#warning i might have forgotten some facts tho but this is just the main ones that pop up to me

[vantabone]

i made a tldr for canon tangchung facts (which is why i ship them so much) for a mutual on twitter!

if you don't mind novel spoilers, you can read it too :)

TLDR UNDER THE CUT to prevent unwitting spoilers

[larsafdracas]

seeing as I'm currently reading the heirs of the night books (I'm at book four), I think it's time to do some comparing and ranting hehe.

(Warning: spoilers for the books if you haven't read them yet and plan on doing that.)

things that are different from the show:

– a lot, tbh. Which doesn't mean it's bad! The show is amazing imo, but it's pretty different from the books which is a fact that can't be denied.

– Dracula for example has a lot less appearances, especially in the first three books. Then, he starts to have a bigger and more important role as (main) antagonist.

– a lot of characters from the books aren't in the show, which is very sad. A few others are still there but much younger, for example Luciano who originally was the same age as Alisa, Ivy and Lars.

– speaking of Lars: his name in the books is Franz Leopold de Dracas, nicknamed Leo (fortunately), and he's from Vienna, Austria, like the rest of the Dracas clan. He's an arrogant jerk in the beginning (especially in book one) but gets better. Slightly better. He also used to have a crush on Ivy (they even kissed once), but it didn't last long as soon as he found out she wasn't born as a vampire. He still ends up with Alisa tho. He has dark hair and brown eyes (as far as I remember), so he and Alisa basically swapped appearances (in the books she's blonde with blue eyes).

– and before I forget it; the vampire academy doesn't take place on board of a ship over the span of a few weeks or months (tbh I've kind of forgotten the time line of the show). Instead, every school year is spent in another country with the respective clan. The first year is in Rome with the Nosferas, the second in Ireland with the Lycana, the third in Paris with the Pyras, the fourth is in Vienna with the Dracas, and the fifth is probably in London with the Vyrad. (I'm still at book four, so I'm not completely sure, but seeing as book five is called Vyrad, the chances are pretty good.)

– Nicu and Calvina aren't characters from the books, but they're basically genderbent versions of two other characters I'll mention again later. Seeing as I don't like Nicu that much anyways, it's not that bad of a thing.

– Ivy has silver hair! And Seymour actually is her twin brother. They're the children of a druid, Tara, and Seymour is a werewolf. They got turned into a vampire (Ivy)/werewolf (Seymour) to ensure peace between the vampires and werewolves of Ireland. It's a long story. They're both over a hundred years old btw.

– the Noaidi isn't a book character either.

– oh right and the clans don't need any rubies to possess their powers, they just developed them over time and can easily teach it to other vampires.

Things from the books I wish they'd kept in the show:

– Latona!! I love her so much, and she and Alisa could have bonded over being annoyed by misogyny. (For everyone who hasn't read the books: Latona is basically female Nicu but much more awesome. She's the niece of the vampire hunter Carmelo and falls in love with Malcolm. She also basically has a found family type of relationship with Bram fucking Stoker, yk, the guy who wrote Dracula (and who has a lot of guest appearances in the books).

– the fact that the Dracas are from Vienna. As an Austrian, this deeply offends me.

– the fact that Lars/Leo has drunk human blood before he did that ritual thing that officially made him an adult. (Like, way before. The ritual happens when they're like 17, and the academy started when he was 13, and he'd already drunk it by then.)

– the whole thing with a vampire's body automatically falling asleep at sunrise. unlike in the show, they can't stay awake during the day. It doesn't matter where they are, they just fall over like they just died lol. It isn't called rigor mortis for nothing I guess.

– and, of course, the fact that Leo can fight with a sword and is really good at it. His cousins/relatives, Anna Christina, Karl Philipp and Marie Luise can fight with a sword, too, but Anna Christina is the only one of the three who's as good as Leo.

This ended up being longer than I thought lol. Thank you if you've read all of this! I might reblog this with additions some time later, depending on how much stuff I forgot to say. Until then, bye! Have a nice day!

(And don't forget to drink enough water and eat something. We humans sadly have to do a lot more than vampires to stay healthy.)

[vaguely-concerned]

The Mandalorian Chapter 11 reactions; the ‘the sea is a harsh mistress’ edition

- on first watch this wasn’t really one of my favorite episodes. I think it’s something to do with... one of the many things I love about the mandalorian is how it made the star wars universe feel HUGE. big and surprising and unknowable, there could be fucking anything out there man we don’t know. so having first bo katan show up and then ahsoka being set up right after (quite aside from who’s rumoured to play her, which is an entirely different can of wormy beans) in additon to opening the season on tatooine... eh. I’m not that into it, it feels like shrinking the world. we haven’t even gotten to see any other type of force user yet. it is only early/mid season tho so they’re probably going to pull some unexpected twists on us 

my opinion might change with rewatches too, that happens quite a bit with this show!

- 

🎶I’VE COME TO TALK WITH YOU AGAIN🎶

honestly I had kind of a hard day yesterday and watched this the next morning and kept pointing tiredly to the crest like ‘it me tho’ 

- I was unreasonably happy about seeing the calamari flan again hahaha he’s been keeping that shit in his pockets for a season and a half now (didn’t he pay with some at one other point too?)! also the sound effects for them are SO EXCELLENT, I keep thinking about how well this show does texture which is wild considering how it’s filmed 

- the warm pat din gave frog lady’s arm when he thanked her and said goodbye 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I love the small ways he’s thawing 

-

my heart ached so much for him at this point, he just looks so small and tense and lost, like a kid who’s lost his parents in a supermarket

(he keeps his hand on the blaster the whole time too so he knows this is a bad scene but now they’re right out in the middle of the ocean already soooo) 

- din’s very very very dry sense of humour is so blessed. ‘a bowl of chowder for my friend’ faklhfsadkjlfhsadkjhfsd

the baby’s look when he poked the squid thing with his knife too -- yodito’s like ‘dad is a wizard??’ haha. some good baby & dad stuff in this one 

- oh din... side quest boy, side quest booooooyyy

- the shot when bo katan helped him out of the water is perfectly mirroring the scene of bb!din being pulled up to safety by the mandalorian in the flashback, which seems Very Intentional

I Extremely Do Not Trust Her in the larger scale tho. I think it’s important that din knows now that he was raised in a very specific offshoot of the mandalorians ant that there’s some Stuff he hasn’t been told, but I also think it’s crucial to remember that her pov is not unbiased either and she, in fact, already has an established tendency to selectively share information with him to manipulate him into fulfilling her goals. (which he realizes because he keeps saying ‘that is not my mission, my mission is the child’ and I could not love him more). hell, I’m not sure exactly how ‘the children of the watch’ were positioned within death watch, but she was fucking death watch too for the longest time! and she hardly left for particularly noble reasons, she just didn’t like maul! she already lost mandalore like twice, do we just have to trust that third time’s the charm or what! 

she lied to him about the scope of the mission to force him into a position to do what she wanted (fully knowing he’s responsible for a child!!) and she called that ‘the way’ just as easily as the thing about not letting his bravery be forgotten! big red warning lights, NO! I think the thing is that din is having to find his own ‘way’ of being mandalorian (/how does one be a person exactly help?? relatable content, and he’ll get there in the end I’m sure he’s so good), but her way is no less fucked up to me than the children of the watch from what we’ve seen so far. she’s good at killing imperials though which is of course a mark in her favour

(considering that the episode gives her the epithet ‘the heiress’... yeah that’s probably a hint that she’s loyal first and foremost to her entitlement, getting the position she considers hers by right of inheritance. guess we’ll see if the text agrees with her)  

- ‘mandalorians are stronger together’ yeah that’s probably why the cosmic balance makes sure they’re mostly engaged in being at each other’s throats lol 

- so I might be feeling kind of sketch about these guys but on the other hand... when that one lady saved the baby and then promptly took off her helmet to reveal she looks like t h i s ?

you better BELIEVE I was ready to fall down on one knee and propose right then and there holy shit

- ...wow if he didn’t have the jet pack din probably would have just sunk like a rock and drowned there huh 😨 that armour’s pretty heavy, turns out

- in happier news: din has become so good at reading what the child is expressing and responding/labeling the feeling for him! that’s so important to his development! ‘I know you’re hungry’ and both telling and showing him there’s a solution! still a bit of an issue that he thinks he can inform the baby of things like it’s a reasoned adult and have it understand, but we’re getting there we’re getting there lol

- that poor lady guiding them in for landing and sounding more and more worried fhkasjdlhfkjsdlahf (and he fucking TURNS OFF THE RADIO or whatever he’s using to talk to her through sdkfhaksdfhjs he takes a precious split second just to cut her off asfdjhaslkdfsdfhsda I love my salty dad) 

- when the fisherman asshole tells mando he knows where to find more of his people there’s the tinkling bell sound in the background music, I think it’s meant to convey almost childlike longing for belonging and connection, for finding someone who’ll know what to do? 

- when they took off their helmets and baby looked up at din like ‘???dad what the fuck? can you do that???’. (or like he just sensed his father taking a shitload of psychic damage all in one go)

- the way din didn’t start breathing again until they got the baby up from the water and he had him in his arms... the way he held him... sladfhasdklfhsjakdhfjsakldhfsakjldhfsjkadhfjaskdhfskajdhfjsdakhfslakhfskladhfsakljdhfjskadlhfkjsld

that whole scene was like a nightmare, so desperately unpleasant, in a way it mirrors the way the mandalorians have been hunted down and pummeled these last few generations, this must sort of be what it feels like to him subconsciously 

- din isn’t particularly inflexible as a person, after the initial kneejerk rejection he did listen to what they said and is carefully considering it (he did say ‘this is the way’ back at the end!)   

- the baby’s babbling when he wakes up and looks around in the beginning sounds half like ‘baba?’ and I almost had a heart attack

- loved how greasy and awful and dumb all the empire dudes were (and the comedy on board the ship too it was good for me) 

- the boob plates huh. shit they’ve shown with the armorer that they don’t have to do that in any way shape or form and they still brought the boob plates back :/ I guess it’s so they match up with the rebels/clone wars look, evoking that ~*era*~ and everything, but I don’t have to like it lol  

- I feel so validated in my theory that the razor crest is symbolic of din’s sense of self  (now with beautifully added commentary!) after this haha (and also so so scared now they might be ditching it for a new ship eventually). it’s in pieces, his world view is going to pieces and can’t be patched together the way it was before, from what he knows he’s about to deliver the baby to someone else who’ll understand/love/deserve him better (I do think that feeling is still in him) and he doesn’t even have the certainty of the code anymore to fill the void. oh buddy. 

the discomfort I felt when we got back into the cockpit -- into where it’s supposed to be familiar and safe! -- and saw all the ocean junk lying around, making it feel weird and changed and dirty (it probably smells like rotten seaweed in there now :( no likey)... I mean it was also very funny to see the pilot’s chair held together with a literal fishing net, but please favreau leave my dad’s car/ego alooooone 

- baby laughing his little bum off at din catching the small sea monster before it got him and then munching it......... the ‘there’s nothing in this world my dad can’t fix’ safe energy.......... I’m so scared we’re coming up on something din can’t fix 

- knitwear in star wars: I didn’t know I wanted it, but I am ELATED with having been given it

- moff gideon’s amazing evil voice... back in our ears, in our hearts, I gleefully hate him 

- at least din’s armour is clean again after that (awful) swim? one must appreciate some silver linings along the way I suppose

- din goes straight for the main pilot’s seat once they get the imperial out of it, so he must feel really secure that he’s probably the best man for the job; he is genuinely a good pilot! (and after this I am wondering even MORE who taught him. who raised you within the mandos din??)

- even while everything is new and scary and falling apart we can live safe in the knowledge that at least frog lady and frog husband had a good day and will have a good and happy frog life together with their frog children

couple goals tbh 

(I don’t necessarily know how it works for frog people but I uh. guess they got busy quickly huh hahaha good thing mando didn’t turn up again until later)

[princesskokichi]

kokichi with a s/o who is related to gonta, tenko, & maki

hahaaa !!! this was fun fun fun ~ the only reason i picked gonta, tenko, & maki is because of their long brown hair and that gonta & maki have the same red eyes, but i also thought it would be a fun group of ‘ siblings ‘ ~

ah, it definitely didn’t disappoint me !

the other pair of siblings i thought of would be shuichi and korekiyo, and kaede and miu, and angie and kiibo ( notice the hair thing ? yeah, i’m not very original )

still i had fun writing this - mod kokichi

- kokichi felt ?? conflicted most of the time about it any time your siblings were involved

- why did s/o have to be so fricken beautiful, nice, smart, fun, creative, ect.

- but be siblings with such,,, odd siblings, putting it lightly

- firstly, who knew that the mastermind had lied about everyone's backgrounds, and that those three were actually siblings with the family name gokuhara given to all of them

- apparently gonta was oldest, then tenko, then maki, and finally you, the baby of the family

- second, who knew y o u were siblings with them, who's wacky personalities made kokichi feel some kind of way

- truly, you were nothing like any of them, in his eyes at least

- he genuinely liked hanging out with you !!!

- kokichi absolutely loved how fun you were, you were never boring to him !

- not that he would ever admit this kind of stuff to you at least

- but what he did not like, is hanging out with your siblings when he’s trying to hang out with you

- most of the time it was hard to get you alone because one of them always had to accompany you

- you know, to " protect the little sibling from the spawn of satan ",,, whatever that means

- most of the time, he has to find a way to outrun your three siblings and sneak away during your own date so he can talk with you alone

- which means a lot of time, you don't end up where you thought you would

- for example, if kokichi said he was going to take you to the library, you might start out at the lunchroom with him and tenko accompanying you as you ate, not letting him get a single word in

- and you might end up escaping and running between the classroom, the gym, outside of the school on the track, and you'd end up in some small janitor's closet, breathing hard because you ran what felt like the entire school

- no matter how obnoxious these dates were, you never seemed to get tired of them

- every time you two found a place to stay away from one of your siblings for the moment, you had the stupidest, biggest grin on your face, and your shoulders bounced up and down as you laughed under your breath

- it was times like being stuck in the janitor's closet where you'd kiss him softly and thank him for being such a fun boyfriend

- and he did not understand you in the slightest about it ??

- why would you be laughing at a ruined date ?

- while he really enjoyed something as crazy as this, he sometimes found himself frustrated because he just wants one semi-normal date with you, no matter how out of character that sounded for him

- he's the kind of guy who likes things to go as planned, and when they don't, sometimes he can find himself get frustrated for no real reason

- because, in truth, when he's running around with you, leading you through hallways by your hand and quietly whispering about the next hiding spot

- he's actually really happy

- it gets his blood pumping when he knows one of your siblings is right around the corner, but there's nothing he can do to stop his or your breath from being so hard from running for nearly half an hour

- and kokichi would turn to you during those moments, mouthing that you should go hide in the bathroom and he'd come follow after you

- and it would be so obvious to everyone that he's actually enjoying this

- it's only afterwards when he recollects over it that he gets annoyed with how every date seems to turn out

- it was slightly admirable how they all unanimously want you to be safe, but it wasn't nearly as admirable how they saw him as the enemy

- gonta would always be complaining about how kokichi isn't gentlemanly enough for his little sibling

- tenko,, , well, it's tenko. she would have a problem with you dating any ' degenerate ' but since it just so happens to be kokichi, that's amplified tenfold

- and maki just straight up dislikes him, glaring at him if he so much as tries to hold your hand without her explicit permission & always warning him that if he hurts you in any way, that his head would be on a spike

- that's what he thought, at least

- as it turns out, that's not it at all

- it was only until you'd been together for a year now, and he'd finally admitted to you ( nonsarcastically ) that he felt like your siblings were overstepping their places in the relationship that the truth came out

- s / o : " huh ? what do you mean ? they're not overstepping their boundaries, they're just playing with us. "

- kokichi : " i don't really see how chasing us around as if we were cattle is playing. "

- s / o : " alright, i wasn't supposed to tell you this but,, none of my siblings actually hate you. yeah, they really are protective, but they don't dislike you at all. i think they used to though, to be honest. but not anymore. "

- he had no idea what to do with that information, but he did know he had to do something about it

- so he set up a date at your place, with all three of your siblings present

- and the truth came out

- you were sitting on the couch with him, his hand firmly holding onto yours

- he lowkey felt like he was confessing marriage to your parents ?? it was weird

- kokichi let it all out, albeit in his own way, about how he felt about the relationship

- gonta : " oh ? that what kokichi think ? "

- maki : " i guess we didn't give him any room to believe otherwise,, "

- he was ?? baffled

- tenko : " alright, listen up degenerate ! ,,, maki, explain it to him. "

- maki : " ,,s / o comes home every day talking about how amazing you are. it's a little gross, but we deal with it. we're all they've got, and if they don't have us to listen to them about dating stuff, then who's going to ? for the first half, we were actually just being protective, but one day they came home panting, and they,, they were very happy. "

- s  / o : " it was our first kiss,, all because we were stuck in that closet together. "

- oh

- kokichi felt his cheeks heat up involuntarily, but he stayed silent and listened

- gonta : " gonta confused when they did that ! how s / o like us chasing ? "

- tenko : " so, you know, we just kinda continued it. it made s / o happy, and, well, i kind of had some fun too,, "

- maki : " you've been together with s / o for a year now. they've never come home and complained about something you've done, unless it's something stupid and gross like " kokichi only held my hand for a second today ! " that kind of annoying stuff. you make them happy, and we respect that. it's time we gave you some trust on our part. just don't break it. "

- kokichi : " so what i'm hearing is that you lied about hating me ? "

- gonta : " that true ! "

- maki : " don't go putting words in my mouth, kichi. "

- kokichi : " s / o ! your sister even has a nickname for me ! i feel like i'm part of the family ! "

- s / o : " you've always been part of my family, dummyhead. "

- he still hasn't forgotten those words of yours

- maybe your siblings weren't as bad as he originally thought.

  bonus random facts that i couldn't stuff in the main thing :

- kokichi finds gonta to be the easiest to run away from, and then maki, and then tenko is the hardest

- there have been many times where you'd be caught in a less than preferred position 

- usually on accident, tho one time maki found you leaning in for a kiss and almost killed kokichi on the spot

- she was actually livid for a few days after that, but still allowed you to go on dates with your boyfriend nevertheless

- after that anniversary incident, tenko started to take kokichi out to the dojo to train, and maki made him learn how to use anything as a self defense weapon in case it was ever needed to protect you

- and gonta ? gonta taught kokichi about being a gentleman,, and bugs , ,

[jilljoycearts]

YOU MADE ME DO IT I'M IN AGONY AND MIGHT NOT READ YOUR RESPONSE BECAUSE I'M SCAAAAAAARED

Feel free to skip a few I'm overenthusiastic thinking of trios in Enderal

---------------------

9. Snug, marry, kill

-> The Forgotten Stories Trio

Tharaêl, Dijaam, Esme

-> The Main platonic and/or romantic Relationships (imho)

Tharaêl, Jespar, Calia

-> Easy peasy maybe? The Emissaries besides the Prophetess (asking you about Siri feels wrong lol)

Tealor, Coarek, Yuslan

-> Iconic Vendors

Fresh and Tasty Bread, huh no I just place them out for you to look at, my wares it is you want to see I promise you they bring you glee

-> Dust pit adversaries (I want to write Tharaêl again because technically true hngpf)

The Twins (double trouble with two handed hammerss), Tamas Sha'Gar (first fight with the 4 people free for all, he was the one with bow and fire arrows), Raga Shadowclaw (lycanthrope)

-> more "cuddle once, have as a pet, abandon (give to a loving person to take care of)"

Whirlwind (Donkey), Standard Brown horse (not Svart), Cuthbert (the dead (& kinky) mini pig of Maxus Tabaccus, the summoned form not alive one of him)

-> The Big Baddies

The Father, Daddy, Ketaron Dal'Geyss (Rynéus' Father)

---------------------

I'm a big indecisive softy so I couldn't answer any of those. Last one clearly indicates a certain **theme** in the game 🤔

Long ask - long answer! Like, very long.  The following is based on my personal opinions, visions of characters, marriage, human behaviour etc etc, and I’m fine if you disagree with me. Also, warning - adult topics.

Okay, the input info: 

- I think for myself, not for my prophetess (what I am: mid twenties female who values personal space in a relationship the most).  - I don’t turn it into modern au.  - This is “fuck/marry/kill”, not “snug/marry/kill” (I believe it’s implied, but still, ADULT TOPICS AHEAD) - For me(for this game) marriage is a combo of the first of our wonderful three-positions list, the lack of wish to implement the third and commitment. If optimistic – even fruitful coexistence. I keep in mind marriage is stability and all. - “Kill” is mostly “off the table” for those characters I can’t see fitting for any of the first two positions. That doesn’t mean I want to kill them, except I specifically state so. 

1. Tharaêl, Jespar, Calia Starting with the hardest one.I’m telling bye to Calia, alas. She’s too lawful, and I’d be very grey morality-wise if put to their realities. Besides, she has these sub vibes and I agree with opinions she might be very dom when it comes to intimacy, but her whole sadness aura is not for me. I don’t want to deal with it if I don’t have to.  Jespar: we know what he thinks of any relationship - “as long as I feel like it - I’m here for it, else - adiós” and it’s pretty common for our world, but as we’re in a medieval and religious community, I believe open relationship is not common at all. I am thinking about marriage possibilities here, yes. He wouldn’t like the idea – it involves commitment. And I assume he’s the closest to me personality-wise, so we could be close friends, but I *want* commitment. Whether the relationship hits low or we’re doing pretty good – I want my spouse to be with me. Jespar is known for running away when things get bad. So yeah, he stays just for one night. And it seems I have to marry Tharael. Well… He’s very ESTJ, but I don’t mind if he takes care of, welp, everything. Pros: his understanding of “family” is quite classic to our world as well. Remember what he says in the Refuge - “no one will have to mourn me - no widow, no children, no friends”. So in his head he tried to fit the roles of a husband and a father(still can’t see how he’s capable of it, but he definitely gave it some thinking). Family for him = wife and kids. He acknowledges and accepts the commitment. Besides, he seems to be very responsible and reliable. He also tries to be rational, sometimes he even manages. And, as I see the Rhalata as a military formation, having spent 8 years there, he is very straightforward and strict/precise/exact (pick the right word). If something’s being said – rarely hidden context is implied. It makes communication much easier. Cons: he is explosive and I have strong suspicions he might be of jealous type. It is manageable, though. Especially if you set a list of rules together what is acceptable and what needs further explanations. He’s used to living following rules, so give him new ones and he’ll feel more confident. But careful, as it may play against you. Been there done that. Rules are cool as long as they’re acceptably flexible and you’re not trying to find how to cheat and break them. 

But out of these three, he is the husband material, at least for me. I’m not mentioning any intimacy above, as it would break the game for Tharael at all. But if elaborating – I don’t even know how you would drag him to your bedroom when he’s aware what he is and absolutely not aware what this new “shell” may produce as kids, if it is capable of it at all. So I politely ignore this fact. (In my otp it works as I headcanon the prophet can’t have children)

2. Tharaêl, Dijaam, Esme Why I would marry Esme: she *is* commitment. She cares a lot for a person she’s close to. She cares even after their relationship is not a thing anymore. I love this personality trait, and I’d like to see it in a potential spouse. I’m not sure what kind of relationship she prefers tho, if it’s open like Jespar wants them to be, I start doubting and think of picking Tharael again(not telling Tharael doesn’t care as much; in fact, he cares more). If not an open relationship – Esme is “lighter” than him, but also much more naive. But it’s okay, I can be oversuspicious for the both of us. So, marry Esme. And sorry, Dijaam, I have to kill you as I like Tharael more 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

3. Tealor, Coarek, Yuslan Ah, tricky. Yuslan once had a family – he’s capable of it, they were happy, so I’d pick him for marriage. I know how Qyranian people handle families and marriage, and poly relationships are definitely not my thing, but what he had was very “classy”, so I’m good.Tealor failed to have a family. He barely tried at all. Taranor – the lore never mentioned anything about any love interests. I guess not much difference here picking who to fuck and who to kill. I just pick what looks better, so… kill Tealor.

4. “Iconic Vendors Fresh and Tasty Bread, huh no I just place them out for you to look at, my wares it is you want to see I promise you they bring you glee” I barely trade in the game, I hoard everything😅 I know the first one is Marita, the second phrase is not unique to just one character and the last one I simply can’t remember. But I don’t want to do anything with the mean trader, so I kill him. Marita will be my friend.

5. “Dust pit adversaries (I want to write Tharaêl again because technically true hngpf)The Twins (double trouble with two handed hammerss), Tamas Sha'Gar (first fight with the 4 people free for all, he was the one with bow and fire arrows), Raga Shadowclaw (lycanthrope)” Ehhhh we don’t have any personalities here, so I can’t really pick anyone. KILL ALL! 

6. “more "cuddle once, have as a pet, abandon (give to a loving person to take care of)"Whirlwind (Donkey), Standard Brown horse (not Svart), Cuthbert (the dead (& kinky) mini pig of Maxus Tabaccus, the summoned form not alive one of him)” I’m keeping the ghost pig as it’s somewhat intelligent, doesn’t need food and grooming and takes care of itself in general. If given the choice, I wouldn’t pick anything. Commitment, commitment… As for the other two hoofed frens, no difference really. I’d patpat both, but I don’t want to own a pet.

7. The Father, Daddy, Ketaron Dal'Geyss (Rynéus' Father) Ahh yess daddy issues :D It’s actually simple for me. Daddy I would kill. Huge no. No-no-no. Firstly, he’s a father figure (and you associate yourself with the prophet), so no “snug”, no marriage, no anything. Kill him and that’s all. Ketaron I have to pick for just one night as I don’t see it possible for me to survive under the same roof with this shitty person… So I marry the Father. Nothing physical and it won’t be much I would have to contribute to this relationship but it would be interesting to learn new things, at least. Still, I can see it as “I don’t bother you with your business, you don’t bother me, we just coexist without hate and sometimes I ask dumb questions” That’s all. And no, I won’t try to change anything about the Father. I’d better prefer to avoid any contacts. Serious questions here, being put into a position of spouse would make me shave my head or not 🤔 

[gins-potter]

TV Guide Article

So I had a lot of fun running down what happened in the teaser and thinking about what it means for the new seasons, so I thought I would do something similar for the tv guide article that came out a couple days ago.  Thoughts and musings under the cut because it got long:

Chicago Fire

“We are going to reflect what the world is like in 2020 for Chicago firefighters, pandemic and all” so that’s pretty blatant that we’re going to get covid-19 storylines in some regard on Fire.  Maybe Stellaride is the couple who have to quarantine together (again i heard that was going to be upstead but am not sure if that’s confirmed or not).

“[Brett] becomes a mentor to young medic Gianna Macket, who grew up in the same rough South Chicago neighborhood as firefighter Joe Cruz” hopefully is Brett is becoming a mentor to Gianna that means they’ll be friendly pretty quickly, I’m not a massive fan of drama within company’s.  I do love that the new girl might already know Cruz going into the house (altho they lowkey missed the chance for a cross-show dynamic, because I think the Halstead bros also grew up on the south side?)

“Look for Brett and Macket to quickly find themselves in harrowing circumstances, Haas reveals: ‘Don’t miss the premiere’s last 10 seconds’“ so we’re gonna have a cliff hanger in 9x01 which is interesting.  Usually they leave that sort of thing for the season finale, altho they could be making up for the one we didn’t get in s8.

“Brett could experience a new partner in her personal life as well.  Will she begin a serious romance with smitten Captain Matt Casey?  The first two episodes will tell.” Well, there it is Brettsey fans.  We’ll know if our ship’s setting sail by 9x02.  The use of the word smitten is giving me hope, along with the knowledge that they’ve been building this ship for two seasons.  Hopefully they don’t back out in the last second.

“Firefighter Stella Kidd heads in a new direction when Chief Wallace Boden asks her to take the lieutenant’s exam.  Her ambition could cause tension between her and boyfriend Lt. Kelly Severide.”  I’m down for Lieutenant Stella Kidd, but not down for tension between her and Kelly.  Happy Stellaride all of s8 was amazing and I don’t want trouble now.  If she does get her bugles (if i’m using that phrase right) I wonder where she’ll go since all the Lt spots are full, but she could pull a Herrmann and just stick around until something opens up and fill in when she’s needed.  I’m a tiny bit worried they’re gearing up to write one of our Lt’s out, but I’m hoping I’m very wrong.

“’Ritter has an epic rescue coming up,’ says Haas, ‘and he might be taking a break from [his boyfriend]’” Yay epic rescue, boo break from his boyfriend (unless that means Ritter/Gallo in that case I’d totally be here for it).

“While Gallo’s effort to woo EMT Violet Lin fizzled” rip, I wasn’t a massive fan of Violet/Gallo but sad to see her go cause she was a badass paramedic.

“[Gallo] now faces an even bigger challenge: impressing his boss, Captain Casey. ‘Especially,’ warns Haas, ‘if he decides to cowboy a call instead of following orders.’“ I’ve seen the theory that Gallo cowboying a call is what puts Brett and Gianna in danger and Casey loses his shit and it leads to Brettsey and honestly?  I’m here for it.

Chicago PD

“... new Deputy Superintendent Samantha Miller who arrives in Chicago with an intense police reform agenda, in a story inspired by the country’s current movement.  ‘Miller wants to abolish the ‘warrior-cop’ mentality and help Hank Voight and Intelligence adapt to the new reality’ says exec producer Rick Eid.... Facing hostility from the community and scrutiny from his bosses, Voight must assess whether, indeed, ‘he’s part of the problem of part of the solution’.” Honestly this type of storyline is long overdue and I really hope they’re committed to following it through.  Because we’ve seen them explore themes of ‘reform’ in the past but they never seem to stick.  I think if cop shows want to stick around they need to take a hard stance against police brutality in their story telling and be willing to be critical of their own main characters.  It’s not enough anymore to see the characters stand up against other racist cops, they now need to look at how their own policing has been racist.  It won’t make PD a completely unproblematic show (and I don’t know if there can be a completely unproblematic cop show) but it will be a step in the right direction.

“While the unit lost undercover specialist Vanessa Rojas at the end of last season...” so, did I miss this happening?  I assumed Lisseth would come back for 8x01 to write off her character but this makes it sound like she isn’t.  Which has me confused because I’m pretty sure they haven’t given her a proper exit yet, but maybe I’ve just forgotten about it.  The fact that they specified she’s an undercover specialist makes me think she’s just going to disappear and they’ll throw out a single line about how she’s gone undercover for another unit.

“Upton’s chemistry with Det. Jay Halstead did not weaken during her absence, but both know the complications of dating colleague.”  this ain’t gonna be a smooth ride to canon Upstead, me think.

“As do officers AdamRuzek and Kim Burgess, still mourning her miscarriage.  ‘It’s become an emotional impediment to their relationship,’ Eid says. ‘They have an unbreakable bond, but are they better off as friends?’“ Fuck off Eid, and just let them get back together already.  That’s all I have to say on that.

“Intelligence’s Kevin Atwater has his own troubles - with members of the force.  After breaking the ‘blue wall of silence’ by testifying that racist cop Tom Doyle was killed in crossfire after racially profiling an innocent Black man, Doyle’s connect friends and family want vindication.” This storyline coupled with the new superintendent sets up a very interesting season.  But I will say this, they better let Kevin Atwater carry this season, because it is his time and he deserves the spotlight.

Chicago Med

“The stories on Med’s sixth season will consider how first responders have been impacted by the coronavirus.  But while the docs at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center will see covid-19 patients, ‘we focus more on how other types of cases are treated in this new environment’ exec producer Diane Frolov says.” this is an interesting way to do covid storylines and i’m interested to see where it goes.  clearly none of the shows are shying away from the current state of the world which i’m personally fine with, but can understand why some people don’t like.  tv is a form of escapism for a lot of people, but personally i enjoy when tv shows aren’t scared to go there and get real with certain subject.

“Amid all this, Dr James Lanik quits as emergency department chief (but stays with the hospital)” rip bye Lanik, can’t say I’ll overly miss you.  I find it interesting that they specify that he’s not leaving the hospital though.  I wonder if that means we’ll see him in another position.

“...and a main character is unexpectedly named to the position.”  I feel like it might be Ethan, because iirc Will is running some sort of clinical trial or something?  And being a surgeon I doubt it can be Marcel.  Nat’s lower than Ethan in terms of hierarchy I think so I don’t think it’ll be her, but maybe that’s the unexpected part.  Ethan or Nat for the position would be my guess.

“‘There’s always a push-pull between Dr Ethan Choi and Nurse April Sexton, but deep feelings remain on each side,’” guess we shouldn’t give up on Sextoi just yet.  pretty ambivalent on them these days which is a shame cause i used to really like them.

“trauma surgeon Crockett Marcel and Dr Natalie Manning have drawn closer since Marcel opened up about the loss of his child.” okay this is the one thing I’m actually interesting in seeing in s6.  Not a massive Marcel fan but I liked the storyline about his past (not liked as in glad he’s gone through shit but liked as in it made him slightly more sympathetic to me).  I’m also curious to see where this thing with Nat goes.  Especially because I swear I saw a lingering glance between her and Will at Maggie’s wedding.  I smell a love triangle?  Love quadrangle perhaps if April’s still into Marcel?  Love pentagon, if Ethan’s still into April?  Goodness.

“...and Dr Will Halstead, who’s tapped to supervise a clinical trial on a new heart disease medication, is still entangled with ob-gyn Hannah Asher.  Whether Halstead should trust the recovering addict is still to be determined.” yup knew Will had some other big thing going on this season.  Don’t need the Asher relationship stuff tho.  Sorry Jessy Schram, I’m sure you’re lovely but you can leave now.  That being said if they pull a Bekker level stunt and have her go batshit in order to write her off, I will actually lose my shit.

And there we have it.  All my thoughts on some pretty big scoops for the new seasons and what I think might happen.

[amandabe11man]

a VERY LONG post about Hell on Wheels

YEAH i forgot about this post in my drafts... it’s been like a year since i finished the show now and i feel i’ve barfed everything out into this post (that i can think of), so here it goes (you’ll have to shield your eyes after the spoiler warning if you don’t wanna be spoiled btw. i can’t seem to be able to add a read more-link...) :

SO... i finished watching “hell on wheels” at last, pm half a year since i started. it’s funny because i was under the impression that i’d sOMEHOW be able to binge all five seasons within just one month (reason: i wanted to watch it before my free trial on HBO’s website went out). honestly, that wouldn’t have been possible because it was a LOT more emotionally draining than you’d think at first glance... after being gutpunched three times in a row in season 4, any reasonable human would need a little break.

anyway, it feels-- weird. i’ve never been big on following tv-shows so i haven’t been able to relate to that feeling ppl describe once they’ve finished a show they’ve become so attached to, except NOW i can relate. the show’s not groundbreaking, it’s not perfect, but i’ve had a lot of fun. what a ride it’s been...

looking back, i’d say HOW’s biggest weakness is its tendency to forget or ignore certain plot points. i guess that’s not too weird, with such an arsenal of characters, but still, i find that’s what bugged me the most, if anything bugged me at all. for example--

[SPOILERS for those who might wanna watch it after seeing me go on abt it, idk]:

first off, what REALLY grinds my gears is how ezra dutson’s plotline was handled. it was set up perfectly in the beginning; having him escape from the swede (who promised him that, and i quote: “i’ll find you, ezra! i always do”), the original plan was obviously for ezra and the swede to “reunite” some time in the future so that ezra could tell everyone that the swede killed his parents, thus tying up loose ends and giving some closure to that whole arc. some might say this would’ve been too predictable, but i would rather have that predictable storyline than having it just end unceremoniously like it did, with ezra dying ACCIDENTALLY and off-screen by sidney snow’s hand, simply as a way to further bohannon’s pain and set the stage for ruth’s final arc. this might’ve been fine, if the writers had made it so that ezra actually, y’know, TOLD SOMEONE WHY HE’S AN ORPHAN TO BEGIN WITH. but they didn’t even give the viewer that form of closure, instead just deciding to use him as a plot device for the other characters’ increased angst... bohannon and the others were never even made aware of ezra’s last name, and this is all what bugs the everliving SHIT outta me: the only ones who know, or will EVER know, ezra’s full story is the swede and the viewer, tho after season 4′s end, ezra is never mentioned or acknowledged again-- not by bohannon, and not even by the swede. ezra went from convenient character with a PURPOSE to “nameless” orphan forgotten by history. thanks, writers...

then there’s the whole deal with campbell coming to town to reinforce The Law™, which wasn’t a bad arc, mind you-- campbell and his goons were the most infuriating little shits for a while there-- but the thing is; didn’t campbell LIE to his men about the president giving him the position as governor? i might’ve misunderstood it, but i’m PRETTY sure the president didn’t give him THAT much of an upstanding role, but that campbell just went ahead and took that position anyway? if that was indeed the case, then that’s another plot hole, cause nobody finds out about campbell’s possible trickery to become the governor. nobody rats him out, despite literally no one in “his” town liking him all that much, so they’d have no reason to protect his “secret”. (correct me if i’m wrong on this one though. i might be misremembering things)

then there’s the other pretty infuriating issue of bad guys never getting called out for doing bad shit (unless it’s the swede, who gets all the blame, all the time), for example:

major dick bongbendix(???idk he had a silly name like that) is presented VERY MUCH as a bad guy in the beginning. y’know, just casually beheading natives on all his missions and collecting those heads and taking them to the bar like a fucking nutcase-- those little details. he also seemed to believe in racial biology, so yeah, definitely not a good guy. but by the end, he’s been watered down into some quirky guy who’s ALMOST on friendly terms with the main characters. yeah, uh-- seems everyone (writers included) collectively forgot the whole public display of cut-off heads he had going on...

aaron hatch: started off as a guy too proud for his- or his family’s own good when he shot the police officer, BLAMED IT ON HIS FUCKING SON and then just kinda let bohannon hang the kid even though it was pretty obvious hatch was just shifting the blame away from himself. THEN he reappears with some other mormons and causes a full-on shootout in the town (probably getting some people killed, i don’t remember), TAKES EZRA (also a mormon) HOSTAGE SO THAT BOHANNON WILL COME WITH THEM WILLINGLY and passive aggressively forces bohannon to marry his daughter who bohannon knocked up. somewhere along the line, hatch’s bad side is just thrown to the wind, and bohannon at one point describes him as “a good man”. yeah, ABOUT THAT--

sean and mickey mcginnes: unlike the ones mentioned above, these two started out as seemingly decent dudes, but ended up pm as secondary villains in the end. however, like the ones mentioned above, they hardly face any consequences for whatever crap it was they did in boston, OR the fact that they killed and fucking mutilated/dismembered a man in cold blood (a man who WAS gonna kill them, yes, but HE did it because he thought they had killed his friend, which wasn’t a farfetched idea since mickey DID brag about killing the dude even though he didn’t actually do it). sure, they face their OWN demons as time goes on, they get ostracized, and they start losing faith in each other as well, which ends up with mickey killing sean before the latter can confess(?) his/their crimes. so, while sean was spineless and a creep, at least he thought about finally owning up to what he’d done in the end, whereas mickey lives on to keep doing shady shit, killing people, and getting increasingly more corrupt. he does end up pursuing new goals in the end, but it’s obvious he’s not happy about it anymore. that’s-- really all the comeuppance he ever gets, and the only one who knows about his shady businesses are pm just bohannon, durant and eva (also, personal gripe here-- they seemed to not settle for “just” tarring and feathering the swede and publicly humiliating him, but i’m pretty sure i recall mickey telling bohannon they were thinking about having the swede killed too. keep in mind, this was BEFORE the swede truly lost it and started killing people left and right. apparently, being kind of a douche about taxes is bad enough to warrant being tortured and cast out by the entire community... i’m obviously biased here, but still-- the mcginnes bros’ double standards are amazing to behold)

now that i’ve aired some of that out-- here are some highlights, according to me:

unexpected friendships, like that between eva and durant. i’d say the swede finding that stray dog and fawning all over him qualifies into this category too

durant and campbell fighting in the mud before finally coming to an agreement -- just- durant and his competitors being petty as fuck, honestly. it’s hilarious

bohannon trying to get through to elam by reminiscing about their friendship, especially since bohannon isn’t one to show his feelings often OR get sappy -- in fact, EVERY time bohannon loses his stoic facade is a good moment. when he was gonna bury elam and he just broke down completely for the first time since we were introduced to him... that shit had me in tears as well, but man was it a great scene

jimmy two-squaws

every time the swede opens his mouth (yes, even when he’s spouting some lies and bullshit like that)

ruth’s character development. i admit i didn’t like her at all in the beginning, idk something just felt off about her, but man did she ever grow on me. just-- how everyone kinda relied on her eventually, even though she’s only like in her 20′s or something... she still became a pillar of the community. bless ya, ruth :’ı -- also, her essentially adopting ezra was Pure as heck. I Lov it

the fact that this was the 1800′s and the only backlash the (openly) LGBT characters faced for it was pm just “yeah they’re a bit confused maybe but they’re not hurting anyone”. maybe that’s not very realistic but WHO GIVES A SHIT AMIRITE

mr tao just being a sweet old man

chang’s sunglasses, straight out of Django Unchained

mr toole’s complete heel-turn from racist POS to someone who sticks by his word to turn himself around. that shit was impressive coming from him, tbh

bohannon just calmly running into a buffalo by the train tracks

mei posing as a grown man instead of a boy (which is what she looks and sounds like, oml)

another thing i realized is that bohannon is a classic gary stu. there’s just no getting around that fact after seeing him being revered by most everyone he meets, how he’s somehow the only person able to build the railroad(s) fast and efficiently, and even wooing the literal PRESIDENT and becoming close friends with him-- all this despite his Bold and Brash personality. of course, there’s more to bohannon than these gary stu-symptoms, but i felt someone should bring it up, for the lulz

[bvnshcc]

&& whoa little songbird,         still your breath and bite your tongue -                 your fight is far from over,                         your life has only just begun.

〔 LULU ANTARIKSA, 21, CIS FEMALE 〕╰  DAPHNE OPHELIA WRIGHT just  came  over  half - blood  hill .  you  know ,  the  child  of  APOLLO who  was  claimed  ten years ago ?  i’ve  heard  chiron  say  that  she  is OBSERVANT & COMPASSIONATE ,  but  if  you  ask  the  aphrodite  kids ,  they’d  say  they’re  RETICENT & WILLFUL .  i’d  say  they  remind  me  of  messy buns and yoga pants with a grin that says ‘i haven’t slept in a week’ , empty pizza boxes with poems and lyrics scribbled across them , coffee cups forgotten on windowsills , whispered apologies as the sun sets , pushing yourself to your feet no matter how hard you fall , fingertips moving over the strings an old and well-loved guitar ,  especially  since  they’re  NEUTRAL/FOR THE NEW CABINS .

basics .

name :  daphne ophelia wright . nicknames :  oph , lia , wright , banshee ( only her sibling can get away with calling her this ) . birth date :  nov. 20th, 1999 . gender :  cis female . pronouns :  she / her . ethnicity :  indonesian / white .  nationality :  american . hometown :  santa monica , california . demigod abilities :                   - curse creation - can curse others to speak in                 rhyming couplets for a time .                 - archery expertise - naturally skilled with a bow .                 - vitakinesis - can heal herself and others ( to heal                 others she must sing to her father ) .                 - audiokinesis - control of sound waves and music .                 - excels in the arts - musically inclined and excels                 in all forms of art cabin number & godly parent :  cabin seven , apollo . how did their godly parent meet their mortal parent? :  ophelia’s mother knew what she was doing , had purposely surrounded herself with people she knew would attract the god . she herself was talented with a violin , the sort of talented that never grew famous but left a lasting impression on those that heard her . 

muse  appearance .

faceclaim :  lulu antariksa . height :  5′2 . hair colour :  dark brown / black . eye colour :  golden blue . dominant hand :  right hand . distinguishing features :  her eyes , which are typically blue . dress style :  casual or athleisure is the best way to describe her style . she generally wears jeans , shorts , or some sort of leggings paired with a worn-out t-shirt or hoodie . only wears shoes when she has to .

camp - related .

go - to  weapon : a bow that was a gift from her father , a xiphos that is the only thing of her mother’s she kept . ambrosia :  a fresh funnel cake drizzled with chocolate and caramel , covered with powdered sugar . favourite camp location :  the north wood , deep enough in that most other campers don’t come around too often . their opinion of their godly parent :  she loves her father and is as close to him as any demigod can hope to be with their godly parent . age they were claimed : eleven years old . how they were claimed : ophelia’s childhood was an unusual one , even for the child of a god . she knew very early on that she was a demigod, but never knew who her father was - that changed not before her eleventh birthday , when events occurred that would’ve left her orphaned in the eyes of the mortal world . her father came to her in person , leaving her in the care of an old satyr that would take her to camp half-blood . the satyr left her to walk through the woods to the camp alone , refusing to get too close and ultimately making it nearly impossible for the girl to convince anyone that she already knew her father and had no reason to stay in the hermes cabin. it would be the next morning that she was claimed, after a night of refusing to sleep in the hermes cabin and instead spent sneaking around camp. stance on the new cabins : for  the  new  cabins / neutral . reason for their stance :  she understands why people would want their own space , especially with so many of the demigods being fulltimers at camp , but hasn’t really given the whole situation much thought . their opinion on lyssa pentelute :  she does not like lyssa , at all, full stop . even if ophelia did understand why lyssa was acting out - which she doesn’t - she can’t stand her on a personal level . quests : several ! the last of which took place when she was 16/17 and didn’t go very well for her .

personality .

positive traits :  observent & compassionate . neutral traits : tenacious & ardent . negative traits :  willful & reticent . mbti :  infp . alignment :  neutral good . hogwarts house :  gryffindor . kinsey scale :  2 . archetype : "the wise old man” self & “the innocent child” persona . what candle scent are they :  black cherry merlot . goals & desires : her main goal is just to help people whenever she can . fears : turning out like her mother . hobbies :  singing , playing with whatever instrument is close at hand , drinking more coffee than any one person ever should , painting/drawing on things that probably shouldn’t be painted/drawn on , hanging out in the tops of trees . habits : humming under her breath , drumming her fingers against her thigh when nervous or stressed .

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

so this is ophelia, my newest kid. below you’ll find some Fun Facts™ about her. feel free to hit me with any questions you have <3

- TRIGGER WARNINGS: child abuse/neglect, death/murder, all just mentions but just to be safe <3

- ophelia’s mom? not a good woman by any stretch of the imagination.     - she was a demigod with a minor god for a divine parent, resented the gods and camp.     - had two demigod children - ophelia & her older sibling ( will be a wanted connection ) - with two different gods, was raising them to be weapons.      - she never told the kids who their other parents were, taught them twisted versions of stories that made the gods and heroes out to be much worse than they were.     - she named ophelia ‘daphne’ because she thought it was funny to name the girl after one of the people apollo could never have. ( info on the myth of apollo & daphne ) - ophelia and her sibling were homeschooled. - her stepdad was good to her and her sibling - as much as he could be anyways. took them out to have fun whenever their mom would go on ‘business trips’.     - this is how the kids actually ended up learning about the gods a little better, and were able to at least guess at who their parents might be - it helped that when they asked, their stepdad didn’t hide it from them. - their mom found out and was pissed. she killed the kids’ stepdad, it didn’t go according to plan tho and instead of being the well-trained soldiers she’d been raising ophelia and her sibling retaliated - they’d tried to act fast enough to save their stepdad, but they couldn’t save him. - ophelia had struck the killing blow against their mom, narrowly missing her sibling with the arrow but she’d trusted that she’d hit her mark. - she sang in their stepdad’s final moments, something in her gut telling her it was what she should do - but even a child of apollo can’t heal all things. - her dad showed up, some things happened that i’ll explain someday, and the kids were on their way to camp. - she was claimed at dawn the day after arriving at camp. - when she was 16/17 she went on a quest that didn’t go as planned      - one of the heroes that was with her turned against the other two, badly wounding the other that was with them before going down. they had no ambrosia which left ophelia, and she only had the strength to save one of the two in that moment, already worn down from the quest and having to heal herself. she made her choice, saving one and ending the other’s suffering. - she refused to go on more quests after that, and left camp when she turned 18 with no intention of going back. - she was living in manhattan when the battle happened, had two mortal roommates that had fallen asleep when the spell washed over the city. she very nearly stayed out of it, but her heart just wouldn’t let her sit by if she could do something to help. - she... technically fought on the side of the gods, but only attacked monsters, while helping demigods from both sides. - she came back to camp to help after the war, and has stayed for some reason she can’t quite figure out.  - her sibling calls her ‘banshee’ bc she’s always had a habit of singing or humming sadly when things die/are dying.

[vorefluff]

if anyone is curious

This is legit how I come up with new storylines and things. This is just a copy/paste of something I sent my girlfriend when I was in the middle of Figuring A Thing Out.

Featuring a new character, Hue and a drawing of him! Mostly this is about Blaze tho, and some stuff about John too. It sorta goes all over the place - the moment it seems like ‘oh this is what this post is about’ it switches on you.

Warnings: Lots of “so anyway”, no proofreading, completely filled with lowercase sentence starters, fragments, cussing, a couple vague s*xual references. It’s a brain barf. 

[day 1]

This is Hue. He's a werewolf boi-o and one of the shortest characters i've made so far, clocking in at 4'10". you can just barely see his bite scars under the arm hair I decided that John shouldn't be entirely partner-less because Blaze decided to be stubborn and not embrace the gay. Cause that's just unfair to john. Like, Blaze said no, John respects that, so John moves on. 

No matter how much I rlly rlly want the two to be together. 

so anyway is seems that John has a Type. smol grumpy and easy to fluster I mean, in terms of potential romantic partners. in terms of Hotness and potential one-night-stands and such he's more physically attracted to guys in snappy suits and confidence like raknu but also not raknu himself because it'd be weird to bang your boss.

[day 2]

[insert some Spoilery Things about Alchemy Brothers from my World Of Glass And Bone and my character I’m basing Hue off of. This is also a first - usually I don’t base one character off of another. I did it in this case to absolutely make 100% sure that Hue’s personality doesn’t end up being like a Blaze2.0.]

[....] cause like, yeah, I made him with the intent of finding an Actual Partner for John, but I don't want that to be his Entire Personality. I don't want him to just be off-brand discount walmart version of Blaze. I've never done this before k. Like, usually I make characters, and then decide relationships to other people, not the other way around. And now I'm just Worried and low-key Freaking Out that he won't be seen as anything more than a Blaze-wannabe.

[day 3]

so THIS is how love triangles get started, huh - throwing in Hue threw a wrench into things. so like we got John and Blaze, right? they're like. bestest buds. John is like, the only person that Blaze really actually feels completely comfortable around. and like, a big part of the reason why Blaze doesn't want to be in an Actual Official Relationship is a lot of smaller very valid reasons. 

 1) he's in denial that it's even a thing he wants at all. All relationships end in Bad Things - either death as Blaze outlives them, or breakups, or deception and misunderstanding, or other Fun Things like that. So why the fuck would he want to put himself through that again? 

2) he still gets nightmares about Alex and not over that 3) all past relationships have been either abusive or at least a little bit Toxic - including alex (just as the nature of the culture, and the social power difference between people and vampires, toxic masculinity, just straight up assholes with a pretty face, ect) and that's just sorta the standard, normal thing that Blaze expects to happen with relationships in general. So it's showing a little bit of growth on Blazes part by saying no to the perceived toxicity, but still misunderstanding what a normal relationship is. 

 4) he's still not sure he's part gay. Like, he was Trying Out A Thing with Alex and he didn't get enough time to process it or really tell if that's something for him.

5) Blaze is asexual and sex-repulsed, and John is Horny. Not that John would do anything that Blaze is uncomfortable with - just the idea that Blaze is holding John back from something that he really wants to do while simultaneously being really stuck on the idea of monogamy and being uncomfortable with the idea ofo John being with anyone else sexually if they're in a relationship. 

 6) and fear that if he says yes then He's Stuck. can't back out, can't break off, without losing John completely as a friend (which is not something John would do even if they did break off for whatever reason). but it's still intense fear, and strongly supported by the idea of 'history repeats itself'. 

 7) he's also still low-key weirded out by the thought that John was assigned female at birth and while he's Getting Better at that and normalizing it. Being closer than friends before he's finished sorting things out in his head properly only brings up those weirded out feelings more intensely and more frequently until it becomes a potential point of conflict. If they were to ever be a thing, it'd take a lot of time before it started up, for Blaze to be 100% okay and Chill and properly sort through his head around John being trans. Not that Blaze would ever insult or weaponize that against john or anything, just personally working through centuries of stigma/sterotypes/ect and trying to get to a point where that thought isn't weird or bad anymore.

and a few other little reasons here and there but those are the big main ones in the way between a Blaze and John relationship. and I've been trying to keep that in mind when writing stories between them, cause John would totally go out with Blaze, and if Blaze didn't have those blocks, then he'd totally be open to a relationship with John too. 

Like, blaze low-key has a crush on John too. And I ship is so hard. And I want it to be a thing but I feel it's unfair to Blaze's character and all the stuff he has to work through himself before he's mentally stable enough to be able to have a healthy relationship with anyone. 

 and like maybe if no one else existed, yeah, sure, they'd get together at some point but like John isn't going to wait years for the possibility of a relationship with a person who already said 'no'.

So anyway, Hue comes on scene, right? 

John is spending more time with Hue and due to the nature of time being limited and the fact that often John operates seperately in Hero Team Missions (he's a spellcaster where the others aren't - he can do a lot of behind the scenes things that the others can't) 

Blaze finds himself really really wanting John's company more which makes him question why the fuck and therefore come to the realization that yeah okay fuck fine he's part gay but what the fuck ever John's with someone else already so.

so he's trying to shove down those annoyin' fckn feelings of jealousy, and also starting to distance himself from John and also throwing in some self-hate for missing his chance because Everything Blaze Does has to be low-key toxic (bad blaze stop it-) 

and once there's something you Want that's out of reach, suddenly you start forgetting about the reasons why you didn't go for it in the first place when it was available which means at least some of the other barriers are temporarily forgotten - at least, until John is available again, then they'd re-surface with vengeance and more self-hate because now-is-you're-chance-what-are-you-waiting-for - 

so anyway Blaze is a (valid) Dramatic Bitch who can't make up his goddamn mind

And right now I'm trying to figure out the new dynamic, and how things end there. 

 I'm like maybe 20% sure that they might end up turning it into a poly relationship instead of a love triangle 

John would be down for that Hue would be down for that 

it all just depends on Blaze and his dumb stupid (meant lovingly, they're still valid) limitations and quirks and trauma and shit.

there's nothing solid yet but the idea of it being turned into a poly relationship is rlly appealing to me

also 

blaze needs a therapist

I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've said that and I don't know why I haven't said it sooner but Blaze needs a therapist.

vampires getting therapists isn't something that ever happens for lots of stupid and dumb (not valid) reasons but maybe maaaayyyyybeeeeeee Raknu can pull some strings, talk to some people, ya know. Maybe try and find a therapist who's willing to come in and try and talk to a vampire with hundreds of years of Shit.

raknu can claim it's for the good of the team, and teamwork, and shiz. I mean, having a vampire on a hero team at all is a New Thing, Blaze was one of the first. So obviously, there'll the other New Things that arise from this, that can bypass stupid rules

well I guess for Blaze to see a therapist Blaze would have to actually be willing to ya know. 

see the therapist 

that's more unlikely than raknu being able to call one in that's open to it 

Blaze does not have a very good opinion on therapists. Blaze thinks they're all quacks and wishy-washy idiots 

siiiiiiigh 

blaze why why do you have to be this way like, you've got a whole bunch of Good Things that you could've had why do you have to be stubborn 

all of these good things literally just hinge on you.

it's okay though 

blaze is just taking the scenic route the long way around to Good Times.

I think what would be required for Blaze to see a therapist would be for someone he sees as similar to him - not wishy-washy, negativity and toxic central, similar opinion of therapists in general - to go in and see one first, and actually be helped and have their life improved. 

then maybe blaze would give it a try and-  

ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh 

heheheheheheh 

AHAHAHAHAHAHA 

this is where it comes full circle!!! 

This is perfect!!!! 

Hue! 

it all comes back to HUE! 

Hue goes to therapy which then convinces Blaze to accept therapy which means Blaze can actually Work Through Some Of His Shit 

and then we can have a valid Poly Relationship with John and Blaze and Hue and it wouldn't have been possible without Hue which low-key starts them off in a positive relationship, which is bolstered by John really liking Hue, and therefor Blaze has someone else he can Really Actually Enjoy And Feel Comfortable Around instead of being stuck on just John 

Bonus Little Story Thing For Making It This Far:

Blaze tentatively kisses the top of Smol John’s head, giving a hesitant little smile. John blushes and grins, leaning against the vampire. 

Glancing up though, Blaze sees Hue with a raised eyebrow and a an amused smirk.

A very intense possessiveness washes over Blaze. Blaze makes direct eye contact with Hue. 

“aAURG!! wHAt the HECK!!!” John exclaims as Blaze’s teeth firmly rest on his back, pressing him into the tongue protecting him from the vampire’s bottom teeth. 

Blaze lifts John up from his hand like that, pulling his tongue in and bringing John with it. John fumbles for an oxygen tank from his pockets. 

Blaze maintains eye contact with Hue the entire time, swallowing the small form. 

Hue is amused, a little disturbed, but mostly confused. 

Finally Hue breaks the silence. “Couldn’t resist such a snacc, huh?” 

[chromsai]

5Ds Review

Wooo... another Yugioh down, just 2 more to go on this challenge... (yeah, just a reminder that V//r//ains will not be included in this challenge).

This one I was very excited to get to rewatch... at first. I’d only seen this once before all the way through, and halfway through I remembered... that I only actually really enjoyed about half this show. My last attempt at rewatching this show failed completely (yes, I admit that I abandoned ship as soon as I hit about the halfway mark... or even a little less), but this time, by some fucking stubborn as hell and definitely worn out miracle, I succeeded. Barely. But I did it. I may have... lagged it a bit here or there (even worse than when I watched GX, surprisingly), but I finished right on schedule.

And right on schedule, here’s my honest review of what, for a short period of time back in like mid-2014, used to be my favorite Yugioh spin-off: 

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.

(Note: Before you skip through all this and just scroll to the bottom to read my final rating of this show, just know my breakdown, because I tried to be the nicest reviewer I could when reviewing this, for the sake of... idk, my sanity, or whatever. The breakdown I chose is:

1. Season 1 2. Season 2:

a. filler episodes b. Crash Town     i. Bonds Beyond Time (BBT) c. WRGP + Ark Cradle d. Finale

Why in the hell am I making this so complicated this time?! Reasons. Reasons to be discussed...

And don’t worry, as always, I’ll do my best to keep it short and just my overall thoughts.)

Season 1 - Fortune Cup + Dark Signers (Episodes 1 - 64):

We start off with something that’s very promising and fast. I don’t necessarily mean “fast-paced”, per say— the show, at least right here, doesn’t seem to struggle with pacing much at all— rather, 5Ds exudes the sort of energy that it’s set a course and it knows how to get there. Where is it going? It doesn’t know yet and it doesn’t care, and honestly in this first Season, that’s completely fine because it knows how to make each pit stop into a memorable detour worth paying attention to. It doesn’t waste your time, is what I want to say. 

The first leg of the Season, the Fortune Cup arc, does a great job establishing its main cast and their reasons for being involved in this dystopian mess of plot. Regarding said dystopian mess, rest assured that the show’s world is pretty well established within the first few episodes, so world building is not an issue either. It’s already going pretty great, and then we’re gifted with the excellent Dark Signers second leg which builds on character’s backgrounds, establishes relationships even further, and raises the stakes just enough that things actually matter. That’s right. Consequence finds its way back to Yugioh... or is it introduced into it, actually? It’s been so long since we’ve had some consequence in Yugioh and yet its existence is so fleeting, as we soon realize, right at the end of this arc. 

It’s something to get used to for the next... a while.

Regardless, Season 1 of 5Ds is without a doubt an enjoyable watch with some solid presentation (for the most part). It’s something that’s an incredible breath of fresh air for this anime franchise. Though perhaps a short one...

Overall rating for this arc: 4/5 - very good, but still lacking on that much sought after umph that we crave from a lot of shows, an element we’ll keep missing in this franchise for a good while...

Season 2 (Episodes 65 - 154):

Here comes... this. Mess. If you;re getting the impression by now that I’ve been procrastinating talking about this, you’re right. I’m going to go pretty fast on this... or ‘least I’ll try...

a. Filler Episodes (Episodes 65 - 85):

Although, yes, we are indeed introduced to a “new threat” this season, we spend the majority of the time these 20 episodes exploring the daily lives of the 5Ds cast and crew, introducing new (95% useless) side characters left and right. At first you might think, You know what this is kinda fun, but actually you are wrong. The only episode in here that anyone ever remembers is that one where Yusei and Aki go on a roller skating date. Because it’s cute. But superficial. None of these episodes carry much weight at all, perhaps baring, like, those two or three episodes that introduce Sherry and, later, Bruno. But otherwise? None of this matters. Harmless tho? Mostly.

Season 2a rating: 1.7/5

b. Crash Town (Episodes 86 - 92)

“Wait, I watched this show and these episodes were also filler, what gives?!” You’re absolutely right, my friend. But you’ve forgotten one thing:

That’s right. Yusei’s classy ass.

No, but in all seriousness though, Crash Town offers some weird, old-western-style fever dream. It’s ridiculous; It has nothing to do with 5Ds at all. It’s like the producers decided to just drop us in an AU without warning, and honestly? It’s not terrible.

Season 2b rating: 2.8/5

i. Bonds Beyond Time (BBT - movie)

So this movie was canon to 5Ds, but was it 5Ds? No. As such, I won’t rate or review it here, but I’ll admit it’s not not a fun time for a fanservice movie. Is it of good quality, though? Not really, aside from its presentation. Do I have to mention that it’s canonically a part of this show? Yes. Do you miss out on anything important later on if you skip it? Aside from a small mention of its antagonist’s existence in one line of 5Ds’ climax later on, nope.

c. WRGP + Ark Cradle (Episodes 93 - 153):

*Sighs groaningly infinitely*.

This leg of Season 2 is, easily, the worst part of this entire show.

Before I continue, I need to mention that, as you might have guessed by now, the show has resorted to talking endlessly and vaguely about “destiny” and “zetsubouuuu” in place of its original, wholesome themes relating to self-worth and the intricacies of the relationships between people called “bonds”. But I’m sure that was a given by now; hopefully I didn’t have to clarify that.

The WRGP and Ark Cradle comprise a total of sixty-one (61) episodes and a shit ton of duels, but only exactly one (1) of those duels is decent-good (and it’s still very skippable. I know. Because even though I remembered I liked it the first time I ever watched this show, I decided it wasn’t worth it and still just skimmed it, much like I did for most of this Season).

The WRGP itself is an incredible drag to watch through. The pre-duels are cluttered with unnecessary exposition, Yusei becomes the only useful character through the end of the show, we’re met with uncharismatic and unoriginal teams characters that make Doma’s goons from DM Season 4 seem interesting in comparison. Every duel goes pretty much the same: Team 5Ds is losing... until Yusei takes the reigns and wins for them... again.

Of course I won’t forget that the main group of antagonists don’t ever use a lick of logic, and their plot unveils always resort to a mix of shock and un-awe, recounting “oh woe is me” tales that not a single person could ever care for, much less remember, all for the sake of “justice, destiny, and redemption”. All of which falls flatter than if this show was called YuGiOh 1D.

Lastly, I will absolutely not end this portion of the review by not reminding everyone that, no matter what they say about that-one-spinoff, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds had, unarguably, the worst plot twist of all time *mic drop*. That’s a fact, not an opinion. This is my review, not yours.

Season 2c rating: 0.4/5 - I’d rather watch GX Season 4 than this because at least that one ended quicker.

d. Finale (Episode 154):

I won’t waste any more of your time here, I’ll just straight up say it: This episode, directed by the series’ original director (who had been absent since the end of Season 1, mind you *cough*), was, as they say, pretty damn good and had me feeling a tinge of that emotional umphness, but only just a tease. It exudes actual care for the cast of this show, something that hadn’t held its presence in this show for an unfortunate amount of time. It’s a satisfying ending and leaves us without a doubt in our minds that these characters will go on to continue meaningful and fulfilling lives. A gentle, but firm send off. Nice.

Season 2d rating: 4.6/5 - wonderful ending, irked only by the distasteful amount crap preceded by it.

Season 2 overall rating: 2.375

Final Thoughts: Right, I usually add on something after I give my final overall rating, but before I do that, I just wanna say this: people talk about wasted potential all the time, but confuse nostalgic presence with excellence. What I mean by that is, this show had all the major markings of a narrative that conveyed meaning, and yet that got terribly lost along the way. The Finale brought it back up, reminding us why these characters were so endearing and why we bothered to stick through it all with them to the end, despite distasteful ventures. It took a few creative twists at first— in approach, most notably, throwing us into the action before building up its world and characters, and it paid off early on— but the obvious shift in direction less than midway through the series did not pan out well for it overall. Instead, 5Ds left us with a satisfying ending, sure, but about 2/3rds of its journey was just crashing and burning, and we just sat there feeling the bruises of the characters we watched, urging them to just get to the finish line already so we never have to experience this sadly mediocre trip ever again.

Final Overall Rating: 3.2/5.

[nebulous-frog]

For the Seductive and Magnetic Man

Summary: Dan finds a cologne ad on the floor with a sample scent that smells fantastic, so he has it basically attached to his nose for a while. Phil is confused at first, then amused, and then he gets an interesting idea...

Word Count: 3637

Pairing: Phan

Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Friends to Lovers

Warnings: Dan swears

Author’s Note: Huge thanks to the fantastic @imnotinclinedtomaturity for betaing!

Link to AO3 Fics Masterlist

The flat was a complete disaster. Socks and papers were scattered everywhere, dirty plates were balanced precariously on all the furniture - the works.

Dan couldn’t handle it anymore.

Phil had been gone for the last few days, visiting his family. In that time, Dan had managed to work through all of his usual boredom-ending routines, right up to the point of tidying. He had played video games, outlined video ideas, attempted several times to film, and gone on nearly endless tumblr odysseys. Now, he was just restless, a feeling that was compounded by the fact that Phil would be returning that evening. Since Dan had exhausted every other possible activity, his restlessness led to him finally dealing with tidying.

A few hours into working through the piles of crap littering their flat, Dan’s eye caught on a small square of paper with a very attractive man printed on it. Curious enough to stall his tidying, Dan bent down and picked it up.

A cologne advert? I don’t remember getting this.

Dan flipped it over, looking to see who it was addressed to. It just said “current resident.”

We definitely don’t need it, so I guess I’ll just throw it away, Dan thought. He fanned himself with it for a moment as he thought about which pile to tackle next, then paused. Oh my god, something smells amazing. What is it? He looked around until his eyes rested on the cologne advert in his hand.

The model’s smolder greeted Dan’s confused gaze.

Dan brought the advert closer to his face and sniffed carefully. An overwhelmingly masculine scent flooded his nostrils and he moaned.

Oh my god, this smells amazing. This is legitimately the best thing I’ve ever smelled.

He inhaled deeply, taking in the magnificent scent again, drowning himself in it.

Tidying forgotten, Dan spent the next several minutes stood in the middle of the lounge of the flat, breathing deeply and swooning over a small piece of paper.

Suddenly, his phone rang. Irritated at having to move the advert from his face, Dan took his phone out of his pocket and answered without looking.

“Hello?” he said, annoyance creeping into his voice.

“Dan! I’m almost back to the flat!” Phil replied cheerily into the phone.

“Oh! Great, I’ll see you soon, then.” Dan smiled, happy that Phil was nearly home. “We don’t really have any food ready right now and I can’t be assed to cook tonight, so I’m just gonna call for some Indian takeaway, if that’s alright with you?”

“Sounds fantastic. You know what I like, so I’ll let you handle it.”

They hung up and Dan fetched the takeaway menu from the junk drawer. He was starving, and basically everything sounded good, so he called up the Indian place they liked and ordered probably too much food.

He looked around the flat again and noticed it was substantially tidier, which he took pride in. Phil certainly would appreciate coming home to a relatively tidy flat, something that definitely did not slip Dan’s mind as he reviewed his work.

Realizing he still had the cologne advert in his hand, Dan walked to their rubbish bin to throw it away. As soon as his hand was over the bin, however, he paused. It really did smell wonderful. Was he sure he wanted to throw it away? The scent would probably linger on the paper for the next few days, at least, and he could just smell it occasionally until it was gone, right?

Who am I kidding, this thing will be practically taped to my face this week. It just smells so good, I might as well keep it for now. With that thought in mind, Dan turned around and brought the paper to his room, taking a big sniff one last time before depositing it onto his bedside table for later.

Just as he left his room, he heard the front door opening.

“Hello,” Phil called out cheerfully.

“Hey, Phil!” Dan called. He walked down the hallway to meet Phil at the door.

“Hey! I hope you weren’t too bored here all alone the last few days,” Phil said as he dragged his luggage further into the flat.

“Of course not! It was practically heaven without you here banging against walls, eating my cereal, and leaving cupboards open every five minutes,” Dan teased. Even if he wouldn’t admit it just yet, he really had missed his friend.

Phil rolled his eyes, but at least looked a little sheepish. “Your mum’s a cupboard.”

Dan let out a hyena laugh, then finally pulled Phil forward into a hug.

“I did miss you, though,” Dan said seriously, shoving his face into Phil’s neck.

“I missed you, too, you spork,” Phil giggled, wrapping his arms around Dan.

They stood in the main hallway for a minute, hugging and just breathing each other in again for the first time in almost a week.

“Hey Dan?” Phil said hesitantly.

“Mmhmm?” Dan tightened his arms around Phil’s waist.

“You smell like cologne.” Phil breathed deeply. “I don’t think either of us have that scent, though? It’s kind of faint, I think.”

Dan felt his face heat up. Shit, did I really smell that advert for so long that Phil can smell it on me?

“Oh, uh, I don’t know,” he said nervously. He began to waffle, trying to cover up his embarrassment. “I don’t take your stuff without asking, obviously, so I didn’t take your cologne or anything. I don’t even use cologne that much, you know that. Why would I use cologne when I’ve just been staying home all week? I don’t need cologne at home, you know? I’m not really sure what you’re smelling, tho-“ Dan stopped abruptly when Phil began to move.

Phil pulled back from the hug a little, just enough to see Dan’s face. “You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but..." Phil trailed off, trying to find the right words. Dan looked at him expectantly. “Do you have a secret boyfriend that you haven’t told me about yet?” Phil asked tentatively. He seemed unsure and a little uncomfortable, avoiding eye contact and shifting his weight from foot to foot.

Dan spluttered and backed away from the hug entirely. “What?! No!”

Phil held his hands out in a placating gesture. “It’s perfectly alright if you do, Dan. You- you know I support you-“ he continued, clearly entirely misinterpreting Dan’s response as a fear of homophobia rather than pure shock.

Dan burst out laughing, flapping his arms in the air as if he was trying to pull more air into his mouth. “Oh my god, no, Phil! I haven’t left the flat in days and nobody’s been here. When would I have gotten a boyfriend, anyway?!” Dan shook his head and let out another snort of laughter. “Oh my god, this is ridiculous.”

Phil stared at Dan with complete confusion in his eyes, hands still raised like he was calming a wild animal. “I’m... sorry? I’m lost. Why am I smelling new cologne, then?”

“God, this could only happen to me!” Dan managed to exclaim between giggles. “I was tidying and found a cologne advert and it smelled really good, so I’ve just been standing around with my nose buried in it for, like, half an hour?”

Phil’s expression was mostly vacant, except for the slightest downward tilt to his mouth that gave away his continued confusion, which made Dan laugh all the harder.

“Here, I still have it in my room. You have to smell it, Phil, it’s really spectacular.”

Dan quickly led Phil to his room and handed him the advert.

Clearly skeptical, Phil took the paper and brought it up to his nose. He took a small sniff, then his eyes fluttered closed and he took a deeper breath.

“Oh my god, that’s amazing!” Phil exclaimed, taking another breath.

“I know!” Dan agreed excitedly. “It’s so good, I just want to smell it forever!”

Phil took the advert away from his face and looked at the text on it, then burst into laughter. “The tagline- hahahaha-” Phil struggled to speak through his laughter. “The tagline is ‘For the seductive and magnetic man’- hahaha- That’s so cheesy, oh my god!”

Dan giggled along with Phil. “I mean, it’s not wrong. It might as well be magnetic, with how much I kept it to my face earlier.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Much later, after they had stopped laughing and their Indian food had arrived and been consumed, Dan and Phil sat in their lounge watching anime. Dan had the cologne advert right against his nose again. It smelled so good, who could blame him?

Phil glanced over at Dan and noticed the advert, chuckling quietly at Dan’s antics. “You’re really obsessed with that advert, aren’t you?”

“It smells so good, Phil, I can’t help it!” Dan whined. Phil’s laughter only increased. “Stop laughing at me, you spork!”

“I’m sorry, you just look really ridiculous like that!” He really likes that cologne, hmm…Phil thought, the start of a plan formulating in his mind.

“You’d be doing this too if I let you have it, so don’t you start!” Dan argued indignantly.

Phil rolled his eyes. “It smelled good, but not that good, Dan. I think you’ve exaggerated a little bit.”

“I definitely have not. This is the best damn thing I’ve ever smelled. It’s just so masculine but soft and it’s got this hint of vanilla-“ Dan sighed and sniffed the advert again. “It’s genuinely perfect.”

Phil side-eyed him. “Uh-huh, whatever you say Dan.”

Maybe I can use this to my advantage, thought Phil.

That night, Phil snuck into Dan’s room while he was asleep and took a picture of the advert, making sure he could read the name of it later on. His plan was now underway.

~~~~~~~~~~

A week later, Dan and Phil had settled back into their usual rhythm. Dan would spend hours at a time scrolling through tumblr on the sofa while Phil would look much more productive, sometimes even working all the way through his to-do list. That is, he’d be productive up until he went to the toilet for weirdly long amounts of time, returning with significantly higher statistics in all of his various gaming apps.

They had been “working” all day and the sun was beginning to set as it approached 8pm. Phil was just returning from another long toilet break when he noticed the time and decided that it was late enough for them to be done for the day.

“Hey, Dan?”

“Yeah?” Dan replied, not looking up from his browsing position.

“Wanna watch a film or something?”

“Sure. What did you have in mind?” Dan kept scrolling.

“Maybe Avengers or something? I’m in the mood for action.”

“Sounds good, if you set it up.” He liked some art of him in dungarees. Maybe I should try dungarees in the future...

“Deal,” Phil said. He strode across the lounge to put the film on.

Phil’s movement caused the air to move, wafting an alluring scent in Dan’s direction.

Dan’s head snapped up and he sniffed the air hungrily. “Did you get new cologne, Phil?” He looked over to see Phil bent over their television set, ass sticking out. The combination of the smells and Phil’s fine ass made Dan’s brain short-circuit.

“Hm?” Phil turned around innocently. “No, it’s the normal stuff. You must be smelling things.” He turned back to the TV, completely ignorant of the effect he was having on Dan.

Dan inhaled deeply again, then shook his head. The smell had dissipated. He closed his laptop and pulled a blanket off the edge of the sofa, deciding to get settled in for the film.

When Phil had the movie queued up, he sat down next to Dan and pulled Dan’s blanket up so he could curl up under it, too.

It wasn’t uncommon for them to cuddle while watching a film at home; they were rather affectionate for best friends and both preferred to hold something squishy while watching films, so they often hugged each other on nights like this.

What was strange, however, was that Dan was having a hard time controlling himself.

Phil was attractive, sure, but Dan was well used to it by this point and he had gotten over his all-consuming crush ages ago. Or, at least, so he thought.

There was just something about Phil tonight that had Dan practically drooling. A few minutes into the film, Dan was already pressed much more firmly against his best friend than he ever was for films. Sure, they’d cuddled this close in the past, but that was only when they were drunk or one of them needed some extra human contact for mental health purposes.

But now, Dan’s face was pressed tightly into Phil’s arm and his own arms were wrapped tightly around Phil’s torso.

Dan supposed he must be drunk somehow. He hadn’t had any alcohol, but maybe it was something in the air. Now that Phil was closer, he was smelling that fantastic scent again. Phil had said that his cologne was just the same as normal, though, so Dan was confused. Had he just never appreciated Phil’s cologne?

Dan breathed deeply throughout the whole film, savoring the intoxicating smell. He wasn’t really paying attention to the movie, but that didn’t particularly matter since they’d watched it so many times. Instead, Dan was focused on trying to keep himself from crawling farther into Phil’s lap and physically shoving his nose into Phil’s skin or licking a stripe up his neck.

He didn’t really notice when the film ended until Phil turned to him.

“Dan?” Phil’s amused voice broke the silence.

Dan jumped, picking his head up from where it was burrowed in Phil’s shoulder. “What?”

Phil smirked, but tried to hide it in a small smile. “It’s over. It’s been over for, like, five minutes. Do you ever plan on moving?”

Blushing, Dan pulled away from Phil and moved the blanket off his lap. “Sorry, I’ll just-”

Phil caught Dan’s wrist before he could stand fully. “No, Dan, I didn’t mean-” Phil huffed out a sigh, seeming frustrated with himself. “You don’t have to move if you don’t want to. I was just teasing you. We could watch something else, too, if you want?” Phil blinked his big, innocent, blue eyes up at Dan.

Phil seemed as reluctant to move as Dan was.

Dan relaxed back into Phil, resting his head back on Phil’s shoulder and draping the blanket back over his legs. “As long as we don’t have to move, I’m okay with anything.” Dan finished settling back in by snaking his arms back around Phil’s torso and taking in a deep breath against his neck.

“Of course. I’ll pull up Netflix,” Phil agreed. Once they had old episodes of Buffy playing, Phil sighed and cuddled back into Dan.

This is the best cuddle I’ve ever had, Dan thought briefly. He was just so comfortable resting against Phil, especially when Phil smelled as good as he did. How haven’t I noticed Phil’s cologne before? It’s so entrancing and relaxing. The warmth and calmness of the whole situation relaxed Dan so much and he couldn’t help it when he fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

This began to happen fairly regularly in the Dan and Phil household. Dan would be on his laptop in the lounge and Phil would walk by, and suddenly Dan would practically attach himself to Phil, breathing deeply and swooning slightly. Everything Phil did was unbelievably attractive to Dan, from taking out the trash, to cooking, to sprawling out on the sofa. There was just an aura of masculinity and sexiness that pulled Dan in like a moth to a flame.

Dan’s clinginess had gotten a little weird as a result. He just couldn’t keep his hands off of Phil. They had always been pretty close physically, of course, paying almost no attention to personal space, but this was on a whole other level.

These days, Dan was often essentially wrapped around Phil. If Phil was cooking, Dan would come up and hug him from behind, burying his face in Phil’s neck. If Phil was editing, Dan would hug him and rest his chin on top of Phil’s head. Dan would seek out hugs from Phil more often than ever before. When Phil asked, Dan always gave an excuse about being tired or touch-starved or having an upset stomach before pulling Phil into a strong hug and breathing him in.

One day, Dan couldn’t take it anymore. Phil smelled too good and Dan had tried his hardest to contain himself, but his willpower slipped.

Phil was making them both dinner, something that always made Dan feel special. Dan came into the kitchen a little before he knew Phil would be done cooking and, as usual, hugged him from behind, arms circling Phil’s waist. He inhaled deeply, breathing in Phil’s incredible masculine-but-soft scent.

“Hey, Dan,” Phil said casually. “I’m just about done.” He’d gotten used to Dan’s clinginess surprisingly quickly.

“That’s okay, take your time,” Dan whispered back, not moving away from Phil. Dan enjoyed the way Phil shivered as Dan’s lips and breath brushed his neck when he spoke. Before his brain could catch up with his body, Dan began leaving kisses on the side of Phil’s neck, just to see how he’d react, starting from the base and working up to his jaw.

Phil stopped stirring the sauce on the stove and tilted his head to the side, giving him more access. Dan took this as a sign of encouragement, continuing the journey of his mouth up to Phil’s jaw, which had a slight 5 o’clock shadow. Dan groaned at the scratchy stubble under his lips. It reminded him once again just how hot Phil was. Phil turned his head slowly, leaning into Dan’s kisses, twisting around until their lips met.

Dan froze, his brain finally catching up with his actions and making him panic. I’m kissing Phil. Oh my god. I just threw myself on him, he’s probably so uncomfortable! I’ve taken this too far, I need to go back! He quickly pulled back, eyes snapping open. He wasn’t even sure when he’d closed them.

Phil’s eyes were gently closed, his lips still puckered from the kiss. Without hesitating, Phil leaned forward and kissed Dan again, who was still too shocked at his own behavior to pull away fully after their first kiss.

Phil’s kissing me. Oh my god. With this realization, Dan loosened his arms around Phil’s waist, giving Phil the freedom to turn around so they could kiss easier.

Dan was in heaven.

When they finally pulled away, Dan was slightly dazed breathing heavily.

“Well, that took you long enough,” Phil whispered teasingly, leaning his forehead against Dan’s. Phil had a cute little smile on his face.

Dan blinked, confused and still reeling from the kiss. “What?”

“I’ve been waiting for you to kiss me for weeks, you spoon,” Phil giggled quietly. “Well, more like years, but I’ve been trying harder these last few weeks.”

Dan blinked again, but couldn’t figure out what to say.

Phil rolled his eyes. “I bought that cologne you were addicted to. Remember? The one where I thought you had been visiting a boyfriend but you had actually just been smelling an advert?”

Dan blinked a third time, then his brain finally caught up. “Hey! You said you didn’t change your cologne! I’ve been going mad trying to figure out what happened this whole time!”

“Oops,” Phil giggled. “I guess I lied.”

“Damn, Phil. That was an ordeal. Do you have any idea how fucking enchanting you smell? I can’t believe I haven’t jumped you yet. In fact-” Dan kissed Phil again, harder this time. He broke it off a few seconds later with a satisfying smack. “I can’t get enough of you. I’ve been attached to you for however many weeks now because you just-” kiss “-smell-” kiss “-so-” kiss “-good.”

They kissed again, for longer this time. Dan pushed Phil forward until Phil was crowded against the sink, thoroughly snogging him.

Phil pulled away just enough to whisper out, “Dan,” before his lips were otherwise occupied again. A few seconds later, he did it again. “Dan, wait, dinner-”

“Shit!” Dan said, pulling back and releasing Phil. He could smell whatever sauce Phil had been cooking beginning to burn. He quickly pulled it off the hob and stepped back to let Phil fix it. “Sorry.”

Phil shot Dan a disbelieving glance. “You’re totally not, but I forgive you anyway. We were having way more fun.”

Dan grinned. “That we were.”

Phil grinned back, then turned to his cooking. “Besides, this means I can give this cologne a positive review. The advert was totally accurate.” Phil casually stirred the slightly-burned sauce.

“Oh, really? What did it say, again?” Dan said with a teasing tone. He tried to think back to what it said, but found himself a little too distracted by the rush of affection he was feeling for Phil to be able to remember.

Phil turned back to him with a sly smirk, now finished with his cooking. “‘For the seductive and magnetic man’. I think your behavior is proof of the accuracy of that statement, since you were definitely magnetized to me, you seductor.”

Dan spluttered and laughed. “Phil, you’re the seductor, since you seduced me, not the other way around!”

Phil just smiled. “Oh, well, that’s just a matter of perspective.”

“For what it’s worth,” said Dan as he wrapped his arms around Phil once more, “I think you’re definitely a ‘seductive and magnetic man’ and I couldn’t be happier to have been seduced by you.” Dan leaned in and kissed Phil again. “Especially since it was with that fantastic cologne.”

[everlock101]

Invisible-Part Two

Part two of my Allie/Leonard/Mick fanfiction. Hope you like it. This is just for fun and I don’t own any of the Flash characters.

We didn’t talk that night. I was still hurting and way too emotional and we were all tired so we just collapsed back on my bed. I felt so warm and safe and happy and drained. 

The next morning, I woke to soft murmurs. I blinked groggily and peeked up at them. 

“-On the thirty-first?” Mick nodded thoughtfully. 

I shifted and yawned. Both of them looked down at me. 

“How are you feeling, doll?” Mick rumbled. I took stock. My arm had a dull ache and I still felt tired but the happy glow in my chest made everything feel better. 

“I’m good,” I told them with a happy grin. Their faces softened, smiles curving their own lips. 

“Good. Hungry?” Len asked before leaning down to kiss me gently. I nodded. Mick dropped a kiss on my lips before slipping from the bed. He took most of the heat with him and I pouted. Len chuckled. 

“Come on.” 

We got out of bed. I dropped by the bathroom before meeting them in the kitchen. Len immediately and gently pushed me into a seat and handed me a glass of water. 

“Thanks...babe.” I tried it out and Len and Mick both laughed. The sound filled my stomach with warm sparkles. 

“Whatever you want, love.” I couldn’t believe I was so happy. Two gorgeous, amazing, loving men actually wanted me. I squirmed with delight. 

After a hearty breakfast, (I always needed more calories during healing), Mick, Len and I settled on the couch. 

“So, we should probably talk,” Mick announced. I tensed reflexively.

“Am I already in trouble?” I asked meekly. They both chuckled and shook their heads. Len took my hand and laced our fingers together.  

“No. But this isn’t exactly your usual relationship. For it to work, we all need to have open communication. I’m sure there will be things we figure out along the way but it’s important that all of us feel able to talk with each other.” 

“Have you ever done this before?” My stomach churned a bit as I asked the question. They didn’t lie.

“Yeah,” Len told me. “Once. it didn’t work out.” His face darkened a bit and I bit my lip. 

“Was it because there were three of you?” I asked sadly. Mick rubbed my knee comfortingly. 

“No. It was because the other guy was a dick.” 

I sighed in relief. His thumb made soothing circles into my skin and I hummed. 

“Well, you two are the experts. How does this conversation go?” Len seemed to snap out of it. He smiled and kissed my cheek. 

“Alright, let’s talk.” And we did. For hours. First, they explained how they saw this relationship going, (they’d been together for years and hadn’t been tempted to let someone else in often. Only me and the mystery jerk). To the public, this would be considered an open relationship but they assured me that they didn’t want anyone else. 

“You’re it for us, dollface,” Mick said with a wink. I wriggled in delight and they both grinned.

“Are you alright with that? A committed relationship with the two of us.” 

It was a serious question and I could tell Len wanted a serious answer but I didn’t need to think about it for long. I wanted this. Just the three of us. I couldn’t imagine ever wanting someone other than these two. 

“Yes.” A sense of relief came over the two of them. 

“Good. Because we don’t intend on sharing you with anyone else,” Mick rumbled a bit darkly. The phrase filled my chest with warmth. “You’re ours.” 

I’d always thought possessiveness would make me bristle but there was something in the way Mick said it that just made me shiver.

We kept talking until they brought up boundaries. I bit my lip as they asked what my boundaries might be. 

“Like...sex?” I was mortified by the squeak in my voice but neither of them laughed. Mick rubbed my knee again and Len squeezed my hand. 

“That’s part of it,” Len said gently. “But not all of it. It’s about how the three of us want to be treated individually, about how we can settle into this together and-” A knock came at the door. I startled. I hadn’t been expecting anyone. Len and Mick both tensed. 

I stood and hesitated at the knob, glancing back at them. They seemed to understand and slipped to the wall behind the door. 

I opened the door and was surprised to see Barry. He’d never visited my apartment before. His brown eyes were wide and worried.��

“Barry? You ok?” 

“Am I ok? Am I ok?!” I startled at his raised voice. “Why am I just finding out that you went to the hospital for a gunshot?!”

I blinked. 

“What?” My voice sounded strange, flat and dangerous. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mick shift. Len caught my gaze briefly and he gave me a reassuring nod. Barry crossed his arms. 

“Four days ago you were in the hospital. I can see the bandage!” I glanced at my shoulder. I was only wearing a tank top. “Why didn’t you tell me?!” 

All my nice, warm feelings were gone now. Only to be replaced with something boiling hot. 

“Didn’t tell you.” My temper spiked, making my voice waver. “Didn’t tell you?! I called Joe the night someone broke in but he was too busy. All of you were too busy. Why do you think I left seven messages on your phone, Barry? I’ve been calling everyone but no one has picked up!” Barry’s face went a little slack. He tried to stammer some excuse but I suddenly felt tears spring to my eyes. 

“You know what? I’m done. I can’t do this anymore. Being ignored by everybody, getting hurt without anyone noticing or caring. It’s over. Don’t call me for any more hero stuff. I can’t do it. I won’t do it. And you know what, how about you all just keep leaving me alone. I think I like it better that way.” ‘

With that, I slammed the door in his face and threw the lock. I even put up the chain to be safe. I whirled around, angry tears streaking down my face. Len and Mick stood there, arms held out to me. 

I pressed into their embrace. They wrapped around me, held me close and let me cry. 

It took me a while to calm down. Barry knocked on the door for a while but eventually left. I ranted for a while until my temper finally petered out and then sank onto the couch, grumbling. Len pushed some water into my hands. I had a headache now and my throat felt dry. 

“I’m sorry,” I finally mumbled. Len sat down and pulled my legs over his lap. 

“For what?” 

“For all of that.” 

Len shrugged. 

“Barry and your friends are idiots and you’ve had that bottled up for a while.” At my confused look, he arched an eyebrow. “We’ve been with you for a while now, doll. We’ve seen how they treated you. We just didn’t say anything because it wasn’t our place.” 

“Now it is,” Mick said darkly, coming into the living room with a plate of sandwiches. I picked one up and began to nibble on it. 

“I’m tired,” I said, rather pitifully. Len rubbed my shin. 

“Eat something. Then we can take a nap.” 

…

We managed to finish our conversation after our nap. I felt better. A lot better. Telling Barry off had freed something in my chest. I liked it. 

“So boundaries?” I started. We were in the kitchen now. I stood beside Mick and helped him as he worked on dinner. Len was apparently banned from making anything more complicated than mac and cheese. 

“Those might be something that comes up more easily as we go. The main thing you need to know is that being with us is safe,” Len continued, hopping onto the island. Mick nodded as I handed over a knife. 

“Yeah. Anytime you need to stop and ask questions or discuss concerns or boundaries, you tell us.” Mick gave me a warning look that was filled with so much affection, my toes wriggled. I accepted a plate of vegetables to wash. 

“You guys too,” I told them. They were quiet for a moment and I looked at them. They stared at me. “I mean, I’m learning so I’m probably going to mess up at some point. Being with me is safe too.” Mick leaned down and kissed my hair. Len’s eyes were so warm they seemed to have melted. 

“We’re all going to mess up at some point,” Len said quietly. “We all just have to remember that we love each other and that we can always talk about it.” 

…

I went back to work once my doctor had cleared me. My routine settled into normalcy. Barry called a few times but I only felt a twinge of guilt as I ignored him. I kept an eye on the news but I wasn’t called in for hero duty, something that gave me immense pleasure. 

Mick and Len talked about moving in somewhere together. I’d thought about it. They pretty much lived at my apartment anyway but I held back. This was still new and I wanted to take things slow. 

Things were good. We had a few tense moments as the months went by but things were smoothed over pretty quickly. I felt myself settle into place like a piece of a puzzle. 

…

“What’s all this?” I asked one night as I came home from work. Len and Mick were still up (as they usually were) but they were pouring over papers and what looked suspiciously like a blueprint. 

“Our next job,” Len replied casually but when he looked up there was something hard in his eyes. I bit my lip, wondering how the hell their professions hadn’t come up in our talk about boundaries. 

To give myself time to think, I turned away from them and carefully peeled off my jacket, hung it up. Hung up my purse. Put my keys in the bowl. 

They were criminals. In the past months I’d forgotten that fact. They had become just Len and Mick, my incredible boyfriends. But they were criminals. They were thieves. 

And I was supposed to be a hero. 

I chewed my lip and turned back to them. Both of them were acting nonchalant but I saw the tension in their spines. 

I sat down in the easy chair. 

“I have no idea what to do here.” My admission seemed to surprise them. They both blinked and I shrugged. “You’re both criminals. I haven’t thought about it much but it’s true. I still think stealing is wrong but I highly doubt I could really stop either of you.” 

They exchanged a look as if they were running numbers in their heads. 

“No. You probably couldn’t,” Len admitted slowly. I shrugged again. 

“So, how are we going to work this out. I don’t approve of this.” 

Len leaned back, blue eyes resting on me as he thought. Mick rolled his shoulders, a gesture I’d come to learn as uncertainty. 

“Our deal with the Flash remains. People won’t get hurt.” 

I fixed them with a look. 

“And the Flash himself?” 

They exchanged a glance. 

“What about him?” 

I blew out a sigh and slumped back into my chair. 

“He’ll show up to stop you. You’ll all fight again. After everything that’s happened, would you hurt him? Really hurt him?” 

They didn’t answer but they also didn’t meet my eyes. 

“He’s still my brother,” I continued. “Whatever’s happened, I don’t want to see him hurt or killed.” 

“Why should that matter to you?” Mick snapped. 

I blinked at him. He locked gazes with me and fire burned in those dark eyes. I struggled to remain calm. 

“Like I said, he’s still my broth-” 

“He sure as hell hasn’t acted like it!” 

Mick jumped to his feet, his fists clenched. Len stood immediately and grabbed his wrist but Mick’s eyes were fixed on me. 

“So what if we hurt him! He deserves it!” 

I jumped to my feet as my own anger flared to life. 

“I don’t want that!” 

“What about what we want?! He should burn for hurting you!” 

The words struck me and made my voice die. I stared at Mick as the weight of what he’d said sunk into me. 

Had anyone ever cared that much about me before? Surely my parents had. Before everything had happened. I knew my dad still loved me deeply but he was in prison. He couldn’t be there for me the way he wanted. 

An overwhelming wave of love burst into my chest and tears filled my eyes. The sudden change in emotion made my head spin. 

“Oh, Mick,” I breathed. He looked startled and then I rushed forward and hugged him tightly, burying my face in his neck. A few moments passed before he hugged me back. 

After a minute, I stepped back and dried my eyes. I’d never seen Mick or Len look so confused. 

“I love you guys too,” I said simply. Len’s eyes softened a bit at the edges and he leaned in to press a kiss to my temple.

I let out a breath and took Mick’s hand. 

“I appreciate that you love me that much, Mick. It feels good to see how much you hate my getting hurt.” Mick’s shoulders relaxed a bit and his grip tightened around mine. I made my next words gentle. “But hurting Barry would hurt me.” He sucked in a breath then blew it out huffily. 

“Fine,” he muttered. 

Len reached up and brushed some hair from my neck. 

“At least, nothing he can’t recover from,” he offered. His tone was teasing but that hard glint was back in his eyes. He didn't show it like Mick, but he was just as furious with Barry. 

I bit my lip as I hesitated. 

“Fine,” I slowly relented. “Nothing he can’t recover from.” I wasn't entirely happy but I knew that was probably as good as I was going to get. 

…

They went through the heist. I watched the live coverage. The Flash received a bit of frostbite on his arms and a few burns to the chest but nothing he couldn’t recover from.  

[odrseasonone]

Pilot Outline??

So imma do it - I’m gonna try something I rarely do...a story outline!!  Something I hate doing!!  That’s how PUMPED I am aklsdjflkdjsf ;DDD  Also, I feel like I need it to get my thoughts in order bc basically the inside of my skull is just incoherent screaming on a constant loop ;DDDD  WARNING: this is gonna be a long post!!! ;D

main purpose of pilot: to introduce main characters (main protagonist: roran; main antagonist(s): cassius, rowena, dmitrei, dezód), world, & general plot

must establish what is normal vs what therefore is not

also the foundational relationships, which are roran & arya (at end), roran & charles, roran & cassius, charles & cassius, cassius & rowena, the resistance

things to consider: the 5 w’s

who

what

where

when

why

main action of the pilot episode (which must, itself, act as the inciting incident for the action of the entire series): 

additionally each primary character, as well as the episode plot, should have some sort arc a la:

beginning/inciting incident/set-up: 

start:

inciting incident:

middle/rising action/confrontation:

obstacle to overcome:

midpoint:

tension rises:

end/climax, resolution/resolution:

climax:

dénoument:

so roran is our main character, but since his story doesn’t really start until the end of this episode (finding the egg), he is not the protagonist of this particular episode.  in fact, as i’m thinking about it, he might not even be fully introduced until a later episode - finding the egg could essentially serve as his introduction?????? bc im finding it a bit jarring to try and introduce both his thread and the ~political thread at the same time in terms of keeping things happening and not just focusing on exposition??????

i’m struggling to narrow down what to focus on in the pilot and what i’m starting to wrestle out of all of this is that...maybe alexandir or alaric or even cassius or rowena is the protagonist of the pilot episode??????

So here are some potential outlines as a result of this line of thought!!  I also 100% feel we could overlap all of these and, if we go that route, that should make a nicely full episode!!  I’ve isolated 6 (w a possible 7th in Roran??) potential focal characters for the pilot that I think, woven together, could form a pr coherent story for the pilot.  Whatcha think?

focal character: ALEXANDIR GODIVA

INCITING INCIDENT: The war is won

start: establish alex’s experience in the war!! show the flow of his life and how he feels to see it come to an end

inciting incident: alex’s fifteen years of life must now change as he leaves behind combat and returns home

to a family who wants him dead - a fact of which he is utterly aware and doesn’t particularly expect to survive

RISING ACTION: alex returns to the imperial city

obstacle to overcome (that is, particular incident w/ which the episode will deal): ???????????? maybe he helps GUIN????

establish character arc obstacle: his family wants him dead!!! he wants to change aragoth for the better...and survive it

also wants to find and help the rebels!! and throne HELENA

his bio states that he would’ve returned earlier, but he spent time looking for aalis - i’d forgotten!

no one at home is particularly happy to see him besides some kids who he doesn’t really know!! #goodtimes

midpoint: alex tells CASSIUS just what he thinks and that sort of clears the air even tho alex is probs like ‘yup im 100% dead now’

tension rises: the possible helping of GUIN????????? something else????????

END: ????????????????

climax: more to do w the possible helping of GUIN???????

dénoument: he may or may not suspect guin’s involvement w the resistance but he at least knows there are other good ppl at court

resolution: alex decides he’s gonna do everything he can do to help aragoth here at court && even goes to coucil meeting

focal character: ALARIC DE MONTFORT

START: we spot alaric helping out some beggars, giving them bread and coin tho we see he doesn’t have much, himself, see his forest home, etc.

we don’t know anything about his background tho we only know what we see today

except for a loose sprinkling of little clues

we also see his relationships w the various members of the resistance tho probs focus most on GUIN for this ep

and also CEDRIC just bc they’re so tight but GUIN’s def the bigger character here to focus on!!

INCITING INCIDENT: tax collectors come to town to further clamp down on the ppl!! no thanks!! #getoutofmycounty

alaric quickly sees that he can turn this to their advantage, however, as all the gold that’s been collected has to be transported

and they can 100% make that work for them

we also see through this, not only that he’s done this before, but also that he has a history w the roads, the county, the laws...

OBSTACLE TO OVERCOME: ppl!!! starving!!!!!

ok he doesn’t have any permanent fix but he’s got some impermanent ideas to help things along!

and he’s working towards a better future so there’s that!!

MIDPOINT: setting the plan in motion i guess???????

TENSION RISES: receives info from CASSIUS via GUIN!!!! 

CLIMAX: the whole burning village scenario

DENOUMENT: handing out all the $$$$$$$ to the ppl successfully but knowing that ppl have been hurt and killed 

and things could easily have gone ever WORSE

‘if only we had a dragonrider on our side too hmmm’ ~alaric, probs ;D

RESOLUTION: resolution is a really strong word for the end of a pilot ep ;D but i guess he knows better what the stakes are 

and can plan accordingly

focal character: CASSIUS MONTAGU

start: cassius is tasked w the v happy task of getting to tell ROWENA her uncle is coming back!! yay!! not a dreaded thing at aLL!!!

inciting incident: returns the imperial city to find that the privy council is meeting w/o him rudE!!!! 100% convinced they’re plotting

(lbr he’s probs right)

acts! like! an! ass!

++ a fun meeting w ROWENA #notweird

obstacle to overcome: aLEX is baCK!!!!! & this is weird bc cassius likes him which is worSE then when he doesn’t like ppl!!!! 

also keeping the status quo, in general, on an even keel despite the resistance

esp bc 50/50 chance he’ll have to kill alex asp too

also fun bc asp they’ll be the two (2) suspects for JON’s murder and cassius be like [ x ]

midpoint: he and alex reach a weird understanding in that alex tells him exactly what he thinks and cassius is like ‘...yeaH’ 

and weirdly pleased to learn that at least one (1) person is still honest

even tho it sucks bc alex is like ‘yo i know what you did and whY’

also use this confrontation to build up cassius’ bad rep ;D

tension rises: something w the resistance and getting the queen’s tax???????????? and alex??????????????

climax: an adventure scene!! someone/something 100% gets set on fire and cassius walks through it like the bad, bad badass he is

dénoument: the resistance still gets the $$$$$$$ tho even tho like a town or something has been burned to the ground

and obv the privy council spins this to their benefit likE ‘those evil rebels burned ur village!! by summoning the fury of cassius!’

resolution: mah boy knows he needs to stay on his toes 

but honestly pr much things’re the same for him as they ever were 

so i guess this is basically a ‘the hero’s journey’™ ep for him that way ;DDD jk jk

focal character: GUINEVERE FONTAINE

start: we start out w her at the resistance camp as someone fighting to make a better world!!

not ready to show too much of her life, that’ll come later, she’s mostly a bridge between plots here

we can probs infer tho from her dress and ofc her court connections that she’s of rank

also the fact that at court she’s ‘lady fontaine’ might give some of that away aldjfklsdjfkljdsf

inciting incident: the meeting w ALARIC at camp where they hatch their possible redistribution of wealth scheme ;D

obstacle to overcome: she’s a spy!! her whole situation is just terrible!!

mostly tho trying to get info to the resistance from court w/o getting caught herself

esp bc she’s exploiting CASSIUS and that’s just...noT the position you wanna be in

esp when you watch him walk out of a fire unhurt and ur like ‘im gonna piss off THAT guy’ isabella does NOT approve

midpoint: guin uses a moment of CASSIUS’ tenderness to get some precious info...

tension rises: that she then has to get to the resistance w/o being caught!!

cue a whole sneaking around scene(s) && ahhhhh suspense stuff probs

what is this precious info you may ask???? NO! CLUE!

climax: deF a scene where she almost gets caught and maybe even thinks she’s been recognized for a moment

dénoument: it turns out she’s scott free buT she now knows she needs to be v, v careful

resolution: she’s still alive AND still in danger but she decides to continue anyway bc she’s a brave babe and believes in good <3

focal character: ROWENA GODIVA

start: the mysterious gracious queen enjoying her regal splendour!! its good to be queen!! 

esp a dark queen 

beautiful, and terrible as the dawn, treacherous as the sea, stronger than the foundations of the earth! all shall love her and despair!

inciting incident: CASSIUS brings her some bad news that not only is her uncle NOT dead, he’s also coming back home a hero

making the political situation untenable for offing him quickly

instead she has to reward him!!! gross!!!!

ofc she decides to use this v reward to kill him AND warn AVELINA but we don’t know that yet

or really anything she’s thinking!!

obstacle to overcome: rowena’s got a few! but she thinks atm that she’s stopped the prophecy (which she believes was about her not dezod)

her main thing now is mostly maintaining her own power: a goal troubled by alex’s reappearance esp w/ ROMAYNE

++ the pesky resistance situation but mostly she just sicks CASSIUS on them

and (eventually) she turns both political situations to her own favor...as always

AND punishes CASSIUS for letting things get out of hand by arranging her wedding to someone else!!

midpoint: announces her intention to wed ROMAYNE, thus helping to neutralize him as a political opponent, etc.

and essentially making him a glorified hostage yay!

tension rises: ?????????????????

climax: ?????????????????

dénoument: good help is really hard to find, these days, but at least CASSIUS isn’t 100% useless ;D

he’s still just as good at burning down villages and instilling the fear of GODS in the populace as ever so that’s something ;D

resolution: everyone’s in line atm...but rowena knows well and good that won’t last and she has to remain vigilant as ever...

focal character: ROMAYNE ‘i was a male war bride’ VITALIS

start: romayne decides to change EVERYTHING by helping aragoth overcome his bro and subjugate the southern isles

inciting incident: this plan quickly backfires

not only is he ~not king, or even governor, but he’s now a pawn in an entirely foreign game of chess on someone else’s board...again

but romayne’s nothing if not resilient and he determines to find a way to adapt to this, too

obstacle to overcome: basically everything in his life tbqh ;D

jk mostly surviving the imperial court and esp his bride-to-be who he’s 50/50 sure means to do away w him soon after marriage

also arriving at court and learning he’s def noT gonna be the governor of the southern isles like he’d imagined

also, like, trying to understand them and their customs etc - makes him a good exposition tool too ;D

midpoint: ?????????????????

tension rises: ?????????????????

climax: is informed, w the rest of court, the queen’s intention to wed him, 100% considers this to be a death sentence

dénoument: realizes that, tho virtually a prisoner here, he does still have some power 

his situation now isn’t so v different from how things were under his bro so he knows he can live w this

resolution: invited to join the privy council as ROWENA’s future consort && begins feeling out fellow players in this game...

focal character: RORAN DEGREY

start: has a pr nice life w his surly uncle at his boring farm, being a town menace tbh

inciting incident: ?????????????????

obstacle to overcome: ?????????????????

midpoint: ?????????????????

tension rises: ?????????????????

climax: ?????????????????

dénoument: ?????????????????

resolution: that awkward moment when you stumble upon ur uncle’s hidden dragon eggs (but don’t know their his) and one hatches...

possibly the v end shot of a boy finding dragon eggs and one hatching is the v first we see of roran?????

and delve into him in the next ep???????

OVERALL (if we throw this all in together...)

start: things suck in aragoth

inciting incident: things still suck in aragoth but now they suck a lil less bc there’s no more war and alex is coming home

the resistance develops a plan to steal back $$$$$$$$

obstacle to overcome: the starvation of the populace!!

midpoint: guin pries info out of cassius

tension rises: alex helps guin somehow??????????

climax: getting the info to the resistance just in the nick of time (and thereby saving their lives?????) but failing to save a village

cassius burns down a village in a face off w the resistance (idk how this works exactly tho????????)

dénoument: somewhat pyrrhic victories on both sides

the money’s gone to the ppl but a village has been burned and the area’s scared shitless of the gov again

resolution: things still suck in aragoth but at least we know what aragoth is ;D no, but actually, there’s a new dragon rider on the rise...

So what do you think??????  also,~ if we do like this format for an ep, is it a better ep2 than pilot or is it good pilot fodder??????

[suledxn-blog]

Details:

Faith & Death. │ DC Edition.

***Warning: this does contain details about death/dying, murder, loss of memory, disassociation & unreality.

word count: 1,365

TL;DR: Revas' faith is something that saved her from death. Death & Faith are essential to who she is and how she acts. They make up a LARGE portion of her character. Reviving herself cost her memories. She's better now but sometimes it gets hard. But her faith keeps her from drifting and keeps her more in the present.

One of the most important character details about Revas is her faith. Whether it’s the unwavering devotional faith to Mythal, or the importance that her culture & history play. It’s a well known fact, or it should be, that I am someone who fully believes in elves being Jewish. ( more like Gaider implied it. And then backed from it bc he’s a coward. embrace ur fucking shit gaider. go big or fuck off.) 

  So in part of this I sort of wanna talk about Revas’ modern shit. Specifically in her Dc Verse. Mainly because this plays a rather important part of who she is in the verse. I'll post about main verse implications of her faith & death later. (bc I am hella hype about dc shit lmao)

    First. Story time.

 In every verse, Revas dies. I used to say almost but, I figured it was much more interesting to write it as she had died. Sometimes for hours. Sometimes days. In Dc? A Month. She was dead, and dying for a month. No one knew, no one cared. Buried in the snow. Buried and frozen. Of course, she lives. She comes back because there's no dying in Dc, let's face it. But in every case it is her will, her extreme strength of willpower and faith that brings her back. And it's no different this time around.

  In Judaism, most believe in the concept of focusing on the here and now. You focus on the present, and making memories that'll last. Some believe in an afterlife. Some believe in reincarnation, other resurrection. But, for Revas, she believes in both an afterlife, and living in the present. Now, I don't currently have specifics on where she was for the time being. I don't know if she had one foot in the grave, and kept her tie to the mortal world. I just know she remembers it. Remembers drifting, wading through the endless. It was calm, voidless. But she was content, pleased. It was a good place.

   Essentially, it was a place where she was living through the 14years of memory she had. The short amount of time she had grown. Happiness that she had with her parents. It was a place to reflect and feel at ease. But, of course, Revas remembered being alive. A fracture that caused her to see her death replay. To see herself die & kill in retaliation. The spark of magic that was ever present. It reminded her of living, & just how little of it she had done. But, there's always a price to pay for using magic. Especially the kind she was channeling.

     She could have stayed. Lived through happy memories, in bliss. But to live, she had to let go of those memories. Of who she was. Essentially be spat back into her body with no memory of who she was. Only how she died. A new person, a new life.

     End of story time. Sort of. Still some story. Not of how she died stories tho.

Revas died at age 14. Murdered in a gruesome way. Left on the street to die, of course so were her murderers.

Dying young, with no memory when you wake up, does something to you. Obviously. Especially when the only thing you do remember is your own death. It kept her up for nights, days. Of course, Eludysia helped the best she could. Eventually she spoke of religion. Told her of the family history. Of her history. She introduced her to her community. To people who cared for her, regardless of barely knowing her. She was a child, and needed guidance. So they helped.

  From a point her belief became a large part in dealing with her death. Making amends and fighting against the looming fear that yes. It's still here. She is, of course, afraid of dying. But because of her teachings, she focuses on the here and now. Focuses on the present over anything.

Which sort of makes her impulsive, ya know. Either she thinks it through, or she just goes for it. Usually it's the latter. Because she doesn't want to look at her memories and have a regret. ( Of course, we'll go into how this doesn't apply to relationships. Because she's a fucking moron but another time. )

Also her faith gives her something to hold onto. Some feeling of comfort, and guidance when she asks for it. She likes talking theories and enjoys bantering with others on their views of everything. It doesn't cause rifts, unless there was already one. The people who go to service, the people who attend temple, those are her people. And they make her feel comfortable with her beliefs. Pretty sure most of them went to her Graduation from College. To be honest.

 Her faith has always played a part in why she can look death in the eye, and swallow her fear. It's why she can be a hero. She fears death, perhaps not as much as she does being forgotten, but it happens more often than not. The unwavering sort of belief she has gives her strength in places that were ripped apart. It healed her.

  But that doesn't mean it can't be shaken. It doesn't mean when death touches the world around her, she shrugs it off. No, that. That probably eats at her belief more than anything. Death will always be there. Always be present and lingering. Waiting. Watching. At least she thinks so. But, she doesn't focus on that. She focuses on doing good, making memories that last with people she cares about.

            *** Next bit contains unreality/disassociation. ****

Really, faith & death go hand and hand with regards to Revas' character. It isn't something that's simply separated or divided a part. You can't have Revas be devoted to her faith without her crossing beyond. You can't have her cross & come back without faith being present afterwards. Of course, Revas was already tapped into her faith & community before dying. But she doesn't remember that. & she doesn't remember her Bat Mitzvah.

  Even the most skilled with magic, people who can see into memories, would waste energy on her memory then. Save for maybe omnipresent beings. Or whatever the equivalent is in DC. There's so little she recalls, ya know. So much death took from her. An equal exchange, she'd say now. Maybe before she fought it. Hated it. Maybe she looked off rooftops, and thought it would be better than the nightmares. She was new to living again. Confused. A crisis of am I really who I was or am I someone else now? It was a really hard time, finding herself. It always is. She will always stumble and look for some fragment of who she was. Some memory, some tiny spark of who she might have been. If she even is still the same person.

    It's a concept that still gets to her from time to time. Some nights when the nightmares are full blast and she wakes up screaming, frost biting into her skin. She wonders if she was still that girl that died. And then she thinks of how far shes come. The world she's seen. The person she is now. And calms herself. Warms herself with tea and sits on her fire escape, staring up at the sky. Because the sky is not empty, and that helps.

   Though I do want to say that Revas still has a hard time accepting the death of others. That will always be problem. She can gamble with her own life, her own fear, but she can't see it happening to people she loves. It just. Breaks her. But again. Subjects for another time.