#to the point that there are like. no characters worthy of adding to new life

[delugyu]

finally got around to reading this!! SOOO GOOD… LEMME RAMBLE

first of all, this is seriously some of the most amazing world building i’ve seen in a fanfic. that is my #1 compliment about this fic, everything about the world is so thought out and magical. ++ so much attention to detail and backstory. i admire it a lot cause it’s really hard to do! i can’t imagine the amount of thought you put into this!! really super phenomenally well done.

i love fantasy AUs so much and this one tickled my brain just right… right off the bat there’s whimsy and lore laced in each paragraph. picturing each scene comes easily with how well you describe the settings and characters.

immediately upon taehyun’s introduction i could see that he was a complex character. a faerie with human ears, a faerie against geasa (note: had to look up what the plural of ‘geas’ was for that 😭), yet seemingly uninterested and cold towards the new human member of the team… then we learn his backstory, and that added depth to his character explains a lot about him.

the relationship building between taehyun and mc is soooo delish… his kind actions are masked with icy words, a constant since chapter one of him keeping her safe despite his coldness. also can i just say, im so obsessed with how “cold” embodies him so well: he’s from the north, so he’s both cold by nature and by choice. and what a stark contrast he is to yeonjun……. yeonjun…..,, omg do not get me started on yeonjun.

his character is probably my favorite in terms of how they’re written! this isn’t me saying i’m team yeonjun (im team #BOTH #AtTheSameTime #WaitWhoSaidThat) but he’s just sooooo… swoon-worthy 😵‍💫 from the moment he was introduced, i was smiling and kicking my feet. the amount of times i had to shut off my phone and take a breather at his lines. what a charmer.

i love that there’s something suspicious about him from the beginning, but not to the point where it’s off-putting to the mc (or to the reader). great foreshadowing!! and so easy to forget the suspicions too when he’s being so romantic and sweet. it’s a great way to show that the mc is easily swayed by romance, and that she tends to follow her heart.

where taehyun is all ice and snow, yeonjun is warmth and sunlight. it’s so easy for him to build a relationship with the mc, sunlight fosters growth. just another detail that i loved

lemme give my flowers to the beautiful gorgeous capable strong lovely mc while i’m at it… i love that she has such self-understanding. she knew she wanted more from her life than being a servant, so she became a spy. then she found love, and she knew she wanted more than being a spy. she takes herself seriously and values her own interests, which i love to see in a female character hehe 🤍

the slowwww burnnnn between taehyun and mc HELP MEEE!!! taehyun runs from love and conceals his emotions because all he’s ever known was betrayal and hurt… meanwhile mc similarly has led a life of misery, but in her case it makes her long for love and emotion. they’re so alike but so different, and each little moment where they find something to connect over… YESSSSS SIRRR!!!! A HUNDRED MORE OF THOSE!!!

i’m sooo interested that taehyun has the ability to lie… i wonder where that path is going to lead teehee. also when taehyun gets jealous my pants get wet. sorry.

super interested to see more of beomgyu too! he’s such a lovable character, i love those little moments he has with the mc. feels like there’s more in store for him and im excited to see it !!

anyway this is just so so so amazing and i’m really so excited to see what comes next. i was fr like squealing and blushing throughout all 5 chapters. (which i read in an embarrassingly short amount of time.) your writing skills are super inspiring…. i effing love you for this… accept my declaration of admiration…

sorry for this long ass review, i took a literature analysis course last semester and couldn’t shut up ever since.

i love this series so bad 😫🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

𝓘N WHICH 〃 a life lived as a human among the fae is one hard-earned. the folk are built of indescribable beauty, and of debauchery and mischief. for some, a life lived subservient to the folk is just fine; but to those who dream of something more, they would spend their lives clawing and biting to make it happen.

you, looking for a way to escape a life as a faerie’s human servant, put a new foot forward thinking that any life could be better than that. but, when your first assignment as a king’s spy is alongside a brooding, icy faerie man, you begin to wonder what your place in this foreign world really could be.

wc ➳ 93.3k﹙ and counting! ﹚

genre high fantasy/faerie, smut, angst ˒ ˒

pairings faerie!taehyun x reader, faerie!yeonjun x reader

warnings violence, death, death of animals, smut (specific tags will be listed before each chapter), childhood trauma & mentions of abuse, jealousy, controlling & yandere relationship dynamics, unprotected sex, original characters but they only last for small amounts of time & act as story catalysts, fem! reader

˒ ˒ want a look into the world? here’s the pinterest board !! ༘⋆

﹙ 🪕﹚ playlists ⑊ yeonjun ˒ taehyun ˒ series

: ̗̀﹙❆﹚𝓅arts . : ↘︎

one ˒ two ˒ three ˒ four ˒ five ˒ ...🪶

© hyukascampfire please do not steal, plagiarize, or repost any of my works.

[daggerfall]

Man have we really not been given a new New Life ghost since Deadlands...? (Vague spoilers for all dlc after Deadlands)

No one important died in High Isle, and if they tried to make the vaguely racist Mornard dad into some tragic loss during Old Life Observance I would have laughed. They certainly wouldn't have made Shelreni a ghost for that, she's just a villain no sympathy. And it's too early to get a Gold Road ghost - they always wait at least a year before adding them (not that there were any deaths Again).

But imagine how funny it would have been to have gotten like. Meln this year. He just pops out the soul gem like hey. I'm still here. I guess. Happy New Life.

[mysewingadventures]

Making the ✨Lioncourt Gown✨ (Part 1/4)

Shoot, it's been like two years since I last posted, apologies! I’ve been incredibly busy with uni and life in general, taking care of my mental health, it’s just been a very stressful time lately. I haven't really worked on anything worthy of posting in the meantime, only minor things and one dress I rushed and it didn't turn out well anyway. But, since Halloween is coming up and I don’t feel like wearing the same thing for the third time in a row, I thought it was the perfect excuse to try and make something new and the other day at 2am I fell down a rabbit hole and came up with an idea I’m completely obsessed with.

So recently, (in case you couldn't tell by the title haha) I’ve been really into Interview with the Vampire (the TV show), and there’s this one costume that’s so iconic it immediately caught my attention: This Lestat outfit.

I feel like since this blog isn't fandom related I need to explain myself to those of you who are just semi-familiar with IWTV. Maybe you know Lestat as essentially the villain of the story and are wondering why on earth I'd want to make an outfit inspired by him. The answer is quite simple and not actually deep at all: I just thought it'd be a fun project. I'm very well aware of his personality and would not want to be in the same room as him in real life haha. But he's such an interesting character to watch on screen (they all are, in my opinion). Anyways-

This outfit is from a scene that takes place in the 1790s and now, I’m unfortunately not too versed in men’s fashion so I can’t quite comment on its historical accuracy (and also it’s worn in the context of a theater performance so it’s bound to be more flashy than what people would have worn on the streets), but the way the lapel is shaped just screams redingote to me, and since I've always wanted to make a redingote I'm going to make a redingote version of the costume!

For reference, here's what a c. 1790 redingote looks like:

This one has a normal button closure but redingotes were also often double-breasted (which is what I'm going for), taking inspiration from men's fashion. These were often worn to ride in - hence the name, redingote - riding coat.

Maybe this is the point where I should mention that I'm not going for perfect historical accuracy for this project. It really is just a fun project to try to approximate something as seen on a show to an actual historical piece of clothing.

Here’s a super quick sketch I drew to check if the colors looked good together, and I have to say, I’m sold 1000%.

I am so excited to wear this when it’s done, but also a bit anxious because for starters, I’ve never made a redingote before, and the dresses that I have made all have issues with the sleeves because apparently, I can’t sew sleeves correctly. So this time, I really want to make sure it all fits properly before I sew it and take my time with it to make sure it ends up being something that I love as much as I love the idea of it.

This time, I tried something a little different with my mockup - usually, I’ll draft a pattern on paper, then cut out my mockup and sew it, but this time I decided to make the mockup by draping the fabric directly on the mannequin that I dressed in my stays and a bumroll, making sure I had the correct measurments, and it was a complete gamechanger. It fit right away with minimal adjustments, and I was also immediately able to check how the fabric falls, if it needed to be on the bias or not, etc. I ended up doing everything on straight grain which is technically not 100% correct as the front piece needs to be on a slight bias but it seems to work for this piece so let’s hope the fabric doesn’t wrinkle! I’ll also be adding boning so I’m hoping that’ll additionally keep it all straight and even in the front.

Once the mockup was completed, I went on the search for the right fabrics and got these (the skirt fabric, the buttons and the tape I ordered online and they've yet to arrive!):

The black base fabric and the blue one are cotton, as will be the skirt. The details are satin! I spent a long time at the fabric store trying to think of the best way to do this and it does look like the details on Lestat's outfit are maybe velvet, but I was afraid it would look a little too costume-y and cheap, so I ended up going with satin in the end.

I pinned the fabric mock-up onto the lining fabric (just a white Ikea bedsheet), added 1,5cm seam allowances where needed cut out the lining first, then placed the lining onto the black base fabric and cut that out as well.

I needed to lay the pieces down this way because I bought 2,5 meters, and I'll need 2m for the outer skirt alone so there's not a lot of space left, as I'll also have to cut out the sleeves from that fabric. I then sewed everything together.

And then I noticed I'd made a mistake - the lining for the front panel was supposed to be blue. Welp, now it's white, and I also realized I didn't have enough blue fabric to do the collar AND the lining, so I went for a fake lining for which I cut out two blue triangles to be slightly bigger than the lapel

and stitched them to the lining layer so the seams wouldn't be visible on the black outer layer. This was the result:

Pretty happy with it! Next up, even though I don't have the beige tape yet, I decided to cut out the color panels in the front and already pin them down. After some trial and error, I decided to go for 15x4,5cm triangles and calculated the size needed for the shorter ones (9x7,5cm), cut them out of the satin (which, let me tell you, was so finicky it ended up being the most difficult part of it all) laid them down and fastened with pins.

This is what I have so far:

Looking at it in the picture, I'm worried that the color panels take up too much space in the front. It looks like that in the original picture, but in my sketch I made everything a little narrower. But I was also scared of pulling on it too much because the panels are just pinned to the fabric. Some parts are sticking out over the black base layer which maybe also makes it look wider than it really is, I'll cut it to shape once I have the tape and have a better visual understanding of what it's going to look like.

Next up will be the collar/yoke and the dreaded sleeves and possibly the boning. I should do the boning before I attach the beige tape. I am realizing as I’m writing this that I should’ve done the boning before pinning down the colored panels as they’re supposed to cover it. Oh well. It’s fine. Either way, I think it already looks super cool and I can't wait to see the finished product!

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4|

[becauseimanicequeen]

4 Minutes Theories (Ep. 2)

In this post, I've compiled my theories from my initial reaction to the trailer and the teaser (which were kind of sweeping since the trailer and teaser didn't give me much to get super detailed about), the new ones I wrote down after watching the first episode, and some new wild-ass theories I've written in some scattered posts throughout the previous week. Just like last week, I will go through them one by one.

Let's see how wrong I am this time, and how (un)likely the other theories are. Like last time, I might develop some of my theories and add some new ones as well.

Let's go!

Pre-premiere theory: The moments Great sees ahead of time are moments that might help him redeem himself from a past mistake/transgression. (Unconfirmed)

This one is unconfirmed, but, just like in the first episode, there seems to be a pattern where the moments that are reversed seem to be reversed for Great to do them over, do better, to do "the right thing".

In this week's episode, it happened when Great walked away from the situation where Title wanted to kill Dome. He was immediately brought back, chose to escape from Title, and took Dome to the hospital.

I think Great's out-of-body experience and the "4-minutes phenomenon" (which is what Den calls it in his research) is, in a way, teaching him to be a better person and someone more involved with making choices in his life. So far, he seems to only be existing and whatever is just is (his friendship with Title is one of those parts of his life where he seems to not care).

I mean, not choosing is a choice too. But if this (the moments before the 4-minute rewind) was how his real past played out before his cardiac arrest (I still believe that was Great at the beginning of the first ep), not choosing could potentially have been the reason he ended up in that hospital bed. And now this out-of-body experience is giving him a second chance to do things differently (even though it won't change his present). It's nudging him to make an active choice rather than just run away/go with the flow. It's teaching him a lesson, perhaps.

So, I'm keeping this theory until it's proven wrong (or right).

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Korn will do some shady shit to prove to his dad that he can take over the family business. (Unconfirmed)

Last week, I revised this theory a bit (from Korn being the bad guy) after watching the first episode. It seems like he wants to prove himself to his dad. The question is how far he's willing to go to prove himself worthy. That could potentially put him on the bad guy list (which, to be fair, could include every single character because that's how the Sammon/BOC collab seems to roll, and I fucking love that).

I've got a feeling Korn's actions will destroy more than one person he cares about, and that's already begun with Tonkla. Not that Tonkla is destroyed, yet (not because of Korn, anyway). I'm sure he'll forgive Korn as soon as Korn shows up. But, the more pressure Korn puts on himself to prove himself to his dad, and the more pressure is added on him from the shady side of the family business, Tonkla will fall further down on Korn's list of priorities. And Tonkla might not be the only one.

It will definitely be interesting to see how far Korn will go to get what he wants. His situationship/relationship with Fasai might be a stepping-stone to what he wants.

(Btw, their situationship/relationship is definitely not a new thing. Their dynamic seemed established, even to the point where they were communicating without words.)

(Also, I found the dynamic between Korn and Fasai in contrast to the dynamic between Korn and Tonkla to be really interesting. I loved how Korn kneeled before Fasai (and I don't blame him). I might write more about this in a separate post because power dynamics in relationships are very fascinating to me. But, you know, it's the Olympics and my focus is elsewhere these days.)

Anyway, I'm keeping this theory.

Pre-premiere theory: Title is involved with Korn. (Unconfirmed)

Before watching the first episode, I thought Title might've been a brother or that they had a boss/minion relationship. I based this solely on the promotional posters of the characters. These two are the only ones shown to look away from the camera and their backgrounds are pretty similar. But, Title is (most likely) not Korn's brother. There's still a possibility he is (or will be) working for Korn.

After seeing more of Title in this week's episode, however, I'm getting the sense that Title might come from an influential family (considering he mentioned his dad helping Great and how he threatened Dome with his status). It also seemed like he thought himself superior to Great (which could be true, but it could also be arrogance). But, if Title is as superior as he seems to think he is, perhaps he has the upper hand?

I also got the feeling that Great doesn't really care that much about Title or their friendship (he seems to not care about most things at this point, so that might not mean anything). Their dynamic gave me "our families are close and, therefore, we have to be close too" kind of vibes (or they're cousins). Title seemed to have helped Great deal with a fight at a bar once and it seemed like Title thought that was leverage enough to get Great to get rid of Dome together with him. So there is an interesting dynamic going on here.

Either way, since I think that these two families are close, I will keep this theory that Title is involved with Korn somehow (since it doesn't seem that far-fetched), at least for now. I will probably develop this in an episode or two if it doesn't prove to be wrong before that.

Pre-premiere theory: Tonkla has a target on his back. (Unconfirmed)

This theory was based on the background of the poster for Fuaiz/Tonkla, and I still believe it's a possibility.

Considering what's going on between Korn and Tonkla and how fragile their situationship seems at this point, betrayal is on the horizon.

I know Korn was careful not to reveal too much to Tonkla when he was talking about getting a new position in his dad's business (in the first episode), probably to keep the cards close to his chest. But, Tonkla overheard Korn dropping names when he was on the phone with his dad (he mentioned Fasai and her having dinner with an uncle Warit, who might be an important person). So Tonkla has at least some information that might bite Korn in the ass and potentially put a target on Tonkla's back (either by Korn, his family, or by Fasai's family).

Also, I wonder how Korn will react when he finds out Tonkla is getting involved with a man working for the police (because Tonkla will get involved with Win, the trailer said so). That could paint an even bigger target on his back, which is why I'm definitely keeping this theory.

(Btw, I'm pretty sure Win will be in trouble as soon as Korn finds out he and Tonkla are close/getting closer. If Korn's dad has a man on the inside of the police force, which these mafia-like families usually seem to have, then they can easily get info on Win and screw with his life.)

Pre-ep. 2 theory: Tonkla will betray Korn. (Unconfirmed)

This is a feeling I got while watching the first episode last week. That was mostly based on Tonkla seeming to want more from his situationship with Korn at the same time as Korn seemed to be keeping his sugar baby hidden.

This feeling didn't lessen after watching this week's episode either considering Korn hung up on Tonkla twice (while being under pressure, to be fair) and even snapped at Tonkla one of those times. There's definitely a rift widening between them.

Additionally, there's Win, who is working for the police, and just happens to have taken an interest in Tonkla. One slip of the tongue or cry for help from Tonkla, and Korn can be royally screwed.

There's also the possibility that Tonkla will beat up/kill Korn in the future.

At the same time, it seems too obvious that he will kill Korn at this point, so it might be someone totally different.

(Btw, there's also the possibility that it's not even a person he beats the shit out of. I mean, they didn't hint that it was a person. The only hint we got was red liquid. But, I digress...)

I will have to think about this theory a bit more before I decide whom I believe Tonkla is beating the shit out of in that scene.

But, one thing is for sure, I'm definitely keeping this theory.

Pre-premiere theory: Win is battling some contrasting, opposing forces (internal and/or external). (Unconfirmed)

This theory was based on the background of the poster for JJay/Win. I solely based it on the red and green contrasting colors.

Last week, after watching the first episode, I spun off on a train of thought that Win might be working for Korn or Korn's family's business and that the battle he had to fight was his attachment/feelings for Tonkla versus his loyalty to his boss. But that was before he was introduced in the show.

Now we know a little bit about him. At least that he's working for the police. (Though, since I'm always sus about the authorities in these shows, I'm keeping my observing eyes on him, lol.)

Knowing that he works for the police, perhaps the contrasting forces he's battling are his attachment/feelings for Tonkla (which will develop, I'm sure), and his duty to uphold the law.

What if he gets involved with Tonkla, Tonkla murders someone, Win investigates the murder, finds out Tonkla is the murderer, and has trouble deciding between protecting Tonkla or arresting him? That could be interesting.

Pre-premiere theory: Den has a situationship with Korn. (Unconfirmed)

I'm keeping this theory only because I want to see Bas and Job together.

Also, I wouldn't mind if Korn is the slut of the show. So, sleeping around to get whatever this quiet man wants to get to prove himself to his dad (or whatever) is definitely approved by me.

In this household, we respect sluts. Just do it, Korn. You have my support.

Though... Poor Den if this happens. He's probably the sweetest character in the show at this point (after Tyme's grandmother, obviously).

Fuck... Now I suddenly don't want this to happen, lol.

Well, it can happen once, just once. As long as Den promises to keep his glasses on so he sees possible bullshit with a clear vision.

This is such a delulu dream of mine, though. But I'm still keeping it.

Pre-premiere theory: Dome is a mystery person operating under the radar without showing his true alliance until the end. (Scrapped)

Dome, Dome, Dome. He's such an enigma for me at this point.

At first, when I only had the trailer, teaser, and posters to go on, I thought he would be killed (since his poster has a basically empty background). At first, I thought he might be the person Great runs over in the teaser and that he would suffer memory loss, which proved to not be true.

He's still very mysterious, but I think I will scrap this theory...

Because I have another one about Dome that might be more interesting and more detailed than this sweeping one.

I'm going off of what was shown in this week's episode as well as the blank background of Mio/Dome's poster. This theory connects with another one I had while watching this week's episode, so I'll start explaining that one first before I get into who I think Dome is.

We all know that the show is playing with time, in several ways (the 4 minutes, the clocks that show 11:00 and now 11:01, etc.). Time also plays a part in my out-of-body experience theory since Great is "reliving" the past. But I also think there might be a parallel timeline that might show the past as it actually played out when Great didn't have the 4 minutes to make a different choice.

If this is true, then we're basically seeing three "timelines" (for the lack of a better term) in each episode, whereas two of them are parallel to each other (the real past and the out-of-body experience past).

(I will start calling "out-of-body experience" OOBE because I'm too lazy to write the whole thing every single time, lol.)

Since Great can't possibly change the past while he's having an OOBE (his present will still be the same), and since we as viewers probably need to know some of the things that happened in the real past that led up to the present, I feel like it would make sense if we get to see events from both timelines.

I haven't had the time to look into the details of which timeline is which (the Olympics is giving me no breaks, lol) but it might have something to do with the colors and/or the numbers (because something is going on with both of those details). I have to look into this further, though. But, I would guess that most of what we've seen of Tonkla so far is the real past.

If this is the case, I think Dome is Tonkla's brother who was killed. Title killed Dome in the real past, as he nearly did in the OOBE past if Great hadn't stopped him.

What purpose does this have if it turns out to be the case, though? I still think Great's OOBE is about gathering information of some sort. Perhaps he needs info to take down his own family business. Perhaps to find out who shot Tyme. Perhaps to stop a murder from happening in the present. Perhaps all, or none, or something else. But I still think it's about getting information more than just learning to do the right thing (which I wrote about above).

Also, doing things differently when he has his 4-minute visions (like saving Dome) might give him vital information he will need later. Perhaps he'll even get the information from the people he helps (for example Manee, whom he ran over, shared that her son committed suicide because he lost everything and was hounded for debt, which might have a connection to the illegal gambling side of Great's dad's business).

Anyway, I will look into this theory as soon as I can pull myself away from the Olympics to see if this is actually plausible and if/how I can distinguish between the timelines.

Pre-premiere theory: Fasai is the other character with a condition similar to Great’s (alternatively, it's Tyme). (Unconfirmed)

This won't happen. At least not the part about Fasai. The only reason I'm keeping this theory is because I need the show to prove to me that Fasai doesn't have precognitive abilities so I can label this as wrong and move on. That might not even happen until the show ends (if it will even be addressed). So, here we are.

I will highlight the part about Tyme, though, and turn that into a headline of its own in the post after next week's episode. Because there's definitely something going on with Tyme. Maybe it's precognition (but of another kind than Great’s), maybe it's intuition. But it’s clear that this man is drawn to Great. The way his eyes just caught Great when Great was sitting there silently in the hospital.

And whatever this sequence was in the teaser:

There's definitely something going on with Tyme other than him looking into illegal gambling and getting close to Great because of his family (both of which I'll turn into separate theories below), and I'm choosing to believe (at least for now since there's still time for this to change, lol) that he has a precognitive ability of his own (or will develop one).

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Fasai has a connection with Korn. (Unconfirmed)

Before the first episode, I thought she might be a sister (which was proven wrong by the family photo in the first episode and would be fucked up after this week's episode). As I wrote before, the dynamic of their situationship/relationship seemed established, even to the point where they communicated without words.

I could pass this theory as confirmed and be done with it, but I like to make things hard on myself. So I will take a guess at what kind of connection she has to Korn and only pass it if that's proven to be true (or half-confirm it if it turns out to be wrong).

The obvious guess would be that they're engaged (or even married), considering how Korn spoke about her to his dad on the phone in the first episode. But I don't want it to be that boring (and I definitely don't mind being wrong). So, I will guess this is a purely sexual deal, a situationship no one else knows about.

She gets pleasure (Korn seems more attentive to her pleasure than to Tonkla's, the latter seemed to be an afterthought to Korn, which we saw in the first episode) while he gets access to a higher standing. Perhaps she convinced Korn's dad to give him a new and better position in the family business? Perhaps she's the one who gives Korn direct access to her father (who was a board member or something, right?)? Perhaps she's even his sugar mama?

There's definitely an interesting power dynamic between them. I mean, she (and her dad) was surrounded by golden horse figurines and horses are, among other things, symbols of power (even the nobility).

So, yeah, I'm leaning towards a situationship rather than that they're engaged/married.

Prove me wrong, Sammon.

Revised/developed pre-premiere theory: Great is having an out-of-body experience. (Unconfirmed)

I previously called this theory a "dream world" after watching the trailer and teaser, but an out-of-body experience is a much better description of it.

I'm still keeping this theory because I still believe it even though it might've been odd that they "revealed" this already in the first episode. Perhaps this very obvious theory (to me, right now, at least) is exactly what Sammon wants me to focus on to take attention away from what's really going on.

Either way, I'm keeping this until proven wrong (or right).

Pre-ep. 2 theory: Great's visions of himself and Tyme are his present self's memories of their time together. (Unconfirmed)

This theory goes hand-in-hand with the previous one.

The visions Great had of him and Tyme in these first two episodes are basically his present self's memories (the person who had a cardiac arrest at the beginning of the first episode). The present Great had met, and fucked (good for him), Tyme while the Great we're following (the OOBE version that has "traveled" into the past) hadn't met Tyme until he ran into him at the hospital in the first episode.

If this proves to be true, I think we can also expect Great to have other memory flashes that might involve other characters and events.

Pre-premiere theory: Great’s (Bible’s) tattoos have something to do with the story. (Because I refuse to believe otherwise! lol) (Unconfirmed)

Just like I wrote last week: I swear I'm keeping this theory because it hasn't been confirmed (or denied), yet. That's the only reason I'm keeping this theory.

I swear I'm not keeping this theory to add this image to every post I write...

Pre-premiere theory: Great becomes Korn’s target because he can see ahead of time. (Unconfirmed)

This is highly unlikely to happen considering they're brothers who seem really close. But, I'm keeping this theory because I feel like Korn is a loose cannon. I've previously mentioned the beast I feel is currently sleeping inside Korn. Who knows what's going to happen if/when he releases it? He might turn just as ruthless as Fasai's dad seemed to be.

Will he become so ruthless in his pursuit to prove himself to his dad that he'll turn on Great? We'll have to wait and see.

Pre-ep. 2 theory: Great has a cardiac arrest/near-death experience at 11:01, which is why he sees clocks stopping at that time. (Unconfirmed)

Well, I knew the clocks would turn to 11:01 at some point (since Great mentioned constantly seeing clocks stopping at that time in the teaser).

But, like a comment @whatevenisthishellhole sent into my inbox (that I haven’t had the chance to answer yet because, you know… the Olympics), 11:00 is probably the time Great had his cardiac arrest. I think I'll have to agree with this theory since the clock on the wall as the patient had a cardiac arrest in the first episode showed 11:00, he's been shown to wake up at that time more than once, and the digital numbers on his wall showed 11:00 in this week's episode as well.

So, I agree that this is probably the time he had his cardiac arrest.

Another interesting aspect about 11:00, and about Great's malfunctioning wristwatch in particular, is that near-death experiencers can have issues with technology after their NDE (I've seen it happening with my maternal grandfather).

Maybe I'm staring myself blind on Great's NDE and OOBE, but how could I not when I'm fed clues like this? Maybe Sammon is baiting me so I miss what’s really going on, but I don’t mind. This is so much fun. But, I digress...

We also saw that the clock was counting down in this week's episode. This is where 11:01 will start to show up for Great (which he mentioned in the teaser).

The interesting thing about this, and the 4-minute theme the whole series is based on, is that a quick Google search will tell you that 3-5 minutes after the heart stops, the brain starts to get damaged due to a lack of oxygen. Since Sammon is an actual doctor, I'm pretty sure the 4-minute mark is scientifically supported. And that's what I think is happening here.

Great has 4 minutes (well, now it's only 3) on him to wake up again before his brain gets damaged. My guess is that he needs to find the information he needs/learn whatever he needs to learn/solve whatever he needs to solve before the time runs out so his heart can restart before he suffers major brain damage.

Pre-premiere theory: Someone will die/fake their death. (Unconfirmed)

Well, that was pretty obvious, wasn't it? Look how smart I am, lmfao.

Anyway...

I'm going to wait to confirm this theory until one of the major characters shows up dead. For example, if Tonkla's brother or whomever Tonkla beats the shit out of are characters we already know. I won't confirm this theory after this week's episode because I need to know who Tonkla's brother is first.

If I'm to speculate on who will get axed, I would probably say Dome, Title, and perhaps Korn.

As I mentioned before, I think Dome might be Tonkla's brother. Since Tonkla called his brother Nong, Tonkla is the older sibling. Considering he's working (and has probably already graduated from school), his younger brother may still be in school. Dome is clearly studying, so this could make sense. Therefore, my guess is that Dome is Tonkla's brother and that Dome was killed by Title in the real past.

Tonkla will get his revenge on Title. So, bye-bye asshole. (Too harsh? I think not.)

I also have a feeling that Korn will get killed. It might not be Tonkla who does the killing. What if it's Faisa and/or her dad instead? Her dad has already proven to have the means to kill people he's not pleased with, and Korn seems to be out on thin ice.

(I could add more characters like Great and Tyme as well, but I feel like I want at least some characters to escape this hellhole and continue living their lives, unlike in DFF where I wanted almost everyone to suffer. Well, if Fasai is the last one standing, I won't be mad. I would kneel before her too. But, I digress...)

Maybe I won't pass this theory as confirmed until at least two out of my options above (Dome, Title, and Korn) show up dead.

Either way, I'm keeping this theory for now.

Wild-ass pre-ep. 2 theory: Tyme will have a near-death experience and develop his own precognitive ability. (Unconfirmed)

Wouldn't it be bonkers if both Tyme and Great are having OOBEs and are trying to either help each other or happen to unintentionally get in the way of each other's goals/changes? And that's only if they have their OOBEs in the same timeline.

Anyway, I'm basing this solely on Tyme being shot in the first episode and on the scene from the teaser (which I added images of above) where Tyme seems to have his own precognitive ability.

Come on, show. Prove me wrong.

Wild-ass pre-ep. 2 theory: Great will get Tyme's heart (after Tyme is shot). (This will not happen.) (Unconfirmed)

To be clear, I don't want this to happen. This is not the Transplant I want. But it might be possible?

(Disclaimer: I'm not a medical professional. I have no idea if this is medically possible considering where Tyme was shot and how far he might be from a hospital (since I know a body needs to be hooked up to a ventilator to be able to keep the organs alive if organ donations are to be possible). So, excuse my lively imagination, lol.)

New theories after the 2nd episode:

Here, I'll gather the new theories I have (to make it simpler for myself to find them next week) and add one or two other ones I've come up with.

There might be a parallel timeline that shows the past as it actually played out when Great didn't have the 4 minutes to make different choices. (If I get some time over between all the Olympic sports I'm watching, I will look deeper into this theory and develop it.)

Dome is Tonkla's brother.

Tyme has a precognitive ability similar to Great’s (or might develop one).

Tyme is looking into the illegal gambling sites because his family fell victim to them. (Maybe it was just me, but didn't he look particularly moved by Manee's story about her son? Perhaps that story felt too familiar to him?).

Tyme is getting close to Great because of Great's family and their connection to the illegal gambling sites. (The way I laughed at Tyme fixing his looks and flexing his muscles in the mirror before stitching up Great's wound... I couldn't believe he played that card to get close to Great, but I fucking loved it. And then stalking Great... This man is desperately trying to find out more about Great's family, that's for sure.)

Great has 4 minutes (well, now it's 3 minutes) on him to wake up/get his heart to start beating again in the present before his brain gets damaged.

I'm still thinking about that rock and how it relates to the body they found and the rock Great used on Title but I haven't made up my mind about this yet. I feel like the parallel timelines might be at play here, so I'll have to think a bit more about that and perhaps develop it in a separate post.

Results so far:

Total theories since the trailer: 23

Confirmed theories: 1.5

Unconfirmed theories: 17.5

Wrong/scrapped theories: 4

New theories after ep 2: 6

[wmarximoff]

𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 | 𝐰. 𝐦𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐟𝐟

summary: because Wanda is unlucky enough to understands as much as you do about the responsibility of those with great power — and the losses that come with it.

warnings (18+): smut, angst, handjob, gender neutral reader has a penis, major character death. MINORS DNI.

pairing: emo!Wanda x spider!gn!reader

word count: 4k

masterlist|

(please, don't flag the work)

༺ᱬ༻

There was something gratifying you could point to in the idea that, propelling yourself into the air, climbing in that arachnid-like acrobatics with your own body to the zephyrs of frigid wind in furrows at that high enraptured speed, the world around you could well be so tiny and contained that it would even be deprived of external evils and annoyances when seen from above.

And you always watched it from above, from above, from the corners, in swaying webs, flight towards the urban labyrinth of a city marked by its own life, in a majestic and vigorous existence – a giant that shines even when the dusk of night falls, warm even in the face of a shroud of icy snow in the middle of that October winter.

Admittedly, the cosmopolitanly avant-garde structures that made up the metropolis of New York were sprawling, treacherous, and indeed even fragile, but the charm of the Big Apple was passed right over everyone else's heads, on the surface, when you didn't peer deep into the alley violence in that capitalist machine that encompassed you as much as it did any other New York passer-by.

Your distinguishing factor, however, your peculiarity, was that for many of those people you were a protector, a masked safeguard of their integrity in the face of the everyday hostility that the system so poorly failed to sustain. You were responsible for protecting the helpless, the underprivileged, the underserved, the mainstay of the marginalized and the forgotten. You were, in accordance with your moral duties, the friend of the neighborhood.

Swinging from one building to the next was part of the job at that point. Aerial locomotion became more practical and utilitarian when dealing with moving from one point to another between the skyscrapers that rose to the dark immensity of the night, like arrows shot to the top of the borough of Queens, where a kind of human spider like you moved upwards, climbing and shooting webs, leaving behind trampled footprints in the accumulated snow on the corners of the parapets and on the lightning rod antennas.

You propelling yourself into the dark sky, your muscle cords contracting, pumping blood, gusts of icy air sliding through the fabric of your dark mask, inflating the white eight-legged spider etching emblazoned on your torso. Feeling fucking alive.

In front of panes of glass, pale lights and hums, there was the frenzy of a city that never sleeps – in an intense rustling buzz, active and dynamic amid the white snow and the thousands of lighted lamps, with people carrying briefcases, with suits and ties and sheltered in heavy clothes, with children and with animals, alone or in packs, cars mottled on the white streets, advertisements flashing everywhere. Conversations meandering through the most disparate topics possible to parrot about, a veritable array of options.

Life was happening right below you, as you swung in a black and white suit over the tops of pylons and tall buildings, beads of icy sweat pouring down the length of your back, delirious ecstasy pulsing through your veins added to your warm, radioactive blood.

But, away from the noise of the night's bustle, your web swings that night were heading towards a final stop on an otherwise quiet round – a small apartment complex with thin walls, raised in stone and red brick and in poor plumbing, rather weather-beaten, with a rent worthy of the salary of a pizza delivery person (and part-time barista) like you in Northwest Queens. A place where you've resided since you found yourself being on your own, a little over a year ago, because you weren't exactly the lucky kind of kid.

However, no longer so far from the popular residence, huddled in an arachnid position right on top of the snowy tiles of a corner market, behind the acrylic lenses in the shape of tears, both your eyes compressed their lids in a comically expression, confused in a furrow of brows, since out of the glass of that window situated on the eighth floor were beams of a white lamp luminescence – and, as far as you held a knowledge in your memory, you had left your dwelling still by the end of that partially sunny afternoon, therefore, never having even turned on the lamps that day.

“Shit,” beneath the fabric of the mask you held your frigid breath, sharpening your senses into a state of alert.

It only took a single jump propelled by your lower limbs and an accurate web shot ejected from the shooter attached to your right wrist, aimed right at the edge of the building's terrace, for you to maneuver cautiously in the air, between the light poles, like an elusive feline to then crawling up the emergency stairs outside your living room window, peering in for a glimpse of who the intruder might be that would have crept into your residence while you were away, merging with the shadows that shrouded that cold night.

But the ice in your lungs soon softened into puddles of itself, and at what lay there, laid out for your view from within those four withered walls that encompassed the narrow cubicle you called home. Your heart pumped in liquid explosion inside your ribcage that spread to the pit of your stomach, taking everything in its path in a dizzying hot drag. And that's why a tiny silly smile allowed itself to be enjoyed by the commission of your lips, against the thin fabric of your mask – it was just a natural act for you, to smile foolishly at the splendorous vision of Wanda Maximoff.

The far view alone was enough for you to find yourself smiling and truly content at your core – Wanda lying on your own bed, between thick blankets and poorly stacked piles of pillows, so oblivious to the fact that she was being watched; the pale expanses of her ring-lined fingers so subtly being nibbled on by her teeth, her nails varnished by a black nail polish chipped at the tips, one opalescent knee crossed over the other next to her chest, her dark miniskirt exposing her firm thighs in a way just as appealing to your desiring gaze.

And you loved the fact that her brown hair modulated coffee-colored tones when arranged in the dead of night, only in the pale light of a lamp placed near the right end of the bed – how even though it seemed so dark in the confines of that room, Wanda glowed in her own light sweeping a strand of profuse chestnut hair behind the shell of her right ear, her ringlet gleaming silver, her gaze so intent on the little television set in front of her.

How her irises seemed to adhere to traces of a mossy hue so bleak out of the sun, yet almost bordering on the innocence of someone who was only enjoying a television program displayed on the squalid screen of the small television set that was placed in front of the opposite wall to the bed, just above a small second-hand wooden table.

Over her torso she wore an old dark sweatshirt of yours, made of thick, warm material, bought at a Hot Topic store a few years ago, when you were still in your high school years. And Wanda was beautiful – the owner of a casual beauty, a simple natural and simple neatness, the kind in which there is no effort to pretend to be pretty. A beauty that begins and ends with itself, just because she was beautiful. The most beautiful sight anyone's eyes could be graced with. The kind that made you feel lucky, lucky to have her for yourself.

But it was then that the cold came to haunt you in a gust of stiff wind, the frozen hand of winter tracing the vertebrae of your spine in a chilling contact on your epidermis, which gelled the blood flowing in your veins and turned your bones to ice. Only then did you realize the reality where you were hanging on the snowy emergency stairs outside your apartment, away from the warm weather and away from Wanda.

And so, with your gloved right hand, you managed to lift the window and head your way into the small room, stepping on the floorboards inside with your left foot.

“Hey little witch, are you breaking and entering now? And here I thought you were one of the good guys...”

“Y/n!” Wanda got pleased immediately and, from the bed, she turned with her chin towards your voice that came from the window, a smile emerging in the outline of those pink lips she had, then getting up to receive you properly.

“It's cold outside, get in quick! You're going to catch a cold!”

And her southeastern European accent, still bathed by the Adriatic Sea, made itself present in her low-toned speech, hardening the enunciation of that soft voice. That's why you smiled – the tone of Wanda's voice always warmed your loving chest.

“Fine, fine, I'm fine,” you muttered in an enthusiastic tone, bringing your left hand behind you down on the windowpane that prevented any more gusts of icy wind from piercing the blister of heat that had become infatuated through the walls of that small room.

“I'm in one piece, see? Healthy as a,” you smiled to yourself, “Well, as a spider.”

And a chaste smile flickered back between Wanda's lips, a hint of skin being scrunched across the bridge of her nose in an adorable way, “You're such a goof, web-head.”

So it was that the young woman came walking towards you, warm, smiling, with open arms to welcome you into her affections.

And you took her for yourself, pulling Wanda's body close to yours, whereupon clever fingers dressed in silver rings hooked on the seam cut of your mask right in the middle of your neck, slowly then hoisting it so that in front of the Wanda's gaze revealed the skin of your chin, and then the pulp of your lips; the jadish irises aimed at your mouth and, morosely, the young woman bent down to take a kiss from you herself.

You held her, groping your fingers around her waist, when it was that, in a dizzying, crimson electric shock, soaked in a jubilation of fiery delight, your lips touched in a prudish, measured way. It was a kiss of a simple nature, yet lingering on her lips and imbued with impetuous feelings – the need joined to longing, the happiness of a jovial and healthy love. Something in you just yearned to return to her arms every day, as if your soul fit hers like a jigsaw puzzle by your lips united in a single tune.

“Hi,” you lisped in the tiniest tone against her mouth.

“Hey, детка,” was Wanda's reply, who still had the hem of your mask pressed between her rings, before she hoisted her forearms up to her chin and completely removed the piece of cloth that covered your face expression as smiling as hers.

“I really love your eyes, Y/n.”

“I can say the same for you, my little witch.”

After a little simpler caress of love exchanged, more kisses and hugs and little oaths of longing, you two separated then in reluctance so that you would undress your cold spider suit, choosing to wear more casual clothes and comfortable on your body – a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of snug, vaguely baggy sweatpants. And while you were doing that, Wanda, sitting right on the edge of your bed, watched you in front of the tiny closet door nearby, where a small door opened onto a narrow, dark room with clothes hanging on hangers and a small yellow light dripping from the ceiling.

“I was looking over your crime board earlier, before you arrived, and...” as she talked, her chin was supplanted by the elbow resting on the right knee of her crossed legs.

“Mmm?”

Wanda looked at you for half a second, her face creasing in curiosity, “Who's Wilson Fisk?”

“Kingpin,” your voice was somewhat muffled by the dark shirt you were halfway pulling on over your head.

“He's one of the crime bosses around here, he's involved in some pretty serious shit around town,” at last, you tucked the shirt over your torso.

“And I've been on his tail for a few months now, but I need to get on with my work if I'm going to gather enough evidence to expose him to the public legally. It's going to be difficult since he has pretty much the entire political underworld in the palm of his hand and other stuff too, of course, but... but I think I'm getting somewhere with this, yeah.”

“Mmm,” she hummed, “That sounds… kinda dangerous, Y/n,” Wanda sniffed with her nose to the side, speaking more to herself than to you per se.

“Maybe if you talked to Clint or Nat they could help you with that. Steve too, even. I know they are all willing to help you if you ask. Steve… you know, he’d really like you to take a chance and be on the team for a while. He thinks you'd make a good Avenger.”

"Yeah, I don't know about that, Wands," you muttered back, raising your right eyebrow at the idea.

“I don't think it's in the Avengers' niche to worry about that kind of thing, you know? I mean, you guys kind of exist to deal with out-of-the-galaxy threats and crazed AIs and evil government organizations and all that shit, don't you? And, well, Fisk is a pretty big fish in his own way, that's true... but he's just a stupid old bald guy who blackmails the local politicians and has created a criminal empire out of bribery and corruption – which is not it's very different from the billionaires we know out there. The difference is that Fisk is not a threat on a global scale.”

At the not-so-indirect burn to Stark Industries that couldn't be ignored, Wanda couldn't help but giggle infinitesimally under her breath, an act that elicited a goofy little smile from you, swaying your shoulders into your baggy blouse.

“Well,” she smiled a little too, in a kind of assent to your words, “You're not wrong.”

“Yeah, I guess,” you turned your head toward her, as your right foot tucked into the seam of thick gray cotton sweatpants.

“Plus, I have this certain, umm, responsibility to the people of this town, I guess. It was a promise I made after all, I... I'm here for them, both to keep all that crazy shit from spilling over on them, and just to look out for them when no one else does. That's my job around here, my function. It's just what I do. I'm not a super spy, or a super soldier, a genius billionaire or a giant green strong guy, Wands. I’m, I’m only...”

“The friendly neighborhood web-head?”

At your roll of eyes, Wanda smirked, like a small rabbit with moderately larger front teeth than the rest.

“That's just mean, witchy. I really prefer Spidey, you know? Spidey.”

“Spidey,” the young enchantress reiterated to you, “Well, anything sounds better than the Witch anyway. That's so fucking pejorative, like, burn the witch or something, what the fuck. I’m not a fucking witch.”

“You aren’t?”

“Shut up,” she rolled her eyes out of their sockets comically.

“The Witch, huh…” you looked at her, almost laughing when you did, “People really aren't good at coming up with superhero names, are they? Because this one is really bad. Really bad.”

“No,” Wanda chuckled in agreement, shaking her head, “They're not, not at all. And I’m not a superhero.”

“I see,” you droned, “And what are you then?”

For a second, Wanda looked at you, “A unlucky person who has made a lot of bad choices in her life.”

The television, which was flashing some old episode of a sitcom that made up Wanda's favorite series collection, was the only thing that filled the room with any kind of light or sound some time later, since, after stuffing yourself with the chicken paprikash that your beloved had prepared for you and then packed and stored in your fridge, the two of you snuggled in each other's arms, away from the cold and the chill, under a thatched hut with thick blankets on your bed during that bitter winter night.

 But it was when you turned in search of a comfortable position to lean back against the pillows and your left elbow brushed Wanda's right, that you two looked at each other curiously as if only then had you realized how close you encompassed each other – two dark gazes in the middle of the room lit only by the artificial lighting of a meaningless program, together, alone.

And you craved the comforting body heat that Wanda radiated when as close to her as you were – the scent of red that wafted from her silky ebony hair and her smooth, pale skin. You felt, however, a gaze peering into you from the line of your jaw and cheekbones, and looking back, Wanda was staring at you with a voluptuous fixation on the darkened green corners of her irises. She looked at you like she could completely consume you, like something about her was going to swallow you up and eat you down, digest you to the bones.

And then, from beneath the cocoon of blankets, a subtle touch spread across your left crotch, still above the thick material of your sweatpants. Your gaze sailed from the heap of blankets placed in the region of your lap to the emerald gaze, so dimmed, of the young woman sitting next to your left elbow.

“Wanda...”

“Mm?” she hummed back, as innocent as could be, as if her fingers weren't so close to groping an area of your body that was already beginning to throb with signs of life.

“Wanda,” you lisped softly, again, so needy, pupils popping and blood bristling through your veins, “What are you…?”

“I missed you, детка,” her fingers dipped deeper and deeper into your crotch, her eyes still screwed into your field of vision as she did so, “I missed you so, so much… I get so lonely in my room in the compound, you know? And all I can think about in those moments is you... how much I miss you.”

She locked her upper teeth against the flesh of her lower lip, stifling a lusty, immoral smile when she realized something – already petrified in a flash of desire, beneath the fabric of your pants, was your semi-erection, a noticeable bulge that made Wanda's mouth throb with desire.

"And I bet you miss me too, don't you?"

“Of course I do,” you huffed out a breath of warm air, “Fuck Wanda, every goddamn night… every goddamn night I miss you.”

The bright, lively hand, with thin fingers wrapped in rings and well-cut black nails, couldn't help but travel through the dazzling skin of your abdomen, exposed by the lifting of your long-sleeved blouse, starting from the south, from your navel, into your hips, into the hem of your pants. Wanda captured your thick member and gave your shaft an alluring squeeze – her face then hidden in the contour of your neck, in the joint of your shoulder, to nibble, there, a piece of skin.

“Uh-f-fuck, Wanda...” you squirmed out of your nostrils like steam released from your bruised lungs, in a hoarse wail, somewhat drunk with the acute excitement present in your system.

Wanda smiled against your skin, her thumb lethargic caressing the strained head of your cock inside your pants and, in performed innocence, she placed a chaste kiss on the bone at the tip of your jaw.

“Just enjoy it, malышка,” was whispered in her low voice right next to your ear, in an accent hard and robust, but so dizzying when it came out of the crack of Wanda's lips, “Let me show you how much I missed you.”

And again, followed this time by a shameless tone of voice, leaking the red color from her pores, Wanda pressed the plump shaft between her slender fingers, causing a softness on your part. Following your moan, she placed a warm kiss behind your left ear.

“Allow me to make you feel good, Y/n.”

Wanda's right hand began its harassed, pleasurable work, up and down the length of your nervous member, raised to the intimate of your burning thighs – and you, wrapped in an embarrassed tremor, were exasperated as Wanda kissed your corner of the half-open mouth and the fluttering earlobe, threading your fingers through her brown locks as if it were a need between your hands, just in search of something to support yourself during that very intimate moment, shared by a couple of lovers as young and needy as you two were.

“Y/n,” she called against your cheekbone, “I… I'm sorry, but I want you inside. Now."

“Fine,” was your airy reply, “Fine.”

And without delay, Wanda passed her thighs over your knees, linking the folds of her elbows to your neck, then sitting on your lap so that a pink and expert tongue could slide inside your mouth as the damp, warm walls from her cunt slid around your erection. And then, one hefty, powerful touch, palms wide open and pressed to the flesh of her ass beneath her skirt, you screeched out of the outline of Wanda's lips a savory moan that squirmed from the very core of your lungs to pulsate against her lips during the carnal act of penetration.

“Бля, детка… тобі так добре, Y/n…” she gasped against the shell of your ear in a drawling semi-moan, “Y/n…”

"Do you like it?" was your question against her skin, to which, girding your cock with her velvety walls, Wanda nodded, bobbing her head up and down.

“I love it,” and, drunk on a wave of scarlet ledice, Wanda smiled, “I love you.”

You fell silent for a measly second, in fact barely realizing what had happened. Television still featured some sitcom that no longer mattered to you or even her, who was most attracted to the thing between you two – not being as close as you were in that primitive, carnal or even lewd way; skin with skin, flesh with flesh. Raw, visceral, passionate. It was cold outside, but your chest had never felt as warm as it did during that moment. She loved you. She loved you.

“You love me?”

Pulling her face away from your neck, Wanda looked at you with bright eyes from under thick, heavy lashes. She looked at you like no one else but her ever had before.

“I love you, детка,” was a whisper, a promise, “I love you, Y/n.”

When she started to go down everything became hazy, pulsing, hot, red. Wanda was moving up and down your body and you felt her backs arch convulsively, still continuing, creeping towards her cervix, rubbing her from the inside with the head of your cock.

And she rode you with such firmness, moaning and crying out, doing the penetration herself while your eyes converged in a single vision; Wanda moving up and down, over and over, seeking with her hips, until you both came in a delirium of dizzying pleasure; you pouring yourself inside her walls, into her flesh, and her thighs pale, wet, at the meeting with your hips. When she sighed wearily against the hollow of your neck, you smiled into a lock of her hair.

“I love you, little witch.”

It was perfect, you and her. So perfect that you pledged your love two or three more times that night, loving each other in the flesh, in the core, in the heart. Making you cling to the luck of having that miserable moment reserved for you and her, wanting to multiply it, make it last as long as possible.

It was as if, about a month or two after the event, already at the end of that winter suffered on a late December afternoon, Natasha Romanoff had not found herself leaving the corridors of the compound, walking stiff towards Wanda’s room, the soles of her boots full of soot and snow.

As if, among the strands of that short fire-colored hair, the residue of shards of sparkling glass did not shimmer after a painful fall – as if the Black Widow's lower lip were not found bloody and swollen after an arduous fight, as if she had not left a child to fight alone until it was too late for her interposition to mean anything decisive. As if Natasha hadn't been advised by Captain America to let Wanda, still as young, as damaged as she was, digest what happened, still so recent in the popular imagination, on her own.

“She's going to need some time, Nat,” pleaded Steve in a disgustingly grim tone, when they, he and she, were still sharing the elevator space just after returning from the big city with blood on their hands.

“Give Wanda a break, she's been through a lot. She doesn't need it right now. She’s… she’s just a kid. An unfortunate kid.”

But Natasha walked into Wanda's room in that snowy early evening, the emissary of news so atrocious that it had just left the streets, with blood and glass and corpses everywhere, a body count so tragic it could have had more, much lower if you hadn't intervened. Of course, you. But you weren't the one there to tell Wanda what the result of that fight with Wilson Fisk that Christmas Eve night had been. Natasha was the figure standing there, clutching the remains of your mask between the fingers of her right hand. It felt so pointless. As pointless as telling a young girl her lover was dead could be. Your mask felt meaningless.

“Wanda, I…I…”

But Wanda was nowhere to be found in her spacious bed after the Black Widow entered the room filled with posters on the walls and ceiling, stuffed animals arranged next to the pillows and the books piled orderly on the shelves. That was a young person's room, Natasha thought. Wanda was young. The television bolted to the wall adjacent to the window followed the live narration that portrayed a hideous explosion in Hell's Kitchen, where the fire department was still in the process of fully assessing the high and enigmatic number of lives claimed that night.

Wanda was in the bathroom, after all, when Natasha walked over — sitting on the floor, hugging her knees, threading her fingers through her long hair, scratching the scalp as she squinted at her burning eyes where tears were streaming from; sadness that marked her cheeks. She looked as small and as young as could be. And then it was that Natasha remembered. She realized, indeed, what had happened.

Carrying your spidery mask with her, Natasha remembered that both you and Wanda were really just a pair of unfortunate children, as she herself had once been too – children who carried greater responsibilities than you could even handle, with a maturity as mechanical and precocious as what the world demanded of you two. Children like her. Unlucky children.

“What… what– what am I going to do Nat…?” Wanda sobbed, still not lifting her eyes to the open crack in the door, where the older woman was standing, still bloody, still injured, “What the fuck am I supposed to do now?!”

And Natasha wanted to answer her. She wanted to, she opened her bruised lips to do so and then utter that speech she had already had in mind since she had held your body in her arms, still tucked inside that spider suit, in the snow and in the dark. But she immediately contained herself, refraining herself even before doing so, because that was when she saw it – prepared eyes spotted beside Wanda's so small and curved body a plastic rod with two lines marked in a baby pink color.

“Wanda… is... is that…?”

“I don’t know what to do,” she cried, “I don’t know, I don’t know…”

A pregnancy test of the kind one can buy at any local pharmacy, and the result was positive. And your mask was in her hands because you were gone. She was supposed to give it to Wanda as a reminder of your memory, but Wanda would have more to remember you by than a simple torn and bloody piece of cloth. She was pregnant after all. And you – you were dead. You were nothing but an unlucky dead bastard.

“I… I don't know,” Natasha's fingers tightened on the damn tattered fabric, “I'm so sorry, Wanda. I don't know… I don’t know.”

Wanda's tears, wide and warm, dripped between her bare feet on the pale bathroom floor tile. She had never felt so unlucky as she did at that moment.

[group-dynamic]

Script Doctoring(?) Doctor Who Season 1

Here’s how I would fix the thematic and mystery box issues of this season of Doctor Who while keeping almost everything else the same.

This season would refocus on the thematic tension between Ruby with her desire to find her birth mother and the Doctor’s avoidance of finding Susan. By adding a few choice moments in the Tardis at the beginning and end of certain episodes where Ruby tries to convince the Doctor that finding Susan is important, you would add some really nice character development and even tension to Ruby and the Doctor’s relationship and get to more explicitly explore and discuss some of the big thematic ideas that this season ostensibly centered around like family and fear of abandonment /rejection.

I also think that having the god of death in this season doesn’t make much sense in terms of the themes, so I would probably swap out Sutekh for the Trickster as many others suggested. With the Trickster, you could have the narrative-manipulating, story-changing surrounding Ruby make a lot more sense in universe. This could then better match with the idea that Russell already had: that we imbue things with importance and can thus rewrite our own narratives. Imagine Ruby as central to the finale because her desire to rewrite the false narrative in a positive way could directly counter the negative attempts to rewrite the narrative by the Trickster. Thus, she’s still just an ordinary person as RTD intended, but she is learning to overcome her fear of rejection and abandonment by fixing the negative story that both her own mind and the Trickster have written about her life as she knows she is worthy of love, there’s nothing inherently wrong with her, etc. (A great opportunity to make Carla‘s inclusion narratively significant, too, as she actively contributes to this!)

This would also make the moment where the Doctor cautions Ruby against reconnecting with her birth mother a more meaningful emotional payoff, because Ruby isn’t afraid to try reconnecting with her mother and it goes so well despite the Doctor’s own fears. This could serve as a turning point for the Doctor as he realizes that getting over your fear of rejection can lead you to new avenues for happiness and connection.

Then, instead of having a sorrowful “the doctor is always alone” ending to the season, have the last line of this season be the music swelling triumphantly and the doctor declaring that, yes, he’s going to go find Susan. This would show the actual impact that Ruby had on him and allow his character to go through some growth rather than end up where they’ve always been. (Plus, what a fun teaser to leave the audience on haha.)

You could then spend the second season, (which was ordered at the same time as season 1) on the Doctor trying to track down any clues of where Susan is. So, the season-long arc would become the doctor looking for Susan, but getting sidetracked in the typical adventure of the week.

NOW you can justify Sutekh as the big bad for this second season. If the doctor is actively looking for Susan, it makes a lot more sense that Sutekh would use her to lure the Doctor in and more devastating when it’s revealed Susan Triad isn’t her. Thematically, this works because the Doctor claims to have never reconnected with Susan before because they were terrified that they would either hurt Susan or she would already be dead, so the big bad being death this time around would haunt him: The Doctor is too late and it’s all his fault.

In terms of the “I am life, and you are death” theme, this also makes a lot more sense within a context of actively trying to find Susan, because the doctor is so afraid that he brings death, but the fact that Susan exists at all (and perhaps he finds her or some evidence of her life) in addition to the amazing family he’s built across time and space rallying around him (like Ruby, Mel, Kate, and Rose which justifies a unit based episode AND the memory Tardis as the Doctor’s equivalent of Carla’s wall of photos of her foster kids) is proof that he isn’t a “harbinger of death.” That all of us defeat death when we choose love and support for ourselves and offer it to others. Self indulgently, I would love a conversation between the Doctor and Cherry about family and found family, too. Imagine how wonderfully thematic it would be if this ordinary woman gave the doctor what he needed physically and spiritually to save the day: grandmother to grandfather. Heck, maybe she is the one who gives him the spoon. A teaspoon in fact :).

So anyway, those are the big changes that I think you could make and leave literally everything else the same to get a better emotional payoff and prevent the audience from feeling a little robbed by the mystery boxes.

[danganronpa-shipping-galore]

✨Danganronpa "As a Ship" New & Improved Edition✨

{What's New?} Added observations, only meaningful or ship-fueled moments are included for canonical examples, and new section titled "Family, Friends, Pets."

Canon Fueled Facts:

Despite them being in the same class, they don't have any meaningful/shipping-fueled interactions or relationship with each other in THH.

Bonus Material:

In UTDP, Celeste is one of the 3 characters on Leon's team during battle modes.

Headcanons:

Despite not being the type of girl he usually goes for, it eventually dawns on him that she is the kind of girl he needs in his life: someone who is not afraid to call him out on his behavior and keeps him grounded.

If anyone is being mean towards Leon, Celeste will flip out. While Leon is usually intimidated by her freak-outs, he finds it strangely attractive when he's not in the receiving end, especially to protect him.

Leon isn't interested in most strategic games, but once he gives it a shot, it brings out his competitive nature, which Celeste admires greatly. Their main game of strategy together could be throwing darts.

Celeste finds Leon foolish but intriguing. Often comparing him to "a car crash that you can't look away from."

When Leon develops feeling for Celeste, his new dream is to serve and prove his worth to her. Also, Leon would love to spoil her with gifts whenever he can (as long as it doesn't require too much legwork.)

Since they both approve of getting the Project Zombie gift with the description of: A former runway model takes zombies as slaves in a post-apocalyptic world, they could play video games with similar themes like that together.

Beneficial Similarities:

Neither of them conform to what society expects of them. They prefer to do their own thing and don't really care what others have to say about it.

They are both dead-set on their dreams, even if others might said dreams to be overly ambitious and/or unrealistic. In fact, they were so set on their ambitions that they were some of the most desperate characters to escape to the point of becoming sacrificing another person's life to escape. Only difference is that Leon's dreams often change, especially depending on the girl he's interested in at that moment.

Both of their Trigger Happy Heart events share similar themes of them secretly worrying about other people they care finding them weird for their dreams and true feelings. That could potentially be something they could mutually relate to.

Complementary Strengths:

Being with Leon more and more would likely bring out a more laid-back side of Celeste and, ironically enough, her sense of adventure and the thrill of it.

When I mentioned Celeste keeping Leon grounded, I mean in the sense that her practicality and more reserved demeanor (in most cases at least) could sometimes bring Leon back to Earth when he just rushes into things without thinking.

Main Struggles:

Because of their differences in lifestyles, behavior, hobbies, and so forth, this could easily cause disagreements and instability.

They are both self-centered.

Leon tends to go from girl to girl and not commit.

Family, Friends, Pets:

Nothing is known about Celeste's family and she doesn't seem to have any friends. The closest living being in her life is her beloved cat, Grand Bois Chéri Ludenberg. I picture Leon and Grand Bois disliking each other at first; Leon would see him as spoiled and boring, and Grand Bois would not see him as worthy for acknowledgment or affection. As time goes by they would end up getting closer, especially if Leon would give him treats (only the *best* treats would do), but they would still annoy each other every now and then.

Leon is presumably close with his family, but he especially cares about his younger cousin Kanon (in what way is uncertain, but he usually refers to her as a sister type.) Given Kanon's obsessed taboo feelings towards Leon, she wouldn't approve of him and Celeste being together. She and Celeste would likely have a pretty indifferent relationship since they don't really have anything in common and Celeste would most likely find her behavior and way of speaking annoying, but their relationship has a high chance of turning chaotic when they would be forced to be around each other and Kanon provokes her about Leon.

Since they are both in the same class at Hope's Peak, their friends/acquaintances from that class would be mutual and familiar for the both of them.

Expressing Their Love:

Leon would likely try so hard to impress Celeste with his skills to the point he would embarrass himself, and Celeste would likely find his attempts both charming and humorous.

Celeste would likely make playful quips, play hard to get, and involve him in her activities in some sort of way. The closer they get, the more her true self is revealed, but only private between the two of them.

I picture their mutual love language involving a lot of snarky remarks and tongue-in-cheek compliments.

_______________________________________

NOTE: I haven't read most of Danganronpa manga, non/ambiguously canon books, or 4-koma stuff, so if there are any moments from those I'm missing, feel free to reblog with some noteworthy moments!

[asocial-inkblot]

Things I Hope/d to See in the New ATLA Live Action Show

A source material-accurate Azula (duh) and Aang (the show's namesake!) with something extra added to both. See #7 and #8 for more on that.

Tweaked war-related plans that come across like they could reasonably be implemented in real life and which may be based on/allude to actual battle proposals from throughout history. I know little about these sorts of things but others have pointed out before that one of Sokka's plans, for example, may not have actually made much sense. And Ozai's plan near the end? Yeeaaahhhhh... I mean, I kinda get it in hindsight. But still. Let's have him come up with something better than that.

Appearances and clothing that call back to the ethnic groups and cultures that the show takes inspiration from (things are looking great on this front so far), but also

Eye colors like the ones from the original cartoon. This may seem petty but I find that it's actually important to use the right hues for each character and not just make everyone's eyes brown or black or gray (looks to me like that's exactly what they did). The reason being that, although I personally tend to dislike when non-white characters are given what I now call "white qualifiers" (meaning traits often used to make them still appeal to whiteness, such as light hair, light eyes, bone-straight hair, round eyes, etc.), in the context of the show, the eye colors are actually by and large ethnic characteristics and differentiators themselves. As I've noted before in a previous post from a while back: Ocean blue eyes = Water Tribes, brown and gray = usually Air Nomad or Earth Kingdom, amber or light tan = Fire Nation, with few exceptions for all of them.

Enough similarities for it to feel like ATLA but with enough differences that it's actually its own story. Again, duh, but we all know how often adaptations tend to get this part wrong.

An age rating that won't be used as just another excuse to shoehorn in as much violence, gore and sexual content as possible but instead to allow for the full illustration of the impact that war can have on a people and their society/traditions. We saw, imo, only little hints of this throughout the cartoon (when Aang found Monk Gyatso's remains is one extremely devastating example), but not near enough. I know the reason why, of course. However, things like that only helped sell the show short by not allowing it to fully flesh out into a world with true, viewable consequences.

An Azula who, from day one, is unquestionably made out to be exactly what she is: A child soldier who is also a victim of the war in a similar way to how the Gaang is. I want to see her allowed to show worry, even fear, either during or after a situation. Not because I don't love how kickass she is, but because at her age, level of trauma and amount of risk to her life everyday, she has all the reason to be more stressed from the get-go. Not to mention her family issues. I want Azula to clearly have anxiety or depression, something many of us can relate to. I also want that scene of her mental breakdown to STAY in some capacity, but be seen in-universe and hopefully—eventually—irl, too, as what it really was: A teenage girl pushed to her limits until she had no where left to step. Real, living people have had anxiety/panic attacks and meltdowns before and that didn't make them evil or any less worthy of sympathy. It only makes it that much more obvious how real Azula herself is, and how much she needed and deserved understanding.

I want an Aang who's allowed to cry, not once, not twice but over and over again as the weight of the burden of what it means to be a child avatar during a world war—and one who was out-of-commission for a century—start to take their toll on his mind, body and eventually spirit. After he reaches his breaking point, I want him to learn to forgive himself and even forgive others, and come back from it, stronger than ever.

A Toph who's tough but maybe a little less...umm... She should be/feel affected by the war too, okay? And have some level of guilt, fear or self-awareness at all times. So she should be like her original self, but deeper.

More Ursa pleeeaaaaaaassse. We know next to nothing about this woman and what we do know, still involves a lot of inferring. I need to know just what her beliefs were about the war and her family/relatives. I need to know if she...if she often feared for her or her children's lives!

A little less romance and a little more danger, planning and large platonic relationship growth as well as character growth.

Zuko actually learning something from his travels; early on, every time he meets someone/some new people, and on a regular basis. I also kinda want to see him have consequences for his actions. Not just that one time, where he was only a clueless 13 year old boy anyway. Doesn't have to be huge or bloody, but he needs to lose something every time he gains at the expense of another. The ATLA world (if not within the cartoon then definitely within the live action show) should have a real, tangible concept of Karma present, if it doesn't already. That would make so. much. sense.

If possible, a little more fleshing out of characters like Jet and the Freedom Fighters, Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors, Hama, Mai, Ty Lee, etc. And can we not demonize or shrug off victims anymore?

A still sexy Hakoda, Ozai and June. (I'm so sorry, don't hate me...)

An ending that won't make me break out in hives plez.

(That's it for now. I may come back here to add more.)

[allisonreader]

This is my second Christmas @inklings-challenge story for this year. I did not intend to write TWO Christmas stories this year and this one’s focus isn’t directly related to Christmas, but takes place near Christmas and includes discussions about Christmas related festivities. And truthfully this is a story written after rewatching a Hallmark Christmas movie which prompted the thought of the conversation between the two characters in the story. Everything else is just framing and an excuse to have the conversation and still have some plot.

This story takes place after the main events in Tales Of A Frozen Sailor. I have tried to include enough background information so that if you’ve never read the main story, that you don’t have to to understand it. Hopefully I’m not retreading the ground too much throughout the story.

And if you are interested in the full story, go to the Master List for Tales Of A Frozen Sailor .

Like always, I feel like I haven’t edited this enough, but also couldn’t look at it anymore. So it is what it is and that means that I’m not particularly happy about how I ended it. I just feel like the ending feels like what it is. Sort of a rush to just get it done. Anyways enough of my blabbering and onto the story.

Jessica's Christmas Surprise

The latest news on the last Titanic witness.

Jessica Hudson (now Piston) was a young woman who sailed on the Titanic as a sailor under the guise of being a man named Jesse Hudson. A fact that had only been known by her family and fellow sailor John Winters for many years.

Jessica had been assigned to man a lifeboat with John, but instead had been locked inside a room deep inside the Titanic. She was left for dead as the ship sank and for nearly a century it had been the perfect murder. If it wasn’t for the fact that her body was found and brought up nearly a 100 years later.

Once she was brought up, she was thawed from the position that she was found in and in a turn of events that can only be called miraculous, as Jessica thawed, she began to wake. Revival efforts were then focused on.

Jessica’s revival was unexpected and allowed her to connect with nieces and a nephew who hadn’t been born when she went down with the ship.

Jessica's story was then able to be told in full with her perspective.

Since then, Jessica has been finding her own way in the modern world. These days Jessica tries to keep a low profile.

Recently though, she has been spotted with her husband Erik coming out of an ultrasound clinic together. Not only did they come out of the clinic together, but it does appear that Jessica is sporting a bit of a baby bump.

Neither Jessica nor Erik have made any announcements about expecting at this point, but it seems to be evident that the couple will be adding an addition to their family, come sometime in the coming new year.

For further details on Jessica's story turn to page 12.

📰📰📰

"Why can’t they just leave me alone?" Jess grumbled, glaring at the article that included a picture of her and Erik walking out of the clinic, making her belly look larger than it actually was. Or at least it seemed so to her. "This is a hard enough season this year without others talking about our private life Em," she complained to her husband.

"I know, but people find you interesting, and something like our daughter is news worthy to anyone who's been following your story. They forget that you’re just a person like them and that you don’t even consider yourself a celebrity, though others do. Nobody is going to give a statement to any of the press though. It’s going to stay within the family that our baby, is in fact a little girl, our little girl," Erik reassured her as he pulled up and stopped in front of the small guest house on the backside of the Piston family estate.

Someone had decorated the house for Christmas, lights were all along the roof line and down the columns of the front porch and banisters. There was a wreath on the door and a Christmas tree lit with white lights in the front window.

Erik offered to help Jess out of the car, but she shook her head wanting to do it herself.

Once she had gotten out of the car; the article in the magazine left was behind. Erik noted to get rid of it before Jess got back in. She snuggled into his side, allowing him to wrap his arm around her and rest his hand on her belly.

They walked quietly the short distance to the front door, which Nanna was opening before they even were close enough to have knocked. Having been expecting and anticipating them.

"There the two of you are. Come in, come in. Emery, your grandfather is out back. Before you head out to him, give me a hug and a kiss-" Nanna tapped her cheek where she wanted the kiss- "while I get Jessica comfortable so we can talk about her appointment this past week."

"Yes Nanna." Erik agreed, letting go of Jess and kissing her cheek before going to hug and kiss Nanna as instructed before leaving to find his grandfather.

"Stay out of trouble Em, don’t let John drag you into anything," Jess warned.

"I won’t Jess, and I promise that I won’t lollygag around too much."

"I hope not."

"I’ll be back before you know it. Have fun with Nanna. Don’t let her get you into too much trouble."

Jess stuck her tongue out at her husband teasing her about her warning about John. Nanna watched with Jess as Erik left to find his grandfather and then leave to visit Jess's family and drop off their letters and gifts for the season. Something that Erik had already done at least once since they had found out that she was pregnant.

Jess let out a sigh. It was for the best that it was just Erik going back to visit her family. She stared longingly at where Erik went down the hall.

Who knew what would happen to her or her baby girl if they time traveled while she was pregnant. It wasn’t worth the risk. But that didn’t mean that her heart didn’t long to visit her family over Christmas.

Nanna startled her as she wrapped an arm around her back and rubbed her one shoulder.

"Come now my dear. I have a fire going in the front room where the tree is. We'll make ourselves cozy and then I suspect that you have some pictures from your ultrasound appointment to show me, hmm?" Nanna said, gently guiding her into the front room, where there was indeed a fire roaring. Jess nodded as she allowed herself to be lead to be sat in front of the fire.

The two of them discussed the incredible invention of ultrasound technology allowing them to see the baby and tell that she was going to have a girl. How Jess had never anything like it would be possible and how Nanna had been unaware of its invention that had happened in the same decade as her son’s birth, at least not until years after when it became more common.

Jess showed Nanna her ultrasound pictures, and discussed how much of a taint the picture of her and Erik coming out of clinic, ending up in the news and gossip rags left her with on the experience.

"Learn to ignore them my dear. I know it’s hard in this day and age, but ignoring them will be better for you than worrying over them." Jess just nodded in acknowledgment and excused herself to the bathroom.

While Nanna waited for Jessica to come back, she turned back on the sound of the Hallmark movie that she had been watching before Jessica and her grandson had arrived. It didn’t take her long to re-pick-up the plot and become engrossed again.

"Nanna? What are you watching?" Jess asked when she returned.

"Hmm? Oh, just a Hallmark holiday movie. One that you might relate to a little too much in part to a degree. The main character is a nurse from 1945… 46… one of the two. Feeling a little lost and out of place in her own time, but has been pulled forward by forces unknown to the modern day and is having to try and fit into this strange time to her," Nanna explained.

Jess blinked a couple of times. "Really…?"

"Oh yes my dear. These type of stories have been popular for many years already. Long before most people were ever aware of your story and existence. I dare say that they might have had a bit of an uptick since your story has become known, but they’ve been around as long as fairy tales have been. Why else do you think your life is so fascinating to people? You have all the marks for the best types of stories, but perhaps best of all to many people is that your story is true," Nanna said.

"What are the other marks…? Do I want to know them?" Jess asked.

"None are bad my dear, just interesting to people. Your connection to the Titanic is a large one. That ship has fascinated people from the day the news broke that it was sunk by an iceberg on its maiden voyage, with so many elite on it. I’m afraid that your Mr. Winters didn’t help with his insistence that something happened to you beyond being reassigned and you just not making it. Then there is the fact that once you were found on the ocean floor in the ill-fated ship; something that shouldn’t have been possible, it was found out that you were in fact a woman, not a man as claimed when sailing. Let alone the fact that your John was proven to be correct that something had happened to you. Beyond that is the fact that you survived your miraculous revival. It’s all very interesting to people. As much as you’d love to just live your life. To others you are a celebrity."

"I don’t want to be a celebrity," Jess pouted.

"I know my dear, but sometimes that is out of our hands. The best that can be done is what you are doing. Living your life to the fullest and keeping a low profile by not reaching out to the press yourself. While there will always be people interested in your story, it will eventually fade over the years. But at the moment, it’s still relatively new for people and it will take years to die down."

Jess scowled at the thought.

"I don’t want my daughter to become some spectacle once she’s born."

"We’ll shield her from it as much as possible. Especially at first when she won’t be able to protect herself, but she will learn."

Jess nodded, still wary, but there was nothing to do about currently.

🎄🎄🎄🎁🎁🎁

Erik went and poked his head in to see Jess and Nanna now that he was back. He found them both finishing off a Hallmark Christmas movie, just catching the end of the credits.

It had taken Jess a bit of time to get used to tv, even now she’d often avoid watching it unless there was someone else watching it with her. He smiled fondly at Jess's one hand resting on her belly, thrilling him once again that he was going to be a father to a little girl. He didn’t need to be distracted by those thoughts currently. He had a wife to surprise.

He entered the room slowly and quietly. Coming up to beside where Jess was sitting. Watching Nanna's smile grow as she caught sight of him.

"Hey you, I made it back," he said softly in a low voice. Jess smiled back at him. Nanna got up and quietly slipped out of the room.

"How’d it go? How is everyone?" Jess asked.

"Good. They’re all good and the trip was successful. The gifts, cards and letters are all delivered to the 1920's…. And- John didn’t drag me into any trouble."

"Good. He doesn’t need to-"

"But, I might have dragged him into some trouble."

"Em… what do you mean?"

"I guess you’ll just have to come with me and find out then won’t you," he held out his hand to her.

"Emery… what do you do?"

"Come on, off the couch. Your family sent a surprise along with me."

"What kind of surprise….?"

"You’ll see for yourself."

"Emery Erik what kind of surprise is this?" Jess asked, starting to sound cross.

"One that you’ll love; come, let me show you." Erik helped her off the couch as she warily stared him down and followed him to the back porch.

Nanna was sitting with his grandfather on the porch swing, but standing just off the porch was Jess's surprise. Jess stilled the moment she first saw them, before bounding down the stairs to where her siblings and John were waiting.

All three of them embracing Jess in a hug together.

"You’re here! Why-? How…? …I didn’t think I was going to see you until after my baby came," Jess stammered in surprise.

"Erik planned it all out. Well, at least for the most part. My mom and Amelia and her family are looking after the kids today. Joan would have loved to come, but thought it would be best to stay as an extra pair of hands. But otherwise, we’re here for the day and to finally see a little bit of this time that you’re living in." John said.

Jess started to tear up as she soaked up the attention from Ruth, John and Henry being here in her chosen time. Ruth gave her another hug.

"I can’t believe that you’re here…" Jess

"Oh Jess…. We should have thought to come sooner."

Jess shook her head. "No, this is perfect. It’s the best Christmas gift…. I have so much to show you…"

Erik and his grandparents gave Jess and her family some space at first. Giving them the chance to reconnect and let the four of them time to catch up and for Jess to explain certain things without any of them interfering or interrupting. Allowing Jess to share her pregnancy update and share her ultrasound pictures and to show her visitors any technology that she thought might interest them. Pointing out that they wouldn’t have the chance to really get used to those in any capacity.

Nanna only interrupted them once the meal was ready. It brought all of them together for the rest of the day. The conversation and jokes flowed freely. Until it was finally time for the three to go back to their time and back to their kids. Jess gave all of them a long hug before Erik took them home. With promises to keep them all updated.

[piyesis-yhs]

♡Alijah♡ Yap Session!

I'm really bored so I thought I just might talk about Alijah

To those who know me, you already seen this coming lol. Now, why you may ask? well, as the self-proclaimed captain of the ship...uh I don't know. It just came to be in a dream. 

Long Post

jk, I think I first considered it way back when I first joined the yhs fandom. I tend to ship characters who I find pretty and since Elijah had a cool design, and Alec was my favorite character...well bam! new ship! But shipping these two came with multiple problems, cause one; I was the lone shipper at the time so if I wanted to see fanfics and fanart of them...I had to do it myself...which was eughhh... especially writing the fics cause I am not a writer! And two, they literally never met each other (technically) AND Elijah has around 3 minutes of screen time.

Bro, at the time, a lot of people were tolerating my shenanigans so I knew a lot of people didn't find interest in them until I started drawing them a lot. The key to getting your rarepair noticed and decently well-liked is posting everyone's favorite and then dragging them by the arm to start showing off your blorbos, cause if you post stuff that everyone likes--they'll follow you. When they do, they'll probably tolerate the ship since they're usually just there to see the stuff they like. (like a package deal!)

but besides all that, I think Alijah is pretty neat. there's not a lot about Elijah's character so I had to improvise and my version of his character is the guy who struggles to connect with people because of the lack of childhood he had. I think that it'd be very hard making friends if you grew up committing crimes so Elijah was a loner. (and since it's canon that he and Celeste were homeschooled, they're definitely loners. Not Celeste tho, she's an ambivert and functions better in social environments even if she's also quiet while Elijah just seems introverted.) 

So adding to his character, because of the life he grew up in, He's attached to his sister. He doesn't have that many aspirations in life so he just does what Celeste is doing and usually listens to her when she needs help. I picture him to be like a stray dog--trained, obedient but has no real place where he belongs so he just follows those who he likes. 

I think this is how Elijah and Alec get together in the first place but that was in my winter au, which I won't talk about since most of it is being used for my oc webtoon. However, in the remake version, Alec doesn't feel worthy enough to be with his friends and pursue his feelings for Funneh, so he forces himself to work more since in Alec's mind, he couldn't save himself so he might as well stop trying to have nice things. He ends up on a self-destructive path and now that he's spending more time at work, he gets to know more about Elijah. Their relationship is just co-workers at first, barely talking and there to get the job done, but since Alec is shown to be pretty talkative around his friends--I think he'd try to at least strike up a conversation out of awkwardness.

Eventually, Elijah would start talking too making their relationship less tense and more friendly. If they ever hang out it'll probably be because of a coincidence, like "Oh, hey! You're at this place too :O!" 

if one of them fell in love first, it'd be Elijah since I think it wouldn't be that hard to impress him since he's a loner. with the stray dog stuff, he gets more attached to Alec to the point he'd focus on him more than his sister and when it came to work, his motivations pointed to making sure Alec wasn't killed by Yumi (who at this point in this au was considering it since Celeste was trying to talk her into it--i'll explain this more when I ramble about celesdere.)

Alijah's Dynamic + overall story:

Speaking of their relationship, their overall dynamic wouldn't be healthy. Elijah's the attachment type and Alec's the avoidment type. (match made in heaven! *sarcastic*) Since Elijah didn't have the best childhood, his perception of love is warped. He believes that to love is to give them you're everything and to worship. He learned that from his sister since their parents were always fighting (like oh, they're not in love because they didn't put in the effort in the other person like Celeste was putting in her love for Yumi)

His love for Alec is more obsessive and he becomes more insecure. His goal is to keep Alec by his side since Alec is one of the few people who doesn't mistreat him (since Elijah did have relationships before but they were mostly abusive) With his insecurities, he becomes like Yumi in how he gets easily jealous. He doesn't want Alec hanging out with Funneh, let alone being with his old friends who were enemies of their little crime organizations and it gets to the point he'll imply he'll harm her (but he doesn't since Elijah knew that Alec wouldn't love him anymore so all he really does is cling and tries to get Alec to stay without harming those Alec cares about.)

Now, for Alec! SInce he was pushing himself away from his friends, he stayed with Elijah not because he liked him, but because he was there. he doesn't fully love him the way he loves Funneh. She was perfect in his eyes, He idealized her but when it comes to his coworker, he was a constant reminder of the mess he got himself into and Alec eventually regrets isolating himself since he realized that it's never too late to fix his mistakes and make it up to the people he hurt.

Alec saw Elijah as a convenience since Alec used him to feel better about himself. He needed assurances that he was doing the right thing, that the world didn't have a place for someone like him and it was better to drown with someone else than alone. Elijah was more like someone to comfort him, but since Alec was getting better mentally he didn't really need Elijah so if he tried to break things off Alec would find himself unable to because Elijah's possessive nature would reveal itself. Alec wanted to move on and live better but his boyfriend doesn't let him. 

His feelings for Elijah become complicated. He loved Elijah because Alec found comfort in not having to pretend to be someone he wasn't like he was with his friends and he loved that Elijah stayed knowing they were criminals but he later formed resentment when Alec didn't need him anymore.

While they were dating, as Alec got better he was making plans to betray Yumi and them. He wanted to turn himself in and wanted to take Yumi and the crew with him. However, with Elijah dating him, he hesitates since he still loves him (even if his feelings were shallow at first) Alec knew that if he betrayed them, he would be their or Elijah's target. (think of my Now or Never fic) 

since this is getting jumbled I'll try to figure out where I'm heading with this ramble lol

With Elijah's possessiveness and worship of Alec (giving everything to him like Celeste did with Yumi) he begins to see that something is off with Alec and after a little digging, he finds Alec's betrayal both to their work and relationship-wise because at this point with Alec wanting to get back to his old relationships, his decision to become friends with them again, becoming friends with Funneh again, this was betrayal to Elijah. to him, Alec left their life together to join someone else's. Elijah doesn't take it well because, to Elijah, he was the stray dog who was yet again abandoned. 

either Alec or Elijah would attempt to kill the other if Alec is confronted with his betrayal of Yumi or if Elijah is ordered to try and kill Alec by his sister or Yumi. 

Even if Alec was using Elijah, he still loved him. though his feelings were overridden by his resentment, he loved him. To him, it was shallow but near the end of their relationship, it became more hard to ignore especially when he reconnected with his friends. Think A Pearl by Mistski, he loved him but it wasn't a healthy type of love. it was more like infatuation with familiarity since Elijah was the one who saw the true him. no facade like he wore when he was with his friends.

depending on how evil I feel like being, Elijah will die and his death will become the pearl Alec would have afterward.

uh, I think that's the end of my ramble for Alijah lol, though just in case it needs to be said, I don't condone abusive/toxic relationships! I already got enough of them irl so I do not desire one irl! 

I find the appeal in toxic relationships when it's creating complexities in characters and how It affect their motivations and desires. I care more about their upbringing and escape of them instead of just liking them because of romanticization (which I hope is clear that I'm not doing or desire to do)

with all that out of the way, this is my interpretation of them! :D and only interpretation I believe since I don't think I saw another ramble or hc post about them.1

oh yeah, regarding my fics, they're usually stand-alones so Now or Never isn't canon in this ramble (since this ramble is the main foundation for the stuff I make) so some aus and fics are loosely based on this.

Have a good day/night!

if you see grammar mistakes or spelling mistakes--no you didn't!

[bebx]

Hey there! I hope you are doing well. I don't mean to bother you again as you are gonna figure out I am the same person who asked about your unexpectedly but hopefully temporary drifting away from ST sub fandom hehe. So I decided to do my homework and see if you probably left some clues or hints regarding your hiatus from it before but unfortunately I couldn't find any unless my dumb@$$ missed it despite thorough research as if I was looking for easter eggs in a deeply layered show like ST. My search report :- It had been going well on your side even when there was a drought in HC contents but slowly it lost the 'momentum' which I feel you played a key role in wonderfully building up yourself, ironically right at the moment of D-day which honestly feels like if reality had tv drama like loopholes lol.

So all I have now is what you last said to me that you are busy with stuffs and other things like hyperfixation on a character from Harrow series { although I haven't watched it yet but based on your enthusiasm which mostly resonates with my own interest, I have added it in my watchlist :) Cuz Bingo I can't tell you how happy I was when I found you with the same sentiments as mine after watching Damsel! } plus point is you did mention how he is certainly still in your heart and you are planning to make more posts and fanfic about him in future. So I decided to wait, months passed with more tempting Henry Creel info pouring while I still kept up with *patiently waiting for my favorite Tumblr user's ST fandom era to resurface as well as coexist with her new obsession of Harrow series*, so that one hyperfixation won't have to be sacrificed for another still worthy subject of hyperfixation :) Hence it has been quite an introspective and empathetic time but now I am like "okay at least lemme just ask her how she has been and what exactly is the status", to stifle my other apprehensive thoughts forming with the passing time as well as disappearing silver lining( as there is no sign of either Henry or JCB these days at all lol apart from Jamie Bower World Domination post) out of overthinking.

I always felt your contribution to this fandom has been immensely valuable and even though others may or may not have been enough reminding you that as I can see I am probably the only anonymous seeker regarding digging this matter up, I miss you and your blogs about it. I have mostly been a lurker kind so I never interactively participated in any discussion or thread but I have always inwardly appreciated people with a good taste of art. So even if anonymously, this is a great deal to me, sharing my wish embedded in vulnerability. *nervously chuckles* Idk if this is a stretch but given how what Jamie manually allows to be displayed on his tagged section had most of your posts, tells me that he must have subconsciously felt your absence lately too. The fact that this is true tho, makes it a reasonable theory.

So now after hopefully doing a great job at explaining the deep context behind my "ask away" here are the main deal of questions xD;-

How are you, once again? (I don't want to pressurize you into rejoining it earlier than you planned according to your life and schedules uk. Besides I don't wanna interrupt your balancing of multifandom fascination.)

Is there any particular reason behind this seemingly complete "switch off mode" which you can share? ( because my Spidey senses keep feeling it's more than what it is, could be false alarm tho) Could it be potentially because Stranger Things is so addictive, it is not possible to keep a track of its updates while continuing with hyper fixating on other fandoms?

If the aforementioned fear is unfounded, then here are my other theories and questions, have you stumbled upon the TFS spoilers of any kind?

If no, are you planning to watch it LIVE soon or later? (as the canon play is gonna stick around for a long time) is this why have you been avoiding discussions as they would involve major spoiling of the experience?

Or are you planning of watching it whenever it streams on Netflix as technically it just has to one day?

Have you been weakly following any ST S5 leaks? ( as we finally got a very *greatest leak of all time* kind of leak not even exactly 24 hours ago lol) [to tell you the truth- this is exactly what triggered me to get some clarifications from you, as despite knowing that I would open your page only to be greeted by Harrow, deep down I felt maybe you would say something about it because it directly involves JCB and it's quite making waves already.]

Did you check out the VR Game released this February?

Or are you taking a complete long break for a while because once S5 release date inches closer, there is no going back from its fever for another 2-3 years anyways? haha ( ngl this is my most optimistic theory I am clinging onto)

(optional question xD) Am I seriously the only one approaching you by bringing this old buried fascination or others have felt the same way too and they express their perplexity in your inbox instead?

(anyways I will be very grateful if you respond to my plethora of mystified emotions even though I think it would secretly answer to many other lurkers like me who found a sense of kindred spirit through you but are too busy abiding by their lurking policy)

hi, I’ve been looking at this for…. a while, because… oh my 😅 I understand that it’s been so long since my Stranger Things era, and I know some of my followers follow me for my Henry / ST content. I just didn’t know my silly ST posts actually have this much impact that they stay in people’s memories even after it’s been a long time. so this ask actually brings back so many memories. and I really appreciate that you’re still sticking around. really. I had to take a moment to just sit here and stare at this ask in my inbox and go “whoa” — but it’s a good kind of whoa. I am touched that you still remember, because gosh how long has it been since my ST days!

to answer your questions, I am fine and I am doing well. thank you. I didn’t mean to “abandon” my interest. and I AM still interested in the show. I still love Henry, even though I don’t really talk about him on here anymore. it’s funny because a part of me is kind of sad that I don’t talk about him on here anymore? to tell you the truth, anon, I don’t exactly know why? I mean… sure, my blog currently focuses on something else, but I never really stop loving Henry as a character. this sounds extremely cliche, but it’s the truth. I still love him and I still think about him and those time I spent writing fics about him.

I don’t know if there’s any particular reason behind this, according to you, seemingly complete "switch off mode" on my blog. but there’s no conspiracy theory or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about? I just kind of focus my attention on something else, for the moment, but again, I still do love Henry. just because I don’t talk about him here like I used to does not mean I love him any less. rest assured. he’s still in my heart.

I haven’t stumbled upon any real TFS spoilers, but that’s probably because I don’t follow many blogs that talk about it so it rarely reaches my dashboard anyway.

and I don’t live near the place where the play takes place, so unfortunately I don’t see myself traveling there to watch it live, as life has been a little busy for me here to take that kind of vacations. but I would have loved to. if the time were right. I do look forward to streaming it when or if it becomes available on Netflix though.

I haven’t been following ST leaks much, I can’t see “weekly” because I kind of just look at them if they reach my dashboard here or my twitter’s/X’s timeline. but I don’t actively go search for it nor do I avoid it for fear of any potential spoilers either. but I did just see the leaks you talked about, and I’m actually very excited. it actually reminded me of my fic “Salvation” — I’m not sure if you’ve read it, but yeah. gosh I am genuinely very excited.

though I haven’t checked out the VR Game. I mean… I don’t really play video games so that might explain why.

and no. I’m not “taking a long break” because I think there is no going back from its fever for another 2-3 years after season 5 is released. I don’t even know why I’m “taking a break” except that my mind has just been focusing on something else, currently.

also, yes, some people have asked, and I haven’t had the chance to answer them (I’ve been meaning to, though), so this might be the answer they were looking for as well? there’s no “real reason” behind my lack of activity when it comes to ST fandom, except that I’ve been focusing my attention on something else lately, but that doesn’t mean I love the show — or especially Henry — any less. I still am a fan of the show and of Henry. and I still love Jamie with all my heart, obviously. I still keep up with him and his music and I am so incredibly proud of him as an artist and a person.

I am super excited to see Henry again when season 5 drops. I don’t know when or if my hyperfixation will come back, so I wouldn’t wish to make any promises. but what I can say for sure is that, even though it’s not exactly a hyperfixation, I still love Henry just the same. I hope I will start making lots of posts and writing fics about him again one day.

last but not least, I will always love and support Jamie in everything he does. and he will forever be my source of happiness that keeps me going when things are difficult.

I also want to thank you for reaching out. it means so very much to me. if there is any further matter you wish to talk or discuss with me about, you are very welcome to drop by my inbox anytime.

(and yes, I still love talking about Stranger Things and Henry here. anybody is more than welcome to drop by my inbox to talk to me about Henry — who knows, it might re-spark that hyperfixation within me…)

[taexual]

im getting real tired of oc acting like she has everything under control and is this amazing manger when all she does is order people around and can’t be serious when it comes to confrontations. i mean she yells and questions others for their behavior but they have to draw the line when it comes to her? that’s hypocritical. her saying that she was hiding behind the bet and only bc she was scared of jungkook‘s feelings being real is and was obvious from the very beginning but she also lied to herself again i mean let’s wake it up right?

how come YOU work with your ex boyfriend that is in a band that YOU are the manager of and allow YOURSELF to work with when YOU act like YOU don’t care about him, while YOU also try to control him for petty sht that has mostly to 65% nothing to do with the work environment. she always wants others to give her time and let her get her thoughts right before she has to talk but others for example jungkook has always an ultimatum like what is wrong with her and her entire mental health atp? im on jungkooks side with, that yes i as a reader am tired too if her acting like she doesn’t want to be with him when that’s all she wants but she‘s selfish (in my opinion no shade) bc she wants to see him beg a little more to avoid a) the confrontation about their fucked up relationship that happened from both sides and b) bc it makes her feel worthy of something again bc he didn’t care about her enough in those 4 years he was with others right? then yeah i wouldn’t give my time and energy to get that kind of person back and not bc jungkook wants to be better for her he needs to be better for himself and her never giving him that reassurance is unfair and disgusting bc she can want that from him right?

like i seriously need people like her to just either be direct or get out of that persons life forever. she sees that jungkook has other SERIOUS issues like his mental health and addiction to always downgrade himself as not worthy for any-little-thing but all she focuses on is „omg u did a bet now i can’t be with you and also bc nick wants me on the renaissance tour so ughhh idk everything is so heavy and omg i fainted am having so much stress ugh:((„ like shut the fuck up. she knew what she was getting into when she signed the contract for being a manager could she know how much stress she was getting into? no but that’s no here or there bc she allowed herself to not have a break that is on nobody but herself.

i have so much to discuss about her character but i really don’t want to just know that im tired of her and also thank you for writing something that’s truly new and fresh! i like this story it makes us think and have thoughts about the the chapters in general so yeah i hope you don’t get offended of how i view oc i don’t want to bash your characters ig it just that everyone has a different opinion in certain matters right? still thank you and have a great day! ☺️😊

omg babe you are having some very very interesting thoughts!!!! thank you for reading and for getting invested!!!!!!! 🥺🥺

the characters will have a discussion about a lot of the things that you mentioned soon--mostly in the next chapter--so i'm not going to elaborate much, but again, some very interesting points!! they are people with clear issues, and insecurities ranging from their past relationship to parental trauma to toxic friends. you know what i mean?? and i can't wait to show you what's nextttt!!!! 🤍🤍🤍

adding a spoiler bc i feel like it 🤌🏻

baby you said oc "can’t be serious when it comes to confrontations" and that is going to be one of the key plot points in the upcoming chapters!!!!

their whole relationship, they dealt with the chronic let's-not-talk-about-this illness, you know?? and jungkook is overcoming it! but now that's coming back to bite oc a little bit, because not only does she have to talk too, but she also has to face her demons from the broken relationship she had grown up in

[fleshing-out-fodlan]

Crimson Flower Lysithea Story

I think the Three Houses writing is really held back by 1. the lack of impact non lord characters have on the story post time skip and 2. the lack of in depth unique development for characters on different routes. I understand why this was done from a game play perspective (perma death and also giving every single character 3-4 unique story lines is a lot of work and just unrealistic) but from a story telling perspective it definitely isn't ideal. So I wanted to take a swing at giving a non lord a unique story on a route that isn't their own a way that makes sense from the perspective of the developers.

Crimson Flower Lysithea is probably the most obvious place to start, she was also experimented on by TSWITD so there's so much potential for where her story could go. In Crimson Flower, you are working with TWSITD, something that will stir up strong emotions in Lysithea, even if she knows the plan is for the alliance to be temporary. I think this can tie into Lysithea's need to rush everything. We all know Lysithea's life span is shortened, so maybe she's afraid she won't live to see TWISTD destroyed. TWISTD is what destroyed her family and if they're still so powerful when she dies, she has no way to ensure her family is safe from their torment. So, she comes up with all these plans to prematurely bring them down. We get a cutscene at some point of her talking to Hubert, saying she has to have a meeting with Edelgard and Hubert refusing to let her through because he believes it will be a waste of Edelgard's time so he instead tells Lysithea to just tell him whatever she wants to tell Edelgard and he'll pass the message along if it's worthy of her time. Lysithea tells Hubert her plans but he quickly shuts them down, pointing out some flaw that will hurt their team's chances at succeeding. Lysithea gets frustraed and starts hurling her immature insults at Hubert (I'm imagining similar vibes to her Ignatz support here) but Hubert hardly reacts, finding her more amusing than offensive, causing her to get angrier and just storm off. I imagine this cut scene happening after chapter 14 (so right before the battle where you meet Cordelia). After this, you get the explore dialogue for chapter 15. Lysithea's original dialogue here isn't that important in terms of character development (it doesn't really tell us anything new about her character, generally just that she wants to protect her family which is also established by the stuff I'm adding anyways). So, her explore dialogue will now involve her mumbling to herself about Hubert being an idiot and how she knows what she's doing. Then, she notices you listening and gets annoyed, commenting on how eavesdropping is a childish activity.

Then, we have the "Seige at Arianrhod" battle. If Lysithea and Linhardt are both on the field you'll be given an optional quest (kind of like in Remire where you have a quest to save all the villagers but can still win the battle if you fail that quest). The quest is to have Lysithea be the first on to attack Cornelia. If you don't do this quest, nothing else will happen in Lysithea's story. If you do this, it will trigger a mid battle cut scene showing Lysithea attacking Cornelia but Cornelia is much stronger than she initially thought. After putting up a good fight, Lysithea gets severely injured. Edelgard steps in and stops Cornelia from landing a fatal blow and calls Linhardt over and he then teleports away with Lysithea. You then go back to normal battling mode but you can no longer use Lysithea or Linhardt. There will be two options for what happens after the battle.

Option A. Linahrdt and Lysithea did not reach their A support: In this timeline, Linhardt is not able to save Lysithea. In a cutscene where the battle is being discussed, Edelgard asks Linhardt about Lysithea's status and he says that she died. In the midst of the mourning Edelgard makes a comment about how Lysithea didn't seem like herself, how she's usually so well calculated but in this moment seemed to be driven purely by her emotions. The camera zooms in on Hubert's face, showing one of his more contemplative profiles, as Edelgard announces that they can't dwell on the past and must get back to working hard to secure the future Lysithea was fighting for in honor of her memory. All the characters disperse except Byleth and Hubert. Byleth makes a remark about how Hubert seems like he's thinking about something and Hubert makes a comment about how Lysithea had mentioned a desire to take down TWISTD as soon as possible but that he had stopped her from talking to Edelgard. You're then given two dialogue options. You can either say he should've let her talk to Edelgard which will cause you two to lose support points and Hubert will say something about how Lysithea's actions today proved she was not worthy of Lady Edelgard's time. The second dialogue option is remarking on how Lysithea had so much potential. Hubert will respond to this by somberly agreeing and then the cut scene will end.

Option B. Linhardt and Lysithea did reach their A support: In this timeline, you will see a cut scene between Linhardt and Lysithea before seeing one with Edelgard and the Black Eagles recapping the battle. This scene takes place just after Linhardt finished healing her and Lysithea makes a comment about being so exhausted she's about to pass out. Linhardt then says something about how he's going to pass out too after seeing all the blood. Lysithea simple respond with a "..." and Linhardt realizes something is wrong. He makes a comment about how Lysithea's actions were stupid and how she was unnecessarily risking her life and asks what she was thinking (but he does it in his Linhardt way where he's not saying it angrily just very matter-of-factly). Lysithea talks about how she wants to see TWISTD destroyed in her lifetime to make sure they can't torment her family anymore. Linhardt makes a comment about how powerful groups can never be overthrown quickly (maybe he could make some reference to a similar event in Fodlan history but I'm not knowledgeable enough about the history to think of an example off the top of my head) and also says that her dying early to accomplish this goal would be counterproductive. She asks what he means and he explains how she's one of the best mages on the side and how Cornelia was only one person. Even if she succeeded in taking down Cornelia, there'd still be the rest of TWISTD and the black eagles would be at a major disadvantage without Lysithea. He says she may not live to see the end of TIWSTD, it's possible none of them will, but if she focuses on taking multiple, smaller steps, she can make a greater difference than if she just tries to make one giant, risky leap.

After this, you can now unlock the Lysithea Byleth A support. This support will stay pretty similar, I like how it discusses her feeling a need to rush things due to her shortened life span. The main change would be that now she would mention what had happened in the last battle and discuss it and how it ties into the her desire to rush things and how she's starting to make peace with the fact that she may not be able to accomplish everything she wants.

This is where I imagine Crimson Flower Lysithea's arc ending. There are only six post time skip Crimson Flower chapters I believe, so I didn't want to add too many new cut scenes, especially considering that Lysithea is a side character who isn't even native to this route. I wanted the story I wrote to be one that could realistically be added into the game while maintaining good pacing, so I left out some scenes I would've liked that narratively just didn't fit in as well. If anyone has any head cannons for their version of Crimson Flower Lysithea, whether that be a written out story or just small head cannons you like to imagine, I'd love to hear them either in a reblog or an ask!

[buldakdrama]

King The Land - First Reaction

King The land was certainly one of the most anticipated Kdramas of 2023 and the first two episodes are already up. So, now the question is, did the drama live upto the hype or the first reaction was not-so-worthy? Let’s figure it out in the very first post of Buldak Drama. 

Ever since Yoona and Joon Ho performed Senorita together, audiences have been craving to see them together in a romantic piece. And that very yearnings have been granted by the drama gods as they put the duo together in this new chaebol drama King The Land. 

Both of the main lead being KPop idols, have their own fandoms and that added up with the drama lovers like us and made King The Land one of the most anticipated dramas of 2023. The drama is about a cold-hearted cheabol heir Gu Won, played by Lee Joon Ho, whose life gets tangled up with bubbly, and always smiling Cheon Sa Rang, played by Yoona. Basically Sa Rang works in The King Hotel that is owned by Gu Won’s family, well, problematic family. 

As far as the first episode goes, Sa Rang bags a job in The King Hotel despite being underqualified, thanks to her charming and positive personality. On the other hand, Gu Won returns from the UK and starts working as an intern disguising himself in The King Group. However, he manages to get fired on the very first day (yes, even after being the partial owner). He comes across Sa Rang during his stay in the hotel as he refuses to stay at the family house with his father and step-sister. The encounter of the duo happens through a funny incident but I won’t spoil it for you. However, Gu Won goes back to the UK promising to never come back. This is followed by a leap of seven years, during which Sa Rang climbs the ladder of success and Gu Won completes his degree. He then makes a rash decision to come back to Korea and encounters Sa Rang for a second time but this time as the head manager of The King Hotel. Their encounter, which is rather very embarrassing, concludes the first episode. 

The second episode is nothing special. Gu Won and Sa Rang exchange their initial introduction and they are shoved into a project together. By the end of the episode, they leave for Jeju for a business trip. That’s really all. 

Now the question is, is there anything extra-ordinary about the drama? 

The answer is absolutely no. The same boss-employee trope is all you can find here. Just like the male protagonists of What’s wrong with secretary Kim and Business Proposal, Gu Won, too, has some kind of childhood trauma or more like a problematic childhood. Sa Rang is, just like the typical female leads, charming and bubbly. There is nothing revolutionary about the characters (not yet) as it has a very similar Business Proposal vibe to it. Oh hell, Lee Joon Ho even looks like Ahn Hyo Seop at times. However, one thing that needs to be praised is the visual setting of the drama. It certainly looks very grandiose and offers a nice uplift to your mood. Another praiseworthy thing is the portrayal of the struggle faced by customer service representatives. All three of Sa Rang and her roommates are in customer service and the amount of rude, dumb, perverted customers they have to face on a daily basis, is certainly overwhelming. So, this is where the drama gains a brownie point.

Nonetheless, the drama is only two episodes down. So, let’s wait and see if it brings anything unique to our plate or not. Till then take care and have a nice day. 

– Admin Nika. 

[garnett-and-friends]

Blog info

Welcome to Garnetts adventures in the Pokémon world!!

Garnett typically travels by foot to get places, despite having vehicular options avaliable to her. As she adventures, she looks for new opportunities, friends, and experiences!

Such as: Finding jobs, Starting a zen garden, trying not to crack under the stress of how Pokémon interact with her.

Ask rules:

Nothing NSFW or fetishy. Please remember these are Pokémon.

No super vague asks that are hard to format (etc: hi, *waves*, *poke*)

No references to other games or shows that isn't explicitly referenced.

No spamming the ask box, that'll make me less prone to answering that ask.

Feel free to let your Pokémon interact with my Pokémon

Posting schedule: None currently

Character intros below the cut (will update if any major character is added)

Garnett-- Gallade-- Female

Love Nanab Berries

Evolved into a Gallade due to a gene mutation.

Really despises other Gallades, will go out of her way to fight other Gallades

Protects most Pokémon she believes are trust worthy.

Actually a totally space & science nerd

Wears a red cape most of the time.

Badriyah--Banette-- Female

Loves pink anything

Adopted, lives with her father

Pampered all of her life

Lives in a giant mansion (mainly because her dad is a Gyarados so he needs the space. And just bc her dad is rich but that's besides the point)

Met Garnett as a Shuppet (Garnett was a Ralts)

Yaps so much...

Loves making sweets and tricked sweets (stuff like tomato berry brownies)

Wears a pink ribbon on the end of the zigzag... thing

Dulcinea--Minior (core)--Female

Born in the asteroid belt along with her millions of siblings and neighbors

Low hp, high moveset

Glows in the dark

One smaller spike from her crash landing on Earth

Garnetts Girlfriend (GASP!?)

Spins and bounces in boredom

Speaks in the third person

Loves helping people

Doesn't understand currency

[axl-ul]

WIP Introduction: Flight of the Western Crane

Genre: Dark Fantasy, Mystery, Mythological with Fantastical Historical setting, Dark Retelling/FanFiction, Slow Burn Romance

Composition: 27 chapters + epilogue

Rating: R/18+ (includes graphic depictions of violence, blood, mentions of rape/non-consensual intercourse, (attempt of) sexual assault, harsh language)

Series: Part of The Legends of No-man's Land cycle (sort of)

POV: 3rd person (main focus on Sun Wukong)

Protagonist: Sun Wukong

Major characters: Tang Sanzang, Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing, Márgerdra (also a secondary protagonist), Mei, Six-Eared Macaque

Location: wilderness of Yunnan (generally Southern regions of China), Jade Peak (a fabricated city in Southwest China), circa 633 AD

Summary: Sun Wukong, the demon king fallen from grace, tries to lead a reformed life under the teachings of his master Tang Sanzang while fighting off various demons and other misfortunes alongside his junior disciples Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing. However, one day they are bound to escort two important figures to the nearest city. The Princess of the Great Tiger Kingdom and her most loyal advisor who seems to share more than food supplies with the short-tempered Monkey King. While majority of them bicker daily, they fail to notice a pair of keen eyes watching their every step.

A soulless demon rejected by the Heavens and feared by humans. Sun Wukong must prove whether he truly is worthy of obtaining sutras in the west. Will he overcome his pride and bloodlust? Is he able to come to terms with Lady Wolf Witch and help each other in order to protect their beloved ones? Or will they both lead themselves inot inevitable doom?

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I try to add a new chapter every month but sometimes it can take two months instead of one, please keep up with my slow tempo. Because this is a monthly release and English isn't my native language, I tend to go back and forth to my older chapters and edit speeling mistakes or rephrasing the sentences so the prose isn't as awkward.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

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This story is basically a fanfic/au/retelling of an already existing Chinese classic Journey to the West. I don't want to disrespect such a great story nor its significance to Chinese culture. I simply enjoy reading the story and since I'm a huge fan of world myths/folk stories etc. I wondered what it would look like if these characters met characters from another part of the world or a religion and what their interactions would be like. So, this isn't a completely original story but more of a retelling with a made up parts and 'new' characters and maybe a new setting. I'd like to point out that the fic/retelling also somewhat serves as an explanation on how SWK met these new characters (because they will appear in several works later on).

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Taglist, let me know if you'd like to be added: @rubywrite @aohendo @vanessaroades-author