhages cash Ava: You were warned Ava: Extensively Buster: And I ain't sorry I didn't listen Buster: They can all try and sue me Ava: Enter an arena where they aren't the experts? Ava: Doesn't sound like mum and dad Buster: No such arena exists, clearly Buster: Know it all, have done it all Ava: Your degree must be a waste of time then Buster: You'd have to ask 'em what they reckon Buster: But I'd wait til they've got a few more drinks down 'em first, get closer to the truth Ava: Ugh, shut up Ava: You know they're proud of you Buster: Yeah yeah, blah blah Buster: But are you proud of me? Real MVP and everything Ava: When you get your cap and gown Ava: Funny wig, even better Ava: I still only got stuff for the kids and Ri though Ava: I'll chase a 🌈 down ASAP Buster: You're alright Buster: Already got a girlfriend, don't you? Buster: No need to get gayer just to wind me up, Nance has got that covered Ava: Ha, don't even chat to me about annoying Buster: I won't Ava: 😏 Ava: No, you're meant to ask, idiot Ava: You're so lucky you only have a son Buster: Tell me then Buster: I want a girl next Ava: Well she's not coming back, not that I'm surprised Buster: What bullshit excuse did she go with this time? She's got too much work on, girlfriend drama or she just hates fam functions SO MUCH Ava: It was column A presented but 1000% came across as column C Ava: She can be so Buster: I know Buster: Did she try and buy you off with an NYC trip that ain't gonna happen just like the last one didn't? Ava: Twin telepathy is real, yeah? Ava: 🙄 Buster: Fuck that and her Buster: I told you before, when you actually wanna go I'll take you Buster: Then you only have to see her a bearable amount Ava: I know Ava: It'd be interesting to see how long she could hold a conversation with me but yeah Ava: won't happen so Buster: Longer than she can with me or dad, probably slightly less time than she can with mum, depending what mood they are both in Buster: That'd be my bet Buster: Chin up, the good twin is finally on his fucking way Ava: Sounds about right Ava: Good time to tell you to call her yourself later or do you want a drink before you process that? Buster: Bad time to be forced to remember that I told Rio right at the start I wouldn't drink when she couldn't Ava: Honestly, I thought this kid was PLANNED Ava: She couldn't Christmas or New Year either Buster: She was planned, just not by me Ava: 'Course, you would've factored in drinking Ava: Must be their gay agenda Buster: There's loads of shit I'd have factored in Ava: That's your upbringing talking Buster: Shut up Ava: It is though Ava: Personally, I agree its better than the more the merrier approach too Buster: You'll personally be waiting a load more years before you make me play uncle then, yeah? Buster: Good Ava: Ugh Ava: Don't be making me 🤢 just because green is the colour today Buster: Gotta Buster: Who the fuck is there to be jealous of when we're us? Ava: You couldn't go the more traditional routes, no? 🍾🥂 Ava: Seeing as I'm NOT pregnant or being a very supportive partner to someone who is Buster: Come on, who am I? Buster: And you can leave me out of your rites of passage, I've cleaned up enough sick in the name of being a supportive partner Buster: Grace'll hold your hair back for you Ava: There's no need to be old AND boring 😏 Buster: Fuck off Buster: Counting down the days til I can drink you under the table Ava: Dad lets me Buster: There's nothing dad won't let you do Buster: Got him well wrapped around your finger, like Ava: It's not my fault I'm the most lovable Ava: Do better 😋 Buster: That's the one title you can keep Buster: Got all the love I need, cheers Ava: 🤢🥰 Ava: N'awh Buster: Lyla didn't wanna come and hang with the extended fam then? Ava: Wouldn't do that to someone I liked, would I? Buster: Depends how much you like her Ava: Nah Ava: That's all a bit heavy Buster: Well yeah Buster: It would be a trial by fire Ava: Then pissed on Ava: then set on fire again Ava: I like having time away when I come here, you know Ava: Not attached at the hip Buster: I know Ava: I'll send her a hilarious postcard or something Buster: You sounded like Nance there Buster: No need to miss her at all Ava: Fuck off Buster: You're right she'd never write it Buster: Half her holiday would be over before she got the words down Ava: 😂 Ava: Rude Buster: It's fuck all I wouldn't say to her face if she ever bothered to show it Ava: Can no one in this family be nice Ava: Honestly Buster: Come on Buster: I'm nice to you Buster: You ain't even bought me a present Ava: I know, I'm very lovable Ava: Have you got me one? Buster: Yeah but you ain't having it now Ava: Yeah right Ava: I know who gets last word in your house Ava: and Rio is nice to everyone Buster: She's nicest to me and she always does what I say Buster: So you might wanna think again Ava: That's entirely too much information, thank you Ava: you owe me double as compensation Buster: You ain't having two bottles Buster: Keep the first one down and then we'll talk Ava: Challenge accepted Buster: Good Buster: Don't really wanna have to disown you before the day's out Ava: Least there's enough of 'em to fall back on should you get the urge Ava: I'll survive Buster: Keep that quiet around mum, it's still them and us with her Ava: Sounds familiar 🙄 Buster: You're bound to hear it yet again by the time she's had a few Ava: Not if I have anything to do with it Buster: Sounds like you've got a plan Ava: As planned as a party should ever be Buster: Yeah Ava: 💃🎉 Ava: Hurry up Buster: Traffic's worse than London at its finest right now Buster: Everyone on the road's either already wasted or angry they ain't Ava: Stay safe Buster: 'Course Buster: Speaking of, where you staying tonight? Ava: Tipsy childcare is better than no childcare Ava: No need to beg Buster: Shut up, I'll drive you is all I'm saying Ava: Cheers 💙 Buster: I'll cash the IOU when you're sober, like Ava: Better cash it before I cash my 2nd present then Buster: Forget it for now, it's a holiday Ava: That's what I've been saying Buster: You ain't gotta tell me, even if today I can't play as hard as I work Buster: Still not a fucking amateur Ava: Still a McKenna Buster: First and best Ava: Hardly Buster: If we're going by mum's them and us viewpoint, there's hardly any competition Buster: Just you and me, kid Ava: Well I'm just saying, Granddad is gonna be fuming Buster: Everything you learned about wrapping dad round your little finger you got from watching me with him Buster: I ain't worried Ava: Pfft Ava: My baby blues are bluer and my pout is poutier Ava: I'm the new model, boy Buster: 'Cause you need 'em to fall back on Buster: I'm just that good Buster: you're the youngest model that's all Buster: Due a spectacular fuck up about now Ava: You wish Ava: On all counts Buster: Nah, I'm rooting for you Buster: 'Course I am Ava: Mhmm Ava: Dead convincing 😏 Buster: I always am Buster: Wig or no wig Ava: So soppy, you Ava: Have title of my best big brother Buster: That's a copout but whatever Ava: And fussy Ava: Alright best sibling but that isn't much more of an achievement really Buster: Don't worry about it Buster: I know how great I am Ava: Yeah yeah, blah blah Buster: Get me the least shit sounding soft drink and I'll believe you Ava: If there's anything being tragically underage has taught me Ava: 👍 Buster: Cheers Buster: See you in 5 Ava: Bring your cute kid Buster: I taught him how to say “Sláinte” earlier so you'll be able to rate my achievements for yourself Buster: He ain't just a pretty face Ava: 🥺🥰 Ava: What a face though Buster: I can't take all the credit Buster: He takes after his mother Buster: Tell her how good she looks when we get in, yeah? I'm living a nightmare Ava: 'Course Ava: I've got a girlfriend, remember Ava: I know the drill, just amp up period level love 1000% for a pregnant bitch Buster: My wife ain't a insecure teenager Buster: But I appreciate the sentiment Buster: Just don't call her a bitch ever again Ava: I say it with love Ava: from one to another Ava: but got it, I'll remind her she's old Buster: Don't Buster: It'll be your funeral Ava: 😂 I only like winding you u Ava: p Ava: Don't need anyone crying on me Buster: Good Buster: I don't need to be breaking up any girl fights Buster: Especially when I've taught you both everything I know Ava: Even if me hitting a girl is more acceptable than you, I think everyone draws the line at a pregnant one Buster: Fine, I don't wanna pick you up off the floor once she's knocked you out and do a concussion test after someone pours a pint over you to bring you round Buster: I was trying to soften the blow of how it'll play out since I'd be powerless to stop the actual Ava: And I thought you were in the festive spirit Ava: 🙄 Ava: I'll take back this virgin cocktail, like 😏 Buster: Not without any spirits in me Buster: You'll have to take what you can get Ava: Few folk songs and you'll be well into it Buster: Voice of an angel, obviously Buster: Could've been a choir boy if not for everything else Ava: You took living vicariously a wee bit hard with the name already Buster: You'd have preferred me to name him after a silent film star, yeah? Ava: That was pure wishful thinking 🙊🤐🤫 Buster: Fucked over as my boy's been by not being named Rudolph Valentino or Roscoe Arbuckle, I reckon he'll be alright Buster: Cheers though Ava: I think Fatty murdered someone Ava: so as far as aspirations go, you're in the right direction Buster: I always am Buster: Never a misstep made, no matter what mum and dad say Ava: Alright 👼 its St Paddy's not confessional Ava: and the priest would be rare pissed off if you waltzed in and said you'd never done anything wrong 😂 Buster: He'd be a fine one to talk Ava: The drama of it all Buster: Again, I don't need to be told Buster: There's a kid here asking for you, except shouting's more the word Ava: He gets it 👏 Ava: 💃 Buster: Come out before he legs it in

[jumpingpools]

KDramas, A review

Hi friends, I watch a lot of kdramas so I thought i would review them if anyone was interested in watching some. (These are my opinions plz don’t destroy me)

She Was Pretty

Main girl used to be pretty and knew a fat boi when they were younger. They meet up later in life when she is ugly and he’s hot, so she has her hot bff pretend to be her to meet him. Things get complicated. Love triangles everywhere.

Took like 9 fucking episodes to get main girl to not act like an idiot. Plot line and main girl was kinda annoying. Couldn’t finish it. Decent but not my fave.

Chicago Typewriter

The plot alternates between modern day and the 1930s when Korea was colonized by Japan. It follows a group of liberation fighters in the 1930s, and in modern time a famous/grouchy writer, his number one fan and a hot ghost from the past. The modern day group is the reincarnation of the freedom fighter group. Travel through time with them as they discover their past together and how they died.

WOW this one was amazing. Has a lot of literary references, especially with Stephen King. Discusses the nuances of what it means to be a writer. Discusses plagiarism, censorship, mental health and freedom. Has a love triangle, but the love plot isn’t exactly the whole plot of the story. Main girl is kind of a call back to the other characters of the right thing to do and represents many things throughout the show. A must watch.

Weightlifting Fairy

YAS QUEEN! A girl struggles with society’s ideals of what makes a woman beautiful, her career as a weightlifter, and a one-sided love affair. REALLY REALLY cute romance. A very healthy romantic relationship. A must watch. SO CUTE. SO GOOD. WATCH IT.

The Man in our House

Vastly underrated. Main gurl comes home after her mother dies to find a dude younger than her saying he was married to her mom and owns the house/property. She must figure out his intentions. Cute story about redemption, grief, supporting loved ones and romance. Has action moments, romance and legal elements.

Kill Me, Heal Me

A man struggling with dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder) tries to keep his mental health struggles a secret and meets a cute/smart Lady who happens to be a psychiatrist and has her help him. The history between these characters and personalities are more complex than any of them can imagine.

OMG this drama gave me so many feels. It made me laugh out loud and cry for days. It talks about mental health in a beautiful and intelligent way. All the little things in this drama matter and come back later on. Mystery, mental health, family, and love are the major themes of this one. A MUST WATCH.

Fight My Way

A group of four friends slowly realize that they haven’t fought hard enough to realize their dreams, and work towards their life goals even though they are older now. Inspirational and cute. Some moments are a little annoying but a solid ok drama.

You’re All Surrounded

Follows a group of detectives solving an old case that has to do with one of the detective’s dark childhood (mom got murdered in front of him). Great. Unpredictable in the best way. Keeps you on your toes. Cute romance. (The main girl is homeless???) but it’s chill. Would watch again. A solid drama. Crime thriller, romance, melodrama.

Hyde Jekyll, Me

Another dissociative identity disorder one. Kill me heal me is better. A rich Boi was traumatized as a kid and has DID. A cute GURL falls in love with one of his personalities. Mystery, romance and such. I’d give it a 5 out of 10. I did cry.

Bromance

(Taiwanese) Dear baby Jesus this one was so cheesy and awful but I LOVE IT. Gender bender. Gurl has to pretend to be a boi and falls in love with her friend-bro (a rich BOI). But rich Boi isn’t a jerk in this one (surprising right? His fam is nice too). The side character plot story is REALLY REALLY good. Like they should have been their own show. Bff of rich boi falls in love with a girl with cancer in remission, you can see where this is going… Gender bender, cute, so cheesy that you’ll laugh, gets you with the feels, romance.

Absolute Boyfriend

(Taiwanese) HOLY HELL THIS ONE IS BAD. Like so bad. Gurl makes a robot boyfriend as a joke but ends up actually receiving the robot boyfriend. Neighbor boi is in love with her. She has to hide the fact that robot boyfriend is a robot. It’s bad fam. I still cried at the end though. If you’re looking for a gawd awful drama to watch to make you laugh at how bad it is, watch this one… but also I did cry…

Coffee Prince

Oh man. Genderbender. Poor Gurl pretends to be a boi to get jobs that pay better (I feel you gurl), ends up working with a rich BOI in an all-male coffee shop. Rich BOI falls in love with male her and has a panic attack. Lots of love triangles. The beginning is slow, but worth it to get to the good stuff. Cheesy but really enjoyed this one. SOBBED LIKE A BABY at one point. Worth it watching.

(did i mention the main boi is in goblin??)

Secret Garden

Jerky rich Boi and stunt woman Gurl switch bodies. Gurl is a badass bitch I love her. Takes a while to get to the main plot. Love triangles (what drama doesn’t have one). A solid drama. Cute.

Descendants of the Sun

OMG SO SO SO GOOD. My absolute favorite!!! Doctor Lady and Special operations military Boi fall in love. Often separated b/c of their jobs. Both end up in a (fictional) war-torn place called Erk. Very seriously discusses what it means to be/the morality of a soldier and a doctor. CRIED SO HARD OMG. This drama will change your life. Really well made, writing was amazing. OST is amazing! One of those dramas where the little things come back later on. Everything has purpose and meaning. The two main characters got married in real life!!! 10/10. SO good.

(the main boi legit broke his arm during filming)

Boys over Flowers

Why has everyone seen this one? This is a trash can disguised as a drama. Cheesy, stupid plots, poor communication between the characters that makes you want to scream at them. Yet I couldn’t stop watching it??

Four rich BOIs are the rich SKOOL hot bullies. Poor Gurl comes and ~changes everything~. Leader of the Bois is a jerk-face and of course they fall in love. Love triangles of course. A trash can. An actual trash can. Strangely really long. You must have will power to make it to the end. Watch it, it is a rite of passage.

To the Beautiful You

Korean Hana Kimi for those familiar with the books. Doesn’t follow the books super well but still really good. (So much better than the mess that was the Japanese and Taiwanese versions). It’s really cute and lovely just like the books. Min Ho from Shinee is Sano. He’s a cutie.

Gurl pretends to be a boi and goes to an all bois (college I think? might be high school) to meet her high jumping idol. They end up being roommates and then good friends (and maybe more????). Love triangles. The real OG genderbender. Gay panics. Gay acceptance. An aloof doctor. A cute dog. One of my faves. Plz watch.

You’re Beautiful

Both the Taiwanese and the Korean versions are literally the same scene for scene line for line so just pick one. Gender bender, love triangles. A nun (yes a fucking NUN) Gurl has to pretend to be her twin brother in a band with 3 bois. Can she keep her secret? Will she fall in love with the jerk leader boi and not the other nice boi? Watch to find out. Not the best. Cheesy. Watch if you have nothing else to do or want to laugh at something. Entertaining though.

Moon River

I had such high hopes for this one but it was more of a trash can than Boys over Flowers. Basically the same plot as Boys over Flowers. SO SO BAD. A few redeeming scenes. Not even bad in the way that it’s funny to watch, just bad. Don’t waste your time. I couldn’t even finish this one. 3/10 don’t watch.

Crossing Hero

(Taiwanese) I had a Jiro Wang phase and he directed this one. It’s quirky and cheesy and terrible but I love it. Main boi travels through time to modern day. The two side heroes follow after him into modern day and don’t know how to cope with modern day. The squad gets involved with a reporter and a detective and solve a ~huge~ crime plot. Jiro, our main BOI, just stops showing up in his own drama like halfway through it?? and the side characters become the main characters, which is weird but fine b/c they’re cool.

Horrendously cheesy. Weird. But still good, especially once Jiro stops showing up. Wouldn’t put it anywhere near the top of the To Watch List though. Watch it if you want something totally out of the ordinary.

Oh my Ghostess!

A young virgin ghost possess the body of an extremely shy chef girl to try to bang the head chef and go to Nirvana. The main Gurl getting possessed can actually see ghosts so things get complicated. What happens when main Gurl and main ghost gurl both get the feels for head chef? Will ghost gurl figure out how she died?

Has mystery/crime thriller, spoopy/supernatural, sweet, romance, family, grief and friendship element/themes. Thought this one would be bad but was really surprised at how good it was. Solid drama.

Bring it on Ghost! / Let’s Fight Ghost!

A friend-less boi can see ghosts and fights off ghosts for people for money. Meets a cute high schooler ghost that ends up helping him. Gains two weird ghost obsessed friends (against his will). Will the budding romance between a living boi and a cute ghost gurl ever work out?

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon

YAS QUEEN! A gurl born with super strength is wary of losing her powers and hides them. A serial kidnapper/killer with a creepy baby mask. Crime and mystery drama. A really cute drama. A sweet romance, funny mixed with some sad, decently feministic drama. Great. Watch it.

Suspicious Partner

A lawyer gurl is framed for murdering her ex. A cute prosecutor is caught between doing what is right and trying to not get fired. An unlikely alliance/romance between two people who understand how it feels to be cheated on. Discussion about when the justice system fails, at what point and extent should you take matters into your own hands. Crime thriller, mystery, revenge, law and justice, heartbreak, romance and forgiveness.This one is full of twists and turns. Really good one! Watch it!

ok fam, that’s all of my reviews! Thanks for reading!!!