#unless you’re TGC

[lovelykhaleesiii]

I am but a shy lil bean. <3

that’s okay nonnie, whenever you’re ready I’m here ☺️

[wishsparkleemoji]

Sky iceberg tier 1: Braids

Full iceberg

TGC: Stands for “thatgamecompany”, the developers of Sky.

OOBs: Stands for “out of bounds”. Going out of bounds (or OOBing) to see cool things, or skip doors that would usually require multiple players to open, is an iconic part of Sky culture. The most popular ways to OOB are the chibi fall and the table clip.

Office: A secret area in Vault based off of TGC’s IRL office. You need either the office cape or a friend with the office cape to enter the area— if you’re not wearing it, the barrier won’t open, unless an event is happening there.

Traveling spirits: Seasonal spirits coming back for a short period after their season is over offering what they did during the season in their shop, so that skykids still have chances to wear cosmetics from past seasons. Lots of Sky culture is based around continuously grinding currency to afford everything from them.

Moths: Slang for a new player in English, as their brown capes make them resemble moths. I hear in other languages it’s “sparrow”!

AURORA: A Norwegian singer whom Sky has collaborated with many times— first to add her vocals to some parts of the game (the opening breath and many tracks that play after dying in Eden), second to get her own season focusing more on her original music, ending with a massive 50-minute musical voyage, and most recently an encore of said musical voyage in celebration of Sky being at gamescom.

Journey: TGC’s third game, before Sky. The games are similar in many ways, and there is a lot of adorable fanart of the skykids and cloaked guys meeting.

Beta: A version of Sky used to bug test and review upcoming features of seasons, events, and updates, at the feedback of testers.

Oreo: In prairie, there is a door that requires 8 players to open. Once opened, in the area there is a shrine which requires 7 players to activate its feature. Once activated, out pops Oreo, the dog of one of the staff. You can ride him while he hops around. He is very cute.

Spirits are genderless: Canonically, all spirits are agender.

Ascended capes: In the base-game constellations, after reaching the top of a spirit tree of a spirit with a cape, there is an option to ascend their tree an extra time, which will unlock the ascended cape. They are the base-game capes but with an extra flair, and they are all three times the price of the normal cape. They are not required to reach 100% with the constellation or summon the realm’s elder in Orbit, they are just there for bored completionist veterans.

[blueikeproductions]

I remain skeptical these are related to Unicron. Though this appears to quell the thought Aftermath is just Thrash’s clone.

Assuming this IS Aftermath.

He gives me Bayformers Mainframe vibes mixed with the Shredder.

Though MAYBE this is a Quintesson?

It kinda resembles a mix of Prosecutors, Executioners & Bailiffs. He even has the little horns like an Executioner Quint and his mouth looks like a Bailiff, kinda.

Robbie’s (?) suit doesn’t at all resemble the Combiner toys.

We go from an Apex Armor styled toy to…

ReBoot: The Guardian Code suits…. (I don’t even have ill will towards TGC, but still.)

Unless the suits become more like Apex Armor later on in the show, I’m leaning towards it being a toy only thing or an early concept for the show that was scrapped. Like how Robbie has a hat in concept art and his toy, a wimpy example, I know.

The Cyber Combiners are collecting dust so regardless of what the cartoon does with them, no one seems interested right now.

I have no idea who this dude is, but he at least seems to be a brand new model. Is he getting a toy? I feel like that’s a big factor. He makes me think he’s supposed to be one of the makeshift Transformers Mandroid (apparently) built in the Expedition game, so the show acknowledging the game might be fun if that’s the case. This may also just be a Decepticon, since they appear to be back as antagonists from what little we’ve heard.

Could he be a Terrorcon? If they make Unicron the bad guy, a (very, very belated) tie in to Rise of the Beasts would track, I’ve mentioned them possibly doing that before. However the more I think about it, WHY would you make Unicron the enemy in a relatively low stakes Rescue Bots For Teens? The Quintessons are practically the Terrans’ cousins, they are the black sheep of the family message this show so happily bludgeons you with, so not using them in favor of Unicron for the same mistakes Prime & TLK made for spectacle and artificial drama, is infuriating. You’re telling me someone made the decision to pass on bad blood and what is essentially a family feud between the Terrans and Quintessons in favor of a muscle chub that vores Planets that writers have always kinda struggled with in how to handle him? Who in the world do I have to soak with a spray bottle and scream NO in their ear until it sinks in? I cannot stand modern writing being so bland and missing out on better ideas that make more sense in the story they’ve presented.

I hope for this show’s sake if it’s using Unicron, it does so in a way that makes sense to what they’ve built up so far, I’ll even take Megatron using the Matrix to TerminalMontage Explode Unicron, but the Quintessons are a far better fit narratively and I hope the purple guy is supposed to be a Quintesson doing something stupid.

[skycotl-before-and-after]

The old Oreo summon in beta was pray. It was changed to butterfly call before live because the pray emote is so much harder to get. It discouraged brand new players who had instant access to Daylight Prairie but hadn’t advanced far enough to get pray. Just getting into this area is hard as a moth/sparrow, but to possibly be the only person there who couldn’t pray, preventing everyone present from succeeding in summoning Oreo? Plus others often think you’re not praying just to annoy them?

I have on the beta cape at the bottom. It’s like the founder’s cape you can buy with money in the office, but white on the inside instead of black. It was given to beta players who had played to a certain level shortly before the game went live. It’s the same icy blue as the TGC logo, but so similar to the teal cape almost no one notices.

Good old Chris. Always cheerful, thoughtful and uplifting. I don’t see him often any more.

Bonus poop candle on the monument. They were the old style messages, and were permanent unless you removed them.

[theroseempress]

HAPPY WORLDBUILDING WEDNESAY!

(I shouted that in my head)

What are some rituals/traditions your WIP has?

HAPPY WORLDBUILDING WEDNESDAY!

*dives into TGC worldbuilding document and rummages around* aha! (gonna count holidays as traditions as well)

(below a cut because. um. yeah that was way longer than I expected)

Solace-

Solites have a holiday when each season starts; IE Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. (I don't have much on them, should probably elaborate)

The formal way to greet someone is to wrap one arm across the chest with the other at your side, and bow. (female-specific version usually done by courtiers involves using the free hand to lift the skirt) The higher in rank the person you’re greeting, the deeper the bow. A more mocking/showmanlike version involves sweeping the free arm out into the air. The informal way is to stack both fists, or depending on the area fist-bump yourself instead. A version done mainly between friends and family is to press your palm against the other person’s, and then interlace fingers.

In Solace, when someone hits a special event of some sort, they receive a title alongside their name, which is supposed to reflect their personality. Depending on the person, a title might be something you give yourself, someone like a parent gives you, or something a community gives you. It’s used sort of like a second name, depending on the person they are often kept secret. (It’s sort of a self thing, the more comfortable you are with yourself, the more likely people are to know your title. It’s also a sign of how much you trust people.)

Ketra-

Holidays- The First Equinox (fall) Second Equinox (spring) First Solstice (summer) and Second Solstice. (winter) First Solstice is commonly celebrated with lots of contests, while Second Solstice is celebrated at night, indoors, with lots of feasting and merriment. (to drive demons away, since they're believed to have the most power then)

The common way to greet someone is for each-other to grasp the other’s forearm. The formal version is to salute by raising one arm with a clenched fist and placing the other fist under that arm’s elbow. Also, hugs. This is the country where people hug each-other.

A common way to resolve a dispute is a hrîndæl; or an ‘honor duel’. Basically, a sword fight. Most commonly done till first blood, though in older times it was to the death. (and still can be if the dispute is serious enough) Hrîndaels are only done by adults; while children are not allowed to participate they often have mock-hrîndaels. A minor can challenge an adult to a genuine hrîndael, but not the other way around, and they are not allowed to fight to the death or any injury. (while a minor can propose these terms and an adult can technically agree, it is very frowned upon)

If someone is challenged to a hrîndael, they are honour-bound to accept unless a) they’re a child, or b) they have a condition that would keep them from participating. (usually along the lines of ‘has children’ or ‘has someone to take care of’) Soldiers and lords’ guards are also banned from participating in hrîndaels on duty or if their superior says not to, though they usually just postpone it until they’re off work. A hrîndael can be set to any terms, from to the death, first blood, surrender, first hit, etc. It is uncommon to set a reward or punishment for the winner or loser, but it is sometimes done.

the Talin-

Talin don’t really do calendars. They have three units of time, marked by when things start growing, when the harvest comes, and a final one between those. That means the calendar (if they had one) would constantly changing, so they refer to time as ‘Harvest 1’ or how-ever, for example. Birthdays get marked in the same manner (IE someone could be born two days before harvest) so they also move around.

A formal greeting is to grasp each shoulder with the opposing hand and nod. The less formal version is to only use one hand, and among friends or family it’s common to just tap the shoulder instead of a proper clasp.

All Talin have two names, their normal name and their ‘personal’ name. The latter is only given to people who are extremely close to the person, and learning a personal name without the person’s permission is considered taboo, as is telling it to anyone else. They are also very closely guarded. Personal names are usually only given to siblings or spouses.

Shyi-

The most formal Shi greeting is to get on one knee with the head bowed and one hand touching the heart. The next greeting, still pretty formal, is to bow the head and touch your heard while still standing. The most common greeting, usually done with a similar social level and first meeting, is to simply touch your heart. The least formal greeting, usually done among friends, is to touch the back of your hands together.

Shi typically have two sets of names; their Shi name- which will be their name, preceded by the name of their mother/father, (depends on gender) which is used for personal business- and their ‘cloak’ name, which is given to outsiders/non-Shi people. A cloak name is sort of like a mark of age, one usually chooses their own when they’re old enough.

In Shi, the length of your hair is tied into personal growth/etc. Children are not allowed to grow their hair beyond chin length until they can take care of their grooming personally, and they are not allowed to grow their hair past shoulder length until they are adults. Once one is an adult, hair is grown long and kept in elaborate braids/buns. Hair is never taken out of the styles unless with someone extremely important, even then it is usually in a simple braid or ponytail. Only people extremely close to someone are allowed to see you with your hair loose, and it’s very a thing to let someone touch it. When someone’s in disgrace, it’s common for their hair to be cut. Cutting your hair without any disgrace or age reason is a STATEMENT, let me say. Hair ornaments are commonly worn, and also an indication of status/relations. When dating, Shi give each-other (often hand-made) hair ornamentation that matches/coordinates, and when married they give each-other more important/better versions of the same ornaments. The intricacy of styling indicates class, as well as hair ornamentation.

Andha-

The traditional way to greet someone formally is to raise both hands in fists, crossed at the wrists. If the other person is particularly important, you bow while still crossing wrists. A more casual version is to raise one fist.

It’s also a habit for most Amorians to tap the top or side of a doorframe as they enter a building.

~

well THAT was a bit of an infodump whoops. hope you enjoyed! most of this was just drawn straight from my worldbuilding document. thanks for the ask! :D

[edenstorm]

an open letter to tgc.

(aka, this wouldn’t fit in the discord character limit lmao)

I’d like to preface this by saying that I’ve been a fan of TGC for a while now, since Journey in 2012. I’ve had a huge appreciation for the effort that goes into your work - it’s honestly changed my life, and I do not say that for the sake of saying it. Truly, thank you.

However, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend with recent updates to Sky: CotL, and one that suggests an underlying issue that really concerns me. Based on what I’ve seen around I’m not the only one a little worried, so I figured I’d send something like this for the first time - I’d like to at least get it off my chest, because I have a great deal of respect for this company. If I didn’t, I’d just walk away.

I don’t think you’re at all in touch with the desires of your playerbase. In fact, I think you think you know what we want more than we do. Furthermore, it’s beginning to feel like you think we’re… stupid, for lack of a better word? Oblivious, at the very least. It’s infantilizing.

For me, it started with the whole TS debacle a while back - where you just so happened to bring back the two highest demand spirits right alongside an extremely limited high-demand 200 candle item. It would be clear to anyone looking in that this was a deliberate push to candle sales, but you still insist to this day that the TS is randomized. I found out after I made a post expressing my frustration (thinking that this was a unique case) that there are people out there who have been reliably predicting the TS for some time now, with an accuracy that would not be possible if the TS was truly random. It’s just… such a silly thing to lie about. I suppose it takes some heat off of you when people don’t get the TS they want, and it allows you to schedule expensive or desired TS at opportune times to push sales without scrutiny, but it comes at the cost of the trust of players who find out - which, to me, does not seem like a good deal. Trust is infinitely more costly than community contentment.

Next was the AFK timer. You did, at the very least, beta test it, and put it back in your pocket when people weren’t happy… but then you quietly added it into the main game later despite the backlash. Candle taxi-ing wasn’t completely killed, but it did put a significant limit on it, and for what purpose? Because people weren’t playing your game how you wanted them to? Because it meant marginally fewer sales?

And now there’s the heart limit. This is a kick in the knees to everyone, but most especially to moths and people who only add friends within the game. Hearts are already a difficult thing for most players to get enough of for base game cosmetics and holidays, and now you want to make them… more difficult? You’re locking a significant portion of your playerbase out of parts of the game because they don’t play the game exactly how you want. You’re making a certain playstyle mandatory, which, rather than fostering friendships and community, is going to drive players away.

Overall, it just seems… obstinate. You’re acting like the kid at the playground who won’t let others play with the toys you brought unless they do exactly what you tell them to. When you release a game, people are going to play it in ways you did not expect or intend. Unless outright harmful or destructive, I don’t think that should be punished. The best games will work with their players and not against them, and this latest heart update is antithetical to what the playerbase wants and needs.

If anyone actually read this, thank you. I hope you have a nice day.

[mothwantstoswim]

hearts broken (pun intended)

I am so disappointed with this heart business. A quick list of reasons:

1. I can’t send hearts to ACTUAL IRL FRIENDS because of different time zones or work schedules, so we don’t get to specifically spend time playing sky together??

2. Some players I did one thing with ages ago, still have a special place in my heart. Daily interaction doesn’t make a connection superior.

3. Sending a heart means “thinking of you,” it means “I hope you’re well,” it means “I love and appreciate you.” TGC is basically like, we don’t want you to show players that you care about each other UNLESS YOU’RE BESTIES.

3.5 (if their goal is to cultivate positive social connections, this actually CUTS OFF a LOT OF THEM). I think very fondly of the sky kids I never play with but can always depend on for a heart here and there

4. I get realtime interaction anxiety. Thankfully it’s mild, but I play solo a lot. So I don’t deserve hearts? I don’t deserve some funky pants and fun hair? Because that’s what hearts are for. I spend many hours on this game, trying to keep up with TS prices and stuff. I LIKE playing Sky. I put TIME into Sky. But I don’t do the Specific Action that they have decided to glorify as more valuable than anything else. So less hearts for me.

5. To make things WORSE, I can send a heart but not receive one. Or, I can receive one but not give one back. I feel guilty that I can’t reciprocate! One-way heart-sending is WAY more like “exploitation” than an even trade ever was.

6. The fact that we weren’t told.. it wasn’t tested... it feels so underhanded. TGC needs to recognize what people ALREADY love about this admittedly beautiful game, instead of getting all stuck on some Lofty Ideal of what the game SHOULD be and bending players to their will.

7. Also. There’s no way to tell who can or can’t send/receive your heart unless you like.. try send a heart to everyone in your friendship tree. I thought some friends were ignoring me but maybe it was just this disaster of an update

EDIT: 7.5. There’s no indication your heart doesn’t send! The open envelope is there, you tap it and the candles go to it, sometimes it even says you sent it! But then leave that friend menu and the candles zoop back to you and the friend never got their heart. AT LEAST MAKE IT OBVIOUS YOU CAN’T SEND. I had to go back through all my friends in a panic because I didn’t know who did or didn’t actually end up getting a heart. Two people I REALLY want to give hearts to are apparently two that I CAN’T. Would it be too much to grey out the icon and make it do the apologetic wiggle when you tap it? Maybe an alert that says “Spend more time with this friend to send them a heart!” This is the worst

8. Hearts are ALREADY HARD TO GET. Especially if you are trying to save up candles for travelling spirits, AND work on the regular constellations, AND not spend 3 hours grinding every day, you can only really support one or two daily heart trades. So think about it. Black cape is 50 hearts. That’s 7.5 weeks -- almost two months to save up for that one cape if you have one daily trade. And it’s just under a month with two daily trades. For ONE CAPE. And that’s with no other accessories you might want to acquire in the meantime.

9. I feel like the preexisting settings were already pretty good for limiting this so-called “exploitation”? Like, you can only send someone one heart a day. You can’t just spam each other infinite hearts as long as you have the candles for it.

9.5. Plus, I noticed form my one dear irl friend who doesn’t play sky regularly: say I send her a heart. I get the closed envelope icon and the message that says “You’ve sent this friend a heart!” Say two days later, she logs back in and collects it. That day, I still can’t send her another heart. Envelope remains closed. It must be collected, and then go through reset, before I can send another. Basically, it counts the day the heart is collected, rather than the day it’s sent. So if I send her a heart, she waits a few days to log in, collects it, and I try send another one on that day, she can’t get two hearts from me, for every one heart per login she can send me back. If that makes sense. I thought that setup kept things pretty fair.

In conclusion I have no doubt this heart update will drive a lot of people to give up on Sky. TGC has really been trying our patience lately and this is a pretty big disaster that impacts A LOT of players in the worst way. As a moth I’m sad that things have devolved so much even in the five months I’ve been around. Sky has so much going for it and I genuinely love playing but those little frustrations start to add up. I’ll stick around for now, but who knows what other inane updates are coming in the months ahead...

Please, please, the only thing we the community can do is make a lot of noise. Tell them on their Discord in the #live-feedback tag. FEEL FREE to use any/many parts of this post to help organize your thoughts and express to TGC your dissatisfaction with this update. Though maybe don’t copy/paste the bullet points word for word so they think it’s a bot or something I guess.

I hope that this clarifies a number of the nuances I (and maybe you) are feeling. If nothing else, this was certainly cathartic for me xD Let’s hope TGC gets their act together and actually listens. No one likes a broken heart.

[skys-haunted]

something that I’ve been thinking about for a long long time and pains me to say is that.. with days of fortune coming round’ and the use of fireworks boosting again I feel like it’s important to note that if you’re particularly photosensitive, sky is probably not the game for you. I’d hope that tgc installs a ‘safe mode’ for epileptic players in the future, but that isn’t a reality right now. Stay away from the game if it’s a real danger to you.

I’ll also point out that It’s actually not rude of players to use the firework staff. I understand the frustration, but ultimately It’s up to tgc what items to make freely available to players (most of which are children and don’t know better if there’s photosensitive folks around or not) and if that choice means the game is unsafe for you, you should not engage with it until it is. And I know that really really sucks!! But you have to understand that if you know there are elements in the game that will hurt you, and it does, it is not the random player waving around a boom stick that’s the problem- it’s tgc’s lack of warning/your decision to keep playing. Please stay away unless you are positive you can handle it.

[yourfriendlyneighborhoodskykid]

You know what? I generally don't want to start discourse or come off as confrontational, but I can't go a day without seeing someone bemoaning the very idea of ultimate gifts returning and I'm getting sick of their arguments. Ultimates returning wouldn't be the end of the world.

First off, the people saying this are almost always the same ones I see complaining that ts exist... They're happy to get the wing buffs but Megabird forbid new players have nice things. This argument almost always boils down to they "don't feel special anymore" and if you don't believe me just look at the comments anytime someone does a vid on the possibility. I saw one person saying that too many people were even getting elder hair, and, buddy... that was always free. That's an exceptionally selfish and shallow reason. It's a game about friendship and helping new people, not a cosmetics competition.

More understandable is the concern that making them available again would undermine the pass money. I get that. But that problem would be solved by making them IAP for as much as or maybe even a little more than the original pass. One argument I've seen against that is that some people spent even more, but I'm going to be honest. If you spent 200+ dollars on seasonal candles so you could have the ultimates first day, that's neither my fault nor my problem. You're an outlier and your decision shouldn't affect the game's accessibility for others.

I've also seen someone edit a "seasonal staff" tree, but everything on it was 500+ candles or 100+ hearts. The thing about that idea is that literally the only people who could possibly afford that would be the veterans who played since the first season, because they didn't have to spend regular candles on anything other than regular constellations. That defeats the entire purpose of potentially bringing them back. Also, locking them behind 2000+ candles' worth of others would be a little cruel given that most people I know only want one specific ultimate because it suits them or their character.

Another one (usually hinging on the "I wanna feel special" argument) is that if they were available again people would spam them. Personally, I have my doubts about that. Look at the ts: everyone is wearing their cosmetics/spamming the emote for about a week or so and then they go back to something they really like. Even the previous ultimates fade out of interest after awhile; I've seen far fewer of my friends wearing the anubis mask already. The chances are that the only people who would buy the IAP and/or wear it for the long run would be the people who really wanted that specific cosmetic. As much as IAP in games normally bothers me, it would help TGC out and honestly reduce the number of people able to get it... there's your exclusivity, vets. I mean, how many people have I met so far wearing this overpriced cape?? Maybe six in a year, unless I deliberately go look in Office.

And before anyone comes at me like "you're just jealous", no. I have a look down already and I'm happy with it—previous ultimates' bright colors would honestly ruin it. Hell, if they made them IAP like I'm advocating I probably wouldn't even be able to afford them at this point. It's not for me.

I'd like new players (especially android, they got screwed out of three whole seasons and we should acknowledge that) to be able to enjoy Dreams and Prophecy cosmetics just like I did. Maybe they'll even enjoy them more since I never wear them, and isn't seeing other people happy enough?

[yewordered]

imani and their opinion on the dark druids, if they know of them? :D

So the thing is, TGC vampires (with the notable exclusion of Janos) are fairly neutral in the Dark Druids VS Order. They stay in their territory in Romania. Nobody trusts vampires. Great allies, great liars.

With that out of the way, she doesn’t really care about either side--- she has no reason to fight for the Druids and the Order doesn’t trust vampires, so she’s fairly neutral unless given a reason to side with either of them. Of course after Janos sides with the Order, she’s more willing to offer a hand. Not her full assistance, more like “If you’re in this area and need some quick help, do call” instead of “I would die in a war for you people” , yknow?

She doesn’t really give a shit about either side, like I said, she’s not interacted enough with the Druids, and since they’re secretive, she doesn’t know enough to form any kind of opinion. 

Despite not interacting much with vampires in Romania, their territory, she’s more inclined to listen to the vampire prince and where his loyalties lie. 

[mad-ramblings]

Remember Me Pt. 2

A/N: Get ready Ramblers, it’s here. This one fic, has taken me at least four days, and has drained my emotional stores. But by god do I love it and hope you guys do too. Well, I hope you all enjoy. (After doing this, somebody please send in fluffy headcanons or something for any fandom I’m in. Please.)

Word Count: 3,726

Warnings: Angst (and fluff, don’t worry), light swearing, TGC spoilers

Eggsy shut the door behind him and heard the most heart wrenching sound. He walked towards it and saw (Y/n) clinging onto Merlin like he was the last person on Earth. Her face was buried in his shoulder as her body was wracked with sobs. He saw her cry at the funeral, but those were silent tears. Dignified and allowed by a top secret spy organization. But what Eggsy was seeing, these were the cries of somebody who had lost everything, and she had. She had lost her home, her belongings, and her husband. Twice. This was more than anybody should ever have to go through.

Merlin was standing there comforting her, one hand on her back and the other gently stroking her hair. This wasn’t how he wanted this to go. The second he saw Harry on the other side of that mirror, he was thinking of a way to tell (Y/n) that he was alive. For the past year, Merlin had been working right beside her. He saw every silent tear, every sleepless night, every breakdown, in short he had been the best friend he could possibly be to her.

Ginger reentered the room with the doctor and Tequila close behind. Tequila took Eggsy to go meet their head of operations while Ginger moved closer to Merlin and (Y/n). “Agent Nimue?” She asked. “Can I ask you to go with Doctor Daniels while I talk with Merlin about how to get Harry’s memory back? She’s our resident psychiatrist and would be more than glad to talk with you about anything.”

(Y/n) pulled her face out of Merlin’s shoulder, and for the first time Ginger saw what utter despair looked like. She’ll never forget what she saw. This wasn’t the pretty cry that movies made you believe in, no this was the cry of somebody who had everything taken from them. (Y/n)’s eyes were red and puffy, tears still flowing and streaming down her face like rivers of sorrow. Her nose was splotched with red and her lashes were darkened and clumped together, the tears still clinging on. Her breathing was still shuddery and uneven as Merlin gently guided her towards Doctor Daniels.

As soon as she was in the doctor’s arms they left the room and headed back towards the infirmary. The walk there was silent, but neither (Y/n) or Daniels felt the need to break it. They finally reached her office and Daniels directed (Y/n) to sit on one of the many chairs in her office. She fetched a glass of water and forced it into (Y/n)’s hands. “Drink. You need to rehydrate.” (Y/n) slowly drained the glass and set it down on the coffee table in front of her. “So Mrs. Hart, what do you want to talk about today?”

(Y/n) slowly raised her eyes to meet the doctor’s. Daniels had seen eyes like that before on countless clients. Eyes that were devoid of any and everything. Eyes that said everything and nothing all at once. Silence hung in the area between them before (Y/n) finally decided to break the silence. “I’ve lost him all over again.” Her voice was soft and small. “I find out that he’s not dead but that he doesn’t know who I am all in the span of a few moments. This is worse than him being dead.”

Daniels leaned her head to one side and asked, “Why is that?”

“When he was dead, I could mourn. I could think about the life I had with him and be glad with the time I was given with him. But now?” She took in a shaky breath. “He doesn’t know who I am. Unless there’s someway to fix him, I’ll live the rest of my life thinking of all the things that we could have again that will never happen because he doesn’t...” Her eyes started to water again. She let out a shaky laugh after looking up to make sure no more tears ran down her face. She had cried enough for today. “What are the chances that he’ll ever be normal again?”

Daniels mulled this over for a moment before responding. “Well, he has a case of retrograde amnesia. We normally use a stress point, a trigger from their past to bring them back to their regular selves. Seeing as how we didn’t know anything about Harry when he got here, we couldn’t do much. But now that we have three people who are very close to him, maybe y’all can trigger something to bring him back.”

(Y/n) looked into the doctor’s eyes. “I hope you’re right.”

Merlin and (Y/n) lead Ginger through every Kingsman training test they could think of to try on Harry, but none of them worked. Every time a test would fail, (Y/n) would immediately go to Harry’s side. The last test they tried, the one where trainees had to find a source of air in a water filled room, Harry started to panic instead of snap back to his old self. Merlin shut down the simulation and (Y/n) raced to the door waiting for the water to leave the room with Merlin close behind her.

He put a hand on (Y/n)’s shoulder. “Let me go in first. If he’s upset, I’d rather his anger go to me. I’m the one who decided to put him through this test.” She conceded and let him go into the room first while she lingered in the doorway. Merlin was right about Harry not being pleased about almost drowning and was thankful that he decided to take the brunt of his frustration.

She wasn’t truly paying attention to what the two were saying until she heard Harry’s familiar timbre say something rather loudly. “I just want to go home. I want to go back to my mother and my butterfly collection.” Her heart dropped. They’ve tried everything and nothing has worked. Merlin solemnly nodded and said that he would arrange for a cab to come and get him in the next few days. Merlin walked by (Y/n) muttering an apology as he walked out the door. She turned to follow him when Harry called out her name.

“(Y/n), would you stay? I haven’t gotten to talk to you in a while.” He had a slight smile on his face. One that he would always wear when talking to her before he finally asked her out to dinner, thanks to Merlin’s pushing.

She gave a small smile on return, the smile not reaching her eyes as the pain of days past lingered in her eyes. “Sure, Harry.” She went and sat down on the edge of the bed beside him, her hands splayed out beside her. “What do you want to talk about today? Books, music, art?” Once they started putting him through the tests to see if they would trigger any memories, (Y/n) took to talking to him after every one. She thought that maybe just talking to him could trigger something and would remember.

He turned his body towards her and said, “Actually, I wanted to talk about you, it that’s alright?” He gently placed a hand on hers but she quickly pulled it away. “For instance, you seem to hate physical contact with me and I don’t know why. Have I done something wrong?”

She looked away from him as she pulled her hands onto her lap. How could she explain to him that every time he looked at her she wanted to cry because the familiarity wasn’t there anymore. How could she explain that every time he so much as brushed his fingers over her hand that she wanted to launch herself into his arms but couldn’t because to him she wasn’t his wife, she was some random woman that’s been putting him through all sorts of weird tests. “You didn’t do anything Harry. You just remind me of somebody I miss very much.”

She didn’t notice the tear slip out from her eye and down her face until Harry brought up a thumb to wipe it away. At first she tensed up, but as he gently swiped his thumb over her cheek she relaxed. They looked into each other’s eyes for a few moments before she tore her eyes away and made way to the door. “I’m sorry Harry, I have something I need to attend to. I’ll come talk with you afterwards, I promise.” She quickly flashed her sad smile and dashed out the door, tears starting to fill her eyes.

Later that day, (Y/n) was cornered by Eggsy. “You’ve been on loads of dangerous missions with Harry, right?”

She was startled by the question but still answered. “Well yeah, of course. Why?”

“Did you ever have a situation where you were in danger, like life threatening danger?”

(Y/n) was starting to become confused. “Eggsy, we were field agents for a secret spy organization. That was the job description.”

He groaned in frustration. “I know that! What I’m trying to get at is was there ever a moment when you and Harry were on a mission and you, you specifically, were in a very high stake, low survival odds or something? Did somebody ever hold you at gunpoint and threatened to do that cliche ‘do what I say or the girl gets it’ or kidnap you to get to him, something like that?”

She started to understand what he was getting at. “There was one mission...” She started to give a quick summary to Eggsy. “We were in Russia on an undercover mission. We were supposed to be there for about two months. It ended up being five because they somehow caught me when I was out doing surveillance. Halfway through the first month too.” She sharply chuckled at her past misfortune. “It felt like ages until he found me. I was beaten and bruised to hell and back because he did the right thing and carried the mission out. When he finally found me, they had me tied to a chair and a gun pointed at my head. He burst in and they started yelling at him in Russian about handing over everything he had learned, all the evidence he gathered.” Eggsy was mentally taking notes of everything she was saying. “Obviously he didn’t and when he was done with them he checked to see if I was still alive and if I had any wounds. It was our first mission after being married and that happened” She smiled sadly at the memory. She gently shook her head to bring herself back to the present. “Eggsy why is this so important to you?”

He took a deep breath before explaining that he had tried to recreate the final Kingsman trial with a dog that looked slightly like Mr. Pickle. “Long story short, it didn’t work and now he thinks I’m a fucking psychopath. I was thinking that maybe his trigger point has something to be with you. Ginger said that these triggers are normally traumatic events in the person's life so-”

“So you want to try and recreate one of my near death experiences to see if it brings him back?” She interrupted. Eggsy nodded and asked if she was in. He had already run it by Merlin and as long as she was fine with it, he would be ready to try it. She took a deep breath and looked at Eggsy. “This could possibly be our last chance before that cab comes tomorrow, right?” He nodded his head rapidly. She was silent for a few moments, mulling over the idea. Would reliving that memory be truly worth the smallest possibility to bring her Harry back? She looked at Eggsy with a new fire in her eyes. “Let’s do it.”

Harry was putting his few possessions into the bag that was given to him when Doctor Daniels knocked on the door. “Harry? May I come in?”

“Of course Doctor.” He continued packing as he spoke. “Is there something in the medical domain that needs to be taken care of before I leave?”

She shook her head. “I was actually wondering if you would help me look for (Y/n). I can’t seem to find her and she was supposed to come swing by my office earlier.”

This caught his attention. Harry may not remember who this woman (Y/n) is, but he had a feeling that she was normally rather punctual. “Of course I’ll help. Where should we look first?”

The doctor motioned for him to follow her out the door and began her to her preset destination. “Last I heard, she spends a lot of time down by our training facilities.” They made their way down that way, occasionally talking when they heard a loud crash followed by a muffled cry. Harry and the doctor took off down the hall towards the door at the end of the hallway where the noise seemed to come from.

Harry opened the door expecting the doctor to follow him in but the door shut behind him, plunging him into darkness, followed by a click signifying the lock engaging. He jostled the handle until a dim light flickered on. He turned around and what he saw made his stomach turn. There in the middle of the room was (Y/n), bound to a chair, sporting a few bruises and a busted lip. The gag in her mouth prevented her from calling out to him but he could still see the fear in her eyes.

Out of one of the dark corners of the room, Merlin stepped out in disguise. He started speaking in Russian, the same things that (Y/n) sworn up and down were said that day, but Harry looked confused. Merlin kept going through the lines in perfect Russian, but nothing seemed to be clicking for Harry. (Y/n) and Merlin shared a quick, discreet glance and she braced herself. They had agreed that if need be, Merlin or Eggsy could get a bit rough to make it more believable. She relaxed her muscles and braced for the impact of the pistol across her face. As soon as it happened, Harry had turned back around and began pounding on the door, pleading for somebody to open it.

That’s all it took for (Y/n) to call it all off. This was their last resort, and it didn’t work. She easily slipped out of her binds, and tore off the gag. “Lights. Door.” The voice activation took over and lit the room in bright light and unlocked the door. She rushed out of the room and ran to the nearest bathroom leaving, Eggsy and Merlin to explain what just happened. She locked the door behind her and proceeded to wash off the bruises and blood with water and her tears. After a few minutes she heard a gentle knock.

“(Y/n)?” It was Merlin. She unlocked the door and peered out. He saw the real bruise starting to form on her face where he hit her earlier and grimaced slightly. “The cab will be here soon. You should... You know.” She nodded her head numbly and started towards where the cab would be coming to.

She saw Harry standing there alone with his bag. She stood there for a moment, still shell shocked that nothing had worked. She took a deep breath and called out to him. “Harry!” She quickly closed the distance between the two of them. “I wanted to give you your leaving present.” This was going to be the last time she ever did this. She leaned up and gently pressed her lips to his cheek. She pulled away and said, “Best of luck with your butterflies Harry.”

She turned to walk away but felt his hand gently grab her wrist. He pulled her flush to his chest and said, “Well if this is the last time I’ll be seeing you, I hope you don’t mind me doing this.” She was very confused until she felt his lips on hers for the first time in what felt like centuries.

He may not remember who she is, but their lips moved in sync with each other as her right hand went behind his neck and the left cupped his face. His right hand floated up to meet her left on his cheek. His fingers took to tracing patterns on the back of her hand until one of them hit something metal on her ring finger. (Y/n) completely forgot that she had put on her ring on to add to the authenticity of the scene. Harry froze and pulled away from her, holding her hand in his. He was staring intently at the ring, fingers grazing over the delicate butterfly engravings.

“Harry I can explain.” (Y/n) started. However she never got to.

He dropped her hand like it was on fire. He staggered back from her and was looking around wildly, swatting at the air around him. (Y/n) was very concerned but had no idea what to do. She stood there watching him tears starting to fill her eyes again. He finally stopped and he seemed different. His posture, his facial expression, everything was different. He looked at her with a slight look of disbelief. “(Y/n)?”

She took a hesitant step forward. “Harry? Are you alright?” She wasn’t responded to with words. Harry closed the distance between them, his hands cupping her face, and crashed his lips onto hers. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed back feverishly. She knew that he had come back to her. This was the same type of kiss that happened every time one of them came back from a long mission.

They finally pulled away from each other to breathe. They stood there in a peaceful silence before Harry decided to speak. “I love you so very much, (Y/n). I never thought that would happen.” He firmly grabbed her shoulders. “We have to stop Valentine, he has a device that-”

She cut him off by placing a finger to his lips. “We handled that love. You have a lot of catching up to do. You missed a lot in the past year.”

Harry’s expression changed from serious to shocked. “You... you have been living without me for an entire year...” He was honestly surprised. “You didn’t move on from me?”

“I couldn’t Harry. I tried to, but God... I just couldn’t.” She softly laughed to herself. “I saw you every where I turned. Every cup of tea, every agent I sent out, every family I saw, all I could see, all I could think about was you and how you were gone. How all the futures we had together, none of them were going to happen.” She let tears fall freely down her face, she no longer cared about those damn rules Kingsman had. She let a year's worth of tears finally escape her system as she clung to Harry like she would never be able to hold him again.

He held on to her just as tightly while stroking her hair and murmuring how he was never going to leave her like that again. After a few moments he gently pulled away from her and wiped the tears from her face. “My dear,” he started, “after everything's said and done here, I think it’s time I took a step back from field work.”

(Y/n) looked up at him with an astounded look on her face. Harry Hart? Step back from field work? Those words were never in the same sentence, ever. “Harry, what makes you say that? Just because you’ve been out of the field for a year doesn’t mean that you have to stop.” Her decision to switch from being an agent to a trainer had been a long time coming. Losing Harry was what pushed her over the edge.

“That’s not why I’m doing this, my love.” He brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. “You see, before I left for Kentucky and,” he paused, trying to find the right words to use, “everything happened, I started thinking about something you had said.” He looked deep into her eyes. “I know we have a very small window left, and I think we should take it.” (Y/n)’s eyes widened and a small spark of hope lit in her eyes. He took a breath before speaking. “(Y/n), I would like to start a family with you. I wanted to tell you after everything with Valentine was over, but I never got the chance.”

(Y/n)’s eyes started to brim with tears and for the first time in what felt like ages, they were happy tears. She started peppering his face with kisses until she finally planted her lips on his and poured every emotion she was feeling at that moment into it. She pulled away and rested her forehead on his. “I think we should get Hamish to cancel that cab.”

“If that wouldn’t be too much of a bother.” He chuckled and picked up his bag. With his other hand on the small of her back, they proceeded to walk back into the Statesman headquarters.

Merlin was already there at the front door. He wanted to make sure his close friend got driven away safely, but he also had a sneaking suspicion that Harry would try and pull something like what just happened. “Welcome back Harry. I’ll cancel that cab.”

“Thank you Hamish.” He turned to (Y/n). “I think I should go and thank the people that have kept me here. Only seems right to.” She nodded in agreement, but not before suggesting that he should change. A suggestion that he laughed at. He did however lean in and whisper in her ear, “Only if you come with me, darling.”

Thanking her years of training, she kept her blush down. She lead him down the winding halls until they came to her room. “I think they can wait to hear from you for a while.” They both smiled at each other and disappeared into her room. Needless to say, it wasn’t until the next day when Harry got to meet everybody.

See how open-ended that ending is?! If you guys want, I have two different epilogues that I could do for this, one that is what happens in the bedroom or what the reader and Harry’s family looks like. OR, you can ask for the secret scene that I thought of when I was originally writing that involves Merlin. Send in what you think I should do! But until then, I’m going to take a day or two off from writing any full fics. I’ll still do small things so expect some headcanons in the next day or two. Love you guys! xo  

[lovelykhaleesiii]

hiii just letting you that i’m here for chubby!aegon fanfics because it’s not only canon (same with rhaenyra) but NEEDED ❤️

(i’m also annoyed and angry at hotd tiktok fans for hating on their preferred teams by insulting book!aegon’s or book!rhaenyra’s physical appearance. so, thanks for choosing to show some love for these ‘canon’ details!)

thank you sm, I appreciate your lovely message 🥺 I don’t get them often tbh, so this really made me smile x

going on a little tangent here, but I’ve seen those toks & have recently been told people hate on chubby!Aeg (and Nyra especially after childbirth).

the fact that people are dissing a woman’s body after enduring a thing like child birth is just fucking disgusting. like cmon…. how low do you have to be?

and from my perspective, these characters, especially in this fandom (including GoT), are all very grey / complex. none are completely morally good (unless they’re what, fucking children?). and I’m not saying I support the actions of characters like Aegon (book or tv, absolutely not), but at the end of the day you pick on a character, your fave most likely has done something fucked too. like it’s all fictional.

my fics obviously contain a very fanon version of him & mostly because TGC is just *chef’s kiss* 🥹

but I absolutely think the appearance of a character should not be used to fuel hate. especially when it comes to something like weight, it’s a lil critical…. like now you’re just being mean & stupid.

I love any (physical) version of Aeg but I preferably have a soft spot for thiccc guys (my weakness). just preferences bby 🤭

but I digress, I love some THICCC PEOPLE <3

[reformedkingsmanagent]

Hi hi, I was reading one of your post saying you were a sucker for Charlie's beard in TGC and well, an idea came to mind (cuz that beard? Hell yeah). Can I request a prompt where the reader loves having beard burn (on the neck, or inner thighs for a splash of NSFW), I'd love to see what you could make with all this... 👀 thanks love!

AN: This is very long. All I’m going to say is I guess I realllllllllly wanted to write some TGC!Charlie because once I started I just couldn’t stop. Prepare for some smut too. (nsfw)

Prompt: Gloriously-Beardy Charlie

Pairing: Charlie x reader

Word Count: 7165 (haha…yikes)

Warnings: Language, sex, Charlie with a beard (come on, it’s lethal)

Whenever Charlie needed anything, he came to you. You knew the things he requested most frequently, and you usually were able to order it in advance of him asking so he wouldn’t have to wait for it. Most people would just say you were very good at your job, which you were, but you had a special interest in Charlie. You frequently daydreamed about the bionic man, wondering what it would be like for him to pay attention to you. Sure, he talked to you whenever there was time, but he was always so busy with Poppy’s errands that you didn’t see him as much as you would like.

You were personally responsible for his current beard, and he didn’t have a clue. Well, at this point he probably did, but does it matter? Supposedly, you had been unable to receive the exact razor he liked, but you should be getting them “any day now” which wasn’t true at all. You could have ordered them anytime you wanted, but you hadn’t. You loved his beard, it suited him incredibly well. You would do anything to prevent its disappearance. Well, maybe not anything, but it was steadily becoming your favorite feature of his. Sometimes you caught yourself wondering what it would feel like brushing against the inside of your thighs and you’d have to scold yourself. You knew he was starting to catch on. It was inevitable, you just hoped he didn’t get angry with you. You didn’t think he was the type, but you didn’t really know him that well.

It was hard to get things here in Cambodia. For the crew stationed at Poppyland, getting anything themselves meant they would have to traverse a very active minefield and a large section of jungle before they reached any sort of civilization. That was why you did what you did. On Mondays, you usually received most of your orders from the previous week. That meant that after sorting through everything and conducting an inventory check, you spent the following day divvying everything up. Poppy’s items were always sent to her room, while everyone else got theirs as you saw them. You were friendly with everyone around the compound, save a few unsavory characters. This line of work didn’t attract the most model citizens, but a lot of them were quite nice.

“I’m not going to even set myself up for the disappointment.” You heard Charlie’s voice from behind you, and you suppressed the urge to smile. He walked over to you as you carried a bundle of various requests in a bag around the compound. He glanced into the bag as you dug around in it.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” You tossed a big bag of M&Ms towards Michael, who caught them and waved. Everyone was a bit less conversational with you whenever Charlie was around. You didn’t know if they were afraid of him, but there was some reason for it. Charlie found what he was looking for and clutched the container of tea to his chest as if it was the most important thing in the world.

“Oh I think you do.” He looked at you, suspicion evident in the way his eyes were narrowed and his eyebrows, normally straight across, were bent down in scrutiny. It was such a strong look that you had a hard time hiding your reaction to seeing him so close. “You like this?” He ran his knuckles along his jaw, along his growing beard. You heard something in his voice that gave you pause. You couldn’t place it, but it activated a primal emotion set that you did your best to bury.

“Why would I care about that?” You sounded less than convincing to your own ears. You quickly looked away from him and continued your rounds, passing along a new book to someone else. He surprisingly followed you. You had hoped he would drop it and head back now that he got what he came for. You had a hard time dealing with his intensity in person, and in such large doses. You would prefer to admire him from afar. It was safer for you, anyway. You didn’t know if there were consequences for falling for Poppy’s right-metal hand-man as the conversation had never come up, but you weren’t about to find out.

“You can’t hide the flush in your cheeks from me.” You felt your stomach drop. Doing your best to ignore him, you continued on. “I see how you react to me. Is there anything you want to tell me?” Oh shit. Hell no. Absolutely not. He seemed to take your silence as an invitation to continue. You saw the raised eyebrow of the guard in front of you as you passed him his requested items and tried not to think of how this must look. How dare Charlie do this to you in front of other people. “I don’t bite, you know.” Oh god, this can’t be happening. “Unless, of course, you want me to.” You widened your eyes at his last remark and whipped around, smacking him in the leg with the bag you had slung over your shoulder on accident. You pushed him back, away from the guard. You could feel the firmness of his chest beneath your hands, but that was irrelevant.

“Will you shut up!” You angrily whispered. He didn’t seem deterred in the slightest. In fact, he was smiling. You pointed a finger at his chest, pressing hard. “You don’t get to embarrass me in front of everyone.” His smile faltered, and he didn’t move as you turned around and walked away.

“Charlie, stop bothering that poor girl.” Poppy closed the computer in front of her, focusing her attention on the now-distracted man. He had wandered into the diner after his encounter with you, massaging the source of pain in the center of his chest and feeling a little unsteady. He certainly hadn’t meant to upset you. He was doing his best to flirt with you, but maybe he had come on a little too strong. “She’s the best employee we have. We would be a mess without her. It’s very important, giving them some creature comforts. They’d be too restless otherwise. We don’t have anyone who could possibly replace her.”

Poppy always had a plan, always had an explanation for everything. It was what he admired most about her. This current situation defied explanation, however. He didn’t know what to do. “I’m not bothering her, just…” He couldn’t explain himself to Poppy without feeling a little uncomfortable. She was practically a mother to him at this point, but he couldn’t talk to her about you.

“You’re bothering her. If she’s not interested, leave her alone. We need her.” Poppy reclined in her desk chair, resting her feet up on the corner of her desk. She glanced out the window next to her and observed her domain functioning as it should.

“But I’m pretty sure she is interested.” He sat down in one of the empty chairs in front of her desk, resting his chin on his metal hand. Now that he was here, discussing it, he hoped Poppy could help him. He thought you were interested in him if your constant blushing and guarded behavior around him was any indication. Maybe Poppy could give him some good advice.

“Have you bothered asking her?” She glanced over at him, her hands neatly folded over her stomach. “You can’t guess at that sort of thing.”

“Well, no, but I-”

“So just ask her.” The thought of simply walking up and bluntly questioning her feelings didn’t feel right. Before he could say anything to Poppy, she let out a groan. “Look, here’s your opportunity to make up for what you just did. I swear, we need to get rid of him.”

Charlie followed her eyes and noticed that Sal had taken the bag you were carrying earlier and was going through it. You stood near him, arms crossed over your chest. If he weren’t twice your size, Charlie was sure Sal would be regretting that. But Charlie could certainly help with that. As he walked towards the doors leading out of the diner, Poppy called out to him. “Don’t break anything, please!”

“If you wanted something, you should have asked for it. You can’t take things from other people just because you’re lazy.” You stood, waiting for Sal to return your bag. “Come on, give it back. I actually have work to do, unlike you.” You held your hand out for the bag, watching him rummage through it with an annoyed look on your face. Sal was always a thorn in your side. Those unsavory characters you mentioned before? He was at the top of that list.

“You should listen to her.” Charlie’s voice was deep and threatening and you couldn’t deny the effect it had on you, but you were still aggravated at how he made you feel earlier. You weren’t glad he decided to intervene. You could handle this yourself. You did on days he wasn’t here. This wasn’t new behavior from Sal.

Sal looked up at Charlie, not at all intimidated. That was a mistake. “Look at you, metal man, coming out here to defend your girl.” Whoa, big mistake.

Both you and Charlie reacted immediately, though to different things. “I am not his girl.”

“Metal man?” Charlie nearly yelled.

Sal looked between the two of you, an eyebrow raised in amusement. “Better get your stories straight, eh? Everyone knows.”

“Everyone knows what?!” You reached out, grabbing Sal’s shirt in your hand. It probably wasn’t as threatening as you intended, but it got the message across. You weren’t messing around.

Charlie took a step forward, placing a shiny hand on your shoulder. You noticed it in your peripheral vision before he even touched you. “We should talk.” You let go of Sal and looked up at Charlie. Why today? Why did he have to do this today? This was more contact than you’d had with him in weeks, all rolled into one morning. Charlie held out his other hand to Sal, who dutifully handed over the bag but not before taking the only thing you had ordered for yourself.

“Not that, please-”

“Put it back,” Charlie growled, again putting his deeper voice on display. Sal sighed and dropped the item back in the bag. He walked away, grumbling about something under his breath. Once Sal was out of earshot, Charlie turned to you. “Hey, I-”

“I didn’t need your help, you know.” You took the bag from him and shrugged off his hand on your shoulder, replacing its weight with the strap of the bag. You moved some things around in the bag, trying to organize it again as you spoke. “I’m not some helpless little girl you have to protect, I can handle things myself-”

“Hey, hey, calm down.” He stopped you from turning around by grabbing your upper arms gently. “I know you can handle yourself. I never doubted that.” You avoided looking at him, instead shrugging off his gentle grip and walking away. Charlie was at a loss. He didn’t know how to approach you without making you uncomfortable or upset. He turned to face the diner, where he spotted Poppy watching the exchange. He threw his hands in the air and she suppressed a smile.

You walked down the hallway, towel-drying your hair. You had changed into some cotton shorts and a plain t-shirt after your shower, hoping to have a chance to relax for a bit. On your way back to your room, you noticed Charlie headed your way, a towel thrown over his shoulder. You kept your head down, hoping he would keep walking. You were conflicted when he passed right by you, not saying anything at all. It was the outcome you had hoped for, but you still couldn’t deny that you wanted his attention. There was something about him that both pleased and vexed you. Perhaps it was that you didn’t know if you were even allowed to have feelings for him that made you angry with him, as if it was all his fault.

You got settled in your room, sitting up in your bed with a book open in your lap. Your bag sat on the floor next to your boots, finally empty. You had no other commitments for the rest of the day. Poppy had told you to spend the rest of your evening relaxing, so that’s exactly what you planned to do. You didn’t have the guts to discuss Charlie with her, and you weren’t sure if you ever would. Whenever you were speaking with her at her desk in the diner, you would catch the shine of the grinder out of the corner of your eye and get nervous. You yourself hadn’t been required to undergo the recruitment test that the other men had, and you were thankful, but you kept waiting for the day where she would ask that of you. You weren’t sure if you would be able to do it.

Unable to focus, you slammed the book shut and tossed it onto the desk, running your hands over your face in exasperation. You should have never agreed to come out here. Why had you come out here? You couldn’t even remember anymore. Maybe you needed to leave. You didn’t know if you even could. You reached over your shoulder to touch the ring of gold burned into your skin. You could feel the raised outline of it through your shirt. You wouldn’t be able to forget this place.

“Hey, is this a bad time?” You whipped your head around to see Charlie in the doorway, towel slung low around his hips. You could still see drops of water on his shoulders. The arm and its harness were gone. He must have just left the shower. Your mouth fell open in your attempt to reply, but you couldn’t form the words as your eyes roamed his bare chest for the first time. Thinking about running your fingers through the hair on his chest had you gripping the comforter tightly in your hands.

“Uh, maybe put some clothes on first?” You looked away from him and instead focused on the comforter you were holding on to. You started picking at it, pulling at a loose thread. A weight settling at the edge of the bed forced you to look up. You could see the muscles in his back as he leaned forward, his elbow on his thigh. You reached out and ran a finger across his shoulder blade and instantly recoiled once you touched his hot skin. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” You brought your legs up to your chest to make yourself as small as possible. You didn’t think you could blush any harder than you currently were. You could see him smiling, and you got angry all over again. “What are you doing here, Charlie?”

“I wanted to talk to you, remember?” He looked over his shoulder at you, his blue eyes roaming over your face. He had a serious look on his face, and between that and his posture he somehow managed to appear vulnerable.

“O-okay then, talk.” You wrapped your arms around your knees, keeping them pulled up against your chest. You did that mostly so you didn’t accidentally touch him again.

“Why are you always so angry with me?” He asked. That was a loaded question. If you answered it honestly, you’d really mess things up. If you lied, then you’d only grow angry with yourself.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to work on it.” You avoided his gaze as you sidestepped around his question.

“That’s not what I’m asking.” Of course it wasn’t. What he was asking for you to explain was the root of all your problems with him. Your fear of your own feelings, and the possible consequences of making them known. Though it was certainly pleasurable, you didn’t want to be distracted by Charlie if you knew it couldn’t happen. And it shouldn’t. Maybe if you explained that to him, he would leave you alone.

You squeezed your eyes shut and groaned. “Alright, fine.” He sat up straight, turning to face you. You avoided eye contact and steeled yourself so you could focus on explaining it to him. “I only get angry with you because I am interested in you-”

“You are?” You ignored his interruption, opting to continue with what you were saying before you left some important detail out.

“But I know it’s not going to happen. Poppy would probably flip if she knew, and I kind of like living. I appreciate everything you do to try to help me, but having you around is a constant reminder of all the things I shouldn’t be feeling. So…maybe just keep your distance. That would probably be easier.” There, you finally said it. He would have to understand the consequences you would face. You could go back to your brief greetings, and things would stay the same. “I’ll still get you your stuff-”

“Poppy knows.” Those two words sent your comfort level rocketing down to depths you didn’t know you could feel. Instantly you felt your arms trembling and you squeezed them tighter around your knees. You had just spoken with her, and she knew? Oh god, how on earth had you- “She knows how I feel, anyway.” You looked up at his words, knowing none of that could help you. He wasn’t the one who would experience the consequences.

“Poppy is going to kill me for all this.” You mumbled it, but he still heard you. He reached out and laid his hand on your knee. You felt the roughness of his skin and you forced yourself to remain present and coherent as you thought about what his hand would feel like all over. You shouldn’t be thinking like that.

“No she’s not.” He gave your knee a squeeze and you forced yourself to move away from him, standing up next to the desk. “She’s more worried about me scaring you off than anything else.” He stood up, getting close to you. As his face neared yours, you turned your head. How had this whole situation transformed so quickly? You still couldn’t allow yourself to react to him. He still felt forbidden and out of reach. You didn’t like the confusing mixture of emotions running through you. Everything was at odds with each other in your mind.

“You should go.” You lifted your hands to create a barrier, but you came into contact with his abdomen on your way up. You felt him suck in a breath. You smoothed your hands up his torso, feeling his muscles tense underneath your fingers. You stopped at his collarbone, enjoying the feeling of him. You noticed his eyes fall closed, and you immediately dropped your hands. “What the hell is wrong with me?” You moved your hands to cover your face, but the brief memory of the way he felt under your palms prevented you from touching anything. You were absolutely overwhelmed and more conflicted than you had ever been in your life. “Charlie, I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I-”

You felt his hand on your cheek and you jumped but then settled into his touch. He lifted your face to look up at him and offered you a gentle smile. “Just breathe. You need to relax. I can go, but I want you to think about this, to consider this. I’ll respect your wishes if you want me to leave you alone. Just say the word.” You nodded and he took a step back, releasing your face. Your skin burned. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” You nodded again, and offered him the best smile you could muster, which wasn’t much with how little control you had over your emotions at present, but he seemed satisfied. He backed out of the room and left you standing there, heart in your throat. What on earth were you supposed to do now?

You didn’t see him at all the next day, or the day after that. Or at all the next week, either. You let yourself feel responsible. Poppy had sent him away, you just knew it. And it was all because of you. The time without him around allowed you to attempt to sort out your feelings. You felt obligated to tell him, but he wasn’t around. Your frustration grew as more time passed without him making any contact. You had decided that night that you only had two options that wouldn’t slowly drive you insane.

You could either attempt to leave, praying you didn’t step on a landmine on your way out, or you could stay and come to terms with whatever it was that Charlie might feel for you. That also meant allowing yourself to admit what you felt towards him. Both options were intimidating, but you knew you would have a hard time going back to how things were, now that you knew you wouldn’t be decapitated by Poppy. She had actually been pretty nice to you in Charlie’s absence, but she avoided talking about him.

You still ordered his tea for him and left it in his room. You also finally ordered his razors and left them waiting for him too. You didn’t feel like lying to him anymore. After the second week and still nothing from him, you started to get worried. Had he left for good? Was that why Poppy refused to talk about him being gone from the compound for so long?

You marched over to the theater in the darkness and pulled open the door, ignoring the guard who attempted to stop you. You stomped down the aisle, blinking at the garish lighting effects as Elton John performed onstage. At your entrance he paused and the music was cut altogether. Poppy turned around in her large chair and brought the microphone up to her face. “Y/N, what brings you here?”

“Where is he? He’s been gone for so long, something must have happened to him.” You stopped once you were standing in front of her and she turned the microphone off, setting it in the empty chair beside her, a chair reserved for Charlie, you realized.

“Oh, honey, you don’t need to worry about him, he’ll be back soon. But don’t worry, I’ll let him know how much you miss him the next time I talk to him.” You frowned.

“The next time you- when is soon?” Now that you knew he was alright, you allowed yourself to calm down a little.

“I’m not sure exactly, but I would imagine within a couple of days. My plant in Italy should be entirely self-sufficient by then.” Italy. He was in Italy. He wasn’t in danger, and he was probably even having fun. It soured your mood a little bit. He couldn’t have found some way to contact you at all during the last couple of weeks? Especially after the last conversation you had?

There was nothing to be done about it. You would just have to keep waiting. You felt embarrassed for storming in there and disrupting things. “I’m sorry.” You stepped around the large chair and marched back out of the theater. You could hear her voice through the speakers as the door closed behind you. You stuck your hands in your pockets and headed back to your room. Soon was better than never, you supposed.

“What the fuck is this?” You felt the mattress dip and you turned over sleepily, trying to see in the dark. You couldn’t see much of anything so you reached over and turned on your bedside lamp which ended up being too bright so you shut it off again. You heard familiar laughter and felt the bed shaking. Charlie.

“It’s not funny.” You mumbled, irritated. But that was short-lived because he was back, and far sooner than you expected.

“You thought you were fooling me all this time? And now you give me these?” He dropped the pack of razors on your stomach and you felt in the darkness for it. “It’s not like anyone else started growing a beard. Why’d you hide these from me?”

“I like your beard,” you confessed in your groggy state. “And if you were so smart, why didn’t you take some from someone else?” You groaned and sat up, giving him more space to sit on the twin bed.

You could just make out his features in the light coming in through the window. He was smiling, but there was something else there that you couldn’t decipher, not yet at least.

“Because I figured there was a reason for all this. I just wanted to let it play out.” You felt cold metal against the side of your face and you leaned into it, putting your hand over his bionic one. “I wish I could feel that,” he breathed.

“Here.” You reached for his other hand blindly, coming into contact with his forearm in the darkness. You both chuckled for a moment before you placed his other hand on the other side of your face, covering that hand too. He smoothed his thumb across your cheek and let out a breath. “You were gone for a long time.” He paused his movements. “I thought I knew exactly what I would say to you when you got back, but I don’t even remember it now,” you confessed. “But, um, I guess it would be important to tell you that I don’t want you to leave me alone.” You could hear your own heartbeat in the silence that followed. You worried that maybe you misunderstood or that he might have changed his mind during his absence and you felt uneasy. “I’m sorry if-”

You felt him pull you in and you were cut off by his lips pressing firmly against yours. Your hands left his and traveled up his neck. You finally let yourself touch his beard with your fingers, scratching it a little, enjoying the way it scraped against your skin. You didn’t do a good job of suppressing your groan as he opened his mouth against yours, deepening the kiss you had imagined receiving for a while now. What you had invented in your mind didn’t even come close to actually having him there, his hot mouth and full lips proving to be the tools of your own destruction.

He got closer to you, releasing his hold on your face to throw off his thin jacket. He then let his hands rest on your sides, fingers teasing at the skin under the hem of your thin camisole. You held the back of his head, keeping his mouth firmly on yours despite your need for air. You let your other hand slide from his jaw, down the front of his neck, fingers gently trailing over the device on his throat as they made their way down to rest against his chest. He separated from you, both of you breathing heavily. “Does it bother you?” He panted, gesturing towards his throat in the darkness.

You sat up in the bed, throwing off the covers. “Why on earth would that bother me, Charlie? Of course it doesn’t.” You moved over to him and gently tilted his chin up, exposing his throat. You pressed a kiss to the cold metal there and you felt him swallow in reaction. You stayed at his neck, moving off to the side to press kisses there, continuing down until you ran into the collar of his shirt.

“Uh, here I’ve got to-” He reached for the straps of the harness and you moved his hands away.

“Let me.” You could see the vulnerability in his eyes despite the poor lighting as he hesitantly dropped his hands. He hadn’t recovered from this, not mentally. You felt for the buckles and shamelessly took advantage of being able to run your hands all over his chest. You felt him giggle at one point and you liked that you seemed to be putting him at ease. You gently undid the buckle along his abdomen first, followed by the one that ran across his chest diagonally. You didn’t want to mess them up, so you carefully bundled them up and reached over to set them on your desk. You had the wide strap left, which covered his shoulder. You ran your hand up his side and he let his head fall on your shoulder with a gasp.

“I should let you do this every day.” You smiled to yourself, leaning your head against his. It was somehow incredibly intimate. You would certainly do this anytime he asked. You unsnapped the largest of the buckles and followed the wider band up to remove the rest of the harness at the base of his shoulder. You were doing this blind, his head on your shoulder preventing you from actually seeing the harness. “There’s, uh, one more, it’s hard to find, I can do it.” He sat up and reached over with his left hand and you watched as he unclasped the smallest of the buckles which wrapped around the metal arm itself. Now that the harness was loose, he pulled it away and tossed it on the floor. “Do you want me to keep it on?” He meant the arm.

“What do you want?” You asked. He thought about it for a moment before he twisted the arm in an unnatural direction and pulled it away from his shoulder, looking around for a place to put it. “I can set it over here, on the desk,” you offered. You held up your hands and he gently lowered it into your arms. You stood up and walked over to the desk, setting it down with a gentle thud. When you turned around to return to the bed, he was standing, leaning to compensate for the missing weight on his right side.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. You could see him better now that he was standing in front of the window. He stepped further into the light coming in from the window and reached down to pull his shirt off over his head. You watched his muscles flex as the shirt rose, exposing more and more of him until it was lying on the floor with his jacket and harness. He quickly undid his belt and pants and kicked them off as well. He kept his black boxer briefs on. He stood up straight, still leaning a little to the side, but you thought he looked perfect. You let yourself approach him, lightly running a finger along his collarbone. He let a smile flicker across his face and his breathing changed. “Now let me take care of you.”

He bent down and wrapped his arm around your thighs, picking you up easily. Your hands instinctively went for his shoulders to support yourself, but he was very careful with you. He carried you back to the bed and slowly lowered you down, staying over you. He supported himself with his arm as he kissed you again. You only got to taste him for a moment before he started pressing sloppy kisses down your neck. You kept one hand wrapped around his bicep, giving him gentle squeezes as he nipped at your skin here and there, and the other rested lightly on the back of his head as he moved lower. You noticed his right shoulder move and he looked down at the missing arm, a little distracted. You realized what he had tried to do and lifted your leg, wrapping it around his hip. “Sorry,” he mumbled. You cupped his cheeks with both hands, forcing him to look at you.

“Don’t ever apologize for something like that.” You were serious. You hated that he even felt the need to apologize in the first place. He looked down at you as if seeing you for the first time, a bit of wonder in his expression.

“How are you real?” You flushed and let go of his face. “What do I have to do to keep you happy?” He leaned down and pressed his mouth to your breast, biting down through the thin cotton camisole. You were not expecting that. The fluttery feeling low in your abdomen strengthened, and you arched your back, pushing your chest up harder against his mouth. You let out a moan and reached back up to hold his bicep again, squeezing tightly. “That? Is that what you want?” He spoke against the fabric, his lips brushing against your nipple. He bit down again once he was done talking.

“Oh, god yes,” you whispered. He moved lower, to the hem of the shirt you were still wearing. You wanted to squeeze your thighs shut, but he was between them already and you just ended up squeezing your legs tighter around him. His nose brushed against the skin of your abdomen and you jumped. You felt him smile into your skin as he pressed a kiss there.

His beard was comfortingly scratchy against your skin as he moved up, nudging the shirt up as best as he could. You realized he was improvising in the removal of your shirt due to him supporting all his weight on his good arm. You sucked in a breath as his nose nudged against the underside of your breast. You couldn’t stand it anymore. You let go of his arm and reached down to grab the shirt and pull it off over your head.  You hadn’t realized you were sweating until the fabric left you and the cold air replaced it. He took advantage of your momentary distraction and returned his mouth to your chest, sucking hard on the sensitive skin, intent on leaving a mark. You let your head fall back and you scratched your nails over his scalp soothingly, enjoying the feeling of the fuzzy softness of his buzzed hair under your fingertips.

He ground his hips down into yours and you felt him firm against you. You felt a dull ache between your legs, as well as the sensation of being profoundly hollow. “Oh, Charlie, please-” you moaned.

“Fuck yes, tell me what you want.” He did his best to catch his breath, chilling the moist skin where he had surely left a bruise. He brought himself back up so he was mostly level with you and pressed a firm, wet kiss to the side of your neck. “What do you want, love, what do you need from me?” You could feel his arm shaking a little, and you realized he had been supporting all of his body weight the entire time.

“Hey, relax.” You reached up and ran your hand up and down his arm. “Rest for a second.” He let his weight settle on you with a sigh and you could tell it bothered him. You ran your hands up and down his back as he breathed, his arm stretched out for a moment at his side. You loved the skin to skin contact, as sweaty as you both were.

“This is so frustrating,” you heard him say.

“Don’t,” you warned him. “Now turn over.”

“What?” He asked, looking up at you.

“I need you to turn over,” you repeated. He pushed against the mattress until he was sitting up, allowing you to get out from under him and stand for a moment. You caught him watching you as he settled down, flat on his back. You pushed your thin shorts and underwear down your legs, stepping out of them before returning to the bed. You pulled his underwear down his long legs with a smile, tossing them on the ever-growing pile of clothes in the middle of the floor.

He reached down but you got there first, wrapping your small hand around him, giving him a few experimental pumps. He let out what you would describe as a whine before letting his head fall back against the pillow. After a few more strokes, you added your mouth. His head shot up and you could hear his moans as he attempted to protest. His mouth hung open, but he couldn’t speak. You watched the rise and fall of his chest. His large hand smoothed your hair out of the way, holding it in a loose bun at the base of your head. He didn’t attempt to push your head down, though you felt his fingers flexing in your hair. You took your time tasting him, listening for his breathing to pause, learning what he liked.

“Babe, come here,” he managed, gently pulling at your hair. “I’m not gonna last much longer.” You released him reluctantly and wiped your mouth before sitting up. He was pink from his chest to his cheeks, and he still hadn’t recovered. You felt that ache again as you looked him over, seeing just how not composed he was.

He reached down and brushed his knuckles along the inside of your thigh. You jumped back, completely unprepared for the throbbing you felt between your legs as a result. “Come here,” he repeated. You raised an eyebrow at him, hand moving to your thigh where he had touched you, hoping to dull the sensation. It didn’t work.

He lost his patience and sat up, hand firmly grabbing your hip and pulling you down closer to the middle of the mattress, you naturally falling back. He spread your thighs and your mind went through all the times where you imagined what this would be like. “Is this what you were thinking of when you started hiding my razors?” He lightly ran his jaw along the inside of your thighs, leaving you speechless. You whimpered. You wanted to feel the rawness between your thighs when he was done with you. A reminder of what he-

“Is it?” He ran his tongue along your slit, applying light pressure once he reached that wonderful bundle of nerves. You could feel his beard scratching the sensitive skin along the insides of your thighs and you almost lost it right then. He flattened his tongue against you and paused to look up at you. You could feel the throbbing of your clit against the stillness of his tongue. You wondered if he felt it too. If you could have one picture, you wished it was that, him looking up at you like that. He kept his hand pressed into your abdomen, anchoring you so you couldn’t get up. “Is it?” He repeated.

You finally nodded. “Yes, yes exactly this.”

You watched him smile. “Good, me too.” Oh, fuck. Did he just admit to having the same fantasy as you?

You moaned loudly as he continued the expert use of his tongue, squealing when he sucked your clit into his mouth. Your hands went for his hair, but there was nothing to grab onto. He laughed into you and you wanted to hit him for it. He continued his slow but methodical teasing, and you felt everything all at once. The pull of his mouth on your hot center, the sweat practically dripping down the back of your legs, the irritation on the insides of your thighs, his hand forcing you down into the mattress. “Fuck, Charlie, I’m-”

“That’s it, come for me. You can do it.” He punctuated his words with more hot wet pressure and that was all it took. You mumbled a string of curses under your breath as his grip on you tightened. He alternated levels of pressure as your legs attempted to close around his head. He moved his hand from your abdomen to your thigh to prevent you from closing your legs as he made sure you finished completely. You fell back, completely limp and panting. He kissed the inside of one of your thighs and sat up. “You’re fucking amazing,” he spoke, looking down at you. He ran a hand across his chin.

You moved to sit up, wanting to reward him with a huge kiss but he leaned over you. He buried his face in your neck and relaxed. You let your hands explore his back, slowly raking your fingernails up and down. He gave you less than a minute before he pushed into you. You hissed, still extremely sensitive. He filled you easily as you were already swollen and slick.

“Fucking hell, Charlie.” You pulled his face up to yours and captured his open mouth in a searing kiss. You let one of your hands reach next to your head to rub his arm while you met his deep thrusts with a roll of your hips. He cursed to himself and rested his forehead against your collarbone, doing his best to maintain a steady pace. You were already close again as he picked up the pace, his thrusts quick and deep. He had to be close because he kept mumbling your name under his breath. You came again, your spasms bringing him right down with you. He grunted and was able to manage a few more good thrusts before he fell on top of you, weak and completely spent.

You ran your hands up and down his spine gently, teasingly, his body heat protecting you from the chill as the air hit the perspiration on every exposed inch of your skin. “I missed you,” you confessed. “I was worried you had left me here.”

He breathed deeply before replying. “It was only supposed to take a few days, or so I was told.” He moved onto his back and you rolled over to rest your cheek on his chest, keeping one of his long legs trapped between yours. He reached over and pulled the comforter up over the both of you. “Once I got there, it was clear that they had been embellishing their progress.”

He found one of your hands and threaded his fingers through yours. “But I realized something while I was stuck on that freezing mountain- without a sat phone, if you can believe it.” He smiled, smoothing a thumb over the top of your hand.

“What?” You asked, pressing a kiss to his jaw. He looked down at you and kissed your swollen lips.

“I’m a little bit in love with you.” You were struck by his confession. He studied you, trying to see what your reaction would be. His blue eyes glowed. You didn’t expect anything like this from him, but you were definitely glad to hear it.

“I’m a little bit in love with you too.” You were certain of it. He had the biggest grin on his face. He kissed your forehead and you relaxed against him.

“Get some rest, love.” He kissed the back of your hand and settled in, keeping your linked hands on his chest. “We can talk more in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Charlie,” you whispered.

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

[musicalmatrix]

actually the show closing has nothing to do with DEH or the show not winning tonys. CFA only won 1 Tony and they are still making a million dollars a week. the show is closing because of poor marketing choices and replying on celebrities to bring in income.

Alright, listen.

I specifically told you people not to talk to me because I’m angry as hell and it wouldn’t be good for either of us, but now you’ve pissed me off, so now you get a rant, bucko.

CFA is a beautiful show and also deserves to be running. Here’s the dealo tho: Come From Away opened in March. The Great Comet opened in November. When The Great Comet was only in it’s 4th month, they too were making over a million dollars a week! Turns out good shows make a million dollars a week when they’re only four months into their run regardless of the Tony’s!

Oh but wait, The Great Comet isn’t in it’s 4th month now, so now they gotta rely on people actually wanting to see the show! Too bad no one wants to see a show that got nominated for 12 things and lost 10 of them.

“Overall, the show just seems kind of weird. Kind of out there. I don’t know if I’ll enjoy it. Like, I understand that a lot of other people enjoy it, but maybe it just won’t be for me. Besides, if it was a risk to take, like if it’s actually that good, it would have won some awards, right? I think I’ll just spend my money on good normal shows like DEH and CFA.”

Don’t you ever EVER insinuate that awards don’t mean anything when it comes to shows like The Great Comet. Unless your show is already mega famous (like Hamilton), the Tony’s literally save shows. A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder was literally making 52% of it’s potential growth before the Tony’s and skyrocketed to 101% afterwards and ran for another two years. Fun Home was making 60% pre-Tonys. After? 103%. And it played for another year. Kinky Boots was making 75% pre-Tonys. After? 102%. And it’s still running! Also, hey, remember that other show Lin Manuel wrote? In the Heights? It was making 50% pre-Tonys, and after? You guessed it! 108%!! And it got to run for three more years!!

If the point you’re trying to make is the Tony’s don’t affect the income or the longevity of a show, you my friend, are just flat out wrong. (Lin has specifically said before that he was worried going into the Tony’s for ITH because if they didn’t win big, that was the end of the show).

And none of that even touches on the fact that TGC is an incredibly expensive show to put on!! DEH has 7 cast members; CFA has 12! I could waste my time trying to count how many cast members there are in TGC, but quite frankly that would be pointless because we all know it’s waaaaaay more than either of those numbers! So not even including the actual expenses of such an intricate show, I think I can rest my case on the cost of TGC with just the performers’ salaries.

Here’s the thing that really REALLY pisses me off about your ask, though: The insinuation that TGC shouldn’t have to have celebrities to be successful. Last time I checked, BEN PLATT IS A CELEBRITY. AND A LOT OF PEOPLE GOT INTO DEH THROUGH HIM. Not everyone, but a significant number!! It’s really fucking hypocritical to criticize TGC for something DEH is doing!!

And now I feel like I’m going to get 2 types of responses to that: People who are pissed about the Oak fiasco (which I’ve addressed here) [summary: we should def be pissed about blatant racism, but then we shouldn’t have a double standard and let shows like DEH who’ve never even TRIED to be inclusive get away with being successful] and people who say “Yeah, but Ben Platt was perfect for the part.” To which I say: SO IS EVERYONE IN TGC??? Like Josh was amazing? Ingrid’s amazing? Oak is flawless? What is your argument??

And beyond that, your jab at “poor marketing choices and relying on celebrities” is honestly insulting to the entire theater industry. //Every// show DOES THAT. Especially the celebrities thing. It’s the reason Keke Palmer and Carly Rae Jepsen were in Cinderella. It’s the reason Sara Barielles was in Waitress. Chicago funnels in big names every other day. Brendon Urie just saved Kinky Boots!!!! Shows will do anything to stay running because they’ve put so much goddamn effort into it. How fucking dare you insult them for trying to stay running!

You want actual reasons to close a show?? The Phantom in POTO rn is a rapist. School of Rock is running solely because of children, and tbh those children deserve a better show. When will we as a society decide it’s FINALLY time to let go of Chicago?! (Seriously. Let it die. I’m begging you. I love it. But I’m begging you.)

Anyways this ask completely irritated me, and if you think DEH and the Tony’s had absolutely nothing to do with TGC closing, I’m going to kindly ask you to fuck off, because you’re so wrong, it hurts.

[sluttyspock]

I absolutely hated Kingsman TGC and here’s why:

Spoilers ahead!

TL;DR: we all knew Matthew Vaughn wasn’t going to make the movie gay, but not everything has to be str8. The entire movie was tired, outdated, repulsive sexist trope after sexist trope. And in Matthew Vaughn’s desperate effort to make this movie as entertaining as its predecessor, he neglected the characters and their inner psyche, with the result that all the characters fell flat. ALL.

Serious reasons:

It’s unbelievably sexist. Princess Tilde was such a significant part of the movie and yet her character is not fleshed out at all -- all we know about her is that she likes anal sex. She literally has not value in and of herself; her presence in the movie is contingent on what she makes Eggsy feel. That is the most unprogressive and sexist treatment of a female character and honestly, just an embarrassment in the light of what Wonder Woman has accomplished. 

The movie could have done without the Princess Tilde with absolutely no detriment to the narrative arc of the movie. Eggsy was already trying to save the world before he realised that Tilde was also affected by the contaminated drugs, so he did not require the “let’s go save my girl” mindset to motivate him to save the world. There was absolutely no value in randomly invoking this (sexist, outdated) trope. 

I (and I would wager, a lot of other people) didn’t feel for the Eggsy/Tilde ship at all because obviously all we know about their relationship was that it was founded on buttsex. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just that such a one-dimensional relationship does not elicit any feelings of support from the audience. We are not rooting for Eggsy to ~save his girl~ because we don’t actually care about the relationship. 

Obviously the princess of a fucking country would give up all her royal duties to live with the man who bums her. 

And of course every girl is just dying for a proposal from her man

The awkward detour from the mission just to FaceTime Tilde for her permission?? Unnecessary. 

The worst scene of all: the tracking scene down Clara’s body and literally INSIDE her vagina. It’s not “shocking” in the least, it’s uncomfortably INVASIVE. You’re literally inviting the audience up and inside her, to partake in the exploitation of this woman’s body. I was so disgusted.

The shot of Liam smoking crystal meth?? Again, it made me super uncomfortable. The movie makes light of such a hard drug, which comes with devastating consequences. 

The movie was exhausting. Too many long, drawn out, convoluted fight scenes. I was so excited for the movie to end tbh.

The Statesmen added absolutely nothing to the movie. They weren’t there for anything. 

The storyline basically is exactly the same as the first Kingsman. Evil megalomaniac and a ~plot twist~ in which one of the good guys turning out to be a bad guy (first Chester and now Whiskey). They even recycled the evil lair in the mountains thing. How lazy can you get?

Unnecessary character deaths! We all knew Roxy was going to die bc God forbid Matthew Vaugh from having to portray women in a positive light + as fully developed characters, but Merlin? What was the point of having the baseball bat mine sweeper if it couldn’t detect a land mine literally one step away from Eggsy. Pointless death just to try and make the audience cry. Didn’t have the same impact as Harry’s death in the previous one though, because this death was random and uncalled for. Honestly I was irritated rather than heartbroken at this point. 

Harry expecting us to believe that he never loved anyone, not even Eggsy?? Lmao please. Although Colin Firth did look heartbroken when he said that so it allows me to think that he was hiding his feelings for Eggsy’s sake. Deluded? Perhaps, but this is a much more preferable alternative to the heterosexual trash Matthew Vaughn was throwing in my face. 

Eggsy giving everything up to be a stay at home prince? When everything in his character makes him antithetical to that role? This is literally the worst ending ever. Absolutely no one was hoping that Eggsy would get married (unless to Harry) -- the point was for Eggsy to continue being a Kingsman. (Again, Colin Firth saved the damn scene by looking absolutely hearbroken that Eggsy was getting married, lmao)

The first movie worked because we were rooting for Eggsy; we were eagerly on the side of the underdog with a heart of gold trying his best and bonding with his mentor. Eggsy’s character in this one lacks the same kind of pathos. Where Eggsy was kind and strong in the first one, he’s entirely flat in the second movie. The magic of the Harry-Eggsy dynamic in the first movie is also gone, thanks to Matthew Vaughn’s heterosexual efforts.

Some nice stuff:

Eggsy standing on tippy toes to hug Harry!!!!!!!!!!

Their eyes closing as they hugged each other!!!! Tender romance af 

Literally there was nothing else good about the movie.

[edenstorm]

i was thinking of getting back into sky but i would want to ask any better with... not being greedy i guess

If you’re asking abt TGC’s practices, I’d say it’s kind of a mixed bag?

On the one hand, we’ve got the recent decision to bring back past ults as slightly altered “new” ults (compare this season’s ult hair to the rhythm ult hair to see what I mean). It’s nice that they’re bringing them back, but obviously one example is not enough to call this a trend and I don’t know which or how many past ults we can expect to see this happen to, if any more at all. I’d say this is a step in a positive direction, regardless - less old cosmetic exclusivity means TGC is at least somewhat considering newer players’ opinions/self expression, and hopefully it will help to cut down the “vet superiority/ego/toxicity” mentality I’ve seen growing over the past year or so.

Another positive change, I’d say, is the introduction of permanent wax afk spots. It doesn’t fix the repetitive grind issue because of the whole afk timer nonsense, but it’s nice to see at least. They seem to be adding more every so often.

On the other hand, they still haven’t reversed or even commented on the heart friend update that prompted that one letter I wrote to tgc, or the afk timer that literally nobody asked for. The new constellation menu is visually and mechanically confusing, and it’s a massive step backwards in accessibility for the visually impaired. I won’t spoil it, but there’s an item in beta right now that’s a reskin of an existing item, and they initially priced it the same as the Halloween witch pants (a completely unique model.) (they have since lowered the price by about $5, but it’s still. a reskin. of an otherwise free item. that they are planning to charge $10 for. I could get 100 frozen chicken nuggets at Walmart for that price, and again, this is a reskin with a few minor changes.) That and… is it just me, or are IAPs getting more expensive lately? The Days of Nature turtle seems like it should be priced the same as most small accessories at a couple bucks but instead it’s like $15. Granted, it comes with $10 worth of seasonal candles, but the fact that there isn’t an option to buy it without the bundle so you’re forced to buy the candles for a way larger pricetag just feels… bleh. (On the note of reskins, I feel like a point I don’t see brought up much is that the performance ult hair being essentially a tweaked model of the rhythm hair seems… inefficient? on the one hand, it’s a nice hair and there are people who prefer the new version to the old. on the other, it’s wasted potential for a completely new and unique ultimate reward for the season, and it means past ults likely will never come back. sure, we might get a new version, if we’re lucky, but if you don’t like it as much as the old one… well, tough. this shuts down any plea we might have for a re-release of old ults.)

tl;dr - sky is a fun game to play with friends, but honestly, I don’t play it for the game itself anymore. I play it for dressup and to hang out with a couple friends I’ve dragged into or met within the game/community over the time I’ve played. Overall, I don’t think the game has improved as much as it has gotten better in some areas and worse in others. I won’t discourage giving it a shot, you might like the changes! but personally, I’ve fallen out of love with the game lately, and only really hop on for dailies to get clothes to play dressup with. made some neat ocs that I’ll be porting to more permanent interests (like my ttrpg setting) and made a lot of fond memories but I don’t really see myself enjoying the game like I used to unless a lot of fixes are made.