#this pure witch is your redemption in life

[your-girl-circe]

Unfortunately, όποια couple έχω λατρέψει, τα περισσότερα αν όχι όλα στο τέλος έχουν κακό end, όλες σχεδόν δολοφονουνται.

[hugemilkshake]

Hihi!! Goodnight or Good day!!

I suddenly thought of a random idea! Like.. what if there was one witch who objected that the beast cookies should be sealed? Saying that they still have time/hope for redemption, because that witch knew them since they were created!

Basically witch reader! But since one witch can't defeat numerous witches, Reader just watched with sadness seeing them sealed.

Imagine a kingdom that Witch!Reader baked/made, along with higher role special cookies! Similiar to the ancients and beasts.

The gingerbrave crew stumbling upon it, being amazed as Pure Vanilla is Astonished seeing a new kingdom that didn't exist before (kingdom was just hidden really well 💀)

Or, it could be the beasts stumbling upon it after all of them were released from the seal in some other alternative universe 😭

But I swear Witch!Reader got so much potential in story ideas!

-🍬Anon

Enjoy the milkshake! I literally created a character for this and a whole idea, like the beasts are named after baking ingredients and the ancients seen based on natural ingredients from what I can tell (I can go on a rant golden cheeses name but I won’t) and my idea for these other cookies is that they will be named after cooking stuff, ex- basil or garlic

Also witch is used a a way to refer to reader so you can change it to wizard or scorcher and also I’m 100% open for a part 2

The Hidden Kingdom

-platonic scenario-

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, part 5, part 6

Long ago there was a young witch. They had watched their mentors bake cookies, cookies that could walk and talk! The young witch, though very young, wanted to help and aid in the creation with making these cookies but sadly their mentors told them that they couldn’t help.

But they watched as hero were baked, these hero’s represented Knowledge, Volition, Happiness, Change and Solidarity. But with time, the young witch saw these hero’s change into beasts of despair.

The young witch begged for the elder witches to give these beasts a chance for redemption but the elder witches refused.

But the night the witches went to seal the beasts, the young witch was pained by these option of punishment but by the candle light, the young witch baked new cookies in an attempt to bring the hero’s back.

I’m this time the young witch had to work with what they had, the first ingredient they had was stuff like basil

And in the short amount of time the young witch baked new hero’s, one’s that represented Insight, Contentment, Responsibility, Hope and Charity and one cookie that could be their eyes if these hero’s went down the same path as the beasts.

The young witch gave these cookies land to reside in and left without a trace… hoping that these cookies would flourish without any help…

The forest of beast yeast was dense, and our group was getting weary.. “We’ve been traveling all day! Isn’t there a place we can stay?” Wizard Cookie complained. The timid Strawberry Cookie spoke up as well “Yeah… surely we can rest for a while..?” The younger Cookies looked up to Pure Vanilla waiting for an answer.

“I suppose we can rest here for a minute.. Carameleon Cookie would this be a safe place to rest?” Pure Vanilla looked at the “survival master” “Hmmmm… Yeah, seems pretty safe. I’ll look around just to make sure” and like that Carameleon scuttled away.

After a minute the group heard Carameleon call out to them. They rushed over, like any good friends would. “Carameleon Cookie! Is everything okay?” Gingerbrave asked

“Yeah! But check this out!” Carameleon moved some vines out the way to reveal a neatly kept stone pathway “In all my time I have never seen a place like this! There probably something good down there”

The group soon started down the path, it was very well kept path, and birds were chirping. It was peaceful for the first couple minutes but it soon got a little unsettling because there was no sign of life for a while… until they came across a sign…

“Beyond this point you Powdered Basil Cookie will be your guide through the forest until you get to the kingdom”

Birds scattered around when they approached the sign. “This is weird… I don’t see anyone-“ Wizard Cookie spoke. The chirping of birds quieted down as gentle footsteps could be heard. A cookie soon came into view, he looked graceful, almost like a leaf in spring. “Greetings travelers, I’m am Powered Basil Cookie, I will be your guide through the forest”

Powered Basil Cookie art right here :3

[flowers-of-io]

So me and my friend were talking about Savathun and I wanted to have your thoughts about something she said

She said that the problem that she has with Savathun’s character arc is the fact that she feels like it’s pointless for her to have a character arc because it will just end with Bungie saying "She was just evil "

She also said that she doesnt get why people are saying "Savathun was given a chance and still chose her old ways " ; for her it makes sense that Savathun chose her old ways because

1) She is wanted by everyone and she is seen, everyone will kill her on the spot so she needs to protect herself ; 2) Even if she tries to be better, people will still look her as bad (because she hurted a lot of people). Eramis has the support of Mithrax and her Family to be better but Savathun has no one and if she died, except her sister , people will not cry or be sorry , they will just say "Dont cry, the world is better without her " or something along those lines

So she said "if Savathun chose to stay bad, people in Destiny will hate her and if she tries to be good, people will still hate her so she chose the logical option "

Of course, she doesnt deny the suffering that Savathun has caused but she feels like her character arc will just end up with "Savathun appears-> gets developped -> does something so bad that everyone just wants her dead-> Savathun dies -> end with "Savathun was just bad"

Omg I somehow totally missed this message, I'm so sorry for however long it has been lying in my inbox ;o;

I... kinda agree. And I hate that I agree! Because TWQ ended with such potential for a strong redemption arc for Sav, and then Season of the Witch rolled in and went "Oh actually she's been killing her own Lightbearers as a hobby :)" and I don't understand anything anymore. Savathûn, the tactician, the smartass, who hand-picked the Ghosts who'd join her and eventually rez Hive, now running around and killing them for... what? To fuel her training crystals? While she's involved in active war on two different fronts??? Ma'am. I need explanations.

There's no doubt Savathûn is atrocious and has caused enough suffering in the world to balance out thousands upon thousands lifetimes of nothing but good deeds, but eugh. Some of the decisions this season seem to me like the writers were bending over backwards just to show how Evil!!!!! she is, with no rhyme or reason. Yeah sure, show her killing people in gruesome ways!!! Show her fucking with their minds like she did with Osiris and Uldren!!! When it's in character. When it makes sense. I don't really understand why they'd throw away AN ESTABLISHED DYNAMIC between her and Immaru only to show her being mean to her Ghost, so 'she can't be a real Guardian now, can she'.

In this manner, I agree and also fear a little that Sav's storyline is going to be nothing but a cautionary tale of someone being gifted the Light and a second chance and squandering this opportunity, remaining Evil forever. It would be such a waste and I would cry.

The reason for why she chose to stay in her own ways, or at least act like it (and I'm talking here mainly about the events of TWQ, because this season has been very... weird about it?? and I don't yet know where I stand wrt this new info) is in my opinion a bit more complicated. First off, if we're going by the canon timeline, she was a week-old kinderguardian thrown into a full-scale war on two fronts while having to kick Rhulk out, transmutate her throne world, manage a whole ass Brood full of other amnesiac baby Lights, and figure out what the hell her past self wanted her to do to stop the Witness. I can also imagine the Lucent Brood was very volatile in their philosophies and way of life, the Light clashing with the Sword Logic, and just overall, it must've been pure chaos, especially for someone who's fresh out of the grave and doesn't know what the fuck is going on.

Secondly, after she's got back her memories -- the old ways is everything she's ever known. I think the case of her snatching the Traveler is a great example. She says she "will not Take, [she] will give", and it's evident she's trying to wrap her head around the new philosophy, to reverse-engineer it from the spaces between the words on the Tablets of Ruin, but she's still oh so very Hive in it. She will give the Traveler an incentive, a safe haven -- and then she will seal it away to protect it. Disregarding anyone else and any other harm this act might entail. I truly believe she had the right intention! She wanted to protect her saviour and the source of her power from the being she hates most in the universe, who seeks only to hurt and destroy the Traveler and threatens Sav's own survival. The plan made sense. It's the execution that was so sword logic in nature, the sealing and the stealing and the general disregard for the Traveler's wishes and choices, and she paid the price in the end. She messed up royally. She was still stuck in the old ways she'd supposedly rejected.

I'm not sure, however, if the lack of outside support would be any factor here. She's always been a loner. Her way of keeping people at a distance is very similar to Mara's, she's always valued the wiggle room moving so far away gives her, she's always wanted to be free and untethered and to decide only for herself. I don't think she cares no one would cry for her if she died; her main goal is NOT to die, and that's the motivation behind most of her actions, rather than the fear of being alone. I think this is where they differ with Xivu. And yes, she is lonely--I see this particularly in her last entry in Sororicide where she says Xivu has given up on her, and in the fact of how thrilled she is to have Eris and Ikora and us the Guardian as puppets in her little theatre. Riddles are her love language and she's enjoying it tremendously.

To sum up, I suppose, these are the reasons I see behind Sav reverting to the sword logic in some extent, or at least not going Full Redemption after acquiring the Light:

her brood (particularly the Lightless Hive) still being ingrained in the Logic and pushing it a lot

Sav believing Sword Logic to be the more efficient tool and therefore still using it to achieve her goals - so both necessity as well as her own calculating personality

her own habits and a billion years' worth of conditioning she's reacquired when she got her memories back

her drive to stay alive and get out of the whole game (whatever we define it as), and potential fear of death

[super-paper-swap]

Super Paper Swap: Ch. 1-4 (OLD)

Word Count: 2,510

Chapter Summary: The Pure Heart is just within reach, but can Luigi face the beast sits at the end of the Yold Ruins?

In spite of the unforgiving dunes of the Yold Desert, Luigi and Co. had found the strength to bypass the shifting sands and had found the Yold Ruins. They ventured inside. "These ruins are awfully chilly, this must be the home of the Ice Beast!" said Blecky as they delved deep into the ancient structure.

Chapter 1-4: Monster of the Ruins

The torchlit Yold Ruins seemed devoid of any heat, the walls and floor were icy cold and slippery, and the blue fire that allowed the group to see anything seemed to drain the warmth of everything around them. The blue discarded shells of buzzy beetles lied scattered across the ground, the rest of the small foes having given up their life force to the torches.

The sound of bones clattering was heard ahead, getting closer and closer. Our heroes approached the noise, believing it to be the ruckus of another mindless enemy. In actuality, the sound was from a more self aware group of foes who were in charge of skewering any foreign entities that entered the the Yold Ruins in search of its secrets.

The heroes, armed for attack, found themselves face-to-face with a pair of skeletons with spears in their hands. One of them, purple colored and wearing a spite on its head, commanded the other, a blue colored skeleton, to attack the group in an ancient tongue. The lesser of the undead charged with the likeness of a jouster, prompting Luigi to dodge out of the way and make way to the leader. Said leader was much smarter than it's blue counterpart and allowed the hero to make his way towards it before swinging its spear at him at the last minute; miraculously, the attack only made a scratch, witch baffled both Luigi and his foes.

The purple skeleton, after some thought, indicated shock at a realization of some sort and promptly bowed to the hero. Its partner followed suit.

"Hero," it spoke "my apologies for not immediately recognizing your sacred light."

The abrupt change into hospitality was a surprise to Luigi, who usually expected the oversaturated kindness first, followed by a sour betrayal. He decided to go with the turn of events with a pinch of salt.

"Who-"

"WHAT THE HECK IT WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!" Blecky interrupted, still bitter about the fight with Mimi and anticipating to sink his teeth into battle instead of being a flying encyclopedia.

"We are the guardsmen of the Yold Ruins, the resting place of the Lineland Pure Heart. As protectors of such a relic, we have been entrusted powers that decimate all beings unworthy of entering these ruins; you are protected by the great creators and are therefore immune to our powers." The blue skeleton uttered, unfazed by the bat's attitude and not particularly interested in answering his question.

"English please?" Blecky asked in annoyance.

"We have been expecting you."

"Thank you."

The guards, whom Blecky declared to be skellobits, took it upon themselves to escort the group to the Pure Heart's location, both out of common curtesy and as an apology for attempting to turn the main character into Swiss cheese.

The skellobit guards navigated the twisting and interlocking tunnels with ease, skewering pesty buzzy beetles into dust-filled shells and shoving aside the slightly smaller but slightly more annoying cousins of the spiny tromp, the spiky tromp, into less job-interfering locations. All while other skellobits and their tiny wormlike counterparts, the skellobaits, passed by as if they had already known of the hero's arrival just minutes before.

According to their guides, the skellobits and their leader were once dwellers of the afterlife, but were allowed chances at redemption among the living. By accepting their tasks of protecting the Pure Heart, they forfeited the immortality they would normally have in the living world by filling their empty bodies with something akin to a mortal soul. This information ceased to bother them over time since the Yold Ruins were incredibly reclusive and the species are a whole had lost interest in causing trouble. Even their leader, who had been incredibly viscous, found he had more interest in preoccupying the Yold Town children with snow each year he awoke instead of trying to claim the Pure Heart he once desired to obtain for himself. Over the years, the species as a whole had become docile towards non-aggressive entities and had insisted on staying in the ruins after all was said and done, so they were given permission to do as such.

The frozen atmosphere seemed to become more mild to Luigi as the skellobits led them through the maze of brick and sand. Even as they got closer to the end and both groups ran out of conversational material, he felt warmly welcomed by the undead guardians.

The party approached the exit to the ruins, an open entryway into a Parthenon-like structure. Luigi felt an ominous wind in the premises and decided to jump underneath another 'save block' for good measure; he hadn't realized until that moment, but he had done the same thing before fighting Mimi. Such a habit was common for him when his subconscious suspected danger ahead of him. Perhaps Mimi was planning a second round to their previous fight.

He shook off the strange looks from his peers and followed the guards into the outside world. The structure was even colder than the ruins they had come from, so much in fact that there were icicles forming on the ceiling. Not a grain of the sand outside entered the pillared building as a cold breeze emerged from the center of the room. The source of this breeze was the chilling aura of a giant blue-boned beast in a deep slumber.

He stood as still as a ice sculpture. The bottom half was a golden canon-like device with a pair of proportionally large wheels and a thin black tail that curved upwards; the upper half was a typical skeleton chest and spine, but had the toothy head of a common dragon resting on its shoulders. The arms were thin like the tail, but gave the impression that they could break anything they grasped; likewise the six angelic wings on his back, although seeming small and frail, had a feeling of deeply hidden potential in the form of incredible flight capabilities.

The towering beast's crimson eyes eyes snapped awake to stare down at the plumber and his companions. He scanned the hero from head to toe and into his very soul, silently judging every flaw and imperfection before speaking as a living embodiment of frostbite.

"Hero, bathed in the light of thy great creators," he boomed. "your journey hast already been a treacherous one, and yet you hath only collected the first Pure Heart. I am Bonechill, the guardian of the second Pure Heart. My job is eliminate intruders and thieves, which thou are neither. As such I giveth thee permission to pass into the room behind me."

Before Luigi could thank the great beast for his kindness, a snicker echoed through the chamber.

"My my my, if it isn't the Man in Green. It's so nice to see you again." The feminine voice teased like a nagging secretary. Its source dropped from the ceiling between Luigi and Bonechill. "Now marks the spectacular arrival of Nastasia, the Ringleader of Darkness!"

"Who? Wait, have we met somewhere before?" Blecky questioned, eyeing the entertainer with suspicion.

"In a way, yes. But we can dwell on such information later. Now is the present, and as it stands this encounter is rather boring. Don't worry though, sweet little Nassy knows how to spice things up a bit for the audience!" She adjusted her glasses when she finished talking, a ring of red sparks circled Bonechill, who was sorely confused the entire time, immediately afterward.

The great beast twitched and rattled until the sparks dissipated, he closed his eyes and breathed heavily.

"My work here is done for now. So long Green Thunder!" Nastasia taunted before teleporting away from the chamber.

Bonechill's eyes opened slowly, his breath was deep and monstrous.

"Who dares approach me?" He thundered, "A puny mortal, a pathetic prophetic hero is what dares to witness me? Hero, you have made a poor decision to challenge the mighty fallen angel Bonechill and as such will be destroyed by my hand! The Pure Heart you seek shall be mine!"

He let out a mighty roar as hoards of skellobits surrounded him, entranced by the same spell that was driving him mad.

"Blecky! What's wrong with him?" Luigi called out, hammering away at the skeletal foes.

"He's under that madwoman's control! You'll have to defeat him!" The bat responded as he avoided a swarm of winged skellobits.

The amount of skeletons was copious to say the least. Every time one was defeated, a number more of them took its place like the head of a hydra. Luigi was slowly ruining out of strength, items, and patience with each hit he was forced to take. The skellobits weren't the only problem as Bonechill blew a gust of icy breath every minute or so. The icicles on the ceiling would grow in size until they were too heavy and would explode into a flurry of shards onto the floor. Large chunks of ice blasted from Bonechill's canon between breaths, increasing the amount of carnage.

The struggle became even greater for Luigi when his hammer was knocked out of his hands by an enemy, forcing him to grab a discarded spear from a previous foe. The pointed end of the weapon jabbed into the ribcage and through something partially solid, the skeleton disappeared into dust, leaving its own spear behind.

Mortified, Luigi pulled back the stick in his hands. The powers of its original handler still coursed through the weapon's material. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage.

Luigi grabbed the second spear and charged into the masses with the pointed ends of both weapons facing forward. The hoards dropped like flies from the mere touch of the weapons' heads, making a clear path to Bonechill himself.

Bonechill, however, was much tougher than his minions; his skeleton and canon were guarded by a thick layer of scales that deflected the attacks of the spear. The only part that seemed vulnerable was the head, so he threw the long stick with all his might towards that direction. The effect was immediate as the sharp spearhead imbedded itself into one of Bonechills eye sockets, the impact shook off a layer of scales.

Using this strategy to his advantage, Luigi called over the pixls to help him as he threw his second spear, which busted part of the jawbone. Blecky distracted the skellobits with his skilled flying capabilities while Laddie entered the Next to collect spears without being attacked. Luigi tossed Boomer into the golden canon during the chaos, destroying the inner mechanisms and forcing Bonechill to only use his ice breath.

With a bundle of spears and Luigi's hammer in tow, Laddie returned to the normal dimension to drop of their delivery. This prompted Luigi to engage in tossing spears at the beasts head until only frail bones remained. A gentle glow rested inside the place where Bonechill's heart would be, which Luigi instinctually aimed at with the last of his spears.

The spear and the light blasted apart, causing Bonechill to topple over and all of his minions to vanish. He let out a rumbling noise akin to shivering as he stared daggers into Luigi's soul.

"Bozzo had a message for you..." Luigi chocked up with guilt as he spoke. "He said 'Hi.'"

A glint of recognition briefly appeared in Bonechill's eyes before they went completely blank, like they were turned off by a light switch. The hot desert wind invaded the room, now that the icy aura from before was expelled, and carried away the fragile bones of the ice beast, now lost to the sands of time.

Luigi and company slowly made their way to the Pure Heart's holding room with their own hearts heavier than the brick they walked upon. The room was similar to most of the hallways that littered the ruins except the walls were beautifully decorated in unspeakable patterns, the guards that once occupied the stone chamber having meticulously cleaned every nook and cranny for the arrival of the hero.

A transparent figure sat at the opposite end of the room, covered by a smooth green cloak over a yellow toga-like article of clothing. The only other distinguishing thing about the figure was their green star-gem mouth, long locks of reddish-blondish hair, and distinctly masculine physique. He rose from the floor, soon hovering over it, and approached the group with a sunset orange Pure Heart in his arms.

"Welcome, hero. I am Merloo, a 1,500 year old soul that has long anticipated your arrival. Your presence indicates that all worlds are in the process of collapsing, correct?"

"Yes sir." Luigi and the others answered in unison.

"I see. Listen well hero, for I have important information that must be disclosed."

Luigi nodded, waiting to absorb all vital information like a sponge.

"A long time ago, my people built a great and prosperous civilization filled with power beings. But despite such power, we were completely powerless against one thing and one thing only: The Dark Prognosticus.

"The creator of this terrible book is unknown. What was known, however, was that it foretold future events thousands of years ahead of its time and that the very last page described a chaotic power that would devour all worlds.

"To stop such a catastrophe from happening, we created an object fueled by the essences of love itself to counteract the chaos, the Purity Heart. To protect it from evil hands, we divided the Purity Heart into eight Pure Hearts and sent them to different dimensions where they could be found by the hero of prophesy."

"Is that all you have for us sir?" Luigi asked, just in case there was some hints or tidbits that would help in the long run.

"Well I have this exhilarating tale from my youth you might be interested in." He replied.

"Uh-maybe some other time." Luigi dejected, still feeling the weight of an empty victory.

"...He would have preferred it like this." Merloo assured Luigi, who felt the heavy burden lighten just a bit with that response.

"Go forth hero, we are depending on you." With that, Merloo released the Pure Heart to carry itself into Luigi's possession.

Before finally disappearing, Merloo entrusted the fate of all worlds with Luigi, and proceeded to set himself at rest after waiting 1,500 years to deliver his message. Although Luigi found himself in slightly greater spirits by having the seconds Pure Heart in hand, he knew there was a long journey ahead to find the remaining six.

"We'd best return to Flipside." Blecky exclaimed as the group made their way towards the red-outlined door that appeared in front of them, leading them back to the faithful little town between worlds.

[theenchantedecho]

What are the top three chaotic pairings you could possibly think of to go on a date?

My Dearest Dabbler in Delectable Drama,

Your question arrived on my desk like a lightning bolt in a clear blue sky – daring, audacious, and oh-so-wonderfully thrilling! Such delightfully scandalous question you've presented, darling, enough to get even my quicksilver quill trembling with anticipation. The thought of the tumultuous encounters that could ensue is simply too delicious for words. Honey, you've given me a delightfully complicated puzzle to unravel, and I must say, I simply adore puzzles. Thus, with my busy mind buzzing like a hive of enchanted bees, I present to you my selection of the most intriguingly chaotic duos from our magical world.

1. Regulus Arcturus Black and Gilderoy Lockhart: Oh, just imagine the ensuing turmoil, dear! The enigmatic, tradition-bound Regulus and the ostentatious darling of the wizarding world, Lockhart. Would there be sparks, or perhaps an all-out inferno? Regulus, a symbol of old-world charm and quiet dignity, meets Gilderoy, the flamboyantly flashy storyteller extraordinaire. The tension that would rise from their starkly contrasting personalities – darling, I'm positively dizzy just thinking about it! And the drama that could stem from the interaction of Regulus's pure-blood pride with Gilderoy's fascination with the common witch and wizard! Now that would be a story worth its weight in Galleons, my dear!

2. Rolanda Hooch and Sirius Orion Black: Now, here's a pairing that's spicier than a plate of dragon chili nachos! Sirius, the prodigal son of the Black family, as wild and untamed as his namesake, and the straight-laced, eagle-eyed Quidditch mistress, Rolanda. A common passion for Quidditch might light their initial spark, but just imagine the sparks that could fly when Rolanda, with her strong principles, clashes with Sirius, the familial rebel! Add to this volatile mix the intriguing complexity of their magical heritage, and you have a deliciously chaotic cocktail that's simply too tantalising to resist!

3. Alice Lestrange and Peter Pettigrew: Finally, my pièce de résistance, darling! Imagine the beguiling contrast between the virtuous Alice Lestrange, a beacon of justice and righteousness, and the notoriously elusive Peter Pettigrew. The tension between Alice's unwavering commitment to fairness and Peter's murky past and questionable allegiances is enough to make anyone's heart flutter with anticipation. Will it be a path of redemption for our shifty Mr Pettigrew, or will his past come back to haunt him? Oh, darling, the suspense is simply too delicious to bear!

I hope my suggestions inspire captivating narratives and exhilarating twists in your upcoming social rendezvous, dear. Until then, keep your wit sharp, your imagination vibrant, and your life as bewitching as a page from one of my articles!

Yours in Scandal and Suspense,

Rita Skeeter

@regulusblacx @magicalmeee @afracturedstar @chasingharpy @alessandraesmee @battleofpeter

[maeskia]

The awaken (Maeskia's timeskip arc)

Milky waters rippled,  below perfection stirred.  Maeskia waited for the first breath to be taken, her hands folded in her lap as she stared down at the naked woman below.  Her own chair a few paces back.  When the creation woke, she dared not to get a splash of the water on her own gown.��  

It was a death she had witness.  A young mage burnt from inside out.  Fire caught to her own heart that blazed free though her chest.   Maeskia had saved the soul but the body had taken work.  The project she had told many of but not what it was.  The project that stole her away from years.  

A child born to her almost 3 and half, not even raised by his own mother but instead adopted by his aunt.  Lovers tossed aside and forgotten so she could work on this one project that stirred below.   

Stormwind grew, Silvermoon repaired,  she tucked away working.  For what reason did she give up her life?  The bragging rights to say she did it?   To find peace in herself?  Was it an redemption arc?

Of course Maeskia did not work along.  Not on a project this meaningful.  It had taken anotheras well.  Meleagant had created the new heart of metal and gadgetz.  Parts that had burnt  away now mechanical. The woman would be whole again.  Living without a single part of her dead.  Pure inside and out.  Flesh, blood, and machine made into one. 

Finally both hands of Isendre shot up and grabbed the rim of the tub.  She jerked alive to take her a breath of her new life.  Her soul merged into the body recreated.  The process Isendre had watched for she had haunted the pair that remade her.  

Maeskia lean forward to look into the eyes as the open. 

“Interesting, to see they are blue.”  The witched purred as she brushed midnight hair away from the angelic face of Isendre.  “She is yours now, I am finally free.  Only find me if you need me.”

Isendre watch, the woman raise from her chair and leave her behind.  No one else in the room but her and Meleagant.

@laceandhalos slight mentions of @rolandnaerth

[spiureta-mostuchaki]

Factions

There are 9 Factions:

The Trickster’s Coven, run by Cheshira the Trickster, in the Sunset Forest (The Mischevious)

The Bewitched Coven, run by Vendarei the Witch, in the Sunrise Woods (The Malevolent)

The Noble Guildsmen, run by Caunis the General, in the High Peaks (The Warriors)

The Splendorous Palace, run by Valante The King, in the Golden Desert (The Royals)

The Bleeding Heart Sanctuary, run by Seraliza the Doctor, in the Cloud Seas (The Healers)

The Stone Circus, run by Satourine the Ringleader, in the Basalt Fairgrounds (The Outcasts)

The Icy Ichor, run by Atlau the Forgotten and Nyx the Overlooked, in the Frozen Caverns (The Godkillers)

The Forgotten Library, run by Tenebrae Scien the Teacher, in the Midnight Canyons (The Scholars)

The Hidden Blades, run by Lauxin the Killer, in the Overshadowed Valley (The Assassins)

The Trickster’s Coven  The Mischievous

Leader: Cheshira the Trickster Location: The Sunset Forest Alignment: Mischief 

“The night is our domain, and it is when we come out to play! Terror and shriek at our tricks! We may seem weak, but there’s more to us than meets the eye!”

Those who want to cause a bit of mayhem without truly hurting anyone, or just want a laugh, tend to join the Trickster’s Coven. The more harmless of the two Covens of the world, the Mischievous are just here to have a good time!

It’s members are usually pranksters of some kind, and while they generally dislike violence, they definitely aren’t afraid to speak their minds.

The Bewitched Coven  The Malevolent

Leader: Vendarei the Witch Location: Sunrise Woods  Alignment: Pure Evil

“Those with hearts of darkness, souls of wickedness, and an eye for the enchanting make their home in our maze of branches and thorns. Though we may be bright, and we may be beautiful, remember that every Rose has its thorns, and even the most delicate flower may have a deadly serpent coiled beneath.”

The Bewitched coven is home to the more malicious side of witches, those who wish to bring harm and fear upon others, and just watch the world burn. Their leader, Vendarei, is one of the most powerful known witches- though she seldom shows off her ability, preferring to let others cause mayhem in her stead.

Its members are often those who spread evil for evil’s sake, or enjoy the misery of others. However, there is also a strong sense of loyalty between them- betraying another member is seen as one of the worst things one could do.

The Noble Guildsmen  The Warriors

Leader: Caunis the General  Location: The High Peaks Alignment: The Greater Good

“All who fight for good are welcome here! We will do our best to ensure the wellbeing of the people, and anyone who threatens the innocent will eat our fists!”

The Noble Guildsmen, led by the powerful yet a bit overenthusiastic General Caunis, are a group of warriors who battle for the protection of others. They train their bodies and hearts, seeking strength through warmth.

Many of its members are big believers in redemption, but will use a firm hand on anyone who tried to take advantage of a forgiving heart. 

The Splendorous Palace  The Royals

Leader: Valante the King Location: The Golden Desert Alignment: Self-Gain

“Riches and abundance, power and fame, followers at your beck and call... This is the life of a royal! Everything you desire will become yours, all you have to do is take it.”

The Royals are an elite group of nobles led by the ambitious Valante, who’s goal is to spread his faction’s influence throughout the world. They seek wealth and glory, and will stop at nothing to get it.

Members are known for their vanity, but also their planning skills and determination. 

The Bleeding Heart Sanctuary  The Healers

Leader: Seraliza the Doctor Location: The Cloud Seas Alignment: Unaligned Healers

“All the weary and broken who wish to be healed can come to us... Allegiances mean nothing to the healers...”

The Bleeding Heart Sanctuary is a safe haven created by the doctor Seraliza, where people from any faction can stay, free from conflict. Of course, any attempts to start problems will not be tolerated.

The members of this faction are often versed in some kind of healing or remedial practice, or are simply people who want to resolve issues peacefully. That being said, they are no pushovers, and will bite back if it is truly necessary.

The Stone Circus The Outcasts

Leader: Satourine the Ringleader Location: Basalt Fairgrounds Alignment: Outcasts

“Those cast out by society, viewed unfit to see, unfit to exist, may find a home in these tents and stages, stands and pedestals. Those who come to mock or jeer will soon find themselves as the new attraction...”

The stone circus is a safe haven for all deemed outcasts by society’s standards. Their leader, Satourine, welcomes all with open arms- Unless you have come to laugh at its members, in which you will be met with a rather unpleasant surprise.

Its members consist of those considered ‘freaks’, ‘abominations’, and all who support them. They have a strong sense of family, and much emphasis is placed on having each other’s backs. 

The Icy Ichor The Godkillers

Leader: Atlau the Forgotten and Nyx the Overlooked Location: The Frozen Caverns Alignment: Vengeance/Justice

“Those who have been wronged by those above us... Those struck down, pushed aside, and forgotten... Those who seek revenge on those who would abuse their status to render those who they do not approve of helpless... We welcome you with open arms. Come, join us, and bring about the end of a tyranny.”

The Icy Ichor seeks to rid the world of the self-proclaimed ‘gods’ that rule over the world, viewing them as corrupt and unjust. Many of the members have been wronged by the gods in one way or another, and wish for vengeance. Others simply think they are too powerful.

The Forgotten Library  The Scholars

Leader: Tenebrae Scien the Teacher Location: The Midnight Canyon Alignment: Knowledge

“Ancient, Lost, and Forbidden knowledge... The world’s secrets at your fingertips... Respect or fear, whichever you desire... This is what the path of The Scholar can bring you.”

The Forgotten Library, run by the mysterious teacher Scien, is where those who seek knowledge find their home. It’s halls are full of seemingly endless seas of writings on anything you could ever dream to learn about.

It’s members are often neutral, choosing learning over trite things such as good and evil, believing that the world itself has no morality - good or bad - it simply is.

The Hidden Blades  The Assassins

Leader: Lauxin the Killer Location: The Overshadowed Valley Alignment: Judge, Jury and Executioner

“Working from behind the scenes, to rid this world of the undesirable. When justice fails you, take things into your own hands, and live for yourself through the sharpened blade of death.”

The hidden blades, a group of assassins led by the feared killer Lauxin, are an extensive, deadly faction who choose to live their lives in the shadows. They have an arsenal of weapons at their disposal, and a penchant for staying out of sight.

Only those deemed worthy can learn the location of their home, and those with loose lips may just find themselves being silenced- by force. 

[mdhwrites]

So a fascinating element about this to me is that it really highlights that the blunt storytelling of the show is genuinely important to its mass appeal. The fact that the Collector's arc more explicitly ties him to characters we like and concepts we're told are purely good, his redemption feels more earned despite, you know... Him explicitly trying to kill Luz, King and Eda not even five minutes ago. Or how it ties really poorly into Luz's arc for her to go "Hey, this person is actively trying to murder us but I'm going to give them all the trust and potential to kill me and my family that I possibly can despite EVEN NOW angsting about having accidentally helped Belos FREE THE COLLECTOR." The framing of the show goes way harder on the Collector to try and make you believe it and that makes it easier for the fandom to talk about and praise. A lot of this is just regurgitation of fandom arguments after all.

So is "Change bitch." "Yes, bitch." for Boscha's redemption which is... Inaccurate. Period. That's not the whole story of the episode, it's just not as in your face. It's still pretty in your face but I've definitely lost people with obvious tells in my own stories so it's not the most shocking. It's always dangerous to try to be nuanced and have a slight bit of sleight of hand in your storytelling. I won't even call Boscha's arc good, I think hers and the Collector's are bad, but there is more to it. There is a genuine attempt to humanize Boscha in For the Future.

It's just that her arc started six months ago. It starts with her helping to protect Hexside which is actually in character. Boscha is not the monster the fandom portrays her as. She's a very lazy bully who mostly is opportunistic, she never had a main target unless they directly opposed her (sorry but Willow couldn't have become her main target if she had been Willow's main bully. It's fandom/the show's revisionism that makes people forget that Amity was Willow's main bully and also never had to be. Her mom only asked her to stop being friends, not to be a monster to her.) but she does value things like friendship. She even compliments Luz for being a good friend for putting herself in the line of fire during Winging it Like Witches. So her going out with her team to protect the school? Makes sense.

And then in front of her eyes, this person who has mostly seen themselves as untouchable and above everyone else, watches two of her friends be murdered. Sorry, let me correct that: The Collector's unmanned hunter drones turn them into lifeless puppets where they can obviously take in EVERYTHING that is done to them and happens around them but are helpless to do anything or have any hope of ever being freed, EVEN IN DEATH. It's totally not murder though so ignore that when it comes time to say the Collector hasn't actually done anything wrong. It's a scene a lot of people just don't bring up because it's a really problem to the show's storytelling, especially since MONTHS LATER, these drones are still why they have GUARD SHIFTS at Hexside. They explicitly say it's to defend from the Collector.

And I have a point with this. The threat isn't over but Boscha's sense of security IS. She has lost EVERYTHING now. Except... Then two people come and promise security, status and power. All she has to do in return is accept some advice. She doesn't have to listen to them but the devil's words are quite powerful, aren't they?

THIS is a trauma response. We even actively see it in action during the episode. Boscha shows that she can be a good leader and be reasonable when reasonable arguments are brought to her. However, the loss of her friends and her old life is haunting her CONSTANTLY. Just a couple words about potentially things being unsafe, people undermining the life they have, wanting to get rid of what little Boscha has left and she will do anything to prevent that from happening again. Trauma causes someone to avoid being in the same situation they were before. From being hurt that way again like... I dunno, if you deciding to trust someone who you don't know well turns out to have been an awful choice, maybe becoming more guarded or letting others make choices for you. Good thing Luz never had anything like that happen to her or else a LOT of her S3 actions wouldn't really line up as trying to avoid putting herself back into that situation.

siiiiiiiiiiiigh

But then the unthinkable for Boscha does happen: Her life crumbles again when Miki is revealed to be a traitor. So down below, she sees one last chance. One last way to bargain back into her old life. To not have to grieve or process that which has happened to her. It's why she's practically hysterical as she asks Amity to come back with her. It's funny to call this unrequited love but Amity IS a symbol of all that was her life before all of this. Amity was the leader of their group after all. The one person Boscha always listened to. The one who set the standard for what they had to be. Amity says to drop something, Boscha drops it. Amity says there's indeed a cute ghost? Boscha doesn't get involved when Amity wants in. Even when betrayed, Boscha doesn't go after Amity. She tries to tackle Luz and Amity gets in the way. You don't do that with a subordinate, especially with how Boscha even treats people like Skara where a little slight will get them mocked.

Amity of course refuses though. She is indeed long past that time in her life. Now... Honestly, might have been nice for some of the kindness she showed Hunter to go out to her ex-best friend but hey, fuck Boscha. This is also the biggest misstep here: We don't get to see the breakdown Boscha has from all of this. It's super reasonable to assume with no avenues left, cold and alone in this tunnels, she probably sobbed. She finally processed what she'd been through, much like how Hunter kiiind of got to (there are problems there). Even just showing her on her knees and mumbling her lost teammates' names would have been enough. Five seconds to see Boscha finally go into depression in the cycle of grief after having been in bargaining for so long.

Then of course comes acceptance though. She stands tall with the rest of Hexside, having decided that even if this new life sucks, she's not going to just roll over and die. She sure as hell isn't going to continue letting someone else decide her fate. Not anymore. So now it's time to make things right and kick Kikimora's ass... Which we also don't get to see because fuck you for wanting this villain who just will not go away even LONG after they stopped being a threat be put down.

This is also why in the finale, we get the shot of Boscha hugging her teammates once they're back. It's a good denouement to her arc. She got her friends back and at least for a few moments let herself be vulnerable as she showed them how much she missed them.

BUT.

Unlike the explicit stuff with the Collector about him not knowing what death is goes off to scream for a while and how he is reinforced as a child who just didn't understand his actions, or how he has others to blame... There is no excuse for Boscha. I've explained it but Boscha still chose to do bad things. Not only that but you have to actually think about how they're working the arc into the episode rather than punching you in the fact with it. It is genuinely more nuanced and more about the character having to decide against a PERSONAL belief than... Any other arc in the show?

And even then, this is still giving it a lot more credit than it deserves. After all, the post is right about one thing? Why is this here? Why are we bothering with an entire cast of side characters who have barely mattered for over an entire season? We have three specials, why are we dredging back up Willow's lack of control when that was resolved in episode SIX? Why are we giving Luz another character finish that STILL won't stick going into special three?

Doesn't mean I can't still defend Boscha from people who have given her five seconds of thought though, especially when they try to say she's so much worse than a character who doesn't have even half of her consistency.

======+++++======

This is going to open up people just dismissing this but yes: I am a fan of Boscha. I have written SO MUCH about her. But I've never been dishonest with my analysis of her. There are still problems with her and I don't blame people who write her off entirely. There's just a lot more there, even if accidentally, than a one note bully. The show just never really cared about that fact which was probably for the best. I was against a Boscha redemption since before S2 came out.

And then they included it in S3 and it was just as wasteful as I always thought it would be. sigh

Why Boscha's Redemption "Arc" Doesn't Work And The Collector's Does

Let me just say that I think that TOH season 3 is an overall phenomenal conclusion to the show, and I also do think that For the Future is a good episode with a lot of amazing stuff in it (especially with how it concludes Luz's Arc with her palisman, that understood scene actually almost made me cry for a bit). The episode is extremely close to being in S-tier for me, and it would have been an S tier episode...if the episode didn't try to shove in a rushed, last-minute "redemption" for Boscha in the last second.

I genuinely don't understand why the writers went with this writing decision when they are on a VERY strict time limit. For one, the redemption is rushed, all Boscha does is say "Hey Amity I miss u!" and Amity tells Boscha to change and then suddenly she's on the good guy's team now. It's too rushed to give her any actual depth. It's also just...completely pointless and unnecessary.

Like, what exactly about this episode changes if you remove this failed attempt at giving Boscha depth? Nothing really, the plot stays the exact same except the episode would be in S tier for me since it doesn't have this weighing it down. Boscha's redemption arc is completely pointless and unnecessary, I don't know why the writers decided to spend their penultimate episode trying to give depth to a side character when they don't have any time for that.

I'll admit, I actually do like the idea of giving Boscha a redemption arc, there is potential in that, but not only is the execution here bad, we also don't have any time for this and it isn't something the show should be focusing on, especially in its final fucking season.

This got me thinking about the Collector's redemption and why it works so well; the collector's redemption was actually necessary, to the Watching and Dreaming's plot, removing it does change major things about the episode, and unlike Boscha's redemption it works in giving the collector more depth because of how For the Future set up The Collector as a child with godlike powers that was just lonely and wanted to have a friend, and he got that friend with King, until he thought that King was going to betray him.

Watching And Dreaming then makes the collector a parallel to Luz, Eda and King, being someone who never got accepted and was always alone for their whole life. And they show the collector their past adventures, which was a great way to tie the whole show together and see how far the main three have come.

The Collector's Redemption works because it actually gives the collector real depth as a character as a child who suffered from pure loneliness and wanted a friend, Boscha's Redemption meanwhile just fails at giving her depth because of how rushed and unnecessary it is. We did not need Boscha getting a redemption, it was completely pointless and the crew shouldn't have focused on that when they were in the show's final season. Despite that issue, though For the Future is still a great episode mainly for Luz and Willow's conflicts in the episode as well as the scenes with the collector and King, I just wish the episode didn't try to force in a Boscha redemption because if it didn't, it would have been an S-tier episode for me. It was SO CLOSE to being in S-tier.

[superhero--imagines]

Part 1 Here! / Part 2 Here! / Part 3 Here! / Part 4 Here! / Part 5 Here! / Part 6 Here! / Part 7 Here! / Part 8 Here! / Part 9 Here! / Part 10 Here! / Part 11 Here! / Part 12 Here! / Part 13 Here! / Part 14 Here! / Part 15 Here! / Part 16 Here! / Part 17 Here! / Part 18 Here! < This is Part 19!>

Donate to Move to Higher Ground HERE!

Song Here- (X)

Big thanks to @imdoingathingmom​ and @bbibbisan​ for doing a sensitivity read! 

* This could be worse, you remind yourself as you feed your deer

* Much, much worse

* “How much am I supposed to give them?” The tall, ebony colored man says from beside you, his bright red eyes seem to glow under the pale moonlight

* “Um.. for that one, you can feed it as much kale as you want, but be careful James, he’s kinda insatiable. He’ll eat your clothes if you give him the chance”

* James nods, tearing the kale in careful ribbons.

* He smiles when the deer eats right out of his palm.

* You’re not going to lie, you were 100% surprised when the blond turned out to be Laurent and the black guy was James

* You were even more surprised when he asked if he could help you feed your animals

* You watch him smile as he gives the deer a gentle pat, feeding it more kale

* Yeah, you’re having a hard time believing the teddy bear in front of you is some psychopath tracker

* The story went that while you and Edward were out, the coven decided to play some baseball up in the mountains, and the sound caught their attention as they were passing through

* Apparently this was a fast friends situation, because Carlisle and Laurent have been reminiscing about their geezer pre-colonialism days

* You look to the house, you can see Edward’s inside from the window, his eyes meet yours and he gives you a small smile

* Well that seems hopeful

* “I used to take animals before I turned” James’s deep voice calls you back to the situation at hand

* “Oh were you a farm hand?” You’re peeling an orange, which Henrietta the third is already licking at impatiently

* “Um, not quite, I was a slave”

* You stop peeling the orange

* James tells you his story- he was a third generation slave, fathered from the master, his mother passed away shortly after his birth

* “I was lucky- in a sense, the master -my father- he was a superstitious man, and my mother- she had a reputation”

* His mother was a slave in name only, was what he told you. She was more of a mistress or a concubine.

* “At least that’s what they said, Though I’m not sure how much of that is true, I’m fairly certain she didn’t enjoy being with him. She was just trying to survive”

* His mother had been ostracized, even amongst others like them, but not because of her social position in the household

* “They thought she was a witch,” he admitted. “Bad things happened to people who wronged her, and good things happened to those who helped her”

* That sounds like Alec and Jane

* “When she was on her death bed, she laid a “curse” on the owner of the plantation, that if I wasn’t taken care of she would haunt him and bring misfortune on the entire family for several generations”

* And so, James became the unfavorable third son of the Pickett family.

* “I had many opportunities from her sacrifice, I learned to read and write, but I was more or less shunned from the house- both by my family and by the other slaves”

* It was lonely, almost painful.

* “But there was one thing, a ray of light-“ his eyes flit towards the window, and you follow his gaze to the red haired woman in the green chair

* “Victoria, she was my eldest brothers fiancé”

* The youngest daughter of the wealthiest man in town, from the outside she was a blossoming socialite

* The most beautiful girl in town

* But behind closed doors...

* Victoria was the product of an affair, a mistresses child, reluctantly brought into the household when her mother passed

* “She had big dreams, she loved to read, she yearned to study, to educate herself, to use her mind”

* And so, two lost souls found each other

* “Our family would never have allowed it. So we decided to run away together” he smiles, but it’s bitter.

* They claimed he had abducted her, perhaps to save face, and sent slave catchers to find them.

* “I’m not quite sure what happened-I remember being shot and telling Victoria to go in without me- all I ever wanted was for her to be happy.”

* This is heartbreaking

* “When I woke up, Laurent was there, and my throat burned”

* So Laurent had been with them for all that time, he was their creator

* “Afterwards the three of us worked in ‘the underground railroad’ helping slaves to the north where they could be free”

* “I’m thankful to him, for saving us, we wouldn’t have been able to be in a world where we could be together if it weren’t for him-“

* “But you wonder what the trade off is” you finish and he nods

* No longer human

* Purpose only lasts so long in this life, after all human life only has meaning because you know one day it will end

* “I found a penchant for tracking, it turns out what they said about my mother might have held some truth”

* James calls it “extreme luck”, there’s no other word for his gift.

* If he’s looking for something - or someone- it’ll inevitably find him through pure luck. Like the world bends to his will

* But it only works with finding things

* “These days we work as bounty hunters, and we only feed from people beyond redemption”

* Murder and rapists it sounds like

* “I didn’t know there was another way”

* “That’s understandable, I didn’t know either until I met Carlisle” he looks at you with kind eyes, and so with a deep breath you tell him your story

* About the Volturi, your parents, Alec and Jane-

* “I think you would like them, they’re a little off putting at first, but they warm up pretty fast”

* “Like cats” he says

* “Like cats” you agree

* You tell him about meeting Carlisle, how he saved you,

* how Eleazer gave you a home and a family,

* and about Edward, who gave you a chance to live

* Not just to survive, but to truly live

* “We’re not so different you and I” James says with a smile, and you mirror his expression

* “No we aren’t”

* Though of course you wouldn’t compare the relatively privileged life you had to his

* But the loneliness you both experienced is not all that different

* The tie that binds you all

* And then you do something you’ve never done before

* “You know, I don’t belong to this coven, not really” it’s the first time you’ve admitted it to anyone

* “Oh?”

* “My coven is in Denali, they have a permanent settlement there, and they follow the er... same alternative lifestyle”

* He laughs

* “I’m sure they would love two or three more, we’ve got like thirteen spare rooms in that house”

* You still remember the antiquated scooby Doo mansion-esque hallways filled with armor and swords

* He looks at you for a long time, but it doesn’t make you uncomfortable

* “I won’t follow another leader”

* You nod, that’s understandable.

* Laurent created them, and it seems he’s happy with their current lifestyle, they won’t betray him

* “Not unless it’s you”

* ........

* What?!?!

* “M-me?” You sputter, your orange peel filled hand clutching your chest

* “Why would you want to follow me? I’m only nineteen years old- I don’t even have a high school degree yet!”

* He laughs at your panicked expression

* “You know that doesn’t matter to our kind,” his eyes twinkle as he looks at you.

* “Call it witchcraft if you like, but you’re going to accomplish great things, I can feel it deep in my bones”

* Garrett had said the same thing, but the way James says it-

* You really believe it.

* He doesn’t want anything from you you, not a kiss or a date-

* He just wants to be your friend, to be apart of your vision

* Whatever it may be

* “Here’s my card-“

* He holds out his business card to you, unlike Garett’s it’s a cheap cardboard white with his profession and number on the front

* “If you ever find yourself in need of someone to help with your animals, let me know”

* You nod, taking his card in your hands

* “Um there’s one more thing I could use your help with-“

* He points to the large window, right at Alice

* “I know that girl but she doesn’t seem to know me.”

* “Well how does that work”

* He tells you how many years ago, a woman was looking for her sister.

* “It was a bit of a Cinderella story”

* The woman’s father had remarried quickly after his wife’s death, and the step mother had sent his children away. The younger sibling, his client, was lucky and was sent to a relative.

* But the older, who had suspected something amiss had happened to her mother, was sent to a mental asylum

* “You know me, I find things, it’s my gift.”

* But when he found the girl, she was no longer human. Already turned.

* “I tried to approach her, but she didn’t seem to remember anything”

* “Alice doesn’t have any of her memories from before she turned, she woke up in the woods all alone”

* The only thing guiding her were her visions.

* James nods solemnly

* “Should I...should I tell her?”

* You look to Alice.

* She’s smiling at something Victoria said.

* How many nights has she spent wondering who she really was, feeling so happy she had a family and a partner, but wondering if she left someone behind

* How would she feel when she found out?

* “I think you should tell her.”

* If it was you, even if it hurt, you would want to know

* James nods

* “Okay”

* You walk inside together, and immediately look to Edward

* Your own personal vampire lie detector

* “He did lie about one thing-“ Edward tells you once James pulls Alice aside.

* Was he actually tracking Alice to hunt her?

* Your heart drops at the thought

* “His mother didn’t die from natural causes, she committed suicide because she knew it would secure his future” Edward tells you with a somber expression.

* “He just didn’t want you to feel bad”

* You smile and nod.

* What a strong person, you can’t even imagine

* Edward pulls you into his arms, placing a soft kiss in your hair

* You feel bitter sweet about the whole thing

* Especially as you watch them leave in the morning, right before you’re going to head off to school

* Jasper is holding Alice who seems vulnerable, but relieved

* They’re leaving so soon, you didn’t even get a chance to get to talk to Victoria or Laurent

* You watch James stand next to Victoria, they’re talking to Carlisle.

* They’re not even touching, but you can feel the intimacy radiate off of them

* You wonder if maybe you and Edward might get to be that close one day

* James meets your gaze and smiles

* “I’ll see you around sometime leader!” He calls out, earning confused looks from your coven and his

* You smile back and give him a nod

* You’re still not sure what your future holds

* But you know you wouldn’t have gotten this far if it weren’t for the kindness of others

* You want to make them proud

* And then in a gust of wind, he’s gone

* They all are

* “See, I didn’t commit murder or anything, I told you things were different” Edward says with a teasing smile

* You roll your eyes and lightly shove him while he just laughs

* He’s right though, that was different

* “Enough flirting kids, you’re going to be late for school, and I really don’t want to deal with that dick in the front office acting all high and mighty because they think I can’t control my children” Esme yells

* School?

* Oh sh*t you didn’t do your homework

* “Edward-“

* “I’ll drive and tell you the answers on the way there” he says catching the keys you toss to him

* “It’s the-“

* “The Trig homework, I know. It’s your worst subject”

* Well you do struggle with trig quite a bit

* “Though to be fair you’re pretty terrible at all of them”

* He barks laughing when you shove him before getting into the car through the passenger side

* Carlisle and Esme watch you from the doorstep

* “They’re so good together-“ Esme starts

* “I know, I never thought our Edward would look at anyone like that”

* Carlisle and Esme exchange a look

* Before you came around-

* Well it wasn’t bad, but he certainly didn’t look like that.

* And he never smiled like that either

* Immortality had hardened him, made him into a man

* But with you-

* Well, with you he looks just like a boy

* A boy in love for the first time

* “I wonder what kind of children they might have had” Esme wonders with a small grin

* Him, with his ability to read minds, and you with that positively monstrous power of yours

* Any number of possibilities is possible

* “Best not to think of such things” Carlisle murmurs

* Though you two may be together for eternity, with the endless options, you’ll never have that.

* Esme nods

* “I’m late to get to the hospital, surgery this morning” he mumbles kissing her on the cheek before walking to the car

* She watches him go, his sleek white Volvo disappearing down the road before looking up to the sky

* “What a shame, I would have liked a cute grandchild or two running around” she mumbles to herself before turning to go inside

* “Entertaining always leaves me exhausted, guess I’ll give my employees the day off”

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[kindaeccentric]

When I was writing my university bachelor's degree thesis (that I'm still to defend) about Penny Dreadful as a modern adaptation of Frankenstein I noticed how the original novel's homoeroticism is realized by the series in an interesting way.

In the way he is presented, it seems to me that Victor secretly desires men, but thinks that only through creating a perfect one by himself he's allowed to touch other man's skin. His endeavour to pierce the veil between life and death is an excuse, since Victor from the series grew up lonely after the death of his mother and he searches for companionship, for someone who would love him unconditionally, like his mother used to. He believes he can find such love only in a person he creates himself, brings from the dead, and who would see him as his only friend, calm and obedient. Yet his first instinct is to make a man, not a woman, and a handsome man at that.

I can imagine both Rory Kinnear and Alex Price are not everybody's cup of tea (I do find them attractive, they are quite charismatic), but the way the original Creature and Proteus are shown makes them attractive. Proteus we see through Victor's eyes, when he is tending to his body before its even reanimated, when he sketches him (a sure sign of affection) and when he teaches him how to eat in a way that becomes seductive, because of how the camera lingers on his lips and then, in a closeup, on his fingers running down his long throat, immediately bringing to mind erotic imagery. Some may argue that Victor tries to emulate the relationship between his mother and himself taking the parental role and projecting onto Proteus the role of his childhood self, and as much as it is partially true, their relationship bears these marks of hidden desire on Victor's part from the start. The image at the end of the first episode when Proteus is born shows Victor trembling, teary-eyed, looking at the body, a torn and stitched back together, but human body, of a naked man. He's afraid, but not necessarily of the man, but of finally getting what he wanted, it's a fear resulting from excitement. Then the man is touching his face tenderly and Victor, still trembling, cannot stop himself from a little smile. Their faces are softly illuminated by the orange light of the gas lamp, creating an intimate atmosphere of a warm bedroom. Victor practically gasps hearing his own name smoken by Proteus. I doubt all of it was intentional in the way I read it, but it doesn't change the fact that the final scene can be easily interpreted this way.

Then the original Creature, with the violence surrounding his return, presents him as highly masculine, smart, powerful, a direct opposite to the delicate, clueless Proteus Victor could easily form into whatever he wanted. The Creature throughout the entire series is perceived as ugly by some and easily tolerated by others, making his ugliness purely subjective, since, despite his small deformities he remains strangely alluring with his gothic qualities (black long hair, black lips, white skin, yellow eyes, proportional features) of a dark brooding gentleman. With blood on his face he becomes vampire-like (vampires always a symbol of hidden desires and 'depraved' sexuality, the Creature and Victor becoming a mirror image of Vanessa and vampire Mina, both Creature's and Mina's monstrosity an indirect result of Victor's and Vanessa's desire towards having a same-sex companion). The Creature touches Victor's face, a callback to Proteus doing it, but the Creature is not gentle, he smears blood all over Victor's face (blood in vampire narratives was always a symbol for other bodily fluids, that's why it seems so sexy, it also gained another meaning in the 80s, due to the HIV epidemic, which no filmmaker can shake off if they tried, I could discuss it more with The Lost Boys, but no time for that right now).

The dynamic between Victor and the Creature is a reversal of Victor's budding relationship with Proteus, experience winning over innocence. Victor is under another man's rule, and it terrifies him, because it would force him into a position of having to admit his attraction, whereas as the one in control he could have still easily deny it. The Creature, with all his attributes, symbolizes carnal love, he's all 'body', where Proteus was virginal, pious love (to an extent). In one of the scenes where we see Proteus he looks up into the skylight at Victor's apartment and appears angelic, as if in a halo of white light.

It's revealed Victor never had a woman, and the series wants the viewer to believe it's because of his awkwardness and passion for science that consumed him, but his dedication to creating himself male companions instead of searching for a living female one is exactly what makes him seem more queer coded.

It's clear that the lack of paternal figure results in Victor quickly becoming close with older men he encounters (Sir Malcolm, Van Helsing), but it also puts him into a position where he's constantly surrounded by men, with whom he feels more at ease, and is intimidated by women. The rivalry between him and Ethan is that of siblings, until the moment when Ethan teaches him how to shoot a gun. It might be a stretch (it is a bit of a stretch, I admit), but a gun often, especially in horror, alongside a knife, represents manhood and masculine power. Victor allows Ethan to touch him and encourages him to show off with the gun, which is a scene all too familiar from many other movies where the role of Victor is reserved for a woman and the interaction is flirtatious (can't pull examples out of thin air, but if you saw over 1400 movies like me you know I'm not lying). All this adds to the general image of Victor.

The Creature and Victor, when they are on a walk, have a very revealing conversation in which the Creature points out how quick Victor was to grow attached to his more perfect man, and Victor doesn't deny it, he admits that he did in fact feel affection towards Proteus, although the meaning of it as the scorned past partner expressing jealousy over the love he didn't get while someone else did is largely subtext. When the Creature says that he's lonely, Victor answers 'I cannot love you' (paraphrase, because I can't find the exact quote right now) and the Creature, disillusioned, mocks him, 'I do not want what you cannot give' suggesting that Victor, by making himself a meek obedient man, is selfish, cruel, manipulating, and a coward, therefore could not have loved Proteus truly. Then again, Victor cannot bring himself to love his original Creature, because he's not the ideal man he envisioned and by then the Creature being too aware of his flaws of character. The Creature/Caliban/John Clare knows that Victor is 'monstrous', not just because he's someone who desecrates dead bodies, plays God and abandons his creation, but because of his queer desire. It's important that in the case of Penny Dreadful 'monstrosity' signifies many different things, literal (being a vampire werewolf, witch, and so on), metaphorical (bad deeds, like letting your son die a horrible death, cheating, killing etc.) and wholy subjective, merely condemned by ignorant society (Sembene's blackness, Brona's sex work, Lily's want to be equal or greater than men, Vanessa's want for sexual freedom, the Creature's ugliness, Angelique being transgender and other cases), so it's NOT that much of a stretch this time.

We also have the whole problem with Lily. Victor is so attached to Lily (who takes up both Elizabeth's and creature's bride parts in the novel) because he believes that only by possessing a good woman he'll be redeemed for his 'sinful' desires, but he's foolish to think that. This belief reduces a woman to a semi-maternal, semi-virginal angelic ideal with no sexual urges or agency, like virgin Mary. Lily is a true replacement for Victor's mother, and his imagined redemption. As long as she's similar to Proteus, in that she's not sexual, and pure like an angel. Yet Lily is not a woman in that sense. She is another of Victor's creatures, so she partially also takes over the role of the original Creature from the novel, a male. She's not an ideal of a Victorian obedient wife, she has power, or tries to have it, but power in the context of patriarchal society is masculine by nature. The moment she drops her pretenses of a weak delicate wife-like girl Victor does not want her like this. He doesn't want a woman that is sexually liberated, because he doesn't like women in this way, and yet, by being similar to the first Creature (from Victor's perspective, from hers John Clare is similar to Victor-a man, I could delve into Brona's sexuality, but later, this thing is already way longer than I intended) she's 'the man' he wanted.

There is also Henry. Henry Jekyll takes the role of his namesake in the novel, Henry Clerval, Victor's closest friend, and a character most often cited to have homoerotic tension with Victor. It's true that some of the eroticism might be accidental, stemming from the prevalence of homosocial interactions in 'Frankenstein' which in turn is a result of misogynistic nature of 19th century Genevian society and in-novel universe reflecting it, but like I mentioned before, it still feeds into the queer reading of the text and translates beautifully into Jekyll and Victor being both extremely misogynistic towards Lily and their mutual homoerotic tension. In the scenes where Henry purposes his plan to Victor he practically seductively purrs it into his ear, Lily becomes merely a female buffer that allows for that interaction, a female presence which is an excuse for male closeness (here I have a couple of examples actually: Dead Ringers, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Scream (in a roundabout way, through murder) and a couple others, but that deserves its own article). I won't even mention more references to the novel, because that's a lot already.

Penny Dreadful, although I believe largely unintentionally, expands on what is already there through the changes it introduces in relation to the novel's plot. I have nothing else smart to say, I just think it's worth considering.

*I use the word 'queer', because that's the umbrella term we use in academic writing for years now and even our lgbt+ group at university is called 'queer', so don't come at me with stupid takes

[raeynbowboi]

Disenchantment and Fairytales

By now, we’re well aware that Disenchantment is to the fantasy genre what Futurama is to the Sci-Fi genre. It’s made many references to Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and of course, Disney. But a less glaringly obvious inclusion in the realm of Disenchantment is its use of fairytales, as they often exist only in sight gags or very minor elements. Take for instance the glass slippers Bean refuses to wear for her coronation in the finale for season 3, or Elfo’s Snow White style glass coffin actually being an aquarium. The only overt fairytale is Hansel and Gretel, which even then is given a very dark spin with the twins being cannibals who imprisoned the witch and used the gingerbread house to attract kids and other people to cannibalize. So, I wanted to examine the use of fairytales and how they might be used, played with, or subverted by Disenchantment.

The Wicked Step-Mother

Most noteworthy in the fairytales like Snow White and also Hansel and Gretel, in the original versions of both stories, the wicked mother is actually the biological mother of the heroes. But in later renditions, it was altered to vilify step-mothers. Thanks largely to the Brothers Grimm popularizing these stories with evil step-mothers, they were driven to make these alterations due to their own perception of motherhood as pure and sacred, making the step-mother a wicked obstacle to the wholesome nature of the nuclear family. Disenchantment heavily leans on this trope, mostly with Dagmar resembling the wicked mother from Snow White. Like the Evil Queen from the fairytale, Dagmar is a smolderingly beautiful queen with a knack for witchcraft and sorcery. Oona meanwhile is the deconstruction of the Evil Stepmother trope, as Bean comes to recognize that she put her birth mother on an undeserving pedastal, and only comes to appreciate how cool Oona was too late, only seeing Oona as a true friend once she and Zog were divorced. 

The Princess and The Knight

Lady Bowmore is the bee knight that Bean meets in Steamland, and she even calls herself Bean’s “Knight in Rusted Armor”. The only thing we really know about Lady Bowmore is that she drives a mechanical horse-car, is very helpful and flirtateous with Bean, and she wears a bee medallion. While this is a personal theory, I wonder if the bee blimp that Bean took back to Dreamland belonged to Lady Bowmore, which would mean that she’s connected to Gunderson Airships, and possibly in allegiance with Alvin Gundersen and the plot to kill Zog. Based on the story conventions and Disenchantment’s general tone, the fact that she calls herself Bean’s knight in rusted armor implies that while she’ll seem like a heroic helper at first, the apparent chivalry isn’t as clean and pretty as it seems, and she’ll turn against Bean somewhere down the line as a deconstruction of the gallant heroic knightly figure. However, I could be wrong and applying a cynical reading, when instead the trope will play rather straight, and Lady Bowmore will be the stock gallant knight who rescues, aids, and defends the fair princess, possibly even defecting from Steamland to serve Bean as the new Penderghast and captain of the royal guards.

Pinnochio

So far, Freckles has only been in three episodes. He showed up in a cameo in the pilot, and then appeared in earnest at the end of season 3. Freckles is clearly mischevious and very probably dangerous. For starters, the shop is literally selling haunted puppets, and the shop keeper (who is very likely Dagmar) says that she can’t part with Freckles because he’s a very naughty boy who is like a son to her, much like how Pinocchio is like a son to Geppetto. What’s more, in the book version of the fairytale, Pinocchio is a mischievous little brat whose actions get Geppetto arrested and kills his conscience. We also know that Dagmar told Zog to let her into his mind in exchange for being let out of the asylum, so this access to his headspace could have something to do with why he was drawn to Freckles specifically. There’s also a sign in the shop that reads “Replace your Child”, which Pinocchio was a substitution for Geppetto who had no biological children of his own and replaced that void in his life with a puppet he made. This stands to reason that Freckles is somehow going to threaten Bean’s place in Zog’s heart in one way or another. Another sign reads “Need a Friend? This Won’t Help” again alluding to how dangerous Freckles is going to be. When buying the puppet, Freckles says “Don’t you see? He talks through me. But it won’t be free.” Fairytales have a longstanding tradition of “paying for something in an unconventional way”.

Beauty and the Beast

I’ll admit, when Merkimer first turned into a pig, I assumed he was downgraded to a running gag side character, but season 3′s episode Hey, Pig Spender shows us a miraculous bit of character growth for Merkimer. He gives up his chance to be human in order to save Bean, and in that moment, I realized he wasn’t just a man turned into a pig as a joke. Merkimer is the Beast. Like Merkimer, Beast is usually depicted as a cruel, selfish, or vain man, who is changed through magic into a hideous creature in order to learn a lesson. While the Disney version is more similar to a wolf, most of the older illustrated versions depict the beast as either having the head of a boar, or being otherwise pig-like. In fact, the fairytale even has a related fairytale called The Pig King, which likewise features a handsome prince turned into a pig and only becoming human again once he obtains the love of a woman. With only 3 seasons so far, it’s hard to say whether Bean will eventually come to love Merkimer as he keeps growing and changing or if he will slowly win the heart of another woman (or man), Merkimer’s character arc is clearly setting up that he’ll become human again when he’s completed his redemption arc and become a better person. In a sense, he’ll stop being a pig when he stops thinking and acting like a pig.

The Little Mermaid

Like her fairytale counterpart, Mora gives up her home and family to pursue her passion, only to find it’s not what she expected it to be, and find herself regretting the choice she’s made to leave it all behind. The Little Mermaid wanted to see the land of the humans, and also longed for an immortal soul that she might live forever in Heaven. Mora meanwhile desired to be an actress, but due to her tail, wasn’t given a fair shake. This also mirrors the real life casting discrepancies of the early film era, when non-white actors had a hard time finding roles, and even the few actors of color who did manage to get roles were still largely disrespected by the industry at large. Due to the original tragic ending of the fairytale, I half suspect that Mora too will get an unhappy ending with Bean, likely due to how distant their kingdoms are, or how different their biology is. However, considering how much merfolk imagery appears in the Dreamland Castle, it is highly possible that Mora is Bean’s soul mate and ultimate love interest for the series. Mora’s song, though short, all but confirms that Mora is not gone from the story. When Bean finds herself caught in a war, Mora will appear and take Bean’s side, and fight beside her, likely as an archer like the mermaid in the constellation.

[cabensonsgirly]

👼Baby’s Got Trouble. Don’t Know How To Live. Don’t Want To Die. (Cordelia Goode)👼

Cordelia Goode x fem!reader

👼Part 6 of SP getting reader pregnant👼

👼Slice 4👼

Co-authored with @billiedeannovak

👼Wordcount: 2683👼

👼Posted on AO3: Read Here👼

👼Content: AU, angst, slow-burn, fluff, mentions of blood, mentions of violence, assistance with undressing, injury, character redemption👼

👼Your ribs were definitely broken, it explains why every breath hurt but once you were rested you would be able to heal yourself up and go on your way; move to a different area and go back undercover so you can take the hunters out from the inside like a parasite. Judging by the amount of blood on your shirt and the way it was torn up makes you think you’d sustained some rather deep wounds to your abdomen and torso. “Jesus fuck… This was my favourite shirt! Yves Saint Laurent goddamn it.” You let out a frustrated groan before wincing as another wave of pain hits you.👼

“Jesus fucking Christ you absolute slut, you vanish off the face of the fucking planet for years without telling anyon-“

“That kinda is what vanishing is about, Madison. When you vanish, nobody has any fucking clue. That’s how it works.”

“Shut your whore mouth! You fucking left! Left all of us! Left me! Your friend! Now you rock up back to the academy all fucked up and expecting everything to just go back to fucking normal! How fucking selfish are you!?” Madison screams at you, laying into you with her fists before storming out of the room you’re in. You couldn’t help but laugh at this because out of all the people to scream at you for being selfish, of course Madison would be the one to do it; the irony of which does not pass you by.

Each breath you took sent a shooting pain through your entire body, it was agony, but you were alive, and you were back where you belonged. You didn’t even know how they found you, the hunters, you were so deep undercover that you had started to forget who you actually were, yet somehow your cover was blown. But none of that mattered anymore because you had been found by a small group of witches who scared your attackers off before bringing you back to the academy. You just hoped they hunters weren’t stupid enough to follow.

Your ribs were definitely broken, it explains why every breath hurt but once you were rested you would be able to heal yourself up and go on your way; move to a different area and go back undercover so you can take the hunters out from the inside like a parasite. Judging by the amount of blood on your shirt and the way it was torn up makes you think you’d sustained some rather deep wounds to your abdomen and torso. “Jesus fuck… This was my favourite shirt! Yves Saint Laurent goddamn it.” You let out a frustrated groan before wincing as another wave of pain hits you.

“Yn… It’s you.”

Your breath catches in your throat upon the voice reaching your ears, you look up from your shirt and your eyes lock with the woman’s own eyes that you thought you’d never see again. The woman’s eyes that you find yourself getting lost in all over again. Seas of nothing but silken chocolate with flecks of gold flake swirled in that catch the light and glow unlike any other natural material. It was her, but her hair no longer fell in straight lines as if sticking to some unspoken rule her mother had imposed, no, her hair had life to it now as though each strand of molten gold was imbued with the energy of life itself. She was no longer the quiet, unsure of herself woman you knew all those years ago, she was confident and radiated nothing but pure power.

“Delia…” You reach your hand out for her but let it fall back to the bed when she doesn’t accept it. It hurt but you understood why she didn’t. She walks into the room, closing the door behind her before moving closer to you but just out of your reach. She clasps her hands together in front of her at her waist, opening her mouth to speak before closing it again and shaking her head. She chews on her bottom lip slightly and sighs quietly before speaking softly “why did you leave, Yn? Why- why did you leave me?”

You wrap an arm around yourself as you move to sit up, wincing in pain before you settle in a comfortable position against the headboard. “Delia-“

“No! You don’t get to come here covered in blood and beat up after fucking vanishing for years without even saying a goodbye to me and call me that! Years, Yn! Do you know how many weeks I spent worrying about what happened to you!? Do you know all the thoughts that came to mind about what could have happened to you? I looked in this fucking room to see if there was even the slightest clue as to what happened to you and where you went. All there was was a stupid dent and some blood. Nothing else. Not even a fucking note.”

Cordelia lets out an incredulous laugh and runs a hand through her hair before pacing. “My own mother told me I was foolish for still caring about you after you vanished. She said that why would you stay for someone like me. And you know what, I didn’t want to believe her. I didn’t. But as the weeks turned into months, I started to believe that she was right. I started to believe that you had left because of something I did. So, I accepted that and moved on. I fell in love with someone else. I got married. I tried starting a fucking family. But that all fell through because my mother was right, I have a shit ability when it comes to judging people.”

You open your mouth to speak but the glare Cordelia shoots at you makes the words die in your throat. “The only good thing that came from any of this was me becoming the Supreme. So, tell me, yn, why you left. Tell me why you left me.”

You move your arm to wipe the tears from your eyes, guilt starting to eat away at your insides as you watched the beautiful goddess before you crumble and fall. “I- I didn’t leave because of anything you did, Cordelia. I wouldn’t leave you if I had a choice- no, please let me speak. I know we all have a choice to make, we always have a choice but this time I really didn’t. I wanted to stay. But-“

The door to the room swings open to reveal Fiona, somehow not aging a single day since you left. “She left because of me, Cordelia.” You shake your head and look down at your hands, the door clicking shut behind Fiona as she enters. “Fiona-“ The older woman waves you off “You’ve served your sentence you witch bitch. It’s time I start mine.”

Cordelia turns to face her mother, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion before her face contorts into an expression of anger. “She left because of you!? You told me that you had nothing to do with it!” Fiona gestures for Cordelia to sit down on your bed before she takes the seat next to it, crossing one leg over the other. “It was for everyone’s safety, Cordelia.” The blonde scoffs and shakes her head, mumbling “unbelievable.”

Fiona lets out a long sigh, taking out a cigarette and lighting it before taking a long drag from it then exhaling as she speaks, “After your witch in shining armour and I had a little run in, hence the dent and blood on the wall… I returned to her later that evening because she was the only one capable of doing what was needed. Yn is- was, a nobody which means she is best suited for undercover work because nobody knows her outside of this place. She’s the reason that after Hank, nobody else came. She took them out from the inside until someone snitched, and here she is.”

Cordelia looks at you, an indiscernible expression on her face “you knew about Hank?” You nod and look down at your hands “I did. Fiona told me about what happened, so I asked around to see what the plan was, I found out they were going to storm the place… So I went about spreading misinformation, and managed to get a large number of them to stop hunting before things went wrong. Cordelia” you look at her, your eyes glistening “if I had known about him before he crossed your path, I would have made sure he never went near you. I would have stopped him from breaking your heart…”

The room falls silent, the only sound that could be heard were the faint conversations between the other girls down the hall, and the sounds of bird song coming in from outside. Cordelia took your appearance in for the first time since seeing you, only now just seeing how worse for wear you are; you had superficial cuts on your face, your clothing was stained with blood and dirt, your skin was littered with bruises, and you looked like you hadn’t washed in days. But the one thing that hurt her most was despite how vulnerable you looked, you still managed to look at her like she was the most beautiful thing you’ve ever laid eyes on.

Fiona put out her cigarette before standing up, she gave you a small nod “it’s good to have you back, Yn. I’ll leave you and Cordelia alone, and tell the other girls not to disturb you both.” She smiles a bit at her daughter before leaving the room, the door clicking quietly behind her.

“I’m so-“ You shake your head, giving Cordelia a sad smile as you reach to take her hand in yours gently, wincing at overextending yourself “You have nothing to be sorry for, Cordelia. I should have left a note or- or just something so you knew I was safe and- and that I hadn’t left because of you. Why would I want to leave the one woman who has always seen the good in me from the moment we first met despite you hardly knowing me? I’d be a fool if I ever wanted to leave you.”

She blushes lightly and dips her head so her hair forms a curtain to hide the blush and shy smile from you. “I- I think I’m the fool for doubting how much I mean to you.” You bring her hand to your lips and kiss the back of it softly “you are never the fool, Cordelia.” Cordelia tucks her hair behind her ear as she looks at you “I think we’ll both be a fool if we let you go around smelling like a sewer rat.” She bites her lip to stop herself from laughing but fails miserably, the melodic sound falling from her plump lips, bringing a smile to your own and laughing before wincing in pain “I don’t- Nope- Nope, I really do smell quite bad.”

She stands up and offers you her hands to help you to your feet before wrapping one of your arms around her shoulders as she walks with you to the door where she opens it before leaving. “We’ll use my bathroom because it will be quieter, and I doubt you want another earful from one of the girls.” You nod and lean on Cordelia as she helps you to her ensuite bathroom, helping you sit down on the edge of the bath. “I- I can bathe myself you know. I may have a few broken ribs and some gnarly cuts but-“

Cordelia looks at you with an eyebrow raised as if daring you to continue but you just shake your head, blushing profusely. “I’m sure you can bathe yourself but you’ve just come back from lord knows where and you’ve had a long day and I-“ Now it was her turn to blush profusely. She shakes her head and moves to turn the bath on, adding a few oils and flowers to the steaming water before she takes out a plush towel and puts it to the side then turns the water off.

You stand up and grimace as you start to undo your clothing, Cordelia gently swats your hands away, saying softly “let me do that, sweetheart” as she undoes the buttons on your ruined shirt before carefully sliding it off you. Your breath catches each time her fingers brush against your exposed skin, the simple action setting you alight. She moves her hands to undo the button of your jeans before sliding the zipper down then pulling them down “sit back down on the edge of the bath, it’ll be easier for you that way.” You nod and sit back down, lifting your legs slightly so she can pull your jeans off completely, placing it on top of your ruined shirt.

Usually you would feel extremely self-conscious if someone was able to see you without clothing on but you never felt uncomfortable around Cordelia. You lift your hips and pull your underwear down before she pulls them off and puts them in her laundry basket. “I- I’m not going to- to keep them or anything I just thought you need rest ins-“ You giggle softly “Cord-“ She looks at you and says quietly “You- you can call me Delia again if you want…” You blush “Delia- Delia, I didn’t think you’d keep them. I…really appreciate you helping me.”

She smiles softly “it’s the least I can do.” She moves closer to you and reaches behind you to unclip your bra before sliding it down your arms then off. Cordelia then takes your hand and helps you sink into the bathtub, a content groan falling from your lips as the hot water eases the ache in your body. You lean back in the tub, your eyes falling shut as you soak in the wonderfully scented water, the flower and oil mixture soothing the sting of your cuts and the tenderness of the bruises.

Cordelia grabs a facecloth and soaks it in the water before squeezing the water out on your head, wetting your hair before she starts to wash it gently. “I never thought I’d see you again, Yn. It was heartache I hadn’t felt in a long time… I thought being with Hank would somehow make it easier for me to move on but then that relationship was a lie from the start…” She rinses the soap from your hair before adding conditioner to it, moving to start washing your arms. “You have no idea how much I wish I had told you how I felt, but it felt inappropriate because I was your teacher… I didn’t want you to feel like you had to like me back or else I’d kick you out or something ridiculous. Myrtle let me know how stupid I was from stopping myself from being happy.”

You open your eyes to look at her, a few tears spilling onto your cheeks “Delia… I- I wish I had been honest too, but- but like you, I didn’t say anything because it didn’t feel appropriate…” You smile sadly and move your hand to cup her cheek tenderly, speaking softly “I never stopped thinking about you… I- I never stopped loving you Cordelia.” She rests her hand over yours against her cheek, leaning into your touch, her eyes fluttering shut briefly “please… please don’t say that if- if you don’t mean it. I can’t handle the hurt again,” she whispers, her eyes opening to meet yours again.

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it… like a knife in the woods, you hunt down the good in me. Even though I left without saying anything, I could still feel you with me- feel that you still saw me as a good person and…that kept me going.” You lean in, eyes glancing at her lips then back into hers “I… I don’t think I stopped loving you either, Yn” she whispers back before capturing your lips in a kiss.

You sigh into the kiss, enjoying how soft her lips feel against yours and how smoothly they glide over yours. You move your hand from her cheek to the back of her head, tangling in her silken locks as you deepen the kiss, moaning softly as you feel her tongue slide against yours. She pulls back slowly, placing small pecks on your lips as she does so, her eyes opening to meet your own, you both have a lightly flushed face. “Was it worth the wait, Delia?”

She laughs lightly and pushes your face away from her gently “I think you already know the answer, but yes, it was worth the wait. You’re always worth the wait.”

[nonbinarychaoticstupid]

fic rec list version 1

will be consistently updating! these are just a handful of fics i’ve found that i think are neat :> feel free to send more/rb with your own! i’ve included links to both the fic and the author and i’m absolutely not done yet, there are way more i need to link

a picture’s worth a thousand words by akarihope - catradora in a post-season 3 au, very cool idea behind it, lots of portal theory and catra punching shadow weaver in the face! also VERY GAY. in the woods somewhere is also... pure brilliance. gay witch catra and very soft adora <3

i have faced it, a life wasted by catrasredemption - catradora, modern au where catra and adora are separated after a big accident that changes everything for them. very good, very deep, made me cry, READ THE TAGS! i’d also recommend when all she is, and ever was, in compromised, because it hurt me deeply, and cast some light (it’ll be alright), which features soft artist catra <3

i couldn’t get very far without recommending anachronism by chellethewriter - seriously, both anachronism and immemorial have made me cry almost every update. catradora but they have to live the worst 3 years of their lives all over again and live with the consequences. the angst factor is INCREDIBLY HIGH. also, forever, if you want, because vampire catra owns my heart, and the vanishing point, a catra study that made me cry. a lot.

find a new place to be from by sevensevan - ongoing glimbow and catradora ghostbusters fic, feat. trans bow and nonbinary adora! very powerful and the concept leaves me in tears. recent updates have made me cry repetitively <3

you did something to me and the blood in your mouth by artemiswords - both of these fics are INSANELY POWERFUL and i was really surprised by how accurate the season 5 predictions in the blood in your mouth were! both fics are catradora-centric - a fake dating au and a season 5 speculative fic that HITS

this whole series by buckysbears - catra-centric, focuses on her relationships with the bfs and her trauma, really worth the pain that comes with it! i’d also recommend time take us, a chronic pain adora au with a little bit of implied glitradora thrown in, and made for you, which ;w;

mark my words by lologoblins - catradora flower shop/tattoo artist + soulmates au, very soft and pure fluff with catra and adora being absolute gay messes and mara being hilarious

keep your money (you can take my time) by ehj - catradora coffee shop au from adora’s pov, you can feel the Gay Mess seeping from this one and i love it unconditionally

daylight and bouquet by fuhadeza - post-season 5 catradora being incredibly soft and fluffy and post-season 4 catradora learning to love respectively, both of which are incredibly soft and made me cry for entirely different reasons 

the aftershock (of your touch) by bow_woahh - soulmates catradora au in which catra struggles with her feelings for a whole lot of words and adora is just a complete mess (affectionate). very fluffy, contains its own brand of emotions

up in our bedroom after the war and the infinite of sky by herothehardway - the first is a post-season 5 speculative fic written post-season 5 that focuses on catradora recovering from the impact of the war, specifically on adora’s trauma, and the second is a post-season 5 fic focused on catra being a soft wife and helping adora through a bad night <3 both also made me cry, which i’m discovering is a very dramatic thing to do 

i never cared for stories, until you entered mine by thethirdphiladelphiavireo - modern soulmates catradora au, very soft and containing pining catra. i have read this so many times and it makes me so emotional.

not if it’s you by luuma - single mother adora is just trying to raise her child and her neighbour (catra) insists on helping out. featuring adora’s gay awakening, huntara being an Old Gay, glimmer and bow being glimmer and bow (affectionate)

let adora wear pants by advancingambition - adora discovering her gender identity, featuring supportive trans butch catra. very fluffy, actually made me cry very hard <3

24 things about you by deepblueskies - modern au catradora living together, in which catra is oblivious and adora pines for a lot of words and struggles to communicate her feelings. also featuring fake dating, lonnie being excellent, and sheer fluff. <3

build our own higher ground  by iwouldgetaniguana - a pre-season 5 speculative fic on catra’s redemption arc, which gets pretty damn deep and looks into catra and adora repairing their relationship in a DOPE way

here’s all my bookmarks and here’s a link to the catradora big bang 2020, which contains some of the best fics i’ve ever read

be warned, i will be back with more

[linkspooky]

This is kinda random, but what is your top 10 favorite otps?

Sure.

#1 of All Time SPUFFY

Spuffy, it wrote the book on both beauty and the beast archetypes, and enemies to lovers. For me the most important thing in a ship is the character development it brings about. Spike's redemption doesn't work without Buffy, because it's meeting the one person who expects better than him and won't put up with his selfish crap, that forces his character arc. Buffy's development is also nothing without Spike, it's meeting Spike that makes Buffy confront her dark side, and realize that being a good person isn't something you are, but something you work towards for the sake of your loved ones. The ideal ship should inspire this permanent character development and chane (Unless it ends tragically), they should be an inseperable part of each other's character arcs.

#2 Kumagawa / Ajimu

This is what I was talking about when I said "unless it ends tragically". Sometimes you ship two people who should never end up together, because they probably won't accept their differences. However, even in a failed relationship, two people can be important to each other. There's not really a hapyp ending for Ajimu and Kumagawa, despite their similiarities when they're together they just seem to make each other worse. In Medaka Box they are the anti-Zenkichi and Medaka. However, for Ajimu Kumagawa represents her only human connection, and for Kumagawa Ajimu represents the first person to be "good" to him even though their relationship soured at one point. Therefore I find the ship interesting because despite the fact that they are permanently separated they are still an incredibly important part of each other's identities and who they are now.

# 3 Matsuda / Junko

Basically for the same reason as what I said above. There is no universe where Junko and Matsuda end up in a happy relationship, as long as Junko is still Junko. However, Matsuda and DanganRonpa Zero as a whole add so much to Junko as a character. As long as Matsuda exists, Junko's more than just a black hole that only cares about despair, and I think together the side materials like IF and Zero show that Junko actually is capable of caring for people outside of her natural tendency to want to throw everything into despair, however, humanizing Junko in this manner doesn't actually make her a better person. She can have feelings like romantic, and familial love, and she still chooses to destroy those things and the people in her life. It just adds so much to Junko as a character, which is what I like ships as, an extension of characterization through character interaction.

#5 UIHAI

I love Ui and Hairu because it's like a broken fairy tale. It was a love that could have saved Hairu, but it didn't, because for Ui he always realized his feelings too late to save anyone. Hairu was obsessively chasing after Arima for the smallest amount of approval, when Ui was right there, and already in love with her. They seem like the perfect couple that could never get together, because Hairu is too fixated on Arima, and Ui is too fixated on his job. They are perfectly suited to giving each other what they wanted, and even in lots of side materials and sketches they seem like a pair, or Ui's feelings for Hairu come across as pretty clear but it never came to be in canon.

#6 ZACK / AERITH

Once again for the same reasons as above, it seems like a fairy tale romance of a knight, and a girl he wants to protect, but it fails completely to live up to that story. Zack and Aerith is a tragic story of first love for both of them, and it's also really formative for who Aerith is now as a character. Zack tried to be there for her, and he tried to be a hero to Aerith, only to very consistently not be there for her, and then disappear from her life all together. Much later on, Aerith is incredibly isilated, unable to fall in love with the real cloud without projecting Zack onto him. It's a relationship where in a better world they could have been there for each other, but also the failure of the relationship develops them as much as characters as them getting together might have. Zack and Aerith are one of those relationships that seems ideal on the surface but they are very different people with different wants, Zack wants to be a hero, Aerith just wants to be a person first.

#7 LINK / MIDNA

The best zelda ship period. Once again the most important part of a ship interaction is the change that both characters inspire in each other. Midna begins not caring about Link at all, never referring to him by name, only seeing him as an object, an old legend, a hero to be used instead of a person. Midna's a manipulative freak, and Link breaks through to her because he actually isn't interested in being the hero of legend, he just wants to save the people closest to him at the village because he feels indebted to them, and Midna inevitably becomes one of those people. Link and Midna's partneship makes the game, because it's Midna who pushes him and makes him into a hero, but it's Link through his unfledging acceptance of her who inspires her to be a person once more, and not just the twilight priness.

#8 Morrigan / Warden from DRAGON AGE ORIGINS

This and Spuffy are like the only two on this list who actually end up together, so let me just have this. Once again my favorite aspect of a ship is the transformation the relationship brings baout in a character. The warden is a non-character, but for Morrigan herself, her relationship with the warden is what allows her to escape an abusive household, and beyond that decide not to repeat the cycle of abuse with her new family. What made this ship an all time fave was in witch hunt when the Warden gets to ask her what she wants, and she's just completely confused. Even with her mother dead, Morrigan is still a tool of her mother's ambitions, it's still all about her mother wants. It's her love with the warden, either through friendship or romance that awakens Morrigan to the fact she's allowed to exist as a person with wants and needs outside of what her mother wants her to be.

#9 Kaine / Nier

It's the Most Humanizing Ship Ever Between Two Mass Murderers. As a story, I think Nier is about finding the life, and love, in a story that is ultimately, fatally doomed. Nier only worse and worse as the game goes on but that doesn't mean there was never any love in his life. For every bad thing Nier does, he was not bad to every single person, specifically Kaine, it was Nier's love and belief in her that allows the wounds in her heart to start to heal. As Nier and Nier gets worse, Kaine's own shadow self says, that her feelings in her heart are no longer hatred, or even revenge, there's just a pure white light of love left. In a game where everything only rots, Kaine has healed to the point where she can love again when she never thought it was possible. It's why I like ending D the best, because it's Nier knowing he can never escape his own sins, but he can use his last action to heal Kaine fully all the way and allow her to live on a few more years.

#10 SATOSUGU

Once again, there's no universe where they end up together, and yet still on opposite sides of a conflict they remain each other's closest friends. The most important thing about a ship is the character development it leads to and Gojo would not be who he is today without Suguru. I generally get the sense that Gojo's idea of a good person isn't himself, but rather who Geto used to be before he broke. Gojo actually relied on on Geto for a lot more than he realized, considering it was the one connection he had that seemed to humanize him. Geto provided the chosen one who can do literally anything in the world with his powers, support and guidance. He was the jade, and the foundation of their two person friendship, and then the jade broke.

Gojo and Geto's broken relationship is not only the most emotional thing in the series to me, it's also an incredible part of who they are ten years after the fact. Gojo straight up didn't bother to make friends for ten years later after the fact even though he could have, Geto still told his daughters that Gojo and him were best friends, they just had a fight. He couldn't comperehend in Volume Zero that Gojo would still regard him as a friend after everything that they had done.

It's like one of those "Can't live with them, can't live without them" pairs. They want to be each other's one and only but it just won't work because they don't understand each other, and neither of them is willing to compromise. They are also each other's perfect yin / yang complement. Gojo is the opposite of Geto, and still carries a part of Geto within him, and Geto even after becoming the enemy of the sorcery world while Gojo is the savior, still carries that friendship with Gojo inside of him as well. While their relationship is a failed one, it's also a past I hope that the next generation Megumi and Itadori both learn from, even if Geto never truly comes back.

[phantomato]

Five Tom Riddle Crossover Fics to Read

Tom Riddle is a difficult character to ship. For those of us who want to see pairings beyond the Big Two (Tomarry and Tomione), canonical options peter out relatively quickly. Sure, we can invent our own pairings by fleshing out side characters, but sometimes, the itch is best scratched by borrowing from another canon.

And it makes sense for Tom more than nearly anyone else in HP. Tom was born into an era that is the subject of so much literature, so it’s easy to find another person kicking around postwar Europe if that’s your goal. He’s an archetypal character, the villain seeking immortality, and can be matched against other villains with the same aims. Hell, even his quest to recover lost artifacts turns into the basis for two of these works—Tom Riddle has the perfect combination of a recognizable context and character model, plus the ambiguity of his canon timeline, to slot him alongside so many other fictional figures.

I want to pause on some of these themes for a second. Immortality or relationship to age, for one, is something that comes up in three of these pairings: the Darkling and Koschei the Deathless are both immortal characters in their own canons, and Edmund Pevensie is not immortal but has aged and de-aged repeatedly in his travels to and from Narnia. The HP series doesn’t give us nearly this wealth of different perspectives on age and immortality, which is fair—HP makes it clear that immortality is unnatural and undesirable, and Flamel is notably a ‘good person’ because of his willingness to accept his own death—but for a character as obsessed with the idea as Tom, some emotions can only be explored when you match him with another character who has a complicated relationship to aging. Even someone like Indiana Jones, not immortal and not trying to be, has an interesting perspective to bring to a story because he has seen so many other quests for power gone terribly awry.

Of course, the other thing we get from crossover pairings is the ability to match Tom with a villainous character. And whether you’re a fan of conflict at the start of a relationship or not, I think there’s something to be found in putting two villains together: moral arguments, when they exist, are rarely about whether death is necessary but about what kinds of death are best used when; the entire concept of either a redemption arc or a breaking bad arc can be thrown out a window. It’s a space wherein our two villains are allowed to be themselves, and the reveal of the extent of each character’s villainy becomes a strange form of celebration. This is challenging to achieve if one sticks to HP canon alone, whereas crossovers are a fruitful space.

My selection methodology was to read every crossover fic with a clear focus on Tom Riddle or Voldemort on AO3. I found crossover pairings by visiting the meta pages for the Tom Riddle, Voldemort, and Tom Riddle | Voldemort tags—I may have missed some pairings for Tom Riddle, as the character has over 300 child relationship tags and AO3 cuts off at 300 displayed. If you know of any ships I missed and should check out, do tell! I’ll also make a note here that one of these fics is my own—if self-recs bother you, skip Bluebird.

The following five fics are ordered by wordcount. Let me know what you think!

Neurotic Virtuosi, by skazka

Crossover: Hannibal Rising (movie version). The wizarding world exists, and Tom and Hannibal encounter each other in non-magical Eastern Europe.

Summary: Tom and Hannibal ride the same train when Tom is hunting down the diadem. Tom shares an apple and thinks about keeping Hannibal.

Mature, <1k, Graphic Torture Fantasies

Why?: This is one of those pairings that I wouldn’t have thought to do when the characters were both young, but it’s so much better for that choice! The length of this fic means we only get a taste of their interactions, but what a taste it is. Tom’s internal fantasies are horrifying and described in a very erotic way, which fits both characters.

This also serves as an interesting vision of what Tom might have experienced during his world tour to find the diadem, a period we rarely get to see. I particularly like that the author chose to write it as frustrating and mostly fruitless; a Tom who is stymied and unsuccessful is a particular weakness of mine.

Two Sides of the Same Coin, by Anonymous

Crossover: Chronicles of Narnia. Both Hogwarts and Narnia are real, and the characters meet in Britain. The magic isn’t the same, but there’s mutual recognition.

Summary: Tom tries to use sex to seduce secrets out of Edmund. Edmund sees something reminiscent of his younger self, the version of him who could join the White Witch, in Tom Riddle.

Explicit, 2k

Why?: Edmund and Tom are a pairing made in crossover heaven, both boys of a similar age born into war in the same country and whose discoveries of magical worlds help them escape it. Both lust for power and make poor choices; Edmund canonically recovers and finds redemption from his actions, and Tom does not.

This fic wears the hat of something pure smut, starting in the middle of a sex scene and tagged with top/bottom roles, etc., and it is that and does that well. But give it a shot for Edmund’s reflection at the end, his hopeful musings that he can apply the lessons learned from Aslan to help Tom before Tom’s utterly lost. It’s a crossover ship with unbelievable potential for both characters, and this fic makes me want so much more.

Shedding Skin, by electric_typewriter

Crossover: Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente. Both the wizarding world and the magic of Deathless exist.

Summary: Tom meets Koschei before splitting his soul. They keep meeting, and Tom keeps attempting to match Koschei’s immortality.

Not Rated, 2k

Why?: Immortality via relocation or storage of souls is an idea that easily predates Harry Potter as a series, and seeing two different versions of the some core idea interacting with one another is precisely what crossovers exist to enable. Koschei as an immortal being that found his immortality in a way he considers superior is a fascinating concept, because it creates a power imbalance between them that leaves Tom always running to catch up. And Tom, poor Tom, feels like a desperate man, finding sensation only when he’s around Koschei and feeling nothing at any other time.

This reads a bit like you’re dissociating. The author uses descriptive language to keep the reader a little distant from the grounded reality of the events happening, which has the effect of keeping you focused on the metaphysical question of what it means to have part of a soul.

Bluebird, by Phantomato

Crossover: Shadow and Bone. S&B summoning powers instead of HP magic, set in the real world, with characters’ histories preserved.

Summary: Tom is the second sun summoner to exist, born long after the first gave up her powers and lived out her natural life. He tracks down the Darkling, the shadow summoner who never really died.

Explicit, 17k

Why?: Tom is an immortal being for at least part of his life, and his character arc is about pursuit of immortality, but he is fundamentally a young immortal, and is killed before he can graduate to old immortality. Aleksander, the Darkling, is canonically an old immortal, and his character arc is about the burden of living with the knowledge that you will likely always be alone. That loneliness sets the scene for the relationship between Tom and Aleksander, driving Aleksander’s behavior—he fundamentally believes he will always be alone, even an immortal like Tom passes through his life.

There is a high proportion of smut in this, serving in place of the emotional honesty that neither character can muster, and I recommend it for that. But the story also relies on investment in quiet everyday moments shared between the characters. It’s a fic told through behavior because both men are so cautious around one another, where they nevertheless manage to find sympathy for the other.

Riddles of the Dead, by Maeglin_Yedi

Crossover: Indiana Jones. Blends together the wizarding world and the mysticism present in Indiana Jones films.

Summary: Tom Riddle hires an expert archaeologist and gentleman adventurer, Dr. Indiana Jones, to help him pursue an artifact that might grant him immortality. There’s fucking, fighting, magic, snakes, and some difficult choices in store for our leading men.

Explicit, 18k, Angst

Why?: Maeglin Yedi has been a mainstay of the Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort ficspace for nearly two decades, but an old crossover like this can unfortunately slip through the cracks. It shouldn’t! With an original publishing date in early 2005, this predates the concept of horcruxes, the knowledge of Tom’s early years at Wool’s orphanage, and, well, so much of what we would eventually learn about Tom Riddle as a person. It’s a testament to the author that the story manages to capture Tom’s character in such a way that he’s still fully recognizable to a current-day reader, despite working with so much less canon.

This fic is fun. It’s an adventure, featuring hazards and traps and assassination attempts that you would expect from an Indiana Jones film, but the magic and mystery never overwhelms the relationship at the core of this story. It’s set up beautifully, with a mirrored structure between the front and back halves of the fic that foreshadows the inevitable end of the story. Watching older, confident Indy seduce young, hungry Tom is a delight. One (possible) mark of a great Tom-centric fic, imo, is to be able to portray Tom enjoying the exchange of power, giving it to someone as well as taking it from them, and this Tom is able to revel in giving up some perceived power as he practices being vulnerable with Indy. The romance is quite sweet, especially considering that ‘angst’ tag at the top of the fic!

[aspoonofsugar]

I hope this is not too much of a hassle but by any chance could you do an analysis on Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel.

Hello anon!

Sure, no problem :) I think I have shared some thoughts on these three characters in other metas, but I’ll get this chance to organize them and to put them all together.

In general, I would say Watts, Tyrian and Hazel are not extremely deep characters and they mostly work as foils to others, drive subplots in specific arcs and highlight themes.

Here is a list of their major narrative roles, as for now.

1) They symbolize three parts of Salem:

Each member of Salem’s inner circle represents one side of her.

Watts is her entitlement.

Tyrian is her desire of destruction for the sake of destruction.

Cinder is her wish to be free.

Hazel is her inability to grieve.

They are Salem’s three flaws. The reasons why she ends up the way she is.

Salem’s journey starts because she is unable to grieve:

Salem: No! No! What did you do?! BRING HIM BACK!

And because she feels she deserves better than others:

God of Light: When you first came to me, I did pity you. But it is clear now that your selfishness and arrogance have led you astray.

Finally, she enters the pool of Darkness and embraces destruction:

Jinn: Instead, it created a being of infinite life with a desire for pure destruction.

At the same time, Tyrian and Hazel also represent Salem’s inability to understand the cycle of life and death:

God of Light: You must learn the importance of life and death. Only then may you rest.

The cycle is about loving life and accepting death. However, Salem initially refuses death (like Hazel) and then starts despising life (like Tyrian)

Interestingly, Hazel is eventually able to understand Gretchen’s choice:

Hazel: I'm doing what Gretchen would have done!

And dies sacrificing himself for others, just like Gretchen did.

I wonder if Tyrian’s death will be something which will instead be linked to him finally aknowledging the importance of life. Since Tyrian is a very negative character (and I do not think he will have a redemptive or particularly empowering death) it might be something as simple as him begging for his life.

2) Watts, Hazel and Tyrian all act as the main secondary villain of a specific arc and they are linked to the main theme of that arc.

a) Hazel fights in the Battle of Heaven and he is linked to Knowledge:

Oscar: Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?

Hazel: She was only a child! She wasn't ready!!

Oscar: She made a choice!

Knowledge is complementary to Choice. It is what you must aquire to choose wisely. However, initially Hazel does not understand it. He dismisses Gretchen’s choice as a her being tricked and he himself lacks the knowledge to make the right decision.

This is why his turning sides is linked to the relic of Knowledge:

Jinn: Why, hello again, old man. Did you have a question for me?

Hazel: Actually, I think all my questions are answered now.

He finally understands the truth and is able to choose:

Oscar: What are you going to do?

Hazel: What Gretchen would have done.

b) Watts displays his hacking abilities to its fullest in the Atlas Arc. This connects him to the theme of Creation and in particular to its negative declination aka Control:

Cinder: You said in your message that you have control over Penny.

Watts: I said I had Penny under control, not that I could telekinetically force her to do whatever I want.

He hacks Penny and overwrites her will. Moreover, he himself ends up manipulated and “controlled” by Cinder:

Cinder: You deserve this, Arthur. We'll be back.

c) Tyrian has roles both in the Mistral Arc and in the Atlas Arc. However, he misses from the climaxes of both, so I think he will be important in Vacuo and maybe he’ll find his death in that arc. Moreover, the theme of Destruction seems to fit his character.

Finally, when it comes to themes, Hazel, Tyrian and Watts all explore the theme of trust (aka one of the main themes of the Atlas Arc) in a minor way.

To be more specific, the theme of trust is explored throughout the story in different ways. I have explained it better here and here.

It is interesting because the theme of trust is explored starting with Ozpin, Oscar’s foil, who does not trust others, so our protagonists feel betrayed. However, in Atlas they find themselves in Ozpin’s shoes and must choose if to trust Ironwood or not.

Here, we explore a form of conditional trust. This idea is presented by Ruby, who wants to be sure it is safe to trust Ironwood. So she keeps secrets and studies him until she decides she can trust him… only to discover that was not the case immediately after. This happens because trust can never be completely safe. Actually, in its most negative declination, this kind of trust becomes the control symbolized by Ironwood.

No matter what, trust is always a leap of faith. This is why trust is a risk. Oscar shows this concept well. He decides to still trust Ironwood at the end of volume 7, but it does not work. Still, he does not stop and decides to trust Emerald and Hazel. This time his trust and faith are repaid. He is fred and gains a new ally.

Anyway, even if trust is worth it, the exploration of this theme in Atlas actually ends on a negative note. It ends with Cinder who is an enemy of trust because she uses others’ trust and feelings against them.

In short, we are shown what trust is through Oscar, what it happens when there is no trust through Ozpin and how trust can be twisted and manipulated through Cinder.

Well, Hazel, Watts and Tyrian explore these same ideas in their subplots.

Tyrian takes advantage of the lack of trust among Robyn, Clover and Qrow:

Tyrian: It's taking a very long time for this show to get to the good part.

He exploits it and manages to kill Clover because of it.

Hazel shows the power of trusting others instead:

Oscar: You want him to trust us? Then trust me.

Oscar’s trust makes him willing to listen and later on he decides to help the kids escape.

Finally, Watts is used and discarded by Cinder, who fakes trust and friendship towards him and Neo.

3) Hazel, Tyrian and Watts all foil a member of Ozpin’s group and show their flaw in a clearer way.

Hazel foils Ozpin himself:

Hazel: He didn't tell you my tale, did he, boy? I thought you looked familiar, to think that evil was inside you when our paths first crossed. Your blood won't be on my hands, it'll be on his.

On one hand Hazel accuses Ozpin of sending kids to their deaths, while hurting children himself. On the othet hand Ozpin speaks about the importance of making choices, but does not give all the knowledge necessary to make an informed choice. So, both characters earnestly believe in their ideals, but they are also hypocrites about them.

Watts foils Ironwood.

Watts accuses Ironwood of having used his genius only to dismiss him later on and does not aknowledge how he himself has taken advantage of Atlas society that leaves those below (like Cinder) to rot. Moreover, both Ironwood and Watts frame themselves as rational, but lose precisely because they dismiss the importance of feelings for both manipulation (Watts) and trust (ironwood).

Finally, Tyrian foils Qrow.

In particular, Tyrian embodies Qrow’s self-destructive tendencies, which are Qrow’s true flaw. As a matter of fact Qrow ends up hurt in both fights (the first tiem physically, while the second time emotionally) not because Tyrian is stronger than him. He ends up hurt because of his flaw.

In Mistral, his misunderstanding with Ruby leads to him being poisoned. This happens because Qrow is so scared of his semblance that he keeps others away and does not explain himself.

In Atlas, his cynism leads him to make a pact with Tyrian and this leads to Clover’s death.

4) Finally, Hazel, Watts and Tyrian all foil a member of CEM:

I have discussed Emerald and Mercury’s foiling with Hazel and Tyrian here and here.

Hazel and Tyrian step in as Emerald and Mercury’s parental figures once Cinder leaves them behind.

Hazel is Emerald’s positive parental figure, but he is blinded by his flaw, just like she is.

Tyrian is Mercury’s negative parental figure, but he also tells the boy truths he needs to accept.

At the same time, Hazel is what Emerald really wants (an adult who looks out for her), while Tyrian is who Mercury thinks he wants to be (a big bad man). In both cases, they are not what Emerald and Mercury really need. Emerald must learn to be more independent, while Mercury needs to nurture his positive relationship(s).

I have discussed Cinder’s foiling with Watts here, here and here.

Watts embodies Cinder’s flaw (her hunger for power) enveloped in everything she hates, but also deep down envies (being an Atlas elites).

It is interesting that Watts is not really a mentor figure for Cinder (differently from Hazel and Tyrian for the murder kids). He is a colleague, so they are on equal footing. Interestingly, though, they both try to discredit the other and to act as the other’s superior.

In general, this is another way to convey that Cinder is less child-coded than the two kids she took in.

At the same time, it shows how Atlas makes relationships between equals difficult because in Atlas everyone always tries to be on top and discards the ones below.

5) Hazel, Watts and Tyrian’s arcs, when they exist, are very short and simple.

Moreover, they are built on what ifs.

What would happen if Hansel lost Gretel?

He would stay a prisoner of the Witch forever, until he manages to free himself doing what his sister would have done:

In a sense, Gretchen still frees Hazel, not physically like in the fairy tale, but psychologically because she inspires him.

What would happen if Watson were envious of Sherlock?

He would join Moriarty and end up consumed by his own envy:

Watts is shown eating a green apple while controlling a falling Atlas. This is interesting because Atlas is the house of our titular Snowhite and green is a color associated with envy. It is as if Watts has taken the bait Cinder offered him using his feelings of entitlement and jealousy:

Cinder: You have everything you need?

Watts: Oh, believe me, this is everything I've ever wanted.

His arc is also a clear case of wants versus needs. He gets what he wants, ignoring that this is not what he needs.

What would happen is the Scorpion killed the Frog, but survived?

The answer is that he would keep making pacts he breaks (like the one with Qrow) and would keep poisoning others (both physically or psychologically).

This until he leads himself to his own demise, just like his fable counterpart.

Thank you for the ask!