#we're going for the trifecta

[beansidhebumbling]

Chapter 1 of Things that come in Threes

A 10 Things I Hate About You AU

It was no surprise to anyone in Velaris High when Azriel fell for Elain Archeron.

Like the cakes she baked, airy chiffon sponge and Italian buttercream, she was sweet. Doe eyes and fluttering lashes, coquette bows and endless tulle skirts, a confection of a girl, soft as marshmallow. Her smile constructed of rows of symmetrical pearls in a rosebud mouth, Sabrina Carpenter blushed cheeks and Monroe eyes that always blinked a beat too fast to be natural.

Too sweet to be savoury Rhys would say.

But Azriel, who had never known a shade of black he had not liked, who donned self-loathing like a cardigan, saw a fairytale and would not be deterred.

He'd like to say he didn't want to be involved in the scheme. That Azriel had blackmailed him or Cassian had strong armed him into it.

But the fact, that brutal damning thing, is that it was his idea.

—

He suggested it on a Monday afternoon in March, two months after the Archerons joined school. In a town like theirs, gossip spread quickly. Two sisters from the city arriving to Bumfuck, USA, had been the news of the year. As Morrigan put it, it was hard to muster much excitement for the future when the year peaked in January.

They were seated in their spot, closest to the canteen doors, with a clean view of the students that trailed in for lunch. As usual.

And as usual, Azriel was mooning over Elain in a way that was only slightly less pathetic than his cousin's irritation over it.

‘Pink is really her colour, right?’

'She's clearly an Autumn and that is totally a Spring colour, Az. Buy glasses.'

The blonde snapped, hairspray-stiffened curls bouncing in irritation as she shook her head while inspecting her cuticles

Azriel's glare was underlined by Cassian's snort.

'I thought honesty was your thing, Mor.'

Their resident jock and only person Rhys knew who could pull off a man bun, sniped.

Since whatever happened between the three of them at Christmas, it had been like this. Each lunch seasoned with a strange creeping tension that Rhysand was strategically maintaining his ignorance on, no matter how many tequila driven confessions Mor attempted.

They needed entertainment. They needed a distraction. It was humbling to be forcefully cast as jester because his cousin continually failed to manipulate two of the biggest idiots he knew.

He played the part anyways.

'What if I helped you get your girl, Az?'

Azriel turned fully in his seat at that, the chicken roll he'd been picking at now forgotten.

'How Rhys? You know the rule.'

Everyone knew the rule.

It had spread through the mycelium structure that connected each student in the school rapidly, after Elain rejected the youngest Vanserra's affections. She'd done it gently by all accounts, a delicate manicured hand on his shoulder and an offer of friendship the conciliatory prize. But the message was delivered, Elain Archeron was not allowed to date unless her sister Nesta did.

'Don't worry Azriel. I can handle the hag.'

Mor sniggered, undercutting the suave confidence he’d imbued in the air.

‘Rhysand Velaris, you can’t even fucking handle your banana milk. Nesta Archeron is going eat you for lunch,’

Standing, with her lunch tray in hand, his cousin dropped a Lactaid on his tray, and smiled,

‘And I for one, cannot wait to watch.’

She stalked away in her MiuMiu flats, leaving him there- the eternal fucking jester.

—

After Mor’s exit and Azriel’s much more grateful departure, the jock remained, slouched with crossed arms. Cass was, despite appearances, not a simple man. Theirs was a friendship made of edges and glass- delicate and hard to hold.

Cassian called him ‘Prince’ sometimes. Had done so, since they were kids. Always half-joking and always full in earnest, his friend’s resentment stayed written in the hard-wiring of his jaw even as a crooked grin shone through.

He taunted him again with the title.

‘If anyone can get the girl, it would be the Prince of Velaris.’

Pushing his chair, so it balanced on its back legs, Rhys huffed,

‘You know I hate that name, Cassie.’

‘Morrigan’s not wrong you know? Nesta is.. something.’

The surfer commented in a ruefully admiring tone.

Elain Archeron’s rejection of her suitors may have been headline news but Nesta’s rather spectacular turndown of Cassian had made its way into the figurative paper too.

His friend seemed to take it well, but Rhysand caught the tension he carried in the furrow of his brow when she passed by in the corridor.

‘Yeah.. she’s something alright.’

Rhys sneered, examining the stained tiles of the suspended ceiling above. Numerous choice somethings came to mind.

Lynx Africa assaulted his nose just before Cassian’s tanned face disrupted his tiled view. His stomach fell through to the linoleum beneath as his friend pulled his chair further back, so the weight of it rested entirely on Cassian’s toned biceps.

With a grin that seemed to house more fangs than teeth, he said lightly,

‘I don’t like this shit.. not one bit. But I know you’ll do it so.. just ..don’t push it,’

He let the chair drop a little further,

‘Prince.’

They stared at each other, a heat building in the silence, the bustle of the cafeteria static in his ears as his heart crawled from its cavity to rest in his throat.

The bell rang.

His heart slid back into his chest and the moment was gone.

Cassian, with an ease that spoke to his endless hours in the gym and on the waves, threw the chair upright again.

‘See you after class, Rhys.’

He called, disappearing into the mass of students departing the canteen.

What…the fuck?

--

He didn't see Nesta at all that day.

She and Cassian haunted the periphery of his mind, like shadows that become ghosts, throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

He retreated to his room after school, not hungry for the roast resting in the dining room, not when he was digesting something else altogether...

What did Cassian see in Nesta Archeron that he had missed?

and more importantly..

What was his plan from here?

Forgot to tag those who requested so doing it now! @praetorqueenreyna, @a-court-of-valkyries, @highlordofkrypton and the person i'm writing it for @kateprincessofbluewhales

[h3ytheredemons]

looking forward to Armand getting his own weird little white guy (again) by the end of this season

[cowboybuckleys]

don't get me wrong, the hospital has been great to my dad and they've been doing their damn best to try and figure out how to treat everything that's been happening with him. he's a complicated, frustrating, one step forward three steps back case.

but sometimes i genuinely question the logic and sanity of the ICU team for not realizing that with him it's always been delirium worse = fever spike = something is wrong. "oh no he's just tired. hospitalization can do that to some patients." sure, and yeah that's part of it. but also because he has pneumonia. again. for the thousandth time in 2 months. "yep, he's got another bout of pneumonia" nooooo shit... he fully thought he was sitting in the bed of a truck and not a hospital bed. and not his nurse, not us, not the guy who did a blood draw could convince him otherwise.

[fallen-chances]

I know we're all talking about the D'Angelo's/Di'Angelo tease that was in episode 1 but what about the "You could make an appointment to see Mr Kane," line from Grover.

Rick you asshole throwing in names important to your other books in places they're not meant to be. now all we need is a throw away line about Annabeth's cousin in Boston and the trifecta is complete

(edit: okay. I got it. D'Angelos is a real sandwich place. now go comment that on the five million other posts freaking out about the mention of di'angelo. I've got it. you don't have to comment on mine when someone else already did. read the comments before you comment. Reading Comprehension, Guys.)

[shalomniscient]

I don't know why Feixiao gives me himbo energy (i know she doesn't complete the trifecta bc she's smart) i think it's the wholesome jock vibes idk.

Which reminds me, I feel like Feixiao would go full on Gomez Addams on her S/O if given the chance. Absolutely shameless about her affection.

ur so right about everything u mentioned anon. wholesome jock feixiao is SO real like she's the embodiment of buff gf who helps you lift your furniture when you wanna redecorate or move out. also hdsfjhskdfj feixiao in a varsity jacket over a big hoodie in loose jeans........... the sleeper build boyfriend(gn) fit of all time........... head in hands i need to be her pretty academia girlfriend SO BADDD

while we're on the topic though, college!au feixiao got in on a sports scholarship and does sport science as her major. she's president of the taekwondo club and the college's star tk athlete. you can usually find her training with moze, another member of the tk club, while their friend jiaoqiu, who's doing his phd in nutrition, sits nearby and studies. despite spending almost an unhealthy amount of time in the gym she's still incredibly smart, and gets pretty good grades in her academics. she's your PT if you hit the gym with her, and she makes the BEST workout plans i just know it!!! reassures you the whole time as you start out and is super excited when you can move on to bigger weights. for her, she loves using YOU as her weights. she has you sit nice and pretty on her hips while she does hip thrusts OR has you sit on her back while she does push-ups. gets a little cheeky when it comes to sit-ups, because she'll make you hold her feet down and then surprise you with a kiss when she comes up.

she lets you borrow her varsity jackets because she LOVES the way you drown in them, how they're so big they hang off your shoulders and how your fingertips are barely visible by the end of the sleeves. if you're both taking a break from studying she'll drive you out (secondhand supra, white and teal coating, custom tuned ECU on top of a whole lot of other mods she managed to weasel in by interning at her uncle huaiyan's shop back in high school) for a late night tea run. she prefers fruit teas, and maybe you'll both get an ice cream to share. and if you fall asleep in the car on the way back, she'll drape her jacket over you and maybe secretly snap a picture that you'll later find set as her phone wallpaper.

[cinamun]

Another problematic hot take from yours truly:

There's discourse roaming around the web about whether or not Kendrick is 'taking it too far' and are folks 'getting tired of it' at this point. And how much dragging is too much dragging.

This is stupid and short-sighted and a reflection of the do-it-in-six-seconds-and-move-to-the-next-trend head ass society we are. This is not, nor has this ever been how hip hop culture works. Rap 'beefs' have a decades long history and some battles have lasted multiple albums.

This 'beef' started publicly in April, just a few months ago (although I'm inclined to believe it started well before then). That's not even long. Jay and Nas (Ether being the last most diabolical diss record before the euphoria/meet the grahams/not like us trifecta) went at each other for two albums (and everything between that).

The beauty of battle is you can skip, c-walk, b-walk, electric slide, wobble and do cartwheels all over your opponents grave and we're going to love it, analyze it and post 45 minute yt videos breaking down every second of it. What's so different about the unprecedented hip hop moment we're living in now is the brilliance in which Kendrick Lamar Duckworth used lyricism, his entire city + Canadian ex-patriots, visual art, the homies, double/triple/quadruple entendres, humor, shock and awe AND make us dance with an anthem for the summer. He wasn't lyin. He's what the culture is feelin.

This is not about 'I'm not American so I don't get it' or the fuckass 'kendrick fans' = 'swifties' argument (stop that shit, specifically). We are witnessing a rebirth of hip hop thanks to a little nappy headed nigga with the world behind him.

From Compton.

[spnbabe67]

FMLYHM

Kinktober Day 2: Rough Sex (J.S.)

Pairing: Jake Seresin x Fem Original Character

Warnings: Smut, slapping, spanking, choking (hand just on the neck) rough sex, language

Summary: Tatum and Hangman butted heads during their time at Top Gun, but when they are both called back for some unknown mission, tensions finally come to a head

Word Count: 3469

Tatum hated her call sign. Popular media would have you believe that callsigns have some badass origin, but in reality the kick ass nicknames often have the most embarrassing and enraging backstories. ‘Ice’ in theory sounds cool, mysterious even, like she was this cold, calm and collected person. If only that were the case. Enter her arch nemesis: Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin. Whoever said that hazing ends in college was dead wrong. Barrack living isn’t pleasant, especially when during the first week of training she was woken up by a bucket of ice water dumped on her head by none other than Top Gun's golden boy. This event sparked a rivalry spanning the entirety of their time training. Back and forth, both Tatum and Jake took verbal, and in the case of dog fighting exercises, literal shots at one another, even going so far as to carry out physical pranks not unlike the inciting incident. By the time of graduation, as far as Tatum was concerned, if she never saw Jake again it’d be too soon. When she got correspondence she was being called back to San Diego something in her gut told her that that “too soon” was about to come to fruition.

The Hard Deck was already bustling by the time Tatum trudged through it's doors. The warm maritime breeze off the Pacific was a welcome change from the cold waters off Norfolk. She had to dig into the back of her closet to find clothes suited for warmer weather, including the pair of shorts and spaghetti strap tank she currently sported. It felt good to be back, Penny providing a familiar face as she approached the bar.

“Hey lovely, welcome back!” Penny didn't even have to ask before plinking two shot glasses down on the bar, filling them to almost overflowing with whiskey. She watched Penny grab one, sliding the other to Tatum. “You look like you could use it.” Tatum gave Penny a knowing smirk and a wink before they both tossed back their shots, Tatum savoring the burn on the way down.

Just then the doors slammed open, signaling the arrival of more evening patrons. Tatum glanced over her shoulder, blue eyes going wide as Jake sauntered in followed closely by Coyote. Tatum ducked back down, sucking on a tooth. Penny gave her a knowing look before refilling her shot glass, stating it was on the house before turning to a dark haired man a few seats down. Tatum swirled the liquor in the glass, eyeing Hangman who was setting up a game of billiards with Coyote. 

He hadn't changed much in the time since Top Gun, still tanned and sandy haired. From the snippets of trash talk that floated over the music and chatter, he was also still a cocky son of a bitch. Tatum shook her head, greedily swallowing down the whiskey. 

The clanging of the bell above the bar startled Tatum from her trip down memory lane, looking over to see the dark haired man Penny had been conversing with looking confused as hell until the bartender and owner pointed to the sign listing the trifecta of rules. Once the uproar of half drunk patrons died down, Tatum shifted from her spot, occupying the stool next to him.

“You must be new here.” Tatum jested, resting her forearms on the polished wood barrier. “Don't sweat it, we're all guilty of it.”

“You're just sayin’ that.” 

Tatum shook her head, smiling to herself at the memory. “Nope. My first week here I fell victim to the same thing you did.” She nodded to the phone the man was now holding.

The man's eyebrows twitched upwards, not an uncommon sight when she mentioned that she was a Top Gun graduate.

Tatum held out her hand. “Lieutenant Tatum Hayes. But my friends call me Ice.”

“At least they would if she had any friends.”

Fuck. A familiar but unwelcome voice sounded from behind her, accompanied by a heavy hand on her shoulder.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny Bagman.” Tatum deadpanned, looking at Jake's hand resting on her shoulder, trailing up his corded forearm, his bicep and eventually to the shit eating grin he sported. “You'd do well to remove your hand from my shoulder lest you lose it.”

She punctuated her thinly veiled warning with a smile that was more threat than a grin. When Jake didn't immediately step off she narrowed her eyes at him staring him down until he pulled his hand away, raising them in a mock placating gesture. 

“Simmer down Sally. Just bein’ friendly.” The ever present tooth pick wiggled with each word that dripped out of his mouth, southern drawl only putting Tatums nerves on edge.

“Huh, is that what they're calling assholery these days?” 

“That's not even a real word.”

“According to Urban Dictionary it is.” It was like no time had passed, their verbal volley as easy as breathing. 

“I take it you two know each other?” The dark haired man looked on with a vaguely amused grin on his face. 

“Unfortunately.” Tatum grumbled at the same time Jake replied in the affirmative in that nerve grating chipper tone.

“Aw come on now. I'm not that bad.” Jake leaned on the bar, the image purely male satisfaction. It was like he got off on riling her up like this. 

Tatum could feel the incessant body heat radiating off of him, he was close enough that if she breathed too deeply her arm would graze his torso. Tatum wasn't sure if she was just hyper aware from being on edge or Jake had gone overboard with his cologne but the sandalwood and bergamot practically shoved its way up her nose and into her lungs, not unlike how Jake inserted himself into her conversation. 

“I plead the fifth.” Tatum attempted to flag Penny down but she was preoccupied with another patron; she needed something, anything to get her out of this before she punched the smug look off of Jake's face.

From the way Jake was positioned behind her, Tatum could feel his breath tickled the back of her neck, making the hairs stand on end. She wished she could say it was unpleasant, how close he was to her, but it'd be a lie of epic proportions.

Jake then turned to the man next to them, a lupine grin adorned his features. “She tell you how she got her call sign?” 

At that Tatum felt her blood shoot up from a simmer to a boil. Her head whipped around, leveling a glare at him. “Don't you fucking dare, Seresin.”

“What? I'm just makin’ conversation.” Jake gestured to the stranger. “I'm sure the old timer here has seen, hell, he's probably participated in worse pranks than dumping ice water on a fellow pilot.” 

It was all Tatum could do to stop herself from throwing a punch. She was sure her face was red, her hands balled into fists. “Fuck you, Bagman.” Tatum reached over the bar, ringing the bell so hard it damn near flew off the hook. “Have fun buying the bar a round.”

Tatum nodded to the stranger before weaving her way through the crowds, ignoring Jake calling after her. Something condescending no doubt. All she could hear as she stormed out of The Hard Deck was the roaring of blood in her head, a pounding that couldn’t even be drowned out by the music she had blasting from the speakers of her truck. 

It wasn’t hard to find her way back to the barracks. The pilots with families, or at least significant others, could have utilized the on base housing, but for the otherwise unattached, back to basics it was. Thankfully it was a different room than the one she occupied while in training, no bitter memories tainting this trip around, at least she hoped. Tatum slung the duffel she’d hastily packed in preparation for flying out here along with her backpack onto the floor, collapsing onto the squeaky, twin sized bed. 

Tatum groaned into her pillow; after not laying down for the first time in almost 12 hours even the thin mattress felt heavenly. She was tossing around the idea of not bothering to undress or shower and just go to sleep where she lay when a knock interrupted her internal debate. Tatum had half a mind to simply ignore the person at the door, but under threat of ignoring a superior officer, she begrudgingly pushed herself up, stumbling over her haphazardly placed bags while doing so.

The annoyance that had waned on her ride over and the brief reprieve in her room was quickly reinvigorated as she was met with nearly a face full of Jake’s chest, the smug man leaning a forearm on the doorframe. Tatum scoffed, moving to slam the door in his face but Jake managed to slip his foot in before it closed all the way. A spark of satisfaction shot it’s way through her as Tatum clocked Jake’s wince with the force she closed the door on his foot, however unintentionally.

“Ice, let me in.”

“Why should I?” Although Jake’s foot prevented her from completely shutting him out, Tatum held her spot on the other side of the door, making it so if he wanted in her room, he’d have to push past her to gain entry.

“Because I asked nicely?”

Tatum stared at him in disbelief. How the fuck could he stand there acting buddy-buddy as if he hadn’t made her life hell for weeks, and continued to do so with his sharp tongue and even sharper smile, his maddening nonchalance. 

Tatum crossed her arms, shifting her weight onto one leg. If he was gonna play that game, then she’d play it right back. “How’s your wallet feel, Bagman? Probably pretty empty.”

Jake’s eyes narrowed slightly, a small tell, but one Tatum was familiar with. “Yeah, thanks for that.”

“A hole you dug yourself.”

It was Jake’s turn to huff an exasperated laugh. “How? All I did was tell the fucking truth.”

Tatum’s hands fisted back at her sides. “You fucking son of a bitch. You humiliated me!” She couldn’t help the way her voice steadily rose as she became more and more angry. “You have ever since that fucking ‘prank’ on day three.”

“Come on.” Jake threw his head back, sighing through his nose. “You’re still mad about that? It was a fucking prank.”

“You came into my dorm and dumped a bucket of ice-water on me in my sleep!” There was no mistaking Tatum’s tone for anything other than yelling at this point. “Do you realize how violating and frankly immature that is?”

“Immature? That’s rich coming from you. You cut holes in all of my boxers!”

“I was just trying to help facilitate you being the manwhore that you are.” Tatum remembered that particular slight. Jake had pinned a pair of her panties to the bulletin board in the Mess, so when Tatum had been switching her laundry and found Jakes in the dryer she’d picked out all of his boxers, taking her scissors to them, cutting off the flap at the front before putting them back. “I shared a wall with you. You think I couldn’t hear every time you brought a skank to your room?”

There it was again, that panty-dropping smile. Jake had moved off of the door as they argued, but in his pause in their back and forth he leaned forward again, bracing a hand back on the edge of the door frame. “You ever think I wanted you to hear?”

Tatum opened her mouth, ready to spew some vile retort, but the words dripping from Jake's lips settled and Tatum realized what he said. “Wh-What? What’re you even-What?!” 

Every thought and retort suddenly disappeared and her mind went blank. She was so stunned that as Jake eased the door open and slowly prowled closer into her room, Tatum just dumbly backed up. Step by step he backed her into her room, shutting the door and flipping the lock with a neat snick.

“I think you heard me.” Jake said lowly. “And I think you heard me fuck every girl I brought back and imagined it was you.”

Tatum felt her mouth go dry in the same second her panties were instantly soaked. The worst part? He wasn’t wrong. Her bed shared a wall with Jake’s and she would be lying if she said she hadn’t slipped her hand down her sleep shorts a couple times imagining Jake’s sinful mouth against her clit or his dick inside her instead of her own fingers. Tatum watched the way Jakes eyes dipped down to her throat as she swallowed thickly, trailing down to her chest, the way her low cut tank accentuated her breasts, especially the way her crossed arms pushed them upwards. She kept her eyes stubbornly on his face, resisting the urge to let her own eyes wander. She attempted to rebuild her resolve, huffing a breath through her nose.

“I don’t-I don’t know what the fuck you are talking about Bagman.”

“It's Hangman.” Tatum watched as Jakes eyes dipped to her lips

“Whatever.”

She barely got the word out before Jake’s mouth was on hers. It was a rough and aggressive kiss, all tongue and teeth. His grip was rough on the back of her neck, holding her face to his, the other held fast to her hip. With a quick move Jake had her pinned back against the door, the sudden force against her back causing her to gasp. Jake took the opportunity to sweep his tongue further into her mouth, holding her against the door with his hips against her own. Mindlessly her hands brushed up and down his torso, nearly moaning at the hard muscles she felt under her palms. Filthy thoughts flooded her mind. Images of grinding her clit against the ridges of his abs and pecs, his large hands that were gripping her hips guiding her movements. She let hands travel under his shirt, nails scraping against the smooth skin she found there. 

Jake removed his hands from her, pulling his shirt over his head letting it fall to her bedroom floor. Tatum greedily gulped down air as she finally let herself take in the glory that is shirtless Jake Seresin. Tatum pulled her lower lip between her teeth as her eyes dragged from his face down his chest and his torso,down to where there was a noticeable bulge in his jeans.

“I think,” Jake motioned to the corner of his lips. “I think you got a little drool there.”

Tatum grabbed Jake’s jaw, bringing him down to within a hair's breadth of her lips. “Do me a favor.” She leaned forward, nipping his bottom lip. “Shut. The fuck. Up.”

Tatum kissed Jake hard, the hand on his jaw threading up into his hair, keeping him close as she pushed him back towards her bed. Tatum yelped as Jake wrapped his arm around her waist, spinning them around so she ended up on her back on her bed Jake hovering over her. Her breathing became shallow as Jake’s hot mouth trailed down her jaw and began to nip and suck down her neck, pulling a low moan from her as he bit at her collarbone. Tatum’s hands found their way to fumble with the button on his jeans, pulling them and his boxer down just enough for his dick to pop out, slapping against his lower stomach. Before she knew it, Tatum found herself on her stomach, a mouth full of her own pillow, Jake kneeling behind her. 

Tatum heard Jake curse as his fingers curled around the waistband of her shorts, surprisingly nimble fingers undoing them before ripping them down her legs. The air was cool against her glistening pussy, her arousal coating her inner thighs. Tatum was glad her face was buried in the pillow because she was sure it was bright red, embarrassed how aroused she was. She shivered as one of Jake’s calloused fingers trailed up her sides, pushing her tank top up, pulling it off with Tatum’s help.

“Fucking gorgeous.” Jake mumbled into the back of Tatums neck as he trailed kisses down her spine. “Wanna know a secret?”

Tatum could barely make sense of the words Jake was mumbling over the pounding rush of arousal. The most she could muster was a halfhearted hum, jolting suddenly as Jake’s thumbs brushed against her pussy lips, spreading them apart. Tatum let out a moan as Jake’s cock rubbed up and down her slit, brushing against her clit that had been throbbing since he had slammed her against the door. Jake’s hands gripped her hips, lifting them up, up, up, using a knee to spread her legs apart. Tatum let out a shuddering moan as Jake’s cock pushed its way into her, she could feel every vein and ridge as she clamped down on him. Jake moaned lowly sinking in until his hips lay flush against her ass, one hand braced on her spine keeping her chest pressed to the mattress. 

She shuddered as she felt his tongue trail up her spine, draping himself over her and pinned her hands to the bed above her head. “Every time I fucked some girl,” Jake pulled out until only the tip of his cock sat inside her before snapping his hips backforward, bottming out in one harsh stroke. “I’d imagine I was fucking this sweet pussy instead.”

Tatum moaned loudly as Jake harshly fucked into her, his crude words only making her wetter, letting his fat cock slide easily in and out of her. She was shoved forward with each hard thrust into her pussy, her hands pinned to her pillow by Jakes, the only thing keeping her from being fucked up the bed. She felt the air flow before the sting of Jake’s hand against her ass cheek. Tatum bit her lip hard enough to taste blood to keep from crying out. Fuck, the pain mixed with the pure arousal of him sliding in and out of her at that rapid pace. Three more times his hand came down in rapid succession, each slap more stingy than the last. This time Tatum did yelp, but it quickly turned into a moan as Jake set a punishing pace, hips slapping against her sore ass. 

“How many times did you touch this pussy wishing your fingers were my cock? Huh?” Jake growled in her ear.

Tatum nearly whined at the empty feeling as Jake pulled out but it was caught in her throat as he manhandled her onto her back before slamming back into her. Her eyes fluttered closed, mouth dropped open as his warm hand wrapped itself around her neck, fingertip resting over her pulsepoint; Tatum was sure if Jake pressed a little harder he could feel her pulse pounding like a hammer.

“Does my girl like that, huh?”

Tatum’s eyes snapped open, jaw clenched as she fought up the building pressure low in her belly. She locked her thighs around his hips, swiftly flipping them over. She looked down to see Jake looking up at her with a vaguely shocked expression. Before she knew what she was doing, her hand was across his face with a loud slap. 

“The fuck did I tell you?” Tatum braced her hands on his chest, rocking her hips back and forth, matching his harsh pace. She smacked him again, leaning forward so most of his cock slid out of her. She smashed her mouth against his, shoving her tongue into his mouth. 

She moaned into his mouth as his hands gripped her hips so hard she knew she’d have bruises in the shape of his fingertips tomorrow. She let him slam her hips back down onto him, thrusting his hips up to meet her grinding down on him. The way his pubic bone rubbed against her clit had the warm feeling growing in her belly, a coil on the verge of snapping. Tatum dug her teeth into Jake's bottom lip as she rode him hard until finally she felt that coil snap, a keening moan swallowed by Jake’s mouth. Her legs shuddered as Jake’s thrusts became more and more erratic until she felt him lift her off him, fisting his cock until he came over his stomach. 

Tatum knelt, panting on the bed as she felt her heart rate go back to normal. She felt a hand on her thigh, looking down at Jake still lounged before her, sprawled on her bed. She narrowed her eyes, cocking her head to the side.

“This is a one time thing.”

There it was again, that shit eating grin. “That’s what you say now.” His hand trailed higher on her thigh.

“No one would ever believe you anyway.”

[comicaurora]

When did you decide on introducing Falst as a fakeout villain? in my head it's such an ingrained part of the arc but I have to imagine his intro wasn't always like that.

It wasn't! In the very earliest version of the story, aka the loose pre-scripting nebulous idea for how to get him in with the group, it was a pretty simple scenario where Falst was victimized by some bad guys and the gang helped him out, validated his existence, etc. It was functional for what it needed to accomplish - getting him in as a Main Character - but it had a lot of problems, namely that he had no agency in any of it.

I realized as I got closer to introducing him that Falst had a characteristic that none of the other protagonists had: he was rough. Erin isn't nice like Kendal and Alinua, but he's not going to go out of his way to purposefully hurt anyone who hasn't hurt him first. Erin can be rude and thoughtless, but he likes explaining things, and that does a lot to smooth over potential miscommunication. Falst isn't like that. Despite suffering deeply from loneliness, Falst is not good at making himself palatable for other people, and for the most part doesn't want to, in part because he shouldn't have to. It took a lot of bad stuff to grind him down to the point of seriously contemplating turning himself human to make it stop, and even then, he typically responds to antagonism by hitting back twice as hard, not making himself more inoffensive in the hopes of making it stop. In the trifecta of fight-flight-freeze, he defaults to fight, and he has a lot of reasons to wall off every conceivable vulnerability and snap out at people instead of giving them an in-road to hurting him by being nice to them. This makes him incredibly vulnerable to conflict and miscommunication plotlines because he will never explain himself if he thinks he has any other more combative option available, and that makes it very easy to turn people against him if they aren't willing to reach out and potentially take a hit trying to close that gap.

What I like most about writing Falst is that none of this makes him a monster, and none of it makes him unworthy of chances, love or understanding. He's a ball of sharp corners and he hurts people, and he's very easily framed as an antagonist because of that. And framing him opposite a kind, soft-spoken, eloquent, handsome small town doctor makes it easier to see him as a villain. And the fact that the doctor is actually a manipulative villain doesn't undo any of the stuff Falst did during their initial encounter when they didn't know each other and he made his introduction by robbing the party and lightly maiming Kendal. Falst is not perfectly nice, and it doesn't take much to get him to be actively mean or unnecessarily defensive. It is easy to convince characters and an audience that a character like that is a Problem, because if he weren't a Problem he would be nice and non-confrontational and conventionally attractive. Undercutting aesthetic morality is always fun, and sometimes you just gotta judge a character by their actions and conclude that they might not be good at making you like them but they're not actually doing anything all that bad.

Falst is kind of a jerk. He also has a lot of qualities that are not jerk traits. Falst found people who like him, and the fact that he's a jerk doesn't contradict that. We're all jerks sometimes, and we all tank hits from our friends being jerks sometimes. Falst is at his most interesting when I let him be emotional, hostile and imperfect, and I think it's nice to give him people that love him without undercutting the things that make him believe he's unlovable.

[groovy-heels297]

Chef's hat

(I'm a slut for dialogue. I will not apologize)

Read on A03 (no presh)

👨‍🍳🍳

"Hey, Tommy?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you know there's a hundred folds in a chef's hat?"

"A hundred?"

"A hundred."

"Huh."

...

"That's all you can say?"

"What else is there to say?"

"Don't... don't you want to know 𝘸𝘩𝘺 there's a hundred folds?"

"Naturally."

"But you didn't ask..."

"I... alright. Why does a chef's hat have a hundred folds, Evan?"

"Well-"

"Tell me, please! I'm so enamored."

"Wooow. I'm not telling you now."

"What? Why?"

"Respect the facts, Kinard."

"Mmm... fine." Tommy rolls over on top of Evan. "𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 tell me about the folds in a chef's hat and their reasoning. I'm on the edge of my seat."

"... we're in bed."

"It's metaphorical."

Evan sighs, fond smirk on his lips.

"There's a hundred folds in a chef's hat to represent a hundred ways to cook an egg."

"That's... that can't be true."

Tommy rolls away and Evan sits up.

"Why would I lie about that?"

"I didn't say 𝘺𝘰𝘶 lied. Have you been on Wikipedia again?"

"Wiki- have you met me? Wikipedia is a trash site."

"Okay, well, there's no way you can cook an egg a hundred different ways, and honestly.... why would you 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 to?"

"Why? Uh... variety? Experience? ... fun?"

"Fun?"

"Fun."

"You think cooking a hundred different versions of an egg is... fun?"

"Not necessarily... but it is 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦."

"By that logic, sure. Technically 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 is possible, Evan."

Evan begins listing off all the ways to cook an egg.

"There's boiled, scrambled, fried..."

"The trifecta."

"Poached, baked, basted..."

"Fancy."

"Coddled."

"... coddled?"

"Yeah. Coddled."

"How the hell do you coddle an egg?"

"Well-"

"Give it a pillow? A kiss to its shell before you crack it?"

"What?"

Tommy laughs. Evan rolls his eyes and flops down dramatically on the bed.

"I hate you."

"Pfft, no, you don't. Tell me all the other ways, Buckley, so I can go to sleep. When do you walk the egg?"

Evan ignores that.

"There's mayonnaise."

"Wait."

"Cakes, quiche, omelets..."

"That's just cheating."

"Cheating? How?"

"When you say that there's a hundred ways to cook an egg, you can't include full-blown recipes."

"You absolutely can!"

"But... okay, well, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 wouldn't that just be sorta like... ninety different ways to utilize a scrambled egg?"

Evan opens his mouth to disagree, but...

"Wait. That's... no... your lack of belief isn't going to detour me."

"You mean my logic?"

"I mean your inability to be wrong."

Tommy smirks at Evan.

"Sooo, my ability to be... right?"

A pause. Evan reaches for his phone, unlocking the screen with determination.

"What are you doing?"

"Ordering ten dozen eggs."

"It's one in the morning, Evan."

"So?"

"𝘚𝘰?"

"Eggs can't be bought after midnight now?"

"... I don't want some poor delivery person to have to juggle ten dozen eggs at one in the morning."

"So, what? Is five in the morning more appropriate?"

Tommy stares at his absolutely serious boyfriend.

"Make it nine, and I'll coddle your eggs 𝘧𝘰𝘳 you."

Evan laughs, putting his phone away before burrowing himself against Tommy.

"I love you."

"A hundred different ways?"

"I'm still counting."

[noodyl-blasstal]

18 and 50 🥰💕💕💕🍰🎂🧁🚨

Six months seems like a perfectly reasonable response time... right? RIGHT?

The prompts were: 18 & 50 We both showed up alone to the couples cake decorating class, so obviously-... and Fighting? No, no, we're having a great time arguing about this.

Enjoy below or on Ao3

---

Kravitz hates his colleagues, Kravitz hates them so hard and double and backwards. The power of his hatred is turned up to eleven. He’s going to switch the office coffee to decaf, he’s going to move everything round in the fridge, he’s going to take all the good name brand parcel tape and replace it with the shit stuff that sticks to you more than whatever you’re trying to wrap up. But he’s not. Not really. He’s going to walk into the couples cake decorating class which they didn’t mention he needed a plus one for, and he’s going to have a ‘marvellous’ time. Just like Lydia said he should when she waved him away earlier. But this time, this time he’s not going to believe them when they say they ‘forgot’ or ‘misread the ticket’, because Kravitz is not gullible. Maybe that really did happen the first four times, but five is suspicious. Five stinks of deception. Five are on Craggy Island and they know someone’s been fucking things up for them on purpose.

“Hello!” Says the wall of a man at the door in a worryingly joyful tone. It looks like he’s working hard not to grab Kravitz in a hug. Kravitz appreciates the effort. He does not like to be touched. Lydia says it’s because he needs to work on his social skills. Kravitz thinks that it’s probably because she and Edward need to learn about boundaries. “What’s your name? I’m Magnus!”

Kravitz hands over his ticket with a tight smile.

“Ah, yes, I have you on the list, a last minute addition! Welcome Cravat.”

“It’s Kravitz.” Says Kravitz, trying not to be terse, and failing hideously. They know exactly how much he hates it when people call him that. Namely them, because no one else does. But this isn’t Magnus’ fault, he seems very nice and very excited about event administration, and not responsible for the terrible people Kravitz needs to not work with anymore.

Magnus’s face falls. “Oh… they spelled it twice on the phone…” He gives Kravitz a searching look. “Are you sure?”

“Am I sure what my own name  is?”

“I’m not judging you, sometimes people forget things. I don’t mind.” Magnus shoots him a disarmingly encouraging smile and the fighting winds leave his sails.

“I’m sure that my name is Kravitz.” Says Kravitz in the most measured tone he can muster. Maybe if he explains… he can just practise telling someone how awful they are. He’ll never ever have to see Magnus again. “My colleagues are complete… they’re not very… they like to… it’s a joke.” He finishes lamely. It’s fine. He can practise the conversation in the shower and then write a little script before he tells anyone else.

“Okay then…” Magnus pauses, shape of the “C” in his mouth. Kravitz’s lips draw into a thin line. “...Kravitz. Welcome to cake club! Tonight we’re decorating with the very best boys. Is your partner here yet?”

Kravitz’s mouth gets even tighter. “It’ll just be me.”

“At the couples decorating class?” Magnus asks like Kravitz is being ridiculous.

“Yes at the couples decorating class.” Kravitz smiles his very best customer service smile and hopes for the best.

“Okay.” Magnus says slowly. “Yeah, we can work with that.” Magnus gives him a once over. “The suit will definitely help.”

Kravitz has a distinct feeling that he’s being appraised against a firm set of criteria.

“Yeah. You’ll be fine. Come on. Julia will be starting soon and you’re the last one here.” Magnus shoos him through the door.

Kravitz is 30 minutes early. There’s no way he can be the last one here! He’s never late! He…’s going to switch out Edward’s sticky tack for the one that feels all weird and over stretchy. Surely it’s bad enough for him to show up without a person and incorrectly named, he doesn’t need lateness to complete the trifecta. They’re twins, they should only be allowed to do two bad things in one go, that’s only fair.

“Here you go.” Magnus points to a station with a large, intimidating array of tools which put him in mind of a surgery table, a stack of colourful bags thankfully pre-loaded with icing, and two aprons covered in hearts set next to each other.

“I’ll just…” Magnus leans past him to grab one of them and laboriously inch it away as if Kravitz won’t see as long as the movements are slow.

“You too, huh?” Asks the man on the adjoining station. He’s alone too. Although he appears to be wearing both aprons, one on the front and one on the back.

“Yep.” Kravitz tries not to make eye contact. He doesn’t need pity.

“On purpose?” The man asks.

“No.” Maybe if he keeps his answers short the man will realise this conversation isn’t going to happen.

“I did.” Kravitz sees the man shrug out of the corner of his eye. “Societal expectations can suck it, couples decorating class? Taako’s a baller chef, just wait, you’re going to be amazed by how many arms I have.”

“Is it more than two?” Kravitz turns to look, immediately forgetting his previous strategy.

“You’ll have to wait and see.” The man winks dramatically.

He’s handsome, very handsome. Dirty blonde hair in a plait down his back, a light scrub of stubble across his jaw, and so many jangly earrings and necklaces that Kravitz can’t help but stare.

“Ah fantastic idea!” The woman at the front of the class, Julia, Kravitz assumes, beams as Magnus points at the two of them. “As you two are already getting to know each other, why don’t you work together?” She smiles like she’s doing them a favour.

Everyone turns to look.

Kravitz doesn’t want to be perceived right now, not for this reason. He doesn’t need everyone to look at him and know he’s here alone and needs to be paired up with someone while all these couples came together on purpose. His face grows hot and his mouth clamps closed and his fingers definitely aren’t working and he doesn’t want to check in with his legs about it.

There’s a horrible screeching noise.

“Taako!” Julia winces. “Could you…”

The rest of her sentence is drowned out by another horrible screech as he laboriously moves his stool.

“Just following instructions.” The man who must be called Taako? (Surely not?) calls cheerfully as he settles down next to Kravitz

“Right. Well, now that you’re done…” 

The stool screeches again. 

“Taako!”

“Sorry.” He doesn’t look even a little bit sorry.

Kravitz stifles a laugh. As much as he appreciates the interruption he doesn’t want to get tarred with the same brush. He refuses to get detention. Can you get cooking class detention? That would probably be a good thing, he needs all the help he can get… so maybe they’d ask him to leave early instead? Either way, he doesn’t want to do anything wrong enough to find out.

“If you’re done?” Julia levels a frankly terrifying stare their way and the stool screecher sits up straight and attentive.

“Hello everyone! I’m Julia Burnsides, and this is my lovely assistant Magnus Burnsides.”

Magnus waves happily at them all then delivers a positively goopy smile to Julia. She returns it. They’re disgusting. Kravitz hates them. (Kravitz envies them deeply.)

“Tonight we’re going to turn this…” Julia holds up a scandalously nude cupcake. 

“Into this!” Magnus shouts, enthusiastic and  loud enough to make Kravitz jump slightly in his seat. 

Taako doesn’t disguise his laugh.

Kravitz would glare at him, but he’s been reliably informed it’s not polite, so he settles for shushing Taako and making sure he’s exuding ‘Paying Attention In Class Like It’s His Job’ energy. In fact, it is his job, it’s both of their jobs, because they entered into the education contract by signing up for the class even if it was under false pretences and someone else signed up on his behalf as a joke.

A sharp elbow digs him in the ribs. “What do you think the cake’s supposed to be?” The man is, at least, keeping his voice down slightly, no one turns round to tell them off.

Kravitz doesn’t turn round. He’s being a good student. Also, he has absolutely no idea what the thing Magnus is proudly brandishing at them is. Maybe a tractor?

“This is a dog that Magnus made.” Julia adds helpfully. Kravitz has to assume the bemusement which is likely apparent on his face is also mirrored across the other attendees.

“Here’s another version.” She holds up a much more dog-like dog. “We’re going to take you through step by step.” Julia smiles so reassuringly that Kravitz is almost convinced he’s going to be able to make his very own dog tractor.

“First off, you’ll need to come to the front in turn and get your cupcakes. If we could have this table first?” Julia points at the front left bench, as far from them as they can possibly get. Are they being punished? Are there going to be worse cakes for them because they broke the rules and came alone?

“Don’t worry.” The man says conspiratorially and slides a tupperware onto the table. “I brought my own.”

“What?” Kravitz isn’t sure that’s legal. Can he go down for this? Existing in the presence of contraband cake might summon the bakery police.

“They’ll just have vanilla. These are salted caramel, mocha, strawberry - with the proper stuff, you know, Taako doesn’t fuck with extract only nonsense - and vanilla but it has beans so you can’t say that it’s the same as the ones here.” He cracks the lid as he talks and glorious cakey smells waft out.

“Are we allowed?” Kravitz asks quiet and serious. Maybe there’s a rule he doesn’t know about. Maybe Lydia and Edward forgot to mention it was BYOC… that seems about right honestly.

“Doesn’t matter, does it, kemosabe, because we’ve done it already.” The man shrugs as if he’s not worried about getting a bad mark in cake.

“Ah.” Kravitz says, not entirely ready to make himself an accomplice.

“Here, try one. What’s your poison? You seem like a guy who caffeinates.” The man holds a chocolatey, coffee-y treat his way. “Go on, it’ll blow your mind, Taako guarantees it.”

Kravitz really wants the cake. It smells amazing and his lunch disappeared from the fridge yet again so all he’s had to eat was the sad, crumbly granola bar he found at the back of his desk drawer…

The man, who does in fact seem to be called Taako starts to withdraw his hand. “Well, if you don’t want it then I guess.”

“Wait!” Kravitz grabs it quickly. It’s not polite, but he’s not risking missing out. “You’re sure you have enough?”

“Cha’boy brought plenty. Taako can’t believe you’d doubt him like this. We’ve been together for 16 years, happily married for 15 years and fifty one weeks of that time, and still you don’t trust me.”

“We had a bad week?” Kravitz breaks off a piece of the cake.

Taako looks offended. “No!” 

“But you said…”

“We got married a week after we met.” Taako says firmly. “Now eat your cake, snugglepuss.”

Kravitz winces. “Snugglepuss?” 

“That’s what you’ve got the issue with? Not our timeline?” 

“Well we were just so in love.” Kravitz refuses to be beaten in imagination table tennis. “How could I do anything but ask you to marry me after that glorious week of cross country skiing? I bought the ring on our lunch break on day two.”

“Cross country skiing?” Taako cocks an eyebrow, but he’s still smiling. Not in the mean way either, the way when sometimes you think you’re playing the same game, but you’re very much not and they’re just gathering data to inform exactly how much they’re going to ostracise you (it’s lots, it’s always lots.)

“I loved the way your thigh muscles strained when you tried to get out of the hole.” Kravitz tries very hard not to think about Taako in a skin tight ski suit. He’s never been skiing, but his brain is doing a great job of thinking up some things he definitely shouldn’t be paying attention to.

He shoves the cake in his mouth to distract himself.

It’s incredible.

He doesn’t know the technical terms, but it’s got all the cake things, the taste and the texture and the… crumb. That’s definitely a cake thing.

“These are magic.” Kravitz tries to force himself to chew his next bite slower and actually savour it. 

He fails. 

Taako’s looks at him again, he really looks at him, drags his eyes slowly down to Kravitz’s toes and back up again, then grins.

“I’m Kravitz.” Kravitz says, because he can’t think of anything better and it seems polite. 

“You sure are, kemosabe.” Taako winks an exaggerated overblown wink. “Cha’boy’s Taako, but you figured that out for yourself.”

Kravitz shouldn’t feel proud, but he does.

“Now that everyone has their cake we need you all to find the nozzle which will make the kind of hair you want your dog to have.” Julia holds up one of the nozzles which is full of holes. “For example, this one could be a pomeranian running.” 

Kravitz writes a question mark in his pocket notebook after ‘pomeranian running’. It’s a tiny rebellion but Taako snorts gently next to him and it feels good. Well, mostly. Kravitz hopes Taako’s laughing at the concept and not him.

Taako picks up a nozzle.

“I’d like you to all pick up your nozzle and try piping with the practice bag, use the greaseproof paper to get the motion. You’ll be looking for something like this.” She pipes a perfectly windswept dab of buttercream fur onto her parchment.

Taako’s not piping onto the parchment. 

Taako’s piping directly onto the cake.

“Taako!” Kravitz whispershouts like his life depends on it, because it does. Julia looks strong.

Taako doesn’t acknowledge him.

“Taako, that’s not the parchment.” Kravitz, helpfully, nudges it towards him. Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding. Maybe they won’t go down for willful buttercrime, they’ll get a reduced sentence because it was an accident.

“Rules guy, are we?” Taako’s still piping.

Kravitz is, in fact, a rules guy. Why would they exist if they weren’t important?

Taako stops piping.

“Taako!” Kravitz doesn’t shout, but he wants to.

“That’s cha’boy’s handle.”

“That’s a fish.”

Taako looks offended. “It’s a horse.”

Kravitz does the weird snorty laugh he usually saves for home.

“Honse.” Taako points at the cake. “Look at his beautiful flowing mane.”

“That’s a fin.”

“Horse fin.”

“Horses don’t have fins.”

“Fish don’t have manes.” Taako says like he’s winning at something.

He’s not.

“If he’s a horse then where are his teeth?”

“Oh, Taako sees your game, you think horses have to be happy all the time, do you? Got to pander to your human whims and do a nice big horsey smile so you can appreciate what a nice horse life they have? What if his wife just left him? What then, my guy? Does he still have to smile for you?”

“He clearly left his horse wife.” Kravitz shrugs nonchalantly.

“Why?” Taako leans in, desperate for the gossip.

“Because he was a fish, and she was a horse, can I make it any more obvious?”

“She had a trunk, and he didn’t neigh.”

“What more can I say?” Kravitz mutters quickly before tackling the bigger question, because he’s a gentleman. “Horses don’t have trunks. I’m deeply concerned about your equine knowledge.”

“Maybe you’re the one that isn’t as much of a horse specialist as you thought, hmmm? Ever think about that? Maybe, just maybe, you’re not Dr Horse; King of Horses.”

Kravitz tries very hard not to be offended, but it’s not nice to be doubted. “I’ve got three PhDs in horse, actually, it’s Dr Dr Dr Horse, King of Horses to you.”  

Taako picks up the piping bag again. “Well what if…” He pipes a glorious un-horselike appendage.”

“That’s a…?”

Taako squidges the bag again.

“Horn.” Taako says with confidence.

“Two horns.”

“Yep.” Taako looks pleased with himself. “Horse!” 

“And you think that they have…”

“Garyl does.” Taako says firmly. “Are you going to tell him to his beautiful horse face that he isn’t one?”

“No.” Kravitz says, because he’s not. Mostly because there’s no chance he’s telling Taako to his very handsome face that he’s very bad at cake art. Or that the Longhorn Cowfish exists.

“What’s that?” Taako’s wielding the bag again.

“Tentacle.” Taako’s tongue is poking out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrates and it makes Kravitz’s chest ache with longing for… something. The last of the evening sun is streaming through the window, Taako’s glowy and glorious and Kravitz longs to take a photo just so he can keep the moment in his pocket. It feels good, it feels like they’re on the same side, it’s them against the cake establishment. It’s been a long time since he felt like he had an ally.

“It’s a horse tentacle?” Kravitz asks, just in case there’s a chance Taako is pivoting to something more sea themed.

“Horse tentacle.” He confirms.

“Taako, horses don’t have…” Kravitz thinks he should probably be exasperated, worried that whether it’s a horse or a fish, or an octopus, it’s definitely not right. Not that he’s an expert in animal maths, but horse + fish probably doesn’t equal dog, even if you squint.

“Then why does this one?” Taako’s raw confidence is terrible and wonderful to behold. Maybe Kravitz can learn from him. Is this how he defeats Lydia and Edward? Can he ask Taako if they can meet up again so he can learn? ‘If I buy you a drink or three can you teach me your raw charisma to help me deal with my shit colleagues please?’ surely can’t fail…

“Is everything okay here?” Julia stands in front of their counter, brow furrowed like she’s worried. To be fair, they definitely haven’t got anything that looks like fur happening.

“Yep.” Taako smiles up at her like he isn’t busy creating an abomination of both buttercream and nature.

“And you’re okay…” She takes a moment to remember his name. “Kravitz?”

“Oh, yes. Everything’s fine.” Kravitz lies, because Garyl needs a vet, or three, a whole team of specialists.

“It didn’t seem fine when you were fighting.” Julia looks pointedly at Taako.

“We’re not fighting!” Taako’s indignant, offended at the accusation. “We were just discussing taxonomy.”

Julia turns to Kravitz. “If you need us to find you a different station?”

“Did I do something wrong?” Oh, oh no, Kravitz straightens in shock. He isn’t this person. He’s good at classes, he’s good at teacher interaction, he has never ever ever had a bad grade and he doesn’t plan to start now.

“What? No.” Kravitz is very used to the perplexed expression that Julia is wearing. People direct it at him a lot. He wishes he wasn’t so familiar.

“She thinks I’m bothering you, handsome.”

“You’re not bothering me!” Kravitz replies before he processes the second part of the sentence. Taako thinks he’s handsome! He said it so he must mean it.

“Well you’re not bothering me. In fact I think you should not bother me after class and take Taako out for a drink. Cha’boy has some theories about how giraffes look that’re going to blow your mind.”

Kravitz resolutely doesn’t think about how there is another thing he would let Taako blow. “Yes… Yes absolutely,  I’d like that a lot Taako.”

“Gross.” Julia says happily. “Glad we could necessitate…” She pauses and waves her hand between them “... whatever this is with your fucked up fish cake.”

“It’s a horse!” They say indignant, unjustified, and perfectly synchronised.

[theacecouple]

omg, your podcast episode on Somerton is exploding on youtube. How are you guys handling it? I've followed you for a while and it's wild to see a video suddenly get 80k views when it was impressive for the prior posts to break 1000. Hopefully nothing but good things come of it, but I imagine it's overwhelming!

Overwhelming, YES!

Thank you so much for asking and checking in. We're over 120k now and that's just on YouTube! We've also spiked in several charts on the podcast platforms these last couple of weeks. We actually charted in our 50th country! An exciting achievement, but honestly not the way we wanted it.

We've received an abundance of emails, DMs, comments, etc, and some of them are COMPLETELY ABSURD! Some people have made fun of us or reveled in the fact that we lost money, basically blaming us for not being smarter. Got a really goofy message basically saying we have the ideology of....terrorists?? But the most common criticism we've seen is basically making the "reverse-racism" argument that we're weird, horrible people for pointing out that James Somerton is a cis white guy. So, y'know, that's fun -_-

But despite all this, we've received an overwhelming amount of love and support! The positive far outweighs the negative. And to our surprise and delight, we've only seen 3 acephobic comments directed at us and/or the community so far. One of those comments was the good-ol' trifecta of acephobia, transphobia, and ableist, go figure, but given how big our episode got, this is PROGRESS! We don't recall ever seeing anything Ace-related to get this much attention but receive this little hate.

We watched the apology video and despite it being an objectively bad apology video...we're a little messed up and very concerned about the implication that James attempted to take his own life. Then he deleted the video, and never sent the promised email to Telos supporters. We, of course, have our own thoughts, feelings, frustrations, and even unique observations that were never mentioned in the original episode, but for now we've decided to keep these to ourselves.

We genuinely hope for his healing, and after this week's episode, we are unlikely to ever speak about him publicly again.

[traceytonight]

Tracey rambles about Tron Ares again

Tron Ares fills me with so much dread, each passing day is like a countdown to the death of a franchise I care so much about.

The producer, title & main character, is literally Joker Morbius alleged pedophile since the early 2000s himself Jared Leto. That alone ruins the movie for me, and yet every following bullet point makes everything about and around it so much worse.

-Premise is explicitly "What if the Grid came to the real world".

NO, the interesting part of the series is THE GRID, where all of the deeply meditative commentary about our world and visually interesting splendor is supposed to be! Yes we had the lingering plot thread of Quorra coming to our world, however;

-Nothing directly tied to Tron Legacy is specifically being followed up

So no seeing where Sam Flynn could have taken Encom, no Quorra adjusting to our world, No Edward Dillinger Jr scheming with the resurrected MCP; But most disrespectfully of all, they didn't even bother to get Bruce Boxleitnter back, THE GUY WHO PLAYS TRON (and Alan Bradly & Rinzler). The one guy who actively loved this series and campaigned for a Third Tron film for over a decade, and previously Tron Legacy for even longer. But you know who they are bringing back?

-Kevin Flynn is back

THE GUY WHO FUCKING DIED IN THE LAST MOVIE. Undermining the noble sacrifice that was integral to the core themes of the film.

And just today we got this:

This is so far from an advancement design wise of the Light Cycle from either film. None of the simple shape language of the original. None of the sleek visual melding of human & technology of Legacy. While the light cycle was always cool for being a futuristic video game-ass motorcycle, its was just one of the multitude of visual elements that served the thematic purposes of Tron flawlessly.

Meanwhile, this not only physically separates the driver from the cycle, they further emphasize it through all the little gaps where there were none on either prior design. They so easily could've had the red line on Ares connect into the obviously aligned part of the bike.

Even if this is meant to show the separation of the programs from the grid for some thematic element we're unaware of at the moment, we're already going to be getting a lot of that considering the movie takes place in an average ass city.

Also, to be truly nitpicky, it looks really uncomfortable to sit in & I don't like all the added greebles.

To circle back around, what I really hate about the cast, besides the obvious one, is that there are a lot of actors who I think will work extremely well in the world of Tron. Greta Lee, Gillian Anderson, Evan Peters? Inspired casting choices.

Meanwhile production wise we're literally taking David Fincher's collaborator trifecta. Jeff Cronenweth (Cinematographer), Tyler Nelson (Editor), and Trent Reznor (Composer, backed up by Nine Inch Nails) all worked on The Social Network, another one of my favorite films. Jeff is literally the son of Blade Runner's cinematographer, Nelson was co-editor on The Batman, a film with incredible pacing thanks to their hardwork, and while I'm not the most familiar with Reznor's full body of work, I've sincerely liked everything I've heard and think in conjunction with Jeff & Tyler he will make something fantastic and fitting for the tone of this film.

However, the screenplay is done by the writer of Harry Potter & the Cursed Child, and is being handled by the director of Pirates of the Caribbean 5. Choices that feel at odds with the prestige praise I was just handing out a paragraph ago.

Theres so many good elements that are eclipsed by its central glaring protagonist, seeming lack of the interesting setting/designs or integral thematic elements that I look for in Tron, and lack of expectation regarding the choice of director & writers.

Because my two greatest fears are not about if the movie is awful and destroys the franchise as I'm expecting it could, it's either:

What if the movie is genuinely good? Well acted and performed, somehow actually has the same level of philosophical inquiry that Legacy & Identity have? How am I gonna face that reality with the enormous horrific issue starring in it?

What if the movie is bad in everyway that I think it will be, but does financially and/or critically better than the first two? The franchise is not killed again, but revives and bases everything going forward around this awful outlier in the series?

Unless this movie fails so horrifically that Disney wants to scrub it from existence, as they tend to do, the future of any Tron media will undeniably be forced to cohere itself to the existence of Ares.

If you want something that actually expands on the musings and universe of Tron, play Tron Identity. A game so lovingly crafted for fans of those elements of Tron as a connected series. And I know this factually, as the writer of the game itself (who also created Thomas Was Alone) watched my twitch stream of it and confirmed my ramblings about the deep seeded lore and intent of design of the TREES that appear in the game. Only one example of the incredible attention to detail the game delivers on. Plus its also getting a sequel that unlike Ares, I'm awaiting with bated breath.

[nico-esoterica]

'Nico, can I make it as an artist?'

YES!!!

Ima need my creative hive to WAKE IT UP. I follow so many artists who are 'unknowns' and independent but post their art and so many of them are BLOWING UP.

Why? Imo, from an astrological pov, we're in the beginning stages of a grand trifecta of the outer planets entering signs which live and breathe creativity. Pluto in Aqua kicks it off and Neptune will enter Aries and Uranus in Gemini soon after. But Aqua honors the under dog who's an alien in a world full of replication and artifice. It seeks out those who dare to be themselves..no matter how disruptive or whimsical. There's a dark hater energy to this too but I'll talk about that later.

But for artists..this is your fucking renaissance. You're already seeing huge entertainers and influencers pivoting their content. The move for the creative economy is to nurture a cult of appreciators (and worshippers ;)). Your authenticity has an audience at last.

..Even if you post something for jokes.. If it's artistic? Baby, those are your people. They fuck with you even if you're weird, isn't that great?

I'm going to squirt you with water until you start thinking in your favor NOW.

[disturbedbeautywrites]

Surprise - JJ Maybank Imagine

Warnings: Accidental pregnancy, cursing, Luke being a dick, mention of vomiting. That's it, I think

"JJ, why in the hell is there a pregnancy test on my bathroom sink?" The words had left Luke's lips less than a minute ago and all the oxygen felt like it was sucked out of the Maybank household. "Did you knock up some random girl?"

You hadn't known Luke was home when you went into the bathroom to take the pregnancy test. JJ had told you he didn't think his dad would be home today because he was supposed to be at work and the two of you wouldn't be very long; twenty minutes tops. JJ needed to do some miniscule repairing to the motorcycle and you were going to lay down because you weren't feeling good.

Nausea, cramping, bloating. The trifecta of symptoms had been hitting you the last three days and you felt incredibly sick. You had talked to Kie and Sarah about it, them jokingly saying you must be pregnant. You had all three laughed it off, but it sat in the back of your mind.

You and JJ had sex quite a lot and you were as safe as you could be, but the thought haunted you. You had decided to just ease your mind and grab a test to see, your intuition telling you it would be negative. You had to sneak it into your pocket after you sneakily paid for it, knowing you had to take it as soon as possible.

Therefore, you took it when you got to his house as he was outside. You sat the three minutes, waiting until it showed up as positive and you felt yourself vomiting into the toilet. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't. There was no way.

You shakily got up as you heard walking in the house, assuming it was your boyfriend, and you meant to throw the test away. However, you were now realizing you didn't actually follow through with that.

At Luke's words, JJ's eyes went wide and he got up out of the bed from where he had been cuddling you. He was in complete shock, his eyes darting from you to the hallway where his dad was standing. He saw the test in his hands and took it, his eyes landing on the result as he tried to figure out why you hadn't told him.

But, as he stood there and thought for a second, everything started to fall into place. He slowly walked back into his room, his eyes full of tears. He wasn't sure if it was from shock or fear or both, but his lip was trembling and he was slightly shaky. "Y-you're pregnant?" You could barely meet his eyes as you nodded, shaky breath coming out before you met his gaze. "Y-yeah, J. I am.." You stood up and ran a hand through your hair as you heard Luke chuckle, watching the two of you from the door frame.

"How can she even be sure it's yours? She might be messing around with the whole island, son. You can't take them at their word." Anger flashed through JJ's eyes as he saw how the words affected you, your legs carrying you out the front door and towards the road. JJ pushed Luke against the wall, pointing a solid finger at his face. "I'll deal with you later. But, if you ever talk about her like that again I will personally kill you." The words came out through gritted teeth as he ran after you, staying a few paces behind as he heard you break out into sobs.

It absolutely broke his heart as he walked up behind you, his arms wrapping around your waist. "Hey, listen to me." His voice was soft and comforting as he held you close, knowing how bad his dad's words had affected you. He had been dating you for a year and this was the first time he had ever seen you cry like this. "He's an idiot, you know that." He pressed a soft kiss to the skin that was exposed between your shoulder and your neck, his nose pressing against that area.

"I-I'm scared. We're not ready." The sobs racked your body as JJ carefully spun you around to face him, his eyes just as scared as yours. But, for now he had to be strong for you. Sure, he had to be a father. But, you had a living being growing in your stomach. He figured he would give you this time to be shocked and he would be strong for you. "We'll figure it out, if you wanna keep it.." His voice was soft as he pulled you flush against his chest, his hand rubbing up and down your spinal cord.

"I-I do... I think.. I mean.. I don't really know.." Your normally warm and bright eyes were absolutely full of terror and JJ absolutely hated seeing it. It broke him and he hated that he was partially to blame for this. "You don't have to decide right now, princess. Let's just go relax and try to figure out what we're going to do."

"Y-you're not gonna leave me..?" Your words came out in a soft and sheer panic as JJ realized that was what you were the most worried about. "No, baby. I'm here for you and our nugget, no matter what happens. I'm not going anywhere."

[hellslayersomething]

I feel like I should write out some proper thoughts about my opinions on Veilguard, or at least an outline for the much longer essay that is currently calcifying in my heart. It's a mixed bag of a reaction, and I'm not going to compliment sandwiching any of it--this is all just stream of consciousness, so I'm probably going to snag on the negative and spiral down that pretty quickly. Spoilers, obviously:

I liked the battle system. For the first time in a DA game, it actually felt satisfying to play and had its own identity. I do wish the Pokemon element aspect was a little better balanced among the companions, but overall it was great.

That said, considering the length of the game, they needed way more enemy diversity, especially with the bosses. Eventually I was just fighting dragons, and every dragon had essentially the same moveset, one of those moves being "the dragon trips over her own dick and face-plants on top of Rook", which sure doesn't make the fights feel epic. Even very unique characters, like the Gloom Howler, were just reskinned basic demons when it came time to fight them.

The decision to tie companion approval to companion levels was a mistake. A massive and extremely obvious mistake. No wonder there are no disagreements or tension among the group--the game can't let you lose affinity with your team members, because then it would have to account for you leveling them down. The gameplay design here strangled the narrative design in its crib.

Speaking of narrative design: while I appreciate that the modular approach to companion arcs was experimental, it was extremely weird of them to take that approach in the only DA game where all companions are required. The story doesn't have to be written to account for the fact that you might not recruit some of them or they might die early--so why didn't they write one story about Rook and their seven friends instead of one story about Rook and also there are seven smaller, unrelated stories of extremely varying quality shoved in next to it?

The hyperfixation on the companion quests paired with their complete compartmentalization from each other means that each companion basically has nothing going on outside of their own quest and very few opportunities to engage with other characters' quests.

I was so starved for conflict in this game that I went from Solas-neutral to Solas-positive because he was the only character who the game allowed to be a bitch to me, and I respect him for that.

I do like all the horrid little sons the game gives me. I think I would appreciate them more if there was anything bad or tense happening in the story on a personal level that required some comic relief, but I am a sucker for a funky little guy none the less, and Manfred, Assan, and Spite are the perfect trifecta of funky little guys, as far as I'm concerned.

"We're only going to do character cameos if it's important to the plot." *does what they did with Isabela* Okay, devs.

"We aren't importing player choices but we won't override your decisions either." *several codex entries overriding player decisions later* Okay, devs.

I like the companions, generally. I see their potential. Fanfic will do right by them. Harding, in my mind, is the weakest of the bunch, just truly having no personality to speak of and talking like she was written by a Boomer who thinks that Millennials are still teenagers. (Everyone responsible for her uttering the phrase "Awkward..." like she's a character in 2011 quirky girl sitcom should be tried at the fucking Hague, istg.) And while I like Bellara, it was extremely frustrating to have a character that's just "Merrill, again, but with the edges sanded off". Taash and Emmerich are also glaringly the last additions in the writing process, each belonging to one of the two most underbaked factions and neither of them being tied to any of the game's few "big choices". There's promise in this cast, but I don't think any of them came close to realizing their potential.

Davrin and Emmerich's companion quests felt appropriately scoped to the size of the questlines, had good emotionality, good antagonists, and expanded on the lore of Thedas in ways we hadn't seen yet.

Lucanis's companion quest had potential, but it was too unfocused with three antagonists, too much attention to the boring Venatori shit, and not enough examination on Illario's motives or Lucanis's relationships with either Spite or Illario.

Harding's companion quest was fine, I guess (the people are starving for dwarf lore), but Harding could have been swapped out with literally any other dwarven character who wasn't Sandal and nothing would have been different. (Also weird that the whole quest was basically about Sandal while simultaneously fully removing Sandal from the narrative.)

Bellara and Neve's companion quests were just nothing. Just a whole lot of nothing. And Neve's also suffered from what I like to call "machete editing", where it is glaring obviously where things were cut, changed, moved around, and added at the last minute.

I say, from the bottom of my non-binary heart: Taash's companion quest is total ass. Real nice of Mae to come out of hiding and risk being found and executed by the Venatori to give Taash a Queer Theory 101 class, though, I fucking guess.

Is Lucanis's romance bugged? Apparently I'm not the only one who had that thought while I was playing it, so now I'm wondering. Like, there's no way they made it Like That on purpose, right?

Why and how are the Venatori still a force in Thedas, never mind a force with numbers so great (in spite of lacking a central leader) that they were able to simultaneously occupy the two largest cities in Thedas?

They literally didn't even try with the Antaam. The Venatori are at least theoretically still working to try to restore Tevinter to its former imperial might. The Antaam are just invading countries for literally no reason except ill-defined power grabs. Given the racial coding of Qunari, this writing choice sure is...something. (And that something is racist.)

That said, the revelation that the Butcher did a military tour in Europe and fell in love with the culture and just wants to drink wine and visit art museums now is fucking hilarious.

What the absolute FUCK did they do the Crows. I like the Crow characters from Tevinter Nights/the comics, and Zevran is my favorite character in the whole damn franchise, but they completely whitewashed both TN's mafia take on them and their original portrayal in DA:O. But it also doesn't really retcon anything, making it instead seem like the human trafficking and torture and sexual abuse that Zevran suffered at the Crows' hands A) only happened to him individually, and B) are fine, actually??? Even the very few times that characters express reservations about working with Lucanis because he's an assassin, if you play as a Crow, those concerns get immediately backpedaled, so the Crows end up being so ironed out that the game doesn't even let characters say of the Crows, "Murder is bad," lest it hurt a Crow Rook's feelings. That is how conflict-averse the writing is.

So I guess everyone in southern Thedas is...dead now? Several characters survived long enough to get a mention from the Inquisitor, but by the end, it sounds like Orlais, Ferelden, and most of the Free Marches are pretty much donezo. When Epler said the events in southern Thedas didn't matter, I didn't expect that to mean they were going to nuke the damn place. Even having generally enjoyed VG (in spite of all my criticisms here) that, uh...doesn't leave me enthused about the future of the franchise, ngl.

The layoffs of several writers (and other Bioware employees) before the game's release was obviously heinous. But after that secret ending, I'm now of the mind that of the writers that remain, at least a few of them need to be demoted. Like literally what the fuck was that. That was the dumbest plot point to ever appear in a Dragon Age game, and that is a high bar to clear. If you're not going to acknowledge our past choices, then keep Loghain's name out of your fucking mouths.

[raayllum]

Thought I'd do a little update to my formal Key of Aaravos analysis now that we know more about the Key (+ book) and because we have more scenes. Will also revisit some (4x04) now that we have new potential rune foreshadowing understanding. I also realized that I never talked about any of its appearances in end credit art, so I'll be doing that as well. This is, as always, operating under the assumption that rune placement can foreshadow scenes, since Callum's rune placement in his dark magic 2x08 dreams foreshadowed him doing dark magic in book 5 ocean and for Rayla (moon rune on display).

First things first I want to talk about 4x04 again now that we know the Cube unlocks a book of knowledge, which makes this sentence be more direct and overt regarding the mysteries the cube/Aaravos could answer for Callum.

For great mysteries we have Moon, Ocean, and Star on display, which seems appropriate as the Moon is related to secrets/depth, Ocean is something Callum will unlock the following season, and Star in equalling Aaravos (or the Cosmic Council) is the mystery we're trying to solve. Earth feels like a callback to other cube appearances (its 2nd first, Harrow's letter) that potentially foreshadowed books 4 to 6 (aka Earth, Ocean, and Star) being the true Mystery of Aaravos with book 7 being more of a book of revelation. We then see Callum flip the cube from Earth to Sky, likely foreshadowing that later this episode he will lose his freedom / he will spend the next 4ish books attempting to fully reclaim his freedom from Aaravos. It could also refer to Zym, who may have an important role to play.

Then we have Star-Moon-Sun trifecta which feels more apt because we know it's possible that Moon and Sun magic is required for Aaravos' machinations to invert life and death / that using Sol Regem + Sunfire elves (s6) and potentially Rayla in S7 are important elements of his plan. This could also foreshadow Callum and Claudia, two of his most present pawns, getting the Moon and/or Sun arcanums respectively.

For end credit art, there are four sketches the Key of Aaravos appears in, three of them in S2.

Heart of a Titan (2x06), in which Callum learns what the Key is and what it's called, which harkens back to its 2nd shot appearance in 1x04 (hence the three runes) and features keys:

Fire and Fury (2x07), where we see the game and key motif with it get merged further, and the scratches on the ground indicate that the cube is being pulled from somewhere. 6x02 directly picks up this thread but does not feature in end credit art (we'll talk more about it later). The rune most prominently on display is the Star rune but right side up, as well as Earth (patience, book 4) and sun (Karim, Pharos). These are also the following books (Sun, Earth) after S2.

In 2x08 Book of Destiny the cube has only dark magic sigils on it in the end credit art. This represents the closing doors on Callum's potential that dark magic poses, the hold this will give Aaravos over him without knowing, and seems to be the biggest hint pre-S6 that the cube would be associated with a literal and not just metaphorical book of destiny.

This is also one of the reasons I thought it'd be fitting for the cube to be something bad at first, and then become something good and helpful to Callum. Just as he reclaims his agency/identity, he can reclaim the cube (and book 'of destiny') from Aaravos and make it his, now, and use it for good. But first... dark magic.

I'm going to wait to talk about the final end credit Key art from S6 because I want to talk about it in context with its episode / what we know about S7 so far.

In the meantime, I'm going to make a brief pitstop to 5x08 as despite the season not featuring the Key at all, or Callum being that worried about Aaravos' hold over him (he's much happier in the beginning of S5 compared to the beginning of S6, despite the mission to stop Aaravos being in a much worse place in 5x01 as compared to 6x01), the pawn intro featuring the key and its bright light is here to remind us that's still in play. Additionally, Callum's experiences in 5x08 and what he learns about himself and his strengths/vulnerabilities are a clear turning point that makes him more worried and paranoid in S6, which we see directly with the cube in 6x01.

He starts off by pacing/looking at the Star rune, if him being with the cube wasn't enough to bring Aaravos to mind. The show then has him be nervous when the Star rune itself glows up, once again the upside down version we're more prone to associating with Aaravos (and possibly Callum is too) + a little bonus Moon rune, which feels fitting that Rayla is about to show up in like 2 seconds.

We then get Callum's hand holding/covering the cube by the Sky rune (since Sky and Star are literal opposites on the cube, how's that for thematic design) and pushing the Star rune end into Rayla's hand with Moon on full display. As a treat for me and my "Callum will sacrifice his freedom (Sky) for Rayla's life (Moon) to Aaravos (Star)" and then all those things will be inverted with Rayla helping to restore his freedom to him from Aaravos back again (just like in S6).

Then we have a couple of wide shots where the rune changes despite the fact that it shouldn't (which happens in 2x08 of Earth and then to Ocean for the actual closeup / important shots) because it's not changing position. However, both the ones presented — Earth and then Star — have their own valid meanings.

For Earth, it can contrast Rayla's continual willingness to wait (let's maybe not try to destroy the pearl right now, no I'm not going to free my parents right now) — right or wrong — in the face of Callum's growing eagerness and impatience. For Star, it's precisely because he's discussing star magic and it's book 6 stars.

Then finally we have Rayla shifting to hold the cube to the point you can barely tell she's holding it, like it's part of her body / synonymous with her, and Callum looking at her after his "Somehow, Aaravos is going to use me" fear talk (cue screaming).

Then we have Callum looking at the Ocean rune after Rayla, Earth is most prominently on display, and Star (surprise surprise) on top.

He rolls it and since Sky is on top we know Star is on the bottom (even if I don't think that's the one that hit the ground, or that these ones particularly matter - but here for posterity anyway).

Star is again on top when he picks it up, with Moon most prominently on display (I wanna see this one as Rayla foreshadowing for me, particularly since it's related to where the cube is being pulled but like, who knows). I do in all seriousness think it's interesting that Moon and Sun are most on display given Aaravos' apparent desire to invert life (Sun) and death (Moon) next season, and presumably the Key plays some kind of role in... letting him get to the place where he can do that, at least as a step one.

Then we have the big reveal at the end of the season in terms of what the Key unlocks. This also put lines that felt like foreshadowing with the cube / Callum but it wasn't clear how exactly ("That the entire world would be in danger if she let me live with this knowledge" / "Having knowledge isn't the same as knowing knowledge")

No surprise again that we see the Star rune most on display, and again we get a shot of Sun and Moon.

We see the cube flip around (it seems like Aaravos is trying to decide which one) before he settles on Earth. We don't know enough about the Earth arcanum to really say if this is going to have meaning or not; it could reference that Book 4: Earth is when this plotline really got started in arc 2; it could be that Callum is going to use the book to help cleanse corruption (like the mushrooms for Zubeia, and maybe even Lux Aurea or corrupted elves/people/animals). It could also be Earth because that would be the easiest to visually convey spreading over the book for the audience's understanding.

The white light the Book emits when the cube goes in also intrigues me. On the one hand, we know that Moon and most overtly Star magic can take on a white light (although Moon also has blue, and Star has magenta) that might be analogous to the white light the cube flashes in the pawn intro. Alternatively, the white flash there could just be an evocation of the book itself (fitting, again, if Callum is going to eventually reclaim it alongside his identity).

As a finale note, I'm also assuming we see the Ocean rune here just to emphasize the insertion of the Key > any particular meaning and they needed Earth on top. I do find it interesting though (and maybe it was just shot composition) that they didn't want to go with the rune opposite of Ocean that also could've worked, as Sun presumably ties into 1) Aaravos' machinations with the Sunfire elves / Sol Regem and 2) symbolizes the life part of his life and death plans, whereas Ocean has almost exclusively been used in reference to either his prison or Callum's dark magic use (2x08, 5x08) / inner depths of the lengths he's willing to go for his loved ones. But hey, an nb can dream

In the meantime, I'm curious if the Earth rune's prominence here and in the Cube's appearances throughout the season will eventually come to pass foreshadowing wise in S7 (or in the future), but we'll just have to wait and see!

Last but not least we have the final end credit art from 6x09

Yet again, we have Star (upside down Aaravos) and next to the book, now that they're reunited - in terms of us knowing about them, anyway. Then we have Sun and most prominently Moon on display overall, which again bodes well for 1) life and death stuff and 2) possible Rayla connection to build on their prior consistency. I would've expected Star to be most evident or even just Sun (as it is on the side display in the pawn intro with Callum facing Star), but not minding the reinforced Sun-Moon that we've seen more and more the past couple seasons either

And that's that until we get another cube sighting! Dragons out