#they DID make it Like That on purpose didn't they? or at least fares fares did jkdjfg thank you king!!

[amusingmusie]

Hi, I really hope you're faring well. Just wanted to say that I love your writing and yours truly, and I thought about something.

In hell, Alastor is a lot more durable and unkillable, so I imagine that's a lot more of a headache for Nel. She's walking behind him, ready to bash his skull and all of a sudden his head does a 180 and she's like >:0.

Also demon Al's hygiene must be HORRIBLE. So she's probably going to have to chase him around the hotel with a toothbrush and soap to no evail because he's a slippery motherfucker now that he's a demon.

Thank you so much for writing this masterpiece, and have a wonderful day <3

Fresh As Hell

Content warning for the Hazbin cast being themselves.

You're running out of ideas.

This has gone on far too long. The smell of an old shoe here, a hint of halitosis there, even a whiff of swamp water wafting your way if you get too close: it's all evidence that you can't ignore any longer.

Alastor kind of fucking stinks.

Sure, you've told him since your human days that his swampass stench is overwhelming, but that was a dig to piss him off, not the actual truth (usually, as long as his mother pressured him to scrub his tail). Nowadays? Well, if the demonic stop sign admitted that he bathes in his bedroom's wetlands, you'd be less than shocked. Shit, you'd actually be relieved if that were the case, because then you could fill the bog with soap and perfume to mask whatever funk perpetually lives on Alastor's grey skin. It's never overwhelming enough to knock you out; it's maddening subtle, the musk of his hair and the bite to his breath.

Maybe you could survive the Great Stink of '24 if he didn't insist on being on top of you at all times. Every time you turn around, you're assaulted by crimson, static, and Alastor's personal brand of miasma that wafts off of him since he insists on being no less than three atoms away from you.

Sure, it's possible you've got beef with his aroma since back in the day, the shitter smelled like freshly cut wood with notes of amber and his teeth sparkled like diamonds. You've seen his hygiene at its peak, which is why you cannot cosign this rank tomfoolery. Unfortunately, all of your attempts to rally the idiots at this hotel to agree with you that this is an issue have ended in disaster, leaving you without any allies in this fight.

"I haven't really noticed much, and hey, here at the Happy Hotel, we're receptive to more, um, eccentric lifestyles! As long as Alastor is being a team player and helping out with our mission, there's no reason to make him uncomfortable by bringing up his personal choices!"

"I don't get close enough to that pendejo to catch a whiff of whatever you're talking about."

"I dunno, tootz, I like a man with a little musk to 'em."

"Fuck off and fuck you."

"I like man stink~"

You're very much on your own here. The war on Alastor's subpar hygiene will be fought by you and you alone, and you won't be deterred- you've had worse battles before.

When you're once again yanked into Alastor's side and exposed to a faceful of his armpit in the lobby for the upteenth time, you vow to take action against him, more for your sake than his.

Game on.

---

Your strategy calls for small, stealthy actions in the beginning.

Positioning yourself in plain sight at the hotel bar with two cups of coffee, you wait for your target to appear. It's the perfect scene: you, alone (save for the bar cat, but he's passed out with his head down on the counter), with coffee. Alastor can't resist this. Hardly more than three seconds pass before a rush of static and a chill wash over you. A gentle pop sounds off to your left, and then you're greeted by your least favorite radio host smelling stale as ever.

"Good morning, sweetheart!" he cries, purposely shouting too loudly into your ear. "You're looking especially horrid this morning. Did you happen to catch a glance of your reflection in the mirror before it cracked?"

"No, I was too busy imagining all the ways I could skin you alive before eleven."

"Well, it is eight already, so hop to it, you need all the time that you can get to brainstorm!"

As his invisible audience laughs alongside him, you flick a handful of mints into his unguarded coffee cup. The jackass is too busy chortling at his tired jokes to realize that you've done anything at all. Perfect. Holding back your smirk is a damn hard move when Alastor finally lifts his red mug to his full lips and swallows down a mouthful of minty coffee.

Success.

Until-

"Hm..." Alastor hums, blinking his red eyes plainly. Then he promptly turns, spits out a stream of dark liquid onto Husk's bowed head, and snatches up your cup of coffee. After sipping down your drink, he sighs contently. "There, much better! Ah, that was a juvenile play, dear. You're losing your touch."

The deer motherfucker teleports away while you're left with a pissed off cat and determination to win this war.

---

Next comes the idea to douse Alastor in whatever perfume oils you can find as a direct plan of attack. Instead of using your precious concoction that you paid out the ass for from Rosie's Emporium, you decide that these other assholes living around here could stand to help out for five seconds. You're not asking for their support- just their cologne.

Angel is the unlucky winner that you approach since whatever he wears is pungent enough that it has your eyes watering on a good day. The spider leans up against his doorway, legs in your face and fluff looming above your head as you make your case.

"Listen." You crane your head back and fix him with what you hope is an amicable stare. "I'll shoot straight with you. I need a favor."

"Oh?" he asks, raising a perfect brow and examining his gloved fingers. "I don't do girls, sorry not sorry."

"No," you grumble at him. "Not that kind of favor. I need to borrow your perfume- whatever shit you wear is strong enough to be smelled across the Pentagram. All I need is to borrow the bottle for five minutes and I'll have it back to you good as new."

"HA! You think I'm letting you make off with my smell-good for free? No no no, nobody gets to borrow what I wear, not even Cherri. It's custom! You're out of luck."

"You're here at the hotel to redeem yourself- part of redemption is being selfless."

"Actually, I'm at this shitshack so I don't have to pay rent, and redemption don't mean you get a spritz of my good shit. Go ask some other shmuck." Angel laughs in your face one final time, then spins around to shut his door.

"I'll owe you," you spit out. That has the fluffy demon pausing and you fear that you've either royally fucked up or royally succeeded.

"...Owe me what?"

"One favor equal to borrowing your perfume that doesn't involve me getting my ass kicked or double dead."

Angel grins delightedly, retreats into his den, then sticks one spindly arm out with his perfume sitting pretty in his palm.

"Have at it!"

And you do, with fear of Hell's #1 pornstar in your heart.

Alastor comes in to kick your legs under the table during dinner and you immediately whip out Angel's perfume to soak the son of a bastard down. There's an ear-ringing screech before Alastor pops away, leaving you with a table full of coughing, gassed-out hotel inhabitants that are very, very pissed off.

Once Vaggie is done chewing you out, Angel Dust leans over and whispers, "You still owe me for my draining my fucking reserves, dollface."

Fuck.

---

After weeks of attempted baths, desperate tooth-brushing sessions, dirty bribery, and numerous double-death threats, you've decided that you have no choice but to go completely nuclear. Clearly, your rotten plague of a deer demon is determined to resist all attempts to freshen him the fuck up, so you are prepared to pull the dirtiest trick in your book. Forget screaming or cussing; you'll have his ass eating out of the palm of your hand in no time with this.

"Hello, my rotten peach!"

Ahah, it's time- you're about to win this little game no problem. You take one look at Alastor in all his awful glory here in the parlor, steady your face into an uninterested expression, and then you. look. away.

Alastor stares.

"I said, hello, my rotten peach! My fetid fruit! My most crusty crop!" he announces slightly louder as if you didn't hear him.

Nothing. No reaction. You refuse to engage with someone that smells of fragrant toes and has gums darker than his coffee; you'll have him suffering from your silence if those are the dumbass choices he'd like to make.

Just barely concealing his panic at the sudden lack of your attention, Alastor clomps closer, then pokes at your side with his staff. The thing winces from the contact. You, on the other hand, are not weak and will not relent, so you continue to watch the parlor wall with great interest.

All according to plan.

Charlie passes by, humming a happy tune. When she spots you lounging on the couch with Alastor hovering over you, she smiles at the familiar sight, and offers a happy, "Good morning!"

"Morning, Princess," you greet her. Then you return to wall watching.

Alastor wilts.

You smile.

And you play the winning game.

For days, you refuse to acknowledge anything having to do with your favorite least favorite parasite. If he materializes in front of you when you're reading a novel? You don't even flinch. If you awake to him standing over your bed and staring with glowing eyes? Well, there's no need to do anything but roll over, that's just Tuesday. You hardly bat an eye when a black shadow warbles over your shoulder as you brush your teeth; no, you simply show it the brush and toothpaste for a proper tutorial on how to avoid ripe ass breath. You're enjoying the power you hold over Alastor, and you especially enjoy the way his stupid tufts flatten against his head when you deny him any attention for a whole week.

You believe that victory is yours.

---

As you trudge downstairs for another miserable day at the Asscrack Motel or whatever they're calling this place nowadays, you're overwhelmed by a new scent permeating throughout the lobby- freshly cut cedar, something slightly floral and musky, hints of amber, and immaculately washed manass.

Shit.

You know that smell. You know that smell very well. It can only mean one thing.

Then you spot him in all of his glory; Alastor is leaning his spindly body against the hotel bar with a freshly patched suit, styled hair slicked back across his head, and shining teeth. Oh God, he smells and looks like Heaven, and suddenly you decide that maybe you don't give two shits about that white speck in the sky when you've got this presented to you on a metaphorical platter.

With a little grunt, you move closer, appraising Alastor with an indifferent expression. His static is whirring sweetly in the background while he simpers down at you- yeah, he's proud and peacocking a bit, you can tell from the manner in which his lips curl and the way his chest puffs out. Goddammit...he knows that he's got you hooked like a fucking sucker.

"Yeeeeees?" he sings when you stare for a second too long. "Something on your dreadfully empty mind?"

"..." Hm. You could shoot him for being annoying, but he did do all of this dolling up for you.

Ugh. You hate him so much.

So you yank him down by his lapel so you can kiss him square on the mouth. For the first time in a long time, he tastes of mint and sunshine instead of rot and coffee, utterly intoxicating you in the worst of ways. You drag your lips against his and feel that they've been moisturized, and when he bites down on your tongue, there's no slippery plaque to offend your senses.

All of this effort just to get you to look his way.

Good.

Then you release him with a pop, flip him the bird, and walk off with your head held high.

Alastor just hums in satisfaction from his place at the bar, idly commenting, "I've still got it," to a very disgusted Husk and Vaggie who are doing their damndest to ignore the scene.

You'll call this one even.

(Loosely based on a very old conversation with @gemrocknerd).

[markantonys]

ISHALEWSFEAR REAL!!!!! 🚨🚨🚨 (interview)

[beguilingcorpse]

weaponry in the locked tomb is so interesting because when you break it down it's like:

guns exist in-universe but are used by the freedom fighter terrorist organization almost exclusively

swords are (were?) commonplace enough that gideon was able to find and train with a decently well-balanced two-hander on the ninth, despite the fact that the ninth has no military force or even interplanetary traffic. gideon's sword is at least 20 years old, probably older

swords are definitely still in use within the empire, at least by cavaliers, but likely within the cohort as a whole. to my memory there are no mentions of cohort members carrying military-issue guns

even though they're trained in a variety of weapons and techniques, cavaliers (are supposed to) carry exclusively rapiers. gideon prefers her two-hander and cam carries twin shortswords, but these seem to be rare and shocking exceptions to the standard.

rapiers are used by cavaliers explicitly for the purpose of lyctorhood. they're light enough that a scrawny necromancer without swordfighting experience can pick it up and rely on their cav's training without needing to build the muscle to wield the sword effectively

because of the secretive nature of the megatheorem, and lyctorhood as a whole, most people just follow the rapier rule because it's tradition. it is what is done. harrow makes this pretty clear at the beginning of gtn

cavaliers can carry a variety of offhand weapons. it seems like the full spectrum of middle age weaponry is possible - but still, no guns. not even secretly, as with cam's dual blades. some cavs choose to carry material for their necromancers as their offhand - ortus carries a bowl of bones for harrow, and i can only assume "the powder" mentioned as harrow's choice for gideon's offhand towards the beginning of gtn is some kind of bone dust

from a doylist perspective, all of this creates a aesthetic that starts very analog and gothic and gradually grows into a more standard sci-fi space opera through the series. by ntn, we've hit most of the established genre weaponry tropes that we've come to expect from older futuristic space media like star wars and alien. blasters and guns are standard fare, and it makes sense to hold off on introducing them until the scope of the story gets broader and more interplanetary

from a watsonian perspective, it's a little more difficult to draw concrete conclusions without the context that atn will inevitably provide. but if i had to hedge a guess, i'd say that, as with most things, It's All John Gaius's Fault. when he resurrected the galaxy i'd assume that he wanted to keep the aesthetics of medieval imperialism, and given his 21st century liberalism probably didn't want guns to be part of the equation. but they were anyways - we know this because wake carries a big one - and instead of standardizing firearms within his military and for his lyctors, he clings to the aesthetics of swordplay. please correct me if i'm remembering it wrong, but to my knowledge every gun shown in the series is either directly linked to boe or implied to be sourced from them. jod dooms his own lyctors and military by refusing to update their weaponry.

all of this poses a lot of questions about atn: who will carry a gun, and why? where did the gun come from? why DON'T the lyctors just use firearms? and most importantly: will they be fighting zombies with swords???

[anonymous-dentist]

Heyy here's a thing. Yeah there might be more to come sorry... You did say you were ok with this right?

It's been more than 3 months since "Princess Melissa" was kidnapped, and the Kings have finally given in to at least negotiate the terms of surrender.

Although Cellbit is pretty sure they only agreed to it because they would have an opportunity to threaten him.

Cellbit arranged a plan with Roier in case of parley a while ago, though he thought it would be put into use much sooner. (Of course he insisted on coming to watch in case that ever happened)

Frankly, the fact that King Vegeta and Foolish waited this long for negotiations to even be considered instead of just sending really incompetent rescue teams while Roier could have been in danger for all they knew (given "The Demon King"s reputation) was making Cellbit's blood boil.

Somehow though, he isn't the angriest person in the room.

Roi- sorry, Melissa had been slowly growing more and more furious at her deadbeat ass parents the entire meeting. Foolish and Vegeta probably assumed he was angry at the two demonic guards pretending to hold him in place for appearances sake, or maybe they just didn't care.

The entire meeting they had refused to listen to a single word Cellbit had to say, and instead made various threats about sending armies to storm Cellbit's castle (which would have fared just as well as the last attempt) if he didn't return their daughter right this instant.

If Cellbit had been a less merciful man (and hadn't fallen in love with his kidnappee) Roier- no, sorry, the entire imperial kingdom might have been dead right now.

Roier just about had enough of this shit.

He turned to his beloved (who looked like he was about to pop a demonic blood vessel) and called, in his royal I'm going to behead someone voice:

"Gatinho?"

The whole room turned to face Roier in complete shock Cellbit included. They were supposed to play along with the whole "damsel in destress" thing because they had both agreed earlier that they didn't want the Kings to know about their... Relationship.

But then again nothing else was going as planned today, either.

"I'd like to handle the negotiations from here, please"

Roier's sickly sweet tone and smile barely disguising complete rage would have moved ancient primordial forces.

Cellbit gulped, and nodded to the guards to let Roier go.

Once his hands were freed he promptly matched up to his parents and slapped them in the fucking face.

Cellbit might have learned Spanish for diplomatic purposes, but he doubted even a native speaker would be able to fully understand the rapidfire scolding Roier seemed to be giving the Kings.

In all his years, the Demon King never thought he would feel sorry for the leaders of enemy kingdoms, but he was being proved wrong a lot lately.

(What a way to find out your son is in love with the Demon King huh?)

-Miz

Rip foolish. koq rocks…?

[riversimmone]

Reason to Breathe

.

Reason To Breathe

RiverOfTheSand

Summary:

AU GaaSaku. The train stopped suddenly and she fell into his arms. Her panic had disappeared, only to be replaced by a far more pleasant sensation; and she was falling all over again.

Notes:

This one-shot is a result of a dare after a conversation a while back about how much I love the pairing, and this idea came from a song, surprise, surprise. It's Longer by Delta Goodrem. God, I love Delta's music – old and new. :) Anyway, I know the Tokyo Rails are a lot busier than I've indicated here. But for the purposes of this fic, it's only crazy in the morning (during the normal rush hour). Rated T. I hope you all enjoy. :)

There was nothing like doing something she hated only to find a reason to love it. The contradictory sentiments were like a breath of fresh air, and Kami knew, she needed something to shake up the funk she'd been in since moving to Tokyo. City streets, neon lights… the night before her first day at work was like any other. She arrived at her new apartment, annoyed at the blonde who'd almost driven them into a ditch on the highway. Ino Yamanaka was a hell cat behind the wheel, and had no regrets, the under worked, over paid bitch.

This was how Sakura Haruno had found herself forced to take the train.

There was something to be said for stepping outside of her comfort zone – when it went bad, she could strangle that blonde bimbo calling herself her best friend, guilt free. She was already imagining what it would feel like to have her hands locking around Ino's throat and squeezing.

And what was it exactly that she'd found herself loving? That first day on the subway, and the months that followed. She'd imagined the boredom of the railway would induce a stupor and on her first day, she'd either be hyperventilating or asleep when her station drew alongside the locomotive. Sakura imagined that once she'd woken up (or calmed down), nothing and no-one could make her get back on that train.

Ino was always telling her she had no imagination.

The first day started out as expected (due mostly to her preconceptions), but it did get better... and in the most delicious way possible – in the form of an "on sight" crush. She didn't know how else to describe the reaction she'd had to him. But, first things first, her first impression of the underground train station had been a bad one. And to make matters worse, the idea of taking the subway had always made her want to gag. It wasn't like there was smog or the stench of human waste – no, the subway of Greater Japan was immaculate and blah, blah, blah… no, the sensation of wanting to heave up her breakfast came from knowing she would be stuck in rush hour and forced to stand close to other people. It made her as uncomfortable as having to avoid eye contact with the multitude of people who would stare at her.

The dark haired people milling about her blended right in, but she didn't; Kami knew why she just had to have natural pink hair. Sakura had dyed it, crimped it, cut it, and curled it so many times that her doctor told her not to do it anymore. She'd spent her whole life hiding from the abnormality that was her.

'One more time and you'll be poisoning yourself, at least more than you already have.'

Wishing she was still living in Konoha (where the easiest way to get around didn't involve bunching up in the scorching heat and pretending she wasn't inhaling someone else's body odour), Sakura stared at the ticket vending machine; the stupid thing wouldn't accept her ¥2,000 bill. Glaring wouldn't change anything, no matter how much venom she put into it. She'd never taken the train before today, so just decided on a Tokyo Metro One-Day Pass for this one time; it couldn't hurt, right? She'd only be taking the train twice – to and from work – so it was probably a waste, but right now, she didn't care.

Sulkily retrieving her ticket, Sakura made her way through the Fare Gate, waited at the platform, and let out a disgruntled sigh at the sight of the incoming Tokyo Metro ‒ this was the Marunouchi Line. She hated it already. But she'd started a new job that required an earlier arrival time – the rapid transit of the underground subway was her only option other than waking up at two o'clock in the morning and walking for hours.

The morning rush hour was killing her – the women-only car she was told she could take, was completely full. Sakura had the choice between waiting for the next train (that would make her late to work) and boarding one of the normal cars. Since there were other women in said cars, she felt comfortable enough to risk it this one time.

But the staring was grating on her nerves. Most of the passengers were men in suits, and she found it incredibly intimidating – she was wearing her uniform already, a dark blue vest over her white blouse and knee length pleated skirt. She felt self-conscious, since the only other women in the car were dressed more formally (pants, whatever – it was smart and unlike her clothes, fit like a glove). She was out of sorts in this kind of environment.

At the first stop, when the doors opened, she realised she was going to have to stand up. The woman waddling toward her was the epitome of what Sakura disliked – someone or something she felt obligated to think of over herself. But she stood, stepped aside, and offered her seat. It was the proper thing to do after all. Shifting away from the courtesy seat, Sakura responded to the grateful "thank-you" with a "you're welcome" from the heavily pregnant woman. She tried to weave her way through the mass of bodies and away from the end of the car; she was instead immediately blocked by the arrival of more men in suits. She felt stifled, panic rising up in her chest, and quickly closed her eyes.

'Focus, Sakura – it's just a train ride. No-one here is going to rub themselves up against you or leer inappropriately.'

She hated crowds.

The train jerked, and she snapped her eyes open as it moved. One of the men who'd stepped in front of her was now staring at her. He wasn't leering, but there was a sort of sympathy in his eyes – the kindness in the soft green colour drew her attention first. Then her eyes flickered upwards and she realised the man had short, dark red hair. He stood out as much as she did, it would seem, but no-one was staring at him.

She was lost for words, a blush appearing on her cheeks as he continued to stare at her. While the other passengers gawked at her hair or occasionally spared her a curious glance, his eyes were set firmly on hers.

'Oh god, oh Kami…'

Time seemed to stand still and she was captivated. Sakura flagrantly stared back at him, her hand moving to the metal pole he was clinging to as she moved instinctively closer to him. He held tightly to said pole, barely moving as the train came to a stop. It was another station – Sakura hadn't realised it, but she'd been staring at this mystery man for almost twenty minutes – how many times had they stopped and then started again?

Blush lined her cheeks at this realisation, but she didn't look away; she couldn't. The expression on his face was guarded, so she wasn't sure if this man was checking her out or just rude. Finally opening her mouth to say something, she was cut off by the sudden motion of the train; she stumbled forward and his free hand came up to stop her fall. He caught her, his arm slinging around her shoulder; she inhaled deeply, his very masculine scent making her tremble.

"Th-thanks…" She muttered, pulling away from him.

She decided to interpret this as a sign to stop talking – etiquette on board subway trains in Japan demanded they didn't anyway – she'd read it in a book. But it was disappointing; she wanted to know his name, among other things.

He smiled at her – it was brilliant, the way it lit up his face and seemed to highlight a light shade of pink along his cheeks. She wasn't the only one so taken, it seemed. Sakura smiled back, trying to ease the nervousness flitting about her stomach; the butterflies had become acrobats instantly, doing things she'd never thought possible. It seemed to show on her face because the red head was smirking now; his free hand moved from her shoulder to her elbow and clung tightly. He wasn't making some sleazy move on her, but his face was smug nonetheless.

Arrogant might be a better word.

They continued to stare at each other, though Sakura tried desperately to look away from him. The last thing she needed was to be near another man that took pleasure in her discomfort. She inhaled deeply, keeping the station number of every stop in her peripherals, and making no move to relieve herself of this man's grip. His hand felt oddly comforting against her bare skin (the sleeves of her blouse didn't quite make it to her elbows), and he was at least distracting her from her panic of being so surrounded.

The ride to the Shinjuku-Sanchōme Station came too soon, and she reluctantly moved toward the exit. She didn't realise at first, lost in her reverie, that the red haired man was following her. She'd never been so taken by someone like this before, and she supposed his good looks helped. But it also made her wary. She looked back after disembarking, only to find him barely a foot away from her, before turning to face him.

"I'm Gaara," he said, his voice husky and making her tremble.

"S-Sakura," she stammered and mentally slapped herself.

His head jerked to the side suddenly and something must have caught his attention – she didn't look, wanting him to keep talking. But Gaara was already moving away.

"See you later," he said, and she missed the strained hope in his voice.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah."

The rest of the day went by slowly, like Kami was trying to torture her. Her new job entailed data entry as well as organising – the latter would broaden to company fundraisers and the such after she passed the one month mark of working here. But despite the tedium, Sakura didn't mind it – sorting things into their proper place was like second nature to her anyway. She wondered if Gaara had been heading to work, despite the sleek business suit he'd been wearing. It was obvious, but for all she knew, he'd been heading to a funeral, or some early morning… function… or whatever.

"Blaargh!" She pulled a face at the so-called cuisine when lunch rolled around. It was slop: nothing more and nothing less. It would be worth it to spend most of her lunch time looking for a decent food court outside of the cafeteria at work.

And again, her thoughts drifted to Gaara.

"I think I'm getting obsessed."

She needed to stop these thoughts – chances were that she'd never see Gaara again. That was a depressing commentary and worse than her musing on what he was doing and thinking ‒ and whether or not he was thinking about her. Ino was going to make fun of her for it, and the pinkette had no-one else to confide in, so she steeled herself for the inevitable questions and judgements as she clocked out. The walk back to the station was numbing, and she didn't realise at first, as she moved toward the women-only car, that Gaara was there again.

His hand shot out, grabbing her elbow again; she let out a small yelp as he steered her away from the car he wasn't allowed in. She spun with Gaara's rough pull and realised then that he had started to tug her down into a seat. She made a small hiccupping sound on contact with the seat and he chuckled.

For a moment, she didn't know what to say or do, but then her anger took over.

"There was no need for that," she snapped, pointing a finger in his face.

"I disagree," he waved her hand away, clearly enjoying himself. "I wouldn't have had anyone to talk to if you'd made it into the women-only car."

"You're not supposed to be talking," she reminded him, pointing up at the sign above her head ‒ an ever present reminder of what was referred to as subway manners.

He smirked. "That's only for your phone, princess." She went red and he chuckled. "You're new to public transport."

She nodded, even though it hadn't sounded like a question, and then lowered her head in embarrassment. But he hadn't talked to her this morning – and come to think of it, none of the other passengers had said a word either.

"They're so boring," he said, when she brought it up. "And I'm fascinating."

She groaned. "Are you always this obnoxious?"

"No."

"Really?" Somehow she doubted that.

That smirk was still on his face. "I'm worse."

"Oh, so you don't normally talk to random strangers?"

"I do not," he agreed softly. "I'm not really a people person."

The cheek was gone from his voice suddenly, and Sakura decided this was the perfect opportunity to get some serious answers out of him.

"So, you ride the Tokyo Metro often?"

Gaara let out a soft chuckle. "No, not really."

"Oh?"

"I don't like public transport."

She smiled. "Me neither."

"What about you?" He asked. "You come here often?"

That made her blush, and she bit her bottom lip to keep it from trembling. "No, but I'm stuck here anyway."

And the next thing she knew, he was prying things out of her – the first of which was what she did for a living.

"You're a sorter?"

She frowned at the smirk on his face. "No," she snapped. "I organise – there's a difference."

"Oh, I see."

Sakura just shook her head in frustration at the cheek in his voice, glancing toward the windows before settling on the red head again. He lost the cheek as he told her about himself.

Gaara had just arrived in Tokyo as well, and would only be here for three months, looking after some subsidiary in his father's business – he refused to elaborate. Sakura told him about having to move to Tokyo after a bad breakup; she'd let her best friend tag along, but the woman was grating on her nerves. The pinkette wanted to go to work, make friends, and come home to a clean apartment. The blonde wanted to go out, party, do drugs and drink past her limit, then come home and make a mess of the lounge room with some random guy she'd found at a night club.

Before Sakura knew it, she'd been riding the train to and from work for two and a half months. It was nearing Gaara's return to Suna and despite her smiles and jokes, the thought of him leaving was upsetting her. Another week rolled by and he finally noticed the hesitance in her smile.

"I'm going to have to keep you, you know," he said, sounding serious.

It made her smile and she stole a look at him as they walked out of the underground station. It was dark, but the streets were lit, and Gaara stopped at the top of the escalators, just short of the door leading outside.

"Really?"

He nodded. Gaara pushed her gently, and caged her between his body and the wall behind her. His eyes were calculating, thoughtful and minutely wary. He was considering doing or saying something – a scary something perhaps. His façade of controlled emotions had become a transparent mask to her since their first meeting. He kept his guard up by default because it was the only way he'd survived in the ruthless world of business his father had introduced him to from a young age. It was apparently also why he had so few friends. He was considered quite ruthless himself.

Finally, Gaara seemed to come to a decision. "Can I kiss you?"

Sakura nodded silently, not hesitating; she'd wanted him to the moment they'd met. Gaara licked his lips and lowered his mouth to hers. It was chaste, which was fine and all, but she wanted more. So she drew her tongue across his mouth, making them both tremble, before he obliged her. Pushed up against cold hard concrete, Sakura was suddenly burning. Her arms encircled his neck and he growled softly into her mouth, pressing into her.

They weren't lovers, they weren't even dating, but she felt like they were. She'd never had such a strong connection with anyone before, male or female. This was what her mother had told her about growing up, what all those fairy-tales had had her dreaming about. And she didn't want to let it get away: not now, not ever.

Gaara was the one to break the kiss, and rested his forehead against hers as he struggled for breath. His face was flushed and she felt excited at the way she was making him feel. Sakura took a moment also, but it was getting late, and they both knew this wasn't the end after all.

"See you tomorrow?" She asked, still slightly breathless.

He gave her a playful smile. "I'll be there."

Sakura walked away, glancing back as she always did, to see him doing the same. Tomorrow they'd do this all over again, and she knew that somehow, things would work out. After all, he'd said he would be there. The next morning, she was happier than she'd been in years, humming as she took a rare seat, looking forward to the next train stop, where the red head would emerge from. She sat up straight as the train pulled into the stop, her eyes instinctively searching for Gaara.

He wasn't there.

– Reason to Breathe –

Sakura had no idea what'd gone wrong. He'd seemed so sincere, like he really was looking forward to seeing her again. He had another week before he was expected back in Suna, so why would he just flake like that? She couldn't understand it.

Ino told her to stop being a drama queen. "Men do that sweetie – don't take it personally. Besides, if he really is as good looking as you say he is, he's probably married, and with like a dozen mistresses."

But the blonde didn't know him, she'd never met him; and despite the alarming level of arseholes out there, not all men were flakes! At least, not so soon after meeting a woman – sure, they'd kissed, but they hadn't had sex, which was the only thing the real lowlifes stuck around for after all. It made no sense.

This left a gut wrenching ache in her heart and she couldn't stop the onslaught of tears. She felt so stupid, so pathetic; why was this happening?

Once she'd calmed down, Sakura decided: she ignored Ino's disgusted comments and refused to go out clubbing to forget Gaara like the blonde "suggested". She went to work, taking the same route, the same time, and hoping against hope that the red head would appear after all, with some reasonable excuse. Embarrassed by her own fears, she waited past the point in which Gaara had said he'd be heading back to Suna before trying to think about how she'd track him down.

What did she know about him? He was from Suna, was the same age as her – twenty-two – and his mother was some kind of philanthropist. He was the youngest of three – not much help there – and the only one of them working in the family business – even less help. Sakura chewed on the end of her pencil as she tried to remember more. She was sitting at the desk in her bedroom, wearing only a pair of boy-shorts and small tank top; completing the ensemble was her fluffy purple slippers. She didn't own lingerie, much to Ino's chagrin.

She finished writing out the list and turned on her laptop – if she was going to find him, it wasn't by door knocking or going back to the train station. No matter what his reasons were, it was clear he wouldn't be going back there now. She needed a new place to look. The problem was, she only knew his given name. She searched the business tycoons in Suna, but none of them had a red haired son. Then she remembered his mother and added "philanthropist" to the advanced search.

Suna had a reputation for its seedy underground – and corrupted officials – so what were the chances that there were many wives of entrepreneurs that spent their time giving instead of taking?

Apparently, there were four.

The first one that came up was actually a widow and had only daughters –strike her off the list. The second had twelve children, something like fifty grandchildren, and looked like a harridan with boils.

'Eew.'

The third looked a little better; she had three children, her husband was a stock broker. It looked promising.

"Asuka Hashimoto."

Sakura murmured the name a few times. It sounded strange – why did it sound strange? The woman fitted the bill, but somehow she doubted Gaara's mother had been married three times. She settled on the last one – Karura Sabaku – the name rolling off her tongue easy. She followed the links until she found what she was looking for: a family picture taken at some official reception that couldn't be more than two years old. And there he was, looking out of sorts, even though he was looking straight at the camera. He wasn't smiling, but the sight of him all dressed up got Sakura's heart beating faster, and she scanned the comments, made by some reporter. She sounded like a fan too, which made Sakura wonder: was Gaara more popular than he realised? During their conversations, he'd sounded like a lost child when talking about his social life.

She gazed for a moment, before shaking herself of these thoughts.

Gaara was listed, which made it easier – he probably kept that number for emergencies and such. She couldn't imagine him giving it out on a whim.

Sakura spent twenty minutes just staring down at her phone after she'd punched in the number. Now that she was here, she was terrified ‒ what if he'd decided she was just a stupid little girl and had moved on? She felt like some overbearing fan girl who wanted to know why he didn't respond to her last three hundred emails.

'God damn it.'

She needed to get a grip, buck up, and just press that freaking button! She did it before any more pessimistic thoughts could take her over and was relieved when it started to ring. But good Kami he was taking his sweet time in answering. The click on the other end almost unhinged Sakura, and she inhaled sharply at the sound of a feminine voice.

"You've reached Gaara Sabaku's phone: start talking or I'm hanging up."

A slight cheek in her voice reminded Sakura of Gaara, somehow. But she struggled to speak, at a loss for what to say – she was expecting Gaara, not some random girl.

"Who is this?" The woman asked, now slightly irritated.

"My name is Sakura Haruno," Sakura managed, with great difficulty. Who was this woman that had answered Gaara's phone?

"Really?"

"Why is that so surprising?" Really, who was this woman?

"No reason – I'm just calculating how much money Kankuro owes me."

Huh?

"Can I talk to Gaara?"

"Sorry, no can do."

"W-why?"

The woman hesitated – Sakura could hear some whispering in the background and a shuffling that sounded like she was moving the phone from one ear to the other. Finally, the woman on the other end of this conversation gave her an answer:

"He's in a coma."

– Reason to Breathe –

'She shouldn't have told me that on the phone.'

Sakura had spent the ride to the hospital a jittery mess. Not only was she nervous to meet the woman who claimed to be Gaara's big sister, but she was terrified of seeing Gaara. A part of her hoped this was some elaborate prank, while the rest of her knew better: there was no faking the concern in Temari's voice during that thirty minute conversation. The woman really knew how to talk – she'd give Ino a run for her money, that was for sure.

She almost didn't leave the back of the taxi, only depositing the yen in the man's hand after he'd gotten irate at her. She ignored his continuing scowls and slammed the door shut, not caring that she'd been rude. She found the right room and signed in the visitor's book before knocking on the door. It opened almost immediately by some random nurse who spared her a glance (her eyes went to her hair) before moving on. Sakura peered into the room.

"Sakura?" The woman called Temari waved Sakura over, and the pinkette entered quickly. She was still apprehensive, but her concern for Gaara took precedence. He looked like death warmed up.

"The doctors say he could wake up at any time," Temari said soothingly, as Sakura took the offered chair next to the bed; the blonde's hand went to her shoulder in a reassuring gesture.

"What happened?"

"After he left the station, he was mugged and left for dead," Temari said.

"Right after?"

"You saw him leave okay, right?"

Sakura nodded.

"I'm sorry," Temari said. "I should've tried to find you, but‒"

"You don't have to explain," Sakura interrupted. "We're strangers."

She gripped the pleats of her skirt tightly as she struggled not to cry, while unable to tear her eyes away from the unconscious red head. He looked like he was sleeping, except for the fact that he was hooked up to a bunch of monitors. She'd almost gone into medicine, so she knew the chances of him waking up got worse the longer he was unconscious. It was cruel, that she'd worried so thoroughly over him only to find him in this state. She'd prefer if he'd just decided she wasn't worth it. At least he wouldn't be in the hospital.

Sakura was a mess, and it showed, with or without the tears. She looked over at Temari as the woman moved to sit on the bed and faced her. The blonde had the same sympathetic look Gaara had given her that first day on the train, and before she could stop herself, Sakura let out an involuntary sob. Temari embraced her as she cried. It was so crazy, but she just let herself go, not caring that she barely knew Gaara, and that she'd only just met his sister.

But eventually, Temari's soothing words calmed her and Sakura pulled away. The older woman fetched a tissue from the other side of the hospital bed and handed it to her.

"God I'm so stupid." Sakura dabbed at her eyes with the tissue. "It's pathetic; I mean, I don't even know him, not really."

"It's not stupid, or pathetic," Temari assured her. "Just strange; I knew Gaara had a thing for you – the way he'd go on about you was proof enough. It's just nice to know it wasn't only one way."

"He's going to wake up," Sakura said quickly. "He has to."

"That's what I keep telling myself."

Sakura's response was interrupted when the door to the room opened (weird, she didn't remember closing it) and the guy standing in the threshold gave her the strangest look.

"Kankuro," Temari said. "This is Sakura. Sakura, this is Kankuro, my other brother."

Sakura greeted him politely, but he just gaped at her.

"Kankuro," Temari said warningly.

He shut his mouth. "Uh, I was just surprised." He frowned at his sister. "I thought she wasn't real."

"You thought Gaara was making her up!" Temari snapped.

Sakura ignored the siblings, shifting closer to the bed. "Gaara," she whispered. "Please wake up." She licked her lips, debating on whether or not to touch him. She'd heard that in even in comas, people could still hear you.

'What about touch?'

So she took his hand, interlocking their fingers and reaching out with her free hand to caress the weird kanji on his forehead, before shifting to move some strands of hair out of his eyes. Sakura didn't notice that Temari and Kankuro had stopped arguing to see what she was doing. She didn't hear them leave quietly, and completely forgot that they'd been there in the first place. She climbed onto the bed and hovered over him, sitting next to him; Gaara didn't respond of course, but she was watching for it anyway.

"Don't you dare," she said forcefully. "I haven't come looking for you just to watch you die."

When she'd told her mother about Gaara, the woman was ecstatic – she had been harping on at her for about four years, wanting grandchildren out of her. But it was the fairy-tales from her childhood that made Sakura bend over and kiss him softly: her own lips quivering slightly at the warmth of his skin. He wasn't cold to the touch, like she'd worried he would be.

Nothing happened.

Sighing deeply, Sakura attempted to get comfortable, not caring that when his nurse came back in, she would be in for a rude awakening. As she drifted off, exhausted from the last few days of worrying herself sick, she felt Gaara move. He shifted under her, the croaky sound of him saying her name bringing a smile to her lips. He was finally awake.

An hour later, Temari and Kankuro returned, armed with caffeine, fast food and a basket full of goodies, intent on an in-room picnic. But when they saw Sakura tucked up in the hospital bed, her arm strapped over Gaara, and her face nuzzled in his chest, they couldn't bring themselves to disturb her.

Neither of them noticed that the pale green eyes of their little brother watched their exit. Gaara had fallen asleep after waking up with Sakura getting comfortable on top of him; he'd woken up several times in the middle of the night to find the strangely intriguing pink haired girl he'd been dreaming about still sleeping with him. He tucked her in closer to his side and smiled.

It was worth getting mugged and almost dying to wake up like this. This was heaven to him.

X X X

[crossdressingdeath]

Kyvir: Tell me how you've been faring - you wanted to form a new settlement, didn't you? Halsin: Our community grows rapidly; in six months, we have turned what was once a shadowy wasteland into a true home for all. In another six months, I would wager the scars of the past will be entirely invisible even to those who remember them. The old masonry of Moonrise Towers and Reithwin have been repurposed into new homes, and the land is rich with harvests and bountiful trees. Nature and civilisation are in harmony, stronger together. Kyvir: I recall you have quite a few young wards to care for - nine wagons of them, wasn't it? Halsin: Ah, my greatest purpose, and greatest reward. Those children have been through more than fate had any right to cast at them, and yet they go on, as resilient as anything in nature. I impart what knowledge I can to them, yet in truth they teach me far more. The land we saved is theirs, and they will cherish it, I am sure. Thaniel and Oliver shall never want for friends ever again. Kyvir: I'll need to see this place for myself. Halsin: You are welcome whenever you like and for however long as you please. Kyvir: Tell me about Thaniel and Oliver - do you see much of them? Halsin: Quite often - they come and go as they please, but with so many playmates to avail of, they are far from strangers. They ask after you often. What you did for them will never be forgotten - I can see it in the land all around me, but more importantly, I see it in their faces whenever they visit. To make a child smile is to dabble with the power of gods, as far as I am concerned.

Nine wagons of kids. That sounds like hell. But if it makes Halsin happy...

It's nice that the Shadow-Cursed Lands are recovering well. And Thaniel and Oliver are doing well! Happy endings all around. I kind of wish there was a much lengthier epilogue featuring the chance to actually visit everyone and see how they're getting on instead of being told about it secondhand, but at least we're now getting something about their lives post-game.

[guiltycorp]

jjk 236 manga spoilers !!! -

Extremely funny how the high school reunion party followed by Gojo's body reveal was framed in that way for the sole reason that this shocking resolution would have been boring as fuck if done straightforwardly hahaha... Honestly i still believe in the potential of Gojo turning into a cursed spirit (because that obvious aspect of the world-building hasn't been delivered on WHATSOEVER yet) or the next 6 eyes somehow being immediately ready to throw down, but i no longer believe that any of it will be written well.

A thing that has been bothering me for a while due to spending too much time on twitter is how shonen bros are very keen on praising the technical aspect of the magic system in jjk, how the fights are so good they balance out the lack of emotional weight. ...but was any of the fighting actually good on that technical shonen level? There are a lot of implications about how various Heian era sorcerers came up with techniques and items that are used today but none of it has any real elegance since every new technique and artifact just conveniently came up whenever characters needed to use them. Did Toji's possession of Inverted Spear make sense? Suuure, and maybe it has some ties to Angel whose technique maybe helped to make it. Doesn't change the fact that it was introduced purely to have a way to deal with Gojo's infinity and Geto's curses. And even the attempt to bring back Yuta-Rika bond in terms of Toji-Worm made no real sense since Rika was created by and bound to Yuta intrinsically while Toji just... tamed and trained the Worm off-screen somehow? Why would Geto's technique not work on it then, how is it different from some cursed spirits being loyal to themselves or the places they are guarding. His use of cursed spirits is clearly different from a regular 'taming' situation. And similar problems happen with techniques like Simple Domain or Falling Blossom, they were just ~invented~ in the past somehow so now people can use that. How do they actually work and why can't people come up with their own bullshit techniques then? Well don't worry about it, it might come up again or probably won't because there is no need for that pesky logic in our magic worldbuilding systems. You could even say that the absence of sense and balance is on purpose since the story on the whole is about how everything is Unfair, but it's not like that's communicated well either so? At this point it feels like anything can happen and not in a good way. Gojo got sealed in a poignant emotional way that im looking forward to in the anime but then... he got released by some convenient technique from a new character? Then didn't give much of a reaction to his plans falling apart in front of him, didn't acknowledge Megumi's situation beyond what it meant for the fight (nothing acknowledging how he both lost one of his strongest potential assets and how he participated in robbing both Megumi and Tsumiki of their youth - this at least might come up in a flashback alongside Nobara's situation, if Nobara is 100% dead then the writing is even shittier for not bringing her up properly), went to have a fun fight, had fun and died rip. Even his dying hallucinations were a generic pat-on-the-back 'u did well haha it's great that u had fun' rather than anything meaningful. You could say Gege is salty towards Gojo specifically but it's not like other main characters are faring any better so far... Yuji vs Sukuna is set up in a way where it's just too simple of a straightforward revenge battle with the side of getting Megumi back or killing him, the only thing we can look forward to really. And i can't be excited about Kenjaku vs anyone bc it's not like Yuji ever showed any interest in his parentage (and no mommy issues agh) or got to know Gojo's backstory or anything that would have given him a personal interest in going against Kenjaku at all and none of the other characters have personal beef with Kenjaku either... Like, Yuta a little, but much less so now that Kenjaku is just another big villain for everyone to defeat rather than 'need to kill him myself so that gojo doesn't have to'. Sukuna vs Kenjaku could also be fun if we learned about their past but a Heian flashback would probably just make the story even less engaging at this point. Plus any fight will still do a bunch of that 'actually i had THIS technique/item/skill all this time or i just came up with it even!!' Probably that's what's going to happen with unrevealed Sukuna techniques and Yuki's research. Yeahhh anyway...

[marune2]

Johan Faust and the true abaut he’s dad chapter 2

Josele canty is @loosesodamarble oc and this is a colap whit her🤭 have a nice day and thank you my dear Loo for this I love do colap whit you

————————————

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Johan." Josele knelt down in front of Johan and reached out to hug him. "It's hard to explain but I-"

Johan pulled away. His big, teary eyes pierced through Josele as he continued to sob, "If Lucifugus is so terrible and hurt you, why does papa love him? What did he do?!"

The weight of Johan's world was on Josele's shoulders in that moment. And the burden of it...

"Johan... This will be hard to understand but Heinrich loved Lucifugus long before he ever hurt me and Nacht. He didn't even *know* until a few years back," Josele said, doing her best to explain. "And the thing about Lucifugus is..." Her gaze lowered to her lap and she watched her hands fidget. "He's a person. And people are... complicated. They aren't all good or all evil. People are just themselves and they do good and bad things. Lucifugus is a person who did good things for your papa but did a bad thing to me and Nacht."

Johan shook his head.

"But why did my dad hurt you and Nacht?" he asked, his body trembling with his overwhelming emotions. "What makes him so bad that people don't wanna talk about him? And why does papa love someone that everyone hates?" His tears fell faster.

Josele just look’s sad at him „you dad did take someone imposante from us but you papa did he safe and give him some imposante Person back as fare I know things are complicated Johan nothing is black and white it’s give many grey colors here….“

Johan stare at here and rubbing he’s teary eyes „oh……this is why he did take a important person from your…..

Josele looks sad at the child in front of her“yes…“

Johan stop crying „so this is why the person whas imposante too many of you and most of you are mad this he is taken……..“Johan remembers the name of the person she mean he did he’s name……

Josele looks whit sad eyes at Johan „yes pretty mush Johan I’m sorry“

Johan loos oddly sad tired but better now but Stare josele in the eyes again „now I understand your I don’t know if Nacht did tell you this but I did in hired dad’s second Magic I did use it one time I did see Nacht’s face…..do josele do you think I going too hurt you and Nacht like dad did do it’s this why Nacht did not like my many years and did stare at my like this?

"If I'm to be perfectly honest..." Josele started.

She stared at Johan. At his big eyes full of youthful innocence, part of which Josele had now ruined. At his tears and heavy frown from genuine heartbreak. At his nubby horns and barely developed wings which gave away his devilish nature. Still so young. Johan was young and kind and unknowing of the world. Josele reached out and this time Johan let her touch him. She wiped away his tears.

"You are your dad's son. And you've inherited his magic. But you aren't him," Josele stated calmly. "I don't think you'll hurt me and Nacht, not on purpose at least."

Johan jolted slightly. "D-dad hurt you by accident too..." His form wilted and more tears started to fall.

"But unlike your dad, you know me and Nacht. You love us and you'd be sorry if you hurt us, right?"

Johan mutely nodded.

"Your dad didn't know better and never said sorry. But I'm sure you will. And so it'll be okay. Does that make sense?" Josele asked while patting Johan on the head.

Johan stared at Josele for a moment before shaking his head.

"Confusing, huh?" Josele laughed.

"Uh-huh..."

„It‘s ok Johan whit time you will understand ok?

„uh huh josele…“

„You are young Johan but understand I believe in you we believe in you your have a good heart Johan I did see you grown up too you young lovely child“

Johan look’s stopped crying again at josele „uhu I understand thank you josele I don’t let you down I will protect you all I promise“

Josele looks whit a small smile at Johan he is so pure and genuinely „it’s ok but right now we will take care of us all ok?“

Johan stare at josele whit a more happy face“ ok thank you this you did tell my the truth josele I will go now and think…“

Josele smile then at Johan „it’s ok the talk whas hart for both of us a little rest will doing well“

Johan looks too josele and go then away too he’s room

Josele looks after Johan it’s whas indeed a hart talk Johan is so a lovely child……hopefully he will doing well…..

End

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

So they do have the gene 😭 well I think they'd have to so they still probably have a chance of not getting it

I think they would've already outright said if they did (also I looked it up, since I'm doing this a little while later because I was doing something, and yeah it's basically 50/50)

AAAAHHHHHHH YEP CONFIRMATION TK HAS IT TOO 😭😭😭😭

AAAAAHHHHH CARLOSSS 😭😭😭 MY BOYSSS

S T O P P P HE LOOKS SO HEARTBROKEN AND LOST 😭😭😭😭💔💔❤️

I just love him so much 😭😭

I will be glad to get the tarlos moments though :')

OPE that doesn't look good o.o

Oh no 😭 and poor guy to be in that bad of shape too :((

Uhhh ohhhh

Then how are they gonna get him out? Or like save him I mean if they have to

I mean they're them so they'll probably stay

AAHHHH YEP EVACUATION

:O NO! TOMMY NO!

AAAAHHHHHHHH

UH OH UH OH UH OH

TOMMMMYYY

OH NO O.O

I don't think they'd permanently/majorly injure someone or kill them off this close to the wedding but still A A H

I'm stressed xd

That's the last of my last thoughts! Now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

I looved this episode!! I always love Grace storylines and even though I was scared for her for half of it (seeing the girl in the bathtub and remembering what this episode was gonna be was STRESSFUL let me tell you xD), she slayed so hard this episode :DD. By the way the two o's in "loved" was on purpose lol, three (more obviously on purpose) just didn't fit quite right. Anyway, I also enjoyed the Robert and TK/Owen/kind of Carlos plot as well :D! Even if we didn't see to much of it :). But I am S C A R E D. I honestly don't know how this will end up. Anyway, it was great to see the team :D, even if it wasn't too much, and it was nice how even with these bigger plots going on, the type of episode without other calls, we still had one since it led up to the main storyline :). And of course we love Grace and Carlos working together again 🥰🥰. So yeah, just a really great episode all around :D. A bit heartbreaking though xd.

Now it's time for the individual parts!

Marjan! She was great this episode :D. Also, I considered putting most of the team together, but I decided not to and to just put everyone separate this episode :)). Anyway, we didn't see her much, but she slayed as always 🥰. She was great at her job :D. I love her 🥰🥰.

Paul! He was great this episode too, even if we didn't see him much :D. Also we've seen it before but I just love him being the honest one lol xD :). Little details like that are what help bring it together and make them feel like a family :). Anyway, he was great at his job this episode 🥰. Even in the face of relighting fire lol. I love him <33.

Mateo! Even though we didn't see much of him this episode, he was great :D. He also survived (I say that not quite literally but, secondarily, literally as well xD) the relighting fire lol, so good for him xD :D. And he was great at his job this episode :)). Also him saying TK's face looked symmetrical XD. Way to be too specific so we know it's the opposite my boy, lol <33. I love him 🥰🥰❤️.

Nancy! She was great this episode :D. I loved her little interrupt lunch line xD. Anyway, she was great at her job 🥰. Even through the crazy that was illegal organ transplant man xd. Though at least she fared better than TK lol. She did help find the guy though, so that was good :D. But yeah :))! I love her ❤️❤️🥰.

Tommy! She was great this episode 🥰. I especially loved her little moments with Grace :)). Like at the fire station, but even more so the one at the end with her telling Grace to stop moving xD. It's just little things but they're adorable :'). They're besties, your honor <33. Also, she better be okay next episode 😭. I think she probably will, almost definitely, but that doesn't stop me from being afraid xd. She wouldn't leave that man there though, so hopefully they both make it out <33. Safely, as well lol. Even if they have to be rescued, they better be okay :'). Or at least Tommy, no offense sir lol. But back to this episode, I'm glad she managed to help solve everything :). She was great at her job :D. I love her 🥰🥰.

Owen! I live in FEAR!! Anyway xD, he was great this episode lol :). His little moments with Robert were so cute 🥰. He just wants to be brothers your honor :D. I like just said that but whatever I don't care xD. Anyway, I'm glad they get to spend this time together <33. Especially given the news at the end of the episode 😭. I think Owen has a worse chance writing wise than TK, but we'll just have to see. But based on my little bit of research, TK's not even at risk if Owen doesn't have it. So. AAH. Anyway xd. Scary <3. I really do hope everything ends up okay :((. But I'll talk a bit more about that in Judd's - you'll see why. Anyway, I don't think we even saw Owen work this episode xD. But, I'm sure he was good at his job lol :). I love him <33 ❤️.

TK! AAAAHHHHHHHH!! Once again, I LIVE IN FEAR!! Anyway, we'll get to that in a moment xdd. TK was great this epsiode 🥰. Poor man got injured again xdd. I would say punched again, but I don't think we've seen him get punched since 1x03 lol, so I don't think that really counts XD. And he didn't get a concussion, just a black eye, so I'mma just stick to injury. Still, it's just a very TK thing to do xdd. Well, happen to him more than do lol. Anyway xD. Man was going through it lol <33. And he'll be going through it MORE, NEXT EPISODE 😭😭. Sorry, sorry, still not time yet xD. Anyway, seeing him be so excited to meet Robert was so sweet :'DD. And find out about his cousins, of course 🥰🥰. I doubt we'll get it but I honestly really wanna see them come by for a visit at some point in the future, so TK can be a big cousin :'D. Anyway, it was super cute :')). And I love that Robert gave him the journal 😭. So sweet :')). Now TK has a chance to know his grandfather a bit :'D. Loved it <33. Ahh, anyway, I have to mention again that I just enjoyed them mentioning TK getting decked by that guy lol. Idk, it's hard to explain 🥰. I think it's just my love of angst, acknowledgement of injury, and outsider pov lol xDD. Anyway, now, about next episode 😭. I am S C A R E D!! I don't THINK they'd have TK find this out right before his wedding, but I'm not totally sure. I think, like I said, it has a better chance of Owen having it and TK not. Especially since, based on TK research, Owen would have to have it for TK to have a chance of having it. So unless the scare is before they find out if Owen has it or not (and TK's just saying in the scene we saw a bit of, or whatever scene he says it in if it isn't that tarlos scene, that it's in their family) and then it turns out neither of them have it, realistically I'm more eorried about Owen o.o. But favoritism wise I'm more worried about TK xD. I just really hope it all ends up okay 😭😭😭💔💔❤️❤️. I just want them both to be okay <33. I am really sorry for Robert though :((. And it sucks that they'll have to lose him <33 :'((. Maybe we'll see the cousins then lol. Anyway xD. TK was great at his job this episode :). I'm glad he helped find the guy, and we even got a little tarlos moment out of it :D. Yes I'm talking about the "babe", leave me alone XD. And of course the scene after getting punched with the 126 was amazing lol. I love him 🥰🥰❤️❤️.

Judd! He was great this episode :D. I loved all the him and Grace moments 🥰🥰. They are my babeys your honor <333. And I just love how no matter what, even when he needs to call her out, he always supports her <33. They always support each other :')). It's just so great to see <33. And the bit at the end was amazing XD. First fod all, the little forehead kiss 😭😭😭😭?? I'm dead <333, theya re so adorbale your honor :')) <3333. And then him telling off the Detective dude xDD - gold. Literally amazing lol <33. Anyway, I'm so glad Grace is okay, and obviously Judd is too :')). Also, Charlie content <333. We love to see it :D 🥰🥰. And ik I'm just repeaitng the same stuff but the call comforting her, wanting to take off work and take her home, giving he a shoulder massage - he loves her so much and he was there for her every step of the way 😭. Your honor I just love them <333. Anyway, now about next episode xdd. I say xdd because it looks like it's gonna be so crazy lol. But you may be wondering: Oasis, what does that have to do with Judd? Because he looks to be in charge, probably while Owen deals with the situation caused by this week's news? Well, partly, my dear friends, but that's not entriely it. xD. Now, here's the thing. When I went to rewatch the promo (which I did like three times in a row lol) so I could remember little details and the order of things for my delayed liveblogging of it, I saw a comment that was basically like "Is Judd captain now?". Here's the thing: we've been seeing that a lot lately. We know he's basically next in line. I say basically because I mean like "next in line" lol. Anyway! My point is, we've been seeing it a lot. And now, Owen is being threatened by a terminal illness. As in, he might have one. We know he wants Judd to take over should he retire or should something happen to him, which I basically already said, but I bring up because that was after a life threatening experience. He's already been thinking about this. So, though this part I didn't specifically think about until just now (and I don't feel like going back and adding it to Owen's), I wouldn't be surprised if Owen retired next episode. I mean, I would till be surprised, but if he receives a Huntington's diagnosis, I wouldn't be surprised :'(. We've been transitioning Judd viewer wise, having seen him direct so many calls, so it would make sense. But my original thought wasn't that specific. Just that seeing Judd in this role so often would prepare us for Owen leaving, one way or another. And Huntington's would definitely be a reason to do that. And now that I think about it, especially if he wants to spend time with his brother. He even said this episode he was having to take a fair amount of time off work. There's just a bunch of layers to it and whole I'd hate it, I think it would make sense if it does happen. I mean, I'd love Judd as captain, he'd be great at it (as we've seen). But I just don't want that big change right now xd. In my life and also in the timeline of the show lol. And I don't wanna lose Owen <33. Because if he retired, there would be no choice but to see him less. And while sometimes I wouldn't mind that xD, I don't want him gone :'(. I'd miss him <3. But, hopefully this is all just conjecture :'), and Judd's takeover that makes it sound like a hostile takeover lol) doesn't happen till farther in the future :')). I won't say much farther, but past all of this lol. Anyway, back to Judd this episode xd (honestly the future stuff as accidentally more about Owen but whatever, it was also about Judd and if I talk about it in the first one I have to talk about it in both, instead of just the second lol xD it's just more dramatic this way XD). He slayed so hard 🥰. And, as always, he loves Grace with his entire being :DD. I love him <33 ❤️🥰❤️.

Carlos! He was great this episode :D. Like I've said, I love a good Carlos and Grace team up 🥰🥰. I'm so glad we got them again this episode :D. Yk, I was scared (not literally but like ohh noo that would be awkward lol) that TK's section would be longer than Judd's, since I'm kind of puting them in length/focus order, but now I'm thinking Carlos and Grace's won't be aslon as Judd's xD. Ah well, he was sharing some of it with Owen lol. Anyway xD. WE FINALLY GOT NEWS ON DETECTIVE REYES!! It's unfortunately not happening xdd xD. I mean, I think there's still a chance it'll happen in the future (especially if he gets injured or something, but I don't want him to be forced into it xd - or if they do end up having kids I feel like it's more likely. Not necessarily more likely than patrol cop, but more likely to happen then than at another time), but for right now it appears to be a no go :/. I really do want it at some point, but at the same time, I like having him as a patrol officer :D. If only there were something in between xd. I mean, besides him just helping out when he can. But with all his skills I think I will probably happen eventually. I will say though, from a writing standpoint patrol officer does make more sense. With Carlos as a patrol officer he can have more professional interactions with the other characters than he would as a detective. They're much more likely to see each other on calls. So yeah, I don't think they'll just leave it entirely, but it could at least be a more central and solid storyline in the future, the choice and whatnot. But, eh, we'll see :D. For now I just love him 🥰🥰. And I'll love him no matter what :D :). Anyway, I'm scared for TK next week 😭. And thus I'm scared for him <33. But I'm also really excited for that tarlos scene :'DD, the (all, hopefully) the others we'll get :')) 🥰. Presumably lol. But I'm sure there will be at least a couple xD. Anyway, he was amazing at his job this week :)). I'm so glad they caught the trafficking ring :'D. Vengeance for Liz :'). I may have gotten her name wrong there so that's awkward but I'll check later and edit if I'm wrong, even if it's after this sentence lol. Anyway, justice for her and all those other girls too :'DD 🥰🥰🥰. That's great <33. I'm so proud of them all - the victims, and everyone for solving it :D. But yeah, Carlos was awesome :')). I love him <33 ❤️🥰.

Grace! She was amazing this episode :DDD 🥰🥰. She slayed so hard 🥰 :D. Liz (again, I think that was her name xd) dying was so sad DD': 😭😭💔. And I felt so bad for Grace :'((. Not to even mention the part about Charlie - no matter how awful it is, she's right. She's had to fear that, and she has to fear it for Charlie, and that's just horrible :'(( 😭💔. But I'm glad this time everything worked out okay :')) <33. Well, not okay, but they caught them :'). They put a stop to the trafficking ring and I'm so proud of them all <3. But especially Grace :'D. She was there from the beginning, she was investigating form the beginning, she was bringing people in and protecting what people she could. Even if some of it was reckless xD, she did wonderful and I'm so proud of her <33. I know I already said it but it bears repeating xD. And like I also said earlier, Grace and Carlos ALWAYS slay :DD. I know we've only gotten them one other time, unless you count searching for Marjan (I'll probably count that as half lol), but their team up is legendary :)) ;). I love them together <33. Anyway, I'm so glad Grace is okay :'D. I was SCARED with that promo o.o, and throughout the episode, but I figured she would be okay. But some of that figuring was hope, and eve when you know they'll be okay it's still scary xdd. But, she's alright :)). Because she's really freaking smart and an amazing actress xD :D. Honestly, her switching the glasses was so good XD. I didn't think about her doing that but I figured she had to know it was dosed so I just didn't know what would happen lol. Anyway, I feel kind of bad that she was the main character this episode, and the last in the review, but her section will probably be smaller than the last three xd. I still love my girl though <333. And it'll be close, maybe longer than the last one, so eh :)). Anyway, I have to say again that I loved her and Judd this episode :'DD. They're always adorbale but it's always nice to see how much they love each other :')) <333. Those two "always"s are very close together but it just needed to be that way lol. Anyway, they're just so sweet, and they had a bunch of tender moments too :')). As per usual, lol ❤️. They're just great and I love my children so much <33. It's just beautiful to see how much they love each other and how supportive they are of one another :'DD. Anyway, yeah <333. Grace was amazing at he job his episode :)). I love her ❤️❤️🥰🥰 <33.

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode! I thought the plots were great, and there were some really funny moments xD. There were also some really heartbreaking ones 😭, but they were great too <3. Honestly there wasn't too much humor this episode, but it still worked :). Everyone was great, even if we didn't see them much. I am SCARED for next time though xdd. For several people, lol - namely Tommy, Owen, and TK, but just in general lol. And AAHHH the last one before the finale :'D. I can't y'all it doesn't feel like it's over yet xd. But alas, it almost is :'D. At least then I won't have to worry about them all the time though, lol xD. It's like they're my reckless children lol (really, they are). Anyway! I loved this episode :)). It really brought the drama, but it also has a lot of really sweet moments :'DD 🥰. Emotions all around, and it was amazing :)).

So yeah! I loved this episode, I thought it was really great. I'm scared for the next one! This ahs been my review of. . .

9-1-1: Lone Star, Season 4, Episode 15: Donors

It was amazing! I'm really excited for the next episode, but I'm also super nervous. I'll be back here next week with my review of. . .

9-1-1: Lone Star, Season 4, Episode 16: A House Divided

See you next week!

[residentdormouse]

Yammering Out “Y” Words

Yeah, yikes. As yelling turns to yawning, I must yield this battle to you @mrsmungus; my mind only yearns for yesterday’s dreams. For younger years where being yanked from a slumber wouldn’t be as yucky. As it is, best I have to offer is the image of yeti’s doing yoga in the yard to maintain their youth.

…aka I am so tired and there is not enough coffee…

My Words: Yell, Yawn, Yard, Yank, Youth

Your words: Since this is going to be a scattered hit or miss, with a majority of miss - find five sections with a ‘Z’ anywhere in it. Bonus Points for a word starting with 'Z'.

As Always - Open Tag, even though this really is coming to the end now… What are we going to do with the time. I feel like pooh trying to brainstorm a new challenge.

(There were a surprising amount of spoilers with these words. Or maybe I’m using spoiler too liberally. I’m not sure. I’ve tried my best.)

Yell:

Another wave rolled over her, and she dropped to the floor, involuntarily yelling out in pain. While she had done well at hiding it so far, at putting up a strong front, this shock radiated out from her and she couldn’t hold back the cries of pain any longer. The added verbal release made her unable to hear that Lloyd had dropped to the ground along with her. It wasn’t until the pain fully receded the she noticed him laying there curled in on himself on the floor is, eyes closed and face twisted in a look of torment.

It took her a second to fully register what she saw, but as soon as it did, she quickly made her way over. "Hey, Lloyd... Hey…" she shook his shoulder and he jolted up into a sitting position, immediately scurrying back against the wall.

"What the FUCK did you just do to me?!" He placed a hand to his temple; energy of a wounded and cornered animal exuded off of him in waves.

Yawn:

(Hey, another two-fer!)

The next morning came faster than either of them had wanted. Both her and Glen were slow to make their way over to Stu and Fran’s. While he said he appreciated the nod to his youth, Glen made the determination that the all night, late night drinking needed to be curbed, at least for a short while; they would both be essentially useless otherwise. Last night had certainly taken its toll on him, and she honestly wasn’t faring any better. Thankfully, the previous occupants of their home had the ibuprofen stocked up.

She let out a yawn as Stu greeted them. "Good mornin', you two! Beautiful start to the day, isn’t it?" His extra chipper greeting was solely to antagonize and that fact was not missed.

Walking right past with a smile and a middle finger, Hayden didn't give him much mind. "Uh-huh, yeah, love you too, Redman." Glen just shrugged, following behind her.

Yard:

(cheating a bit.... Yard shows up, but it's endgame of Spiral - please accept backyard as a substitute. It can be just a plain old yard for our purposes. 😂)

As they passed through the door, Hayden instantly felt the relief of their arrival come back. The journey was over. They had made it. And she was accepted.

Introductions were already underway on her arrival, but she picked up quickly. Ray Brentner was sitting at the table, observing silently, while Tom Cullen was playing with Kojak on the floor. The latter pair brought a huge smile to her face, and plunking down on the carpet, she joined in.

“So I’m not the only sucker for his belly rub whines. He's good at that.”

“My Laws, yes! This is the first dog that's come here. M-O-O-N that spells first. Is he yours?”

"Glen found him. Only dog we saw on the trip as well."

"Well, I'm mighty glad you all made it."

Equally glad they had made it, Hayden continued to pet the pup until everybody moved through the kitchen to the (back)yard for dinner.

Yank:

(Four instances of this and all of them spoiler-rific. I guess this may be the least of the bunch? From where you’re at, I’m assuming teal book has already been mentioned enough to know it has importance.)

Hayden yanked out the teal book from the bookshelf, and watched the wooden pieces of shelf that connected it splinter away. She knew the deafening static now surrounded her, but for the first time, the underwater feeling was to her benefit. Now that the screeching static was simply a muffled noise in the background, she only had to fight against her fading energy.

She tried to hop down from the chair, but it turned into falling. With a hard crash to the floor, she let out a pained cry. Her shoulder cried out at her, and it took all of her willpower to push herself up from her position. Once she brought herself back up to standing, she looked back at the red spot on the hardwood, smeared across the floor where her back had hit. Time constraints were baring down on her.

Shaking, she moved back to the bookshelf and put all her weight on the side panel, beginning to push.

Youth:

There was something special about watching karma happen in real time, and Max could barely contain her laughter as high-on-his-horse James stumbled and crashed face first into the dirt.

“Don't worry, Graceful, you get used to it."

"Right."

By the time her hand extended towards him, he was already up on one knee. A moment passed, before he grudgingly accepted the help. Clearly, he was not somebody who liked to rely on others. She understood the logic. For the bulk of her youth, she was the same way. Headstrong and independent, and you best not get in her way. A woman of her own making.

Until she wasn’t.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Australiens (2014)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

Australiens walks into the room like it’s about to be your new step daddy but it couldn’t be more wrong. The creativity started and stopped with its title. The rest is all downhill. I can forgive the horrible special effects but the jokes are horrendous and the characters worse.

17 years after a close encounter with a flying saucer, Andi Gibson (Rita Artmann), her brother Elliot (Doug Hatch), and her bandmates Cam (Tamara McLaughlin), Keith (Lawrence Silver), and John (Joe Bauer) spot an alien ship. It’s a full-blown invasion focussed squarely on Australia. Convinced she’s the key to ending the conflict, Andi leads them on a mission to save the world.

I’ll get the special effects out of the way. At best, the aliens’ ship look passable. When they start firing beams and knocking over buildings, it isn’t convincing but you give this low-budget venture a pass. Then, you get to see who pilots those ships and any good faith you might’ve had vanishes. The creatures look so awful you expect them to start giving you directions to some run-down tourist trap or the college multimedia course. Still, you might dock Australiens some points but admit the movie is worth checking out if the writing was worth a damn, which it isn’t.

It takes about 2 minutes for Australiens to make a joke about Uranus. The first time, I'll give it a pass (partially because a child makes the joke) but a similar comedic affront comes around every 20 minutes or so. That’s the level of writing we’re talking about. It’s like the movie is telling you it’s going to be garbage right away with horrible performances and a wig so unconvincing you’re not sure if it’s purposely crap. You’ve run out of fingers to count down things the movie does wrong when it suddenly flashes forward to introduce us to the story's REAL protagonists. At least we're making our way towards the end credits. That's something, right?

Each of our heroes is either an annoying stereotype or irritating for another reason. Andi is obsessed with spacemen, which is understandable considering she saw one as a kid and is witnessing an invasion. Keep that in mind when I say she takes things too far. Even her bandmates are fed up with her talks of little green men. They’ve got bigger things to worry about because they collectively have less musical talent than a carrot. If your protagonist isn’t going to be competent or intelligent, they better be charismatic. Failing this, they better be funny. If not, you get someone like Andi.

The rest of our main characters fare no better. Elliot is one of these cartoon nerds that doesn’t exist in real life. You can predict every single one of his lines from the moment we see him puffing on his ashthma inhaler as a kid. I had given up on the film long before he started talking about a strange lump on his testicles. I hoped it wouldn’t get any worse, but it does. This Tasmania-obsessed script lasts a gargantuan hour and fifty-one minutes. In bad comedy time, that roughly translates to a thousand Earth years.

Once in a while, the movie will manage to catch you off-guard with an amusing gag. Does it redeem it in any way? No. The attempts at humor are so lazy it’s the kind of thing you’d see high schoolers come up with. Seeing it delivered by “professionals” fills you with a level of embarrassment that threatens to be fatal. I know you’re not supposed to take what happens in this story too seriously but there isn’t even any attempt to make the plot make sense and at several points it looks like it’s about to try and tie things together to make multi-layered gags… and then Australiens just gives up. You'll be in agony until its post-credit scene.

Australiens is the kind of movie that’s too pathetic to have a Wikipedia page. No one could enjoy it enough to take the time and effort necessary to write a synopsis worthy of the site. Everyone who hates it (so, everyone who wasn’t involved in its production) will be glad to put as much distance between them and this black hole of humour as humanly possible. (January 22, 2021)

[liopleurodean]

Season 8, Episode 2: What's Up, Tiger Mommy?

Chicago. Land of wind and sadness

Interesting

That's strange

Fun!

What is that?

It could be an artifact..?

Poor girl

That's not swinging by

Oh, Kevin...

Leverage

Dean's right

Easier said than done

No, he can, he's just saying that it's not smart

9:00, dude, he just said

If a little sad

Good eye, Dean

Mm, probably not

Someone kinked it

Or that

Smooth

Hi Dean!

Dude. Infiltration spike

Poor Linda

Aw

Pfft, sorry

Sulfur?

Interesting choice

Sorry, Linda

Nope

Unfortunately

She's taking this really well

Fun times

She wants to come with!

It's giving Elastigirl and I love it

Sounds like fun

She's a good parent

Good answer

Nice

It's a good idea

Nice!

Kevin's face 😂

Dean's impressed

Poor Kevin

Wow

Okay, Dean

That makes absolutely no sense

Pixie dust

Oh boy

That's not good

Oh, Dean

That's helpful

Like, a stone one

Dean...

Dean..?

Wow

Dean.

He's not all there

Leverage

I mean, it worked, but at what cost?

Dean...

At least he didn't kill the guy

Baby's better

Kevin

Dude. Come on

Yeah, don't cross him

Buddy, they're already famous

Nice!

I love her

Good job, Sam

No. They just need information

I really love her

Who's this?

Arlen?

Oh, beau as in sweetheart. Ew

Interesting

Fair enough

Standard Winchester fare

Dean.

No kidding

Right...

Good idea

Mr. Peanut?

Not much

Sam. Absolutely NOT

NO WAY. UNH-UNH. NOT HAPPENING.

I'll get in line

I guess

Right

I'm sorry, Baby

Dean's gonna go off

What did I say?

Yikes

More than the gun? Wow

Is that Mjolnir???

That's not helpful

Crap, there goes that plan

Dang it. Crowley

Clever, Crowley, how long did it take you to come up with that one?

Don't even think about it

I really really love her

Mm, I think it'd be worth it to Dean

This can't be the first time he's called them Moose and Squirrel, right?

Greed, Dean

Yeah, they'll need it

Uh oh

Interesting find

Sam?

Dean doesn't know much

Cas didn't make it

Sorry, kiddo

Of course it was.

Too much heart was always Castiel's problem

Hi, Cas

Aw

How do you think?

Good to know

Yeah, that's Cas

Benny...

That's true

Mm...

Did you, Cas?

Oh, Dean...

And Dean is a human! He can't hold out the way you can!

I guess that's fair, but come on

It's worth a shot

I need you...

Dean knows how to handle them

When has "too dangerous" stopped the Winchesters?

Good

I identify as other

What are they doing?

Do they really think they're gonna bet with money?

Why do they have a Costco membership? Is that Linda's?

Dean.

Good idea, scope out the place

Pickpocketing!

Dean.

Don't do it

THAT IS MJOLNIR

Okay...

Yikes

Starting with dollars, then

Topless Mona Lisa

They would really drop the Vatican for a single tablet???

Niiice, I've got to credit the demons for that one

Yeah, okay

What???

That was unexpected

Linda...

Don't...

Right, but they're not worth the same

The angel's got a point

It's about quality

Something something poor woman's two bronze coins

What?

Ouch

Oh, Kevin...

I like the lighting

Poor Linda

No kidding

Right...

What's he have planned?

That's true, but...

Touche

Can't really argue with that

Who is that, anyway?

That's weird

What is that?

Bold move

Evidently

Poor Linda

Dean, be careful

Really? Right now?

Dang it

Uh oh

Is he gonna use MJOLNIR?

Yup!

Kevin, no!

Yeah...

This isn't going well

Why is his smoke red?

And where's the tablet?

What is that supposed to mean?

Not on purpose

Oh no...

Literally

No. If Dean wanted to kill her, she'd be dead

Or maybe not

I guess

Oh, Dean...

Dang it, Kevin

No...

[honorhearted]

“I’m from Georgia,” the woman offered. “Greensboro. No, my family don’t own any distilleries, but they’re wealthy…and Patriots, to boot…” 

Benjamin scrunched his nose. "Greensboro?" he echoed, perplexed. "Although I, myself, have not personally been to the colony, I confess to being an avid reader -- learning about other colonies and countries is an adored pastime of mine -- and regrettably, I have not heard of such a township. Is it near the capital, possibly?"

Wealthy patriots... Well, that was assuredly a comfort, if nothing else. Unbidden, the tension in his posture slackened, and he regarded her with a newfound sort of interest. "So, you're a wealthy patriot with a strange musket, and even stranger vernacular, gallivanting through the woods for...what purpose, exactly? Are you trying to escape an unwanted engagement?"

It was none of his business -- truly, it wasn't -- and Benjamin didn't even know this woman's name. Still, whether or not it was due to the blood loss, he found himself genuinely intrigued by whatever she was withholding.

Appearing a touch sheepish, the woman said, “Sorry, you just asked where I’m from, not for my life story.” 

"Maybe so," Benjamin agreed, "but I would at the very least like to know your name. When my grandchildren ask about this scar, I'd like to be able to reveal my assailant-turned-savior." Chuckling, he winced, then schooled his features on a slow exhale. "You sure know your way around a knife... Did you grow up on a farm?"

The redhead huffed. “You should see some of the scars I’ve got.”

Blinking rapidly, he gaped at her in astonishment. Perhaps she was joking -- surely, such a comment was said in jest? -- yet regardless, a faint bloom of pink stained his cheeks, making him a touch dizzy as he huffed. "Well, so long as you keep running through the woods picking fights with soldiers, I imagine you'll get plenty more," he agreed.

Mercifully, the woman cut the thread with a small pair of scissors -- that oughta do it -- and grateful, Benjamin assessed the bloody stitches with a semblance of relief. "Thank you," he replied. "I suppose I'll be on my way then..."

Rolling onto his hands and knees, he huffed and puffed while slowly lifting up onto his feet. Behind him, he could hear the redhead scrambling after to follow suit.

“Listen," she said. "I’m out here on my own right now, and while you know firsthand I can handle myself, I don’t think I’d fare well running into any British militia…Mind if I tag along?”

Oh, she was good -- very good. Even if this woman hadn't know about his allegiance, she quite clearly knew how to play into his conscience.

Gnawing on his cheek, Benjamin appraised her a moment before muttering, "With all due respect, madam, I'd say the King's Men have far more to worry about than you do. But...you are right. You only have one musket compared to their several." Limping in the direction of his horse, he called over his shoulder, "I don't feel right taking you to our encampment, but I can bring you to wherever you were headed -- someplace close by, I imagine? Unless, of course, you're far crazier than I initially thought, seeing how you don't have any transportation to speak of."

"Do you mean in a jeffy? A friend of mine has similar vernacular."  

Jeffy? She’d never heard of the term, and hell, that combined with her newest ally’s bewilderment was only more indication that something was out of place – she was out of place. God only knew how, but she was no longer in her own time, and as desperately as she wanted more proof that she was right, she felt it wouldn’t be a source of comfort. Treading carefully was key here if she was going to continue to protect herself. That much hadn’t changed. 

"Where are you from?" he pried, "Does your family run a distillery?" 

“I…” 

If she was unfortunately right about her current predicament, then the state of Lemoyne didn’t exist yet, which meant neither did the city of Saint Denis. Suddenly, all those hours spent with her mother planning fundraising events for the DAR and immersing herself in American history the way her parents insisted was going to pay off. Color her shocked. 

“I’m from Georgia,” she lied, knowing enough about the early founding of the closest state to make it believable, “Greensboro. No, my family don’t own any distilleries, but they’re wealthy…and Patriots, to boot…” 

Clara paused briefly, watching his eyes for any signs of confusion. Either he was actually a Continental Soldier, or he was a very convincing reenactor who wasn’t in uniform. Technically, she wasn’t lying. Her familiy had previously lived in Georgia during the colonial era. They’d moved shortly after Lemoyne was founded as a state, buying up land to expand their finances. Thank God she at the very least had an ample knowledge of her family’s history to use. 

“But of course, with all the Tories in the area, it’s been difficult for them, so they’ve been in hiding along the Pennsylvania border, last I heard anyway. I ain’t seen them in person for about two years now.”

His hissing from the needle’s puncture was followed by a rueful chuckle, she shook her head, “Sorry, you just asked where I’m from, not for my life story.” 

"God above, that never gets easier," he gritted.

“You should see some of the scars I’ve got.”

Oh. Maybe that was too personal for this era…

Thankfully, he seemed to be rather accommodating with her questions, answering to the best of his ability despite his confusion and the pain from her stitching. 

"I'm not sure how to be any clearer, madam... I serve His Excellency -- our country -- and if you believe me a defector, then I can assure you: I'm out here on special detail for our commander." 

How she wished any of this could bring her an ounce of comfort as he gestured toward their dead assailant, dead and still pooling in his own blood. 

"There is your bloody traitor."

“One less to worry about, I s’pose,” she remarked as she finished up her medical aid, using her knife to cut the thread, “That oughta do it…” 

Eyeing him subtly, she realized that sticking with him was her best bet for figuring things out. She needed to convince him to take him with her. 

“Listen. I’m out here on my own right now, and while you know firsthand I can handle myself, I don’t think I’d fare well running into any British militia…Mind if I tag along?”

[stargazer-sims]

21 - First Meeting (part two)

Dylan was way more upset than he was willing to admit when he woke up this morning feeling ill. He'd been lulled into a false sense of security by having fared so well immediately following the procedure, and this new development was a shock. It shouldn't have been, he tells himself now, but the eternal optimist in him had been more than willing to believe everything would be fine, and as always, he'd been disappointed when it wasn't.

He has every side effect Dr. Zira had described; fatigue, fever, dry eyes, muscle aches, and pain and swelling around the spot where she'd done the implantation procedure. It's just as if he's coming down with some sort of common infectious ailment, except with the added bonus of feeling like someone kicked him in the gut with a steel-toed boot.

Fortunately, after reading the info sheet the doctor had sent home with them, he and Zahir discovered that he’s allowed to have over-the-counter medication to reduce the pain and fever. That seems to have helped. He still doesn't feel great, but at least he's more than just barely functional now. He'll be okay to go to their first peer support group meeting, although he predicts he may need to do some extreme napping when they get home again afterwards.

At the moment, he's at the piano, playing some of his favourite songs from memory while he waits for Zahir to get ready to go out. He loves this bright corner where his piano resides. It's perfect for its purpose, just like everything else about this house. He smiles, remembering the first time he'd seen it after the renovations, and what a wonderful surprise it'd been. He likes surprises from Zahir especially, because Zahir knows him so well and never seems to go wrong in choosing things that please him.

They'd bought the house last August, but they hadn't actually moved into it until October, a few days before Dylan's birthday. It was an absolute mess inside and out when they first viewed it, which was why the asking price had been so attractive. It was obvious the previous owners hadn't cared about it, but Zahir did, and he assured Dylan he'd fall in love with it too, once it was fixed up. Dylan hadn't been sure at first, but architect Zahir had seen the house's potential and had called upon the engineers, builders and interior designers among his colleagues to make his vision real.

Zahir said Dylan wasn't allowed to see the inside until the renovations were completed. Not that Dylan wanted to, if he were being honest. He had no interest in the depressing sight of the utterly trashed interior of the house.

Then, on a warm, clear day in early October, Zahir told Dylan he had a special early birthday present for him and asked him to come for a drive. It didn't take long for Dylan to realize where they were going. He could hardly keep still in the passenger's seat of Zahir's truck as they turned onto the pretty tree-lined street where the house is located.

Just as Zahir had predicted, the second Dylan stepped inside, he was in love with it. This was mostly because the first thing he saw was the big, beautiful open-concept kitchen and dining room. Then, he'd turned around to look at the empty living room area. He noticed that Zahir had found someone to restore the fireplace, and then...

"You already moved in my piano!" He recalls exclaiming this with absolute joy, clapping his hands together like a little kid, completely heedless of how it might've looked.

Since they'd sold their old house when they purchased this one, they'd been staying with Dylan's brother and most of their things had been in storage. Dylan had missed his piano. Plunking away on the crappy electronic keyboard in his brother's basement hadn't even come close to satisfying him.

Zahir pulled him close and whispered in his ear, "I had it tuned for you, too."

Dylan remembers laughing in delight at this, not just because he was happy Zahir had taken such good care of his beloved piano for him, but because the tone in which Zahir told him about it being tuned sounded exactly like seduction. And maybe in a way it was, Dylan thinks. Zahir knows all the paths to his heart.

"Can I play?" he'd asked.

At that, Zahir had smiled indulgently at him. "Of course, my love. It's your piano. You don't need my permission."

He played, and Zahir sang. Their perfect duet filled every corner of the house, and suddenly it was their home, even before they'd ever spent a single night there.

Dylan thinks about the empty room upstairs, and how he and Zahir are going to decorate and furnish it for their future son or daughter. Soon enough, our duet will be a trio. This idea comforts him, and makes the lingering pain and fatigue feel more than worth it.

He's still lost in his musings when Zahir finally comes downstairs. Dylan glances sideways at him, appreciating how he looks in his snug-fitting jeans, but he doesn't stop playing.

"Is that the song from our first dance?" Zahir asks.

"You mean, our first awkward public display as a married couple?" Dylan finishes the last few measures, and then lets his fingers slide slowly off the keyboard. "Where I said sorry about forty-seven times in five minutes because I stepped on your feet that often?"

"You're so musically gifted, I was sure you must've been able to dance too," Zahir says. "I don't know why I never asked."

"In all the years we were together before we got married, did you ever see me dance? You probably didn't need to ask," Dylan says. "Anyway, being musical has nothing to do with dancing. That's all about, like, body movements and stuff. And you know me. I have about as much grace as a bulldog."

Zahir laughs. "Maybe, but I didn't marry you for your grace."

"That's a good thing," Dylan says.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. I just have to grab my wallet and my phone, and put my shoes on. Whose vehicle are we gonna take?"

"Let's take yours," Zahir says. "It's too frustrating, trying to find a decent parking space for the truck in that part of town."

"Okay, but can you drive, please?"

"Still not feeling good?" Zahir takes his hand and helps him up from the piano bench. "The ice cream and ibuprofen didn't help?"

"The ice cream helped a lot," he says. "The pills too, but the ice cream gave me the psychological boost I was looking for."

"I know what you like," Zahir says.

"You do," Dylan acknowledges. "I'm still not feeling the best, but I’m better than I was this morning. I want to take it easy, though. Driving requires too much concentration."

“All right. Leave it to me."

"Thanks."

"Are you feeling nervous at all?"

"About the group?" Dylan asks. "No. Nothing's changed about that since yesterday when you asked me. I'm still excited to meet everyone. Who's going to say no to more new friends?"

"I'm sure there are some people who might," Zahir says.

"The way I see it, we're all gonna need each other," Dylan says. "I mean, they don't call it a support group for nothing, right? These people are going to understand what we're going through, more than anybody else is going to."

"You're right. They're going to get it, more than even the people closest to us.”

"Yeah. Can't you just see us, a bunch of pregnant dudes all hanging out and complaining about how nobody understands our special needs? Just being like, complete divas and whining about everything?"

“I won’t let that happen. I’m going to try my best to understand every single one of your special needs.”

“So, you’re saying I won’t get a chance to be a total drama queen? Too bad. That might’ve been funny, just for the reactions I’d get.”

Zahir laughs and pulls him in for a hug and a kiss on the forehead. "You're handling this so well. I'm proud of you."

Dylan cuddles into him and rests his head on his shoulder. "It's a little scary," he admits. "Not the support group, but like, the whole pregnancy thing. But, I want this so much, and I don't even care how bad it might get. Not feeling good or being worried about stuff sometimes or whatever... None of that’s gonna matter nine months from now when Junior's in our arms."

"I thought we weren't naming them after one of us."

"We're most definitely not," Dylan assures him. "But, we've got to call them something until we find out if they're a girl or a boy and we pick their name. It feels sort of emotionally empty to just say 'the baby' all the time. It’s too generic, you know?”

"Junior it is, then."

"You think anybody else has a nickname for their baby?" Dylan asks. "For that matter, do you think anybody else is already, um... pregnant-ish?"

"Is that like being 'sort of pregnant'?"

"I don't know what else to call it," Dylan says. "I mean, we can't say we're pregnant until I have the confirmation scan, but we can't say we're not pregnant either, so..."

"I like how you say 'we', as if I'm actually doing something, too."

"You are doing something," Dylan says. "Do you think I could do this without you? And I don't just mean your DNA. I literally could not get through any of this without you supporting me. I'd be freaking out if I had to do it alone."

"As long as I'm around, you never have to do anything alone."

"I know."

They stay with their arms around each other for a moment longer, but eventually they both let go and step back. Dylan is reluctant to break the contact, and he thinks Zahir is as well, but they're both aware of the time.

"Shall we go?" Zahir asks.

Dylan nods. "Let's do this. One more bold step into the future."

[sarenhale]

!! I apologise for the upcoming text wall but I love talking about my wol's and get very excited whenever someone's happy to listen - I have a handful of character's but my main wol's Kou!! I post a lot about them on my ffxiv sideblog, elloratic-ffxiv!!

(I will probably put a read more here for the mobile users who don't want to have a "colour of the sky" moment)

Kou's an au'ra raen who's originally from Doma but hasn't been back since they were about 12 due to a probably still outstanding warrant for their arrest after they got out of a living situation they saw as hopeless via some desperate stabbing and booking it (for slightly more context they and their older brother were basically told they owed a debt to a local lord because their parents hadn't paid it off before their own deaths, and considering Kou's brother Hito was like 12 himself at the time and Kou was 4 neither really had the experience to go "well that sounds sketchy" so they grew up in an enviroment where they were expected to do whatever they could to make themselves useful as they "paid back" said lord for both the debt and basically raising them both). After that night of violence Kou slowly made their way to Eorzea via a lot of stowing away and picking up odd jobs to pay for fares until they eventually ended up in La Noscea at about 14, where I imagine they started their training!!

Kou's first two full classes (in the narrative at least) were Arcanism and Rogue, the first because they are highkey fixated on arcanism as a school of magic and thoroughly enjoyed the study of it, bluffing a little on their age to get a role in the arcanists guild (which nobody in the office really believed because they were still pre-t at the time and capped out at 4'11 but they also figured if the kid wanted to work here they could go into the apprenticeship track and see how it went from there) and eventually catching the eye of the rogues lot via being very quiet, very attentive and a little suspicious of the general shennanigans that the rogues guild takes part in. The rogues guild specifically didn't really take them on to train them at first because That Is A Very Small Young Teen but it was very convenient to have someone both in the arcanists guild and the rogues guild for the purpose of getting information between them, and it eventually sprouted into Kou gaining full membership of both as they got older - and eventually taller once they figured out how they wanted to transition to be more comfy with their presentation!

Quick side ramble about that because it's one of the reasons I love thinking about Kou so much, they are so gender - Kou's a genderqueer lesbian with a Lot of weird feelings about how strongly gendered their species sexual dimorphism is and growing up they didn't have a lot of time to think about those feelings but once they were safer in La Noscea they had more time to reflect and eventually figured out it wasn't necessarily being feminine that they didn't like, but the feeling of being pinged as a woman without so much as a second thought, so since they were already hyperfixated on arcanism and didn't really want to talk about this with anyone (Kou is. not good at talking about their feelings, they get better at that after a lot of effort on both their part and the scions parts) they decided to use some of what they'd learned to design a tattoo that regulated their hormones to both 1) influence their testosterone levels and 2) re-activate the parts of the brain that produce growth hormones since height is Such a part of au'ra gender presentation. It wasn't the smartest idea medically speaking!! But they sure did it!! going from sub 5 foot to 6'6 was a little rough though so it's a happy thing they were really close with a handful of people who were willing to pat their head gently through the god awful growing pains lnjkbhi

I could talk forever about Kou's friends from the teens in La Noscea but I also want to talk about how they ended up with the scions!! Y'Shtola being based in La Noscea would have seen Kou's growth into an adventurer (which I stretch out to take a few years since I prefer that in regards to timeline) and so is Intensely aware that they are 17 at the point in time where ascians start showing up at trying to kill them, and is also very aware that Kou does not seem to be particularly concerned about this despite the fact they got beat to absolute shit in most encounters with them and just healed it away instead of dealing with that which. Needless to say she had a fair number of concerns and so her decision to invite Kou to the scions was influenced both by yes, the fact they were a pretty skilled adventurer by this point, but also this kid needs to stay where I can see them I'm going to have an actual heart attack. Thancred experienced the same kind of dilemma shortly after the Ifrit fiasco because he had been under the impression Kou was a fair bit older than they actually were courtesy of their Mask Thing (which I'll elaborate on because that's a Big thing for them) and he didn't really put it together until Kou gave him a very stern talk after the fact about the fact he absolutely Could not blame himself for their facing ifrit alone because if he'd been there he would have died and honestly the amount of fretting he was doing he was reminding them of an older version of their brother, to which he tried to deflect by joking about him not possibly being that much older than their brother at which point they waved their hand and said Well He'd Be 25 By Now I'm Fairly Sure That's Younger Than You which. he didn't really catch at the time but he later asked how much younger said brother was than them since he hadn't really heard them say... well Anything about their personal life, to which they gave him a long look and told him they were the younger sibling by 8 years. Then he did math and he hated it. Every Scion except Y'Shtola has had a moment where they learned how young this weird tall stoic they've invited into their ranks actually is and every reaction they've gotten has reminded Kou of why exactly they hate having this conversation and don't correct people on their age, even after they turn 18 in mid-arr a little before the waking sands incident

In regards to personality!! Kou has a fair bit of struggle in regards to expressing their emotions in large part because of the enviroment they grew up in - both when it comes to living in an occupation, and the specific household they lived in because they always had to be masking. Struggling to figure out social rules and also never really taught how to process emotions, Kou just kind of defaulted to pressing everything that felt volatile or dangerous deep deep down because it felt a lot safer, and they've never unlearned that, which usually escapes notice on account of they come across as a stoic person regardless so that's usually the impression people take away - and to be fair they don't really understand it or recognise it themself either, something they're going to be dealing with all throughout their journey through the story, and a big part of why dark knight works Really well for them when they eventually hit that part of the story!! This masking is a large part of why masks are such a theme for them too - it starts as a way to seperate their new found "heroic" status from themself as a person, so they could change their act depending on what was needed from them. Eventually it became something they leaned on to facilitate their being this mythic "warrior of light" because without that distance created by the mask they really just... weren't that. The mask meant they didn't need to school their expression, didn't need to put energy into hiding that they could be putting into actually helping people, and it certainly helped hide that they were a lot younger than a lot of people thought they were. The mask helped form the persona and it made the act Doable for them because at the end of the day they felt like that's what it was, an act.

As the scions learn over time though this stoic persona they take on does Not last behind closed doors because as far as Kou pushes themself they get absolutely exhausted with it after a time and they need people they can lessen the act with. aka as soon as Kou feels comfortable enough to stop wearing a mask around the scions they clock the fact that This Really Is Just A Teen Huh. Having gotten pretty used to the mask Kou doesn't mask quite as much without it anymore, so once they do start taking it off around the scions they have a much easier time picking up their feelings because while their voice remains very monotone their face has become a fair bit more expressive and easy to read!! Which is very funny because they also quickly learn that they're incredibly easy to fluster with the most simple compliments. "You made that? It looks really good" is enough to have them trying to hide in the turtleneck of their jumper. They're a clown. Kou's a massive perfectionist and an equally massive dork who cannot sit still without getting anxious that they're not Doing Something so they've picked up a hundred and one hobbies (my oc excuse for their being an omnicrafter) and they often need to be bullied into getting some rest because tying their value to how useful their being is something they Very Sorely need to unlearn. Urianger has more than once had to pick them up like a disgruntled cat and half drag them away from the study because they got fixated on some new facet of study and forgot to eat Again and if he gives them "just a moment more" like they're asking they're gonna get absorbed again. What are the scions but found family and as much as Kou and Yda might argue pre stormblood because their hot and cold outlooks on life mesh poorly sometimes Kou trusts every single one of these people with their life and would die for them and every single one of the scions is very patiently trying to make it clear to Kou that You Really Don't Have To without making them uncomfortable by trying to get them to share why they're so skittish about sharing their struggles in the first place

I'm definitely losing some cohesion in regards to trying to explain things which is unfortunately pretty normal for me lnjibh (trying to get my thoughts in order never quite works out) but I have a handful of moments that I hold really dear to me that I've thought of for Kou!! Firstly I love the twins so much and Kou is so incredibly protective of them despite the fact I hc them as barely a year younger than them, catching up in age around shadowbringers which they are forever going to be slightly aghast at lkhjuiby - I imagine at some point early when Alisae was reconnecting with the scions she asked Kou's pronouns and got the response that they use "every pronoun pretty much except he/him, though I do have a preference for neutral ones." Which she later remembered when telling Alphinaud something Kou'd said earlier, decided to have some fun with, and started using who/whose pronouns on a mischievious whim. Kou happened to be close enough to overhear and had two reactions: that it was pretty funny wordplay, and that it gave them an almost funny amount of gender which was hysterical to them. Gender: confused Secondly I really like to imagine that while Kou's picked up a lot of basic tricks from a lot of disciplines due to their fear of being caught unprepared for a fight, it was after their first true argument with Yda (I know the twist but Kou knows her by that name when this happens!!) that they learned pugilism and got started down the monk path because Kou truly didn't know how to connect with her - they understood why their apathy might get under her skin when she felt so much so visibly, and they didn't know how to explain why they seemed so calm as everything was going to shit. So instead they asked her quietly if she could show them how she did what she does, saying they wanted to try and get a better understanding of something that was clearly a Massive part of her life. Yda agreed, and it worked out pretty well in the end - Kou finds it a lot easier to outline how they learned things and why than try to explain why they behave as they do, and through a mixture of teaching them and just being near them for a lot longer than before Yda starting picking up a lot more about Kou that wasn't really surface-level obvious - that they weren't calm, but found it easier to keep moving. If they kept doing something, ignoring those feelings and putting one foot in front of the other, if they didn't acknowledge that they weren't fine then they could keep moving and that was what they thought they needed to be, and they could be incredibly stubborn about what they thought they needed to be. It led to their being a lot closer - probably what Papalymo was hoping for when he suggested it to Kou when they came to him for advice because they really didn't know what to do when Yda stormed off

that was a Lot sorry nlbiyh but!! Thank you again for letting me ramble about my wol!!! Their relationships with my other wol's also shape them a lot (the fact they're not the only wol gets pointed out to them a lot and is why they can eventually grow into a healther mindset to begin with) but that's a Lot of extra info dumping nljkbihyuv - Kou looks a little different than their in game model due to the T but here's some screens I have of them!!

Ooh this was a really interesting read, thank you for sharing all of this! Kou looks awesome and I really love their peculiar sense of style, you can really feel it from the screenshots! I'm always interested in reading different approaches to the whole 'joining the Scions' thing, and this is definitely and interesting one, making Kou really young when they joined the group is bound to have some interesting effects on the other members and their relationships! I like how you expanded on that and explained how their friendship works, and especially their relationship with Alisaie and Alf!

And of course, I'm always happy to hear about other people's characters, so don't even mention it!! I'm so used to share my characters here, but I really love hearing about other people's too, especially because everyone comes up with different ideas and backstories I couldn't even imagine, and there's always something unique and different about every WoL.

[idliketobeatree]

hard agree that "they seem to be not real". also on the visible distinction between the reliable narrator of S1 (mostly God), and whoever is responsible for making that clustermess of narration in S2 (Metatron? someone making changes to the Book of Life? interchanging Crowley and Aziraphale's POVs? maybe all of them). but i think everyone and their mother has read the famous meta "the magic trick you didn't see" by now, which i'm personally putting a lot of faith in, so i'm gonna pass here.

what really interests me is the viewer's reaction to this portrayal, and the questions that arise. for example:

if we assume Nina and Maggie are essentially marionettes woven into the plot to serve their purpose, what is the bigger picture they'd want us to see? because it's obviously not something as malicious as "lesbian love is unimportant or fake or whatever", at least i don't think that was Neil's intention. but they did choose specifically those women. why?

why does Nina seem more conscious than Maggie; alert to the slightest of changes in what she considers normalcy, and why does that make her somehow more human (and therefore, likable?). even though she's also going through plot points like checking off a grocery list?

how does her toxic relationship with Linda influences her past; does it even go beyond the need for a story conflict, something to "keep them apart"?

how real is Maggie anyway? how much can we trust Maggie's feelings, when her life seems so artificial? and... can you get more meta than— pointing out you don't like following an elaborate scheme without a care to your own feelings, which coincidentally serves the other, "bigger" plot— the call-out conversation with Crowley making him ultimately decide to confess in the final fifteen. it all seems too easy, too straight-forward? almost like... achem. like they should only represent Crowley and Aziraphale on the most basic level. all the conflicts, starting from them trying to make Nina and Maggie fall in love, result in getting the duo apart.

least but not last? we all know how wlw representation in media fares lately; to say not gucci would be an euphemism. and no story exists in a vacuum, after all, so i respect every displeasure voiced at how they turned out. heck, if i had to choose between a real lesbian sideplot in GO and what we got, you'd have to really convince me to take the latter option.

on the other hand!! it's not like perfect and realistic representation should be the ultimate goal in every story ever! they are characters after all, not real people (despite what Maggie says— raised my hackles, that line). and we're talking "omnipresent God not uttering a single line after the Armegeddon" narration here. we're talking "God's Right Hand and Her Voice supposedly taking the reins in deciding the future of the whole world". so. i'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. we'll see how that plays out in S3!

(and btw you're great at Tumblr, this is exactly how it's meant to be used! reblogs are what's rocking this website 'round. if you're worried about the length you can also post things under the cut, but it wouldn't say it's necessary, people here are good at scrolling :))

nobody asked, so here's my take on Nina and Maggie's storyline.

in general, i can grumble about how I'd wish their personalities outside the budding relationship arc were handled better; yet I have to admit the ending's impressive. Neil wrote an entire wlw sideplot to showcase the problems of the main couple through their respective counterparts. it sits well with how Aziraphale and Crowley treat humans sometimes. there's a bonus of haha, gotcha, you fell for the character's façade that was meant to be dismantled by the viewer, in the way you automatically assume Nina equals Crowley and Maggie = Aziraphale. it's also fun to figure out why they are the opposite. maybe not enough to sustain the need for watching fully fleshed-out people on the screen, but still a bonus.

the thing is— you're ready to leave, a bit disappointed when Neil takes your head, turns it gently around and says "watch now". at the last possible minute, he invites the precious cardboard cutouts of our ineffable duo to sit on the couch — the special therapy lesbian friend couch — and he lets the toxic relationship survivor say, out loud, "actually, we didn't enjoy being the narrative mirror to your forbidden gay romance :/". you don't even get a second to wheeze what before the soft one chimes in with, "right, especially since it didn't work, because you still haven't confessed your feelings :// get loved idiot."

it doesn't fix the lack of substance, but I'm just saying. show me a TV show writer so self-aware his script choices aren't too fair to the L and B in the LGBTQ community, who decides to apologize by... making out sloppy style with the fourth wall??? i'll wait.