#though tumblr certainly has had its moments

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Y'know, it's unfortunate more people don't compare Louis and Violet in good faith.

Like, when I do see people compare them, it's usually through the lens of one is good, and the other bad. One is more canon than the other, and here's why. One is objectively better for Clementine, and the other is less impactful, worse written, didn't have chemistry with her, insert several insults here, etc.

I don't think it's inherently bad to express why you might not like one of them, or why you prefer one over the other. That's fine, that's a matter of opinion. It only gets to me when it becomes hostile, or passive aggressive... but even then, I've learned to just roll my eyes and move on. Some people make it very clear that they're not worth having a discussion with.

However, I wish I could read more nuanced comparisons of the two that didn't default to the "and that's why this one is better." At least some are kind enough to tack on a "for my Clementine" at the end.

You know how it goes: Louis is cute and he makes Clementine laugh, whereas Violet's boring, her love is shallow, she's still not over Minerva and she's using Clementine as a rebound. Violentine's a bad ship because Violet's actually a traitor, and they're practically the same person and that's bad.

Violet's loyal and reliable, whereas Louis is annoying, he never takes anything serious, he's a traitor for his vote, and he's nothing but a distraction. Clouis is a bad ship because how could any Clementine possibly like him after he voted her and AJ out? That's bad!

That's always the conclusion, right? One good, one bad.

This is incredibly limiting and it drives me nuts.

They're foils. They contrast one another, highlight each other's strengths and flaws, in such an interesting way that it makes Clementine's choice between them all the more meaningful.

One is not good and the other bad, they're different, and I think that's worth exploring.

Let's start with a common argument: Violet is the more impactful option due to her connection to Minerva.

Now, to be fair, I can understand why someone on Team Violet would believe this. Yes, it's true that the confrontation with Minerva is more impactful for a violentine shipper who has more investment in Violet as a character. Louis doesn't have as strong of a connection to her.

However, what they're failing to recognize is that Minerva isn't the only ghost to haunt this narrative. Violet may have Minerva, yes, but Louis has Marlon... and that doesn't just go away once Marlon's dead.

Violet's route has Minerva as her ex-girlfriend, and her bond with Tenn that all comes to a head on the bridge. Louis' route has Marlon's death and how that specifically impacts his relationship with AJ and Clementine, and the slow burn of forgiveness on all sides.

Marlon and Minerva are also reflective of Clementine's worst outcomes.

Clementine and Marlon were tied together through Brody's blood splattered on their hands and faces. They both killed a part of Brody, but only one of them lies about who killed her first.

After Marlon dies, Clementine gradually replaces him throughout the game; Rosie is her dog now, she uses his bow [which Louis gave her], she becomes the leader. Clementine gets them to fight back, and when three of her people are captured, she doesn't cut her losses. She does what Marlon couldn't; "we're getting them back."

When she chooses Louis, he does for her what he never did for Marlon: he steps up.

Clementine proves she won't become Marlon just as she proves she won't become Minerva.

After getting James to agree to help them, Clementine and AJ talk about what to do if she ever gets bit. AJ says he'd want her to bite him, too. He repeats this sentiment after she's actually bitten, telling her he wants to stay and they could turn together, peacefully.

When Minerva confronts them on the bridge, she's dying... and she wants Tenn to die with her. She doesn't care who she has to kill in the process. She's more monster than human at this point, and most times, she succeeds.

They're both bitten. Clementine could've become a monster like Minerva in the end. She could've killed AJ, and they could've become walkers together. But she didn't. Minerva wanted Tenn to die for her, and Clementine wanted AJ to live for her.

Also, I should mention she has Minerva's axe. She carries the key weapons associated with Marlon and Minerva throughout different points in the game, further solidifying these connections. She uses Marlon's bow to save her friends, and she uses Minerva's axe to save AJ, who in turn uses it to save her.

What's also so interesting about this is how Marlon's alive in episode one, and Minerva is thought to be dead. Louis has his best friend, and Violet's lost hers. But, at the end of the episode, Marlon's dead and Minerva's revealed to be alive.

Marlon becomes the ghost, and Minerva becomes the monster. Clementine becomes to Louis and Violet what Marlon and Minerva never could... how does that not drive anyone else insane?

So, no. One is not objectively better, or more impactful, because of a connection to Marlon or Minerva. They're different. It just depends on which storyline you personally find more compelling.

Actually, let's talk about that a little more.

In my opinion, the most intriguing point of comparison between Louis and Violet stems from their perceptions of survival, and how that impacts Clementine.

An argument I see made against violentine is that Violet's boring because she and Clementine are too similar. This usually comes from clouis shippers who prefer the "opposites attract" dynamic Clementine and Louis have.

On the flip side, there's the counter argument that Louis is reckless, that he doesn't take survival as seriously as he should and Clementine wouldn't want him because of that.

These are interesting to me because I get where they're coming from... but they ultimately miss the point.

The other day, I replayed TFS. Except this time, I did something a little bit differently. I played my usual clouis route, but then I had the violentine route pulled up on my laptop so that I could watch these scenes, comparing them side by side… and something occurred to me. 

Louis is about challenging Clementine's perception of survival, and Violet is about validating it.

Louis challenges Clementine from the very moment we meet him—he’s playing music. His initial philosophy on survival butts heads with Clementine’s. The fact that hunting with him and Aasim challenges your perception of “your choices have consequences.” These games have conditioned the player to think along the lines of, “Yeah, Louis is more fun… but if I don’t hunt with Aasim, we won’t have any food.”

Except that’s just it. I hate to say it, Aasim, but in the grand scheme of things… hunting with you doesn’t matter. It's actually less rewarding. You know why? Because in the next section, we get food from the train station. It would’ve been more beneficial to spend time with Louis over hunting, hence how he challenges you.  

This then primes you for the choice between choosing to follow Louis or follow Violet. I know people complain about how this is presented with Violet doing something productive [checking the walls] and Louis playing piano… but that’s the point. If you’re going through with Louis’ full route, you need to meet him at his level, and in turn, he will meet you at yours. You need to accept the challenge, the idea that Clementine isn’t entirely right about the way she’s gone about survival.

Oh, and do I even need to mention the vote? The debate over Louis’ vote is exhausting. Often times, people tell on themselves in how they talk about it. It’s not actually about the fact that he voted against them. If it was, these people would have a bigger bone with pick with Mitch, Willy, Ruby, and Omar… and yet Louis is the one who takes all the blame as if he’s the only one personally kicking them out. 

Louis is reacting to the death of his best friend, and the complicated feelings that come with it being caused by AJ. He wants accountability, even if he knows something's wrong. You can either agree with him that it was murder, and set AJ on the path of atonement… or, you can double down and tell him to fuck off, AJ was justified. 

But here’s the thing… the vote adds to the appeal of Louis’ route. To someone who hates him, or at the very least is critical of his vote, that sounds mad or delusional.

Except it’s really not.

Ever heard of a thing called tension? Because there’s a lot of it in ep2 between clouis + AJ and it’s fantastic.

Yes, Louis voting them out is problematic because we need a problem to solve. We need something to feed the tension between him and Clementine. He stepped in front of a gun held by his best friend in order to protect her, forever changing their relationship… only for that to seemingly be taken away from us the moment AJ shoots Marlon. 

Yes, Louis’ route is about being challenged, but it’s also about challenging him. That he’s able to forgive them, that he’s able to question his own survival philosophy and understand theirs, that he’s able to apologize and actually change for the better… that right there is what makes clouis so damn good. 

He becomes hardened whereas Clementine softens. By the end of the game, they’re on a similar level now without neglecting their differences, and they can move forward together. 

That’s what makes Louis’ route appealing… and it’s also what makes it unappealing to people who prefer Violet. 

By contrast, Violet’s already on Clementine’s level when it comes to this perception of survival. She validates that Clementine’s on the right path.

They have other similarities in the way that they’re both female, queer, they both have a kid they look after, they’re not always great with other people, etc. 

People who prefer Louis might consider this boring, but I think to Team Violet, it’s comforting. It’s comforting to have a partner who takes this as seriously as you do, who wants to get shit done. They’re playing Clementine with a similar attitude, and don’t believe it needs to be challenged. It’s comforting to feel validated on something you already firmly believe in. 

We also see this if we compare the hunting and fishing scenes. You have to make an effort to choose Louis by choosing to neglect hunting, but the game makes you fish with Violet no matter what.

Violet’s prioritizing fishing because they need food. That’s what they’ve set out to do, so let’s do it. The game is letting you know that’s the case, and if you value that, continue pursuing her. 

While fishing, they discuss why things are weird with her and Brody. Violet doesn’t take well to Clementine’s blunt, “Because you make it weird. Brody tries and you just make fun of her."

That’s understandable because I think she already kind of knows why and is looking to have her feelings validated. She prefers it when Clementine suggests that it’s because Brody never said sorry for what happened to the twins. 

There’s also comfort and validation in the way Violet sides with Clementine and AJ after Marlon’s death. She votes for them to stay, vocalizing how much she disapproves of the results. There’s this feeling that I recognize from a lot of the sapphic romance I read; “it’s you and me against the world, I’ll always have your back, even if you’re in the wrong, I’ll fight for you.”

In our case, it’s violentine + AJ against the rest of Ericson, save Tenn and Aasim. Violet validates that AJ was justified because Marlon was a liar and murderer, claiming that AJ and Clementine did nothing wrong. Violet fights to keep them. 

The tension between violentine in ep2 is different because instead of one pushing the other away, they’re being forced apart by the vote and there’s nothing they can do about it. That tension is somewhat released when Clementine comes back and they’re reunited, working out a plan to best defend the school. 

It’s also why Violet’s presented as doing something productive when you follow her instead of Louis, and why she asks if you want to hang out after checking the defenses. 

All that being said, allow me to reiterate that one is not good and the other bad, they're different. These concepts of challenge and change/validation and comfort exist on a neutral road as diverging paths. It’s up to the player to pick what path they prefer, but that doesn’t mean the other path isn’t worth acknowledging or analyzing. 

I should also mention that they’re not exclusive; there is overlap with validation being present in Louis’ route and challenges in Violet’s. They’re just more present in episodes 3 and 4 after we’ve made our decision. 

There are several more examples of how this all fits together, buuuuut–

Ya’ll wanna compare some allegories?

Those familiar with my content might already know where I’m going with this as I’ve made a post about Louis and the piano in the past. 

You see, I believe that there are allegories for Louis and Violet’s hearts present in their routes: Louis’ piano, and Violet’s pin. 

I already have a thorough, in-depth analysis of Louis and the piano that you can read, so all I’ll say about it is that on the night of the raid, he asked Clementine to carve a piece of herself into his heart so that no matter what, their initials will be immortalized together in its wood…

And that makes me fucking feral. 

But I'm also so normal about it.

As for Violet, her heart is the star gazing pin she gives to Clementine. She gives it to her so she’ll always remember that night… but she doesn’t give it to her until after Clementine’s saved her, and that fascinates me in the context of it being allegory. 

Louis asks Clementine to carve herself into his heart right before the raid, cementing that from that moment on, he is utterly devoted to her. I believe this is part of the reason why Louis is still happy to see her if he’s the one who’s captured. Yes, yes, he’s also incredibly traumatized from having his tongue cut out and he’d be happy to see anyone, yada yada… but listen, if you romance Louis and he’s captured, his heart remains with her—that piano with their intitals is on full display. When he sees her, he’s still so devoted to her that he refuses to accept that it’s at all her fault. Even when she says it is, he shakes his head... and he so easily accepts her when they’re together in the end. From the moment Clementine puts knife to wood, he’s hers. 

Now, look… you might think I’m going somewhere not great with this but hear me out. 

I think after Clementine’s gone star gazing with her, Violet is fully ready to give her heart to her. Y’know, give her the pin. But, think about what Violet said about how people have left, but Clementine came back. Plus, with the impending raid to think about, maybe Violet should keep the pin until the right moment. 

I believe a key difference between her and Louis is that Violet needs one last thing to solidify that Clementine’s the one. 

Louis gives her his heart prior to the raid because of everything that’s already gone down between them following Marlon’s death. Violet needs to know that Clementine’s willing to fight for her the way she fought before. When Clementine saves her from the raiders, it’s solidified. Even after she sees Minerva again, it changes nothing.

It’s also worth noting that the pin is something Clementine wears. Like the piano carving, it’s a piece on display for everyone to see, to let them know whose heart Clementine has.

Violet literally handed Clementine her heart as a means of saying, “I’m yours. I’m devoted to you.” 

This is why romanced/captured Violet is devastating, and is why she behaves the way she does in the cells. She was so ready to give her heart away and then nope, sorry, Vi! You get knocked unconscious by raiders instead! 

If anything, you kind of deserve to be told to fuck off if you romanced her and then let her get captured. Just sayin’. 

Look, I have a lot of complicated feelings about the captured violentine route, mostly with Violet being as forgiving as she is after her eyes are burned—yes, yes, I know, her eyes are burned and Minerva messed with her head so of course now she’s not hostile, yada, yada. 

But I think it’s rather telling that you don’t get the pin in this route. Sure, Violet’s willing to forgive and possibly pursue this romance in the future… but she’s not ready to hand over her heart, not truly. Not after everything that’s happened. 

And if you want to get extra angsty about it, imagine that Violet made the pin right after they parted ways, but before the raiders came. Meaning that if she’s captured, it’s possibly still sitting somewhere, abandoned. 

Mmhmmm, very normal about this. I feel normal. My normalness about this continues... normally. I'm not losing my shit thinking about that. Nope. Why would I? I wouldn't! So normal.

Okay just let me talk about their reactions to Tenn's death and then I'll shut up.

This makes me want to gnaw my own foot off, I can barely handle it.

AJ shoots Tenn on the bridge because Clementine trusted him to make the hard calls. This saves Louis or Violet's life.

When Louis jumps across, he's completely silent as he watches Tenn die... and then he's pissed; "What the fuck?! How could you just shoot him like that?!"

AJ explains himself, that he did it for him, and Louis is so upset that he forces AJ to look at what he's done, to watch the walkers eat Tenn; "Tenn's dead. He's dead! Do you realize that?! Look! [...] He's... he's gone, because of you. Just fucking gone."

If Clementine says AJ saved his life, Louis says, "So what, we just cut him loose? Gun him down like he was nothing?"

If Clementine says nothing, Louis says, "Tenn was just a little boy!"

The reason Louis responds this way is because in this moment, he just relived Marlon's death all over again, but worse. So, SO much worse!

When Violet jumps across, she breaks down, begging, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! No, no! No, no, no..." as she watches Tenn die... and then says to AJ, "No! What the fuck?! How could you do that?!"

AJ explains himself, that he did it for her, and Violet is faaaar from okay; "For me? I can't... Tenn is gone! That soft little boy who liked to draw, he's gone, because of you!"

If Clementine says AJ saved her life, Violet says, "You think that's okay?! Just gunning down one of our own?!"

And there it is.

Louis is hardened in this situation because he already went through this... Violet hasn't, not with AJ. She softened up throughout her route due to her relationships to him and Clementine... but this is the moment where she realizes that maybe AJ wasn't as justified as she believed, and this is the consequence.

This leads us to the ending where AJ asks if they're still mad about him killing Tenn, and I just... I'm biting my foot right now because the script has flipped.

Louis is forgiving and understanding. He's soft, he's sympathetic, he shakes AJ's hand to let him know that all is forgiven and they're okay; "I... AJ, I guess it's like... You saw something I didn't. About the situation, I mean. Minnie and the walkers and Tenn, it's just all this chaos in my head when I think back on it. [...] Clem says you saved my life? Well, then, that's exactly what you did. And how can I stay mad at anyone for doing that?"

Or, alternatively, "He was your friend, AJ. I know you are hurting just as much as I am."

As for Violet? She's understanding, too... but she's not quite ready to forgive yet; "The thing you said on the bridge...that he was messing up all the time. It wasn't something new, you know. Tenn got himself or other people into trouble all the time, long before you guys got here. He was always so lost. He lived in a world that just...isn't there, you know? And that's why I tried to look after him. But when I was pulling him away from the walkers, and Minnie, I could also see...he just wasn't there anymore."

"So you're mad, but sad."

"Can I be that for a while?"

And it's completely understandable that she's hurting and struggling with how she feels about AJ moving forward! She wants to be okay, she wants to forgive him, she just needs time.

Now, because I'm forever bitter, but I'm gonna mention this as well: whenever I see someone point at Violet's scene and say, "See!? This is how LOUIS should've acted in ep2!" like... they're telling on themselves again. Not just that they don't understand Louis as a character or his route, but that they don't fully grasp Violet's part in this either. Or time frames, for that matter.

Let me put it to you in simple terms... they react the same.

After Marlon and Tenn die, they're upset. They're pissed. They blame AJ and yell at him. After they've had time to process what happened [Louis after the two week time skip, Violet after time passes between the bridge and the ending] they share the same, "I'm still upset about Marlon/Tenn. Can I be that for a while and still be your friend?" sentiment.

The difference is that Louis is treated poorly for it because of the vote, and because we feel it first hand for longer... Violet got to grieve off screen and come back after she's sorted herself out.

It's a disservice to both of their characters because it's rooted in that same mentality that I criticized at the beginning: "This is why one is better than the other."

Do I need to say it again? I'm gonna say it again.

One is not good and the other bad. They're different.

There are so many fun discussions that could come from putting Louis and Violet side by side, and examining them. I haven't even covered the different ways they're introduced, or compared their ep3 dates to see what it says about them and the overall narratives! What about the cell scenes!? How they react when Dorian's about the cut off their fingers! The way they approach James upon meeting him!

That last one in particular is especially funny! They're all under stress about blending in with a herd of walkers to infiltrate a boat to save their friends, and yet Louis easily saunters up to the guy wearing walker skins with a smile, and makes him laugh by saying, "Functional and fashionable. I'll take two."

Violet approaches James like he's an injured wild animal that's going to bite her, and bless her heart, she tries with, "I, uh… hey. Hey there, James. Sorry about Willy." Then James gives her this judgmental side-eye, like buddy? She's not the weirdo here.

There is so much potential to dissect here, and I want to see people do it... but I want them to do it fairly, in good faith.

I want to get away from the idea of comparing them to "prove" which is better because there is no objective better. There isn't! That's a waste of time!

I'm so done with The Debate™; it's unhelpful, it's annoying, and it's boring as shit. I've heard it all before, and you probably have, too.

I want to put Louis and Violet under a microscope and study them with the thought process of, "one does this and the other does that... what does it mean!? what does it say about the narrative!? Oh my god, they have the same opinion on this thing, WRITE THAT DOWN!"

So yeah, that's my ramble for the night.

I'm gonna go replay TFS for further research.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Maybe a drabble in which our Lamb meets Chimaera Reader, the maker of all crowns? Like, he stumbles upon their lair, and sees all types of the crowns, big and small, black and white, one-eyed and two-eyed, etc.? Maybe even a little inter actions between the Reader and the Red Crown in which it recognises them as their maker?

Sorry for my English, it is not my native language-

Also sorry if this request repeats, tumblr May have doubled it-

I swear I'm gonna turn this into an OC one day because I LOVE the concept of a crown maker in the COTL universe

........

'Where am I now..?' Lamb pondered as they stepped into a cavern--one most unfamiliar to them.

It was strange, considering they've scoured nearly every corner of the Old Faith for resources, potential rival cult activity, and even martyrs for the Bishops.

But this area was entirely new to them.

With their weapon drawn, they cautiously ventured further inward, eventually arriving into a larger room that was almost entirely cloaked in darkness. They could barely see a thing even with the few torches scattered around lighting the way.

Then suddenly, they saw a bunch of eyes opening up on all sides of them, varying in shape, size, color, and number. And they just stared down at the little sheep.

While they were accustomed to having so many eyes on them, this was completely different.

These eyes certainly didn't belong to any follower of theirs.

What if this was a trap?

What if-?

"Welcome, little Lamb! Promised liberator of the Old Faith!"

Looking upwards, they could see you descending from the darkness. You looked like a tradition chimera: a lion, goat, dragon, and snake all mixed into one. Both of your heads smiled as you took a seat upon your throne, although you frowned a bit upon realizing how poor the lighting must have been.

"Oh forgive me, it is awful dim in here, isn't it? Hold on one moment." Your lion head breathed out a small blast of fire, aimed towards a nearby candle that lit up.

That set off a chain reaction which lit up dozens of other candles around your lair, and burned the torches bright enough for Lamb to see what all those eyes belonged to:

Crowns.

So many crowns.

Big and small, black and white, one-eyed and two-eyed..and even multi-eyed; some sported horns and some did not. Others had bare surfaces while others were decorated with jewels or marred with scars from time.

It was an astonishing sight, and when Lamb looked back up at you, they could see a crown on each of your heads--snake tail included.

Not to mention your seat was adorned with four familiar ones...

"So you..take crowns from fallen gods?"

"Do I take them?" You repeated, before laughing uproariously. "No, but I can see why you'd assume that. I'm [y/n], Maker of the Crowns."

They blinked. "You created the crowns?"

"I have since the first gods ruled over these lands." You chuckled, taking the Green Crown into your paw. "I mold them into a design of my liking, give them life, and then send them off into the world to find a worthy host. They're like my children, so I do get sentimental at times...but I know they'll do great things."

'Huh...Leshy did say the crown found him..' Lamb mused.

"Of all the ones I've created, though, I never thought to see the Bishops' crowns again. But they were in such terrible condition...falling apart, barely able to keep their eyes open....I couldn't believe it." Your gaze shifted down to the sheep. "You wouldn't happen to know why, would you?"

They tensed. "...well...um-"

"Haha! I only jest, Lamb. I know everything." You smiled reassuringly. "I've sensed strong spikes in their energy, and I'm well aware they've been used as aids for the bishops after Narinder's betrayal. Speaking of whom...."

Pausing, you outstretched your paws towards them. "I see the Red Crown has found a new master."

"It's a long story, but--hey!!" All of the sudden, the Red Crown slipped out of their hands, morphing back into its normal form as it began floating up to you. They were shocked and angered, feeling extremely vulnerable without it. "What are you doing?!"

"Nothing, little one. It came to me all on its own. Welcome home, my darling." With the crown nestled into your paw, your smile grew as its eye stared back up at you with happiness. You sighed and brought it closer to your cheek, allowing it to nuzzle up to you. "Oh how I've missed you, mighty crown of Death. I'm glad you have not forgotten me."

"Give it back!!" Lamb snarled, baring their sharp teeth as they tried storming up to your throne. But their little hooves kept slipping on the skull pile that served as its foundation, and they eventually tumbled downwards, landing on their rear. "I need it back right now!"

"...are they always like this?" You muttered to the Red Crown, who just rolled its pupil in response. "Huh, I thought so. Arrogant, entitled, paranoid....just like your first master-"

"Don't compare us." They scowled. "Narinder was worse than arrogant...he would have destroyed this entire world, along with you and all these crowns if I returned it to him! We are NOTHING alike."

"Hm, I see I've touched a nerve. My apologies. I just wanted to take care of this little chip in its horn." Smiling, you manifested some black ichor to seal the crack you discovered on the crown, before sharpening up its horns a little bit. "There. Much better."

"....thank you. Now may I have it back?" Lamb put their hand out, growing more anxious with each passing second they were separated from it. 'Why isn't it returning to me?"

"It doesn't see why it has to right at this very moment...and quite frankly, I don't either. It's not connected to your lifeforce. You're still standing without it-"

"Because I'm its new master! I gave it new purpose. I gave it freedom...and it should be obeying me unconditionally and I don't understand why it's being so stubborn. That crown wouldn't be anywhere NEAR as powerful if it weren't for-!!"

"Choose your next words carefully," you tutted, shaking your head as you gestured to the walls. "My children do not look it, but they too have ears."

Falling silent, they looked all around, noticing that the crowns were now glaring at them. They tensed up, a feeling of heavy discomfort and embarrassment washing over them as they slowly realized how childish they were acting.

And in front of the crown creator, of all people?

"Tell me..do you see the crown as nothing without you? Or perhaps you feel like you are nothing without the crown?"

"........"

"Your mistake, little lamb, is that you see crowns as simple tools to do your bidding. A conduit for your godhood. But do not forget, they are also living breathing creatures like you and I." You chastised. "As such, they deserve respect. I figured you would've been more grateful to meet their maker...such few have the privilege to enter my lair and receive such a warm welcome."

The Red Crown bobbed up and down in agreement, before it scowled down at Lamb, as though to say "you better listen to them and treat me better".

They just looked at the ground, unable to form words as shame creeped up their spine.

You sighed softly. "I understand your worries as a new god. The mere thought of separation from it drives you to rage, especially after what happened between you and Narinder. But I have no desire to take it from you. Not when you've fought so hard for it. All I wish is that you continue caring for it."

"....I'm sorry, Great Crown Maker.." Lamb muttered, finally letting themselves be humbled. "I don't mean to act like I did. It's just...he's been annoying me all day today, shouting about "divine right" and making my life a living hell. He still can't accept that it chose me over him.."

They felt the familiar and comforting weight of the Red Crown returning to the wool atop their head, but they only looked up at you with respect. "Thank you."

"Of course, young one." You nodded, smiling once more. "Narinder has possessed that crown since he was a wee little kit, so it's going to be quite a long time before he lets that grudge go. Perhaps in a hundred years, give or take."

"I understand...so.." Lamb looked around. "Do you have any wares?"

"Oh, plenty!" You clapped your paws together. "Feel free to take a gander! Since this is your first visit, you may have one of the tarot cards over there on the house. But just know that the crowns aren't for sale."

[faggot-greg-house]

house is autistic i will accept no criticism

i have so many thoughts about house and autism. this might be the most unhinged post on my tumblr yet but here we go so house had the illusion of normalcy forced on him from a young age. i dont think thats like, full canon, but house talks about how his father abused him on more than one occassion and talked about how he was never satisfied or happy with house no matter what. so i truly dont think its a far reach to say that he would not have tolerated a "weird child." the thing that i think, though, is that all of his actions are a response to the fact that he's not particularly great at masking. he's afraid if he lets people close to him he won't be able to hide the fact that he's "weird" (aka bad). he intentionally pushes people away with his weird creepy comments and being an asshole and that's both him masking (if he's aggressively mean all the time no one will bother to look further) and a way of coping with the fact that he cant mask. the more he pushes people away the less likely it is that they'll see that he cares about things and that he's not "normal" like he's always been told. i also think that as the show went on, he got less and less concerned about masking. he constantly stims, he hyperfocuses and burns out, he panics about change, he treats his fellows a lot more like family. once he got to a point in his life where his "weirdness" is not something he can be ruined for (he's tenured and he has people who will fight for him) he found himself a lot more able to be aggressively autistic, even if he struggles with it due to trauma.

a huge Autism Moment in the show for me is when foreman quits and house fires chase. house has been afraid his whole life of showing who he actually is, as mentioned. his fellows, though, are his People, they knew all of his shit and they never ran awayy from it. they didnt question who he was and what he knew, only his methods, and they were willing to fight back against him (something he's shown he loves). but then foreman quits because he "doesnt want to be like house" and this is house's worst nightmare. this is exactly why he had normalcy beaten into him, because being weird only makes it that people will run away once they know you. he dared to let people see a bit of who he actually is and how he thinks and acts and foreman essentially said "i cant stand to be like you." on top of that fear, his team became Different. he doesnt know if chase or cameron thought the same things as foreman, if they were also judging him or hating him for being autistic. it sent him into fucking panic mode because how is he supposed to trust them when he doesnt know if they agree with foreman!!!!! and even if he could, the team is Different and its for a reason he cant control and he cant just go back to normal. his method of interviewing his new fellows also shows this - how is he supposed to be able to tell if someone will be okay with who he is and if they'll work well together based off a short intervew where he's almost certainly masking the whole time???? anyway. to end this absolutely unhinged post ive put together an inconclusive list of autistic traits and actions from house, and i want to say that so much of this is him being written off as an antisocial eccentric genius and, while he is an ass that cant be debated, it clearly runs deeper than that!!!!

he doesnt understand how ppl feel (he repeatedly talks about how small talk is like a guessing game for him and he doesnt know what to say)

he doesnt like to be touched (for a lot of the show people just do Not touch him, wilson excluded)

he stims constantly and he needs Sensations

he's blunt, rude, somewhat monotone, etc

he has a hard time making friends

he has a hard time saying what he feels (he'd rather joke or be mean than analyse his emotions)

he has a routine that he Sticks To (even thgh its not exactly the same because of patients etc, he goes to work late, he talks to the same people, he sits in his same office. he's shown coming to work sick at one point and he doesnt rly go on vacation. plus when cuddy took his bloodstained carpet it was such a fundamental change to his life that he couldnt deal)

he notices Everything (yes ik this is a sherlock holmes thing but consider sherlock holmes - also autistic)

he has a method and train of thought that works for him and he is unwilling to break from it (he's shown at least once stopping the fellows from writing on his whiteboard, and after he loses the og three he continues trying to hold ddx's because its how he Thinks)

[gemsofgreece]

You really should know about Storm "Daniel"

Unlike how much all of us Greek blogs notify our tumblr communities about the regular (at this point) arsons wildfires afflicting Greece, we did not say much about the floods the country has been suffering from right now. There was a mention here and there and I even made a joke post as the storm was starting but not a lot of stuff in general. So, I think there's a couple of things you should know and I feel like I could address about it and actually it's not just about Greece. So I believe this could interest a lot of people and it should be something known worldwide.

In the beginning of September there was an alarm about an extreme weather phenomenon forming above the Ionian Sea at the west of mainland Greece. In truth, the phenomenon was not caused by the climate change. It was just a very rare occurence where a high pressure atmosheric system was sandwiched between two currents of low pressure. Low pressure systems are the ones resposible for stormy weather while high pressure systems generally create stable weather. As the low currents encircled the high pressure system, the storm that had started forming became unusually stable for a storm. As a result, the storm moved northeast above Thessaly and other regions of the central part of Greece and... just decided to stay there for an indefinite amount of time. Furthermore, because it's September and the Ionian Sea had warmed up throughout the summer, the medicane (Mediterranean cyclone) gained tropical features as it was forming, pushing its intensity to extremes unknown to this area.

The storm remained above all of central Greece for about 4-5 days but at the meantime it was causing side-storms in neighbouring countries, such as Bulgaria and Turkey. Both countries suffered from floods causing damages and deaths.

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN).

Tsarevo, Bulgaria (CNN).

Four people died in Bulgaria and seven in Turkey.

But like I told you the core of this was exactly on top of Greece's central mainland and islands. So what happened there? I happened to experience this shit first hand. My recollection of it is that it was unlike any other storm I had experienced before. My knowledge on meteorology is not very advanced, however I believe due to the high pressure part, there were actually no winds at all - or they were insignificant, so it wasn't like what you might have in mind as a conventional cyclone. It was a rainstorm but it was like a rainstorm from hell. The crucial part is that in Greece summer violent rainstorms may last for about five minutes but certainly not for five days nonstop. There was no pause, not even for a second. It kept pouring and pouring in indescribable volumes, without decreasing or slowing down, not for a moment. The fourth day it started taking short breaks.

As a person with a phobia of lightnings since childhood, I kept wearing earplugs throughout all these days. For four days, ten seconds did not pass without at least one lightning shrieking exactly on top of our heads. In the end, I am dead serious, I think my lifelong phobia has been cured somewhat due to this extreme exposure that eventually had a numbing effect. I think only the first day there was a record of 7,000 lightnings. I believe there must have been dozens of thousands overall. The lightnings also caused fires but the downpour was so overwhelming no fire could ever stand a chance.

Whether during or after the rains, what I was seeing outside was post-apocalyptic. The only thing missing was the zombies. It really looked like a background from a videogame, including a constantly lit up sky. I was not in danger though people dear to me were. The worst for me was a huge fall in the quality of living but that doesn't matter. The rains caused severe destructions across cities and villages. They caused floods, they broke bridges, they broke a massive number of roads, they made walls collapse, they destroyed springs, they damaged water and electricity outlets entirely, they drowned flocks and flocks of animals, they destroyed mountainous and coastal villages alike, they made cars float and fly over each other and they uprooted houses.

Village in Mount Pelion, Greece.

But that's not the end of it. Four days later, the storm moved southwest towards the Ionian sea, basically to the place of its original formation. It side-swept over Athens in the meantime, flooding the city, but that doesn't mean much since I could cry and Athens would still flood with my tears. Anyway. AFTER the storm left, the floods caused by it started multiplying and expanding. Picture that: a crystal clear sky, a bright sun and your phone screaming state alerts about evacuating your village or town because a lake has launched at you! Here's the thing: Thessaly is a massive plain surrounded by a ring of mountains. Half of those downpours fell right on the lowlands causing floods and destructions the first days. The other half however fell on the mountains, filled the streams heading down and they all met up and filled the lakes and the large river of Thessaly, Pineios and they all basically exploded the next days. Pineios especially exploded both in its western and eastern part, sinking the entirety of Thessaly's plains under water. As a result, floods were actively taking place days after the storm had ended and the weather was good. The phenomena have only started subduing since yesterday.

The overflowing of the river, trapped by the mountains.

Farmers won't be able to work this year and next year is questionable as well. There are huge concerns about various epidemics breaking out as more and more dead animals are found in the waters. Entire villages are under the water. There are estimations that some villages in west Thessaly might have been lost forever and their residents will have to move elsewhere. Sixteen people have died from the rainstorm and the floods.

Actual villages in Karditsa, Greece.

A more longterm danger is that the ground received such an unnatural amount of water that it might have been severely eroded and destablised, making it vulnerable to natural disasters I don't want to utter. Many roads are either broken or bloated and Thessaly has been cut out from communication and transportation with the rest of the country. To this day, there are maps guiding people how to drive from North to South Greece and vice versa by entirely skipping Central Greece! (Hint: they will have to drive through Epirus, aka western Greece.) The first days there was also complete isolation from what was happening in the country and the world and also the very regions we were in as we had no electricity and our only chance was getting a call from somebody being elsewhere and telling us what is going on.

Volos, Greece (CNN)

Many regions have received within 2-4 days 55 times their monthly amount of rain or more than twice the yearly amount. Greek meteorologist Christos Zerefos estimated that such a phenomenon occurs every 300-400 years. Meteorologists were alarmed internationally - with Germans and Americans reportedly saying they hadn't studied such a phenomenon again in their career. Its intensity was record high in the history of Greece and right in the top of Europe's as well. They also agreed that such a phenomenon would be devastating even if it had hit the most advanced and prepared country.

BUT THIS IS NOT THE END. The weakened Daniel seemed to slowly move towards South Italy but it decided to take a turn and headed south towards Libya and Egypt. Quite possibly, as the storm was once again travelling across the warm Mediterranean Sea, it was rejuvenated and gained even more tropical traits. Eventually, the medicane hit Libya with unprecedented force.

The cyclone travelling from Greece to Libya.

The toll it took on Libya is unspeakable. As I am writing this,

More than 5,226 people are killed and more than 10,000 are currently missing.

Like, can you wrap your head around what I am talking about? I don't see this shit being acknowledged enough across the world. I am checking this again and again, to ensure I am reading this correctly.

Daniel has officially become the deadliest medicane on record.

Eastern Libya, from Al Jazeera.

In the meantime, Greeks found opportunities to practice their favourite sport: political infighting. People who weren't even here when hell broke loose say that if this or that was properly done, we would not have problems at all. I even saw an idiotic Greek expat comment how "we got drowned in a little bit of rain". The truth is we should bloody thank our lucky stars and I say this with the entire awareness of half of Thessaly being currently underwater. It is true that Greek governments and people have done so many things badly, like building on top of streams and rivers, changing rivers' natural route, drying up natural lakes and all that shit that guarantees you are going to have massive problems once a serious storm breaks out. Also, the disaster revealed that there was once more a very questionable management of all the money given by the EU for anti-flooding measures after a previous flood (Ianos). Of course, I would be happy if at last we viewed this disaster as an opportunity to improve ourselves and the management of our land, however whatever happened these days wasn't the fault of anyone in particular. On the contrary, A LOT worse could have happened. A lot. Maybe Libya is not an indication because if Greece is not used to such extreme rain phenomena, then Libya is probably ten times less used to them, however we should not forget that this monster was STUCK at least five days over the heartland of Greece. For this alone we should damn be thankful we did not get it any worse and that the land endured in any way and of course now we have to correct old mistakes as well but let's do it united and determined and without wasting time once more in pointless infighting, which in this case might even be unfair. (In fact I think the thing we should blame the state the most about was not making it clear beforehand that this was going to be unprecedented, not just "very severe". They probably didn't want to cause panic and mayhem but still. We should know.) Of course I am not talking about how the state will treat the afflicted regions from now on, which is entirely its responsibility. And we should stand next to Libya. Greece has its wounds to mend but it should absolutely provide support to Libya. We know what this freak phenomenon was like.

I know this text is long but please consider reblogging this. We should know what happens on our planet. Thousands of people are dead from a freak phenomenon devastating regions across lands and seas. Also forgive any mistakes I might have made although I believe the information is correct for the most part. I didn't speak more about Libya because I don't know enough to analyze the situation as much. Perhaps there are ways of supporting the country too. As a last note, this phenomenon was not freakish because of the climate change - it was just a very unusual occurence. However, the - otherwise normal - warmth of the sea did feed and intensify the storm and the climate change might in the future cause these super rare, accidental phenomena to become more frequent.

[writingwisterias]

Now that my rights have been returned on tumblr, I’m gonna attempt to leave this request again since it deleted the last time.

I know you mentioned something in my inbox about needing more rock Leon appreciation. My mind instantly thought to rockstar!Leon. I know it’s a pretty popular AU, but I can’t help but think about him as some famous rockstar. The media labels him as some punk playboy who only cares about sex, fame, and rock n’ roll but in reality, no one knows that you’re standing in the front row of all his shows supporting him. Giggling and kicking my feet at the thought of Leon playing for me at all his shows AHHH.

Front Row View

Rockstar! Leon x AFAB!Reader

Words: 1.5K Warnings: SMUT 18+ ONLY, Riding, the smut is only a small part at the end

Masterlist

Thank you for the request @g0thesqe! Hope you enjoy it, you should also check out the request they wrote of a Leon x goth reader here! My requests are still open! ~ Mads <3

Leon’s eyes scanned the faces that were close to the stage, trying to spot one familiar face that has engraved its way into his memory. His lungs burned as he held each high note, sweat dripping as the bright lights heated up the stage, his constant jumping around and running up and down the stage certainly didn't help. But the fans didn’t care, he's seen countless articles and posts of his appearance, all the dirty thoughts they write in the captions fueling his ego. Leon wasn’t looking at his fans though, they weren’t the opinion he wanted or craved at the end of each night. Leon’s grin grew when he finally spotted you, your body pressed against the rails at the front of the stage screaming the lyrics back to him with some group of girls you have found yourself with. It was something he admired, how you always insisted on being a part of his community enjoying his show with a new group of fans each night. He made his way over to where you were in the crowd, leaning over the edge to brush fingers with all of the fans. His heart fluttered when his fingers brushed yours, chuckling as he watched the girls surrounding you giggling as he winked and pointed at you before he ran towards the other side of the stage. You giggled with them, however unknown to them you were the lucky one he was leaving with at the end of the night, you screamed the lyrics at him each time he came back, heart swooning as you watched Leon run around doing what he loved. 

“Hey girls help me take this off” you chuckled to them, lifting up the back of your shirt for them to undo the clasp. They all giggled as they began to shield you from view as you slipped the bra off. It wasn’t uncommon for people to throw things on stage, but he would know who threw this one at him. It was the same one he removed the night before, one that has been thrown across his room many times. You balled it up in your fists waiting for him to eventually get close to where you were again. The girls supported you as you balanced on the barrier for extra reach waiting for the perfect moment to throw it on stage. It didn't take long for Leon to finally make his way over, screaming the last few notes of the night you threw it. The bra landed square against his chest, he caught it before it fell. A smirk appeared on his lips as he bought it closer to look at. He knew it was yours immediately. Leon winked at you again, swinging the item over his shoulder and dancing with it for the last song of the show like it was a trophy he had acquired. “My god you are so lucky! He noticed you” the girls giggled at you. You laughed with them as you all began to leave the stadium holding their hands forming a chain as you made your way to the exit. 

You pulled your jacket further around you, trying to hide your chest from the chill of the evening night.  You bounced on the balls of your feet waiting by the side of the road for the familiar sound of a motorbike, whilst checking your phone at the fans' opinions of the show. You looked through the photos and videos you took of Leon and the ones you took with the fans. You chuckled as all the videos came in of him catching your bra. You didn’t capture the encounter yourself but found it funny seeing all the different povs of the moment. The theories then came flooding in tumblr and twitter blogs posting about why he kept to one side of the stage so much for yet another show. You saw them try and piece together the number of nights during this tour he’s done it, the fans circling the area his fingers always pointed during certain songs. You could only imagine the number of articles joining in with the speculation their favorite lead singer was finally hitched. Leon had always kept you a secret from the world, you were his little secret only people close to him knew about you, even his band members all joined in the fun during the tour with the fans trying to figure it out. 

You smiled as you heard the familiar sound of his bike make its way down the street. You giggled at him as he flicked his visor up looking at you with an eyebrow raised. In his outstretched hand he held your bra. “Missing this, darling?” he chuckled, looking at where arms were tightly wrapped around your chest holding the jacket together. “Looks familiar” you teased as you walked over to him. He held out your helmet, helping you clasp it and shaking your head slightly as he made sure it was all safe. Leon relaxed into you as he felt your arms wrap around his waist, your red bra clasped tightly in your hands at his stomach. He kicked up his bike and sped off into the night, taking you home. 

Leon draped the blanket over the two of you, your weight pressed on his chest bringing him back down to earth after bouncing around the stage all night. “So what are they saying tonight? Have they caught on yet?” he said as he kissed the crown of your head. Leon flicked through whatever tv shows were on late, trying to find the perfect one to use as background noise as he soaked you in to help him relax. “A few are getting close. People are just mainly noticing you linger on one side of the stage again, trying to compare it on the other shows I’m there to see if there's any link. However I'm so hidden they don’t know why you are there” you said whilst scrolling through your feed, the sound of his music from all the fan videos were adding to the background noise. Leon chuckled. He’s never been more  thankful for you when you came into his life. You managed to drag him out of his drinking days and help him celebrate a good show in a way that wont kill his liver. “Maybe in the next album I’ll hide your name in there somewhere” 

You giggled putting your phone down on the coffee table in front of you. You tilted your head up and looked at his face, your fingers worked their way through his hair lightly tasseled from his bike helmet. “I love you, you were amazing tonight” you smiled at him. Leon's heart swelled in his chest at your praise, his hand cupped your cheek and brought you in for a passionate kiss. Your tongue slid across his lower lips begging for access which he granted. Leon’s hands found their place as your waist, sliding your shirt up over your head. “The bra took me by surprise tonight love” he said as he began to grope your breast, taking the nipple into his mouth greedily. “Got to keep you on your toes. You should have heard all the girls when you winked at me” you spoke, pressing your chest closer to him, a low whine leaving your lips at the pleasure he was working with his tongue. “Imagine if they found out about this” he joked as he kissed his way along to the other breast. You ground your hips against his clothed erection, speeding up as he suckled on your breast harder. You moved away lifting off him to remove your trousers, Leon eagerly worked on removing his own. He gave himself a few strokes as you climbed back over him. 

He sucked in a breath as he felt you sink down on his length, his hands gripped your hips. You slowly began to grind against him, enjoying how deep and full he was inside you, his trimmed pubes tickling against your clit. “At least I know I'm the only fan that gets to be filled like this by you” you moaned as you increased your pace, bracing your hands against his chest as you felt the knot in your stomach tighten. “You’ll forever be the only one darling” he groaned, lifting his hips to meet your pace. He felt his balls tighten, pants and moans filling the room as you both finally fell into the bliss of each other's orgasms. You landed on his chest breathing deeply as his cock softened inside you. He pulled out of you, wrapping you up with the blanket and carrying you to the bathroom to begin his nightly routine of aftercare. He couldn't wait for the day he could announce you as his to the world, but for now he will enjoy his private little secret and watching you enjoy the night with an army of his fans. Singing his songs back at him.

[bg-brainrot]

The Smut Peddlers of Sharess' Caress (Astarion x Tav)

In honor of spontaneously deciding to add a part 2 to this silly little fic, posting part 1 on tumblr.

Featuring: Astarion x Rogue!Tav

Series: Fits into Love at First Knife, AO3 link here

Summary: The group finds smut about you (Tav) and Astarion. Hijinks ensue.

Tags: POV Second Person, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Fluff, Humor, lots of innuendos, shadowheart loves smut, karlach doesnt read but will make an exception for this, there is no smut, nothing against smut we love smut in this house

Word count: ~2.5k

Your group is in Wyrm’s Crossing on this bright Baldurian day. You originally were just planning on returning various parts of a certain clown to the circus, but on your way back to the Lower City you get waylaid easily and find yourselves in Sharess' Caress. Everyone is used to your aimless wandering at this point, so Astarion, Karlach, and Shadowheart follow in tow without question.

While you have no strict purpose in visiting, you do want to check-in with Mamzell Amira to make sure that no one has been troubling her since you dealt with her missing girl. The brothel seems unchanged from the last time you visited, and you walk up to its proprietor with a wave.

“Why if it isn’t the hero with a penchant for whips,” she smiles at you warmly. “What can I do for you? Anyone I can get for you, or are you here for the latest erotic verse? I thought you might find it quite… scintillating.”

You shrug off her suggestions, “Nothing in particular, just wanted to make sure no one was bothering you after that assassin.” 

“Oh, we’ve been doing just peachy, thanks to you,” she says. “Though I hear you never took me up on your boon, the Drow twins have been awfully upset about it.”

Chancing a brief glance at Astarion, you find him looking surprisingly unconcerned at the mention of the Drow twins. He had been uncomfortable before, which is all you had needed to hear to put an end to that conversation. “Yes, thank you so much for your generosity, but I haven’t found myself in need of your services,” you reply, remaining light in your tone.

“It certainly seems like it,” she purrs, and you’re not sure what to make of her comment before she continues. “Well, I hate feeling indebted to anyone. What do you say you look through the shelves of our erotic literature and pick some out, free of charge. You may even find some inspiration.” She winks at you conspiratorially, as if Astarion isn’t watching the entire conversation unfold.

Karlach giggles behind you and whispers, ”Oooo, I might actually pick up reading if it’s that inspirational.”

You clear your throat a bit and say, “I’ll take a look. I wouldn’t want to make you indebted to us.” 

Mamzell Amira points you in the direction of the bookshelves, and your group files off toward them. Astarion is giving you a sidelong look as he says, “You know, if you wanted to take her up on the Drow twins, I could be persuaded.”

You scoff. “I don’t want to persuade you to do anything. Besides, what if she’s right? Don’t you want to see what creative ideas these smut peddlers have thought up?”

He seems a bit relieved to hear you say that, but his tone remains offended, “Excuse me, are you critiquing my skills as a lover? From the noises you make, I don’t think you’re allowed to–”

“For the love of the Moonmaiden, Astarion, you know we can hear you?” Shadowheart has already reached the shelves and takes a moment away from perusing to glare at the vampire.

“Of course I know you can hear me,” he says with a smirk. “Just as well as you can hear my dearest—”

“Astarion,” you give him a warning look. “Look through the smut like the rest of us or get out.”

Your love gives you an exaggerated pout before saying, “Fine. I don’t need books to teach me what I know. If you need me, I’ll be getting a drink.” You watch him skulk off, finding his jealousy over the potential skill of fictional lovers quite endearing.

Finally, you turn your attention to the bookshelves Mamzell had indicated. Karlach and Shadowheart are already heavily invested, rifling through stacks of books with ornate fonts and passionate covers.

One book in particular seems to be front and center, perhaps a new title or a bestseller. You pick it up and look down at the cover more closely.

The title reads “Love at First Knife: A Roguish Tale of Blood and Lust” in a flowing script. On the cover you see two individuals, one of whom, a silver-haired man with pointed ears and ruby-red eyes, is holding a knife to the others’ throat. The other figure is gazing lovingly into the firsts’ eyes, their hands grasping at his bare chest.

“Gods below,” you whisper, once you’ve comprehended what’s in your hands. “Shadowheart, Karlach, look what I found.”

Both women walk over to you, peering over each of your shoulders. “What’s that?” Shadowheart asks, not quite registering the vague familiarity of the two figures on the cover.

You point to the silver-haired, pale elf and say, “Does that look like anyone you know?”

“It’s not!” Karlach gasps. “Is that supposed to be… Astarion?”

Based on the crude facsimile of your own face yearning for him and the title, you are fairly certain it is. “And I think that’s supposed to be me,” you point out, dumbfounded at the novel in your hands. “How is this possible?”

“Well, the smut peddlers put out quite a lot of writing, they can write an entire book in a matter of days.” After receiving a questioning look from you, she adds, “From what I hear. I wouldn’t know.” She’s blushing from the tips of her ears down to her neck, and you suspect that you may find a surprise stash of erotic books near her bed at the Elfsong if you look close enough. 

Karlach claps Shadowheart on the shoulder. “Nothing to be ashamed of knowing. Just don’t hold back on me, alright?”

Shadowheart shakes her head lightly, “Regardless, we’ve been in the city for a few weeks and we haven’t exactly been subtle about it. I’m sure you’ve attracted plenty of attention.”

She’s not wrong– your entire group has had some very public confrontations, and several key figures of the city were aware of your presence. Plus there was an entire article in the Baldur's Mouth Gazette about your group’s accomplishments.

“Fair,” you admit. “But how did they know about Astarion?” You touch the cover carefully, as if expecting the book to combust in your hands.

“Well, aside from his loud proclamations of your love,” Shadowheart rolls her eyes. “I wouldn’t know. Maybe it was Mamzell Amira herself, she did mention you’d like the newest erotic verse.”

“Please tell me you’re going to read it,” Karlach says, barely containing her excitement. “If you don’t, I will.”

You tut at her. “If anyone here gets to read about my and Astarion’s passionate love making, it will be me.”

“Oh just you and the hundreds of others who have probably already picked up a copy,” Shadowheart adds, unhelpfully.

Despite that, you don’t feel mortified. Really, you just feel a burning sense of curiosity. You gently thumb the cover, hesitating to turn the page. “What if it’s terrible?”

“It probably will be,” Shadowheart says, matter-of-factly. “That’s not why you read it though.”

You flip to the first page and start skimming. “Sweet hells, his name is Arstaron.”

“That’s amazing,” Karlach’s face bends down to read too. “Did that just say ‘brooding curls’? Do his curls brood?”

Shadowheart is reading along as well, “There’s an entire page dedicated to describing his abs. Are they really this… sculpted?”

You shake your head. “They’re lovely, but I don’t think I could ‘grill a set of gnoll ribs over them’ like it says.”

“Enough descriptors, skip ahead to the good bits,” Karlach prods at your hand, begging you to hurry up.

You skip ahead a few dozen pages and stop when you spot the words ‘passionate thrusts.’ “Here we go…”

The three of you silently read for a moment before Karlach breaks the silence. “Oh my, soldier, how did I never consider how flexible you both are.”

Your face reddens, as you’re suddenly reminded that your friends are now vividly imagining you and Astarion vigorously making love. “Let’s, uh, go back to the descriptor bits.”

A few minutes later, you’re reading down a passage describing his ‘member’ and the laughter that rumbles out of Karlach might bring down the entire brothel. It’s certainly loud enough to bring the attention of the roguish lover being described.

“What do we have here?” Astarion stalks over, clearly sensing that the excited bustle might be worth a laugh. You hunch over the book, protectively. “My dear, are you hiding something from me?”

You quickly pass off the book to Karlach, quickly responding with, “I would never.”

“Love, you know you don’t need to hide anything from me,” he says, smoothly. 

Karlach is quick to follow that with a snort, “I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what Arstaron says when he takes off his lover’s clothes!”

“Arstaron?” He quirks an eyebrow at you in question and you reluctantly take the book back from Karlach to hand to him.

“Apparently,” you start. “You and I are the subjects of the latest erotic novel, courtesy of Sharess' Caress.”

Looking down at the cover, Astarion seems dumbfounded. “Is that supposed to be… me?”

You nod, reluctantly. You had gotten him a statue and a painting commissioned, but he still hasn’t seen himself often and you wouldn’t consider this the best representation. “They definitely took some, well a lot, of creative liberties.”

He looks down at it more carefully, amusement coloring his face. “I quite like what they did with your face, the longing is lovely.”

“That’s quite enough of that,” you say, reaching for the book. 

Astarion holds it just out of your reach and says, “No, no, we’ve earned a reward for helping the fine proprietor of this establishment. I want this to be my reward.”

“What,” you say, incredulously. “You wouldn’t read it. You said you don’t like smut.”

“I never said that.” He starts flipping through the pages of the book. “I just said I know more than these novels. I still do, mind you. But that doesn’t mean I’m not tempted by the mention of your ‘trembling lips’ as it says.”

“Wait, how many copies are there?” Karlach is back at the shelf. “Let’s read it together!”

You balk at the idea of your lovelife becoming the team’s book club. But you’re very much resigned to the idea that someone in your group is walking out with this book. “No, no, one copy is more than enough. Besides, we don’t want to take advantage of Mamzell’s generosity.”

“I don’t much like to share, love. Best get a few copies,” Astarion says, already adopting his reading stance as he flips back to the first page.

“Ugh, fine. Karlach, you and Shadowheart share one. I’ll share with Astarion.” You put up a finger. “Only on the condition that we tell no one else.”

A small huff leaves Karlach’s mouth. “Really? Really really?” Karlach pleads. “Maybe just one? I know Jaheira would get a kick outta this.”

You respect Jaheira so deeply, the idea of her reading of your wanton pleasures fills you with dread. “Please not Jaheira,” you whisper.

“Be careful, dear,” Astarion mumbles, his nose buried into the book. “You keep whispering her name like that, the next edition will feature a second silver-haired companion with pointy ears.”

His words give you a creeping paranoia and you look around, as if the smut peddlers are watching you at this very moment. “Okay, grab your books, let’s get out of here.”

“So soon?” Karlach says, nabbing a second copy of Love at First Knife before you can change your mind.

“Yes, we’re probably disturbing the clientele,” you say, waving away her disappointment. “Shadowheart?”

You realize that she’s already twenty pages into Love at First Knife and has barely registered your conversation. “Oh, yes? Are we leaving?”

“I work with a group of lecherous fools,” you mutter, grabbing her and Astarion by the sleeves. “Come on.”

You wave to Mamzell Amira on the way out, “Thank you for the books!”

She yells after you, “Be sure to return soon, we’re already hard at work on volume two!”

Shadowheart pauses her reading to perk up. “Oh, we’d best make a trip back then. This is surprisingly well-done.” She mumbles, half-heartedly, “Not that I would know.”

“No, no, you’re right,” Astarion says from your other side. “I quite like the way they describe my artistry. Take a look, dear.”

He shoves the book back into your face for a passage that reads, ‘his motions are as fluid as the waves of a water elemental’ and you swat the book out of the way. “If you start moving like that, I think I’m more likely to scream in horror.”

You walk along in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, as your three companions read. Then you spot Karlach behind you, fanning herself with her copy of the book. She meets your questioning look with a chuckle, “I thought I was already too hot to handle, but I think I’ll need to cool down after reading the climax of that book.”

“How did you already get there?” Shadowheart gasps, looking up.

“I skipped to the good bits!” Karlach replies easily. “And let me tell you, they were good.”

You facepalm momentarily before looking between your fingers at Astarion. He seems remarkably enthralled by the book, and suddenly you’re worried. Oh no, what if I’m a better fictional lover than a real lover. Distantly, you hear Shadowheart and Karlach discussing the novel, but your attention is focused entirely on the man’s eyes, reading back and forth as you walk.

Sensing your gaze, the vampire finally looks up and smiles pleasantly. He closes the book and with his free hand reaches for yours. “My love, please, and I cannot stress this enough, do not take inspiration from this book.”

“What? Why not?” You ask, confused. “Karlach just said it was amazing?”

“Yes, well,” he leans into you. “I think doing somersaults into each other's arms might be more likely to result in a broken rib than pleasurable exploration.”

You give a surprised laugh, leaning back into him, “Are you doubting my expertise as a lover now?”

“Not at all, my dear,” he says, rubbing his thumb along the outside of your hand gently. “You are so very perfect. Which is why I wouldn’t want you to take too much from this poorly written version of you. Reality is far better than fiction in this case.”

Your heart swells at the words, though you can’t help but ask your next question. “So no chance of acrobatics after dark?”

Astarion takes a glance at your companions, and sees they’re still in a heated debate about the novel. With words meant only for you, he whispers into your ear. “Don’t you worry, there are plenty of other ways we can make use of our flexibility.”

With his breath tickling your skin, a few peppered kisses along your neck, and a promise of some time alone together, you make your way back to the Elfsong Tavern with a skip in your step. You wonder if the smut peddlers of Sharess' Caress know how deeply you care for this man, or how little they got right about all of the parts of him that matter.

Part 2 here!

[reyggtv]

There's only so much I can say on Twitter to truly express my feelings about the show Hilda, and how much of an impact it has left on me to make me the kind of person I am today, so I'm taking to Tumblr to write all about it.

If you don't know who I am already, hi, I am ReyGGTV, though you can just call me Rey. I like to make YouTube videos, memes, talk with other Hilda fans, and make occasionally make art. You may already know me from the Hilda Crack videos I made since several years ago, as well as some more recent big videos of mine like my comparison video between Aster and Hilda. I am 20 years old, and have been a diehard fan of the franchise ever since I was just 14.

Firstly, let's discuss how I actually managed to discover Hilda in the first place. It was 2018, freshman year of high school had just started, during this time, I was still big fan of another animated TV show at the time called Star vs. The Forces of Evil. I was a fan of that show ever since its premiere in January of 2015 when I was only 11 years old. Honestly even if I don't look at it nearly as fondly as I do now, to its credit, the show did most certainly help me get interested into animation as a whole more than any other show I saw at the time.

Not even like 2 months after I got in though, I was kicked out. Not because I did anything wrong, but because for a while, my parents had me enrolled in a school district that I didn't even live anywhere near in at the time, so once they found out that I actually lived much farther from them, that's when they decided to let me go. This was devastating to me, all the friends I made in middle school, were suddenly going to go away, and it was only at the very last minute, at the principal's office that I received this news. I was upset, literally everything was going great and they just wanted to throw everything away for me, in favor for me going to a school that was so bad, it caused my family to move to an entirely new city with a better school by the time Sophomore year came around.

But anyways, about 2 weeks before all this happened, I was in a cartoon Discord server, where someone recommended me to watch this show called... you guessed it, Hilda. I took a lot at the promotional material for a while, and put it at the back of my head, not knowing that I would soon revisit it not long later. Fast forward to when I was out of school, I had like 2 weeks in the beginning of October to just cope with everything. It wasn't long that I just became bored, and wanted to do something better, so I pulled up Netflix wanting to find something new to watch. The suggestion from someone about Hilda just so happened to come up on my mind, so I was like "Eh, sure, why not?". I put it on, and the rest was history. I knew from the very moment I finished watching the intro for the very first time, that this was about to be the show of a lifetime for me.

Despite that however, I did not anticipate just how much impact Hilda would leave on the work that I am now doing nearly 6 years after that very faithful day.

I guess the biggest reason why the show left such a massive impact on me right from the beginning is because of its main title character, Hilda. Look, I may be no blue-haired adventurer from the wilderness that likes to munch on cucumber sandwiches all the time, but Hilda at the time for me, was the most relatable character and the character I found the most comfort in when watching it for the first time. Just like me, Hilda too, was also forced to move away from the place and friends she was always happy to be with, despite all her efforts, all it took was one giant, to come and crush it all, leaving her forced to live a new life in a new environment she was not familiar with at all. But, she moved on. She knew that while this was not the ideal way for things go out, life always comes with surprises. But maybe, just maybe, this could be something that could work out in her favor. This whole becoming friends with other humans and living in the big dirty ol' city, could be the best decision she has ever made. And I think it goes without saying that as the series continued, it was.

This was a message that I desperately needed to hear as I was going through overwhelming times at such a young age, and one that I was so happy to hear and watch once I finally finished the first two episodes of this amazing damn show. It showed me that if an 11-year-old girl from the wilderness can be brave enough to move into the big city, be okay and make the best out of it, maybe I too, will be okay with belonging to a new school, finding new friends, and creating new passions for me to follow for years to come. Hilda inspired me to look towards a bigger and brighter future, rather than doubt the bad that comes with the present. For that, I am forever grateful for the creative and writing team of this show, for helping me go through such a difficult time in my life, and convincing me that even despite all that has happened, there will always be something better to look forward to.

I would be lying if I said that this was the only reason as to why I ended up becoming such a huge fan of the show for the next 5 years. Asides from the writing being so good it literally cured my depression. The animation, worldbuilding, and characters were just unlike anything I have ever seen with my own two eyes. It was simple, yet jaw dropping at the same time. Just a silly kid either helping a Raven jog back his memory, try and fight nightmare spirits or ghosts, or help Jellybean out of a scary situation in which everyone wrongfully accuses him of being a big scary black hound. Even if certain episodes of season 1 didn't always turn out perfect, I would always rewatch every single one of them all day for several hours and for several weeks. I had even skipped multiple days of school especially when it was raining, just so I can head to the living room, cuddle up in some warm blankets, with the heater on during the winter season, and just binge the crap out of it for multiple hours a day. This was just the show that I can always count on to bring back the happiness inside of me. Even when I wasn't necessarily having a bad day, I would still continue to watch it for hours because it just kept on getting better and better with every watch I could get possible, it was almost like an addiction almost, haha.

Hilda was the show for me, and I had no intention of trying to watch anything else.

It was also around this time that I started to also get myself more involved with the show's fandom as well, back when it was a lot more populated and not as niche as it is now. While I'm not gonna say that my reputation in it has always been 100% perfect, at the end of the day, I'm just forever grateful I was able to meet some of the most wonderful people and hundreds of fans like myself because of it like @hkthatgffan, @helgafolk618, and many more I can't list here 'cause most of them are not on Tumblr. So much so that I now have the pleasure of creating hundreds, if not thousands of people who are fans/supporters of ME all across all my social media pages. All because I like to talk about Hilda, literally all the time. And to those reading this who has ever left a nice comment on one of my posts, said hi to me on my Discord server, worked with me on a commission, even went as far as to make fan-art of me or just tuned into any of my content whatsoever, thank you. Your support has left a massive impact on me and what I'm continuing to do now. Because at the end of the day, it's not about any popularity points you get from just talking about a TV show consistently for 6 years, for me at least, it has always been about making thousands, sometimes, even millions, happy with my love for it that is the reason that I'm doing any of this in the first place. I love Hilda, always have, and I want to make people happy the same way Hilda did for me, all those years ago.

Surprisingly enough, even though I was already as big of a fan as I could possibly be by the time November of 2018 rolled around, I still wasn't really a guy interested in getting my hands on Hilda merchandise. I knew that the graphic novels by Luke existed, but the only thing I even managed to get for myself at the time was this old T-shirt I bought from the now defunct official Zazzle store they had up for like a few months lol

I guess that all changed when I got my first ever Hilda plush though when I was 15. While it has now certainly showed its age after nearly 5 years, I loved this thing so much lol. It wasn't official because official Hilda plushies didn't exist at the time. I bought it off an Etsy store from AngelinaLily, and I would literally take this thing out with me everyday to everywhere I went to and take photos of it, especially in the wilderness. It was my favorite pastime. My little Hilda, in the palm of my hand 😆. Hey, when you have to wait more than 2 whole years for a brand-new season, what else are you gonna do to entertain yourself during the hiatus?

I had gotten this in the mail right when I had just exited out the mental hospital because I was actively wanting to h*rt myself and potentially putting myself in danger of committing s*icide. Because while Hilda did definitely help me cope with a lot that I was going through at the time, there was still a lot of overwhelming issues I was experiencing, and my mental health was the lowest that it had ever been. This plush effectively, was a way to help me cope with those thoughts I had, which turned out to be a great thing because I literally couldn't be happier with it.

After that, I just decided that "You know what? What if I just got... ALL of the Hilda merchandise?" Thus... that now leading to my massive hoard of Hilda stuff, that I now have everywhere in my room lol

These photos aren't even all the ones I have!

At 16, I decided to write Luke Pearson an e-mail, thanking him for his work and how much it has inspired me to become the person I am now, explaining everything that I just mentioned in this Tumblr post, and at the end of the day, just wanting him to know, that his creations mean a grave big deal to me, and that I will always appreciate just how much of a positive impact it has left me. I didn't really expect anything to come out of it, but about several weeks later, he said this to me lol

"I just wanted to say thank you for writing and relaying your experience to me. I'm sorry to hear that you've been through such difficult times, but I'm glad that you're able to look back on those times and find yourself in a better place. And if Hilda has played any small part in that, which it seems like it has, then I'm extremely pleased about that and it warms me to hear it. It can be hard to know exactly what good a cartoon can actually do for the world (beyond being a few hours of amusement) which is strange when so many people devote so much of their time and creative energy into making it happen. But hearing something like this goes a long way to making it feel like something genuinely worthwhile. I hope things continue to look up for you and hope you're taking care in these trying times." - All the best, Luke

When I tell you I cried like a baby when I first received this e-mail from him, I really did, lol. Hearing this, from the man who made it all possible, was truly the most inspirational thing I could have ever heard. And I was happy, that he was happy, that I was truly able to tell him for the first time, just how much his creation has meant to not just me, but to soooo many fans just like myself. It was truly something to never forget.

Now I'm 20 years old, still talking about the same ol' dang kids show I fell in love with all those years ago. What's happening now? Well now, I am an aspiring film director and video editor who has been taking film classes in community college for the past like 2 years now, I should've graduated already by now but turns out, college is pretty fricking expensive, and I don't even know if I have the funds to try and even graduate by next year. Asides from that though, I am actually in the works of creating my first ever feature-length Hilda fan-film called The Ultimate Hilda Iceberg. It will basically be one of those iceberg explanation videos you see on YouTube, but with the original source of the iceberg being about Hilda, specifically a version someone made on the r/HildaTheSeries subreddit. I've had the idea for this Iceberg video/fan-film as far back as January 2021, with the current script having started work as far back as nearly 9 months ago. And it's still not even finished! Me, as well as tens of dozens of other Hilda fans like myself, are actively working on it to have it be ready by the time fall of this year comes around, right now as we speak! If you want to support and/or follow this massive project as more updates come around you can either follow the official accounts on Twitter/X (@/HildaIceberg) or on Instagram (@/theultimatehildaiceberg).

Asides from that, the biggest passion project I have for my career moving forward, is directing my own big-budget Hilda movie. Specifically, a live-action Hilda movie. Now now, BEFORE you try and cancel me and tell me that this is the stupidest idea of all time and could taint Hilda's image forever. Let me cook. I am a huge movie bluff, I know which live action remakes are genuinely amazing, and which ones just really suck. My vision for a live-action Hilda movie is to make it sorta like how Who Framed Roger Rabbit was. All of the human characters and outside settings are done with real people and practical assets, whilst creatures like Trolls, Elves, or stuff that would normally be done with CGI, be actually turned into 2D-animation, ideally in the same style as that of the Netflix show. Ideally, I also want it to remain as faithful to at least how the show was as possible in terms of story. Look, if there's gonna be anyone else who knows their Hilda best asides from people like Luke or Andy Coyle, it's gonna be me, just sayin.

In conclusion, I just want to wrap this up by giving a huge shout out to people like @littledigits and literally ANYONE who has ever done any time making this fantastic and wonderful show (I couldn't think of anyone else to tag so I only tagged you Meg so sorry if that bothers you 😅). As this post has indicated several times, this show, has really made the best kind of impact in my life and I'm forever grateful to the creator Luke, the directors Andy Coyle, Megan, etc, the voice actors, artists, editors, composers, everyone who has ever had a part in making this amazing show just, please let me hug you. While I may not have been as enthusiastic with the show's third season overall as I wanted to in my opinion, Hilda will always have a soft spot in my heart, for years and years to come, for just how much it truly inspired me, to not just not only being able to have the luxury to do the things I love to do now, but do so in a way that has made, and hopefully will continue to make thousands, hundreds of thousands if not millions of people happy, because of the love that I will continue to have for this very show. Just because a show is small, doesn't mean it can't leave big enough impacts on people for the better ❤️

[madara-fate]

Being recent on Tumblr and in the Naruto fandom in general (I've been there for 04 months), this fandom has really made me see all the colors.

As a die-hard fan of Sakura and Sasuke who didn't particularly care about the prospect of them as a couple before, I tended at first to subscribe mainly to individual pro sakura and pro sasuke accounts, something I I quickly regretted it because lord, these two fandoms suck. I love both of these characters and it's very difficult to see their two fandoms being so vicious towards each other. If you don't like one of them, why talk about it? why make so many passive-aggressive comments to provoke the other party? They despise each other so much that it's difficult to have a moment of peace for those who truly love both.

And then, let's not even talk about the strange takes they have about them.

I swear if I ever come across something like "Sasuke was right" or "Sasuke Revolution" or "Sakura deserved better - that is, she deserved everything except Sasuke - or "Sakura lost all its development", I'm going to lose my shit.

Their views are biased, self-centered, misinformed and so oc for many that it sometimes makes you wonder if they even understand the characters they say they love. It seems more like they… project their problems and their insecurities onto these two and it's frankly disappointing to see. They like the fanon version of Sasuke and Sakura that they have built in their head and not their canon character and it's quite sad that such characters are reduced to stereotypes by their respective fandom. Not all of them are like that of course, but I've encountered so many of them that it ended up exhausting any good feelings I had towards these two fan bases.

All of this ended up pushing me towards the SS fandom because it's easier to find fans who like both characters. And finally, even though this fandom also has its own absurd points of view that sometimes make me want to throw myself out of a window as well as a blatant bias towards one of the two characters that bothers me, it's still better than the shit I've seen before. here at least I don't have to worry about reading crap like "Sasuke is toxic", "Sasuke didn't do anything wrong", "Sakura objectifies/is obsessed with Sasuke", "Sakura is poorly written" etc and I admit it's a relief. Plus, it's nice to see the fans celebrating them and their relationship, which is what I signed up for after all.

Not to say one is better than the other because the whole Naruto fandom is shit anyway but at least there is more room to like these two characters without getting attacked in this fandom than in the other two.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

You know, your experience of the pro Sasuke and pro Sakura fandoms hating on each other, essentially being what pushed you towards the SS fandom, kinda echoes what pushed me to being a SS fan as well. When the series ended, I was fully neutral on them, but I definitely expected them to get together because it was just obvious. But after seeing some of the absolutely absurd takes that a lot of the fandom had towards them, it made me want to defend them because what they were saying just wasn't true. So much like you, I was also pushed towards the SS fandom due to fandom hatred.

And yes, the SS fandom also has it's fair share of absurd points and biased takes, as I've certainly had to argue against some of them before. Yet, it's still better than the toxicity and the sheer delusion exhibited from a very loud portion of the anti fandoms.

[island-in-the-shadows]

Thank you for the very detailed reply! You’ve given me a lot to think about from a legal perspective. Follow up questions (feel free to ignore if I’m pestering you) in the hypothetical scenario that Felix simply tires of Oliver the way he did with Eddie, does Oliver still react the same way? If their friendship had ended on more amicable, gradual, mundane terms, is Oliver still pushed over the edge to the point that murder is on the table? I think his first instinct would be to crank up the lies, but if Felix doesn’t bite? He’d still be heartbroken, but would he be as angry as he was at “you make my blood run cold”?

Had Felix lived, do you think he would’ve eventually grown into a stiff upper lipped snob? After all, Elspeth was also a party girl who fraternised with rock stars and then look at the version we meet.

This is an unpopular opinion I guess but to me the heartbeat of the movie was Felix. I know Oliver is more popular, especially on Tumblr, but I was completely smitten with Jacob Elordi. What are your headcanons about him? Mine is that the reason he was found so quickly is because Venetia raised the alarm. I think she was very very attached to him (maybe to an unhealthy amount the way a lot of people seem to be) and no matter how busy things got she always had one eye on her brother, making sure he was okay.

My pleasure to answer, Anon! 1. In the hypothetical scenario that Felix got bored, Oliver would continue to try to find ways to hook Felix back in. The only way he would then act with more murderous intent would be if there were no going back whatsoever. No way out but this. Oliver, in the moment where he decides to give Felix the bottle, is a hurt animal backed into a corner. So he reacts impulsively and emotionally. Outside of that context, he will continue to do anything that he has to do to continue to be interesting to Felix and to keep himself in Felix's orbit while not harming Felix as long as he does not believe that there is no other way. I do not think there would be a reason for Oliver to let it go. He would keep at it and never let go. And it's evident that he would continue to get at it since, in film canon, it has been 15 years and he continues to view Felix as his God, worthy of his love and idolatry, despite being dead. If I may quote NBC Hannibal for a moment, Dr. DuMaurier tells Will Graham (now having accepted the dark parts of his nature and desirous to act chaotically in order to free his would be lover): "You found religion. Nothing more dangerous than that." Though I won't get into the dissection we could make of that line in the context of its source, I can express that, to Oliver, Felix is, essentially, his religion. And Oliver is nothing short of devout. Yes, even sacrificing Felix falls into a sense of idolatry because he has forever frozen Felix at the height of his perfection through Oliver's eyes. The way Felix is framed in the opening and closing montages of the film, through Oliver's eyes, tells us as such. Felix is forever perfect. Given that this is how Oliver sees Felix and feels about Felix regardless of all the foibles that Felix certainly has, he would NEVER let Felix go. Ever. He would keep trying to hook Felix or he would die trying.

2. I do speculate a bit about this more in my fic than I have in proper meta, but...Felix would have an immense amount of pressure on him to confirm to fit a specific mould. Despite that Venetia is older, context clues in the film (such as Felix having the conversation with Farleigh in regards to money for Frederica) indicate that it would have been Felix to inherit the estate and the title that goes along with it, certainly. This means that while some deviation from the "standard" picture of stiff upper lip aristocracy might've been tolerated, it would not have been permissible and allowed in its entirety. @leiflitter covers bits of this in their wonderful You're Almost Home series which, if you've not read, I strongly recommend. In their story, an adult Felix still retains bits and pieces of the vibrant personality that makes him him, but parts of it have been dampened by the circumstance of him having a quickie marriage to a woman he barely knew because she got pregnant, becoming a parent (especially becoming a parent very young), and eventually becoming the Master of the Estate and, if I'm not mistaken, a baronet. Per the rules of the aristocracy, there was no way that Felix could simply not marry a girl he got pregnant. He had to marry her to cover the scandal and the baby serves as an heir which would be expected of him. Even if we go outside of this wonderful fic, and go back into canon meta, Felix has expectations on him: marrying a woman, having heirs, inheriting and managing Saltburn. It doesn't seem like a lot and it does come with gargantuan wealth but, you said it yourself, Elspeth used to run around with musicians and was probably wild back in the day, but she became a house cat, so to speak, when she became the Lady of Saltburn. And Elspeth would arguably have had less expectation on her. She needed to marry rich and birth heirs and be the picture of quiet civility. She is likely, as we know her, a dampened version of who she was before marriage. Felix has just the bit more of not only perpetuating the system to which he belongs but managing it. It's a lot of responsibility to put on one person. And, I think, he's already keenly aware of the responsibility that will fall onto his lap even before his father dies. It's why he buries his emotions in alcohol, drugs, and (terrible) sex with girls he couldn't give a flying fig about. So, while I do think some who 20yo Felix is survives an adulthood in the aristocracy, we're looking at an adult Felix being kinda like his mum in some aspects and kind of like his dad in others (dampened, stiff upper lip versions of who they probably really are).

3. I don't know that it's an unpopular opinion, actually. In my opinion, the film itself tells you it's about Felix. It's often misinterpreted (specifically by shit critics and YouTubers) as being a bad "Eat the Rich" movie with Oliver being the wild bisexual who just wanted the Cattons' riches. However, the first line is about Oliver "not" being in love with Felix. And, we know from Emerald, that is a lie. That Oliver was in love with Felix. It's evident from how the camera frames Felix. It's evident with the fact that the light goes from rich and golden while Felix is alive, to stark and white in a post-Felix world. Felix is Oliver's religion, and he is the story. He is, as you said, the heartbeat. What happens is that Oliver is a lot more fun to dissect than Felix is. I say this as someone who continuously dissects Felix and have put a lot of the dissection of his character into fic. But, Oliver would not be Oliver without Felix. He didn't really exist before him and we wouldn't have the film or any of the events without Felix being this Apollo coded figure. Also, yes, Jacob Elordi's subtle performance as Felix often goes unnoticed, but it was absolutely wonderful.

4. Ok so one of my head-canons would be this (another long post because it's how I do when I really get into it). Venetia is his older sister, so I agree that she is very protective of him (Again, something I explore more in my fic than I have in meta but I could do a whole post on the sibling dynamics). I have other small ones like Felix repeatedly took his shoes off and threw them when he was very little, that his guitar playing is subpar but he knows how to play Oasis' Wonderwall and probably played it for Ollie, that he could not pick out India or Annabel out in a police lineup (I just don't think he really views them as people), that he has a MASSIVE sweet tooth and prefers "girly" cocktails to more "manly" drinks but doesn't order them because he doesn't want people to judge, that he has comfort clothes and wears them until they're beyond repair (like the blue sweater at the beginning of the film having holes for example), etc. Felix is lovely and we know so little about him and I do adore him. I get why Oliver lost his mind over this big himbo.

[nontoxic-writes]

okay i honestly forgot it was wednesday until i opened tumblr and saw the tags oops.

thank you so much @firenati0n, @kiwiana-writes, @hgejfmw-hgejhsf and @stereopticons for the tags!!!

here’s some unedited words from the new henry pov chapter(s) that im apparently adding to this wip even though its already 40k ugh

Alex had been a breath of fresh air.

Slightly tipsy and his eyes ablaze on Henry’s, he had felt it—that wildfire that terrified him at the Olympics catching fire.

Henry never wanted anything as badly as he wanted Alex in that moment, and then he had opened his rude, American mouth, and Henry knew he was a goner.

Not that he hadn’t spent the last four years playing over that moment at the Olympics, taking it out, examining it by candlelight, by moonlight, by the bright midday sun. All hours, all places. He would take it out in the library at Kensington over afternoon tea and trace over the way Alex’s mouth had formed every letter of his name. He would take it out in the gardens after breakfast and make sure he hasn’t forgotten the specific shade of brown of Alex’s eyes. He would take it out over meetings with his grandmother at Buckingham and study the way Alex’s eyelashes brushed over his cheekbone. He would take it out on his way to Paris for the convention and conjure up that spark he’d felt in his chest.

He’s aware he has been entirely gone on Alex since the moment they met.

But at the wedding, when Alex’s singular, inebriated focus was on Henry, it took every ounce of energy in his body not to fall at Alex’s feet and beg him to allow Henry to worship there.

Alex had been snide, condescending, and downright rude.

It made Henry’s jaw ache from holding back on the things he wished to say.

i feel like mostly everyones done this by now, but absolutely no pressure tagging @indestructibleheart, @maxbegone, @beautifulhigh, @cha-melodius, @inexplicablymine and an open tag for anyone else who wants to slide into wip weds last minute (or like wip thursday or friday or whatever, i certainly dont judge). if you take the open tag please tag me, i want to see what yall are working on!

[shannyh25]

Author's Note: I want to thank my friend alwayschassingrainbows from Tumblr for helping me figure out the time line and giving me ideas on this story. If you guys love Anne Of Green Gables and Emily Of New Moon series, you guys should check out her Tumblr page. Thank you again alwayschassingrainbows again for your help.

I have had this story in my head for awhile. I thought since people love Anne Of Green Gables and Titanic, why not do a crossover? I haven't seen a story like this one yet and I hope you guys will like it. Please leave reviews if you do!

Summary: Titanic story line with a twist. What if Gilbert finds out he has a niece while he and Anne are in England? Gilbert and Anne are in England for Gilbert because he is part of a research study for Tuberculosis, which his parents died of. While in England, Anne and Gilbert befriend Rose and Jack. When its time to board Titanic, all of them, including Gilbert's niece board Titanic. After Gilbert's niece's mom dies, Gilbert and Anne board the Titanic along with Gilbert's niece. Their goal is to travel Titanic and get Gilbert's niece to a Uncle that his niece's mom wanted. But what happens when the Uncle doesn't want Gilbert's niece? After all they had been through on Titanic, did they just come to New York for nothing?

Please let me know what you guys think!

Chapter 1

"I love the smell of the salty sea air." Anne Blythe said.

Anne and her now husband Gilbert were walking along the shoreline waiting to travel on the ship that will take them to England.

"I like it too Anne-girl. It reminds me of home." Gilbert said in agreement.

"Do you think you'll like England?" Anne asked as they were walking along the shore.

Gilbert thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. I know it's going to be busy and fast paced compared to Avonlea. I'm not going to like the politics especially when it comes to working in the hospital. I believe Rachel would have a hard time trying to keep up with all the latest gossip. England will certainly be an interesting experience though."

Anne giggled. "I believe you're right. Rachel was telling me before we left that she was having a harder time trying to keep up with the gossip these days in Avonlea. Especially since a new generation of families are slowly moving in."

"I'm glad Dora and Davey are still living at Green Gables. Marilla would be terribly lonesome without the twins and even Rachel. Davey has certainly matured the last few years and taken interest in farming. He told Marilla he wants to run the farm now that he has a better idea on how farming works. Dora is Marilla and Rachel's shadow. She makes it her duty to help with the indoor chores and makes sure Marilla and Rachel aren't working too hard. She helps Davey outside with the farm chores occasionally. I'm proud of both of them. It makes me feel better about leaving them behind for a year." Anne said.

Gilbert was half listening to Anne's small talk. He was thinking about England, hoping he will find his sister, and the new job at the hospital.

Gilbert had written to Mary about a year ago when some gossip in town said that some people had heard Mary was in England. When Gilbert heard that, he quickly went home and wrote a very long letter. It wasn't returned to him thankfully. That's why he has some hope about finding his long, lost, sister.

"Gil? Are you alright? We should probably be heading back to the shipyard pretty soon. I think I see people starting to gather up near the ship." Anne said.

"I'm alright Anne-girl. Let's head to the ship." Gilbert said.

Do you think you'll find your sister Mary?" Anne asked breaking Gilbert's thoughts.

Gilbert had told Anne briefly of Mary's past. Anne was at first surprised that he even had a sister. He never spoke of her until he got the news about going to England. All because of an essay paper he had written for his graduation.

"Honestly Anne-girl, I do. I want to know if she is happy and safe and enjoying life. I often wonder if she had or has children. She would have been a great mother. She was always looking after me and the other children at school. I would love to be an uncle." Gilbert said.

"I can see you being a great Uncle Gil. You were always good with children. If you have a niece or a nephew, they will love you." Anne said.

Gilbert grinned. " I can see you easily being a fun aunt. Telling them stories about fairy tales and princesses looking for their prince. Telling them ghost stories. Talking to them about Avonlea and Green Gables and telling them stories about your childhood in Avonlea."

Anne grinned. "I just hope you if you do have a niece or nephew, they aren't twins. I can't seem to get away from them if they are. I would love them certainly, but I'll be sad too."

Gilbert chuckled. "Have you been on a ship?"

"I was on a ship years ago when I was coming to Avonlea. I went with a lady that had come to adopt a little girl younger than me and they brought me back up to Avonlea. I remember being so curious and excited about being on a ship. I loved exploring when I wasn't taking care of Lilly. Lilly was in bed most of the time because she got seasick. When I wasn't taking care of her or Mrs. Spencer, I would take advantage and explore. I loved looking over the railings and watching the waves crash up onto the ship. Sometimes you could see dolphins too. Mrs. Spencer was always worried about me falling over the railing, but I never did. The cabins are rather small and cramped . I had to share a bed with Lilly. I didn't mind though. I told her stories about fairies and princesses." Anne said.

"I was on a ship years ago with dad. We went shortly after Mary left. Dad wanted to get away for a while and honestly, I did too. I was upset and hurt that my sister left me for a boy she hardly knew. Dad wanted to get away and clear his head. We went and saw his side of the family and stayed with them for a few weeks. Ma didn't want to go. She said somebody had to take care of the house and farm. She was definitely hurting from Mary's departure. I think she wanted to grieve for the loss of Mary leaving. Same with dad. I wanted to grieve too and I did. But not in front of Ma and dad. It would hurt them even more seeing me hurt. The ship was a good distraction for both dad and I. We met new people. I explored the ship a lot and talked to some boys my age. Seeing dad's family was a good distraction to for both of us. Coming back home and pretending like everything is normal is another story." Gilbert said.

Anne squeezed Gilbert's hand with sympathy. "I'm so sorry Gilbert you had to go through that. I can't imagine losing a sibling like that. She was blinded by love and she was so young. It's a shame your father has cut ties with her completely. Your poor sister and mother."

Gilbert looked at his hands. "It really hurt Ma when Dad told us that. He had Ma take down all her pictures of her and of the two of us together. Dad had Ma pack away her clothes that was left that she didn't take. I helped Ma do all of it because I had to be strong for her. She packed away all her books, school books and papers. Her journals she had kept. She even packed her hair brush and her mirror. Everything you could think of, we packed away. Dad was out in barn dealing with it his own way. I know he was huffing too and angry but mostly hurt. He thought he and Ma raised her better."

Anne blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall. She sniffed and rubbed Gilbert's hand with her thumb. She was hurting because after all these years, Gilbert was still hurting. It isn't often he shows his feelings. The only time Anne has seen Gilbert this upset was at his parent's funeral and now talking about his beloved older sister.

"I'm glad we got married though before Ma and Dad took sick. At least they were able to see one of their children married to a wonderful human. You didn't have to come with me Anne-girl. You could have stayed home." Gilbert said softly.

Anne sucked in her breath taken by surprise at his words. He wasn't being mean at all. In fact, he has told her several times this morning that it isn't too late to back out. But Anne stood her ground. Gilbert had already sacrificed so much for her. For starters, giving her the old Avonlea School to her so she could teach and be at home to help Marilla with the house chores and farm chores. He was going to teach at Avonlea so he can stay at home and save money. But he went to White Sands so she could be home. That was probably the biggest sacrifice he has made for her. Traveling with him is the least she could do. It's only for a year and it will hopefully go by fast.

"I chose to come with you Gil. We spent so much time apart while you were in medical school. I didn't see you as much as I would have liked. I was teaching at Summerside so I was busy too but I want to be with you. We may not see each other much during the day because you'll be at work, but I'll have you in the evenings and nights. That's all I want Gil. I just want to be with you." Anne said softly.

Gilbert gave her a lopsided grin to her. "Thank you, Anne-girl. That means so much to me. I'm glad you're with me. It would be awfully lonely without you."

All aboard! Come line up so we can get moving! All aboard!" Someone had shouted.

Gilbert gave Anne another grin. "You ready Anne-girl?"

"Of course, I am. Let's go." Anne said.

Walking back to the shore, Anne took one last glance at the ocean and sighed.

"You'll be on the ocean soon enough Anne-girl. Then when we get back on solid ground again, and you won't even want to look at the ocean until we come back home." Gilbert said gently.

"I'll never get tired at looking at the ocean Gil. I might for a while after we get back on land again but right now, I'm just soaking it all in." Anne said.

"All aboard. Let's go. All aboard!" One of the crew members shouted.

"Let's get going Anne-girl. Let's grab our bags and head to the ship." Gilbert said.

Grabbing their bags they were carrying with them, Anne and Gilbert headed towards the crowd of people waiting to board the ship to England.

The young doctor and Mrs. Blythe were standing in the ship yard. Anne was staring with wide, open, curious eyes as if she was a child again. The ship was huge and the last one that she was on years ago wasn't even close to this size. She could easily get lost here, especially if she uses that imagination of hers. Anne never thought she would be going on another ship but here she was standing next to her husband supporting him on his career. They were going to England. Gilbert was asked to volunteered there to help do some special medical research for a year at one of the biggest hospitals in England.

Anne and Gilbert stared at the big ship that was standing in front them. They were really here getting ready to go on an adventure of a lifetime. Anne was excited now that she had gotten over being angry at Gilbert for wanting to go on this trip and Gilbert was just excited and nervous.

The shipyard was a busy place. People were shouting directions to each other. Carriages were dropping people and families off at last minute. Kids screaming joyfully and chasing each other. The seagulls were flying overhead making their sounds. The sails on the ship were flapping in the wind Gilbert and Anne hadn't been to a shipyard in years and now they were getting ready to travel on a ship. They were going to England, a place neither of them had ever been too before. Anne stared at the ship with her eyes wide and filled with of thoughts on people and what they were doing here and why they were going to England like them. Gilbert had the same reaction as Anne. He hasn't been on a ship since his sister left the family 10 years ago when Gilbert and his dad went on a ship to see family.

Gilbert had to pick a topic on what he had learned and speak about it on his graduation day. He had many topics in mind but one stood out. It was Tuberculosis. People are just now starting to find cures for it. Unfortunately, his parents didn't survive it and that's why Gilbert chose Tuberculosis to talk for his topic. It was brutal to watch them suffer so much. Gilbert was lucky enough to be able to spend the last month at home with his family while his parents were dying. He was ahead in his studies so the school board allowed Gilbert to come home to say his goodbyes.

Later he found out that Uncle Dave had kept Gilbert's paper that he had written and submitted it to Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest' The head director of the hospital was so impressed with Gilbert's speech and his background, he quickly responded to Uncle Dave saying they wanted Gilbert as part of their research team. They even paid for their two tickets to get them there.

Gilbert had received a letter from the hospital asking if he wanted to be part of the research team studying Tuberculosis, offering a one-year internship at 'Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest' in London. He as was shocked and honored at having been offered the opportunity to help do research there. That's the reason why the two of them are standing on the dock about to board on the ship.

Gilbert broke out of his thoughts as they were asked some questions. Gilbert showed the crew member their tickets and they started to walk on the ramp to get onto the ship. Gilbert felt Anne's hand tense up as they were slowly making their way forward towards the ships entrance.

"What's wrong Anne-girl?" Gilbert asked gently.

Anne bit her lip. Afraid he might laugh at her.

They were slowly making their way up to the ship's entrance. "What if the ship sinks?"

[harveyguilleniconodelamoda]

Costume Spotlight: Andy Leonard from Cursed Friends

I am so excited about this one! I've been researching it since I started this blog, thinking it would be a relatively fun-and-easy post to make. Hoo boy, was that incorrect! Though the outfit looks deceptively simple, and the process of researching was certainly fun, it has some specific details that it took me forever to confirm from the few photos and production stills I had access to.

That being said, I did find the final piece just yesterday! I was so over the moon, I may have spiked my phone like a football in my excitement. So strap in as I break down and over-analyze ever piece of this outfit from a Comedy Central made-for-TV horror movie (and if you haven't seen it, warning: there will be some mild spoilers for Andy's arc).

The Outfit

The outfit Andy wears for the majority of the film is a oversized, millennial pink sweatshirt with a ribbed collar and sleeve cuffs over a pair of fitted black bike shorts. It's simple and comfy--which makes sense, because he first wears it while at his job as a personal trainer to one of his influencer clients. It's similar in style to this sweatshirt from Gymshark, but it's also the kind of thing you could find almost anywhere activewear is sold (style-wise; the color is not so easy to find, which is wild for reasons I'll get into in a moment). Key notable features are the thickness of that ribbed crewneck collar and sleeve cuffs, and the slight blouson shape of the sleeves themselves, a bit puffier than your average sweatshirt.

But it's the color that I find most interesting. Millennial pink--which is any of several shades of warm-to-neutral pale pink that were ubiquitous in fashion and design trends throughout the 2010s--is a color rife with sociopolitical implications. Which sounds like an insane thing to say, but hear me out.

When everyone in my generation was trying our hardest to navigate capitalism in our own ironic, detached, thoughtful ways (for the purpose of changing the system from the inside, of course!), millennial pink became the color emblematic of that mindset. It was softer, less threatening than the more saturated hot pink that ruled throughout the early 2000s. It was also, at least initially, a symbol of my generation's attempts to push back against the harsh expectations of society and "the real world."

See, for our entire childhood and adolescence, millennials heard our elders smugly declare that we'd see how right they were about everything once we encountered the real world. And then we did...and said "yeah, no, this sucks, I don't accept this!" And boy, they hated that. But I digress.

The color is also sometimes called tumblr pink, and what was tumblr in the mid-2010s if not a digitally-created "softer world" where "everything is gay and nothing hurts"...a world where aesthetics, earnestness, and attempts at social consciousness were married in a way that wasn't seen anywhere else within the social media landscape? Tumblr was where you came to be among like-minded people who may not agree with you on exactly how the world needed to be different and better, but at least agreed that it absolutely did need to be different and better. And the soft warmth of millennial pink was like carrying a bit of that into the real world, at least until corporations grabbed hold of it.

For your enjoyment: some of the most millennial selfies I've ever seen (affectionate, relatable) from Harvey's Instagram.

Millennial pink and its sisters--rose gold, rose quartz, dusty rose, and the like--formed the color pallet of my 20s. They were in everything, from home design to album art to magazines to technology. Girlbosses became the mainstream portrait of popular feminism, with millennial pink as their shade. Sparkling rosé became the official drink of the girlbosses and wine moms alike. It was in everything from fashion to makeup to hair to phones--the rose gold iPhone and hair trends come to mind--and could not be escaped. I did in fact dye my hair Millennial pink at one point (or try to--it came out more of an electric peach, unfortunately).

A moment of silence for my roots. Also sorry rose gold iPhone, you will never be the raspberry pink Motorola Razr.

These soft pinks were linked to coolness, chicness, realness, and even wellness--specifically the wellness rebranding of diet culture in the mid-2010s. "Clean girl" cosmetics companies like Glossier adopted the color as part of their branding. Pantone named it one of the colors of the year, and their VP explicitly linked it to "the rosy glow that comes along with good health." (Source)

It has also been described as a warmer, more "gender-neutral" shade that spoke to the more fluid and egalitarian approach Millennials have to gender roles and relationships (at least when compared to our parents and grandparents). Famous and famously desirable (at least at the time) men--such as Harry Styles and Drake--adopted it for their album covers. It was also ubiquitous in men's spring and summer fashions, with pink button-ups and shorts being all the rage. Given the warmth of the shade, it was almost like a greatly-desaturated Nantucket red, which fit it neatly into the overall preppy fashion repertoire. (Source)

The Guardian described this color as representing "a kind of ironic prettiness, or post-prettiness. It’s a way to be pretty while retaining your intellectual detachment. It’s a wish that prettiness could [be] de-problematised." (Source)

All of this to say, millennial pink is inextricable from the fashion of the 2010s, the ramped-up consumerism permeating society and culture at the time, and from Millennials' early 20s and the progression from optimism to exploitation to burnout and cynicism we all experienced to some degree. For Andy, who embodies the anxieties that created for our generation, it's both perfect and ironic that he's covered in this shade, given how hard he's trying to pretend he's not a Millennial for the majority of the film.

The Accessories

Andy's two accessories were the real reason this post took so long. They're so distinctive, which made settling for close enough impossible for my weird little brain. And yet by their very nature as accessories, they're small on the screen and hard to get great images of! But at last I managed it, and can confirm that Andy's bag is the Chanel 20A “Rainbow” Reissue wallet on chain in metallic goatskin.

The bag has a really interesting history as a variation on the Chanel 2.55, which was first released in 1955 and popularized the shoulder strap bag for women. It was considered revolutionary in part because it allowed women to keep their hands free while carrying it. The design was re-released in 2005 as the Chanel 2.55 Reissue, and has remained a popular Chanel mainstay since. (Source)

Bragmybag describes this style as an "addiction" and touts its popularity among the fashionistas of Instagram.

This particular color is from the Chanel Pre-Fall Metiers d’Art 2020 collection, and is considered a highly sought-after collector's item among Chanel enthusiasts. It originally retailed for $2,900, but is now priced at over $4,000 pre-owned on sites such as ThredUp, eBay, or Depop. It's a classic bag style in a quirky and gorgeous limited edition color. It reminds me of the foil wrappers on chocolate eggs at Easter, or the opal hair trend of 2017-2018. A bag like this definitely plays into the girlboss/influencer vibe. To the fad-beholden type of person Andy is trying to appeal to, it would project an air of effortless coolness and means, someone who is both up on the latest trends and able to drop several thousand dollars on a wallet.

After the Chanel bag, the platform sneakers were even harder to find. Their shape is so distinctive, but every search for "platform sneakers" came up short the first few times. Then I tried an image search on a zoomed-in, blurry version of the photo above, and that led me to Buffalo. Buffalo's platform boots and sneakers definitely approached the vibe of Andy's shoes, but weren't quite there.

Then, in the similar image search under a picture of the Buffalo Aspha NC Mid platform sneaker, I saw a photo that looked remarkably similar to the shoe Andy is wearing, including the plastic snap buckles...and I clicked...

And there they were:

The Demonia Slacker-50 platform sneakers in white holographic patent and baby pink multi glitter.

These shoes...listen. I love fashion, but I'm not a big shoe person. I live most of my life going back and forth between the same two pairs of Tevas. That being said, there is not a single era of my life so far in which I wouldn't have been dying to wear these.

The combination of the millennial shade of pink but with the early 2000s "new millennium" iridescence and multi-colored glitter, the totally 90s lace-up hi-top closure and side snap buckles, the platforms? It's like every era of my childhood, teen years, and young adulthood were somehow distilled into a single shoe design. Xenon Girl of the 21st Century would wear these shoes. Lizzie McGuire would get into some hilarious mishap trying to walk in them. Pepper Ann would have a whole storyline about coveting these shoes and trying to make enough money to buy them. I'm eyeing my bank account as we speak and trying to convince myself I don't need these shoes just to cosplay Andy (but also I do need these shoes, like, spiritually).

Demonia, is an alternative fashion and footwear brand based in Southern California and founded in 1999. Their footwear is sold at Dolls Kill and other popular alternative fashion retailers, but they also sell direct from their own website, DemoniaCult.com. They're not quite a nostalgia brand, but they're definitely nostalgic and a brand your average small-town, fashion-minded emo/goth kid in the early 2000s would have lusted after fruitlessly when it came time for back-to-school shoe shopping (not that I speak from experience or anything).

The Makeup

Though obviously actors are always wearing makeup on screen, it's often meant to be understated enough on men to pass as "no makeup they're just that pretty." But this is a role where we're really meant to notice the makeup.

The heavily filled in brows, the black eyeliner tight-lined all the way around the eye, matte foundation, black mascara on the top and bottom lashes...the wash of brown shadow above the crease, heavy-handed bronze contour, and pink lip. It all calls back to makeup trends that would have been popular at earlier points in Andy's life--the brows, matte base, and contour in particular screamed 2016 to me--the kind of thing you might keep wearing even though it's no longer on trend because it feels good and you think it makes your features pop (and to be fair, they do pop!). Ironically, this choice of makeup also makes Andy, who is chronically attempting to fit in with and pass as Gen Z, look his age more than Harvey ever does.

Andy's Characterization

Andy, like the other characters, really struggles with holding onto the past. For him specifically, however, there's a dimension of being terrified of aging out of his dreams and becoming irrelevant. He wants to be an influencer, he wants to be the person other people take their cues from, he wants to be seen and adored by millions...and that's a possibility he feels slipping away as he hears more and more from people like Candace Nicaragua about how his generation is no longer cool.

Every aspect of Andy's outfit seems meant to underscore the ways in which he lives in the past, whether it's the farther-off past of his childhood when he was still truly close with his besties, or the somewhat more recent past of his 20s, when he was part of the age group that sets trends and that consumerist culture seems to cater to.

In a way, he embodies the exact type of anxieties we're seeing every day from Millennials on Tiktok and other social media. We're not aging gracefully, y'all, at least not in an emotional sense! Where the intergenerational discourse between older generations and Millennials focused far more on our differences in approach to work and the economy, the discourse between Millennials and Gen Z seems fixated on who's cooler, who's more relevant, whose trends or music reign supreme. It seems entirely frivolous, but it hides a deep fear of being pushed aside and forgotten that has followed us since the 2008 housing crash made all our parents' "you can be anything" and "go to college and you'll have a good, comfortable life" talk into lies.

And while the movie definitely plays into that intergenerational conflict, it focuses more on the friends' inability to be honest with themselves and each other about the way they, their lives, and their friendships have evolved since they were kids. So it's great that Andy's big climactic character moment comes when he realizes that it's just silly for him to be seeking approval from these younger people who aren't actually any cooler than him, don't have anything more figured out, and most importantly, don't really know him. What use is coolness and youth when you pit it against friendship and authenticity?

When Andy embraces his age and boldly states that he will never apologize for his friends and that he likes what he likes regardless of how "cheugy" it is? I felt that, okay? Being unmoved by the negative opinions of others is a battle I've fought my entire life, and seeing Andy figure it out was cathartic, no matter how seemingly silly the context.

Affordable Options

You can get black bike shorts almost anywhere that sells activewear. These stretch cotton bike shorts from Jessica London are extremely comfy and come in sizes 12 to 38/40. They're originally $29.99, currently on sale for $17! REI also has a variety of similar styles in a wide range of prices and sizes, for both men and women.

The sweatshirt is a bit more challenging to find, but Jessica London has a few options, all under $55, in sizes up to 5X (women's US size 38/40):

Boxy Fleece Sweatshirt in Misty Rose

Hooded Sweatshirt Tunic in Dusty Pink

Sweatshirt Tunic with Shirttail Hem in Pretty Lilac - I have this one, and it's very comfy and looks much more screen accurate on my plus sized body than it does on the model in the product photos.

The closest to screen accurate I've found is actually from Amazon, though I'm trying to stay away from recommending Amazon products as much as possible on this blog. This option is only available up to size XXL, but it's made to be oversized and according to the listed measurements, an XL would fit me loosely (for reference, my bust measurement is 55 inches).

Uniqlo also has a pink crewneck sweatshirt that's a viable option, available up to size XXL.

The platform sneakers actually qualify for my "under $100" affordability threshold, retailing at $95.99 from Demonia. But if you want some slightly cheaper options with a similar vibe, here are a few I've found:

BCBGeneration Riso Platform Sneaker - $69.30 from Nordstrom (currently on sale)

Coconuts by Matisse Nelson Platform Sneaker - $85 from Nordstrom

Converse Women's Chuck Taylor All Star Hi Lift Platform Sneaker in pink - $74.99 from Famous Footwear

Guess Women's Miram Platform Lace-Up Court Sneaker in pink metallic - $41.40 from Macy's (currently on sale)

The bag is the hardest part to find an affordable dupe for. I've searched and searched, and there's just very little out there that feels close enough to screen accurate that's also under $100. Your best bet is to find a bag with a similar vibe and add a chain to it if you want to cosplay Andy. Some great options:

Quilted Clutch Handbag from BagsBySimplyShere on Etsy - $35

Rainbow Metallic Quilted Clutch-style Purse from WildwoodTreasureCo on Etsy - $40

For me, because I'm extra, I've actually decided to make my own from the ground up. If it goes well, I'll post some photos here!

[dreamingofyeo]

Jar of similes ☆彡

Yeosang x gn reader fluff

1570 words ~ unedited ~ inspired by Black Friday by Tom Odell

~ comment or ask if you’d like to be added to my permanent taglist

~☆彡 ~ Tumblr's algorithm works from reblogs so if you like my work please consider It :)

You walked down the path towards the fried chicken place, you’d been working on your art project all day and hadn’t realised how late it had gotten until your stomach had rudely reminded you. Your surroundings were, to a non artistic eye, rather normal and even dull in comparison to the rest of Seoul. You found it beautiful though. The cherry blossom petals on the ground, the odd feather here and there. The sounds of the city at night and the sight of its lights reflecting off of the puddles on the ground. Taking note of all the colour around you, you pull out one of the little jars you keep in your tote bag for exactly this occasion. You crouch down on the edge of the path, scooping a few of the petals into the jar to recreate the exact colour layer on for your project. You stand up and place the jar into your bag before carrying on down the path, you hadn’t even realised your phone had slipped out of your pocket when you’d been crouched down, too engrossed in your whirlwind of thoughts and ideas for the colour.

You wouldn’t have noticed at all if it were not for the sound of boots jogging to catch up with you before a tap on your shoulder. You turn around confused. That confusion is quickly replaced by intrigue and awe as you take in the young man before you. He is ethereal you can tell that much even with the mask and bucket hat and also familiar. Features sculpted onto his face perfectly yet in an utterly unique way. Like a painting. He has a birthmark blossoming from his left eye in the most delicate way, you’d like to paint him. You wonder to yourself if he’d be interested in modelling for you to do so. He could certainly do it professionallyi with his looks anyway. An idol even perhaps.

His voice snaps you out of your trance, it’s deep and mellifluous, though a little nervous and awkward all the same.

“Excuse me miss, you dropped your phone.”

You know that voice. As he holds out your phone with both hands, the pieces click into place but you decide against saying anything about it, not wanting to make him uncomfortable or risk it just being a huge coincidence that he looks and sounds just like Kang Yeosang of Ateez. So instead you steel your nerves and reply.

“Ah I’m sorry, thank you so much” you say politely, bowing to accept your phone back.

You smile awkwardly and turn to walk, but not before asking if he was also going to the chicken place, considering there wasn’t much else down this path. Inwardly considering that he is Yeosang after all so the likelihood is high.

He nods happily telling you he’s been craving it.

You look down and smile to yourself, now walking next to him.

“What’s your name?”

This catches you completely off guard, you forget your name for a moment but get it out regardless, asking him for his in return. You knew it but it was an open opportunity to confirm it.

“Kang Yeosang, it’s nice to meet you.” He says, you don’t miss the beat of hesitation before the reveal though.

You smile and return the sentiment before speaking in as calm a tone as you can manage.

“I thought I recognised you, I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to be wrong or make you uncomfortable, or both.” You say, laughing slightly at the end.

His head snaps to you at this, confusion and surprise written in his eyes.

“You know Ateez?”

“Yeah of course, you guys are so talented I love your music.” You confirm, smiling at him.

His eyebrows shoot upwards even more if it were even possible.

“You’re atiny? Who’s your bias?”

You laugh, “not telling, you can guess when we’ve picked up the chicken.”

Even through his mask, you can see the pouty smile forming on his face. You almost crack. Almost.

You talk and laugh for a while with Yeosang on the way to get your food. He’s certainly surprised, not used to having such tame interactions with fans outside of the occasional wholesome fancall and fansign experience. He’s being treated like a person, not like a doll to be criticised and controlled like some people who call themselves fans seem to unknowingly consider him to be. It’s nice. You’re nice, he could see himself being friends with you surprisingly easily. He’s also not blind, you’re very pretty, but he won’t let himself go down that road. He speaks up again after a bit of comfortable silence.

“How long have you been in Seoul for?”

“Not long, a few months.”

“Have you managed to make friends yet, or anything more?”

“A few friends here and there, I don’t think I’m built for dating here though so it’ll likely just stay like that.” You chuckle lightly.

“Why’s that? You’re very nice and I’d be lying if I said you didn’t have the looks for it.”

You feel yourself flush, looking up at him in shock, did he just compliment you?

“Was that a compliment?”

He laughs, that beautiful and adorable yet shy laugh of his.

“What else would it be?”

You shrug and laugh it off.

“True, well thank you, I feel honoured considering it’s coming from you.”

“What do you mean?” He asks.

Is he messing with you? Surely?

“It’s hard to explain. You’re one of the prettiest people I’ve ever seen to be honest, so it’s just a high compliment coming from you.”

Now it’s his turn to flush, he laughs under his breath thanking you quietly.

“You don’t believe me?” You ask, teasing him now.

Now it may make you cringe in the morning but you couldn’t resist. You pull out another little jar. He looks at you quizzically.

“I collect things to mimic the colour of for my art projects.” You explain quickly before getting to work.

He watches you in confusion, as you flit around the path and nature around you, picking up seemingly random pieces and collecting them in the jar. You bring it back to him, taking his hand and placing the jar in it.

He analyses the contents with just as much confusion as before. A feather, a petal, a dandelion whisp and a leaf skeleton.

He raises an eyebrow at you.

“I’d put a snowflake in there if I could, but if it helps you understand, you’re pretty like all the delicate parts of nature.” You smile, already cringing inside for tomorrow morning slightly.

His eyes soften though, and he smiles and thanks you, pocketing the jar before continuing to walk to the chicken place with you.

As if to make the city lights more pretty than before, it begins to rain. Yeosang groans slightly, having forgotten an umbrella. You laugh and turn to him.

“You don’t like the rain?”

“Not when I don’t have an umbrella.”

“There’s not much point to them, you get wet anyway, might aswell just accept and enjoy it.”

“Enjoy it?” He asks incredulously.

“Yeah! You can feel completely free in the rain. It’s something people usually avoid, a little bit like emotion if you think about it, if you enjoy it then it feels freeing in the same way as feeling your emotions, not caring about anything, not about the people watching you or getting wet and cold, it’s just nice.” You say, you cringe at yourself slightly but you decide to take your own advice and just accept it this time.

He smiles, “I guess you’re right.”

“I usually am.” You laugh.

“Somehow I don’t doubt that.” He says seriously.

“I was only joking but thank you.” You laugh again. An idea strikes you.

“Come on I’ll show you.”

He’s yet again confused, “show me what.”

“How to enjoy it. Dance with me, no steps nobody to perform for just enjoy it.”

He laughs now, shaking his head at you.

“Come onnnn, let me be right again you won’t regret it.” You plead with him, tilting your head almost teasingly.

He shakes his head again, this time in defeat. You smile widely and take a hold of his wrists pulling him into the centre of the empty path. The rain is hammering down around you both now as you dance with him, no steps, no strings, just two souls exploring the joy of being alive. He’s laughing with you now, jumping in a circle with you, arms swinging up and down to no rhythm but your own whims. You let go of one of his wrists and motion for him to twirl, the water under his boots sprays out and splashes you increasing the laughter sounding from you both. He returns the favour and keeps twirling you around until you dizzily stumble to a halt in front of him, holding onto his jacket to keep stable. He wipes the soaked strands of hair from your face and you look up at him, he looks so happy. He smiles down at you.

“You were right.”

“I told you so.”

You finally reach the chicken store, and walk back along the path, cracking jokes and laughing the whole way. You reach the intersection where you turn left and he turns right, he turns to you and speaks softly before leaving.

“You’re pretty like the rain.”

Taglist: @voicesinmyhead-rc @decadentstrangernacho

[moodr1ng]

(making my own post after being in someones replies again lol) i do think there was kind of a Moment on tumblr in i wanna say circa 2019-2021 where a lot of the accumulated biphobia that was present in the lgbt community at large and in particular on tumblr sort of blew up into a number of bi bloggers starting to talk a lot more on the subject and make a lot of posts explaining the material consequences of biphobia, the lack of support bisexuals have always gotten from the rest of the community, the specific biphobic opinions/takes that are popular both offline and in online communities, and also a lot of conversations about bisexuality, what its like to be bisexual, what it means to us, a ton of education on bisexual history, a lot of trans and nonbinary bisexuals talking about how bisexuality interacts w our genders, etc. at the time and being involved in all of this tangentially it felt a bit like a sort of tumblr bisexual renaissance where the pot finally boiled over and a ton of us started to be really loud and in your face about bisexuality and biphobia. i think this was a major reason for why a lot of takes that had previously been very widespread and either accepted or at least treated as debatable (thinking about butch/femme discourse for example) got rolled back and a lot of people who had been very casually biphobic all over the place suddenly changed their tune, switched their public opinions, and started sharing a lot more of support for bisexuals (though, tbh, i dont think i have seen literally one apology for past biphobia).

i do think there was some discourse that went a bit too far and ended up counterproductive (ive personally rolled back a lot of my past anger about the pansexuality vs bisexuality shit into a view that i think is a lot more charitable and community-oriented), but overall bisexuals on here did a lot of work to get heard, get understood, and get some much-needed support by the rest of the lgbt community, and there were also a lot of behind the scenes conversations where bi people created spaces like very active discord servers where bisexuality was explored in-depth among bisexuals, which tbh i largely credit for me being able to comfortably identify as bigender.

but, well, this Moment of bisexuals being loud and proud about bisexuality and refusing to continue to tolerate biphobia was met with, like, extremely caustic and vicious backlash which has led SO many bi bloggers who i followed, knew, was in servers and dms with, was/am friends with etc to either quit tumblr or move to new blogs where they only keep around vetted people and no longer widely engage w the topic of biphobia. my alter ran one of those blogs which i dont think could have really been qualified as popular, but which had a ton of constant interaction and some really big posts, all of which led to daily biphobic harassment as well as scrutiny of every other part of his identity and repeated cruelty about things that it was incredibly inappropriate for people to attack him on - some of you who followed him will recall the repeated attacks and accusations of ableism for his 'weird' typing style, despite a disclaimer on his blog that he types like this bc of autism+adhd+did, as well as a lot of vitriol and aggression which i think was at least partially racially motivated. like, im not even willing to disclose the url or his name here because im STILL paranoid about getting harassed years after he deactivated, which, like many others i know, he did because the constant biphobia was so bad for his mental health that the blog even just continuing to exist was not sustainable.

im not sure to what degree the conversations that were started on here during this time are continuing - im not seeing much of it anymore, but then again maybe im just not following the people having them - but it certainly feels like that Moment has died down now, though i certainly still feel the aftereffects in how a lot of people have changed their stances on bisexuality. it does feel like an acute loss still that so many bi people were effectively shut down and harassed off tumblr or into silence and reclusiveness by the backlash to bisexuals speaking out (and this especially imo affected bisexuals of color, especially black bisexuals, as per usual on tumblr). i miss the posts i would get to read daily as well as the very active discord servers and other conversations i got to be privy to at the time. i think this, as much as the discussions on biphobia themselves, rendered very explicit the degree of biphobia thats present within the lgbt community. as soon as a number of bisexuals got fed up with it and started to talk about it openly, the open and unashamed biphobia also ramped up.

ig the thing im stuck on is - were not talking about it as much, but all the people who dedicated themselves to harassing bisexuals into silence for years are still here. some stances have been changed and a lot of performative "we love bisexuals!" posts got shared but ultimately the work is still cut out for us going forward. however, i dont think i or my alter will be doing any of that work on tumblr in the future. the focus will have to be on real-life community to spare ourselves the backlash that comes from speaking about this on here.

idk, not sure how to end this whole tirade. i just happened to be thinking about all this earlier today and a mutual brought it up again just now so its on my mind. i do still miss that sense of heightened bisexual community that came from all of this. i personally not only was able to re-identify as bisexual after identifying as gay for a few years bc these conversations led me to reevaluate my sexuality in a more accepting light, but also i unlearned a ton of internalized biphobia which i had not only tolerated but often strongly believed myself, usually with a sort of self-flagellating notion of "i have to bow down to the rest of the community and accept that my opinion is inherently lesser because bisexuality is an inferior sexuality" which i only stopped believing after being in these bisexual communities. ig i just have to be content with the circle of bi friends ive built both online and offline and what benefits ive gained from these discussions.

[subhumanselflover]

its ya boi (girl) back at it again and I am politely requesting an nsfw alphabet with happy chaos. you don't have to do all 26 letters ofc!! I'll take any few really :]c

- 🐲

note: this was the request that tumblr ate. i’m writing it up again and hoping it doesn’t disappear … here’s every letter though, just for you happy chaos anon!!

Happy Chaos NSFW alphabet!

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

He’s a bit clingy, but not one for a lot of aftercare. He’ll call you pretty and tell you that you did well, but mostly he just wants to curl up with you and not leave.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

For himself? Happy Chaos likes his chest and abs. For his partner, he’s a big fan of hips and thighs.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

This is so unserious, but do you think Chaos can change the flavor of his cum at will..? Ahem, anyway.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Most of his past sexual experience remains a secret, but he had a fair amount of points of experimenting with different people. He doesn’t like to talk about it, though, Chaos would rather stay in the present with you.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Well, as per the last one.. he’s got a handful of experience, and certainly knows what he’s doing.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Any position that allows him to keep his hands all over you. It’s hard for him to pick a favorite.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

He’s sooooo unserious most of the time. Chaos loves to mess around and make jokes here and there. He will get more serious in some cases though, like when he gets sappy.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Strikes me as the type of guy to dye his pubes or shave them into funny shapes when he gets bored. Mostly doesn’t manage them unless he’s got some reason he wants to though.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

I’ve definitely talked about this before, but he’s mostly not that intimate, except for when the sappy side inevitably kicks in. Then he’s the sweetest.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

I think that when he jerks off, he cleans up by just snapping and the cum disappears. Funny thing to use his magic for.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Temperature play and roleplay. Undoubtedly.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

His car. He loves that thing almost as much as he loves you.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

For a quick summary.. you do! You turn him on more than anything, he’s sort of obsessed with you.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

No answer to this one, it’s hard to decide.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

INSANE skill at giving head. He’s so good at it, and it’s fun for him. He has fun with it, but he does enjoy receiving as well! He likes playing with your hair (and grabbing at it) when you give him head.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Normally keeps it pretty fast and rough, it’s more fun for him.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

He likes quickies every so often, they’re pretty fun for him. Not all the time, though. Likes to be able to have fun and take his time.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

OF COURSE!! It’s Happy Chaos, he loves to experiment and take risks. He’ll try just about anything.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Can go all night. He had a lot of time to build his stamina and endurance, after all.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Practically has a box. Loves to use them on you, and loves having them used on him. Use a vibrator on him? He’s going wild. You wanna peg him? He’s entirely game. You want him to make you fall apart with a toy? He’s on it. Number one switch.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Teasing FIEND. Happy Chaos loves to tease, and he’ll tease you even more if you whine about it.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

When he’s topping, he’s pretty loud but mostly huffs, groans, and growls.. with some fun dirty talk sprinkled in. When he’s bottoming… that man whimpers. Whines, moans. Yeah.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

I have certain feelings about transmasc Happy Chaos. If he’s on t, well… you know how that sex drive is probably going to go. Also, I think his horns are sensitive— do with that what you will.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

I mean.. you can already see what’s going on under most of them. He has pretty muscular thighs and calves, and.. tbh I think his ass is kinda flat. I have mixed feelings on what to talk about for his thang. Vote for pussy or penis Happy Chaos below in the comments 🔥🔥🔥

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Pretty solid sex drive. If you have a higher sex drive, he’ll be ready to work with it, but he’ll accommodate if you have a lower one. Basically, his mostly depends on you.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Depends on the day, or the intensity/timing of the sex. Easily falls asleep a lot of the time, but sometimes ends up staying up for a few hours, holding you and just thinking.

[with-love-from-hell]

Melancholia

{part Ten}

Fandom: Obey me!

Genre: Angst

Written for F!Mc

WC: 3k

CW: Kidnapping!,  Michael is a heavy antagonist and angels are fucked up, slut shaming/victim blaming, mention of suicide vaguely, fear-based content and lots of tension, angst, depression, mentions to past sexual violence in Vermillion Skies, Torture, anxiety, descriptions of deceit, season 2 spoilers

A/n: Michael is quite the wad in this chapter, just as a fair warning! I will be discussing his character in my brain more in the q&a post later on, so send in your questions about the series to my inbox! Also I apologize if the formatting seems wonky or out of order...tumblr is deciding to test my patience this morning.

Music Accompaniment (Point of No Return thru No Love)

>> Though I have a Masters Degree in Psychology and clinical training in treatment for mental health, I am not your therapist. If you have experienced any form of depression or suicidal thoughts, and are in need of help, please utilize the Suicide Prevention Lifeline, NIMH helpline, or the SAMHSA helpline. <<

Series Masterlist  

You can find more of this series by searching the tag #Vermillion Skies or #Melancholia on my blog!

“Are you sure that’s what you saw?” Diavolo’s eyes darted between Simeon and Belphie. He wanted desperately for their concerns to just be baseless anxiety, but the grim look on Luke’s face made his heart sink deeper into his stomach. The phone call he had received from Lucifer hours prior was alarming, but he figured the sounds of shuffling and distant grunts meant he had just pocket dialed him. He never would have expected mc and Lucifer to end up missing, and in the brutish hands of the Archangels, no less. After what he had seen Simeon go through, he only hoped that they could get to them before its too late.

“I’m almost 100% certain that Michael has taken both of them.” Simeon clenched his fists, fighting back his demon form. “I don’t know what he’s planning, but it will surely be nothing good.”

Diavolo’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I see...” 

Luke squeezed his eyes shut to prevent himself from crying. His grip on Simeon’s sleeve tightened as he tried to make himself calm down. How could this be happening? Michael was a good angel; a merciful angel. This had to have been some sort of mistake!

There was a moment of silence as the brothers looked amongst eachother with uncertainty. 

“Well...ain’t we gonna do somethin’ ‘bout this?!” Mammon finally asked, giving a pointed look to Diavolo and Barbatos. "We should be stormin' that fuckin' palace and destroying everythin' in sight!"

A tense sigh passed through Diavolo’s lips as he massaged the slight headache developing at his brow line. “Mammon, it’s not that simple. We have no idea where they’re being held, or why. We have no idea what their next move will be, and we dont know what they'll do when they hear of our rescue efforts.” 

“And we certainly don’t have the manpower amongst us to fight the entire celestial army, even with our combined strength.” Satan paced while rubbing his chin, trying hard to think of how they could get both Lucifer and Mc back with the least amount of bloodshed. 

“I just...I d-don’t understand...” Luke shook his head, still trying to wrap his head around what was happening. “W-why would Michael do something like this?!” 

The demons looked amongst each other, unsure of how to respond to the small angel’s query. They felt so much pity for him. He was really having his worldview tested more over the past 4 months than than he had in his entire life.

“Michael is obsessive.” Solomon chimed in as he entered the room, a bag of tinking glassware slung over his shoulder. “He sees Mc as a threat, and it appears as though his desire to renew the exchange program was a ploy to get our guard down so he can neutralize that threat. I only wish i would have picked up on the signs sooner.” 

The remaining color left in Luke’s face drained, and he stared at Solomon, wide-eyed. “W-what..? Do...do you mean they’ll...”

Solomon locked eyes with him for a second, a glint of sadness passing through his expression. “They’re going to try to kill her, yes.” 

Simeon shook his head, finding himself feeling strangely numb in this moment. "They wont just do that. They've risked too much in even kidnapping Mc.” 

Everyone in the room turned to him, looks of pure terror on their faces. The fact that the situation would likely provide Mc with more trauma was enough to try to stomach already, but to run the risk of losing her again made their blood run cold. Each waited with baited breath for what Simeon had to add to suggest that it could get worse than you’re death. 

Simeon sighed, avoiding their desperate eyes. “Michael had said over and over that their worst mistake he made during your fall was not ensuring Lilith had been unable to be reincarnated. To ensure that Lilith’s bloodline won’t ever be able to cause a disturbance in the celestial realm again, they are going to attempt to wipe her from existence, along with the one person who could and would stop at nothing to ensure they would never see another day of peace. The one person who, without him, would leave the Devildom vulnerable in the event of an all-out war.” 

The brothers each dropped their eyes to the floor, slowly understanding what Simeon was getting at. 

Not only would they kill Mc- but they were going to kill Lucifer too. 

“But...But...” Luke stuttered, looking amongst the brothers. "Michael's a good angel! He couldn’t...H-he wouldn’t...” 

Tears burst from Luke’s eyes, now fully unable to hold back any more. Simeon kneeled, wrapping his arms around him gently, and allowed the small angel to sob into his shoulder. Simeon glanced to Diavolo, who’s expression had become a mixture of grim anticipation, and deep anger. 

“My lord, what would you suggest our next move be?” Barbatos did his best to bite his tongue, but was holding onto his sanity by a mere thread. It was bad enough that you had to be taken and threatened with death, but to have a close friend and necessary ally suffer the same punishment made the situation all the more dire. He himself wanted to charge in and swiftly decapitate any angel that crossed his path, but he knew that running in without a plan would be foolish. "If what Simeon says is true, we are already at a major disadvantage given they have been in their grasp for nearly 5 hours. We don’t have much more time left to lose.” 

Before Diavolo could even respond, Beelzebub stepped forward, catching his attention. His normal flat expression was turned into an furious scowl, his muscles bulging under his shirt with all the tension he held in his body. The prince didn’t think he’d ever seen the avatar of Gluttony so angry before. 

“Our next move should be getting our family back, no matter what it takes.” He stated matter-of-factly, but there was a lust for blood behind his tone that neither of the royals, nor his brothers, had ever heard from the 6th born. “I’ll annihilate their entire army by myself if I have to.” 

“While I agree we should prioritize their safety before politics, we mustn’t forget that charging in without a plan only gives them the advantage.” Diavolo sighed. “Though right now, I am frankly at a loss for how to develop one that won’t just be a suicide mission.” 

Beel closed his eyes, trying to refrain from snapping on the prince. He was terrified for your wellbeing, and didn't think he could handle the uncertainty of your fate for much longer. He needed you- all of his brothers did. And they needed Lucifer too. Without both of you, his family would fall apart. No one would ever be able to recover from such a loss.

Luke stared between Beelzebub and Diavolo, almost as if he couldn’t understand what they were both saying. 

“First we should decide who will be doing what.” Simeon stated, now rising from his knees. He gestured toward Solomon to take Luke from him, who quickly scrambled to replace Simeon’s place as Luke’s support. 

Barbatos nodded. “We should establish a rendezvous point as well, in case we get separated.”

Simeon looked to Barbatos, nodding in agreement. “I think it goes without saying that Diavolo and Luke will be staying behind.” 

“What?!” Luke and Diavolo both yelled at the same time, seemingly insulted by the assertion that they would not be helping. 

“Yeah, What?” Mammon added, crossing his arms. “I understand leavin’ the Chihuahua behind, but Diavolo’s got some mad strength. He could take down 10 seraphim at once without even tryin'!" 

“Really, Mammon!? You’re going to call me a Chihuahua now?!” Luke wiped his tears, shooting Mammon a glare. 

Barbatos interjected, ignoring Luke’s annoyance at the teasing name. “But if he is injured- or worse, killed- during battle, the Devildom will be without a leader. That’s not something we can afford. We would be susceptible to both external invasion and violent anarchy amongst the lower demons.” 

“Besides, it might be helpful to have someone here to prepare a space for injuries.” Satan added, tilting his chin toward Simeon. “If his vision is right...Mc and Lucifer could be in pretty awful shape...” 

Mammon winced at the idea of Mc being hurt again, not wanting to accept it as a possible reality. 

Diavolo sighed. “Fine, we’ll stay back for now. But if things go south...” He gave Barbatos a deathly serious look, “...I will not hesitate to charge in there- full force.” 

Luke shook his head, now pulling out of Solomon’s arms and nearly groveling to Simeon. “No! Wait, I...I could talk to Michael! I could get him to s-see reason!” 

Simeon closed his eyes and sighed. “Luke, I know this is hard for you to understand, which is why it’s best if you don’t get involved.” 

“But...Mc...” Luke swallowed back more tears, looking at the floor. “I...I want to help...t-to do something...”

“I know...I know.” Simeon took a deep breath to maintain the softness in his voice. He pressed both hands to Luke’s shoulder. “But the way that you can help is holding down a place for when we come back. Please Luke...this is what I need from you.” 

Luke sniffled, hanging his head and nodding. “O-okay.” 

Simeon gave him a firm hug, solidifying that things were going to be okay. He had experienced a loss of optimism for anything for so long. He hadn't felt the ability to cling to any sort of hope to allow him to move forward. Whether it be denial, fear, anger, or just wanting to see Mc smile one last time, the feeling allowed him to be strong enough to stand as an anchor for everyone else, and to make a plan to get them both back. He needed to be a rock for everyone else, who were near the edge of panic because the two who would normally take the lead were now indisposed.  

Mc and Lucifer will be brought back alive...they had to be.

Simeon stood, resting a firm hand on Luke’s shoulder. He pointed toward the brothers, giving fervent direction of what he wanted them to do. “Beel, you will be our tank.  Belphie and Satan, you’re his backup. Your job is to neutralize anyone in our way of getting to Lucifer and Mc.” 

The three looked at each other and gave a single nod to signify that they understood.

“Levi, and Mammon- you two will help me and Barbatos get into the Celestial prison cells to search for Mc and Lucifer. We will need help getting past guards, and the more people we have searching rooms, the better. You'll take the east wing, and Barbatos and I will be on the west wing.” 

“Got it.” Mammon nodded to Levi, winding up his shoulders to stretch the muscles. "I'll wipe the floor with any crumby angel that dares to do harm to the family of the Great Mammon!"

“Solomon- You and Asmo will take up the rear. Do what you can to ensure our portal home isn’t infiltrated and that the others have first aid in the event of an emergency. You will also be our center point of contact.” 

Asmo nervously glanced to Solomon, who pressed a reaffirming hand to his shoulder. “Not a problem.” 

“For the rest of us outside of Asmo and Solomon, our meet up point should be at the treeline just south of the prison.” Barbatos added, giving a nod to Simeon for thinking through the division of the groups. “If we need to change it, Solomon and Asmo will spread the message. No one should break off from their pairs. There's safety in numbers, after all.” 

The group nodded amongst each other, now preparing for what they assumed was going to be an absolutely bloodbath, and the beginning of the end of peace between the realms.

“Get up.” 

Lucifer groaned as the words echoed through his throbbing head. He tried to bring his awareness back- to figure out who the voice was, and where it was coming from. A swift kick to the stomach caused him to sputter, the pain pulling his consciousness back to the surface.

How long had he even been out?!

He forced his eyes open, trying to adjust to the dimly lit room he found himself in. As he tried to move his weak muscles, he found his arms restrained tightly behind his back. He looked up, trying to push his vision to convert the blurred outline into the image of the individual standing before him. 

“I said: Get. UP.” 

Lucifer snarled as the individual grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked him up to his knees. He gritted his teeth as his vision adjusted to the shape of the blonde angel, who’s nose was only a few inches away from his own. 

“Stand, Demon.” Michael commanded, pulling on Lucifer’s hair again to make him stand. 

His knees buckled beneath his weight as he tried to remain standing. Eventually he was able to keep his balance, albeit barely. He hadn’t felt this groggy since Diavolo had spiked his tea with tranquilizer a few months prior. His mind wandered briefly to you, and he was desperate to know where they were holding you. He hoped that you were safe, but given the aggressive handling that Michael and the guards were treating him with, he concluded they were probably weren’t treating you much better.  Regardless, he knew he had to figure out a way out of his binds- to make sure you were safe again in his arms.

Michael snapped his fingers, signaling for two armored guards came to Lucifer’s side. They hooked their arms under his armpits and followed Michael out of the room. Lucifer swallowed hard, taking note of his surroundings. Clearly, he was in the celestial palace, but he was unsure of his specific whereabouts- that is, until he was brought before the familiar, intimidating council doors. 

He narrowed his eyes, staring daggers into the back of Michael’s head. The last time he was here was when he was begging on his knees for Michael to help him to convince father to let Lilith live. An odd sense of familiarity washed over him as Michael grasped the handles on the doors. He swallowed hard, trying to bring back his cold and confident demeanor...but the fear about whether you both would make it out of this situation alive continued to sit like a rock in his stomach, making it hard to turn away from the anxiety.

Lucifer was thrown down to his knees roughly before the council. He gritted his teeth through the pain, trying to wiggle his arms our of their binds enough to where his shoulder wasn't threatening to dislocate. He took a deep breath before looking to the judging eyes of the council, but was surprised to see only two council members other than Michael who were looking at him with glares of hatred. The rest harbored a look of shock and uncertainty.

"Lucifer. It's been too long." Michael mused sarcastically with a wicked smile as he took his place amongst the council members. “I would love to say it’s good to see you, but unfortunately the mere sight of you is very unpleasant.”  

Lucifer tightened his jaw, but said nothing.

Michael cocked his head at him, the smile turning into a teasing smirk. "Come now, you're not going to even give us a proper greeting?"

Lucifer hissed his retort. "Fuck you."

Raphael winced as Michael let out a sickening chuckle. He looked to the other council members, noticing Uriel and Saraquael with similar grotesque smiles. Gabriel, Raguel, and Remiel, however, shared in his discomfort, and tossed nervous glances amongst each other.

"Uh, Michael..." Gabriel nervously chimed in after a pause, trying his best to keep a smile on his face, though it was clearly weathered from nerves. "We...we shouldn't delay in discussing why you've brought Lucifer before us so suddenly, especially considering you didn't not get all of our approval before doing so."

Lucifer lifted an eyebrow as Michael's eyelid twitched. The archangel slowly tilted his head back to look at Gabriel, his intense eyes boring holes into the second in command. "Approval was not necessary. I made an executive decision for the safety of the Celestial realm."

Lucifer furrowed his brow. Safety? What was he talking about??

"When you discussed the revamping of the exchange program, I did not expect this to be your ulterior motive." Raguel shook his head in disapproval as he scratched his long, grey beard. "This isn't right, Michael. Send him home."

"And the human too." Remiel added, a furious look on her face. "I know many angels- including yourself- are wary of deceit from humans after what happened with Simeon, but we have no right to-"

"Silence!" Michael slammed his fists on the podium in front of him, breathing hard. The other council members snapped their mouths shut, not wanting to evoke Michael's fury. "Humans as a race are not the problem here. I've explained this to you thick headed fools 5 times already!"

Remiel gasped quietly, looking to Raguel and Gabriel for support. They said noting, only looked on in shock at Michael’s behavior.

Michael continued. "The problem is this particular human, and those who enable her. She should be exterminated for her sins... and Lucifer..."

He glanced to his former brother over the rim of his glasses, seeing his eyes go wide with panic at the acknowledgement that he wanted to have you killed.

He shook his head. "Lucifer is our second biggest threat if we are to get rid of her, and as such he should be imprisoned indefinitely at the very least- if not sentenced to suffer the same fate."

"Agreed." Uriel stated, without hesitation. "It took 5 injections of the strongest sedative we had to bring him down."

"Who knows what destruction he could cause with those brothers of his if we didn't include him in this." Saraqael glared at him, seemingly disgusted by his actions. "We should have executed all of them after their betrayal instead of letting them fall. The blood of their sister still runs through their veins, and the veins of that wretch of a human."

Michael nodded as Lucifer's lips upturned into a snarl. "His brothers will come for him, and prove just how much destruction they're capable of- but they're no match for our army." He turned back to Gabriel, shaking his head once more. "Mercy for blasphemous actions are what lead Simeon to fall in the first place. Are you suggesting you're fine with every angel turning a blind eye to grace and becoming demons themselves? That simply will not do!"

Gabriel gulped, glancing toward Lucifer and then back to Michael. "Demons are allowed to make their own decisions for how they run their realm. Lucifer having the freedom to love a human doesn't concern us at all, Michael. We have already agreed not to become politically invested in the Devildom beyond maintaining peace."

Raguel stood, mirroring Michael's intensity with his hands firmly on his podium. He had enough of Michael's dictator like order over the council, and unfairness in making such extreme decisions without their input. As the oldest member of the council and a man of tradition, he was insulted by Michael's apparent insolence and side-stepping of the parliament rules. "What you've done is akin to a declaration of war! We're you not able to set aside your petty jealousy of father's favoritism for one moment to think of the consequences of your bull-headed actions!?"

"Tch!" He stood and rounded the podium to the front of the room where Lucifer knelt. He paced in front of him, dark brown irises glaring down intensely at the eldest brother, completely ignoring Raguel's words. "Tell me: What would we have done if this human wasn't given the ring of light?"

“I hardly see what this has to do with anything.” Remiel muttered, sharing a nervous glance with Raguel.

“Just answer the question.” Michael demanded, glancing amongst the council. “Tell me what would have happened.” 

Gabriel sighed, crossing his arms. "It was told to us by the sorcerer that her pacts with the brothers would have been revoked."

Michael let out a sickening laugh. "And you believed him?"

Gabriel was taken aback by his words. "I beg your pardon?"

"Lucifer needed to die in order to go with that route. Do you really think the demon prince, had he known, would have allowed that?"

There was a pause, before the hesitant council members slowly shook their heads.

Michael nodded, lips turning upwards into a smile. "Precisely. Now, wouldn't there be an easier option that would produce the same results? And it didn't even cross any of their minds."

The room wad quiet for a moment before Michael let out a 'tsk.'

"What they should have done was dispose of the threat. She not only holds pacts with 7 of the strongest demons at their disposal and could be considered a danger to both the Celestial Realm and the Devildom in that right, but weilding that power has made the entire fabric of the universe unstable."

Michael turned to Lucifer, crossing his arms. "Now, wouldn't such a danger to the 3 world's go directly against your precious Diavolo's plans?"

Lucifer swallowed, but remained silent.

"It would." He answered for him, turning back to the council. "And yet, his love for the human resulted in them risking the stability of not just the Devildom, but the Celestial Realm and the human world as well!"

"The solution that was arrived at was a suitable one." Raguel argued. "Providing the human with the ring of light was more than a reasonable solution, And I remember that you had hidden it from the council. Even after Simeon approached us with the option, you were still vehemently against it because of your own pride."

Michael glared at the older archangel. "And what if she were to take the ring off?"

Remiel sighed. "You saw it with your own eyes, Michael. She was terrified. Why in heavens name would she do that?"

"It doesn't matter how or why." Uriel nodded toward Michael. "His point still stands that it's a possibility, and made the option a mediocre one at best."

Raphael gripped his pants tightly in his fist. He wasn't sure who to side with at this point, and kept finding himself thinking back to Luke and the interactions he witnessed between the two of you. Raphael was still indifferent toward you, considering the bias he initially came into the Devildom with, but even a week with you was enough to sway his opinion slightly in the opposite direction.

Perhaps Michael was obsessed and blinded by anger and power, like Raguel had said to him before the meeting.

"Michael...y-you've gone mad..." Gabriel shook his head in a panic. "This isn't the way father would-"

"And how are you to know what father wants!" Michael snapped back. "I am the leader of this council, and I am the direct executor of his will!"

"Enough, Michael!" Remiel shouted, now standing. "The council was elected as a whole to execute father’s will. Cease this absurdity at once, and release these two back to Devildom! They are innocent!"

"Innocent!? Hah!" Michael laughed sarcastically at her. "Even meeting Mc in real life was enough to convince me she is anything but!"

Lucifer growled in warning, wanting desperately to tell Michael to keep your name off his lips.

Michael shook his head, feeling a shiver run through his spine as he remembered his encounter with the human. The way he felt such an unnatural pull toward her made him feel so disgraceful, and only re-affirmed his mindset on how dangerous she was. "Just the way in which she was dressed told me everything about her intentions. She’s clearly well able to use manipulation and seduction to her advantage. No wonder demons and angels alike have a difficult time controlling themselves around her- clearly she's inviting them to defile her!"

"Shut your fucking mouth!" Lucifer finally spat at him, finding himself enraged at the suggestion that your state of dress they had captured you in- that was supposed to be for his eyes only- was somehow an excuse for the trauma you suffered. His eyes bore holes into Michael's as they stared each other down. Lucifer panted, snarling at him as he wrestled with his binds, wanting to beat Michael to death right there.

"Tch." Michael narrowed his eyes. "How pitiful."

"Look, Michael..." Gabriel sighed, "despite your personal feelings on the matter, this entire situation needs further discussion, both amongst the council and with father directly. Until that is done, these two are not to be harmed, and should be returned home."

"We are not doing anything to either of them as long as there is disagreement among the council." Remiel reiterated Gabriel’s words, glaring at Michael with her emerald eyes filled with fire. "That is final."

Michael let out another sickening laugh, making the opposing council members' blood run cold. Even the two who were on his side lost the smirks they displayed through the meeting at the unsettling sound of it.

"This was not a request for any stupid debate, or a vote." He smirked toward Lucifer, who continued to glare at him. "This was just a warning to you that the wheels of retribution are already moving. Her punishment was started well before this meeting, and I saw to it personally."

"Wait...what?" Raphael finally spoke, unsure of what to make of Michael’s words. He glanced uneasily toward Uriel and Saraqael, who shared in his confusion. "Y-you said you would get the councils permission before...before-"

The color drained from Lucifer's face as Michael's smile grew. He felt his stomach churn as Michael folded his arms over his chest, staring Raguel down as the realization of what he had done sunk in to everyone in attendance.

"M-Michael... what did you do to that human?" Gabriel stuttered out, completely blindsided by Michael's descent into madness. He glanced to Lucifer, seeing the Avatar of Pride barely holding on to his emotions.

Michael stayed silent, watching the horror on their faces grow with each passing second. His wicked smile told them everything they needed to know.